Newspaper Page Text
138
gate and gaptist
J. J. TOON, - - - * Proprietor.
Bev. D. SHAVER, R.D., Editor.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1867.
The Ministry of Jesus.
The personal ministry of our Lord in the
days of his flesh, supplies a theme of unfail
ing interest. The loving heart never wearies,
as it traces the footsteps of Incarnate Love.
Here, preeminently, the study of revelation
reveals: on the familiar page new aspects of
wonder, of sublimity, of pathos, disclose
themselves, and the story can not wax old.
We have supposed, therefore, that the pious
reader would be pleased to see the light in
which a recent American* author presents this
ministry —the successive stages into v\hich he
divides it, and the peculiarity ascribed by him
to each stage. There is food for thought in
his view whether it be correct or incorrect —
a question, by the way, on which we solicit
the judgment of brethren who have weighed
the problem and reached a definite solution.
The public life of Christ, according to An
drews, parts into three divisions. The first,
extending from His earliest Passover to thd
feast when the impotent man was healed,
covered the space of about a year. During
this time, His labors were confined mainly to
Judea, and “had reference to the people in
their corporate capacity, a nation in covcnent
with God.” He “ organized no body of dis
ciples, and did nothing that indicated a pur
pose to gather out a few from the mass of the
people; ” but sought acceptance “as the
Messiah, through the divinely constituted
heads of the nation ’* —through the ecclesiasti
cal leaders, “ whom God had appointed to
rule, and into whose hands it was given to re
ceive or reject Him.” John bore official wit
ness to his Messiabship. He himself asserted
His Messianic authority openly, as it were in
the presence of the rulers, by the purgation
of the temple. He demonstrated llis title
to it ‘ by words which showed Him to be the
Truth of God, and by works which showed
Him to be the Power of God.’ Securing no
recognition from these “rightful representa
tives of the whole people ” —these organs of
national action, under the covenant with the
fathers —He retired from Jerusalem, and be
gan to baptize, through His followers, soine
w'here in the province. ‘ Like his fore-runner,
He did not seek the people in their cities and
villages, but made the people seek Him ; ’ as
the design of His baptism was, primarily to
attract the attention and gain the concurrence
of the ecclesiastical authorities, with a view
to “ the regular development of His Mes
sianic work,” by using those who sat in Mo
ses’ seat for His service. It only inflamed
their hostility, however; and He took His
departure for a season from Judea. Though
thus twice rejected by the heads of the nation*
He still bore with them ; for “ the Baptist w as
at liberty, and through his witness and labors
the rulers might yet be brought to repentance*
and the nation be saved.” On the imprison
ment of John, He reappeared in Jerusalem,
working miracles, if at last, He might win
acceptance, in virtue of all that His harbinger
and Himself had taught. But they attempted
to kill Him; and upon this third rejection by
the rulers, He took steps looking to the abo
lition of the Mosiac institute, and the estab
lishment of a church on anew foundation.
This brings us to the second stage of our
Lord’s ministry, which occupied a period say
of one year and six months, from the Pass
over, A.D. 28, to the Feast of Tabernacles,
A.D. 29. The theatre of His teaching now
was Galilee; for God had “ providentially
overruled the political arrangements of the
times, that there He could labor without hin
drance, since the Tetrarch, Herod Antipas,
did not trouble himself concerning any ec
clesiastical movements that did not disturb
the public peace; and there, too, the people
were less under the influence of the hierarchy }
and more open to His words.” His primary
object was, to gather a body of disciples, ‘ who
should bear witness to Him before the nation,
and who, if this testimony were unavailing,
should serve as the nucleus of the new insti
tutions resting upon the New Covenant.’
Hence, he abandoned the model of His fore
runner, and sought the people; selected Ca
pernaum as the central point of His labors,
but made nine successive circuits through the
land, “ on a regular concerted plan of periodi
cal visitation ; ” preached in synagogues, —
the streets, —the fields, —wherever an au
dience assembled; abounded in works of
wonder and Healing; and “ thus, by degrees,
collected around Him the most spiritually
minded and receptive of the Galileans, and of
the adjacent regions, from whom He chose a
smaller band, whom He kept permanently
near Himself.” Our Saviour began this stage
of His ministry with no open avowal of His
claims as Messiah, which were left rather as
a matter of inference, by susceptible souls,
from His words and works; and there ap
pears to have been no general recognition of
His divinity among the multitudes attracted
by His teachings. On the death of John,
therefore, reading in the fate of His fore
runners prophecy of His own, He withdrew
himself, more and more, from the crowds that
followed him, and devoted Himself to the*in
struction of His disciples; aiming less to
gather new adherents, than to teach those al
ready believing on Him the great mysteries of
Ilis person and mission. When these instruc
tions had prepared them to understand His
Divine Sonship, and what should befall Him
at Jerusalem, He took his final departure from
Galilee.
With that departure began the third stage
of our Lord’s ministry, closing, after a lapse
of some five months, with the Week of Pas
sion. His labors in Galilee, like His former
labors in Judea, were followed by rejection on
the part of men ; for as His teachings grew
more distinctive, they proved more repellent
to the popular mind, and the great body of
the Galileans turned away from Him. “ The
machinations of His enemies at Jerusalem,
also, were arousing hostility against Him in
Galilee, and making the further prosecution
of His work there full of difficulty and dan
* “ The Life of Our Lord upon the Earth ; considered
in its Historical, Chronological and Geographical Rela
tions. Samuel J. Andrews.” New York: Charles
Scribner & Cos., 1863.
