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Many good and stroiw things were said in be
half of
MISSIONS
During the Session of the
Southern Baptist Convention.
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“If you ever find it necessary to be
dogmatic, be careful not to be bulldog
matic.” The “Standard” pronounces
this “sound advice.” Os course, it is;
and it would have been no less so, if iij'
had included a caution against being'
ficedogmatic. For the lice-dog bark may
be as annoying as the bull-dog bite is
painful.
An honest study of our own faults will
lead us to exercise charity toward the
faults of others. Harsh judgements and
unqualified condemnation of others
show ignorance of self. Humility always
accompanies a knoweldge of our own
hearts, and a free confession of our own
sins. Pride has a lofty look. Its eyes
are turned outward and are busy inspect
ing the lives of others. It never looks
within, or downward. It has a high look
and a haughty heart. It is intolerant,
self-willed, and blind to its own defects.
Humility is the way to exaltation. Pride
goeth before a fall. “Judge not that ye
be not judged. For with what judge
ment ye judge, ye shall be judged.”
“Scribner’s Magazine” for April con
tains certain letters of Thomas Carlyle
never published before. In one of them
this passage occurs: “I am the same
complaining creature you have always
known me, and shall likely continue
such, I think, After all, as the Psalmist
has it. “Why should a living man com
plain?’ Because he is a fool, Ido surmise,
and for no other reason!” “The Chelsea
philosopher,” as he was called in his la
ter years, does not evince the qualities of
a good concordance, when he ascribes the
question of Jeremiah the prophet to the
Psalmist; but he manifests a higher
quality—a discernment of the incurable
folly attaching to the spirit of complaint
and an honest confession of his own par
ticipation in that folly. Carlyle here
writes himself a fool; and every man
who is disposed to be discontented with
his surroundings and associates, to mur
mur and to find fault at every step in
life, might as well add his name to Car
lyle’s. Beyond all question, that is just
where it belongs, and while he may hesi
tate to put it there, his friends are ready
enough to do so for him.
Francis H. Rowley, correspondent of
the Standard, Oak Park, 111., is dread
fuly exercised over the treatment of
“Colored Men on Southern Trains,” and
also over the lynching of negroes in the
South.
The emotions of Mr. Rowley were stir
red by a paragraph which inadvertently
found its way into the columns of the
Standard stating that no special cars
were provided for negroes on Southern
railroads, but that first and second class
tickets were sold, and that the negroes
being too poor to buy first-class tickets,
had to ride on second-class cars.
Mr. Rowley referred the matter to
Judge Tourgee, the special friend and
guardian of the negro, and the spiteful
hater and misrepresenter of Southern
whites. The Index will not undertake
to correct the untrue statements made by
these strife mongers, and bloody shirt
shakers. It has been done a thousand
times, and yet, the slanderers continue
to deal out their tales of woe about the
negroes in the South. The Index con
nives at no violation of law. It is, and
has been, all the time, an uncompro
mising foe of mob law. But, at the same
time, the Index thinks that Mr. Rowley
and Judge Tourgee, and other South
haters, have as much as they can do to
rectify the wrongs right at their own
doors before they turn their tearful eyes
southward, or charge southern people
with inhumanity and cruelty.
It will be a very busy day with the
Baptists, when they undertake, like the
chief butler of Phoraoh. to remember
all their faults. To facilitate the task,
should they ever attempt it, we would
remind them of a fact stated by Dr.
Hawks in his History of Virginia Episco-
Sacy. Once, at the request of Jones of
fayland, enquiry was made of John
Wesley, “whether it was true that he had
invested persons with the Episcopal
character, and sent them to America.
After |some hesitation," says Dr. H.,
“he admitted the fact, and assigned as a
reason for his conduct, that after the Rev
olution each denomination was making
efforts to swell its numbers, and the
Baptists particularly were greatly in
creasing to the injury of the Church. He
had, therefore, taken the step with the
hope of preventing further disorders."
