Newspaper Page Text
itflllßjlAN INDEfAND SfeTH-WESTERN BAPTIST.
VOL, 49 —NO. 6.
■A RELIGIOUS AND FAMILY PAPER,
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN ATLANTA, GA
THUMB.—Clubs of Four, ($3.00 each) per annum...sl2oo
Clubs of Three, ($3.33 each) per annum... 10.00
Clubs of Two, (3.00 each) per annum 7.00
Single Subscriber LOO
JT. J. TOON, Proprietor.
The Builder*.
All are of Fate,
Working in tbes? walls of Time;
Some with mass'.Ye deeds and great,
Some with orosbionta of rhyme.
Nothing useless is, or low ;
Each ihing in its place is best;
And wbat sterns but idle show
Strengthens and supports the rest.
For the structure that we raise,, •_«, #
Time is with materials filled ;
Our to duya and yesterdays
W Are the blocks witl, which we build.
mSK
Truly shape and fashion these;
; ... ■ ~-**;■ ([ttHfi* "“ yawning gaps between;
Think notvbocauHe rio man sees,
Hueh tbingskwill remain unseen.
Iu tlio fdtU>wdsjS of~STtf y,
m thiXfers wrought with greater
Each and unseen part;
For the Gods see everywhere.
Lot us do onr work as well,
.Both the unseen and the seen ;
Make the house, where Gods may dwell,
Beautiful, entire and clean.
Else our lives are incomplete,
Standing in these walls of Time,
Broken stairways, where the feet
• Stumble as they seek to climb.
Build to-day, then, strong and sure,
With a firm and ample base;
% And ascending and secure
i ; ; jßg Shall to-morrow lind its place.
Thus jtlone can we attain
To fiioso turrets, where the eye
Sees the world as one vast plain,
And oife boundless reach of sky.
LoHf/tlloW.
The First and Last Draught of
Fishes. —Luke v: Jr—ll; Johnxxi: 1 —23.
Thre« times did our Lord make the circuit
of Gal I dec in His ministry. These cases of
the miraculous draughts of fishes lie, the
first at the beginning of His public ministry,
and the last after His resurrection from the
dead. The fiist represents the work of preach
ing the gospel; casting the gospel net: the se
cond, the gathering of God’s people from all
nations into the kingdom of glory.
The place of these two draughts of fishes was
the same; the sea of Gallilee, so often men
tioned in the gospel. That beautiful, deep
lake, surrounded by high hills,"through which
the Jordan flows front North to South, Its
waters are very clear and sweet, and contain
various kinds of excellent fish, in great abun
dance. Peter, James and John were fisher
men upon this lake.
Here vast crowds attended the preaching
of Jesus. No house would hold them, and
He was compelled to drjiw them out upon
the beach. Hut as they pressed Him here,
He entered Peter’s fishing boat, and prayed
Him to thrust out a little from the land.
Here Ilis position was grand: the heavens
above Him, the. waters of the sea beneath
Him, and the people on the land whose souls
He came to save.
Dr. Jos. An gus, in his comments on these
draughts of the fishes, says: “Through Peter’s
ready compliance with the request of our
Lord, tie had been eAsiiied to tt&Uf.t tftc pen 1
pie, uninterrupted by the pressure of the
crowd who attended to hear Him. In return,
perhaps, for this civility, our Lord bade Pe
ter push out into the deep water, and to lot
down Iris nets fora draught; designing, as
has been said, to take the fisherman in His
net.” To this suggestion Peter replied that
they had been all night laboring without sue
cess; but, added he, with the beginning of no
feeble faithjvvorking in him, “ Nevertheless, at
thy word I will down the net.’’ This act of
faith was immediately rewarded, for they in
closed a multitude of fishes, so that the net
began to break, and the boatmen were obliged
to beckon to their partners to come to their
help. This miraculous act (miraculous in its
knowledge) became to the fishermen a sign
of a higher presence than they had yet recog
nized, filling them with astonishment and
fear. And with other feelings, too. Peter
yields freely to the impulse of the moment,
and as he first saw the highest glory of his
Saviour, so now he is the first to confess his
own sinfulness: “Depart from me, for 1 am
a sinful man, O Lord.”
The alarm of God’s presence! Have you
felt it? Do you feel it to day 1 Men may
hear about God and feel no fear, but when
they realize His presence they are alarmed.
He is ever present, and sinners well may know
it, and be alarmed until they recognize a
loving trust in Jesus. Since the time when
Adam and Eve were alarmed at the voice of
God in the garden, where they had sinned,
have men ieared the divine presence. It
leads to conviction, a dread of deserved
wrath. It was the judgment of ancient times
that none could see God and live. Isaiah
confessed uncleanness of lips when he saw
“the King, the Lord of hosts.” When once
men’s eyes see Hirn, “they either abhor
themselves and repent in dust and ashes, or
in despair they cry to the rocks to cover
them, it is in God’s light that men see them
selves and feel their guilt.”
In Jesus, who fills up the distance between
us and God, and veils the insupporluble glo
ries of the Divine to our weak eyes, God
may be seen with joy. So our Lord taught
Peter. “He admits his confession of guilt,
but bids him lay aside his tear; intimating
that in the living manifestation of God in
Christ, the near approach of the Holy One is
not only supportable, but ever refreshing.
