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W T» .1881 ,4-L H UIAIZ. «taci jrtu I ' '-U > kt - dk _- VOL. 59. Table of Contents. First Page—Alabama Department: Nehemi ah; Annual Calls; Then and Now; The Religious Press. Second Page—Correspondence: To the Re hoboth Association ; Shorter College; The Penfield Revival. 1853; Missionary Insti tnte, Dalton; Mercer University Notes. The Sunday-school—Lesson For April 3d —Following Jesus. Missionary Departs menu Receipts of Mission Board, etc. Third Page— Children’s Corner: Bible Ex- Slorations; Enigmas; Poetry ; Tow and [illy; etc. Fourth Page—Editorials: A Linguistic Bleesing; Death of the Czar; Polygamy; Georgia Baptist News. Fifth Page—Secular Editorials: News Para graphs ; Parnellism ; Literary Notes and Comments; Four Years—poetry—Charles W. Hubner; Georgia News. Sixth Page—The Household: After the Feait—Poetry; Sketches of Foreign Coun tries. Miscellaneous. Obituaries. Seventh Page—The Farmer’s Index: The Effect of Emancipation on Cotton Produc tion ; Corn, etc. Success in Business. Eighth Page—Florida Department: Chips and Splinters; Christmas and New Year's Treatment; Another Response, etc.; By Taking Thought, etc. Alabama Department. BY SAMUEL HENDERSON. NEHEMIAH. Os all the characters that figure in Old Testament history, next to Moses and Elijah, Nehemiah has interested us most. In this we only speak for one. Others may differ with us. To our mind, he presents the rarest combina tion of courage, patriotism, statesman ship, and piety that we ever see asso ciated in one man. It was his destiny to live in evil times. Reared under the withering influence of Babylonish bondage, accustomed through his whole life to hear his religion made the butt of popular ridicule, and seeing his Jewish brethren taunted by their mas ters, “sing us one of the songs of Zion,” we may well suppose that he had en ough to test the integrity of any man’s piety, as well as to develop the granite of manhood in any character. Let us suppose his resignation of “cup-bearer” to the king of Babylon accepted, with the royal permission to return to Jer usalem with such of his brethren as chose to accompany him—let us sup pose him as having arrived at his des tination—let us imagine the vast work before him, his scanty means, surround ed by enemies watching every move ment, misrepreseting all his motives, first ridiculing his efforts, then cajoling him with flattery, then threatening to report him to the great king of Bab ylon with treasonable purposes —sup- pose all this, and much more of like import, and we may form some con ception of the sagacity, the firmness, the persistency, and the piety of one, who never abated a single effort, nor lost a single day from the hour he commenced until he completed his task. The first thing that Nehemiah did on arriving at Jerusalem was to survey the ruins of the city, to take in the situa tion as we would say, and thus “count up the cost,” before he commenced to build. There is something of moral sublimity in the character of this man, as without telling “to Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers” what his God “put it into his heart to do at Jerusalem,” he pursued his solitary way upon his beast at night, viewing the desolations, and when his beast could not go, alighting to pursue his observations on foot. He kept his own counsels, formed his own plans, organized his own agencies, superin t tending the minutest details of the work, God only being his counsellor. Perhaps the annals of human industry never recorded an enterprize so vast, so arduous, and so embarrassing, that was completed with such meagre re sources and in so short a time. What wonderful skill he displayed in inter esting the whole population in the work. Associating the public with the private interest of every family, he ar ranged that each head of a family should repair that part of the wall “over against his own house,” even down to Meshulam, who seemed have been a young man, only occupying a SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST. ) or Alabama. j “chamber.” Thus, when one part of the wall was finished, all was finished ; and the whole work was completed in fifty and two days.” And then what skill he displayed in foiling the machinations of his adver saries—the Sanballets, the Tobiahs, the Gesheons —in all their efforts to hinder the work. One while they would rid icule their work, saying that even “if a fox go up, he shall break down their stone wall.” Then they would craftily assume a patronizing air, and propose to Nehemiah to meet and counsel with them “in some one of the villages in the plain of One,” sending “four times after this sort” to the sturdy reformer. But he had already taken counsel of bis God, and he needed none of the wisdom they could impart; for, said the sagacious builder, “they thought to do me mischief.” Foiled in this, they next trumped up a rumor among the heathen, charging Nehemiah with treasonable purposes, and threatening to report him to the • king of Babylon. To this the good man responded, with that honest bluntness that always calls things by the right names, “There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own hear t,” and went on with the work. The truth is, Nehemiah did not belong to the faint-hearted tribe, who always “see a lion in the way.” As difficulties rose, he rose with them, so