The Christian world, then, owes Methb
dist Episcopacy to its supposed efficacy
as a specific against the increase of Bap
tists; and whenever Baptists begin to sit
down among the ashes and to cast dust
on their heads as sorrowing delinquents,
the fault of having given occasion for it
must call for one or two handfuls, ac
cording to their greater or less sense of
the enormity of that fault. It Is doubt
ful whether any humiliation of theirs can
take the character of “satisfaction" with
out this; that is, from the Hawks point
of view. And the fault, probably, is
greater still from the Wesley point; the
fault, namely, of having gone on increas
ing just as if no such specific had been
devised. It will be difficult, wo fear, if
not impossible, to bring them to a thor
ough repentance hero: they will bo slow
to affiict either their bodies or their souls
for the increase which brands this eccles
iastical specific as not less ineffectual
and useless than the simples and drugs,
“the boluses and pills," the absurd pre
scriptions, the ludicrous Temedies, which
make the “Primitive Physic” of Wesley
an object of amused and pitying, if not
scornful, laughter in Mediclnu,
JHjc fljristian Siiiur.
| 11 94 RmtSwos' d/
IN THE SPIHIT ONTHELOED’SDAY.
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s
Day.” Rev. 1: 10.
“The Lord’s Day:”—the day of
our Lord’s resurrection, the first day
of the week" This is the only place
where the day is so named.
No formal enactment, either by
our Lord or his apostles, changing
the Sabbath from the seventh to the
first of the week, can be cited, but
all the force of apostolic example,
together with the example of our
Saviour after his resurrection, estab
lishes the position that the first day
of the week, is the proper day for
Christian worship and rest. John
20 ; 19, 26, Acts 20: 7,1 Cor. 16: 2.
I think this was also the day of Pen
tecost. It is probable that at first it
was not observed as a day of secular
rest, but only as a day of special
worship. I think it probable also,
that the apostles and early disciples
continued for some time to observe
the Jewish ceremonial Sabbath, while
meeting on the first day for Christian
worship, but as they gradually gave
up Judaism* the first day grew in im
portance, both as a day of .rest and
worship, until it finally supplanted
the seventh as the Christian Sab
bath.
On this day was completed the
victory of the cross. Hitherto Jesus
had been the despised and rejected
Nazarene, and when his enemies saw
him buried they rejoiced in their sup
posed triumph. To-day he arose a
triumphant Conqueror, and his grate
ful people who have participated in
the benefits of his victory have ever
observed the day as a day of rest and
rejoicing, of worship and thanks
giving. With great appropriateness
John calls it “the Lord’s Day.” No
other day in the week is so well
calculated to stir within us, feelings
of loyalty and praise. It should
ever be devoted to him whose name
it boars.
The Spirit refered to is, of course,
the Ilofy Spirit. To be “in thtf Spirit”
is to be under the influence and
power of the Spirit. It describes
that trance, or ecstacy, in which the
prophets were placed to receive vis
ions and revelations. Ezek. 37 : 1
Acts 10: 10. I do not think any
different meaning is to be attached
to the phrase as applied to Christians
of the present day, from that which
is attached to it in this passage, ex
cept that the Spirit was given in a
larger measure and for a special pur
pose. The expression is sometimes
used by persons in prayer, and 1
think legitimately. They only mean
to express a desire to have the
Spirit’s gracious influence. It is to
make the prayer we are encouraged
to make by precious promises and
by direct instruction. John 14:16;
16:7, Luke 11: 13.
This state of mind bears an im
portant relation to the day and it 8
duties:
1. It is essential to a proper dis
cernment of the day. It is “the
Lord’s day.” This fact can be ap
preciated fully by such only as are
“in the Spirit.” To the unregener
ate the day is at most but a day of
rest —of cessation from labor. Its
relations to the worship of God, and
to Christian life and character are
all hidden from his eyes. And there
are professing followers of Christ
who fall short of this spiritual dis.
cernment of the Lord’s day. The
degree of recognition of the sacred
ness of the Sabbath is a good indi
cation of the state of grace in the
heart.
