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VOL. 59.
Table of Contents.
First Page—Alabama Department: Brother
Vapor; “Talk They of Morals;’’ State
News; The Religious Press.
Second Page—Correspondence: Letter from
Brunswick—B. J. Savage ; Jottings by the
Way—J. M. G. Medlock ; Rehoboth Sun
day school Convention; Silver Wedding;
Enon Church ; The Sunday school —Lee-
son for February 27: Christ Healing the
Sick. Missionary Department: What An
swers will we Make; Reports; Does It
Pay ? Progress of Missions.
Third Page—Children’s Corner: Bible Ex
plorations ; The Book of the New Year —
poetry ; A Wintry Visit; etc.
Fourth Page—Editorials : The Conquerors;
Why Call Them Saints? Exact Science.
Fifth Page—Secular Editorials : News Para
graphs ; “Family Memorials” —A Review
of a Baptist Book ; Census of Georgia;
Georgia News.
Sixth Page—The Household: Look Up, Not
Down —poetry ; The Mother’s Power ;
Night Life of Young Men ; Table Dishes.
Seventh Page—The Farmer’s Index: Seed
Com ; Small or Large Farms - Home Sup
ply of Ammonia; Excessive Rain.
Eighth Page—Florida Department: Why
Forty Years in the Wilderness; News
Paragraphs, etc.
Alabama Department.
BY SAMUEL HENDERSON.
BROTHER VAPOR.
We take it that the reader has no
need of a formal introduction to this
brother, as he is pretty extensively
known in our churches. In his boy
hood he was regarded as a genius,
hence his father took great paius to
have him educated. He graduated in
great credit at the University of his
State, and the wildest expectations were
indulged by his friends as to his after
life. But alas, like it is said of a young
wasp, he was bigger at the beginning
of his career than he ever was afterward.
He professed religion and united with
the church in early life, and truth to
say, so far as good intentions and noble
resolves, and I may add, conformity to
not a few of the fundamental princi
ples and practices of Christianity were
concerned, he went through life with
a tolerably fair record. He chose the
legal profession as the only one worthy
of his genius; and could he have kept
in one mind long enough, would cer
tainly have reached some distinction in
his calling, but for a certain mortal
idiosyncrasy by which he never could
discover the connection between the
principles of law and any given case
committed to him. Hence, the uni
formity of his failures at the bar. He
was once employed in a very impor
tant case, on which he had prepared
himself with more than usual care. His
speech occupied over two hours, and it
really was a masterly effort. There
were some as fine passages in it as one
ever hears at the bar. But his usual
luck attended him. He lost the case.
After it was decided, his client came to
a friend, took him aside from the crowd,
and whispered in his ear, “Mr. Vapor
is the most learned fool I ever saw!”
Brother Vapor’s great forte was in
building “air castles.” On the common,
every day matters of life, he was rather
dull in conversation, and would often
betray some little restiveness when they
were discussed in social circles. But in
the regions of speculation, he would
tower —his conceptions would glow
with a brilliancy perfectly captivating,
especially to strangers. Sometimes the
financial interests of his church would
be up for consideration, and brother
Vapor always thought that in the
management of finances he could beat
Girard, albeit he spent two good for
tunes that he in his wild schemes had
inherited. But on such occasions he
was perfectly at home. He could tell
to a tittle just how to raise any given
salary for the pastor, or any other
church fund. And then byway of
“showing his faith by his” words, he
would subscribe any amount the exi
gency might demand, and-seldom pay
it. During the several years of our ac
quaintance with him, he never paid
half a dozen of the sums he subscribed.
His purse never kept in sight of his
impulses. On one occasion, he elab
orated a scheme to grow rich suddenly,
which, under his vigorous fancy, as-
SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST. |
or Alabama. j
sumed the most prodigious proportions.
Being a very benevolent man, he resol
ved to take half a dozen of his best
friends into the speculation. All that
was needed was, for each one of the
party to advance a few hundred dol
lars in cash, and by the magic touch of
his genius, these hundreds would soon
become thousands, and the thousands
in their turn become millions. He came
to us, with the “figures and facts,”
which you know, reader, cannot lie,
and demonstrated, yes, demonstrated to
his own entire satisfaction, that accord
ing to all the laws of trade, there could
be no failure. But whether from our
native obtuseness to see very acurately
into the future, or whether from im
pecuniosity, or whether from some other
cause, we were forced to decline invest
ing, and thus lost the grand op
portunity (!) of our life to be rich! We
begged to assure him, that we were
greatly obliged to him for his kindly
offer, but that we had a great dread of
having so much money suddenly thrust
upon us by the “wheel of fortune,”
that it was about all we could do to
manage what little we had; that to in
crease our cares to such an amazing
extent might be perilous to all our
spiritual interests; and that after all,
we rather thought the Master had al
ready entrusted us with about all the
talents we could safely improve. But
how did the scheme end? In Vapor,
reader, in smoke! But no mirage ever
enchanted the weary traveler over the
Saharan desert so completely as did
this sublime air castle, the fancy of
brother Vapor.
