Newspaper Page Text
94
Jala mi pafffeil
j. j. TOON, * - - - Proprietor.
IteY. D. SHAVER, D.D., Editor.
THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 1867.
“The Fever of Philosophic Theology.”
Dr. Board man, as he presents himself be
fore the readers of the Baptist Quarterly for
April, seems to have been at least slightly
smitten with “the fever of philosophic the
ology.” He regards the tripartite division of
human nature, (as comprising “ awga,
and medfia. — body, life or living principle, and
spirit,”) in the light of a Revealed Metaphys
ics, a Divine Science of Man % # He sees a
“profound theological bearing” in it; holds,
that it “cast* a flood of light” on the state of
our race as fallen, the new birth, the relation of
the flesh and the spirit, the blasphemy against
the Holy Ghost, and natural immortality,
with “ many other problems ; ” and informs
us that numerous “ scriptural passages dis
close new volumes of meaning” under its
illumination. It is the thread which will
-avail to guide us through the labyrinth of
mortal speculations,
“ Dark and intricate,
Puzzled with mazes, and perplexed with errors,”
on these high questions !
We, by no means, share this hope. The
Doctor, we fear, is chasing an ignis fatuus.
The theory of human triplicity does not now
come forward to play its part in theology for
the first time. It has a record in “ the his
ory of doctrines,” and a record which lays it
open to challenge. While rejected by ler
tullian, the founder of “ Latin Theology,” it
was espoused by the “ Alexandrian School,
and figures prominently in the per. icious ef
fort of Origen and his followers, to recast Pla
tonic and Gnostic elements of thought in
Christian moulds. In that earlier Gnosticism,
too, of which we might almost say that in
evecy thing except name it was heathen, this
theory held a “ post of honor.” The spirit
reflected God, and the body, matter which
two were eternal : the (soul) reflected
the Demiurge or world-fashioner an apos
tate intelligence which stood midway between
the two, and was mistaken by Judaism for the
former, by atheism for the latter ! And then,
the race was parted into three classes, which
could never merge into each other, according
as the one or the other of these principles
wielded a natural and invincible ascendancy
in the bosoms of the individuals who com
posed it!
We do not refer to these things as a proof,
or even as a presumption, that the theory of
triplicity is false. They are brought forward
simply as a presumption, nay, as a proof, that
this theory, if true, will hardly show itself
the illuminator of Scripture and clarifier of
theology, which Dr. B. supposes he has found
in it. By the way, we venture to suggest that
he should not linger too long over the article,
in which he promises to establish the claim
he makes for this “ anthropology ” —this
“ somatology, psychology and pneumatology
combined ! ” fiis thunder may be stolen be
fore he launches it. Almost simultaneously
with the appearance of the April Quarterly,
we noticed an outline and defence of the the
ory in a paper devoted to (the ultra wing of)
“ the current Reformation.” Now, if the Doc
tor suffers his pen to sleep, may not this cher
ished theory be appropriated beforehand by
that Reformation, which, to say the least, is
far from being “pneumatic”—in doctrine 1 ?
Will he, by delay, throw his attempt to illus
trate its conspicuous relation toward evangel
ical truth, under the disadvantage incident to
anew instance of its no less conspicuous fa
cility of alliance with rationalistic error?
But we are dwelling at too great length on
this particular topic, and turn from it, to say
a word or two in connection with the gen
eral subject,—without reference, let us add, to
Dr. B.
“ The fever of philosophic theology ” is a
phrase not without meaning—not without
grave meaning. The disease is a real and
dangerous one. A brief statement will make
this plain.
Scriptural Christianity appeals simply to
faith : philosophic theology proposes “ the at
tainment of truth by the way of reason.”
Scriptural Christianity rests doctrine and fact
alike on authority : philosophic theology, on
the evidence which “ the science of principles
and causes” supplies. Scriptural Christianity
demands the recognition of its grand verities
in virtue of the Divine testimony : philosoph
ic theology, for the sake of the light which
the intuitive and discursive faculties of our
intellect shed over them. For Scriptural
Christianity the sole ground of certainty is
—“ the mouth of the Lord has spoken it: ”
for philosophic theology, the ability “to
trace” religious teachings, like other “branch
es of human knowledge, to their first princi
ples in the constitution of the human mind.”
Is it not clear, then, that this changes the very
basis of the system of revealed truth; re
moves it from the appointed foundation, and
provides another—“ which is not another ? ”
Say, now, that philosophic theology accepts
all the truths of Scriptural Christianity, ac
cepts these truths alone. Still, this body of
doctrine is placed on a footing not only un
warranted, but inadmissible. Not ‘because
HE has said it,’ but ‘ because we have seen
it — that is the reason why it finds acceptance
with us; and is not that the spirit of unbelief?
Is it not to demand yvioaiq —knowledge, and
to refuse xtam —faith ; which was the precise,
distinctive ground assumed by the earliest aud
grossest of all the heresies ?
And is not heresy the legitimate issue,
when the body of Christian doctrine is thus
wrenched from its true fundamental basis ?
