Newspaper Page Text
The Methodist Advocate
IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
HITCHCOCK & WALDEN,
FOB THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH,
a* no. 105 - lrg BighopThomsoi
TERMS:
Two Dollars a year, invariably in advance.
AH traveling preachers of the Methodist Episcopal Church
are authorized agents.
All subscriptions must close with the end of each year.
LETTER FROM CHINA.
Twelfth Session of the Annual Meeting Foo
ohow M. E. Mission.
The above meeting was held in our Hok-Ing
(happy sound) church, in the city of Foochow,
November 20th-27th, and was, in a spiritual
point of view, probably the most remarkable
and successful meeting of the kind ever held
in China. For a few weeks prior to the
meeting, some anxiety was felt by the mis
sionaries as to the course matters might take
at our annual reunion. Members, as well as
preachers, had been brought to feel the press
ure which the mission has gradually laid upon
them in order that they may become a self
supporting church. Plans any thing but
methodistic or disciplinary had been dis
cussed by them, and recommended to the
mission for consideration. There was also
occasion to fear that, in the examination of
the preachers’ characters, it would be found
that not all had walked blamelessly during
the last year. The session was opened with
prayer and a few appropriate remarks by Rev.
S. L. Baldwin (just returned from the United
States,) after which the examination of the
different classes wa3 taken up and continued
for two days. The examining committees were
mostly composed of our ordained men, and
did thorough work. The annual sermon, by
Rev. N. Sites, on the subject of Sanctification,
made a good impression and greatly augmented
the spirit of devotion. After a discourse on the
necessity of receiving the power of the Spirit
in order to hear witness for Christ, by Rev.
N. J. Plumb, the enemy’s main strongholds
fell, and our leading men said, We now resign
all our own plans, and will joyfully support
such as the mission may, in the fear of God,
adopt. The anti-opium anniversary was held
with open doors, and consequently with more
than usual interest, on Friday p.m. Large
crowds of heathen here heard our views and
learned our position with regard to this great
enemy of their people.
Saturday, the regular business of the meet
ing was taken up and continued until Wednes
day of the following week. The anniversary
of the W. F. Mission Society, the first ever
held in connection with this mission, occupied
the afternoon and had a good attendance.
Elders Hu Po Mi and Sia Sek Ong delivered
able addresses, maintaining that until by some
means the women of China are reached with
the Gospel, we can not expect to have a com
plete church in this land. They both dwelt
most eloquently on the important part woman
has been honored with in the redemption
scheme. Ling Cha Cha (just returned from
the United States, where he spent almost
three years) spoke of the spirituality of the
Christians, especially of the Christian ladies,
in America. Giving his personal observations,
he was listened to with intense interest. A
number of native Christian ladies were pres
ent, and we trust to their great benefit. Sun
day, November 24th, will eyer remain a mem
orable day in the annals of Chinese Method
ism. The love-feast at 9 a.m. was not as good
as some of the past, owing to several lengthy
speeches iiiaoe by cuaaffeot-eu members of u.e
meeting. At 10:30, Elder Hu Yong Mi gave
us a heart-talk on the unjust steward; I in
close a copy for the benefit of your readers.
The circumstances were peculiar; and owing
to his illness at the time, and during a few
weeks previous, nothing but a deep sense of
duty to God and the church could have per
suaded him to enter the pulpit that morning.
His physical weakness, as well as his natural
modesty, seemed wholly overcome by the in
tense interest in the subject of his discourse.
All disaffection was driven from the field.
In the afternoon the sacrament of the Lord’s
Supper was celebrated, in which 118 partici
pated. Rev. Messrs. Hartwell and Walker (of
the A. B. F. M., Foochow,) Rev. Mr. Sadler
(of the London Mission, Amoy,) and Rev.
Mr. Scarborough (of the Wesleyan Mission,
Hankow,) assisted in the distribution of the
elements. It was a season of great refresh
ing. The evening was set apart for the Bible
anniversary, on which occasion Rev. Si Yu Mi
(deacon) delivered a most eloquent and telling
address. Dwelling on the manner in which
Ezra preached to Israel, the whole audience
was moved by his eloquence. He is mentally
probably the strongest man in connection with
the meeting, though not of the literary class,
and physically the weakest. On Monday P.M.
the meeting took final action in the case of
Elder Ling Ching Ting; being found guilty of
improper words and temper, he was deprived
of his parchments for one year. During the
progress of the trial he had manifested but
little penitence, and for a few moments after
the sentence had been pronounced seemed un
willing to submit. Grace finally bore off the
victory; his heart melted, and, with tearful
eyes, he thanked the meeting for the adminis
tered reproof. When he gave his papers into
the hands of the chairman, he was quite over
come by his emotions. “ These papers,*’ he
said, “ Bishop Kingsley gave me with his own
hands. What is all the gold and silver in the
world, compared with these testimonials of
confidence from the holiest men in the church ?
Will you all pray for me, that I may truly
repent and be considered worthy to receive
back these documents at our next annual
meeting?” All sympathized with him and
rejoiced in the hope that he is saved. In the
evening, brother Sia Sek Ong (elder) preached
a powerful sermon on Full Consecration.
