EDITORIAL.
New Vernon, N. Y.,
Jan. 1, 1842.
TO OUR AGENTS AND
SUBSCRIBERS.—In adjusting our books, we find an unpaid balance in our favor of
about $2000, an amount sufficient if paid, to enable us to liquidate all claims
against the establishment, and leave in our hands the means to enlarge our sheet.
We have no complaints to make; our subscribers have generally been remarkably
punctual, and considering the extensive circulation of our paper, the number of
our issue, and the length of time we have been publishing, it is rather a
matter of surprise than otherwise, that we have no more outstanding demands.
In hope of effecting
a settlement with the delinquent portion of our subscribers, we forward to
them, with this number, their respective bills, which are made out according to
our published terms, “$1,50, if not paid in advance,” and show the balances due
according to our books.
There is great
difficulty in keeping an accurate account with all our subscribers; from
several considerations it is the next thing to impossible. Many of our
subscribers have made their payments to our agents, and some of our agents have
been quite indefinite in regard to the names and post office address of the
persons, to whose account they designed to have their remittances applied. Some
of those to whom we have sent bills will perhaps be surprised, having perhaps already paid; let them not be alarmed; we do not wish any one to pay a second
time; we only ask of such, that they pardon our mistakes; and at some
convenient time, through their agents, or otherwise, let us know how the account
stands. Other errors may also be found in our account, where agents have been
sufficiently explicit, owing to some oversight of ours. We indulge the hope
that neither agents nor subscribers will take any offence at our sending out
the bills, made out as accurately as circumstances would allow.
Bills are sent also
to many who have formerly been subscribers, but have long since discontinued
their subscription. As many of the latter class as have the means, will see by
their bills, that we appeal to their honesty and sense of honor; this is our last
appeal; those who have neither honesty nor honor in the premises, are beyond our
reach, as we have no disposition to appeal to Caesar for redress.
While upon this
subject, we will call the attention of our agents to the necessity of
mentioning the name of every subscriber expressly, and his post office address,
to whose credit they wish us to apply the money sent on. And when any new
subscriber’s name is sent us, or any one is to be discontinued, let the name
and post office be written in the plainest manner possible; a little care and
attention to this request would save us hours of impatient toil in searching
among from two to three thousand names, for the persons they may intend to
designate.
Some of our agents
have said, “The enclosed —— is to pay the amount due, from the list I send
you,” &c. How we are to ascertain what names they sent us, is more than we
know. It would require at least a Philadelphia lawyer, to keep every agent’s
account correctly by itself; as for instance, one agent sends on a list of
names this year; next year some of that list pays their subscription to another
agent, or sends it on to us, thus the names become intermixed in a short time,
so that we cannot tell to whose agency they belong. Another great source of
embarrassment to us, has been when agents have written, “I have lost my
memorandum, or forgotten the state of my account; please inform me who on my
list are in arrears,” &c. We can sometimes state the account of those who
are sent to the same post office, where the agent receives his own paper, but
it is seldom we can do more. If an agent wishes information of this kind, he
should state his enquiry, thus, “How does the account stand with A. B. of C.
post office, and D. E. and F. of G. post office;” then we could readily, and in
a moment, turn to the post office designated, and give the statement required.
All mistakes on our
books, or on the face of the bills sent out, shall be promptly and
satisfactorily corrected, so soon as we are advised by them.
For the information
of such as might otherwise be imposed on by ignorant or unprincipled
post-masters, we will mention, that the bills enclosed with this paper are not
subject to postage, as the law regulating post offices, postage, &c.
expressly gives the privilege to publishers of newspapers, to send slips of
paper containing a notice of the amount due to the publisher from each
subscriber. We hope the above bills may be kindly received, and duly
remembered.
In closing this
article, we again take occasion to express our sincere thanks to our brethren,
agents and subscribers in general, for their liberal patronage, and as far as
in us lies it will be our care to give satisfaction by a cheerful and prompt
application to the duties devolving on us in the station we occupy, as editor
of the “Signs of the Times.”
Lebanon, Ohio, Dec.
2, 1842.
MR. BEEBE, SIR:—You
will discontinue the number of the “Signs” directed to S. Gard, as I consider
the general sentiment or doctrine which they embody opposed to “salvation by
grace,” as taught and exemplified by the inspired Apostles. The very first principle
of the doctrine which they advocate is evidently wrong, since it
substitutes feelings for faith. It requires no stretch of thought to discover that the very first promise of the new covenant which their author pretends to
venerate so much, is at utter and eternal variance with the rejection of the
law as a rule of life. The first promise, “I will put my laws in their minds,
and write them in their hearts, saith the Lord;” a fact which is fatal to all
such unholy applications of the doctrines of grace. In a word, their doctrine
is, the hope of a salvation from that holy salvation which is, “the end” of
election, redemption and regeneration.
