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Life and I.
Life is the child’s frail wreath,
And Ia drop'#F dew
Upon its fading beauty. In the breath
Os the still night air came I forth to view ;
Hut with the reddening morn
I silently return
To/holy realms unseen,
Where death had never been,
Whore He hath his abode,
Who is my God!
Life is the wind-snapp’d bough,
And Ia little bird ;
My mother-land a fairer, calmer clime,
Whose olive-groves no storm has ever stirred ;
Beyond the evening star,
A little bird that came froir. far,
Alighting in my untried flight
Upon this tree of night.
Yet ere another sun
His race shall have begun,
I shall have passed from sight.
To realms of truer light,
TheSfe twilight skies above.
To be with Him I love,
My God, my God.
Life is the mountain lake,
And Ia drifting cloud,'
Or a cloud’s broken shadow on the wave,
One of the silent multitude that crowd,
With ever-varying pace,
Across the water’s face 1
Soon must I pass from earth,
To the calm azure of my better birth,
My sky of holy blisß;
With Him in love and peace 7
To have my long abode,
Who is my God!
Life is the tossing ark,
And I the wandering dove,
liesting to-day mid clouds and waters dark,
To-morrow to my peaceful olive-grove
Returning in glad haste,
Across time’s billowy waste.
For evermore to rest
Upon the faithful breast
Os Him who is my King.
My Christ and God 1
Life is the changing deep,
And Ia little wave,
Rising a momenl, and then passing down
Amid my fellows, to a peaceful grave;
For this is not my rest,
Tt is not here I cuu be blest.
Far from this sea of strife,
With Christ is hid my life,
With Christ my glorious Lord,
My Kiug and God!
Life is a well-strung lyre,
And Ia wandering note,
Struck from its cunning chords, and left alone
A moment in the quivering air to float;
Then, without echo, die,
And upward from this earthly jarring fly,
To form a truer note above,
Iu the great song of joy and love,
The never-ending, never-jarring song
Os the immortal throng;
Sung to the praise of Him
Who is at once its leader and its theme,
My Christ, my King, my God 1
Iforatins Bonar.
Symmetrical Culture—No. I.
Everybody praises education. However
widely men may differ on other topics, they
seem to be at one on this. The Atlantic
Monthly and tho Southern Review, the New
York Tribune and the Land We Love, U. S.
Grant and R. E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln and
Jefferson Davis, may all be ranked as advo
cates of culture. But notwithstanding this,
universal admiration, it may well be feared
that we are too apt to content ourselves with
a vague idea of the thing which we admire.
Iviu -oliuii is worshipped at a distance.
When Moses was about to ascend the
mount to meet Jehovah and talk with Him,
the people professed great reveretice for the
Lord, and said that they were too devoutly
impressed with Jehovah’s majesty to come
near the mount. They stayed afar off. But
whilst Moses is engaged in the wondrous
transaction with God, and the muttering thun
ders and lurid lightnings are giving their tes
timony to the solemnity of the scene, these
awe struck worshippers have forgotten Jeho
vah, and have substituted for Him a pitiful
golden calf, around which they are dancing
and shouting in their besotted folly.
It is not our object now to present the
readers with any vague eulogies upon educa
tion, but to examine it, criticise it, look it full
in the face, and see what it really is. It may
be, that, like too many other modern beau
ties, it will fail to stand the test of an honest
stare in broad daylight; but if so, we may
still have the consolation of knowing that,
though the fictitious beauty vanishes, an hon
est, homely, natural face is left.
Boccalini, we believe, in his “ Advertise
ments from Parnassus,” says that Zoilus once
presented Apollo with a caustic criticism of
an excellent book. Apollo asked him for the
beauties of the work. The critic said that he
had been attending only to the errors.
Whereupon Apollo gave him a sack of un
winnowed wheat, and bade him pick out the
chaff for his reward.
Now, upon the whole, we are disposed to
think that this was a very poor joke, alto
gether unworthy of a fiod. It showed that
lie could not appreciate criticism. But then,
to tell the truth, we have never entertained
any very high opinion of Apollo, at best. A
person of his position should have had more
sense than to allow a rattle-brained boy to
assume the reins of the chariot of the sun,
drive it pell-mell over Africa, and so near
the earth, too, as to singe the hair and
slacken the faces of the natives, thus making
the negroes, and causing us of the 19th cen
tury such a world of trouble. It is just pos
bible, however, that, in these strictures, we
are too severe; for we may be indebted
to this wild driving for the seminal idea of
the velocipede !
Our object in these papers is to present
• some reflections on the general subject which
.constitutes our title. In performing this task,
vwe shall be obliged to play the critic. We
do not consider it necessary to crave the in
dulgence of any sensible reader on this score,
nor yet to state, by way of apology, that the
writer is not a person of symmetrical culture;
for the reader has little discernment, if he
Hoes not know that a man who does not pos
sess symmetrical culture may feel the need
of it, and may, after a fashion, point out that
need to others.
