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TWO DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS.
PER IST ISTTJ2VT.
VOLUME XXXIX., NO. 34.
fottrj.
MY HIGH PRIEST.
BY KttV HOKATIU9 BONAK, D D.
i need no priest save Him who is above,
No altar t,ut the heavenly ineicy seat.
Through these theie flows to me the pardoning
love,
And thus in holy peace my God I meet.
I ned no blood but that of Golgotha,
No saeriflce save that which, on the tree,
Was ottered once, without defect or flaw.
And which, unchanged, availeth still for me.
1 need no vestments save the linen white
With which my High Eiiest clothes my filthy
toiil;
He shares with me his seamless raiment bright,
And I in him am l&us complete and whole.
1 leave to those who love the gay parade.
The gold, the purple, and the ncarlet dye;
Mine be the robes which cannot rend or fade,
Forever fair in the Eieruui eye.
1 need no pardon save of Him who says,
“Neithei do 1 condemn thee, go in peace
My Counselor,Confessor, Guide he is.
My joy in grief, in bondage my release.
Forgiven through Him who died and rose on
high.
My conrcience from dead woiks thu purged
and clean,
1 serve the service of true love and Joy,
Ami live by faith upon a Christ unseen.
Contributions.
SPARTANBURG DISTRICT CONFER
KNCK.
Mr. Eiiitor : In compliance <vith the re
quest of the brother selected by the Confer
ence to furnish for the readers of the Advo
cate a brief notice of its proceedings, I dot
down the following, which I hope will not
be uninteresting. Dial’s Church, the seat, of
the Districit Conference, is beautifully situ
ated on a commanding eminence about
twelve miles north of Laurens C. 11. It is
in the midst of a thriving farming popula
tion, whose comfortable residences occupy
the adjacent hills and slopes, and surround
ed by extensive fields of corn and cotton,
promising ample returns in the approaching
harvest. This is literally a while man’s
country, very few negroes being employed
as laborers, the occupants of the land per
forming most, if not all, the work required
on the plantations. The result is that plenty
and content abound, all the necessities of
life being furnished by their own labor from
their productive lands.
The Conference met the 2Cth of July, and
was introduced by a most appropriate ser
mon from Rev. W. W. Jones, from the text,
“The inward man is renewed day by day.”
The following day, Thursday, the business
of the Conference commenced —Kev. 11. M.
Mood, P. E., in the chair; brothers C. L.
Fike and Julius A. Mood, Secretaries.
Committees were dispensed with, and the
several charges were called and reports pre
sented by their representatives. The ex
hibit was not satisfactory in some particu
lars, yet, upon the whole, the District is hold
ing its own, and at some points improving
greatly. One very discouraging feature was
the low condition of the finances. The re
ports show that the average of salaries paid
the preachers up to the present is only
twenty five per cent., or one fourth of their
da>m. Some pastors were represented as
suffering for lack of the means of living ; hut
the demands of most of the preachers were
met in so far as the necessaries of life were
concerned.
The following resolution, ably and length
ily discussed, was unanimously passed :
Resolved, That our finances should be
more systematically and regularly attended
to; and every one, old and young, rich and
poor, he taught and urged to give according
to his ability, cheerfully and without grudg
ing, for the support and spread of the Gos
pel ; with the assurance that the blessing
upon those that give will he fully realized,
and large will he their reward both in this
life and that which is to come.
Some charges exhibited very gratifying
evidence ot religious soundness, by the al
most unanimous attention of the heads of
families to family prayer. But, the majority
were deficient on this vital subject, very
large numbers of our people paying no re
gard to this duty. And just here the danger
lies. The failure in every other regard is
traceable to the failure here. O that our
people were wise to know and meet this
fundamental obligation 1 Eloquent and ear
nest addresses were made on this subject, in
which several of onr laymen took a part. It
was
Resolved, That we, as a body, do earnestly
urge upon the heads of families the impor
tance and necessity of family prayer, by
bringing the duty more prominently before
them in our social intercourse with them,
and as ministers, by preaching sermons at
all our appointments on the subject.
Drinking spirituous liquors, coupled with
the use of opium and tobacco, got their
share of attention. From the reports, this
district is greatly troubled with dram-drink
ers, though two strong charges were report
ed free from its use. The resolution that
“ this Conference does hereby express its
unqualified condemnation of the use of in
toxicating drink as a beverage, and that the
pastors be requested to enforce the observ
ance of the rule among our people,” was
passed most enthusiastically, but the second
resolution, disapproving the use of opium
and tobacco, though eloquently supported by
speeches from several distinguished mem
bers, was barely sustained, and was perhaps
only carried by associating the drug with the
weed in the resolution.
The Bev. W. W. Duncan was present and
charmed every one by his affable manners
and admirable addresses and sermon. The
subject of education was turned over to him.
His address, though lengthy, was profoundly
interesting. The old objection which many
present, refusing to give to the cause of edu'
cation because they have no children to ed
ucate, or unable to educate those they have,
was demolished —its utter selfishness and
folly so exposed that none could shirk re
sponsibility by such a flimsy subterfuge. He
then asked for SI,OOO in bonds, which he
obtained with little trouble. This handsome
donation puts Spartanburg District in the
front in this important interest. Cokesbury
may hear of it, and with the assistance of
Wofford’s President or the Professor, its P.
K. may possibly put Cokesbury a little ahead.
If he does we will be agreeably disappoint
ed. Suitable resolutions were offered which
space forbids us to put in this paper. The
Sunday-school cause was not forgotten, but
was freely discussed, and a resolution to the
effect that it is the duty and privilege of
every Church member to be a member of a
Sunday school, and that it is of vital impor
tance that every Church have a Sunday
school, was passed.
Only about fifty per cent, of the delegates
elect was present. This was felt to be a
great misfortune by our large-hearted Dial
people, many of them being disappointed by
the failure to come of the delegates assigned
to them. Several clerical members were
absent, and among them the Editor of our
Church organ, the Southern Christian Ad
vocate. Had he come he would have re
Sinibetn i1 tialiatt A tot a 11.
freshed us, and been refreshed by seeing his
subscription list extended.
