Newspaper Page Text
The Christian Index
Vol. 57— No. 5.
Table of Contents.
First Page. Alabama Department: Unre
cognized Effects of Preaching; the Chris
tian in Transgression; Annual Calls; Re
lief—Perhaps; Try It; Public Sentiment.
Spirit of the Religious Press.
Second Page.—j Correspondence: Death of
Mrs.- Governor Shorter —M. B. Wharton;
A New Departure in Religion—J. H. C.;
Sunday-School Convention, Bowen Asso
ciation; Ordination; A Fortunate Pastor—
R. T. Hnn,.s; The Sunday-School: The
King in Zion—Lesson for February 23,
1879. The Household: Bless d to Give-
Poetry; The Disputed Question; etc.
Third Page.—Children’s Corner: In the
Barn—Poetry; Five Minutes; Perfect
Trust; Who Wi"s?; Graceful Speech; The
Little Orphan; Only Me —Poetry; etc.
Fourth Page.—Editorial: The Love due to
Neighbors; Size of the World, and Reflec
tions Thereon; Preferred Creditors; The
Same Old Question; Fair Play for the Mor
mons; Mercer University; A Heroic Court
and Jury, A Disgraced Jury; The Sabbath;
Georgia Baptist News.
Fifth Page.—Secular Items; Triumph of
Law; Spirit of our Magazine Literature;
Notes on New Books; Georgia News.
Sixth Page.—Our Pulpit: Ix>ve Creating
Love—A Ser non by Rev. E. B. Teague,
D.D., Wilsonville, Ala. New Advertise
ments.
Seventh Page.—Obituaries: Advertise
ments.
The Christian Index.
ALABAMA DEPARTMENT.
BY SAMUEL HENDERSON
UNRECOGNIZED EFFECTS OF
PREACHING.
’
A just anti comprehensive estimate
of the real effect of preaching upon
communities, and the world at large,
is a desideratum which one can scarce
ly hope to realize, at least in this world.
A minister is often discouraged in
what we may call the details of his
service—we mean the individual effect
which a given discourse has had upon
particular persons. Conscious that he
has uttered no truth in his sermon but
that requires its counterpart in the
feeling and action of his audience, he
may raise the question, how many of
his three or four hundred people will
retain a proper appreciation of his
thoughts, so as to appear in their after
conduct? How many were listless—
how many forget in one hour all that
was saldy-and bow many deliberately
reject th* most tremendous trriths tnat
--y pealed to human consciousness?
Questions like those often obtrude
upon the mind of a minister after his
best-meant efforts. Indeed, there is
something of despair implied in the
question that even a prophet asks,
“Lord, who hath believed our report!”
And yet we apprehend that much of
this feeling of discouragement is imag
inary rather than real. We are impa
tient of results. We Want to see the
clear, sound, unmistakable effect in
such palpable manifestation, too, as
leaves no room for doubt. We would
have the agency and the result in such
vital relations to each other that no
one could mistake them. Now this is
precisely what the divine Being may
not allow. We may not judge of mor
al and spiritual as we do of natural
processes. We can pretty accurately
calculate, to a week or a month be
tween the planting and the gathering
of a crop ; but who can tell how long
the precious seed shall lie in the hu
man heart before it germinates? The
hand that sowed it may have been
mouldering in the grave for half a
century, before the first blade appears
that promises the coming harvest.
Nor do we know how many agencies
God employs to convert one soul, or to
develop into healthy activity one
Christian. We are all of us to-day,
saints and sinners, just what the ten
thousand incidents, events, circum
stances, etc., of our lives, good and
bad, religious and irreligious, have
made us; so that none of us can
point back, with the rarest exception,
to any one of these, and say just
what agency that one thing had in
shaping our character and destiny.
They have so intermingled, so co-oper
ated together, that we cannot isolate
them from the grand combination.
