THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
T. Fanning and W. Lipscomb, Editors
Vol. VI
Nashville, July, 1860
No. 7
MESSIAH’S GOVERNMENT
The entire field of human thought embraces but two departments—the department of matter, and the department of mind; these two make up the entire universe of God. Man possesses these two elements to a limited extent in his own person: he is himself composed of matter and mind. There are two kinds of power adapted to these two departments: namely, physical or mechanical power, and moral or motive power. God and man have both employed these two kinds of power; differing widely in degree, but the same in kind. God has revealed himself as a great physical and moral ruler. By physical power he rules the physical universe; by moral power, the moral universe.
The various terms we apply to power are only subdivisions of these two general kinds. Divine power and human power are not two kinds of power. If God slay a man by electricity, and one man slay another by gunpowder, the kind of power in both cases is the same; namely, physical. So, if God persuade a man, or an angel…
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Moral power consists in the strength of the ideas, namely, moral. Moral power consists in the strength of the ideas, usually expressed in words or their equivalents; hence, the word of God is said to be ‘quick and powerful.’
Words are the representatives of ideas; and hence they are used for ideas themselves, as malicious words, comforting words, etc.; but it is the idea that is held ‘malicious,’ ‘instilling,’ or ‘comforting,’ and not the abstract words. In this sense, ‘the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.’ (Rom. 1:16.) It is a universal truth that men act from motive, in all their accountable actions. I believe this is held true by all our courts, and by all men of common sense.
Then it seems manifest that if men are brought to perform any action or deeds by a power beyond the power of motive, they are not accountable for such deeds; but are mere machines, so far at least, as they are made the subjects of such influence. Conversion, in the Bible, is therefore attributed to the law, to the Word, to the truth, etc. David says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” (Ps. xix. 7.) Jesus says, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John viii. 32.) The angel from on high said, “Who shall tell thee WORDS, whereby thou and thy house shall be saved.” (Acts xi. 14.) The disciples are the only people known to me who suffer the disgrace of believing the last three texts.
Do the sects believe that the law of the Lord converts the soul? No, indeed, they believe and teach that the special operation of the Holy Spirit converts the soul. Do they believe that the truth makes men free? By no means: to use the words of Dr. Jeter, they believe it is done by an influence ‘distinct from, and above the truth.’ Do they believe Cornelius and his family were saved by the words which Peter spoke? Certainly not: they believe they were saved by the copious outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
In a system of rewards and punishments like that of the Messiah, four things seem indispensable to a moral government:
- Faith must come from testimony.
- The subject must act from motive.
- He must form his character by his own works.
- He must be judged, and rewarded or punished, according to his deeds.
Most men will formally confess these four propositions; still, the popular theory of ‘spiritual influence’ in conversion actually denies them all. But we will enquire what the Bible says on these points:
- Faith comes from testimony.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
195
“God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe.” — Acts X, 7.
“And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing, believed, and were baptized.” — Acts xviii, 8.
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” — Rom. x. 17.
I regret that some opponents do not believe with Paul, that faith comes by hearing. They believe faith comes by feeling; or rather that faith comes by the operation of the Holy Spirit; hence the practice of praying down the Holy Spirit on unbelievers to give them faith.
If faith is put into an unbeliever in that way, he is no more accountable for his faith than he is for his lungs; or for anything else that God has created within him. That doctrine destroys man’s accountability and upsets the foundation of God’s moral government over him.
2. The subject must act from motive.
“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house.” — (Heb. xi. 7.)
Faith in some sense may, perhaps, be said to be the principle of action; but it strikes me, that which ‘moves’ to action must be, properly, ‘the principle of action;’ and Paul says, “Noah moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house.”
Hence, then, is the principle of action; and by faith we obtained the motive. Moses also acted from motive; “for he had respect to the recompense of reward.” — Heb. xi. 26.
They “obeyed the Gospel on Pentecost and had a motive; ‘remission of sins.'” — Acts ii. 38.
The great motives of the Christian are a “revelation of hope, and immortality.” This Bible truth, although in harmony with common sense, is utterly at war with the modern theory of conversion.
The theory does not allow that man acts from motive in regeneration; for it does not admit that he acts at all, but is passive.
There is scarcely any point in which the Calvinistic churches are better agreed, than in the dogma that man is passive in regeneration; even Arminians only claim that the sinner is ‘willing’ God should perform the act on him; and yet they suspend future rewards and punishments on an act in which man has no agency!
The sects contend that God recreates the man by the same power by which he created him at first; and of course man did not act from motive in being created at first; nor is he more accountable, (on their plan) for the second creation than the first.
3. He must form his own character by his own works.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
“But in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him.”
Acts x. 35.
“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness? God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”
Rom. vi. 16-18.
“Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.”
1 Peter i. 22.
If these scriptures do not teach that men form their character by their deeds, it is difficult to conceive how that proposition can be stated in human language. These texts teach:
- That a man must work righteousness in order to be accepted with God; but the sects teach that he is accepted by faith alone, before he can work righteousness at all.
- That we become the servants of God by obeying him; but the sects teach that we are made the servants of God by the special operation of the Holy Spirit before we can obey him acceptably.
- That we purify our souls by obeying the truth; but the sects teach that God purifies our souls by the direct agency of his Spirit, before we will obey the truth.
And yet in the same breath they tell sinners they are forming characters for eternity! According to orthodoxy, man is born in the world with a sinful nature; Adam forms his wicked character for him, and the Holy Spirit forms his good character; so that he has no more to do, in reality, in forming his own character than the potter’s vessel has to do in forming itself; and he is therefore just as accountable as the potter’s vessel.
- Every man will be judged, and rewarded or punished according to his works.
“Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.”
James ii. 21, 24.
“And shall come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of condemnation.”
John v. 29.
“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave…
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Page 197
“up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works.”
Rev. xx. 12, 13.
“For we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in the body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”
2 Cor. v. 10.
It is certainly one of the greatest wonders in human depravity, how a pretended believer in the Bible can look these and other like scriptures in the face, and then say, a man is justified of God without works of any kind! The doctrine that makes man’s salvation to turn, not on his own deeds, but on God’s deed performed on him by the Spirit, sets aside God’s clearly revealed rule of judgment. The question in that court will not be, “What has the Judge done?” but “What has the prisoner at the Bar done?”
The principles teach that THE HOLY SPIRIT CONVERTS SINNERS; but they understand, He does it, as the scriptures say, by the “gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth;” and not by physical power.
— Banner of Faith
HERESY AND SCHISM
One of the most fruitful sources of religious error is the application of peculiar and restricted meanings to words different from which the inspired writers applied to them. Such has been the case with the two words which we have under consideration. The great prominence that modern schoolmen gave to doctrines and tenets gives rise to the ecclesiastic definition, viz: “Heresy is some erroneous opinion or doctrine obstinately persisted in.” It is thought that no man is very dangerous while he has correct opinions and preaches the right doctrines, though his whole course of life and the object of his preaching may eventually be heretical and destructive of all Christian intercourse. Under this delusion, the worst of factious have been encouraged to the great destruction of the peace and influence of the churches of Christ.
Heresy is an anglicised word, and means sect, faction, or party, and sometimes discord and contention as the fruits of sects, without regard to doctrines or opinions. The term schism literally means a rent.
198
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
pliC’d to a body of people it clcn•Jtl’:> di,·i:;iuu or nliL·n~:tivn, nut on ac·
C0\11\L of faith or doclrin<‘S, hut of nuclut> attadllrll!llL to llll’ll as J
…
:ulet’S.
