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CHRISTIAN IN DBA A, D SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST. VOL. 50—NO. 6. js3 00 HBAIU A. RELIGIOUS AND rAMLLi rArlfiK, PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN ATLANTA, Gi AT $3.00 PER ANNUM, Invariably in Advance J. J. TOON - , Proprietor. r ■ ■■ r -" >CT Let Jesus Wear the Crown. I know whatever good is mine To Jesus’ grace £ owe, That long my steps His love divine Has guarded here below. His lengthened mercy I review, Though chastened by His frown, The glory all to Him is due— Let Jesus wear the crown. He led me to His mercy seat, He met my soul in prayer, And showed to me His bleeding feet Pierced for my ransom there. My spirit gives to love divine The glory and renown; No starry diadem be mine— Let Jesus wear the crown. Too oft I’ve wandered from my King, To claim a royal seat; Content am I to sit and sing Crown less before his feet: Content when I am called to lay | My earthly armor down, To take the lowest place, and say Let Jesus wear the crown. —Ocm fjregatiot alut. « Family Visitation; Reminiscences. In a late winiber of the Indjjx, there is a short article, “ Visit the Unregenerate,” which ix,ay not have attracted the attention ii de serves. The author will allow me to give a few illustrations of this practice, which, it is feared, is not kept up by even ministers them selves, as much as its importance demands. It was the* almost universal habit of our Georgia preachers of the olden time, to visit all classes, not only in towns and villages, but also in country places. Such visits were generally short, and were strictly religious in their character and objects. Dr. A. Sherwood, now of Mo., accompa nied by Lot Hearn, (founder of Hearn School, at Cave Spring,) was passing to an appoint ment in the lower part of Morgan county, in the Spring of 1834. A Mr. W., a wealthy farmer, lived near the roadside. Dr. S. said to his companion, “ Suppose we call and join sister W. in prayer for her husband.” (Mrs. W. was a pious woman.) The proposition was cordially assented to by the good dea con, and they rode up. But the house was full of company, and the circumstances seemed so inauspicious, that Dr. S. concluded to pass on without having accomplished his object. On rising to leave, however, he said to Mrs. W., “We called to join you in prayer for your husband, but as you are engrossed with your friends, we will pass on.” Mrs. W. objected: “The presence of company would make no difference. Some of them would gladly join him in prayer; and then, she had prayed alone for her husband till she was almost entirely out of heart. Besides, her grown son had just returned from College; he was about to commence his worldly career without religion, and his case also bore heav ily on her heart. Brother Sherwood must not go until he had made prayer.” Dr. S.. as some of your readers know, is a man or few words. But they are generally “ like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” A few words were spoken, a short prayer offered, and the preacher and deacon went on their way. When the dinner hour arrived, Mr. v», eauie in Iron, his fa.'iu. His wife quick eye discerned trouble in her husband’s ex pression. The guests were soon seated around his hospitable table. After waiting on them a few minutes, he excused himself on the ground of being too unwell to eat, and retired to his wife’s room. Os course, she soon followed. She found him reading the Bible —a very unusual thing with him. -“ Husband, I know you are in trouble : what is the matter?” “Matter enough! I’m a lost sinner, and will soon be in perdition 1 ’ J ‘ No, husband, it is the Spirit of God calling you to repentance. Oh, if you had been here, and heard how brother Sherwood prayed for you this morning!” It was ascertained, that, at the same hour that prayer *Was being offered for him, the Spirit began knocking at the door of his heart. The writer was pres ent when Mr. W. and son presented them selves before the old Indian Creek church, Morgan county, (now extinct,) for baptism They were the lirst fruits of a great ingath ering. In the early history of the Central Associ ation, Rev. T. 11. Wilkes was employed as one of its missionaries. He had spent a year or two at Mercer Institute, where he had im proved both his literary and his theological education, under Rev. B. M. Sanders. Upon entering on his missionary labors in Newton county, he invited the writer to come up and induct him into his plan of neighborhood vis Ration. He complied, and the first evening was spent in a little meeting at a brother’s house. Next day was employed in going from house, to house, (taking them in order and passing by none,) “warning every man, and beseeching every man” to be reconciled to God. The second evening was spent about as the first, only the congregation had greatly increased. The second day, our vis its were renewed, and were to be kept up till dinner, when I was to leave for home. It was near m*>n, when, accompanied by Wilkes, Solomon Graves and Judge Perry, a resi dence was discovered a few hundred yards off the main road. One of the brethren said, “Brother C., 1 don’t know what to say about calling on this family. None of them are religious. The gentleman is thought to be a Deist, or Universalist, or something of the kind. In the last ten years, I have not known him to attend any kind of religious meeting but once, (which was a camp meeting,) where he went, I think, from curiosity. I fear we shall not be treated cordially.” It was con cluded, however, that we should call, though we had but a few minutes to spend. The gentleman was found at his front gate, busily engaged ; yet, when informed of the object of our brief call, he made us welcome. His family were soon in the parlor. I read a portion of Scripture, interspersed with a few remarks, and called on Wilkes to lead in prayer. When we rose from our knees. I noticed that our friend was so affected as to be unable to conceal his emotion. As our custom was, we sung a few verses of an appro priate hymn, and rose to leave while in the