Newspaper Page Text
Banks County Gazette.
VOL 1 .—NO. 40.
The liOrd’s Day.
God has commanded us in the
most solemn manner to “feraember
the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” It
is to be regarded not as a common
day, to be spent as other {lays, in
worldly pursuits or in worldly pleas
ures, but as a day especially set apart
to the Lord, to be spent with special
reference to his service and glory.
Conversation and pursuits of a world
ly character, entirely proper on other
days, are not proper on the Sabbath.
God claims one day in seven as a day
of rest from worldly toil and care, to
l>e devoted especially to his worship
and service. All secular labor, except
works of mercy, which are always well
pieasiDg to God, and works of neces
sity, which cannot be deferred, is im
proper on the Lord’s day. One of the
greatest sins of the present time, and
one that is doing more to demoralize
our population than auy other, is the
desecration of the Sabbath. Its sa
credncss is disregarded, and when not
employed in ordinary worldly pur
suits, it is largely spent in worldly
pleasure and in scenes of dissipation
and vice. Instead of being used to
honor God, it is m;uie the special
occasion by many to cast reproach
upon his name and trample und|r
foot every thing that is sacred and
divine. To what extent protesfflig
Christians are responsible for this state
of things it is not easy to determine,
but that they are to some extent re
sponsible does not admit of doubt.
Many of them not only indulge in
Sabbath desecration themselves, but
countenance and encourage it in
others. If all Christian people would
conscientiously observe the Lord’s
day, and bring their influence to bear
in a proper way to secure its decent
observance by others, many of the
worldly pursuits which are now car
ried on upon the Sabbath, and main
of the scenes of dissipation and vice
which now dishonor the day and God
who has sanctified it, would soon dis
appear, and a better slate of things
would be introduced. This subject
certainly demands serious considera
tion. Professing Christians cannot
expect God to bless and prosper them
while they profance his Sabbath, dis
regard li'a authority, and dishonor his
name.
The Work of One Man.
Ati interesting pamphlet nas just
been sent out by liev. Thomas D.
Dimxnock, of Carrollton, one of the
missionaries of the- Georgia depart
ment of the American Sunday school
Union.
It shows that within the past twelve
yea's he has organized 508 new Sun
day schools in which were 35,115
teachers and scholars, that he has
visited and aided 315, be has distrib
uted books ami papers by grant atffl
sale, amounting to $5,105.89, he has
given to the needy 9,614 bibles and
testaments, he has visited 12,934 fam
ilies, he has delivered 3,985 addresses,
he has held 189 conventions and trav
eled to accomplish this work, 80,891
miles.
The greater part of these Sunday
schools have been organized in desti
tute neighborhoods. This work has
been to many a community where
ignorance and vice prevailed, what
the cruse of salt cast by the hand of
Elisha was to Jerico,s bitter spring.
By the divine blessing the ignorant
have been instructed, the degraded
have been elevated, congregations
have been gathered, revival's have fol
lowed, thousands of the scholars have
been brought to Christ, churches have
been planted, Gods name has been
glorified, and salvation has been
brought to the children of raec, caus
ing the wilderne sand solitary place
to be glad for them, and the desert to
rejoice and blossom as the rose.—At
lanta Journal.
All the charges we have made
against the saloons might be substan
tiated if necessary, by names, dates
and other particulars, which are for
the most part matters of public re
cord. And not a hundredth part of
the story has been told, or could be
told, in these pages. We-have said
nothing of that chiefest and greatest
of all reformatory agencies, the Chris
tian church and its auxiliaries, such
as the Young Men’s Christian Asso
ciations and other religious societies.
! Even our foreign missionary societies
are crying out against the sin and
shame of sending a cargo of rum to
the heathen for every man who ia
sent to preach the tidings of salvation.
“More gospel and loss rum” is the
piteous plea which the Congo chief
tain sends back to his white brothers
in Christian lands. And so we frame
our indictment against the traffic in
strong drinks—the common enemy,
the malignant, vindictive, arrogant,
and aggressive enemy of ail things
good and pure under t.e sun—the
arch-enemy of the cause.of God and
humanity.—Nashville Advocate.
