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,f .3. TOON, • • - - Proprietor.
D. SHAVER, D.D., Editor.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1869.
-Theory of “Accommodation” in the Life of
Christ.
Theologians of the “Rationalistic” or “Lib
eral” school, have long held that Christ, in His
teaching, accommodated Himself to the light of
His age on points of doctrine. They would have
us believe that He connived at popular prejudi
ces—made use of them as a basis of argument
and appeal—without designing to clothe them
with the sanction of His authority. By this pro
cess they cast aside the existence and influence
of angels, good and evil, —the immortality of
the soul, —future punishment,—the necessity of
atonement,—the incarnation of Deity,—the doc
trine of vicarious sacrifice, —all that is distinctive
of Christianity, in fact, —as a mass of false no
tions which Christ pressed into service for the
timet but set no seal of truth on them, and which,
in the clearer light of our age, we are at liberty
to repudiate and denounce.
Such a view must stand condemned, at the bar
of reason for its absurdity, and at the bar of de
votion for its impiety. But an “Evangelical”
writer of our own day has avowed a view, strik
ingly akin to it, and if possible even more perni
cioin. We refer to Rev. James H. Fairchild, D.D.,
President of Oberlin College, who, if we rightly
catch bis meaning, maintains that Christ, in His
lift, accommodated Himself, after some such man
ner, to the light of His age on points of morals.
Let us see. In his recent work, “Moral Phllos-
0 »y, or, the Science of Obligation,” he says:
“The authority of examples, of the actions ol
good men recorded in the Bible, extends to the
principle of action ulone—subjective duty, not
objective. Abraham was obedient, walking Jac
cording to his light. Wo are to take his life as
an indication of his spirit, and cherishing the
same spirit, must walk according to our light.
So of all the good men of the Bible; their out
ward life Ls not our guide, but their inward obe
dience. The good man, under our clearer light,
can be as good as the faithful of old, only by pre
senting a better outward life.
Is it not possible that a similar principle ap
plies even to the Saviour’s example? In appear
ing among men, His outward conduct must be
such as could coinmend itself to the judgment ol
the good around Him. In order to this, He must
walk by light accessible to them, not by His own
clearer vision. Upon any other principle than
this, His character would have been misunder
stood, and His conduct would have raised ques
lions not pertinent to His mission. He came to
exhibit the spirit ot love and obedience. It was
just as necessary that Ilia life should take on
forms which the people could comprehend, as
that He should speak to them in n language which
they understood. His life w'as tuch at the beti
of Hit time would approve. It is not certain
mat His style for dress as a man or His work as
a carpenter should be accepted by us as a model,
or that ice should use wine because He made and
used it. Though gifted with infinite knowledge,
Ho was obliged in a great degree to conform His
outward life to human judgment."
This conception is simply shocking. The hu
man naturo of Christ was gathered up into a
divitie personality. Os all dwellers on the earth,
Christ alone possessed the glory of an absolute;
unsullied sinlessness. Christ came that, in Him,
humanity might have a fresh beginning—a be
ginning in holiness, through a Head whose char,
actor forms the ideal of faultless perfection and
whoso example is the ethical model of the race.
And jet, (according to the view of Fairchild,)
Christ shaped His life in conformity with “hu
man judgment,” as embodied in “ the best of
His time,” though these were smitten with that
inborn taint of evil which must needs darken the
moral vision ; and, to this end, He put aside,. He
re rased to leao7~”a better outward hfo," which
His infinite knowledge apprehended and His spot
less purity prompted 1 This “ better outward
life,” too, through . light accessible to the pres
ent age, we are competent to discover—discerning
a higher plane of excellence in action than thai
on which Christ walked—and, therefore, con
tracting on obligation to lift ourselves above Him
and lead more lofty lives than His! It follows,
also, that if Christ should return to the earth
now, with the way of His feet subject to judg
ment " under our clearer light,” He would pie-
sent to the eye of men and angels, “ a better
outward life” than of yorel
We repeat, that this conception shocks us.
Dr. Fairchild, indeed, virtually represents the
rejection of his view, to follow scrupulously the
steps of our Great Pattern in the sphere of mor
als, as no less a weakness than the construction
of “a model” for ourselves out of ‘the work ol
Christ as a carpenter," or “ the style of His
dress as a man.” But to us, its acceptance looks
like an inlet of wickedness and blasphemy. And
If this be the “new climate of opinion” created
by modern ethics, we cannot but feel that deadly
m-ilaria “rides on every breeze,” and fear to in
hale it. Where such an “accommodation” of
the Vfe of Christ is held, dogma, if it could be
saved, which we seriously doubt, would no longer
be w orth the saving. But granting that doctrinal
unbelief would not follow on the track of this
view, it must smoothe the way for practical licen
tiousness. (To refer to the instance to which
Fairchild appeals,) far sooner lot Christian duty
In the matter of abstinence from wine pass unen
foictd, than assume for its enforcement the obli
gation, or possibility, of “ presenting a better
outward life” than Christ’s: For, a perfect Christ
we must have —or all Christian duties will, ir
due season go by the board; and those who be
gin by attempting to rise above the One Divine-
Human Example, must, in the end, sink more
and more, below themselves. Surely, such Evan
gelism as this and modern Rationalism stand to
/ atch other as
“Lauda intersected by a narrow frith
and we need not marvel if men, with growing
frequency, betake themselves to the task of build
ing causeways across the frith, and make the
lands but one.
Independency.
The discussion on “lay delegation,” in the
Northern Methodist church, has brought out some
developments of marked significance. A corres
pn.dent of the New York Christian Advocate ,
for example, represents Bishop Simpson and Dr.
MiClintock as advocating two principles—one
“directly asserted,” the other following by “inev
itable logical sequence.” These principles are:
“1 The supreme governing power of the Church
is deposited with, and belongs to, all the members
of the Church wi'hout distinction.
