The Christian index and southern Baptist. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1881-1892, May 31, 1883, Image 1

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w% ■ r vw f s*nr itw MDim l P ' :OUwSfc-- SOUTHWESTERN BAPTIST, / THE CHRISTIAN HERALD, of Alabama. or Tsnnbbskk. HARRISON, WHARTON & LAWTON, Proprietors. ght geligiouf gresf. Ministers and private Christians, who strive to do their whole duty, in spite of their deep sense of personal inefficiency, may derive comfort, if not courage, from the words of the Congregationalist: Said Horace Mann, “The mattock will make a deeper hole in the ground than light ning.” True; and the unpretending out earnest and faithful believer, who does not regard himself as a “shining light” in the church, but humbly and prayerfully does with all his heart the successive duties which devolve upon him as a Christian, is worth more to the church and the community than a dozen of the showy people who are in clined to harangue others whenever there is an opportunity, and to boast of their in timacy with God, and to pose in public as eminent Christians. The Christian at Work's sympathies are called out by the very kind reception given it by all the denominational papers, and it says that if ever it becomes a denomi national paper it will be Congrepresbymetho baptistepiscoreformed. Don’t forget about that domestic fowl. She undertook to incu bate twelve dozen eggs. They didn’t all hatch. — Interior. In the invention of such words, our New York contemporary might be more fitly called the Christian at Play. And yet that word ex actly describes the kind of church which certain advocates of loose communion would establish —a merging of all denominations into one, where every man should be free to hold his individual creed and every local assembly to observe its own forms of gov ernment and order. —“When an excuse is wanted it is not a difficult matter to frame some sort of one.”— Tennessee Baptist. “How does The Baptist know?” — Christian Index. "From reading the Index— your controversy with Bro. L., of the Journal and Messenger."—Tennessee Baptist. We can hardly think that “the oldest Bap tist editor in the United States” can serious ly and honestly profess to have become a learner from one of the youngest. But if he has, we can only say that he sadly mislearns, after the fashion illustrated by the fact that Herbert Spencer learned from Hamilton the atheism that Hamilton never taught—and the antinomianism that Calvin never taught Crisp nevertheless learned from Cal vin. We never had anything deserving to be called a controversy with the Journal and Messenger. In the nearest approach to it the Baptist was on our side, we think. Did he range himself with us then because of the lesson he now professes to have learned from us 1 The Hartford Beligious Herald puts us in possession of a fact which speaks badly for Congregational deacons; are there any Bap tist deacons who see in this story their own likeness? There are some, we know, and, we believe, there are many, who do not; but is this true of all ? “One of the most gifted and efficient Chris tian workers, when remonstrated with as doing too much, said, “Well, I will keep on as long as I can, and when I can’t do any more, will get appointed deacon and rest.” It was not said with censoriousness but with humor. The Atlanta Constitution has made the dis covery that Spurgeon’s sermons are “such stuff’,” and that their publication would be newspaper “suicide.” In behalf of evangel ical Christians generally, we thank that journal for information so important in itself, and conveyed to the public in a style so gentlemanly. Ata Ministers’ Meeting in the Presbyteri an Rooms of St. Louis, one of the brethren was glancing through Prof. Patton’s article on Pentat.euchal Criticism, which has just appeared in the Presbyterian Review, and sud . denly exclaimed, “Listen, brethren, to gome- ATLANTA, GA, THURSDAY, MAY 31, 1883. thing rich from Prof. Brown.” He then read as follows the quotation given by Prof. Patton: “If, indeed, it should ever appear that Jesus, for the purpose of avoiding a strife with the Jews which might have ob structed His work, and in which no princi ple was at stake, used His absolute discretion in omitting to make any statement as to the authorship of the Pentateuch, because He knew the popular belief to be false, while He freely and rightly appealed to Moses’ authority whenever it could serve His pur pose, we could only admire his wise cau tion.” This was received with a shout of laughter, and another of the brethren said, “Well, the other day a revivalist came to me with a story of a remarkable awakening which had occurred under his preaching. He was unhappily married, and, believing that if it were known he had a disagreeable and badly behaved wife, his influence would be sorely crippled and the revival come to an untimely end, when he was plainly asked if he were married, he promptly answered, ‘I am not.’ Brethren, you can make your own application of this authentic narrative to the views of Prof. Brown concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.”