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"TEN YEARS IN TEXAS" 
 
 BY 
 
 J. B. GAMBRELL 
 

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 PUBLISHED 
 
 BY 
 
 THE BAPTIST STANDARD 
 May, 1909 
 
 DALLAS, TEXAS 
 [All rights reserved] 
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 THE STANDARD PRiNTIN*. C > 
 
 DA '.L»S, TEXAS 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Concerning a Long-Drawn-Out Campaign for Progress <> 
 
 Up Fool Hill . .. 29 
 
 The Te-Hee Girl 34 
 
 Who Owns the Wool 41 
 
 The Working Value of Free Government in Religion 45 
 
 The Army in the Ditch ^2 
 
 Country Mothers 58 
 
 Concerning Mules 6 1 
 
 Concerning Criticism and Limitations 66 
 
 Further Concerning Criticism , 72 
 
 Plain Lessons From a Loving Writer 78 
 
 Concerning Church Government 83 
 
 Decisive Battles in Human Lite 93 
 
 Grasshoppers and Giants 98 
 
 Saints and Angels 104 
 
 Bill Morgan's Economy 109 
 
 Purposeless Preachers 116 
 
 The Pains of Progress. The Unrest of Faith 121 
 
 The Last Struggle 125 
 
 Questions in Baptist Rights 128 
 
 Concerning Being Xearly Right 1 3 1 
 
 Concerning Doing Exactly Right 1 35 
 
 The Greatest Question 139 
 
 Which Way, This or That? 145 
 
 The Law of the Harvest [49 
 
 Evangelizing the Far West 1 54 
 
 Church Sovereignty and Denominational Comity 151; 
 
 "Squire Sinkhorn's" Mistake 161 
 
 Principles Underlying Co-operation Among Baptists 167 
 
 Stackpole Unification 1 j^ 
 
 The Battle Ground for Missions 178 
 
 Great Meeting, and Some Remarks 181 
 
CONTENTS— Continued 
 
 Blessed Be Books for The)- Arc a Blessing 185 
 
 Lopsidedness in Missions [89 
 
 Two Large Examples, With Lessons 193 
 
 The Passing of the Bully ...197 
 
 A Letter to Young Preachers 201 
 
 Beautiful Fighting s 204 
 
 Dreading the Process 20S 
 
 A Fine Example of Organized Efficiency.—.. 211 
 
 The Problem of Denominational Progress 214 
 
 Lizard Killing 218 
 
 Two Chapters on Money and Methods 223 
 
 Conservatism and Corns 227 
 
 A Case of Apostolic Succession, With .Votes 231 
 
 The Evil of the Fighting Spirit 235 
 
 Paul, The Tent Maker 241 
 
 Two Points of View — Self and Saerifice... 245 
 
 Trumpeting Hardsheliism 252 
 
 The Workings of ITardshellism 257 
 
 A Plea for Simplicity 261 
 
 Concerning College Degrees 265 
 
 Nationalization of the Southern Spirit 268 
 
 The Work of Preachers 273 
 
 Concerning Religious Notions 2yy 
 
 The Case of the Missionaries 281 
 
 "Poor, Yet Making Many Rich" 285 
 
 The Safety of the Baptist Methods of Work 292 
 
 The Form and the Power j<y; 
 
 A Sling and a King 301 
 
 The Nature and Uses of Conventions 307 
 
THE BAPTIST STANDARD'S 
 NEW VENTURE 
 
 BY 
 DR. B. H. CARROLL 
 
 All hail to the Baptist Standard: 
 
 "Long may it wave 
 O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave !" 
 
 Like an eagle it minds to soar to greater heights that it 
 may see wider horizons. It has already a wide field of use- 
 fulness and feels a mission to regions beyond. 
 
 Religious journalism, on right lines, deserves higher 
 honors than it has ever received and may through the wis- 
 dom of its policy, the variety and spice of its contents, and 
 the power of its spirit, yet startle the world with achieve- 
 ments. 
 
 The Standard's new honor is the promise of a book em- 
 bodying the articles of Dr. J. B. Gambrell, culled from its 
 columns. It will be a unique and most readable book. 
 
 Dr. Gambreirs fame rests largely on three excellencies : 
 (i) His charm and power as a platform speaker. Any 
 audience will hear this great "Commoner" when he rises 
 to speak. (2) His administrative leadership in getting 
 churches, associations and conventions to do right things. 
 (3) His ready pen in timely articles. The character of the 
 man backs up these excellencies. 
 
 Now the proposed book, as I understand it, will group 
 the articles which in their day. each fitted to its exigency, 
 reached and influenced the hearts of thousands. "Uncle 
 Gideon" is as famous in his line as "Uncle Remus" on an- 
 other line. Such books constitute a charming, racy, help- 
 ful literature. The French never excelled as historians, but 
 they lead the world in memoirs. These memoirs give more 
 
life-like pictures of the times, its customs, spirit and genius 
 than any history could do. We learn of a reign, a genera- 
 tion, by a single character. 
 
 God has not given all to the one, but each gifted one 
 is peerless in some good. The Lord be praised for the di- 
 versity of gifts and let all rejoice in each one's excellence. 
 Dr. Gambrell's inimitable way of putting things — his easy, 
 lucid, off-hand style, his quaint humor and power of apt 
 illustration in homely things the people can understand, and 
 withal his lofty purpose to do and say right things will make 
 his book widely popular. For one I have long wanted to 
 see his current greatness crystalize that posterity may know 
 somewhat of the great good man whom his contemporaries 
 delighted to honor, and so warmly appreciated. 
 
 He has a standing offer from me for another book. A 
 series of lectures to preachers on pastoral theologies and 
 duties. Our Seminary stands ready to pay him for the 
 lectures 
 
 As I commenced with "all hail to The Standard" I 
 close with, "Let The Standard circulate and circulate and 
 keep on circulating." 
 
 B. H. Carroll, 
 
 July 9, at Louisiana B. Y. P. U., at Mandeville, on Lake 
 Ponchartrain. 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 Concerning a Long Drawn out Cam- 
 paign for Progress 
 
 THHIS article is written as a preliminary dissertation 
 ^ ona long drawn-out struggle in Texas for Baptist 
 jgga progress. The articles, which succeed this, in "Ten 
 Years in Texas" may be read in the light of the 
 statements found in this dissertation. They were 
 written, from time to time, to meet the situation, as it ap- 
 peared, and to fill a place in a general scheme of education 
 designed to lead Texas Baptists to higher ground. Not one 
 of the articles was written with any thought of its ever ap- 
 pearing in a book, and no attempt was made to give to any 
 article literary finish. In fact, they were designed to trim 
 the situation into shape. It is the roughness of the- file, that 
 gives it its value in the particular kind of work for which 
 it is designed. 
 
 In this article, there will be no attempt to follow any 
 chronological order of events, but only to touch the main 
 features of a great situation, out of which is evolving a 
 magnificent missionary force. If the succeeding: artf< %1 *" 
 have value, they take their value largely from the tact that 
 they touch practical questions in denominational life. No 
 particular order will be found in the discussions of princi- 
 ples and policies. Any soldier, who ever tried it, knows 
 there is a large difference between an orderly review of a 
 great army, and the movements of that army when it is 
 really in a fight. 
 
 My first real touch with Texas Baptist life, was in the 
 Houston Convention in 1896. I was there as a visitor from 
 Georgia. The Houston Convention was, in all respects, a 
 
by J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 lively affair, though one would not wish to say much more 
 about it. This writer had seen war before, real war — four 
 years in the Confederate army — and then he had seen de- 
 nominational wars and been in them some, but a near view 
 of the Houston Convention gave a new and lively impres- 
 sion of what could really be done in a fight for order. I 
 recall that a brother asked me toward the conclusion of the 
 Convention, whether I would not like to come to Texas, and, 
 with sincerity, I said, "No, I want to go to Heaven, and 
 I don't see any good road through Texas." That was the 
 way it really looked to me. 
 
 But the issues raised before the Houston Convention, 
 and, which had been settled two or three times before, seem- 
 ed to be finally settled in that Convention, when, after a long 
 and painful struggle, the two parties voted on the report 
 covering the ground of contention, and voted with absolute 
 unanimity. That gave the idea that a little tenderness might 
 heal old wounds, and that the Baptists of Texas might really 
 be brought together, if only tact were used. 
 
 Being elected Superintendent of Missions by the Board 
 not long after that Convention and earnestly solicited by 
 leaders on both sides of the differences to accept the work, 
 I finally did accept, and did it with the idea that there would 
 not be much trouble in ending all contentions, and launching 
 out for a great campaign of progress. Some of the brethren 
 did not think so, and it took the writer some months to learn 
 as much as some of the other brethren knew when he came. 
 We were really in for a great struggle to be carried on by 
 stages, which, in its outcome, was to fuse and unify Texas 
 Baptists. We were to come to higher ground and come 
 through tribulation. The very situation called for it. 
 
 Texas is large on the map and large every way. Here 
 people are gathered from the four quarters of the earth, 
 representing all kind of notions, principles and prejudices. 
 There had been from the early days in Texas a militant 
 
 10 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 spirit among Baptists. The fact is, the Baptists are a mili- 
 tant people. They were so in the beginning, when John 
 the Baptist laid the ax to the roots of the trees and shook 
 all the regions around Jordan; and, when we cease to be, 
 we will not be very much account. From time to time, in 
 the past, efforts had been made to unify Texas Baptists, 
 and finally the several general bodies in the state merged 
 into one and the two leading papers in the state merged 
 also. 
 
 Many brethren felt then that there was real unification, 
 but it must be rememebered that there is a difference between 
 contact and unity. Apples, in a barrel, are in contact and are 
 together, in a sense, but they are not united. Jonah and 
 the whale were together, Jonah inside, but Jonah and the 
 whale were not united, and they did not stay together when 
 a commotion came. We will have learned a great lesson 
 in our churches, associations and other working bodies, 
 when we clearly see the difference between contact and 
 unity. Paul's idea of a church was one standing fast "in 
 one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith 
 of the gospel." That is the true ideal for a general body. 
 When the unification movement came in Texas, and all the 
 general bodies merged, all the people were not merged in 
 spirit or mind, and there were among those, committed to 
 the unification movement, diverse sentiments and feelings. 
 It had to be so when there had been no unification of the 
 highest and best sort, and unification can never be accom- 
 plished by simply writing things on paper. The spirit will 
 always be greater than the letter. 
 
 Let it be remembered that people are in Texas from 
 everywhere. This writer was in a frontier village, in a 
 rough, frontier hotel in Texas where there were eleven peo- 
 ple. He took a census of the company. Two were born 
 in South Carolina, two in New York state, one in London, 
 one in Canada, the others one to a state in America. The 
 
 it 
 
by J. B. Gam brew,, D. D. 
 
 twelfth man was a servant and a Mexican. That is a pic- 
 ture of the make-up of the population in Texas. And as 
 people came from everywhere, they brought with them such 
 ideas as they had. Baptists from Georgia had Georgia 
 ideas. Those from Kentucky had the Kentucky spirit and 
 ideas. Those from Kansas had Kansas notions. In get- 
 ting people together, it is not so bad if they are bent, as to 
 ways and methods, provided they are all bent the same way. 
 There is not much difficulty in stacking up spoons, made in 
 the same mold, though they are not straight. It is altogether 
 a different matter, however, to undertake to stack up wheel 
 barrows, because they were not made to fit. 
 
 Then the situation was further endangered by sectional 
 feelings. Texas is large, and the people live far apart. Dis- 
 tance is much in the thinking of the average human being. 
 The different sections developed their leaders, and these 
 leaders did not always agree. Moreover, the situation had 
 been greatly aggrevated by numerous papers, those instru- 
 ments of wrath or blessing, according as they are used. All 
 along, papers had developed feuds; and, when the papers 
 were merged into one, the feuds were not all dead, though 
 they slumbered for a season. Then, a little later, after a 
 state-wide attempt at unification, another paper was started, 
 made necessary by the unwise conduct of the first paper. 
 With such a broad, unformed situation and two papers, with 
 contrary alignments, there was abundant opportunity for 
 what happened, a great, newspaper war, brought on by 
 "newspaper competition.'' The Baptists have not been hap- 
 py in their management of newspapers. If the Philistines 
 had known how to run newspapers, Samson could not have 
 played them a worse trick than to have started them in the 
 newspaper business in opposition to each other. Then he 
 would not have needed foxes and fire brands at all. A news- 
 paper can be, and a good one is, the greatest instrument of 
 good wielded by any man. It has more eyes to see, more 
 
 12 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 hands to work, more feet to go, more tongues to talk than 
 anything else known to civilization. But, if in the hands of 
 an unwise man, it may, and likely will sow discord and strife 
 wider and more disastrously than anything else in the world. 
 
 And there were other conditions in Texas, not good, 
 all to be worked out in God's way. Great numbers of 
 preachers had come to Texas with the idea, that if they were 
 once here in this new country, they would count for a great 
 deal. Some of them had failed on other fields. They came 
 here to find further disappointment. It really takes a well 
 balanced man and strong, to hold his own in a rapidly 
 growing, unformed situation, such as Texas has been and 
 is now in a large measure. It is not every preacher, who 
 can be quiescent and sweet, under disappointment. Most 
 men, when they fail, look outside of themselves for the 
 cause of their failures; whereas the cause is commonly 
 within, and it is human nature to blame the failure on some- 
 body else. 
 
 In the very condition of things in Texas, there had 
 grown up a kind of feudalism in the denomination, the thing 
 that Paul condemned in the church at Corinth. One was 
 for Paul (that was not his name in Texas) another for 
 Cephas and so on. If the leaders could agree, there was a 
 measure of peace. If they did not, then the masses would 
 gather around their favorite leaders and there was no peace. 
 It was a kind of stack-pole unification, a personal leader- 
 ship, which went finally to newspaper leadership. 
 
 Another thing might be mentioned, which intensified 
 the situation. Some men, of a fighting disposition, felt that 
 they counted for more in a fight than they did in plain work, 
 and, if things got quiet, and every thing smoothed down 
 to steady work, they would not amount to much. We have 
 yet a contingent of this sort of people in Texas and else- 
 where, but more of them in the Southwest than anywhere 
 else. In the older and more settled parts of the country, 
 
 • 13 
 
r.v J. B. GaMBWSU,, D. D. 
 
 the denomination has outgrown them. Texas was really a 
 paradise for such men, and hither they flocked. 
 
 Then, of course, we had what is always with us in our 
 denominational life: the foolish prejudices of country people 
 against town people and town people against country people. 
 When people come to think about it, they know there is no 
 sense in it. But, when there is a lively fight going, people 
 feel a great deal and think very little, and that helps to keep 
 up the fight. 
 
 Let us take still another look. On this broad field were 
 exploited different denominational interests. Besides the 
 Baptist General Convention of Texas, there was a Sunday 
 School Convention. Then the several schools had their in- 
 terests, and there were independent Sunday School workers 
 and evangelists ; all of them doing more or less good, all of 
 them trying to push forward, and often very much in each 
 other's way. Sometimes at a single association, or a Fifth 
 Sunday meeting, there would be half a dozen general men 
 present to represent separate interests, each one pulling for 
 the best hour.' Was there ever a situation in the world made 
 more to the hand of a man, with his pocket full of wedges, 
 and his mind made up to split things? Dr. Burleson is 
 credited with saying that there are three classes of Baptists 
 in Texas: "the sitters, the splitters and the builders." We 
 will be getting on toward the millenium when the two first 
 tribes diminish and the third increases to cover the land. 
 
 When this writer came to Texas as a "tender-foot,'' he 
 found a condition about as described, with a great battle 
 on. The conflict raged around the Board of Directors and 
 the Baptist General Convention of Texas, which had al- 
 ready begun a forward movement of great significance. One 
 of the general papers in the state stood unflinchingly by the 
 Board and its policies, which was the same as standing by 
 the Baptist General Convention, which appointed the Board 
 and outlined the policies. The other paper was in sharp 
 
 14 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 conflict, and was waging war with great zeal and no little 
 ability. The woods were afire all over the state, and it was 
 a question of saving what could be saved and holding things 
 together for a better day. The plan of attack was by cease- 
 less assaults on the Board, its workers and on the Conven- 
 tion itself. The accusations were as ceaseless as the tides 
 of the seas. They ran on the general lines made historic by 
 the Hardshells in their fight, also, the early Campbellites. The 
 sovereignty of the churches, the people were told, with insist- 
 ence and continuously was being ruthlessly disregarded and 
 trampled on by a set of bosses. The people's money was 
 being wasted. The management of the Board, and of the 
 Convention itself, was full of trickery. The most unthought 
 of accusations were made against the workers of the Con- 
 vention. No man escaped. Men grown gray in honorable 
 service, were held up as totally unworthy, and some of them 
 as grossly criminal. It was all in the spirit of the earl" 
 Hardshells, and by the same methods, though the conten- 
 tions were different. All this was urged in the name of mis- 
 sions; and all of it to break down public confidence in the 
 Convention and its agencies, to the end that failure might 
 result, which would be charged on the chosen leaders of the 
 denomination. 
 
 The denomination, and those chosen to lead a forward 
 movement faced a grave situation. We were to make a great 
 experiment with the democratic principles of the Baptist 
 people. Would the consecration, intelligence and fidelity of 
 the denomination be able to withstand these attacks ? That 
 thousands of good people believed the false and malicious 
 charges made, could not be questioned, and they were openly 
 and honestly allied with the opposition to the Convention and 
 its work. 
 
 For one, I did not entertain a doubt that the principles 
 of democracy in the denomination would be vindicated. I 
 never doubted, that while we were riding rough seas and 
 
 >5 
 
BY J. B. Gambrexl, D. D. 
 
 traveling rough roads, in the end, neither the work, nor the 
 workers could be ridden down by newspapers, however bla- 
 tant they might be. I felt sure that, in the end, people would 
 turn to the right side. I never had any more doubt of it, 
 than I had that the Heavenly bodies will keep their places 
 under the unseen, but powerful law of attraction. The 
 demonstration, wrought out in Texas, ought to be worth 
 a great deal to the denomination at large. It stands for a 
 free press, even though the press may be misdirected, and 
 it ought to give assurance to the public everywhere that in 
 the ongoing of things, ordained by the Lord of Glory, truth, 
 in an open field, will win. Under the constant enfilading, 
 the question was often asked, if these things be not so, why 
 do you not sue for your character? In the body of this 
 volume, will be found an answer to that particular ques- 
 tion. But it is worth emphasizing here that the great prin- 
 ciple of freedom of speech and a free press, will work al- 
 ways for the right side, if only people have patience, with 
 perseverance, to give time to the working out of those 
 forces among men that finally determine human conduct. 
 
 The situations are so analagous, that I quote here from 
 the second inaugural address of Thomas Jefferson, President 
 of the United States. It may be remembered that, during 
 his first administration, the vast Louisiana territory was 
 acquired, and but few public men were ever set upon as 
 furiously as was Thomas Jefferson. He had passed through 
 a four years' ordeal of this sort, when he came to his sec- 
 ond inauguration, and from the address then made, the fol- 
 lowing is quoted : 
 
 "During this course of administration, and in order to 
 disturb it, the artillery of the press has been leveled against 
 us, charged with whatsoever its licentiousness could devise 
 or dare. These abuses of an institution so important to 
 freedom and science are deeply to be regretted, inasmuch 
 as they tend to lessen its usefulness and to sap its safety. 
 
 16 
 
Ten YivARs in Thxas 
 
 They might, indeed, have been corrected by the wholesome 
 punishment reserved to and provided by the laws of the sev- 
 eral states against falsehood and defamation, but public 
 duties, more urgent, press on the time of public servants, 
 and the offenders have, therefore, been left to find their pun- 
 ishment in the public indignation. Nor was it uninteresting 
 to the world that an experiment should be fairly and fully 
 made, whether freedom of discussion, unaided by power, is 
 not sufficient for the propagatior and protection of truth, 
 whether a government conducting itself in the true spirit 
 of its Constitution, with zeal and purity, and tfoing no act 
 which it would be unwilling the whole world should witness, 
 can be written down by falsehood and defamation. The 
 experiment has been tried; you have witnessed the scene; 
 our fellow citizens looked on, cool and collected; they saw 
 the latent source from which these outrages proceeded ; they 
 gathered around their public functionaries, and when the 
 Constitution called them to the decision by suffrage, they 
 pronounced their verdict, honorable to those who had served 
 them and consolatory to the friend of man, who believed that 
 he may be trusted with the control of his own affairs." 
 
 "No inference is here intended that the laws provided by 
 the states against false and defamatory publications should 
 not be enforced ; he, who has time, renders a service to pub- 
 lic morals and public tranquility in reforming these abuses 
 6y the salutory coercions of the law ; but the experiment is 
 noted to prove that, since truth and reason have maintained 
 their ground against false opinions in league with false 
 facts, the press, confined to truth, needs no other legal re- 
 straint; the public judgment will correct false reasonings 
 and opinions on a full hearing of all parties; and no other 
 definite line can be drawn between the inestimable liberties 
 of the press and its demoralizing licentiousness. If there 
 be still improprieties which this rule would not restrain, its 
 
 17 
 
by J. B. Gambkkll, D. D. 
 
 supplement must be sought in the censorship of public opin- 
 ion." 
 
 This is exactly what happened in Texas. Though it 
 was claimed persistently that the Superintendent of Mis- 
 sions and others were usurping authority, and were unwor- 
 thy of confidence, year after year, the people responded, 
 vindicating their servants and upholding the work, into 
 which they were putting yearly increasing thousands of dol- 
 lars. It is easy now to see a providence in all this. It takes 
 churning to get butter, and Texas was having a general 
 churning up, and a better alignment of forces for the broad, 
 strong, comprehensive methods adopted by the Convention 
 in the interest of denominational unity and progress has 
 resulted. 
 
 During these strenuous years, every principle and prac- 
 tice of the denomination, touching co-operative work, has 
 been put to the severest test: and we have had in Texas 
 something like the Acts of the Apostles all over again. There 
 has been developed every phase of church life revealed to us 
 in the Acts, and we can duplicate on Texas soil every kind 
 of character brought to light in those early records of the 
 planting and training of churches. We have had men after 
 the Pauline order, mighty in word and deed, strong in doc- 
 trine, forceful in action, wise in cousel, tactful in execution — 
 leaders of the people along the highways of progress. And 
 then we have had some after the order of Peter, hot and cold, 
 slipping and sliding, up and down, but up the most and up 
 finally and up to stay. We have had some after the order 
 of John Mark, a "tender-foot," who started on a journey 
 with Paul and Barnabas and thought of his mother, or 
 somebody else, and turned back. 
 
 We have had divisions after the order of Paul and Bar- 
 nabas; when their contentions waxed so warm over John 
 Mark, they parted asunder, each going his own way with his 
 message. We have had John, the evangelist, loving, fervent in 
 
 18 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 spirit, yet plain spoken on occasions. And Barnabas, glori- 
 ous Barnabas, with a weak spot for his kindred, and a soft 
 hand to cover the sore places among his brethren, healing 
 wounds and smoothing the way for men to come into use- 
 fulness. We have seen Diotrophes, as large as life, loving 
 the pre-eminence, refusing to receive brethren and casting 
 these out of the churches, who would receive them. And 
 Demus, who loved this present world, and went out of the 
 great fight for progress to enjoy the pleasures of the world 
 for a season. Alexander the coppersmith has a numerous 
 progeny in Texas, still in the copper business, when they go 
 to church. And the Nicolaitans are here still as unsavory 
 as in the days of the long past. And Ananias and Sap* 
 phira still make a vain show and lie to the Holy Ghost 
 touching money. 
 
 We have glorious women here, the Marys and Marthas, 
 undaunted, and Lydia, and all of them ; a great company out 
 of which to form a missionary movement to conquer the 
 imperial state of Texas, and join with others to conauer the 
 world. Best of all, we have God the Father, God the Son. 
 and God, the Holy Spirit working miracles of grace in tV 
 salvation of thousands of souls and leading on from victory 
 to victory. 
 
 With this vast complexus of forces, good and bad, it 
 was a question of supreme importance how to so conduct 
 a campaign, in which battles followed battles, like the roll- 
 ing waves of the ocean, as to finally gather the constructive 
 forces together for construction work, and to eliminate the 
 destructive forces. One simple plan has been unvaried for a 
 decade and more. It is not original. Nobody in Texas de- 
 serves the least credit for inventing it. It was revealed in the 
 Holy Scriptures, emphasized and put inpractice by the Apos- 
 tle Paul, the world's greatest missionary leader. What was 
 the plan? To magnify, on the one hand, the work itself, and 
 to minify, on the other hand, all of those incidental ques- 
 
 19 
 
BY J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 tions which were constantly thrust in the way and held be- 
 fore the people as worthy of their first attention. One con- 
 versant with the New Testament, and especially with the 
 Acts of the Apostles, will see at once that this plan is identic- 
 al, in principle, with Paul's plan. You could not get Paul 
 to talk any length of time about mere objections. His was 
 affirmative preaching. No matter where he was, nor what 
 his surroundings, he answered every objection by preaching 
 the truth. If he was called on to answer as to his conduct, 
 the best answer was the gospel. Paul was not much on tak- 
 ing care of himself, a kind of small business engaged in by 
 little preachers. He was out taking care of the Kingdom, 
 and he covered all the ground of pesky little objections by 
 affirmative declarations of the truth in a great conquering 
 spirit. 
 
