North Carolina Newspapers

ESTABLIS: :Mi 1844. ELOJT COLLEGE, N. 0., THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 1809. VOLUME LII: NUMBEEt 35 d^istiar* $Ur\ PUBUSHKD WEEKLY. - *■» *"• *— -»i— -y~,—.~rWM~w\i i_i i_rwiru liru-in. Tb« Organ of the General Convention the Chrietlan Church (South). CARDINAL PRINCIPLES. 1. The Lord Jetue lathe only Bead of the eburoh. 2. The name Christian, to the exclusion of all party and sectarian names. S. 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. B. The right of private Judgment, and the liberty of conscience, the privilege and duty of all. REFLECTIONS. Hon. James C. MacRae, an ex-member of the Supreme Court bench ot North Carolina, has been elected Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina. This is regarded as a wise selection. Rev. W. S. Creasy, one of North Carolina’s leading Meth odist ministers died at Baltimore on Monday of last week. This is a serious loss to the State as to the Methodist church, for Dr. Creasy was greatly beloved wherefver he was known. The recent storm along the Atlantic Coast did great damage all the way from the West Indies to the northern coasts. Millions of dollars worth of property were destroyed and many lives were lost. Fourteen fishermen were drowned near Beaufort, N. C.; two persons lost their lives at Ocrocoke, and thirty-five houses, including two churches, were totally wrecked. The order has been issued for ten additional regiments of in fantry volunteers for service in the Philippines Islands. It is said that these regiments will be asked from the New England, Middle, Central and Western States. The South does not fur nish a good field for the recruit ing officers, owing to the fact that our people are so strongly opposed to the war that is now being carried on. This new call will increase the number of the army to 95,045 men—nearly the hundred thousand mark predict ed by the anti-imperialists. If the following dispatch to American newspapers is to be credited, it should have weight with our authorities in dealing with the Philippine question : •‘The Naples correspondent of the Daily News telegraphs the substance of an interview he had with Admiral Dewey there in the course of the Admiral’s recent visit. Admiral Dewey said he believed the Philipine question would soon be solved. In his judgment the imhabitants were capable of self-government, and the only way to settle the insur rection and to insure prosperity was to concede it to them. He declared that he was never in favor of violence toward the Filipinos, and that only after au tonomy had been conceded might annexation be talked of. “Bill Arp,” the famous Geor gia philosopher and humorist, in writing of the pestiferous Mormons who are plodding all over the country, says: “Joe Smith came from there [New England] and one day pretended to find a Bible under a big stone. It was placed there by an angel and had golden leaves, and he was told to read it tor it was the last will of God and he must preach it to the peo ple. He copied the writing and was going to sell the gold, but the angel rebuked him and took the golden leaves away. Well, that man found fools enough to start a new departure in religion and because the good people at borne made fun of him, he and his followers moved to Pennsyl vania, where he had more vis ions and the angel gave him a pair of magic spectacles and a Urim and Thummim, and talked to him behind a curtain, and John the Baptist visited him and gave him the Holy Ghost and .the gift of prophecy and super natural powers. From there he and his followers went to Pal myra, N. Y., and had the ‘Book of Mormon’ printed, and organ ized a church with thirty mem bers, and Smith cast a devil out of a man named Knight. “But Palmyra got too hot for them and they moved to Kirt land, Ohio, because the angel said so. But Kirtland got too warm for them and they moved to Missouri and founded the city of Zion. Not long after he went back to Kirtland on a visit and they tarred and feathered him, but his persecution gave him strength and followers and they built a church there and called themselves the Latter DaySaints, and started a bank and flooded the country with wildcat money in the name of the Lord. The leaders were arrested and indict ed for murder, treason, burglary, arson and larceny, but were al lowed to escape from jail and leave Kirtland with their fami lies. From there they went to Illinois, guided by an angel, and founded the city of Nauvoo. There they built another church and sent missionaries to Eng-^ land to make converts, and they made them. Nauvoo grew up rapidly and the Saints soon numbered 1,500 men and elected Smith mayor and lieutenant general. In 1842 he was at the very height of his prosperity and took a hand in politics. In 1843 he had another revelation from the angel and was advised to take some spiritual wives. Ac cordingly he took two married women, the wives of Dr. Foster and William Law, two of his chief supporters. Of course, this raised a rumpus and Foster and Law