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17282 mrsJßSmiih ~ J*? k - • L_Col U mbia Mines ga * Jfak if — —- 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.