When the voice of the great Revelator is not
recognized as the sufficient and final proof of
verity—when the witness which that voice
bears is subjected to intuitional and ratiocina
tive tests, as necessary to confirm or interpret
it, —when the human intellect is thrown for
ward into a sphere, where it must grapple
with the invisible, supernatural, infinite and
eternal, under the disabilities of limitation to
thought, because finite, and the bias of per
version in feeling, because depraved,—surely
it would be the most wonderful of miracles,
if philosophic theology did not sin, now by
excess, and now by defect ; did not with one
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX AND SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST: ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 1867.
hand take from the system of Scriptural
Christianity, and with the other add to it;
did not reject Divine teachings here, and em
brace “ fond inventions ” there—exemplifying
that two-fold tendency to Scepticism and to
Superstitiof at which men indulge surprise,
but whichjal|we may hereafter take occasion
to show) fe*the natural and inevitable out
growth of apostate mind.
*-■# \
Hard Speeches.
* If there are, under the sun, any things
w.hich deserve to be cal led new, “ hard speeches
ojm sqyeoine into the list. They are older
than YKe flood. Those who uttefTthem can
trace - their line of succession back- to she
times (though not to the person) of “ Enoch,
the seventh from Adam.” If antiquity be a
lawful substitute for right, let traducers and
revilers plume themselves on.the hoary age
-of the class whose mantle—not to say, whose
infamy—they inherit.
“ Hard speeches ” have been of prolific
growth. What a library they would make
up, if He who has heard them all should write
them in books and hand them down to earth !
They have lost nothing, in this respect, by
lapse of time. They are as abundant as ever.
And as bitter. A full share of them, of course,
has been poured out on the South. Instance
a recent issue of the American Baptist. A
correspondent of that paper says : “ If we can
be justified in fellowshipping unrepenting
rebels and slaveholders in the church of Christ,
who may not be? Os what greater crime is
it possible for any one to be guilty ? Would
it not be more consistent, to give up the idea
that repentance is essential to salvation, be
come Universalists, and open wide the door
to receive all on a basis of universal brother
hood, irrespective of their moral character,
exercising that charity which covereth not
only a multitude, but all sins ? ” And the
editor : “ The Southern people were profess
edly very prayerful, and, in their view, pious,
when they were selling men and women, or
carrying on a rebellion by perjury, and starv
ing and murdering the unfortunate prisoners
of Andersonville and Libby. Those acts, in
our view,;destrayed all claim to religion,
quite as much as any other kind of theft or
murder. . . . The history of the South ex
ceeds in cruelty, crime and corruption, that
of any people, civilized or barbaric, known in
the annals of time, and that cruelty, crime,
and corruption were wrought out under and
had the sanction of their highest ideas of re
ligion ! ”
We take these things in good part. In
fact, we are glad that our “ brethren ” are so
outspoken. If they entertain such views, we
hope they will give expression to them. Let
them daguerreotype their inner man for the
ages to come! Let Posterity see their souls
without a mask, and even without a veil. It
will help “the truth of history ” to assert
itself. If, in future years, the course of the
South shall be deemed to need extenuation, that
extenuation will be found in the fact that we
sought to cut ourselves loose from the spirit,
which, two years after the close of war, and
amid legislative triumphs even more signal
than the military, could voice its gentleness (?)
and charity (?) in terms such as we have
quoted.
“ The God of peace” send to these troubled
and troubling spirits, peace with Himself—
peace with all who love Him !
A Correction.
One would think that the business driven
by colleges now-a-days, in the manufacture of
“ Doctors of Divinity,” was sufficiently brisk
to satisfy every reasonable demand—and
even some demands that are unreasonable.
But editors occasionally outstrip the rapid
march of literary institutions in this regard.
A contemporary, we notice, confers the title
on the dead of a hundred years ago, and con
fers it without distinction of sex. Miss Anne
Steele appears, in his list of Baptist Hymn-
Writers, as “Dr. Steele.” We rather like
the idea. Her womanly meekness and un
worldliness would not be out of place in the
titled fraternity; and they may fitly welcome
her to their ranks, as a spur to the emulative
culture of these graces, which are more and
better than all gifts. Room, then, room for
Miss Steele among the Doctors ! The more
especially as she will not lack congenial soci
ety there—fellow pupils in the School of Sim
plicity, men of like spirit with herself.
Atlanta Religious Statistics.
From Barnwell’s Atlanta Directory for the
present year, we compile the religious statis
tics of the city. The Directory omits the
aggregate membership of the First Baptist
and “ Christian ” churches : the former we sup
ply : we have no present means of supplying
the latter, and therefore drop it from the list.
With this correction and this deficiency, the
strength of the denominations stands, on a de
scending scale, as follows:
Methodist: Wesley Chapel, (Rev. W. P.
Harrison, pastor,) 337; Trinity, (Rev. W.
M. Crumley,) 257 : total, 594.
Romanist: Church of the Immaculate Con
ception, 500.
Baptixi: First Church, 225 ; Second, (Rev.
W. T. Brantly, D.D.) 196 : total, 421.
Presbyterian: First Church, (Rev. J. S.
Wilson, D.D.,) 162; Central, (Rev. R. K.