started a newspaper against him and published the affidavits of sixteen women, who charged Smith and his head man, Rig don, with impurity and immor ality, Smith then destroyed the press and Foster and Law had to fly for their lives. They ap pealed to the courts and had warrants issued for him and Rigdon and seventeen others. They were arrested and put in jail. The governor visited them and promised protection to them if they and their families would leave the country, but the peo ple were so exasperated with them they went that night to the jail and broke down the doors and shot Smith and his brother to death. “What kind of a story is that to tound the Mormon religion upon. And yet these Mormon elders have the cheek to travel through the Southern land to propogate their spurious faith among our people. “But Smith’s wife and his son Joe never did accept the revela tion as to spiritual wives, and the son reorganized Mormonism at Plano, 111., where he publish es The True Saints’ Herald, and is in all that region the acknowl edged head of the Saints of the true Mormon church. The po lygamists were all expelled, after suffering by whipping and house burning and other penal ties by mob violence. * They moved in scattered bands to Utah and chose Brigham Young as their leader. He was a zeal ous advocate of polj’gamy and showed his faith by his works, for when he died in ^877 he left seventeen wives, sixteen sons and twenty-eight daughters that he acknowledged —besides a number of others who acknowl edged him. “But these Mormons who are sojourning in our land declare that polygamy is now abolished and that they are not proselyting to that faith, though it was the faith of Abraham and Jacob and David and Solomon. Well, our people don’t want such men fool ing around their families and demoralizing weak men and weaker women in every com munity. A moderate chastise ment would have a sanitary in fluence on all such tramps." Contributions MORAL COURAGE. BY REV. L. L. LASSITER. Every individual who has a well balanced mind deserves to be what the world calls a man, ora worran, according to the true sense of the term. The first condition of man hood is “a will true to God.” The will is the motive power, the dynamo of the mind. What ever the will determines the mind executes,whatever actions, words or'thoughts proceed from the mind are the results of the action of the will. In order to have these in har mony with the great will of God there must be in each of us “a will true to God.” The will must be founded on truth, because truth will survive all other forces; that which is not founded on truth will event ually fail. ‘Truth crushed to earth will rise again, The eternal years of God are hers; But error, wounded, writhes in psin And dies among his worshippers.’” The world is upheld by the veracity of good men and wo men. Many of us are too weak, and when the test of manhood comes we fall like leaves before the autumn winds, and are driv en like chaff before the howling storm. What the world needs today is bravery and courage to stand for right, and truth, and duty no matter what the world may say or do. Our conception of bravery and heroism is often erroneous ; what we call such is but the fruits of an unconquered will; the execution of an unbalanced mind, prompted by a boastful spirit. The most serviceable thing m all the world to man is a con quered will. The most damag ing thing in the world is a strong will unrestrained. It takes a higher moral cour age to refuse a challenge to fight a duel than to lead a charge in battle. , It is not courage that resents insults,- but it takes a hero to endure them. True courage is fidelity to conscience ; it is a determination to do right regardless of danger. The annals of the past are re plete with the deeds of moral heros, and the world, looks with pride today on 'the shining ex amples of truth, virtue and hero iStan. Who does not look with pride upon the fortitude of Picket’s charge at Gettysburg, one of the bravest displays of moral cour age upon the pages of history? —fifty thousand men, the flower of our Southern manhood, under Picket, by order of the immortal Lee. They made the stern resolve to win those heights or die. De termined to pierce that adaman tine wall of the North. On, on, on, they went, till the little hand full of men reached the summit. They were conquered, but im mortal. The greatest victories are not those that are celebrated in song and story, but those lought in the human heart. The battle of right against wrong,. of truth against error. The soul that dares to stand erect, and face to face with right and truth and God, will see the King in his beauty and hear the angels sing his praise. As we look to the past for shining examples of moral cour age, we think of Moses “choos ing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a sea son of Joseph, who by his virtue found his way from .the wilderness pit to the throne of Egypt; of Daniel, who arose from the prison house to a royal abode; of Job, the most hdroic of