It is :rli(‘n:slruction of ()tlt\’:11 rl
lllli<l!l II
WI Ch ristiall iili’=’fCUill’SC.
No cl)nscient.ions m:lll ever ll!:rtle a ~chi~tn ur h<.’rt:~y in tlH! hvrly of
Christ.
It. is a! ways the work t>f ambit iou::e nwn s~eki
ng t
},t!ir own
h(lllOr :mel interest, ‘anJ )lrJt thCl thilJgS of C’!tri:>t.’ Il
… rr~Si(‘.;1 ~l.rift:S
ancl tlivi~ \’orks of tlr(‘ ll<:>’h, an•.l all \ ho seek
to make parti~·s hy arraying clrnrcheH again~t c·nclr o11H’I’ or pfHt ,f
tire
mcrnhc·n; of a eongrpg~tiun :ll!;ainst tlw rrlhr·r~, loy ur11!ng nwn and
<ptr:~tious upon lhcm mr:rdy to gc·t t.lll’lll to bk,~ siJ<‘:::, arc lwr..ti:i!.
P:• nl hl’iug j•ulg<>, flr.~hly men wi t.hout tlw J>l’l’r·inr1 s of tire l\iug>lmn
<>f Gut!, :J!Hl :1ftrr the first aml sr:concl acluwui1 ion Ill
liSt lrr: rt-jo·.;tetl.
l’aul allrihnlc<> the zeal of scctarie;,; and parti~ans l•> a lun <•f self
r:lthr:r t.han a love of the truth.
“1\tark IIH:m who c:us!’e cli\·i~son~
anti oll’cnc<·s contrary lo the ducll·ine 1\’hich yo•• have rereive•l, and nvoi•l lht’m1 fur snch persons st>rvc! not ol\r Lonl J
esu~ Christ., hu~ their
{j\ n bellies, and hy flattery and li•ir lljlo~!’~:h••.:; ,J,~c~in~ the lscarts of the
l’implc.”
SLtch men usually preaeb
th~m8t~In•s, make no scruple to
~ocwd their own praise-boa>lne;;~ in the
f:•ith,-thC’ grt>at h~ll•s tlwy h:wc fought-au•! tiJE• mNaher;; tlwy lt;we
pr<.>~•·ly~ecl.
Snc·h ~l’irits k.ve cau«c-•1 :dl tlw ‘”
rt.,ifs aud sdtisms in the
Chri,;tian Chnrch.
‘l’lor.y ha\·e hct>n aiBJo~t. iuvarial>ly p:•~l•lfll or s:tla-
riecl men of the cl<>rgyman onlcr who mach! p~ear;hiug a lu.:rati\’t’ pro-
f~~sion.
”A man’s foes slmll be they of his own hou~~hohl.” The
\’orst (•nemi;>s the church has 1’\·er hacl wert: pr<.’achers who laic! claim
to t•xtraordinary !•i~::t.y.
‘C’nilr.r tlti:; cloak, hypol’ril~,-:;, liarg atHl thi(•\’~s.
griP”I”ons woh·l’:o:, in :>hr.t?p’s cl•Jtloing, han: in,pu;;!·cl upon tl1r. 1re-thrcn
l!lltl nwcle merclumdise of thc·ir soul~.
S1 ill onr t•nmc:hing hr<-lth(‘ll },ave hr.t•ll freer from such lhingo than any Nhers. ‘l’h”‘y han, gc·ncr· crajJily, without. the [l~:lr of ~_pJmJ~, Collft>TellC'”S Ol’ ::tSi’O(‘l:tf.ion~, :>lO<I<l Up
in tJ<,fenr<c of t.hr. trntlo en:ry wlcr• fur the: love of it, alHI bnt r.~w havo
Ehown n. fuetions or part.y·m·Jking clispo.::ition,
‘flwy han! U3llally
hecn plain, honest farmers, mechnanit~s anti fi,-hcrmcn who a~pir.:J to
J:Othing hut lo pn.•:tch llr~ go;;pt:J in fiJH)S’.oJic purity :I
Ill]
~itlipJic:t:t.y.
i)nt we fear tho prnctice of !.hll clonrcltQS in many ph:rr~ of cru.:ollr-
1\ging I
lor. prcacln,prs to !.ire them;;d
\’C?S r>llt as pnsto1·s, if pr.rsisted in,
l\·ill dcstrvy this order of r.hiugs aucl fnt>”tratt.> 1
he whnle pnrpo;;e of
r~formatil>ll. Our Cul1eges begin to be ll)okt’tl to iustencl of the
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
199
Churches, as the places where the preachers are to be made. Unfortunately, many young men leave college fashionable clergymen, and their first idea is to find a congregation that will give them salaries to make speeches for them on Sundays. Such a course tends to destroy the independence and spiritual life of the churches, and encourages the preachers to leave the simplicity of the gospel for the ostentatious show of learning and talents to please men. It lays the foundation for rivalries and partialities to arise, and for men to labor through fleshly, selfish and worldly motives to attach disciples to themselves, which will result, as it has in many places, in schisms and heresies. The Romish heresy, the mother of sects, who has filled the earth with her progeny to the third and fourth generation had quite as humble an origin. But now she boasts of being mistress of the world, and her head as the successor of the humble fishermen of Galilee in the office of holding the keys of the kingdom of heaven, appointing institutions and enacting laws for its citizens. Already the modest clergyman begins to speak in terms bordering on contempt for the Apostolic teaching, that the members of the churches should conduct the worship, admonish, instruct and edify each other without a preacher. This is the result of lust for power and clerical honors, and is the very germ of schisms and heresies. His incipient popery, which, if carried out, would take the Bible from the vulgar or common people; then they would soon be unfit to confess their sins and would have to pay a confessor to pray them off. If Paul was here he would say; as he did to the Corinthians, “I fear lest, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ.”
What has corrupted the Church? A dislike for the simplicity of Christianity and love for something more grand and imposing. Designing men usually take advantage of this weakness of human nature to gain position and honor in the church; and it often becomes necessary that a schism or heresy be made—that those who are not of Christ go out, that the approved may be made manifest. It is wisely fixed that incurable corruption should work out in this way. We need not become over alarmed at hearing of parties and sects; they will arise occasionally so long as there are evil men and seducers in the world. But when men prove themselves to be such, we should be careful that their influence proceed no further. Since sects have filled the earth with hatred, violence and murder, surely the disciples should look with distrust upon every one who is
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Willing to wound the cause of Christ to advance individual interest. The only course of safety is to walk in love, guided by that wisdom which is first pure, then peaceable, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Let the churches continue steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in breaking of bread, and prayers, in admonitions and exhortations, and send preachers to the world and the weak congregations to preach the gospel and set in order the things wanting, and we will have peace and prosperity.
T. GOODALL
WILL MY EDUCATION EVER BE FINISHED?
Education is one of the themes that is now most discussed. The poor man strives to give his children an education, and it is the same with the rich. The poor man takes his children from the plough—from being laborers of wood and drawers of water—sends them to study books, and thinks they are becoming educated. The improvement derived from taking care of horses, cows, sheep, hogs, and poultry—from learning the business of the farm—is not so important. He thinks that it is not education. They must study books—fill their minds with the ideas contained in them, and this gives them the qualification desired. It seems to be the common idea that girls, as well as boys, must go through books for several years, and at the end of the time they will be “educated.”