act of singing. When my hand was extend ed to him in farewell, he wept like a child, and with uncontrollable emotion, entreated us to remain longer. When informed that we could not do so, he said, “ I suppose I am re garded in the neighborhood as an infidel, or something worse. But lam not an infidel— lar from it. I believe the Bible to be the Word of God. Whenever I hear preaching, it condemns me, and makes me miserable. For this reason, I have not gone to meeting for years. Yet lam far from being happy. Though I have fled from my Maker, he has not given me up. So soon as you stated the object of your visit, I felt that you were sent of God, and I was overwhelmed. What shall I do? What shall I do?" Hastily giving such counsel as we deemed expedient, we went on our w ay rejoicing, only to renew similar labors in other neighborhoods. In less than a month Wilkes baptized him, and his wife, and mother-in law, who all proved worthy and faithful. I might give many other illustrations of the good effects of family visitations and per sonal appeals to the impenitent. But let these suffice for the present. If any of your clerical readers have not hitherto engaged in such work, let me exhort them to “ try the Lord and prove Him ” in this way, and see if they will not be blessed themselves, at the same time that others, who have not been reached otherwise, may be blessed through their instrumentality. By such means, I have seen whole neighborhoods awakened to the most intense religios inter est, where other means had been unavailing. It is a delightful work, in which ministers will find abundant encouragement and coop eration from the more devout members of their churches. It is one, also, in which pri vate members may engage efficiently and profitably. J. H. C. Juvenile Depravity. The Savannah News, in a recent issue, makes a statement that should stir up every Christian to imitate the great Exemplar, — Christ, “in going about doing good.” That journal states that, in the city of Savannah “there are scores of little scamps, who seem to have no father or mother to protect them, who live as best they can, and who not un frequently put in an appearance at the May or's Court, and are sent up to jail a few days in default of the payment of fines assessed against them, in order to learn them to do better in future. Some of these scamps, we regret to say, are poor white boys who have no one to care for them, and who have fallen into idle and vicious habits that are leading them into the penitentiary. Cannot some thing be done for these little fellows, many of whom are vicious from necessity more than from a desire to do wrong ? The Chris tian women of Savannah should form a re formatory association for the a\ owed purpose of saving this juvenile class from eternal de struction. We feel satisfied that, were such an organization established, its beneficial in fluence would soon be felt. Many of these boys, who now stand a fair change of being, by and by, the very worst men in Savannah, under proper care and attention might be come ornaments to society and valuable citi zens in our midst. The experiment has been successfully tried elsewhere, and why not here 1 ? “On yesterday a little fellow named Cassidy stood before the Mayor’s Court on a charge of theft, scarcely a dozen years old, with no one to love, no one to care for him. The little fellow cried and sobbed as though his heart would break. He had been in jail once before, and when he told the Mayor that “everybody was down on him,” we could not help pitying him. To-night he lies upon the floor of his cell in the county jail, alone. No kind mother to kiss him a sweet good night, no gentle sister to sympathize with him, no friend of either sex to take him by the hand and lead him from the paths of degradation to those of usefulness. A mere child, and incarcerated in a felon’s cell! God help him and all like him, for they need help. That very boy might be made an ornament to society, but the Priest and Levite have gone to the other side, and the Good Samar itan ambles peacefully along the road, turn ing neither to the right nor left.” Houses of Refuge, work houses and jails, practically harden offenders. It deters them from mischief only as >ong as their confine ment lasts. Crime should be surely and speedily punished, but punishment rarely affects reformation. Prevention is better than cure. One fact is patent and indisputa ble. If good seed be n t sown, and the soil cultivated, bad seeds will germinate and grow without cultivation. If Christians do not educate these boys and girls, the devil will. All over the State, there are hundreds of orphans. They are devoid of parental care, control or kindness. Left to the buffetings of the world —“ no one to love or to caress” —they become an easy prey to the spoiler. It is our duty to provide for their education aright. On the score of economy alone, it will redound more to the national wealth to bring the little ones up aright, than to leave them to follow their own inclinations, and provide jails and court houses to punish them for following out those inclinations. The vicious and depraved are so much dead weight —inert capital. Their talents are used for the depreciation of the capital stock. The great harvest field of the church is among the rising generation. The enemy of the soul should not be allowed to sow tares, which he will assuredly do, if Christians sleep! The question arises, how to bring these or phaned, outcast ones under the restraining and enlightening influences of the gospel. The answer is easily made. It is by the es tablishment of “ Orphan Homes,” under the auspices and control of the Christian Church. A home —not a house of correction, a manual labor school, or an asylum where apprentices can be secured. The care, kindness and love of home must surround them. Humanity and Christianity appeal to us to take care of “ God’s wards.” The fathers of many of these orphans yielded up their lives in de fence of the “ Lost Cause.” Far better than “monumental marble or storied urn”—a more practical and fitting memento to