Newspaper Page Text
THREE DOLLARS PER ANNUM.
VOL. XXXIV. NO. 5.
(Original Ipoetrg.
" The Departed.
We grieve for the Departed,
We bow our heads in woe ;
And for our own true-hearted
Our anguished tears still flow.
We miss them at the table,
We miss them at our prayer;
Oh! God, and we still able
To breathe this earthly air.
We gather round the fireside, —
Again we miss them there:
At morn, at eve, at noon-tide
We miss them everywhere.
We mourn them, broken-hearted,
As lying neath the sod;
While tl—'y, our loved Departed
Are happy, now, with God ,
With joy their eyes are lighted,
Bright crowns upon their brows;
For While on Earth they plighted
To God their holy vows.
Before his throne in glory,
All radiant they stand;
And tell the wondrous story
Os God’s vast love to mau,
And, while our hearts are riven
With anguish for their loss,
Their praises still are given
For Christ’s death, on the cross,
By which their souls were rendered
MeA for the joys above,
And their affections tendered
To Him, whose name is Love.
Oh! could we thus behold them.
No longer we would grieve ;
Yet still with love enfold them,
And on God’s word believe.
And run, with patient ardor,
“The race before us set,”
To reach that blessed harbor,
And all our griefs forget.
Oh ! then we ne’er shall sever
From those we love so well;
But round God’s throne forever,
In bliss, with them shall dwell.
Mbs. W. F. Robertson.
Contributions.
Sunday School Missionary Socie
ties.
At the last session of the South Georgia An
imal Conference, the following resolution re
ported by the Committee on Sunday-schools
was adopted. “That we recommend to the
Sunday-schools throughout the Conference,
to adopt the best practical plan to raise mis
sionary money to aid in the support of our
missionary in China, Young <T. Allen ; and
that each preacher be requested to assist in
carrying out the spirit of this resolution in
every school in his charge. ” Both the letter
and spirit of this resolution are worthy of
careful consideration. It proposes the adopt
ion of “the best practical plan” which can
be devised for developing the Missionary
spirit in our Sunday-schools, with special ref
erence to the China Mission. The great want
of our Sunday-schools in this department
is a systematic plan for the raising of mission
ary money. Comparatively few of our Sun
day-schools do anything at all for the Mis
sionary Cause, and most of these act wWw'uts
any well arranged plan—hence the meagre
reports which are made from year to year.
My experience in the past has clearly satis
fied me that with proper effort, the Sunday
schools in Georgia can support liberally two
or three missionaries, instead of giving a
half support to one, What then is the most
feasible plan for accomplishing this object ?
For want of a better one I will state our plan
of operations in our schools in this city. The
school is organized under a constitution,
into a regular Missionary Society.
The teacher of each class, selects an ap
propriate name and motto for the class—as
for example, name “Workers for .Tesns
motto, “He that winneth souls is wise.”
Every Sabbath the scholars bring up their
contributions from one to twenty-five cents
which is paid over to the Treasurer, who
calls upon the classes for their contributions,
keeping an account with each class. At the
close of the year, the Missionary Anniver
sary is held—at which time a report is made
by each teacher of the name and motto of
the class and the amount raised—then the
Treasurer makes his report of the total
amount of collections, followed by juvenile
addresses, songs, address from pastor or su
perintendent, and winding up with a collec
tion. This is our plan—now for compara
tive results. In fourteen years, Trinity Snn
day-scliool raised less than §SOO. In Febru
ary, 1868, the above plan wa3 put in opera
tion, and at the close of the year the collec
tions amounted §2OO. At the Anniversary
for that year the suecess of the plan awak
ened so much enthusiasm among teachers
and children, that it was resolved to double
that amount in 1869, which was done, the
collection amounting to §4OO. Last year it
amounted to §462. Thus in three years as
the result of systematic, constant effort,
Trinity Sunday-school has raised Missionary
purposes §1,062 against less than five hun
dred dollars in fourteen years, under the old
way of doing things. Take another exam
ple—at the begining of last year the Sunday
school of Wesley Church numbered twenty
five scholars—the above mentioned plan was
inaugurated, and at its Anniversary, Dec.
Ist, 1870, it numbered one hundred and
thirty-two scholars—and its Missionary con
tribution amounted to §l4O, and this, a mis
sion Sunday-school. These results speak
loudly in favor of systematic organized effort.
Some Sunday-schools have fallen into the
error of spending the contributions of the
children upon themselves, for the purchase
of books, papers and the like. This I think
is wrong. The church should generously
furnish all that is needed for the successful
working of the school; and the children
should be taught the virtue of benevolence
by devoting their contributions to some
worthy object outside of themselves. To
spend their gifts upon themselves is to in
culcate selfishness, and not Christian liber
ality. And the virtues of benevolence and
self-denial, may be still further developed by
devoting the contributions of the Sunday
school to the Foreign, instead of the Home
Mission work.
At the Anniversary of Wesley Church
Mission Society, when it was asked, what
shall be done with our contributions this
year ? the response came quickly and uni
tedly, “give it to the China Mission for the
support of our noble self-sacrificing mission
ary, Young J. Allen.”
And now, brethren of the South Georgia
Conference, I invite your attention to “our”
plan, ns both “practical” and successful. If
you can devise a better one, do so, and let
ns know it—if not, adopt this one, and go
vigorously to work. The Sunday-schools in
Savannah, would provoke you to “love and
to good works.” by a generous competition
in this grand enterprise. Excel us if you can.
Geo. G. N. MacDonell.
Savannah, Oa„ Jan. 19/7/, 1871.
jmtlhctw fl'luisiiati
Form of Constitution for Sunday
•school Missionary Societies.
• ARTICLE I. NAME AMD OBJECTS.
Sec. 1. This Society shall be called
Sec. 2. The object of this Society shall
be the raising of a fund through the volun
tary contributions of its members, for the
purpose of aiding the Missionary enterpri
ses of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South.
ARTICLE U. OFFICERS AND THEIR DUTIE3.
Sec. 1. The officers of this Society shall
consist of a President, a Secretary, and
a Treasurer, (who shall be respectively the
Superintendent, Secretary, and Treasurer
of the school,) and a Board of Managers com
posed of officers and teachers of the school.
Sec. 2. The President shall preside at
all meetings of the Board when present, and
in his absence they may appoint their own
Chairman.
The Secretary shall keep a correct record
of the proceedings of the Board.
The Treasurer shall receive all moneys
from the school and disburse the same un
der the direction of the Board.
Tho Board of Managers shall give direc
tion to the appropriation of the funds and
supervise the interests of the Society gen
erally.
ARTICLE 111. MEMBERS AND THEIR DUTIES.
Sec. 1. All officers, teachers, and pupils
of the Sunday-school shall be members of
the Society, and any person not connected
with the Sunday-school may become a mem
ber by the payment of one dollar annually.
Sec. 2. Each class shall work diligently,
under an appropriate name and motto (to be
selected by the teacher) and endeavor by in
dustry and self-denial to raise as much
money as possible, and pay over to the
Treasurer each Sabbath their respective
amounts.
ARTICLE IV. MEETINGS.
