150
J. J. TOON, ■ ■ * ‘ Proprietor.
Rev. D. SHAKER, D.D., Editor.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24. 1868.
Industrial Pursuits.
The English “Commonwealth” continued for
eleven years only; but, brief as was that period,
it left an enduring impress on the character of the
nation. Two centuries have been largely mould
ed by it. Take one example of this influence.
‘The prevalence of democratic principles at
that time, as Clarendon informs us, ‘engaged
the country gentlemen to bind their sons appren
tices to merchants: 1 and it is still true, as Hume
alleged in his day, that commercial and merean
i-tile pursuits have “ever since been (deemed)
more honorable in England, than in any other
European kingdom.” The.more aristocratic and
contemptuous sentiment of the Continent in the
premises, found expression through the sneer of
Napoleon, that ‘the English were a nation of
shop-keepers. 1 He counted on this fact, too, as a
proof that they must be defective in martial spirit,
and could not wage successful warfare against
France. But there can be no question, that it
was a momentous, if not determinative element,
in the causes to which, when the shock of arms
came, he owed his overthrow. It not only con
duced to the undisputed supremacy of Britain on
the seas; but, in the language of Chalmers, “the
higher and the lower ranks,” from the time of
the Commonwealth onward, “were thus brought
closer together, and all of them inspired with an
activity and vigor that had no example in former
ages” or in foreign nations, —whence flowed the
wealth, which enabled England to supply “the
sinews of war” for the most costly conflict of
modern times, except (alas !) our own.
Our Southern people may gather in important
lesson from these facts. So great a change in the
structure of society as the abolition of slavery,
and the almost equal revolution in financial affairs
which must be wrought under the enormous bur
den of taxation, cannot fail to modify our plans
of life, to an extent that shall be felt by our chil
dren's children. To make this modification salu
tary, demands that multitudes who might once
have led lives of leisure, should address them
selves, with promptness and perseverance, to pro
fessional, mercantile, manufacturing, agricultural
and mechanical pursuits. In proportion as we
have sufficient intelligence to discern this neces
sity, and sufficient force of will, and wisdom, to
act on it, we shall make these times of commo
tion an era as memorable for good in the history
of our people, as the Commonwealth in that of
England.
We are happy to know that the policy for
which our altered circumstances call, is in pro
cess of adoption. Families belonging to the first
circles of society have representatives in all in
dustrial pursuits. In every honest calling ate
persons ‘nursed in the lap of ease and luxury.’
Where fathers practiced professions, the sons are
learning trades—are holding the plough-handle and
wielding the hammer.
An effete aristocracy, he,re and there, may sneer
at these things. It may repeat, under another
form, the error of Harrington, who pronounced
it impossible ever to restore monarchy in Eng
land, because ‘the balance of power depends on
the balance of property/ while bis book '« as
scarcely published before monarchy was restored I
So this aristocracy may argup that} the balance of
property willj determine^ tbfe balance-nf respecta
bilily. - But it mistakes the matter. We give it
leave to sneer indeed, but advertise it of its error.
The balance of respectability will follow the bal
ance of manliness. And in due season, the
ance of manliness will control the balance of
property ; carrying even the forlorn hope of aris
tocracy over to the ranks of the classes it now
qpntemns. The family names most honored in
the South of a hundred years to come, will be
largely found among the names, which, during
the next few years, appear on the census roll, in
advertisement, and on signs, in connection with
the various forms of productive labor.
It is the duty of Christians to impfove these
changes for the cause of truth and righteousness.
The churches will flourish hereafter, or languish,
to a great degree, according as this enlarging so
cial element is, or is not, leavened by evangelical
influences. Asa method of spiritual usefulness
to the next generation , why should we not place
the children whom it is our desire to rear in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord, among those
who are training for professional, mercantile, ag
ricultural and mechanical pursuits —with the hope
that they may become leading men in these classes,
and use their leadership for the glory of Ohrial
and the salvation of souls ? Put your sons in the
store, the. office, the shop, the field, and seek in
their behalf the grace of God, that they may
“ stand up for Jesus ” there.
lufaut Damuaiion.
Some of the “ Liberal ” journals at the North
are making an effort to prove that this monstrous
doctrine has been preached from the “ Orthodox”
pulpits of thatsection. “ The Repository says, on
the authority of Mr. Guernsey, that an aged lady
affirmed that the Rev. Mr. Tomlinson, a Calvinis
tic preacher in Oldham, Mass., several years since,
declared at the funeral of a child in that town,
that he ‘had no doubt that* hell was lined with
infants not a span long.’” The Christian Regis
ter, too, publishes an affidavit of Aaron Dudley,
of North Leverett, Mass., that ‘ seventy years
ago, when he was thirteen years old,’ he heard
Rev. Mr. Kellogg, the pastor of the Trinitarian
church at Framingham, in that State, “ declare
in his polpit shat he had ‘no doubt that hell is
lined with, the skulls o£ infants not a span long.’”
If we accept these statements as true, they
avail nothing. “Calvinism,” like every other sys
tem, has had the misfortune to gather unwise ad
herents into its “ following”—adherents who pos
sessed no clear comprehension of it, as a whole—
adherents who seized on a portion of its teach
ings and mulled that to extreme results, in most
illogical disregard of the limitation and counted
poise supplied by other portions*. «ff ‘TJalvin
ism” is to be discredited on this account, no sin
gle system ever tfroached among men can escape
discredit precisely the same reason. There
are men with such peculiarities and eccentricities
of personal belief, in every school of theology.
And the parties to whom the statements before
us refer, seem, according to these statements, to
claim the doctrine of infant damnation as a spe
cialty or idiosyncrasy of their own. They “had
no doubt” of it! Their allegation in the case
reached no farther; the testimony of the wit
nesses, at least, terminates at just that point.
The doctrine was traced to no church standards—
to no Caivinistic confessions—to no institutions of
theological training as centres of influence over
the creed of the times. It rested simply and
solely with themselves. Is it not clear, therefore,
that they, and they alone, should bear the bur
den of it?