Sunday was a high day at Dial’s. A mul
titude twice too large for the usually commo
dious Church edifice were present, but the
spacious Academy hard by the Church, was
brought into requisition ; so that most of the
people heard the word of God. The love
feast preceding the sermons was a piecious
season, and prepared the minds of many for
hearing to profit the excellent discourses de
livered by brothers Duncan and Jones. Per
fect order prevailed during ail the services
of the Conference occasion.
The Sundy-school mass-meeting was really
unsurpassed in the interest which the preach,
era threw into it. For nearly one hour
brother Duncan entertained the little people,
and the big ones two, with eminently appro
priate and practical thought, passing in his
speech from “ grave to gay, from lively to
severe.” Indeed, the whole district occa
sion was one literary and religious enter
tainment, and Dial's abounding and elegant
hospitality was abundantly compensated by
the “ feast of lat things full <if marrow,”
served up upon the platform ami in the pul
pit. It will long be remembered, and our
people will be impatient for the return of
another such feast.
The following brethren were elected dele
gates to the ensuing Annual Conference:
Dr. .las. 11. Carlisle, Dr. A. C. Fuller, 1). H.
Sheldon, andS. M. Rice. Alternates : J. K
Switzer, and C. L. Fike. The usual vote of
thanks was returned to the community for
the excellent manner in which the body was
treated, and the Conference adjourned with
benediction. The next meeting to be held
at Mesopotamia Church on Limestone
Springs Circuit. T. A. .\l.
Laurens C. It., S. C.
ELBERTON DISTRICT CONFERENCE,
Convened in Elberton, Thursday morning,
July 27. There were fify-six members in
attendance. The sessions were harmonious,
and the reports made by the ministers in
charge of the different circuits were full, and
showed that there was a thorough organiza
tion throughout the district, and that all the
various interests of the Church were duly at
tended to, and were in good healthy condi
tion.
Committees were appointed specially to re
port on the spiritual condition of the Church.
On Missions. On Sabbath-schools. On Tern
perence. On Church Literature and Periodi
cals. On Finance.
On all of which reports were severally made
showing that these important subjects were
held in their proper place in the estimation
of the Church and doing well.
Public worship was held three times each
day; the attendance was large. The preach
ing was eminently spiritual and attended
with power, the congregations unusually at
tentive and devout, and the meeting was
continued through another week, ending on
Monday, August 7th.
Most of the ministers were compelled to
leave for their different fields of labor after
the services of Sabbath, July 30th ; but some
remained part of the time to assist our min
ister, Rev. J. M. Dickey, who is in feeble
h-alth. fOni* Prc-fling FbW staying and
working to the close.
Rev. John H. Mashhnrn, the minister in
charge of the Gillsville circuit, has died this
year. He was a man of God, full of labors
in the vineyard of his Master, and fell at his
post., worn down to old age, nobly sustaining
the cause of Jesus Christ. Appropriate eu
logies were delivered by several of Lis breth
ren in the ministry.
Owing to the great scarcity of money in the
country, the support of the ministry was
small thus far ; yet every minister seemed
hopeful, and determined to go on with re
newed zeal, to labor with unremitting energy
for the salvation of souls.
Dr. Haygood, President of Emory College,
was wiih us, and preached to the people with
great power and good effect. He addressed
the Conference in the interest of Emory Col
lege, showing its thorough organization and
equipment in all its departments to impart
instruction equal to any institution in the
country.
Rev. J. H. Grogan, President of the Board
of Trustees of the Andrew Male High School,
made a report commending both the princi
pal, Col. P. E. Davant, and the institution,
closing with the following resolution :
Resolved, That we have abiding confidence
in the usefulness and success ot the school as
inaugurated and carried on, and we hereby
pledge ourselves to its support, and call upon
the friends of good education within its reach
to patronize it.
All of which was unanimously adopted.
Rev. D. C. Oliver, J. W. Glenn, Robert
Hester, and Win. H. Mattox, were elected
delegates to the Annual Conference; Rev. J.
H. Grogan, Alsey Moore, and Jno. H. Jones,
alternates.
Harmony Grove was unanimously chosen
as the place for the next District Meeting.
A resolution was passed tendering a vote
of thanks of the Conference to the citizens of
Elberton and vicinity, for their kindness and
hospitali'y, during the session of our Confer
ence. Also a vote of thanks was tendered to
the Baptist Church at Elberton, for the use
of their house ot worship during Conference.
Ordered, that, the Secretary make an ab
stract of proceeding to be published in the
Southern Christian Advocate and Elberton
Gazette.. Robert Hester.
THE ROME DISTRICT CONFERENCE
Convened at Cedar Town, Thursday, July
27th, Rev. W. P. Pledger, P. E., in the chair.
Although one circuit, Dallas, was not repre
sented, the Conference was large, eighty-six
members being present, The number of
visitors was unusually large—Cedar Town’s
entertaining capacity is simply wonderful.
This session of the Conference was exceed
ingly interesting. Brother Pledger called for
reports from the various charges upon the
important matters of Church interest, one
topic being exhausted before another was in
troduced, thus securing the attention of all
—and holding it—upon one issue until its
importance was felt and all possible informa
tion obtained. The plan worked well. We
all felt thoroughly acquainted with the dis
trict when we had finished. Without load
ing your columns with stereotyped and use
less reports and resolutions, I give such in
formation as will doubtless be of general in
terest. The first fact brought to light was
this : Domestic Missions' pay. DeSoto mis
sion, the continuance of which was matter of
debate with the Board at the lust session of
the Annual Conference, has, under tlie pas
toral care of Rev. S. P. Jones, developed in
to a work that is already self-sustaining in
ability, and will need no appropriation next
year. DeSoto will soon be the leading church
on the Rome circuit. Haralson mission, long
recognized as an uninviting field, whose oc
cupation by a Conference missionary was a
matter of doubtful expediency, is yielding
fruit at last. The Board need doubt no
longer ; its casting ol bread is well nigh done
PUBLISHED BY J. W. BURKE & COMPANY, TOR THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH.
