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THREE DOLLARS PER ANHUM.
Vol XXXI.—No 42
#rigmal JPoetrg.
An Autumn Moonlight Dream.
BY THE P ARBOR'S GHOST.
The melon’s deart The luscious thinps!
A quarter only buys a bait!
Excuse my muse, if, while she aings,
She sighs to think how low the rate!
I’ve not a quarter now to spare,
Though full six hundred’s mine a year.
The grapes ! the grapes l the town is full!
A wagon and a cart —’shawl more—
Are polling on the street to all
Who have greenbacks or golden ore.
Blit I. alas! T’ve naught to spare,
Though full six hundred’s mine a year.
“But ought you not to have a dime
To buy some fruit, or eggs or fowl?
We have some bread you got on time,
And bacon ditto-don’t you scowl!
But surely you a mite could spare,
With full six hundred yours a year :
A mite to help our mem’ry, dear,
Recall the better days we’ve seen.
When egg, nor fowl, nor grape, nor pear,
Was wanted, or ’twas ours by e’en.
Surely a mite for this you’ll ipare,
From full six hundred yours a year ”
Ah ! wife, the trouble is, you know,
I'm paid when all my work is done.
'They’ll give me “bread and meat,” just so
I ask them for it—“cal! it dun ?”
Well, they have nothing yet to spare,
To pay fcix hundred mine a year.
When cotton’s made and baled and slid,
Its mine, they say , beyond a doubt;
Good then as though ’twere yellow gold,
But oh ! I’ve got to pay it out
For meat and bread I begged them for,
To keep us breathing through the year.
Don’t blame them, dear, they can’t pay now,
They’ve got to fcuy their grapes and “rye;”
And then you must with them allow,
To live like them ice .must not try.
’Twould be extravagance most rare,
With full six hundred ours a year.
We’ll suffer on with bread and meat,
Nor drearn of luscious grapes or wine :
Plain food is first fur us to eat,
Till summer grows to winter time
Then, may be , have a sow l to spare,
Out of six hundred mine a year !
Meantime, millennium day will come,
When parsons live like people do;
They’ll pay us every month , cash down ,
And we c in buy a pig or (wo.
Our dessert then will not he air,
Through all the weary, hungry year.
Sleepy Vale , Sept. 1808.
Contributions.
Roman Catholic Doctrino and Prac
tice—No. VI.
Having fully shown that the Roman pon
tiffs are not infallible, cither in morals or
doctrine, and that Councils general arc not
infallible, as they arc composed of fallible
members, are not inspired, and, at times,
have pronounced each other’s decrees heret
ical, 1 come now to inquire, Does infallibil
ty reside in councils, “a majority of the
bishops united with their head, the Pope” ?
This, it will ho remembered, is the third
theory that “orthodox pastors” have put
forth to convince the world that the Roman
Catholic Church is infallible, erd to satisfy
Protestants, in their search lor it, that in
this union they will be certain to find it.
It is thus stated by one of them:
“Infallibility is not in the Pope, nor is it
in a council, in the whole of the bishops to
gether, but it is in the ma jority of the bish
ops united with their head, the Pope.’’
How oracular! But the oracle blows
hot and cold; is trueandfal.se. “Infalli
bility is not in the Pope.’’ Certainly not.
Thousands of Roman Catholics who ought
to know, say it is not. “Nor is it in a
council, in the whole of the bishops togeth
er.” Certainly not. For “each bishop is
fallible ; an assembly of bishops, therefore,
is fallible also.” Thousands of Jesuits,
“orthodox pastors,” affirm this, believe this,
and “believe aright.’’ “Rut it is in a ma
jority of the bishops united with their head,
the Pope.’’ False, certainly, if an infalli
ble orthodox pastor docs say it. False, say
the advocates of papal infallibility. False,
say the advocates ot the infallibility of coun
cils. False, say Protestants. And surely
for once we arc right, as wc are in such
company. And are wc not, therefore, in
fallible, too, believing “alike and believirg
aright”?
The advocates of this theory would en
lighten us, and do an infinite service, one
can but think, to “Mother Church,’’ if
they would tell us how two falliblcs make
one infallible. Light, demonstration on
this point, would end oar search for this
divine attribute among the bewildering and
conflicting opinions, theories and assertions
of the antagonistic factions in “this Church
which is a unit.”
Asa majority of the bishops have not
met in over 500 years, if ever,* this theory
banishes infallibility from the Roman Cath
olic Church. Where has it been during
those 500 years ? Where was it at the
Council of Trent ? That council had not,
at most, one tenth of the bishops. Its de
crees, therefore, are all fallible. Its voice
was not the voice of God. The sanction of
the Pope could not help the matter any.
An essential element to make them infalli
ble was wauting, though they knew it not —
simply, “a majority of tho bishops’’! What
a pity!
All decrees by papal authority without
councils are fallible and binding on no con
science, though clothed with anathemas
ever so many, if this theory be true. The
Immaculate Conception and others, though
received by Romanists as infallible articles
of faith, arc but the advisory decrees of a
mere man. All decrees of councils, and
they are many, when the Pope was not pres
ent and did not sign them, are fallible.
The deposition of popes and the election of
others, when there was no pope united with
the bishops, were fallible acts. And the
Church, therefore, certainly is in error in
receiving them, as she does, as infallible,
and as a part of her rule of faith, or this
theory is as groundless as tho theories of
papal infallibility and the infallibility of
councils.
“Councils united with their head, the
Pope,” have changed or repeated the de
crees of other “councils united with their
head, the Pope,” and, in some instances,
have decreed them heretical. Councils and
popes, in short, have been against councils
and popes, and are in eternal antagonism
with each other. Were these infallible ?or
those? Or were all infallible? Which
were infallible, the decrees of the Coun
cils of Pisa, Constantinople and Basil,
united with the Pope, or of Florence,
Latcran and Trent, united with the
Pope? The latter contradict the for
mer and pronounce them false. Does
infallibility dwell in contradictions ? Are
councils and popes, who fight against coun
cils an d popes, and hurl anathemas at each
other, infallible? Arc the doctrines de
clared heretical, the popes deposed, the
councils rejected from the list of general
councils, infallible ? Or, the doctrines now
received, and the popes admitted to be gen
*The most of councils numbered only from SO to 300
members.
§>uttlhmi Christian fJtotaf?.
uine, and the councils admitted to be gen
eral ? Will infallibility solve this problem,
and tell us which to reoeive, who and what
to believe, that we may “believe alike and
beiievc right” ?
