Newspapers / The Christian Sun (Elon … / Jan. 11, 1900, edition 1 / Page 1
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r * . — \ BY- EMMETT L. MOFFIIT. IN ESSENTIALS, UNITY ; IN NON-ESSENTIALS, LIBERTY ; IN ALL THINGS, CHARITY. $2.00 PER YEAR. ELON COLLEGE, N. 0.. THURSDAY, JANUARY 11,1900. VOLUME Lin: NUMBER 2i ESTABLISHED 1844. C^ri$tiar\ $Ur\ PUBI.UHED WEEKLY. 1'hs Organ of the General Convention the Christian Church (Bonth), CARDINAL PRINCIPLES. 1. The Lord Jeans Is the only Head of the chnrch. 2. The name Christian, to the exclusion of all party and sectarian names. 8. The Holy Bible, or the Scriptures of 'he Old and New Testaments, sufficient rule of faith and practice. . 4. Christian character, or vital piety, the only test of fellowship or membership. 8. The right of private judgment, and the liberty of conscience, the privilege and duly-of all. Reflections. A bill ha? been introduced in Congress to grant Mrs. Lawton, widow of General Lawton, recently killed in the Philippines, a pensioo of $2,500 per annum. If she gets this and the $50,000 or morerthat has been raised by private donations, she will cer tainly be able to “get along somehow.” A bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives to repeal the Stamp tax—the tax that forces us to put a stamp on almost every paper that repre sents a business tiansaction. This tax is an outgrowth of our war with Spain, and the whole country would gladly welcome its repeal. Resolutions have been intro duced into both the Senate and the House of Representatives asking ot the Government offi cials information as to the de posit of gevernment funds in two Few York national banks, and as to whether or not General Otis refused to negotiate terms of peace with Aguinaido after fighting had begun. English war vessels have slopped two German vessels and held their cargoes as contra band of war; but Germany has demanded an explanation and redress, both of which will, no doubt, be forth coming, provided the articles seized shall prove to be really contraband. Ameri ca’s similar grievance has not yet been atoned. England could ill afford to offend either of these countries. Governor Roosevelt has re commended to the New York Legislature the passage of an act prohibiting prize-fighting in the State. New York has for quite a while been the center foF these beastly pugilistic contests, and it is to be hoped that Gov ernor Roosevelt will succeed in ridding his State of the shame of them. Any State that per mits such low practices is nurs ing the viper that will sooner or later strike a deadly blow at the moraksentiment of its people. A bill has been introduced in in the Virginia Legislature “pro viding for popular expression o< choice for United States Sena tor by balloting at certain elec tions for members ot the State Legislature.” This is in line with fnovements in other states looking to the same end ; and the indications now are that within the next few years many oL our states will be electing ft their United States Senators bj popular vote instead of, n? it present, through the st^e Jeg-s_-. latures. The fight against the seating of Brigham H. Roberts in the United States Congress has qojekened the feeling against Mormonism thr >ughout the coun try. One of the strongest ar raignments of this abominable sect that we have yet seen was that of Governor McLaurin in his message to the Mississippi Legislature the other day, He said, in part: “There is no threatened danger fo the State more baneful than the lecherous teaching ot the Mormon apostles of polygamy. It is more dan gerous because it is taught un der the guise of the ministry ot the gospel. The Mormons dis claim the open teaching of po lygamy in the pulpit, but they teach it in the corner, and the minister’s cloak gives potency to their speech.” He recommend ed the adoption of laws that will prevent the teaching of the doc trine in the State. Mississippi will do herself and the cause of Christ great honor if she suc ceeds, in carrying out this re commendation. We would like to see similar action taken in every State of the Union. Mr. Foraker has introduced a hill in the Senate to provide for the government of the island of Porto Rico, and it was referred to the proper committee. It pro vides for “the continuance of the laws and municipal ordinances now in force in the island until the Legislature provided tor shall supplant them. The Pres idsnt is empowered to appoint a Governor and a Supreme Court and also seven heads of depart ments to have charge of the va rious interests of the govern ment and also five native citi zens, who together with the GQvernor and heads of depart ments are to constitute the upper branch of the insular legislature. A lower house of thirty-five members to be elected by citi zens of the island is also provid ed for, and all inhabitants of the island are made citizens of the United States, the citizens are also to elect a delegate to Con gress who is to have a seat but no vote. The island is to be di vided up into five districts for judicial and legislative purposes and each district is to have a lo cal court to consist of such a number of judges as the Legis lature 'may