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CHRISTIAN INDEX
SAMUEL 80YK1N,.......... Emtor
February 9, 1865.
* AGENTS.
We earnestly request all the friends of the
Index, especially ministers and postmasters to
aid us in extending the circulation of the In
dtee. Any one sending fire new subscribers
and the money shall receive an extra copy,
gratis. ts
Term of Subscription.
Circumstances render it ill-judged for us to
rsceive subscriptions for a period longer than
four or two months. In future, consequently,
we will credit subscribers at the rate of
Fob two months $ 5.00,
For xoub months 10.00,
For six months 15.00,
And will not take subscriptions for a length
of time greater than six months.
The Mails.
Subscribers to the Eastward of us complain,
and justly, too, of irregularity in getting their
papers. But we assure them that the fault is
not in the Index office. We haye our books
carefully kept, and we have careful and relia
ble mailing clerks who each Wednesday, do
up the papers and deposit them in the Post
Office, and after that they are beyond our con
trol, and irregularties are due to no fault of
ours. But we hope subscribers will inform us
promptly when their Index does not arrive,-so
so that we can try to remedy 1 the evil if no
_ more. We make great efforts, faithfully and
honestly, to fulfill our obligations to our sub
scribers ; but where so many difficulties are
in the way —difficulties frequently beyond our,
power to control or remedy—we think com
mon charity, to say nothing of brotherly love,
should induce complainants to spare us and
excuse us from blame.
Hasty Telegrams.
F. R. Kribb—The $4 last year and $5 this
for Jesse came.
W. Wells, Treas. Friendship Asso—Your
$55 ,45 is received and will be applied as di- |
rected.
W. B. Cooper—The $275 are received and
acknowledged by mail. *
J. R. Jones—Your sls was received and
appropriated.
Rev. M. J. W—Mrs B. C. S’s. time is out-
Mrs. L. O. Holleman’s Index has been sent
since Nov. 8 1864.
A Mistake-
Dr. Brantly attributes the expression “An
Evergreen School,” to Bro. of the
School. This is a mistake. It was first used
by Dr. J. A. Broadus in a communication to
the Child’s Index, and has appeared monthly
in that paper for a great while, and therefore
was naturallused by a reader of the paper, as
Bro. is.
Columbus, G-., Jan. 26, 1865.
Bro. Boykin. —l have just been assignod to
duty at the Marshall Hospital at this place.
There are about three hundred inmates, very
destitute of religious literature. Will you
please send me regularly forty or fifty, or as
many numbers as you can spare of the Index.
Please give this your immediate attention, and
you will greatly oblige, with many others,
Yours, &c., J. O. A. Cook,
” Chaplain.
[We would do so willingly, if we had the
money to pay for them. Our soldiers’ fund
has been exhausted long since, and no one
seems inclined to replenish it. We hope, for
the gratification of our brave and suffering
soldiers, that such will the case no longer.
Who will respond ?]
Pastoral Visiting.
Visiting, praying and talking - with the peo
ple of his charge, is the best exercise the best
■ gymnastics a preacher can have. He needs it
after the study of the forenoon. It is one of
the best preparations for the Sabbath; it fur
nishes him with refreshment of body and in
citements of mind, and with new illustrations
for the pulpit. It secures him good influence
over his people. He may have at first repug
nances to it, but let him evercome them, and
he will find his head, heart, and body refresh
ed and invigorated for his work.
• Lean Christians.
“ Some Christians as are like to Pharaoh’s
lean kine, reproach three at once—God, the
Gospel, and their teachers.”
The times present many such. They are a
reproach to the great and holy God of heaven
and earth whose followers they are : they are
reproach to the gospel which they profess but
which they are very much unlike in temper
and in life; and they are a reproach, to their
spiritual teachers who have instructed them
so often, and admonished them so repeatedly.
Reader, look within, and seeds this will not
apply personally to yourself.
Spiritual Slothfulness.
Seneca calls sloth “the nurse of beggary,
the mother of misery.” And slothful Chris
tians find it so. Who se miserable at heart’as
that Christian who, by a slothful neglect of du_
ty has lost the countenance of his God, the
joys of salvation and the sweet peace of God
which he once possessed! .No light illumines
his heart and no joy beams in his countenance.
