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The Methodist Advocate IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY HITCHCOCK & WALDEN, FOR THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, At No. 110 Whitehall-street. terms: Two OollarH a year, invariably in advance. All traveling preachers of the Methodist Episcopal Ohnrch are authorized agents. Subscriptions must closo with the end of the year Remittances must 1« made by Registered Letter, P. O. Money-Order, Draft, or by Express. Supplement to Berean Lessons. BY JOSEPH LONOKINO. Fourth Quarter. Lesson VII. Saul’s Early Ministry. Aetsix, 19-30. Nov. 12. 19. When he] Saul. See last verse of last week’s lesson. Had received meat ] This was the third day of fasting. He was strength ened] Spoken of the strength re ceived from partaking food—physi cal strength. Then was Saul cer tain days with the disciples ] Mixing with them in a social intercourse as one of them, and especially wor shiping with them. The worship was in part —perhaps not alto gether that of the synagogues. 20. Straightway ] Immediately : on his first beginning to associate with them. lie preached in the synagogues] This shows that these believers in Christ did not separate themselves from their Jewish breth ren. On the contrary, we may readily suppose they were among the most devout and constant in their attendance on the stated wor ship. This “preaching” was, doubt less, after the usual manner of the synagogue teaching: the reading of the Old Testament Scriptures— probably, the prescribed lesson of the day—and the delivery of such remarks as the speaker thought proper to make. See Luke iii, 16— 22; Acts xiii, 14—17, etc. Christ ] llather, Jesus: which is now- gen erally received as the true reading. That he is the Son of Cod] The partaker of bis own nature; and that in a sense in which it could be said of none other. It was the apostles’ object to show that Jesus was a divine personage. 21. All that heard him were amazed] Greatly wondered, as ap pears from the next clause, that he should preach the doctrine that he did. Said , Is not this he, etc.] — The original is said to embody the question as a doubt; as, “Surely this is not (is it?) he,” etc. These wonderers were evidently not the believers in Christ, but the non believing Jews, together, it may be, with some Gentiles. Destroyed] Wasted, whether by causing them to be put to death, or otherwise in juring them. The word is properly used of the 'ravages caused by an invading foe. Called on his name] Prayed to Jesus as God. This trait especially distinguished his early followers, and did much to affix to them his name —Christians. We fear the Church suffers loss by not more frequently and directly ad dressing theix petitions to him now, instead of so much to flatter ufc the name of, or for the sake of, our blessed Savior. Came hither for that intent] Namely, the “intent” to take,” bound to Jerusalem,” to an swer for their defection from the Jewish faith as commonly under stood, such as had embraced the new religion. There is no evidence that Paul used the letters given to him by the high priest at the time, or made known their existence. The knowledge of them thus men tioned was, probably, obtained from his late fellow-travelers. 22. Saul increased the more in strength] We understand this of the increased depth of his conviction that Jesus was the Son of God, of the greater breadth of his religious knowledge, and of the consequently more marked energy or boldness which he displayed in his teachings and disputations with the non-be lieving Jews. Confounded the Jews] Rather, perplexed them. His rea sonings appear to have thrown them into that confused state of mind produced by the unexpected disproval of long-entertained views and expositions which, though proved false, are still tenaciously clung to, but which they had become unable to support by solid argument and clear reasoning. Proving] Literally, the combining of various prophecies, and showing their ful fillment, thus producing demonstra tion. Many distinguished critics here insert Paul’s statement, rec orded Gal. i, 17, etc., which see, of bis going into Arabia, and his sub sequent return to Damascus.— There is nothing in the record to de termine the exact time of this visit to Arabia. 23. After mang days] Supposed to include the time of his sojourn in Arabia, and the period he passed in Damascus after his return to that city. We have no other clew to its length than that stated Gal. i, 18, that it was before his going to Jeru salem, three years after his con version. The Jews took counsel to kill him] He must then, have again, and perhaps more signally than be fore, “confounded them,” and thus have again excited their anger. Their purpose to destroy him was, as they supposed, known only to the parties concerned in the plot. 24. But their laying await] Or, as we should say, lying in wait — watching for him, that they might seize a favorable opportunity to slay him. Luke here speaks only of the Jews who were engaged in this plot; but Paul tells us (2 Cor. xi, 82—33) that the governor of the city was also in league with them, and “kept the city with a garrison, desirous to apprehend” him. Was known of aSW] How he learned this we are not informed; perhaps by immediate revelation. Being made aware, however, of his danger, Paul and his friends made secret provision for his escape. 