We used to indulge the experiment
of announcing some sentiment that
would cross the cherished convictions
of our brother V., just td draw him out.
And it was entertaining to a degree to
see him rise from his seat, and pour
out invectives upon our heresy in the
finest diction one ever hears. We al
ways felt compensated for the rasping
he gave us, in the brilliancy of his con
ceptions and the gorgeousness of his
rhetoric.
The reader may well suppose that
brother Vapor had a more than com
monly excitable temperament. We
have known him fume over the little
annoyances of life more than General
Lee did after the battle of Gettysburg.
This constant friction of his restive
mind upon the outer man told very
sadly and very prematurely upon his
health; and he became in his latter
days a confirmed valetudinarian.
Scarcely any disease is described in our
medical books but that he would im
agine he had it. He used to meet us
on the street and ask us to feel his
pulse, and give an opinion as to what
fatal disease was preying upon him.
This we had to do with great gravity,
for he was sensitive as he was eccentric.
But dear man! he passed away several
years ago, and we doubt not has ex
changed the shadows he pursued so
constantly on earth for those sublime
realities which transcend his wildest
fancy in his halcyon days. If his career
here was a failure, we rejoice to believe
that his career there will be glorious
beyond all expression. Peace to his
ashes!
‘•talk thTvy OF MORALS."
It is interesting to observe with
what coolness political maxims are
put forth which are in utter defiance
of every moral truth. For instance,
take tne following from that great
master of State craft, Machivelli: “To
be invaribly deceitful, is as great an
error in politics as to be systematically
straightforward.” That is to say, to
be “systematically straightforward” is
in politics, as erroneous, as criminal,
shall we say, as to be “invariably de
ceitful!” Open, systematic candor is
on the same level with confirmed de
ceit! To bring out the monstrosity of
the maxim, we have but to invert the
terms of the proposition thus : To be
systematically straightforward is as
great an error in politics, as to be in
variably deceitful! Thus in the ’do
main of politics, one single maxim sets
aside every principle of honor, integ
rity, and fair dealing among men, and
when success is involved, truth and
candor become crimes, and falsehood
and deceit become virtues. The whole
duality of virtues and their opposing
vicesexchange places and natures, the
virtues becoming crimes to be inter-
THE FRANKLIN STEAM PRINTING HOUSE.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1881.
dieted, and the vices becoming
imperative duties to be obeyed. This is
the plain English of the maxim.
We do not know to what extent our
American politicians are instructed in
the school of European "state craft,”
to which the renowed Machiavelli has
contributed his learning and geniys.
But one thing is patent to all: If
promises are only made tp be broken—
if political “platforms” are only con
structed for the credulous, and then
forgotten— if the most blatant protes
testations of patriotism are the mere
mask of the boldest hypocrisy—if offi
ces from the Presidency down are to be
purchased with money or obtained by
fraud and stealth—if political caucuses
and conventions are mostly animated
by the one presiding spirit that every
principle of honor and duty, of truth
and justice, are to be sacrificed to the
one controlling factor, success—if the
desire for office has become a passion
so absorbing as to nullify the whole
decalogue, stultify the conscience, per
vert justice, so that men “call darkness
light, and light darkness”—if all this
is true with such honorable exceptions
as make the rule so revolting a realty—
then the time is not distant when the
American politician will, instead of be
ing the learner, be the teacher of the
Old World in this complicated science.
No man can say that this picture is
overdrawn. How long the sinews that
bind our grand old political fabric to
gether can bear the stress of such a
weight of depravity, it is not becom
ing in us to answer. Suffice it, that
everything earthly has its limit. It is
a fearful experiment to ascertain just
how much our cherished common
wealth can bear, and yet survive. Far
better adopt the opposite test—how
smal\can we make the burdens to be
borne both by our General and State
governments. Could we all be anima
ted by this principle, then we might
repeat with patriotic pride "Esto per
petua.”
