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CHRISTIAN ii\jSa AND SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST.
VOL. 48—NO. 25.
A RELIGIOUS AND FAMILY PAPER,
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN ATLANTA, GA.
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Single Subscriber 4.00
J. J. TOON - , Proprietor.
“The Two Villages.”
Over the river on the hill,
Lieth a village white and still;
All around it the forest trees
Shiver and whisper in the breeze.
Over it sailing shadows go,
Os soaring hawk and screaming crow ;
And mountain grasses, low and sweet,
Grow in the middle of every street.
Oyer the river, under the hill,
Another village lieth still;
There I see in the cooling night,
Twinkling stars of household light,
Fires that gleam from the smithy’s door,
Mists that curl on the river’s shore;
And in the road no grasses grow,
For the wheels that hasten to and fro.
In that village on the hill,
Never is sound of smithy or mill;
The houses are thatched with grass and flowers,
Never a clock to tell the hours;
The marble doors are always shut ;
You may not enter at hall or hut.
A)1 the villagers lie asleep,
Never a grain to sow or reap;
Never in dreams to moan or sigh—
Silent —and idle—and low—they lie.
In that village under the hill.
When the is starry and still,
Many a weary soul in prayer
Looks to the other village there,
And weeping and sighing, longs to go
Up to that home from this below :
Longs to sleep by the forest wild,
Whither have vanished wife and child,
And heareth, praying, the answer fall—
“ Patience 1 that village shall bold ye all!”
—Shadow of the Rock.
Arrearages Due Our Missionaries.
I received your letter. You refer to Dr.
Sumner having been at Atlanta. I hope he
may be successful in getting some one to col
lect the quota of Georgia —and of each of the
Southern States —to meet the indebtedness of
his Board to their missionaries.
I have been deeply touched by the gener
ous movement of these brethren, to remit
our obligation to them. That they who have
done the work delegated by the Master to
the churches, as essential to church-prosperity
and Christian church-existence; who have
taken their lives in their hands, and cut them
selves off from the blessings of home, and
society, and Christian associations; and who
have been,alas !so much neglected and forgot
ten by us—that they should now offer, in addi
tion to what they have done, to pay the ex
penses of the work, is there not something
truly noble—something Christ-like in it? Is
this not the depth “of poverty abounding to
the riches of liberality,” which should fire us
with admiration and gratitude?
But another sense is mingled with this sen
timent of our heart. I know these brethren
have made this move in good faith, and from
loving spirits. But, if they desired to ad
minister a rebuke, how could they have more
perfectly done it? What is the language of
their proposal? “Brethren beloved —Bap-
tists of the South—hundreds of thousands in
number: Tfao billows have gone over you
and swept away most of your substance, and
you have need of all that remains to build
up your ruined fortunes Do not think of
us, your servants for Christ’s sake. The bil
lows have rolled over us too —are now rolling
over us —the billows of overwhelming neces
sity; but our God lives, and we can trust
Him. We would relieve your conscience by
cancelling your debt, looking to our Master
in heaven, that the hungry mouths of our
children be filled, and the bitter tears of our
wives be wiped away, and that the honor of
our name be not stained. It was nothing for
Isaac, bound on the altar,’that he carried, too,
the wood for his sacrifice; nothing for Him,
who hung on the tree, that He bore His cross
to Calvary.” Here is holy sarcasm, which
should peel us from head to foot, and mantle
us with a quivering sense of shame and mor
tification. The money thus given by our
missionaries, should be gall in the heart, fire
in the bones. Not coals, but fire-brands, are
heaped on our heads !
The liberality of self-sacrificing men knows
no limit. “Beyond their power, they are
willing.” Paul could have wished himself
accursed from Christ for his brethren. But,
the providence of such generosity is to kindle
a kindred sentiment in others. Jesus emptied
Himself for us, that we should do the same
for Him; He was sacrificed, among other
reasons, to awaken a self-sacrificing spirit in
His people. And one of the most humilia
ting phases of our poor humanity, is' the
sight of those who should be thecommunica
tors of good to others, ever receiving, and
receiving—as ii a matter of course and of
right—at the expense of secret denials and
pains which noble hearts are too noble to ex
pose, and brave spirits too manly to ac
knowledge, utterly unconscious of the signifi
cance of returning good for evil, beyond that
the giver gains the most, as “ it is more blessed
to give than to receive!” The emphatic re
fusal of our Convention at Macon, to be thus
humbled and dishonored by the excess of our
missionaries’ liberality, should thrill through
the length and breadth o e our Southern Zion,
and arouse to a more enlightened sense of
duty, and a less partial application of the
gospel precept: “Freely ye have received ;
freely give !”
Dr. Samson says: Apportion common ob
ligations among the churches. Why not?
This debt is ours, and we must pay it. It
is said : “ Don’t say debt to the churches !”
The counsel is predicated on the hypothesis
that integrity is not at the base of personal
religion. There is no piety without honesty.