 The general plan in Texas has been to treat all the 
 objections thrown in the way as mere incidents to a great 
 movement. Some of them have been quite uncomfortable, 
 and sometimes expensive, but they have never been allowed 
 to take first place. The policy has been to work on, planting, 
 cultivating, gathering a crop, giving just so much attention 
 to the fences as might be found necessary to save the crop 
 from destruction by outside forces. Not a single leader in 
 the Convention has ever given to the attacks on himself the 
 first place. In pursuing this plan, it has been the policy of 
 the Convention to keep before the Baptists large things. "It 
 is easier to do large things than little things," has been the 
 slogan of our people. A great people cannot be rallied to 
 little things. More people, a hundred to one, will join in 
 a bear hunt than will turn out to kill a mouse. Year after 
 year, great missionary and educational enterprises have been 
 projected, and great schemes of benevolence. If a Conven- 
 tion is not going to undertake great things, why should there 
 be a Convention? Why call on tens of thousands of Bap- 
 tists to do things, that a few might do if tliey would. There 
 
 20 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 is no justification for the time, or the expense of a Conven- 
 tion, unless it undertakes great things. Year after vpp- 
 Texas Baptists have rallied to the ever enlarging enterprises 
 of the Convention, until they have themselves become large. 
 This policy has had the happy effect to enlist our great lay- 
 men in large, worthy enterprises in which to invest their 
 money, and they have been enlisted to take care of these 
 large enterprises. It generally happens that men, who have 
 sense enough to make money, have sense enough to give it 
 to the best advantage; and having given their money, they 
 will give their influence and time to seeing that their money 
 is not lost. The philosophy of this plan is as simple as human 
 nature. But it has a strength in it far above humanity. God 
 never helps triflers. The scheme of bringing enterprises 
 down to the prejudices of the least informed, and to the 
 ideas of the covetous has in it the seeds of death. God is 
 with the people, who are trying to do His will to the limit. 
 Let any people anywhere lay themselves out for the King- 
 dom, and all the powers of Heaven will fight for them. 
 
 In the ongoing of things, it was found by the Conven- 
 tion that it was every way bad to have the meetings of a 
 great body disturbed by ceaseless wrangles over things, 
 which had been settled over and over. If there was to be 
 strife and confusion, it must be on the outside and not on 
 the inside. A bomb exploded in the open may do some 
 harm; but exploded in a house will wreck things. After 
 severe pains and struggles, the Convention reached the con- 
 clusion and solemnly determined not to recognize within the 
 limits of the Convention the right of any man to use his 
 privileges there to disturb the body. It was the great prin- 
 ciple of civilization, a principle inherent in every church, in 
 every voluntary body in the world, invoked by the Conven- 
 tion in self defense. Baptist principles are put to a severe 
 strain. Over and over, it was said by people of other de- 
 nominations, "You people have no way to take care of your* 
 
 21 
 
BY J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 selves." It was finally demonstrated, we had the best way, 
 the simplest and easiest way. But in carrying out this sim- 
 ple principle, which inheres in every self-governing body, 
 it befell a good many of the brethren to be haled before 
 judges. This was an added obstruction. This writer spent 
 seven months, all put together, in a Texas court house. It 
 was not very edifying, nor was it half as pleasant as a camp- 
 meeting with the cow boys in the west, but it became neces- 
 sary that the principles of the Convention should be tested 
 I have no desire to go into any of the particulars. After 
 numerous trials, verdicts, reversals and such like, the case 
 went to the Supreme Court of the State, and the Supreme 
 Court, following all the Courts of the country, from the 
 United States Supreme Court down, decided that the Con- 
 vention stood on its rights. The backbone of the litigation 
 was broken by the Supreme Court. It was sent back and 
 finally settled by the plaintiff and one of the defendants. 
 The settlement was an "agreed" judgment. It was stipu- 
 lated by the plaintiff that all charges made and passed on 
 by the Convention might stand, and that is of record in the 
 court house today. It wa? a pretty rough experience, but 
 we got off better than Paul did, for he was in jail a good 
 many times, and we all escaped. Notwithstanding all, the 
 cause grew exceedingly, and even in the court house one 
 soul was converted by the conduct of some of the brethren 
 under fire of attorneys, and that, I take it, is remuner- 
 ation for all that anybody suffered. 
 
 During all these years of intense opposition, Paul's ex- 
 perience was duplicated. There were adversaries and open 
 doors. Difficulties abounded on every side, but difficulties 
 are opportunities spelled another way. And every Christian 
 ought to learn to spell. The very conflicts through which 
 our people passed, with a heroic pressing of the work, with 
 an intense, ever widening sweep of evangelism, were fus- 
 ing the spirits of our people, enlightening their minds 
 
 22. 
 
Ten Years ih 
 
 through ceaseless discussions and welding them into a great 
 army of conquest, so that it happened as it did when Paul 
 was a prisoner in Rome. The things that happened have 
 fallen out rather to the furtherance of the gospel. 
 
 Through all the conflicts, there never was but one real 
 danger, and that was. that those who were pressing the 
 work, would, in an evil hour, turn aside from the work and 
 enter into vain janglings over inconsequential things. If 
 this had been done, the cause in Texas might have been pros- 
 trated for an indefinite period. 
 
 If this writer might, with modesty, say a word, as to his 
 own feelings and his part in the long drawn out battle for 
 progress, he would say that never, for one moment, did he 
 doubt the conclusion. There is no defeat for a cause, well 
 pushed, if it is right. Nor has he for one hour, nor even one 
 moment, taken a disquieting view of what has been said. 
 Democracy in religion, as in state, carries its own anti- 
 toxin. 
 
 If people did not know better, they were to be pitied. 
 If they did know better, judgment belonged to God. If 
 one can commit his soul to the Savior, in well doing, surely 
 he might commit his life and his reputation. Xor has this 
 writer ever had a doubt of the honesty and sincerity of the 
 great mass of Baptists who have not agreed with him, nor 
 has he had at any time a doubt, that, in the long run, the pol- 
 icies of the Convention would be thoroughly vindicated, and 
 that there would be such a real unification among Texas 
 Baptists as never could have been but for the thorough 
 shaking up we have had. I believe in the Baptists, that is. 
 taken as a body, and I believe in the great democratic prin- 
 ciples, which govern Baptists. Baptists have never failed 
 except when they have failed to apply their own simple 
 principles with fidelity. 
 
 Among Baptists, everything rests on the voluntary 
 principle. It follows, therefore, that, if we enlist the people 
 
 2$ 
 
by J. B. Gambrku*, D. D. 
 
 for any purpose, it must be by enlightenment. They must 
 understand what is wanted. It has been in the program for 
 all these years in Texas to pour a constant stream of light 
 on the whole situation, making plain every part and showing 
 the path of progress. And, as the work of enlightenment 
 has gone forward, the people have joyfully walked in it, 
 and gathered around the things making for progress. Bap- 
 tists have failed more in the teaching part of the Commis- 
 sion than in other parts. People have been saved from sin, 
 to waste their lives, because they did not understand the 
 right ways of the Lord. We are in process of rectifying 
 this mistake. 
 
 Evangelism has held the first place with us, even amid 
 the conflicts, which have been so marked a feature of a 
 decade of progress. Not for a day, has that primal work 
 been side tracked or ignored. We have kept to the divine 
 order laid out in the great Commission. Woe to a people, 
 who give a second place to that for which Christ came into 
 the world — to seek and to save the lost. It is not pretended 
 that sufficient emphasis has been placed on the main thing, 
 or on anything belonging to the Kingdom : but soul winning 
 has had the first place, and is taking the lead with Texas 
 Baptists more and more. It is winning the day gloriously, 
 winning all over the field, winning over all difficulties, win- 
 ning for everything good. A revival from Heaven, is the 
 most irresistible force among the sons of men. Every evil 
 passion is shamed and conquered by it. Every good thing 
 is drawn to it, and is helped by it. Suspicion, evil — surmis- 
 ing, malice, strife, covetousness, backbiting, all things bad 
 give way before it. The world compaign for spiritual con- 
 quest, after the ascension of Jesus, began at Pentecost, in 
 an all conquering revival, which swept difficulties out of the 
 way, while it swept thousands into the Kingdom. It was 
 never intended that the Kingdom should grow in a cold at- 
 mosphere. The revival spirit will insure progress, and with- 
 
 24 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 out it decay, disintegration and ruin will overtake any church 
 or working body. 
 
 Out of the fervent, soul seeking spirit, characterizing 
 our people, everything good is coming to bless us. It is 
 fusing our people into one spirit, and bringing us to have 
 one mind. It is bringing a new day. No, it is bringing back 
 the old days of heroism of which we read in the Acts. It 
 is opening fountains of liberality, so that our people are 
 more and more giving of their money after the fashion of the 
 early disciples. It is winning non-co-operating Baptists to 
 genuine co-operation. In a camp meeting, in which this 
 writer did most of the preaching, there was a brother preach- 
 er, who came to spy out our liberties. He had heard much 
 that was bad and believed it. One day the spirit of the Lord 
 was on us in great power. Souls came into the Kingdom 
 with shouts of praise. The brother preacher, plain, honest 
 man as he was, came up and with a straight look in the 
 face said: "I don't believe you are as mean a man as I 
 heard you were. I don't believe you are mean at all. You 
 love Jesus, and I love you." We had the atmosphere in 
 which to understand each other, and from that time on, we 
 have walked together in the fellowship of the Spirit, and in 
 helpful co-operation. 
 
 The soul seeking spirit is the cure-all in the Kingdom. 
 Far above everything else, it has won the day in Texas. 
 Our preachers came from the protracted meetings to the 
 court house, when summoned there by Caesar, and from 
 thence returned to press the same enobling work. It has 
 given us the noblest comradeship and been the greatest 
 strength to the movement for unification and progress. It 
 has been after the order of the Acts. No matter what diffi- 
 culties befell the laborers of that period, they kept to the 
 main thing. After that fashion have things gone in Texas. 
 
 The passion for souls has eaten up, or killed out un- 
 numbered small questions, which infested the camps of Israel 
 
 25 
 
by J. LJ. Gambrell, D. l). 
 
 like the frogs of Egypt, rilling the whole land with their 
 croaking. The walls of Jericho fell down when Israel shout- 
 ed, and the walls of opposition have dissolved into nothing 
 as the shouts of redeemed souls have been heard from the 
 Sabine to the Rio Grande, and from the gulf to the borders 
 of Kansas. 
 
 This spirit of spiritual conquest has permeated and 
 lifted up the churches which have put themselves into the 
 war for progress. It has enlarged their numbers and great- 
 ened their spirit. It has enlarged their benevolence also, 
 and, as they have received, they have given to press the 
 work out and up and on. We owe the large gain in Texas 
 to the spirit of evangelism. 
 
 It is worth saying that the strength of our Convention 
 work has been greatly increased by a right handling of evan- 
 listic forces. All evangelism ought to go out from the 
 churches, and lead back into the churches for their strength- 
 ening. It is not enough that a person be saved. He should 
 be instructed, baptized, properly related and trained for fu- 
 ture service. This is the New Testament plan, adopted, and 
 worked out in Texas. To what extent it succeeds may be 
 judged from the fact that, in one year, the missionaries of 
 the State Board baptized 7,712 converts. These now belong 
 to the regular army of conquest, whereas, if they had been 
 converted in nondescript, unrelated meetings, their lives 
 would have been largely lost to the churches. 
 
 In the early days of the hard struggle for unity and 
 progress, every effort was put forth to play one interest 
 against another, one class against another, the country 
 against the town, one school against another school, the 
 Sunday School Board against the Mission Board, one group 
 of men against another group of men, one paper against 
 another paper. The whole land was dry and thirsty and 
 full of dry weather cracks. Never did the "splitter" have 
 a better day for his business. One of the most important 
 
 26 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 things possible was to make every one see, that, in the King- 
 dom, there can be no divided interests, and, if disaster comes 
 to one part of the work, all must suffer. Sometimes an 
 apt story is better than an argument. Before one of our 
 gatherings, where every element in the state was represent- 
 ed, the writer related the following war experience: Dur- 
 ing the Civil War he and his brother made an excursion in- 
 to the Federal lines and captured a prisoner. To escape, we 
 must needs cross the Nansemond River, something like a 
 mile and a half wide. We were hard pressed by a force of 
 Federals. Our only chance to escape was by a leaky boat. 
 When well out in the stream, it was discovered that the 
 boat was filling with water. This fact had the effect to unify 
 us on the spot. W r e had our differences, but they were incon- 
 sequential, compared to the main thing. The blue and the 
 gray, the flags, union or secession, state's rights or a federal 
 union, were all of little consequence to us. We co-operated 
 heartily and beautifully to keep that boat afloat. 
 
 The application was not difficult. If we did not sink 
 small differences for the general good, all would be lost. 
 And that was the view many took; and that spirit largely 
 saved our constructive work in Texas. Personal prefer- 
 ences and personal interests have had large play in denom- 
 inational affairs, and have wrought immeasurable mischief. 
 The very exigencies of affairs forced Texas Baptists to get 
 on high ground, where they are likely to remain for time 
 to come. To eliminate the personal elements in a complex 
 situation and sink a thousand small differences in the large 
 and commanding interests of the Kingdom is to get on con- 
 quering ground. 
 
 In ten years, the work fostered by the Convention, in- 
 creased more than 500 per cent and the effective force of the 
 denomination has grown even more than that. We are now 
 making progress toward the complete unification of the de- 
 nomination, with ever increasing rapidity. And it is a unifi- 
 
BY J. B. GAMBRELIv, D. D. 
 
 cation not around men, but on the principles and practices 
 of Baptists, as held by the denomination throughout the 
 country. 
 
 At the opening of this good year, 1909, old line Bap- 
 tists in Texas stand, a great army, strong and purposeful, 
 constantly reinforced by tens of thousands fresh brought in- 
 to the Kingdom, and ever increasing numbers of our broth- 
 ers, who are coming to understand the old ways and have 
 delight in walking in the paths the fathers trod. In the 
 next ten years, if we increase as in the last decade, we should 
 number in Texas more than 600,000 white Baptists alone and 
 fulfill Paul's ideal of efficiency : "standing fast in one spirit, 
 with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel." 
 In another decade, Texas Baptists may count for more in 
 the furtherance of the truth than all the Baptists of the 
 South stood for ten years age. Texas will some day have 
 50,000,000 people, and then, when the continent is crowded 
 all over, there will be 100,000,000 people in Texas. Then 
 its population will be about as dense as that of Massachu- 
 setts. 
 
 We are now mobilizing and training an army to lay 
 this imperial state at the feet of Jesus for his use in the con- 
 quest of the whole world. Enlargement fills every mind and 
 heart. Baptists in the country and in the towns, in every 
 section of the state, of all classes, the rich and the poor, the 
 cultured and the unlettered stand fast for truth and progress 
 in one spirit, with one mind, and all for the furtherance of 
 the gospel. Unification on sound principles is assured. The 
 lines of progress are all laid. If any 20 men in the state 
 were to die in a night, the gerat movement for progress 
 would go on. The past is safe. The present is big with 
 hope, and future will inherit all the past and the present. 
 
 28 
 
v '''^/.MJgKSS^M'^^ ' 'Tl! 
 
 
 a^aisaig^fttLK 
 
 F— HOOL HILL lies just where the undulating lowlands 
 of boyhood rise sharply up to the highlands of man- 
 I hood. It is climbed only by big boys, and the big 
 boy is an institution in this world. He is, indeed, a 
 series of personalities in one extraordinary combination. 
 The only certain thing about him is his uncertainty. Like 
 a spit-devil, he is loaded, and will go off with a spark, but 
 just which way he will go is an unknown and an unknowable 
 thing. But the chances are that he will go zigzag, and 
 whichever way he does go you can trace him by the sparks. 
 
 When you notice the boy feeling of his upper lip, and 
 a suspicion of something slightly darker than the skin ap- 
 pears, you may begin then to look sharp. The boy has 
 come to the foot of fool hill, and he will begin very soon to 
 climb. The great problem is to get him up the hill in good 
 repair. That done, you have blessed the world with a man. 
 
 Big boys are nearly certain to have the big-head. This 
 is no bad sign. It is an awkward sense of power, without 
 the wisdom of discipline. Our boy entering the fool age 
 is a caution. His voice is now fine and splitting, now coarse 
 and grating. He begins a sentence coarse and ends fine, 
 or fine and ends coarse. He is rank and sets digging to the 
 world. All his judgments are pronounced and final. There 
 is nothing he cannot decide instanter. He knows instantly 
 and by intuition who is the greatest lawyer in the whole 
 country, if he is a reading boy, or the best doctor. He can 
 tell you who will be the next governor or anything else poli- 
 ticians are so anxious to know. He is authority on prize 
 
 29 
 
by J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 fights, or cards, or 
 anything else he 
 knows nothing about. 
 And when he pro- 
 nounces anything he 
 has spoken. The gov- 
 ernor is "Dick" some- 
 body, and the supreme 
 judge is "Tom." And, 
 by the way, he often 
 differs with these and 
 other dignitaries. He 
 sings in unearthly 
 strains, with tenden- 
 " He is Nearly Certain to Have the Bighead'/'cies to the pathetic 
 and the savage all in a breath. 
 
 With the big boy there is nothing medium. He uses 
 adjectives freely and always in the superlative. He sees 
 things in strong colors, for he is in the flood of passion. 
 Fight ! Yes, fight anything and on the shortest notice. He 
 ought to fight to prove himself, so he feels. About this 
 time his mind undergoes some radical changes. He won- 
 ders at the dullness and contrariness of his parents. It is 
 a constant worry to him that he can't manage his father 
 without a world of trouble, and he wonders what is the mat- 
 ter with "the old man" any how. Churches and Sunday- 
 schools are too dull for him, and the preacher is just no- 
 where. He can give him any number of pointers on the- 
 ology and preaching. 
 
 Rushing on and into everything like mad, he stops 
 short and bewails the coldness of this unfriendly world. 
 Now he has more "dear friends" than he can shake a stick 
 at ; now he feels that he has not a friend in the world. He 
 wants sympathy, while he tries the patience of everybody 
 who has anything to do with him. 
 
 30 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 Such is the 
 boy in the fool 
 age. The great 
 question is what 
 to do with him. 
 He is climbing 
 "fool hill" now. 
 and the road is 
 bad. Father, 
 
 Chip on Both Shoulders All the 1 ime. 
 
 "Fight Anything!" mother and 
 
 friends are all anxious and sometimes vexed. Homes are de- 
 prived of all their peace by this great double-action marplot. 
 But the question will not down. What shall we do with him? 
 If he is turned loose now, he will be like a wild engine on the 
 track smashing things. If he is not handled wisely there will 
 be a catastrophe. The ever-recurring question is : What shall 
 be done with the big boy climbing fool hill ? Often the im- 
 pulse is to let the fool go. But that will not do. He is 
 now like a green apple — sour, puckerish and unwholesome ; 
 but, like the apple, if we can save him, he will ripen into 
 something good. We must save him. Saints and angels, 
 help us to save this human ship in the storm, freighted with 
 father's, mother's, sister's, brother's love, and with the in- 
 finite wealth of an immortal nature ! We must save him 
 for himself, his loved ones and his country. 
 
 The chances for saving him will depend mainly on 
 what has been done for him before he struck fool hill. If, 
 from infancy, he has been taught to revere sacred things, 
 if he has been taught subjection to authority, if his mind 
 has been stored with scripture texts, with noble poems, and 
 recollections of the pure, the sweet, the good, you have in 
 him the saving elements. We must never forget that in the 
 final analysis every person saves or loses himself, no matter 
 what influences help or hinder. A well-taught boy may 
 climb this dubious hill without a bobble, but if the new life 
 
 31 
 
by T. B. Gamrrku., D. D. 
 
 gains the temporary 
 lead the chances are 
 that the enduring 
 good elements will re- 
 assert themselves and 
 bee ome paramount. 
 Hence the transcen- 
 dent importance of 
 ballasting this ship 
 betimes, before the 
 storm sets in. Noble 
 ambitions early plant- 
 ed and carefully nur- 
 tured are of great im- 
 portance. During this 
 period of trial, great 
 wisdom and tact are 
 needed. There must 
 be a gradual length- 
 ening of the ropes. 
 If you tie this mus- 
 tang up too tight he 
 will break the rope, 
 and maybe break his 
 neck. It often happens 
 that more can be done 
 by indirection than 
 otherwise. Some good 
 woman, other than 
 the boy's mother, may 
 be a savior to him. 
 He feels his great 
 "He is Climbing Fool Hill Now." importance, and you 
 
 must recognize 
 him. It is just here that the churches have failed and the 
 
 32 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 "It is Just Here That the Churches Have Failed'andthe Saloons Have Succeeded." 
 
 saloons have succeeded. Show this embryonic governor 
 that you recognize his parts and call on him for service. 
 The harder the service the better he will like it. Get in 
 with him, and do not be too critical, but pass his imperfec- 
 tions by. He will be nearly everything, but never mind ; he 
 only sees things large and sees them double and mixed, be- 
 ing now partly boy and partly man, and seeing with two 
 sets of eyes. 
 
 You are fighting the devil for a soul, and you can't af- 
 ford to be impatient, or give way to anger, when your fool 
 boy takes an extra flounce. When he gets on a bad bent, 
 give line, as the fisherman does when there is a hundred- 
 pound tarpon at the other end of the line. In the quiet 
 times pull on the line, but not too hard. And remember all 
 the while that time and heaven are on your side. With age 
 comes discretion. Once up fool hill the road stretches away 
 ever smoother and better to the pearly gates. 
 
 Our big boy is among us. His folly breaks into dudish- 
 ness. He is an unturned cake, but likely there is good sub- 
 stance in him. He is worth cooking. If you see him on the 
 street, take him by the hand and say a good word to him. 
 His mother will be glad of it. Look him up and ask him to 
 your house. Reach after his heart, for he has one. Two 
 worlds are interested in that young fool, and underneath 
 his folly there lies sleeping, maybe, a great preacher, teach- 
 er or other dignitary of the commonwealth. 
 
 Thii article is affectionately dedicated to the big-headed 
 boys by one who loves them. 
 
 33 
 
BY J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 THE TE-HEE GIRL. 
 
 T""T1HIS interesting specimen of the human race makes 
 { her first appearance in the sphere of woman's activi- 
 £&£, :' just hen. by a my- lanagement and dex- 
 
 terity, ever too deep and intricate for masculine 
 comprehension, short dresses grow long and turn them- 
 selves around the other way. There are preliminary symp- 
 toms of the metamorphosis which certify to the observant 
 that something is about to happen. The girl of the play 
 house and the dolls ; of the wild romp and the free air ; of 
 the innocent freedom and sunny smiles, begins to move 
 with a halt in her gait. The boys she played and romped 
 with find her more reserved and distant. She no more in- 
 vites their free manners. She is distinctly more difficult. 
 She is harder to interest in their childish fun. There are 
 signs of reserve and embryonic dignity. 
 
 There are flashes of prophetic fire in her eyes as now 
 and then she looks away into the depths, becomes abstracted, 
 waking up when spoken to with a strange, unaccountable 
 start, and with a flush on her cheeks. About now, inad- 
 vertently, she lets slip remarks about how she used to love 
 dolls. She has put the dolls all away as things to remember 
 childhood days by ; but now and then she goes quietly into 
 the old play-house, all unseen, and gets out all her play- 
 things and has a good time once more ere she quits the 
 realm of child-life for good and all. 
 
 She becomes experimental. Standing before the glass, 
 she combs her hair out smooth, turns to see how far down 
 the back she can make it reach, gathers it up and tries her 
 hand doing it in a knot a la the fashion. She bends her 
 knees to make her yet undeveloped dress strike the floor, and 
 studies the effect with ^ smile of satisfaction. There come 
 into her voice new tones, now sharp and unsympathetic, now 
 low and tender. She oscillates quickly between the extremes 
 
 34 
 
Ten Years en Te.\ 
 
 of feeling. Now it is a flood of tears, and now fun alive. 
 Distinctly her laugh changes from the rippling, musical 
 laugh of the free and easy girl, to a nervous, half suppressed, 
 indefinable "te-hee," "te-hee." which, on slight provocation 
 or no provocation, runs at kind of trotting rate "te-hee-hee- 
 hee-hee." on till the spell is ofT. 
 