During Dr. Sam. Johnson’s time, a poem
appeared in England, and created quite a
sensation. But it so happened, that a par
ticular passage of the poem was obscure, and
some puzzled readers asked Goldsmith to ex
plain it. He failed to make it intelligible,
and seemed not to understand it himself.
They then took it to Dr. Johnson, under
whose lucid criticism it became perfectly
plain, and proved to be an exquisite poetical
gem. “Dr. Johnson,”-said one of them,
“you wrote this poem.” “Oh no,” said the
Doctor, “ f could not have written it for my
life.” “ Then who did ?” “ Goldsmith.”
il But Goldsmith did not know the meaning of
this passage.” “ No,” said Johnson, “it was
not his business to know. It was mine.”
“ What do you mean, Doctor?” “ 1 mean,
that he is a poet, and 1 am a critic.”
One of the greatest obstacles to symmetri
cal culture is,
I—Prejudice.
The world is full of this. Honest candor in
the statement of one’s own views, and a rea
sonable willingness to concede to an opponent
all that he may fairly claim, are exceedingly
rare. Moderation sometimes seems to be a
lost virtue. Bold, baseless assertion is made
to do duty for argument, and hereditary
{s3 00 A YEAR. I
crotchets are dignified with the title of “ es
sential principles.” Prejudice is a lazy vice.
To investigate a subject, weigh the evidence,
look narrowly at all sides, and make up an
intelligent opinion, is a world of trouble. It
is so much easier and cleaner work just to
decide without investigation; and that this is
very-commonly done, is attested by the fre
quency with which we hear what “ all history
proves”—and that from men who have never
read anything beyond “ Peter Parley’s His
tory of the United States,” and not much of
that; by the wholesale denunciation of the
“ Catholics” which we often hear in our reli
gious gatherings, which denunciations com
monly emanate from men who do not know
that such a man as Fenelon ever lived ; and
last, though not least, by the wildest interpre
tations of difficult passages of Scripture, ut
tered most confidently by men who do not
even know that such passages are at all diffi
cult, and who thus rush boldly in where an
gels fear to tread.
That a question has two sides, and some
times a great many more, is a statement
which even many educated men never fully
accept; and yet it can be doubted by no man
wl.b has ever examined the questions, “What
is light?” and, “ Who was Junius?”
Prejudice prevents progress. It caused the
ablest expounders of Moses to quarrel with
Christ, and to contend that His very miracles
proved His collusion with Satan. Their
quarrel with Him was, that He did not fulfil
their preconceived notions of the Messiah—
that He was not kingly enough. He was too
quiet. The bruised reed He did not break,
and the smoking flax He did not quench.
They could not see the force of this poetry,
which was also prophecy. They were look
ing for a revolutionary radical, and had no
use for the calm conservative.
Under the old dispensation, the pillar of
cloud was a fair type of the dim and misty
medium through which the Jews viewed
their relations to God. It did not please God
to drive away this cloud by a sudden whirl
wind, but to dispel it gradually by the calm,
noiseless shining of the Sun of Righteousness.
The prejudice of the Jews prevented them
from seeking this. Hence they rejected
Jesus.
About the year 1798, William Murdock
invented gas-light. During that year it was
used to light some of the offices of the Soho
foundry, which had been completed by
Messrs. Boulton, Watt & Sons in 1790, and
christened “in the name of Vulcan and all
the gods of fire and water.” In 1,852, at the
Peace of Amiens, the front was illuminated!
with gas. In 1809, Mr. Murdock was exam
ined by a Parliamentary committee, when a
member asked, “ Do you mean to tell us that
it will be possible to have a light without a
wick?" “Yes, 1 do indeed,” said Mr. Mur
dock. “ Ah, my friend,” said the legislator,
“you are trying to prove too much.” Tb - ’
is about a fair specimen of the fate of tnc
men who have introduced new light into this
prejudiced world.
Columbus was no exception. Prejudice
said that the world was a square, flat plain,
with each corner resting on the back of a
huge elephant; each elephant standing on the
back of a gigantic tortoise, and each tortoise
standing on—prejudice did not know what!
We may wonder that prejudice did not go
further, and make a story at least as long as
the juvenile fair* *•? “The H.-vj-v Jr.ok
Built;” but we must remember that preju
dice is lazy, and not ingenious, and that such
revolutionary madcaps as talked about the
world’s turning around every day, were
enough to run honest folks crazy. Columbus,
therefore, deserved rough handling. He was
a revolutionist, if not a rebel.
Harvey discovered the circulation of the
blood, and lost his medical practice. People
said the man was run mad ; for he said that
their blood actually ran through their veins.
