Newspaper Page Text
The Christian Index
Vol. 57 —No. 12.
Table of Contents.
First Page.—Alabama Department: Amuse
ments, Innocent and Vicious; A Labor of 1
Love that Stands; Alabama Letter; Fev. ’
J. H. Kinnebrew; Oxford High School; j
Ordination of Rev. W. S. Griffin; State Mis- :
sion Board. Religions Press.
Second Page.—Correspondence : Rehobotb,
Mission Station—Letter From Rev. John
Jumper, Seminole Chief; The Carnal Mind
—W.M. H.; “The Great"—T. II.; Gaines
ville Female College—G. L. W.; Is it Right?
—W.M. H.; To the Baptists of the South —
J. L. M. Curry; To the Georgia Association
—J. 11. Kilpatrick; An Appeal. The Sun
day-School—Prosperity Restored— Lessen
for April 13, 1879.
Third Pagk.—Duties of Pastors to Churches
by Robert F. Rogers, Florina; Obituaries.
Fourth Page.—Editorials: Specific Confes- I
sion; Public Duty in Cases of Crime; Two |
Bites of a Cherry; A Layman; American
Baptist Publication Society. How to An
swer Skeptics. Georgia Baptist News.
Fifth Pagr.—Secular Editorials and News
Paragraphs; Spirit of Our Magazine Litera
ture; Georgia News, etc,
Sixth Page—Children's Corner: The First
Pocket—poetry; The Daughter of a King;
What Luu Did; The Grown-up Clock—poe
try; You Can Never Rub It Out.
Seventh Page.—The Farmers’ Index: Farm ;
Work; Borrowed Notes. New Advertise- ;
meats.
Eighth Page—Floridi Department: letter i
from South Florida; Laconics; State News; ■
Obituaries.
Alabama Department.
BY SAMUEL HENDERSON.
AMUSEMENTS, INNOCENT AND
VICIOUS.
It is one of the desiderata of the times
to ascertain the rationale, the
true philosophy of amusements.
Young, buoyant life ever has sought
and ever will seek amusement. We
can no more repress it than we
can change the currents of streams
up a declivity. The Creator seems to
have so designed it, and we cannot re
verse it. All we can do, and perhaps
all wo ought to do, is to throw in such
checks, such modifying forces, as will
circumscribe ihis innate propensity
within those moral proprieties that
will preserve the character from
the contamination of vice. To do
this, aoine principle, or rule must
be found that will discriminate be
tween those amusements that are in
nocent and those which are vicious
and sinful. What is that principle or
rule?—a question, perhaps, more easily
asked than answered. Stfll, as the sub
ject is important, it may not be amiss
to essay some kind of an answer to it.
Let us give both a positive and a neg
ative statement of it.
Ist. Those amusements which leave
the heart, the mind, and the body
more vigorous and lietter adapted to
the serious and dignified pursuits of |
life, may be indulged, not only with
impunity but with propriety.
2d. Every kind of amusement which
incapacitates the heart, mind and body,
in whole or in part, for the active legi-;
timate duties of our every-day life, is
to be shunned by- all who have any
higher purpose in this world than mere
pleasure.
We suppose all will agree with us in
saying, that on these occasions of
amusement which are innocent and
proper, the social instincts should
come into healthful play—the affec
tions should be properly developed by I
“a pleasing kind of friction” of inter
course and converse—that genial,
smiling faces and kindly hearts should
meet apd mingle in the most confiding
friendship—that the physical and
mental frame should, as it were, un
bend itself from the round of daily toil,
to draw “refreshment and invigoration
from a certain active rest,” as Bayne
expresses it, “midway between sleep
and labor.” All this is needed by the
very constitution of our nature, and
the man who doubts it, is unfit to ad
vise either the youthful or the aged, at
least upon this subject. This we take
to bo the real philosophy of amuse
ment. Now, if we are right in this,
our principle cuts off all these amuse
ments that are
a. Purely animal, because they are
ignoble:
b. Also those that arc purely mental,
because they defeat the purpose in
view:
c. And those that are destitute of
true kindness, of trustful, friendly con
fidence, for they are simply false.