It is not agreed upon by all what course is best. The learned differ in their opinions. It is the settled conviction of many persons that when the ancient languages are patiently studied—patiently turned and trenched—they form the basis that best fertilizes the mind of man. Others believe that mathematics only trains and develops the intellect, as it should be.
Mr. N. P. Willi was in France some years ago, and concluded, when standing in a crowd of Frenchmen who were chattering and jabbering like magpies, that a knowledge of the French language was the only true education, and with that impression bearing upon his mind, he advised his countrymen and women to study that tongue very earnestly. He told them that verbs and exercises were tiresome, but if they persevered, they would find their use, should…
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Page 201
They ever visit the hall of the fair talking Frenchman. Girls often say, “When my education is completed, I will do so and so.” Most of us think that a time will come when we shall have acquired such an amount of knowledge, that we will be able to buy a nice book, and be educated women. Many think so, who know nothing that renders them agreeable and pleasant, who can do but little for themselves or others. They have studied too much; they have been at school, and their friends, and they themselves, think they must be educated. Is it not reasonable for persons to go through one volume after another, and then not be educated in the true sense of the word?
The word “education” comes from a Latin verb, which signifies to lead forth, to draw out, to train. If this is the case when we speak of persons being truly educated, we should mean that all the powers of mind and body have been led forth—have been drawn out. Will merely going through books have this effect? It will certainly lead forth some of the faculties, but will cause others to be dormant. Indeed, this continual pouring over books disqualifies many for all physical exertion, and without this, the body becomes feeble and enervated. The mind sympathizes with the body, and they are incapable of having their powers drawn out—led forth—truly.
Is it the office of education to fill the mind with knowledge, facts and information, as a cistern is filled with water brought in buckets from another fountain, or is it the opening up of its own fountains? Are there not, as it were, hidden fountains that may be traced to their sources—that they may have all obstructions removed, and be led forth to fertilize and beautify, to make streams burst forth in the desert, and the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose? Is education, as I asked before, a filling up of the mind, or is it a drawing forth from within? Is it not a bringing into exercise all the powers of mind and body? Cannot the body be educated as well as the mind? May it not become feeble, inactive, ungraceful, unmanly, unhandsome for want of having its capacities led forth by a genial influence? Or may it not become strong, acting, graceful, easy, and beautiful by such a training as will call forth all its powers, and awaken all its energies?
Persons may be instructed without being truly educated. They may have their minds full of knowledge from books, and still have but little knowledge of the realities that are needed every day for the common purposes of life. Remarkable examples might be given, but I will only mention one. Neander is known as a man whose head was filled with the love of books. He was a Professor in
202
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
A college in Germany was a Church Historian, was reverenced for his great learning and many able qualities, but in common affairs was a very child. He could not walk the streets of his own city without losing his way. His sister, a plain, common-sense woman, who thought like Solomon, that “much study was a weariness to the flesh,” had to lead him about.
Without her guidance, there is no knowing where his philosophical abstractions would have carried him. It might be a matter of discussion which of the two was the better educated. The study of books alone does not bring forth those qualities which render men and women gentle, good, and pure. It does not bring out all those sweet emotions and lovely dispositions which make earth a paradise. Edgar Poe had studied books; his intellect had been filled with the beautiful thoughts of the Ancients and Moderns, but his heart—his moral powers had not been cultivated. He let his gentle wife die of starvation while he was indulging in the most maddening dissipation. He went to the house of a lady he expected to call his second wife, and committed such outrages that it was necessary to summon the police.
The Editor of the Edinburgh Review says, “He imagines that the lowest abyss of moral imbecility and disrepute had not been reached until Edgar Poe came.” This man’s intellect had been filled with the knowledge of books, and had been led forth to produce poems that all must admit. I think no one can read his “Raven” without pleasure, or hear him talk of the “Tintinnabulation of his Bells” without almost fancying that he hears it.
I have given examples of persons whom I have called instructed but not educated. I cannot refrain from saying something of a man I think must have had all his powers of mind and body drawn forth—must have been truly educated. His name was Arnold. He was President of a large school at Rugby, England. In his course of education, “the fear of God was the beginning of wisdom.” He next inculcated gentlemanly conduct, and lastly, intellectual ability. It was not so much his effort to instruct as to draw forth. He tried to awaken the intellect, and thought that the main movement must come from within the pupil and not from without.
He thought that all should be done by him, and not for him. He preached to his boys on Lord’s day, and labored with them during the week. One of his pupils says of his preaching, “His voice was as soft as the notes of a flute, and as stirring as the call of a bugle.” It was not the cold, clear voice of one, out of danger, giving advice to those who were sinning.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
and struggling below, but the warm, living voice of one who was fighting for us, and for our side, and calling to us to keep to him and to one another. This pupil visited the school after Dr. Arnold’s death. He took the seat in the chapel he had occupied years before. His heart was full of memories of his school life and his teacher. He would have given ten minutes to see him, to tell him how he loved and revered him, and how, by God’s help, he would follow his steps in life and in death. His system had an influence on the schools of England that has not been lost. The spirit of the educator shines the grave, and though dead, still speaks, and inspires. He died in 1842, and left hundreds whom he had taught to believe in Him; and, I think, such a man must have been truly educated, and conclude that a person is so when he has all his capacities for usefulness and goodness developed. He is not educated if he has the genius of Milton, the power of Locke, the policy of Burke, or any following style of Goldsmith, or even the pompous declamation of Johnson, unless his mental gifts are governed by the will, and his moral powers have been led forth on missions of peace and love to his fellow-beings.
I think of physical education, as it is first and most important of all. Without this, persons who devote themselves to books, lose their energy, and the lamp goes out just when they think they have well trimmed it to give light to those around. In ancient times the body was trained if the mind was not. The young engaged in active sports that led forth all their powers. They ran races, boxed, wrestled, leaped, and jumped in every direction. They began early and the training was continued till mature age. Everything was included that could render them capable of bearing fatigue, and hardships. The young man who was most expert and active, had a light wreath placed on his brow, which was done amidst the acclamations of thousands, and he was afterwards held in the highest esteem by his countrymen.
In England, I have been told that students engage in some sports of antiquity. English boys are taught to box, and in case of difficulties, they use their fists instead of pistols and Bowie knives. They often walk ten or twelve miles and challenge it to a light journey. The English ladies, too, walk a great deal, and take the children with them. The German student throws his wallet over his shoulder, and with his little or violin to amuse himself and the natives, wanders over hill and val.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
by studying Geology, Botany, and other branches of natural sciences to be learned in the world. A writer upon the subject says: “In America, the student bends himself over his books with his feet perhaps on the mantle-pieces. He studies a little and takes a little. When too far overcome by the gentle influence stealing over him, he finds himself conquered, and takes a good, long nap with the hope of feeling better when he awakes. A hearty dinner comes next, and he has to nap again. The time spent in napping and nothing is made up of many precious hours. He not only loses this, but his energies are enfeebled, and many have but little capacity for the usefulness necessary in the active scenes of life. There are, of course, exceptions to general rules.
I would ask if it is ever proper to say “my education is completed?” Can it be possible for a girl fifteen or sixteen years old to say truthfully, “I have finished my education?” If she has studied at school for a few years, can she imagine what her powers of mind have been developed, and that there is no more need of exertion? Miss Edgeworth, in one of her tales, speaks of an old lady who always visited Miss Rosamond after she went home in vacation, to inquire when her education would be done with. Miss Rosamond’s mother was not of the opinion that it could ever be finished, and always answered “never while she lives.” I suppose, of course, that it was the idea of the writer, as she made her own education the business of life. Persons of experience say that a long life may be spent in educating one’s self, and even then, perfection is not attained.