What, then, is our duty in this
aspect of the case? Cease our efforts
because we cannot see exactly
how much our agency is worth
in the grand result? No, no! a
hundred times, no! Let us rather be
stimulated by the fact that we are co
operating with other influences hav
ing one common aim—influences that
come from the highest and best of
sources —influences that come from
Calvary, from Sinai, from Eden
itself, and that have been gath
ering volume, and power, and efficacy
through each successive generation
until they have reached our age, to be
increased and intensified by us as we
turn them over to our successors. O
let this animate us to put forth out
last activities in such a course! Is it
not something for us to know that wc
arc representing the same cause that
Abraham, and Moses, and Elijah, and
the Apostles and martyrs did? That we
SOUTHWESTERN BAPTIST.
of Alabama.
stand in the like relation to Got! and
man that they did—that we serve the
same “King immortal,” preach the
same truth, are encouraged by the
same promises, enjoy the same hope,
and expect the same Heavenly home,
that marked the spiritual career and’,
encouraged the faith of all those wor
thies!
But then there is another view of
preaching, in its practical bearing, we
ought to take—a view that ought to
silence every gainsayer, conciliate the
goixl will of every ingenuous man, and
encourage every ambassador of Jesus
Christ. It is this : we are indebted to
the pulpit for whatever the enlightened
public sentiment of our people can do,
in the way of enforcing the common
decencies and proprieties: of life, in
exacting those social penalties when
these decencies and proprieties are out
raged, and in infusing into our whole
moral and intellectual atmosphere all
those kindly influences that contribute
so largely to the happiness of this
world. We repeatit with emphasis, it
is to the pulpit we are indebted for all
this. It is here the public mind re
ceives its moral training; it is here
that those great truths are taught and
illustrated, that bear so vitally upon
every interest. Let the reader think
for a moment, how many grievous
wrongs we commit that do not come
under the jurisdiction of our human
laws, and yet, when committed, what
mischief they work in society! All
this class of offences comes under the
proper jurisdiction of our pulpit min
istrations. Remove this benign edu
cator of public sentiment, and un
told calamities would follow from this
source! And then how many virtues
are here inculcated that do not belong
to the purview of civil law, and yet all
these virtues flonrish only under Chris
tian conditions, and are enforced from
our pulpits. How much of the life that
now is, is redeemed from want and woe,
and misery, by those who publish
“peace on earth, good will to men.”
And yet all this is done so unostenta
tiously, so silently, that the multitudes
know not whence it comes. It is fit
ting that a life thus devoted, and a
service so unrequited here, should re
ceive its proper reward in a higher and
better world.
THE CHRISTIAN IN ?<RANS
GRES SION.
The experience and of
many years as s pastor, haK fixed a
rather paradoxical truth our
mind—a truth, however, that has a
most striking moral significance. We
know not how the minds of other min
isters, may have been impressed with
the fact to which we refer. It may
have been different with them ; but to
us it is a fact worth recording. It is
this: That a genuine Christian never
manifests his character as a Christian
so triumphantly as in the afterthought
of some painful, inexcusable transgres
sion. Perhaps there has never lived a
Christian who did not have some weak
point in his character; some “beset
ting sin,” as it is called ; a blind side,
which, approached with uncommon
force by the adversary, would yield
for the moment to the temptation.
Like a sudden blow inflicted upon a
man from an unexpected source,it may
deaden the sensibility of his conscience
for a time, so that he is not fairly him
l self. But after he has had time to re
flect—after conscience has rallied, and
assumes its jurisdiction over the past—
then the whole transgression is set in
order before him—its nature, and its
aggravating circumstances. The con
science of a pious man, so far from be
ing seared hy occasional transgression,
is really made more acute, so that after
the criminal act has been done, it re
turns, like an avenging spirit, armed
as with a thousand stings, and the
agitated spirit can find no relief, except
in those penitential confessions that
bring it to the mercy seat, where the
backslider finds, as he has often found,
that “the blood of Jesus Christ, His
Son, cleansieth from all sin.” We are
indebted to the great sin of David’s
life for the 51st Psalm, a standing ritu
al in.which broken-hearted believers
have been pouring out their confes
sions for nearly three thousand years.
