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Transverse and Parallel.
My will, dear Lord„from Thine doth run
Too oft a different way;
’Tis hard to s y, ‘'Thy will be done,”
In every darkened day 1
My heart ((rows chill
To see Thy will
Turn all life’s gold to gray.
My will is set to gather ftowent,
Thine blights them in my hand,
Mine reaches for life’s sunny hoars,
Thine leads through shadow land/
And all my days
(Jo on in ways
I cannot understand.
Vet more and more this truth doth shine
From failure and from loss,
The will that runs transverse to Thine
Doth thereby make its cross;
Thine upright will
Cuts straight and still
Through pride, and dream, and dross.
But if in parallel to Thine
My will doth meekly run,
All things in hearen and earth are mine,
My will is crossed by none:
Thou art in me,
And I in Thee—
Thy will—and mine—are done I
Churchman.
The Introductory Sermon,
Preached before the Southern Baptist Convention May
Wth, 1871, in the Third Baptist Church, St. Louts,
Mo., by Rev. Wm. Williams, V. D., of the Southern
Baptist Thsological Seminary, Oreenville, S. 0.
“And Moses said unto the people, Fear not, stand
still, and see the salvation of the Lord which he will
shew to you to-day. And the Lord said unto Moms,
Wherefore coniest thou unto me? Speak unto the chil
dren of Israel that they go forward.”— Exodus xtv :
13, 15.
The circumstances under which these words
were uttered, are quite familiar to every Bi
ble reader. The children of Israel had just
been emancipated from a slavery in Egypt,
of long continuance. This had been effected
by repeated and unmistakable manifestations
of God’s disapprobation of its longer contin
uance, in the plagues sent upon the land. It
is not surprising that it should have required
these repeated and increasingly severe mani
festations to bring Pharaoh to consent to their
emancipation. He had not enslaved them.
This wrosg had been done to them long be
fore, —perhaps a century or two before his
day. fie found them slaves. He never
knew them in any other condition. They
constituted a large and useful part of the
population of his kingdom. They were very
profitable as slaves, and would be very dan
gerous, it was believed, in any locality, as
freedmen. Considerations, therefore, both of
great pecuniary loss on the one hand, and of
serious danger to the kingdom on the other,
by emancipation, would naturally make him
strongly opposed to it. But God’s purposes
are not to be thwarted either by man’s cu-
pidity or fear. When these stand in the way
of His plans, He can move them out of the
way by more sensible and powerful appeals
to them in the opposite direotion. The ter
rific.storm of hail and mingled fire, destroys
ing the cattle and all the grown up crops,
followed by the locusts, darkening the ground
by thjeir very multitude, and eating “ every
herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees
which the hail had left ’’—thus threatening a
national famine; and the thick darkness,
“ even darkness that might be felt,” that
rested upon the land for threedays, filling them
with consternation, followed by the midnight
cry of anguish through all the land, and the
fear that they would “ all be dead men,”
turned cupidity and fear into aotive advocates
pf emancipation. Pharaoh and his people
became eager to let the children of Israel go.
They freely gave them the jewels of gold and
silver, and the raiment which they asked,
glad to furnish them with anything which
would expedite their departure.- Thus pro
vided, by the liberality of the people, with
■whatever wa9 required by their new condi
tion, or necessary for their journey, they take
their triumphant leave of Egypt. From
their original point of departure, a few days’
journey northward; along the border of the
desert and the shore of the Mediterranean,
would have brought them to the promised
land. But God’s ways tflre not our ways. A
people just emancipated from the unfavora
ble influences of slavery, and, consequently,
strangers to feelings of self-reliance and self
respect, and hence incapable of noble achieve
ments, or of rightly using high position and
privilege, must undergo years of preparatory
training, and anew generation must spring up,
that had never known Egypt or slavery, before
they are fit subjects to be invested with dis
tinguished national privileges. After prob
ably three days’ journey, they encamp in
Etham, on the border of the Arabian desert.
Here, the Divine command, most surprising,
no doubt, and incomprehensible, if they un
derstood the situation, was given to them on
the fourth day, to change their route from the
direct course, and to turn southward, along
the western shore of the Red Sea, and encamp
in the plain between the sea and the moun
tainous chain of Attakah. This movement was
reported to Pharaoh, who was, doubtless,
closely watching them by bis spies. He saw
at once that they had committed, apparently,
i a fatal blunder, by placing themselves in a
position from whioh they could not possibly,
by any human means, escape an attacking
foe. Availing himself of the favorable op
portunity thus furnished, and with the pur-
pose eitner of destroying them as dreaded
freed men, or of capturing and reducing them
to slavery again, he pursues after them,
“ with six hundred chosen chariots, and all
the chariots of Egypt, with captains over
every one of them.” “And when Pharaoh
drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up
their eves,” and lo ! to their utter dismay,
the Egyptians were pursuing in their rear.
“And they were sore afraid,” and in view of
the peril that threatened, uttered vehement
regrets that they had'ever left their condition
of sjavery. It is easy for us, my brethren,
to sit in judgment upon them, and to say,
“ Oh, faithless and forgetful children of Israel 1
Had they no confidence ip God’s explicit prom
ise to bring them out of the power of the
Egyptians, and to lead them into the land
of Canaan ? Had they so soon forgotten the
mighty wonders He had already wrought in
their behalf? And was there not, even its/
this extremity, the visible symbol of God’s
presence with them, to guide and to protect?
Faithless and weak-spirited children *of Is
rael, to be thus afraid, and to utter such regrets,
with God’s presence with them, and with His
past wonderful deliverance of them !” But
“ happy is that man that condemneth not
not himself” in thus judging them. True,
they ought not to have been afraid, and to
have such regrets; for their fears
were groundless, and their regrets unmanly.
