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VOL. 59.
Table of Contents.
First Page—Alabama Department: The
Priority of Regeneration; The End of
Faith /The Religious Press.
Second Page—Our Pulpit: Systematic Bene*
licence, an Address by Rev. 8. P. Calla
way, West Point, Ga.; The Sunday school
—Lesson for February 20, “The Preaching
of Jesus;" Missionary Department.
Third Page—Children’s Corner: Bible Ex
plorations: Correspondence; A Story for
the Little Girls and Boys.
Fourth Page—Editorials: The Slain ; China
In the Pu’pit: Baptist Loss by Fire; The
Jews in New York City ; Important No
tice.
Fifth Page—Secular Editorials: News Para
graphs ; The National Capitol—lllustra
ted ; Unqujet Europe ; Books and Maga
zines ; Georgia News.
Sixth Page—The Household: The Master’s
Call—poetry; A True Story of a New
Year’s Pie; The Ready Hand; Triplet
Maxims, etc. Obituaries.
Seventh Page—The Farmer’s Index : Com
posts vs. Commercial Fertilizers; Check
ing Cotton ; An Inquiry ; The Oat Crop;
Early Corn ; Distribution of Seeds.
Eighth Page—Florida Department: Miscel
laneous and News Items; From Peniel;
Letter From Brother Hughes; Associa
tions. ~;
Alabama Department.
BY SAMUEL HENDERSON.
THE PRIORITY OF REGENERA
TION.
There are two things which mark
the utter depravity of our fallen race,
on. which the word of God Ijyjp G*jpe
peated emphasis, an emphasis which
the dullest comprehension cannot mis
take. These are, first, that in our un
regenerate state, our state of natural
enmity against God, we are in darkness,
and, secondly, we are blind. Os course,
those are natural symbols to represent
our spiritual condition. Now, we can
no more create spiritual light than we
can create a natural sun ; and we can
no more createspiritual eyes thanwe can
make natural eyes. There would be
no force in the symbols unless that
much at least was imported by them.
These are the barriers that have to be
overcome before any body can be saved.
No real Christian on earth will deny
this. Now, what the Bible affirms is
this—that the Word and Spirit of God
combined constitute the only power
that ever can remove, or remedy this
double incapacity, this darkness and
blindness of man as fallen. The gos
pel of the grace of God supplies the
light. Christ, as the embodiment of
that light oould truly affirm, “I am
the light of the world.” and his minis
try and Church, as mirrors, are repre
sented also as “the light of the world
that is, the light of the world as the
recipients and reflectors of the light of.
this “sun of righteousness.” They
only give out what they receive.
But is simple light all that the blind
need? What is the difference between
night and day to those who have no
eyesight? To all such, the darkness
and the light are both alike. The
sightless eyeballs of the blind are of
no more benefit to them at midday
than at midnight. It is to this state
of blindness that Paul refers in II Cor.
4134,—“8ut if our gospel be hid, it is
hid to them that are lost: in whom the
God of this world hath blinded the
minds of themwhich believe not,lest the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ,who
is the image of God, should shine unto
them.” Let us express the whole of
this in one sentence, by aslight change
of imagery: Sin, which is the product
of satanic power, deadened the spiritual
nerve that united man to God origin
ally, and man is just as powerless tore
store it, as he was at first to create it.
In this condition of alienation from
God we “are dead in trespasses and
sins.” The power that ‘quickeneth’ us,
or that regenerates us, —for these we
use as convertible terms —or, to refer
to our first imagery, the power that
dispels this darkness, and gives sight
to the blind—is the same power that
created and organized this world for
man’s habitation; for this saith the
Apostle,—“For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness,
[when He said ‘Let there be light, and
there was light,’] hath shined into our
understanding to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ.”-God, economizes
his resources-He never does that for
SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST.
of Alabama.
man that man can do for himsc If.
When, therefore, He declares, in terms
which it is impossible to mistake, that
the work of salvation, from the first to
the last step, is his work, we are given
to understand that we are powerless to
do it, and if He does not do it, it will
for ever remain undone.
