The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-03-23

| printed. 1t is of very uncommon in
terest indeed. We hardly found a
| paragraph that did not hold US or in
| form US or fascinate US. 1t is exceed
ingly we'll prepared. The two sons
who edited it and nav prepared the
| Memoir have used the large material
| left by their father-a brief autobiog-
raphy prepared for his family, short
| diaries, letters, etc.-with a wise dis
| erection, with tact n discrimina-
ton. Their own work is intelligently
| and happily executed. 1t contains very
| much more of genuine value and in
terest than we anticipated. We have
| been personally intimate with DR..
Deems since 1849, when he spent a
week at u fathers home at Oxford,
and have been more familiar with his
life and work than most men living
now have been. We doubt if any per-
son in North Carolina knew nor of
his life in all Of its phases, SO mani
fold, than we did before we had read
the charming volume. We could east
" fill columns with "reminiscences of
him. But the Autobiography" and
THE Memoir following have given US
far more than We knew and very
charmingly. The eminent Bishop Pot
ter wrote to Rev. E. NJ. Deems:
You have done your literary task
with unusual discrimination and felic-
ity, and your fathers life is a strik-
ing illustration of faithful use of gifts
and opportunities, and OF steady men
tai progress.
AS a picture of an interesting and
critical time in our national history,
the book has a peculiar interest. / con-
graduate you upon it,
The eloquent and richly endowed
Rev. DR.. Henry VanDyke, a writer of
marked ~eloquence and taste and a crit
ic in literature of almost unexcelled
gifts, writes:
You have succeeded in letting the
man speak for himself, and all the in
tereSt hat attaches to his labOrS and
adventures as an ardent and faithful
GOspeller reappears here in your
pages.
Surely he, being dead, yet speaketh;
and his words do follow him, not only
in the many lives which he has helped
to build upon the one foundation, but
also in this beautiful memorial which
you and your rothe have wrought in
your honored fathers memory"
We noted a few errors. Page So, it
is stated thai Rev. James Duncan, D.
D., was a southern Methodist bishop.
DR.. James A. Duncan was president of
Randolph Macon college, Va, and an
orator Of exceptional e%loquence. His
brother is a bishop and Of distinguish
ed ability and usefulness, an orator
and a scholar. Page ia, the great tenn
| perance orator Philip S. White appears
as Philip J. I knew him and nee
rode two or three hours with him in a
private carriage. DR.. Deems say that
he lis the most entertaining travelling
companion I ever saw" We found
him specially amusing and even edi-
flying. He was a great speaker and un-
rivalled in temperance oratory. He
was a native of Pennsylvania, we be-
lieve. The late Rev. j. B. Bailey's name
appears (page 1879 as I. B. The biogra-
phy touches briefly upO the celebrat-
ed and prolonged controversy DR..
Deems had with Rev. DR.. William A.
Smith. We know some things favOra-
ole to DR.. Deems not known perhaps
to a living man save u.s., and " in
print, but this is not the place or time
to write them. On page 1875, it is said
Of DR.. Deems four hours speech in
the trial at Petersburg, Va, of DR..
Smith: This address vas in many
n r-tio ri re tho M q CT cyniaoo of hic life ;,
We have thought since we read it in
1855 or 1856, that it WIS the highest
manifestation of mental power and
alertness he ever made. We give this
upon the authority of a we'll known
merchant of Petersburg, with whom
we too supper some years later. The
late learned and distinguished Rev.
DR.. Eliphalet Mott, president of Union
Theological (Presbyterian) school, was
the guest of Our informant, himself a
Presbyterian. The trial that caused ex-
traOrdinary interest was going on. DR..
Mott heard the speech of DR.. Deems,
who was then but So. DR.. Mott said
upon returning to his temporary abode
after a profound silence: Il was think
ing over the past and considering also
the speech I have heard. When 1 was
about 20 years Of age it was my for
tune to have heard Alexander Hamil-
ton several times at the bar, of which
he was the head. I am not at all sure
that 1 ever heard him make a speech
equal TO the speech Of the young mar
1 have but just heard"
There have been some extraordinary
scenes in some revivals in North Caro-
lima under what is called holiness
preaching" People are thrown into
prolonged spasms and sleep and lie
rigid for a day Or two. Reading not
long since volume 7th of Spurgeon's