It will be useless to expect any re
formation in this respect, so long as
“we the people,” by a perversion of
the ballot, put a premium upon false
hood and deceit, and a discount upon
truth and candor. Men will continue
to do what they are paid to do. Alas,
are not men depraved enough without
being rewarded for their depravity?
Indeed, could we place every premium
on the side of virtue and morality—on
the side of “systematic straightforward
ness,” that would still leave depravity
enough to awaken the profoundest con
cern of every worthy citizen of our
country. The highest rewards we
could offer to moral excellence, could
only lessen without exterminating
those evils which set in with our fall,
which have made up the bulk of our
history, and which- divine grace only
can heal.
Still there remains to us the abiding
conviction, that “the Lord God om
nipotent reigneth.” He can make
“depravity fight depravity.” He
“maketh the wrath of man to praise
him.” Ambition may pursue its wily,
tortuous lines of policy—it may set at
defiance every purpose save the grati
fication of its own lust for power—it
may essay to trample upon every prin
ciple of right and justice—nay, the
very wail of distress it may evoke,
may be the sweetest lullaby that
charms its ears; —but “He that si t
teth in the circuit of the heavens” can
say to it, as He said to Sennacherib
careering in crime, “I will put my hook
in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips,
and I will turn thee back the way by
which thou earnest.” ’ It is something
to know that there is a Power that
can divert that political depravity en
gendered by the strifes of political par
ties upon each other, and th-is preserve
the institutions of our country from
the foul contagion. It is something
to know that while dogs are fighting
over a bone, the flock is comparatively
safe from their depreaa ions. If we
may change the figure, it is well that
we have a safety-valve through which
the malaria escapes that might, other
wise fasten upon the very vitals of our
country.
—Petitions are being circulated and
very generally signed, all over Newton
county, asking the legislature to pass
an act prohibiting the making or sel
ling of any kind of alcoholic liquors in
the State of Alabama.
state news.
—A terrapin farm is located near
Mobile.
---A string band makes sacred music
now for the Cumberland Presbyterians
of Selma.
—The great iron bridge of the S., R.
& D. road over the Coosa river is near
ly finished.
It is said that for twenty-five years
good craps have succeeded hard winters
in Alabania.
were thirty-nine failures in
the State in January. Total amount
of liabilities $lll,OOO. Assets $48,000.
—Bibb county wants a prohibition
law and have requested the represen
tative&'to use their influence in ob
taining it.
—Ten years ago five thousand dol
lars worth of cotton was not produced
in DeKalb county. Now the production
will probably exceed one hundred
thousand dollars worth.
—The woods were on fire in the vi
cinity of Elmore station, and near Mt.
Meigebf also at points along the Selma
railroad and reports reached Mont
gomery of numerous conflagrations.
—ln Franklin county, Mr. Daniel
and family, while en route to see his
wife’s relatives, drove his oxen into
Cederj’ereek, at the ford near Pleasant
Site, which was unfordable, and result
ed in the drowning of his wife and two
of his children. The bodies have been
recovered.
—Col. Ball, Superintendent of the
Alabama Great Southern Railroad, has
resigned his position and Mr. Wallace
succeeds him. The Company offered
'CoL JJall the position again for the
mesesO’Otf, with the continued salary
wishing retire he
would not accept it.
—The New Orleans Timet says:—
“There is now a movement on foot
among the railroad capitalists to com
plete, the New Orleans and Sei mi road
from Selma to this city, a distance of
180 miles by an air line. This road
passes through the finest agricultural
and timber lands of Alabama, and
when finished will form the shortest
and most direct line between this city
and New York.”
The Religious Press.
‘“Why, mother, you have bought a Bap
tist Bible.’ said a little u irl, pointing to where
it speaks of ‘going down into the water,’
etc.; ‘for just what it says here is just what
they were doing at the Baptist church last
Sunday.’ What do you say to that, brother
Lafferty ?”—Religious Herald.
“It was mere child’s talk.”—Methodist
Christian Advocate.
Yes, brother Advocate, it was child’s
talk. Some of the plainest things are
hidden from the wise and prudent, who
are ingenious enough to make elabo
rate arguments, and to obfuscate that
which is so clear that a child may see
it, and not only may, but mutt. The
babes are in far better condition in
this respect than some who are so very
wise. They have no more sense than
to suppose that the Scripture means
what it says. They take in the sin
cere milk of the word, and are all the
better for it. When you are converted
and become as a little child, you will
have made a happy advance.