Now, we are prepared to raise this
question—B7i«t is the first step that
marks the return of the sinner to God?
We know it has grown into a proverb,
that “it is the first step that costs.”
This is true in reference to all enter
prises ; but in the matter of salvation,
it is doubly true. Is this first step the
product of human or divine power?
If of human, then all the subsequent
steps may be, yes, are, the product of
the same power. If of divine power,
then ali the after steps are the result
of that p iwer. Our affirmation is, that
this first step is regeneration—the
quickening of the Spirit—the import
ation of spiritual sensibility, to a soul
that was “dead in trespasses and sins.”
Activity is no less the sign of natural
than it is the sign of spiritual life
Where there is activity, motion, pro
gress of the soul towards God, that is
the evidence of life—life towards God.
Repentanc is the first work of that
new life — repentance towards God,”
because-that new life directs to God.
The light to reveal, and the sensibility
to perceive and feel, are both the pro
duct of the “quickening Spirit.” Ob
jective truth md subjective capacity are
both of the same spirit. Os course the
first effect is to reveal ourselves —to
show us “the exceeding sinfulness of
-shn* 1 This is the first sign of spiritual
life. Nor does it make any thing
against this view of the subject that
there are many spurious cases of what
man call repentance. An inspired
Apostle draws the distinction between
the spurious and the real so clearly
that we need be in no doubt about it.
The one he calls “the sorrow T of the
world that worketh death.” It lacks
the element of spirituality, is self-evol
ved, and leaves the man where it found
him —“dead in trespasses and sins.”
The other being the product of the
Spirit, is a “godly sorrow’ that worketh
repentance to salvation not to be re
pented of.” And this is not surprising
when we analize this inwrought repen
tance. Our same Apostle has done this
to our hand in his own masterful man
ner. “For behold this self-same thing,
that ye sorrow’ed after a godly sort,
what carefulness it wrought in you, yea,
what clearing of yourselves, yea, what
indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what
vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea,
what revenge!” Look at this picture
of genuine penitence, reader, and say
whether any agency short of “that
Spirit that searcheth all things, yea,
the deep things of God,” can inspire it.
Now, if these exercises are not eviden
ces of spiritual life, it will be difficult
to say what are such evidences.
This “repentance towards God” leads
the soul to the exercise of “faith to
towards our Lord Jesus Christ,” and
this is the next step. Repentance re
spects God as the law maker—faith
respects Christ as the law keeper. The
one deplores the infractions of law
the other joyfully accepts the law as
“honored and magnified” by our Re
deemer. The one recognizes the justice
of its penalties in consigning the trans
gressor to a fiery doom —the other em
braces that glorious substitute who ex
hausted those penalties for us on Cal
vary. The one liberally shuts us up to
the provisions of the other; and both
are the product of the same Spirit
whose office is to “convince the world
of sin, of righteousness, and of judg
ment,” in inspiring repentance, and
then taking the things of Christ and
“showing them” to us, in enabling us
to believe.
The truth is, the Christian life “be
’ gins in the Spirit,” as an apostle de
. dares, is perpetuated in the Spirit, for
we “walk in the Spirit,” and are con
summated by the Spirit, for the be
• liever “dies in the Lord,” and ‘ the
' Lord is that Spirit.” So that from
>< the first inception of this divine work
in the soul, through all its stages to its
close, it is the work of the Spirit. And
’ as there is motion, progress towards
. God from the first to the last, we set it
, down as a capital fundamental princi
, pie, tanght in the word of God, that
1 the quickening, the life-giving power
. of the Spirit, is the first t’ep. This
THE FRANKLIN STEAM PRINTING HOUSE.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1881.
