Newspaper Page Text
THE BAPTIST BANNER.
BY DAYTON, ELLS & CO.
VOLUME IV.
DEVOTED TO RELIGION AJfD'LITERATURE,
la published every Saturday, at Atlanta, Georgia, at the
subscription price of four dollars per year.
DAYTON, ELLS & CO.,
Proprietors.
A. C. DAYTON. JAS. N. ELLS. 3. D NILES
~THE WIFE.
On earth to man there is but one
Hia h»-art can love, his soul can own ;
Though myriads flit before his view,
* There is but one to'whom he’s true—
That one can sway him to and fro,
Can make him drain the cup of woe,
Can give him joy or blast his life, .
And that one’s name is simply Wife.
But in lb at name a world is spread,
A world by all believed, revered,
Who have the sense to know its worth,
And spurn the gaudy joys of earth;
For that full heart in her dear breast,
If rightly prized, eternal rest
Is scarce with blissful sweets more rife
Than that pure heart—a loving.wife.
{For The Baptint Banner.}
HOW TO TRY THEM.
[concluded.]
“You seem, Mr. Tonyad, to be much
more ready to show that my church is not’
in the scriptures than to enable me to find
yours there.”
“I simply desire to show you what was
necessary to make a church of any kind,
viz: It must have a membership, and
authority must be. somwhefe to exercise
discipline and preserve the organization in
its purity. 1 showed you that the mem
bership of the New-Testarhent churches
was composed exclusively of professed be
lievers —so is that of ours—but yours is
not. Then i showed you that the ultimate
authority to govern was, in your church,
vested in the preachers assembled in confer
ence; but that there was no such arrange
ment in the scripture churches. The govern
merit in them was in each local church" or, as
you call it, society. This appears frornsever
al places.butespecially from 1 C0r.,5 : 1-13
and 2 Cor. 2:1 —ll, from which it ap
pears that a person guilty ofagreatsin was
to be cist out by the church when it was
assembled together; and upon his repent
ance they were entreated, by the Apostle,to
restore him to fellowship. It appears from
Rom. 14: 1, that it was'the church and not
the class-leader or preacher who was to re
ceive members. And from Rev. 2: 14, 15
20, it appears that the church has power.to
t cast out false teachers. Now, this is the
case with our Baptist churches. The power
to do all these things is in the church, in the
assembly of the brethren, not in some
strange preacher sent there by a bishop or
some other outsider to rule over them.—
But I see you are growing Impatient, and
it is not possible to crowd all that I would
like to say into one conversation ; so 1 will
only ask you to read the scriptures I men
tioned—and then continue to search in the
Bible for those things in which ybur vhurch
differs from mine, remembering that we
can’t both be right except in those things
wherein we are agreed.
“What are the things in which we
differ?”
“I. IPe differ about baptism. \S e hold :
immersion to he the only baptism : .Ist, be
cause the word rendered baptism-when the
New Testament was written meant to .im
merse, and is so defined now in the lexicons
of the Greek language. 2d. Because those
who were baptized by John were baptized
in the river of Jordan, and the Kunuch who
was baptized by Philip went with him
down into the water, and after he was bap
tized came up out.of the water. 3d. Because .
the apostle Paul twice say* we are
with Christ in our baptism. \ou weie not
buried when you were baptized.
“|| Then ire differ about jrho are to be
baptized. We hold“tliat whosoever believ
eth is to bo baptized. Those whom John
baptized were such as confessed- their sins.
The converts who were baptized at Samaria
- Nets 8: 12 rst believed Philip and
* were then baptized,‘both men and women ;
but not a word is said about their infant
children, and we have never been able to
find a single place where an infant or any
other unbeliever was commanded to be
lapt.zed, or where the rites were conferred
on sin h a one.. . •
“HI Then we disagree about the terms
of ip i'< tl" <*«'<■>'■ Your Church
fixes the conditions of membership by a
huh b.,.,k called the Discipline, and has
chained them probably a dozen times or
more since it ms organized, and wdl Prob
abh coi tinue to change them every few
rears as long as it ba? any existence. We
find otjr conditions of membership only in
the Bible, an-i believe that no power
earth has am right to change t icnr
“IV. Another peeuliabty of your
church is, that the power Koexdude a Inem
ber or inflict diaeipl n* * n :he P r * achcr
or a committee selected by him, and in the
Msembh ot the preachers called the con
ference. Bat the B-ble knows nothing ot
any such assembly as exercising discipline
a jajsaaesmra ahb b®wwA?«a.
over members of the church. It gave this
power to the members themselves." You
make the church a monarchy; we make it
a democracy. But enough. I refer to all
these particulars merely to illustrate a
general rule which will apply to any other
church as well as yours. It is this : There
are some things in which all denominations
agree. They are so manifestly in the Bible
that no one disputes their being there. You
all agree, for instance, that believers ought
to be baptized. In this you are like the.
