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CHRISTIAN INDEX AND SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST.
VOL. 49-NO. 20.
A RELIGIOUS AND FAMILY PAPER,
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The Smitten Christ.
I b&W my Lord draw nigh,
And lie was weeping.
“ Why weepest thou?” I said:
•• Why weepest Thou, 0 Lord?”
He lifted up His head,
I listened for His word—
SUent he stood, His gaze upon me keeping.
1 felt my spirit faint
And fail before Him—
Such sadness in His eyes,
Such sorrow in His face I
Then spake He on this wise,
With accents full of grace—
I yearned to clasp His feet and to adore Him:
"I have been smitten,” said
He, slowly sighing.
“ Who smote Tbee, Lord?” I cried
With hot and hasty ire.
« A friend,” he said, and sighed :
Quenching my sudden fire
By such a look as ended Peter’s lying.
« Thou art the smiter,” said
Those eyes, most holy;
“No ruffian’s brutal hand,
No reckless scoffer’s spite.
No willful foeman’s hand
Could thus my bosom smite.”
I sank before Him, broken, weeping lowly.
Tenderly, then, He laid
His hand upon me.
" Arise, my child,” He said ;
“Arise, thou art forgiven;
Weep not: be comforted;
But let my heart be riven
No more by blow from thee: by blood I won thee.
—Augusta Moore.
The Autobiography of an Old Pilgrim.
( Continued .)
The word of God, the testimony of Chris
tians of the most unquestionable veracity,
and my own past experience, all concur in
inducing a firm belief, that a merciful God
holds special spiritual communications with
His people, grants them bright visions of
olor> and sensible manifestations of His
presence (in their hearts) as truly now as He
did in apostolic and pre-apostic times. These
communications and visions, and manifesta
tions were not made indiscriminately, in days
of old, to all the elect of God, nor are they
so made now. There were many widows in
Israel in the days of Elisha the prophet, says
the Saviour, but only to one—the widow of
Sarepta—was the prophet sent with a token
of Divine favor. There were twelve apos
tles, but only to three of them did the Saviour
grant the privilege of beholding the glory ol
His transfiguration. There were many de
vout men in apostolic times, but not to
He grant such visions as he granted to Cor
nelius, and Peter, and Paul.
In the special dispensations of His mercy,
and in the visitations of His judgments, He
selects a limited number on whom to bestow
the one and inflict the other. In making a
selection He acts as a Sovereign, and gives
no account of Ilis actions to any one ; nor
has any one any just cause to complain, or
any right to question the wisdom, mercy or
righteousness of His acts. He has revealed
as much in reference to His acts, on all such
occasions, as is needful or proper for us to
know. He has revealed —
1. In reference to offenders, that the judg
ments of Heaven are not always, if ever, in
flicted on those who are considered by their
fellow-men the vilest of offenders, but often
upon those whose offences are considered by
many as venial. Does any one ask, Where
has this been revealed 1 1 refer him to what
the Saviour says in reference to those whose
blood Herod had*mingled with the sacrifices,
and those eighteen on whom the tower ot Sil
oam had fallen. “Suppose ye,” he asks, “they
were greater offenders than all others ? and
responds Himself: “I tell you, nay; but,
except ye repent, ye shall all likewise per
ish.”
Ali violators of a law of God are liable to
its penalties, and well deserve to suffer them.
There is no injustice done, then, when those
penalties are inflicted upon one guilty of what
are esteemed by men as minor offences; but
the wholesome truth is impressed upon every
mind that “None are secure in sin”—that
“ None can sin with impunity.” No figures
nor algebraic signs can express the amount of
restraining influence this truth has exerted,
and still exerts, over the actions of men.
Who is there so intellectually blind that he
does not or cannot see that, it the judgments
of Heaven were executed only on the vilest
class of offenders, the restraining influence of
this truth would be lost to us, lost to the
world, and, 1 think I may add, lost to the
universe ; for the acts of a sovereign in one
part of his dominion affect the welfare of
every subject in every part of his dominion ;
and earth is but a little province in the bound
less domaiu of the Lord of glory.
But there is another view we may take of
this subject. We speak of sins as of greater
or less magnitude; and so they are in the
sight of men, and with a view to their visible
effects on earth; but it is at least questiona
ble whether the distinction we make between
sins on earth, as greater or less, is recognized
in heaven. Every sin, be it small or great
in our estimation, is an act of rebellion, open,
wanton rebellion, against our great Creator,
Preserver, Benefactor and rightful Sovereign.
There is yet another truth bearing on this
subject that should not be overlooked. It is
this : The vilest offenders are not always they
who appear such to us. Some men’s sins are
open beforehand, others follow^fter-—are^con^
■ FRANKLIN PRINTING HOUSE, ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, MAY 19, 1870.
who are favored with such manifestations.
