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IN ESSENTIALS, UNITY } IN NON-ESSENTIALS, LIBERTY; IN ALL THINGS, CHARITY, BY EMMETT L. MOFFITT, VOLUME U: HUMBEH 39. ELON COLLEGE, E. 0., THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1898, ESTABLISHED 1844. T)^ Christian SUi\ PUBLISHED WEEKLY. The Organ of the General Contention the Christian Church (South). CARDINAL PRINCIPLES. 1, The Lord Jesus Is the only Heed of the church. 1. The name Christian, to the ezcluelon 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 Tital piety, the only test of fellowship or membership. B. The right.of private Judgment, and the liberty of conscience, the privilege and ddity of all. Reflections. North Carolina haa been all along modest in asserting her claims among the states, when others have defamed and slight ed her and have been blatant and boastful in their own behalf. When applied to communities and commonwealths it is not true that “real worth requires no in terpreter,” and that glorious deeds and noble words will se cure proper recognition and form the blazonery of a state, whether asserted or not. It is even true that often modest per sonal merit is slighted, overlook ed, when the man of “cheek” and self-assertion and indelicacy will push to the front and re ceive the applause of the million. It has been apparent to this writer since the earliest misrep resentations of North Carolina in the war and soon after, that it was high time that North Caro linians should take the velvet from their mouths, and speak out from rostrum and printing press boldly and unmistakably in behalf of our people and state. We unhesitatingly assert that the truth of history fully war rants us in ^claiming for North Carolina the following facts in which she is “first.” These facts were first gathered in 1876, and are embodied in a very elaborate address made by him on 4th July, 1876, at Oxford, by the request of the people of that historic county. These points were re peated (and possibly extended) in a literary address delivered at Wilson before the female college probably in 1883. 1. The first English settlement made on the American continent was on Roanoke Island on 4th July,1584. 2. The first white child born of English parents was Virginia Dare, who was born on Rpanoke Island on 18th August, 1584. 3. The first revolution in America by which tyrannical and un righteous government was over thrown, was in Albemarle in 1676. 4. The first tractate or paper ever published in America, we believe, in resistance to ty ranny and oppression emanated from North Carolina—from the county of Granville, in 1865, and was signed “Nutbush.” 5. The first open blood shed on the American continent in battle, in defence of liberty and in resist ance to tyranny and wrong do ing, was at Alamance on 16th May, 1771- 6. The first opposi tion by an organized assembly to die tax on tea, and the unjust rule ot Great Britian, was made by the First Provincial congress held at Newbern, on 25th Au gust, 1774- 7. The first treason able and open defiance ot the power and authority of Great Britian, occurred at Charlotte on 20th May, 1775, when a Declara tion of Independence was made, and on 31st May, 1775,, a series of Resolutions were adopted by which a new government was set up. 8. The first colony to in struct her delegates in general congress to declare independ ence of the British crown was North Carolina. This she did on 12th April, 1776, at Halifax, where the colonial congress was in session. That at least is our reading. If any colony has so early a date we are not informed of it. 9. The first important vic tory gained over the British troops was at Moore’s Creek Bridge, in Pender cpunty, on 37th February, 1776. Over lour months before the national Dec laration of Independence. 10. The first state in number of troops furnished in proportion to population in the war between the South and the North, was North Carolina. She sent into the war 126,000, or more, of ef fective troops, And yet her larg est vote polled prior to the war was 112,500. She lost by battle and sickness 41,000 men. In the first ten particulars we think North Carolina stands first among the sisterhood of states. We find in the address at Oxford a claim that appears obscure, and, as we write, have not op portunity jto examine it. It. is that “the first open resistance to British authority occurred on the Cape Fear river in 1766, under Colonels Waddell and Ashe.” Stand by North Carolina. In this dark and doleful hour she needs your help, your backbone. In the past'she was worthy.. She provided^enerously for you from her rich and teeming stores. She now needs your love, your fidelity, your protection, your manhood. Mrs. Mary Bayard Clarke wrote many years ago: I tell ye are wanting in the noble pride of state, If from choice you shall desert her and leave her desolate. —Wilmington Messenger. At a meeting of the Directors of the N. C. State Penitentiary recently, it was decided to estab lish a reformatory at • once for the youthful criminals. The An son farm will be utilized for the reformatory and the construc tion of adequate buildings has been authorized. The following resolution was adopted: Re solved, That the superintendent be and he is hereby directed to construct on the Anson State [farm a reformatory for