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TWO DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS.
PER. ANNUM.
VOLUME XXXIX., NO. 38.
f ottr;. •
HOW SOON !
BY MRS. W. H. A. SIMMONS.
H >w soon the angel dark may pause
Within our home,
W ; cannot tell; but this we know,
That hour must come—
When we shall weep o’er some dear friend
Kiorn earth set free ;
Waose pale, cold form, lies quiet in
Death’s mystery.
Someone we loved, who loved us well,
Wnose pi esenee here
So loni{ hao cheered our path below
With hope, through fear.
Who, from the moru of childhood’s day,
Guided our feet;
A brother’s or a sister’s love
So full, complete.
There, somewhere in the future years,
A grave we see ;
And oh, we know too well, how sad
Our hearts will be.
And, inaylie, more than one green mound
Will then be seen ;
Where, ihrough long years, by spade untouched
The grass giew green.
Dear Lord, O let our hearts prepare
That hour to meet,
When, in our darkened home, we hear
The angel’s feet.
Instead of tears and sighs, let there
R juicing be,
Ti.at one more soul has found a rest
Among the free.
Let praises from our lips break forth.
That we shall meet
With loving welcome, when we reach
The heavenly street.
— Xio7i' Herald.
Contributions.
WESLEI'AN FEMALE COLLEGE—ITS
FORTINFS A.NU ITS FAME.
BY L. FIERCE.
For several years, some one—sometimes
two or three—of our public leaders have al
luded to me in terms of profound respect,
ascribing to me the honor of a real father
hood in introducing this higher grade of fe
male education, so that 1 am compelled to
justify them by saying it is an honor I do not
claim ; but, it is nevertheless true, that
among the antecedents to this inauguration
of female collegiate education, I was the only
public man that had ever—as a politician
would call it—slumped the State in defense
of woman’s equal capacity to learn the things
of her Creator, as well as His will, along
with her educated brothers —and, probably,
her future husband. To me it was always
loathsome to think of a woman, heaven-en
dowed iu capacity, but vastly despoiled of
her dowry right in mental illumination,
doomed to the uncompensated drudgery of
nursing her husband’s children, aud sitting
before him like what boys used to call a
mum chance. He talks of centrifugal aud
centripetal forces —perhaps, of gravitation—
as God’s great laws in nature ; but she, poor
thing, cannot enter at all into the theme, but
has to wait until a controversy about hatch
ing aud raising chickens arises, or how to
make butter come quick in cold weather,
and such like little things. The very recital
of them stirs up my blood now, when I am
in my ninety-second year.
Hut, thanks be to God, those days of bar
barian ignorance are gone—gone forever —
and hereafter it will be seen that woman is
a help-meet for man in any way that mind
can help him. All my opinions on this point
were drawn from God’s word and wisdom.
1 saw from His word that woman was made
out of a part of man —was not another sepa
rate creation, hut a special formation, from
which the Creator made haste to draw the
moral relation of marriage ; that it was
founded on a sense of oneness, and was not
a thing to he dissolved. Accordingly, as
soon as Adam saw Eve, by the same inspira
tion by which he had given a name to the
creatures ot God which had passed before
him, but none of which had kindled the glow
of actual homogenity upon this special nerve
of sympathy, he said she was bone of his
bone and flesh of his flesh —a help meet for
inau —and that she should be called woman.
For the literal meaning of this special title,
please see Dr. Clarke’s Commentary. This
is all the more marvelous aud special, if my
conjecture is true —which is, that at that time
Adam did not know, as a matter of fact, that
Eve had been made of one of his ribs, ex
tracted from him while he was in a deep
sleep, sent on him by the Divine Surgeon
himself for that very purpose. I think so
because a knowledge of this fact would have
taken from it all the glory of a significant in
spiration and reduced it to a recorded narra
tive. As it is, it is a guiding star in the mys
tery of genuine matrimonial love. In Gene
sis, v : 1,2, it is thus written : “This is the
book of the generations of Adam : in the day
that God created man, in the likeness of God
made He him ; male and female created He
them, and called their name Adam, in the
day when they were created.” And here, let
it be especially noted, that these words,
“And callpd their name Adam,” is only cor
redly rendered when we read it, And called
their name man. Name, in this category,
means kind; and kind means really not mere
ly sameness or likeness, but oneness —inas-
far as the special relation is involved. This
is the decreed basis of all natural and instinc
tive association. Adam is not a name, but a
title of rank and dignity, above all other
grades in animal life. All other creatures
could not live above the plane of actual
creaturehood, but man could live to divine
fellowship; hence, when man was created he
was created in the image and likeness of his
Creator, and his Creator was the Word which
in the beginning was with God, and which
was God. And, as it was evidently an eter
nal purpose in the Godhead that the second
Person in it should become the God-man—
for there could not be a man-God —and there
must be a natural, positive vinculnm in some
way, whereby God could take hold on man
and man could lay hold on God. This was
accomplished through incarnation, and man
was created, as to flesh and blood, in the
very flesh and blood in which the God-man
was to clothe himself by incarnation. Man
was created in a sinless state, instamped
with the essence of divine purity; so when
the second Adam—or man —the Lord from
heaven appeared, his generation was by the
Holy Ghost —that he might .be holy, harm
less, uudeliled, and separate from sinners.
So that in human nature, as it was in man
before the fall, Christ magnified the law, and
made it honorable.
