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6 Jute sal JjUptfet J. J. TOON, .... Proprietor. Rev. D. SHAVER, D. D., Editor. THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 1867. TEBMS: For twelve months, (50 Nos. in a volume) ....$5 00 For 20 numbers 2 00 For 10 numbers 1 00 CLUfc RATES. For $25, in one remittance, we will send twelve copies for six months. For a remittance of SSO, at one time, we will send twelve copies of the paper one year. To any Minister ol the Gospel we will send the paper one year for $3. Subscriptions invariably in advance. Remit tances carefully made, at the risk of tne Proprietor. ADVERTISING RATES. One square (8 lines) one insertion 00 For a longer period than one month, a discount of 33J per cent, will be made. In no case ivill advertisements be. inserted with out payment in advance Persons at a distance wish ing to advertise can mark the number of squares they wish to occupy, and remit the money accordingly. To Correspondents.— All communications for the paper, and all letters on business, must be addressed to J. J. Toon, proprietor. Salutatory. The subscriber trusts that he has followed the leadings of Providence, in exchanging the Old Dominion, as' a home, for (he Empire State of the South. He enters on this un tried sphere, animated by the persuasion that God, who has called him forth from the circle of old friends, will raise up new ones to him. He relies, with strong confidence, on the fra ternal spirit of the ministry and churches; and asks a share in their Christian sympa thies, as, next to “the supply of ihe Spirit of Jesus Christ,” his best support in the dis charge of arduous and difficult duties. It will be his aim to guard the purity and unity of the denomination; opposing all measures which look to the incorporation of discordant elements into our membership; and withstanding every novelty adapted to disturb our peace, or to corrupt our faith and practice. He will give his undivided energies to the great work of ‘rebuilding the walls of Zion’ and ‘beautifying her waste places,’ after a season of convulsion and disaster with out parallel in the history of our churches on this continent. Above all, he will not wil lingly forget that, for his readers, as for him self, the principal thing is, the wisdom which ‘seeks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness;’ and, with the help of Divine grace, he will strive, in view of the last day, to make his labors uniformly tributary to the cultivation of that wisdom. lie was emboldened to accept this respon sible position by the assurance of “ competent aid;” and it affords him very great pleasure to say, that much of the labor which earned for the Index and Baptist its high character during the past year, will still contribute to enrich its columns. He regrets that, under the new arrangement, the former editors re tire from all official connection with the pa per; but hopes that, by frequent correspond ence, their trained and gifted pens will repeat “the testimony of Jesus,” to strengthen and cheer the hearts of llis followers. And he that a not br* ; vifith the highest effect, a centre of light and influence, unless its readers are also writers for it; making it a channel of mutual edification—a repository of their ripened convictions and fresh thoughts—a record of their labors in the cause of Christ, and of His “ wonderful works” of grace toward themselves. D. Shaver. Education—Morals and Religion. The Westminster Review is a strenuous ad vocate for the divorce of religion and moral* ity, in the education of the school. We do not see how the two admit of separation. Relig ion without morality, and morality with out religion, are equal impossibilities—if the religion is to retain its purity, or the morality its power. To sever, is to slay them. The idea of God is the central principle of both; and both must be taught, as evolving themselves from that principle, or neither can be unfolded with theoretical precision, or enforced with practical effect. The Review , not ingenuously, confesses that its position derives no strength from the only experiment ever made in harmony with it: “Somethingof the kind was reached in the Greece ot Demosthenes and the Rome of Seneca; but in either place and period the current morality was of so narrow and un developed a type as to preclude the practice of the most advanced pagan nations from throwing much light upon what seems at this day a phenomenon so extravagant.” W e are asked, then, to sow again the seeds which were once cast into the earth and bore no salutary fruit; to tread anew the path which -conducted our precursors only to a sterile wilderness or noxious marsh ; to essay afresh the unsuccessful voyage on the planks of the very ship which went to pieces between wind and wave. What can we promise our selves but disastrous failure ? The Revieiv , however, is buoyant with hope of success, “ There exists in modern Europe,” it tells us, “ a highly tempered and elabor ated moral science, which is at the root of all that is best in the development of national character.” True. But how came it to pass that the axioms and rules of this science were elicited and established? The reason plainly is, that the nations have inherited the reveal ed religion on which a just, comprehensive and vigorous morality builds—out of'which it grows. And what process has incorporated these rules and axioms among the influences which pervade society and mould its character? The answer is found in the fact, of which the Review assures us, “that all Englishmen, and indeed most Europeans, are taught a religious creed,” embodying, in greater or less purity, the grand basis-truths of revelation and of