THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Editors: T. Fanning, D. Lipscomb
Vol. VIII
Nashville, Jan. 30, 1866
Number 5
THE SOUTH AS A FIELD OF RELIGIOUS LABOR
We believe from our own personal observation and from the reports we continually hear from all parts of the South, that there is hardly so inviting a field for faithful ministerial service to be found in the world, as is presented in our own war-smitten State and those south of us. The very trials, sufferings, and disappointments of our people have prepared their minds for appreciating the true characteristics and promises of the kingdom of God. They have by sad experience learned how uncertain are riches; they, by the blighting of their fondest hopes, have had their confidence in and affection for the human institutions of earth much impaired. They have sorely felt that when earthly kingdoms promise peace and happiness, they bring instead deep sorrow and bitter distress. The hearts of many of the people yearn for something more sure and steadfast in its promises, more stable and permanent in its blessings than any earthly institutions can give.
Yet, while they yearn with anxious memories for a stay and comfort for their weary souls, they have beheld the churches professing to be of God, torn asunder, belligerent and bloody-handed, in fraternal strife. They have seen the professed ministers of the Prince of Peace, in the name of Him that was meek and lowly, hounding on their followers to deeds of rapine and blood, urging the slaughter of their own brethren for the sake of upholding an institution of man. Seeing this, their faith has become weak, not in God or the Christian religion, but in these professed ministers of Christianity. They were credulous imbeciles not to lose faith in such professions of religion. It requires no deep yearning nor subtle powers of logic to satisfy the earnest and true heart, that such professions of Christianity are false and empty pretensions.
The world demands, and God demands, a Church that will stand erect amid all the conflicts and strifes of parties and nations, an undivided and indivisible unit, maintaining the oneness of the faith in the bonds of peace. The Church that is divided and shattered by the…
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Sectional and party strifes of the political trickster and demagogue, that becomes the subservient tool of the ambitious aspirant for place and power, and of the scolding infidel, can never be the Church of God. The Church founded of God, the only Church that can benefit man, must not only be able to maintain itself as an indivisible unit against the discord of warring sections and the shock of national strifes, but must withstand the gates of Hell itself. That unity must be real and practical, not in appearance only.
It is a base, if not a wicked use of terms to call a Church united—one in Christ, while the members of that Church in bitter wrath are destroying one another. Is there not a hypocrisy and murder one of another? Then can Christians, who are to be one, as they are one, do such things? It requires an intelligence of no small degree to perceive the glaring inconsistency of such a course. And to see too the fitness of the picture drawn by the Savior, of the wolf in sheep’s clothing, to those preachers who, in this garb of the Prince of Peace, urge their fellow men to deeds of blood and violence. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Such preachers and such churches, we are satisfied, can never reach effectively the people of the South, and if they did reach them, could never benefit them or any other people. The preachers and the churches that alone can benefit them or any other people, must be those who have not taken upon themselves the cares, anxieties, and responsibilities of this world, “which choke out the good seed of the Word and make it unfruitful,” but who are of that class of “good soldiers of Jesus Christ, who entangle not themselves with the affairs of this life” (2 Tim. 2:4).
We believe there is a more inviting field of labor in the Southern States, than the world has ever before seen. There is a remarkable dearth of laborers throughout this section. This dearth is attributable to several causes. The occupancy of the lands of the people with the multiplicity of interests they have just passed through has so engrossed the interests of all, that no young men have grown up into the ministry. Some, who had consecrated themselves for life to labor in the Kingdom of the Lord, have sadly fallen in the service of another master. Others have turned aside from their first love. Others who went among them for their money, when their money failed, forsook and left them to their poverty and distress, without spiritual advisers and comforters. “The hireling fleeth because he is a hireling and careth not for the sheep.”
We have often seen from sacred and profane history, a number of preachers who appealed to others for help to enable them to go to and continue in promising but destitute fields of labor, but it remained for the year of our Lord, 1865, to develop the case of professed preachers of the Gospel appealing to churches for aid to carry them away.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
from fields that they themselves reported most promising, for no other cause than that the people were poor. Jesus Christ gave as the crowning characteristic of His religion, “the poor have the gospel preached to them.” The preacher of His religion in the 19th century preaches to people while they are rich, leaves them when misfortune comes, our conviction is that no preacher who shares the bounties and favors of a people while prosperous, and then forsakes them when misfortune comes, has either the soul of a true man or the heart of a Christian. Had he the true spirit of Christ he would work and toil with his own brethren in their poverty and sorrows with them, and still be their guide and comforter in directing them to the true riches.