1 might, very properly, apologize for this
theological ramble while showing my reasons
for maintaining the equality of the sexes in
all that appertains to the distinctive and dis
tinguishing characteristics of the human race
over the lower orders of animal life, which
1 might almost resolve into reason and reli
gion, but I will rest my reasons now on what
will no longer be denied—that woman is as
able to learn anything that intelligence can
compass and impart as man is. This has been
gloriously demonstrated at this first Female
Sivfliecv Christian
College: and since then at many noble sii-ter
colleges. The curriculum of female colleges
has been constantly enlarging ; but nothing,
in as far as mind is concerned, has ever dis
closed any mental inferiority. Indeed, it
begins to be very generally admitted, that in
common collegiate learning, girls are as
ready to learn as boys. And as it is here,
so it would be in university studies, if they
were pushed on in that direction. But,
enough is secured when woman is looked
upon morally and mentally as man’s equal.
This, it seems to me, should have been the
inevitable conclusion of every Bible reader
and student. It is certain, from the infalli
ble record of man’s creation, that while sex
was a necessity in the purpose of the
Creator, and was so expressed at the time
of creation, equality in what constituted hu
manity rendered it unavoidable that a duality
in gender should be consistent with unity
in order and kind. Accordingly, when God
created them male and female, their name
was man; and a male man and a female man
was the only way in which divine revelation
could convey to us an adequate idea of our
true relation. God would not even create a
helpmeet for man out of the ground from
which man was made, but made her out of
a part of the man already made—not by
generation, but still by extraction. As wo
man is by the wisdom of God one-half of
man, in the sense in which the Creator choße
this name for us, God gave no other name, of
natnre and of kind. All other creatures re
ceived their family name from Adam, or
man, because they were all given to him;
and whatsoever name he gave them, as ox,
or horse, that was their kindred name.
But to man God gave his family name, bo
that, whether he is black, or red, or brown,
or white, with his family lineaments, he is
man. Wiih all these fundamental facts be
fore him, a man that would marry a woman
to look upon her as made by God, in these
essential respects inferior to himself, is un
worthy of a wife; and no high-souled woman
ought ever to marry one of these relics of
Indian ignobility. No one can tell how long
woman might have been current only at this
discount, if she had not been admitted to the
honor of collegiate education.
But she has been admitted to the honor,
and has fully proved that her long depriva
tion of it was a great injustice. Whatever
part I may have had iu its successful inaugu
ration, I cherish as my best memorial in
life’s earthly achievements. I am glad my
name Ik so closely identified with this first
female college. I was its first traveling
agent; my son was its first president. We
have both lived to see it when it is first in
fame, as it then was in name. And as for
myself, its grateful graduates have taken a
step whereby, when I am no longer seen on
the stage in life, I am to be seen in the Com
mencement Hall in a life-size painting—
which is my very picture. This is honor
enough, even if I had merited the ap
plause I have received. Once for always, I
return the tribute of grateful thanks. But,
before I say finally farewell to my grateful
lady friends,! must say, iu as far as conscious
memory goes, I never sought my own glory
in this advance step in female education; nor
did I do it to confer new rights on you. I did
it to secure to you rights that you inherited
in your creation and from your Creator.
You have often been told that you owe all
your elevation to the gospel; and although
;t is in a certain sense true, yet I could never
relish it. It is no more true of you than it
is of us. No man, whose civilization was the
result of divine inspiration, ever looked upon
woman as more nearly a mere animal than
himself. How could the Creator, who both
knew and intended mothers to keep watch
over the childhood of every generation, and
do the laying in of the capital stock of moral
aud mental intelligence for life's future use
and improvement, atford to entrust it to
minds comparatively weak in themselves,
and comparatively uneducated? God knew
that duriug the first decade of human life,
mothers must aud would have ten chances
to the fathers’ one to sow the seeds of knowl
edge and of eternal life in the children’s
minds; and can any one believe that under
these foreseen and divinely arranged issues,
God could fail to furnish the female half of
manahip with as sound an understanding as
the male half demanded? I blush to have
to ask the question.
But thanks be to God that in this respect
the night is past, and the age of educated
women is upon us. If I were asked, in
which sex, as a general good and as a gen
eral necessity, is a thorough Christian educa
tion most needed for the good of the world
and of the Church, putting both issues upon
a wise use of a cultivated mind, I should
unhesitatingly say, the female sex—would
say so for reasons already stated. What
ever advantage there is in it —the best chance
to teach the young idea how to shoot —the
mother has it. It is hard for a father to
spoil his children with unlovely ways and
tempers, he passing in and out, if his chil
dren live in the sunlight of a loving, caress
ing, controlling mother, whose teachings are
soon felt to be self ennobling, and soul
saving in their ultimate object. Solomon
says, a child left to himself bringeth his
mother to shame. The mother would not be
so singly mentioned if it were not that if a
mother is in her place at home and dis
charging her maternal duty, a child is never
left to himself.
Learning cannot add anything to the value
of morals, but to the force of them it can.
Hence, every parent is morally bound to
give his children the fullest benefit of educa
tion his ability will allow, and when called to
do so, sacrifice all mere pleasures of Bense
to do it—and especially educate your daugh
ters well. If they are spared to review your
act in this respect, they will thank you all
the days of their life, and say, “ I would a
thousand times rather have my education,
than all it cost in gold.”
And now, ladies, graduates of the Wes
leyan Female College, I owe you much for
the honorable mention of my name in con
nection with your Alma Mater. In this, my
last communication in reference to these by
gone days and pleasures, I can only offer you
my good advice, which, if you will take and
follow, will soon satisfy you that my interest
in your moral development is as wisely pro
vided for as was your mental development.