the morality that flows from it, “simultane ously with whatever else they may chance to learn.” In seeking, therefore, to introduce an order of things in which the school shall teach morality, while religion is untaught, the Re view woti'd turn the hand of the child against the .life of the parent. It seals up the foun tain, in the vain trust that the stream will flow on; annihilates the cause, and dreams that the effect w ill prolong itself; removes the foundation, and reckons on the stab 1 ity of the superstructure. The expectation is char acterised by every feature “ which adds ab surdity, to error.” Under such a system of Linsiruction, the morality of the school would THE CHRISTIAN INDEX AND SOUTH-WESTERN BIPTIST: ATLANTA, GA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 3,1867. logically and irresistibly gravitate once more toward its narrow and undeveloped pagan type. Perhaps for the next generation, the ethics of Greece and Rome would displace Christian ethics in all institutions of learning. But that issue, if delayed, would be none the less certain. Come, it must. While rejecting the general position of the Review , we can not refrain from citing the witness it bears to the household, as a sphere of education in religion: “The devouring curiosity of a child as to the origin of all things, can best be satisfied in the family gathering and at the mother’s knee; and it is in the midst of the same in comparable influences that the feelings of awe and love can most successfully be educed ano trained. When these influences are unhap pily lacking in the years of, infancy, the ex perience of later life and contact with teach ers of every kind will tardily supply their place.” Tardily; and alas, how>partially—how in effectively ! There is no adequate compensa tion for the want of parental instruction in the doctrines of faith and the principles of morality. And—acting on the maxim, that “it is greatly wise to learn wisdom from our enemies”—we hope that Christian parents will derive from this testimony of a skeptical periodical, an incentive to diligence and fideli ty in their function of teaching, as- the do mestic priesthood of the Lord. The Ministry. To “ preach”—in the sense of the New Testament—is to act the part alike of “ herald” and “ambassador.” This import of inspired phraseology might be employed to illustrate (1) the dignity, (2) importance, (3) difficul ty, and (4) responsibility of the ministerial office. But, without attempting to follow out these lines of thought separately, take a simpler view of the subject. The preacher is a “ herald.” He bears a message from God. He brings heavenly truth to men. How great, then, should be his care to know the things committed to him for others; —to qualify himself fur their most effective proclamation ; —to see to it that he never suffers them to sleep in slothful or apa thetic silence; —to keep back none of them be cause “ carnal enmity” regards them with displeasure,or confronts them with opposition; —to guard them against intermixture of error, through his own personal speculation, the spirit of the times, the traditions that mistake age for evidence of truth, or the novelties that claim the character of reform for mere agita tion and change. The preacher is an “ ambassador.” When he speaks, it is as though God spoke through him ! He acts “in Christ’s stead,” as though his ministry were, Christ announcing “ con ditions of peace,” Christ “ reconciling the world” to His Father and Himself! With what holy vigilance he should seek, then, to purge his labors from the bias of motives looking toward his own ease, emolument, or reputation; —to remember that he has been invested with no powers of discretion, but sent under a “limited commission,” which he transcends only on peril of being “ brought into judgment” fur it; —to maintain, in heart aim life, “such a character as shall command mention and respect from theWery enemies” of his Lord and his work ; —to walk in the way of scrupulous fidelity to his high trust, for the joy of the assurance that he shall be “like the Sun of righteousness, with healing in his wings and new light to break in upon the chill and gloomy hearts of hearers, rising out of darksome barrenness a delicious and fragrant spring of saving knowledge and good works;” —to recoil from official unfaithfulness, as the last extreme of cruelty and baseness, winning confidence only to betray it, where betrayal means the slumber of the soul in spiritual insensibility, nay, the ruin of the soul in “ eternal damnation.” “ And who is sufficient for these things?” is the irrepressible cry of the heart, when this view of the sacred office passes before it. “If I should write of the heavy burden of a godly preacher, which he must carry and endure, as I know it by my own experience,” said Luther, “ I should scare every man from the office of preaching.” The most learned, and eloquent, and wise, and holy, might well shrink from it. But “our sufficiency is of God” Blessed be His name ! That welcomes the humblest —that strengthens the feeblest. The walls of Jericho fell before the blast of rams’ horns- A sling and pebble slew Goliath. “The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great num ber believed and turned unto the Lord.” This is the secret of success; and he, with whom the hand of the Lord is, can not be weak. No : let the sense of his own nothing ness weigh on him as it may, for the work which the Lord gives him to do, he is as strong as that hand. Be it, therefore, the constant prayer of ev ery “herald* grid “ambassador,” that the power of God may rest on him in the minis try of the word. it. none can avert failure; with it, all must achieve