Newspaper Page Text
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OFFICE OF THE
CHRISTIAN
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Published by WALKER EVANS &
COGSWELL, for the M. E. Church South.
F. M. KENNEDY. D. D.
Rev. S. A. WEBER, A. M.
A Family Religious Paper, that should be
in every Methodist household.
As an Advertising Medium, it is first
class, being well and favorably known in
the South Atlantic States, where it has cir
culated largely for forty-one years.
Terms, $2.50 for one year, in advance;
Ministers of the M. E. Church South, are
Agents, to whom it is put at $1.25 a year.
Will give Agents’terms to all Ministers
who apply.
Specimen copies sent on application.
Estimates for Advertising promptly given.
?out!)mi Christian 'Jbboratt.
CHARLESTON,S. C., NOV. 2, 1878.
The Associate Editor is in charge
of the Advocate for the present.
We hope every subscriber, reader
and friend of the Southern Chris
tian Advocate will engage heartily
in the work of extending its circula
tion. Let every one do something in 1
this matter. Send us the address of
parties who would like to see sample
copies.
“ The Way of Holiness’’ Chattanoo
ga, Term., is now issued semi-monthly,
instead of monthlj’ as heretofore, in
an eight page quarto form, giving
twice the amount of reading formerly
given, while the prieo is but 51.25 a
year. Subscribers to this journal in
South Carolina will bo interested in
this notice. It is edited and publish
ed by Rev. Wm. Baker.
Death of Rev. Daniel DuPre.
This venerable man of God died on
the 15th uit., at the residence of his
son, at McClellanville. He was a
good and true man. He was the head
of a large and very respectable family.
Dr. Warren DuPre, of Martha Wash
ington Female College, in Virginia,
was one of his sons. Brother Gantt
sends us the notice of his death, and
promises that an appropriate obituary
will be furnished in due time.
Mrs. Caroline Stoll died in Charles
ton, on last Saturday. She was the
mother of Mr. H. C. Stoll of this city,
and of the Rev. James C. Stoll of the
South Carolina Conference. Appro
priate funeral services were conducted
by the pastor of the deceased, Rev.
W. C. Power, at Trinity Church, on
Monday, the 28th ult. She had been
for many years a member of the Meth
odist Church, and died in the faith of
the gospel, which she adorned in her
life.
We desire to call special attention
to the advertisement of an Industrial
Exhibition, which the Agricultural
Society of South Carolina has deter
mined to hold at the Military Hall,
in Charleston, during the second week
in December. This advertisement oc
curs this week for the second time in
our paper. We are glad of a conven
ient opportunity cf calling attention
to this matter. The purpose of the
Society is to give encouragement to
the mechanic arts and industrial pur
suits. Premiums will be awarded for
every department of husbandry, man
ufacturing, machinery and works of
art. Ladies are expected to send con
tributions of their taste and skill.
Competitive industry may be a valua
ble means of developing the resources
of our country, and of developing our
own resources of genius and skill.
With an increase of opportunities of
this kind, we will increase in material
wealth and intelligent labor.
SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.
A brother, alluding to a sermon ho
had lately preached, says : “1 preach
ed from the text, ‘ I am the light of
the world,’ but never got in the dai’k
so badly in my life.” This rather
surprises us. When we had heard
him, he had brought us from dark
ness into light, as he unfolded the
mysteries of the truth, as the truth is
in Jesus. We concluded perhaps the
good, modest brother uuderrates his
light-giving power. The fact is, like
him, we were in the dark. We didn’t
remain so long. His next sentence
shed a flood oflight on the subject : “ I
had not studied the subject, in fact my
sermon was almost impromtu.” We
can see through the matter now. We
have no doubt of it. He was in the
dark. Yes, he and his congregation.
With this difference, however—his
congregation was to be pitied ; he to
be blamed.
The Collections —lt was formerly
the habit in the South Carolina Con
ference to publish the minutes of our
Conference sessions and defray the ex
pense ot their publication by selling
them to the people. This plan did
not work well. It frequently, if not
uniformly, left the Committee of Pub
lication in debt. This debt, if dis
charged at all, was discharged by col
lections taken among the members of
the Conference, and others at our an
nual sessions. We have recently adopt
ed a different plan. Thus far it has
worked well. The Conference, by
resolution, provided that the amount
necessary for this purpose be appro
priated among the Presiding Elders,
and that they have immediate charge
of this interest. The idea is for each
charge to pay for the minutes in ad
vance of publication. The Presiding
Elder according to his judgment as
sesses the charges, and the charges
receive minutes in proportion to the
amount assessed and paid. The amount
called for this year is S4OO. The Rev.
