Georgia Historic Newspapers

    194
Juliet rat baptist
j. j. TOPS, - - • ■ Proprietor.
S9V. D. BHAVBB, D.D., Editor.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17“, 1868.
Restricted Communion.
We have not thought it expedient, to cum
ber our columns, with the shifting phases of
the discussion, on this subject, in Northern
religious journals. But now that the agitation
seems to have spent its force, we propose to
look back over it, and gather up such facts as
may be worthy of passing notice.
I.
Our conviction is deepened, that the de
nominations which clamor most loudly for
open communion, would scarcely avail them
selves of “ the privilege,” if we were incon
sistent and unwise enough to proffer it. At
the Massachusetts Baptist Convention, ** Rev.
Dr.' Ide said he asked his son-in-law, Mr.
Malcom, at the communion in September,
in Newport, how many from other churches
accepted the invitation to the table. Not
one, was the reply; and save in the instance
of the union communion last winter, only one
has ever accepted it, and he was an old man
who ha(| been immersed, a member of the
Moravian , church. Ijlev. Dr- Day, of the
Morning Rree-will »a,ptiat Organ,
was in Newport, s and in reply to the same
question, said he did not believe .fifty of other
churches had accepted his free invitation dur
ing his whole ministry.” This, we doubt
not, would be the practical result universally,
if Baptists should remove every barrier on
their part.
11.
The question, however, is not one of little
moment. This removal of the barrier,
in theory, would recoil, with most damaging
effect, upon our distinctive teachings in rela
tion to the ordinances and “ church building.”
“Admit Pedobaptists to the Lord’s table with
you,” says the Texas Christian Advocate, 11 and
your mode of baptism becomes nothing!”
Exactly. But what is styled our “ mode of
baptism,” is the one only baptismal act en
joined by the authority and hallowed by
the example of Christ; and how can we con
sent to make that “ nothing,” without disloy
alty to Him! It was simple fidelity to the
Master and the truth, then, which led Rev.
Dr. Warren, of Boston, not long since, to
say, “ I would not give a dollar to send an
open-communion Baptist to Burmah.” How
could he honestly help forward a man, under
whose practice the express appointment of
the great Head of the church “becomes noth
ing”—especially when remembering that cor
ruption of the ordinances must, in due season,
work corruption of doctrine, and this, in turn,
corruption of experience and of life !
This discussion has illustrated afresh that
singular self contradiction of our open-com
munion brethren, that.their profuse avowals
of charity to other denominations, should be
associated with equally abundant marks of
bitterness toward Baptists who maintain
Scriptural order in the house of the Lord.
Rev. Mr. Maloom, preaching, on a recent Sab
bath, in the Union Congregational pulpit,
Springfield, Mass., “ under the eaves of his
father-in-law’s church,” “gave them, both
morning and evening, sermons against the
terribleness of sectarianism in” our denomi
nation ! The Church Union, too, in several
envenomed paragraphs, written, we may
fairly presume, by its Baptist editor, and
certainly, left unrebuked by him, speaks of
Rev. Hetnan Lincoln, D.D., the author of
the resolution against loose communion in the
Warren Association, as “Haman Lincoln!’’
This is simply a reproduction of the aspect of
affairs in England; where, as Rev. J. D.
Fulton informs us, “ the hardest things said
against Baptists who teach the Divine order of
baptism as pre-requisite to the Lord’s supper,
are from open-communion Baptists !” What
is the interpretation of these facts, except that
the jcharity, “ so called,” which chafes against
the metes and bounds of lawful restraint, is
suffered in this way to lift the veil and to dis
close its spuriousness ?
IV.
When this discussion was sprung on the
denomination, it excited, among our oppo
nents, the most extravagant hopes, as to the
strifes which should disturb our peace, and
the changes which should corrupt our purity.
The Church Union assigned to Rev. Mr.
Malcom “a leadership, which, if opposed,
would certainly result in the division, if not
the total destruction, of the Baptist sect, as a
sect.” To the Memphis Christian Advocate
it seemed ‘ not unlikely that before a long
time, the unlovely and unloved practice of
close communion would be discontinued in
America, as it has been for the most part in
England.’ On these hopes signal disappoint
ment has fallen. The reaffirmation of re
stricted communion,—stigmatized by a cor.
respondent of the Reformed (Dutch) Intelli
gencer, N. Y., as a “dealing in ‘Christian
smallnesses;’” —has been made by Distriot As
sociations and State Conventions at the North
and West, (the only quarters .where the dis
cussion has produced even a ripple on the sur
face of our denominational life,) with a una
nimity and heartiness which show that the
advocates of a looser practice among our
ministry cannot muster strongly enough,
throughout the country, to make up a corpo
ral’s guard !
Even within the limits of the State in which
the question first arose, we may say that the
special interest attaching to it, awoke with the
equivocal ground assumed by Dr. Caldwell
and President Caswell—the latter particular
ly ; and this, altogether on account of his
high official “ position” in the denomination.
But these have both distinctly repudiated
open communion. The former writes: “ 1
have a ways held that baptism should precede
the eucharist; in other words, that it is a ne.
cessary qualification for a place at the Lord’s
table.” And the latter: “ I did not deny that
baptism is properly and by apostolic usage,
a pre-requisite to communion. For myself,
I am content with the authority of apostolic
usage. I seek no change in the. practice of
our churches. Ido not encourage or advise
invitations to unbaptized persons to come to
our communion. 1 should much regret to see
such a practice introduced.” This explana
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX AND SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST: ATLANTA, GA, Tn URSDAY, DEC. 17, 1868.
tion of theirs leaves Mr. Malcom with not
even a single recruit won to his side by the
discussion, except Rev. Crammond Kennedy,
the famous “ boy preacher” of ten years since,
who proposes to publish a work in favour of
open communion, as if to prove that his claim
to that title will hold good through the whole
term of his natural life !