Now, this theory has no foundation on
which to stand—a majority of the bishops
united with the Pope in council. When?
Where was such a council ? Trent was
| not. The materials, moreover, of which it
is built, councils and popes, are utterly dis
jointed, not to say rotten, and destroy each
other. And then, all papal decrees are fal
lible, or this theory is false; Rut the
Church receives them as infallible, and,
therefore, must be in error, and hence fal-.
lible, or “infallibility” does not reside “in
a majority of the bishops united with their
head, the Pope.”
“Infallibility resides in the whole
Church,” is the fourth and last theory I
propose to examine. The fifth and sixth
theories I disposed of in my second num
ber, where I stated them in the language of
J)e Maistrc and Rnperson. They, in effect,
as l fully showed, give up the question, or
the infallibility—papal—claimed by them
is not only absurd, but amounts to nothing.
Is the whole Church, then, infallible,
popes, prelates, priests, orders, members ?
When it is affirmed by all grades and or
ders in her pale, that the Roman “Catholic
Church is infallible,” the uninitiated have
no idea but that the organization,whole and .
entire, designated by tho term Church, is j
meant —that members and priests, as well
as prelates and the Pope, are embraced.
And this, generally, doubtless, is the sense
in which it is used and understood. Rut
there is a diversity of opinion among the
jarring orders and extremists and liberals
in her pale, on this very point, almost as j
wide apart and irreconcilable as on the lo
cal of infallibility. Some hold that the
Pope is the Church, as he is her head and
representative, and as he decrees doctrines
which priests and people must receive and
believe without any appeal or questioning,
upon the pain of damnation. Others hold
that the Pope and councils legally sum
moned by him, as they unitedly represent
her and usually make her laws and doctrines, j
are the Church. Others hold that the i
whole body of the clergy constitute tho
Church. This view was advocated by the
Rishop of St. Mark’s, in the Council of
Trent. “The laity,” said he, “could not
be termed the Church, since, according to
the canons, they had only to obey the com
mands laid upon them ; that one reason why
the council was called, was to decide that
laymen ought to receive the faith which the
Church dictated, without disputing or rea
soning, and that, consequently, the clause
should be inserted, to convinco them that
they icere not the Church , and had nothing I
to do but to hear and submit!” Others j
hold that all who receive her doctrines and i
obey her teachings, lay and clerical, consti- j
tutc the Church. I have not space nor the
■disposition to notice further this diversity
of view, nor to examine the arguments pro
and con as to who are meant by the term,
or really compose, the Church. It matters
not materially, so far as our search for in
fallibility is concerned. There is a sense,
however, in which the term Church is used
by those who affirm that she is infallible, j
which cannot mean the laity, or else tho '
mere reception of and belief in doctrines !
decreed by others, make them infallible. I
The laity never decree articles of faith. I
They believe, obey. Infallibility, then, j
must reside in that belief and obedience, or !
else they, and hence the Church, are not j
infallible. The doctrines themselves may !
be infallible—the Scriptures are—but until :
received and obeyed, how can they affect., j
much less make infallible, any one ? Then
infallibility, if it exist at all, resides in pri- I
vale judgment For if the pope or council !
decree an article of faith for the Church, |
the laity are freo to believe it, or are forced |
to believe it, or say they do when they do j
not, and hence exercise private judgment, j
Their assent to, and belief in, any doctrine, j
therefore, is their own act. If forced to
receive it under pains and penalties, they
still reject it in their hearts, or if they yield
under coercion, it is their own act. Hence
tho laity, even in the Church of Home,
must, can but exercise, in this matter, pri
vate judgment. They could refuse assent,
obedience, at least, in Protestant countries,
aud walk out of her pale. If, then, the lai
ty arc infallible, it must reside in private
judgment. In other words, the laity are
not infallible because popes and councils
may be, or because their decrees may be,
but because they, the laity, believe and
practice them. Have we, then, at last, in
our search, found the local of infallibility ?
Does it reside in the private judgment of
the laity ?iu their belief and practice ? If
not, and it certainly does not, Romanists
themselves say, then the laity are not in
fallible. If not infallible, then they are not
included h the true Church, or the Church
is not infallible.
To escape this dilemma, and, moreover,
because the Pope decrees articles of faith
without the aid or advice of councils, and
as he is the “vicegerent of God upon earth,’’
Jesuits and Ultramontanists teach, in effect,
that he is the Church. The Church, theD,
is not infallible, as I have, undeniably, fully
demonstrated. Hundreds of thousands of
Roman Catholics deny that this superhu
man virtue is found in him, and furnish us
with a well-stored armory of weapons to
sustain the denial. Gallicans, prelates and
doctors, among the ablest in her pale, such
as Gerson, Alliaco, Du Pin, Rossuet, have
demonstrated its impossibility and shown
its absurdity. The Councils of Pisa, Con
stance, Basil and others, reject the claim
as a baseless assumption, and hold a differ
ent theory.
If councils are the Church, as some hold,
or councils and the Pope united, or the
whole body of the clergy, it is equally evi
dent that she is not infallible, as each and
1 all, individually and collectively, have
erred.
Now, I submit to the candid reader, if
the conclusion is not irresistible, that the
claim set up in these tracts of the “0. P.
S that the lloman Catholic Church is in
fallible, is not a false claim and a delusion ?
I have sought for it in every place, person,
department, where its advocates say it is;
have examined every theory put forth to re
veal to us its hiding place, and where we
may be certain to find it; every opinion,
every assertion worthy of notice, to settle
this shifting, troublesome dogma, and the
facts of history proclaim with one voice that
it is not to be found, and is a baseless as
sumption. Nothing is clearer; no fact
stands out with more bold and impressive
prominence on the pages of ecclesiastical
history than this, that popes, councils, or
ders, priests, laymen, have erred; some of
them, all of them, at times, greatly, griev
ously, fatally And let it never be
forgotten, that each and evory theory put
forth by Homan Catholics themselves, to
locate this heavenly attribute, and to satisfy
themselves and others that it is the Church,
and where it is, has been denied and assailed
by other Homan Catholics, and to their and
our satisfaction, demonstrated to be false.
This “fundamental tenet,’’ then, is a funda
mental error. This “foundation,” a foun
dation of sand. This “stronghold,” a dim,
shadowy castle, more unsubstantial than a
dream.
In my next, I propose to “examine” this
dogma “in the light of Scripture.”
Inquirer.
A Year of Suffering.
