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SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST, ' ' THE CHRISTIAN HERALD,
of Alabama. " 0F
ESTABLISHED I 811.
Table of Concents.
First Page—Alabama Department: What ii>
the Compensation ? Is There a Remedy ?
The Religious Press.
Second Page—Correspondence: College Edu
cation in Georgia—Free Tuition—Reply to
“A Baptist;” Good Tidings; Two Things
Needful Still; Jottings By The Way ; The
Death of Garfield -poetry. The Missionary
Department.
Third Page—Children’s Corner: Bible Ex
plorations ; Enigmas: Correspondence;
The Sunday-school: Nadab and Abihu—
Lesson for October 30.
Fourth Page—Editorials: The Right Side of
the Ship; Prevention of Crime; Glimpses
and Hints; Georgia Baptist News; Georgia
Association.
Fifth Page—Secular Editorials: German
Emigrants; Literary Notes and Comments;
Notes; Georgia News-
Sixth Page—The Household: Gleaning—
poetry; The Little Red Cushion; Have
More Sunshine. Obituaries.
Seventh Page—The Farmer’s Index: The
Talbotton Fair; Improve Your Stock;
-Luoern; Small Notes.
Eighth Page—Florida Department: Where
“We” Have Been; Union Meetings; Ba
nana Letter—Query ; Illustration; What
She Should Do.
Alabama Department.
BY SAMUEL HENDERSON.
WHAT IS THE COMPENSATION?
Looking at the Temperance question
only in its material bearing upon our
country, it may be a profitable inquiry
to raise, What do dram sellers give
back to a community for the privilege
of running their vocation? What
compensation do they yield to the
material, social, moral, and intellectu
al interests of society for the privilege
of retailing this ruinous drug? We
generally estimate the calling of men
by their contributions to those inter
ests of society which build up and sus
tain their various departments of its
industries. Now, what position does a
drinking saloon occupy in the category
of these industries? The question is
pertinent and deserves to be answered.
If this question were asked in regard
to any of the legitimate callings of life,
any one could answer it. The farmer
gives to the country the great mass of
its productive wealth —its cotton, grain,
meat, hay, tobacco, hemp, everything
in one word that grows. The manu
facturer converts the raw material of
cotton into avery description of fabrics,
of wood into wagons, buggies, etc.
The blacksmith changes the iron and
steel into every article the country
needs. The merchant, the lawyer, the
doctor, the minister, the school-teacher,
all can point with something of honest
pride to their contributions to the per
manent interests of society. Our pub
lic officials from the President down,
all fi.ll positions essential to the com
mon welfare of the country. Our
editors, authors, lecturers, and the like,
can congratulate themselves that they
are adding no little to the intellectual
wealth of the country. Our miners
are adding millions to our wealth every
year in gold, silver, copper, coal, iron
ore, etc., etc. And so we might go on
through the whole catalogue of pur
suits that mark the present age, and
the least that can be said of any is that
it is only harmless. We once knew a
scientific man on a small scale Who
spent his whole time in collecting
specimens of bugs until he had his
room lined with them transfixed with
pins to the wall. But no harm was
done to any body. But we repeat the
question with emphasis, where does
the dram seller stand in this catalogue
of industrial and professional pursuits?
What are his contributions to the
wealth, the morals, the prosperity, the
happiness of our communities? To
ask these questions is to answer them.
There is not a man, woman or ten-year
child but knows that the dram seller is
the iucubus upon every lawful pursuit
in life—that for his ill gotten gains, he
pays nothing back. Nay, it would be
a blessing if he paid nothing back.
His contributions are well nigh or
quite a million of drunkards in these
United States, about a hundred thous
and of these victims are annually sent
to the drunkar’s grave and the drunk
ard’s hell. Then there are the wrecked
households, the squalid poverty, nine
tenths of the crimes that darken our
criminal dockets, our crowded peniten
tiaries and jails, with the victims it
sends to the gallows and lunatic As
sylums, to say nothing of the crimes
that go unwhipt of justice. The fact
is, if by some general moral impulse,
(the thing is conceivable), the country
should rise up en masse and expel the
traffic from the whole land, it would
be as if a millenium had dawned Upon
us?
