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1WM ifi. 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.