25. By night] At which times the gates of the city being closed, disciples. Let him down by] Rather, VOL. VIII. and probably guarded on the inside, all felt sure. We may suppose the darkness aided the enterprise of the through; such is the import of the original. The wall] That is, outside the wall. The house in which Paul was at the time may have stood on, or partly projecting over, the wall. Such is often the case. “But an other explanation,” says Hackett, “may be the correct one. A few steps to the left of Bab-es-Shurkeh, the gate on the east side of Damas cus, I observed two or three win dows in the external face of the wall, opening into the house on the inside of the city. If Saul was let down through such a window, (which belongs equally to the house and the wall,) it would be still more exact to interchange the two ex pressions; that is, we could say, as in the Acts, that he escaped ‘through the wall,’ or, as in the Epistle to the Corinthians, that he escaped ‘through a window through the wall.’ ” In a basket] “Such is the sort of vehicle which people employ there now if they would lower a man into a well or raise him into the upper story of a house.”* 26. When Saul was come to Je rusalem] Some three years after his conversion. Gal. i, 18. He assayed to joined himself to the disciples] Desired and endeavored to mix with them as a fellow-disciple. The lan guage implies that he did not suc ceed in his endeavor. Afraid .. . believed not he was a disciple] Had Saul spent most of the last three years at Damascus it can hardly be deemed possible that he would be so unknown to the Jerusalem Church as he appears to have been. Os his supposed conversion and early zeal, they had doubtless heard somewhat; but he appears to have been lost sight of, and hence, probably, the rumor of his conversion came to be doubted; and now that he came among them suddenly and without introduction, we do not’esteem their caution and fear unnatural. His cold reception favors the idea of most of his time since his conversion having been spent in comparative obscurity. 27. Barnabas took him] The in spired record furnished of this good man up to this time is very brief, but greatly to his commendation. He was a foreign-born Jew, and is first brought to notice in Acts iv, 36, 37. And brought him to the apostles] To Peter, and James, and John, (Gal. i, 18, 19,) probably the only apostles then at Jerusalem. It would seem that probably up to this intro duction Paul had no interview with any of hur-oprretles. What Barnabas said of Saul, as narrated in the fol lowing part of the verse, we pre sumed he learned from Saul’s own lips. 28. He was with them] Appar ently “with” the apostles, not merely as a guest but as one recog nized by them as an apostle , and therefore uniting in their labors. His stay, however, was short; being limited, as we learn from Gal. i, 18, to “fifteen days.” 29. He spoke boldly , etc.] Liter ally, freely and fully. And disputed against the Grecians] These “dis putations” were a sort of religious debate, held in the presence of, and among, these Grecians, or foreign Jews, of whom Saul was himself one: and were not so much “against,” as to or with them. They went about to slay him] The last bad argument —the use of violence. The expres sion of the text denotes that they sought or attempted thus to do. 30. Which when the brethren knew] Having learned, probably from Paul’s own lips, of his danger, founded on a revelation to him by Christ himself, as narrated in Acts xxii, 17-21. They brought him down to Cesarea] Not Cesarea Philippi, but a city on the Mediter ranean. It was here the Roman governor chiefly resided after Judea had been taken from the Herods, and annexed to Syria. And sent him forth to Tarsus] Probably by sea. Tarsus, in Cilicia, to which place Saul is now sent, was his birth-place. See chapter xxii. Here the narra tive leaves Saul for the present. He appears to have remained at Tarsus until Barnabas went there for him to accompany him to Antioch, as stated chap, xi, 25. *“llere,” says Thomson, (Land and Book, vol. 1,) “is an illustration of the same kind. Your boy has just let down a basket through the window by the wall, to get oranges from the garden outside the city. [Sidon.] Certainly this illustration ,is entirely to the point, and there are seventeen windows of our house on the wall of jthe city, from any one of which we also could easily escape, as Paul did, if the governor of Sidon should watch the gates of the city to apprehend us.” We Come and Go. If you or I To-day should die, The birds would sing as sweet to-morrow: The vernal Spring Her flowers would bring, And few would think of us with sorrow. Yes, he is dead, ■Would then be said; The corn would floss, the grass yield hay, The cattle low, The Summer go, And few would heed us pass away. How soon we pass! How few, alas! Remember