But then give the kaleidescope an
other turn, and see how the facts will
group. There are expended in ardent
spirits- in this country about three
hundred millions of dollars. We have
seen what the compensation to society
is in the shape of common drunkards,
criminals, paupers, maniacs, etc. Now
consider whence come the bad debt's
that are bankrupting the business men
of the country ? Why the indolence,
the Want of principle resulting from
blunted moral sensibility, the reckless
squandering of means, superinduced
by this single vice, it is utterly impos
sible to compute. No lawful business
can thrive when intemperance pre-’
vails. It is the deadly Upas that
thrives only on the ruin of every inter
est of society, material, moral, social
and domestic. The dram seller literal
ly builds up his fortune upon the ruin
of his customers. He coins his money
out of the resources that ought to pay
honest debts, and out of the agony and
tears of impoverished women and chil
dren. And when good men continue
to circumscribe this monster evil with
in some reasonable bounds, the hue
and cry is raised by their opponents,
“rally, freemen! your rights are in
danger!” and opening their saloons to
the slaves of the vice, they dose them
with drugged stuff that they call whis
ky so that they can stagger to the polls
and vote for their •‘rights!”
But here we lay down the pen to go
to our voting place to cast a “prohibi
tion” ballot, as this is the day, (Aug.
22d), in which our county, Talladega,
is to decide the retail question. We
cannot say that we are hopeful.
Many of the dram shops of the country
are pouring out whiskey like water,
giving free lunches, and have a cham
pion in the field to rally their forces to
the polls. We have not had sufficient
time Vo consolidate the moral senti
ment of our people on the subject, and
many good men will be carried away
by the clap trap cry of “endangered
rights!” The liquor men are on the
alert, and will poll their full strength
—while the sober men are abqut half
awake. Realizing this, we have taken
the liberty to say to the people in the
two or three addresses we have made,
that the present movement in a few
counties in the State is only a little
skirmishing line sent out in advance
to feel the enemy and draw his fire.
The army that is to fight the battle
is gathering in our rear, and when
that army comes to the front, as
we hope and believe, they will leave
very little to be delred by good citizens.
We should have no dread of results if
the question could have been thor
oughly canvassed, and the good people
of the country thoroughly aroused.
Still we are not without hope.
We need scarcely advise the reader
in conclusion that we do not claim for
these views the freshness of originality.
We remember to have urged them as
far back as twenty-five years ago in the
temperance cause. But they are all
the more potent because they have
done good work in the past. Let the
dram seller gainsay them if he can.
Meeting at Fayetteville.—Em
bracing 4th Lord’s day in September,
at the request of the Fort Williams
church, Fayetteville, Ala., we attended
a metting of a week’s continuance, in
connection with the pastor, Dr. Teague,
and brother Wilkes. It was really a
refreshing time. Though the season
was a more than ordinarily busy one
the church and community attended
with unflaging interest to the close.
There were ten additions to the church,
seven of whom were baptized, and
three are awaiting the ordinance.
Among the number is our baby child,
a daughter who has just entered her
teens. Dr. Teague resigned the charge,
of the church, and another pastor is to
be chosen at their next (October)
meeting. He has served them faith
fully, for five years, and leaves with the
universal regrets of the church and
of all community.
We are greatly gratified to learn
that the Baptist church in Talladega
is determined to retain its worthy
pastor, Dr. Renfroe, if it can be done.
He has been serving the church over
twenty years, and yet h continues to
grow in the confidence and love of the
brethren every year.
—During thirty years the Unitarians of
New England have gained only twenty three
churches and the Universalists have lost one
hundred and seventy.
ALANTA, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1881.