It is that the people are poor, another preparation favorable for the reception of the gospel. Many who have been in their affections taken up with other matters, now are ready to hear the truth. Hence, then, is a rich and promising field of souls made ready under the workings of Providence for the reception of the gospel. Who is there that can, with clean hands, enter in, and cultivate this field prepared of God?
D. L.
HUMILITY
Humility is a distinguishing mark of the sons of God, whether in earth or heaven. Abraham, God’s friend and the father of the faithful, the model of justification of believers, was a humble man. He bowed himself before the sons of Heth, he said, “I am but dust and ashes, have taken upon me to speak unto thee.” Job said, “Behold, I am vile, I will lay my hand upon my mouth, my eye sees thee, I abhor myself; and repent in dust and ashes.” David said, “Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor are mine eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in great things too high for me. I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother.”
He said again, “Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be willing to offer so willingly after this sort? All things came of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.” John the Immerser said, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me!” “I am not worthy to bear the sandals from the door.” Jacob said, “O God, I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies and of all the truth which thou hast showed thy servant.” Joseph said, “It is not in me to give you an answer; God shall give you an answer of peace.” Moses said, “Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh, or bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
The Apostles said, “Why look you so earnestly upon us, as though by our own power of holiness we had made this man to walk?” “In the name of Jesus Christ made this man strong.” Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, to teach them condescension, kindness and humility one to the other. “Be ye clothed with humility.”
J. C.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
IS DANCING AN EXERCISE OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST?
Amongst the numerous evil practices of professed Christianity, dancing occupies a very conspicuous place, and wields a powerful influence over the hearts, especially, of the thoughtless. Often has our heart been pained at the thought that some of our brothers and sisters have been partakers in this contaminating exercise. We do not like to think they indulge in it from a desire to do wrong, and therefore, our charity provides the mantle of “thoughtlessness” to cover their failings, and prompts us to hope and pray for better things in the future. But when there are no efforts making to correct the evil, its subjects are emboldened to insult us, by telling us, “There is no harm in it.” There are certain circumstances in which forbearance ceases to be a virtue, and when truth demands no longer, the exercise of forbearance, but a stern and rigid discipline, in order to reprove and correct wickedness and save the cause from reproach.
It is our purpose to investigate the subject by the light of God’s truth. We are assured that the Scriptures furnish all things necessary to our perfection in word and work. To them, then, we should make our appeal, and should submit to their decision. That the Lord Jesus Christ has a kingdom on earth, is plainly taught—a kingdom over which He presides, and for the government of which He has instituted most positive rules and regulations in the New Testament.
That there is another kingdom, established in opposition to Christ’s kingdom, over which the “Prince of Darkness” presides, is also clearly set forth in the Scriptures of truth. Each kingdom has its peculiar characteristics, its subjects and boundaries like. Between them there is an impassable gulf.
These things being true, the task of determining the duties, rights and privileges of the subjects of each kingdom, is an easy one. In which kingdom, then, is dancing an exercise? The subjects of one are represented as spiritual, holy and good, and those of the other as fleshly, corrupt and devilish. The governing principle in one kingdom is spirit, and in the other flesh. See the 5th chapter of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, 16th verse. The Apostle says, “This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other.” Here an opposition is affirmed between these two principles, the Spirit and the flesh; and to make the matter stronger, the Apostle enumerates some of the works of each. He says, “The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” In this language of the Apostle are enumerated some…
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Page 69
of the leading works of the opposing Kingdom, which will serve as guides to further investigations. It is proper to remark that the Scriptures abound with counsels similar to the above. From the foregoing we can easily gather the character of the two governments. The mind, with scarcely an effort, draws the broad distinction, and seems ready to have passed an unalterable judgment upon the works of the devil.
But let us examine the rules regulating the lives of the subjects of this Spiritual Kingdom. Have we seen anything favorable to dancing in all the regulations of the Kingdom of Heaven? It is no part of the worship. The scriptures do not speak of it as a godly exercise. It was the means by which John the Baptist lost his head; and the Apostle classes it with the worship of idols, and warns the disciples against such conduct. See 1st Cor., 10th chap. and 7th verse, “Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to dance.”