those who turn to mould! Whose faces fade With Autumn’s shade, Beneath the sodded church-yard cold! Yes, it is so— We come, we go— They hail our birth, they mourn us dead; A day or more, The Winter o’er, Another takes our place instead. The plants look up to heaven, from whence they receive their nourishment. Death of Rev. John P. Durbin, D. D. Death always comes with a sur prise. Though long expected, yet sudden is his appearance. We journey through a tedious lane, knowing we shall meet him, and watching for him; yet when we step before the corner where be is actually ambushed, he confronts us like anew [creation. Thus the death of Rev. John Price Durbin, D. D., surprised us last week. He died at his residence on Twenty third-street in this city, on Thurs day, October 19th. Some men are lifted into appa rent greatness by the favoring cir cumstances] of their death, while others are great in spite of their death. Senator Douglass was se cured to grateful remembrance by dying in the nick of time, when at the summit of a supreme spasm of greatness. Dr. Durbin lived a great life, on and on, year after year, till he removed from his greatness every factitious circumstance, leav ing the Church to take his measure without the exaggerations that come from the mists of sorrow. We are, perhaps, as well prepared to-day as we ever shall be to cor rectly estimate his worth and work. Opinions and impressions will not need modifying by maturer reflec tion. They may be greatly im proved by better judgment; but the case is now rested. The verdict can be rendered in the presence of all the facts. The weight of years and the peculiarities of his disease removed him from the activities of his great work, so that the ma chinery of the Church, created by his genius and vitalized by bis spirit, has adjusted itself about the vacuum caused by his absence. We, therefore, have the net product of his greatnesE, condensed by time and modified by reconstructions. The materials to be wrought into life, or into our construction of his life, are varied and abundant. The most fitting encomium that can be bestowed upon his memory is a simple narration of his achieve ments. In God’s order men are “judged by the deeds done in the body.” This is just for both worlds. If there are no deeds, that tells its own story. If there are, it is enough to present them. John P. Durbin was born in Bourbon co.,Ky., October 10,1800. He has thus kept step with this most eventful country. In 1818 he was born into the kingdom of Christ, and began his new and wonderful life almost simultaneously with the life of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, for which he was destined to do so much, and which was des tined to become his enduring monu ment. After careful examination of his quiet, unimpassioned experience, (so questionable in that day,) he took his deep, conscious, simple communion with God as indubitable evidence of the work of saving grace. Satisfied concerning this, he joined the Church, and in the same week was sent to Limestone circuit, to preach under the elder. The next year he was sent to the north-west corner of Ohio, to hunt and feed a hundred members— scattered over a two hundred mile circuit, among the Indians. The boy here discovered the qualities that made his name a household word in Methodism. From a Ger man brother he borrowed Clarke’s Commentary, then issued in num bers, and carried it about with him in a tin box, strapped to his saddle. This year he nearly transferred the Pentateuch and New Testament to his own memory. Other standard works soon fed his awakened hunger. The light of a burning pine-knot directed his steps into the ways of great scholar ship. The next year he was sent to Indiana. Here he studied Gram mar, English, Latin, and Greek. These were nearly all memorized. The year following he was sent to Hamilton, twelve miles from Ox ford, the seat of the Miami Uni versity. In spite of the objections and complaints of his board, he went regularly to the University on Monday, and returned to his charge on Friday. The people soon found that this improved their preaching. The following year he was sent to Cincinnati, where he entered Cin cinnati College, and completed his college studies, taking the degree of A. M. on account of his thorough ness and scholarship. Shortly after he was elected Pro fessor of Languages in Augusta College, Kentucky, and to regain his health he traveled for the college. Now he was brought before the Church at large, and his fame as a preacher was established. Soon his name called together thousands. No such voice of inspiration had been heard in the West or South. In 1831 he was appointed Chap lain of the United States Senate, where his sermons were often ob jects of wonder and admiration among the great men of that time, Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and their associates, whose oratory has made the United States Senate immortal. In 1832 he preached a sermon on the*. Centennial birth-day of Wash ington, in which he traced the Divine hand in the War of the Revolution. The Senate and House of Representatives and Supreme , Court were in attendance. The • sermon was overwhelming. Gover nor Wickliffe, of Kentucky, met ATLANTA, GA., WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1876. him at the foot of the pulpit steps, and, taking him in both hands, said, “I advise you never to preach agaiD, if you have any regard for your reputation. You never can see such another day as this.” In that year he was elected Professor of Natural Science in Wesleyan University, and the same year he was called to the editorship of The Christian Advocate. In 1834 he was elected President of Dickinson College, where he labored till 1845. In 1849 he was appointed presid ing elder on the North Philadelphia district. In 1850, on the death of Dr. Charles Pitman, he was appointed Missionary Secretary, which post he filled till 1872. This brought him to the field of his great useful ness. He did not create the Mission ary Society, but did more than any other one man to systematize and universalize the missionary benevo lence of the Methodist Church. In 1850, when he took up the work, the missionary appropriation was §IOO,OOO. Before he left it the appropriations had advanced more than seven-fold. When he came to this work our foreign mis sions were in Africa and China. (South America was supported by resident English.) Under his plan ning and advice the work was ex tended in China and India, Ger many, Switzerland, Norway, Den mark, Sweden, Bulgaria, and Italy. (Mexico and Japan have since been added.) It is not too much to say that he, more than any other man, gave the missionary impetus to our Church. He moved from conference to con ference, addressing the preachers on the floor of the conference about missions, and about extending God’s work, and preaching evenings and Sabbaths, till every preacher caught the spirit. His peculiar eloquence always made him the center of every gathering of preachers. He had that “something that does it.” No man could [hear him and not feel that there was something for which to work more important than his own salary, larger than his own society, more enduring than worldly fame, and more imperative than temporal comfort. Through the conferences he worked resolutions in favor of his work. He followed it till the General Conference made these collections the law of the Church, and brought every preacher to answer annually for his steward ship in this matter. He talked and preached missions till they were on the conscience of the Church. It was always solemn reality to him. He had convictions concerning the fate of the un gospeled, and he did not hesitate to utter and defend them. He plead as a man would plead to save his brother from eternal death. Out of his own great conviction was born the conviction of the Church. He did not believe that the publica tion of the Gospel was a matter of convenience. It was a divine com mand, an imperative, everlasting obligation. When he spoke, the divine authority ,was in his logic, and the divine compassion in his voice, and the divine inspiration in his eye. To hear him, as he sounded through the Church the charge for the rescue and salvation of the heathen millions, was to receive an impetus that would make a common preacher spin and burn through his charges for five years. Durbin’s voice is silent. Who will now give the bugle blasts to awaken our Zion? Good men and true have entered the field, but Dur bins can not grow more than one or two in a century. May his spirit rest upon and arouse the whole Church ! He was bold in his logic, fervid in his imagination, fine in his sensibilities, artistic in his taste, fathomless in his emotions, resistless in his convictions, simple in his faith, tender in his affections, and unalterable in his purposes. He studied like a scholar, thought like a philosopher, planned like a statesman, executed like a general, decided like a judge, plead like an advocate, prayed like a saint, preached like a prophet, and wit nessed like a martyr. Endowed with many wonderful gifts, he scourged them all into the perfect service of his work, what ever that might be. Consequently, every thing he touched prospered, and his path was a trail of light. Asa preacher, he shook the land. As an educator, he bequeathed glory enough to his old college to crown it every morning with anew halo until this day. As an organizer, he touched the whole Church, and brought every one into line, from the senior bishop to the least Sun day-school child. Asa secretary, he comes out of the first century of Methodism as the embodiment of her greatest benevolence, and rides down into the second as the figure head of her greatest connectional interest. John P. Durbin has built his own monument. Let the Church offer a worthy thank-offering. Out of 1,600,000 members we call for 200,- 000 that will give this year only one dollar each extra to the Mission ary Society, as a thank-offering to God for the gift of such a man as the Great Secretary. This will pay off the missionary debt, and put the society he loved on a war footing for the subjugation of the world. — N. Y. Chrutian Advocate. t*. - The Dullness of Pews. The are saying very many