Newspaper Page Text
BY DAYTON, ELLS & CO.
VOLUME IV.
gaptfet gann.tr,
DEVOTED TO RELIGION AND LITERATURE,
Is published every Saturday, at Atlanta, Georgia, at the
subscription price of rotra dollars per year.
DAYTON, ELLS & CO.,
Proprietors.
A. C. DAYTON. JAS. N. ELLS. B. D NILES
• THE MOUNTAINS OF LIFE.
There’s a land far away, mid the stars, we are
told,
Where they know m t the sorrows of time,
Where the pure waters wander through valleys
, of gold,
And hfe is a treasure sublime;
’Tis the land of our God, ’tis the home of the
soul,
Where ages of splendor eternally roll;
Where the way-weary traveller reaches his goal,
On the evergreen Mountains ot Life.
Our gaze cannot soar to that beautiful land,
But our visions have told of its bliss,
And our souls by the gale from its gardens are
fanned,
When we faint in the desert of this;
And we sometimes have longed for its holy
repose,
When our spirits were torn with temptation
and woes,
. And we have drank from the tide of the river
* that flows
From the evergreen Mountains of Life.
O ! the stars never tread the blue heavens at
night,
But we think where the ransomed have trod
And the day never smiles from his palace of
light,
But we feel the bright smile of our God.
We are travelling homeward, thro’ changes and
gloom,
To a Kingdom where pleasures unceasingly
bloom,
“ And our guide is the glory tliat shines thro’
the tomb,”
From the evergreen Mountains of Life.
[For The BaptM Banner.}
HOW TO TRY THEM.
[CONTINUED.]
“Now, Mr. Tonyad, tell me how you find
your church in the Bible; I believe you
promised to show it to me there.”
“Certainly, madam. If I could not show
it there, I should at once conclude it was no
church of Christ at all. For His church
was established by Himself and Ilis^,apos
tles, and the record of their work is left us
in that Book. Any church different from
that described there, is the work of man—
some new thing put in the place of His,
which He never authorized, and which all
His people are bound to disown.”
“Oh, dear, you Baptists are so illiberal!”
"We Baptists feel that we are under
the most solemn obligations to be governed
by the madam.”
“tfuf, sir,, does the Bible require you to
disown all Christians except your immacu
late selves?”
“The Bible says, ‘Now we command you
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
ye withdraw yourselves from every brother
that walketh disorderly, and not according
to the traditions (or teachings) that ye re
ceived from us.’ These are the words of
Paul, by the Spirit of God. Am kat lib
erty to disregard them ? This would re
quire us to disown ourselves if we could not
find ourselves in accordance with the teach
ings of Christ and the apostles.”
“ Well, it does look as though it must be j
so. I always thought it was just sell con
ceit and bigotry that made you all so ex
clusive. Excuse me for talking so ; but
you know I am a plain, out-spoken some
body, and will let out what comes in my
mouth.”
“ 1 believe that most persons, who do not
know' us, have the same opinion that you
had, and not a few have publicly expressed
it from the pulpit and the press. But this
does not trouble us ; we seek to please God
not man. It is of little consequence to u» I
what people say or think about us, except
so far as such prejudices may prevent them
from listening to <>ur Reasons, and examin-j
ing our claims to be the true church ot Je
sus Christ.”
“Then you think there is only one true
church of Christ.”
"I think there are as many as the Lord
Jesus and His apostles ordained. It they
set up the Methodist Church, then I think
that is a true church; it they set up"the
Presbyterian Church, then that is also a
true church ; if they established the Epis
copal Church, then that is another
church. I have no way of knowing what ■
THE BAPTIST BANNER.
are true churches of Christ except by find
ing them recognized as such in the Holy
Word of God. No uninspired man can
make a church of Christ. All churches be
gun Ly men since the days of the apostles
are surely not churches of Christ.”
"Oh, yes, I know they are not exactly
churches, but they are branches of His
church. We are not so selfish as you Bap
tists; we don’ tclaim to be the whole church,
but only a branch of it; while we admit
that you and all other Christian denomina
tions are just as really branches of the true
church as we Methodists are.”
