Newspaper Page Text
The Christian Index.
THE SOUTH-WESTERET BAPTIST, THEE dHURnSTI-A-TST
of Alabama. of Tennessee.
VOL. SB—SO. 46.
Table of Content*.
First Page.—Alabama Depariment: Record of
State Events ; General Denominational News;
Baptist News and Notes ; Spirit of the Relig
ious Press ; The Mission Field. Reply to Rev.
S. Boykin—Rev, J. H. Campbell, D.D.
Second’ Page. —Our Correspondents : Queries
by R. T. Hanks—W. H. J.; “Hold, Enough !"
—S. Bovkin ; From the Indian Territory—J. S.
Murrow": Review of Discussion between Re
ligious Herald and Mississippi Record , on Pul
pit Affiliation—W. H. J.; The Graves of Mer
cer and Sanders —M. B. Wharton; Our Educat
ed Colored People—H. W. Risiey ; “Act A
Novice”—B. Ware. ... ?'
Third Page.— State and Domestic Missions—
Report of Committee on State and Domestic
Missions, New Sunbury Association. Ch 1-
dren’s Corner : The Master of the House-
Poetry : Christmas Gifts ; Plain Talk to A
Girl ;‘New Advertisements.
Fourth Page.— Editorial : Dr. J. S. Lawton at
the South Carolina Convention ; Scotch Bap
tistf. The Outlook ; Orthodox Books—Rev.
D. E. Butler ; The Christian Index -Rev. S.
G Hillyer D.D.: Home Board. Marion. Ala
bama-Rev. D. E. Butler ; Southwestern (Col
ored) Baptist Association. South Carohna
State Convention—Dr J. 8 Lawton. The
Longed for Union ; Georgia Baptist News,
Fifth Page.— Secular Editorials : The Law
makers of France : The Phonograph ; Anoth
er Satanic Show : Christian Index; Suppress
It • Immigration ; Oklahoma; Jewish Soldiers;
Welcome Visitor : Atlanta Enterprise : John
Eeely ; Georgia News ; News of the W eek—
Domestic—Foreign.
Sixth Page. —The Sunday-School : Lesson for
Smidav. December 2. 1877 —“The Deliveiance.
Seventh Page. -The Farm: Prepairng Broom
Corn for market ; The Value of Agricultural
Papers ; Agricultural Department of Geogna :
A Farmer’s Maxim.
Eighth Page.— Obituaries ; Reading Notices;
Advertisements.
INDEX AND BAPTIST.
ALABAMA DEPARTMENT.
The Methodist Sunday-school at I'raUvilie
haa received 17*1 volumes oi new bocks.
J . \V. Shepherd has been appointed super
intendent of education in Walker county.
liev. M. E. Butt has been chosen principal
of Greenville male and female Institute.
Thomas L. Head has been appointed post
master at Linwood, Bike county.
Over $3,000 poll lax was collected imtl ilfc
county last year.
*.*,jp • “• *
D. King Caldwell has been appointed post
master at iScottsboro.
——
Kev. T. H. Bell, of Clarke county, is writing
a history of that county.
J. M. Brannon has been appointed super
intendent of educatiqp in Russell.
A reading** society lias been organized at
Decatur. _
A Grand Lodge of Knights ot Honor has
been organized in Montgomery.
-—• •
Tuskaloosa Cotton Mills are now regularly
at work.
Allie McAllister lias been appointed super
intendent of education in Limestone county.
♦
The Masonic grand bodies ol Alabama meet
in Montgomery the first Monday in December.
Thomas J. Emmons has been re-appointed
superintendent ol education in Monroe county.
The new Roman Catholic church edifice at
Cullman has been dedicated.
The Methodist meeting-house at Oswichee,
Russell county, was recently destroyed by lire.
Mrs. K. Murray was burned to death in
Mobile by the explosion ol a kerosene oil lamp
The Mathews Cotton Mill in Selma is pros
pering.
*
The railroads centering at Savannah are
trying to gel control ol the Montgomery aud
Eufaula railroad.
Anew postoffice has been established at
Hamburg, Perry county; Aloses Goldsmith,
posi master.
The Western Railroad is building wire
fences on each side of the track the whole
length of the road.
An oyster supper, given by the Baptist
ladies of Selma, netted over one hundred
dollars.
The business houses in Selma were generally
closed, and almost the entile population at
tended the funeral sei vices ol the late Rev. Dr.