true things, in regard to the arousal of ministers. They want more animation, more snap, more di rectness, and more fire. This demand on the part of the pews has had its good effect, and dry bones have got up and shaken themselvss, and worn out manu script sermons, after having been preached ten or twenty timeS, have been thrown into the stove, or put on a back shelf as fossiliferous spec imens to be examined by the follow ing generations. Now, as the pews have been so successful in waking up the pulpit, and as “turn about is fair play,” it is time for the pulpit to wake up the pews. We suspect that much of the former dullness of the pulpit was inherited from the pew. We know not why a religious audience should not look as bright as any other audience, but how often it is that people who at a lecture or> concert ’ look’ animated, seem to feel it their duty as soon as they come into a devotional assembly to look stupid. Some hearers shut their eyes, and so extinguish, as far as the preacher is concerned, the chief light of their face. What is the matter with your eyes? Is it emotion? O, no! It is easily seen when that is the reason. You are probably trying to review your ac counts at the store, or calculating the prospects for the Spring. Open your eyes and look the preacher in the face. Your manner is a wet blanket on the preacher’s enthusi asm. Others listen with an inani mate look. You are a soporific in the house of God. If a speaker be gin a sentence with power, and hap pen to see your face about the mid dle comma, he will in the last half of the sentence fall to imbecility. Have you ever seen a preacher in the midst of his sermon get both ered and subside into inanity? He saw two or three intelligent men looking as indifferent as dolts. The sun rose clear, but a fog went up from your countenance and be clouded it. It is astonishing how much the manner of listening has to do with the force of the preaching. We will take the contract of rous ing the dullest minister that ever addressed an audience if you will give us twenty alert and wide-awake hearers placed at proper distances from the pulpit, so that in whatever direction the preacher looks the clash of the eyes shall strike fire. How much spirit would you have in conversation if in your parlor your guests should demean them selves as in church, one of your friends in the arm-chair closing his eyes, another lying back on the sofa as if he were asleep, another putting his head down on the back of the chair in front of him? You would quit talking and wish they would take their stupidity our of your par lor, and go home. But the solid and unconcerned manner which you would not endure from your friends you every Sabbath inflict on your pastor. Wake up, or if you are awake, as you probably are, do not let your manner belie your real con dition. There are some churches in which the unarousable look is so chronic, so hereditary, so perpetual, that we never want to preach there. If a Methodist should cry in that assem blage an “Amen” or an “Hallelu iah,” it would create a panic in the audience and make the reading of the riot act appropriate. The Church is a pond frozen over, smooth, and good for skating. But no warm tides of life, no meeting for preach er’s earnest eye with hearers’ intent stare. Every Sunday humdrum, and extract of poppy, and ecclesi astical morphine. Come! come! church pew, you must share with the pulpit in the responsibility of a lethargic service. We will try to fire up at our end of the column. We will divide the blame, and then share in the im provement. We will furnish and shovel in the coal, but you must fur nish the kindling wood and open the dampers. An eager, intent pew will make a resounding pulpit. liev. T. j De Witt Talmage, D.D. Religion versus Morality. BY REV. E. O. THAYER. The careful student of religious history must be impressed with the persistency with which the very things intended to turn the mind and hearts toward God are so perverted as to have a contrary ef fect. We see this most vividly il lustrated by the effect of the Old Testament dispensation upon the Jews. The Mosaic laws given from the fiery summit of Sinai, with its imposing array of rites and ceremo nies was intended to aid the heart in its aspirations toward God, and by degrees prepare it for the sublimer realities of the new dispensation. But instead of this when the figure of the foreshadowed Mesiah ap peared upon the scene —the Jews still cling to the lifeless forms —the long prayers, the painful fasts and customary rites, and refused to re ceive the new life into their hearts. We see the same picture in the his tory of the Roman Catholic Church. At first the solemn mass and holy sacraments bore the heart aloft to God while earnest prayers ascended to His throne sweeter than the clouds of incense. But gradually the world crept in and the solemn words came from the lips rather than the heart, and Christianity became a reproach and a by-word in the earth. Coming further down toward the present, we find the fire of Luther nearly extinguished, and a Wesley comes to implore the bap tism of the Holy Spirit