men, the bravest ot the brave. All the world, and Satan him self, combined against him, yet failed to turn him from his in tegrity. Even the wife of his bosom said, curse God and die, and with a look of astonishment he turned to her and said, “Thou speakest as one of the foolish women.” -Think of the courage of Mar tin Luther, within whose char acter was embodied the princi ples of modern civilization. He was more than a leader. All that we value in the constituency of manhood rose up in him. The monarchs of that stupen duous hour, all eager to enforce the laws of papacy on the one hand, and on the other stood the one man. Carlisle says, “This was the greatest moment in modern history.” “Prove to me,” said Luther, “by the Bible or by reason that I am wrong, and I will recant.” Like the hero and statesman, Clay, he had rtkher be right than President. It is not right to go against conscience. This is the rock on which old despotisms have been wrecked and demolished. Robert E. Lee decided on the side of conscience and was faith ful to the end. When the war was over, his property gone and he a poor man, he was offered a salary of $50,000 a year to be president ot a business firm. He was offered a splendid office in Eng land. But he declined both to take charge of a college in Vir ginia because he followed the dictates of a well developed and properly trained conscience. Courage to do right is the greatest and highest duty. The man who is not true to his conscience in private life would not be true to the interests of a public position. Thomas Jefferson once invit ed a number of college students to dine with him. One young man from Virginia declined the invitation because he could not accept without doing violence to his conscience. His action was not unnoticed, and the sequel was beautiful. After graduation he was elected to the _chair of Greek. A young lady who had suc ceeded in effecting an organiza tion of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in a North Carolina town, and was very energetic in securing the signa tures of the citizens to a petition relative to closing the bar rooms therein, was met by the principal bar-keeper, on the street one day, who extending his hand in congratulations, said, “I am glad to know that there is one woman in this town who has the courage to stand by her convic tions.” Thus the world has al ways honored, and always will honor,moral heroes and heroines. “Be thou strong, therefore, and shew thyself a man.” 2 Kings 2: 2. SOCIAL FEATURES OF THE SUN DAY SCHOOL. BY MISS ESTELLE WALKER, PH. B. [Read before the N. C. and Va. Sun. day School Convention and published by request.l There are two main reasons in consequence of- w|uch the Sunday school should have so cial features. These are, first, because the Sunday school is made tor man, and secondly, be cause the Sunday school is based upon Christianity. These propositions demand some further notice. Why is the-Sunday school made for man and man not made for the Sun day school? For the same rea son that the state is made for man and man not made for the state ; for the same reason that the Sabbath is made for man, and man not made for the Sab bath ; for the reason that man is a personality, unique and com plete, constituting a free individ uality, governed by a free will. It being established then, that the Sunday school is made for man, it must inevitably follow that it has social features; for man’s nature is social and will rot tolerate that which is un social. With remarkable power it has been said, an isolated individual like an atheistic religion is. an impossible hybrid. An isolated individual is an inconceivability. Every individual belongs to some sort of a social system, and an unsocial being, to use Aris totle’s phrase, must be either a beast or a god—he must, either like a god, have realized his ideal, or like a beast, have no ideal to realize. Our ideal self finds its concrete embodiment in the life of a society, and it is only in this way that it is kept before us< Even the realization ot our ideals seems to demand a society; for it is in relation to our fellowtnen that we find our ideal life. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” The “I” or ideal self is not realized in any one indi vidual but finds its realization in the relations of persons to one another, and embodies itself in literature and art, in the laws of the state, and moral code, in Sunday schools and churches. The second proposition, that the Sunday school is based upon the religion of our Lord, needs no logical elucidation ; to prove it, would be simply to state the. end and aim of the Sunday school; give a brief synopsis of its history, and enumerate the motives that prompted its origin ators. Since the Sunday school is based upon Christianity, it must partake of the nature of Chris tianity and must therelore pre sent social features. As Dr. N. T. Eley very thoughtfully re marked “in dividing the sheep from the goats, Christ made the performance or the non-perform ance of social