we call regeneration. The comfort,
the joy, the peace, that comes of a re
alizing view of Christ as “the end of
the law for righteousness,” may belong
delayed. With Paul, it was “three
days,” with others it may be a longer
or a shorter time. But whenever Paul
commenced relating his “Christian ex
perience,” as we call it, he always com
menced on the event that occurred
in the memorable “journey to Damas
acus.” Paul never forgot that hour
when he was “apprehended,” when the
first impressions of spiritual life thrilled
his soul, inspiring the exclamation,
“Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
It lingered in his memory to the mo
ment of his martyrdom—nay, we
doubt not that from his happy home
in the heavenly Jerusalem to-day, he
still looks back on that event as the
transition step that decided the char
acter of his whole after life. So that
we repeat what we said in a previous
article, that repentance and faith are as
much the work of the Spirit, and be
long as much to our Christian experi
ence, as any spiritual exercises of our
whole religious life. If any spiritual
gifts, capacities, exercises, or what not,
can prove that we have been regenera
ted by the Spirit of God, these two,
repentance and faith, must ever occu
py the first place, both in the order of
time and of importance. If these be
not the product of the Spirit, in his
life-giving power, it will be difficult to
show that anything is wrought in us
by the Spirit.
This is our answer to a worthy
brother who excepts to some views we
rather casually threw out in a previous
article. They are, as we believe, foun
ded upon the testimony of the Script
ures, as well as the experience of Chris
tians, when rightly considered. The
confusion of good brethren on this sub
ject, we are persuaded, arises from
confounding the work of the “quick
ening Spirit” with the “joy of faith,”
the consummation with the inception.
We date the birth of a child from the
hour it enters into the world, not from
the hour it comes to a personal con
sciousness of existence; and so we
date the spiritual birth of a Christian
from the hour of his first spiritual ex
ercises, not from the hour in which the
new life matures into the “assurance
of faith.” That it has reached this
maturity is sufficient evidence of its
existence; and that existence dates
back to the time when God’s people
first “ask the way to Zion with their
faces thitherward . . . going and weep
ing .. . and seeking the Lord their
God, saying, Come, and let us join our
selves to the Lord in a perpetual cove
nant that shall not be forgotten.” Jer.
50 : 5. It begins in the tears of peni
tence —it ends in the hallalujah of
heaven!
THE END OF FAITH. •
“Wonderful elasticity of the human
mind,” says a worthy author, “that
causes it to bend to the pressure of
circumstances!” The exclamation was
inspired by the sight of an aged man,
descending the abrupt side of the hill
of life, still amusing himself with what
ever crossed his path, still clinging to
life and its enjoyments with the zest
of his earlier years, though in sight of
the dark river through the waves of
which he was so soon to strike for the
other shore. May we not respond,
wonderful elasticity of the Christian
faith that causes it to bend to the
pressure of every affliction and dis
appointment, that yields in the end
“the peaceable fruits of righteousness!”
For what may not faith do in the
midst of life’s calamities? What has
it not done to wrench victory from the
very jaws of despair! How many “songs
in the night” has it given to the weary
suffering pilgrim! It made Elisha
stronger, with his body guard of celes
tial warriors, than all the hosts of apos
tate Israel. It made Daniel stronger
in the lion’s den, than all lions around
him and all his accusers. It made
Paul and Silas stronger in the. inner
prison, of the Phillipian jail than all
the stocks, and bolts, and bars of their
prison, with jailer and trusty soldiers
besides. It converted the isle of Pat
mos, whither John had been banished,
into a celestial palace, in which the
King of Zion held his court, surround
ed by the shining battalions of angels
to wait upon Him. Christian! read
the eleventh chapter of Hebrews,
and study it until you catch some of
the spirit of those noble men and wo
men whose mighty deeds are there re
corded. Imagine yourself compassed
about with that “cloud of witnesses,”
all gazing upon you while you are in
the thick of the fight, and animating
you to the like deeds. Hear their col
lected voices as they speak to you by
their example, “Be ye followers of us
who now inherit the promises!” And
above all look to Jesus,the grand central
attraction of the heavenly Jerusalem,
and hear Him say from his lofty seat,
“He that overcometh shall sit down
with me upon my throne, even as I
also overcame and am set down with
my Father upon his throne!” Does not
your heart swell with joy asyou contemp
late that unnumbered throng, presided
over by the dearest name of which
heaven can boast, and realize that you
will ere long be there? Then know
for your comfort, that you are in the
kingdom of heaven, and that grace
manured is glory begun.
The Religious Press.