“Innocent amusements,” says Dr.
Channing, “are such as excite moder
ately ; and such as produce a cheerful
frame oi*<mind,not boistreous mirth ;and
such as refresh .instead of exhausting the
system; such as recur frequently,
rather than continue long; such as
send us back to our daily duties invig
orated in body and spirit; such as we
can partake of in the presence and
society of respectable friends; such as
consist with, and are favorable, to a
grateful piety; such as are chastened by
self-respect, and arc accompanied with
SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST,
or Alabama. •hiviD
the consciousness that life has a higher
end than to be aipQKd.” . Ir ,. n
What, then, Ha, manifest perversion
of the true rationale of amusement
when we substitute it for the sober,
active, substantial duties of life—-when;
we so pursue it, that 'instead of- it in-i
vigorating the mttul 'and . body, and
elevating and purifying ou« moral facul-1
ties, it tends to dissipate the mind, en
ervate the body, and deaden- our moral
sensibilities, and thus unfit us for the
main pursuits of life. What a calamity
to convert life’s great mission from
solemn reality into a mere phantom of
pleasure! )
“ O ’tin sad
To think how few our pleasures really are,
And for the which we risk eternal good."
A LABOR OF LOVE THA T STANDS
Many years ago, a Christian mer
chant in one of our cities, who had
been distinguished for Ms benevolence,
was burnt out of almost all his posses
sions. Friends gathered around him
to express their sympathies in his losses,
but strange to say, he was the most
cheerful of all. After he received their
kindly r expressions, he remarked to
them, that he had one abiding source
of comfort—he had invested fifty thou
sand dollars'in an enterprise that was
above and beyond the reach of fire—in
the cause of Christ—and that that was
all that remained to him,.and it would
never fail to yield a handsor. e divi
dend.
Thinking over this incident recently,
it reminded us of a piece of the history
of a brother who went to his reward
over twenty years ago, and which is
worth recording for the benefit of oth
ers. We allude to the venerable Wm.
Jenkins, Sr., for many years a member
of our church at Alpine, then called
Talladega Baptist church. The first
Alabama Baptist Convention wc ever
attended was in 1840. In connection
with those who accompanied us, we
bore to that Convention a contribution
from brother Jenkins of one thousand
dollars, which was equally divided be
tween Foreign and State Missions, (for
then as now the Convention had its
State Missionaries.) The next year,
we believe he contributed fifteen hun
dred .dollars, long as h*
lived, as we remember, never falling
under a thousand dollars a year. In
the mean time, he erected, at his own
cost, and on his own land, a neat, com
modious house of worship, which he
gave to the colored members of the old
Talladega church, which they have oc
cupied ever since, and which has grown
to be one of the largest colored Baptist
churches in this part of the State, num
bering, we suppose, not less than four
or five hundred members. In his will,
among other kindly and thoughtful do
nations, he committed to the custody
of his church an amount sufficient to
yield fifty dollars annually, to be ex
pended in missionary work in the
bounds of the Coosa River Association.
The amount, by a kind Providence, es
caped the disasters of the war, and is
now available for that amount annual
ly. It constituted the basis of a fund
I after the war, to which such additions
' were made by the churches, as to ena
ble the Board of Directors to have
more or less missionary work done for
the last ten years. The plan adopted
by the Board is, to select such points of
destitution as may exist, and appoint
such ministers to fill them as live near
these points, and pay them for the
time they occupy in supplying them.
| This is no less economical than it is
ju»t. In this way, the Board has aided
in supplying destitute places within
the time suggested, in which five good,
substantial, growing churches have
been organized, and in which one that
had gone into practical disintegration,
has been re-organized, and is now a
large, prosperous body. When a new
church is organized, the Board gener
ally supplements the salary of the pas
tor to a small extent, for.a year or two,
until they can build a house and help
themselves. Thus, in a quiet, unosten
tatious way, we doubt if any Associa
tion in Alabama has done more effi
cient, permanent missionary work with
the means and within the time, than
has been done by this body. And ob
serve, reader, all this is to be attributed,
I mainly at least, to the donation of that
wise and pious Christian man, William
Jenkins. Thus he “has laid up a good
foundation against the time to come
thus his “works do follow him,” and
will continue to follow him for many,
, many long years.