Sec. 1. The Board of Managers shall
meet quarterly, at which timo the Treasurer
shall report the amount collected ; and the
Board shall determine, to which of the Mis
sionary enterprises of the church it shall be
appropriated ; and with their approval the
Treasurer shall pay over to the pastor the
amount in hand for said purpose.
Sec. 2. The Anniversary of the Society
shall be held, at, or near, the close of the
Conference year at such time as the Presi
dent may designate. A report shall then be
made by each class, of its work during the
year, and the Treasurer shall report the total
amount collected, and the manner in which
it has been appropriated. Suitable exercises
calculated to awaken interest in behalf of
the Missionary Cause, shall be held at said
meeting.
ARTICLE V. AMENDMENTS.
Sec. 1. This constitution may be altered
or amended by a three-fourth’s majority of
the Society present, and voting at any meet
ing called for suoh purpose, provided that
notice of such alteration or amendment be
given at least one month previous.
Wliat Is Expected of MetHoilists ?
No. n.
Secondly. That they do good, “By being in
everv kind merciful after their pc Wei*, as
they have opportunity, doing good of every
possible sort, and/ as far as possible, to all
men.
To their bodies, of the ability which God
giveth, by giving food to the hungry, by
clothing the naked, by visiting or helping
them that are sick or in prison ;
To their souls, by instructing, reproving,
or exhorting all we have any intercourse
with ; trampling under foot that enthusias
tic doctrine, that “we are uot to do good
unless our hearts be free to it.”
By doing good, especially to them that are
of the household of faith, or groaning so to
be ; employing them preferably to others,
buying one of another, helping each other
in business ; and so much the more because
the world will love its own, and them only.
By all possible diligenco and frugality
that the gospel be not blamed.
By running with patience the race which
is set before them, denying themselves, and
taking up their cross daily ; submitting to
bear the reproach of Christ, to be as the filth
and oflscouring of the world ; and looking
that men should say all manner of evil of
them falsely, for the Lord’s sake.” Disci
pline pp. 29, 30.
Am I faithful to God, and my church in
these respects ? Fletcher.
Louisiana Conference.
This Conference, Bays the New Orleans
Christian Advocate, after a harmonious and
pleasant session adjourned at midday on the
10th January. On Sunday most of the
Presbyterian and Baptist pulpits were filled
by members of the Conference. Bishop
Doggett preached three times during his
stay with us, and more than sustained his
reputation as one of the greatest preachers
of the age. His official duties were dis
charged with ability, and he bears way with
him the admiration and affectionate regards
of our preachers and people. Bishop Marvin
was with us in labors abundant, preaching
to the delight and spiritual edification of
our congregations, and Bishop Keener was
at home among us, contributing to the in
terest of the occasion by his presence and
counsels. Dr. McFerrin more than ever
endeared himself to the Conference, and his
ministrations were signally blessed to both
preachers and people.
The Conference was assessed $1,250 for
the old missionary debt, and on Saturday,
after a stirring appeal by Dr. McFerrin,
$1,345 was pledged, and nearly one-half paid
on the spot. The anniversary on Saturday
night yielded $617 50. The missionary col
lection, exclusive, of the old debt, amount
to $3,318 25. The preachers probably laok
about twenty-five per cent, of having re
ceived their full allowance. On Monday
night the report of the Committee on Min
isterial Support showed a deficiency of nine
per cent, in the amount due the widows,
orphans and superannuates. This deficit
was immediately made up by a few gentle
men and ladies present, so that the Confer
ence records exhibit this most important
claim as fully met.
Philip Allen was admitted on trial. John
W. Hearn was re-admitted. Bob’t A Davis
was received by transfer from Mississippi
Conference; Amicus tV. Williams, from
North Georgia Conference; John Mathews,
from Alabama Conference; Bobert Parvin,
from Little Bock Conference; W. D. Stayton,
from Memphis Conference. A. W. Moore
and J. L. Chapman, located. Charles H.
Hallberg died during the year.
William H. Foster and John Wilkinson
were elected delegates to the Sunday-school
Convention, to be held at Nashville in May.
C. W. Carter and T. C. Standifer were
elected as reserves.
W. C. Haislip was elected Corresponding
Sunday-school Secretary.
N. A. Cravens was appointed to preach
the next Conference sermon.
The resolution of the General Conference
in reference to the veto power of the Bish
ops, was concurred in by a vote of thirty
one ayes and two nays.
The amount required for the widows, or
phans and worn-out preachers was $2,250,
the whole of which was raised and paid
over to the claimants.
The amount of Bishops’ claims appor
tioned to the Conference, including travel
ing expenses, was $1,280. The amount
collected was $1,002 45, leaving a deficiency
of $227 55.
A committee appointed to confer with a
committee from the Mississippi Conference
in reference to the establishment of an Or
phans’ Home, recommended that the two
Conferences establish an Orphans’ Home
conjointly at Jackson, Louisiana.
Total number of white members, 9,044 —
being an increase of 976 this year. Colored
members, 2,343—being an increase of 444.
Baptisms—adults, 720; infants, 726. Other
statistical matters will be reported here
after.
The Conference gains several excellent
transfers, but it also loses much in the same
way. W. H. Moss, one of our best men,
and one of our most effective preachers,
leaves us to serve the Marshall station, East
Texas Conference; and Dr. J. B. Walker,
the beloved and honored, who has so long
served the churches in New Orleans, is trans
ferred to the Texas Conference, and stationed
by Bishop Marvin at Galveston.
The next Conference meets at Monroe,
Louisiana.
Before reading the appointments Bishop
Doggett delivered an impressive and melt
ing address, which touched and comforted
and braced the hearts of all.
APPOINTMENTS.
New Orleans District. —Linus Parker,
PE. Carondelet street, to be supplied; Fe
licity street, John Mathews; Moreau street,
T B White; Dryades street, German, JAG
Rabe; Craps street, German, J R A Ahrens;
Lafayette and Carrollton, German, to be
sup. by J Wohlschlager; Cadiz street and
Carrollton, P M Goodwyn; Louisiana Ave
nue, J A Ivey; Algiers, J G Miller; Baton
Rouge, R S Trippett; Plaquemine and
Grosse Tete, to be sup; Thibodaux, to be
sup; Publishing House, R J Harp; Blind
Asylum, Baton Rouge, P Lane.
Opelousas Dlst.— J D Adams, PE. Ope
lousas, A E Goodwyn; Plaquemine Brulee,
J V Pointer; Washington, to be sup; Ver
million, to be sup; Abbeville, to be sup;
New Iberia, W C Haislip; Franklin and
Pattersonville, B Clegg, one to be sup;
Grand Cheneire, to be sup by T Mullet;
Lake Charles, to be sup by J B Denton;
Calcasieu Pass, S J Graves, supernumerary;
Agent Centennary College, B F White.
Alexandria Dlst. —F White, PE. Alex
andria and Pineville, to be sup; Harrison
burg and Trinity, E W Yancey; Evergreen
and Big Cane, to be sup; Atlanta, John F
Marshall; Spring Creek, to be sup by J H
Monroe; Centreville, to be sup; Columbia,
R A Davis, J S Davis, sup; Simsport, to be
sup; Calcasieu, to be snp; Rapides, John
F Wynn.