We may get some idea of theppo r er of
prejudice by noticing the opinions of some
ancient sages concerning the sun. Anaxi
mander, born 610 B. C., thought the sun was
a chariot filled with fire, which escaped
through a circular aperture. Anaxagoras, the
instructor of Pericles, born 500 B. 0., regard
ed it, according to Plutarch, as “an inflamed
stone,” or, according to Diogenes Laertius, as
“ a hot iron.” It is tolerably evident that he
did not exactly know what it was. Zeno, the
founder of the Stoics, believed it to be a fire
larger than the earth. Lucretius, the. bril
liant poet of the Epicureans, thought the sun
was about as big as a pewter plate, and that
the moon was about the same size.
Such were the ideas which prejudice had
formed in the minds of some of the wisest of
the ancients concerning a luminary seventy
million times as large as the moon, one mil
lion four hundred thousand times as large as
the earth, and which in one year draws up
water enough from the earth to make a lake
twenty-four thousand miles long, three thou
sand miles wide, and sixteen feet deep ! If
we would not be the slaves of prejudice, we
must seek symmetrical culture. It was the
one-sidedness of the development of these an
cient philosophers which made such views
possible. J. C. Hiden.
Wilmington , N. C.
Baptist Professors.
An article, recently published in the Ex
aminer and Chronicle, has attracted my atten
tion. The editor is attempting to apologize
for the folly of the Board of Trustees in a
Northern College, manifested in their election
of Pedobaptists to professorships in the Insti
tution. He attempts to ridicule those Bap
tists who believe that Baptist schools should
be directed and controlled by Baptists. He
fails to reach the real point of difficulty.
No Pedobaptist institution in the land will
employ a Baptist professor. Nor can Bap
tists obtain situations in institutions not pro
fessedly Pedobaptist, when they have the con
trolling influence. And it not unfrequently
happens that in State institutions where Pe
dobaptists have only a minority influence,
they understand so well how to use this, that
they exclude Baptists even from these.
Now, if Baptist Colleges give the preference
to their Pedobaptist friends, what chance has
the poor Baptist professor, should he leave
his position, of obtaining another place? This
point is worthy of attention. While it is
true that no inducements of a worldly char
acter should be held out to lead men to be
come Baptists, it is equally true that a pro
per regard to the wishes of the members of
Baptist churches should be paid by those who
have the management of their funds.
The fact that a man is a Baptist often pre
vents him from obtaining positions which he
is well qualified to fill. Take the college re
ferred to. Are there not in the State of New
York two good men qualified to fill the pro
fessorships founded by Baptists, with the ex
pectation that Baptists should fill them ?
Ought not these brethren now to be employ
ed in that College? Has not this Baptist
Board of Trustees really shut out two valua
ble Baptists from their proper place in the
institution, and given their work to other
men? Are they not substantially saying to
their Baptist brethren, “ We will aid our Pe
dobaptist friends in excluding you from posi
tions of influence. We will say to the young
men under our influence, it is a matter of in
difference which church you join. Go where
fancy leads you.”
FRANKLIN PRINTING HOUSE, ATLAj
There are many who say, “ The Baptists
are an ignorant people, and have not in their
midst men qualified to'fill positions of infiu
fluence.” Does not the Board of Trustees of
a Baptist College which appoints Pedobap
tist professors lend its influence to the spread
of this opinion ? Will not men quickly say,
“If you had the right sort of men among
yourselves, you would not call upon others to
aid you ?” T.
Adventist Materialistic Literature.
“A Sermon on Hell” and “The Key of Truth;” by
William Sheldon; Buchanan, Michigan. Pub
lished by the W. A. C. P. Association.
The above named documents, with others
of like character, came to me yesterday, by
mail. Ido not propose to review them for
mally, but simply to state some of the au
thor’s conclusions, as well as his premises,
to show that there is no connection between
the former and latter, and also that the reader
may note with me the progress in Material
istic literature and theology. These are the
days of progress, and the heretics of modern
times are trying hard to keep pace with the
progress of the age; but, unfortunately for
them, Divinity is net a progressive science,
and every time they touch the Bible to make
it conform to their newly-invented heresies,
they only leave on it the stain from their
unwashed hands ! Tertullian says: “ What
ever is first, is true; whatever is more recent,
is spurious and this is a rule, the observ
ance of which woujd save us from all the
heresies and sects of modern times. But, to
pursue this idea, would lead me too far from
my present design.
Destruction, says the author, is the nature
of the punishment to be inflicted on the sin
ner. This is one of his conclusions, and
when he comes to define what he means by
destruction, it is utter extinction of being.
