Newspaper Page Text
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Southern Christian locate.
MACON,GEORGIA. .JANUARY 29, 1878
“SOME PLAIN QUESTIONS.”
Uuder this bead, a correspondent inter
rogatively sets forth his views, as a Metho
dist, upon certain matters, and invokeß an
opinion from others, through the Advocate.
We do not propose to consider his questions
seriatim and to respond to them in detail;
but we regard the occasion of his communi
cation opportune for announcing our hearty
endorsement of “A Methodist’s” manifest
repugnance to ail scenic representations, in
the way of tableaux, concerts, etc., of Scrip
ture scenes or characters, lhe training and
tendency, i3 all in the wrong direction, fatal
to a wholesome reverence for sacred things,
and fraught with ultimate evil consequences,
iar more disastrous than such as are inline
diately apparent. It is in our conscientious
judgment, an unholy alliance between things
sacred and profane, which weakens faith in
the divine declaration “no man can Berve
two masters,” prostitutes and profanes to the
service of the world the influence that should
be wielded solely in behalf of “whatsoever
things are true—honest—just—pare—lovely
and of good report,” and has no ground upon
which it can claim, or hope for, t he approval
and blessing of God. The practical authority
of Scripture over the individual life is pro
portioned to the reverence in which it is held
as the very word of God. As Christians
therefore, -whether.we are called Methodists,
or by any oilier denominational name, it
solemnly behooves us to abstain from, and
so far, at least, rebuke, whatever diminishes
reverence for the sanctity of tho inspired
writings. That such travesties and trifling
as almost necessarily characterize all at
tempts to personate Scripture characters,
and illustrate Scripture story by living tab
leaux, must have this effect, we hardly think
can long be doubted by any one who will take
the trouble to observe, and seriously reflect
on the subject. If such performances are of
questionable propriety, aud if the moral effect
of them is even doubtful in its nature, this is
enough to deny them the auspices and en
couragement of the Church. The fact that
such entertainments are given in aid of
Church funds, so far from sanctifying, and
purging them from evil that would otherwise
attach to them, it seems to us, invests them
with the additional harmfulness of f urnishing
opportunity to Church members to delude
themselves with the thought that they can
sacrifice acceptably to God with blemished
offerings that cost them nothing.
We have given our views on tins subject
from a sense of du'y. knowing at the same
time, that some whom we delight to honor
as conscientious and useful Christians, see
no harm in these things and approve and
promote them. We would not impugn their
piety, nor question fora moment their sin
cerity and devotion. There are those, we
doubt not. entertaining adverse views from
ours on this subject, whose shoe latchets we
are not worthy to loose. Yet, we cannot but
think they are in error ; and we would rejoice
iftheycould be prevailed on to refuse their
cooperation i:i oricfluer.ee to. entertainments
and methods of raising Church money, which
have not the unqualified approbation of the
Church at large. We may be in error as to
the extent of evil involved in such matters
as are deprecated by our correspondent’s
questions; we cannot be mistaken in our
convictions that they are repugnant to the
genius of Methodism, if they are not viola
tive of the letter of its law.
A GOOD MOVE.
The ladies of Mulberry Street Church, Ma
con, have organized, under encouraging aus
pices. a Woman’s Missionary Socie'v
; ■ ini>-s to boro-v.e a power for
not oil’* : idln? ’o ■be work
■
A SORE LOSS.
We were startled aud pained beyond ex
pression this morning—our publication day
—by the announcement of the death of Dr.
Osborn L. Smith. A telegram, which is all
the information received up to our time for
going to press, was received last evening,
the 24th, by his brother, Dr. C. W. Smith,
of Wesleyan Female College, announcing his
death and summoning the latter immediately
to Oxford. As there was no information of
previous illness, we take it for granted that
his death must have been instantnueoua. We
record this painful item with emotions of
peculiar sorrow. Dr. Smith was one whose
loss will be deeply felt by the Church, and
whose death creates vacancies which will net
be easily filled. With pulpit qualifications
of a high order, he was peculiarly, we might
say preeminently, fitted by natural endow
ments and scholastic culture for the educa
tional and religions training of youth; so that
his life-work has been, at the mandate of the
Church, divided between the pastorate and
the Professor's chair. In each position he
acquitted himself with unimpeachable fidel
ity, and whether in the pulpit or the lecture
room, his work demonstrated him ‘' a work
man that needeth not to be ashamed.” The
social qualities of our now glorified brother
were of the most engaging’type, and drew to
him hosts of devoted friends. We doubt if
there is administer in Georgia whose death
would bring the sorrow of personal bereave
ment to a greater number of hearts. With
a genial disposition, a warm, loving, getter
ous heart, a fertile mind and fluent longue,
and an inexhaustible store of rich, pellucid
humor, his attractiveness was never long in
transforming casual acquaintances into life
long friends. Wherever he was personally
known the shadow of a deep sorrow will
come with the announcement of his death.
