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TWO DOLLARS PER ANNUM.
VOL. XXXV. NO. 4.
Contributions.
Remarks Made Befere the Mis
sionary Society of South Caroli
na Conference, at Spartanburg)
December 15th, 1871.
BY PROF. JAS. H. CARLISLE.
(Published by request of the Conference.)
All the remarks which will be made to
night, will be found to gather around three
simple thoughts. The first is this: There
is still a great deal of Missionary ground in
the world.
A map of the world is indeed a painful
picture to look upon. Perhaps few men
cin study it thoughtfully and yet patiently
or with self control. There are yet entire
continents, which have only here and there,
at great intervals, a point of light. Look
at Asia the birth-place of our race, and of
the three religions which have ruled it. It
has been said, “The Epistle to the Ephe
sians is read throughout the world, but
there is no one at Ephesus to read It now.”
In that Epistle there was sounded an alarm
of peculiar significance and force: “Ye
were sometime darkness, but now are ye
light in the Lord. Walk as children of
light.” The appeal was reasonable and ap
propriate. It is daylight in the world’s
history. Dress and act accordingly. But
it was unheeded. Western Asia dared to
walk out into the sunshine with her night
clothes of heathenism. They soon beoame
her shroud!
And to-night there is a fearful amount of
Missionary ground still in the world. View
ing the world as an estate of the Creator,
there are many and large tracts of it, to
which His tribute gatherers have not yet
found their way, not to speak of many
others in which they are set at naught, or
“ shamefully handled.”
But there is a great deal of Missionary
ground still in the Church. We do not mean
the term Missionary here to be used in a
geographical sense. We do not mean that
in Christendom, within the lines of churoh
organization, there are many regions of
greater or less extent, not covered by any
efficient religious agenoy. Though this is
true to a painful degree. Bat the meaning
is that distinctly within the Church, there
is muoh, very much unappropriated mate
rial, much idlo capital. Suppose we narrow
our views to that interest which the word
capital at onoe suggests. And let us re
strict it even further, to the amount which
should be at her disposal for the current
support of the ministry. Look at the ser
vice rendered by the Church to the cause
of humanity in a single respect. There are
through her agenoy, scattered all over our
land, men, by profession and practice,
trained to feel for human suffering. They
are well-known and accessible. Wherever a
minister lives, there is one door at which
any sufferer may freely knock. He might
hesitate to approach your door or mine
without an introduction. But he oan go
to the parsonage and freely and confidently
ask. He may not always get money, through
your fault and mine the minister’s charity
purse may be often empty, but he can get
that whioh to our nature is often better
than money—sympathy. And how readily
and freely we send there in all the crises of
life. The miuister may have watohed all
night with a sick wife or dying child. But
we expect him with morning light, to wipe
his eyes, and smooth his brow, and be ready
to answer every knock at his door. We ex
psot him to come at our slightest call, (we
oomplain perhaps if he waits for the call!)
and keep down the agony of his own heart,
while he listens to our tale of sorrow, as if
he had none of his own.
These eventful days are “shedding un
timely snow ” on many an anxious head.
You and I find it taxes all our manhood,
with all the help we can get from heaven
and earth, to stand ereot, and bear our bur
dens, as men, as husbands, as fathers. Our
minister has all this, and added to all this,
and beyond all this, he has that burden,
whioh we do not, can not know—the care of
all the churches—solicitude for your soul
and mine. If that which is our heaviest
burden, is his lighter one, how heavy must
be the other, and how unutterably crush
ing the combined pressure of both! I have
heard a humane and thoughtful man say,
“ I oan not boar to drive a suffering beast,
one hungry, or overworked, or chafed with
the harness. ” The feeling is honorable to
the human heart. But, my brother, per
haps up to this very night you have used,
you have driven, a suffering minister. When
you are sick, a suffering minister comes to
cheer you, as you lie in the midst of com
forts which ho can not procure for himself.
In your last illness you will send for a suf
fering minister, to do all that man oan do,
to gird you up for your lonely and myste
rious journey. A snffering minister will,
perhaps, pronounce the benedictions of re
ligion over your grave, and the man of God,
as he looks upon the useless display of your
coffin, may feel that, of right, he can chal
lenge it as withheld from his suffering ehil
dren!
This question rises far above the region
of satire or frctfulness, or insinnations, in
which it is often discussed. Next to the
earnestness with which a Christian man
prays for his own personal salvation, let
him pray for his minister, that his faith fail
not in his hour of trial. Alexander once gave
to a common soldier, a sack of heavy valua
bles, to carry to a certain point. Seeing the
soldier about to give way, an unnsual im
pulse of kindly feeling moving his cold and
selfish bosom, he cried, “Carry it a little
farther, my brave soldier, for it is all thine
own /” Let a stronger, a more inspiring
appeal be whispered to the over-laden, sore
ly-pressed minister: “Thou earnest more
than gold! Men are looking at thee, to see
how thy Master would bear himself, in thy
place!”
The Duke of Wellington, in one of his
critical battles, came to a part of the field
where some troops were under heavy fire,
with little opportunity to return it. They
seemed placed there just to tire out the
enemy. The Iron Duke, with a degree of
feeling unusual with him, said, as he rode
by, “This is bloody work, my brave men!
But we will see who can bear this pounding
longest, the enemy or we.” The French
Were as daring and gallant in a charge, bqt
the Puke depended on the passive, imper
tnrbable, Saxon element to stand pounding.
And that won the day. Among the many
glorions epitaphs which a Christian minister
may covet, this is no ignoble one: “He
oonld stand pounding, nobly, Christianly.”
To be ponnded by a fault finding flock, or
by an illiberal board of stewards, who cate
chise you as to the size of your family, their
appetites and tastes, as coarsely as they
would examine an animal they were weigh
ing on the public scales—this is not a very
romantic life. No, my brother, but it may
be far above all romance. It may be Ohris
jjzttfhetw Christian AJtatalc.
tian discipline, heavenly tuition, the ooaree
but needful training of the king's son, be
fore he is called to the throne. Whether
the pounding be that which cuts, or that
which braises, it may be borne, until the
sufferer escapes into that field of service
where the salutation which insures his im
mortality will not be, “Well done, success
ful and fully-paid-up servant!" but “Well
done, good and faithful servant!”
A minister is not called upon to be un
feeling, but if he can attain to it, let him be
unfretting. Let him disappoint the nar
row-minded steward who expects and desires
this in self-defense. Let the testimony be
wrung from the eold official. “If our
preacher would only have fretted or railed
at us, I could have got along better. That
brings on the engagement in a field where
I can see my way and hold my own. But
he would not. He gave me a receipt in
full, and left the difference between our
promise and our performance, to be credited
elsewhere. He does not seem taibemade
of iron or stone,
The tear
That dropped upon his Bible th sincere.
But not a muscle of the good man quivered,
as we “ settled up.”
