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REV. A. J. RYAN, Editor
AUGUST A, Ga., NOVEMBER 28, 1868
THE ORIGIN OF THE BAPTISTS*
We publish, in thus issue of our paper,
the first number of a series of papers on
the above subject. They are from the
pen of a learned lawyer in South Caro
lina, and written in a spirit of courtesy
and fairness, which will, we feel sure, se
cure for them an attentive perusal.
“HISTORICAL CORRECTION,”
We published sometime ago a com
munication from R. C. I)., Deer
Lodge, Montana Territory, correcting a
statement of Mr. Paul A. Botto’s in a
Reminiscence of the Battle of Spottsyl
vania, taken from the Natchez (Miss,)
Detnocrat, and published by us some
time previous. In this week’s Banner,
we publish the reply of Mr. Botto, taken
from the Democrat , of Nov. 10th. We
do this in justice to that gentleman, and
to the gallant Mississippians whom he
so ably defends. We believe that our
Montana correspondent did unintentional
injustice in this regard, and feel sure
that he will acknowledge this much, at
least; for, where all acted so nobly, it
would be the height of ingratitude to de
tract from the merits or honors of any.
For ourselves, our love for the “ boys in
grey” knows no such narrow boundaries
as State lines. It embraces all who de
fended the Lost Cause —the living and
the dead; and our pen, humble though
it be, is ready aud willing at all times to
honor their deeds and preserve their
memories. We can, therefore, and do,
most heartily endorse the language of
Gen. Il irris, in his letter to Mr. Botto :
“Each and every command of the Army
of Northern Virginia achieved sufficient
fame, by its own deeds of valor. Between
them, now, there should exist uo particle
of jealousy, but rather a generous spirit
of emulation.”
THE ENGLIShTIECTIONS.
The election in Great Britain for Mem
bers of Parliament have taken place,
and the Cable despatches report a very
handsome Liberal majority of Members
elect. This will, doubtless, be followed
by the retirement of Disraeli, and the or
ganization of anew Cabinet, with Glad
stone as Premier. Another, and the
most desirable result of all, will be the
disestablishment of the English Church
in Ireland. This “Establishment,” as it
is called, is a great burden, to the Irish
people, for, largely Roman Catholic as
they are in population, they are compelled
to maintain that “Establishment,” while
also supporting their own Pastors and
Churches. This is one of the weightiest
sources of Irish discontent, and will, as
we have said, doubtless, be removed by
the new Parliament. The Liberals, also,
propose an extension of the suffrage, a
reduction of taxes* the curtailment of na
tional expenditures, and important modi
fications in the administration ot Irish
affairs. These reforms having been
made in the shape of demands by the
Liberal electors, and that party having
triumphed in the elections, it is evident
that civil changes of great magnitude
are impending in the United Kingdom,
changes which, wc hope, will result in
good to the whole people, but particularly
to those of down-trodden and oppressed
Ireland.
SOUTHERN INDEPENDENCE,
At the risk of being styled weari
some, wc deem it our duty to keep this
subject, threadbare though it be, before
our people. They can be independent of
the North. They can be independent of
that plan, is so plainly and briefly set
forth in the following article from the Ma
con (Ga.) Journal <P Messenger, that wc
cheerfully give it a place in our columns,
and ask for it our attentive perusal, and
careful consideration of our l eaders :
Independence —Tha true policy of
the South is to assert its agricultural,
mechanical, and manufacturing indepen
dence of the world. This can be done :
Ist. By making on our own soil every
thing we consume for the support of
life. Our fruitful fields and genial cli
mate invite us to do so. Georgia can
produce its bread, its meat, its
vegetables, its fruits, its beer, and its
wine. Its forests are full of game, and
its coast abounds with fish and oysters.
Why should we go abroad for fond ?
2. By giving encouragement to our
own home mechanics, and by stimulating
every form of productive industry. By
encouraging our boys, now growing up,
to devote themselves to the mechani
nal arts ; and by giving the honors of
social and civil life to those who prove
themselves most worthy by doing most
to develope these arts in the South. The
mines, and the forests, and the fields of
the South yield us the needed material
for mechanical productions of every kind,
and in sufficient abundance to supply the
world.
Bd. By developing our vast resources
in water power for die purpose of estab
lishing manufactories of every grade, by
which our leading staple may be pre
pared lor consumption—not by making
coarse fabrics only, but by manufacturing
the finest cotton goods, in every style aud
variety. It is hardly necessary to argue
the advantages the South enjoys for such
work. These will be enhauced greatly
when we become the cheapest food-pro
ducing portion of the land, as we are ca
pable of becoming.
The South needs nothing but good
Government, and the following of a wise
policy, with economy and industry on
the part of the people, to make her inde
pendent of the world.