IS THERE A REMEDY?
A recent commucication in the Bap
tist Reflector, Nashville, Tenn., from
the pen of Prof. Rust, of Bethel Col
lege, Ky,, discussed with pith and
power, the demoralizing tendency o's
filling the newspapers of the country
with every horrid crime that marks
the age, detailed with disgusting par
ticularity. and appeals to the moral
sense of the country to frown down
the policy. We have long been satis
fied that evil and evil only can come
of such prostitution of the press, and
have more than intimated it in these
columns. It is an old maxim that
“familiarity breeds contempt.” It
blunts our moral sensibilities, so that
we read such details with indifference.
Crimes that once shocked the country
now produce scarcely any impression.
The assassination of the President did
startle the country, but it was because
of the illustrious character of the vic
tim. There is a heavy per cent, of
human depravity which is fascinated
by such crimes. There are those who
seem to aspire to fill a place in the
public eye for the moment, however
infamous, and take their chances to go
“unwhipt of justice.” The notoriety
given to them by the newspapers stim
ulates this thirst for the distinction of
“hard earned infamy.” And thus, be
tween the blunting of the public con
science on the one hand by raking
every crime and scandal that 'news- 6
paper correspondents can nose up, and
the stimulant such horrid details sup
ply to the more abandoned part of
our population to earn the like dis
tinction, the process goes on from bad
to worse, and what the end will be, no
mortal can know. Even while we
write, our nerves are scarcely steady
from the shock we received a day or
two since of a crime in an adjoining
county, that sent a worthy young
friend of ours into eternity instantlaJ
entailing upor? anothfcb nnu AoTti* tl®
last penalty of all law, human and di
vine. A reformation in this respect is
demanded by every motive that can
appeal to the Christian or the patriot.
If onr newspapers would only cease to
give prominence to bad news, and turn
their attention to good news, we are
persuaded they would do the country
some service. It is an instinct of hu
man nature to hide physical deformity
and expose natural symmetry and beau
ty —would that we were as ready to
conceal moral deformity, and manifest
moral excellence.
Apologetic.—Will the reader ex
cuse us when we say that for over two
months we have been so engaged in
protracted and associational meetings,
as well as home affairs, that it has been
with the utmost difficulty we have
“kept up our corner.” We have had
the merest snatches of time to write;
and what we have written, we have
well nigh been tempted to consign to
the waste basket, without troubling our
chief with it. In the kind providence
of God, we have made a pretty good
crop this year, at least in contrast with
our last year’s failure, and it requires
all that can be done by all the force
we can command to save it. We are
forced to look after it with diligence,
or lose much of it. But we are now in
sight of the end. Two or three more
weeks, and with God’s blessing we
shall be on safe ground, and be able to
bestow our wonted attention to our de
partment of the paper. Meanwhile
we ask the readers’ indulgence for the
next issue or two, when the stress will
be over with us, and we shall be free
to devote even more time thau usual to
our work, as we are circumscribing our
ministerial labors to a narrower com
pass.
When the moral issues now pending
in these United States so come to the
front that good men every where vote
together, the reign of corruption in pub
lic affairs will be near its end. That
time is surely eoming.— Christian Advo
cate.
We do not think so; we do not be
lieve that the time will ever come
when the good men of this country
will all vo.e together. But this we say:
that Christian voters ought to make
themselves felt at the polls as such.
When a man of even doubtful morals
is put in nomination for office let it be
understood that those who love Christ
more than they love their party will
refuse to vote for him. Let a few men
be defeated on this goound, and the
“nominating conventions” will learn a
lesson. This is the place to begin the
“civil service reform.”
The Religious Press.
The preacher who leaves on his church
register for- his successor a number ot
godless members who practice shameful
immoralities, cannot atone for it by a
flourish of trumpets about the number
of revivals he has held and the number
of members he has added to the church.
—Houston Methodist.
