Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

July 15, 1892. THE WELSH WEEKLY. 11 neighbour"—not in the sense of "plagiarizing," which we hear so much these days; but the chattering over things which others have said, simply because others have said them. " They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters," and have gone to puddles of human tradition. Go to G-od and listen there in silence until you "near him speak; then " Lift up thy voice, lift it up with strength, be not afraid, say unto the Cities of Judah, Behold your God." " Woe to the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing." If the message is only what the preacher himself thinks, it will be too little; it must be a message, a conviction that God has spoken to him. Prophets dont argue ; they simply say, Thus saith the Lord : they don't apologize; they don't think about themselves. It would be well if we had less theological dogmatism in our pulpits and more forth-putting of God's message. Suppose a preacher offers to his congre¬ gation a geological section of the carboniferous stratum and expects them to feel much healed and comforted by it! To be the messenger needs a great discipline. Before we can come before Israel with shining faces we must be on the mountain forty days with God, and must be without eating or drinking. Remember that this does not in any way militate against culture. If God speaks through us, surely this is the strongest incentive to cultivate every power within us that we may be worthy messengers—it will inspire a width and continuity of culture that nothing else can do. To be the messenger of Christ! This was the Baptist's position, and this we may assume. The story of his life and death and resurrection and glory will alone secure the results which we aim at. We hear much now of a social Gospel, and we wish all success to those who are applying the principle of the Gospel to the great social prob¬ lems of the day. But for most of us ministers of the gospel the very best thing is to preach that out of which all the solutions of these problems will be evolved, and then let these come in due time. " God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son " ; these words will open out to all truth concerning God and concerning man and their relation to each other, all ethics and social economics, and even political truth will be found here. We are doing more of the Master's work if we preach this gospel, than if we follow it out into the wide fields into which it assuredly opens. Remember it will be in direct proportion, too, to our glad hiding of ourselves that our true success will be. There is nothing more heroic than the spirit shown by the Baptist himself—the sublime reticence, the willing self-abnegation, the gladness to be lost in the Light which he preached. A harp-string when struck by the player's hand vibrates into invisibility; so with us and our work. It is only when the string ceases to be seen that the music comes. The old monkish painters in their pictures used to put their own figures in some obscure corner, dwarfed into insignificance, in the attitude of devotion, with clasped hands and bended knees; while in the foreground the Cross of Christ stood prominently forth. Such should be our place. Christ exalted—we our¬ selves content to be anywhere, out of sight in the background, so that all eyes may gaze on Him. The address, which lasted three quarters of an hour, made a deep impression : all present realized more than ever the solemnity and magnitude of their work, and no doubt many earnest vows were made to hold a higher ideal of minis¬ terial work before their eyes henceforth. The result of the meeting will be, assuredly, a deeper devotion to the work and a fuller surrender of self on the part of all present. A fitting expression to the feeling of the meeting was given by the Rev. W. James, B.A., Man¬ chester, who proposed, and Rev. Dr. Parry, Carno, who seconded a cordial vote of thanks to Dr. Maclaren for his visit to Bala, and for his admir¬ able and inspiring address. THE LADIES' COLUMN. Blodwen.—(1) Read only the best authors. Waste no time on trash, and yon will, imperceptibly almost, acqnire a correct style of speaking and writing. Lord Beaconsfield's writings are perfect as a model of good English. Study " English Lessons for English People," by Abbott and Seeley, published by Seeley and Co. Send to Francis Ed warns, 83, High-street, Marylebone, London, W. He will be likely to be able to procure you a second-hand copy. (2) "Self Culture," by Professor Blackie, is published at 2s. 6d. You can get it, as you live near, from Mr. Richard Humphreys, Portmadoc. It will well repay the time taken to read and digest it thoroughly to any young man or woman. Maude.—Your letter will be answered as soon as accurate information reaches us from the other side. Brown, Jones, and Smith.