If we love not our brethren whom we have
seen, how can we love God, whom we have
not seen ? If our hearts are not moved by
noble exhibitions of human disinterestedness,
how can we love Jesus because He first loved
us and gave Himself for us? When our
brethren went down into the well, did we not
engage to hold the rope? Can we forsake
them in their extremity, even though they
say, overtax not yourselves, brethren ? If
we do not relieve them, we burden them. If
we do not feed them, we, virtually, starve
them. And after David has withstood the
Philistine for Israel, shall the hand of Saul
not be with him? Is this too strong? The
case is a strong one, involving the principle
of fidelity to those in our power; and I feel
strongly for our poor brethren. And I feel
FRANKLIN PRINTING HOUSE, ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1869.
that, if our churches .do not pay their debt to
these missionaries, the very stones will cry
out against them, and the cry be hurled back
in blighting on our spirits.
But they will pay it. Let the case be
fairly stated before them, and they will be
eager to discharge the indebtedness. I could
give some sample facts to support this opin-
ion. And the prompt payment will give a
new impulse to missions. It will make the
churches realize more their relation to our
missionaries, without which our missionary
operations are bound together by a rope of
sand; but, with a just sense of the relations
which the several parts of our moral ma
chinery bear to each other—i-the missionary
looking to the Boards, the Boards depending
on the Conventions, the Conventions on the
Associations and churches, and the churches
looking to the multitude of individual Chris
tians of our faith and order—there will be a
structure of strength and responsibility more
admirable and more enduring than the so
inuch-talked.-of Pyramid of Giseh.
Will not brother Shaver stir the subject in
the Indbx ? Will not the pastors bestir them
selves in the matter? Will not thechurches
awake to the just claims which rest upon
them? Our Board has done all it can. It
has done well and nobly. Let their hands be
strengthened. Let our missionaries’ hearts
be rejoiced. Let u« all feel better. And above
all, by every consideration of justice and hu
manity, and Christian love, let us do what is
simply our duty, and pay the full amount of
our debt to our self-sacrificing, and needy, and
magnanimous missionaries. T.
The Administrator of Baptism.
Prattville, Ala., May 30th, 1869
The following letter, written a number of
years ago by the late Dr. Manly, a copy of
which I obtained shortly after it was received,
from the pastor to whom it was addressed,
gives the teachings of that learned divine
upon a subject which is of much importance
to our denomination, and deserves a place
among his valuable writings. The matter
considered, was the receiving a person into
the church without baptism, who had been
immersed by a Pedobaptist. J. I. L.
My dear Brother: lam averse to writing
for the papers, yet 1 have no objection to give
my views to my brethren, when they request
them.
The questions you propose relate, mainly,
to one point, i. e. the validity of baptism per
formed by an administrator unbaptized him
self, and disbelieving in immersion as the true
and only mode.
I think it is the duty of Baptist churches
to reject all such baptisms, for the following
(among other) reasons :
Baptism, as a question among churches and
denominations r.t the present <fay, is not a
mere ceremony ; but a point vitally affecting
the cause of truth. The mode of baptism
tests our subjection to the authority of Christ,
and involves the great principle of Protestant
Christianity—whether the Bible alone shall
be our rule of faith and practice. It is now
conceded that immersion is the Bible mode
of baptism: it is, then, of importance
whether the Bible shall be consistently obey ed
or not, in our professed service of Christ.
The subjects of baptism is a question involv
ing the spiritual organization of the church
of Christ, and its separation from the world.
If it were not for the Baptists, and their prin
ciples, the families of professing Christians
would, in a short time, constitute the church,
regardless of their piety or spiritual fitness
for it; and so, the visible church, as a dis
tinct, spiritual organization, called out of the
world, would cease. In other words, there
would be no visible church: the world and
the church would be the same, so far as man
can see. In both views it is of unspeakable
importance that the ordinance of baptism
shall be kept, inviolate and honored, as Christ
instituted it.
In the cases referred to, although immer
sion was practiced, yet it was rendered a nul
lity on the part, both of the administrator
and the recipient. The administrator did not
perform it as a divine ordinance, or as an act
of obedience to the will of Christ. His pro
fessionsjand his practice both assure us that
something else is more in accordance with
the will of Christ; and he performs the act
in copnpliance with what he considers an ig
norantand objeotiouable prejudice—and quite
unwillingly—and only to save a member
from joining a Baptist church. Such a per
formance cannot claim the respect of either
God or,man. The recipient professes to be
sincere in his preference for this mode ; but
he is not consistent. While he proposes to
honor the institution of Christ in one aet>
(his own baptism,) he dishonors it by another,
(his joining in fellowship with those who dis
believe, despise and even ridicule it.) The
Apostle says, “If I build again that which I
destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.”
This person destroys the Pedobaptist notion
by being immersed on confession of his faith.
This is a single act; but he proposes, by join
ing a Pedobaptist church and holding fellow
ship with them, to build up again the Pedobap
tist notion, all his life afterward. If this suits
the person’s views of consistency and upright
ness, and of giving a clear and decided testi
mony to the truth, very well; but Baptist
churches may well claim to be excused from
giving their sanction to any such equivocal
act. Because I would not be a party to any
such inconsistency, and trifling with sacred
things, I have refused, (and would again re
fuse) to baptize a person who should declare
it as his intention, after baptism, to join a
Pedobaptist church.