Porter,) 125: total, 287.
Episcopal: St. Philip’s, (Rev. C. W. Thom
as,) 127.
The aggregate of the five denominations is
1,829. We take these figures as represent
ing their white membership alone; and, as
the total white population of the city, accord
ing to the census of December and January
last, is 10,940, the proportion of professors of
religion to the whole population of this class
is about one in six; (or, if we deduct the 3,-
641 children under 12 years of age, very few
of whom are registered church members, the
proportion is about one in four.)
The proportion of the several denomina
tions to the white population, is approximate
ly : Os Methodists, one in eighteen; of Ro
manists, one in twenty-two ; of Baptists, one
in twenty-six; of Presbyterians, one in thirty
eight; of Episcopalians, one in eighty-six.
Dividing the religious public as the accept
ance or rejection of papal dogmas divides it,
we find that the proportion of accepters to the
white population is (as above) about one in
twenty-two, and of rejectors something less
than one in eight.
Divided into the two classes that practice
and that repudiate Pedobaptism, the propor
tion of the former is something more than one
in eight, of the latter (as above) about one in
twenty-six.
A few questions naturally suggest them
selves. Is the spirityal influence of the pro
fessedly Christian element among us as great
as it should be, when that element stands to
the white population above the age of twelve
years in the proportion of one to four ? Are
the institutions of the gospel as liberally sup
ported as they should be ? Are the means of
grace as largely attended? Are the enterpri
ses for the diffusion of the truth, for the estab
lishment of places of worship and centres of
religious influence wherever the necessities of
this population call for them, as vigorously
prosecuted?
We fear that to these questions a negative
answer must be returned. Let each one of
our city readers, then, ask himself how far Ac
should bear the blame of this inefficiency ?
and w hat lies within the power of his hand to
inaugurate an era of more earnest zeal aud
more rapid progressin the great work of evant
gelizing the city—of saving the souls that per
ish around us?
Our Southern Zion—in Our Exchanges.
Alabama. —A correspondent of the (Tuscum
bia) Herald proposes the formation of a Sabbath
School Convention, in the bounds of the 'General
Association of North Alabama. —The Warrior
River Association, at its last session decided that
“for professors of religion to retail intoxicating
liquors, or use them as a beverage, or to visit and
drink intoxicating spirits in retail drinking shops,
are bad examples, such as should not be tolerated
by the churches.” —The (Memphis) Baptist says
of Rev. J. L. M. Curry : “He is the coming man
of the Convention. He has already won his posi
tion in the denomination, and that second only to
brother Fuller. He is an humble Christian, thank
God, a logical thinker , a sound theologian—a
thorough Baptist in sentiment, and an impassion
ed orator. He speaks to you through every mus
cle, every feature, every gesture, every movement
of the body. He does not seem even to study the
effect of a gesture or a bodily movement. He
seems forgetful of all these—of himself—so in
tent is he to make you see and feel as he sees and
feels, and the result is, you do. He sweeps you
unresistingly along with him, taking captive all
your convictions, and you embrace his conclusion
before he has announced it. As an orator, as a
preacher of the Gospel he is transcendently supe
rior to Beecher.”
Georgia. —A correspondent of the (Richmond)
Herald , from Hawkinsville, writes: “ The Baptist
cause here is gradually advancing. The member
ship has, by letter anti baptism, run up, in the
last six months, from 80 to about 120, while we
endeavor to maintain a strict and impartial discip
line. One peculiarity of the church is that her
religious interests are looked after—her prayer
meeting, Sabb*ath school, and Bible class attended
and supported—mainly by the younger members.
We have had our church repainted inside and re
carpeted, and the design is to enlarge the present
building or erect anew one so soon as our finances
will permit”
Kentucky. —The Southern portion of Graves,
Calloway, Fulton, Hickman, and Ballard counties,
as we learn from the (Louisville) Recorder , is
sadly destitute of Baptist preaching. —A minister,
from the interior of the State, writes : “There is
not a minister in all this country, and especially,
in Goshen Association, that is being sustained u>”
“Notone that does not have to do some thing
else for a living, besides preaching. Alas ! alas !
when will the churches properly care for their ser
vants.”—Ther eare men and women in the moun
tains of Estill, Clay, and Jackson counties, forty
years old, who never saw any person baptized.—
The charter of the Baptist Education Society for
the State has been amended, restoring to its mem
bers the power of electing the trustees of George
town College.—The missionaries of the General
Association reported, last year, the baptism of
about 1,500 persons, and the formation of 86 Sab
bath schools.—Rev. L. J. Crutcher retires from the
editorial conduct ol the (Franklin) Baptist. He
carries our kindly wishes with him.
Mississippi.— s4o,ooo, in money and provisions,
were raised, the past year, for the Orphans’ Home,
at Lauderdale Springs, writes a correspondent of
the (Raleigh) Recorder ; and there are now in it
136 children of deceased Confederate soldiers. —
The endowment of Mississippi College was lost
by the war, and a debt of several thousand dollars
hangs over it, with the certainty that the property
will soon be sacrificed and lost, if Baptists do not
hasten to its relief. —A correspondent of the
(Jackson) Watchman , reports a recent revival at
Cooper Institute, Spring Hill, the Principal of
which is a Presbyterian. The school numbers
over one hundred, and almost every one, professors
and pupils, who was not a church member, made
a profession o/ religion to the number of between
50 and 60. Rev. T. G. Hand labored, as the rep
resentative of the Baptist cause, in the meeting.
