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A Sermon.
BY REV. T. 0. CARTER.
“Behold, the hire of the laborer* who have reaped
down your fields, which is of you kept back by
fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have
reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of
Swbaoth.*’ Jaipes v: 4.
This terrible passage of Scripture has been
manifestly fulfilled in the history of our
country, especially in that part of it where
slavery existed, previous to the bloody in
flict that terminated in its extinction. For
more than two centuries the “laborers” went
forth clearing these great'forests, scattering
the grain over these extensive acres, and
“reaping down these vast fields;” yet, “the
hire was kept back by fraud,” and the poor
outraged “laborers” received no equivalent
for their arduous toils. Although the labor
of their hands filled the country with wealth,
built rich and flourishing cities, erected
literary and religious institutions, tracked the
land with railroads, freighted steam-cars and
steam-ships with the products of* the country,
and glutted the markets from year to year
with a superabundance of exchangeable com
modities; although their toils did all this and
more besides, still "the hire was kept back by
fraud," and the “laborers” were not per
mitted to enjoy the products of their own
hands, but toiled on through cold and heat,
half clothed and sometimes half fed, while
their children suffered penury and ignorance.
But Dr. Rivers says in his attempt to
justify the institution of slavery, that “The
direct tendency of slavery is to make the con
dition of the slave more happy and prosper
ous than that of the free white operative at
the North or in Europe. While the poor
white operative pines in want and his chil
dren become beggars, the negro slave flour
ishes in plenty, and has to spare.” What a
fallacious argument! With regard to the
assertion that the condition of the negro
slave was more prosperous and happy than
that of the poor white operative of the North,
I would say that no statement was ever more
obviously false. It is false, in the first place,
because it is impossible in the very nature of
mankind for a slave to be as happy as a free
man. I can see how a man may be happy
in the cold hut of poverty, but I can not con
ceive how it is possible for him to be happy
when his life, liberty, and greatest possibili
ties are held in absolute control by another,
and dare not move only as he is bidden.
This fact is illustrated in the fable of the
wild and tame ass. The former seeing the
latter in a certain sunny place, thought him
to be happy; but afterward, seeing him bear
ing burdens and beaten by his master, a sad
change came over his brutish instinct. No
sensible, unprejudiced man, seeing the poor
slave bearing burdens and beaten by a cruel
master, thought his condition to he a happy
one. A slave happier than a free man?
No! The assertion is preposterous! I
doubt if the slaves of the South knew what
happiness was, only as faith removed the
veil of gloom, and hope whispered “there’s a
better day approaching.”
The assertion is false, in the second place,
because the poor white operatives in the
North have always enjoyed the same.chances
of success and failure that other men have;
and many of them have become vastly rich.
Who ever hoard of a slave becoming wealthy?
Mr. Rivers says “ho flourished in plenty, and
had to spare.” If this be true, why did he
not live in a comfortable and well furnished
house? Why did he not sleep on a feather
bed, and recline his weary head on a downy
pillow instead of falling to sleep on a pile
oi straw-? Why did he not rest his timl
limbs at evening in the rocking-chair, or
pleasant sofa instead of a hard bench or
rough stool? Why did he not ride in a cush
ioned buggy instead of walking, when he
went six and eight miles to Church? And if
“he flourished in plenty and had to spare,”
why in the name of reason did he walk ten
and fifteen miles on the Sabbath day peddling
baskets and brooms which he had made at
the dead hours of night when his body should
have been wrapped in slumber? And why
did he wear the old coat and hat that his
master had thrown away instead of wearing
first rate clothing? Did his degraded taste
lead him, amid “plenty and to spare,” to
choose rags and cabins instead of purple
robes and costly mansions? I would forever
say, no! The text solves the mystic problem.
“ The hire was kept back by fraud."
Rut Mr. Rivers compares the condition of
the negro slave with that of the European
operative, and asserts that the condition of
the former is more prosperous and happy
than that of the latter. Suppose it was, did
that remove the injustice of the treatment
which the slave received from his master?
And would Mr. Rivers, as an American citi
zen, argue for a moment that the subjects of
Europe are treated as they should be? Be
cause one man kills another, does that prove
it to be right and justify all others who may
commit murder? Or because one man gets
drunk, does that license all men to do like
wise and prove it to be Scripturally right?
“Insulted reason” answers no! This is the
very ground on which the learned divine con
tends for the right of slavery. Beeause the
poor operatives of Europe, under~that mon
archical form of government, are crushed
beneath the iron heel of oppression, he would
say it is Scripturally right to buy and sell,
beat and torture, enslave and oppress the
African race, under this Republican form of
government. He has surely forgotten that
the very oppression from which he argues
drove Our pilgrim fathers to these shores.
They brought with them the seeds of a dis
enthralled religion and a free government—
one that would grant to all men “life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.” This seed
they sowed on American soil, and on the
morning of our nation’s birth they realized
the harvest of their sowing. “The clarion
notes which echoed from the temple of Amer
ican independence, and aroused the oountry
to civil liberty, were answered by a louder
voice proclaiming liberty to the Church;”
The people of Europe can not boast of civil
and religious liberty, while the people of
America glory in the freedom of all their in
stitutions. It is no wonder, therefore, that
the poor operatives in Europe are oppressed,
but that only proves the more conclusively
that oppression should not be tolerated in
America.