success. A False Statement. The facts which the following paragraph from the National Baptist professes to recite, bear evident marks of a large and unskillful infusion of fiction. We have legal authority for the statement that the reported action of the courts so grossly contravenes the law's of Georgia, as to place it beyond the range of possibility. On our own authority, we say, without hesitation, that in no portion of the State would public sentiment lend the least countenance to such flagrant injustice. Will not some friend, in the section w'here these things are represented as occurring, put the matter in its true light through our columns? It is by precis-ly such misrepresentations—or inventions—thatthe breach between the North and the South, which interest and duty re quire us to heal, is widened and embittered. “Georgia. —A Washington dispatch informs the Christiigi E a that Rev. William Fincher, a colored missionary in Pike county, with a salary of $35 per month, paid by Northern benevolent associations, has been condemned to the chain-gang for one year by a Georgia court, on the ground that he is a vagrant! His case w‘as carried up, and the action of the j lower court was approved ; the judge holding that the North had no right to send money Sovth for mch purposes, and, further, that his support was so precarious that he was a va grant within the meaning ot the law. He is now serving out his sentence.” Prophetic Ken. Nothing more clearly lifts a man above the level of the race than a knowledge of what the days to come will bring forth. We find an instance of this rare endowment in the Chris tian Intelligencer. “There are not wanting,” it says, “ signs of an approaching emancipa tion of at least a portion of the Baptists in this country from their watery prison-house.” The only “ sign ” it gives us, however, is the fact that Rev. H. A. Sawtelle, of the Second Bap tist Church, San Francisco, has become a con vert to “open communion,” published a work on the subject which one of our confreres re cognizes as written witli ability, and alleged that certain distinguished divines confess the absence of scriptural authority for our pres ent usage. Surely, it needs a prophet to as sure us, on the single warrant of this fact, that our denomination has unconsciously reached the verge of a great and vital revolution. For one, we frankly acknowledge that we read it> and saw nothing of the kind following after. But we are no prophet. If we were, we might be tempted to “ fore cast the future” after a different fashion. The “watery prison-house”—we might say —is little likely to be deserted by its inmates, while those without “walk about” it, ap plauding its proportions and approving their vokntary abode in it. Our exchanges furnish an instance of this sort. “ The pastor of a leading Methodist Episcopal Church, in Brook lyn, located on Washington Avenue, in a ser mon a short time since, defended the Baptists, and praised their consistency. He denied that mixed communion was any test of union; and argued that Baptists, believing as they did, could reach no other conclusion consistently, and to ask them to give up their views on baptism and communion was simply to ask them to cease to be Baptists, and to become something else.” Os what is this a “ sign ?’* Does it give promise that times are at hand, when Baptists shall be suffered to keep the ordinances, after the apostolic model, without enduring reproach, (in the style of the Intel ligencer,) as under bondage to “ narrowing and separating theories of mere ecclesiastical partisanship ? ” For want of being a prophet, we will not venture to decide. And again: If we were a prophet, we might incline to say that the inmates-of the “watery prison-house” bid fair greatly to multiply their numbers, since those without, ever and anon, make earnest application for permission to reside in it. An example of this character is supplied by recent religious intelligence. Dr. Kendrick, of the Tabernacle Church, New York, baptized not long since, Rev. Siegfried Khristeller, an Israelite, and a graduate of Middletown University, who has been for sev eral years a minister among the Methodists* Is there no “ sign” in this] Does it bear no testimony to the approach of the day, when, (to use the words of the Intelligencer,) “ the force of truth, expressing itself through the language of love,” shall constrain all the peo ple of Christ to follow His example.in ‘ful filling the righteousness’ of baptism 1 ? As we are not a prophet,.we can not say. Really, it is a perplexing thing—this want of “ prophetic ken.” It would be delightful so 5 know who has been gifted with it, that a decisive ipse dixit might relieve our misgivings as to “ the things which are coming on the earth.” We will accept ihe Intelligencer as our guide and leader; will believe that it rightly inter prets the future awaiting our people; will permit the intrusion of no doubt lest it may have attached too much weight to the sign it gives us and too little to the signs we give it — on one condition. Let it show that it has correctly apprehended the present stale of our people; that our practice, in the matter of communion, is such as to render a change of it an “ emancipation ; ” that there is, in fact., any “ watery prison-house ” in which we lie shorn of liberty. If it is true that * the doc trine proves the miracle,’ must not doctrine be as well a potent factor in determining the validity of prophecy ? Dies God bestow the higher gift of foresight, where He w ithholds the humbler gift of insight? Shall those for whom misleading darkness enwraps what is, claim sufficient light to discern ivhat is to be? ©limpscs of Jhq Christian Mortd. A