The skeleton form oi that great sin
hovered over the royal Psalmist all the
balance of his life. God assured him,
that the “sword should never depart
from his house ;” and how literally was
the terrible penalty exacted! And yet
never does David appear so much the
"man after God’s own heart,” as when,
in strains of penitential grief, such as
the Divine Spirit only can inspire, he
deprecates the wrath of his God, and
implores His mercy. What Christian
could boar the idea of having the sin
and the subsequent repentance of Peter
blotted out of the Now Testament?
Why, they constitute a chapter in
Peter’s history that, on the one hand,
vindicates the integrity of his devotion
to his Master, and on the other,doubly
endcars him to us. Is it not some
thing to know that the backsliding*
Atlnta, Georgia, Februray 6, 1879.
and reformations of such men as David
and Peter appear in biographies conse
crated in our mind with the known
possession of Heaven! Where are these
men now? Mercy has tak* them to
Heaven. And why may we not get
there, though compassed with like in
firmities? Why may we not strike as
high a note in the everlasting song as
they, when we celebrate our victory
over the corruptions of the flesh, when
we put on immortality? The mari
ner’s compass may lie swerved from its
course by its proximity to another sub
stance ; but remove that substance, and
it immediately adjusts itself to its na
tive bearings : So the Christian may,
by the of the moment,
lose his reckonings; but when the
temptation is past, he points heaven
ward as unmistakably as does the nee
dle to the poles.
This view of Christian character has
led us, with advancing years, to look
upon human infirmities with more of
that charity that “suffereth long and is
kind,” and that “thinketh no evil.”
One of the distinguished reformers of
the sixteenth century, in answering
the objection of one of his adversaries,
that Protestantism had failed to im
prove the life and conversation of many
of its votaries, said, “HV defend our
doctrines and not our sinners.” We also
say, we defend the Christian, and not
his infirmities, albeit those very infirm
ities constitute a kind of background
that brings out,.in bolder relief, the sa
lient points of his character. For what
is the Christian life but a tissue of re
pentance and faith? Never has the
believer a sweeter consciousness that
his name is written in Heaven, than
when looking at the Cross through pen
itential tears, he realizes the pardoning
love of God, speaking peace to his
troubled soul, through the blood of
that Cross.
ANNUAL~CALLS.
There are few things that work more
substantial mischief to ministers and
churches than the habit of many of our
churches in calling their pastors every
year. Ministers are but men—have
like passions with other men—are sub
ject to all the infirmities of a common
fallen .nature. These annual calls
bring their nainjps up before these
churches periodically aa so many cai>|
didatea for these no maJM
how careful chui-e|ißß may be, in 14H
aging the elections) Their (riwnds will'
urge their claimszwrth more or less iff
earnestness —parti** will be developed,
and ere we are aware, these preachert
catch the spirit of their friends, and will
be insensibly arrayed against each
other; and thus those delicate relations,
which it is their mutual interest and
happiness to cultivate, are violated,
and they are “together by the ears.”
They are the victims of a temptation
which the churches have, by this un
wise policy, spread before them.
And then this policy recoils upon
the church itself. It inspires that dis
position to frequent changes, which is
the bane of permanent prosperity. It
gives those “itching ears” that are per
petually demanding something new.
It breaks up relations very often just
at the time they are assuming their
most useful form. In a word, it gives
an air of evanescence to our whole
church organizations, that estops the
growth of piety in the members—par
alyses their activity—lowers the dignity
of their calling to the level of a mere
secular matter —and arrests the im
provement of their ministers, by taking
from them the highest motive that can
stimulate their efforts— a permanent
pastorate.
It would be easy to amplify these
thoughts; but this is left to the reader.
Is it not time that a policy that origna
ted when we had few preachers, and
i that we have borrowed from the Meth
odist denomination, were a bated? What
preacher worth having is willing to run
I the gauntlet of elections every year?
RELIEF f—PERU A PS.
