Newspaper Page Text
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SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST, X \ ~ am urn at n
of Alabama. 7-> ** ' X IHE CHRISTIAN HERALD,
— ll Qg ■—— of Tennessee.
ESTABLISHED I’B 21.
Table of Contents.
First Page—Alabama Department: A Sug
gestion Worth Heeding; Worthy of Note;
Married ; etc. The Religious Press.
Second Page—Correspondence: Preaching
Up Morals; From Macon ; From Palmetto;
Jottings By The Way ; Rev. T. L. Houck;
The Near Approach of the Kingdom of
God; Little River Association. The Mis
sionary Department.
Third Page—Children’s Corner: A Little
Boy’s Letter to Jesus—poetry ; Five Cents;
Sayings of Children; etc. The Sunday
school : The Day of Atonement —Lesson
for November 6th, 1881.
Fourth Page—Editorials: Euodias and
Syntyche; Open communion Fruit; At
lanta Baptist Seminary; Glimpses and
Hints; Georgia Baptist News ; Resolutions
of Baptist Preachers’ Meeting of Atlanta.
Fifth Page—Secular Editorials : The Irish
Crisis; Literary Notes and Comments;
etc. Centennial Ode —Paul H. Hayne:
Georgia New s.
Sixth Page—The Household : Training for
God; A Legend—poetry ; Forfeits for Fun;
etc. Obituaries.
Seventh Page—The Farmer’s Index : Dig
ging for Potatoes; Seeding Wheat and
Oats; The Approach of Winter; The Ex*
position ; Fattening Hogs.
Eighth Page—Florida Department: Where
“We” Have Been; News Letters ; Reho
both Association ; A Knightly Service.—
The Reunion at Galveston.
Alabama Department.
13 Y SAMUEL HENDERSON.
A SUGGESTION WORTH HEED
ING.
We were once present when a very
wise minister made a speech to a
church, abounding in the best advices,
and among other things he said in sub
stance that whenever a church passed
under the control of the prayerless and
worldly minded portion of its mem
bership, if such there were, its ruin was
inevitable at no distant day. And how
true this is. Power in the church, like
divine power, can only be exercised
properly by the best and wisest men.
So soon as piety retreats to the back
ground and gives place to those whose
reputation is not above suspicion, such
a church sinks to the status of the par
ties who control it. We remember an
illustration in point, which the reader
will excuse us for referring to just
here. Twenty-five years ago, we sup
pose it was, there was a church some
few miles out in the country from
where we then resided, most of the
material of which had been brought in
by the “high pressure” system, that is,
in the midst of great excitement. There
were whiskey shops not far from its
location, and in the course of a few
years, there were so many of the mem
bers of that church that indulged too
freely in alcohol, that they, with their
family influences, kindred and friends,
got to be a majority, and it was impos
sible to discipline or turn anybody
out. There were several good Chris
tian men in the church who deplored
the state of things. The church had
really lost its influence in the commu
nity, and these worthy brethren knew
not what to do. One of them came
to see us to know if we could advise
them. After hearing the facts, we
suggested to this brother to have the
church called together and propose
its dissolution, granting letters to all,
certifying, not to the Christian char
acter of any, but that the bearers were
members of that church at its dissolu
tion. Then, on the reorganization,
they could receive only such members
as they deemed worthy. It was a des
perate remedy, but it occurred to us to
be about all that could be done to ex
purgate the membership from unwor
thy material. It was either that, or to
go on from bad to worse. Our advice
was taken—the church dissolved, and
out of the material, the good portions,
was appropriated to the new organiza
tion—all the facts reported to the
succeeding Association, and the new
church was received, and after that
enjoyed a high degree of prosperity,
Os course we should not recommend
this as a precedent, but we thought it
better to save whatever there was of
good, than to lose it.
Suppose we take that monster of all
evils tolerated by society and licensed
for a price by law, the dram shop. Sup
pose a lax state of discipline in a
church, and a corresponding pressure
without brought to bear upon such a
church by the whiskey influence.
