Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-01-11
Written for THE HERALD.
JUMBLE'S LETTER.
THE INADEQUACY OF CEREMoNIALs
OF CHURCH UsUAGEs, THE NEW
YEAR AND ITS OBLIGATIONS,
EUROPEAN AND AMERI-
CAN SLAVERY IN
pFNNSYIyANIA.


CAN SLAVERY IN
PENNSYLVANIA.
I promised to review some more OF
Cannon Farrar's article, on the
1" Brotherhood of the Poor" The re-
ligious view or church thought OF the
strikers, according to the Cannon, had
small place, if any at all. Cardinal
Manning produced very favorable
impression. His influence was ma
tional boom, credit to whom credit
belongs. The Bishop OF London
seconded the efforts of the Cardinal.
THE president of the Wesleyan Meth
odist Conference was prominent with
the above in behalf of the strikers,
though the Cannon does not mention
it, The agitators of the strike were
not known to have called upon the re-
ligious bodies for their aid, and the
Cannon doubts if ten per cent. of the
strikers regularly attend any church,
and states that by the confession of
the Church of England and all other
church bodies, the working classes as
a whole have drifted away from the
/ influence of the church. He signifies
that this does not mean that the work
ing classes are Goddess, or that they
are all without hope in the world, but
that they have left the divinely ap-
pointed way of comfort and consola-
ton, and in their distressed circum-
stances they are without the best COM
fort. The Church of Christ must re
GOV er the lost ground. The Cannon
shows that the Parochial is failure,
and the wonder to many is, that the
church has not seen this long ago. He
shows that the Church of England is
not meeting the needs of the people.
| Many know full well to-day as con-
corning the last century of which Lord
McCauly wrote, if the non confirmists
were not more active than the Church
of England moral condition would be
to-day AS then "virtual heathenism. !"
The Cannon says, "If we trust to the
Parochial system alone to maintain
the cause of religion among these
teeming multitudes we are leaning
upon broken reed, much too of what
| is Wanted as the increased activity of
the clergy is purely functional. 1t con,
sists in the multiplication of services,
and the elaboration ofceremonies. If
a clergyman has daily service, when
after being fully tried for years, the
entire congregation consists, as l have
known to be the case, of a single idol,
sitting with the book upside down, or
of the bell ringer and two old ladies,
or of four young ladies, the daughters
of the vicar, or of the school master
alone, so that as one vicar said to me,
81 daily read the service to the con
gregation and the congregation reads
to me-" Functions and ceremonies
and services may be admirable in
their place, but they will never dt
the work achieved by st. Paul, or by
Francis Assist, or Wesley and White.
field. The preaching of the gospel by
good preacher and worker for the
spiritual needs of masses in theil
homes, he claims fills the church il
some places, and then it does not mat.
ter if the vicar is high, low, or broad
The Cannon will have personal in.
fiuence TO reach the masses and not al
impressive or gorgeous ritual. Earn
est men meet the needs of the hour
Such must be extended to reach each
individual of the masses. AS there
10 1t lOt III bIIlS Lit
clergy even of all the denominations
are need to be earnest men, and ther
supported by consecrated and earnest
working laymen and women thread
ing the various marts of trade anC
concentrating personal influence or
men, women and children. 1t is {
hopeful feature Of our present life
that among the chief of the clergy
the inadequacy of the present move
inents of the church is apparent. A
live, devoted individual church mem
bership is needed. Pray We the
Lord of the harvest that he may send
forth more laborers into the harvest
So we have entered on a new year
have we? Have we learned from oul
religious failures of the past year, t.
try TO be and do better the year on
which we now enter. First. is there
a consciousness within US Of deer
} seated need of improvement in our
spirits. in our aims to do right in all
things, to live righteously among
men in all our dealings. In our every
day business transactions with the
people in little and great matters, do
we feel the need Of exercising practi-
cally towards all, the golden rule.
Such may necessitate some 10 lessen
their money profits and give to their
customers their true rights such may
lead customers to practice more econ
omy and pay their creditors all they
owe. In this season, taking invoice of
goods, &c, how well for each person
to hear the word of the Lord Owe
no man anything but love-" Second,
is there set purpose within us to i'm.
prove in the future by the help of the
Good Lord. "Have purpose young
man." is good advice for the older
too. None of us should lose sight of
the fact, that to correct hayward
world, and to put the wrong right, we
must do all we can to set ourselves
right, and put our feet in the right di-
rection, and keep them there every
day in the year. The masses will rise
in the scale of Christian civilization,
as the Christian individual is Christ.
like in each word and action in behalf
of all others. Who wants a purpose
and aim below this? When we can
have the best to our own best advan
tage, why shall we be satisfied with
less. At the beginning of the year
1890 we should remember that we
only have one opportunity to live it,
that is, we shall not go over it again,
only in retrospect. Our failures we
will not be able to undo. Where we
shall have wickedly wounded our
neighbours feelings we may find it diff
ficnlt if not impossible to heal them.
If in trading, one with another, we
knowingly cheat, or take the advan
tage of any, such injury our injured
friends may rise above, but we can.
not, without confession of our wrongs
and the restoring of what belongs to
the injured ones. Wrongdoing in
this year may fix our destiny in eter-
nal despair. Let us begin right, and
seek all the help we can get to keep
right.
If one should be told that trade ip
slaves is being carried on with Ameri
cans and Europeans he would be filed
with amazement, and if he was con.
WINGED with the truth of the statement
he would be dumb with horror. If we
may rely on the accounts given by
certain foreigners employed in the
coke regions about Connelsville, Pa,
a trade marvelously similar to the
slave trade has been carried on re.
Gently to surprising extent and prob
ably still exists. According to a dis