“It is a rare thing that a man is written
down by his enemies, but it often happens
that he is written down by himself." —Na-
tional Baptist.”
“That will do for some brethren to con
sider who write for the papers.” —Baptist
Reflector.
“Not long ago, in the Snpre ne Court in
Barnstable, Massachusetts, thirty out of the
thirty two cases brought up in the court
wen- divorce cases.” —Lecture of the Rev. C.
C. Goss in New York.
Aliere is work for the pulpit, the press,
•nd the Legislature in New England. We
may need reform in some matters in the
South, but it will not be wise for our North
ern brethren to expend all their reformato
ry zaal and energy so far from home.—Bap
tist Reflector.
AD the duties of the Bible are to be done;
and all the doctrines of the Bible are to be
received, whether we can understand them
or not. As to this or that doctrine, our only
inquiry should be, What is it? And then,
Is ft in the Bible ? If it is, it is the witness
of God, and should be received, fortlie Bible
is his witness, and the whole Bible is to be
received as such, with all its doctrines and
duties. The Scriptures principally teach
w .at man is to believe concerning God. and
v hat duty God requires of man.—Presbyte
rian Banner.
Yes, the statements of doctrine in
the Bible are addressed to our credence,
not to our philosophy. God’s testimo
ny is to be received, whether we un
derstand it or not. Do not little child
ren accept the word of their parents?
Shall we not much rather accept the
word of our Father in heaven ? If the
wise ones of this world could only get
their consent to become ns little child
ren they would soon become much
wiser than they will ever otherwise be.
If money can control the decision at the
ballot box, it will not be long until it can
control its existence. —Gov. Gray, of Indi
ana.
And everybody knows that the bal
lot-box can be controlled by money. ,
As a simple matter of melancholy fact
the prevailing fashion of alternate fevers
and chills does not answer the end of church
life.—Congregationalist.
Let us give to the fashion the credit
that it deserves. It increases the num
ber of names on the church-book very
largely ; and it affords fine opportuni
ty for boasting of the number of “souls
saved.”
Dr. Phelps, of Andover, is right in saying:
"Tbe most successful preachers are large
debtors to their predecessors. Au evangelist
whom worshiping con verts throng is always
a reaper of the fruit of the toil of one or
more hard-worked, overworked, and it may
ne, discouraged pastors.”
Some of our ablest preachers seem
not to be greatly blest in the number
of souls given to them. It seems so,
but we do not believe that it is so. God
never underpays his workmen. He
who faithfully and prayerfully incul
cates sound doctrine, is saving souls
whether there be any visible results of
his ministry or not. The word of God
is never preached in vain.
In ancient times, and before Christianity
began to soften down the ferocity of man,
there were constant wars, and almost every
where. Now, although the news is flashed
to us from every quarter of the globe, the
entire world is at peace, with the three ex
ceptions of South America, South Africa,
and Central Asia, and neither of these wars
is of great magnitude. It is not at all im
probable that before a year has passed away,
we shall be able to chronicle the heering
fact that-there is indeed “peace > e irth.
Evangelical Messenger.
j THE CHRISTIAN HERALD,
( of Tennessee.
Those who are ashamed to go to the Lu
theran church because it is located in an ob
scure place and is frequented by poor peo
ple. have yet to learn the first principle of
Christianity. No sincere disciple of Christ
would be swayed by such considerations
If we love the Lord Jesus and the precious
truth which be has given us for our strength
and salvation, we will be glad to go where
that is preached and coniessed, even though
it should be in a log hut and we should be
required to pass the greatest temples of erro
rists to reach it. Those who seek the fash
ionable churches where the wealty congre
gate, and where the society may be of some
social and pecuniary service are not actuated
by Christian motives; and those who from
such motives go to the more splendid and
pretentious churches of the sects can very
readily be spaied from our congregations:
they went out from us because they were
not of us. It is rather a disadvantage than
otherwise for a denomination to love the
fashionable churches, as there is usually
more pomp than piety in them. To the
poor the gospel is preacher!, and a sincere
Christian, however great may be his earthly
possessions, is never ashamed to sit with the
poor at Jesus’ feet.