Missouri. —The (Palmyra) Journal says, “It is
a shame to speak of some things which are allow
ed in our churches. Some have no deacons ; some
do not meet once in two months; some in the ab
sence of the preacher will disperse instead of
spending the time in prayer and exhortation and
discipline; some allow the grossest violation of
the I ord’s day and the indulgence of vices and
habits of doubtful propriety, which refined socie
ty does not tolerate.”—Atchison, Mississippi,
Newton, Nodaway, Ray, Scott, and Vernon coun
ties report no Baptist ministers within their
bounds.—The Old School Baptists are erecting a
church building in Palmyra, and propose to erect
another in Paris.—A church constituted in Green
County, last February, with 9 members, now has
50, and will build a large and comfortable house
of worship.—Four converts were baptized recent
ly, and two deacons ordained, at North River
church, Shelby County.
North Carolina. —The Baptists of the State
have given four times as much for Home Missions
since the war as they did before.—At the Con
vention, Wilmington, Rev. W. T. Walters, the
Corresponding Secretary and General Agent of
the State Mission Board, said that in one section
of this State there were twenty-one towns and
villages in which the voice of a Baptist preacher
is never heard. He believed that less than one
tenth of the population of the State bear Baptist
preaching.—The pledges to the endowment of
Wake Forest College amount to more than $16,000.
—The colored Baptists of Bertie county have in
creased since their emancipation, probably 75 per
cent., by converts mainly; but largely by addi
tions from Pedobaptists, not being allowed to join
the Baptists while they were slaves.—A writer
in the (Memphis) Baptist says: “ The church in
Windsor worship in a handsome edifice, supplied
with steeple and fine toned bell, and the spire sur
mounted by a cross ! When I saw this first, my
feelings were somewhat shocked ; but on mature
reflection, it occurred to me that it was a fit em
blem, and although Romish arrogance has usurp
ed it, must Baptists, who profess to be guided by
the precepts of Him who suffered thereon, yield
it to their own use ? Not for an hour.”
South Carolina. —Rev. J. O. B. Dargan, D. D.,
in a speech at the Memphis Convention, stated that
he had been teaching in a colored Sabbath school
for 15 years.—The (Anderson) Baptist announces
the death of Col, G. J. Elford, of Greenville, Sat
urday, a severe illness of only a
few days. Us&ul in every sphere, he was espe
cially so in the superi.:tendency of the Sabbath
school, which grew, under his hand from some 30
scholars in 1843 to 344 at the time of his decease.
Persons who are restrained from active effort by a
morbid sense of deficiency, may learn a valuable
lesson from the history of his entrance into the
field of his pre-eminent success. When he first
attempted to open the school “he broke down at
the reading of the second verse of the hymn with
which he began the opening exercises, and the
school did not get opened that morning. But the
necessity of the case, and the requests and en
couragements of the female teachers (there were
no male teachers in the school at that time) in
duced him to trv again, and do the best he could,
until somebflrfJSjfcould be got to act as Superinten
dent.”—Rev. Manly, Jr., D. D., has taken
charge, of the Chair of Ancient Lan
guages in Ftfrtjtin University, left vacant by the
death of Prof v C. Edwards.
Tennessee —-’ev. D. B. Hale has resigned his
Professorship id- Howard Female College, Galla
yp. to return tiATexas.
f Texas. —TbejHouston) Herald says: “Is there
a Baptist bookA*re in the State ? With the ex
ception of a feiJrVmoks kept by the Sunday school
Board at BrenhaZn, we know of none. Do Bap
tist inercffanMKrchase our books to sell in their
respective
even one Our-people are without
books* try to obtain them.”—One of
the W. A. Mason-, Johnson coun
ty, has had 14 Secessions, the fruit of a recent
revival.—The Mkald says: “In the State of
Texas, to-day, tfle are not less than five hundred
destitute childreSof Baptists, made so by the late
war, and there isjEii) provision made for them by
their own people! It is no apology for us that
others neglect thifr duty.”
Virginia. — Jno. M. Roane, of Spotsylva
nia, is very sick, but the rumors of his death are
unfounded.—Elevfn persons were recently bap
tized at Kentuck church, Pittsylvania county ;
making 46 since the meeting last fall,
two-thirds of whom were Sabbath school scholars.
—The experiment of a separate organization for
colored persons, at Arbor, Pittsylvania, is work
ing well.
Glimpses of the Times.
Imitation. —A correspondent of the Morn
ing Star writes,4n reference to the recent an
nual conference of khe students past and pre
sent of Spurgeon’s College: “At the Con
ference, an Ind(-.pendent minister who was
present said : ‘ What struck him as most re
markable was the strong family likeness be
tween the students and their President. If
his eyes had hebn. closed, he should have
thought they were being favored with a series
of short speeches from Mr. Spurgeon himself.