There seems to be nt> end to the
societies in the church; their name,
in a limited sense, may be called
legion. The Christian Inquirer, re
ferring to anew one, says: “But how
many societies are we to have to brace
up Christian people? Is the church,
the one organization the New Testa
ment sanctions, to be regarded as
altogether inadequate to the needs of
its members ?"’
Turning Over a New Leaf.
W e are busy “turning over anew
leaf” as w'c cross that real though in
visible line into the year of grace
1891. Yes, W'e are at it again. For
years we have been doing it, or saying
we were doing it, resolving to do it,
really intending to do it, persuading
ourselves, perhaps, that we have done
it. But, with many of us, that has
been all.. The leaf was only turned
in word, on paper, or half articulated
mental purgose. Or if turned in
reality, the first gnst of temptation
turned it lightly back. It was not
turned over six! “pasted down” to
stay. And so we are at it again, as
the new year comes round. All me!
sad that we have not got farther on
than that. Yet let us thauk God that
we have not gone father back. It
counts for some thing that we are
still ready to resolve; that we have
not lost heart and hope; that wo are
not the rather exclaiming, “It is no
use trying any longer!” Indeed let
us be thaukful for that. Nor should
we forbear to resolve once more.—
Southern Christian Advocate.
Personal bolinesi is the greatest
work to which we are called on earth;
all other works prosper as we advance
in this. Even religious works which
interfere- with this are not good.
Henry Marlyn was so "delighted and
absorbed in his work o.f translating
the Bible into Hindostanee and Per
sian that lie stops to pi ay and record:
“May the Lord, in mercy to my soul,
save me from setting up an idol of any
sort in Ids pi ice: as I do by prefer
ring even a work professedly done for
h'm. to communion with him. How
obstinate is tlie reluctance of the
natural heart to love God! But, O
my soul, be not deceived, thy chief
work on earth is to obtain sanctifica
tion, and walk with
Christian Advocate.
Good German teachers give more
attention to the how .than the what.
For example, in good German schools
more time is spent in the preparation
than in the recitation; but the fact is,
good teaching is good teaching,
whether in France, England, Tasma
nia, or the United States. We hear
a good deal about the German system
of public schools; but a little investi
gation shows that what is good about
them is nothing more nor less than
applied common sense. As the Chris
tian Union has pointed out, “the Ger
man boy enters the gymnasium, and
for nine years his course is a steady
progression and accumulation; there
Ls no changing of schools, no transfer
from one set of teachers to another,
with entirely different ideas and
methods. Each year builds intelli
gently upon the past, and, without
interruption or dissipation of ener
gies, the boy reaches the end of the
course, and leaves the gymnasium,
HOMER, BANKS COUNTY, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11,1891.
prepared for the most advanced uni
versity studies.” This is as it ought
to be—common sense applied. We
lack system —with all our systematic
changes of teachers, changes of text
books, changes of schools, changes all
the way through. The result is loss
of time and destruction of interest.
The true way is to put qualified teach
ers in good places, and then give
them freedom and permanency. This
is common sense.
Recognize Higli Aspirations.
Deep down in the hearts of chil
dren and of men there are nobler and
truer standards of living than their
outward lives are wont to exhibit.
Many persons wait for their follows
to recognize their higher and better
aspirations before they are willing
to act upon those aspirations. He
whose higher motives and deeper
longings are unknown may have his
best acts misinterpreted; but he
whose best spirit is appreciated is
more likely to have his acts interpret
ed by the spirit. A school teacher,
on seeing a young schollar misbehave,
said to him, “I am sorry you did
this, because I had formed a very
good opinion of you.” The boy
went home and confessed to his
mother that if he had known what a
good opinion his teac her had of him,
he would not have done wrong.
Had his teacher said, “I’ve had my
eye on you for* some time, and now
I’ve caught yon,” the hoy would
simply have been confirmed in his
suspicion that no one expects a boy
to do anything hut the wrong thing.