Lowry.
A motion has been made before Chancellor
Graham to appoint a receiver for the East
Alabama and Cincinnati Railroad. The case
is postponed for two weeks.
At the State Grange Fair, Mulberry Grange
won the $250 premium for the largest and best
display of field crops. Alt. Hope Grange
i Autauga i won the $l5O premium for the
largest and best display of horticultural pro
ducts. _
On the South and .North Alabama road sev
eral new coal mines have been opened, and a
new blast furnace, with a capacity of forty
tons pier day, has been built at Oxuioor, and is
now in operation.
The Greenville Advocate claims that Butler
county has eigmeen male citizens whose ages
range from 80 to 89, and three females aged
respectively 97, 87 and 87, and intimates that
if another county can show as good a record,
Butler will enlarge her list.
General Denominational Itas,
—Rev. Edward T. Buist, D.D., for many
years pastor of the Presbyterian church at
Greenville, S. C., died a few days since, aged
seventy.
—A Lutheran church, for the benefit of
foreign seamen, is in course of construction
at Pensacola.
—The Church of England shows great
strength in the Australian region. In 1870
and 1871, out of a total population of 1,920,-
000, the Anglicau church had in these colo
nies, 709,1-16 adherents; the Roman Catho
lics, 449,920; the Presbyterian, 204,069; and
the Wesleyan, 214,900.
—The Presbyterian Synod of Georgia
opened its session at the Presbyterian church,
Coiambus, Wednesday evening of last week,
at 7 o'clock. Rev. J. W. Moulgonery, the
retiring moderator, preached the opening
sermon. The Synod comprises six Presby
teries, in which are 172 churches, 103 minis
ters and about 9,500 menibors.
—Rev. C. S. Robinson, D.D., and Mr. S. E.
Warner, have retired from tbe editorial man
agement of the Illustrated Christian Weekly.
—Mrs. John 0. Green, of New York, has
given $50,000 to the Presbyterian Board of
Publication, and SIOO,OOO to the Presbyte
rian Board of Home Missions. These sums
are to be permanently invested, and only the
interest used.
—The Moody anti Sankey revival meet
ings in Manchester, N. 11., are being very
largely attended, such religious manifesta
tions never before having been w itnessed in
the State.
—President Hayes sent his check fur SIOO
to help pay the debt of a Presbyterian church
in Richmond, his interest in the matter hav
ing been excited by his recent visit to that
city.
—A ' Theater Reform Association” has
been organized in Boston, by a number of
clergymen and other good people, prominent
among whom is the Rev. W. W. Newton,
who spoke at the Church Congress on amuse
ments. This association does not intend to
dictate to the theaters what plays they shall
put upon the stage, but will confine its oper
ations to warning the public against plays
which it considers to be evil. This it pro
! poses to do by circulars distributed at rail
road stations, so as lo catch the countrymen
who come to town for the express purpose
of seeing shows. - /
—Moody, the revivalist, is determined to
have things his way, and not the Scriptural
way. At Nortlifield, recently, the Congre
gational pastor was absent, and Mr. Moody
took his place. The invitation was exceed
ingly broad. Sir. Moody said ; “No matter
what church you belong to, or if you belong
to none at all—come. We make no restric
tions. Let us now break bread, without
word or comment." His conduct lias been
severely condemned.
—Evangelist William Taylor, the great
Methodist preacher of California, lias gone
to Peru.
—A new feminine evangelist is developed
in the person of Mrs. Irvine, a Methodist
lady, who has met with great success in
Pennsylvania. She draws greater crowds
even than Mrs. Van Cot*.
—A number of New York clergymen
voted for .John Morrissey.
—The persons in charge of preparing the
Prolegomena to the last great edition of
Tischendorf’s Greek Testament, Ed. VIII,
I
Critica Major , have wrilten to Prof. Isaac
11. Hall for the peculiar readings of the
Syriac New Testament MSS., recently dis
covered by him, for the purpose of incor
porating them in the Prolegomena aforesaid.
—The Roman Congregation of the Propa
ganda has sent 25,000 francs to the suffering
I by the famine in India.
—The Michigan Central Railway is going
!to do its best to keep Sunday. The general
manager has issued an order to do on that
j day only such work as is absolutely necessa
-1 ry, and to arrange things so that the train
I men can, as far as possible, spend Sunday a!
their homes.