duties the cleav age line.” To the sheep he said “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” To the goats, “Inasmuch as ye have not,” etc. But do not understand me to say Chris tianity has no individualistic Side; for each must work out “his own salvation,” and must even forsake father add mother and many relationships in order to follow after the ideal life. The fact is, Christianity has both an individualistic and a socialis tic side. This is best and most succinctly stated in the great bard of human conduct, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self,” or be social as well as an individual. Having examined the grounds for the existence of social feat ures in the Sunday school, we pass to the consideration of a few of the important particular social features. The first of these is the breaking down of class differences and enforcing upon all the equality of man. In every community we find three principal classes—the rich, the middle class and the extremely poor. Christ said “the poor we have always with us.” Not only do we find these class distinc tions, but their daily pursuits and surroundings are such that there is sure to be a vast differ ence between their habits and customs of living. They be come widely separated socially and before long there is a migh ty chasm yawning between them. This is a deplorable fact, one fraught with grave danger and prophetic of consuming evil; its existence delays the realiza tion of the “one far-off' divine event to which the whole crea tion moves.” But if there is a Sunday school in the community its ten dency will be that of a counter acting force. The children of rich and those of the poor will mingle and commingle in the class-room and join their glad some voices in singing molodi ous anthems to their Redeemer’s name. Mothers and fathers will catch up the strain and succor to the power of its soothing, soul stirring inspiration. The old class malice will disappear from their sweet tempered minds, and with fervent hearts they will pour forth their supplications to God, while Paul’s dictum “we are members one of another” will be realized with a deep, pe culiar conviction iu their now tender souls, aflame with the idea o£ a* universal brotherhood in man and a divine Fatherhood in God. A sentiment of this sort is in dispensible to the healthy de velopment of the human person ality, which is essentially social, and to the progression of human society ; for while “Man’s inhu manity to man makes countless millions mourn,” the human personality will never be perfect ly developed nor can society make any advances toward Utopia. And when we remember that it is the very nature of the Sun day school to generate just such Christian sentiments in the hearts and minds of the young people who come under its shelt ering fold, we begin to see its immense influence as a social educator and a promulgator ol social reform, and an instigator of human happiness. The sec ond manner in which the Sun day school educates socially’ is found in s,the moral elevation, ethical exultation and religious aspiration instilled in the hearts of both young and old by the simple medium of social inter course and friendly gathering. Rear a child in the back woods, keep him from the Sun day school and all other religious and social influences and when he developes into a man, he will be a true type of the prim eval savage. He would be morally certain that it is all ol life to live and all of death to die ; that there Is no hereafter and man is a mere creature of circumstances. He would have none of those Christian graces characteristic of those who have spent their youlhlul days in Sab bath schools, reaping all the wholesome influence exerted by the Sunday school over the lives of its inmates. Sad is the thought that parents fail to real ize that “the child is lather of the man” add that “if you train a young man in the way he should go, when he' 'is old he will not depart from it.” A vast deal of human misery’ and hu man woe are caused by just such neglects on the part of par ents, who fail to realize the pow eiful social advantage begotten of social intercourse in the Sun day school. May we as Sunday school workers know our social duties well and with hearts loyal to our Master lilt up the cry and send it around the world and up to heaven “ We come, we come, the host of thy redeemed, to do thy will, O, Lord !” INFLUENCE OF MUSIC IN TOE SUNDAY SCHOOL. BY MISS LIZZIE PIERCE, PH. B. flleacl before the N . C. Yj. Christian Sunday School Convention, and published by request. 