their memory, will be the care and education of their orphaned children. It is our solemn duty to shield them, not only from want, but from vice. The Apostle James writes: “Let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save his sou! from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” Solomon says: “He that winneth souls is wise.” Need any argument to be made to Chris tians in behalf of so great a work ? I thank God that one denomination has made a noble effort in this direction. Why should the Baptists of Georgia not have an Orphans’ Home? Do they lack in humanity, Chris tianity, or interest for the orphan ? We have 118,000 members in the State. An average contribution of one dollar will raise sllß, 000. Why not, brother Shaver, put the ball in motion at once, and open a list at the In dex office for contributions for the establish ment of an “Orphans’ Home,” under theaus pices and contrql of the Baptist denomination ? My means are limited, but 1 authorize you to put me down for $25. What assurance HAVE ANT OP US THAT OUR CHILDREN MAT NOT BE OBJECTS FOR ITS BENEFITS, EVEN BEFORE the “ Home ” can be put in operation ? Wealth is fleeting, and death certain. A Baptist. “Close Communion,”— A Rhode Island correspondent of the Watchman and Reflector says : “ There is a Congregationalist pastor in this State who gave the broad and catho lie invitation to the Lord’s table ‘ to all who loved the Lord Jesus Christ.’ An article comes out in the Congregationalist on this subject. The leading brethren of his church wait upon him and inform him that such an invitation will not do. The pastor replies in two discourses from the pulpit the next Sab bath. He defines his position, criticises the article in the Congregationalist. The church is about evenly divided as to numbers on the question, but the strong men are against him. They believe ‘ baptism prerequisite to the communion.’ That is Baptist doctrine ex actly” FRANKLIN PRINTING HOUSE, ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9,1871. “It is More Blessed to Give than to Re ceive.” This is the language of infinite wisdom, and it contains a great truth, which is good for all time and in all places. But, practi cally, men too often show that they do not believe the statement, although penned by the hand of inspiration; and confirmed by similar utterances upon the subject. The same Great Authority says: “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to the Lord ; and that which he hath given will He pay him again.” This passage contains a prom ise to the pitiful and the liberal minded, when they extend charity to the children of pov erty and misfortune; and faith suggests that every word of it will be literally fulfilled. Worldly prudence may open her penetrating eyes and put on the expressive countenance of deep sagacity, shake her wise head and utter, aside, her crushing Ahem ! but the word of God will stand firm as a rock, when human pride and self importance shall lie low in the dust, and the wisdom which would question the truth of the Almighty, shall be scattered to the winds. Again, the book of God says, “There is that scattereth and yet increaseth, and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty.” I do not now remember ever to have seen a man who ruined himself by giving,—by giv ing scripturally —that is, to right objects, and in the spirit which the Word of God re quires. On the contrary, some of the most pros perous men whom I have ever known, were those who gave to every cause which had any merit, or which came within the scriptural rule. But even granting that a man may keep his purse thin by giving, will not his soul prosper under the treatment? Let us hear what God says upon this point: “The liberal soul shall be made fat; and he that watereth shall bp watered also himself.” But when a man withholds what he should give, the tendency is to poverty in its broadest sense; poverty of purse, and leanness of soul. God is the author of every good and perfect gift, and is it unreasonable to suppose that He will withhold His blessing from those who enthrone the smallest and most despica ble of all idols — self? Indeed, can a worshipper of Mammon please God ? and without pleasing Him, can man expect His blessing? Irue, He bestows worldly prosperity upon some men who dis regard His claims, and whosetat nought His counsels; but their riches will, in the end, prove to be lusted and moth eaten, and will eat their flesh as it were fire. “Truly they heap up riches, and know not who shall gather them.” In my next I shall consider whether the New Testament Scriptures sustain these views. H. C. Hornady. Persecution. —The New York Tablet, a Romish journal, apologize for Papal perse cution in this strain: “ When the rulers of Europe were all Catholics —sometimes very bad ones, however —the civil law condemned to death murderers, blasphemers, rebels, and destroyers of the pubiiqfpeace, who taught and practiced doctrines diametrically opposed to of the gospel; and the Church sometimes did not, and often could not, suc cessfully interpose the claims of mercy be tween the rights of civil justice and the cul prits. These scoundrels, or rebels, were sometimes called AlHgenses, sometimes Wal denses, sometimes Hussites, sometimes Wick liffites, sometimes Anabaptists.” Give back to Romanism its old power and Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, will find themselves “ scoundrels, or rebels,” condemn ed to death. Redemption by Christ. It is a glorious truth that He has wrought out redemption for all who trust in Him. Is it sufficient to receive this without expla nation—without an intelligent view of its meaning? Should not the inquirer be told that the incarnation, life, sufferings and death of Christ on the cross, were the process by w’hich He wrought out redemption 1 Here, then, we have other facts explanatory of the great fact of redemption —facts without which no intelligent view of redemption can be gained. The mode of a fact when revealed and un derstood, becomes itself a fact and an object of intelligent belief. Christ’s sufferings