Christian Messenger. (Bonham, Tex.), Vol. 8, No. 15, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 26, 1882 Page: 2 of 8
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^ .ixie Ckristiahs ‘|are opposed
to voting in the cnflhdijlPThey
&fr^..TMBiingt. voting!.. They
will give, tlieir voice; but sny they
will not vote. Now, upon reflec-
tion, it may, perhaps, appear to
tlleih bo Vote and to give their
Toiceris identically one and the
sanse ^ thing. To* express 4heii
mind or their wish on any ques-
tion, i$ certainly to ioote— whatev-
er formofiexpressionmay be chos-
en, whether standing up, stretch-
ingforth the hand, or simply say-
ing-yes or no, ays or nay--
‘Wherever there is an election
or choice of parsons, or measures,
there must, be voting or casting of
the loh To cast the lot is on ap-
peal to heaven; and * very extraor-
dinary, indeed, must be tliw* i»ci-
dent or the occasion that will jus-
tify such u solemn appeal, or such
an irrevocable decision. * *L .c
“We ncwd-n.it labor to show
that the Christian under the very
eye, and with the approbation of
the apostles, voted ; lor the. apos-
tles commanded them to vote—to
choose out persons for. certain
works, and with inference to cer-
tain measures. But a question
arises of some con sequence-nay,
of great consequence, On what oc-
casions, and for what "'purposes are
Christians authorized to vote? »•
t to vote on ; ques-
iety, or morality.
'Truth is not to * be settled- by a
ote, nor is any divine institution,
ting the worship or morality
Christian church, to be de-
fy a majority. These are
(TB of reVelatidn, of divine
authority, and to be regulated by
a ‘thus with the Lord,’ and not fy a
thus saitff the majbfity. But $n
all Matters not of faith,' piettf^
moVnlitv; in all matters of expedi-
enfy, and sometimes ift qwesTlohs
of-fact pertaining to cases ^dis-
cipline, there is no Othdr way of
deciding but fy vote of thfrbrother-
liood. * There is no retention that
A. B. or C. shall be'choBen elders
wacons; that D. E.of'F: shall
senton any special message;
the church shall meet in any
given place at any hour, or that
this ofthat measure is to be adopt-
in reference to any particular
arising out of the internal or
external relations of the church.
Such matters are to be decided by
thervote of the Whole community
or not at all. ' * - '* L
‘How that vote shall be given—
whether by stretching out the
hand, as the Greek Word found in
Acfoxiv. 23. aud 2 Cor. viii. 19.,
literally indicate; dr Whether by
standing up, or drying aye or nay,
may itself be a question of expe-
diency, to be decided fy 4 vote of
the community. And Certainly it
matters not, in this instance, what
focm be, provided only the mind
of the church be clearly ascer-
tained.
“A matter of greater importance
occurs: Must the church hi always
unanimous before it acts upon any
question of foot or expediencyf
• While it is possible to be of one
faith and of one hope, however
desirable it may Be; it is not to be
expected that a congregation will
always be of one, mind in all ques-
tions of discipline or expediency
which may occur in their pilgrim-
age. Some, however, will insist
not only upon one opinion in mat-
ters of abstract speculation, but
ipon one mind in all matters of
> ipediency. g J • .
*Tn the New Testament we have
1 the v o i*d which the Greeks use | w
tor nntjority sometimes tranela^d
e^il&ater pari.* (1 Cor. li. 6^1
‘The more part^Y (Acts xix. 32;
sxvii. 11.) anti‘tile many.’ (2 Cor.