on the Church. The boundless love of Christ and the terrible realities of eternity were preached by faithful men, and revivals spread till all England was aroused, and a portion of the flame reached America and swept across the continent, and its warming power is being felt all over the globe. One of the most noticeable fruits of this religious revolution has been a belief in the necessity of stated revivals or times of refreshing. So beneficial have been the results of these blessings upon the Church, that other denominations have adopted the same plans, more or less modified. Os course such sea sons, especially among the more simple and ignorant, are attended with considerable excitement, some times becoming feverish and wild. Now there is no subject on which excitement is more appropriate than man’s eternal welfare, and the con victions of sin produced by the Holy Spirit may well cause men to groan, and the joy of pardoned sin may well call forth a shout. For be it far from us to denounce reasonable ex citement on such subjects. But is it not well to consider whether there is danger lurking beneath the good? A shout which comes from a heart running over with love to God is a good thing, but is there not dan ger of mistaking a state of mental or physical excitement as a high religious experience, and thus almost unconsciously ignoring the deeper piety which should pervade the whole religious being? Let us study some of these sweep ing revivals that bring scores to the altar and keep ministers and people up to the utmost pitch of nervous excitement till tired nature gives way. Now probably for every one brought to the altar by a calm decision, re sulting from a conviction of duty, five come because others are going, and kind friends are urging them. Under such circumstances, amid a perfect storm of prayers and songs and shouts, how is it possible for these persons to exercise that faith which secures justification and peace ? You all know the results of such scenes. Large numbers never have their names on the probation ers’ list, while many others run well for a season till the wear of excite- • ment has subsided, and then drop back into the world. - Another result is that our churches are filled every year with mem bers who never got a strong hold upon Christ by the arms of faith, and hence know nothing of the deep peace which comes from entire con fidence. If these persons by care ful watching of pastors and class leaders are kept on the Church-roll, their lives are a continual record of periodic back-slidings and re-con version. While the activity of re vival lasts they are on the top wave and their shouts are the loudest, but coldness comes again with quiet. It seems to me that the manifest tendency of all this is to give these deluded Christians and the unconverted members of our congre gations the idea that religion is emotion, and has no thought of mor ality connected with it. The writer’s view of revival seasons is not full and perhaps not correct, but let each reader canvass his own experience, and then after careful study ask himself if this danger of losing sight of the pious side of religion is not often lost sight of among Meth odist Christians. Our Saviour in all his teachings, while he declares that those who be lieve are saved by grace divine, yet, he also continually impresses it upon his followers that true faith will be known by its fruits, and that those who love him will keep his com mandments. Nowhere can we find a more rigid system of morality than in the Bible. Locke, the phi losopher, said that to give a man a full knowledge of morality he would send him to no other book than the Bible. And yet no system is easier to follow, because the degree of our obedience is measured by the love to Christ which prompts our acts. Without this love, it is impossible for us to keep Christ’s commands, and unless we do keep them we are none of His. It seems clear, then, that a Christian life requires some thing more than emotion, and that a continual life of obedience is a surer test of a true believer than mere professions or lusty shouts. Would we then draw the conclu sion that excitement is wrong and revivals out of place ? By no means, but as people we must be sure that our religious joy is based upon a faith that takes sure hold of the promises, and a love that will keep us from willful sin; and as ministers we must show our people the neces sity of good works, of well-ordered lives as well as to feed their imagin ations on the glories of heaven and the joys of salvation. Only when Scriptural holiness reigns in our Churches will the kingdom of Christ make true progress, and his name be glorified before an unbelieving world. The heir of a great estate, while a child, thinks more of a few shil lings in his pocket than of his in heritance. So a Christian is often more elevated by some frame of heart than by his title to glory. Reform. < BV BEV. J. A. TKIMMEB. Perhaps no single word has, of late, been so conspicuous, as the above. It has been flaunted before the American public until it has become as familiar as ordinary household words. As used at