But we are dwelling on that meaning of
the word capital whioh, though very impor
tant, is still less so than the others. In the.
sense of the service, personal or professionJ
al, there is much idle capital in the Qhrfl
tian Church. There are congregation!
whose aggregate of business capacities has'
accumulated and can wisely manage and
make fruitful, hundreds of thousands of
dollars, perhaps millions. And yet it is a.
difficult task to get a few hundred dollars!
collected, or wisely disbursed for repairs or*
expenses. There are congregations where
Christian parents spend annually hundreds
of dollars to have their ehildren taught to
sing, and yet it is difficult to have the con
gregational singing properly led. There
are congregations where a prayer-meeting
can scarcely be conducted if the minister is
sick or absent. There are congregations
where the lambs of the flook are allowed to
wander away negleoted for lack of Sunday
sohool teachers. There are Christian com
munities where, perhaps, it would be easier
to organize a oompany of stalwart young
Christian men to go on an Arctio Expe
dition, than to get a dozen punctual and
effieient Sunday-school teachers. In all
these respects, and many others, of which
these are only specimens, the Christian
Churoh as a whole, each particular part of
it, our Church, has a painful amount of
capital lying idle.
But there is a great deal of Missionary
ground in your heart and mine.
We spoke of the relation between the size
of Christendom and the whole wort!. As
Christendom is to the world, so is that por
tion of your nature whioh is thoroughly
christianized, to the whole of it. Is that an
unfair proportion? “ Unite my heart !”
How appropriate, and suggestive the prayer.
Will you offer it at this moment silently, as
your attention is turned to it? Unite my
heart, this divided, discordant, partially
christianized heart. My brother, *th3jc are
hordes of savage instincts in your heart,
whioh have not yet been taught to bow at
the name of Jesus. There are large forests
there, through which no quickening ray of
light has made its way. There are rainless
tracts of your moral nature, where nothing
green can live. Zaharos, with only a nar
row rim of verdure. These need to be
pierced until the Artesian spring beneath is
reached. There are frozen seas, and float
ing icebergs, brilliant but cold, chilling the
air for leagues around. There may be a
granite ridge which needs to be cleft through
with a Mt. Cenis tunnel, along which the
messengers of love may hurry to and fro.
My sister, there are torrents of womanly
sentiment and feeling and passion, whioh
for years have been idly babbling and brawl
ing from the heights of your moral nature.
Long since they should have been made to
propel many a scheme of benevolence and
love. My brother, perhaps your religion is
imprisoned. You would think it perhaps
equally disastrous, for it to leave your na
ture entirely, or to rule it supremely.
Does each one of these trains of thought
oarry with it a disheartening power? Let
us recur for a moment to the first. Will
Asia ever come baok? She had Christian
influence poured around her in her infanoy,
but has led an irreligious, even dissolute
life. Will she oome back in her age and
feebleness and take up again the story of
Bethlehem? Os will the trump of doom
startle her, in her revels of sin? I do not
know. You may take either answer to this
question, and it furnishes motives to exer
tion and faith, but no exouse or warrant for
inaotion or despair. There is this blessed
compensation running along the chain of
duties whioh seem so oomplex. You can
not make one earnest effort, whether of
prayer or means, or service of any kind, to
benefit the remotest end of the earth, which
will not react on your own heart. And you
cannot bring under an intenser religious feel
ing, any portion of your own nature, which
will not fit you to give more willing or ef
ficient aid to any Christian enterprise.
And now, Mr. President, can you take a lit
tle bill which I may be able to drop in your
hands to-night, and give it a place in the
great work of Christian benevolence? Can
it be made to strengthen the zeal or faith of
some tired laborer in the field of Missionary
effort? Or, perhaps, it may carry comfort
and hope to the widow or child of some
good man who fell in the work. The last
poisoned arrow whioh Satan was allowed to
hurl at him touched him jnst at this point.
As to his own future security, when freed
from earthly wants, he was more than con
queror. But was it unohristian to feel an
anxious pang when he thought of his house
hold? But when from the darkness which
lay before him, a voice, not unfamiliar to
him, said, “ Put your hand in mine and
follow me, I will hide you in the grave, and
be a Qod to your wife and children as I
have been to you,” he was willing to depart
in peace. Is one of his children now sorely
tempted to distrust the legacy which con
sisted only in an interest in the sympathies
and prayers of her father’s Church, and the
promise of her father’s Qod? And can you
make this common-place bill to her, not
simply a lucky raven with needed supplies,
bqt a prophet of Qod, to attest His fidelity
and truth? Then, sir, take it, and I charge
you, keep it in your treasury only long
enough to look wisely over the field. Per
haps what we give to claims like this, may,
in a certain sense, be said to be all that re
mains of our year’s work. What we have
spent in the coarse and exacting demands
of bread and meat, was rather spent in pre
paring to live, than in living. Even that
which we give to support the ministry whioh
feeds ourselves and our families, may be
only an outer circle of selfishness. But if
over and beyond these claims, we oan give
PUBLISHED BY J. W. BURKE & COMPANY, FOR THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH.
something to sustain the laborers elsewhere,
then we seem to touch directly the great
aggressive work of Christianity. Let us
give as largely as the proportion of other
calls will allow, and thankfoUy. Let the
biU yon drop in to-night, be an articulate
form of uttering that prayer, which in aU
ages has gone up from weary, anxious
hearts, and will go up perhaps with increas
ing frequency and fervor, as the shadows
of evening seem to fall around our race.
Thy Kingdom Come !
Tbe Cliurch Among the Heathen.
The present population of the world is
supposed to be about 1,380,000,000, dis
tributed as follows : of the Caucasian race,
380,000,000; Ethiopian, 200,000,000; Mon
golian, 580,000,000; Malay, 220,000,000;
North American Indian, 1,000.000 —of these
1,350,000,000 souls, 388,600,000 are Chris
tians ; 360,000,000 Buddhists ; 165,000,000
Mohammedans; 200,000,000 Pagans; 7,000,-
000 Jews ; leaving 260,000,000 to be distribu
ted among the various minor Asiatic Beh
gons.
This statistical exhibit leaves 991,400,000
to be christianized More than two-thirds
of without toith in
work
iaIB
followers
n r 1 u x,
of
the the
world. cavto Pro
testantism, of' too of
Christendom.
We have now reached a statement of the
foroes working nominally to spread Bible
Christianity in the world. Bat the prooees
of redaction, painful as it is, must be car
ried still farther. Like tbe host of Gideon,
the namber must be limited to a reliable
minority. There are denominations and
sects claiming to be Christians, among the
Protestant communities of Enrope and
America, who deny the Divinity of Christ,
and the office and work of the Holy Spirit.
