Cherokee phoenix, and Indians' advocate. (New Echota [Ga.]) 1829-1834, September 14, 1833, Image 1

Previous Issue Next Issue

Clip Visible Area View Page Text View PDF

Newspaper Page TextCHEROKEE PH4ENIX AND INDIANS’ ADVOCATE. CHEROKEE NATION, PROPRIETOR, EDITED BY ELIJAH IIICKS. fot. t. AEW ECIIOTA, CHEROKEE MTIOI, SATURDAY, SEPTEHBER 14, 1833. AO. **■ PRINTED WEEKLY. |50 if paid in advance, $8 in si* ^ or $3 SO it paid ai l lie end of the bribers who can read only the jc language the price will be $2,00 luce, or $2,50 to be paid w ithin the jsubscription will be considered as /ed unless subscribers give notice to ,trary before the commencement of a tar, and all arrearages paid, person procuring six subscribers ■coming responsible for the payment, eceive a seventh gratis. All letters addressed to the Editor, id, will receive due attention. RELIOIOUS. From the Observer and Telegraph, irhem shall Jacob arise? For he is small.” immense disparity between the feelings, and conduct of mod- iristians, and those of the foun- uf Christianity, is a theme which ,ny years has occupied no incon- ; blc portion of our reflections, studying the bible and meditat- its truths, in our most retired oleum hours. When viewing the departures from the simplicity gospel, both in spirit and con- whioh is every-wherc visible a- professed Christians of the pre lay, a momentary doubt has often ross our mind, whether there is hin<r of true Christianity now ex- in the world. A second thought fails to dissipate such distressing icism; but still a painful imprcs- emains, that far less genuine lc “ exists in our world, than is gen- supposed; and that the little, _does exist, is buried so deep in' rubbish of this world as to lose al- 1 the whole of its lustre. Whocv- samines the church as it now cx- even among the purest denomiria- of Christians, and compares it the apostolic times, can scarcely the same conclusion. What a itude of flagrant sins under some ious pretext or other, are tolerated even defended, by professed chris- Intemperancc, slavery, gamb- lewdness, sabbath-breaking, pre- ication, deception, fraud in business la multitude‘of other sins equally roking to God and scarcely less in- ious to men—exist in some form or in the Christian church, and are fendftd by men, who make high pre ions to godliness. When we look further at the spirit which pervades ichristian world, and actuates the (leased followers of Jesus, and com- re it with apostolic times, the con st will be no less striking. Where we find much of the simple, humble th in. Jesus, which was the glory of iapostles? Where that holy indif- encc, that utter deadness to the rid with all its gay pomp, pagautry d equipage, which characterized we holy men of old ? Where that tire consecration of soul to Christ, 4 willingness to suffer martyrdom in i case, which they manifested?— r here that unwavering faith and duti- lapirit, which regardless pf all sel- ih considerations and worldly max is of policy, prudence, and oxpedien- f, would obey God in the smallest no u than the largest matters, though it ist the last drop of blood? Ah, how re those degenerate times, to find any fits of primitive piejty in the Church if Christ! On the contrary, how much if the spirit of the world, its unholy Uxims of policy and expediency in •pposition to the plain and positive de- tiarations of the Bible, its deceptive irtu in doing business, its gay scenes of Measure, its amusements, its fashions, rad extravagancies in dress, etiquette lad equipage, its whole routino of tol ly and sin, are visible among professed diriatians. Too often, alas, the name only is changed in making a profession of piety, while the whole internal und Wternal’ man remains the same. How ;h it possible that religion can exert its proper influence on the human family, while such a state of things exists to |the bosom of the church? Often have We felt a strong, though momentary im pression, that the whole fabric of the <)hri8tian church must be thrown down to its very foundations, and a new su perstructure reared in it® pl*ce, before we shall witness its millennial perfec tion. Whether it shall yet be found necessary to pull down all the existing forms of church government, and leave all the present denomination of pro fessed Christians to fight for their ovtm shibboleths, and bite and devour ■■one another till they are consumed one of another, and like Luther and his asso ciates come out from among them and erect a superstructure upon the proph ets and apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone, in more perfect accordance with the heavenly principles of the gospel, unminglcd with the base maxims and polluting principles of this world, and in no re spect conformed to its unhallowed cus toms; ©r whether there will be a glori ous woik of reformation carried for ward in the bosom of the church among all denominations, gradually annihilat ing tho idolatrous veneration for ’the dogmas of men and the traditions of the fathers, tearing away ono after an other of those unholy relics of the <lnrU ages and of papal superstition, and dis lodging the world from the citadel of God—tearing off those chains