Not for our righteousness, but of His own
free will—of His own good pleasure—not of
merit, but of grace, may be said of any and
all the spiritual .manifestations God has ever
made to the best of mortals. But Paul has
argued this subject so conclusively in his
epistles that it is unnecessary for me to-argue
it here. I shall, therefore, proceed to make
some general remarks in reference to the
visions of glory with which some have been
favored, in modern times, as well as in the
days of old. By visions of glory I mean those
rapturous conceptions—or views by faith—
which some are permitted to have, of God
and the Lamb, of heaven and its glorious
scene.
(1.) I have already stated that these are
granted, not as a reward of merit, but as a
manifestation of Divine grace. None will
be more ready to attest this fact than they
who have been favored with such visions.
Admit this, and it will follow,
(2.) That these visions can have no tendency
to induce self glorification, or to foster spirit
ual pride. They who represent them as cal
culated to have such a tendency, you may
rest assured, were never favored with one of
these beatific visions. Their testimony, there
fore, should be set aside as inadmissible, as
they testify of what they know nothing. No
mortal man, probably, was ever more favored
with heavenly visions than was Paul, yet he
bewailed*thecorruptions of his human nature,
esteemed himself unworthy to be an apostle,
unworthy the honor conferred on him as such,
the chief of sinners and the least of all saints.
(8.) These visions, so far from tendirg to
exalt one in his own estimation, have a deci
dedly opposite tendency ; for the light which
reveals to us the divine perfections reveals,
at the same time, our own astonishing folly
and presumption, and the evil of the sins we
have committed against Him who is terrible
in majesty, glorious in His holiness, fearful in
praises, and wonderful in all His works.
(4.) these visions are not often granted to
the great and the mighty men in Israel, who
occupy prominent and exalted positions in the
church, and glory in the influence that they
wield. Such are generelly aspiring men, who
covet worldly distinction. It is the humble
whom God exalts, and they are more fre
quently found in the private walks of life than
in the highways to worldly tame.
The first individual whom I ever knew to
be favored with one of these glorious heavenly
visions was a lady, whose death, at about 80
years of age, was chronicled in the Index and
Baptist, a month or two since. She was a
meek, modest, humble, unostentatious, unas
suming lady, who had never been called to
act as president, or chief directress, or secre
tary of any benevolent female society. She
was distinguished only for her humble, exem
plary and consistent Christian character, and
was the wife of one in private life, with
traits of character similar to her own. She
was favored, in the visions of the night, with
such a view of her Lord and Saviour, and the
glories of heaven, as filled her soul with holy
rapture. Her husband, and her venerable
parents, with whom, I believe, she lived at
the time, were made acquainted, of course,
with the particulars of the*vision with which
she had been favored. Through them the
report of it was spread abroad through the
society with which she was then connected.
(She was at that time a Presbyterian, but
subsequently became a Baptist.) Various
were the comments made upon it4>y the mem
bers of her church. SoffiTe envried her, and
some concluded she was a dis
ordered mind, ancf pitied her. 1 was but a
boy at the time, heard various opinions ex
pressed relative to the lady and her vision,
and wondered, with others, at what I heard
related, but concluded it was a matter that
did not pertain to me, and, therefore, did not
bother my mind with an attempt to explain
what apoeared mysterious and inexplicable.
The lady thus highly favored of the Lord was
the mother of Rev. Edward Stevens, of Bur
mah. Abdikl Nekoda.
Our Editor and H. G. H.
Brother S. defines his position by denying
the following proposition, viz: “ Whether it
is taught iu the Scriptures, that the union of
immersed believers, in churches, for the main
tenance of the ordinances, must have been
secured in the one exclusive form of an un
broken organic succession.”
This is a long, and somewhat involved
proposition, but as the readers of the Index
are accustomed to examine arguments, it
may present no difficulty to them, and I pro
ceed.
The question, then, as I understand it, is
one purely of Scripture interpretation, and as
Matt, xvi: 18 contains, as I suppose, the
promise of perpetuity for which brother W.
T. R. has been contending, we will question
this passage and see what evidence it gives
upon the point in issue.
Brother S. agrees with the writer, that the
word ekklesian in the passage, includes all the
called, whether congregated into particular
assemblies, or “ scattered abroad;” but at this
point begins our divergence. He is for con
fining the term to the persons of the re
deemed, while I think it includes, also, the
ideas of union and organization; for the
Greek verb oikodomeso, rendered “ build ” in
our version, presents the notion of bringing
individual materials together snd construct
ing them into a whole, which is represented
by the word ekklesian, or church, and the
pronoun autes , or it, The very idea of build
ing is to organize by uniting individual ma
terials into_a compact us the
plete general assembly in heaven, when all
the redeemed shall have been planted there.
The question in regard to the perpetuity of
the church, then, is not one of history, but
whether the Divine promise has failed, or can
fail. I will now put the argument in form,
and then pass to other aspects of the discus
sion.
All the Divine promises are sure.
The perpetuity of the church is a Divine
promise.