2. It is essential to the fullest en.
joyment of the day. To the uncon
verted, the Sabbath is often irksome,
and even professing Christians who
are not “in the Spirit,” sometimes
find it difficult to dispose of the day’s
weary hours. Such persons often
resort to visiting, or secular reading,
or to sleeping, to dispose of time the
laws of the land or their own con
sciences forbid being employed in
secular labor. But for him who is
“in the Spirit,” how keen the enjoy
ment of such reflections as the Sab
bath is calculated to engender!
What blessed memories! What glo
rious visions! The resurrection, with
all the thrilling incidents connected
with it, is brought to mind by the
sacred day. Tho accounts of the
resurrection acquire a new interest
when read on “the first day of the
week,” and this interest is still furth
er enhanced if tho hour when each
jivent ooourod is selected. The visit.
ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY. APRIL 27,1893.
of the women to the sepulchre “very
early in the morning, when it was
yet dark,” and the subsequent visit
of “Peter and that other disciple; ”
the afternoon walk to Emmaus, with
its touching incidents; the rapturous
joy of the disciples on receiving
convincing proof of the resurrection,
and our Lord’s first five epiphanies
after that event, are all incidents of
the first day of the week, and in the
minds of God’s people, are insepara
ble from it.
Moreover, God has given to the
day a typical character. Heb. 4: 9.
To him who is “in the Spirit” there
is no more beautiful and expressive
type of the “rest that remains to the
people of God” than the serenity of
a quiet Sabbath. For such an one
the genial sunshine of spring, the
blooming fields and forests of sum
mer, the golden harvests of autumn
and the coldness and barrenness of
winter all serve the same purpose—
to give him thoughts of heaven,
some by illustration and some by
contrast.
“Day of all the week the best,
Emblem of eternal rest.”
3 1 It is essential to a worthy dis
charge of the duties of the day. Ac
ceptable worship can be rendered
by such only as are “in the Spirit.”
Without the Spirit’s aid, all service
becomes formal, dead. John 4: 24.
“In vain we tune our formal songs.
In vain we strive to rise,
Hosanah’s languish on our tongues,
And our devotion dies.”
We may have the Spirit, Ist. By
praying for Him. Luke 11:13. 2nd.*
By avoiding those things that dis
please Him. Eph. 4 : 30, 1 Thcs.
5 : 19.
"Return, O holy Dovo, return,
Sweet messenger of rest;
I hate the sins that made thee mourn,
And drove thee from my breast ”
3rd. By doing those things that
are pleasing to Him. John 8 : 29,
1 Johu 3 : 22.
Blessed days of earth, and nearest
akinjto heaven, are those Sabbaths
when we are “in the Spirit.” May
there be many such to all my readers.
W. M. Burr,
Dothan, Ala.
Gen. 2,18 —“The Lord God said,
it is not good that the man should be
alone, I will make him a help-meet
for him.”
The relation of man and wife is
the first of all human relations. This
is the foundation of the family, the
state, and the church. If the first
man is the son of God, the first wo
man is the daughter of God. In the
account of woman,s creation, we
have first, the declaration of the Lord
God, man’s creator and father, that
his being alone is not good for him.
Ho is created not a hermit to live in
uncompanioned solitude. He is no
Caelebs and Coenobite, to live in the
company of others, who are of the
same sex with himself. He is cre
ated social, and his greatest earthly
need is female companionship.
After he has received a planet for
his residence, an ocean-encircled
earth, encased in a translucent at
mosphere, through which tho lights
of heaven shine upon him, he is still
poor. Something more than this
teraquoous globe* with fish and fowl
and beast stocked with lamps hung
in the heavens, and fruits and flowers
springing from the earth—something
that even communion and converse
with the creator supplies not, a com
panion—one at once like, and
unlike himself. Inferior it may be
in some respects, yet an inferiority
that is rather a superiority, or at
least the difference is so tempered
that the result is a moral and social
equality, without rivalry or conten
tention.
