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to go back to the sixteenth century for suGh proof;
instances in our own age leaving the sale of indul
gences entirely in the shade. Which of the popes
had the fertility of mind to think of issuing joint
stock bonds, and certificates of partnership in the
blood of Christ, the dividends payable in heaven !
Not one. That is, not one of the popes of Rome j
they never did, nor never could think of such a re
source for obtaining money; nor is it probable that
the people who lived in those very dark ages could
be very easily persuaded into such a ridiculous de
lusion. It was left for the popes of America to
climb so high up the hill of folly and fanaticism,
and it is by no means certain that they have yet
reached the apex. Luther, and a host of others,
protested against the indulgence imposition, at a
time when there was some danger attendant on
“protesting but the enlightenment of the nine
teenth century grasps at every delusion, however
absurd, unquestioning, and almost undoubting, and
no great reformer “protests” in tones loud enough
to be heard from end to end of a continent. Let
it not be understood that I am a partizan of Luther;
I only wish to illustrate how much covetous fana
ticism has increased since his time. But no refor
mer can be heard if all refuse to listen to him. If
people are “like the deaf adder that stoppeth her
ears, which will not hearken to the voice of the
charmers, charming never so wisely,” how can a
reformer be heard ? What is called the pulpit now
limits the range of men’s thoughts and speech, in
as great a degree, and in as decided a manner, as
did the edicts of popes some hundreds of years ago;
and we see all the artifices of religious fanaticism,
and all the avaviciousness of popes, priests, and peo
ple in former ages, Revived, in slightly different
forms, in our own time. It is not many months
6\nce I heard a “preacher,” in one of those edifices
(mis) called churches, announce to the audience
that a collection would be taken up on the follow
ing Sunday, for the support of preachers of the
gospel, and if they (the audience) did not bring
money enough with them, “ God will curse this
country, and if we allow the gospel to perish, and
the ckurcb to go down, our northern enemies will
overcome us.” Ido not think that many of the
persons present were struck with the impiety of
the declaration, as I did not hear anybody make any
remarks about it, and as a considerable sum of
money was collected on the appointed day. But
this is enough, I think, to prove that men are in
the habit of buying, selling, and speculating on
heaven itself.
Without doubt, the most remarkable phase
which this vice assumes is the increase of its inten.
sity in old age. It is natural to suppose that when
a man has traversed the plateau of the prime of life
—whence has inhaled the fragrance of the flower of
manhood—when he has sipped the sweets of the
cup of vitality—and begins to descend the other
side of the hill, and finds the bloom of the flower
•bed, and its aroma departed, and feels the cup
grow bitter to his taste, his affection for the things
of this life should grow weaker, and the attractions
of this world should no longer have any charms for
SOUTHERN BAPTIST MESSENGER.
him ; but the contrary is the fact. In youth the
man possesses the gold ; in age the gold possesses
the man. When a man’s mortal progress brings
him to the
“ Last scene of all,
That end's this strange, eventful history,
In second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans* teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every
thing,”
it is then that he really loves his riches. Although
this is a fact’, it is one that I have never known to
be accouuted for, on ethnological, or other grounds;
no one seems to know wh£ it is. It may, proba
bly, be the same kind of instinct which seems to
cause infants to catch at something to prevent their
falling, that prompts the old man to cling to his
gold ; or he may think that if he loses any of it,
the merciless, unpitying world around him will al
low him to die in horrid po'verty. But we all
know that the universal idea of a miser is au old
man of about seventy years. All the misers I have
read of, and I must say, all those that I have seen,
were old men. It may be said that they wish to
preserve their wealth for their children ; and many
misers may be actuated by such a motive ; but this
cannot be the real incentive to aged avarice; for
those who have no children are, I believe, the most
avaricious. I once knew a man, who officiated as
a minister of the gospel, at a salary of about four
thousand dollars per annum. He was then some
seventy-five years old, and had not a child; yet
that man turned a poverty-stricken family out of a
house situated on his land, for a debt of thirty dol
lars. And not a thought of care, pity or sorrow
oppressed the heart of that rich servant of Christ
as he slumbered on his luxurious bed, and his un
fortunate victims laid them down on the cold,
damp ground, and looked up to the friendly moon
and stars, wondering if there was a God of justice
above them.
