Newspaper Page Text
SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST, X THE CHRISTIAN HERALD,
of Alabama. of Tennessee.
ESTABLISHED I 811.
Table of Contents.
First Page—Alabama Department: Political
Acrimony; Extent of Inspiration ; With
drawal of Appointments. The Religious
Press.
Second Page—Cofrespondence: Ministerial
Life; Doubts on Inspiration; A Sunday
in Washington; Jottings by the Way;
' Reminiscences of Mercer; Ordination.
Missionary Department.
Third Page Children's Corner: Bible Ex
¥lorations; Enigmas; Correspondence
he Sunday School —The Red Sea—Lesson
for August 14th. New Advertisements.
Fourth Page—Editorials: Not a Dog; Our
Mission Contributions ; That Kiss ; Com
plete Surrender; Glimpses and Hints;
Georgia Baptist News.
Fifth Page-Secular Editorials: The Glory
of Literature; Literary Notes and Com
ments ; The Magazines; Georgia News.
Sixth Page—The Household : The Sweet Old
Story—poetry; Words of Wisdom; Be
Friendly; The Month of August—poetry
(illustrated). Obituaries.
Seventh Page—The Farmer’’ Index: Farm
Work for August; Late Cotton Culture;
Sowing Wheat; Our Duty; German Mil
let; etc.
Eight Page—Florida Department: Facts.
Fancies and Figures; Scottsville; etc.
Alabama Department.
BY SAMUEL HENDERSON.
POLITICAL ACRIMONY.
If there is one crime above all other
crimes of which the American people
as a whole are guilty, it is the habit of
"speaking evil of dignities.” It is an
offence that must recoil in the end
against the very integrity of our govern
ment, by inspiring contempt for the
very parties for whom the profoundest
respect is due—those who are in author
ity. A large portion of our citizens,
editors, politicians, state and national,
seem to consider it a part of their duty
to impute to our officials the basest
motives that can actuate the most de
praved, and to place the worst con
struction upon their conduct that it
can bear. The idea that a public man
can rise above the merest partisanship
and selfishness that can animate the
meanest of men, never seems to enter
many of their heads. If he does any
thing which defies the “Argus eyes”
of these carpers, they impute even that
to some partizan purpose. If he claims
to be animated by any thing like pa
triotism in the administration of the
public service, why, it is all cant, in
tended to cloak some selfish end. So
that if he does right or wrong, it comes
to the same end, it is all part and par
cel es the came corrupt source. We
verily believe that the late attempted
assassinnation of our worthy chief
mag’strate, President Garfield, is one of
the legitimate fruits of the licentious,
wholesale abuse of our public men.
When we think of it seriously, is it
strange that among a population of
fifty millions, where this moral virus
circulates incessantly, some desperado
should be found, who, under the spe
cious plea of relieving the country or
the party of a troublesome official, an of
ficial who claims to have a mind of
his own, and who cannot accommodate
every scapegrace with an office who
demands it, should seek to carry out in
fact what has been more than suggest
ed by this horde of disappointed office
seekers? especially,as the plea of “moral
insanity” has come to be the universal
excuse for every enormous crime!
We see that some statements are
coming out to the effect that the mis
erable wretch, Guiteau, who attempted
the murder of the President, has been
insane for years. But is it not time to
be putting some of these insane people
where they can do no more mischief?
He was thought to be sane enough by
the party with whom he acted to take
part in the last Presidential canvass.
He certainly understood his lesson then
quite well, for he abused the South as
well as any “stalwart of the stalwarts.” ■
He elaborated a scheme to assassinate
the President with as much coolness
and sagacity as was ever concocted by
any man who practiced “murder as
one of the fine arts,” and came within
an ace of carrying it out. The motive
he claims to have actuated him, is
just the motive that animates the
whole tribe of disappointed office seek
ers, who are hurling not the less deadly
missiles of vituperation and slander at
our same chief executive, only he aim
ed at the life while they aim at the
reputation of the same man. He only
went a step farther than they. He
only sought to do with a bullet what
they are seeking to do with envenomed
tongues and pens. “Insane” forsooth!