(Chie Knight.) Shall we leave the Kingdom of Heaven to exercise with the kingdom of darkness? But whom we admonish the colonies of Messiah’s Kingdom, into whose temple must we enter? There can be but one other, and there can be but one reply. That is the kingdom of darkness of this world, or of Satan, and its inhabitants must be most shocking.
What are the popular exercises of this kingdom? The very works of the flesh that the Apostles preached, and prominent among them are “Drunkenness” and “Reveling.” What it is that is leading but reveling?
“Love’s of pleasure more than lovers of God,” justly raises the question. Has it not an appearance of evil? Then shun it, as you would the plague.
“Abstain from all appearance of evil:” We let us note 1st Cor. 10, 7, in which Paul says, “The people that sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play; but Christians are exhorted to come out from among them, and touch not the unclean person; and My Lord says, I will receive you.” A part of “pure religion” consists in “keeping ourselves unspotted from the world.” It is impossible for us to do this, and engage with the world in its pursuits after pleasure.
But, says an objector, “the Jewish church.” What if they did? So do the Heathens. We are not Jews, but claim to be Christians. The Jews never danced until they forsook the true and living God, and compelled Aaron to make a golden calf for them to worship, which provoked the Israelites to make a similar calf and broke them. See Exodus, 32, 1.
Further, the exercise of dancing was not engaged in but by the lowest class of society. “It was considered beneath the dignity of persons of rank and character to practice it.” Clearly, the Roman orator said, “No one dances unless that he is either drunk or mad.”
J. N. W.
Remarks
Christians as well as others must and will have enjoyment, and when they are not engaged in exercises by which they can glorify God, the necessity there will haunt the realm of Darkness. Therefore, we would respectfully suggest to leaders of the celebratory religion, that if they do not desire to see the members of the church go down to eat and drink with the world, and rise up to dance with the sons and daughters.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
of Belial, engage them heartily in such spiritual exercises as will not allow the slightest excuse for seeking happiness where it cannot be found. Much of the blame, brethren, for thousands of our young members of the church resorting to “reading,” may rest upon the preachers. Brethren, let us be faithful, to teach the Church to walk in law, and then the members will not follow the lusts of the flesh.
OUR EXCHANGES
Are quite limited in number as yet. The Banner of Peace comes regularly to our office, is a neatly printed sheet, with I. C. Proffitt and Isaac Shook, editors and proprietors. It is designed to be a medium of Religious intelligence and communication to the great Cumberland Presbyterian Family throughout the whole country. As such, it is filled with news and communications of interest, as well as matter of general and special interest. It is published at Nashville, Tenn.
The Nashville Christian Advocate, published at the Methodist Book Concern, Nashville, Tenn., by J. B. McFerrin, agent, is printed on a large, white sheet, in good style, and is an exposé of Methodist teachings South, and of general news and intelligence concerning the denomination, its condition and operations, we suppose it has no equal. But one copy has ever reached us. We have mailed to you regularly, friend McFerrin.
We have as yet failed to attract the attention of our contemporaries of the secular press, notwithstanding we have mailed our paper regularly to the different news in the city and at other points.
We have also failed to obtain an exchange from the American Christian Review, or Record, or any of our worthies, notwithstanding we have regularly sent to them. We hear that some of them have given a notice of our publication, but we have failed to receive a copy in exchange. We are disposed to cultivate kindly relationships with all brethren of the Press.
Our Brother, J. R. Frame, is at present in or near Murfreesboro, has been preaching at that point and in the neighborhood. He is here for the purpose of preaching the Gospel. Churches or communities desiring his aid as an evangelist may address him at that point, or through the Gospel Advocate. Brother Frame comes among us with a character of being an earnest laborer in the truth. If we mistake not greatly, during the recent excitement and trials through which we have passed, he has stood firmly, teaching his brethren that Christians must be men of peace and not of blood; that preachers must not become political partisans, to encourage the tumult and clamor of the world. As such we commend him to our brethren.
Brother Frame will please act as agent for the Gospel Advocate wherever he may travel.