Both in manner, style, wit, and phraseology,
they were so much alike.’ Mr. Spurgeon
himself has observed that it is needful for
him to be very careful in all his habits and
for hjs young inen follow him.
On this Account, though once addicted to the
use of a Virginian weed, and not a rejecter of
the gifts of still, vintage, and inalt-tub, he is
now an abstainer in the matter of both. He
wears a soft felt wide-awake ; so do his stu
dents. He suffersAhe hair to grow upon his
upper lip ; so
ten rests otfe leg as he is standing to speak
and makes the other do the work of both ; so
*<u
also do his students.” ,
Worldliness. Rev. J. C. Hiden, of
Portsmouth, Va., in a notice of a revival in
the Fourth Street Church, furnished to the
Religious Herald , says: “ Among the en
quirera!* an old man of sosaie eighty years,
who has been attending our church for some
time past. He has spent a long life in sin,
and in his latter days has been so badly par
alyzed as to be barely able to hobble alogg.
Seeing him evidently concerned on the mat
ter of his soul’s salvation, I urged upon him
the claims of the gospel, the all-sufficiency of
Christ, and the need of an immediate deci
sion. He said he felt as if he could trust the
Lord, and at one time during the meeting ex
pressed his determination to confess Christ;
but when the time arrived for him to take the
step, he told me in a manner which I shall
not soon forget, ‘ I can not give up the world
yet! ’ What a commentary on a life devoted
to the world ! This poor old creature, with
one foot in the grave, can not give up the
world ! ”
Church Unity. —Rev. S. H. Tyng claims
it as the distinguishing characteristic of the
church of the Holy Trinity, New York, of
which he is rector, “ that it is a family of
families —a ‘ household of faith ’ —in which
every member shall have a home feeling and
take a brother’s or a sister’s interest.”
Mercersburg Theology. —The N. Y. Ob
server thus describes the Theology taught in
the German Reformed Seminary, Mercers
burg, Pa*: “ Aecprding to Mercersburg the
ology, as defined by its advocates, ‘ neither
an outward reformation nor an inward change
of heart and mind constitutes regeneration.
These are but results of regeneration ‘ re
generation is the communication of Christ’s
life to believers fey the operation of the Holy
Spirit.’ ‘ The sacrament of Baptism is the
divinely instituted means by which the life
communication takes place ; and this is the be
ginning of that process by which Christ is
formed within us the hope of glory ; and that
life is especially fed and nourished by the
Bread of Life communicated to us in the sa
crament of the body and blood of Christ.’
This view of Christianity, as a continual re
production of the life of Christ, necessitates
the establishment of ‘ the church as an object
of faith,’ because it is in the church that this
life is reproduced ; and the church is, there
fore, viewed as ‘ a continuation of the mys
tery of the incarnation.’ In the ministry we
have, according to this scheme, a continuation
of Christ’s offices as prophet, priest, and king,
and Christ is actually present in His minis
ters, and thus gives to them an authority
which all men are bound to recognize. Such
a church, with such ministers, decides what
men shall believe.”
The Ministry. —ln a recent sermon, Bishop
Simpson said : “ I am satisfied more of later
years than I was in my earlier ministry that
a congregation never assembles before a min
ister of Christ but some hearts in that congre
gation are sent prepared to receive a special
message. If God sends the minister to the
people, He sends the people to the minister.
It is as easy for Him to create a longing in some
heart to know and feel the truth, as to make
a longing in my heart to declare to them the
truth of God.”
Political Religionism. — W endell Phillips,
in a recent speech, spoke of a prominent of
fice holder who had told him'*4fta< in religion
he was an Episcopalian, but in politics a
Methodist.
Southern Presbyterians. —This denomi
nation reports 66,528 communicants. The
additions of the year, average 7 to every
church and to every minister and licentiate.
Another Gospel. —Henry Ward Beecher,
in a recent sermon, published in the Exami
ner and Chronicle, says : “ Preaching in this
age, that was exactly an interpretation of the
preaching of the Apostles, would be a preach
ing that, indicated that there was nu power or
growth in men’s ideas or in society. He that
preaches the gospel must not preach it as Christ
and His Apostles did. It is common school
education, it seems to me, that is the peculiar
gospel of to-day."
“ Hard Speeches.” —The Northern Chris
tian Advocate says : “ Neither humanity nor
Christianity, requires that we feed the assas
sin of our first-born, while at liberty, and who
boldly justifies his murderous act, and is
ready to lie in wait to repeat the slaughter
on the only son left us. We are to do good
to our enemy, but we are not to feed and
clothe him while he is lying in ambush to
burn down ourmvelling, yea while he is con
tinuing to rob, maltreat, and murder our
friends. That this is the attitude which the
South maintains toward the North is eviden
ced by repeated acts since peace. was pro
claimed.” This editor seems to be of the
same type with the minister, (of whom the
Baltimore Episcopal Methodist tells us,) who
“ declared before an applauding audience of
clergy and pious laymen, his purpose of em
ploying himself at the day of judgment in
‘ grinning at the secessionists as they go down
to hell.’”