He argues that the literal fire of the last day
will consume the sinner, soul and body, so
that he will cease to exist. . His words are,
“ this punishment, which is destruction, is
everlasting. Not everlastiug in process of
infliction, for then it would not be destruc
tion; but everlasting in its consequences.”
(Sermon, p. 9.) In his argument against the
existence of a “ present hell,” he thus hallu
cinates on p. 4: “If the doctrine of the
present existence of a hell were true, some
sinners would suffer centuries longer than
others who commit a greater amount of
crime: for instance, the man of few sins, who
died a thousand years ago, must suffer a
thousand years longer than the man of many
sins, who dies to-day.” Does not every re
flecting man see that his objection to a pres
ent hell applies with all its force to his own
theory? According to his own doctrine, de
struction by the literal fire of the last day
awaits the finally impenitent, so that “ the
man of few sins,” and the man of “ many
sins,” suffer the same penalty ; for doubtless,
if literal fire destroys the one, it w'U also
destroy the other. When he is reviewing
the Bible doctrine of punishment, his bowels
yearn for the man of few sins, lest he should
suffer as much as the man of many sins; but
when he comes to define his own heresy, he
allows b£>fch to be destroyed alike. The legs
of the lame are not equal.
The Bible teaches that the finally impeni
tent will suffer forever; but they will not all
suffer in the same degree; for the
who knows not ms master s will, and com
mits things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten
with few stripes, while he who knows his
master’s will, and transgresses, shall be beat
en with many stripes. (Luke xii: 47, 48.)
Some will receive greater damnation than
others. (Matt, xxiii: 14.) It will be more
tolerable for some than for others. (Matt,
xi: 21—24.) This is the Bible doctrine,
which gives “the man of few sins” an ad
vantage over “ the man of many sins;” but
the heresy of Materialism gives him no such
advantage, but leaves them both alike to be
consumed, soul and body, by literal fire.
On page 10 of the sermon, our 'author
laughs derisively at the popular belief among
Christians, concerning a present hell, and
says: “ literal fire would make rather awk
ward work in feeding upon invisible, intangi
ble ghosts.” This passage furnishes stronger
proof than Mr. Sheldon ever produced be
fore, that his favorite dogma concerning the
end of the world is true, tor just before that
awful period, “ scoffers shall arise.” He
makes himself ridiculous by his efforts to
ridicule the truth of Scripture about a pres
ent hell; and not only so, but he brings his
own theory into the same ridicule. Remem
ber that his theory is that literal fire will
burn up the wicked in the last day, so as to
destroy them; this, according to him, is the
penalty for sin; yet, on page 11 of his ser
mon, he says : “ The truth is, the entire man
sins, and the entire man reaps the penalty.
Man’s soul never outlives the body.” Then,
according to his own theory, the soul of man
is consumed by literal fire, an idea for which
he laughs at Christians! Again, on page 10,
he says: “ The wicked are to be cast into
Gehenna, both soul and body.” Now, by
substituting ghost for soul, as he does while
laughing at us, we might quote the author
against himself, “ literal fire would make
rather awkward work in feeding upon invisi
ble ghosts;” for the “ inner man ”or soul is
as “ invisible, intangible,” while in the body,
as it is while absent from the body.
The only way for the author to escape his
own ridiculous and idiotic laugh, is to stulti
fy himself by teaching that the soul of man
is material, corporeal, visible, tangible and
destructible; which he endeavors to do on
the same page. “ The truth is,” he says,
“in the primary sense of the term, man is a
soul." The “ primary sense ” ought to be
the true sense, and then it would follow that
a soul is visible and tangible, because man
has these properties! The use of the indefi
nite article a, instead of the, is very becoming
in the author, because his sermon is the most
indefinite urticle of the kind I ever saw or
read.
The way he undertakes to prove his posi
tion, illustrates what I have said at the out
set, that whenever these Materialists touch
the Bible, they do so with unwashed hands,
and the only result is, that they leave upon
its fair pjges the print of their foul fingers.