2. The tenn Church, when applied to an organ
ization, does not belong to a plurality of Churches
under onejuVisdiciion, as a Methodism, or Presby
tei’iamsru, etc., but to the body of Christians com
posing one congregation only ; that the Church
thus composed possesses all ecclesiastical power—
the power to make all the rules and regulations
necessary for Church government, and to admin
ister Church discipline; and that each particular
Church forms by itself a little republic, indepen
dent of all oilier Churches.”
To “another writer, supposed to be Rev. Dr.
Vail,” this correspondent ascribes the following
positions:
“U hat the passage ‘tell it to the Church’ must
have reference’ to ‘the followers of Christ’ ‘in a
•ingle locality that the term Church is never
u.-cd in sacted Writ in the sense ol a plurality of
Churches in one org. r.llation independent snd
complete in itself, as ‘the Gallican Church, the
Cheek Church, the Church of England, the
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX AND' SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST: ATLANTA, GA„ THU RSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1869.
Church of Scotland that ‘the plural number it
invariably used when more congregations than
one are spoken of, unless the subject be the whole
commonwealth of Christ.’
The correspondent of the Advocate, very prop
erly, styles all this "pure Independency;” and
there are one or two inferences which its appear
ance in so unexpected a quarter seems to war
rant.
1. No matter how entirely the polity of a de
nomination may be a matter of mere human in
vention—when circumstances arise to attract en
quiry toward the testimony of Scripture on the
question of church government, Independency
will succeed in impressing itself on the convic
tions of men. It shines in too clear a light of
inspiration, not to make headway even among the
adherents of other and hostile systems. There is,
then, “a future” for it: the little leaven, in due
season, will leaven the whole lump.
2. If men are driven to use the weapons of In
dependency, in order to effect a change in that
feature of the government of their “church”
which makes it (to use their own phrase) an “oli
garchy”—do they not furnish evidence that there
is no effective and Scriptural safeguard against
“spiritual despotism” except Independency alone ?
In upholding this polity, then, we do battle for
the freedom of the sons of God, in His houge.
VVe are hastening the time when all yokes framed
by device of man for the necks of His people,
shall be broken.
Once a Tear*
What a church does only once a year—we In
cline to say—it does not do at all 1 It is crowded
into too narrow a space. It is left too much at
the mercy of what happens to be the state of things
just at the time. It enters too seldom into the
trains of thought, and is not seen now from one
point of view, now from another, —as is necessa
ry, if we would comprehend a subject in its full
import, and have the inventiveness of the mind
quickened with regard to it It does not appeal
sufficiently to the feelings in their varying moods,
or improve the favorable seasons when, because
the heart is stirred, the hand opens most liberally
and labors with greatest diligence. The work,
therefore, is not done—as to its best effect. It
is not done—as respects the thorough devel
opment of the capabilities of the church in
the premises. • With many of the members it is
but half-work, or even less than that. And some
of the members take no share in it whatever. Do
we speak too strongly, then, when we say that it
is not done at all—since it is, by no means, the
work which the church ought to do, und could
do, and has promised God it will do ? In that
sense, it is not done.
It is not done in many cases, we are sure, be
cause the effort is-to do it once a year only. More
frequent trial would achieve better results. If it
were made matter of action at intervals less wide,
it would come much nearer being done—done to
the full extent of the ability and obligation of the
church. For example: contribution to Christian
purposes ought not to be annual, but quarterly,
or monthly, or weekly, according to circum
stances —for then men would feel able, and would
in fact be able, to do more during the course of
the year. The salary of the pastor, too, should
not be left for settlement by a single payment
when the year ends: it should be placed in his
bands, by instalments, during the progress of the
twelve-month, —for in this case it would be less
burdensome, —it would even grow, without bur
dening any one. In these, and other matters
which will occur to the reader, let all act on the
principle, that nothing is done— done fully—but
that which the church does at many times— at
times which are not parted from each other by
the space of a whole year 1
P. S. Action in conformity with this princi
ple encounters many hindrances. One of these
was so admirably put by a speaker in the recent
National Baptist Convention, at St. Louis, that
we cannot refrain from allusion to it. When the
obstacles to Sunday school progress were under
discussion, he rose and delivered the following
speech:
“ Laziness^”
That one word was his entire speech; and it
strikes us as so apposite no less to our theme than
to his, that we do hereby adopt it as largely ex
plaining the once a-year policy, and say :
“ Laziness t ”
Why some Persons cannot see some Things.
The heart affects the eye. We are largely apt
to recognize in those around us only that which
we feel in ourselves. A quality may be so utter
ly quenched in the bosom of a man that he shall
be no longer able to see any mark of it in others.
And this, perhaps, is the clearest of all proofs
that it has been plucked up by the roots as it
were, and lies dead on a soil which has lost hence
forth the power to nourish it. A thousand in
stances might be cited to show how the last and
worst extreme of a feeling, or a want of feeling,
takes the shape of blindness as to its opposite—
a blindness none the less total because sharing
the character of the “willing ignorance” which
the apostle rebukes. But these, the thoughtful
reader can recall for himself.
To keep this truth in mind would serve to
check the disposition to censure others. If we
felt, as we should, that our failure to recognize
excellency in them, might be due to the lack of
their better qualities in our character, —that we
might be only lifting a veil from our own hearts
and showing their darker or weaker aspects, when
we pronounce judgment upon those around us,—
that when we condemn them we might be sim
ply, by an act of self-revelation, certifying our
want of sympathy with a higher type of mind
or a loftier mood of soul than ours—how many a
sharp and bitter word would die before it rose to
the lips l .
Queer Portrait of a Bishop.
A correspondent of the Home Monthly furnish
es “Pencil Sketches” of the Southern Method
ist bishops, as assembled, several weeks since, in
St. Louis. We quote a strange paragraph from
the delineation of Bishop McTveire—but advise
such of our readers as think there is sin in laugh
ter to pass it over:
“Take him all in all, he is a carious man, and
curious in that which makes no other man curi
ous ; he is a wonderful man, and wonderful in
that which makes no other man wonderful; he is
a polished man, and polished in that which pol
ishes no other man; he is a powerful man, and
powerful in that which gives power to no other
man; he is a great man, and great in that which
makes no other man great He will-live where
other men die, and flourish amid surrounding de
cay. His name will be fresh and green when the
names of others are forgotten. ‘Some men are
born great, others achieve greatness, and others
still have greatness thrust upon them.’ Bishop
McTyeire was born great. If he never achieves
greatness, it will be his fault; and if greatness is
ever thrust upon him, it will be done by a future
generation, and not by this. To be appreciated,
he must be looked at through several generations.