But to expert them to have acted otherwise,
is to expect of them, under their peculir cir
cumstances, a Christian attainment which is
too seldom reached under the highest ilhi*
mination and the most favorable circumstan
ces. They had every earthly reason to be
sore afraid. Even with every advantage of
position, they could have been no match for
the well-appointed and trained army of the
powerful kingdom of Egypt. They were but.
a confused holt of recently emancipated slaves,
Without self-reliance, without military disci-
j SS.OO A TEAR.!
pline, and without the munitions* of war.
But besides this, they were inextricably “ en
tangled” and hemmed in by their position.
In front and on either side were the deep wa
ters of the sea, and the impassable cliffs ot
the mountains, whilst in their rear was the
large and thoroughly furnished army of Pha
raoh, eager to avenge the extorted deed of
emancipation. To all human appearance,
nothing but unavoidable and wholesale de
struction awaited them. In this crisis of im
minent peril, and high over all the despairing
cries of the panic-stricken multitude, is heard
the order of their matchless chief—faithful
among the faithless — “Stand still and see
thk deliverance of the Lord.” Strange
order, it would seem. How difficult for a
panic-stricken multitude to obey ! And yet,
what else could they do but to stand stilly.
and if delivered at all, wait divine deliver
ance. Some while after the issue of this
order by Moses, comes the voice of their
Divine Leader to him : “ Why criest thou
unto me?” There is no occasion for your
crying unto me. See you not the pillar of
cloud in the advance ? There is no time for
your crying unto me. See you not Phara
oh’s chariots in the rear? “Speak to the
children of Israel that they go forward.”
“ Stand still and wait,” is the first wise and
appropriate order—the only appropriate or
der that human lips could have given, under
the circumstances. Before their obedience of
that, follows the divine order to “go for
ward.” If it must have been difficult to obey
the first, it must have seemed impossible to
obey the second. Yet they did obey. Noble
men, after all! Forward they went, though
apparently to be drowned in the sea; but be*,
fore they could lave their feet in its waters,
the cleft waves parted before them, and safe
on the other side they sang the triumphant
song of deliverance. “ Now, all these things
happened to them as examples, and they were
written for our admonition, upon whom the
ends of the ages are come.” Let us endeav
or this evening, my brethren, to recall some
of their familiar lessons of admonition and
Instruction, and so to etir up our minds “ by
way of remembrance.”
ylt ought not to shake the Christian’s
faith, nor alarm his confidence in God’s gra
cious guidance, that he oonnot see, either at
the time or subsequently, the great purpose
God has in view in. any strange providence
towards him. ft is the privilege and the duty
of the child of God to seek to know the ends
to be accomplished in all God’s dealings with
him—a privilege too little improved, and a
duty too much neglected. God must intend
that His people shall know some of these
ends at least; otherwise the most of His
dealings could not be rightly improved by
them. And the Christian who studies himself,
and studies God’s dealings with him with atl
humble, inquiring mind, will generally be
able, if not at the time, yet afterward, to un-.
derstand the teachings of providence in his
own case, and to grow wiser and Detter by
them. Yet it may happen, and not unfres
quentlv, that God’s way with him, is a mys
terious way. Neither at the time, nor sub
sequently, can he see its design. Some im
mediate ends accomplished by it he may see,
but these are not sufficient to explain it, and
sometimes, in fact, only the more becloud it.
Its chief purpose was not immediate, but
remote; and so remote that the connection
between the providence and the design is
veiled from human sight. He reaps in after
time the accomplishment of the merciful de
sign, yet never knows, in this world, to what
sore, perplexing providence he is indebted for
it. He can know this only in the other world.
Very probably, among the discoveries that
will first surprise and transport the Christian
upon his immediate entrance into the other
world, not the least will be the discovery,
upon a retrospect of all his checkered life
here, of the real connection between God’s
providences and their ultimate designs, filling
him with adoring gratitude, and enabling him
joyously to say, from actual sight, what now
he can only tremblingly say from faith—
“ Just and true are all Thy ways, Thou King
of jaints.” The design of that change of
route, so incomprehensible, at the time, to
the children of Israel, and whioh placed them
in such imminent peril, is not seen merely
nor mainly in its immediate results—the pun
ishment of Pharaoh and the strengthening
of their confidence in Jehovah. Long years
afterward, and even when other generations
had arisen, they reaped, in many an easy
victory over opposing foes, its gracious re
sults. “ I know,” said Rahab to the explorers,
that the Lord hath given you the land, and
“ that your terror is fallen upon us, and that
all the inhabitants of the land faint because
of you. For'we have heard how the Lord
dried up the water of the Red Sea for you
when you came out of Egypt.” In the eyes
of the neighboring nations it was their inau
guration as a nation whose God is the Lord,
and whose presence was leading them and
fighting for them.
11. Those providenoes which seem at the
time to be most adverse to God’s people, and
to His own cause, will yet ultimately issue
in the highest and most far-reaching good to
both. Many such providences opcpr. The
of auction is sometimes laid upon the
devoted servant of God in the very midst of
his greatest usefulness, and puts an end to all
his active labors. The ship that is bearing
“ a chosen vessel ” to preach the gospel in
the metropolis of the greatest empire of the
world, Is driven by a “ tempestuous wind,”
and “ broken with the violence of the waves.”
