Newspaper Page Text
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IfaAex mi fkjrttet
J. TOON, .... Proprietor.
PUBLICATION ROOMS —4 I 6 SOUTH BRMDWAV.
Editor: Bev. D. SHAVEB, D.D.
CORBKSroNDINO IDITOBBI
Rev. J. J. D. RENPROE, Tattadega, Ala.
Rev. S. HENDERSON, D.D., Fayetteville , Ala.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9. 1871.
News from the Churches.
We have often begged the brethren to send us
news from the churches. Some have failed to re
spond, we doubt not, because they did not know
on what points the information in their possession
would prove of interest. To aid them in the de*
cision of that question, we have drawn up a series
of enquiries, and print it below. We do not mean
that brethren should answer all these enquires,
one by one, every time they write. But let them
read over the series, and write now in answer to
one set of enquiries, now in answer to another, ac
cording to circumstances. The enquiries will sug
gest the points, on which, at the time of reading,
they have matters of interest to communicate; and
we wish them to write on these points. We shall
feel greatly indebted to ministers, deacons and
other active church members, for compliance with
this request.
1. Have there been any recent pastoral changes
in your section ? What is th* longest term of
pastoral service there, within your knowledge T
Is there more or less of stability in the pastoral
relation than formerly ?
2. Are any of the pastors supported, in whole, by
their churches? Has there been any improve
ment, of late, in pastoral support ?
3. Are there any superannuated ministers near
you ? any ministers without charge? any minis
ters recently ordained? any candidates for the
ministry ?
4. Are all the churches supplied with pastors?
How often do they meet for worship ? Do they
keep up prayer meetings? Are these meetings
well attended ?
5. Are there near you any destitute fields need
ing mission labor? any mission fields where
churches are likely to be formed? any churches
dying out? any single churches large enough to
justify their separation into two? any two or
more churches that would be strengthened by
merging them into one ?
0. Have you had a revival of late ? Are there
prospects of one now ?
7. Have your churches Sunday schools ? Are
the schools evergreen ? What is their efficiency,
and what are their prospects ?
8. Have deacons been elected and ordained re
cently ?
9. On what system are funds raised for the ex,
penses of the church and the pastor’s salary?
How often are subscription papers circulated or
col'ections taken up ? What is the probable pro
portion of contributions to the financial strength
of the church? What share have domestic and
oreign missions, and the Sunday school cause, in
these contributions?
10. What is the state of discipline in the
churches? What is their position as to worldly
amusements ? the temperance cause, etc. ?
11. Is family worship generally maintained
among your flock ?
12. What is the strength of our denomination in
your field, compared with other denominations?
How far are our denominational papers patronized
there ?
13. Is the house of worship kept in repair ? Is
anew one needed ? Will it be built ?
-14. Have you, in your region, a school under
Baptist auspices ? What is its condition? Is there
an opening with you for Baptist professional men
from abroad—-for teachers, physicians, lawyers?
Or, for Baptist farmers, merchants, etc. ?
15. What about colored Baptists in your viein
ity? Have they separate organizations? houses
of worship? pastors? sound doctrine? wholesome
discipline ?
Shall the Boards and the Convention Live !
Not long since, it was our fortune to be in
company with one of the most distinguished and
prudent Baptist ministers in Alabama—a minister
who has never swerved in his devotion to the
Southern Baptist Convention and its Boards. We
asked him this question: “Do you not sometimes
entertain the fear that our Convention is in a few
years to be abandoned, or its Boards to become so
neglected by attention to other institutions as to
force that body into radical changes ?” This bro
ther’s answer was: “/ do have Much fears;
and I think that any observer of current events
in our denomination does not need to be a pro
phet to see that the present tendency of things is
quietly driving to that end.”
Now, we have no ambition to revive the discus
sion about co-operation with Northern Baptist or
ganizations; we have not one unpleasant feeling
toward these noble institutions, or the good breth
ren who manage them ; but we do believe that
a wise, prayerful consideration of this subject,
looking to the unity of Southern Baptists, must
be had, or we shall have a spiteful dispute among
ourselves, under which our Boards will become
powerless and our Convention be reduced to
nothing more than a mass meeting. If the Con
vention and its Boards ought to exist, they «er
tainly ought to have the full strength and united
co operation of all Southern Baptists, and particu
larly should they have the co-operation and
undivided support of all State organisations
among Baptists in the South. If it be proper for
any of our State organizations to bestow the
strength of their moral support upon Northern
bodies that are only proposing to do a work sim
ilar to that done by our Boards, then it is proper
that all of us should do likewise; and in that
case, our Convention and Boards are just so many
superfluities.
What are the rival Influences and current event 8
to which we allude ?
The Domestic and Indian Mission Board is
rivalled by a general disposition in several of the
States, to carry on State missions and Associa
tional missions independently of that Board; and
what little is contributed in such districts to the
Board seems to be used only as “ hush money,”
and to keep up the appearance of co-operation.
The samo appears to be true in some places of
what is contributed to the Sunday School Board;
while yet immense laudation is laid at the door of
Northern organizations who are proposing to do
Sabbath school and missionary work at the South,
and action is taken which gives the moral sup
port of the denomination in those regions to these
institutions. This may all be right; and if it be
right, let us all come to the same conclusion, and
dismiss our noble organizations in a respectful
and respectable way; let us not kill them by a
half hearted co-operation—by pretension.
Suppose a Board of the Georgia or Alabama
Convention should resolve to partly operate in
Foreign Missions, through the organization of our
brethren at the North, but should say to the
Foreign Mission Board at Richmond, “ We will
also encourage you,” what would our brethren
in Virginia think of it ? And would not such
action have a direct tendency to undermine that
Board ?