It is fortunote for him that there is a Methodist
ebutch, and fortunate for the church and the
world that he is a Methodist Bishop. He has no
exact type in any generation, or in any distinct
class of men. He is about a good cross between
Elijah and Daniel; between Socrates and Dio
genes; between Sam. Johnson and Carlyle; be
tween Andrew and St. James; and yet every
element and feature is recast, and comes out Mo-
Tyeire — sui generie."
Scarcely since characters were first drawn by
historians,—a species of composition beginning
(as Dr. Johnson supposed) with Xenophon’s “Re
treat of the Ten Thousand,’’—was there ever char
acter which we might more appropriately regard
aa having been not only drawn, but quartered
Intemperance and Discipline.
Several weeks since, we expressed a willing
ness to have the discipline of the churches, by
way of experiment, regulated according to the
rule which Dr. Pendleton lays down ; namely—
that members convicted of intemperance should
be excluded notwithstanding their confessions of
guilt and promises of amendment, and should be
come eligible to fellowship again, only when the
testimony of a reformed life bears adequate wit
ness alike to-their sincerity &nd stability. An
exchange characterized this position as “ex
treme,” and, not being ‘fully persuaded in our
own mind’ on the subject, we forbore to justify
it We are not about to enter on any justifica
tion now. Our purpose in taking up the pen was,
simply to mention that Dr. Nettleton—who, as a
Revivalist, could have no tendency toward ex
cessive rigor—gives his suffrage for the course ol
which we were willing to make trial. In bis let
ter to Dr. BeCcher, as published in the Spirit of
the Pilgrims, he says :
“A public confession of Intemperance, I think
is about nothing, and ought to go for nothing.
The only evidence of repentance in such cases, is
a continued course of entire abstinence from ar
dent spirits of every kind.”
Unsearchable Truth.
In the sun, as Herschell would have us believe,
there are mountains six hundred miles high. If
transported to their base, while clogged with
these forms of flesh, could we hope to clamber
upward along their steep ascents, until we stood,
at last, on the summit ? Perhaps, an adventur
ous spirit might prompt the attempt: but would
not our energies flag and our resolution fail us,
as days grew into weeks, and still the rugged
slopes stretched out above us, to task, if not to
baffle and defy, tbe toiling step?
But such a work as this lies more within reach
of human endeavor, than that undertaken by “the
cold Disputer of words styled Theology,” (if we
may borrow the phrase of Erasmus,) when it es
says, without the insight of the new heart and
the tuition of the Holy Spirit, to scale the heights
of Christian truth, in the character of God, the
scheme of redemption, and the economy of prov
idence. Here absolute impossibility bars the
vain aspiring. These mountains of the sun no
foot can ever ascend, and even no eye take in, un
til the flesh is dropped—if not as we shake it off
in death, yet as in the new birth it is shaken off.
Nay; only when the Divine Spirit—like the eagle
that “fluttereth gver her ymung, spreadeth abroad
her wings, tuketh them, beareth them on her
wings”—lifts us above ourselves and into His
own sphere, can we so much as descry from afar,
these inaccessible summits of light and glory.
Be it enough for us, then, that humble faith
grasps the certainty of these things as they fix
their firm foundation in the testimony of God;
and let others, if they will, chase the wandering
marsh-fires of proud speculation—or gaze, with
fruitless quest, on the stars, and stumble into the
slough of errors manifold.
Our Zion—in Our Exchanges, eto.
Georgia.
The Covington Enterprise states that Rev. W.
D. Atkinson has resigned the care of our church
there, and that Rev. D. E Butler has taken charge.
The pulpit of the First Baptist church, Atlan
••ta, was occupied, on Sabbath night, by Rev. Mr.
Bogden, a Nestorian, born in Bethlehem of Judea,
and agent for the relief of the 50,000 Cretan
refugees in Greece. . He gave a graphic account
of the sufferings of Eastern Christians under
Moslem tyranny. —The new house of worship,
in process of erection by our church at Carters
ville, is now being plastered.—Rev. M. J. 'Well
born has been called to the pastoral care of our
church at Nevvnan.— baptist church,
Atlanta, is plastering Its house of whordbip, to
make it comfortable in winter.
Alabama.
Rev. Mr. Morgan, formerly of England, whom
many of our readers will remember as having
been at the Southern Baptist Convention, Macon,
will settle in this State; where, we do not know.
—One student went on to our Seminary at Green
ville directly from the meeting of the State Con
vention at Oxford; and others will be there from
different parts of the State before Christmas.—
The Executive Board of the General Association
of North Alabama has appointed Rev. P. M. Mus
grove missionary within the bounds of the War
rior River Association and Rev. R. T. Gardner
evangelist at large.
Kentcfckt.
Rev. G. W. Harris, of Shelbyvillo, who has
been sick through the year, a long time with lit
tle hope of recovery, writes to the Richmond
Herald: “I never recovered from the effects of
my unrighteous imprisonment at Fort Delaware,
where, for a period of seven months, we civilians,
against whom no charge was alleged but that we
refused to take an oath of allegiance to a govern
ment at war with our own, were kept on insuffi
cient and sometimes loathsome food, in open
board sheds, through which the wind whistled
and the snow blew terribly, lying on boards, de
nied the privilege of a pallet of straw, even if
procured at our own expense, with one fire on an
average to one hundred and twenty men, with
other hardships too numerous to detail. My re
cent nine months’ illness is in great part due to
that seven months’ sufferings.”—Rev. P. S. G.
Watson and Rev. Baker, Lexington, propose
to publish a monthly, with the title, The Pro
phetio Key. We shall say more of it hereafter.
