Newspaper Page Text
4
(jHxrietian Jntlcx
Published Every Thursday st If'.i S. Broad
Street. Atlanta, Ga.
THE LOGIC OF CONCESSION.
When the adherents of an eccle
siastical system refuse to follow any
of its principles to their fair anti just
results, to their logical consequences,
they are only preparing the way for
further concessions. It is the office
of one surrender of the tight or the
true to draw another, and another,
and yet another after it. The way
to stand firm, is to stand firm
at the first and front the
fi’st. Not to begin yielding is
the way never to yield, aud.the only
wav so far as we know. This is for
cibly illustrated by the course of
events among English Baptists.
It is made cleat and incontestable
bv various lines of argument that, ■
according to the Scriptures, the re
ception of baptism properly goes be
fore admission to the Lord’s Supper
This is the proper order both of time ,
and of relation. No one has ever i
contested it. Even Robert Hall and |
his associates acknowledged it and '
urged it. But they w ould not follow
out the principle and fix the practice
bv it. They would not suffer the
principle to enforce itself. Out of
charity, as men persuaded them
selves, believers were welcomed to
I
the Lord’s supper who never felt
the obligation of the baptism of be
lievers, that only baptism of the New'
Testament, ams had never submitted
to it. Thus entered unbaptized com
munion, which calls itself “open,’’
or “free,” but stamps itself “loose”
or “disorderly.” It was destined to
work wider breaches still in the old
order.
The right of admission to the
Lord’s Supper ranks among the most
prominent ami the highest privi
leges of membership in the church.
But if in the judgment of charity
the want of baptism does not cut the
believer off from the chosen and
chief function of church member
ship, why should it cut him off from
the membership itself ? Naturally,
to ask this question was to answer it
according to the precedent of their
own laxity ; having conceded un
baptized communion, they conceded
unbaptized membership also. Many
admitted those who had never re
ceived believers’ baptism into their
membership ; some who had been
baptized in infancy and w ere satis
fied with that, some who had been in
no way' baptized and were not at all
in quest of the rite, and some who
like the Quakers were out-and-out
rejecters of the ordinance.
From this concession of unbap
tized membership grew' a third. The
membership granted to the unbap
tized was regarded at the outset as
in some sort imperfect and as matter
of bare toleration. But this sense of
limitation and defect fell away from
it. It came to be regarded as allow
ing of completion through office
holding, as having wrapped in it
germs of profit to the brotherhood ;
and the church rolls were more and
more marked with the names of un
baptized elders, and deacons unbap
tized. This was the direction in
which the current set : if commu
nion without baptism was a legiti
mate channel for the stream of usage,
then it is but the* extension of the
same channel and equally legitimate
which meets us in membership with
out baptism and in office-bearing
without baptism.
But shall the channel be arrested
with this three-fold concession, and
usage stream no further through it ?
The logic of concession forbids us
to arrest it. This logic, in fact, once
dug out the channel that differences
of belief and of practice in the mat
ter of baptism should work no differ
ences in other points of ecclesiasti
cal usage, until it reached the strange
issue, a baptized church with an un
baptized pastor, or, else, a church j
unbaptized with a pastor baptized I j
How Baptists and I’edo-baptists
were once brought together for a
season into the same churches, dur
ing certain stages of the seventeenth
century in England, we need not ;
pause to tell; let it suffice to say '
that the unbaptized pastor is as loci- '
cally folded within the principle of '
concession as the unbaptized office
bearer, or the unbaptized member, or
the unbaptized communicant. To be
consistent, we must reject or accept
all the four. Which shall wc do ?
That is precisely the practical ques
tion submitted to certain of our En
glish Baptist brethren to-day.
Mr. Spurgeon arranged that Dr.
Arthur T. Pierson should occupy the
pulpit of the Metropolitan Taberna
cle during his last illness, with a
view to succeeding him as pastor if
the trial service found acceptance (
with the church. When this ar
rangement was proposed, Mr. Spur
geon did not know that Dr. Pierson
was a Presbyterian, but believed
that he was a Baptist. One would
think that the simple discovery of
the truth here would have sufficed
j w ith all parties to have made an end
iof the matter. But, no. The logic
' of concession comes into play : it is
I a force and makes itself felt: and
i through its working, the question
; looks as though it were yet unde
’ cided, whether the (baptized) Bap
< tist Church at the Tabernacle shall
or shall not have an (unbaptized)
i Presbyterian pastor ! We hope that
i the church will at least ponder what a
writer in the London “Baptist” says :
“With all my admiration for
the late beloved pastor of the Metro
politan Tabernacle, I cannot help
; feeling that there is an ironical con
i trast between the noble stand he
made (on the “Dow n Grade” doctri
nal discussion) and the strange fact
that he got his pulpit supplied by
one who is not, at least in practice,
, true to the command of the Savior.