To all this we respond with a hearty
amen. Let us have the log hut and a
pure gospel rather than a splendid
temple without that pure gospel. But
a caution is needed here. There are
those who will abuse this sentiment.
There are those who will worship, or
pretend to worship, in a wretched cab
in simply because they are too parsi
monious to build a comfortable and
respectable house, and who quote such
sayings as the above in justification of
their course. In avoiding pride nomi
nally, they fall into meanness really.
The house of God ought to be at least
as good as the average of the houses
occupied by those who worship in it.
But if nothing better is possible, then
he is not a true disciple who is not
willing to worship in even so mean a
place as a den or a cave of the earth.
An exchange rightly says : “Coaxing the
devil to support the gospel is a modern de
vice. The Primitive Church kne v nothing
of it. When Paul was collecting funds to
aid poor saints at Jerusalem, he used no
fairs, festivals, ‘mum sociables,’ kissing
games, or other sacrilegious snares to accom
plish his object. The Christians paid their
own bills, and did not expect Satan to pay
for tee weapons which they used in warfare
against him. When the devil does support
a church, he does so in his own interest.
He carries on his own operations with a full
knowledge of the fact that ‘a kingdom divi
did against itself cannot stand.’ For every
dollar paid out of his coffers to the church
he receives full value Church partnership
with the evil one never benefits the former,
but always the latter. Hands off!”
And thus wisely discourseth the
Standard :
The pastor should study church history in
order to keep cool. The calming influence
of a knowledge of the career of God's people
since the call of tbe “father of the faithful”
is not slight. The phenomena of national
life, the deve'opments ot human nature, the
recurrence of radical questions and difficul
ties, the struggles of men with evil, and the
encounters of the church with traditional
heresy,—an acquaintance with centuries of
such as these, most powerfully fortifies one
against wild and fanatical states of mind.
The fierce and furious demagogue and dis
turber of the peace is, as a general thing,
one who knows little of the past, and as
sumes to care nothing for by-gone issues and
occurrences. The wise and prudent states
man is the one who has familiarized himself
with the history of nations and political re
formations. So the safest leaders of the
church are those who have studied deepest
into the lessons taught by the events ot its
past history.
Keeping cool! We like the expres
sion. Many are greatly distressed
when somebody says 10l here, or lo!
there, and they tremble for the safety
of the ark. If they only knew that
these same things have been said many
times before, without serious detriment
to any except to those who said them,
perhaps they would be able to keep
cool. History is but the experience of
the past on record*, and experience
keeps us hopeful. Ro. 5. 4. The ark
is safe.
Moreover some of our brethren who
love to be spoken of as belonging to the
“tremendous” order, if they were better
acquainted with history, would perhaps
not be so tremendous. It is much
harder to prove some things historic
ally than some people imagine. A
good deal of noise would subside if
there were more knowledge ; and many
things which ought not to be debated
would never be debated more, and the
energy expended in profitless discus
sions would be devoted to something
of value, and much acrimonious feel
ing would be avoided. Knowledge is
a great pacifier.
Much has been said of late about
modern miracles, and the ‘prayer
cure.” We have not seen the true doc
trine on that subject better expressed
han in the following paragraph from
Zion’s Advocate— a paragraph which
we think will not be improved upon:
We believe the days of miracles are past,
but not the days in which God is to mani
fest his power in answer to prayer. We will
still kneel by the sick bed ano pray Gcd to
spare the precious life. Marvellous are the
instances in which one has been brought
nigh to the gates of the grave and been raised ,
tip again, and in many cases we believe it
has bten owing to earnest, fervent supplica
tion. Yet in these cases God may work by
natural laws; by quickening the vital forces;
by exciting the will to unwonted action, by
imparting to the physici in unusual skill, by
suggesting the choice of new remedies, by
many ways that never would have been
suggested bad prayer not been offered and
Divine guidance sought. This is our doc
trine of the ‘prayer-cure.’
A Georgia paper says:
Gold is found in thirty-six counties in this
State, silver in three, copper in thirteen,
iron in forty-three, diamonds in twenty six,
and whisky in all of them; and the last gets
away with all the rest.