Another ship, bearing another “ chosen ves*.
sel,” may go down in mid-oeean, and the
devoted missionary find a resting place be
neath its waters, instead of a field of labor
among the heathen whom he had given up all
to save. A whole people, in the providence
of God, are brought from wealth to poverty,
discouraged and crippled in all their efforts,
and their best laid plans of usefulness almost
brought to nought, at the very time when
success and wider usefulness were opening
before them. “All these things are aggingt
me,” said the desponding, despairing 4 acob.
so they could not but seem to his dim,
imperfect view. Yet they were laden with
mercy to him, and far-reaching blessings to
his posterity. “ Because there were no graves
in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in
the wilderness?” Yet, upon the other side,
and in a wide and open place they raised the
shout of deliverance, and three hundred years
afterward did their enemies say, “ Woe unto
us, for who shall deliver us out of the hand
of these mighty Gods that smote the Egyp
tians.” Now, all things were written for our
admonition. And shall we not, once for all,
receive the admonition? Shall we, “upon
whom the ends of the ages have come,” be
always learning, over and over again, the
familiar truth that we can see providence only
in small sections? That the way, therefore,
which is dark and crooked to us, is yet redly
light and straight? That the darkness and
crookedness are not in the way, but only in
our limited vision? Ah! weak and unwor
thy faith, if it.deserve the name of faith at
all, that trusts God in the light, but doubts
Him io the dark. God’s providence never
moves backward, however, it may sometimes
so seem to us. It spans ages, and looks far
beyond the narrow horizon of our view, and
the short limit of our lives, to generations
yet unborn—reaching its own glorious pur
FRANKLIN PRINTING HOUSE, ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY JUNE 8, 1871.
poses by ways that often seem to us to lead
in the opposite direction.
IIL Another important truth suggested by
the text, is, that R Christian is sometimes, in
the providence of God, so situated that all he
can do is to do nothing. He is not permit
ted to contribute anything by active, aggress
ive effort, to the onward movement of Chris
tianity. The great Captain of his salvation
has assigned him his position as a soldier of
the cross, with the order to “ stand still.”
At one of the great battles of recent times,
the commander-in chief placed a portion of
his then at a certain position on the field, with
the simple order to stand there. Wave after
wave of the shock of battle rolled against the
faithful band as there they stood, doing noth
ing but standing there. When their ranks
had become fearfully thinned, a rider in rapid
haste rushed into the presence of the com
mander, to tell him that entire destruction
awaited them if they stood there any longer.
“ Tell them to stand there,” was the relent
less order. “ You’ll find us there/' was the
heroic reply. Look at'that Christian whom
sore afflictions have laid aside from, or never
permitted to engage in, the blessed activities
of Christian work. He can do nothing but
stand still and patiently endure. His ardent
soul pants to be actively engaged as others
are, or as he himself once was. Starid still,
says God. And as the highest excellence of
a soldier upon the field of battle, is not to be
seen in obeying the command to “go for
ward,” bnt in simply standing still in his
place and seeing victory led by others—so
the highest Christian excellence is not to be
seen in the activities, even the perilous activ
ities, of Christian work. Go into that hum
ble dwelling, and see that widowed mother
patiently toiling for her little ones, with a
cheerful spirit, amid poverty and want, con
tentedly struggling against the pressure of
difficulties that seem about to ovet whelm,
eating her scanty meal with a quiet, thankful
heart that envies not the rich, the proud, or
the gay; or go into that dirty hovel and see
that neglected one enduring protracted suffer
ing with a patient, uncomplaining spirit that
says, “Oh, my Father, not my will, but
.Thine be done ;” and you have nobier exhi
bitions of Christian excellence and of high
Christian heroism, than ever blazed around
the martyr’s stake. God give us grace, not
not only to obey the order to go forward, but
what is often far more difficult, to obey the
order to stand still.
IV. But an important truth, more directly
contained in the text, is, that the Christian’s
way is sometimes so hedged by the provi
dence of God, that he knows not what to do,
nor which way to turn. In whatever direc
tion be looks to find the path of duty, diffi
culties, and apparently insurmountable ob
stacles, present themselves. To sr forward
seems impossible, and to go backward is to
surrender. What shall he do? Indulge in
discouraging complaints and peevish fault
finding ? Not so do we read the lesson of
the text. Let him stand still and wait the
deliverance of the Lord. Let him closely
watch the indications of Providence, seeking
wisdom to interpret them aright, that he may
ascertain the path of duty, and then let him
go forward in it, whatever may seem to be
the difficulties and discouragements in the
way. These will disappear as he advances.
Either they will be found to be imaginary,
which is frequently the cas'e, or if real, they
will be moved out of the way in due time.
*‘The slothful man saittf there is a lion with
out,” but there is no lion except in his own
groundless apprehension. “ Who shall roll
us away the stone from the door of the sep
ulchre ?” said the disconsolate women on love’s
sad errand. But when they reached the &ep
ulchre, there was no stone to be rolled away.