Solomon tells you that all other endowments
may fail you in regard to personal merit,
4 * But the woman that feareth the Lord, she
shall be praised.” This, perhaps, is not so
much the assurance of a promise, as it is the
declaration of a result. An educated wo
man, whose attractions are not in outward
adorning, but in a meek and quiet spirit—
because these are in the sight of God of
great price, while gold, jewels, and costly
array, are hateful in His sight—-is an object
of such moral attractions and moral influ
ences, that she will be praised. Everybody
feels that she has ceased to live to herself,
that she may live unto Him who died for
her. This will tell,
PUBLISHED BY J. W. BURKE & COMPANY, FOR THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH.
LETTER FROM MRS. BRANCH.
Dear Doctor : In a letter from one of
my friends, I find these suggestive words:
“ You write of everything but the people of
California.”
Surely this omission has not been from a
want of interest in our new acquaintances
and friends here. It is so much easier to
describe the beautiful earth. It is there
before me. I can renew my delight in look
ing upon its hills —its fields—its flowers—its
skies—its wonderful fruit trees, bending with
the weight of luscious and beautiful fruit —
all these come again and again before my ad
miring gaze, and the glow of inspiration read
ily kindles in my heart; but who can give
to words of description the light of the eye
which sparkled when you enjoyed sweet con
verse with the friends of yesterday?
I would love to sketch some scenes which
bring loveable and interesting characters to
light, and will make a venture now.
Taking the hint of my friend, I retract the
promise I made to describe a trip to the fruit
trees of a model ranch near by, and will in
troduce your readers into an old fashioned
class-meeting—held in Santa Rosa church.
There may be some to whom my subject is
not interesting; but in a Georgia town there
is a patient invalid whose heart, I trust, will
grow warm when she reads my letter. For
long years she has not been able to enter the
sanctuary—how gladly would she join those
whose happy feet walk the way which leads
to the house of God 1 Let me here thank
the unknown friends who live in that Geor
gia home. Their words of encouragement
have touched my heart deeply—they repay
me most richly for my humble efforts.
Let me “ tell the story” of the class-meet
ing, for it is one upon which I love to linger.
The morning service is just over. As the
congregation retire, many hearty voices join
in singing those sweet verses, the chorus to
which is, “ Bear me away on your snowy
wings,” and our spirits flow into tune as the
melody floats on.
“ Jack,” our Indian brother, has closed
the door, and we are a band of more than
thirty followers of Christ, shut in' from the
world. How our hearts burn to pay fitting
tribute to the great King of Kings. Our
leader is Prof. Griffith, of the P. M. Col
lege. Young, refined, and cultured, he has
much to endear to him the enjoyments of
life; but, he tells us, that God is hisportiou.
He is from Virginia, and preceded us but
a short time to this country. I have seen
his Hashing black eyes kindle into delight
over the charms of this landscape, but a far
brighter joy shines in them to day. He does
not call upon us in set form, but approaches
first one on this side, and then one on that,
in a kind, brotherly manner, which disarms
the fears of the timid. There is brother
Fine, who speaks among the first. A pros
perous farmer, whose wife was the widow of
brother John Saunders, well known to many
of your readers, when he left Florida. Bro.
Saunders did not live long in this Conference,
hut God took care of his little family. Bro.
Fine has now around him a lovely household,
and his barns are stocked with plenty, yet
prosperity has not hardened his heart. Lis
ten, with what soft and reverential tones he
unfolds the workings of God's Spirit in his
heart. The great tears roll down his sun-burn
ed eheeks. He tells us how much dearer is
religion to him than all else ; his only sorrow
ing is over the lost years, passed during his
early residence in California. Oh, the lost
years be cannot redeem —how he weeps over
them 1
Next comes brother Holloway. He labors
day by day among a set of wicked men. How
their scorning and cursing grieves him. He
tries hard to win them from their dark ways,
and finds out that one of the most sinful waß
once a rejoicing Methodist. “ Oh, brethren,”
he cries, “ is it possible for me to lose this
precious trust? The memory of my mother's
dying words have followed me since I was
a boy—they called to me when I was away
from God—oh, now that I am hoping to
meet her, and you, in that better land, can
I fall?” His voice is broken by sobs. We
will all remember his perilous way, and pray
for him.
Sister Luttrell, the wife of our congress
man, next rises and tells us how dear is her
Saviour. She is a noble woman. Seasons
passed in Washington, amid the honorable
and rich, have not taken away the sweet sin
cerity of her Christian character. She loves
her class meetings.
And now rises a mother in Israel. Moth
er Lewis always has a happy experience to
give—it shines on her face and makes it
pleasant to look upon. “Fifty years have I
served my God, yet lam not tired. I am
happy all the day long. Ido not feel old ;
it is so sweet to serve him.”
Here our beloved brother Duncan “boils
over,” as a friend expressed it. Brother
Duncan carries heaven on his face, and in
his heart, and lives in its light. What else
could have made him so joyful and sweet
spirited, through years of struggle aud dis
appointment? How few of those who have
moved out here have bad to bear as he has
done, so much of toil, yet none have grown
richer in that wealth, which no change of
fortune can ever take from him. “Fifty
years !” he repeats with a happy smile, “and
not tired of serving God. Oh, it is sweet
to serve him. I know it. Salvation!” How
the happy stream rolls on as he moves around
in our midst, giving us hand-grasps of sym
pathy. Who does not love to have brother
Duncan “boil over?”
Our Indian boy, Jack, now rises. He is
full of humility, but is earnest and true. We
all strain our ears to hear his modest tones,
for it does us good to hear his testimony.
“I know religion is good," he says, with em
phasis. “It helps everything.” He was
taken when a little child by a kind Christian
lady, to whom he has proved a faithful ser
vant. About a year ago he was happily con
verted, and is a consistent Christian, an ex
ample for many whose ancestors have been
of the most pious kind.