and death are modes, or explanations in part, of the great fact of redemption. So are they facts to be received. In regard t,o the vital doctrine of atonement, a most significant fact is that it is a vindication of divine justice ; n the pardon of sin. So has the Apostle taught —so the church believed. It in Rom. iii: 25, 26, Paul does not teach that the propi tiatory sacrifice of Christ declares God’s righteousness, vindicates His justice in the pardon of sin, it is not easy to see how it could be taught. This fact is as clearly re vealed as that the incarnation and death of Christ are parts of His redemptive work. If, as has been alleged, the atonement is simply such a manifestation of God’s love as furnishes an effective motive power in bring ing sinners to repentance and faith in Christ, then repentance and reform, not the atone ment, are the ground of forgiveness. Then we receive redemption, even the forgive ness of sins, not through His blood, but through our own repentance. If sinners would have repented without the mission and work of Christ, they would have been for given just as certainly as now. On this theory the influence of Christ’s sufferings and death is simply moral, not governmental. They act on the sinner to win him to Christ, but are no declaration of God’s righteousness in the remission of sins. How widely this carries us from the whole tenor of Scripture teaching, is most manifest. Even Jesus Himself said, “ His blood was shed for many, for the remission of sins." This is the pre cise point on which the atonement acts. Another objection to the theory here op posed, is that it removes from the atonement of Christ all that is peculiar to it. There is nothing in it that is unique and special. The life and labors of every good man are a man ifestation of God’s love. The light they shed, the works they perform, are adapted to lead men to repentance. What a signal exhibi tion of God’s love is made in the life of St. Paul, his conversion, and forgiveness, and life of toil to win and save souls! This display of God’s love constituted a motive power to lead to repentance, and multitudes were brought into the Kingdom and saved. The atonement of Christ, on this theory, differs not, save in degree, from the atonement of Paul. Christ being a higher order of exist ence, gives to His manifestation of God’s love, a more impressive significance, and to His atonement a higher efficacy, but its na ture is the same. It is devoutly to be hoped that such a de precative and degrading view of Christ’s work, however popular or honored its advo cates,' will not become general. The drift and tendency of the times admonish all who are set for the defence of the gospel, to a frank and full confession of its essential truths —to contend earnestly for the faith once de livered to the saints. Revealed truth —the glorious doctrines of the Bible, are the hope of the world—the grand instrumentality for its recovery to holiness and life. Let them be held fast,—Dr. Thurston, in Cony, Family Covenants. In gathering the material for the history of Westerly, R. 1., I have fallen upon the last records of “ the Presbyterian or rather Con gregational Church of Cf.rist,” planted in this town in 1742, in which, arrfid other valuab.e historical matter, are found what I have never before seen or even read of, namely, family or household covenants, which, being addi tional to the church covenant, were yet so sacred as to be offered publicly and transcribed upon the church records. They were pre sented by families and subscribed by all the household, —father, moth children and the domestics. No two of 't.em agree precisely in phraseology and particulars, showing that they were original in each case and suited to the circumstances of the particular household; yet they usually cover substantially the same ground. I copy one as perhaps, a sample of all: %-> ''Dt.fefkh, 1750. “ We whose names ar>i under written, do this day covenant with G »and and one another, depending upon God work it in us both to will and to do <>fc*tis own good plea sure, to put away all fifti : (.«ess both of flesh and spirit, and * n t^ie ear God. We promise jfajft’gllL !y to avoid all evil communications wfil/i. port apt .rood man ners, especially all filthy&sY/cieaa conversation which is an awful sign litTb*- «od rotten heart. We promise to testify against it in others wherever w*s*nhail hear it, and re solve by ye grace of GoffYd have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them, and that neither the fear of man nor our own gu It nor any other im pediment shall hinder ti e faithful discharge of our duty. “ And further, we premise to attend all the duties of religion, particularly we will rever ently attend ye God both in pub lick and private, especially we will sanctify God’s Sabbath and re' Jfenoe His sanctuary ; we will read a portion f the Holy Scriptures daily, and sing the praes of God, and pray to Him, and teach and learn the Assemblie’s Catechism, and in all filings behave as the disciples of Jesus Chris? begging His presence and help, depending fpon Him alone for strength to perform these promises. Amen.” (Signatuies of the n embers of the house hold.) These records are va cable as giving a view of the household piety of past generations. The life of a people fl* &s out from its fami lies. These family covenants are a beautiful feature in the history of our ancestors. — Rev. F. Denison, in Watch. • ind Ref. —: — 7i- Passing iO%>r Jordan. Hark 1 I bear the ha eternal, Ringing on the fill? filer shore, As I near those BWoßin waters, With their deep at roar. And my soul, though atained with sorrow, Fading as the ligh’Af day, Passes swiftly o’er Uvse waters, To the city far »w«b Souls have crossed befit re me, saintly, To that laud of perfect rest, And I hear them siog’ug faintly In the mansion of the blest. Just beyrnd the rivu lasheth Jebu-Salem ot tay -od, Where the white wave, rising, splasheth On the shore by angels trod. Stop I I see the toatau' nearing; Seel the snow sAi! set, And the oars A& fl- itiU idly, And the is drift** Call my father! Call