V.
It appears, however, that even this conclu
sive demonstration of Baptist unanimity, will
not avail to protect us from the usual tactics
of unscrupulous parties on the other side.
They will persist in harping or. the string, of
alleged divisions among us with reference to
this question. Only two or three weeks ago,
the Zion's Herald, Boston, stated that Drs.
Stow and Neale, of that city, had been for a
long time open-communion Baptists, but did
not dare to avow it. To this statement, the
Christian Era replied: “We think they
would as soon avow it to their Baptist breth
ren as to Dr. Haven, editor of the Methodist
organ. It is not, however, a long time since
Rev. Dr. Stow made use of the following
language in our office: ‘Open communion
has not the shadow of a basis either in Scrip
ture or reason.’” In the future, then, as in
the past, by innuendo, by surmise, and by
open slander, our people are to be taxed with
a discord which does not exist, and with a
feigned imminence of schism in their ranks !
I < VI. ’ '
There is another aspect of the subject far
less satisfactory; but the length of this ar
ticle compels us to treat it briefly. We hold
on the one hand, that belief in strict commun
ion should not be made a condition of church
fellowship. We concur with President Cas
well, in saying that ‘ we are not bound to dis
fellowship a Christian for having the doubt in
his mind, whether baptism is by Divine ap
pointment and order a necessary pre-requisite
to the Lord’s supper.’ But, on the other
hand, we hold that the practice of loose com
munion should be accounted a bar to fellow
ship in the church. If the Congregationalist
falls into no mistake, when it puts President
Caswell on record as closing his remarks at
the Warren Association, with “the frank ad
mission that when in Europe, with no Baptist
churches at hand, he has communed with
Congregationalists and othersthen, we are
constrained to pronounce him guilty of cul
pable disorder, which makes “ the initial ordi
nance of Christianity,” “ the sacrament of
profession,” “ the badge of discipleship,” the
“ one baptism” of Christ, nothing ; and the
church should withdraw herself from him,
when she fails in the effort to win him to a
purer walk. To the best of our knowledge, this
is the ground occupied by Southern Baptists
generally; and if Northern Baptists are will
ing to plant themselves on a lower platform—
to tolerate the practice of loose communion—all
propositions for union between the two wings
of the denomination might as well be sum
marily dismissed.
The Journal and Messenger, Cincinnati,
represents this lower platform as the one laid
down by the Baptist Quarterly. But this is
a mistake. An examination of the article
in the Quarterly will show our contemporary,
that it simply denies the “necessity of with
drawal on the one hand, or of excision on the
other,” in the case of men who, finding noth
ing in the Scriptures to forbid strict commun
ion, observe it on grounds of expediency,
while they profess to find there ‘no indications
that it was designed to be the invariable prac
tice.’
It was on this lower platform that Dr. Ide
took position, at the Massachusetts Baptist
Convention. Rivalling the Hudibrastic rea
soner, who
“ could distinguish and divide
A hair, ’twixt west and south-west side,”
he refused to vote for a resolution which pro
nounced the order of baptism before the
Lord’s supper “ of Divine appointment," and
voted for one which pronounced it of “Divine
authority" —declaring, the while, that “if a
man in his church was an open communionist,
he would not disturb him !” Now, to our
simplicity, “ Divine authority,” when once we
have ascertained it, no matter by what pro
cess, has always seemed to be, in itself, by
virtue of its divineness, a thing too holy and
too controlling, to be trifled with, or trodden
under! We have never caught a glimpse of
the surprising discovery made by Drs. Ide
and Caswell—that the words of the apostles
are “ Divine appointments” which we
must needs observe and enforce, and that
their “ usage ” is mere “Divine authority”
which we may suffer to be set aside and broken
through! We have held, we still hold, with
Dr. Lincoln: “Christ designed to establish
His kingdom on earth by His apostles. He
clothed them with authority to teach His
truth and to organize His church. Their
public ministry in word and deed was inspir
ed. What they said was Christ speaking
through them ; what they did was Christ act
ing through them. The promise, ‘He shall
guide into all truth,’ may be restricted to
teaching; but ‘ What ye bind on earth shall
be bound in heaven,’ must comprehend action.
To my mind, therefore, their inspired words
involve no higher idea of Divine appointment
than their inspired acts.”
The name of Dr. Wayland has been invok
ed, to ‘rule us from his urn,’ in support of this
lower platform. In a private letter to Rev. ]
G. H. Ball, of Buffalo, N.Y., he wrote: I
“ There is no precept in the Scriptures, requir-;
ing or justifying the restriction of the Sup- j
per to immersed believers. It is only an j
inference at most, and we ought never to bind
the conscience of our brother on a mere in
ference.” We answer. The change of the
Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of
the week, rests on apostolic usage alone: in the
sense of Dr. Way land, therefore, we have :
no Scriptural ‘ precept requiring or justifying
it,’ and “it is only an inference at most.”
