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- r .^, ? ■ k . ~ . - rr-w . 17282 rnrs.l BSmiih M ’.. ■ I f/*fl M\ W. CIISP Columbia Mmes <ii Bw 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.