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Bolomon nays, that “God made man up
right, but he has sought out many inven
tions.” But among the “many inventions”
of which man is the author, no one has
proved so destructive to the lives, fortunes,
and happiness of our race as the art of distill
ing, rending and drinking spirituous liquors
as a beverage. It is granted, that they af
ford momentary gratification, by exciting
the neivas; “but at the last, they bite like a
serpent, and sting like an adder.”
That ingredient in fermented and distilled
spirits, which produces intoxication, is not
the product of creation, but results from
death, and decomposition. All substances
that contain saccharine matter, after they
are dead, undergo a change, which chemists
call vinous fermentation, and by this change,
anew substance is formed, which we call
Alcohol, which is in its very nature a subtile
and diffusive poison.
The production of alcohol by the art of
distillation is said to have been discovered by
an Arabian Chemist, about the close of the
ninth century. It does net appear, that the
discoverer, or indeed any one else at that
time, thought of using it, either as a bever
age or as a medicine. Its use, for these pur
poses, was not thought of for nearly three
hundred years after its discovery. In the
latter part of the thirteenth century, there
lived in the South of Europe, a physician—
Arnoldus DeValla, who was the first to re
commend its use medicinally. Through his
influence, and that of his disciple, Raymond
Lully, (born at Majorca in 1236, and died in
1315,) its reputation as a medicine greatly
increased, and soon spread over nearly all
Europe, and it was thought to b«s a panacea.
About this time, it was very gravely conclud
ed that it was so effectual in the cure of dis
eases, it would certainly also prevent them ;
and accordingly it was introduced into the
coal mines, and drunk to prevent disease.
The English during their Netherland wars,
also furnished it to their soldiers, to prevent
the evils arising from the dampness and
fogs of the low countries.
This destructive evil thus introduced, has
from that date, like a flood, been widening
and deepening in its onward sweep, until it
threatens to engulf the whole world. Only
look around you for a moment, at its effects
upon society. There are this day, more
than Jluc hundred thousand common and oc
casional drunkards in these United States ;
and the dram drinkers, are almost past num
bering. We are running to moral ruin with
railroad velocity. Sixty thousand of our
fellow-citizens annually descend to the
drunkard’s grave, and to the drunkard’s hel'.
In the city of New York alone, there are
fifteen thousand dram shops, and three hun
dred thousand dram drinkers; who con
sume annually thirteen millions, fire hundred
thousand gallons of intoxicating liquors. Out
of seven hundred cases tried in 1865, before
the Court of special sessions, not more than
ninety-four were sober when arrested. The
paupers in the city of New York, cost 84,-
000,000 aunually to maintain them. For
the greater part of this pauperism their
liquor shops are responsible.
But look nearer home, at our own cities,
towns, villages, anil cross-roads. See the
number of dram shops, and thiuk of their
patronage ; and it must alarm ..any man who
loves his race, and wishes well to the coun
try and its morals. Nine-tenths of all the
crimes committed in tlie land are the legiti
mate fruits of a growing intemperance.
Almost all the squalid poverty and pauper
ism, becoming so common among us, is tra
cable either directly or indireotly to intem
perate habits. Intemperance, in fine, has
proved more destructive to our race during
the past two hundred years, than war, pes
tilence, plague and famine all combined. If
these have slain their tens of thousands, in
temperance has slain its hundreds of thous
ands. Wo have good reason to believo, that
during the last half century, at least one
and a half millions of our fellow-men have
been brought to untimely graves by means
of intemperance.
Now, with these facts before us, ought
not every Christian man and woman, nay
every well wisher to his race, to try and do
something to dry up these fountains of ini
quity, the grog shops, from which flows,
with ever increasing volume, the desolating
flood, which threatens to sweep out of exis
tence, everything we should hold dear ?
Hear the wise man : “Who hath woe, who
hath sorrow, who hath contentions, who
hath babblings, who hath redness of eyes,
who hath wounds without a cause ? They
that tarry long at the wine ! Then look not
upon the wine when it is red, when it gev
eth its color in the cup, when it moveth it
self aright, for at last it biteth like a ser
pent, and stingeth like an adder.” “Woe
unto them that are mighty to drink wine,
and men of strength to mingle strong drink;
that continue till wine inflame them ; and
the harp, and the viol, and the tabret, and
pipe, and wine, are in their feasts; but they
regard not the work of the Lord, neither
consider the operation of his hands.”
Therefore God’s blighting curse must light
upon any, and all communities, and nations
given to dram drinking, and to drunken
ness. “Wine is a mocker, and strong drink
is raging, and whosoever is deceived there
by is not wise.” “Let him that readeth un
derstand.” D. J, M.
fntttilirni fbrtslian Atltncair.
Beauty in Moral Order.
BY Tj. pierce, d.d.
■Hi things t>e done decently, and in order,
xii. 40.
■■oil has ordained nothing as duty, hut
Because it belongs to moral propriety and
'symmetry. The performance of all relig
ious services and ceremonies is under this
|jaw to God—the law of decency and order.
Br, therefore, I ask, if we are shut up by
of divine order to perform religious
in order, can there be any aecepta-
worship, in those services which
in a disorderly way ? Disor
is only the non-observance of order,
where order is prescribed. And here let me
remind my readers, that the teachings in
the Bible are most precise, as well as spec
ial, in their bearing upon human life and
actions. Hear this fraction of a text —“But
by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of the Lord doth man live. ” Not
wiysical life merely, but actual, religious
intended. And in all religious life
must bo religious acts, I mean formal
This necessity must bo mot, either
casual and grotesque iliform-
or else in an orderly, uniform mau-
as it is evident from my
■ft motto that God is a God of order and
■pt of confusion, we must regard it as much
■religious duty to conform ourselves to the
■iviue taste in reference to the manner of
Borship, as it is, to the divine law, in refer
ence to the spirit of it. All the qualities of
divine nature enter alike into tho reas-
| of tho divine government. God is,
either without tho quality wo call
and therefore is iudefforent as to the
■inner of performing religious services, or
else—iLJie possesses this quality at all—the
orderly manner of performing those relig
ious services, which cannot bo performed
without oeremonial formalism is, of moral
necessity, material to divine acceptance,
God cannot deny himself.
To my mind, indifferentism—whether ap
plied to God in reference to Himself or en
tertained by us in reference to Him, is the
most provoking form of practical infidelity.
The Corinthian Church was the most disor
derly of any of tho apostolic churches.