Why are they afraid to let the Bible speak
in its own language, without their interlinear
or parenthetical gabble? There is not a sin
gle quotation from Scripture in what he calls
his “Key to Truth,” (which ought to be
thrown away because it will only lock, but
never open,) where ne does not try to befog
the reader’s mind, or to incline it to his own
heresy by the unnecessary use of parenthe
ses, brackets, Italics, and srmtll and large cap
itals. This might be pardonable in his own
composition, but to be perpetually using
them in his quotations from God’s word, ar
gues both irreverence, and a weak cause, that
is in great need of every possible help to
keep it from sinking. Take the following on
page 11, where he tries to quote Geu. ii; 7 :
“ The Lord God formed man (of what mate
rial?) of the dust of the ground, and breathed
into his nostrils [not an immortal soul, but]
the breath of life, and MAN [not the breath]
BECAME a living SOUL.” The above is
just as it appears in his “ Key,” and for what
purpose? To try to prove by the Bible what
it no where teaches, and what the wildest In
dian on the continent knows to be false—that
the soul of man '|j| ■
The Rh .*
nut a serious rnPra
treats this suiijee ' ■,
he tiiii k- he can.; Jfj
to
rialists, and he “ e J |
15 of his sermon Y
able, a rich man
but is used to
begg.'U Joes not - ■ " ,-f
to represent son: H
mean hell, but is '■ 1 « f
else!!” And all £§g
explain what this
hie labor, hoc 'lf i
is upon them, an J .JHj
the tip of their h’Jffi
of this author's er’
Ba\ four s:i) s, “ ti;
he save there \v:AB
• f here was a pom
-a \ s there as
the >a\ four sav s. <JH -|
e\ es iii hell," but \W' | 4
and will not bo ife so - | f; f •
WliV did he not - { «|
ihe !!i oh is i , a
t
lallgtl:.
iiiiov aaa\ as ~
is jfll
■■ | lies li. ’JB
-Mat ■ 1 : i !i- to | J 1 1 |f
J ;.L A- a 'i J
the ’ A ;fo
. s "
-i.ee j J i r
in
it ! Ur. •.;!•. 1 ilcjff y
' <" ! ' ids*' pi * fk.'i ’ * ij
:In g*B.- ’ r P ' f
■ ■ ;
sinus aii' Hi !■ ’.n^Hg
In i! simply
place! >
Reductio ad Au't’KDUM.—
he brings our vic^ B into ridicule
following method;*page 10 of the “Key:”
“ Modern reflection upon God’s
past dealings wfof men, while it claims
that the soul is the only intelligent part of
man, and the body \ mere organ though which
the soul plays its { ranks. For instance: in
the Mosaic disperi{>.tion, the man who picked
up sticks on the Sunbath must be stoned to
death. Here, (ac ; rding to modern theolo
gy,) the wicked sou} stood behind the curtain,
and made a tool of the innocent body, with
which to commit s .>. Then God commands
the innocent body ! • be stoned to death, and
let the wicked soul escape the penalty.” I
ask, does what he if" Is modern theology allow
the soul to The author knew that
this was a misreprf .entation. In trying to
ridicule our view- he stultifies himself. I
suppose, according to his very ancient theolo
gy, he would have v< Me wicked soul" stoned
to death for picking up sticks, and allow the
“ innocent body ” iko escape. He seems to
require that the .guilty party should suffer,
and, according to theory, it was the soul
that was caught injf'ie very act of picking up
sticks! JM
I no pato to quote any more of
this senseless twakJfo. It is not too much
to sny that, if we r e 8 science, this
>33i7nif& v antr'BJS/ ert Tfuttv ‘wouTd'af
ford ample testimony that Mr. Sheldon had
studied ’t well, and that he had graduated
with the highest honors. He has taken some
of his theology from Whately, but none of
his logic. All his, ridicule of Bible truth, —
like the Promethean fire, —is stolen; not like
it, however, from heaven, for it smells too
much of brimstone. All his balderdash and
ribaldry may be found in the infidel works of
an age gone by. Yet, the cheap productions
of these “Adventist's,” as they call them
selves, are sent out by all our mails, and are
polluting our e the plagues of Egypt.
Those who the Bible their study
(and, alas! we hav* so many of that class)
are liable to be caught in the ineshes of the
nets which they spread to catch the simple.
It is the duty of all Christians to counteract
these efforts by t ie dissemination of Bible
truth, by every avUlable means.
11. F. Buckner.
To-Day.
Oh, linger, swvet To-day,
And hasten not. away:
Let kindly eyes still shine,
The same C a friends be mine,
The joys -<%hich, being thine,
.Shall pass with thee away:
Oh lea re them, kind To-day.
Oh hasten, drear To-day!
Oh hasten fast,away:
For thou arid tears hast brought,
And hours with sorrow fraught,
Fair hopes that came to naught:
Take, take them all away,
And linger not, To-day.
Ob, infinite To day,
That shalt not pass away!
Out of the shadowy night
Into thy heavenly light,
Under Hut watchful sight,
We fafj would haste away,
And oall earth Yesterday!
— Lippincott's Magazln*.
A Curious Pamphlet.