These make bnt little effort to enlighten the
heathen world, and must, on this account, if
no othor, be left out of our estimate of the
evangelical church. And again, the test must
be applied. How many in the evangelioal
churches of Protestant Christendom “ have
a name to live, while they are dead ?"’ They
do not give, pray, or work, for the conver
sion of their fellow men ; multitudes of
these are themselves unsaved. The übtive
missionary force of the Christian Church,
working directly for the conversion of the
heathen world, i3 comparatively small, there
fore—compared with the millions arrayed
against it, very small. But the Master has
■aid, “ Fear not, little flock, for it is yonr
Father’s good pleasure to give you the king
dom.”
Having thus endeavored to aseertain, at
least approximately, the evangelical mission
ary forces of Protestant Christendom, now
laboring for the conversion of the heathen
world, let us see what is being done by them
to this end. There are sixty two Missionary
Societies, with an aggregate working corps in
the foreign field of t wenty-five hundred men,
aided by a large number of lay helpers, and
about twenty thousand native preachers,
teachers, colporteurs, eto. Os the sixty-two
societies represented in the foreign mission
field, twenty-two are in Great Britain;
twelve in Germany ; three in Holland ; sev
enteen in the United States ; two in Switz
erland ; two in France ; two in Sweden ;
and one in Norway. These societies have
established native churches in all parts of
the heathen world, with a membership of
oonverts from heathenism of more than
1,500,000. They have translated the Bible
into move than two hnndred languages and
dialects, thus placing the word of God in
the hands of eight hundred millions of the
race ; and all this within the last seventy
five years! Rude dialects have been reduced
to a written form, and a Christian literature
oreated where, a few years ago, the intel
lectual and moral character of the people
was of the lowest savage type.
These general statements may now be
confirmed and illustrated, by facts drawn
from the mission fields.
A Scotchman, after returning from a cruise
in the Pacific, was asked if he thought the
missionaries had done any good in the South
Sea Islands ? “I will tell you a fact which
speaks for itself,” said the sailor. “Last
year I was wrecked upon one of those
islands, where I knew that eight years before,
a ship was wrecked and the crew murdered ;
and yon may jndge how I felt at the pros
peot before me ; if not dashed to pieces on
the rocks, to survive for only a more cruel
death. When day broke we saw a num
ber of canoes pulling for the ship, and we
were prepared for the worst. Think of our
joy and wonder when wo saw the natives in
English dress, and heard some of them speak
in the English language. On that very island,
the next Sunday, we heard the gospel
preached ! I do not know what you think of
Missions, bnt I know what I do.”
Formerly, the West coast of Africa was ex
tremely dangerous for trading vessels, and
the murder of all on board was a frequent
occurrence. “About twenty years ago the
natives on the coast now included in Libe
ria, killed all the persons on board a foreign
vessel, except a boy who hid himself in the
hold. When this boy was compelled to
come forth from his hiding place and go on
shore, some of the natives who had been at
the Mission Station at Gavalla, took pity on
him, and through their efforts bis life was
spared and he was directed how to find the
Missionaries. He was, of course, kindly re
ceived by the latter, and instructed in the
truths of the gospel. He became a preacher
of the gospel to those very natives who had
killed his fellow voyagers.”
The venerable Dr. Moffatt says in a re
cent commnnication, “ It was not long since
considered a most dangerons experiment to
travel in the interior; in fact it was not safe
to go a half-dozen miles from the Mission Sta
tion. Now it is quite common for traders
and others to travel throngh the very midst
of the natives, without the least fear of be
ing plundered or interrupted. In former
times traders were basely murdered by the
natives, who would purchase only beads
from them. Now thirty-five thousand dol
MACON, GA., WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 31, 1872.
lan worth of British manufactures pass into
the hands of the natives near and about
Kuruman. There was a time when there
was but one plongb, and that was the Mis
sionary plough, a Dutch plough, a very
climsy thing to boot. Now the natives
have their ploughs by hundreds. There was a
time when ' the lord of creation,’ sat under
the shade of the trees, while his wife worked
in the field with a heavy pick. Now he
ploughs his fields like a man.”
Theship “ All Serene ” was capsized about
two yean ago near the Fiji Islands. The
crew constructed a rude “ punt ” from por-'
tions of the wreck, and after seventeen days
of intense snffering, daring which time sev-'
eral of their number died, they reached the!
island of Eandava. The natives of this
island were, a few years ago, the fiercest can
nibal savages, and invariably eat the bodies
of all who happened to be wrecked on their'
shores. On this occasion, however, the na
tives carried the poor sailors of the “All]
Serene," who were unable to help theuiA
selves, to their houses, washed and dressedH
their wonnds, fed and nursed them tenderly. I
A day or two afterwards, two Missionaries
living on the island, came and took charge 1
of the sufferers. Had these men been cast on i
that island a few years ago, the last one of.
then -wd have been murdered and eaten,
ft is Wten said by ignorant, or wicked
“ the Missionaries are doing no good." j
Kestion is often asked by good Chris-
yon think the Mission
any good ? ” I ask in re-
think the Church is doing i
wOn the world ? " I could fill every .
Mach of your paper with facts showing that
are doing a glorious work ;
the earth.
I live saith tho Lord, the whole earth
■Ell be filledf ith my glory."
W. Q. E. CuNNYNOHAM.
, Vt, January 17, 1872.
Hymn.
BY THB LATE MRS. WEISS.
Daughter of the late Archbishop of Dublin; com
posed on her deatli-bed.
Jesus, I am never weary.
When upon this bed of pain;
If thy presence only cheer me.
All my loss I count bnt gain;
Ever near me —
Ever near me, Lord, remain!
Dear ones come with frnit and flowers,
Thus to cheer my heart the while.
In these deeply anxious hours;
O if Jesns only smile!
Only Jesns
Can these trembling fears beguile.
All my sins were laid upon thee,
All my griefs were on thee laid ;
For tbe blood of thine atonement,
All my utmost debt has paid;
Dearest Saviour!
X believe, for thou hast said.
Dearest Saviour! go not from me;
Let thy presence still abide;
Look In tenderest love upon me—
I am sheltering at thy side.
Dearest Saviour!
Who for suffering sinners died.
Both mine arms are clasped around thee,
And my head is on thy breast;
For my weary soul has found thee
Such a perfect, perfect rest.
Dearest Saviour!
Now I know that I am blest. 1
From the St. Lonia Christian Advocate.
Tlxe Macedonian Grace.*"
BY BISHOP J. O. KEENER, D. D.
CONCLUDED.