Wherefore it is, that to Paid’s Epistles to
the Corinthians, we come to find the repro
bation of disorder, and the prescription of
rules of order. These prohibitions and pre
scriptions are set down to the highest di
vine aoeount. See I Cor. xiv. 37. Among
these divine rules—for it is only as divine
rules—that they have any force, we find
one proscribing tho jargon of two or more,
speaking in the same room at the same
time, and justifying it on any ground of
divine call or commission to do so. All
this, too, for the one good reason, that God
is not a God of confusion, but of order. And
whenever we substitute the order of God by
rules and orders of our own, casually picked
up as if they were only mere chinks to fill
up open places as cheap conveniences—not
as necessary material in the building of
God—thus ceasing to live by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of the
Lord, we come after a while to set aside the
word of the Lord by our unguarded and ir
reverent notions of it, as actually as the
Jews set his commandments aside by adopt
ing the traditions of the elders in their
place.
It is not enough that things considered
religious should be done, under the vague
notion of their being religiously done. If
there is any disorder in the manner of doing
than, according to the rule of order laid down
in this divine manual, it is practical contu
maciousness, a;ul must be so treated by God
in judgment, or else indifferehtism is indefi
nitely recognized.
Iu this connection, I beg leave to turn
back the mind upon those points in our
history, now to me of painful memory. I
mean those times in which there were from
two to four regular class leaders, all leading
their separate class in the same open hall, at
the same time—carrying on an offensive re
ligious jargon, iu which no sensible worship
er could take any true religious pleasure ;
because the presence of mingled jargon, in
anything requiring the use of sober thought
—as iu these meetings was due —is, and must
be, a religious bore to all moral conditions.
This most ungracious, and, with suitable
qualification, ungodly folly, was in direct
contravention of that rule in church order
which requires that only one speak at a
time, where the speaking is for religious
edification. See verse 31 of the same chap
ter. “For ye may prophesy one by one,
that ye all may learn and all may be com
forted.” These happy results could not be
effected, if several were speaking at the
same time, and the object of their speaking
was edification. And this was the object of
class meeting speaking, unless the object
was nonsense. I foresaw that this disorder
ly way of conducting class meetings would
help kill them out, because it was sure to
kill off the interest which the better part of
class meeting Methodists took in them.
I confess to a religious inability to take
pleasure in anything called a religious ser
vice, if it is mixed up with offensive quali
ties—for these are all the offspring of disor
der. Against these inequalities I protested
aud preached. I foresaw that whenever the
least of God’s rules for cliureh order and
worship were ignored, we unhinged our
faith from God, and unwittingly made our
selves ungodly, in that we loosened off from
Him, who of divine right is the anchor
ground of all our reasons for doing and for
not doing things in which our loyal obedi
dence must be involved. By a reverential
observance of the law of God’s will, in all
things that we do, it is obvious we must
and will grow more and more godly ; and
finally we shall know all that God means
when He tells us that He has set apart him
that is godly for himself.
We come now to the application of the
foregoing principle to the correction of
evils, in our own disorderly doings—espec
ially in reference to the administration of
the Lord’s supper, and baptism. We hold
they are distinct services, and they cannot
be combined without damage to both. Dam
age, at least in so far as the difference is,
between doing a sacred service with the
symmetry of religious order, and doing it in
a hurried, slovenly manner. While on this
point, I maintain that the two distinct for
mulas of baptism in our church—one for
infants and another for adults—prove that
they were to be separate and distinct servi
ces. And if so, as every one must see, all
jumbling of the two services into one is
disorder, because it is a subversion of es
tablished order ; and wherever established
order is thus ignored, the work done, is not
done decently and in order, and one rule of
religious service which God saw of sufficient
importance to ordain as order, _ we deem
well enough done, if done at all—although
the manner of doing it is out of order, and
must, of course, if two distinct formularies
are blended into one service, lead to a mu
tilation of both. Still I see presiding el
ders—although set for the defence of order
—at their campmeetings, and, of course,
everywhere else under like circumstances,
appoint infant baptism, adult baptism, and
the Lord’s Supper, all to come off at one
session of the congregation. And not un
frequently they make an unseemly mangled
mess of it. Either service, if properly and
soberly performed, is an impressive, relig
ious service—all jumbled up together, they
frequently leave upon the mind the dreari
ness of disappointment. In a word, we
maintain as sound philosophy, that either
the church has no right to ordain forms to
be used ministerially, in marrying, baptiz
ing, and administering the holy oommunion,
or else our ministers have no right to change
the prescribed forms for these ministries.
The two rights cannot coexist. It is, there
fore, assumed, as an undisputed fact, that
the perversity in this case is in the minis
try and not in the court. If there is any
tliing not wrong per se, in this self-willed
manufacturing of ceremonial verbiage of
religious rites, it is nevertheless supremely
ridiculous for a church to leave its minis
tries open to extemporized ceremonials,
suited to the dignity of these noble doings
—and especially so, as there are but few
men who can, by impromtu creations of
mind, throw around a rite of this sort the
guards of thought and sense, due to their
divine relations. Hence I am for forms of
service in the celebration of all religious
rites, which by the order of God, are made
essential fixtures in His Church. I want
them for the beauty of order and uniformi
ty. But uniformity and the beauty of order
can never be attained except in the unity of
each service.
Let us, my beloved brethren, do as the
orderings of the church means—baptize in
fants as infants, adults as adults, and admin
ter the holy communion, each by itself.
There is order in the original institution
of the Lord’s Supper, which is not observed
among us. Matthew and Mark record the
main facts in the institution. But Luke
speoifies the order. Luke xxii. lit, 20. It
is very evident to my mind, that the order
is, that the bread is to be eaten before the
wine is drunk. But I notice among us, that
this order is almost universally overlooked,
showing a great want of respect for order
although it should bo that of divine exam
ple, or even of divine injunction. Hence,
in many of our sacraments where the pas
tor has assistance, our people are forced to
take the bread and the wine together. The
one that distributes the wine rushes right
on as soon as the bread is given, and gives
the wine. The after supper idea as speci
fied by Luke, which means after the bread
is actually eaten, never enters into his
empty mind. He is officiating in an order
ly service, but in a disorderly way. It is
absolutely certain, that in this ungenteel
way of serving at the sacrament, we virtu
ally oompel many of our people to swallow
the wine before they do the bread. This
violation of order never fails to disgust the
meditative mood of mind which I desire
to cherish on these communion soasons.
Let us do all things decently and in order.
goctrme anb (jfopmeiw.
From the Texas Christian Advocate.
Family Religion and Discipline.