Suppose in this case a pastor strikes at
this evil with whatever of power he
possesses. This of course brings him
in contact with the strongest current
of evil that afflicts the country. The
church must either sacrifice him to the
clamors of the whiskey influence, or
sustain him in his efforts. Now, imagine
the first alternative—imagine that the
prayerless, the disaffected part of the
church, demands his dismissal, and
the worthy portion yields to the
clamor, does it require a prophet to
see that ruin is not far ahead ? Will
power, in the hands of such persons,
wielded for such a purpose, bring any
thing but disaster? Is this worst form
of Satanic influence a safe custodian
of ecclesiastical authority? Will the
Master stand by and see this state of
things, and not “remove the candle
stick?” To ask these questions is to
answer them. Not until good and evil
exchange places can anything but
ruin result from such a policy.
Or suppose any other evil prominent
in a church, like results will follow.
Power, in the best of hands, is a delicate
trust, and the wisest and best of men
are most fearful in its exercise. When
caprice and passion, and prejudice,
with nothing but the show of piety,
wield it, nothing but evil can result.
Those only whose reputation for god
liness is above suspicion are worthy to
shape the course of things in properly
regulated churches. Their own pros
perity, as well as the efficiency of the
ministry demand it, for there is an im
portant sense in which our churches
are the custodians of the ministry.
They are God’s appointed guardians
of all the “gifts” he bestows upon
them, and when they pervert this kind
ly office, and undertake to cripple and
undermine the influence and charac
ter of their pastor, it is the prelude to
their own downfall. Os course we only
refer to cases in which truth and moral
propriety are compromised out of
complaisance to the demands of those
whose reputation for piety is at a dis
count. Those advices may well be sus
pected, which involve the highest in
terest of our churches, that are not
steeped in the spirit of prayer.
WORTHY OF NOTE.
One fact has transpired in the his
tory of our lamented President not a
little to his credit as a man of high
moral integrity. It is this—that al
though he has filled important posi
tions both in the military and civil
service of the country for many years,
although he has had all the tempta
tions that beset other men in such po
sition to grow rich from the spoils of
oflice, he died a comparatively poor
man. It is stated that his entire es
tate is not worth more than $25,000,
and the city part of that property is
under mortgage. This, with some in
surance on his life in one or two
companies, constitutes the means
he leaves to his family. This redounds
no little to the credit of a man who
has had the same advantages of in
creasing his wealth by hundreds of
thousands as others have that are now
worth millions. No wonder such a
man, elevated to the Presidency of the
United States, and realizing the ex
tent to which the civil service was
corrupted by unprecedented villainies,
should set himself to the task of
purifying this “Augean stable.” We
have no doubt that he fell a victim to
his noble efforts to do the State the
best service that honest patriotism
could demand. It is this, in great part,
that will embalm his memory in the
hearts of every honest man North and
South. What is the effect of his death,
no man can say.
His successor, Mr. Arthur, has the
grandest opportunity that has yet
fallen to the lot of any Chief Magis
trate of this country. The people of
all parties and sections we believe, are
ready to give to his policy a patient
and candid hearing. He comes be
fore the country just at the moment
when the tide of unaffected grief had
reached its acme for our fallen chief,
and when all animosities, sectional and
partizan, were overshadowed by that
one great national calamity. The
occasion of his inauguration was too
sacred for carping criticism to utter
one word. All hearts lean towards
him with confiding expectations as
coming to the Presidency in that alter
native which the wisdom of the fathers
of the Republic provided for such em
ergencies,and stand ready to transfer to
him the generous confidence his illus
trous predecessor had inspired. From
the accounts we have of President
Arthur, we 'are prepared to believe he
will not disappoint the expectations of
a magnanimous people. God grant
that like the men of Issachar, he “may
have understanding of the times to
know what ought to be done!”
ALANTA, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1881.