To leave a cl?urch small, but in good
order, is much more to a man’s credit
than to leave it laa-ge aud in bad order.
The larger an ill-ordered church is the
'more harm it can do.
We are not given to quoting Roman
Catholic papers as our readers well
know ; but we take what is good where
ever we find it. And now the Catholic
Mirror has the floor.
The dally papers have too often to
record the marriage by Protestant minis
ters of slips of boys and girls without the
knowledge of their parents.
The latest case of this kind that has
come to the knowledge of the public in
this vicinity concerns the family of the
Governor of Maryland, whose seventeen
wear old daughter Clara was clandestine
ly wed by a youth named John T. Stan
hope, of Hagerstown, in August last.
'He hired the Rev. Dr. Murray, of West
minster, to go with him to Pentnar, and
there unite him In the bonds ot wedlock
to the Governor’s child.
To characterize as it deserves the con
duct of this minister in this affair would
require the most incisive language !
All fathers and mothers who have
young girls to protect from soft-lipped
‘..adventurers, must resent as a great
wrong the willingness of any clergyman
i to marry minors without the consent of
cheir guardians.
Catholic priests never do anything of
the kind. They may not. They must
announce the banns' at the parochial
Mass on three Sundays, previous to the
day appointed foi the wedding cere
mony, and they will have nothing to do
with runaway matches for any consider
ation.
The readiness of so many Protestant
preachers to join together all parties who
geek their*services is a great evil, They
■kng matrimony into contempt, they
WWilci'pAfe id the sin of •children who
disobey their parents in marrying before
their time, they introduce discord into
homes, and they lay themselves open to
the charge of caring more for a ten dol
lar bill than for right and duty.
And in our opinion the rebuke is
well administered. Fas est ab hoste
doceri.
The same paper has the following:
Catholics should not consult cla’rvoy
ants. They should have no dealings
with mesmerists. They should not at
tend spiritualistic seances.
And yet the same paper has a stand
ing head to one of its columns, which
reads thus: “Items of news from all
over the Universe." So far as we
know, the clairvoyants, etc., are the
only persons who claim to know what
is going on “all over the Universe.”
We should add however that so far as
we have seen, the column contains no
news except that which is purely ter
restial.
A correspondent of the Hartford
Herald says:
I am credibly informed that a promi
nent minister of a large New E.igland
church, a few years ago, said substanti
ally in his New Year’s sermon; “Now,
brethren, we must add a hundred con
verts to this church the present year.”
Tne feat was accomplished but in away
that caused grief to the better class of
members, and added nothing to the
strength of the church-
Whence did the spirit come, by
which the preacher was animated?
Was it from above or from below?
We find the following where we
should not expect to see it, in the
Southern Churchman:
Sunday-school teacher to Jemmie:—
“What did your sponsors then for you?”
Jimmie with readiness“Nothin’
either then nor since.”
Smart boy that!
When attendance at public worship or
prayer-meeting is not large, we are apt
to think the meeting will not amount to
much, as there are so few present. Just
as if God could not bless a small number
as well as the multitude! We think
when such feelings steal into the hearts
of those assembled, that they need an
especial blessing to teach them that the
Lord does not depend on the size of the
congregation for an opportunity to pour
out his Spirit.— Religious Investigator.
When the attendance is small it is
apt to be all the more select. In our
own experience, some of the smallest
meetings we have ever attended have
been the most profitable.
Ordinary murders, says the Messenger,
have become epidemic. Tnere are now
thirty persons, awaiting trial for capital
offenses in this city alone—most of them
devoid of sensational characteristics.
This is in Philadelphia—the city of
Brotherly Love. How many of these
criminals will be punished according
to their deserts? Majiy of them will
doubtless escape on the insanity dodge.
It appears to us that insanity prevails
more largely among jurors than with,
any othe.r class of people. Is it not
insanity to turn murderers loose upon
the community ?