For all sincere and properly disposed per
sons, the Baptist churches are open, in the
regular way. They are located all about the
country, and are reasonably accessible to all.
Their principles are not concealed, and the
differences between them and other churches
may be fully understood by all honest en
quirers. Those who embrace these principles
and intend to uphold them honestly, decidedly
and consistently, will join a Baptist church,
at once. As for those weak or doubtful per
sons, who choose to implicate themselves in
conflicting systems and contradictory practi
ces, before they apply to join a Baptist
church—their conduct looks so much like en
tering the sheep-fold, “not by the door, but
climbing up some other way,” that the Bap
tists may well treat both them and their prac
tices with caution and reserve. But if they
insist on being admitted, and give good evi
dence of a sound conversion, and of having
seen their error and inconsistency in the con
duct referred to, let them be baptized by one
who believes in it —who will do it honestly,
and with decent solemnity. This, in my judg
ment, is the only consistent, safe and proper
course for the Baptists. Communion in the
Lord’s supper, follows baptism. Among
all the absurdities that ever were held, none
ever held that a person, could fitly come to
the Lord’s table, who had not been baptized,
until Robert Hall, of England, started the
notion a few years ago. Certainly, no chuach
has promulgated such an idea. The church
is rightly composed of baptized persons only ;
and the sacred supper is an ordinance within
the church and for the church, only. What
ever would render it unfit and improper to
recognize or sanction a person’s baptism,
would also make it unfit and improper for
such a person to be allowed to commune in a
Baptist church. To oflfer them communion
at the Lord's table recognizes their baptism,
while it was their own act, we had nothing to
do with it—they alone were responsible. But
when we recognize and sanction it, in the
manner above stated, it then becomes our act,
and we become responsible. Asa Baptist, I
do not intend to take the responsibility of
any such acts or courses.
The Baptists have a great mission to ac
complish, a great testimony to bear for
Christ, among those denominations who have
failed to carry out the principle of reformed
Christianity—that “the Bible, the Bible
alone, is the religion of Protestants.” God
grant that my brethren may bear this testi
mony, firmly, and consistently, to the end !
that our glorious Lord, when he comes, may
find (at least one small detachment) of his
servants “keeping the ordinances as they
were delivered unto them.”
Fraternally Yours, B. Manly.
University of Ala., May 12th, 1854.
“Whereunto I May Continually Resort.”
The end is sure, but my foot often wearies.
Thorns and rocks sorely remind me that I
cannot see the way clearly, and many a foe
assails me in unlooked-for strength. Then I
so often find myself alone and crying, “ O
that I knew where I might find Him,” my
Shepherd and Keeper, my Strength and my
Life!
It is not enough to know that He will meet
me at the river; my soul needs .Him here, at
every step of the toilsome way. Then, Omy
Beloved, stay with me, that I may make Thee
my continual resort. Let me never lose Thy
hand, nor cease to see Thy face, for ‘ in Thy
light shall I see light,’ and without Thee
nothing i3. Thou knowest, my God, the un
speakable yearning of my soul for Thy pres
ence. With Thee only would I stay. I
would be with Thee, like Thee, and have no
will but Thine. When I get a glimpse of
Thy love, it is as a fountain overflowing all
else with gladness and beauty; but when I
miss Thee, desert-silence, gloom, and barren
ness fill all my path. Therefore stay with
me, that unto Thee I may continually resort.
Surely, then, in vain for me should the fowler
spread his net, and surely, then, should his
legion temptings flee away like shadows of
the night. &
Continually to Thee, my Saviour and my Song,
My heart returns from far, unsatisfied;
Stay Thou with me the while; my pilgrim heart along
The weary way has none beside:
Stay, stay continually.
My hand had gifts, my Lord, too fondly counted o’er,
And loved too well, for loving only Thee;
See! One by one they’re gone, I hold them now no more,
That Thou mayst all my treasure be:
Mine, mine continually.
Continually I turn my heart, my hand, mine eye
In every hour, to find Thee still more near;
O, Saviour, Shepherd, King, thou heardst young ravens
cry,
And Thou wilt heed each prayer, each tear,
And Lov’st continually.
Thou art my hiding-place, my buckler, fortress, tower,
0 Love, 0 Life, Jehovah-Nissi, Strength!
Thou art before my face, I am hoi den by Thy power;
All-Glorious, I’m Thine at length,
Thou mine ‘continually.’
A. C. S.
Rev. James McDonald.
Another servant of God has gone to his
rest.. A good man has fallen asleep in Jesus.
James McDonald is no more among men ;
he died at his residence, near Rome, Ga.,
April 25th ultimo. He was born in Lime
rick county, Province of Munster, Ireland, in
the year 1798, being at the time of his death
in the seventy-first year of his age.
It is much regretted that he left no record
of his eventful life. It is known to many
that he came to this country a confirmed Ro
man Catholic ; but soon after his arrival, he
became impressed that it was his duty to
read the Scriptures. Under the influence of
his early training, this thought took the shape
of a terrible temptation ; and strange as it
may seem in a country where religious free
dom is enjoyed, the mental distress to which
he became subject harassed him for ten years.