France. —Edmond de Pressense says:
“The myral state of the French nation in
spires the most painful anticipations. Cor
ruption in high places, unbridled license in
low places, atheism joining, hands with im
morality, and all developing formidably under
the pressure of circumstances—such is the
prospect which is arrayed before us. Should
an}’ event, which might easily occur, open
afresh the revolutionary arena, it is not diffi
cult to imagine what might happen any day
in such a state of French society. We have
a secret impression that God, in the often se
vere methods of His goodness, is about to al
low us to try the doctrines of positivism and
materialism, so fascinating to the present age,
and to leave the country to drink to the dregs
the turbid and bloody cup of infidelity.” That
is good news for Millenarianism : it will help
the church, as Dr. W. R. Gordon expresses
it, to lose “ faith in her own fondly-cherised
doctrine of reducing the whole world to the
obedience of Christ by her own efforts.” It
will prepare the way for the belief in the ne
cessity of the personal coming of Christ in
order to the Millennium ; a view by the way
to which the Christian Intelligencer objects
“ that (a) it invalidates the power of the Bi
ble, which is the sword of the Spirit; ( b ) of
the ministry, whose weapons are mighty,
through >God, to the pulling down of strong
holds'; (c) of the tfffßrlh, against which the
gates of®hell can not prevail; and ( a nd) of the
Holy Spirit himself, who can raise up a stand
ard against all enemies.”
Our Future. —A writer in the Christian
Era argues, that through the prevalence of
“the horrid crime of infanticide” in the North-
East and North-West, the Anglo-Saxon stock
is fast giving place to the Teuton, which is ra
tionalistic,, and the Celt, which is Romish;
and that the colored race will be the main
pillar of Protestantism.
'Prayers for the Dead. —The London let
ter of the Presbyterian Banner says : “Two
priests were recently prayed for at a Tracta*
rian church. The dates of their decease on
the church wall were appended to a notice
beginning, ‘ Os your charity pray for
the names being added. The leading Tracta
rians were present, and the whole service was
essentially Romish.”
The “ Dark Ages ” still here. —The
Westminster Gazette, devoted to Romanism,
lays down the broad doctrine that “ the cler
gy ” (meaning, of course, the Romish clergy)
“ are, by divine right, exempted from lay
judicature.” That is, a priest may commit
murder, or any other crime, without being
called to trial before a civil court.
Extempore Prayers. —One would think
that the fetters of a written, unalterable, ex
clusive liturgy somewhat gall the Western
Episcopalian, when it says: “ The excellent
advice of Dr. Muhlenburg, in the Spirit of
Missions, to introduce free extempore prayer
into missionary meetings, that when stirring
speeches have moved the audience, the voice
of prayer may ascend to God with the natural
gush of earnest desire, ought to be adopted,
not only by the delegate meetings and convo
cations, but in every parish.
Anonymdus Communications. —A writer
in the Nashville Christian Advocate states
that “Bishop Soule never read anonymous
articles”—so thoroughly principled was he
against the custom of publishing what men
wrote, while their names were concealed.
Traffic in Ardent Spirits. —The sale of
liquor in Pennsylvania returns, in license
money, $289,894 annually. But it makes
50,000 drunkards each year—so that the
State authorizes the ruin of that number for
a gain of less than $6 each.
Liberality. —lndependently of its own ex
penses—the pew assessment was $19,000 —
the church of Dr. Wm. Adams, New York,
contributed last year to missionary and other
purposes $96,697.
Jewish Sunday Schools. —The three Rab
bis of Baltimore have inaugurated, under the
auspices of the Hebrew Education Society >
schools among the Jewish children, held on
the Christian Sabbath.
Presbyterians in Ireland. —The Irish
Presbyterians have increased from not more
than 300 churches in 1822 to 556, with 559
ministers; and the collections for missions from
£l3B to £45,780.
English Wesleyans. —The Sunday schools
of the Wesleyans show, in ten years, an in
crease of 127,000 scholars, and their churches
an increase of 67,000 members. The number
of the former is 643,000 ; of the latter, 331,-
000.
Pulpit Plagiarism. —The same sermon,
word for word, was preached, not long since,
by two clergymen of New York. The hypo
crites f
New ENGLAND.—Henry Ward Beecher, in
his novel, now appearing in the New York
Ledger, says: “ Perhaps nowhere in the world
can be found more unlovely wickedness —a
malignant, bitter, tenacious hatred of good
than in New England.”
Trinitarians.— A Unitarian writer in the
Liberal Christian, N. Y., says, ot lrinitari
ans : “ If a crusade against them were requir
ed to commence to-morrow, and recruits were
required for their defence, I would volunteer
my services in their behalf, for I acknowledge
cheerfully and always that they are doing the
chief Christian work in the world, and that
the world could no more do without them
than it could without coal.” Strange that
this should be true if Trinitarianisrn is false.
“By their fruits ye shall know them.”
Lay Preaching. — A correspondent ot the
Boston Journal, writing from London, dis
closes a wonderful mixture of zeal and disor
der in the lay preaching of that city : “ Mr.
