,'-o -.tl-
The Atlantic Messenger.
Monthly.]
Devoted to the Relief of Baptist Destitution in Eastern North Carolina.
[25 Cents per Year.
VOLUME FIVE.
NEW BERN, N. 0., OCTOBER, 1904.
NUMBER SIX.
FAITH’S BROTHERHOOD.
Oh, ye wTio faint ’neath doubt and
fear and sorrow.
Or watch in mute despair life’s ebb
ing sounds.
Lift up your gaze! behold the dawning
morrow,
Lov-e’s heralds come to ‘us fi'.om-
orient la^^..,.-'r •
A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST ON
THE BAPTISTS.
(A. E. Dickinson, in Religious Herald.)
Prom Orient hills they come with joy
ful greeting.
They bear faith’s boon to this our
western shore
Love’s mystic chain around our world
completing.
They kneel with us to worship and
adore.
Brahmin and Buddhist lend their in
spiration.
They bring their trust to make our
own more strong;
Hebrew and Moslem join in jubila
tion—
Their voices mingle in one swelling
song.
Oh, love! oh faith! how wide is your
communion.
Offering to all hope, joy and grati
tude;
Large is the creed that folds us all
in union—
A sacred bond of world-wide broth
erhood.
Gladly we listen to its simple teach
ing;
“Love brought us all from out the
vast unknown;
Our sorest need that boundless love is
reaching,
God will not leave us' helpless and
alone.”
Justice and right with Love Divine are
blended, .
Reason alone should send our fears
away, ■
After earth’s darkness and its storm
are ended
Man has the right to Heaven’s un
clouded day.”
Welcome all words that strengthen
faith’s foundation,
Welcome the hands that fashion
hope’s fair throne;
From differing creeds, from every
clime and nation.
Thrice welcome all who bring a
building stone.
Brave ones, toll on! above earth’s
heaviest burden,
Build strong your bridge across our
doubt and strife;
All quest for truth must bring at last
its guerdon—
The open doorway of immortal life.
—Mary McNabb Johnston.
HELP ONE ANOTHER.
“Bear ye one another’s burdens and
so fulfill the law of Christ.” Enter into
each other’s life. Be helpful. Let
those who have joy minister to those
who are without it. Prom the cross I
seem to hear a voice which comes
straight to us, saying: “Thou shalt
love one another as I have loved you.”
That means that you should enter
into one another’s life and bear one
another’s burdens. Over against sor
row and suffering the Master has put
Fatherhood and immortality. “Our
light affliction, which is but for a mo
ment, worketh for us a far more ex
ceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
“Blessed are they that mourn, for they
shall be comforted.” Ring out the
message wherever hearts are breaking
and eyes filled with tears! All things
are in the Father’s hands; not one
is utterly alone; no life is without
purpose and all things are moving up
ward.—Amory H. Bradford.
If death is necessary to consummate
holiness then you ought to die now.
Pay for the Messenger.
Last Friday, on entering tUe. cars
at LaCrosse for .Richmond, I hap
pened to- take .a.-»eat just opposite a
OathoTjc .|;fieot, and soon ■ we were
eii'gage.d. in conversation. I told him
who I was,and what was my manner
of life, and he did the same for him
self. “I am a Catholic priest and
for eight years I have been laboring
in thirteen counties of Eastern
North Carolina. But those who sent
me South have written me to return
North, and now I am obeying in
structions, and hope to reach them
to-morrow. They write me that the
demand for priests is so great in that
part of the country that these thir
teen counties must get on without
my services, and hence I am going
to quit the Southern field, at least
for the present,” When asked, “What
have you done during these eight
years in these thirteen counties, and
are there no Baptists down there?”
“Great heavens,” replied the priest,
“I might almost say there are noth
ing but Baptists. There are white
Baptists and black Baptists, and Mis
sionary Baptists and Anti-Mission
Baptists, and Landmark Baptists,
and Free Will Baptists, and Camp-
bellite Baptists, and God only knows
how many other kinds of Baptists are
in that portion of North Carolina.