— St. Louis Evangelist. The cases are fairly parallel. The “Crit icism” which reduces the sinless One to the level of this untruthful revivalist may call itself “Higherbut the work it does cer tainly belongs to the Lower Religion. “Leigh-street has such an organist as has not been heard of before in these parts. He opens the choir-practicings with prayer, ac quaints its members with the history of hymns, so that they may better sing with the spirit and the understanding, and as sembles them ten or fifteen minutes before the hour of worship that they may cultivate a devotional frame of mind.”—S. C. Clopton, in Central Baptist. There is reason to fear, in many cases, that singing is the part of Christian worship which is least Christian. Perhaps, it should be most so, as praise is the highest form of devotion, and singing is the highest form of praise. Faults here are like flaws in the keystone of the arch. John Brown, the late faithful servant of the Queen, was indulged in life, and honor ed in death by his Sovereign. To all except the Queen, his arrogance had been unbeara ble. Princess and noblemen had been snub bed and treated as his equals. He knew the Queen was indulgent. The memorial wreath of the Queen had a memorial card attached, bearing the following words in her own handwriting : “A tribute of loving, grate ful and everlasting friendship and affection, from his truest, best and most faithful friend, Victoria, R, I.” A card for Lord Beaconsfield had this inscription: “A mark of true affection, friendship and regret.” That for Dean Stanley was inscribed : “A mark of sincere affection and high esteem.” John Brown, the menial, got the strongest, warmest expression.— Christian Visitor, St. John, New Brunswick. The heart is not governed by external dis tinctions —is one obvious inference from these facts. And another, quite as obvious, when stated is, that royalty carries with it a terrible isolation, which often drives the heart across the lines of external distinction in quest of objects, on which friendship and affection may rest. Less than any one of her subjects, was Queen Victoria at liberty to choose her associates; and the vital need of companionship, thus “cabined, crib bed, confined” in its indulgence, turned to the menial, largely because he was within its reach as others were not. “The ink of it is a brave man’s life-blood,” wrote Carlyle, of Hugh Miller’s last work. And there is rarely anything spoken or writ ten so as to lay hold on the life and heart of others unless more or less of the life-blood of him who utters it has gone into its com position or its expression.— Sunday school Times. This is a profound truth ; and akin to it is the saying of Goethe, “If you would create something, you must be something.” The religious teacher must experience the truth which he hopes to proclaim with effect; it must be rather his heart that speaks it, than his lips. Paul could not preacjj “Christ Je- sus as Lord,’’without preaching himself as the “bond-servant” of men “for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Cor. 4 : 5). The Christian women of 1883 are doing the very work done by them when Phebe, Pris cilla, Dorcas, and others, were exponents of the gospel truth, and living examples of its dinine power. Woman’s work for Christ in this day is a restoration, not an innovation. —Nashville Christian Advocate. It is neither—it is a continuation. If there is any “succession” on which we may count as both scriptural and historical with abso lute assurance, it is the succession of the Phebes,the Priscillas, and their like, through all the ages. The social influence of Unitarianism is enervating on church creeds. Dr. Duryea said recently that Boston is the hardest place on the continent for a minister who preaches a pure gospel, and that it requires years for such a man to make his influence widely felt. It is good news for Baptists everywhere, that as our churches were the chief guardians of orthodoxy in the first general apostacy to Unitarianism, so they are the strongest and most successful defenders of an evangelical faith to day. They have never faltered, and their influence is deeper and more pervasive than at any previous time. This testimony by the Boston correspon dent of the N. Y. Examiner, as to the state of our churches in “the modern Athens,’’speaks well for the people whom Providence has called to protest through the ages against “New Theologies,” and to stand for the de fence of “the faith delivered once for all to the saints.” From Mexico. [Atlanta Post-Appeal.] f Dr. James S. Lawton, of Atlanta, who left with a large party from Georgia to At tend the Southern Baptist Convenrfon which met in Waco, Tex., some weeks/ago, returned to the city yesterday, lookin/ hale and hearty. A Post-Appeal representative found the Doctor in conversation wi/h Colo nel Redding at the Agricultural Depar tment yesterday, and straightway began asking him about the “Lone Statr State : “Just back from Texas, Doctrf?” “Yes, sir.” f “Had a pleasant trip, did ydu ?” “Oh, yes. But I enjoyed mwtrip to Mexi co much better than I did ts Texas.” “To Mexico?” / “Yes, to Mexico. AndAt is the poorest country I ever saw.” / “Well, tell me something about your trip ?” J- “There is really noipnuch to tell. The ex cursion was tendera^our party by the rail roads from LaredoJ’ which is 277 kilometers from Monterey, Jwhich was our objective point. There wjre about three hundred in the party, and Won’t think I ever felt as op pressive