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CHRISTIAN INDLa .Ml SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST.
VOL. 49—NO. 36.
\ RELIGIOUS AND FAMILY PAPER,
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN ATLANTA. OA
AT $3.00 PER ANNUM,
Invariably in Advance.
r. J*. TOON, Proprietor.
The Gate of Heaven.
I’m kneeling at the threshold, weary, faint and sore,
Waiting for the dawning, for the opening of the door;
Waiting till the Master shall bid me rise and come
To the glory of His presence, to the gladness of His
home.
A weary path I’ve travelled, ’mid darkness, storm and
strife;
Bearing many a burden, struggling for my life;
But now the morn is breaking, my toil will soon be
o’er:
I’m kneeling at the threshold, my hand is on the door.
Methinks I hear the voices of the blessed ns they stand,
Singing in the sunshine ot the sinless land :
Oil! would that I were with them, amid their shining
throng,
Mingling in their worship, joining in their song.
The friends that started with me have entered long
ago;
One by one they left me struggling with the foe;
Their pilgrimage, was shorten, their triumph sooner
won , .
How lovingly they’ll hail nie when my toil is done!
With them the blessed angels, that know no grief nor
sin,
I see them by the portals, prepared to let me in.
O Lord ! I wait Thy pleasure, Thy time and way are
best;
But lam wasted, worn and weary—o Father! bid me
rest 1
—Sunday Magazine.
Seminole Camp-Meeting—No. 2.
In my last letter, kind readers, I took you
with me (in imagination) to the encampments,
but I did not show you the grounds, nor in
troduce you to the people: please bear me
company, and l will perform the pleasing
duty. Here come two, meeting us long be
fore we alight. This one in front, spare-made,
of medium height, raven black hair, sharp
features, and with generous smile, is—not an
Indian. It is brother J. S. Murrow, my old
companion in missionary toil. Excuse me
for weeping tears of Christian gladness while
I introduce you to him. 1 cannot even think
of him at any time without a heart brimfull
of emotion. We have had so many joys and
sorrows in partnership. He has come sixty
miles to attend this meeting. That other
man, with him, six feet and two inches high,
weighing 240 or more pounds, large, coarse
features, strongly marked, and pitted with
small pox, with a countenance all aglow with
benevolence and joy, and a heart as big as
all out of doors, —that man is the principal
Chief of the Seininoles, and a native Baptist
preacher. He was a brave and dashing Col
onel in the Confederate service; but he is as
much above his tribe as ,he son of Kish was
above his fellows; and I do not suppose
there is a Seminole, even of those who “went
North,” that does not want Jumper for his
Chief.
Let, us bell the oxen, loose the horses, and
forget that we ever had such stock until the
meeting is over; for these Baptist Seminoles
will see to it that they do not suffer want.
Now hie we to the camps. It is raiuing;
but no matter. Baptists, while they hate
sprinkling and pouring, will not allow such
trifles to interfere with duty. This substan
tia! harbor, in the centre, covered with grass,
is 00 feet long and 50 feet wide, and is the
, I ~ ii'j, . that box at ouef nd, made
of boards, is the pulpit. You see camps all
around, for a great distance, tents, buffalo
robes, quilts, blankets, small bush arbors, and
all the et cetera, too tedious to name, that be
long to Indian camps. These are the places
where the Indian brethren have their families,
and at which they are prepared to receive
and entertain their guests. They arc not
“ troubled about many things,” in camp, as
we pule faces, for they are perfectly at home,
and take everything just as it comes.
You see that there is nothing lacking that
is essential to house keeping. There, in a
convenient place, is a grind stone, which we
would never think of bring to a camp-meet
ing; and there, suspended from the limb of
a tree, is a rope doubled, and fastened at
each double end, with a folded blanket, in the
form of a swinging cradle, where rock and
swing the babies. If you hear a child cry,
you may write it down in your book a half
breed, or a XVth Amendment. Full-blood
Indian children seldom cry. This first camp
is John Jumper’s ; that on the west is James
Factor’s, and he used to be the only Seminole
of mixed blood, for before the late war they
had stringent laws, with dreadful penalties,
against a mixture of races. James Factor is
a native preacher, and a good interpreter,
half Seminole and half Anglo Saxon. That
camp west is brother Cloud’s. He, also, is a
good interpreter. It is so late, however, that
1 cannot show you aU round. You will have
ample time to get acquainted, for we will re
main here from Wednesday until Monday,
and Indian etiquette will require you to eat
at least a little at every camp before you
leave.
But here come some white people. I must
introduce you to them, also. That tall man,
who seems prematurely senior, looking over
his spectacles as if watching the sailing of a
hawk, is Dr. Ramsey, the Presbyterian mis
sionary. He is a good man, and highly edu
cated, and withal, an indefatigable worker.
The D.D. affixed to his name does not spoil
him, and his proud look, so repulsive to a
stranger, is only the effect of near sightedness.