Now, we may and do give from different
motives : for instance —first, one may give
from a sense of justice, as you frequently
hear it said by the Church steward : “ Here
is a preacher who has been preaching for
you, and you certainly don’t want this mau
to serve for nothing.” Oh, certainly not;
and, therefore, men give something. That
is one motive of giving—a sort of sense of
honor and of justice iu the premises. It is
a very good motive, as far as it goes. Sec
ond, a man may give, aud I suppose a vast
number do give, simply from a notiou that
they are giving as a sacrifice to God ; aud a
man may give in the spirit of self-denial—
he gives “ until he feels it.” This principle
of giving because it hurts you, and after
ward comes up to you constantly—because
it is a sort of medicine—because it is bard
and difficult, and therefore troubles a man
as a spectre in his dreams, so that he
cannot shake it off—because it is a sort of
self-affliction, aud believed, therefore, to be
pleasing to God, is to give as the heathen
give, through fear, to propitiate They
have a grosser view of it, but this system of
giving is what you may call the heathen
motive for giving in Christendom. Third,
a man may give from a sense of duty, as un
der a tubing system, becanse it is the law.
He may believe in giving if it takes all the
cummin and annise, the good and the bad,
clear through on the abstract principle of
obedience to the law. That is a grand prin
ciple, that of obedience to the law. It is
one step toward the higher and nobler prin
ciple, and we say nothing against it. Nor
do we say anything against the general prin
ciple of self-denial. They are all, so to speak,
schoolmasters, and lead you on to the great
er and higher motive. But oh! what an
immeasurable distance between these mo
tives of giving and that grand one I speak
of—a motive that, as I conceive it, is higher
than a thank-offering. It is not giving be
canse of anything received or in order to se
cure something in advance, but is a giving
in order to find its reward in its own expres
sion, and from the joyful consciousness of
the riches of the grace of liberality. There
is such a grace. You and I may be strang
ers to it, but depend upon it, the Macedo
nian church was not; you may depend upon
it, the Corinthian did not remain strangers
to it, for Titus dM his work, and “ finished in
them this grace wlso.” And liberality must
be in us not an argument, not a penance,
bnt a life.
You and I have lost this grand secret.
The New Testament Church has lost the se
cret of the first part of the first century of
that Church.
Why, my brethren, how is it that in all
the departments of our Church the toils of
covetousness are about us ? Here and there
we find some grand expression, some noble
spirit, some generous movement. But what
is the reason that men retire from the min
istry about the time they are prepared to
enter fairly on the result of many years’ ex
perience ? What is the reason that men
before they are aged enough to cease work
have to go home and take care of an increas
ing family ? What is the reason that all
our schools are struggling for life ? That our
missionaries in China have been without
churches for twenty years ? What is the
reason it takes the whole church with infi
nite groan to pay the small debt of $20,000 ?
What is the reason, when everywhere there
is money enough—money enough for every
thing else—for war, for politics—money
enough for the advancement of the interests
of a great city, for everything except the
blessed interests of our holy Christianity ?
My brethren, covetousness has almost be
trayed the Church, just as the covetousness
of Judas betrayed the Master; and if the
love of gold betrayed Christ, why should it
not betray Christianity ?
I ask you, has it not been too often the
case that we have followed after Mammon
rather than Christ; that in the secret cham
bers of our souls we have worshipped the god
of Mammon with just as much reverence as
the Chinese worship one of those little, fat,
money-idols before which they burn Joss
sticks ? I think the remark of John Wesley
has a special application to our Church to
day. Wesley said : “ I told you to make
all you could, to save all you could, and to
give all you could. I have found that you
have obeyed the first two precepts, but you
have not obeyed the last; and I now take
back what I said about the first and second.”
Suppose you and I had been sitting in
•An address delivered at the Commemoration of
the Semi-Centenary of Methodism in St Louis,
January, A. D. 1871.
the Treasury when the Saviour sat there,
and the poor widow came forward, and we
knew all about her, as the Master did—how
poor she was and what a straggle she had to
live, that she had everything she possessed
in her pocket, nor anything besides with
which to buy bread—how small an amount
she had, and yet how large it was as the
representative of her snbetance! When we
would have seen other people coming in, as
some of those pompons men did, with their
bags of ducats, emptying them into the
Treasury, and had then seen this poor crea
ture going with only her two mites, we
should have rushed in between her and the
Treasury and said, “My dear sister, you
oannot afford this.” Bnt the Master quietly
looked on ;he saw her put it in; " and
now,” said he, “ this poor widow hath oast
more in than all they which have cast into
the Treasury. For all they did cast in of
their abundance ; bnt she of her want did
cast in all that she had, even all her living.”
Why did he let her pat it in ? Because she
felt in that precious movement of her heart
'an abounding joy. She received in her own
soul a sustaining consciousness of the favor
of God. In her mind there was a sense of
the infinite follness, generosity and suffi
ciency of our heavenly Father, worth more
to her than many days' food a thousand
times over.
There is one marked peculiarity about the
New Testament, and that is, its greatest in
stances of liberality are taken not from prin
ces, as in the Old Testament, who literally
poured in their talents of silver and of gold,
but from these poor people of Macedonia
who could hardly keep soul and body to
gether, from this poor widow with her two
mites, and from the Samaritan with his two
.pence. “Now,” says the Apostle, “in re
gard to this grace I wish yon to understand,
O Corinthians, that the amount yon give is
1 not the question—not at all; yon may be
1 able to give exceedingly little, bnt mind,
; you are to give bountifully.” A man may
have but 51,000, and he might give very
j “bountifully ” indeed if he gave 5500 ; or a
1 man may have but 510 and yet give “ boun
| tifully ” if he gave but 55 ; or a man may
have *5100,000 and he will have to give a
very large amount to give “bountifully.”
The Apostle says, “ He that soweth bounti
fully shall reap also bountifully.”
Don’t you see the great mistake that
Methodist preachers are making when they
r suppose that men are not called upon to give
"because they have but little means ? Don’t
Sou see that all the power of the Church
es in that direction, aud that what we want
is an enlargement of this idea in reference
to giving bountifully, whether we have little
or much ? Don’t you see right there tho
development of the Church may be suspend
ed ? How can a man have a notion of the
freeness and fullness of the mind of his
Heavenly Father—how can he get it, if he
does not practice a large generosity ? That
was a very philosphie statement of the
Saviour when he says, a samel may as well try
to go through the eye of a needle as a rich
man expect to gain Heaven, if he has large
values and holds to them tenaciously. I say,
it is philosophic, because a man cannot get
an idea of the largeness of God, that he will
give so much for nothing, when he himself
is all his life cultivating a principle of quid
*pro quo —“ value received. ”
That is one of the greatest difficulties we
have. The truth is, God has given so marvel
'lously to us, he does so much for us without
consideration, that the mind is fairly stag
gered when it begins to contemplate it, and
men can hardly understand the largeness of
God and how abounding is his mercy to
ward the sons of men. I have no aoubt
(that many people think they are sanctified
i swhen they are not. Yon tell me that a man
Is perfected in the Christian graces who is
snot generous ! Ido not believe a- word of
<t. A man that is sanctified will amaze the
1 lyie“>pi~by tbe generosity of bis eondaot. '
Can we not see that by this arrangement
of the Spirit the wealth of tbe world is
reached; that so long as you confine your
self to ingots and large sums, yon will never
reach the wealth of the world ? Do you not
know that the wealth of the world is not
found in large masses ? There are very few
Rothschilds and very few people worth 510,-
000 or 55,000. But tho Holy Spirit has a
system that addresses itself to unlock not
ingots or ounces, but grains aud drops of
gold.
