The working Christian. [volume], August 19, 1869, Image 1

About The working Christian. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1869-1877

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TII^fAN R. GAINES,
Proprietor.
. VOLUME!.
’ Fervent in spirit serving the Lord.*
YORKYILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY MORNING, AUGUST 19,1869.
****i*Vt'/ A ,-V*
I
an mtm ■
• • ■ r :
LEWIS M. GRIST,
Publisher.
NUMBER 8.
SELECTED POETRY.
tiie dandy preacher.
“I venerate tire man, whos heart is warm,
Wlnwe lutmisare pure, whose doctrine and whose
life
Coincident, exhibit lucid proof
Tliat he is honest in th sacred cause.
To such 1 render more than mere respect,
• Whose actions say that they respect themselves.
Hut loose in morals ami in manners, rain ;
Si conversation, frivolous; in dress,
Extreme; at once rapacious and profuse;
Frequent in park with lady at his side,
Aniblinis amt prattling scandal as ho Roes;
lint rare at home, and novor at his books,
Or with his pen. save when he scrawls a card ;
Constant at routs, familiar with a round
Of ladyships, a stranger to the poor;
Ambitions of preferment for its gold,
And well prepared, by ignorance and sloth,
By infidelity and love of world,
To make find’s work a sinecure; a slave
To his own pleasures and his patron's pride:
From such a|K>stles, oh ye mitred heads,
Preserve the Chureh 1 and lay not careless hands
N>n sculls that cannot teach, and will not learn.”
(Ouupert
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
BAPTIST MINISTERS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
We are commanded in the Scriptures, “to
knew’ them that labor among us, * * * and
to esteem them very highly in love for their
work’s sake.” We propose to give, front time
•to time, in the columns of our paper, brief
sketches of the ministers of South Carolina,
by way of introducing them to the brethren
who do not know them. As we are not per
sonally acquainted with some of our preach
ers, and do not know their field* of labor, it
will be out of our {tower to introduce them,
unless others give us the information. We,
therefore, solicit the assistance of brethren,
who can write, in the different parts of our
«Ktate.
KKV. R. J. EDWARDS.
Is about 46 years old. He has been and
still is a very useful man in Orangeburg Dis
trict. He was, years ago, a missionary for
the Charleston Association and he was a la
borious minister when engaged in this work.
He was instrumental in raising the Church at
Brnnehville. He preaches at this church, at
Santee and Antioch ; all of those are in the
•Charleston Association. His preaching is
quite practical. He can be called strictly a
wild man.
REV. LUCIUS CUTHBERT.
Is between 30 and 40 years of age. He is
(juite an animated, earnest speaker. A year
or two ago, he was pastor of the Citadel
Square Church in Charleston.
When last heard from he was preaching to
4 three congregations every Sabbath : preaching
to one in the morning, one in the afternoon
and one at night. The congregation he serves
at night is the congregation meeting in the
Baptist Church in Aiken. Brother Cuthbert
served the Aiken Baptist Church for several
years.
kev. t. crirris, D. I).
We give below a sketch of a minister now
+ deceased remembered by many of the readers
of our pa]>er. The sketch appeared originally
in the minutes of the Broad River Baptist As
sociation of I860:
Thomas Curtis was born at Wisbeach,
Cambridgeshire, England, May 10th, 1787.
He was the son of a substantial yeoman of
good property. In early life, lie showed in
tellectual vigor, and a fondness for books,
which his father cultivated, and thus he ob
tained a good school education. While at
. school, he was competitor for a prize essay,
and was successful. By this, he would have
been entitled to a presentation to tlm Uuiver
sitv of Cambridge, but he could not accept it,
not being able, conscientiously, to sign the
“Thirty-nine Articles of the Church oi Eng
land.” The death of a sister, and of the ven
erable Baptist clergyman, Dr. Fisher, under
whose ministry he sat, early impressed his
mind w;ith the importance of religion, and led
to his conversion and baptism while a youth.
Henceforth, he devoted himself to study,
• labor, and usefulness for the Church of God.