Our best financiers are quite hopeful
of the future. The heavy “balance of
trade” in our favor now setting in, and
which becomes larger every year, will
bring a vast amount of coin into the
country. This will seek investments, —
this in turn will appreciate values and
stimulate industries—give employment
to labor, and inspire confidence in com--
mercia) circles. The picture is a hope
ful one on paper. We only wish it
may be verified in fact. It will lift a
load of care from many a crushed
heart. If this can be realized in any
reasonable time, it will pay to wait,
without resorting to doubtful legislation
that would unsettle the present solid
basis of our currency. Every man
wants good money, and if our industry
and enterprise can bring it into the
country, it is better than to flood it
with irredeemable paper. Let well
enough alone.
There is greater scarcity of labor in |
Autauga county, Alabama, this year, '
than ever before.
TRY IT!
Perhaps a pastor of country churches
never makes so sad a mistake as when
lie fails to present, on proper occasions,
the subject of missions to his people,
from an apprehension that by how
much he induces them to contribute to
this by so much he diminishes
his itieagre salary. He either forget
or does not believe, that, capital prin
ciple Aid down in the Bible, and so
abundantly illustrated in practical life,
that.the more one gives, the more he
will have to give: “There is that giveth
and yet increaseth; and there is that
withholdeth more than is meet, and yet
it tehU’eth to poverty.” Giving is a
habit, which once formed, becomes easy
and natural. If such a pastor had no
higher motive than to increase his own
salary, it would seem that he ought to
keep his churches in constant and
habitual communication with those
great enterprises.lvhich call out the
benefactions, prayers and solicitude of
Christians. Christian benevolence is
litre one of those little springs that
break out at the foot of a mountain,
which has to be kept dear of rubbish
to be kept running. The washings of
trash around it will stop and stagnate
its waters. So the rills of benevolence,
if kept in running order, will be per
ennial, but if the “cares of the world
and the deceitfulness of riches” stop
them, they will stagnate and perish,
and tyave the minister himself impov
erished as the reward of his folly. As
a rule, those'churches which give most
to missions, and other enterprises of
like character, pay their pastors ade
quately and promptly. And conversely,
those who give nothing to these causes,
pay but little or nothing to their preach
ers. Let our pastors prove this by ap
plying the corrective, and test the
divine declaration, “The liberal soul
shall be made fat, and he that watereth
shall himself be watered.”
“PUBLIC SENTIMENT."
Dr. Renfroe delivered a powerful
discourse in the Baptist church at
Talladega, on “The Influence of a Cor
rect Public Sentiment, and how to
f<rm it.” The Talladega Mountain
Ibme, in an editorial upiyn the sermon
Wi: /
iJj’No more appropriate Vine could have
selected to preach this setmon, and the
the minister! connected with
»erylable mrwr in wWcfi he handled
in all it" b, ’ ar > n
. eid- to rrnajnd
■P hrir.R Wurth
wftpeaking of the fa<?uiat in that
KOThmunity exist glaring evils and
Naunts of vice that, should be abated,
bnd that the religious people of all the
Ihurches should unite in their suppres
sion, the editor remarks:
“Dr. Renfroe has opened the way, com
menced the struggle in an eloquent, earnest,
dispassionate, plain, understanling treat
ment of the facta as they exist, and marked
the jppliances for oor/detiun and reforma
tion, and it is now with the people whether
it shall be so, or hot.”
A correspondent in the same issue
alluding to this sermon, says:
Permit me to say that the sermon of this
dir-tirguislied and able Doctor of Divinity,
delivered last Sabbath night in the Baptist
church in this city, was just the thing need
ed. “Public sentiment” needs Informing,
and such sermons as this will go far towards
accomplishing this mneh-to-be desired end.