Tiff, CHRISTIAN INDEX AND SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST: ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7,1867.
. .. —-—" ~ ’ 1 " "* "
ger.” It became evident that His death was
determined upon; and He must not leave to
its perpetrators the plea of ignorance. “Up
to this time He had not openly and expressly
declared Himself to be the Messiah, either in
Judea or Galilee; ” and this declaration con
stitutes the distinguishing peculiarity of the
third stage of His ministry. His final rejec
tion must be the act of the nation, through its
ecclesiastical heads; and His decease as the
Christ, the Son of David, the King of Israel,
must be accomplished at Jerusalem. To pre
cede Him on His return to that city, He sent
out the Seventy, “ two and two before His
face* into every city and place whither He
himself would come,” with the announcement,
not of the kingdom simply, (as in the begin
ning of the other two stages,) .but of the King.
His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and Ilis
purgation of the temple the second tirne, at
tested His high claims. But, alas, for human
madness, all foregoing rejections of the Lord
of glory culminated now in His ruthless mur
der —the last extremity of sin, and yet, thanks
to Divine wisdom and mercy, the only hope
of sinners !
Private Infant Baptism.
The law of the (Dutch) Reformed Church
requires, ‘except in case of the sickness'of
the parents or child, that infant baptism shall
always be administered in the church, or some
other place of public worship, at the time of
public worship.’ A writer in the Christian
Intelligencer, however says : “It is a well
known and much lamented fact that in some
portions of the church an infant is rarely pre
sented for baptism in a place of public wor
ship. As might be expected, ‘infant baptism’
and the religious training of the children are
sadly neglected in these localities. The young
people are not in the church, and the sin lies
at the door of the church when its officers so
grossly neglect the requirements of our Con
stitution.”
We meet, every now and then, with repre
sentations of the “solemn and touching im
pression” attaching to the public baptism of
infants, which might well persuade us that it
is the very perfection of the “histrionic” Christi
anity, so much affected by mediaeval Ritualists
born, unhappily for themselves, (not to say,
for the Christian world at large,) in these more
practical, and yet more spiritual, modern
times. If we might credit such representa
tions, never w r as there an observance so won
drously fitted to attract, to stir, to melt, an
assembly of worshippers. How does it hap
pen, then, that we meet, quite as frequently,
with complaints, from all denominations prac
tising infant baptism, of a tendency on its
part to shun ‘ places of public worship,’ and
to seek a private administration ? Why is it
that eclesiastical law opposes itself in vain
to this tendency? These representations and
complaints directly traverse and contradict
each other. The complaints deny what the
representations affirm; and since the former
convey the testimony of fact and embody the
result of experiment, may we not fairly regard
them as discrediting the former? If the im
pressiveness of infant baptism when publicly
administered, were half as great as is often
alleged, the current of usage would set spon
taneously and overwhelmingly in that direc
tion, and nothing short of imperative necessity
would suffice to drive the ordinance, in ex
ceptional cases, into the seclusion of the fam
ily. Is it not meet that infant baptism, by
courting that seclusion, should bear witness
against itself, as simply a Judaic substitute
for the infant circumcision once prevalent
there; should testify that the feeling which
finds expression in it, is not of the church, or
of evangelical Christianity, but of the house
hold, and of a legal, ceremonial religionism?
Dead or Alive?
Two dead bodies have been found Th Cin
cinnati. They were identified as belonging
to parties held in honor by wide circles of
friends. It was clear, too, that they had come
to an untimely end. But no inquest sat to ascer
tain on whom rests the guilt of their “ taking
off.” Even a decent burial tvas denied to the
lifeless remains. There the corpses lie to-day,
with none to bemoan, avenge, or inter them—
strangely disregarded both by public authority
and private benevolence—startling witnesses
to that “barbarism of civilization” which
transcends in ruthlessness all other bar
barisms !
Our readers, we are sure, would like to
know something of the details which make up
the history of these extraordinary cases ; and
we will gratify them, so far as the general
reticence of the press leaves it in our power —
for it is another wonderful feature of this mys
tery, that even the most enterprising metro
politan Dailies “ are mum, and say not a
word ” about it.
The first of these corpses was discovered
by the Catholic Telegraph , of that city, and
is described by it as follows:
“ Protestantism, orthodox (if any thing so
heterodox can be termed orthodox) Protest
antism, is dead, at least in articulo mortis.
Protestantism comprised in and recognized
by the Evangelicals as Protestantism has very
nearly ceased to be a power in the United
States; religion is divided only between the
unchanging, unchangeable, ever progressing
Catholic church and numerous associations
which call themselves churches, but which
teach non-religion rather than religion in the
literal meaning of that term. In three words,
they teach either Indifferentism, Rationalism,
or Infidelity. But Protestantism as under
stood a century ago scarcely exists in the
United States.”
The Israelite, of that city, discovered the
second corpse, and gives this description of it:
“Christianity exists no longer de facto;
Sundays excepted. From an every day’s re
ligion it has been advanced to a Sunday reli
gion. The whole blessed week the Christian
is no Christian ; Sunday he is, or at least pre
tends to be. Christianity in this country dis
solved itself in Sectarianism and dogmatism.
The polemical points, the points for which the
various sects, in contradistinction of each
other, contest, are the remains of Christianity,
on which the ministers preach on Sunday and
write in their organs. Religion itself has no
place in the system, and no defender among
its advocates.”