—the time of returning is at hand. I extract
from the missionary’s report: “ Our congre
gations are large. * * There is a spiritual
quickening throughout the work. * * *
Fully three-fourths of the heads of families
hold regular family prayer. At one church
every family has its altar erected and its fire
burning. The future of the work is bright.
It will soon become self-sustaining. Seven
teen have joined upon profession of faith.
* * Anew church will soon be built.” All
the interests of the Church are being rapidly
developed. A most excellent circuit will
soon occupy the ground of Haralson mission.
Dr. Potter, President of Board of Missions,
North Georgia Conference, was with us, and
by his report and address, at this juncture,
greatly stirred the missionary zeal of the
district.
Sunday school interests are being worked
up. The number of schools is greatly in
creased —the plan of “ going into winter
quarters” is becoming unpopular. The
church buildings are being better adapted
to Sunday school work. Much remains to
betdoAe, but the tendency is Mo do it. -The
Conference, by resolution, heartily endorsed
the catechism prepared by Rev. A. M. Thig
pen, and urged its early publication.
The district is in better condition, spirit
ually, than at any time since the war. Rome
circuit, Donglassville circuit, Villa Rica cir
cuit, and Haralson mission particularly, are
represented by laymen as having improved,
and still improving. The number of acces
sions, thus far, is small, hut the Church is
energizing, and we look for great things be
fore winter.
As already intimated, there is a tendency
to repairing old church buildings and erect
ing new ones. Hard times, a convenient
scapegoat for sins of avarice, is not being ex
tensively used this year. Most of the charges
have paid more into the Lord's treasury than
for years past. One or two have contributed
more toward missionary operations than du
ring any two successive years since the war.
Dr. Potter urged attention to the advan
tages offered by Kmory College for thorough
education at small cost, and represented,
also, the claims of the North Georgia Con
ference Orphans’ Home.
Brother W. A. Parks, Agent American
Bible Society, was with us also.
The following names are those of delegates
and alternates elected to the next Annual
Conference : Delegates—Col. Nathan Bass,
Col. J. I. Wright, Mr. T. M. Pace and Rev.
VV. W. Simpson. Alternates—R. T. Har
grove, Col. Geo. N. Lester, M. L. Troutman
and Rev. R. T. Wilkerson.
The next session of Conference will be held
at Van Wert.
I write this by request of brother R. T.
Hargrove, Secretary of Conference.
VVm. 11. LaPrade.
Selections.
ABOUT SEKVIA, BOSNI A, AND MONTE
NEURO, AMI THE CAUSE OK THE SERVIAN
tV Alt.
Servia is a little province on the right bank
of the Danube, the Turkish side, just south
uuii.’lluitgai-y. I. nutii ij lunches lue' Rus
sian possessions on the east, and almost the
extreme northwestern limit of Turkish terri
tory. It is a rugged country, traversed by
mountains, and is about the size of Switzer
land. The Servians are intelligent people,
having colleges, public schools, and newspa
pers. Agriculture, fruit culture, and cattle
raising, are their chief industries ; about ten
million hogs are yearly exported. Their
dried plums are excellent, and many of them
come to this country. Belgrade, their capi
tal, is one of the strongest fortifications in
eastern Europe. Located in the northern
most point of the province, it is also the key
to Hungary, and commands the passage of
the Danube. This is the only outlet for Ser
vian commerce, which must take a circuitous
route down the river into the Black Sea, or
up the river and by land route through Ger
many. A railroad through Servia to the
Turkish Salonica, on the Adriatic, would
render the province decidedly prosperous.—
Turkey will not consent to the building of
such a road. Servia’s population is about
1,400,000; her standing army numbers 25,-
000, and could be increased to 125,000 in
case of necessity. Her government is a sort
of limited democracy. The Prince is by no
means a monarch, yet the title is hereditary.
A Senate is elected by the people, consisting
of one member for every one thousand in
habitants, and it assembles regularly once in
three years. A tribute of $215,000 yearly is
about the only requisition made by Turkey
directly upon the province.
Bosnia lies still farther west, and is the
extreme western point in the Turkish em
pire. In area it is equal to Servia ; its popu
lation is one-half greater. Bosnia's agricul
ture and commerce are trivial and unsys
tematic, while the people are without educa
tion. Its government >8 directly under the
control of Turkish commissioners or Pashas,
and a force of 80,000 troops are drawn from
the country to the Turkish army. The pro
vince of Herzegovina is included in Bosnia.
The most interesting of the revolting pro
vinces, the most romantic, is Montenegro.
To the southwest of Servia, comprising an
area of 1,500 square miles, about the size of
Rhode Island, it has a population of 120,000.
Without ports, agriculture, cominercs or ed
ucation, it is a little inland Sparta, in which
the women do the work and the men are sol
diers. Having little to lose, the Montene
grins have always been at war with their
oppressors, and generally have held their
ground. In 1714 they faced an army of 120,-
000 armed Turks, and defended themselves
for many months, but were finally subdued,
when 20,000 of their number were carried in
to captivity. Another fierce conflict occurred
in 1796, and then the Turks were defeated
with a loss of 30,000 slain. From that time
till the present, Montenegro has maintained
a sort of defiant independence. Its history,
comprising the checkered career of Prince
Danilo, will some day form a very interest
ing volume, if written by a master hand.
These three provinces, so small as to be
almost unnoticed on the map of Turkey, so
rugged as to be scarcely worth the trouble of
conquering, are yet so daring as to defy the
power of Tuskey, which, though a compara
ly weak power, is Htill very far from disso
lution, and will yet doubtless fight many bat
tles in the cause of Islam and oppression.
We seek for the origin of the present trou
bles ot the East in events more remote than
the revolt of the Herzegovinese abont a year
ago. In fact, we are simply witnessing oue
of the skirmishes in a long series of battles,
the first of which was inaugurated by the
campaign called the Crusades. The parties
in the strife are representatives of two in
tensely antagonistic races, devoted to two
rival systems of religion whose conflicts have
ever been prolonged and fierce. Isolation
alone can result in permanent peace between
the Slavonic and Turkish races, between
MACON. GEORGIA, TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1876.