These are my humble
convictions.
Yours respectfully,
W. V. H. GARD.
We notice the
preceding, not for the mere gratification of our ambition for such flattering
expressions of successful sentiment and gracious feeling towards us, as it so
feelingly breathes forth; but more particularly with a view to commend the
conduct of the writer, in so frankly avowing his decided preference for
Judaism, alias arminianism, to the doctrine of the gospel; and his readiness to
expose his ignorance of the difference between the two covenants, the law of
the spirit of life, written and engraved by the Holy Spirit upon the fleshly
tables of the hearts of the children of God, and that which was written on
tables of stone, addressed to the carnal Israelites, which was a shadow of good
things to come, and destined to wax old and vanish away when the true
tabernacle should be revealed. While others of the same Arminian fraternity may
accord in feelings and sentiment with Mr. Gard, few of them have been so open
in exposing their real preference for the bondage of Ishmael over the liberty
of the sons of God. While we commend so much of the letter, and the generosity
of its author, in attempting to convert us from what he seems to consider the
error of our way, there are some little inaccuracies in some of his remarks,
which, although liable to occur in the productions of the wisest and best of
writers, require some correction. As Mr. G. has the honor, (if honor it be,) to
be the first, to charge us with opposing the doctrine of salvation by grace,
“as taught and exemplified by the inspired Apostles,” he will confer a lasting
obligation on us, by pointing out very clearly and distinctly every particular
in which he finds us hostile to that doctrine, and every point of discrepancy
between us and the inspired Apostles. And if the very first principle of the
doctrine which “they” [the editor of the Signs] advocate is evidently wrong,
and substitutes feelings for faith, we conclude that none can be more competent
to demonstrate the fact than the man who made the discovery. We call on Mr.
G., therefore, to come forward immediately to the work. If “no stretch of
thought” is required to discover that the very first promise of the new
covenant, which their author pretends to venerate so much, is at utter and
eternal variance with the rejection of the law, as a rule of life,” we repeat
it, Mr. Gard is eminently qualified for the undertaking. And when he shall
succeed in proving that the law of Moses to the Jews, the Sinai covenant, or
the ceremonial economy, is by divine authority to be observed as the rule of the
christian’s life and practice, and that the law which God has promised to write
in the hearts of his children, under the new covenant dispensation, is only a
transcript of the law of sin and death, we shall have no farther use for the
new testament.
The fact that God
will write his law in the mind, and in the hearts of his children, Mr. G. says,
is fatal to all such unholy applications of the doctrines of grace. We are not
sufficiently learned to understand the meaning of this last sentence, especially
as he has represented us as discarding, instead of applying the doctrine of
grace. Who can he mean? “In a word,” says our sapient writer, “their doctrine,” [meaning
the editor’s of the Signs] doctrine, is the hope of a salvation from that holy
salvation which is the end of election, redemption and regeneration!
What an overwhelming
summing up! What extraordinary talent for cramming the world into a nutshell,
the entire doctrine of the Old School Baptists screwed up into one word, and
that one word spun out into a sentence; and that sentence big with meaning, explicitly
declaring what mortals never knew, or angels never thought!
But taking our
sapient friend upon his own ground, seeing he claims for himself what he denies
to us, viz: to be consistent with the doctrine of salvation by grace, &c.
We will demand of him, in the words of the Apostles, “Tell me, ye [thou] that
desirest to be under the law, dost thou hear what the law saith?” In what
precept of the law is faith, repentance, baptism, the Lord’s supper, or any
other sentiment or ordinance of the gospel church enjoined? If the law is the
rule of life to believers, then instead of what Christ and the Apostles have
enjoined upon the gospel church, she should teach, and require of all her
members to be circumcised, with the circumcision of that law, in their flesh;
they should maintain the priesthood of Aaron, offer their sacrifices as did the
Jews; they should go up to Jerusalem, (literally) to worship, as often as did
the Jews; they should observe days, and new moons, sabbaths, meats, drinks, and
divers washings, for the purification of the flesh. They should exact an eye for
an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, blood for
blood, life for life, &c., and not pray for their enemies, nor forgive
them. The law shows no pity, neither should they; the law curses transgressors,
so should they. For every failure to do the whole law, the law demands that the
offender should die, and that the sentence be executed by those who are under
the law as the rule of their life. Mr. Gard, therefore, is by his law required
to execute the work of death wherever he finds offenders, and if he fail to
execute to the full extent of what law demands, himself must die.