ALABAMA LETTER.
I [The little delay which has occurred
I in publishing the following communi
: cation from our brother W. Wilkes,
, but it has lost none of its interest by
i such delay.—Ed.]
Dear Index: In writing a line
for your columns I know I shall not be
censured with nn effort to add a ray to
sunlight. When I used to read your
pages more closely, and the proceedings
of the Georgia State Convention, I was
impressed by the practical wisdom of
■j Atlanta, Georgia, March 27, 1870.
Georgia Baptists, in extending their
circles of counsel and their Convention
committees, so as to reach every corner
of the State, and thereby secure the
sympathies of every grade of talent for
tlie enterprises projected and fostered
otnong them. Guiding influences must
always go downward and outward;
never upward and inward. Any way,
this is true, I think, in human relations.
Our own State denominational outlook
in the main is quite encouraging.
Eight or ten of us Missionaries are
traveling abroad and doing wh;\t we
can. The churches are waking up to
a livelier condition. Much of the field
however, lies yet unoccupied by this
enterprise. The Howard and the Jud
son—grand old institutions—are alive
and flourishing. The Alabama Baptist
is taking root and growing in some
parts of the State. A little more har
monizing would give it wider scope.
All must work together to give the de
sired success. As for me, I shall hope
on and hope ever, until those who man
age the ship shall guide us to some
port.
Secular matters in this State are so
confused, as to render it quite difficult
to say what the true condition is. The
bad signs are, first in the injudicious
expenditures the people make for com
mercial fertilizers, and for uncertain
fruit trees. I doubt very much, if half
the bales of cotton are added to the or
dinary yield in a given community, by
said fertilizers, that are hauled there to
make payment with. And thousands
of dollars are going out of our stinted
finances, among the hills and elsewhere
to pay for such fruit trees as the people
know nothing about. Let us know
what we are doing in sjiending what
little money we have. The second bad
sign is, in the folly of many who try to
run their farms on liorrowed capital at
heavy interest, and on high advances
under mortgage. Inside of our means
we are always safe ; beyond our means
is the sure way to poverty. That class
of farmers who work for what they
have, and have what they work for, are
quite the happiest people and the thrif
tiest I know of. Shun debt, cultivate
industry, economize, live within our
means, —these are the watch-words of
a people’s O«w fwod sign
is, we have all learned to realize that
we are poor. They who know their
condition will provide best for it. Our
State has the resources, the people
should have the wisdom and prudence
to stand high and be prosperous.
W. Wilkes.
Syllaeauga, Alabama, Feb. 17th., 1879.
REV. J. H. KINNE DREW.
This brother, who has been the pas
tor of the Baptist church at Gadsden
for the last two years, has been ap
pointed Agent of the Domestic and
Indian Mission Board of the Southern
Baptist Convention, aiid is now in the
field. We met him at Mount Zion,
Calhoun county, at our appointment
there last Sunday, at which place, con
sidering the short notice we had, and
the fact that we just made our regular
contribution to the State Mission Board,
he received a very creditable amount,
alanit twenty-five dollars, or nearly so.
We most heartily commend him to our
churches as an able minister, and a dis
creet and efficient agent. Brethren, he
will not bore you beyond measure, but
he will make you see and feel the im
portance and privilege of contributing
to a Board that fills an essential place
in our system of benevolent agencies.