Mr. Editor: The attention of the Meth
odist communities in Texas has been turned
of late in the direction of education in its
higher forms; and the subject is to engage
the earnest, practical consideration of your
ablest men, very soon. I have felt a desire
to present, through the columns of the Ad
vocate, some views and suggestions as a con
tribution to this great cause, not so much
with the expectation that I could offer any
suggestions specially novel or valuable, but
more as an indication of the profound inter
est I feel in whatever may promote the wel
fare, religious and social, of your great com
monwealth.
All correct treatment of this important
subject of education ought to begin at the
beginning. I shall, therefore, devote the
present paper to a brief consideration of the
educational elements to be found in the
Christian family.
If it is asked when and where a Christian
education ought to begin, the answer would
properly carry us back to infancy—in fact,
to a very early period of infancy —as the
starting point of a nurture which is to fit the
new-born human being, with all its endow
ments and potential capabilities for the part
it has come into the world to play-—the life
experiment it lias to make. This early time
in a child’s existence is, of course, the period
only of impressions. Its powers, mental and
moral, are mere germs and rudiments. They
all, however, have a possibility and law of
growth; they await a slow but coming un
folding. Meanwhile, all the senses of the
child are inlets of impression from outward
things, tending by a vital reaction to awaken
the dormant intellectual faculties. A father’s
look, a mother’s smile, the tones of the voice,
the touch of the hand—these are the earliest
educational instrumentalities. Before the
time of language, or of responsible will and
action, there are flowing in upon the infant
mind, through the impressions acting on it,
a class of formative influences which will
leave their traces on all subsequent charac
ter and life. So that there have not been
wanting profound thinkers who assert their
firm conviction that more is done, or lost by
neglect of doing, on a child’s destiny, in the
first three years of his life, than in all his
after years.
The divine ordination of the family has
provided the proper sphere of instrumental
ities to shape aright the plastic faculties,and
to lead out their expansion under conditions
the most promising of future success. The
home of childhood, where its cradle was
rocked, where its green tendrils made their
earliest and firmest attachments, and the
swelling buds of thought and feeling ex
panded under the sunbeams of parental care
and fondness—who can ever forget that?
The church, the school, the State, all these
are found in elementary forms in the family;
all these depend, very largely, so far as the
grown-up man is concerned, on the family
treatment he met with as a child. This
treatment has religion, instruction, discip
line, as its great ends.
How soon, for instance, will a child notice
the religious practices of the family. The
saying of grace —the asking of a blessing at
the table—will set the young thoughts astir,
as to the meaning of the thing. Then, grad
ually, the idea of some great Power that
provides the daily bread of the family will
become distinct in the child’s mind. The
ever-recurring acknowledgement of God’s be
ing and goodness, and of the gratitude due
to Him as the Giver of every good and per
fect gift, leaves a distinct impression on the
young soul that is beginning to ask itself the
meaning of whatever strikes the senses. That
there ever should be a meal in a Christian
house, without a blessing asked, decently
and reverently, is a crying sin of omission
a sin against the souls of the little children
of the family, in particular.
Then observe the effect,as part of the nur
ture of children, of family prayers, The
Word of God is read; praise and prayer are
offered; the worship of the family comes in
regularly as part of the family life; as be
longing to the ordinary on-going of the af
fairs of the household. When, besides, all
this is accompanied and backed by a con
sistent and holy life on the part of parents,
how can it fail to affect most deeply, and
at a very early age, the children of the house
hold? Will they not breathe the spirit that
pervades the home? carry, so to speak, in
their very gaxmentr, the odors which rise
around the family altar? be moulded into
the family type? They will assuredly have
PUBLISHED BY J. W. BURKE & CO., FOR THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH.
MACON, GA., FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 1870.
what is the great want of the time —a strong
and fixed impression of the truth and reality
of family religion.
Ob, how I pity the children of an irreli
gious household! Better, almost, that the
house should have no roof and no fireplace—
should be open to wind, and rain, and win
ter’s cold, than that there should be no she!
tering wing of a Divine Providence covering
it: no over-canopying blessing of God; no
warm element of family piety shining through
it as a genial atmosphere of health and glad
ness, Poor, hapless babes!—started into life
with no religious ideas in process of devel
opment; no instruction in religious truth;
no practicable, tangible evidence of the truth
and reality of religion in the home life; never
taught, by precept or example, the fear of
God, and the necessity and duty of prayer
to Him! Is it wonderful that so many irre
ligious people are to be found in all parts of
this so-called Christian country, when one
thinks how comparatively few of the families
where children are reared have been reli
gious? Parents have been worldly, have had
no concern for their own souls, have declined
all religious worship in the home circle; how
could they be expected to care for the spir
itual condition of their households? Even
among professors of religion, how this neg
lect of family piety is shamed by the prac
tices of the ancient idolatry. Pagans, as
were the fathers and mothers of that time,
they had, their Lares and Pe
nates—tho hiniseliold gods that consecrated
their homes and their family worship.
A father says to me: “I admit the gen
eral truth and force of such remarks. I love
my wife and children right honestly and
tenderly; but I cannot pray—that is, suita
bly—iu a manner fit to lead the devotions of
my family. If I had the gift, why, then, I
should try and do the duty. ” I hesitate not
to reply- “ Get a book of prayers, and use
theprinted formularies,if you cannot,indeed,
pray otherwise. But by all the dread ac
count you must hereafter render, for the
religious training of your children, make the
attempt at once. Beasou, conscience, the
spiritual welfare of your household, con
sistency, the memory of God’s great good
ness, your obligations to society—everything
urges you to the immediate performance of
this imperative duty. ”
But instruction is also part of the family
treatment, so farastliedawningintelligence,
the opening and plastic faculties of child
hood are concerned. In general, the family
circle should be animated, intelligent, genial
—-a nursery of ideas, a school of principles.
Keligious instruction, when administered
properly, with a suitable regard to a child’s
ability to receive and digest it, will be found
to possess the charm of a strong attraction
to the mind of childhood. How wonderful
is the beneficence of Christ’s religion in its
adaptation to all circumstances, relations
and wants of human life! He, the God-man,
took little children into his arms and blessed
them. Not only have the little children been
dedicated to Him in holy baptism, but they
may be so taught the rudiments of Christian
instruction, the facts and truths which con
stitute the wealth aud spell of the gospel, as
to become, at an early age, “ wise unto sal
vation.” “Whom shall he teach knowledge,
and whom shall he make to understand doc
trines?—them that are weaned from the milk,
aud drawn from the breasts.”