D. L.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
71
FASTING
The inspired writers in the Old and New Testaments take the word fast to one single sense, for not to eat, to abstain from food. It has been one of the devices of the devil, from the beginning of the world, to give men pretense in their insobriety to God, and he has succeeded admirably, and to separate inward from outward religion, and to separate faith from works, and he has done it. To fast is not to eat for a prescribed time. Moses, Elijah, and our Savior kept a miraculous and extraordinary fast of forty days. This is not expected of any person now. The most usual time of fasting is from morning till night. True ancient Christians fasted every Wednesday and Friday, as I learn from Tertullian, an African lawyer. They took no sustenance till three o’clock in the afternoon. The Jewish and Christian saints all fasted. On the truth day of the seventh month, says God, you shall afflict your souls—Deut. 16: 3, 26, Zechariah 8: 19. The ancient Christian community fasted twenty-eight hours, by some one week, by others two weeks, taking no sustenance till the coming as Epiphanius writes. Jeremiah, David, Hezekiah, Jehoshaphat, Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, and all ancient Jewish saints fasted. John the Baptist, and his disciples, and the Pharisees and their disciples also fasted. Jesus fasted. These fasts were always with prayer and humiliation, and confession of sin. See the examples of Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and Isaiah 58. Cornelius fasted—see Acts 10. What Christian fasts now? Professors mock it. Christ said, Devils were cast out by prayer and fasting.
—J. C.
TRUE HONESTY
Be honest, young man and old man, young woman and old woman, and as the best assurance you can give of your honesty to your fellow man, be honest with your Maker. He who owes his fellow man a debt and fails to make an effort, or have an anxiety to pay that he owes, is not honest. He who owes his obligations and fails to make an honest and faithful effort to discharge that obligation is not truly honest in heart.
We all owe to God our being, our service. He created us again to us life; when we forfeited that life He redeemed us from death. He bestows upon us His blessings, giving us food and material prospects; He protects us from harm, since every blessing we enjoy. He provided us with the blood of His own Son, and we owe Him our life. We should spend that life in His service. We should be thankful, grateful, and prayerful. If we fail to be thus and to do thus, we are not honest toward our best friend. When our earthly friend does us a favor and we forget the benefactor, the world ceases to respect us, we cannot respect ourselves. How can we expect to respectability in the eyes of others, when we are dishonest and ungrateful to our Heavenly Benefactor.
—D. L.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
ORNAMENT
Outward show of costly and glittering attire never indicates strength of mind or solid worth of principle. Non-el’ commend; the wearer, male or female, to the respect and esteem of the wise and good. It is generally an indication that the wearer is conscious of a lack of some essential quality within, the absence of which he or she endeavors to conceal or compensate for by outward display and ornament. Persons that lack wealth, and yet are anxious to be thought wealthy, are exceedingly extravagant in their dress lest it should be thought they are unable to dress well. While the individual that is possessed of real and solid wealth becomes fearful of appearing poor and will attempt to dress plainly and tastefully. So the young man or the young woman entering into society feels that he or she is lacking in breeding, or intelligence, or good taste, or all combined, and seeks to divert attention from the head and heart, and direct it to the body by the ornaments and gewgaws with which it is clothed. The ornament of the body is like the binding of a book. No one familiar with books expects to find real worth and true merit in the showily bound, gilt-edged volumes. To dress matter or solid worth in such attire would be fatal to its sale. The gilding is put on to sell the volume that lacks merit within to recommend it. The purchaser of books expects to find true merit in the pages, and consequently he who looks for character never expects to find real worth or true merit under the ornamental and gilded coverings. He knows this gilding is put on to hide the internal deficiencies. He looks for substantial merit in the neat, plain, and solid attire of good sense.
Seymour, Texas, Jan. 31, 1861.
Bro. Fanning and Licorice:
I saw a few days since, for the first time, the revived ADVOCATE, and though there was not a single address to me, I was sincerely glad, and it reminded me of the old times when a friend bad come to life and appeared before me.
I feel almost overwhelmed by the cares of the world. The “Jewel from the Hill” is to be shining from beneath me. Cut off from all Christian association, and, as it seems, the weakest of the weak, the ADVOCATE gives me assurance of assistance that I cannot do without.
Personally I may venture to pursue the world’s allurements, but I know myself; I have not the intention to abandon the cause of Him who died that I might live.
Enclosed please find three dollars ($3.00) for the ADVOCATE.