Those who were ready to make this offering
were invited around the altar. Solemnly the
whole audience came forward and knelt in
prayer to God. There was heard the hitter
cry of penitence, the pleadings of faith, and
then a shout of victory. It was the baptism
of the Holy Ghost. Then our ever-ready
brother Si Yu Mi spoke, as it were for all,
the words of consecration. “This right hand,’’
said he, “is henceforth the Lord’s; this left
hand is henceforth the Lord’s; these eyes,
ears, this cap [holding out his skull-cap,]
these clothes—all, all! shall henceforth and
forever be the Lord’s! ” Heaven now seemed
to be in our midst. Our devotions had reached
their Tabor, and for a few moments silently
lingered in the blessed atmosphere. Our
native brethren said, We have never experi
enced the like of this; this is decidedly the
best annual meeting we have ever had. We
are happy to say that this Spirit continued to
the close of the meeting, and, with but few
exceptions, our native brethren went to their
appointments filled with it. May a glorious
revival follow among the membership! is our
daily prayer.
I here add a few statistics: Preachers, 72;
members, 1,095; probationers, 710; adults
VOL. V.
baptized during the year, 261 —children, 75.
Our increase in the number of members in
full connection does not amount to one hun
dred, showing a healthy exercise of discipline,
F. Ohlinger.
Foochow, Dec. 6, 1872.
A CHINESE SERMON.
[Preached in East-street Church, Fooohow, Norem
ber 24th, 1872, by Hu Yong Mi, a native Elder.
Text: Luke xvi: 1, 2.]
A steward has charge of a great variety of
business, and holds a very responsible posi
tion. No doubt the one here referred to was
at first good and faithful; for if this had not
been his character, would his lord have put
him in so responsible a place? Certainly not.
But after he became steward, he allowed the
devil to tempt him to covetousness. He
thought, “Now I have a great many things in
my hands; I had better steal, and make myself
rich.” If he had only been content to serve
faithfully, his lord would have done well by
him; but he thought, “A wide mouth can eat
much rice,” and determined to get rich quickly
while he had the chance. By and by, his lord
found him out, and knew liis unrighteous
conduct. Many a man would have called in
the officers and sent him right off to the pun
ishment he deserved_; but this lord was mer
ciful, and he only said, “Thou mayest be no
longer steward.” He probably thought, “How
lamentable! how lamentable! that this poor
man failed to appreciate his mercies, and has
lost this good place!” Now the steward gives
way to another unrighteous impulse. He
thinks, “I’m about to lose my place; I can’t
dig; I’m ashamed to beg. What road is there
for me to travel? I must get rich somehow.”
But how is it that he is not rich? Hasn’t he
been stealing ever so long to get rich? How
is it he is still poor? Ah, it’s a true proverb,
“Unrighteous come, unrighteous go!” Money
got in unrighteous ways soon is squandered
on unrighteous pleasures; and this stealing
steward is still poor. He thinks, “If this
lord dismisses me, other rich men won’t have
me; for not only my place, but my character
will be gone. I must go and make friends of
my lord’s debtors by reducing their bills. I
will tell the man who owes a hundred dollars
to put it down eighty or fifty dollars.” Now,
besides coveting his lord’s money himself,
you see he is going to set all these debtors to
coveting it. He thinks, “Now, when my place
is gone, all these houses will be open to me —
all these men will be under obligation to me;
they will feed and clothe and help me.” Was
it ingenious? Certainly; the Savior says it
was. The world’s man plans better for his
body than the children of light plan for their
souls. To-day I bring this parable before
you to arouse my soul and yours to duty. I
will not reprove any body, if there is reproof
in this for any one, it is the Savior’s reproof.
If any say, “This is not my case,” then I say,
“ Put it in your hearts and have it ready; you
may need it some time.” The Savior has
made us stewards of an exceedingly great
trust. Are any of us unrighteous stewards?
We ought all to examine our hearts and see.
We have faults, and we think the church
ought to have much grace and forbearance
for us; but if the church reproves us, we
ought not to go and transgress the doctrine.
We ought not to head a company of men, and
take them off to serve another lord. If this
kind of business is unrighteous and unfaith
ful in the world, can it be accounted right
eous and faithful in the church?
If the mission tries to establish self-support
in the native church, and preachers say to the
members, “No, don’t do it; the mission ought
not to require it”—is this being faithful?
The mission, in doing this, is using means for
cwt gcod if .no ate n«<l ) there,
never can be a native church. Some feel it
to be a heavy burden. Now, either it is God’s
will, or it is qot. If it is, I wouldn’t dare to
say a word or do a thing against it. If it is
not, then it will soon come to naught. If
Goa calls men out to preach, will he not open
the way before them? If he brings them
where the mountains are behind ana the sea
before, will he not cleave a way through the
sea for them? Who got bitten by the ser
pents? Only unbelievers; not the men who
believed and trusted. We men are weak; but
if our hearts are willing, will not God help
us? God is with you; will he not lead you?
Have Sia Sek Ong, and the others who have
gone entirely on native support, starved to
death? No. I thank God, and we ought all
to thank God, on their behalf and for their
example. We all ought to ask, “How shall
we establish the Methodist Episcopal Church,
and hand it down to future generations?” I
do not weep here. I have wept before God.
Here I will try to speak plainly, and refrain
from tears. If the members do not do their
duty, and the preachers will'not teach, exhort,
reprove, they are unfaithful stewards. If
men come into the church only to be baptized,
and to eat the Lord’s Supper, and sing hymns,
what good is there in it? Some members in
the Hokchiang district have gone off by them
selves, set up a church, and called a preacher
of their own. If any of the preachers in that
district have encouraged them in this, it will
be recorded of them that they were unright
eous and unfaithful stewards. Brethren, we
ought not to consider the transient, the per
ishing, but the enduring, the eternal. This
steward planned for thirty or forty years of
this life. We must plan for eternity. How
will you escape God to-morrow, when he comes
in judgment and asks, “ What have you done
with my money that I intrusted to the church
members to support the church with?” Let
us reflect on this, and not suffer men to tempt
us to leave the right road-, and go this way or
that way. Do you go after a name among
men? To have a name with God in the judg
ment day is better. Sorrow for Jesus; joy
for Jesus; live for Jesus; die for Jesus.
