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JOSEPH S. BAKER— Editor. VOL. XII. TERMS PER ANNUM. The Christian Index, published oil Friday in each week, (except two in the year), will be furnished to each subscriber at S3 50 cents, in advance; or $3 if not paid within the year. l’ost-Masters, where the Index is taken, are requested to forward remittances for subscribers at their respective offices, according to a decision of the l’ost-Master General as to their right to do so. All pa trons and agents are requested to notice this. Every Agent (and all baptist Ministers are particularly solicited to become agents) who procure and pay for five copies of the index, shall be entitled to a sixth, as a com be its at i or. so Kitts f foiitil e. * Letters on business, or communications, must be ad Iressed to the Editor, post paid. Advertisements may be inserted on usual terms, at the discretion of the Editor. for the Christian Index. Sabbath Occupations. Brother Baker— ol the Iriends of Zion, allow me to ask, What are you doing, en gaged in, or whither are you going ? Are you preparing to join in the public worship of Got? ? or are you following your worldly business, or seeking foi amusement on this day ? If one of the hitler is your object, do you not recollect that this is tlie day which God has marked as his own, by the fourth commandment ? But lest you should have forgotten it, permit me to refresh your memory. In the 20th chapter of Exo. it is thus written ; “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God : ill it thou shall not do any work, thou, nor tny son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thv maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates, for in six days the Lord made heaven anti earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day ; wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it.” By the Sabbath, tve understand a day rendered sacred by divine appointment, ded icated to rest and religious purposes, and comprising entire one-seventh part of our time. We shall consider, 1. Its origin.— The inanition of the Sabbath is not only di vine, but coeval with the creation ; it was enjoined upon man previous to the (all, when in a state of paradisiacal purity. — When all was holiness, before sin had mar ed the works of God : when every place might he a temple, and every moment a suitable time to worship, even then did God set apart one-seventh of the time for his more especial service. It was at this time, “God blessed the seventh day and sanctifi ed it,” G n. ii. 3. made it a day of peculiar blessing and manifestation ; set it apart from a common to a sacred use, and gave a sanction to his institution by Lis own ex ample in resting on that day. This is the origin of the Sabbath. 2. Its perpetuity. Having the origin, we shall now examine what evidence we have, that it was known and observed prior to the promulgation of the law. From the time of the first family to that of the deluge, we have strong intimations that a sacred day was known and at least partially ob served. Cain and Abel brought their offer ings, as the common reading lias it, “ in process of time;” (Gen. iv. 3.) but litteral lv, and as it is in the margin, “ at the end of days.” Os what days? But one division of days had been yet mentioned, and that was of the days of the week, the Sabbath being the last, or seventh day. Nothing is more reasonable than to suppose, that the end of the days of the week is here intend ed ; especially when it is recollected that this period of days had been already fixed, and the passage refers to an act of religious worship which was to be performed. It is also evident, that days were reckoned by portions ol seven in the time ol Noah.— The Lord said unto him, “Yet seven days and I will cause it to rain upon the earth,” again at the return of the dove, “he stayed seven other days before fie sent her forth the third time.” Returning with an olive leaf “lie stayed yet seven other days,” and then dismissed her from the ark. We read ily conclude, that the Sabbath was trans mitted by Uadition from Adam to this peri od. What other reason can be assigned for Noah’s observing these revolutions while in the Ark. During the bondage of the children of Israel in Egypt; we are not informed that the Sabbath was observed ; but it does not appear to have been forgotten. For about forty days after their departure from bon dage, when the Lord gave them manna at Elint; And the Lord said unto Moses, How loug refuse ye to keep my command ments, and my law.” Ex. 16: 22, 23. In this passage, the Sabbath is referred to as something alieady known, and the people are blamed for not keeping it. The man ner in which the fourth commandment was THE CHRISTIAN INDEX. announced at the giving of the law, is ano ther proof of what has been already stated. Os the other