Baptists. But now almost all others say
that infants ought also to be baptized;
but you can’t show it in the Bible. No one
can find-one word there which requires it
or authorizes it. There is neither command
to do it, nor example of its beingdone. Now
give up what is not in the Bible, and you
become in this thing a Baptist. You all
agree that immersion is baptism. In this
you are like the Baptists. You all practice
immersion at times, and so admit that we
are right. Immersion is in the Bible—John
immersed in the river of Jordan; the Eu
nuch went down into the water and came ,
up out of the water. The Romans and
Collosians were buried with Christ in bap
tism. Immersion, it is granted by the best
scholars of all denominations, was practiced
by the churches for many agrs before
sprinkling; so the Baptists are right. But
you all say you are right, too —sprinkling
will do just as well. But is’that in the Bible?
No one can find it there. Hence, when you
give up w hat is not in theßible, you become
a Baptist in this respect.
“ You all agree that baptized believers
ought to be members of the church. That
is in the Bible ; the Baptists are right in
holding this. But you all say that baptized
babies are, in some sense, members, though
just in what sense you cannot agree; and
you Methodists hold that unconverted and
unbaptized seekers are members also. Now
is that in the Bible ? You can’t find it;
and hence when you give up what is not in
the Bible you become a Baptist in this thing.
What we ask ofall denominations is simply
to bring the things wherein we differ to the
Bible, and give up all that men have added
to the word of God ; then till w ill become
Baptists. You think this very unreas na
ble ; but we-think it is very scriptural. —
You think it is very selfish ; but we think
it is only what we are bound to do if we
would obey the word of the Lord. . You
think it is bigotry; we think it is obedience.
You blame us tor not giving more consid
eration to your opinions and practices;, we
blame you for not giving more earnest heed
to the scriptures of Truth. You call us
hard names; and we pray God to give you
better hearts, not towards us, but towards
‘ the faith once delivered to the saints.’
“ You agree with us that when sweshall
stand before ITim in judgment we will all be
judged according to the things written in
the Book. Why should we, then, be indif
ferent as to whether we were in all things
like the pattern given in the Book ? But
when we talk thus, you tell us that the ex
ternals of religion are not essential to salva
tion, if your heart is right that is enough.
But the Bible does not fay this ; it knows
nothing of our essentials in religion. Any
thing that God commands is essential to
obedience, if not to salvation ; and external
i things are essential to the true church of
Christ, for its whole organization and order
and ordinances are external. There can ba
no true church that is not essentially scrip-
tural’in externals.”
“It seems as though it must be so, sir,
and yet 1 can’t, help thinking we are all
right. 1 admit y»»u Baptists have the most
scripture and the plainest; but we must
have some, or else our preachers would not
insist so much th it we are right. I would
not be as illiberal as you Baptists are for
any thing." A. C. D.
* The Time is Short. —All the realitv of
eterrfity is suggest ed by these words. The
. forcible contrast presented in them arouses
in the soul a full appreciation of the awful
ness of the unending age. Time is short—
how fearfully short th? little space allotted
to each soul for pt«- nation for eternity !
Sinner, you stand u t > >n the threshold just
long enough to catch your breath, and de
cide whether you will fail to the pit below
|or lean upon the sure “corner stone” and
! ascend to the beautiful “ mansions” above.
' Decide quickly, er the influence which
'steadily impels you will send you groaning
to the abode of woe. Christian, yoii are
the sentinel of God. Sleep not, lest you
awake to find yourself deprived of your
“ armor” and just in time to hear the wail
ing of those who preceded you to the dark
abode, before you mingle yours with theirs.
Sleep not, lest while you slumber main
unwarned souls perish among the pit-tails
of the way, which you are set to watch and
point out. Be awake—“ be up and doing,”
tor’the period speeds away, never to return,
in which you are to gather the jewels for
your crown. The time is short, in view of
our duties; but Oh! how long before we
shall see the Lord of glory in His bright
dwelling! Travellers to eternity, let the
fruits ot righteousness abound to enliven
vounj >uruey and prepare you to step into
H s presence in full Christian growth and
vigor.—[J?envious Htrani.
ATLANTA, GA., SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 1863.
HIS BANNER OVER US IS LOVE.
