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THE BAPTIST BANNER
BY JAS. N. ELLS & CO.
VOL. IV.
®ta gaptfet gnnurr,
DEVOTED TO RELIGION AND LITERATURE,
Is published every Saturday, at Atlanta, Georgia, at the
subscription price of three dollars per year.
JAMES N. ELLS A CO.,
Proprietors.
A SERIES OF SERMONS,
BY ELDER J. M. WOOD,
Preached in the Newnan Baptist Church, and
published in a condensed form, by
special request.
e NO. 3.
JUSTIFICATION AND HOPE.
“ Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
[Romans v : 1.
“ For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen
is not hope ; tor what a man seeth, why doth he yet
hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then
do we with patience wait for it.”
[Romans viii: 24, 25.
For the sake of brevity, in this series of
discourses, I l ave chosen to discuss two
subjects to-day, basing the discussion upon
the two passages read, the first of which
teaches the doctrine of Justification, which
let us proceed to notice:
Ist. It is a judicial term, implying ac
quittai on a declaration of innocence. By
no correct system of ethics or theology can
a man be justified, who is in the least de
gree guilty. He must be found wholly in
nocent, as regards the law by. which he is
tried, to entitle him to complete justifica-
Lion. But the sinner is tried by a perfect
Jaw, involving all that is correct in human
statutes, as well as the perfections of the
divine mind. To be Scripturally justified
then, he must be regarded as innocent, as
if he had never, in any particular, violated
the divine law. This can not be said of a
sinner, in himself considered. It would be
absurd to say that a sinner is innocent; it.
would be the same as saying that a sinner
is not a sinner. Sin is transgression, and
where there is transgression there can not
be innocence, and where there is guilt there)
can not. be justification. The Scriptures |
teach that all have sinned that there is none
that doeth good, no not one. All are guil
ty, all condemned. No present good ac
tions, or future works of righteousness, can
justify the past nor remove his guilt. In
this respect he is hopeless, and must forev
er remain so. A broken arm may be splin
tered so that it will grow together again;
but a broken law is a. broken law to all in
tents and purposes.
2d. The believing sinner is essentially
justified alone by Christ, or in Christ, with
out the deeds of the law on his part, but
thecomplete fulfillment of the law by Christ.
“ In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel
be justified and shall glory.” (Isaiah x1v:25.)
“And by him (Christ) all that believe are
justified from all things, from which ye could
not be justified %y the law of Moses.”—
(Acts xiii: 39.) ‘‘Therefore by the deeds of
the law shall no flesh be justified in His
sight. * * But, now the right-
eousness of God without the law is mani
fested, being witnessed by the law and the 1
prophets; even the righteousness of God
by faith of Jesus Christ unto all ami upon
all them that believe. * * Being
justified freely by his grace through the re
demption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans
iii: 20, 21, 22, 24.) “Therefore we con
elude that a man is justified bv faith with-1
out the deeds of law.” (Romans iii; 28.)
The apostle thus teaches that boasting and (
the law of works are excluded. “ For if
Abraham were justified by works, he hath)
w hereof to glory ; but not before God. For
what saith the Scripture? Abraham be
lieved God ami it was counted unto him for
righteousness. Now to him that worketh
is the reward not reckoned of grace, but ot
debt. But to him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justitieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.”— 1
(Romans iv : 2,3, 4,5.)
“ ihit ye are. justified in the name of the
lx>rd Jesus ami by the spirit of our God.
(I Corinthians viz- 11.)
“ Knowing that a man is not justified by
the works of the law, but by the faith ot
Jesus Christ, even we have Ixdieved in
Jesus Christ that we might be justified by
the faith of Christ, and not by the works of
the law ; for by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified." (Galatians ii: 16.)