The arguments of Mr. Rivers have neither
proven the right of slavery nor removed the
fact that those who received slave labor
practiced fraud. The stain can not be washed
from the history of our country nor erased
from the records of slave-dealers. It was by
fraud that they were stolen from their sunny
Africa; it was by fraud that they were sold
to the American colonists; it was by fraud
that they induced them to make the bloody
{mrchase; and it was by fraud and open vio
ation of all law, both human and divine,
that they were held in abject slavery and
their hire “kept back.”
But I must turn to the last part of the
text —“And the cries of them which reaped
are entered into the ears of the Lord of
Sabaoth.” Just as surely as the Lord heard
the cries of the Israelites and delivered them
from the hand of the oppressor, just so
surely did he hear the cries of the slaves of
the South, and emancipated them from bond
age. Through the long years of intense suf
fering to which they were forced to submit,
their cries were piercing the very heavens.
From hill and valley, from field and barn,
from secluded grove and public sanctuary,
their lamentations were going up to the mer
ciful ears of the never-sleeping God. At
morning’s early dawn, as they arose from
their excited dreams of freedom, they bowed
the suppliant knee to Him who had watched
their disturbed slumbers, and pleaded for a
realization of their cherished hopes. And
through the heavy toils of the day, while
driven by task-masters, their prayers went
YOL. YI.
up in subdued sighs and suppressed murmurs
for the yoke to he removed. And then, at
the holy hour of evening, when the vesper
shadows began to gather, their cries still
ascended, freighted with earnest pleading for
the heavy shackles to be broken from their
tortured bodies. At last Jehovah stooped
from his high empyrean and with his own
hand burst the fetters, and sounded the
note of liberty from our proud Capitol, which
was answered by ten thousand shouts of ec
static joy, and the whole nation was made
vocal with the songs of freedom. Truly the
“cries of the laborers” had entered into the
ears of the Lord his great, com
passionate heart had been moved to pity, and
his grand purposes were accomplished iD
their liberation. Then let those who are
ever croaking and grumbling at the North for
freeing their slaves, cease their complaining
and bow to the majesty of God, acknowledging
him as the one who announced the “Emanci
pation Proclamation.”
Now that they are freed among us, home
less and penniless, and are compelled to cul
tivate our lands for sustenance, let us remem
ber the text in all our dealings with them.
Let no one take advantage of their ignorance
and poverty. Let no one be so basely wicked
as to hire them for half price because they
either do not know the worth of labor or
have sunken into such a state of necessity as
to force them to work for reduced wage3. It
pays to be honest. But it does not pay to
exchange integrity for a few dollars and cents.
Money made by cheating these poor, unlet
tered freedmen will burn in your conscience
and destroy your earthly and perhaps future
happiness. Then deal honestly with them.
Hire liberally and pay punctually. Do not
“keep back the hire by fraud,” and then
God’s smile will rest upon you and a sweet
peace will take possession of your soul.
I desire, in conclusion, to allude very dis
creetly and gently to the atrocious deeds of
murder that have been committed in the
South, and especially in my native Tennessee,
during the months that have just passed. As
I have read the statements of the Ku-Klux
outrages and midnight murders, I have won
dered how long shall the patriotic people of
Tennessee suffer from those outlaws? How
long shall her sacred name be disgraced, her
houses of worship burned, her public schools
outraged, and her citizens shot down by
blood-thirsty villians? Surely it is mercy,
second only to the mercy of God, that has
caused President Grant to withhold the
sword from these lawless , rebellious and Gov
ernment-hating wretches! They may bo
thankful that they have had the merciful
Grant to deal with, instead of the justice
giving Jackson, whose sleeping dust is de
famed by their heinous crimes. If he could
rise from his grave and assume the responsi
bilities of Chief Executive, he would say,
“By the Eternal,” as he did in the case of
John C. Calhoun, that death should be their
inevitable doom, if they desisted not from
their enormous crimes. And no less certain
than the declaration will be the execution.
But, while President Grant has been so
merciful, and these fearful crimes have gone
unpunished, the blood of the slain has been
crying unto God. “The Lord said unto Cain,
the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto
me from the ground.” Many voices of
blood have cried unto God from Tennessee
during the present year, calling for vengeance,
and though he has not yet cursed them or
driven them from the face of the earth,
which opened her mouth to receive this inno
cent blood, yet, “He will not withhold his
anger forever,” and sooner or later, they will
pay the fearful penalty. jSuch tremendous
crimes must be punished! The day of retri
bution will come! And it will be more tol
erable, in the Day of Judgment, for Sodom
and Gomorrah than it will for the assassins
of Tennessee. May God protect the right!
“He Shall Have Whatsoever He Saith.”
NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE.
BY REV. JOHN A. LANSING, A. M.
Whosoever shall say, he shall have what
sover he saith, if he have faith and doubt
not. Such is the teaching of Jesus, as
Mark records it and Matthew tells it, when
they set before us the withered fig tree and
its lessons. Is it not well to look a little
after our vested rights, as belonging to the
great company who have heeded the “whoso
ever” of the Gospel invitation, and who
firmly believe the teaching of the epistle
that says “All things are yours”? May not
the one who has heeded the voice that said
“Come!” have the right to say, “Be thou
removed” to the mountain, and witness its
stately march to the sea and its disappear
ance beneath the waves? And shall not the
one that can truly say, “All things are mine,”
be able, by his voice of command, to pluck
up by its roots —not one left behind to sprout
trouble afterwards —the sycamine tree, and
even plant it, as the sign of his conquering,
where no green tree has ever rooted or
flourished—on the bosom of the same waters
where the mountain went down Trom sight?
There can be but one answer to queries like
these, without a reversal, so it seems to me,
both of the preface and conclusion of these
illustrative words of Jesus.
