davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-07
Duty and Art OF Preaching to
children.

The church needs children more
than it knows. The service that has
no place for readings, or prayers, or
hymns or sermons, that children can
appreciate, is u service that fails in its
appeal to grown people. 1t lacks the
dew of divine youth, the childlikeness
of the mind of Christ.
Many a Sunday service is suffering
from stiffness in the joints. Its lraine
is dry, its bones are limey, its blood il
pale, It's voice feeble. Like the old
stricken King DAVID, it is covered with
clothes, bus has no heat. 1t needs a
child in its bosom to warm 1t.
Once q year is cot enough. The
church must know the constant pres
ence of children. 1t will cost, but it
will count. 1t will mean work for the
preacher, and often inconvenience TO
the people. Children in church are
IAN acquired taste" to many, but a
tremendous acquisition in vitality, all
Infusion of red blood.
Ifministers would study this mat
ter,-the place of children in the Old
Testament church, the meaning of the
boy Jesus sin his Fathers house." the
gospel ofhis likeness, the ringing hosan-
mas in the temple, the test and behest
of love, Feed my lambs, ,"-and would
think how far removed our church SER
vices are from their evident divine in
tention in this respect, how "grown-
up" in their spirit, how devoid of the
first appeal to the young heart, there
certainly would be, in ministerial eyes,
q timeliness in such books as have Of
late been coming before the public, and
demand for them now too little felt.
Every demand that preaching to
children makes on man will help the
whole Of his preaching. simplicity
and goodly sincerity"are the essentials;
inteiligibility and earnestness, a good
aim and good arm. Find them, show
them, putting the divine message in
living human speech, and man can
hold children and help children,--a
fortiori, any one.-Rev. w. E. Bah
cock, D. D in S. S. Times.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-07
sThy VIII Be Done"

All admit the duty of submission to
the divine will. Disappointment and
afflictious are regarded as occasions
for exercising the duty Of submission.
When our cherished plans have failed,
or loved one has been removed by
death, we recognize the duty of saying
from the heart, "Thy will be done. "
There Is danger however, that the cuty
of submission may come to be regard
ed as an occasional, instead of con-
slant one. We are taught to pray,
"Thy will be DONE" This is to be
our daily prayer, for it is joined to the
petition, "Give US this day our daily
bread.n Prayer is the expression OF
our desire. If we pray that the will
of God may be done, we earnestly de-
sire that it should lie done in all
tbings-in matters pertaining to our
selves as we'll as to Others. The atti-
Jude of mind is something different
from that of acquiescence. 1t is sub
mission. 1t is to be feared that great
deal that passes for Christian submis-
sion is simply acquiescence with the
inevitable. The event must take place;
it is useless, we say, to strive against It;
therefore submission, so-called, takes
place. Such is not the state of mind
called for by the petition, "Thy will be
DONE" That requires the habitual re.
ference of all cur actions to the will OF
God.
BY this reference to the will of God
in all the actions of our lives We gain
strength to meet what are ordinarily
regarded as the great occasions for sub:
mission. BY following the will of God
in all our activities we become prepar-
ed to obey Him when He commands
us to "be still and know that l am
God.n
In proportion as we pursue such a
course of action, we walk in wisdom
and avoid mistakes that we otherwise
would make. God is infinitely wise.
So far as one does His will be is sure
of walking in the path of safety. He
who is where God would have him to
he, and is doing what God would have
him to do, is in a secure place.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-07
ThIa Side the Gate.