mv mother I Tell them that the boatman’s here; And another, oh! another, Unto whom my soul is dear. Call them quick, for I am passing Through the valley of the grave; lain passing with the boatman O’er the deep and sullen wave. A Word to Educators. Too frequently they stand upon their dig nity and meet the students only in the class rooms, and, even then, as pupils. Though Christian men, to whom the work of direct ing from two to six hundred youthful minds is committed, they often fail to come into vital connection with the students and are satisfied by the faithful discharge of their official du ties as teachers. No Christian man has a right to live merely as an aid to the cultiva tion of the intellect. If he is learned, has the art of teaching, and the far higher art of in fluencing minds, he is bound to use his talents to induce men to follow Christ. We wish to hold up to the consideration of our college professors—may we not add, our theological professors, the example of Prof. Tholuck, of Halle, whose professional life has always been directed and stimulated by the idea that his work was not only to teach the intelligent but to bring the students to Christ. At the celebration in Halle of the fiftieth anniversary of Prof. Tholuck’s commence ment of his life work as a teacher, he made an address, reported in the Independent , in which he stated the rule which had governed his professional career. His life had been with the young, wherein like Apollos he had watered, and like Paul had planted. Having but one passion, the love for Christ, he has been moved by an inner necessity to labor for the salvation of his students. Referring to this peculiar work of German professor, he stpd in simple but most suggestive words: “ Yes, that is tru 3 which they report as my dictum: “ Rather with the licentiates Jthan with the pastors; ra-her with the students :han with the licentiates They call me truly, in distinction from * q ‘a student professorwho P' home among the students, and nowh-re so much as there. Yes, in the germinating seeds in these souls have I found and do I find r ,iy pleasure—in thefl >wer buds as they unfold leaf by leaf, and the flower-bells as they, spring out of them, with diverse fragrance and varying colors.” His life, as a student-professor, has not been one of unvarying enjoyment; dull, slow minds failed to respond to his efforts; the talented, the brilliant and the ambitious stu dents once stood aloof from the “ Orthodox” prrfessor ; but he learned in these trials the lesson that we all should learn, —alas! that it is so hard ! the love that seeks and follows , We give the following illustration of this love : “ Then there was another brought near to my heart by a godly mother. He soon fell among companions, by whom he was led into the broad and slippery way. Contrition and re turn followed ; but then came another fall. When he could be found at home at no other time, I sought him more than once at six o’clock in the morning. I visited him in prison, that I might remind him of what he well knew, but always forgot. A few days after I uttered in the hour of my devotion that the preacher would have a hard task, but for the witness even in frivolous hearts, that says i He is right.' The very next evening I re ceived a note from him. ‘Yes, now 1 know that God’s Word has a witness in the human heart. I, too, have felt its working.’ And he promised to abandon his associates, and enter upon anew life. My words had brought him to himself; but would he have strength to stand fast? Four or five days after, late in the evening, came a card from him : ‘ Tho luck sighs, Tholuck prays; but we will have our drunk out.' Yet this very man is now a preacher in Berlin. We wish this incident, so suggestive of what can be accomplished by going out again and again in the wilderness, seeking the lost sheep until we find it, might stimulate every college professor in the land to the personal work of seeking the saltation of his pupils. He may not have an easy task, but if he has the love which seeks and follows, he will have a joyous experience, when, as Tholuck says, “The young men whom he seeks, emerging from their long wanderings and awakeuing from their long slumber, place themselves at the feet of Jesus ! This, too, is labor; but it brings with it an elevated enjoyment, like all successful efforts, where every giving is at the same time a receiving.” It will be more honor to a college professor than the fame received from editing a Greek Poet, or from writing a work on metaphysics, if, as the end of his professional course draws nigh, he can respond to and sympathize with the closing words ot Prof. Tholuck’s address : “To you who have long stood near me 1 say this at what is perhaps the close of my career. I hare preached and taught during my life; and what I have done in this way is known to the world. But all this I value less than that I have been permitted, though in weakness and imperfection, to exercise that love which seeks and follows. This is a work of which the world knows little, but of which the Lord God knows much. And it is this love which seeks and follows that l now wish for you. The great and the learned may, perhaps, value your words far less on this account; but do not, therefore, neglect the poor, the lowly and the weak. That is the the watchword of Jesus Christ: ‘ Have ye not read : our. of the mouth of babes and suck lings hast thou perfected praise.’ Rest as sured that this labor on a small scale, this seeking and following the lost, will not be in vain ; and that you, too, will some time be able to say : Yes, among the happiest fruits of my labors must I count that even among the lowly, the neglected, the despised, among the frivolous and worldly, by faithful seeking and following, some have been won that will finally praise Him whom we praise.”—Chris tian Fra. What is Conversion. “In St. Dennis Hotel once, in Broadway, New York, I was summoned to visit a sick young man, who came from Charleston with a widowed mether. 