And who is not insane at the instant
he takes the life of his fellow-man? It
is time the world was rid of this species
of insanity. The spirit that would
strike down the chief magistrate of
this nation of freemen, would run riot
over the last vestiges of civil liberty.
It is as bad as treason of the deepest
die. And nothing short of the extrem
est penalty which crime can provoke,
can adequately express that sense of
indignation and wrong which every
worthy citizen feels in this emergency.
The life of our President is sacred in
the eyes of every true man, and his
body guard is the breast of every gen
uine patriot. There was rather too
much method in Guiteau's madness for
the plea of insanity to hold. Insane
people generally act without motive
and from sudden impulses. But his
motive was transparent, was avowed
by himself, he even exulted in it. And
then the infamous act was the result
of six weeks premeditation. Human
nature is not capable of planning more
elaborately and executing more cun
ningly a deed of blood. His punish
ment is not a question of vengeance at
a.l, but a question of impartial, retrib
utive, inexorable justice. No occasion
has ever offered itself in our past his
tory as a government, in which law so
much needs to be magnified and vin
dicated. That the chief magistrate of
a free, enlightened people, who, in ad
dition to his virtues as a man, con
bines the excellences of a Christian
statesman, should be put upon a level
with those tyrants of the Old World
whose infamous careers could only be
ended by the saletto of assassins, is
humiliating to the last degree. For
murder, intended or real, never had a
more groundless pretext, than the at
tempt on President Garfield. Whose
heart was not touched by the affecting
exclamation of liis aged mother when
the news was broke to her: “ Who
could be so cold hearted as to kill my
baby boy I”
Let us say in conclusion, that when
ever party spirit becomes so acrimoni
ous as to make assassinations of high
functionaries even possible, patriotism
can no longer be a plea or pretext for
its conduct. So long as party spirit
is in subordination to patriotism, all
parties readely coalesce in whatever is
essential to preserve the free institu
tions of a country. But when it de
generates into a faction, it is only the
precursor of that treason that will ruin
where it cannot rule.
Thus far had we written when The
Index of the 14th July was received,
in which our worthy chief has two
editorials which almost supersede the
necessity of our saying anything on
the foregoing subject, except that we
discuss it from a different standpoint.
If there is any difference in our views,
it is on the relative value of human
life, and by consequence the relative
magnitude of the crime that would
take it. Perhaps in this we are at one.
When, at a great crisis in a battle in
the late war, General Lee was estopped
by General Gordon and others from
rushing to the front to recover his
broken lines, thus putting his life in
peril, it was because it was better for
any other lives in the army to be sacri
ficed than his. Deep down in the con
sciousness of every right minded man,
we suppose, this same sentiment exists.
David’s life was estimated to be of
more value than ten thousand of his
people. _
EXTENT OFINSPIRA TION.
We are sure the reader will indulge
us, while on the subject of inspiration,
to bring out one other aspect of it to
which we attach no little degree of im
portance. Theories on this, as well as
on most other subjects, may have been
pressed too far. The advocates of plena
ry inspiration, as Dr. Carson, for in
stance. may have claimed more than
the subject demands—while those who
claim that the thought only was in
spired, and the sacred writer was left
to express it in his own language, have
certainly erred on the other side. The
truth in this, as in so many other cases,
lies between these extremes. We
think the following principle will about
meet the case, a principle which is re
cognized in “Kurtz’s Sacred History,”
a work translated from the German,
and published in this country about
twenty-five years ago. It is this: That
all those truths which lie beyond the
limits of human knowledge and ex
perience—those truths which we never
could have known but for divine rev
elation— were suggested by the Spirit
in matter and form, just as they ap-
ALANTA, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 1881.