Mainly self-instructed, at this period of life,
he acquired a good knowledge of Latin, Greek
and Hebrew. The Baptist Church, of which
he was a member, put him forward as a
preacher, and availed themselves of his ser
vices for sometime. '
He was married to a Miss Reynoldson, June
15th, 1799, a lady of attractive endowments,
and sweet and gentle temper, and then settled
in London. Fond of books he engaged in the
« book business which, as a commercial busi
ness enterprize, was driven with energy and
a successful pecuniary result. But his father
in-law (the father also of the late lamented
Rev. John Reynoldson, of Virginia, so well
known among our churches,) dying at about
this time, he was called to succeed him in the
pastoral care of the church in the city, and he
withdrew from active participation in secular
business. His literary labors, however, were
uninterrupted, and he l>ecame one of the edi
« tors of the first parts of the “Encyclopaedia
Metropolitanahis chief coadjutor in this
great work being S. T. Coleridge. This posi
tion led them to call forth the services and
labors of a number of eminent men, and to
enjoy intimate intercourse with most of the
choice spirits of the day. Charles Richard
son’s English Dictionary and Whately’s
Logic and Rhetoric, and many other invalua
ble treatises, were thus first written for this
work. After some years, another book-selling
house having undertaken to publish the Lon*
** don Encyclopaedia, at the extraordinary rate
of an octavo volume a month, brought his
valuable sendees to aid at a very flattering
rate of compensation. This he conducted in
three years and a half to a successful issue.
•Such also was his acquaintance wdth the con-'
dition of the text of our English Bible, that
he was employed by the Oxford University
pointed out at that time no less than ten
thousand errors of the press in alterations
* from the standard editions of 1611. This
in correcting an edition
work, though completed, the fruit of much
labor and care, has not been published. The
j authorities becoming alarmed for the results,
suddenly withdrew their sanction to further
I proceedings, and thanking him for his ability
j and courtesy, abandoned their design. The
j manuscript is still among his papers.
! To set forward his children, and prompted
j perhaps by a love of our institutions, he emi
I grated to America. The voyage ended in
; shipwreek and loss to himself and almost all
i the passengers of their worldly goods; but
their lives, with difficulty, were saved. Thus,
in 1834, he began his residence in the United
States, settling first in Bangor, and after
wards, for a snort time, in Augusta, Maine.
Boudoin College testified her sense of the
value of his labors by conferring upon him
the title of Doctor of Divinity. But the cli
mate being too rigorous for his family, under
the advice and influence of Bro. Holmes
Tupper, then of Savannah, he, about the year
1838, went to Georgia, accepting the call of
the Macon Church, and settled there for a
few years. The friends of Mercer University
then desired he should move to Penfield;
but after a short stay at that place, he was
urged to take charge of the Wentworth Street
Baptist Church in Charleston, S. C., and
moved there in 1841. He was present and
made an address at the laving of the corner
stone of their house of worship, and publicly
opened it when ready for use with a sermon
that will long be remembered. Here he labor
ed with the eminent appreciation of his ser
vices by all who had the privilege of enjoying
them occasionally, till his removal to the last
sphere of his constant labors at Limestone
Springs in the Fall of 1845. ’ At this place, j
in conjunction with one of his sons, he began
the enterprise of a Female High School in j
the mountain districts, bringing to this doubt-;
ful problem all the energy of youth with the
matured wisdom and experience of a man
hood spent amidst the most elevated of relig
ious and literary associations.V^He set the
tone of education high at once. Care was
taken as is fit to cultivate the mind to the
point of refinement and even of elegance,
while cheerful fondness, prompt obedience,
order nearly perfect, and thorough accuracy
characterized his pupils. These were the
fruits of the rich instruction, both in morals
and religion, that he poured forth as well in
the elass-room as the pulpit. He attained
the happy art of influencing to his high pur
poses without alone depending on the sternness
of simple authority, and he has bequeathed a
noble array of daughters to elevate and adorn
our race, many of whom rise up in every dis
trict and the most of our Southern States to
bless his memory.