On the 28th of September, 1881 at
the Alpine Baptist church, Talladega
county, Ala., at one and a half o’clock,
by the Rev. I. T. Tichenor, D. D., Mr.
John F. Flournoy, of Columbus, Ga.,
and Miss Mary Welch Reynolds, of
Mt. Ida, Ala. The services were con
cluded by prayer and benediction by
the pastor, S. Henderson. The bride
is one of the most accomplished Chris
tian women Alabama could contribute
to the cause in Georgia. Sensible, ac
complished, cultivated, active, she is
destined to fill any place in her new
home, socially and religiously, which
women can fill. On the Occasion of
the marriage, the Alpine church was
decorated with the richest profusion of
evergreens and flowers, arranged with
exquisite taste. The house was filled
with appreciative friends from town
and country for many miles around,
and the whole occasion passed off
most pleasantly, and when the party
took the train at 2 o’clock, many hearts
invoked the blessing of God upon the
worthy couple. As her pastor for
about a dozen years to whom she has
been- kind and generous, we can but
say at parting with her on so eventful
an occasion, as “John the aged” said to
Gaius, “Beloved, I wish above all
things that thou mayest prosper, and
be in health, even as thy soul pros
pereth.” It is some compensation for
our loss to know that we shall com
municate with her through The Index,
as among the last things she did, was
to order the paper to her address at
hpr new home. Her future pastor,'
Rev. A. B. Campbell, will ever find
her true, reliable, and useful in her
sphere. To the companionship and
confidence of our brethren and sisters
in Columbus, we commend our dear
sister in Christ.
Dr. Renfroe.—We are gratified to
state, that since brother Renfroe offer
ered his resignation as pastor of the
Baptistchurch in Talladega, the church
has induced him to withdraw it, and he
remains in the position he has filled
so honorably to himself and profitably
to them for over twenty years. The
pressure from the community, and
from other denominations on Dr. Ren
froe and the church, simply left them
no other alternative. The truth is, our
brother R. has grown into that place
by a life of earnest, active, useful piety
to such an extent that his removal
from it would be well nigh impossible.
We doubt if there is a person in that
community, or in the county, whose
good will is worth anything to a
worthy man, who is not gratified at
this announcement. There is no rea
son why he should ever raise the ques
tion of removal again, unless it be in
obedience to the demands of an abso
lute necessity.
We are glad to state that grain crops
are turning out better than was feared
two or three months ago. Most farm
ers who have been industrious and
economical, will make sufficient to do
them. Never have we known a year
in which work and the -want of it, have
made such a difference in the yield of
crops. In the dryest streaks we have
seen, good judgment and patient in
dustry are rewarded with fair success,
while in the same places, indolence
and carelessness have made well nigh
nothing. The truth is, reader, there is
about as much in work as there is in
seasons to make a crop.
—The members of a Free Presbyterian
church, Glasgow, Scotland, in a late ecclesi
astical difficulty “proceeded to seize each
other by the throat” and “fought over the
question for an hour or two; clergy, elders,
deacons, communicants and catechumens,
male and female, rushing at one another in
discriminately with cries and blows, and
defying the efforts of a dozen or more of
policemen to calm the confusion.”
—When Dr. Talmage says that for eight
Sabbaths he found himself unable to pray
for Guitteau, he states a very sufficient rea
son why at least his prayers on these Sab
baths for President Garfield should have
been unavailing. The spirit of merciless
wrath toward any one human being pre
cludes the possibility of effectual intercession
for any other. God accepts'* prayer only
where He accepts him that prays; and how
can He accept a man who is unwilling to see
a soul immortal rescued from damnation ?
—The Phrenological Journal for October
contains a portrait and an appreciative
sketch of Dr. J. A. Broadus, of our Louisville
Seminary. It represents the Dr. as “great
in respect to scholarship in the Oriental
tongues and ecclesiastical learning;” and
claims for this representation ■’ the warrant
of a reputation which extends much beyond
the limits of the scholarly circles of his own
country.”