For preface, we have not only these mar
vellous words, “Have faith in God,” or,
better, have the faith of God, but the ever
present teaching that doubt is all that can
negative faith, and the pregnant “verily,”
and wide reaching “whosoever” of the
Savior. “For, verily, I say unto you, whoso
ever shall say unto this mountain, * * *
and, for conclusion, “Therefore, I say unto
you, what things soever ye desire, when ye
pray, believe- that ye receive them, and ye
shall have them,” or with the close knitting
copulative, and, to bind it fast thereto, these
words, “All things whatsoever ye shall ask
in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Both
of these mighty promises the Church has held
common to all believers; both of them are
but formulated statement and conclusion of
the teaching that makes the “say” of faith
as the word of him who spake and it was
done. The “ye,” which held in its two let
ters, at the first, apparently, but the ad
dressed disciples has expanded to the “who
soever,” whose limitation you make by doubt
ing, and then has become the ye whose ample
breadth takes in all who desire, pray, believe,
receive. The “whatsoever” has been broken
in two, that it might read, “what-things
soever, and there has found another form
without limit in itself, for in Matthew’s record
it becomes “all things whatsoever;” and so
the “say” of faith, on the lips of him whose
heart is undoubting, .becomes a measureless
force which moves mountains and plucks up
and plants sycamine trees by its word. If
we look upon these picture words as but il
lustrative, we but add strength to the state
ment; for the symbol is ever outdone by the
reality. Either symbol paints the impossi
ble, and that in most striking figure; for
what could more fitly set forth that which
can not be done, than the removal of the
everlasting hills by a word, or the planting of
a tree in mid wave? If you make the word
“say,” but illustrative, there only comes
ATLANTA, GA., WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1874.
meat out of the change. For to say, using it
figuratively, would be but to put into word
form so that your thought could be borne to
another; and so this mighty word of faith is
the written as well as the spoken “say,” the
word of a printing press or letter, if it come
from a heart that doubts not. And why not
all this? Creation followed, “and God said,”
from the first, let there be light, and there
was light, until God’s crowning work in man;
for the record is “And God said, let us make
man,” and then it was done. By the word of
his power all thing are upheld, and at his
voice all will be changed. The first man
heard the voice of the Lord God, walking
in the garden; and the last scene of the
Judgment is ushered in with the King saying,
“Come! Depart!” The world is to be brought
to God by a herald voice. Even the coming
of The Word, who was God, was prepared
by the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
God has ever chosen to join the resist
less power of his Spirit with the spoken,
written, living Word; and, since the life of
the just is the life of faith, is it strange that
the “say” of faith should be overcoming?
Reader, is there any power in what you say
to remove, pluck up, or plant? Before the
voice of your asking, do mountains begin to
tremble, and wide-spreading, deep-rooted
trees begin to break ground, or is your voice
as the voice of any other man?
We Can, if a we Will.
BY KEY. R. PIERCE.
In a recent editorial you say: “If a hun
dred of our well-to-do Tennessee farmers
would give a thousand dollars each for these
institutions (East Tennessee Wesleyan and
Knoxville Universities) they would soon put
them in a position of incalculable power for
good in the Church and country;” adding,
“this suggestion is practicable.” My ex
perience in canvassing has developed the fact
that, on every one of our charges visited by
me, there are from one up to five who could
give SSOO, orslooo, each. On the —circuit,
there are four persons at least, who could give
SSOO, each, and two who could give SIOOO,
each, and it would be a great blessing to them.
On the R— circuit is one man who could give
from one to five thousand, and it may he
necessary for him to do so, to save him from
worldliness iand avarice. There are many
others who could give SIOO to S2OO and $300;
some SSOO. I know a man on one of our
circuits —a warm Methodist in sentiment, and
though not professedly religious, who is
thinking and talking (rather in a quiet,
private way) of willing his entire property to
the Knoxville' University—he has no chil
dren. His property is worth, I judge, near
SIO,OOO. He will give us a thousand dollars
on the Memorial fund, in my opinion. Now
let us move right along in earnest —show the
community and Church that we mean busi
ness, and in due time we shall receive be
quests and large donations. I might fill
pages in giving you details of what I have
seen. and liheatown are only
specimens of the ability of our Churches and
congregations to give. One word as to de
veloping this ability: In Newark, N. J., a
Church was in debt SI2OOO. In an official
meeting it was proposed to raise S2OOO, and
reduce the debt. This proposition dragged.
A brother then proposed to pay SIOOO, if the
SI2OOO were secured. This proposition took,
and was carried through with enthusiasm.
Place an enterprise before men that is grand
and inspiring, yet practical, and they will
give in proportion to the magnitude and im
portance of the enterprise. Talk to the
Church and propose to them to do something
worthy of themselves and the cause, and they
will give largely.
We must preach, lecture, write, circulate
documents,tracts, until the people understand
the importance and the grandeur of our edu
cational work. In other words, work up these
interests, and this will take time. But it ap
pears plain to me that broad, bold, grand
plans, sweeping on in their scope and includ
ing the coming greatness of the future —plans
measuring up to our duty and responsibili
ties —will inspire and develop the power of
the Church to execute those plans, provid
ing the plans are wise and practical. Our
plans (educational) have the collected wisdom
of the Church, the experience of the past, all
concentrated on them. Hence, I hail your
editorial—give us more shots in the same di
rection. They will hit the mark. You
know Judge Patterson, his new wheel is
likely to be a great success, this is considered
as a settled fact already. He lias large plans
for our educational work, in case lie secures
the means he reasonably expects.
