ABOUT the time that the Christian Baptist was commenced, much worldlyism was admitted to a place in the list of means employed in the support of these and kindred institutions. The editor and his coadjutors, who, like Luther, attempted a reformation of the church, fixed their eyes upon these departures from the simplicity of the gospel and christian worship, and lashed them without mercy and with great effect. Lotteries to build places of worship, the appropriation of sums realized in horse-races, etc., etc., were duly recorded and castigated; but, unfortunately, terms were often employed which the same writers would now be far from using. Sometimes the institutions themselves, confounded with such abuses, shared in the general condemnation, and the position of many of our churches was quite equivocal on the whole subject of general organizations for bible and missionary purposes. To be sure, there was much objection to the manner in which these institutions were conducted, as well as the way in which they were supported. But the feeling on this subject has been much modified for the better.

      We now have our bible, missionary, and tract institutions, and brother Campbell himself has accepted the presidency of one of them. With very little exception, our brethren are warmly advocating and aiding to sustain them.

      Indeed, some of us, as documents will show, never swerved from a firm attachment to them. The subjoined extracts from the Millennial Harbinger will serve to show how that deservedly popular magazine now regards the whole subject, and also serve to correct any improper impression which some of the early articles of the Christian Baptist may have been the occasion of creating. Much of the same kind could be quoted:

D. S. B.

      "In view of the facts and truths which we have been contemplating, we cannot avoid the conviction that christian churches were constituted by our Lord his "primary societies" for the work of evangelization. Not that we believe, as some have thought, that every church, acting as an isolated body, ought to appoint and sustain a missionary among the heathen. Evidently, this is an impossibility; for, in many cases, a single church has no missionary to appoint; and in many others, where the missionary might be found, there is a want of ability to sustain him. But it is the duty of each to do what is possible. And the fair conclusion is, that, as the realm of heathenism is before the churches, as a common field, and as the work of evangelization lies before them, as a common cause, they should become "co-workers" for its prosecution. And where scattered bodies of people are called to act together for a common end, the mode which reason and scripture both suggest is, that of acting together, by means of "messengers" or delegates. We do not believe that the churches were ever called to act together by means of delegates for a government, or from the exercise of supervision over each other; but that they are called thus to act for the common object of evangelization. When bodies of delegates are appointed and convened for such a purpose, to carry out the great aim of the commission, whether they spring from one small district, and are called an "association," or from a still larger one, and are called a "general convention," we believe that it may be truly said of them, in the language of Paul, "they are the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ."

      To the first christians it was a thrilling discovery, that through their agency the heathen could be evangelized. To the English Baptists of the present century it was a discovery equally thrilling, that, by the simple means which they employed, the appalling and deeply-founded barrier of caste could be broken down, and that Brahmins could be led to sit at the feet of Jesus. The brief annals of our American missions prove that there is no class of men so refined or savage, so high or so low, but that they may be made trophies of the gospel, and be "brought in" to add luster to its triumphs. What our religion has done is ample proof that it may do anything that the heart of piety can desire, if it be promulgated with the right spirit, with a loyal deference to the Master's will, by men "full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." "Not as though we had already attained, either were already perfect; but we follow after, if that we may apprehend that for which also we are apprehended of Christ Jesus. Let us therefore as many as be perfect, be thus minded; and if in anything we be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto us. Nevertheless, whereto we have attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing," and "press toward the mark for the prize of our high calling."

[TCB 4]