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§»aat|)tnt Christian
MACON, GEORGIA, NOVEMBER 2,1866.
THE CHINA MISSION.
Our readers will be interested in the let
ter from our faithful and devoted Missiona
ry to Chiua, Rev. Young J. Allen. The
Church will rejoice to see him in good spir
its respecting the promise of future useful
ness of the mission within that dark land.
Our brethren there deserve well of the
Church for bringing the mission through
the embarrassments of the past few years
with so little debt. Wo trust that the
Claims of the mission upon tho Church will
be met in a most liberal spirit.
The brethren feel that they need more
Constant intercourse with the Church at
home. We have been sending the Advo
cate to Rro. Young without charge for sev
eral months, and we trust that before thie
time, he is receiving it regularly, lie says,
that he wishes to see others of the Church
papers, and we hope that they will all be
sent to some ono or other of the brethren
in the mission.
The Revised New Testament.
The Baptists at the North ha\e gotten up
a Revised New Testament. Attempts have
been made at some points in the South to
make the impression that it has received
the sanction of all the denominations. This,
of course, is not true. Dr. N. M. Crawford,
well known in the South, as a Baptist min
ister has been dissecting this “Revised New
Testament,” and he applies the knife with
& vigorous hand. He says in the Christian
Index:
“The reader will observe that in the vol
ume of 1865, ‘no possible means have been
neglected which might contribute to render
this revision faithful to the original, and
clear in its utterances to men.’ What then
must be his astonishment to learn that in
the revision of 1866 there are alterations as
manifold as the autumnal leaves in Vallom
brosa? Their name is Legion; their multi
tude is innumerous. In the first chapter of
Matthew there ar q forty-nine variations ; in
the second thirty-one ;in the third eight;
in the fourth eighteen ; in the fifth forty
two ; or one hundred and forty-eight varia
tions in the first five chapters, and so on, for
aught I know, to the end of the volume.—
Instead of ono mouse, indeed, the mountain
Seems to have brought forth two.’’
He particularizes many of these changes
«nd concludes bis article, thus:
“In conclusion, I would advise the Bible
Union to sell no more of these miscalled cor
rected revisions, to fall back on the Common
Version, and before they publish another re
vision, appoint on the Final Committee some
man who knows English , and give him an
absolute veto on all proposed alterations.”
THE HOLSTON CONFERENCE.
Bishop MoTyeire, after holding the Hol-
Ston Conference, passed through Nashville
in good health and spirits—bating a little
cold. He gave the editor of the Nashville
Advocate several particulars respecting that
Conference.
He gives a most encouraging account of
the recuperation of the Church within the
bounds of the Holston Conference. We
have suffered greatly in that section, but the
the brethren are patient and hopeful, and a
brighter day is dawning upon them. The
smile of the great Head of the Church in
demnifies for partial defections in the min
istry and membership, and the loss of
churches, parsonages, and other property.
The spirit with which our Holston brethren
have borne up under their great trials is an
augury of their future prosperity and en
largement.
The Conference was well attended by
both the ministry and laity, and was enter
tained with great hospitality. Business
was transacted in a satisfactory manner, and
all parts of the Conference were supplied
with preachers.
The Statistical Reports are imperfect:
172 local preachers; 23,485 white, 1,243
colored, 77 Indian members; 666 white, 96
colored infants; 858 white, 115 colored
adults baptized—but many charges were not
reported —222 Sunday schools, 1,378 teach
ers, 7,821 scholars, 9895 volumes in libra
ries. Conference Collection, $139 95; for
Bishops, $196; for Domestic Missions,
$316 80; for Foreign Missions, $5. The
financial machinery of the Conference is not
yet in motion—the Bishop thinks that the
steam will be let on the coming year.
The vote on a change of name of the
Church stood ayes, 54—nays, 2; on lay rep
representation ayes, 47 —nays, 7.
The Louisville Conference.
The Conference had a pleasant session,
presided over by Bishop Doggett, who gave
eminent satisfaction, in the discharge of his
new duties.
The missionary meeting was an interest
ing occasion. The Missionary Secretaries,
Drs. McFerrin and Sehon,’ were both pres
ent and gave an impulse to the cause, by
their good speeches. The collection at the
anniversary amounted to S7OO.
The statistics show that there are 23,036
white, and 1,019 colored members, under
the care of the Conference, being an in
crease ol 1,202 during the year. This, too,
notwithstanding there has been a great di
minution in the colored membership.