commandments it is said, •Thou shall;’ but of this‘remember,’ which scents to indicate the renewal of the Old commandment and not the enactment of a new one. For had not the Sabbath been previously known how- could the children* of Isiael been called on to remember that of which they had never heard. The truth is, as this is the most ancient institution, God now calls upon ltis people to keep it in mind. 3. Its change. “Without entering into supposed suppositions that the UTTfnSahb ith of the creation was lost in the time of Josh ua or Hezekiah, by the imusu.il prolonga tion of some days, we shall produce argu ments which the scriptures will justify. But it may be asked, “Upon what au thority has the day been changed ?” In reply to this, we answer, Upon tltfe same authority by which it was first instituted. The Saviour of the world declared himself to be “the Lord of the Sabbath :” having the same authority to change it, as to insti tute it. The lawfulness of observing the first day of the week for the true Sabbath, maybe proved, (1.) From the sanction of Jesus Christ. On the first day of the week (the Christian Sabbath) he arose, having fin ished the wotk of redemption, and triumph ed over death and hell. On the first day of the week he met two of his disciples going to Emmatts, and opened their hearts to un derstand the scriptures ; on the evening of the same day he met the eleven, when Thomas was absent, and gave them his blessing. John 20: 19. Again, eight days after, being the next litst day of the week, when the disciples were assembled, and Thomas with them, Jesus chose this day again to meet with them, vetse 30. Al though Christ met frequently with Ins dis ciples. no day is mentioned but the first day of the week, and this is always in connec tion with the assemblies of the disciples for religious purposes. These meetings were no( accidental, but designed and having cho sen the first above the seventh, or any of the rest, and mentioned it by name, our Sa viour has authorized the observance of it by his own example and practice, which ought, with it-, to have the force oflaw. (2.) Again, from the transferor the pe culiar blessings oj the seventh, to the first day of the week. On this clay Christ not only manifested himself to his disciples, and opened their hearts to understand the scrip tures, but breathed on them, that they should receive the Holy Ghost, John 20: 10-23. The ancient promise of the lloly Spirit, which Kings and prophets desired to see, was fulfilled on the first day of the week, “When the day of pent icost was fully come, they were all with one accoid in one place; and were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with tongues,” held in com memoration of tiie giving of the law, and always came fifty days after the passover, which this year fell in the Jewish * * * consequently thefeaslof the penlicost came on the first day of the week, the day of our Lord’s resurrection, and the stated day of public worship among the disciples. Un til this extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, the Christian never fully superseded the Jewish dispensation. How remarka bly then did God confirm the keeping of this day, by abolishing on it the latter dis pensation, ushering in the former, and fit ting his disciples for the work of planting his church, and converting the world. The descent of this extraordinary blessing on the first day of the week, may be regarded as a solemn approbation of the Christian Sabbath, and a seal to its institution from heaven. It is unnecessary to multiply proof. The whole current ot ecclesiastical history shows that it has been the constant and un interrupted practice of the church through out the world, sinee the days of the apostles, to observe the first day of the week as the true Sabbath, lleinember the Sabbath day to keep it Holy. (To be continued.) Fur the Christian Index. llow far Churches may aid in the successful Preaching of Christ Crucified. Mr. Editor —The press of iriv engage meats will prevent me from furnishing you with such a letter, as I would wish; hut presuming upon your indulgence, 1 shall offer a few remarks, which f hope may not be deemed inappropriate to the present times. I will suppose this question to be asked me, by our churches, “What wilt thou have me to do.” I will not say to sueli, “ Go to Damascus” in order to learn ; for the word is nigh them—in which their duties are plainly written. To such an inquiry I cannot err much in saying, end in the successful preaching of Christ cruci fied. If lam asked, how this may he done, I answer, first, by cultivating a spirit of pi ety. FOR THE BAPTIST CONVENTION OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA. PENFIELD, GA„ OCTOBER 18, 1844. No individual member of the church of Christ should doubt, but that he has it in his power to assist