of world ly policy andi human expediency in op position to tho plain commands of Je hovah, by which the church has so long been bound—throwing aside those false interpretations of the Scripture and dogmas of human philosophy growing out of them, which have so long been received as the doctrines of the Bible—erecting in fine a line of de marcation between tho church and the world, broad, high and impassable as the Chinese wall, and purifying as by fire all on the side of God’s heritage, so that tlw> Church and tho world shall ifd as visibly distinct as the Providence of Gmi and the unholy prejudices of men have iflade the black & the white man, & Christie bo every where recog nized by their simplicity °» character, purity oflife, devotedness flifheartto their Saviour, and perfect conformity to his law;—whether this Moral RefortR; this transformation of tho church, is to be brought about by one or the other of these motives, or by both combined, wc profess not to know. One thing however is certain; the church of Christ must he purified so as by fire before the commencement of the glori ous reign of the Saviour which proph ets have foretold. And judging from the present signs of the times, we have little doubt, that the latter method will be adopted by infinite Wisdom in ac complishing the glorious work of the church’s purification. If such should be the fact, happy indeed will be the man, who does most to commence and carry forward the blessed work. There is in man a perpetual tendency to dete rioration. Surrounded as the church has always been by the world, she in- death of Jesus Christ, lias exhausted all the appeals which pan be made to men’s sensibilities to mako them feel their guilt. It comes in at the end. of law; and when all other topics of per- suasion have been found to be ineffec tual. For 4000 years, in Pagan and Jewish lands, law had uttyred its de nunciations almost in vain God had exhausted the forms of thorie appeals in the terrors of Sinai, the inflictions of a guilty conscience, and the threatenings of hell. Men were guilty; they felt it, knew it. They mocked hin with vain oblations; sprinkled impure altars with the blood of innocence, ofered by un holy hands, and then retu/ned to their pollution. It became /needful that some other pl,an should he tried to see whether men could be mlde so effectu ally to see their guilt and ill desert, as to hate it, and abandon it. That plan is what is expressed ia the cross of Christ. The essence of that plan con sists in man’s being made to see an in- no <,<>.%* i.oi.tj, unfiv.ving unutterable -o onics in his stead, and i as the proper expiation of his crimes. Now the value of that plan may be seen by supposing human law had some such device. One thing strikes every man on going into a court of Justice. It is that the criminal, who knows his guilt, and who may expect to die, is so unmoved by the scene and the danger, and especially that he seems to have so little sense of the evil of that crime for which he is to die. One reason is, that there is little in the law that will make him fell; and less in the proceed ings. His mind is taken off from his guilt, by the technicalities of tho law; by the contests of advocates; by the discrepances of witnesses; often by the coldness and want of feeling in the judge, the jury and hardened specta tors. But suppose there could be, placed in full view, where the man ri- lone could see it, sonic innocent being, voluntary suffering what his crime de served; illustrating on the rack, or a- jriid tho flames, just what ..he ought to SU fioy,and bearing this so patiently, so mildly, as he sank into tliio arms of death,’as to be tho brightest expres sion of pure friendship. Suppose this was the brother or father of the man.he had slain, and the dying man should tell hini, that he boro this to show the importance of maintaining violated law, and that but for these sufferings the happened that one of them read in the hearing of a savage, the account of the Saviours sufferings in the garden arid on the cross. “How is this?” said one of the savages. “Tell rne it once more, for I would be saved;” and laid his hand on his mouth and wept. Here was learned, almost by accident, their success in the world. Here-was illustrated anew the principles of the gospel, adapted to all the ages and people, that the account of a suffering Redeemer is to be the grand means of teaching sinners every where their guilt; and drawing forth tears qf re pentance, from eyes but for this would never weep. My owa experience in tho ministry has been short. But I may perhaps be allowed to say, that the only yevival of religion in which I, as a pastor, have been permitted to en gage, began in the progress of a series of sermons on the work of Christ; and that tho effect of that truth was vis- iblo through the series, till almost tho ^jrrewation bowed at once be fore the across, a ft ., „ . n ^ , solemnity pervaded all rank's irf li ViW community. N<jr do I doubt that this is the way in which men must be taught to feel their guilt, as the gospel spreads qjfcr the world. If you wish to make men feel the evil of sin, go and tell tjiem that its magnitude is so great that none but God’s own Son could under take the task of bearing the burden of the world’s atonement. Go and re member that angelic might was not e- qual to this: that all on high but God, was incapable to fjrcast the tide of human sins; that so great were the plans ©f gigantic and all spreading evil, that it was needful that God should become incarnate, and in our nature meet the evils of hin, aimed at his head and heart. Go and look on embodied holiness; the august blend ing of all virtues in the person of the Son of God, moving a present deity, through the scenes of earth, and him- selfthe only innocent being that had blest our world with his presence.