1 had known them there —the mother, not the youth. They had been at Saratoga, and had come back to New York, and at this hotel the young man was lying to die. His mother had sent for another clergy man to visit him, and that clergyman said that the poor young man was crazy ; and when I asked that religious brother, ‘ What did you do to him?’ he said:— “‘Do? I tried to pacify him; I tried to quiet him; I said, “We will not talk, but say a little prayer,” and I left him in peace.’ “ His mother was not satisfied, and sent for me. He lay before me, a splendid youth of nineteen, his eyes like jets of the brilliancy of a diamond. “ ‘Doctor Tyng,’ said the young man, ‘ my mother has always told me that I must be converted—that 1 could not be saved except I was converted. I arn not converted. Ho# can 1 be converted? Can I be converted? Oh! tell me—how, how can 1 be converted ?’ “ What man’s eyes who felt the worth of the sould not flow with tears at the remem brance of such a mother? A rich, cultivated woman, who had taken her boy’s hand from his birth, and said, ‘Julian, my dear son, you must be converted,’ and now, sitting by his couch, with all a mother's love, still pleading and urging him to give himself to Jesus—still telling him that he must be converted. How many mothers in the city of New York are doing this ? “ I sat by the side of that youth and told him the story of Jesus. I showed him the simplicity of the Gospel-plan of salvation. I bade him realize that his heavenly Father had received and accepted him in Christ when Christ willingly died to bear his load, and he was to come in the simplest faith of a little child, and rest himself gratefully, hopefully upon it. We spent an hour in conversation Twenty-four hours after I called again. Oh ! how changed that face !—it shone like an an gel’s. He reached out his long, tapering, trembling hand to me with the sweetest smile, and said:— “‘Oh! sir, I understand it! 1 understand it! Love for Jesus is conversion ! Sir, all night I was asking Jesus to let me love him— to show me how to love him—and 1 feel to day as if my whole soul was overflowing with love to Jesus. Is that conversion?' “‘ My dear J ulian, that is conversion.' And all was well.”— Tyng. Discipline for Covetousness. —A reader wants to know if a church has the right to excommunicate members who attend the meetings regularly, but do not contribute “as much as some think they ought to” for the expenses of the church. A church could not exclude a member, unless the conviction was general that he did not do his part. But of the right of the church to withdrtw its fel lowship from a man who will not fulfill his covenant vows, in helping to sustain worship, there can be no doubt. Any person who is mean enough to hear the gospel, one Sunday after another, year in and year out, without paying his part of the expenses incurred, is too mean a person to have a home in any church of Jesus Christ. He is afflicted with “ covetousness” of a very malignant type, and if “gospel labor” does not change his course, the sooner he is out of the church the better for him, the church, and the world. A niggardly member, unceasingly fretting about expenses, and never ready to do a just thing in the matter of paying them, is the heaviest load a church can attempt to carry.— Ex. and Chron. Unitarivnsm. —Unilarianism does not ad vance rapidly, though much proclamation is made of the growing popularity of Unitarian seutimeiits by the journals of the denomina tion. Only 35 churches have been organ ized in thelast four years, a little over 8 per year. The orthodox view of Christ, it seems, is too deeply embedded in the needs of the human soul and too clearly set forth in the Scriptures, to allow of progress on the part of a system which divests Him of His divinity and disowns Him in His atonement. In spite of their boastfulness, Strauss, Renan, Furness, and the like, are not carrying the religious element of society with them. ' Unitarian Faith(?)— At a late meeting of the Boston Radical Club, Col. T. W. Higgin son said: “ Ouce at a Unitarian Conference, Theodore Parker asked Rev. Dr. Dewey, whether he believed in the miraculous birth of Christ. Os course people listened for positive affirmation, or stout denial; but the Reverend Doctor blushed painfully, and said it really wasn’t fair for Brother Parker to ask such a question: his health had been poor, and he hadn’t had the strength for cldse investiga tion.” Psalmody. —Wesley said : “ Let me make the hymns, I care not who makes the creed.” Aud Henry Ward Beecher : “ I count the singing of hymns as being among the most | eminent ways in which the soul can be I brought into the conscious presence of Christ | at its own sweet will.” Wide Open. Among all who have been attempting to remove the Gospel landmarks, and force the door to the Lord’s table, we think Rev. Mr. Schermerhorn, Unitarian, Boston, has carried off the palm. He has certainly made a Sam son like effort, and carried away door, posts and all, and has fairly stolen the march upon his more timid and cautious coadjutors What they would accomplish by a series of attack, he brings about by a single blow. He must be acknowledged the victor. In a sermon Mr. S. preached in Boston the first Sabbath in this month, he says: “Every man or woman who takes a seat in this church, and occupies it from Sabbath to Sabbath, thereby confesses that he or she is a Christian; this is our only ‘ Profession of Faith;’ no one could be retained here who is, or does not desire to be a Christian. So I say we have no division, no bars, no back seats in this congregation; we have no church members as a select class, a coterie or inner circle; we we have no such distinctions as, ‘ saints and sinners,’ ‘Christians and reprobates and infi dels ;’ we are all church members; we are all Christians; we are all saints, or trying to be; so that at the Lord’s table, as at any other religious ordinance, we all have equal rights and privileges.” He holds the communion *rviee should be a congregational service, lie says, “All, old and young, saintly and less saintly, should come together to commune with God and Christ and one another.” Here is open communion in reality—not in name and pretence, but in fact This is not progress, it is reaching the goai by a jump and a bound. It is a stride that Robert Hall, and lessei lights never thought of attempting; their chaiity and love of union never rose to so high a mark. For boldness and frankness, Mr. S. will receive due credit; whether he will be quoted as authority, and be acknowl edged as a leader by the advocates of open communion, remains to be seen.