provide for. The Constitution and laws of the United States are extended to the island so far as the latter are locally applicable. Export du ties are prohibited and free trade is provided for between the island and* the United States proper. Articles imported to Porto Rico from other countries than the United States are to pay the same duties as those im posed in the ports of this coun try.” Superintendent Mebane of this State sent out before the holidays a circular letter in which he endeavors to untangle the confusion into which the recent decision of the Supreme Court threw our public school affairs. According to the decision of this court the old School Boards in the various counties are the le gal ones ; but, as Mr. Mebane points out, where there is no ^laim set up by the old boards, the new ones may legally tran sact the business. The superin tendents elected by the new boards, in those counties where the old board retired under the advice of the State Superintend ent, are the legal ones. Mr. Mebane says further: “The Township Trustees and their of ficial duties are not affected in any way by the decision of the Supreme Court. The District Committees and their contracts with teachers are not touched by this decision. Certificates issued in accordance wun me general school law by the County Super intendent, who was elected by the de facto board of directors are good for one year from the date of their issue. In short, the school system will be carried on as it row is, i \ci :>t ^ toques 1 tio s Viat may arhe relative to he rig ts ( f certain individual |aJ5c^es* -vhich can only be d«j tc rmined when all the facts in case are known. No one regrets confusion in the operation of the public schools more than my self, and I think I can safely say that no one has labored more earnestly to avoid confusion than myself. The time must come when the work of public education will be regarded so sacred and of such grave impor tance that a successful political party will not dare to tamper with its progress; if this time never comes, then the public schools will never accomplish the purpose for which they were established.” * The Pulpit. THE LOYK OF GOD. BY REV. HERBERT SCHOLZ, A. B. Text.—For God it lovt. 1 John 4: S, l Continued from lut week.] And this conduct on the part of Jacob had aroused the wrath of Esau against him and Esau declared that alter their father’s death he would take re venge on Jacob by putting him to death. And so Jacob becom ing alarmed at this threat secret ly left home to go jnto a strange land and there abide until his brother’s wrath should be some what allayed. It was a very lonely trip for Jacob. He had never been away from the pa rental roof before. He was sad at the thought of turning, his back upon his loved ones, his old afflicted father, hi3 beloved mother and all the pleasant scenes of his youth and young manhood. And as he traveled along alone, there is no doubt but that he felt like he was al most alone in the world, forsak en by his friends and beset by difficulties which were hard to bear. The way seemed dark and uncertain to him, a stranger traveling through a strange land. But one night as Jacob slept with nothing but a stone for a p l ow and the canopy of heaven lor a protection, he dreamed a dream that was something more than a dream. The heavens were opened, a ladder extended from the earth to the abode oi the angels and they were as cending and descending as though on some special errand. And above that ladder stood the Lord God of Hosts, who de clared to him that if he would be true to the covenant which God had made with Abraham, God would again bring him to the land whereon he laid in safety, and that he would make of him a great nation, and that all he undertook should prosper. And there in the darkness of that night, shut out from the terrestrial world by the environ ments of a dream, Jacob made a covenant with God, and God blessed him, and st n him on his journey with renewed hope and a feeling of peace and security. God loved Jacob because of his character. He did not condone the deception which Jacob had practiced, but he saw in him something which Esau did not possess, and that something was the ambition to be somebody and to do something more profit able than merely to roam over the country in pursuit of wild deer. There was a divine ele ment in Jacob that appealed to God and God responded to that appeal bv showers of blessings and abundant manifestations of his presence and guidance. God guides and watches over every individual who puts his trust in him. We are told that hot so small a thing as a sparrow fajls to the ground without the knowl edge of Him who created that sparrow, and that the very hairs of our heads are numbered, and that in his love he values us as of far more importance than the little winged creatures who are the objects of his daily care. There may come times in our lives when we get into trouble as Jacob did. There may come times when we feel friendless, when fortune has apparently taken its flight, when everything seems to have gone wrong. But it we are obedient to God, it we possess for him any of that Spirit of love of wniclvGod is the