Must the church, then, by the rule that she
should “ never bind the conscience on a mere
inference,” tolerate members who will not
devote the First Day to religious observances,
but employ it in the toils of secular business,
or in recreation and amusement? No one,
we are sure, will return an affirmative answer
to this question; but not to return that an
swer is, to repudiate the ground assumed by
Dr. Wayland. To speak after his style, it
may, we think, be stated, as universal truth
—that, in the positive department of Christi
anity, all prohibitions and restrictions, without
exception, are left to mere inference. If we
are at liberty to dispense with one of these,
for this reason, then we are at liberty to dis
pense with all of them. The consequence
would be, that we should have the positive
department of Christianity with absolutely
no prohibitions or restrictions: in other
words, Christianity would have no positive de
partment at all! This is where the path
opened by Dr. Wayland ends. We take the
true statement of the principle ruling thecase
to be this: In the positive department of
Christianity, the binding precept or precedent
is recorded, and whatever is not included in
exact conformity to these is, on that account,
unlawful and disorderly. “Apostolic usage,”
in the matter of communion, therefore, shuts
us up to the obligation of discountenancing,
by all proper modes of individual and church
action, every practice inconsistent with it. We
must “ disturb,” and if we cannot reclaim,
must cut off practical pen communionists.
To deny this, is to leave us without disciplin
ary protection against effrontery like that of
C. H. Malcom, who, on a recent Sabbath, when
his own house of worship was closed, “assist
ed in the administration of the Lord’s supper,”
in the morning at the Congregational, and in
the afternoon at the Methodist church, New
port. The idea is preposterous : disorder and
lawlessness have no ‘divinity to hedge them
in ’ after this fashion. Nox Christ when
* gave the church aconstitutiin, gave her power*
to preserve that constitution from infraction
and abrogation.
A Short Half-Century.
Is this really the Year of Grace 1916? If
the snows of four winters more whiten our
locks, shall we be a veritable centenarian?
We have a reason for thinking so: whether
it is a good one, our readers may judge.
In May, 1866, a Convention of Baptists
and “ Campbellites ” met in Richmond, Va.,
to discuss a visionary proposition of union
between the two denominations. The meas
ure tailed, as even those who set it on foot
anticipated. And the writer was thereupon
informed, by a “Disciple” (of the Bethany
school,) that it would be full fifty years be
fore his people allowed themselves, in any
part of the country, to entertain the question
again. But their State gathering in Califor
nia, at its last session, appointed a Committee
to consider this precise question, in connection
with a Committee which the Baptists were
requested by that body to appoint. The fifty
years, of course, have passed ! What a long,
long time, Andrew Johnson has been Presi
dent of the United States! How very old a
man we have grown to be, without know
ing it!
Independency.
We are firmly persuaded of the ultimate
triumph of Independency in church govern
ment. Already, in the signs of the times, we
catch glimpses, here and there, of this issue.
The tenure by which ministers hold the pas
toral office—not in theory, but in practical
effect—strikingly attests its coming. Ta*e a
fact which shows the direction of the current,
and the force of it, in this matter :
Rev. J. Blanchard, D.D., President of
Wheaton College, 111 , says, in the Cincinnati
Christian Herald , that there is not a Presby
tery in the United States, Old School or New,
which can, or which dares to undertake to, re
move a minister from the pulpit of a respect
able Orthodox church, while the local church
sustains him.
Reviews and Notices.
Old Deccan Days: or. Hindoo Fairy Legends cnr
renl in Southern India. Collerted from Oral Tradi
tion by (Miss) M. Frere. With an Introduction
and Notes, by Sir Bartle Frere. Pp. 345, with 2 tiill
paiie Illustrations. Price. $1 50. Philadelphia:
J. B. Lippincott & Cos. For sale, Atlanta, by J. J.
$ S. P. Richards.
This work is one of the issues of the Eng
lish press for the present year, and has won
the distinction of being singled out as the ba
sis of an article in the Edinburgh Review fi r
October. It has “ made thousands of Eng
lish children happy,” says that high authority ;
which affirms, also, that since the translation
of the German Popular Stories from the text
of Grimm, there has not been so genuine and
so lively an addition to the charming 1 ranch
of literature embodying the “folk lore,” or
nursery taies, of all nations. Attracted by
these commendations, we have read the twen
ty-four legends of the book, with large hopes
and—we do not hesitate to say—without dis
appointment. Asa Christmas or New Year’s
Gift, it will be gladly welcomed by the young,
and afford them much more than usual enter
tainment.
Scott’s Monthly Magazine. Rev. W. J. Scott._
Editor: 11. T. Phillips, Esq., Associate Editor.
Atlanta: Phillips & Crew. Terms, $4 a year.
The number for December was out in due
season: it is only our notice of it that has
been belated. It closes the year well, with
an attractive variety of original and selected
articles—the most striking of which is the
Mystery of Cedar Bay, the serial by Mrs.
Mary E. Bryan, running over into the next
volume. That volume begins with the num
ber for January, and promises to be richly
freighted in theseveial departments of fiction,
science, history, education, poetry, etc. The
South should give this periodical a liberal
support—a better has never been published
within her limits. Now is the time to sub
scribe.
Our Zion—in Our Exchanges, etc.
Georgia.
The Rehoboth Association adopted the follow
ing, at its session this year: “ Your Committee
on Publications beg leave to report that there are
a number of religious periodicals accessible to our
Association. Os these we would especially re
commend the ‘lndex & Baptist,’ published in
Atlanta, Ga., by brother J. J. Toon. It is a large
sheet, neatly printed on fine paper, ably edited,
and every number contains communications from
some of the wisest and best preachers in our de
nomination. Brethren, this is our paper, and we
believe the motto of every pastor should be,
‘ The Index & Baptist in every family.' ” —Rev.