—The Mayor of a small town in the
■ Province of Jean, Spain, having tried to pro*
; cure the baptism, in the Roman Catholic
j faith, of children of Protestant parents, a
i royal order has been issued reprimanding
him. The order declares that all local au
thorities must respect the eleventh article of
the Constitution.
—At the meeting of the California Con'
gregatioual Association, in San Francisco,
one of the essays read was on “Hoodlum
ism,” which is agreed by all decent Califor
nians to be one of the worst isrnsof theday.
—The Weslcyans and Primitive Wesley
aus of Ireland are holding frequent union
! meetings, a* a preparation for die approach
j itig amalgamation of the two bodies.
—The English explorers of Palestine, un
j del’ Lieutenant Kitchener, have discovered u
Crusaders’ chapel near the Mount of Olives.
The chapel seems to date from the thirteenth
| century.
—Texas papers record the death of
Thomas J. Pilgrim, who, in 1829, organized
j the first Sunday-school in that Slate, at San
i Felipe, Austin county.
—Rev. W. J. Lowry, whose death occurred
recently, at Louisville, was one of the ablest
FRANKLIN PRINTING HOUSE, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, NOVEMBER 2!), 1877.
divines iu the Presbyterian denomination,
and a man of .great worth and beauty of
character. Dr. Lowry was born in Greens
boro, Ga., June Bth, IS3B, though his pa*
rents were then residing near Louisville,
Jefferson county, Ga. He was educated at
Due West, S. C., and begau his ministry in
Tennessee. Selma, Ala., was the field which
has occupied the largest part of his minis
terial labors, and where his remains have
been laid t'J rest.
—The Allegheny (Pa.,) Mail, gives the fol
lowing account of anew sect:
The Body of Believers, qr the Church of
God, is the pretentious title of anew reli
gious sect, which will have au organization
in Pittsburg on and after Sunday next. The
new sect has'no creed but the Bilik-; rejects
the Trinity, yet regards Jesus as divine, and
baptizes in llis name alone; believes in tbr
second advent, and considers Christ as a
priest after the order of Melchizedek. A
printer in one of the newspaper offices, Mr.
Wells by name, is the founder of the sect in
Pittsburg. He came here about a year ago,
and lias now a congregation of about forty
grouped about him. They meet
in the Riverside Academy, on Duquesne'
street.
—Some of the Southern Conferences are
la)wring under a difficulty which is called
“over-grazing.” In some localities the cir
cuits have been divided until the preachers
can’t gather sufficient food from their limited
fields. A correspondent of the Southern
Christian Advocate says:
It is but too true,that the practise of “over,
grazing” is beginning to prevail to an alarm
ing extent in the South Carolina Conference.
At the last session of the Conference several '
circuits were divided, and new missions'
were established, solely tor the purpose of
landing places for all the members of the
Conference.
—During his long reign, the Pope has
founded 130 bishoprics. In Europe there
are 595 prelacies ; in America, 72 ; in Africa,
11; in Asia, 10 ; and in Australia, 12.
—The Lutheran Diet will assemble in Dr.'
Baum’s church, Philadelphia, on the 17th of
December.
—There ate thirty vacant churches in the
bounds of the Northern Synod of Missouri,
—George Muller is preaching in Boston.
His lour will extend to the principal cities ol
the United States.
—One hundred and twenty-five Sunday
schools have thus far been heard from, with
S3O each, for the American Home Mission- '
ary Society’s debt. One thousand ,
oi* lied for, f , 'tt
—The Council of the British Evangelical ]
Alliance has appointed the week beginning
the (ith of January next, as the Week of
Prayer.
BAPTIST NEWS A\l) NOTES.
—Brother A. J. Holt reports ten recent con
versions among the wild Indian triheß.
—The Texas Baptist has this item : “Rev.
E. B. Featlierstone, for several years an active
minister in connection with the Methodist
church, united with the Baptist church, and
was baptized, on last Sabbath, at Lone Oak,
Hunt county. Brother F. is comparatively a
young man, of undoubted piety, irreproachable
character, and good preaching ability.”
—A good anecdote of the late Rev.
Dr. Baron Stow, the Boston Baptist
minister, was told the other day by
Rev. A. J. Gordon, of that city. “Dr. Stow
told me just before his death,” said Mr. Gor
don, “that when lie went to Europe, Rev. Dr
Kirk gave him a letter of introduction lo Dr.