In his ministerial labors in this part of the
country, the public knew him more as an
Evangelist than as a Pastor, and in this
capacity his presence was everywhere hailed
with satisfaction amounting to delight. He
made our public meetings glad when he ap
peared in them, and Zion’s waste and desolate
places rejoiced often in those rich and vigor
ous ministrations which, like the fountain in
his own beautiful grounds, emitted the same re
freshing fullness to whoever was there to enjoy
them. He gave his mind freely and fully to
Bible themes as the basis of his discourses,
dwelling mainly on subjects that he could
connect with the Sovereignty of God in Provi
dence and Grace, the Divinity of our Lord,
His Atonement, the influences of the Holy
Spirit, and the fullness and freedom of Grace.
Iiis preaching, original and striking, did
more than fill the mind of the hearer; it
quickened all his powers and was peculiarly
suggestive, inspiring reflection and inquiry
that frequently led off into trains of thought
previously unexplored. Y His last sermon was
in the Central Baptist Church, Brooklyn,
New York, from Marki: 17—“Is it not
written my house shall be called of all nations
the house of prayer ?’’ “With great clear
nefs and power,” says the Pastor of that
Church, “he showed what is real prayer, and
that such prayer must underlie all that is
done in the House of God, or it answers not
the purpose of its appointment.” Such was
the effect of his discourse, his manner all life
and singularly impressive, his voice, strong
and full, and his own soul deeply absorbed,
that the congregation while returning were
observed to move in clusters expressing the
desire to return and hear the message repeated.
During his entire journey to the North and
homeward, the exercises of his mind in the
pulnit, the prayer meeting and in the families
of his friends, even beyond former examples,
attracted notice, and evinced that he was
being prepared for his departure.
Suddenly called home, by what in the last
letter he wrote, he terms “the unimpeachable
voice of God in death” in his son’s family, he
was on board the ill-fated steamer North Caro
lina, passing from Baltimore to Norfolk on
the 29th January, 1859, and perished in the
flames that consumed' her, r Though in his
seventy-second year, neither his jiatural force
of body nor of mind was abated—he did not
decline amid the feebleness and senilities
of a worn out life. His sun went down in ltB
full splendor. The call was sudden, but he
was not unprepared. .The Master came, and
he opened to Him immediately. The pre
sumption is that he passed away without con
scious pain, suffocated, without awaking, by
the smokes and gases that so quickly filled
the room.VHe had spent the evening con
versing of his Master, and the last that was
seen of him was as he was reading his Bible
at his berth, preparing thus either for duty
below or for heaven, as the Master should
please. He died like Moses, apart and alone,
and “no man knoweth of his burial-place unto
this day.” In this mournful dispensation to
his relatives and the churches, we have but
another example of that upon which Dr.
Curtis so often insisted—the peculiar sover
eignty of God in the death of man.
Ih his character there was uprightness,
honesty and firmness, conjoined, however,
with great ingenuousness ana a glowing affec
tion ior every one and everything that was
good. Though earnest in all things it was
earnestness of love. Everywhere, in all cir
cles, whether elevated or humble, his visits
were welcome. It was only wished that he
would stay longer, and come again. His
generous neighbors, and the church to which
I he belonged at home, say truly “they who
knew him best, loved him most.” His plans
in life were as to all things of a conservative
turn. His views of whatever he considered
or undertook were rapid, comprehensive and
discriminating, and he had that one most
important quality of genius—the power to j
make and sustain great efforts. While his
plans were philosophical, and extended to the
principles of things, they were not revolution
ary. He knew it was much easier to destroy
than to build up, and prudently avoided un
tried movements and sudden sweeping changes1.
His attainments were as extended and remark
able as his ability and his associations. He
was a Christian scholar among Christian
scholars. In his piety, there was much de
votedness. It was a saying of his “that he
could not always live in companyand his
retired hours were especially prayerful. Find
ing himself a poor sinner, ne went to God
alone, for he had private business with Him,
that could not be done in a crowd. *He evi
dently desired to live, realizing thetrue doc
trine of death, that he has himself most hap
pily expressed in one of his letters to his most
intimate friend, thus writing: “We overrate
death sometimes as a ‘change.’ It will be but
a continuance of our better life. The essential
change was our regeneration to God. Death
is a greater apparent, than the greater real
change. John v: 24. Paul, therefore, speaks
of the former as only a removal from one
habitation to another. 2. Cor. v: 1. Changing
houses, not persons or natures, nor character.”