the present, it has a political significance, and it would seem that its meaning was confined to this particular. But its meaning is broad, and is applicable not only to political affairs, but to every department of life. The word reform, admits of two general defini tions. First, to go back, to re turn to a former usage; also, to form anew, to recreate. In other words, a changing for the better. This is not anew word. It is as old as the Reformation. It has no new significance. It is, however, a word of great practical importance, and seems to be the watchword of the hour. We join in the chorus and say-—“let us- have reform.” But we would not restrict its meaning to national affairs. Many at the present are asking themselves this question—“is the world growing better or worse?” Some come to the conclusion that the world is continually growing worse, and that we need a general reform. We are led to think differ ently; the bump of “good will” was never developed to such an extent as at the present. Our asylums, our hospitals and charitable associations and institutions, all testify to this. The Bible was never read and studied, especially in this country, as now. Thanks to the International series of Sunday-school Lessons! Surely this is a hopeful sign, for in searching the Scriptures we have eternal life. And farther, the Church has never manifested such a missionary spirit as at the present hour. The International associa tions and the spirit of fraternity exhibited in certain parts, all look in this direction. These things lead us to believe, that upon the whole, the world is growing better rather than worse. True, in many respects there is need of reform. There should be a reform in some things pertaining to our country where it is estimated that at least fifteen thou sand innocent persons have been murdered in cold blood since the late war. There should be a speedy reform in this particular. The sub ject of intemperance is a sad one, and presents a dark picture. It is estimated that thirty-five billions of dollars have been spent for intoxi cating drinks during the one hun dred years of our nation’s history. A sum that exceeds all the wealth of our country combined, to say nothing of the misery and ruin which grew out of this traffic. Again, many would have a Sabbath reformation. They prefer the old Puritan Sabbath to the Sabbath of the period, which is spent in many quarters in driving, visiting and frivolity. These things seem, at first sight, to overbalance the good that there is in the world. But it is natural for us to look at the dark side of the picture. A cloud is more conspicuous than the whole firmanent of blue. Many in the world see little but clouds. If we should look at the spots on the sun for a long time, he would be lost to all save the spots. So we find many who are absorbed in the spots. A disconsolate brother remarked not long since that the world is all wrong. We were forced to the con clusion that there was something the matter with him. For, “ This world is not so bad a world, As some would like to make it, For whether good or whether bad, Depends on how we take it.” We repeat, that we are in favor of reform. The largest room in the world, is the room for improvement. Outside of politics, there is a de mand for reform in every direction. In most cases perfection is always beyond, and the {reformation must go on until we reach the beyond. But how shall we lift the world up into a higher flame of thought and feeling? How shall we better our social and moral condition? These are important questions, and if sat isfactorily answered we shall touch the mainspring of reform. First, to answer negatively, this consum mation is not to come through the channel of united effort so much as by individual exertion. The reforma tions of the past have been brought about by single individuals. The ‘burden rested upon the shoulders of a single man. An association of men can not bring about a reforma tion in society, in politics, in religion, as an association. A saviour must be raised up, who being saved him self, should dedicate himself to the office of saving others. Hence, it i3 vain for any body of men to cry “Reform,” as a body. It is equally vain to change the body, or associa tion, in order to bring about any pro posed reform. It is not a change of party that wo need, but a change of men. This rule admits of a wide application. Herein, we think, lies the secret of reform—namely: an individual reformation. The sin lies at our own door, and we can not consistently plead for a reform until we have reformed ourselves. Many lose sight of this fact. Our nation is made up of individual character, each individual being a part of the nation’s character. How important, then, that there be an individual re formation. For, as one defective link ruins the whole chain and ren ders it useless, so one defective The Methodist Advocate. Terms of Advertising: For less than four insertions 10 cents per line Four weeks, or less than 13 weeks ... .8 cents per 1 e Twenty-six weeks or longer G centß per Hu Business or Special Notices 12 cents per lin > Marriage Notices 