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194
The Methodist Advocate.
ATLANTA, GA., DECEMBER 4, 1872.
N. E. COBLEIGH, D.D., LL.D., Editor.
As an inducement for an early canvass,
v. 3 offer The Methodist Advocate to
new subscribers free for the remainder
of this year, or from date of receiving
the subscription.
This is for those who send us twe dol
lars, and take the paper for the whole of
next year,. beginning with January Ist
and ending with the last of December,
but does not apply in cases where per
sons subscribe for a single quarter or for
six months; Please bear this in mind,
and avail yourselves of the chance to get
cur paper for thirteen months at only
the regular rates per annum, of $2.
will confer a favor by
going to work for us in earnest, and can
vassing their charges, while our offer
holds good.
A PBBMIUM TO BUBSCBIBEBB.
We will send to each subscriber of The
Methodist Advocate for 1873, (preach
ers included,) who pays cash in advance ,
n copy of our new and superb steel en
graving of the bishops and Mr. Wesley.
It will contain the portraits of twenty
eight bishops and Rev. John Wesley, en
graved by F. E. Jones, who is known as
one of the very best engravers in our
country.
The picture will also contain valuable
statistics, that make it truly historical.
It will b* **<»*. A tiuuuc tne
first of January. Agents sending the
money will be careful to give the names
of those entitled to the engraving, and
they will be sent in the order their names
are received.
If an agent will order all the engrav
ings for his subscribers to his own ad
dress, the expense of the package will be
paid by the publishers, and a copy also
sent to the agent. If sent by mail to
single subscribers, ten cents postage will
be charged, and in this latter case post
age must be received before the engraving
is forwarded. In no case will the engrav
ing be furnished unless the money ac
company the order for the paper.
. Hitchcock & Walden, Publishers.
fVe shall keep the time of the session of our
Southern conferences standing in the Calen
dar, until the session is held. Persons inter
ested will have only to refer to the Calendar
to find out time, place, and presiding officers.
Our brethren will bear in mind that it is
one of the regulations of the publishers to
charge for inserting marriage notices—fifty
cents for each notice of that kind inserted.
If the money is not forwarded with the notice,
we understand that it will be fcharged to the
officiating clergyman or the one sending the
notice.
♦ »
We solicit a copy of the Minutes of each of
the annual conferences in the South, to pre
serve for reference in this office. Back num
bers would also be acceptable. We invite the
secretaries to send us a copy soon as published.
Wc propose to make good use of them. Our
copy from the Tennessee Conference, in the
confusion of moving the office, has been lost,
and we pray for another.
IJbUnary notices should be prepared or ap
proved by preachers in charge of circuits,
presiding elders, or some one whom we know
to be reliable. Only in this way can we be
secured against liability to imposition. Only
members of the church as a rule are entitled
to such notice in our paper. The notice
should be received within three months of the
time of the decease. Here brevity should be
observed.
The names of about two hundred subscrib
ers have been sent to the office during the
month of November. Only one month re
mains of 1872. We ought to have at least a
thousand new subscribers during December,
besides the renewal of all whose term will
expire by the Ist of January, 1873. If the
preachers do their duty, we shall get more
than a thousand additional subscribers by the
irst of next month. In this work the church
is served more than any body else. Push the
canvass, brethren! push the canvass!
Our Church in Knoxville, Tenn.—
The First Methodist Episcopal Church in
Knoxville was organized in 1865, in the
court-house, with only thirty members. Rev.
J. F. Spence, A.M., was its first pastor. It has
now an active, pious, working membership of
215 communicants. It worships in the finest
church building in East Tennessee. Its reg
ular congregation is said to be the largest in
the city. For intelligence and refinement it
will compare favorably with any congregation
of equal size in the State of Tennessee. Rev.
J. B. Ford is the present pastor, and under
his faithful watch-care every department of
the church is prospering. The society is
nearly self-supporting, receiving this year but
$l5O from the missionary fund, and proposes
to receive nothing from it after this year.
When the church was dedicated, a little over
three years ago, there was a debt upon it of
$5,000, due the Church Extension Society.
One thousand dollars of that debt was liqui
dated last year. They propose to pay off an
other thousand this year. We trus*t the
church will soon be free of debt. We learn
that one week ago last Sunday, without any
public notice being given, s7oowas subscribed.
This looks as though they mean business.
The Sunday-school, when organized, had only
twenty-five children —now it embraces 135
pupils. Class-meetings are kept up; prayer
meetings are lively and interesting, and the
social interests of the church are greatly im
proved. They should be an example for the
surrounding charges to follow, for they are a
“city set upon a hill, which can not be hid.”
The East Tennessee, Virginia and
Georgia Railroad extends from Chatta
nooga to Bristol, a distance of nearly 250
miles. It has a branch from Cleveland, Tenn.,
to Dalton, Ga. This was formerly two roads,
but is now consolidated into one. It is in
good running order, and under first-class
management. There are no more able, more
gentlemanly, and more polite, kind and atten
tive conductors on any road, than on this.
They seem to vie with each other to see which
shall surpass the others in pleasantness and
courtesy to the traveling public. The officers
just rc-elected for another year are: R. T.