Your brother,
J. C. Poyner
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
ARRESTS FOR PREACHING
The Christian Pioneer for January says: “In our last we said there had been no arrests, nor any indictment found against any preacher in this county, for preaching without having first taken the required oath, but we can not say as much in this number. John Hogan, the Catholic priest for this place, has been arrested on an indictment found by a special grand jury, at the late term of the circuit court for this county, appointed after the first jury was dismissed, and admitted to bail in the sum of four hundred dollars for his appearance at the next term of said court. It is also known that an indictment was found against John D. Vincill, of the M. E. Church, South, for preaching in disregard of his oath, but he has not yet been arrested. Both of these men continue to preach as though nothing had happened. That is the way every preacher in the State who is molested should do. We understand that Mr. Vincill was arrested at Hannibal recently, while on a visit, for preaching in that city in disregard of his oath. I would that all our readers would follow the example of these men in this respect.
We certainly appreciate much the clemency of the executive authorities shown our humble self; may we still find favor in their eyes, and be allowed to move on in the even tenor of our way without molestation.
D. T. W.
On the 11th instant Elder J. T. Brooks, of the Christian Church at Mexico, was arrested on an indictment found against him by the grand jury at the last term of the Audrain circuit court—was taken before Squire Brooks, and bound over in the sum of $500, for his appearance at the next term of said court.
—Paris Mercury of Dec. 22, 1865.
OWEN’S STATION, Tenn., Jan. 29, 1866
DEAR BRETHREN:
I spent almost my entire time last year, from the latter part of July, in traveling and preaching. I labored more or less in the counties of Williamson, Maury, Rutherford, Warren, Putnam and Wilson. Part of the time I was assisted by other preaching brethren, but most of the time I worked alone. During this time there were about one hundred and twenty additions, by confession and baptism, where I labored. Quite a number of the congregations that I visited were meeting regularly every Lord’s day to honor the Savior.
I am sorry to say, however, that such was not the case with all the churches I visited. I met with a few that had scarcely met together from the time the war got fully into operation till I visited them. I am happy, however, to state that I found in most of those congregations a disposition to do better in the future, and they made their arrangements to meet regularly and serve the Lord better; and I do hope they have learned a lesson from the past from which they will profit in time to come.
May the Lord help us all to labor more earnestly and faithfully in his cause.
J. G. SEWELL.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
A VISIT TO FRANKLIN COLLEGE AND HOPE INSTITUTE
New Hope, Tenn., January 18, 1866.
To THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD: Permit me, brothers and sisters, to call your special attention to Franklin College and Hope Institute—seminaries of learning, mainly under the management of Brethren T. and A. Fanning and Sister C. Fanning, who live near from Nashville, Tenn. Elder Robert Fanning and his excellent sister-wife have spent, perhaps, quite a quarter of a century in the erection of buildings, collecting a curriculum, purchasing apparatus, books, etc., but by the loss of their dwelling in December last, and the destruction also of Franklin College by fire in October, their loss, and the loss to the public, has been very severe, indeed. Still, their student ambition is to persevere in their honorable and very responsible calling, but in order to accomplish the amount of good, and exert an influence adequate to their capacity, they should have speedy assistance in securing suitable buildings, new furniture, apparatus, and all the means necessary for the valuable service they may yet render in the cause of Christian education.
Recently, I visited Hope Institute, and having a day to spend with the brethren, I could not deny myself the satisfaction of a stroll among the ruins of buildings that so long withstood the storms. The tall chimneys and parts of crumbling walls still standing tell of the past. This caused me to ask myself the question, “Are there not many of the noble youths, who once walked over these classic grounds, whose voices sounded through the literary halls, and whose mellow notes, in the Christian chapel, drew tears from the eyes of numerous spectators, now lying beneath the green sod, perhaps in distant lands?” And I could but ask the disquieting question, if there are not still very many youths who need the character of learning, which, in years past, was given at that old, but now fallen college?
Brethren, shall we not take the matter of rebuilding, on a greatly enlarged scale, to heart? I am particularly partial to the location; and I am satisfied that our friends at a distance have but an imperfect conception of the advantages offered. The position is elevated and healthy, and so well watered a section, can rarely be found.
Hope Institute, (formerly Millers’ College,) has made accommodations for more pupils, but a first-class college building, libraries and apparatus, would be of great advantage to both schools. The same libraries, cabinets, apparatus, and diplomas would answer, as they did in former years, for both institutions.