A. M. Chrielzberg has been for the
several past years editor and publish
er of the minutes. The ability and
taste which he has exhibited in this
arduous work has been highly appre
ciated by his brethren, and his labors
tend very much to the improvement
of our financial interests, as well as to
the correctness of our statistics. A
copy of the minutes of the South Car
olina Conference is a useful book and
is worth much more than it costs.
Bishop Wightman.
The readers of the Advocate will
be obliged to us for the privilege of
reading this private letter of Bishop
Wightman to the Associate Editor.
The Bishop is followed by the sym
pathy and prayers of the church in
his arduous and difficult field ;
You see that I have reached this
city, after the long and wearisome
thousand miles staging I have had to
do, over mountain and plain, embra
cing nine nights in the stage wagons,
exposed to hostile Indians and to high
waymen, here and there. lam glad
to say that I have not had even a
finger-ache, in the way of sickness,
though in the way of hard “blows
and knocks” in these stage-wagons,
commend mo to Montana, and espe
cially Oregon. They are so swung as
to give a passenger two jolts and a
blow in the back in one movement, if
he happens to be the sole occupant of
the back seat. This was my case
several nights. But all that is with
the past. lam profoundly thankful
to the good providence of God, which
has brought me safely to the seat of
my Fourth Annual Conference, which
begins its session on the lGth instant.
I read out the appointments of the
Columbia Conference in Oregon, on
Monday night last, October 7th.
There were twenty-one traveling
preachers stationed, and two or three
supplies. The Conference has grown
in strength and influence considerably
since I presided in its session eight
years ago. I took the railroad from
Roseburg to Portland, early Tuesday
morning, and went on board the
steamship City of Chester, on the ar
rival of the train at Portland, in the
evening. Portland Is at the head of
navigation on the Willamette river, a
few miles above its junction with the
celebrated Columbia river. It is
nearly seven hundred miles above
San Francisco. We left at 5 o’clock
on Wednesday morning, reached As
toria at 2 P. M., were an hour or two
taking in freight, and then, with a
favorable tide crossed the bar and got
to sea by dark. This bar is difficult
and dangerous. The ship plunged
and rolled as we were passing over it,
as though she would actually turn
over. All that night and most of the
next day we had a heavy swell, as if
some great storm on the Pacific ocean
had sent its greetings to the iron
bound coast of Oregon. The remain
der of the voyage was pleasant. We
reached the Golden Gate of San Fran
cisco bay, before daylight on Sat
urday morning, and tied up at the
wharf at 6A. M. A note was handed
me that had been put into the purser’s
hand, from my friend McClelland,
Commissioner of the Port, giving me
instructions on what street to find his
residence, and I am his guest during
the Conference. I preached yester
day morning to a full house; admin
istered the sacrament of the Lord’s
Supper, and then went into the base
ment of the church and made a speech
to the Sunday-school children. To
day I am writing letters; among
them, this, with my best wishes to
you. Very faithfully,
W. M. Wightman.
San Francisco, Cal.
Mint, Anise and Cummin.
The rebuke of our Saviour of those
who, neglecting the weightier mat
ters of the law, tithe mint, anise and
cummin, is not out of date. As long
as there are Pharisees and hypocrites
in eocietj T and in the church, so long
will the demands of truth require
their condemnation.
We would cherish a godly jealousy
of the word and law of the Lord—
every jot and tittle of it. We would
not sacrifice its letter to its spirit, nor
its spirit to its letter.
Wo have in our mind those who for
get the Divine, orthodox order of the
developement of life and character.
They commence at the wrong place,
and work in the w r rong direction. In
stead of commencing at the centre
and working towards the circumfer
ence, from the purified heart to the
rectified life, they reverse this natural
order. They are religious egotists.
They are always thinking and talking
about themselves. . Their favorite
pronoun is the first person singular.
“ God, 1 thank thee that 1 am not as
other men are. I fast twice in the
week. I give tithes of all I possess.”
