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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.