But we do not incline to the acceptance of
these statements. An incident in our own expe
rience “gives us pause” in this matter. We re-,
member to have a sermon, in which the !
speaker quoted the language, “There are in
fants in hell not a span long,” only to disavow it,
with emphasis and indignation, for himself per
sonally, for the Baptists of the country, and for
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX AND SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST: ATLAKfIfIHNttIRSDAY, SUIT 24 1808.
the Calvinists of the age. Judge of our surprise,
then, when we were told, a few weeks after, by a
worthy and not unintelligent lady, who was pres
ent during the delivery of the sermon, that the
quotation in question was introduced to convey
the speaker’s own acknowledged sentiments, and
that he, then and there, declared himself a believ
er in the doctrine of infant damnatiorf*— a veritable
“Dr. Banbaby !” YVe apprehend that something
of the same misconstruction has occurred in the
case of Messrs. Tomlinson and Kellogg; and on
principles, not of charity alone, but of legal jus
tice, we shull give them ‘thff benefit of the doubt.’
Western Association.
We attended the session of this body, at La-
Grange, Sept. 18—21. Rev. 11. C. Horr.ady was
called to the Moderator’s chair,—Rev. H. Carmi
chael, who had filled that position for ten years,
declining a reflection. Rev. T. N. Rhodes wais
continued as Clerk. The baptisms during fie
year amounted to 189. Two churches, one white
and one colored, were received into the Associa.
lion. A white church,, was dismissed, and a col
ored from the roll. Owing to
the pecuniary pressure of the times, but little had
been done in the cause of missions. There are
tokens of a growing interest in the Sunday school
work—one of the churches reporting three schools
under its care: an example worthy of imitation
wherever a “ scattered ’ membership forbids the
concentration of effort on a single school. Thfc
next session will be held with Bethel, church,
Meriwether county,
The Introductory Sermon, preached by Rev. F.
M. Daniel before our arrival, was reported to us
as appropriate and excellent. The Sermon on
Missions, by Rev. J. H. Hall, we heard with
pleasure and hope to see in print. Other ser
mons were preached by Revs. D.' E. Butler J.
Harris, R. YV. Fuller, YV. T. Brantly, H. H. Tuck
er, S. P. Callaway and the editor of this paper.
YVe are thankful to the Association for its kind
commendation of the Index & Baptist. Our visit
was highly pleasant, and we would make special
mention of the gratification enjoyed in a walk
through “Cedar Grove” and “The Terraces”—
the famed flower-gardens of sisters Fanning and
Ferrell, which, perhaps, aie without parallel this
side of Paris. To Dr. J. A. Long and family, we
are indebted for most courteous entertainment.
A Severer Judgment.
Several months ago, at Albany, in this State,
Bishop Beckwith “baptized” the child of a Bap
tist mother, without her consent, and against her
repeated refusal. In an article on the subject,—
while alleging that the most ordinary degree of
prudence would have suggested to the Bishop, the
propriety of a personal interview with the parents
of the child before taking upon himself the re
sponsibility of its baptism,’—we‘absolved him
from the more serious blame of the transaction,
because he proceeded upon the assurance, that
what he did, was done with the consent of the
mother.’ Some of our contemporaries, r however,
seem inclined to judge him more severely.
The Religions Herald , for example, says:
“ If the Bishop used due pains to learn whether
the mother of the child consented to its baptism,
and was deceived in the matter, then he stands
acquitted, in our opinion ; provided, that he holds
in due abhorrence the artifice by which be was
betrayed into an unauthorized, unjust and cruel
interference with parental authority, and that he
deals w ith the deceiver as he should with any
other
I : .
M I ■
•Mortara abifuclion, per
mitted.”
The Louisiana Baptist, also:
“So far as the Bishop is concerned we thmk he
is without excuse, and in our view is justly
chargeable with complicity in the matter. He did
not take the usual precautionary steps before ad
ministering the rite. The parents of the child
were within reach and could have been consulted;
and why were they both, while giving their con
sent, absent when the rite was administered ?
The whole thing was irregular and unnatural,
and taking into consideration all the circumstances
connected with it, Bishop Beckwith could not but
have known that it was a surreptitious affair, and
is justly deserving the indignation of all right
thinking people.
Our Zion—in Our Exchanges, etc.
Georgia.
Rev. 11. Carmichael, of the Western Associa
tion, baptized 50 persons in connection with his
churches last year, »nd#j&s baptized 20 the pres
ent.—lt seems easy tg earn the credit of work
unperformed. A correspondent of th e Religious
Herald„ and the Western Recorder, state that
the editog4of this paper read, at the Georgia Bap
tist Ministers’ Institute, Marietta, an Essay, on
“The Sunday School and the Church.” The
Minutes, as published*in our columns,'-show that
we were excused from the performance of this
work on the score of indisposition.
Alabama.
Rev. J. B. Hawthorn, of Selma, has accepted
the pastoral care of Franklin Square church, Bal
timore, Md., and will enter on the work, Oct, Ist.
His correspondents will address him at Baltimore.
Arkansas.
M. P. Moore writes from Little Rock, July 6th,
to the Evangel : “By invitation I am here, pros
pecting in reference to the establishment of -a
Baptist paper for the State. It is probable I shall
undertake the work. I own an office in this
State, and it is desired greatly that I should un
dertake the publication of the paper for the de
nomination. Should I conclude so to do, I will
commence about the Ist of October.” Is this a
part of the programme which opened with the
formation of a Union Baptist Church in Little
Rock, on political grounds?
District of Columbia.
Rev. A. D Gillette, D.D., of Washington, writes:
“Our churches in the fifteen colored
and white, are steadily -progressing. Calvary is
rebuilding its edifice, even better than the one the
fire destroyed. Columbian College graduated its
eleven seniors from the academic department;
eight took degrees in medicine, and one hundred
and live in law. We b»re-ovgani/,ed four chairs
in theolotjy.,~*md intend to come Tip to 'fife pnr-
Staughton, Prof. Chase, Luther
and others who, in nobleness of soul, founded this
institution with a view to aid men in preparing
for the work of the ministry.” -Columbian Col
lege appears to be in excellent financial condition.