We make no comments, but simply ask a
question. Dear reader, Is Christianity dead
with you? Or do you live to God through
its inner quickening power ? Can you, on
the warrant of your experience , affirm its inde
structible vitality, and, by the light of your
practice, constrain others to see it ? If not —
whatever life there may be in Christianity,
there is none in you— you are dead. Alas!
the name of dead Christians is legion; for they
are many. ‘O my soul, be not thou united
unto their assembly !’
Grace. —Wherever there is an mflow of grace,
there should be an outflow of gratitude and ser
vice.
Contentment. —Surely believers should ‘not
seek high things for themselves,’ since their great
Exemplar, who
' Entered the world, the world to save,
Had birth and burial in a cave!
Asa mechanic toiled for bread.
And when He taught, by gifts was fed,
Aud bad not where to lay His head!
Child’s Delight.
We invite special attention to Brother Boykin’s
advertisement of the Child's Delight. There is no
mistake about this being an admirable Sunday
school paper, and one that Southerners ought by all
means to encourage. We think Brother B. adapted
to his work, and heartily recommend his paper to
our readers. We know that his subscribers will
more than get the worth of their money, ten times
over.
To Correspondents. —We beg the breth
ren generally to furnish us w ith news from the
churches—ordinations, pastoral changes, re
vivals—every thing, in fact which enters in
to the current history of the denomination.
Such intelligence is always thankfully received
and published promptly.
A week or two more w ill complete the se
ries of articles on “The Early Baptists of
Tennessee.” We shall then begin the publi
cation of an able and interesting series on
“The Kingdom of Christ,” which w r ou!d be
itself worth the subscription price of the pa
per for the year. We have other communi
cations of interest on hand—and many in
prospect —to enrich our columns.
Bewraying Speech.
The Christian Register, Boston, has an article
denying that the blood of Christ was the price
paid for man, from which we make an extract,
aptly illustrating the strange intermixture o's sec
tional politics and false doctrine which finds such
wide currency in modern New England. “ The
blood shed in our battles was not a stipulated price
paid for the freedom of the slaves. It was not a
price paid for the preservation of the Union. None
the less was it the blood of the new covenant of
onr nation, shed for many to give them liberty and
protection. And it bound thousands of hearts to
fidelity to the great objects for which it was shed so
freely. We all feel ourselves bound by new obli
gations to see that the nation is made worthy of
that sacrifice, and that not one jot or title of the
cause for which the heroes died, is lost. So did
Jesus speak of his blood as the blood of the new T
covenant, and thus did it bind his followers to self
forgetting faithfulness ; so, that, to-day, its power
is strengthened by the blood of thousands who
have died, following in his steps; and the new co
venant of which lie spoke is now mightier than
ever before in the hearts and lives of men.”
Our Southern Zion—in Our Exchanges.
Georgia.
The Noonday Association, at its last session,
adopted a report on Sunday schools, giving this
advice to the churches: “In country schools let
nothing sectarian be taught, except inquiry be
made; then give the Scripture.” A correspondent
of the Religious Herald takes exception to this
advice, justly, we think, as countenancing an im'
proper and even sinful suppression of Baptist
principles in the religious instruction of the young.
The right view was expressed, rather, by the reso
lution of the recent Illinois Baptist State Conven
tion : “ Resolved , That as Baptists, holding the
word of God in its purity and simplicity, we are
especially called upon to meet thd great errors re
sulting from the perversions of men, in the early
religious education of the youthful mind; and
that every where in this work we are inexcusable*
if for any reason we ignore those distinctive truths
which characterize us as a denomination.”—A let
ter from Atlanta to the Examiner and Chronicle
says: “We have already four Baptist churches
in this city ; two for white persons, and two for
colored ; and measures are now on foot to build a
mission chapel, which we hope may prove the nu
cleus for anew church. Some time this year, the
First Baptist Church of New York agreed to give
SI,OOO towards the building of a chapel for such
an interest, provided the Baptists of Atlanta would
provide a suitable lot. This they have recently
taken measures for doing, and the prospect now
is that we shall have a chapel erected at no dis
tant day. The enterprise is under the direction
of Rev. R. M. Nott, formerly of the Baptist
church in Rochester. Yankee as he is, he is one
of the best men I know. He removed to this city
about eighteen months ago. Immediately, with
his lady and his sister, he united with the Second
Baptist church. Broken in health (which com
pelled the resignation of his charge in New York,)
with all the prejudices against him, which I regret
to say the people were then, and are too much
now, entertaining toward those who come from
the North, and engaged, too, in commercial pur
suits, Mr. Nott might have excused himself from
any active service in the cause of Christ. But he
did not. With his amiable lady and devoted sister,
he began work in the Sunday school. Teaching
in the morning in the school of the church with
which he was connected, he went in the afternoon
to a destitute part of the city, and collected a
hundred poor children whom he has faithfully in
structed. During the week he has been regularly
holding prayer meetings among the poor in re
mote parts of the suburbs. By such an exhibition
of the spirit of Jesus, he has effectually conquered
all prejudices growing out of political antipathies,
and is now received by all Christian people as a
brother beloved. Whilst doing all this humble
(as we call it) work, his talents and attainments fit
him for the very best positions in the gift of the
denomination.”
Alabama.
Rev. S. C. Hearn, of Cusseta, reports to the
Baptist, the baptism of 40 persons within a
month ; one of them, a gentlemen sixty-five years
old.—The Muscle Shoals Association decided that
“a majority may exclude, but to receive or re
store a member the church should be unanimous.”
