Newspapers / The Christian Sun (Elon … / Sept. 13, 1900, edition 1 / Page 1
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1 BY ATKINSON & LAWRENCE. IN ESSENTIALS, UNITY; IN NON-ESSENTIALS, LIBERTY; IN ALL THINGS, CHARITY. $2.00 PER YEAR. ESTABLISHED 1844. mi ELOH COLLEGE, N. 0.. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13,1900. VOLUME LIU: HUMBER 36 Tl^ $Ur\ ■ ? PUBLISH Kl) WKKKLY. 1'tii official Organ of tfee Southern Chris tlan Convention. CARDINAL PRINCIPLES. t. The Lord Jesus Is the only Head of the church. 2. The name Christian, to the exclusion of all party and sectarian names. 8. The Holy Bible, or the Scriptures of i he Old and New Testaments, sufficient rule of faith and practice. 4. Christian character, or vital piety, the only test of fellowship or membership. 6. The right of private Judgment, and the liberty of conscience, the privilege and duty of all. Current Comment. The anarchist Bresci who as sassinated King Humbert of Italy has been sentenced to life im prisonment, capital punishment having been abolished in Italy. He acknowledged the crime and little defense was made in his behalf. Bresci denied having any accomplices or that the as sassination v$as planned in Europe or America. There was a conspicuous absence of exciting or sensational scenes which, it was thought, would be enacted at the trial. Of course Bresci declared that Ithly would soon have a revolution and a plenty of blood shed. There never was a man deluded by a principle or caught in a crime who did not relieve his own bur den toj sortie extent, by think ing “there were others” in the same or in worse predicament. And a man never championed a false philosophy but that ne thought he had, or soon would have, followers and admirers. On the stand, from which Bresci knew he would go to the extreme punishment and penal ties of the law.’tthe criminal was callous, indifferent and display ed little interest either in the trial or its outcome. This was to be expected. Bresci is an an archist. The religion of anar chism is crime, assassination and destruction. Bresci, there fore, goes to his punishment, not as a criminal, but as a martyr; not as one condemned for an awful and heinous crime, but as a hero who has acted bravely and is now to suffer for the sake V of his creed and in behalf of a great, grand and glorious cause. Now if Bresci was the only one who believed that, the ca?e would not be so deplorable. But hundreds of other men of like religious faith believe the same thing. And worse than all, thousands of children in this and in other countries will be taught the same doctrine. The exam ple of this assassin and regicide will be held up before them as high, exalted and worthy of em u'atiou, and Bresci will be re garded amongst them as a great hero, a brave martyr. Every man, woman and child has his or her philosophy. This philos ophy it is which leads one to a high destiny or drives one to ultimate ruin. One may, one does, by heredity, training, en vironment and experience, shape ^and fashion one’s philosophy, but in turn one’s philosophy' shapes and fashions the life and destiny for time and for eternity. Even politics has its moral code. Beyond that code, such as it is, the politician cannot go and live. The country may put up with a great many men and measures that are wrong, some times immeasurably so, yet. there is a stopping place. It may be induced now and then to put up witji anything; it will not put with everything. United States ex-Senator J. J. Ingalls died the other day, Poor Ingalls. A whole country has often wept and put on sack cloth and ashes for men not hall so brainy, so brilliant so elo quent, at one time so prominent and promising. Not so for ex Senator Ingalls. Not that he ever committed an overt crime or at any time brought disgrace to his name. His only crime, if crime it be, was that of under estimating public and political morals and over estimating his power to disregard and defy them. To quote the Southern Churchman: “Mr. Ingalls was unquestion ably one of the most brilliant men, intellectually, in the coun try. He was an antagonist to be feared by the ablest of his contemporaries, and tor many years attracted the attention of the entire country. But he seemed absolutely to divorce morals and political life, and in an evil hour for himself pro claimed his pessimistic belief to the whole world. In a brilliant sDeech, he ventured to declare that the reform of the govern ment was an ‘iridescent dream,’ and that the decalogue had no place in American politics. But with all Mr. Ingalls’ brilliancy and ability, he sorely misjudged and misunderstood the great mass of our people. The Amer ican public is wonderfully long suffering, and forgives much to its public men ; but it does not pardon moral cynicism in its leaders. That public knows that evil exists, and that it may sometimes triumph for a long time, but it will not pardon the would-be leader who openly de fends and advocates that evil; and sooner or later the mass of the people will visit judgment upon him “Mr. Ingalls’ disappearance from national prominence and importance may be said to date almost from the time of his ill judged speech, and he died a comparatively forgotten man. “If Mr. Ingalls’ experience could