How frequently are we made to de
plore the grotesqueness of a one-sided
religion I
Just now we are thinking of one,
whom we wont designate by X., Y. or
Z., because these letters usually stand
in mathematical formulae for unknown
values. Welnow otirman. It would
scarcely be just to call him by name,
for he answers to several names. He
lives in every neighborhood we have
ever lived in. He is orthodox. Yes,
indeed. Orthodoxy is his doxy, and
heterodoxy is your doxy. He can
point you to the book, chapter and
verse that will prove evciy time that
he is right and you are wrong. He
knows his proof texts by heart. He
has his favorite places in the Bible,
and scarcely ever reads anywhere
else. How about his neighbor who,
through misfortune, has happened to
fall into his debt, and hence into his
power? No difficulty about that.
You know where to find him here,
just as surely as in a matter of church
doctrine. Why, he just takes this
unfortunate brother by the throat,
and demands, “pay me what thou
owest.” He is as mean as he is ortho
dox. He can read his Bible, sing
hymns, groan about heterodoxy and
grind the faces of the poor with equal
grace and equal enjoyment.
But here is another. His religion
is emotional—very. He weeps and
shouts at every opportunity, and at
the slightest provocation. A revival
meeting is his special delight. For
getful of worldly associations and cir
cumstances, he would
“ Sit and sing himself away
To everlasting bliss.”
Well, —what do his neighbors say
about this brother? (Our neighbors
will find out more or less about us.)
Why, they say he won’t pay his debts.
They say that they would enjoy his
demonstrations of religion more, if
his wife and daughters would dress
less extravagantly, and he and his
family would live less luxuriously,
until they had paid the over-due bills
of the milliner and the grocer.
Then here is still another. He has
many of the symptoms of tho prece
ding. He is noisy, too, at protracted
meetings. To see him, as he moves
around among the mourners, exhort
ing them and leading them to the Sa
viour, you wonld think he was a
model of the propriety and sweetness
of religion. Only go home with him,
and you’ll find that he uses his reli
gion, like his Sunday clothes, to go
abroad with. He is harsh, uncharita
ble, unkind, where, of all other places,
ho should show the power and author
ity of tho Christian profession.
Here is a good sister. Ahl how
the young people try her righteous
soul! She raises her hands in holj*
horror at the latest fashionable ex
travagance and folly. She is vexed
almost beyond endurance at tho sins
of the people, the degeneracy of
the times. Let the contribution box
pass around for tho relief of the poor,
and for sending the gospel to the
heathen, she begs to be excused.
“ Charity begins at home.” Yes, in
deed ; she has no charity for a neigh
bor, not even charity of judgment.
Familiar examples might bo mul
tiplied of people neglecting great
principles in their attention and at
tachment to matters of less impor
tance. We would not be misunder
stood. We take the Saviour’s judg
ment for our sufficient guide. “ These
ye ought to have done, and not to
leave the other undone.” It is well
to study the Scriptures, and to he or
thodox in our interpretation of their
meaning; but the prime purposo of
their study is that their spirit may
pervade, and sanctify, and control out
lives. It is well to enjoy religion, to
sing, and weep, and shout, if wo feel
like it; but such exhibitions are the
merest caricature of religion, if they
coexist with looseness of financial ob
ligations, and with the want of the
spirit of love in the family circle. It
is well enough to discountenance and
rebuke the spirit of the world, as
shown in the extravagance of fash
ionable society; but what is the worth
of such simplicity of taste on tho part
of one whose sympathy with the
work of tho Saviour never costs a
cent ? It is well enough to tithe mint,
anise and cummin, but not to the neg
lect of judgment, mercy and faith.
Tho Romans had an expression,
“ teres et rotundus.” By it they de
scribed a well-rounded character.
Such is the great need of our times.
We need a manhood, in which the hu
man and Divine elements supplement
each other. Wo need character, in
which faith and works are the com
plements of its unity. Faith and
works are both essential. Faith with
out works is dead. Works without
faith is a presumptuous folly— filthy
rags.
Exchange.
We thank the Holston Methodist for
the wholesome truth of the following
extract. Of one thing we may well
rest assured, that affliction, call it
national or individual as we may, (it
is a personal matter in either case),
affliction will not leave us as it found
us. Used, it is a blessing; abused, it
is a curse.
“ The hard times are doing good.
They are crushing sectionalism. Un
der the ruins of wrecked fortunes,
animosities are being buried, seem
ingly without the hope of resurrec
tion. The loyalist will cease to vex
the rebel ; and the rebel will cease to
vex the loyalist. Surely the politi
cian will have to learn anew song.
The yellow fever, in itself a curse, is
indirectly doing good. The liberal
charities of noble souls in the North
and West extended to the suffering
districts have drawn all hearts closer
together. They have done much to
cement the bonds of fraternity be
tween the different sections, and es
pecially between the Christian people
of the North and of the South.”