In anothgr column of that same
Christian Advocate, from which the
little fling at “child’s talk” is taken, we
find the following:
The great difficulty is that most of us are
not willing to speak simply and childlike in
the congregation, lest some critic say “that
man is simple." The talk of the fireside
will suit the pulpit: both for little ones and
grown people. Oh ! that we could hear more
preaching to children; then would God’s
people be edified.
Preaching to children is good, and
sometimes preaching by children is
even better. The little girl spoken of
in the preceding extract gave ah in
structive discourse, and if it were re
ceived in a child-like spirit, it would do
a great deal of good.
It is certain there can be no wholesome
development of religious character except as
it is fe<i and nourished by Bible truth.
' Where that is neglected, and especially when
ecular reading is substituted, you will be
sure to fiiid wrong views of duty, a feeble
sense of religious obligation, indifference to
the grand aims of the Christian life, and a
lack of all real consecration. If our people
generally could be induced to give the word
of God its due place in tbeir regard and hab
-1 its, and in the estimation of their families,
THE CHRISTIAN HERALD,
of Tennessee.
we would at once see a true revival of relig
ion extending to every department.—South
ern Presbyterian.
Never was a truer thing said.
The Biblical Recorder, speaking of
church-members “in good standing,”
but who are of no value to the church,
gives the following pungent hint:
It might be well in granting letters to
those who are lifeless to state that fact that
the churches receiving them might act in
telligently when the letters are presented to
them.
No such church-members ought to
be regarded as in good standing. Why
should they be regarded as such when,
as matter of fact, they are not such?
The best revivals have sometimes been
those that were not planned beforehand.
Faithful preaching and earnest praying made
a channel, and the river of God poured into
the church.—Christian Advocate
Sometimes, did you say ? Better say
always; and it is still better to say that
a revival which is “planned before
hand” and thus made to order, is no
revival at all.
The same paper says more wisely:
The minimum Christian does and gives as
little as h° can ; he studies how to get off as
cheaply as possible. The supplemental
Christian is the man who does all he can to
make up for the shortcomings of the shirk
ers. His measure of service is the measure
of need. As much as in me is, is his motto.
He keeps back no part of the price. Accord
ing to his ability he holds himself responsi
ble to the Master. What is done by others
is no standard for him.
We have a good many of the mini
mum sort, and a few of the supplement
al. Reader! to which class do you
belong? Don’t lay this paper down
until you decide this question.
Little-faith may be as truly faith as great
faith, just as the light of dawn is as truly
sunlight as is the light of noon. Hence,
though great faith is desirable and attainable,
yet none shbuld despise a little faith. To a
lady whose trust was feeble, Dr. Chalmers
wrote: “Let this thought that God cannot
lie, keep in conscious safety the heart of
every one who looketh to Jesus. They who
look shall be saved. The sun is often faintly
seen through a cloud, but the spectator may
be no less looking to him than when he is
seen in undiminished effulgence. It is not
to him who sees Christ Brightly that the
promises are made, but to him who looks to
Christ.” Therefore let him whose faith is
feeble be of good cheer. Faith saves; and
this'faith, being genuine, is sure to grow.—
Zion’s Herald.
Two wise sayings from the Herald
and Presbyter:
1. The act of giving to the Lord's work is
an act of accumulation. The Lord pays back
with interest all moneys given. We have
never known of a case of a large contribu
tion, given wisely and in a proper spirit,
that did not bring back to the giver abun
dant blessing of greater value than his sacri
fice. .
2 But let no one be misled by this writing,
for he that giveth for the sake of the increase
can not hope to receive the full measure of
blessing.
The first sentence takes our eye. The
act of giving is an act of accumulation.
The sentiment was never better ex
pressed, unless when Solomon said :
There is that scattereth, and yet increasetli,
and there is that withboldeth more than is
meet, but it tendeth to poverty.
Or, when he said :
The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he
that watereth shall be watered also him
self.
For clear, discriminative, analytical
thought and logical argumentation, J. C.
Browne, of Aiken, has not a superior in
South Carolina. —Rev L. Cuthbert.
We are proud to hear it. He is a Georgian,
and we bad some part in bringing him into
our State. Now that Oliver has gone, we
should like to import some more of Georgia’s
sons into South Carolina.—Baptist Courier.
And this same J. C. Browne was a
pupil of the editor of The Index for
three years, and graduated’ at Mercer
University.