! I consider infant sprinkling the very
’ root of corruption in Christian teach
! ing, and here again we see how easy
it is for the best of men to slide
, down from the steps of a so-called
“open” church to a still lower level.
! . . . These is now but one alter
! native to all Baptist churches—
I either to go back to the apostolic
I example of baptized-believer-comrau
i nion, or to drift on toward Rome.
Which shall it be ?”
But we have even a more striking
evidence of the power lurking in the
i logic of concession. There is aCon
| gregational church at London, the
i former “.Surrey Chapel” of Rowland
‘ Hill and Newman Hall, but now the
“Christ Church” of Westminster
Bridge Road, with an edifice costing
$300,000, a membership of nine hun
dred persons, and Sunday-schools
embracing six thousand children,
i This church, falling vacant, has call
led as its pastor, Rev. F. B. Meyer,
I pastor of the Regent’s Park Baptist
Church, who has duly resigned the
’ one position ami accepted the ether,
j And so we have here, not as a mere
proposition, but as an - accomplished
fact: an (unbaptized) Congregation
al Church and a (baptized) Baptist
pastor ! “The Journal and Messen
! ger,” in a few words suggests the
1 absurd and impossible position such
an official must rather occupy than
fill:
“Mr. Meyerhas said that his con
victions as to the truth of believers’
baptism were never stronger than
now ; and yet ho goes to a Church
which has never practiced it, and
which, on the other hand, has always
practiced the sprinkling of infants.
In an interview with a newspaper
man, Mr. Meyer is reported to have
said, what is in harmony with his
letter es resignation, that he will per
sonally receive all applicants for the
l ite of pedobaptism, and when he
is “persuaded that the requirement
is based on conscientious convictions
and not on a superstitious notion of
the validity of a more rite, he will
arrange that children shall be chris
tened by his assistant, who will prob
ably be a member of the Countess
of Huntington’s Connection.” That
persuasion that the application for
infant baptism is based “on consci
entious conviction, and not a super
stitious notion of the validity of a
mere rite,” is good. We arc to sup
pose that the pastor will enter into a
careful inquiry, and will learn to dis
criminate between cases, so that he
will turn away some parents with
their unbaptized infants, while he
will receive others and turn them
over to his assistant, who will give
them what he himself will not give
them, even when he approves of
their getting it. Mr. Meyer is a
warm friend and confidant of Air.
Moody. He has just been over at
tending the Northfield meetings. It
may be a question flow far his asso
ciation with Mr. Moody has affected
his reason and his ability to discrimi
nate between things that differ.”
We have no space for argument.
One question will admit of being
asked that each reader may answer
it for himself : Have American Bap
tists any reason to feel dissatisfied
with the fact that they have never
yet begun to intermeddle with the
logic of concession ? Shall they be
gin now ?
SALVATION A PRESENT BLESSING.
We are apt to lose sight of this
precious truth and to regard salva
tion, or eternal life, as prospective,
something to be given us in the fu
ture, and as beginning after our de
parture from this life by the death of
the body.
This is an error. It is a present
blessing, has its beginning in this
world, and is continued and perfect
ed in the world to come.
1. Here follow a few direct scrip
ture proofs.
He that believeth on the Son, hath
everlasting life. John. 3: 36.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he
that heareth my words, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condem-
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX: THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 1. 1892.
nation, but is passed from death un
to life. John. 5: 24.
He that hath the Son, hath life.
John. 5: 12.
These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the
Son of God; that ye may know that
ye have eternal life. John. 5: 13.
Beloved, now are we the Sons of
God. John. 3: 2.
Let the reader carefully note that
the verbs declaring this truth, in all
these texts, are in the present tense.
Not one of them speaks of the mat
ter as future.
“Hath everlasting life,” “hath life,”
“is passed from death unto life,”
“now are we the Sons of God.” Scrip
ture proofs of the same truth might
be multiplied almost indefinitely, giv
ing words from the lips of Jesus him
self, repeated, expounded, empha
sized, especially by the apostles Paul
and John.
