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About Christian index and South-western Baptist. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1866-1871 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1870)
CHRISTIAN irv urn m D SWUTH-WEST ERN BAPTIST. VOL 49-NO. 34. A RELIGIOUS AND FAMILY PAPER, PU UIjLSHED WEEKLY IN ATLANTA, QA AT $3.00 PER ANNUM, Invariably in Advance. J. J. TOON, Proprietor. Casting all on Jesus. 1 left it all with Jesus ' Long ago; All my sin I brought Him, And my woe. When by faith I saw Him On the tree, Heard His small still whisper, ’ Tis for thee,” From my heart the burden Boiled away. Happy day ! I leave it all with Jesus, For He knows How to steal the bitter From liie’s woes; How to gild the tear-drop With His smile, Make the desert garden Bloom awhile; When my weakness leaneth On His might. All seems light. I leave it all with Jesus Day by day ; Faith can firmly trust Him, Come what may. Hope has dropped the anchor, Found her rest In the calm, sure haven Os his breast; Love esteems it beavei^ To abide At His side. Oh, leave it all with Jesus, Drooping soul; Tell not half thy story. But the whole. Worlds on worlds are hanging On His hand, Life and earth are waiting His command; Vet His tender bosom Makes thee room. Oh, come home! The Atonement. The atonement is the fountain and the gos pel is the stream. Though the word, atone ment, but once occurs in the New Testament, yet is that New Testament full of the doc trine. When Paul speaks of Christ crucified, when he glories in nothing but the cross, when iie states that the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin, and tells U3 that the Saviour died for the ungodly, he refers to the atone ment of Christ. < >ur object, in this article, is not to define the doctrine, or to offer an ex planation, so much as to clear the way for that purpose. Before examining the Scrip tures on this subject, we will make two re marks ; Ist. That the idea of an atonement is by no means peculiar to the Christian religion , but is common to nearly all systems of religious belief. In every age of the world’s history, and in every country upon the surface of the globe, man has been found entertaining the belief that he was a sinner; that as a sinner, he was deserving of punishment; that that pun ishment could be averted by penitence, cere mony, personal suffering, or substitutionary sacrifice. The methods by which men chietly hoped, for ages, to deliver themselves from evil, were very varied, and are so still. In many cases a mere attitude of body, an ejaculatory prayer, etc., was supposed to atone for sin in any form, and that apart from any personal penitence or reformation. We are here speaking of those methods of reconciliation to God which were invented by unenlightened man. Orestes, who assassinated his mother, ex piated the black crime by stealing a statue of Diana. Achillas was purified by ablution after the murder of the king of Teleges. Hippolytus was cleansed by washing his ear; and Pilate thought he might free himself from his sin by washing his hands. Other methods of reconciliation were adopted, in volving far more expense and trouble, re quiring greater self denial on the part of man, and proving the existence of notions of the character of God which were more degrading. Birds, sheep and cattle have been slain by millions; and on rare occasions, human be ings have been offered on the altars of cruel gods. Aristomenes commanded 300 captives to be sacrificed, among whom was Theopom pus, king of Sparta. Several Persian men were sacrificed by Thernbtocles. Twelve Trojans were offered at the funeral of Patroc lus. Polyxena was sacrificed to the spirit of Achilles, and the Lacedemonians frequently scourged their children to gratify Diana. On some occasions the sons and daughters of kings, princes and nobles, were offered to quench the rage of angry deities. These were sacrifices offered by the enlightened Greek in the zenith of Grecian civilization. Many more were offered by the Druids in Britain, and on the Continent. In India it has been customary for ages to sacrifice the sick and the aged to the Ganges, widows to the spirits of their husbands, and innocent children to the god of the soil, as means of securing an abundant harvest. And who has not read of children being offered to Moloch, and of pilgrims being crushed to death be neath the wheels of Juggernaut'? Pagan idolatry assumes a similar form in every age and country. The difference be tween Thena and Wodin, Moloch and Calee, is immaterial. The slaughter, for religious purpose, of 200 at Carthage, 400 in Rome, 2,000 in Drfhomey, or 20,000 in Mexico, is the same thing in principle. The difference is only numerical. Now, at the root of all these customs we find man’s consciousness of sin, a belief in the possibility of deliver ance, and also that the sacrifice was to effect a change in God, and not in man ; to cause God to lay aside his anger, and not man to lay aside his sin. Here is the fundamental error of all pagan worship. Sin is not supposed to have injured man’s being, but simply to have aroused God’s passion; and therefore God is not supposed to be reconciled to man by seeing man weeping for his own personal wrong-doing, but by having an opportunity to wreak his vengeance on the sacrificial vic tim. YVe need scarcely say that many of the old divines entertained notions of God far more in harmony with these heathen ideas than with the teaching of the Scriptures. One of them (a poet) represents the Saviour’s death as an infliction of God, and not as John puts it, the result of his own voluntary re signation. John gives the words of Jesus thus: “ No one taketh it from me, but I lay it down of self.” Ttie poet, on the con trary, has— “Ar.d did at once his vengeance pour Upon the Shepherd’s head.” Again, he speaks ot the Saviour,'not a3 revealing the love ot God, as does John, but as having •' Quenched His Father’s darning sword In His own vital blood.’’ Some writers on the atonement, influenced by the heathen views of God to which we have referred, have spoken of the Deity as being appeased by the death ot Christ, as if lie had been enraged before, and was only quieted by a sight of pain and suffering! This idea underlies the theories to which we refer, and is a libel on the character of that God “ who is good to all,” and who “ maketb the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, {sß 00 A YEAR. f FRANKLIN PRINTING HOUSE, ATLANTA,-GA., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1870. Ss3 00AVEAR.S and sendeth rain on the just and on the un just.” The death of Christ acted upon the sinner and not on God. The Saviour’s death as a demonstration of the love of God, so affects the wicked, that he repents of his sins and ceases to be wicked, and thus becomes an object of God’s delight, and not of his anger. In this sense God is appeased, and in no other. The idea that the Atonement affected God, and not man, or God as well as man,—ap peased God by satisfying something in Him self, has been transferred from heathenism, where it originated, to Christianity. Has not God always been merciful, apart from any atonement? 2nd. That the word “propitiation ” has a secondary meaning, and that the secondary meaning alone is adopted by the sacred wri ters when they refer to the atonement of Christ. The word originally referred to the process of propitiating an enraged’ deity, according to heathen usage and notions. All heathen rites, ceremonies and sacrifices, were invented to act upon God and not upon man." Their ob ject, in every case, was deliverance from pain and punishment, and not from sin. The heathen by whom the word was first used, never seem to have thought that pain was ik4 so much a positive infliction ot evil, as a punishment of sin—as a property of it as heat is of fire. Hence we find that their acts of worship were intended to affect God, and not man. Man was never thought to need a change of heart, mind and disposition, and hence the word propitiation, in the heathen mind referred to a method of reconciling God to man, rather than man to God. The Bible speaks a contrary language: “Be ye reconciled to God never to God, Be thou reconciled to man.” God is recon oiling the world unto Himself; the world is not reconciling God unto it. The word pro pitiation, though originally signifying the method of reconciling God to man, came, in process of time, to signify conciliation simply, without implying that it was effected by re conciling God to man, or man to God. The only question for us to settle in this connection, is, Do the sacred writers ever use words in the secondary sense alone — words whose primary meaning they must have thought, erroneous? Thtfte who have studied the Scriptures with care, will find no difficulty in pointing out words which the Apostles unquestionably used in a secondary sense, without committing themselves to the acceptance of the etymological or t riginal meaning, which heathen authors could net ceparate from them. The word “ flesh ” Gap; —is a case in point. This wordoiigin ally meant literal flesh—the material part of man or animal. Paul, however, uses the word to signify a quality which is inherent, not in the material, but in the spiritual nature of man, viz: human sinfulness. In a similar mariner, it is quite possible that John, and other sacred writers, may have used the word propitiation ,” and its cognates, to signify simply reconciliation, without implying, as the heathen did, that God needed to be pacified, as if He had had any feelings of ill-will or hostility in refer ence to man. Having shown that the propitiatory, or ap peasing element of the atonement, existed in heathen minds before it was thought of by Christian thinkers ; that it is possible, at least, that the idea may have been transferred orig inally, from heathen theologies to Christiani ty ; that the sacred writers did sometimes, as a matter of fact, use Greek words in their secondary meaning, when they could not ap prove of the primary sense; und that, there fore, it is not right to deduce the idea of ap peasing God by the death of Christ from the use of such words as “ propitiation,” we are in a position to make another suggestion, or two, from the teaching of 1 John iv: 10,11. He does not give us any explanation, or definition, of the doctrine of the atonement, but teaches us many things of importance in connection with it, the study of which will show that, whether we can arrive at a correct definition or not, all definitions involving the idea of appeasing God, except in the way already indicated, must be erroneous. The lesson of the text referred to, regarded in a negative sense, is very important, for it satisfactorily sh >ws that the atonement of Christ did not appease God in the heathen sense, or in the sense Puritanism has preached, nor in any sense, but by effecting a change in the moral state of man. God is unehangea ble, but man may be changed. God’s frown of “ anger ” is nothing more than man’s cloud of sin, which comes between them. Light paints the landscape on the sensitive film, and the pure in heart sees the smiles of Deity. It is no fault of the sun that December is more gloomy than June; it is our earth that makes the change. The love of God, revealed in the death of Jesus, may make man pure, and thus secure to him the smiles of God. The atonement “ appeases ” God by chang ing man, and not by “ satisfying ” God. I. The Propitiation spoken of by John, is of God's own providing: “And sent His Son,” etc. God is here represented as an active, and not as a passive party in the work. He “sends.” Here He is giving, and not receiving. The atonement propitiation is represented as being made by Him, and not for Him. God is a giver, and uot a receiver. This is the way in which His part in the work is always represented in the New Testament. Our Saviour speaks of Ilis dying for others, as being what God does for others, and not as what others do for Him. “ God gave His only begotten Son.” Paul, too, represents the matter in the same way, in that remarka ble passage w hich has been regarded as the very basis of the heathen idea of appeasing. Rom. iii; 25: “ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation.” Here God “ sets forth ” — places before the world —provides, a propitiation ; but to speak of any being pro pitiating or appeasing himself, or taking any part in the work of self appea-ing, would be absurd. Thus John proves that the propitia tion of which he speaks was not an appeasing of God by another, but something which God did to reconcile the world to Himself. 