in the successful preach ing of Cluist crucified ; for if piety be an essential ingredient, as a secondary consid eration to the successful preaching of the Gospel; and as all members, be they pool er licit, can cultivate piety, we see that in this respect, none are precluded from being co-workers with God. The Church is properly a representative of the Gospel. It is an embodiment of its principles. Its of fice is to illustrate,enforce, and substantiate, every doctrinal, experimental, and practical duty, which may lull from the lips of the preacher. The Church is the diagram, which Ihß preacher employs to illustraieTTis theories. And as such, ii’ it be imperfect, every step in the illustration will be mark ed with a corresponding incoherency ; and so far, from establishing, will only weaken the theory. If the preacher should sudden ly be aroused to the value of the soul—if with the eloquence of an angel, he should dwell upon its nature, exhibiting in glow ing colors its intense susceptibilities, as a rational, moral and accountable agent—il with a mastcily hand, he should define its powers of conception, its powers of appli cation, the intolerable anguish il would feel if lost, the exalted and refined pleasure it would experience, if saved ; if rising from these inferior considerations lie should ex hibit the awful grandeur of the death of Christ; if with the wings of an angel he should soar to the regions of the blest, and see the joy excited at the conversion of a sinner, or the copious and gushing*iears of regret, shed over the lost: if with all these sublime considerations, he should make one touching, one soul-sliring appeal to the un godly, how far short would it fall of ils le gitimate results, if the general piety in the church bore no corresponding testimony to this pleasing and awful reality. To see a marked indifference—to hear no hearty re spouse—these things will cast a sickening sensation over the mind of the preacher, will parulizc all his efforts ; and so far from finding verdure in his field of labor, will see it blasted with mildew. If there he not this piety in the church, whatever the subject discussed, it will alike prove powerless. If, like the Apostle Paul, the minister shall reason of righteousness, and temperance ; if he shall dwell upon the ethics ol the Gospel —to do to others what we would expect them to do for us ; to live in peace and harmony with all men; if in stead ol finding this righteousness and tem perance, the minister found fraud, circum vention and drunkenness; if instead of see ing affection for others, lie sees envy, and haired; if instead of benevolence, lie sees a sordid selfishness ; if instead of reconcil ing their enemies, lie sees them heaping curses on their heads; if a preacher finds himself thus circumstanced, he wo did he no less guilty of absurdity, in expecting the clouds to rain down diamonds—should he even so much as think that “he will come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” And the church (ifchurch itmightbe called) would show as much folly, as the man who would sow his seeds upon a rock, and expect a harvest; should it indulge the hope that the seeds of divine truth will germinate in such a soil as theirs. No, my Christian readers; if you wish your preachers to be useful, and you yourself benefited,you must perform your part; your hearts must ever he kept alive with the spirit of devotion.— ‘That noble expression of the Apostle to the Gentiles should over characterize your con duct, “For me to live is Christ.” Numci ous are the examples, in which, men lion esl in their intentions, faithful to their trusts as minisleis, have preached Christ crucified with affection and kindness; and their preach ing produced no more effect than the sigh ing of the evening breeze. But when in the providence of God, they found themselves in the bosom of a church, distinguished for piety; their ministialions were more suc cessful; and the preaching of Christ cruci fied proved the power of God, and the wis dom of God to the salvation of them that believed. This pleasing change in their ministry must be ascribed to the difference in the condition of the Societies, and not to themselves ; for they preached as faithfully, they labored as assiduously, they piayed as fervently in the one case as the other. ‘The secret of this change will find its answer in the fact, that there was a religious fitness in the one ease, and not in the other, to appre ciate the preaching of Christ crucified. By a careful investigation into the histo ry of all those churches, which have expe rienced any signal communications of God’s love—in the comfort and establishment of believers—or in the conversion of the im penitent, il will be discovered that these im portant changes were preceded by a very high tone of religious feelings; that although there may not have seemed any remarkable external evidences of excitement, yet there were many who breathed a pious sigh, that God would visit Zion, that he would repair her waste places. And when this feeling becomes general, there is a religious fitness to appreciate the in fl lienees of the Spirit and the preacher, feeling the kindlings of their devotion, enters upon his duties with a cheerful countenance, a joyous lieait, and preaches Christ and him crucified with ef fect. The hard and obdurate hearts of men become soft as wax, and moulded into the image of Christ, will ever after he living monuments of the power ofCliristcrucificd. M. If. 8. (To hr continued.) For the Christian Index. Odd Thoughts.