young criminals with separate apart ments for whites and colored and to regulate the employment of the criminals in said reformatory and on a farm to be kept for their employment. This is a move that we have been wanting to see in augurated for a long time, and we trust that it may be carried out. To crowd young boys and J young girls in with old and har dened criminals, to a great ex tent puts them heyond the reach of those impressions for good to which youth readily yields, if properly surrounded. Get them off on a farm to themselves, give them a godly superintendent and godly attendants, let them at tend religious exercises regular ly, teach them a trade—and a large per cent of them will be restored to their homes better boys and better girls than when they left. ■■ - The Commission appointed by President McKinley to investi gate the administration of the War Department, and to enquire into the charges and complaints brought against various war offi cials from Secretary Alger down, began its work last week. The members of the Commission are : Major-General Greenville M. Dodge, of New York, President, Ex-Governor Urban A. Wood bury, of Vermont, Major-General Alexander McD. McCook, of Ohio, Brigadier-General John M. Wilson, of Washington, Charles Denby, of Virginia, General James A. Beaver, of Pennsylvania, Captain Evan P. Howell, of Atlanta, Colonel James A. Sexton, of Illinois, Richard Weightman, of Wash ington, and Major Stephen C. Mills, of New York. The whole affair is a disgrace to the country —that now, after the war is over, it is found necessary to “investi gate” the leaders. Men who hold the positions of trust in our government ought to be men whose every act will be above suspicion. It now seems that England, Russia, France, and Italy are determined to bring the “un speakable Turks” to task about the trouble they have been caus ing in the island of Crete. We sincerely hope that, while they are at it, they will giye the Sul tan and his co-murderous set a good drubbing—one that they will never forget. CoWTRIBUTIOirS. THE DOWNFALL OF I8BA1L. BY HBRBERT SCHOLZ, A.M. When King David gave his part ing words of counsel and advice to Solomon, his son and succes sor to the throne, he said to him with reference to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, “If thou seek him he will be found of thee, but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever.” These words were directed to the head, of the Kingdom of Is rael* and they were intended air so to apply to every person in the kingdom. Israel had rejected God. They had become dissatisfied with the form of worship adopted by their fathers, and they secretly did those things which were not right in the sight of God. Just as the J person who having been taught under the parental roof to fear God, falls in with bad compan ions, is led to do things that are wrong, does those things on the sly at first, but after a while he grows bolder, and throws off that secfecy, and comes out into open rebellion against his parents’ wishes, so the children of Israel began their downward course in secrecy, but becoming accus tomed to tne small evils wmcn they were committing, they grew bolder, and threw off the mask and stood out as open wor shipers of idols. How well they justified that remark of Pope, that, “Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, as, to be hated, needs but to be seen ; But seen too oft, familiar with her face ; We first endure, then pity, then embrace.” It is a dangerous thing to become familiar with any form of sin, because the fa miliarity robs the sin of its hicT eousness. The person who is accustomed to the sound of curs ing, does not shudder at it as does the person who hears it on ly occasionally. The man who every day looks upon the reeling form of the drunkard as he stag gers along the street, does not feel the same degree of contempt for the drunkard as does the man who sees such only now and then. Hence arises the import ance of keeping our young peo ple as far removed as possible from all such sounds and scenes of degradation, so that* their young minds may be furnished with the greatest amount of wholesome food and the least amount of that which poisons the soul. . From secret idolatry Israel emerged into open • idolatry. They were not satisfied to be the only nation that worshipped the true God. They wanted to fol low the customs of other nations and worship idols. They fol lowed their desires in this mat ter. They adopted heathen re ligious laws, and the pure atmos phere of every hill-top in Ca naan became tainted with the impure incense offered to images of wood and stone. The golden calf of Aaron was remoulded, and set up as an abomination to the Lord. The remaining tribes of Canaan which the Israelites failed to exterminate, became a snare unto the Israelites, because those tribes had a big influence in leading Israel astray. Evil associates put in their work, and just as the poison from the bite of the serpent gradually spreads over the body, decomposing the blood and depriving it of its life giving power, so the idolatrous spirit of those remaining heathen tribes was imbibed by the chil dren of Israel, and so uhdermin ed their spiritual constitution as to bring upon them spiritual death. But God in his mercy had pity upon the Israelites. The