MARRIED.
The Religious Press.
Sorry are we that we cannot give
the whole article from the Biblical
Recorder of which the following 'is an
extract:
The experience of all real Christians,
like the eternal truth which gives it birth
and determines Its nature, is essentially
the same in all parts of the world, and in
all periods of time. The heaven-taught
notes of “the Sweet Psalmist of Israel,”
the plaintive melodies warbled by the
waters of Babylon, wake a responsive
echo in the heart of the Christian to-day.
The penetential confessions of the royal
Psalmist; expressed the heart-wrung
anguish of die soul now aroused by the
Spirit of the Almighty to a sense of sin
scarcely less pungent than that of the
heart broken penitent who first voiced
his woes in the throbbing and tremulous
accents of the 51st Psalm. And when
we read the words of Jesvs, our hearts
burn within us as did the perplexed and
well-nigh despairing disciples as he
talked with them on the way to Emma
us. The fervent spirit of truth and love,
which breathes through all the address
es of the apostles recorded in the book
of the Acts; and the Epistles which are
only a more expanded and ordered de
velopment of the same facts and docl
- and feelings, excite as strong and
sacred an enthusiam in tiie Christian
church now as they' did in the churches
to which they were first addressed.
How many books besides the Bible
and those which repeat its truths can
so stir the depths of our spiritual na
ture, and so exactly suppply its wants,
and so develop its best qualities and so
paralize its evil dispositions!
A prominent English writer says:
“ChiJigj, the capital of agricultural
America, is rapidly becoming one of the
largest manufacturing States in the
Union.” We quote this for the benefit
of a few preachers who talk about mat
ters with which they are not familiar. —
Central Baptist.
Many others besides preachers talk
about matters with which they are
“not familiarworse than that, they
express decided opinions about matters
concerning which they know nothing.
The want of co-operation is our great
weakness.—Dr. Whitted. Just so, and
and yet when an appeal is made for co
operation, somebody will cry out cen
tralization.— Baptist Record.
True; and centralization is a thing
to be shunned, but there is such a
thing as co-operation without central
ization, and this we should diligently
seek.
The disgraceful practice of what is
called hazing, so common in Northern
colleges, but which we seldom hear of
in colleges nearer home, has recently
been carried to an outrageous extreme
at the United States Naval Academy
at Annapolis. Many of the papers
have noticed the fact, but the most
trenchant and scathing article that we
have seen, (and therefore the most
just,) is from that sober old journal,
the New York Observer. Here it is.
The prompt imprisonment of forty-two
boys for hazing or refusing to testify
against those who were guilty, was a
merited punishment. The crime was
committed in a school supported by the
Government at the expense of the peo
ple. The offences were of the most in
decent, detestable and disgusting char
acter. The young scamps who subjected
lads of the lower class to such indignities
ought to be first flogged, and then dis
missed from the service in disgrace.
That we, the people, should be taxed to
support and educate a contemptible
ruffian who would, debase himself by
such crimes as it is shown were perpe
trated in the Naval School, is not to be
submitted to for a single year. Such fel
lows never grow into men. They may be
bullies and cowards, domineering over
their inferiors in station, cruel overseers,
but they never turn out to be gentlemen.
Education never made a man out of a
brute. And the officers certify that this
hazing was brutal in theextreme. There
fore, we say,turn such fellows out of any
school supported at public expense.
There are hundreds and thousands of
young men who want the situations, and
wonld become the ornament and defence
of their country. But the peer poltroons
who maltreat a helpless youth wholly in
theirpower, and subject him to physical
suffering and mental torture, for amuse
ment, have no place among gentlemen,
and should never be permitted to dis
honor the naval or military service of
the country.
The Christian Index thinks that in
fant baptism operates to corrupt the
purity of the church—that historically
such is the fact, and that philosophically
it was inevitable. Now it will be in
order for The Index to demonstrate
that the communion which rejects in
fant baptism illustrates a purer Christian
morality than those that practice it.