— Zion s Ado. Family Instruction. Throughout the writings of the Apostles the divine care for childhood is manifest, and the same regard for the purity and affection of the family. Parents and children are repeatedly mentioned, and are specially in structed in their relative duties. Among the qualifications demanded in an officer of the Christian church, particular stress is laid upon the proper management of his own house. All this has a special significance for us at this time. The family is still a divine institu tion, with vital relations which cannot be over estimated to every interest of society. The purity and intelligence of the household is essential to the stability of free government and to the maintenance of public virtue. The best and most salutary influences of Chris tianity can quicken and mould the community only as they come forth illuminated and strengthened from Christian homes. There is an important sense in which the church and the school may be regarded as simply the auxiliaries of the parent in the guidance and training of the family. And we are satisfied that many of the gravest si cial difficulties which now threaten us can only be removed by a wiser appreciation and use of the re sources which dwell at the domestic hearih. Whether political reform can be effected and rendered permanent; whether general and high culture shall promote morality or invig orate infidelity ; whether a ’philan thropy or a mercenary selfishness shall rule in our trade and commerce; whether needful amusements and recreation are to be a bless ing or a bane—these must be in no small measure determined by the spirit and teach ing which prevail in our homes. The child is father to the man, and the child is mainly what the mother makes it, not so much by conscious words and actions, as by that per petual and all enveloping atmosphere of in fiuence which arises from all that enters into daily life.— Cor. Nat. Bap. Keep the Face and the Voice Clear. I know a lady who, when quite young, was crippled for life by a painful accident. Keen suffering soon left its impress upon her coun tenance. Her brow was contracted, her lips compressed ; so that the first impression pro duced upon a friend who came to see her, was that of pain. Alter she had been ill six months, she one day called for a glass, that she might see herself. Her own words de scribing the image reflected there, I still re member: “ Such a wrinkled, frowning face as confronted me, I hope never to see again,” she said. “It was false, too; for it told only of physical pain, without even a suggestion of the love and mercy, human and divine, which had helped me in my endurance,” For months she struggled with her facial mus cles, trying to restore peaceful harmony to the disturbed and demoralized features. She applied herself to this as to a work which God had given her to do. She prayed as well as labored for success; and she con quered. In her efforts to master the outward expression, she also gained in power of in ward control, which increased her store of fortitude. If you have not thought of this before, a-k for a glass, look at your face as you see it there, and teli yourself honestly what is the impression produced. If the expression is peaceful and cheerful, in spite of palor and wasting, be glad, and do not regret the ab sence of more material points of beauty. The soul has told its story upon its mirror, aud all is well. But if instead of peace, you see querulousness and discontent; if pain even is imprinted too deeply, give yourself no rest until you have in some degree re moved their marks. Hold in modest reserve the traces of what you endure; give place to no such tell tales of what is only yours and God’s to know. Let a meek acceptance of your lot be in both heart and look. “We must suffer ; but we need not grumble” any more than wise Epictetus. A flag of dis tress is also a sign of defeat of some sort. Let us not hang it out to our own humilia tiou and the grief of friends. A brave fight against our disadvantages will surely bring a partial victory at least. The next troublesome charge is the voice, which is almost more difficult of management than the face. Whine and complaint always belong more or less to pain; and, being eager of outlet, often take us by surprise. In seasons of access of suffering, not much can be done with our tones, perhaps. If gentle" ness is secured, we must rest content. But when only the ordinary discomfort presses, we may do better and give the cheerful greet ing the grateful acknowledgement, in a voice of bright heartiness. Loss of -Moral Power. —Tne N. Y. Meth odist, speaking of the Northern Methodist church, says: “It must be confessed that our church has been losing its moral power at a rapid rate. In the days of persecution, it could point triumphantly to its purity ; in these days, when all men speak well of it, it can only point to a Book Committee unable, after fifteen months o*" exploration, to say whether its great Publishing House has or has not been defrauded by unfaithful ser vants.” Onjb’B Best Thing. —lt is the belief of Emerson, that “ Every one can do his best thing easiest.” |s3 00 A YEAR.