Merle D’Aubigne, ol Geneva, and that, on
reading the letter, he was surprised to find that
Dr. Kirk had introduced him as one who un
derstood the theory of revivals better than any
other pastor of his acquaintance ‘1 knew
nothing of the theory of revivals,” said Dr.
Stow. T only did my best in working for
revivals, and 1 worked sometimes in one way
and sometimes in another. But I had no
theory about it.’ ”
During the session of the Western Baptist
Convention of Canada, which was held at
Toronto in the latter part of October, the
President of the Convention, David Buchan,
Esq., died suddenly of paralysis. A son, Dr.
H. E. Buchan, was chosen President for this
year.
—ln a most compact and logical form the
question of “affiliation” is put into a nut-shell
by the Examiner and Chronicle: “Either our
separation hour Pedobaplists is a sin, or com
munion with them can not be justified. Com
munion with them is a dtnial of the right ol
separation. Separation is a denial of the
right of communion. If we can commune
with them in good conscience, we ought to lie
able to unite with these churches in good con
science, and escape the sin of schism. It is a
logical absurdity to insist on maintaining
Baptist churches as a protest against infant
baptism, and to waive the protest by welcoming
to communion those who have received no
other than infant baptism.”
—The Standard says that the wives of two
theological students ip the Baptist Seminary
at Morgan Park (Chicago) “are attending the
classes straight through in the regular course.”
We do not learn that they expect to become
doctoresses of divinity, or even preachers, but
only to qualify themselves better to become
efficient "help-meets” for the D.D’s and the
. preachers. Very sensible, we think.
Spirit of the Religious Press,
—The Sunday school Times thinks that Chris
tians are discouraged by some treatises and
sermons on prayer, and made to doubt if they
.can ever pray acceptably, since they cannot
reacli the high standard uplifted, and say's :
It is a wrong conception of -prayer which
limits its privileges to the pure in heart, or de
uies its profit to the soul burdened with a
conciousness of sin. This conception may
seem to be in accordance with those teachings
of the Old Testament, which was designed to
mow to man that his best offerings are desti
tute of merit, and that he cannot he saved by
ihe works of the law ; but it is utterly at vari
ance with the New Testament invitations to
the sinner to come in all his unworthiness and
ask for salvation—not because he merits ac
ceptance, hut because he needs forgiveness. It is
py Ot the law-observing Pharisee, standing upright
■ m the temple and calling God to witness his zeal
and fidelity in all religious duties, who finds
favor with the Lord; hut it is the humble and
(|u4t -oppressed publican, who, standing afar
oil, dares not even lift his eyes to heaven, as he
smites upon his breast, and says, “God be mer
ciful to me, a sinner I’’
a —The question of denominational education
fist.' been widely discussed of late, by the re
ligious press, caused, doubtless, hv the in
creased endowments of State Universities, and
wile claims of some of these institutions to hold
i t patent on “higher education.” The duty of
'.'.hose who support denominational colleges is
clearly presented by the Chicago Interior :
But the practical duty suggested by these
discussions, and constantly pressed upon the
churches by the heavy endowments of State
colleges, is to see lo it that these denomination-,
t al colleges, which for a hundred years, have
"been the conservators at once of Christian
truth and of soundest learning in our country,
shall not lack for the means wherewith to keep
abreast of the times. Higher education is ex
pensive. There is no very cheap way to a
•thoroughly organized college. The State in
stitutions are well equipped. Money is freely
•given to support them, and continually to
■broaden their course. There is only one way to
their becoming so overshadowing as to
(pul denominational colleges at a seriouß disad
vantage —that is to give to our Christian col
jleges the means necessary for their work.