His sufferings at last became intolerable, and
in a fit of desperation he determined to enter
the navy of some of the Central or Southern
American States then at war, vaijily hoping
he might lose in death what he felt unable to
bear in life. For that purpose he took pas
sage for Havana. On his voyage God was
pleased to put forth the hand of his provi
dence and direct him to the only source of
rdief. The captain of the vessel discovered
by his looks and actions that some strange
horror was preying upon him, and became
suspicious that he meditated self destruction.
Being a Christian, his sympathy for the suf
ferer impelled him to seek his confidence, and
our brother was persuaded to impart to this
kind man the cause of his distress. Before
his arrival at Havana the captain did all he
could to convince him it was not a mortal sin
to read the Scriptures; this it seems he had
been taught to believe, and was the cause of
his trouble. He tried to lead Him to Jesus
Christ as the only and great High Priest of
the Christian’s faith, and the Saviour who
alone could give him peace. Half convinced,
but still sorely troubled, he landed in Ha-
vana, and shortly for some cause was
arrested anff thxpw-i i«■ < p. ison. The dun
geon of the Dost. %f" - the Bethel of his
journey. There God :,oefc him ; and the
door looking eastw*?*d being closed, he beheld
while looking heavenward a light and a glory
he had never seen before. Here he cove
nanted with God : If thou shalt deliver me
hence, then will I rake “thy Word for the
man of my counsel ” and I will walk in thy
ways. He believe<Lsto the day of his death
that God heard his prayer and delivered him ;
for mysteriously a-friend appeared, and he
was released. He immediately returned to
the United States, made a public profession
of his faith in Christ, and some short time
after began to preach his gospel.
In 1834 brother McDonald was pastor of
the church in Montieello, Jasper county, dur
ing which year he baptized the wife of the
writer, and Mrs. A. P. Hill, the sister who is
now preparing the memoir of her brother,
Rev. J. E. Dawson. D.D., with a number of
others who that yea- united with the church
in that place. At Me close of the year he
returned to the sea coast, preferring, (as he
told the writer) to pleach to the colored peo
ple, who received th? word qiore gladly than
the whites in J«a. pL ahd Morgan. In the
neighborhood of Brivbwiok and in Florida,
he became the objeW, of great persecution ;
his life was even thrljttened by his enemies,
but he lived to see ti* last one of them come
to his death. Amicfet this persecution and
during the Seminole kar, he was obliged to
ride alone to his appointments at the immi
nent risk of his life; but putting his trust in
his Saviour, he facejj danger continually in
the lonely glades and swamps of that coun
try through those tronblesome times.
Brother McDonald was an extempore
speaker, seldom using even notes in the pul
pit ; his discourses, therefore, did not wear
the ornate finish of the writer, but very often
a stream of eloquence would flow from soul
and eye and lip, electrifying his audience, and
proving him one who by the assiduous labor
of the student wouM have made himself
known as a mighty man in Israel.
He died a sufferer from a complication of
diseases; and it is remarkable that having
asked of God a cessaiion of pain before his
death, his prayer whs answered, and after
years of excruciating agony, he lay for two
months calm and comfortable, with scarce a
twinge of pain. Before his departure, he
would sometimes call his wjfe and say to her,
“Oh ! Theresa, I am to happy ; I do want to
see Jesus, I want to s;;e him so much.”
The deceased was married to Theresa A.
Pendarvis, of Jacksonville, Florida, on the
15th day of May, 18,2. She survives him,
and with a family or >ix children, mourns for
one who in life they fondly loved, and in
death lament, with a lively hope of reunion
at the resurrection of the just.
C. H. Stillwell.
The Importance of a Gigli Seliool at Chapel
Hil, Ga.
(A composition by Miss A*A., published by request of
4be Tallapoosa and F:.*~bura Convention, held at
Chapel Hill, May 29th.)
Respected Audi eric and School Mates:
Probably you may mink the subject of my
composition is involved in too much intrica
cy for the mind of a < nnmon school girl, and
such I readily ad mi be true. Yet I hope
you will Indulge niemaj-e expression of a tew
thoughts upon the necessity and practicability
of this enterprise.
And, first, let us briefly consider the prac
ticability. Nothing seems to be wanting to
promote the science of true literature, but an
increase of public sympathy, and a more ac
tive and energetic encouragement by our
parents and the friends of education, to men
of learning, who are engaged in teaching and
who are united in their efforts in trying to
establish good schools amongst us, where all,
from the highest to the lowest, may receive
a thorough education. By being thus sus
tained and encouraged, they are stimulated
to press forward in the laudable and benefi
cent enterprise of dispensing that instruction
which is calculated to raise us to that scale of
human greatness which our interest and hap
piness demands that we should occupy.
Secondly, the necessity of the enterprise.