Christianity and Mahommedanism. They
are foes by inheritance and principles, not by
accident or temporary interest; treaties and
the intervention of arbitrators can effect only
momentary peace. When races thus find
themselves enemies by nature, opportunities
for fighting are not long wanting. In 1852
the possession of the Holy Sepulchre f'Jt
nished a sufficient pretext for a declaration
of war between the representatives of thclwo
races, and nothing ?wt the jealousy of the
western European nations prevented the hum
bling of Turkey. Since that time peac ,has
been maintained because the Sclavic people
feared a repetition of the Crimea disaster.
Philosophically, then, we have a sufficient
explanation of the present difficulties in the
fact that the inhabitants of the revolting pro
vinces are Sclavic Christians under the Talk
ish yoke, and from the philosophic stand
point it is of little importance what were the
particular circumstances leading to the pres
ent outbreak. As intelligent politicians and
moralists, however, we must understand as
far as possible these circumstances in order
e the revpey.sihihfii ter 'he War
it belongs.
It is the old story, taxation and relighos
intolerance. Excessive indulgence by the
royal family, the building of numberless pal
aces at the public expense, and the sham#lul
sloth of the Turkish population, have reduced
the empire to a condition of bankruptcy, nd
it became accessary to levy enormous taxes
upon the industries of the people; but the
Mussulman population, living from band to
mouth, had little which could be taxed, the
Christians of the provinces alone possessed
available wealth, and so, like the Jews of
feudal times, they were oppressed because it
paid to oppress them. The assessment* of
their property was out, of all just proportion,
and the method of collecting taxes most un
righteous. An American possessing an es
tate in Herzegovina, one day constructed in
his garden a little bower of poles and brandies
for the shelter of his workmen from the sun
during dinner hour. Within a few days this
structure was registered as a dwelling and
assessed 18,000 piasters—s2,ooo. Complaint
was made, and after the repealed interven
tion of the American consul, this amount lias
reduced to 1,000 piasters, the remaining 17,-
000 being added to the assessment of his
neighbors. Tithes, the most disagreeable of
all taxes, were vigorously collected and never
amounted to less than 121 per cent, of the
entire produce, while other taxes increased
this ratio to fifty per cent, of all incomes.—
Farming out the revenues was also extensive
ly practiced ; rapacious jobbers bought fhe
tax rolls at a low figure and enriched thei
selves with the money that should have been
used for paying the Government debt. These
unjust and exorbitant taxes could be colle.'t
ed only by military force, and the presence
of the savage troops, quartered upon the in
habitants, committing all sorts of depreda
tions, burning churches, cutting down fruit
trees, insulting women and children, render
ed the condition of the provinces extremely
painful. At length this state of affairs could
be endured no longer, and about a year ago
Herzegovina raised the standard of rev i/ft.
From September, 1875, until near the elf/se
of tin. year, <A<n was Ofriinl on with AOPStf
generally resulting in success to the insur
gents. During the winter months operations
lagged somewhat, and meanwhile the Euro
pean powers, especially Austria, attempted
to bring about a settlement. Turkey reluc
tantly agreed to the demands of Austria, and
promised most of the reforms sought by the
insurgents. Some of these reforms were,
the reduction of the “ tithes” to ten per cent.,
the expenditure of a part of the taxes in pub
lic works within the provinces themselves,
the toleration of Christianity, the equality of'
races in courts of justice, the withdrawal of
Turkish troops, and the appointment of a
commission, consisting of Christians and Ma
hommedans in equal numbers, to superin
tend the carrying out of these measures.
Had Turkey fulfilled her promises there
would have been an end of troubles, but she
had no intention of doing this. Early in the
spring hostilities were commenced, and Tur
key prepared in earnest for the destruction of
the rebels. Her zeal proved disastrous, for
she began to massacre the Christians in
parts of the empire. In Bulgaria the barb&r
ous Circassians, under the pay of Turkey,
began burning Christian villages and gave no
quarter to the occupants. In Salonica the
French and German consuls were killed by
fanatical Mussulmans in their riots, and in
Herzegovina the utmost cruelty wub prac
ticed by the insurgents. These events alien
ated from Turkey the sympathy of Europe
and aroused the spirit of revolution in all
the dependent Sclavic States.
By the treaty of Paris in 1856, following
the Crimean war, it was stipulated that Ser
via and Montenegro, like Roumania, should
be internally independent, making and exe
cuting their own laws, and paying to Turkey
a fixed tribute, and Turkey was forbidden to
interfere in their government except with the
consent of the three powers, England, France
and Austria. Another clause provided that
all the sects of Christian subjects throughout
the empire should stand upon a footing of
equality with the other inhabitants. This
last clause had long been violated by Turkey,
and from the beginning of the insurrection
in Herzegovina, the Servians clamored Mr
interference in behalf of their persecuted
brethren. Prince Milan sfoully refused this
measure until popular indignation compelled
him to act or abdicate the office. Even then
he took no other step than to put his army
in readiness for action, and waited for Tur
key to take the initiative. Finally his own
territory and that of Montenegro was invaded,
and Servia at once declared war, in the mouth
of June, calling upon all the Christian pro
vinces to unite in demanding for themselves
absolute independence. This call has been
responded to only partially, and the burden
of the war thus far has'heen borne by Servia,
who has little other interest to gain than the
liberty of her neighbors.
Thus stands the case to-day. How the
war will terminate, it perhaps remains for
the diplomatists of Europe to decide. Were
it not for the fear of interference by Europe,
it is safe to say that long since the Sclavic
peoples of the south would have answered
Servia’s call, and by this time their indepen
dence would have been assured.— Northern
Christian Advocate. .
WnAT coui.d he do in Heaven? —It was
about thirty years ago or more, when stage
coaches still ran, that an excellent old cler
gyman, who had a keen observation of the
world, was traveling on the top of a coach.