All of us have not the gift of eloquence.
Oh, how this imprisoned spirit struggles for
a voice, when the love of God burns within
us ! This stammering tongue —oh, how poor
ly it tells of this unutterable joy ! All will
be told, by and by, when the gates of the
New Jerusalem are opened to our ransomed
souls. Brother Griffith cries, “Heaven seems
so near —surely this is the gate.” We sing,
“But dimly the veil intervenes,
Between that fair city and me.”
There are maidens with the bloom of youth
upon their cheeks, who tell of their chief joy,
—it is in serving God. They are the “queens”
of whom I have written before. One of them
is from the far South, another from the east.
How we are gathered together ! Side by side
are Col. Hardin and his excellent wife. She
tells us how earnestly she is striving to do
her duty as a Christian, and we all know by
her life that this is true. Her home is the
resting place for itinerants, in their journey
ings to and fro. A noble man is Col. Har
din. He is loved and honored. Now hear
MACON, GEORGIA, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1876.
him tell in broken accents, of how he has
been tried and tempted, in his long absence
from home, out on his Nevada ranch ; away
from the means of grace, it was hard to keep
his lamp trimmed and burning. How this
meeting with his brethren strengthens him.
He loves God. See how it melts the strong
man to tears!
Ah ye skeptics—ye sinners. Can ye tell
what power thus rules the spirits of these
true men ?
Now that all (for I cannot number them
all in this letter) have borne testimony to
the great spirit of truth, the pastor rises. A
blessing lights his face as he looks over this
band of Christians. He cries, “ ‘And they
shall come from the east, and from the west,
and shall sit down in the kingdom.' These
words of Christ find a wonderful fulfillment
in this place to-day. When they were spok
en, our ancestors were barbarians in Europe,
and the forefathers of our brother Jack, were
savages in the wilds of America. ‘From the
east, and from the west,’ we have been gath
ered, and sit together here in the kingdom
of our God—for He is Love, and love ruleth
all.” What a feast is in all this to the soul
of the pastor. Hts benediction is given and
the class-meeting is over. How faint an idea
I have given you of its blessedness.
“Only love to us be given,
Lord we ask no other heaven.”
There is another class which meets for the
young people on Saturday. This also is ever
attended by the blessing of God.
I have met with some of those heroes and
heroines of which Bro. Haygood wrote in one
of the Advocates not long since—the heroes
whose histories are only lauded by the angels.
Sueh a one I met out here in the home of an
itinerant preacher—a circuit preacher. His
home is a sweet, modest dwelling—white and
pure looking. A smiling calm rests upon it
now, whenever my eyes turn that way. The
very flowers which bloom at the door, look
sweeter than other flowers to me. I see in
it all a monument to the devotion of a child.
It was a loving girl who built that house,
that her father might not in his old age and
superannuation, have no home ! She built it
by teaching in the public schools. Not a
dollar went to adorn her young form—she
gave it all to father. Oh, how lovely was
that offering, I never look upon her gentle
face, but 1 wish that I had laid up for me in
heaven a crown like hers! Shall I tell you
more about our people ? C. B.
[By all means —and soon. —Editor.]
BINNAKER’S CAMP-MEETING OF 187 C
—SOUTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE.
In common with most people reared in the
South Carolina Conference, I had heard all
my life of the camp-meeting at Binnaker’s.
At love-feast one would hear frequently the
testimony given of the knowledge of the love
of God which was first learned at Binna
ker’s ; and in the obituary columns of the
Advocate time and again have I read of the
holy life and triumphant death of a ran
somed sinner who was born to glory on Bin
naker’s camp ground. This year it was my
good fortune to be one of the worshipers at
Binnaker’s.
A camp meeting in the ideal, is “ a line of
poetry in a world of prose.” It is hard to
conceive of a more beautiful or touching
spectacle than that of hundreds of peopie
saying to their fields, their farms, their
and shops, their business cares and their
homes, “ Stay ye here while I go yonderand
worship;” to see a host of God’s children,
assembling under His own blue sky amid
the grandeur of His forest and the glory of
His sunshine, and putting away earthly
thought for a few days, devote themselves to
prayer and praise. There may be a dark
side to the picture; it may happen that
through want of careful preparation en the
part of preachers and worshipers, through
lack of consecration of soul and body, the
camp-meeting may become a mere place of,
social gathering, of interchange of hospitali
ties or of political sentiments. Then it is
sadly perverted from its original design and
the consequences are evil only. Thank God 1
it was not so at Binnaker’s in 1876. The
poor old racked and tortured mother State
was quivering in every limb, for her oppress,
ed and afflicted children were rising as one
man to make a last effort to throw off the
yoke which for years of galling bitterness
they had borne with a patience as heroic as
their efforts to arrest it had been gallant.
Could it be wondered at that in all the crowd,
assembled, the questions on which our very
existence depend should sometimes come up,
and politics take the place of religion ?
Well, it did happen sometimes, but the self
convicted look of the culprit, the hurried
change of conversation, and the manful ef
fort to avoid the absorbing theme, would
have been amusing if they had not been so
very touching. The earnest exhortation of
the Presiding Elder at the opening of the
meeting to lay aside everything but the grand
objects of the meeting, the revival of the
Church and the conversion of sinners, was
heeded in a manner which could only have
been brought about in answer to earnest
prayer from the servants of the Master.
Their circumstances too, were peculiar.