—A correspondent of the Methodist Troi
estant, in the following paragraph, calls our
attention to the difficult position in which min
isters are placed by the extravagance of
churches. It is a good illustration that one
wrong leads to another. Pride leads churches
into extravagance and into debt; and, to es
•’"F jk/ rom thisevil, the earnest, practical teaeh
e wise council, and godiy example of a
, faitbltll; pastorimust be exchanged for
I crowd drawing ol'
! the popular preacher:
We doubt whether there ever was a time in
the history of tbe Christian Church when its
ministers were placed in so awkward, difficult
and unjust a position as they are to-day. Great,
expensiveedificeK of worshipare built,for which
the builders run heavily in debt. That debt can
only be handled, the interest of it paid, and
the principal reduced, by tilling it with a
large and interested congregation. That con
gregation cannot be collected and held without
brilliant preaching. Brilliant preaching is
scarce, because brilliant men, who have the
gift ol eloquence, are scarce. Sosoon, there
lore, as a man shows that lie cannot attract the
crowd, “down goes his house.” He may be a
scholar, a saint, a man whose example is the
sweetest sermon that human ever uttered, a
lovely friend, a faithful pastor, a wise spirit
ual adviser, and even a sermonizer of rare at
tainments and skill ; and if he cannot draw a
crowd by the attractive gifts of popular elo
quence, he must be sacrificed to the exigencies
ol finance.
—The limminer and Chronicle has an ex
cellent article on The Swarms of Impos
tors,” in which churches are urged, not simply
to accept the written recommendations, pre
sented by applicants for vacant pulpits, and
agents seeking funds for benevolent objects,
but to use every available means to find out
that the parties are what they claim to be.
The article concludes with these sensible
words;
The habit of giving commendatory letters
needs revision Two many ministers do it on
too small a knowledge ot tbe person commend
ed, and in words dictated by sympathy rather
than candor. A much larger grain of truth
fulness needs to have a place in letters given
to men seeking the pulpits or money ot the
churches. With more cate in giving com
mendatory letters, and more caution in receiv
ing and acting upon them, sticce s!u! irnposi
lions upon the churches would be “few and far
between.”
—Never were truer words uttered than the
following on the subject of the worth and in
fluenceof religious family newspapers —we clip
the paragraph from the Interior :
It is not true that religious weeklies contain
“little matter as compared with political pa'
pers,” nor that they are less interesting and
attractive. We will place the poorest of a
dozen religious vapors against the best p' lin
eal weekly in thee*.untry, and risk comparison
for quantity, quality, variety, scholarship, lit-*
erary finish, wit, brilliancy and general attrac
tiveness—leaving the claim of m irals and re
ligion out of'lie question. The first-class re
ligious newspaper, at two dollars and fitly
cents or three dollars per annum, is the cheap
est production of human labor. The man who
purchases it gels more of the products of hard
labor titan can be had in any other form, and
he gels, also, more that is pleasant, profitable
and permanently valuable in education lohim
! self and bis family, titan can be secured by
any other expenditure.
—An exchange forcibly says :
A great many ministers are quietly suffer
ing because their congregations Delay to pay
the salaries which have been faithfully
earned. Some ol these churches keep up
the interest on their mortgages, pay the in
surance premium promptly, and cash the
bills for current expenses, but only pay the
pastor when it is convenient.
The Mission Field,
—From India the Rev. N. Sheshadri writes,
that many of the native Christians under his
care are starving.
—The American Missionary Association has
fifty-nine missionaries in the Southern States.
—Seven missionaries for India recently sail
ed from New \ r ork for their field of labor.
—Rev. Dr. Storrs, in a paper on tire “Amer
ican Home Missionary Society,” says that its
receipts, during the past three years, have been
$912,038* a heavy increase over the previous
three years, and that the South employs 996
missionaries, 17 more than last year; lias or
ganized 231 churches in the three years; 15,-
131 conversions reported by the missionaries,
and 22,202 were added to the missionary
churches.
—The experience of the Congregationalists,
extending over a long series of years, satisfies
them that they cannot reduce the number of
their Home Missionary Secretaries without
greatly impairing the usefulness of the Society.
—Home Missions among the Indians are
being pushed with great energy by the Presby
terian church. Arrangements are in progress
by which the twelve home missionaries, now
at work among them, will be largely increased.
—The Mission of the Southern Presbyterian
church, at Baranquilla, in South America, has
been surrendered.
—The Rev. Titus Coan, the famous Sand
wich Islands missionary, has received more
than 12,000 church-members.
—The natives of the New Hebrides Islands
have, tliis past year, contributed 2,800 pounds
of arrow-root to help pay for the translation
and printing of the Bible in the Aneituui lan
guage.
—lt is estimated that 120,000 children have
been made orphans by the famine in India,
The missionaries of the British Wesleyan
Society are endeavoring to obtain funds to
support 300 or 400 of these children, at the
rate ol $25 a year for each one.