It is worthy of special observation, that that
Board is the one which has to contend with no
rival institution at the South, and yet we maintain
that the Southern Baptist Convention could not
so properly transfer one of its agencies to the
brethren of the North, as that. And we would
oppose that very heartily, unless the denomina
tion are prepared to transfer all.
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX AND SOOTH-WESTERN BAPTIST: ATLANTA, GA., THORSDAY, FEBRUARY 9,1871.
It seems that our Northern brethren have
money—and we rejoice that they have, and the
whole matter seems to resolve itself into the
question, “Are we up for sale ? Are our Boards
and Convention on the market for purchase by
the highest bidder ?”
If this process of transferring moral support is
to go on, it is. time we should all know it, that we
may be ready to act; and when the Baptists of
the South get ready to form an organic union
with the Baptists of the North, we will not have
a word of opposition to offer; but while we pre
tend to act through institutions of our own, we
expect to talk plainly about these pretensions.
R.
Major Walker Reynolds, of Talladega, Ala.
On Wednesday, the 18th of January, 1871,
Major Walkib Reynolds expired at his residence
in Talladega county, Ala., of apoplexy. He was
attacked on the evening of the day before, and
lingered in great agony until his death. Friday,
the 20th, was set for his funeral. The sad news
of his death summoned to the house of mourning
a vast concourse of neighbors and friends from
fifteen to twenty miles —as far, indeed, as the news
had reached—who came to testify their apprecia
tion of a life-long friend —one whom many of them
had known, respected and loved for nearly forty
years. After appropriate religious services, con
ducted by his pastor, assisted by brother Renfroe,
his remains were consigned to their last resting
place in the family burying-ground, to await “ the
trump of God and the shout of the archangel.”
Among all the funerals the writer has ever at
tended —and they have not been few—he has
never witnessed a more general, spontaneous
tribute of regard to departed worth, than marked
the burial of Walker Reynolds. We could but
observe in the vast funeral procession, the num
ber of old men who had threaded the Indian path
with him when our country was almost a savage
wilderness, and whose throbbing hearts and weep
ing eyes testified how keenly they felt the loss of
such a man. It was proposed that those old men,
his life-long companions, should gather round his
grave, and throw the first earth upon his vault.
And as nearly a score of those venerable men, from
sixty to eighty years old, Btepped forward to per
form this last act of friendship, literally bedewing
the clay with their tears, it was a sight which one
will never forget.
Major Reynolds was the second son of Reuben
and Margaret Reynolds, of Columbia county, Ga.,
and was born in that county on the 28th of Au"
gust, 1799. He moved to Alabama and settled in
Talladega county in 1833, and was therefore as
sociated with this portion of the State from the
period of its organization into counties until his
death. He united himself to the Talladega Baptist
church in the year 1830, maintaining an exem
plary Christian character through all his after
life.
Asa citizen, he adorned every position he ever
filled. While a member of the Legislature, no
man ever served a constituency more faithfully.
He was foremost in every enterprise that looked
to the development of the material, commercial
and industrial interests of the State. To no one
man is the State more indebted for that great cen
tral, commercial artery, known now as the Selma,
Rome and Dalton Railroad, than to him. In its
incipiency, he nursed it as a father, never abating
his energies until the last point of failure was
passed. Endowed by his Creator with a massive
intellect, he always followed the deductions of his
own mind upon all questions of duty or policy.
All who knew him would say he was a man to be
consulted, not to consult. His contemperament
of mind and heart invested him with an adminis
trative capacity that guaranteed success to every
enterprise in which he ever engaged, and quali
fied him for any trust that could be reposed in
the wisest and best of men.
As to his integrity, it was above reproach. He
was just and equal in all his dealings. His word
was his oath, and its fulfillment was just as cer
tain as the rising sun. No law in nature is more
certain and uniform than that law which bound
his promise to its observance. Indeed, he was
governed by principle in all his dealings with his
fellow-man.
Asa Christian, he was consistent and faithful
to his vows. In this, as in everything else in
which he engaged, having “ put his hand to the
plough,” he never looked back. Vast and compli
cated as his worldly business was, he never al
lowed it to interfere with his religious duties. In
all his business arrangements, his obligations to
his church were anticipated and provided for, so
that he was always at his po3t. And although
his piety was not demonstrative, it was neverthe
less earnest, effective and self sacrificing. In one
word, he was a Christian from principle, not from
impulse. His conduct was regulated by reason,
conscience, and judgment—not by the passion of
the hour.
In the latter part of his life, bis piety assumed
a more mellow, subdued, and, I may add, a more
emotional type. This was the subject of frequent
remark by his brethren. In the house of God,
he would abandon himself to the most absorbed
attention to every service, as if conscious that
“ the time of his departure was at hand,” and
that it became him to make the most of every
means of spiritual improvement.
In his charities, though unostentatious, he was
princely. The number of the worthy poor whom
he befriended by his timely benefactions will
never be known until “ the books shall be open
ed.” Never did honest poverty and want make
an unsuccessful appeal to his great Christian
heart Hie noble, sympathising soul always kept
him in communication with the humblest classes
of our suffering humanity. We can, without
stint, apply to him the beatitude of the Psalmist
—“ Blessed is he that considereth the poor."
In his domestic relations, he was singularly
blessed with a wife whose intelligence, piety,
kindness of heart and domestic habitudes com
bined to make her a fit companion for such a
man. She is the daughter of our venerable father
in Israel, Rev. 0. Welch. His home was the
abode of hospitality. The order, regularity and
quietude of the domestic circle were the result,
not of simple authority, but the law of kindness.
In his latter years especially, his family govern
ment presented that impressive spectacle on which
the great French orator, Bossuet, has bestowed
the rare eulogy, “That every one obeys, and no
one commands.”
