Gospel Herald, 1860-08-25

              GOSPEL HERALD.
Devoted to Ohristianity, Morality, the Interests of Sabhath Sohoola, Social Improvement. Temperanoe, Edtioation, and General Ne-nrs.
"BEHOLD,   I   BEING   YOU   GOOD   TIDINGS   OF   GREAT   JOT  ....  ON   EARTH   PEACE,   GOOD   -WILL   TQ-WAED   MKN.'
VOL. 17.
DAYTON, 0., SATURDAY, AUGUST 25,1860
i\0J7.
ORIGINAL POETRY.
IVVtllea for the aospel Herald.
Lines written on my Bible.
BY REBECCA BOVET.
This little book to rae
Is life, health, joy and peaee.
And as I reiid it8 sacred woids My faith doth still increase.
The truths ao rich and rare.
Its pages doth enfold. Arc far mors dear to me, than all
Earth's richest genis of gold.
Its promises are siioh
As earth has never given.
It promises immortal life, A blissful home in heaven.
To th.jse who trust in God
Its Author and our King; And give their hearts to Chriat,
An humble offering.
Upon this book depen ds the hope
Of immortality; It -warns frail niorwls to prepare
To spend eternity.
Blest little Bible dear,
I.clasp thee to my heart. And say dear little book,
I'll ne'er from thee depart.
Till death shall snap the cord That binds my soul to earth.
And vnhen I part from thee,
I'll claim a heavenly birth, ,
Lebanon, Ohio.
ORIGINALITIES.
Writtenfar the Gotpel Herald.
Christian Character the only test of Ohurch Fellowship- Much has been written on the above caption, and doubtleBS, more has been thought, than has yet appeared on the printed page. It is generally admit¬ ted that this is a part of the platform on -whtchthe Christians as a denomi¬ nation planted thems;elves some sixty years ago. The phrase, 'Christiah Character,' is still claimed to be suffi- cienxly expressive of all that should constitute a tost of Ohristian union among all the foUo-wers of Christ,-— The only trouble seems to lie in what it comprehends, Whatis Christian Char¬ acter? This is truly , an important question, and he vrho may but approx¬ imate tbe answer, -will doubtlefes do a gueat work. What it is absolutely, and what its higheststandard comprehends, perhaps can only be determined by him who seeth all things, as they reaUig are. Nevertheless, he htn not left us to grope our way entirely in the dark; he : has giveij us a rule by wrhioh ' yfre may determine,, sufficiently correct for *11; practical purposes, what it ia; and though we may not be able tc| discern all it comprehends, yet,we may deter¬ mine where it exists. 'Ye shall know them by their, fruits,' .Matt., VII, 16,~ A wolf, clothed with a sheep-skin.^an never travel far without makinf ,a ¦Wolf's, track; hence we have only . to cast our eyes from his e?:ternal appear¬ ance, and'mark bis steps, to determiiie tis true character. 'A good tree caa- aot bring forth, ^vil fruit, aeitber can acorrupt treebringiforth good frmt^ "li^erse.18. Tbougli : we may not^ dis¬ cover all tho fruit that grows on   the
tree, and though we may not compre¬ hend the manner by which it is produ¬ ced; yet if we do discern but one grape, we may know its parent is not tbe thorn-tree, and vice versa. But by what means are we to make this discovery? It is evident, that here we are thrown back upon our own reason, powers of discernment and experience, for a correct interpretation ofthe rule, and to determine the true from tho false.
Hence we are liableto be deceived in this world of false appearances; and our approximation to the truth will be inexact ratio , to our experimental growth and advancement in tho pow ers of reason and discrimination.— Therefore in deciding upon the charac¬ ter of others, it behooves us 1,0 exercise that charity whieh 'suffers long and is kind.' But may wo not let our chari tp (sympathy rather) lead us into lat itudinurianiam? and whilo we would shun one oxtreme, may we not run in¬ to another, and invito to our fellow¬ ship the 'unfruitful works of darkness,' and thus foster in onr bosoms as a peo¬ ple, the elements of our own destruc¬ tion? Character, as Webster defines it, is the 'peculiar qualities, impressed by nature or habit on a person, which distinguish him from others,' There¬ fore, Christian Character includes all those qualities whieh distinguish the individual as a follower of Christ,— Hence, itmustberegt^rded as insepera- blo from faith in Christ, and an humble submission to his will, so far us the in¬ dividual knows or can know; compre¬ hending all his attainments in virtue and piety, his habits and associations, his tendencies, his moral feelings, and all that he can rea% enjoy here, or hope for hereafter. It is hence by far, the most important of all tliat man can call his own, 'And yet how easily it, is effected. It is sometimes said, 'it matters nol what a man believes, so he is sincere.' This may be true of minor truths, but it is certainly false, of all those truths, the belief of. which must necessarily fashion a man's life. Hence if we are acquamted with the fundamental principlesof a man's faith, we have the very foundation ofhis char¬ acter. If it may be asked how we ahall know a man's faith, the answer is, "by bis works," James 11 18, Theroforfe his Christian Character may be deter¬ mined by his faith in Christ and its corresponding works. How may we know that a manposseses a republican character except by his faith in, and entire submission to a republican form, or system of government. But this submission must have a beginning. A: foreigner hears ofthe "Landof Col- lumbia" he immediately refuses sub¬ mission to the old King; and emigrates to the U. S, inquest of abetter home. His conceptionsof our form of govern¬ ment are very limited, yet sufficient to begtet faith, and form a ruling purpose tb submit to all its requirements as a true republican. (We use this term relative to our form of government, and not in a party sense.) He now posse«es a rephblican Character in its giCrm state, but it has not yet appeared aboves the Bui-face; it is only known to himself and to his God. He ia now inforrfted that he must take the oath of allegiance to our government^ and thus be visibly inducted as a citizen of; the U. S.    He  immediately, submitM.