The em nence of the speaker gave to his
words on this occasion great eflect, and I,
for one, fear not rhe result, if Dr. Renfroe
will continue to “hew to the line, Jet the
cbir s fall where they may.” By such ser
mons the minister will leach Ids people that
there is yet great efficacy in the religion of
the Bible, and that 't.u h crushed to earth
will rise again, the eternal years of God are
ben.**
Let all the churches wake Up, and help to
hold up the hands of Dr. Renfroe, and cheer
him in the great work he has undertaken for
the benefit or our city—the great work he bar
begun to belter the morale of our sons, fir
protection of virtue, and for the subjugation
of ihe evils <>f intemperance. Let the
Cbrist'ans of this city snd adjacent country
throw < S the'r neutrality, and gird on the
armor of buttle, and fight sin and intemper
ance in real earnest, and conrinuously.
Dr. K. judging from the undivided at
tention he received from the large audience
throughout the delivery of his sermon, has
noct assuredly touched upon subjects in a
way that meets the hearty ap) royal of those
who desire to seethe morals of tbe commu
nity improved. Glad are many that he
has commtnced tbe fight, for they know lhai
his engagement in suin a conflict means vic
tory for the church and religion.
Our city authorities can find a field
for action blocked out in thia sermon, and
those who entrm-ted them with the care of
tbe city, and the interests of its people, oer
tainly look to see them move eflectually
in this matter.
Governor Cobb bun sent a message
to the Alabama General Assembly op
posing a reduction of the rate of taxa
tion, becauae of the decline in the value
of taxable property, showing that the
State will be unable to meet its obliga
tions in that event. He says a breath
of suspicion against the good mime of
the State will bo as fatal as if a real
cause of distrust existed.
To the present time nearly twice as
many mortgages have been recorded
in Autauga county, Alabama, as to the
same time last year.
THE CHRISTIAN HERALD,
of Tennessee.
The Religious Press.
—The Wesleyan Christian Advocate
(Macon) tells us of a Methodist church
somewhere, the members of which
practice raffling for the benefit of the
church, and declares that all the excla
mation points (!!) in the Wesleyan ot
fice would not express the editor’s sur
prise and dismay on hearing of it. He
tells us too of a Judge, in one of the
Northwestern States, who charged the
Grand Jury to use all possible means
to put down gambling, “including raf
fling at church fairs.” The Index
heartily indorses the Wesleyan, and the
Judge. We learn from the same source,
as well as from other papers, that a cer
tain Scotch minister, a Dr. Story, de
fends raffling when done for religious
purposes. But The Index does not see
why we might not as well justify lying
and stealing, when done for religious
purposes. The Wesleyan continues
thus:
“If we keep on raising money by questiona
ble means, there will rise up defenders and
advocates of the practice. Indeed* we have
read, in a Methodist paper, quite an elaborate
defence of the practice of raising money by
church fairs. Somebody will be defending
ruffling, and other varieties of gambling, the
first thing we know. Why not eel! indulgences?
If we only had a Tetzel to do the auctioning,
what an amount of money could be raised!
And we have always thought that
the best way to raise money for relig
ious purposes, is to appeal to none but
religious motives. A small amount
raised in this way, will do more good
than a large amount raised in any oth
er way. Does a fair, or a picnic, or a
strawberry festival appeal to religious
motives only? Is not the love of
amusement, or the love of something
else besides the love of God, appealed to?
—The Baptist Weekly (N. Y.) in an
article on Acceptable Service, pursuing
the same line of thought as the fore
going, says:
In estimating the worth of what is regarded
as the religious work of our time, it is impor
taut to remember that God i annot be satisfied
with a work which is no* the expression of
the love of the heart. He is not poor, and in
nei.dof the service of any; and it is teaching a
wrong lesson when men are besought to give
money and labor to promote any enterprise as
if He were a suppliant, and wi re helpless
without them. “God that made the world and
all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of
heaven aud earth, dwelleth not in temples
made with hands, neither is worshipped with
men’s hands as though he needr-th any
thing.” He is IJunself the great woik
er, and the mightiest of men can do
little, in comparison wiih Him, t wards fulfill
i. g His purpose. It is a question indeed,
! wnether much of' he service which men try to
render ispot, in upolf, ajreal hinderance in the
■ iTf'tiijrrsv- ■>— *. • •
Tlie £/■■■ J s- u. jKs glad for tne sin ui ting
ling gift which UiJ poor widow past into the
treasury, not because by so doing she impover
ished herself, but becau e it was the utterance
of a heart that had reverence for the L< rd ot
the temple, and because that ' as her best. It
is more of her spirit m> re of that life of love
which is shown in the divine Oi e Himself,
which is the need to-day. It is this which is
orowi e 1: it is only the work, and the sacrifice,
of true love which God will reward.