This is the way. Don’t trust your strength.
Trust Jesus’ strength. Follow the teachings
of the Bible. This is to be wise, to have the
right kind of ingenuity.
The things that we have, whose are they?
House, food, raiment, ability, eloquence,
power to exhort, persuasion, fame —whose are
they? Are they ours? Men say, Yes. They
are proud of their ability, and boast of their
possessions. But to know that we have noth
ing makes us humble. Every thing is God’s;
there is not a thing that belongs, to you. God
intrusts them to you to use for him. Shall
we steal them for our own use, as this unjust
steward did? If we do, before God we are
unrighteous and unfaithful. God knows all.
Why is it that some who were at first warm
hearted and unceasing in preaching, now have
no heart, no earnestness? There is no foun
tain of living water in the earth; only God
has it. Why is it you go for joy to the world
and wordly things? They can not satisfy. If
you go on and try it, the devil will tempt and
deceive you more and more. You may feel a
kind of peace at times, but it will be like that
of Saul after God’s Spirit had left him: while
David played he had peace, but as soon as
David stopped his peace was gone. Finally
he went and sought the dead Samuel. Why?
I have thought much about this for two or
three years past. I think that while Samuel
was living, Saul had always felt when trouble
came: “ I can go to him and tell him, and he
will pray with me, and help me, because the
Holy Spirit is with him.” Now that God’s
Spirit had left Saulj there was no true, per
manent peace for him. So, if you go away
from the duty to which God calls you, and
pursue plans of your own, though I can not
tell what business you will go into, I can give
you the general tenor of your history. It will
be trouble! trouble! trouble! and, like Saul,
you will only go on a little while before you
come to destruction.
As the lord in the parable dismissed his
servant, so will God dismiss you. When he
dismisses you, where will you go? The
steward, when dismissed from his place, could
make plans for the future. But when God
sends you out of this world, what plans can
you make? There is a way for you to make
ATLANTA, GA., WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1873.
sure of everlasting habitations. Though
every earthly thing goes to destruction, and
your body is eaten by worms, your soul can
nave an eternal habitation. How? By going
and getting other men to help you cheat your
Lord? No. But by getting grace to change,
and become again faithful stewards. Then
you can go to your Lord’s debtors and say,
not merely, “Pay 50 per cent.,” but you can
say, “You needn’t pay a cash; Jesus has paid
it all for you. Come and believe him. He
has assumed your whole debt.”
Our bodies and our souls are God’s prop
erty. Let us all pray God to help us to give
them entirely to him!
REST.
“Arise! sad soul, depart!
Flee to the shelter of thy Savior’s breast;
Earth hath no solace for the weary heart,
For this is not thy rest.”
It is the Spirit’s voice.
The tender warning oft I’ve heard before;
Instead of rest have made some meaner choice,
And barred my heart’s hard door.
For many a toilsome year
I wandered on, all sin-sick and distressed,
O’er mountains wild and burning deserts drear;
Yet nowhere found my rest.
Where worldly pleasures called
For eager followers, thither hasted I;
Love died, false friendship failed, and beauty
palled;
All passed me vainly by.
To learning’s fields I fled,
To seek in knowledge ease for soul oppressed.
Fair science through vast, glorious regions led,
But led me not to rest.
Weary and worn and sad,
No cheer or comfort for my woe is given;
No single joy to make one moment glad;
No hope in earth or heaven.
A voice again I hear.
’Tis Jesus! bidding me to be his guest:
“ Come, weary, heavy laden, to me near,
And I will give thee rest.”
Savior, I come, and lo!
How bright the lowly path to gain thy feet!
Thy gentle words more glad than music flow,
Than honey-comb more sweet.
Thanks for the wondrous love
That takes the sinful wanderer to thy breast;
Praise to thy name, all other names above;
I find in Christ my Rest!
—Susan O. Curtis, in The Christian Ban tler.
LOUISIANA ANNUAL CONFERENCE.
The late session of this conference opened
in the Marias-street Methodist Church, in
this city, January Bth and closed Jan. 14th.
Rev. J. C. Cole was elected Secretary, and
Rev. J. Woodward Assistant Secretary.
The session was one of unusual interest
not only from a business stand-point, but also >
religiously. The usual religious services
were held in the different Methodist churches
with great profit to both ministers and people.
We were also favored with the presence of
Dr. E. 0. Haven (Corresponding Secretary of
the Educational Society of the Methodist
Episcopal Church,) and Rev. J. M. Freeman,
of New York, a live Sunday-school worker.
These* brethren, Together with othefs who
visited our city just previous to the session of
the conference, will ever he welcomed here by
warm hearts.
It is also with pleasure that I mention the
name of our presiding officer, Bishop Janes,
who was present at every session of the con
ference, and presided with his usual ease and
dignity. Long experience in the episcopacy
has made him master of the situation, even
when the most perplexing questions present
themselves.
The usual disciplinary questions were taken
up and various changes made, but few of
which, perhaps, are of general interest. The
following persons Were received into full con
nection: Washington Brooks, C. W. Bigan,
Isaac Hayward, Reason Ennis, George Wash
ington, F. Reeves, C. Hunt, H. P. Taylor,
and Joseph Dutcher. The following were
elected to orders and ordained by Bishop
Janes, on Sunday, January 12th: Deacons —
John Hays, George Winfrey, Alick Primus,
Willis Carr, A. Jackson, C. Thompson, T.
Brown, J. L. J. Barth, and H. W. Conry.