pear in the original; and that in all
those truths which lie within the
bounds of human knowledge, such as
historical and biographical facts de
tailed in their writings, the Holy Spirit
protected the writer from the possibili
ty of error. It seems to us that this
is the lowest ground on which a con
sistent believer in inspiration can ever
think of putting this question. If “God,
who at sundry times and in divers
manners, spake in time past unto the
fathers, by the prophets, bath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son,”
and if that book we call the Bible con
tains the sum of his utterances, then
it must possess an authority which it
would be impious in us to accord to any
other book in the world. Take that por
tion of Holy Writ, the matter of which
lies beyond the powers of human rea
son and observation, that never could
have been known but by the Holy
Spirit —it is impossible to conceive how
it ever could have been made intelligi
ble but by something like what we call
“plenary inspiration.” It is doubtless
in inspiration as it is in every depart
ment of the divine economy. The Holy
One economizes his power. That is,
He only undertakes to do that directly
which surpasses human capacity, and
and which is essential to be done for
his own glory aud for the good of his
creatures. For instance, the regenera
tion of the soul is the result of a direct
divine agency, as much so as the crea
tion of a world. But the subsequent
growth in grace of that soul in some
important respects depends upon the
diligence and perseverance of the new
creature. So also, the descent of rain
upon the earth is purely a divine ar
rangement. “He sendeth his rain
npon the just and the unjust.” We
can no more command the clouds than
we can make a universe. But we can
plant the seed and cultivate them, sb
that when the rain does fall we can
share its benefits. Even so is it in the
domain of revelation, as Paul affirmsf
Rom. 8:11—“For what man knowetb
the things of a man, save the spirit of
man which is in him; even so the
things of God knoweth no man, but
the Spirit of God.” And it is by “the
Spirit of God” that these “things of
God” are revealed to us.
But in those things which the Bible
contains that come fairly within the
scope of human knowledge, its histori
cal and biographical facts, the sayings
and doings of living actors, whether pro
phets, apostles,or Christ himself, all that
is essential to stamp the impress of di
vine authority upon such portions of
our sacred writings, is, just what our
blessed Lord promised to his witnesses
in the descent of the Spirit: “But the
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my
name, he shall teach you all things, and
bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you.”
John 14 :26. Under the tuition of this
Spirit, their minds would, as we may
say, be fertilised, purified and exalted,
so that what they wrote is preserved
from the least taint of human
infirmity. And this is the Spirit which
inspired “Holy men of old,” under the
former dispensation as well as the Apos
tles. Now this protects the whole
record, whether of facts and events
that came under the observation of the
divine witnesses, and which may have
somewhat faded from their minds,but is,
by this Spirit,restored as by a palimpsest,
a re-writing; or those great truths which
a direct revelation only could make in
telligible to mortal comprehension.
This secures the full integrity of the
sacred volume —this fixes upon all its
utterances the very signet of divinity.
And nothing short of this can make it
what it claims to be, the Word of God.
Thus much we have felt it our duty
to say, as the whole question of inspi
ration is now undergoing a very rigid
investigation, and we could not let the
occasion pass without contributing our
mite, humble though it is, to a question
so transcendently important. And we
promise the reader not to bore him any
more on the subject, unless “advanced
thought!” (save the mark!) turns up
some new phase to an old error.
The friends of “Prohibition” in our
county (Talladega) are fully organiz
ed, the best men in the county coming
to the front, and .the prospect is flatter
ing that we will redeem the county
from that most despicable tyrant that
ever ruled to ruin, Alcohol. It only
needs every good man to do his duty,
and the victory is assured. Many men
addicted to the use of liquor favor it, as
it will remove the temptation from them,
I and thus facilitate their reformation.
WITHDRAWAL OF APPOINT-
MENTS.
We regret most profoundly the nec
essity under which our Foreign Mis
sion Board felt compelled to withdraw
the appointment of our young brethren
Bell and Stout as missionaries to our
foreign field on account of their views
upon the subject of inspiration. But
to have continued them after it was
known that they had adopted the loose
views of Prof. Toy on that subject, and
that, too, after Prof. T.’s resignation
had been accepted by the Trustees of
the S. B. Theological Seminary, as one
of its faculty, on account of these views,
would have been inexpedient, incon
sistent and wrong. To appoint men
to our foreign field, the very pioneers
of evangelization, who avow it as their
(belief that the word o f God is “partly
human and partly divine,” and that it
is competent for uninspired men in this
age, eighteen centuries after the sacred
canon was closed, to sit in judgment
on what it is proper and what it is not
proper for God to reveal, is not only in
consistent with the solemn obligations
that Board to the denomination, but
to tho integrity of divine truth itself.