The difficulty had already been removed. We
must, however, distinguish here, between the
embarrassments and perplexities into which
our self-sufficiency has brought us, and those
into which the providence of God has brought
us. Providence does not do everything that
is done in the world. It sometimes permits
us to have our own way, and to do some
things in our own way, and they are always
bunglingly done to our discomfiture. When
we would direct our way, in reliance upon
the resources of worldly wisdom apd carnal
polioy, to the neglect of earnest prayer for
divine guidance, and in forgetfulness of our.
dependence, and then find ourselves, as sure
ly we will, “entangled” in difficulties, we
have no warrant to “ stand still and see the
deliverance of the Lord.” Our duty, then,
is, with all promptness, to retrace our steps,
and to place ourselves in line with the pillar
of cloud and of fire. But when the guidance
of that pillar has put us into difficulties, it
will surely lead us out, if we will prayerfully
watch its indications, and faithfully follow
them, when ascertained,however discouraging
the prospect may be. The only practical
difficulty in such case, is, the being sure, on
the one hand, that it is the pillar, and not our
mismanagement and folly, under the garb of
human policy and wisdom, that has “ entan
gled ” us, and on the other, that the indica
tions of Providence point to this or that path
of duty under the circumstances. Y et thi s>
after all, is no great difficulty, if we apply to
the resource which the Apostle James has
taught us will be effectual in just such a case
—“ If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask
of God, and it shall be given him.” Os all
neglected duties, perhaps none is more neg
lected by the people of God, than a watchful
observation of His providence, and a prayer
ful inquiry concerning its indications.
V. “ Speak to the children of Israel that
they go forward.” What! forward into still
greater difficulties? Yes,forward in the same
direction that had led them into their difficul
ties, and which, it seemed, would lead them
into greater. Whenever the discharge of
what seems to be- clearly indicated duty, or
the maintenance of enlightened convictions,
brings us into trials and peril, the trying aud
perilous consequence does not, of itself, furn
ish any evidence of the iqpqrreetness of our
course, or any reason to hesitate' in its main
tenance. Yet how apt we are to fall into this
very mistake. What, if the children of Is
rael had said, “ Surely we have made a mis
take in following the pillar; it is an erring
guide,” and had hesitated to go on? “For
ward,” said God. So multifarious and pow
erful are Satan’s resources, so lamentably
slow is the progress of religious toleration,
not to say religious liberty, and so fierce and
vindictive is sometimes the spirit of religious
partyism, that the path of duty may some
times lead through circumstances of great
trouble and trial. The difficulties in the way
may seem insurmountable. The enemies
that hover on our path may be many and
strong. It may sometimes happen that the
opposition encountered is most painful to
meet. The. father may be divided against the
son and the son against the father; the moth
er against the daughter, and the daughter
against the mother; and a man’s foes may be
of hie own household. But between obedi
ence to duty and personal comfort or safety,
there can be no choice to the follower of
Jesus. “Forward,” is the word of com
mand ; and he who hesitates is unfaithful to
his duty, and he who refuses is unfit for the
kingdom of heaven.
The subject and the occasion render not
inappropriate some brief reference to the
I origin and progress of our Convention. The
time has not Come to write its history. Only
twenty-six years have elapsed since its organ
ization,’and almost all the-pt&mioent actors
in its earliest operations, are still with us, in
God’s kind providence. Yet we may profit
ably, perhaps, briefly reviewvaome facts of its
history.
The Southern Baptist Convention was or
ganized in the city of Augusts, Georgia, in
the month of May, 1845. IT originated in a
withdrawal of the Southern churches from
union and cooperation with “the General
Convention of the Baptist Denomination in
the United States,” popularlf known as the
Triennial Convention. Tnis body was organ
ized in Philadelphia, May 21, 1814. It had
at first but one object,—the prosecution of
Foreign Missions. This work was confided
to a Board of Commissioners styled, “ The
Baptist Board of Foreign Missions in the
United States,” and located, finally, at Bos
ton. At the first Triennial session in 1817,
the one object of the Convention was enlarged
so as to embrace Domestic Missions, both ob
jects being entrusted to the one Board, until
an experience of several yearssbowed that it
was wiser to confine the labors of thb Board
to the one object of Foreign Do
mestic Missions being withdrawn from the
Convention and its Board, itrTsro,and thgire
being a growing desire and demand for be
nevolent effort in this direction —a natural
result of the Foreign Mission work—“ the
American Baptist Home Mission Society
was organized in Philadelphia in 1832. If it
seem desirable to any, on the Boore of econ
omy, to merge our Foreign and Domestic
Boards into one, let us profit the experi
ence of our brethren in past years,-and hesi-
tate to sacrifice efficiency to a mistaken econ
omy.
The Constitution of the Trierlnial Conven
tion, as well as the history of its proceedings
from the beginning, conferred on all the mem
bers of the Baptist denomination in good
standing, whether at the North or the South,
eligibility to all appointments emanating from
the Convention or the Board. Unmistakable
indications, however, not necessary nor profit
able to speak of particularly, prompted the
Alabama Baptist State Convention, in 1844,
to adopt a preamble and resolftions to be
transmitted to the Board of FortignJMissions
of the Triennial Convention, the second of
the resolutions being as follows » “ That our
duty at this crisis requires us to demand from
the proper authorities in all thdse bodies to
whose funds we have contribulK<Vor with
whom we have in any way been connected,
the distinct, explicit avowal tfyat‘ slaveholders
are eligible, and entitled, equally with non
slaveholders, to all the privileges and immu
nities of their several unions; and especially
to receive any agency, mission <ir other ap
pointment which may run within s he scope of
their operations or duties.” TV this the
Board, in the course of their reply, frankly
and explicitly said: “If any one should offer
himself as a missionary, having slaves, and
should insist on regaining them ss his prop
erty, we could not appoint him.""One thing
is certain; we can never be a p'trty to any
ar-augenr it which would imply approbation
of slavery.'® 1 When this reply was made
known, the Board of the Va. Foreign Mission
Society addressed a circular to tne Baptist
churches of Virginia, communicah> l g this de
cision of the Board of the TrientJifct Conven-
tion, and containing, among otherwa resolu
tion, “ th£< *his
the present exigency, it is important that
those brethren who are aggrieved by the
recent decision of the Board in Boston, should
hold a Convention, to confer on the be9t
means of promoting the Foreign Mission
cause, and other interests of the Baptist de
nomination in the South;” and suggesting
Augusta, Ga., as a suitable place for holditig
such Convention, and Thursday before the
second Lord’s day in May, 1845, as a suitable
time. Both at the North and the South a
separation seemed inevitable. At the North,
it was desired by many, regretted by a few,
and expected by all. Among the Northern
churches, so prevalent was becoming the op
position to Christian fellowship and coopera
tion with Southern churches, that there would
have been a disastrous rupture among them
selves, if a separation of the Southern
churches had not taken place, even without
its being forced upon them by the infringe
ment of their rights and the denial of their
moral equality. Already, in 1843, there had
been organized in Boston, a Fiee Mission So
ciety in opposition to the Board of the Tri
ennial Convention, and upon the expressed
basts of non-co&peration with Southern church
es. The Society was steadily gaining favor,
and seriously crippling the resources, if not
endangering the very existence of the Board
of the Convention, as one that affiliated with
Southern Christians. If there must be a rup
ture, it was, very naturally, preferred by the
North, that it should be between the North
and the South, and not between themselves.