Newton, when an old man, said that he felt as “a child who had only been playing with pebbles on the shore of the great ocean of truth.” If such a man felt he had done but little, how should the rest of persons feel? Is there any room for being vain of the small amount of knowledge that can be acquired in youth? I think not, and I have heard it remarked that when persons assume such on account of superior advantages, it shows a great want of proper training.
In reading the life of Dr. Johnson, one is struck with his humility. He was considered the first scholar of England, and yet he spoke of his education as a want of acumen. When we reflect upon what we learn and what we do, we should know enough to make us humble; we would certainly feel so if we could compare the knowledge attained by ourselves with that which has been acquired by others, and with that which we may still make our own.
Mrs. Virginia H. Brinch writing for the Southern Homestead, ridicules the idea of a girl…
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Page 205
Extracted Text:
ishing her education, and says she will never send her daughters to a school where it is pretended that girls are “finished off.” She thinks that education must come from all the associations of life that call forth the powers and lead them into active exertion. I do not perhaps give her words, but her ideas. Books, I think, form only a small part of our education. All the events of life assist in it. The sweet and lonely things are learned, the buds and blossoms, the soft showers of spring, and its icy breath. The influence of loving friends—of the Christian religion—the blessings that surround us train, nurture, and form our characters. Then there are the clouds and the storms, the dark days and the sorrows and the sufferings to teach the soul and lead it forth to trust in God, and to look for the good of the world. In the words of a good writer, “The infant has its nurture in the sun. The ear is attuned by the melodies and harmonies of the wide and boundless creation. The goings on of the heavens and the earth are the courses of lessons. The streams that are painted on the dome of the sky and on the uplifted mountains, on the spreading plains and seas are its pictured diagrams, Immensity, Infinity, Eternity are its teachers.” But to go back. If education consists in filling the mind with knowledge—in drawing out all its powers for usefulness and goodness, can a young person say “I have finished my education?” I think if we have proper views, we will consider that, at school we have only laid a foundation on which to build in future life. Our teachers do not consider us finished. They advise us to go on and never be weary. Their counsel is that we should make constant effort to continue our education not only by gaining knowledge, but also by such a course of conduct in the duties of life as will develop our moral powers and increase our physical ability. There will always be something to do that will assist in the development of our faculties—something that will call forth energies of which we ourselves have not, perhaps, been conscious until the necessity came, which made the performance of duty necessary. We never expect to speak of “having finished—of being educated.” There will always be something to learn. There will be powers of mind and body that may be improved and led forth to greater perfection. There, too, are all the graces of the Christian character that we may make our own. This cannot be done at once. It takes long to acquire the elegance and grace arising from the full possession of a meek and quiet spirit. We have to toil for what is useful and good. Labor is
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
the price of all that is worth possessing. God has given it as the principal educator, as the means of leading forth the physical powers, and I might say moral and intellectual. Without mental labor persons will never become intellectual. Without moral labor the affections will not be led forth to make life sweet by all the kind and gentle actions that flow from them. Labor gives to the cup of existence all its zest—all its relish. It cannot be called a curse. The thorns and thistles of earth have been greater blessings than all the flowers of Eden.
Poverty and affliction may be encountered among them. The powers of man have been rendered to iron hardness by their sharp admonitions. They have called forth his energies and resources—have taught him to “know himself, to regard his neighbor, and to look to his God for help when he needs it.” His strength has sprung up stronger and fresher under clouds of trial and suffering. His soul has been bruised, and his body made firm by the keen cold winds of adversity. Out of darkness cometh light, and from the cold frost and bitter snows have bloomed all the beauteous flowers of Spring.
E.L.A. R. HILL
Franklin College, June 8th, 1859.
EDUCATIONAL
A number of the members of the church of Christ, in Tennessee, have deeply felt the inadequacy of the facilities offered in our midst for educating their children and wards, under what they believe to be proper moral and religious influences—believing as they do, that no Christian parent or guardian can feel indifferent to the moral and religious training to which his children or wards are subjected during the period of life in which the mind and heart are receiving the impressions which is to give them character for time and decide their destiny for eternity.
They are also firmly convinced that our location is one which imposes additional responsibilities upon us, which, as true lovers of our holy faith, we cannot fail to meet. It is truth, manifest to every observing mind, that Tennessee—especially Middle Tennessee, for various reasons, is destined to be, and even now, is fast becoming the great educational center for the South and West. It is apparent,
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Page 207
It is that facilities for educating the children of our brotherhood and the youths of our land under the influences of the Christian religion are not offered in our midst, they will be educated under other and less favorable influences. Therefore with a view of meeting this want of our brotherhood and the demand of our position, and with the view of extending the knowledge and the influences of the Christian religion in its divine simplicity, and in the beauty, fullness, and perfection of all its parts, a number of the members of the church of Jesus Christ met in Franklin, Tenn., May 5th, 1860, and formed themselves into a joint Stock Company for the purpose of building up two such institutions as would afford such advantages as are desirable. They adopted the outlines of a plan as published in the May number of the Gospel Advocate, and then agreed to meet at Franklin College, June 6th, 1860. A goodly number of the brethren and friends met. The objects of the meeting and plan of operations were presented. The amount of stock having been subscribed which was requisite to the election of a Board of Managers, the following named persons were elected as a Board:
- Seth Sparkman
- Jas. C. Owen
- David Hamilton
- O. T. Craig, of Williamson county
- John Hill
- John W. Richardson of Rutherford
- A. W. Potter, of Maury
- Thomas Stalker, of Sumner
- J. A. Anthony, of Wilson
- Alexander Fall and David Lipscomb, of Davidson county
The Board organized by the election of Dr. Jno. W. Richardson, permanent Chairman, and David Lipscomb, Secretary.
The plan of schools as adopted—for the purpose of affording a speedy opening of the schools, and that no individuals might be injured—having directed the managers to purchase Franklin and Minerva Colleges, provided they could be purchased upon terms which the Board should consider fair; negotiations were immediately opened with the proprietors, respectively, of the two Schools, with a view of effecting the purchase. The result of these negotiations has been the purchase by the Board, as a temporary location, of Franklin College, with the lands, buildings, library, apparatus, and other appurtenances, at a very reduced price, to be paid in three equal annual installments, the first, on the 1st of March 1861—all bearing interest from the time possession of the place is given. The Board failed to effect a purchase of Minerva College, as an estimate was placed upon the property far above the amount the Board felt itself at liberty to give. The members of the Board much regret their failure to purchase.
The Gospel Advocate
Chase this property, as they are thereby prevented offering, for the present, such boarding facilities for a female school as they desired. For the present the Board is enabled to open a male school at Franklin College, with such a female school as the buildings, heretofore occupied by Mrs. Fanning’s school, will admit, which will accommodate but a limited number of pupils.
These schools will open on the first Monday in September next, under the superintendence of W. D. Carnes, President, late President of the East Tennessee University at Knoxville, Wm. Lipscomb, Prof. of Languages, and N. B. Smith, Prof. of Mathematics, with such assistants as they may find necessary, and on such terms as they may arrange with a committee of the Board appointed for that purpose. Under their guidance and control, the Board heartily recommend the institution to the Christian brotherhood and the public.
The subscriptions of stock handed in to the Board at the Franklin meeting, 7th of July, amounted to seventeen thousand nine hundred and fifty dollars, with several lists to hear from. The hearty and earnest response of the brotherhood and friends to the proposition, so far as it has been presented, for building up in our midst institutions offering enlarged facilities and superior advantages for educating the sons and daughters of our brotherhood and friends is a sure evidence of the deep-seated and widespread conviction of the necessity of such institutions, and is also the sure guarantee of the certain and early success of our movement.