Shreveport Dist. —John Pipes, P. E.;
Shreveport, John Wilkinson; Mooringsport,
James M McKee; Caddo, Amicus W. Wil
liams; Keachie, R H Adair; Mansfield, M
C Manley; Pleasant Hill and Manny ct,
Robert Parvin, P Allen; Manny miss, to be
sup; Springville, W D Stay ton; Black Lake,
James Fulton; Anacoco, ,T M Franklin;
Natchitoches, to he sup; Coushatta colored
ct, to be sup by W Cottonreider; Keachie
colored ct, Jack McKee; De Soto colored
ct, J Jackson.
Ouachita Dist. —S Armstrong, PE; Mon
roe, C F Evans; Trenton, J,L Borden,
Ouachita ct, R T Parish ; Farmerville, R
Randle, Lisbon, J W Medlock; Hayne
ville. J A Miller; Homer, J E Cobb; Ver
non, N A Cravens; Castor, J W Hearn;
Middle Fork, colored, to be sup by John
Rosseau; Homer, colored, to bo sup by
Amicus Ross; Arizona, colored, to be sup
by Stokes Steel; Homer College, J E Cobb,
president; agent Homer College, T J Upton.
Minden Dist. — S S Scott, P E.; Minden
ct, WP Kimball; North Bossier, H O White;
South Bossier, to be sup by N M Skip worth;
Mount Lebanon, to be sup by J H Jordan;
Sparta, R M Crowsen; Louisville, sup by
C W Carroll; Bisteneau, snp by W D Shea;
Minden colored ct, sup by E Powell; Cy
press colored ct. sup by J Fonp; Mount
Lebanon colored of,, snp by qCjJffili'.
Lake Providence Dist. —B F Alexander,
PE.; Lake Providence, W G McGaughey;
Waterproof ct, P H Diffenweirth; Floyd, J
E Bradley; Winnsboro, J H Stone; Rich
land, to be sup by JH Boult; Bastrop, C W
Carter: Pine Grove and Wright’s chapel, J
L Wright : Lind Grove, J T Daves; Sicily
Island, T H McClendon; Delhi andTulula,
F T Rawson; Oak Ridge colored ct, to be
sup by Warren Williams; Bastrop colored
ct, to be sup by Cyrus Alexander; Tensas
colored ct, to be snp by William Banks aDd
J Martin; Piuegrove and Wright’s chapel,
colored, to be sup by J L Burton; Dogalion,
colored, to be sup by Monroe Evans.
Transferred. —W H Moss, to East Texas
Conference, and stationed by Bishop Mar
vin at Marshall; .T B Walker, to Texas Con
ference, and stationed by Bishop Marvin at
Galveston; ,T C Reed, to Memphis Confer
ence.
► >-*
Appointments of the Texas Con
ference.
Galveston District: J M Wesson, P E.
Galveston st, to be supplied; Gaveston ct,
to be supplied; Bay miss, Robert Alex
ander; Houston st, B T Kavanaugh;
Houston ct, to be supplied; Hempstead, G
V Ridley; Spring Creek, U C Spencer;
Navasota st, H S Thrall; Millican ct, Thos
Whitworth; Bryan st, HYPhilpott; Bryan
ct, J C Huckabee; I G John, Editor Texas
Christian Advocate; O A Fisher, Sunday
school Agent.
Huntsville District: J G Johnson, PE.
Huntsville st, J G Sandel; Cold Springs ct,
to be supplied by E A Stocking; Danville
and Waverly cts, Jas A Light; Trinity ct,
Daniel Morgan; Montgomery ct,'C L Far
rington; Anderson st, T B Buekingham;
Andersonville, to be supplied by G Powlidge;
Zion, to be supplied by W Deason, A W
Smith, supernumerary.
Columbia District: J H Shapard, P E.
Columbia st, J H Shapard; Richmond ct,
E B Rogers; San Felipe, A McKenzie, sup;
Matagorda, J M Turner; Velasco, Lindsey
T Wills; Glover colored charge, to be sup
plied by Solomon Fisher; Hartsville colored
charge, to be supplied by Levy Samuels.
Chappell Hill District: R H Dashiel,
PE. Chappell Hill st, W G Connor; Bren
ham st, F A Mood; Independence ct, J
Burford; Bellville, Jacob Mathews; Union
Hill, R WKennon; Caldwell, to be supplied
by W G Hilton; Lexington, E H Holbrook;
Evergreen, to be supplied by H B GiUy;
Soule University, F A Mood, President;
Chappell Hill Female College, W G Connor,
President; W H Seat, Agent Soule Univer
sity and Chappell Hill Female College.
Austin District: HM Porter, PE. Aus
tin st, P C Wilkes; Austin ct, JW Whipple;
Webberville ct, L Ercanbrack; Bastrcp st,
David Coulson; Cedar Creek ct, F L Allen;
Winchester and Fayette ct, .T SClower; La-
Grange st, W G Nelms, V H Hey, sup;
Navidad ct, J W B Allen; Osage ct, ABP
Green; Columbus st, C J Lane.
German Mission District: John Schaper,
PE. Houston ct, John A Pauly; Bellville
and Industry miss, P Pruenzing; Bastrop
miss, Jacob Kern; New Braunfels ct, Wm
Knolle, A Engel, snp; New Fountain miss,
to be supplied by Ulrich Stiener; Freder
icksburg miss, to be supplied by C A Grote;
Llano miss, F Vordenbaumen; Victoria and
Yorktown miss, Jacob Bader; Galveston
miss, A Allright.
Superannuated—J M Baker, ABF Kerr,
W C Lewis, Thomas W Blake, John H Da
vidson, F A McShan.
Job M Baker transferred to Trinity Con
ference; M J Jenkins transferred to the
West Texas Conference, and appointed to
the Texana circuit; H G Horton transferred
to the West Texas Conference, and stationed
at Indianola and Lavaca; L M Lewis trans
ferred to the St. Louis Conference.
The Sabbath.— “ The streams of religion
run deeper or shallower," says Calcott, “as
the banks of the Sabbath are kept up or
neglected.” A preacher in Holland called
the Sabbath “God’s dyke, shutting out an
ocean of evils.” A preacher in Louisiana
said, “Brethren, stop that crevasse in the
Sabbath, or your plantations will be inun
dated with immorality.” “The more en
tirely, ” said M’Cheyne, ‘‘ I give my Sabbaths
to God, and half forget that I am not before
the throne of the Lamb with my harp of
gold, the happier am I.” Sir Walter Scott
said, “Give to the world one-half of the Sun
day, and you will find that religion has no
strong hold on the other half. ” S. T. Col
eridge writes, “I feel as if God had, by giv
ing the Sabbath, given fifty-two springs in
the year.” “Where there is no Christian
Sabbath,” says JusticeM’Lean, “there is no
Christian morality; and without this, free
institutions cannot be long sustained.”
PUBLISHED BY J. IV. BURKE & CO, FOR THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH.
MACON, GA., WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1,1871.
Coming.