GRANT’S ELECTION^FROM AN IRISH
STAND POINT.
When a person is ignorant of any sub
ject, he generally exhibit good sense in
keeping silent upon that subject. If he
undertakes to write upon such subject, he
is generally aft to hold of the wrong end
of the horn, and to draw the most far
fetched and unjust conclusions. We ot
the South had a right to look to Ireland,
of all countries in the world, for encour
agement in our struggle for independence
and for sympathy in our defeat. She,
like ourselves, is groaning under a des
potism, and under the rule ot an unscru
pulous party, which gives neither pro
tection to property or liberty, but is
drawing her very life-blood out in sup
porting institutions which are distaste
ful toher people and inimical to her pros
perity’. How' strange it is, then, to see
Irish papers rejoicing at the election of
Grant, aud the perpetuation of a power
in the land which is the author of all our
woes and the destroyer of every principle
of human liberty. In the Belfast Ob
server, of November 7th, appears, an ar
ticle, entitled “ The End ot the Contest,”
in which Grant is highly lauded, and his
election greatly rejoiced at. That jour
nal says :
“ General Grant is a soldier, and, so
far as he has hitherto given the world an
opportunity of judging, he would seem to
be nothing more than a soldier. He de
spises the tricks and graces of oratory ;
reared in camps, he has been a doer, not
a talker; but we are very much mistaken
if the genius that controlled the vast
armies of the Great Republic, and led
them to victory over a gallant and des
perate enemy, will not guide with a firm
aud powerful hand the people who have,
by a vast majority,elected him their ruler.”
Charity to an Irish coteiuporary com
pels us to believe that, absorbed in its
own National troubles, it has had no time
to devote tu, American affairs, and is,
therefore, in utter ignorance of the sub
ject whereof it writes. Grant “despises
the tricks aud graces of oratory,” simply
because he is as ignorant ot oratory as
our Irish friend is of American cotempo
raneous history. If be is a doer and not
a talker, he is a doer of nothing. His
biography will have nothing to record of
him except his inveterate habit of smoking,
his reticence on political subjects, aud liis
dogged persistence in destroying the lives
of his soldiers, declaring his determin
tion to “ fight it out on this line, if it took
all Summer.” And, then, the idea of
guiding, “ with a firm and peaceful
hand,” tlio people of a Republic! It
might be reasonable for Victoria, or
Palmerston, or Disraeli, to guide the
people of Ireland “ with a firm and pow
erful hand,” and yet the editor of the Ob
server doesn’t think so; but, in a Repub
lic, where it is the people who guide “the
powers that be,” such a thing would be
an anomaly, to say the least of it. And,
finally, our cotemporary is mistaken
General Grant is not elected by a “ vast
majority;” but, on the contrary, Seymour
is the choice of the majority, and, leav
ing the illegal votes out, the overwhelm
ing majority of the people.
We might follow the Observer through
the rest of its paragraphs, but we have
given enough to show how mistaken it is
upon this subject; and the reader will not
be surprised to learn that it continues :
“ And, with the support which will be
tendered to him, he can, and we believe
he will, carry out the true policy of re
construction with no stinted measure of
generosity to the Southern States. Asa
soldier, Grant fought against them; but,
like a true soldier, lie laid his animosity
against them aside on the scene of Ids last
triumph over them, and the victorious
General will prove a kindly ruler over
those whom his genius disarmed.”
With such imperfect knowledge of
affairs, and mistaken ideas in regard to
Grant, we are prepared for the assertion
that, to the Observer, his election “ is a
source of unmitigated pleasure,” hut we
were not prepared for this, which follows:
“ The Union needs consolidation, and
there is no man so fitted to achieve that
great work as he by bis ability, and by
the facility which his great popularity
will give him in doing so. In his hands
the dignity of his high office will be quite
safe: he will not brook insubordination at
home, nor encourage and foster predilec
tions and practices which may ripen into
disastrous rebellion.”
Has not our cotemporary encouraged
and fostered “lebcllion” in Ireland ? If
it has, why should it rejoice that there
is at least one man in the United States
who can prcVeut rebellion here? Is re
bellion any more sinful iu America than
it is in Ireland ? Is “consistency” less
“ a jewel” there than here? We leave
the Observer to answer, merely assuring
it, that the party which has been defeated
in this country is the party of free
dom, of justice, of economy, of Nation
al greatness, of peace, of prosperity,
of protection to foreigners, the party
which destroyed Know Nothingism—
the party which sustained and kept
alive Constitutional Liberty-—the Demo
cratic Party; while General Grant is the
representative of a party which has de
stroyed the Union, its prosperity, its
liberty ; a party which has persecuted
foreigners and Catholics ; a party which
has made the South a second Ireland—
a party which will destroy every vestige
of Constitutional Liberty —the Radical
Party.