“ It has about forty-seven acres of land on the
north of the city, running from Boundary Street,
between Fourteenth and Fifteenth Streets, ex
tended about two-thirds of a mile; two-thirds of
which, now extremely valuable, is divided by
streets into building lots to be rented for endow
ment. Within five years a building worth $lO,-
000 has been erected for the Preparatory Depart
ment; and $20,000 have been expended in grading
and adorning the grounds reserved for permanent
college purposes; a law building worth $25",000
has been bought and fitted up; and a medical
building worth $30,000 has been given by W. W.
Corcoran. A house for the President is to be
erected this year, and efforts are now being made
to secure the election of an edifice for Chapel,
Library and Lecture Room, to cost about SIOO,-
000.” "v ’ i *' '
Kentucky.
A meeting is in progress in our church at Cov
ington. with eight accessions.-A church, of thirty
seven members, has been formed at Bethel, Owen
county. -Rev. D. Dowden acknowledges the pres
ent, from four friends, of a fine American silver lever
watch.—Rev. N. B. Johnson, in a missionary tour
through Estill, Owsley and YY T olf counties, received
by baptism, fifteen ; by letter twenty; by relation
ten; constituted two churches, and organizedsix
Sabbath schools-; —A church called Damascus,
has been constituted about eight miles from Crab
Orchard, embracing sixty-four converts, the fruit
of a meeting at Copper Creek,_Rockcastle county,
a neighborhood of great wickedness; membership
seventy-six.—There have been twenty-three bap
tisms at Three Forks of Bacon Creek, with twelve
others awaitingj.be ordinance.—Rev. J. II Brown
recently baptized a venerable couple, the husband
aged 80, the wife 72.
Missouri.
Ml Ararat church, has had thirteen accessions;
Friendship church nine; Warren chuich, north
east Missouri, twenty-five; Bethel church, Marion
county, eight; Prairie Grove, St. Clair, twenty ;
Providence, twelve; Freedom, Morgan county,
nineteen.—Rev. S. W. Marston has been appointed
State Agent of the recently organized Missouri
Baptist Sunday School Convention.—From Stock
ton, south-west Missouri, Rev. J. B. Carrico
writes: “The Lord hath blessed the Baptists in
this section and added to their number in the past
year. Two hundred and twenty-five precious
souls have professed to love Jesus. YY r e have had
one constant revival here ever since the 20th of
June, from fchurch to church, from house to house,
from neighborhood to neighborhood, and from
heart to heart.”—Rev. P. Evans writes, after a
visit to St. Clair county : “ Three years ago Tebo
Association was composed of three or four
churches only that met for business, now there
are some twenty-two or twenty-three within its
bounds, all of which are more or less prosper
ous.”
North Carolina.
Rev. J. C. Hiden, Portsmouth, Y f a., has been
called to the care of our church at Wilmington.
—Rev. J. A. Cornish, a prominent minister of
Liberty Association, removes westward. —A revi
val with forty conversions and twenty-six bap
tisms has occurred at Mountain Creek church.—
There have been eight baptisms at Howell’s
church, Cabarrus county; six at Clear Creek,
Mecklenburg; seven at Providence, Currituck ;
twenty-seven at Salem ; and fourteen at Ramoth
Gilead, Pasquotank. —A meeting at Rose of Sharon
church, resulted in ten conversions ; a meeting at
Concord in six; one at Flat River in more than
forty; and one at Bethel in thirty accessions.—
YVe quote from the Biblical Recorder: “Elder
Cornish says that Lick Creek Church paid their
pastor every cent of Ins salary. Anything re
markable in that? Did any one ever hear of a
church, a Baptist church, a Christian church, a
Bible church, a gospel church, which was not
also a debt-discharging, pastor-paying church?”
South Carolina.
Rev. Thos. Crytnes has baptized twenty con
verts recently, in connection with the church at
Fair Play.—As the result of a recent meeting, mid
way between his two churches, Aiken and Beech
Island, Rev. Lucius Cuthbert has baptised twenty.
—The Watchman and Reflector sAys: “Green
ville would seem to be just the right place for a
theological seminary. We trust that both the
seminary and the college may soon be put on a
living basis. Is there not some wealthy Northern
Baptist wh&, with a gift of ten or twenty thous
and dollars, could do a good thing both for South
ern theological education and for the cause of
general conciliation? His charity would carry
kmlh it a double blessing, and we scarcely know
Bpw it could be more worthily and more produe
bestowed.”
"If-LTV*-? f i
4 Our church at Bryan, Rev. F. M, Law pastor
is’decidedly the strongest in the place ; with four
ministers, seven lawyers, and a fair share of the
talent and influence of the place in its member,
ship.—A recent meeting m-a destitute neighbor
hood in Bell county, resulted in the organization of
a church with fifty-four members.--Cold Springs
chutcb, six miles north of Lexington, has had
eighteen accessions; Prospect, five miles east,
twenty, and Lexington itself twenty; Cedar
Creek twenty-one, with fifteen or twenty others
in prospect; Chatfield thirteen; Mt. Pleasant,
Collin county, nineteen, making thirty-nine since
January; Concord, Leon, forty-five; Eutaw,
Limestone, forty-two; l».acedotiia, Montgomery,
ten ; Friendship, eighteen) Judson, twenty; Prai
rie Valley, Dallas, eleven.— A church of thirty
seven members has been constituted in Bosque
county, seven miles east of Tow’ash. —Rev. 11.
Stevenson writes from Red River Association:
“We have three missionaries giving their entire
time and strength to the work of the ministry.
This we have organized four churches, li
censed one minister and ordained two.”
Tennessee.