THE OLD JUMP'S DREeLff. ,
’ The old man stood leaning upon his faith
ful staff, and watching the sunbeams as they
darted athwart the ancient door. Memo
ry and imagination were busily interwreath
ing their scenes in his mind. That was the
selfsame door where fair children had gath
ered, and whence they had been scattered,
through which the orange-wreathed maiden
passed to her bridal, apd afterward" had
been carried to her burial. Near that stone
he himself, when a boy, had slept on the
grass; and now an old man with one foot
.in the grave, he was wont to draw Ins ea
sy-chair to dream of youth-hopes’ and man
hood forever gone.
It seems sad to outlive one’s early loves
and be alone. Yet that old man felt glad
that his loved ones were in the realm of
etefnal youth and beauty, and even rejoiced
that he had been left to watch alone the dy
ing of the summer hours, and encounter
the dreary chill of life’s autumn.
Memory was now busy raising the cur
tain which veiled the silent past. The friends
of his youth were gathered around him.—
Forgotten by this noisy young century, as
are all silent ones, he was not now alone.
A goodly company seemed to have gath
ered around him, attired in quaint old dress
es, but with warm young hearts. The time
was when they had been his lining idols,
and the grasp of their hands thrilled with
warmth, love, life. The silence of their
voices had been wept for years. They had
gone to the glad realms of eternal summer,
leaving him to li\ t-<<n alone in the winter
time of years, and now they were spirit
presences only that were thronging about
his chair. In the full flush of beauty, they
had gone to the grave, .while he toiled on
thitherward in the decrepitude and slow de
cline of age.
Vivid were the pictures which imagina
tion aiding early recollections now impress
ed on the old man’s mind. First was a win
ter scene, with bleakness and desolation
over all the landscape ; then, like the chang
ingfantasia of an apium eater, was represent
ed a mountain torrent, with its foam and
spray leaping up in the silver moonlight;
and anon, came auturn scenes, gorgeous in
their beautiful decay, and spring views, re
dolent of violets and roses. Statues in sha
ded niches now seem to greet his gaze, and
chill as they are, his heart warms towards
them ; for “ the repose of perfection, not of
weariness, looks from their eyes and rests
upon their lips.”
Verily, the spirits which give exis
tence to phantom forms were busy with that
old man. Around him they displayed bril
liant landscapes, and placed beautiful fig
ures in the alcoves. He passed them by
sorrowfully, but before one his heart bow
ed full low and sadly.
It was a valley of Arcadian beauty, seen
through a vista of trees and vines; beyond
it purple hills, with the gray sky above,
and the mist of a dreamy June morning
above all. A stream flowed along, over
hung with long moss depending from the
bark of magnolia trees, and mirroring flow
ers, leaves and sunlight in its waters.
“1 see her standing there,” murmured
the old man to himself. “I db not decry
,the color of her hair, or the shade of her
•yes, but 1 know that her hand is soft, her
touch gentle, and her voice sweet. To me
•he is radiantly beautiful.” And now a de
licious warmth permeated his frame, and
he wondered if he were not already in par
\ adise and young again.
“ I see a youth close by,” added he, his
great, brown eyes fixed upon hers. All the
’ love which two young pure hearts can give,
' is the dower of the two. They are discours
ing in the eloquence of silence, a silence
which that bird in the tree above now
breaks with a strain of melody. The maid
• en speaks.
f “ Willie,” say s she, “so goes my sou! to
> thine, in one glad gush of sweetness and
, joy ! What this fair landscape, with the
. bracing air and healthful surlight, is to that I
. bird, thou art co me ; yea, and more : yet!
| the dark presentiment which we both feel
! can only be the shadow which our souls i
; bring upon themselves by their sadness.—
. Be brave. When I return from the shores
o*’ fair Italy, you will forget these forebo
ding, as I tell you of the beauty and bright
ness of that land of song.”
i “ I will be brave,” the youth replies. “ If,
■ ; man can bear an eternity in his heart, you
' will be eterna ly mine. Go, beloved one.
• Mary, my life, my all. God bless you!,
| and when you die, may I die too !
He clasps her to his heart, and their lips;
meet in one last, fond thrilling kiss. Ihe
scene is changed ; and they both are gone..
The mists are settled deeper ard deeper up-
Jon the hills; the purple grows darker and
i darker till it enshrouds ail. now an
ti other view is added in the ptnoraina. Is’
, i this reality, or the mythical second I
■ | A voung man is alone upon he sea shore. ■
f The lurid lightning glares, rewaling black
i; waves piled mountain high, aid huge r<>cksj
; against which the billows are wildly dash-,
" ing. Thev wail and sigh and roar; hush
11 themselves, then shriek again and lash the
■ shore as if tormented. But over all this
I I war of elements sounds clearly and fear-
i fully a cry of terrible human agony. Hu-
man beings are there, struggling to’ keep
life, that poor, troublesome possession.