Christianity seeks the poor of the world,
and with the poor Christianity is made rich.
Now, for many years, I have kept my
eye constantly on what I thought to be the
wealth of the Chnrch ; and it made my heart
ache to see men with large sums of money,
who ought to be actuated by a wish for tbe
salvation of the world, when I found that
they did not come np to what I regarded as
the just measure of liberality; because it
seemed to me that everything was suspend
ed on their movements ; that if they did not
give, the Church of God would stop. But
now I am convinced that that was a mistak
en view.
I say to you, the Church must look to the
poor for support. The gospel is a gospel
for poor people ; and we do not take hold
or appreciate the great power that exists in
this direction. “ If,” says one, “you could
only get everybody to give a cent a week,
that would be fifty cents a year; and that
would be three hundred and fifty thousand
dollars from our Church alone for the mis
sionary canse.” True enough, do that and
yon have accomplished the greatest feat that
ever was. But it requires a tremendous or
ganization to only do that and an immense
enginery.
Now, there is no way in the world to do
that but by the Holy Spirit; and if the
Holy Spirit moves on the minds of all these
people and brings them forward with their
contributions, we will succeed in all the
Christian enterprises of the day. The Catho
lic Church succeeds in her temporal affairs
by means of small contributions brought
forward by her people. The priest does not
go after them. Every man who has a friend
in Purgatory or who desires his own sins to
be forgiven, can only accomplish this by
making bis offering of money. He must put
it upon the altar himself.
So the Holy Spirit, when he wants a man
to give, says that “ a willing mind is accept
ed according to that a man hath and not ac
cording to that he hath not.” God is not
going to measure yonr gift according to ten
thousand dollars, bnt according to what you
have.
r Many people stand back and say, “If I
had as much money as such an one, I would
give.” Why not give now ? You can give
as much out of what yon have, in propor
tion, as the man who gives a hnndred thou
sand dollars.
I do not know but I have talked long
enough on this theme. I will jnst say I
believe that God’s Spirit will ultimately
raise up a body of people that shall move
under his impulse; and that, by and by, this
great secret that seems to have been lost
will be discovered as a living force in the
hearts of all members of the Church; and
that the day will finally come when God
will drive this worship of Mammon from
hi3 Church; when there shall be hundreds and
thousands of people praying for the grace of
liberality. And I say the time has now come
when we are to labor for this result; and if
I were a circuit preacher and knew there
were five men in the circuit who were pray
ing for the graoe of liberality, I would have
not a doubt of my support. And if I knew
that in this city a dozen men were praying
for this same grace, I should calculate that
the blessed influence would presently ex
tend throughout these Churches.
I tell you, my brethren, that it is exactly
here we are to succeed. We are to recog
nize the truth that liberality, in the New
Testament sense, is a special grace; and
that this grace bears many fruits.
Now, I have a single illustration to pre
seent, and then I am done. There is, as
you well know, a profound philosophy, if
we can discover it, in connection with the
building of the pyramids. The question
is: For what were those immense structures
originally designed? It seems to me that
they were but a religions offering of the
people. They are found in connection with
their temples, springing up at a period when
the whole nation worshipped the sun. These
pyramids were encased with polished red
granite, and when the sun shone on their
mirror-like sides they were pyramids of fire.
And at twelve o’clock u. they reflected the
rays of their sun-god, Fhtha, without a
Hbadow.
I cannot conceive of a richer offering, or
of any fuller display of tho religions senti.
ment than that whioh actuated these poof
creatures in their gropings after God. And
these pyramids now stand there, pointing
silently to heaven, expressive of that great
straggle of the human heart after the “Un
known God.” There they are: no wonder
that the Pharaohs (the sons of the San)
chose to be entombed in them, in the very
bosom of these hnge altars of flame.
Why, sir, it is said that in that Titanio
labor it took three hundred thousand men
twenty years simply to form a roadstead
from the Nile to the spot where they were
bnilt. I beg of jou to think of every heart
in Egypt, of an entire people engaged in a
work of that character—one tremendous act
of worship, giving substance and their
labor, doing it without murmuring, gladly
making in the unity of their labor and de
sire an offering worthy of their God.
Oh, if we had that spirit in us! If we
would raise to Christ this temple of “liv
ing stones,” if in the spirit of an enlarged
Christianity we would bnt come forward and
give snch evidence of our gratitude to our
blessed Lord and Master, we Bhould then
show onrselves, at least, to be equal to those
poor beings who, in their blindness, laid, as
it were, their very lives upon the altar of
their devotion. Why are we so very chary
and so very careful and so very calculating in
regard to His Church, bought with His own
blood, who has constituted us kings and
prie sfe to God, and intends to enrich ns for
ever with the river of His life!
From the Nashville Christian Advocate.
Origin and Plan of Theological
k Education among the British
Methodists.—No. 11.
BY BISHOP m’TYEIRE.
The idea was .constantly kept in front—
not to make preachers, or to anticipate the
Lord in making thorn, bat to “improve the
junior preachers ” —not to educate men for
the ministry, but in the ministry.
The Conference of 1834, deliberating on
this subject, conld hardly go amiss, there
had been so much careful sounding for the
right ohannel. These are some of the prin
ciples finally determined on:
(I.) That it is expedient that an institution
should be speedily formed for promoting the more
effectual improvement of the junior preachers in
the Methodist Connection.
(II.) That this institution shall be denominated
“The Wesleyan Theological Institntion for the
Improvement of the Junior Preachers.”
(III.) That all preachers who shall have passed
through the various examinations required by our
existing rules, and obtained the consent of their
respective quarterly-meetings, and the recom
mendation of the superintendents and District
mestings, and shall have been placed by the Con
ference on the President’s list of reserve, and none
else, shall be eligible for admission into this insti
tution as resident students, and shall be allowed
to remain In It for two or three years, as may be
found most consistent with the claims of the Con
nection for the immediate supply of the circuits
and missions, and with the capacity and attain
ments of the students themselves.
* * * * * * # *
(V.) That tbe plan of tnitlon for resident stu
dents shall comprehend as many of the following
subjects as, on a careful consideration of the pre
vious attainments and probable opportunities of
the several students, may be deemed suitable and
practicable, viz:
1. English Grammar, Composition and Elocu
tion; Geography and History; aud elementary
Instructions in the Mathematics, Natural Philoso
phy, and Chemistry, and in Logic and the Philos
ophy of the Mind.
2. Theology: including the evidences, doc
trines, duties, and institutions of Christianity, and
having particular reference to those views or the
Christian system, in its application to experimen
tal and practical religion, which are held by onr
body to be conformable to the Holy Scriptures.
