jpref
yiil
IN ESSENTIALS—UNITY, IN NON-ESSENTIALS—LIBERTY, IN ALL THINGS—CHARITY
ESTABLISHED 1844:
GREENSBORO, N. C., WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 19p7.
VOLUME LIX, NUMBER IS.
All communications, whether for publica
tion or pertaining to matters of business,
should be sent to the Editor, J. 0. Atkinson,
Elon College, N. C.
EDITORIAL COMMENT.
A lesson And ,a Tragedy.—One of the
saddest pictures o^«our day is that now ex
hibited by our Government and China. It
is just one of those tragic scenes that now
and then transpire in the course of human
events that no one can foiesee, none can
prevent.
It all grew out of the Boxer uprising in
China and the awful deeds attendant there
Tipon. As an outcome of those dark days
the Powers together ' assessed China the
enormous sum of $360,000,000" to be paid in
thirty nine years with' four per cent inter
est, thus almost doubling the principal. Of
course this was done to teach China a lesson.
Of the amount $25,000,000 was to be paid
our Government. One fifth of this sum has
already been paid, nearly enough to satisfy
all personal claims, aitd our Government’s
share in the expenses.
China is still due us $20,000,000 and inter
est. Think. Our Government with money
in its coffers and to spare. China staggering
under the weight of an almost hopeless debt,
' her coffers empty, and her citizens, taxed
to the teeth, begging for bread, dying by the
thousands of sheer starvation. It is a lesson
in tragedy.
Another Decision Against Liquor.—The de
cision of Judge Artman in Indiana, touching
the temperance question, was referred to and
its far reaching import explained, in these
columns. Following this decision, the Unit
ed States Supreme Court has handed down
a decision that temperance people every
where will rejoice over. The case in point
went up from South Dakota. A man in the
prohibition section of that State acted as
agent for a liquor concern outside the State,
soliciting orders and having them filled by
express. He was tried for violating the pro
hibition law of his State, indicted and took
an appeal, finally to the U. S. Supreme
Court. This Court affirms the decision of
the lower courts and holds the agent guilty,
maintaining that this in no wise infringes the
rights of interstate commerce. That is a
sweeping decision and a distinct victory for
temperance and law. Take one of our North
Carolina towns which had voted prohibition.
Immediately after the saloons were closed,
maybe the barkeeper himself would open
an agency, and receive orders for delivery
by express. He not infrequently did a more
thrifty business than before his saloon was
closed, and the town and State were power
less, because interstate commerce was af
fected. This decision will put hundreds of
liquor agents out of busftiess even in thies
State, (those in Greensboro we understand
have shut up and quit and other agents over
the State if they wish to keep out of Federal
prisons will do like wise forthwith).
An Educational Congressman.—One of the
most interesting and eloquent speakers at
the recent Conference for Education in the
South held at Pinehurst, was Captain Rich
mond Pearson Hobson, now Congressman
from Alabama. Captain Hobson is re
ported by those who attended and heard
him as "the man who believes, something.’'
He has convictions and does not hesitate
to voice them. One idea'he advanced, at the
Conference is so novel it is causing not a
little comment. His belief is that a large
part of a Congressman’s work is education
al and he proposes to make practical demon
stration in his own district. On the first of
May he was to start, with four Government
experts, on a campaign of education, visit
ing in eleven days all parts Of his district,
he, with the four Government assistants,
makihg several speeches a day. One of his
assistants is an expert road builder, another
an expert forester, another an expert on
soils, and so on. Each of these will give
definite and specific information on practical
matters pertaining to those several duties.
The Congressman thus hopes to reach and
benefit every voter in his district. He will,
by Government resources, make a. mile of
perfect road as an object lesson for the local
highway commission. He will secure the
printing, in the Congregational Record of the
speeches the Govermental experts deliver
and, under the ’ franking law, place them
without cost in the- hands of all the voters
of his district. He believes other Congress
men will follow in his footsteps and thus aid
in the general work of soil improvement,
road building, forestry etc.
Captain Hobson’s plan has the virtue of
novelty about it, and as .he is putting the
same into actual practise we may hope to
hear further of his idea.
The Dread Disease.—Call it that, or by its
other name, “The White Plague,” or if you
prefer, Consumptiori, but it all comes to the
same. It remains in its consuming power
a disease that is a “ plague. ’ ’ The skill of
man, and the science of scholars, have not
been able to stay its deadly devastations. It
may be prevented, but cured, seldom indeed
if ever. States and Goverments are bat
tling with it, but it is an enemy to put to
flight. The last Legislature of North Car
olina enacted a statue, and made an appro
priation, to establish a sanitarium among our
sand hills to do battle with the disease. Oth
er states are doing likewise.