Dr. Parker announces that an Institute, for the
special instruction of colored pastors and teachers*
will be held in Augusta, five or six weeks this
winter, beginning January 12th.
Alabama.
The twenty-two churches of the Carey Associ
ation, at its last session, held with Salem church,
Clay county, reported 115 additions by baptisms,
112 by letter and 8 by restoration.—The Mobile
Tribune of the 7th, referring to the arrangements
for the installation of Rev. A. B. Woodfin as pas
tor of St. Francis street church in that city, the
ensuing Sabbatb, says: “ Rev. Drs. Freeman and
Battle, of this State, and DeYotie, of Georgia, are
expected to be present on this occasion, which
will, no doubt, be one of much interest in that
church. In the late war, Mr. Woodfin acted as
Chaplain in the division of Gen. John B. Gordon,
by whom he is most highly commended, as well
as by Rev. Drs. Curry, Broaddus, Taylor and
other leading lights of this flourishing denomina
tion in the South.”
District of Columbia.
The Baptists of the District, who belong to the
Maryland Baptist Union Association, except the
E street church which is at present a member of
the Potomac Association, Va., are thinking (says
the Richmond Herald) of forming themselves into
a separate Association.
Kentucky.
Twenty Associations in the State Report 515
ehurches, 53,480 members, and 4,479 baptisms du
ring the year.—Rev. S. A. Holland resigns charge of
our church at Graysville, Todd county. —George
B. Elliot has been ordained to the ministry at
Hay’s Fork: sermon by Rev. A. J. Daughetee.—
There have been 17 additions to the Georgetown
church; 11 to Locust Grove, Trigg county; 28
to Wolf Creek ; 19 to Shiloh ; 55 to a church in
Clay county.
Maryland.
Since Rev. J. B. Hawthorne went to Franklin
Square church, Baltimore, the congregations have
grown to be larger than ever before in the history
of the church. —Dr. Fuller, through the Religious
Herald, corrects the statement that the new
church to be colonized from his old one is build
ing a house of worship to cost $200,000. It will
not cost over *
Missouri.
A letter from St. Louis in the National Baptist
says: “The impression very generally prevails
that we are numerically much stronger than is re
ally the case; our real strength is approximately
as follows; The Second church, about 450 mem
bers; Third church, about 250; Fourth church,
about 450; the Beaumont street church, about
130; the Park Avenue, about 75; the German
church, about 100; making a total membership
of nearly 1,500. This is about one half of what
it ought to be, and still it represents an increase
of fifty per cent, in two years.”—There have been
43 additions to Providence church, over 30 to
Slagle’s Creek, and 10 to Mt. Olive, all in Polk
county; 15 to Yellow Creek, Sullivan county;
and 11 at Kansas City.
North Carolina.
Rev. A. B. Alderman reports the baptism of
16 persons, all young, into the Cape Fear church :
also the constitution of its colored members into
a separate church, and the baptism of 12 mem
bers into it.—Rev. J. Soles has restored and bap
tized 106, during the year, in his four churches.
Rev. E. Hedden, in the South-Western part of
the State, reports 243 conversions, within three
months, at 9 churches.—Rev. J. McDaniel, Fay
etteville, has been presented with “a neat and
comfortable rockaway.”
South Carolina.
Rev. S. M. Richardson has been called to our
church at Sumter.—The Board of Trustees of
Furman University have decided to re-open it, on
the first of February, with a full corps of Pro
fessors. This is wise; and we hope that our
people will be as wisely liberal in providing the
requisite funds.
Tennessee.
The East Tennessee Baptist is the name of a
new paper, which it is proposed to publish at
Knoxville, beginning January Ist: Rev. D. M.
Breaker, D.D., editor ; terms, $2 a year.
Texas.
Our church at Jefferson is building a house of
worship costing $13,000, and has doubled its
membership since Rev. C. S. McCloud took charge
of it, eighteen months ago.
Virginia.
We learn that Rev. C. C. Bitting, of Lynch
burg, has been baptizing every Sabbath night, for
ten weeks or more.—Byrne street church, Peters
burg, reports 34 conversions. When the pastor,
Bev. J. E. Hutson, entered the ministry several
years since, he gave up an income of $2,000 a
a year, and accepted from that church a salary of
S7OO. —Rev. G. F. Adams collected in New York
and Boston recently S4OO, toward the completion
of our house of worship at Hampton.—At Blue
Ridge church, 21 have been baptized.
China.
Rev. R. H. Graves reports one baptism at Can
ton, and Rev. J. B. Hartwell 3 at Tung Chau.—
The Home & Foreign Journal says: “The infor
mation from our brethren in our Foreign Missions
is specially inspiriting. God seems to be inviting
his people to enter these fields, now white unto
the harvest, with new earnestness and vigor.”
Ordination.
On Friday, the 11th inst., at the call of
the Cassville church, brother Rob’t. B. Head
den was ordained to the work of the Gospel
ministry. Brother Ileadden is a graduate of
the Cherokee Baptist College, and promises
great usefulness in the ministry. He is hum
ble, pious, and devoted, and has in a very
eminent degree the love and confidence of the
community in which he lives. May the great
Head of the Church prosper the work in his
hands. Jas. G. Ryals.
General Meeting, Friendship Association.