—Dr. 11. H. Jessup, in a letter to The In
terior, gives the following account of the first
misssionary Conference in Syria : “The first
Union Missionary Conference ever held in
Syria has just closed its sessions in Abeih, Mt.
Lebanon. There were present thirty-seven
native Syrian delegates, lour British and
three Americans. Eleven ot the foreign and
three of tiie native delegates were ordained
minislprs. The total number of members was
then seven, and others ijc.uld have been
present out lor the unsettled state of the south
ern part of the mission field. The meetings of
the Conference continued from Thursday
morning until Monday noon, with three ses
sions a day. Eighteen diflerent subjects were
discussed, and eight papeis were read, the
language used throughout being the Arabic-
On Sunday a sermon was preached, and in the
afternoon a large missionary meeting was
held.”
The two English Methodist missionaries
of Northern China, the Rev. Messrs. Hall
and Hodges have been seized with the famine
fever, now so prevalent in that section of
China. Several of the students under their
care have also the fever.
—Tiie Bombay Guardian ol July 21, calls
attention to the fact that in consequence of the
danger of the perishing of the crops for want
of rain, a meeting of Christians had been call
ed the preceding week to pray lor rain. They
had scaicely come together before the rain
began to fall in torrents, so that the vo’ces of
the speakers could scarcely be heard, and after
the meeting there was a good fall of rain.
—The Protestant natives of Tahiti have,
within two years, spent the sum of $35,000 on
their churches—not bad for a people whose
parents were heathen, and amongst whom
Rome has been working, helped by the French
Government, for thirty years. On Tahiti and
Moorea there are supposed to be some 8,000
inhabitants, and out of that number there are
about 300 Roman Catholics. The Bible is
loved by the natives.
—The British Wesleyan Missionary Society
has now seventy-six young men under training
in the Richmond Theological Institution lor
the foreign missionary work.
—The English Presbyterian church requires
its missionaries lo return to their native land
at the end oi seven years’ work iu foreign
lunds.
A correspondent of the Central Georgia
Weekly, speaking of Rev. J. B. Hawthorne,
D.D ,ol tbe First Baptißt church of Mont
gomery, says:
He is a natural orator and poet. There
were no fine reasoning powers displayed in
the sermon we heard—no great breadtli of
thought, but there was a life-like picture of
the death and resurrection of Dorcas, a lovely
delineation of her character, a rea l Christian
lumiethru-t in the entreaty to modern Chris
tian women to follow her example, a whole
souled warmth iu his denunciation of the evils
of strong drink, and his appeal to women to
use their influence against it. We can give
you a synopsis of the sermon, but we cannot
give you the charming, unaffected manner of
the orator, nor his earnest tones, and poetic
language.
State Auditor Brewer, in his paper, the
Hayneville Examiner, says that the Moffatt
register in Alabama would bring $250,000
into the treasury. This sum, it says, is more
t an Alabama will pay on her litnded debt
this fi-eal \ear by probably $20,000, ami it is
only a little short of the $207,000 she wdl pay
(except poll tax) for her public schools for the
scholastic year 1878.
WHOLE NO. 2296
For the Index and Baptist.!
REPLY TO REV. S. BOYKIN.
In criticising my article, which appeared in
The Index of October 18th, brother S. Boy
kin has attributed to me sentiments which I
have not avowed and do not entertain. I have
no objection to his writing eulogiums on Sun
day-schools, but I object to his doing so at my
expense, especially, as the views he represents
me as holding may injure the cause among my
immediate friends. Let me say, in advance,
that no one can point to any act of my life, nor
to any word I have ever spoken or written,
that will prove me unfriendly to the cause of
Sabbath-schools. As brother Boykin has so
entirely misunderstood and misrepresented the
article referred to, 1 must beg of you the favor
to re-produce it. Here it is :
“AN EVIL CONNECTED WITH SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.
In all the Sunday-schools in our towns ami
villages, so far as my observation extends, a.
large majority of the children, on being dis
missed, retire at once to their homes or else
where, and fail to attend on the preaching of
the Gospel and the ordinary services of the
churches. That this is an evil will not be
called in question by any. right-minded per
son. The instruction given in Sunday-schools
may be good as far as it goes. But it is r.ot
preaching, and cannot simply the place of the
regular services of the church. While the
parents are in the house of God, the children
ought not to be at home or in the streets, vio
lating the Sabbath day, and dissipating the
instructions they have received in the Sabbath
school. This is an ceil. If the Sunday
school evangelist, or any one else, can suggest a
remedy, he will perform au important service
for the young and for the cause of Christ. If
it cannot be remedied, it is doubtful whether,
in the long run, Sunday-schools will prove to
be a blessing or a curse.”