IFe are not afraid of agents, and there
fore invited our brother cordially to
visit oi/r churches, and he will be with
us at Alpine next Sabbath. Whenever
men learn to build a six story brick
house without any scaffolding, perhaps
we may learn to carry on these great
enterprises without agencies. The truth
is, the whole plan of redemption is a
grand system of agencies, intermedia
ries, between benefactors and beneficia
ries, and to abate these intermediaries,
these instrumentalities, is to bring
everything, spiritual and temporal, to
a dead-lock. We ought, therefore, to
welcome them, “as the messengers of
the churches and the glory of Christ.”
OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL.
This institution is growing in popu
lar favor. The attendance is larger
than usual, being about one hundred
and fifteen or twenty. The teachers
are doing solid work, and are really
accomplishing more than some other
institutions of larger pretensions. A
full course in this school is almost
equivalent to graduation in many col
. leges. Indeed, the course of instate
j tion presented is almost as thorough
I as appears in most of our college curri
| culums. Professor Dodson, the Princi-
I pal of the school, is indefatigable in his
efforts, possessing the rarest qualifies-
I lions for the position he has filled so
I creditably for several years. It is lo
cated in a moral and religious commu
nity, of sensible, substantial people,
among whom no one need fear to trust
his children or wards. Il is eminently
worthy the patronage of any people.
ORDINATION OF REV. IPAL ,S'.
GRIFFIN.
At ti e February conference of the
Mt. Ziqn Baptist church, Calhoun
county. Alabama, of which we arc pas
tor, it was resolved to call in a Presby
tery to ordain our brother, W. S. Griffin,
at meeting, who has for
some t-/o or three years been a li
censed preacher. Elders W. C. Mynatt
and E. I'. Smyth were present by invi
tation, and our brother J. 11. kinne
brew, of Gadsdea, now agent of the
Domestic Mission Board, was also pres
ent, whom we cordially invited to par
ticipate -in the exercises. After an
earnest, effective sermon by brother
Mynatt on Saturday, on the text, “My
meat is to do the will of Him that
sent me/ the candidate was examined
as to his experience and call to the
ministry, to the entire satisfaction of
the church and Presbytery. The or
der of exercises for Sunday was :
1. Sermon by brother Kinnebrew. 2.
Ordaining prayer by brother Mynatt.
3. Charge by brother Smyth. 4. Pre
sentation of the Bible by the pastor.
5. Right hand of fellowship by the
Presbytery and church, led by brother
Mynatt.
The exercises throughout were quite
interesting, the large congregation pres
sent manifesting the deepest interest
throughout. Brother Griffin is a young
man of decided promise, both in his
piety and capacities. With but few
early advantages, he has applied him
self to a course of reading, as well as a
discreet exercise of his gifts, un
til he has won upon the respect
and confidence of a large circle of
friends, in all the surrounding country.
Perhaps we seldom meet with any man
of his age and advantages who surpass
es him in the sweet, winning, unctious
spirit of his delivery, as well as the pu
rity, ease and fluency of his style. We
commend him most heartily to the af
fections and confidence of all.
STATE MISSION BOARD.
Our good brother West, of the Ala
bama Baptist, must not hold us respon
sible for^ information he had, and we
did n<\r If he had told us at
receiving* anil disbursing
funds for State Missions, the Alabama
Baptist was acting under the advice
and instructions of our worthy Secreta
ry, we should have made no reference
to him. We might have kindly sug
gested to brother Baily that while we
have as much confidence in brethren
West and Winkler as we could have in
anybody in the Stale for such a service,
yet they were not “nominated in the
bond.” They were not commissioned
by the Convention to attend to that ser
vice. If the little kindness contemplated
by our excellent brother Hudson was
designed as an extra service to worthy
brethren, to supplement a meagre sal
ary, not designed to come under the
juristiction of the Board, all right—we
have nothing to say, and bid them
godspeed in the good work. But if
it was designed to be the work of the
Board, our opinion is unchanged.