MISCELLANEOUS READING.!
-- 1
i ‘ DR. CHALMERS--A GREAT WORKER.
We do uot mean in the study, or in the
pulpit, or in the lecture-room—in all of which
lie was pre-eminent—but among the masses of
Glasgow and Edinburg. He was not satisfi- j
ed to preach to crowds of admiring citizens, j
who every Sunday hung with rapture on his !
lips; but his great soul sympathized with that
of his Master, took into it the claims of the
poor, the neglected and the outcast of those
populous cities. Hampered by the conven
tionalities of the Tron Church, and tired of
the adulation rendered, he set to work to get
v" a church in the poor districts of the city,
w> he could reach the most degraded of
the people. St. John’s Church, with its im
mense outlying parish, was the result.
The new parish contained a population of |
10,000, composed almost entirely of opera- j
tives.
“My arrangements,” he says, “are going
on most prosperously. I have now got thirty
five gentlemen and three lady teachers. I
have completed the survey of my parish, and
have still a hundred and fifty Sabbath schol
ars to provide with teachers, besides an indefi
nite number of female teachers to look out
for.” Dr. Chalmers organized also a system
of day schools, by which, at a very low rate
of tuition, all the children should obtain the
rudiments of education. To accomplish this,
he headed the subscription with his own name
for £100. In the course of a week or so,
1,200 were obtained. When he left Glasgow,
after four years’ exertions, he left behind him
the means and facilities for giving, at a very
moderate rate, a superior education to no less
than 793 children, out of a population of 10,
000. But a higher aim, in connection with
this, was to bring these 10,000 under effectual
Christian training. With the help of the
laity, he threw himself into this work with
unrivaled zeal and patience, taking with him
his colleague, Mr. Irving, or some of his ru
ling elders. He did not say, “Go,” but
“Comeand that elder who kept up with
him as he ransacked the alleys and rookeries
of his sphere in pursuit of souls, had to put
forth all his muscular and moral energy.—
With this immense parish divided into twen
ty-five districts, each embracing from sixty to
a hundred families, he brought in his deacons
to look after their temporal wants, while he
and his elders attended to the spirtual work.
Some of the Sabbath schools embraced adults,
uuiers cimuicu, uuua iruiii juny iu uity leucn
ers. “The Doctor,” said one of his co-work
ers, “was the very life of the whole and every
one felt himself as led on by him, to use his
whole strength in the cause of that good God,
who, in His mercy, sent us such a leader.”
This was, indeed, a herculean work; and
though it was successful, and stands forth as
a striking example of what well-directed and
combined Christian energy, under God, may
accomplish for the neglected poor; yet, even
Dr. Chalmers admits it was too onerous for
the shoulders of one man to sustain. But he
adds: “I have come to the conclusion that in
stead of nine thousand, perhaps three thous
and would form a more manageable amount
for the labors of a hard-working minister.”
He made monthly and quarterly rounds a
mong all the sick and dying of this immense
parish, declaring “that it was the finest op
portunity for Christian usefulness to the most
interesting sort of parochial group, that oc
curs in the annals of a parish.”’ “These vis
its,” says one, who accompanied him, “were
generally short, but most instructive—multum
mparvo” . He possessed a singular power of
stating the sum and substance of the Gospel
in a few comprehensive and most weighty
sentences, and closed each visit with a most
appropriate prayer. “I can vouch,” says Dr.
C., “for the open door of access that there is
in every house to the visitation of Christian
philanthropy; and that even in towns which
are covered all over with loathsome dissipa
tion there is a most warm and willing response
to the familiar converse and domestic services
of the minister.”