I trust that while we are trying to build up again our common country, we, as Christians, will not fail to rear and sustain institutions of learning suitable for the education of our sons and daughters, and thousands of the destitute youths of our beloved land.
C. R. D.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
THE POOR
Jesus Christ has put an eternal honor on poverty, by being poor himself. Poverty, simplicity, and humility were the great characteristics of his life. The foxes have holes and the birds have nests, but the Son of man had nowhere to rest. It is believed he followed the occupation of carpentry before he commenced his public life. He has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom. Poverty is not a virtue nor a crime; it is a disadvantage, and if our hearts are sinful. Probably one-half the people in this world are what is called poor. Poverty is comparative. In the eastern world, in Africa and other countries, a person is considered rich if he has a home to live in, one suit of clothes, and some provision, but in our country, he will have one-half left.
According to the standard, many who now feel poor, are rich. For the consolation of the poor, I will quote a few exceedingly great and precious passages of God’s word. “I will keep in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the Lord.” God had one Son with the sin, but none without affliction. “The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them both.” Happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. The poor have the gospel preached to them. Jesus said God had anointed him to preach the gospel to the poor. I wish to awaken in the hearts of my readers a sense of the miseries to which the poor are subjected in society. Let those who are comfortable realize that it is an exquisite feast, a noble deed to compassion the suffering of the poor. It is their privilege to clothe, to warm, and to feed the poor. Matthew 25: “I was hungry and you fed me.”
J. C.
NOTICE
The Board of Managers of the Eclatant Stock Company will hold the next meeting at Franklin College, February 14th, 1866, at 10 o’clock, A. M. It is very desirable that every member of the Board be present, as matters of the highest importance to the Company will come before them.
DAVID LIPSCOU, Sec’y.
It is very desirable that every subscriber to the stock of the Company should pay up the full subscription by the meeting on the 14th inst. It is all due and owing immediately, and will have to be settled up. It will be impossible for the undersigned any longer to act as Treasurer, and he would like to settle up the accounts of the Company as nearly as possible, by said meeting.
DAVID LIPSCOU, Treas.
February 1st, 1866
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
THE MIDDling MAN
“He that is not with me is against me.” – Matt. xii. 30
Mr. F. “From what you have said, Sam, it seems you think yourself a pretty fair kind of a man.”
Sam. “Well, Mr. F., I will tell you my opinion about that, exactly. I don’t think I ever did much evil; nor can I say that I ever did a great deal of good. I think you may call me a middling Sammy.”
F. “That is your opinion, Sammy. But don’t you think that everything that exists must have a cause?”
Sam. “Certainly I do, Mr. F.; for old Sam is not so void of sense as not to both think and know that.”
F. “Well, Sam, what do you suppose is the cause of a good man?”
Sam. “God, of course, sir.”
F. “And what do you think is the cause of a bad man?”
Sam. “The devil, most certainly; for God never made anything bad.”
F. “But, Sam, what is the cause of a middling man?”
Sam. “W-e-1-1, I suppose—”
F. “Sammy, I perceive you have got fast there. You say God is the cause of a good man, and Satan is the cause of a bad man, but you say that you are neither! You are middling. Doubtless, Sammy, you must have had a cause. But as there is no middle being between God and Satan, and only the two revealed causes of good and evil, then I must an exceedingly great loss to know what has been the great moral cause that made you a middling.”
Sam. “Why, sir, I have heard a great many folks like me saying they were middling; but really, when I think of the matter in that good, logical way, I begin to be somewhat doubtful whether I should say I was middling. Yet I assure you, sir, I do not think I should be called a bad old man.”
F. “Sam, did you ever see a middling gold dollar? Or did you ever see a middling bank-note?”
Sam. “No, never, Mr. F.; they were always either good or bad. But I have known some bad ones to pass for good ones.”
F. “Well, Sam, if you never saw middling money, you never saw middling men; and you may rest assured that God’s eye is too keen, and His detector too plain and perfect, to let a bad man pass for a good one; and a middling man has no existence. So, friend Sam, I want you, when you go home, to think seriously on the matter. You cannot serve two masters. At this moment you are either good or bad, and serving either God or Satan. A middling man, then, is a misnomer. You cannot be a middling cause, no middling life, no middling death, and no middling destiny.”