From the extreme poverty of the country,
the unparallelled stringency of the times has
made itself felt at least as greatly in the Or
angeburg District as anywhere else in the
Conference, and yet on the camp ground
even that was forgotten, and those horrible
words “ hard times ” I do not think I once
heard. But perhaps most of all, the difficul
ties in the way were the serious and wefr
grounded apprehensions of the people. For
weeks past the bullet of the assassin and the
torch of the incendiary had been making
their dread appearance in the surrounding
country. Many doubted the propriety of
holding the meeting, and the thought had
been entertained of giving it up. But, faith
prevailed over fear, and ths people, putting
their trust in God, resolved to go forth to
the camp, believing they would be over
shadowed by His protecting care. Does our
Father ever disappoint those who confide
themselves to Him ? Never 1 All those
children of God dwelt in safety. We could
hear of no accident befalling their houses or
lands or any of their possessions, in their
absence. Perfect peace and safety prevailed
everywhere; nay, more, in some cases He
gave the very showers for which they were
longing—and greatest and best of all He, the
great Head of the Church, made His pres
ence sensibly and visibly felt in the encamp
ment. In spite of the great crowd, there
was no single instance of a breach of deco
rum ; each service was well attended, ewj
sermon seemed endowed with especial power
from on high, the Church was greatly, re
freshed and encouraged, and many were
born to newness of life. It was remarked
by all, that from the first service to the last,
deep solemnity seemed to pervade the camp,
and in the “preachers’ tent” we are told
there was a remarkable tone of consecra
tedness to the great work in everything said
and done.
The Communion service at night was a
scene ftl rr.ikt painful in its awful solemnity.
The cairn evening hour, with its hush un
broken bulby the sigh of the pines, or the
ascending voice of holy song; the pale moon
looking dovn upon the torches as they threw
their luridjigbt upon the rude table where
were sprtttd the sacred emblems ; the deep
Rembramt shadows from whichwould emerge
a face radant with a light which was not of
earth 5 a! brought about an awed feeling, as
if we wese transported into another world.
Aud the -vesence of God was there felt and
acknowledged by the cheering of the cast
down, tbs comforting of the weary, and the
support iCthe weak, and triumphantly at
tested b; the exultant song of the new-born
soul.
Monday morning, and the sad parting hour
came. Ihe tents were struck and the camp
moved oif. With grateful hearts for much
loving kindness shown, we took leave of our
hosts at! all parted, feeling it had been good
to be thtre. “ According to their faith ”it
was don jto them at Binnaker’s this year.
God grant that the old camp-ground may
"i* -greater things than these.”
CbuSfy*, S. C. I. D. M.
“ COMPLAINTS,” ETC., ONCE MORE.
It is generally a sign of soreness or defeat
when one turns aside from the argument to
attack the man. I shall not make any re
ply 16 “A. B. C’s.” personalities. The
complamt on my part was, what I conceived
to be the unqualified censure of a class of
men who, according to his and his endors
ers’ showing, willingly and without rebuke
suffered themselves to become the recipients
of all the low scandal base slanderers were
pleasei to pour into their ears. If this be
thouglt too strong a summing up, what do
such tords as “the usual mode,” “the
chuff Jhe,” “button-hole the Presiding El
der in private,” “ex parte statements,”
“ affect his private character, and the repu
tation of his family,” rightly weighed mean?
How are “usual” and “chief modes”
practiced? Was “Y. Z.” wrong iu the in
ference that this was a general assault on
Presiding Elders?
It is clear that “A. B. C.” believed this,
aud bunded his homily on its truth, intensi
fyn!Tthe whole by the the declaration,
“ When has there been a Conference for
years past, at which some preacher has not
felt that he was stabbed in the dark in the
same mode.” I denied his facts and chal
lenged his proof, on the penalty of his be
ing charged with the assassination of char
acter, by the very agency he condemned,
viz., “ covert ” insinuations. And yet he is
astonished at my misconception, and aur
pf-Vsed at the haste and bitterness of my re
ply. Now let any unprejudiced mind read
oste'Fhia first article and see if my deduc
'wJmS are not legitimately drawn.
But he declaims the wholesale accusation,
and I yield him the entire benefit of his de
clftiiner, still urging that the best method of
correcting snch evils as he says exist, iH not
by blazoning abroad through the press
general charges, but by specific complaint,
where strict justice may be reasonably ex
pected from an impartial tribunal. Further,
if the Editor thinks any good purpose may
b-j served by revealing my name, be is at
v# erty to do so, of course with the usual re
jy&pcation. Y. Z.
Selections.
CHINA LETTERS—INTERESTING’
We are, says Dr. D. C. Kelley in the Nash
ville Advocate, in receipt of highly interesting
letters from both Brothers Lambuth and Al
len. The health of the former is very precari
ous still. Notwithstanding the offer of the
Board to release him for a time from labor,
qtnd pay his expenses to this country, he has
determined to continue at his post until the ar
rival of Bishop Marvin. The letters give us
valuable and hopeful information from Bro
Allen’s work. In regard to the magazine
he has been publishing we have cheering
news. We extract from the letters, which
are private, as follows;
In a few weeks more the magazine will
enter upon its ninth year; and truly I may
say, from an insignificant beginning, small
constituency, and a doubtful future, it has
grown until now it is recognized as a most
powerful influence in the land, and has many
friends and well-wishers. The success of
the paper has, however, its own drawbacks
— e. g., there is atendency to multiply them,
and thus, while adding very little to the
force of those already in existence, to res
trict the circulation, etc. However, while
this is the tendency, but little has bsen done
in downright competition to the Wau Kwoh
Kung Pau, which has never so popular as
now. Perhaps I have mentioned to you bp
fore that the Foreign Office in Peking has
highly eommpnded it, as have also many
other of the highest officials in China, both
foreign and native. The Court and Cabinet
of Japan have long been subscribers to it—
and mirahile dictu, I learned recently, by
letter from Peking, that it was in demand
by the immates of the Imperial Palace, and
each number eagerly looked for by them.