that his very embarrassments inspired wisdom in his plans, courage to his heart, and strength to his arm. And then, to one of his own brethren, who begged him to take counsel of his fears, and shut himself up “in the house of the Lord,” lest they should slay him in the night he answered, “Should such a man as I flee?” The good man knew full well, that if he, whom the Lord had sent to project and carry to completion this grand and glorious undertaking, should show the least symptom of cowardice in the presence of any danger, it would recoil against the whole enterprise. One great man, such as Nehemiah, with the fear of God in his heart, can chase a thousand such cunning ver min as the Sanballets, Tobiahs, and the like, who sought to do him mis chief. How often have we seen a few manly words and courageous actions banish from the field whole troops of carping time-servers. Such men, in critical conditions, have often re deemed situations from perils which threatened utter and hopeless ruin. One Samson, or one David, is worth ten thousand common men, when some sharp corner is to be turned in the af fairs of a nation. Luther, with his great heart, and protected with God’s invisible shield is more then a match for the assembled wisdom of Europe at the “Diet of Worms.” One blow from his stalwart arm, dealt upon the dig nitaries assembled around the great Emperor Charles the Fifth, sent them reeling from the contest, investing his single name with more potency apd grandeur than all the Popes and Car dinals, kings and nobles, principalities and powers that were there represented. Such men, like Esther, appear to have “Come to the kingdom for such a time.” What would human nature be with out such men at occasional intervals, to redeem its character and destiny from a fate too ignoble to figure in his tory? They are the lights of history, lapping each other along the track of time, so as to preserve a kind of con tinuity and harmony in its events. They are only true nobility in the world, bearing the patents that ennoble them directly from the court ofHeaven and the homage they inspire is noth ing more than the spontaneous tribute we all instinctively pay to the royal gifts of the “King of Kings;” and he who pays no such tribute to such worth is something more, or something less than man. For whether they figure in our religious, civil, or literary his tory, the century or the nation that (fives to the world one such man, will purchase to itself an imperishable name. We only add that Nehemiah’s char acter is a compound of godliness and patriotism, the two grandest traits to which human nature ever aspired. He worked for his God, and then for his country. What he said, he did; and what he did stands out upon the page of even sacred history as one of its brightest and most stirring chapters. THE FRANKLIN STEAM PRUTTING HOUSE. ATLANTA, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 188 I, ANNUAL CALLS. We have been greatly interested in the reminiscences of an “Old Time Baptist Preacher” in that spicy and able journal, the Baptist Courier, of SouthCarolina. But the half serious,half humorous caricature of “annual calls” in the issue of Jan. 27th we have en joyed with more than common zest. The venerable writer congratulates his younger preaching brethren that in South Carolina “they know nothing” of those annual calls. We only wish we could congratulate our Alabama pastors for a like reformation. How it originated and why it is kept up so extensively, would puzzle the famous legal firm of “I. Ketchum <fc U. Cheat em” to discover. The most stupid and reckless would scarcely affirm that the Bible gives the slightest encouragement to a policy so unwise and so disastrous to the permanent advancement of the cause of Christ. It has always seemed to us that of all things in the world next to the marriage relation the pastoral relation ought to be the most permanent. Cer tainly, the great Head of the Church would not commit His best earthly gifts, His pastors, to the caprices of annual calls, thus lowering the dignity of the highest office on earth to the status of the least civil office. The evils of this policy are many and dis astrous. We only mention a few by way of illustration. First, those annual calls imply a measure of distrust wholly incompat ible with the ingenuous frankness and candor of Christian intercourse. Its language is, in plain English, *we will try you a year— will sample you ; and if you suit us, we’ll call you again. At the end of every year you must run the gauntlet of a new election, and thus give every discontented spirit among us an opportunity to spot you.’ Thus the poor man finds himself the target of every missile he has drawn upon himself by his very integrity to truth. Members will go to conference to vote against him who will not come to hear him preach, at least not more frequently, than will barely preserve their membership. Secondly, it offers a temptation to ministers (for they are but men), to resort to very questionable measures to overreach each other in electioneering for these calls. We should not be sur prised if our readers could call up in stances of this kind humiliating to a degree. Thus there are engendered jealousies, heart-burnings, nay, we had almost written animosities, where the utmost confidence and the sincerest affection should be cherished. Tnirdly, it dwarfs the mind of the minister, by depriving him of the stim ulant to improvement which a perm anent pastorate only can inspire, and subjecting him to the uncertitude of caprice and taction. Knowing the feb;e tenure by which he holds his position, he abandons himself to that kind of indolence which only locks to the mental resources for a single year —like “a tenant at will," who never seeks to improve a farm beyond the rental period. He has no time to grow into the confidence of his temporary charge. His heart has no time to send out its tendrils to objects which would call out its sweetest sympathies and most anxious solicitudes. Fourthly, it inspires in the churches “itching ears,” ever clamorous for some thing new. Having dwarfed the char acter of their ministeis by this unwise policy, they make their own folly the pretext for a change on the plea that the present incumbent has failed to in terest the people, and that a new one will enlarge their congregation. And thus the process goes on, until there are about as many parties in the chur ches as there are ministers in the sur rounding country. We could go on detailing other evils, but perhaps it is a bootless task. Let us add in conclusion that our best churches and best pastors are developed under indefinite pastorships—pastor ships that continue so long as the mut ual interest and esteem of each for the other demands. It may be wise for a pastor, preaching to a church on an indefinite call, to give his people an opportunity at occasional intervals of years, to express their regard for him by a recall, or, if need be, to call an other minister. At least, it would fur- nish an opportunity to “exchange re ceipts,”. to use a commercial phrase, and “open new books.” We have known good come of this, even among some of our worthiest pastors and churches. But even this expedient may not be resorted to for trivial causes. THEN TniFnOW. While all changes are not improve ments, Still there can be no improve ments without changes. For instance, in the style, matter, pith and length of our average sermons, there is a manifest improvement in contrast with former years. It was not uncommon in our boyhood to hear two and three sermons straight along of an hour and a half each, and the people listened with unflaggjng interest.We remember while in our to have gone six or eight miles on a cold December Sunday, while the snow was over six inches deep, and sat from about eleven o’clock till three in an old brick meeting house, without one particle of fire, and heard a sermon on the Prodigal Son of about four hours duration. The last general division of the sermon was “sixteenthly.” On that occasion, our interest did flag in the sermon, though not in the charming young lady we had the honor to escort to the church. Now, a sensible man can condense into a forty or fifty minutes sermon more solid u-atter than was contained in twent;-"i>v)h sermons as we heard on that cold December Sabbath. A great and good minister once said to us that he graduated the length of his sermons to the interest of the congregation. If, in casting his eye over the assembly, he saw the people leaning to him, he would go on—if they became listless and indifferent, he would stop no mat te/ at what point in his discourse. When we cease to interest, we should cease to speak. The Religious Press. A stringent temperance law, designed to give effect to the constitutional amendment adopted in Kansas, has passed the Legisla ture. Under this law only druggists can sell intoxicating liquors, and they must give good and sufficient bonds that they will sell it only for "medical, mechanical and scien tific purposes.” All evasions of the law by giving liquor away to customers are to be construed as selling, and all clubs for pro curing liquorsand dividiug among the mem bers are treated the same as places of com mon sale. All places where intoxicating liquors ere sold tire declared a common nuis ance, and the proper officers are required to close them. It is made the duty of sheriffs, constables, and county attorneys to enforce the provisions of this act, and they render themselves liable to punishment if they neg lect to do so. The bill was passed by a large majority. In the House the vote stood 100 to 29; in the Senate, 29 to 9. In order to take no unfair advantage of those who have invested in the liquor business under the old law, the new law does not take effect until the first of May. An association of citizens has been formed, with branches throughout the State, to see that the law is effectually executed. In Albany, Georgia, a club was form ed called the “Glee Club,” which, in order to evade the law, acted on the following resolutions, passed by the club: 1. Resolved, That this club, and we, the members thereof, knowing that it is in strict violation of the city, as well as State laws, for any dealer in spirituous or fermented liquors to sell on the Sabbath day, and not wishing to violate the laws in any part or sentence, nor to cause others to do so, and knowing that every laboring man or others who are in the habit of taking social drinks during the week, wants and needs it on the Sab bath. Resolved, 2 That, in order to comply with the laws in every particular, we agree to pay the sums opposite our respective names to a treasurer, to be chosen by the club ou or be fore the Saturday preceding each Sabbath, for