A noble vessel which had proudly rode
the ocean for many a voyage, has perished
in the tempest.
Day is now just dawning, arid scores of
people are there Upon the strand, viewing
the wreck, and talking in Ipw tones over
the dead bodies which have been washed
ashore.
At a little .distance apart sits the watch
er of the midnight, clasping to his bosom
the corpse of a beautiful girl. Her long hair
is dripping with the brine, and one hand is
clasping a mass of tangled sea-weed which-'
has wound itself around her arm. Her white
dress is clinging closely to her faultless
form, her lips are half parted, and a sweet
sntile seems to illumine the face now up
turned to his. The picture is worthy of an
artist. Ah! that it were only a picture!—
NdW they are taking the dead girl from his
arms ; the stony fixedness of his gaze chang
es, and he cries despairingly, “Lost! lost!”
“ Now I know the picture is from life.
“ If I return to that Arcadian vale, where
the two last 'met and parted, a shadow"
envelopes all. I can only see white-robed ,
maidens fling roses and buds with broken
stems into an open grave. There is that
fair form robed in lineh mantle, her two
hands bound together stiff and cold in a
coffin. A ring is upon one finger—a single
diamond that I placed there years ago.”
Yes, the old the young
man’s grief—his great life-sorrow, which
came in the spring-tide of his days, and
made winter of all after-time !
God did not answer his prayer that he
should die when she did; and so he had
lived on, and now had come again to his
old home to be buried by her side.
Life is often filled with just such great,
soul-crushing sorrows all the way ; and we
feel the truth of the saying, that the jour
ney of life is variously performed. There
are some who come forth girdtd and shod"
and mantled, to walk on velvet lawns and
smooth terraces, where every gale is arrest
ed, and every beam is tempered ; "while oth
ers must walk as upon an Alpine path,
against driving misery aud through stormy
sorrows,*over sharp sfflictions—walk uith
bare feet and naked breasts, jaded, man
gled and chilled.
A BETTER CHOICE.
A Quaker, residing at Paris, was waiteef
on by four workmen, in order to make their
compliments, and ask for their usual New
Year’s gifts. •
“ Well, my friends,”.said the Quaker, I
“ there are your gifts ; choose fifteen francs;
or the Bible.”
“ I don’t know how to read,” said the first; >
“ so I will take the fifteen francs.”
“ I can read,” said a second, “ but I have
pressing wants.” lie took the fifteen francs.
The third ajsq made th? same choice.—
He now r came to a fourth, a lad about
thirteen or fourteen years old. The Qua
ker looked at him "with an air of goodness.
“ Will you take these three pieces, which
you may attain at any time by your labor
and industry ?”
“As you say the book is good, I will
take it and read it to my mother,” replied
the boy. He took the Bible, opened it, and
found between the leaves a piece of gold of
forty francs.
The others hung down their heads, and
the Quaker told them he was sorry they
had not made a better choice.
He Drink*
How ominous that sentence falls! How
we . pause in conversation and calculate,;
“It’s a pity!” How’ his mother hopes he
will not when he grows older ; how his sis
ters persuade themselves that it is only a
few* wild oats that he is sowing ! And yet'
the old men shake their heads and feel
' gloomy while they think of it. Young man,
(just commencing life,’bouyant with hopes,
don’t drink! You are freighted w’ith a
| precious cargo. The hopes of your parents,:
of your sisters, of .your wife, of your chib
dram are laid down upon you. In you the!
aged live over their days ; through you on-'
' ly can that weary one you love obtain a
! position in society; and from the level in
, which you place them must your children!
go into the great struggle of life.
Once upon a time the Methodist congre
gation of the little village ofD —,'in ;
i North Alabama, were holding “ quarterly ‘
meeting,” at which was present, a bluff,
hearty, outspoken preacher named Collard. '
Duringthe “love feast” a rich farmer, noted '
for his penuriousnoss, was called on to “give 1
i his experience.” He did s », thanking Prov- !
idence that he lived in a land of religious :
and civil freedom, a land of free speech,
■ free schools, free churches, and free salva
tion ; winding up with, “J have belonged to '
the Church seven years, and thank God it '
has never cost me but a quarter of a doi ’
■ lar!”