These facts are significant enough to show
that anew era is fast dawning upon China,
and that it is the part of wisdom, though it
be somewhat ambitious, to strive to guide
the nascent public opinion which is now set
ting in favor of change and progress. In
my opinion, no more important work than
this could possibly be undertaken, and that
I am not alone in this view is fully proved
by the greater interest now constantly man
ifested in it. So great, indeed, is felt to he
the necessity of the hour in this regard that
the London Tract Society have been prevail
ed upon to appropriate £l5O toward estab
lishing a monthly, the first number of which
has just been issued. I am, as you will see,
the editor, while Dr. Joseph Eakins, of Pek
ing, and the Rev. W. Muirhead, of Shanghai,
both of the London Mission, are the chief
contributors. We work together, having a
joint interest in the labor bestowed, etc.,
while the Tract Society has expressed a will
ingness to augment its contribution should
it be necessary to give it gi eater facilities.
You see, then, that while it has become a
necessity that I should appeal to the Board
in behalf of the Wau Kwoh Kung Pau, it is
a work that they can afford to sustain, and
that should they withdraw their support,
there are others who would gladly take up
what I should, without some assistance,
have to let come to an inglorious end.
I am just about putting to press an original
work on China and her Neighbors which has
for its object the promotion of peace and the
encouragement of progress, by setting forth
the true origin and objects of foreigners com
ing to China, and the right spirit and man
ner in which the demands of the situation
should be met by the Imperial Government.
It will be a work of some 150 pages, illus
trated with maps, etc., and I propose to is
sue at once some 5,000 copies, to meet the
large demand expected during the approach
ing Triennial Examinations. I propose to
call it A Book for Ihe Times, and already
one foreign gentleman, who has seen the
text has engaged to take about 1,500 copies.
Their Excellencies, the U. S. minister and
the British minister, have afforded me all
the necessary information by allowing me to
consult or use certain documents in their
possession, and I feel sure that the work will
do great good distributed among the people
at large. My duties in the Anglo-Chinese
College here—teaching and translating—
take up nearly all my daylight , so that I
have to utilize a good deal of gas, but as my
health still continues good, I do not mind
plenty of work. On the Sabbath I generally
preach twice—at 10$ a. m., and 8 p. m.,
resting during the afternoon.
Brother Lambuth’s health is feeble, and
be should have the change the Board was bo
generous as to authorize. Mrs. L. has just
lost her sister, who was living with her. I
have long felt that our Mission in Shanghai
is in a most precarious condition. We ab
solutely need, aud must have, another man
sent out for this station, or be seriously crip
pled soon. We want a thoroughly educated
man —a man of force and character, one
who can hold his own in society and in the
work. It is a great mistake to suppose that
any kind of good, pious, innocent individual,
will make a missionary. Such men would
ouly serve to enervate and destroy a work.
We need a man with a will, a purpose, and
a judgment—one that can see through a
Chinaman, aud maintain the dignity and in
tegrity of the Christian Church by keeping
out parasites and vampires. But enough.
Give us your best meu, and send only best
men for whatever statiou —men of robust
constitution if possible, of sober mind and
liberal education ; for as the founders so will
be the future Church. Men therefore are
needed that can keep the field, guide the
work, and establish the Church. I mean
no insinuations as to the past; I speak only
from experience of the work as it is now, and
as regards the future. Young J. Ali.en.
JESUS.
Jesus 1 How does the very word overflow
with exceeding sweetness, and light aud joy,
and life and love; filling the air with odors,
like ointment poured forth: irradiating the
mind with a glory of truths in which no fear
can live ; soothing the wounds of the heart
with a balm that turns the sharpened an
guish into delicious peace; shedding through
the soul a cordial of immortal strength I
Jesus 1 the answer to all our doubts, the
spring of all our courage, the earnest of all
our hopes, the charm omnipotent against all
our foes, the remedy of all our weakness,
the supply of all our wants, tbe fulluess of
our desires I
Jesus 1 melody to our ears, altogether
lovely to our sight, manna to taste, living
water to our thirst, our shadow from the
heat, our refuge from the Btorm, our pillar
of fire by night, our morning star, our sun
of righteousness.
Jesus 1 at the mention of whose name
every knee shall bow and every tongue shall
confess. Jesus 1 our power; Jesus! our
righteousness; Jesus 1 our sanctificatiou ;
Jesus! our elder brother —our blessed and
only Redeemer. Thy name is the most trans
porting theme of the Church, as they sing
going up from the valley of tears to their
home on the mount of God ; Thy name
shall ever be the rightest chord in the har
mony of heaven where the angels and the
redeemed unite their exultiug, adoring
songs around the throne of God and the
Lamb. Jesus! Tbou only canst interpret
thy own name, and Thou haßt done it by
Thy works on earth and Thy glory at the
right hand of the Father. — Dr. Bethune.
WAY-MARKS.
A man can no more live well without way
marks than he can cross the ocean without
a compass. Life to be useful and beautiful
must be not only richly nurtured but wisely
guided ; and the good man seeks for guid
ance as well as strength. The practice of
selecting way marks cannot begin too soon
in life, nor can it ever be safely abandoned.
For though character may carry itself along
in channels dug for it by virtuous habits, ac
tion must explore the untraversed seas.
Each day brings new combinations ; and the
nearer we come to the end, the more light
may be needed to enable us to see our path.
Good men are safe way-marks. The young,
especially, have often to depend much upon
them. Our first years are almost altogether
guided by example, and happy is the child
whose life is illuminated by godly examples.