BY J. B C. ».
Confined by painful sickness to my bed
with loved ones aronnd, for whom I love to
live, how sad to gaze upon the tearful
face, and think of death and the grave’s
long sleep !
Farewells and tears belong to earth and
time, and Death’s dark banner waves in
triumph along these mortal shores. Pale
is the cheek, and earth’s anxious millions
ask, like the grouped disciples around the
sacramental board, ‘ is it I,” who next
must, lie down with the coffined sleepers
and swell the grave’s pale population. Life’s
fitful dream will soon be over, and Eternity's
great calendar will mark the rest.
Diseases troop at the call of death, and
wails and sighs float on every breeze. My
weak, attenuated frame has l'clt a shock it
never did before. Disease once only in
vaded the outposts of life, but now the very
centre of thought and being. Like a forest
tree bending to the blast, I have reeled
amid the storm. The cruel tempter sum
moned all his hellish troop aud leveled the
CDginery of darkness, until au agony no
words can paint tore and crushed my inmost
soul.
O what must have been the throes of
Gethsemanc and the bleeding cross; when
in tho dark hour of my Redeemer’s desola
tion. He cried, “My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me,” so loud and wild
it mantled the universe in gloom, waked the
sainted dead and hushed the harps of
heaven. Thus, in a measure, a weak and
helpless worm has been assailed and for
saken.
On a wild tempestuous sea, my little bark
was driven. Rut now and then my Re
deemer reached forth his guiding hand, and
through the gathering gloom gleamed the
star of Bethlehem. On that well remem
bered Sabbath morn, the tearful eyes of
loved ones and the assembled crowd gazed
upon the pale face of husband, father and
preacher friend, and thought him going.
It was then I felt a spirit of triumphant
joy, and that I should longer stay to love
and bless my weeping charge. From time
to time, God’s Holy Spirit has mellowed
my heart. Heavenly hope shakes her
golden wings. Blessed thoughts, like songs
of victory from afar, crowd npon my mind.
I feel that iny life shall sweetly end.
0 ye, that love God and love mo and
mine, send up a prayer —beckon heaven to
my relief, that l may preach again; that I
may once more ascend the sacred desk, and,
standing higher than kings and conquerers,
may feel tho inspiration of other days, and
talk of Jesus, of the Christian’s happy death,
and of heaven, the Christian’s final home.
Since I have been sick, valued friends
have dropped away from the circle of my
love. They have waved a long adieu to
weeping friends and the dying world, and
left us in the vale behind.
There was one, who, died, while angels
crowded around and gazed on his heaving
bosom and the tearful face of her, whom he
had early loved, and with whom, he had
wept and smiled along life’s devious way.
His last hour came; his happy soul spread
its wings and swept beyond the shining
stars and through the pearly gates; and to
day the spirit of my brother, Walker, shines
a jewel in the Redeemer’s crown. There,
too, was the friend of twenty years ago,
whom I often met at his own cheerful home,
and in the house of God. Could prayers
and tears and the ministers of lovo have
prevailed, he would not have died. Weeks
and months, he lay and suffered. His earthly
house was slowly taken down. His sun
slowly declined without a cloud. At last
the wheels of life stood still, and the spirit
of my brother Liodley, was with God.
Thus friend after friend departs and I am
left. Rut earth grows poorer, and 1 havo
strange longings for the life to como. Many
of my loved kindred are gone. Fart of my
self has been gathered to tho skies; fori
have a lamb in the heavenly fold.
By and by, with life’s sweet relations all
renewed, 1 shall be numbered with the blest,
and live to die no more.
“Uncle Dick Taylor.”
BY RKV. JOSEPHUS ANDERSON, D. P.
The impression is very general that great
talents are necessary to extensive useful
ness. It is however, an erroneous impres
sion, not justified by the facts of Christian
Biography. Rome of the most beautiful
examples of piety and the most useful lives
have been found in connection with limited
and moderate abilities. Minds not above
mediocrity sometimes send abroad an influ
ence effectual in producing the highest and
securing the noblest ends. Men of no high
grades of intellect and of no superior de
cree of culture have often poured around
them the radiance of a wonderful power to
elevate and ble?s, and have made their lives
emblems. Methodism has had many such
men, her Sammy Hicks, who have illustra
ted her history aud made it glorious. It is
because Methodism goes to every, even the
lowest class, and most distinctly teaches
that high intellectual qualifications are not
essential in order to usefulness, that special
mental training is not absolutely necessary
for the ministerial office, and bids men look
to God for a blessing upon earnest and per
severing labors. The gift of power is the
secret of ministerial success and also of all
reltoious usefulness. The firm belief that
in every case, whether of Paul’s preaching
or that of Apollos, the increase is given by
God, is tho creed that makes Christian he
roes and powerful preachers. To be full of
faith and of the Holy Ghost will make any
man a burning and a shining light. To
have that piety which has power with God
and produces the impression that we have
been with Jesus is to have power with men.
The ardent desire to do good, the firm pur
nose to perform whatever duty may require,
cost what it may, and the strong faith
which expects the assistance and powerful
presence of the Lord of the harvest—these
are the elements of usefulness and of great
success in Christian effort.
This was exemplified in the career of
Rev. Richard Taylor, who has recently
closed his earthly labors and entered into
rest. He was born in Washington county,
Georgia, in the spring of 17§4, removed to
Florida and settled in Jefferson county in
1826, and removed to the New Jerusalem
above Aug. 26th, 1868. His conversion
dates back to 181)8, and his membership in
the Methodist Church to 1811. In 1826
he was licensed to exhort, and exercised his
t»ifts in persuading his fellow-men to repent
and turn to God. In 1827 he was licensed
to preach the Gospel, and for fifty-one years
was a faithful and zealous local preacher.
Ic 1845, he|was elected to the office of Dea
«jn in the Church of God, and the 9th
day of February was ordained by Bishop
Soule. From 1859 to 1861 be was greatly
affiioted with rheumatism, and was mostly
confined to his bed and unable to perform
any ministerial work. With this exception
al interval, his days were well occupied in
the holy duty of winning souls.
Bro. Taylor was a man of ardent tem
perament, warm attachments, strong will,
and (juick emotions. His religion was
modified by his mental traits. Ho was a lov
ing disciple and one greatly beloved of his
Master. His feelings was readily awaken
ed and fully responsive in Christian expe
rience. His was a sunny religion, a genial,
glad, happy piety. He was a shouting
Methodist, and many a time has lie made
the woods, the room of prayer, and the
sanctuary of God ring with his loud rejoio-
PUBLISHED BY J. W. BURKE A CO., FOR THE H. E. CHURCH, SOUTH.