 Our dear girl is now oscillating between the two great 
 estates of childhood and womanhood. As she swings back- 
 ward and forward out of one kingdom into the other, her 
 feelings are in a tumult trying to adjust themselves to the 
 kaleidoscope of rapidly shifting views. Nature, the mother 
 of all mothers, is kind and wise. She is cautious with her 
 child. As the eagle trains her eaglets by short flights, catch- 
 ing them now and then and bearing them back to the nest 
 for rest and further growth, so nature carries her daughters 
 out a little into the woman world and brings them back 
 
 3$ 
 
by J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 into the childhood world for a little season of development 
 and wise counsel before they finally depart to live under 
 the weighty cares and burdens of perfected womanhood. 
 She plays with them, reasons with them, encourages them, 
 warns them, helps them, as the spray dashes on them, 
 thrown up by the confluence of the bright brooklet of child- 
 hood w T ith the ever-broadening river of womanhood, stretch- 
 
 ing away toward the ocean of eternity. If, all untrained, and 
 all at once, the girl were cast into the swift current of 
 womanhood, with its swells of passion, there would be a 
 catastrophe, and the highest, sweetest hopes of the race 
 would go down amid wails or despair. 
 
 This transition period is of infinite value and must not 
 be despised. Nature, the good mother and wise teacher, is 
 perfecting her finest handiwork — a woman. Heaven help, 
 and all good people pray and wait! Nature must have 
 time. Turning the dress around and adding to the skirt 
 won't make a woman. Nature must round out her work by 
 degrees. The physical, spiritual and mental must be worked 
 down into harmony before there is much easy going where 
 our te-hee girl lives, moves and has her being. 
 
 If you know one of them you may look out for lively 
 times. She has spells. What sort of spells, do you ask? 
 All sorts. She is a living kaleidoscope, different at every 
 turn, but always pictureque. She gets into a social fever 
 
 36 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 and goes on a rampage of calls and social functions. She 
 suddenly has a chill and speaks of the "neauseating social 
 drivel." She glows, dilates and sparkles at some gathering 
 of the gay, and forthwith retires to some quiet spot, looks 
 long and sadly into the face of the moon and weeps. Great 
 feelings and great thoughts of opposite character chase each 
 other through her heart and mind. Just what she will be or 
 do is not settled with her, but it will be something out of the 
 ordinary. Whether she will be an actress or missionary is 
 not fixed, but either would be ''just lovely." Thaddeus of 
 Warsaw is her ideal. Napoleon dazzles her. She dotes on 
 soldiers. She is now in the militant age, ready for all com- 
 ers. The unpardonable sin is cowardice. Prudishness, as 
 she regards her mother's anxious care of her, is the abomi- 
 nation of desolation, standing where it ought not, in the 
 midst of her garden of pleasures. As she runs the whole 
 gamut of feeling in an hour, you must learn her moods 
 and chime in if you would help her. Far be it from this 
 writer to speak of managing this unspeakable creation of 
 God. It is not so much a matter of management as it is 
 of hedging round about till she quits having spells. At this 
 effervescing period, room is a consideration, but room may 
 have limitations, and wisdom concerns herself with limita- 
 tions. Suppression is against nature, and nature has the last 
 word on every question. On this question nature speaks 
 the oracular word by the mouth of the te-hee girl herself. 
 
 The te-hee girl is an aggregation of uncertainties, but 
 amid the ebbs and flows of her feelings you may be sure that 
 with the wisdom of a prophetess she steers her life boat for 
 the port of matrimony. With love-light in her eyes and a 
 splendid vision brightening her soul, she stands alert for the 
 main chance. She may be dull on mathematics or languages, 
 but in that finest of all the earthly sciences, the knowledge 
 of loving and lifting the world higher by love and home, 
 she will stand at the head of her class. Even more; from 
 
 37 
 
by J. B. Gamurell, D. D. 
 
 learning she quickly becomes a head-professor in the world's 
 great university of life. She dotes on beaux, green apples 
 and sour pickles. 
 
 The boy of corresponding age is awkward, mostly 
 hands and feet, when he first ventures into the delectable 
 realms of love-making. Not so the te-hee girl. With a smile 
 and a "te-hee-hee,' she appears in the parlor, smoothes 
 down her dress with a stroke or two of her hands, and she 
 is ready for business. In her great line, she is far more 
 a born artist than Raphael or Sir Joshua Reynolds. What 
 
 38 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 boys have to learn she already knows, and more. She can 
 make a dozen grown men feel that each is her favorite at 
 one time, in one room, all present at once, and she is just 
 a girl. She can say an endless number of little sweet noth- 
 ings and set men to hunting for the meanings while she 
 runs on "te-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee." If one becomes too 
 ardent, she congeals a thin wall of ice between her and him. 
 If she wants to hear how he would say it, she thaws the 
 ice and makes it easy. When he has said it, if she is not 
 interested, she is amazed that he had any such thought and 
 what he hoped was love, toughens into a Platonic friend- 
 ship. With her magician's wand she can instantly transform 
 the sweetheart into the "sister," and the man goes off call- 
 ing himself a fool, which is not correct, for it was only 
 the trick of a magician. 
 
 This te-hee girl could give a Tallyrand odds in diplo- 
 macy and leave him in a labyrinth of words wondering what 
 she really meant. Not only in words, but in maneuvering 
 she is captain. If from refined sensibility or for other rea- 
 sons she does not wish to hear a declaration of love, which 
 her fine intuition tells her is waiting a chance, she will see 
 that the chance does not come. She may go into the parlor 
 and meet the man, knowing he is loaded, but as he begins 
 to lead up to the point she will hear her mother calling her, 
 or will suddenly remember some neglected duty, or, like as 
 not, she will take with a deep sisterly love for her little 
 brother or sister, whom she can't bear to let go out of her 
 sight, or she will hedge herself with words. Squinting in 
 all directions, she can leave a cold track behind her if she 
 wishes. If she is ready she can beat Gen. Lord Roberts 
 clearing the coast. Her little brothers and sisters all find 
 employment elsewhere. Her duties are all attended to at 
 the proper time, and she is smiling in the possession of a 
 good conscience. Her ear is deaf to all sounds but one. 
 She is found in the flower garden or some other nice place 
 
 39 
 
BY J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 for the business in hand. If her mind is clear and her 
 heart right, she will marry at the drop of a hat, and the 
 man who finds her in this state of mind will have to be 
 mighty careful or he will drop his hat before he leaves. If 
 the hat is dropped, and the two pure, loving hearts are 
 united, there will be another home, civilization will be ad- 
 vanced, and a wholesome impulse given toward heaven, the 
 eternal home. 
 
 The te-hee girl is a conundrum, a combination of oppo- 
 sites. She is a green persimmon, puckerish, but with luscious 
 possibilities when time and a little frost have done their 
 work. Her supreme want is a judicious mother into whose 
 ear she can pour her troubles, and who will protect the im- 
 pulsive child from herself. The girl is mistress of all till 
 she falls a victim to her own feelings. Never mind her 
 moods. She is sure to make trouble. In the course of 
 events it is likely to develop that she cannot be induced to 
 go to bed at night or get out of bed in the morning. She 
 will laugh and cry out of season ; but never mind any of 
 it. Guard her. Care for her health. It is more to her to 
 a future home than a diamond mine. Teach her, between 
 spells, the plain, womanly duties of life. Impress on her the 
 wealth and worth of a pure, strong woman. Adroitly select 
 for her worthy company of the opposite sex. And, mother, 
 in those sweet hours which are passed between sensible 
 mothers and dutiful daughters, plant deep in the rich, warm 
 soil of this tumultuous heart the great saving truths which 
 shall, as a cable, anchor this heaven-freighted vessel to the 
 throne of God. If it is brought over from childhood's rip- 
 pling streamlet and started on the broad current of woman- 
 hood in good repair every way, two worlds will be blessed. 
 
 Dear girl, laugh on, cry on. All good people love you. 
 Such were the strong wives and mothers of today, and such 
 the white-haired grandmothers whose faces bear the impress 
 of another world. Heaven guard you and bless you ! With- 
 
 40 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 out you there would be a big gap in the world. I believe in 
 you, but often wish you had more sense. Nevertheless, you 
 will have wisdom. Let God's Word and Spirit teach you, 
 that you may never have to learn in the hard, bitter school 
 of folly. 
 
 WHO OWNS THE WOOL? 
 By Rev. J. B. Gambrell, D. D., L.L. D. 
 
 Al j lN LAW and in reason the wool on sheep belongs to 
 <8l* | the owner of the sheep. If a man owned sheep, and 
 836 sold them, he could not afterwards enforce a claim 
 to the wool they might grow. The right in the 
 wool follows the right in the sheep. The wool is an appur- 
 tenance growing out of sheep. God's people are God's 
 sheep. They are His by creation, by preservation, by re- 
 demption, by their own consent. There never was a better 
 title to any property. This title holds the sheep and the 
 wool. The sheep can not hold property because they are 
 property themselves. The wool is theirs, only as their 
 skins are theirs, and their hands and feet by way of 
 accommodation. The supreme title is in God, and this 
 title holds against all comers. Our times are in His 
 right to do what He will with His own. 
 
 Not only are the sheep the property of the Creator, but 
 the goats are also. "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness 
 thereof; the world and they that dwell therein." That title 
 takes in everything. Rebellion can never overreach the 
 Divine sovereignty over all men and everything. "The com 
 mandment is exceedingly broad" because the Divine author- 
 ity is as limitless as creation. We have made a poor study 
 of the Bible if these simple truths have not lodged them* 
 selves in our hearts. Conversion comes simply as a recogni- 
 tion of the Divine ownership in us. It is an acceptance, on 
 
 4i 
 
BY J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 our part, of our proper relation to our Creator and Re- 
 deemer. 
 
 During the great Hardshell struggle, the cry which ran 
 up and down the ranks of the disturbed Baptists was one 
 touching rights in the wool. Hardshells are covetous pro- 
 fessors of religion who give little or no money to God. They 
 hate missions and missionaries because of the cost. They 
 would put an end to all Christian missions if they could. 
 They say: "When God wants the heathen converted, He 
 will do it without any help from men." This is a specimen of 
 their random and unscriptural talk. In the great struggle 
 above referred to, the Hardshells declared that the mission- 
 aries were out shearing the sheep. I have myself heard the 
 cry, with a peculiar twang or sneer to give it all the oppro- 
 brium possible, just as now we hear kindred sneers. In 
 many places the missionaries flinched under the accusation, 
 and thus compromised the deepest and most important prin- 
 ciple revealed in religion — God's ownership in the wool 
 which grows on His sheep. In yielding God's rights in the 
 »vool, they threw up His rights in the sheep ; for there is no 
 conceivable way to separate these rights. If God can hold 
 the sheep, He can hold the wool; if He can hold the wool, 
 the sheep will not go much astray. 
 
 The greatest question in the world today is : Who owns 
 the wool ? Or, to drop the figure, to whom does the prop- 
 erty, the gold, the silver, the cattle, and all belong? If that 
 is settled on the right principle, the whole question of Chris- 
 tian living is far advanced toward a glorious settlement. 
 Until it is settled, nothing is settled right. Or, in other 
 words, if we settle our financial relations to God on the right 
 principle, our lives are bound up with God's in such a way 
 that we can never go far wrong. 
 
 The mightiest controversy of the age is over "rights in 
 the wool." It is, or ought to be, a controversy both in the 
 pulpit and among Christians in the pews of every church in 
 
 42 
 
Tkn Years in Texas 
 
 Christendom till God's right is admitted and acted on. To 
 flinch on this fundamental doctrine is to trifle with the great- 
 est practical question the world confronts. Let God's right 
 to the wool of His own sheep, to say nothing of the hair of 
 the goats — I say let God's right be settled, and we are at 
 the opening of a new era in the world's history. The tri- 
 umphant march of God's army is slowed up, waiting for us 
 to settle the wool question. There can be but one adjudica- 
 tion, and that is, that whoever owns the sheep owns the 
 wool also. 
 
 Shear the sheep ? Yes, frequently and close. The pas- 
 tors are the shepherds ; and it is their business to feed the 
 sheep, care for them, and shear them. A shepherd who neg- 
 lects to shear the sheep ought to be turned off. He is an 
 unfaithful servant of the Great Owner. Pastors need to 
 face this question. They must face it, for the time is at 
 hand when pastors will be judged according to their works, 
 not by their dignity or their pretenses, but their work ; and 
 one of the works is to shear the sheep. 
 
 But the question has two sides: God's side and our 
 side. Is it not hard on the sheep to shear them? Not at all. 
 It is good for them every way. If sheep are not sheared they 
 become unhealthy. How many of God's saints are surfeited 
 with the things of this world ? Their spirituality is smoth- 
 ered by a plethora of the things of this life. Many are 
 sick because their lives have no outlet. Their affections 
 are turned after their earthly possessions and not set on 
 things above. One of the best things a pastor can do for 
 his people is to induce them to give liberally to the cause. 
 He is doing the best thing for his people when he brings 
 them to recognize their obligation to God in financial af- 
 fairs. 
 
 So important is this matter in the churches and in the 
 lives of the people, that it demands special and extremely 
 earnest treatment. Some of the sheep must be cornered and 
 
 43 
 
by J. B. Gambbkt.t., D 
 
 crowded, before they will submit to the process clearly 
 g ht in God's Word ; but they must be sheared. 
 The question takes on another practical turn. Where 
 our treasure is there will our hearts be also. This is Christ's 
 
 vord fulfilled ir. .-ver; life If sheer s.re rot sheared they 
 drop their wool, or the devil picks them ua Alas! for the 
 
 v. a-:.- ;: H: 1 h m:::e; ir. the service : f the world, the flesh 
 ir.-: the lev:'. — arm this t: the hurt :f G: h- pec pie. 5 m costs 
 more than religion. Bad habits cost far mere than Ac 
 most liberal giving to God's cause, if we count money, in 
 
 ■•'.hat : : mere than rr.tr.r Rtobery :f Gad i ; a h: rrib'e ar, ! 
 amdiing sir.. Giving t: J:l has the v tmaerful power ;: 
 
 the life to Him. 
 
 T'.v: ; :^ter ; laughters :•: a wealth;, rather, were ::•::- 
 
 ; si le in the aivine life. Th~ 
 rath : ml left ::-..:;- f rtv-.- 
 
 a h'teral river The :ther withhel 1 :t::re than was meet 
 hh: r.r t has he.:: th:-e many years successful, useful art 
 r.i- ■ y ir. her simple life vivir.v mere a::h more constantly, 
 both of herself and her money. The other is withered. She 
 spent her money for the world. ig an the Devils 
 
 pasture the Devil robbed her of money, of health, of happi- 
 
 : usefulness, and now her . : much but 
 
 ment. Each is reaping as she sowed As sure as we 
 - mar :..;;;, [■■. i [■_-_- -_^ twarls r:vht living. 
 
 Ire ratre thtnamt Money heat hack from God be- 
 ta rse t a :V ft en ruining them, both for time 
 an 1 :terr.:ty 7a : the -.emrr.cny :f Scripture and huma- 
 experience. Giving liberah -.n the right principle is the 
 best possible education and safeguard for a family. And 
 the nvht principle : : the principle af Gal's ownership of the 
 <.he--; an 1th': . 1 'e::t ta redemption tne ^reat-st question 
 
 e Christian world today is the question of rights in the 
 wan! 1: ere properly sheared, they would 
 
 mtless missionaries could be sent. 
 
 44 
 
Tex Years in Te:-. 
 
 as torch bearer-., to every benighted region of the g 
 The tears of widow., and orphans could be dried, the sick 
 cared for, pastors supported, homes illuminated by the Word 
 of God. and the world belted with the light of truth. This 
 wool question is a tremendous issue in the hearts and lives of 
 Christians and churches. If we settle God's right to the 
 wool of His sheep, we settle the •• rl l's --v:y. 
 
 THE WORKING VALUE OF FREE GOVERNMENT 
 IX RELIGION. 
 
 HIS writer recently i- rite a: some 
 
 length on the corrective force 
 The remarks in that rather ex: 
 largely to a -ingle phi n. In t: 
 
 it is proposed to deal with the working \ 
 
 Much has bee:: 
 
 --•. 
 
 hierarchal forms of gover n ment, 
 
 .regational form. One has said of :-. r "It is a 
 
 rope of sand: it is no govern •--;. re- 
 
 cently, a Baptist in a public asse: 
 
 strength and working force of Methodism, and deprec: 
 the free government of Baptists from the woikn a 
 point. All of these estimates are wrong. Two : : 
 things will be assumed as a basis of what shall : 
 this discussion: 
 
 i. It is assumed that all true rehgion is vohml 
 that all true sendee is responsive to the claims :>f Jesus 
 Christ u; 
 
 follow from this that thai : ; reaH] the sti nges 
 force which irectly a : r fully appeals to the 
 
 heart and : msdence : f I 
 calle fon religious force at all. but human 
 
by J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 force supervening between the individual disciple and his 
 divine Lord and Master, and is, to that extent, weakness and 
 not strength. 
 
 It is assumed that the churches are voluntary organiza- 
 tions, and that each church is a complete unit in itself, and 
 invested with all of the rights and privileges possible under 
 the law of Christ, and to each one is committed the entire 
 commission to be carried out according to the will of its 
 Head. 
 
 Having assumed these positions, without formal discus- 
 sion, I proceed to enquire into the real working force and 
 value of the free system practiced among Baptists. No mat- 
 ter what system of government may obtain in any religious 
 community, the real religious strength of that community is 
 no stronger than the intelligent devotion of the separate 
 members aggregated. It follows, therefore, that the strong- 
 est religious force is that which appeals most directly to the 
 renewed heart, and tends most to intelligent, voluntary 
 service. It is the obscuration of this vital principle that is 
 the weakness of many a church. The measure of devotion 
 to Jesus Christ is the measure of the strength of Christian 
 service. It is for this reason that the whole system of rais- 
 ing money by methods other than that suggested by Paul, 
 giving "with simplicity," is to be deplored. All the round- 
 about methods, by way of oyster suppers, the ordinary 
 church fair and the like, do, indeed, bring in an element of 
 worldly, fleshly strength, but, to the same degree, they les- 
 sen the real religious force of a church. They proceed, as 
 a rule — perhaps, not all of them — but, as a rule, they pro- 
 ceed on the occult understanding, never expressed, but al- 
 ways felt, that we can harness to the gospel car the world, 
 the flesh and the devil and make them help pull in the right 
 direction. As a fact, that team, the devil always working in 
 the lead, never was hitched to the gospel car that there was 
 not a runaway and a smash-up, and real harm done. Paul's 
 
 46 
 
Tkx Years in Texas 
 
 instruction was to "give with simplicity.'' That means 
 straight out, and the more direct the appeal can be made 
 from the cross to the heart, not only will the contribution 
 be better, but larger, for the whole Christian system moves 
 by the impelling force of love shed abroad in the hearts of 
 God's people. If our free churches have fallen behind 
 hierarchal churches anywhere in giving it is because we have 
 abandoned the legitimate use of the free doctrine and either 
 done nothing or betaken ourselves to unworthy methods to 
 do that which the love of Christ would enable us to do far 
 better if we appealed to it. As a matter of fact, wherever 
 there is a Baptist church that has been shown the truth 
 about giving and been appealed to solely on Scriptural 
 ground, it has led all the churches in the community in its 
 benefactions. It is to shamefully discount the power of di- 
 vine grace, which has led multitudes to the stake for the love 
 of Christ, to suppose that there is something that will be 
 better in the way of inducing service. 
 
 Let us proceed a step further in our co-operative work. 
 The appeal must be made to the intelligent devotion of each 
 church. Always and everywhere, if we would see the best 
 results, let it be understood that no church is compelled to 
 co-operate with any other church, or through any organiza- 
 tion whatever. Let the whole question be thrown back 
 where the Scriptures put it in every case, and 
 the conscience of the church itself will determine what it 
 will do. This does not mean that the church may not be 
 visited, and that it is wrong to make written and oral ap- 
 peals, but let it be understood constantly that the church 
 must itself finally determine what its duty in any case is. 
 The great advantage of this free system is, that it forces, 
 along with every development of the work, a process of 
 education. Love itself may err through lack of knowledge, 
 and many excellent people have been led astray on great 
 questions that came before them because they were not in- 
 
 47 
 
BY J. W. (iAMBRELL, D. D. 
 
 formed. Whoever invokes the co-operation of free, intelli- 
 gent churches must carry the responsibility of informing 
 the churches. What does this mean? It means develop- 
 ment, quickened interest in everything that pertains to the 
 cause, and, finally, a vastly stronger church, because any 
 church is as strong as the aggregate strength of its member- 
 ship, and, in estimating a church it must be weighed rather 
 than counted. 
 
 When John was dealing with the church of which 
 Diotrephes was a member, he dealt with it in an open, 
 plain manner. His plan comprehended the enlightenment of 
 that church to the point that Diotrephes would be impossible. 
 Does it need any argument to prove that the more enlight- 
 ened a great communiy of people become, the more strength 
 they will have? Certainly not. So then the free govern- 
 ment, by its direct appeals to the churches, and by its col- 
 lateral educational work, must inevitably greatly add to the 
 strength of the church. 
 
 Let's take another view of it. All progress lias be^n 
 attended by pains and commotions. This is true in temporal 
 things. It is true in spiritual things. It accords with the 
 experience of every redeemed soul, from the time it first 
 felt the conviction of sin onward until it entered the gates 
 of the New Jerusalem. Every advance in holiness created 
 a painful impression of imperfection, and necessitated a 
 renunciation of former ideals. 
 
 In the onward going of a great denomination in any 
 given territory as, for instance, in Texas, progress every- 
 where wakes up the sleeping elements of opposition. Pro- 
 gress means, always, the relegating of a non-progressive 
 leadership, and many non-progressive leaders instinctively 
 know this, and array themselves against everything looking 
 to change. Many good, but uninformed people, are naturally 
 against the new order of things, and must be brought over 
 by reasons clearly shown. That is precisely as it ought to 
 
 4 8 
 
Tk.\ Years in Texas 
 
 be. Changes ought never to be made except for good rea- 
 sons. But, in the process of discussion, which is open and 
 free, the public mind is educated. There is an open arena 
 for men to show of what sort they are. In these discussions 
 men go on the scales and are weighed in the presence of the 
 whole multitude, and because all the people have more 
 sense than some of the people, in the wind-up, which may- 
 come after three, or four, or five years, the majority opinion 
 will be right, and men will take their proper positions. The 
 progress will be a real progress, because this true democracy 
 is right, and human progress is assured. Therefore, the 
 great, free government system is the strongest system in 
 the final test. 
 
 But we must deal with what always becomes an inci- 
 dent of progress — an obstructive element. This element, 
 in many localities, will hold the people back for a time, and 
 in some churces it may be strong enough to effectively pre- 
 vent co-operation. In the great winnowing process a separ- 
 ation will go on. The obstructive elements, such as cannot 
 be assimilated into the denominational life, will be thrown 
 out. While open discussions may raise storms, the storms 
 are certain to separate the chaff from the wheat. 
 
 There is, also, a particular advantage to the free gov- 
 ernment in our churches. A church that cannot, and does 
 not, approve the general policies agreed on by other 
 churches, is free not to co-operate. There can be no com- 
 pulsion and no tyranny. The church can stand out and by 
 itself. But the voluntary principle in co-operation works 
 both ways. If any given church, or any given man, does not 
 want to co-operate, he or it need not do it, and then, if 
 a great many other churches do not want to affiliate with 
 *ny church, or any man, they need not do it.. The principle 
 works backwards and forwards and forwards and back- 
 wards. 
 
 A hierarchal government has all the local congrega- 
 
 49 
 
by J. B. Gambrexl, D. D. 
 
 tions put into one great church, and whatever trouble there 
 is in one church becomes a trouble with all the churches. 
 Every local church trouble may be carried up to the confer- 
 ence, or assembly, to become the plague of everybody. With 
 the free government our conventions and associations have 
 to deal with a singel thing, i. e., whether they are willing to 
 affiliate with that body, and whether the messengers there 
 present are willing to sit in council with this man. Beyond 
 that they have nothing to do with the local churches. One 
 church can die, and the others go on. It is somewhat on 
 the joint-snake order. I have always thought a joint-snake 
 had a decided advantage over the other sort. If he has 
 his back broken at one joint he can drop that out and 
 couple up and go on. The free church system, therefore, 
 has all the strength of a direct appeal on the merits of 
 every case, putting first every individual on his personal re- 
 sponsibility to God concerning the matter ; and second a di- 
 rect appeal to all the churches, putting the responsibility of 
 action on each. It, therefore, has the great advantage of 
 carrying forward the processes of education which are need- 
 ful to voluntary, intelligent service. 
 