S*6.) Where the censure inflicted
,Wpon a certain individual is spo-
ken of, rendered by McKnight
'the majority:' ‘Sufficient for such
C H RI E S S E y G E~R _
that when | heavy lo
WHAT IS THE
mgttqr,^ jCaptaiu.?” “Tie<
reply. ^Sjifch lias been
our experience several times since,
an one is the "censure inflicted byrfdr the master of the-Craft says he b&diT; aMTMTOBHSIs'of fiofil ahflrlf tt>*bd looked at and ad
the majority ;* plainly intimating
that not dVery individual, but that
a dqcjded, majority of tkfc kffijufch
had concurred in the sentence
pronounced. .,
“True, indeed, that where there
is much love and great devotion
to the will of the Lord, there will
be the greatest .approaches to,
unanimity in all matters of great
importance. The wisdom which
collies from above is first pure,
then peaceful, gentle, andeasy to
he persuaded. Self-willedness is
no ^npment of Christian charac-
ter, and when each esteems his
brother as better than himself,
there will not be much -earnest-
ness displayed in skiving to carry
our views of expediency over the
judgment of others. Besides it
is sometimes expedient for the
majority to carry all in its power.
Them may be occasions when it iB
better for the majority to waive
its privilege than to - carry its
point. These; howeVer, are mat-
ters which discretion* aacUf good
sense must and willdecideaccard-
ing to the bearing of all measures
upon the good order, pence, har-
monjqand prosperity of the broth-
erhood. All warmth -and impas-
sioned feeling in the house of
God is disorderly; and no church,
acting under the guidance of the
Good Spirit, will ever attempt
hastily to decide a matter in the
midst of the least excitement.”
Lr
SCENES FROM THE!
'■ EtOVSTON.
-VA,
A PASSENGER SEjpTCHES A BIRD S-
K EYE VIEW OF A. WIDE WASTE : *
‘ * OF WATERS. ‘
£>/ - ' V f r r t
On Board the If etc Mary Hous-
ton, near Natchez, Feb. 28.—While
Louisville was in pommotipn oyer
the news that the. New /Mary
Houston had come down before
the heavy gale on the 20th-21st,
we were neatly tied* up in a- safe
hprbor, less than 10Q miles away.
The feckless reportorial guesser
at Evansville, who published the
stattlirg rumor, knew but little of
the cautious master, Capt. Miller,
whose motto has been something
less than a eentury, “Go slow at all
times And tie up when there is
danger.”
It was 3 p. m. Monday, 21st,
when we “rounded out” from the
wh'arf at New Albany. “All
clear!” “Aye, aye, sir I” and we be-
gan the voyage of 1,400 miles of a
shoreless, angry river, that swell-
ed higher and higher, broader and
broader till it merged into a surg-
ing sea, whose curdled-coffee cur-
rent again emptied yet into an-
other sea. With stacks of der-
ricks raised, and the steady throb
of the steamer’s pulse shaking the
ribs of the monster from stem to
stern, the gale in our face sung
through the rigging a ceaseless
and weird accompaniment to the
notes of the splendid band and
the laugh and song of seventy
passengers in the cabin.
Already the river at Cincinnati
piorked fifty-seven aud rising, and
we grazed the bridge at the falls
with the stakes down. We seem-
ed to be on a ridge of water, with
a river a thousand miles wide run-
ning out into the woods and fields
on thsvright aud on the left. Still
it was raining in torrents, and
when night came on the darkness
has never been in a hurry in all
his life, and he thinks he is too
old to 'begin to risk Let* now/ /, .
The river,' er rivers, has widen- tion...
ed witli its rise, seeking, its Icjvel,
till it ha* .4Ufod syery er^K^
nopk, without, respect of persons.
From Louisville to the; Crescent
City ivs saw sulieviiigpf rnajv and cottagB or house, seeming to say
v i I • 1 1 JJ*____ (,r!rtTno 4-nlr/i 'ma o ivutr frArn fUu
beast which was lieart-rtnding.