Wilson, President; Joseph Jaques, Vice-
President and Superintendent; C. M. McGee,
Second Vice-President; and James G. Mitch
ell, Secretary and Treasurer. The chief man
agement of the road, however, devolves on
Captain Joseph Jaques, whose entire compe
tency for the position has been tested by his
success. The other officers have discharged
all their duties well. We learn, from the
Treasurer’s report, that the net earnings of
the road for the year ending June 30,1872,
were $366,691.30. The claims of the Federal
Government oh this road have been satisfac
torily settled, and a bright future is before it.
The stockholders—of whom the celebrated
railroad king, “Tom Scott,” is one —have in
view arrangements which will make this
probably one of the best-paying railroads in
the South. It passes through the most beau
tiful section of country, visible to the traveler,
between Washington and New Orleans. We
see no reason why it should no 4 be the main
trunk road between the great Southwest and
the Northeast, and become the most traveled,
as well as the shortest and best route between
New York and New Orleans.
THE CONTRACT NULL AND VOID.
The nature and conditions cf a valid con
tract were, perhaps, sufficiently set forth from
a legal stand-point in Judge Patterson’s arti
cle, entitled, “A contract in law and equity,”
which was published in last week’s Advo
cate. We take the ground that the Plan of
Separation, so-called, was, in its conditions
and terms, of the nature of a contract, to be
invested with legal and moral force, on cer
tain conditions being fulfilled by the contract
ing parties. One condition was, if the Sixth
Restrictive Rule should be altered by a two
thirds vote of the conferences —the only
means of reaching it in a constitutional way.
But this failed, and, according to the exposi
tion of law in the case as given by the learned
Judge, a failure in any one of the important
particulars, goes in effect to the whole. In
our judgment, that, mined the provisional
Plan. But, suppose the Church South ap
peals from this decision, after having done
their best, by voting, to make the Plan valid —
their violation of the provisions to be ob
served on the border, “breaches,” on their
part, a very important particular. They vol
untarily violated the contract, and officially
approved the violation. This gave to the
Methodist Episcopal Church their choice,
either to compel the Church South, through
the courts, to respect and observe the bound
ary provisions, or consider the contract null
and void. They chose the latter, and pub
lished to the world at their next General Con
ference —the first opportunity they had to act
officially on the question—that the contract
was null and void, and that they would
consider themselves no longer bound by it.
There is no way of escape from a conviction
of the justice and the inevitable necessity of this
conclusion. Unless there is power in the de
cision of the court, given in the suit for a share
of the property of the Chartered Fund, and of
the Book Concern, to give validity to|the Plan,
there can be no hope for it. What comfort
may come from that decision we shall see
hereafter.
If the Church South had foreseen the fu
ture, as well as they know now what was to
be, they would not have been so eager to
“gobble up” the societies on the border, and
especially in the interior; they would not have
pushed over the line so furiously. If they
had only faithfully observed the boundary
regulations as our bishops did before 1848,
there would have been some show of consist
ency in insisting that we should not push our
church enterprises into the South. But the
mouth of their consistency was closed long ago
by their own acts. That even would not have
made the Plan valid, nor crcted a moral
barrier against our ministers going into all the
world that they might preach tho Gospel to
every creature, or JhgjwhjjJe.
Southern field with evangelical reapers. But
it would have left them a little show of
consistency in trying to exclude us, which
now it does not leave them. Each church is
now at liberty to go and labor where it pleases.
We are bound to go there. It is of no use to cry
out against our doing it, no use to try to make
a barrier against our success by exciting the
unreasonable prejudices of their people.
That can be only a temporary thing, whioh
will give them harder work and more trouble
every year. It will be much-better for the
two churches to work together in love, doing
the Master’s will. We arc bound to work in
that spirit. Come, brethren, go with us thus,
and the Lord will do us both good.
Charity and Equity in the Church Property
Questions.
At the Jonesboro Conference, in 1869, the
committees of the two Holston Conferences,
on the “ Property Question,” met for consulta
tion. Being a member of one of the commit
tees, we sought to find some point on which
we could all agree, and from that point of
agreement proceed to settle, if possible, the
questions in dispute. We drew a resolution
in which the Holston Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church proposed to re
linquish all claims to property claimed by the
Church South, except in cases where our peo
ple had a just claim, either in equity or in law.
There were cases where our people had paid
off judgments hanging over meeting-houses,
where they had made repairs, etc. Every
member of our committee was ready to adopt
that resolution, and labor for its adoption by
our Conference. Four members of the other
committee said they were willing to accept
it. Dr. E. E. Wiley, only, was unwilling. He
objected to the use of the word “ equity ,” in
that connection —would not, and did not con
cur in the resolution. If brother Price does
not remember this, there are at least five
members of one committee that do remember
it. Failing in that effort, we failed to find
any other j basis on which the committee of
the Holston Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church could agree. Three of us
did agree on a series of propositions drawn up
by brother Price, but the two members who
were absent from that last meeting, stoutly
dissented, and when it was clearly ascertained
that the propositions would be rejected by our
conference by an overwhelming majority, they
were abandoned, and a report, different in
many respects, was presented.
Now, when the Chattanooga Conference
resolutions say that “ they arc willing to settle
these cases on the ground of Christian charity
and equity,” they seem to us to indicate
“progress.” We know where they were in
1869; and if there has been no progress, we
know exactly where praotically.to find them
now. We know how they met the equity side
of the question at Athens and at Kingston.