We were but recently noticing statistics
in N. Y. In that one city 23,000 cases were
reported last year, and the Department of
Health report that Consumption is killing
thirty New Yorkers every day, the daily
average for the State being forty four.
The relief is in preventive measures. And
this is important to all Sun readers, do what
you can to prevent consumption in your own
family. This record from a New' Yovk ex
change gives the meaning and suggests the
remedy: “Insufficient and bad air, dark
rooms, exercise, filthy streets and dust, vice,
rum and tobacco account for five sixths of
the cases, and the causes of failures t°
recover in many instances are included in
the same list.”
A Stupid Superstition.—Though print
ed and denounced and exposed a hundred
times over, that stupid and stupendous fol
ly and superstition, the “prayer chain” still
flourishes. It is most marvelous indeed and
shows how steeped in superstition we of
this country are. This “prayer chain” has
now gone to such limits that it has clogged
the United States mail, and still the letters
continue and increase. Here is the letter
as written by your friend and sent out.
“Dear Friend and Christian: Below is a
chain just as it was sent to me, so I send it
out to others, for I do not want it broken
in my hands. May God bless you and oth
ers to keep it going:
“O, Lord Jesus, we implore thee, 0 eternal
God, to have mercy on all mankind; keep us
from all sin, and take us to live with thee
eternally, -truieii.
This prayer was dictated by Bishop Law
rance. He commands it to be written and
sent to nine other persons. He who will pay
no attention to it will meet with a terrible
accident. He who will write this prayer for
nine days and send it to nine others, commen
cing the day you receive this (only one each
day), will after nine days experience some
great joy. At Jerusalem at the feast, it was
he who would write this prayer would be
delivered from every cal'amity. Please do
not let thir drop in your hands. I have
written this just as I received ft. Now,
please send it to others. Sincerely,
“Christian.”.
•Bishop Lawrance has denounced the letter
as a fraud and says he never had anything
to do with it. It is a pure hoax from begin
ning to end, a poor production, and a sorry
get up, with an awful penalty attached.
There is no Christianity in such nonsense.
Yet millions of these letters are being written
and the whole country is broadcast with
them. Ours is indeed a superstitious and
perverse generation.
SOME HINDERERS.
Satan is a liinderer. He is a malicious
being who tries to make every Christian
stumble and fall, and to prevent every soul
from carrying out any good purpose.
One will say, “I do not believe there is
such a being in the world.” It seems that
Satan has been ruled out of the theology
of many modern religious teachers. ( Mod
ern religious thought has abolished the evil
one. All good men and womeii most heartily
wish there were no such ejm spirit in the
universe, and* they would be among the fore
most to help vote him out.. But there will
be many a hard fight before the world shall
be rid of Satan. He is quite willing that
men should not believe in his existence; but
while they are flattering themselves that
modern wisdom has so effectually disposed of
the doctrine of an evil spirit that intelligent
men will never more fear him he is getting
in some .very effectual work against the king
dom of truth.
Jesus believed in the existence of the evil
one, and taught men to believe this doctrine.
We cannot prove this doctrine as we may
prove a proposition in mathematics, but we
believe it on the authority of Jesus. We
believe some things which we cannot prove,
nor can we have personal knowledge of them;
but we believe them on the authority of oth
ers who do know. In matters of this kind
-Jesus is the highest authority. Other men
have traveled more than He did. They have
read more books than He ever read. They
have attended better schools than He ever
attended. But when it comes to a question
of the spirit of man, or the Spirit of God, or
the spirit of evil, or the invisible realms of
spirit, He knew more than all the philoso
phers and scholars of His time and of our
time together.
This'evil spirit is abroad today seeking
whom he may hinder. He is busy and suc
cessful. Those who are indifferent will be
overtaken and ruined. “Resist the devil,
and he will flee from you. ’ ’ Hide in Christ
Jesus, and you shall find a safe refuge from
the wiles bf the devil.