All the day long he is wretched and the night
is a weariness to him. He is a beggar—-worse
than a beggar—and spiritual bankrupt, whose
debts stare him in the face and crush out hope
from his heart.
An obstinate heart shall be laden Jwith sor
row.
Whisky-Distilling .Christians- . |
“ Bro. Boykidfc—'One of the Deacons, in.
the church where my membership is, and his
brother in another church just below —one a
deacon and the other the church’s clerk—have
started a distillery. Another deacon, four
miles above has bought a large lot of corn to
still up where children are crying for bread
all around him ; and our ministers in this sec
tion do not say one word from their pulpits
against the vices of stilling and drinking.
Do open your battery upon them.
“ Fraternally,
t<
We must confess to great astonishment
when we read the above in a private letter
from a good friend and brother residing with
in one hundred miles of Macon. The circum
stances are true ; and they portray a state of
society painful to contemplate and a state of
religion deplorable to behold. Think of a
community, but recently passed over and des
olated by Sherman’s army, permitting and
perhaps desiring the existence and operation
of stills, when women and children are crying
hr bread! Think of churches that will per
mit their members to distill their corn into
whisky and sell it when women and children
are suffering for food ! Think of a church al
lowing its officers to put up stills and manfac
ture fire-water with which to curse the com
munity at a time when corn is so scarce!
Think of Deacons and church clerks deliber
ately engaged in the diabolical, happiness-de
stroying and soul-murdering employments of
concocting mean whiskey for the sake of a
few dollars ! And think of all this being no
torious; and yet no minister has the courage to
denounce it from the pulpit! No church has
the firmness to discipline its members !
But is it such a heinous offence to destroy
corn and manufacture and sell whisky? Look
at the matter for a moment.
Here is our country suffering for provisions
—actually in want of the staff of life—many,
many of its helpless women and .children
(whose husbands and fathers are in the army)
crying for bread—transportation being so dif
ficult to obtain that corn cannot even be brought
from favored districts to suffering localities—
and yet, in just such a place where corn is
scarce, men, Christian ‘men, members of the
church, are engaged in distilling whisky from
corn ! Os all articles in the world this is now
the most pernicious to our people: and yet
this is the abominable stuff for which corn is
destroyed ! It is bad enough to throw away
corn; but far worse to change it into such a
pernicious, destructive, hell-suggested article
as whisky. Think for one moment of all the
ruin, misery and unhappiness that whisky has
caused! He who manufactures it is sowing
the seed of woe, sorrow and destruction. And
think of this being done by Baptist deacons—
with the cognizance of their own church !*and
at such a time as this ; and under such circum
stances as these ! We are amazed at the self
ishness, hardheartedness and utter want of
principle in such men ; and we arc astonished
that, at least the church does not purify itself
of such ungodly members ! Men who are so
forgetful of their duty to God, to society, to
the church, to the souls of men and to them-*
selves, deserve speedy discipline: they are a
disgrace to a Christian organization : they are
a disgrace to our country : they are a disgrace
to humanity. For the sake of a'few dollars
they shame the cause of Christ, dishonor the
church of God, spread starvation to the extent
ot their power, inflict temporal misery upon
their neighbors and drown in perdition the
souls of as many as they can induce to kill
themselves by drinking. Can anything too
severe be said of such men ?
But we will not rail against them-we mere
ly place before them the enormity of their of
fence against God, religion, society and their
own souls and beg them to desist. Surely, the
hearts of those who have once tasted the sweets
of religion arc open to a sense of shame, will
regard an appeal to reason, can listen to the
voice of conscience ! Surely such men know
the criminality of aiding to starve widows and
orphans, of spreading disease, death and un
happiness, of bringing reproach upon the
church of Christ! Oye guilty ones, heed the
voice of conscience ! Listen to the monitions
of patriotism ! Regard the calls of humanity!
Refrain from this guilty, this cruel, this sinful
practice: refrain forthe love you bear to your
Savior, your country, the souls of your fellow
men and your own soul. Refrain. that the
curses of widows and orphans may not press
your souls down to hell. Refrain- that lost souls
may not. cry out against you from all eternity.
Refrain that your own soul may not in endless
anguish have to lament this wicked madness !