Thus we see that justification is by Christ,
or in Christ by faith —faith being the me
dium, Christ the meritorious ground ot it. 1
This secures to the believer the most exalt
ed innocence and righteousness, even the
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. But)
S’ASKXa.X HJBWSS’AS’JBia.
this made it necessary that the Saviour
should fulfill the law perfectly, and to bear
the immense suffering due His guilty peo
ple. He carne not to destroy the law, but
to fulfill. God made Him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. The
Christian’s whole existence is in Christ,
and, in the sight of God, is as innocent and
loved as His Son. This is matchless grace
and wondrous love. It were easy to refer
you to many other passages which teach
this precious doctrine, but the want of time
forbids.
3d. It is available by faith. It is God’s
own arrangement that he that believeth
shall be justified, saved, and he that believ
eth not shall be condemned, lost.
4th. A sense of justification secures peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
There can be no remorse where there is no
guilt. Perfect innocence insures perfect
peace. There is no fight against the Sa
viour by the Father. For His people’s
sake, He plunged His sword into the Sa
viour’s great heart on bloody Calvary, and
then sheathed it forever. Whoever takes
shelter in Christ is forever safe, and shall
have perpetual peace with God.
But let us proceed to notice the other
subject briefly .
I have in a previous discourse shown that
hope was based upon faith. Without faith
there can be no well grounded hope of sal
vation. It is regarded as a compound of
desire ami expectation We can not expect
to enjoy that which we do not believe ex
ists and is attainable. In what sense are
we saved by hope ?
1. Sustained in trials and persecutions.
Whether trials arise on account of our own
wicked propensities, or the temptations us
Satan, or yet the bad treatment of wicked
) men, we hope to overcome them all, be
cause Christ has overcome them for us;
and we believe in Him ami turn to Him in
distress. When crushed down with trou
bles, we do not despair, because the sweet,
the precious hope of heaven cheers and
I strengthens us.
2. By hope we look for better days. If
the Christian were convinced that there
were no bright days in the future, gloom
would settle upon his mind—he would be
tossed by wild raging storms until he would
be overwhelmed. But he reads or remem
bers what the Bible says : “ For men verily
swear by the greater, and an oath for con
firmation is to them an end of all strife.—
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to
show unto the heirs of promise the immu
tability of his counsel, confirmed it by an
oath; That by two immutable things, in
which it is impossible for God to lie, we
might have a strong consolation, who have
fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set
before us; which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and
which enterelh into that within the vail,
whither the f re.rumier is for us entered,
even Jesus, made a high priest forever af
ter the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews
Ivi : HL —‘20.) He is saved from despair
■ because hope as an anchor grapples Christ,
land he then feels secure.
I
3. The Christian is saved from the ter-
I rors ami fear of death by hope. He knows
that in himself he can not contend with the
i monster, looks upon him and is affrighted,)
but believes that I 'm imans have grace giv
en them to meet him, ami hopes to share
the lot ot other Christians, and becomes !
quiet. The dark river, with its turbulent
waters, is before him, and he trembles to,
be thrown into its lashing waves; but faith .
looks across and sees the Saviour receiving
on the other shore His faithful ones, and
hopes to be sustained by His loving, al- .
mighty arm. and his fears subside.
4. The hope of heaven, of eternal life, of;
eternal happiness, saves him from the crush- \
ing force of all opposing influences. *True, j
he does not see heaven—does not see Christ )
and all the shining ones in glory—but be
lieves them to exist, and is enraptured with
the hope of their perfect enjoyment. Why
not ? Christ is <»ur hope or rock of defence.
It is a glorious hope, a blessed hope.
‘‘Blessed is the man who trustetb in the
i Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.” (Jere
miah xvii:7.) “The Lord w ill be the hope
of his people.” (Joel iii: 16.) “To whom
God would make known what is the riches
| of the glory of this mystery among the Gen-,
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 1863.
HIS BANNER OVER US IS LOVE.
tiles; which is Christ the hope of glory.”
(Colossians i: 27.)
REFLECTIONS.