Macon, (4a., Friday, October 16, 1868.
ings. Many a lime have I seen his cheeks
bathed with tears, bis eyes beaming with
delight, and his whole countenance radiant
and shining from the inward joy as he sat
and listened in the house of prayer. And
well he might be a happy Christian ; for he
was holy. He lived for Christ. Ilis days
and nights were employed in serving God.
His powers were consecrated. An infidel
one ■ resolved to put Christianity to the test
of practical observation, to select a fair ex
ample of piety and “watch that example
olosely. That sceptic was a physician of
learning and high respectability, and he
selected Rro. Taylor as the Christian to be
subjected to his careful scrutiny. For ten
rears he watched him ; and then, finding
ho excuse for longer doubt, discarded his
sceptical principles and became a Christian.
The example of Rro. Taylor convinced him
of the truth of Christianity, and long be
fore Bro. Taylor’s death his son in the gos
pel finished a life of faith by a death of
glorious triumph aud went up to God. What
a tribute to the piety of Rro. Taylor !
Bro. Taylor as a local preacher was “ no
dumb dog that would not bark but an
active, zealous, and laborious preacher
Far and near he would go, and was always
ready to preach or to exhort. He had
regular appointments, was in labors more
abundant, and thousands were benefitted by
his services. Revivals he took great pleas
ure in, and was greatly successful in pro
moting llow he prayed ! With what pow
er he exhorted ! What feeling was appar
ent in his preaching! You felt as if a
man of great soul was wrestling with your
soul, was grasping you and with mighfy
strength was bearing you into the presence
of God ; and you felt too, that he was sent
to do it, had God’s authority and com
mand and God’s assistance. The sancti
ty of the man, the blaraelessac3s of his life,
the sublime purity and nobleness of his
aims, the warmth of his affectionate nature,
the freshness and sweetness of his piety,
the power of his prayers, and tho intense
earnestness of his sout made him successful.
His presence even was a blessing, lo have
“ Uncle Dick Taylor ” on the ground was
no small advantage, and gave encourage
ment to the ministers of Jesus.
It is good to pause and call up his like
ness, to reflect upon his virtues, to remem
ber his fidelity to God, his abundant labors,
his extensive usefulness, and the mighty in
fluence which his Christian devotedness
sent out. Here is an example for all, trav
eling as well as local preachers; and were it
generally followed we should see greater
prosperity in the Church of God, and bright
er days in Zion.
The veteran warrior, the hero of sixty
years of active conflict with the powers of
ev.l, became weak in the flesh toward the
closo of his laborious life, but remained
strong in faith, giving glory to God. His
piety never became sour and morose, but
was genial and happy to the last. He en
tertained no fear of death, and no dread of
the future. He conversed freely about his
religious condition and hopes a short time
previous to his death, gave every needed
assurance, and then slept in Jesus. He
died in his seventy fifth year—so we speak;
but in reality he has gone where age is not
reckoned by years. lie das been unclothed
of mortality, has put on immortality, and
inherits eternal life, lie has joined the
friends and co laborers of his early life;
his work is done; and ho is forever with
•he Lord.
That Bro. Taylor had imperfections as
well as infirmities no one pretends to deny.
He mourned over his-failures before God,
and ever sought for mercy. But we rejoice
that they were so few and of so trifling a
character, while his virtues were so numer
ous and his life so pure. Let us meet him
in Heaven.
“Bo yo also Ready ”
AU the circumstances taken into consid
eration, there have been five of the most ex
traordinary deaths in the bounds of my cir
cuit the present year I ever knew.
The first was that of a man who left his
home in tho morning, sound in body, to go
to a distillery to exchange some rye for
liquor He was in a one-horse waggon, and
on his way home—very drunk—he fell
back, and his head aud shoulders caught
in the left hind wheel. The male going
on, his whole body was dragged under the
waggon and carried round with the wheel,
uutiT his body struck the oarry-log
behind. He lived 48 hours. 1 visited and
proposed prayer with him, hut it was too
iatc.
The next was that of a young man whose
neck was broken by the falling ol a piece
of timber while unloading a waggon. Per
sons present said that he had a bitter oath
in his mouth just a few momenta before his
death. lam told that this man had been
heard to boast that he intended to get rich
despite God and man.
The next case was that of a man who
came to , got drunk—started home
—lay down on the Railroad track, aud was
crushed to death.
The fourth case was that of an aged man,
who had lived all his life without God, and
was found one evening, after a shower of
rain, iD his garden dead.
I come now to speak of the fifth, which
to my mind is the saddest of all. This
arises perhaps, from the fact that I had only
a few days before addressed him on the sub
ject of religion. He was an old man, and
very parsimonious. God had blessed him
with a fine fruit crop, and so stingy was bo,
I am told, that he would not let his poor
neighbors have any for table use. Just be
fore our meeting began at , some
one asked him, if ho thought he would get
any brandy made for the meeting. He re
plied that he thought he would get “a run.”
Poor man ! he little dreamed that he had
so nearly run his last.
It seemed that God spared him to this
time of refreshing, in vindication of his
justice. He attended two or three days—
took no interest in it, except to pay respect
ful attention. It was evident, however,
that the Spirit strove powerfully with him.
He left the meeting to go to hauling fruit
to the distillery, and a few days after its
close, on his way to one of these “ devil’s
cook kitchens,” as he was going down a
hill, the fore gate of the body of his wag
gon gave way, and lie fell out and was crush
ed to death under the wheels.
Besides these five, there have been six
other deaths among the adults—all pious,
and all these died natural deaths.
Surely in all this there is a fearful warn
ing to the sinner. How often have I been
reminded of Solomon’s saying—“ He that
being often reproved, hardeneth his neck,
shall suddenly be be destroyed, and that
without remedy.’’—Prov ii.: 1. C.
“Stat Umbra Nominis ”
Mr. Editor: As the Advocate is the
medium through which, l believe, all par
ties are permitted to be heard, I ask a small
space in its oolums, in order to give article
No. 3, whioh appears over the worn dr plume
which heads this article, a passing notice.
I am a strong Methodist. 1 love our
Church and her ministers, and have always
endeavored to support both, to the extent of
my ability ; but I think the article alluded
to above, is in bad taste, was written in a
bad spirit, and is calculated to do no good.