The need of following the good never ceases.
We are always pupils of the wiser and imita
tors of the stronger than ourselves. Even
relative goodness haß this power over us, as
relative wisdom has, that we cannot choose
but take it as a copy and pattern upon it as a
model. If these way-marks fail any of the
sons of men, their lives are subject to infi
nite mischances. We can think with great
charity of the errors of men who had viciouß
surroundings in youth, and learned evil in
relations ordained to teach good. No brill
iancy of power ought to allure us to accept
ing bad men as way-marks. Turn away, O
youth, from the flippant mocker of sacred
things, and the facinating doer of evil deeds.
The past is a way-mark. Our own past is
the best of our earthly instructors. We
know that as we know nothing else. The
evil has wounded us ; the good has blessed
us. In well-doing, we have found peace; in
ill-doing, we have found unrest. And we
have learned a thousand little nameless les
sons about life and men that no man could
have taught us. Happy is the man who can
learn from experience. A proverb says that
“Experience is a hard school, but fools will
learn in no other.” The truth is that a real
fool is such because he will not be taught by
experience. In that school, sensible people
become wise, and, for some purposes, they
become wise in no other. The great past is
also a way-mark ; but unfortunately an aver
age man cannot use it to much effect. It is
too impersonal and too complicated. Per
haps the best advice here is a caution against
glittering generalities purporting to be taught
by history.
The best way-mark is Christ Jesus the
Lord. His life and his word have perfect
and comprehensive power over human lives
submitted to their control. They act upon
us through our admiration of Christ’s gra
cious person and self-renouncing love;
through our affection for his character and
our reverence for his nature ; through our
belief in his divine mission and our faith in
his perfect power ,- through our devotion to
his service, and our hope of immortal life in
him. And this way-mark without us is of
small service to us if we have not the affec
tions and dispositions, the temper and pur
pose, that are in him. Until our sympathies
and volitional states come to a degree of
harmony with the life of our Lord, we shall
not see him clearly enough to follow him.
This is a lamp that must be hung in the soul
of the pilgrim, which the sailor must hide in
the sanctuary of his heart. Christ must both
be in us and far, far above us ; a presence
by adoring faith, a sovereignty by rever
ential awe. With this lamp, you can tra
verse the stormy seas aud reach Home. — N.
Y. Methodist.
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
telliDg her some story connected with her
past life. It was much the same Bort 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, aud I felt that life had more
trials than I could well hear, but by-and-by
all my dia'rust vanished, and Jcsub ‘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 help
ed me to carry my cross; and now I am old
and gray-headed, he still smooths all my way;
ahd he will smooth all your way, too, if you
trust him.”
The Saviour did smooth her way, even in
the dark valley of the shadow of death; and
if you, too, reader, but trust in a living Sa
viour, 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
tbe trials of life; care is planted on the brow,
and the human heart often becomes heavy
aud 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 gloom 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 aftlicted? He gives you patience
and resignation, and confidence in the pro
mise, “As thy day, so shall thy strength be.”
A poor old lady who had told many a 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 I used to do it
as well as I could; and now 1 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 sufficient
for thee.’
Are you nearing the gates of death? He
gives you the holy triumph to exclaim, ‘His
own right hand and 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 riches which perish not, pleasures which
have no bitterness, fountains which are never
dry; then you will have repose of spirit, taste
heavenly joys, and be fully satisfied.
And when the curtain of death rises, which
separates time from eternity, you will enter"
upon an eternity of love, of true unfading
joys. On earth yon often wear the crown of
sorrow, but it will then be exchanged for an
eternal crown that fadeth not away.
“Ah 1 there the wild tempest forever shall
cease; !
No billow shall ruffle that heaven of peace.
Temptation and trouble alike shall depart—
All tears from the eyes, and all sin from the
heart.” Selected.
DRIVEN TO THE BIBLE.
One of the uses of affliction is to drive us
to the Word of God for counsel and com
fort. 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 sim
ply upon God, then it is that we want to
know what it is our privilege to obtain from
God by prayer; what God has done for
others under similar circumstances ; what
our best course may be under our peculiar
trials, and how we may find relief. These
teachings aud directions are in the Bible for
us, but how few search them out or get a
correct understanding of their practical im
port without being led to see and feel their
need of them. The closest Bible-reader
will find occasion, in times of affliction, to
search more diligently for the deep things ot
God, as revealed to us in His Word. After
all, we should not wait to be thus driven to
the Bible, but should make ourselves so
familiar with its promises, that we might al
ways have them at hand when we need the
directions and the comforts 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
first being brought into such a state of de
pendency 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 strength atone. Then it is
that we want to know more of God. Then
it is that we fly to His blessed Word. And,
as a hungry man relishes food, so do we rel
ish 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 leadß 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 iu it doth medi
tate day and night; and blessed be God for
that discipline in life that leads us to discover
the hidden treasures of His precious Word I
The Measure ok Faith. —A Christian sail
or, who lost one of his legs in the battle of
Trafalgar, said that he could very often meas
ure the faith of the people who conversed
with him by the way in which they alluded
to his misfortune. Nine out of ten would
exclaim, “What a pity that you lost your legl ’ ’
and only one in ten, “What a blessing that the
other was preserved.”
F. M. KENNEDY, D. D., Editor
J. W. BURKE, Assistant Editor
A. G. HAYGOOD, D. D., Editorial Correspondent
WHOLE NUMBER 2013.
MISCELLANEA.
The total contributions for the Southern
Presbyterian Churchi for the fiscal year
amounted to $1,138,681, from a membership
of 112,183.