He has a warm Christian heart, and bears
acquaintance well. He “ went North,” while
my impulses drove me South; and he is,
decidedly, a Presbyterian of the Old School,
while 1 am as decidedly a Landmark Baptist,
of a school much older than his. “ How,
then, do you expect to ‘gee horses’ with him
in this meeting?” Hold a little, reader; we
must “ be wise as serpents and harmless as
doves.” Wait until the sequel, and 1 will
tell you all. Just now I can only say, that
there has not been a Baptist missionary here
for five long years, while the Dr. has been
here all the time; and he is wise as well as
good. lie lias not been idle. He has taught
the Baptists here, that “it makes no differ
ence,” and though they do not believe the
half of that, yet they have gone so far as to
invite him, and I will throw all the respon
sibility on the church until 1 am able to as
sume more myself. Asa Baptist, I “feel
cheap,” because we have so long neglected
these Seininoles. But here is his wife sister
Ramsey—(l will call her sister, though she
and the. Dr. call me Mr. B.) She is an ex
cellent Christian lady, and that is as much as
can be said in praise of any woman. This
young lady with her, is sister Shook, who
says to me, in an undertone, “ 1 am a sister
■indeed." As much as to say, lam a Baptist;
and that is enough; if she is a good one—
which I believe—she needs no praise. That
little daughter yonder, is Miss Washburne,
and I love her for her father’s sake. He was
a Presbyterian minister with a noble soul,
and was murdered in the yard of his father
in-law. and in the presence of his wife and
children, because he went not North. Re
ijuiescat in pace. His brother was an artist,
and author of the “ Arkansas Traveller .”
Hark ! do you hear that conch ? I well know
its solemn sound. I heard it oft before the
war. It calls us to the place of worship—
“ The sound of the church-going bell
These valleys nor rocks ever heard.’’
{s3 00 A YEAR. I FRANKLIN PRINTING HOUSE, ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1870. Is3 00 A YEAR.!
And as we go along I will say to you that,
after I had been among these Indians seven
years, I visited Kentucky, and being invited
to preach in the Walnut street church, the
sound of their great bell really unnerved me,
and ther huge organ unmanned me, and
when I saw two big buck negroes grind
ing it, it took all my sermon out of me, and
when 1 had to walk so far from my seat
across their great barn of a pulpit, to get to
the Bible, my knees really smote together.
How love I the Indian conch ! and the primi
tive simplicity of their worship ! Listen now
to their holy songs ! You do not understand
their words, but you see that their hearts, as
well as their voices, are in them. Jenny
Lind is “no where.” Be patient, for likely
enough they may sing and pray until your
bedtime before the preacher reads his text.
The missionaries are too much fatigued to
preach to night, and at their earnest request
John Jumper will preach in Indian, and with
out an interpreter. You see it is still rain
ing briskly, and the arbor is leaking profuse
ly, while the pulpit and seats are wet thor
oughly; but all that makes no difference, fur
these people hunger and pant for God’s word.
11. Ft Buckner.
Micco, Creek Nation , Aug. 22nd, 1870
The Atonement.
Theories of the atonement abound. My
object is not to discuss all of them, but sim
ply those which are most popular —which are
believed and firmly held by some men of
high attainments and unquestionable scholar
ship. 1. Let us consider the atonement of
Christ as explained by the theory of debt.
According to this theory, man, by sin, became
a debtor to God. This theory was a great
favorite with the Puritans, but has of late
years sunk into comparative neglect and dis
repute. Men of the highest spiritual syrnpa
thies have long felt it to be too liiirfl.in, be
cause too narrow and commercial. The word
ing of the theory in detail, varies a little as
given by differing authors, but the principle,
which is the same in all, may be thus stated:
Man, as a creature, owes to God, his Creator,
constant obedience ; and while that obedience
is rendered there is no debt. By sin man
fails to obey, and thus becomes a debtor. 'The
debt is double in its nature. There is a debt
of perfect obedience and of punishment. The
first is daily accumulating since the fall, and
ever must increase, as man cannot now give
to God perfect obedience. The second refers
to the punishment which is due to sin in pro
portion to its merits. The first is a negation
of good or the lack of obedience; the second
is a positive evil being equivalent to our
Master’s property. The former wants making
up by the superabundant obedience of an
other, and the latter is discharged by the en
during the punishment of every specific sin.
This debt, as a whole, in its two-fold nature,
was fully and finally discharged by Jesus
Christ; or, as Goodwin puts it, “For us He
undertook to God, to work all our works,
and undergo all our punishments ; to pay
our debt for us, and to work in us all that
God should require.” Milton puts it thus:
“ He, ivitb his whole posterity, must die;
Die he or justice must; unless, for him,
Some other able and as willing, pay
The rigid satisfaction, death tor death.”
Man, being reconciled to God, is still imper
fect—fails still to pay his debt of full obedi
ence, and his salvation is still impossible un
le-i' some one ran part with sufficient over
plus of merit to make up for his deficiency.
God, as creditor, demands payment in full,
and refuses to cancel the debt or deduct from
the sum total the smallest item. Christ be
comes man’s friend and surety, pays his debt
of obedience by His holy life, and his debt of
punishment by His death of agony and
shame. The debt, as a whole, is thus paid off
and the debtor is discharged.
We have now stated the theory of debt as
fairly as possible, and as fully as necessary.
Let us now consider its value as an explana
tion of the work of Christ.
1. This theory requires that God and Christ
should be different Beings. God, the credi
tor, who demands payment, and Christ, who
pays, must be different beings; for it would
be fiction carried into folly to speak of a
creditor paying himself, or allowing or com
manding payment to be made out of his own
estate, instead of saving what would be really
the fact in sneh a case, that he freely forgave
the debt, when the debtor had nothing with
which to pay it. The sacred Scriptures seem
to me most fully to teach that Christ is God,
and not a being distinct from Him. Christ
is God manifested in the flesh—God concen
trated and localized in a human person ; but
the theory now being considered makes God
one and Christ another; Christ the giver and
God the receiver. Christ suffers pain and
God is pleased. That which is pain to the
one is pleasure to the other. If the relation
of Christ and God be correctly expressed by
such phrases, they must be two distinct be
ings, having different conscious existences.
Believing that the Bible teaches the deity of
Christ and the oneness of His divine nature
with God, we reject the theory of debt, as
being no explanation of the atoning work of
Christ. 2. But allowing, as the theory de
mands, that God and Christ are different be
ings or persons, it follows that since God is
King of all, He must he also King of Christ.