‘ Fear not,’ says He, 1 for henceforth thou
shait catch men’—clothing His promise in the
language of the craft with which Peter was
familiar —and when they had brought the
ships to land, they forsook all and followed
II im.” Here was the fisherman’s farewell to
His employment, and at the time when it
was most prosperous, that he might engage
in the higher service of Christ’s gospel king
dom. He is now both converted and
called to the ministry. The power of
Christ upon Peter, in changing him from a
fisherman to an apostle of Cod’s grace, was
a greater [miracle than the strange draught
of fishes. And when, by the preaching of
Peter, three thousand souls were converted
in one day and added to the church, then the
type of this great draught of fishes was
abundantly fulfilled. It was a great and joy
ful day when Peter and the others left all to
follow* Jesus. After eighteen hundred years
in heaven, it is still an increasing joy. You
may say that the world, to them, was not
much; they had but little. True, but they
had worldly affections, and that, to them, was
as much and as hard to forsake as it can be
to you. O, there is a blessedness in leaving
ail worldly affections for the love and service
of Christ!
Such was the power of our Lord’s first
showing of Himself on the L ike of Tiberias,
that Peter, James and John left, all to follow
Him.
11. W e now turn to llis last miracle on
this sea—John xxi: 1-23. Here, again, He
is said to have shown Himself to His disci
pies: revealed to them His spiritual invisi
bility. In Christ Jesus was the fullness of
Divinity, and llis miracles were an unveiling
of His glory; a “ showing of Himself.”
FRANKLIN PRINTING HOUSE/ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, JB7O.
i This last draught of fishes was also on the
sea of Gallilee, and the same disciples, with
others, were present.
After our Lord’s crucifixion, the disciples
went to Gallilee ; first, because lie had prom
ised to meet them there; and, second, be
cause it was their early home. Here they
returned to their former employment for the
present. f'ur wants are to be supplied
through our own voluntary and active em
ployment. When rtghtif employed iri secu
lar business, men are serving God as really
as when employed in religious duties, and
■vill-equally meet His approbation.
There are many, points of resemblance be
tween this oecasTon and the former one.
Here, again, they had a night of fruitless toil.
“At the early dawn Jesus stood on the shore
•s&d fisked alter their success.” They confess
theirfailure. The first step towards being
blessed, is self-helplessness. Then said He,
“ Cast the net on the right side df the ship
and ye shall find.” And so they did find ;
“a multitude of fishes”—of great, fishes, “a
hnndred and fifty-three.” “On the former
occasion some of the fish were lost,” say a
Dr. Angus; “here all There,
Ifii T mirli Dei 'm not fwfct Us, arid
were taken were both good and badhere,
everything is fixed, and the fish that were
taken were all preserved.” This repre
sents the glorious ingathering of the redeemed
into the kingdom of the Father, while the
first represented the gathering of the good
and bad into the gospel net. Here, iu the,
last miracle after the labor, “a meal of thq.
Lord’s preparing, and symbolical, probably,’
of the great festival in heaven, with which he'
will refresh His servants when they sit down
with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the
kingdom of God.”
When Jesus thus “showed Himself,” His
disciples knew “that it was the Lord.” Min
isters must know Christ Jesus before they
can testify to others ; and when they follow
His directions, they will have abundant evi
dence of the truth of His word. Then tbpy
can speak to others, on the great eoncerngkif
salvation, of what they know, and testify to
what they have seen of the manifestations of
His power and grace.
From these Scriptures we rnav conclude:
First. That the work of the church is com
pared to fishing. She is a spiritual fishing
union. Her work is to cast the gospel net
for ail sorts of sinners—the very wicked and
the moral, the rich and poor, the young and
old. Her great aim is the souls of men for
the glory of Jesus. This she seeks by all
proper means; prayer, preaching, ordinances,
Sunday schools, missions, individual effort,
personal consecration and personal appeal.
She is to gather and welcome all to her wor
ship, and still ever reaching out for more
from the great sea of human beings. She is
a receiver, but more a dispenser of good
things. Nut a combination of stockholders
for their own benefit alone; not merely*a
charitable institution, to dispense aims, tor
comfort or pleasure; but a working society,
a fishing establishment. The law of mem
borship is, if any will not work, neither should
he eat.
Second. Ministers are the, chief fishermen,
but having the cooperation of all the crew*.
They may, when stern necessity demands, do,
temporarily,other things; as farming,trading,
teaching* labor;, but. without.
necessity, they must give themselves “con
tinually to prayer, and to the ministry of the
word.” They must study to show them
selves approved unto God.
Sometimes they must endure discourage
ments, toiling all night and taking nothing,
but they must not despond ; holding them
selves ever ready to obey : “ Nevertheless, at
thy word we will let down the net.” Then
in His own time ihe great multitude shall be
gathered. We may trust the “net,” for
since Jestis rose it is unbroken.
When the toil is past, then comes the feast
in glory with the redeemed of all ages. Will
you (is the personal application) be one of
that definite number drawn up to heaven 1
The “net” of redeeming love is spread;
enter it now ! S. Landrum.
Centralization and Southern Baptists.
I regard the recent tendency among Bap
tists to concentrate and simplify our machine
ry for doing good, as a favorable omen. But
1 am by no means sure that the suggestion of
H. E. TANARUS., in your issue of 13th January, that
the Baptists of the United States should have
but “one Board of Missions, Domestic and
Foreign,” is a wise one. Is centralization in
itself, and under all circumstances, a blessing'?
And does it afford, always, the best means
for promoting tho cause of Christ? If yea,
then it strikes me that the Baptists should
not only do away the D. M. Board, and For
eign Mission Board of the S. B. Convention,
but with the Convention itself, and all the
State Conventions, Associations and churches
of the South. Nor stop here, but blot out
the Missionary Union with its appliances, the
State Conventions, Associations and churches
at the North. Nor stop at this, but pursue
the work of demolition throughout the world,
and on these ruins erect a great Baptist Cath
olic organization, (l will not say church,) that
shall cover the earth, whose “one Board of
Missions, Domestic and Foreign,” shall be
located in some vast central city of the world.