This will also Include the general principles of
Church-order aud government, connected with a
distinct exposition of our own established dis
cipline, ana of the proper methods of administer
ing it for the purity, edification, and preservation
of onr Societies; and a view of tbe nature and
importance of the pant or* I office and care, with
special (reference to the duties and engagements of
a Methodist preacher.
3. The elements of Biblical Criticism; tbe best
methods of critically studying the Scriptures; the
rules and principles to be observed in their inter
pretation ; Hebrew, Greek, and Roman Antiqui
ties ; and the outlines of Ecclesiastical History.
4. The most useful methods of direct prepara
tion for the pulpit; and general instructions for
the composition and acceptable delivery of ser
mons.
5. Bach instruction in the Latin, Greek, and He
brew languages, as may enable the students to
read and study the sacied Scriptures in their orig
inal tongues, and prepare them for the successful
pursuit of farther classical and biblical knowl
edge, when they shall be called into circuits or
missions. This branch of instruction may, how
ever, he wholly omitted, at the discretion of the
officers of the institution, if, on examining the stu
dent at his first admission, or subsequently, they
sli&ll deem it most expedient to confine his atten
tion to the English and theological classes.
#####*
(VII.) That suitable premises for the tutoreand
resident students of the institntion shsll, in the
first instance, be rented, rather than bouvht or
erected, in order that due time may be afforded
for tbe trial of tbe proposed plans, and for ascer
taining, by experience, what accommodatlens will
be ultimately needed.
(VIII.) That, after much and careful delibera
tion, it is the unanimous judgment of tbe Confer
ence that such premises should, for the present,
be situated in or near London, for the following,
among other reasons: Because, first, the neigh
berhood of the metropolis afiords the means of
obtaining for the students, at a small expense and
with little trouble, those helps to Improvement
which may be derived from lectures by eminent
professors In several important branches of useful
knowledge; helps which, under tbe direction of
a vigilant tutor, and with a proper degree of pre
vious preparation, will be found oflncalcnlable
advantage. Because, secondly, among the stu
dents there will always be a considerable namber
of such as are intended for the foreign service;
and it Is especially desirable that these should be
within the reach of those Instructions which are
adapted to their peculiar work and prospeets, and
which they can receive only from the missionary
secretaries. And because, thirdly, it is eminently
desirable that the students, while in a course of
preparation for clrcnits or missions, should be
employed, every Babbatli-d«y, In preaching the
gospel, and other auxiliary departments of useful
ness; and it is obvious that there are large and
long-negiected districts in the metropolis itself,
ana in several adjoining counties, which appear to
present the best and widest field for such labors;
a field, too, which, beyond all others in this coun
try, is least supplied, in the ordinary mode, with
the services of our preachers, whether itinerant
or local.
The reader will be struck with the judi
cious cautiousness of the 7th Article. A
Committee of Management for the ensuing
year, consisting of preachers and laymen,
was appointed, to whom was confided the
arrangement of the details, the selection of
suitable premises, the preparation of rales
for regulating the institntion, and the im
mediate execution of such parts of the plan
as conld be carried into effect during the
year ; and the committee were “ authorized
to take, forthwith, snch measures as to them
shall seem best, for obtaining the farther pe
cuniary assistance required for the fall ac
complishment of this important plan.”
It was also directed that, upon opening,
the capacity of the institution should be on
a small scale, limited to thirty pnpils, viz:
“sixteen of the preachers intended for onr
work in England, four of those intended for
the service oi Ireland, and ten of those who
are entered on the missionary-list as having
devoted themselves specifically to the ser
vice of Christ in foreign lands. Bnt the
namber of each class may, at any time, be
extended, if it be deemed expedient, when
adequate means of support shall be fur
nished. ”
Tbe Conference appointed officers for the
ensuing year: Rev. J&bez Bunting, Presi
dent, without salary. As senior Secretary
of the Missionary Society, he was not ex
pected to bestow more than a general super
vision. The other two officers were also men
of mark, and their duties are defined thns:
2. Tbe Sev. Joseph Entwiele, sen.. Is appointed
to tbe office of governor of the institution-hoase,
to whom shall he committed the domestic charge
of the establishment, and the pastoral care and su
perintendence of the resident students. In the
discharge of tho last-mentioned branch of his
duty, Mr. Entwisle Is expected to officiate as the
regular weekly class-leader of the students, ac
cording to the established practice of our Socie
ties ; and to take every opportunity of promoting
their personal piety by such other means as it may
be judged proper to adopt.
3. The Rev. John Hannah, sen.. Is appointed
to the office of theological tutor, with the under
standing that be shall receive snch assistance in
the department from the president of the institn
tion as the president’e other duties may enable
him.to afford.
N. B. An assistant tutor shall be appointed for
the classical and English departments, who shall
reside in tho Institntion bouse. The selection of
a proper person for this office Is confided, for the
present year, to other officers of the Institntion,
In conjunction with tbe committee of manage
ment
The committee rented bnildings in Hox
ton, London, and the institntion went to
work. When their report was presented
to the Conference of 1886, the following ac
tion was taken:
I The Conference receives the report of the com
mittee with great satisfaction: and feels itself
especially called upon to record its gratitude to
Almighty tied for the encouraging circumstances
in which the institution Is already placed, and for
Unhopeful promise which It affords of proving s
nursery for the p««sonal piety of the students, as
well SS a suitable i :d efficient means of preparing
them more rally for the wise and zealous exercise
of the sacred functions to which their attention
is directed. *
The preachers are directed to collect the dona
tions and subscriptions which have been promised
in their respective circuits, and any others which
they may be able to procure, in aid of the. funds
of the institution, during the first and second
weeks of the month of January In each year, and
to remit them to the treasurer, addressed, “ Wes
leyan Theological Institution, Hoxton, London,”
not later than the end of January. .
It is agreed, that the second year which each
student may spend at the Institution shall be reck
oned to him; when he is received on trial as a
preacher, as the first of the four years at probation
now required by onr rule, provided that the offi
cers and the committee of the institution recom
mend such student as having conducted himself
with Christian propriety and diligence.
Resolved, That the system of rules prepared by
the committee for the government of tbe Institu
tion shall be tried for another year, and then pre
sented again to the Conference, with such altera
tions and Improvements as experience may sug
gest. *
The Conference of 1839 received and re
corded on its minutes a definition of the
duties of the theological and of the classical
and mathematical tutor:
During the year the theological tutor delivers
lectures to the students on the evidences, doc
trines, and duties of Christianity; on tbe proper
use of the English Scriptures; the general princi
ples of biblicu Interpretation; sacred antiquities;
and ecclesiastical history. Ho also gives exposi
tory lectures on somonf St. Paul’s Epistles; occa
sional lectures on popery, and on various other
subjects, particularly on tbe best methods of
preparation for the pulpit. He reads the Greek
Testament with one of his classes two or three
times a week during the whole term, with a de
sign especially of rendering practical aid to the
students in the exposition of the Scripture. The
classical and mathematical tutor has generally
had one Hebrew class, and several Greek and
Latin classes, one in mental philosophy, one in
logic, and one In geometry and algebra: and oqce in
the week has delivered a lecture on the physical
sciences. An additional tutor has sometimes been
employed in the English and elementary depart
ment of instruction.