“At even, or at night, or at coek-crowing, or in
the morning.”
It may be in the evening, ♦
When the work of the day is done.
And you have time to sit in the twilight
And watch the sinking sun,
While the long bright day dies slowly
Over the sea.
And the hour grows quiet and liolv
With the thoughts of me;
While you hear the village children
Passing along the street.
Among those thronging footsteps
May come the sounds of my feet;
Therefore, I tell you: Watch
By the light of the evening star,
When the room is irrowing duskv
As the clouds afar;
Let the door be on the latch
In your home.
For it may be in the gloaming
I will come.
“It may be when the midnight
Is heavy upon the land,
And the black waves lying dumbly
Along the sand;
When the moonless night draws close,
And when the lights are out in the house;
When the fires hum low and red,
And the watch is ticking loudly,
Beside the bed;
Though you sleep, tired out, on your couch,
Still your heart must wake and watch
In the dark room,
For it may be that at midnight
I will come.
“It may he at the cock-crow.
When the night is dying slowly
In the sky,
And the sea looks calm and holy,
Waiting for the dawn
Os the golden sun
Which draweth nigh;
When the mists are on the valleys, shading
The river’s chill.
Behold I say unto you: Watch;
Let the door be on the latch
In your home;
. In the chill before the dawning,
Between the night and morning,
I may come.
“It may be in the morning,
When the sun is bright and strong.
And the dew is glittering sharply
Over the little lawn;
When the waves are laughing loudly
Along the shore,
And the little birds are singing sweetly
About the door;
With the long day’s work before you,
Yon rise up with the sun,
And the neighbors come in to talk a little
Os all that it. ust be done;
But remember that 1 may be the next
To come in at the door,
To call you from all your busy work
Forevermore; ’ y -
As you work your heart must watch, '
For the door is on the latch
In your room,
And it may be in the morning
I will come.”
So he passed down my cottage-garden,
By the path that leads to the sea;
Till he came to a turn of the little road
Where the birch and the laburnum-tree
Lean over and arch the way;
There I saw him a moment stay,
And turn once more to me,
As 1 wept at the cottage door,
And lifted his hands in blessing—
Then I saw his face no more.
And I stood still in the doorway,
Leaning against the wall,
Not heeding the fair white roses,
Though 1 crushed them and let them (all,
Only looking down the pathway.
And looking toward the sea,
And wondering and wondering
When he would come back for me;
Till I was aware of an angel
Who was going swiftly by,
With the gladness of one who goelli
In the light of God Most Higli.
He passed the end of the cottage
Toward the garden gate—
(l suppose he was come down
At the setting of the sun
To comfort someone in the village
Whose dwelling was desolate) —
And he paused before the door
Beside my place.
And the likeness of a smile
Was on his face.
“Weep not ” he said, “for unto you Is given
* -»V ~w tunXikty: Xi-is-ieei ■%’ • “
Who is the glory of our blessed heaven ;
The work and watching will be very sweet,
Even in an earthly home;
And such an hour as you think not
He will come.”
So I am watching quietly
Every day,
Whenever the sun shines brightly,
I rise and say:
“Surely, It is the shining of his face!”
And look upon the gates of His high place
Bevond the sea;
For 1 know he is coming shortly
To summon me.
And when a shadow falls across the window
Os my room,
Where I am working my appointed task,
l lift my head to watch the door and ask
If He is come;
And if the angel answers sweetly
In my home:
“Only a few more shadows,
And he will come.”
Clerical Arrogance.
The Rev. F. A. Gace, vicar of Great
Barling, Essex, has lately made himself
notorious by denouncing all Dissenters as
heathens, schismatics, and heretics, who
may be moral, but cannot be holy. Yet
such a bigoted simpleton as this enjoys pre
ferment in the Church of England!
The Eev. B. A. Corbett, Assistant Curate
of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Charlton,
Dover, seems to be a chip of the same block.
The Christian World says that a Mrs. Pain
had once belonged to his church, but left it
to join the Methodist Church. Mr. Corbett
solicited her to return, but she declared her
determination to continue a member of the
Wesleyan Church. Ou this Mr. Corbett
informed her that she was “damned.” Our
authority for this astounding statement is
Mrs. Pain, who made it to Mr. Hughes,
Wesleyan minister, Dover. Mr. Hughes at
once applied, in terms of perfect civility, to
Mr. Corbett for a confirmation or denial of
Mrs. Pain’s evidence, professing his expec
tation that a satisfactory explanation could
be given by Mr. Corbett. He received from
Mr. Corbett a curt note, challenging his
right to ask an explanation, flatly declining
to afford any, and not denying, either ex
pressly or by implication, that Mr. Hughes
was correct as to the fact. We cannot say
that Mr. Corbett’s conduct much surprises
us. Substantially there is not a great deal
to choose between it and that of Mr. Gace.
The luminary of Great Barling, Essex, says,
with some delicacy and indirectness, that
no Dissenter, however moral he may be,
however diligent in the discharge of the out
ward duties of religion, can be in a state of
salvation; the light of Dover says plainly
that Dissenters are damned. Probably
enough the proceedings neither of Corbett
nor of Gace would be quite approved by
Mr. Canon Jebb. The dignified clergy
walk more warily than the little men. But
Canon Jebb, withdrawing from the commit
tee engaged in the work of Bible revision,
expresses himself thus: “I am fully per
suaded that this most religious work ought
not to have been committed by Convocation
to any but members of the Church of Eng
land, and, according to the almost invaria
ble precedents of past time, to her ordained
ministers—those to whom the keeping and
interpretation of God’s Word is specially
intrusted, according to the will, as I firmly
believe, of Christ himself.” In one word",
not even the laity of the Established Church
have a right to interpret God’s Word for
themselves: the clergy are “specially in
trusted” with both its “keeping and inter
pretation.” After this, where, we ask, is
room for the Protestant doctrine of private
judgment? “ I perceive,” adds Canon Jebb,
“ with great grief and alarm, the fulfillment
of that which I apprehended from the be
ginning—that is the establishment of a vir
tual equality, in the'prosecution of a matter
so very sacred, between the members of our
Church and those extern to our commun
ion.” That is to say, Canon Jebb declines
to take part with a number of the most
learned and devout of his countrymen in
the revision of the authorized version of the
Bible, lest it might be imagined that mem
bers of the Anglican Establishment are not
distinguished by some mystic and awful
superiority from the members of the Free
Christian Churches. Seriously, then, says
the Christian World, we ask State Church
men, as person who do not willfully wrap
themselves in delusions, but use the intre-
Sand honesty supposed to belong to
ihmen, to consider the ground of these
assumptions. Their position is this, that
the clergy of the Anglican Church have
been ordained by Bishops, that these Bish
ops have been ordained by other Bishops in
unbroken succession from the days of the
apostles, and that the Anglican clergy are
thus endowed with preternatural power to
Administer the sacraments, to admit to the
fQhiwch—in short, to bestow salvation.