Now, I think I know brother 11. E. T. well
enough to be assured that he, as well as every
other Baptist, would shrink in dismay from
the legitimate tendency of his own sugges
tion. That .Jesus established separate, inde
pendent churches, is, to my mind, suggestive.
Why should He have done this, if a mam
moth organization were better? Centraliza
tion, to a certain extent, is useful. To a
greater extent, dangerous. Carried far enough,
it breaks down under its own weight.
1 do believe that more than one good rea
son can be given for having “ more than one
Board of Missions, Domestic and Foreign,
in the United States.” 1 do think the Board
of the. S. B. Convention can, at this time, ac
complish more good in the South, and through
Southern Baptists, than one Board that shall
cover the United States. The time may
come, (I doubt it, however,) when H. E.
T.’s suggestion would be wise; but that time
is not yet. Nor can it be hastened without
danger of defeating the object sought. I
would not say a word or raise a finger to
prevent the growth of Christian affection and
fraternal union between Baptists North and
South. I rejoice to see, as l t .ink 1 do, pro
gress in that direction. But there is such a
thing as healing a wound too speedily, and
therefore not soundly. Give time. Let
remedies already applied and working well,
accomplish their results. Apply not undue
and untimely pressure. It is because lam
anxious that the wound shall be soundly—
thoroughly healed, that I thus write. And
when that shall be done, as I trust it will be,
then shall we be better able to judge of the
wisdom of having only “ one Board of Mis
sions, Domestic and Foreign in'the United
States.”
i am slow to believe that any Baptist heart
pleads “ for sectional effort ” for merely sec
tional feeling; or “ would keep up the old
geographical bounds ” for unholy purposes,
Ido not know such. I can understand that
some hearts may conscientiously believe it
to be for the glory of God, for the present,
at least, to have more than “ one Board,
Dom. and For., in the United States;” and,
so believing, can look with complacency on
the pity with which 11. E. T. may regard
them, and upon the numbering of their days.
Baptists, in olden time, were used to having
their days numbered for conscience’ sake.
The old martyr spirit is not entirely dead.
Brother H. E. T. might have spared that
threat. It did not strengthen his suggestion.
It did not scare anybody. D. G. D.
Deaconesses.
“ I commend unto you Phoebe, our sister,
which is a servant, (deaconess,) of the church
which js at Cenchrea,” Rom. 16: 1. “Even
so must their wives, (the women,) be grave,
not slanderers, sobeg, faithful in all things.”
I Tim. 3: 11, 12. I have not hitherto allud
ed to outside testimony, but it may not be
amiss to say that Pliny, the Roman procura
tor, in his celebrated letter to the emperor
Trajan, mentions deaconesses, as specially
prominent Christians in his province.
“Among the persons named in the saluta
tions,” at the close of the Epistle tq the, Ro
man’s, “we find a large proportion of women ;
PrisciU&jMftrx, Trvphena, Trypiiora r Persia,
Julia, and perhaps J uni*. The circumstances
mentioned in connection with them, as well
as with ff*ha»be, show the important part
Which women took in the labors of the prim
itive church.” “ I beseech you, brethren,
(yte.know the household of Stephanas, that it
is the first fruits of Achaia, and that they
have addicted themselves to the ministry of
the saints,) that ye submit yourselves unto
Astieh, and to every one that helpeth with us,
and laboreth.” 1 Cor. 16: 15, 16.
There is no absolutely unquestionable
proof, in either of the above paragraphs, of
such ari office as that of deaconess; yet the
intimations, especially in the first, are of con
siderable force. In 1 Tim. 3, we have, in
order, the qualifications of a bishop, then of a
deacon, then, in an entirely similar way, of
“ their wives,” as our version has it literally,
of the women. These women were require!
to have qualifications very like those of the
deacon. Phoebe, the “servant” or deaconess
of the church dt Cenchrea, may have been
nothing more than a woman remarkable for
ordinary Christian virtues and services. Still,
the connection in which sho is mentioned,
very naturally suggests something more.
Upon the whole, I am pursuaded, that there
were, in the primitive churches a recognized
class, chosen to aid the deacons in their work
of ministering to the poor, and in all the de
tails of their duties.
The class of persons mentioned in the sec
ond paragraph, if distinguishable from those
named in the first, were nevertheless a body
approved by the Apostle, as deserving spe
cial consideration and deferenoe for their
work’s sake.
I pen this short article for the purpose of
pointing out inspired authority for invoking
and organizing a body of female assistants to
deacons and pastors, such as we sometimes
see spontaneously spring up in our modern
churches. We all know their value. Might
not careful selection and designation, increase
their efficiency, by dignifying them with the
special endorsement of the church ? This
selection need not discourage others. The
pastors and deacons of our churches, constant
ly accept the aid of any of the membership
who -may -have the
be in position to render them assistance. So
it might be with these deaconesses. Organi
zation and system are among the grand desi
derata of our Baptist churches.
The household of Stephanas are mentioned
as addicting themselves to the ministry
of the saints. What a lovely picture of a
family ! What a large amount of good such
families accomplish ! How many wayworn
heralds have had occasion to say, ‘they have
beensuecorers of rmifiy and of me!’ How many
pastors have been cheered by such delicate of
fices as a devoted Christian family know so
well how to perform! May God multiply
the number of them. And may this unpre
tending paragraph cognfort all such dear fam
ilies that may read it, and call forth others
who may emulate them. E. B. Teague.