Our church at Selbyville has grown under the
pastorate of Rev. YV. Hoff. It has been occupy
ing the Cumberland Presbyterian house of wor
ship ; but that denomination will soon have a pas
tor preaching every Sabbath, and to meet this exi
gency, which will put them out of doors, our
brethren have raised upwards of $l,lOO to build
them a house. To aid them, contributions may
be sent to J. F. Arnold, Sheloyville.—Five new
churches were added to Duck River Association
at its late session.
Virginia.
Rev. J. C. Hiden writes to the Religions Her’
aid : “During the past year, or .-vlittle over, there
have been 80 professions of faith in connection
with my preaching. Two churches which were
well nigh gone, neither of them having had a
pastor for five, years, have been considerably
aroused, and will now go on to improve, I feel
confident. The house of worship in Suffolk,
which was going to ruin, has been saved to the
denomination, and is now undergoing repairs.
A meeting at Mt. Zion, Lunenberg, resulted in
more than fifty conversions, and forty-two bap
tisms, over half of them young men of influence
in the community.—Antioch church, Charlotte
county, has'fed eighteen conversions ; Cumber
land church thirty, With seventeen baptisms; Mt.
Vernon, Halifax, forty, with twenty baptisms;
Menokia, Richmond county, 110, including an
entire family, consisting of a father and mother
more than fifty years old, and four children all
grown; Oak Dale, twenty-five; and Antioch,
Sirle, thirty. —Rev. A. 11. Sands baptized
persons near Glen Allen church, on a re*
bbath.
: v. - West Virginia.
A meeting at Rollinsbuig was crowned with
twenty-one baptisms, and a church was const it u-
I tuted of thirty -seven members. Rev. M. Bibb, of
; Monroe county, reporting this fact, adds : “I have
i baptized eighty-seven since our last Association,
1 and Bro. Williams has bruized largely over one
! hundred. Five or six promising young men have
| recently been licensed to preach the gospel. And
four or five new churches have been recognized.’
*■ Africa.
Rev. R. 11. Stone writes from Lagos, July Tsth :
/“Our chapel was opened on the third Sabbath in
April. Since that tune the church has received
nine additions, six by restoration and three by
baptism. Our day-school has increased until it
now? numbers about a§ many as the teacher can
well manage. We may now justly claim to have
a name and a place among the mission stations of
Lagos. For a time this was either ignored or
disputed. The Baptist soldiers were forhiddemto
attend the regular services of our chapel, amrif
they declined to attend the others, were put on
duty. As all I dared in courtesy to 6ay had no
effect, I was compelled to appeal to the command
er-in-chief at Sierra Leone. In reply, he expressed
his pleasure at my ‘pice, considerate letter,’ and im
mediately issued a general order counttrmandmg
that of the commander of the ditai hment here.
The next Sabbath after the iecc| tion of this, the
soldiers were present as formerly. At first the
Governor ignored the existence of our station, but
when extending some invitations to the school
children of Lagos a few weeks ago, formally recog
nized it.”
Mobile—Lou is v ille.
Dear Index: The heart of the writer still lin
gers with the dear brethren and sisters who
helped him in the gospgl in Mobile, Ala., and who
accorded to him, while parting from them, such
demonstrations of Christian love. May God bless
the St. Francis street Church, and send them
soon a holy leader. None need ever regret his
going there. The man upon whom their choice
may rest, if he should go at once and work
heartily for the Lord, would find a field than
which lie need ask no better.
Equally warm and earnest has been the old
Kentucky welcome with which I have been re
ceived in this city. To be met at the depot and
escorted to one’s own home which he never before
saw, to find the rooms all elegantly prepared for
the reception of his household, to be invited to
dine at his own table, with a number cf brethren
and sisters, to feel that in a few hour’s time all is
arranged in the netf-fromestead as though weeks
of personal labor had been expended on it, and
above all to realize the presence of a Holy, Blessed
God in the outset of the pastoral work, and to
know that holy hands are lifted up in prayer
daily for his success—these things humble one at
the feet of God, and prompt the.rising desire to
devote one’s self to Him from whom all blessings
flow. Affectionately,
A. T. Spalding.
The Agents of the First Baptist Church of
vour city are here, busy with their good work,
collecting materials fur the “Great Fair.’ S.
Louisville, Ky., September Wth, 186S.
Rehoboth Association.
This Association closed one of its most inter
esting sessions, on Monday, the 21st inst. It
convened with the church at.Marshallville on the
Saturday before.
On the Friday morning previous, the Sunday
School Convention assembled and organized, by
the election of Bro. YV. A. Skellie, Moderator,
and Bro. Niles, Clerk. After listening to reports
from the churches orjisent, each report not con
suming more than three minutes, the following
question was discussed ij>, “ What is the best plan
to get up a school JR dtnsumed the afternoon,
and elicited much in tenanting matter. At night,
Rev. J. L. Warren ufPjpuir correspondent, spoke
on" Ho a to cotidW(mfijffiliiulay School.’' Satur
day morning, untffd&Kk'lock was occupied in
discussing as an agency of in
culcating truth, an 1 resisting error.” So inter
ested were the breti iren in the subject, that it
was postponed until some occasion convenient to
the Association, tbpj i abouP to assemble.
The introductory , jermon was preached by Rev.
B. F. 'iharpe, to a c rtfwdeA mxjge. After dinner
the Association organized, by -t* election of Bro.
J. L. YVarren, Mo?! erator, andJkV. C. Wilkes,
Clerk. The exercises
S given tu
1 111 u
t O. o l 1
su.t-c children,
rents bouse •againffcand
we addressed of a 'Blackboard,
on the objects of \ Siiiday School. At J 1
o’clock, Bro. G. PvSbioptjb Poached with much
power. ..After the congregation, with
great enthusiusm aud deep en»uon, contributed
$314, in cash, fbr thjeir bqoved Missionary to the
Indians, Bro. Murrojw, and the ladies tnude a spe
cial donation of to buy some articles of fur
niture-for his wife. j At 2 o’clock, P. M., Bro. T.
E. Langley preachyJ a good sermon ; and at night
Bro. N:-A. Bailey appropriately closed the exer
ercises of the day.