— Then go and ^ec innocence itself in torture, and ask why was this? Is this the fair expression of the desert of our sin? Did God judge aright when he deemed that woes like these should tell how much man ypigh to endure? If so, thcri bitter sorrows should come over our souls, at the remembrance of all these sufferings, and of the sins that " the death of this stranger friend die.—Rev.'Jllbcrl Barnes. scnaibly drinks in its spirit, unconscious | cen t Lamb of God bleeding for his sins of danger, till the poison has takou cf-J r ['hus jt is said of him, eVinll h< guilty wretch could not be saved from l 1 to seek out thc gui) t y and to death; and how much more afiecting”“‘“ l -- b J would be this, than the mere dryness of statutes, and the pleadings of coun sel, and the charge of the judge. You may find here, perhaps, a slight illus T tration of the principle cn which the gospel acts. Law had tried its power in vain, and tho onlV effectual scheme is to place before the sinner the inno- fuct, and is quickly succeeded by spir itual death. Hence the reformations thai have heretofore blessed the church, have been partial in its extent and tran sitory in duration. We must look and labor for a more universal reformation, which shall raise thc whole Church at once to tho high standard of the gos pel, and bring it out so distinct from the world, that the members will strengthen each other’s hands, and not be so much exposed as heretofore to sensual pollutions. Let this be done, and the work of reform will be easy afterwards, and tho church compara tively safe. Happy were it for the oause of Christ, if ntore of thc talent of our country, and many of tho ablest pens, warmest hearts, and most active inus- sles, were devoted more exclusively to this all important subject of purifying and elevating to its proper standard the Church of Christ. >Vo intend hereat ter to examine tho subject still further in many important particulars, which have only been alluded to in these has ty remarks, as God shall give us time and strength. But before we pursue this subject any further, we have few things to say respecting tho pre sent deplorable state of the church in the almost entire cessation of revivals; the causes of this alarming fact; and the remedies of the evil. THE STONY HEART BROKEN. Tbjfc, gospel, in the sufferings and|totoilin vain ‘He shall be set for the fall and rising again of ma ny in Israel, and for a sigii to be spo ken against;” that thereby the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Aad thus also it was prophesied, “They shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and shall mqurn.” Hence the apostles met with such success; whose preaching was little more than a simple statement of tho truth, that Jesus died, and rose. And however it is to be accounted lor, it is this which in all ages has been attended with thc conviiJtions of guilt among men. Gosner, the celebrated Bavari an Catholic priest, at present a protes- tant clergyman in Berlin, who had pro bably been the means of the immediate conversion of more souls than any man living, is said seldom to vary in his manner of preaching. Tho love of Christ is almost his constant theme, and his preaching is almost n constant pouring out of the warm effusions of the heart in the love of God, the pre ciousness of the Saviour, and the desi rableness of heaven. The affecting experience- of thcr Mo ravian missionaries in Greenland well known. For many years they en deavored to teach the ‘benighted Pa g ans the existence and attributes ot rod and the doctrines, of retribution. Never was work mpre unsuccessful than this. The he(j|jt of the Greenlan ders, cold as his own snows, was un moved; and tho missionaries appeared On one occasion it From tho Southern Religious Telegrftjrh. THE LAST COMMAND. Bij the Rty. Joseph Fletcher, D. D Come than, arid added to thc many crowns, Kocoivc yet as radiant as the rest, l)uc to thy last and most ellecuial Work, Thy word fulfilled—the conquest of the world! Cowrr.R. On two occasions, marked by cir cumstances of special solemnity, the Son of God delivered to his followers, what may be termed in uach instance with equal propriety, the last com mand. The one was addressed to his disciples, when they were assembled to oelebrate, for thc last time, the pas chal rites of the Mosaic economy. The other was the charge given to them when the Redeemer was about to as cend to the throne of mediatorial do minion, and to establish Iub new dis pensation or earth. The ono was the last, command to the suffering Saviour; the other was the last command of the risen Saviour; and in their connxion with each other, they present an inter esting and most important subject for contemplation. Wo are naturally affected by the charge of a dying friehd. It unites all that is binding in the claims of af fection with all that excites our tender- est sympathies. Never are the tie* °f life so dear, or its obligations fel> to be so sacred, as when we hear for the last tiirie the instructions of those from whom we are about to /■art—for ever! Recollections and anticipations are mingled and coiwpre^ed with over whelming force; arid the emotions of the heart are deep and unutterable.