The centenary year of British Methodism
was monumental in two respects—Ministe
rial Education and Missions. Upon these
two Gonnectional objects its offerings were
expended. Among the resolutions adopted
by the committee whioh had the arrange
ments of that year in hand, wo find tho fol
lowing:
That, after full consideration, it is the decided
opinion of the committee, that the Conneotional
fund, to bo raised on the occasion of the cente
nary, should be applied, in the first place, to the
erection of suitable premises for the accommoda
tion of students to be hereafter received into the
Wesleyan Theological Institution, (whether such
students be designed for home or missionary ser
vice,) on an enlarged scale, adapted to the increas
ing demands of the Connection, for tho benefit of
its rising ministry; and, in the second place, in as
sisting to provide commodious premises in Lon
don for the use of tho Wesleyan Missionary So
ciety, adequate to the greatly augmented and aug
menting extent of lfo multifarious and important
business.
In accordance Hug decision, the worn
of £27,000 was reserved out of tho centena
ry fund for the puigpass ot- theological edu
cation. From the commencement oi the
centenary collection it was generally under
stood that there Bhould be two Wwfhnr of
the institution, one for the North and the
other for the South of England. Accord
ingly, committees were appointed by the
Conference to seek locations; and tho Min
ntos of .1841 supply this information:
It affords the Conference much pleasure to hear
that the premises at Dldsbnry, near Manchester,
are now ready for the reception- of students, ana
that those at Richmond, near London, are in a
state of satisfactory progress. * . Ir ‘
The work was now well under way. From
year to year gratifying reports have been
presented to the Conference, who, in the
Pastoral -Address t of 1845, express confi
dence »sa satisfaction in (the scheme, in
this largnage:
It affords ua great pleasure to inform you, dear
brethren, that the reports we have received from
our “theological Institution” are of the most
cheering ana satisfactory kind. In the peculiar
talents, godly wisdom, and kind fidelity of the
house governors and tutors, and in the progressive
piety and learning of the students, we discern
clear Indications of the divine sanction and favor.
In no age, since the Reformation, was sanctified
knowledge more necessary to the defense of truth
and the refutation of error, than In the present;
and we gratefully acknowledge the wisdom and
goodness of that providence which, at such a
crisis, has secured to our rising ministry tbe ben
efit of a systematic training in studies directly
tending to make “the man of God perfect, thor
oughly furnished unto all good works.” The
great publicity to which Methodism has attained
in the world, the general advancement of educa
tion in the land, and the reopening of contro
versies long regarded as settled, are circumstances
which require a ministry versed in sacred learn
ing, and in all the branches of appropriate knowl
edge. Whilst onr discipline sternly excludes from
the ministry the unconverted and uncalled, how
ever ennobled by talent and learning, our obliga
tions to God, the Cburcb, and the world, bind us
to provide the aids of a well-dii ected and subsid
iary scholarship far those who are divinely called,
and who evince that they are born from above.
Denouncing, as we do, the monstrous assumption
that learning alone can qualify men for the Chris
tian ministry, we at the same time rejoice that a
deep conviction of tbe importance and great util
ity of our “institution” spread* very generally in
our Connection ; and, in proportion as its benefits
are diffused, it will, we doubt not, command uni
versal and adequate support; bnt at present, Its
ordinary Income falls below Its expenditure.
Though no hnman sagacity can forcteli what the
peculiar character ana remote results es those fu
ture events will be, whose shadows now darken
onr patb, tbe least discerning mnst perceive bow
desirable it is that the leaders of onr militant host,
who will have to meet them, should be “ faithful
men,” mighty In the Scriptures, and furnished
with suitable qualifications, human and divine.
Believing that the privileges and judicious plans
of our “institntion” arc peculiarly adapted to
train such a race ol ministers, we earnestly com
mend it to the blessing of Almighty God, and to
the prayers and bountiful consideration of our
people.
And here ends this account—later devel
opments and results being known and read
of all men. It is presented in the hope that
it may be interesting, if not suggestive, in
the concern awakening among us on a sub
ject which comes home to the business and
bosom of Southern Methodism. May our
brethren, in their consultations at Mem
phis, be guided by tbe wisdom which is
from above!
January 8, 1872.
More Awful Than the Judgment.
A celebrated preacher of tbe seventeenth
century, in a sermon to a crowded andienoe,
described the terrors of the last judgment
with snch eloquence, pathos, and force of
action, that some of his audience not only
burst into tears, bnt sent forth piercing
cries, as if tbe Judge himself had been pres
ent, and was about to pass upon them their
final sentence. In the height of this excite
ment the preacher called upon them to dry
their tears and cease their cries, as he was
about to add something still more awful and
astonishing than anything he had yet
brought before them. Silence being ob
tained, he with an agitated countenance
and solemn voice addressed them thns :
“In one quarter of an hour from this time
the emotions which yon have jnst now ex
hibited will be stifled ; tbe remembrance of
the fearful troths whioh excited them will
vanish ; yon will return to yonr carnal oc
cupations or sinful pleasures with your nsnal
avidity, and yon will treat all yon have
heard ‘ as a tale that is told. ’ ” — Exchange,
The Force op Truth.—A gentleman was
once asked in company, what led him to
embrace the truths of the gospel, whioh
formerly he was known to have neglected
and despised. He said, “My call and con
version to God my Saviour, were produced
by very singular means: a person put into
my hands “Faine.’s Age of Beason.” I
read it with attention, and was much struok
with the strong and ridiculous representa
tion he made of many passages in the Bi
ble. I confess, to my shame, I had never
read the Bible through; but from what I re
member to have heard at church, and acci
dentally on other occasions, I could not per
suade myself that Faine’s report was quite
exact, or that the Bible was quite so absurd
as he represents it. I resolved, therefore,
that I would read the Bible regularly
through, and compare the passages when I
had done so, that I might give the Bible
fair play. I accordingly set myself to the
task, and as I advanced, I was struck with
the majesty which spoke, the awfulness of
the truths contained in it, and the strong
evidence of its divine origin, which in
creased with every page, so that I finished
my inquiry with the fullest satisfaction of
F. M. KENNEDY, EDITOR.
WHOLE NUMBER 1885.
the troth as it to to Jesns, and my heart was
penetrated with a sense of obligation Z had
never felt before. I. resolved henoeforth to
take tke saOTedword W m J guide, and to
be a faithful follower of the Son of God."
Goff’s Special Providence.