Louisiana.
A friend, just from New Orleans, informs us
that Rev. Dr. Dixon has visited that city, preach
ing with much acceptance in the Coliseum Place
Baptist church ; that he has been unanimously
called to the care of that church; and that he
has signified his purpose to accept the call. Ii
this information is correct, Greene street church,
Augusta, will lose him, notwithstanding the
announcement that he had decided to “pitch his
tent” there.
Marti, and.
Rev. John Berg writes to us from Baltimore,
Dec. 4th: “The Baptist churches of this city
have been bolding special services each night for
the past two weeks. Mr. Earle is expected to
visit Baltimore next Saturday, 11th inst.”
Mississippi.
Mrs. Frances Ann Lattimore, relict of the
well-known Rev. S. S. Lattimore of this State and
daughter of Rev. Lee Compere, died at North
Vernon, Indiana, Nov. Brd, in the fifty-first year
of her age.
Missouri.
Rev. J. M. 0. Breaker has been unanimously
called to the pastoral care of our church at Lib
erty.—Rev, W. R. Rothwell resumes charge of
the Huntsville church.—:>it Nebo church, Cooper
county, has had 15 accessions by baptism; Mt.
Olive, Centreville, Clay county, 88; Union
Hall church, Green county, 18.—At Dayton,
Cass county, a small town burned during the
war and since rebuilt, where a church was organ
ized last January with only a few members, there
were 19 accessions during a recent meeting.—L.
A. Thorp was ordained to the ministry, Nov. 7th,
at Rock Spring United Baptist church, Reynolds
county.
North Carolina.
A speaker in the Baptist State Convention said
that “the churches in this State and Virginia
ought to exclude 25 per cent, of their members.”
—There have been V baptisms at Society church,
Iredell countwlS at Eaton’s church, Davie
county; 19 at,’providence church, near Catawba
station. —Rev. *hn Mitchell has been called to
the care of ounhurch at Newbern.
JJouth Carolina.
W. D. Thompson was to have been ordained
to the ministrwit Union church, near Yorkville,
last Sabbath ;\pd, we presume, was.—Barnwell
Association n fie up $44, as a free-will offering
to sustain the %rking Christian. —The churches
of baptized nearly 400
during the ye* “There had been a revival at
all the misstorvWtions. In one case where only
sls of missioffvy money was expended, more
than thirty baptins were reported, and a flour
ishing church 1 s been constituted.” —Most of
>ur Associations n tbe'State, this year, reported
nearly double ti amount of their usual contri
butions, and sot .of them four-fold. —Rev. L. H.
Shuck, of Burnii 11, has been unanimously called
to the First cli rch, Charleston. Rev. R. Fur
man, D.D., has far recovered as to be able to
atteud tbe sessia of the Charleston Association,
a Texas.
The Raleigh worder states that Rev. T. E.
Skinner has ac(IR a
of the church awiusun.
f Tennxssgb.
Rev. J. M. D.w ates < > n the Tuscumbia Herald,
says of denomii**° n!| l affairs in Middle Tennes
see: According k the reports received from the
churches and Associations, it is evident Zion is
in a more condition than it has been
for years past lis true that the accessions to
our churches the present year aie not
very great, most of them have enjoyed
refreshings presence of tbe Lord, and
have been encou*g e d and strengthened spiritu
ally. There is n*v more life, energy and deter
mination manifeslpd by our brethren than has
been since the v nr. They are becoming more
and more interest*! in reference to the dissemi
nation of the trut in destitute portions of our
country. Our mi isiers have contended earnest
ly for the faith wt|ch was delivered to the Saints,
and exposed the dfitrines of false teachers. The
result of such poaching has been good; the
truth has been hei&i and received by many, the
members of our cAurehes are becoming rooted
and grounded in (bo doctrines of Christ, and
firmly united in faand practice. The increased
interest which ia hying manifested on the subject
of Sabbath schoolijknd weekly prayer meetings,
is a decided indication of life and energy in our
churches, and of fiture prosperity. In connec
tion with this, the pause of missions is revived,
missionaries are-befcg sent out to preach to the
destitute, and the brethren are determined to
sustain these servants of Christ whilst they are
laboring in destitute regions. New churches
have been constituted, and more young men are
preparing for the w«*k of the ministry than Ibave
been for many ytaripsst.—By a resolution of the
General Association cf East Tennessee there will
be a meeting at Ricevillo on the 25th of Decem
ber, for the purple of organizing a Sunday
School Convention, £to meet semi-annually ; the
object of which shall be to stir up the churches
to a lively action in fTiis work of Jesus.”
Virginia.
The Richmond Herald ‘gives its suffrage
against the compulsory introduction of the Bible
into schools.’ —The View Baptist house of wor
ship in Fulton, (the eastern terminus of Rich
mond.) was dedicatyi Sabbath, Nov. 28th: ser
mon by Rev. J. L. Burrows, D.D. Some sixty
persons propose to Ve organized into a church
there. —Rev. Lovell Earders, of Prince William
county, died Nov. 22m1, greatly esteemed by the
community.— been 22 at
LibeVtY, Carbine at Hunting Creek,
and 12 at Chestnut HTI, Bedford; 14 at Hebron,
King William; 18 at Fork, Fluvanna; 12 at
Woodlawn, Fairfax, (a church in a “house.”) —
Rev. H. W. Dodge, D.D., writes from Upperville:
“In this place I baptized an interesting young
lady a few weeks since, who, belonging to a Meth
odist family, has been counting the cost of union
with the church since our meeting in May last.
I am the more delighted to know, if any influence
was exerted, it came not from our side. Our
young people and our old people need the truth
more than education. Veins of thought they
can work with profit, as do our miners in coal
and gold. You will rejoice when I tell you that
this young lady makesHhe eleventh of oiy wife’s
Bible class who, during the year, have been added
to the church, und are walking worthy of their
profession.”
W est Virginia.