covenant between Abraham and himself made the Isiaelites very dear to him. He regretted their fallen, benighted condition, and in various ways he tries to turn them again into paths of recti tude. He sent prophets to warn them to flee the wrath to come. Those prophets were untiring in their efforts to restore the former condition of spiritual health. But it was all to no avail. The Is raelites would not heed the warn ing. They denied the very ex istence of the God that led them out of the land of Egyptian bondage into the land flowing with milk and honey. They said in their hearts that their heathen neighbors w^re light and the prophets were wrong. They fol lowed the heathen practices. They ^declared that God’s com mands were the embodiment of foolishness, and that they would observe them no longer. Pa ternal love grew weak, so weak that parents sacrificed their chil dren to the terrible Moloch. They Anally sank so low as to be beyond the possibility of re demption, and God cast them off forever. The story of the nation of Is rael is but the story pf every sin ful life. The Israelites became the captives of the Assyrians. The sinner becomes the captive of Satan. The Israelites under went tortures of bfdy and mind in that captivity that were inde scribable and un portray able. No one but a lost siijper can know the sufferings tha$ exist in that place prepared fort'Satan and his angels. The Israelites said that there is no God fof Abraham. The sinner says tin his heart, There is no God,fand he exem plifies that saying In his Iite. Idol worship is not codfined to heath en nations- It is not necessary in this year of grace to bow the the knee to a wooden or brazen image to become a worshiper of idols. Anything that claims our thoughts and affections in pref erence to God is an idol. And anything that we think more of and more about than we do of God, is an idol to us. If the truth were known, there could bt found many a man that wor ships a golden calf, even though the image does not exist in fact. The idolatry practiced in our nation to-day is not of the same species as that practiced in Is ftTfel, “but ' it involves the same principle, and if adheied to, will cause the spiritual ruin of all who indulge. I am not one of those who believe that the world is growing worse and that we are daily drifting nearer and nearer to destruction, but there are innumerable wrongs yet to be righted, many social abuses to be corrected, and plenty of room at the top for improvement in the spiritual life and condition of our nation. The duty devolves upon us as reasonable creatures to do our part in the great en deavor now on hand to lift our state and nation to a higher plane of spiritual life. We need not go beyond the community in which we live to discharge that duty. We can find all the work we can do at home. To gain the mastery over ourselves and to help others to the same victory, is a work which is yet waiting for us to discharge. Un less we seek to do this work, we need not be surprised that in the day of final account we shall re ceive the wages of sin. mere is a siory in myinuiugy to this effect: Some sea monsters, called Sirens, who had the faces of women and the bodies of fly ing fish, inhabited some islands in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Italy. They sang so sweetly, their music was so delightful, that the soft melodious strains wafted by the winds out across the waters attracted the atten tion of all sailors passing that way. And allured by this sweet music the vessels would approach the shore from which it came, and the sailors, lulled by the sweet melody into a trance, weu-e taken by the Sirens and thrown into the sea and drowned. But one day a man by the name of Orpheus passed that way. Hp heard the music and approached the shore. The sirens thought they had another victim, but not so. For Orpheus taking up his golden lyre swept the strings with a magical touch and sang praises to the gods which so far excelled the music of the Sirens as to cause tbem to throw them selves headlong into the sea to their own destruction. In our own voyage across lifes beautiful ocean, let us not be enticed by the siren voices of vice and idol atry to drift our frail barks upon the shores of destruction, but with a firm unfaltering trust in God, let us seek/fo counteract all such sweet-sounding allurements by joining the innumerable choir from whose' heart-string are con tinually emanating the praises of Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and good will to all mankind. The Pulpit. LOYE. BYVRKV. 6. W. TICKLE, A.B. ‘ As tbe Father hath loved me, so have I loved yon; continue ye in my leve.”