Mercer University, again.
The location of Mercer University, never
did receive the cordial sanotion of the entire
Baptist denomination in Georgia. It is not
now satisfactory. No ten years have passed
since 1840, without some stir on this subject.
Its founders lived in Eastern Geo. Thirty
five years ago, the een re of population in the
State was east of the Ocmulgee River, and
the thoughts of the Baptists lay between the
Oconee, and Savannah Rivers, down to the
seaboard. In that day, it was natural to build
near to those doing the work, and to be ben
efited. The Convention sat in Milledgeville
the year Penfield’s legacy was received, and
an equal amount there raised, to start Mercer
Institute, —a manual labor school. In 1834,
the fathers metin Washington, Wilkes county,
to say where the Baptists of the Slate would
locate their College. The conference was in
teresting and is now historical. The result of
it was, a compromise, not a place acceptable
to all. The reason was, neither Washington,
or Whitehall, now West End of Atlanta,
could get it. After that meeting, the Baptists
rested for a while; and supported the Uni
versity at Penfield, because they respected
and loved the good and great nmn, who laid
its foundations there. Their money, time,
labors and prayers established it. And to
prevent a division, or an attempt to build
another, very many friends then, and since,
have simply acquiesced. But acquiescence
did not prevent agitation, nor efforts to build
rival institutions.
A few years before the late war, the Bap
tists of upper Georgia, began to build a
College at Cassville. They succeeded and
had gathered students, strength and popular
ity, when the army of the invader burned it
down. Another enterprise was attempted in
the city of Griffin.
While the brethren in these sections of the
State were thus engaged, and before half of
the fathers were dead, many of their friends,
and friends to learning too, would, and did
agitate, “in those days,” the removal of
Mercer University. So that, up to the war,
the denomination was not quiet on the sub
ject, and since 1865, the agitation has been
greater than ever.
If these things are so, and I believe them
to be substantially true, the enquiry very
naturally arises, What ought to be done now,
with Mercer Univeasity ?
Since the war, the situation oWmairs in
the South is changed. It is from the sur
roundings of the present, and the probable
wants of the future, that the answer is to be
obtained. As in 1834, the question of loca
tion must be considered.
The brethren in Eastern Georgia, and espe
cially the Georgia Association, last October,
and at other times before, have said, “Let re
moval alone, and forever cease to agitate, etc.”
And these same brethren obtained action, very
much like that, in the Convention at Augusta.
Doubtless many of them say so still. But,
as we have seen this agitation began many
years ago, and in the nature of things must
continue until arrested by force, or a satisfac
tory result is obtained. The Baptists have no
earthly masters yet. They must think, speak
and act. Let them, as many as will, for and
against removal, speak and write as becomes
Christians until they oOP® to some conclu
sion, acceptable at least a large majority.
are not afraidJp Investigation.
To whom does the thuVersky belong ?
Certainly not to the etteens ol Penfield
Greencdunty—nor to the Georgia Association.
They do have an interest^ ll 80 ar ils they
are members of the gre^'Baptist family in
Georgia ; but they have i?Tgreater right over
its control, than Baptist* ill the Central As
sociation, or elsewhere-iifM® State. In this
regard they have tights,” and they
ought to, and they are giving expression to their
opinions w*hich none catftnistake. Brother
Stocks’ opposition to retina! in the Georgia
Association, last October was like hirn, open
bold, manly. Would th|l he could call back
forty years of his life, afid view this question
now, with his mind at fa* age of forty. I
would then sit at his ‘fiajfr listen like a son,
and accept his verdict wftout an appeal.
Opposition from this barter is to be ex
pected. Let it come, mher sections of the
State must took at thSsubject from their
point of observation, Ajicaccordingly decide.
The University to the heirs
at Jaw of the fathers, o?4j»*>f the good people
who in that day money lo build
and endow it. If, create rights
for them, those rights e!f» be made to appear,
and when shown, ought* to be, and will be
awarded to them. Forpis very reason, the
investigation ought to be made. Examine
the finances, compare now and before
the war. What is lelYof the Original gifts,
oould not be very large sums. But, if this
view is wrong, and it turus out that the heirs
at law, can recover all the donations ever
made, let the fact be k£Swn, and prompt ac
tion be bad.
Again : in the Board*>f Trustees is found
the legal title. In it is, the right, “to hold,
sell, Sue and be sued, eq*.” The act creating
a University, places th;*>wner*faip there, and
no power can rightly tike it away. There
is a power behind ft;, wjJeh may once in three
years remove the members and give toothers
their places, and by that means ohange the
administration. Both these bodies have
exercised their rights Jot speaking on this
subject.
The Board of Trustees two years ago, de
termined that Mercer University ought to be
moved. That action reported to the.
Convention. The Convention considered
the subject and refuse* to concur. Each, in
their legitimate sphere*exercised their rights,
and no one question-/that. The Board has
not rescinded its act'oe, but the Convention
in April last, reelected nearly all of the old
members, and instructed them to appoint an
agent to raise funds tor the increase of the
endowment at PenfiSd. The Board ha 9
obeyed. Brother W.-C. VV likes, agent, is in
the field.
Notwithstanding al! this, it is understood,
that at Newnan, in Appl next, by some means
the question is to he again examined and
some judgment had. all the interests in
volved, can be represented there, it is wisdom
to consider the subject. It ought, to be acted
upon. If the Convention reaffirms the action
in Augusta, such is u£*perfect right. Should
the Augusta judgment be reversed, that also,
will be the exerciser of its unquestioned
power. • X
There is much to be said, but not
now. Asfck |
There is no division, or Urtcliar
itableness in the conduct of this investigation.