It is said that Fletcher, when a vonng
man, was very anxious to join the army to
go to South America. The vessel was ready
to start, friends secured him an appoint
ment, bnt the morning he was to have sailed,
tho servant in coming into his room at
breakfast, stumbled and spilled over him
the boiling coffee, and so scalded him that
he was unable to go on his journey. He la
mented the aocident—was disappointed in
all his plana; bnt the vessel was never heard
from. Fletcher was spared to beoome a
preacher of the gospel, a man who wielded
by his pen, as well as by his voice, am over
whelming influence upon the minds of men,
and being dead, yet speaketh. No miracle
was wrought. Wesley, the little boy, is
sleeping in the upper story of Epworth Rec
tory. It is.on fire ; he is forgotten ; bnt
suddenly a woman remembers there is a
child asleep, and she calls, and the child
shows his head at the window; and a brave
man, at thejisk of himself being burned,
mounts a ladder, and the little fellow throws
himself into his arms and is saved, and Wes
ley is spared to enlighten the world. No law
of nature is violated ; bnt oh ! these sugges
tions, these thoughts that drop from heaven,
that ohange and mold tho whole sphere of
onr lives ! This breathing 1 God breathed
into man, and he became a living son], Je
sus, when he arose from the dead, breathed
and said : “ Receive ye the Holy Ghost.”
That spirit of breathing, that spiritual in
fluence, it comes down on the hearts of
men, and may change and fashion, and
mold, and save, and yet all these laws of
nature remain uniform and immutable. God
is all aronnd ns. God’s laws stand all tho
time. We lean on them like pillars of the
universe. We place our feet on them like
the rock of ages. We hold fast to them,
knowing the foundations shall give way
sooner than they. And yet, in the midst of
all these, there is a sphere nnder which we
can work in harmony with those laws and
have their protecting power, and still God
can care for the men who care for him.
Here is the whole realm in which we may
find safety. I will not say positively that
God never interfered with nature’s laws—
that there is never any response in this di
rection in answer to prayer. I will not
make the affirmation that God never sus
pends a natural law; bnt I will say, I see no
necessity for it. Christ never showed any
example of it in his own life; and save when
there was a necessity for declaring God was
there, that he might give a revelation and
men might know it was from God, we find
no suoh case of miraculous intervention.
And now, then, if God oan so work, what is
to prevent ns feeling we are encircled within
his arms'and htopower attends ns I—Bishop
Simpson, iniheMethodist.
Infidelity£Sileuced.
-GoAkfLtkcboMn the foolish things of the worht
to confound thd wise. , \ • Things which are
despised hath Asa chosen. ... to bring to
naught thlngß_tkatttre.
A skeptic, wise m his own eyes, and pru
dent,in his own sight, onoe asserted in tho
presence oi a Christian that he would he
lieve nothing whioh he conld not explain and
comprehend. Said than other, “I believe
thousands of thugs whioh I oan neither ex
plain nor. comprehend, and so does the moss
of mankind. The infidel soornfnlly re
plied, “I will not!” Said the Christian,
“ Explain this if yon can: here are four ani
mals feeding in a meadow—on the baok of
one grows feathers, on another wool, on a
third bristles, on the fourth hair. Please
explain this—they all eat grass. Why this
diversity?" „ The infidel was silenced.
A little girl was intently reading her Bible,
when she was aocosted by a skeptic with,
“Child, yon can’t understand that book,
and it is not trae!” Looking np in his face
she said, “ There is one thing in the Bible
certainly true.” “ Pray, what is that?”
“The Bible says, ‘ln the last days shall
come scoffers,’ and yon are one of them.”
It is needless to add that the infidel was si
lenced, and soon left the child to pernse her
preoious book.
Another case of the kind, which produced
a deep impression on a large audience, hap
pened in this wise: An infidel was lectur
ing on his favorite topio, against the Bible
and Christianity, in one of the large towns
in the north of England. He was peculiar
ly bitter against the word of God. At the
conclusion of the lecture, feeling much de
lighted with his effort, he said, “ If any one
wishes to reply, let him come forward and
speak.”
After a brief pause, a middle-aged woman
came np to tbe stand and said, “ Sir, I wish
to ask yon a question ?”
“Well, my good woman, what is tho
question?”
“ Ten years ago,” said she, “I was left a
widow with eight small children; my hns
band died poor; he left me not muoh ex
cept a Bible. That book has been read
daily, and I've found sweet comfort and
great support in its gracions truths. God
has blessed me and my children, and has
mercifully supplied my wants and theirs. 1
have a good hope in Jesus Ghrißt, and ex
pect when I die to dwell with him forever.
Now, sir, what has your belief done for
you?”
Rather confused, the infidel replied: “My
good woman, I’ve no desire to interfere with
yonr enjoyment."
“ That is not the question. What Las
your way of thinking done for you?”
Much confounded, the man beat a retreat
amid the laughter of a large congregatiou,
who felt the widow had surely and eflVc
tively silenced the infidel.
A woman slew him. So David slew tlio
boasting Philistine with a sling and a stone.
A certain man drew a bow at a venture, anti
smote tbe king of Israel between the joints
of his armor. So God confounds the wise
men who are evermore seeking to overthrow
the faith of His people and lead men to
destruction and perdition.
Let no child of grace ever be discouraged
by the boastful sayings of wicked men, but
remember Christ’s words: “Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but My words shall
not pass away until all be fulfilled.
Do You Know it ?—Do you know that the
vows of God are npon you ?
Do you know that the worth of life is in
the good we do ?
Do you know that someone is following
your example ?
Do you know that your piety may uncon
sciously declind?
Do yon know that you need the prayer
meeting ?
Do you know that the prayer-meeting
needs you ?
Do you know that you can slight the
Lord’s supper ?
Do you know that Christ enjoins secret
prayer ?
Do you know that all your property be
longs to God ?
Do you know that yon forfeit your hope
by indolence ?
Do yon know that your Sunday vacant
seat looks bad ?
Do you know that if backslidden, Jesus
will forgive you ?
The Rev. Db. Talmadgk, in a recent ser
mon, says: “Let ns quit this grand farce of
trying to save the world by a few clergy
men, and let all bands lay hold of the work.
Give us in all onr churches two or three
hundred aroused and qualified men and
women to help. In most churches to-day,
five or ten men are compelled to do all tho
work. A vast majority of ohurches are at
their wit’s end how to carry on a prayer
meeting if the minister is not there, when
there ought to be enough pent np energy
and religious fire to make a meeting go on
with such power that the minister would
never be missed. The Church stands work
ing the pumps of a few ministerial oisterns
until tbe buckets are dry and ohoked, while
there are thonsanda of fountains from
which might be dipped np the waters of
eternal life.”
Men spend their lives in civilizing their
circumstances ; it would be infinitely better
were they to oivilize their lives.— Charles
Mildmay, D. D.