em bodiment, ip the dark hours, there will eome rays of hope, beams of sunshine, demonstra tions of God’s presence and as sistance that shall re-assure and comfort and strengthen as no earthly influence can do. God takes care of those who desire his care. When Joseph, the beloved son of Jacob, was sold by his breth ren to the Ishmaelites, it doubt less seemed a hard lot to Joseph. But God followed him through all his trials, and made him aware of his presence. Joseph was re-sold to Potipher, the Egyptian ; he became the inno cent victim of an impure wo man’s wrath, he was an inmate of an Egyptian prison for two | years, but through adverse cir j cumstaces, trials and difficulties Joseph showed himself a tpan in whom there was no guile, and being tried as by fire and found pure, he was placed as second alone to Pharaoh in power over all the Egyptians. Joseph's brethren meant to do him harm, but God turned their designs in to something good, for it seems that God as well us Jacob loved Joseph. Adverse circumstances are no sign that God does not love us, but they are a pretty good test of our love for him, and if when weighed in the balance of ad verse circumstances we are found true, the prosperity that follows will make us forget that adversities encompassed us so threateningly. 1 here was a time when the Israelites groaned under bond age in the land of Egypt. The daily tasks they had to perform were burdensome and severe Their masters were harsh and cruel. Their homes were sad dened by the destruction of ev ery male infant that was born to them. From Bible accounts their lot was a pitible one in deed. But God heard theii groanings and their prayers. A deliverer in the person of Moses was raised up, who was an in strument in God's hands in lead ing them out of-Egyptian bond age into a land of freedom, that flowed with milk and honey. Very often they murmured against God and rebelled against him, but in his forbearance and long-suffering he led them safely through the desert and was with them in the occupation of Ca naan. The whole story of the Israelites is but a story of the wonderlul love of God in deal ing with a stifl'-necked and re bellious people, and pictures to us how unworthy human beings generally are of the love which God bestows upon them. But the great love of God is not seen in his dealings with this individ ual or that individual, neither with this nation nor that nation There is a greater manifestation than any which we can associ ate with any particular individ ual or nation of earth. And that manifestation is seen in the gift of Jesus Christ. For we are told that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever beheveth on him shall- not perish but have everlasting life. God cleansed the world once by a flood, but it did not stay clean; He sent Christ on earth to show men and women how to live, and ever since that time the earth has been getting better, and wher ever the gospel of Christ goes, there happiness and peace and sunshine go. There is not an act of love of which man is cap able of forming auy conception, that can equal or surpass that great act of love which God per formed in the gift of his son. We cannot understand it. We need not try. P'or God’s love is higher than our love, his ways are more mysterious than the ways of men, and we must be content to know that the gift of Christ to us was for our salva tion and happiness and joy and pea<?e if we are disposed to ac cept him. But aside from the evidence of God’s love for men as set forth in the Bible, let us recall some of the evidences which we have been compelled to acknowledge in our own per sonal experience. Ever)’ human being who ever thiukSWftbout his Creator and his relationship to hisjJfireator must “have had som§ tm?|§fP!' to take place with regard to his own personal welfare that made him believe that the hand of God was in it. JEvery Christian has had things to take place in his life that forcibly impressed him with the thought that they were the works of God. In other words,j every person who is not so far beyond redemption as not to give God and the things of dU vinity any thought at all, sees in certain affiirs of his own life the baud of God at work. What are some of the eviden ces of God’s love which you and I possess? Let us see. The first evidence which we might mention is our own existence on earth. It was God’s love that brought us into existence. There was a time when we did not ex lit. We now do exist and exist in the image of God. Perhaps you may say that it would have been better (or you if you had never existed at all. Ydu may I feel just that way. But you are not a competent judge in that matter, because you do not know. God certainly had a purpose in giving you an ex istence, and that purpose was a purpose pf love, because God is Jove. We are crowned with the" dignity of God’s image. We have in us the breath of life. We have in us the possibilities ■ of accomplishing good in the world. And our mission is a emission ot love, whether we ful i fill it or not. Our existence is an evidence of God’s love for us, ib-cause it is unreasonable to suppose that God would have created us it he had not loved