Can it be done I—Baltimore Methodist.
Can it be done? Yes, we think so.
Take the Pedobaptist churches as a
whole, and the church of Rome, the
Greek church, the State church of
Germany and the State church of
England are included, and to these the
vast majority of Pedobaptists belong.
The standard of Christian morality is
exceedingly low in all of them—far
lower than in Baptist churches, as we
think our Methodist brother himself
will admit.
Moreover but for infant baptism the
church of Rome could never have ex
isted ; it made the church of Rome,
and now the church of Rome makes
it; the great majority of its supporters
belong to that church.
We beg too, to remind our Metho
dist contemporary that the remark of
the Index on which he comments, was
not original with us; we quoted it
from a distinguished Pedobaptist
source—from one of the Bampton
Lectures recently published. It is the
testimony of one of your own people
good brother, that, “historically infant
baptism operates to corrupt the purity
of the churchand when you take
the Italian,Spaniard,Portugese,French
man, Russian, Teuton and Briton
into the account, we do not see how
you can help agreeing with him, as
we do.
A good many people have had their
say about a certain matter, but we
have seen nothing quite so sharp as
the following from the Wesleyan Chris
tian, Advocate :
A Concession.—The friends of Frank
lin College—we mean the “University
of Georgia”—in the Legislature, have
conceded this much: that the University
cannot compete with Mercer and Emory
without taxing the whole people to pay
the tuition of a few.
We have often heard of revivals
made to order, and here is the adver
tisement of one:
Rev. A. B. Earle, D. D., is to hold a
revival meeting in Evansville the last of
this month.
The next thing will be “converts
made in lots to suit purchasers.”
Prof. Toy recently delivered a lecture
before a Unitarian Ministers’ Institute,
in which he is reported by a correspond
ent of the Examiner and Chronicle as say
ing that “Ezekiel originated the sacor
dotal element in Judaism, and intro
duced into its sacred books, from the
Babylonian records, the story of Eden
and the Flood.”
The Index has but a limited circu
lation in South Carolina, but we beg
that our readers there will make the
important fact above stated as widely
known as possible to our brethren in
that State.
Moncure D. Conway, a graduate of
Dickinson College, and once a useful
young minister of the M. E. church, now
a Liberal teacher of the broadest school,
finding his Sabbath texts in the Koran,
the Shastas, or the poets, has his chapel,
looking much like a Wesleyan house of
worship, upon a street turning out of
City Road, London, not far from Mr.
Wesley’s famous sanctuary.— Zion’s Ad
vocate.
Is it likely that the Methodists would
retain Mr. Conway as a Professor in
one of their theological schools, or that
they would send any of his disciples as
missionaries to the heathen?
Several hundred colored people of the
better class have recently gone from
North Louisiana to the West to make
new homes for themselves and their
families. They all had money with
which to buy lands, for the purpose of
carrying on farming in a small way.
They reported that others would soon
follow, not only from Louisiana, but
from other Southern States.— Watch
Tower.
So it seems that the Negroes, whom
we respect too highly to call them by
a name which is not theirs, have been
thrifty in Louisiana, for they all “had
money with which to buy lands.” This
fact does not seem to harmonize very
well with some statements that we have
seen in a good many papers. Perhaps
it would have better if the emigrants
had “let well enough alone,” and staid
where they were. Still we hope the
change will improve their condition.
The Presbyterian (Philadelphia)
speaking of the sectional alienation
between North and South which he
thinks was entirely healed by the late
national calamity says:
Snrely this chasm will never be so
widely opened again. It has narrowed
down to a single thread in eighty days
prayer. It is not possible that those
who have remained eighty days at the
altar in tears and prayers will rise from
its sanctities to hopeless hostility.