—All our exchanges are talking
about the recent horrible outrages
committed on the Indians, but we
copy the following brief yet harrow
ing statement from the Presbyterian
(N- Y.)
And now comes a fresh tale of blood from
the plains. A small baud of Indians, escaped
from tlicir reservation, were captured and sent
to a United States fort. Attempt was made
there to starve and freeze them into subinis
Bion. They overpowered the guards, broke
out from confinement, aud tied to the wilds in
hunger and nakedness. They were pursued,
many of them shot down, and in this numbei
were women and children, and the remnant
pursued to a pit in which the majority of the
poor wretches were slaughtered. This, so far
as wo can gather the facts, is an exact state
ment of what was done in this Christian land
by the strong to the weak. We are very si re
that the public conscience of this country will
not rest quietly while this great wrong remains
un rebuked,
—The New York Observer (Presbyte
rian ) in an article on Loyalty to Law—
a subject which needs greatly to he
discussed in every one of these United
States—says i
“We want a public conscience. We, r.e a
I e«ple, republican, self-governing, need to I e
educated into a souse of the majesty of that
power called Law: the embodiment of the will
of an intelligent State for the equal prelection
of all its citizens: and if we can see also in it
the will of God, the deeper should be our rev
eren'e."
It is a great and crying evil in this
country that the laws arc not properly
inforced. It is almost impossible to con
vict a criminal, if he has plenty of
friends and plenty of money ; and when
one is convicted, thousands upon thou
sands of people are ready to petition
for his pardon. Does not this make
them particeps criminis? Is it not
undermining the law? And is it not
making war on society? We have not
answered these questions; we have only
asked them.
In some quarters, however, the peo
ple have waked up to the importance,
rather to the necessity of enforcing law,
even under the most painful circum
stances that can lie conceived. We
refer our renders to u most extraordi
nary case, which occurred in New Jer
sey, a full account of which may be
found in another column, under the
caption Triumph of Law.
—The Morning Star (Dover, N. IT.)
has some choice correspondents. One
of them, W. A. Hendrick by name, and
who claims to have been born and
reared in the State of Georgia, informs
Whole No. 2355.
the readers of that paper that “all ad
vances from persons living North of
Mason & Dixon’s line, looking to peace
and fraternity, are useless, unless it is
admitted that the South was right in
the rebellion.
“Rebels toll us to-day, that 'they
were not whipped, but simply over
powered,’ and every Democratic or
Rebel victory is heralded as another
gain for “southern rights.’
“Talk about negro suffrage in the
South. It is all humbug. The negro
votes as he is compelled to, with the
exception of a few very rare cases. In
timidations, threats, bribes, and every
other species of rascality, is used to
bring the negro under a rule more gal
ling than slavery.”
On this interesting information, the
editor of the Star remarks :
“Those voices from the South multiply. We
have been disposed to give all parties a fair
after all it seems to boa bit
difficult to reach a conclusion. vVe certainly
did not agree with the Atatement advanced by
Mr. O’Neall, and we are confl lent that Mr.
Headrick puts the case rather btrongly on an
inside page. We are not prepared to say,
however, that he is not substantially right la
his statements, notwithstanding our belief
that there are many loyal and true men in the
South to-day, who sincerely deplore the dis
turbed state of public questions, and the in
voluntary condition of the colored people. The
painful thing about the situation is that it is
compelling a‘solid Noith.’thus arraying sec
tion against t-ection, and prolonging the evil
days. Behold, how good a thing it is for breth
ren to dwell together in unity.”
