Newspaper Page Text
> Sr M Inhex
VOL. 59.
Table of Contents.
First Page—Alabama Department: Can it be
Renuditd? Profanity, Stats Missions;
| Alabama News; The Religious Press.
Second Page—Correspondence: Mercer Uni
versity Notes; Prayer for Rulers; Jottings
By the Way-J. G. M. Medlock. Monthly
Olive Branch. The Sunday school—Les
son For April 10—The Good Samaritan.
Missionary Department.. Miscellaneous.
Thiid Page—Onr Pulpit: The Harmony
of the Various Departments of Missionary
Work ; An addiess by Rev. J. H. Kilpat
rick.
Fourth Page—Editorials: Temperance; The
Sword and the Plough Shate; To the
Friends of the Seminary ; Just Enough
Vitality for Obstruction ; Georgia Baptist
News.
Fifth Page—Secular Editorials : News Para
graphs; Literary Notes and Comments;
New Books; Georgia News.
Sixth Page—The Household: Perfect
Through Buffeting—Poetry. Sketches of
Foreign Countries—Russia; A Dream and
its Results- Obituaries.
Seventh Page—The Farmer’s Index: The
Wealthy vs. Farm work; Education for
Farmer's Boys ; Sheep; Manufactures in
the South.
Eighth Page—Florida Department: Chips
and Splinters; Notes from the Feld ; The
End of the World, etc.
Alabama Department.
BY SAMUEL HENDEKSON.
CAN IT BE REMEDIED?
The ease with which unworthy and
incompetent men find their way into
our Baptist pulpits has been and is a
source of no little annoyance to many
of our best and most intelligent breth
ren. It is a kind of tribute we have to
pay to the depravity and weaknesses
of human kind for our independence,
our soul liberty. It is a condition that
always accompanies the highest priv
ileges and the most unlimited freedom.
Far better be subjected to these occa
sional annoyances, those evils that soon
work their own cure,than “fly toothers
we know not of.” Ecclesiastical de
spotism, it is true, might free us of
some of these petty troubles, just as a
stroke of paralysis would free the hu
man body of many of the pains and
aches to which it would otherwise be
subjected, but then none would doubt
that the remedy would be worse than
the disease. The good sense and piety
of our churches, sooner or later, dispose
of all such cases without materially
impairing their standing, leaving the
unworthy to themselves, and remand
ing the incompetent to “the rank and
file."
But we recur to this subject now to
enter kindly remonstrance against hasty
and inconsiderate ordinations. While
we have a standard of “Faith” to which
every man is required to comform ere
he is invested with the full exercise of
the ministerial functions, we have no
standard of mental culture to apply in
such cases. Whether right or wrong
on this subject, we pause not to discuss,
further than to say that every man
who aspires to teach others ought to
be required, as our old English gram
mars express it, to “speak the English
language with propriety.” Certainly
no man will contest the proposition,
that truth will never suffer anything
by being presented to the people in
pure, good English.
We cannot be too cautious in ob
serving the admonition of Paul to Tim
othy, “Lay hands suddenly on no
man ” Ordinations do not make min
isters. Unless they possess the piety,
the aptness to teach, the fervid spirit,
the good report, the power to rule well,
the sobriety and gravity, laid down in
the New Testament portraiture, before
they are ordained, they are not likely
to achieve them afterward. It is not
every man who has it in his heart to
“build a house for the Lord,” whom
the Lord chooses for that service, as
David found out. Every impulse to
do good is not a call to the ministry.
The “desire to fill the office of a bishop”
must combine with the qualifications
of a bishop, before it will be safe to
answer to any “call to preach.” Indeed,
the effective part of the call is to be
found in the capacities to fill it. Some
men reach their full growth at once,
and are better at the beginning than
they ever are afterward. Such are
soon thrown into brackets by the chur
ches, and become supernumerary.
Others grow more gradually, so as to
bear their richest fruit in old age. Such
SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST,
or Alabama.
will never fail to find employment un
til the infirmities of age or death shall
lay them aside. And these are the
men who “magnify their office,” who
“make full proof of their ministry,”
and whom the Master deems “worthy
of double honor.”