The next meeting of the Board of Managers and of the stockholders takes place at Franklin College on the third of September next.
DAVID LIPSCOMB,
Sect’y. Board of Managers.
Teacher Wanted
Bro. Fanning: Could you send us a first-class Female Teacher, full of music, mathematics, and a little fashionable French for parlor purposes? I am requested to seek out a competent female (feme sole) for a neighborhood, in twelve miles of Helena and ten miles of my residence. We don’t want a picture woman, but one of Sister Fanning’s best. If we can have the order filled, send me the pedigrees and price, and I will attend to the arrangement, and write definitely instantaneously.
J. A. BUTLER
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
209
SINGULAR QUESTIONS
In the American Christian Review, for June 12th, we notice a few questions presented for discussion at a Ministers meeting in Cambridge, Ohio, which are so novel in their character, that we are disposed to publish them and make some respectful suggestions in reference to them.
- “The way to conduct a Protracted Meeting to the best results.”
- “The best method of settling church difficulties?”
- “The responsibilities of the church and her ministry?”
- “The duties of Pastors of Churches?”
D. S. BURNETT, GEO. GATT, J. M. HENRY, THOS. MUNNELL.
SUGGESTIONS
The brethren whose names are subscribed to these questions, are men of unquestionable talent, and we consider Bro. Burnett our best pulpit orator; yet there is something quite singular in them. We presume the brethren will not call them scriptural interrogatories. We cannot well resist the conclusion, that there is a disposition to send a flag of truce into the enemies’ camp. Have the brethren who have so long been struggling for the authority of the word grown tired, and are they ready to say to denominations, give us markets, and we will speculate with you and be as you are? We make no charges, and we regret the apparent necessity of calling attention to such matters.
Let us look briefly at the questions.
- The way to conduct a protracted meeting?
We ask our brethren for authority for any meeting which they are disposed to call “protracted.” What kind of a meeting is it, brethren? Is it a meeting to teach the world the manner of becoming Christians? You have the instruction, “Preach the Gospel, he that believes and is baptized shall be saved.” Paul dwelt “two whole years in his own hired house,” in Rome, “and received all that came to him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence.” Here we have both the matter of preaching and the manner of conducting meetings for the world’s conversion.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
We object to introducing questions in reference to which there is no room for debate. The scriptures are replete with instruction regarding every meeting that should be held.
1. The way to conduct ourselves toward other denominations?
It is mortifying, indeed, to see such a question in the columns of a respectable paper amongst us, and over names most honored. Yet, after rejoicing these many years that we are no longer, no “sect” or party, we are to put down as another “denomination.” This is a plain admission that we as a denomination or sect like others, should meet together and discuss the treatment of our sister sects. Hence all that has been claimed regarding the church of God is false—we have accomplished nothing, and we should now study how to cooperate with “other denominations.”
What do you mean Brethren?
Are we not one of the “denominations?” Prove this, and we will prove that God has no church, and that religion is a farce.
2. The best method of settling church difficulties.
The simple fact that the brethren presume there is a good, better and best way of settling difficulties, and we have a right to discuss them, philosophize, and adopt such wise conclusions as may suit our fancy, is a plain admission that there is no authority in the scriptures, and every one has a right to make or adopt such a plan as he may like. By losing sight of the Bible and the church of God, the cause of the Savior is often clothed in sackcloth and ashes. It will always be the case till we learn that Christians have no choice in matters of authority.
The man that is a falsifier, thief, drunkard and habitually wicked, must be put away, in order to preserve the body in health. When we forget this, and appeal to feeling-sympathy, the cause suffers. A false sympathy strengthened Ferguson and Collingsworth to do much mischief in Tennessee, and we have more than once witnessed a sympathy for drunkards—not drunkenness that brought the church into reproach. We have known occasionally, heroes and martyrs made or men, mean and despised, simply because by falsifying and deep hypocrisy, they impressed such as would encourage them, that they were persecuted and were suffering grievous wrongs.
We say then to our brethren, that we find no room for debate or even discretion in settling church difficulties. The law and the testimony must govern. If one has sinned, he must bring forth fruits worthy of repentance in order to restoration, and those who keep…
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
company with him recognize him as a Christian, or do anything in opposition to the righteous action of Christians, connive at wickedness and are really enemies to the cross of Christ. Why brethren, then philosophize in regard to matters of law and authority?
- Touching the examination of the “Responsibility of the church and her ministry,” we would respectfully intimate that everything is a subject of authority and there is no room for debate.
- If the brethren mean by “Duties of pastors of Churches,” the duties of such shepherds, overseers or pastors as the Spirit made in the days of the Apostles, there is no ground for controversy, but if they refer to a class of pastors not recognized in the Bible, there may be room for much vexatious disputation. Will the brethren be specific and tell us plainly what they expect to accomplish by the examination of such unscriptural questions? We would be glad to publish all they have to say on these matters.
T. F.
THE PURE HEART
There is exceeding vagueness in the meaning of the phrase, “Pure Heart,” and hence the general confusion amongst teachers of religion regarding purity. It is, perhaps, more often employed negatively than positively. The innocent are pronounced pure, when in fact, they have accomplished nothing worthy, but they are said to “do no harm.” We cannot become qualified for heaven by doing no harm. Something more positive is required than to merely abstain from evil. We must “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.”
Not long since we heard a brother for whom we have great respect, deliver a discourse with the view of proving that he had made quite considerable advances in his scriptural knowledge touching the purity of the Heart. The purpose seemed to be to satisfy his hearers that the heart must be made pure, in some sense, before one enters the kingdom of the Saviour, or is baptized. He quoted “seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth,” and rather triumphantly enquired, “Brethren does baptism purify the heart?” From this and divers other points made we were led to infer that our brother had either made important discoveries on the subject of the pure heart, or was laboring under a serious mistake. And to better satisfy ourselves and others we propounded the following plain question:
What do you mean,
212
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Bro. B., by the pure heart? Do you employ the words in the sense of our Methodist, Baptist, and other partisan friends who maintain that by the direct action of the Holy Spirit, “the soul,” in their style, “is regenerated, purified, cleansed and freed from sin before obedience to the Gospel?”
Our brother very promptly replied that he did not believe the soul is pardoned by the single act of faith, or by the direct influence of the spirit before submission to Christ. He meant to say that the moment the sinner trusts the Lord with all the heart, his whole soul, mind and spirit are revolutionized—are quickened and made alive.
But the reader will observe there is no new discovery in this. For nearly or quite half a century, the brethren have taught that faith is the condition of a change of feeling, heart and soul, on the subject of religion. The good seed sown in the honest heart quickens it and leads the soul to reformation and submission to the Redeemer.
But we ask the candid, if the Scriptures authorize us to believe that faith or the spirit frees the soul from guilt without the obedience of faith. This is a matter of great moment, and should be studied with much care.
T. F.
A DISCUSSION
From “a sermon on Campbellism,” by the Rev. L. P. Crenshaw, we learn a discussion will open at Hopkinsville, Ky., on the 2nd Monday in August, between Rev. L. P. Crenshaw and Elder W. T. Moore, of Frankfort, on the following subjects, viz:
- Proposition 1: In conversion there is a direct operation of the Holy Spirit in addition to that exerted through the written word. Mr. Crenshaw affirms, Mr. Moore denies.