The vote on change of name of the
Church stood, ayes, 35 —noes, 31; on lay
representation ayes, 57—nays, 10.
THE CONFERENCE VOTES.
There are two questions now passing
round in our Annual Conferences, for their
acceptance or rejection—the change o£ the
name of the Church, and the admission of
lay delegates to our Conferences. It will
require a three-fourths majority to carry
these questions. The vote of the Confer
ences heard from stands thus :
Change of rams Lay-representation
Ayes Noes - Ayes Noes
Missouri —2S 30 40 19
Indian Mils— 7 «* 7 0
iVKansas —25 7 27 4
Kentucky —ls 7 v 47 4
Little Rock—24 19 1 6 29
N. W- Texas—2B 0 26 0
Louisville —35 31 57 10
itolatoa —57 2 47 7
213 86 267 73
The St. Louis Conference is reported as
voting .for the change of name “ a little over
two to one’’—for lay-representation the vote
was not so large. We have not seen the
numbers given.
The above statement shows that thus far
more than the requisite majority is obtained
for lay-representation ; and the change of
name is not likely to be defeated, as it i3
hardly probable that more than one or two
of the other Conferences will cast an adverse
vote.
DEATH OF JOHN W. BURRUSS.
Few laymen occupied a more prominent
position in our Church than did John W.
Burruss.
He died recently at St. Louis, Mo. We
find in the N. 0. Advocate the following ap
preciative notice of his character and life:
The Methodists of the Southwest and of
the whole South will deeply deplore the an
nouncement of the decease of this true son
of our Church. She has not produced, so
far as we know, any one purer in life or su
perior to him in mental power and polish.
Asa writer his style was in the highest de
gree terse, lucid, nervous and epigrammatic.
With a boundless wealth of illustration he
had but to begin and straightway there
flowed from his pen the richest periods of
thought and the finest turns of expression.
That he wrote so little must now be the re
gret of all who knew him. We had hoped
this winter, upon the restoration of his
health, to present our readers with many of
his suggestive and rich contributions. This
is but a single view of the high qualities of
our dear friend. lie was a whole souled
Methodist, the son of a Methodist traveling
preacher—the venerable John C. Burruss.
In all the interests of Methodism in the
South he felt a lively concern, and gave
liberally to the support of its churches and
its institutions of learning.
Early in life he chose the better part,
and has ever since been known as a friend
of the Saviour. We first knew him in the
Wesleyan University holding, as a student,
the very first [lace in position, scholarship
and influence. lie graduated during the
Presidency ot Doctor Fisk with the highest
honors of tho University. We wait for a
more extended tribute to the memory of this
noble Christian from those who have been
associated witli him in the more important
and intimate relations of social life.
Dr Deems is not to be understood as “ve
ry decidedly in favor of the Howard Amend
ment,’’ and “it is a matter of surprise” that
some should so have construed his article
on the Constitutional Amendment. lie il
lustrates his meaning thus : —“ Each man
is most concerned for the honor and welfare
of his own Slate. The editor of this paper
is a North Carolinian. Suppose North Car
olina, after the adoption of the amendment
by a sufficient number of other States to
make it law, should feel that she were forced
to adopt it. It would be a melancholy
thing; yet we can conceive that under that
coercion good and true men, desiring to
make some terms with their conquerors,
should do as they did by the emancipation
and repudiation questions. That was most
painful and humiliating, and so wou’d this
be. As in those cases, so in this, we sought
to find a defence for such an act, and what
hopeful views might be entertained in that
emergency, and certainly were not seeking
to urge the adoption of the amendment. It
was such a general view before our eyes as
we wrote, and the defect of our article was
its want of explicitness on the point.”
A Good Missionary Collection.— On
last Sabbath, the Rev. Joseph S. Key
preached to the Mulberry St. congregation
on the subject of missions. He afterwards
at the Monthly Meeting members
an opportunity of making their contribu
tions to the cause. The result was $405 50
in money and subscriptions, a handsome col
lection which will probably be increased to
S6OO, by the donations of others not then
present. We mention it to encourage oth
ers to make a zea'ous effort fur this good
cause. Let the Church remember the suf-
SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.
sering missionaries of our own State, and do
something handsome for them.
The N- W- Texas Conference
We find the following accountof abody of
noble the Texas Christian Advocate.