Methodism in the Miasmatic Regions of
South Carolina.
BY REV. BENJ. L. ROBERTS.
It may prove interesting to some of your
readers to become conversant with the fact
that the “miasmatic Charleston” is the cradle
of Methodism in South Carolina, and that
notwithstanding the commercial strides of
some of the interior towns of this State, the
old gray-haired Mother is still a giant, and
like the pyramids of Egypt, grand in every
respect. Nor could we expect less when such
sainted men as Bishops Asbury, George,
Soule, Andrews, Pierce, and other Godlike
men, all of them Colossuses in intellect and
labor, operated here.
One of the common mistakes of neophytes
is, that the Methodist Episcopal Church is
being inaugurated for the first time in this
State, and that they (the neophytes) are
pioneers. Established in 1785, with a steady
onward stride, and numbering, in 1815, 5,692
colored and 282 white members, the latter of
whom endured many hardships, such as being
pumped, stoned, dragged from the pulpit, etc.,
there needs no “wail of lament” from those
who are not conversant with the facts of her
history in these parts and who are easily
misled by some old wife’s tale. If, after the
schism by Hammett in 1791, the African in
1815, the separation of 1844, Methodism finds
plenty of breathing room, we would caution
ill-advised writing on the decline of Method
ism in these miasmatic regions. A reference
to the statistical tables of the ninth session
of the South Carolina Conference, Methodist
Episcopal Church, will satisfy the incred
ulous. The entire district numbers 17,636
full members, an excess over the three other
districts of 9,604. Charleston alone exceeds
Broad River by nearly 300, and Saluda dis-
trict by 1,000. The “Seaboard and Mountain”
have a like interest in the progress of Meth
odism, and ’twere well for beginners to leave
the field of inuendo and inurbanity.
But what does it all mean?
Some time ago one of the writers from
Georgia to Zion’s Herald made urgent appeal
to white men to come to Georgia and take
possession of the central places, as preach
ers and school-teachers, etc. One from South
Carolina, in the Methodist Advocate, thinks
the aid afforded the freedmen superfluous,
and white men ought to be sent to teach and
preach, etc.
Still another, in the North-western, urges
the unfledged students in the Northern semi
naries to come down and take the schools
and pulpits, etc.
Now, some of us feel satisfied that these
wails are uncalled for, and that these attempts
to drive the colored men to the wall, or to
make them “hewers of wood and drawers of
water” will result disastrously to the cause
at large. Furthermore, we are trying to stem
the current against those who are laying the
entire political and ecclesiastical troubles of
this section of the country to Northern men,
or carpet-baggers, as they are called in de
rision, and these sort of letters bear upon
them the impress of pride of race, and will
force us to think or act against our own in
clinations.
Now, to those writers who think the second
centennial of Methodism will occur next
week, or month, or year, because they have
by some fortuitous circumstance, persuasion
of friends, or considerations of health, hap
pened to be in the South, we say, “Let us
have peace.”
“There is a divinity that shapes our ends,
rough hew them as we may.” The field is
open, and if God sends us, let us go, and feel
satisfied that he wills it so, and not that we
are the men.
The world move3, and will move,, and so
will Methodism, whether we live or die.
Charleston, S,C ., Oct. 15, 1874.
[We think our correspondent misappre
hends some of these writers. They are cer
tainly not attempting to drive colored men to
the wall or to make them “hewers of wood
or drawers of water.” We should be, and
trust that we are, workers together for the
good of all, and there is certainly enough to
be done to occupy the time and strength of
each without any getting in the way of
others. — Ed.]
News from Texas.
Miss , a teacher in the freedmen’s work,
writes an interesting and suggestive letter to
Rev. Dr. Rust, which has been placed at our dis
posal, with the recommendation that it be al
lowed a prominent position in our columns. At
no time in the history of our Church has there
been such a ‘glorious opportunity for winning
stars for our C'owna in glory as is afforded in the
suffering and pithr’Sle Condition of our freedmen
it.-Texss, IfirtVeir efi’oits'to shake off the skaekles
of ignorance and degradation and attain the alti
tude of a Christian manhood and usefulness.
We trust that this appeal may find a lodgment
in the heart of the Church, bringing forth imme
diate and ample fruit to the glory of Christ’s
kingdom.
At your request, I send you a report of our
school and work here, as exhibited in its ad
vantages, disadvantages, and needs. First. Qur
advantages. We have the advantages of being
in the center of a large colored population, of a
quiet and unusually healthful location, of plenty
of ground to spread out upon, and of having no
competing schools. Second. Our disadvantages.
We have the disadvantages of being too far out of
town to walk to church, lectures or any public
exercises without too great an expense of time
and strength, of having no private- conveyance
and access to no public conveyance, of having no
buildings that can be used for students’ board
ing hall, therefore of not being able to offer in
ducements to those from abroad to come. Since
I came here I have not had one mouthful of
wholesome food, and every effort to improve it
has made it worse instead of better. Provisions
are uncommonly high. Flour, sls per barrel;
milk, 30 cents per quart; Irish potatoes, $4 per
bushel; butter, 50 cents per pound; vegetables
of all descriptions ruinously high; beef, 10 cents
per pound; and fruit very scarce and high.
Third. Our needs. The colored people are yet
children, and need to be taught every thing.