The West Virginia Baptist Record, (which, by
the way, we never see now-a-days,) has been con
siderably enlarged and improved by the editor,
Rev. Jno. B. Hardwicke, who has associated with
him Rev. C. Rhoadsvss-ftunday school editor.
Reviews and Notices.
Moral Philosophv ; or, The Science of Obligation.
By (Rev.) Janie* H. Fairchild, (D.D.,) President
of Oberlin College. New York : Sheldon & Cos.
Pp. 326. For sale, At ha it a, by J■ J. fS. P. Rich
ard*.
President Fairchild gives, in this work, the
most thorough delineation we have ever seen of
the system of ethics maintained by Edwards,
Hopkins and Dwight—in the form in which that
system has been taught at Oberlin from the be
ginning. He holds that .the well-being, satisfac
tion, happiness of sentient beings—beings en
dowed with sensibility-o-is the final, ultimate,
absolute good; that benevolence, or voluntary
regard for this good, li«3 at the foundation of
right moral character, and constitutes it; and
that all virtue or vice centres in making or refu
sing to make the choice, which fixes on this good
as the proper end or object of life. We do not
concur with Dr. FaircuilA in this view—but we
confess that wo are indebted to him for his lu
minous and logical presentation of it; and those
who des.re an exact knowledge of the system
will do well to consult fcjs pages. There are
references to the war and to the South, however,
(on pages 58 and 270-1,) which must restrict the
circulation of the volume among us.
Thb Dogmatic Faith. Inquiry into the Relation sub
sisting between Revelation and Dogma. The Bamp
ton (University of Oxlord)-Lectures for 1887. By
Edward (iarbett, M.A., Incumbent of Christ Church,
Surbiton. Second Edition. . Pubiisehd by the Kiv
ingtons, London; imported! and for sale by Smith,
English db Cos., Fkiiaddphui. Pp. 807.
These lectures maintain the existence of a con
sistent body of truth, docttinal and practical, ne
cessary to make men “wise unto salvation”—a
frith, in contrast, not but with sight
and sense—a eomplete faith, given “once for all,”
and admitting neither of addition nor of diminu
tion—an authoritative faith, because a revelation
from God, “delivered," not discovered, and there
fore changeless as the God from whom it comes.
This faith is defended, in Six lectures, from the
Protean arguments of modem Rationalism, which
ascribes the production, progress and results of
Christianity to (1) the influence of a ministerial
or priestly class, (2) the force of a natural reli
gious sentiment, (3) the discoveries of the intui
tional faculty, (4) the conclusions of the specula
tive intellect, (5) the accumulative power of a pro
gressive civilization, or (0) the instincts of human
conscience. The author shows (1) that the dog
matic faith is no creation of the church, (2) that
it is not indebted for its influence to the instinc
tive sentiment of religion, (8j that its truths are
Dot the spontaneous discovery of the human
mind, (4) that its sUtteuenU do not mt oa the
same basis as the results of speculative philoso
phy, (5) that it is not a mere passive result of a
civilization far advanced equally for good and
evil, and (6) that it is not a subordinate instru
ment of instruction over which the natural con
science rules as an authoritative judge. The work
is thorough and of great value.
We take pleasure in commending to the pat-
ronage of our readers, the firm of Smith, Eng
lish & Cos., Philadelphia, who (with Gould & Lin
coln, Boston,) have imported an edition of the
“Dogmatic Faith” for the American market The
present members of the firm, Messrs. J. A. Eng
lish and E. D. Collom, are active Christian busi
ness men, and they are both Baptists. They have
on hand the most complete stock of Theological
and Religious works in the country, are able to
procure all books issuing from the homo or for
eign press, and are in the way of obtaining any
rare publications which may come into the mar
ket from public or private libraries. Rev. W. T.
Brantly, D.D., of this city, from personal acquaint
ance, and the Professors in the Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary, Greenville, from business
transactions with them, unite in the assurance
that they will give courteous and prompt atten
tion to orders or requests, and deal with all par
ties in a spirit of justice and liberality. Their
Priced Catalogue, issued in 1566, and the three
annual supplements since that date, will be for
warded on application to any who may desire it.
Blackwood’s Edisburoh N»w York.
The Leonard Scon Publishing Company. Terms.
$4 a year; with any one ot ihe British Quarterlies.
$7; with the toer Quarterlies, slfl.
Contents for November.—l. Earl’s Dene— Pari
I. 2. The Jewish Reformation and the Talmud.
3. Cornelius O'Dowd, (Dr. Cuuiming and the
Council, —The Claims of the Fenians.) 4. The
Land Question of Ireland. 5. John—Part I.
6. Saint-Eloy-surles-Dunes. 7. The Faroese Saga.
8. Scotland in Parliament: the Poor-Law In
quiry.
The North British Review. Publishers and term*
as in notice ot Blackwood.
Contents for October.— l. Juventus Mundi.
2. Ihe Massacre of St. Bartholomew. 8. The
Different Schools of Elementary Logic. 4. Mr.
Browning’s Latest Poetry. 5. The Pope and the
Council. 6. The Constitutional Development ot
Austria. 7. Literature of the Land Question in
Ireland. 8. Contemporary Literature, (anew
and valuable feature, containing, in this isttue,
notices of 71 recent publications.)
Destitution in Alabama.
Rev. Dr. Manly reports to the Richmond
Herald, the discussion on this topic in the State
Convention at Oxford, as follows:
Brother Mclntosh, of Marion, Perry county,
said that there was, in the range of his personal
labors, a greater depression in religious affairs
than he had ever known before, in a ministry ol
over thirty years. The churches and the Asso
ciations have been thinly attended. Within easy
teach of Marion there are half a dozen churches,
once vigorous and active, now without pastors,
and dying or dead.
Brother Shaffer, of Carey Association, Clay
county, said that there was, doubtless, much true
piety in his section of the country, but in a very
sa d condition. Os twenty-live churches, seven
have lost regular preaching during last year and
the year before. Some of these had been once
quite prospeiouß, but are now very poor. The
war destroyed them. All the men of that sec
tion had to go to the war. Many never returned,
and this has left half our membership widows
and orphans. The people being poor, and the
preachers poor, too, the latter have been com
pelled to use a large part of their time in some
secular pursuit, to make a living. And this con
dition of things is growing worse and worse.