His Character as a republican is now made manifest to us, and we hail him as a Brother. He is yet ignorant of many of his obligations as a citizen witb us, he makes many mistakes; nevertheless, he rectifies them as speedily as possible, and proceeds to learn and practice as a loyal citizen. Thus absolutely there is a growth and an advancement in his character; bnt relatively and morally considered, he is only a loyal citizen at any period ofhis advancement. But suppose he refuses submission to the government at any time when its requirements are made known, will he not be regarded as a traitor, and forfeit all his claims to a republican character? It seems to me the application is easy.
J. P, Daughebty. Ripley 0., Aug., 10,1860.
ITriaeii for the Oospel Berald.
The Christian Cause—Cities aad Large Towns.
The Christians, for the last half cen¬ tury, have for the most part occupied only tho country and small villages.— This accounts for many in the cities and large towns being ignorant of our true position. Those who differ with us in religious belief, occupy these strong-holds, theso centres of influ¬ ence. They prepossess the minds of all elasses of people against us. Men of every pursuit and profession, from, the sawer of wood and bearer of bur¬ dens, to the Judge on the bench, and Executive in the chair; all are misin¬ formed with regard to us, as a people. They are gravely told from the pulpit, and that with a great deal of clerical zest and sanctimoniousness, that the world is full of sin and wrong. That this is an age, famous for heresy; that there are many errors-both in fkith and practice, and that anti-Christ has oome into the world in fulfillment of ¦prophesy. All orthodox churches, and the world shbuld be on their guard; especially should they have an eye single to a sect claiming the name Christians, more generally kno-wn as New-Lights^—not uniform in opinion, of course, (as +hey claim to have no creed but the Bible.) But their lead¬ ers deny the divinity of Christ, the atonement, and the depravity of man, and many other heresies do they hold and teach. Therefore in aa much as the apostle exhorts to abstain from all appearance of evil, keep away from them. Do not admit them into your houses; neither bid them God speed, lest you be polluted by their false doc¬ trines. This, dear reader, is not a fan¬ cy sketch. The city of Daiytpnj.wh'ere ciur Western Grgati is no'w'^plublished, and where we now have* a growing and promising society, with regular preaching, has known a chapter just as dark. This is the way oui- cause i^ represented where we hate no stated preaching. Many believe such calum¬ nies to be trtte. It not unfrequently happens, that nearly iii sight of these places; and sometimes on either side we havq churches and people, who are fully able to go up and possess them, and be none the worse, bit rather in¬ vigorated by so doing. At bther pla¬ ces we have a few lovers of our posi¬ tion who, if they had a little help from abi-badjboula, and would support
regular preaching. Take Troy and Dayton for examples—they have suc¬ ceeded in this way. Lst our cities and towns be occupied by men alive to the claims of an unsectariau Gos¬ pel ; men who are neither afraid nor ashamed to tell the people that we do not deny the divinity of Christ, but that we do deny tho dpetrine of the Trinity. That we believe in the atonement, but do not think the un¬ scriptural prqfix "vicarious," necessa¬ ry, or profitable. That we fear to make additions to God's Book, lest God add to the plagues written therein.
Let it be told that we believe man to be a sinner, and that he must give an account fbr himselfto God for his OWE sins, (not Adam's,) but that we neither believe nor teacti that man's nature is totally, "entirely depraved; and that continually." "The reasons why," are because we find neither the words cr sentiment in the Bible.— John preached in the wildernea,s of Judea, Both the city and the regions round about went;,out to hear him; but experience teaches us that the.inbabit' ants of these larg^ places ,go out ,]^at seldom. When a part of them do go, it,is only to the dedication of a new house of worship, or to a basket- meeting, or to a camp-meeting.
If we wish to preach the Gospel to these places, we must go to them.— Thon will they hear, believe and obey the truth. Then will an influence go out from these places, as from Jerusa¬ lem of old, to bless and save the world, Weden Kelley,
Greenbush, RL, July 23, 1860,
  !»».¦.«¦	
[KELSCrKD.]
Earth is not Our Home.
BY J.   0.  VANNBS8.
Where is the heart that hath not in sortie dark hour leaped with an exult¬ ing bound at tbe thought that "Earth is not my home?" It comes like tho balm of Gilead to the child of sorrow and poverty, giving him new strength to tread the thorny pathway of life, JS very disappointment weaves for him a brighter garland of life's immortal tree. Though hie name may not be written on Fame's gilded page, yet it may be engraved on Heaven's ever¬ lasting portals.' Though honor with¬ holds from him her fading laurels, he looks forward to a glorious diadem re^ served for the pure in heart. Already be sees angels' hands placing the last gem in the conqueror's crown; al¬ ready their shouts of triumph iire heard, as thoy throw wide thegates of the "heavenly city;" and welcome him to his eternal home. Is there, then j no.joyin the thought thsit-earth is riot oar abiding place? Though death loves a shining marky taking with an unerring aim thosewe love; there is ai brighter world, where those we have loved will be forever in our presence.) Happine8s,like a btiatid;lSi«s 8ea,where we may' drink.and never thirst, will richly repay for' every sorrow, every disappointment that darkens and deso¬ lates, our'.'patli way here' b610*.: la there not joy, t;hen', unspeakable in the thought of a worltl beyond ihe grave?
Where are thoso high and gloi-iOus aspirants that continually point'to somet'hing' more holy indfiiure? . Do they not whisper to the fettered spirit,