weather in my life. The thermom eter ran up t<j 112 degrees, and with the muddy water‘which we had to drink it was almost unbearable. The country between Laredo and Monterey is low’, and being be tween two mountains it would be reasonable to suppose that it was very fertile and rich, but not so. The soil is poor and dry and is covored with wild cactus, which, when cut down and the thistles burned off, makes the principal forage for cattle. The mosquite tree grows in abundance over the valley, and resembles very much our common wil low, being small and crooked. Now and then I saw small patches of corn, but it looked mighty sickly for the want of rain. The only irrigation the valley receives is from the little streams that flow down from the mountains, and of course it is almost impossible for vegetation to grow at all. I noticed one very large flock of goats and some cattle and sheep.” “If there is no corn or cotton raised, and but few cattle, how do the people subsist?” “Well, they are known to be the laziest race of people on the globe, and I suppose they depend mainly upon smuggling. To show you what kind of people they are, an American and one who had been in the country for some time,told me that the race, generally speaking, had the cunning of a Spaniard, the treachery of an Indian, the la ziness of a negro and the meanness of Amer icans.” F.«tabll>hert IHal. VOLUME 01.—NUMBER 23. “Doctor, are the cities laid off with any uniformity or symmetry ?” “Yes, the cities, or rather the only one I saw, was laid off in angles, with the streets painfully narrow. The houses are all built of solid rock, and perfectly square. The ho tel at which I stopped was built like a fort. There was but. one entrance and that was heavily barred with large iron hinges at night. Inside there is a court and the rooms have but one door and that opens out on that court. There is not a single window to any of the rooms, and to keep from suffo cating you have to leave your door open all the time. This style was adopted on account of so many attacks made by the neighboring tribes.” “What sort of fare do they have at the ho tels ?” “The fare may suit some people, but please excuse me. The most popular dishes are ‘Leche de Burro,’ or asses’ milk, which is used for coffee and drinking purposes. An other is ‘Chile Con Carne,’ which is made of beef and red pepper, with a large majority of the latter. This is also a very popular dish. I noticed another very striking dis similarity between that country and ours. Everybody gambles—men, women and child ren. They have tents pitched on the plazas, and they carry on every species of gambling known to them. Old women go in and throw down their money with as much grace as a gambling prince. It is not looked on as a crime, but upon the other hand they es teem a successful gambler. By the way,l visit ed Bishop’s Castle,which stands on the moun tain and overlooks Monterey. This is the place where General Taylor held Monterey so long. Everything looks natural; the old cannons are still there and the Castle has bid defiance to the hand of time.” “Didyyou witness the popular Mexican amusement a “Bull Fight ?” “No, but the party secured an invitation to attend, but they could not stay over.” I /‘So you don’t like Mexico?” “Nipt jtuch.” r “Much obliged Doctor.” » ■ “You’re welcome.” Thus the reporter left, with the smoke.oi a fragrant Mexican cigar, which the Doctor, bad given him, curling over his head. Governor McDaniel. We take pleasure in reproducing in this issue of the Index, for the benefit of our j readers, the fine portrait of Gov. McDaniel, : which appears in the June number of the Southern Cultivator. Gov. McDaniel is the t son of brother I. O. McDaniel, a most excel- ’ lent Christian gentleman, and, like his dis- ■ tinguished son, an active and devoted mem ber of the Baptist denomination. Governor McDaniel’s father has served the denomina tion with great zeal. He was one of the most prominent founders of the Second Baptist church, of this city, purchasing the lot on which this splendid building now stands, and presenting it as his gift to the church. He was also a large contributor to the building fund. We had a pleasant call from him last week, and he gave us a very interesting ac count of the early history of this church, as well as of Atlanta. Our brother Irwin was the first pastor of this church. In 1855, after the building had been roofed in, a storm swept the roof away, and otherwise damaged the building. It looked like an irreparable loss, but brother McDaniel was not discour aged, and the work progressed with renewed vigor. Surely the reward of his labor has been great, and the fruits thereof will grow long after he has been “called up higher.” It was in Atlanta that the present Govern or of Georgia was taught by precept and ex ample the lessons of Christian manhood, which have ripened him into the man he now is, the Chief Executive of a great State, a wise Christian statesman, beloved and es teemed by all classes. No doubt the people will see to it, that his fine abilities and qual ities of bead and heart will find still broader fields of usefulness in the future, for the benefit of the Commonwealth. —“Fanning a spark of slander into a flame of blood,”is the latest specimen of Kentucky rhetoric in a trial for murder.