- Proposition 2: Penitent believers in Christ are the only proper subjects of baptism. Mr. Moore affirms, Mr. Crenshaw denies.
- Proposition 3: The application of water by affusion, by a proper administrator to a proper subject, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is Christian baptism. Mr. Crenshaw affirms, Mr. Moore denies.
- Proposition 4: Christian Baptism is for the remission of past sins. Mr. Moore affirms, Mr. Crenshaw denies.
To be held in Christian church in Hopkinsville, Ky.
A. H. Reform,
B. Franklin, Committee.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Remarcs
Discussions conducted in a genuinely Christian manner are the very best means of enlightening the public; and “squabbles” are disgraceful to all concerned.
By-the-by, some of the brethren have invited me to the debate, and really we would be glad to witness the performance if we thought we could content ourselves to sit quietly and hear what we regard as truth assailed, but we know not how to trust ourselves in such circumstances, and we suppose we had better remain at a respectful distance. If, however, our friend Dr. McFerrin, who is very much devoted to the Methodist cause, would accompany me, we might go over and fill out the odd bits of time, and really add interest to the discussion. If he could not take the time, we would accept Dr. Somers or Dr. Schan as a substitute.
We hope the getters up of the discussion will, in the meantime, hear with us for offering a few friendly suggestions regarding some points which we notice in connection with the preliminaries.
- The pronouncing of a Methodist or Romish preacher “everend” is blasphemous; and styling as young a man as Bro. Moore, “a little” is false in fact, and ridiculously foolish in any view that can be taken of it. God alone is entitled to our reverence; and men venerable for age are entitled to the distinction of “Elder.”
- Baptism, “in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” is impossible, though it is so recorded in the King’s version. In the name, or by the authority of our King, penitents are immersed into (e.g.) the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are therefore no more baptized “in the name”—by the authority—of the Father and Spirit, than in the name of Jerusalem.
- “Christian Baptism!” Who ever heard of such a baptism in the Bible? There is a baptism for penitent believers out of Christ, in order to their introduction into his family, but the idea of baptism to Christians for the remission of their sins or any other purpose, is too bad for men who have a right to talk about the Bible.
- The discussion will be held in the “Christian Church!” We enter our most solemn protest against this procedure. If the parties mean by the phrase “Christian Church,” that large and excellent meeting house, belonging to the Christians in and about Hopkinsville, they ought to say so; but we most seriously object to calling the house, which had the honor—through the kindness of our brethren—we first occupy, the “Christian Church.” We attempted no dedication of stone, brick,
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Morter, wood, and paint to God. The church of God is composed of “living stones.” It is quite as convenient to use a pure speech as the language of Ashdod. If our young Bro. Moore will rely exclusively on the spirit’s voice to guide him, he can chase a thousand of the tallest sectarian giants of the land, but the moment a teacher of the Christian religion begins to rely upon his own superior powers, and attempts to beat down, by carnal weapons, his opponent, he is found as feeble as Sampson shorn of his locks. The truth requires nothing more than sensible and earnest advocates.
T. F.
FRUITLESS SPECULATIONS, vs. “THE FAITH.”
Plump theories very frequently produce great leanness in spirituals. Fellowship upon the future condition of the unrighteous, or fellowship upon the punishment of the forward, or fellowship upon the upper-kingdomism or lower-kingdomism, may be such as all spirit hobbyists and factionists, but “the fellowship of the Spirit,” which grows and thrives in the soil of inspired precepts and promises, and the obedient use of these in daily life, is a fellowship very much sounder and safer as well as purer and sweeter.
Orthodox ignorance and organized ambition in ages past have given us a very unsatisfactory legacy. The stereotyped teaching of long centuries is followed in these sectary days by any quantity and every quality of ‘doctrine,’ old, new, and mixed. Much as we are opposed to the short-grained schemes of fellowship which snap and scatter at every turn, it would not be hard to prove that these diversities, while they are deplorable, eventuate in fewer and smaller evils than the product of the spiritual monopoly which so long kept the people from the liberty of thinking.
From this standpoint, any change tending to shake or weaken the pillars of the venerable temple of error, is a comparative boon. The root of every sectary sin is in the papacy. Two hells have been demanded by the Roman organism; a little temporary one called purgatory and a large one of eternal permanency. Views of purgatorial punishment and eternal torment, duly assorted and upheld by the priests, become a disciplinary power in the church; and to question…
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
215
The existence or use of purgatory, or to differ from the church upon the doctrine of brimstone and its perpetual services, was not to be tolerated. Reformation came; philosophy came with it. The terror of hell was put in reason’s crucible, and reason could find no use for it. Purgatory, somewhat modified to suit the times, was retained by a portion of the reasoners. Philosophy again advanced, and spoke feelingly of God’s compassion, and pictured the future free of punishment. This, however, smiled not all. It was judged to be less spiritual than rational. To harmonize revelation with reason and soundness with justice, it seemed expedient to some of the progressives to quench hell and send the wicked out of existence at the same moment. Thus, the severities raised and used by the “Man of Sin,” have stirred and are stirring up thoughtful minds to find outlets of relief.
And it would seem that confusion for a time is to be expected, and in this battle against terrorism attacks from every quarter and weapons of all sorts are to be expected.
What shall we do with these cogitations and theories? To let them alone would be our choice; but the inquisitive spirit of the times will not suffer it. And indeed, in more than a few instances these parcels of philosophy grew so rapidly and spread so mightily that they soon absorb the entire attention; hence the righteousness which is of faith is superseded by a new sort of righteousness consisting of a theory of the nature of man and a theory of how the wicked shall be treated.
These branches of the philosophical tree, when grown out, blossomed, and bore fruit, yielding as many different kinds of fellowship. They overtook all else, and each philosophy sought fellowship, not upon the gospel, but upon it. This is their practical mischief. This is our chief objection to them. We are not comparing these philosophers to see which can best prove; we are not looking for proofs why one should prefer to another; we are not seeking to slay them in order to put a better philosophy in their place; but we are keeping a steady eye upon that Christian companionship we call fellowship, and glancing at the disturbing elements which render Christian fellowship impracticable.
There is such an entity from heaven as “THE FAITH,” and in this and on this it is the Lord’s will that men should be of one heart and one soul; and whether man has a spirit, as a rose leaf or as an angel, is not in the matter, the question is, Upon what shall we fellowship one another?
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Shall we look upon each other as brethren because we agree in our studies relative to the composition of man? Or because our thoughts are parallel when thinking upon the precise attributes of the holy and unholy on being judged? Or because of agreement on the nature, location, and appearance of hell? Or because of oneness touching the size and shape of the devil? To propose these is to answer them. To preach the nature of man is not to preach Christ. To preach our cogitations touching details enveloped in the scroll of the future is not to preach Christ. Hence we arrive at a two-fold conclusion: that as there is no element of salvation there can be no ground of fellowship in such material; these questions are composed of, and therefore all theories of this description are needless except to minister strife.
And to our minds—we speak it out right—is a sure proof that the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ is a sense article where questions like these grow rife and produce no solid results.
Wherever there is a principle of action at stake, or whenever obedience is required, we can admire a man standing up alone for it against the world, as did Noah, Abraham, and Daniel. It looks grand and it is grand to see men follow their convictions of truth to ‘obey God’ whatever obstacles interpose. Whether we have the courage to imitate the example or not, we cannot avoid seeing in some degree that there is nobleness in it.