They know nothing of civilized modes of living,
nothing of improved methods of agriculture,
very little of the use of tools, except of the
rudest description; in fact, very little of im
proved methods of labor of any kind. Very few
of them have any idea of taste about their homes,
and these things can be taught them better by
example than any other way; hence we need to
place before them a model home, in which neat
ness, taste and comfort are separated from ex
travagance; and a model farm, which shall show
them the best modes of farming and gardening,
or, in other words, of making a little land yield
large returns. All this can not be done without
considerable outlay of money at first. The
house and grounds are run down, and need to be
put in good repair and neatly furnished. For
the farm, there is needed a good Northern farmer,
then good Northern tools and appliances, a horse
and spring wagon, and last, but not least, a genu
ine good watch-dog. For the school, there is
needed a boarding hall with dormitories, and our
farmer should be a man who could use the labor
of the boarders about two hours a day, and make
the farm very nearly supply the boarding-house,
and thus put the price of board at the lowest
possible rates. With this we could offer induce
ments to students (and especially theological
students) to come to us from abroad. With a
chance to offer suitable accommodations and a
little timely aid, there is no reason why we
should not have here five hundred students, in
stead of a little over one hundred. And now
lor the immediate and urgent needs of the
schools. First. We have no stoves, and Winter
is coming on, already we have had some morn
ings too cold for safely occupying unwarmed
rooms, and two stoves are needed. Then we
need maps, charts, school requisites, and some
apparatus. There are on the grounds one old
building and in process of erection one small
new building, which, if furnished with the heavy
furniture, would give room to about a dozen
students boarding themselves. The furniture
for these is very much needed. Then a horse
and wagon are needed. There is work enough
on the place in drawing lumber, wood, and gen
eral cleaning up and repairing to keep these em
ployed constantly. To do all that is needed
here would require at least five thousand dol
lars, but when I look at Conference reports aiid
see wealthy Conferences return only a few hun
dred dollars, I know that the Freedmen’s Aid
Society can not have funds to meet all the de
mands upon it; and yet I feel that there are
wealthy men enough in onr Church to give all
that they now give and yet give all that is needed
to carry forward and extend this work and be
richer, healthier and happier for it. There are
men who ought to give not by dollars, but ac
cording as God has given them, by thousands.
(I intended to write hundreds, but I think God
directed my pen, and I am glad I wrote thou
sands.) There is one very urgent reason why
our work should be pushed energetically for
ward in this part of the South at the present
time. Ours is the only school we have in a
range of several hundeds of miles, and, so far as
I can learn, the only Protestant school in this
part of the South. The Romanists are quietly
but surely pushing their work forward here.
They have schools established for the colored
people in many places in the State, and we know
that neither money nor labor will be spared in
strengthening their hold upon this people, and
they have the advantages of having a large white
population of Romanists. Now is the accepted
time to work for them; to defer will prove
highly detrimental and may ruin our interests.
Sometimes we get to thinking that times are bet
ter than they have been, then accounts of new
outrages come to us, showing us how uncertain
is our security, except as we feel secure in God’s
hands. We have no human protection; but for
myself I feel a perfeet assurance of God’s pro
tection. Last Saturday we received a letter from
a neighboring presiding elder, stating that there
had just been an attempt to assassinate him, and
he had been obliged to leave the place, where he
was helping to carry on a meeting. Every
means is being taken to frighten and intimidate
the colored people, with the hope of being able
to keep them away from the elections. At one
point on a certain bridge a guard has been sta
tioned to keep colored men from crossing. As
an instance of the justice dealt out in the courts
here: About the time I came here, one of our
young ladies, a student, was passing along a nar
row passage in company with a little colored
girl, when they met two white girls. In passing,
the little colored girl brushed against the white
girls. The colored girls were arrested, the case
tried, and the older girl fined $lO0 —the little one,
$7.50. The only charge made against the older
girl was, that she spoke to the little one just be
fore they met, and the white girls thought she
told the little one to brush against them. The
real offense was, that the young lady was attend
ing school and becoming educated and refined
beyond many of the wlike girls.
History of the Institution of
Thanksgiving.
George Washington defined Thanksgiving
to mean a day set apart for the public ac
knowledgment of benefits and mercies receiv
ed from God. Noah Webster defines it as a
public celebration of Divine goodness, a day
set apart to acknowledge the goodness of
God, as manifested in the ordinary dispensa
tions of his bounties, or in averting calami
ties, or iu delivery from dangers.
This institution of Thanksgiving w r as es
tablished by those who came over in the
Mayflower, and landed on Plymouth Rock.
The Summer of 1623 was marked by a very
severe drought. From the Ist of May until
the middle of July there was no rain. It
seemed inevitable that there must be a com
plete failure of all the crops. Starvation
looked the colony full in the face. The Gov
ernment,‘under these painful apprehensions,
was induced to appoint a day for fasting, hu
miliation and prayer. When the morning of
the designated day dawned, the skies were
cloudless and the heavens seemed brass.
There was not the slightest indication that
the dreaded drought would terminate. But,
undaunted, these moral heroes engaged in
importunate public prayer for nine consecu
tive hours. In the midst of their tears and
implorings, without thunder, without winds,
the clouds gathered ou all sides, and sweet,
moderate rains came down in all needed
abundance. They came in direct answer to
prayer. The crops yielded an abundant har
vest, and the people were saved from the
horrors of a famine. And it was in grateful
acknowledgment of these great blessings and
of this signal interposition that the first
American Thanksgiving was proclaimed and
devoutly celebrated.
In the year 1630, the Plymouth Colony
numbered three hundred souls, but they re
ceived a reinforcement of eight hundred and
forty. Asa suitable recognition of God’s
kind providence in their deliverance from the
dangers of the deep, and their safe arrival in
Massachusetts Bay, the Bth day of Juiy was
appointed as a day of public thanksgiving.