} WHOLE NO. 2526. Leave All to Him. Leave all to Him who knoweth all, To whom there’s neither great nor small, But one vast comprehending plan, Thyself involved, ere worlds began. Leave all to Him, He guideth all: He bears the weakest when they call, For none are mightier than those Who on His uuseen arm repose. He’ll scourge thee, when naught else will do, snit make tr ee more than conqueror too; Scourge thee, perhaps, against thy will, Yet trust Him—He’s thy Father still. Though friends mav turn to bitter foes, Leave all to Him, He ever knows When thou wouldst lean too much on these, And seek, with them, thyself to please. Leave all to Him—thy want, thy care, That naineles grief that none may share; That daily sum nt wearying toils Which, vexes and thy peace despoils. Leave all to Him, thea sweetly lie Beneath His watchful, loving eye; And say, tuldu I hy will in me; In life, in death, eternally. Christ and the Cross. “Whoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I confess also belore my Father which is iu heaven.’’—Matt, x: 35. Show me the Christ— I will cry to Him ! Show me the Christ I will fly to Him 1 Show meAhe Ctirist — 1 will die tin Him, And bless him forever and ever I Hold up the Cross— I will sing to itt Hold up the Cross — I will cling to itl Hold up the Cross— I will bring to it Hosannahs forever and ever 1 — F. B. Gage. Trusting God for a Sermon. “It is fifty years, sir,” said John Wesley, one day, to a friend, “ since I first preached in this church, i remember it from a pecu liar circumstance, which occurred at that time. I carne without a sermon, and going up the pulpit stairs t hesitated, and returned into the vestry under much mental confix sion and agitation. A. woman who was there noticed that l was deeply agitated, and she inquired : “ ‘Pray, sir, what is the matter with you V “ 1 replied, ‘I have not brought my ser mon with me.' “‘ls that all?—cannot you trust God for a sermon ?’ “ The question had such an effect upon me, that I ascended the pulpit and preached ex tempore, wiih great freedom to myself and ac ceptance to the people, and 1 have never since taken a written sermon into the pulpit.” Trusting in God for a sermon worked well that time. Others might try the same plan with advantage. Os course, we are not to trust in God to do what only our laziness hinders us front performing; but if vve ddi gently study God’s word, and live pure and pr yerful lives before Him, we shall not look in vain for His blessing on us if wearecalled to declare His truth.— Pacific Observer. Small Giftß —lt is stated in a New York paper, as the experience of the managers of most of the private charitable institutions iu that city, that about three per cent, of dona tions received for the support of the same, is in sums of one hundred dollars or upwards, aud perhaps twice that amount in sums rang ing from twenty dollars to twenty live ; but that by far the greater part is in sums less than rive dollars. This wot ly' another illus tration of the fact that the church must rely for its resouices not on the large gifts of the few, but on the small gifts of the many. Any system of collection in behalf of church ex penses and church benefactions which will secure the ten cent currency notes of the peo ple, will put hundred dollar bills into the treasury of the Lord.— Congregalionalist. The Fruit of Discussion. —The Philadel phia correspondent of the Examiner and Chronicle writes : The excitement about the “ Resolutions” passed by the Philadelphia Association has subsided, as usual, leaving the spoils in our hands. At the Ministerial Conference, January 9th, the pastor of a good church here, calling themselves “ The Church of God,” reported that, after examining our creed and order, and becoming acquainted with the pastors and churches, he finds him self in full sympathy with us; also that his church —partly Presbyterian and partly Con gregational—are in a transition state, and are now likely to come over to us in a body. It is a question of only a short time. He is one ot the ablest and best of men. Infant Baptism. —“ The Logic of Infant Church membership,” in the Methodist Quar terly Review , by the late Dr. Nadal, opposes the notion, on the one hand, that children are admitted to the Church on the basis of bap*» tismal regeneration —a popish figment—and, on the other, that of congenital regeneration— the preposterous conceit of Hibbard and Mercein. The editor says he inserts the ar ticle “in cordial respect for the eminent char acter of the lamented writer, and not from any coincidence with its views.” Romish Morals. —The Westminster 6a xette. a Roman Catholic journal, recently made the following acknowledgement: “The neglected children of London, are chiefly our children, and the lowest of every class, wheth er thieves or drunkards, are Catholics, at least in name We have shirked these facts long enough; it is time that we should face them, and not delude ourselves by the appearance of progress.” A Good Sion. —According to the statistics of the Baptist Handbook, more than half the pastors of Baptist churches in England iiave held their positions for five years and up ward, and nearly a third for ten years and upward. Some have field them fifty years. We hope there will be such an improvement in the matter of pastoral support, as to se cure something of this permanency of the relation among «>ur churches at the South. Christian or Heathen? —ln the Sunday morning service of “ the Society of Religious Rationalists,” Finsbury, Eug., (of which “Rev.” M. D. Conway, an American Unita rian, has charge,) “ passages from the wri tings of Confucius and Emerson are given, as well as from the Bible. The Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita, the Mahabharata, the Vishnu Parana are also introduced.” New Jkrßry Baptists —ln 1830 there were 55 Baptist churches in New Jersey, the membership at that time being 3,967. The average of ministerial salaries was $212. Value of church property, about $150,000. At present, the denomination owns two ami a half millions of church property, pays an average of $1,028 in salaries, bus 126 addi tional churches, and six times the member ship of 1830. Gossip against Ministers.— Spurgeon, in the Sword and 7 'rowel, says : “Asa speci men of bare-faced lying, we remem her a per son declaring in a public room that he sa us slide down the rail of our pulpit at Park street to illustrate backsliding, at a time w hen the pulpit was in the wall, and no stairs whatever existed. That very story has been told of Loreriio Dow many years before.”