Bewara! oh, beware, ye rich men who thus
trifle with the hopes, happiness and comfort of
so many—beware lest God curse you with a
curse, saying, “Go t 9, now, ye rich men,
weep and howl for your miseries that shall
come upon you. Your riches are corrupted and
your gurments moth-eaten. Your gold and sil
ver are cankered; and the rust of them shall
be a witness against you, and shall eat your
flesh as it were fire.”
Grace;
“ Grace grows by exercise, and decays by
disuse. Though both arms grow yet that which
a man uses most is the stronger : so it is both
with gifts and graces.”
You see a man who is noted for his piety,
for the sweetness of his graces : he is one who
has tried to cultivate his graces. Up is hum
ble, devout, charitable, spiritual-minded, full
of zeal, zealous of good works, because, he
tries to be. He is a growing Christian because
he cultivates his. gifts and graces; and his
gifts and graces are strong because he uses
them. Because he is much in prayer, he is
devout in spirit: because he demeans himself
humbly he is meek and gentle. That bird
which sings most sings sweetest; so it is with
the heart-singing of Christians.
False friends are worse than open enemies.
&
Restoration. to Favor.
Restore unto me the joys of thy salvation. Ps.
51: 12.
(adapted.)
Christian, have you not, as a lost sheep,
erred and strayed—wandering from the home
nf your God? Have you not been seeking
happiness in the shadowy and unreal—prefer
ring the world and its delusive hopes to the
pleasures of religion ? Has not your heart,
which ought ever to be a little altar and sanc
tuary of praise, been burning with false in
cense ? Have not the world and pleasure and
wealth and gratification usurped that place in
your affections where the love and glory of
God ought to have been paramount ? And is
it not a marvel that God has not left you, as a
wandering star, to drift onwards and onwards
to the blackness of darkness forever ? Is it
not a wonder that he has not entirely given
you over to a reprobate mind, to work out all
uncleanness with greediness, and to effect your
own everlasting shame, disgrace and misery ?
Instead of which h? is calling you, and is
working upon your mind, and bringing sor
rowfully to your remembrance the blissful
hours of his favor you once enjoyed, so that
from your mourning heart goes forth the sad,
sad refrain, “ Oh, that it were with me, as in
months past, when the candle of the Lord did
shine! ”
Come, Christian, return to the Lord that he
may have mercy upon you, and to our God
that he may abundantly pardon. Beg him to
“restore unto you flie joy of his salvation.”
Let your petition be, “ 0 Lord, I beseech thee
deliver my soul. Snap these chains of earth
liness that are still binding me to the dust,
that, upon the wings of faith I may soar up
wards and find rest and quietude where alone
it ean be found—in thy renewed love and fa
vor. May my past backslidings drive me
more to thy grace. Nothing in myself, may I
feel and find that my all in all is in thee. _ Dis
cover to me my own emptiness and the over
flowing fullness of Jesus. May I every day
see more of his matchless excellences—more
of his incomparable loveliness—more of the
sweets of his service—that I may never feel
tempted to wander from his fold, and carefully
avoid all that would risk the forfeiture of that
favor which, indeed, is ‘ life.’ Lord, let me
this day know something of this happiness.
Let me not be content with the name to live.
Let religion be with me a real thing —let it
be everything—life-influencing, sin-subduing,
self-renouncing. Let there be diffused all
around me the happy glow of a spirit that feels
at peace with God.” Offer this prayer, Chris
tian, in sincerity and penitence, and peace, as
a river, will flow into your soul.
To the Churches.
The present ia the time for you to be pre
paring for your Associations. It requires sev
eral months for you to accomplish anything
requiring unity of action, because your bus
iness meetings occur only once per month, and
almost before you know it the Associationewill
be meeting nnd Kionxy will no* be collated,
committees will not be prepared to report and
important measures will not be eonsidered.
If such projects of benevolence as are suitable
for associational action are in contemplation,
let them be well matured before presentation.
When standing committees are appointed to
prosecute any work or effect any object or
prepare any report, let them vigorously per
form the task. And since all your operations
require money be energetic, generous and
prompt in the collecting of contributions. How
pitiful it is for churches of strength and abili
ty to disregard this matter entirely and leave
it to the secretary or messenger at the last
moment to insert,. “we send two dollars for
minutes,” all, perhaps, the individual feels
disposed to donate! and yet we have read
many letters from churches numbering scores
with just such expressions—“ we send $1 for
minutes and $5 for missions.”