Before receiving the Creator’s
crowning gift Adam is made to feel
his want. Tho animal creation, the
Lord God causes to come into
Adam’s presence, it is said to seo
what he would call them, i. e. not
that God might see it, but that the
animals themselves should learn
their names from their immediate
master and owner. These lower or
ders, though they be God’s creatures,
yet are they by him subjected to
man’s dominion. They do not hold
directly from God, nor do they com
municate directly with Him, but
they are immediately under man,
and through man they serve God.
It is by obeying man, they gloryfy
God. They are caused to present
themselves before Adam, to receive
their names from him, whom they
ars to recognize as their master.
They w’ould afterward know those
names, come at his oall and do his
bidding,
This naming was man’s inaugura. 1
tion into his office of lord over the
animal kingdom. It is his corona
tion. The receiving their names
not from God, but from Adam, is the
oath of allegiance on the pa A of the
animals, and their recognition of his
vice-royalty.
It is God who names man. For
man, while to all else he is lord, to
God he is servant. This naming is
as far as we know, the first exercise
of the human intellect, that divine
faculty of knowledge, of investiga
ting the works of God, and ascer
taining the truth hidden in every
created thing. For now these names
were descriptive of the natures, and
pointed to the uses of these animals.
Such Lordly naming is founded upon
insight into their structures, and
foresight of their services.
Perhaps we might from this take
an educational hint. Os all the occupa.
tions of human beings, none is more
honorable, more holy—none more
indispensable to the well-being of
human society, than the occupation
of Teacher. The services which
teachers render are of such para
mount importance, such exceeding
utility, that it is certain no free
government coujd last, no civiliza
tion exists without them. Christ’s
principal designation, in the memo
irs of his life, death and services to
mankind, which we have from the
pens of Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John and which memoirs constitute
the most vaulable contribution to
earth’s literature, I say in these
memoirs, the chief title of him is the
Teacher. The titles, Kaiser and
Pope, King and Prince, Emperor
and President, I know are held more
honorable. But in very deed Teach
er is the greatest of titles, and
teaching the usefulest of occupations.
Os all learning, none lias any lasting
value, but the leariiing of the an
swer to Pilate’s “what is
truth?” Poor Pilate, a governor,
rich from the exactions of a plun
dered province, Pilate put this ques
tion to the Teacher, and stayed not
to hear the answer.
God’s law is truth—and all true
learning, is the learning of God’s
law, not in the narrow sense, Jewish
Rabbis would restrict it to, the 5
books of Moses—but God’s law as
revealed in his entire word, and in
his universal works. And the true
teacher is ho who helps us to this
learning. Truth is the end of the
intellectual powers, it is their God
appointed aim. To ascertain truth
did God adapt them? In the ascer
taining of truth is their healthy ex
ercise, their pleasant excitement,
their food that nourishes, strength
ens and develops them? Now I do
not know but what God, who is the
great teacher points out to us, that
here in Natural history is the proper
beginning of that educatioual pro
cess, which has for its object to seek
and and find the truth hidden in
God’s works.
One of the consequences of this
first exercise of the human intellect
ual faculties, was the discovery that
these animals were in pairs, male
and female, with mutual adaptations
to each other’s needs, and to the con
tinuing of their several kinds upon
the earth. But for himself, the man
found no such counterpart, less in
lordly strength, but superior in sweet
loveliness, fitted to boa companion,
share his thoughts, and supply his
wants.
Thence arose the sense of loneli
ness, a feeling of incompleteness.