_ When Dr. Chalmers removed to Edinburgh,
his heart moved in the same generous chan
nel. He entered upon plans for the enlight
enment of those who lived in what are called
the “Closes,” and planted his first school-room
in one down whicn Burke and his associate
decoyed their unconscious victim. It was a
tannery, fronting the den where those horrid
murders were committee!. Acting upon the
saving of Talleyrand, which he often quoted,
“that there is nothing formidable in meeting
with the very lowest of the people, if you only
treat them frankly,” he told them all what he
and his friends meant to do. The audience
were quite delighted at the address. Th is tan
loft Dr. Chalmers opened himself for public
worship. Having got a foothold, he enlarged
his operations, embracing schools and Sunday
schools, in connection with preaching, until
those dark dens were lighted up with the radi
ance of Heaven. Writing to a friend, he says:
“I have got now the desire of my heart. The
church is finished; the schools are flourishing;
the ecclesiastical machinery is complete, and
all in good working order. God has indeed
heard my prayer, and I could now lay down
my head in peace and die.”
And die in peace he did soon after. For
having written an important report for the
General Assembly, he retired to his bed, and
fell asleep in Jesus; so that he was found in
the morning, with not a muscle disturbed, ly
ing like an infant in peaceful repose. But
his spirit had gone up. His work was done,
and the welcome, “Well done, good and faith
ful servant,” has been received. Shall the
Church ever look upon his like again? What
an example for all ministers and Christians ?
God grant if we do not reach it, we may, at
least strive to imitate it.—Christian at Work.
HONESTY THE BEST POLICY.
A youth of about sixteen came from the
country to Boston to fill a subordinate situa
tion in one of our first mercantile houses. The
head of the firm received the youth in the
most kindly manner, and caused his son to
take the stranger around town and show him
the principal places during the afternoon of
his arrival. While amusing themselves in
this way, the stranger youth told his companion
that, in coming along in the train that morn,
he had given a boy a bright cent for a pond
lily, and that the coin having been mistaken
for a five cent one, the vender of lilies had
paid him four cents back as change. The
merchant’s son questioned the honesty of the
transation, but the young man from the coun
try defended it on the score of its smartness.
Shocked at the absence of principle in his
companion, the merchant’s boy told his father
of the transaction, who next morning inter
rogated the you/ig man from the country con
cerning it, and found that he was somewhat
inclined to pride himself on account of the
act.
Was the cheating ot a poor boy who per
haps, had a sick mother to provide for by his
industry, not cruel, let alone its injustice?”
queried the good merchant.
“It was his look-out,” replied the boy.
“Was your conduct not dishonest?” asked
the merchant.
“I don’t know that it was. He ought to
have been smart euough not to give me the
money.”
“Young man,” said the merchant, “I call
your share in the matter stealing; and if the
four cents had been so taken by me, I be
lieve they would have burned a hole in my
pocket.”
T1 3 youth boldly replied: “They have not
burned a hole in mine, sir.”
Disgusted at finding such moral obliquity
in the young man, the merchant told him it
was impossible that he could employ one who
exhibited such dishonest notions concerning a
small thing, for in matters of greater import
ance, the possessor of such loose ideas of
honesty would most likely give way. With
much good advice the youth was sent home to
hi9 father, with a letter from the merchant re
lating the whole affair stated above, and ex
pressing regret that the circumstance had
completely shut the boy from his confidence.
So tne young man lost an excellent chance of
succeeding in life, and it is hoped that the
lesson may teach him hereafter that honesty
is the best policy.’
I DOST MEAN HIM.
The following anecdote of Rev. James Ax
ley, familiarly known as “Old Jimmy,” a re
nowned and redoubtable preacher of East
Tennesssee, was related by Hugh L. White,
for many years a distinguished Judge in that
State, and afterwards a conspicuous member
of the Federal Senate:
It was noised through the town of Joues
borough that Mr. Axley would hold forth on
the morning of the ensuing Sabbath. The
famous divine was a great favorite,—with
none more than with Judge White. At the
appointed hour, the judge, in company with
a large congregation, was in attendance at the
house of prayer. All was hushed in expec
tation. Mr. Axley entered, but with him a
clerical brother, who was “put up” to preach.