Putting Off .—A preacher determined to
preach on the text, “Now is the accepted
time ; now is the duty of salvation." While
in his study thinking he fell asleep and
dreamed be was carried into hell, and sat
down in the midst of a conclave of lost
spirits. They were assembled to devise
means to get at the souls of men. One rose
aud said :
“1 will go the earth and tell men that the
Bible is all a fable—-that it is not divinely
appointed of God.”
“No, that will not do,” said another ; “let
me go; I will tell them that there is noGcd,
no Savior, no heaven, no hell,” and at the
last word a fiendish smile lightened up their
countenances.
“No, that will not do; we cannot make
men believe that.”
Suddenly one arose, and with a wise mien,
like the serpent of old, suggested :
“No, I will journey to the world of men,
and tell them that there is a God, that there
is a Savior, that there is a heaven—yes. and
a hell, too--but I will tell them there is no
hurry ; to-morrow will do, it will be ’even
as to day,’ ” and they sent him.
If you measure men and women by the
good they have done you will find many
dwarfs.
But three hundred years ago, a body of
Romish priests made a great fire in Earl
street, Loudon, and burned every copy of
the Bible that could be found, and then con
gratulated ffiemtelves that at last the Bible
was destroyed. To-day, on the very spot
where this fire was built, stands the great
building ot the British and Foreign Bible
Society, where the Bible is printed in one
hundred and seventy-eight different lan
guages; and it may almost be said that an
additional copy comes from the press at
every tick of the clock.—Hartford Religious
Herald.
Once upon a time we heard a brother read
from a paper a set of resolutions compli
mentary ot a certain preacher, and he fin
ished with the remarK, “I wonder what he
has been doing that made that necessary."
Whenever we meet a man with a crutch we
suppose he is lame ; and when we see ajirop
set against a gate post we suppose the poet
is rotten. No minister should allow himself
to be endorsed too much—Baptist Record.
The philosophy of Mr. Josh Billings
brings him to these conclusions : don’t
insist upon pedigree for man or horse. It a
horse kan trot fast the pedigree is all right :
If he kan’t I wouldn't give a shilling a yard
for his pedigree.”
To spend a fortune in drink and then
commit suicide was a purpose deliberately
formed by a man in lowa two years ago,
and accomplished on January 11th. The
reports say that he was a farmer who had
accumulated considerable prop rty,and lived
happily with his wife, one daughter, and
four sons, till 1878, when his wife died. He
had been a hard-working, intelligent man,
quiet in demeanor, very temperate in his
habits, and an exemplary citizen. But upon
the death of his wife he became morose and
despondent, neglected his work, and appear
ed to take little interest in either his child
ren or his home. His melancholy increased
as the days went by, and all attempts at
rousing him from bis broodings were vain.
line day the unhappy man disposed of his
farm and stock for cash, and declared bis
purpose to expend the entire sum on drink
and then kill himself. He kept steadfastly
to his purpose, and drank whisky incessant
ly for two years, during the whole of which
time he was in a state of intoxication, but
never lost his peaceable disposition. At
length, on the lltb of January, 1881. when
bis money was reduced to $5, he ended his
existence in this world with a dose of pois
on. Such inconsolable grief is natural to
persons of sensitive feelings, whose whole
hopes are confined to this life. But if the
man had turned his thoughts to "the con
tinuing city” which is to come (Heb. 13:14),
his hope would have revived under his great
bereavement,
. The disclosure of a secret in the home of
an English Jew was dreaded by husband
and wife. It appears that the Jew, unknown
to his wife had, daring twelve months, been
visiting a Christian missionary for instruc
tion ; and the wife, unknown to her bus
band, was at the same time reading the New
Testament given her by a district visitor.
Each was afraid of being discovered by the
other. Quite recently, however, the truth
came out, and instead of betrayal there was
mutual rejoicing. Both husband and wife
have made a confession of Christ Had either
busband or wife possessed the moral courage
true faith in Jesus gives, an earlier disclos
ure would have been made, and both would
have been spared much misery.
NO. 6.