It was cold, wintry weather, and the coach
man, as he drove his horse rapidly, poured
forth such a volley of oaths and foul language
as to shock all the passengers. The old cler
gyman, who was sitting close to him, said
nothing, but fixed his piercing blue eyes
upon him with a look of extreme wonder
and astonishment. At last the coachman be
came uneasy, and turning round to him, said,
‘•What makes you look at me, sir, in that
way ?” The clergyman said, with his eyes
fixed upon him, “I cannot imagine what you
will do in heaven! There are no horses or
coaches or saddles or bridles or public houses
in heaven. There will be no one to swear
at, or to whom you can use bad language. I
cannot think what you will do when you get
to heaven.”
THE LOYE OF CHRIST.
There are two ways of teaching—by precept
and example. Teaching by precept says,
“Climb up the mountain ;” teaching by ex
ample says, “Place your foot where 1 put
mine and follow me.” Teaching by precept
is common to saints and philosophers ; Reach
ing by example is the high prerogative of the
saints. Teaching by precept begins with the
understanding, and may reach the heart;
teaching by example begins with the heait,
and can hardly fail to reach the understand
ing. Our Lord Jesus Christ used both meth
ods. Line upon line, precept upon pre
cept, here a little’ and there a little, as men
could hear it; hut jjide by side "•jth the pre
cept He gave the example, and all through
His life He enforced His precepts by the el
oquence ol His conduct, until at the last He
gathered up all into one appeal when He
stretched out His hands upon the Cross.
And what was the lesson on which He laid
most stress? Chiefly the passive virtues,
which found a place in the seven last wordß
from the Cross.
But, secondly, Jesus Christ, with His
hands outstretched, appeals to the sense of
what He has done for us. Why is He there?
Not for any demerit of His own, not only
or even chiefly to teach us virtue. He is
there because otherwise we must have been
lost; He is thereto reconcile us to God ; He
is there because He hak taken our nature
upon Him, and in this capacity He must
suffer the punishment which, in virtue of the
moral laws by which the univeiseis govern
ed, is due to sin. It is in obedience to no
arbitrary will that He is there, hut as the
parent represents the family, so He suffers
as the parent for the child ; and as we claim
our share in His representative nature so we
have by faith our share in these repfesenta
live acts, and He ratifies our participation by
His grace and by his sacraments. Thus
when He sutlers we suffer too, when He
dies we share His death. This is that un
veiling of the heart of the All-Merciful which
it was one of the objects of the Atonement
to make.
Thus when Jesus Christ stretches out His
hands on the Cross, He says, by this silent
but expressive act, “Come unto Me all ye
that travail and are heavy laden.” This is
the appeal of the most tender, the most prac
tical, and the most disinterested love. Most
tender it was, for surely “greater love hath
no man than this, that he should lay down
his life for his friends.” But it was also
most practical; it was love in deed and in
truth, not merely in profession and feeling,
but, after the fashion of all true love, He
gave of self, and the best that self can give,
even His life. But it was also the most dis
interested love, because to Him we can give
uothing we have not first received.
By Dructioal.jio disinterested
so tender, He appeals to us, and surely He
will not appeal in vain. Why has God given
us life and made us, when we could do noth
ing (or’ourselves, His children, members of
Christ, and inheritors of the Kingdom of
Heaven ? Why has He taught us to repeat
the creed, and to think of Him ? Or, if
otherwise, if we have only learnt to know
Him in the later life, why has He singled us
out and roused us from the dream ol the
world or of sin, by striking down some near
relation, perhaps a wife or child or by bid
ding us see the lightning of His judgment
scorch some sinner at our side, not worse
than ourselves, or by telling us to gaze on
another, ripe with the lustre of Ilia glory,
who has not enjoyed greater blessings than
have been ours, or by guiding us, like Au
gustine, to some sentence in His word, or by
the voice of a friend whose word has made
life a different thing to us? What is all this
but the stretching out of the Saviour’s hands?
what but the incessant appeal of the uncre
ated mercy to the creature in his ruin.—
Canon Liddon.
DRIVEN TO THE BIBLE.
One of the uses of affliction is to drive us
to the Word of God for counsel and comfort.
In prosperity we do not so much feel the
need of the rich treasures contained in the
Bible, but when afflictions, like mighty waves
roll over us, so that we are stripped of all
human prospects, and must rely simply upon
God, then it is that we want to know what it
is our privilege to obtain from God by pray
er, what God has done for others under sim
ilar circumstances, what our best course may
be under our peculiar trials, and how we
may find relief. These teachings and direc
tions are in the Bible for us, but how few
search them out, or get a correct understand
ing of their practical import without being
led to see and feel their need of them. The
closest Bihle-reader will find occasion, in
limes of affliction, to search more diligently
for the deep things of God, as revealed to
us in His Word. After all, we should not
wait to be thns driven to the Bible, but
should make ourselves so familiar with its
promises, that we might always have them
at hand when we need the directions and the
comfort which they alone can give us.
If, however, we have been negligent about
searching the Scriptures until we have
brought leanness of soul upon ourselves, it
should be esteemed a mercy that afflictions
come upon us and cause us to feel our need
of the “green pastures” of God’s Word.
Who would ever learn how much others
could or would help him, without being first
brought into such a state of dependency as
to call for aid? God often in mercy leads
us through dark paths so that we may more
clearly discover our need of His light. Often
He permits us to come into such extremities
as will drive us to lay hold upon His strengih
alone. Then it is that we want to know more
of God. Then it is that we fly to His bless
ed Word. And, as a hungry man relishes
food, so do we relish the Word of God when
driven to it by affliction. We do not wish
to be understood as though we could not
relish the Bible in days of prosperity, but
when a deep sense of want leads us to search
and meditate in the law of the Lord, we do
it with an unusually keen appetite and with
great satisfaction to our souls. Blessed is
the man that delighteth in the law of the
Lord, and in it doth meditate day and night,
and blessed be God for that discipline in life
that leads us to discover the hidden treas
ures of His precious Word 1
Some young clergymen are not as careful
in drawing their rhetorical figures as they
should be. We recently heard of a sermon
wherein the preacher spoke of one of the
saints “ ‘sailing’ in a golden chariot through
a flowery meadow.” f lhe following illustra
tion indicatea that the youthful clergyman
referred to was in the “vealy” period of
life : Whilst dealing with the parable of the
Prodigal Son, he was anxious to show how
dearly the parent loved his child. Drawing
himself together, and putting on his most
sober looks, he dilated on the killing of the
fatted calf. The climax was as follows : “ I
shouldn’t wonder if the father had ‘ kept
that calf for years,’ awaiting the return of
his son.”