Thus our brother of the Star, after
discrediting the witness by saying “we
are confident that he puts the case too
strongly,” continues his discourse by
saying that this very witness is sub
stantially right. Thus our esteemed
contemporary rides comfortably, hav
ing one foot in each stirrup. He com
plains, nevertheless, that it is difficult
to reach a conclusion, and that too
when he has reached two of them, in
less than a minute! As to the “dis
turbed state of public questions,” we are
delighted to be able to inform our
brother, that there is no .State in the
Union, where there is less disturbance
of this kind, or of any kind, so far asw’e
know, than in the State of Georgia. In
fact, there is more political quiet here
now than there ever has been within
the writer’s recollection, who was born
here some sixty years ago. As to the
“involuntary condition of the colored
people,” we must confess that we hear
| a great deal about it, but the news al
ways comes to us from afar! We see
nothing of it. The really painful thing
I about the situation is, that tlje “solid
I North” is duped by silly stories, often
I published by religious newspapers, and
’ this compels a “solid Soutfi, ’ and thuT
' is section arrayed against section, pro
longing the evil days." Behold, how
great a fire a little matter kindleth.
—A preacher in the Christian Herald
(N. Y„) gives the following as one of
the “ signs of the times”:
“A singular sign may be observed in the
progress of Rituilism in the most enlightened
country in Europe. Fifty years ago it would
have been pronounced improbable that in
I’rote-tant English churches auricular confes
sion should be established, and nun leries set
up m our midst, and that crosses and other
im' gos should be openly worshiped in our
chinches and prayers offered to so-called
saints Yet we see that all this has actually
happened.
The Christian Union (N. Y.,) gives
us information on the Chinese ques
tion, which is particularly interesting
just at this time, when we are making
arrangements to send our brother Hart
well to preach to the Chinese in Cali
fornia :
“It is true that the Chinese are pagans, bnt
despite t u e treatment they have received from
Christian Atzetica, they are beginning to
throw of heir paganism and (o make progress
in a higher civilization. They are fast losing
their superstitious. It is preposed to make a
law forbidding them to carry back their dead
for burial; and a few years ago this would
have been to them like a law denving to their
dead immortality. But they do not ca'e for it
now,they are already about content to be buried
here. Tiny have not hitherto brought their
families, but they are already beginning to ask
for such legislation as will make it safe for
them to do so. They came at first as transient
workmen; they are growii g into permanent
citzena. They htve not thepri judioe against
our Protestant churehos that either the Roman
Catholic Irishman or the infidel German has.
Nearly every church on the California coast
1 hat has any spiritual life in it has its Suud.y
rchool classes for the Chinese, and they are
glad to Come into the • Sunda -so’nool-, for
the Chine e all want their children to learn tbe
Eng'ish language. They are in the first sta*>e;
of a civilizing rnd < hristiauizing edneatim
and they show an avidity for a larger knowl
edge that la fnll of hope for the future.
The notion 'hat on a fair field, and in a fair
con petition, Cliri-tianity has anything to fear
from ihe incursion of paganism, is one ot es
sential infidelity. Tins was not the notion of
Panl, or of Martyn, or of Brainerd. If we
cannot take thesoOhinese people into themidst
of Olnistian civilization, put them among
Christian churches, bring them under the
powerful influence ot Chiistianity in its very
home, then every missionary on. ht to be re
called from China, and no more collections
ought to be taken in our churches to send out
miss onaries there. If, when God brings the
hsstlien to our doors, where we can bring
them into the fnll flood that flows from Chrie
tian Institutions, they are too much for our
Christianity, it is puerile to ta k ot sending
mLsionar'es to China to mold them into Chris
tiana In their own land.”
—The new pews will soon be placed
in Curtis church, Augusta, and the
corn'ort of the large congregation
which worships at this sanctuary greatly
increased.
—Rev. VV. J. Morcock, of Forsyth, is
now pastor of the Indian Spring Bap
tist church.