—John 15: 9. In the love of Christ we -find our best joy. The pastures of the Great Shepherd are wide, but the sweetest grasses grow near his pierced feet. The love of Jesus is the centre of salva tion ; it is the sun in thfe midst of the heavens of grace. We trust that while your meditations are led towards this golden theme you will be able to enter into the spirit ot it with heart and soul. Paul in speaking of marriage in Eph. 5 : 31-32, says, “Behold I show you a mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” There is always much that is mysterious here ; but it is ever the mystery of love. Let us plunge into the subject at once. Here is our first exhor tation. Let us unquestionably believe that Jesus_ loved us. Our Lord is not here speaking of general or oenevoieni love ; out of that peculiar and special afF c tion which be bears to his own, of whom he says, “I have chosen you oat of the world.” If we are in him as the branches are in the vine, and if we prove the re ality of that union by bringing forth the fruits of grace to his glory, then we are the objects of the Saviour’s peculiar love. He speaks to us as a church and to each one personally when he says, “As the Father hath Hloved me, so have I loved you.” Dear readers, does he thus speak to you? Have you taken hold of Christ by faith? Is your life derived from him? Is he your hope, your joy, your all? If these things be so, doubt not that he speaks to you with his own lips as well as with his Book ot Record. As truly as if he stood by your side and grasped your hand and with his own eyes looked into yours he says, “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you, continue ye in my love.” That he truly loved us we may confidently believe, for he himself takes pains to assure us of it in so many words. He does not leave it to an inference, al though the inference might be safely drawn from the ten thous and love-deeds of his life, and of his death ; but he deliberately declares his love, “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you." Do you doubt his words spoken in the solemn night of his agony and registered in the volume of inspiration? Does not your heart respond to him as he says, “as I have loved you”? Aye, Lord, thou knowest that there is no need for thee to tell me with thy lips, for thou hast assured me by thy deeds. O, that I might love thee better in return. So great was the love ot our Lord that he became man for his love ol us. He counted it not robbery to be equal with God, but became man that he might carry out his purpose of love. The fifth chapter of Ephesians says, “For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.” This passage has the highest ex emplification in Christ, who quit ted his Father that he might be come one with the church. He took our nature so that he might be able to do for us what he could not otherwise have done. By taking upon himself our nature he established a near relation ship and a sweet fellowship with his beloved church. Having become man. we re member that Jesus died because of love. “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life (or his friends ” That lay ing down of life in our Lord’s cause was specially a proof of love. He died voluntarily. There was no necessity upon him as upon us to die -; other men if they died for us would but pay the debt of uature a little time before [it is due ; but Jesus, who needed not to die so tar as he himselt is concerned, was put to death amid circumstances of pain, shame and desertion. The death of the cross is the highest proof of our Saviour’s love. It was because of this love that we live. I shall not quote at full length that mem orable passage in Ezekiel; but there you have our condition represented as that of a deserted infant, left to die, and it is writ ten that our Lord in passing by said to that infant, “Live.” Even thus did he speak to us, and we rose out of our misery. He de clared the time when he thus passed wos a time, of love. Shall I not touch your hearts when I remind you of our Lord’s love? He said live, and you lived ; but before that you “were dead in trespasses and sin”, and clothed in garments crimson with crime. Then he washed, clothed, beautified and adopted you; made vou joint-heir with himself. We owe our spiritual lives to love; then we will praise the Lover of our souls. Moreover he has led jou through this wilder ness life in satety to this day. In dark and devious paths he has been near you, his rod and his staff have comforted you. You have not gone astray, not because the spirit of straying was not in you ; but because the Great Shep herd has led you Desioe tne sun waters. How graciously has he helped ycur weakness,enlighten ed your darkness, allayed your fears, renewed your hope, and above all, preserved your life from sin. As I look back upon my own life, I am filled with adoring thankfulness. I know that the retrospect which each one of you is looking upon is much the same. Surely good ness agd mercy has brightened all the days of our lives. Each day has been so wonderful that it we had only lived that one day we should have cause to rejoice torever. When all our days are threaded upon Time’s strand, what a bracelet of mercies they make. What shall I say then of my Lord’s love? If I liken it to the heights of the mountains, I see Alps upon Alps. “Thy mercy, O God, is great above the moun tain." If I liken it unto the depths of the sea, I am lost in comparison. I can only cry, O, the depths ! As to counting the gifts of his love, they are more in number than the sands of the seashore. Let us not doubt his love, that would be utter folly ; but sitting down in stillness of mind, let our hearts beat time with this one sentence. “He lov eth me.” more surely than pa rent or child, husband or wife, does Jesus love his blood-bought ones. Yet I must not close the list till I remind you that you are now on this very day in union with him. The future of