—By An Odd Fellow. I. “■Begone, Bull Care." —llow silly are all the complainings of ungrateful mor tals at the lot which Providence lias sent theijn.Every individual is filled with djs conteot, conceiving his own particular ills to be l ,more grievous than the ills of others. Howls it with thee, gentle reader? A re;,you in debt?- Thei), by all means, labor patiently and contentedly to get out. A desjimding heart never helped to fill a P ur t f more than the'drying up of a fotfmsitt! nutls to the size of the stream be low, Good humor is the Virtue that makes the world wag easy :—Cheerfulnes is the great restoicr of wealth and health, and de stroyer of care and discontent. ‘Thousands around you are in a like condition —aye, and e’en tvoise: —and why repine at at lot which you bear in common with your fel low beings. Remember friend ‘tis a griev ons sin to be sad under the burden which heaven places upon economy, when associated with cheerful ness and honesty, will pay your debts right speedily, were they even millions. Have you failed in business?—Then, don’t fret about it:—a moping heart repairs no losses. Begin, again, at the hegining, and remember the lesson your failure lias taught you : dont reach your hand farther than your arm can let it go, and never ffy to snatch too much at once. Proceed slowly, cautiously, ami cheerfully; and, like Peter Simple, hope for “better luck next time.” Sighing after a fortune gone will ncVer make a fortune come, and con templating past prosperity will make pre sent adversity sit none the lighter upon the heart. Hundreds have failed in business before you; but uevei one mended the matter by looking only upon the dark side of the picture. Cheer up, then, and when your bosom would heave a sigh, tune your lips for a whistle ; and go right merrily to work again. Is your body home down with disease? —Still keep the mind in health. Cheerful ly Rulerr.il to your fate and grumble not.— Instead of complaining that your case is so bad, be thankful that it is no worse. A raving tongue never made a sound bod)', nor did ever grumbling at sickness add speed to the wings of approaching health. Let your mind still rise, and your body will seldom fail to rise with it from sym pathy. Has your Love been slighted Jby your mistress?—Good! No better subject fora joke. You can now laugh at yourself for believing her the most charming creature in the world, when all the world, besides yourself, had a different opinion. Don’t lose your own heart because you have lost hers :—love never broke a lieait except in a novel. Tlteie are plenty of damsels all round you, with sparkling eyes and bound ing hearts, and among them you may find one as fair as your lost one, and far more yielding. Forget the “Old love,” and “on with the new;” smile to your present mis tress, and never sigh after your old one; for, ten chances to one, she used snuff. Have debts, adversity, disease, loss of friends—all, come upon you at once?— Still be patient, be cheerful. Never a storm but bad an end. And, peradventure this world is made for trouble and sorrow, in order that we may not be too well de lighted by the way and forget whither we are going. Our life is a pilgrimage on oatili which wise men pass with alacrity. Be you assured, friend, you are a most fortunate man, if you are butcontcntcd with your lot; no man is more happy if you have hut cheerfulness at your command. Remember that “God eliastiscth them whom he lov- i ethand that they “who sow in tear:-. shall reap injoy.” “Oh! fortunatos nimitiHi, bona si sun no lint.” Mount Jefferson, Ala. JB4-1. For the Christian Index. Brother Baker —l regret the necessity of a third communication, when but one was intended. Whilst lamat a loss to as certain what benefit would lie derived from a knowledge of my religious position - If you felt all the assurance of cot redness in your own bosom, that should be felt on a doctrine, before it is taught, and defended, why bold me up to the prejudices of your readers, first, as a Poedohaptist, and then as neither the one, nor the other. “But as it were an after dinners sleep,” Dreaming on both.” Let us suppose for the sake