7 Nowhere perhaps in the old world
does the past face the American with
more sudden and startling power than
in Westminster Abbey. There lie
the rulers and leaders of men through
many ages; not only the kings, but
the captains, the singers, the thinkers,
who have to a great degree, made
English-speaking people what they
are.
When the visitor has had time to
grow q little familiar with this mass
Of tombs, he will feel for a moment
grim amusement at the strange bed
fellows here brought together, made
to slumber side by side in their last
resting places.
Here "bloody Queen Mary" sleeps
quietly few feet from the Cromwells
and Iretons. They cannot burn nor
hang each other now.
Here, without a shudder, rests poor
Arabella Stuart, very near to James T.,
who, out Of jealous fear of her claims
to the throne. kept her a prisoner
until she went mad and died.
Here lie Queen Anne and her sister
Mary, their bitter squabbles silenced.
Here are sovereigns of the houses Of
York and Lancaster, gathered after all
their wars around the feet Of old John
Gaunt, yet dumb as to the question Of
succession. Here the bones Of naughty
Catholic kings are jostled by the
monuments of the Wesleys, and
neither king nor preacher utters
single protest.
Perhaps the most dramatic effect in
the Abbey is that produced by the
tombs of Queen Elizabeth and her
victim, Mary Queen of Scots, which
stand exactly parallel with each other
in the north and south aisles almost
side by side. Above each grave is
recumbent marble figure Of the
Queen who sleeps beneath. Elizabeth
wears her regal robes Mary her close
fitting Golf and mantle. The hands
of each Queen are clasped In prayer.
There, through the long centuries
they have lain silent close together,
the slayer and the slain. Their quar-
rel has been fought over ten thousand
times for generation after generation,
but there has been no accusation of
murder, no cry Of remorse, nor prayer
for forgiveness between them.
The force of this dumb historic
drama is 80 overpowering that the
visitor Is in danger of neglecting It's
more direct and tremendous mean
ing.
1t is, that some day, some day GER
tain to come, he and his best friends
and bitterest enemies will lie down
like these two queens, dumb and still,
side by side, beneath the heavy i'm
movable clay.
They cannot hurt each other then.
They cannot help each other.
He cannot stretch out his hand
then to caress the child he has neg
lected, or the mother, lying but a foot
away, whose heart he may have wrung
with sorrow. No matter how great
the mistakes he made while living, or
how harmful the evil work he left
behind him, he cannot come back for
an hour, or speak single word to set
them right.
Death, when be turns the key,
never unlocks the gate again, neither
for the laborer, nor the great king
lying crowned in the Abbey.
What Is it then, that we are doing
now, on this side of the gate?
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-07
The Same as Crime.

I was a stranger and ye took me not In
naked and We clothed me not sick, and In
prison, and ye visited me not.-Matt. %: AZ.
No actual crime is charged. Mali.
cieus murder is indicated. Nothing Is
said about having destroyed with torch
or sword. You didH't break into my
house and steal my bread. You didn't
poison my food or kill me with vic.
fence. You didn't burn my house
over my head, or rob me of my cloth.
ing, but you did just as bad. Yut tried
to kill me by neglect. You are not the
thief who wounded me, and robbed
me, and stripped me of my raiment,
and departed, leaving me half dead,
but you are the priest aud the Levite,
who saw me dying in my blood, but
had no compassion upon me, and pass
ed coldly by Oh the other side. You;
gave me no words of cheer, aud made
no sacrifices in my behalf, and it is not
through anything that you have done
that I am still alive. You thought 1t
was going to cost you too much to be q
friend to the friendless. You thought
I was Door man, without friend or in
fluence, 80 you drew you robes closely
about you, and got as far away from
me as you could. Had you known me
to he prince of great power and rich.
es, how quickly you would have run
to pick ME up. Depart from me, ye
small souled and vile in heart. know
you not. I gave you chance to man
fest your true nature, and what man.
ner Of spirit was king in your heart
and you have done il. There is nc
mansion in Heaven for you. Go to
the place prepared for the devil and
his angels" The man who rejects
Christ in spirit shuts the kingdom O
God entirely out CT his heart.-Ram's
Horn,
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-07
The Mennonite Greed.

In the Mennonite religious hand
book for church and school, page III,
7 read these words: "A Mennonite
after having made public and solemn
VOW, sealed by the rite of baptism, is
under no condition whatever allowed
TO bear arms nor render any military
service.n This is the platform on
which the Mennonite church of this
country stands to-day, 250,0O0 strong,
and l rejoice that I am permitted to
bear testimony in their behalf. / as
sure you, ladies and gentlemen, when
| give utterance to your motto, "Arbi'
tration ever! War never W l but
voice the solemn sentiment and con-
viction of the entire church.-Select-
ed.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-07