But there are some churches able and willing to
help the others. We have employed a missiona
ry, and he is doing some good. There are about
six Sunday schools in the Association. The Bap
tists are the prevailing people;—it is generally so
in the hill country.
Brother- Garden , (Shelby Association,) has been
laboring voluntarily as a missionary. Between
Columbia and Montevallo, embracing the Cahaba
Valley, there is a region about twenty by fifteen
miles, in which there was, in 1868, not a single
Baptist church. Limeville, Shelby Iron Works,
and Shelby Springs, are all important destitute
points. While men slept, the enemy has been
sowing tares. We have prayed over the matter,
and tried to do what we could. There are some
what brighter prospects now. I have been in
four meetings this year, in which there were fifty
conversions. One great evil is drink. I know of
one body that has the name of a church, but no
pastor, no meetings; but there are three flour
ishing groceries within half a mile. The mis
sionary went to preach there, after circulating
the notice. About twenty-five hearers came out
almost all women and children, only three or
four men. Brethren Hand and Armstrong went,
and they had but one single man to hear them.
The church members will not attend their own
meetings, —but the groceries thrive.
Brother Waldrop, (Canaan Association.) The
great drawback in our country is the want of
ministers. There is no division or contention.
We are not starving. It is not so much the lack
of piety, or of means, as of men to work. There
are but two active ministers in our Association,
which was once a strong body. We have a few
good old brethren almost worn out, and no young
ones scarcely coming forward. I have been liv
ing there over fifty years—ever since Alabama
was a Territory—and am travelling most of my
time to and fro, preaching the gospel. I want
the brethren to do something for Elyton. It will
be a place of some importance, and that before
long. Once the Baptists had a little church
there; and there is a good old brother Byars
living there, so superannuated and feeble that he
don’t know his own family, but he loves Jesus,
and preaches about Him to everybody that comes
in. And there are two or three other members,
but no organization. Everything has been slum
bering there for the last twenty years. That
region is now waking up. Two railroads of im
portance will centre there. The mineral resour
ces of that valley are inexhaustible and wonder
ful. Twelve monied men from Pennsylvania
were to bo at Elyton last week, and the iron and
coal will draw the capital into that region. Shall
we sit still and let everybody come before us in
the ground that was once ours? As to Sunday
schools, we have some good ones; but there are
few that hold out long with us. We sometimes
make a start —get up a little school; it struggles,
and struggles awhile, and finally dies, and it is
only harder to start again. And that is about
the history. The ministers that were there be
fore the war, are not there. Our preachers have
not quit their work. There are three old men
that cannot labor; but cf the rest, some have
moved away, and most have died ; and there are
no new ones coming on. But one licentiate is
coming forward, that I know of. The Warrior
Association, just north of us, has about twenty
ministers, while we have only about five or six.
They are pressing forward, and spreading out, to
take that country. They have been trying to do
something towards educating their young minis
ters. The great fault in our country is, we have
too many little perishing concerns, with nobody
to take care of them; and they are not strong
enough to take care of themselves.
Brother Phillips, of Africa: I hear of great
destitution here at home, in Christian lands; of
the increase of vice, of strong churches going
down, of their being reduced to twenty or fifteen
members, of their not being able to pay pastors.
Why is all this ? It is said that Romanism is on
the increase—that the Jesuits are creeping in
that the Bisters of Charity are strengthening
themselves in our finest regions. Brethren, let
us learn a lesson'from their activity and self-sac
rifice. See how they visit the poor, attend to
their wants, give to those that are in distress,
while Baptists sit down—and because they know
they have the truth, fold their hands—and say:
“ Truth is mighty and will prevail.” Is reiigion
retrograding in the world? Romanism certainly
is on the increase. Vice is certainly on the in
crease. Why do we ait still? Why can’t we
put our hands into our pockets and get out that
ten cents a week ? Ten cents a week from each
Alabama Baptist would sustain a whole army of
missionaries. But with four-fifths of our mem
bership, the destitution culls out neither prayer,
nor action, nor giving. Our charities are being
dried up in this way every day. Here and there we
get up a protracted meeting. We are going to
have a mighty praying time we say. We pray
and preach and sing for about eight or ten days.
And, if we are to judge by the results, we would
conclude that pastor and people all had got
enough religion laid up in store do them a whole
year. We meet and talk about these things, we
mourn over the destitution and the drunkenness,
the superstition and the increasing error, and we
put our hands in our pockets and—let them stay
there! Let us all turnout to be missionaries—
not only be in favor of somebody else going as a
missionary, but go as missionaries ourselves, right
he*e, and now, to our country and people. Let
us do as the missionaries do with the gospel in
foreign lands—talk about it all the time, work all
day and every day.
A Yisit to the Churches.
I have just returned from a visit to the
churches at Bethlehem and Dublin, Laurens
county. Our congregation at Bethlehem, on
last Friday evening, was large, considering
the inclemency of the weather. 1 had the
pleasure of forming the acquaintance of brother
Joseph Smith, the almost idolized pastor of
that church, and found him to be a very agree
able Christian gentleman. I preached in Dub
lin on Saturday, at eleven o’clock, and again
at candle-light. During the conference, held
immediately after the morning sermon, a gen
tleman, whom we will call Judge D., related
the most affecting experience of grace, that 1
remember ever hearing. He. arose and ad
dressed the church, as near as 1 can remem
ber, in the following words : “ Brethren,
with much embarrassment, I come before
you. I was once a member of your church.
I came here as a penitent; believing fully
that I was not converted, l demanded baptism
at your hands, with the hope that that ordi
nance and membership would aid me in corn
ing in possession of the pearl ot great prio«.
