BY EMMETT L. MOFFITT.
IN ESSENTIALS, UNITY; IN NON-ESSENTIALS, LIBERTY; IN ALL THINGS, CHARITY.
$2.00 PER YEAR.
ESTABLISHED 1844.
ELON COLLEGE, N. 0.. THURSDAY, JANUARY 25,1900.
VOLUME LIII: NUMBER 4
CtiMsti&rt Suf(
PUBLISHED WEEKLY.
The Official Organ of the Southern Chris
tian Convention.
CARDINAL PRINCIPLES.
1. The Lord Jesus Is the only Head of the
ohuroh.
%. The name Christian, to the exclusion
of all party and sectarian names.
8. The'Holy Bible, or the Scriptures ol
the Old and New Testaments, sufficient rule
of faith and practice.
4. Christian character, or rltal 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.
The lower House of the Vir
ginia Legislature has unani
mously pass the “Jim Crow” car
bill, the hill similar to the one
passed by the last North Caro
lina Assembly.
General Joe Wheeler is com
ing home from the Philippine
Islands. The reason for this ac
tion on his pirt has not yet been
made public. Some think it is
because of his health; while
others think he has resigned his
commission. He is now nearly
64 years old.
The fa6t that the Surgeon
General of the army has recom
mended the appointment of a
board of medical officers to make
an exhaustive investigation of
tropical diseases, “in order to
determine their causes and best
methods of treatment,” is pretty
generally conceded to be “infor
mation” to the effedt that our
soldiers are expe<5ted to be in
the Philippine Islands and in
Puerto Rico for some time yet—
in fa<5t, so far as the Philippines
are concerned, we think it would
be a good idea for this govern
ment to make every preparation
for taking care of a large stand
ing army just as long as they
expect to hold the islands in
subje6tion ; for even after they
have been whipped into formal
submission* we expe6t to hear of
constant outbreaks.
The committee appointed by
the House of Representative to
investigate the charges- against
Brigham H. Roberts is unani
mous in finding him guilty of
polygamy. All except two of
the committee are in favor of ex
cluding him from a seat in Con
gress without even allowing him
to be sworn in; The two are in
favor of admitting him and then
expelling him. aIt is now a fore
gone conclusion that he will not
have a voice in making our laws
—thanks to the agitation of the
Christian people throughout the
United Slates. This is one of the
most efiediive blows that has ev
er been aimed at the monster,
Mormanism—and we trust that
it is but one of the many that
are tosfollow thick and fast until
ihe last breath of life shall be
stamped out of the hydra-head
ed thing.
A strong effort, at the head ot
which is Representative Dolliver
of Iowa, is on toot in Congress
for the repeal of the bankruptcy
law passed at the last session of
Congress. Many members be
lieve that the present law (juts a
premium on dishonesty and
rqfkless speculation. They say
that it. has done all the g->od
that it possibly could in givi g
old bankrupts a chance to ctf; r
away their indebtedness incl en
abling them t& enga-e in busi
ness again without the dread of
having their earnings swept
away by their old creditors as
soon as they got a little ahead.
But this has all been done now,
in Representative Dolliver’s
opinion, and it is time the law
was repealed. The law, howev
er, has warm friends and the
chances are against its repeal.—
Washington Cor.
The tobacco growers of North
Carolina have had quite a num
ber of meetings recently leoking
to their future protection lrom
the low and constantly decreas
ing prices of tobacco. They
find that they have been getting
less and less for their tobacco
for several years, owing to the
manipulations mainly of the
American Tobacco Company;
and now they are uniting in a
determined effort to maintain
prices at a living figure. A
□umber of delegates from the
various tobacco counties of the
State assembled at Raleigh last
week 'and after discussing a
number of plans of procedure
they agreed upon the following
which w,as recommended \>y a
committee on plans : “We agree
to enter into a contract with F.