On Monday inorniMfcthe reports of ,the various
Committees weieadjpd ; about the most im
portant of which, vfKhat on Sunday Schools.
The Association triflpShc work specially under
their charge, and anointed District Mass Meet
ings, to be held biring the year. They also
changed their amuiki day of meeting, from Sat
,nr (toy, before the 3iUl Sabbath in September, to
Friday, before the 3rd Sabbath in October.
It.is rarely we to write personally of any
of our brethren, bu , we cannot forbear a remark
or two about the noble brethren who are the
energetic leaders qif the old Behoboth Associa
tion. YV% refer to mothers Tharpe and Wilkes.
They are all but, to the enthusi
asm of these.two, is. the Associat on largely in
debted for the success of their independent ope
rations. They are jealous Baptists, and are as
widely known to the denomination as any breth
ren in the State. 'They are making their mark
upon the brotherhood,
Marshallville is a’bdautiful little village. The
audiences exhibited as much refinement and cul
ture as can be founid in any city in Georgia. Our
Methodist friends vied with the Baptists in acts of
hospitality. YV’e skail never fail to recall, with
pleasure, our visit to that portion of our State.
G. C. C.
News from the Churches.
Conecuh County, Ala.. Sept. 10,
A meeting of some days closed with Old Town
church, on Thursday last. There were some eight
accessions by baptism; It was protracted after
God’s most approved *nny. As we would go
back each day, to close fry administering baptism,
after Sunday, others jhiued and continued to do
so, and kept us going hack until Thursday, when
on account of our Wißg able to to finish the work
up, leaving no standing over, we closed.
Baptized Monday t%ee, Tuesday three, Wednes
day qne, Thursday one. On account of our hav
ing no expectation of protracting, there were no
invitations sent out for help ; and hence the pas
tor had all the workVi do, some days preaching
twice. Those who joined promise usefulness.
Last Saturday apd Sunday, were interesting
days again at Beulah ’church. Another prodigal
returned, one added lw letter, and one white and
two colored by On Sunday, eight
were baptized, five of whom joined the previous
meeting. WMjalforship. liei» 257.
Andrew Jay.
*
Eatonton, Sept. 14.
We have just closed a meeting to-day at Falling
Creek church, of eleven days continuance, which
resulted in the addition to, the church of twenty
three by experience and baptism. Brother G. M.
Campbell was with,, tis ttwo days, and L. W.
Stephens one: with ;hat Exception, the preaching
Was done by myself.! The exercises were conduct
ed day and night, usually preaching and jfrayer
meeting in the day, ami prayers, exhortations,
etc., at night. Thoke received info the church
were mostly youngjl«r.sons, a Majority of them
hoys and girls, frefu nine to seventeen yeais;
yesterday tk re Weil about a dozen young boys
of this tit the anxious seats.
To-day being cq'ws ’week, o*r congregation was
reduced. We/losi»fLi (Mj j,.y with the baptism of
two interesting yotny holies. A large number of
the church members; v»*ere much revived, from a
remarkably cold
held a district meeting in Eatonton, a few weeks
ago, which was protracted over a week, and re
sulted in many hopeful conversions, with an ad
dition to their number of thirty-three, mostly from
the youth of the place. Antioch Baptist church,
in the western portion of this county, has experi
enced an outpouring, and received into the church
bv experience and baptism, about forty persons,
Elder John D. Adams Pastor; also Rehoboth and
Holly Springs, under the pastorship of Elder Asa
Duncan, and Hendrys church, in care of Elder L.
W. Stephens, have enjoyed refreshings from the
presence of the Lord, and many added to those
churches. Asa Chandler.
Linton, Ga., Sept. 12.
Elder T. J. Adams and myself have just closed
an interesting meeting at Darien church ; twenty
baptized, the result of a series of night meet
ings at Linton, as well as protracting five days at
Darien. Brother Adams has recently baptized
thirteen at Union, and some, I know not how
many, at Bethlehem. I had the pleasure of bap
tizing my two eldest children, a son and daughter.
Many of our Sunday school scholars are coming
into the church. I now preach every Sabbath,
but have no chnreh. I expect to unite with
brother Adams in supplying our own. I wish
Baptists would have pastors; they are the cheapest
preachers. YVm. M. Verdeky.
Muscogee County, Ga, Sept. 16.
A few days ago I was enabled, by Divine grace,
to report to tho Index a number of baptisms as
having been lately had at Bethel church in this
county, of which lam the humble pastor. On
last Sabbath seven more were united to the same
church in the same manner—in all, twenty-two.
Os these thirteen were whites, and nine blacks.
A lively stale of religious feeling pervades the en
tire membership of the church. I preach two
Sabbaths in the month to the whites, and one to
the blacks. The latter continue to be quiet, and
attentive to the word preached to them by me,
resident, as I have been, among them for forty
years, and formerly an owner of some of them.
There are now over eighty of them in this church,
and after an experience of some years in preach
ing to them, 1 am satisfied that much good can
be done them by ministers of our own color in
this form of service. Let us then, brethren, in
love and faith, persevere in the ministry of the
word to them, remembering the language of the
commission under which we preach ; and nothing
doubting that in “due time we shall reap if we
faint not.” C. C. YVillis.
Glimpses of the Times.
BAPTIST.
Georgia in Olden Times.— Rev. Dr. Sherwood,
in one of our exchanges, says : “Daniel Marshall,
a name dear to every Geocgian, after having
preached among the Indians in Pennsylvania,
came as a missionary to Georgia in 1771. Upon
his second visit, he was arrested while at
prayer, for daring to preach in St. Paul’s parish I
The next day (Monday) he was examined at Au
gusta by the Episcopalian parson and a magistrate,
and ordered no more to come into the province !”
Those would have been famous times for Bishop
Beckwith!
Immersion. —Rev. M. Bibb, in the Religious
-Herald, says: “I maintain that, in all our revi
vals, we should baptize every day, if pracjjcabig.