In exchanging those courtesies which
are due from one minister to another,
it is not necessary for a pastor to sac
rifice an important hour’s service to
the claims of such courtesies. It is not
necessary for him to inflict upon his
church and congregation an unprofit
able service, by asking a visiting min
ister to fill his pulpit whom he knows
cannot instruct them. Such cases
sometimes occur. When a pastor is
forced to choose between an incompet
ent minister and the spiritual demands
of his charge, he ought not to hesitate.
He had better incur even the ill will
of one, than to disappoint an entire
congregation. He is put where he is
by his church from his supposed cap
acity to instruct them, and unless
something very nearly the equivalent
of what he could say can be said by
another, he had better fill his own ap
pointment. We have heard of preach
ers, so called, who are indebted to these
courtesies for all the preaching they
ever do. Either the churches have
failed to appreciate their worth, or they
have nothing in them worth appreciat
ing ; they are at least without charges.
Such ministers are apt to be peevish,
jealous, fretful and self-confident, so
that the minimum of public confidence
in them is the maximum of their con
fidence in themselves, somewhat as a
quaint old author has expressed it,
that “God has given even to frogs a
ceitain pomplaisancy in -jhei" own
music." While it is true, and ought
to be true, that churches have the
right to call whomsoever they will to
ordination, it is equally true that pres
byteries called to perform the service,
may, from proper motives, decline that
service. A little blunt candor at the
right time might save the cause from
some disrepute, and the aspirant for
ordination from a position in which he
would be subjected to perpetual mort
ification.
As to strangers who so often prove
to be impostors, it is well to give the
cause the benefit of all reasonable
doubts. The presumption is as ten to
one that a strange preacher, of whom
we have never heard, who comes ac
credited from no responsible source,
with his pockets stuffed with letters of
commendation, is either a drone of
whom others desire to be rid, or he is
an impostor who has forged his doc
uments. In either case, it will do no
harm to hold him at arm’s length until
the truth is known. The man who
voluntarily throws himself into the
category of a tramp, must content
himself to take the status of a tramp,
until the converse appears. Modest
worth is not apt to be demonstrative.
It needs no other credentials than its
meek, quiet, deferential bearing, all
that conscious sense of rectitude that
asserts itself in a hundred nameless
ways. Like the loadstone in attracting
the' particles of steel, it will insensibly
draw around it all of like precious
faith.
PROfANITY.
Some one has said that of all the
vices to which man is addicted, pro
fanity is the most gratuitous. The
most abandoned do not dare to defend
it. It has not the color of a pretext
in any kind of compensation. The
thief has his stolen goods to reward
him for his crime. The Sabbath break
er who shoots his wild turkey on Sun
day, has it for his dinner on Monday.
The pugilist has the gratification to
know that he has given a blackened
eye to his antagonist. He has at least
left his mark. The defrauder can ex
! ult in his ill-gotten gains. Even the
drunkard can delude himself for the
moment with his fancied riches and
stalwart arm, and can purchase the
privilege of sleeping with swine. But
! the profane swearer indulges his beset
ting vice without motive or reward.
He not only violates all the instinc<s
of his reason, judgment and conscience
—he not only infracts a direct com
mand of Almighty God, “Thou shall
not take the name of the Lord thy God
in vain”—but he does it without reap
ing the slightest compensation, fancied
THE FRANKLIN STEAM PRINTING HOUSE.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 1881.
or real.' He gets nothing in return,
save only the miserable gn&ifieation
of insulting God to his face, and shock
ing the moral sensibilities of his fellow
men. A worthy member of a baptist
church, now an honored deacon, said
to us some years ago, that in early life
he acquired the vulgar habit, but that
years before he made any pretentions
to piety, he turned with honeshindig
nation on himself, and from very shame
resolved to quit it, and carried eut his
resolution. Common decency, it would
seem, to say nothing of the fear of
God, would be enough to induce any
man of common refinement: and self
respect not to form a debas
ing, so vulgar, so revolting to ail the
higher instincts of our nature. Af
firmations which are interlarded with
blasphemy, may well be received with
abatement, since a man who will in
sult his Maker will most likely deceive
his fellow man. A Christian parent
once observed, that his moral sensibil
ities were never so much shocked as
when he overheard his son who had
just grown up to manhood utter a blas
phemous oath. hpwever,
he never heard it repeated thereafter.