It is from the pen of the Editor, who writes
from the seat of the above named Confer
ence. He says:
This young Conference numbers near
forty members. Many of them have had
hard times during the last year. Heavy
work on circuits large euough for districts,
their path-ways along the frontier, beset by
the savages, none receiving mo e than a
pittance towards their support, and yet there
is no talk of location among them. We
feel stronger as we look upon these weather
beaten men, the marks cf toil on their
frames, but the traces of calm, religious re
solve upon their countenances. 1 hey dis
cussed the various questions of church in
terest, which came before them, wjth an
earnestness which indicated that this was
their business on earth, and that the trials
they encountered were the mere accidents
of life, which, in the presence of their sa
cred obligations, scarcely deserved a thought.
The soul gathers strength from contact with
such men. We feel ashamed of ourself
when we remember that we have murmur
ed at the vexations of our own lot. Here
is one who received thirty dollars last year,
and is willing, if the interests of the work
demand it, to go back to the same field again.
Here is another who lost everything last
year, by the Indians but his horse—feels
thankful, that under the providence of God,
they did not get his scalp, and is quietly
awaiting the appointment that may send
him along the same trail next year. Here
is another who put his wife in the carryall
and they wandered all over the district,
when they found that they could not secure
enough to enable them to have a home ;
willing to give up all the joys of their own
fireside, that the husband might preach
Christ and him crucified. Here are near
two score of men, made out of the same ma
terial that composes the rest of men, sus
ceptible of the same pains, with the same
nature —relish for ease, or wealth, or honor,
loving their wives and their chi dren, often
sad when they see them suffer, and yet they
have given up the world, and are here to
plan their work, not by reducing it to a shape
more agreeable and pleasant, but to shape
it so that men’s souls may be converted to
God. lam glad they admitted me within
their bar, and glad they call me brother,
and the bond that unites us distance cannot
dissolve, nor - bsence sever. These have
but little quarterage to report, but they bring
up something better. Many report revivals
of religion upon their circuits, and expect
the coming year that their labors will be
abundantly blessed. They have a noble
field before them. May God help them to
meet their sacred trust.
Anoxher Church Division. —At the
recent session of the Synod of Kentucky
(0. S. Presbyterian,) the Clerk refused to
call the names of members regularly—the
Moderator intervened and called it —the
members who sustained the action of the
General Assembly would not answer to their
names. But forty-five ministers and fifty
five ruling elders did answer; while thirty
ministers, eight only of whom are pastors,
and twenty-six eiders —some of them elect
ed by seceding factions in congregations,
representing about one-tenth of the commu
nicants of the State, proceeded to organize
another Synod—one that should abide by
the action of the General Assembly.
Tiie Southern Presbyterian Review
is revived in all the vigor of its earlier days.
The contents of the September Number are :
1. The Benefits of Infant Baptism, by Rev,
Dr. C. A. Stillman, Gainesville, Ala. 2.
The Study of Languages as a Training of
the Mind, by Prof. W. Blair, Hampden,
Sidney College, Va. 3. Buckle’s History
ot Civilization in England. 4. Death, the
Resurrection, and the Intermediate State.—
5. The Northern General Assembly (O. S.)
of 1866. 6. Critical Notes. The Review
is published at Columbia, S. C., at $3.00
per volume. Single Numbers SI.OO.
—" -■ »■. '
Scott’s Monthly Magazine for Octo
ber. This Magazine continues to improve,
and bids fair to surpass any publication of
the kind that the South has yet produced.
Correspondence. —Wo are so rich this
week in this department, counting as part
of it the news from the Churches, that we
have but little room for editorials—nor have
we been able to "et in all the letters that
have come t« baud. Correspondents will be
served in turn.
From tho Nuslivill* Chris tai Adrooate.
Indian Mission Conference.
Mr E'iitor; X arn UO w holding the In
dian Mission Couterenee. at the Bloomfield
Academy. i,j thu Chickasaw Nation. The
truits ot the war are painfully manifest in
the diminished numbers of this missionary
band There are oulv sixteen names re
maining upon the Conference roll, and of
these only seven are in attendance. Os the
test, some are sick,and some without means
ot travelling. The schools have all been
suspended since the beginning of the war.
Yfttwe have very enoouraging reports
from many quarters. The native preachers,
travelling and local, and the exhorters.
nearly all continued faithful throughout the
trying period of the war, and have been
doing a good work since its close. In the
course of the past summer there have been
several extensive revivals —some of them of
an extraordinary character. The people
generally are as ready to hear the gospel as
ever, and in many places they crowd eager
ly together at every appointment. Some
camp-meetings have been held with happy
results.