11. The propitiation spoken of by John is a proof of God's love, and not its cause or jus lijication. “ Herein is love," etc. These words are very clear and definite. Great stress is laid on the love of God as distinguished from the love of man, and the love of God is said to be shown in the fact that He sent His Son to be the propitiation, in the part which He took in providing the atonement. But if the atonement was made for God, to satisfy or appease Him, it could not show His love, whatever else it showed. It might prove His strictness and justice in demanding, but sure ly not His love in giving. If a man wrongs me in any act, and 1 demand satisfaction for the wrong, that can never be said to be a proof of iny love for the offender, whatever else it may be a proof of. John regards the atonement as proving God’s love, and not as satisfying God’s justice. “Herein is lote!” John’s notion of the propitiation did not, therefore, involve the idea of appeasing God according to the heathen and puritanic defini tion. Thus we find that John’s idea of the atone ment had nothing in it corresponding to the heathen idea of satisfaction or appeasement. Its object wa9 to destroy enmity in not in God. The idea of God’s indulging such a passion is shocking. GocPs“ love is disinterested. Love does all the work, con quers all, and wins, and melts, and subdues the hardest heart. “ Oh ! unexampled love! Oh ! all-redeeming grace ! How swiftly didst thou move To save a fallen race ! What shall I do to make it known What Thou for all mankind hast done?” Galileo. We dissent from the view, imported by Coleridge from Germany, which our correspon dent adopts; and may say something on the sub ject, when he is through. —Ed. The Inner Life. Christian, cultivate the inner life. It is your only real life. All outside of it is fleeting, decaying, and will soon pass away. “1 live,” said Paul, “by the faith of the Son of God.” Exercise daily faith in Him. Trust Him implicitly. Believe in an ever present Saviour, to guide, di rect and support you. Earthly friends may fail, but He will never fail. ' “ In Him,” says Neander, “the ideal and the actual meet truly. He is all that He means, all that He claims to be.” This cannot really be said of any earthly friend. If in daily fellowship with Him, the troubles and annoyances of the world will sit lightly upon you ; and the interior power will triumph. Herein is the hiding of your strength. In your every day conflict you will be serene and hap py. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.” In all your perplexities as to the path of duty, you will be most as suredly directed by infinite wisdom, and in view of the last great change, which may not be far distant, you will be enabled to exclaim joyously, “ I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committeed to Him, against that day.” Gkebi. Baltimore. Doing Good on the Sabbath. The remarks in the Index of August 18th, under the caption, “Tract Distribution on the Cars on the Sabbath,” are timely. Many questionable things are done on the Sabbath, under the plea of doing good. Our object in the present communication is not to discuss the propriety or impropriety of these things, but simply to ask the read ei’s attention to an incident in connection with the burial of our blessed Siviour, bear ing upon this subject. The record of this incident is in Luke xxiii; 54—56: “And that day (of the Saviour’s burial) was the preparation, anji the Sabbath drew on. And the women also which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepul chre, and how his body was laid. And they returned and prepared spices and ointments ; and rested the Sabbath day, according to the commandment .” Particular attentian is desired to the clos ing sentence, which we have italicised. These devout women were preparing to manifest their regard for their dear Lord and Master. And as this was an act of devotion, and, un der the circumstances, an act of Christian heroism, it might seem an extreme scrupu lousness on their part, to allow even the sa cred hours of the Sabbath to prevent its consummation. But they had not so learned Christ; for w j*h all their devotion to Him, they did not consider that he had come to destroy the law, but rather, as He had taught them, to fulfill all its precepts. The Sabbath, so carefully observed by these devout women, was the seventh day of the week, which God had appointed as a day of rest from secular toil afid labor. And the strictness with which it was in this instance observed, arose from a conscientious regard for the commandment of Jehovah, in which they had respect, not only to the letter, but also to the spirit of the law. • Under the Christian dispensation, the “ Lord’s day ” is the Sabbath. And as the law requiring one day in seven to be kept holy unto the Lord, is still in force, can we be too careful in abstaining fiom doing, or encouraging others in doing, anything not Consistent with remembering the Sabbath to keep it hoi) ? A Bible Baptist. Patriotism—No. 11. . We tu in to Greece, “the land on which learning and genius shed a lustre that has grown brighter amid the gloom of ages; whose achievements in arts and literature and arms, adorn incomparably the most brilliant page in the annais of unchristianized man.” Here we see a Solon, showing his patriotism in time of peace, by suggesting many saluta ry laws; a