From the same paper we copy the
following, which we have not seen else
where. Nothing could be more pithy:
It has been said, "The chief difference be
tween Unitarians and Universalists is this :
The latter say God is too good to damn sin
ners, while the former say that sinners are
too good to be damned.” A nice distinction,
surely.
Our confrere, Dr. Wayland, editor
of the National Baptist, is about to
take a trip to Europe. "His design,”
he says,
Will be to see men, and especially to note
what relates to the coming progress of the
human race. He believes that one of the
great factors in the future well-being of
mankind is a thorough understanding be
tween the several branches of the English
speaking race, heir and trustee of tbe great
traditions of civil and spiritual liberty.
We congratulate our good brother
on the pleasure of hie anticipated visit
and hope that he may not only have
an enjoyable time, but also that he
may be able to accomplish the more
serious purposes of his trip. We hope
that on his return he will make a visit
to the South with a view to the pro
motion of a more “thorough under
standing” between the people in dif
ferent sections of this country who all
together are the “heirs and trustees”
of this continent and of all that per
tains to it.
During his absence abroad, the Na
tional Baptist will be edited by Prof.
Norihan Fox, who, we are sure, will
keep the paper up to its present high
standard.
Speaking for tbe colored race, Senator
Bruce says in a recent letter: “So far as
social relations are concerned, they will reg
ulate themselves. All that our race asks Is
equality before the law.”
This demand of the negro is just,
and is disputed by none. But there
are those who go farther, and who are
trying to force on the two races, rela
tions which neither of them desires.
These are few in number, but there
are enough of them to disturb the
peace of a whole nation. Some of
these Ransy Sniffles are not far from
the spot where these lines are written.
We should be glad if the negro Sena
tor would give them a lecture.
Every miuister, o f course, ought to keep
himself acquainted with the tendencies of
error about him. But when be ceases to
commune, by reading, with the truth, and
begins to commune chiefly with minds
given over to error, he is in danger, or
rather, he has passed beyond the punt of
mere danger, and, is already damaged.
There are some laymen of whom the same
thing might be said. They seem to be bus'-
pioious of the literature of their own de
nomination, just because it is their own.
They read something else by preference, for
fear of being biassed, and they read so much
of that Bo'ibetblnW that the bias which they
desire to 'escape in one-direction they ac
quire in another. They stand so straight
that they lean over backward.—Watchman.
It is very well to know the qualities,
of various poisons in order to be able
to learn their antidotes; but it is not
weli to feed on poisons. No mail can
habitually read the literature of a false
doctrine without being injured by it.
The National Baptist, speaking of:
the revised Bible now on the eve of
publication, says:
For the Revision will tell us what, in the
judgment of the best critical scholars, is
the written Word, and what is the most cor
rect and faithful English version which is
possible in the English tongue.
Not exactly, Bro. Wayland. A new
translation would do this but a mere
revision will not. Now we must amend
our own expression, by retracting the
word new. No version of the Bible in
common use among English-speaking
people is really a translation. Some
of the words have been merely trans
ferred, not translated. The new ver
sion will retain these transferred words
and hence it will not show what is “the
most correct and faithful English ver
sion which is possible in the English
tongue.” The Christian world taken
as a whole would not dare to translate
into pure Anglo-Saxon English every
word of the Bible. We should be glad
to see it so translated, and so would
the Baptist brotherhood eveiywhere.
It is said that, in the newly revised edition
of the English Bible, soon to make its ap
pearance, and for which nearly 100,000,000
of people are looking with peculiar interest,
the Word baptize is still retained, but the
preposition in takes the place of with, when
the rite of baptism is spoken of, so that John
is allowed to say in English as in the Greek.
“I indeed baptize you in water, but • * he
shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost, and in
fire.” If the rest of tbe Christian world can
tolerate such a rendering, we are sure that
Baptists ought to. The proper rendering of
the preposition, in the passage, is of more
importance than is the translation of bapti
ze. It will bejdifficult to get sprinkle in wa
ter out of it.—Journal and Messenger.
We have not said much about the’
newly revised Bible, because we have?
not seen it, but if the statement of the
J. and M. is correct, we opine that there
are some who will regret that the re
vision was made. Just suppose that,
instead of a mere revision, there had
been a new translation, what a flut
ter there would have been!
In 1836 there were only about 400
Baptists in Baltimore, now there are
6,000. In the last decade the increase
in population in that city has been
about five-fold while the increase of
Baptists has been about fifteen-fold.
NO. 7.