only be taken to heart and acted upon by many of our pres ent-day public men his life would not have been lived nor his famous and ill-advised speech made entirely m vain, so far as the welfare of our country and the ‘political morals’ of our leaders are concerned. Aod it would certainly be advisable for many of our politicians to take note of Mr. Ingalls’ blunder, and conduct themselves accord ingly.” We are glad to note th«t the colleges and universities are opening well and with increased attendance this year. This is a sign of a better day and a strong manhood and womanhood in the future. The man who educates himsell increases wonderfully his chances for success in lite. Not that all who go to college will be successful in life, or that those who do not go will be fail ures. But the probabilities, “the chances” are increased,. very largely and veryjrapidtly increas by a collegiate education. tWith increased numbers then at our higher institutions of learning we are naturally more hopeful for a future of enlightened, culti vated, successful manhood and womanhood. But, there is, behind all this we see inj the papers and ehar of in the pulpit, another and more potent factor for good or ill in our country. We have ref erence, el course, to the public and private . schools of the com munity. No paper will tell of their remarkable opening or wonderful close. They just open ana close, Degrn ana quit, ana no one knows it outside the immedi ate community in which they are situated. Yet these are the stay and support of civilization. Upon them—the public and secondary schoools, as they are termed— hinges, as upon nothing else, the welfare of the nation. It makes a great deal more difference as to how these open than it does as to how the colleges open. Why? At best only a very small per centage of the population will ever enter college. The many will, or should, attend, the pub lic schools. The college is our pride, the public school our neces sity ; the college our honor, the public school our glory ; the col lege an addition to our life, the public school our life itself,social ly, politically and morally speak ing. You cannot cultivate citi zenship without the college, you cannot have a citizenship worth cultivating without the public school. While then we are re joiced that our colleges are open ing well, we shall be still more rejoiced if the public schools open, and stay open, well. The great majority of our readers will never be able to send their sons and daughters to college. They should see to it that they send them to the pub lic or neighborhood school. This is not only a duty, it is an obli gation they owe to themselves, their children and their country. The parent who will not give his child the benefit ot a com mon school educat'oa, as the term goes, is not fulfilling the first and fundamental obligations of citizenship and parenthood. And we believe the day is not far distant when the State ■will furnish adequate public schools (or the children and then say that the children shall attend them. We do not believe in the paternal theory of govern ment. But we do believe in the theory of State protection. If there is a common enemy to good government and liberal cit izenship that enemy is ignorance —the dark and stupendous ig norance of the masses. From that enemy, as from any other, the State has the right to pro tect itself. If compulsory educa tion is the weapon with which to ward off this foe then the sooner we have compulsory education the better. And we believe that compulsory education is the greatest of the many needs of the South today. NECESSITY OF MORAL PURITY. BY FRED A. JOHNSON. In the Garden of Eden was human nature first defiled. When the fountain becomes cor rupt, the stream is naturally of a similar nature. This is not only established by Scriptural state ments, but is obviously and strik ingly manifested by the conduct of those by whom we are sur rounded. We cannot explain or under stand why God allows the devil to have power by which he can so strongly oppose this world’s virtue, happiness and wellbeing ; but, we do know that God, in His infinite mercy has given each of us adequate power suc cessfully to overcome evil and to fix our own destiny. We are free agents; we can submit to God or the devil as we choose— be a failure as a Christian and a success for the devil, or vice versa. Since Christ’s crucifixion there is not a human soul in hell, heaven or on earth but what was redeemed by our Savior’s own precious blood, and our. most significant work and duty is, by some means, to induce men now living to accept this redemption which is absolutely essential to salvation. “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.” John 13 :8 ; “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.” 