Right Usage. —We notice, in an ex change, a plan in successful operation in one of the churches, which seems worthy of imi tation in all our cities and towns. “In each aisle an individual member of the church is allotted ten pews to look after; and if a stran ger occupies a seat in one of these pews, it is his business to question him before he leaves the house in relation to what church he attends, and if he worships at none, to invite him to worship there.” “ Higher.” —A Boston correspondent of the National Baptist, in reference to the late convention of the Massachusetts evangelical churches, says: “Dr. Swain, of Providence, made a long and elaborate speech, into which much patriotic sentiment on equal rights and reconstructioiji evidently intended <■'> touch Massachusetts, and produce a warm respmP} But the speech wearied the audience, though able in some respects, and highly rhetorical, just because they were in a religious mood higher and more spiritual than the patriotic?' O, might they but maintain that elevation ! Might all but reach it and live at it! Grace at Meals. —A w-riter in the Texas Baptist Herald urges the propriety of grace at meals, among other grounds, on this: “That it is a custom practiced by almost all nations — heathens not excepted .” Neglect of Public Worship.— Statistics gathered in one hundred Connecticut towns show that twenty-four per cent, of the people are not found habitually in the house of God. This neglect, though not in equal proportion perhaps, runs through the whole of American society. It would be well if Christians every where would imitate the example of the evan gelical denominations in Albany, who have divided the city into sections and appointed visitors, so that in the course of thirty days from the commencement of the effort, the in vitation to come to the house of God will be extended to every family ! Laxity.—The National Baptist avows the belief that “ the lack of a duly qualified ad ministrator does not invalidate the ordinance of baptism;” in other words, that our churches should accept Pedobaptist immer sions. Rate of Contribution. —The Old and New School Presbyterians of the North, who num ber over 400,00|) communicants, raised for church purposes, the last year, $5,- 000,000 —an average of sl2 50 for each com municant. Centenary Statistics. —A correspondent of the German Reformed Messenger taxes Northern Methodists with unfairness in the preparation of their statistics for centenary purposes, since all the divisions of Method ism are grouped in one grand total, while “at least six varieties of Baptists are separately enumerated.” This is very small work ; and done, too, to foster a hurtful spir it of self-glorificatiop. For a Methodist min ister, after the centenary services were held with his congregation, remarked, (as a cor respondent of the Christian Times and Witness reports him,)“ If such a spirit prevails through the year, the centenary will prove a curse, in stead of a blessing, to the denomination.” Presents to Ministers. —An exchange mentions one minister who received from his people a gift of SSO, and another who received a gift of $222. We hope that the impover ished ministry of the South has been liberally rememberedyn the recent season of gifts. Send your pastor a Christmas or New Year’s present; he will not feel that it is “ out of season,” time is past. Fame in a recent pub lic spoke of the au thor of the as one who “ holds a place in the hearts of the American people seceftd only (if second) to their great Washingto#, and among Britons will go down through all'generations as the greatest man that ever li*ed.” “ Campbkllism and Atonement.” —In an article under this heading, the Baptist Month ly quotes a writer in the American Christian Review, as saying : “ Salvation from guilt de pends upon sinners receiving Christ; this alone secures remission from sins—remission of the guiltAif sins. When Christ is offered according so the law he has enacted, which offering tales place only in immersion, then do all the benefits of the atonement accrue to the sinner, and not before, or elsewhere.” And again: “ The righteousness which men enjoy in obedience is not their own personal righteousness, but that of the victim which they righteousness of Jesus, who fulfilled the whole law, and was therefore de clared righteous in the presence of the law.” This is singularly oblivious of the scriptural teaching that Christ “ offered himself,” “once for ail,” and by that “one offering per fected forever them that are sanctified.” In no sense islf true that the sinner offers Christ; the concep|ion involves gross error. And the error deepens when the offering is said to take plaof- in an outward ceremonial act like immersion. Romish Finances. —Though the wages of household%ervants in New York had advanced until larger, all things considered, than the rate of payment to merchants’ clerks, they recently dtjmanded/an increase of one dollar a month ; And on inquiry, it was ascertained that the priests had required precisely that sum of thA servants for building the new ca thed raT*b'if%7fttf ATfenue. Novel Mode of Payment. —A letter from Ireland states tjjat, in very many of the best hotels, thej servdll Wget no other pay for their services than th-v gratuities they receive from travellers—for which they ask with shameless persistency. Clerical Resentment. —A clergyman of Berkshire, Mass., who had prepared a labored sermon for Thanksgiving day, which few of his flock came to hear, doggedly remained at home the ensuing Sabbath, though the day was pleasant -and a large congregation had assembled at church. Prayer. —When will believers test, to the uttermost, the power of