He has (alien, midway the match of life, ere
yet he had reached the zenith of his strength.
We cannot understand ; but with bowed
bear’s, we can confide in the unerring wis
dom and abounding love of Him who has
thus suddenly summoned His servant to the
skies, and with unutterable sympathy com
mend to His compassion and care the stricken
ones who realize life’s most poignant aor
row in this dispensation.
MARVIN MEMORIAL.
We copy the communication
from the Nashville Christian Advocate :
Mr. Editor:— I am requested by Bishop
Marvin’s family to say, as their pastor, that
thev are not in destitute circumstances so as
to be objects of charity, nor have thev con
sented to be so represented before the Church.
To this I would add, as one of the Execu
tive Committee of the Marvin Memorial As
sociation, that in the appeal made t) the
Church by said Association this point was
carefully guarded. The objects of this As
sociation were appropriately and designedly
stated to be a monument first, and then a
home, thereby indicating that the latter, as
well as the former, was to be regarded as an
expression solely of esteem for Bishop Mar
vin, and gratitude for his services, aud not as
au act of charity to his family.
The family. I have reason to believe,
would feel no humiliation in consenting to
accept such a tribute to the Bishop’s memo
ry.
The gentlemen placed in charge of this
matter, by the Association, are fully aware
of Bishop Marvin’s simplicity of character
and taste, and will be guilty of no ostenta
tion or extravagant expenditure of money
upon the proposed monument.
The papers of our Church are requested
to publish this. J. G. Wilson.
St. Louis, Mo., Dec. 29, 1877.
Death oe Rev. Z. D. Cottrell —The fol
lowing touching note informs us of the death
of a most exemplary and useful maD. The
surviving brother aud daughter have our sin
cerestcondolence and sympathy:
Russellville, Ky., Jan. 18, 1878.
Dear Doctor: A letter from my neiee,
Miss Ida Cottrell, tells me of the death of my
.'- Rag Z. t) Gpttrell. in
SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.
Fishburne. I will not widow Claudia, for I
do not intend to shoot at him.
“ W. S. H.”
He kept his word, and only fired his pistol
into the air as he fell mortally wounded an
der the well directed fire of Fishburne.
Fishburne and his party went away ; the
dying man was hauled to a hospital in Sa
vannah, where he died on the Tuesday after.
We have seen a quotation from a sermon
of Chiliingsworth’s, before Charles 1., that
fits this case and every case like it:
“Howl a man’s blood for an injurious,
passionate speech—for a disdainful look?
Nay, that is not all: that thou mayest gain
among men the reputation of a discreet, well
temnered murderer, be sure thou killest him
not in passion, when thy blood is hot and boil
ing with the provocation; but proceed with as
great temper and settledness of reason, with
as much discretion and preparedness as thou
wouldst to the communion: after several
davs’ respite, that it may appear it is thy
reason guides thee, and not thy passion, ine
vite him kiudly and courteously into com
retired place, and there let it be determined
whether his blood or thine shall satisfy the
injury.”
So many great people have been mixed up
in duels and so many small people are so
touchy on the subject, that men sometimes
express themselves rather mildly and eu
pheumistically, and speak of an “ affair of
honor,” and such like. The prophet says :
“ Woe unto them that call good evil, and
evil good,” It is an affair of dishonor. It
is murder—pure and simple. This killed
man was murdered ; the killer is a murderer
And these “seconds” are parti ceps criminis.
The victim’s blood cries against them also.
If this killing of Harley was not murder,
what is murder? If killing a man “with
malice aforethought ;” if killing a man in
cold blood and deliberately, can constitute
murder, Harley was murdered. Unless his
acceptance of a challenge, his agreeing to be
shot at, can repeal all laws that forbid man
killing—both human and divine. Suppose
they had fired simultaneously and both men
had fallen ? Then there would have been two
murdered men aud two murderers. Suppose
that Harley had fired at Fishburne and miss
ed? Then there would have been one mur
dered man, one murderer, and one man who
attempted to commit murder. Unless, some
one can prove that the sending of a challenge
and the accepting of a challenge has some
mysterious power which can, as to the prin
cipals and their seconds, repeal all laws that
are enacted for the protection of life and the
peace of the country.