There is a nearer and better way to the
hearts and the pockets of the people, and it
is strange that certain special. guardians of
Methodism and her ministers are so slow to
find ft.
My observation is, that the preacher who
dees his duty and is efficient is almost inva
riably supported, and is always in a good
humor icith the people, and is well satisfied.
The general rule is, “ poor preach—poor
pay.’’' It is in this as in other callings, if
a man fails to succeed, it is either his fault
or lii.s misfortune, or both ; and he ought
not t» complain. I have known preachers
iu charge of circuits to fail to do much,
even with the help of “ Morris’s Sermons” ;
and tnen I have known local preachers to
hold protracted meetings, and help to swell
the I’wt of additions to the t'hurch consid
erable, and thus enable the pastor to make
a pretty fair report to the Conference, alter
all. “ Let brotherly love continue.’’
Justice.
HEAVEN.
The Christian knows that Heaven awaits
him. No superstitious credulity deceives
our hopes. The glorious fulfillment of a
thousand prophecies are everlasting founda
tions whereon we build our faith in His
word, and we know that He has prepared a
restYr His children. The longing soul is
ever dreaming of this future home—ever
picturing the joys that cluster round this
Aideo of its hopes. The same mercy which
has inspired us with the hope of Heaven
has revealed the treasures of bliss that
await the faithful in those mansions of rest.
God has said, it will be “ An inheritance
incorruptible and undefined that fadeth not
away.’’ All the beauty and the power, the
glory and the splendor of earth, and its
pale joys, will be forgotten when we reach
those shores divine where “ that far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory”
awaits them. What mattered it to those poor
fishoraien of Galilee though they were the
“filth and off-scouring of the earth” —though
persecutions and imprisonments, trials and
tribulations, and all the unutterable pangs of
martyrdom were theirs on earth, if another
home allured their enraptured eyes, a crown
ot life for each lay at his Saviour’s feet, and
they were to live and reign with Christ for
ever.
Heaven ! Ileavcu ! sweet haven of peace
rising resplendent o’er the waves of death’s
cold jsea! How the hopes of thee cheers
the Christian, through his life of toil and
trial! lie has perpetual sorrow here, toil
without recompense and labor with many
cares. Ilis heart continually faints under
heavy trials, and his eyes grow weary with
weeping. Calamities overpower him, mis
fortunes orush his hopes and the grave robs
his ton derest affections. Rut when oppress
ed with pain, tortured by anxiety, defeated
in his hopes or wounded in his love his
heart turns to thee. How sweot and pro
cious arc the promises that lure his wound
ed soul—•“ God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes and there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain.”
And our dead shall greet us there, in that
beautiful city afar off from every woe In
that treasure house of tho soul God has
stored all our lost jewels. Hopes that have
been rudely blighted here, bloom in p -ren
nial beauty there ; faces long clay-cold, and
eyes whoso brightness passed away and left
strange darkness in our hearts and homes,
will £rcct us there ; and voioes that our ears
have hungered for so long, are mingling
with the harpings around that Great White
Tha|jo.
OF! beautiful city of our God! shining
in apocalyptic splendor of crystal and gold
—beyohil our fairest sensual dream —our
charmed eyes are looking ever toward thy
glory', our cars aching for thy melodies.
Ever dear and precious thou art, but inex
pressibly sweet as we totter down into “ the
valley of the shadow of death.’’ When
the chill waves of Eternity roll on Life’s
very verge—wlion earthly hopes are fading
and earthly joys grow dim, then thy radi
ant shores and the sweet vision of thy rest
lifts the soul from all tho misery of despair.
Hattie Flynt.
Raytown, (la.
Causo of Inefficiency.
Mr. Editor —This important question has
been discussed for some time. Can you,
alter the aged have spoken, suffer a youth
to express his opinion ? I think that many
of the ideas suggested and opinions ex
pressed are good, and their publication will,
no doubt, bo “seed sown in good ground.”
Rut pardon me for presuming to add a few
remarks.
The great secret of our inefficiency is ex
pressed in few words: The people havo
“itching ears,” and the preachers an un
sanctified ambition. Now, I think this is
‘•the conclusion of the whole matter.” Let
us, dear brethren, get upon our knees, pray
and wrestle with God, until lie subdues this
unsanct.fied ambition in us—until He rolls
upon us the burden of souls again, as we
first felt it when we forsook the forum and
the bar, or turned away from the profession
(or the contemplation of it) which promised
worldly renown, to preach “Christ and Him
crucified’’—“not with excellency of speech
or of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and with power” derived from
the presence of the Holy Ghost. And the
next time people come to hear rounded pe
riods and beautiful tropes and figures, fine
ly finished essays or eloquent sermons, let
them hear the simple truths of the gospel,
clothed in simple language, but uttered in
“tho demonstration of the Spirit’’ and the
power of God, and I dc honestly believe
that we shall once more have discovered the
true secret of ministerial success—hereto
fore, now, and until the angels shall shout
home” —until God determines that
not"another sinner shall be saved.
I do honestly believe, that the best thing
that can be done, is for the ministers, in
solemn convention assembled, or by general
consent, to resolve rather to try to avoid all
display calculated to gratify “itching ears,”
and preach from such texts as follows : “To
him- that knoweth to do good, and doeth it
not, to him it is sin.’’ “Whoso looketh into
tlic perfect law of liberty.” etc. “Wo to
them that arc at ease in Zion.’’ “Repent,
or ye shall likewise perish.” “For we are
unto God a sweet savor of Christ,” etc, etc.
And then let the old preachers quit their
flattery in the public prints, and let us all
read again Arthur s Tongue of lire, and
spend much more time in reading the Bi
ble than we do other books, and wrestle
with God in private. Then shall sinners
bo converted unto Him.
Yours truly, R. L. W KUHNS.
Florida.
Colored Conferences.
We are frequently asked, says the Nash
ville Advocate, what can be done for the
people who still adhere to our Con
nexion. We have no answer to give other
than that wc have frequently given—carry
out in good faith, and as soon as possible,
the provisions of the Discipline iu the pre
mises. '1 lie Bishops are organizing Annual
Conferences, and we hope next year will or
ganize a General Conference, which will
cloct men to be ordained by them to the
episcopal office, and then there will be a
Cdlored Connection, independent as to ju
risdiction, but maintaining intimate relations
with the parent body. Some of our friends
apprehend that this will not work well —per-
haps it will not; but will any one show us
a more excellent way ? Wc are pointed to
the evil workings of the several African or
ganizations now in operation, and warned
that the one we are developing may prove
no better than they. Well, suppose it should
bes we have ground to hope that
it will not be—this is the best we can do.