Mr.. VINET says: The greatest mir
acle that 7 know of is that of my con-
version. I was dead and I live; I was
blind aud l see; l was slave and l
am free: was an enemy of God and
] love him. Prayer, the Bible, the
society of Christians-these were to
me source of profound ennui whilst
now it is the pleasure Of the world
that are a WEAKNESS to me, and pieiy
is the source of all my joy. Behold
the miracle! and If God has been able
to work that one, there are none of
which he is not capable. When peo-
ple know in their own hearts that this
il true, when they most freely and
truly respond to the great work done
in them, why is it they cannot 60 fur
ther, accept Christ's teachings on the
peace question and fully rely upon Him
for care and keeping. both for them
selves and ,ttheir property. He has
written, Vengeance is mine; [ will
repay" leave all thought OF ven
eeanee ETC., to Him, and just follow
peace with all men. Prove 1t! prove
L messenger of Peace.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-07
GRAINS.

The will Of God is the sum OF al:
law.
Gods promise is more sure than
mans performance.
Trouble always runs to meet the man
who goes out to hunt it.
. People who carry sunshine with
them are always welcome.
Nobody has ever found happiness
who di ! not first find Christ.
When you can't see In any other d.
rection, try looking straight up.
Failure is impossible in Christian
life until we stop trusting in God.
Some of the hearts sweetest songs
have been learned IN the dark.
There ia no spiritual life where
there is 10 love.
Read not books alone, but men ;
and chiefly be careful to read thyself.
People who can he spoiled by hon
est praise are no account to begin
with.
Three precious things that many
throw away-Time, money and
health.
When you pray for the Lord to bless
other people, don't insist that it shall
be done your way.
Adversely is the trial of principle ;
without it q man hardly knows
whether he is an honest man or not.
Only a frown? But it left a sad
void in the child's heart-quivering
lip and fearful eyes.
The Devil ia not so much concerned
about your profession as he is about
your practice.
You will not 60 to heaven when you
die unless you get more than half way
there while you live.
No man can walk far with God who
does not keep step with everything
that IL good.
On the day when we have not done
a little good, we have done a great
deal of mischief
A wide.spreading, hopeful disposi-
ton Is your own true umbrella in this
vale of tears.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-07
IS. 8. Times.)

Good grammar Is good thing, but
some good things are said ungramna-
ticslly. The man who speaks sneer-
ingly of a preacher or teacher because
he detects in him an occasional fault OF
speech, or who refuses to open his
spiritual ear TO words or counsel be-.
cause his fleshly ear detects in those
words slips in grammar, exalls the
body above the spirit. He goes into a
voluntary bondage to soulless master.
It is q fine and desirable accomplish
ment to be able al ways to speak gram
matically; but it is still higher at
tainment to forget the preacher in his
message, and to welcome and enjoy the
truth,-to hear the voices of the Spirit,
come how they may.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-07
Folded Hands and Bowed Knees.

There have been numerous and vast
ly different theories in regard to the
postures and positions assumed in pray
er, but surely none could be emore beau
tiful or satisfactory than the following
explanation of an old-time German
schoolmaster
The devotional folding of the hands,
though mere outward form, he says,
is significant and haught with mean
ing. 1t represents, as it were, laying
down of arms, and an entire surrender
of ones self to God and His sovereign
will. 1t suggests, too, that as these
hands are at rest they refuse to under
take aught that might distract or dis
turb the thoughts which are turned
from the world and its allurements,
and centred on things spiritual and
eternal.
Their being clasped together betok-
ems communion, harmony and peace.
God has no pleasure in a divided heart
or divided affections. AS rule, the
more earnest one grows in prayer the
more tightly the hands are folded it
seems almost as if one was saying
"My hands are folded, T can do MOTH
ing thou, O God, must do ALL"
The Interlocking of the fingers Is a
remainder Of the cross, and is Gus
tom approved of God from the earliest
ages. The other outward forms, too,
used in prayer are not without spe.
cial and striking significance. The
standing posture tells of the awe and
reverence with which mortal man en-
ters the presence of the great, august
King of kings, and kneelng, of humil-
ity and submission to the will of bis
Maker. Paul says LAT the name of
Jesus every kneeshall bow" Remov-
ing the hat from the head is expressive
of the Christians regarding himself as
Gods servant, a barred head always be-
ing a sign of Observation-Disclosures.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-07
The Christian Spirit Brings no Re.
grets.