 It has the further advantage of having the shortest 
 method of disconnecting inharmonious elements. It has 
 that great advantage which was so manifest in the free 
 working of the apostolic churches. When Paul and Barna- 
 bas could not agree they separated, cooled off and finally 
 got together again. The very organization of our churches 
 is favorable to perpetuating the truth. If a sound element 
 in a church cannot endure the heterodoxy of a majority it 
 can draw out and make another church. If persecution 
 were to scatter all the churches in Christendom, the frag- 
 ments everywhere could get together in other churches. The 
 free system of the New Testamnt is somewhat like wire 
 grass — the more you dig it up and scatter it the more of 
 it there will be. It was not until this free idea was abandon- 
 
 50 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 ed that Rome became possible. Nothing has hurt so much 
 in Texas as an effort to half-way invest our general bodies 
 with qualities which they can never have. As councils, they 
 are valuable. They can devise methods and make recom- 
 mendations, and that is all. The churches cannot invest 
 them with any of their qualities, cannot delegate any of their 
 the commission to conventions. They may, if they wish, em- 
 ploy boards as channels of communication, and conventions 
 power, cannot transfer their responsibilities to carry o'lt 
 can advise and devise ; but the churches are the real fountains 
 of power and authority. All we need is to come fully to an 
 appreciation of the great question of the freedom of the 
 New Testament system, and do away with all presbyterial 
 and hierarchal notions. 
 
 A closing remark. Baptists are more likely to stand 
 together than other people, and that is because they need 
 not tinker so much with machinery, but keep close back 
 to base lines, and, also, because they have such a ready way 
 of disposing of heretics and othe disorganizers. A friend 
 of mine in Mississippi invented a patent whiffle tree. The 
 trick of it lay in pulling a string, and the runaway horse 
 found himself going at whatever gait suited him, with the 
 buggy left behind. We do not have to take everything to 
 pieces, from top to bottom, to get an obstreperous man out. 
 We just simply pull the string, and off he goes. 
 
 5i 
 
by J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 THE ARMY IN THE DITCH. 
 
 SONAPARTE stands first among all the military cap- 
 tains in the world for tactical skill. One of the 
 wisest aphorisms ever uttered by him was "The 
 army in the ditch is always whipped in the long 
 run/' He meant by this, that defensive tactics are not good 
 active forces. It is a common saying, "It is easy to pull 
 it is, that the army in the ditch is shut up and cannot recoup 
 any lost ground. It has far less liberty of action and its 
 strength lies simply in its endurance. All the higher quali- 
 ties of military tactics are displayed in open field, where 
 every faculty comes into play. 
 
 There is in the aphorism of the great general a pro- 
 found philosophy which runs along the whole battle-line of 
 life. The mere objector is doomed to defeat in the face of 
 active forces. It is a common saying, "It is easy to pull 
 down and destroy and hard to build up." There is an ele- 
 ment of truth in the saying, but it is only one element in a 
 great problem. The man who pulls down is so limited and 
 runs so counter to the strong currents of human progress, 
 that before any great while he himself is swept away without 
 knowing it. The objector is fighting all the healthy currents 
 of human life. The objector is in every church, every asso- 
 ciation, in every State convention, in all the secret orders, 
 in politics, and notwithstanding his presence and industry 
 and noise, churches are built up, associations and conventions 
 go on, secret orders flourish and great political parties live. 
 This demonstrates the truth of Napoleon's saying. 
 
 We have recently had a great demonstration in politic* 
 One party was distinctly for things, and the other against 
 and the constructive policy beat the obstructive policy. We 
 have had a remarkably fine illusration of what I am writing 
 about in Texas affairs during the last few years. Old men 
 have seen the same thing over and over, all their lives. The 
 
 52 
 
Ten Years ix Texas 
 
 Why is it that the army in the ditch is always whipped ? 
 
 If the Baptists in Texas would have consented to go 
 
 into the ditch and ward off attacks, we would have come to 
 
 nothing; instead of that a wise, conservative policy was 
 diligently pursued, and the attacking element was simply 
 
 53 
 
by J. B. Gambrkll, D. D. 
 
 handled in a way to prevent their doing harm. Texas Bap- 
 tists have won out by what they have done in the work. 
 
 Why is it that the army in the ditch is always whipped ? 
 There are a good many reasons as deep as humanity. The 
 army in the ditch must bear the shock of attack in every 
 conflict. Any soldier who has tried it, will say it is easier 
 to make a charge than it is to sustain a charge. Nothing 
 tries the metal of an army so completely, as to be compelled 
 to lie down or stand up and take the hammering which an 
 aggressive army is pleased to give. That is the physical 
 reason. There is no momentum working to the advantage of 
 the army in the ditch. There is nothing of that high spirit 
 that goes with a splendid movement. And then, men can not 
 be held to negations. You cannot rally healthy-hearted men 
 strongly to negative propositions. Instinctively, they feel 
 that they are losing by not doing something themselves, 
 and all of the stronger and better element will leave a party 
 which has nothing better to offer than negations. Men of 
 strong, resolute minds with great purposes, with a spirit of 
 conquest in them, will not consent to go into the ditch and 
 stay there. 
 
 This brings me to remark that when a people lose for 
 their faith, in politics or religion, the spirit of conquest, when 
 they are willing to simply hold their own, they are then 
 going into decay. A church that is satisfied simply to hold 
 its own is a church that is not going to hold its own. Be- 
 fore it knows it, it will be struck through with dry rot. 
 No body of people can be great without the spirit of con- 
 quest. This applies in religion, in politics, in learning, every- 
 where just as far as humanity goes. 
 
 When a people take a mere obstructive attitude, or to 
 fall back on Napoleon's saying, when they go into the ditch, 
 they are making for themselves all the conditions of defeat, 
 as inevitable in the operations of the forces of human life 
 as the law of gravity. God's method of curing evil is to 
 
 54 
 
Ti;x Years in Texas 
 
 drive out the bad with the good, to dispel darkness with 
 light. The forces that construct and conserve all the forms 
 of civilization are aggressive forces, not negative. 
 
 We are now at a good time, with the election over, to 
 lay some truths to heart. I am a Southern man, fought 
 four years in the Southern army, and have never been on 
 the mourner's bench about it, and do not think I ever shall 
 be. But a calm review of the history of politics in the nation 
 for sixty years, makes it clear that about three score years 
 ago, the South made a colossal blunder in going into the 
 ditch. The Southern attitude was defensive. Our leaders 
 took the sectional attitude, and gave the other side the larger 
 portion. The whole case is admirably set out in the memor- 
 able speeches of Mr. Hayne, of South Carolina, and Mr. 
 Webster, of Massachusetts. The former discusses the auton- 
 omy of the government, the framework of it. Mr. Webster 
 did not answer Mr. Hayne in his argument, but he clothed 
 the frame work with rosy flesh and made it palpitate with 
 warm blood. His was the larger view. The inevitable hap- 
 pened. The army in the ditch was defeated. A most singu- 
 lar and striking illustration of this in history is the case of 
 Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella. The whole nation was 
 thrilled with the spirit of conquest, and when Philip, the 
 Second, came to the throne, he found himself master of the 
 world's greatest empire. The vast colonization scheme of 
 Spain had proceeded from the throne. Philip, seeing him- 
 self at the zenith of power, resolved upon a measure to se- 
 cure permanence of power to the Spanish throne. He com- 
 mitted the astounding blunder of insulating the Spanish in- 
 tellect by a decree which provided that no Spanish youth 
 should go out of Spain for education, and no teacher from 
 abroad should enter Spain. That was the beginning. 
 Dewey, with his guns, at Manila, emphasized the practical 
 end of the colossal Spanish empire. The Spanish insulated 
 
 55 
 
by J. 1). Gambreij^ D. jL>. 
 
 mind ran to enormous conceit and vanity, lost its virility, 
 and under this blight, national strength decayed. 
 
 What is the use of all this discussion in a religious pa- 
 per? Southern Baptists number three-fourths of the Bap- 
 tists of the world. The gifted Dr. Tucker of Georgia, South- 
 ern to the core, speaking of some Baptists, said, "they are 
 many but not much." We are compelled to admit in candor 
 that, for our numbers, we make less impression on the world 
 than any Baptists in the world. Why is this? I give my de- 
 liberate judgment that it is largely because, following the 
 trend of politics, Southern Baptists have been insulated. 
 We have been for two generations mostly in the ditch. We 
 have been fighting to keep things out, with the inevitable 
 result, a lack of a robust spirit of conquest necessary to 
 the highest development of any people. We have orthodox}-, 
 for which I am profoundly grateful, for orthodoxy is some- 
 thing that we must all the time exercise great care about, 
 lest we lose it. There has been a large feeling, that we 
 must keep ourselves away from contamination. We will 
 try to take care of the salt and in order that the salt may 
 be pure we want to keep it away from the things that need 
 saving by the salt. Just at this point, the attitude of the 
 Southern mind has been that of the army in the ditch. Our 
 need is an aggressive orthodoxy, an orthodoxy that strikes 
 out for large fields of conquest everywhere, and in that way 
 we will grow. We are all very heroic people, but some- 
 times we act very much as the Irishman about whom my 
 good friend Dr. Bernard, of Georgia, tells. This son of 
 Erin was wont to speak often and vociferously of the great 
 national spirit of Ireland and of their courage. "There 
 are one hundred thousand Irishmen, ready to fight for Ire- 
 land.'' he vociferated. A by-stander said, "Well, why do 
 they not fight. " " 'Fraid of the perlice," was the reply. 
 
 I would like to see Southern Baptists get out of the 
 ditch, and take the field. Let us march straight out. If 
 
'IV. n Years in Texas 
 
 anybody wants to come among us and preach, let him come. 
 If he preaches the truth we will receive it. If he does not, 
 we will refute it, but let us push the conquest in every di- 
 rection. As we do this, our people will develop. There will 
 grow up among us a consciousness of power. Our institu- 
 tions will become great. Just at this point let me remark, 
 that our Southern institutions can never become great in- 
 stitutions by refusing to receive and engraft the host 
 thoughts of the world. The same is true of every interest 
 with which we are connected. We need to drop the section- 
 al feeding and get out of the sectional attitude and expand 
 our enterprises, not as against something else, but for them- 
 selves. 
 
 All this correlates with a line of Scripture teaching, 
 "Whoever seeks to save his life shall lose it." All religious 
 people, whose plans are broad for the blessing of the world, 
 will save themselves in saving others. The whole New 
 Testament is aggressive. From every angle it looks out- 
 ward. Certainly we do not find the apostles in the ditch, 
 but everywhere on the high road to the spiritual conquest 
 of the whole world. Less than this is hurtful. It puts us 
 on converging lines, and, in the end, the people facing in- 
 ward, will play out. 
 
 3^ 2^ 
 
 57 
 
by J. B. Gambrexl, D. D. 
 COUNTRY MOTHERS. 
 
 OME time ago riding on a Georgia railroad, my at- 
 tention was attracted to three very handsomely 
 dressed ladies sitting near me. Two of them were 
 young ladies and the third evidently their mother. 
 Two seats were turned together and they were intent on 
 having a good time. 
 
 Presently the manner of the daughters directed my at- 
 tention to the rear — they were facing that way, and I saw 
 what to me was a pathetic scene. There came aboard an old 
 woman, plainly clad in garments made after no particular 
 style, but evidently intended for use and comfort. The old 
 soul had a number of bundles, baskets and what not, about 
 which she showed great concern. It appeared at once that 
 she was wholly unaccustomed to traveling on the cars. Her 
 anxious and skeptical questions, her half frightened look, 
 as we pulled out afforded a great deal of merriment to the 
 fine girls just in front, while their high bred mother be- 
 decked with flashing jewels, quietly enjoyed their remarks. 
 
 Reversing my seat, I sat and studied the face of the old 
 woman. It was worth studying. A strong face it was, 
 rugged and not very bright, even for age; but over every 
 feature was thrown that inscribable expression, that inde- 
 finable grace, which might go under the sweet name of moth- 
 erliness. And to the practiced eye there was much reading 
 in the face. Work, hard work, had stoutened her figure, 
 bent under burdens long borne. The face told its tale of a 
 long battle fought nearly to a finish. There you could see 
 candor, truth, honesty, discreteness, meekness, simplicity and 
 the charity that never faileth. All these played on a back 
 ground of strong purpose and high courage. And what was 
 pathetic to my eye was the traces of suffering mingling with 
 every expression of her countenance. I knew her — her 
 name! No; but I knew she was a country mother going 
 
 58 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 some where to see a child. The last I knew, by the things 
 she had with her. As I sat there and watched the dear old 
 mother, and noticed the nervous twitching of her hands, 
 the little alarms flashing into her face as the car made some 
 unusual motion, all very amusing to the lighthearted girls 
 near me, the tears came to my eyes, and I found myself 
 transported to the country home where many of the hap- 
 piest days of my life have been spent. My mind ran on 
 country mothers and what they have been worth to the 
 world. They make no stir in the fashionable world. Their 
 work is not often written up in the papers, and their names 
 never appear in print, except perhaps in the obituary col- 
 umns of our religious papers. They are for the most part, 
 women of limited education. All their life time they have 
 worked under difficulties. Some of them lived their days 
 out without a single breathing spell from their ceaseless 
 daily task. 
 
 But these country mothers are among the world's great- 
 est heroines and benefactors. They have fulfilled the Scrip- 
 tures in multiplying and replenishing the earth. They have 
 not known many of the finest things to be known, but the 
 noblest and best things they have known well. They do not 
 shine at the theater, or the ball, or at the elegant dinner 
 party; but they are a power in the prayer meeting, the pro- 
 tracted service and wherever duty calls them. They know 
 but little of literature, but they know considerable of the 
 Bible, and believe it to the very hilt. Their children are 
 taught to fear God and obey their parents. They are up- 
 right and downright. They know what the trimmings of 
 the peach orchard are good for, among a lot of children. 
 No fancy theories of nature beguile them from the stub- 
 born facts before their eyes. Around the evening fireside, 
 under the spreading trees, out among the cattle, in the 
 garden they have planted in the hearts of their children the 
 rudimental principles of all greatness and goodness. They 
 
 59 
 
by J. B. Gambrexl, D. D. 
 
 have toiled, stinted and shifted to give their children some 
 advantages in the world. 
 
 And with what result? Well, nearly every great man, 
 whose name graces American history was the son of a coun- 
 try mother. Washington, Lee, Jefferson, Madison, Jack- 
 son, Lincoln and all the rest pretty much. Lincoln said, "All 
 I am, my mother made me," and his mother was a poor, 
 hard working Baptist country mother. Nearly all the great- 
 est preachers, lawyers, statesmen, bank and college presi- 
 dents, railroad men, merchants — indeed the overwhelming 
 majority of the governing men of these States today, were 
 spanked and kissed by country mothers. They can look 
 back and say with Lincoln, what I am, my mother made me. 
 History hardly shows one great and good man who had a 
 weak and sorry mother. 
 
 I do not underrate the fathers. They have done nobly ; 
 but a father can do but little with his children without the 
 mother. This is said without the least sympathy with the 
 present fashion of throwing the training of the family on 
 the mother while the father goes free. They must work 
 together, the father in the lead ; but the mother must bring 
 up the rear. 
 
 This is written for the praise of the makers of our 
 country, by one who loves them well, and feels the dignity 
 and grandeur of their work. May they be multiplied in the 
 land. I look with profound sorrow upon the breaking up of 
 our country homes. They are the true nurseries of our coun- 
 try's greatness and the landmarks of our safety. 
 
 Let country mother's continue their work in love and 
 faith, and wherever there are true hearts among men and 
 women, let them pay tribute to these makers of greatness. 
 
 A little incident brought out a view, a true view of 
 the elegant ladies to my right. The old mother thought 
 she had lost some of her belongings and become distressed. 
 At once the girls were all sympathy and attention till the 
 
 60 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 dear old soul was composed. They were true women, though 
 in all probability they will never do half as much for the 
 world as the rough handed woman whose solicitude they 
 had gently quieted. 
 
 CONCERNING MULES. 
 
 AI W|T HAS been a great question with many people, why 
 fl\* { mules arc just like they are. The interest in the 
 9SP36 question of mules is revived just now because some 
 months ago the English government, foreseeing a 
 war in the Transvaal, sent agents over to America, and es- 
 pecially into the Southern country, to buy up mules for ser- 
 vice in Africa. They took them over and trained them to 
 artillery service. One of the first real battles of the war, 
 the mules, with that peculiar uncertainty that you are always 
 certain exists, ran off with the artillery and left the English 
 there holding their hands, and the result was the English 
 got badly used up. It is said of a mule, that the only cer- 
 tainty about it is its absolute uncertainty. They never get 
 too old for tricks, but just what sort of a trick it will be 
 next time is the thing that nobody knows. 
 
 Profound meditation on the uncertainty of this animal 
 led Josh Billings to moralize and philosophize after this man- 
 ner: "Young man, never take an unnecessary risk. If I 
 were called on to mourn over a dead mule, I would stand 
 at the head and do my weeping there." It is not certain 
 when a mule has given his last kick. 
 
 Now, the question arises, what makes a mule like he 
 is? He is a cross between two species, each of which is do- 
 cile and reliable. The philosophy of it lies in the want of a 
 definite direction given to the life of the mule. There are 
 two streams of blood in his veins, running cross, and not 
 knowing exactly what he is, whether an ass or a horse, he 
 vacillates and never takes a definite course in life. 
 
 6r 
 
BY J. B. Gami:kku., I). D. 
 
 
 7#'/?*r<r<«A"' 
 
 Now the Question Arises, "What Make« a Mule Like He is?" 
 
 62 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 This same natural law obtains among all mixed people. 
 The Mongrel nations are proverbially uncertain. They have 
 not settled their traditions. They have not settled their hab- 
 its of thought. Their feelings have not worked out definite 
 grooves or channels along which to flow. They are like 
 flooded districts in time of high water. The currents run 
 and clash, and work out little channels, but, after a while, 
 make for themselves definite channels. The American nation 
 is great, largely because of the infusion of new and alien 
 blood upon a sturdy Anglo-Saxon stock. But, in those por- 
 tions of America where there is no dominant type, as in 
 certain districts in great cities, which live within themselves, 
 there is trouble. Very much of the wildness of thought in 
 certain sections in the North results from the cross between 
 different nationalities. The hopefulness of the situation 
 there lies in the fact that the old American type is still 
 dominant, and through schools and other means, likely to 
 continue so. To come back now to the mule. The mule is 
 a born kicker. That is his highest gift, and that is an ex- 
 pression of his unregulated and unsatisfactory nature. He 
 is an animal of all whims and humors, and uncertain moods. 
 Every such animal is a kicker, whether he be man or beast. 
 
 Pursuing the underlying thought further we come 
 upon the reason why denominational hybrids are so unsat- 
 isfactory. A straight Methodist counts for something. He 
 builds up his church. He stands for spiritual religion. He 
 stands, as a rule, for good citizenship. He stands for order. 
 But a hybrid Methodist, one who is half Methodist and half 
 something else, or half nothing; who is with his church at 
 one point and not at another ; who gets out as a kind of con- 
 necting link between his church and everything else in the 
 world — he is a most unsatisfactory man any way you take 
 him. He does little or nothing for his church, and man- 
 ages to give the people who are doing something, more 
 trouble by all odds than he is worth. Perhaps he is an evan- 
 
 63 
 
BY J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 gelist, and has grown entirely too big for his church. Or 
 he is an editor. Or he is a local preacher. You will find 
 him kicking all the time. If he is a Presbyterian, half and 
 half, it is the same sort of thing. If he is a Baptist mule, 
 by as much as there is positiveness in the Baptist theology, 
 you will find him one of the worst kickers in the world. A 
 Baptist, and yet not a Baptist. A Baptist who half believes 
 the Baptist doctrine and three-fourths don't believe it. Right 
 in between, he is, running now with the Baptists, then back- 
 ing off like a mule, when you come down to real service. 
 The unruliest denominational mule in the world is a cross be- 
 tween a Baptist and a Methodist. There is vim on both 
 sides. He is now very forward in going backwards and 
 now very backwards in going forwards. 
 
 Drawing closer within denominational lines, the mis- 
 sionary mule, the man who is half Hardshell and half Mis- 
 sionary is a hard type to get on with. There is something 
 about the genuine Hardshell that is exceedingly winsome 
 to a man of my way of thinking. His candor, even his 
 bluntness; the tenacity with which he holds on to certain 
 great truths ; the little concern he has for what other people 
 think ; the sublime indifference to great movements ; his per- 
 fect satisfaction with himself and his doctrines. A well or- 
 dered Hardshell is a man you can live neighbor to a life- 
 time and enjoy him, and depend on him. Then, a thorough- 
 going missionary, a man who believes in it with all of his 
 heart; who spells the "go" in the commission with capital 
 letters, and puts it in the lead of everything in the commis- 
 sion ; the man who has no reservations ; who is a missionary 
 in heart and practice, all over and all through — he is a de- 
 lightful man. You will not have much trouble with him 
 anywhere. He is not a kicker. He is a puller. But strike 
 a medium between the Hardshell and Missionary, and get 
 one with Missionary streaks and Hardshell streaks. Now. 
 he flames out as a Missionary under a powerful missionary 
 
 64 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 appeal. Now, he backs off when some objection is made. 
 He is hot now, and next he is cold. If such a missionary 
 mule lives in a place where there are many objectors prod- 
 ding him, he will spend all of his time kicking. And, as he 
 kicks, kicking becomes more a habit with him and he enjoys 
 it. My father had an old mule that was in such a habit of 
 kicking that she would put her ears back, shut her eyes, 
 and kick at June-bugs if she heard the noise of them. That 
 was in her old age, when much kicking had made a groove 
 in her life along which her perverse nature had a constant 
 flow. 
 
 The trouble with Missionary Baptists is not with the 
 thoroughbreds, but those that are just half and half, and 
 don't know very well why they are the better half. A pro- 
 cess of evolution out of this condition is the thing that is 
 most needed in our churches. Bring our people to Mission- 
 ary views, and the kicking will be done. 
 
 65 
 
by J. B. Gam t-kku.. I). D. 
 CONCERNING CRITICISMS AND LIMITATIONS. 
 
 HE right to criticise public men and measures is in- 
 herent in every American citizen. It belongs nec- 
 essarily to the realm of freedom, and it is free- 
 dom's greatest safeguard. Free speech is a con- 
 dition of liberty, and without it free institutions cannot long 
 exist. One able, fearless pen is worth more to a people than 
 a great army. 
 
 Among Baptists free speech and a free press are in- 
 dispensable. For myself, I regard these as such important 
 adjuncts to our democratic free system, that I prefer even 
 great abuse of both free speech and a free press to the 
 least limitation of either. The right to criticise belongs to 
 every Baptist, no matter how humble. It is a fireside right, 
 belonging to all alike. I would not belong to any Baptist 
 body, nor serve any board where this right is denied. In 
 my place as Secretary of the Texas Baptist General Con- 
 vention, be it understood that any Baptist in the State, or out 
 of it, can criticise me, if he wishes to do so. When he does, 
 if his criticism is just, I will improve. If it is not, I will 
 bear it, or answer it — likely bear it. 
 
 But what is criticism? Everything which goes under 
 that name is not criticism by any means. Criticism has 
 in it a fine element of judgment. It implies that the critic 
 has considered the facts touching the case, at least some 
 of them, and delivered a judgment on them. This is a reas- 
 onable business and a very fine business, too. It is broadly 
 differentiated from several other employments to which cer- 
 tain orders of human beings devote themselves. Some of 
 these differences invite criticism, so we may have criticism 
 on criticism. In times of loose use of tongue and ink the 
 public mind may be educated by a critical discusion. Crit- 
 icism in its legitimate use and its abuse, or more properly 
 speaking its displacement by something else, illegitimate 
 
 66 
 
Tkx Years in Texas 
 
 and hurtful. At points the abandonment of criticism for 
 some gross counterfeit may be hard to detect. One may 
 shade into the other in such manner as to mislead the un- 
 
 The Destructive Critic. 
 
 critical mind. In most cases of abuse and apostasy from 
 the high function of criticism to the base use of counterfeits, 
 
 67 
 
BY J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 a reasonably clear mind need not be deceived. Here are 
 some practices known to the public which are fraudulent 
 and do not rank as criticisms. 
 