The New York Baptist Register, for April 6,
1845, said: “What, then, but an increased
division at the North can be looked for by
further efforts to perpetuate the union ? A
serious rupture in the North is seemingly in
evitable, if it be longer insisted on, and com
promises and accommodations are arranged
to effect it. . . . Would it not be seemingly
far better that if there be a division, it take
place between the North and the South?
Few of us, seriously considering the matter,
even with strong sympathy for the South, can
come to any other decision. For ourselves,
we deplore the necessity of the division; but
when things reach such a crisis as.they appear
to have done, deplore it as we may, there is
no prospect of peace or comfort in the con
tinuance, and weakness rather than wisdom
would yield to efforts to effect it. Is there
any prospect of making our annual meetings
any other than places of excitement ar.d de
bate, if the union should longer be maintained ?
We certainly cannot see a glram of hope,
nor do we believe any one else can. If so,
why is it not best that our Southern brethren
take their position on one side of the line,
and we take ours on the other, and engage its
the various departments of benevolent effort
with renewed zeal and increased liberality ?
If this should he done, why may we not ex
pect that both the North and the South will
do much more than they have ever done be
fore But if the subject of slavery were
entirely out of the way, we are strongly in
clined to the opinion that such division would
be desirable on account of the immense ex
tent of our country. The distance for dele-
gates to travel is exceedingly burdensome
and expensive; and the Executive Boards
being located far to the North, leaves the
South almost without a sense of responsibili
ty, and tends to keep them in wetate of com
parative indifference and inaction. Whereas,
if they possessed a separate and distinct organ
ization of the great interests within their own
precincts, it would break up their leaning so
much on the North as they have done, call
out their resources and energies, make them
better acquainted with their own ability, and
train them to independence and efficiency l”
These latter were wise words then, and they
are wiser words now.
Before the proposed Convention in Augus
ta could meet to deliberate upen any course
fur the future, a separation had virtually been
made by the Home Mission Society, ftt its
meeting in Providenoe, April, 1845. At
that meeting Dr. Maginnis, of New York, pro
posed the following preamble and resolu
tions: “ Whereas, The American Baptist
Home Mission Society is composed of con
tributors residing in slaveholding and non
slaveholding Sitates; and whereas , the Con
stitution recognizes no distinction among the
members of the Society as to eligibility to all
the offices and appointments in the gift, both
of the Society and of the Board 1 ; and where
as, it has been found that the basis on which
the Society was organized is one upon which
all the members and friends of the Society
are not now willing to act; therefore
1. Resolved, That in oor opinion it is ex
pedient that the members now forming the
Society, should hereafter act in separate or
ganizations at the South and at the North, in
promoting the objects which were originally
contemplated by the Society.
2. Resolved, That a committee be appoint
ed to report a plan by which theotject contem
plated in the preceding resolution may be ac
complished in the best way,.and at the earliest
period of time, consistent with the preserva
tion 6f the constitutional righ ts of all the mem
bers, and with the least possible interruption
of the missionary work of the Society.’’
This was adopted by a considerable ma
jority, and in puijusnce of the second resolu
tion a committee was appointed which report
ed that “as the existing Society was planted
in the North, has its Executive Board, and
there received a Charterof Incorporation which
it seems desirable to preserve, and as a sepa
ration seems to many minds inevitable, owing
to the strong views of churches and indi
viduals against the appointment of slave
holders to serve the Society, and as such views
prevail principally at the North,” it was there
fore recommended “that the existing organiza
tion be retained by the Northern and other
churches which may be willing to act together
upon the basis of restriction against tbe ap
pointment of slaveholders.” Tttis was adopt
ed by an almost Ainanimous vote. Such, then,
is the basis of the Home Mission Society. Os
course, therefore, only those can consistently
work with it and under its appointment, who
recognize the scriptural propriety of such a
restriction.
The Board of the Triennial Convention hav
ing, by if® decision, cut off Southern ministers
from the privilege of preaching the gospel to
the heathen by their appointment, if any should
at any time feel called to do so, and the Home
Mission Society having declared a separation
from Southern Churches expedient, and hav
ing made arrangements to effect it upon the
avowed ground of an unwillingness to work
together with them upon terms of Christian
equality, it Was seen that there was but one
course for the Southern Churches to pursue, if
Southern Christians were to have the privilege
of preaching the gospel to the heathen abroad
and to the destitute at home. However pain
ful a separation might be, and whatever might
be its responsibility, it was felt that it rested
not upon them. They were not making the
separation. It wa9 forced upon them, and the
deed and the responsibility rested upon others.