When we reflect upon the fiery ordeal through
which we have recently passed, which has
stripped us of luxury and wealth, and pros
trated us at the bottom round of the ladder,
we feel the importance of letting our ascend
ancy be in knowledge and intellect, as well as
wealth. Let not the ruthless destroyer strike
a deadly blow to fqme also. When we con
sider our present situation, as we now stand
related tojthe great mass of society, it must be
apparent to every true patriot and philan
thropist, that a more increased and energetic
effort to educate the rising generation, is de
manded by every consideration of our future
interest and happiness. Who, that reflects
camly and dispassionately upon the subject,
is not forced to the conclusion that one of the
leading causes that brought about the recent
terrible and disastrous war, was the great
want of a thorough and proper education of
the common people of this Government. Had
our people generally been properly educated,
may we not reasonably conclude that the
calamities of the war might have been en
tirely averted, or, at Last, its barbarous type
and devastating effects, materially modified
and ameliorated.
And this leads me to speak of the equal
necessity of a thorough education of the poor
as well as the wealthy.. When we scan the
pages of history, we find that some of the
greatest minds that have ever controlled the
destinies of nations have sprung from the
humble walks of life. Biblical record in
forms us that David, the sweet singer and
ruler of Israel, was of humble parentage, and
when a boy, was employed in the capacity of
a shepherd. Many instances of this charac
ter might be given, had we space. 1 mention
but one other. One of the brightest stars in
the galaxy of eminent American statesmen,
was of humble parentage, and when a boy,
was called the Mill-boy of the Slashes: to wit,
the gifted orator and leading statesman of
his day, from Kentucky, (the immortal Clay.)
In the mind of many a peasant now, whose
every moment is bestowed in wringing from
the soil a scanty subsistence, there slumber
mental powers which, had they been properly
cultivated by early education and proper
training, would hava elevated their possessor
to the highest rank and position in society.
Many a mechanic who is daily pursuing his
laborious calling, is unconsciously in posses
sion of mental faculties and powers which, if
aroused and expanded by a proper education,
would have enabled him to electrify senates
and win that preeminence in society which men
award to the majesty, of true genius.
There occasionally arise peculiar circum
stances which, aiding the development of the
pent-up talent, cause it to burst asunder the
trammels of poverty, and the peasant, through
a sudden outbreak of.the mind, starts for
ward to the place for which his intellect fits
him. Asa bright instance of which, allow
me to refer you to the late Chief Magistrate
of these United States, who, we are informed,
could not read when he had reached his ma
jority. Ordinarily, however, the powers of
the mind remain bound and fettered through
life, for want of proper mental training, while,
if the portals of some seminary of learning
had been open to them, they might have trod
with a Newton’s step the sublime firmament,
or swept with a Milton’s hand the melodious
harpstring. Ido not say that all can attain
to these exalted positions in society; but I
oo maintain that all can be very rrtuch itn
proved an£ benefitted by a thorough mental
training in youth, and the prosperity and hap
piness of society thereby materially advanced.
Then, fathers and respected friends, if you
have anything to bestow upon your children
for their future comfort and happiness, per
mit me to entreat you, as you value their
future happiness, and the future progress and
prosperity of our common country, to pro
vide early and amply for their early and
thorough mental training, while the mind is
pliable, thereby bequeathing to them an en
during legacy which the intrigues and strate
gies of men cannot wrest from their grasp,
nor adversity’s chilling winds pluck from
them. The time and circumstances are now
propitious. I beseech you let not the oppor
tunity pass by unimproved ; but let there be
such an institution of learning permanently
established at Chapel Hill, as may shed its
beneficent rays far and near, and its good in
fluence may be felt by all this entire region
of country, to such an extent that future gen
erations will rise up and call you
Such i trust may be the result of your uni
ted efforts.
Chapel Hill, Ga., May 28th. 1869.
What is Worship ?
First of all, we answer the question nega
tively. It is not ability to talk or write
learnedly of religious things. It is not tear
producing eloquence from the pulpit. It is
not attention to human rules of religion. It
is not building splendid temples in the name
of God. It is not the sacrifice of means for
others. It is not the act of martyrdom for
opinion’s sake. All these things can be, or
may be, found among those who never wor
shipped God.
The question recurs, what is worship? Let
us listen to the answer of a great writer,
Way land : “This worship,” of God, “con
sists in no physical acts. It is not the per
formance of an imposing ceremonial. It is
not the offering up of costly oblations. It is
not the burning of incense, or the procession
of priests ; nor is it the seemly presentation
of our bodies in the house of God, bedizened
with all the adornment of costly apparel.
Ah no ! It is something infinitely different
from all these. It is the offering up of holy
affections to the most holy God. Penitence
for sin; the earnest purpose of amendment;
the confidence of filial love ; the outpouring
of gratitude; longing after holiness; the
self sacrificing resolution to be in all things a
follower of Jesus; the absolute surrender, in
the presence of God, of the most secret and
unsuspected sins; the cutting off of a right
hand; the plucking out of a right eye;
adoring views of the love of Christ that
bring to the soul the consciousness of indis
soluble union to Him ; the solemn consecra
tion of our whole selves to Him, for time
and eternity ; faith which confers victory
over the world ; joyful anticipations of the
day when, washed from every stain and
clothed with tbe Redeemer’s righteousness,
we shall be ever with the Lord. These —
these are the offerings which, in the name of
the only Mediator, we present before God
when we come to worship in his presence.