1. Christians ought to be very thankful
that God has planted these graces w-ithin
them. In previous discourses, we have seen
that God regenerates by His spirit—the
new creature turned to Christ by faith, and
with full trial had, is acquitted of guilt and
declared innocent in Christ before God, an
gels and men, and has Christ as his hope of
eternal life. One grace is built upon anoth
er, and thus Christians are edified. They
have grace upon grace unto the end. Oh !
how thankful ought .we to be that God has
devised and manifested a plan to save sin
ners, and made us heirs of heaven.
2. But sinners not born again can have
no saving faith, and, having it not, can not
be justified nor have a saving hope. Alas I
condemned by their own hearts, condemn
ed in Adam, condemned in actual trans
gression, condemned of God and His holy
laws, they have no hope in this world, and
in the next a fearful looking-for of fiery in
dignation. Few men, if any, can bear with
fortitude the ills of this life, only as they
are sustained in hope of mending their for
tunes. If they bear afflictions, adversities,
they r do so as a slave bears the lash from
his master. But alas I what must be the
wretchedness of a hopeless soul in the world
to come. May God in mercy pity the un
regenerate and inspire Christians to pray
for them !
[For The Baptist Banner.}
MY RECENT LABORS IN GEORGIA.
Brother Ells:
Permit me to make a brief report of my
second tour through a part of Georgia.—
The first place at which I stopped to preJ
sent the claims of Army Colportage, was 1
Cartersville, the county seat of Bartow
(formerly (’ass) county. In this town the*
Baptists have a good house of worship, and
a church of considerable strength. Thomas
Rambaut, LL.D., is pastor. I hoped to
spend the Sabbath with him, but it was a
day of almost incessant rain, which prevent
ed a congregation from assembling. On
Monday, however, by a little private effort,
I secured $77.
From there 1 passed on to Americus, a
considerable town in Sumter county. —
Americus, in the days of peace, was quite a
prosperous town. Here the Baptists have
a neat house of worship and a membership
possessing a large share of wealth. The
church at present is without a pastor, and
consequently in a declining condition. On
Sunday morning I preached to a small con
gregation in the Baptist Church. In the
evening, according to an agreement with
the Methodist and Presbyterian pastors, a
mass meeting was held in the Methodist
church. At this meeting, together with
what was received by a subsequent effort,
$383 was obtained. In Dawson, the coun-1
ty seat of Terrell county, 1 preached one ;
night during the week, and received s6l. ,
Thence I went to Fort Gaines, and arrang-1
ed for a general meeting in the Presbyteri-)
an church in the evening. The sum ot i
$232 wis contributed. In the morning, 1
I preached to an attentive congregation in .
the Baptist church; Elder B. F. Burnett is)
pastor.
On Monday 1 made a \4sit to Blakely, a
Ismail town in Early county. Here I found
| a very interesting protracted meeting in
progress in the Baptist church. After
1 preaching at night, I was requested to pre
sent the object of my-visit to the congrega
tion, which I did, and received $137. The
i next day, the “ Ladies’ Soldiers' Ai J Socie I
ty” had a call meeting, and donated SSO ot)
. their funds to Army Colportage. Since
that time, the pastor of the church sent me.
by express, SBS. making a total of $272. —.
: Brother T. H. Stout is pastor of the church, I
and is laboring with much acceptance and !
j efficiency. He is living in a neat and com-j
( for table parsonage, the propertv ot’ the)
i church. His lot has certainly been “cast
in a pleasant place.”
In Albany, S. G. Daniel is pastor. The
war has greatly lessened the population of I
the town and the membership of the church. I
. Brother Daniel’s labors are now divided
between the town and the country. His
brethren and sisters esteem him very high
ly as a pastor, which is evinced most clear
ly by their donations. While mingling
.among his people, I learned that they were)
sending “once and again to his necessities.”
In addition to their regular subscriptions,
they were sending potatoes, syrup, lard,
butter, &c., and furnishing clothes for the
children. I learned, also, that a proposi
tion had been made by one of the brethren
for the members, who were producers, to
furnish him Ji sufficient supply of meat at
ten cents per pound. This is surely an ex
ample worthy of imitation.