 To make up a case against an adversary out of the 
 odds and ends of things, and represent the other party as 
 holding these things in that form, and then to proceed to 
 criticise him on the basis of your own creation is not criti- 
 cism, but fraud. It is often a dignified, subtle kind of lying 
 and slander. This is making a straw man, giving him the 
 other man's name, and then tearing him to pieces. This is 
 a. common trick of tricky disputers, and they call it criti- 
 cising the other party. It is mental dishonesty and essential 
 falsehood. Close akin to the foregoing is the practice of 
 interpreting the words of another contrary to their real 
 meaning, and then criticising the false interpretation as the 
 doctrine of the other party. That is, also, essentially dishon- 
 est, and is not criticism, but juggling in a lying spirit. 
 There are many plain abuses of the respectable word "criti- 
 cism," practiced on a long-suffering public. For instance. 
 a man gives columns on columns in his paper to insinuating 
 evil thoughts touching a man or an enterprise. His paper 
 or his speech teems with evil surmises. This is not criticism. 
 It is total depravity, exuding from a debased nature. Bald 
 accusation and robust denunciation are not criticism. A 
 man shooting at another with intent to hurt is not a critic. 
 Likely he is a plain murderer. A man putting a cross-tie 
 on the railroad track to derail the train is not a critic of the 
 train. He is a criminal wrecker. An agitator is not a 
 critic. A man crying "wolf, wolf," when there is no wolf 
 and he knows it, is not a critic. Likely he is a lying idler 
 and mischief-maker. A man seeking to burn a house is not 
 a critic of the house. If the house is useless and in the way, 
 maybe, it ought to be burned ; but house-burning is not criti- 
 cism. There is another name for it. A dog barking at the 
 moon is not a critic, nor astronomer either. He is a howler. 
 
 68 
 
Tkn Years in Texas 
 
 In like manner, people who keep up a howl against things 
 too high for them are not critics. A boy in school who is 
 ever watching for a chance to stick a pin in his fellows is 
 not a critic, but an imp, greatly needing a vigorous rear 
 attack with a shingle or some such useful adjunct to the 
 teacher's equipment. Editors of the painstaking variety 
 are not critics. Objection is not criticism. The man who 
 wrote — ■ 
 
 "I do not like you Dr. Fell, 
 The reason why I cannot tell ; 
 But one thing I know very well, 
 I do not like you Dr. Fell" 
 was no critic of Dr. Fell. He was simply disgruntled. 
 
 There is not a worse abused word in the English lan- 
 guage than the word criticism. Every ailing church mem- 
 ber, who vents his bad feelings on the pastor or deacons 
 or Sunday-school workers, calls himself a critic. Every 
 sorehead in the denonination, who feels like venting his bad 
 feelings on the work or the workers, writes "Critic" on 
 his hatband, and demands recognition as a critic with leave, 
 without responsibility, to drip the filth of his heart over ev- 
 erybody. He don't know himself. Likely he is only an 
 ill-conditioned complainer whose words are echoes from 
 his disordered imagination. Criticism is a fine thing; a dis- 
 ordered heart and mind are bad things. These are wide 
 apart. Bad feelings never rank as good criticisms, no mat- 
 ter how vociferously proclaimed. 
 
 In literature critics are classified as constructive or 
 conservative critics, and destructive critics. 
 
 A train pulls up to a division station and stops. You 
 may see a man take a small hammer and go along under the 
 side of the train tapping every wheel. He knows by the 
 ring whether there is a flaw in the wheel which would 
 make it dangerous on the next run. He is a conservative 
 critic His judgment or criticism o! each wheel is based 
 
 69 
 
by J. B. Gambrexl, D. D. 
 
 on the tone. This is a thoroughly useful man and a sound 
 critic. Here is another critic. He has a sledge hammer. 
 He is bent on knowing all about it. He must see the metal 
 dissolve it, apply acids to test its fineness, and so he smashes 
 every wheel he can get a good lick at with his great ham- 
 mer. He is a destructive critic, and ought to be locked up 
 in the first police station in the interest of the public. Of 
 these two sorts are our Biblical critics. One tests the Scrip- 
 tures sympathetically, and to the intent that the Word may be 
 made clearer. He trims the lamp, removes obstructing, 
 human excrescences, that it might shine brighter. The other 
 puts out the lamp and seeks to analyze every essence and 
 element for the sake of doing it. There is a difference be- 
 tween the two. There are critics in the realm of life. One 
 studies the phenomena of life and reasons to a conclusion. 
 The other betakes himself to vivisection and destroys life 
 hi the study of it. 
 
 The destructive critic is not popular any where. For one, 
 I have no more use for him with the Bible than I had for 
 the boy who smashed a watch with a hammer to see what it 
 was that made the "click" in it. The destructive denomina- 
 tional critic, who wants to upset the old doctrines and mod- 
 ernize theology to suit the age is to my thinking worse than 
 a nuisance; he is a curse. He thinks because he knows 
 some things plain men don't know, it is an outrage on free 
 speech and the right to criticise, that he is not allowed to 
 use Baptist pulpits and Baptist papers in his business. I 
 don't agree with him there, nor anywhere else. His right to 
 speak is granted ; but plain believers have a right to protect 
 the Ark of the Covenant. We here strike an important lim- 
 itation on the use of a right. The man who criticises de- 
 structively the doctrines and practices of a church, may do 
 it, if he wishes to do it ; but the church is not bound to pay 
 him to do it, nor give him facilities for doing it. There is 
 where I stand. There is lots of room outside of a Baptist 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 church, thank God, for talk, even the loose talk of loose 
 men. 
 
 We are right up to the place to make another point on 
 limitations. A church member who criticises the church, the 
 pastor or officers destructively, with the intent to hinder 
 the work of that church, transcends the limits of legitimate 
 criticism, and is amenable to church discipline. A case 
 comes to mind this moment. There was a deacon — rich, su- 
 percilious, satirical and bossified. No pastor whom he could 
 not control could remain pastor of that church. When he 
 saw that his control was at an end, he began his destructive 
 criticisms. Nothing escaped. A word mispronounced, the 
 slightest defect in arrangement of the sermon, anything, 
 everything, till the preacher could bear it no longer, and re- 
 signed. On the streets, any and everywhere, he lamented 
 the imperfections of the pastor, and bemoaned the low con- 
 dition of the church. The ungodly were turned away, the 
 feeble-minded were discouraged, the pious grieved, and a 
 general bad condition of affairs brought about. This oc- 
 curred over and over, till at last the church heroically faced 
 its trouble and brought him to judgment. Was that church 
 opposed to free speech ? No ; it was opposed to the abuse of 
 it. Was the right of criticism denied? No, the right of 
 the deacon to use his place in the church for the destruction 
 of the church was denied. He could criticise all he wanted 
 outside, and the church would not say a word, but he could 
 not abuse his privileges as a church member by using them 
 to destruction. 
 
 The same rule applies to every organization known to 
 men. Any citizen can criticise and denounce the Democratic 
 policies and leaders, if he wishes to do so, but he has no 
 right to employ destructive methods with his party and re- 
 main a member of it. This applies to conventions and asso- 
 ciations, keeping in mind the difference between the man 
 with the little hammer and the man with the big ham- 
 
 71 
 
by J. B. Gambrell, D. (). 
 
 mer. Let the man with the big hammer go out and break 
 rocks for Mr. McAdam, rather than pound to bits the ma- 
 chinery designed for use in carrying on the good work of 
 missions. Calling destructive and obstructive methods crit- 
 icism won't mend car-wheels, nor forward the richly 
 freighted trains of commerce. 
 
 Criticism is an inalienable right. It belongs alike to all ; 
 but like everything else, it can be abused, and has been, 
 scandalously. It gives no one the right to lie in any form. 
 It gives no one the right to obstruct what he is mor- 
 ally bound to forward. In short, it is closely hedged 
 about by the common moral obligations and proprieties at- 
 tending human life, and like all privileges, it is to be used 
 to edification, not for destruction. 
 
 FURTHER CONCERNING CRITICISM. 
 
 BHIS article is given as a supplement to the one which 
 appeared last week. It is intended to give a fuller 
 view of an important question. It is not the pur- 
 pose to develop a logical discussion of the question, 
 but rather to look at certain facets of it. 
 
 A critic, if he be sound minded and of a healthy soul, 
 will exercise his gifts to discover and recommend the good, 
 rather than the bad. Every reasonable person is a critic, 
 but he need not be a fault-finder. Ruskin was a matchlesi 
 art critic. His fine talents were employed in the delightful 
 task of delineating the excellencies of art, and commending 
 them to those who needed the eyes of an art prophet to dis- 
 cover these beauties to them. Pessimism is not to any ex- 
 tent a qualification for criticism. The spirit that loves to 
 find fault makes true criticism impossible, because it per- 
 verts the taste and blinds the soul. It turns out that the 
 people most known as critics are mere carpers, who degrade 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 their own senses in response to the impulse of a darkened 
 heart. 
 
 There can be no true criticism, except from a proper 
 standpoint. One must really feel the thing he says and un- 
 derstand the thing he criticises. The criticisms of unregen- 
 erate people passed on the regenerate are as valueless as 
 the criticisms of men would be on the angels of God. They 
 live in different worlds. They have not the same feelings, 
 and there is no common standard of judgment. It is this 
 that makes the criticisms of widely separated classes of so- 
 ciety on each other valueless. They lack a fair basis. 
 
 This should put us all on guard, as to our judgments of 
 other people. We can know at most only in part. God 
 alone, who knows everything, can pass final judgment. 
 
 Passing from these general observations, and coming 
 to the common use of the word critic or criticism, let us note 
 some important considerations. 
 
 The critical or fault-finding attitude of the mind is one 
 of the greatest possible drawbacks to both happiness and 
 usefulness. It robs the critic of a thousand sweets, and ut- 
 terly destroys his power for good. In a party of ministers 
 the conversation turned on the career of a brother of more 
 than common culture, ability and brilliancy. "Why is it 
 that he has not succeeded better?" was asked. A brother 
 said : "The answer is easy. He is the sharpest critic I ever 
 knew. He criticises everything from a Greek verb to the 
 color of a lady's ribbons. Nothing escapes his keen eye and 
 sharp tongue. Everybody soon expects to be put on the dis- 
 secting table every time they meet him and people first fear 
 him, then hate him." There was truth in every word of it. 
 The brother had cultivated a habit of adverse criticism of 
 every thing he talked about. The tone of his mind was like 
 a keen acid. It corroded his spirit and gave pain to those 
 whom he, in all reason, was appointed to help. Such a man 
 was the gifted Dean Swift. 
 
 73 
 
by J. B. Gambreix, D. D. 
 This habit of adverse criticism, when it becomes 
 chronic, destroys the finer feelings of the critic and disqual- 
 
 Did You Notice How He Murdered the Queens' English. 
 
 ifies him for seeing and enjoying the nobler and better 
 things of life. It sadly deteriorates the character and works 
 
 74 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 harm, nci so much to the things criticised, as in the critic 
 himself. Two illustrations come to mind. I have used 
 them both before this. When that great masterpiece of art, 
 "The Christ" by Corregio, was on exhibition in Cincinnati, 
 two men stood before it, side by side, each holding his own 
 peculiar attitude of mind toward it. It was a marvelous 
 production. The artist had put his soul on the canvas. Ap- 
 proaching the picture, it seemed a rather rough, unfinished 
 work of art; but as you stood before it, the Christ seemed 
 to come out in front of the canvas and beam on you with a 
 look divine. One of the beholders was a soulful Irishman, 
 with a reverent spirit. His bosom swelled with emotion, 
 as he drank in the inspiration of the artist. In the midst of 
 his silent rapture, his companion nudged him, and called his 
 attention to a fly speck on the canvas. In an outbreak of 
 indignation, the Irishman cried out, "Kill him! kill him! 
 kill him !" To what good purpose did the man with an eye 
 for a fly speck see one of the world's greatest pictures ? In- 
 deed, he did not see, and could not, because of an awful 
 perverted nature. 
 
 Here is the other illustration. It was at a coutry preach- 
 ing. The congregation was large. A great country preach- 
 er had the hour. His theme was as high as the heavens, 
 and he handled it with the hand of a great master. The ser- 
 mon was great by every rule of judgment, but the preacher 
 having failed of an early education, right frequently made 
 grammatical blunders. Beside me sat a young school 
 teacher. I was lifted out of myself and carried toward the 
 third heaven. The preacher had closed and a profound si- 
 lence, broken only by the sobs of devout worshippers, suc- 
 ceeded. My teacher brother turned and said, "Did you no- 
 tice how he murdered the queen's English?" It was hor- 
 rible. Such a man would starve, if God were to send him 
 bread from heaven by the hand of an angel, unless there 
 chanced to be no speck on the angel or his raiment. A great 
 
 75 
 
BY J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 occasion had come to every soul in that great company, but 
 the attitude of this man's mind was such as to prevent his 
 receiving the least benefit. Is not such a man an unspeaka- 
 ble fool with all his grammar? 
 
 There are optimistic critics and they are both useful 
 and happy. They see the good and go for it with a hearty 
 appetite. L. Q. C. Lamar used to tell of an old maid aunt 
 who always saw the good in everybody and everything. 
 Her habit was never to say a hard thing of any one, nor to 
 complain at anything. At a family gathering, a scheme was 
 formed to make her break her long established habit. The 
 company were to discuss the devil, and finally to force her 
 to give an opinion of him. At the opportune moment Mr. 
 Lamar said: "Aunty, what do you think of the devil?" 
 "Well, Lucius, he is a very industrious old gentleman. We 
 might all learn a good lesson from him on that point." They 
 had her opinion, and she maintained her habit. 
 
 Where criticisms are just, and should be made, it is 
 often of the utmost importance that we avoid making them 
 till just the right time comes. It is needless to say, that 
 perfection does not belong to humanity. There are no per- 
 fect preachers, or deacons, or as to that, church members. 
 It is not hard to find a ground, great or less, for criticising 
 adversely the pastor of your church. If the matters are 
 trivial it is commonly best to let them pass without even let- 
 ting him know you observe the defects. If it is your duty to 
 criticise him, it will do no good to do this to others. It 
 should be done in tenderness to him. It should never be 
 done in the home before children. Many parents have put 
 it out of the power of the preacher to help their children 
 by thoughtless criticisms made in their presence. It is a 
 thing distressingly common and dreadfully hurtful. 
 
 The same rule holds among church members. There 
 are churches languishing today, and thoroughly discredited 
 in the community, because the members have talked each 
 
 7 6 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 other down. Every weakness and misstep of a brother has 
 been ventilated before the unbelievers till Christianity itself 
 is discredited. It is a great mistake to think that the two 
 main things in church discipline is a keen knife and plenty 
 of caustic. There is not a perfectly sound human body in 
 the world. The healthiest body has microbes in it; but a 
 pegging awl to extract them is not the remedy. Richer 
 blood and better sanitary conditions will beat all the sur- 
 gical instruments in the surgeon's case, with all the nitrate 
 of silver in the drug stores. 
 
 Finally, adverse criticism has its place, and at times 
 we must open sores down to the very bone. But the main 
 function of criticism is to reveal the good in the clearest pos- 
 sible light, and to make it attractive. The world advances 
 on affirmations, not negations. You cannot sweep darkness 
 out of your house; but the darkness disappears the instant 
 you bring in the light. 
 
 $3p t&* 
 
 77 
 
BY J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 PLAIN LESSONS FROM A LOVING WRITER. 
 
 HNE of the shortest, most loving and most unique of 
 the New Testament writings is John's third epistle. 
 It covers a very small space. It was written by that 
 apostle who occupies on every occasion a pre-em- 
 inence of spirituality. The Gospel by John deals with 
 Christianity in its deep spiritual meaning, and John is al- 
 ways thought of as the loving disciple. He writes this third 
 letter when he is an old man, full of tenderness and love. 
 Nearly all of it gathers around three characters. 
 
 First he is writing to Gains, a beloved layman, no 
 doubt. He makes for this faithful brother a remarkable 
 wish ; that above all things he might prosper and be in good 
 health, even as his soul prospered. Evidently Gaius was a 
 faithful brother in poor health and the Apostle John is 
 concerned about his health. He commends him because the 
 truth is in him, and because he walks in the truth, and be- 
 love of truth and the faithful performance of truth were 
 the foundation of the excellent character of the beloved 
 Gaius. It was this love of truth that filled him with charity, 
 and gave him such excellent report "before the church," and 
 inspired him to Christian activity. An excellent lesson is 
 taught us here. The love of truth is the only foundation 
 of good character. The man who is thoroughly willing to 
 know the truth and walk in it is saved from a dozen pitfalls, 
 and on such a foundation a bad character can never be built. 
 We greatly err if we seek to substitute mere sentimentalism 
 for downright love of truth, even though the truth may be 
 ofttimes rugged, and always immovable. Nothing will take 
 the place of truth, and it is because many do not come to the 
 truth, and do not want to know the full truth about things 
 and are not willing to walk in the truth, that they drift about 
 and finally come to nothing. 
 
 Gaius is a charming character, a model of Christian 
 
 78 
 
Tkx Years in Texas 
 
 faithfulness, broad-mindedness and helpfulness, which we 
 may all imitate with advantage. We can never think of 
 Gaius as even a possible demagogue, offensive, double-mind- 
 ed, double-tongued, half-right half-wrong, and then all 
 wrong. We think of him as a candid, frank, open, straight- 
 forward, noble man, whose love of the truth was innate, 
 and whose support of the truth was straight-forward and 
 open before all men. May his tribe multiply. 
 
 The next character in the brief letter is Diotrephes, 
 "who loveth to have the pre-eminence among th:m." His 
 tribe has already increased beyond all the wants of the hu- 
 man race, and greatly to the disturbance of the churches 
 and the hindering of the cause. The brief record shows 
 that the Apostle John had written to the church of which 
 Diotrephes was a member. Certain brethren on a mission 
 were to visit the church, doubtless, to secure help and co- 
 operation in the general work which was going on at that 
 time, aided by the churches. Doubtless also these brethren 
 who were sent were men of mark and of force. They were 
 .such men as good people would like to hear ; but Diotrephes, 
 looking at the whole matter of religion from a personal 
 standpoint, making himself the center of all calculations, 
 theories, plans and policies, would have none of them. He 
 was on the ground. The brethren who were coming were 
 at a great disadvantage with reference to such a man as Dio- 
 trephes. He could work up his crowd, and he did. So, 
 when the brethren got there, they found that they could 
 not get a hearing before the church. They were completely 
 forestalled, and there stood, as the center of a group of mal- 
 contents and kickers, this unsavory Diotrephes. 
 
 We have an inkling of his methods. He was given 
 to "prating" against the workers "with malicious words." 
 That sounds like an echo of things that have occurred since, 
 and are still occurring. Prating. Stop a moment to think 
 of that word. It means to mouth, and complain and to say 
 
 79 
 
by J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 much without saying much. It means that human language 
 is used not to express principles or doctrines or truth, but 
 to express bad feelings, and hence the "malicious words." 
 He not only was given over to this mouthing against the 
 workers of his period, but he brought things to the point 
 that the brethren were not received. And, not content with 
 that, he brought it about that those who did receive them 
 were cast out of the church. Here is a picture for you of a 
 self-assertive, mouthing, godless demagogue, using his place 
 in a church of Jesus Christ for his own pre-eminence. 
 
 The next character is Demetrius. Not much is said of 
 him, but it is all good. "He hath good report of all men 
 and of the truth itself." That is to say, the conduct and 
 general life of Demetrius corresponded with the truth, and 
 the apostle himself was glad to bear record to his good char- 
 acter. Passing from Demetrius in a few words, the old 
 apostle closes his brief letter with the hope that he should 
 soon see the beloved Gaius and speak to him face to face, 
 with a tenderness and thoughtfulness that is beautiful. 
 His last words are : "Peace be to thee. Our friends salute 
 thee. Greet the friends by name." 
 
 Now let us get a few general lessons out of this brief 
 letter, and the first is, that the most spiritually-minded and 
 loving of characters may, and did on occasions, speak the 
 exact truth about men, and things. The New Testament is 
 pre-eminently a book of plain dealing. Here was a situa- 
 tion to be met. Here was a church being greatly hurt by 
 one evil-minded man. The most loving of the apostles went 
 into the situation in a thorough-going way to clarify the at- 
 mosphere. We make a great mistake when we cultivate 
 nervousness to the point that we can not speak the truth in 
 our churches, or anywhere else, if that truth impinges on 
 somebody. There is no place for people's nerves and feel- 
 ings in the kingdom of God if they stand in the way of the 
 
 80 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 progress of the truth. In this world the truth itself has the 
 right-of-way. 
 
 And here is another lesson. In dealing with situations 
 it is perfectly correct to call names and to award men by 
 name, praise or condemnation, according as they deserve. 
 It is beautiful, John's thoughtful care of the faithful men 
 mentioned in this letter. Paul finishes the greatest of all 
 the epistles, his letter to the Romans, by making particular 
 mention of many, and specifying- services, some of them 
 seemingly very small services which they had rendered to 
 him and to the cause. It is right to speak of those publicly, 
 in print, who do well. There is lack of proper care 
 among us for the faithful toilers who are doing the best 
 they can. 
 
 Right over on the other side, how straight-forward was 
 the apostle's dealing with Diotrephes ! He held him up to 
 the contempt of the ages as a model of a class of men who 
 would infest churches all through time; men who love the 
 pre-eminence, and who are willing to thrust their person- 
 alities forward, their personal interests, their personal views, 
 their personal popularity, anything personal to themselves, 
 thrust it anywhere, and do it all in the name of religion. It 
 is time we had an eye on these men, in the churches and 
 elsewhere, who gather about them the most unspiritual and 
 less devoted of the churches, and build up a personal fol- 
 lowing, and thrust themselves in the way of workers. If 
 Diotrephes, by the pen of an inspired and loving apostle, 
 was held up to all eternity for his conduct, why should not 
 the same thing be done over and over again as often as the 
 conduct of men demand it? Plain speech in the churches 
 today, and in many of our associations as to men's ungodly 
 conduct, in seeking the pre-eminence at the sacrifice of the 
 truth, would mightily clear the atmosphere and make way 
 for peace and progress. 
 
 There is great danger of people's getting mixed re- 
 
 81 
 
by J. B. Gambrexl, D. D. 
 
 garding plain speech concerning evil-doers, as personal wars 
 on men. It may be admitted that the two things may be 
 very easily run together, but it must also be affirmed that 
 a lofty and pure desire to see the cause prosper will compel 
 honest men, who have to deal with ugly situations to come 
 out with the truth about men, and there need be no going 
 around about it. Let the names of the men be mentioned, 
 and truth set down against them, and let it stand there for 
 God and men and angels to read. This would be apostolic. 
 To assail men for personal reasons would be an immense 
 fall from the highest position from which the apostle wrote 
 about this evil-doer in an ancient church. But to make it 
 impossible for evil men to ruin churches is to render service 
 to God and men. 
 
 82 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 CONCERNING CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 D 
 
 R. CHALMERS, of Scotland, the most eminent Pres- 
 byterian of his day, has been quoted as saying : "The 
 best church government for the ignorant is the 
 hierarchal. The best for people advanced well in 
 self-control is the Presbyterian. The best for those who 
 have attained to full self-control is the congregational. Dr. 
 Broadus said : "The congregational form of government is 
 the best possible for converted people, and the worst possi- 
 ble for unconverted people." These two eminent brethren 
 saw things from different standpoints. Dr. Chalmers had a 
 vein of philosophy running through his thinking. Dr. Broad- 
 us put the whole question in the clear light of Scripture. 
 An American statesman — not a politician, a statesman — 
 said : "That is the best government which governs the 
 least possible." Here, then, are three sayings concerning 
 government. The Christian Advocate, after referring to 
 our recent trouble in Texas, says : 
 
 "All of these manifestations of strife and discord grow 
 out of the fact that the Baptist church has adopted a sys- 
 tem of government utterly inadequate to meet the emergen- 
 cies now confronting it. It is at the mercy of a few of its 
 leaders, who are a law unto themselves. We therefore see 
 nothing in the system of government practiced by the Bap- 
 tist church worthy of our adoption. The condition of things 
 brought about by it in that communion is utterly impossible 
 in the government and usage of the Methodist church. If 
 then we are to be accused by our neighbor of The Standard 
 of 'tyranny in the concrete,' we prefer to permit this so- 
 called tyranny to abide with one man, around whom we have 
 placed wholesome restrictions, rather than invest it in an" 
 incongruous mob. From the former we get peace and 
 love in the brotherhood ; but from the latter our unfortunate 
 Baptist brethren get strife, contention and criminal and civil 
 
 83 
 
BY J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 lawsuits. In view of these things, we are more than ever 
 disposed to look with favor upon the workings of our ad- 
 mirable system of law and order." 
 
 Upon this it is pertinent to remark that peace, valuable 
 as we may regard it, is not the chief end of man. There 
 is more peace and order in a graveyard than any other place 
 in this country. And many churches are spiritual grave- 
 yards. Our Lord did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 
 It is possible to pay too much for peace. 
 
 All of this brings up an old controversy, which, to my 
 thinking, ought to be settled by an old Book. If we could 
 understand it, God has saved us a great deal of thinking 
 by doing the thinking for us ; doing it right, of course, and 
 giving us the result of His thoughts. 
 