He had reason to know that his boy
permanently reformed.
But did we say the prpfane swearer
receives no reward? Alas! alas, he
will ere long get his wages, for it is i
written, “He will not hold him guilt
less that taketh his name in vain.” So
direct and causeless a violation of one
of the most solemn enactments of
God's law, will provoke a recoil which
will visit upon the soul in eternity a
penalty all the more intolerable be
cause of all sins it is the moat L”. xett*
sable. Young mi\n, stain poi^uT^u!,
with so gross a habit, and if you ever
indulge it, pause and think what place
in all the vernacular of even civilized
society can the oaths of the blasphe
mer fill without polluting! What po
sition in society can be safely and hon
orably assigned Jiim!
STATE MISSIONS.
Rev. T. M. Bailey, Secretary of our
State Mission Board, was with us at
our last Alpine appointment, and
preached a real live missionary sermon,
replete with argument and bristling
with telling facts. His summing up
of the results of missionary work for
the last hundred years was masterly.
To those who are accustomed to de
preciate what missions have
accomplished, his array of facts
was overwhelming. India, Bur
ah, Germany, Italy, even France,
China and Africa, the isles
of the sea,'such as the Sandwich Islands,
Madagascar, etc., to say nothing of the
Indians of our own country, as well as
our Home Missions, all speak to us
trumpet-tongued that our ‘labor has
not been in vain in the Lord,’ and that
to make light of these results is the ut
terance either of direct infidelity, ava
rice, or a want of piety. The sermon,
though long for Bro. Bailey, was lis
tened to with unflagging interest to
the close by an appreciative audience.
A very fair collection was taken up at
its close for our State Mission work.
We have now about twenty-six mission
aries in the field in this State, one of
whom is a worthy colored minister
who is preaching to his own race. We
have also one or two colporteurs, en
gaged in selling religious books and
tracts, Bibles and Testaments. On the
whole, the work of State Missions is
progressing in a promising manner.
The change in our plans of operation,
made at the last Convention, seems to
meet with general favor, so that the
work is enlisting more of our churches
and Associations than ever before. We
notice also a flattering increase in our
contributions to other Missions
throughout the State; and we are
cherishing the hope that at our next
Convention, Alabama will take a few
strides upward in her relative position
among her sister States.
—ln Greene and adjoining counties
there is great excitement about mad
dogs. Several cattle and persons have
been bitten. Two negroes are supposed
to have died of hydrophobia.
—ln Greene county, a few days
since, Rev. N. R. Morgan, the oldest
man in Greene county, died in the
ninety-second year of his age.
ALABAMA NEWS.
—Colbert county, recorded 856
mortgages last year,
—A Clement attachment factory is
started in Tuscumbia.
—The opening day of the annual
fair of the Mobile Agricultural, Mech
anical and Horticultural Association
will be the second of May.
—Mrs. English, widow of the late
Richard H. English, proprietor of the
Selma Timet, has disposed it to Messrs.
Frank P. Glass and Harvey L. Mc-
Kee.
—The Western Union office now
has nineteen wires running into its
office at Opelika. It absorbed three
wires from the American Union a few
days since.
—The cotton factory at Anniston is
in full blast and turning out an excel
lent article of thread and cloth. It has
a larger population by several hundred
than any town in Calhoun.
—The work of extending the rail
road, lately known as the Savannah &
Memphis, from Goodwater, the term
inus, on towards Talladega, will com
mence, according to report, about the
first of the next month.
—The joint committee, on the part
of the South and North Alabama Con
ference respectively, it is understood,
will meet at Birmingham, to consider
the establishment of a Methodist paper
to be the organ of that denomination
i in Alabama, and to determine the place
lof publication. Although the views
i of the committee are said to be diver
| gent as to the location, it is thought
■ that they may report in favor of Birm
, 'jvgham on acoounj. its relative,
I uation with respect to the two Uonfer-
I ences.