Begin in time. Take up collection after
collection, until a respectable sum is obtained
and your Association have it in its power to
accomplish some good.
Among the many objects demanding your ;
contributions we hope you will not forget funds
for sending the Index to the soldiers. We will
publish each week, at least, one tract for theii
benefit; and as it is now almost impossible to
supply the army with an religious reading
matter except papers, it is your duty to seq
that they obtain these. We understand that
several churchesnre taking collections ior this
purpose : we rejoice at it and hope that many
more will do the same thing.
Staunton Church, Va.
A writer in the Herald, whom we recognize
as our valued correspondent J. W. J. gives the
following praise to the Staunton Church :
For several days in Staunton I enjoyed the
. hospitality of Bro. G. B. Taylor, and had an
opportunity of learning something of the con
dition of his church. From the small body
under the patronage of the Goshen Associa
tion, which it was when Bro. Taylor went
there, it has become one of the most efficient
churches in Virginia. For liberality it is scarce
ly surpassed by any church of its size and
pecuniary capacity. It has recently contrib
uted upwards of twenty thousand dollars for
the educatitn of soldiers’ orphans. Besides
the duties of his pastorate, Bro. Taylor is do
ing a great work in the Staunton hospitals.
The Patriarchs.
We clip from the Christian Observer y
“ The ‘ Religious Herald ’ is noticed in some
of our daily papers as the oldest religious
newspaper in the Confederacy. The ‘ Chris
tian observer’ may rightfully claim the prece
dence in years. It was first published under
the name of the ‘Family Visitor,’ about forty
three years ago. The name has been changed
—but the paper has been regularly kopt up
ever since.”
The “ Christian Index,” older than either,
although for a few of the first years of its ex
istence it was called the “ Columbian Star.”
Ho who has no shame has no conscience.
The Theatre jnd the Daily Papers.
We had made up our mind to write an arti
cle and the laudations of the
Daily Press, repeated day after day, much to
the demoralization of society and to the grief
of those pained jit beholding such extraordi
nary levity among our people in times as per
ilous as these, when our eye fell upon the fol
lowing article in the Southern Observer, and
as it expresses our sentiments, we adopt it:
“Since ‘Crisp’ and his attendants have
been holding forth in our city, some of the
daily papers have given daily notices, lauda
tions, eulogies, &c.,Af their theatrical perform
ances, and have not ceased to bring all their
influence to bear in favor of attendence upon
their nightly exhibitions. We cadfiot reconcile
it to a sense of duty to allow the occasion to pass
without entering a protest against the subver
sion of the press to the advocacy of that which
is so pernicious in its influence upon the moral
and religious condition of society. We do not
mean to speak of the comparative merits or
distinctive peculiarities of the performances
of Crisp & Cos. We take it for granted that
they do not differ materially from theatrical
performances in general. We have not heard
any one claim for them extraordinary refine
ment, chastity or moral elevation. We be
lieve that not even the daily papers have dared
to claim that they are free from the corrupting
and dissipating tendenciewhich have marked
the theatre in all ages of the world.
“We have neither time nor disposition at
present to enter into an elaborate argumenta
tinupon the evils of theatres. These things
have been discussed from time immemorial,
and the position which we assume has been
triumphantly vindicated times without num
ber. Not only the Christian Church and
Christian writers, but the better class of pa
gan statesmen, philosophers and writers have,
with marked uniformity, testified to the evils
growing out of theatrical exhibitions, and we
are not prepared to believe that the theatres
of this Confederacy are exceptions to the gen
eral rule. With the recollections of McCarty
and Ogden fresh in our minds—those two dis
tinguished characters of the stage, who, after
having beenlauded to the skies by the secular
press of this country for their sterling integ
rity, moral purity and exalted patriotism,
deserted and went over to our enemies—we
cannot believe that the spirits which preside
over the Confederate drama are more pure or
less hurtful than their predecessors in office.
“ That those who write for the secular press
can, after careful examination and mature
reflection, believe that they are promoting the
best interest of society by advocating the
theatre, is difficult to conceive. We cannot
resist the conviction thatthis unceasing praise
of the theatre grows out of a very reprehensi
ble disposition to ‘ puff’ and recommend
any thing and any body that will ‘ advertise ’
—a desire to please every body for the sake
of patronage.