1 John 1: 7, these with other Bible refer ences substantiate the fact that human nature may be purified. God hath not abandoned us to our apostasies, but provides means for our recovery and res toration to His image and favor —the blood of the Laml? and the studying of God’s truth to gether with faith and the bap tism of the Holy Ghost being the remedy. God says He will gut this spiritdn us. Is not His spirit pure and holy ? Without holiness no soul can see God. If sin could enter heaven, would it be a place of holiness? God cannot rejoice in those who dwell in iniquity, or approve of their rebellion against Him, for light, purity and holiness hath not fellowship with darkness, corruption and sin ; resultant therefrom, we are excluded from justification, peace, joy and all the high priv ileges of gospel salvation and ultimately we shall not' partici pate in heavenly rapture, but shall hear the denunciation, “Depart from me, ye cursed, in to everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matt 2S:4I* * Dear reader, make a careful examination as to your real Christian character. Are you seriously thinking about the end of this life? A few more days and you shall he numbered with the dead. The end may come suddenly like a flash of lightning, or, may steal slowly upon you as a thief at night, and you may not be ready unless you now prepare. Were you cut off this moment have you the blessed assurance of sweet peace with Jesus? If not, may God help you to prepaie at once. ‘ That awful day will surely come, The appointed hour makes haste, When I must staml before mv Judge, And pass (he solemn test.” CHARITY ANO THE PREACHER. BY “LAYMAN.” Shakspere never puts any but good advice into the mouths if his characters. Hamlet begs his mother to “assume a virture it she has it not” and he meant no deceit nor double-dealing. He meant this: if she had not a sufficient supply ol the “milk of human kindness” that she study to cultivate it until what she lacked by nature were gained by cultivation. What a blessing it would be to the world in gen eral if more people would “as sume the virtue ' of Christian charity. The poet wails : “Alas ! for the rarity of Christian c’naritv under the sun,’and we are el compelled to confess to this rarity. Gossip and back-biting is and has been since the Serpent whis pered into Mrs. Adam’s ear and she hastened to repeat the whis perings to Mr. Adam, but it does seem, in the eternal fitness of things, that the ministers of the gospel should be free from this be-littling practice. A minister is a leader. He is supposed to be to his people what the shep herd is to his fiock-^their leader, guide and example, but oft-times the flock fare better without this guide. The minister goes to his country appointment on a bitter cold Saturday in winter. Bro. A, who is comfortably situated in a warm house and has plenty of good plain fare, invites the minister home with him. He goes. Mrs. A and the younger members of the household have been out very little, possibly, to hear the news and are very glad to have the parson give them the news. They hurry through their supper, clear away the dishes and hurry into the sitting room before the roaring log fire to hear all about what is going on. Bro. B, the minister, is not the first pastor they have had at this church, and the good lady of the house is anxious to know something of Bro. X, who preached for them when her oldest boy was a bady. She is very much shocked to learn that Bro. X is undoubtedly the mean est man but one under the sun. The very meanest is the next minister that is mentioned. The whole evening is spent in just such un-Christian, unchari table talk as this and then the minister devoutly calls for the family Bible and reads : “Bless the Lord, O, my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” • Then he drops upon his knees and thanks God that he is not as other men, forsooth, when he had better thank God that al^ men are not as he is. t This picture is highly drawn, we admit,but it is not exaggerat ed one iota in some ,,cases. Many of my readers have heard just such things time and again from our ministers and it seems to me that it is time some one calls a halt and asks our minis ters to set a better example v Brother, if the cap fits you don’t wear it, out-grow it. Take Hamlet’s advice. Put on the virtue, and if you cannot gel it (into your nature assiyne it in the generally accepted meaning of the term “assume;’’ If you spend the whole year, save one week, in back-biting and slander ing, not your enemies, but your own co-laborers you need not expect God to bless the week >1 J special service you pretend to give him. It takes all one week to get your own sinful heart | purged and the poor sinner is . left in bitterness. Let us all strive to guard the unruly mem ber and carry more Christian love and charity into our every day life and actions. SHALL WE DO OUR PART? BY CHRISTIAN WORKER, fof Ha. and Ala. Conference.] That is, shall the Ga. & Ala. C infer* nee do ti part in agi tating and supporting the two important issues now before our church, viz: The Twentieth Century Fund call and the se curing of the five hundred new subscribers to The Sun, in order that it may be published at $150 a year? No doubt gfeme will think this a very absurd question and will ask if this Conference has not always borne her part? From my own observation of the past, I say that it has not always, and to prove this I will mention only one instance in which it tailed, bat which I think is sufficient. It greatly impressed me at the time it oc curred, but I refrained from speaking or writing of it. A year or more ago, as every read er of The Sun remembers, there was a deficit in the Foreign Mission Fund