Let our cotemporary ponder these facts,
and then, if he can rejoice over the elec
tion of Grant, let him weep at the election
of a Liberal Parliament.
The Dublin Irish,man, of the 7th inst.,
also contains this paragraph :
“ The Presidential elections in Ameri
ca, have resulted in the return of Grant
and Colfax as respectively President and
Vice-President. This result is certainly
owing to the fact that the Fenian vote
was given in favor of the Republicans.
Formerly, the Irish people in America
supported the Democrats, but, on the pres
ent occasiou, the great majority of them
threw the weight of their influence into
the scale against their former favorites.
Grant is an able soldier and statesman
of a rugged but honest school, who detests
spouting and diplomacy. In his hands
the rights of naturalized citizens are sure
to be respected.’
The remarks which we have applied
to the Observer, will apply with equal
force to the Irishman ; and we have,
therefore, only to add that the “Fenian
vote” in America was not cast for Grant
and Colfax, nor was the weight of Irish
influence thrown in favor of the Repub
licans. The very reverse is true. The
Irish element went, as it always does, for
the Democratic Party, with but few ex
ceptions ; and, if it had not been for the
fanatics of the North, aided by the Ne
groes and traitors of the South, Grant
would not, to-dav, be the President elect
of the United States. We trust that our
Irish cotemporaries will instruct them
selves more fully in regard to American
affairs,, and not be blinded by the state
ments and misrepresentations of Repub
lican journals.
The Melancholy Days.
The following mournful refraiu, inspired by the
drooping of Nature’s efflorescence, while it wails of
decay, sings of rejuvenescence, and institutes a rather
pretty comparison between the giants of the wood and
the lords of creation :
NOVEMBER.
There is a mournful music in the breeze,
The wild autumnal wind that sobs.
And sighs and wails among the forest trees,
The giants of their green dress robs.
The leaves that, in the Summer’s balmy breath.
Hung quivering in the rosy light,
Now flushing with the hectic hue of death,
Drift down before the chilling blight.
And now r from them the aisles that thread the wood
lie broader to the sunshine’s track;
But, in their fall, they sow a future good
That shall arise when Spring comes back.
The fields have yielded up their store of grain,
Now housed and sheltered from the blast;
For all the toil aud care is labor vain,
If ’tis not garnered at the last.
Thus man will, ripened by the frosts of years,
In the blest sunshine of good deeds,
Be safely gathered from the storms he fears,
And lind the refuge that he needs.
And, when a good man falls, shall rise a host,
More numerous than his life had known,
W 7 ho, as they drop the friendly tear, shall boast,
“His death more than his life hath shown.”
For the Banner of the South.
THE ORIGIN OF THE BAPTISTS.
NO. I.
A little volume, healing the above
title has recently fallen into our hands.
In its preface it professes to prove “ a
very acceptable historical contribution
to the masses of the people”—“a bold
outline of the history of the people now
called Baptists.” It is said to furnish, in
a condensed form, authentic historical
facts, to answer the question, “ Where
did the Baptists come from ?”
Whether it does or not, and bow and
whence those facts are derived, and
whether or not the facts said to be there
in contained arc correctly set forth, is
the object of this scries of letters.
The Baptists of the present day arc di
vided into numerous societies, differing
in so many important points of belief
and practice, as to render it impossible
for them to say that they have among
them but “one faith, one baptism.” The
particular class, however, to illustrate
whose history the volume was written, is
that particular branch connected with
the publishing house once presided over
by Graves, Marks & Cos , established at
Nashville, Tennessee.
When we trace the origin of a Church
through the stream of Time, it is neces
sary to attend to the distinctive marks
which declare its presence, in order to
prevent confusion. It must be found in
every age, proclaiming the same doctrines,
and enforcing the same practice and dis
cipline.* If a Church be found, in one of
the earlier centuries, baptising by immer
sion, it does not follow that it belonged
to the Mormon persuasion, because the
Mormons may happen to baptise in the
same manner at the present time.
When investigations of this character are
entered upon, and antiquity is invoked,
as a herald office for the purpose of
tracing genealogy, great care is necessa
ry to avoid the spurious, and confine at
tention only to the legitimate lineage.
The doctrines and practices of the ancient
Church must, in all things, conform to
those of the moderii Church, whose ori-'*
gin we arc in search ot.
Inasmuch as Dr. Ford, in endeavoring
to find an answer in the pages of anti
quity for the question, “ Where did the
Baptists come from ?” commenced at the
eighteenth century, and worked his way’
up to the first century, setting up his “mile
stones on the track of time,” wc will take
the liberty of going over the survey, in
order to ascertain the correctness of his
field-work.