As the Supreme Governor of all, He demands
perfect obedience from Christ in every state
of being and always. But as no moral quality
can exceed the demand, which is perfection,
it follows that the Messiah can have no sur
plus merit with which to make up the defi
ciencies of others, or to pay to God man’s
debt of holiness. Christ, even, is but perfect,
and is therefore no better than He ought to
be. He has yielded faultless obedience to
the law in every assumed position. But as
duty is measured by the capacity to perform,
he whose capacity is greatest is required to
do most, and do that in the best manner; yet
no one can ever exceed perfection or require
goodness of nature beyond what justice de
mands, and thus lay in store a surplus of
merit, to be used to make up the defects of
delinquents. To suppose that our Saviour
could, by superabundant goodness, be better
than He ought to be, and thus be able to
share among believers that obedience to truth
and God which He gave above what was
needed, is to suppose what is impossible.
The justification of Christians by an imputa
tion to them of the overplus of righteousness
of our Lord seems to us a mere figment. 3.
But allowing even the possibility of acquir
ing even this surplus merit, by giving to God
more perfect obedience than He had a right
to demand, we are still left in a maze of diffi
culties by the fact that if Christ has paid our
debt of holiness and punishment—has obeyed
God’s law for us and suffered the full punish
ment of our sins, then we are free from all
personal obligation to obey, and from all
personal risks of being punished. If a debt
be paid by a surety, it cannot be again de
manded by the original debtor. If our debt
has been paid by our Saviour, then there is
no debt, it has been cancelledChrist having
paid our debt of obedience by His sinless life,
no further obedience can be demanded of us;
and He having suffered the punishment of our
sins when He died, we need not (ear to be
punished for any wiong doing. This theory
of the Christian atonement does effectively for
mankind what the Hegelian philosophy tried
in vain to.do in another way. It delivers all
men from the influence of the idea of a per
sona! God. Guillaume Marr said that “ the
true road to liberty, equality and happiness
was atheism,” or the freeing of the human
mind /rom the restraint imposed upon it by
a belief in personal responsibility to God ;
but the debt theory of the work of Christ gets)
rid of all sense of responsibility, while it re
tains in its creed the existence of God as an
article of belief. Every man for whom Christ
died owes the Deity neither reverence nor
obedience, nor is he liable to any punishment
for sin, as the Atoner, by His atonement, has
paid the whole of his debt—discharged his
obligations and endured his punishment.
4. According to this theory, there is no
such thing as the forgiveness of sin or salva
tion by grace. If a debt be paid, no matter
how, or by whom, it is not forgiven. Pay
ment and forgiveness are contradictions. If
our Lord has endured our punishment—has
suffered the just consequences of our sins,
then sin is not forgiven. It has had its own
course and produced its own evil. If at any
future time the sinner were punished, then
would the same crime be twice punished,
which would be unjust. If Christ has met for
us the demands of justice, by obeying the law
and suffering the consequences of transgres
sion, then is salvation—freedom from eVil
and the reward of obedience, no more of grace
but of justice. True, Christ was kind and
gracious in doing what He did for us, but
God gives nothing for which He is not paid ;
therefore is our salvation an act of grace on
the part of Christ, but an act of mere justice
on the part of God. 5. This theory seems to
be a libel on the Divine character. It repre
sents God as exacting, not giving ; as demand
ing, not bestowing ; as punishing, not pardon
ing ; as being just, not gracious. He shows
no favor, but requires and gets his due. Christ
suffers and gives, bqt God demands, and has
the uttermost fin thing. If, then, God has ail
He requires—no matter who pays Him,
whether the original debtor or his surety, if
Hebe paid—no thanks are due to Him lor
what He gives or does. All thanks are there
fore due to this other. St. Paul’s shout of
triumphant victory must be altered from
“ Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory,”
to “ Thanks be to Christ who purchased vic
tory for us.” Such is the nature of this theory
of the atonement—a theory which was, alas!
identified with the gospel by the Puritans, and
is stiff thought to be a fair representation of
tiie truth. But it falls to the ground at every
point. It requires, at the beginning, what
the Word of God will not allow— the sepra
tion of God and Christ, each being re
garded as a distinct, conscious person or be
ing. The Bible shows it tube the duty of
all men to obey God, and emphatically de
clares that‘‘the soul that sinneth it shall die;”
but this theory is destructive of all moral ob
ligation. Great prominence is given in the
Scriptures to the doctrine of the forgiveness
of sin. We pray for forgiveness according
to the examples of pious men ; and the'Divine
Being is repeatedly said to forgive men their
sins. But I tie debt theory of the work of
Christ shows that all the Bible’s teaching
about forgiveness is but mere empty talk, as
God forgives no man a sin, but is fully paid 1
by man’s surety. The Bible everywhere
speaks of our salvation as being of God’s
grace. God saves by or through Christ, but
never on account of Christ. God is the efli
e jent cause of salvation, and Christ is the in
uil vat;- • i-.,- Mediator—of
lift. grace. The absolute Deity reaches us in
a special form assumed, and by a special reve
lation given—which is Christ; so that we
owe all we have, or may possess, or be, to
God, who made His love known to us in
the Christ form —in Christ. According to the
Gospel, God gives us all we have—yes,
gives ; and forgives all our sins— forgives ;
but, according to the debt theory, God gives
nothing and forgives nothing, as everything
which comes through Ilis hand is purchased
at a fuff price.