We have labored honestly and earnestly,
and for a long series of years, to promote
the spiritual interests of the colored race,
and wc are not responsible for their aliena
tion from us, any more than was the Apostle
when he complained “that all they which
are in Asia be turned away from me.”
However, not all the Africans have left us
—there are many “faithful found” among
them, and wc have reason to believe that
when the new organization shall be com
pletcd, and tho oolored peoplo shall compre
hend the mischievous pragmatism that lias
been at work among them, and shall under
stand who arc their true friends, they will
return to their old home, knowing that it
was better with them when they were there
than it is now, or is likely to be in their
strange affiliations. Wc arc happy to lay
before our readers the following communi
cation from Rishop l’ainc, which, it will be
seen, corroborates the views which we en
tertain :
Several questions have been submitted to
me, in view of the Memphis Colored Con
ference, to be held Nov. 18, which, coming
from intelligent and true friends of onr
Church, I feel inclined to answer.
1. “Does the General Conference-plan
give authority to Quarterly Conferences to
license Annual Conferences to ordain negro
preachers, who do not come up to tho dis-*
eipiinary requirement ?”
Tho late General Conference adopted the
polioy of giving a separate organization to
our colored membership; and authorized
the Bishops to form charges, Districts, and
Annual Conferences of colored members;
and “where two or more Annual Confer
ences .shall be formed, to advise and assist
them in organizing a separate General Con
fereoce for themselves.” Os course they
must be licensed and ordained in order to
carry out this plan ; and as very few, if any,
of them arc prepared to stand the test of
the literary and theological examination re
quired of white candidates, it was “provided,
that in the case of colored preachers, the
question, both as to time and qualifications,
shall he left to the Annual Conferences ”
So there is no standard of disciplinary re
quirements prescribed as t> them.
2. “What, number of negro preachers in
the Memphis Colored Conference can read
and write ?”
I suppose nearly all of them can read;
and half, or more, can both read and write.
The few who canuot read are, generally, old,
well-tried, and of most approved character.
Some have been lioeused and ordained dea
cons, who are doubtless but poorly qualified ;
but the late Colored Conference resolved to
raise the standard, and I trust they will do
it.
3. “What number possess the qualifica
tions required of a white applicant for the
ministry in the same Church?”
This question is answered above.
4. “Is a Quarterly Conference composed
of black members competent to take charge
of the property of the Church ?’’
Our policy is not to make over to them
any proportv of our Church until they shall
have formed themselves iuto a separate or
ganization by General Conference-action;
until then tho titles continue, as heretofore,
in white trustees —the blacks having the
use of it ns before tho war.
As to my own views of what is best for
all, I think they ought to havo several An
nual Conferences this fall; hold a General
Conference next year; elect a Bishop ; or
ganize a church, and set up for themselves
—that it is our duty to advise and aid them
in every practicable manner, and keep them
as near to us as possible, f confess I have
fears as to their administrative capabilities,
but think the plan of our General Confer
cnee, which we are trying to carry out, is
the most, feasible one, and I trust will suc
ceed. li it. should fail, then will L despair
of tho black man, with the consolation,
iiowever, that many of them have gone to
heaven through the instrumentality of our
past labors, and that wc have tried to do our
whole duty to them iu their new relation as
freedmen.
Lotus make the experiment in good faith,
trusting in God ; anil let no friend and
brother obstruct our efforts. Wc are acting
upon the General Conference, plan, and shall
soon know tho result.
From tho Mcthodi-t Protestant.
Rov. Btephon Goorgo Roszoll.
I once heard an incident related of the
late Rev. Stephen George Roszell, by the
late venerable S G , of Frederick
co., Md., which, in my opinion, is too good
to bo lost, and is strikingly illustrative of
the times, as well as of the man of whom it
was narrated.
At a eamp-mccting held near Liberty,
Frederick co, Md., where thousands had
congregated from the neighboring counties
of Virginia and Maryland, Mr. Roszell
preached the sermon on Sabbath morning.
It was one of his usually happy, powerful
and eloquent sermons. Thousands hung
upon his lips with rapturous delight, whilst
sinners, conscience stricken and trembling,
oried aloud for mercy.
A young, fascinating and highly accom
plished lady from the neighborhood of Lees
burg, Loudon co., Va, had taken a seat
within the altar railing, being conducted
thither by two young gentlemen suitors.
In the middle of the discourse, as the
preacher waxed warm, he alluded with spe
cific emphasis to sundry popular and fash
ionable vices, card playing, horse racing,-
balls, etc., incidentally animadverting upon
the wrongs done the slave in withholding
from him the means and opportunities of
mental and moral improvement. Instantly
the young lady sprang to her feet, and lift
ing her hand menacingly towards the
preacher, screamed out at tho top of her
shrill and now excited feminine voice,
“That’s a lie, sir!’’ Not in the least dis
concerted, the preacher waxed warmer in
the discussion, when the lady again spring
ing to her feet, exclaimed, “That’s a lie,
sir!” Still the preacher proceeded, when,
for the third time, she spiang to her feet,
and in a voice betraying deepest emotion
and agony, sho screamed louder and shriller
than before, “That’s a lie, sir!” and in
stantly fell upon tho straw in the altar.
And now the excitement threatened, for the
moment, to sweep all before it. In an in
slant, thousands rising swayed to aud lro,
like surging billows, while hundreds rushed
forward, intent on inspecting more closely
the tragic scene, while her young gentle
men acquaintances essayed an effort to re
move her from the place.
Instantly Mr. Roszell, with his usual tact
and presence of mind, descended to the al
tar, and taking his stand on the bench, be
side where the young lady lay, he swayed
his stalwart arms to and fro, and thundered
out in stentorian accents, “Go back; go
back : she belongs to God Almighty and to
me.” Remounting the stand, he resumed
his sermon, and concluded just as Divine
joy filled the heart of the grief stricken pen
itent. She sprang to her feet shouting the
high praises of redeeming love.
Years afterwards Mr. Roszell was often
heard to remark, “that lady’s house was his
stopping place in his travels through that
section of Virginia.” She became an ar
dent Methodist, and minister and hearer
have long since met amid the more thrilling
and exciting scenes of the heavenly “en
campment.” David Wilson.
Carroll co., Md , 1868.
The Immortality of Man.