The papers sometimes bring their articlea
and items into singular relations. The At
lanta Constitution, in its issue of Wednes
day, the lOtb, contains over a column, copied
from the S ivatmah Mews, giving minute de
tails of the quarrel, the meeting, the princi
pits, their seconds, the shooting, the result
The hotel where they spent the night before
the meeting is given. This minute account
is followed by a telegram from Savannah
which read as follows :
Savannah, January 15.—W.S. Harley died
to day. The coroner’s jury returned a ver
dict that the deceased came to his death from
a gunshot wound inflicted by some person
unknown to the jury.”
No doubt in as large a place as Savannah
a jury might be brought together that would
not know anything—although published in
the papers and talked of on the streets. But
what sort of a coroner’s jury is this? Wbat
is a coroner for? “Coroner” is from the
La'in corona, crown. Hence, one writer
says:
“ I take that this cometh because that the
death of every subject by violence is account
ed to touch the crown of the prince, aud to
be a detrimentunto it.”
So the coroner, in a true and important
sense, represents the crown, the majesty of
the State. If this Savannah coroner knew
what he wns about and was sincere in his
efforts to represent in a fitting manner the
dignity of the State of
der Recollections oflrene Mscgillicuddt—
Part ii; French Home Life—No. 1. Rel g
ion ; Schools of Mind and Manners ; Trans
lations from Heine. The Fall of Plevna:
Peace or War; The Storm in the East —Part
viii.
Harper’s Magazine, for February con
tains besides, the regularly well filled de
partments, aud elegant illustrations : Along
our.lersey Shore ; The Fieschi Conspiracy;
A Return — A Poem ; Punished Enough—A
Story; The Dumnow Flitch, 1877 ; Joseph
Mallord William Turner; Macleod of Dare
—A Novel; The Return of the
Novel; The Turkish Wars with the Hospi
talers; A Glimpse at Some of our Charities
—Parti; Nobody’s Business —A Story; A
Painter on Painting.
Scribner’s Monthly. —The number for
February, which is called by the publishers
the “Mid winter Scribner,” and of which
100.000 copies have been issued, is excep
tionally brilliant, bo'h in the profnsion of
its illustrations aud the excellence of its let
ter-press. Among the most noticeable ar
tides are: Moose Hunting; A California
Mining Camp; Recent Church Decoration ;
Hamming Bird of the California Water-
Falls; The New Rudder Grange; Washing
ton’s Only Sister; The College Rank of Dis
tinguished Men. The serials by Miss Traf
ton and Eiward Eggleston are continued,
and the publishers announce for new sub
seribers, a pamphlet containing the previous
installments of “Roxy,” and the two Rud
der Grange stories heretofore published. Dr.
Holland has a forcible word to say about
Church debts, “in his Topics of the Time.”
‘.‘l NEVER WISHED FOR S2O,OOOuSO
JIL’Cil IX 31V LIFE.’*
A few weeks before Bishop Marvin’s
death, he uttered these words. But the
good man died poor,leaving however, a name
which no millionaire can purchase with all
his wealth. He did not wish for this amount,
because he saw a fine opening in stocks, or
because he wished to move into a more
fashionable street in St. Louis. But he saw
a field of religious effort, in which, he be
lieved the amount could be well invested.
When money can be made so useful, the&
is responsibility somewhere, for its being
hoarded in “infamously large, unproductive
piles.” That expression of the deceased
Bishop, came to mind just now. as we looked
over a paragraph, ou the first page of a book,
which we have just read aud re-read with
nnusuallinterest.
Mr. H- nry N. Sage, of Brooklyn, in 1871,
gave to Yale College 1 the sum of ten thous
and dollars for the founding of a Theological
Lectureship.” This amount enables the
College to secure each year, a course of lec
tures, by a minister of the gospel, qt_any
evangelical denomination who has been
markedly successful in the special work of
the Christian ministry.” Drs. Hall, and Tay
lor of New York, and Dale of England have
delivered, each, a course which has been
published. The volume before us, consists
of the lectures delivered in .1 auuary and Feb
ruary, 1877, by Rev. Philips Brooks, the
well known Episcopal minister of Boston.