The family instruction should embrace
every favorable opportunity to cultivate in
the minds of children the principles of truth
and purity, of rectitude and benevolence; to
teach them the value of time, labor and
money, and to form them to habits of in
dustry and economy. Many an incident
which becomes the topic of conversation
around the table and at the fireside, may
furnish the occasion for an emphatic remark,
never to be forgotten, for the enforcement
of a moral principal that may guide future
conduct. Maternal influence makes itself
felt at this point, with potent effect. If the
mother is intelligent, knows how to seize
“the sweet hours of prime, ’’and quietly and
effectually to clear up the difficulties and
solve the doubts of the little one who stands
at her knee, and receives her instructions as
the voice of an Oracle, then she is laying the
foundations of character; she is forming
opinion and implanting motive; she is leav
ing traces on the mind, which will be as soon
lost as the memory of her dear face, and the
tones of her winning voice. Tens of thou
sands besides Napoleon may truthfully at
tribute their success in life to the manner
in which their mothers’ formed their opin
ions in early life.
Discipline is,another of the leading ends
contemplated in, anil subserved by, the in
stitution. Tn this point of view the family
may be considered the centre and archetype
of the State. It is the earliest seal of au
thority. It is the fountain of law and or
derly government. In its own little realm
its power of control is well nigh absolute,
though its rule is gentle, its demand of obe
dience reasonable. By divine ordination
this power is put into the hands of parents
as soon as the parental relation begins. Then
begins the education of the future citizen.
The great lesson he has to learn '.s self-con
trol. His individual choice, the self-assertion
of his own will, the wayward impulses that
crave all forms of gratification, all these are
to be subordinated to the conditions of
rightful authority, to be brought under the
control of duty. Right delicate and difficult,
manifestly, is the parent’s task. It will de
mand a rare combination of firmness and
kindness. It will, if the problem is prop
erly' solved, put under contribution all the
sagacity, wisdom, tact, of the highest reli
gious light and love. The extremes of rigid
severity, of easy indulgence, are to be avoided.
No violence or caprice is to turn the family
rule into a despotism. No weak fondness of
mere chiding where peremptory check ought
to come in, should cover it |with contempt.
I would like all parents to weigh and digest
the following remark of Isaac Taylor; “It
is well that children should fully feel and
know, not merely that their parents seriously
intend their welfare, but that they are in
clined to do everything that is wise and prac
ticable, to promote their mere enjoyments,
and to procure for them every incidental
pleasure which ought to be wished for. This
conviction, settled in the minds of children
—a conviction strengthened and renewed by
frequent proofs—operates powerfully in en
abling parents to carry forward those meas
ures of government which may demand si
lence and implicit submission. Where an
animated parental love, showing itself in the
promotion of enjoyments—mere enjoyments
—actually exists, and where it is combined
with uniform firmness and self-control, the
parental authority reaches its highest pitch,
and in fact, it is as great as can be needed
for effecting any purposes that are really im
portant. Apart from this persuasion of the
prompt and gratuitous beneficence of par
ents, subordination may be perfect to the
e y e > but it is likely to be mechanical and
bodily—hearts are not in subjection. ”
Now this obedience from the spirit and
principle of love—this reverence for rightful
authority, represents the loyalty which is
due to God, and prepares for its exercise.
It is also the foundation of that legal obedi
ence claimed by the State. Thus the organ
ization of the family, rightly carried out,
subserves the great ends contemplated in it
—Piety and Patriotism. What powerful
motives to parentaljfaithfulness and assiduity
are suggested by these two words—respon
sibilities how solemn!
Where the domestic training has*been
carried on from the beginning with the ends
and controlled by the principles aforemen
tioned, it becomes a vital and most valuable
auxiliary to the education of the Sunday
school of the Academy and University. Good
foundations have been supplied; important
tendencies, moral and mental, have been
furnished; good seed has been sown in
ground broken up and made ready. Instead
of the vacant and uninformed mental condi
tion of the children of careless and godless
parents, you find intellectual and moral life
and antiquity—curiosity, mother of knowl
edge, awake; the appetite for learning keen;
the impulse toward self-improvement strong
and ennobling. So truly will it be found
that genuine religion lies at the root of every
thing good and great. The “Church in the
house,” makes itself felt in public education,
in the improvement in society, in all the
elements which purify, strengthen,and adorn
the State, and carry forward the progress of
a noble Christian civilization. The circles
of influence which spead from the centre of
a religious family send their vibrations into
eternity itself. W. M. Wightman.
Charleston S, C., Feb, 21, 1870.
The Key to Blessings.
—“Day and night I carry in my hand
The golden key to ope the golden door
Os golden home.”— Christina O. JHosetti.
You have a key to blessings—do you use it
Often, in earnest, with undoubting trust
In the good Giver, mighty, wise, and just ?
That key is prayer—be careful not to lose it
Absorbed in worldly cares and schemes! Accuse it
Never as inefficient, when a crust,
Through your neglect, is formed on it of rust,
Retarding its free movements! If you choose it,
In singleness of heart, the way to ope
To inward precious peace, well founded hope:
You’ll firet gain grace to stand against temptation,
And with the world, flesh, devil, brave to cope;
Then, knowing this the Spirit’s intimation
That God is with you, you’ll reioice in him with
due relation. — Church Journal.
An Aclian in the Camp.
The children of Israel had taken Jericho
quite easily. They had reason to expect
that they would go on conquering the other
cities of Canaan. God had promised that
He would “without fail drive out the na
tions from before them” (Jos. iii. 10.) Yet
m ch. vii. we read that when they attemped
to take the little town of Ai, they were sig
nally beaten. Now, why were they beaten ?
Because there was an Achan in the camp.
“Israel hath sinned, and they have also
transgressed my covenant which I com
manded them : for they even taken of the
accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dis
sembled also, and they have put it even
among their own stuff. Therefore the chil
dren of Israel could not stand before their
enemies, but turned their backs before
their enemies, because they were cursed :
neither will I be with you any more, unless
ye take away the accursed thing from among
you” (Josh. vii. 11, 12.)
May we not learn a lesson from this re
garding God’s people ? God had promised
to be with them—and to strengthen them,
and help them—to enable them to thresh
the mountains, and overcome all their ene
mies. Why then are they ever beaten, and
not always conquerors ? Is it not too often
because there is an Achan in the camp—
some accursed sin that they have not put
away ?
O Christian ! why have you not the same
confidence in God that mice you had ? There
was a time when you could look up in His
face, and tell Him all your wants and wishes,
and trust in Him for everything. You can
not do so now. You try to bring home to
yourself His promises, and to work yourself
up to have confidence iu Him : but all is of
no avail. And why is this ? 1 here is an
Achan in the camp —some sin that yon are
hugging to your bosom, or some duty that
you are neglecting. You know this’: and
you cannot look up to God with confidence
when you are thus fighting against Him.