What charming
harmony this, with the doctrine of salvation by grace, as taught by inspired
Apostles! and especially where the inspired Apostles declare, “By the deeds of
the law no flesh shall be justified.” Gal. ii. 16. “This only would I learn of
you, received ye the spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of
faith? Are ye so foolish, having begun in the spirit, are ye now made perfect
by the flesh?” Chap. iii. 2, 3. “I testify again to every man that is
circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law, Christ is become of no
effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from
grace.” Gal. v. 3, 4. “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to
Christ, that we might be justified by faith; but after that faith is come, we
are no more under the schoolmaster.” Gal. iii. 24, 25. “But if ye are led by
the spirit, ye are not under the law.” How now, friend Gard, did you ever read
these scriptures? Well, just turn over, and read the second chapter of Paul, to
the Colossians, read the chapter through; and then, if your courage fail you
not, accuse the old Apostle Paul of opposing the doctrine of salvation by
grace; and smack it right into his teeth, that, if he teach that the church is
not under the law, but under grace; then his doctrine can be summed up in a
word, to mean no more, nor less than that he hopes to be saved from that
salvation which is connected with election, redemption, regeneration, &c.
But (privately, between ourselves) we advise you before encountering the old
Apostle, to stop and count the cost; he will not let you off as we do. Better
not be in a hurry. Return your quill to the goose whence it was plucked; she
will make a better use of it: and when you have done this, tarry yourself at
Jericho, or at some other place remote from Zion, until your beard be grown.
REPLY TO BROTHER J.
B. BOWEN, PAGE 5.—“Will the church occupy apostolic ground before all things
belonging to the family are made common or equal?” Acts ii. (not xi. as by a
typographical error stated on page 5,) 44, 45. As brother Bowen has desired us
to—“say on,” we will give him our opinion, in the manner requested; and would
be glad to hear from others on the same subject. We have never understood the
circumstance of the disciples’ selling their possessions, and laying the
proceeds of those sales at the Apostles’ feet, for general application to the
wants of the persecuted, proscribed, and outlawed saints of that day, as
intended to constitute any part of the order of a gospel church, or to be
considered an example for imitation in the subsequent practice of the church,
excepting under very similar circumstances. The church was greatly oppressed at
the time referred to; a law had been passed by the Jews that if any man
confessed Jesus, in his true character, or became his disciple, he should be
cast out of the synagogue. It should be unlawful to favor such proscribed
persons; and when thus proscribed, it was easy for the Jews to prevail on the
Roman authorities to cause their estates to become confiscated. And even
without such immediate legislation by the Romans, the violence of the Jews was
such as to drive the disciples away from their homes, and render their real
estates of no value to them. They were greatly scattered by the persecution,
and they that were scattered, we read, went everywhere, preaching the word. It
was impossible they should carry their houses and lands with them everywhere,
and hence, they were instructed to “Make to themselves friends of the mammon of
unrighteousness, that when they failed, they should receive them into their
everlasting habitation.” The persecution that arose at the day of pentecost,
became very general, and dreadfully severe; many were reduced suddenly from a
state of comparative affluence to the most abject poverty and distress; hence
it became necessary for the contribution to relieve the poor saints at
Jerusalem, and elsewhere. From all these considerations, it became expedient,
for the time being, that those who were about to confess their faith in Jesus,
and thereby, expose themselves to the forfeiture of all their possessions, to
sell all that they would otherwise lose, and lay the proceeds at the Apostles’
feet, and thus provide a common fund, out of which the wants of the needy
should be supplied. Should we attempt to revive the same practice now, it would
be somewhat difficult to find Apostles prepared to take charge of the money.
The Apostles found it so difficult a task, that they directed that seven men of
honest report, full of the Holy Ghost, should be elected, to superintend the
disbursement of the funds. We suppose brother Bowen would not like to become
the “fiscal agent,” for all the property of the whole church; nor could we
easily find men of honest report, to occupy the place of the Apostles. There
are men, any quantity of them, to be found, who would like the appointment
much, but they uniformly lack the important qualification of being honest and
full of the Holy Ghost.
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