There are some calamities whose magnitude we
cannot measure at the moment of their occur
rence. The blow is so sudden, so overwhelming,
go stunning, that we are in no condition to real
ize the extent of our loss; and not until time shall
soften the poignancy of the present grief, are we
conscious of the vastness of the bereavement. We
need to go into those circles where the cherished
countenance of the lost- and loved one has been so
long accustomed to greet us with generous sym
patby—the domestic fireside—the house of God
—the social gathering—the business thorough
fares_and then realize that our companion and
friend is totally and forever withdrawn from all
these: we say, we have need to realize all this
before we can experience that last bitterness of
sorrow which Heaven only can heal. And thus
sudden, thus stunning was the sad providence we
are recording. Tuesday’s sun set upon as bappy
a household as congenial spirits could make it.
When that sun rose again, what a spectacle of
suffering and grief was revealed I A noble form
—the stay of that household, struggling in the
throes of dissolution, and ere he reached bis me-
ridian, the husband, the father, the
a corpse! How feeble the tenure by which we
hold our dearest earthly treasures 1 The sun that
sets upon our highest earthly felicities, may rise
upon our deepest earthly woe!
By a singular providential coincidence, the
evening of the day on which Major Reynolds was
buried, his old, life-time friend, Hon. W. P. Chil
ton, of Montgomery, died. They had settled in
this State and in this county about the same
time, and an intimacy and friendship was formed
that were strengthened by the vicissitudes of
nearly two score years. Together they have de
scended to the house appointed for all living, and
together they have entered into the joy of their
Lord, —companions in life, in death, and in
heaven.
One great object of Christian biography is to
show that Christian duty can be exemplified in
human character; that fallen and encompassed by
infirmity as man is, it is possible for the holy
principles of the Bible to triumph over our de
pravity, and thus furnish in every true Christian
another illustration of its divine origin, and that
grace is stronger than sin. By this means, the
argument for Christianity becomes cumulative,
increasing in volume and strength by the very
multitude of its consistent votaries. The religion
of Jesus, therefore, can never lack for arguments,
while there is a single living incarnation of holi
ness moving amongst men. With what holy ex
ultation does an inspired apostle group that
famous catalogue of ancient worthies into “ a cloud
of witnesses,” with which to animate his brethren
to “ run with patience the race set before them 1”
With what holy fervor does he exhort them to be
followers of them who, “ through faith and pa'
tience, now inherit the promises 1” Nor is it less
our privilege and duty to encourage and animate
each other in the service of the Master by appeals
to like motives and influences. We, too, are con
fronted with a “cloud of witnesses” who have
gone up from our midst—who but recently mourn*
ed and wept, rejoiced and prayed with us ; and
who now, from their high abodes of bliss, anx
iously await our arrival to join the blood-washed
throng. The moral influence of our grave-yards
is becoming more and more potent every day, and
heaven is becoming more and more attractive as
the home of our departed loved ones. How sweet
ly did that voice fall upon the ear of the beloved
disciple when he was commanded to write,
“ Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from
henceforth ; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may
rest from their labors, and their works do follow
them.” H.
A Baptist Orphans’ Home.
We trust that the reader will not overlook the
article of “ A Baptist” on our first page. The ap
peal of juvenile friendlessness for succor, and the
appeal of juvenile depravity for reformation, can
never be fully met without the establishment of
Orphans’ Homes. These institutions are a vital
necessity in modern society, and their erection
lies within the province of the churches of Christ.
Will our brethren in Georgia put their hand to
this work for the Master ? Why should they not?
Our correspondent does well, in seconding his
proposal with a subscription of $25. Let the list
grow. We should rejoice to receive such a num
ber of names and pledges before the session of the
Baptist State Convention in April, as will attract
the attention of that body, and encourage the
vigorous prosecution of the work under its aus
pices. What say you, brethren ? Speak—write
—act—pray —give.
Glimpses -of tko Times.
A writer in the Banner of Peace , Nashville,
says: “How many in the Cumberland Presbyte
rian church neither believe in nor practice infant
baptism! There is hardly a congregation to be
found without some such members.” These
members are “Anti-pedobaptists ” of the most
“liberal” stripe. They carry the principle
of loose communion to its logical result—
the rejection of distinctively Baptistic church
organizations. Even the Baptist Union , the
young New York organ of Free Will (as op
posed to the Will of Christ) in the matter of the
Lord’s supper, seems to catch a glimpse of the
end toward which that principle naturally drives.
Its third number contains an article from a cor
respondent, laudatory of the Old Swansea church,
Mass., and its first pastor, Rev. John Miles. In
that body (we are told) it was held “ that the
ministry might take the liberty to baptize infants
or grown up persons, as the Lord should persuade
their consciences, and so also that the inhabitants
might take their children to baptism or forbear.”
When men avow this position, we may grant that
they are consistent in maintaining “that (spirit
ual) union in Christ is the sole ground of (sacra
mental) communion with each other.” And when
we are brought to believe that they are not only
consistent but correct , we shall look around
among “ the denominations,” to ascertain where
we may most expediently make our home, after
the example of these Anti-pedobaptist Cumber
land Presbyterians. But is it not a shame for
men, under the banner of Baptist union, to fight
the battle really of Baptist disintegration and
Baptist extinction ? (By the way, we notice that
the author of “Baptist Succession," after show
ing that the denomination in America has not
descended from Roger Williams, gives a list of
‘the ministers regularly baptized and ordained in
fiurope, who aided in planting the early churches
in this country, from which, as flowing streams,
the denomination has come down to us.’ The
third on this list is John Miles, the founder of the
Swansea church, "the first in the Bay State."