Jesus is to be your future. And where he is there will you be also. Yes, our life is bound up in the life of Jesus. We are not called upon to live of ourselves, that would be death ; but we have life and all things in common with him. But I cannot proceed further after this fashion, I must exhibit my theme in another light. Let us continually meditate upon the love of Christ. I would help you in your meditations by giving you a few hints. Do not consid er me speaking ; but in your fan cy imagine that you are alone and that I am speaking through a telephone to you. Let me vanish and let Jesus stand before you. Here comes the call and the first message to you, “Meditate upon the love of Christ to you. It is a love ancient and venerable, tried and true.” Some of you have known this love these twen ty, thirty, forty years—yes, some for more than that. It Is no new thing with us to sing “Jesus loves me.” All this while he has never failed us nor done us an ill-turn. Doubtless in the future we will have to make continual trial of his love ; but we are sure that it will endure every test. We may have rough ways to tra verse ; but he will tread them with us, and we will lean upon the everlasting arms of our be loved. We may be very sick and faint, but he hath borne out sickness and will sympathizt with us. He hath said, and we believe it, that he will never leave nor forsake us. His prom ise is, “Certainly I will be with thee, even to your old age. I am He, and even to hoar hairs will I carry you.” The longer we live the more abundant evi dence we shall receive of that love of Christ which is assuredly ours. The second message is this, “It was unbought and unsought.” In Hosea 14: 4 it is written, “I will love them freely”, and sure ly if ever there was a case in which that verse was transpa rently true, it was in my case. Was it not so in yours? What was there in you that could have won his love? If he could see any beauty in me it must have been first in his own eyes. They say “love is blind”, and certain ly though our Heavenly Father and Bridegroom is not blind, yet he is somewhat kinder than that; for he saw our deformities of sin and folly, yet he loved us not withstanding all. He saw our iniquities and cast them into the depths of the sea. “Jesus, lover of my soul”, thou lovest me, and that love is free indeed. How couldst thou love one such as I? It was because that thou lovest those who most need thy love and can least repay it. Even as it is so,.what shall I do but ad mire and adore? i he third message is that “the love of Jesus is the most practi cal hecause Christ loves not on ly in words, but also in deed and in truth.” There is a greater force, to my mind, in Christ’s deeds of love than in all the words which he could have ut tered. Deeds emphasize words. Love is deepest when it is still est. Language filters from the lips, while love gushes from the heart. Jesus has written out his love in living characters. O, Master, never man spake like thee ; yet thy most eloquent dis course was when thou didst say but little, but didst stretch thy hands to the cross, that they might be nailed there. Then did’st thou pour out thy heart, not in oratory, but in blood and water. Thine is a practical love, full of tenderness, rich in bounty, lavish in thoughtfulness, firm in constancy, stronger than death, mightier than the grave. Now the point I want to bring you to is this, remember that the Father’s intimate and unchang ing love to his Son did not pre vent him from being “a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief,” did not prevent his bloody sweat in Gethsemane, though he was the Son it did not prevent him from crying, “If it be possi ble, let this cup pass from me,” nevertheless he in obedient love added, “Not my will, but thine be done.” Do you think you will be excused the bitter cup? It was needful lor the Lrreat Mediator in bis complex person as God and man that he should suffer and give himself a ransom for many, therefore the love of the Father did not withhold the “wormwood and the gall”, and now for purposes known only to God, it is needful for you to drink of the bitter cup. To spare us a moment’s pain would make us a loser in happiness. The love of Christ received in to the heart acts like a charm. Proud self goes out when sweet love comes in. The love of Je sus has a c'eansing and a sancti fying power. It perfumes the heart w ith holiness, and gives us all power. Exercise that power. Henceforth, instead of singing a song which breaks up into verses with groans between, let us chant a psalm that goes right on and has in every stanza the joyous » chorus, “His mercy endurethfor- J ever.” My beloved is mine and I am his, and till the day break and the shadows flee away my soul shall feed upon his love, and I shall rejoice in him. The ashes of Christopher Co lumbus have been taken up from their resting place in Havana, and are to be carried back to Spain. What a pity that his coun trymen see more in his mute ash es than they saw in his great living self. Their demonstrations might have done him a great deal of good while living—they are empty and hollow now.
The Christian Sun (Elon College, N.C.)
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Oct. 6, 1898, edition 1
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