of illustra tion, that I am a very Lad man, and engag ed your attention from very- bail motives, and y'ou had the penetration to discover it, and the power to expose it; would that prove anything, eithei for or against the doctrine of close communion? But to return to the case of Leonidas. I said the Ilev. minister held that Christ imi tated him, You commenced sustaining that position ; but now say that it is justifiable to refer to his soldicts. Is it possible that the conductor of a leading organ of the Bap tist denomination should be unable to dis criminate between an “ imitation ,” and a “ reference .” And yet their meanings must be identical to sustain the position assumed. Upon the subject of Baptism, when ask ed which branch of the Baptist church ad administers baptism correctly ? and when asked if the baptism of the Freewill and Primitive Baptists be from Heaven or of men ? Jott do not tell. But say you ought not to commune with disorderly persons. !)o you charge two out of three branches of your denomination with being disorderly ? If so, then, those two branches upon the same principles would make a similar alle gation against you. And thus the whole 709,1)00 Baptist in America are atone sweep placed under the head of disorderly Chris tians. In which unfortunate condition, 1 most certainly would have been placed, had 1 followed (as you seem to think I should have done) the influences of an early educa tion. And nil this for the purpose of sus taining the proposition that Christ was imi tating a heathen hero, and that the doctrine of dose communion is a necessary conse quence, of a difference of opinion on the subject of Baptism. 1 have heard many'close communionists argue this question ; anil they all, like your self, begin on “ baptism ” and end in “dis order.” You will, I hope, allow me some time for reflection before you call on me to subscribe to a position, which requires me to denounce as disorderly, two large and pi ous branches of the Baptist denomination —with the dire necessity of denouncing the other branch, or be inconsistent. For 1 be lieve each branch holds the other to be in disorder. You say you have referred lo the scrip tures, and think I ought lo be satisfied with them. In this you are correct. 1 would rather change every sentiment known tomy mind, than one senteneeof that sacred hook. But you also referred to Leonidas and his soldiers and have said much more about him, and them, than you have about the bi ble. llow then am 1 to determine upon which reference your positions depend. 1 seriously fear that your attempt to as certain, and define my position, lias led you to conclusions, I might say erroneous con clusions, which a charitable construction of my letters would have averted. In conclusion let me ask you to review your comments on this subject, and say if you are willing the Baptists and the Chris tian world at large, should believe that you have no other or better reasons for the prac tice of close communion, than those assign ed in your remarks upon my letters? Do you not believe that by a close examination of the history of the Baptist church, the true reason could be ascertained? And would it not he better to give the true reason, even if it did not exactly sustain the position of the church; os now held forth, and practiced by your denomination? A slight change for the better is desirable to all, except those who hold to the infallibili ty of the church. Humbly praying to the giver of every good, and perfect gift, to continue, and in crease your usefulness to bis church, 1 re main your brother in the bonds of the Gos pel. REUBEN THORN. Dahlonega, Sept. 1. REMARKS ON THE ABOVE. It seems our brother—we still hope he is a Christian brother—has jjccome a little displeasedbecause we have not answered his communications accoiding to bis own lik ing; lot we aie sure we east no reflections on him. lie represented himself as a “f iend” to the Baptists, in his first com munication. We certainly felt justified by that, in the conclusion that he was not a Baptist. If A writes to us “1 am a friend to B,” wc certainly should conclude that A and B are very different persons. Are the bride-groom and the friend of the bride groom, mentioned by the Saviour,thesame? Now as bro. Thorn's language justified the conclusion that lie was not a Baptist, though a member of some Christian Society, we know not how we could have well sup posed him to be any thing else but a Redo baptist or a Quaker. ’The latter we did not suppose he was, for Quakers do not meddle with baptism or the Lord’s supper. As wc had inferred that lie was a Pcdobap. list, from his own language, we thought it nothing but right that we should acknowl edge on r error, when he disclaimed being one. Wc can assure him, we have no particular desire, nor have we had. to attain to ‘a knowledge of ii is religions position.’ He is accountable to God and not to us. If.bro. Thorn had dial cliarilv, which Publisher —BENJ. BRANTLY “thiukelh no ill,’’ lie would not have sup posed that bro. Reid intended to icpresent that the Saviour took Leonidas as his mod el. The Saviour did many things, which Jews and Gentiles had done before him, and thus, in one sense, imitated them ; and yet he had no model which he follow ed but his own sovereign will. Bro. T. seems too to have forgotten that he himself represented bro. Reid, in one [part of his first communication, as referring to, in stead of imitating ‘Leonidas. We did not answer the questions about the Free Will Baptists &c. because they had no necessary connection with the main points on which bro. T. sought our views - But if he will refer to the number of our paper for Sept. 27th, he will find what our views are in reference to the Free Will Baptists and their baptism. If there be any “order” 4 for admitting unbaptized persons to the Lord’s supper, let it be produced: if there be no such or der—no warrant in the word of God lor the practice—we must certainly consider it disorderly, and consider those whoobserve it as walking disorderly, in that respect. Our bro. in his first communication, pro fessed to desire information relative to ohr views; but now, it seems, that he did not lack information on the subject; for he tells us, he has “heard many close eomrnunion ists argue this question, and they all like yourself begin on “baptism” and end in “disorder.” We did reler to Leonidas, it is tiue; but why did we ? Was it not, my brother, be cause that was the string on which you harped so much ? and on which you reques ted us to harp also ? Strange that we should be censured for replying to your in quiries ! But we said more about Leonidas than about tho bihle. We are not sc sure of that—but suppose we did—is there no good reason lor it? When we speak of subjects not expressly mentioned in scrip ture, we have to multiply words and argu ments ; but when we are called on for scrip tural authority, one “Thus saith the Lord” ought to be sufficient for every reasonable man. You, admit (in the 6th paragraph) that you “ ought lo be satisfied ” with the scriptures to which we referred you, Why then arc you not satisfied ? We are certainly willing that the world should know that we deem it atnplv suffi cient lo justify us. in the practice of restric ted communion, to be assuted that the bibit authorizes us to admit baptized believers to the Lord’s supper, but gives us no author ity to admit others ; —and that it teaches expressly, that in religious matters, we are not to act without u divine warrant, We therefore call upon you again, if you know of any divine warrant for admitting un baptized persons to the ordinance of the supper, to produce it. Until such a war rant is produced, we must be excused for adhering to our practice, contrary to the natural inclinations of our heart, which would prompt lo union and communion with all good men, whether members of churches or not. And if you write again, please do not forget to analyze and answer the arguments and the scriptures intro duced in our tormer replies. If you ex. peel us to continue the discussion of the subject in our paper, we must insist on your coming to the point and sticking to it, —on youi meeting and answering our ar guments fairly. If those who admit tin; baptized persons to communion do not act “disorderly,” point us to the rules of order in scripture which justify their course. If you insist on our acting as they do, produce your warrant. If you cannot do this, why let the subject rest in silence. Better not speak or write at all, than not to speak or write to the point, for that would be dark ening counsel by words. No man entertains more friendly feelings than we do for our Free Will brethren, and others who dtfi'er fiom us in their religious need and pi active, and therefore we feel averse to any controveisy. that has not a tendency to draw us nearer to each other other and to bind our hearts together with the silken cotdsof love. With the spirit of our correspondent’s former communica tions we were pleased ; and, consequently, feel surprized and pained at the altered tone of the one on which we have com mented. We cannot, and will not take part with T. in ordei to gain his good will, in condemning a brother, (bro. lieid,) for expressions used in an extemporaneous ad dress, until we learn from himself the idea which he intended to convey. Does bro'., ‘l’. in his extemporaneous addresses, never use words of doubtful import ? If not, he is the most gifted and extraordinary man living! But if he does occasionally use such words, what wotdd he think of one who reported his expressions, in a widely circulated paper, and put upon them a con struction which it was not his design they NO. 42.