At Lewisport* Kyi, we had just’
gone oaf from breakfast when we
saw on the Other shove''a blanket
waving. With a fie?M-gl&f& ’ wfej
discovered the form of Ja man in the packet wffjr just*behind us, wo
waiting four days to go to “Pull-
tight” or the next town ten miles
It'is like a em>iiiet
precious stones, which are noi on-
fifty cubic feet of bigh-tide swear-
ing had to be wasted to “round in”
andf|)utr.ti^3ifi dfl( at tlidij* destina-
But pqr fyorts ached all to fre-
quently as we saw a single,man
waving the signal with -white
diandkerChief, from a water-bound
i i
fl t ■ < 4> 1 < • 4 • »
the loft of a cottage, waving far
help. There was no smoke issh
ing from the flue, ancPtb make an
opening he had knocked off*'tstt^
boards from thegj^e*H,From Jhe
citizens of the .town on ‘the .I^eiir
tucky sid% wo learned thntTJtwo
nights before the sudden ifcq had
swept ^way the fer^y-.bpat ^and
all the skifls, and for twp, nights
aqdf4 day they.,hadt heard his
faint cry for help, a mile away, and
had seen the ceaseless wave of
tiie blanket lie held' in his cold
hands. Before we left' they had
secured a boat, and two brave men,
with blankets and a flalsk of bran-
dy, stemmedf the surging Current
to thoTescue. We watched them—
how gone*dowh arid hicid&h be-
hind'the white caps of the waves,
now high upon their roHihg bil-
lows—till they pulled up., jto the
house and cut a hole in the end
above the water. Then, fox the
first time in thirty-six long hours,
the husky voice ceased to call
“help” ami the blanket fla* ceas-
ed to wave, and the. boat issued
from the new made dpur,.witb a
man and his wife- and her babe.
With the glasses we thought we
could see the mother’^ teeth chat-
ter, as she pressed her half-frozen
child to her braoin, and the father
bending over with the shiver 6f
his cheeh shaking the tears from
his eyes.' With a shout atida Wave
we watched thtfm, as With a Tittle
bundle of bedding, they rowed off
to the hills for safety; fire, food
and friends. W«\ thought they
would be brought across to the
Kentucky shore, and already we
had raised a good purse for both
the family and the brave raseuera;
bat when we saw them earned to
safety and comfort we sighed in
glad relief and started on; but on-
ly to; emerge info a deeper wilder-
ness of suffering. Lay after day
and night after night we saw foe
scene repeated, , Whole miles ana
leagues of residences jfood. along
the. shore with foe fioocktenanting
the lower story and the family oc-
cupying the garret, with a • rope
reaching from a "Window to a skiff
of ricket boat—sometimes to a
rude raft made of logs and planks,
tied together with vines or ropes.
There was a man on board ^ the
lx .at, who wished, to communicate
with his water-bound factory
down on the river, but as foe wa-
ter covered all foe landing, pre-
venting tto^ bpat from stopping,
he had to tie a letfor on a stick of
wood and cast it info * the river
where it floated till picked up by
some lads in a skiff, who. cams out
to get it, At almost every t land-
ing we found the poqr ^ drummers
if Atw-bouni p4 a mob of (hem
at each place; often foe yawls h&4
to be sent .out, ana then csm£
reeling and hipping a fop-
thirty-six consecutive hours at
work on the levee, Which threaten*
ed to inundate their homes and
business houses. A force of negro
loafers were set to work during
this eriticM time at $2 per day,
but just as foe danger was most
imminent they struck for $2. 50,
and jeopardized foe lives and prop-
erty till their wages were raised.
When foe flood goes down the
citizens ought fo drive every ras-
cal of them out of town. Such
treachery, for dollars and cents, at
a time when the mortal and tem-
'« / ■ tSPf
poral welfare of a whole city was ip
their hands, indicates a depravity
that would do worse with an op-
portunity. Every, man and boy
l •'Vi j i j.
was out night and clay at work for
nothing—lawyers; merchants, min-
isters, and all. -
AU along the Mis&Asippi .foe
levees are torn to to pieoes. Mere
fragments remain, which* like ft be
natural banks, are broken off a
loaf of bread, or foe rough wall of
a stone quarry.-—[C. Q.. \Ybi&ht,
in Courier Journal- , »,'.r { ^
. It is not the fault of churches,
generally, that they ask too fre-
quently for money. If there are
good objects fo which contribu-
tions are fo be given, repeated
calls,' one following another
through the year, will only-help
develop foe piety of foe: people;
their piety /not as seen in liberali-
ty alone, but in all tlieir religious
traits and practices*? The first an-
nouncement of the gospel is that
it is fo make men generous, open-
hearted, benevolent, and’from be-
ginning to end it* -teaching
foe same • direction.—[United
Presbyterian.
but usod and worn.