“Very well, then, we must look in the
Bible for a church with branches ; and these
branches holding some to one set of doc
trines, and some to another set; some hav
ing one kind of members, and some another
kind ; some having one kind of church gov
, ernment, and some a very different kind.—
We must find this church and see how many
branches it was divided into, and the pecu
liarities of each branch, and then we can
determine whether yours and my church
are Scriptural branches \ or else we must
find where the Lord gave authority to divide
His church into as many branches as men
in after days might think proper, with any
sort of organization, order, and ordinances
which they might choose to adopt. If we
can find these things in the Bible, we are all
right.”
“Oh, Mr. Tonyad! you Baptists ar,e so
unreasonable ! ”
“Is it unreasonable, madam, to bring all
these tests to the Bible ? Do not yours,
and all the so-called churches of Christ pre
tend to be guided by the Bible? Do not
your preachers find their texts in the Bible?
Have they not made their people, believe
that their churches, or branches, are author '
ized by the Bible? Do they not all agreej
that the Bible, and the Bible only, is the all
sufficient guide for all religious faith and
practice? And yet you call us unreasona
ble, because we ask you to come and try
yourselves by the Bible!”
" No, sir, I don’t mean you are unreason
able to appeal to the Bible ; we all do that.
Bet it is sq hard to exclude everybody but
yourselves from the pale of the church.”
“But I have not done any such thing as
that. I have excluded no one as yet; and
the plan 1 propose is as likely to exclude
the Baptists as anybody else, if they are
nut in the Bible. If you Methodists are
there, as a church, we will be compelled to
receive the Methodist church as the true
church of Christ; if you are there as a
branch, we will be compelled to regard you
as a branch. But if there are no branches
there, yon can’t be a branch. If there "is
only one church there, you must be that
church or no church at all. Just so with
the Presbyterian ; just so with the Episco
palian ; just so with the Baptist, and every
other that -liiims t » be a church of Christ.”
" But it is so hard to feel that there is only
one church, or only one branch, w’hatever
you call it It seems so selfish and bigoted
for any of them to claim to be the only
church, I cannot believe it is so.”
“Then you will not receive the Bible
church, unless the Bible exactly suits your
notions of what the church should be. You)
will construct the church as pleases you,
and if it pleases God that His church shall
, be like yours, you will agree to regard it as
right; but if He differs from you, you can’t
help feeling it is very hard. 1 '
“No, no, M Tonyad, I did not mean
that ; but it is so hard th think that all the
churches are not in the Bible; I have been
so long accustomed to think they were.”
“ Well, who knows but what they are?
Let us look for them.. Or, if there is but
one, who knows but it is the Methodist?—
' Let us look for it. True, Christ praved
that His people all be oar. True, the
brethren were exhorted to note those men )
| who caused divisions, and to have no fellow-!
ship with them. True, those were prais. d * ho
maintained the ordinances as they were de
livered by the apostles. True, they were
commanded in the name of the Lord Jesus, I
to withdraw from every brother that walked '
disorderly, and not according to the tradi-j
tions which are received from the apostles.
But yet, if the Bible ordain more churches
than one, or one with an unlimited number
of branches, these things are not opposed
ito the unity or the purity, of the Gospel
i church, and are all right.”
4 “ Well, J don’t know what to say. I sup
'A StSHLSSSOW ARB iASUM
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, SATURDAY. AUGUST 1, 1863.
HIS BANNER OVER US IS LOVE.
pose it must be as you tell me, but it seems
so strange.”
"I do not tell you anything, as yet, ex
cept that w r e must go to the Bible,and abide
by what we find recorded there. I have not
said that the Baptist was the true church,
or even the branch of it. I have not said
that the Methodist was not, or that any oth
er was not the true church or a “"branch of
it. I only say we must settle these ques
, tions by the Bible. What I’have said is,
that the church of Christ is only one church,
the one which was formed by Him, and ex
tended by the Apostles, and described in
the New Testament. If /AaZhad no branch
• es holding different and opposing doctrines
• and having various organizations and gov
ernments, then the true church of Christ
■ now can have no such branches. These
things must betrue, and surely no Christian
should feel that it is hard to abide by the
plain teachings of the word of God.”