Elders —F. Lunder, J W. Wesley, John
Sparks, M. C. Cole, I. S. Leavitt, A. Jones,
F. Reeves, Geo. Washington, Joseph Wood
ward, and Alfred Legardy.
This conference had evidently reached a
point in its history when advance steps must
be taken and seemingly radical measures
adopted, or be exposed to serious embarrass
ment in future. The former measures in
outline were soon agreed to, and though dif
ference of opinion drew out spirited discus
sions, yet courtesy and brotherly feeling per
vaded all the deliberations. Among this
class were the reports of the Committee on
Education and Periodicals—which indicate
great changes in those departments, yet we
trust not more so than the condition of our
work demands. The Committee on Period
icals earnestly recommended the publication
of a religious paper in this city for our people,
to he known as the Southwestern Methodist
Advocate. A committee was appointed by
the conference to co-operate with any asso
ciation having for its object the publication
of such a paper. The matter was ably dis--
cussed in conference, and, without an excep
tion, was considered an indispensable agent
in the furtherance of our work in the great
Southwest. Rev. J. C. Hartzell and others
have the matter in hand, and propose to make
the paper a success. Already a charter has
been secured for a Publishing Society, and
just as soon as the necessary finances are
realized, by the sale of stock or otherwise, to
insure its permanency, the paper will be
issued. It is earnestly hoped that the min
isters and friends of Methodism in the South
west will take a deep interest in, and, as far as
possible, aid financially in this noble enter
prise.
The Committee on Education, after review
ing the work of the past year and the present
condition of the three educational institutions
within the bounds of this conference, recom
mended that they become departments of one
institution, to he known as the New Orleans
University, which should be located in the
city of New Orleans. They also recommended
the trustees of the Union Normal School, of
Thomson Biblical Institute, and of Thomson
University, to transfer the property held by
them for their respective institutions to the
trustees of. the University, as soon as they
shall be a body corporate. Arrangements
have already been made for a charter, and it
is hoped that in a few weeks the organization
may be consummated.
This plan was previously submitted to Bish
ops Haven, Wiley and Janes, and Drs. E. 0.
Haven, Rust, and others, and received their
hearty sanction. This step toward centrali
zation will not weaken, but make more effi
cient and permanent our educational inter
ests. No difference of Opinion existed as to
its location. New Orleans is a great business
center for the Southwest, and it is our priv
ilege to make it a great educational center.
Our church will do it, > ud to her and her
many sons of wealth for support and
aid.
The report was adopted unanimously, and
the conference pledged its fidelity and sup
port to the University. Rev. I. S. Levitt has
been transferred from West Wisconsin Con
ference to oup conference, and placed at the
head of our educational work. His work
thus far has been eminently successful. Union
Normal School, of which he has charge now,
has the largest number of advanced scholars
of any colored school in the State. As to
appointments made by Bishop Janes for the
coming year, but little or no dissatisfaction has
arisen. In the larger colored churches of the
city no changes were made. One new district
was formed, and Rev. H. T. Abbott added to
the number of presiding elders. This was
done in view of extending'the work over the
State. Heretofore we have only occupied the
field in part.
Rev. J. C. Hartzell takes the place of L. C.
Matlock as presiding elder of the New Or
leans District. This we consider a good
change. Never, perhaps, has such a man
been more needed for this work than at the
present time. Most of our institutions are
but partially organized, hence we want men
of broad views as well as good judgment to
direct the work of organization.
We are not planting simply for the year,
but for future generations. Foundations must
be laid broad aud sure. Such were the be
ginnings under the direction of Dr. J. P.
Newman, and had his plans been carried out
we should have been far in advanoe of what
we are to-day. We feel that in J. C. Hart
zell we have just the elements of strength
needed in this work.
Great credit is due to Rev. George Dardis,
pastor of Union Chapel, and to his people for
their generous hospitality and provision for
the comfort of the conference.
S T ew Orleans, Jan. 24 th.
A REQUEST.
Some time last conference year, headed by
and propelled onward by their presiding elder,
the Church South at Wesleyania, McMinn
county, Tennessee, invited our people to leave
the church that had been built in common
by the whole neighborhood. Thus were forty
nine members of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, children and grand-children of the
men who had helped to build the church,
rudely thrown into the woods, without a house
or shelter to worship God in. One of the
coldest mornings that came this winter I went
to my appointment in that neighborhood, and
found the women and children un
der some forest trees, waiting for the preacher.
He got off of his horse, and tried to pray for
them, though his mouth and face were stiff
with cold, and exhorted them to trust in God,
that he would send deliverance some way,
while hard by stood the neat little church,
locked up.
The help I propose for those dear people is
to build a little chapel to be called “ Clark
Chapel,” in honor of the bishop that organ
ized our church in this country.
Dear brethren and sisters, those of you who
are so anxious to help those that are in need,
here is a worthy object on which to bestow
your prayers, and some little material aid.
The request is, all that feel disposed to help
me in the erection of the above named chapel,
send whatever sums you feel inclined to
donate to this purpose to my address, Athens,
Tennessee. Do not fiil to send because you
can not send large sums. Very small ones
will be thankfully received, and acknowl
edged through whatever paper you wish.
Send by post-office order, or any way you
think safe. J.'A. Hyden,
P. C. Athens Circuit.
P. 8. —As to my correctness and character,
I refer you to any of the ministers of the
Holston Conference, to N. E. Cobleigh, D.D.,
or any of the bishops that have attended our
conference. J. A. H.
COOKING AS AN ART.
We publish the following extract from the
Nation to let our lady readers know what the
editor of that periodical thinks of cookery
coming from their side of the house. Our
experience, very limited of course, would
lead us to a somewhat different conclusion.