We wait to hear from other places. .“By
their fruits ye shall know them”— them, as
well as us. How is brother Price’s memory
on that question?
That our readers may understand the above,
as we have not space to quote from the Hol
ston Methodist of last week, we simply say
that brother Price takes exception to a remark
of ours that the Chattanooga Conference reso
lutions indicated progress in that conference
in reference to a willingness to settle all cases
on the ground of Christian equity and charity.
Bishop Haven is expected to visit Atlanta
(the city of his future residence) this week.
Our people will welcome him.
METHODIST ADVOCATE: DECEMBER 4, 1872.
Missionary Appropriations for the South.
The Missionary Board has been very liberal
in its appropriations for next year to the
Southern conferences. Although published
in last week’s issue, we republish the list of
Southern conferences that we may see them
altogether:
Alabama _SII,OOO
Arkansas 7000
Etonda 6,500
Holston 9,000
Louisiana 9,000
North Carolina 10,000
Mississippi 10,000
South Carolina 10,000
Tennessee 11,000
Texas 9,000
Texas, contingent for new work and transfers 5,000
Virginia 15,000
Total for twelve conferences....— 8123,500
There can be no doubt in the mind of any
one acquainted with the condition of things
in these conferences, that all this money is
needed to carry on the real mission work
within their bounds, and then much land will
remain to be possessed, and much more work
that ought to be done will have to remain un
done. The harvest truly is great, but the la
borers are few, and the ripened grain is wast
ing for the want of reapers.
For every dollar of this money received
there should be rendered in good faith a dol
lar’s worth of really missionary work. It is not
appropriated to excuse the people from put
ting their hands into their own pockets, but to
help them do, after they have done their best,
what' they could not do without it. There
should be every-where a conscience about the
use of this money, both by preachers and by
people. No society should be so mean as to
accept a‘dollar of it which they do not really
need, and no preacher should burn his fingers
with a dollar of it that he does not pay for in
full measure of service.
The annual conferences, in distributing
this money among the societies, should be
conscientious, just, impartial, and wise. The
Mission Committee in every annual confer
ence should be so constituted as to meet the
necessities of the work, without any one
knowingly cutting and carving for himself.
The highest type of honor, to say nothing
about a scrupulous piety, would contend for
a perfectly fair and unselfish distribution.
We earnestly hope that all the conferences
soon to be held will devise and adopt such
means for dividing the mission funds among
the districts, stations, and circuits, as will be
fair in appearance, just in application, and
unselfish in any part or point.
After receiving this money there is one duty
that each annual conference should not neg
lect or fail to do, that is, to return a proper
expression of gratitude. To fail in this is
one of the meanest and most despicable of
human faults. It comes so near to being a sin
that it is highly sinful, besides being indica
tive of a mean and contemptible spirit. If
ingratitude is not unpardonable, it must be
the nearest neighbor to the unpardonable sin.
Conferences are made up of men, and the
men of the conference are the proper persons
to express becoming gratitude. The Board
of Missions expects, and justly too, that those
who receive of its funds will give some of it
back again to its treasury, in the form of a
thank-offering. There can be no society, no
minister, no person poorer than the widow
in the Gospel; and yet of her penury she
gave “two mites,” and the Savior, who
saw it as he sees all such things, was de
lighted with her self-sacrificing devotion.
The least that can be expected of any trav
eling preacher or local preacher in charge
of a circuit, as a proper expression of grat
itude, is that he fairly present to his peo
ple the missionary cause, take a collection,
ana &“ve something himself in sight of the
people. No society is too poor to give some
thing, even if it be but a little. Tho society
or the preacher that gives nothing to suGh a
cause, will become, and ouglit to beeome, still
poorer instead of richer, for such unjustifia
ble withholding. That the Board of Mis
sions expects each annual conference to give
something back into its treasury is evident
from the fact that it has apportioned the fol
lowing sums to be raised —we shall give, along
with the sums apportioned, also those appro
priated, and the per cent, required:
Appropriations. Apportionment. Per cent, req’d.
Alabama ifll,ooo f1,500 13 % percent.
Arkansas 7,000 1,000 14 2-7 per cent.
Florida 6,000 600 8 % per cent.
Georgia 11,000 1,000 9 1-11 per cent.
Holston 9,000 2,500 27 7-9 per cent.
Louisiana 9,000 2,000 22 2-9 per cent.
Mississippi 10,000 2,000 20 per cent.
North Carolina.. 10,000 500 5 per cent.
South Carolina.. 10,000 4,500 45 percent.
Tennessee 11,000 1,500 13 7-11 per cont.
Texas 9,000 1,000 11 1-9 percent.
Virginia 15,000 1,500 10 per cent.
Total $123,500 $19,500
For $123,500 received, the Missionary So
ciety asks these twelve conferences to pay back
$19,500, which is, as a whole, only a fraction
over fifteen cents on the dollar. With most
of these conferences it is even less than that.
The apportionment is made not according
to what the conferences receive, but according
to their supposed ability to pay. South Car
olina Conference, by this apportionment is
complimented most highly of all, Holston
next, and North Carolina least.
Now, for the honor of the South, we hope
every dollar of this apportionment will be
raised and paid back into the missionary
treasury during the coming year. They will
be the richer and not the poorer for so doing.