That salvation is a present blessing,
and not one merely to be anticipated,
rests upon the plain, unqualified dec
larations of the word of God.
2. It is a direct, and immediate con
sequence of repentance, faith, and re
generation.
Repentance unto life is a hearty
hatred of sin, and a turning away
from it because it is hateful to God.
Pardon immediately follows such
godly sorrow for sin. Pardon re
moves the penalty of the violated,
law. That penalty is death. Pardon
sets the sinner free from that penal
ty at once. “For the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made
me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom. 8: 2.
Faith unites the believer to Christ,
and so identifies him with Christ, as
to enable him to appropriate all the
blessings Christ, by his vicarious suf
ferings, has procured for him.
Especially is this true of justifies,
tion.
Justification cleanses from guilt:
frees from condemnation, and makes
peace with God.
Therefore, being justified by faith
we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. 5: 1.
There is therefore, now no condem
nation to them which are in Christ.
Jesus. Rom. 8: 1.
Faith grafts the believer into the
living, life-giving stock, and as the
branch recieves life from the vine
so he receives life from Christ. As
the living Father sent me, and I live
through the Father; so he who eats
nie, (believes on me) even he, shall
live through me. John. 6: 57.
Christ lives through God; the be
liever lives through Christ, therefore
the believer has the life of God in
his soul. That life begins the mo
ment the believer is united to Christ.
Regeneration, the work of the
Holy Spirit, implanting the “incor
ruptable seed, the word of God which
liveth and abideth forever,” gives
the new heart, makes the “new crea
ture,” the “ now man,” imparts the
divine nature, and makes true sons
of God by spiritual birth.
As the natural child becomes the
son of his natural father as soon as
he is born, so the believer is the son
of God, his spiritual Father, as soon
as he is “born again.”
All the scriptures that speak of
the effects of repentance, faith, and
regeneration, tell us that they are
immediate, take place in the present,
not in the future
3. It is a secure possession.
Because it rests on the word of
Christ.
“Verily, verily,” Indeed, I assure
you, I to whom all power in heaven
and earth is given; I, who have con
quered Satan; I, who have abolished
death; “I say unto you, he that believ
eth on me hath everlasting life.”
John. 6: 47.
Because it rests on the eternal, un
cbangablo love of God.
The Lord hath appeared of old un
to me, saying, I have loved thee with
an everlasting love. Jer. 31: 3.
Having loved his own which were
in the world, he loved them unto the
end. John. 13: 1.
See also, Rom. 8: 29-39.
Because it rests on the combined
power of the God-head.
For your life is hid with Christ in
God. Col. 3: 3.
Remarks.
1. If a man is not saved in this
world he is not saved stall.
Now, is the day of grace. “Now,
is the accepted time.” “Now, is the
day of salvation.
2. While true that salvation is
a present blessing, and a secure pos
session, it is no reason for careless
ness indifference, and sin.
Watch, pray, take heed, work out
your salvation with fear and trem
bling, these are the warnings and ex
hortations to the saved. While we
give thanks and praise, we are to
keep on the whole armour of salva-
tion, and fight the good fight of faith.
3. 1 be condition of unbelievers.
He that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him. John. 3: 36.
He that believeth not is condemned
already. John. 3: 18.
LAZAEUS THE SILENT.
There is one strange fact connec
ted with the history of Lazarus, the
friend of Jesus.
1. There is no record of a single
word he ever uttered. His home, at
Bethany, was a place of frequent
resort for Jesus. The complaints of
Martha against her sister Mary for
not helping her in the duties of the
household, and their pathetic lamen
tations over the death of Lazarus are
recorded, but not one word from him.
Notwithstanding his silence, there
must have been something peculiarly
attractive about his character, for his
sisters were devoted to him, and it
is stated that Jesus loved him and
was his friend. There is no report
even of anything said by him on his
dying bed. His sickness seems to
have been borne in silence.
Even wnen raised from the dead
and the command given by Jesus to
•his disciples to loose him from his
grave-clothes and let him go, there
was no expression of surprise at find
ing himself standing in a sepulcher,
, no shout of triumph over death, not
even an expression of thanks to Him
who had restored him to life. In
silence he stepped out of the tomb,
returned to his home, and went about
his business as if nothing unusual
had occurred.
Not long after his resurrection,
Jesus visited Bethany again, and
made His home with the two sisters
and their brother. They made a sup
per for Him, during which Martha
served, and Alary anointed His feet
with costly ointment, while Lazarus
reclined at the table with Him.