It ought to he a simple matter to
show a child or a man that our first
impulse toward him is that of trust
rather than distrust. And when he
has gone wrong, he will be better
helped by our showing that we appre
ciate the fact he has gone wrong in
spite of the good we believe him ca
pable of, rather than in accordance
with our suspicions of him.—Sunday
School Times.
A well known medical mao, who
has recently been in Norway, gives a
glowing description of their manner
of treating dipsomaniacs. An habit
ual drunkard in Sweden and Norway
is treated as a criminal in this sense,
that his inordinate love of strong
drink renders him liable to imprison
ment, and while in confinement ho is
cured of his bad propensities. From
the day the confined drunkard is in
carceratcai no nourishment is served
to him or her but bread and wine.
The bread, however, it should be
said, cannot be eaten apart from the
wine, but is steeped in :v bowl of it,
and left to soak thus an hour or more
before the meal is served to the delin
quent. The first day the habitual
toper takes his food in this shape
without the slightest repugnance; the
second he finds it less agreeable to
l’ : s palate, and very quickly he
evinces a positive aversion to it.
Generally, the doctor states, eight or
ten days of this regimen is more than
sufficient to make a man loathe the
very sight of wine, and even refuse
the prison dish set before him. This
manner of curing drunken habits is
said to succeed almost without excep
tion, and men or women who have
undergone the treatment not only
rarely return to their evil ways, but
from sheer disgust they frequently
become total abstainers afterward.
Do not make the virtues enemies
to each other. Poor human nature,
ever a house divided against itself,
sometimes seems as if seeking to re
gain its lost harmony by introducing
its own discord into the circle of
those graces which God has joined
together. How often you will hear
it said concerning this person or that:
He is sullen and revengeful, but yon
can absolutely trust his honesty; or,
his life is impure, but he always stands
to his word of honor; or again, he is
an uufilial son, but he is so generous
and open h -arted. From the way in
which men talk of the virtues, it
would often seem as if these were
deadly foes who would not live har
inouiously together in the same house;
and the apparent application is that
if a man he honest, you can not ex
pect him to he generous; and if he be
truthful, it is too much to ask him to
be chaste. All such talk as this re
veals a terrible disunion in human
character. There is no reason, out
side of human sin, why the soul should
not be girt with the harmonious com
j pany of all the virtues. They cer
tainly will not quarrel with each other,
though man may quarrel with one or
all of them. In fact, there is no
more reason why a man should con
sider that, because he has one partic
ular virtue in his make, he is excus
able for his lack of another, than that
he should think that because he has
very sevieable eyes, he can dispense
altogether with ears. In God’s plan
the virtues are hut different facets of
the one diamond of character: “what
God hath joined together let not man
put asunder.”—Sunday School Times.
Unconcioiis Imitation.
One of Mr. Maurice’s shrewd re
marks is that men generally do not
set themselves deliberately to follow
examples, but the examples get the
mastery over them; the life in the
men who exhibit them awakens life
in others. Often it is an unconcioiis
procedure. The good man goes on
his way, doing his duty as best he
knotvs how, not thinking how it affects
others, and yet he is like a light
house shedding illumination far and
near. And iiis fellows, witnessing
the spectacle, arc insensibly touched
and draw'll they hardly know how.
Sometimes it requires the death of
the pattern to make men feel what it
hiis been to them. Only let a man
live godly in Christ Jesus, and his
example will take care of ittjelf.—
Chrissian Intelligencer.
. Front every source there comes the
Rrong indictment of the liquor traffic.
Jjveti the Chicago Tribune thus in.
veighs against it: “A look through
the narrative portion of ‘Darkest
England’ tends to the conclusion that
ditnk is at the bottom of the whole
hfirrid slough of despond. Every sigh,
e\ery tear, every drop of spilt blood
sebms to smell of the gin palace.
Simulation stands toward degrada
tion in the relation of cause and con
sequence, vanguard, rearguard, right
wiig and left wing; in short, insepar
ab a, concomitant.”
And yet the Tribune has ever been
an ardent defender of high license,
tht bitterest foe of prohibition, and
th<i ever ready tool of the “gin pal
act-.” Is its defense of the drunkard
it
miils honest?—Demorest Times.