Let the presiding elders first divide the sum
for the conference among the districts, and
then give a fair proportion to each charge on
each district. Then have each preacher fairly
present the claim and make the collection.
This is the only proper way to show the Mis
sionary Society the gratitude that is justly
due.
Much of the final result will depend on
the faithfulness or unfaithfulness of presid
ing elders. If they do their duty, the other
preachers will not fail; if any of the latter
should fail, let them be duly represented at
the next conference. If all the preachers do
their duty, the people will do theirs. Breth
ren of the ministry and of the laity, let us do
our whole duty in this matter, and begin early
to plan and to work, always remembering this,
that Dr. Summers calls this work of the Mis
sionary Society “ worse than useless expendi
ture of their means in the South.” May the
Lord’s blessing rest gloriously during this
year, upon all our Southern work!
General Missionary Appropriations.
The annual meeting of the Missionary So
ciety of our church, to make the necessary
appropriations for carrying on the work for
the ensuing year, is an event of no ordinary
interest. Our mission field to-day is the
world. The necessities and wants of our
work in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in both
North and South America, come up for con
sideration, and are carefully reviewed by some
of the wisest men in our church. The results
of this year’s deliberations and determination
were given in detail to our readers last week.
The action of the Board was eminently con
servative. We presume that, under all the
circumstances, it was wise. Some were ex
pecting larger appropriations and a call on
the church for a million dollars to be raised
next year. No doubt that sum could be
profitably expended on the work, and much
more, even, if we had it to disburse. There
are other important claims besides those
which belong exclusively to the missionary
work. The Church Extension interests,
though under anothfß name, are decidedly of
a missionary character. A million might well
be divided between these two great church
enterprises.
The men who made the appropriations
wisely looked over the whole circle of Meth
odist necessities, and left a reasonable margin
for the claims of each benevolent agency.
The Freedmen’s Aid Society and the Edu
cation Society have each vital connections
with the missionary cause. While these are
properly attended to, the great cause of mis
sions is strengthened and promoted. It is
not wiße to do all we are able to do in a single
direction, but to do something in every direc
tion, thereby connecting our sympathies and
our prayers with all the vital points of our
many-sided work.
The call now is, for missions, in round
numbers, $886,000. Our membership for the
next calendar year maybe safely set down, we
think, at 1,450,000. The average amount re
quired will be a little less than sixty-five
cents a member. For all benevolent causes
we ought to average, at least, one dollar a
member—-which would equal the round Bum
of $1,450,000. This would be a very reasonable
sum. Our people are abundantly able to con
tribute it. They would be the richer, and
not the poorer, if they would dare to do it.
Except during the Centenary year, our peo
ple have never reached the average of one
dollar per member for all the benevolent
causes of the jebureh. We ought to aim at
that next year, and keep aiming at it till we
reach it, and then aim at something higher.
If we give more to the Lord, there will not
be so much left to be destroyed by fire or
flood. It is better to lay up treasure in
heaven. It will be much better to go above
the sum called for than to fall below it.
Every true Frenchman is ready to fight, if
need be, or die for the glory of France. Ev
ery member of the Methodist Church should
have a purer and stronger zeal for the honor
and prosperity of his ehurch. If each minis
ter would bring a great deal of zeal to this
work of raising money for our benevolent en
terprises, the people, ia a little while, would
fully match that zeal on their part. What the
people need is faithful, self-sacrificing leaders.
Let the Disciplinary Plan be fully carried out
in every charge, and the whole of the $885,-
000 will be promptly raised.
HOLSTON CONFERENCE.
The published Minutes of this conference,
for 1872, lie upon our table, from which we
find data for the following statements: Whole
number of members, including probationers,
23,092; raised for Missions, $890.21; for
Church Extension, including collection at
conference, $128.38; for the Bible cause,
$91.70; for conference claimants, $79.83; for
Freedmen’s Aid Society, $29.85; for Sunday-
School Union, $23.25; for Tract cause, $7.35.
Total for all the above named objects,
$1,250.57, which is a fraction less than Jive
and a half cents per member.
We give below, in the first column, the
number of members on each district, in the
second column the whole amount raised on
the district for benevolent causes, and in the
third column the average per member:
Knoxville District 4,406 8347.35 .07%
Jonesboro “ 4,164 344.75 .08%
Ashville “ 2,299 50.20 .02 1-5
Chattanooga “ 2,966 160.00 .051-3
Athens “ 4,17 G 89-03 .02
Morristown “ 3,059 36.65 .01 1-5
Tenn. River “ 1,458 25.40 .01%
Ilolsjon “ 564 10.55 .01)1
The fractkms-ia-the Jiist column are not
perfectly exact; sometimes they are a trifle
too small, but quite as often a little too large.
Last year, in the Holston Conference, was
financially a very hard year, but hard as it
was, the above figures are not creditable to
either its heart or its brain. We sincerely
hope it will make a much better record next
year. To fall below an average of ten cents a
member, for all benevolent collections, is sim
ply outrageous. Brethren, please look these
facts in the face, and circulate the Advocate,
so that the people may see what they are
doing. The Jonesboro district averages high
est; Knoxville, next; Chattanooga, next;
Morristown, the lowest of all.
