Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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.