 As between the congregational form of government 
 and the hierarchal, or to come at once to the plane of our 
 good neighbor, the Advocate, between the government of 
 the Baptists and the Methodists, I am ready to admit at 
 once that the monarchical form of government is just the 
 thing for an unconverted church membership, if it is worth 
 while to have churches made up that way. I do not think, 
 however, it is worth while to have such churches. The 
 New Testament, which is a compendium of divine thought 
 on these questions, about which men think so much and 
 so variantly, does not contemplate churches made up of the 
 enemies of God and righteousness, but on the contrary, it 
 everywhere contemplates churches composed of regenerated 
 and obedient people, though not perfect. The Advocate 
 says : "We prefer to permit this so-called tyranny to abide 
 with one man, around whom we have placed wholesome 
 restrictions, rather than invest it in an incongruous mob." 
 If the people composing a church can be counted an "incon- 
 gruous mob," why, then, certainly, language has come to a 
 bad use. Waiving that, however, the Advocate likes the 
 monarchical form of government in church matters. We 
 
 8 4 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 shall not quarrel with the Advocate. If he likes to live 
 under a monarchical government in religion, then, that is 
 the thing that suits him, and he has a right to his prefer- 
 ence. Many good people do prefer it. However, in his 
 judgment in this matter he seriously disagrees with high 
 authorities, as witness the following facts: When our 
 Lord was teaching on this very question of troubles He 
 gave directions for settling them after a spiritual manner. 
 The offended brother must go to his brother, and if he 
 fails, take another brother with him, and if that fail 
 tell it to the church, and if the offending brother 
 will not hear the church, then his is to cut off. 
 There was no instruction to tell it to "one man" hedged 
 with restrictions, but to the church. Dr. Rankin can find 
 some excellent reading in the 18th of Matthew on this 
 point, all which will go to show that Christ had more regard 
 to the church, the whole congregation, than He had to any 
 "one man," no matter how hedged about. And again, when 
 the church at Corinth was in disorder, the Apostle Paul 
 gave some important instructions as to how they were to 
 do. He did not send these instructions to "one man" with 
 restrictions, but he sent them to the church, and he put it 
 on the church to purify itself. Paul agreed with Jesus 
 Christ in this. Again, in his third letter, John tells us that 
 he wrote to the church about certain men, who were to 
 visit the church, and that one, Diotrephes — an unsavory 
 scamp he was, who loved to have pre-eminence among the 
 brethren — would not receive them, and he would not allow 
 others to receive them, but he cast those who would re- 
 ceive them out of the church. John's instructions very sig- 
 nificantly avoided any reference to the appointment of "one 
 man" to take charge of Diotrephes and the unruly members 
 of that church. This shows that John agreed with his Mas- 
 ter and with Paul that the "one man" with restrictions was 
 not a remedy for troubles in churches. 
 
 85 
 
by J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 There is another singular illustration of the variance 
 of the apostolic mind from the line of thought which holds 
 our neighbor to his monarchical form of church government. 
 Paul and an excellent brother started out on a missionary 
 tour. This other brother had a nephew, whom he desired 
 to take along with him. This young man had become faint- 
 hearted on a former occasion, and quit the work, going 
 back to Jerusalem to his mother. Paul did not agree to take 
 him. The two had a sharp contention about it. The result 
 of it was they separated. Now, if Paul and Barnabas and 
 the others in that day believed in this "one man" with re- 
 strictions, they would have had him somewhere, and this 
 contention between the two missionary workers would have 
 gone up for decision by some hierarch, and the two brethren 
 would have had it settled for them. However, there seems 
 to have been a great lack of the "one man" in that day, 
 and they settled it by parting, just as Baptists have been 
 doing, more or less, ever since. All of these instances are 
 of New Testament record, and will make excellent reading 
 for Dr. Rankin, and may occupy his leisure hours with prof- 
 itable meditation. 
 
 From them it may be most assuredly gathered that God 
 does not sanction the "one man" idea in the church. Obedi- 
 ence to the Divine Word is the fundamental doctrine of Bap- 
 tists on this, as on all other questions, and so we do not 
 feel under any great burden of thought, and do not consider 
 it an open question any more than is Christian baptism, 
 or the Lord's Supper. 
 
 We repeat, God has done an abundance of thinking 
 for us, relieving us of the burden of it, and leaving us more 
 time to obey. 
 
 Still, holding fast to the doctrine of obedience as a 
 doctrine never to be waived for a moment in the face of any 
 human reasoning, we may, nevertheless, think upon the ques- 
 tion which Dr. Rankin opens up as a practical question 
 
 86 
 
Ten' Years in Texas 
 
 among men. Indulging in some meditations on the general 
 question, I would say: I go on record as being totally 
 adverse to belonging to a political organization in any 
 country or to any church organization that cannot have 
 a fuss. Not for one moment would this writer belong 
 to a church that could not have a fuss. Not because he 
 likes a fuss, but he likes the room and the freedom of 
 thought that make a fuss possible. These are essential to 
 the highest development. Any one can see at a glance that 
 the Advocate's doctrine, applied to politics, would commit 
 this government to monarchy. Politically, this writer does 
 not want monarchy in America, and religiously, he does 
 not want monarchy anywhere. He believes more in all the 
 people than he does in any "one man," with all the restric- 
 tions that some other men can put around him. 
 
 There is a story of an amateur sailor, who, being out 
 on the water, noticed that the needle of the compass kept 
 shaking about. He had an idea that it ought to point di- 
 rectly north, and not move, and, as the needle kept swinging, 
 he became dissatisfied with it, took up the top of the box, 
 made wedges and chugged it in on each side, and then, with 
 great satisfaction, said: "Now, I reckon you'll stay right." 
 The compass was better if the needle did swing than it was 
 wedged in hard and fast. The truth is, the easy swing of 
 the needle gave it its value. 
 
 While the New Testament everywhere lays down the 
 qualifications for church membership, and always contem- 
 plates a converted church membership, there is abundant 
 evidence that some unconverted people would get into the 
 church, and that converted people would not be altogether 
 sanctified. There would, therefore, be an amount of the 
 world and the flesh to deal with in churches. Now, the 
 real philosophy of self-governing churches is that by a free 
 and equal exercise of all privileges, the tendency is con- 
 stantly toward purification. A good many years ago I saw 
 
 87 
 
by J. B. Gam br ELL, D. D. 
 
 a cartoon. It was called "Boiling Politics." There was a 
 log fire out doors, and a number of large kettles placed 
 along. At one end they were boiling English politics. Queen 
 Victoria, with a cook apron on, and her prime minister were 
 doing their utmost to hold the top on, and keep everything 
 in. Next was German politics. The old Emperor William 
 and Bismark, with grimaces and contortions of counte- 
 nance, were doing their best to hold the lid of the pot down, 
 and so all along. But, underneath the edge of the lids of the 
 pots, was an overflow spurting out. At the remote end 
 of the log fire was "Uncle Sam" boiling his politics. He 
 was sitting down with one thumb in the arm hole of his 
 vest, with a pleasing smile on his countenance. The pot 
 was boiling and all the scum rolling off at the top. There 
 was no lid on it at all. 
 
 We hope the Advocate will see the point. Baptists have 
 always had fusses. We are going to have more. We com- 
 menced with them nearly 1900 years ago. Had them in 
 the apostolic times. Peter and Paul differed, Paul and 
 Barnabas. Diotrephes cut up shines in the church of which 
 he was a member. The church at Corinth got all torn up. 
 Just as long as we are in the world, and especially as long 
 as some of the world gets into the churches, the pot will 
 boil and the scum will go over the top. Everybody will 
 see it, and some will make remarks about it. 
 
 I would not be unkind, but, with all the holding down 
 of the lid of the Methodist kettle, there was something that 
 smelt decidedly not very good spurted out from under the 
 edges at Nashville not long ago, and if I read the papers 
 right, good Methodists are sneezing all over the country. 
 We are glad to see how generally Baptists vindicated the 
 Methodists in a trouble that hurt Christianity in general, 
 but one which in n© way dishonors that great communion. 
 
 Of course it is painful. Some things have happened in 
 Texas in recent years that are painful; but they are very 
 
 88 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 healthful all the same. A great many doctors make the mis- 
 take of supposing that symptoms are diseases. Whoever 
 saw a man writhing in pain that did not feel that it is a great 
 pity that a human body was not made that could not be 
 sick. Dr. Rankin, did you ever have the toothache? If 
 you ever did for one half hour you, undoubtedly, thought 
 of the mistake that was made in putting a nerve in a tooth. 
 No. Really it was not a mistake, and the ache was only the 
 warning which nature gave of encroaching and destructive 
 disease. The capacity to suffer is the result of having 
 nerves, but a nerveless body is a dead body. 
 
 Beside the purifying effect of commotions among a 
 great, self-governing people, there is another, a decided 
 gain. It is the capacity to die and get out of the way. One 
 of the strongest points about a New Testament church is, 
 that if it gets too much wrong, it dies, and when it dies 
 it falls down and gets out of the way. It disorganizes. 
 The great law of the Almighty Creator, running through 
 all His works, is that disintegration follows death. Two 
 forces struggle in every human body, even the healthiest. 
 One is constructive, the other destructive. When the con- 
 structive forces are clearly in the ascendant, there is health. 
 As the destructive forces encroach more and more, there is 
 a lessening of health, and symptoms of sickness. When the 
 destructive forces get in the lead a good time, the vital 
 forces are consumed and there is death. The constructive 
 forces work in two ways; first, constantly throwing off 
 effete and bad matter by the free action of all the functions 
 of the body; and, secondly, by restoring wasted tissues 
 with new matter. That is precisely what comes to a free- 
 acting, self-governing body of Christ, otherwise speaking, 
 a Baptist church. 
 
 It would be an awfully unhandy thing if we could not 
 get rid of dead people ; if, by some sort of mechanism, they 
 could go on after they were dead, and we had to meet them 
 
 8 9 
 
by J. B. Gamijrjcll. D. D. 
 
 in the stores and on the streets and on the railroads and 
 everywhere, running by a mechanism controlled by "one 
 man" somehow. Now, it is the glory of the New Testa- 
 ment churches that they can die, and when they die they 
 can disintegrate, go to pieces, and leave room for somebody 
 else. There is no mechanism, there is no hierarchy by 
 which they can be held together after all spiritual life is gone 
 out of them. It is the most appalling fact in all Christendom 
 to-day that church governments hold great bodies of people 
 together without any reference to their spiritual power 
 or life. They are so hedged about, and so articulated that, 
 though they are dead, yet the "one man" can parade the 
 whole thing as a master hand can manipulate a whole bench 
 of dummies. Upon the whole, I am fully persuaded that 
 the divine thinking upon this subject is right. 
 
 As to reference to troubles among the Baptists in Tex- 
 as, they are not the signs of death, but of life. Let the 
 editor of the Advocate see what was done toward missions 
 and education last year. I will send him a Texas Baptist 
 Annual, and he will find good reading in that, as well as in 
 the New Testament. And let him particularly note this: 
 That the great Convention which met in Dallas, which might 
 have looked to him like an "incongruous mob," nevertheless, 
 had its own affairs well in hand. There were messengers 
 freely elected by the free churches of Jesus Christ, from over 
 a thousand churches in Texas, and 74 associations. And 
 when they came to Dallas, having given over $100,000 as 
 their free-will offering to God for the advancement of His 
 cause, they were abundantly able to take care of a turbulent 
 faction. Didn't you observe how it was done, Doctor? The 
 faction was noisy. I will admit it. It was not an edifying 
 spectacle, but, looking away from the faction to the solid, 
 great mass of men and women, upholding the cause of 
 Christ, how handsomely and easily, under a free govern- 
 ment, we disposed of the faction ! If I were the Archbishop 
 
 00 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 of Canterbury I could admire as fine a thing as was done by 
 our General Convention in the interest of order. It was a 
 great triumph of democracy in religion. A man who could 
 not admire the massive strength of that great, intelligent 
 democratic majority in dealing with an obstreperous fac- 
 tion has not a good eye for a great thing. 
 
 The question is entrancing. The further I get into it 
 the more interesting it is, but the article is growing long 
 and I must turn toward a conclusion. * 
 
 The Doctor is evidently mistaken in this: "All of 
 these manifestations of strife and discord grow out of the 
 fact that the Baptist church has adopted a system of gov- 
 ernment utterly inadequate to meet the exigences now con- 
 fronting it." In the first place we never adopted this sys- 
 tem of government. It was given to us by the Master before 
 He ascended to glory, and confirmed to us by the apostles, 
 and we have always had it. In the next place the system of 
 government is not the cause of the strife at all. It is an 
 alien and irreligious element that has been worked into the 
 cause, just as Diotrephes got himself into one of the apos- 
 tolic churches and made trouble. It may be, and always 
 will be, difficult to keep bad men out of the house of God, 
 but subjection to "one man" is not the remedy. The rem- 
 edy is that which the Scriptures give. 
 
 In the next place the Baptists are not only equal to the 
 trouble, but the trouble is uniting us. I feel sure the editor 
 of the Advocate will accept all these remarks in the kindly 
 spirit in which they are made. All of us, whether we be- 
 lieve in monarchy in the kingdom or democracy, need to 
 lay it to heart that it is not churches nor church govern- 
 ment that can make good men. Divine grace alone is equal 
 to that. This writer does not agree with Dr. Rankin, nor 
 the Methodist church in its government, but he bears record 
 to the magnificent spirit of the ministry of that great denom- 
 ination, with which he has been permitted to labor in many 
 
 9i 
 
by J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 ways for the advancement of onr common cause. They are 
 men of God, consecrated to the highest purposes of Christ- 
 ian manhood, and I should utterly despise myself if I depre- 
 ciated them on account of troubles incident to all life. I 
 shall always be ready to lend a brotherly hand in helping 
 them to a higher and better standpoint as to some points 
 of polity and doctrine, but, for their zeal and devotion to 
 what they see to be the truth, I have nothing but un- 
 stinted admiration. 
 
 And this leads me to a closing remark. There are broad 
 planes of common ground upon which all denominations 
 stand. No Methodist preacher can be hurt in his character 
 and standing without a shadow being thrown upon the 
 ministry of all denominations. No great shame can be put 
 upon the Presbyterian denomination that will not reflect, in 
 the common mind, upon Christianity in general. I have no 
 sympathy with the men in the Presbyterian denomination 
 who have, here and there, at different times, broken asunder 
 the cords of fellowship by introducing doctrines and prac- 
 tices into that fellowship contrary to the standards held by 
 them. I do not believe in the oligarchical or monarchical form 
 of government of the Methodist denomination, but I do not 
 have the slightest respect for any Methodist preacher who, 
 attempting to hold fellowship with that great denomination, 
 makes himself an occasion of strife. If he does not believe 
 with them, there is but one honorable thing for him to do, 
 and that is to get out. And so as to the Catholics. A man 
 who is a Catholic, and has taken on himself the vows of the 
 Catholic church, is in honor bound, on the great principles 
 which govern men in their dealings with each other, to up- 
 hold the government of that church, and the order of that 
 church as long as he shares its fellowship. If, in conscience, 
 he cannot do that there is a remedy, and that remedy is for 
 him to get out and go where he belongs. If Dr. Rankin 
 can see the appropriateness of these remarks, and will apply 
 
 92 
 
Tkn Years in Texas 
 
 them to the Baptist situation in Texas, at least on that great 
 common ground of Christianity, he and I can stand side 
 by side. 
 
 D 
 
 DECISIVE BATTLES IN HUMAN LIFE. 
 
 F ONE is to worry with an enemy on to exhaustion 
 or till one or the other is driven from the field, it 
 is very desirable to seek the earliest advantage and 
 force a decisive battle. This will hasten peace and 
 bring on the era of readjustment. Long wearing wars are 
 followed always by a train of evil influences. They debili- 
 tate nations and through continued disorder make the evil 
 results chronic. One great battle would have been vastly 
 better for our country than the four years of the Civil war. 
 The day that saw Waterloo's bloody fray was the best day 
 Europe had seen since the rising of Napoleon's tragic star. 
 The plan of progress is by epochs. These usually open 
 and close by decisive battles, and this is true in the physical, 
 mental and spiritual world all alike. Growth is by stages. 
 The general truth here discussed is capable of almost end- 
 less illustration and application. It invites thought in all its 
 phases; but it is the purpose of this article to discuss de- 
 cisive spiritual battles. Paul looked on his life as a war. 
 He had fought a good fight. He said at the end of it in the 
 progress of his fighting he had faced nearly every conceiv- 
 able foe. His fighting was all on one plan. He faced his 
 enemy without faltering and had it out. He never went out 
 of his way to seek a conflict. He was prudent and exceed- 
 ingly careful to avoid foolish questions, old wives' fables 
 and the like ; but when a great moral question was raised he 
 met it in a decisive spirit and settled it. 
 
 93 
 
by J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 Paul's first great spiritual battle was fought on the road 
 to Damascus. The light shone round about him, and 
 brightest of all in his heart. He had believed Jesus an im- 
 poster. He was honest in persecuting the saints. There in 
 the road, surrounded by his escort, he was called on to set- 
 tle the greatest question of his or any man's life. If Jesus 
 was the Christ of God his course was wicked beyond words. 
 He must stop there and then, yea more, he must turn his 
 back on all he had loved and gloried in, on his old religion, 
 his position, his honor, his worldly hopes, his kindred — 
 everything. Was there ever a more momentous time in a 
 human life? The stress was unspeakable. The first and 
 greatest battle in one of the greatest human lives ever lived 
 on earth was there fought and righteousness won the field. 
 The young man saw it all, and conferred not — did not even 
 confer with flesh and blood — but from that hour for him to 
 live was Christ. There was never any vacillation, nor halt- 
 ing till the Roman ax put a period to his earthly life. 
 
 The hour of conversion is the most important battle 
 hour in any life. Some seem born into the kingdom feebly, 
 amid doubts and fears, from which they never escape. Life 
 is a long continued skirmish or running fight between the 
 divine and the earthly life. Year in and year out this con- 
 flict goes on. The life is a border life, attended with the old- 
 time border experiences of foray and never-ceasing strife. 
 
 Christians of this type are ever unhappy and never 
 very useful. They are the pastor's care, not his helpers. 
 They never settled the questions of life by any rule. They 
 shift this way and that, now a little better, now not so good, 
 as the winds blow. Their enemies hover about them con- 
 stantly. Sometimes the devil tempts them, and sometimes 
 they tempt the devil. They are ever unsettled as to the sim- 
 plest matters of duty. They are irrevocably committed to 
 nothing because they have never fought selfishness and 
 worldliness on a principle and won the field. 
 
 94 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 Such unhappy souls ought to have it out on the one 
 point of duty. Let any one once fight his way to the top of 
 the hill duty and plant himself there and all the other bat- 
 tles of life will be easy in comparison. Really duty is the 
 supreme human word. It is the strongest word in the lan- 
 guage. Once the heart and mind end all debates with con- 
 flicting passions and persuasions by settling down to ac- 
 cept duty, as it appears from time to time, as the rule of 
 life, then the sublimest epoch of that life opens. Here is 
 the weakness of multitudes of Christian lives. They are not 
 formed on duty as the guiding principle of life. They skir- 
 mish with the devil around this great center on every sep- 
 arate thing that comes up. Now it is a fight over the the- 
 ater, now over the ballroom, now over some form of Sunday 
 desecration. It is an endless skirmish; but no decisive vic- 
 tory. Let the fight be on the one great including issue, fidel- 
 ity to Christ, and when the victory is won all the after life 
 will be better and easier. 
 
 I feel to stress this point. Reader, are you committed 
 to do your duty to Christ? If you say yes, then what, if 
 that means going far hence into the darkness of heathen- 
 ism? What, young man, if it means putting aside all your 
 plans to preach the Word? What, brother preacher, if it 
 means a life spent among the poor and ignorant? Let the 
 principle of your life be settled, and your life formed on 
 duty, no matter where duty leads. This will make a great 
 life, blessed of God, and felt for good by men. If you have 
 not yet settled down on the principle of fidelity to Christ ir- 
 revocably you have in your life an undoing element of 
 weakness. Fight one great battle with self on this point. 
 Do not stop till you have gained the victory and when you 
 have won the battle you will find that your life has taken 
 on strength and beauty. 
 
 In the course of life we must fight battles to win an 
 open field of action in different directions. Paul came into 
 
 95 
 
BY J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 the apostolic college under great disadvantages, as things 
 go among men. He could never forget that he had been a 
 persecutor and the others would not likely forget it. He 
 had had none of the advantages of the others in personal 
 associations with the Master in his early life. He felt this, 
 for he counted himself an apostle born out of due season. 
 Yet it fell to his lot to withstand Peter under circumstances 
 of peculiar trial. The scene of a memorable conflict was 
 Antioch. The church was deeply affected with Judaistic 
 heresies, brought in sideways, under the color of reverence 
 for divine institutions. The perverts, after their sort, were 
 noisy and proscriptive. Peter, the movable cobble stone, 
 true to his name, was carried away by the Judaizers. Bar- 
 nabas, devout, tender-hearted, went with Peter and the rest, 
 and everything was going wrong, when Paul came on the 
 scene. An hour of vacillation on Paul's part and this great 
 center of Gentile evangelization will slump into Judaism. 
 There is a right and a wrong side to the business and Paul 
 knows which is which. He does not mince matters. He 
 does not seek to evade the issue. The questions involved 
 go to the heart of Christianity. Paul forced a decisive battle 
 by confronting Peter before the whole company and told 
 him to the face the truth of the business. The victory was 
 decisive. Paul, from that day onward, with Antioch back of 
 him, became the central figure of the Christian age, because 
 he was the fittest man to lead. 
 
 Many a pastor, especially in troublous times such- as we 
 have had in Texas in recent years, suffers irretrievable de- 
 feat the first month he serves the church. There is a silent 
 fight of forces, and the outcome is the victory of a faction, 
 or, perchance, the church itself in a low and worldly condi- 
 tion, over the pastor. He succumbs to bad influences and 
 on to the end is a weak appendage to a lifeless body. Tem- 
 porizing with evil is an undoing thing for pastor and people. 
 Unless a preacher can command himself to boldly speak the 
 
 9 6 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 truth in love, he is whipped. Better meet an issue like Paul 
 met the issues of his day and fight the battle to a finish. 
 
 Before closing this article I feel pressed to apply the 
 principle here discussed to a matter which gives endless 
 trouble to the churches in these latter days. The money 
 question is an open question with most Christians, and prac- 
 tically all the churches. Giving is a matter of sentiment or 
 preference. Whether to give, how to give, how much to 
 give, are questions around which people and churches skir- 
 mish continually. Only now and then do we find a man 
 who has fought the battle to a finish. Giving must be put in 
 the order of scripture doctrine, and not human feeling or 
 preference. Just as long as we skirmish around the ques- 
 tion we will be weak and every interest of Zion will suffer. 
 What is needed in every Christian heart and every church 
 is a scriptural settlement. Let a man settle it for good and 
 alL that he must work and make money ; that he must give 
 regularly ; that he must give proportionately ; that is a fixed 
 part of what he receives, and then he has settled a long line 
 of troublesome questions all at once. If he wins a decisive 
 victory on the money question he will never again find it 
 hard to give, and he will never get far from 
 God in his business. We need to force the fighting on the 
 money question till the lost ground is all retaken and the old 
 scriptural landmarks reset. 
 
 The sum of all this article is that in dealing with the 
 issues of life it is both wise and loving to grapple them with 
 such strength and purpose as will settle them, leaving us 
 free to go forward with added courage and less hindrance. 
 
 97 
 
BY J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 GRASSHOPPERS AND GIANTS. 
 
 BHE Israelites had, through a series of the most won- 
 derful providential interventions, reached the bor- 
 ders of the promised land. Toward this promised 
 land their thoughts had been directed in the infancy 
 of the nation when it was only a family. They had cher- 
 ished the hope of the goodly country through the centuries 
 of Egyptian bondage. Marvellously had God redeemed 
 them from their task-masters, and marvellously had He led 
 them across the sea and fed them in the wilderness and 
 brought them now to the realization of their hopes. 
 
 Camping on the borders of the promised land, Moses, 
 for prudential reasons, sent twelve men, one from each of 
 the tribes, to spy out the land. They were to go through it, 
 and report back what kind of a country, what kind of people, 
 and whether they lived in tents or in walled cities. After 
 forty days these twelve scouts returned, ten of them whipped 
 completely. They made their report, said it was a good 
 country, but proceeded at once to say, also, that it was a 
 country that ate up the inhabitants thereof, and, in the same 
 breath, declared that it was inhabited by great giants. They 
 concluded their report by saying that they were, in their 
 own eyes, among the inhabitants of that country, as grass- 
 hoppers, and they were so in the eyes of the giants. 
 