“We long to seo the day when the men of
the press shall have a more exalted idea of
tffeir mission.among men, and a more impres
sive sense of the responsibilities attaching to
their position—when they shall feel that their
business in life is to be expounders of correct
principles, the guardians of public virtue and
moulders of public opinion, rather than the
tools of corrupt designers, the victims of sor
did avarice, or the weathercocks of public sen
timent.”
More Unity of Purpose.
“ Give me more unity and simplicity of pur
pose. Give me to make salvation more the one
thing needful. Let all ether love be subordi
nated to thine. Do thou be my ‘ chiefest joy.’
May thy service be my delight. May my
heart become a little sanctuary, whence the
ineenso of praise and love and thanksgiving is
ascending continually. May it glow with
holy zeal and promote thy cause and testify of
thy grace. Remembering all that thou hast
done for me, may I be animated to make a
more entire consecration of all I am and have
to thy glory.”
ij Thus prays the Christian who is conscious
of mingling motives in his breast, and such as
will not stand the test of God’s pure eye and
of His holy word. He feels that he has for
feited the joys of assurance by admitting rival
claimants to God’s throne in his affections, and
that often the surpassing interests and glories
of eternity are dimmed and obscured by the
engrossing things of time and sense. All his
best attempts to serve God he feel's are mixed
with imperfection and worldliness, and, if
weighed in the balance, his holiest service
would be found wanting. No wonder ho
breathes after more consecration, more devo
tedness of purpose, more love of God ruling in
his heart !
For the First Time,
Either by Congress or the President, our Sa
vior has been recognized in a public document:
this was the case in the resolutions of Con
gress requesting the President to appoint a
day of fasting and prayer. The Resolution,
with Mr. Davis’ Proclamation, will appear in
the Index next week.
We are proud of the stand taken by Con
gress in this matter, and, as it is an honoring
of the blessed Jesus in a,manner that oar gov
ernment has not honored him before, we hope,
small as the matter appears to be, that it will
augur a speedy manifestation of the divine fa
vor in our behalf. Heretofore, though all our
people nearly are firm believers in Jesus and
worship him as God, our President has not,
and will not, recognize him as our mediator
and intercessor, perhaps to the divine dis
pleasure. Out of Christ, the mediator, Ged is
no prayer-hearing God; and when a day of
fasting and prayer is appointed. Christ should
be especially mentioned as the one through
whom our blessings are to be asked: not to be
so mentioned is to be dishonored.
Sleep without supping, and wake without
owing.
Humility.
“ The nearer any soul draws to God, I
more humble will that soul lie before God.”
The angels are nearest God and none are .so
humble as the angels. The nearer God a Chris
tian gets, the more be percieves his uuworthi
ness and God’s greatness, goodness and mercy.
He is humbled under a sense of great indebt
edness ; and while he casts his crown at Jeho
vah’s feet and cries holy , holy , holy, he. veils
his own countenance in exceeding humility.
Our Greatest Enemy.
Augustine said: “ Deliver me, 0 Lord, from
that evil man myself.”
Th o real Christian knows his own weakness,
imperfections and liability to error ; and he is
aware how much easier it is for him to injure
himself by sining than for any one else to in
jure him. He knows that, in the sight of God,
he is his own greatest enemy—therefore his
prayer is often— save me from myself ! —that
is, give me power to govern and restrain my
self!
. Pen and Scissors.
Social Prater.
The Richmond Christian Advocate suggests
a plan of which we approve. It is as follows:
We propose that, during the Winter months,
the Christians of our country shall adopt tlte
plan of forming small circles for prayer, in
private residences. Invite the neighbors to
ono house, say on Monday night, to another
on Tuesday night, and so on through the
week, so that every night, in every part of the
city—and in the country, where it may be
Fractieable —there shall be a prayer-meeting,
nstead of collecting for mirth and merry
making, let praying parties be inaugurated as
far more congenial with our circumstances as
a people. As Mrs. A , a fashionable lady
of the world, sends out lien invitations for a
social gathering to spend a pleasant evening
at her house, so let Mrs. B , a pious woman
of God, invite a few friends of her selection to
meet at her house on a certain evening, and
spend the time in asking God’s blessing upon our
cause. As yeading-eiubw, dancing clubs and
music clubs have become in some places the
order of the day, or rather of the night, with
the worldly, let praying-clubs become fashion
able with the worldly, let praying-clubs be
come fashionable w ith the godly. We arc
satisfied that this will be an excellent plan to
bring into active and earnest employment the
moral power and enhance the faith of the
Church of God.