Dr. Wayland, in a letter to Dr. Jeter, said:
“You will separate, ot course; I contd notask
otherwise. Your rights have been infringed.
1 will take the liberty of offering one or two
suggestions. We have shown how Christians
ought not to act; it remains for you to show
us how they ought to act. Put away all vio
lence, act with dignity and firmness, and the
j»orld.wiM- approve ypur coarse ” ; ~
At the call of the Board of Managers of the
Virginia Baptist Foreign Mission Society,
there assembled in Augusta, May 8, 1845,
three hundred and ten delegates from the
States of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana,
Kentucky, and the District of Columbia. Ow
ing to the short notice of the meeting of the
Convention, other States were reported only
by letter. Rev. Wm. B. Johnson, D.D., was
chosen President. It was resolved, “that a
committee o? two from each State represented
in this meeting be appointed to prepare and
report a preamble and resolution for the ac
tion of the Convention.” The resolution re
ported by that committee is as follows :
“Resolved, That for peace and harmony,
and in order to accomplish the greatest amount
of good, and for the maintenance of those
scriptural principles, on which the General
Missionary Convention of the Baptist denom
ination of the United States was originally
formed, it is proper that this Convention at
once proceed to organize a Society for the
propagation of the gospel.”
This was unanimously adopted, and the
same committee, with some additions, was
appointed to prepare a Constitution. The
committee reported a Constitution, which,
after some amendments, was adopted unan
imously. In the Address of the Convention
“to the brethren in the United States; to the
congregations connected with the respective
churches; and to all candid men,” it is said—
“ The Constitution we adopt is precisely that
of the original union ; that in connection with
which, throughout his missionary life, Adoni
ram Judson has lived, and under which Ann
Judson and Boardman have died. We recede
from it no single step. * * * We use
the very terms, as we uphold the true spirit
and great object of the General Convention of
the Baptist denomination of the United
States.” It would seem, then, from the reso
lution above quoted, and from this extract
from the Address of the Convention, that the
Southern Baptist Convention, formed upon
the Constitution of the Triennial Convention,
and “for the maintenance of those scriptural
principles” on which it “was originally form
ed,” is the real and proper successor and con
tinuator of that body, which, at a special meet
ing held in New York, November 19, 1845,
was “dissolved,” and the American Baptist
Missionary Union, with an entirely new Con
stitution and a different basis of membership,
organized in its stead.
At the meeting in Augusta, a Board of For
eign Missions was appointed, to be located in
Richmond, Va., and one for Domestic Mis
sions, to be located in Marion, Ala. Before
the adjournment of the Convention, it was re-!
solved, “that with profound gratitude to the
Great Head of the Church, this Convention
recognizes the harmonious and unanimous ac
tion to which it has arrived, and that we re-*
gard the exhibition of the Christian spirit
which has governed its deliberations as a
pledge of the divine blessing in the origin and
prosecution of this organization.
The formation of a Convention by the South
ern churches, holding its meetings within their
bounds, with Boards for Foreign and Domes
tic Missions located within their midst, had
the effect, as was anticipated by the Baptist
Register, to quicken their sense of responsi
bility, and to develop their resources and eo*
ergies to an extent which had not been done,
and probably could not have been done, by a
Convention generally meeting in a distant sec
tion of the country, and by a Board located
very far away from them. This is seen by a
comparison of the contributions of thechurches
to Domestic Missions for the first thirteen
years of the Southern Baptist Convention with
their contributions to the same cause for the ]
thirteen years of their connection with the
American Baptist Home Mission Society,
The total sum contributed "by them to this
Society from 183*2 to 1845, M is shown in the
report of our Domestic Mission Board for
4859, was $38,656 in round numbers. The
total sum contributed by them to the Board
in Marion, from 1846 to 1859, was, in round
numbers, $204,715, besid|s contributions to
Indian Missions of $01,614, making a total of
$266,356, against $38,656. As-examples of
progress in individual States, the contributions
of Virginia from 1832 to 1845, were $9,182.
The contributions of the same State from
1846 to 1859, were $40,474- The contribu
tions of Georgia from 1832 to 1845, were
$9,529; from 1846 to 1859, $42,4'61. The
contributions of Alabama from 1832 to 1845
were $493 ; from 1846 to 1859, $44,259. The
meao3 are not at hand to make a similar com
parison with reference to Foreign Missions;
but it is probable that the progress was still
greater in these Missions, for our ..churches
have always contributed more liberally to
this cause. Comparing the contributions of
the last six years with {hose of the same pe
riod immediately preceding the war, the re*
suit shows that from 1855 to 1861 the contri
butions to Domestic Missions were, evenly
stated, $123,329; and from 1865 tq 1871,
they were $152,302. This statement was not
intended to show, in either period, the contri
butions of the churches in full; those to In
dian Missions, to Bible distribution, to'the
Sunday-School Board, and to local societies
hieing excluded, that\he comparison may be
made with reference to Domostiu Missions
proper, the means being more readily at band
to make the comparison in that form. Com
paring the contributions to Foreign Missions
during the same two periods, it appears that
from 1855 to 1861, the contributions evenly,
stated, were $201,030, and from 1865 to 1871,
$107,847. (The larger amount to Domestic
than to Foreign Missions during the last six
years Is accounted for by the increased de
mand for work in the home department, ow
ing to well understood circumstances —the
Foreign Board, consequently, not pressing its
work.) It is quite possible that these figures
may not be precisely accurate, but they are
very nearly so, and sufficiently so for a just
comparison. The total sum in both depart
ments, for the last six years, is $260,149,
against $324,359 for the six years from 1855
ty 1861. This seems to be a great falling off.