E. Jordan, and his. associates to
sell to him our tobacco raised
during the next five years at an
advance of not less than 15%
over the prices of the same grade
of tobacco during the last five
years, the said price to be fixed
by a commission a majority of
whom shall represent the seller.
We further agree to take stock
with said Jordon aod his associ
ates, a corporation which shall
be formed for the purpose of ma
nipulating and disposing of said
tobacco, sold to said J. F. Jordon
and his associates to the extent
of not less than 15 % of the value
of our said tobacco. The de
tails of this agreement shall be
hereafter arranged so as to carry
out the true intent and meaning
of this agreement. It we make
default in this agreement in any
particular we agree to forfeit to
said corporation the said stock
so taken. And we further re
commend for our mutual benefit
that the farmers of North Caro
lina reduce their crop at least
25 % below the past year’s pro
duction. We invite the co-oper*
ation of Virginia, South Caro
lina and other sections which
grow bright tobacco.”
Our readers are familiar with
the shameful dodge by which
the law agaiost selling or allow
ing intoxicating drinks to be sold
at army posts or at the canteens,
was evaded ; and which left our
soldier boys as much exposed
tq this damning temptation as
ever. The adtion of the officials
aroused the indignation of every
Christian in the land ; and, as a
result, the present Congress will
no doubt give us a law they can
neither twist nor evade. Our
Washington correspondent says:
The Attorney General having
decided that Congress did not
really mean what practically
every member of that body sup
posed that it did, when it amend
ed the army reorganization adt
last year so as to prohibit the sale
of liquor at army posts, it has
become necessary for the advo
cates of that provision to secure
the adoption of fresh legislation
in order to obtain their end, and
Mr. Spalding of North Dakota,
has introduced a bill which it is
believed can not be explained
away. The army bill, as passed,
provided that no officer or en
listed man should be permitted
to sell liquor at any army can
teen, and that no civilian should
be permitted to sell it at any
army posu xnis seeraeu cieai
enough, but Mr. Griggs deduced
from it the extraordinary opin
ion that it was the intention of
Congress to forbid civilians to
sell liquor at any ether part of
a post except the army canteens.
Secretary Alger adop
ted the Attorney General’s con
tention, and there has been no
cessation of sales atthe canteens.
Mr. Spalding’s bill is as follows:
“Thai no < ffii or or private sol
di.eV in either the volunteer or
regu'ar se< vice of the United
S;at<.s, shall be detailed, requir
ed, permitted or allowed to sell
spirituous vinous, or malt liquors
of any kind, as a bartender or
otherwise, in any post exchange
or canteen in any encamp
ment or fort, or anywhere upon
any premises used for military
purposes by the United States
or elsewhere. That no person
shall sell, give away, or in any
manner dispose of spirituous,
vinous, or Malt liquors of any
kind in any post or canteen in
any encampment or fort or any
where upon any premises
used for military purposes by the
United States.”
Contributions.
v
MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE.
BY REV. G. W. TICKLE.
| Continued from last week.l
The authors and statesmen
who will help the next genera
tion are today engaged in help
ing themselves and making the
most of their talents. Not until
they have compacted w'thin
themselves a thousand knowl
edges and virtues and religious
sentiments will they be able to
love others.
“And it doth not yet appear
what we shall be.” •*
The time has fully come for us
to begin to, care lor ourselves
wisely. All perceive that no
one has the right to be generous
today and have nothing to be
stow tomorrow. Wisdom
guards today’s expenditures lest
tomorrow’s capital be impaired.