—Rev. P. T. Henderson, late of New Market,
Madison county, has taken charge of a school
about eight miles west of Murfreesboro; and his
address is, Smyrna, Tenn.—According to the more
recent report of the Examiner and Chronicle, it
is Rev. David M. Reeves who has beea called to
the pastorate at Tarry town, N. Y. He has ac
cepted.
Kentucky.
The Louisville Democrat, in its notice of the
Kentucky Baptist Ministers’ Institute, mentions
the presence of “a colored brother, Rev. Henry
Adams, who for thirty years has been the worthy,
zealous and pious pastor of the First African Bap
tist church in this city. No man sustains a better
reputation or has labored more effectively to ele
vate his race. Mr. Adams was invited to take a
seat in the Institute,’and was received with great
cordiality. Upon invitation he addressed the
meeting.”—Buck Creek church, Shelby county,
has had 15 additions; Pleasant Ridge, Logan, 4;
Three Forks, Hart, 21; Little Union, 12; New
Harmony, 6; Bethel, Hebbardsville, 159, (of whom
between 30 and 40 are from the Pedobaptists);
Bethany, Union, 21 ; Salvisa, Mercer, 29; Boon’s
Creek, Fayette, 14; Blue Spring, 14; Wolf’s
School House, 15 ; Macedonia, 7; Pleasant Grove,
27; Antioch, 19; Hill Grove, Mead county, 31;
New Bethel, Boone, 15; Buffalo Lick, Shelby, 11;
Salem, Barren, 25.—Rev. G. C. Lorimer has re
signed the pastoral care of Walnut Street church,
Louisville, on account of health inadequate to so
laborious a charge.
Lou ila NA.
Rev. D. L. Hicks held recently a nightly meet
ing of about a week at Downsville church, Union
Parish, which resulted ill an accession of 34, of
whom 24 were baptize#—The Red River Assp
ciation, with 22 churches, estimates the Sabbath
school scholars within its bounds at “ only about
150, and these in three at four churches only.”—
The church at Holly Springs has grown, from 15
at the beginning of the year, to 52 ; a result large
ly owing to the establit-fithent of a monthly prayer
meeting, according to a resolution of the North
Louisiana Association.
MissjfeippL
Eleven persons were baptized recently at a meet
ing in the south-western portion of Holmes county,
“where at present there is no church or church
house.”—The papers state that “Prof. Walter
Hillman, a graduate of Brown University and a
successful educator, has been elected to the Presi
dency of the Baptist College at Clinton, Miss.
The property of the College is estimated at $150,-
000.”
Missouri.
Fourteen have been baptized at Mt. Pleasant
church ; 8 at Patchet School House, St. Charles
county ; 4 at Salt Creek church; 26 at DeKalb,
Buchanan.—lt is said, in a St. Louis letter to the
Baptist Journal, that in the Missouri towns,
“ the attendance on public worship since the war,
averages but a little ovei- one-half the number for
merly in regular attendance ; ” and that “ the dis
cipline of the churches'has been sadly neglected
since the war.”— Reid was ordained, at
Dover church, Oct. l&A-Rev. J. B. Carrico re
ports to the Journal, JL Utpusni of five yawing
men, under remarkable fircumstances. When tie
first conversed with the«f“ they all said that they
were satisfied there wC no reality in religion.”
He proposed to give thop $1.50 per day, on con
dition that, for one hopr each day, they would
“ take the Bible and to the silent grove by
themselves, and read a chapter and kneel down on
the ground and ask G« and to pity them, for they
were destined to an widlcss hell without the
change of heart.” Thdr “ commenced the work
in fun ;” but “God cimogcd their sport to soi
row, and they all mour®d, wept and prayed, and
begged God to have miMcy on them for six hours
at one time. The LordYvcard and answered their
prayer, and turned the#* mourning to joy; and
they all came back sirring, leaping and praising
God.”
Ten®® see.
A recent meeting to the Chapel Hill
church, Humphreys coiSJy. . “ Two Campbellites
professed religion, des®ethe influence of the
members of that sect.”-*Che First Colored Baptist
Missionafy {it its August
session, reported 35 chißpbes, (an increase of 17,j
and the baptism of 2,G®persons during the year.
—There have been 6 uKdisms at Barton’s Creek
church, Wilson count™ 5 at Rock Valley, and 2
at Carmel.
NoKTljjfA ROLINA.
Twenty-five were haMiaed in Union church Gas
ton county, in a meetinftllowing the session oftiie
Catawba Association, Wearly all of whom had
been members of the Wthodist and Presbyterian
churches.—Rev. W. TArYoung, of Wilmington,
has accepted a call to tn| pastoral care of a Baptist
church in Pittsburg, lira —rAt the Brown Creek
Association Rev. E. Diwtdsaid: “He would live
on half rations rather Yi»n live without the Re
corder."—The Baptistjfetate Convention, at the
request of colored bredKren, appointed a Commit
tee to assist them in Ipming a colored Baptist
Convention for N. Cillpeventeen persons have
been baptized at Mills Aver church; 34 at Peach
Tree, Nash Nash.—Our
State Missidfc- 24 excellent
missionaries under dp^HWfeent.
SouthiCarolina.
The S. C. Baptist airoounces the death of Rev.
Zedekiah Watkins apu Rev. Abner W. Asbill,
both of the Edgefield Association, and for many
years useful ministers f—There have been 61 re
cent additions to Newv Prospect church ; 23 to
Philadelphia; 22 at Cedar Springs; 52 at Mt.