united, importunate prayer? Li reference to the beginning of a revival in the Bond Street Baptist Church, Toronto, the Canadian Baptist says: “Two young brethren met by appointment to pray for a comrade, without his knowledge. He was speedily brought, withjhumble penitence, to the cross, and is now rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.” And a writer in the Na tional Baptist gives the following as the secret of a powerful work of grace in the New Bethel Church, Pennsylvania: “While in iquity abounded, and the love of many grew cold, three sisters resolved to pray. From month to month they retired to the meeting house and prayed. Finally, from some cause, but two met, and the door could not be opened. It was raining ; one kneeled down upon the step and prayed, while the other held the umbrella over her. This was prayer in faith —importunate, prevailing prayer. It went up to the place where God holds the throne. It moved the Holy One, and he said, I will go down and help them. He did come, and saints are revived, sinners are saved, our souls an iiceii ’''Asm was vH| on gone. was laid before, the students in hiSPastors’ College, and accepted by a Mr. Gillet, whose passage money, at last advices, v»s being raised by public collec tions. A Home for Christ. — That is a beautiful thought which a minister, in a recent public address, embodied as follows: “‘Where is Jesus Christ ? ; was once asked of a child. ‘He lives in our alley now,’ was the reply ; for the boy had learned that Christ is, where he has friends to serve him.” Dear reader, does love, and the labor of love, give Christ a home under your roof, however humble, and in your heart, however unworthy ? Progress. —Twenty years ago the Baptists of lowa were as one in one hundred and fifty of the population; now they are as one in fifty. Baptizing the Dead. —A correspondent of the Christian Watchman states that a Metho dist Episcopal preacher in Linden, Miss., re cently £ baptized a dead infant, at the request of its mother, according to the forms of his church, in the name of the Holy Trinity.” The National Baptist states that “ a similar ease occurred in North Yarmouth, Maine, many ysars ago, when a Congregational minis ter administered what he called baptism to a dead child.” A Secularized Ministry. —Says a corres pondent of the Religious Herald: “ I doubt whether, in the whole State of Virginia, there are ten Baptist ministers, out of more than four hundred, who devote their whole time to the ministry.” The case is hardly so bad as that, surely ; but the lack of adequate sup port is grievously crippling the ministry of the times, and the churches should see to it that they impose no unnecessary disabilities on “ those who preach the gospel,” and who, according to the ordination of the Lord, “ should live of the gospel.” Laziness. —Said a speaker in a recent Con vention : “ The question once came up in a company of Christians, was a lazy man ever converted ? All said No, except a Methodist minister, who knew one case of the kind, but he lasted only three weeks.” Os course, his profession rested on delusion: true spiritual life is “everlastinglife.” Weretherenot, then, quite a multitude of unconverted persons in the “ large church,” mentioned by another speaker in that Convention ? “ The pastor was asked how many members were really holdingup his hands. He replied, about a dozen. If those were removed, he should not know on whom to rely.” Would it not be well to adopt the rule of the missionary who, as stated by yet another of the speakers,in receiving members, did not stop with the enquiry, Are you con verted ? but asked, What are you ready to do for Jesus? And should we be content until our revivals resemble that to which still an other speaker referred ? “In one place, where are fourteen lawyers, all but two are con verted. They are ‘ stumping ’ the country, and pleading for Christ.” The Beard Question. —A writer in one of bur exchanges has the following : “‘ I can’t bear to see a minister at the communion table with a moustache,’ said a friend to me the other day. Can’t you ? Then you are more nice than wise. You couldn’t have borne to have looked at our Saviour when he instituted the Lord’s Supper. You would have been disgusted with his followers. You would have criticised Paul. Better, far better, go to praying, and stop advising your ministers to shave.” The Freedmen. —“I was grieved to find not. only worldly statesmen, but old school theologians,” said Dr. McCosh, in his Bath speech, “ predicting that in a century the negro race will disappear in America, and looking on the prospect with complacency.” German Schools. —On a certain day of the year—according to “ An American Fam ily in Germany ” —the boys are privileged to scourge their teacher with birchen switches, in satisfaction for old scores. “ The Comfort of Scripture.” —ln an account of a revival at Scyene, Texas, we find the following incident, which we commend to the prayerful consideration of every one who feels that the word of God has lost its power to support and cheer: “ One old brother who had been driven from his home in Missouri, and had permitted the cares of this world to interfere with his religious duties and privi leges, came to the church one day with a sad countenance, and with his old Bible in his hand. As soon as an opportunity was offer ed, the old man arose under such a burden as made his whole frame shake like an aspen leaf, and raising his worn Bible with one hand, while a flood of tears coursed their way down his furrowed cheeks, he said, ‘ Brethren, here is the book that used to give me com fort.’ His voice faltered—for a time nothing more was said ; but that sentence seemed to open the fountains of every heart, and the sighs and sobs which burst forth from every part of the house, told too plainly that others were beginning to inquire, ‘Where is the blessedness I knew, When tirst I saw the Lord ; Where is the soul-refresbing view Os Jesus and his Word?’” Epithets. —ln criticism on a recent work by Mrs. Freer, the Westminster Review says: “ When she tells us that ‘ Anne of Austria was now omnipotent and mighty ,’ she reminds us of the scenery that was reported to be not only sublime, hut pretty'' Some writers and speakers have an unhappy facility in multi plying adjectives, without regard to their re lative force. The weaker should precede the stronger, and, for the most part, the stronger suffices of itself. Southern Feeling. —lt is the testimony of Dr. McCosh, “ that the great body of the Southern people seem to feel an interest in the physical comfort of the blacks,” and that “ not a few of them are alive to the demands of the crisis,” as regards their education and religious training. Evangelists. —We are gratified to notice that the pastor of the Greenwood Baptist Church, Brooklyn, New York, has resigned that position, for-the purpose of giving him self entirely to the work of an -evangelist. Clearly, to our mind, an order of evangelists is necessary to the complete organization of the after the apostolic model. But , the churches should :d --y'ipi jn , rfo>* r *’ ' \ angelistic la ■jtute, for at least, one Be:at j A o,s fruits <i, m r Hw Seel! from the HIT \ E. Carter gives, in the the Sabbath closing a meeting of thirteen days in an old log school house among the mountains of Kentucky : “ A hymn that breathed of Jesus was sung by the honest-hearted poor, who stood side by side in their mountain homespun as their clear voices rung out cn the autumn air. While the sun was shedding his bright, dancing rays upon the blue, gurgling waters, and all heaven seemed smiling upon the scene, it would have pnade your heart tender, if your eyes had not filled, to see the aged father and mother, the one leaning upon his crutch, the other sup ported by her grown son, as his sister’s arm rested in his, all four descending into the wa tery grave. And as they go up from that grave, another aged woman with her grown son and daughter, and then three grown brothers arm in arm, treading with the step of their manhood’s prime, go down into the bap tismal waters. Poor missionary ! it made him feel humble, while it made him feel glad to ‘ bury with Christ in baptism’ on this oc casion and with these interesting groups, twenty-nine, ‘ both men and women.’ A Sab bath-school was organized; the Lord’s Supper was celebrated ; a sermon was preached after baptism, at the dear old, spot; and in the af- 1 ternoon the missionary bade farewell to all, amidst many tears.” How Churchmansijip Grows. —The Ex aminer and Chronicle states that Bishop WhitehoHse, “the low-church rector of the low-church St. Luke’s, Rochester, stiffening his churchmanship as rector of St. Thomas s, New York, passed to a churchmanship still higher when he became Bishop” of Illinois. Such instances, in the judgment of our contem porary furnish “ a very strong argument against the whole scheme of Episcopacy. Education. —Rev. T. Baldwin, Secretary of the Society for Promoting Collegiate and Theological Education at the West, in his annual report, states that during the last three years seven and a half millions of dollars have been given to literary institutions in the Northern States. These figures will be large ly increased, if, as a writer in Harper s Monthly alleges, “ most of the contributions for the Methodist Centenary are for education.” This use of their funds is by no means inap propriate, if it be true that the Methodists of that section any where lie open to the charge of Rev. Mr. Thurston, who, at a Unitarian Convention in Cambridgeport, affirmed that they are leaning toward Unitananxsm and yearning after Unitarian preaching —on which ground he urged that they should be invited to unite with them ! The English Establishment. —Rev. C. A. Beard, editor of the Theological Review, a British Unitarian periodical, calls attention to the fact that while the Established Church has a liturgy, three creeds and thirty-nine ar ticles prescribed by law, almost all the Unita rianism of England, except that which is or ganised under that character, is found within its walls. It is no wonder that as Christianity diverges from voluntariness it should gravitate toward impurity. The National Capital. —“ Small as it is, ’ says a New York religious journal, “ Wash ington is by far the worst city in the Union. Colored Churches. —The Bartholomew Baptist Association, Ark., as reported (per haps incorrectly,) in Northern papers, advised the churches not to give letters of dismission to negro members when the object was to form independent churches, and to refuse them the privilege of voting and being represented in councils. A Wrong Feeling. —A Superintendent of the Freedmen’s Bureau writes from Arkansas to the Christian Times, that the great revolu tion in the emancipation of our slaves “ has caused such a feeling, that no man who de votes the greater part of his time to preaching to the freedmen, can expect to have much in fluence with the white people.” If such a feel ing exists, we challenge the justice of it. The wholesale and sudden liberation of the colored people, without preparatory training, was “ their misfortune, not their fault; ” and they should not be held to answer for it. Every dictate of Christian principle admonishes us to improve to the utmost the opportunity of imparting religious instruction to them, that the misfortune may be alleviated as far