Rev. A. B. Cabai>iss(fcas just received from
China, a pamphlet containing much that is’in
teresting to all Christians. It is a transla
tion from rhe Chinee, entitled, “ Death Blow
to Corrupt Dogmalcs : A Plain Statement of
Facts.” The parp jhlet has been widely circu
lated in Tung Chow, in the Shantung province,
and in many parts of China. The book is
directed against the Roman Catholics, but
the author considers the Protestants and
Catholics the sam&, and accuses Protestant
missionaries of lying in attempting to show
that they are unlike. The masses of the
people in China, class all Europeans together,
and their religion;as one. Practically, and
in the intention of Yhe author, the book is an
attack on Christianity, and the Christian na
tions at large. The author appeals to the
people to rise against foreigners and extermi
nate them. The book is circulated among the
people by men occupying the highest posi
tions in society, and was evidently written
by an author of first-class abilities, who had
extensive facilities for consulting public doc
uments, and for ransacking all that has been
written in China, against foreigners and
against Christianity The book is regarded
by the as having an important
political
feelings of educated Chinese against Chris
tians arid Christianity- The book is filled
with the most ridiculous and malicious state
ments respecting eligion and religious peo
ple.
Some of the objections made by Celsus, in
the olden time, and Tom Paine, in more re
cent days, are here repeated ; showing that
human nature is the same everywhere.
The people arwinformed that foreigners
need the eyes of Chinese in order to extract
with them silver from lead. For this pur
pose, only thejjeyes of Chinese will answer.
The author states that, among tho “ foreign
ers it is a common thing for a wife to drive
away hei husband and takd another. Women
are regarded as superior, men, as inferior.
Many of their ! Jbgdomßjjl|9 governed by
queens.” “.When friends meet, they inquire
about each other’s wives/put never about
parents.” When a person enters this reli-
reach the gospel to every
creature/’ and then labors to perform the
loving task.
In His sovereign mercy, our Saviour is
pleased to encourage our weak hearts, often>
times, by ‘establishing the work of our hands
upon us.’ He makes known the power of his
gospel, and effects great moral reform among
those who worship idols. Dr. F. Mason
makes the following pertinent remarks:
“It has been written that ‘perhaps previ
ous to the year 1800,though the seed of
God’s word had been sown in many places,
hardly a soul was known to be converted to
Christ, or but very few, as a result of mis
sionary effort.’ In the year 1799, the year
I was born, Dr. Carey took up his pbode at
Serampore, and this may be dateu the
commencement of Indian Missions. In tue
same year Dr. Vanderkemp reached the Cape
of Good Hope, and began missions in Africa.
Now look on the mission maps, and see all
the churches and stations in Africa, and India,
and Burmah, and Siam, and China, and Japan,
in Turkey, in Asia Minor, in Armenia, and
in Persia; aud consider that they are the
work of the church within the life-time of
one man! History shows no such extensive
L»i' out * s tii itii tv J ill O»*C
tion since the days of Paul.
More than a thousand evangelical mission
aries are in the heathen field; more than ten
thousand native preachers hf*ve been raised
up through their instrumentality ; the Bible
has been translated into more than one hun
dred languages, and the native church mem
bers are counted by hundreds of thousands.
Egypt, Turkey, China and Burmah are opened;
they were all closed within my remembrance.
God has opened their iron-clad doors as they
were never opened before, and is beckoning
Christians to enter.
Near by where stood Judson’s lion cage, in
which he was confined and treated like a wild
beast, is now building a Christian church, at
the expense of the king of Burmah, who has
already built a parsonage and a Christian
school house; and he sends some of his sons
and nephews to the school, notwithstanding
‘all the boys receive Christian instruction
daily, and take home with them ths New
Testament in Burmese.’ Compared with the
days when ‘Jesus Christ men’ stole stealth
ily through the streets of Ava, no greater
outward change has occurred during the cen
tury.”
This brief summary does not include the
encouraging aspects of the work in many
other portions of the world; but here is
enough. Who, that loves our adorable Re
deemer, and is in sympathy with his race, is
willing to stand idly by and see the good
work go forward without him ? Are there
any of the children of Zion who will not
pray and give for the more rapid advance
ment of the world’s evangelization ?
E. W. W.
How Desire Controls Opinion and Belief.
We are surprised, frequently, to see how
little evidence controls the opinions of men,
especially when this accords with their wishes.
Perhaps, this is more palpable in party poli
tics than in anything else. A man is nomi
nated for office, and his party go for him,
knowing he has suitable qualifications, only
because he is one of them. He is put for
ward because it is said he will secure the
votes of the dram-shop loungers, gamblers,
rowdies, etc., etc., though he is ignorant and
profane. It is thought he will be very useful
on the day of election, and most excellent in
manipulating the votes while they are being
counted.*
The Jews desired to implicate Jesus and
put Him to death ; hence they secured false
witnesses, who testified that He had declared
He could rebuild the temple in three days.
This was sufficient, though He had spoken
only of His own resurrection, and had no
allusion to God’s house. So they suborned
men to testify against Stephen, the proto
martyr.