the purpose of purchasing the liquor nec essary for the use of the club the following Sabbath. The man who dispensed the liquor under these resolutions was named Mi nor. He was put on trial in the Coun ty Court for keeping open a tippling house on the Sabbath, and also for re tailing without license. He was con victed in each case. He petitioned for a writ of certiorari, which was refused. He excepted, and the case went to the Supreme Court. The judgment of the Court below was affirmed, Bleckley J. delivering the opinion. See 63 Geor gia Reports, p. 318; Minor vs. The State of Georgia. Now and then a very pleasing episode occurs which shows at once the oneness of the American people and the failure of the "bloody shirt” to keep the North and South apart. At the recent Mardi Gras festival in New Orleans, Massachusetts and New York j THE CHRISTIAN HERALD, ( of Tennbbbee. regiments of militia were present and were the lions of the occasion. Within about a year a New Orleans regiment was enthusias tically entertained in Boston. Harper’s Weekly has a cartoon representing a New York and a New Orleans militiaman shaking hands, while "Unc’e Sam” smilingly looks on and exclaims, “Ah, dear boys, this is better than quarreling. I’m proud of you both. It needed but this to complete my happiness," and "Liberty” writes on a screen, "No North I No South ! but the Union.” One morning early, without any one knowing they were going to do it a Massa chusetts regiment marched out to the ceme tery, formed around the monument to the Confederate dead and sang “Rock of Ages,” and “The Sweet By and By.” Strange that the military spirit is also the most ardent peace spirit, but it seems to be so.—Central Baptist. All right; glad to see it; but we fear that when the next Presidential cam paign comes around, the ensanguined garment will flutter in every breeze. Nothing is to be gained by displaying it now. Still, our hope is that this folly and sin will gradually disappear. Fiohtino the Snow.—The Northwestern Railway Company hasspent over three hun dred thousand dollars in the tight against snow, since October last. Thirty-four im* mense snow plows have had plenty of work, and these have been “backed up” tremen dously by from two to six locomotives each. The might of these plows and the great pow er of a snow drift may be estimated from the facts that one plow weighing forty-eight thousand pounds, ballasted by eighty thou sand pounds of railway iron and driven by six locomotives, attacked a snow-choked cutting,—but was defeated! The drift was fifty-two feet high. When the workmen, after the tremendous charge, caught a glimpse of the immense plow, they found that it with all its one hundred and twenty eight thousand pounds bad been repelled as if it were a feather, and that it had rolled disconsolately over the drift and had lodged against some forest trees where it proposes to remain until summer.—Observer Just see what snow-flakes can do! Suppose that each of these flakes had been endowed with moral responsibil ity, and that one of them had said, “It is not much that I can do in this bus iness ; neither my presence nor my ab sence will be perceived, so I will with draw from the enterprise.” The en terprise would have gone on just the same, but so much the worse for the snow-flake; it would have had none of the glory. The way of the Lord will certainly be prepared, and his paths will certainly be made straight, wheth er you, individual reader, take part in the work or not. The Lord does not depend on you for the carrying out of his designs, but you depend on him, and what will you say when you are arraigned on a charge of disobedience of orders? Will you say, “Lord I know thee, that thou art a hard man, reap ing where thow hast not sown, opera ting in ways not known to men, and I was afraid of interfering with thy work, and I could have done but little at best, and I thought the safest plan was to disobey!” Moral Wricks.—The world seems very anxious to count them, and to make the worst out of them. They are all brought to the front in these days of’‘news,” while the general current of quiet, persistent virtue re mains unnoticed: Thousands may keep the faith, or rather, be kept by it; but let any one falter, or fall by the way, and he gets a notoriety which seems to costa blight upon the whole Christian church. There is a morbid curiosity at least, which dwells upon and exaggerates such things. . And yet if we consider the weakness of human nature, and the force of temptation which comes in as a flood, the real or appar ent defections are comparatively few. Scan dals are demoralizing, and excite undue sus picions, and this is the terror of evil-doing on the one hand, and evil-thinking on the other. God help the man who gloats over such things, even though be stands outside ot the church of Christ; and God have espe cial mercy on the man, who though he stands within the church, secretly chuckles over them, because the victim of popular, disfavor right or wrong, happens to be one whose overthrow he would like to see ac complished.