Many times a sinrie baptism hfc*done’ nifilFtP
convince sinners serinonSfc-. i Ls.
toombinjj *;■ V Somtr-y-ears ago Gbap
♦tized ah accomplished yonng*lady;' who isrjull
noted for her piety, and five or six others united
with the church afterwards, who ascribed their
first convictions to that baptismal scene.”
An Ugly Statement.— The Congreggtionalist &
Recorder, Boston, says: “While very few Baptists
chiKQhes as yet formally invite any except Chris
stiansk*flf their own denomination to the Lord’s
tabled they do nevertheless in many instances,
shape the invitation in such a way that unim
mersed members of other churches can fairly re
gird themselves as not excluded ; and such Chris
tians do to our knowledge sit down at the Bap
tist communion table on the personal invitation
of Baptist friends, and with the tacit and appa
rently cordial consent of the minister. YVe also
know of many cases in which members of Baptist
churifles are present at our communion services
and participate with us, with no censure or reproof,
much more with no thought of discipline from
their own churches, though the fact be very well
known.”
PRESBYTERIAN.
GiviNG.-The-Scotch United Presbyterian church
has 507 congrgations, with 170,301 communi
cants, who raised, the past year, $1,32(,805 for
ordinary congregational purposes, and for mis
sions and benevolence. The church is now rais
ing, by scat rents* collections, subscriptions, and
other forms of congregational machinery, more
than $500,000 a year, beyond what it was produc
ing by these means ten years ago. The American
United Presbyterians, with a membership of 65,-
612 contributed to church funds $110,151, for
salaries of pastors and supplies, $346,348, for
general purposes $279,670 —a total of $736,169.
and an average for each member of $11.12.
Baptism. —John- Nisbet McCain, of Preston,
Ga., says, in the Southern Presbyterian: “To
the first man that will point me to a single passage
of Scripture in which baptize means immerse,
and nothing more or less, I will pay one hundred
dollars.” If one rose from the dead to adduce
the passage and demand the money, he would not
believe*
A Minority Establishment. ‘Statistics show
that at least two-thirds of the population of Scot
land, do not adhere to the Established Presbyte
rian church. To an observer, it is patent that the
Establishment must pass away.’ In the light of
Scripture we may add, the sooner, the better.
Tobacco.— The Old School General Assembly
at Albany referred to the Directors of the Theolo
gical Seminaries, the question as to the expedi
ency of excluding from the Seminaries young
men who use tobacco, unless medically ordered.
CONGREGATIONAL. JP
Baptized Children. —A writer in the Advance
says, incidentally: “The relation of the church
to the baptized children being so unsubstantial,
and its attitude toward their conversion so repel
lant, it is not strange that even after it has opened
its reluctant gates to admit them, it should be
quite at a loss how to treat them.”
Tendency of Infant Baptism.— The following,
from a Western Congregational pastor, will, to the
thoughtful mind, illustrate the tendency of infant
baptism to obscure the dividing line between Jhe
churches ancPthe world—to lower the standard of
admission’to Christian ordinances: “Is not that a
and mad improvidence in the church
w irfeh compasses sea and land to make one proselyte
—tobring back a ‘wildolive tree’ to be ‘grafted in’
—while it absolutely roots out and thrusts away
from its enclosure the multitude of neophytes
whose fresh vigor already prophesies abundant
fruitage under wise culture ? But what is the
fact? Are not the vast majority of our childrei
suffered—nay even forced in many cases—to root
themselves and mature outside the shelter ar.d
husbandry of the church ? “Do we not neglect
to invite them to our communion, and even reject
them when they seek admittance, in jealous fear*
of the very characteristics whioh made our Lord
declare, ‘Of such is the Kingdom?' We stand
in doubt of them because they are ready to believe
and love —because they are merry of heart—be
cause they are tossed by few doubts, and ungoad
ed by the stings of a persistently violated consci
ence.”
EPISCOPAL.
Ritualism. —ln his new work on George Fox
and the Quakers,” Tallack says: “Very recently
‘at a meeting (composed mainly of Ritualistic
clergymen) at St. James’s Hall, the name of th 6
pious and beneficent Earl SfrSftesbury was re
ceived with loud hisses, by an audience who wel
comed with ‘thunders of applause’ the statements
of Archdeacon Denison, thut ‘the gifts of the Holy
Spirit were soley conveyed by tho outward visible
channels of Baptismal Regeneration, and the Real
Presence in the Communion Bread, and as admin
istered only by ‘the Spirituality’—that is, clergy
men episcopaliy ordained. Respectful dissen
tients were “ overwhelmed with shouts of, ‘turn
him out!’ ‘turn him out!’ ”
“Succession.” —At the Commencement of the
Episcopal Theological Seminary, N. Y., “ Bishop
Kipp, of California, made an address to the stu
dents, in which he specially cautioned them to
hold fast to the apostolic succession as the corner
stone of the church. He regretted to have to say,
that attempts were being made to undermine this
great doctrine, not, by open foes, but insidious,
pretended friends. These attempts were looked
on with exultation by sceptics and infidels, be
cause they hoped that in the success of their
endeavors the strength of the church would be
sapped. These attempts were also regarded with
favor by the Romanists, because they hoped, that
if belief in the apostolic succession was aban
doned, the devout Episcopalians would go over to
t’ne church of Rome.”
Maktyrologv. —Ritualists and Romanists in
England are enraged, because the London “ Book
Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge among
the Poor,” (founded in 1750,) has brought out an
edition of Fox’s “ Book of Martyrs,” at the price
of only two pence.
Church Music. The Episcopalian says:
“There would really seem to be no limit to the
unseemly liberties which the choirs in some of
our so-called fashionable churches are accustomed
to take with that portion of the worship of God
which is intrusted to their hands. Operatic airs
are scandalously common, and strains which are
ordinarily heard only in the Academy of Music,
arc pressed into the service, or rather the mockery
of a service, to the Most High.” Is this strange
when choirs are so largely made up of persons
like the lady in New York, who, according to the
Evening Mail, was recently expelled from a
choir for repeatedly reading novels during ser
vice ?