The General Meeting for the First District
of the Friendship Association, convened Nov.
27th, with the Baptist church at Butler, Ga.,
by calling Rev. N. A. Hornady to the Chair,
and F. S. Rucker to act as Secretary.
Wm. Wells, I. Winchard and W. I. F.
Mitchell, were appointed a Committee to
draft au Order of Business for the meeting.
On the call for delegates the following re
sponded : Antioch, Taylor county —Jas. A.
Connor, W. 1. F. Mitchell. Butler —The
members present. County Line —l. C. Bice.
Pleasant Grove, Macon county —l. W. Wells,
1. I. Oliver, 1. Wichard. Chas. Crook, A. Jol
ly, and D. Bigeio. Tazwell —A. Chapman,
M. D. Chapman, and M. Howell. Mt Pis
gah, Taylor county Thos. Green, Wm.
Green, 1. E. Lock, and J. J. Morris. Rev.
I. B. Deavors, from Antioch, Webster county,
and Wm. Wells, Hebron church, were re
ceived as correspondents.
Received report of Committee on Order of
Business, to-wit: Ist. Attend to the business
of the General Meeting. 2d. Attend to the
interests of Sabbath schools. 3d. One of the
prime objects of this meeting was to raise
funds for the purpose of carrying on Domes
tic Missions in the bounds of the Friendship
Association. Adopted report and called for
general business.
Brother I. W. Wells offered the following
query : “Should the pastors of churches lead
the applicants for membership by suggesting
an experience in detail, or should the candi
date be left free to relate an experience of
grace, independent of the aid of the pastor or
church ? ’ After much interesting debate, the
following resolution was offered by Rev. I. B.
Deavors, and adopted : We believe the church
and pastor should receive members; but not
to doubtful disputation.
Ordered thut the next General Meeting for
this District be held with Pleasant Grove
church, Macon county. Adjourned until 7
o’clock, p m., to attend to the interests of the
Sabbath school cause.
According to adjournment, the Meeting
convened at that hour. Prayer by brother
Wm. Wells. After much interesting discus
sion, the following resolution was adopted by
the body:
Whereas, The instruction of the young
and tender minds of the children in the will
of God, and a knowledge of his Word is of
so much importance,
Resolved, That we do recommend the
churches of Friendship Association, to more
zeal in the Sabbath school cause; and the
study of the Bible by teachers and classes, as
the prime and leading text-hook ; and that we
recommend the Child's Delight to the schools
for the interest of the children.
The Meeting then adjourned, and a call of
the Ministers and Deacons’ Meeting made,
and adjourned to meet with Shiloh church,
Marion county, on Friday before the sih
Sabbath in June next.
N. A. IJornady, Moderator.
F. S. Rucker, Secretary.
Our Cause in Alabama.
The following is the Report on the State of
Religion, read in the Alabama Baptist Con
vention, by Rev. G. F. Williams, of Mobile.
It refers to our while churches only, and its
disclosures may well excite solicitude and
grief, and impel to strenuous, self-denying ef
fort for the welfare of Zion.
We are grieved to learn that in this State
at large there is great religious dearth.
In large sections of the State, where once
the people enjoyed the privileges and bles
sings of the gospel, the churches are now clos
ed, the church members scattered, and the
sound of the gospel is rarely if ever heard.
Such a thing as the stated ministry of the
word is hardly thought of, and the tendency
to entire religious declension lamentably pal
pable.
In other portions of the State, while the
churches are kept open and the gospel is
preached with more or less frequency, yet the
degree of coldness and indifference prevailing
is so great as nearly to destroy the life of
these churches. They seem to be far from a
state of health and vitality, though not yet
dead. In some places, we are thankful to
have the privilege of saying, the churches are
having regular meetings, and the full privi
leges of the gospel are enjoyed, and some
conversions are recorded. Yet in these more
favored places, there is not that enthusiasm
and enterprise manifest, which would indicate
the highest degree of progress.
Some cases are, however, to be specially
noticed, where the brethren have struggled
through great difficulties to sustain the inter
ests of Christ’s cause; and they have received
the recompense of reward, in an increase of
spirituality and in accessions to their num
bers.
It is to be greatly regretted that so many
of the ministry have been compelled to re
sort to secular pursuits, in order to secure
their daily bread and save their families from
suffering and starvation. So far as this ne
cessity to labor for their own support would
allow, the ministry, in the majority of cases,
have not relinquished their efforts to sustain
the cause of Christ, and gather souls into the
fold of the Great Shepherd. Many of them
are making sacrifice of even the common
comforts of life, to preach the everlasting gos
pel. Only a few cases are mentioned of min
isters becoming so disheartened and secular
ized, as to give up regular and persevering ef
forts in the work of the ministry.
In view of these facts, we can not say that
the state of religion is encouraging, but far
otherwise ; and we are forced to the conclu
sion that the boundaries of Zion, in this State,
are narrowing rather than widening.
We would, therefore, recommend to the
churches, that they consider anew our blessed
Saviour, how that, “ though he was rich, yet
for our sakes he became poor,” “endured the
cross, despising the shame,” that they may
become more fully partakers of His spirit of
self-sacrifice, and may deny themselves, in or
der to contribute more in prayerfulness, in
zeal, and in property, to'sustain and advance
the interests of His glorious kingdom.
We would also recommend to the ministry
a like consideration of our Saviour, that they
may become more fully partakers of the mis
sionary spirit that led Him to come from
heaven to earth to bring salvation to men; in
order that they may suffer no hardship, diffi
culty, or allurement, to avert them from con
secration to His service, and from faithfully
carrying out the purposes for which God call
ed them to the ministry.