The congregation was composed of a border
population; they were disappointed; this was
not the man they had come to hear; conse
quently there was a good deal of misbehaviour.
The discourse was ended, and Mr. Axley
rose. It is a custom in the new country when
two or more preachers are present, for each of
them to have something to say. The people
opine that it is a great waste of time to come
a long distance, and be put off with a short
service. I have gone into Church at eight
o’clock in the morning, and have not come
out until five o’clock in the afternoon. Short
administrations are the growth of thicker
settlements.
Mr. Axley stood silently surveying the con
gregation, until every eye was riveted. He
then began:
“It may be a very painful duty, but it is a
very solemn one, for a minister of the gospel
to reprove vice, misconduct, and sin, whenev
er and wherever he sees it. But especially is
this his duty on Sunday and at Church. That
is a duty I am about to attend to.
V “And now,” continued the reverend speak
er, pointing with his long finger in the direc
tion indicated, “that man sitting out yonder,
behind the door, who got up and went out
while the brother was preaching, stayed out
as long as he wanted to, got his boots full-of
mud, came back and stamped the mud off at
the door, making tdl the noise he could, on
purpose to disturb the attention of the con
gregation, and then took his seat; that man
thinks I mean him. No wonder he does. It
doesn’t look as if had been raised in the white
settlements, does it, to behave that way at
meeting? Now, my friend, I’d advise you to
learn better manners before vou come to
church next time.—But I dont mean hrm.”
“And now,” again pointing at his mark,
“that little girl sitting here, about half-way of
the house,—I should judge her to be about
sixteen years old,—that’s her with the artificial
flowers on the outside of her bonnet and the
inside of her bonnet; she has a breastpin on,
too, (they were very severe upon all superflui
ties of dress),—she that was giggling and
chattering all the time the brother was preach
ing, so that even the older sisters in the neigh
borhood couldn’t hear what he was saying,
though they tried to. She thinks I mean her.
I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart for any
parents who have raised a girl to her time
of day, and haven’t taught her how to behave
when she comes to church. Little girl, you
have disgraced your parents, as well as your
self. Behave better next time, won’t you?—
But I don’t mean her.”
Directing his finger to another aim, he said:
“That man sitting there, that looks as bright
and pert as if he never was asleep in his life,
and never expected to be, but that just as soon
as the brother took his text, laid his head down
on the back of the seat in front of him, went
sound asleep, slept the whole time and snored;
that man thinks I mean him. My friend,
don’t you know the church ain’t the place to
sleep? If you needed rest, why didn’t you
stay at home,‘take off your clothes, and go to
bed ? That’s the place to sleep, not church.
The next time you have a chance to hear a
sermon, I advise you to keep awake,—But I
don’t mean him,”
Thus did he proceed, pointing out every
man, woman, and child, who had in the slight
est deviated from a befitting line of conduct j
characterizing the misdemeanor, and reading
sharp lessons of rebuke.
Judge White was all this time sitting at the
end of the front seat, just under the speaker,
enjoying the old gentleman’s disquisition to the
last degree; twisting his neck around to note
if the audience relished the “down-comings”
as much as he did; rubbing his hands, smiling,
chuckling inwardly. Between his teeth and
cheek was a monstrous quid of tobacco, which,
the better he was pleased, the more he chewed,
the more he spat, and; behold, the floor bore
witness to the results. At length, the old gen
tleman, straightening himself up to his full
height, continued, with great gravity:
“And now, I reckon you want to know whom
I do mean. I mean that dirty, nasty, filthy
tobacco chewer, sitting on the end of that
front seat”—his finger meanwhile, pointing,
true as the needle to the pole—“see what he
has been about! Look at those puddles on
the floor; frogs wouldn’t get into them. Think
of the tails of the sisters’ dresses being drag
ged through the muck!” The crest-fallen
judge averred that he never chewed any more
tobacco in church.—Rev. W. H. Milhurn.