The conclusion of the matter seems to be
this: We can accept either the accuracy of
the Bible, as the Word of God, or the Puri
tanic notion of the atonement, as the payment
of debt by a surety ; but to accept both as
true, is impossible. They are diametrically .
opposed to each other, as opposed as light
and darkness are. One must be rejected as
untrue, for the one is destructive of the other.
We would sacrifice any theory rather than
God’s word. The former is the invention of
man, the latter is the production of God.
If permitted, we will examine, in another
article, the substitution and compensation
theories. Galileo.
Note.—lt is hardly correct to say that the author has
adopted anybody’s theory of the atonement—Gel man,
English or American. All that is intended in these ar
ticles is to show why he cannot accept certain views
entertained and avowed by writers on the great ques
tion—the mystery of godliness; and to call out just such
writers as the Editor of the Index, that his own difficul
ties may be removed. He means to make the task as
difficult for his editorial friend as possible. The torch
ot truth, the more you shake it the more it shines.
•* G.
School Books.
In your last issue is an article headed,
“School Books,” which alludes to a series of
Text-Books for schools, (arranged by Pro
fessors in the University of Virginia, and
published in New York,) in such a way as to
do injustice to the very valuable books from
which we all received our education, and
which have always been popular in the entire
South. As 1 visited over a hundred schools
in the South, and secured the introduction of
thousands of these text books, 1 would do
myself injustice were 1 to fail to address you
this note.
As is known to you and many of your
readers, I represented for some time the house
of D. Appleton & Cos., New York. Their
publications are largely used in the South.
So thoroughly adapted are they to the wants
of our schools, that wherever they were
brought in competition with the books you
extol, they invariably superceded or defeated
them. Why? Because they were the best,
and not because they paid any attention what
ever to sectionalism. This occurred in the
city of Richmond, Va., where, under circum
stances most favorable to the University
professors, the Board, with a majority of true
Virginians, adopted Cornell's Geographies in
preference to Maury's, and Quackenbos's
Arithmetics in preference to Venable's.
Now, it is simply absurd to try to persuade
Southern teachers to throw out the well tried
Readers by McGuffey, (a Virginia University
Professor.) Not a word of detraction of the
South is on their pages. It will be equally
amusing to bring the splendid Arithmetics of
Quackenbos and Robinson into competition
with Venable’s on the claim of “ villification ”
of Southern people. Arithmetics do not
treat of that department of Mathematics.
What is true of Arithmetics, is equally true
of Geographies, Not one word reflecting
upon Southern people is found in Cornell,
Shall we turn to Latin and French books
to support the charge of “ detraction ?” We
are thankful that in these books there is no
opportunity for Am erican glorification. As
the scientific books ot the University Series
are not yet ready, it is unnecessary to allude
to them now.
You will see, then, that my intention is not
to reflect upon the “ University Series,’’ but
to repel a carelessly-made, charge that “ the
school book generally introduced are, almost
without exception, unfair and prejudiced in
their treatment of tfrwtSouth, its people and
institutions.” To put it more accurately,
there is not a text book in general use.among
the Southern people t <at, in any way reflects
upon, or slightingly (;Uudes to the Southern
people. This is our counter charge, and we
challenge refutation.
We well know that it is easy to raise a
hue and cry against Northern text books, be
cause of the cowardly and infamous oppress
ing of tiie South bi “ radical ” politicians,
but is it chivalrouicWWgjse the cry upon false
grounds? In olden toes, when fanaticism
sought to incite servile insurrection, it re
quired but the cry- o(>“ abolitionist” to blast
the character of ouripest citizens. We have
not forgotten how often that cry was raised
by ignoble enemies,■Jp.et not honoiable men
in these later days m itate such reprehensible
conduct.
By all ineams let Southern men make text
books for our children, and even if not quite
as good, let us in our schools.
If not meritorious, fft us not try to force
their use by resorting to ungenerous schemes
to create sectioiuaJyfejudice. It requires
neither genius nor ulJfir3nce.lo do this latter.
Neither is such a cojjse in consonance with
Southern honor, chi. dry and magnanimity.
•A»v-tJGeo. C. Connor.
Atlanta , Sept. 5 1670^
Beat tbJfc who Can.
“That Peek of I.ye,” and “Those Yarn
Socks,” remind me of an incident told me
by Rev. W. T. Rogers, of the Canaan Asso
ciation. He says diat, at one time in the
course of his he was preaching to a
church in the easier part of Shelby county,
which, like many ambers in that day and in
this, was very remiss in regard to the mat
ter of salary. Helkd “stood it” about as
long as be could, nid determined that he
would bring the matter before the church,
and if they did not h lo better, he would have
to give them up. According, on conference
day, he subject and told the
brethren that he h*e to ride a long distance,
(about 15 miles,) u’- d'.was necessarily absent
from his business tAj family three days every
time he came, andAu.it in justice to himself
and family, he would be compelled to resign
the care of the chu/eh unless they would in
crease his salary, (which was twelve dollars.)
The brethren hearrMds statement with cred
itable forbearance, and expressed much regret
at the idea of losing a pastor they loved so
much! After determining that they would
try “to do sometUHTg,” conference adjourned.
After they left the: house, they gathered to
gether in groups jo discuss the matter, and.
to see what couldlie done. During the out
side conference, a member took brother Rog
ers by the arm and requested him to step
aside, he had jfomrtning to say to him. Af
ter getting a few rods from the church, he
said to brotht r R.. that he was very sorry
indeed that hejhad an i lea of leaving them,
“ he loved him, 1.. No] to hear him preach, and
he would do son—thing for him, wanted to
pay his part,” etc' Said he, “ Brother Rog
ers, I havn’t an' money' now, but here's a
piece of tobacco i 1 give you,’’ at the same
time drawing fro his pocket a piece about
as broad as your ■ hree fingers. Brother li.
says I ; thankedjk, in, but as lie did not juse
the weed, and it* voMd lie of no service to
him, he declined*!;) receive it. Wasn’t this
the little end oivyae&ness whittled down to
j-. k r : .ojbiqJ. i R , that
this mail was m ftmv m. circumstances —was
regarded among hismeighbors as being rich.