—We see no reason why you should submit to be robbed on your walking tour through Wales. Why not take advantage of Mr. Jones's ability to speak Welsh ? We will let you into a little secret. Some years ago a party was organised to ascend Snow den. Half way up we halted at a rough sort of hut that had been erected to supply the weary traveller with tea, coffee, lemonade, and ginger beer, and was kept by a reformed drunkard. Besides our party, at the time, there were two other guests, whom we considered to be of the London 'Arry type. They were charged Is. each for their cup of coffee. In the meantime we drank ours, chatting gaily in Welsh. On asking the amount of the bill, you may judge of our amusement when told that the charge for " b'ddigions" (gentry)—as visitors used to be called at Llanberis—was Is., and for somebody like us (" rhywun fel dase chi") the charge was 9d. So we gained 3d. in the Is. through being able to talk Welsh, being reckoned, as one merry member of the party remarked, "three parts gentry" (tri chwarter Vddigions). Lydia.—To roast a duck, cleanse it thoroughly inside, and lay it in water for ten minutes. Mince an onion with some sage, and grate some stale bread ; mix a tablespoonful of the sage, two of the onion, three of the bread crumbs, and a little pepper and salt. Wipe the inside of the bird, and fill with the stuffing; sew up with thread and suspend it before a clear fire ; roast one hour. Put some dripping into the pan, baste the duck with it every few minutes. Take a dessert spoonful of flour and mix with a little of the warm gravy ; stir into some stock when boiling, and pour over the duck. Jack T.— The following is attributed to Dr. Thain David¬ son :— Until the age of twenty-one All forms of smoking you must shun : It stunts the growth, exhausts the purse, And leads to evils that are worse, 'Twill be as well, for ten years more, To keep tobacco to the door. Should you survive the next decade, There's little cause to be afraid. And when to fifty you attain, 'Twill injure neither nerve nor brain ; But prove a soothing sedative That will a harmless comfort give. You cannot do better than follow his advice. It is a fact that some ladies in high society do smoke cigarettes, but we hope it will not be considered a requisite accomplishment of the Cymry Fydd ladies. Blodwen, Newport.—(1) We are sorry we cannot answer you in this column. It would only lead to controversy, for which we have not the space. (2) You ought not to be doubt- • ful about the matter. Remember that " Our doubts are traitorous, And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt." (3) We have no hesitation in recommending " The Idler." For good, modern, racy style of English writing, you cannot beat "The Idler." The contributors belong to the front rank of writers of fiction and humorous writing. Winifred Price.—(1) Ribbons are worn in profusion this season, either shot, watered, corded, tinselled, or plaid, in all manner of artistic combinations; and flowers were never more fashionable. But would it not be better for you to entrust the matter to your milliner ? You would be well served at Mr. John James's, Cardiff. We have seen some really ele¬ gant dresses turned out of that establishment. (2) To make cream cheese—Take three pints of thick cream and put it into a clean wet cloth. Tie it up and hang it in a cool place for seven or eight days. Take it from the cloth and put it in another, and then into a mould with a weight upon it for two or three days longer. Turn it twice a day, when it will be fit for use. Memory.—Your last lines are to be found in " The Bro¬ thers of Birchington," one of " The Ingoldsby Legends." These things will occur, We are all apt to err, The most cautious, sometimes, as you know, holy sir; For my own part, I'm sure I'd do all I can— But—the fact is—I fear—we Have got the wrong man. HOW THE TENTH SAVED A MAN. Mrs. N. M. Claflin, relates in the Chicago Interior this telling incident illustrative of the influence of a good habit early formed :—Returning from one of our large missionary gatherings, several years ago, I found myself seated with a woman whose very expressive face I had several times noticed during the sessions of the meeting. We naturally spoke of subjects of especial interest presented, and I said it hardly seemed consistent for us now to have no other stand¬ ard of giving than that of the Mosaic law—when a Christian and all that he has belongs to Christ for his service—to say a tenth should be the standard seems like levying a tax, instead of giving a free-will offering. "Oh," she replied, " if we know anything of the blessedness of giving, we will not stop at the tenth. Why, when last fall I had forty dollars to help to pay the debt of the American Board, I am sure no one got more real pleasure out of forty dollars than I did out of that; but my experience has made me love the old law, and