In his criticisms on this article, the follow
ing expressions occur;
He says his object in writing is to “try to
relieve the Sunday-school of the opprobrium
cast upon it.”
“The idea of making the Sunday-school re
sponsible tor the absence of children from
preaching.”
“The idea of casting upon the Sunday-school
the blame for the non-attendance ol children
upon preaching and the ordinary services of
the churches.”
“Preposterous!" “Away with such‘an un
reasonably absurd’idea.”
“Why then cast odium on the Sunday-school
because scholars do not stay to preaching
“ The logical consequence of which Is,
that the Sunday-school is ‘an evil,” etc.
“Prav do not decry or disparage the Sunday
school because of derelictions in other quar
ters.” “It is unfair to find fault with the young
for not attending services, specially devoted
to the edification of the old.”
“Away with the prejudicial croak that the
Sunday-school is, by Sunday-school men,
made the child's church , that the Sunday
school child may be- xcused from the regu
lar church seivices !”
Let it one bur -•? > uej urq given to show
the spirit with which brother Boykin "..a.-.
written on this subject. Your readers can
judge whether they are warranted and justi
fiable. Of course, I shall be excused for not
replying in a similar strain.
Brother Boykiu seems to think himself
“set for the defense” of Sunday-schools. His
Judgment may be somewhat warped by this
impression. He admits the existence of the
'evil (or practice) to which I called attention,
and then palliates and excuses it. (See Uis
second article.) It will be a sad day for the
young when his opinion on this subject is
practically and generally adopted.
He “hazards the assertion" that I enter
tain “an incorrect idea of the relation a Sun
day-school bears to the church to which it
belongs,” and then kindly undertakes to en
lighten me on this point. I ought, of
course, to be duly thankful, especially as he
had already pronounced my views, (or
rather those he attributes to me,) “prepos
terous,” aud my ideas “unreasonably ab
surd.” lie assures me “it is the church,
teaching the Gospel to the young,” aud that
the instruction given is just such preaching
as was Paul’s, “when he sat down by the
river-side, where prayer was wout to be
made, and spake unto the women who re
sorted thither.” Yes, lie will have it that
the “teaching of the Gospel” in Sunday
schools is preaching. It follows, logically,
that Sunday-school teachers, male and fe
male, arc preachers, and we thus have a
large class of “women preachers.” I am
sure the pious ladies of M icon and else ■
where will not thank brother Boykin for the
false position he has assigned them. They
are content to be teachers, and do not as
sume to be preachers. I cannot accept his
theory on this point.
Neither do l understand the Sabbatli
school to be "the church teaching the Gospel
to the young." Most of such schools, 1 take
it, are formed and kept up by pious individ
uals, without any direct authority from the
churches with which they are connected—
without even a resolution having been
adopted, authorizing their formation. The
churches, as a general thing, do not appoint
the Superintendent, nor any other officer of
such schools, nor in any other way control
their operations. It might be better if they
would do so. But I speak of things as they
actually exist. Sunday-schools cannot,
therefore, be claimed to be “ churches , leach,
ing the Gospel to the young.” Such schools
are generally regarded in religious organir.i
lions of the nature of Missionary Societies,
calculated to accomplish much good,and, as
such, they are patronized and encouraged.
This is my own understanding of the mat
ter, and though not orthodox according to
brother Boykin’s standard, yet I trust it will
not be considered by others “preposterous,”
nor “unreasonably absurd.”
Let me add, that, while I approve of Sun
day-schools, ard have been 1 .boring for their
success for more than half a century, I maintain
that their existence in a church, or its neighbor
hood, is not essential to its existence as a
Gospel church. If this were so, then there
were no Gospel churches for nearly eighteen
centuries. .
My sole object in publishing the brief ar
ticle, above quuteil, was to do good. lam not
without hope that it may yet accomplish
something in this direction, unless the intem
nerate zeal of certain parties alia I continue lo
pervert its meaning, and thereby defeat my
j, 11, Campbell.
immune. , -
p £ __ I trust it may not be necessary lor me
to say anything more on this subject.