 This report greatly disturbed the people. They wept 
 and wailed all night, and, finally, determined on making them 
 promises which they had cherished, forgot everything but an 
 considered great danger, they forgot all the mercies of 
 God, and all His mighty dealings with them, and forgot the 
 a captain and go back to Egypt. In the face of what they 
 impending danger, so mightily did the word of these ten 
 men affect the multitude. Two of them brought another 
 report. They saw the same people the ten saw, they saw 
 the walled cities; but they came back to say to the peo- 
 
 98 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 pie that it was an exceedingly good country, and that it 
 flowed with milk and honey; that they were able to take it, 
 and they ought to go at once and take possession ; and that, 
 instead of this array of giants being against them, they would 
 be bread for them. They did not prevail, however, with the 
 multitude, for the people were genuinely whipped by the 
 discouragers, and could not get themselves to think of the 
 whole company of Israel as anything above grasshoppers. 
 The divine record tells us what happened. Every one of 
 them fell in the wilderness, and only the two faithful spies 
 entered the promised land forty years later. 
 
 How apt and powerful is this teaching when applied 
 to Christians in our time ! What a vast multitude of grass- 
 hopper Christians we have ! Whole churches of them, sur- 
 rounded by the long-necked Anaks of the world, and intimi- 
 dated until all their courage oozes out at their shoes. As 
 God utterly discarded the cowardly Israelites, so from that 
 day to this, He has utterly discarded people without hope 
 and without courage. Never in the history of God's deal- 
 ing with His people has He done anything with cowards. 
 On one occasion, when all Israel was whipped out, God 
 used one courageous woman to deliver His people, but He 
 would do nothing with men who have no courage. 
 
 Spiritual cowardice is not only weakness, but it is 
 wickedness. No one has a right to be a spiritual coward. 
 These ten spies, and with them the great multitude, quaked 
 and trembled because they put God out of their calculations. 
 They saw strong men and walled cities, but they did not see 
 God. Joshua and Caleb saw strong men and walled cities, 
 but, over them all, they saw God. They knew that what- 
 ever was necessary to take possession of the land would be 
 done through the power of God, and their faith was justi- 
 fied later when the walls of Jericho fell down by divine in- 
 terposition. Spiritual cowardice has for its tap-root infideli- 
 ty and a disregard of the divine power. People who think 
 
 99 
 
BY J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 they can do noting, can do nothing because they cut them- 
 selves off from the sources of strength. The word of faith 
 is: "All things are possible." The strong point of faith 
 is that it connects itself and connects the worker with the 
 infinite power that can find no difficulties. We need to un- 
 derstand that all successful Christian work is the work of 
 God, through His people, and that there can be no difficul- 
 ties with God. He can take a worm and whip down a 
 mountain. He could part the sea. He could shake down 
 the walls of Jericho without the interposition of a human 
 hand. The reason everything is possible to faith is because 
 faith takes hold upon God. The ten did not see that, and 
 they misled the multitude. 
 
 Let me throw in this observation. These ten whipped 
 leaders set the pace for all their tribe, from that day to this. 
 In a single breath they said the land ate up the inhabitants, 
 and yet reported the land full of great giants. Discouragers 
 don't need to be consistent. A discourager only needs a 
 voice and an unbelieving heart, and somebody to hear him, 
 to get in his work. He can say things on opposite sides, 
 in the same breath, and go right on with his work. The ten 
 tribes represented by the ten spies are well scattered out 
 through the world, and we must have a good share of them 
 in Texas. 
 
 It is worthy of note, also, that the giants did not come 
 to consider the ten spies as grasshoppers until the spies had 
 taken that view of themselves. It may be, indeed, doubted 
 whether the inhabitants of the land ^ver did think it, be- 
 cause, possibly, they did not know how utterly whipped out 
 and done for these men were. But this truth remains: 
 Whenever a Christian man, or a church, comes to feel that 
 he or they are grasshoppers, then the giants of this world 
 will not think of them any better than they think of them- 
 selves. If a church takes a mean, low view of itself, in any 
 
 ioo 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 community, the community will take the same view, and the 
 community will be right. What is a church of grasshoppers 
 worth ? 
 
 These ten men had at least the aptitude for characteriz- 
 ing themselves. A grasshopper is a very insignificant insect, 
 very uncertain in his movements, capacitated, in great num- 
 bers, to eat up a country, but not to build anything. A mil- 
 lion grasshoppers will add nothing to the world, and, withal, 
 you can't count on them as to their movements or anything 
 else. They go zig-zag, and are about as likely to hop one 
 way as another, and to light one place as another. A church 
 of grasshoppers, a denomination of grasshoppers, may do 
 to count as to numbers, but that is all. 
 
 Let us turn to think a moment about William Carey, 
 standing, a young man, in lowly position, uneducated ac- 
 cording to the standards of his time, in the Nottingham 
 Association in England, with men of great repute in his 
 presence, and propounding to them a proposition so far be- 
 yond their thoughts that they regarded him as beside him- 
 self. Yet undismayed he stood there to preach his great 
 sermon on undertaking great things for God and expecting 
 great things from God. He was not a grasshopper, but 
 a mighty man of valor, and God has honored his courage 
 to bless the world. 
 
 There are two churches in this state which serve to il- 
 lustrate another point. Each had gotten down so low in the 
 thinking of the members that they could not meet the cur- 
 rent expenses of the church on the most economical basis. 
 One could not raise a trifling church debt. The other could 
 not raise enough money to pay insurance on an out-of-date 
 wooden meeting-house in a growing city. They were, in 
 their own eyes, as grasshoppers, and the difficulties around 
 them everywhere were giants. In the Providence of God 
 both of these meeting-houses were burned. And now, the 
 point is, God can make men and women out of grasshoppers. 
 
 IOI 
 
by J. B. Gambrexl, D. D. 
 
 In the light of these two fires God converted two congrega- 
 tions of grasshoppers into men and women of valor. Each 
 one erected a beautiful meeting-house last year, and greatly 
 increased its work in every direction, all because of the 
 wonderful transformation from grasshopper to hero. 
 
 There are a great many grasshoppers in the pulpits; 
 men who walk around about their churches, and into the 
 churches, and up into the pulpit, feeling in their hearts that 
 they can do nothing at all. Here are these other big 
 churches in town, here are the colonels and the bankers and 
 the railroad men, and here are the powerful combinations 
 of evil, the saloons, the gambling places, and here is worldli- 
 ness stalking abroad in the church, and the preacher stands 
 up before his people utterly whipped. He feels, in his heart, 
 as if he were no more than a grasshopper, surrounded by 
 giants. One of two things will happen with him. He will 
 drop through a crack in the floor some day, and nobody will 
 know what went with him, or else a new spirit will come 
 on him, and he will tower above the heads of the giants, 
 and God will conquer the situation through him. If a 
 preacher feels intimidated and whipped, either he must get 
 out of that by a firm grip on the Almighty through faith, 
 or else he must get out of his place and let a man come. A 
 grasshopper is nobody to lead a congregation of God's 
 people, and he will not do it. 
 
 We have 200,000 Baptists in Texas. O, there are so 
 many of them grasshoppers ! So many churches that want 
 to depend on boards to help them ! So many men cannot 
 do anything unless they are backed up all around ! So many 
 men and women in the churches who scarcely can get them- 
 selves to the meeting-house, and are just nobodies, to be 
 carried along by those who are trying to do something ! If 
 the Spirit of Almighty God would come on these 200,000 
 and transform every grasshopper into a hero of faith then 
 would the very earth be shaken by the divine power through 
 
 102 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 God's people. Wherever there are men to pray and men to 
 believe and men to work, no matter how few, nor how weak, 
 if they have come to touch the Divine Hand, they may be an 
 irresistible force. 
 
 Brother, what are you? Are you a grasshopper, or a 
 man? What sort of a church is yours, a church of grass- 
 hoppers or a church of heroes of the faith ? It may be either, 
 and, according as it is one or the other, will it be determined 
 whether there shall be growth or declension. 
 
 103 
 
s 
 
 BY J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 SAINTS AND ANGELS. 
 
 OME weeks ago there was reprinted in The Stand- 
 ard an article in which there is an exclamation, 
 "Saints and Angels, help!" etc. I notice that some 
 good brethren question its soundness. Their 
 respectful note in The Standard has put my mind 
 to work on a line of thought much neglected. With 
 regard to the expression in question two very brief 
 remarks may be made. First, it is an exclamation. 
 Second, there is nothing in it suggesting worship of saints 
 or angels. I suppose the exclamation was read in the at- 
 mosphere created by the Catholic hierarchy. Catholics have 
 certainly a very erroneous doctrine concerning both saints 
 and angels. They have not only perverted most every doc- 
 trine of God's word, but they have filled the world with an 
 atmosphere suited to their purposes of perversion. We need 
 to be doubly on guard lest we either go full length with 
 them in their perversions, or else deny the truths altogether, 
 which they have twisted to their uses. In either case we 
 suffer. 
 
 There is a scriptural doctrine of saints as there is of 
 angels. But in each case it is very different from the Catholic 
 doctrine. In having my attention called pointedly to the 
 subject, I cannot recall a single discussion of the differences 
 in all my reading of newspapers. This article is not meant as 
 a defense of the sentence in "Up Fool Hill," but as a brief 
 discussion of the Bible doctrines of saints and also of an- 
 gels. There is much in the Bible on both subjects. The 
 latter belongs to a realm of thought of which most of us 
 know far too little. 
 
 The Catholics make saints by papal power. A person 
 esteemed more than ordinarily good is canonized perhaps 
 centuries after his or her death. It becomes proper then for 
 Catholics to pray to such persons. To these saints are as- 
 
 104 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 signed certain duties. One is the patron saint of those suf- 
 fering from one thing, another the patron saint of those in 
 need of help on some other account. I overheard two young 
 girls talking on a street car in New Orleans. "Where are 
 you going?" was asked. The reply was: "I have lost my 
 
 ring and I am going to church to pray to Saint and 
 
 ask help to find it." Patrick, who was more a Baptist than 
 a Catholic, has been made the patron saint of Ireland. This 
 saint-making and saint-worship is elaborated to almost an 
 endless extent. 
 
 Catholocism is a hybrid — part Jewish, part Christian, 
 part heathen. It is an amalgam of Jewish, Christian and 
 heathen thoughts and worship. The ancients had many 
 gods. For every distinct human feeling, hope and ambition 
 there was a deity. Besides, there were gods for the seasons 
 and gods for the great natural objects, as the sun, the stars, 
 the sea, etc. It is plain to see that these were creations of 
 human heads in their efforts to satisfy themselves 
 amid the varying conflicts and experiences of life. When 
 Christianity merged with heathendom the Bible was grad- 
 ually set aside, and the human mind and heart at once went 
 to work in the old way to make what they wanted. There 
 were inklings of this in apostolic times. Paul speaks of 
 days and will worship, and neglecting of the body, etc., 
 with a warning voice. 
 
 Moreover, when Constantine adopted Christianity and 
 decreed it, things worked apace. Not only did these natural 
 feelings find a prepared soil and an atmosphere suited to 
 them, but as these feelings shot out their tendrils, there 
 were crafty men ready to make a trellis on which they could 
 climb. The old heathen festival days were turned into 
 saints' days. It was a compromise deemed helpful to the 
 stability of society. Heathenism and Christianity made up, 
 and we have what we have — Catholic saints galore, with 
 saints' days, until in purely Catholic countries the saints 
 
 105 
 
by J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 run things. Priests and people stand in awe of the bones of 
 saints, many of which saints never had any connection with 
 Catholicism. 
 
 This is a doctrine made on purpose by the Catholic 
 hierarchy. No one can understand Catholicism from an ex- 
 ternal view of it. It must be studied from the inside, and 
 with the understanding that its never-changing motive is 
 to dominate every man, woman and child in the world, soul, 
 mind and body, in things temporal, as well as things spir- 
 itual. The canonization of saints is to this end. So is purga- 
 tory. So is the doctrine of indulgences. So is the infalli- 
 bility of the Pope. So in every part of the vast, complex 
 seeming contradictory practices in the various countries of 
 the world. The girl who had lost her ring would pray to 
 a saint, some human, when she would not pray to the Father 
 of spirits who is a Spirit and can only be wor- 
 shipped in spirit. It helps to hold her and may 
 secure an offering. This Catholic doctrine of saints 
 is not a Bible doctrine. But there is a Bible doc- 
 trine of saints. Bible saints are God-made, washed in 
 the blood of the Lamb and made holy by the Spirit. "St. 
 Matt.," "St. Luke," etc., is a distinction made in that same 
 Catholic atmosphere aforementioned. All the saved are 
 saints according to the Scriptures. Paul addresses his letter 
 to the Romans: "To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, 
 called saints." The words "to be" before saints are not 
 in the Greek. After the same manner his first letter to the 
 Corinthians is addressed to "the church," "to them that are 
 sanctified in Christ Jesus called saints." The second letter 
 is to the church of God, which is at Corinth, with all the 
 saints which are in Achaia." To the Phillipians he writes in 
 the same way — "to all the saints in Christ Jesus." This is 
 plenty on that part of the subject. There are worlds be- 
 tween the Bible doctrine of saints and the Catholic doctrine. 
 
 106 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 The saints now on earth, in the flesh, are the saints who are 
 needed to take big-headed boys by the hand and help to 
 save them. The like of that is why they are kept in the 
 world. In this work-a-day world disembodied spirits have 
 no work to do. "They rest from their labors and their works 
 do follow them." 
 
 Angels are messengers. They belong to the spirit world. 
 But they visit this world and are presented to us often in the 
 Bible in human form. The Bible doctrine of spirits deserves, 
 yea, demands profound and reverent study. The age is 
 materialistic. Physical science has occupied a large place 
 in the thinking of learned people for a long time. The 
 spirit of the world is commercial to a degree to largely dis- 
 place higher and better things. Millionaires have taken at- 
 tention away from poets. Oratory has lost its wings, and 
 has taken to the airthmetic. The masses are using the muck- 
 rake looking for possible coin. The world is full of voices, 
 but they do not come from the altitude whence the angels 
 sang the annunciation hymn. This is a difficult time to 
 study spirits. But there are spirits, good and bad. There 
 are demons inhabiting the air, and Satan is their Prince. 
 These are wily, insidious, malignant, and they have access 
 to human beings. The Scriptures teem with proof texts to 
 support this doctrine. We do not know enough on this 
 subject or we would not be so ignorant of Satanic devices. 
 Just think how they acted in Christ's day and on. What has 
 become of them ? Satan is not yet bound. 
 
 There are good angels. In the hour of His agony and 
 betrayal Jesus said He could pray to His Father and the 
 Father would send more than twelve legions of angels. An 
 angel strengthened the Savior in His suffering. There are 
 holy angels, and in the last verse of the first chapter of 
 Hebrews it is declared that they are "all ministering spirits, 
 sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salva- 
 tion." Here is a great doctrine, comforting, helpful, and in 
 
 107 
 
BY J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 accord with the whole current of Scripture teaching from 
 Abraham to John the Revelator. 
 
 The doctrine is awe-inspiring. I have no theory about 
 it, but certainly angels have a part in the work of helping 
 and perhaps defending those who are marked out to be heirs 
 of salvation. They are in no sense to be worshipped, but 
 they are to be thought of as helpers in a way appointed. 
 The only trouble about receiving the doctrine is slavery to 
 materialism. The angels are neither dead nor asleep. They 
 are ministering spirits. 
 
 joR 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 BILL MORGAN'S ECONOMY. 
 
 ECONOMY is undoubtedly a fine thing. It is com- 
 manded in Scripture and was practiced by Christ. 
 It is the law of God in grace and in nature. Waste 
 is weakness and sin. The doctrine of economy goes 
 to everything in life — to time, to strength, to nerve force, to 
 influence and to money also, but to money last and least, for 
 money has no value to itself, but borrows its value from its 
 relations to the higher things of life. There are various 
 views of economy. Taking them all together, they make a 
 fine and profitable study. They carry us over the whole 
 field of profit and loss in every department of life. 
 
 When I was a boy my father lived near a man named 
 Bill Morgan. The country was new. Bill was one of the 
 first settlers. He landed in the country when he had the 
 choice of the land. He could select his own home and set- 
 tle on it for nothing. It was a country of rich bottoms and 
 poor ridges. Bill had a keen eye for a very popular kind of 
 economy. Seeing that the rich bottom lands were over- 
 grown with briers, cane, vines and bushes, as well as very 
 large trees, Bill, to economize labor in clearing, selected the 
 ridge land which had little on it to clear away. 
 
 He built with reference to an economy of labor, using 
 small poles instead of large logs, such as his neighbors 
 hewed out with much toil to build their houses. Everything 
 about his place indicated rigid economy, except children. 
 There was a profusion of children — ten in all. In all other 
 respects Bill held one consistent view of economy, and noth- 
 ing could move him from it. 
 
 He made his fences mainly of poles and brush to utilize 
 the waste and save labor. He bought a little pony because it 
 was cheap, and it was too expensive to feed a big horse. 
 His hogs were of the razor-back variety, because they were 
 good rooters and could shift for themselves. He half fed 
 
 109 
 
BY J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 his pony in plow time, because "corn was too scarce." He 
 plowed awhile and turned his pony to grass while he 
 
 no 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 chopped weeds and dug around his corn. His little scooter 
 plow was made to fit the pony, and hence he scratched the 
 top off the ground and never got deep enough to keep a 
 season in the ground. His cows matched up with every- 
 thing else. Narrow, slender, always poor, they gave but a 
 scanty supply of very blue milk. But Bill saved their feed. 
 All through crop time Bill was compelled to work out Sy 
 the day to get bread for his family. There was economy in 
 this, too, for while he was working out his pony t^ould pick 
 up a little and plow a little more when he returned. 
 
 In education Bill Morgan was an economist of the most 
 rigid order. It was before the days of free schools, and 
 the charges for tuition were more or less, according to the 
 grades. Bill utterly refused to allow his children to advance 
 to the grammar grade, because it would cost 50 cents a 
 month more, and it was no use, anyway, for folks could 
 "jest naturally talk without any larnin.' " He was never 
 known to pay a tuition bill, but he was opposed on principle 
 to the 50 cents extra charge. 
 
 Things went hard with Bill Morgan, notwithstanding 
 his severe economy. Worse and worse matters grew, till at 
 last he sold out, made him a cart with hoop poles for tires, 
 hitched a yearling to it, loaded on a few things, and the last 
 I heard of him he was moving west, the whole family afoot. 
 
 Somehow or other Bill Morgan's economy did not cause 
 him to thrive. There seemed to be a weak place in it some- 
 where. It worked badly. It seemed to go against nature, 
 and certain Scriptures suggest a different spirit. ''There 
 is that scattereth and yet increaseth, and there is that with- 
 holdeth more than is meet and tendeth to poverty." 
 
 I have seen Churches practicing economy after the or- 
 der of Bill Morgan. They accept as a gift or buy a cheap 
 lot for a church in a town on a back street because it is 
 cheap. They build a cheap house, get a cheap preacher, 
 dispense with the services of a sexton, line out the hymns 
 to save buying books, and wonder why the church does not 
 
 1 T I 
 
by J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 grow. Or, it is a country Church, and the same skimping 
 kind of economy is practiced. The cheapest preacher is 
 
 The Cheapest Preacher is Employed at the 
 Lowest Salary, or No Salary. 
 
 employed at the lowest salary, or no salary. He is expected 
 to preach Saturday and Sunday for a pittance, and pick up 
 
 112 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 his living beween times like Bill Morgan's pony. The whole 
 policy of the Church is run on Bill Morgan's idea of econ- 
 omy. Everything is little, lean and hard. 
 
 It never struck Bill that he could not get out of his 
 cows in milk what did not go into them in the way of feed. 
 He never saw that it was little pony, little work ; poor pony, 
 poor work. He seemed to think that nature was a fountain 
 which could be depended on to give what she did not have. 
 Bill was wrong all round. His economy went to the de- 
 struction of the sources of supply. He did not understand 
 that whosoever soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly. 
 That was why he had to leave his crop in the grass and go 
 out to work for a turn of corn to keep the wolf out of his 
 house. 
 
 Churches practicing Bill Morgan's kind of economy 
 are no wiser than he was. It pays to pay a pastor and pay 
 him liberally, so that he can buy books, study, and come to 
 his best. It pays to send pastors to great conventions, just 
 like it pays to turn a cow on a rich pasture. No man with 
 starved mind and heart can preach well. If the churches 
 were wise they would treat their pastors at least as well as 
 sensible people treat their horses and cows. That would 
 be true economy. It would bring preachers to their best, 
 and the Churches would get the benefit of all improvement. 
 
 The finest economy is the best use of every element of 
 power towards right ends. It aims to develop everything to 
 its highest power and usefulness. Whatever goes out for 
 such a purpose comes back increased. I have known a man 
 to economize in the feed of his horse till the horse lost his 
 working power and market value. He was sold for a song. 
 The buyer reversed the policy, fed well, and shortly had a 
 horse that everybody wanted. He fed high and sold high. 
 The other man fed low and sold low. The world is run that 
 way. 
 
 There are hundreds of the Bill Morgan sort of churches 
 
 113 
 
by J. B. Gambrsll, D. D. 
 
 now complaining at their hard worked and underpaid pas- 
 tors. They want a change. When they hear some well 
 supported preacher, who has studied and can preach with 
 power and life, they say: "Oh, if we had that man for a 
 preacher !' ; What for? To starve him? He would soon be 
 no better than the man of God you are now giving no chance. 
 Give your preacher as good a chance as you give your Jer- 
 sey cow and see how he will improve. 
 
 This same Bill Morgan style of economy is practiced 
 in mission work. A board gets a man because he can be had 
 cheap. They send him to easy places, on the principle that 
 Bill Morgan located his home on the poor ridge of land. 
 They go around the towns and cities because it will cost 
 more to plant the cause in cities. The cities neglected be- 
 come powerful centers of evil. The money gathered in them 
 is in the hands of the Godless, and is turned not for, but 
 against the cause of the Master. Bill Morgan made a mis- 
 take in not locating on rich land, even if it required work to 
 conquer the natural growth. Equally foolish is the false 
 economy that shuns expense in rightly exploiting any good 
 work. A wise farmer will pay to have land cleared, plowed 
 and prepared for cultivation, even though he knows it will 
 be years before he gets his money back. A wise board will 
 spend money to develop churches and remove troubles, 
 though it will take time to reap the fruits of the labor. 
 
 John Rockefeller was asked how his company had 
 grown so rich in the oil business. He answered : "By hav- 
 ing the best machinery, the best means of transportation, 
 the best men, the best everything, and paying the best price 
 for everything.'' John Rockefeller and Bill Morgan would 
 never have agreed in business. 
 
 The Scriptures advise that we devise liberal things, and 
 stand by liberal things. It is economy to plant plenty of 
 seed. It is economy to enrich your soil at any cost. It is 
 economy to have good stock and feed them all they need. 
 
 114 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 It is economy to get the best servants for all work and pay 
 them well. It is economy to have good meeting-houses, well 
 located, though they do cost. Economy lies in the best use 
 of everything, and not in skimping. We get out of religion 
 what we put into it. "Give and it shall be given you." 
 
 Bill Morgan left Mississippi forty years ago, coming 
 this way, with ten children. I expect the family has enor- 
 mously increased, and from signs lots of them must hare 
 joined the Baptists. 
 
 "5 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 PURPOSELESS PREACHERS. 
 
 HE highest point aimed at in Paul's life was to ful- 
 fill his ministry. Arduous and perilous as was his 
 ministry, he thanked God that He had counted him 
 worthy, putting him into it. He counted not his life 
 dear unto him that he might worthily acquit himself in the 
 trusteeship of the gospel. His conception was that he held 
 the gospel in trust for the world. To default in the trust 
 was to him the most unthinkable of crimes against God 
 and humanity. It was, moreover, a calamity to himself be- 
 yond all other calamities short of perdition. 
 
 No one can attentively read the New Testament with- 
 out realizing something of the tremendous importance of 
 the ministerial office. It is, beyond all comparison, the most 
 important calling known to men. Its functions are the 
 highest and the most sacred. It calls for the very highest 
 order of manhood. Indeed, the best men, all their time at 
 their best, must still cry out, "Who is sufficient for these 
 things?" In the Kingdom he is the elect of the elect, a 
 chosen vessel for the highest possible use in the King's 
 service. 
 
 The Holy Scriptures describe his character in detail. 
 They mark him distinctly as a man of more than ordinary 
 consequence in the church. In his human relations, in his 
 spiritual endowments, in his ability and common repute, he 
 stands on a high level. No slip-shod man, no come-easy-go- 
 easy, slack-twisted church members may be inducted into 
 the ministry. The churches are put under severe limitations 
 as to the kind of men, who are to be recognized as ministers 
 of the Word. Who can estimate the harm done by over- 
 riding the divine restrictions placed around this most sacred 
 office? 
 