This whole series of j> re tensions rests upon
the validity of Anglican orders and the
claim of the Anglican Bishops to have the
apostolical succession. What is the proof
that these things are as Anglicans assert
them to be ? Let not readers fear that we
are going to enter upon a formal answer to
the question. Volumes of controversy,
sufficient to fill a library, have been written
An it. But there is, we think, perfectly
adequate evidence, level to the apprehen
sion of every man of candor and common
sense, and capable of being easily stated,
that Anglican orders are not valid. Sup
pose that a Birmingham firm professed to
3upply a weapon of peculiar structhre, and
vociferously declared that if was the genn
•ae article. Suppose that every other firm
supplying the weaDon in question declared
that the article supplied by the first firm
was counterfeit; suppose that every employe
>f that firm who was honest and competent
'confessed that the article was not genuine;
and supposed that every unbiassed witness
beyond the trade joined in this opinion—
would any jury in the world declare that the
‘ of the Birmingham firm wa r not of
Itietruoinako and t»mpen£
ihaiCLdft'h of England to nave valid orders
tcf possess the spiritual authority and
W-UoHEiity of a church is precisely in this
.♦“Edition. The Church of Rome utterly
disallows the claim. John Henry Newman,
4pd a host of other honest and able men,
‘lave abandoned the Anglican Establishment
’ ecause they could no longer maintain the
Jlaim. No theologian in the world, Protest
ant or Popish, not belonging to the Angli
t *an Church, would undertake to vindicate
the claim. Men of great learning, consum
mate ability, judicial calmness and the ut
most mental perspicacity, even when mem
bers of the Church of England, have
admitted the untenability of the claim. Few
•riters have ever surpassed Macaulay in
.earness of head. He pointed out in his
tamed and unanswerable review of Mr. Glad
stone’s Essay on Church and State, that the
historical problem of establishing the valid
) y of Anglican orders is utterly insoluble;
f ad in a notable controversy with the late
of Exeter, he demonstrated that,
whatever might bo true of the Church of
England before the Reformation, she was
; t that date absolutely absorbed by the Sov
ereign, insomuch that the Bishopsordained,
lot merely by the authority of the king, but
rice, in the person of, the king. With the
k«n and clear Macaulay agrees the judicial
-Viliam, and the decision of these two is
confirmed by Mr. Froude, who, of living
lAW, has perhaps given most attention to
ti»is historical question. Against three such
witnesses who can stand ? We do not en
large on the monstrous, the unutterable
perversion of the spirit and letter of the
I>ew Testament, in virtue of which Christ
and his apostles could be imagined to
hive declared the salvation of generation
alter generation for thousands of years de
pendent on the emission of some inde
finable afflatus from episcopal finger-tips.
Thqt men can be found to believe this is
o»e of those things which make you ashamed
to wear the human form, and drive you to
blank despair as to progress and enlighten
ment. But we thought it worth while to
sljow how entirely devoid of any support,
snail as an intelligent jury could estimate—
hqw shadowy, vague, dream-like and fanci
ful,, even from the historical point of view—
are those Anglican pretensions which impel
Assistant Curate Corbett to tell a Christian
woman that she is damned, and Canon Jebb
to'i'aform a number.of men, eminent for their
leaning, piety and high Christian character,
til a v ho cannot sit with them to revise a
Vs 'cion of the Bible, lest perchance they
ru> ;kt think themselves his equals, and for-
W? his superlative act! mystical sanctity,
itjgitnega tlmt can hexited who m not
-AngMbbiiESral«d a ■rati* I
of those who have belonged to the An
glican Church, decide that her claims are
imaginary. To ask a verdict in favor of her
sacerdotal and sacruuientarinu pretensions
is, under these circumstances, an insult to
the human understanding. She is a State
department—no more ; only by becoming
free can she attain personality, and to a
title to the name of Church.— Nashville
Christian Advocate.
Preparation for the Sanctuary.
There is no thoughtful reader of the
Psalms who has not been struck with the
glowing words, with which the inspired
writer expresses the joy he found in public
worship, and the delight he took in looking
forward to “the day that the Lord has made”
on which it was his want to meet the Lord
in his holy temple, and pay his vows with
the great congregation. The tabernacles of
the Lord were “amiable” exceedingly. “My
soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts
of the Lord. I had rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of my God, than to dwell in
the tents of wickedness.” These, and kin
dred fervid aspirations meet us continually.
They display the deep, heart-experience of
tba sweet singer—how the grace of God
had wrought within him, purifying his na
ture, lifting him above the world, and making
close communion with his Lord the feast of
his soul.
This intense longing for the courts of the
Lord, presupposes heart-preparation for en
tering there. Had the Psalmist been ab
sorbed during all the week with the cares
and burdens of his high office, or with
purely secular aflairs of whatsoever sort,
giving him no time to commune with his
own heart, or to seek the Lord in secret
prayer and meditation, he would have had
no record to make of yearnings for the en
joyment of the Sanctuary service. If he
had not felt deeply the love for the house
and service of the Lord, he could not have
spoken with such anticipatory rapture of
what would have been but a cold, formal
religions observance. The secret of his
yearning for the sanctuary lay in his deep
heart-piety, in his “evening, morning and
at noon” communion with his Redeemer and
Lord. The careful, daily preparation of the
heart, made the Sabbath a delight, causing
him to anticipate its rotum with lively de
sire, and to find gladness and strength in
its services.
- To every Christian the Sabbath should be
a jay, and its pure and elevating worship
looked forward to with delight. This can
not be without the heart’s desire going out
in that direction, and this desire cannot ex
ist without the devout and spiritual condi
tion, the fruit, as the Psalmist’s life shows,
pf careful culture. The preparation of the
heart for the sanctuary worship is indispen
sable to delight and refreshment found in
the service. How many enter the courts of
the Lord’s house, hoping and expecting to
be benefitted without serious preparation of
any kind! Even a half hour devoted to se
cret meditation and prayer before
they have not found the time for, amid the
cares of a family, and the arraying of the
body to appear well in the public assembly.
The disproportion between the time given
to mere externals and that occupied with
heart-devotion to prepare the soul for meet
ing the King in His holy temple, is often
very great. An hour or two will be spent in
“outer adorning,” and not ten minutes, it
may be, devoted to preparatory communion
with Him from whom all blessings flow, and
who fills, with every good, the longing souls
who enter His courts with the sacrifice He
loves, and which a devout frame of mind
inspires. It is not strange that where the
worshiper lacks this previous preparation,
the service should so often lack interest
and attraction—that the sanctuary prayers
should awaken no answering response—that
the songs sung should fail to lift the soul
toward heaven, or touch the founts of peni
tential feeling—that the preacher’s words
should fall cold and powerless upon the ears
—that captious criticism should detect or
invent flaws and defects in services, which
had the heart been properly attuned to God’s
praise, would have proved positive sources
of edification.
The Christian, who enters the sanctuary
with the sacrifice of the broken spirit and
contrite heart, anxious to hear what the
Lord will speak to him, and to enjoy to the
utmost the feast which the Master has spread
before him, is rarely critical. He comes
with meek and docile spirit prepared to find
good in every thing, and is seldom disap-
K'led. Let those who sometimes find the
ath service tame and distasteful, and
who would find in it the lively delight whioh
the Psalmist experienced, try whether the
means of attaining their wish is not in their
own hands. Let them “wash their hands in
innocency,” as the Psalmist expresses it,
“and so compass the altar of the Lord.”