us. I do not believe, neither do you believe, that God created anything that he hates. Another evidence which we posess of God’s love is the bless ings with which he surrounded us and the good influences which he brought to bear upon us when we were passing along the different stages from infancy to manhood or womanhood. I suppose every one whom I am addressing had a good, kind father a«d mother. They may not have been perfect, and when you were under their control you might have thought them rather severe at times. But they took care of you and brought you up in an honorable way, and taught you lessons of truth fulness and honesty and integri ty, and through their efforts ex erted in your behalf you are today. Of course, there are some parents that do not take care of their children, and there are some children who never fol low the teachings of parents. But they illustrate the exception and not the rule. Parents who posess natural affection will love and protect and train up their children in the way' they ought to go. Good parents are the gift of God and are the result oi God’s love to us. We remem ber very, well the good which our parents bestowed upon us and the interest they took in us We remember well the early' im pressions for good which we re ceived at the old country church and Sunday school, or the city church and Sunday school as the case may be. We remember well the presents of our teachers in the week-day schools as they labored with us and endeavored to shape our young miuds to work in the proper channels ot thought. We remember well the pleasant times we spent to gether with agreeable associates and friends and the sunshine and happiness they brought into our lives. We remember well the dotings §of fond grand-par ents and their healthful advice. And all these pleasant things were the gift of God and were bestowed through his love for us. They are evidences which we possess of God's love for us. Another evidence which we have is the way in which we were at some time led out of some dark trouble. That trouble may have taken the form ol sickness, or financial distress, or loss of property, or inability to obtain work whereby an honest living could be made. Eyery person has dmk days in his life at some time. They sometimes assume one shape and sometimes another, but all have them. There was a time in your life, perhaps, «when you were very sick. Your friends became very uneasy about you. Your physi cians, perhaps, gave you up to die. But the great Physician, who is able to heal every disease, administered a dose of his never failing love, and you are a well man or woman today. There was a time in your life, perhaps, when failure in business over took you. You were closed out by your creditors and all your property had to go to pay your debts. You felt discouraged and friendless. You did not see how you would ever rise again in the world. You had no mon ey. Starvation stared you in |the face. But just at the mo ment when you were at an utter loss to know what to do, a way was opened up for you, and the dark clouds suddenly cleared away. You, perhaps, then did not realize that it was the - hand of God that so suddenly changed the appearance of the world to you, but it you can see at all you see it clearly now. There may have Tjeen a time in your life when you felt like you were un der the curse of a broken law. Your mental anguish was great. You knew that if some change in your life did not take place you would, in the great day ol judgment, hear the command from the great God of heaven to depart into the hell prepared for ; the devil and his angels. But when your trouble was greatest and when you were in the great est depth of wretchedness, some kind friend pointed you to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins ot the world, and bade you lay all your distress and anxiety and anguish on him,and you did so, and suddenly the burden of your = heart rolleu away and God gave you a m-’* ifestation of his love wl t your heart to overflow ^ ” you were, for the time being, as happy as the angels, and ex perienced a little of that feeling which the redeemed saints of heaven possess all the time. There may have been a time in your life when heaven seemed a great way off to you. It seemed like a far country where no one lived whom you knew anything about. But one day a beloved grandfather died and went there, and you felt like there was one person there whom you knew. And after a while grandmother died, and as the years went by some of your triends and early companions passed_peacefully away. Father and mother and wife and hus band, and brother and sister, and children all came down to the waters of Jordan, and the waters divided and permitted them to pass over into the prom ised land. You could not under stand, perhaps, how God who loved you could take so many kind friends and relatives away from you and leave your heart aching and your happiness crushed. But tonight as you think of $he home over there, and the friends over there, and the companions or relatives over there, and of Christ over there, heaven does not seem-so far-off to you as it once did. It is not so strange and friendless a coun