How little could he foresee that
in his own wondrous frame, by the
God,s master hand shaped from dust,
Jay the foundation of a structure
which, in its adaptation to all his
wants, whether of the soul or the
body, surpassed in beauty of design,
in finish of execution, in variety and
usefulness of service all that had
hitherto met his wandering eyes,
whether upward turned to gaze up
on the sun-lit, star-studded sky,
or dowuward bout to survey the
richness and glory and beauty of the
virgin earth, or wh< thcr he looked
around him upon tho diverse shapes
of life, that frolicked and fed in
pastures green, or birds of varied
plumage that with tuneful songs en
livened tho primeval woods. How
powerless was he to conceive, that
after all tho Lord God had given
him, there was yet in store for him
a gift, that did incateulably, unutter
ably outdo all tho rest, a something
1 that in the language of one of the
most gifted of his sons “looketh
forth as the morning, fair as tho
moon, clear as the sun, and terrible
as an army with banners”—a crea
tion at once the frailest, and the
mightiest, so weakly yielding, so
strongly conquering, beautiful,
bright, lovely, sweet, incomparable
woman. Jehovah God’s last, best,
richest, crowning gift to man, else
ever in Eden’s bowers imparadisod,
a poor, forelorn, discontented, un
blessed and useless being.
Having thus made Adam sensible
of his want, the Lord God caused a
deep sleep to fall upon him. Os
this sleep, when I read, I cannot
holp thinking of Jeremiah’s words,
•‘Upon this I awoke, and beheld; and
my sleep was sweet unto me.’
Surely this sleep of Adam might, if
any other, be called a sweet sleep,
that was to be followed by an awak
ing to see, what Adam saw, when
next he opened his eyes. “And the
Lord God took one of his ribs, and
closed up the flesh instead thereof.”
Oh! blessed diminution of Adam, to
be followed by such a rich increase,
, and this rib did tho Lord God build
! into a woman, and caused her to
. come unto the man.
Here is woman’s origin—out of
man. In passing I may say that
, man is always looking outside of
!, himself for something wherewith to
content his restless soul. But broth
er, look within. God’s plan of con
, tenting thee, is to bring out of thee,
, what his created word put within
. thee. Happiness, blessedness—the
I true riches, the peace that passeth
all understanding, are withiu thee,
not eutside of thee. They are not
circumstances, things standing
I around thee—they are rather, if I
might be allowed to use the word m
its literal sense, instances, things m
standing—they grow from within,
they come not from without.
’ I have several observations to
• make here.
1. The rib by God’s art builded
into woman, is taken from the side
t of Adam, not from the head, or the
foot—as if woman was either to be
3 mistress or slave—but from the side,
3 as if to be a companion, not so tall,
i but still tall enough to go arm in
> arm with him as his equal. Not so
3 tall as the man, who is the lord ani
i mal—but yet so winsom, that this
, lord animal would kneel as suitor to
j her as readily perhaps, and certainly
, more willingly, than ever any subject
I animal kneels to him.
2. This rib that walled in his dis
contented heart, is builded into a
something that brims the measure of
his content. She is partly of man
but more of God. That unsightly
rib, against which the first of discon
tented heart, ever beat—how small a
foundation, how inadequate for that
, superb structure, a million times
more splendid than Solomon's tem
. pie exceeding magnificat and famous
! throughout all lands though|it was.
3. Woman is God’s building—she
is God’s chef d’oeuvre. In His oth-
1 , ,
er creations we had seen strength,
vastness and beauty too. We had
admired the everlasting hills, their
roots hidden in the earth, and their
summits raised above the clouds.
Ocean’s vastness, and the might of
his waves. The Sun’s splendor, the
moon’s softer sheen, and tho lustre
of the stars. The painted petal of
tho flower, which unfolds its loveli
ness to the sun’s kiss and breathes
upon the wanton breeze its fragrance.
But now in woman, we behold, if
I may say so, tho transcendant art
of tho Creator in producing a char
acter, which in form, in size, in color.
1 in softness, combines everything
there is of beauty, elegance and
1 loveliness elsewhere in creation—in
somuch that human imagination has
laid all nature under contribution,
to furnish forth an inadequate pict
ure of this sun of all swdet perfeo-
I tions, which the Divine artist gath
, ered together and placed as a crown
' upon her who is this last creative
, act, and the crown of Eden,s bliss,
i Remember, oh! woman, thou art
i God’s building—builded for no
. mean use. Bo thou therefore holy
and wise, studying to bo what thy
Creator designed thee—a help-meet
I for man, thy Creator’s Son and es
tamped likeness. Study to holp him
■ by the cultivation and practice of all
; virtue—to holp him into all that is
;! good and perfect, even the will of
i tho God who gave thee to man, that
| thou might boa mate worthy of his
;, high birth and holy calling.