The Plymouth Colony, in 1631, were com
pelled to resort to nuts, clams and acorns, in
order to sustain life. In view of this great
destitution, they appointed the 6th of Febru
ary as a day of fasting and prayer for relief.
And it is most worthy of note, that in the
very midst of their devotions, two ships, laden
with supplies, were discovered proudly enter
ing into their harbor.
In the epitome of the laws published by
the above-named colony, in 1636, it is written
that it shall be in the power pf the Governor
to command solemn days of humiliation, fast
ing and prayer, and also for thanksgiving, as
occasion may require. And a fine of five
shillings was decreed against any one who
engaged in manual labor on Thanksgiving
Day.
A Thanksgiving was observed in 1651. The
Thanksgiving of the year 1654 was in view of
the proclamation of peace with the Dutch.
Iu the year 1688, the Court of Plymouth
issued the following:
“ The Court, taking notice of the goodness
of God, in the continuance of our civil and re
ligious liberties, the general health we have
enjoyed, and that it hath pleased God, in some
comfortable measure, to bless us in the fruits
of the earth, do conceive that these and other
favors, do call upon us, for return of thank
fulness to the Lord, who might justly have
dealt otherwise with us, and, therefore, that
we may be joint in this our sacrifice, do pro
pose, in the several congregations of this
Government, that the 25th day of November
next, which will be the fourth day of the
week, to be kept as a solemn day of Thanks
giving with respect to His goodness in the
particulars above mentioned, and what par
ticular places and persons may propose to
themselves as special causes of devout thank
fulness.”
We learn from the Plymouth Records that
Thanksgiving days wore appointed for the
years 1680, 1686, 1689,1690, and all iu the
month of November, save the one in the year
1680, which was observed in the month of
June. After the year 1700, no mention of
Thanksgiving days is made in the records of
the colonies, from the fact that such days
were annually observed.
In the year 1705, the annual Thanksgiving
in Connecticut was appointed for the first
Thursday of November, and that day was
observed iu all the towns except the town of
Colchester, where it was postponed, by a
formal public vote, until the second Thurs
day of the same mouth, on account of the
want of a sufficient supply of molasses.
In the year 1777, the Continental Congress
set apart the 18th day of September to be ob
served as a day of solemn thanksgiving and
praise throughout the United States, and di
rected the Committee on Commerce to import
twenty thousand copies of the Bible for gratui
tous distribution.
On the 17th of December, 1777, General
Washington, then near Valley Forge, pro
mulgated the following order:
“ To-morrow being set apart, by the Hon
orable Congress, for public thanksgiving and
praise, and duty calling us devoutly to ex
press our grateful acknowledgments to God
for the manifold blessings lie has granted to
us, the general in command directs that the
army remain in its present quarters, and that
the chaplains perform Divine service, with
their several corps and brigades; and he ear
nestly exhorts all the oflicers and soldiers to
attend with reverence the solemnities of the
day.”
At Valley Forge, May Gth, 1778, General
Washington ordered:
“ It having pleased the Almighty Iluler of
the Universe to defend the cause of the
United American States, and finally to raise
us up a powerful friend [referring to the
French] among the princes of the earth, to
establish our liberty and independence upon
a lasting foundation, it becomes us to set
apart a day for grateful acknowledgment of
the Divine goodness, and celebrating the im
portant event which we owe to his Divine in
terposition. The several brigades are to be
assembled for this purpose at nine o’clock to
morrow morning, when their chaplains will
communicate to them the intelligence, and
offer up thanksgiving, and deliver a discourse
suitable to the occasion.”
Congress proclaimed a day of Thanksgiv*
ing and praise on account of the capitulation
at lorktown. President Washington ap
pointed, as a day of Thanksgiving, the first
or June, 1795. For many years the designa
tion of the day was made by the governors of
the separate States, and as there was no con
cert of expression, different days were selected
by the ditferent States. The custom now is,
and we trust ever will be, that the day chosen
by the President shall be the day of Thanks
giving throughout all the States.
He who proclaimed liberty to the captives,
'nnd wiped slavery from the face of our na
was the first President, since the days
ot \V ashingtou, to invite the whole country
to join in devout praises and grateful songs
on a day appointed as a National Thanks
giving.— Western Christian Advocate.
Unspoken Prayer.
Too tired—too worn to pray,
I can but fold my hands,
Entreating in a voiceless way,
Os Him who understands
How flesh and heart succumb—
u How will sinks, weary—weak,
“Dear Lord, my languid lips are dumb.
See what I can not speak."
Just as the wearied child,
Through sobbing pain opprest, ’
Drops, hushing all its wailings wild.
Upon its mother’s breast—
So on thy bosom, I
Would cast my speechless prayer,
Nor doubt that thou wilt let me lie
In trustful weakness there.
And though no consgious thought
Before me rises clear,
The prayer, of worldless language wrought,
Thou yet will deign to hear.
For when, at best, I plead—
What so my spirit saith—
I only am the bruised reed,
And thou, the breathing breath.
—Margaret J. Preston.
Strength only in God.
Man must be supported every inch of the
way to the Celestial City, by leaning on Christ.
When he ceases to feel this necessity—forgets
he is human —he falls!
It sometimes results that his best frionds
are, spiritually, most injurious to him. Having
attained to a certain degree of eminence for
purity of life and faith, he is honored and
revered. Conscientious persons do not dis
guise their admiration, and byword and look
finally betray the good man into feeling that
he is superior. Satan, quick to seize an ad
vantage and steal a glory from the Lord, em
phasizes the suggestion, until the poor, de
ceived soul, forgets whence its strength was
drawn—forgets that a man is only great in
God, and is led downward by his mocking
enemy.