But what principle of action, what chapter of obedience to Jesus, can anyone find in a theoretical notion of what and where the righteous shall be after the resurrection, or in a set of sentiments pertaining to the exact treatment of the unrighteous after they have committed their last sin on earth?
Everything in the handbook of heaven is either to convert sinners or edify and comfort saints; and what converting power there is for a sinner, or what edifying grace for a saint in preaching either a half-baked theory of punishment or attempting to preach punishment according to some of the new fashions, requires another capacity than the Lord has given us to discern.
What reasoners we all are. If T. M. or J. D. D. had been present when Jehovah talked with Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, we should have concluded with rational certainty that God would not permit four thousand years to pass before the advent of the Deliverer with his blessings. And we should have reasoned away sin and its attendant misery from Earth long before the year of the world five thousand eight hundred and sixty. But Jehovah’s plans are mighty. They are…
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
upon a scale too high and wide for our present vision. He has, for these thousands of years, drawn a broad and suitable line between obedience and disobedience, and on the one side there has been joy and holy fellowship, and on the other a sad picture of the reverse. And when the Almighty Lord who reads past, present, and future with wise, draws the curtain that separates here from yonder, and gives us a glimpse of things to come, we still see in unchanged perfection the capital principle of God’s present dealings—gladness and obedience continuously blended, unhappiness and disobedience inseparably allied.
— Banner of Faith
FRANKLIN COLLEGE
The property of this Institution has been purchased by an association of brethren and friends of education, with the view of establishing at no very distant day, two schools, male and female, on a much broader basis than any one now in operation amongst the disciples of Christ in the State, and it will in future be under the direction of a Board of Managers, chosen by the stockholders. The edifice is undergoing important repairs, and with greatly increased advantages, will be employed till the final location is made of the contemplated and much enlarged establishment.
The College is located five miles East of Nashville, Tenn., and is of easy access from all parts of the country. The situation is elevated and dry, and entirely exempt from all local causes of disease; the water is pure and abundant, the air is healthful and invigorating, the scenery is beautiful and inviting.
The college is situated in the midst of an enterprising, intelligent and moral community; the students of the institution will enjoy all the advantages of refined and elevated society, and at the same time be removed from all the corrupting and demoralizing influences of a large town or city.
The Managers have elected as President of the College, W. D. Carnes, late President of the East Tennessee University, who will be aided by the former Faculty of the College. With these able, experienced and tried instructors, who will be present day and night to…
218
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Watch over and guard the interests of the pupils; parents and guardians may feel assured that every effort will be made for physical, mental, and moral improvement of their children and wards.
The Managers are determined it shall be inferior to no institution in its facilities for the education of the sons and daughters of all who desire to have children thoroughly educated and prepared for life’s active duties. They, therefore, commend it to an intelligent public.
The next session will open on Monday the 3rd of September next. The female school will be continued as heretofore.
TERMS
| Description | Amount |
|---|---|
| Boarding, fuel and washing, per half session of five months, payable in advance | $60.00 |
| Tuition | $25.00 |
| Vocal Music | $5.00 |
| Incidental | $2.00 |
For further information, application may be made to W. D. Carnes, President of the College, or to Prof. W. Lipscomb, Prof. N. B. Smith, or to
DAVID LIPSCOMB
Secretary of the Board of Managers.
NEW PAPERS
Some six weeks since we received the first number of the Gospel Herald, published weekly at Lewisburg, Tenn., by brethren Reese Jones and J. C. Elliott, but heard nothing more of the week till the 6th number was issued.
What does it mean brethren? We want your paper.
We can say in great confidence that Bro. Jones is an able and safe writer. He will not abuse the cause in our judgment. The Herald is published at $2 per annum, and we wish it the best success.
T. F.
The Tennessee Journal of Education
This monthly is published by our former pupil, Bro. O. L. Randolph, of Richmond, Tenn., at $1.50 per year, and promises to do valuable service in its peculiar department of labor. It has at least our best wishes.
T. F.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
219
ARKANSAS SERMONS
Rev. Fanning — We have good news from the land of Clover. Our long tried and highly esteemed brother, Robert Graham, has resigned his position in the Kentucky University, and will soon wend his way back to the bosom of his beloved Arkansans, where thousands will receive him with open arms and hearts of love.
The Sphlmore class, under his tutorship, presented him with a splendid walking cane, with these words engraved on its gold plate: “To Prof. Graham, from his Sophomore Class in Kentucky University, 13th June, 1860.”
This tribute of respect is worth more than a thousand crowns won by Caesar, or Bonaparte, or Alexander, gilded in the blood of plain million. The only stereotype edition of sterling merit is to have one’s name inscribed in the hearts of the pure of our race. The heart that knows no guilt, is the hall in which to hang our trophies. The glorious light of Zion’s King already begins to streak the dark horizon of this once gloomy State. Please see my beloved Bro. H… Lertson and his angel Laura, for further information on our prospects and needs.
If we had a few energetic laborers to aid the good cause here, the field would lie ours. I can’t write the Scut of Burns, but he said, “God makes the farmers fight the harder.” If we had rather the hearts of our preacher or the gold to cultivate these hearts, we could soon have a powerful foothold here. If we had, in the city of Helena, 100 of these inviting steeples that shoot high up, pyramidedly, in the blue heavens, with a large toll whose intonations would ring out “Come for salvation here!” I have no doubt that we would command the best talent of the pulpit.
I hear, by the aid of mine ear, (for who ever heard with his hand or foot?) of brethren whose vocation it is to hunt up the wool of their shepherd’s sheep, passing up and down the majestic hills, the lord of American “M…,” and as they pass, they cast a longing, lingering look behind, and sigh. The ox that leads out the corn must be muzzled, and the pure-hearted Jacob Crenth, who, “with food and raiment, is content,” told me that he came in a “squirrel’s trap of falling on me,” and compelled to cast his lot upon the die and run the hazard of the race. And after procuring more money here than elsewhere, and everywhere else in the State, he proclaimed us emphatically (as an old hunter used to pronounce emphatically) “the greatest wing of the division.”
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Purer and more liberal hearts never throbbed in the bosom of man than moves these people. If I possessed the wine, and emphasis, and cadence, and trick of some money beggars, I could do a great deal for the Lord, and beside, go clad in purple and fine linen, every day.
Bro. F., I have never made but two money flushes at the people, and these were in behalf of poor children for a Sunday School Library. I got the money in quick time. Being encouraged by this liberality, I have in my head and heart to enlarge my solicitations in reference to the employment of one or more Evangelists. What think you of it? We must milk the goats a little, till we can gather our Father’s flock into an organized fold, then we can do better. Or, as the Puritans of Connecticut said, in the incipiency of that State, “That they would use the Bible as a Code of Laws until they could make a better.”
In hope,
J. A. BUTLER
AIDING ROME—ANTI-CHRIST
Bro. FANNING: I am charged with being opposed to progress, because I oppose the patronage of Roman Catholic Schools, and Protestant patronage of these schools. This, my highest honor is.
That Rome has been gaining strength in our beloved America to a fearful extent no honest man will deny. Her church numbers nearly four millions on this soil dedicated to liberty, with two thousand Priests, and eighteen hundred churches, and one hundred and twenty male and female Academic institutions.
I was startled when I read in the R. C. Quarterly Review, by Bronson, “That the Pope claims the exclusive right of dissolving the allegiance which citizens own to their Government and the Constitution and Laws.” This is beautiful when reflected in an American mirror! Pope Pius IX, in his abocution to the Cardinals, in Sept. 1851, said, “That he hath taken this principle for basis, that the Catholic Religion, with all its rights, ought to be exclusively dominant such in sort, that every other worship shall be vanished and interdicted.”