And further, we recommend that the
churches and the ministry use all legitimate
means, to increase the number and efficiency
of the ministry.
Are the Ministry Making' Sacrifices to Preach ?
Little is known by our brethren and sis
ters in the towns and cities generally, of the
sufferings of our ministry in the country.
The poverty of the people throughout the
South has rendered the condition of our
brethren one of privation, and in many cases,
of painful suffering. One brother in Alabama
writes: “My family are in want of the nec
essaries of life. What am I to do? Ido
not think we have had ten pounds of bacon
in my family for three months, except a little
sister A. sent my wife, nor have we had ten
pounds of lard in six months, nor any at all
except a 1 itile my wife exchanged butter for.
I sometimes fear I shall be compelled to make
the ministry a secondary calling. May the
Lord direct otherwise.”
Another brother, in Mississippi, writes:
“I am in absolute and 'painful need of a
little money to buy bread for my family.”
Another brother in North Carolina writes:
“I have lived hard this year, but have not
been able to meet present needs and also dis
charge the balance due or. last years’ rent.”
Again the same brother says: “I have this
year dismissed cook, taken three children
from school, put them to doing the work at
home, and put my boy of 13 out to work,
and we are all living on the most economical
scale-” Another brother of earnest piety and
great usefulness writes: “Be assured that 1
will do all 1 can under the circumstances for
the cause of the Redeemer. lam doing what
Idoat a great sacrifice. But sacrifices have
to be made in this cause, and if the wealthy
Baptists of the South will not help, I will
make them alone. ‘But for me to live is
Christ.’ For me to live is to glorify Christ,
and this I cannot do better than to preach
him to sinners. So my life is devoted to this
one object.” —Domestic Department, Home <k
Foreign Journal.
Glimpses of the Times.
BAPTIST.
Household Baptism. —ln a recent discus
sion, Rev. T. H. Pritchard, D.D., brought
out this fact : “ In Luray, Va., a little village,
five households were baptized by Rev. An
drew Broaddus in one meeting.”
Progress —The English Baptist Union has
adopted measures for the creation of a Sus
tentation Fund, to eke out the salary of min
isters who are stinted and starved.
A Mistake. —A Philadelphia correspondent
of the Watchman <£ Reflector says, that “ the
necessary precedence of baptism to the Lord’s
supper is being contested by some of the
ablest representative men of the various evan
gelical denominations.” This is a statement
which facts will not bear out. It would have
been nearer the truth to say that no represen
tative man of any Evangelical denomination
has yet contested this “ necessary precedence.”
A Poor Baptist. —A correspondent of the
Congrega'ionalist says: “ While acting-pas
tor in a prominent church in the vicinity of
Boston in the absence of the pastor, in the
years 1854 and ’55, the parents of one of the
families presented their infant child for bap
tism. The mother was a member of the Con
gregational church to which I was ministering.
The father was a member of the Baptist
church in the same place.” The ‘ gray mare ’
must have been ‘the better horse’ in this in
stance, to compel such participation in the
dishonor done to the Scriptural law of the
ordinances.
An Imposter. —The Consolidated American
Baptist Missionary Convention, at Savannah,
expressed ‘great sympathy for the victims of
the deception and diabolism of Rev. Pleasant
Bowler;’ denounced him as “a man of noto
riously bad character, practicing and taking
pleasure in all kinds of wickedness and high
crimes;” and refused to admit to its member
ship the church at Columbus, Miss , of which
he was the representative. The Northern
exchange, which subjected us to very harsh
personal criticism, some two years since, for
our exposure of this “ troubler of Israel,” has
not deigned to recognize these facts, or lo
make the amende honorable to us which they
warrant and require! We notice, too, that
this Bowler “ joined the Tennesse Conference
cf the Methodist Episcopal Church, at its re
cent McMinnville session.” He was exclud
ed, years ago, from the Ohio Conference of
the African Zion Church, for immorality : and
in 1866, when ejected from the pulpit of the
Second Colored Baptist Church, Richmond,
Va., he associated himself with a Methodist
Freeduien’s Church in that city, until, (ac
cording to testimony borne before one of its
Courts,) he attempted, under the influence of
strong drink, to shoot a fellow
member. This is not his first experience as
a Methodist, then.
Newport Laxity. — Rev. John Dowling,
D.D., who was pastor of the second Baptist
church, Newport, (Rev. C. 11. Malcom’s,)
from 1833 to 1836, says, in the Examiner &
Chronicle: “During those three years of my
ministry in Newport, I never heard the re
motest hint that the practice of that church
upon the subject of communion had differed
from the other churches of the Warren Bap
tist Association, to which it belonged. In
1830, my predecessor, Dr. Choules, preached
and published a historical sermon upon ‘the
origin and growth of the Second Baptist
church in Newport, R.1.,’ a copy of which is
now T before me. In that sermon, there is no
mention of open communion views, as enter
tained by this ancient church, as there doubt
less would have been had such been the case.
As to my own practice, 1 always gave the in
vitation to the communion table in the very
words which 1 first learned in my boyhood
from my venerated pastor, Joseph Ivimey, of
London, the historian of the English Baptists
and the sturdy opponent of ‘ Robert llall on
Communion ’ —a form of invitation which I
have used from the commencement of my
ministry, and which 1 still use in the Berean
church—‘Members of sister churches of like
faith and order are affectionately invited to
take a seat with us at the Lord’s table.’ ”
Baptists in Wales.— The London corre
spondent of the Presbyterian says: “The
Welsh ministers, as a class, are poor and
struggling men, and yet better men, or more
devoted, could not be found anywhere.”