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
PRIDE
Pride is to be above others, to have the pre-eminence over others, to outshine, outshow others. Pride is the liver of the devil. Pride was the sin of the devil. Pride was the cause of his being hurled over the battlements of Heaven, with shouts of indignation. Pride was not made for man, although man wears it as a stone garment. There is no sin more hateful to God than pride.
There are three things that ought to keep us humble: what we once were, what we now are, and what we hope to be hereafter. The once powerful but humbled monarch, Nebuchadnezzar, said at the conclusion of his ingenious and noble confession, “Man that walks in pride, he is unable to abase.” It became a saying with our Savior, that he that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted. Solomon said, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
By humility and the worship of God, are riches, honor, and life. The pride of their countenance testifies against them. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. Pride is the pest of society. It encompasses society as a chain. “The wicked say how does God know, and is there knowledge in the most High?” Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord! that I should obey him.”
Read the incomparable one on the hill of Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar in the 14th and 15th chapters of Isaiah. “The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor.” “With their mouth the wicked speak proudly.” “They say, stand by thyself, come not near me, for I am holier than thou.” “They are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all.”
GEOGETOWN, Ky., Jan. 19th, 1866.
BROTHER FANNING: I sent you last week a check on New York for twenty-four ($24) dollars, for subscribers to the ADVOCATE, from Jessamine county. I now send you enclosed a check on the Bank of Louisville, No. 437, for twenty ($20) dollars, for which please send the GOSPEL ADVOCATE.
I will send you more subscribers before long. Wishing you much success in your editorial labors, and that the ADVOCATE may be the means of doing much good.
I am, as ever, yours sincerely,
J. B. McGINN.
We thank Bro. McGinn for his aid and good wishes. We think the brethren of Kentucky will ever find the ADVOCATE ready to cooperate with them in every good work.
D. J.
We wish to encourage free and full investigation of religious matters through the columns of the ADVOCATE. But investigation to be beneficial, must be kindly conducted. Write your ideas, brethren, clearly, lordly and earnestly, but not bitterly.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
CHRISTIAN PIONEER
We welcome to our list of exchanges “The Christian Pioneer,” published at Chillicothe, Mo., monthly, by Elder D. T. Wright. The Pioneer consists of 32 large double column pages, in a clear, readable type, and is filled with well written essays and communications, on subjects of lively practical interest, by the editor and its corps of talented correspondents.
We see that it takes bold and Christian ground on the absolute independence of the Church of Jesus Christ, of all human power. Bro. Wright refuses, in his person, to make the church the subservient tool of any political action or human institution.
We appreciate the condition of the brethren in Missouri. We have had a very full prepared, we thought, of being put to the same test in Tennessee. But happily, for us, more moderate counsels prevented. When anticipating being brought to see the question, we could not see how any Christian could take such an oath. Could we have seen the Missouri Christians present an unbroken front, and as one united band of brethren, maintaining the true dignity and superiority of the Church of Christ, our hopes of a speedy and complete triumph of the Kingdom of the Redeemer would have been much brighter than they are. Alas! alas! how weak our faith, how short-sighted we are, how prone to let the earthly mess or politics cheat us out of our heavenly birthright. How we forget the eternal future, in the perishing, vanishing now.
Brethren, bear with us, we feel deeply, sorely on these subjects. Every time we hear of a professed follower of the Lord complying with such requirements, we feel that another insult has been offered to our King; another act of disloyalty to His government has been committed. And yet we have not a bitter or unkind feeling. We are brought to the test—could we withstand the temptation, and, our Father, only knows, we make no promises, try to be true to the present, and pray God for deliverance from the evil, and strength for the trials of the future. We pray that those of our brethren in Missouri, who stand firm from Christian motives, refused to comply with these requirements, may be enabled to stand firm, and to find an ever present help and strength in the day of need. The “Pioneer” deserves a wide circulation and a liberal support. It is published at $2.00 per single copy, $10.00 for clubs of six subscribers, with one copy to the getter up of the club.
D. L.
TO THE SUBSCRIBERS TO THE ADVOCATE
The condition of the mail is such that we are almost certain there will be miscarriages of the Advocate. We strive to send, in a condition to reach as much as possible, any misdeliveries. When the numbers fail to reach any of our subscribers, we should be pleased they would let us know, as we desire them all to receive and read all the numbers.