No man is behind us in respect and af
fection for these young brethren. Their
piety and talents are cheerfully accord
ed to them. One of them, brother
Stout, we have known from his very
infancy. His father was one of the
best Christian friends we ever had;
and was one of the most godly minis
ters we ever knew. But if that father
were an archangel to-day, it would not
redeem the sad error of his gifted son
upon a question than which a more
important cannot be conceived. “Prin
ciples, not men,” should be the motto
of Christians above all other men.
Loose principles once admitted, will
always find bad men to give them their
full force and effect. And there can
be whither that principle
will tend which avers that the histor
ical portion of the Bible is human, sub
ject to all the errors of any human his
tory, and that only its doctrines are
inspired. Yield this to the demands
of infidelity, and its apostles may well
turn upon us and say, ‘defend the bal
ance if you can! To send an ambas
sador from these United States to the
Prussian Court whose avowed senti
ments upon the subject of government
were partly monarchical and partly re
publican would be wisdom compared
with sending an ambassador of Christ
to a foreign field to establish and de
fend the divine authenticity of the
very Book which he declares is “partly
human and partly divine.” Their very
piety and talents are the reason why
they should not go to such fields, for
the reason that remaining here their
sentiments can be met and combatted
with effect, while there they would
have a clear field to disseminate them.
Goodness, culture, talents, are not all
that are needed in a foreign missionary.
Fenelon, Pascal, Massillon, and many
others who were Catholics, were good
cultivated, talented men, and Christians
we believe; but were they living now.
we should scarcely think of appointing
them to foreign mission stations, with
their other views, even if we had the
opportunity.
Greatly regretting the circumstances
under which the Board felt it necessary
to rescind these appointments to a
foreign field, we can but commend
them for their faithfulness. A worthy
Christian lady contributed the other
day at one of our churches twenty-five
dollars to be specially sent to these two
brethren; but we venture to say, when
she learns the facts of the case, that
no contributor to missions in the South
will more heartily endorse the action
of that Board than she. Cherishing
the hope that these excellent young
brethren will yet see their way back to
the paths from which they have diver
ged, we here dismiss the painful sub
ject. Were they our own brothers ac
cording to the flesh, we could not say
less.
It is stated that the Revised New Tesa
ment does not sell in the country, the people
regarding any alteration in the text as pro
fanation.—Central Presbyterian.
We suppose there are people in the
country, and in the cities too, who be
lieve that the English words of the
Bible are inspired. It may be of service
to such persons to know that the last of
the sacred books was written 1800 years
ago, and that the English language
( having been spoken not more than
six hundred years) came into existence
1200 years after the last sacred writer
died.
The Religious Press.
“Iscariot was never suspected by the other
eleven, though their associations with him
were intimate, and though he was possessed
of the devil from the beginning.”
So said The Index not long ago>
and now comes to the front the Baptist
Reflector and says:
Now we remember to have made once on
a time, a similar assertion, and it was chal
lenged. The objector said . “The Scriptures
nowhere say anything to show that ‘Judas
was possessed of the devil from the begin
ning 1 ;” and this from John xiii: 27. 1 And
after the sop, Satan entered in to him,” was
drawn on ns. We had to give it up. How
is this octor? If you can make good your
assertion, we will yet rejoice over wbat would
have been our triumph, if we had been shar
per.
There was not much to give up.
How far Judas was under the influ
ence of Satan at various periods of his
life, we cannot say. True in John 13 :
27. it is said that “after the sop Satan
entered into him ;” but in the 2d verse
of the same chapter we read in the
new version as follows: “And during
supper the devil already having put
into the heart of Judas. to betray
him.” So the entering in of the Satan
after the sop was not his first entrance.