We deplore the tendency of the tirnps to
mirth and frivolity, and are’ amazed that so
many of our people, and many of them the
best in society, are so carried away, at this
time, by pleasure and fashionable amuse
ments. Apparently, we should all be solemn
and serious, and even devout, considering the
circumstances of the day; but, instead of
this, we perceive parties for dancing and for
cards, theaters in successful operation, and a
general tendency to levity and irreligiou.
The people of the world are carrying out
their professions in full, and seducing from
their steadfastness many of God’s people—
they should no w take a stand as a peculiar peo
ple, zealous of good works, and manifest that
they are not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ,
and that they are as willing to not up to tlioir
profession as the devotees of pleasure and
worldliness. The good of society and the
honor of religion and faithfulness to their
Heavenly Master, demand it of them.
With the Advocate, we sincerely hope this
proposition will find a cordial response among
the people. t Thus, the young people will find
profitable entertainment ; ’the most infirm and
old will have the pleasure of prayer-meeting
at their own houses ; the mind of the commu
nity will be turned directly and steadily to
God as our strength ; the sociality of the coun
try will be saved from degenerating into fool
ish mirth-making in this solemn hour of trial;
spiritual en'ergios will be revived and invigo
rated ; the religious life of the land will be
coiqe more expressive, and the blessings of
Alm.ighty God, which are promised to prayer,
be poured out richly upon our country.
The Churchman, (Episcopalian), when the
subject matter suits, can talk just like a Bap
tist. Hear it in speaking of the prayer for
the dead so long existent in the English Epis
copal prayer-book, anl which the “whole
early church ” practiced:
The question arises, therefore, was the early
church right or wrong ? If right, why then
did the Church of Egland, in her present ser
vice book, omittlie prayers for the dead, which
she had inserted in the first book? If the
early church was wrong, how can we decide,
except by going to Scripture? The whole
matter, therefore, is in a nut-shell. We be
lieve; —our cliurch believes, that the ancient
church erred in this matter; and her only
rule to decide was the Bible, and the Bible, in
spite of the interpretations placed upon it by
the whole early church.
Hence we conclude, that neither the prac
tice nor the interpretation of Scripture by the
early church, is our rule and guide in matters
of religion. Upon each one of us, difficult or
not difficult, rests the responsibility of going
to the Scriptures and deciding as in the fear
and with the wisdom of God, what is true
and what is false. Woo be to us, if wo judge
other than with the profoundest humility, seek
ing direction from the God of truth.
With reference to the practice ot infant bap
tism, why does not the Churchman give to its
readers advice similar to the above ? *
Teaching, Believing and Baptizing.
The following from the Churchman contains
excellent Baptist doctrine. It reads as if the
writer had studied the New Testament:
“ Our Lord instructed his first ambassadors
to go forth, ‘ teaching,’ or, as properly read,
making disciples or Christians of ‘ all nations,
baptising them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.’ Hence
here is the method 6et forth for those who
would be disciples. They must he taught, and
they yield to teaching, of course becoming be
lievers as they receive the teaching, they, to
become disciples, must be baptized.”
I have always preferred cheerfulness to
mirth. The latter I consider as an art, the
former is a habit of mind. MirtH is short and
transient; cheerfulness fixed and permanent.
[ Addison.
-
Clippings from our Exchanges. *
Speaking of the late Georgia Conference
that convened at Athens, $. C. Advocate says:
“The Conference adjourned on Tuesday
night, after a session marked by the utseeet
harmony. Even its investigations and decis
ions in two or three most unpleasant cases, in
volving the character of members of the Con
ference were marked by an absence of contro
versy and a unanimity of opinion rarely seen
under similar circumstances. We have known,
few bodies where a fraternal feeling prevails
more generally than in the Georgia Confer
ence.”