Wherever his people assemble to offer such
sacrifices, the Saviour, in an especial manner,
draws near to them.” YV. M. D.
The Two Deaths.
Lo, there in yonder fancy-haunted room,
What muttered curses trembled through the gloom,
When pale and shivering, and bedewed with fear,
The dying /sceptic felt his hour draw near.
From his parched tongue no meek hosanna fell,
No bright hope kindled at his faint farewell.
As the last throes of death convulsed his cheek,
He guashed, and scowled, and raised a hideous shriek,
Rounded his eyes into a ghastly glare,
Locked his white lips, and all was mute despair.
Go, child of darkness, see a Christian die!
No horror pales his lips, or dims his eye,
No fiend-shaped phantoms of destruction start
The hope religion pillows on his heart;
When with a faltering hand he waves adieu
To all who love so well, and weep so true.
Meek as an infant to the mother’s breast
Turns, fondly longing for its wonted rest,
He pants for where congenial spirits stray,
Turns to his God, and sighs his soul away.
— lt. Montgomery.
Deferred Items.
• BAPTIST.
English Baptists. —The London letter of
the Church Union says: “ The Baptist Union
has had its meeting at which it was stated
that during the past year 46 new places of
worship had been erected, and 29 others en
larged or improved, supplying seats for 18,-
000 people at an aggregate cost of nearly
$500,000. In addition to this, 49 churches
had been originated, making 2,447 belonging
to the deamination. In some districts no
increase hr.d occurred. For instance,-Corn
wall, with a population of 370,000, has had the
same number of Baptist churches for more
than a generation. The total number of
members was 231,506, an increase of 9,982.
The Sunday school scholars numbered 267,-
396. The Baptist and Irish Home Missiona
ry Society has 23 missionaries in Ireland;
receipts $20,000. In this country many Con
gregationalists are ranged under the figures
of the Baptist denomination, and many Bap
tists are reported by the Congregational
Union as members of Congregational churches.
The two denominations are so mixed that no
separate statistics can be obtained.” This
last fact illustrates the mischievous tendency
of loose communion; aiid, since baptism is
no longer a term of membership in many
churches that practice loose communion, we
cannot appeal to statistics to show that this
practice is favorable to Baptist growth.
Changes. —Rev. Robert Cade, for 17 years
an esteemed and useful Primitive Methodist
minister, was baptized recently in Bond street
Baptist church, Toronto; and Rev. John
Deavers, a faithful and efficient minister of
the United Brethren for nearly a score of
years, at Union City church, Indiana.
Slander. —Rev. R. L. Collier, of Chicago,
Unitarian, is reported as saying, in a late dis
course on the “ orthodox hell,” that the Bap
tist creed is, and from the beginning has been
—that no unimmersed person can escape hell.
Communion.-*—' The American Baptist says:
“ In tolerating a difference of opinion in the
matter of communion, Dr. Wayland stood,
practically, on the same ground with a large
portion of the Baptist churches of his day.
Hundreds of members, like the lamented
Crozer, of Philadelphia, have*entertained open
communion sentiments, and yet remained un
censured and unmolested, so long as they
manifested a willingness to walk with the
church of their choice. But when a member
steps out and commences an active warfare
upon Baptists and their principles on bap
tism, avowing his determination ‘to drive
them to the wall,’ the case become very dis-
ent.” The Baptist also expresses the opinion
that “the class of members who favor the
views of Robert Hall, is by no means an in
creasing one.”
Baptists in London. —At a late quarterly
meeting of Baptist ministers, Mr. Spurgeon
said there were about two hundred and sev
enty Baptist churches in London. Sixty or
seventy of these are “ higher in doctrine and
slower in usefulness ” than the average. He
estimates the membership of the churches at
$30,000.
Baptism and Membership. —The Morning
Star decides that it is not “ according to Free-
Will Baptist usage to receive persons into our
churches from other denominations by letter
who have been sprinkled and are unwilling to
he immersed.” And yet, even with this de
nomination, loose communion wars against
the Scriptural law of a baptized membership,
since “ Christians who have not been im
mersed may be received to the privileges of
the church excepting those of voting and
holding office.”
Displaced. The Church Union thinJjjfl
that Dr. Caswell was not reelected
American Baptist Missionary Unuflß
HpausQ he had avowed his willingness to
communion views and practMl&j
butrojlys that he received over a hundrf|B
vote's,Sor more than a fourth of all that w«ipj
"she Drift. —To set aside baptism
term of communion, creates a
set it aside as a term of membership. How
strongly it tends in that direction is seen in
this fact: “The open membership men, such
as Landels and Brock, are evidently the lead
ers of the English Baptists.”
The Scriptural Style. —The Independent
sees, if not “ cant,” the “ bad taste of an
ignorant man who has not learned to prefer
simplicity to bombast,” in the following quo
tations from a Baptist pastor’s letter in one
of our journals: “He says that a few Sab
baths since he was ‘permitted to bury two
with Christ in baptism,’ and last Sabbath
two more ‘followed their Redeemer into the
liquid grave,’ while three others will ‘in like
manner put on Christ’ at the earliest oppor
tunity.”
