Southern Christian Advocate · September 14, 1878
A tribute to an elderly South Carolina Methodist preacher who urged his brethren to stop comparing themselves against one another's 'grades' of achievement and instead aim simply at a 'completed work' — a small window into the internal culture and financial pressures of a nineteenth-century church conference.
Southern Christian Advocate · September 7, 1878
A satirical letter to the editor mocks the countless self-appointed advisers who think editing a religious newspaper is easy and try to dictate how it should be run.
Southern Christian Advocate · September 21, 1878
A miscellany column of short items from Methodist correspondents—on church finance, a drought-watching farmer's faith, worldly sin creeping into the church, and a comic anecdote about a preacher whose text turned out not to be in the Bible.
Southern Christian Advocate · September 14, 1878
A grieving father's memorial poem for his young son Willie, published alongside a pastor's letter reflecting on the death of the boy's grandfather and the consolations of faith amid family loss.
Southern Christian Advocate · September 7, 1878
A Sunday-school lesson commentary on Luke 11:5-18, exploring the parable of the importunate friend as a model for persistent, earnest prayer.
Southern Christian Advocate · September 14, 1878
A Methodist minister newly arrived in Kentucky reflects candidly on why his denomination lags behind rival churches there, blaming the itinerant system's frequent reassignment of preachers for the lack of a stable pastorate.
Southern Christian Advocate · September 14, 1878
A Methodist correspondent tours the gold-mining hills of western North Carolina and reports on a District Conference at Lenoir, including a censure of the state's delegation and news of the still-ruined Davenport Female College.
Southern Christian Advocate · September 21, 1878
A traveling merchant reflects on the virtues of farming and describes taking his children to his mountain home each summer to toughen them up with country life.