The University at this hour, is a heritage
worthy of our fatheis, and of us too. The
present is an emergency in its history. We
are equal to the exigency. Every one has a
right to speak. Give time and space to all,
until the subject is exhausted. Occupy two
columns if need be, you will only increase
your circulation. Brethren, speak out. The
end, when we shall r*ach it, will be far more
satisfactory. D. E. Butler.
The Autobiography of an Old Pilgrim.
( Continued .)
I suppose my mother’s will had something
to do with fixing the time and place of my
first birth, but as she died some six or seven
years before I was born again, it evidently
could have had nothing to do in fixing the
time and place of my second birth. Had her
will been consulted in the matter, it is most
probable my second birth would have occur
red, as did my first, in a Southern latitude,
and long before her translation to a world of
glory; but God, in His inscrutable providence,
(doubtless for wise and benevolent purposes,)
thought proper to ordain that my spiritual
birth should occur n a Northern region. It
occurred in a sea town in New England.
The college spire in that town was blown
down while 1 was o» my way to it, and the
ship on board of which I was a passenger,
was wrecked on the Jersey shore. The year
after, the steeple of pride, which sin and Satan
had reared in my heart, was blown down by
the breath of the Almighty, and the oross of
Christ erected in the plaoe thereof.
God’s decrees art a sealed book. It does
not become frail mortals to pry into what
God has not thought proper to reveal, or to
demand a reason %hy He ordains this or
that.
“Not Gabriel Asks the reason why,
Nor God tbs reason gives;
Nor dares the tallest angel pry
Between tiv* folded leaves.”
Yet God often unfolds more or less of His
purposes in the dispensations of His provi
dence. His will linns inseparably cause and
effect, means and ends. By noting carefully,
therefore, the results of events, we may fre
quently, without bffiKg chargeable with sinful
presumption, infer something of the purpose,
or purposes of God, in bringing about certain
events. Reasoning, therefore, in this way*-*
from cause to effect, and vice versa —l infer
that one of the merciful purposes of God in
locating the place of my spiritual birth in a
Northern latitude, was that I might be pre
served from that sectional spirit that contracts
the hearts of many and confines their sympa
thies and Christian affections within the nar
row limits of a particular section of country.
I thank God that He has given me a heart to
feel a brother’s love for all who love the Sa
viour, and to feel t lively interest in the spir
itual welfare of all the children of my Heav
enly Father, whether their lots be cast in a
Northern or a Southern clime, in a crowded
mart of commerce, or amid the sandy plains
of Araby, or the dark and wild recesses of
the Rocky Mountains of our own continent.
If this be an effect of my spiritual birth oc
curring where it did, I shall have cause to
bless God through eternity, that I was born
a second time in a New England town.
There are several things connected with
my second birth, that appear to me more
or less remarkable. The first that I shall
notice, is the fact that my conviction of sin
was not produced under the preaching of the
gospel, nor by any bodily afflictions, or re
markable events in the providence of God.
It was induced, by my own reflections, in my
quiet chamber, while busily engaged in my
college studies —or, rather, by the special
influences of the Holy Spirit leading me to
reflect upon the mercy of God and my long
and oft-repeated abuse of that mercy.
But how came that Spirit to move upon
my heart? 1 sought not its influences. The
Spirit, I think I am authorized by the word
of God to say, is communicated only in an
swer to special prayer. In answer to whose
prayers was that Spirit sent to move upon
the heart of a thoughtless sinner—yea, a har
dened hypocrite ? (I had made a profession of
religion some two or three years before; but
of my antecedents I shall write hereafter, if
God permits.) In answer to the preceding
query, I will say, in answer to a deceased
mother’s prayers, and the prayers of Chris
tian strangers around me.
As to my deceased mother, 1 know that
she often agonized in prayer for me. I have
seen her when she knew not that an) eye but
God’s was upon her, upon her bended knee,
with tears streaming down her cheeks, wrest
ling with God in prayer for the son whom
she found it necessaiy to correct for his mis
conduct. 1 have good reason to believe, also,
that the last prayer she offered on earth was
offered iu behalf of her ungodly, undutiful,
ungrateful son. I remember, as though it had
occurred but yesterday, the last closing scene
iu the drama of her life. There she lay upon
her dying bed, with weeping friends around
to witness her last struggle with the so called
“ king of terrors.” I was standing weeping
at the foot of her bed. She called me by
name. My name was the last audible sound
that escaped her lips. I went to her side.
She turned her eyes to heaven. There was a
motion of her lips as if in prayer. I felt
certaiu it was a last prayer for the son who
had so often grieved her pious soul. Her
lips ceased to move. One gasp she gave, and
her spirit winged its flight up to the throne
of God. That prayer was bottled up in
heaven, and now God’s set time to answer it
had come. The prayers of strangers around
me were ascending to God for special dis
plays of Divine power in the conviction and
conversion of souls. Many meetings were
held in town, and the Reviving influences of
the Spirit were abundantly manifested at
them; though Ido not remember attending
but one of them—the one at which it
pleased the Lord to speak peace to my trou
bled conscience. Are not the circumstances
related sufficient to justify the opinion ex
pressed, that the Spirit that moved upon my
heart was sent in special answer to prayer ?
This brief record should encourage parents
to ooutinue unceasing in their prayers for
their unconverted children. As the Saviour
said to Martha, I would say to them : “ Be
not faithless, but believing, and ye shall see
the glory of God.” If in this world you
witness not their conversion, be assured you
shall witness it, in due time, from the heights
of glory, if your prayers are offered in faith.