We hope you may be right good
brother but we fear that when the next
Presidential election is on hand, this
will all be forgotten or ignored, and
that the same old stereotyped nonsense
VOL. 59.—N0. 42.
of the last sixteen years will be repeat
ed. We expect nothing better from
the political press, but if only the
religious papers will be as religious
then as they are now, we shall try to
be satisfied.
And here is something from Zion’s
Advocate which exactly illustrates our
article of last week in which we said
that the '‘Old Ship of Zion” has a
worldly-wise side and a gospel-wise
side. Our conceit about casting the
net on the “right” side of the ship was
not in accordance with the rules of
interpretation, and we so stated, yet
our doctrine was right, and here is a
practical exhibition of the way in
which it works: ; * “ *
It is often affirmed that what are called
evangelical views of revealed truth have
lost their hold upon the people. To be
assured of the mistake of such utterances,
one need only visit the tabernacle of Mr.
Spurgeon in London. He preaches al
ways the “doctrine of grace” in the most
ptonounced form. There is no congie
gation in London to be compared to his,
either in size or character. The five
thousand seats in his great chapel are
always full. No congregation hangs
with such unbroken fascination upon a
preacher’s lips as his, and he often
speaks over an hour. The work of con
version and gathering into the church
is constantly going on. The staple of all
hie discourses is the lost condition of the
sinner and the divine plan of salvation
in Christ. On the opposite side of the
river, the cultivated 'and eloquent Mr.
Conway preaches a religion without a
Christ or an atonement in it, and there is
always abundant room in his chapel for
visitors. Mr. Spurgeon asks his own
people to stay away from his nouse of
worship once a month to give place to
the crowds which seek, often in vain, to
find opportunity to’ hear him. It is
Christ, after all, who draws. “And I,
if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto
Me.”
. Infant Baptism.—The 243 Congrega
tional churches of Maine, with a member
ship of over 21,000, report 111 infant
baptisms for the year, or a fraction less
than a half of an infant for each church.
The Boston Daily Journal, referring to
these statistics, makes bold to say that
“the observance of infant baptism is de
clining in the churches.” It is earnestly
hoped in some quarters that this will
continue to be the order. It is a move
in the right direction.— Watch lower.
Thank God!
The subject of prayer .has largely
occupied the attention of the religious
press in the United Starts for some
weeks past. One can scarcely take up
a paper without seeing at least one
article on the subject and sometimes
three or four. We have carefully read
many of these articles and have glanced
over some scores or hundreds of others;
but here is one sentence from the
Golden Rule, which is more suggestive
and more illuminating than anything
we have seen.
Prayer would be a very dangerous in
strument for ignorant, selfish, fallible
men to wield, if there were not an infalli
ble One to refuse to grant mistaken
requests.
Our preface was long in words and
short in thought; the sermon from the
Golden Rule is short in words and long
in thought; note the difference,
It is almost remarkable that skeptics
have not taken more advantage of the
fact that the President’s life was not
spared in answer to prove that praying
is useless. They have been very nearly
silent on the subject, and when one has
spoken his words have had but a feeble
response from his associates.— United
Presbyterian.
Men may point to the supposed
failures of prayer, they may argue
against prayer, and put on philosophic
airs (!) while they prate about the
“laws of nature,” and they may scoff
and ridicule as much as they please,
and after all, the fact remains that peo
ple will pray. The wisest have done
it, and will do it. The best are in the
habit of doing it; and the worst, even
the scoffers themselves are apt to do it
when they are in extremis. Prayer—
that is, a desire to look up for help to
a superior and invisible Power is a law
of human nature. Those who argue
are wasting their breath.
—Greensboro Herald: A protracted
meeting is now in progress in the Bap
tist church here, with a promise of
good results. Rev. J. F. Edens is as
sisting the pastor, Rev. H. D. D. Stra
ton, in conducting the meeting.
—Hamilton Journal: Rev. C. W.
Buck, of Girard, Ala., preached one of
the finest sermons last Monday night,
at the Baptist church, that we hay®
ever heard delivered.
—Five candidates were baptized
few days ago at Fowelton.