“ Yes, I see it is so, but it is so different
from what I have been accustomed to think
and hear—l have been so used to hearing
of the branches of the church and of the va
rious denominations as all true churches of
Christ, that I can’t readily bring my mind to
concieve of it as otherwise. But if it is as
you say” —
“Oh, I don’t ask you to believe anything
because I say it. Let us go to the Bible
and see if these things are so The question
is not what I say, or wh it you say, or what
any man, may say, but what does God say?
What does the BIBLE say? We must be
governed by the Bible.”
“ Well, let us go to the Bible then. How
will you begin?”
[to BE CONTINUED.]
[For The Baptist Banner j
AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH.
_____ I
In a recent number of The Banner 1 saw
an article from Brother W. in which he ex
pressed some apprehensions that our present .
troubles might result in burthening us with
an established-church religion. This is not
the exact language, but I think the idea is
fairly stated. Brother W. is a faithful, pru
dent and honest watchman, and a note of
alarm from him is well worth heeding; but
it is to be hoped this is a groundless fear.
In our great world of fashion and superflu
ity, most persons choose their church as
they would a coat at the tailor’s shop—hav- (
ing sole reference to its qualities to please
and fit them. Their early training, social
caste, and influence of friends, are the chief
considerations to a decision. Fashion will
send such persons to church, and fashion
will keep them at home; and the restless,
hurrying world, as it rushes by them, will
make no difference in any of them. It is
to the world now, as to the ancient Greek, 1
all foolishness —one form is as good as an
other, and none of them good for anything
in particular. So it would be all the same
to a fashionable, worldly senate, whichever
form might be sanctioned by law. It is no
matter of theirs whether Brutus or Antony
be crowned; but the strongest current must
sweep the shore. Yet the blessed Jesus
tells us the strongest current sets wrong.—
j The great multitude will go in the broad
n»ad. The cotemporaries of Noah would
not believe that he was the only right man
in the world ; so with Bildad, in the case of
Job. It looked so egotistical and presump
tuous for a few ignorant persons, like No
ah’s household, to lay such high claims to
preeminence—it was so self-righteous and
Pharisaical in Job—no wonder the multi
tude denounced them. But sometimes I hope
there are. some modern Noahs and Jobs—
persons who differ widely from the vain
multitude of fashion around them; persons
who do not choose their religion at all, but
wh se religion chooses them, and with whom
it becomes a vital matter —a matter of life
and death, to hold out faithful, and d fend
till death each peculiar feature; persons
who are cut out of the moving mass, as a
stone from the mountain, without hands,
.and placed into the Spiritual Temple—not
i knowing or believing the beauties of the
(Temple till they were brought to its gates;
and their eyes opened. Paul calls it “the
eyes ot their understanding being opened.”
Such persons have no moral power to be
anything else than what they are. They
I were brought by a wav they knew not; and
having come, their whole soul endorses the
route as the straight and narrow way.- ;
Drive them out of it, and they have no
where under heaven to stand. This is the
way in which are the blood stained foot
prints of their holy Redeemer. Out of it,
all is a cheerless waste. Hence, with these
persons, their religion is their all. They
cannot give it up. As they had no (moral)
power to choose it, so they have no power
to exchange it. It is that or nothing.
Now, for the sake of this class of persons,
I hope brother W. may be mistaken. It is
not likely they will be the favored few on
whom the glitterring patronage of State
will fall. They are not in the least-fitted
for it. It w’ould neither affect them or the
State—there is nothing in common between
them ; and they dare not, nor do they wish
to change, one tittle of the laws that govern
them now, and. have governed them since
the days of the Apostles. They have per
fect laws, which cannot be reformed ; and
if the 1,000,000 of these men who are now
fighting for the privilege of self government,
and the right to administer these perfect
laws according to the dictates of conscience
could be made to believe that the blows
they are now dealing against political ty
ranny would return upon their own heads,
in the shape of spiritual or eclesiastical ty
ranny—by establishing any one of the mod
ern religious sects —it is possible that they
would cease to fight. They would prefer
political bondage to ecclesiastical tyranny.