Can you look in the face of your fellow-man
with confidence when you have war against
him in your heart ? No, you cannot. This
is the explanation which the Apostle John
gives (1 John iii. 20, 21 :)—“For if our heart
condemn us”—telling us that we aro living
in some sin—much more does God know
this, for He “is greater than our heart, and
knowetli all things. Beloved, if our heart
condem us not, then have we confidence to
ward God.” We are so made that we can
not look up to God with confidence while
living in known sin. “How can ye believe,”
asked Christ, “which receive honor one of
the other, and seek not the honor that com
eth from God only ?” (John v. 44.)
Why hate you not the same assurance of
God’s tore, and happiness of mind that once
you had? Looking back at past years, you
say :
“ What peaceful hours I once enjoyed !
How sweet their memory still 1
But they have left an aching
The world can never fill.”
Why is it that you have not the same
peaceful hours now ? Because there is an
Achan in the camp. God lias so constituted
us that we cannot possibly have happiness
while living in known sin. What reason
have we to bless God that such is the case !
The assurance that a man has while living in
sin is an asssurance that comes from the devil,
and not from God. Os all disgusting things
in this wicked world, one of the most dis
gusting is to hear a man who is living iu sin
talking of assurance. If you want peace
of mind and happiness again, ask God to
enable you to put away the accursed thing
whatever it is.
The dearest idol I Lave known,
Whate’er that idol be ;
Help me to tear it from Thy throne,
And worship only Thee.”
Why have so many of your prayers not
been ansuered ? You have prayed, and you
have reason to think that the things you
asked were agreeable to God’s' will, and yet
they have not been granted. Did it ever
occur to you that it might possibly be be
cause of some sin indulged in your life, or
some duty. neglected ; that it was because
there was an A chan in the camp ? In Psalm
lxvi. 18, the writer says :—“lf I regard ini
quity in my heart”—that is, if I love it and
don’t want to give it up—“the Lord will
not hear me.” Has this verse not been too
much overlooked by you ? The apostle
John gives a strange reason why his prayers
were answered :—“And whatsoever we ask,
we receive of him, because we keep his
commandments and do those that are pleas
ing in his sight.” (John iii. 22.) Are there
not some of my readers who are lying on
their faces, wondering why their prayers
have not been answered, to whom God is
saying as to Joshua : “Get thee up ; where
fore liest thou tliU3 upon thy feet ? Israel
sinned : they have even taken of the accurs
ed thing; put it away and then I will answer
you.”
Why hare your efforts to do good not been
more largely blessed? You have, in some
measure, tried to do good. You have talk
ed, when alone with sinners : you have dis
tributed tracts ; you have written letters ;
you have taught in a Sabbath-school; you
have taken people with you to the house of
God ; you have used other means of useful
ness ; yet you know of little good done.
Well, there may be far more good done
than you will ever know about here. But
it may be that the reason you have not had
more suocess is, because there is an Achan in
the camp. Did you engage in your work
with prayer ? Perhaps not. Or did you do
it for God’s glory or for your own ? Or,
perhaps there was some other sin. The
Israelites did not succeed at Ai because of
the accursed thing that was among them,
But for this they would have gone on con
quering. May it not be the same with you?
“Neither will I be with you any more,”
said God, “except ye destroy the accursed
thing from among you.”
It is to be feared that these views of sin
have not been sufficienly considered. God
does hate sin, and must show His displeas
ure at it, even in His own children. “The
anger of the Lord was kindled against the
children of Israel,” because of the one sin
of Achan ; and not till the accursed thing
was put away did the Lord “turn from the
fierceness of his anger” (ver. 1, 26.) He
“loveth righteousness, anil hateth wicked
ness” (Psalm xlv. 7.) Sin is the “abomina
ble thing that he hates” (Jer. xliv. 4) If
we want to know what he thinks of it, let
us meditate more on the hell that He has
prepared for the wicked : that is the measure
of His hatred of sin. Let us think more
about the sufferings of His Son during that
night in Gethsemane, and those three hours
on Calvary. He had no sin of His own, yet
when our sins were laid upon Him, “it
pleased the Father thus to bruise him and
put him to grief.” It is to be feared that
we have far too low views of sin ; and there
fore the surface character of our religion.
Let ns ask God to enable us to believe the
horror that sin ought to inspire within us ;
and by and by we shall be capable of feel
ing it.
The Shakers.—The Shakers have been
making exhibition of their tenets, dress, and
modes of worship, in a Boston lecture course;
reaffirming their statement of last year that
Theodore Parker’s prayer, “Oh ! thou who
art our Father and our Mother, too,” was
inspired by contact with Shakerism ; and
giving us the following singular statement:
“Christ’s death on Calvary, however, was of
no consequence to us; but only his doctrines
and tho example of his life. Christ could
have married, and have had a family. He
could also have been a king of the Jews if
he had so wished it; but he had voluntarily
chosen a life of celibacy, that he might live
a better and holier life, and more fu. 'y carry
out the mission he was sent to fulfil.” The
Shakers claim to be a Christian sect; but
all the significance which Elder Albert Loo
mas can find in the life or death of Christ
is, that he did not marry and have a family.
Mr. Wesley oil Organs and Choirg
A correspondent wishes us to state Mr.
Wesley’s views on organs and choirs, and
wliero they are to be found. We have done
this so often in the Advooate, that we fear
our readers will get tired of it. Mr. Wes
ley says little about choirs. Ho advised his
preachers to “choose a person or two in
each place to pitch the tune.” He wanted
the whole congregation to sing, and that by
note. He says, in the Minutes, (the “Dis
cipline” of his connection.) “In every lnrge
Society let them learn to sing; and let them
always learn our own tunes first. Let the
women constantly sing their parts alone.
Let no man sing with them, unless he un
derstands the notes, and sings the bass, as
it is pricked down in the book. When they
would teach a tune to the congregation,
they must sing only tho tennor.” (Works
v. 225.) Where the.vo was no organ, he
wanted a small choir to teach tho congrega
tion; but when there was an organ, he want
ed it to blow, “To tho full-voiced choir be
low”—that choir was to be the whole congre
gation. He was passionately fond of the
organ, and wonders that no organist played
it at the time of the Communion as he heard
it played at Macclosfield. (Works iv. 557.)
His nephew, Charles Wesley, (son of the
poet,) was a great composer and organist
for thirty years to King George 111. We
have us his autograph petition to
George IV. for a pension, in view of his
services in that capacity. We do not know
whether B* obtained it or not. John Wes
ley published five Musical Works for his
Connection. Two of them were “in two or
three parts, for the Voice, Harpsichord, and
Organ.” But fond as ho was of the organ,
he discountenanced its introduction into his
chapels without permission ; hence we read
in his Minutes : “Let no organ be placed
anywhere till proposed iu the Conference.”