as possible—may perchance be converted at last into a blessing. Woman in Germany. —At Nuremberg, the wood-sawyers are- all women, says J. Ross Browne, in his new book; and the country women and the lower classes of the sex gen erally throughout “ Faderland,” are literally “ hewers of wood and drawers of water.” English Ritualism. —Lord Ebury reaches the reluctant conclusion that little or no effort will be made to arrest the ritualistic defection toward Rome, because the higher and more educated classes sympathize with it, the hum bler and poorer are attracted by its pomp and pageant, and the middle classes are indifferent, treat the matter as simply ludicrous, or seek to avoid anything like agitation or division in the bosom of the church. Decline. —A correspondent of the St. Louis Christian Advocate says : “ One thing that has taken place among Methodists more or less every where is, that infant baptism is not half as much attended to as it was fifty years ago. Then very few heads of families failed to have their children dedicated to God by baptism. Now comparatively few attend to it.” The Reason Why. —The editor of the Christian Intelligencer says: “ We asked an Episcopal clergyman, a friend, a few days ago, ‘ Why the Methodists left the Episcopal com munion ?’ He answered frankly and truly, as we knew he would, that * there was not grace enough to keep them in.’ But if not, why not? There is but one reply, and that is, that the assumptions of prelacy are antichristian and demoralizing.” JMijioua Jntclligcnty A Token for Good. —Rev Thos. Goadby, in a letter to the Morning Star, mentions “ a very remarkable day for the Baptists of Lon don. A meeting for fasting and prayer was held at Mr. Stovel’s chapel of an unusually interesting kind. The ministers and deacons of some eighty or ninety churches met at eleven in the morning, crowding the lower part of the spacious synagogue, and continued from that time until half past five in the ex ercises of devotion. There was no break whatever, unless the transition from the prayer and praise of five hours and a half to the cel ebration of the Lord’s supper be considered a breaks It season of special privilege and holy emotion. First came hearty and spontaneous confession of sin ; ministers and deacons uniting-4u humbling themselves be fore God because of their short-comings. Much brokenness of spirit was felt and mani fested; few hearts were unsubdued with pen itence, and but few eyes were unmoistened with tears. At one time it was perceptible that many were overpowered with emotion, and the intervals of silence were only broken by * strong cries and tears.’ Then, after words of promise and songs of joy the tone of feeling changed, and earnest and wrestling prayers were offered for the outpouring of blessings from Heaven upon the church, and upon the ungodly world. Every believing soul is looking out for gracious results in the revival of our churches, as an answer to these fervent petitions. Addresses were given by Mr. Spurgeon, Mr. Brock, Mr. Stovel and others, and those brethren, with Baptist Noel, Mr. Tucker, and a large number besides, took part in the devotions. The churches in the provinces also set apart this day for prayer, and every where much earnestness and ferven cy of spirit was shown. That the Lord would send a large blessing and great prosperity must cow be our confident hope.” Ministers in Secular Service. —The Texas Baptist Herald is calling attention to a funda mental evil, widely prevalent in that State. It says: “Itis of vast importance to the welfare of the churches and the spread of the gospel in our State, that our ministers be called'back from secular pursuits to engage in their permanent work. About two-thirds of the ministerial strength of the State must at present be absorbed in secular labor and com sequently lost to the churches of Christ. 11 this were restored, it would give every church a pastor—to many of them it would give preaching every Sunday, and to the remainder at least on two Sundays in the month. But the members of most of these churches say they can not support a pastor. This may jo true, but it is certainly true that m England and in many places of the United States, churches as poor, and a good deal poorer than many of our churches in Texas, do sustain a pastor and have preaching every Lord s day. The onlv reason that the same thing is not and can not be done in this State, is found in the membership themselves—they do not try rightly, nor sufficiently. One is too stingy, another is too lazy, and a third is discouraged, and so the matter goes by default. Exam iner. Our S. S. Board.— We have received a cir cular, signed by G. J. Johnson, District Sec. Bap. Pub. Society, calling attention to an ac companying appeal for donations in behalf of the “ Sunday School Union of Baptists.” The circular calls this the “ only denominational Sundav school society.” This is simply untrue. That the Doctors, whose names stand upon the appeal, know it to be untrue, we will not assert; but if they did not, they show a remarkable ignorance, hardly in keeping with the spirit that plans their ambitious “national” enterprises. These circulars are floating about the State, deceiving many Baptists, who, if they will read their own periodicals, will ascertain that we have a S. S. Board at Greenville, South Carolina—one of the Boards of the Southern Baptist Convention. It*officers arc men who understand the wants of our Sunday schools, and who are laboring with intelligent zeal to make a literature for our youth, free from the infidelity and fanaticism which too often dis figure the books of “National” Societies. Mo. Bap. Journal. The Evacuation of Rome. —The