Perhaps, if I were a young minister, I might
not see all in this book, that I can now see
But if I did, it would probaly cost me some
sleepless hours. It is emphatically a wise
book. The library of Harvard College would
not have enabled a man to write these lec
tures. They bear the inimitable stamp o’
experience. Mr. Brooks has a large heart,
and if you could strip him of his gown, his
ordination, and his title Rev. he would still
be a large, well rounded, wise and earnest
man. We have written off some simple,
disconnected sentences, which we hope,
may furnish matter for thought to the readers
of the Advocate. After writing them, we
nicked nn the
The sermon which only argues is almost
sti r e to argue in vain, and the sermon which
only exhorts, is like a man who blows the
wood and coal, to which he has not first put
a light.
According to the largeness of your own
Caristirn life, will be your power to preach
that laigest sermon.
If you have anything to say. and say it
bravely and simply, men will come to hear
you.
Many a minister’s old sermons, are scat
tered all over with ideas, which he never
held, but which once held him for a week,
like the camps in other men’s fores’s, where
a wandering hunter ba3 camped for a single
night.
He must not. be always trying to make
sermons, but always s. eking truth, and out
of the truth which he hua won, the sermons
will make themselves.
Some truth which oue has long known,
stirred to peculiar activity by something that
has happened, or by contact with some other
mind, makes the best sermon ; as the best
dinner comes not from a hurried raid upon
the caterer’s, but from the resources of a
constantly well furnished house.
Comsjwnbeita.
THE NASHVILLE PREACHERS’ MEET
ING.
Mr. Editor: One muddy, misty, murky,
moody Monday morning, many Methodifct
ministers met in the mission room of the
Publishing House in the city of Nashville,
Tennessee, and tlii< Easy Chair found itself
cosily seated in their midst., ail rockers and
pars—specially ears, to near the wise and
witty words of this grave body of divines. It.
was a Preachers’ Meeting; now, the Preach
jers’ Meeting has become an institution fo
modern Methodism, and mod-rn Methodism
may be as good as ancient Methodism with
the Preachers’ Meeting thrown iu. What
w’uM Boston be without its Preachers’ Meet
ing? How soon the everlasting fires of old
abolitionism would go out. in that valley of
H inn on but for the Preachers’ Meeting? And
New York, with it Wall Street gamblers, its
Tweeds, Beechers and Fro h,oghams ! How
could they be reminded of the tires that are
never quenched and the worm that never
dies, but for the Preachers’Meeting ? In
deed, a Preachers' Meeting §is a very useful
institution in a variety of ways. Every re
spectable city bliouid have one, and no city
can afford to have more than one. In this
respect Nadiville i.s not a whit behind Bos
ton, New York, Cincinnati, St. Louis, or
any other first class city. The Preachers’
Meeting, as such, is not a special city luxu
ry. It is rather a necessity of Monday morn
ing. Our mothers used to tell us, that
“necesfity is the mother of invention ;” and
any we!! conditioned Preachers’ Meeting can
answer to this motherly condition of necessi
ty. And our fathers told us, that “necessi
ty knows no law.” This, too, may be af
firmed of a well-regulated Preacher’s Meet
ing. So the Easy Chair can easily believe.
The “beloved Presiding Eider,” the city
and country pastors ol the Nashville District,
visitors, loafers and beggars, made up the
Preachers’ Meeting in which the Easy Chair
sat on the morning referred to. There were
old and young preachers, bearded and beard
less preachers ; big heads aud bald heads :
long heads aud level heads; wise and witty
preachers; good preachers and preachers
not so good ; Bishops, Secretaries, Editors,
Agents, etc., in the perspective o c the Easy
Chair. The aforesaid Preachers’ Meeting
had. for some time, it appears, been ham
mering away at the Ritual of the Church —
that is, had opened a tinker's shop And
why may not a Preachers’ Meeting go into
the tinkering business? And why may it
not tinker at the Ritual? Now, it. is con
ceded that every Church should have a
Ritual; and every Ritual should need tinker
ing if it wan'd make tpc Mae.Ju^
House. Dec. 31st, 1877, called themselves
the Preachers’ Meeting of the Nashville Dis
trict, but there being no quorum present they
proceeded to adjourn and did adjourn ; part
of the assemby retiring and part remaining.
Dr. McFerrin was present during this meet
ing but was not a part of the assembly. He
neither spoke nor was spoken to, and knew
not when nor how the assembly had assem
bled. Ten minutes later the Secretary en
tered accompanied by brothers Bolton,
Briusfield, Doss, Martin, Leftwich, Cherry,
Matthis and others. The President informed
the meeting that there would be no meeting,
because the meeting had adjourned, and
proceeded to read to the meeting whicli had
been adjourned, the statutes of the State of
Tennessee, on the marital relation, which
was commented on by the brethren.”