If this does not cap the climax of stinginess,
what does ? T.‘ C. B.
Acquaint Thyself with Him and be at Peace.
Peace, troubled heart, let not thy plaint
Be heard; thyself with Him acquaint,
So His all-sheltering wiugshall be
Thy swift security.
Spirit, be calm 1 -; for there is mercy kind,
Though thou art blind;
His Sabbath is thy holy rest,
Repose upon his breast.
Be strong, my soul, in virtue’s ways,
Thy Benefactor praise;
And let thy every word and work be given
To truth and heaven.
And thou, my life,be brave unto the end;
He ever is tby friend ;
All trusting follow wheresoe’er he leads
Who with Himself tby being daily feeds.
—.S’. D. Bobbins.
“Leading Members.”
Did you ever, reader, in your experience
in connection with Baptist churches, encoun
ter a “leading member.” Perhaps he was
a deacon ; or perhaps he was a “ leader” by
virtue of his wealth or position in society.
They are to be found scattered all over the
country. Most generally they are selfish,
narrow-minded, set in their own way, and as
obstinate as a niide. They are imperious and
domineering in their nature, and have some
how imbibed the idea that the church, inclu
ding the pastlpr, is a sort of machine to be
run by them and for them—that they are the
engineers, and if anything is done contrary
to their wishes and direction, there will be a
general smash up, which they will do all in
their power to wing about, being resolved to
rule or ruin. A pastor is regarded by them
very much in the light of a “hired man”—
an under servant, who is to speak and act as
they may dictaUyand over whom the “lead
ing member” is determined to hold a tight
rein. “Leading members” are more apt to
be found in. country churches than in the
cities, and for ffirre reason, make much more
trouble there. A church w hich has one of
this kind, is to be sympathized with; and as
for the minister who is afflicted with a “ lead
ing <member” ':•** his flock, his situation is
anything but enviable. We hear of a fine
church in the.northern part of the State, for
merly prosperous and influential, zealous in
all good works, which is losing ground —has
already lost the respect of the com in unity
is settling down into a negative, do-nothing
policy, losing its vitality and usefulness, all
from the fact of its being afflicted with a
“leading member” who stands in the way
of all progressive effort, and would have the
church crawl into its shell like a snail, and
there remain in indolent forgetfulness of the
claims of the world around upon its Christian
efforts. Os all things, deliver us from the
“leading member.” Unfortunate indeed is
that church upon which he fastens himself.
What Did He Do with Them?
Lyman Abbott, in his Life of Christ, (a
valuable book on the wholg,) finds great dif
ficulty on one point, regarding John’s bap
tism. He says:
“ Those that signified their sorrow for sin,
and their purpose of reformation, he baptized
in the river Jordan. Whether he dipped
them in the water, or descending with them
into the si ream, poured it upon their heads,
is a question wh ; ch, to the present day, di
vides the most learned scholars of the church
into two theological parties,”
Notice where the trouble of “ the most
learned scholars ” comes in. They have set
tled it that it was not at Jordan, or by Jordan,
or near Jordan that John was baptizing, but
“he baptized in the river Jordan.” Nor are
they troubled about his merely going down
tg the water or near the water. They find
him taking his converts and “descending with
them into the stream.” And now comes the
•perplexing, the puzzling, the brain-harrowing
question: what did he do with them next?
The “ most learned scholars ” are at a stand !
“ Why, any fool could do that sum,” said
a school master to a perplexed boy. “ Well,
1 ain’t a fool,” says the youngster. The
“ scholars ” are troubled the same way. If
a man riding through the country, saw a
group of people by the river side, and was
told that a baptism was to be administered,
and saw the minister take the candidate and
descend with him into the stream; if, after
they had got waist deep in the current he was
not sure, after all, but the minister was mere
ly going to take a little water in his hand and
pour it on the candidate’s head, we should set
him down, not as a man of only ordinary
learning, but as one of Mr. Abbott’s “ most
learned scholars.”— Cent. Bap.
Pre-Millennialism.
The theory of the pre-millennialists is based
upon a most mistaken interpretation of the
19th and 20th chapters of Revelation. Their
mistakes are three. First, they identify the
judicial advent of Matt, xxv with the descent
and going forth of Christ as ‘tiie Word of
God,” in Rev. xix, marching as a conqueror
and subduing the nations to His triumphal
sway, fulfilling the mission of the second
Psalm. Their second mistake is confounding
the life of the souls of Rev. xx: 4, with that
of bodies. Why cannot these boasting liter
aiists allow souls to be literal souls? John,
in his Gospel, does most explicitly maintain
that there is a glorified life of the. soul—the
vita ce/eslis —above not only its unconscious
existence, but above its conscious life, and
Contrasted with the death of the disembodied
soul of the damned. This same John does
in his Gospel (v,25 —29) distinguish the first
and second resurrections to be successively
the resurrection of the soul and the resurrec
tion of the body. And of this first resurrec
tion of souls described in his Gospel, exalted
to its glorified state, does the same John
catch a glorious pictorial glimpse in his Apoc
alypse. He lifts up his eyes into the high
heavenly world, and beholds the souls of the
triumphant martyrs and confessors enthroned
with Christ Himself in spiritual authority
over the living nations of this world. Their
thrones are in paradise, their sway is on earth.