The one would affect their mortal, body for
a few years only ; the other affects the in
terests of their immortality.
DION.
THE LADIES’ COLUMN. .
DOMESTIC RECIPES.
Potatoes for Bread.—When potatoes
bear such a price to wheat flour, tha., when
cooked, they are about half the price per
pound of the fluor, it is economy to add
of potatoes about one-fourth the weight of
the flour used fora batch of bread.
so made is more pleasant to the taste, and
equally nutritious. The potatoes should
be boiled with the skins on, and then peel
ed and mashed and stirred into a pulp, with
warm water, and rubbed through a wire
seive, and then mixed with the flour, and
yeast added as for other bread. The bakers
in large cities understand the economy of
using potatoes in their bread, whenever
they are sold at low prices. The small po
tatoes, which are unsaleable for other pur
poses, are often sold wholesale to the bakers
and added to the bread.
Floating Island.—A nice dish for tea
may be made in the following way : Beat
the whites of two eggs to a stiff foam, which
pour upon a quart of milk previously set
to boil; when the milk boils the foam is
done and you may take it off. Beat the
yolks of five and the whites of three eggs
together, with sugar and salt to the taste,
and stir into the boiling milk ; let it boil,
and place in your sauce-dish, with the foam
floating on the top. You may season with
lemon or vanilla.
To Clean China and Glass.—The best
I material for cleaning porcelain or glass-ware,
jis fullers’ earth, but it must be beaten into
a fine powder and carefully cleared of all
rough or hard particles, which might en
danger the polish of the brilliant surface.
To Fasten Knife Handles. —The Chem
ical Gazette says : “When knives and forks
have come off the handles from being put
in hot water, or otherwise, a cement made
as follows, will be useful to re fasten them :
Take of gum shellac two parts, and prepared ■
chalk one part, reduce them to a powder
and mix thoroughly. Fill the opening in
jibe handle w ith the mixture, heat the shank
lof the knife and press it in. Then keep the
, handle out of hot water.”
Tp Clean Silk.—l have seen a good re
cipe for cleaning all kinds of silk, which I
have used with good effect. Take equal
quantities of alcohol, wood ashes, soft soap,
and molasses. Mix them, and rub with a
(cloth on the silk ; afterward rinse in ch ar
water with a little salt <>r alum. Your silk
: will look as good as if it had never been
washed.
A Washing Compound that Can t be
Beat. —Take two pounds soda a*h, two of
; hard soap, and twelve quarts of water. —
Cut the soap fine, add all together, put into
a kettle, and bring to a boil; then take it
off the fire and stir till nearly eo«l. Put
your cloths to soak the evening before you
. wash. In the morning wring them out, and
, bojl them in water to which is added nearly
a pint of the comp< und to every pailful.—
w ash out in the same water, and rinse, and
your washing L done.
To Remove Rust from Iron Utensils
Rust may be removed by first rubbing oil
well into the article, and. in forty-eight
hours, cover it with finely powdered lime,
[rub it welland the rust will disappear.
[For The BaptM Banner.]
Letter from Brother Hartwell.
Richmond, July 21, 1863.
Dear Brother Ells:
I now send as I proposed, the portion of
brother Hartwell’s letter which refers to
his abundant success, in preaching Christ to
the heathen. He says:
"In our mission work, we have had much
to encouaage us. It is now about two years
since I brought my family to live in Tung
Chau, and commenced my work here. Os
course it was a new dialect to me, and 1
could talk only in a very blundering way at
first, but God has seen fit to bless the la
bors of us all. Our Presbyterian brethren
have an encouraging little church here, the
English Baptist several members in Yentai,
and we have a small but interesting church
in this place. The first man I had the pleas
ure of baptizing, was my personal teacher,
OoTs’wun Chan, on the 27th October, 1861.