And they are a pretty good people
too, although they know nothing
about religion. I say this in all good
conscience, for they have been kind
to me. They have, in some instances
fed me and helped me to live and
to do my work. You know, of course,
that no Catholic preacher, from the
Pope down, gets any stipulated sal
ary, We g§t only what is given us
by the people among whom we labor.
I have ^ot+en . from one hundred--to
about three hundred dollars a year
from my thirten counties in North
Carolina, but it has not been given
as a salry, but as a mere support,
and a part of that has come from
the Baptists; so, of course, I have
nothing to say against the Baptists,
except it be that they know nothing
about religion. If you Baptists are
right in your rejection of infant bap
tism and sprinkling for baptism,
then the Catholics are all wrong, and
if we are right, you are wrong.
Christ said to Peter, “Thou art
Peter, upon this rock I build My
church.’ To that the Catholics ap
peal as to the origin of their church
and as to the divine right for it to
institute infant baptism and to sub
stitute sprinkling for immersion and
to make other changes of like nature
in the laws of Christ’s kingdom.
Now if I am correct as to this, you
Baptists are all wrong in appealing
to the Bible for proof texts as to
your - doctrines and principles. What
if Christ was immersed in the river
Jordan? What if Paul did say ‘We
are buried with Christ in baptism?”
Whqt of all that and other Scrip
tures to which Baptists make their
appeal, if the Catholics are right and
had Peter’s authority for making these
changes in the ordinances of His king
dom. You are, of all the denomina
tions, the most to be pitied.”
At this point I voluntarily smiled
and my Catholic friend, a little dis
gruntled, asked, “Why do you smile?
Is there any fun in what I am say
ing?” “Yes, sir; it is very funny, but
please go on.” He resumed: “You
Baptists have done great things in the
world. You have stood between us
Catholics and the Pedo-baptist denom
inations and frightened them off from
us, and us from them. But for the
Baptists the Catholics would have long
since swept the world. Your holding
to what you believe has kept them
from attaching saving efficacy to in
fant baptism as we do. I think if
Baptists were to adopt, as others have
done, Roman Catholic positions about
the ordinances, millions who are now
in the Pedobaptist denominations
would be good, loyal Catholics, for
with the Baptists out of their way
they would thipk a thousand times
more of infant l^^^dism than they now
do.. They would then have no one.
to worry them with questions as to
where they can point to a single word
in the Bible about infant baptism.
Counting the cnildren of Catholics
in the United States there are eleven
millions of Catholics in this country,
and of that number there is not a sin
gle one who does not believe that the
whole Christian system is based upon
infant baptism. Add to these eleven
millions of Catholics all the great
Pedobaptist denomination, who on
this particular agree with us, except
as to the greater saving virtue we at
tach to the ordinance, and you will
see that tne Baptists have not much
occasion to exult for any great advan
tage they have over us. We may not
appeal as much to the Bible as you do,
but we have the church, and it is as
infallible as the Bible itself. I mean,
of course, the Roman Catholic church.”
With that the conductor called out,
“All out tor Richmond,” and here, I
close for the present.—Biblical Re
corder.
the consequence of our Lberality, our
laxity, our indifference. We cannot
say with the heedless French mon
arch: “After me the deluge!” The
judgment which comes to a denomina
tion in time comes to the members of
that denomination in eternity. If we
confess Christ and his truth before
men, Christ will confess us before his
Father and before the holy angels.
If we deny him, he also will deny us.—
Home Field.
FAITH MEASURED BY GIVING.
From Address Delivered by Dr. Au
gustus H. Strong.
Our faith, moreover, is measured
by our giving. Judged by our num
bers and by our wealth, our Baptist
gifts, however large they may seem
are pitiably-small Our total gifts to
home and foreign missions are not
one cent a week for each member.