Thus endeih the reading. Tha scribe's
witticisms will not sparkle outside of the
Preachers’ Meeting as they did ou the insid"
until this Easy Chair came near being upset.
It will be seen that the work on the marriage
ceremony is not complete. Work was sus
pended ou this job until the aforesaid bach
elor could go to see his moth ;r, and, pns ,i
b!y, his prospective mother in law. After
his return the job will be completed ; and
after the marriage ceremony will come the
“baptism of infants,” followed shortly by
the “funeral service ” ar.d so on with the
entire ritual of the Church.
This work i.s intended to aid the Commit
tee on Revisals at, the General Conference
soon to meet in Atlanta. Much of it is wise
ly done, and in addition to the social cheer
that it sends into the preacher's heart cn a
blue Monday morning, it furnishes something
useful upou which to exercise his critical
gifts and logical graces, quickened by th”
experiences of bis pastoral work in the uses
of the ritual. Afier the ritual is finished
the Sunday school methods, the Advocates
the Publishing House, the Episcopacy and
anything else that nee Is revising may be
passed through this reformatory, or tink
ering establishment, where the very best
tinkers are always on hand, and the best
work can be done in that particular line —
which is a specialty—and at the lowe it rates.
The establishment being fuliy endorsed and
recommended to the public by the
Easy Chair.
MARIETTA, GEORGIA.
Dear Bro. Kennedy : I do not write to
report receptions, donations, etc., for yon
have tabooed them —whether wisely or un
wisely, I cannot tel], for it is a matter that
has not cost me much thought—but to speak
of the town and Church for edification ol
such of your readers as may be interested in
our common Methodism, or in Marietta in
particular, and, that something explanatory
may be said of myself.
The last shall be first. For once iu 23
years I felt constrained to request a change
of appointment after the appointments were
read out, as we say. I have interposed ob
jection twice before to appointments that,
rumor, or some leaky brother, intimated that
I was to receive. I never asked a Bishop or
presiding elder where my appointment would
be since I have been an itinerant, and but
twice have I ever intimated more than this :
“I am a one-year man, don’t send me back.”
But lk ; s time I did seek a change of appoint
merit for good reasons, and did not get it
because, as it now appears, God’s hand wt.s
iu my coming to Marietta.
leant explain, my brethren will believe
me, that I never would have sought a change,
had I not believed it a necessity. But lam
here, and here to stay, unless it becomes
necessary to remove me, or unless the hand
of death be laid upon me. lam au itiner
ant, and am a Methodist preacher, ask for
no favor personalty, am willing to go any-
was worth more than can be computed to
this Church and community, has passed
away. Reference is made, it need not be
said to those who know Marietta, to Mrs.
Mildred J. Waterman. “The weary wheels
at length stood still.” He life was faith and
hops and charity, her end was peace, quiet
ness and assurance. A large concourse gath
ered a! the Methodist Church, on Sabbath
afternoon, to honor her remains with funeral
rites, lhe Presbyterian and Baptist pas
tors, Bro. Richardson, for it was his quar
terly meeting day, and her pastor, all took
part in the solemn, sad, yet joyful services.
She had lived well, she had lived long, she
had died in the faiLlt— we wept, but we also
rejoined. But I must not anticipate her
obituary which Bro. W. F. Cook will pre
pare and send to yon.
And now, let me close this long, rambling,
disconnected epistle, with the request that,
should the editors of the Advocate travel in
this direction, thev will tarry long enough to
know Marietta for themselves, to share the
hospitality of its Lesters, Phillipses, and
others.
Your brother, H. J. Adams.
1 was surprised and gratified to find sister
E. H. Myers, and her kind family residents
of Marietta and members of my charge.
CHURCH PAPERS AND THEIR CIRCU
LATION.
Mr. Editor : Dr. Haygood, in a recent
number of the Advocate gave some very
pertinent fan’s and figures concerning the
circala’ion of Church literature Norlh and
South. In point of figures the Southern
Church does not make a vary fair showing
ft would be well for the newspaper men to
look to the bottom of this question, inas
much as the General Conference is approach
ing, at which our Onurch literature will
doubtless receive a general discussion, and
some changes may be made.