Though a social repast there is no
record of a single word uttered by
Lazarus. Was he dumb? Whether
so or not, one thing is sure, as far as
we know', he was a man of silence.
2. The life of Lazarus, though
marked by few, if any words, was
not without its powerful influence.
He was a living, though a silent wit
ness to the world, of the power and
divinity of Jesus. Many, who saw
him walk out of the open sepulcher,
who knew that he had been dead
four days, believed on Jesus.
So that influence at the
time, that the chief priests, in order
to destroy it, consulted together how
they might put Lazarus to death.
The day after the feast at Beth
any, when the Savior was welcomed
to Jerusalem of hosanna,
the multitude that was with Him
when he called Lazarus out of the
tomb, went out to meet Him, and
bore testimony also to His mighty
power. So great was its influence
that the Pharisees said among them
selves, “ye are effecting nothing: lo!
the world is gone after Hirn.”
The influence of this recorded fact
about the silent man, has been going !
on for nearly nineteen hundred years, |
and many, through all these ages,
have felt it, and have believed.
Behold the influence of one silent
friend of Jesus!
3. Fellow-Christian, you were once
dead in trespasses and in sins. The
same power that raised Lazarus has
quickened your soul and raised you
to newness of life. In token of this
spiritual death and resurrection you
have been buried with Christ
through the immersion into His
death, that just as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of
the Father, so you also might walk
in newness of life.
Are you a living witness of the
power and divinity of Jesus? Does
even the silence of a consistent
Christ-like life speak in language
which tells the world around you
that Jesus has power on earth to-day
to forgive sins?
Arc you a fearless w itness for Him
in the presence of his enimies ? Has
one soul, under the influence of that
silent life, been won to Christ?
Oh! that such an influence as that
which went out from the life of Laz
arus, even though it be silent, may
go forth from the life of every true
follower of Christ!
A man on whom the power of
Christ rests though he be dumb, yet
ho may boa living witness for Him,
bearing such testimony as the argu
ments of the wisest philosophers can
not invalidate, nor the violence of the
mightiest foes destroy.
AVe give on our Georgia News
page, this issue, an article signed
“Inquirer.” We trust the informa
tion asked will be given, by Presi
dent N unnally or some one connected
with Mercer University.
MISSIONS AND EDUCATION.
Education is an evolution of pow
er. Power may be a blessing or a
curse, according the uses to w'hich it
is put. That it may subserve the
highest ends and be the means of the
greatest good, it must. be permeated
with and controlled by the spirit and
the substance of the Gospel. The
state can properly educate a man on
ly for the uses she has for him as a
contributor to the commonwealth
and a member of the body politic.
But as an immortal being, whose fu
ture life furnishes the ground of all
moral and righteous obligation,
there can be no proper education for
him which does not aim to bring all
his developed powers under control
for service of our Lord Jesus Christ-
What we ought to seek, therefore,
in all mission work is such a devel
opment of the spiritual nature as
shall make the developed intellectual
faculties thoroughly loyal to our divine
Lord, in all their purposes and aspira
tions. It follows that the Gospel
must go foremust in our mission
work. Ignorance is not the mother
of devotion. God has abundantly
shown in the history of His people
that this service is an intellectual
service. He has blessed to the sal
vation of men and the progress of
this kingdom the intellectual culture
of His people. There can be no
well-constructed theory of Christian
propogandism which does not contem
plate the development of the think
ing faculty. Still the spelling-book
is not a text-book in morals, and “the
three Rs” do not make men and
women honorable and virtuous.
Much less are these things aids
to devotion.
We have probably over-estimated
the imfluence of education in our mis
sion work. Schools follow the Gos
pel, but they cannot properly pre
cede it7 unless, indeed, they be
schools for instruction in the facts
and principles of the Gospel.
The case is otherwise, where there
are converted children, or children
under the influence of Christian
homes. Ample provision should be
made for the best intellectual train
ing of converts from the heathen,
but the conversions should come
first.
GOD’S JUDGMENT'S AGAINST SIN.
Where man puts the tokens of his
pride, there God puts the foretokens
of His judgments. Flattering in
scriptions on the walls of Babylonian
palaces, told the king of his greatness
—of his titles, of his dominions, of
his exploits, and therefore the in
scription of divine wrath was written
on the wall, that where Belshazzar
had feasted the eyes of his vanity,
there, just there, should the sight
of his eyes smite his soul with ter
ror.