But is this link in the chain a sound one f Is the
organic succession valid, which has been trans
mitted through a church and a pastor that were,
according to this witness, not only open in com
munion, but open in membership also?)
We have said (in the foregoing paragraph) that
Baptist extinction is the legitimate result of the
movement which professes to aim at Baptist union.
To a certain extent, the Chicago Advance, a Con
gregational “organ," forsees this end. It pre
dicts the triumph of loose communion, and regards
it as the “ removal of one obstacle to the event
ual union of the Baptist, Free Will Baptist, and
Congregational churches, which differ only on
questions of baptism.” Just so : but when our
“ church freedom ” lengthens its cords, to include
Pedobaptism under one form of polity, what is
to shut out other forms ? The flood of laxity
which sweeps away the “sacramental” bounda
ry of the church, will be strong enough, and will
not need to change its course, to sweep away the
boundary of the church in the matter of polity.
One of the Congregational churches in Chicago,
has contributed, as a memorial offering, a sum
amounting to “ one-fourth of the income of the
donors.” If anything like this rate of giving ob
tained among Christians who can spare such a
proportion of their means from the necessities of
life , would one-third of the Episcopal clergy of
the country have been constrained to change their
places in the past year? Would there be so la
mentable an instability in the pastoral relation
among Southern Baptists? Would all our mis
sionary operations languish as they do for want
of funds ? Everybody knows that they would
not. Is that rule of giving, then, more than is
due to the cause of Christ and the salvation of
men? Would not the Master accept and reward
it?
An Alabama correspondent of the Examiner <&
Chronicle, ascribes to a young colored preacher,
“of some genius,” but who “could not eve*
read,” the following alleged quotations from Scrip
ture: 1. “One day Gabriel was in a corner by
himself, and be looked very sad. The angels got
around him and askelT what was the matter; and
he told them he had been ordered to blow the
world to judgment” 2. “One day a child went
to Jesus in heaven, and asked him to let her take
an evening ride. He asked her what she wanted.
She told him her mother was coming up from the
world below, and she*wisfifed to go and meet her.”
Such facts strikingly illustrate the necessity of
ministerial education amgng the Freedmen. We
fear that Southern Baptists are not doing what
they might and should do, toward meeting this
necessity. No effort “ within the power of our
hand," to further so indispensable a work, ought
to be forborne. If we can sow in the earth but
a grain of mustard seed, as it were, for this end,
we sin when we withhold that; and if we cast
it in, who may say that it shall not grow and wax
a great tree, when the early and latter rain comes
on it and the dew from heaven waters it ?
A writer in the Wa&hman & Reflector , from
Providence, R. 1., while Dr. Wayland
was acting pastor of tire First Baptist church for
fourteen months, he instructed the deacons, if
persons belonging to other denominations seated
themselves, without p*3ission, at the Lord’s ta
ble, ‘to offer the elemegre to them, as to our own
members in the same rtm on the ground that
“ they know our and if they choose to
partake, the responsib*liW is with them, not us.”
A correspondent of tjjj rjExaminer & Chronicle,
too, speaks of “ who,” under such cir
cumstances of intrusreV “ feel it their duty to
pass by all unimmersedjjhristians in distributing
the elements,” as “poorly instructed.” We are
free to confess that the imputation of ‘poor in
struction’ in the premises seems, in our judgment,
to he at the door of this^cor respondent and of
Dr. Wayland: for we do not see how men can,
without “responsibility*’ and guilt, make them
selves a party to the violation of their known
“ principles ” —especially on a question involving
that order of the Lord’s nouse, with the mainten
ance of which churches and church officers are
expressly charged in Holy Scripture.
The Evangel menti&flte the constitution of a
church in California, some years since, which
there was a reluctance to recognize, because,
taking its name from the nearest stream of water,
it was known as the “ Whiskey Creek Church.”
The difficulty of recognition is much greater, we
should think, where
the name of the church, but in the houses and
stomachs of the members. Is there a church of
that character anywhere this side of California?
Is there one there ?
Rev. Dr. Muhlenburg, in the Protestant Church
man, dwells on “ the wants of the Book of Com
mon Prayer.” He point* out its defects—its lack
of forms for many occtffons when prayer is de
sired; but says,—“No additions, however full or
varied, could supercede the privilege of free
prayer. This is continually felt by all who would
have their devotions t#'be in sympathy with
varying times and circumstances.” Here is the
testimony of no alien and no novice. A long ex
perience has extorted from the Dr., a verdict
against the Liturgy, despite his early preposses
sions in its favor.
Such of our bretbren-vas prize Pedobaptist ad
missions in behalf of Baptist views, have twice
had occasion, recently, to add to their abundant
collectanea in that line. For example: Prof.
Knapp, of the Northern 'Baptist mission in Spain,
writes that the
late pamphlet, “warbing the people against the
virus of the foreign religion,” said: “ When any
Protestant offers you a book of devotion and ex
alts the Bible to the stars, at the same time op
posing the true faith and Christian practices, on
the ground that they are without Scripture war
rant, tell him to point out in his Bible where in
fant baptism is enjoined, either by precept or
example, a thing which they practice as well as
we!” Again: Rev. Dr. Francis Close, Dean of
Carlyle, arguing in support of total abstinence
from strong drink, to meet the objection built on
the alleged silence of Scripture in the premises,
asks: “If positive, direct Scripture authority is
required for every institution of a moral and reli
gious nature, where is that authority for the bap
tism of infants?” We lay slight stress on these
things; but the correspondent of the Christian
Observer , who alleges that “the great mass of
Baptist ministers have been illiterate," will please
take notice that not a few among the mo9t learned
of Pedobaptist ministers are constrained to yield
us every point material to our principles. “ The
militant hosts who will have none but adults in
their army,” (as the Southern Christian Advocate
styles Baptists,) find many an effective weapon
forged for them by scholarship within the territo
ry where the dream of “conquering the Holy
Land” "with an army of “infant crusaders”
cheats the eye of a drowsing Theology.