Zion ; 26 at Manning. T. R. Gaines writes :
“ Since the first of September, I have baptized
thirty-seven persons, most of whom were Pedo
baptists.”—A Baptist minister of this State, who
recently visited the North to secure aid toward
the erection of a house of worship, writes to the
Missouri Baptist Journal: “If I had gotten but
the amount that I mysslf have from time to time
given to Northern institutions, it would have been
sufficient for the purpose of erecting our church
edifice, but not a dotiSr did I obtain.”—Fifteen
were recently baptized at Cross Roads church,
Chesterfield District.»At the Southern Baptist
Theological SerflinaryaGreenville, there are now r
twenty-four students Jrom nine different States,
and others are expeewd.—Our vigorous contem
porary, the S. C. Baptist, is kind enough to say of
us: “ The Index stands among the first upon our
list of exchanges, aft*, it is with pleasure we
chronicle the fact th*. it is soon to come to us
again in its full prop|/tions. Brother Shaver is
one of the best in the South, and the In
dex should be in everj Baptist family in the State
of Georgia.” i
VlfftlNlA.
Rev. A. Routh has ,-japtized 13 at Hensonville,
some of whom “ hack never witnessed a gospel
baptism in their live*T’—A correspondent of the
Baptist , mentioning j sermon preached at the
Lebanon Association l>v liev. Charles H. Ryland,
says : “ His style is pjeasing and persuasive, and
he might be deemed one of the ‘sweet singers ’ of
our pulpit. A thorough Baptist, a classic scholar,
earnest and energetic,s e promises to rank among
the first ministers of~the State.”—Rev. G. W.
Stock well, in a letter7to the American Baptist
says, of Abingdon: “jHere I found a small church
of colored brethren, wo have a good house of
worship built for church, but, as they
have nearly run out, the colored people take it.”
—Rev. J. L. M. Curry, LL.D., was announced in
the Richmond papers, to preach at the Second Bap
tist church of that city, on Friday night of last
week. He has been elected to the Chair of His
tory and English Literature in Richmond College;
an appointment which, in the name of the
Baptists of Alabama, we hope he will not accept
—The Religious Herlld announces the death of
the wife of Rev. T. GK Jones, D.D., President of
Richmond College. Sh* was a lady as remarkable
for force of intellect ast/or Christian piety and for
patience through yea»£ of ill health. —Some 30
have been baptized at New Prospect, Amherst;
53 colored persons at Jonesboro, and 40 at Mt.
Moriah; at which a colored minister was
ordained by a white presbytery recently.—The
number of beneficiary students for the ministry at
Richmond College is 25. —Rev. J. E. Massey has
resigned the pastoral c**e of Mountain Plain and
Free Union churches, Albermarle county. .
West Virginia.
A Baptist church htt* been organized at Clifton,
Rev. J. D. Leonard, pastor. —Nineteen persons
have been baptized at Petona -church, Boone
county ; “ one a girl of only ten years, which is a
remarkable case in thai section,” but, full surely,
ought not to he.
On Both Sides o t the Ocean. — Not long
since, when Dr. Chapi*, Universalist, preached in
Charleston, Mass., Rev. Mr. Twombly, Methodist,
conducted a portion of the service; and the Wes
leyan pulpit at Barnard Castle Moor, England,
was occupied, recently, by Rev. James Knapton,
Unitarian. Does this illustrate the inherent ten
dency of Arminianism toward unevangelical
Christianity? (if, indeed, anything deserves the
name of Christianity which is unevangelical.)
(Bfimpaes of the Himes.
BAPTIST.
Shameful Inconsistency. —An English
correspondent of the Christian Era complains,
that so many American Baptist ministers w hen
they visit England “ throw the whofh weight
of their influence into the open communion
scale.” He says: “American brethren, w ho,
in their own country are loud in their advo
cacy of ‘ close communion,’ and who would
‘discipline’ one of their own people at home
for sitting down to the Lord’s Table with the
unbaptized, come here*and do that very thing.”
Ho ‘shows them a more excellent way:
“ Mr. Oneken, of Hamburg, acts on a different
principle. He often visits this country to
collect for his Seamen’s Mission. He preached
last year in Plymouth to an open communion
church. They gave him a collection for his
new chapel in the morning, which amounted
to forty pounds sterling; hut he declined to
commune with them in the breaking of bread,
because of their open communion. That was
fidelity to principle.”
Anti-Missionism. —The statistics of the
Kehukee Association, N. C., for the present
year, show a membership of 714 members —
a decrease of 27.
Unsanctified Sorrow. The Religious
Herald mentions a minister who recently re
marked : “ I have a deacon who was a devo
ted, active. Christian until the loss of a good
Portion of hjte property. He hft9 been ao
manner of amount since.”
Money. —Rev. E. Dodson, giving, in the
Biblical Recorder, an account of the Yadkin
Association, says: “On my way to this meet
ing, iny buggy broke down, and I asked for a
saddle. The man said I could get none in the
village, as all the people had gone to a circus.
1 asked a very intelligent man, a few days
afterwards, how many people were at the cir
cus. He said he supposed 700, or at least
600. Think of this; they were to pay 75
cents each. How easy for the devil to raise
money, but how little is raised for Christ.”
Strong Drink. — A writer in the Watch
man and Reflector says: “I know a whole
family of beautiful grown-up daughters, not
one of whom by any chance ever refuses, at
home, or at a party, or on a picnic, to take
a glass of brandy, toddy, or any of its likes.