One hundred years ago there were 700
Congregationalist churches in the United
States; now there are 3,500, with a mem
bership of 350,000.
Dr. William Butler secured at Martha’s
Vineyard $450 tor the translation of the
“Life of Hester Ann Rogers” into Spanish
for the use of his Mission in Mexico, ou
condition that the work be dedicated to Mrs.
Gov. J. A. Wright.
Let us strive that the days we spend on
earth be well spent. Question not as to
whether our lives be long or short. Leave
that to God, and live for this present mo
ment, and seek to memorialize it by some
deed for the good of others.
A calculation has been made of the aver
age contribution per member in the leading
denominations of this country for foreign
missions. The Methodists give forty-three
cents a member, the Presbyterians a little
more, the Baptists a little lesß, and the Epis
copalians thirty-eight cents.
The United Presbyterian Mission Board,
in view of their diminished, receipts, are not
going to send two of their missionaries, with
their families, back to Egypt. The indebt
edness of the board is uow $18,600, the av.
erage monthly expenses are $6,000, and the
monthly receipts duriug the Summer not over
$3,000
The Catholic Review reports that the
Xavier Union of New York has taken the
initial steps toward celebrating the episcopal
jubilee of the Pope next year by a pilgrim
age of American Papists to Rome. A com
mittee has been appointed to confer with
other Roman Catholic organizations through
out the country.
The churches which by far outstrip all
others in contributions to benevolent objects
are the First Presbyterian Church of New
York City, of which Dr. Paxton is pastor,
which gives over $97,000 to benevolence,
and the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church,
of which Dr. Hall is pastor, which gave to
the same causes over $95,000, as reported
in the Minutes of this year.
The Church Missionary Society has pushed
its preparation for the Victoria Nyanza Mis
sion in interior Africa very rapidly. Scarcely
more than half a year has elapsed since the
project was first discussed, and the whole
missionary party is already 5u East Africa.
The expedition consists of seven persous—a
clergyman, a naval officer, a physician, a
civil engineer, a lay missionary, aud two ar
tisans.
Evangelical Churches in Europe are co
pying after the American Suuday-school
system. France has now one thousand
schools, eighty-four of which are iu Paris.
A Suuday-school agent, who visited 108
places in Germany, found 28-schools—four
conducted by clergymen, the rest by trades
men, workmen, and farmers. In Schlig the
Countess of Goetz is the head of a school—
-22 teachers and 260 scholars.
It is said that the oldest church edifice in
America, except a Romish church in St.
Augustine, is St. Luke’s, Isle of Wight coun
ty, Virginia, about five miles from Smith
field. It was built as early as 1635, and
after being rootless for a country, tbe present
roof was put on somewoere between 1830
and 1835. It is now used for worship, aud
the grounds around it are used for burial.
Its thick walls and high tower are still
strong.
The New York Post says: The various
assemblies of a social and religious charac
ter in the country and at the seaside, this
Summer, indicate an increasing and signifi
cant disposition, to turn the vacation to se
rious account, and perhaps, to end in an
important organization of Summer Chris
tianity. The statistics of meetings of this
kind during the present season, rise into
surprising numbers, and there is an increase
of Summer and seaside settlements, whose
Summer residents intend to combine health
with edification. Some of the seaside meet
ings have numbered nearly 10,000.
The British Wesleyan Conference adjourn
ed at Nottingham, on Friday, August 11th.
The President of the Conference delivered a
brief address before the closing hymn and
prayer. His final words were; “Everything
indicates that we are in an era of glorious re
vival. If we are faithful to the purposes that
God seems to unfold to us, as he has done
this Conference, 1 have no doubt that during
the next year we shall see more souls gath
ered to Christ than we have ever seen. Eve
rything in this Conference has been so mark
ed with the presence of the God of our fath
ers, the God of Israel, that whenever we re.
vert to our conversations, and prayers, and
songs of praise, we shall feel quickened to
go on with increased diligence in our holy
toil. I trust that none of us will be wanting
when the Lord makes up his jewels. 1 must
not detain you. The hour is late. We are
all one in Christ, and we all trust by aud by
to be with Christ.”
Dr. Moxier Williams, the distinguished
Sanskirt scholar, giving his impressions of
India in the London Times, writes : “With
regard to Christianity and its prospects iu
India, I will only say that I believe the best
work done by the missionaries is in their
schools. In some important places, such as
Benares, the missionary schools are more
popular than those of the Government, al
though the Bible is read and religious in
struction given iu the former, and not iu the
latter. Education is, indeed, causing a
great upheaving of old creeds and supersti
tions throughout India, and the aucieut for
tress of Hinduism is iu this way being grad
ually undermined. The educated classes
look with contempt on idolatry. In fact,
the present condition of India seems very
similar to that of the Roman Empire before
the coming of Christ. A complete disinteg
ration of ancient faith is in progress in the
upper strata of society.”
A correspondent of the New York Times
says: “ In the Roman Forum considerable
progress is made, and for some time past
the front of the Temple of Antoninus and
Faustina has been uncovered to its founda
tions, and the Buperb columns of the kind of
marble called cipollino, which resembles
sage cheese, are now seen in all the beauty
of their fine proportions. The road which
passed by the front of this temple has been
laid bare, and we see the pavement of great
blocks of blue lava, of which all the high
roads of the Romans were constructed,
worn into inequalities by the feet of the
thronging multitudes of the ancient time.
Many articles are found, in metal, in mar
ble, and in terracotta, and sometimes coins
and gems, all of which go into the museums
to be catalogued and laid out lor the inspec
tion of the students of history, arcbteology,
and art, and that larger class of virtuosi and
curious idlers who stroll through Rome
every year,”