“At the risk of being dubbed a dolt, we will
say that Edwards on the Will is a vast, dreary
continent of frost and fog.” So affirms an Ar
minian newspaper critic. The “ frost" appears
to have had very much the effect of fire on him,
and to have put him in a great heat. Os the
“fog” in this instance, there can be no question:
that may gather, however, not on the page of Ed
wards, but about the eye that looks on it.
“A Young Pastor,” in the Nashville Christian
Advocate, ‘does not doubt that there are mem
bers of the Southern kfothodist Church, in his
Conference, received a pastoral visit
within the last Few things could be
better fitted tha Oversight, or neglect, to
fray the bands of fellowship which first attached
them to the church, until they snap asunder.
Are there Baptists who have like reason to feel
themselves deserted ? Are there
any in your charge, Bro. Pastor ?
Pastoral visits should not be restricted to church
members. They may have ‘souls for their hire,’
when including within their range individuals and
families confessedly out of Christ. A clergyman
writes to the Christian at Work, for January:
“ The funeral procession in which you saw me
riding, this afternoon, conveyed to the grave the
body of a lady, from whose lips I had the pleas
ure of hearing, last week, the blessed words, T
owe all my hopes of heaven to the blessing of
God on your faithfulness in visiting me when a
stranger. If you had not come to see me at my
own house, I must have been lost forever.’ ” ——
But on this subject, read the excellent article con
tributed to our columns by “J. H. C.”
The fears entertained in certain quarters, lest
loose communion should make disastrous inroads
upon our denomination at the North, and espe
cially in New England, strike us as largely ground
less. On this subject, the Christian Era , Bos
ton, says: “ Our Pedobaptist friends are insisting
that the Baptists are becoming leavened with
open-communionism. That such leaven exists in
some of our churches we do not question, though
we by no means believe in its wide influence. In
deed, we are of the opinion that its operation will
become more restricted, instead of the contrary.”
One reason for the opinion that loose communion
will not spread among our churches, is— the little
practical encouragement which other denomina
tions are likely to extend to it. A writer iu the
Baptist Visitor says: “Rev. H. A. Sawtelle, of
San Francisco, is unfortunate in not being able to
get Pedobaptists to commune with him. He in
vites them « unbaptued to do so, but they de
cline. They say he must recognize them as laf*
tized and they will accept his invitation. This
he, as an honest man, cannot do, and therefore
his efforts are fruitless of results.” Another rea
son is— the glaring inconsistency of the practice.
The London Freeman , for example, advocates the
establishment of “ a Yearly Baptist Lecture,”
hecause our position as to “ the act of profes
sion”—baptism, “has a real indissoluble rela
tionship with the cause of God, with the Word of
God, with the advance of Christ's kingdom, with
the dignity of man.” Now, how can one who
holds this view, without flragrant self-contradic
tion, turn round, as the Freeman does, and by
loose communion represent baptism, in effect, (to
quote the Examiner & Chronicle,) as “an ordin
ance which is of so little account that an error
concerning it is not worth notice in the organiza
tion and discipline of the visible church ?”
Our New York denominational organ, “by
many thousands the most widely circulated Bap
tist newspaper in America,” says : “ We presume
that the theatre will continue to exist, at least
until the community is educated into a taste su
perior to it; that it will continue to have its fol
lowing, respectable and otherwise; and that it
will be as generally regarded with aversion by
the great body of religious people, as it has
always been.” But it may be asked, As “taste”
improves, will not the theatre improve with it ?
The answer is, that the theatre has never shown
a disposition to try the experiment; as appears
from the fact which the Christian Union puts
strongly in its characteristic style: “A few years
ago Rev. Dr. Bellows (Unitarian) made a notable
move toward a social and ecclesiastical recognition
of the stage and its professors, as among the great
moral agencies in the elevation and purification
of mankind. Sock and buskin exulted ; Dramatic
Associations complimented the Doctor on his tru
ly enlightened and charitable Christianity, and
then forthwith turned the stop-cock of damnation,
and let in upon the town a cataract of blonde
wigs, ballet-legs, and French opera bouffe, which
has done more to demoralize and debauch our
youth than the ‘legitimate drama,’ granting all
the beneficence it claims for itself, can undo in a
generation."
Our Zion—in Our Exchanges, oto.
Georgia.
At the request of the First church, Rev. J. R.
Graves, LL.D., editor of the Memphis Baptist,
spent several days, including last Sabbath, in our
city. His lectures on Romanism were heard with
interest by large congregations, and were marked
by the characteristics which won for him, before
the war, his wide popularity a9 a public speaker
We were pleased to see his health, to all appear
ance, so fine.——Miss Mary A. H. Gay has se
cured, in Columbus, some S2OO, for the completion
of our house of worship in Decatur. Prof. H.
Foster Smith supplied the pulpit of the Newnan
church, on Sabbath week; the pastor, Rev. J. H.
Hall, preaching, that day, for our church at La-
Grange. We should be glad to know that the
Prof, had been called to constant pastoral work,
in some one or more of our vacant churches.
Alabama.