Therefore, the preservation of the church
is sure. There is no need of history here to
one who believes the Divine promise; for
the certainty of the promise takes its place.
Brother S. and I agree, also, that “ out
ward organic form is the outgrowth of the
inner spiritual life;” and the proposition
amounts to this, viz: that the inner spiritual
life is the cause, and organic form the effect,
the one being antecedent and the other con
sequent. I must confess my inability to see
how a living germ can be growing, and yet
no effect be visible; for the natural expecta
tion is to see, “ first the blade, then the stalk,
then the ear, and the full corn in the ear.”
I can as easily conceive of fire without
warmth, sugar without sweetness, or ice
without coldness, as I can of a living, active
principle without results. If the inner spir
itual life is the cause, and organic form the
effect, then they are so joined together that
they must share a common destiny. The
examples adduced by brother S. no more
affect the real issue, than to show that whole
armies have perished will prove that there is
nothing now in existence which is represented
by the word army.
If brother S. could show that ten thousands
of local organic churches have been swept
away, it does not in the least affect the integ
rity of the Divine promise, unless he can
show that the church, in its organic form, has
been entirely lost, and then reproduced by
its internal force. Nay, these examples serve
as so many collateral proofs of the certainty
of the fulfillment of the Divine promise; for
they .show that the church now standing has
survived the assaults of the powers of dark
ness, whether working by external pressure,
or by internal dissension, whether by direct
efforts to destroy her, or by the indirect
method of opposing to her rival organizations,
bearing the same name, but not possessing a
similar nature. How firm must be the foun
dation of the church when all the trials to
which brother S. has c tiled our attention have
failed to shake it, or in the smallest degree to
affect its organic entirety.
Really, the promise of the Saviour be
comes illustrious in the blaze of proofs cited
by brother S.; for in them we have the in
tegrity of that promise put to the severest
test. The storm rages, the winds howl in wrath
ful chorus, the waves rise, swell and break
upon the sides of “ the old ship of Zion,”
dark clouds settle down upon her, the troughs
of the sea hide her from view, aud many
seem ready to give' her up for lost, but when
the fearful elements have spent their rage,
behold her still floating, with not a plank
displaced, nor a nail lost. Gallant old ship!
we greet thee as the work of a master-builder,
and over thy majestic form we see in the
background the rainbow of hope spanning
the retiring gloom, the sure pledge that thou
shalt not founder, but safely reach the desired
haven.
When we look into the New Testament,
we see organic local churches, all fashioned
after *he same pattern, anj3 when we look
around us now, we find local organic assem
blies of the same kind, and whoever denies
the continuity of the chain, really asserts that
it is broken, and as such a position is contra
dictory of the Divine promise, it is but rea
sonable that he should point to the broken
link, or if, in the guarded language of brother
S., “the presumption is against” the prom
ised perpetuity, the burden of proof is still
upon him, as presumption logically means
probability.
If I see on the opposite side of a stream the
end of a chain going down into the water, and
then on this side another end coming up out
of the water, the presumption is that they
connect and form an unbroken chain, and
then if I know that he who put the chain
there, being infallible, had promished that it
should never be broken, the conviction on my
mind would be that the chain was whole, and
whoever should suggest a doubt of its con
tinuity, would be under obligation to furnish
the reason for the doubt, which must either
be founded upon proof that it was broken, or
the absence of proof that it was whole! I
h£ve tried to take a candid view of the sub
ject, having no pet notions to sustain, but
anxious only to come to the knowledge of
the truth. The cases of the thief upon the
cross and of Simon Magus, are exceptions
and prove the rule. Would brother S., find
ing an ear of corn without a shuck, from this
single example, or from a dozen such, infer
that the rule is for corn to grow without a
shuck! Or should he find a shuck containing
no corn, would he thence infer that the rule
is for shucks to grow, containing no corn ?
No, indeed; he would say, “ exceptional
cases,” and hold more firmly to what he
knew to be the rule.
I trust, as I have now treated the subject,
brother S. will not tnink that I have perpe
trated the fallacy of ignoratio elenchi, or ir
relevant conclusion^
With profoundest regard for his fine quali
ties, both of head and heart, 1 take leave of
“ our Editor” for the present. H. C. H.
“Apostolic Succession.”—Explanation.
Such have been my engagements since this
commenced, that I have been nec
to delay time in writing.
fcfcjjlhme till after the first
promised
it; that for the present question turns
upon what is the church, j Upon this head
Dr. J. M. Pendleton is brought upon the
stand as a witness in Dr. Siiaver-’s last reply.
And, I will add, very gotyi authority with
me. Dr. Shaver says : U Neither can we
grant to W. T. R. that the word ecclesia,
church, in Scriptural usage, always includes
organization in its import. Rev. J. M. Pen
dleton, D.D., in his “ Manual," tells us that
this word, in the New bears two
meanings—referring sometimes to “ a par
ticular congregation sometimes to
the redeemed in the aggregate.” Instead of
this quotation from Dr Pendleton’s Manual
affecting my position, tends to strengthen it.