five cherish and exhibit the Chris
tian spirit toward all men, it is not
possible that we should ever regret it,
even in this life. We will not be sorry
for hearing before judging for think
ing before speaking; for holding an
angry tongue for stopping our ears to
the tale-bearer. and for disbelieving
most of the i'll reports we hear of our
brethren for sympathising with the
sorrowing for relieving the destitute
for being patient toward the erring
and long suffering toward everybody !;
for doing good 10 all men, for being
courteous to all for speaking evil of
none for asking pardon for all wrongs;
for overcoming evil with good. No,
such character and spirit can never
give its possessor pain or regret dur
ing life and sure 1t Ia that such regrets
were never yet heard to fall from the
the lips of such man when dying,
and will never be recorded by man OF
angel in Time or Eternity. May the
Lord help US to cultivate and exhih
such spirit $50. Ch. Herald.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-07
"A Carnival of Lust"

Under this head the Western Chris
tian Advocate of last week has some
strong words. We give you the fol-
lowing paragraph:
imprisonment or hanging tne
brutes who commit these crimes, IS
like removing q pimple when the
blood is thick with corruption. The
way TO avoid the consequences is to re-
move the cause. Never was system
or education more thorough and eftec-
tive than that to which the rising
generation is practically compelled.
A sensational press, reeking with de-
tails OF domestic scandal, eXcites prurl-
ent imagination and infiames unholy
passion. Police Gazettes, with graphic
delineation of sensual orgies and lust
full crime, add pitch to the flames.
Vile literature, with vi;r-C lllustra-
tions, are clandestinely sold ON trains
and in bookstalls, or given as prem
iums with tobaccO and cigarettes"
Take look around Atlanta or any
other city and you will see schools OF
lust and corruption running III 1ull
force, day and night. Pictures on the
walls, 'living pictures" in the theat-
ers, commended ny the secular press,
and crowds of visitors who claim to be
respectable, and then blazing, gilded
harrooms offering stimulants for all
the base passions, all under the eye OF
the law and in the face Of comnlll-
nifty protesting to love decency.
Crime What else do you expect =?
"Whatsoever man sows, that shall
he also reap" We are sowing corrup.
ton every day. We are educating peo-
pie for vice, and doing it with our eyes
open. The results are coming home,
but the full harvest is not yet. Many
who are careless now will have pain-
furconcern after little. Where are
our laws when common decency is in
suited every day on the streets and
elsewhere on, how we do need lit
tie, even little manhood !-Wesleyan
Christian Advocate.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-07
The Drunkards OF Tomorrow.

Dear young man, there is not a poor
sot in America to-day who was not, in
his intentions and feelings, as far from
becoming q staggering drunkard a.
YOU now in the innocency' OF your
Youth. Yet through the habit OF
common dram drinking 1000, 600 OF
our country's youth are on the way to
this dark destiny, while their weeping
and troubled parents are boWlng Wild
sorrow to untimely graves.
Remember, precious boy, that your
first dram is your first step to drunk.
ards hell! The drunkard's burning
appetite will steal under you like age,
and you will awake too far down the
rapids of intemperance to escape the
Niagara of obstruction. Drunkenness
is like log let loose from a mountain
top-the longer it rolls the faster it
goes, until it reacher such an accelera'
ted velocity that it is impossible to stop
il. Thousands of the 100000 now
under the downward broadway of COM
mon dram-drinklng are just begin
ming to 20 like lightning expresses or
like mighty ships aflame with passion
and afire with appetite to the plunge
and wreck of damnation.
o, bright young man, aquiver with
the aspirations of noble life, are you
one of these? Then hear a mothers
entreaty, fathers counsel, and heed
the authors warning note, for to-day
with you is the day of salvation. Pro-
crastination with you you Will prove
the thief of time. have seen strong
men cry because they could not textricate
themselves from the fetters of intem-
perance. Millions have kindled q
consuming fire in their own bosoms
Ouly one in every 1000 reform after
thew have delirium tremens. Is /,
wise in you to raise up the serpent o.
appetite-a devil within to fight unto
death-and thus put sober and virtu'
Gus life in jeopardy every hour? Mil
lions are In Jeopardy now. The hon.
est revolution of the 100000 confirmed
drunkards in the United States to-day
is: ~ am going to quit" They car
not quit without assisting grace IN an
swer to fervent prayer. They are III
the rapids of that dark stream Whlct
tides hellward with an awful velocity
Better far had they prayed: "Leat
US not into temptation )" "Let mol
nv feet 90 near evil" etc., in th'
morning of life before they got upor
this tide of death and damnation..,
Rev J. Il. Cherry, in Central Method
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-07
Gifted.