You granted my request. 1 remained with I
you awhile. But, ah! soon it happened to
me, according to the true proverb, ‘ The 9ow
that wa 3 wushed has returned to her wallow
ing in the mire !’ I again rolled in sin. Yes,
became a worse sinner than before. It appears j
to me that I was the worst sinner in the coun
try. It became necessary for you to expel
me from your church. But I trust God has
since then called me from nature’s darkness,
to the marvellous light of the Gospel, as it i.*
in His dear Son. There is one thing 1 know,
‘ that w hereas 1 was blind, now I see.’ I know
a change has taken place. ‘Old things have
passed away ; all things have become new.’
During my prodigality I did not read the
Bible, but took pleasure in sin ; now my de
light is in ‘ the law of the Lord, and in that law
do I meditate, day and night.’ lam deter
mined, by God’s help, to serve Him the rem
nant of my days on earth. I beg you, breth
ren, to receive me into your number, but not j
as an expelled member. I wish you to re
ceive me as anew member. When I was
baptized I was not a believer in Christ; now,
1 trust, I believe. Please give me a believer’s
baptism.” It is hardly necessary for us to
add, that this brother was unanimously re
ceived by the church, and baptized on the
following morning.
We had service again in the church, on
Sunday at eleven o’clock. The congregation
wa* large and attentive. We were called on
to attend the funeral ot sister Guyton, a mem
ber of long standing in the Dublin church, at
four o’clock, Suboath evening. Sister Guy
ton was much beloved in Dublin. She was
recognized as a Christian lady, and we feel
sure that our loss is her eternal gain. There
is no more pain aud suffering lor her, but
peace, happiness, comfort and felicity waits
her forever and forever. Dublin is a pleasant
little tovtn, situated on the west bank of the
Oconee River, in a delightful and healthy
country. The town and adjoining neighbor
hoods arc principally under Baptist influence,
there being but a small Methodist oiiuron in
the place. The members of our church ap
pear to be warm hearted, devoted, working
Christians. We never received a more cor
dial welcome at any place than in Dublin.
We mu9t close, as we have already occu
pied more space expected when? w e
began. Please pardon our prolixity.
W. L. GrXIOSB.
No*. KM, 1669.
News From the Field.
Early in the past mouth, I stopped at Rev.
J. J. Hyman’s, Glasscock county, Georgia.
He settled there a few years since. He
teaches school, an J preaches so four churches.
He will not preach to a church that does not.
keep up a Sunday school. He is a great
worker, and has done much in building up the
churabes in his field. It is a poor, piny-woods
section. 1 think I have neverlnet with any
one man, who can do as much as he does. He
has a large family of children, and four pa
rents to maintain. The parents are his father
and mother, and his wife’s father and mother.
All are nearly helpless. He and his wife are
cheerlul and happy. He labors publicly every
day ; teaches five, and preaches two, each
week. He is a living type of the strength
and capacity of man. His churches are try
ing to increase their pay to him, so that he
may not be compelled to teach school. They
are now taking religious papers, for them
selves and children, and have arranged to put
stoves in their meeting houses. Our city
preachers do but little, comparatively with
our brethren in the country. Yet those in
the city, receive much more pay than a like
talent in the country. Those in the city do
not get too much, but those in the country
get far too little. 1 had a very pleasant time
with them, and hope ere long to make them an
other visit. The people in this section were
recently visited by a Universalist preacher.
But they say they like the good, old fashioned
Baptist doctrine much better. Many asked
to be remembered in my prayers. May the
Lord bless them all, aud bring them to Christ.
F. M. Haygood.
Mown, Ga , Dee. 1.1860.
A Pastor’s Field.
Rev. J. M. Muse, Sand Hill, Ga., writes:
I have no religious news of much interest.
All the churches I have charge of this year,
have had some accessions, 'l'he congregations
have been large, orderly and attentive, and in
some churches much interest is manifested.
At one, the last of August, 32 professed faith,
and only two united with the church. The
interest is still great in the neighborhood.
The brethren keep up a weekly prayer meet
ing, in the settlement, which 1 hope, and be
lieve, will result in great good. Permit me,
in the language of a mail of God, to say, “ Oh !
that men would praise the Lord for His good-
Dess, and His wonderful works, towards the
children of men,” by meeting and praying
with and for one another. Anciently “ they
that feared the Igord, spake often one to an
other, and the Lord hearkened and heard, and
a book of remembrance was written for
them,” Where His people meet in love, the
Lord meets with them, Do, brethren, be
lieve ill If so, let all churches meet often in
prayer, and try Him, and see if He will not
pour them out a blessing. J. M. Muss.
Sand Bill, Ga., Nov. tilth, 1869.
A Parting Qttrd*
You will please suspend my Index and
Baptist, after your issue of the 2d of Decem
ber prox., as 1 expect to leave with my family
for West Texas, about the 10th of the month.
1 feel too sad to attempt an expression of my
feelings, upon the eve of my departure, from
among churches and brethren in Georgia, and
especially my ministering brethren, with
whom 1 have lived and labored for the last
thirty years, on terms of the happiest fraternal
intercourse. But 1 go, hoping to find relief
from a persistent vertigo, arising from an old
dyspeptic habit, which has followed me for the
last twenty years. My hope of relief is based
upon the fact, that when 1 travelled in Texas
in the summer of 1867, I found immediate,
perfect and permanent relief, so that, for two
months, while there, 1 experienced not the
slightest disturbance of my stomach. My
correspondents will write no more to me un
til 1 give them notice, through the Index and
Baptist, from my new home, in Texas. I
beg an interest in the prayers of my Georgia
brethren. Yours in Gospel bonds,
W. J. Blewstx.
ThomcuvilU, Get.
Items.
Education. —Dr. Howard Maloom says:
“We Baptists have swung from neglecting
ministerial education to tiegbcting an unedu
cated ministry.” We should be sorry to
think it.
Frkk Will Baptists. —The denomination
now comprises 1,375 cnurohes, and 60,091
communicants, an increase of 97 churches and
5,447 oommunicants during the past year.
