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14 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.