of a' ou $300,and it was necessary that it should b e raised in a short time in order that no part of our foreign work should be hindered. It required a great effort on the part of some one to undertake and carry out the work of collecting this money. This effort was made by that noble Christian lady, Sister Emily S. Barrett. It took a great deal of writing and persuading on her part to make it a success, but, God be praised, her reward was as great as the effort and in the end she not only had the amount asked for but more beside. Now the point I was coming to is this: that although this was a small amount to be raised it was no less important and called forth prompt and ready response from the church, generally ; if there was ever one cent contrib uted from this conference, I failed to recognize it in the list of contributors as reported through The Sun and I watched those lists eagerly from week to week,hoping in vain to see some familiar name. Ther^may have been some that I failed to recog nize or that contributed under a non-de‘plume but it was no doubt a small amount if done in this way. As for myself it was a great cross to me that I was unable just at that time to make even a small contribution in a financial way, but, thanks be to God for the privilege of daily visiting a throne of grace in be half of the effort that was being put forth. Doubtless there were others that were in my condi tion, but is it possible that an organization composed of about twenty-eight churches, averag ing about forty-five members each, making over one thousand people, that there were none that were financially able to contrib uted to such a worthy cause in a time of great need? 1 have already heard some forming excuses for not contrib uting to the Twentieth Century Fund, one being that our educa tional interest is too far off. It is true, it is a good distance from home for our hoys and girls to go to college, but railroad fare is reasonably low and mail fa cilities are also- cheap and fast, and besides, how can this dis tatfce be avoided ?. Could this conference, out here, apart from the main body of the Southern conferences expect it to place the college within its bounds and thereby send the vast num ber that go there yearly Trom the other conferences equally as far from home to be educated? If so, it is inconsistent and has no right to any such demands. It is not able to cut itself loose from the Convention and estab lish a college of its own. In deed, such a course would be still more inconsistent. Then where is the help? Oh, brethren, the thing lor us to do is to awake and remain awake to all the church interests and enterprises, and by so doing merit God’s blessings and He will cause us to grow and _oui bounds will be so enlarged tha' they will reach the bounds of the nearest conterence across the way, and not only that but will also reach the great center of the Christian church’s inter ests. South, Elon College, and then our educational interest will not be too tar off. But it such was the case would it an swer for our people failing to respond to this call as they should do? Would the great Teacher accept it as a reason able excuse when He calls his children home? Was the for eign mission interests in the above mentioned instance too tar orrr Let us consider these things seriously. What matters it to us anyway for what purpose this freewill thank offering is to he used ; just so it is used for a worthy purpose and the glory of God? It is an opportunity afforded the people to acknowl edge God’s goodness and bless ing to them, and it we fail in doing so we fail to perform a very important duty for which God will surely hold us respon sible. __ Now, in regard to the other question of The Sun for $1.50 Perhaps there is as great, if not a greater, number of people in this Conference who have plead that “if you will just publish the paper for $1.50 I will take it.” If everyone, not only in this, but in all the conferences, who have plead thus would now subsciibe I daresay a great majority of the required number would be ob tained, and if they were really in earnest and not merely excuse making as some believe them to be, but which, of course, they were not, they will subscribe be fore the first of next January. . The next question is, whose duty is it to bring these things before the people and talk it among them and interest them in them? We naturally answer, the pastor. For no one else has so great an opportunity, and, in fact, it is a part of his work and any pastor who fails in this part of his work, I fear will lose a part of his reward in the great day. I sincerely hope that every minister in our conference and others too, read and profit by the address of J. E. West, which was published in The Sun of August 23, — There is just one other thing I wish to mention, that is, the failure of our ministers to report their work through The Sun. Again I ask is the distance too great? Brethren, I am quite sure that if your manuscripts were not too burdensome that Uncle Sam’s mail facilities would in some way manage to get them to the Sun office. Suppose you try it anyway. Oh, dear pastor and brother layman, I greatly fear that back of all these excuses is a reason which in the great day of reck oning