It is like a telescope, that brin|
distant objects and far * off foinj
of the world very noar, so that
can sea something of tlieij: be?
fibd Importance.
It is like a treasure-house,' fc
all sorts of valuable and useful
things, which are to be had with-
out money and without price.
It is like a deep and broad,
calm flowing river, the banks *of
which are green and * flovH
where Mrdssing, lambs play,
dear little children are loving
happy.--[Ex.
WOLJk\
A TALE WITfL SCHOLARS.
Wherever we look we see the*
evidence of worlL The sun is at
work; the stars work; the winJs.
work, the birds work. But it is.
only when we h
that we can app
value of work. I
fo foe forest. It is sold bj* fo*
owner for a doUar,
man comes with an
down and cuts it in
now worth several
Because human work
spent on it. Then
teams fo draw it to the
it is sawed info boards,
value is riuing,.i It is
into furniture; it is carved,
polished, and it is sold in its new
form for one thousand dollars or
more.
Human labor, then, adds a val-
ue to everything it touches. The
site of New York city was bought
Come, take me 'away from this
cursed, cheerless waste.” Once,
along the Arkansas shore, a man
pulled out into the river in a skiff
and begged to be tak'en'on; but cs
BH
left him for it to take aboard.
When we got out on the Missis-
sippi the waste was broader’and
the suffering was greater. A con-
tinual ^cene, on either hand, was
a cabin with the water licking its
mocking tongue in at the door; a
bunch of children using, a skiff at
the door for a playground; the
hearth of the mud-built chimney
flooded, and the only fire built in
a ‘ large kettle suspended by tt
chain. Outside, a poor starved
dog1 on top of the log pile, chick-
ens on the roof or in the treeis,
and a donkey or cow, or cattle hud-
dled onto a rude raft. But we saw
hundreds of stock*'standing kne©^
deep in water, with the river on
one side and a swift, rushing sea,
twenty-five miles wide, on. foe
other, with nothing to eat but a
few buds and tender^ sboofo on
foe lower* limbs of trees.
.At Cairo the city was flpoded so
that all freight and com^uqica-
tions by railroad were cut off. We
were told by leading citizens that
400 freight cars were occupied by .
refugees as residences. The whole for a few do lars since then how
available population was out for b^s been expended in
mm building mansions, warehouses.
and manufactories. Year by year
its value rises.
. So o^the mind,
on it and it. becomes more
ble. Who wants fo
Let him learn hour to
him select proper work and
£ rtune is dele. There is noth-
ing should* be learned as a fixed
fact sooner than that this is a
working world, and that labor, * *
physical or mental, is a necessity.
Do not takB pride in your soft
hands and round c
hands and smofo faces are the
, and from be-
teaching is »i righi,
tion.—[United Then
•* L * *>a
first thought of those who
selfish and idle life. An idle
is always a selfish one. No
is so naturally good as to
the demoralizing affects of
without labor, that bring
without weariness?—[Sel.
-fc ■ m 'lmsT ' ;~r
The weary shall rest by-and-fy.
The labors will be over, the storms
and darkness will be past, and the
glory of the Lord will rest upon
them. The sunshine of foe bet-
ter world will be fop brighter and
sweeter for the darkness and shad-
ows of this life. Then we shall
see our loved ones, and foe pur*
and good of earth, who have gone
before us to the everlasting rest-
They have been watching and
waiting for us, and that will be a.
glorious uni6n, and a glad day
when we are united, ana there
sthll be no more partings,
that joyous day is coming,
God shall wipe away all \
from our eyes. Why then
and mourn at our
tion? Will not God
and what is bast i
let us trust him
ver.—[Selected.
MU
V
1.- ■
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Burnett, Thomas R. Christian Messenger. (Bonham, Tex.), Vol. 8, No. 15, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 26, 1882, newspaper, April 26, 1882; Bonham, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth913152/m1/2/: accessed June 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Bonham Public Library.