THE JEWS’ WAILING-PLACE.
On the eve of departure from the Holy
Land it is not unnatural that one’s thoughts
should revert to its ancient people. To-day,
of course, they are ouly one element, and
that, in many respects (despite their num
bers) the feeblest and most insignificant
element in Jerusalem. But as one meets
them in its narrow and dirfy streets, as
shabby and unclean in aspect as their shab
biest and least cleanly surroundings, he can
not forget that these are the chosen people,
and that theirs are promises which many of
the devoutest minds in Christendom believe
to he still awaiting their grandest fulfillment.
And so you find yourself scrutinizing them
with a peculiar curiosity, which much that
you see only helps to stimulate without
greatly satisfying.
I mention this because it would seem as if
one almost needed some excuse for at least
one indulgence of that curiosity which at
first seems hardly defensible. We had
learned that at a point just outside the en
closure of the Mosque El Aksa, at a point
which tradition indicates as part of the
foundation-walls of the Jewish temple, the
Jews were accustomed to accumulate on
Friday afternoons, and bewail their op
pressed condition and the degradation of
their holy places. Indeed, someone at our
hotel had made an effort to witness the
spectacle, and going to the place on a
stormy afternoon had found, as he subse
quently described the scene, two old women
crouched under an umbrella, mumbling cer
tain imprecations from the Psalms of David.
The scene depicted seemed only too much
in accordance with what we had already
seen among the Jews, whose indolence and
reluctance to encounter any discomfort is
encouraged by the condition of idleness in
which the mistaken charity of wealthy Isra
elites in London and elsewhere too largely
maintain them.
On the day of our visit to the “ Jews’
wailing-place,” as it has come to be called,
the scene was, however, a very different one.
The sky was cloudless, and the air as soft, as
Summer, Winding down a narrow and dirty
iane, we came suddenly, on turning a corner,
upon an assemblage numbering perhaps two
hundred persons, of both sexes, and appa
rently of every rank in society, the most of
whom were ranged along the wall of large
stones which the famous painting of Gerome
has made familiar, and which, whether it be
a part of the foundation of Solomon’s Tem
ple or not, is undoubtedly the remnant of a
very ancient structure. Standing with their
faces, in some instances, pressed closely
against the rugged stone wall, was a row of
men and women, the men standing by them
selves and the women by themselves, en-
hi, repeating _ passages from, the seven
ty-fourth and seventy-ninth psalins.
I had heard of this observance from oth
ers, and expected to find it a formal and
mechanical performance, much like the reci
tation of the Psalter as one hears it in Jew
ish synagogues at home. But in truth noth
ing could he more different or less mechani
cal. There were exhibitions of feeling so
intense and so uncontrolled that it became,
in some instances most painful to witness
them, and I confess that, sitting calmly on
my horse, a mere spectator of such passion
ate outbursts of emotion, I felt as if I were
almost guilty of an indecorum. There were
aged women, with their heads bowed against
the chill stone, sobbing out in their ancient
Hebrew tongue, such words as, “ Lord, the
heathen are come into thine inheritance ;
thy holy temple have they defiled,” amid
the floods of tears, and with paroxysms of
grief which shook the whole frame, and near
them stood strong men, to whose tones it
was impossible to listen for even a few mo
ments without being affected by them. One
of these was a man a little past middle life,
whose dress indicated him to be a Polish
Jew, and whose rapid and impassioned reci
tation of the particular psalms I have re
ferred to, had in it something of that mag
netic quality which is invariably found in
those who are the leaders in “ revivals,”
and other popular religious movements. In
his hands he held an open copy of the He
brew Psalter, over which his face was bent,
anil whose pages were literally blurred with
his tears. Around him stood a group, some
of them his own country-people, hut others
of various nationalities, who, from time to
time, joined in the verses which he was read
ing. One of these was a Portuguese Jew
(as I learned afterward) of singularly digni
fied and stately presence—a person whose
dress and bearing evidently indicated him to
he someone of consequence. He succeed
ed better than those about him in controlling
his feelings, but, while there was no vehe
ment outburst, there was something in the
profound grief of his face, with its air of
settled melancholy and the eyes red with
weeping, which was even more affecting
After a little I dismounted from my horse,
and walked slowly along the line, only to
find at every point in it the same evidence of
strong and intense emotion. It was not un
til I turned to ride away that I encountered
anything incongruous with the sombre sad
ness of the whole spectacle, and that was
from the lips of a richly dressed Arab, who
said, with a sneer, “ They may weep as
much as they choose, hut Jerusalem will
never be theirs again.— The Churchman.
The Happiest Period op Life. —What,
then, is the happiest period of human life?
lam sure there is only oue answer. It is
now. If lam doing my duty, to-day is the
best day I ever had. Yesterday had a hap
piness of its own, and up to this morning it
was the best day of all. I would not, how
ever, live it over again. 1 string it, as anew
bead, on the chaplet of praise, and turn to
the better work and the higher thoughts of
the present time. Of all the many days of
my life, give me to-day. This should be our
feeling always, from the cradle to the hour
when we are called to come up higher. Child
hood is best for children, manhood is best
for men, and old age for the silver-haired.
We will all join in a cnorus of common thanks
giving to God, and when asked, “ Which is
the happiest period?" will say, childhood,
manhood, and old age alike : “ O, bather, it
is now.”
A perfect contempt of the world, a fervent
desire to go forward in virtue, and the love
of discipline, the painfulness of repentance,
the readiness of obedience, the denying of
ourselves, and the bearing any affliction for
the love of Christ patiently, will give us great
confidence ; we shall die happy.
THE WAY MADE SMOOTH.
