The DeLamar nugget. [volume] (DeLamar, Idaho) 1891-1900, 1896-07-31
RELIGIOUS RITES.
The Church Obsorvances of the
Beers Of South Africa.
They Are Very Simple and Unostenta-
tious and Are Conducted with Deep
DeVouuness-The Minister Is
Greatly Revered.

IN the observances of religious wor-
ship the Beers are exemplary, and in
their home life they know very little
of social diversion but what is of this
nature. They pray in stentorian tones
md sing with a solemn heartiness that
.cnyeys the idea of dead carnestness.
Their susceptibilitics are easily moved
W a little emotional oratory. 1t fills
shcm with a sense of unctuous salts
action, but the sense of Journalism
s ould shock their sense of .dccorum.
rhey would hardly approve of such
manners in church. The critics who
scout their p,iety and call it by the name
If hypocrisy are guilty of a thought
,a;s derision that bellies reflection. Out
# church the Beers have certainly n
ittie weakness for parading their re-
iron. They indulge considerably in
criptural phraseology, and allude to
he personality of God in a way that
ounds familiar and canting, but there
no idea of profanity in it. Il is with
hem an evidence of reverence and sin
Gritty, and, in justice to them, must
tate that in al my intercourse with
hese people I have found them sternly
rec from the slightest approach to lev
t. On iae subject of things held sacred.
they record the services OF the Eng
ish Episcopal church at Pretoria as
loth.ng but theatrical show To
hem il appears q travesty of religion.
Like most people of simple and pas
oral habits, the Beers retire soon after
he close of day and rise with the first
avn Of the morn, and in the earlY |
Wight they assemble and sing |
SANS and hymns. and offer UP |
ayers with a strength and earnest
tess that constitutes quite labo;ious
Tort. Their tunes are intensely
reary and monotonous. They sing in
,asmod.c lengths with long palses in
orvening, and the impression conveyed
that each one follows his or her own
inc and tune; therefore, except for it's
lcartiness. it does not inspire rluch ad-
unless gratitude at being at
4 distance from it might bear that con-
7truction. AS soon as darkness closes
in heavy supper is partallen of, and
bhen repetition of the mornings de-
otional exercises takes place, and the
family retire to rest. Strict in their
IDEAS of church-going, and in the OBJ
OF the rites it imposes, they
regard the minister with
The greatest reverence, and they are
vilIing subjects of mis- little autocracy.
Ic is to them the direct emissary of
led and the bulwark Of their faith.
lie performs all the spiritual Offices
heir lives have need of, and Is also the
Guardian of their morals, and derelie-
ions in this respect restrict the culprit
Il church privileges, than which moth
NJ could be more terrible.
The ministers of churches among the
loers are mainly Hollanders, though
here is a growing desire for men of the
ountry to fill these Offices, and some
# them arc men who have studied at
ne Cape theological schools. These
len having the same origin as the
loers, theim sympathies are allied to
hem, and thus their influence will
ave greater weight in advocating ed
cation. Every town boasts the some
,hat odd-looling structure built in the
orn of a cross, which is known to be
he church. II has its place in the cen
ar of a square, from which point the {
own takes it's growth. The minister
enerally has his habitation within the
hadow Of the walls of the church. itin-
rating periodically among his flock,
'ho are scattered throughout the dis {
-ict, living at great distances apart,