Lycurgus becoming an exile, and eventually suffering death, that the laws of Sparta might be perpetually observed; a Thrasybulus expelling the tyrants of Athens, and a Leonidas, with his chosen band, pre pared for victory or death. Many interesting stories are told of the patriotism of the Spartan mothers. It is re ported of one, that in time of a battle she stationed herself at the gate of a city in which she lived, and asked the news of a messenger who had come from the battle-ground, and when he told her that all her sons were slain, she said, “ Vile slave, i asked you not how it fares with my sons, but how it fares with my country .” Now, though in this there seemed to be a forgetfulness of the feelings which a mother should exercise towards a child, yet we cannot but admire her willingness to make a sacrifice for the good of her country. In modern Greece, we see a Bozarris, who, with his latest breath, encourages his com rades on the field of battle— “ Strike—till the last armed toe expires, Strike—for your altars and vour fires, Strike—for the green graves of your sires, God and your native land.” In Poland, we see Koskiusko and Pulaski, whose names are dear to every American heart. Justly might we have expected that their oion land would share largely in their affection, since, with such untiring zeal, they labored for the good of suffering strangers. In Switzerland, we see a Tell, who will not yield to the demands of the German bailiff. Providence smiles on his efforts in behalf of his country; the Austrian Governors are ex pelled, and Switzerland is free. Among the patriots in France, we see a Lafayette, whom America can almost claim as her own. In all the perils by which he was surrounded in the cause of liberty in his native land, America felt for him the solic itude of the parent for the child. A grateful nation records his worth and distant genera tions will dwell with rapture on his name. In Ireland we see an Emmet. How soul thrilling his language; though memorized by many a school boy in our land, it has lost none of its interest by its frequent repetition, and the son of Erin and every lover of his country will always read it with delight. “1 have,” he says, “ but one request to ask at my departure from this world, it is the char ity of its silence. Let no man write my epi taph ; for as no man who knows my motives dares now vindicate them, let not prejudice or ignorance asperse them. Let them and myself remain uninscribed until other times and other men can do justice to my charac ter; when my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then, and not till then, let my epitaph be written.” In Scotland we see a Bruce, a Doug lots, a Randolph We see a Wallace who refuses to acknowledge the usurper Edward, and lay down his arms. And when at last he is ta ken, ’tis not in fair and open combat, but by treachery. Accused of having been a traitor to the English Crown, wuh calm resolution he answered, “ I could rUt be a traitor to Edward, for I was never J>is subject.” Ac cused of having killed rn;eV men, he replied, “Jt is true I killed many Englishmen who came to subdue my native country, Scotland.” But, “ tell it not in Gain, nor let the sound reach Ashkelon,” he is dragged on a sledge to the place of execution, and then beheaded. O, England ! among the p*ges in thy history, which thou shouldst desire erased, that page deserves a place that recor ts a deed like this ! We turn to America. Many are the in stances of patriotism which adorn our histo ry, in Revolutionary days. On the 30th October, 1782, four thousand English fell upon New London wits fire and sword. Seven hundred Americandefended the fort for a whole day, but in tL evening the com mander of the besieged surrendered. His companions and himself -sere put to the sword. A line of powdery as then laid from the magazine of tl.e fori to the sea-shore, there to be lighted that Ae fort might be blown to atoms. A pnv»>)* soldier, William Hotman, who lay not fatmistant behind it, with three strokes of the Ks Vonet in his tody, said to one of his wounded friends, “we will endeavor to crawl to lhi?'’ne, and will com pletely wet the powder wi h blood ; thus will we, with the life that still emains to us, save the fort and the magazine ind perhaps a few of our comrades who ay* only wounded.” He alone had strength en ugh to accomplish this noble design. He did upon the powder which he overflowed with ?iis blood. Many are the instance; of patriotism in the history of the South, in the recent war; and though we have not\seen the efforts of our soldiers erowned with he success that we anticipated, yet the futur historian will find here an ample fund from {which to draw, to give to the world, (as far vs patriotism is con cerned) some “ Immrmal name’ Thai were not Lorn •) die.” If our government is n * now what it once was, let us see to it that ( "\>d rules our hearts. If many spots dear to us, in the sunny South, have been desolated, let v's see to it that our thoughts and affections a turned to a coun try abo\e —a country w iere wars and ru mors of wars shall never molest, and where revolutions and dissensions can never come. “Fair, distant land! coitd mortal eyes But half its charmsVxplore, How would our spirit- long to rise, And dwell on earth no more.” ft. W. Whilden. The Patience «’ Hope. Thou may’st not limit to i day The prayers that from ftiy bosom swell; Trust to tby U<>d the time and way, Assured He doeth well. But when His purpose is/nrmde kuown, And when the door wifle open stands, With heart sure stayed oil Him alone, Rouse to the action Ho demands. Not idly sitting in the siM Brings promised blessug.