Loobb. —Warren Association, R. 1., after
adopting “ strict communion” resolutions, ap
pointed, as the preacher of the introductory
sermon next year, R«v. Dr. Stockbridge, who
confesses, freely and publicly, his adherence
to loose communiou.
High Churohism. —A writer in the Louis
ville Observer dc Commonwealth, (Southern
Presbyterian), says: “ The High Churchism
of Presbyterians is worae than that of Epis
copalians.”
CoNPlßUatiob. —Rev. Dr. Anderson, when
in Berlin, met with a document written by a
pastor in that city, “ appealing for sympathy
for the poor, in which he naively admits that
several of those whom he has confirmed du
ring the past two or three years were known
by him to be liars and thievos, and some of
them were even addicted to worst crimes.”
The “ Laitt”in the Church.—“Theques
tion of the admission of theiaity of theChuroh
of England to a share in the government of the
church seems to be rising in importance. It
is said that upwards of fifty clergymen have
met the Archbishop of Canterbury, to discuss
the expediency of parochial meetings of tho
clergy and laity for the purpose of consider
ing diocesan matters.”
Strange Choicr ot a Homb.—Rev. Dr.
Tuttle, Episcopal bishop of Montana, will re
side at Salt Luke City.
Compliments. —Bishop Williams, of Con
necticut, instructs the Churchman to omit
from its dioOesau news all compliments of
himself or his services, on the ground that if
deserved, they are needless; if not deserved,
they are false; and in either case they are su
perfluous.
Baptism. —The Arkansas (Southern Meth
odist,) Conference reports for the year 504 in
fant, and 1,111 adult baptisms.
Reading Sbrmons. —The recent National
Local Preaohers’Convention, (Northern Meth
odist,) deplored the practice of reading ser
mons, as “an injurious innovation, rendering
the truth of God less effective, and robbing
the Methodist pulpit of what wo believe to
have been in the past its chief cleraontof sue
cess—extempore preaching.”
| Relics.—ln reference to tho reputed relics
of some saiuts said to have been murdered in
the reign of Diocletian, sent by the Pope to
the Romanists of Montreal, the bishop ot that
city says, iu substance : By having their bones
here, we have also the benefit of their presence,
as the saints, although never losing sightof
heaveu, like to be near where their bones are.
Papal Blasphemy. —Archbishop Manning,
uses this language, in speaking of tin: Pope:
i “ The Roman Pontiff that is, the whole
Church of God, for it is all contained in him,
and where the head acts all act with hnn.’
Again, he puts in the mouth of the Holy
Father the following modest assumption: “I
claim to bn the supreme judge a id director
of" the consciences of men —ofihc
tills the fields, and the prince that sits oil tho
throne; of the household that lives in the
shade of privacy, and the legislature that
makes laws for kingdoms. lam the sole, last,
supreme judge of what is right and wrong."
Univbrsalism. —Rev. O. B. Frothingbtfir.
New York, iu his sermon on the Avon :ale C0,.1
mine disaster, which smothered to death 150
workmen, said : “God is a Universalist. He
means that all men shall go to heaven. He
uses two methods for getting them there. Ou
the one hand He invites, on the o:h«r He
compels.”
Decline. —“lt was publicly stated in the
Kentucky ‘Campbelliie’ Miss unary Sooety,
at its last annual meeting, that iu one county,
from which thirteen hundred additions had
been reported, there was but one church in
the county, and that one orgatiiaed within the
last year.”
Numbers. —At the American Missionaiy
Society, (“Campbellite”) held in Louisville, a
member from Ohio said that they had claimed
forty thousand Disciples in his State but that
when they made an estimate there were only
twenty-eight thousand. Dr. Pinkerion said
that it was claimed that there were seventy
thousand disciples in Kentucky, but that to
the best of his knowledge, and ho had known
them long and well, thirtgfivi thousand would
be much nearer the mark.
A Mormon Congregation. —Rev. Way
land Hoyt, who visited the Tabernacle, Salt
Lake City, writes : How does the congrega
tion look 1 Such a gathering together of
stolid, unillumined ignorance, l will defy you
to find outside of Utah ; such u brutal, bullish,
domineering aspect iu the men, such a hope
less, helpless, pitiable, slavish appearance in
the women. 1 have seen the most degraded
gatherings which Water Street in New York
can show ! 1 never looked upon such beasts
in human shape as when I stood surrounded
by Brigham and his apostles. Keen, cute,
long headed looking men they were, but
“ earthly, sensual, devilish.”
Soibnob and Infidelity. —Prof. Agassi*,,
in opening his course of lectures at Harvard,
this session, remarked that “he wished no
student as a member of his olass who accepted,
the correctness of the Book of Genesis, as 16
is written.”
Thb Last Extreme ot AbsTThdity.- A cor
respondent of the (Adventist) Crisis, asks:
“Where was the divine nature of Cnrist,
while He was under the power of death 1 Did
He sleep in the grave, or did His divino;na
ture asQend to heaven t It is said God is im
mortal, and cannot die.” The editor replies,
shockingly : “ It is not proper to speak oflho
divine nature of Jesus as an entity, or being,
that could live as such while He was dead, any
more than it would be proper to speak of the
humanuature as something that lives by itself
when the man is dead, The simple Bible
story reads that “Jesus died and rose again,”
and this Paul requires us to believe, 1 The**.
iv:H. If only His physical organism died,
then we have in Him ouly a humuu sacrifice.”
Jewish Chronology.'-— I The Hebrew com
munity of London have been admonished by
the Rabbi to desist from tho practice of in
scribing the Christian year upon the tomb
stones of their relatives, in addition to the
Mosaic year, as in this manner they impliedly
recognize the Christian era.
Schism (?). —Says the N.Y. Observer: “An
Episcopal clergyman informed us a few day*
ago that five Bishops of the Protestant Epis
copal church are prepared to unite w ith the
clergy of the Evangelical party in forming a
new church organization.” Dr. Tyng think*
the separation of High and Low r church inev
itable.
Assault and Battery.—A presiding elder
is under arrest iu Michigan for assault and
battery, he having suatched a pipe out of th«
mouth of ous of his audience.