But is it more, nay, is it as much as might
reasonably have been expected when w£ re
member that the strength of our Southern
churches is found, not in the towns and oities,
but in the oduntry, and that the embarrass
ments arising from 9udden emancipation and
a consequently disorganized labor system,
have fallen specially hard upon that portion of
our people, if not in the actually greater dim
inution of their ability to contribute than has
befallen any other portion, yet certainly in
greater perplexity and confusion, very natu
rally diverting, for the time, their attention
and interest from the object of our Conven
tion. Is it not fair to sAy that, making due
allowance for our circumstances, we have
really done more, relatively, for the last six
years than previously ? The annual reports
of our Boards are showing a steady progress ;
and as our people learn to adjust themselves,
with equanimity, to the new position—which
they are doing as rapidly as amazing misrule
and plunder will permit—and as they rise
from the pressure that is upon them, may we
not fairly expect that, in no very distant years,
more will bp done by them than has ever yet
been doue for % the spread ’of the gospel and
the enterprises both of moral and men
tal culture which should enlist a Christian’s
prauers and We have no real
ground for discouragement, but much fjr en
couragement and thankfulness. In the 750,-
000 Southern Baptists, excluding colored, we
have a people liberal-minded and dispoSed to
work, whenever the pastors througKout the
land really awaken their attention to Zion's
wants and to the world’s moral necessities.
With these thousands of Christians there is
yet weaith enough to overflow the treasury of
the Lord, when we shall have learned how to
call it forth. At home, we have a wide terri
tory greatly needing and gladly receiving
missionary and Sunday school work, whilst
abroad, not only heathen lands, but the old
countries of Europe, even Spain and Italy, the
very centres of papal power and darkness, are
offering inviting fields to our Foreign Board.
True, indeed, we have labored, and do yet
labor, under great difficulties. But there i9
no Red Sea before us. And if there were,
with the Red Sea before them, God said to
Israel, “Go forward .” Alas! for the faith
that shrinks before difficulties, or the manli
liness that cowers before obstacles and site
down to repine, or is willing to lean on the
strong arm of another at the sacrifice of its
own independence and energies. In firm
reliance upon Israel’s God, let us sustain our
Convention by giving to each one of its Boards
a hearty and undivided support. We are
not able to divide our support. Our own or
ganizations, if they are to be maintained
with an efficiency worth maintaining at all,
require our entire and exclusive sympathy
and assistance. Only our own organizations
can enlist, to any considerable extent, the
co-operation and energies of the mass of our
people. A divided sympathy and support
will only, therefore, cause our Convention to
languish; will bring discord into our own
counsels, paralyze our own resources, and in
jure iu the end the Lord’s work, without ac
complishing, probably, the end which it may
have had in view. The blessing of God has
rested upon our labors in the past, and we
may confidently expect it to rest upon them
in the future, if we be true to Him and to
ourselves.
Beacons.
A reputable member of a Baptist ohurch held
a responsible position in an extensive busi
ness concern. His wife was a zealous and ar
dent woman, and prayed in the social meetings
with fervor and devotion. The piety of both
was unquestioned. In the eourse of time it
began to be whispered about that Ac occasion
ally ‘ifcipped the elbow.” In a few years,
through intemperance, he lost his situation.
Ere long his house and furniture were sold t-o
pay his debts. Delirium tremens seized him
and he died. During the husband’s sickness,
the wife was constantly in liquor, and at the
time of his decease, she was an inmate of the
Asylum for the Insane.
The pastor of a large church in the largest
city in our country contracted the habit of oc
casional drinking. He soon became occa
sionally intoxicated. Ministerial brethren re*
I rnonstrated with him, and urged him to break
I the chains which were upon him. He de
clared he could not do it even if he lost his
soul. In the midst of his years he died from
disease superinduced by-intoxicating liquor.
Thousands of similar cases might "be found,
if search were made. B. W. I.
.'»■ 1 '.in'—. I '..11/ I.
Thb of Catechization.— During a
discussion of the subject of catechization at a
recent conference meeting in Virginia, Rev. 8.
Schaeffer, gave the following testimony to the
blessed results of catechization : “I thank God
for the blessings whioh he has conferred upon
me through its use. 1 was not inclined to pay
the greatest regard to religion when very
young, but when my eider brothers and sis
ters attended the catechetical classes of our
paator, and 1 saw the tears of my pious mother
whenl stayed away, I could no longer remain
unconcerned. I attended the classes, and Got i
blessed the instruction and prayer there of
fered to the conversion of my soul. Should
11 not, therefore, believe in it V
| $3.00 A YEAR. [
5/f ,, God’s Love q '
It is written, upon your dsrk cloud, it
breathes from the . lips of your'bleeding
wounds, it is reflected in every fragment of
your ruined treasure, it is pencilled upon every
leaf of your blighted flower. Adversity may
have impoverished you, calamity may have
orushed you, sickness may have laid you low,
but “God is love!” Let thy soul' calmly,
submissively relit in God. flow sweet the
music which then Will breathe from thy lips
ia the midnight of grief!
And who can bring you into this position ?
The Holy Spirit alone can. It is his office to
lead you to Jesus, to reveal to you Jesus, to
exhibit to your eye the cross of Jesus, to pour
into your hcjart the grace and love and sym
pathy of Jesus, to bend your will and bow
your heart-to the government of Jesus, an!
thus bring you into the condition of one whose
will in ail things is completely merged in
God’s. “Ask mod receive.”-—Sou. Presb.