He is a poor husbandman who
so overtaxes his fields as to
exhaust the soil or destroy the
vines, Yet many events seem
to prove thatbur nation has in
jured itself by over-kindness. It
has forgotten that only God can
love everybody. In trying to
help the many it has been like
the man on a January day who
opens his windows and tries to
warm all out of doors, only to
find that he has frozen his family
within the house, and warmed
no one without. If we journey
into the factory towns in New
England, where the youthful
Whittier and Longfellow were
trained,, we find the school
houses with windows boarded
over. The little churches also
are deserted and the doors nail
ed up. Listening to the “re
formers” in our parks on Sun
day afternoon, we are amazed
by the virulent attacks upon our
institutions. Conversing with
the foreman of a large group of
men laying water-pipes, we were
astonished at his statement that
he has not a single man who
can write well enough to keep
the time and hours of these toil
ers. Standing upon the wharf,
where the emigrant ship unloads
its multitudes, we hear the phy
sician exclaim, “It will take this
nation a hundred years to expel
this vice and disease from its
blood.”
“And it doth not yet appear
what we shall be.”
As some railways water their
stock, and fo^each dollar issue
bonds for five, in the hope that
only one of the five will ever
know enough to ask for their
dollar, so the intelligence, the
morality and spirituality of the
nation has, in a measure, been
diluted. Sometimes a whole
ballotbox full of voters’ tickets
does not contain the common
sense of a single vote.
Our nation often seems like a
householder who has given his
night key to an enemy who has
threatened his home with fire
brands. Our nation has loved
and loved well, but not wisely.
The time has come when it must
choose between becoming bank
rupt in intelligence, morality
and Christianity, and allowing
itself to drift on with the tide.
“And doth not yet appear
what we shall be.”
What the world needs is ex
amples and ideals.
We need to become such a
people that all our citizens will
be patriots and heroes, scholars
and Christians, where vulgarity
and crime are unknown, where
the jail is empty and the church
is full, apd where all are mhktng
the very mo,st of life. For “it
doth not yet appear what we
§hall be.” 0
Our citizens ask artists to
pai^f* their pictures—no boot
blacks. We ask architects to
erect our public buildings—not
chimney sweeps. Loving their
city, our citizens have lined the
avenues with beatiful homes and
streets with stores and factories.
But here they stop. When great
men have created the city, they
ask saloon-keepers to govern it.
Strange—passing strange—that
our nation and city should for
get that all love for others be
gins with a wise love for self.
We return from our survey
with the conviction that Jesus
Christ did well to make individ
ual worth the.genius of Christi
anity. Having moved back
ward along the pathway of his
tory, we have found the streams
of civilization and of enlighten
ment and Christianity taking
rise in some one’s enriched mind
and heart, even as mighty rivers
issue from isolated springs.
Looking backward we see
Moses building the Hebrew tem
ple ; we see Pericles and Plato
tashioning many shapes of truth
and beauty for Athens. We see
Dante laying the foundations of
Florence; we see Carlo Zeno
causing Venice to rise out ofithe
sands of the sea ; we see Bacon
and Luther rearing cathedrals
of thought and worship, under
which the millions find their
shelter. (Jppressed by a sense
of human-ignorance and human
sin, a thousand questions arise.
“And it doth not yet appear
what we shall be.”
Can one poorly born journey
towards greatness pf statue?
The Cremona violin of the six
teenth century is one mass of
condensed melody. Each atom
was soaked in a thousand songs,
until the instrument reeks with
sweetness.
But can a human instrument,
long out of tune and sadly in
jured ever be brought back to
harmony of being?
In the studio of the sculptor
lie blocks of deserted marble.
Out of one emerges a hand,
another exhibit's the outlines of
a face. But for some reason the
artist has forsaken them. It
seems that as the chisel worked
inward, it uncovered some crack
or revealed a dark stain. There
fore the sculptor passed it by,
preferring the flawless block of
snowy marble. Is the soul
stained with sin to be cast off
by the divine Sculptor?
“And it doth not yet appear
what we shall be.”
Journeying across the plains,
travelers, looking through the
car windows, behold the Cali
fornia trail. The wagon ruts
have become ditches, and the
old route is marked by human
graves. But long ago men ex
changed the ox cart, the deep
wagon ruts, and the wearisome
journey for palace . cars. Thus
there are many paths of sin
worn de^p by the pressure of
human feet. Many would tain
forsake them. But is there any
divine power to cast up some
divine highway? ’ Is there a
.happiness?