“ And may th® Lnrdiiave mercy on yourt
poor stingy soul!” immediately replied
•| Collard.
TERMS — Four Dollars a-year.
> THE SOLDIERS* COLUMN.
J The Panoply.
1 Soldiers of Christ arise!
' And put your armor on,
p Strong in the strength which God supplies,
1 Through his eternal Son.
r Strong in the Lord of hosts,
’ . And in His mighty power,
Who in the strength of Jesus trusts
1 Is more than a conquerer.
Stand, then, in His great might,
With all His strength endued ;
1 , But.take to arm you for the fight,
• The panoply of God;
i That having all things done,
And all your conflicts past,
Ye may o’ercome through Christ alone,
And stand entire at last.
{For The Baptist Banner.}
. Letter from the Rapidan.
Camp 9th Reg’t. Ga. Vol,s. )
near Rapidan Station, Va., >
August 4, 1863. )
Messrs. Editors: For more than a year
past, there has been in our regiment, more
or less of interest in religious matters,
which interest has, at times, ripened into,
.glorious revivals of the religion “of the
Master. Many have been converted through
the instrumentality of his children, who
have thus been rewarded for their exertions
in behalf of the glory of Ged. We have
kept up frequent prayer meetings, and have
also organized the Christians of the brigade
into an association similar to a church, save
t hat it has no sectarian tests of membership.
This association has, thiough the goodness
of God, flourished, nnd been the means, as
lefirmlyl e firmly believe, of greatly advancing the
cause of Christ—confirming and building
up Christians ; recalling backsliders to their
allegiance, and converting sinners unto
God.
But, as the association has already been
mentioned in the religious papers, it is not
my purpose at this time to write of it as a
body, but to give you a short account of
those of its members from our regiment
who fell in the battle of Gettysburg. Os
forty of our regiment who have joined the
“ association” by experience, six w’ere killed
at the above mentioned battle, and two who
• were members church previous to
the war, were also called upon to meet
.Hirn who, before them, had conquered death
and deprived it of its sting. The names of
of our brethren who have departed are as
follows": Lieutenant E. W. Bowen, com
pany I; John Edward and William H.
Edwards, company K, and J. M. Croy,
company E were killed on the field; J. H.
Hoghes, company I; J. McCullars, compa
ny F; James M. Mann, company D, aud
jThamas Lyday, company B, were brought
| off the field, but died in a very, short time
! thereafter. "Brother J. McCullars, the only
! brother who spoke as to his religious state,
left evidence that he was resigned to the
will of God, and relied upon the strong arm
of Jesus to bear him safely throngh the
dark valley of the shadow of death. These
young men, though new converts, were, for
the most part, active in thecause of Christ,
and in public lead in prayer, showing that
they were not ashamed of Jesus, but had
fully determined to serve Him in spite of
the crosses to be borne or the thorns which
might- obstruct the narrow path.
Thomas E. McDowell, of company D,
although he had not connected himself with
the association had, during the revivals at
Fredericksburg, experienced a change of
heart, as I believe, though he desired a
brighter experience before he united him
self with the people of God. His walk
subsequent to the timfc above referred to,
convinces me that the Spirit had, in deed,
been at work in his heart, and that he was
a new man: and I think my hope is well
grounded, that though at Gettysburg he
paid, the last debt of nature and lay upon
the field cold in death ; yet that the impor
tant part —the immortal—now lives to en
joy the unspeakable joys of the upper
! Kingdom.
A great many of the brethren were woun
ded in this great struggle. I rejoice that
they have the comfort of the religion of
Christ to cheer them on their beds of pain;
and how I wi h that all Confederate sol
diers—yes, all men—had this blessed com
fort in their sufferings, both bodily and
spiritually.
With a prayer that God may comfort
the friends and relatives of the deceased, I
subscribe myself
Your obedient servant,
J. C. BURNHAM,
Chaplain 9th Georgia regiment.
How io Meet Death.—“l have not
time to add more,” ssys Cowper, the poet,
in a letter, “except just to add, that if 1 am
ever enabled to look forward to death with
comfort, which, 1 thank God, is sometimes
the case with me, I do not take my view of
it from the top of my own works and de
servings, though God is witness that the
labor of my life is to keep a conscience
vaid of offence towards him. Death js al
ways formidable to me but when I see him
disarmed of his sting, by having sheathed
it in the body of Jesus Christ.”
Relfglout and Family Paper.
Tb« BAPTIST BANNER is publubed every
Saturday morning, in Atlanta. Ga., by Datto?
i Exta de Co- Four dollars per year
NUMBER 40.