There is not, probably, within the range of God’s
creation an object of contemplation so revolting, so
unnatural, and as well calculated to excite disgust,
as a hoary head bowed down before a god of gold.
The golden image of the king of Babylon, and the
calf of Aaron are not the only instances in which
such a god has been set up and worshiped. Gold,
in the shape of a dollar, makes a very convenient
household deity, as much so, doubtless, as Micah’s
images. Had it life and sense, how it could exult
at the homage of its devotees, especially the aged
ones. How delighted the dollars would be when
they witnessed the anxious solicitude of that wrink
led face bending over them, aud felt the trembling
touch of those withered fingers, counting them over
and over. But at last the form of the old maa
stands bonding on the edge of time, as if to look
down into the deep eternity, where he must soon
be overwhelmed. He feels the brink of the preci
pice crumble and moulder away from beneath his
feet; but he believes he can support himself a long
while yet; for there is a rugged crag which seems
to resist the action of the surrounding decay, and
on that crag he stands. It is gold. Delusive hope !
1 * French for—without.
it too, shakes and falls away, until he begins to
sink. He makes one last effort to cling to a jut
ting point. It remains firm long enough before he
sinks forever, to allow him to read an inscription
which he does not remember ever to have seen. As
the solid gold runs from his fingers like dry sand,
he reads—
“ Vanity of Vanities ; all is Vanity.”
C.
‘ I <> ■’
Jackson Cos., Ga., March J 9, 1862.
Bro. Beebe: —Sister E. F. Wilson, of Jackson
co., Ga., requests your views on Rom.ix. 17—21,
Will Bro. Wm. M. Mitchell please give his views
on Rom. x. beginning at verse 13. My do-and
livs friends harp very much on the 14th—“ How
then shall they call on him in whom they have not
be l ieved ? and how shall believe in him of whom
they have not beard ? and how shall they hear
without a preacher,” &c.
Will Bro. Purington please give, through the
Messenger , some of the scriptural evidences of a
growth in grace, aod a knowledge of our Lord and
Savior, and oblige an earnest enquirer after truth ?
Yours, with much esteem,
JANE WHITE.
Willi amstou, N. C., March 16,18G2.
Dear Brother Beebe: —Sister Louisa Biggs
requests me to enclose you eight dollars for sub
scribers for the Messenger.
Yours is the only Baptist perodical we can now
obtain. lam in hopes you will be enabled to con
tinue the publication of it.
May God bless you and his chosen people every
where. A dark cloud hangs over eur country,
but I believe it will pass away and reveal brighter
scenes beyond. For the present we must expect
great sacrifice and much suffering; but when suffi
ciently humbled for our sins and base ingratitude
to God, as a people, we may safely calculate on de
liverance.
My wife unites in kind regards to you and yours.
I endeavored to write to your father about two
months ago, but the letter was not allowed to pass
the lines.
Affectionately yours, in Christian bonds,
C. B. HASSELL.
muff i j
LaFayette, Chambeks Cos., Ala., )
March 15, 1862. \
Dear Brother Beebe :— I have been much
pleased, and greatly edified by the reading of many
of the communications of some of your able cor
respondents. May God enable them by his grace
to write to the edification of the dear saints, and
you to continue to publish the same, and the breth
ren to sustain you, is the prayer of your brother in
tritbulation,
JOHN C. TOWLES.
Marshall Cos., Miss., March 16, 1562.
Bro. Beebe :—I want Bro. Patman to give his
views on 2 Tim. iii. 6 to 10th verses.
I remain your unworthy brother, if one at all.
* JAMES McNEELY.