At the first century, and on his fifteenth
station, he closed his lines, fully satis
fied that he had finished the location of
his grant; aud, with great gratification,
proclaimed that “the primitive Churches
were, in every distinguishing character
istic, Baptist Churches but, ho forgot
that he had worked his way almost entire
ly by latitude and departure, and made
no allowance at all for the variation of
the needle.
The Doctor, evidently, did not consult,
while on the survey of this century, such
witnesses as St. Ignatius, Bishop "of An
tioch, a disciple ot St. John, the. Evan
gelist, and an intimate friend of Poly
carp, the Angel of the Church of Smyr-
na; nor did lie inquire of St. Clement
Bishop of Rome, what course he should
have taken, or where he would find ki s
next station, and what the distance was
to the mark of which he was in search
I’hosc old gentlemen had, within their
memories, much that would hare en
lightened him on the location of Churches
and knew something of the situation of
the water courses. He -did not attempt
to compare notes with Dionysius, the
Aveopagite; from whom lie might have
obtained some valuable information, in
asmuch as it is said that this old gentle
man was an intimate acquaintance of St.
Paul, and learned the art of ecclesiastical
surveying from that ancient Apostle.
He did not admire the system of St.
Clement, of Rome. In fact, Rome was
one of the corners that the Doctor avoid
ed while in search of the Church, be
cause he could have been told directly
there “where the Baptists came from
and he was fearful that he would have to
blot out his fine plat, and go over all his
work, had lie lingered there on his wav.
St. Clement could have told him that
he had started from the first station with
the earliest pioneers, and could teach
him some practices of the primitive Church
entirely discarded by the Baptists of the
present time, and that, inasmuch as the
Baptists of the present time did not follow
the customs of the ancient Church ii all
things, the mere tact that they plunged
their members under the water only
once did not connect them with the an
cient Church, while several important
points of faith and practice otherwise di
vided them.
St. Clement’s name is w T ritteu in the
Book of Life, as we are informed by St.
Paul; and he himself informs us that St.
Peter taught his hearers the doctrines
contained in the following extracts:
' “ But, should it happen that envy, in
fidelity, or any of those evils enumerated
above, secretly steal into a man’s heart,
let him not, if he have any regard for
his soul, be ashamed of confessing them
to his director, that he may, through the
Word of God, be healed by him and his
salutary counsel, whereby lie may, by
sound faith and good works, be enabled
to escape the pains of eternal fire, and at
tain the rewards of everlasting life.”
Now, let us examine how many tints
of the Doctor’s chain are imperfect. The
Church of the Baptists of the present
day docs not practice Confession, and has
no laith in good works. Two full links
entirely gone. Therefore, it is too short,
and his miles ar% too short at the cim
mcncemeut, so that his mile-stones are
not correctly set up.
Again : St. Clement, speaking ofwbat
St. Peter taught, says, “He taught, that
man should keep a perpetual watch over
the actious of his life, and have God ever
present before his eyes; that we should
firmly believe that wicked thoughts en
tertained in his heart, give immediate
offence to Christ, and arc to be disclosed
to the Priests of the Lord.”
This old member of the Primitive
Church declares that lie heard St. Peter
teaching, orally, to his congregation the
efficacy of good works, and the propriety
and necessity of confessing sins to a
Priest.
These errors of Home , of St. Clement,
of Home, are not taught in the Churches
of the Baptists of the present day, so
that it is fair to infer that the Baptists
did not come from the disciples of St.
Peter. Baptism might, generally, have
been administered by St. Clement and
St. Peter, by twice immersion, but
neither St. Clement, nor St. Peter, could
extend the right hand of fellowship to the
Baptist denomination, while differing so
widely with them on points of faith ot
vital importance. They were not of the
same faith and order with the Baptists
of the present day, hence, Dr. Ford stu
diously avoided a comparison ot chart*
with St. (.’lenient.
Had he examined the plat of St. Igna
tius, Bishop of Antioch, who died, a mar
tyr, in the year 107, he would have
found a very marked difference between
the Church of that period and the Church
of the Baptists of the present time, not
only in the mode of administering Bap
tism, but, in many other points, regarded,
in those early days of the Church, as ma
terial and highly necessary to be ob
served In the Epistle of St. Ignatius,
written to the Wallians, the following
words are found, “ 1 know that your sen
timents are pure, your hearts inseparable
in patience and meekness, which is no:
passing, but as it were natural: :IS !
learn from your Bishop, Polybius,
congratulated with me in my chains m
Christ Jesus, in such manner that in Fm
I beheld your whole multitude. Deceiv
ing through him your gootl will m
God, I gloried, finding you to hr.
as I knew, imitators of God. As you
are subject to the Bishop as to ( brisk
you seem not to live 'according to me
but according to Jesus Christ
Here, we have a species ot 1 !, uicu
government, in the davs of St. Ignatius,