Os 44" females graduates of the public
high schools of Hartford, only 147 have
married. Has culture made them fas
tidious in the choice of companions?
Have all the young men of their class
emigrated to the West ? If such such
statistics should appear in the history of
lemale schools general’y, we should fear
the insidious growth of lawless alliance
of the sexes in this country as in some
countries of Europe.
This is not the case with the gradu
ates of our Southern female schools.
Is it because their education is not so
good, or is it because it is better? or is
it from outside causes with which
education has nothing to do? The
promblem is worth solving; and if it
should be found that any system of
education wages practical war on
matrimony, the sooner that system is
abandoned, the better. Matrimony is
the foundation of all good society.
Without it moral ruin, is certain. It
God’s own institution. Any com
munity where an abnormally large
proportion of the women remain un
married, is in great danger. In our
part of the country, there need be no
uneasiness on this subject.
Dr. Philip Schaff was at the head of
the American committee qn the Re
vision of the New Testament, and here
is what be says of it:
“The Revision has been more favor
ably received than the revisers had
reason to expect. The old version met
with much greater opposition, and had
to fight its way for fifty years until it
superseded its rivals. The present ver
sion will be adopted much sooner. In
America it will be adopted first, with all
the American suggestions. England
will follow. The cobsbrvaiive opposi
tion was stronger there than here, but
the judgment of competent scholars
turns more and more in its favor. Revo
lutions never go backward. Tne revis
ion is not perfect and is a compromise;
but it is the most correct version which
can be made at the present time. Peo
ple will not not go back from this to the
old version, which is very good, but fall
of inaccuracies and inconsistencies.
Common sense prefers the better to the
good. All objections made against the
new version amount to this: that it de
parts toe much from King James’s and
follows too closely the original Greek of
King Jesus and His Apostles. This is
the beat recommendation of the revis
ion.”
We agree with Dr. Schaff; the old
version was good; the new is better;
the new is not perfect; but people will
not go back from this, to qne that is
less perfect; and we may add that they
will not be satisfied until they get one
that is perfect, or as nearly so as possi
ble. Dr. Schaff speaks truly when he
says that the new revision is a com
promise, and that it is the best we can
get “at the present time." The hint in;
these last words is significant. The
Pedobaptist world is not willing ai the
present time to have every word of the
Scriptures.translated into English. But
there is a good time coming when
they can no longer keep back any part
' of it. The people will have it; they
will have it all—every word of it.
God speed the day. The New Version
is an approach; it is as near an ap
proach as Pedobaptists can afford to
make at the present time.
A party of missionaries from Utah
were holding a meeting at Brook’s Mills,
in Georgia, and were putting forth their
powers of eloquence to induce the peo
ple to start for Salt Lake City when they
were fired upon by the citizens and
driven away. This is a miserable mode
of arguing against Mormonism or any
other ism.
So says the New York Observer and
so say we. The end does not justify
the means. If we cannot be rid of
Mormonism without committing mur
der, then let Mormonism stand. A
violation of the laws both of God and
man is no remedy for it. Persecution
i is moreover as inexpedient in practice
i as it is wrong in principle. Let these
poor misguided creatures but have the
prestige of martyrdom and they will
1 flourish all the more. The wrongs and
outrages perpetrated on them years
' ago in Illinois dignified them into
' respectability anh gave them an im
pulse which otherwise they would never
have had. Persecute Mormons, and
! the result is sure to be more Mor
l mons. But the question of expediency
i is by comparison a small one. It is
wrong to persecute, and let that end
f the matter.
VOL. 59.— NO. 41.
It is customary in Washington for
tile pastors of the city to call on a new
President soon after his inauguration
to pay their respects and express their
kind wishes. In accordance with this
usage the pastors pf Washington re
cently called in a body on- President
Arthur, when Rev. Mr. Chester of the
Metropolitan Presbyterian church, read
the following address:
Mr. president;— As pastors of churches
in this city, we desire to express to vou
our appreciation of the important posi
tion to which', in the providence of God,
you have been called ; our sympathy
with you in every effort to promote the
moral integrity of our institutions, and
our confidence in your intention to do
whatever will best subserve the interest
of the wholfe country.'