Nature is kind to her grains
and sweeps them forward to
ward harvests; is kind toward
harvests; is kind toward her
apple-seeds and bids them jour
ney into orchards ; is kind unto
the March days, and bids them
journey into perpetual summer.
“And it doth not yet appear
what we shall be.”
Man would fain find some di
vine power, some divine friend
who will lead__him unto great
personal worth. As if to fulfill
man’s deepest needs, Jesus
Christ enters the earthly scene.
He comes to hasten man’s step
along the pathway that, leads
from littleness unto largeness.
Before our admiring vision, the
Divine Teacher seems like some
sacred husbandman, His garden
our earth, good men great
earth’s richest fruit. He asks
each youth to love and make the
most of himself, that later on he
may be bread to the hungry,
medicine to the wounded, shelter
to the weak. He bids each love
his own reason, getting wisdom
with that eager passroa tnat
Hugh Miller had for knowledge.
He bids each make the most of
friendship, emulating Plato in
his love for his noble teacher.
°He asks each to love industry,
emulating Peabody, whose gen
erosity gushed like rivers. He
asks each to make the most of
courage and self-reliance, emu
lating Livingstone in self-deny
ing service. He bids each emu
late and look up to Jesus Christ,
as Dante, midst the pitchy night,
looked up toward the star. He
bids each move heaven and
earth to achieve for himself a
worthy manhood. For thus on
ly can the world ever be brought
to kuow'Him whom to know is
life eternal.
“Aad it doth not yet appear
what we shall be; but we dc
know that when he shall appear
we -sh^ll he like him, ioy we
shall seVWm as he is.”
CHBI8TIAN LIVING
BY T. J. HAYES.
There seems to be a want, or
a necessity, ot a more consecrat
ed life among church members
mainly, or of those who are pro
fessors of religion. There is a
large space for improvement in
all of our lives; as we look
at the past, we see but little
which we have done compara
tively to that which we should
have done. We are all guilty
of sins of omission and commis
sion. So our future life demands
of us improvement. Paul tells
us to forget the things that are
past and look forward to the
future. True Christian living
in this world is very much like
a ship upon the ocean. There
is a time when the waves and
the tempest is calm and peaceful.
And there is a time when the
tempest is raging. But it we
can keep the water out of our
ship, we may not fear of sinking.
So, iu like manner, Christians
are not ruined by living in this
sinful world, which they must
needs do, until death shall
summons them from time to
boundless eternity. But by the
world living in them. We are
impressed to believe as Chris
tians that in inconsistent living
and worldliness in the heart has
ruined hundreds of mortal souls.
Oh, that Christians could awake
to this reality. Temptations are
numerous, yet they are for our
good—they make us flee to
Christ and cling closer to his
hands. Satan is ever watching
his opportunity. “Lead us not
into temptation” should ever re
mind us of our utter weakness
and absolute dependence upon
Almighty support. We may
never expect to be free from the
firey darts of the enemy until we
reach that land into which shall
enter nothing that deceiveth 01
maketh a lie. How careful we
should be, and ought not Chris
tians to watch and pray, lest
Satan and the world should find
some unguarded inlet to our
hearts.
A Christian life of devotion,
of consecration, hid with Christ
in God, willing to be laid unre
servedly upon the altar and the
sacrifice will be pleasing to God,
which will make the world bet
ter by our having lived in it.
The Pulpit.
*SERMOX.
BY REV. T. A. POUNDS.
So teach us to number our days that we
may apply our hearts unto wisdom.—Pa.
ft: 12.
You are at school. I hope
you have got the length of arith
metic. Well, I want to try you
with an account. You know
how old you are—how long you
have lived. I think I hear some
one of you say, I am eighteen
years old ; another, I am nine
teen ; another, I am twenty.