- from above; But patient, daily duty Ait iu Ilia strength 3 V'lhve. . For Jacob’s ladder, round by round, Rises from earth to meet the skj'; There angels, as of old, are found, And we must climb who cannot fly. 0 faithful workers! all is well;— Lift your worn fates to the light; Though in the valley yet you dwell, The morning breaks upon tbe height! “Broad Guage”—The Baptist Teacher. Can you tell me what the Baptist Teacher, on page 68 of the September number, means by the saying, “ We need broad guage men and women in the Sunday school V’ I ask because I knew, some few years ago, a deacon of a Baptist church who prided himself that he >vasa“ broad-guage tnan,” and if any other poor pastor was ever so a nd: stressed by a “ thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan sent to bus set him,” I know how to pity Jiim and sym pathize with him. This “ broad guage man” was a great supporter and advocate of union Sunday schools, an open comm unionist, and a particular friend of the Sunday school Union literature, deeming it “ narrow-gu ige” for a Baptist to advocate Baptist Sunday school lite rature. In a word, he could not tolerate a Baptist of the Rev. Dr. Thos. Armitage school. (See his sermon on that subject.) 1 know him well, and, in my mind’s eye, “ Ho ratio,” 1 see him now chuckling over the line in the Teacher, “ We need broad-guage men and women in the Sunday school.” Is not Rev. Dickinson, editor cf the Richmond Herald, the editor of the Teacher ? Will he not tell us what “ broad-guage men” are in Baptist Sunday schools ? J. D. Protracted Meetings—‘ ‘ Cometarians. ’ ’ A series of religious meetings are now in progress in many parts of the South. One only of thertt has fallen tinder the observation of the writer. The church which still con tinues this meeting is one which has been ac customed to an annua) .effort, probably ever since its original organisation, and which had, with the surroundinifflcommunity, become hardened by their innfence, in alliance with other causes equally «*Uent. The members were disaffected, scatj-red; many holding letters; some in disorder; discord,dissension and non-fellowship prevailing. They were without a pastor and without meetings of any kind during the present year. Two worthy ministering brethren recently visited the church, and proposed to preach for several days. It remained to, Joe seen what course they would pursue, greeted by the Spirit of God, they proceeded so organize the church, to heal dissension, to out off such as refused to harmonize, and to prepare each and every member for the work that each had to per form, at present and in the, future. This being the Scriptural course, it was of course successful. A considerable number have been received by.letter and restoration, and a few young converts baptized. A pastor, to de vote his entire time to the interest of the church, has been chosen and is now in the full discharge of his pastoral duties. The Sunday school is reorganized, a weekly prayer meet ing instituted, and a weekly meeting of Sab bath school teachers. Bach member is called to his or her respective duty, and every agency of the churclvfjt is proposed to bring into efficient and active exercise. Do any say thi9 will all soon-die out? Perhaps it may. Churches, in all ages, have backsliden. Perhaps not many churches of the present day keep their lamps trimmed and burning. But whether these ministers fail or succeed, who will assertlhata system demanding every member daily to be a true “ soldier of the cross,” is not the Scriptural system ? One member was asked by an outsider, “ Has your meeting closed ?” “ No, it has just begun,” was the reply. “ When do you expect to close ?” “ At the millennium ; then to commence anew as God may direct.” A meeting that begins on the first day of Jan uary, and continues with Sabbath and daily duties performed, by the pastor, by the other officers of the church. and by every member, down to the youngest and least efficient, and j closing on the 31st of December, to be re sumed on the day following, with no change in the order, with every member disciplined to duty to his family, to his pastor, to his brethren, to his unconverted neighbors and acquaintances, to his church, —such a meeting is worthy of being called a protracted meet ing. But, says one, this is impracticable in coun try churches that are restricted, from neces sity, to a sermon once per month from the pastor. The writer has, in times past, been a member of country churches for a series of years. He has known these and scores of other churches thus situated, to have their Sunday schools and their every Sabbath prayer meeting, and one (in some instances) during the week, a trained membership perform ing their Christian as well as their wordly duties, during the week. Ido not mean that iu these churches there was a perfection of organization, and that every member daily performed his or her duty to perfection. I am not drawing a fancy sketch. There are delinquents in the best of armies. But this was the system, and for half a century many have been striving to live up to it. 1 can name such men as brother Jesse H. Camp bell, Dr. C. D. Mallary, Dr. J. E. Dawson and numbers of others, who for many years were pastors of country churches. The fires never t-cared to burn upon their altars. The writer met a lady, a few months since, a companion of early days, whom he had qpt seen tor thirty years. When told that her mother (a bright and shining light, an active Christian through a long life) was still living, 4. nquested her to say to that aged mother, that one conversation of hers with me in my boyhood led me—on that very day—to go to my closet and there erect an altar which I have never since forsaken, and upon which, by Divine aid, I hope to lay my heart’s sacri fice to my latest breath. I remember once, in early life, to have re solved to leave the church and turn back to the world, feeling unworthy of such a con nection. I went to my pastor (for he always made my way to his confidence smooth and easy.) lie readily showed my misinterpre tations of Scripture, by which I was misled ; unfolded such facts and views of my condition as led me there to resolve that, in darkness or in sunshine, in joy or sorrow, in hope or in despair, among the people of God to live and to work, as my only hope. To this resolution