As a company of religious men, we re
joice that your first official act was the
appointment of a day of humiliation ahd
prayer; since we recognize in this your
own appreciation of our dependence as
a people on God’s blessing, and the ne
cessity of keeping his commandments.
As pastors of churches in the Capital,
we tender yon our prayers, our sympa
thy, and, in the line of our vocation, our
earnest support.
In a meeting of pastors hel 1 immedi
ately after your inauguration, there was
earnestly invoked' God’s blessing oh
yourself and your administration ; and
we now unite in the prayers that you
may rule over us in the fear of the Lord,
and may be the honored instrument in
his hands of great blessing to the whole
nation.
President Arthur responded as follows :
I am glad to meet you, gentlemen; yet
it is with deep sorrow under the circum
stances which have so sadly devolved
such momentous duties Upon me. In the
performance of these duties as Chie f
Magistiatrate of a God fearing and relig
ous people, I appreciate my dependence
upon their moral support and approval
under Divine blessing and guidance.
I thank you cordially for the assurances
of your support and for your kind ex
pressions of sympathy and confidence.
The company present were then indi
vidually presented by Rev. Mr. Butler,
of the Southern Memorial church, after
which the interview was concluded.
Death of the Rev. Db. Stuart
RobiNson.— lt is with the utmost .sadr
ness that we write tbeee words : Dr.
Stuart Robinson is dead. He died at hie
home in Louisville on the sth inst., in
the sixty-eighth year of his age. He had
been ill for many months; and bis dis
ease was such (cancer, in the stomach
that there tyas no hope of his recovery ;
hut not the less because not unexpected
has the death of one so good and so great
filled the heart with grief.
We cannot now undertake to sketch
the life of this great hearted and noble
man, He was a prince amongst men.
He grandly filled every station he
occupied—as pastor, editor, professor,
ecclesiastic, philanthropist. One of the
masters in Israel has fallen ; and it be
comes the church to mourn. -Southern-
Presbyterian.
[We sincerely sympathize with our
Presbyterian brethren in the loss of
one of their greatest and best men.—
Ed. Index.]
He who shows himself a great man at
one time, will be sure to show a good
deal of that which, taken by itself, would
not seem greatness, at another time;
not that he will let himself down, but
that he wUI let himself out -in his enthu
siasm. A friend of President Garfield
speaking, in a purely private note, says :
‘We were on the most cordial and frank
terms. In the way usual among his
warm friends he frequently shook me
by the shoulder, or, if we were sitting,
by the knee. He was a great big boy,
exulting in broad strength of mind and
body. And I never knew a man of
pow’er and magnetism who had not a
good deal of boy in him.” Never be
afraid of showing the boy side of your
character—if you have that side.— S. 8.
Times.
Yes but then there are some who
thiuk that the least exuberance o£
spirits shows lack of piety, and who
seem to imagine that religion consists
in longfacedness and dullness. Accord
ing to their view there is no heaven
for persons whose health is robust and
whose temperament is sanguine and
joyous. This same dullness is often
mistaken for wisdom as well as for
piety. It is neither the one nor the
other; it is nothing but dullness.
Registration of women voters closed
in Boston on Saturday, There are 421
names on the li«ts, about half as many
as last year —which does not intimate
progress of the cause in Boston.— N. Y.
Observer.
We think it indicates progress —in
the right direction.
General Lee is said to have asked »
straggler, whom he found eating green
perstmons, if he did not know they were
unfit for food. “I’m not eating them for
food, General,” replied the man. “I’m
eating them to draw up my stomach to
fit my rations.’’— Ex
Preachers who do not prepare them
selves for the pulpit are apt (meta
phorically). to feed their congregations
on green persimons.