The Catholics, adhere to the Vulgate, be
cause they desire to inculcate the language
and spirit of that version, though their schol
ars know that it abounds with errors. The
statements of historians are frequently to be
questioned, owing to this bias, that warps
men’s minds. The writer selects from docu
ments what he regards as authority, specially
when it suits the opihions previously ex
pressed. I see a Federal officer has corrected
seven errors in regard to one battle in the
South, as written, I think, by Mr. Abbott.
Most ecclesiastical historians represent the
dominant party as the true church, —inform
us what they believed and accomplished,
while the minority, the true followers of the
Saviour, are ignored or named as horrible
heretics.
The American Bible Society, probably, was
controlled by desire when they ordered that
all translations aided by them should conform
to King James’ version.
What slender proof sometimes controls
the faith of Calvinists and Arminians. Like
a cunning lawyer, they will remember only
* It is said that after the election of Jefferson, about
1801, John Adams, the prior incumbent, had run off
from the Capital with 200,000 silver dollars in his
breeches pockets. “And I believe it,” observed a
good Democrat.
> < volume. So was
; * 't • MB* that received a Bible as a
| \ presenting proof for infant bap
subject to every ordinance of man
Lord’s sake.” I Pet. ii: 13. If it
clung only to infidelity, we might hope for
relief, but as it is, we must make allowances
in regaid to all productions and sentiments
of the best of our race. Philos.
The Index and Baptist.
For ten years I have labored incessantly
in the ministry. I have watched church
members closely, and, without a doubt, I have
come to the following conclusions :
Ist. Members who subscribe for the Index,
are the most regular in their attendance, upon
their church meetings.
2nd. They are the most liberal in their
support of the gospel.
3rd. In the past ten years I have not seen
the first member turned out that takes and
reads the Index and Baptist.
Pastors, is it not, then, to your interest to
encourage the circulation of the Index in
your churches? At least, so thinks
Abner.
Preparation for the Pew.
We hear a great deal about preparation for
the pulpit—a most important theme, as all
must admit; we propose to say a few words
on m subject eouallv important but strangely
neglected—that is, preparation for the pew.
Much fault is sometimes found with the
pulpit because it does not more deeply inter
est the occupants of the pews. While we do
not regard the pulpit as beyoud criticism, and
are ready to admit its points of weakness, we
must also keep before our readers the fact
that the hearers have some responsibility to
share with the speaker. It is not right to
throw the whole burden of the church service
on the preacher. Many go to church as they
would go to a lecture or concert. Having
paid their money, they have no other care
save to get their money’s worth. The man
in the pulpit is a performer; tho men in the
pews are .spectators or auditors. There is no
sympathy between them. They pay pew
rent; he receives a salary. Now, let him so
conduct the service as to keep them awake
and attentive. If he succeed in this he is con
sidered popular and attractive ; if he fail, he
must take the consequences of his failure;
sleepy hearers, slim congregation, and change
of parish.
We protest against throwing such a burden
as this on the pulpit. Men of real talent
have before now utterly failed, because, from
the start, they have felt the pressure of a list
less audience —an audience assembled, not to
be instructed, but to be interested. We ad
mit the impossibility of instructing a congre
gation which is not interested ; but what we
object to is requiring a preacher to do a work
for the people which they ought to do for
themselves. We speak now especially of the
religious part of a congregation when we say
that they ought to be interested in the ser
vice of God’3 house before they go there, and
• not to go with the weight of worldly care on
their hearts, expecting the preacher to throw
it off before he begins his sermon. Asa rule,
ministers are not men of such magic eloquence
that they can do this; and we think this fact
an evidence that the Head of the Church did
not intend them to do it. If this had been
the design of Christ in calling them to the
ministry, He would have given all of them
this power, whereas but few possess it. Now
and then we find a man of rare gifts who will
interest the most listless audience, like the
celebrated Scottish preacher of whom it is
said that you could not go to sleep while he
preached, but one might easily pick your
pocket.
While a few men of unusually strong na
tures can compel the attention of their audi
ence, there are many men of genuine talent
and piety who must have the sympathy and
interest of their hearers in order to succeed.
If the religious portion of the congregation
are interested, as they ought to be, from the
commencement of the service, the preacher
will feel the power of this fact, and it wiil not
be long before even the careless of the con
gregation will give heed to the sermon.
One of the best means of preparation for
the pew is to be found in meditation and
prayer before going to church. We all of us
carry too much of the world with us to God’s
house. How can any ordinary preacher suc
ceed when the majority of hia congregation
come to church burdened in this manner, and
look to him to cast the burden off, as though
he were a Titan who could go among the pews
and lift the mountain load from every heart.
Ministerial Liberality. —A writer in the
Methodist estimates that the ministers of the
Northern Methodist Church, in 1869, besides
their cash contributions, gave an average of
nearly S3O each in the shape of “ uncollected
salaries,” while the average of the contribu
tions of the members was but 73 cents. Who
shall estimate the offerings of Southern Bap
tist ministers to the cause, year by year, in
the double shape of inadequate salaries and
salaries unpaid ?