On the Morristown district no collections
were taken except for missions, with the ex
ception of fifty cents taken on the Speedwell
circuit, for conference claimants, and Par
rottsville circuit took no collection, even for
missions.
On the Ashville district two societies—Ca
tawba and Transylvania—took no collection.
All the rest took the missionary collections,
and two took one other collection each.
On the Knoxville district there are 35 blank
places where no collections are reported; on
the Jonesboro district, 21; on the Chattanooga,
41; on the Athens, 45; on the Tennessee
River District, 53; and on the Holston, 25.
In this reckoning we have not included the
Educational claims.
We have not made these'calculations to cast
any reflections upon any minister or any so
ciety, but simply to place the facts and figures
before the people. There are great differences
in the wealth and circumstances of different
societies and different districts. Some dis
tricts have more appointments than others,
which will give them necessarily more blanks.
We think no district has any reason to boast
over any other, but all to humble themselves
as in the dust before God, and pray for help
and grace to do better.
THE LARGER HALF.
The complete census returns make the total
population of the United States 38,558,731,
of whom more than half are under twenty
one years of age—the exact number under
that age being 20,026,870. Os these 10,050,-
563 are males, and 9,976,307 are females. How
soon the whole population would be redeemed,
if the churches would devote suitable atten
tion to the salvation of the young! Most of
the new books that are published in this
country are written and prepared for the
young, this larger half of the people. There
is a wise providence in this. If ministers
would prepare and preach more than half of
their sermons for this class, they would act
with more sagacity than at present. If wc
had the exact figures we would see that but
very few comparatively are converted in this
Gospel land after twenty-one years of age.
From the young come most of our recruits
for the churches. Save the coming men and
women of the next generation and the world
will soon be saved. Enlightended by these
facts our preachers should give special and
more than half their attention to the children
and minors of the country. Get all the chil
dren, as far as possible, into the Sunday
school, give them the Bible, religious in
struction, the practical love and social power
of the church, and the coming glory of mil
lennium morning will soon be seen gilding the
mountain tops. Go for the children, preach
to the children, save the children. Do not
neglect the old for the sake of the young, but
do not neglect the young. “ Feed my lambs—
fesd my sheep,” is the command of Jesus.
DEATH OF HORACE GREELEY.
The death of Mr. Greeley, so unexpected,
is well calculated to produce a sudden shock
in the public mind. We receive the news
with sadness. A great man haß fallen. He
was the father of American journalism, and
probably influenced the public opinion of the
nation more than any other journalist of his
time. Asa politician, we have nothing to say
of him here; we speak of him as a man, a
philosopher, a philanthropist. He had great
natural abilities, great energy of character,
great perseverance in labor, and (like most
other great men) some great weaknesses. He
was human, therefore fallible. But his excel
lencies were more and greater than his weak
nesses. Even his enemies must respect him
for his ability, the extent and amount of his
work, his sincerity and his honesty. He has
done much good, and committed some serious
blunders. Who has not made mistakes? He
was widely known. The New York Tribunt
was every-where Horace Greeley. He will be
missed, and his loss will be felt in a hundred
thousand families, and in both hemispheres.
He treated his political enemies often with
great severity—sometimes with a spirit bor
dering on savageness. In the recent canvass
the same measure was meted out to him —
fulfilling the Scripture, “With what measure
ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”
A little cloud rests upon his fame just now;
but it will diminish and scatter as the years
go by, and the impartial historian will arise
to yield him his full mead of praise. It is
possible that some of his fellow-journalists
may have stung his sensitive nature a little
too deeply, and injected into his soul too
much of their venom, and contributed their
mite in hurrying him—broken down (as he
was) by the loss of the wife he tenderly loved —
to the grave. We are glad that no ink shed
from our pen ever cast any reproach upon his
name. It may be that some have written
lines concerning him that now even, before
dying, they would wish to blot.
If he had lived until July next, he would
have been sixty-two years old. Sinking as
he has, under the weight of care and trouble
upon him, his constitution would not have
been likely to endure long the weightier cares
and responsibilities of government, even if
he had been elected President. He has gone
and we feel sad at his early departure. His
years, with his temperate habits, might have
given us promise of twenty more yoars of
effective labor with brain and pen. Now he
is gone, we shall not soon look upon his liko
again.
To the Sunday-Schools of the South.
The Sunday-school Union and Tract Soci
ety of the Methodist Episcopal Church have
resolved to furnish to all our Sunday-schools
in the Southern conferences a weekly Lesson
Tract on the International Lessons for 1873.
This “Lesson Tract” will be of the same size
and style of the “ Home Paper and Lesson
Tract,” circulated through the South in 1871
and 1872.
The first month’s issue will be sent early in
December to Charleston, Atlanta, and New
Orleans, from which points they will be sent
out to schools applying for them.
Let our ministers at one accept the propo
sition. Presiding elders will please call their
attention to this grand opportunity for com
mencing 1873 with the course of lessons used
by so many millions on both sides of the At
lantic. The Lesson Tracts will be beautifully
illustrated. Give this matter immediate at
tention. J. H. Vincent,
ttor. tfcc; Sr.~&. u»mrsct~Soc. w
INTERNATIONALS AT WORK.