Lutheran Testimony.
An eminent Lutheran divine in Germany,
wrote to a niece who was troubled on the
matter of baptism, and the letter was oom
municated to the. Religious Herald by her
brother-inlaw: * ’
“They,” the Baptists, “do not strive fbr
anything new whatever; but they only desire to
reinstate the purity of the ancient Church.
Therefore, they demand before baptism that
faith whioh has been awakened through the
preaohing of the gospel, and this faith is not
created through the sacrament, but is by it
proved and confirmed. They reject infant
baptism, but not the baptism of children of
the age at which we confirm them (14 years.)
They agree in this with all the harbingers of
the Reformation : Peter Bruis, Wald us, Wick
liffe, and even Hues. Even Luther was at
first inclined to reject infant baptism, but he
was deterred by the cruelties of the Anabap
tists, ( Wiedertaeufer.). He well felt the
difficulty of justifying infant baptism, which
becomes evident from a perusal of his * Large
Catechism.* In the ‘Small Catechism’ he
does not speak at all of infant baptism, but
gives the true answer to question No. 2.
What good does baptism do 1 ‘lt marks for
giveness of sins, saves from death and the
devil and gives salvation to all who believe,
as written in the Word and promise of God.’
The same in question No. 3. Melancthon
was still more unsteady at first. The most
celebrated dogmatical professor of our times,
Julius, Muller, of Halle, says: * When the or
thodox, or rather,hyperorthodox Lutheran dog
matics try to prove-a faith of sucklings, in or
der to justify infant baptism, they do something
about which we can positively entertain no
serious thoughts.’ All the passages cited to
prove infant baptism, do not treat of the
same; some even disprove it. (1 leave out
the passages qnoted here, and singly dis
proved.) For this reason'do all honest, and
soholarly searchers after truth acanowl
edge that the Church had no trace of infant
baptism for the first 150 years, but that it
was a later introduction; that after about
200 years the celebrated Bishop Tertullian
preached against the innovation, at Carthage,
with great zeal; that Augustine is the first
to defend the same, about 400; and that it
became common through the punishments in
flicted upon the rejecters of the doctrine by
Jastiniah. Julius Muller, therefore, says
/that those who reject it- are not heterodox.
iThe same is said by Sohleiermacher,
der and Twestin.” •
The Diamond and Man.
The diamond, though exceeding in value -
more than a hundred thousand times its mass
of gold, the most cherished treasure of kings
and the mo9t brilliant ornament of their
crown, is of all precious stones “ the meanest
m its elements, the weakest in its structure,
and the most perishable in its nature; a lump
of coal that heat reduces to a cinder and dissi
pates into that insalubrious gas, which as
cends from the most putrid marsh;” its na
tive bed is among rough valleys, barren rocks,
and desolate regions. He who can take suoh
elements, so valueless and perishable in them
selves, and form them into a brilliant so daz
zling, so precious and so enduring, can take
such elements as those found in the nature of
fallen man, an offcast in this world of pollu
tion, and form them into a gem whioh shall
be the brightest ornament of heaven, and a
peculiar treasure of the King of kings, set in
the very front of His crown, and worn on His
heart. —Burr owes' Song of Solomon.
WHOLE NO. 2543.
What la a Gentleman l
In the course of an address to the Leeds
Young Men’s Christian Association, delivered
lately by the Bishop of Manchester, his lord
ship said: “ Some people think a gentleman
means a man of independent fortune —a uian
who has his clothes made in the height of
fashion by the most expensive tailor, a man
who keeps a large establishment, a man who
fares sumptuously every day, a mati who need
not work hard for his daily bread. None of
these things make a gentleman —not one of
them. ' Nor all of them together. I have
known, when I had charge of country parish
es, and when I was brought closer into con
tact with working men than, from my changed
position, lam brought now—l have known
men of the roughest exterior, who had been
accustomed all their lives to follow the plough
and to look after horses, as thorough gentle
men in heart as any nobleman that ever wore
a ducal coronet. I mean I have .known them
as unselfish, I have known them as truthful, I
have known them ns tender, I have known
them as kind, I have known them as sympa
thizing; and all these qualities go to make
what I understand by,the term * a gentleman.
It is a noble privilege which has been sadly
prostituted, joSd what I want to tell you is,
that the ’humblest man in Leeds, who has the
lowest wort: in life to do, may yet, if his
heart be tender, and pure, and true, be, in the
’ntoat emphatic sense of the word, a gentle
man.”
An Honorable Aot.—A friend of mine,
not himself a professed Christian, related to
me the following: A gentleman in one of our
seaport towns deals largely m fish. He is a
prominent member of one of the Baptist
churches in the town, and a liberal contribu
tor to the cause. A few weeks since he went
round to the several fishing firms to buy
mackerel. He bought of the first firm he
called on at a stipulated price, but in pur
chasing of the other firms he was obliged to
pay more. Calling afterwards on the firm of
which he first purchased, for theirbill, he hand
ed it back, saying: “You may add fifty cents
per barrel to the amount; I paid that to the
other firms, end I will pay the same to you.
He was not legally bound to do this. Per
haps he was not morally bound to do it.
Yet who doubts that he is happier for having
done it? And besides, may not that single
act do more to commend the religion he pro
fesses than would the most eloquent and ler
vent exhortation T
Novels. —A Christian lady, who died not
Hong since, relinquished the habit of nove
reading and said, “it is the sin which kee t »
the soul out of heaven, wastes the time, ft if*
ters the intellect.” This voice from the bor
ders of eternity should be heeded by Christ
liana of aH ages.