In other words, let them prepare themselves
by prayer to the “Father who seeth in seo
ret,” for enjoying His presence, and smiles
in His courts, and then go np and find the
blessing He has promised to bestow.— Ex.
Too Fast!
BY REV. W. E. MCLAREN.
In a description of California life, the
writer says:
“The diseases which carry men off are
caused by overwork, fast-living, and abnor
mal excitement. We keep the machinery
going too steadily. We heap fuel on the
fire and keep the blower up all the time.
From the fierce rush of business, we turn to
the wild whirl of pleasure; from wearying
labor to shattering excitements or wastings
dissipation. We go upon the high pressure
plan, and keep the steam op and the engine
going until the machinery suddenly gives
Cn’.t and the boiler-bursts. Heart disease,
elrJfbral paralysis
and apoplexy—these are the diseases that
carry men off long before their time.”
Bating a jot for occidental exaggeration,
this language applies universally. The times
are fast and sensational, and such an intense
condition of society acts upon the church,
and upon Christian living like a contagion.
Religion must be sensational to he popular.
A congregation is regarded as making no
progress unless you can hear the deafening
hiss of excessive steam escaping from the
safety-valve. The pulpit is not filled at all
unless it contains an electric' battery. The
little church on Scrub Prairie is all dissatis
fied with its pastor because he is not a
Beecher, or because he does not advertise
sermons on the Biblical birds and beasts,
or discuss such fundamental questions as,
for instance, whether Delilah utilized Sam
son’s shorn locks as a woman up the fashions
ought to do. This would fill the pews !
Church-life is fitful, feverish, spasmodic.
Under the holy name of revival, scenes of
religious excitement are enacted that make
the calm angels weep. Men aspire to lead
ership in Christian work who have need
that one should teach them the first princi
ples of the Gospel. Those means and meas
ures are most acceptable which ripple the
surface of our nature with the breezes of
emotion, rather than stir its depths with the
storm of truth. There is a mad hanger for
novelty. Tho old and the trite, even though
it be the true and the essential, is nause
ating to many. In the public devotions of
the sanctuary, how little of the calm spirit
of adoration exists! How many vote the
service dull, and how many neglect it unless
sensuous music and sensational preaching
combine to make it attractive!
Thus the unhealthy conditions of secular
life impress themselves on the church.
Much of the piety of the time is superficial.
The stream rushes and swells, and ever
lashes itself to foam, but it is not pure and
limpid. Its supply comes from other sources
than tho crystal fountain of faith.
There can be no return to equipoise and
calm in religion so long as men forget that
a symmetrical Christian life has two aspects;
one looking towards society, and the other
toward solitude; one having regard to zeal
and external activity, and the other to com
munion with God, interior apprehension of
truth and secret delight in it, and that inef
fable repose upon the bosom of Infinite
Love which is the fruit of a childlike faith.
Nor must it be forgotten that the outer
manifestation is healthy only as it takes its
rise and gets its impetus from this silent
and holy interior condition. We must have
hearts serene, a piety that is meditate, in
order .to, have lives trniy active. W<» must
seek jVfo .temper) that will jafoline ns to bo
pea.eJful worshipers at Zioatyaltars as well
as active laborers in rearing her walls. 1
“In quietness and confidence shall be our
strength.”
The secular must be subordinate to tho
spiritual. We must resist the morbid eager
ness which possesses us to keep the steam
at 120 pounds to the square inch. We must
get rid of the notion that leisure is laziness.
It is the rest of the worker. The great God
who cannot grow weary, when he had made
the worlds, rested on the seventh day, that
He might impress the duty of rest on a toil
ing race. Leisure is a matter of obligation.
Our high-pressure life gives no time to
study the Holy Word, no time to gain largo
and satisfactory views of the doctrines of
Christ, no time for heart-culture, no time
to sit down and think over one’s life, no
time to spend in secret devotion, in wrest
lings and tears over sin, in communion with
God. The world drives so that when the
Sunday arrives, the exlfausted slave sinks
into a dormant state that can easily neglect
all religious duty; or if conscience collar
him and drag him to his pew, time is pre
cious—things must be done briefly. Gold
and silver orbs pulled from many a pocket,
flash warnings in the minister’s eyes. He
knows by that sign that the fever is raging.
The wild demon of Hurry has drawn his
whip. There is no time, even for Christ
and the Cross!
It seems to me that Christians must make
it a solemn duty to take leisure. You must
withdraw from the sphere that so absorbs
you—you must retire from that electric at
mosphere that sets your nerves on end, and
kindles a consuming fire in your veins—you
must draw a thick curtain between yonr
closet and the world, and sit down to read,
pray, meditate, worship, and commune with
God in quietness. If yon are consciously
deficient in the knowledge of God, you
must take leisure to know more of Him.
If you have a mere smattering of Scriptural
information, you must insist on time for the
study of the Bible. If a besetting sin
tyrannizes over you, you must enter into
the closet, and with many sighs of sorrow
wrestle for subduing grace. You must take
time, at any expense, to make yourself a
humble follower of the Lamb.
_ Closet-religion produces the true Chris
tian. He that comes forth from the seoret
hidings of the Almighty will not bow the
knee readily to any Baal of trade or fashion.
His steps will keep time not to the rush of
a fast age, but to the stately march of all
that multitude who have walked in the good
old ways of God.
Closely connected with closet-religion is
fireside religion. Are the days to come no
more in which parents shall take time to
gather their children around the family
altar for common prayer and for Scripture
study and indoctrination? Or are we
ready to haul down the Catechism flag be
cause a superficial age sneers at it? Are we
to be hurried away from the old paths and
the old landmarks, because it is the fashion
of the restless world to ridicule the tried
and venerable, and resort to new and expe
rimental ways of doing the Lord’s work ?
If so, the result will be a generation of senti
mentalists having no substratum of knowl
edge. Error will creep in unopposed be
cause undetected. Heresy will flaunt its
glittering lies at the very altar of the church.
Sensation will take the place of principle.
Indeed, it is difficult to say what will not
happen if Christian parents commit them
selves and their children to the wild rush
and hurry of the times, so as to suffer the
moss to grow upon the home-altar.
But the rejoinder to all this will be, we
did not make the times, neither can we con
trol them : life is at high-pressure, and we
must take it as we find it, for we have fami
lies to support and the future to provide
for; business is business, and we must
plunge into the currents of trade with the
rest, or starve! We must take the fast train
or be distanced by our competitors!
_ This is peremptory language, but our Di
vine Lord meets it as peremptory: “Seek
first the kingdom of God and his righteous
ness, and all these things shall be added
unto you.” This divine collocation of du
ties cannot be reversed without jeopardy.
First, be true and loyal to God; first, be
ruled by faith; first, prepare for business in
the closet and go forth to duty in quietness
and confidence. ” There may be reverse, lobs,
and disappointment, but there is no such
thing as failure for him who goes into the
world without conforming to the world.