Sometimes this discipline is as necessary
for a community as for the deluded one, for
hero-worship must always here end in a de
thronement of the idol. “Great Homer’s
gods were men —our men are gods—or would
be so had we the power to shape the ends,”
some one has adroitly put it, and it seems
very true. As soon as the exalted hero be
trays any cast of humanity about him, down
comes the pedestal, shattering the common
clay all about the feet of the indignant, mad
multitude. Aud why? Because, forsooth,
it brings two revelations before them—one of
their idol's falsity, another of their own blind
judgment. Not that the clay was not good
enough clay! It Answered very well the use
tor which it was i nM rid c d-~to■ tsc m chi- common
purpose. Ah no! but it was not such stuff
as a god could be made of; so the humiliation
extends to the worshipers and idol alike.
Then what? The fragments should be gath
ered up tenderly, and restored by the mis
taken builders to their proper use, if that be
yet possible, for by them it was exalted; the
angry words should be repressed, and the
honest, though too eager hearts and hands,
learn a lesson of moderation in the humility.
Over-praise is never good: on one side it de
generates into flattery, on the other into petty
contemptible self-aggrandizement. “Honor
to whom honor is due” is quite another thing
to consider! No true soul is ever honored
by an overweening praise, aud but few are
able to withstand the subtlest forms of flat
tery. There is in it the criminality of placing
a block in your neighbor’s way, over which
he may stumble into a ruinous disaster.
Are we understood? The paradox—“a
proud humility” seems possible—at least, as
the terms are employed. This develops into
secret spiritual pride, which, being at once
the soul’s exaltation aud overthrow, carries
discomfiture and humiliation into the camp
of the worshipers. The plenitude of God’s
grace makes even the seeming ruin a blessing
to all, as it opens all understandings to sym
pathize with the humanity and weakness that
is in all. And so we believe individual aud
public mistakes may turn again into blessings
to God’s most holy praise.— Metli. Recorder.
Ecclesiastical “Dead Beats.”
The commercial world has a significant
term which it applies, not to the unfortunate
and the distressed, but to those who are ex
ertionless in their mishap, and who succumb
to adversity, expecting others to do for them
what they ought to do for themselves. They
have a genius for borrowing money. They
are persistent bores. You know them a
block away, and wish they would always stay
at that distance. They are among business
men called “Dead Beats.”
Almost every Church has an element cor
responding with that. These are they who,
notwithstanding they have means, pay no pew
rent where the pews are let, or contribute
nothing where every thing is voluntary. They
are voluble in prayer, jnighty in religious
gab, make a big swash, but do nothiug for
religious institutions. They pray that the
pastor may “be blessed in his basket and
store,” but do nothing to keep him from
starving to death. They do not recognize the
fact that there is a religion in giving and a
wickedness in withholding. The furnaces
would go out for lack of coal, and the lamps
for lack of oil, and the church be shut iu six
weeks, if it depended upon their contribution.
The poor must have the Gospel preached to
them, and the pennyless must be welcomed;
but there are not more than ten people in any
Church who can not give something. If a
man can not give a hundred dollars a year,
he can give three cents. Woe, then, be to
him if he do not give the three cents. We
never like to hear a man pray who takes it
all out in prayer. It is all folly for a man to
pray for the world’s conversion uuless he
gives something toward it. The man whose
income is not more than two hundred dollars
a year ought to give some of it to God. One
of the great wants of the Church every-where
is to get rid of its “Dead Beats.”
—Christian at Work.
With God’s Help.
Formerly I thought of this work as more
difficult than it seems to me now. I am
deeply convinced of one thing as I grow old
er, and that is, God never sends me to preach
a sermon, anywhere on any occasion, but
he sends some one iuto that congregation to
receive just that truth which he has sent me
to utter. Oh, there are hearts —I cannot
point them out to-day—but there are men
and women iu this audience whose souls are
beginning to be stirred, aud to whom God is
speaking, even through my feeble voice, this
morning. God grant to speak more fully and
more loudly to their consciences; rouse them
from the stupor of sin, and bring them to
Christ! And there are men sayiug, “God
helping me, I will be a better minister than
ever before.” God help you to carry out
your purpose ! —Bishop Simpson.
THE
Methodist Advocate.
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NO. 45.
FROM OUR MISSION ROOMS.
Stirring Incidents are given in the letter
from a home missionary, who writes from
Arizona Territory. Rev. D. B. Wright dates
at Prescott, October 9th: “We have all passed
through a process of acclimation, and it has
been a severe one of about six weeks—two
sick children, no one to take care of them.
This, I presume, looks to you as though we
suffered, and we should have suffered in
tensely il the people here had not been very
kind to us. They came in and did all they
could, and seemed to bring all they could;
in fact, they supplied the house with gro
ceries and eatables while we were sick. Mrs.
General Urook, the wife of the commauder
at the post, (Fort Whipple,) came down, and
not only sat up with us, but brought large
stores oi teas, coffee, chocolate, canned fruits,
wines and groceries of all kinds. Mrs. Gen.
Small also donated very largely, and so did
several of the officers’ wives. The wealthy
ladies of the. village—that made no preten
sions to religion—brought in largely, and all
classes seut iu. One day two gamblers called,
and in a very gentlemanly manner told me
that they were gamblers and did not pretend
to be Churchmen at all, but they ealled to
help us, and handed me S3O. It came very
opportunely, for I had been some days with
out money to buy medicine with. This class
of society have helped me other ways greatly.