What is the use of having a Board,
if its existence is to be ignored in the
collection and disbursing of funds
for State Missions? This we say in all
possible kindness to all parties.
"SPRINKLED ALL OVER WITH
BRA I NSV
What! another foul murder? Oh,
no, reader. Be patient, and I’ll tell
you all about it, if the modest proprie
tors and editor-in-chief will let me. It
all happened in this way : A worthy
minister, who had within the last few
months subscribed for the Index and
Baptist, was in the company of one of
its old patrons in Alabama, and ex
pressed his high gratification at the
singular ability with which the paper
was conducted. “Yes,” responded the
old subscriber, “it always was a good
paper ; but, sir, it is now sprinkled all
over with brains."
Now, will it do any harm for the
worthy brethren who are doing so much
for the entertainment of their patrons,
to know that their services are appreci
ated? If not, I shall hope to see this
little compliment appear in some cor
ner of the paper. Rest assured your
paper is growing in the confidence and
good will of your readers everywhere.
Reporter.
Rev. Dr. Renfroe has been quite ill
for some two weeks—not able to fill his
appointments for two Sabbaths, but we
are glad to' understand that he is now
decidedly convalescent, and that he
will soon be able to enter upon his
work. His aflliction called out a de
gree of sympathy from his church and
community that we have not seen sur
passed.
Gave him as good as he sent, did
you? Called his offences by the “right
names,” eh? Left an arrow rankling in
his breast? See prescription : Proverbs
15: 1. It is worth more than a pound
of chloroform to make you oblivious of
personal injuries. Try it. Luke.
THE CHRISTIAN HERALD,
of Tennessee. ’
The Religious Press.
—The New York Observer says :
The press is the court wherein men are
constantly tried. And we repeat the opinion
that the religious press ought to be swift to
rebuke iniquity in all plaees, but especially
in high places, and in holy places. It is set
for the defence of the right. It is on the
walls and watch towers. If it blows the
trumpet, it should give no uncertain sound.
If it discovers evil in the city, ilia bound to
cry aloud and spare not. Its interest and its
duty dictate this service.
This is just what The Index thinks,
but some of our contemporaries, ad
mitting that a man in a high and holy
place has done a very wrong thing, (as
recently at St. Louis,) gives him a good
trouncing with a bunch of roses, the
thorns having been previously removed
with care.
—The Christian Observer (Ky.) tells
us that the Presbyterian Publishing
Company has issued a new book by'
Rev. Mr. Gallaher, entitled “Short
method with dipping anti-Pedobap
tists,” dedicated to all who may be in
terested in knowing the truth. The
dedication is said to be very “respectful
and affectionate.” If this be so, the
dedication must be different from the ti
tle,for the word dippers is generally used
as one of reproach. The Observer says :
In its character the book is peculiarly ag
gressive, and hence it leads in a forward
movement upon the Immenionist cohorts.
Some great general has observed, the army
that remains in its trenches is in most dan
ger of defeat. The Pedobaptists have been
mainly content to remain in their trenches,
very reluctant even to repel attack, to say
nothing ot aggressive movements upon their
opponents. It there is another book mainly
designed to lead in a forward aggressive
movement, it is not known to your corres
pondent. All the baptismal works he knows
anything of, are able and convincing replies
on lines of attack chosen by “the dippers’'
themselves, which is just to their mind.
As we are of “the dippers,” we should '
like to know whether Mr. Gallaher will
attack the baptism of believers. If 1
this is the object of attack, we feel easy. '
Will he make an onslaught on immer
sion as baptism! Still we feel safe.