—Messenger. “Thousands may keep the faith, or rather be kept by it." There is a ring of gospel music in that last expression. The Tablet, a Roman Cathoic organ, says ot the Ritualists: “They are doing our work for us, and as time goes on they will do it more effectually.” Is the Baptist brotherhood entirely free from ritualism? It may be well to inquire into this. Os course no Bap tist will acknowledge it, but the thing is very insidious, human nature is very prone to it, and some may be nursing the germ within them, when they are not aware of it. The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. A bill has been laid before the Legists* ture of Illinois providing that no person ads dieted to the use of intoxicating liquors shall be eligible to any State or municipal office. The bill proposes that proof of the habit will consist in the affidavit of ten elec tors filed with the Secretary of State. What- j ever may be the fate of this bill, respectable people should insist by their own personal influence at the polls, that only men of temperate habits be entrusted with posi tions of responsibility. A drunkard is an unfit person upon whom to bestow a public trust of any kind, and yet wo know a great many Christian people who will throw their influence for good away on some drunken candidate. If private business interests res quire soberness, much more should the State and city insist that those who direct their public interest be free from habits of intemperance.—Evangelist. The Index could point to several men who are habitual drunkards and who are known to be such wherever they are known at all, but who never theless have held important political stations. The fact speaks not well ei ther for the intelligence or for the morality of their constituents. No Christian man ought by his vote to put power in the hands of drunkards nor to make drunkenness respectable. Professor Phelps, of Andover Mass, is reported to have said that our defective laws of divorce are doing tenfold more to corrupt the nation’s social life than Mor monism. If professor Phelps said this, there would certainly seem some occasion for the utterance. And if it be true, our di vorce laws must be in an awful condition. It becomes the duty of all pure-minded men, within and outside of legislatures, to move quickly and unitedly to correct toe alarm ing evil. Why could not the good women who are demanding suffrage try to help on this cause? Perhaps they desire suffrage that they may vote against divorce. Men who are clamoring to “put God into the Constitution” might try to put him first into divorce laws.—Watch Toweb. There has been a great stir among the Northern people of late on this subject and it is high time. We are glad of it, partly because we wish to see the evil abated, and partly be cause those who are engaged in correc ting their own errors are less likely to annoy other people by twitting them with theirs. There are many who are engaged in the Master's work and do not meet with the success they had wished. Some of them are in small places with a limited field, others in the midst of a great population. We may or may not be responsible for our lack of success. If we are faithful and earnest, and simply desire to glorify the Master, it is not ours to sit in judgment or to grow discour aged. We have the assurance that such la bor is notin vain. We do not see the fruit, but there is nothing to hinder us from bear ing the voice and reading the words of bles sed assurance from the Lord. It is very seldom if ever that the soldier in battle sees the effect of his fire, but it is his duty to keep on shoot ing nevertheless. It is not what he does that wins the day, it is what the army does, and he is part of that army, and every part must do its share. The Freeman’s Journal, a leading Roman Catholic organ in this country, has the following: The reading of the Bible by undirected and uninstructed people, young and old, has made more unbelievers and scoffers than the reading of "The Age of Reason." Anybody who knows the ways of public schools and “Sabbath" schools can easily remember the unholy uses to which the Sacred Book has been put. Boys and girls often "know their Bible" too well, and use it to their own dam nation. And yet the charge that the Roman Catholic Church is opposed to the free circulation of the Bible, is frequently met with indignant denial. The Congreoationalist tells the following story: “On one occasion it was announced in the English Bpiscopal church at Yoko hama, Japan, that a certain time a special service of prayer for missions would be held. Borne care was taken to circulate the news, and a number of others assembled besides the usual attendants. The service was be gun and carried on as usual, but when the point had been reached at which it was to assume its special character, the rector arose and stated that to his great regret it would be impossible to pray for missions that day because the prayers bad not arrived! The Bishop of London had failed lo mail them in sufficient season, and the service bad to be concluded in the usual form.” All the theatres of Chicago are open every Sunday evening in defiance of law. -Our readers are aware that the office of the Baptist fyinwr, published at Cumming, of which our bro ther J. M. Wood was editor, was con sumed by fire a few weeks ago. We learn from brother Wood that he has ar ranged to resume the publication of bis paper tHe first week in April. Hig office will be in Gajnesville, Ga. —The Baptist and Mtthodist Sun* day-schools in Summerville have been blended introne. The school meets at the Methodist church. They have recently purchased a new organ. NO. 12.