Abingdon, Ya. *
A writer in the Christian Observer says:
“ The Union Prayer Meeting for our country
is regularly maintained in Abingdon, Ya.,
evei’y.Friday afternoon, and’one whq-fyi&es a
deep interest in it remarked, that it. hfj.fl §ot ;
been suffered to languish since the war com
menced, and that to this fact was to be ascrib
ed the immunity of this town from the rava
ges of the enemy, who have so often
ed it, and have laid waste so many other por
tions of the country.” - •
Prater for Wilmington. - -
The Raleigh Christian Advocate has the fcJ-.
lowing in an editorial; . ...
“God alone is our trust, and to Him we
must fly for succor. Let earnest prayer be
made for the preservation of our forces and
the rescue of Wilmington from the grasp of
the enemy. We have had a recent demonstra
tion of His power and willingness to hear
prayer, in the late discomfiture of the enemy
there. We trust all Christian people in the
State, will make Wilmington a special object
of prayer.”
The Richmond Christian Advocate has look
ed in vain for a spirit of Christianity in United
States newspapers, and, after a perusal of
them, wonders where the piety of the North
ern people has gone and what has got into tho
Northern churches. It says, of the. Northern
Christians: \
“ While pouring out their prayers for all
the rogues and cut-throats they hire from Eu
rope to fight us, and expending millions in
Christian commissions to their army, and striv
ing to amaze themselves and the rest of man
kind by the extraordinary amount of .efforts
made to spread religion abroad in the earth,
they call for vengeance on us as savagely as
if men defending their homes were unpardon
able criminals —steal our servants, rob our
women and children, take bread from helpless
old men,burn the homestead,scatter the impov
erished people, and then give glowing accounts
of the splendid achievements and sign the let
ters as brothers in Christ and chaplains of the
army.
* * * * * * li
lt the devil has not gotten the the upper
hand of the churches at the North, then it.
seem3 somebody very nearly related to him
has. It will be curious to have this matter ex
plained after the war is over. When the ele
gantly attired gentlemen of the cloth come
down to us folks in the grey homespun, and in
the most affectionate nasal tones, with eyes
turned upward, declare as in other years how
their God shall be our God,-and sweetly talk
of forgetting old scores and brothering us like
we were the most precious and beloved of all
saints, what shall we say ? The past will then
peep over their shoulders like a stolen darkey
rolling up the whites of his eyes and saying •
out of his mouth, full of great shining teeth,
‘ ha! ha ! ha!’ ”
Stirring Words.
The Churchman concludes an excellent ed
itorial upon the present situation of Con
federacy in the following stirring words :
“But beside these ; we have a just and no
ble cause; no juster, no nobler, was ever fought
for. We have an earnest Christian people,
who, day and night, are calling upon God. We
have been greatly blessed of God in the past,
which affords ground of hope for the future.
We have a kind and merciful God to trust in.
a God who hears and answers prayer. All
these things we have. And it is for us to turn
away from our sins, and in humility and ear
nestness, beseech God that he may he gracious
to us. We have many sweet and precious
promises ; let us trust in them. Though now
afflicted,'God can turn our mourning into joy.
0 let there be, on the part of all the people, a
turning away from sin. Let there be, on the
part of Christians, such earnest crying, that
it shall pierce the very heavens. And the
prophet tells ministers what to do, when he
says, “ Let the priests weep between the porch
and the altar, and let them say, spare thy peo
ple, O Lord.” Could we but see all Christians
moved with profound interest: all humbling
themselves; all calling upon God, how soon
would there be hope ; liow soon would the
darkness disappear and the day-star of deliv
erance arise.
Let us, therefore, once more arm ourselves
for the conflict; and trusting in God, by His
blessings, we shall succeed.”
English Sentiment.
Bishop Mcllvaine has returned home from
Europe.- The Western Episcopalian thus speaks
of the views of the English in connection with
Bishop M. :
“ lle had shared with all loyal hearts the
joy caused by the late Union successes; buj
though everywhere met with “ all sorts of af
fectionate kindness,” is obliged to conclude
that the leading classes of the nobility and.the
wealthy commons were more “ fixed in opin
ion and feeling,” on the side of the South,
than on the occasion of his last visit.”
Index for Soldiers.
Contributisns for supplying Missionaries
and Chaplains of our army with the Index,
are earnestly solicited. Our gallant soldiers
should have religious papers, aud Christians
must supply them. Let Churches take collec
tions, let individuals remit, and let
be sent up to the Associations for this purpose