We make frank confession of an
unconquerable antipathy to all relig
ious actions founded on the narra
tives of scripture; all, we say, from
“The Prince of the House of David”
to “Ben Hur,” —all alike, whatever
charm of style or grace of sentiment
may mark them. They profane the
sanctity of the word of God and this
evil is certain and grievous, while
any good that can come of them is
too slight and problematical to make
amend for it. On this subject, the
“Boston Journal” says:
“The process of making Biblical
characters into heroes of romance,
both familiarizes and estranges them.
Brought into common-place relations
and made to enter into ordinary con
versation, they become familiar,
while enveloped in the tissues of fic
titious incidents they lose their
hold on human confidence and be
lief.”
Tobacco.—ln the “Quarterly
Journal of Inebriety,” for July, Dr.
L. Bremer says that “tobacco When
habitually used by the young, leads
to a species of imbecility;” that “the
juvenile smoker, will lie, cheat and
steal,” that “in quite a number of
patients at the St. Vincent’s Institu
tion in whom he had observed this
kind of insanity,” “the sense of pro
priety, the faculty of distinguishing
between right and wrong, was lost,”
though all the while “there was not
one among them who was able to
comprehend that tobacco was injur
ing him.” Now, the Dr. frankly ad
mits that this “may look like over- !
stating and exagerating things ;” but
no prudent parents or guardians I
watching the formation of "habits on
their sons or wards, and none of
these wards or sons wisely awake to
the importance of the habits they
form, will deem it safe on this ac
count to disregard the warning voice.
There can be no risk to the young in
fighting away the use of tobacco, the
path of danger runs not, nor can run
that way. This ought to decide the
question, and make the tobacco-habit
an impossibility for the young.
LETTERED BAPSISTS.
Our church letter system has some
serious defects. At any rate the
abuse of the system is very hurtful-
We give a letter of dismission to
an unruly member and send him
away to impose upon some other
church on our credit. We receive
an applicant for membership on the
recommendation of a letter from
some sister church sometimes when
we would prefer not to receive the
bearer of the letter. We are afraid
we will offend our sister church. But
the worst abuse of the system is the
wide spread dispositien to obtain let
ters for the purpose of severing con
nection with the church. There are
a great many people who do not
know that they remain members of
the churches from which they are
lettered until they use those letters
m uniting with other churches.
The churches have taught their mem
bers to regard the connection sev
ered by letter, because they have
rarely, if ever dealt with those hold
ing letters.
There are scores of Baptists all
over the country and especially in
towns and cities that hold letters and
have no vital connection with any
church. This is a great evil. Sure
ly the dear children of God among
them do not realize how much harm
there is in such a course. It may
be true that they do things different
ly from the way to which you have
been accustomed but that should not
keep you from placing yourself in
position to help. Has the pastor
neglected you ? He may not know
you, you ought to put your member
ship in the church so that the pastor
may have a chance to know you.
Are the members cold and neglect
ful? This is largely imaginary. They
are strangers, you have not given
them a chance to become acquainted
with you. They will be as cordial
as those you left behind when you
are as well acquainted with them as
you were with those.
Some one has called these letter
holders “Trunk Baptists,” the Savior
would call them “Under a Bushel
Baptists” and if we should name
them from the Revelation idea we
would call them “Grave-yard Bap
tists.” They have a name to live, but
practically they are dead.
I have often tried to imagine the
spell or whatever it is, that comes
over a child of God that destroys his
enthusiasm and enables him to en
dure such indifference to the salva
tion of the w orld.
Our Savior expects from us daily
service. He has provided the church
as an organization suited exactly to
our needs as servants. Shall w e ig
nore the divine arrangement and set
up our way in preference to the way
the Master has pointed out. No,
the facts show that these “Letter
Baptists” have no way. They soon
become “wayless,” they go no way
and do nothing. But alas! their at
titude amounts to opposition. They
become dead-weights. They burden
Zion. How glorious and mighty the
church must be that it can carry
such loads and still succeed so well.
There is in some degree at least a
remedy for the abuse of the lettering
system. Let each letter be written
from the church dismissing to the
church receiving as was no doubt at
first contemplated. Os course we hard
ly hope to see this suggestion adopt
ed but it is the right way neverthe
less.
NOT NEW, BUT OLD.
In a recent exchange of views be
tween a group of Baptist ministers,
one of their number stated, “as his
present conviction, that he was re
generated six years before he had
any knowledge of the fact, or was
led to repent of his sins or believe on
his Saviour.”