The New York Herald, November 28th, prints
“two communications (signed ‘Chemist’) in
which the writer, who says he is one of the Paris
Communists, states that the Boston fire was the
work of the Labor Reformers; that the explo
sions heard during the fire, which were attributed
to other things, were but the explosions of a
powerful chemical combination lately invented
and known only to him and his confreres, no
larger than an ordinary apple, and costing only
92 cents each. He says their work at Boston is
but the commencement, and intimates that capi
talists shall still further suffer if the rights of
labor are not respected.”
This may be true, and again it may be only
a “ scare.” The spirit of the “ Communists ”
is intensely selfish, reckless and savage. As
infidels, they have no fear of God before their
eyes —apparently no conscience, no humanity.
If the above paragraph is not true, it might
be. Immediately after the fire we said to a
friend that we believed it was, either in its
origin or progress, the work of tho “ Inter
nationals.”
How the Fraternity Question Works.
On Friday last Dr. E. Q. Fuller sont the
following letter to the North Georgia Confer
ence, now in session in this city:
To the Committee on Public Worship, Worth
Georgia Conference, M. E. Church South.
Dear Brethren: You are hereby requested
to appoint a member of your Conference, or a
visitor in attendance upon its session, to preach
in Loyd-street Methodist Episcopal Church in
the morning at 10J, and also at night at 7 o’clock,
on Sabbath next. Yours truly,
E. Q. Fueler,
Pastor of Loyd-st. Meth. Ch.
Atlanta, Qa., November 2 9th, 1872.
When the Committee on Public Worship
announced their appointments, on Saturday,
to every other church in the city requesting a
supply, none was made to the Loyd-street
Church, in response to Dr. Fuller’s request,
and up to the time of going to press no an
swer has been returned.
The Nashville Advocate , on the subjeot of
Thanksgiving, said:
“ We have already published the proclamation
of the President, setting apart Thursday, Nov.
28th, as a day of public thanksgiving. The Gov
ernor of Tennessee, and the Governors of other
States, unite in this call. "We ignore the ques
tion as to the right of the civil authorities to
meddle with the subject of religion, as this cus
tom has honorable precedent, and no one is
obliged to set apart the day for the purpose
specified. We hope it will be generally and
devoutly observed. It will do no harm to any
one to close business and have a holiday. In
view of our sad reverses by fires, and floods, and
droughts, and caterpillars, and diseases, and
deaths, and political and social evils, some may
think there is more need for fasting and prayer
than for thanksgiving and rejoicing. But with
all our calamities and trials, we have had many
blessings. Let us not lose sight of them. A bad
memory with regard to God’s mercies was one of
Israel’s great sins.”
Golden Hours , for December, is (if possi
ble) more beautiful and interesting than any
of its predecessors. It is designed and made
for boys and.girls, fitted to their tastes, and
carefully excluding what would be hurtful
either in thought or expression. Its “Table
of Contents” is large and varied, and presents
just what bright hoys and girls delight to read
and ought to have. This number closes the
volume; the next will begin the new year,
and will be a fine number. Now is the time
to subscribe; price only $2 a year.
Pocket Diaries have become a necessity
to almost every man. A fine lot for 1873, in
new styles and considerable variety, have been
received at the Atlanta Depository. Send
early for a supply to Hitchcock & Walden,
and get a good article for a little money.
Personals.
Ex-Collector Grinnell, of New York, is cir
cumnavigating the world via San Francisco.
Mr. Dent, Mrs. Grant’s father, aged eighty
seven, is said to be seriously ill at the White
House.
The health of King Amadeus, of Spain, is
said to be so ill that tranquillity of mind in
his kingdom is impossible.
Wm. P. Ross has been elected Chief of the
Cherokee Nation, in place of Lewis Downing,
deceased.
Rev. George Macdonald has impressed the
Boston people more as a preacher than as a
lecturer.
Dr. Slicer, of Baltimore, is reported as quite
ill from a severe attack of inflammatory rheu
matism, to which the Doctor is subject.
The Brussells papers announce the death
of M. Charles Auguste Vervier, called the
Nestor of Flemish literateurs, aged 83.
John Chubb, Esq., a prominent lay member
of the British Wesleyan Missionary Society,
died in London, October 30th, aged 57.
Prof. Tyndall is to deliver a course of six
lectures in Washington, to begin on the 3d of
December, at the opening of Congress.
Mrs. Elizabeth Porter has been appointed
by President Grant postmistress at Russel
ville, Ky., in place of Elias Porter, deceased.
Rev. J. S. Inskip has been holding special
meetings in the interests of holiness, in Phil
adelphia.
. Rev. E. F. Hadley, of the New York East
Conference, and pastor of the Warren-street
church (Brooklyn,) died in triumph, Nov. 23d.
Mr. J. C. Bancroft Davis, United States
Agent at the Geneva Arbitration, has re
turned to Washington, and is the guest of
Secretary Fish.
Senator Trumbull, of Illinois, it is said, has
written a letter declining the chairmanship of
the Judiciary Committee, a position which he
has heretofore held.
Prince Napoleon has recently brought suit,
for damages, against the Prefect of Police for
having served upon him an order of expulsion
from France a few weeks ago.
Frederick Grant, son of the President, and
Second-Lieutanant of the Fourth U. S. Cav
alry, has been ordered to join his regiment in
Texas.
The Grand Duke Alexis has sent to the
Naval Academy at Annapolis a superb com
pass, made in Russia, for the packing of
which five boxes were used.