"What does your husband do? ~
asked traveller of slatterly woman
whom he found living in a little old
cabin in the backwoOds.
"Well," was the reply. she's one O.
these handy, gifted sort O persons, my
man is. He kin jest turn his hand to
anything.
"He's a blacksmith by perfession
but he cooked in a RESTRAINT in town
most o. last winter, and he done kyar.
penterin' an palntin' all spring, and
then he lectured on temp'rance awhile
until be got chance to run all inglne
for month or two, and then he dug
wells and hung wallpaper until he got
a good chance to lay brick at three
dollars day" 49,
"And what is he doing now ??
asked the amused guest.
"Teachin' singin' school, but he
allows to give it up pretty soon. and
20 to practisin' medicine. He kin dc
anything he's mind to turn his hand
tor
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-07
Christianity and War.

Infiiels sometimes say that Chris
tianity has been the cause of more
wars than anything else. Well, sup
pose this true. The sun has been the
cause of more weeds than anything
else is that any reason why the sun
should be blOtted out Of existence ,
The rain has been the cause of more
floods than anything else. Shall We
therefore decide that the rain is curse
aud not blessing to the world?
But Christianity is not the cause OF
wais. Sheep do not 60 to war with
wolves. It is the wolves that make
war on the sheep. When Christ said,
"I came not to send peace on the
earth, but a sword" the meaning was,
that the truth which he declared would
so awaken the opposition of evil men
that it weuld be the innocent occasion
of calamities and strifes.
Christianity is not the cause of wars.
Read the Sermon on the Mount. and
see if it breathes the spirit of war
Blessed are the peacemakers, said the
Savior; and to the only disciple who
ever undertook to defend him, he said,
"Put up thy sword" Wars and fight
ings among men come of mems lusts
which have not yet been subdued by
the gospel of Christ. II is Satan, on
the other siIe, who makes The wars it
is the spirits of demons who gather the
nations to battle. MY kingdom is
not of this world, said the Savior. eli
my kingdom were at this world, then
would my servants fight, that should
not be- delivered to the Jews" John
xviii. 36.
No doubt there are people and ma
tions which have stolen the Christian
name, and under 1t prosecute wars.
remember hearing u London infidel
say that the Bible was the cause of the
atrocities of the Spanish Inquisition
and he seemed somewhat surprised
when told that the men guilty OF those
atrocities would have burned him alive
for reading or possessing Bible. Sure
ly the Bible ought not to be blamed fol
the misdeeds Of those who hate the
Book, and persecute those who love
and read it.
The angels message is "Peace or
earth and good will tn men," Let as
sound it abroad, and let US pray thai
soon the King of Righteousness anC
King of peace may come and reigr
over all the earth.-H. l.. Hastings.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-07

When Gods way is our way we are
satisfied. When he asks US to walk by
faith rather than sight, we demur.
But what world this would be if we
trusted the Lord completely ! How
easily we should bear our burdens!
How hopefully we should meet the sor-
rows of life AS the bee findeth honey
in the weed, SO we should find joy in
bereavement. Then our griefs would be
our opportunities. But we are self-will-
ed-not we, but God, must bend. The
Father must beg the child to trust him.
Sothe world weeps blindly and with
out consolation. All is within reach !;
but we possess nothing. The spirit
starves {; but the larder is full. 1t shiv-
ers with the cold when it need but
move into the sunshine to he warm.-
Rev. Geo. II. Hepworth.