A Novel Charge. —A writer in the Mem
ph is Christian Advocate charges “ the Baptist
fraternity ” with “despotism and oppression.”
His rea-ons are as fresh as the accusation.
The first is. because wm, (following the Scrip
tures,) allow of but one mode of baptism,
while Meti odists allow of three, (two of
which are unknown to the word of God.)
The second : because w e do not suffer mem
bers to commune with other churches (whom
we regard as unbaptized,) while Methodists
(regarding these churches as baptized) do suf
fer it. The third ; because, we know of but
two ways of separation from our body, by
death or by excommunication, while Metho
dists practice two others, withdrawal into the
•world, and dismission to other denominations,
(the first of which, in us, would be treason
against the faith, and the second against the
order of the church, as Christ established it.)
The fourth : because we permit no appeal
from the disciplinary action of a church,
(which, by the way, the Scriptures clothe with
the exclusive right to act, and make no pro
vision of another and higher power to over
ride its decision and coerce its fellowship.)
PRESBYTERIAN’.
Traffic in Ardent Spirits. —The Phila
delphia Presbyterian “ does not hesitate to
to say that the session which will receive into
the communion of the church any man who
‘manufactures and sells intoxicating/liquors
for drinking purposes,’ is guilty of a griev
ous offence against the law of the church, the
law of God, and the present and everlasting
welfare of their fellow-creatures.”
The Times. —The Presbyterian Index calls
the age in which we live, “ the sccculam hum
bugianum."
Freedmen. —As the result of the labors of
the Committee on Freedmen of the Northern
Old School General Assembly, that church
has three organized Presbyteries among
Southern blacks, to which belong twenty
ministers, and which have under their care
four licentiates, and more than fifty churches,
containing four thousand two hundred and
eight members.
Infant Salvation. —The following remarks
by a'Presbyterian clergyman, at the funeral
of a child, are quoted approvingly by the
North- Western Presbyterian : “ The brother
who has just taken his seat told you of the
hope that all persons dying in infancy are
saved—saved by Jesus. And he gave you
reasons for that hope. It is my faith also,
and the faith of my church. But it is well
to make assurance sure. God saves by cove
nant. He has bound himself by his own
gracious word, saying, ‘I will be a God to
thee, and to thy seed after thee.’ ‘The prom
ise is to you and to your children.’ ‘The
Lord thy God is the faithful God, keeping
covenant and mercy with them that love him
and keep his commandments to a thousand
generations.’ Parents should embrace that
covenant, should keep within the line of the
promise. Then God is surely their children’s
God. Then, beyond a peradventure, their
little ones called hence, go to glory.” The
Central Baptist thereupon remarks: “So the
infant child of an impenitent man, or of a
Baptist who has never ‘consecrated’ it to
God in the Presbyterian method, will not
‘surely’ go to heaven ! It is not ‘beyond a j
peradventure’ till it has been sprinkled ! If
this is not Poperv, we know not where to
find it.”
CONGREGATIONAL.
Free Seats. —The Society of the Old
South Church, Boston, have thrown open to
the public all the pews in their gallery. A
few years ago these were considered the
choicest pews in the house, and they are the
be.-t for hearing the preaching or singing, and
now all are free.
The Church Militant.— The Congrega
tionalist states that the conversation between
Gen. Howard and Rev. Dr. Boynton which
has gone the round of the papers, was had,
for substance, with a son of Dr. 8., in the
presence of the Council assembled by the dis
affected minority of his church; and adds,
“ The feeling of some of them, at least, was,
that if some person had taken young B. by
the collar and the slack of his pantaloons, and
chucked him out of the window, it might not
have been strictly in accordance with Congre
gational usage, but would have been, on the
whole, a refreshing ventilation of the room.”
Loose Communion. —The Advance , Chicago,
says: “As to the effect of a table open to all, ■
it appears to us to be subversive of church j
discipline, and to tend in the end to decrease j
rather than to increase the number of attend- '
ants. In no denomination is the Lord’s table
so crowded, as where it is made strictly a
church ordinance and no one is invited unless
they have openly and permanently professed
Christ by uniting with the church.”
Prayer Meetings. —ln the late National
Christian Convention, Henry Ward Beecher
assigned, among the elements of a good
prayer meeting, “contiguity, which being
translated means, sitting together.”
EPISCOPAL.
A “Foreign” Church. —The N. Y. Eve
ning Post mentions an Episcopal church in
that city, composed entirely of Cretans, Mex
icans and Spaniards, founded in 18GG with 20
members, and now numbering over 300.
Amusements. —Rev. 11. W. Nelson, an
Episcopal rector in Hartford, Conn., lately
informed his congregation that any member
of the church who attended the Grand Duch
ess or Blue Beard operas, would be refused
communion for six months, and that his bish
op sustains him.
Honoring the Trinity. —ln the posthu
mous work of Bishop Hopkins of Vermont,
just published, denying that the Pope is the
Antichrist of Scripture, he hazards the npip.
ion that the three fold order in the ministry
—bishops, priests and deacons—was estab
lished in honor of the Divine Trinity !