— It is a precious alleviation, after such moments of anguish and of agony, to have a sacred trust, so connected in its association* as to preserve the memory of Him who has left us; and who, in leaving us, has made the deposito ries of his last injunction, as the token of his friendship, and the pledge of its renewal and perpetuity. Thc institu tion of the “Lord’s supper” delightful ly harmonizes with these feelings and sympathies of our nature; not that we are to regard it in the light of a mere sentimental arrangement,Tor this would be inconceivably below its real and in trinsic dignity. It was the command of the great Legislator of the Church, enforced by his authority; who, as ho was about to “loose” the obligations of an expiring enemy, the most significant rite of which he had observed for the last time, exerted that authority to bind” upon his church a new com mandment, and made the Christian Passover the memorial of the great ’ sacrifice, till thc period of his second advent. Yet, even in this act of legis lation, all its circumstances are affect ing, and possess the most touching in terest. Who that is rightly prepared to regard tho institution but loves to think of the place, the time, and every minute incident connected with it, as bilities of our nature, and all that is il lustrative of the character and glory of the gospel. It w^in an “upper room” set apart and prepafed for the Paschal festival, within the precincts of thc city of Je rusalem, that the little band of the first disciples was assembled. In tlus seen© of hallowed seclusion, without any for mal, still less, ostentatious arrange ment, the incarnate Saviour instituted the Eucharist. The feast of tho pass- over had been celebrated-—‘the cup of thanksgiving for the memorable deliv erance of their fathers had been drank —and the heart-thrilling announcement that “one of them was ubout to betray him,” was still felt in their utmost spirits—producing in all—bnfapne—the deepest and most afflictive c/upsterna- tion! He had joined with th® rest in the appeal, “Lord is it I?”—but the heart of the traitor,was known; and he appears to have risked the question, not to express anxiety, but to elude suspicion. The reply of Jesus was misunderstood by the rest of thc disci ples;—and the apostate “went out.” At this crisis the Christian passover was instituted—“in the night in which Jesus was betrayed.” And who that loves thc Saviour, does not love to •lierish this memorial of his death ?— He had a right to enact whatever mode of commemoration he pleased, and thc simple fact of his enactment would be the best of all reasons for its observance.—But we can discover the wisest and most gracious adaption to our morul nature and our spiritual wants, in every part of the affecting irstitute. * * * * * ’k- ^ # Such was the last command of thc suffering Saviour’, and does not each true disciple, exclaim, “If I forget thee, O Jesus, let my right hand forget its cunning, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not thc memory of thy love, abovo my chief joy.” But thero is thc last command of thc risen Saviour; and the celebration of the one is designed to prepare for the observation of the other. Christians are not to be absorbed by their own consolations. Like the restored demo niac, it may be natural for them to wish to be “with Jesus,” and never to withdraw from the solace 6f an imme diate and uninterrupted .communion. But it is his command to them, as it was to him, to “go and diow to others what great things the Lord had done for them, and how h* had compassion on them.” Thev might wish like tho disciples of Te&or, to build a taberna cle on the mount, and prolong forever the hallowed joys of a celestial con verse. But such is not the will of their great master, nor would it be compa tible, either with their immediate Qce- fulness or their permanent happiness. Those disciples were to prepare for the fellowship of heaven in his unsuf fering kingdom, by the services and conflicts of his kingdom on earth.-— The crown was not to be his, without the cross; and they were tob® made “comfortable to his death,” in order that they migh be partakers ofhis glo ry. That glory is essentially connected with the glorification ofhis Church.— This great result was ‘ ‘Rio joys set be-v

Georgia Historic Newspapers

Cherokee phoenix, and Indians' advocate. (New Echota [Ga.]) 1829-1834, September 14, 1833, Image 1