l have clung, without wavering, to this hour. “ There were giants in those days”—there are some now. It may not be improper to state that our worthy brother, Dr. S. G. ITillyer, of Georgia, was that pastor. Instances of like chaiacter could be multiplied indefinitely in the experience of every Christian who has been connected with an active, zealous, con scientious church. I now invite the attention of the reader to the contrast. In previous articles, I have por trayed the inactive, periodical system at length. Theirs are the periodical meetings. They are not worthy of the title of protracted meetings, although I am not particularly par tial to the latter appellation. They have their periodical meeting-, their periodical efforts, periodical revivals and periodical piety, and very short periods, at best. Assembling to gtther for a few days in the fall, and a sermon preached once a month, constituting the Chris tian work performed by tens of thousands of church members, and by 'Hundreds of churches and pastor*! And yet, these pastors corn plain of the meagreness of ministerial sup port ! Visit a church of this class. Inquire of the pastor the number of members in any one of his churches. “We had,” he will reply, “about one hundred and fifty members in such a church. We hid a great revival here last year. 1 baptized fifty young converts.” Attend his regular meeting on Sabbath. It is the communion season. Look over the seats occupied by the communicants. You will see thirty or forty participating. Look through the windows, and among the loung ing, laughing, gossipping throng that linger around, will be found a considerable propor tion of the young converts of the last revival, while a very 'considerable number of old as well as young members can be reckoned among the voluntarily absent ; the neglect of this holy ordinance being a sure index of an utter indifference to all other Christian duties. There is no one who will openly and spe cifically defend this system of periodicity. They will plead “not guilty.” And yet; of the four thousand ministers of the Southern States, h«>w large a proportion of them teach this system —not in so many words, but in practice. He who doubts this has but a lim ited range of observation, or does not candidly weigh the facts before him. The “S »nos Righteousness” is a familiar Scriptural emblem. Among the celestial luminaries, the comet, in its illiptical orbit, disappears from the world during the greater part of its revolution, but returns, with i£ phosphorescent display,at certain well defined periods. It is seen or felt, (if at all) only at or near its perihelion. If this periodical sys tem among our churches had been known to the inspired writers, the comet would cer tainly have been chosen as its appropriate emblem. I would rspeetfully suggest to our cometarian ministers—the advocates of pe riodicity—to prepare a sermon, derived from the narrative of Nehemiah ; and I venture to predict that, before they close their exegesis, they will conclude that this interesting and instructive narrative does not typify a come tarian church. It is to be hoped that there are, at this time, many churches who are re turning to the “ old paths,” with their banner unfurled, bearing for its design no eccentric comet, with its fiery tail, but the “Sun of Righteousness,” with healing in its beams, and for its motto, “ Esto Perpetua." A Lavman. Hopeful. We clip the following, with regard to the rev ision of the Liturgy, from the Episcopalian, a good evangelical paper, published in New York and Philadelphia. We hail with joy such proof of Bible loving Christianity in the Church which has been so invaded by Rit ualism. The spirit that prevails also in the Irish Episcopal Church, and is evidently awaking in the Church of England, indicates the near approach of a better day for the pure and simple gospel truth. The Episcopalian thus designates THINGS TO BE CORRECTED “My sponsors in baptism, wherein I was made a member of Christ . the child of God , and an inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven?'—Cate chism. But the Scripture saith : “ Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." —Galatians iii: 20. “ Sanctify this water to the mystical wash ing away of sin, and grant that this child now to be baptized therein may receive the fulness of Thy grace?' Baptismal Service. “ Seeing now that this child is regenerated , and grafted into the body of Christ’s Church.” —Baptismal Service. “We yield Thee hearty thanks, most mer ciful Father, that it hath pleased Thee to regene rate this infant with Thy Holy Spirit."—Bap tismal Service. But the Scripture saith : “ Being born again by the Word of God , who liveth and abideth forever.” —I Peter 1 : 23. “ Os His own will begat He us with the Word of Truth." —James 1 : 18. “ Reverend Father in God, 1 present unto you these persons, to be admitted deacons.” Ordination Service. But Jesus said : “ Call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your Father,who is in heaveu.”—Matt, xxii: 9. “ Declaration of absolution to be made by the priest alone, standing ; the people still kneeling.”— Morning and Evening Service. “Almighty God hath gi/en power and commandment to His ministers to declare and pronounce to His people, being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins.” “Almighty God have mercy upon you, par don and deliver you from all your sins." But Scripture saith : “ Him (Christ) hath God exalted, to give forgiveness of sins.” —Acts v : 31. “To the Lord, our God, belong mercies and forgiveness of sins.—Dan. ix : 9. “I will pardon their iniquities.”—Jeremiah xxxiii: 8. “ Receive the Holy Gho-t for the work and office of a Priest in the Church of God—whose sins Thou dost forgive, they are forgiven— whose sins Thou dost retain, they are re tained.”— Ordination Service. But the Scripture saith : “ We are witnesses of these things, and so also is the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him.”