Why are the times so fast? Why does blood
beat, and brain boil so? Beoause men per
mit the thought of a secular to-morrow to
crowd out the thought of present spiritual
duty. Having no faith in God, they strug
gle with a disastrous energy to win the
prizes of life, and the very dread of failure
lends intensity to their struggles. But
Christian men have no right toparticipate
in these oppressive anxieties. While it is
their duty to have foresight of the storm
and take in sail when there is time, they
are not to be shaken from their trust in Je
hovah-Jireh.
O for a calm faith! O for the “ornament
of a meek and quiet spirit 1” O for a revival
of meditative religion! We all need it. Not
only our business men, but all classes are
influenced by the mad hurry of the times.
Look at our young girls! The mania for
exoitement, the indisposition to submit
to control, the tendenoy to extravagance in
dress and boldness in demeanor, the fond
ness for pleasure, are some of the symptoms
of the prevailing disease. “ The girl of the
period” is a sad commentary on the tenden
cy of things. Even mature woman, natu
rally serener and more retiring than the
sterner sex, often oversteps that traditional
modesty which is the oharm and strength
and glory of her nature.
May we all resolve to take up arms against
the hurry and intensity that involve onr
daily life, ana take time for secret meditation
and spiritual communion with the Father
of spirits. The closet is the cure!
He that Overcometh.
Seven times over Jesus gives to the
Churches exceeding great and precious
promises. Each is different, and each full
of strong consolation; but each is addressed
to the overcoming Christian. It is always
“he that overcometk,” or to “him that over
•ometh.” I ask you to take notice of this.
Victory is the only satisfactory evidence
that you.have a saving religion. Yqu like
good sermons, perhaps. You respect the
Bible, and read it occasionally. You say
your prayers night and morning. You have
family prayers, anfl give to religious socie
ties. T thank God for this. It is all very
food. But how goes the battle? How
oes the great conflict go on all this time ?
Are you overcoming the love of the world
and the fear of man ? Are you overcoming
the passions, tempers and lusts of your own
heart? Are you resisting the devil and
making him nee from you ? How is it in
this matter? My dear brother or sister, you
must either rule or serve sin, and the devil,
and the world. There is no middle course.
You must either conquer or be lost.
I know well it is a hard battle that you
have to fight, and I want you to know it,
too. You must fight the good fight of faith,
and endure hardships, if you would lay
hold of eternal life. You must make up
you mind to daily struggle, if yon would
reaoh heaven. There may be short roads
to heaven invented by man; but ancient
Christianity—the good old way—is the way
of the cross—the way of conflict. Sin, the
world, and the’devil must be actually mor
tified, resisted and overcome.
This is the road that saints of old have
trodden in, and left their record on high.
When Moses refused the pleasures of sin
in Egypt, and chose affliction with the peo
ple of God, this was overcoming: he over
came the love of pleasure.
When Micaiah refused to prophesy smooth
things to king Ahab—though he knew he
would be persecuted if he spoke the truth—
this was overcoming: ho overcame the
love of ease.
When Daniel refused to give up praying,
though he knew the den of lions was pre
pared for him, this was overcoming: he
overcame the/ear of death.
When Mattbew rose from the receipt of
customs at our Lord’s bidding, left all and
followed him—this was overcoming; he
overcame the love of money.
When Peter and John stood up boldly
before the council and said, “We cannot
but speak the things we have seen and
heard''—ttiis was overcoming: tney over
came the fear of man.
\ When Saul the Pharisee, gave up all his
proSpeots of preferment among the Jews,
and preaohed that Jesus whom he had onoe
persecuted—this was overcoming : he over
came the love of man's praise. ’*
Reader, tho same kind of thing which
these men did you must also do if you
would be saved. They were men of like
passions with yourself, and yet they over
came. They had as many trials as any you
can possibly have, and yet they overcame.
They fought. They wrestled. They strag
gled. You must do the same.
What was the secret of their victory ?
Their faith. They believed on Jesus, and
believing were made strong. They believed
on Jesus, and believing were held up. In
all their battles they kept their eyes on
Jesus, and He never left them nor forsook
them. They overcame by the blood of the
Lamb, and the word of His testimony, and
so may you.
Reader, I set these words before you.
I ask you to lay them to heart. Resolve,
by the grace of God, to be an overcoming
Christian.— Ryle.
Death and the Grave.
a fable.
“I am hungry,” said the Grave. “Give
me food.”
“Death answered:
“I will send forth a minister of awful de
struction, and you shall be satisfied.”
“What minister will yon send ?”
“I will send alcohol. He shall go in the
guise of food and medicine, pleasure and
hospitality. The people shall drink and die. ”
And the Grave answered :
“I am content.”
And now the church bells began to toll,
and the mournful procession to advance.
“Who are they bringing now ?” said the
Grave.
“Ah,” said Death, “they are bringing a
household. The drunken father aimed a
blow at his wife. He killed the mother and
her child together, and then dashed out his
own life.”
“And who,” said the Grave, “eoinesnext,
followed by a train of weeping children ?”
“This is a broken-hearted woman, who
has long pined away in want, while her hus
band has wasted his substance at the tavern.
And he, too, is borne behind, killed by the
hand of violence.”
. “And who next ?”
“A young man of generous impulses, who,
step by step, became dissipated, and squan
dered his all. My agent turned him out to
be frozen in the street.”
“Hush !” said the Grave ; “now I hear
a wail of anguish that will not be silenced.”
“Yes, ” it is the widow’s cry. It is the only
son of his mother. He spurned her love,
reviled her warning, and a bloated corpse he
comes to thee. And thus they come—fur
ther than the eyes can reach, the procession
crowds to thy dark abodes. And still lured
by the enchanting cup which I have mingled,
the sons of men orowd the paths of dissipa
tion, Vainly they dream of escape, but I
shut behind them the invisible door of des
tiny. They know it now, and with song
ana dance and riot, they hasten to thee, O
Grave ! Then I throw my fatal spell upon
the new throngs of youth, and soon they,
too, will be with thee.”— Exchange.
Etebnal Life. —Howe, in his “Blessed
ness of the Righteous,” has a noble passage,
in which he contemplates innumerable mul
titudes of pure and happy creatures inhab
iting and replenishing ample and spacious
regions above, ignorant of nothing lawful
and pleasant to be known, curious to know
nothing unless, endowed with a self-gov
erning wisdom, yet with a noble freedom,
all everywhere full of God, full of rever
ence and dutiful love, every one in his own
eyes as nothing, self-consistent, even free
of all self-displeasures, all assured of their
acceptance with God, all counting each
other’s felicity their own, and every one’s
enjoyment multiplied so many-thousand
fold, as he apprehends every one asperfect
ly pleased and happy as himself. Well may
the Christian say, as he ponders these [no
ble thoughts, “O, what will it be to be
there!” And if the joy is so rapturous, the
rest so blessed, the company so edifying,
the place so glorious, Christ visible, God
near, death behind, judgment over, what is
our hope of this glory, and what result does
it produoe in us? Does it strengthen us for
the duties of life, and console us under its
sorrows, making its crosses light, and its
gains trifling? Surely we Christians are
but half awake, and the children of this
world are in their generation wiser than the
children of light. There are treasures for
E. H. MYERS, D D., EDITOR
WHOLE NUMBER 1835.
us that we will hardly think of, a home that
•is barely worth our while to prepare for,
joys which we languidly taste, gifts whioli
we slothfully use. Yet the night is far
spent, the day is at hand. We have slum
bered and slept till our lamps are all but
gone out; let us haste to trim them, for the
bridegroom is coming. Surely, if we quite
believe about heaven all that the Bible tells
of it, how humility would clothe us, and
zeal inflame us, and the thought of our in
heritance ennoble us, making us calm and
brave as the sons of God!