I will tell you why. My father was a New England pastor, and we children were brought up to regard a tenth of the little we had as belonging to the Lord—given to us that we might have the privilege of giving it back to Him, and we would have considered it stealing from the Lord to have used a penny of that tenth for ourselves. When I was old enough to teach, a tenth of my wages belonged to the Lord ; I never questioned it. I married and came West with my husband, and in a few years the war came. My husband enlisted, and just five weeks from the time he left us the message came that he was shot in the battle of Antietam— killed instantly, and I could not even know where he was buried. But I could not sit down with my sorrow. I had two boys, the elder four years and the baby three months old, and I must take care of them. I had our home and that was about all. I must do some work that could be done at home, and I finally decided on taking in washing and iron¬ ing. The Lord helped me, and I brought up my children as I was brought up. They each had then little to divide, and we put the Lord's tenth by itself as sacred to this service, and under no circumstances to be used for ourselves. When Charlie was about eighteen years old I began to realize what trouble was. He seemed to change all at once—was dis¬ satisfied with everything, and wanted to go West and make his fortune. Nothing that anyone could say or do seemed to have any influence with him, and I had to let him go. Sometimes I would not hear from him for weeks, and I knew he was not doing well. I lived through the five years he. was gone. Then he came home without the fortune he went for, but he was a Christian man. In telling me of his life while away, he said : ' Mother, it was the habit of giving the tenth that saved me. It was so natural to put it aside whenever I received money that at first I did it almost without thinking ; then afterwards I was angry with myself for being bound by a habit, though I could not quite make up my mind to break away from it. One night being unusually reckless I said to myself: Now I am going to get rid of that superstitious notion once for all; the money is mine ; I'll take this tenth and pay for a drink of brandy and that will end it. I went into a saloon, called for the liquor and was in such a hurry to carry out my resolution that before the waiter could get the brandy I threw the money on the counter. That instant I was seized by such a horror—a something I could never describe—I don't know what it was, but I know that I shall never need any other proof that there is such a place or state as hell than I had then. I caught up the money and rushed out and did not stop till I was away from everybody and everything but the earth and the sky, and then I sat down and did some serious thinking. I felt sure that another step in the direction I had been going was destruction, and that my only chance of escape was to turn back, and I did it.' You may be sure Charlie's experience set me to thinking, and I wondered that I had never before realised the value of the habit of tithing." The train stopped, and she was hastily gathering her belongings to leave. I said : " Why did you not relate this when the subject was being discussed ; it is more to the point than anything that was said?" "Me tell it!" she exclaimed. " Why, I never spoke in meeting in my life." GODLINESS WITH CONTENTMENT. In vain is that washing, where the next sin defileth; he hath ill repented whose sins are repeated; that stomach is the worse for vomiting, that licketh up his vomit.— St. Augustine, As the bee is said to gather honey from the wildest flowers, so may we gather comfort from our darkest experiences. This fact was impressed upon us as we sat at the bedside of an aged sister who, scarcely recovering from the shock of the death of her husband, had met with the misfortune of break¬ ing her limb just above the ankle. As she told us of her misfortune, she said, " Brother Wilson, it might have been worse. I am so thankful it was above the joint and not in it; that it was not my knee, hip, back, nor neck, and not my daughter. Then, too, it was such a blessing it was not my arm, for I can knit and sew. And what if it should have come before my husband died ? It would have worried him. I am so thankful it is no worse, and that it came when it did." What a blessing it is, when " Troubles come, not us single spies, but in battalions," to enjoy such Christian composure. —Ex. It hath l>een observed by wise and considering men, that wealth hath seldom been the portion, and never the mark to discover good people; but that Almighty God, who disposeth all things wisely, hath of His abundant goodness denied it (He only knows why) to many, whose minds He hath enriched with the greater blessings of knowledge and virtue, as the fairer testimonies of His love to mankind.—Izaak Walton.