This sounds somewhat novel at
first, —this gift of a life which for so
long a time lay lifeless in the soul 1
I and left the soul itself lifeless. And
' one is ready to say that if only there
j were any Athenians now-a-days to
spend their time in nothing else but
either to tell or hear some new thing,
they would certainly fill their mouths
many times with this. But a mo
ments thought removes the impres
sion. It is an old thing we have
here, a very old thing; with a chang
ed dress, indeed, but itself unchang
ed. The brother whose statement
we quote has simply made a fray be
yond the Baptist borders into the
lands of Rome and ritualism; bring
ing back with him certain pieces of
glass which rank there as theologi
cal diamonds of the first water, and
for which he provides a different
setting that the old owners may fail
to recognize and prove their property
and recover it out of his hands.
For, this regeneration without the
functions and fruits of regeneration
—what is it but the old “sacramental
grace,” no longer tied to the sacra
ments? what but “the germ of spirit
ual life” once implanted in the souls
of sprinkled infants for long seasons
of dormancy, but now claimed for
implantation in adult souls without
the sprinkling, its power of quiescent
powerlessness no whit impaired? To
our mind all this is plain enough and
we are willing that these bits of
glass should go back to their old
owners.
Scarcely anything w’e have read
of for a great while is more nearly
“unthinkable” to us than this regen
eration without the functions or the
fruits of regenerate life for a term of
years. There are possibilities of
danger in it, too. Why should these
years of dormancy come at the first,
and only then? Why may not the
regeneration, after a period of energy
and action, relapse into the early
quiescence again? Why might not
another six years come to the broth
er whose statement is before us,
when the regeneration, as at the be
ginning, shall no longer avail to se
cure repentance for sin or belief on
the Saviour? And if such years
should come to him, what safeguard
i has he, on the view he holds against
j a blind “assurance” of his own child
hood to God and salvation in Christ,
running through all their disobe
dience, unbelief and guilt? We
would not willingly retain these bits
, of glass at the risk of giving Satan
space to set a snare for souls like
this.
Unsound Doctrine.—Rev. A.
McHan, a Baptist minister, well
known in some portions of this State
but now a citizen of Tennessee, pub
lishes a somewhat remarkable arti
cle in the “Chattanooga News” for
Sunday, Aug. 14th. He argues that
“the religious sects (churches, so call
ed,”) while “never so powerful as at
the present time,” are “rapidly los
ing the regards and esteem of the
people.” One cause for this decline
of their influence, as he alleges, is
“error of doctrine incorporated into
the man-made creeds of these sects.”
And this is the style in which he pro
ceeds to set forth what he accounts
an instance of such error: “The dog
ma of eternal torment, rolled under
the tongue of so many as a sweet
morsel, is a tradition and is not found
anywhere in the Scriptures new or
old. It was first incorporated into
the creed of the Roman Catholic
Church, for what purpose it 'would
be difficult to tell unless it was a
trick to scare people into the church
with, and when in, to scare money
out of their pockets with. At any
rate, reckless and godless as the
Catholics have been during some
periods of their past hiatory, they
are entitled to credit for plastering
over this horror of horrors with a
purgatory which answered their fi
nancial purposes, I suppose, just as
well.” We cannot believe that Mr-
McHan is the real father of such lan.
guage : it is too ill-bred and too
scornful to come from a Christian
man conscientiously expressing his
dissent from the conscientious con
victions of other Christian men. He
must have borrowed it, in the glow
and haste of composition, from some
infidel or semi-infidel writer, and the
printers must have lost their proper
marks of quotation. But let its ori
gin be what it may, do the Baptists
of Tennessee regard it as falling
within the limits of the allowable and
lawful diversities of individual be
lief among ministers and therefore
entitled to pass without challenge ?
We cannot believe that they do.
The difference between the preach
er of the Gospel and every other
public teaclier or leader is that he is
divinely appointed to “persuade men”
in regard to their duty to God. Ho
cannot properly become the cham
pion of social reform, nor take up
the grievance of one class against
another. It is bis business to keep
constantly before men the divins
claims upon them, and to show how
these are the root of every human
duty. A preacher has not dispos
sessed himself of any of the rights
of citizenship by becoming an am
bassador for Christ, but he has limit
ed his field of duty. It is clearly his
right to make political speeches," but,
just as clearly not his duty to do so.
INDIAN SPRING, GA.
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