METHODIST.
A Sermon (?) —The report of a College Com
mencement, in the Western Christian Advocate,
speaks of the annual sermon as “a grand litera
ry bouquet.” Does it, then, deserve the name of a
sermon ?
Refinement (?) Bishop Clark concluded his
opening address at the recent session of the Cin
cinnati Conference, Hamilton, Ohio, with the hope
that ‘those a'ho had formed the bad habit of to
bacco chewing would remember that the church
was newly carpeted throughout,’ and the sugges
tion that "there be no parlor carpet spitting."
It is hard to picture to one’s self the manners of
a body of ministers, who could not need such ad
monitions.
Political Illustrat^R-Rcv.
D.D., a few weeks ago, pulpit of
BcdforiTsTfeet MctnodisretfWtn, N. Y. : ‘‘Christ
never offeretj amnesty except when jt was based
upon character. Unlike that which emanated
from the White House to the rebels of the South,
who should have been hung instead of pardoned !”
Modern Camp-Meetings. —The New York Meth
odist complains of the excesses of the recent
mammoth meeting at Manheim, Pa. “Sunday
trains were run to the grounds, Dairying hun
dreds of passengers. At Northport it was disebv
ered, late on the Sabbath, that huckstering had
been going on all day, with the consent of at least
one member of the committee of managers.
At Smg-Sing, so open was the desecration of the
day, that one of the preachers present publicly
denounced it ‘as the devil’s carnival.’ Sabbath
breaking, and Sabbath profanation, the selling of
ice-creams, and the calling of sinners to repent
ance, were curiously jumbled together.”
Pastoral Support. —The Columbia District
Conference says, on this subject, “'lhose who
suffered less by the war, do not support their
minister better than the more unfortunate, but
rather the reverse. On one circuit, those churches
that had suffered most severely from the ravages
of raiders, paid their assessments last year, and
so far this; while the more favored neighboring
churches of the charge were content to repudiate
and plead hard times. It was asserted by one of
the stewards that the common excuse of inabili
ty to pay, even in the bounds of this District—
probably the most sorely impoverished section of
the State—wus not true. His confident assertion
was not disputed.”
“Sprinkled.*’ — A “Country Preacher” in the
Texas Baptist' Herald , mentions a Methodist
minister who “opened the doors of the church,”
to receive members into “ full connection.” Ot
one applicant he enquired, “ Have you been bap
tized?” “No,” replied the applicant, “I’ve been
sprinkled!” The minister “hastily confirmed
the applicants, and dismissed the congregation.”
An Original Idea. —To heighten the income of
a Methodist church fair, at Placerville, Cal., a
wedding was included in the order of exercises,
and a charge made for admission to witness the
ceremony. This is anew method of making
“matrimony a matter of money.”
ROMANIST.
Bishops’ Fare. —At Pittsburg, on a recent
Sabbath, after the consecration of Father T. Mul
len, as bishop of the diocese, “ the remaining
hours of this holy day were given up to festivity
and wine drinking. Nearly sixty dishes, inclu
ding fruits and deserts, were served. But the
r“Wine List’ was a specialty, embracing, accord
ing to one who saw the * bill of fire,’ three kinds
of Champagne, seven kinds of Claret, three of
Burgundy, six of Sherry, five of Port, three of
Madeira, four of Hock, six kinds of Brandies,
some good old Monongahela whiskey, besides va
rieties of Ale and Porter.”
“Alone in Her Glory!”— The Romish Tablet
says: “There are now no Catholic powers, ex
cept Spain, perhaps, in Europe.”
Romish Boasting. —lt sounds incredible that
the N. Y. Tablet, a Romanist journal, should
say : “ That there is some vice, that there is more
drunkenness than there should be, among Catho
lics, we are not disposed to deny, hut, taken as a
body, the Catholic population of this country are
by far the least vicious and most temperate of
any portion of the American people, equally
large.”
Female Ignorance. —\t the late General As
sembly of the Scottish Free Church, Dr. Fisch,
of Pans, representing the Union of French Evan
gelical Churches, said: “ What is the stronghold
of Popery in France? It is the utter ignorance
of women, especially of ladies; for the poor wo
men djd not control their husbands, but the wives
of the senator, the deputy,* and the prefect, who
were educated in convents, did influence their
husbands. The education in convents, for ladies
of the highest rank, is poor. They are taught
reading and writing, a little music, and at times
much music, and very in ;ch dancing. Some his
tory was taught, but of a falsified character. The
Minister of the Interior has actually risked bis
post from the opposition to the proposal that
French ladies should have instructive lectures de
livered to them.”
UNITARIAN.
Etbunity.—“Rev. Robert Collyer, Unitarian,
of Chicago, on his recent visit in Boston, in re
ferring to the future life, prayed that men might
not be too much engrossed with thoughts of an
other state of existence, but make it their chief
object to attend thoroughly and well to the busi
ness of this life.”
Boastful. —“The Liberal religionists of Amer
ica,” says th s Christian Register, “undoubtedly
are in numbers full one-half of the people.”
Thk Difference. —Says the Christian Regis
ter: “Augustine and Pelagius—Arminius and
Calvin—Edwards and Channing—believe in two
very different Gods. Whichever one may be
true, the other must he false. There can never
be a union of two such opposite creeds as long as
they retain their original integrity.”
DISCIPLE—(“ C AMFBELLITE")
“ Camdhellism.” —Bishop Pierce, writing to the
Southern Christian Advocate , from Kentucky,
speaks of this system as follows: “Without a
well-defined creed or any authorized standard of
doctrine, or even ot opinion, except with regard
to immersion, much of the teaching of this sect
so dilutes Christianity that those who accept it
at their hands, hardly get a homeopathic dose of
it. The silence of our pulpit on this subject is
hetraying our own people into loose notions of
experimental godliness. Our preachers must
bear their testimony against these errors, pru
dently, meekly, but faithfully. I am no abettor
of strife, or even of controversy 7 , but I insist that
ministerial fidelity demands a trumpet voice
against every theory of religion which ignores
heart-repentance, the new birth, the witness of
the Spirit, and revivals.”