An Honorable Tribute to a Wife.—
Dr. Bushnell in dedicating a book to his wife
uses the following words:
“For once I will dare to break open one of
the customary seals of silence, by inscribing
this little booli to the woman I know best and
most thoroughly; having been overlapped, as
it were, and curtained in the same conscious
ness for the last thirty-six years. If she is
offended that I do it without her consent, I
hope she may get over the offence shortly, as
she has a great many others that were worse.
She has been with me in many weaknesses
and some storms, giving strength alike in
both ; sharp enough to see my faults, faithful
enough to expose them, and considerate
enough to do it wisely; shrinking never from
loss, or blame, or shame, to be encountered in
anything right to be done; adding great and
high instigations—instigations always to good,
and never to evil mistaken for good; fore
casting always the things bravest and best to
be done, and supplying inspirations enough
to have made a hero, if they had not lacked
the timber. If I have done anything well,
she has been the more really in it that she
did not know it, and the more willingly also,
that having her part in it known has not even
occurred to her, compelling me thus to honor
not less, but more, the covert glory of the
womanly nature, even as I obtained a dis
tincter and more wondering apprehension of
the divine meanings and moistenings, and
countless unbought ministries it contributes
to this otherwise very dry world.”
Lazy Christians.—Most men wish for
easy places and the largest. They are hung
gry for compliments and place. They com
plain of hard work. They are sullen when
they deem themselves unprized. They must
be petted and flattered and humored, or they
decline their part of the work of life. Thev
ask how little heroic and taxing service will
answer, not how much is permitted and possi
ble. The task which is God’s grant of honor
they take as a hnman hardship which they
ought not to endure. Labor is seldom sweet
to them or made beautiful to others, because
there is no sacred motive which transforms it
into a privilege and invests it with dignity.
They yield to the call, “Go work,” when they
must, but often wait like the slave, till
scourged by an uneasy conscience or some out
ward pressure to the unwelcome task. And
so the joy of the true servant is unknown, and
half the efficiency is lost through lack of
Smpathy with that high type of life which
irfst has exalted forever in his gospel, and
which he is perpetually inspiring in the souls
of those who draw their daily life from him.
“Sinners must be Saved First.”—The
following stgry, told by the FishkiU Standard,
will encourage sinnfrs to venture boldly on
the great deep, if all captains entertain the
same views that Captain Joss does: “A gen
tleman who has recently arrived from South
Africa, tells the story about a shipwreck near
the Cape of Good Hope, which derives addi
tional zest from the fact that he was one of
the clergymen refered to. It appears that on
the steamer Waldenstan were several clergy
men from Natal, going to a synod of the Re
formed Dutch church, at Cape Town, and also
an English clergyman. The steamer was
wrecked near Point Agulhas, to the east of
Cape Town, and the boats were got out One
of the clergyman rushed to the first boat; but
Captain Joss, the master of the ship, lifted
him out of the boat, saying, ‘You are a minis
ter, and prepared to die; the sinners must be
saved first.’ And sure enough, the clergy
were compelled to stick to the ship till the
sinners had been landed.”
The Noble Queen.—Once in a time of
famine, a beggar woman, went through a vil
lage asking alms.
From some houses she was sent away with
rough words; at others she received a very
small gift; only one poor gardener, as she
was very cold, invited her into his warm
rooms, and his wife, who had just baked cakes,
jave her a nice large piece.
The next day, all the people at whose door
die beggar woman had called, were invited
» supper in the Queen’s palace. When they
;ame into the dining-room they beheld a
small table laden with the richest food, and
ilso a large table with many plates, on which
:here was here and there a piece of mouldy
bread, a few artichokes, or a handful of bran;
but, for the most part, the plates were entirely
smpty.
The Queen said—“I was myself that beggar
woman in disguise, wishing, in this time of
distress, when the poor are m such great need,
to prove the charity of my people. These
two poor gardeners took mem and entertained
me as best they could; hence they will now
sat with me, and I will fix a pension for life
on them. The rest of you will entertain your
selves with the same fare which you gave me,
and which you will find on these plates. With
this, remember that in the future world you
will also one day be served as you serve
others.”