This picture has for us a double aspect. First,
in its earthward aspect it stands as a symbol
of the triumph of truth and righteousness on
earth. It stands in precise contrast with the
souls of the martyred in Rev. vi: 9—ll,
whose condition symbolizes the suppression
of religion and truth in the world. In the
one case they lie under the altar; in the
other they are exalted upon thrones. But
let our brethren note that in both cases, first,
it is souls and not bodies that are seen with
the Spirit’s eye; showing that the apostle, by
the word souls, means what he say's; and
second, that the state*of these souls repre
sents the state of Christ’s blessed religion on
earth. Second, this scene in its celestial as
pect gives us a specimen of the disembodied
Church, ‘the spirits of just men made per
fect,’ in its glorified state with Christ. The
second death has no power over them ; for
though stiff detained in the intermediate slate,
they are waiting for the consummation oi
their embodied perfection, when the whole
elect of God shall be gathered in at the uni
versal resurrection of the body at the judg
ment scene of Rev. xx: 11, identical with
Matt. xxv. This is perfectly consistent with
v. i’jv so il.eyrt.t .f the dead Ihpd not •fgulti.
The word again, in the English, is spumous.
They lived not the glorious life of the soul,
like the enthroned spirits—they lived not the
life of the body* they live neither life until
the second resurrection. Then they will live
ihe life of the body and die the second death.
The third mistake confounds a yorporeal
earthly kingdom with the glorified reign of
the blessed spirits with Christ in paradise
over the sanctified earth, which will last a
period symbolically designated a thousand
years. Thereafter the literal Antichrist,
(pet haps Satan incarnate, the devilish antithe
sis of Christ incarnate,) of whom this same
John tells us there are many antichrist types
in the world, (I John ii : 18,) will come forth
in deceiving power. Upon this last great
apostacy the judgment shall come like a
thief in the night.— Meth. Quart. Rev.
The Divine Decrees.
We know that they include all times, all
actions, and all beings. He saw when it was
yet but shooting along the seedy banks of
the Nde, the future application and use to be
made of each twig, out of which the mother
of Moses wove the basket-ark in which her
child was committed to the waters of the
river. vVhen Jehovah framed the everlast
ing mountains in the first week of creation,
He saw in all its destinies each fragment of
stone or earth which centuries afterward the
Jews were to take up that they might cast
them at Jesus, or which were to be employed
in the attempted murder ot Paul at Lystra,
or the accomplished murder of Stephen at
Jerusalem ; and though He might have hin
dered, God saw it not meet to hinder this
wicked misuse of His handiwork.
His eye saw when it was yet in the ore
and the unbroken veins of the mine, the sil
ver —each particle of it—that was to be em
ployed in coining the thirty pieces of money
that were in the hands of the chief priests to
buy the fidelity of Judas, and to bargain for
tiie life of our Saviour, and to secure at last
the field of Aceldama. When it was yet but
a seedling, He foreknew all the dread history
of the tree that was to furnish our Redeem
er’s cross, and might have forbidden the dew
to nourish or the soil to sustain it. With
the treason and the Deicide He had no collu
sion; and yet in His will of control He wit
nessea, permitted and overruled all the steps
of the wickedness that produced this dr /ad
consummation.— W. R. Williams.
All Equal Here.
It is related of the Duke of Wellington,
that etnee when he remained to “take sacra
ment” at his parish church, a very poor old
man had gone up the opposite aisle, and
reaching the communion knelt down by the
side of the Duke. Borne one—a pew-owner
probably—came and touched the poor man
on the shoulder, and whispered him to move
further away, or rise and wait until the Duke
had received the bread and wine. But the
eagle eye and quic!; ear of the great com
mander caught the meaning of that touch and
that whisper. He clasped the old man’s
hand, and held him to prevent his rising,
and in a reverential under-tone, but most dis
tinctly, said: “Do not move —we are all
equal here.” • •
The Difference.
A great missionary of the Primitive
Church, one called of God, was accustomed
to write to the churches of his labors in the
wide field into which he had entered, and of
hia desire for their aid in the labors he had
undertaken, in such words as these: “Con
tinue in prayer, and watch in the same with
thanksgiving ; withal, praying also for us,
that God would open unto*us a door of utter
ance, to speak the mystery of Christ.” To
another group of the brethren he says : “ Fi
nally, brethren, pray for us that the word of
the Lord may have free course and be glori
fied, even as it is with you.” A missionary
of our times, pretending to go upon the same
errand, and to be working for the conversion of
men, writes back as follows, says one of the
Ritualistic journals of England: “Anything
almost will be useful, but try and send me
three corporals and chalice veils, and two
amices. I greatly want Gregorian tones and
music generally ; a white silk chasuble, dossal,
or hangings for altars; white silk palls for
altar vessels, a brass cross processional,” etc.
Can a man who writes from a missionary
station for his millinery, be a successor of
Paul, yearning for the prayers and gifts of
his brethren,,that’"thereby the gospel might
have “ free course and be glorified ?”—Pres
byterian.
Always After Money.
Yes, it is a fact*. The church is always
after the people's mtrtiey. No sooner is one
thing out of the way than another is got up.
Nay, we may think ourselves very well off if
two or three first class schemes are not on
foot at once, every oue of the highest impor
tance. Yes, it is true ; and it is equally true
that-it would be a very miserable sort of
church of God on earth that was not always
asking for money. Only a dead church does
not want money. That a hich is alive, push
ing, enterprising, with keen eyes fixed upon
the perishing world, and seeking opportunity
to save it by preaching, by missions, by tracts
and books, by schools and colleges, will of
course be asking money. That whieli is bold
and aggressive; which strides forward to
keep pace with increasing population ; which,
in this age of vast secular interests and com
mercial enterprises, is thrilled with ambition
to keep the church in advance, will w ant great
sums of money.