—Acts v: 32; xv: 8 ; Thes. iv :, 8. “ Consider the apostle and High Priest of our profession, Jesus Christ.”—Heb. iii : 1. “ We have a great High Priest, who has passed into heaven." —Heb. iv : 14. “This man (Christ Jesus) hath an un changeable priesthood .” —Heb. vii : 24. Views of Alexander Campbell. His strong religious character and power of leadership kept together the heterogeneous elements gathered into the churches of the Disciples. But it is improbable that the unity can long continue. The important errors in corporated into his system must in time un dermine it. One of these errors was the importance as signed to baptism. He regarded it as essen tial to salvation, or at least to an assurance of salvation. By it came the forgiveness of sins, and without il was no evidence of for giveness. When hard pressed by Baptist questioners, he sought to evade the natural inference from his teachings, that regeneration and forgiveness" are the results cf baptism. But as he taught definitely that the Holy Spirit never renews the heart by a direct act, but only mediately through the Word and the water, it was not easy to distinguish his system from ritualism, and it is quite certain that a large part of his followers are thorough ritualists. A kindred error, out of which, perhaps, the other sprang, was his idea of faith. He did not regard it as an act of the renewed soul, but as a simple exercise of the mind by its natural powers. Hence he refused to require any evidence of Christian character before conver sion. If one claimed to believe in Christ, though the faith were merely historical, he had no hesitation in baptizing him, and as suring him that tl.e work of regeneration was completed by the ordinance. Regeneration could not, indeed, by his theory, be wrought before baptism; and therefore it would be f.»lly to require any of its fruits as prerequi site to ihi ordinance. These errors, as we have said, are fatal to the permanence of Campbellism as an evan gelical system. The influence of its founder being withdrawn, tokens of dissolution are al ready manifest. Many of its present leaders are avowed ritualists. They teach baptismal regeneration as positively as the High Church men of England and Germany. They recog nize no other new birth than that wrought in the ordinance. Os necessity their churches are composed largely of unregenerate persons, who know nothing of the inward workings of Divine grace. Their sympathy with evan gelical doctrine is feeble, and they must di verge farther and farther from the spiritual religion of the New Testament. Many others in the body of Disciples, both leaders and followers, are simple hearted and earnest Christians. They begin to feel that they are unequally yoked with unbelivers ; that the living and the dead cannot cohere. They begin to suspect that some errors in doctrine must underlie their system, to pro duce such strange fruits, and they are groping towards the truth, and yearning after union with other bodies with whom they have spiritual affinities. Some of them have made overtures towards a union with Baptists in the Western States, and we have little doubt that sooner or later they will enter this fold. Watch, and Ref. Woman’s Rights Profanity. —ln the Wo man’s Journal, Rev. Jesse H. Jones, of Natick, Mass, says : “In fact, it is no more than the truth to say that Jesus Christ lived on the earth, and died on the cross to give woman the ballot. So giving to woman the ballot, by constitutional amendment in this country, will complete the formal organization of the kingdom of heaven. That day on which it is officially announced that the ballot has been given to women in this country by constitutional amendment, will be the first day of the rnillenium. Yea more ; the giving of the ballot to women by constitutional amendment, in this country, is an essential step, and the greatest single human effort which can be made to bring down the New Jerusalem on earth.” Jesus has Lighted Up the Grave. —It is said that the Romans had a practice of light ing up their tombs. In Essex a tomb was once opened, when a lamp was found in the corner, and a chair near it, indicating the rank of the tomb-tenet; and it is recorded that fifteen hundred years after the death of Tul lia, Cicero’s daughter, her tomb, which was accidentally opened, was found illuminated with a lamp. It was but a glimmering light, the rays of which were confined to the cata comb walls. But the light Christ sheds upon the grave falls on the vista of eternity. You can now stoop, look in, and see iipmortality beyond.— Blacket's Young Men's Class. Answered. — A sceptical writer in the North British Review argues that “ astronomy sets the existence of the world more than twenty thousand years ago, beyond doubt, by showing that there are stars now visible to us whose light takes at least fifty thousand years to cross the space that separates us from them.” The pour Bible hater, says the Advance , did not stop to think that that proves that our world is fifty thousand years old in the same way it proves that we who see the stars are of the same venerable an tiquity. Revision. —Dr. Miller related to a class of students in Princeton, of whom I was one, an instance of a zealous advocate for a change in our version, who took great exceptions to the word passover. “And pray, sir,” said a friend, what would you put in its place 1” “ 1 would translate it slcipover P* wa9 the re pty* .