But the work has been sadly embarrass
ed by the straitened circumstances of the
preachers, and this must continue until they
can get help from the Missionary Board.
They have been looking hopefully to this
time for relief, and are disappointed. Many
of the Cherokees lost everything by the
war, and were compelled to flee for their
lives. Most of the refugees have returned
to their homes, but they have gone back in
absolute destitution. Some have not even
been able to get back. These brethren
must have help, or they cannot devote their
time to preaching.
Several of the white missionaries have
been compelled to abaudon the field and re
tire to other Conferences, or resort to secu
lar employments to obtain support for their
families. A large portion of the country for
merly occupied, especially a;nong the Chick
asaws and Choctaws, is now wholly unsup
plied ; nor have we now the men or means
to send them the gospel. To us they look,
but at present in vain. It makes me sad
to append to so many names of circuits, “to
be supplied,’’ with the assurance that there
is no “supply’’ available.* What is to bo
done ?
The Mission Schools have all been sus
pended for several years. The war cut off
the means of subsistence for them entirely.
They were supported in part by annuities
from the Government, and in part by the
Missionary Treasury. The annuities will,
now soon be available again, and the Confer
ence has taken such steps as the circumstan
ces allowed toward resuming operations in
this department. It remains to be seen
what the Missionary Board can do for them.
We must not think of allowing ithis vital
adjunct of our work to pass out of our
hands.
The Indian work has special claims upon
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
The people have attached themselves to us,
and we have acknowledged the obligation
thus imposed. We are bound to them by
history. The past blessing of God upontmr
labors among them must uot be discredited
by any neglect in the futuie. Missionary
outlay has seldom been more,fruitful than
here. And now that the foundation is laid,
it will not do to quit the task before the
walls are erected and the building finished
This work must not stop.
If the Missionary Society is trammeled
for want of means, it seems to me to be good
policy to husband its resources by using
them here where the work, already begun,
( ii ay be carried on at a smaller cost. Dis
tant operations, involving the heavy expen
ditures incident to the establishment of a
new mission, may be delayed with propriety.
Little will be lost in a year or two. No
specific obligations will be violated. We
may begin when we shall have become more
prosperous. But here delay is dead loss.
Every day’s postponement is a calamity.
The fields are white to the harvest. Already
the tardy hand of the reaper is chided by
the waste. Let it be the first care of the
Board to re-invigorate the Indian Missions,
and place them on a firm footing. Let us
do the work well which we already have iu
hand. This accomplished, wc shall be
ready for larger enterprises.
Besides all this, the aboriginal inhabi
tants of this country have the very first
claim upon us. We have entered into their
inheritance. Our plow turns the sod upon
the graves of their fathers. Our steamers
vex the waters on which once floated their
light canoes. Our cities and .plantations
have devoured the range of the elk and the
buffalo. They have melted before us like
the frost before the morning sun. We have
driven them to these western prarics, and
confined them to these narrow limits, and
we now owe them the gospel.
I have intimated above that there is
economy in spendiug money where the
foundation is already laid. One fact will
illustrate this : There are among the In
dians now several native preachers, who
are very useful men among their own peo
ple. They are satisfied to work for small
salaries —very small. But they must have
something—a bare subsistence—or else labor
with their hands .for bread. Two or three
of them may be employed for what it would
cost to support one white missionary. Thus
former missionary outlay has become pro
ductive, and it is suicidal now to neglect
this means of growing from our former
work. We must enter into our own labors,
and reap the harvest of our own sowing ; es
pecially since the oost of reaping is so much
less than the cost of sowing.
lam earnest in this matter. The Indian
work must be held second to none in its
claims upon the Church. The Christian
heart of the country will respond to it gen
erously. The prayers of thou-ands will go
up to God in its behalf. And we shall
meet multitudes of our red brothers on tho
shore of immortality, and iu the oity oi
God.
E M. Marvin.
Bloomfield Academy, Chickasaw Nation, Sept. 16
To the Preachers of the Rome Dist.,
Georgia Conference.
Dear Brethren Not being able to meet
with you at your fourth quarterly meetings,
I take this method of calling your attention
to some duties pertaining to your office,
which may escape your memory.