For, granting Pendleton’s definition, there is
organic form, whether i| be of a local church
or the church in the aggregate. The church
at Jerusalem, EphesfcS'ari?] Corinth had or
ganic form, and so has the church which Christ
loved and gave Himself for, which I under
stand to be nothing mo'e or less than the
whole of the churches taken together—some
times called universal or£atholic church, the
aggregate of “the redeemed.” What, then,
is implied in the word church as used in the
Scriptures? I will let D- Shaver’s own wit
ness speak. On page 7 r h, of Pendleton’s
“Manual,” we have . this definition: “A
church is a congregation of Christ’s baptized
disciples, as their Head,
relying on His atoniLg for justifica
tion before God, and mding oir the Holy
Spirit for sanctification, uLited in the belief
of the gospel, agreeing to % maintain its ordin
ances and obey its precepts, meeting together
for worship, and cooperating for the extension
of Christ’s kingdom in ftie world.” This is
Pendleton’s definition of a localchurch. And
surely no one will controvert this as being
applicable to the church in the aggregate as
respects its parts (its parts or parcels being
local churches,) provided the definition is ac
cepted locally.
Dr. Fuller, on the definition of a church,
says, page 630, vol. 2nd: “We learn from
the Acts and the Epistles, that the first
churches were congregations of faithful men,
voluntarily united together for the stated
ministration of the word, the administration
of Christian the mutually as
sisting of each other in the promotion of
Christ’s cause.”
In the introduction to Mosheim’s Church
History, we have the following: “ The church
founded by the ministry and death of Christ
cannot be represented with greater perspicui
ty and propriety, than under the notion of a
society subjected to a lawful dominion, and
governed by certain laws and institutions
mostly of a moral and spiritual tendency.”
. . “ The first Christian church founded by
the Apostles, wa-> th>l of Jerusalem, the
model of all those which were afterwards
erected during the first century.” Mosheim’s
Church History, page 12. It is not, then, as
clear as the bright orb of day passing through
the heavens, that the above distinguished au
•hors and writers all understand from the
Scriptures, that in order to church, whether
local or in the aggregate visibility of form
was an essential characteristic of it? For,
says Mosheim, all others for the first century
were modelled after the-first Jerusalem church.
The proof, however, may be demanded from
the Scriptures themselves, that organic form
is essential to the perpetuity of the church.
Well, here it is: Eph.. i’: 21: In whom all
the building fitly growth unto
an holy temple in the xj 95:
Not forsaking the assembling ot ourselves
together. 24: To provoke unto good
works. The Apostle, in the 2nd Eph., has
reference, to my mind without a doubt, to
organic form. Nothing else can be made of
it without wresting the Scriptures out of their
literal and ordinary meaning. In Heb., the
admonition not to f<>r«ake the assembling to
gether was for, in part, the preservation of
organism.
Some of the uses of organism is well ex
pressed by the wise naan, Prov. xxvii: 17:
“ Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth
the countenance of his friend.”
In the Jerusalem church, deacons were
chosen as well as in other churches subse
quently constituted by the Apostles. The
Apostles ordained Elders in every church.
The Apostolic churches were voluntarily
associated together, with pastors, deacons and
evangelists, keeping the ordinances as they
were delivered to them. They had a sys
tematic plan of benevolence, in which equali
ty of giving to the poor saints and the sus
tainance of missions, was commended. They
baptized converts and withdrew fellowship
from those who walked disorderly.
The promise of the Saviour that the gates of
hell should not prevail against the church, had
no particular reference to any one, local church,
but to the church institution. Hence any local
church might be disbanded without affecting
materially the existence of any other. They
were so many religious republics in them
selves. The Redeemer set up an institution
which received the impress of His divine
mind and hand, to stand up amid the rise and
fall of nations, for He had fitly framed it into
a building in order that it might grow into a
holy temple in the Lord. The position as
sumed by Dr. Shaver, that Sovereignty did
by His word and Spirit raise up new churches,
wherein re-baptism and ordination to office
in the church, would follow as a consequence,
wherein there was no gospel preacher, but
that such were raised up, with many other
irregularities growing out of it, is, to all in
tents and purposes, untenable ground, and
which position he has never sustained with a
single proof, is simply monstrous.
I have now shown that the church which
the Redeemer loved and gave Himself for,
had organic form, and if that church has lost
it at any time, it is certain that the gates of
hell have prevailed and religion is a failure.
■entical thing must be
. Things equal to each
:o the same thing,
dy is the visible organic
A»way the body, the
i.f f have we the roan ?
>eC6 “it. A spirit is not
h W parts, lhe body,
t bl»ch the spirit, to coo
,ed*rganic form is indis
auity of the Apostolic
reasoning to this is
her H. gets his “ Spir
of The word ecclesia, in
■LSi- P «V ment ’ 19 U9er * ’ n ' ls
,e, and therefore applies to
.»n u-neral. The church of
p’M * K' j'a' grand aggregate. The
%ti f ‘' J ’ Hist, tied. Who are the saved ?