Rev. W. Wilkes, in a private letter to us, says:
“ I have begun my new field of preaching —at
Fayetteville and Syllacauga, where I succeed bro
ther Henderson, and retain two of my old churches,
—Harpersville and Ml. Sharon” A correspond
ent of the Central Baptist writes, of Mobile: “ Our
people have three churches in that city, composed
of white members, and we understand there are
several colored churches which seem to be in a
prosperous condition at present. The St. Francil
Street church is the leading church of the Baptists
in the city. This is a strong, vigorous, aggressive
organization, and is under the pastoral leadership
es Rev. A. B. Woodfin. Brother Woodfin is a
young man of considerable intellectual force, and
has already achieved a high reputation for elo
quence and power in the pulpit. During the past
season the yellow fever prevailed in a most viru
lent form in Mobile, and many of the members of
the St. Francis Street church left town; services
in the church were discontinued, and the pastor
took a vacation. Since his return the congrega
tions have been large, and the attendance at the
Sunday school has also been very good. At pre
sent, the church seems to be in a very prosperous
condition. The people love their pastor, and he,
like a good shepherd, watches well the flock. The
Broad Street church, which seems not to have
been very prosperous for some years, and which
was for a long time without a pastor, has now se
cured the services of Rev. P. T. Warren, a young
minister from Virginia. We did not meet the pas
tor of this church, but learned that it i9 now in a
promising condition. Rev. G. F. Williams still
remains at the Marine Street church. We did not
see him, but understand that the church is getting
along well.” —-Rev. B. W. Bussey, of Columbus,
Ga., beeomes pastor of our church at Huntsville.
Read the announcement of a Baptist Educa
tional Convention, to assemble in Marion, April
12th.
Kentucky.
The Baptist Sentinel, Lexington, begins the year
with a strong number for January. Rev. W. H.
Felix, Covington, has been added to its corps of
Corresponding Editors. The Trustees of Bethel
College, Russellville, “ by an elegant piece of finan
ciering, has succeeded in erecting a beautiful resi
dence on the College Campus for the President, at
a cost of $6,000, without diminishing the endow
ment ftind.” Rev. W. W. Gardner, D.D., of
Bethel College, supplies the pulpit of our church
at Trenton, Todd county, two Sabbaths in the
month, till they can secure a pastor. Rev. J. S.
Coleman, D.D., is affected with chronic laryngitis
and ulceration of the throat, and unless he desists
for a time from preaching, will most probably loee
his voice entirely.—-Oakland church has had 26
accessions; Westport church, 11.——Rev. B. O.
Branham died at Taylorsville, Jan. 26th, after a
Christian course of nearly a quarter of a century.
Missouri.
The Third church, St. Louis, Rev. W. P. Yea
man, D.D., pastor, has recently added about 20 by
baptism, and “ provided for” a debt of some $7,000.
Pleasant Union church, Madison county, has
had 24 accessions; Bethany church, 12; Pleasant
Grove church, St. Clair county, 29; Mt. Zion
church, Platte county, 80.
North Carolina.
Rev. T. H. Pritchard, D.D., of Raleigh, writes:
“ I am prepared to prove that the Baptist pastors
of North Carolina are as self-denying as any class
of men on the continent, and that they are preach
ing the gospel on smaller salaries, whether in town
or country, than the pastors of any State or of any
denomination in these United States.” Our
church at Wilson has received 6 accessions by let
ler, and expects 7 more.
South Carolina.
The small church organized recently in Mt.
Pleasant, near Charleston, has an opportunity to
purchase and fit up a chapel in the centre of the
village, at a cost of about $350, and asks help from
abroad. Rev. A. W. Lamar, late of our Semi
nary, Greenville, but called to the pastoral care of
Mt. Zion church, Newberry county, was ordained
to the ministry, Jan. 15 : sermon by Rev. W. Wil
liams, D.D.
Texas.
Rev. W. C. Boone, of Bremond, becomes Aeso-'
ciate Editor of the Southern Missionary Baptist,
Corsicana. Rev. E. H. Callahan has removed
to Tyler, Smith county. The Texas Baptist Her
ald states that Rev. H. F. Buckner “is contem
plating an orphan school among the Creek In
dians.”
Tennessee.
Prof. G. W. Jarman, of Union University, Mur
freesboro, though not able to be up, has secured a
room near the college building, where he hears the
recitations of his class.—Our church at New
Middleton, Smith county* has had 23 accessions,
*1 by baptism.——There are ten young minister
at Union University, sustained on “ the messing
plan,” through the labors of Rev. R. G. Kim
brough as agent for the department.
Virginia.
The Richmond Herald announces the appoint
ment, Jan. 27th, by the Foreign Mission Board, of
Rev. M. J. Herndon, a colored brother, a native of
Kentucky, but residing for some years among the
Bassas, on the West Coast of Africa, as a mission
ary to that people. We learn from the Bame
paper, that Oo T’swun Ch’au, a converted Chinese,
was ordained to the ministry, at North Street Bap
tist church, Tung Chau, China. Nov. 27th: sermon
by Rev. T. P. Crawford.
Loose Doctrine.
Rev. Alfred Brunson, D.D., denies, in the North-
Western Christian Advocate, that baptism is pre
requisite to the Lord’s supper. He says: “ True
and sincere repentance, not baptism, is the prere
quisite to the Lord’s supper. The supper was in
stituted before Christian baptism at least forty
days; the first before His death, the other after
His resurrection. We have no proof that the
apostles were baptized, either before they partook
of the supper or after, except Paul."
On this, the Pittsburg Christian Advocate re
marks : “ The old hero of so many well-fought bat
tles is still right. Methodism has never stood
committed to the unscriptural idea that baptism is
essentially necessary to admittance to the Lord’s
table. As the door into the church, orderly
arrangement should make it usually precede
the Lord’s supper; but to make it an essential
prerequisite is a species of dogmatism not taught
in God’s word, and that we may well leave to
others. Methodism administers the Lord’s supper
to probationers, baptized or unbaptized.”
But is it not disorder to set aside what “ orderly
arrangement" requiros? May we not leave to
Methodism what “ orderly arrangement” forbids
or precludes?
Newspaper Impartiality and Openness.