An aged woman was once sitting before
the door of her cottage in a lone country
place, talking with her grand-daughter, and
telling her some story connected with her
past life. It was much the same sort of tale
as every one tells who has passed through
life—a tale of sorrow and changes, mingled
with seasons of repose and joy. Having
spoken for some time, she went on to say:
“ In all the crosses and sorrows that I have
known, there has been One to cheer me, One
in whom I could trust. Sometimes my path
was very thorny, and I felt that life had more
trials than I could well hear, but by-and-by
all my distrust vanished, and Jesus ‘ made
the way smooth for me.’ Whenever there
was a trial, he gave me the strength to bear
it, and it always seemed as if he himself
helped me to carry my cross; and now I ant
old-' 1 and grey-headed, he still smooth all
my way; and he will smooth all your way,
too, if you trust in him.”
The Saviour did smooth hex way, even in
the dark valley of the shadow of death ;
and if you, too, reader, hut trust, in a living
Saviour, he will smooth your way, and will
guide you to a better and happier home than
earth can ever be. There is a needs-be for
the trials of life; care is planted on the
brow, and the human heart often becomes
heavy and sad ; yet it is our privilege to have
the pathway through life smoothed by divine
and human sympathy; for a true friend is
one who, in sorrow’s hour, will mingle his
tears with ours ; one on whose support we
can reckon when the world frowns upon us.
Jesus is a “ friend that sticketh closer than a
brother.” He is a real sympathizer.
“His presence sweetens every care,
Makes every burden light.
A word from him dispels our fear,
And gilds the glooin of night,,”
, Jesus smooths our way, by lighting up our
future with the hope of immortality, by giv
ing needful grace for every trying hour.
Are you aged ? He gives you grace to rest
on the promise, “ I will not cast off in old
age, nor forsake when strength faileth.”
Are you afflicted ? He gives you patience
and resignation, and confidence in the prom
ise, “As thy day, so shall thy strength he.”
A poor old lady who had told many an
one of the love of Jesus, and had been very
active in the Lord’s work, was taken ill —
she lay in bed, painworn and helpless. A
friend went to see her, and asked if, after so
active a life, she did not find her illness
hard to bear. “No, sir,” she said, “not.
at all. When I was well, I used to hear the
Lord, day by day, ‘ Betty, go here ; Betty,
go there; Betty, do this; Betty,'do that;’
and 1 used to do it as well as I could ; and
now I hear him say every day, ‘ Betty, lie
still and cough.’ ”
Are you tempted? He gives you grace to
resist sin; for he said, “My grace is suffi
cient for thee.”
Are you nearing the gates of death? He
gives you the holy triumph to exclaim, “His
own right hand and ills holy arm hath gotten
me the victory.”
Trusting in a living Saviour, reader, yours
will be the “path of the just, shining more
and more unto the perfect day.” You will
have rieliea, which per■ *' net. pleasures
which have no bitterness, fountains which
are never dry ; then you will have repose of
spirit, taste heavenly joys, and he fully sat
isfied.
And when the curtain of death rises,
which separates time from eternity, you will
enter upon an eternity of love, of true un
fading joys. On earth > oil often wear the
crown of sorrow, hut it will then bo ex
changed for an eternal crown that fadeth not
away.
“Ahl there the wild tempest forever shall
cease;
No billow shall ruffle that haven of peace.
Temptation and trouble alike shall depart—
All tears from the eye, and all sin from the
heart.”
BUSINESS HOURS IN ENGLAND AND
AMERICA.
There arc few facts in the business life of
America which strike an Englishman more
forcibly than the absorbing character of each
man’s pursuits and the severity of the labor
to which he subjects himself. In London
the tradesman can scarcely he said to have
commenced the business of the day before 9
a. m., the only exceptions being those who
minister to the early breakfast wants of the
community. The merchant is rarely at his
office before ten in the morning, and the
clerks and secretaries in the Government es
tablishments are not at their posts much be
fore 11a. m. The amount of work accom
plished by the two last named classes is in
terrupted by a frequent gossip, the perusal
of a newspaper, and a prolonged lunch, and
nearly all quit their desks for the day at 4
p. m. The American employee, on the
other hand, is often at his office by 8 a. m.,
many tradesmen open their stores at 6 or 7
a. m., and during a long day the attention
to duty is incessant, only broken by half an
hour allotted to lunch. Perhsps there is
too much work done on one side and too lit
tle on the other. In America we press into
the twenty-four hours as much severe labor
as the human frame can bear; in England
men do as little as they possibly can.
My personal experience of the public offi
ces is not great, but I accepted a position in
the India Office for a few months during the
tenancy of the Secretaryship by the Duke of
Argyll, and this is how the work is done:
On entering upon my duties I inquired at
what hour I might be expected to be present.
The Assistant Secretary turned to the senior
clerk of the department and asked him at
what hour he usually came. “ Oh,” he re
plied, “ about ten —on easy ten —say half
past ten.” “Good,” I rejoined. “ I will
be here at half-past ten.” The next day I
was at my post. Not a soul had arrived 1
There is an office for the messengers, as they
are called, in each corridor, of which there
are six in the India Office. I asked the
head messerfger, an old man of sixty, when
the clerks might be expected. “ Sir,” he
answered, “ they rarely come before eleven
o’clock, and often later.” Sure enough, it
was a quarter past eleven before they began
to drop in. To change their coats, arrange
their papers, and interchange malutinal
civilities occupied the time until noon. Then
the work began.
Fixf.ii meditation may do a great deal to
wards defining our longing or dread. We
are not always in a state of strong emotion,
and when we are calm we can use our mem
ories and gradually change the bias of our
fear as we do our tastes. Take your fear as
a safe guard. It is like quickness of hearing.
It may make consequences passionately pre
sent to you. Try to take hold of your sensi
bility, and use it as if it were a faculty,-like
vision.— George Elliot.
Never was a sincere word utterly lost, nev
er a magnanimity fell to the ground ; there is
some heart always to greet and accept it un
expectedly.
F. M. KENNEDY, D. Editor.
J. W. BURKE, Assistant Edilor.
A. G. HAYGOOD, D. D., Editorial Correspondent.
WHOLE NUMBER 2003
RELATIONS OF WHISKY TO LABOR.