The habit was formed by the mother making
brandy the panacea for every stomach-ache,
for nausea, tor faintness, for bodily derange
ment, for a chill, for an overwork or an over
meal.” Alas, for this home-manufacture of
drunkards, in the name of health !
LUTHERAN. *
Work. —When Dr. Hurst, '*on the recent
visit to the University of Halle, asked Pro
fessor Tholuck “ what message he desired to
Le conveyed to his many friends, readers, and
co-workers in the Master’s vineyard beyond
the sea, he looked towards the sky, and a
smile playing on his face, he replied in a voice
full of pathos : ‘ Tell them lam still working
hard here for the higher work of Heaven .”
Unconverted Membership.- —A writer in
the Christian Times and Witness gives this
reason for the spread of Rationalism in the
different branches of the European Lutheran
church: “ Because all bounds between the
church and the world had been removed. Be
cause men came into the church by natural,
instead of spiritual birth. Because the church
included everybody.” He mentions in this
connection a fact: “ Brother Wiberg, of Swe
den, for years a Lutheran minister, once told
the writer that he was first led to refrain from
discharging his official duties by his conscien
tious inability, after examining the Bible upon
the subject, to receive to. the communion aud
into full church fellowship, at the regular sea
son of the year, the usual class of boys and
girls who had reached the required age, but
whose only other qualification was a knowl
edge of the catechism. By the usages of the
church the evidence of any spiritual change
w’as not required. Brother Wilberg found
that the New Testament did require such evi
dence, and still further study as to distinctive
doctrines made him a Baptist.” He asks:
“ Is not the dead formalism of so many of the
state churches of Europe the legitimate con
scvuence of neglecting to recognize and main
tain the principle which distinguishes us a de
nomination : ‘ Baptism and church member
ship only on profession of personal faith in
Christ.”
PRESBYTERIAN.
Life Insurance.— The Presbyterian church
at Riverdale, N. Y , in settling its new pastor,
Rev. H. H. Stebbins, pledged itself to pay
the annual premium on his life insurance pol
icy for SIO,OOO w hile he remains with it. The
N. Y. Observer thinks that churches generally
might well do likewise. So do we.
Earthly Trouble. —According to the N.
Y. Observer: “It is said that the financial
crash of 1857 killed thirteen bank presidents
in the city of New York.” To make a false
god of gold, and then to be shorn of it—to
meet loss and sorrow without the true God
for a helper—oh, last extreme of wretched
ness !
Giving. —Among Old School Presbyterians,
the past year, 24 churches, with 9,000 com
municants, contributed to the various causes
of benevolence outside of their own bounds,
$462,000 —an average for each church of
$19,250, and for each communicant of ssl,
(or less than $1 a week.) The remaining
2,598 churches, with 237,000 communicants,
contributed $583,000 —an average for each
church of $225, and for each communicant of
$2.46 cents, (or less than 5 cents a week.)
The Christian Press. —The Presbytery of
Red River has a just appreciation of the agen
cies which conduce to the intelligence, zeal
and usefulness of a denomination —as appears
from the resolution, adopted at its recent ses
sion, “That each minister and elder be en
joined to use all diligence to induce not only
the members of our communion, but other per
sons also, to take at least one of our religious
newspapers, and to report their success at the
next meeting.”
Communion. —An applicant for ordination
to the Northern Presbytery of the Reformed
Presbyterian Church was rejected, among
other reasons, because “ he believed in occa
sional, though not in open, cominunmn, and
thought that an application for admission to
the Lord’s table should be made to the ses
sions of the congregations, who might admit
those whom they consider as true Christians.”
The Presbytery was not willing to split a hair
after this fashion, or to allow open communion
under any guise. Here then are, in one de
nomination, 160 Presbyterian ministers who
hold, teach or practice close communion ; as
there are also 543 in another (the United) —
in the two some seven hundred I To these
must be*added the*ministers of the Associate
Reformed Church of the South, (and perhaps
others who do not occur to us just now.)
Ministerial Education. —With 617 va
cant congregations, representing 200,000 souls
without a shepherd, the Old School Presby
terian church had last year but 261 candi
dates for the ministry—a proportion not so
great as it was a generation ago. Its Board
of Education states that nearly one-half of the
present ministers of the church have been its
beneficiaries.
Old School Presbyterianism. —The Ger
man Reformed Messenger says of the Old
School Presbyterian Church: “She has
plunged into new measureism, a thing not to
be whispered among them twenty years ago;
she has pronounced Roman Cat ho lib baptism
invalid, a thing which Calvin and Knox would
have spit upon ; she makes the sacraments
mere signs or badges, contrary to her own
doctrinal symbols, and then cries out ‘heresy’
against all who adhere to the old doctrine;
she talks about conversion, regeneration, &c ,
in the very dialect and phraseology of the
modern sects, which she could not even have
pronounced with her Scotch brogue twenty
years ago; she has divided herselt by starting
up and fighting a political issue, and has made
certain political questions a test of commun
ion, the result of which is division and aliena
tion not to be healed in the present generation;
and, among still other faults, she assumes the
leadership of American Protestantism!”
Profanity. —A to the North-western
Presbyterian states that, during his connection
with the church for fifty years, he has heard not a
single sermon on the sin of profane swearing. Is
this silence of the pulpit, one reason why profanity
has grown to be a characteristic sin of the nation ?