Spiritual Influence. —Rev. S. A. Kelley, in
the Glasgow, Ky., Times , states the views of Re
formers on spiritual influence, in the three ways
following: “ Ist. There is not one sentence in the
Bible which teaches that the Holy Spirit, in con
verting sinners to Christ, operates on their hearts
in any other way than by the gospel. 2nd. All
that the Holy Spirit does in converting sinners to
Christ, is done by the gospel. 3rd. The only in
fluence of the Holy Spirit, necessary to convert
sinners to Christ, is that of the gospel."
Trine Immersion. —The American Christian
Review , says: “Before we thoroughly examined
this question we were satisfied that “trine im
mersion” constituted a valid baptism. We are
now entirely convinced that it is no more valid
than sprinkling. One is not enough, and the
other is too much. One subtracts and the other
adds to the word of God. Both are distortions.
Both destroy the design and mutilate the sym
bolic meaning of Christ’s death, burial, and res
urrection. Christ died for our sins—we die to
sin when we abandon the world. Christ was
buried once —we are to be buried in the likeness
of Christ’s death once. Rom. vi. Christ arose
once for our justification —we arise in the likeness
of his resurrection once. We have been planted
together in the likeness of his death once —not
thrice.”
. FRIEND.
Quaker College. —The Friends have recently
opened, at Salem, lowa, an institution of learning,
which, in honor of the distinguished “Quaker
poet,” they call Whittier College.
English Friends. —The Society of Friends,
haye been fast declining in membership for
ajvv'gfai 5 nasbjlflvfl Mpyr a. turn of tide in
mgTr favor, ft- is signjfican/ that this change
sruTTild be twi I «cr<«co
of their charities among the poor at home, and
with revived diligence in foreign missions—their
missionaries in Madagascar having visited regions
not overtaken by others.
Dress. —Western Quakers have, of late, so far
fallen into the ways of the world’s people as to
dress like other men; and the Philadelphia Year
ly Meeting would not suffer Daniel McPherson,
otherwise in good standing, to speak, because of
the worldly style of his personal appearance—
Which has given rise to a stiff oont.row«r»y.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Tobacco.—A writer in Lippincott's Magazine
boldly affirms that “tobacco, oi all known bruin
foods, is at once most effectual in its operations
and least injurious to the body.” M ill he please
try his hand on theconverrsion of a correspondent
of a Cincinnati exchange, who says: I re
collect once being in church when they
were partaking of the Lord’s Supper, that certain
parties of my acquaintance were sitting at the ta
ble, and no sooner had • they partaken of the
bread and wine, than the thoughts of tobacco
worked so powerfully upon them that they were
obliged to leave the house of the Lord to indulge
in their pipe. I have often questioned in my own
mind if such persons were really what they pre
tended to be.”
British Women.— The London Star asserts
that “one reason why some working men will not
marry,” is the fact, “that there is more drunken
ness than ever among the women.”
God's Instruments. —D. L. Moody, the Chica
go “lay preacher,” in the Noon Prayer Meeting
of that city, lately (rashly, if not impudently,)
said: “When God wants a man to do his work
He don't get a conservative man. He wants rad
ical men."
Church Growth. —The Christian Register
states that while the population of the country,
during the century has increased six fold, the
chili ch membership has increased fourteen fold ;
and that while in 1800 there was one communi
cant to about fifteen of the population, in 1860
there was one to six; and it thinks these facts a
sufficient refutation of the statement of the Rad
cat that the people are deserting the churches and
have no faith in “organized religion.”
Society in New York.— The Christian Intelli
gencer says: “It is not only among the lower or
ders, as they are called, that we find the melan
choly evidence of degeneracy of spirit, and un
scrupulous indifference to the requirements of re
ligion and pure morals. Farther up in the social
stTale, in palatial residences where wealth minis
ters to the morbid taste forluxury, and surrounds
itself with splendors that dazZle the eye, there
are scenes and transactions, indulgencies and
practices, which, if they could be uncovered to
the sight of men as they are to the sight of God,
would make every lover of his country and his
race stand aghast with horror.” And Dr. Tyng
is quoted by that paper as saying: “The condi
tion of New York is becoming more frightful,
worse and worse, every day. There seems to be
a desire to destroy the Church. It seems to be
not whether the next generation shall be better
than this, but whether there shall he a next gen-
VJ eration.at all.”
Prophecy "V) pamphlet of 56 pages
has been published iri Memphis, with the title,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, late President of the
United States, demonstrated to be the Gog of
the Bible, as foretold by the Prophet Ezekiel,
in (.lie 38th and 39th chapters of his hook of
prophocy. The Thirteen Confederate States,
shown to be the mountains of Israel, and all
the predictions contained in the prophecy con
cerning them, literally fulfilled in the late war
between the North and South.”
Needing to be often Done. —A New Bruns
wick correspondent of the American Christian
Review mentions the case of a sick child, whose
parents, unable to procure the services of an Epis
copal minister, had the child sprinkled by “an old
Roman Catholic lady whom the Priest had au
thorized to sprinkle in his absence ;” on the next
day had it sprinkled by a Presbyterian clergy
man ; and on the third would have had it sprin
kled by the Episcopal minister (who had at last
arrived from his home twenty miles distant,) on
ly he refused to do it!
Church Establishments. —An American writes
from Berlin : “It has been said- that the various
Christian sects in America are more united and
friendly to each other, than the parties in the
church establishments of England and Germany.
As to Prussia, the statement is fully true.”
Jesus. —The Radical says: “Within the last
thirty years there have been some two hundred
volumes printed on the ‘Life of Jesus,’ »U elabq=
rately trying to throw light on his historical po
sition, and of pamphlets and essays, some two
thousand have lent their aid to the sauie pa*.
P°*>. v*