Revival Preaching.
It is a great mistake to suppose, as
is Sometimes done, that preaching can
properly be. dispensed with at any
stage of a revival meeting. In fact,
tlnjrp is no other occasion that offers
stick opportunities for expounding
an| enforcing the gospel. People are
thciri most inclined to hear. Indiffer
ence is dissipated; prejudice is abated.
The wprd falls on a leniive ears and
quickened consciences. The same
utterances that, at ordinary seasons,
woqld awaken no interest and create
no cjoncern, do often, during periods
of religious excitement, produce the
most wonderful results. The time to
lodge the great doctrines of onr holy
religion in men’s minds is when men
are’most open to receive them. The
wise preacher will recognize this fact,
aud. instead of allowing himself to
waste his opportunity in mere gospel
talks, without unity and without point
will bring into requisition his most
thoughtful discourses. It is natural
that the subject matter of revival
preaching should consist largely of
direct, personal appeals to a better
life. By a true instinct the preacher
feels tiiat what is need at such a time
is earnest and affectionate entreaty.
He knows that many of his hearers
are not far from the kingdom of God ;
and he longs, if it may be so, to speak
the decisive word that shall cause
them to take the last step in the right
direction. We have often heard de
vout men, in the midst of great spirit
ual upheavals, deliver the gospel call
as if they had been commissioned
straight from heaven, and their lips
touched with holy fire for the task.
When the w’hole atmosphere is thus
pervaded with an unusual moral ear
nestness, no true man will dare to
deliver an abstract or unpractical dis
course. The mere thought of such a
thing would be sin.
Wo have, nevertheless, thought
that there is a tendency among some
preachers to curtail the themes of
revival preaching even beyond the
proper limits. It is sometimes the
case that a direct appeal will do no
good unless the ground has been laid
for it in advance. In every communi
ty, and in every congregation, there
are points in regard to which special
instruction and exhortation is needed.
The lack of this instruction and ex
hortation will block the way to a suc
cessful revival with absolute certainty.
If there are wranglings and disturb
ances among brethren, let the sin and
folly of them be faithfully pointed
out. If Christian parents regularly
neglect family worship, let them be
taught that they are imperiling the
salvation of their own souls and that
of their children. If covetousness is
eating away the life of the anarch, or
it worldliness and frivolity are de
stroying its power, let the trumpet
give no uncertain sound on these sub
jects. The best revival with which
Ged ever blessed our ministry began
with a sermon on the duty of honor
ing parents. We look back to it
now, after the lapso of twenty years,
with feuliugs of unfeigued gratitudo
to God. One of our ablest young
ministers told us that a most remark
able work of grace once followed a
series of plain, straightforward ser
mons that he delivered in a southern
town on business honesty. We might
illustrate our thought still further,
but it is not necessary to do so now.
Let every one think about the matter
for himself, and adjust his methods
with a view to the best possible re
sults. Intelligent use of opportuni
ties is what is demanded.—Nashville
Christian Advocate.
The Oldest Man on Earth.
The oldest man in the world is a
citizen of Bogotta, in the republic of
San Salvador.
This new Methuselah declares that
lie is 180 yoars old, and it would
seem that ho flatters himself, for
bis neighbors give the assurance that
lie is older than lie says he is.
He is a half-breed named Michael
Solis, whose existence was revealed
to Dr. Luis Heryandexby one of the
oldest planters in that locality, who
as a child knew Sobs as a centenarian.
They have found in the year 17T2
bis signature among thoso of persons
who contributed to the building of
a Franciscan convent, which existed
near Sebastian.
His skin is like parchment, his
long hair is of the whiteness of snow
and envelops his head like a turban,
and his eye is so keen that it made a
d'sagreeab'e impression on the doctor.
Interrogated by the doctor lie an
swered complaisaiitlv that his great
age was due to his regular inode of
living, and to his never giving up to
any excess of any sort whatever.
He said: “I never eat but once a
day, but I never use any but the
strongest and most nourishing foods.