Political Religionism.— The Southern Pres
byterian thinks there has been an “ unprecedent
edly rapid growtli of Romanism in the North du
ring these late years,” and that it is “ unquestion
ably due to the fact that the pulpits of that section
have become corrupted by the intrusion of a radi
calism from which the Catholic altars have been
comparatively free. Men have been driven to
worship at these altars where they were at least
exempt from that incessant berating on the score
of negrophilism, which lias so sadly characterized
the sermons and prayers of pulpits once the purest
on earth.”
CONGREGATION ALI3T.
The Pastoral Office. —lt is a fact not
without significance, that, among the Congre
gational ists of Massachusetts, there has been
a steady decrease in the number of settled
pastors, for twenty years.
Christian Stinginess. —A speaker at the
Buffalo minting of the American Board of
Commissioners for foreign Missions, said :
“ We have some church members whose reli
gion can not endure the mention of the word
dollar. Their heart shrivels at the sound of
it, as the flower shrivels before the bite of the
frost. They are good at singing, good at feel
ing well, and good at getting happy, but good
for nothing in helping God.”
Independency in Scotland. The sub
scriptions to the fund of the Scottish Congre
gational Union last year, were only $5 70
more than they were thirty years ago.
* EPISCOPAL.
Confirmation. —The following from the
Gospel Messenger illustrates the style in which
Hig-churchism treats the laying on of conse
crated hands : “ If there is a Covenant for the
remission of sins, there is also a Covenant for
the renewing and sanctifying influences of the
Fsbly Ghost, without (vhose aid no, Christian
can gain strength to h#ve victory and triumph
against the flesh and the devil. There have
been, and are in many minds, grave doubts
upon that subject of lay baptism : but w’e
suppose that, however the exact truth may be
as to that matter, there is pretty general agree
ment that the laying on of hands supplements
the effect of baptism, and brings all into full
communion and fellowship, not with a partic
ular society or congregation, but with the
Catholic Church, the whole Household of the
Faith, under the Bishop as one of the Chief
. Pastors and successors of the Apostles there
of. So are we built upon the foundation of
the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ
Himself being the Chief Corner Stone. So
are we made a Temple of the Holy Ghost,
a habitation of God by the Spirit, and are
commanded not to grieve that Holy Spirit of
God whereby we are sealed unto the day of
redemption.”
Marriage. —lt is stated that the marriage
ceremony of the Ritualists “ drags its slow
length” through three hours. If this be true,
is it not a valid inference, that Ritualism,
should nothing else kill it, is destined to die
for lack of common sense ?
“Evangelical” Episcopacy. —The Protes
tant Churchman alleges that the “evangelical”
party in the Episcopal church ‘ forms a large
.minority all over the land, many of them
amongst the most distinguished of the clergy,
with more than two-thirds of the active be
nevolence of the church under their influence
and direction.’ It says that they are likely to
assert their liberty on three points : “1, The
right of preaching wherever there are souls
willing to hear the message of the gospel.
2, The right of recognizing the ministerial
character of those who exercise the office of
the Evangelical ministry outside of the Epis
copal church, and to do it in the usual forms
of such recognition, unrestrained by canonical
restrictions. 3, The right of using some ex
pressions alternative of ‘regeneration’ in the
Baptismal Office, which will not be misunder
stood, and which will express what was meant
by the word ‘regeneration’ when the Prayer
Book was compiled.”
METHODIST.
“The Children of the Church.” —Bishop
Andrew enquires of the Nashville Christian
Advocate: “Can you tell me what is the se
cret defect in the training of our children,
which makes them so ready to desert the col
ors of Methodism and range themselves un
der other standards? How often is this
done!”
Human Authority. —The Baltimore Epis
copal Methodist frankly says: “We declare
that in all our knowledge of Methodism, we
have no recollection of ever having heard or
read of an error attributed to Mr. Wesley, or
that any of his religious opinions might be
wrong.”
Methodist Statistics. —ln a recent letter
to the Wesleyan Times, Rev. Luke Wiseman
estimates “ the several branches of the Meth
odist communion at between eleven and
twelve millions in those countries where the
English language is spoken. .The adherents
to the Anglican communion within the same
space, he puts down at ten millions and a
half.”
Infant Baptism. —A correspondent of the
Western Recorder' states that “ one of the
ablest and most popular ministers of the
Louisville Methodist Conference,” finds a
Scriptural argument for infant baptism, in
Matt. vi. 10, “Thy kingdom corue, Thy will
be done in earth as it is in heaven.” He rea
sons : It is the will of God that infants shall
be received into heaven ; and therefore they
should be received into the church l This
looks dreadfully like infant logic—if it l )e
logic«at all. The correspondent well replies
that infants are received into heaven without
baptism, and “to full fellowship”— two things
which Methodist churches will not do: and
indeed, the one would bring infant commun
ion in, and the other would cast infant bap
tism out!
Christian Perfection. — The Baltimore
Episcopal Methodist says: “Mr. Wesley
preached two doctrines on this subject which
he could not harmonize. When he spoke
from his own knowledge and experience, his
views of Christian perfection were clear
enough and in harmony with the Scriptures;
but when compelled to defend the experience'
of others, his h gic was not always sound, and
his application of Scripture was often unwar
rantable.” This erroneous doctrine, with
added errors, is now zealously propagated in
the Northern Methodist church, by a host of
adherents “numerous enough, and with influ
ential names enough, to aim at the subjuga
tion of the church;” and our Baltimore con
temporary think that “ if it shall succeed, the
whole body will become a chaos of fanaticism
| and be destroyed by the development of its
j own errors.” He alleges that this doctrine
I “is a spurious and dangerous out-growth of
[ ignorance and self-complacency;” that it
“cannot be harmonized with the religion here
tofore known as Evangelical Christianity;”
and that there is “ absolute infidelity in much
of ‘the experience’ with which jti# usual to
bolster it up.”