The Observer proceeds:
Nothing can please the dippers more than
the multiplication of such controversial writ
lings. Books like Mr. Gallaher's will cause
our opponents to change front, and take the
defensive, or thtey uiiist tost undlr (he terri
ble indictment of leaching a doctrine of bap«
tisrn that owes its origin to the gross igno
rance and supers*itious ritualism of the dark
ages, but illu-trit-d and defended in modern
times by a scholarship remarkable for its
learning and diligeut research, and yet a
seho arship endowed with an almost suiter
human ingenuity in garbling and perverting
hi-to ical facts and in elaborately framing
fallacious assumptions.
We are pleased to see that those who
differ with us have so “changed front”
as to allow to us “a scholarship remark
able for learning and research, and an
almost superhuman ingenuity.” We
can well remember when we were ridi
culed (though always unjustly) for
want of scholarship and for great ob
tuseness. So the world does move.
Perhaps the time will come when Mr.
Gallaher will discover that some of the
things which he disputes are not only
almost superhuman, but quite so. But
here is the same old—what shall we
call it? Well, we shall call it a misap
prehension.
This dipping is palmed off on many thou
sands as God's Word, and made an indispen
sable prerequisite to Christian fellowship.
One who puffs up a book on “dipping
anti-Pedobaptists” ought to know that
the body of God’s people whom he calls
by that name in no case make baptism
“an indispensable requisite to Christian
fellowship.” We hope that he who
misrepresents us is himself one of
God’s eject, and that it was in igno
rance that he made the misstatement.
As a specimen of the great power of
the book which is to work such won
ders among us “dippers,” and cause us
to change our front, the following is
given as what the author says about
“much water
To give a taste of the author’s method, let
us quote what he says about “much water:”
'I fie Greek and Syriac of John 3: 23, read
"many waters or fountains.” This reading
is confirmed by Dre. Robinson and Barclay.
‘ The place is about six miles northeast of
Jerusalem. Many springs burst from the
rocky crevices at various intervals for some
miles.” The only reason the “many springs”
are ment oned at all, is the fac'that John
and Christ's disciples were both baptizing in
the same vicinity. If “much water” had
bi t n what John wanted, he need not have
left Jordan, for all that season (spring) the
Jordan <>vet (lowed all its banks. There was
too "much water” in quantity, and "too im
pure in quality” for John's symbol baptism,
for which reason John left the Jordan.
No! Well we shall not change our
front, and shall not attempt to defend
ourselves, anti what wo have now said
about this book is probably more than
will be said by any other Baptist writer
in the world.
P. 8. We have just noticed that we
have been quoting from a correspondent
of the Observer, and not from the paper
itself. N’importe!
—The, Evangel is a Baptist paper
published in Han Francisco, Cal. We
make from its columns the following
extract calling attention to the fact
that Dr. Kalloch is the pastor of the
church called The Temple :
The night of the long talked of Temple
Pastor's benefit, was one of the most inclem-
Whole No. 2362.
ent of the year. “Everybody” supposed the
lecture would be postponed. But too many
assembled to allow of this. And too few
assembled to make it much of a “benefit.”
The lecture on “California,” its advantages,
dangers and destiny, was pronounced by all
who heard it one of the best that has ever
been delivered. It is new, fresh and spicy,
being full of information even for old Cali
fornians. He is importuned on every hand
to repeat it. And he needs the assistance
which a repetition would give him. He
must have some financial help immediately.
He looked to the proceeds of this lecture to
furnish it. But as the stoim interfered with
this, the Trustees have advised that the Tem
ple be given for the use of the pastor, and
alt the proceeds of the lecture Sunday even
ing, and that the price of admission be
twenty-five cents. It is believed that Dr.
Kalloch’s friends will crowd the house on
this occasion, aud for this object, and it is
desired to have the price of admission so
low that all his friends may join in it. If it
is filled, he will receive enough from it to
relieve him from some very pressing embar
rassments in which be would not be involved
bad his last year’s salary been fully paid.
A full bouse Sunday evening will make
everything right. Let all his friends be pres
ent in force. Parties having paid fir the (1
tickets can exchange them for others, ad
mitting them Sunday evening, at The Evan
gel office.