will rise up against us, and which the great Judge of all judges will name, Lack of interest, caused by thinking too much of this world's goods and its pleasures. Let us cultivate a greater interest in the work of our church and in all things that pertain to the up-building of Christ’s kingdom in the world, and rally to the Twentieth Cen tury Fund call and all the other church enterprises, and success is ours. FOUR STEPS. BY REV, J. P. BARRETT. D. D. There are four distinct steps in the Christian life, viz.: con viction, Justification, regenera tion, and sanctification. These are divided into two pairs: conviction and regeneration ore additions of new forces to a man’s inner life; jus tification and sanctification are subtractions from a man’s life Notice, too, that each force is added as a preparation for making a subtraction. Convic tion is given to prepare a man for forgiveness (justification) ; regeneration is preparatory for sanctificaton. Thus we see that in justificaton a man’s personal sins are forgiven, and so taken away from his life. So in the sphere of his personal conduct he is made a pure man. In en tire sanctification his persona! sins are not dealt with at all, (or they have been forgiven, but it is the destruction of the carnal nature, in which he is prepared for the freedom from sin, accord ing to Rom. 6: 7, 8,9, 12,14, 22 ; Rom. 8 :2, with many other pas sages. So it is clear that while thejfirst two add new forces to a man’s life, the last two are deliv erances from that which makes a man impure. You see ordi narily, Jwe speak of justification as forgiveness, and that is what it is ; and we speak of sanctifica tion as the destruction of the carnal nature. But Paul is more accurate in both thought and ex pression. He calls the results of J justification sanctification, in the » | that man who has been justified is made pure from his personal /. sins. Then when he speaks of ^ the destruction of the carnal nat ure, he calls it being “whole,? sanctified.” See i Thess. 5 ; It is therefore clearly seen Paul in 1 Cor.i :2, did not r -in so much by “sanctified,” ne did in I Thes. 5 :23, by th. Jrm “wholly sanctified.” And so, my brother, there is no dfficulty at all in the point you make, for in 1 Cor. 1 :2, Paul in speaking of the very same experience as justification, the only difference being that he uses the term sanc tification as expressing the puri fying character of the work done in their personal life and in making no allusion to the de struction of the carnal mind ; so Paul is perfectly consistent when he says they are sanctified in chapter 1 :2, and yet in chapt er 3 :3, says they are yet carnal. This thought is further sustained and justified by the fact that when Paul made reference direct to the destruction of the carnal mind in a direct and definite way,* he spoke of the work as “wholly sanctified.” See 1 Thess. 5 .-23. The same idea is given in many other passages, as Jas. 1 :4 ; Rom. 6 :6 ; Titus 3 15 ; Heb. 10:9, 10, 14, 15; 2 Thess. 2:13. The man who gets drunk, steals, lies, deceives, defrauds, &c., when he is pardoned, is pu rified of all these, and to that ex-, tent he is sanctified, but not “wholly sanctified,” because the carnal nature still lives in his in ner life. It is therfore liable at any unexpected moment to spring up and surprise him in sin. The man who gets his sanctification in regeneration should not be surprised it in any unexpected moment he finds an ger, hatred, envy, strife, drunk enness,&c., suddenly showing up in his lite, but the man who has truly been “wholly sanctified” will have power from o‘n high enabling him to withstand the attacts of the devil made through these sins of the flesh. Is not this a blessed provision of grace? Ought we|not to greatly] rejoice in the privilege, of this posses sion? Thus the difference be tween sanctification, as named in 1 Cor. 1 :2, and that named in i Thess. 5 123, is marked indeed, and I think fully settles the point of difficulty as presnted by the brother with reference to the Spir itual condition of the Corinthians. One is “sanctified” ; the other, is “wholly sanctified.” Now hear his explanation, showing what he understands to be the character of the carnali ty in the life of the sanctified Corinthians: Said he: “Paul meant that they were holy in their natures, but carnal in their practices.” , That is a memorial answer. “Holy in nature, but carnal in practice.” Let us see how that works. Can a spring of pure, sweet water send out bilter wa- - ter? Can a good tree bear evil fruit? Never. Jesus is good au thority, and He said: “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit.” Matt. 7 : iS. That is a clear case, and so the brother who thinks I that we may have a holy nature with a practice has simply and plainly misconceived and misin I terprepted the idea of entire j sanctification. A holy life must and will produce holy practices. | Why may not any one in grace be able to see that? And the opposite is true too, for a carnal life will be sure to have carnal practices creeping out every now I Concluded on 4th Page.)
The Christian Sun (Elon College, N.C.)
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Sept. 13, 1900, edition 1
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