The professional, social and religious
complexion of the recent Legislature is
thus given by Senator L. W. Grant in
his last letter from Montgomery to the
; Jacksonville Republican. In the Senate
there are 17 lawyers, 7 farmers, 3 mer
i chants, 3 physicians, 1 editor, 1 minis-
I ter, 1 teacher. In the Senate there
are 10 Methodists, 9 Baptists, 5 Epis
copalians, 2 Presbyterians, and 1 Cath
olic, while 6 give no church; 27 are
i married, 4 are single and 2 are wid
. owers. In the House there are 27
I lawyers, 6 physicians, 48 farmers, 4
i teachers, 1 horticulturist, 4 merchants,
i 1 druggist, 1 manufacturer, 1 black
i smith. The remainder give no occup
ation. Os the Representatives 84 are
married, 14 are single and 1 is marked
“expected.”
The Religious Press.
It is remarkable that the emigrants from
Ireland, although belonging to the same
Church with the Spaniards, have generally
shunned the Spauish-settled countries on
this continent, which offer as many attrac
tions to energetic and industrious persons as
do the more distant colonies of England.
Is it not also strange that the Roman
Catholic people of Ireland, who show such
bitter hostility to protestanls at home, when
they emigrate prefer the countries i 1 which
Protestants are dominant, and Protestant
ideas prevail in civil affairs ?—Church Times.
Points well taken. Index.
No one can doubt the importance of mis
sions in advancing the civilization of the na
tions of the world, especially of the barbar
ous ones far distant from those most enlight
ened, aud in extending the commerce and
industrial operations of the countries most
active in business enterprises. There are
many who do not appreciate the work of
those pioneers who open the way to inter
course and trade with the people of "the
uttermost parts of the earth;” and who
doubt the utility of expending the large sums
of money needed for the operations of those
engaged in them ; but if they will examine
the figures which show the cost of these re
ligious enterprises, and compare them with
the expense of military expeditions, they
may see which are pecuniarily the most
profitable. It is estimated that in 1880
Christian nations expended for missions
$8,000,000, v bile in the same year the Af
ghan war cost England about $60,000,000.
Most of the missions are sustained by the
liberality of the religious people of England
and the United States.—Church Times.
This paragraph regards the subject
from the standpoint of were, dollars
and cents; what shall we say when we
regard the moral results of missionary
effort and of war!
The fact is, every man, in some way, is
really dependent on his fellows. "No man
liveth to himself.” All need, more or less,
the friendship, sympathy and help of others.
The rich must depend for some things on
the poor as well as the poor on the rich. The
little duties and offices of common life are
reciprocal. All individuals are alike de
pendent on the Savior for salvation. Before
j THE CHRISTIAN HERALD,
| of Tennessee.
him is perfect equality here as well as at the 1
judgment All may be benefited by others’
counsel, co-operation and assistance; and
no one knows how much he will need the
kind offices of others before he dies. Then
let us be modest and considerate in our deal- ,
ings with our fellow-men, and never let the
spirit of boastful arrogance govern our con I
dnet.—Morning Star.
True, as regards individuals; true,
as regards families, communities, cor
porations, States, nations; true every
way. Wherefore, let brotherly love
continue.
And this which we find in the Chris- 1
tian Union expresses our views ex
actly :
ThkTboe Basis ok Temperance Refobm.
—We wish that Dr. Crosby, in his proposed
method of temperance reform had placed
greater emphasis on the truth, that there is
no specific for intemperance; that the only
true remedy is a reform of the whole nature.
Temperance is a plant of slow growth; it
cannot be forced. Intemperance is the mas
tery of the animal over the intellectual and
spiritual over the animal. Prohibition puts
the tiger in ths cage and denies him the use
of blood; the pledge is his promise to turn
vegetarian; Christianity takes his blood
thirsty disposition out of him. Prohibitory
law and personal pledges may sometimes
serve a useful temporary purpose ; but noth
ing less than Christian life makes radical
and permanent reform. A genuine revival
of religion is the best temperance movement;
a genuine Christian church is the best terns
perance society; and a genuine Christian
preacher, who puts temperance where Paul
put it, between righteousness and judgment
to come, is the best of all temperance lectu
rers.