“Whatsoever ye desire whe*n ye pray, be
lieve that ye receive them, and ye shall have
them.” So says the Saviour. Believe Him.
Neither men, nor angels, nor devils will ever
be able justly to charge Him with failing to
fulfill a promise. But remember the de
claration of Paul: We have need of pa
tience after we have done the will of God,
that we may receive the promise.”
Christians generally should be encouraged
to unite in prayer for the convicting and con
verting power ot the Holy Spirit, not only
in behalf of those who attend their meetings,
but in behalf of those also who wilfully stay
away from them. Prayer has power, under
God*, to send the Spirit through granite walls
into the palaces of kings, the cottages of the
poor, the cell of the convict, over seas and
mountains, to the dwellers in remote regions
As weii-HS? to those residing amoqg us. As
true as it is trite is the saying, “Praying*
breath was never spent in vain.”
Abdiel Nekoda.
“The Coining of Christ in His Kingdom.”
In the first article under this caption, from
the per. of brother Hillyer, there is, to
my mind, a mistake in one of the fundamen
tal doctrines of the gospel as believed by the
apostles and taught by both them and the
Saviour. The mistake is in supposing that
the second personal coming of Christ is, as
Jinal Judge , while His coming in His king
dom, says brother Hillyer, is the kingdom of
the gospel which we now enjoy. (These are
not his words, but his theory.)
Brother Hillyer bases his principal argu
ment against the personal coming and reign
of Christ over His people, upon the two
declarations, “I will set my King upon my
holy hill of Zion;” and, “Verily 1 say unto
you, there be some standing here who shall
not taste of death till they shall see the Son
of man coming in His kingdom.” Both of
these quotations, as well as any others to
which he may refer, are unfortunate ones to
prove his favorite theory, or that other one,
no better sustained, in which His coming is
supposed tr be a universal reign of grace.
As to the first, if the context is observed, it
must be clear that the allusions to an event
yet in the future, for by common consent, as
well as the plain teaching of the word, the
counselling together of the Jongs and rulers
for the purpose of breaking the bands of
Christ, God’s laughing at them, and having
them in derision, followed by the setting up
of the King, and then this King breaking
them with a rod of iron, and dashing them
in pieces as a potter breaketh his vessols, is
descriptive of that scene when the love of the
Lamb shall be turned into wrath, and He
cometh, bringing II s reward for His faithful
followers, and to avenge His elect upon those
persecuting branches of the vine of the earth,
as well as the vine, when her grapes are fully
ripe. It is then that Christ comes forth with
the name written upon His thigh and vesture,
“ King of Kings.”
As to the second passage, brother Hillyer
seems to think that if Christ’s kingdom be
not this gospel dispensation, then there was
a failure to fulfill the prediction, and our faith
in Christ must fail. I am one that believes
as firmly in the second coming of Chris! to
Christ to receive His kingdom, and universal
sway in a literal government, of which His
capital at Jerusalem is the grand centre, as
that He came the first time in humiliation ;
and yet my faith in the literal fulfillment of
the prediction, is not shaken, neither that
there were of the number then present,
those who saw Him in His glory. Two of
the gospel writers, after stating the predic
tion, show that, in a few days after, He went
up into the mount, and was transfigured be
fore Peter, James and John, when such was
the brilliancy of the display that it deprived
them, for the time being, of proper discre
tion. Peter, in his second epistle, puts the
brethren again in remembrance of the second
personal coming of Christ, of which He had
often told them before, and says, that coming
is no cunningly devised fable, for he had been
an eye witness of the truthfulness of it, at
this transfiguration. How different that view
was from the one brother Hillyer has!
I have not yet seen “No. 2,” in which he
proposed to allude to his supposed proofs
from Matt. xxiv. I admit that, if you take
the account given by Matthew alone, there
would be some reason to suppose his theory
sustained ; for Christ passes from the scenes
attending the destruction of Jerusalem to
His coming, by using the words “immedi
ately after the tribulation of those days;”
and says, also, “This generation shall not
pass till all these things shall be fulfilled.”
To understand a Bible subject well, we must
take what each one of the writers says upon
the subject. Pursuing this plan, we find a
very important link in Luke’s account, omit
ted by Matthew, which shows how long “ that
tribulation ” was to last. Look at Luke xxi :
24, and the tribulation continues during the
Jewish captivity, and until the fullness of the
Gentiles has been gathered; and then begin
the signs ushering in Ghrist’s coming in His
kingdom. Has this fullness of the Gentiles
yet been reaohod 1 Have tike Jews been re
turned from their captivity ? If not, then
Christ has not yet oome in His kingdom. As*
to the word “generation,” it more frequently
means a class, or race, in the New Testament,
than the people living at one time upon the
earth. Such is evidently the meaning here,
(though I shall not attempt, in this article, to
prove it,) and how literally fulfilled ! 1800
years have passed, and the seed of Abraham
are yet umnixed with the Gentilos ! Can the
shadow of a parallel be found elsewhere?
Oh, Jesus! truthful Prophet! and sympathiz
ing High Priest!
Christ, in His personal ministry, was our
Prophet. In His sufferings and death, our
sacrifice and officiating Priest. In His ascen
sion, our High Priest, entering into the Holi
est of All, bearing His own precious blood,
sprinkling the everlasting mercy-seat, before
which He stands, ever making intercession
for us at the right hand of the Majesty on
high. When He leaves there, it will be to
put on the robes of royalty, coming forth the
Great Kmg to ruUover llis people, and share
with them His glory, amidst, the very scenes t
that witnessed His and their humiliation.