Now when Adam waked out
of that blessed sleep and saw coming
toward him that form,Jwherein every
species of loveliness had made its
chosen residence: he exclaims with
unrepressible and inexpressible rapt
ure—“ This time what I see, and
what I’m called on to name, is bone
of my own bones, and flesh of my
own flesh—she shall be named wo
man, for out of man was she taken-
He had fallen asleep, lonely, dis
contented, unhappy, poor in Eden.
He woke, and content, society,
happiness, riches were his!
Ah! father Adam, in this last of
thy namings, that naming, which
with thee is an act of soveranty, and
with the creature named is the sub
mission to this soveranty—lt may be,
father, thou hast gained a new sub
ject unto thy kingdom, or rather
she is a whole kingdom by herself
and richer than all the rest of thy
dominions put together. I say fa
ther, I fear me, this is a kingdom
thou wilt find hard to rule—alas!
too hard for thee. Thou wilt hold
the reins, but she’ll tell thee where
to drive.
One of these days, as thou with
pompous stupidity, boldest the reins,
she’ll bid the drive out of "Eden—
and out wilt thou go slave-king,
though Death stood in the way.
The Lord God said, “Eat not”-
The woman said, “eat." The man
eat—Eden was wiped from earth’s
map, and earth herself was honey
combed with graves. Oh! the mighty
and sometimes fatal power of sub
ject woman! But the all-merciful
forsook not his unhappy children,
but through the blessed virgin, re
stores to man all and more than the
first woman lost.
Man through the first woman lost
earth. His heaven-lit home, became
his dark grave. Through the bless
ed'virgin, he gains heaven, ■where
light is without darkness, life with
out death, and joy without sorrow.
God pronpunovs the fi'Mt lsv<lof
wedlock. “The man shall leave
father and mother, and shall cleave
unto his wife, and they twain shall
be one flesh.” The human race was
originally a unit—one. This unity
the Creator halved—made two.
But it was not to remain divided,
God rejoined the divided halves, or
daining “they shall be one flesh.”
A man is not a whole human being
He is not an integer, but a fraction
|. So the woman is not an integer,
she too is a fraction L Put two
halves together you get a whole
number, one. The first man was ex
actly |, the first woman exactly J
These 2 halves joined became 1-
I have seen mstantes where the man
seemed only 1-10, and his wife 9-10
Still add these fractions, and the
sum is still one.
I observe upon this law of wed
lock, that as the relation of man and
wife is the oldest of the social rela
tions, so is it the most intimate.
Parent and child are not so close, as
man and wife. No other union is so
absolute, so perfect, it is a union
which makes two, one. All inter
ests, hopes and fears become one—
all joys and sorrows—joys doubled,
sorrows divided. It is the holiest,
sweetest, and best of all the earth
unions.
In Ephesians Paul tolls us, this
union is type of the union of the
Christ and the church. This latter
union is the ideal union. The Chrst
and the church are one spirit. The
man and his wife one flesh. This
union of the man and his wife in the
flesh, being the representative of the
union of the Christ and his church
in the spirit. Until the Christ came
therefore, neither could the sacred
nature of the marriage relation bo
understood in full, nor could its re
sultant duties be so clearly ex
pressed.
From the above, wo deduce the
following as the natural laws of wed
lock.
!• The motive to this union is
love. This is a contract of unselfish
pure, and chaste love. This con
tract is voided by death. Death
that sunders all the ties of flesh.
There is not in nature any provis
ion for sundering this relation,
but death alone. When love forms
this union, and death alone dissolvse
it; when the two contracting par
ties are loyal to their engagements,
then is this union the source of the
sweetest delights and purest pleas
ures, and greatest advantages of all
the unions which death terminates.