Madame Nilsson-Rouzand, the popular
singist, proposes to make another tour
through the United States. Will she visit
Atlanta?
Rev. J. G. Dimmitt, an earnest Methodist
preacher well known in the lowa confer
ences, died suddenly, of heart disease, in
Des Moines, Nov. 20th.
Rev. Thomas Orbison, of Wisconsin Con
ference, after four days of illness, very unex
pectedly to all died in Appleton, Wis., No
vember 10th.
It behooves ministers as well as others to
“be also ready.” Rev. Simon G. Fuller, rec
tor of St. Paul’s Church, dropped dead, at his
residence, in Syracuse, N.Y., Nov. 21st.
Hans Christian Andersen, the celebrated
author, is said to be in very feeble health.
His eyesight is failing, and his physicians
have forbidden him to write any more.
It is said that Mrs. Laura Fair, at the time
of her second trial in San Francisco, tried to
poison the judge who was to preside and the
counsel for the prosecution. That was cer
tainly not very fair.
Rev. R. S. Storrs, jr., D.D., has completed
thu twenty-sixth yeah' oY hfe 'pastdrate over
the Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn, N. Y.,
and is now the oldest settled minister in that
city.
Wm. M. Tweed, ex-Sacliem of Tammany,
is now on trial before the court of Oyer and
Terminer, for various irregularities connected
with the New York city finances and govern
ment.
The New York Court of Appeals has unan
imously sustained the action of Gov. Hoffman
in appointing E. L. Fancher to the Judgeship
from which Judge Barnard was removed by
impeachment.
Telegraphic reports make Daniel Drew, of
Wall-street notoriety, a sufferer of consider
able loss in a corner in Erie and Northwest
ern stocks, made against him recently by the
bad faith of Jay Gould and others.
The New York Advocate says: “ Dr. L. C.
Matlack, who has returned South in order to
attend the session of the Louisiana Confer
ence, expects to be retransferred, we under
stand, to the Philadelphia Conference.”
Rev. E. C. Towne, a liberalist in religion,
has ceased to be the editor of the College
Courant, His religious opinions made him
unacceptable to persons of an orthodox faith.
Hence he retires. We think it is better so
than otherwise.
Dr. E. Q. Fuller, pastor of Loyd-Stree
Methodist Episcopal Church, in this city,
preached a very interesting sermon on Thanks
giving Day, on the words, “Lot the people
praise, thco, 0, God; let all the people praise
thee.” A large congregation, for such an oc
casion, was present.
The fourteen women who (led by Mrs. An
thony) voted at the Presidential election in
Rochester, have been arrested by order of the
United States Commissioner. The Christian
Union asks, “Would it not have been quite
as well to arrest the inspectors for making an
illegal registry?”
Mr. Stanley, the discoverer of Dr. Living
stone, reached New York city from Europe
last week. A private reception was given
him on Friday evening by several distin
guished citizens. Mayor Hall has written a
letter to the Board of Aldermen, recommend
ing that a public reception be awarded to Mr.
Stanley by the city at an early date.
The Pope of Rome believes he will die in
the year 1873. According to latest advices,
he no longer walks with an erect form, but
stoops, and requires the assistance Qf a cane,
sleeps badly, and his respiration is difficult
during the night.
The editor of the Boston Transcript face
tiously says that “some people now-a-days
seem unwilling to belong to any church which
is not broad enough to include the followers
of Confucius , Sardanapalus , Himshi , Buga
boo, or any other man."
Earl Russell is pleasantly occupying his old
age (now past eighty years) in preparing for
publication a volume of “ Essays on the Rise
and Progress of the Christian Religion in the
West of Europe, from the reign of Tiberius
to the end of the Counoil of Trent.”
Rev. Dr. Miner, of Belvidere, Illinois, has
received from Mrs. Lincoln the present of an
elegant family Bible, the last present received
by President Lincoln—it having been given
him by the colored people of the South only
a short time before his death.
Those who dispense, or rather dispense
with, justice had better keep on the lookout,
as Judges Prindle, of Chenango county, and
Curtis of the city of New York, the Christian
Union says, have been brought for trial be
fore the Senate, in Albany, “charged respect
ively with having unlawfully received fees,
and with having rendered unjust decisions.”
The College Currant says: “In the case of
the Rev. Dr. Smith, President of Augustine
College, at Raleigh, N.C. —who died suddenly
and under suspicious circumstances on the Ist
ultimo—the coroner’s inquest has resulted in
a verdict implicating the wife and daughter of
the deceased.”
According to newspaper and telegraphic
reports, Horace Greeley has been suffering
severely from nervous prostration, occasioned
by a loss of sleep during his wife’s illness and
since her death. It is hoped that a season of
quiet will restore him to his normal condition
of health.
[Since the above was in type, the sad news reaches us tha
Horace Greeley died in Tarrytown, N.Y., on Friday even
ing, November 29th, at ten minutes before 7 o’clock.]
Rev. Mr. Spurgeon, of London, came of a
preaching family. His sister is reported as
preachingwith marked success at Willingham,
Cambridgeshire, England. If properly let
alone, the Women Preaching question will in
a little while settle itself. Have they gifts,
grace, and usefulness? is the true Methodist
test.