25 cents Weintend to insert no questionable advertisements The Methodist Advocate is on file at all the lead ing Advertising Agencies in the United States. B. S. HOLCOMB, PBINTEB. NO. 45. character may mar and blast a na tion’s reputation. We forget our responsibility in this matter. The question of reform becomes then a very personal matter. If the sub ject could speak for itself, it would say to every individual, “ Thou art the man.” David was impressed in this manner when he prayed for a clean heart and a right spirit. Then he says, “ will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be con verted unto Thee.” Having reformed himself, he would be prepared to bring about a reform. The trouble is, we look without and wonder what is the matter, when the difficulty lies within. We heard of a man not long since whose mouth was filled with decayed teeth, and he had been traveling all around the world try ing to find a pure atmosphere, but in vain. And so there are many at the present hour who are making the night hideous with cries of “pure air,” and “Reform,” but to them there is no pure air, and many of them would fail to appreciate a reform until they have reformed themselves. A distinguished physician has re cently said that “ the healing prin ciple lies within.” We get well from within. And so when each in dividual in the world shall take a large dose of reform (and if neces sary repeat the dose) then may we hope for the reformation of the world. Be Patient. Be patient with your friends. They are neither omniscient nor om nipotent. They cannot see your heart, and may misunderstand you. They cannot know what is best for you, and may select what is worst. Their arms are short and they may not be able to reach what you ask. What if they also lack purity of pur pose and tenacity of affection; do not you also lack these graces? Pa tience is your refuge. Endure; and enduring, conquer them; and if not them, then at least yourself. Above all be patient with your beloved. Love is the best thing on earth, but it is to be handled tenderly, and im patience is the nurse that kills it. Be patient with your pains and cares. We know it is easy to say and hard to do. But, dear child, you must be patient. These things are killed by enduring them, and made strong to bite and sting by feeding them with your frets and fears. There is no pain or care that can last long. A little while, and you shall leave behind you the whole troup of howling troubles, and forget in your first sweet hour of rest that such things were on earth. Be patient with your deferred hopes. The heart is sick, no doubt, but sick hearts must take the tonic of patience. All that is worth hop ing for will come to the Christian. The hope itself is put in peril by the impatience that weakens and pros trates your strength. Here also you have no better resource than patience. You will reach next year just as soon by taking it quietly; the end of your preparation for life’s —work your apprenticeship or col lege course—will come of itself. The end of ail your labor is not far beyond, and need not be sighed for or impa tiently expected. Clad in patience, you walk in a visible armor, against which temptations to repine and murmur fall harmless. Put on pa tience against your hungry hope. Be patient with yourself. You are full of faults, and your life abounds in blunders. Do not lash yourself sore with self-debasement. Some confidence in yourself is need ful to your success. Be patient with God. It seems almost irreverent to counsel you so. And yet, you know that even against God you have cried out in your im patience. Your garden did not bear in season, or bear fruit in abundance, and in your heart you said, “God will never reward me according to my works. lie has flowers for others and fruit for the ungodly, but me he leaves in want. When shall my time come?” Be patient. He has one time and you another. Your time is when you desire; his time is when you can be of use. He sees your day of real want; you see only the hour of capricious wishes. For him and for you there is abun dance of time. Ilis years shall not fail, nor will yours. You can afford to wait. Be patient. Selected. Dangers of Stimulants. That man is nothing less than a suicide who drinks tea, coffee or ar dent spirits of any kind, to induce him to perform a work in hand when he feels too weak to go through with it without such aid. This is the reason that the ma jority of great orators and public favorities die drunkards. The pul pit, the bench, the bar, the forum, have contributed their legions to drunken habits. The beautiful woman, the sweet singer, the con versationalist, the periodical writer, has filled but too often a drunkard’s grave. The best possible thing for a man to do when he feels too tired to perform a task or too weak to carry it through is to go to bed and sleep a week if he can ; this is the only recuperation of brain power; the only actual renewal of brain forces, because during sleep the brain is, in a sense, at rest —in a condition to receive and appropri ate particles of nutriment from the blood which take the place of those