On the 9th March; 1862, we visited the riv
er again, and Wong T’san Yuen was buried .
with his Lord in baptism. June 29th two
others, Chen Shang Pe’ and Wong Ki Kiang
were baptized in the sea. In S-ptember and
October 1 spent several Sundays preaching
in our little company of believers, on the
the nature and design of the Christian
church, its offices, its government, its ordi
nances; and on the 5 h October, 1862, we
constituted the first Baptist church in the
North of China. There were in the consti
tution five Chinese, (including my assistant
from Shanghai,) and Mrs. Holmes, Mrs.
Hartwell and myself. The Church imme
diately sat down to hear the experience of
applicants for baptism, whom I had consen
ted to baptize, and accepted Chan Fung Yeu,
Chan Fung Hwa, (two brothers,) and Chen
Wun Yeuii, and in the afternoon of the
same day 1 baptized them, thus making our
number on the day of constitution eleven
Since that time Kan Sae San, whom Bro
Holmes baptized in Shanghai, and Mrs.
Holmes’ cook, T’si Hio Yan, who w°s bap
tized in Yentai, have joined us, and Sunday
before last 1 had the pleasure of going into
the sea again to baptize Kiang Lung Ki.—
So now we number fourteen. I have given
you thus the names of all these brethren
because I want you, in some sense, to know
them, and because 1 expect to have occasion
from time to time to mention them in my
letters.
" If the terrible war which is now wag
ing would only cease, and our correspond
ence become regular, I would love to give
you in detail the experience of some or all
of them. Would that you could some
times step in and worship with our little
congregation of Christianized hea'hen. I
know your heart would leap with joy, as
mine often does, when we pray and try to
sing together.
“I suppose you sometimes feel some anx
iety as to how we get along pecuniarily.
I am happy to say, we have not yet run
entirely out. Our mission has been living
on the proceeds of the sale of the To Hwo
Dong house and lot in Shanghai. This is
now’ just about or very nearly all gone, and
we shall have every man to support his
own family as best he can. Fortunately, I
think, brethren Yates and Crawford have
made such arrangements as will not neces
sitate their giving up their mission work ;
and by the kindness of Dr. Burton, who,
fearing you had not been able to make re
mittances, has remitted to me, 1 have
enough to last some time; so that, for the
present year, God permitting, w© will go on
with our work. By the close of the year
we hope God will provide us the means of
living still in Tung Chau. It is a very, ve
ry hard thing for me to have to think of
leaving the work here, to seek for business
in Shanghai or Yentai, (for there is nothing
for me to do in the way of making a liveli
hood in Tung Chr-u )
" Bro. Smith, of the Episcopal Mission,
whose wife died of cholera last summer, is
with us. He expects to leav- in a few days
for America- He is an Alabamian. Bro.
Yates has written you, or will write, I sup
pose, mentioning the'expected departure of
Mrs. Yates and Annie from Shanghai.—
Mrs. Y goes topur Annie to school. They
cannot go to Bro Y’s native State, and they
are not willing for Annie to be educated
among the enemies of our country, so they
will go to Switzerland. I fully approve the
plan. Bro. Y. remains in Shanghai. I
would write you more, but the chances are
so st rung that you will never s?e this sheet,
that I think it may be only a waste of lime.”
Let the brethren and sistersof the church
es still make earnest prayer to God, that
he may continue to bless our missionaries,
that their labor may not be in vain. It
should also be a subject of unceasing sup
plication, that alt hindrances may be re
moved out of the way, and that the word
of the Lord may have frill course and be
glorified in the rnidst of the heathen.
As the associations of the State of Geor
gia will soon occur, I beg leave to request,
that the churches send up for our work, lib
eral contributions. It is a work that the
Baptists of the South have undertaken, be
cause they believe it accords with the will of
God. Their missionaries are in the field.
VVe cannot, if we would, recall them, and
we would not, if we could. We must sus-
TERMS —Four Dollars a-year.
tain them. The Lord put it into the hearts
of all His servants to respond to this claim.
Individuals desiring to forward their funds
can send them to us.
On behalf of the Board.
Fraternally yours,
JAS. B. TAYLOR,
Cor. Sec.
LITTLE INQUISITIVE CHILDREN.