The late Hon. Richard Fletcher, of Boston,
in his will left a fund to the care of the trus
tees of Dartmouth College, from the proceeds
of which a prize is to be offered once in two
years of SSOO for the best essay “On Conform
ity to the World.” The design of this is not
to favor but to prevent conformity to the
world on the part of professing Christians.
Hon. W. P. Price, of Dahlonega, Ga., Con
gressional representative of the Sixth district
of Georgia according to the old apportion
ment, but the Ninth according to the new dis
tribution, called at our office last week. We
found him a very pleasant and intelligent gen
tleman, well versed in the politics both of the
State and of the nation, with wise and prac
tical views of the present state of things,
He was about starting for Washington, to bs>
in his seat at the opening of Congress, on the
first of December.
Thomas Nast, the notable caricaturist of
Harper's Weekly , resides with his wife and
four babies, in Morristown, N.J., where he
was interviewed the other day. Among the
things he is reported to have said on that oc
casion, is the following:
“One day last summer I received a genuine
proposition of marriage from an admiring
young lady in Ohio, in which she referred to
General Schcnck and ex-Governor Dennison
as to her position.
“‘What did you do?’
“Why, I sent back a cartoon of Mrs. Nast
and the children, labelled, ‘the only objec
tions.’ ”
Harper's Weekly says that Henry Wilson
(our Yice-Presidentelect,) “after pegging his
way until manhood as a cobbler, came to
Boston and edited a small paper called the
Boston Whig , and a small room shabby
old building constituted his printing-office,
editorial sanctum, and dormitory. Thither
came, like Nicodemus, by night, Charles
Sumner and Charles Francis Adams, with
stealthy steps, bringing their contributions to
the paper; and there, in that humble cham
ber, were plans arranged which grew until
Sumner and Wilson went to the Senate, and
Adams to England as embassador.”
Current Literature.
Books and Periodicals Received During Ike Week.
Every Saturday comes every week, and
when it comes, we come to read it. It is
decidedly literary, fresh and racy. Jas. R.
Osgood & Cos. publish it.
Littell's Living Age, No. 1,485, contains
many articles of abilityand interest among
wftlch we mention
of the Romanesque in Architecture,” “ The
Burgomaster’s Family,” “New England Pu
ritan Literature,” “Off the Skelligs,” etc.
Scribner's Monthly , for December, is a cap
ital number. We have had occasion to trans
fer to our columns this week several articles,
which will be read with interest—especially
that on our first page, entitled “Good Man
ners.” We shall give another ndxt week,
equally interesting, entitled “Scoundrels of
Wall-street.” Dr. Holland, in this number,
continues his new popular story, entitled
“Arthur Bonnicastle.” We have seen just
such characters as he describes; they have
more such in New England, where the Doctor
was raised. The magazine is a grand success;
if it were not, this story would soon make it so.
The Methodist Almanac for 1873 is re
ceived at this Depository, and ready for dis
tribution. Only 300 copies in the first lot;
50,000 should be circulated in the South,
Every Methodist family should have a copy,
and many that are not Methodists. It has
78 pages, and is packed full of Methodistic
intelligence. It is multurn in par to, the finest
and best ever gotten up by our Book Agents,
Price only 10 cents each, with usual discount
to preachers. If the preachers do their duty,
every family in their charge will have a copy.
Send in your orders. See advertisement in
Publishers’ column, on next page.
Books for the Children’s Ilotifl.—Five
little volumes: The Wood Carvers; Alice
Leigh's Mission; Heal Robinson Orusoes; A
Home Fair with Aunt Bessie; and Little
Grig and the Tinker's Letter —bound in green;
and gold, and inclosed in a green box, are re
ceived from Nelson & Phillips, who mean to*
do their full share in furnishing the right
kind of reading for the children. Wo arc
going to get our little girl just such books as
these when she gets old enough to read them.
In the language of Scripture, Reader, “g<s*
thou and do likewise.”
Afternoons with Grandma is the title
of a book for the children, from the French,,
by Mrs. Mary Kinmont, published by Hitch
cock & Walden. It is a large 16m0., with
320 pages, open type and tinted paper, prettily
bound, and will make a nice and safe pres
ent for the holidays. Madame Moreau was
a happy grandma, with eight interesting
grandchildren, who, like most grandchildren,
were greatly delighted with stories. They
listen to stories nine days—from two to three
a day—-until the last, when the subject is
The return from Siberia.” A good, whole
some book. For Bale at the Atlanta Depos
itory.
The Popular Science Monthly , for Decem
ber, is received from D. Appleton & Cos., con
ducted by E. L. Youmans. It is a capital
number, containing nineteen articles, besides
literary notices, miscellany, and notes; price
$5 per annum, or 50 cents a number. This is
a journal of the advanced thought of modern
scientists, expressed in language adapted to
the common intelligence of the people. It is
science popularized. Men of philosophic
thought, and all intelligent reading people,
will find this monthly filled with articles of
great value, both readable, interesting and
instructive. Os the many monthlies which
come to this office, to this we turn with more
interest than to any other. It contains the
deliverences of scientific men of all shades of
opinion. It reveals the scientific thought of
the age. It may sometimes seem to jostle a
little the dogmatism of the Christian church;
but it will only tend to stimulate the church
to more thorough investigation. We heartily
commend this monthly to popular favor.