Imagine the Saviour weary with his peo
pie’s praying; complaining that these Chris
tians are always wanting something! Im
agine a parent frowning at a child for being
hungry, and scowling whenever it asked for
bread ! The child that ceases to crave nour
ishment is sick, and all arts are used to re
vive its appetite; when it begins to ask for
food again, there is joy in the house; the
sick one will get well. The surest sign of
spiritual declension is a lessening of the num
ber of our requests before God. The individ
ual Christian or the church that ceases to ask
from God or man is becoming paralyzed.
You cannot push or extend with
out putting in capital; and it is a great busi
ness which the church has to do. It has
made most encouraging progress. But has
it gone so far, or accomplished so much,
in the conquest of the world, that farther out
lay is needless? Have we built enough
churches, or sent out enough missionaries?
Are there indicatiohs that the city, the land,
the world, is becoming so much better as
really to have no more need of our efforts?
We all, grumblers included, know better.
The cry of the church for means, is the cry of
a perishing world for help. It is a sign that
God’s people understand the situation, and
have laid it to heart. It means business. It
means advance, enlargement, aggression. It
means that the church is not only in a health
ful state, but resolved, hopeful, practical,
teeming with enterprise, ambitious for God.
It can scarcely be less than a crime to
grumble at frequent appeals for money, or to
wish that sortie time they might come to an
end. Until the Millennium dawns, that, sort
of grudging is criminal. God has put you in
a world full of needs. Be thankful, if you
have means, that God does not give you up
tq the niat .itid e.nikiT of selfidiii-ss, qr suffer
you.to degenerate into a mere waiteh-dog over
your property ; but that he has made! you
his steward, with the honorable duty tf'f dis
pensing his bounty,through the'ehurch, to a
dying world.— Am. Presbyterian.
Communion.
The United Presbyterian has an article up
on “ Open Communion Run Mad.” It seems
that the recently imported Chinese in North
Adams, Mass., are regular church-goers, and
very attentive to the services. On this ground
their Christianity was so far assumed that
the officers of a church there, on a commun
ion occasion, offered them the sacramental
elements. To the credit of the Chinese, it is
said, they declined the offer. The Presbyte
rian very properly remarks that this “ shows
how tar latitudinarianism, when once let loose,
may go. It shows, too, that even pagans have
a belter sense of propriety in this matter of
communion, than some persons who call
themselves Christians; and further shows the
danger of making the ordinance of the Lord’s
supper, or the right to it, a matter of indi
vidual responsibility.' The church has a re
sponsibility here which she cannot throw off.
It is for her, through her proper officers, to
decide who are fit members, or who on any
occasion are entitled to her most sacred and
precious privileges. And it is oniy by a just
sense of this responsibility, and a faithful
discharge of it, she fulfills her commission.”
The Trinity.
lie who goes aboat to speak of the myste
ry of the Trinity, and does it by words and
names of man’s invention, talking of essences,
and existences, hypostasies and personalities,
priority in coequalilies, and unity in plurali
ties, may amuse himself and build a taber
nacle in his head, and talk something he
knows not what; but the renewed man that
feels the power of the Father, and to whom
the Son has become wisdom, sanctification
and redemption, in whose heart the love of
the Spirit of God is shed abroad, this man,
though he understands nothing of what is un
intelligible, yet he alone truly understands
the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.—Jere
my Taylor.
“Is this All of Life?”
So sa’d a man of wealth, as, lying upon a
sick bed, he looked back over fifty years —
fifty years of pleasure and ease. He had
loved dear friends,’and they were dead. He
had cherishedJgreat hopes, and they were not
all realized; still his life had seemed happier
than most of his fellows. But he had lived
for self, not for Christ; he had laid up his
treasure on earth, not in heaven; and now,
as he looked back on fifty years, they seennd
a blank; and as h ■ looked forward, a darker
unknown blank obscured his vision.
An aged Christian, just as he was passing
away, said, “ 1 am just beginning to live.
This life is not all of life, it is onlv the first
step.”
Where are the Lawyers? —During all
my own ministry I have had but one lawyer
iu my congregation who ever made himself
heard -in the devotional meetings. Other
ministers have a similar experience. Why
is this so? What is there in or about the
practice of the law which so absorbs the
brain and heart o? so large a portion of the
profession that they seldom take an active
part in the service of the Lord Jesus? With
the profoundest respect for this lofty and in
tellectual and cultivated profession, we hum
bly submit the question, Why does it not
speak more and do more for Christ ? — Rev.
T. L. Cuyler.
A Righteous Man. —A righteous man is'
one who takes the word of God for his rule,
the grace of God for his strength, the Spirit
of God for his guide, and the heaten of God
for his home.— Dr.\Bunting.
WHOLE NO. 2506.
Poor.
Wlmt! poor, you say ? Why, save you, friend,
I’ve more than half the world oau show ;
Such wealth as mine you cannot boast,
Such bliss as mine you cannot know.
I’ve more than keenest head can sum—
Could ever dream of, night or day ;
I’ve treasures hid from sordid hearts,
No cunning thief can take away.
My riches never bring distrust
Between me and my fellow-men;
No evil passion stirs my breast,
To yield me hate for hate again.
But pleasure, peace and joy they bring ;
They soothe my cares, they make me glad,
They give delight I cannot name,
And buy me comfort when I’m sad.