As his Societies were strictly Connectional,
he did not want them to incur debts which
the Conference might have to defray. This
was a prudent arrangement, and we wish
everybody had as great a horror of debt as
Mr. Wesley had. Though he favored the
organ, yet he wanted it to behave itself in
all his chapels. He abominated all insane
overtures, and insane interludes, and sense
less fugues, and light operatic airs. He
wished the music to be simple and solemn,
yet emotional and animating. There is one
thing to which we would call the attention
of those who plead the authority of Mr.
Wesley for organs in churches—he labor
ed hard to have sacred musio cultivated
at home. The “harpsichord” of his time
answered a similar purpose to ■_ that of the
piano of our day ; and Mr. Wesley wanted
it to be converted from a profane use to the
worship of God. Hence he published music
adapted to it. Alas ! how seldom do we
hear sacred tones from our parlor instru
ments. Thousands of dollars are expended
on our daughters to make them accomplish
ed in instrumental and vocal music, but
God and the Church get but little of the
usufruct. Our drawing-rooms echo the
strains of waltzes, marches, and unpro
nounceable tilings, which edify not, but
“Hosannas languish on our tongues,” and on
our instruments, or do not got on them at
all.
Mine ears are raised when Virgil sings,
Sicilian swains or Trojan kings,
And drink the music in :
Why should the trumpet’s brazen voice,
Or oaten reed, awake my joys,
And yet my heart so stupid lie when sacred hymns
begin?
—NasliviUe Christian Advocate.
Religion in Business.
One very important department of life
where religion is to hold perpetual sway, is
that of business. “As the golden sun-light
tints the flower, and colors the rock ; as it
sparkles in the dewdrop, and shines in the
broad, magnificent ocean,” so should religion
permeate every transaction with our follow
men. It should go with its possessor into
the counting room, the store, the market,
the factory ; and its influence should.be felt
in all places. Some have asserted that a
man cannot be a good Christian and a suc
cessful merchant. But happily, a cloud of
living witnesses can attest the contrary of
such an allegation. Although in this age
of speculation and fierce comjjetition, trade
in numerous instances is an enamelled false
hood, and business transactions a tissue of
deception ; yet. thanks be to God, and to
the honor of religion be it proclaimed, there
are still to be found successful Christian
merchants, who hold on to their integrity;
who will never descend to any transaction
of an equivocal character, even though it be
sanctioned by the laws of custom and the
tricks of trade. The upright professional
man, the honest trader, the pious and in
dustrious artizan, yet live, and steadily pur
sue their noble course ; being “not slothful
in business, but fervent in spirit, serving
the Lord.” These men bear testimony be
fore the world, that “godliness is profita
ble unto all things, having promises of the
life that now is,” as well as “that which is
to come.” May God increase their number
a thousand fold.
But it must ever be kept in view by Chris
tian men engrossed in business, (especially
in large cities,) that more than ordinary
watchfulness is necessary to retain their
spirituality, and to maintain their Christian
character unsullied, amid all the tempta
tions, excitement, and anxiety, incident to
their callings. They must ever dare to be
singular, and stem the current of popular
opinion and custom. They must be re
solved, in the might of Omnipotence, never
to turn aside, to the right hand or to the
left. And in order to arm themselves for
every day’s temptations and trials, they
must obtain power from above. The ‘ ‘man
after God’s own heart,” was a father, a mas
ter, a ruler, a warrior; and had to attend to
numerous duties connected with each of
these callings; but he always found a paren
thesis for prayer, and set times for secret de
votion. And this way only, can the flame
of religion be kept alive in the soul, and il
lumine all life’s avocations.
How many are there whose powers are so
exhausted by business, as to have neither
time, inclination, nor energy, to seek after
their own spiritual interests, much less
those of their families. But who does not
perceive that the life of such a man is the
life of an idiot ? There is, after all, some
thing higher, and nobler, and better, than
merely “to buy and sell, and get gain.”
“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain
the whole world and lose his own soul ?”
Rev. John Berg.
John Wesley and his Wife.
Mr. George Dawson, in a late lecture on
the great founder of Methodism, gave the
following details. When Wesley settled, he
said, “It would be more useful to many.”
There is nothing like giving that sort of
pretty facing to your wishes. I have known
a friend, when he was going to move from a
little living to a large one, say that it was
because he was going to “a large sphere of
usefulness.” A certain witty man used to
say that whenever a clergyman went from a
little living to a large one, he did so l>ecause
he had got a call, but that he would want a
“good loud hollo to take him from a large
to a small living.” Wesley married a widow,
who, through her jealousy, led him a life of
wretchedness and misery. At last his spirit
was up, and he wrote her, “Know me and
know yourself. Suspect me no more ; pro
voke me no more ; do not any longer con
tend for mastery, for power, money, or
praise ; be content to be a private insignifi
cant person, known and loved by God aud
me.” It was not likely that a woman would
be pleased at being recommended to be an
insignificant person. After twenty years of
disquietude she one day left him. He bore
it philosophically. He went even beyond it
—lie took his diary, and put the most pithy
entry into it I ever met with in a diaiy :
Non earn reliqui; non demisi, non revoeabo,
which may be translated thus : “I did not
leave her; I did not send her away; I shan’t
send for her back.” And so ended the mar
riage life of John Wesley.
Envy pursues its victims through life; it
ceases to know only when the grave-worm,
its brother reptile, begins.
Hints for Sunday School Workers.
1. To Pastors : Feed the lambs of your
flock. Be often, if not always, in the school;
bring life, and cheerfulness, aud words that
sparkle and glow; have a smile for this one
unit that one of your “little brothers and
sisters” as you pass up and down the aisle;
speak to them personally.
In addressing the school be short, simple,
earnest, pointed; reserve “strong meat” for
adult minds, and give to the little ones an
incident—a Bible story—a noble text, a bit
of rhyme with Gospel wrapped up in it.
Enlist all your children iu tho temperance
army, and teach them to hate rum and the
rum power.
Hold “children’s meetings,” and seek for
and look for convti sions all the year round.
The Sunday-school supplies the church with
its best recruits.
Let the children have a part in the pub
lic service —a song of their own, at least.
Invite them to the prayer meeting, and
sing Sunday-school melodies with them
there.
Don’t forgot the little ones in the sermon.
Invite the aged as well as the young, to
come to the school aud study tho word.