PRESBYTERIAN.
Strange Barrenness. —“ The report of the
Texas Synod states that not a single man
born and raised in Texas has entered the
Presbyterian ministry during the last thirty
years.”
Diluting. —The Chicago correspondent of
the Free Christian Commonwealth speaks of
“ a large class who occupy Congregational
and Presbyterian pulpits, whose principal
business is to ‘diminish’ the word of God
in such matters as original sin, eternal pun
ishment, etc., etc.”
Mission Spirit. —Rev. Dr. J. L. Wilson,
Southern Presbyterian, recently said: “After
being so deeply prostrated and distressed, we
are now enabled to sjgnd out this year thirteen
missionaries. Three have already gone to
China, and four to the Indians of the South
west. We would not speak positively, but
it was his impression that no one of our
churches had been so fortunate as to send out
so large a number as this during the present
year.” T
CONGREGATIONAL.
Romish Baptism. —A correspondent of the
Congregationalisl asks: “Ought a person
baptized in the Roman Catholic communion,
to receive the ordinance of baptism on uni
ting with a Congregational church?” That
paper replies: “It has been, so far as we
know, the universal custom of the Congrega
tional churches in this vicinity, to consider
the administration of baptism in the regular
form of any Christian church to be sufficient,
if endorsed by the consenting faith of the
recipient; and therefore not to rebaptize in
such cases as that to which our correspondent
refers.”
Obliterating the Lines. —An Orthodox
Congregational church, in London, recently
adopted this rule : “ That the membership of
this church consist of all seat holders who
have occupied and paid for sittings twelve
months.” That is verging toward Episcopal
usage; as in North Carolina, for example,
where “ only one-fifth of the present male
members are communicants.” But a writer
in the English Independent well asks: How
can a community acting on this rule be called
a “church” on New Testament principles?
Sect-Differences. —The Congregational
ist thinks that the point of divergence be
tween Baptists and Pedobaptists, New School
Methodists and Old School Presbyterians,
“is in underlying human nature with its di
versities of essential taste, feeling, and way
of looking at things.”
Laxity. —A writer in the Chicago Advance
says: “ We take exception to the statement
that Pedobaptists will not commune with
‘ unsprinkled Quakers.’ It was hardly a
month ago that a Quaker was received by
letter into the full fellowship of Rev. T. L.
Cuyler’s church, and there is scarcely a re
spectable Pedobaptist church that would not
indorse such an action. But the writer says,
again, ‘All evangelical churches, with perhaps
one or two considerable exceptions, hold bap
tism to be prerequisite to the Lord’s supper.’
We feel compelled to pronounce this a grave
misstatement. It is true that many Pedo
baptist churches recommend (not in ther creed)
that baptism precede the supper, but such re
striction, if it be a restriction, applies simply
to those within the pale of that particular
church, and in no wise is intended to apply
to casual visitors from sister churches. It is
at most simply an order recommended by
such churches to their own catechumens, and
not an aggressive polity excluding Christians
of other names.”
Partial Close Communion. —A writer in
the Congregational Review claims for churches
of his denomination “the right and privilege
to interchange letters of dismission and
recommendation with the Presbyterian and
Dutch Reformed churches, and to exclude the
Methodists and Episcopalians because they
receive persons to membership without re
quiring a credible profession of ‘saving faith,’
and so cannot properly be considered ‘con
gregations of faithful menthat is to say,
they are not really churches.”
Hybrid Churches. —The title, “ Presby
gational,” has been invented by a correspon
dent of the Congregationalist, to denote the
sort of churches which exist in some parts of
the West, which are about half Presbyterian,
and the other half Congregational, in their
form of government.
Obliterating Landmarks. —“ Rev. Enoch
Mellor, President of the West Reading Con
gregational Union, in an opening address has
strongly affirmed that there was no distinc
tion, in the Apostolic age, between the com
municants and the congregation. The Eng
lish Independent in noticing this tells his
brother that the practical result of his princi
ple has been to make Congregational churches
Arian and Unitarian.” This “principle”
grows naturally out of Pedobaptism—and
could not have obtained in the First Age,
because Pedobaptism was then unknown.
WHOLE NO. 2445.
New Source of Supply. —Doctors of Di
vinity heretofore have been “ created ” by
secular Boards of College Trustees; but the
Congregationalisl states that the rheological
Seminary of its denomination at Chicago has
tried its hand in that line, and the charter of
the General Theological Seminary, New York,
(Episcopal,) empowers' it to do likewise.
Shall the rain wax into a deluge?
Puritan. —Rev. Ray Palmer, D. D., not
long since, spoke of “ the spirit of liberty ”
as “ born on Plymouth Rock !,”
EPIBCOFAL.
Evangelization. —The Kentucky Episco
palians send out ministers, by twos, to go
into destitute places preaching from point to
point, gathering up the scattered membership,
and in every way extending their church op
erations.
Literature. —“ The Church Journal com
plains ttfat the literature of the Episcopal
church is more meagre than that of any other
denomination.”
|||A Boast. —McCullough, of Del-
Hj&pe, (EpiscddHgSaims that there are
H 1,000,000 in the world ; that
Kmthe AmcricjHggnSrch, the Anglican, the
Mrme‘nian, thffflSPPs, and the Romish !