O my God, could I but benefit them, could I
but see them saved, I think I could then say,
with one of old, “Now lettest thou thy servant
depart in peace.” But there is no hope of
them; you can not get them where the Gos
pel can reach them. The day of preaching
is the most lively and prosperous day in their
business. My dear brethren, you do not
know what a community we have here. God
must make bare his arm or no one is saved.
Now, my dear brethren, I have a little good
news to write—little in itself, yet in its con
nections here it is great. It is the star of
hope glimmering, though faintly, on the brow
of the future.
Two ladies, the wives of the two leading
merchants in the place, have taken hold with
us, and are getting other ladies interested
with them, iu holding sociables, the proceeds
to be used to upholster the church, to buy
pulpit chairs, tables, stands, etc., and to do
as much more toward finishing the church as
they can. Aud still more: the merchants of
the place have entered into an agreement—of
their own accord —and signed a paper to the
efiect that they will close their stores on Sun
day, and the man that violates the agreement
shall pay a fine of $25, aud it shall go to fin •
ish the Church. I met the leading physician
of the place a few days ago, who himself is a
very talented and smart man. Said he, “That
is the first step toward a reformation; and,”
said he, “it is the first step in morals the
place has ever experienced.”
I might add here that none of these people
are professors but one lady, who is on proba
tion.
I am working at 4rlie church, trying to get
the carpenter work done; we haven’t money
to hire; wages are $8 per day; so I do all I
can with my own hands. Brother Reeder
works with me when-he is here; ho has now
gone to the Colorado, to return in five or six
weeks, if at all; the country is so dangerous
to travel in, that there are a great many more
chances that he never will return, than that
he will. I expect he will stay with me a few
days, aud then leave for the Southern part of
the territqrjv-te be - gUWruli winter.
health has not been very good since I have
been here.
You might think, from his ill health and
our sickness, that we have an unhealthy coun
try here; but this is not the case; we have
a very healthy country, very pure water and
air, and no decay of vegetation, uor anything
to make it unhealthy. Our sickness was
caused more from fatigue and exposure on
the last end of the route, than from any thing
local here or change of climate. When we
reached Ahrenberg, the only chance to get
any further was a huckboard that had no
spring to it, more properly ealled a lumber
wagon, with a platform from axle-tree to
axle-tree in place of a box, with two seats on
it. This was our only chance. My wife,
anxious to have the journey over; and not
realizing—more than I did —how severe it
would be, resolved to try it; and three awful
nights and two and a half days we sat upright
in that seat, aud held a child in our laps.
The last night we became very mannerly, I
wall assure you; we bowed, and sometimes
very low, to every tree, and stump, and rock,
by the wayside. I would not risk the life of
my wife to undertake it again, and yet she
kept up her spirits to the last. The road was
uninhabited, and on the sides were graves of
people that had been killed by the Indians.
I would get very solemn, at times, as I would
think of my wife aud little children out there
exposed to the inhuman Apache. Then Mrs.
Wright would strike up a camp-meeting song,
and the driver and I must sing it with her.
She, from the first, rejoiced to take the mis
sion for the Master, and never has indicated
any other spirit. Remember us to the
brethren.
Extraordinary Meetings. —Rarely, per
haps never before, have so many meetings of
missionary interest occurred within so brief
a space, as the farewell missionary meeting
last Monday evening, 19th inst., in St. Paul’s,
New York; the departure of the company of
seven on Tuesday for their work in India;
and then the brief, but very comprehensive,
account of our foreign missions given by
Bishop Harris on Monday, the 26th inst., at
a crowded meeting of our pastors of this city
and vicinity.
The farewell meeting was the result of ar
rangements made by the “Woman’s Foreign
Missionary Society.” Rev. Brothers Weath
erby, Hard, Robinson and Goodwin. Mrs.
Thomas, Mrs. Banarjea, Mrs. Weatherby,
and Miss Lore, all missionaries, in the work
or on the way to it —with Dr. Chapman,
Secretary Reid, Dr. Lore, and Bishop Har
ris, all bore a part in this unusually profitable
meeting. The remarks of the Bishop upon
facts occurring under his own notice in our
foreign missions greatly increased the in-,
terest of the occasion. The singing in the
Hindustani was also an inspiring part of the
exercises.
The departure of the missionaries on
Tuesday had attracted to the scene troops of
friends of the cause, and friends and re
latives of the missionaries. Whilst there is
always on [such occasions much to affect for
good all pious beholders, the interest of this
leave-taking was heightened exceedingly.
When, at the loosening of the ship’s fastening,
she moved from her berth, the crowd on her
deck united with the crowd on the shore, to
sing of meeting again,
In the sweet by aud by,
Ou that beautiful shore!
The Monday morning address by Bishop
Harris was a spell upon the audieuoe, which
made them cry long after his purposed and
epitomized narrative was exhausted; and so
his continuous stream of burniug intelligence,
which increased iu intensity as he,proceeded,
was only arrested by his own imposed,
violent determination to say no more —much
to the Idissatisfaction of his enrapt hearers,
who seemed relieved by an immediate motion
of Secretary Dashiell aud Dr. Curry, express
ing the heartiest thanks of the meeting for
what they had heard, with a request that the
Bishop give the same, and a more elaborate
account, iu print, for the benefit of the whole
Church. The motion was adopted by a
unanimous aud rising vote. Ihe wish was
very emphatically expressed that the Bishop
should favor all the great centers of our
Church throughout the country with a
similar account of his observations in oi*ur
foreign missions.