We know of several excellent female cooks,
their name is not Bridget, that can not, how
ever, be surpassed by any specimen of the
masculine gender within the circle of our ac
quaintance. But listen, ladies, while the gen
tleman of the Nation rises to speak :
Asa cook, Bridget is an admitted failure.
But cooking is, it is now very generally ac
knowledged, very much an affair of instinct,
and this instinct seems to be very strong in
some races and very weak in others: though
why the French should have it highly devel
oped, and the Irish be almost altogether de
prived of it, is a question which would re
quire an essay to itself. No amount of teach
ing will make a person a good cook who is
not himself fond of good food and has not a
delicate palate, for it is the palate which
must test the value of rules. We may deduce
from this the conclusion, which experience
justifies, that women are not naturally good
cooks. They have had the cookery of the
world in their hands for several thousand
years, but all the marked advances in the art,
and, indeed, all that can be called the cultiva
tion of it, have been the work of men. What
ever zeal women have displayed in it, and
whatever excellence they have achieved in it,
have been the result of influences in no way
gastronomic, and which We might perhaps
call emotional, such as devotion to male rela-
tives or a desire to minister to the pleasure
of men in general.
Few or no women cook a dinner in an
artistic spirit, and their success in doing it is
nearly always the result of affection or loy
alty —which is of course tantamount to say
ing that female cookery, as a whole, is, and al
ways has been, comparatively poor. Asa proof
of this, we may mention the sact —for fact we
think it is—that the art of cooking among
women has declined at any given time or
place—in the Northern States of the Union,
for instance —pari passu with the growth of
female independence. That is as the habit
or love of ministering to men’s tastes has be
come weaker, the interest in cookery has
fallen off. There are no such cooks among
native Amer ; can women now as there were
fifty years ago; and passages in foreign cook
ery books which assume the existence among
women of strong interest in their husbands’
and brothers’ likings, and strong desire to grat
ify them, furnish food for merriment in Ameri
can households. Bridget, therefore, can plead,
first of all, the general incapacity of women
as cooks; and, secondly, the general falling
off in the art under the influence of the new
ideas. It may be that she ought to cultivate
assiduously, or with enthusiasm, a calling
which all the other women of the country os
tentatiously despise, but she would be more
than human if she did so. She imitates
American women as closely as she can, aud
can not live on the same soil without imbibing
their ideas; and unhappily, as in all cases of
imitation, vices are more easily and earlier
caught than virtues.
THE NEGLECT*OF THE RICH.
If any of the millionaires of the city of
New York have felt grieved because we have
uot called upon them, or because we do not
even know their faces when we happen to
meet them, we beg their pardon. We have had
no intention to slight them, or to count them
out of the circle of humanity by reason of
their comparative independence of it. We
do not blame them for being rich, unless they
have procured their wealth by oppression of
the poor. Some of them have become rich
because they were brighter and more indus
trious than the rest of us, and recognized
quicker than we the elusive faces of golden
opportunities. We can find no fault with
them for this, but rather with ourselves.
Some of them inherited wealth, and have no
responsibilities concerning it, save those con
nected with the spending of it. Some of
them acquired it by accident —by the rise of
real estate that they had held, perhaps, un
willingly, or by an unlooked-for appreciation
of the value of stocks. However their wealth
may have been acquired—always excepting
that which has been won by immoral prac
tices —we wish to have them understand that
we think none the worse of them for their
pleasant fortune. We regard them still as
men and brothers, who delight in the sympa
thy of their fellows, and whose hearts are
warmed by the popular confidence and good
will.
We confess that we have never been quite
able to understand why it is that those who
have been fortunate in life should be com
pelled, in consequence, to sacrifice their early
friendships and their old friends. Two boys
begin life together. They may, or may not, be
relatives; but they are bosom-friends. They
confide to one another their plans
tions, and start out on the race for fortune,
neck-and-neck. One outstrips the other, and
reaches his goal gladly and gratefully. He
has thrown no hindrances in the path of his
friend. He has, on the contrary, encouraged
him; and, so far as it was proper for him to
do so, given him assistance. Finding at last
that he is hopelessly floundering in the way,
or that he has tripped and fallen, he goes
hack to him to exchange a friendly word, but
he is met by cold looks and averted eyes. The
successful man has committed no sin except
that of becoming successful. He has lost
none of his affection for his friend, but he
has lost his friend. Thenceforward there is
between the two a great gulf fixed, an’d that
gulf is fixed by the unsuccessful man. He has
taken to himself the fancy that the successful
man must hold the unsuccessful man in dis
honor, and that he can not possibly meet him
again on the even terms which existed when
their lives were untried plans.
There are few successful men we imagine,
who have not been vexed and wounded by
the persistent misapprehensions and distrust
of those whom they loved when they were
young, and whom they would still gladly love
-if ■ co-aid-ht’ permitted, ta.de zo.-
is not an hour, on any day, in this city, in
which thriving men do not cross the street to
meet old friends who, because they are not
thriving, strive to avoid them —uot an hour
in which they do not try by acts of courtesy
and hearty good-will to hold the friendship
of those whom they have left behind in the
strife for fortune. Excepting a few churls
and coxcombs, they all do this until they get
thoroughly tired of it, and finally give it up
as a bad job. They know that they have
done their duty. They know that they have
uot entertained a thought or performed an
act of wrong toward those who shun them.
Their conciences are clear, and, at last, half
in sorrow, half in anger, they consent that
the knot that once united two harmonious
lives shall be severed forever.