According to the internal revenue returns,
the aunual production of spirits from grain
in the United States is over one hundred
millions of gallons. At seventy drinks to
the gallon, this would furnish seven thou
sand millions of drinks. Divide this by for
ty millions and you have an average of ona
hundred and seventy-five drinks per annum
for each man, woman, and child in the coun
try. At an average price of five cents a
drink, this beverage costs the consumer
$350,000,000, to say nothing of the increase
of quantity (about twenty-five per cent) by
reducing in the process of compounding it.
This article yields a revenue of $70,000,000
to the Government. It kills sixty thousand
drunkards every year. These sixty thou
sand men, estimating their labor at one dol
lar net per day each, takes from the wealth
producing labor of the country, $10,000,000.
To produce this annual death crop requires
an army of habitual drunkards, amounting
to six hundred thousand men, as only ten
per cent, of our drunkards die annually.
Suppose this army engaged in preparing the
death-crop makes half-time at labor, which
is a high estimate, and the country loses by
them $000,000,000 more of the wealth pro
ducing labor of the country. Here is SIOB,-
000,000 dead loss. If we add to this the cost
of grain consumed in the manufacture of the
spirits, and which may be considered worse
than wasted, especially the portion that is
not made into alcohol for manufacturing and
medicinal purposes, and which amounts to
about 20,000,000 bushels, worth an average
of at least one dollar per bushel to the bread
consumers, it will be seen that we have one
hundred and twenty-eight millions of charges
against the whisky trade.
But this is not all. We have already seen
that the conversion, of this large amount ot
breadstuff's into spirits costs the consumer at
least two hundred and fifty millions of dollars
after it is put on the market at one dollar a
gallon, and before he drinks it over the bar.
Here is a gross profit of two hundred and
fifty per cent, upon an article universally ad
mitted to be a damage to the interests of la
bor. If such a profit were taxed upon the
staff of life, the whole community would rise
in a burst of indignation which nothing could
withstand. Bread riots, such as were never
known in the history of England, France, or
the world, would be the immediate result.
This article might easily stand an increased
tax of 100 per cent, without additional costs
to the consumer.
The best authorities agree in admitting that
seven-eighths of the crime, vagrancy, and
pauperism, in this country, may be traced
directly to the use of spirits as a beverage.
If this be true, then there must be charged
up to the debit account seven-eighths of the
cost of buildingand maintaining our prisons,
criminal courts, alins-houses, houses of cor
rection, jails, and orphan asylums. Calling
these expenditures one hundred millions per
annum, we have now a grand annual debit
chargeable to the whisky trade of $578,000,-
000. If this view of the subject be correct,
it is submitted that there should be no sur
prise exhibited at the crusade of the wives
and daughters of the laborers of the West
against this traffic.— National Republican.
THE PRICE OF FOOD IN OLD TIMES.
Amid the never ending comments on the
high price of provisions, it is difficult for us
to realize the fact that a time existed in Brit
ain’s history when wheat, as food for one
hundred for a whole day, was worth only a
shilling, and the average price of a sheep
four pence. In tlie reign of Henry 1., the
price of wine was raised to sixpence a quart
for red, nnd eightpence for white, in order
that the sellers might be enabled to live by
it. When wheat was at six shillings a quart
er, (eight bushels,) the farthing loaf was to
be equal in weight to twenty-four ounces if
made of the whole grain, and to sixteen
ounces if consisting solely of white. And
when wheat was one shilling and sixpense
per quarter, as it sometimes was, the farthing
white loaf was to weigh sixty-four ounces,
and the whole grain ninety six. Think of
purchasing a six pound loaf of good wheaten
bread for a farthing 1 In the nineteenth year
of the reign of Edward L, the price of provi
sions in the city of London was fixed by the
Common Council at a tariff by which two
pullets were sold for three half-pence, a par
tridge or two woodcocks for the same, while
a fat lamb was to be sixpence from Christ
mas to Shrovetide, and the rest of the year
four pence. In the fourteenth century, Par
liament fixed the price of a fat ox at forty
eight shillings, a shorn sheep at five shillings
two dozen of eggs at threepence, and the best
wine at twenty shillings per ton. An Act of
Parliament, passed in 1533, settled the value
of beef and pork at a half-penny per pound,
and veal at three farthings.
THE SriRIT AND ITS SERVANTS.
Oil examining the human body, we find a
canal running through the back-bone, filled
with nervous matter, which reaches to tho
brain at the top, and sends out, at different
places, through it entire length, cords, and
filaments, which branch out, like the ramifi
cations of a tree, over the whole body ; this
is the cerebro-spinal system. This nervous
matter consists of two distinct columns, dif
ferent from one another, and performing to
tally different functions. One of these col
umns (the posterior) consists entirely of sen
sory nerves, by means of which the spirit
receives impressions of things without; the
other consists of motor nerves, by which the
spirit is able to set the body in motion, by
energizing the muscles. It is by means of
the former of these, spread over the whole
body, that the spirit within receives intelli
gence of what is taking place without. The
second or anterior column of nerves which
are contained in the hollow tube of the back
bone, is of a totally different nature: these
do not convey intelligence to the spirit, but
they convey from the spirit to the muscles in
order to produce action ; they are called the
motor or moving nerves, and it is by their
means that the spirit is able to set the body
in action. Hence, by means of the brain
and the spinal cord, the spirit becomes embo -
died and present to our observation, and is
able to hold converse with external nature.
Avoid Anxiety. —Payson, on his dying
bed, said to his daughter, “You will avoid
much pain and anxiety, if you will learn to
trust all your concerns in God’s hands. ‘Cast
all your care on Him.’ But if .you merely
go and say that you cast your care upon Him,
you will come away with the load on your
shoulders.”
The true spirit of religion cheers as well
as composes the soul; it banishes, indeed,
all levity of behavior, all vicious and disso
lute mirth, but in exchange fills the mind
with a perpetual serenity, uninterrupted
cheerfulness, and an habitual inclination to
please others as well as to be pleased in it
self.