These times of fabulous prices press heav
ily on ministers who are dependent upon a
salary for their support. The Macon and
Savannah churches (and I have heard the
Atlanta churches, and perhaps the Colum
bus and Augusta churches, as these are lib
eral churches) have each made their pastor
a present of one thousand dollars. Is this
spirit of liberality spreading to the smaller
towns and to the country churches?
Brother Daniel introduced me to his peo
ple, and rendered me valuable aid in the
collection of funds. 1 presented the object
of my visit to the Albany church on Sab
bath morning, and received then, and by
private effort, $211.20. Then in the Meth
odist church at night, and received $56.70.
Brother Daniel collected, and paid to me.
from Palmyra (one of his country church
es,) SB2. I received from Gum Pond,
$118; from Pine Bluff, SB3. These are
country churches—W. N. Chaudoin is pas
tor. These churches seem to be in a grow
ing condition, and I believe they have just
as good, if not a little better, pastor than
any of the churches in the State. One
thing is certain—brother Chaudoin can not
sing, “ No foot of land do I possess, no cot
tage in the wilderness.” The brethren
have given him some land, and he has built
the cottage. The Bethesda is also a coun
try church. It owns a parsonage, and sus
tains a minister the whole of his time; 11.
Webb is pastor. From this church I re
ceived sl6l. I also received from brother
C. M. Irvin, SBB, collected by him from Lis
church in Staikeviile, Lee county, on the
day of “ fasting and prayer.”
In this region 1 met with. Dr. Malfary, so
widely known throughout the South, and
whose “ praise is in all the churches.” He
is an ardent friend of Army Colportage.—
Brother Mailary gave me letters of intro
duction to several brethren and«Jriends in
Twiggs and Pulaski counties. Taking these
“words of commendation,” I passed on and
met with kind, warm hearted and liberal
friends. On reaching the depot, I met w ith
brother McCall, pastor of the Evergreen
and Richland churches, who took me home
with him, and, after a little rest and re
freshment, conducted me to brother George |
Walker, one of the members of Evergreen |
church. Brother Walker gave me S4O and i
sent me in his carriage to Tarversville.
Here I tarried over night with F. D. Wim
berly, w ho gave me sls, and sent me on to
brother Thomas Glover. Brother Glover
gave me S4O, and sent me to Jefferson ville
in Jeffersonville, I tarried a day at the hos-;
pitable home of sister C. IL Wimberly,!
who has recently been bereaved of two no
ble and promising sons, who died in the
service of their country —one of disease, the
other on the battle-field. While here, 1 ar
ranged fora meeting in Jeffersonville on j
Sunday evening, and then was sent by sis
ter Wimberly to Stone Creek. Brother;
W. Tharp is pastor of the church at this
place. After preaching to the. Stone Creek
church Sunday morning, I made a short ad .
dresj* and received $l4B. Thence 1 was
sent, by brother Tharp, back to Jefferson
ville, where I received $208.25. The next
day (it being court day), 1 went on to Ma
i rion, and collected slll. Then 1 was ta
, ken by a friend to 11. Bunn’s, who gave me
S2O, and sent me to the railroad.
i My thanks are due, and are hereby ten
dered, to all the brethren and friends who
Iso kindly and willingly conducted me on
my journey . Their cheerful and voluntary
j assistance reminded me in a forcible inan
i ner ot those phrases, (“And being brought
i on their way,” “ Tne brethren sent aw ay
I Paul," “ Bring him on his journey,”) used
by the inspired writers to denote theassist-
I since rendered Paul and Silas by primitive
I Christians. 1 was promptly “ helped on
my way” a distance of nearly one hundred
miles, and, In the rpund of my visits, re
ceived in all $572.