These are the number of years
you have lived. Now I want
you to tell me the number of
days or years you will have to
live. You have numbered your
years that are past, now number
those that are to come. You
think it is a long, long time;
but let us see. Try this account,
l You will be able to do it with
1 out a slate. It you have to live
till you are seventy years old
and are twenty now, how many
j years will you have tQ live? You
! answer, fifty. If you have to
j live till you are forty years old^
i how many years will y«& have
to live? You aoswer, tweuty
years. But suppose you are to
die when twenty-one, how long
will you have to live? You an
swer, one year. All this is very
easy. Well, number your days,
and tell me how long you have
to live. Ah, you say, we can
not ; because we do not know
when we shall die. This is the
very thing I want you to think
of. You sometimes think the
accounts your master sets you at
school are hard. When I was a
* A ■nrmon preaehad to the joung at i
protracted masting.
boy aod learning, I used often
to b« sorely puzzled, and thought
there was nothing in the world
so annoying as a difficult ac
count. Ah, the hardest account
you or I could get to doiwould
be to tell the number of days to
come. That we cannot do.
God alone can. However, I
will tell you one or two things
about them we do know. Our
days may be very few. No.one
knows that he will live to be
very old. Maay ot our old com
panions are in their graves. One
died with a disease years ago,
another was drowned, another
went to a loreign land and he is
dead. Many more are gone.
Some of your young compan
ions are dead also. But you
think you will be sure to live a
long time yet. They thought so
too. But death came, and took
them away. You may never
live to be old men and women.
Ah, before another year ^closes
you «ay be in your graves. The
snow of next winter may be your
covering, and the moon look
down upon you where you lie
cold. Yea, before this season
has passed away you may die,
and the green grass and the lit
tle flowers of summer grow over
you. Your place by the fireside
at home may soon be vacant,
and your old companions may
go and point to the little hillock
in the graveyard and say, Ah,
he lies there. Our days will be
very tew, even at the most. You
would think toe hundred and
thirty a very great age. Scarce
ly do we ever hear of one living
that length of time now. You
remember that was Jacob’s age
when he appeared before Pha
raoh. He was much struck with
Jacob’s venerable appearance,
and asked his age (Gen. 47:8),
and Jacob said unt* Pharaoh,
‘•The days ot the years of my
pilgrimage are an hundred and
thirty years, few and evil have
the days ot the years of my life
been.” Looking forward to it
you would think one hundred
and thirty years would be long
in passing away. But Jacob,
looking back, did not think so.
His days seemed tew. Job felt
the same. “My ways,” said he,
“are swifter than a weaver’s
shuttle.” (Job 7:6.) "Yet you
cannot follow the shuttle with
your eye, it darts from the one
side of the web to the other so
rapidly. And he says again:
“My days are swifter than a
post.” (Job 9:25). Yet mounted
on a fleet horse how swiftly he
hurries on. They are passed
away as the swift ships with
every sail spread, flying before
the wind. How it scuds along !
A little time ago you saw the
sailors quite distinctly, but now
you cannot discern them. You
stand and look. The ship gets
fainter and fainter. Now it is
just like a speck on the ocean.
You strain your eyes—it is gone.
You see nothing now but the
mighty waste of waters. Such
said Job was his life. David
felt the same. “Behold thou
hast made my days as an hand
breadth.” (Ps. 39:5.) How few
and short they must have ap
peared to him. Moses felt the
same. He compares men to
grass: “in tne morning u nour
ish* th and groweth up, in the
evening it is cut down and
withereth. (Ps. 90:5.) It was
green and beautiful in the morn
ing, but it fell before the mower’s
scythe in the evening. So is
man soon taken away. You
think a year is a very long time.