More than a year before this, our Lord
speaking of Judas said, “Did not I
choose you twelve and one of you is a
devil.” Jno. 6 :70. The exact differ
ence between being a devil in thesen«e
in which our Lord used those words,
and being possessed of the devil we
must think is a matter of no practical
importance. Hundreds of years before
this the “Holy Ghost spake by the
mouth of David concerning Judas,”
(Acts 1:16) and if it is not said in so
many words that he was possessed of
the devil from the beginning, an ac
count is given of him which shows that
he might as well have been so posses
sed, whether he was so or not. He after
wards went to his “own place” (Acts
2 :25) which was prepared for him as
thoroughly aa he was prepared for it.
There is no evidence that any change
ever took place in the character of
Judas. What it was at the end it was
at the beginning.
The Canadian Baptist informs us
that,
On Thursday and Friday of the last week
an advertisement appeared in one or two
of the daily papers of this city, inviting the
“Liberal Baptists” of Toronto and vicinity,
to assemble in Jackson’s Hall, to consider
the propriety of forming an Open Commun
ion Baptist church, under the pastorate of
Rev. William Brookman. The meeti. g was
held on Friday evening last, and was attend
ed by from 30 to 40 persons, several of wnom
were present simply as spectators. From
questions put and answered on the occasion
it appears that the new organization is noi
only to be open in communion, but latitud
inarian in doctrine. It was expressly an
nounced that the pastor was to have the ful
lest liberty to preach his peculiar views re
garding the sleep of the soul and future
punishment. We deeply regret the forma
tion of a church on such a basis.
But we of The Index have no such
regrets; we rejoice rather. If we have
such people among us, the sooner they
leave the better. Nor are we at all
surprised. Open communionism is very
apt to lead to general looseness of doc
trine ; and the above is a striking in
stance of it.
* a *
The Evangelist speaking the num
erical strength of its denomination,
says:
It would be immensely more to our glory
if, instead of pointingout the size of our ar
my, we would point to its deeds.
Divorce.—Speaking of the necessity
of some National law regulating mar
riage, the Christian at Work says:
Such a measure must be secured by Com
stitutional Amendmentit can be secured
in no other way. The Bth Section of Article
10 of the Constitution provides that
“Powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by
it to the States, are reserved to the States
respectively or to the people.”
This section as it stands is certainly in
surmountable. A Divorce law passed by
Congress in face of such a provision would
speedily have to undergo the test of the
United States Supreme Court, where it
would be pronounced unconstitutional. But
suppose Congress were to propose an amend
ment to the Constitution like the,following:
ARTICLE XVI.
Congress shall have power to regnlate the
institution of Marriage and prescribe the
conditions of Divorce throughout the United
States.
Now why, with the iniquities and infamies
of the easy-divorce laws which exist,
throughout the States, enabling citizens to
go out of the State, marry or be divorced
under conditions forbidden therein, and re
turn and live in defiance of the law and of
public sentiment, —why should not this
Constitutional Amendment or something
like it prevail?
Beyond question the proposed
amendment to the Constitution of the
United States ought to be adopted. It
is impossible to secure uniformity in
marriage laws in any other way.
vol. 59. —NO. 3<£
The President's critical illness has brongh
to the surface tbe difference between Protes
tantism snd Roman Catholicism in the event
of impending death. Thus a Roman Catho
lic paper—the Boston Pilot—speaks of the
"empty negation called Protestantism,” di*
| lates upon tbe fact that when the President
was struck down, not a priest, but a surgeon
was sent for. “All thought is for the body
—no care is for the soul,” it says and adds:
“With Catholicsit is different. In case of
calamity, concern for the soul is first. The
priest is the soonest summoned, then the
doctor, then the friends. Eternity is of more
moment than time, and whfn all attention
has been paid to its interests, the man is
more disposed to profit by the ministrations
intended for h‘s spiritual good.”