2. To Superintendents: Be men of ac
tion; keep the school busy; let all the time
bo filled up. Be punctual; begin and closo
at the minute.
Let teachers aud scholars read a well-se
lected, impressive portion of Scripture in
concert, and let someone text bo repeatedly
read till all retain it and carry it home.
Be sure that the whole school, not a few
classes only, hear “a word in season” every
Sunday. A talk of two minutes may convey
a seed-thought for eternity.
Supply your classes with apt, interesting,
faithful teachers. If you have few such,
give them large classes, rather than have
many classes manned by dull, incompetent,
irregular teachers. Immortal pictures must
not be painted by bungling fingers.
Pay special attention to the music; let it
not drag; insist on lively singing and correct
time.
Make the room as attractive as money and
taste can make it; comfortable, well venti
lated, adorned with pictures and flowers.
Use tho blackboard; make tho truth live;
through the eye reach tho soul. Have the
school graded according to tho age and ca
pacity of the scholars.
3. To Teachers : Speak to your children
about tlieir personal salvation; visit them
in their homes, regularly, frequently. Be al
ways at your post* or procure a good substi
tute. .
Keep your class always employed. Study
variety ; use tact; strive to make’truth pleas
ing; seek to win them by a loving spirit.
Be not satisfied without making constant
additions to your class. Gather in the wan
derers from the alleys aud by-ways.
Feed tho mind and warm the heart by
much reading; search the Scriptures as for
hidden treasures; be well supplied with
Sunday-school literature.
4. To Parents and Friends : Find a plane
in the school if possible ; if not, give liber
all, go frequently, and encourage continual
ly-
Hope and aspire after the sublime po
sition of a Sunday-school worker. Quali
fy yourself to be a master-workman in the
t Jessed cause. Consecrate yourself to Sun
day-school work.
Strive to promote the conversion of chil
dren always and everywhere.— N. Y. Chris
tian Advocate.
IVo Fellowship with Ritualism.
A brother of Bishop Clark, of Rhode Island,
rector of St. John’s Church in Elizabeth is
reported in the Newark Advertiser, as having
thus expressed his view's upon the Ritualist
performances of some of his brethren in the
Episcopal Church. His words are manly and
forcible:
“I do not want to see the mother that I
love and whoso garments have always been
seemly, attired as a harlot; I do not want
the furniture of the Church, substantial and
fitting, decked out as a milliner’s counter; I
do not want the elements of the Lord’s Sup
per (that precious memorial of a Saviour’s
love) so presented as the actual body and
blood of the crucified, as to feel that lam
acting as a cannibal when I eat and drink at
my Master’s table; I do not want these sol
emn and impressive prayers set to droning
or tripping tunes, which remind one of aught
else than the beauty of holiness; I do not
want the man who ministers about holy
things to turn his back that I may gaze at
the embroidery lift hangs upon it,; I want to
seo an honest, manly face in the ambassador
who speaks in Christ’s name, and I want to
hear from him wholesome words of sound
doctrine and not cunningly devised fables;
•* * * * * * *
There are men who will not stand by and
see the Divine Master represented by a wafer
without resisting the teaching—men who
believe we are justified by faith, saved only
by the free mercy of God in Christ—who
will never teach doctrines which elevate the
human above the divine element.
“ On the other hand:
“ There are men who declare their belief
in renewal (irrespective of the faith of the
recipient) in baptism whenever administered
by what they term Apostolic hands; men
who hold and teach a real presence in the
Lord’s Bupper, not in the heart of the re
cipient, but in the emblems of a Saviour’s
body and blood; there are men who speak
of the Virgin Mother as she has not been
spoken of usually by Protestants; men
whose teachings lead us to the inevitable
conclusion that they are in sympathy with
all that is essential Romanism, and whose
words declare not only that they consider
Protestantism a failure, but that they hate
the very term. ”
The Religious Paper.
1. A good religious paper makes Chris
tians more intelligent.
2. It makes them more useful.
3. It secures better pay for the pastor.
4. It secures better teachers for the Sun
day-school.
5. It secures better attendance at prayer
meeting.
6. It leads to a better understanding of
the Scriptures.
7. It increases interest in the spread of
the Gospel.
8. It helps to settle much difficulties.
9. It gives unity of faith and practice in
the denomination.
10. It exposes error.
11. It places weapons in the hands of all
to defend the truth.
12. It affords a channel of communica
tion between brethren.
13. It gives the news from the Churches.
14. It brings out the talent of the denomi
nation and makes it useful on a wider scale.
15. It throws light upon obscure ques
tions of practical interest.
14. It gives light on obscure passages of
the Bible.
17. It cultivates a taste for reading.
18. It makes the children more intelli
gent.
19. It makes better parents.
20. It makes better children.
21. It awakens interest for the salvation
of souls.
22. It gives general religious news.
• 23. It gives the more important current
news of general interest.
All this it furnishes at a very small cost
compared with its value.
God’s word is like God’s world—varied,
very rich, very beautiful. You never know
when you have exhausted all its secrets.
The Bible, like nature, has something for
every class of mind. Look at the Bible in a
now light, and straightway you see some new
charms.
God loves to have us pray xyith earnest
ness. The best proof of earnestness is sim
plicity. Better in God’s sight are the broken
but heartfelt utterances of a child than the
liighflown utterances of some who think
themselves wonderful in prayer.
Value no man for his opinion, but esteem
him according as his life corresponds with
the rules of piety and justice. A man’s ac
tions, not his conceptions, render him valua
ble.
Talkative persons seldom read. This is
among the few truth which appear the more
strange the more we reflect upon them. For
what is reading but silent conversation?
E. H. MYERS, D. D., EDITOR
WHOLE NUMBER 1794.
Green Spots in Winter.
BY MRS. M. P. HADE.
“ What are you looking at, Aunt NnUcy?”
said Amy Miller, a girl of thirteen, to aii el
derly lady, whom she observed looking out
frequently from tho wagon upon the banks
by the roadside, as they were riding to
Church one day in February.
“Looking for the green spots,” replied
the lady. “Don’t you soo those tulti of
mosses and those sprigs of fern? The snow
has hidden them from us all winter, and on
this bright day they seem to be saying to us
—‘ Good morning; brighter days are coming.
We have done our part, and God lias helped
us,’ ”
“ That’s so, Aunty,” replied Amy. “And
you always see the green things before any
one else. ”
Aye, always looking for the green spots
was Aunt Nancy, in her cheerful old age; yea,
a very green spot was she herself in the midst
of a family who had seen better days, but
were now in reduced circumstances. Who
so ready to help as she? Who so gentle with
the little ones?—so patient with their noise
—so forbearing with their faults?