On the purity of this relation is based
the justice of civil government, the
sanctity of ecclesiastical polity, the
prosperity of industry, tho peace of
society, and the salvation of the hu
man race.
Brother Minister,
Working Layman,
Zealous Bister
Wears strivlngto make
CTlie Index
the best of its kind. Help us by securing a
new subscriber.
VOL. 70—NO' 17
For Christian Index.
INFANT BAPTISM.
This subject has been called tom
mind recently by Bro. Hillyer’s ex
perience in Florida, and in this com
munity in an effort to establish a
Presbyterian church. The preach
ers had much to say about it in the
effort to get parents to have their un
baptized children, baptized, as they
call it. They insisted on the people
all to attend, and they promised to
show that it was right. Now it
would not perhaps be so much our
duty to notice these things, if it was
not that some of our members are
mixed up with pedo-baptists in mar
riage, and have a struggle to resist
persausions offered, or, as it some
times happens, they yield and suffer
their children sprinkled. I was not
present, but heard they claimed it to
be Scriptural;
1. Because of the Abrahamic cov
enant.
This covenant they claim was a per
petual covenant, embracing not only
the blessings promised to Israel as a
nation, but also those spiritual bless
ings for spiritual Israel. And as
Jewish parents must circumcise their
children to secure the blessings of
their covenant to them, so Christian
parents must baptize their children
to secure the blessings of the new to
theirs.
In answer to this, it is only neces
sary to say that the children of Jew
ish parents are, by their natural de
scent, as mnch the progeny of Abra
ham as are their parents, and being
so, are, by their natural birth, enti.
tied to all the blessings promised in
that covenant, if they comply with
the terms prescribed. Christians are
the spiritual children of Abraham,
by having a like spiritual birth,
through faith, with him. They can
not by natnral birth transmit a spiri.
tual nature to their children, so the
children of Christian parents have
no relation to Abraham, natural or
spiritual, until by grace, through faith
given to them personally, they be
come his spiritual children.
2. They claim that circumcision
was the seal of the first covenant to
Abraham’s prosterity, and the Jew
ish parent who neglects to have his
children circumcised was to be cut
off; so baptism is the seal of the new
covenant, and for the same reason
Christian parents who fail to have
their children baptized will be cut
off.
Here is baptismal salvation straight
for the cutting off in the law of circum
cision is a cutting off from the bless
ings promised under the law, and if
the rule applies in the new, as claim
ed, then the failure to have the child
ren baptized cuts off from the bless
ing in Christ. Thus salvation rest s
upon child baptism.
But where is the Scripture showing
that baptism is the seal of the new
covenant? It cannot be found. The
Holy Spirit seals in the new.
Circumcision was the seal of the
covenant by which God promised
the land of Canaan to Abraham and
his posterity as a possession forever,
this, and nothing more. Gen. 17: 7,
14. This is their sealed title deed
to that land. Losing; it, they fail to
have a title, and cannot successfully
claim it. Therefore whether Chris
tians or not, the Jews must keep it
up or lose their rights under it
There is nothing like this said of
baptism.
If baptism is a substitution in the
new ;for circumcision in the old,
where has the amendment been made
by which females are admitted to the
rite of baptism. Circumcision was
only enjoined as to males.
3. They asserted that baptism in
the new was established in lieu of
circumcision in the old. But asser
tion is not proof, and when they at
tempted to get Scriptural proof the
nearest approximation was Col. 2:11-
12. “In whom also ye are circum
cised with the circumcision made
without hands, in putting off the bo
dy of the sins of the flesh, by the cir
cumcision of Christ: buried with him
in baptism, wherein also ye are risen
with him through the faith of the op
oration of God, who hath raised him
from the dead.”
Here both baptism and circumcis
ion are spoken of in the text, but not
one as a substitute for the other, by
any means. 1. The circumcision
spoken of is without bands, in
ward, not outward. Baptism is out
ward, not inward, and with hands,
(Continued en Bth page,)