H v c h h 'l|‘■and unto them daily. See
Sspj|ttiK;l’ HJ'V, ~ot plain that if organic
H.-chune church of Christ by
I® was divine, that no hu
iore it 1 ? The effort to re
‘hands could not make it
Brother Shaver’s posi
,he dilemma (if he makes
r< ial to Apostolic days) of
itiman restoration equal to
else he must deny the
gichurch of to-day with
di| W. T. R.
fy »iS7O.
we t
xcepEpictetus, the heathen,
and r<ibe good, first believe
itaeJ
TIA.N
to pi
Thq Lack of Earnestness.
A correspondent of the Indbx, in describ
ing his visit to a Roman Cathedral, expresses
himself as impressed by the evident sincerity
of those who worshipped there. We have
no doubt that most persons who witness their
services are similarly impressed. Whatever
opinion the priests may have, the laity of the
Rojnan church are generally sincere; —at
least they so seem when in the act of wor
ship. Would the generality of our Baptist
congregations so impress a stranger? We
fear not. Nay, we know that often when we
assemble for religious services, the spirit of
devotion is utterly wanting. A few, often
times exceeding few, follow the leader in the
petitions which he offers to the throne of Di
vine grace. Where congregational singing is
the rule, perhaps not more than half a dozen
voices utter the strains with a languor which
too plainly proclaim it a task. If the preacher
be gifted with fine oratorical powers, he may
arrest their attention for an hour. But even
with the charm of eloquence their patience
will soon be exhausted. In all the services
there is a lack of heart-felt interest—of a
feeling which abserbs worldly pride, and
drives away worldly cares. Ther«e is no ap
pearance of earnestness even ;* far less any of
enthusiasm. In many cases there is wanting
even that cold degree of interest which those
manifest who go through*stated forms for the
sake of deceqcy.
It should be felt as a matter of great re
proach to us that we are compelled to ac
knowledge that those of whom we allege un
numbered errors, both of faith and practice,
surpass us in earnestness and zeal. We are
compelled to believe, that of all the religious
sects in the world that clai.n the name Chris
tian, the Baptists approach nearest the Bible
standard; and we are almost as cogently
compelled to admit that, of all these sects,
Baptists hold to their faith with the least
tenacity, and are disposed to make the small
est sacrifices for its maintainance and propa
gation. It is rare that they adhere firmly to
their principles despite the pressure of adverse
influences. More readily, it strikes us, do
they than others, yield when the popular
current goes against them. Though often
charged with bigotry and selfishness, they do
in hundreds of instances patronize the enter
prises of other denominations to the neglect
of their own. We see them continually
placing their children under the proselyting
agencies of opposing sects. All this, we fear,
arises, not from a spirit of liberality which
rises superior to prejudices, but from want of
earnestness. They have no enthusiasm for
the tenets of their own church, and therefore
do not oppose coutrary systems with energy.
Her doctrines have the assent of their in
tellects; but they have never taken hold of
their hearts, and become to their glowing im
aginations more worthy of upholding and
contending for than all the world besides.
Such, they should seem to inspire true earn
estness and make each church-member an
active soldier in the army of Christ. *
The Sparrow.
The sparrow is a little thing
Os value very small,
But ’neath God’s eye this little bird
Cannot unnoticed fall;
His loving heart can ne’er forget,
He careth for the sparrow yet.
In man’s esteem the sparrow is
A mean and worthless thing,
A pair of sparrows, when they’re sold,
One farthing only bribg.
Stlil God’s kind heart can ne’er forget,
He careth for the sparrow yet.
An anxious tho’t of coming need
The sparrow never knows,
Reposing in God’s tender band
A stranger to our woes.
God’s loving heart can ne’er forget,
He careth for the sparrow yet.
Oh, faithless man to plod along
Through life’s uncertain maze,
Without one trusting look to God
Who cares for thee always.
Whose loving heart can ne’er forget,
Who careth for His children yet.
Are ye not valued more than they ?
In God’s own image made.
An upright soul whose ransom was
By His own suffering paid.
And can His loving heart forget?
He careth for the sparrow yet.
—George Parmely.
Lights and Shadows.
I need hardly say, it was quite light about
Albany during that good meeting, where I was
so much. A church revived, backsliders re
claimed to the church, sinners converted, con
verts immersed, Sunday school pupils trans
ferred to the school of Christ—surely that
was a bright time. It was not all bright
though ; for one of the churches, “ so called,”
got up a “ supper and dance,” as their posters
about town designated it, for the benefit of
the church in some way. Now, that was
pretty shady, but not as dark as something
else I heard. A lady who had reputation for
piety and intelligence, met a young girl, (or
lady, for she was almost grown,) who was un
der deep conviction, and had asked "prayer
once or twice, and said, “ Well, M., I hear
you are attending the protracted meeting and
going up for prayer.” To which Miss M.
made some reply, when she received an an
swer thus : “ I hope you wont get so much
religion you can’t go to our supper and
dance.” The most dangerous enemies are
those wearing the appearance or apparel of
friends. One bright feature in that meeting
was, so much giving. Two hundred dollars
or more contributed by the church and Sun
day school to the different Boards.