Baptise. —TjfafcsEnglish Church Times,
Ritualistic, ssmut.The use of baptism is to
I regenerate, butUMOes not matter a straw, so
dong as the JußVite is performed, whether
the agent df'lpHßieves in baptismal regen-
The Reformers. —The Guardian, the or
gan of the Bishop of Oxford and a Ritualistic
paper, allows Dr. Littledale to say, without
rebuke, of the English Protestant Reformers :
“They were such utterly unredeemed villains,
for the most part, that the only parallel I
know to the style in which half-educated peo
ple speak of them amongst ua is, the appear
ance of Pontius Pilate amongst the saints of
the Abysinian Calendar.”
Confirmation. —At a recent confirmation
in Baltimore, Rev. Dr. Mahan, of St. Paul’s
church, presented a number of children be
fore the bishop, saying : “Right Reverend
Father in God, I present to you these per
sons to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by
the laying on of hands in confirmation.”
Pedobaptist Courtesy —ln the Newark
National Sunday School Convention, in
which all evangelical denominations met,
Rev. Dr. Tyng, Episcopal, could not forbear
a thrust at Baptist sentiments : “It does not
make any difference, friends, whether we go
down a thousand feet into the water, or have
but five drops on the head. It is the Holy
Ghost we receive. With this in our hearts
the land is ours, and we are conquerers.”
Why not spare our views as to the baptismal
act this express contradiction ? Why suggest,
by implication, the slanderous charge that
we put the water in the place of the Holy
Spirit ?
Agreement. —Rev. Morgan Dix, of New
York, (Episcopal,) in a recent sermon, spoke
of the rites attending the Holy Eucharist,
known to the Greeks as the Supper, to the
Latins as the Mass, and to the Anglicans as
the Eucharist, contending that its essentials
were the same in each branch of the Catholic
Church.
The Black Crook. — The Bishop of Indiana
has reprimanded one of his clergymen, for
witnessing this infamous exhibition.
Color Blindness. —Anew Episcopal
church, lately organized in Washington, D.
C., makes no distinction on account of color.
A colored man who has been elected as one
of the vestrymen, is also a member of the
Board of Aldermen.
METHODIST.
Giving. —The contributions of the Wes
ley ans of Great Britain tor specific mission
purposes, the past year, amounted to $1.25
per member.
Oppression. —“ The trustees of the Green
street Methodist church of Philadelphia pub
lish resolutions condemning as ‘arbitrary,’
unwise, and tyrannical the action of the pre
siding elders in not regarding their petition
for the appointment of their pastor, as has
been the custom. They add : ‘We think the
time has come when the laymen of the M.
E. Church should assert that they have other
rights than that of contributing to the vari
ous institutions of the church; and among
those rights is that of being consulted as to
who shall minister among them.’”
A Strong Figure. —A writer in the
Southern Christian Advocate says that the
“Hard Shell” Baptists, of his section, “preach
predestination and the final perseverance of
the saints, as strong as a total eclipse.”
Boasting. —The Presbyterian says; One
of our Methodist contemporaries has lately
fallen into a strange exaggeration. He al
ludes to the three thousand conversions on
the day of Pentecost, and then gravely says
that more than three thousand a day are ad
ded to his communion through the winter
months ! Now multiply 3,000 by 90, and we
have 270,000. Has our contemporary really
counted up that number ?
Temperance. —The Methodist New \ork
East Conference called upon’ church members
to “abandon the patronage of those physi
cians who prescribe alcoholic mixtures
freely.”
Membership. —The Western Christian Ad
vocate says : Our Church is not strictly uni
form in receiving members. In some parts
of the country only those are received who
give evidence of having met with a change of
heart; in other localities, in addition to all
such, those who are earnestly seeking the
pardon of their sins are also admitted to pro
bation.
“Presbyterian.” —The New York Metho
dist says: “Methodism*is essentially Presby
terian, in both the Old and New Worlds.
Here it is Episcopal in administration, but
Presbyterian in constitution; its bishops
are executive officers, not a distinct ‘order.’
BOMANIST.
- American Romanists. —The Romish Tab
let says: “The Catholics are not more than
one-tenth of the population, even counting
those who are Catholics only Jour days in
their lives.”
Want of Growth in America.—Arch
bishop Spalding of Baltimore, in a recent
Pastoral Letter, says : “While we are grati
fied at witnessing so many intelligent persons
throughout the country embracing the true
faith, we are obliged to confess with sorrow
that a greater number are lost to the churoh.
There is no exaggeration in saying now what
Bishop England felt it his sacred duty to
state many years ago, that hundreds, nay
thousands of souls annually stray away from
the fold in this country on account <>t their
early religious education. If we look for the
descendants of those numerous Catholic fam
ilies which have emigrated to this country
during the past and present century, we will
find that many of them have wandered away
from the faith of their fathers, and not a tow
of them are now ranked among the most
tive and unrelenting enemies of the Lnurcn
of God,”