God can give us no greater gift than him
self. We may say, as one said to Caesar,
“This is too great a gift for me to receive."
“But it is not too great for me to give,” an
swered Caesar.
Salvation to eternal life to be spent
with God and with the holy angels is
• too great a gift for me to receive! Be
that as it may, it is none too great for
God to give. Whatovor he doec is
done on a scale commensurate with
his own greatness. He measures his
gift by his goodness, not by your de
serts.
None but an Editor.—None hut
an editor, none but an editor could
have written the following instructive
lines. They are from a sporting paper
it is true, (the London Sporting Times)
but no matter where they come from,
they are worthy of the careful consid
eration of our readers.
If an editor omits anything, he is lazy. If
he speaks of things as tney are, people get
angry. If he glosses over or smoothes down
the rough points, he is bribed. If he calls
things by their proper names, he is unfit for
the position of an editor. If he does not
furnish readers with jokes, he is an idiot; if
Ire does, he is a rattlehead, lacking stability.
If he condems the wrong, he is a good fel
low, but lacks discretion If he lets wrongs |
and injuries go unmentioned, he is a cow
ard. If he exposes a public man, he dues it
to gratify spite, is the tool of a clique, or be
longs to the “outs.” If he indulges in per
sonalities, he is a blackguard ; if he does not,
his paper is dull and insipid.
The Bvptist Record speaking of the
neglect of missions by the Baptists
of the South has these truthful words:
Not a little of the ©missionary sin of the
people is rightly charged to the conduct of
the Baptist press of tue country. Some
papers have put missions is a corner, and
constantly led the minds of the people to
think about other things of far less impor
tance, and sometimes of no importance.
For nearly a third of a century in the south
west, we have had an epidemic of contro
ve.sy on all sorts oi questions. Meantime
the great cause of the world’s salvation, by
the preaching of the gospel, was put aside.
There is little wonder that we are behind all.
people in this foremost Christian duty. Un
der this same head, we may appropriately
refer to the immense damage done
to the cause by a class of editois
and writers, who have made it their
business as far as possible, to destroy
the confidence of the people in the Mission
Boards. There must be a heavy account '
laid up against those who have used their j
talents to obstruct those who have been set
to act for the churches in this matter.
Good old Deacon Smith was dead. At
the Board of Trade that day they said, “Our
former president, Solomon Smith, died last
night, 1 see by the paper. Have you any
idea what he was worth ? Time was, before
the panic, when be could have written his
check for $100,000.”
At the weekly prayer meeting that night,
his pastor remarked, while sobs choked his
utterance, “One of the faithful ones of earth
has taken his departure Who can estimate
his worth to the church and this communi
ty? While he had means, he gave liberally
and wisely, but since deprived of the bulk
of his fortune he has seemed closer to God,
and closer to us all than ever. Only as
weeks go on, and we miss his warm prayers
and consistent example, shall we begin to
rightly appreciate the worth of such a
man."
Ask the angels, among whom a new harp
is heard in glory, “What was he worth?”
They will tell you that what they are, and
not what they have, constitutes “the riches
of the glory of Christ’s inheritance in the
saints."—Evangelical Messenger.
Socialists in Cnicago desecrated the last
I Ba‘>bath by hoi ling a meeting to approve
NO. 13.
the assassination of the Russian C zar, and
to denounce our government for its dispatch
expressive of sympathy. These Sociali-ts
and Nihilists are the Catilinee of to- day, the
abettors of murder and the enemies of man
kind, answering to Peter's “natural brute
beasts made to be taken and destroyed."—
Christian Secretary.
V- A* *
It is a prevalent and false notion that
young people get, that makes so many. hab
itually neglect public worship on the plea
that they attend Sunday-school. The pub
lic worship is enjoined by precept and ex
ample—the Sunday-school at best is only an
inference and a deduction from Scripture
teaching. Whenever the Sunday schools in
terfere with public worship in withdraw
ing teachers or pupils from it, tnen it be
comes a Very questionable good.—Christian
Visitor.