There are many men who can not bear
prosperity when it comes to them, but their
number is small compared to those who can
not bear the prosperity of others. There is
no finer test ot true nobility of character than
that furnished by the effect of the good for
tune of friends. The poor man who rejoices
in the prosperity of his neighbor, and meets
him always without distrust and with un
shaken self-respect, betrays, unconsciously, a
nature and character which a king might
envy. To such a man every rich man bows
with cordial recognition, while he can not
fail to regard with contempt the insolent
churl who meets him with bravado and the
offensive assertion of an equality which he
does not feel, as well as the cowardly sneak
who avoids and distrusts him.
A great deal is said about the insolence of
riches, and the neglect or disregard of the
poor on the part of those who possess them,
but, in sober truth, there is a neglect of the
rich on the part of the poor that is quite as
unjust, and quite as hard to bear. If there
is a gulf between the rich man and the poor
man, the latter does quite as much to dig it and
keep it open as the former. There are multi
tudes of rich men whose wealth has the ten
dency to enlarge their sympathies, and to fill
them with good-will, particularly toward all
those whom they have known in their less
prosperous years. To these men of generous
natures the loss of sympathy and friendship
is a grievous deprivation.
Money does not make the man. The poor
man will tell us this as if he believed it, but
either he does not believe it, or he believes
that the rich man does not believe it; cer
tainly, in his intercourse with the rich man,
he doeß not manifest his faith in this univer
sally accepted maxim. He merely accepts
the rich man’s courtesies as condescension
and patronage, and is offended by them. No;
let no poor man talk of the pride and super
ciliousness of riches until his self-respectful
poverty is ready to meet those riches half
way, and to have faith in the good-will and
common human sympathy of those who bear
them. — J. 0. Holland; Scribner's for Feb.
CHURCH EXTENSION ITEMS..
The work among the Germans in Texas is
of great importance and promise. - Just be
fore the death of the lamented J. J. Brunow,
who was transferred from Philadelphia to
Austin, Texas, a lot was purchased in Austin
worth $3,500 in gold. With the aid of
sljooo from the Board of Church Extension,
this lot has been paid for. The death of
brother Brunow prevented further work at
present; but a good church will be completed
as early as practicable. Rev. E. F. Streeter
now has charge of both Austin and Industry,
though the places are over a hundred miles
apart. In a letter recently received, he states
that the German immigration into Texas is
assuming vast proportions, being from Janu
ary Ist to July Ist, 1872, not less than 50,000.
We have now but a handful of men to work
among so many. The force and the means to
carry forward the work should be largely in
creased.
WHAT THE FREEDMEN ARE DOING.
An application comes from a country con
gregation in Darlington county, S.C., asking
a small donation and loan, to aid in building
a frame church, estimated to cost there SSOO.
The people are very poor, many of them with
large families to support, working for five
dollars a week, and one bushel of meal, and
three pounds of bacon. Notwithstanding
their poverty, they have secured one acre of
ground, and have raised by subscription S2OO,
with which they have commenced work, and
from the Society, the amount of S2OO is de
sired.
THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS.
A donation of SSO was made to Dunlap’s
Chapel, near Gadsden, Tenn. One of the
trustees reports concerning it: “The chapel is
not quite iinished. Your donation fell short
oi the amount needed about $10; but we
have good assurance that the amount will be
raised. One term of school has been taught
in the new building, and another will com
mence soou. The teacher has furnished the
house with a stove. We shall get along well.”
Jhis indicates how hundreds of people in the
southern States use the small amount of aid
received, and the results really likely to fol
low.
THE INFLUENCE OF OUR CHURCH IN GEORGIA.
One of our presiding elders of the Georgia
Conference, writes us as follows: “ Where our
church is well represented, and we have
churches and schools, the people are doing
well; but in the Southwestern part of the
State, where we have neither, the people are
leaving in large crowds daily, for Mississippi
and Arkansas; and unless something shall be
done soon, that part of the State wHI be al
most without a laboring population.” This
is very suggestive.
OLD AGE.
A songless bird, a garden without flowers,
A river-bed dried up in thirsty hours,
A sterile field, untutored by the plow,
A withered blossom on a withered bough,
A flickering light that fails when needed moßt
To warn the sailor from the treacherous coast,
A thought that dies ere yet 'tis fully born,
A hope that gleams like poppies ’mid the corn,
Fair idle weeds that Haunter in the sun,
Fair morning hopes that fail ere day be done,
Fair Life, so seeming fair, so coldly bright,
Fair Life, beloved of Love, and youth’s delight—
At early dawn, how fresh thy face appears!—
The twilight sees it furrowed o’er with tears.
Spring flowers are sweet, but autumn’s woods
are dry,
Spring birds are silent ’neath a wintry sky;
Spring thoughts that wake to deeds, inspire no
more
When the dull daylight fades along the shore;
The ice-blocked stream can bear no precious
freight—
The stripped and sapless oak stands desolate,
And the hill fortress that defied the foe
In crumbling fragments fills the vale below.
Yet is there golden beauty in decay,
As autumn leaves outshine the leaves of May,
The calm of evening with its roseate light,
The starry silence of the wintry night;
The stillness of repose when storms are o’er,
And the sea murmurs on a peaceful shore;
The brooding memories of the past that make
The old man young again for Beauty’s sake;
The hope sublime that cheers the lonely road
W T hich leads him gently to the hills of God.
BITTER COLD.
The past winter has been the coldest ever
known, and the most fatally cold.
As an instance, the icy cyclone in Minne
sota forms an episode of terrible deadliness.