D. L.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
RELIGIOUS NEWS
Brother Jno. Z. Howard, of Jamestown, East Tennessee, writes:
The brethren of upper East Tennessee are very desirous of securing paper, devoted wholly to the cause of our Redeemer, and not tied up with political affiliations and the doctrines of men. I have no doubt but that many dollars could be made up for our paper among the brethren here, did they know of its existence. The brethren are in a very prosperous condition in this region at present.
Yours in the Faith,
JNO. Z. HOWARD.
Bro. Jno. Henshaw, of San Antonio, Texas, sends a list of subscribers, expressing the promise not to “stop training” other subscribers, but I expect to continue my efforts until I send you a full list. The true lip is it. We commend the example of Bro. Henshaw in another respect. He sends subscribers from the world and the reformation; he does not confine his efforts to his neighborhood. His only enemy must be the currency. Our subscription price is for the Texas friends; they are ready to have anything in the shape of money that is better than this. “The hardest battle is the one that no preacher can win.”
JNO. J. A. SIDENER.
We had the pleasure of a call today from Bro. A. Sidener, formerly of Missouri, more lately of Texas. Bro. Sidener’s name has long been familiar to us as an earnest and faithful laborer in the Gospel. We are happy in making his acquaintance. We rejoice to learn that he has cast in his lot with the little band of disciples at Columbia, Tenn. The cause has been greatly abused at this point; the little meeting has scattered, with their worship almost destroyed. Bro. Sidener, like most preachers in the South, has been despoiled of his comforts all, yet seems full of faith and zeal toward God. He is anxious to do evangelical labor. We hope the brethren, according to their ability, will hold up his hands, and enable him to labor so much more among our people.
D. L.
A Christian should study to have reasons, to be industrious, frugal, to avoid going in debt, to avoid costly and showy dress, to avoid extravagant living; they only bring trouble and embarrassment here, pierce their possessors through with many sorrows, and throw them in perdition at last. But godliness with contentment is great gain. It brings peace and comfort of mind here, and eternal joy in the world to come.
D. L.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
NOTICE
A number of individuals sent $1 each, as subscriptions to the Monthly ADVOCATE in the beginning of the year 1866. The military movements prevented the issue of any number of the paper that year. The money was received by T. Fanning. A list of the money so received has been kept, and all of those who then paid will be allowed a credit of $1 on the present year’s subscription. The paper will not be sent to any of those subscribers unless ordered. There have been too many changes since then.
T. FANNING & D. LIPSCOMB.
CORRESPONDENTS
Correspondents will please address the undersigned, and all connected with Franklin College or Hope Institute, at “FRANKLIN COLLEGE, DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.” Be sure to put DAVIDSON COUNTY, It will prevent many letters from going to the town of Franklin, Tennessee.
T. FANNING
PROSPECTUS OF VOLUME VIII. OF THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
The undersigned propose resuming the publication of “THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE,” as a weekly journal, January 1st, 1866.
The purpose is to maintain the right of Jesus Christ to rule the world, the supremacy of the Sacred Scriptures in all matters spiritual, and to encourage an investigation of every subject connected with the Church of Christ, which we may consider of practical interest. The Kingdom of God as a great, permanent institution, “The pillar and support of the truth,” upon a proper appreciation of which, the welfare of the world and the happiness of man depend; her origin, organization, history, labor and mission; her relation to worldly powers, civil, military and religious, and her final triumph, will occupy much of our attention. The education of the world for Christianity, and the training of Christians for immortality, will constitute an important part of our labor.
The work will be published at Nashville, Tennessee, in weekly numbers of sixteen pages, the size of the former GOSPEL ADVOCATE, neatly folded and stitched, at:
- $2.50 for single subscribers.
- $2.25 for five subscribers.
- $2.00 for ten subscribers, invariably in advance.
We would be pleased to have the cooperation of the Brethren generally, and the preachers of the Word especially, in circulating the paper. In making remittances, send all sums of $10 and under, in registered letters by mail; all sums over $10, by express, or in checks or post office draft.
Direct all communications for the Advocate to:
T. FANNING, D. LIPSCOMB, Editors & Publishers, GOSPEL ADVOCATE, Nashville, Tenn.