At Evergreen church, in Mitchell county,
I found a light place. A large audience,
crammed in a smalt house, listened so atten
tively and tenderly, that I loved to preach to
them. Then they gave me a handsome sum,
in ca h, for Domestic Missions, besides a sub
scription of several dollars. And they were
ready to promise me as much more to hire
me to come back. Those are the places an
agent likes to go to—light places. I expect
to have something else pretty to say about.
Evergreen. One thing I must say now, they
have a goo 1 working pastor, W. L. Curry.
The nice academy in which we worshipped
looked cheerful, too, and Prof. Twitty has a
bright school there. But if they don’t give
the Lord a good house of His own, it will get
dark.
Camilla is the Capital of Mitchell county,
a small but growing place. Here were lights
and shadows. A good audience, very atten
tive; some wanting to be prayed for; a de
sire to build the Lord a house; a contribu
tion for missions; a Sunday school organized
that day ; a nice academy building, nearly
d one —these were rays of light. But the little
church, with but monthly meeting; some
members getting tight, (don’t ask me what that
means,) some holding letters, and not known
as Baptists —rather shaded the place. The
cars now run regularly from Thomasville to
Camilla, and will soon run on to Albany.
Mitchell is a good county, and Camilla is
missionary ground that should be cultivated.
God bless brother Johnson for his kindness.
Now, I will prolong this article till “ the
evening shades appear,” if I keep on, and so
I will stop. Brother Webb charged me with
stealing once. Said a certain brother had but
one gift; that was continuance , and 1 had sto
len that. So I will quit soon, lest somebody
thinks it true. The Bishop of Madison has
an idea that I like to continue at the table.
I have gotten myself under a cloud. Let
me drive it away. When speaking of the
shade about Traveller’s Rest and Spalding
Seminary, and preaching and getting no mis
sion money, 1 omitted to say that 1 carried
away fifty dollars to express for brother
Wilkes—money raised by him tor brother
Murrow. You see the field had been culti
vated well. Now I feel better. 1 have and
do retract anything said or done to make the
impression that there was no mission light
these. There is a good degree of that light,
pretty sure, “but it is too much “ under a
bushel;” but an agent can pick up some rays
and put on the housetop, or on a board, one
—I mean a Board agent. Brother Wilkes is
a better agent than I am, but his Board is
smaller. It is large enough, though, to do
good, thank God; but I love him so much I
Want him on my plank.
Superannuated Ministers.
This is a class of people that are too much
neglected. I have known some—and no doubt
there are many—who, after a long and faith
ful service in the cause of Christ, when they
were disabled from age and affliction, were
neglected by the denomination which they
had served to long, and left to suffer and die in
penury and want, as an px or horse that could
serve hfii owner no longer, was turned out to
graze and die—there being no provision- made
for such by the denomina'yon. Now; this
does seem to m«, wrong—very'wrong. I be
lieve the Baptisti of each State should have a
fund for the support of such ministers of their
own State. Let the money be invested in
some profitable way, the proceeds to be ap
plied to such as come under this head. There
is no use in saying, ‘we are too poor, we can
not do such a thing.’ That is the common
plea for doing nothing in a benevolent cause.
There is no telling what we can do, if we only
would. Take God at His word and try, for
He gave us all we have; and are wp afraid to
trust Him for more? It shows a want of
faith in God. So we hold on to what He has
given us, and our poor souls are impoverished,
(for a Christian can no more live in the full
enjoyment of the love of God and do nothing
in His cause, than a fish can live out of water,
his natural element.) lam selfish enough to
want to enjoy as much of the love of God as
any of His children, and I believe it is my
happy privilege to li\eas near my Saviour
as any of His disciples; and if lam not lib
eral and kind to all of God’s creatures, I can
not see His face; and if we do not love each
other as children of one family, we have no
evidence that we are children of God. I
would have a Ministers’ Life Insurance Cos.,
where none but ministers were insured, free
of charge to all who were not able to pay, so
their families might have some dependence if
the husband and father was taken. 1 would
have him to draw a support even while liv
ing.
Will not the Baptist Conventions and As
sociations take this matter under considera
tion, and recommend at least that some plan
be adopted to relieve the cases of those min
isters who are disabled either from age or af
flictions ? Do we not hear of a brother in
Texas whose afflictions are sufficient to touch
the hearts of all Christians ? Oh ! for a sys
tem of benevolence that will relieve suffering
humanity, the world over, and that will bear
the glad tidings of the gospel to all the world,
and bid them look and live. ,
Aunt Phillis.