A Thoughful Young Man.—A thought
ful young man said in the Chicago noon-day
prayer meeting:
Two months ago I was thoroughly skepti
cal on the subject of religion. I was an infi
del; sqpietimes almost an atheist. I was bound
hand and foot with this idea, so prevalent in
the scientific world, that the universe is ruled
bv inflexible law. I did not believe in prov
idence aside from law, and hence not in mira
cles or the hearing of prayer. The Bible was
to me a book of superstitions, and religion it
self a chimera. But about two months ago I
joined a Bible class in this city, and as these
matters of course would be discussed there, I
began reading up. I wanted to be fair, and
so commenced the study of a work on the
evidences of Christianity. I had not studied
many days when I began to perceive the
foundations of my infidelity crumbling away.
Two months have now passed, and I come
here to-day to tell you that I know Christian
ity must be true. The more I study, and in
vestigate, and observe, and think, the more
clearly I see it. And now I want to become
a Christian. My heart is cold yet. I do not
speak now because my feelings impel me, but
because my deepest judgment tells me that it
is high time I made my peace with God. I
should be glad of your prayers.
The Sabbath fob the Working-Man.—
The Sabbath is God’s special present to the
working man, and one of its chief objects is to
prolong life and preserve efficient his working
tone. In the vital system it acts like a com
pensating pond; it replenishes the spirits and
elasticity and vigor which the last six days
have drained away, and supplies the force
which is to fill the six days succeeding; and
in the economy of existence, it answers the
same as the economy of income answers a sa
vings bank. The frugal man who puts aside
a pound to-day and another pound next
month, and who, in a quiet way, is always put
ting by his stated pound from time to time,
when he grows old and frail, gets not only the
same pound back again, but a good many
pounds beside. And the conscientious man,
who husbands one day of existence every
week, who instead of allowing the Sabbath to
be trampled and torn in the hurry and scram
ble of life, treasures it devotedly up—the
Lord of the Sabbath keeps it for him, and in
length of days and a hale old age gives it back
with usury. The savings bank of human ex
istence is the weekly Sabbath.
Spurgeon on Methodism.—Oh, how I de
light to listen to a brother who talks to God
simply and from his heart; and I must con
fess I have no small liking to those rare old
fashioned Methodist prayers, which are now
quite out of date.
Our Methodist friends, for the most part,
are getting too fine and respectable nowa
days: too genteel to allow of prayers such as
once made the walls to ring again. Oh, for a
revival of those glorious, violent prayers which
flew like hot shot against the battlements of
Heaven!
Ob, for more moving of the posts of the
doors in .vehemence; more thundering at the
gates of mercy! I would sooner attend a
prayer-meeting where there were groans and
cries all over the place, and cries and shouts
of “hallelujah,” than be in vour polite assem
blies where everything is dull as death, and
decorous as the white-washed sepulchre. Oh,
for more of the prayers of God, the body, soul
and spirit, working together, the whole man
being aroused and started up to the highest
pitch of intensity to wrestle with the Most
High! _
The Most Excellent Sauces.—A prince
was overtaken in his walk by a shower, and
sought shelter in the nearest cottage.
The children happened to be sitting at the
table, with a great dish full of oatmeal por
ridge placed before them. They were all
eating it with a right good appetite, and looked
moreover, as fresh and ruddy as roses.
•‘How is it possible,” said the prince to the
mother, “that they can eat such coarse food
with such evident pleasure, and look so
healthy and blooming withal ?”
The mother answered, “It is on account of
three kinds of sauces which I put on the food.
First, I let the children earn their dinner by
work ; secondly, I give them nothing to eat
out of meal time, that they may bring appe
tite with them to the table; thirdly, I bring
them up in the habit of contentment, a8 I
keep them altogether ignorant of dainties and
sweetmeats.
‘Seek fer and wide, no better sauce you'll find
Than hunger, work, and a contented mind.’”
jar A Cincinnati treasury agent caused
himself to be locked up in a bank vault to
escape the wrath of a tobacco dealer whose
factory he had closed, and who was hunting
him with a big whip.