Henry Varley is one of the leaders of this,
lay work. He has a chapel that will hold
two thousand people. He has been in it for
four years. He preaches, baptizes, and cele
brates the communion. He has been ordain
ed by no one. He is a butcher, and has one
of the largest butcher shops in the city. He
attends the markets and has made money.
But he preaches for nothing ; he gives to the
poor food, as well as the gospel. He and his
father-in-law built the chapel in which he
preaches. On Sunday nights Mr. Varley
preaches to crowds in Exeter Hall. Mr. Car
ter has become celebrated for his work among
thieves and the low and dissolute persons in
London. He has an audience of over eight
hundred. Many have been converted, and
these in turn go out and preach to their own
class with great acceptance. Richard Weav
er is one of the most successful lay preachers.
He is a converted collier; has a wonderful
power, with rude eloquence, and can command
an audience of immense size. The leading
Baptist and Congregationalist churches en
courage this lay effort, even to the celebration
of the communion and baptizing.”
A Call for Consistency. —The National
Baptist, with much justice, says : “It is de
manded by the national government, that the
States lately in rebellion, before they resume
their places in the federal union, shall give
the right of suffrage to all their inhabitants
without regard to color—that they shall make
a black man and a white man equal in the eye
of the law. If this is demanded of the
Southern States, ought not the same principle
to be applied to the Northern States ? Is there
any reason why a black man in the South
should have secured to him by the national
government advantages which are not secured
to the black man in the North? It seems to
us a singular inconsistency to retain on the
statute books of some of the States distinc
tions which can not be tolerated oirthe statute
books of other States.”
“Spiritualism.” —ln reference lo Spirit
ualists, the Boston Recorder says : “We are
confident that there is no apprehension what
ever in any of our evangelical denominations,
that the exertions of this class of our country
men is to have any perceptible effect in weak
ening the church. -According to our obser
vation, the larger part of those who believe
in and adhere to Spiritualism, were formerly
unbelievers in the Christian system. Their
accessions from our churches, never numer
ous, have come to an end.”
Riches. —Senator Pomeroy, of Kansas, at
a recent Educational Meeting, Washington,
D. C., said : “ He wanted the colored men to
get rich. The Jews were hated in England
until they began to get rich ; then their daugh
ters began to get handsome, and people would
ride with them, and so it would be with the
colored man.”
o[orm]?oiuUnq.
A Letter from Dr. Crawford.
Dear Brother Toon: —These Conventions
are very tantalizing concerns. You see just
enough of old friends to make you regret that
you did not see more. You have so many
things to ask and tell that you forget to ask
and tell three-fourths ; and when it is too late,
you find that the very thing you most wished
to ask is the very thing which, by some inex
plicable law of the human mind, you entirely
forgot. Well, it was very pleasant to meet,
even in this unsatisfactory way, a few of the
old Georgia friends. But where were the
multitude? The dura, res of which Queen
Dido complained (not in the same form with
hers, however,) kept at home many who would
be ornaments of any Christian assembly, and
to call whom friends the best and greatest
might esteem an honor. Os the old Merceri
ans, (besides those who still remain in the
province of Georgia) there was brother Reed,
from Africa, looking any thing but like-a sav
age after his ten years of self-exile; and Com
pere, from among the Indians, a missionary
by inheritance, full of earnestness, and vainly
endeavoring to get even a hearing upon a
work lying heavy on his heart. Every body
sympathized, but nobody helped. Then there
was Shackelford, from North, and Spalding,
from South Alabama. The former honest,
conscientious, and earnest as ever ; the latter
loving and being loved wherever he goes.
Perhaps there were others, but lain not wri
ting a Homeric catalogue.
Have you told my old friends how com
pletely reconstructed I am ? For I hope,
(D. V.) some time this summer, when the
weather gets warm enough to do withodt a
fire, (for the first time this spring, we did not
kindle the coal this morning,) to run down into
Georgia, and I don’t want to be utterly unrec.
ognized. In the first place, then, lam recon
structed in the material of my dress; for I
have worn out (could not throw them away)
all my jeans clothes, and now wear store
clothes altogether. In the second place, lam
reconstructed in the fashion of my coat; for
I have laid aside the dress-coat—vulgarly called
swallow-tail —(which had almost been a part
of me for thirty years) and have donned the
frock coat. In the third place, lam recon
structed in the matter of a head-piece, and
have laid aside the time honored beaver—
basely called stove-pipe—and have ensconced
my cranium in a broad brim soft hat. Is this
reconstruction complete? I apprehend that I
hear Prof. Woodfin exclaim : “ The Doctor
is demoralized ! ” Let me haste, then, to pro
pitiate him. lu the fourth place, lam recon*
structed by allowing the beard to grow on
my upper lip: so that I am now “ bearded
like a pard.” Is not the work complete now ?
Will Thaddeus Stevens or Charles Sumner
require more than this? I must in candor
add that my family is not altogether a unit in
regard to this last improvement, and it is not
impossible that I may “ fall from grace.” But
such as I am, will my old friends know me ?