The difference between Protestantism and
Roman Catholicism is very strikinglyly set
forth in this matter. With Roman Catho
lics the priest is sent for first, not because
concern for the soul is first with Roman
Catholics and secondary with Protestants,
but because the Roman Catholics hold* that
only the priest can prepare the dying man
for heaven, and this however vicious his life
may have been, while Protestants hold that
a Christian is always prepared, and that be
yond tbe comfort which every dying Chris
tian man experiences in having a minister
and his friends by bis bedside, the offices of
the minister cannot change the destiny of
the soul. In brief, in the Protestant system
it is tbe attitude of tbe soul to God that de
termines the destiny of the soul —not the
perfunctory acts of a priest.
To send for the priest first is the logical
deduction of Roman Catholicism, as to send
for a surgeon first is the logical consequence
of Protestantism—the difference being that
under the one system there is always priest
ly preparation to be made before the sufferer
departs ; under the other, the Protestant sys
tem, when the sinner comes to Christ the
soul is passed from death to life, and when
the Christian has made bis peace with God
there is required of tbe sonl no secondary
peace at the hands of a priest.
And so the case is admirably put by
the Christian at Work. Yet there are
some who are not Catholics, but who
will send for a minister to “baptize” a
dying babe before they will send for s
physician to prescribe for it. The very
same persons accuse Baptists of “lay
ing too much stress on baptism!”
Their action is Popish and their talk is
unworthy of them.
No words ever spoken have had such a
history as the words of Jesus. They have
been Incorporated into the literature of all
modem (Hvilized nations, they hava gone
into the jurisprudence and civic economyof
Christendom. They have thrilled and con
solated the hearts of bereaved men and wo
men, in the chamber of death and at the
gates of the cemetery, as no other words ever
did or could. In millions of cases they have
been the first words which lisping infancy
has learned in the mother's lap, and in a»
many more they have been the last words,
which the aged and the dying have fondly
uttered, as they closed their eyes on all
eartuly scenes, and stood in the presence of
God. They have had a power to administer
consolation in trouble, to raise the fallen to
cheer the helpless, to awaken hope in death
and to dispel even the gloom of the dying
hour, that has not belonged to any other
written or spoken words—lnterior.
We have often said the same thing,,
but never, we think, qt.i e so well.
The Queen of England lately attended a
funeral service after the Congregational form
when a favorite retainer was buried from
Windsor Castle, and in consequence thereof
the Ritualists and High-churchmen of Eng
land have had another spasm.
The Queen of England has away of
doing what she pleases, and the High
flying churchmen of England have a
way of making themselves ridiculous.
Withheld Statistics.—Under this
title we have here, from the Sunday
School Times, one of the most telling
articles we have seen in a long time.
Read it:
How it would startle some of our congre
gations to have the pastor follow the reading
of the annual report of his church with a
few of the withheld statistics, somewhat after
this sort: —“ Os the thirty-two who Lava
joined our church the past year I find that
five of those who came in on profession have
unmistakably fallen into former evil ways,
while of those who were received by letter
three were certainly lacking in good charac
ter in the churches they left, although by the
record they were in ‘good and regular stand
ing.’ One of our elders is popularly reported
to have swindled a neighbor outrageously in
a notorious business transaction. We have
lost one of our more prominent members by
bis transfer to the county jail on conviction
of crime. A eareful examination of our
record has convinced me that fully one-third
of our members can be counted on the ‘dead
head’ list. They do nothing in the line of
Christian activity. As to their example they
are not bad enough to be a warning to the
outside world, nor good enough to be taken
as an example by anybody—in or out. Our
benevolent contributions look pretty well for
our numbers, but I learn that nearly one*
third of their full amount has been given by
four persons; and that of the other members
of the church more than one-half gave leas
to religious ca rises than they pay toward:
public amusements, while there are not »•
tew families which gave more for peanuta
during the year than they put in tie com
tribution box. A fair estimate of the tobacco
bills of the congregation is twice and three
eighths the amount given by the church to
home and foreign missions combined.” 1
Such a supplement as this, in kind and in
degree according to the particular communi
ty, could be truthfully made in many »
church where the annual report last present
ed is spoken of as “every way encouraging.” 7