A snow-storm raged two days. The air was
so filled with snow flakes that objects ten
feet distant could not be seen. Every body
"•caught, out doors ami' unafcl*.'-to get immedi
ately to shelter perished. "Whole herds of cat
tle died. Seventy persons in a small range
were frozen to death. A man was found
standing near his barn-door dead and frozen.
Scattered all over the country teamsters,
sleigh-riders, horses, etc., were found frozen.
A station agent was frozen passing from the
depot to the tank-house.
A gentleman from Blue Earth county tells
of an instance where, in driving along after
the storm, a team of horses was noticed a
little off" the beaten track, and on examina
tion, the horses were found frozen stiff, stand-:
ing on their feet, and looking perfectly life
like. Sitting on the seat in an erect position,
with the reins in his hand, was the driver,
dead, and in the bottom of the sleigh, cov
ered up with blankets and straw, were the
bodies of seven persons, all dead.
On Tuesday afternoon, a man living some
three miles from New Ulm came into that
place after a doctor for his wife, who was
about being confined, leaving her alone at
home. The storm was so terrible that no
doctor would venture out, but one promised
to go the next morning. Efforts were made
to induce the man to remain in town, but he
said that his wife was alone, and he must go
back. Poor man! He never saw his home
again, his frozen body being found about half
way there. The next day the doctor man
aged to reach the house, where he found that
the poor woman had given birth to a child,
and that both were frozen dead.
The instances recorded are frightful. It is
impossible to tell how many perished.
Among those saved is a curious case. A
jarty of section men were at work four and a
lalf miles from St. James when the storm
struck them. With one exception, they man
aged to reach [the village alive. They sup
posed their comrade had perished, and on
Thursday afternoon they started out to find
his body. After a lengthy search, they found
him asleep in a snow bank, where he had
laid forty-four hours. On being aroused, the
first question he asked was whether breakfast
was ready. The second request was for a
“chew of tobacco.” He had his shovel with
him, and had dug out in the bank of snow a
perfect set of rooms, which exercise undoubt
edly saved his life.
Bits of Wisdom.
The friend who pardons a great wrong ac
quires a superiority that wounds the self Jove
of the pardoned man.
The mind that is never occupied is ever
restless and dissatisfied with itself, and the
hands that have nothing useful to do, will nat
urally do something that they ought not to do.
On earth we have nothing to do with suc
cess or with its results, but only being true to
God and for God; for it is sincerity, and not
success, which is the sweet savor before God.
The blossom can not tell what becomes of
its odor, and no man can tell what becomes
of his influence and example, that roll away
from him and go beyond his ken on their
mission.
Whenever a merchant measures a bushel of
wheat or salt or corn, God weighs it imme
diately after him. The merchant’s measure
may be wrong, hut God’s measure is just right.
I respect the man who knows distinctly
what he wishes. The greater part of all the
mischief of the world comes from the fact
that men do not sufficiently understand their
own aims. They have undertaken to build a
tower, and spent no more labor on the founda
tion than would be necessary to erect a hut.—
Goethe.
Some people are as careful of their troubles
as mothers are of their babies. They cuddle
them, and rock them, and hug them, and cry
over them, and fly into a passion with you if
you try to take them away from them. They
want you to fret with them, and to help them
to believe that they have been worse treated
than anybody else. If they could, they would
have a picture of their griefs in a gold frame,
hung over the mantel-shelf for every body to
look at. And their griefs ordinarily make
them selfish—they think more of their dear
trouble in the basket and in the cradle than
they do of all the world besides.
THE
. Methodist Advocate.
Terns of Advertising':
Single insertion 18 cent* per line
Any number of lines, 3 mo’*, each Insertion, 10 cent* per line
Any number of line*, 6 month* or longer,
each in50rt10n............. 8 cent* per line.
On advertisement* of fifty line* or more, 10 per cent, discount.
Special Notice* 15 cents per line.
Business Items 25 cent* per line.
Marriage Notices 60 cent*.
We Intend to iusert no questionable advertisements.
Brevities Miscellaneous.
NO. 6.
In England and Wales are 1,600 Catholic
clergymen.
A. T. Stewart’s residence, in New York city,
cost only $1,500,000.
Boston has finally concluded to open its public
library Sunday afternoons.
The aggregate hay crop in the United States
for 1872 was 24,000,000 tons.
35,000 tons of wheat are stored in Stockton,
Cal., waiting for shipment to Liverpool.
It is estimated that half a million of buffaloes
are killed annually on the plains in Kansas.
The mint in San Francisco, in 1872, coined
$16,000,000 in gold, and $380,000 in silver.
Russia has already completed 9,300 miles of
railroad, with 1,460 miles more in process of
construction.
The deaths in Boston in 1872 exceeded those
in 1871 by three per cent., exclusive of deaths
from small-pox.
In California thirty-two mining companies,
representing $92,250,000 in capital, were recently
formed in one day.
The total loss at the Boston fire in leather,
hides, shoes, boots, findings, machinery, etc., is
stated at $11,250,000.
The National Screw Company, of Hartford,
Conn., on a capital of $500,000, made a profit
last year of $384,000.
It is estimated that 30,000 people attended the
funeral of Louis Napoleon. 25,000 visited his
remains while lying in state.
The claim which the Erie directory are about
to press against Commodore Vanderbilt amounts
with interest to over $5,000,000.
The value of manufactured products in New
Hampshire, in 1862, was $37,000,000; in 1872,
$71,000,000. The Granite State moves steadily
forward.
It is said the Prussian Government has defi
nitely decided to banish from Germany the la
dies of the Sacred Heart, regarding the order as
akin to Jesuitism.
Germans rarely commit suicide in their Fath
erland, yet 40 per cent, of suicidists in New
York city last year were Germans. Bad moral
climate that of the Gothamites.