An Awful Silence.
BY REV. E. A. HELMERSHAU3EN.
“Tell them wo mourn by the dark blue streams,
Tell them our lives but of them are dreams! ’'
Did you ever watch a noble steamship as
she leaves these shores for the Eastern
World? Oa she moves till she is lost in the
ocean’s mists, or appears as a mere speck on
the distant waters, and then passes beyond
our vie w. On board are many who etpec;
to feiwa- and tell us of the lands beyond.
The parting is only endurable because we
hope for their return.
But there are other oceans and shores
invested with a far more solemn interest.
For almost six thousand years our friends
have been leaving these shores to cross the
trackless ocean with Death’s Ferryman for
the vast unknown. Two hundred genera
tions, or two hundred billions, have passed
over; and still;they go at the rate of forty
millions each brief year. Never before were
such crowds waiting on the shore to pass
over as now. The old with pure white
locks, the strength of manhood and of
womanhood, the young man of promise,
and the beautiful girl, with crowds of little
ones, jostle each other in the broad ways.
The old Ferryman looks storm-beaten, and
his face is heavily wrinkled with long and
wearisome service. He is grave and som
bre and gloomy as the tombs. He brings
no tidings back, as he is deaf and blind and
dumb. Over all these two hundred genera
tions, or two hundred billions, there reigns
an awful silence. Every one that has oome
to these shores in the six thousand years,
has looked out into this darkness, this ap
parently illimitable night, and listened for
sounds from the shores beyond. We call;
but they answer not.
What sacrifices have been made of money
and of life, to reach the extreme Arctic or
Antartic seas; or to explore tho central parts
of Africa, or other places on our globe!
Tenderly do we think of a Kane, a Living
stone, and of other brave and sublime in
vestigators and explorers. And mind, by
the aid of scienoe, made a radiant path
among tho more glorious stars, and gave us
the distance from our earth of a star whose
light is three and a half years in reaching
our world, the volocity of light being al
most twelve millions of miles per minute.
And then genius, ever dissatisfied with past
acquirements, swept again the grand old
heavens, and brought back grander facts
which eclipsed all former discoveries.
But the unknown and unknowable world,
of which we speak, has interested the uni
versal heart and mind. Scarcely does the
little child stand in the dewy morning of its
fresh-born existence before it feels its little
heart turning thitherward; and with all its
weakness of brain and nerve, this question
is coming into its soul. It disturbs the
cradle, and almost the grave. Suppose, for
a moment, the success of this investigation
were assured. Millions of persons, with all
that art and science can afford, and untold
billions of money, would be offered at onoe.
Is it further away than tho stars? How
soon and how gladly would the husband
and father, of a hundred millions, offer the
last cent, and become a beggar for life, if
he could hear from the loving wife onoe bv
HiS side, or the fair girl whose body was laid
to rest beneath the green, sod and bmias
the flowers. Such a submarine telegraph
would command the gold of the world.
This ever living question is a strong pre
sumptive argument in favor of onr immor
tality. Why this universal, intense, deep,
awful yearning after the “loved and gone
before?” Why is every heart and mind
continually busy, day and night, with this
dream, if it be a dream?
“O star-eyed science, thou hast not wandered
there,
To bring us back the tidings of depair!’’
[Zion's Herald.
Antiquity of Pulpits.
The solemn reading of the law of Moses
to the populace of Jerusalem must have
been an impressive service, when “Ezra the
scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which
they had made for the purpose." As to its
configuration we are not informed, though
it must have been a spacious raised platform
if the six persons named on one side of Ezra
and the seven on the other were also upon
it. Stone pulpits existed in some cathedrals,
churches, and monastic refectories, and one
of iron is stated to be in the “Galilee” at
Durham. Entries at Exeter, 1318-25, relate
to materials “pro la pulpytte,” but that was a
distinct building on the North side of the
church, for lectures and sermons. Capitals
and bases for the ambos at Westminster were
paid for in 1352. Preaching appears to have
a part of religious services from the earliest
ages of the church ; and the sermons were
commonly delivered in the chanoel in front
of the altar. At a later time they were ad
dressed from tho ambo, or reading-desk, in
the nave, an innovation assigned to Chry
sostom at Constantinople. In some churches
the preacher used to sit and the congrega
tion to stand, and generally the lecture was
more of the extempore kind than now pre
vails. The orderly conduct of a modern
congregation arises from the discipline of
ages, having succeeded, by gradual process,
habits of comparatively little decorum, and
the open expression of opinion on the mer
its of the preacher’s discourse. The rarity
of wooden pulpits of earlier date than the
Reformation, is no doubt principally attribn -
table to the sweeping clearance of church
fittings pursuant of that event, just as with
altars, and roods, and screens. Yet they,
one and all, are met with in modern Papal
churches, where the presence of either can
scarcely be due to the Reformation.
Just as I Am.
Some time ago, a poor little boy came to
a city missionary, and Bolding up a dirty
and worn-out bit of paper, said: “Please,
sir, father sent me to get a clean paper like
that.” Taking it from his hand, the mis
sionary unfolded it, and found that it was a
page containing the lines which begin thus:
“Just as I am, without one plea,
But that thy Blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God! I come.”
The missionary looked down with interest
into the face upturned to him, and asked
the little boy where he got it and why he
wanted a clean one. “We found it, sir,”
said he, “in sister’s pocket, after she died,
and she used to sing it all the timo while she
was ill, and she loved it so mush that father
wanted to get a clean one and put it in a
frame, to hang it up. Won’t you please to
give ns a clean one, sir?”
Religious Papebs. —A young minister was
once called to a young and plastio church.
One of the first questions which he asked
was, “Do you people take good religious
papers ?" The elders scarcely knew. He
was unwilling to accept their call unless they
would sec that the congregation was sup-
Elied with that sort of. literature. They liked
is proposal. The people began to read more
upon church and Christian affairs, and he
began to arouso them to earnest working
and generous giving. The contributions in -
creased wonderfully, for the people were
learning the real wants of the chnrcli. The
preaching was blest. Press and pulpit lent
a force to each other. Pastor and editor
were mutual helpers in the same good work.
And here is the real design of an earnest,
thoroughly Christian paper. It is not to
draw dividends upon the large investment,
not to wage controversy, not to deal out tlio
mere news of the day, not to publish bril
liant essays ; its leading design is to do what
pastors should be doing if they knew every
thing and could be talking and teaching
every week in every house. It is his assist
ant and vicar in the parish. It supplements
his work. It goes when and where he can
not go.—Christim Messenger.