The Moustache. —A writer in. the Wesleyan
Times, England, says: “As an old Methodist, I
have been grieved to see the growing conformity
of a number of Wesleyan ministers to what I be
lieve most of our people view with deep disgust—
namely, allowing the hair to grow on the upper
lip. 1 know not how far presidential authority
cun reach those already ordained; hut 1 do think,
if any young men present themselves for ordina
tion with the hairy appendages in question, the
President would do well to follow' the example of
his Grace, the Archbishop of York, who, when a
number of young men presented themselves at the
palace, refused the rite of ordination until they di
vested themselves' of their hirsute honors. On
again presenting themselves with clean upper lips,
lus Grace proceeded with the ceremony. I trust
that those of our ministers who have adopted this
unseemly adornment will display their return to
good sense by speedily divesting themselves of it,
and that the President will put his veto upon it on
all who are yet under his authority.”
Success. —According to the New York Observer,
a Western Methodist paper speaks of a camp meet
ing, as “ a most glorious success,” and mentions
the fact that a railroad company sold 4,500 tickets
to it on Sabbath —wiiich seems to us an indication,
of most miserable failure.
HEFOHMED.
A Midulb Wav. —A correspondent of tho'
Christian Intelligencer says: “The sentiments
of the writer of this article relating to unful
filled prophecy do not lead him to take sides
with either party engaged in the millennial
controversy. He believes that under the
government of her King the church has a
groat and glorious future; and the use of pro
phecy is to confirm us in the truth that “ he
knows the end from the beginning,” and has
purposed and foreseen all lhe events which,
in order and in time, her history shall develop.
That for us now to interpret the language of
prophecy, and say that such and such events
shall be their fulfilment, is prevented by the
symbolical and hieroglyphical language em
ployed ; the diversity in the explanations of
which has produced in us the conviction, that
like the predictions relating to the coming of
Christ to assume our humanity, they can onty
be explained by their fulfilment?” There is
an element of truth in this view; hut we sub
mit whether “ the symbolical and hieroglyphi
cal language” of prophecy, which so framed
as not to allow us to say what events shall
enter into its fulfilment, may not be so framed
as to enable us to say that certain events shall
not enter into it—as, for example, a personal
reign of Christ at Jerusalem ?
BOMANIST.
Romish Neglect of the Poor. —The New
York correspondent of the Richmond Chris
tian Advocate says: “The Roman Catholic
church in this city does not properly care for
its poor. There is a great show of asylums
and retreats of various kinds, which are pow
erful assistants to the work of increasing tho
number of Roman Catholics, but when these
are fully made, and there seems to be no
danger of losing them, or when they are horn
Catholic, ‘dyed in the wool,’ they are left to.
shift for themselves. Poor old Irish women
are often dependent upon Protestant charity
for a mere subsistence. Ido not find that the
priests pay pastoral visits among the poor,
although really in that matter the Protestant
clergy are not specially zealous. Sometimes
when Protestant ladies have offered to send
or go for a priest or a sister of charity, the
poor sufferer has said, ‘lt is not the likes
of me, ma’am, that they will come to see.’”
UNITARIAN.
Long Prayers. —A correspondent of the
Christian Register says: “ Long prayers stand
more in the way of true worship than long
sermons. Indeed, the way in which some
ministers speak of the ‘long prayer,’ as
though the length of it was no less essential
than the devotion, is enough to chill whatever
devout feeling a man brings with him into the
house of worship. If any one would take
the trouble to go through the congregation
with which he is connected and ask how many
really follow the minister in his supplication
from beginning to end, he would be surprised
at the very small number who do this.”
Tiie Atonement.—A writer in the Chris
tian Register says: “ The atonement is the
great point of difference between Liberal and
Evangelical Christians. The latter, whatever
modification their views may have undergone
in a few minor points, cling with persistency
to the doctrine that Christ is an Almighty
Saviour without whose sacrifice we perish.
If every other ground of difference were giv
en up, this alone would leave an impassable
gulf between the two denominations.”
Unitarian Infidelity. —Rev. E. H. Sears,
editor of the Monthly Religious Magazine,
(Unitarian) takes the ground that “ the Amer
ican Unitarian Association have forfeited all
claims to the support of any who profess to
be Christians, inasmuch as they have given
their funds to the dissemination of the most
infidel sentiments, thus rendering true the
very worst that has been charged by the or
thodox, as to the denomination.” In support
of this charge he ‘quotes from publications
authorized by the Executive Committee of
the Association—one in w hich it is stated that
‘no one of the Gospels is authentic,’ and that
of ‘John is an entire fabrication,’ others where
Christ is spoken of as ‘a young man not only
deceived himself, but deceiving others.’”
Prayer and Liberality. —There is much
truth in the remarks made by Rev. Dr. Col
lier, of Chicago, in a meeting of his Unitarian
brethren: “A people that has not faith in its
own belief, a people that has not an enthusi
astic holdy>f itsowm convictions, a people who
never takes that faith and those convictions to
the throne of God in prayer, is not a people
to pay their money for the spread of that
faith and the propagation of those convictions.
I believe prayer moves God; that it takes
hold of the arm of the Almighty ; that it in
terests the heart of the Deity in the work for
which we are pleading. I want to see Unita
rians on their knees pleading for the salvation