Aye: so long as the Sunday-school
is a mere helper to the church it is
valuable; but it ought never to be a
substitute for the church. In some
quarters there is a tendency in this
direction which it would be Well to
guard against.
That balky horse that delayed forty or fif
ty cars on a city horse railway the other day
was a great success as a hindrance, and yet
at bis proper work of pulling be had not
strength enough to draw a single car. What
a good illustration of the hindering powers
of a balky teacher! His power to advance
the school by direct effort may be very small,
but his ability to hinder the progress of
others may be very great. The best thing to
do with a balky worker in any department
of Christian activity is to put a good substi
tute in bis place,—and the sooner the better.
—S. 8. Times.
We have some balky Baptists in our
churches, who make themselves felt
as members only by giving trouble.
They give nothing else.
My sins were laid upon Him that I might
have pardon and life. As long as we think,
of others only we fail to realize the full com
fort that is in the Gospel. It was for me
my sins are borne away—l am redeemed
It <s this individualizing of the precious
titMngia thie personal a'pwroprtktinn by
spul, that is meant by- the word faith.
When we read our own history in that ot
our Lord's sufferings; when each one sees
bis sins punished in the unutteiableegonv
of bis Lord, then sees bis righteousness tri
umphingin the resurrection of the crucified
Redeemer, so that it is all realized as taking
place “for me,” he believes in the Lord Je
sus Christ and has pardon and peace. How
could Ibe doomed to suffer for mv sins
when Christ my Lord has suffered all that
righteousness demands? How could my
soul be rejected, when the Savior endured
everything that stood in the way of my ac
ceptance? The Lords inferings were all
for me, and lam saved. Bless the Lord, O
my soul! —Lutheran Observer.
One of our exchanges says:
The new liquor law in Kansas causes con
siderable (dissatisfaction. It prohibits every
alcoholic preparation—such as bay rum and
spirits of camphor—and even punishes by
imprisonment the minister who adminis
ters wine in communion.
We think this must be a mistake;
but we have this to say, that if such
should ever be the law in Georgia, we
shall deliberately violate it in the cele
bration of the Lord’s supper, and take,
our chances for the penitentiary - r but
there is no danger of any such folly
here.
The largest Baptist church on the conti
nent of Europe is at Memel, on the Baltic
Bea, in the extreme northeastern, corner of
Prussia. At the beginning of 1876 it had a
membership of 2,780, but five other church
es have been constituted from it. reducing
the membership to 1,170 The Baptists of
St. Petersburg formerly belonged to it, but
they were dismissed last September to form
a church iu their own city.
Name or the good Samabitan—Oberlin,
the well known philanthropist of Steinthal,
while yet a candidate for the ministry, was
traveling on one occasion from Strasbourg.
It was in the winter time. The ground was
deeply covered with snow, and the roads
were almost impassable. He had reached
the middle of his journey and was among the
mountains, and by that time was so exhaus
ted that he could stand up no longer.
He was rapidly freezing to death. Sleep
began to overcome him: all power to resist
it left him. He commended himself to God;
and yielded to what he felt to be the sleep of
death.
He knew not how long he slept, but sud
denly became conscious of some one rousing
him and waking him up. Before him
stood a wagon driver in his blue blouse, and
the wagon not far away. He gave him a lit
tle wine and food, and the spirit of life re
turned. He then helped him on the wagon,
and brought him to the next village. The
rescued man was profuse in his thanks, and
offered money, which his benefactor re
fused.
“It is only a duty to help one another,”
said the wagor.tr. “And it is thenext thing
to an insult to offer a reward for such a ser
vice."
“Then,” replied Oberlin, “at least tell me
your name, that I may have you in thank
ful remembrance before God.”
“I see,” said the wagoner, “that you are a
minister of the gospel. Please tell me the
name of the Go d Samaritan.”
“That,” said Oberlin. “I cannot do, for it
was not put on record.”
“Then,” replied the wagoner, “until you
can tell me bis name, permit me to with
hold mine.” —Christian Leader.