The church is like Dives in the par
able, clothed in fine linen and faring
suptuonsly every day, while the sick
and hungry world at its doors, like
-Lflzaxas,— jeccivcP oi,ly—thfi-nrrtm-lHS
from the bountifully provided table.
In the time of the great Indian fam
ine there were relief agents to whom
were intrusted great sums of money
with which to feed the hungry, but
who kept that money for themselves,
while hundreds of starving creatures
died under their very eyes. God has
given us wealth, that we may relieve
the spiritual famine of the world. He
has made us stewards of his bounty;
and for every dollar intrusted to us
he will require us to give account.
Shall we keep for ourselves, or spend
upon our own pleasures, what belongs
to the perishing? What should we
think of the professed Christian, who,
when the bread was passed to him
at the Lord’s Supper should keep it
all for himself, and refuse to pass it
on? When the Lord multiplies the
loaves to teed the five thousand, shall
the apostles keep the loaves to them
selves, and pile them up till they form
such a barricade that the five thou
sand are bid from sight? And shall
John be excused from distributing,
simply because Peter will not do his
part? Ah, my brethren, this is a mat
ter between each one of us and Christ!
Each one of us is charged with main
taining and extending a spiritual
church, by our giving, as well as by
our witnessing and teaching. And
not our brethren, but only Christ, is
our Example, our Lawgiver, and our
Judge.
For he cometh, for he cometh, to
judge the earth! The judgment of na
tions takes place in time; for nations
belong only to the present order of
things, and have no eternal existence.
Denominations also are judged in this
world; since the divisions between
them are incidents of our present
imperfect knowledge, and when that
which is perfect is come then that
which is in part shall be done away.
Meantime, we are held individually
responsible for the forward march of
the denomination which to us most
fully embodies and represents the
truth of Christ. A retrograde move
ment of that denomination may
‘HOW MAY YOUNG PEOPLE BE
KEPT IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL.”
First, we need the co operation of the
parents in this task of keeping the young
people in Sunday school. As Christian
parents have we been particular to take !
our children regularly to Sunday school
as soon as old enough, or a little before?
Parents alone are responsible for the
condition of the primary class, both as to
size and preparation. If the parents
show no interest in getting their little
ones started in Sunday school, who will?
Second, we need the best teachers, who
will be the best in every sense of the
word, placed before these primary.classes.
It is a great mistake in the management
of a Sunday school to think that any
body or everybody will do to teach the
little children. It is in that age when the
impression should be made that will in
later years be the means of keeping
young people in the Sunday school. A
Sunday school teacher can do no nobler
work, next to the salvation of the soul of
his scholar, than to endeavor to awaken
within him some lofty aspiration, and to
induce him to set before himself some
high and worthy aim in life. Let the
teacher win the admiration of his schol
ars through loving kindness for them and
by being an illustration of the lessons he
puts before them. Impressions left on
young minds can never be entirely
erased.
A sincere Christian teacher will alw'ays
Ije iiirteneu ta' as arr oracle; will be copied
as a model, and afterwards will be re
membered with a reverence and affection
that the rolling years can not efface.
Some of us can speak from experience.
We have had such teachers. And if the
child has an earl}- Sunday school expe
rience and then in after years when
grown to man or womanhood becomes
indifferent to or drifts away from the
Sunday school it will perhaps be the
means of causing them to pause and con
sider how essential this good cause is to
their success and happiness, and thus
bring them again into the shelter of the
church. We now begin to see some of the
necessities to keep the young people in
the Sunday school.
There will be and there are a great
many difficulties met on every side, but
it is worth a trial if we do not have com
plete success. It scarcely need be said
thatevery conscientious teacher will have
before him a definite purpose regajrding
the different members of his class. I Any
one might be proud to be placed over a
class of young men or women, and the
most careful study should be made to be
able to convey to their minds the right
way of living. The teacher must put his
whole soul in the work if he wishes to
have a success and keep these young peo
ple in the Sunday school. Teach your
scholars to love you by being kind and
sociable with each. Give them not only
your'attention on Sunday for an hour or
so, but think of them every day in the
w-eek and plan something interesting for
them that will create within them a desire
to always be present at the Sunday school
hour. Don’tpreach long sermons to them.