I Object to It.
“ Object to what ?” I object to that broth
er praying in public. “ What do you mean ?
Can you hold in these prayless days, when so
few pray in our churches, that any one prujs
too much or too often?” One man prays
too often in public. “Who is he?” He
is the man who prays not in his family. 1
repeat it with the utmost emphasis: I object
to his praying in pubiic. If he is not a Phar
isee I don’t know who is. He ought to feel,
and no doubt does feel himself to be one. It
his business is such that he can’t pray in his
own family, let him say so, and let him give
up religion on the same ground. When called
on to pray in public, let him get up like an
honest man and say “ Brethren, you must ex
cuse me, I don’t pray at home, and should I
do so here, 1 should feel myself to be a hypo
crite. This, my self-respect forbids.” A tear
for the wintry state of s tch a man, but all
honor to his honesty. He may disclaim the
name but he has more of the character of
a brother than the man of long prayers.
Reader, do you know how to pick out the
man here objected to ? Let the the secret be
told: It takes him a long time to start his
prayer, and a long, long, time to get to the
end of it. In a word, he is famous for long
prayers. Instead of seven minutes, he prays
twenty-one. It requires seven minutes lor
him to get started. His mouth seems to be
rusty and dry in the outset, and often contin
ues so to the end. Who wishes to hear such
a prayer as this? Nobody. Who is benefi
ted by such a prayer ? Nobody. How many
such praying members wrould it take to con
stitute a genuine spiritual church? The science
of numbers is not capable of informing us.
How long will it take to number the days of
a church having none but such members ?
Its epitaph is likely to be written duriug the
next generation.
Call upon the man of prayer, who prays
in secret and in his family ; call upon him in
the prayer meeting, and he is ready. The oil
of grace in his heart mounts right up to his
tongue in the first effort to speak, and you
listen to sweet, softening, precious invocation
that makes you, if you are a Christian, want
to grasp the hand of the brother and ask
him to pray for you. When will men learn
that to have God with them in public prayer
they must be with Him in secret and fam
ily devotion? When will professed Christians
admit that it is worth while to spend time in
private devotion? When will they admit
that usefulness in spiritual things is the duty
of every one, and that such usefulness cannot
be attained to without much meditation on
divine things, and much prayer to God where
the eyes and the ears of the world are not ?
Scrap.
Love Not the Truth.—2 Thess. ii. 10.
The Hindoos have a popular belief that
elephants, beholding their huge deformity in
a clear spring, forthwith trouble the waters,
aad destroy the image. But it is actual his
tory, thatduring the reign of the accomplished
but polluted Catharine 11. of Russia, a noble
man had aversion to mirrors. His monoma
nia made him so dread to see his own form,
that the Queen gave him audience in a room
without mirrors, lest he should dash them to
pieces. A sure evidence of some deep up
heaval of the souls when men dread to see
themselves reflected in the glass of divine
truth. The image of a soul pure and holy,
reflected, does not disturb the dwellers in
heaven.
Why should men dread to see themselves
in the glass of truth on earth ? The unre
newed man seems afraid to go in the solitude
of his closet, and, with an open Bible, see his
moral likeness. Hence the everlasting rush
hither and thither to theatre,
and what not, to fly from that self
seen by conscience in the truth,
the deep and abiding in-stilit |gj
that divine mirror, seen in
in every age. — Presb.
! Faith.
Faith aingetb clear and sweet,
A hymn with joy replete,
Low at the Saviour’s feet.
-It never sighs: *' I must
Confide.” ”My Lord I trust I”
It sings, for doubt is bushed.
It wears a happy smile,
And cheerful words beguile
The sad from tears awhile.
It brings the pansy’s bloom
Within the darkest room—
Heart’a-ense for earthly gloom.
Through heaven’s wide-open door
It bringeth music for
The earth-wail evermore.
It bath no bitter care—
No ill can storm-cloud bear,
Since Christ is even there I
It knoweth blossoms call
The fruit-buds when they fall—
Bright petals are not all I
We call some lack a need,
Faith brings the blessed creed
That Christ’s ne’er want indeed t
Though earthly loss betide,
He doth the best provide
Till we with Him abide.
Wbate’er the grief and pain,
Faith breathes the sweet refrain:
“ Earth-loss is heavenly gain. ”
—Family Treasure.
First Principles.
First principles are simple. That a living
man mu>t breathe needs no proof. No foun
dation of r#&soningcan be admitted but what
is self evident. What God has 'spoken must
be true. It is insulting to Jehovah to bring
arguments to prove the truth of his lawiT
“Thy word is truth.*' John xvii: 17.
The Apostles established churehes. W e read
of the chur.h in Ephesus, the church in
Corinth, and of the churches having rest in
Judea, and Galilee and Samaria. Acts, ix:
21. Paul went through Syria and Celicia
confirming the churches. Acts, xv : 41. The
Thessalonians were praised for following the
churches of God in Judea. 1 Thes. ii: 14.