M e should like to make some com
ments on the above, but we feel incom
petent to do justice to the subject, and
hence we leave each reader to do his
own thinking.
—TheNew York Observer thus amu
ses itself and its readers, speaking of
Modern Development :
A recent writer, proving the origin of
man in the lower races of animals, points
out that in the dog in embryo the develop
ment of the brain became somewhat marked,
and the tail became longer. But in the em
bryo of man there was the greatest change,
but with this difference between it and that
of the dog, that in the human embryo the
tail developed by gniwing gradually shorter.
So with the theory itseli: the more you
look at it tie less it grows: 4 developes
“by growing gradually shorter.” Small by
degress aud beautifully less.
—The Southern Christian Advocate,
(Charleston, S. C.) reaches the root of
the matter:
It is all nonsense to talk of legal enact
ments to suppress outrages which public
opinion allows to go “unwhipt of justice.”
The trouble is, we have not recovered from
war's demoralization. Human life is held
at too cheap a price. Judges and juries
have been too much inclined to make allow
ances for the beat of passion, aggravating
eirvumsumcet,'undoes Ixciiement, and the
like. The press has been al ogether too
tame upon the subject. It has rather been
too anxious to pand-r to the sensational taste
of the dav, forgetful of the higher duty it
owed to soebty, ever to rai e its voice in no
unmeaning tom-s against ou rage in whatev
er shape or fom whatever source it may
come.
Just what The Index has been pay
ing all the time!
—The Episcopal Methodist, (Balt.)
preaches a very sound theology in the
following sentences:
Our Church does not teach that men are
adopted into the family of God befo-e r<-g-n«
eration; forthat would be to teach that God
received into his family unrenewed men, or
those who w« re still pressed of a sinful na
ture There can be no safer condition
than th it which involves a change from sin
unto holimss
We can well remember when this
was not the doctrine preached by the
Methodist brethren in our neighbor
hood, and we suspect that some of
them would scarcely agree to it now.
But we are glad to shake hands with
our Baltimore brother, and hope that
among his people there are many more
of the same sort.
—The Presbyterian (Phil.) forgets
itself thus:
If the yellow fever and p'ague both would
break in among the politicians it might be
a blessing And if some considerable
part would go the way of their more deserv
ing fellow-citizens in the last plague, it
might be a blessing in disgui-e. The fact
would be wor hy < fa place in our next No
vember Thanksgiving sermons.
Our usually sober-minded brother,
sometimes gets out of patience, and on
this occasion has, we think, spoken
unadvisedly with his pen. His refer
ence is chiefly or wholly to Southern
politicians; but if we can bear with
his politicians we think he might bear
with ours. If all the politicians North
and South were made better men by
the sweet influence of God's truth and
of his Spirit, we should like to join in
the “Thanksgiving Services.”
The Independent, (N. Y.) thinks it a
pity that a few of the rebels had not
been hanged. Wo are sorry for the
Independent. His frame of mind ap
pears to be unsanctified, and if so he
must be very unhappy. For our part
we lamented that the loss of life was
so great, and are surprised that any
should wish there had liccn more.
—The Lutheran Standard, (Colum
bus, Ohio) makes a good point:
One gets the impression, in reading a cer
tain class of liberal writers, that in their es
timation the essence of Christianity lies sim
ply in the exercise of certain affections,
whatever may be the object, so that if we only
love somethmg heartily and call that some
thing God, all is well. To them the doc
trine of the Trinity is wholly indifferent,
as according to their theory it answers just
■ as well to love a god of our own devising as
1 to l«>ve the God who haa revealed Himself
.in Holy Scriptures. Religion is with them
a kind of spiritual gymnastics, whose whole
virtue lies in the exercise. That such peo
ple cannot see anything but bigotry end un
charitableness in earnerly contending for
the faith once deliverer! to the saints, is quite
natural. Seeing no need of Christ, how could,
they appreciate the value of the true faith?