This scene ends in the general judgment and
conquest of all His foes, when He will sur
render the kingdom into the hands of the
Father. - Geo. E. Brewer.
Rockford, Ala.
An Agent’s Experience—Lights and Shad
ows.
The pastor has his “sunny side” and
“shady side;” and that the life of an “ evan
gelist and agent” has also its alternate light
and shade, 1 propose to show, not by argu
ment, or assertion ; but simply by narrating
facts and observations ; —facts experienced
and communicated, and personal observa
tions.
I urged a brother who had a large and
growing family, to take the Index. '1 he
miserable farce of an excuse given was, “ it’s
too high.” He was both a farmer and mer
chant, and knew well that he realized double
the price for everything he sold, that he used
to. How distressing! A man professing to
be a Christian, to wrong his own soul, to
wrong his family, to neglect his own denomi
national paper, for a dollar or two.
Speaking, only a few days after, of this
occurrence, at the residence of a pious, read
ing widow lady, she remarked, about in these
words, “I do not think I know enough about
it to raise any objection, or have any opin
ion.” How much lighter this event than the
above? That widow lady might have raised
the objection, “the paper is too high.” But
she thought that was managed by those who
knew belter than she did, and she knew she
derived from her paper ten times its sub
scription price. When, after rebuffs that
give him the heartache, a minister meets
with a reading, intelligent Christian, what, a
relief it is! Wm. N. Chaudoin.
January , 1870.
Let it Pass.
Be not swift to take offence ;
Lot it pass I
Aeger is a foe to sense;
Let it pass 1
Brood not darkly o’er a wrong
Which will disappear ere long;
Bather sing this cheery song-
Let it pass!
Let it pass I
Strife oorrodes the purest mind;
Let it pass!
As the unregarded wind,
Let it pass!
Any vulgar souls that tire
May condemn without reprieve;
’Tis the nobl* who forgive.
Let it pass!
Let it pass I
Echo not an angry word;
Let it pass!
Think how often you have erred;
Let it pass I
Since our joys must pass away
Like the dew drops on the spray,
Wherefore should our sorrows stay ?
Let them pass I
Let them pass I
If for good you’ve taken ill,
Let it pass!
Oh ! be kiud and gentle still;
Let it pass I
Time at last makes all things straight;
Let us not resent, but wait,
And our triumph shall be great;
Let it pass!
Let it pass I
Bid your anger to depart,
Let it pass I
Lay these homely words to heart,
“Let it pass!”
Follow not the giddy throDg;
Better to be wronged than wrong;
Therefore sing this cheery song—
Let it pass I
Let it pass!
Hum is Poison.
It will rob the head of sense,
It will rob the purse of pence,
It will rob the mouth ot food,
And the soul of hsavenly good.
It will sear the tender heart;
Make the young from good depart;
Change the honest into knaves ;
Dig for sots untimely graves.
Variations of Episcopal Pedobaptism,
Rev. Dr. Andrews, of Shepher.lstown, Va.,
gives the following, as the seven theories
adopted, in the Episcopal church, for the in
terpretation of the baptismal service for in
fants. It will be seen that he adopts the last:
1. “ Tne Opus Operatum theory, viz.: in
virtue of the act of baptism every child un
dergoes that spiritual change on which salva
tion depends, irrespective of the spiritual
state of any of the parties concerned.” “ This
is the baldest view of baptismal regeneration
and has at least the benefit of being easily
understood. And although, with the excep
tion of the Bishop of Exete", and a few nore
of the bolder sort, it is avowed by no party
in terms , it is virtually held by no inconsid
erable number.”
11. “ The Seed of Grace theory, viz.: eve
ry child receives in baptism speh a seed—or
germ of the new life. This germ may per
ish by neglect, or by proper culture be so
developed that nothing properly called reno
vation or conversion need necessarily take
place thereafter in order to eternal life,” “This
is the theory now commonly held by High-
Churchmen. They claim that this is the lit
eral and obvious sense of the service, and
charge Low-Churchmen with making up a
theory contrary to the plain meaning of the
words. But do not they themselves begin
by making up a theory ’ as remote as
possible from the natural sense of the ser
vice ?”
111. “The ecclesiastial or cuanoe of state
theory, i, e. t by baptism the child is brought
into a visible covenant relationship to God.”
“ This was the theory held by Bishop Hobart.
‘ln the sacrament of baptism we arc taken
from the world where we had no tide to the
favor of God, and placed in a state of salva
tion in the Christian church,’ etc. ‘ln this
sense as it respects a change of state, bap
tized persons are regenerated,' etc. ‘Bishop
H. limited the idea of regeneration to the
merely outward change of a visible covenant
effected through water baptism.’ But the
necessity of an internal change he fully ad
mitted.”
IY. “ The Charitable Hope theory, i. e.,
WHOLE NO. 2476.
in view of the prayers offered and the faith
supposed, we are warranted iu using the lan
guage of the service in the charitable hope
that regeneration does actually take place,
without pretending to affirm it absolutely of
all or of any.” “ This theory lakes the word
regeneration in its true sense, and might be
harmless enough in itself if it could be at all
reconciled with the service. What can char
ity have to do with the child’s affirmation in
the Catechism made in the past tense of what
was actually done for him in baptism 1 This
once popular view seems little ‘accounted of
at present.”