When one New Year’s day has
passed it seems long till the next
one. You cannot understand
why men should call a a whole
life time short. You think if
must take a long time to conjp
to the end of it. But if you are
spared to grow older you will
think differently. If you live
till you are old, you will say,
Ah, life has passed soon away ;
| days.have been lew. You have
j seen how a stone rolls down a
j hill. At first it goes so slowly
that you can scarcely see it
I move. It appears as if it would
stop at every little mound. But
on it goes, faster and faster,
overleaping every obstacle until
you are atraid almost to look
upon it as it dashes so furiously
along, until you will think it a
very short time indeed from one
ytar’s and to anothar. Try this
Go to a heap of stones and take
one stone from it each day and
lay them by themselves; the
two heaps will show you how
time flies The one will show
you time to come the other that
which is past. How large the
future heap seems. But wait a
little. Be sure you do not fail
to take a stone from it every
day. How- this small heap
which represents past time now
increases. Every day adds a
stone to it. Every day takes a
stone from the other. Soon the
lesser gets to be the larger. £re
long there is only one heap left,
^.nd that tells you how time will
also come to an end, ang quick
ly, too. Or try another experi
ment: take a long rod and cut
an inch from the end of it each
day and you will see how daily
it gets shorter and shorter until
at length you have cut it all
awav.
Ah, dear friends, your days
are very few and short at the
longest. They will soon co*
to an end, even though ''
should allow you to live
are old. And reme ^ <
not know how s you may
die. Wheth or many here, a
our days wL» nave to end here
after. We are not certain as to *
the length of our life in this
world. We are quite certain as
to the length of it in the next.
We do not know when our days
here may come to an end, but
we know they will have to end
hereafter. Death may come
this year or it may not come for
several years, but when it
comes we shall die no more.
Adam, Abraham, Moses, David,
Isaiah, Paul, all died and en
tered into the next world, but
they live there and will live for
ever. Every moment as it
passes now brings us nearer to
to the end of life, but it is not so
afterwards. One thousand years,
when they are past, bring us no
nearer tolhe end than one day.
If some one were to add a stone
daily to the heap from which
you take away one daily, it
would never get any less. So is
it with eternity. And there is
another difference between time
and eternity. Here people are
in different circumstances. Some
are kings and some are beggars ;
some are learned, and some are
ignorant; some are well, and~*~ —
some are ill. But in the next
world there are only two states.
There they are either happy or
miserable ; singing or crying ;
with God or banished from his
presence ; in the glory of God
or in the flames of hell. In
whatsoever state men die in, in
that they continue forevermore.
There are great changes in this
world. The rich often become
poor* and the poor become rich ;
but there is no change there.
Man cannot fall from heaven to
hell, nor rise from hell to heaven.
You remember what Abraham
said to the rich man in torment,
“Between us and you there is a
great gulf fixed, so that they
who would pass from hence to
you cannot. Neither can they
pass to us that would pass from
thence.” ^Luke 16:26.) How
important it must be then, dear
friends, that you number your
days. Hear what the Psalmist ——
says to God, “So teach us to
number our days, that we may
apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
The reason why men are not
wise is because they do not num
ber their days. They do not
think how few they are, how
soon they will all be gone. They
do not think of the eternity
which they will soon enter upon.
^ [To t>e continued.) ^
Mr. Andrew .Carnigie, the
steel-plate rhillionaire, who has
given so many thousands ot dol
lars, for the establishment of pub
lic libraries all over our country,
is as great an “enemy” to war
as he is to ignorance. He has
taken a very decided stand
against the government’s im
perialistic policy, and never
loses an opportunity to put in a
word or strike a blow for the lib
erty of the Filipinos. It is now
said that it was he who furnish
ed the $4,000 necessary to cable
j Senator Hoar’s speech to Aguin
I aldo, very soon after its delivery
i in the Senate. Mr. Hoar is an
! other ardent anti-expanionist
whose sympathy for the Filipi
mo» inds vigorous expression.