If the first-born of Egypt were lively
children, with a tendency to ask questions,
1 look upon Herod as a man whose acts
have been misconstrued, and whose memo
ry has been villified. A vast amount of
nonsensical interrogatives which would have
bothered the patriarchsand perhaps stopped
the wheels of that parental style of govern
ment, he spared the generation.
I think if I were Caliph Haroun Al Ras
chid, and hud a gay young bachelor enemy
who had tried to steal one of my wives, I
shouldn’t bow-string him, nor sack him and
throw him into the Tigris. But 1 should
order my Mesrour to confine him in an
apartment with two particularly lively,eim*
pie, gushirg and inquiring children, and
leave.him there. At the end of twenty’
four hours 1 should release him, a gibber
ing maniac, and my revenge be Monte
Christoic and complete.
The other day, in an unguarded moment,
I accepted the charge and custody of a young
gentleman 'who wore half gaiters and a
Charles 11. hat and feather. Hi 3 sponsors
in ‘baptism’ had given him one name —cir-
cumstance another. His latter appellation
was, " Buster.” His age, as he informed
tne, was "going on seven.” When he had
made up his mind that we were to be left
together, he eyed me malevolently a mo
ment, and immediately commenced the fol
low ing system of torture:
What was my name, and my brother’s
name, and father’s name, and why ? Did
I have any little boys? Why didn’t 1- have
any little boys? What was the reason I
didn’t have any little boys, I didn’t have any
little girls? All this put as one question
with no stops, and a gradual rising inflec
tion ? .
Was them buttons gold, in my sleeve,
and why? How much did they cost? Did
they cost one hundred and fifty five dollars?
If they didn’t cost an hundred and fifty-five
dollars, what would be the price of a
gold house and gold furniture and gold
staircase? Did 1 ever see a house with
these auriferous peculiarities? No?
What then would be the cost of a silver
cariiage with gold harness? What then
would be the cost of a leaden carriage with
iron harness? And why?
Did 1 know why the flies walked on the
ceiling? Could I w,alk on the ceiling?
Not if I had one man to hold my head and
another my legs ? Why couldn’t 1? Cou'dn’t
lif I was a giant? Did I ever see a giant?
Was I personally acquainted with any ? —-
Did I ever see them eat? What did they
eat? *
How far was it to Mobile? Was it a
million of miles? Fifty million of miles?
If he (Buster) had a balloon and should
start off, would he get there to night? nor
next night, nor another night, nor next.week
—and why?
1 soon found that this why? was simply a
form of closing all questions, like the usual
note of interrogation (?).
What was my business, av.d did I know
any stories? and why ?
This afforded a plan of relief. I instantly
stprted into an animated history of my pre
vious life and adventures. 1 invested all
my relations and friends with supernatural
attributes, and made myself a something
between a Geni and a Robinson Crusoe. I
made, the most astonishing voyages, and
saw the most remarkable occunences. I
drew liberally from the Arabian Nights
and Baron Munchausen. Whenever I saw
tip* open mouth "address itself as though
’tviould speak,” I brought in a Roc, aGenie
or a casket ot diamonds, and took away the
unhappy child’s breath ! In the midst of
my animated description of my last vo/age
to the Hoarhound Islands and my adventure
in the damp caves, where the candies hung
in long stalactites, the-parents happily re
turned. I hurriedly received their thanks
and left. But I have the secret satisfaction
<>f knowing that all that pent-up torrent of
questions fell upon the unhappy fa’her ; and
that geographical inquiries regarding the
localities of the . u Floating Islands,” the
" Blanc Mange Archipelago,” and the "Val
ley of Cream Cakes,” will I e he ce «rth his
dreadful lot to .meet and ai swer.
The Panoply.
Soldiers of < hrisi arise!
Aud put your armor on,
St-ong in the strengt i which God supplies,
. Through his eternal Sod.
Strong in the Lord of hosts,
And in His mighty power.
Who in the strength of J<--us trusts
I» more than a conqueier.
Stand, then, in frreat might,
With, all His strength tnaued ;
But take to arm you for the fight,
The panoply of God ;
Tr at hav ng aU none,
And all y our conflic 8 past.
Ye nun o’ercoioe through Christ alone,
And stand entire at hut.
NUMBER 37