Bishop Quintard —ln a letter written by
Rev.J. W. Rogers, the Memphis Ritualist, be
fore he went over to Romanism, he was very
severe on his late Bishop, Dr. Quintard, for
snubbing Ritualists in this country, after
billing and cooing with them in England, where
the church of St. Mary Magdalene voted him
a “ processional cross!” A Montreal cler
gyman says he “contributed to its purchase,
admirltig the Bishop for being such a High
churchman, never thinking he would be
ashamed to acknowledge it.”
“Nobodies.” —The proposition to associate
the President of the United States with the
Queen of England, in the prayers of the
English and American church, Dresden, Sax
ony, was opposed recently by English wor
shippers, on the ground that the President
“ was nominated every four years, and they
did not desire to pray for such a number of
nobodies.”
Hissing. —On the ground that “hissing is
not a human utterance,” Archbishop Trench
desired the members of his Church Congress
to express dissent by articulate words and not
by sibilation.
“ Sacerdotalism.” —Lord Ebury, in a let
ter to the London Times, says: If I were re
quired to state in one word the cause of the
present disastrous condition of the National
Church, 1 would say, as I have already said,
sacerdotalism. This is the old leaven of the
Scribes and Pharisees. It is that Judaism
plague which infested the Church at its earli
est institution, against which St. Paul con
tended with an earnestness amounting almost
to agony. It is that which has made the
Church of Rome what she is, and if not met
with a timely check now, it will annihilate
our communion also.”
METHODIST.
Marriage. —The Northern Methodist Gen
eral Conference has revised the marriage ser
vice, omitting “ obey ” in the vow of the wo
man ! This indicates a wide departure from
the Scriptural ethics ot matrimony, almost as
bad in its way, as the appeal of the Zion's
Herald, Boston, for the defence of the omis
sion, to the new woman's-rights paper, the
Revolution, one of whose female correspond
ents is allowed to say, that “it is more hon
orable to be a man’s mistress than to be his
wife,” under the orthodox and legal view of
the connubial relation!
A New Paper. —The Northern Methodist
church will establish a paper in Atlanta, next
month, with the name of the Methodist Ad
vocate' and with Rev. E. Q. Fuller as editor;
terms, $2 a year. The editor has had expe
rience on the editorial staff of the Christian
Advocate, Chicago.
“ Colored ” Christianity.— Zion's Herald,
Boston, expresses the hope that New England
quarterly conferences of white churches will
be asking for colored pastors before the next
meeting of the Annual Conference, and says
this is their duty.
Union. —At the recent session of the Mem
phis Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church South, it effected a union with the
North Mississippi Conference of the Metho
dist Protestant Church, embracing 22 minis
ters, 43 churches and 1,300 members.
Sectional and Partisan Slander. —Rev.
Dr. Newman, of New Orleans, (Northern
Methodist,) at the meeting of the Church Ex
tension Society, Philadelphia, said: “The
ministers of the M. E. Church South do not
preach morality. They tell us ot the immor
tality of the soul, the resurrection, etc. ; but
they never discourse upon‘Thou shalt not
steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness against
thy neighbor,’ etc.”
Unconverted Membership. A corre
spondent of the Texas Christian Advocate
mentions a Methodist minister in that State,
who had received into full connection eight
persons who were only seekers of salvation.
The editor says : “ We believe it a general
practice to receive penitents into the church.
They are certainly eligible. We always do it.’»
Baptism. —The Virginia Methodist Episco
pal Conference reports, for the year, 879 infant
and 1,301 adult baptisms.
The Doctorate. —In allusion to the fact
that the Garrett Biblical Institute, Chicago,
(Methodist,) recently conferred the title of
D.D. in two instances, the Congregationalist
says: “Thus this kind of cabinet ware is be
ginning to be manufactured at the divinity
shops, where it should be made, instead of at
the merely classical colleges.”
The Wesleyans. —This denomination, with
25,000 members, exclusive of probationers,
(having received 1,500 since January, and
organized 35 churches,) are strongly Congre
gational in sentiment and practice as to
church polity, and that is the hindrance to their
union with the Northern Methodist Hpiscopal
church.
DUNKARD.
Kiss of Charity. —D. C. Mooinaw', of Va.,
writing to the Christian Family Companion,
of the usages observed by the “ Dunkards”
in his section, says: “We do not salute with
the holy kiss those of African descent for sev
eral reasons. The most weighty is that they
are not able yet to receive it. The Saviour
in instructing the people on the subject of di
vorces concluded his address by saying: ‘He
that is able to receive it, let him receive.’
Their degraded condition will not bear so
sudden a metamorphosis. They have not the
control of their natures to that extent that
would allow an unlimited and unrestricted
social and religious equality. It is the expe
rience and testimony of ‘the oldest brethren’
that their welfare, and the welfare of the
whites is seriously affected by such unre
served intimacy. We think Paul's assertion
of his liberty in Ist Cos. 6: 12 pertinent to
our case.” Will the Zion's Herald , Boston,
take note of this case of “ unchristian caste,”
as it terms every refusal of equality to the
blacks?
UNITARIAN.
Infidelity. —A student in the Cambridge
Divinity School, recently defined the posi
tion of his fellow students and himself as
follows: “We neither cherish a belief in the
miracles, the resurrection, or the ascension
of Christ.” “We do not believe that a man
weighing one hundred and fifty pounds, ever
went up through the air toward the mooli.”
“ W e must not depend on the traditions handed
down to us through the Bible, for they are
largely myths, and unworthy the considera
tion of intelligent men in the presenCage.”