That a paper is open on both sides of a question
does not mean that it is open to everything which
may be written on either side. For example. On
the question of the removal of Mercer University,
the Index and Baptist was open, alike to the
advocates and the opponents of the measure. And
yet there were articles on the subject from both
sides, that we declined to publish—not because of
the side on which they were written, but for rea
sons growing out of the character of the articles
themselves. This remark applies, as well to the
discussion oil “ protracted meetings,” and on “ the
expenses of the Southern Baptist Boards"—in fact,
to all discussions. The paper is not open to every
thing which may be written on the one side or the
other of a controverted question—but it is open
on both sides, if the question is one of general in
terest or of intrinsic importance, and if the arti
cles sent us are of average merit, observe the pro
prieties of Christian debate and do not transcend
our space, either in number or in length.
Our Foreign Mission Work.
As our esteemed brother, Rev. T. B.
Cooper, is about to retire from our agency, I
conclude to ask all ministers and others, in
Georgia and Alabama, who desire the spread
of the gospel among the heathen, to make
endeavor to collect funds on our behalf.
These funds are now specially needed. So
great is our necessity, that we shall be greatly
embarrassed, if more than the usual monthly
receipts do not come in. The present fiscal
year ends in April, and we desire to meet all
our liabilities before the meeting of the Con
vention.
I am happy to say our recently appointed
missionary to Southern Europe is now effi
ciently at work in the city of Rome. He has
associated with him three other brethren £
one an evangelist, and tne other two colpor
teurs. Twenty-five thousand copies of por
tions of the Bible have been distributed. Dr.
Cote is very much encouraged.
Brother Phillips has gone to Africa on an
exploring tour, with reference to the estab
lishment of mission stations, to be occupied
by colored men. We have just appointed a
colored brother to labor among the Bassas.
Brother Yates has returned to his field in
Shanghai, China, and brother Simmons and
his wife are on their way to Canton. Brother
Crawford writes that he has just baptized
three, making fourteen baptized by him this
year.
I think this appeal will not be vain. We
want a thousand voluntary agents who will
collect for us. Brethren, sisters, let us hear
from you. On behalf of the Foreign Mis
sion Board,
Jas. B. Taylor, Cor. Sec.
Ordination.
By request, a Presbytery, consisting of
brethren R. 11. Jackson, 11. C. Hornady, A.
R. Callaway, W. 11. Clark, and R. A. J.
Cumbie, met at the Baptist church of Christ,
at Antioch, Troup county, Ga., on the 28th
January, 1871, for the purpose of ordaining
brother John G. Goss to the gospel ministry,
when the following order was observed:
Rev. R. H. Jackson presiding; W. 11. Clark
interrogated the church ; A. R. Callaway ex
amined the candidate on faith and doctrine;
H. C. Hornady preached the ordination ser
mon; prayer by R. A. J. Cumbie, and impo
sition of hands by the Presbytery. The
charge and presentation of the Bible by A.
R. Callaway, and right hand of fellowship by
Presbytery, led by R. H. Jackson ; bene
diction by candidate. R. A. J. Cumbie.
Fredonia, Ala,, Fib. 1 st, 18T1.
Educational Convention.
In accordance with a resolution of the Ala.
Baptist Convention, its Board of Education
calls an Educational Convention, to be held
in Marion , on the 12lh of April. It is our
desire that Baptist churches, Colleges and
schools, shall send their very best men as
delegates. Our object is to arouse a deeper
and more general interest in behalf of edu
cation, and especially in behalf of Howard
College. Eminent scholars from South Car
olina, Georgia and Alabama, have consented
to give us their best thoughts on assigned or
chosen themes, appropriate to this object.
By order of the Board of Education.
D. W. Gwin, Prest.
ifonigomsry, Ala., Feb. 4<A, 1871.
Acknowledgement, Bishops and Deacons,
Brevity, Excursion.
Just returned from a fatiguing trip up the
country, 1 find among my letters a very in
teresting missive from yourself, which lays
the first claim upon me. .1 had feared I might
trouble you and your readers too often, and
that a name you refer to might be the sigual
for some of them to skip. Your wishes shall
be complied with, by a short installment just
now, the earnest of something more, in due
time.
And that installment may be the commen
dation of a certain passage of Scripture to
the notice of a D.D.,and those agreeing with
him, that the plurality of “ elders in every ”
primitive “church” where the subject is
mentioned, means really the ministers and
deacons , instead of preaching and ruling
elders. It appears to be an exhaustive enu
meration of church officers; and if so, deci
sive of the question in issue betwoen us.
“Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus
Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which
are at Phillippi, with the bishops and dea
cons.” Now, bishops and elders are abso
lutely identified, Acts xx: 17, 18 and 28.
Wherefore, there were a plurality of elders
and a plurality of deacons, so far as the re
cord goes, distinguishable, in those primitive
churches. Q. E. D. We must therefore be
permitted to say of the D.D. who said what
we report above, Homer himself sometimes
nods!
By the way, those brief pnpeis I wrote
some time ago, chiefly upon the eldership of
the churches, were not, 1 have reason to ap
prehend, read by many. This, it is known,
was true of one from whom I expected bet
ter things. I can say, without a blush, that
they had one merit—they were brief, very
brief; and, I think, they had some facts, which
very few have been industrious enough to
pick out of the crowded narrative whence
they were collected. Os the graces of com
position, they had little to boast—were writ
ten in prose, lowly prose, instead of model
ling themselves on Hogarth’s line of beauty
as a certain orator suggested he modelled his
speeches—said to astonished ears—not long
since! Telegrams are not very ornate read
ing, but somewhat useful. Why should not
our sermons and speeches, and newspaper
essays remember that this is an age of tele
graphs and steam, albeit appreciative of the
graceful as well as the utilitarian.