Unbelievers and false teachers are hind
erers. Some false teachers believe the doc
trines they promulgate, but many are de
ceivers. It is hard to understand the fasci
nation of false doctrines. They prevail over
the weak, and also over the strong. Intel
ligent men and women by thousands become
a prey to false teachers. There is no doc
trine so absurd that it will not find adher
ents if it has reference to occult and invis
ible things. Those teachers who claim to
have special illumination and special com
munications with the spirit world are
strangely fascinating. They have power to
decieve intelligent men and women, to rob
them of all their money and their faith in
Christ. How shall we know the false from
the true? Whatever doctrine comes between
the soul and the Lord Jesus Christ is false.
Every doctrine that tends to dishonor or
discredit the Holy Ghost is false. Every
doctrine that sets some other authority above
tee Bible is raise. Hi very doetnne that does
not tend to .purify the heart and lif-3 is false.
| Professing Christians sometimes become
hinderers. It is a sad thing to say. Chris
tians ought to help one another. But in
too many cases, by a bad example, by un
kind and uncharitable criticism, fcv dishon
esty in business, and carelessness in social
life, they hinder the work of the Lord, and
turn men away from Christ.. It is an awful
thing to be guilty of such a charge. It were
better for a man that a millstone were hang
ed about his neck, and that he were drown
ed in the depths of the sea, than that he
should put a stumbling block ip the way of
one of the least of God’s saints. ■
Husbands sometimes hinder their wives
and wives. their husbands. Parents hinder
their children from entering into the king
dom of God. It is not an uncommon thing
to hear a mother say of her son who desires
to unite with the charch and be saved, “He
is altogether too young.”
Hinderers may be found where we least
expect them. But the chief hindrance is in.
the heprt of the one who is hindered. He
is his own hinderer. The chief stumbling
block is within. In the parable of the mar
riage supper the invited guests are repre
sented as making excuses. But it must have
occurred to every thoughtful reader that not
one of them mentioned the real reason why
he did not go to the wedding. The real rea
son was writhin. He did not go because he
did not wish to go. He was not willing to "
meet the king and sit at his supper by a
neighbor with whom he is not on good terms,
he will make many excuses, but the real rea
son why he refuses is because he does not
wish to go.
The real reason why men and women do
not become Christians is because they love
something else more than God. The real
stumbling block over which Christians stum
ble and fall is within. They have fallen in
love with another, and God has been turned
out. It may be a simple thing, but it is
something in the heart that has done the
mischief. It may be a farm, or a store, or
a gold-mine, or some fascinating pursuit.
It may be they are unwilling to do something
which the service of God requires. They
are not willing to perform some duty, or
to forgive some one who has wronged them,
or to give up the feelings of enmity which
rankles in th'e heart. These are the stumb
ling blocks that hinder.—Christian Advo
cate.
HINT TO YOUNG MARRIED PEOPLE
WITH CHILDREN.
Accept a friendly suggestion. Carefully
store your minds with personal, town and
city important events, all changes and great
events in your own Church, and all such dis
coveries as are made in your time, partic
ularly what goes on in your own beloved
country and in the great nations of the
world. Pay little attention to gossip in
newspapers. It makes no difference to you
what the man’s name is that killed his wife
a thousand miles from where you live. As
Emerson says in substance, what difference
does it make to you what the names of peo
ple are that are doing what has been done
from the beginning of the world? Why do
we give you this hint? Because you will be
able to interest your children when they are
little, and in every stage you can make home
pleasant to them by telling them in your own
language the important things that you have
learned or heard. Then your boys and girls
will pass out of the childish state, and be
fore you and they know it you and they will
be companions. But there is something more.
You w7ill have so many things to think of
that your mind will not grow weak in ad
vancing years so soon as otherwise they
might. There is no more beautiful specta
cle than grandparents interesting their
grandchildren by their reminiscences and the
light they can Jthrow upon many things that
interest young folks; and there is not a much
more melancholy spectacle than that of per
sons who have never treasured up anything.
Too often they are peevish and prematurely
dull. The exceptions are when the disposi
tion was extremely good, or when—though
they do not store up anything in memory—
they have a sure hold on God and a bright
hope of everlasting life. That is the only
thing can make happy those w’hose stock
of ideas and facts is small when they are £
through with business and practically con
fined to the house or its vicinity.—N. Y.
Christian Advocate.
The Supreme Court of the United States has
handed down a decision confirming the Su
preme Court decision of North Carolina that
a state corporation commission has the right
to force trains of one line to make connec
tion with those of another line, when fail
ure to make such connection would result
in great inconvenience to the public. The
plea went upon the famous “Selma connec
tion case,” of this State in which the cor
poration commission seeks to compel the A.
C. L. to connect with the Southern at Selma.
Please renew for the Christian Sun to-day.