There was one who sat in the back part of
the great oountry wagon who heard theso
words of Aunt Naucy. She was then a young
girl; but now, at the distanoe of thirty years,
they still exert an influence for good.
Aunt Nancy was no preacher, but there
was a sermon in those words of hers that
bright winter morning—a sermon upon which
her life was the best commentary. “Don’t
you see those tufts of mosses—” Why, ev
erybody in the wagon turned to look, iind I
doubt whether every one, from little Joe up
to Grandpa White, did not feel better for
that look and for Aunt Nancy’s comments
upon these little wintry gems’
Grandfather’s grave face brightened as he
thought of the “ better times,” not very far
off, when he would join the dear ones'who
had only gono before him to their heavenly
home. For he had led a lonely life since he
laid the companion of his youth in the cold
grave. Applying the latter part of Aunt
Nancy’s words, ho said to himself, “ I also,
in the winter of old age, still have a small
part to act, and if I strive to do it well, God
will help, and these will yet be green spots
for me. ”
Also a smile came to the care-worn face of
Mother Miller, wearied with household du
ties and the care of children. “My sakes!”
said she, to herself; “ who would a'thought
of looking for green spots in February?—
There they are, to be sure; but it would re
quire some Aunt Nancy to point them out,
or some people would.’ut sec them. Even
so, these are green spots—littlo pleasures—
even amidst busy work, if wo would only see
them. ‘We did onr part, and God helped
us.’ Bless me!—why, here’s a text, to be
sure, and there on that bank are the preach
ers and the sermon. And who heeds such a
sermon more than we tired mothers, full of
care and anxiety? Aye, and ‘if God so
clothe the grass,’ saitli the greatest of all
preachers, ‘how much more will he not
rathor olothe you?' So there are green spots
in the winter of adversity always, for those
who seek them."
But quiet Mother Miller did not speak,
though full of thought; for she seemed to
divine that every one was making their own
interpretation and application of the words.
Little Joe, who had heard the old lady’s
words and his sister Amy’s reply, “ You al
ways see tho green spots,” though but five
years of age, seemed to take the meaning by
iutnition, and sang out the lines:
“ Little deeds of kindness,
Little wordß of love,
Make the earth an Eden,
Like the world above.”
A quiet laugh went through the little com
pany, while the big brother, Maurice, who
was driving, reined in his horses and said:
“If it wus not Sunday, I’d soy three cheers
for Aunt Naucy and little Joe.”
Then turning to the old lady, who sat be
side him, he whispered something which
caused her whole face to glow with pleasure.
Maurice was a stout boy with a brave heart.
Tim oldest child of a widowed mother in
straightened circumstances, ho felt that
much devolved upon him. With many ob
stacles in the way of getting a good educa
tion, he felt that he owed much to Aunt
Nancy, whose qualifications enabled her to
do not a little towurd instructing the boy
and fitting him for usefulness. He was now
seventeen years of age, and had not yet been
able to earn more than was barely sufficient
for his own support. Strongly desirous to
do something for Jus mother and sisters, lie
liad made many efforts to obtain something
better, but as yet without success; and on
Sabbath morning was feeling rather dejected
in consequence.
The simple comments of Aunt Nancy, es
pecially the last words, “We did our’part
and God helped us,” struck a chord in his
bosom and aroused all liis manliness, together
with anew sense of dependence upon God
for success in . liis efforts. The words, so
suggestive of many passages of Scripture,
came to him with new power. “Strange,”
thought he, “that I had not considered
these tilings before. ‘ The heart of man <le
visetli liis way, but the Lord directetli his
steps;’ ‘Commit thy way unto the Lord:
trust also in him, and he will bring it to pass. ’
My part is.to act and look to God for success. ”
He whispered to Aunt Nancy, “You have
given me anew idea, and if I don’t help
bring on tho ‘better times,’ my name is not
Maurice Miller.” It was this that gave the
glow of pleasure to her face.
Acting with renewed energy, he succeeded
in obtaining a better situation, and, by tho
blessing of God, was, ere long, enabled to
place his family beyond want. Subsequently,
in his own beautiful home, an honored place
was, for several years, given to Aunt Nancy,
till she exchanged it for one above the skies.
The Missionary Debt.—Bro. CunDyng
liam publishes the following extract from a
letter received by him from Bro. Allen, our
Missionary in China : “The ante bellum gla
cier, the missionary debt, must be some
thing wonderful to have defied so long the
climate of the sunny South. It really seems
that it will never thaw. It strikes me that
everybody is afraid of it, and that is the se
cret of the perpetual evil. But why should
it be such a bugbear ? One would thiuk
Mount Blano had suddenly relieved itself in
your midst. The Conferences of the South
ern Churoh can easily remove every vestige
of it. Dr. Munsey, who has skillfully taken
its dimensions, tells us that nearly one-half
lias already disappeared, leaving only about
thirty-five thousand cubic feet, and certain
ly five hundred thousand men, women and
the children in the Sabbath-schools in our
Church can remove that I Make the calou
lation, and you will find only one cubic foot
for every fourteen persons, barely enough
to cool a decent lemonade I When I was a
College boy I read with no little zest the
ordeal of the mountain and the excitement
which it occasioned. I was foolish enough
to think that Horace drew upon his imagi
nation from the ridiculous muss he made of
it. But I have lived to see an equally ab
surd thing— -fourteen men afraid of one cubic
foot of ice. Dr. Munsey is dealing some tre
mendous blows upon this glaoier, and kind
ling fires around it that will, I trust, very
soon remove all sign of it from our South
ern land.”
Progress of Wesleyan Methodism in
Great Britain. —During the last ten years
the British Wesleyan Conference reports an
increase in ministers of 349, or 32 per cent.,
and an increase in members of 52,731, or 18
per cent.; while additional Church accom
modation has been provided for probably
300,000 persons, and the actual increase in
the regular congregations may be estimated
at 200,000. The Methodist Recorder, Lon
don, of December 31, in an editorial article
referring to these figures, concludes : —lt
will thus be seen that, adopting the Connee
tional test of membership, our Church has
gained considerably upon the population,
aud that if the test be adopted of regular
attendance of public worship, the gain is in
a yet higher proportion. The period has
been one of general concord, not unvisited
by occasional showers of blessing, but still
unmarked by any extensive and extraordi
nary manifestation of religious power. For
this let us wait and pray, not in the spirit
of contented indifference, but in the spirit
of those night-weary ones, described by the
Hebrew bard, who “watch for the morn
ing."