consum mation of the event so long talked of has commenced. On iuesday. December 11th, the French soldiers who have garrisoned Rome since 1848, began to withdraw from the Eternal City. The Pope is evidently in a critical position. That he will bid farewell to Rome is by no means certain, for the Italian government is anxious to retain him as the ecclesiastical head of the Roman Catholic Church, and will make such concessions, as will probably induce him to stay, especially as he is understood to prefer to remain on ground so associated with the whole history of his church. It were useless, doubtless, to attempt to predict the future of the Papacy. That its temporal power is gone, never more to be re covered, is evident. Y°t the very loss of this may give it anew lease of life as a spiritual power. That it will be active, intriguing, opposed to all true progress and freedom, we have every reason to believe. If the spirit of the present Pope may be taken as an index of the Papacy, in centuries it has experienced no material change. —Journal and Messenger. Pastoral Changes. —At the recent meet ing of the Lancashire Congregational Union, England, Rev. James Browne drew a graphic picture of the difficulties attending a cnange of pastorate, which need and surely admit of practical adjustment, as well in our denomina tion as in his: “ When a minister is compelled now to seek a change of pastorates, what is the usual or probable course taken ? That course is very variable. If he be of any note in the denomi nation, he has but to be quiet and make his selection. As soon as it becomes known that he is movable, many applications are made to him, and he has but little more to do than to choose out "of these applications the one that best meets his views, and to commence nego tiations with that congregation. In such in stances the difficulty of deciding is not with the people, but with the minister; the people hope, the minister pauses, and ultimately he decides. If he accept the invitation, the mat ter is settled ; if he decline, he has but to open fresh negotiations, and the man well known and favored in the churches is sure of obtain ing in the end what he seeks for. But hoW different do the lines fall to such as are not popular favorites, and who are utterly un known beyond the limits of that congregation from which they want to sever themselves' Such a good brother tries to enlist the sympa thies of another brother whose head is higher than his own among the churches ; he asks his help, and begs him to procure him an in troduction to a destitute congregation. The agency of eminent ministers is oiten thus em ployed in helping other ministers into the pas torate of such congregations. Others seek to gain their object through the agency of the secretary of some county association. The officers of our foreign missionary societies have large transactions of this nature; and, if report speaks truly, they become a kind of register office, in which many candidates are brought into relationship with one another. Some good men, in their anxiety for change, and who may have none of these agencies at command, make application in their own names to the officers of the congregation known to be vacant. Others reply to news paper advertisements, and negotiate for a supply ‘ with a view ; ’ and still others, with a sublimity of taste, advertise themselves as open to negotiation, and are somewhat care ful to include in the advertisement a helpful estimate of their intellectual, spiritual, and pastoral endowments.” Union. —We have it from “Burleigh,” in the Boston Journal, that in New York there are two Associations for promoting Christian Union, one accepting the churches as they now are, the others demanding that all hind rances to a united communion be taken out of the way. That association is about to com mence a vigorous campaign against the Bap tists and against the Episcopalians, demand ing open communion and an open pulpit; de manding that each sect shall respect the bap tism and the ordination of all others A new' paper is to be started to favor these views, called the Church Union , copies of which are to be sent to all the Episcopal and Baptist ministers in the country to convert them. Some leading ministers are claimed as favor ing these views from the two sects. — Zion's Advocate. M Apostolic Succession. —Bishop Colenso| is evidently having a hard time in some parts of his diocese. At one church he recently visited), the rector had the altar furniture re moved?: lowing in £he rails nothing but a deal table, a soap box, and one chair, in which he had seated himself, having first had the en trance w ithin the rails fastened up by a bar of wood. The Bishop removed the bar, went in, and sat down on the box, but a chair was afterwards brought. The incumbent begin ning to read an address or protest, Dr. Blaine, resident magistrate and church-ward en, said : “ Sir, we are here for Divine ser vice, and this is out of order altogether.” reverend gentleman, however, concluded his address, but made no further opposition, re maining in his seat and taking no part in the service.— Ohio Pres. Dahomey. —The King of Dahomey, accord ing to European correspondents from Lagos, November 10, being about waging war against the Ashantis, another Negro nation—or rather another Negro tribe—celebrated first a great religious festival, on which occasion he sacri ficed two hundred Negroes from among his own wretched subjects, to secure for himself the favor of the gods in the approaching war. This is the third tragedy of this kind enacted this year in Dahomey, by the same king. Still English papers talk of the progress of civilisation among the Negroes.— lsraelite.