Come here and open wide your eyes,
You see earth’s glory at my feet,
You see the sky above my head,
The sunshine on my garden-seat;
You see the love that lights my home,
The children round my cottage-door—
The birds, the bees, the grass and flowers,
And you have dared to call me poor.
Come here and open wide your ears,
And hark the music morning makes,
When from the hills and from the woods
Her high and holy anthem breaks.
Como here and eateh the grand old songs
That Nature sings me evermore—
The whispering ot a thousand things,
And tell me—tell me, urn I poor?
Not rich is he, though wider far
His acres stretch than eye can roll,
Who has no sunshine in his mind,
No wealth of beauty in his soul-
Not p>or is he, though never known
His name in hall or city mart,
Who smiles content beneath his load,
With God and Nature in his heart.
A Chinese Sermon.
The following discourse by a converted
Chinese tailor, with reference to the relative
merits of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Chris
tianity, is worth preserving : A man had fal
len into a deep, dark pit, and lay in its miry
bottom, groaning, and utterly unable to move.
Confucius walked by, approached the edge of
the pit, and .said, “ Poor fellow ! lam very
sorry for you. Why were you such a fool as
to get in there ? Let me give you a piece of
advice : If you ever get out, don’t get in
again.” “ I can’t get out!” groaned the man.
A Buddhist priest next came by, and said,
“ Poor fellow ! I am very much pained to see
you there. I think, if you could scramble up
two thirds of the way, or even half, I could
reach you, and lift you up the rest.” But
the man in the pit was entirely helpless, and
unable to rise. Next the Saviour came by,
and, hearing his cries, went to the very brink
of the pit, and laid hold of the poor man,
brought him up and said, “ Go and sin no
more.”
Congregational Singing.
Spurgeon reads a hymn, announces the
tune,- re reads the first verse,a precentor leads,
and the whole congregation joins in the
praiseful harmony—thus to the end. This is
worship. If one has any music in him, he
will sing. lie cannot help it. If he- has a
soul, it will be full of music. Ido not know
when 1 have been so thoroughly thrilled
through and through, as when that vast con
gregation arose and joined their voices in the
hymn of praise. There was no instrument —
only human voices sought the ear of Jehovah.
It was sublime, like the “ voice of many
waters.” i wish some of our congregations
could have heard it, who are obliged to listen
to the praise of God, from the mouths of hired
minstrels, as it canters along to the rythrn of
music whose theme is appropriate only to the
opera. Why ! the quartettes in cathedrals at
Rome put. to shame the d:>gi .ccod , »»>foiti -
ancus of some American quartettes,, m Pro
testant sanctuaries.— Cor. Congregtftionalist.
Take your*Own Medicine.
We are all physicians to one another in the
matter of giving advice. The question is,
Do we act according to our owfl prescrip
tions ? - •
Some of you who read this are not Chris
tians; but you are free to express your opin
ion as to what a Christian ought to be. He
ought to honor his profession by being, first
of all, an honest man in his dealings with
men. Then he ought to be generous, public
spirited, and abounding in charities. He
ought to be every v\ uy consistent with his
profession in his religious duties ; regular in
secret, family and social prayer; a faithful
student of God’s word ; full of brotherly love
toward even the humblest of Christ’s
and laborious in leading men to the Saviour.
All this you say he ought to be and do. You
are right. But think a moment. Is he under
any more obligation to be a Christian than
you are?” “ But he professes to be a Chris
tian.” Yes ; but is he under any more obli
gation to profess to be a Christian than you
are? Y<»u have prescribed well for him,
Now, do you take your own medicine?—
American Messenger.
Feeding on the Word.
Not long ago there lived in a cottage, ten
milts from London, a poor woman, very aged
and lame. She received only two shillings
a week from the parish, and she earned one
shilling and ninepence by her own hard work,
washing the pewter vessels of her neighbor,
a publican ; so that three shillings and niiy?.-
penee made up the whole of her weekly in
come. But out of this three shillings and
/linepenee she allowed herself one great treat.
She made it a point in the winter time, and
jt was only in the winter that she needed such
an indulgence,to allow herself regularly every
other day to buy a candle. With this candle,
when her day’s work was done, she sat down
to read the Bible. She burned her candle for
half an hour till she read as? much as she could
well remember, then put out the precious
light, and thought upon what she had read;
nor was this time lost, for while she thought
in the dark upon what she had read in the
light, her rnind was filled with joy and peace.
Then after a little time she lighted her candle
again, and so went on till it could burn no
longer.
The Last Prayer.
Dr. Backus, President of Hamilton Col
lege, was upon his death bed. His physician
called upon him, and after approaching his
bed-side and examining his symptoms with
interest and solemnity, left the rodm without
speaking, but as he opened the door to go
out, was observed to whisper something to
the servant in attendance. “ W hat *did the
physician say to you ?” said Dr. B. “He
said, sir, that you cannot live to exceed half
an hour.” “Is it so ?” said the great and
good rhan. “Then take me out of my bed
and place me upon my knees; let me spend
that time in calling on God for the salvation
of the world !” His request was complied
with, and his last breath was spent in pray
ing for the salvation of his fellow men ; he
died upon his knees, and “ entered heaven
with prayer.”
TJnitarianism. —The Radical , in discussing
the relative distance of orthodoxy and liber
alism, says: “ Fifty years ago the Unitaiian
was toiling up the mountain, and his banner
bore the onfe word, ‘God.’ To-day, arrayed
in purple and fine linen, he is travelling at his
leisure down the road, and his banner dis
plays the word, ‘ Christ.’ He is a Unitarian
still, but his ‘ Unity’ has“been transferred to
the ‘ Son.’ The ‘ Father,’ as we have learned
to say since the war, has been mustered out
of service.”