Don’t want to do all the talking yourself,
but give them an opportunity to talk with
you, and if necessary urge upon them to
talk to you about the lesson by asking
their individual opinion.
And if there are some whom you think
are indifferent, to these pay particular
attention. The teacher will find that the
social tie is a strong and helpful one. It
is always an encouraging sign when
friendships are developed in the Sunday
school. He who would triumph glori
ously must triumph humbly; that is, we
must not feel ourselves above the lowliest
of God’s children, and should help and
encourage any who come within our
reach.
Is ability the measure of responsibility?
Yes, but we should remember that human
ability alone is not the standard. Our
responsibility is to be estimated by ou
ability, plus God’s ability to work through
us.
People who are always saying, “I can’t
do anything,” would usually come nearer
the truth if they would add, “and I’m
glad of it ” So it is in our Sunday school
of ’to-day. If the many would show' the
willing spirit that some few do and exert
their energy and make the work both
enthusiastic and interesting, there is
small doubt that the task of keeping the
young people in Sunday school would be
much easier.—The Awakener.
THE CLERK WITH A CONSCIENCE.
It was in one of Boston’s largest
dry-goods stores the other day. In
my hand was a sample of a certain
piece of black dress-goods which I
wished to procure. The friend who
was with me aiso wisheu to purchase
black dress-goods; so we decided to
look for hers first, since I already
knew what I wanted.
After trying in vain to receive cour
teous attention from two different
clerks, one of whom was busy (?)
with a box of samples, and the other
with invisime specks on his coat, we-,
turned to a third clerk, rather timidly,,
for we were not sure of the reception
we should receive.
He was making out a sale slip, but
he turned at once. “Certainly, madam,
I have just what you want. • I will
wait on you in a moment.”
His tone was so different from what
we had come to expect, that we would
willingly have waited half an hour for
him to finish what he was doing. In
a few seconds, however, he was at.
leisure, and piece after piece of dress-
goods -was displayed for our inspec
tion.
My friend made her selection, and
then I showed him my sample. At
once he glanced at the slits cut in the
sides of the tiny piece of goods.
“That isn t one of my samples,” he
remarked. '“I will ask the clerk who
mailed this sample to wait on you.”
“But I don’t want any other clerk
to wait on me,” I responded hastily,
fearing that my sample might have
come originally from one of the dis
courteous clerks whom we first en
countered. “I want you to have this
sale.”
“If you had asked for goods of that
quality, width and price, without show
ing me the sample, I could have found
it for you at once,” he replied, with
a smile; “b’jc now this sale belongs to
the clerk who sent out the sample.”
“Then I won’t give you this sam
ple to hunt it up by,” wishing to see
whether I could carry my point. No
one knows, except my friend, that
you have seen it,” and I proceeded to
tuck it away in my purse.
“But I know that I have seen it, and
my conscience Knows it,” and he
laughingly laid his hand on his heart'
as he turned to look for the other clerk.
In a moment he returned. The oth
er clerk was at lunch. What a sigh
of relief we gave!
“I will make out the sale, and turn
it over to him when he comes in,”
our salesman said, displaying the shin
ing black folds of the goods I desired.
As he made out his sale slip, credit
ing the goods to “the office,” instead
of to his own number, I could not but
admire the fine quality of that man’s
honesty. In a matter where no one
would have been the wiser, he was
true to himself. He did as he would
have been done by. And in making
future purcnases in that department,
I shall always look for my “clerk with
a conscience.”—Ellen T. Maynard in
Curistian Endeavor World.
Have you led a soul to Christ this
year? If not, why?