The church is built upon a rock that the gates
of hell cannot destroy. Math, xvi: 19. It
has a King, a constitution and laws of its own
which are all divine. Those who say there is
no church fall beneath the cutting reproof of
the Apostle when he asked, “ Despise ye the
church of God 1” 1 Cor. xi; 22.
New Testament churches had ordinances. —
They believed in “ one Lord, one faith, one
baptism.” Eph. iv; 5. The first converts
were baptized and added to the church. Acts,
ii: 41 and x : 48. Paul praised the Corinth
ians because they kept the ordinances as he
delivered them. 1 Cor. xi; 2. Jesus was
baptized himself. Math, iii; 15. We are to
teach all things whatsoever he has commanded.
Math, xxviii; 20. Men who deny the ordi
nances are like the Pharisees and lawyers
who rejected the counsel of God against
themselves, being not baptized of him. Luke,
vii; 30. The Lord’s Supper also is to be
observed till he comes. 1 Cor. xi: 26. Those
who deny this are false teachers and must be
avoided.
The first churches had officers. The qual
ifications of bishops and deacons are pointed
iout by Paul. 1 Tim. iii: 1, 13. Paul or
dained elders in every church. Acts, xiv : 23,
Titus was instructed to do the same. Titus,
i: 5. Timothy was to commit the gospel to
faithful men who should be able to teach oth
ers also. 2 Tim. ik 2. The first churches
aHso had deacons. Acts, vi: 3. Phil, i: 1.
W hat folly to affirm that there were no elders
in New Testment churches. Ho\V readest
thou ? Not what thinkest thou? But how
readest thou ? Luke, x : 26.
„ Primitive churches supported their pastors.
This is self-evident. Jesus had no set salary,
but he himself was supported. ‘‘Joanna, the
•vise of Chuza, Herod s steward, and Susanna,
and many others which ministered unto him
of their suostance.” Luke, viii: 3. The
first sisters united together to support Jesus.
He acted according to his teaching : “ The
workman is worthy of his meat.” Math, x :
10. Paul pressed this matter on Christians
as earnestly, and with a greater variety of
arguments than he enforced any other duty.
Gal. vi: 6,7. —1 Tim. v: 17,18. Paul argues
the matter from the stand point of common
sense. A soldier is supported by the coun
try, a vine-dresser by the fruit of his vine
yard, and a shepherd from his flock. 1 Cor.
ix: 7. He points to the Jewish law. Thou
shalt not uiuzzle the mouth of the ox that
treadeth out the corn. I Cor. ix : 9. Deut.
xxv : 4 He appeals to common equity. He
wno ploughs, sows and threshes, expects to be
fed by his labor. 1 Cor. ix: 10, 11, 12, 13.
He refers to Christ's own appointment. “Even
so hath the Lord ordained that they who
preach the gospel should Jive of the gospel.”
1. Cor. ix: 14. Paul does not say that we
are to give five, ten or fifty dollars a year to
the cause of Christ, but that we are to “ give
as God hath prospered us.” 1. Cor. xvi: 2.
80 Jesus does not say that, a minister is to
have a set salary, but that he is to have a
support. “ Even so hath the Lord ordained
that they who preach the gospel are to live of
the gospel.”
Thus we learn. Ist. That Jesus sanctions
an entire devotedness to preaching, or to the
work of the gospel, else he would not have
ordained that such should be supported. 2nd.
That churches should support their own min
isters. 3rd. The amount to be given is not
mentioned, but Jesus has ordained that thosh
who preach the gospel are to live of the gos
pel. They are to have a competent support.
The amount to be given, and the way of do
ing it, are left to Christian fidelity and love.
We call, these first principles. With the
word of God for our guide they cannot be
overthrown. Ignorance may deny, blindness
may say, *• 1 can’t see,” and bigotry may per
vert thee:, but these principles are in the
word of God. They must be taught, if we
teach all things whatsoever Christ has com
manded. Math, xxviii: 20. “1 speak as
unto wise men judge ye what 1 say.” 1 Cor.
x: 15.— Canadian Baptist.
Wm. N. Chaudoin
A Hint to Speakers.
Some years ago we, lugether with various
other persons, spent au hour or two in a com
mon sitting room, in company with Henry
Ward Beecher, all of us being iu attendance up
on a Teachers’ Institute, before which the great
lecturer was to speak. We were curious to
observe that Mr. Beecher, instead of ming
ling in the conversation and bubbling over
with pleasantries, as one might perhaps ex
pect, seemed to be rather in a doze, spoke
only when spoken to, and then briefly as pos
sible blundered in making change, and appear
ed to he half asleep. This phase continue
until he got upon the platform,
fore him within assailable
the lliui Kiel's were let - ;
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WHOLE NO. 2490.