The permanent and mutable, the indo
structible and the perishable, impress tho
thoughtful mind as among the most striking
facts in the whole domain of the universe.
The generations of men rise and fall like
the expanding and fading leaves of the
forest; but the race lives on wearing the
impress of immortality. The earth is un
dergoing changes: cities, kingdoms, empires
are founded and overturned ; and the proud
est works of human genius meet tho com
mon destiny and pass away ; but tho same
stars look down upon us that shed their
light upon the shepherds of Bethlehem, or
arrested the gaze of tho night-watchers
along the bank of the Euphrates or the
Nile. It is even so with man. Hois mor
tal and immortal. lie wears upon his na
ture the impress of decay and the image of
God’s own eternity, lie will die, and yet
live forever. Out of the wreck and ruin
of his body, crushed beneath the shocks of
disease and death, his spirit will rise and
assert itß claims to a God-given iinmortali
ty.
But when man steps aside from tho plain
teachings of the word of God—when he
abandons the common-sense interpretations
of scriptural texts, he is on the high road to
the grossest errors respecting his immortali
ty. It is strange, yet true, that men are
here aud there to be found who think their
whole nature as destructible as that of the
beasts that perish.
Their statement, in its grossest form,
makes death an eternal sleep. Tho grave
is the closing; chapter in the history ot the
race. It receives all and disgorges nothing.
It is the hall of Lethe that incarcerates for
ever the grave and the gay, the beautiful
and the deformed, the virtuous and the
vicious. Such a sequel to their busy and
ever developing life is as sad and uninviting
as the interminable desert of Sahara to tho
parched and thirsty traveler. There must
be sonic nobler destiny for man.
“ Else, whence this pleann" hope, this t »n<l desire,
This longing after immortality?
Or wh**nco this secret dread and inward horror
Os falling into uaught? Why shrinks the hou.
Back mi itst-r, aud stirtles at destruction ?
Tis the divinity that stirs within us;
’Tin heaven itself that points out an hereafter,
And intimates . tamity in man.”
But the statement, as modified by the
criticism of modern times, makes death an
ctornal sleep to the wickod alone. The
immortality of the lighteous is conceded.
Rut the wicked are to be stripped of their
immortality and annihilated. This is tho
latest edition of (he annihilation theory,
and the poorest. It is au unequal allotment,
contradictory, absurd. It contradicts the
plainest utterances of infinite wisdom. —
“Marvel not at this; for tho hour is com
ing when the dead that arc iu their graves
shall hear the voice of tho Son of God, and
shall come forth ; they that have done good
to the resurrection of life; and they that
have done evil to the resurrection of dam
nation.”
“ Eternity, by all, or wished, or feared,
Shall be, by ull, or suffered, or opjayc.d.”
The whole man will be rehabilitated in
the resurrection morning, and thencefor
ward stand immortal amid the bowers of
paradise, or within tho gathering shadows
of tho place of torment. Annihilationism
is a fable, a cheat, a lie. Matter itself,
though ever changing its forms, is indo
strucaTdo in iis rs.icnce. Is the soul less
immortal ? Shall a period be affixed to its
duration, while oxygen, hydrogen, carbon
nitrogen shall exist forever and pursue an
endless round of change? No! Even
bold scepticism is abandoning the absurdi
ty. A loftier destiny is divinely allotted
to man. Ho will live in other worlds and
ever endless ages.
“ WhalV. human is immortal.”
There is an eternity to come as well as an
eternity past. Ages will pile on ages,
cycles on cycles, and all along the path of
the advancing centuries the plans of God
will be unfolding. As wc arc to have citi
zenship in that endless future, as we shall
stroll in full and distinct outline along tho
horizon of the ever receding centuries, is it
not important that we make suitable pro
vision for that encouraging and illimitable
existenoo ? Up, immortal spirit, for the
night is far spent, and the day is at hand.
Go, toil for the Master till the onlighteniog
shadows of the evening shall dismiss tlieo
from labor to a home with the immortals.
“I Watched Him ”
Sabbath school teachers arc often pained
at. the little impression they seem to make
on the hearts of their pupils. And yet they
may, by example, bo daily sealing lessons
upon them that shall never be unlearned.
It is not a very comforting thought that all
a teacher’s faults aud shortcomings will be
closely marked and quickly copied, but it is
a very solemn one. Let the teacher appear
absorbed in dress and vanity the moment
his attention is withdrawn from the day’s
lesson, and you will quickly hear a low hum
of discussion over this one’s hat and that
one’s dress among the little learners. And
the teacher cannot throw off his responsibil
ity to his class, when he leaves the Sunday
school room. Their eyes arc upon him
wherever they meet him through the week.
A gentleman remonstrated with a Sunday
school lad for smoking, but ho made answer
that some of the teachers smoked. He saw
one of them go into a store and buy a cigar.
The gentleman hoped he had been mistaken,
but the lad replied with a keen look :
“Oh ! no I wasn’t, for I stood and watched
him and saw him come out with it lighted
in his mouth. I think ho saw me too, for
ho turned his head another away and looked
shyish.”
They stand and watch you, teachers, of
ten when you least think of it. You cannot
afford to say, ‘ I don’t care, I cannot be a
slave to thorn,” for the blood of souls may
lie on your hands. You must give an ac
count for all these precious ones at the bar
of God. Wc want the earnestness which
that good pastor, Johu Welsh, felt for his
flock, for whom he often prayed for seven or
eight hours in the day. lie kept a plaid
at hand to throw about him when he arose
at night to pray for them. On his wife’s
entreaty to spare himself more, he would
answer:—“Oh ! woman, I have three thous
and souls to give an account to God for, and
I know not how it is with many of them.”
It was tho groat secret of Cmsar’s power
over his soldiers, that he seldom said to them
“go/ 5 but “come.’’ So let us live that wc
may say to our scholars, “come,’’ “follow
me,” while wc in humble faith sock to fol
low in tho footprints of our heavenly Teach
er.—Mrs. McConaughy.
Consecrated.
The great need of flie church to-day is a
deeper, heartier consecration to the service
of Christ. Here and there wc find one into
whom the Master seems lo have breathed
his own spirit, and in whom he seems onee
more to live upon the earth. These are the
grains of pure gold which even the world
acknowledges as genuine; hints of what tho
whole church militant ought to be. They
know not what their fellow Christians mean
when they complain so much of orosses; all
they do for Christ is sweet and pleasant.
I once hoard of a widowed mother who
gave her only child to the missionary cause.