On the 27th, the day of fasting and pray
er, I was in Perry. The day was observed
) in the ffirenoon in the Baptist and Method-
’ ist churches. At night we held a mass
, meeting in the Methodist church. $l5O
, were received. Perry is a delightful town,
■ in which the Baptist cause is comparatively
■ strong. B. F. Tharp is pastor. In this
i town the Baptists have a neat and commo
i dious Female Institute. The school has
been quite prosperous. At present, there
is open a w’ide and inviting field for a well
qualified and enterprising principal. From
Perry, brother Tharp helped me on my
way to the railroad.
But now, brother editor, I must close.—
Have you published in The Banner the
“Appeal” from the chaplains “in the sec
ond corps of the Army of Northern Virgi
nia.” I hope your-readers will see that
appeal. How great the spiritual destitu
tion in our armies! Ought not the num
ber of our evangelists and colporters to be
increased tenfold ? Who will aid in this
great work? Will not the friends of The'
Banner, if they do no more, contribute lib
erally to send it to our brave defenders?
Yours fraternally, = W. Huff,
General Agent and Army Evangelist.
[For TAr Beipti t Banner.']
.J OST SOUL!
How may a finite mind receive an idea of
the unmitigated misery of a soul writhing
under the throes of its pandemonium abode?
What picture of the most fertile brain can
portray the horrors of such a state ? Alas!
no human instrumentality can lift the veil
and disclose the mystery, and no season of
contemplation, though continued through
ages of unceasing effort, can reach a concep
tion of the awfully sublime reality of eter
nal banishment from the presence of God.
What distress of mind or body that does
not leave its victim clinging, to the solace
of hope? No bereavement, no pain, no
misery, no wretchedness, no affliction, no
loss, nor any nor all the ills of life, can in
dicate horrible tortures of such a state.
Shall we picture to your fancy the anguish
of a rpother, from whose embrace the hand
of a savage foe has snatched the. innocent
and helpless infant, and as its frantic screams
recede and are lost in the wild forest-home,
of the Vandal, indulge no hope of rescue?
Shall we picture the ship-wrecked mariner,
while solitary he wanders over a wild and
desolate island, far away- from the course
of the navigator, and indulge no hope of
succor ? Shall we, while gazing with pain
ful astonishment at the raving maniac, in
dulge no hope of returning reason ? Or shall
we fancy a being on earth from whom hope
has fled? tVhat then! but a failure in
j comparison with a state co-equal with the
countless ages of eternity? How impres
) sive a lesson may be learned in contempla
)ting the sad fate of those who continue to
disregard the wooings of God, before whom
all the nations of the earth must stand in
I judgment.
Pause, reader, pause! Stop, think—
whither are you drifting ? (Jan you con
i tinue unaffected by the mercies of God?—
W ill you continue to neglect and slight
I those means which He unremittingly em
ploys to lead you to heaven? Then be.
warned by- His threatened vengeance, and
flee from the wrath that awaits you’ and all
that refuse to believe that “lie is,” and ■
that He is the rewarder of all those who
j diligently seek Him.
XAVIER.
‘ The Drama.’
Should church-members attend the Theatre?
The drama originated in the Dionysia ;
first the comedy, then the tragedy. Like
the dance and the masquerade, the drama
was a part of the orgies of the drunken
god, and in this shape, it was’introduced
among the Homans. As the Dionysus of
the Greek- and the Bacchus of the Romans
was the same idol, the orgies were the
same in both nations. The Greeks first
constructed Theatres, then the Romans;
but these immense buildings were not in
tended for the Drama alone, but for the
exhibition of other barbarous and idola
trous shows; for it must be understood
that the dance, the theatre, the circus and
the masquerade, were all parts of their sys
.tem of idolatry. Numa, the second king
of Rome, is said to have systematized and
settled the mythology of that nation, as
well as its civil polity ; but Tarquinius
Prisons, the fifth king of Rome, is said to
have originated the Circus, as a distinct
! appendage of Roman mythology. We
■
TERMS — Three Dollars a-year.
s deem it necessary to give this brief histori
) cal sketch of the character and origin of
, these several foul streams of immorality
' and debauch which have descended to us
i from their primitive fountains, stagnant
with idolatry, moral pollution, and death.—
i The character and influence of the one, is
i the character and influence of the other. —
They all have the same origin, are of the
same character, and their pernicious influ
ences and effects differ, only, in proportion
to their*frequency and popularity.