This is loaf sugar! The primate of Ireland says to the Catholics of the United Kingdom, “Our venerable Hierarchy and Clergy, in the fulfillment of their duties, will inculcate the strict and religious duty of selecting as Rep…
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
221
Representatives of the people, those men who are best fitted to support, in the Imperial Parliament, our religious rights. Straws show the way the wind blows.
The immortal Washington told me, “That those men have no attachment to the country, further than interest binds them.” See Spark’s Life of Washington, Vol. 2. And yet I am concerned for writing against the progress of these anti-American influences in our midst. Would it be wrong to tell you that an incendiary was trying to ignite your building with your family in it? I would tell you if the heavens fell. Opposition to tyrants is service to God. Every Christian should stand in opposition to every anti-principle to God and country.
J. A. BUTLER
A VOICE FROM GEORGIA
Bro. Fanning – I have been a member of the church of Christ for twenty-one years, and have been preaching the word for sixteen years. And as my family is now to be educated and I can’t leave them to evangelize, I have undertaken to teach school a while to educate my children and have them under my own care. But I will not be idle.
Wherever I pitch my tent in life, I will raise the cross flag garnished with Bethlehem’s conglut. I am not of the fearful and unbelieving. For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace until Jerusalem shall be the praise of all earth. I am here surrounded by sectarians, but my Baptist friends have treated me very kindly, and have invited me to preach in their church, and seem to be well pleased. I look to the future with interest; truth is omnipotent, eternal, and a native of the skies. To it I have laced my fortune, my destiny, my all. It is the only bark of safety upon which can brave the storm and the tide and obtain a secure anchorage at the throne of all truth.
Truth crushed to earth will rise again,
The eternal years of God are hers;
Error wounded, writhes in pain,
And dies amid her worshippers.
Dear brother, we have a short time to labor and a long time to rest. Be strong! Be valiant! Fight the good fight of faith; conquer in death.
222
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE.
and obtain a star-like home with those immortal worthies who decorated the royal palace of heaven’s immortal King.
Yours Fraternally,
DAVID M. BUCK.
Ringgold, Ga., April, 1860.
THE LIGHT OF A CHEERFUL FACE
There is no greater every-day virtue than cheerfulness. The light of a cheerful face diffuses itself, and communicates the happy spirit that inspires it. The sourest temper must sweeten in the atmosphere of continuous good humor. A well might fog, and cloud, and vapor hope to cling to the illuminated hills, as the blues and morose clouds to combat jovial speech and exhilarating smiles. Be cheerful always.
There is no path but will be easier traveled, no load but will be lighter, no shadow on heart or brain but will lift sooner in presence of a determined cheerfulness!
It may at times seem difficult for the happiest temperament to keep the countenance of peace and content; but the difficulty will vanish when we truly consider that sullen gloom and passionate despair do nothing but multiply sorrows and thicken cares.
It comes to us as providentially as good-matter is as good, if we rightly apply its lessons; why not then, cheerfully accept the ill, and thus blunt its apparent sting?
Cheerfulness ought to be the fruit of philosophy and of Christianity. What is gained by despondency and fretfulness—by pitiful sounds and sulking? If we are ill, let us be cheered by the truth that we shall do good here in health; if misfortune befall us, let us be cheered by hopeful vision of better fortunes; if death robs us of the dear ones, let us be cheered by the thought, that they are only gone before, to the blissful homes where we shall all meet to part no more forever.
Cultivate cheerfulness, if only for personal profit. You will find every duty and burden lighter by being cheerful. It will be your comfort in solitude, your passport and commendation in society. You will be more sought after, more trusted and esteemed for your steady cheerfulness. The bad, the riotous, may be notoriously gay and vulgarly humorous, but seldom or never truly cheerful.
Genuine cheerfulness is an almost certain index of a happy mind, and a pure good heart.
—Banner of Truth.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
223
CHRISTIANITY
The Christian religion as inculcated in the New Testament, unfolds the most beautiful and sublime system in existence. Like its author, “it is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
Jesus Christ came to earth to accomplish a work, which all the prophets and all the angels of Heaven would have undertaken in vain. He came to reconcile the human family to God himself.
To accomplish this glorious mission, He prepared himself for that grand sacrifice which alone could extinguish the flames of divine justice, “burning to avenge the wickedness of man.” His was a most amiable life, abounding in the most disinterested, and yet the most benevolent acts. Still, so little did his own countrymen appreciate his heaven-descended mission, that they dragged him before judges and human tribunals, for no other reason, as they alleged, than that he was a subverter of their institutions. Affirming his object to be to set society into a flame, they accused him of being a fire-brand of sedition.
“He stirreth up the people.” — Luke xxiii. 5.
The doctrine of Christ has ever been accused of disturbing society. Shall the disturbances, excited by the preaching of “the word,” be imputed to the fearless advocates of Truth and Virtue, or to those who oppose?
Vice should always be censured; but he who has sufficient moral resolution to do so, must be reprimanded by those who are the constant and eager votaries at its unhallowed shrine! Intemperance must be opposed; but he who shows the extravagance of drunkenness is accused of disturbing the peace of society while those who drown reason in wine, are the most vociferous in their accusations.
There is no concord between the maxims of Jesus Christ and the maxims of this world; for what concord can exist between Christ and Belial? The one stands forth the great advocate of peace, harmony, truth, fidelity, and of pure and undefiled religion; the other is the advocate of enmity, discord, falsehood, treachery, and of a variety of systems which—far from alleviating—do but aggravate the misfortunes and miseries of the human race.
Oh! that all the lovers of peace and harmony, of truth and virtue, would renounce their discordant dialects, and listen to the voice of inspiration. Would that they could be induced to renounce all party.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Creeds and party animosities, and unite upon the grand platform sanctioned by God himself, and faithfully presented to the world in his divine oracles. Then might the Christian philanthropist refer with indescribable pleasure to the memorable prayer of Jesus, when he most fervently entreated the Father that all his disciples might be one, and all who should afterwards believe in him might be “built up in their most holy faith.”
Let the followers of the Prince of Peace pray everywhere—lifting up holy hands—that the day may soon come, when it shall be the proudest exclamation of man—not that I am a believer in this doctrine or that doctrine—but I am a follower of the Lamb of God, nor will I blush to wear his name.
Professing Christians thus united into one family, throughout the vast empire of earth is such a sight, the angels of heaven would burst forth into one joyful acclamation, “Glory to God in the highest;” on earth, “peace and good will” dwell among men.
WM. F. FULGHAM.
Olive Branch, Miss., June, 1860.
Bro. Litscomb.—I would like to hear your views on the 12th verse of the 10th chapter of 1st Corinthians. I heard the editor of the Memphis Baptist Messenger preach from that text some time ago, and I would like to see how your views agree. I cannot write you all he said, but leave you to guess it.
C. O.
Remarks
The Apostle, as is clearly evident from the context, was teaching these Corinthian disciples the necessity of humility, watchfulness, and unwavering trust in God. He, just before, presents the sad fate of the disobedient Jews, and warns these disciples by their example against that rebellious, self-confidence that led them to forget the Lord that had so favored them. This is the whole of the matter, regardless of the theological nonsense which men endeavor to sustain by such passages.
When men determine to mystify the plain instructions of the spirit, and blind the eyes of the people to the glorious light of the truth, it is no easy matter to calculate to what depths of stupidity and ignorance they will descend.
W. L.