“ How can you lot your daughter go ?’’
E. H. MYERS, D.D.,EDITOR
Whole Number 1723
said a host of officious friends; “ she is too
talented to be hid away in the forest to
tUch little Indian children. I don’t sec
how you can let her go.”
“ When I gave myself to Christ, I conse
crated all to him,” was that noble mother’s
reply; “if he bids my child go, I cannot
bid her stay. She is his, not mino.”
And so their mouths were stopped, and
tho young girl, so strong in faith, and hope,
and love, went forth to the then far West to
do her Master’s bidding. It was a long
and wearisome journey, but it was brighten
ed by visions of the glorious life-work just
opening before her. She little thought that
the life-work she deemed scarce yet begun,
was already finished ; or that the weary way
she was passing over was the way home
ward ; but her Father knew, and just as she
reached her field, alter a few hours of weak
ness and suffering, tho hands so eager to
work were folded in everlasting rest.
The shadows were deep in the solemn
forest when they, whom this young disciple
had come to help, laid her away in her nar
row bed; but the tahadows in their hearts
were deeper still. They needed her so
much, anil yet—well, it was the Lord’s
work, not theirs. He would surely care for
his own ; and casting off thoir burden, they
went again about their Master’s business, a
deeper consecration growing out of their
sorrow and trial.
But who should comfort tho lonely mo
ther ? Who but He who had both given
and taken away; the oovenant-keeping
God, to whom her child had been conse
crated ? What hand could support her in
that hour of trial, save the hand that had
smitten? Strong with a kind of omnipo
tence which God gives to his chosen, she
wrote thus to a friend :
“ I thank God that my child was counted
worthy to rest on missionary ground. I
thought to give her to God’s work, and 10,
ho has taken her to his rest. Blessed beliis
holy name.’’— Sunday School Times.
Tho Secret of Victory.
The secret of practical victory over the
world is contained in these words: “As ye
have therefore received Christ .lestis the
Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built
up in Him.” “ According to your faith
bo it unto you,” is God’s principle. “ lliitt
in Him,' 1 ' (Col. ii. 6,) or “walk iu the Spir
it,’’ (Gal. v. 16,) whose office it is always to
lead to Christ, and the absolute promise is,
“ Ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.’’
For salvation you have received Him ; then
for overcoming the world, walk in Him ;
for growth, be built up in Him, and for
fruit-bearing, abido in Him. The salva
tion, tho victory, the growth, and tho fruit,
arc all in Jesus.
This is no mysticism, no entering by an
unsanotified imagination into mysteries over
which God has drawn avail; no laborious
drilling of the soul into a self-annihilation ;
but a clear and simple truth of God’s own
Word revealed to faith. Let him receive it
who can reoeive it. Wo may not under
stand it, but wo believe it; and to faith it
is true that, just so far as we walk in tho
Spirit, we do not fulfill tho lusts of’the
flesh, but that by faith wc do overcome the
world.
Faith is the source and secret of victory
over the world, the flesh, and the devil;
the consciousness of Christ living our life
lor us ; we ceasing to do our own works and
doing the works of God. We may be so
far freed, by faith in Christas our strength,
from the practical power of “ the law of sin
in our members,’’ that we can render Sh ae
ccptablo, though not perfect, service, and
may control ths manitcstaliou of sin, inward
and outward trespass, just to the full meas
ure of our undivided reliance on Christ.
A Living Church.
Wliat is (he church’s best estate / Is it
so hard to define? Must men make the
most, absurd and contradictory mistakes in
attempting to ascertain what it, is? Wo
think not. Is it not that estate in which
every member of the household ol faith ac -
knowledges, with heart and voice, that lie
is not his own, that in-life and death lie
belongs, body and soul, to his faithful Sa
viour, and, therefore, so gives himsell to
the service of his gracious Lord, that what
soever his hand findeth to do, lie does it
with his might, and, trusting in the power
of Almighty grace, looks to the Church’s
Covenant Head for a blessing upon all tho
institutions and instrumental ties which the
church has appointed for the furtherance ol
the Lord's work and cause on the o.irlh ?
The people who so combine faith with duty,
that they believe no creed to be sound
which does not lead to active labors of love
in tho vineyard of the blessed Lord, and
who act accordingly, who cherish all church
ordinances of the Lord’s appointment as
existing by lus authority, and whose reli
gion is summed up in holy living, which
is simply fulfilling the law of love: such
people represent the church s best estate,
and commend the law and tho name ol
Christ wherever they go. N\ ith them the
Master abides. They are his family. In
them the Holy Spirit dwells. Their bodies
are his temples. When all the members of
our churches aro so minded and moulded,
the church will have attained its best estate
this side of her heavenly home. Christian
union will then boa thing of course.: for
it will simply be tho current of Christian
life, which will flow on, gathering into its
channel all that is healthful and active,
and pouring its waters from under the altar,
as the river of the sanctuary, blessing the
world wherever it goes, covering the waste
places and the very desert with trees and
verdure, and transforming this earth in its
dreariest spot into the garden of the Lord.
Christian Intelligencer.
Acts and Their Consequences.—
There is something solemn and awful in the
thought that there is not an aot nor thought
in the life of a human being, but oarries
with it a train of consequences, the end of
which wc may never trace. Not one but,
to a certain extent, gives a color to our own
life, and insensibly influences the lives of
those about us. The good deed or thought
will live, even though wc may not sco it
fructify, but so will the bad; and no person
is so insignificant as to be sure that his ex
ample will not do good on the one hand, nor
evil on the other. There is, indeed, an cs
seuco of immortality in the life ol men even
in this world. No individual in tho uni
verse stands alone ; he is a component part
of a system of mutual dependencies ; and
by his several acts he cither increases or di
minishes the sum of human good now and
forever. As the present is rooted in the
past, and tho lives and examples of our fore
fathers still to a great extent influence ns,
so are wc by our daily acta contributing to
form the condition and character ot the fu
ture. The living man isalruit firmed and
ripened by the culture of all the foregoing
centuries. Generations six thousand years
deep stand behind us, each laying its hands
upon its successor’s shoulders, and the iv
in" generations continues the magnetic our
rent of action and example destined to bind
the remotest past with the most distant lu
turc. No man’s acta die utterly; and though
his body may resolve into dust and air, his
good or his bad deeds will still be bringin„
fortWruit after thoir kind, and influencing
generations of men for all time to come- I
£ in this momentous and so e'nn
the groat peril and responsibility ot h
existence lies.