My meals last half an Loin, for I be
lieve it impossible to eat more in tb.n
lime than the body can digest in
twenty-four hours. I fa3t the first
and fifteenth day of each month, and
on those days I drink as muc.t water
rs I can bear. I always let my food
become cold before I touch it. It is
to these things that I atlrbute my
great agv.”—Demurest Tunes,
Scrpiure Promises.
There seems but little chance to
say my thing new concerning the
promises of Scripture. And yet they
often come to our hearts with all the
power and freshness of new revela
tion. Sometimes they lead us into one
train of thought, sometimes another.
While leading in Isaiah recently I
was struck with their fullness their
completeness. In one verse alone, I
SINGLE COPY THREE CENTS.
read that Christ is to his people “as a
hiding-place from the w r ind, and a
covert fropi the tempest; as rivers of
water in a dry place; as the shadow
of a great rock in a weary land.”
Surely, one who goes to the word
of God for strength ought not to he
faint-hearted, though wind, tempest,
thirst, and weariness are threatening
him, or have already overtaken him!
God lias promised, and his word is
“Yea and Amen” to all who believe
on him.
The promise that Christ will be as
the “shadow of a great rock in a
weary land” is to me one of great
sweetness and consolation. That
life has its wearisome windings
through disappointments and sorrow
cannot be denied. Our souls grow
sick and faint in the struggles we
pass through. One thing after another
fails us. Our loves, our friendships,
our trusts, are often misplaced, and
human calculations fail us, and we
ourselves driven mercilessly onward,
finding no resting-place until we
come to the “shadow of a great rock.”
Thanks to the immutabilty of God,
that Rock stands a aeady covert,
when time and change have done
their worst to drive us to despair!—
Lydia L. Rouse.
An Episcopalian preacher, giving
his opinion of the Salvation Army,
asks “whether anybody could imagine
Jesus Christ as an officer of such a
remarkable organization.” To this
the London Christian World answers
that “there are those who would at
once reply that they could just as
soon imagine Jesus Christ as a salva
tion army officer, toiling among the
poor as they could imagine him a
bishop or an archbishop, with his
£5,000 or £15,000 a year and a seat
in the house of lords.”
Of all the unhappy creatures on
the face of the earth, the most to bo
pitied is the vain, sensitive, egotist
ical bundle of humanity, who always
imagines every thing is intended for
him. The preacher preaches at him,
the editor writes at him, the gossip
gossips about him, and, taking it “by
and large,” the whole world, while
seemingly engaged in other matters,
is really occupied in observing his
mightiness, smiling when he smiles,
and trembling when he frowns.
Such persons ought to stick a finger
in a pail of water and drawing it out
learn from the whole how much real
importance they are in fhe world.
One of the prime objects of the
Alliance, is that all AlUaneemeu
might become better educated upon
all questions that the farmer and
laboring class of people, and now,
while all are trying to discover the
evils that they have to encounter,
and then find a remedy therefor, they
should remember that the question-of
educating the minds of their children
effects them with as much vital force
as does the question of providing food
and raiment.
Christ never charged us to imitate
him at the tomb of Lazarus, either in
the depth or intensity of his inward
groaning, or in his power to raise the
dead. But he does charge us to imi
tate him in the lowly, and not less
divine, service of washing the disci
ples’ feet.—Nashville Advocate.
Johnny—Say, father, what makes
the baby cry every time it wakes up?
Grown—Well, from what I know of
babies, it cries from vexation to find
that it has kept still for a reasonable
length of time.
Kossuth's Honesty.
Americans who remember the Louis
Kossuth of forty years ago—handsome,
romantic, eloquent, impassioned—can
uot easily imagine him a worn and fee
ble Vetera * of 88, earning in exile a
scanty income by his pen. Though fort
une, friendships and patriotic hopes are
long outlived, he still keeps iiis sensi
tive honesty, and lately refused an
offer from his publishers to advance
3,000 florins in anticipation of future
articles, on the ground that he might
not live to fulfill his contract. —Har-
per’s Bazar.