Taking the Theatre as the representative
of the rest, let us briefly consider its cha
racteristics and its demoralizing effects. —
Who are the priests and priestesses, the
actors and actresses, who serve at this altar
of infamy and crime? As in the days of
the reign of Bacchus, so now : men and
women of the most unmitigated impiety—
i as a whole, infidel—to whom the epithet
’’ virtuous is never applied, and with whom
no honorable man or virtuous woman will
associate. Who are the auditors ? Look
on the pavement, and at the entrance to the
pit: there stalks moral pestilence and pol
lution embodied, seeking to pollute who
ever and whatever comes in contact with
them ; and mingling with this crowd of
incarnate fiends are boys of all ages and
vocations, imbibing the moral virus which
is imparted there. These youth are.in a
course of training, to occupy the places of
their putrid exemplars when their rotten
, bodies arc thrown into the sewer or sold
by the hangman. Look into the ‘pit,’ and
see aggregated, the compound scum and
dregs of human pollution, lawlessness, and
crime. Ask yourselves, would these con
stitute the mass of the auditors at theatres,
if there was any thing morally or religious
ly good to be extracted from it? And all
reason and experience will answer, Ao.—
But look around upon the amphitheatre:
there is gaudy- attire, sparkling brilliants,
beauty, fashion, and dandyism; but, alas!
not a pious heart. No prayer is uttered in
this vestibule of destruction—naught but
mockery and blasphemy. There may be
a.few- who, in common parlance, are ranked
among the moral and virtuous ; but the
rest—who are they but libertines, infidels,
and scoffers at God and holiness, whose
only law of morals is public opinion?—
We appeal to reason : can any other but
the most blighting, the most demoralizing
and soul-destroying influences, proceed from
a fountain so feculent with moral pollution,
so stagnant with crime, and utterly desti
tute of a corrective? Aye, apologists for
the drama, tell me! Where are the con
verts it has made? Whom has it taught
to be honest? What infidel to be pious?
What.murderer’s hands has it washed from
his brother’s blood? What debased and
polluted female has it restored to virtue and
to honor? I ask, where are its converts?
and echo answers, where? But go to the
stews and brothels of your cities, and learn
the history of their fallen and wretched in
mates, and they will tell you, that at the
theatre, circus, masquerade, or ball, they
were entrapped by crime, and plunged into
guilt and ruin. Go to your penitentiaries
and jails, and learn the history of their
guilty inmates : One will tell you his first
.crime was, when a clerk or an apprentice,
) he robbed his employ er of money to go to
the theatre or the circus, and all the rest
has followed in its train. Another will tell
you, the theatre and circus first tempted
him to lie and dissemble to his parents;
there he consorted with the vilest youth,
and from thence he learned to drink, to
|steal, to swear, and to gamble. The poor
i wretch who is about to be suspended by
the neck to appease the laws of his country,
- will tell you that entering these highways
to perdition, he soon arrived at the gallows,
with his hands reeking with his brother’s
i blood, and his heart and soul transfixed with
the shafts of God’s unmitigated vengeance.
Surely, these constitute ‘ the broad way to
death.’ W. C. B.
We should pardon the mistakes of others
|as freely as if we ourselves were constantly
committing the same faults, and yet avoid
their errors as carefully as if we never for
gave them.
I °
> Candor, in some people, may be corn
• pared to barley sugar drops, in which the
acid predominates over the sweetness.
H Subscribe for The Baptist Banner, $3.
NO. 23.