Suffering, yet Toiling. —One of Baxter’s
greatest works, the Methodus Theologies Chris
fiance—System of Christian Theology—was
written, he says, “ at Totteridge, in a trouble
some, smoky, suffocating room, in the midst
of daily pains of sciatica and many worse.”
of those who side of piety,
not a few neglect the latter. The one ought
they to do, yet not to leave the other undone.
The time and opportunity for the higher
Christian life will come by-aud-by; for the
present it is well to attend to the lower, and
see that righteousness and truth have their
perfect work in everyday dealings, man with
man. A tight fist and a holy heart do not
usually go together. Religion should hold
her own, not only in the prayer-meeting, but
over ihe counter. — Congregationalist.
Funerals. —It is quite common at funerals
in the country for the mourners to take their
farewell look at the deceased in a public man
tier. There have seemed to the writer two
important objections to this practice. In the
first place, it often occasions long and unne
cessary delay. In many instances it is hard
for friends to tear themselves away, and they
unconsciously linger by the remains of the
departed, till others become weary and impa
tient. A better way would be to take the
last look before the funeral service. It must
be taken sometime, and it might as well be
then as later. And thus it might be leisurely
done, and no one would be discommoded.
In the second place, it is unsuitable that so
affecting a parting should be in the presence
of the multitude. The feelings on such occa
sions are usually tender, and the proper place
to give indulgence to them is in private,
alone, or in the presence of those who, like
ourselves, are bereaved. There we may
freely indulge the “ luxury of tears,” undis
turbing and undisturbed.
The Christian must Work. —lie who
works has a better conscience than he who
does not. No amount of supposed religion
can give a lazy man a good conscience. Re
ligion and laziness are contraries. They can
not fully co-exist. One must dwarf or exter
minate the other. But the Christian should
especially work. His law is, “ Whatsoever
thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.”
Some pretend to work while they are really
idle. They are shams. The Christian can
not be a sham in anything. If he is a sham
at all, he is a sham Christian ; that is, none
at all. “ With thy might" 1 ' is Ilis law, and an
awful argument follows; “ for there is no
work,nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom,
in the grave whither thou goest.” The ces
sation of “ work” is as much an attribute of
death as is the cessation of thought, and as
much so of moral death as of natural. “He
that will not work neither shall he eat,” is as
true of spiritual as of temporal bread. God
will no more feed a lazy soul with grace than
with corn.
Feed my Lambs. —ln the Syriac Peshito
version of the New Testament, written in
very nearly the vernacular tongue of Jesus
and the Apostles, as translated by Dr. Mur
dock, the response of our Lord to Peter’s
declaration of love, at the memorable inter
view by the Sea of Galilee after His resur
rection, is made to bear a very suggestive and
affecting signification, “ Feed my lambs for
me .” These words may mean, Stand in my
place toward these children of my church ;
cherish them and nourish them as I would if
in the flesh upon the earth ; or they may
mean, Instruct and nurture them in view of
the service they are hereafter to render me.
John’s Baptism. —Strange scene—to which
no revival on this or the other side the At
lantic has ever seen the like—Jordan’s banks
and Jordan itself full of eager multitudes—
all the Holy hand thorp, and crowds from
outside it. What an era it must have been
in the “ religious world” of that land ! How
old conservative Scribes and Pharisees must
have shaken their heads, and called out upon
the times! How many decorums must have
been violated, when wise old gray beards sub
mitted to be taught by this wild rustic, and
dainty daughters of Israel passed through the
waters under his hands weeping tears of peni
tence !—Dean Alford.
Unitarian Policy. —President Kirkland,
of Harvard University, when asked by one
of the graduate students what would be the
most effectual mode of introducing Unitarian
ism among the orthodox churches, counselled
the young man not to mention the subject
controversially at all, but in his preaching and
praying, to make no reference to the media
torship of Christ. By this means, people
would become accustomed to religious ser
vices in which no mention would be made of
the mediatorial works of the Saviour, and
would gradually be prepared for a bolder
profession of unbelief.
Fashion.— The Free Methodists, at their
late Conference in New York, adopted resolu
tions against Christian women adorning them
selves with “ useless fripperies and vanities,
such as trimmings, laces, braids, embroider
ies, strips of velvet, and other nonsensical
gewgaws.” If they can emancipate the sis
terhood from the demands of fashion in this
regard, they may well call themselves the
Freest of the Free.
A Gentle Hint. —“They appear to love
the doctrines of the gospel,” said a y oung
clergyman, in a familiar conversation with
his reverend instructor, President Dwight,
twenty two years ago. “And do they love
the duties of it also?” asked the President,
with a significancy that has not been forgot-,
ten.