V. “The conditional, or Pkeveniknt Grace
theory—e., though the terms ot the service
in most places are geueral and absolute, yet
they are in some places conditioned by the
word ‘worthily,’ whioh word must always
be supposed, before it can be affirmed posi
tively that the grace signified by baptism is
actually conveyed.” “ This is the view which
was pronounced lawful, by the highest eccle
siastical court of England in the suit institu
ted by Mr. Gorham against the Bishop of
Exeter.”
Vi. “The Sacramental, or typical, or figu
rative, or representative theory—these terms
being held as meaning the same thing, or ex
planatory of each other, i.e., baptism has the
name of the thing which it signifies. The
\ idvoc.ites of this theory explain it most in
telligibly thus. We give the bread to a com
municant and call it the body of our Lord
Jesus Christ because it represents His body.
We give baptism to a child and call it re
generation, because it represents regeneration.”
“This view also takes the word regeneration
iu its right sense, is free from all doctrinal
unsoundness and relieves the post-baptismal
service from an interpretation alike obnox
ious to Scripture, observation and common
sense.”
VII. “The Htpothtical theory, i. e., as|lho
profession of faith made by the child previ
ous to its baptism, though made in absolute
terms is confessedly a hypothesis, or a thing
supposed and not actual and present: so the
regeneration declared after the baptism,
though in like absolute terms, must also be
hypothetical, or in like manner as the faith
supposed.” “This theory takes the word
regeneration in its true sense, and like the
Bible and the Prayer-Booi, it liuks faith and
regeneration together, whereas the High-
Church theory separates what both the Bible
and the baptismal servico join together.”
The Doctrine of Baptism.
In h‘l9 sermon at the recent dedication of
the Clarendon street Baptist church, Boston,
the pastor, Rev. A. J. Gordon, said :
The doctrine of baptism that will here be
set forth is not so much the cofitradiction of
all others, as the epitome, of all others.
Do any see in the rite a symbol of spirit
ual cleansing * We more. Eor in making it
a submersion into the death of Christ we but
confess, and emphasize the confession, that all
streams of spiritual cleansing flow down from
the cross; that God’s method with the guilty
soul is precisely the same as with the old
guilty world, —the overwhelming iu the floods
of death that which is hopelessly corrupt,—
that as iu Noah anew race was begun, even
so we, having died to sin, may be begotten
again unto a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. As saith St.
Peter, “A like figure whereunto even baptism
doth now save.”
Do any see in the rite a sign of repentance
and renunciation of the woild with its lusts
and vanities'? We more. For what can
show forth so significantly our renunciation of
the world as our putting between ourselves
and our former life the waters of death and
separation 1 ? And as the children of Israel
stood upon the banks of the sea which divi
ded them from their bondage, while its en
gulfing waves rolled over their Egyptian
pursuers, so, here, let many an emancipated
believer stand looking over these waters, see
ing in them the Red Sea flood of Christ’s
death, in which all his sins have been over
whelmed forever. “Our fathers were all
baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the
sea;” then let the children bo baptized into
Christ.
Do any see in this rite a lineal and appoint
ed successor of circumcision] We more.
It takes the place of circumcision as Chris
tianity takes the place of Judaism. Judaism
was a trial of men in the flesh, whether in
their carnal state they could be cleansed and
enabled to keep God’s law. Hence circum
cision, the typical rite of the purification of
the flesh. Christianity starts upon the axiom,
“The carnal mind is enmity against God, for
it is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be.” “ flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God.” Hence bap
tism, the typical rite of the&una/of the flesh,
that the believer may rise a new creature in
Christ. Circumcision is “ the putting away of
the filth of the flesh,"— baptism, “the put
ting off of the body of the sins of the flesh."
So, then, whatever partial views of the
meaning of this initial rite of Christianity
men may hold, wo will here show how all are
but single rays from that central sun “Christ
crucified,” which mirrors itself in luminous
fullness in these mystical waters. We shall
expect no applause from the world as this
distinctive ordinance of the gospel shall be
repeated here. Why should we? It is the
cross translated into symbol; and the cross
gets little human approbation ; the old offence
and ignominy lurk even in its shadow. The
famous worldly maxim of Chesterfjeld, “If
you would have men pleased with you, make
them pleased with themselves,” can never be
adopted by the ministers of Christ. They
hold up the cross, and the, cross is meant al
ways and everywhere to make men displeased
with themselves, to abase them and make
them fall as dead men at the feet of Jesus.
But O what joy and triumph will here come
to those who have been inducted into the
hidden mystery of redemption, as from time
to time they shall see converts emerging from
the opening sepulchre of Jesus; from the
womb of the resurrection morning, their locks
glistening with the dew of regenerated youth.
Visitation by Women. —ln the recent Illi
nois Christian Convention, Jacksonville, one
of the speakers, a Presbyterian, said that in
•the church of which he was pastor the sisters
had been organized into a Board for religious
visitation. Though some were poorly quali
fied, yet all were encouraged to place their
names on the roll. The visitors usually weut
two and two, or three and three, visiting as
signed sections of the town, leaving tracts, in
quiring into the temporal condition of the fam
ily, extending invitations to attend church
and Sunday school, ar.d in some instances
offering prayer. Monthly reports were made
in a general meeting, of which the pastor
acted as president. In three months’ time
the attendance on public worship had be n
nearly doubled. “ I feel certain,” said the
speaker, “ that any church adopting the plan
will reap liberally from it.”
Consistency. —The elder Edwards made
a rule for himself never to acoepfc a proposi
tion as true, every fair inference from which
he could not accept and reduce to practice.
“The Boy” in us. —When the boy has
died out of a man, he is old, and it is about
time for him to die. I*