Well, why are not our papers taken by our
own people? It may be that they are too
poor, or that they have acquired no taste for
reading; or, pirhaps, agents and circulars
and premiums aud club rates and chromos
are wanting. Or, perchance, many of oar
people, good simple minded farmers as they
are, make up their minds that certain papers
are poor, and hive bat. little iu them, and as
soon as their tine is out they quit. Then
they either take no paper at all, ar take one
that suits their tastes better. Of course we
all know hotv to make readable papers aud
magazines. Nothing easier. Just make
your paper like- —— and your magazine
like . then the subscribers will come in
by the fcore.
It has been suggested by one who has nev
er spent a whole day in an editor's sanctum
that the great need of our Southern Church
is about the following : Let 113 have one or
gan, a Church paper, which shall be made
equally attractive to the reader in Maryland
and Texas, to the grave Professor aud the
humble mechanic or farmer. Rile out all
reports and news of a local nature, all obitu
ary notice.? ; in fact everything which is not
of general interest. Have something for
every body, but. do not inflict on the readers
in Virginia a whole page of reports from the
Missouri Conference, That will kill any
paper, if not the readers.
After the Church paper is established, let
each Conference, or two adjoining Confer
ences, have its own paper. In that, local
news could be inserted. Space could be
given for short reports as to the progress of
various charges. Church work in detail
coaid bs discussed. It might ba permissi
ble now and then for the junior preacher to
see hi/nseltin print there. A hundred things,
not to he allowed in the Church orgau, could
come up in the Conference paper. Rule out
from this paper only long editorials "j and
obitu iry notices.
VOLUME XLI., NO. 4.
Numerous other modes of procedure are ex
tant, all illegal, which might serve to show
the enormous proportions of this trouble,
but I forbear.
Brethren, 1 have been “ perplexed,” aud
almost “ in despair,” or I would not have
written, in the face of my chronic dread of
getting into the wrong place.
I find, furthermore, that there are some
eccentrics and cams in our ritualism, where
the movements should be regular and uni
form. I was accused last year of departure
from the ritual of our Church, to my great
surprise, and mortification, too, for the im
pression that I had done so wounded the
feelings of some parties concerned in trans
action referred to.
In conversation with a young man who
was of sufficient intelligence to be con
sidered a representative man in the com
munity, I found that he, as well as a num
ber of others, had viewed my course as an
irregular one, simply because two or three
pastors at that place had pursued a different
one, and thereby established a precedent,
which they thought legal. On this, 7 may
have erred, but felt sure I was right then ;
aud if I am wrong, I want to be set right, anfP
therefore state the case : I extended tberight
hand of fellowship myself, as agent for the
Church, while my predecessor had called up
on the eutire membership of the Church.
Then someone, entertaining bad feeling to
ward that community of brethren, told those
whom I had received in this way, that I did
it because the Church refused to fellowship
them. Hence the trouble, aud discussion
of the subject.
Now, which of us must come to the book ?
Robt. P. Maktyn.
Varnell's, Ga,, Jan. 22, 1878.
SOME PLAIN QUESTIONS.
Editor Advocate : Is it right to make
stage plays of Bible scenes ? Is it not taking
too great a liberty with sacred things? Does
it not show a want of proper reverence for
such things? or is not likely tc detract from
that reverence which is usually attached to
and natural to feel for the Word of God and
lhe doings and sayings of our Lord Je
sus Christ? Can the avowed or actual pur
pose of obtaining means to promote Church
finances (no mat’er how needy) be a justifia
ble cause for resorting to the making of a
concert, or public entertainment, of the para
bles of Christ? Can it be that any poor hu
man creature by stage-acting, />r any means
of imitating, can make these teachings of the
Son of God more impressive or better under
stood than He did ? Is not such a sugges
tion, or attempt, an insult to God himself?
Did not Christ give the lessons and appoint
Hi3 ministers to teach and explain them to
the people, aud do not these duties devolve
upon the ministry rather than upon stage
performers or concert players?
Is it not setting a bad example when mem
bers of the Church—especially the Method
ist Church—commend such things? Will
not the ungodly world catch at the idea at
once, if it seems likely to “pay,” and will
not the sacred scenes of the Bible be dragged
into theatres, common plays, aud even the
concerts of the circus? And is there any
Christian man or woman who can contem
plate such a thing for a moment without a
shudder of horror? While these people can,
of course, if they choose, at any time so use
these holy things, yet, let it be repeated, are
not members of the Church assuming a grave
responsibility when they set the example?
Is not such a beginning but a step toward
a worse ending ?
Have not the Roman Catholics, and iu
some parts the Episcopalians, invaded with
irreverent hands the sacredness of the Cru
cifixion itself, and hoisted before the gaze of
an eager crowd a man bound hand and foot
tortures