Thus make I my defence, having respect
not so much to fine writing as to Scripture
fact. Our writers and preachers, racy and
eloquent, sometimes seem to me to guess,
and the good-natured people take it all for
truth.
1 believe I will eke out my sheet by say
ing, I have been up the country, by rail, by
road wagon, and on foot; preached a Satur
day sermon to, and exhorted a church of plain
people in the country to realize that the hope
of Alabama Baptists is in the hills; preached
in a railroad village, where there was no
hymn book in the meeting house, but only a
Bible which had neither the chapter I pros
posed to read, nor my text, in it; preached,
same day, in another village, in whose sanc
tuary the atmosphere was electrical with
sympathy and love; saw and sorrowed with
a bereaved family ; slept another night under
the roof of my dear mother, whose soft blue
eyes and benignant brow have beamed upon
her children in the same room, for more than
forty-five years! Not far away, sleeps the
dust of a father, whose holy life and exam
ple are an inheritance to his children, who
would not exchange it for the wealth of In
dia or Peru. Soon the hand that traces these
lines will, nerveless, lose its grasp, and the
gray hairs gathering on the brow, lie also
beneath the sod. But never, O never, while
memory remains, can I forget my father, the
determined hand and heart that held me
“When in the slippery paths of youth,
With heedless step I ran."
E. B. Teague.
Hon. Wui. P. Chilton.
I have just read a brief sketch of the life
of this “great and good man.” He was a
“great and good man,” because he always
aided and advocated every great and good
cause. Although he reached the high position
of a seat upon the Supreme Bench of the
State, and was constantly engaged in the bus
iness of his profession; yet Judge Chilton
always found time for the service of the
Lord’s house—something that a great many
of our brethren cannot do, who are not half
so busy, nor half so great, nor half so good.
They would do well to imitate the pious ex
ample of this illustrious man.
But, my object in writing this, is to tell
you what I once knew Judge Chilton to do.
Now, his liberality was as big as his heart;
and his heart was as big as the world. More
over, he never was afraid to trust Ood. I
was with him once at one of our State Con
ventions, some distance from his home, in
Tuskegee, and saw him give to the cause of
Christ, his last dollar , leaving not a cent to
pay his fare home again. But, no sooner did
the meeting adjourn, than a man who owed
him,(stepped up and paid-an old-debt that.,
brother Chilton never expected to get! No,
sir; Judge Chilton was not afraid to trust
the Lord. J. J. Cloud.
Arkansas News.
Supposing that a few items from the Rome
of the West, will not be unacceptable to th*
readers of the Index and Baptist, 1 will pen
a few sugrestions on the situation, as they oc
cur to me.
The second, or Union Baptist Church, is
rather flourishing just now. They will soon
have completed one of the most beautiful little
houses of worship I ever saw. Much of the
credit of this successful enterprise, is due to
the untiring energies of their devoted pastor,
Elder N. G. Collins. In the midst of troubles
and discouragements,—such as pastors only
know, —he has moved steadily forward, and
will have the house opened on the second
Lord’s day in next month. The services of
our brother Graves, of Memphis, have been
secured for the opening sermon. It is ex
pected that the two churches will unite for the
occasion, and that impressions favorable to
the denomination in the city will be made.
Bro. Collins is an old pastor and church
builder. To finish this house he put in the
proceeds of a small farm that he recently sold-
God will reward his faithfulness.
And this leads me to say a few things about
our interest, the First Baptist Church. The
recent sale of our property, which entirely re
leased us from debt, was a consummation to
which we had looked with peculiar longings.
We believe the property went for much less
than its value. But, still, it was the best
thing the Church could do. It was thought at
the time of the sale, that a reservation had
been made large enough to build another house
for the minister, but, upon reflection, the space
seems so small, that it has been thought bet
ter to buy a lot for this purpose. Our means
are small; and if any of our friends or breth
ren, in Georgia or Alabama, who may see this
communication, should feel their hearts in
clining them to send a few rays of green light
in this direction, as Bro. Chaudoin would say,
we hope “a local habitation and a name” will
be given to such emotions at once. As soon
as w'e get a house for me and save rent, there
is no reason why our church should not be
self sustaining; able to feed and clothe the
pastor’s family. This is what I wish to spe
accomplished. The getting the lot and build
ing the house is the rub.
But, may I not say something about the
city of Little Rock ? There is no question
about its being a place in a very short time.
I predict it will be a larger city than Atlanta
in three years. Time will show the correct
ness of this prophecy. Before the year closes
the iron horse will be running between this
and Fort Smith. About one-third of the
whole distance is now finished, and the grading
is done over another third. The Cairo and
Fulton road is also moving on. Fifteen
months from this time will consummate the
union of the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers
by this line. With these roads completed
who can estimate the commercial and agricul,
tural wealth it will pour into the lap of Little
Rock ? But these things are already regarded
as facts here, partially accounting for the
great increase in the value of real estate. As
it is to be a great centre of influence, in the
not distant future, what efforts should we
not put forth as Baptists to get a firm hold in
the place? “ Catholics” and other Ritualists
are far in advance of us. Our denomination
must take its place in the midst of this bust
ling population. As to health, it is not ex
travagant to say that it is unsurpassed by any
£laoe of the same size in the South or West.
,ast winter we had a few cases of small pox ;
the climate is changeable, and persons predis
posed to breast and like complaints, will find
but little comfort during the winter; but,
taking everything as it is, it is certainly a very
healthy locality. As far as health goes, and
this is a long way with me, 1 would not ex
change this for my native hills in Georgia and
Alabama. More anon, TANARUS, B. Esrr.
Little Reck, Ark., Jan. 27,1971.