1 The religion of Jesus Chiist is the climax uf ihe aesthetic nature of man. This nature is cultivated by means of the ideal and not by “wood, hay or stubble.” The higher these icdals are and the zeal we exhibit in striving to attain them, the nearer we get to the straight and narrow way. The ideals are an absolute pro duct of the mind and their eleva tion or degradation is simply a reflection of the individual mind. It is necessary then that the mind be cultivated in this capac ity and made as productive of the livety imaginative thought as possible. This high state of mental culture cau be obtained only by a systematic exereise of the aesthetic nature as we find it in every intelligent person. Some are born with this nature already highly developed, while others are endowed with a crude, or rather vague idea of what they might attain. '« The principal lines used in cultivating the aesthetic are, music, art, poetry, architecture !'and the like,'but it is admitted that music stands far above all the rest in its power to elevate the ideal, aud cause the soul to be drawn? nearer to God. Next to the study of divine works, or those written by divine inspiration, comes the exercise of the divine gifts to man,'the greatest of these I have already shown to be music. Our Sab bath schools, churches, and all religious organizations have un consciously used it as a stepping stone to a purer life and a more sweetly scented atmosphere of religious ioy. They do not stop to analyze the cause of this up ward tendency, they only know j that it is a fact and accept it as such. Music is broad as the universe, as high as heaven, and the whole power or scope cannot be com prehended by man ; but all of us m ay to some extent enjoy its elevating inHaente. It is in the soul of man and is manifested to the world by sound. * To draw this music from the soul requires the con cord of another soul. The great Soul of Creation is ever tuned ready for a chord to which may be set the souls of his children. We all desire to be musical. There is not one here, but wish es he or she could put their souls in unison with the songs they hear cr the sounds ot the instru ment. The chile will stop its play to listen to strains of music. The old white-haired grand father will turn his head to catch the sweet notes of a beautiful song. Why is this so? The answer is simply that music is etheral and heavenly. It is a pathway from time to eternity, from death to life, aye, even from this life to a home beyond the grave, where music is eternal and all is harmony. Music is soothing and stirring. What can a mother use to lull her child to sleep more potent and harmless than the sweet hum of her lullaby, and what will draw the brave man from home and loved ones to war and oftentimes death more readily than the national airs. Our recent struggle with Spain was highly excited by the frequent exercise of such • music as we only find in the “Star Spangled Banner” and “Dixie.” ' Our Sabbath schools likewise may use this same divine means of giving quiet and rest to the weary or of giving inspiration to those who mayr otherwise be slow in working for the Master. If, then, music is so divine and transporting, is it not natural that We should put it far to the front in the Sunday school work? And we do emphasize it in all schools that are seeking the greatest good in the best possi ble manner. Most music as we find prac tically in the Sabbath school is a manifestation of the soul through the voice. This is quite as it should be. It does not re quire skill as through the strokes of stringed instruments. The little children so full of the pow er of God will open their untu tored souls in strains of sweetest music without teacher, and we'— need no place more suitable than the Sunday school to give the little heart room to expand in musical rupture till it actually touches the responsive chord of the great Musician. This free flow of the child-soul is no less a condition in the adult". It is like all the Christian graces, it grows by activity. Every pupil that sings influences two more to sing who probably would not and the careful superintendent will so direct this exuberant flow that it will elevate the esthetics of the whole school and thereby lead them nearer to God and without knowing why, perhaps, he has more regular attendance, a larger number and better les- fa sons than the school having no musical enthusiasm^ I have so far referred mainly to the active music in which all join with voices tuned in the harmony of Christian brotherhood. Besides this the music ot one soul, he it manifest by voice or orgaq^or piano or indeed any instrument of inspiration, can be and has been the means of draw ing the wayward sinner by a chord that will not snap when all others have been rudely broken. Who can measure the power ot a soul pouring its feel ing into a responsive soul through the channel of music and putting it in tpuch '-with the great God ot harmony? This last is not to be depended upon in the Sunday school, however ; for there the souls seek commun ion and mutual expression and as such should be cultivated'and all means provided lor the tree play of the emotion be jt in young or old, apt or dulli If the training is well done in the Sunday school it will .jpow on with age and Christian experi ence and when the end comes the grand harmony of the uni verse will chant his melodious entrance to that grand music hall where the redeemed “sing a new song and play skillfully with a loud voice.”