The number of alien emigrants landed at the
port of New York during the year 1871 was
229,619, and the number landed during the year
1872, 293,603, making an excess during the latter
year of 63,964.
The city of Milwaukie, Wia., in 1872, realized
for its own manufactures $20,000,000, as follows:
Iron, $4,000,000; tanners, $2,500,000; clothing,
$2,000,000; tobacco and cigars, $2,500,000; lager
beer, $3,000,000.
A French 9avant has demonstrated that a fly
during its life costs somebody twenty cents.
Thi9 demonstration was exhibited by confining
three thousand flies and a loaf of sugar in a
close room for four days.
A writer of distinction says: Guinea pigs are
not pigs. They are harmless, timid, vegetable
feeders. Their flesh is nutritious and delicate.
If once received into our markets, being easily
raised, they would soon be prized for their many
desirable dietetic properties.
A German, after several years’ experiment,
lias succeeded in manufacturing sugar from corn,
which is said to grade with “coffee A.” and can
be made at a cost of four cents a pound. A com
pany with $20,000 capital is being formed at
Davenport to establish a factory.
The London Standard, says the annexation of
the Sandwich Islands to the United States will
be no menace to England, but to Australia, and
urges, as a means of restoring equilibrium in
the event of such transfer of territory taking
place, the annexation of the Fiji Islands to Aus
tralia.
It cost last year to run the principal govern
ments of the world —27 in number —$3,376,800,-
ooO ; $i,8227roo;ooo~ more- iMirnv 1562: ■' gfcsl.-
total indebtedness in 1862 was $10,000,000,000;
now it is $17,000,000,000. While most other na
tions are increasing their debt, we are rapidly
diminishing ours.
Boston’s criminal record for the past year
shows a decided increase in crime over previous
vears. The whole number of arrests was 14,537,
against 12,862 in 1871, and 11,911 for 1869;
11,248 were males, and 3,289 females 8,478
being foreigners; 9,307 were for drunkenness,
against 7,986 for 1871.
Plato was not a facile writer, but the finished
diction of his dialogues was the fruit of pro
tracted labor. Up to the age of eighty he con
tinued to correct and new mold the language of
his writings, and a note-book was found after his
death in which he had written the opening sen
tences of the “Republic” several times over in a
different order.
The Norfolk Journal says of Washington and
Lee University: “The fund of the Missouri
chair of applied chemistry amounts to nearly
$50,000; the Kentucky chair of history and po
litical economy, to $25,000: Louisiana chair of
modern languages, to $27,000; Texas chair of
applied mathematics, to $25,000. The fund for
the Virginia chair has reached $12,000 and will
be applied to one of the most useful schools of
the University. The plan is to have a chair
from each State endowed with $50,000, to bear the
State name.”
Mr. Ruskin now writes: “I was obliged to write
too young, when I knew only half truths, and
was eager to set them forth by what I thought
fine words. People used to call me a good writer
then; now they say I can’t write at all; because,
for instance, if I think anybody’s house is on
fire, I only say, ‘Sir, your house is on firewhereas
formerly I used to say, ‘Sir, the abode where you
probably passed the delightful days of youth is
in a state of inflammation,’ and every body used
to like the effect of the two p’s in ‘probably
passed,’ and of the two d’s in ‘delightful days.’ ”
Professor Hitchcock, of Amherst College, is a
letter from abroad, to the Springfield Bepubliean,
says if any one has a wish to see a set of villain
ously human rascals, let him take Suez and Al
exandria for patterns; and if he then don’t be
lieve in Darwinianism or something worse, he
will be hard to convince of anything within the
capacity of human reason. And yet, right in
their midst stand those superb granite obelisks,
Cleopatra’s Needle and Pompey’s Pillar, the like
of which art and science of the nineteenth cen
tury could not produce.
The Isthmus of Suez is interesting, as it is the
separating line between the tropics and the tem
perate zone for nearly all steam navigation. At
Suez the crews are changed. If the sailors are
Chinamen up to this point, and the ship is to go
through the canal to England, or even to Alex
andria, English sailors take their place; and in
stead of the simple boatswain’s whistle of the
Malay or Chinaman, we have the loud shouts of
the English boatswain in ehanging sail, and
other movements on deck.
A dragon fly balanced on its wings at the side
of a car speeding its way over the rails, at the
rate of forty miles an hour, appears to be almost
motionless.’ But to keep up with the car, its
wings must vibrate many thousand times a sec
ond. The eye can not detect their up and down
action, so exceedingly rapid are the contractions
and relaxations of the muscles acting upon them.
All at once they dart off at a right angle so
quickly that the retina can not have an impres
sion remaining long enough to retrace their
course. Therefore, those same muscles, too small
to be seen but by powerful microscopic assistance,
must be urged to still more rapid action. Such
intense activity far exceeds the vibration of mu
sical chords, and therefore exceedingly per
plexes entomologists, because the nervous sys
tem of insects is so extremely minute.
It has been assumed by those competent to
form an opinion that there are twenty-five thou
sand muscles in a silkworm. There are eight
thousand in the trunk of an elephant, and in
most of the serpents perhaps more than a mil
lion. Through the instrumentality of those or
gans the flexibility of the boa constrictor de
pends. By an act of will —that is, instantly
charging the muscles with an extra force the
great python of Africa crushes a living lion into
a shapeless mass for swallowing. Every bone is
ground into fragments, so that no opposing ob
stacles in the form of splinters or projecting
points can injure' the throat on the way to the
snake’s immensely large elastic stomach. Nei
ther art nor science has yet discovered a method
for generating suoh power by apparently such a
simple device.