Will brother Bunn give me lodging for a
night? Brother Stocks, lam sure, will not
know me till 1 tell him who 1 am.
We have heard nothing as yet from the
Chicago Anniversaries. But three thousand
Baptists, in the month of May, in a city
where they have no spring, and when winter
has ended and summer not begun! What
would our Georgia sisters do ? The race of
chickens would have to be exterminated, and,
instead of corn and cotton, a crop of English
peas cultivated. Beef and potatoes, however,
will put our Northern brethren through. But
what a sum of money these anniversaries, on
such a scale, must cost! Probably not less
than forty dollars a head, or a sum total of a
hundred and twenty thousand dollars !
Enough to sustain two hundred missionaries,
or to support at school six hundred orphans !
N. M. Ckawfokd.
Georgetown, Ky., May 29, 1867.
Ink Drops in Transitu, f
The wheat in south * westerii Georgia is
cradled and shocked? The crop is a very fair
oue. The oat crop is just coming in, and will
greatly aid the farmers who have been so hard
pressed to get food for their stock.
The farmer has been greatly oppressed by
selfish and unfeeling Shylocks, who have taken
advantage of the necessities of the laboring
class. They have proposed to aid planters
by supplying them with corn and meat upon
certain conditions. These conditions were, a
mortgage of the plantation and stock, and a lien
on the growing crop, and all the cotton must be
sold by them, and their commission allowed.
When these conditions were complied with,
then corn is priced at $2 f>o per bushel, and
meat at 25 cents per pound. Many farmers
have been compelled to submit to these un
reasonable terms, or lose their crops. Can a
people ever prosper who are guilty of such
acts? Many farmers will be in straits for
next year. It will take all they make this
year to meet these unjust arrangements, and
they will be without provisions for another
crop.
This eagerness to make money is greatly
damaging the prosperity of Zion. The brethren
will not cease to gather up the trash ot earth.
They are putting forth every effort to regain
their lost fortunes. Their minds and hearts
are fully engaged in devising ways and means
by which to make money. They can not pay
the pastor, nor defray the contingent expenses
of the church, nor make repairs, nor sustain
missions, nor give any thing to the cause of
Christ; but they can loan money at three and
five per cent per month, and sell provisions
at the highest prices. Can religion grow and
flourish in such soil? We should never be
surprised to find such members cold and in
different in religion. They can not come, to
church if there is any thing that hinders, and
they can not endure long services. They are
absent from conference, and from all meetings
that may conflict in the least with their busi
ness. Can the churches prosper with such
members? And yet their name is legion.
How long will the glorious cause of our Lord
be subordinated to worldly interest? I
thank God that all the churches are not har
rassed by such members. Many churches
have been awakened, and are faithfully labor
ing in the vineyard of our divine Master.
May the Spirit of the Lord breathe upon the
dry bones and give them life! “ Viator.”
Georgia Baptist Convention.
It. is pleasant for an elderly man, who has
watched its progress from its commencement,
to see its growth and usefulness. For many
years after its formation in June, 1822, only
two or three associations were present at its
meetings —the Georgia, Sunbury, and Ocmul
gee. The latter, though in the organization,
was driven off in 1830 by the rabid spirit of
anti ism ; though several auxiliary societies
in the Flint and other Associations attended.
The Sunbury joined in 1824, but, owing to
its remoteness from the place of meeting,
failed to be present occasionally. The Sarep
ta, in which the Convention had its original
suggestion, October, 1820, at Ruckersville,
Elbert county, sent corresponding members a
few years; did not unite till toward 1840.
I see not a name at its late meeting which
was present at its formation. The earliest at
tendance is that of J. H. Campbell, in 1828,
then a youth, and soon began theological
studies at Eatonton. Now fifteen associations
and some societies.
The early places of meeting, if memory is
not at fault, were: 1822-3, at Powelton;
1824-5, Eatonton ; 1820, Augusta; 1827,
Washington; 1828, Monticello; 1821), Mill
edgeville; 1830, Bethesda, Greene county;
1831, Burke county ; 1832, Powelton ; 1833,
McDonough ; 1834, Indian Creek, near Mad
ison. May it live and ittcrease in usefulness,
multiply its numbers, and be the means of
sending into the vineyard 5,000 men, called of
God to take an active part in ushering in the
effulgence of the millenial glory. A. S.
St. Louis, Hay 27, 1867.
Report of Collections in May.
Rome—Collections and Subscriptions # 89 90
Griffin “ “ 42 50
Cave Springs “ “ ........ 60 60
G. W. Cook, subscriber to M. B. Wharton.... 20 00
R. T. Asbury, “ Flint River Assoc’n 500
Jas. Callaway 1
$297 40
Nearly two weeks of this month were spent
in a series of meetings with the church at
Newnan. The churches I have visited were
as liberal as their circumstances would prob
ably justify.
Those who subscribed to brother Wharton
will please remit to me at Americus as early
as possible.
I publicly acknowledge my gratitude to
brethren for their kindness and hospitality
whilst proseebting my mission. May the Lord
bless you ! G. T. Wilburn,
Agent Domestic Missions.
Americut, Cfa., May 2l>, 1887.