*• WHOLE NO. 2504. Christ inlthe Home. Welcome, welcome, gracious Saviour, Welcome to our dwelling place! Here, if we have found Tby favor, Let the smilings of Thy face Rest upon us, Asa cloud of glorious grace. Come, as when to Martha’s dwelling Thou didst seek a calm retreat, As when Mary, softly stealing, Sat in meekness at Thy feet; So, in mercy, Bless us as we sit at meat. 9 And when round our altar bending, Mom and eve Thy praise shall rise; Young and old their homage blending, Wafting incense to the skies; Let Thy pleading Mingle with their sacrifice. And whene’er in life’s employments Busy cares demand our thought, Then, as when in full enjoyments, Let our toil with Thee be fraught; Let Thy blessing Ever rest upon our lot. And when friendly feet or stranger Seek awhile a place of rest, Here, refreshed and free from danger, May their tarrying, Lord, be blest With Thy presence, As our fixed, abiding guest. Conversion of Children. —At a meeting of Quaker Sunday school teachers, Philadel phia, a delegate remarked, that he was once present at a meeting where the subject was discussed, “At what age might a child be converted ?” . He arose and put this simple question, which settles the whole matter: •“ My dear friends does any one suppose that He who so loved the world that He gave liis only begotten Son that the world, through Him, might be saved, would leave a child for one moment after it is old enough to be re sponsible for an evil thought, without the capacity to be converted and saved ?” And another declared : “ 1 believe that very few converted children—converted when they are children—become backsliders. There are fewer such cases among children than among older people.” Let us have a strong faith in the possibility and reality of such conversions. Blasphemy of Spiritualists.—“ No man,” say they, “ should rely upon any Saviour outside of himself. Each and every man is a Saviour, a God. Christ is no more the Son of God than was John Howard or George Washington.” In the Age of Freedom, pub lished at Berlin Heights, Ohio, we find the following : “ What a horrible phantom, what a soul-crushing superstition, is this idea of an over ruling, omnipresent, all-powerful God ! Belief in a God is degrading, whatever the character ascribed to him. Where is your God? I can stand up, and look at him in the face, and affirm that 1 have a right to ‘life, liberty and happiness,’ whether it is his pleasure that I shall enjoy them or not.” Ignorance of Bible Things. —“ The reli gious man, the believer in these precious truths of the Bible, who, with the means at command of informing himself upon all the points in connection with the history of that Bible, with the land of the Bible, and the people of the Bible, still allows himself to remain ignorant of them, is criminally ignor ant.” A sweeping declaration, but as true as it is sweeping! Wilful ignorance of any thing which the Spirit of God has embalmed in the Book of Revelation, is, on the part of those who have the opportunity and the means of instruction, criminal ignorance. Hedgehog Readers. —The way in which many teachers read their Bibles is just like the way that the old monks thought hedgehogs ate grapes. They rolled themselves over and over, where the grapes lay on the ground. What fruit stuck to their spines they carried off and ate. So your hedgehog readers roll themselves ovei* and over their Bibles, and declare that whatever sticks to their own spines is Scripture, and that nothing else is. But you can only get the skins of the text that way. If you want their juices, you must press them in cluster.— Ruskin. “Jesus Heard.” —Recently, an aged and efficient believer of 87 years’ pilgrimage, died at Philadelphia. A short illness of but two days preceded, during which time he lay un conscious. Reviving a few moments before his departure, he glanced upon the dear ones gathered around his bed, and feebly, though intelligibly, said : “Iknocked and Jesus heard; He took me in” In this brief expression was revived the experience of more than half a century—proving Christ’s own words: “I am known of mine, and I give unto them eternal life.” “ Thou God Seest Me.” —lt is a noble profession which Milton makes after his trav els in early manhood,though Italy and France: “ I again take God to witness, that in all these places where so many things are considered lawful, 1 lived sound and untouched from all profligacy and vice, having this thought per petually with me, that, though I might es-< cape the eyes of men, I certainly could not the eyes of God.” Kindred Opinions. —ln Crabbe Robinson’s Diary, he mentions two clergymen of the Church of England, of his own circle, one of whom seriously maintained that the Slate was under obligation to punish even with death those who rejected the doctrines of the Church ; and the other, that all unbaptized children would certainly and forever go to hell. He was speaking particularly of the heathen children in the British East Indian Empire. Wiiat Constitutes a Gentleman. —The late Bishop Doane, in defining the word gen tleman in a Baccalaureate address at the third annual commencement of Burlington College, New Jersey, said : “ He is a man who bears himself with gentleness. The truest gentle man will be the most a woman in serenity, in gentleness, in tenderness, in lovingness. No violence; no roughness; no severity; so ready to forgive; so willing to forbear; so able to endure.” Christ. —A spiritualist paper in Chicago, the Religio-Philosophic Jour ml, remarks that “ in view of all the evil which has arisen out of the Christian religion, it has become a very grave question with many whether it would not have been better for the world if Christ had never been born.” Alas! remarks the Secretary, there is sad reason to fear that, so far as such writers are concerned, it were bet ter that Christ had not been born, or that they bad not been born. Jewish Scrupulosity. —Dr. Hildesheimer, the new and popular Orthodox rabbi of Ber lin, requires the children in his school to have two copies of the Pentateuch, so as not to break the law by carrying one to and from their school on the Sabbath. Neither must they carry umbrellas on that day. Just So. —ln a heated controversy between a Presbyterian and a Methodist, the former quoted largely from the epistle to the Ro mans. “Ah !” said the other, “ Paul says so, I know; but then I always thought that he leaned too much towaid Calvinism.” Unwomanly Pretension. —“No man ever worshipped God truly, that did not first wor ship some woman,” says Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