In a recent issue of the New York
Independent, Governor Hampton is
characterized as a hypocrite and liar,
as having proved faithless to his word
and the pledges of his party and his
administration. The most suitable
and effective answer of a libel like
this is gratefully to acknowledge the
NOV. 2,
high esteem in which the Governor
stands among tho colored people,
whom the ex parte statements and
views of the Independent are meant
to champion and defend. The follow
ing is suggestive reading, in connec
tion with the above. A committee of
Republicans at Beaufort wrote, invi
ting the Governor to address them.
Ho answers : “ Y'our letter expressing
regret at my absence from the recent
meeting in Beaufort, and inviting me
to visit the town and address the cit
izens, met me on my return to this
place. 1 appreciate the fact of tho
Republicans of Beaufort joining with
the Democrats of the County in a cor
dial invitation to me to meet the
people, and I shall most cheerfully
accept the invitation, in the same
spirit with which it is tendered. On
Tuesday next I hope to bo in Beau
fort, and to have then the pleasure of
meeting my fellow-citizens.”
Boil it Down. —This is the advice
of the New York Herald, to the preach
ers, in a late Sunday edition of that
metropolitan sheet, and it is not to be
despised because it comes from a secu
lar journal. Tho people have a right
to criticise the preachers and their
preaching. Like all public characters,
we ai-o the common property of the
country. Defects in style, no less
than errors in doctrine, render us ob
noxious to the just censure of the con
gregations we servo. A man should
not go to church to find matter for
criticism ; but having gone there, it
is perfectly legitimate to exercise his
judgment on what ho hears. This
is a practical ago. Our people don’t
want, in either sense of want, the in
terminable sermonizing of the Puri
tanic period, with its almost endless
divisions and sub-divisions ; but they
want the truth exactly, succinctly and
forcibly proclaimed. “ Have some
thing to say. Say it. Stop when you get
through.” These seem to bo easy
rules. They may be. They are to
the man of senso, intelligence and in
dustry. If boiling down spoils tho
sermon, well, the fault is not in the
boiling but in the sermon. The loss
of irrelevant adjectives, superfluous
imagery, redundant logomachy—we
repeat it—such loss is no loss, but a
clear gain.
Wo gladly give echo to the bugle
notes of the Southern Missionary
Herald. China is the key note:
“ From the„cJjaraoter ■*£-; lg.peop.fe-.
its immense population, its compara
tive progress in civilization, and the
tremendously significant fact that it
is the great colonizer of the world—
China is, in reality—and should be so
regarded— the great missionary field of
the world 1 More, perhaps, is being
accomplished elsewhere, especially in
Japan, but none is half so important
to tho conversion of the world. And
our beloved Marvin also testified to
this fact. The church, in nearly all
her branches, is beginning to realize
and appreciate its importance, and
through all her boards is enlarging
and extending her operations in that
ancient arid mighty empire. Cannot
the Southern Methodist Church, with
her nearly eight hundred thousand
members, be brought to something
like an appreciation of this important
matter, so that she may speedily en
large her operations at least fifty per
cent, in that part of tho great field ?
Why should she not? Nothing would
be easier, if she would only resolve to
do it. God help her—help each one of
us—to feel China pressing so heavily
upon our hearts, and to hear the wail
of her perishing millions so constant
ly that a response may go out from
us that will be worthy of our beloved
and heaven favored Israel. When
China, which is now the strongest
fortress of superstition on the earth,
shall totter to its fall, then will tho
whole heathen world speedily be giv
en to Christ for His inheritance, and
the uttermost parts of the earth for
His possession !”
The New York Witness lias a good
article, in one of its late numbers, on
Communism in Germany. Jt suggests
to us the following statements and
views: There is a vast mass of dis
contented people in Germany who
seek for radical changes in their gov
ernmentand laws, which is not strange
when their present condition is con
sidered. Every young man when he
attains the age of twenty is claimed
by the State as a soldier, and, unless
physically unfit, must serve for three
years in the standing army, four years
in the reserve, and five years in the
Landwehr. This system interferes
with every man’s prospects in busi
ness and plans for domestic happiness,
and in fact constitutes a yoke which
no one should willingly bear. Napo
leon Bonaparte, when ho nearly de
populated France of men fitted for
the army, only drew them by lot.
Some were left even in the worst of
times. Not so Prussia; its army takes