I have reason to believe that our Bishop
will be very searching in regard to church
statistics, at our ensuing session, and, there
fore, I call your special atte ition to these
matters. You will, therefore, my dear
brethren, be provided with full and accurate
statements of the number of white members,
colored members, white adults baptized,
colored adults baptized, white infants bap
tized, colored infants baptized during the
year. And as many accessions have been
made to the church this year, we shall want
accurate statements of the same, both as to
white and colored. We shall want, also, a
statement of the amount of church and. par
sonage property, on your several circuits and
stations, with estimated value of the same;
also, what amount of money has been raised
during the year for the purpose of refitting
churches and parsonages. Moreover, we
want statements of amounts allowed you by
your stewards, for the support of your fami
lies, and what proportion of the same has
been paid, together with amounts raised for
the Bishop’s fund, for Conference collection,
and for Missionary purposes, Domestic and
Foreign—keeping the amounts for- those
last purposes separate.'
Upon the subject of Sabbath schools, itia
desired that you furnish correct lists of the
number of schools on your circuit or station,
with number of teachers, scholars, and vol
umes in libraries, togeiher with amounts
raUe 1 for purchase of books, donations made,
and conversions had in the Sabbath schools
during the year.
Besides all these items, give us the
number of local elder’s, and local deacons on
your circuits, and how tho Monthly Church
Meeting works.
If in this list of statistics desired, I have
omitted any required in the Discipline,
please read up, and be correct.
Lastly, it any of you find it impracticable
to corno to Conference make out all the
above statistics in plain hand, and send to
my address at Americus, Ga.; taking care
to send your letters some days before the
meeting of Conference, so that committees
may not be delayed in their legitimate
w- rk.
It often happens that committees cannot
report till lato in the Conference session,
owing to a failure on the part of those whose
duty it is to send in time, the proper data,
from which to make reports.
Hoping that the Lord will enable each
one of you to finish up his year’s labor suc
cessfully, and to meet us at Conference, I
remain, dear brethren,
Yours -in Christ, B. Arbooast.
Abingdon, Va., Oct. 23, 1866.
Cormponitntt.
LETTER PROM CHINA.
Mr. Editor: —Now that war has ceased
and the smoke of battle cleared away we are
anxious, doubly to hear from our
Church and people, our friends and loved
ones. We long to know how you are and what
you are doing, to renew our correspondence
with you and acquaintance with the times
and circumstances that exist among you ;
for although we have been separated long
and far from you we have not lost our in
terest and sympathy in all that pertains to
our common welfare.
More than a jear lias elapsed since the
close of the war, and yet not a Church pa
per from the South has reached us, with but
<ho single exception of a few stray copies
of the New Oilcans Christian Advocate by
last mail.
We are anxious to see the proceedings of
our Annual Conferences, but especially those
of the General Conference. I have seen a
few detached items of news from the South
as reported through the Northern Church
journals, but most generally accompanied
with such comments and restrictions as only
intensified the desire to see arid know for
ourselves tho true state and conduct of our
people.
I have just forwarded to Dr. McFerrin a
full statement of our finances up to July 1,
18G6, showing the China Mission to have
survived its long separation from you, with
its status unimpaired, its Missionaries all
well; the native Curch though small, vet
vigorous; its operations enlarged ; its pro
perty intact and its treasury though unre
plenished for more than four years, having,
at the beginning of this year, liabilities out
standing far less than a thousand taels. *
Isolated, tempted, embarrassed and almost
destitute* its vitality has been no less sur
prising to us than to many of our crocodile
friends abroad.
Is there not in all this reason for pro
fouudest gratitude to God, whose providence
hath cherished the orphanage of your in
fant, mission, and is there not in you, and in
every member of the Southern Church a
heart to embrace it once more '( Or shall an
enterprise so important and so tenacious of
life, while left to itself, have outlived its
separation and every adversity, to perish at
last, if perish it must, in the hands of its
friends ? God forbid.
“ The China Mission still lives,” said the
College ot venerable Bishops in their recent
address to the General Conference, “and wo
recommend it to your fostering care.”
Those thrilling words have reached us
freighted with precious promise, and in the
absence of information as to the sequel, we
cherish them “ as the substance of things
hoped for; the evidence of things not soen”*
yea, we half forget her struggle for a pre
oarious existence in the past, and her vet
more recent four years of perilous history
in the partial prospect that she shall realize
“your fostering care” and be sustained yet
more vigorously in the future.
Within the last few years tho ways of
Providence have done much toward unseal
ing and opening this great Empire to the
influence of Christianity.
Hitherto, and even now for want of men
aud means, missionary effort has been re-