try to you as it once was, but there are ties which bind, you can realize tonight that those sorrowful partings in the flesh were but the means which God in his love used to draw your at tention more directly to the things of heaven and to lift you upon a higher plain of Chris tian living, and to make you to know that earth is only a tem porary abiding ^place. These lives of ours are checkered and titful. We spring up as the grass and flourish for a season, and then pass away to give place to others. But from the moment of our entrance into this life the love of God overshadows us, and if during the years of our acountability our appreciation of God's love is as a grain of mus tard seed, that is sufficient to save our souls from death and to keep us on the safe side of life’s changing fortunes. For no mat ter what our temporal condition, no matter what our position among men, no matter if-by'diff iculties or trials or adverse in fluences we may be surrounded, we have it from the authority of the Most High that all things work together for good to them who love God, and are loved by him. Contributions. e A CENTURY SOCIETY. BY TUBAL-CAIN AND BOA/:. Mr. Editor : I warn to speak to the people of the Christian church, South, through the columns of Thk Sun. I want to ask them if they do not teel highly favored and ! blessed of God to be permitted to live to the last year of the 19th ■ century. Now, it so, do you feel like making a little offering to the Lord this year? As we are now about to organize a Century So ciety, will you join us? The conditions upon which you will become a member of this society i are, you will send your name and the amount you will give as a free-will offering to the treas urer of the society whose name will be given to the public in a short time, God willing. Now, do you ask to what will this fund be appropriated? That should not be a question. Do you feel under obligations to make a free-will offering to God in the closing year of the 19th century ? If so, I will tell you what the society proposes to do —raise cents per capita for every member of the Christian | church, South, and place it at | God’s disposal. We want to collect half this amount by the time the Southern Christian Convention meet* at Franklin, Va., th'- % leave it with .^.upriate any way a51'1 _ ay direct. We want to raise the other half by the end o’f the century and pay it over to the treasurer of the Convention. This may seem strange to some of you, but I will tell you, some of the leading denomina tions have been working at this for two years and say they will raise $1.00 per capita for each of their members. Shall we lie still and miss such a glorious opportunity? It is in the hearts of our people to make free-will offerings, and if the clergy and the lay members of the Christian church, South, would be faithful and co-operate together it would be an easy matter to raise 50 cents per member this year. If there are 16,000 members in the Conven tion, this would be equivalent to $8,000. The half of this can be raised by the last of May. This society can be organized by correspondence, if the editor of The Sun will give us a column and the leading men and women of the various conferences will write and confer with each other on this important subject, and will work and pray it will suc ceed. Oh, it seems tn us that it is a necessity. If we could have this amount to help our enterprises up just at this crisis it is sure ^we^would; start the new century with new life and God would bless us more abundantly. We would like Bros. Barrett and Staley, the Editor and Bros. Fleming, Klapp, Peel, Butler, Holt, and Hunt of the Ga. & Ala. conference, would write and say what they think could be done in this way. DON’T WORRY ABOUT SALARIES. “What salaries are paid in dif ferent business callings is a ques tion often asked by young men, and onejyhich seems to enter in to their deliberations as a quali fying factor as to whether they shall enter certain trades or pro fessions," writes Edward Bok in the Ladies’ Home Journal. “I never could quite see the point of this, nor the reason for it. What are the salaries which are paid to others, to you or to me? They signify nothing. If the i highest salary paid to the fore ; most man in a certain profession is $10,000 a year, what does it prove or signify? There is no obstacle to some one’s else going into that same profession and earning $25,000. The first step in going into business is to find out not which special line is most profitable, but wffich line you are most0 interested in and are best fitted for. Then drive ahead, and the salary will take care of itself. When a young man thinks too much of his sal i ary it is pretty good proof that he is not of very superior make. Ability commands income. But you must start with ability ; not with salary." ' In the Transvaal war the Boers have been the victors in al most every important battle. During the past' week, however, the British have won in two or three minor skirmishes.
The Christian Sun (Elon College, N.C.)
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Jan. 11, 1900, edition 1
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