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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.”