 Consider for a little while the simple yet unspeakably 
 grave functions of the ministry. The preacher is God's 
 
 116 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 embassador. He speaks in Christ's name. He is to deliver 
 Christ's message and not his own at all. This message is 
 pregnant with the gravest issues of life and death. The 
 highest interests of immortal beings for two worlds are 
 wrapped up in the message of the preacher. Truly he 
 stands between the living and the dead. He is all the time 
 face to face with the issues of eternal consequence. 
 
 If the preacher is a pastor, his responsibilities broaden. 
 He must watch for souls as one who must give account — 
 souls slipping away into eternity out of his flock, or congre- 
 gation. His duty is three-fold. First, to win souls to 
 Christ; second, to feed the flock; third, to oversee the 
 household of faith; to put it another way, to win souls to 
 Christ, to build them up in Christ, to employ them for 
 Christ. 
 
 On the minister's faithfulness depends not only the sal- 
 vation of souls, but all the highest interests of the home, 
 the church and the State. The faithful minister is far away 
 the most important man in any community. He is God's 
 first man in all the ranks of men, the master builder in all 
 the realm of human hopes and endeavors. 
 
 Because of the matchless work assigned the preacher, 
 it is ordained of God, that he shall live of the gospel. He 
 is not too good to work at any honorable calling. Paul 
 made tents to preach, not for gain. The greatest preacher 
 living is not too good to farm, dig a ditch, black shoes or 
 sweep the streets. He is not supported because of his dig- 
 nity, but that he may put all his powers into his work, that 
 he may make full proof of his ministry. 
 
 Be it never forgotten for one moment, that the true 
 minister is, like his Lord is, among the needy of the earth 
 as one who serves. And, like his Lord, he needs to be a 
 man of unbending purpose to finish the work given him to 
 do. 
 
 The preacher ought to be the manliest of men. How 
 
 117 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 can human speech sufficiently express a proper contempt 
 for the dilettante man, the purposeless molusk, who uses 
 his great office, and the tribute of love and reverence of the 
 people, to minister to his own ease ? The ministerial society 
 man, whom silly women flood with twaddle and smiles 
 which ought to disgust a man of God, living in sight of 
 eternity, is a reproach to humanity and to the ministry. 
 
 I believe the greatest weakness in the ministry today is 
 the lack of a proper purpose. It is the source of countless 
 evils and the chief source of the deplorable weakness which 
 makes many preachers mere weather vanes and whining 
 sychophants. It is the cause of the contempt into which 
 the sacred office has fallen in some places. The masses are 
 quick to know the spirit of a preacher. 
 
 If a preacher have the right purpose in a scriptural 
 measure, he will gather into his high calling all his powers 
 and make them count for the work of the ministry. The 
 ruin wrought by the purposeless ministry is manifold and 
 appalling. Let us glance at a wide field of desolation 
 wrought by this most inexcusable, blameworthy trifler with 
 eternal things. He has been entrusted by the Master with 
 the first place of responsibility and leadership in his church. 
 Being devoid of a proper purpose, his preaching is without 
 purpose. He preaches to preach. In the pulpit, he is with- 
 out unction or power. He has no real grip on God or the 
 living oracles. This being true, he has no power over men. 
 From the living ministry he falls by degrees to the level of 
 a very sorry actor. Affectation takes the place of the holy 
 passion of the cross. Nor is this all, or even the worst, 
 the purposeless preacher becomes an unconscious or a 
 knowing hypocrite. He says more and pretends to be more 
 than is true. The downward movement keeps on, usually 
 with accelerated speed. The congregation catches the 
 preacher's spirit. He lets all the twist out. AH the ser- 
 vices are tame, flat and unprofitable. Then something must 
 
 118 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 be done to fill an aching void. We enter now upon the 
 stage of the artistic. There must be decorations, stately 
 form, hired singers, and all the abominations of death 
 standing where a living preacher would make them impos- 
 sible. The purposeless preacher has laid the glories of the 
 Master's 'service in the dust and the strength of Israel has 
 departed. 
 
 Nor have things yet reached the lowest level. The 
 purposeless preacher becomes a spiritual coward. He 
 fawns, flatters and cajoles, where he should speak with 
 thunder tones, wake a sleeping church and call it to heroic 
 service. Being a spiritual coward, he becomes spiritually 
 blind also. Then all wisdom has departed from him. He 
 loses his grip and begins to catch onto every passing fad, 
 running with the multitude to keep in with them. He be- 
 comes an ardent secret order man, or he joins in with all 
 the outings, hangs around on the street and whiles away 
 the time with small talk, or he gads about from house to 
 house making pop calls, without sense, grace or purpose, 
 except to keep up with the on-moving crowd. He has time 
 to fish a week, or to hunt, or to go on long trips for pleas- 
 ure, or to do anything except the immeasurably important 
 soul-moving work of the true minister of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The life of a purposeless preacher is like a stream, which 
 at first may run strong in the channel made by itself, but 
 gradually slows up, broadens out and loses itself in a waste 
 of barren sands. Such a ministry lets off the tension every- 
 where and lets on the slack. Under it congregations thin 
 out, earnestness fails, zeal cools, the faithful are discour- 
 aged, collections diminish, the worldly flourish, distinctions 
 between right and wrong fade out, the right ways of the 
 Lord are evil spoken of, sinners are hardened in carnal se- 
 curity, the ministry is despised, the Godly grieved, the devil 
 pleased, souls damned, and the Laodicean preacher becomes 
 a castaway. 
 
 119 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 O brother preacher, how shall we live or die in peace, 
 if we do not do our best in the great work God has trusted 
 to us? How shall we face the lost at the judgment, if we are 
 unfaithful to our sacred trusteeship? Our great need today 
 is a revived ministry, nerved by divine grace to the highest 
 purpose that can direct a human life, the purpose to finish 
 the work which God has given us to do. A revival of a 
 proper purpose in the ministry means a scriptural revival 
 in the churches, reaching out into every department of the 
 work. It means countless victories on the broad battlefield 
 where Christ wages his Holy War. With a purposeless 
 ministry we are undone. 
 
 r==Tl 
 
 120 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 THE PAINS OF PROGRESS. THE UNREST OF 
 FAITH. 
 
 HE SCRIPTURES abound in paradoxes, and there 
 
 is a strong paradox as to faith. It gives both rest 
 
 to the soul and disturbs the whole being. It is the 
 
 headlight of progress, and stirs the world to efforts, 
 
 making progress possible. 
 
 The New Testament is both a book of rest and unrest. 
 The soul finds its rest in Jesus Christ, but the very moment 
 Christ is apprehended, there is set up a conflict between 
 the new life and the old life. Paul described this graphi- 
 cally in Romans. This conflict we are bound to think ends 
 only with the present life. Moreover, faith is a great dis- 
 cerner and has a keen eye all the time for better things. 
 While it is fully satisfied with Christ and with our standing 
 in Christ, by the same token it is dissatisfied with our pres- 
 ent advancement in the divine life. He who sees the perfect 
 life will be ever more dissatisfied with the imperfect self, 
 so that faith both quiets and disquiets, because it stirs the 
 soul to constantly seek better things. 
 
 Every true interpretation of the scriptures will have its 
 experimental demonstration. We have not really under- 
 stood any scripture until we have tested it. I take it, there- 
 fore, that every real Christian is a witness to the paradox- 
 ical power of faith; first, to give rest in Jesus Christ; and 
 second, to stir us to unrest in our present imperfect attain- 
 ments and surroundings. 
 
 What I have just said is only another way of saying 
 that the Christian life is a struggle, a battle for real prog- 
 ress, fight between the powers of darkness and the powers 
 of light. Illustrations of this are at hand on every side. 
 Take the young preacher, who has gotten hold of the fringe 
 of some subject and preached it with vehemence to a people 
 who went no deeper than he himself. There is every like- 
 
 121 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambreu,, D. D. 
 
 lihood that somebody will persuade him that he has done 
 quite well. As his vision is enlarged and his spiritual un- 
 derstanding increased, he comes to see how little of the real 
 meaning of the text he had gotten hold of. He is pro- 
 foundly dissatisfied with his old sermon, and makes a new 
 one up to date with his better knowledge. By and by still 
 further study leads him to see that he is yet in the shallows 
 of his text, and he is dissatisfied again. All knowledge sat- 
 isfies and dissatisfies. 
 
 By the same method do Christians grow in the divine 
 life. They go from strength to strength, their outlook ever 
 increasing, their aspirations growing higher and better, and, 
 as the old man perishes, the new man is renewed day by 
 day. The most advanced Christian is the one most dissatisfied 
 with his own weaknesses. There is a fatal paralysis man- 
 ifest in that kind of holiness, of which we hear much these 
 days, which is perfectly complacent even in the midst of 
 sin and in the enjoyment of sin. It is not a faith holiness. 
 It is a blind holiness, and that means it is no holiness at all, 
 for he who esteems himself perfect in the flesh, is perfect 
 only in his folly. 
 
 The New Testament is a hard book to live up to. In 
 the first place, every separate person must think, pray, re- 
 pent, believe, live for himself. Nobody can put his life off 
 on somebody else. No one can take responsibilities for 
 another. Every one of us must give an account for our- 
 selves to God. A great many people are bothered because 
 they are requested to settle religious questions for them- 
 selves. What a convenience it would be if we could have 
 somebody to make arrangements for us by thousands, get 
 tickets for us and ship us to the heavenly world, as great 
 companies of immigrants can be shipped from one point to 
 another, each one giving up the whole matter to the leader. 
 No such easy-going arrangement as that can obtain in the 
 Kingdom of God. Every soul stands for itself, and every 
 
 122 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 soul must meet its responsibilities, must do or fail to do, 
 and finally stand before the Judge of all the earth. No man 
 can have the preacher to tell him how much he ought to 
 give. The preacher may tell him God's law about it, but 
 he must give out of his own heart. All this is very trou- 
 blesome. It has kept many a soul awake all night and made 
 people pray by the day and week, but all of it is in the line 
 of growth, and without it there is no growth. 
 
 Now this means that each person must face his doubts 
 and have it out ; face his sins and down them, or be downed 
 by them ; face the devil and conquer, or be conquered. It is 
 anything in the world but easy. He who conquers will wear 
 the crown. The redeemed at the last are described as those 
 who come up through great tribulations. Paul when an old 
 man said, "I have fought a good fight," and exhortations 
 abound for striving and fighting and wrestling. It is 
 most misleading to tell anybody that to live the right kind 
 of life, and grow in religion, does not mean the hardest 
 kind of fighting; but it is safe to say that whoever makes 
 the fight will grow by it, enlarge with it, and win eternal 
 glory — not life, for that is a gift, but win the victor's crown. 
 
 Let us transfer this principle of rest and unrest to a 
 broader plane. Every church as a body must face its re- 
 sponsibilities. It must deal with the living questions that 
 concern it as a church. It must grapple with difficulties 
 within and without. If it ever gets up it must climb up. 
 A church life is a battle for purity within and progress 
 without, and it is worse than nonsense for people to join 
 a church with the idea that they are entering into a state of 
 heavenly rest, undisturbed by the imperfections and sinful- 
 ness of our great mortal state. There be many who think 
 that a church is necessarily a little piece of paradise fenced 
 off. It is no such thing. It is a company of soldiers fight- 
 ing for higher ground on the great battlefield of this world. 
 Blessed is the church member who is willing to enter into 
 
 123 
 
bv Dr. J. B. Gambreu,, D. D. 
 
 the holy way, and blessed is the church that faces its ene- 
 mies and God's enemies in the conquering spirit of the 
 gospel. The church which struggles toward higher ground 
 will pass through many tribulations, but it will have exqui- 
 site joy. No pastor ought to mislead his church on this 
 point. To do so is to do the church a positive injury, and 
 the cause no good at all, but harm. How earnestly did 
 Paul deal with churches as to the enemies disturbing them. 
 It will be good for all of us if we read the Acts of the 
 Apostles over and the Apostles' Letters. We can get some 
 fine suggestions, especially the pastors, in dealing with the 
 men and things that disturb a church. A milk-sop pastor 
 is nothing short of a downright nuisance. 
 
 Let us broaden our application to the denomination at 
 large. We are not to expect to see people doing until they 
 are taught, and let us not mistake this: With increasing 
 light old ideals must be given up and new ones will take 
 their place. A growth is a transition from a lower to a 
 higher state. We are today in Texas undergoing the pains 
 of progress — the profound unrest of faith. Little or none 
 of the present troubles would be on us if we disbanded our 
 work and ceased all our efforts for higher things. But 
 vastly greater troubles would come. For many years ahead, 
 if we anything like do what we ought toward enlightenment, 
 we will suffer many pains in the denomination. The pastors 
 who do not grow, whose ideals are of the smaller and 
 lower sort, will be displaced by men of sturdy growth, 
 higher aspirations and nobler effort. But it will not be 
 without trouble. 
 
 I have but a single remark further. Painful as is this 
 unrest in growth, this ever-continuing warfare against the 
 lower and for the higher, however much any one suffers 
 in the struggle, or however much a church suffers, or a 
 great people, every pain, every heart-pang, every tear and 
 every sigh, will have its abundant compensation in the at- 
 
 124 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 tainments of things for which we strive. Shall we never be 
 satisfied ? Yes. A great saint of old said : "I shall be sat- 
 isfied when I awake in thy likeness." Not before? God 
 forbid. The prayer, the sigh, must be for higher ground. 
 
 
 THE LAST STRUGGLE. 
 
 TjHE BIBLICAL RECORDER says the discontent 
 I in Arkansas can not live with intelligence, and 
 that this sort is perhaps the last struggle of it. The 
 Recorder is right as far as it goes. The denomina- 
 tion at large needs to understand the situation in the South- 
 west. This whole section is infected, and has been for a 
 long time, by small notions, mere exaggerations of the 
 truth, and a spirit promotive of discord and strife. 
 
 There is a great uncooked situation. People are here 
 from everywhere, and all have brought their notions with 
 them. I say notions, not convictions. There is a great 
 difference, though many people don't know the difference. 
 This new, rapidly growing country is a paradise for dema- 
 gogues and the breeders of strife. There is material for all 
 sorts of factions. 
 
 The present array of opposition to old-line Baptist prin- 
 ciples and practices is composite. It is an Adullum's cave 
 of malcontents. They have no principles to bind them to- 
 gether. It is strictly an aggregation of objectors. In this 
 it is singularly like the Hardshell-Campbellite movement of 
 seventy years ago. The aggregation then in array against 
 the real Baptists were not agreed among themselves at all, 
 except in opposing the forward movement of the denom- 
 ination 
 
 125 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 The methods employed then were the same as those 
 employed now. Every effort was made to create prejudice. 
 There was then, as now, a ceaseless stream of foul accusa- 
 tion poured forth, with little or no regard for the truth. 
 There was then as now no end of cunning in perverting 
 every possible word and circumstance to the prejudice of the 
 work and workers. Then, as now, every evil passion was 
 inflamed by misrepresentation. Appeals were then made to 
 covetousness, envy, class feeling, malice, evil surmising. 
 The same is done now. Then, as now, the very things done 
 by the opposition were charged on the friends of the work. 
 Then, as now, many good but uninformed people were dis- 
 affected and carried away from the truth. For confirmation 
 of this see the rise of Antimissionism in America, by B. H. 
 Carroll, Jr., and editorials of Bebee in one large volume, 
 now very rare. Out of that book every feature of the pres- 
 ent controversy can be duplicated in substance, spirit, and, 
 to a marvelous degree, in words and expression. 
 
 I have said the leaders have no principles to guide 
 them. One would think, if he were to take them by their 
 words, that they are making a specialty of principles. They 
 are using this pretense just as the Hardshells and Camp- 
 bellites did. 
 
 In Arkansas the split came distinctly and by the open 
 declaration of the leaders, on the Secretary issue. They 
 would have no secretary. In Texas, the seceders have two 
 secretaries. But they encourage each other, and the leader 
 of the opposition in a State further east is for both. He is 
 like the man who could teach the round or the flat theory 
 of the world. The only thing is to hurt the live work. It is 
 easy to show that here in Texas, the opposition have occu- 
 pied both sides of every issue they have raised. They have 
 no principles, but confound prejudices with principles. Men 
 without the qualifications to lead among the regular forces 
 go out and form a following among the forces of the mal- 
 
 126 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 contents. Every Hardshell, every sore-head, is with them, 
 and many good people, misinformed and misled by false 
 issues. 
 
 The situation is full of peril and of opportunity. There 
 is great need of wisdom in dealing with it. If no mistakes 
 are made, we may at least write as did Paul, "The things 
 which have happened to us have fallen out rather to the 
 furtherance of the gospel." 
 
 They will fail, all of them. Their predecessors in the 
 same line failed. These will fail because their ways are 
 destructive. They will destroy themselves. They can not 
 succeed. Even if everything were turned over to them, 
 they would fail. Negation always fails. 
 
 But what is our part in the struggle for denomina- 
 tional progress? The program is simple. First, relieved 
 of the enormous incubus of this heterogeneous mass of op- 
 ponents, our duty is to give to the denomination a center of 
 unification around sound principles and practices, without 
 even the shadow of a compromise. Much of our present 
 trouble is the leavings of other trouble brought down through 
 compromise. Now is the time to drive down the flagstaff 
 at the right place. We have the opportunity to rally the de- 
 nomination on higher ground. 
 
 In the second place, and with all our strength, we 
 should press the work. We must overcome evil with good. 
 Now we have the opportunity to pitch our campaigns of 
 enlightenment, enlistment and enlargement on sound prin- 
 ciples, and to work from a unified center. These campaigns 
 must go on till the masses are educated and the present dis- 
 temper outgrown. A New Testament order of things has 
 eliminated alien elements. They went from us because they 
 were not of us. In going, they carried many who, at heart, 
 are with us. Gospel work of the right kind will assimilate 
 all sound elements back, leaving the denomination united, 
 sound and progressive. 
 
 127 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 While this is going on, care must be taken that the 
 leaders of malcontent do not have an easy time deceiving 
 the people. While we build the walls, we must carry the 
 sword, and see that neither Sanballat nor any of his tribe 
 pull the walls down. We must go to the people with the 
 truth of Christ, in the Spirit of Christ. When we have done 
 our duty in these respects, the long-drawn-out troubles in 
 the Southwest will be ended, and those who come after us 
 will have peace. There is no easy way to end it. Nor is 
 there any quick way. The only remedies worth while are 
 blood remedies. Education, with evangelism, is the only 
 remedy. It will be administered. 
 
 
 
 QUESTIONS IN BAPTIST RIGHTS. 
 
 N A RECENT ordination, after the examination 
 was finished as to experience and doctrine, a final 
 question was asked : "Suppose that after you are a 
 pastor, say five years from now, you change your 
 views on doctrine and find yourself out of harmony with 
 the views you have here expressed, would you consider it 
 your duty or your privilege to continue in a Baptist pulpit 
 and preach your new views?" This raises a fine question 
 of right and rights. So far as we know, Baptists stand for 
 perfect liberty of conscience and liberty of speech. We 
 would not deny to any one, even an infidel, the right to 
 preach his doctrines. We would be willing to fight that 
 Catholics, Presbyterians, infidels and all sorts, might have 
 freedom of thought and freedom of speech. But when a 
 church is built to propagate the doctrines held by any peo- 
 ple, it is no denial of the rights of free speech not to allow 
 that church to be used to propagate other and contradictory 
 doctrines. 
 
 128 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 There have appeared men in these later days who feel 
 persecuted if they are not allowed to enter pulpits estab- 
 lished to uphold a given set of principles, and there over- 
 throw the very doctrines the church is set to defend. There 
 is neither common sense, common honesty nor common de- 
 cency in such a contention. Men who do not preach the 
 accepted doctrines of the Baptists, have no right in Baptist 
 pulpits, and it is no abridgment of their rights nor any 
 persecution to keep them out. We are under no sort of ob- 
 ligations to furnish heretics with means to subvert the truth. 
 
 The same kind of reasoning applies to our denomination- 
 al schools. Now and then a man in one of our schools 
 finds, or thinks he finds, that the doctrines of the denomina- 
 tion are wrong, outworn, or something of the sort. No 
 one should seek in the least to abridge his thinking, nor 
 his defense of his thinking. The world is open to him. 
 But when he claims the right to use an institution, its mon- 
 ey, prestige and opportunities to overthrow the faith which 
 the institution was founded to build up, he passes the 
 bounds of liberty and enters the realm of arrogant license. 
 Common honesty and decency would dictate that such a 
 man resign his place and exercise his liberty without in- 
 fringing on the rights of others. 
 
 In like manner our papers are under no obligation to lend 
 themselves to the support of men who have quit the faith. 
 The editor of this paper has no right to the use of a Catho- 
 lic paper to overthrow Catholicism. 
 
 Coming closer into denominational lines, we have had in 
 another state an illustration of a totally wrong conception 
 of liberty. It is to an extent a question throughout the 
 whole South. Those who call themselves "gospel mission- 
 ers" (a very misleading name), have supposed that they 
 have the right to use the machinery and instruments formed 
 to promote co-operative work, to further totally different, 
 and, as run, destructive plans, which they approve. For 
 
 129 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambreu«, D. D. 
 
 one we admit without the slightest question the right of a 
 church to act independently, to send its money as it pleases, 
 for what it pleases, without the slightest interference by 
 any other church, any association, convention or what not. 
 And we bear cheerful testimony to the worth and zeal of 
 beloved brethren and sisters of that way of thinking. As 
 long as they contend for the privilege of sending their 
 money as they please, we will stand by them. The wisdom 
 of their course is another thing; but their rights in the 
 premises are not to be brought into question. The question 
 is simply this: Have brethren who do not believe in the 
 co-operative system of missions the right to membership in 
 co-operative bodies and in general to use the meetings, the 
 papers, the boards and all the machinery of co-operation to 
 hinder and destroy co-operation? Certainly not. To ask 
 the question is to answer it. If brethren want to give their 
 money independently, they can do it, and, for one, we shall 
 never bring in question that right; but when they ask us 
 to turn over all we have to them, to undo our work, we 
 shall insist that we have a right to control what we have 
 created and for the purpose for which it was created, and 
 that too without molestation from them. It is their right 
 to have all the meetings they want and to have them with- 
 out molestation from any source. This right is not to be 
 denied; but that is the limit of it. 
 
 For Dr. Crawford and his excellent wife, whom we know 
 in the flesh, we have nothing but Christian love. We be- 
 lieve they are not on the best line. We believe they will 
 find what has before been found, that their plan is unwork- 
 able to any considerable extent. It is a pity to divide and 
 distract our people over such issues as they raise. But 
 they must be accorded every right and at the same time be 
 kept within their rights, that others may likewise enjoy 
 some rights. 
 
 t3Q 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 CONCERNING BEING NEARLY RIGHT. 
 
 HHIS article is in the nature of a companion piece 
 to the one last week. It is intended to enforce 
 the great importance of dealing with absolute thor- 
 oughness and honesty with religious matters. It is 
 one thing for an honest seeker after truth to be misled. It 
 is a vastly different thing for one to seek truth with less 
 than a thorough purpose to find it and accept it. Between 
 being exactly right and wrong to the last extreme there is a 
 vast stretch of territory, and one may play up and down in 
 that territory approximating the right more or less and 
 never being really anything but wrong. When we fix the 
 mind on one decisive point of aiming to be exactly right, 
 whoever falls short of it, is altogether wrong and always 
 fails. 
 
 I knew a woman once who had been converted several 
 years. She was persuaded that she ought to be baptized, 
 or rather she was fully convinced she ought to be, from 
 reading the scriptures, but she accepted the easy going cheat, 
 that it did not make any difference whether any one was 
 baptized, just so he is converted. This woman had a brother 
 who was going to ruin at a rapid rate. She tried to pray 
 for him. She asked the prayers of many for him, but ac- 
 cording to her own word, she really could not pray. Her 
 faith never went out to God, and she had no peace. As she 
 was trying to pray one morning, her sin of omission came 
 up before her, and she resolved there and then, not to be 
 nearly right but exactly right. Then she had access to God 
 in prayer, and very shortly her brother was converted. Bap- 
 tism will not save one from the condemnation of the law, 
 but it will save one from self-condemnation and from doubts 
 and failures. At last this woman ceased trying to be nearly 
 right and struck out for the high ground of exactly right. 
 If everyone in this country would determine to be exactly 
 
 131 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 right on baptism, we would have great times speedily, and 
 baptism is just one thing. There are others about which we 
 should be equally concerned to be exactly right. 
 
 The scriptures furnish us plenty of examples of people 
 who were nearly right, and got left out. There was Moses, 
 the meekest of men. His was a singularly correct life, but 
 he missed it just at one point, when he was to bring water 
 from the rock for the famishing Israelites. Without con- 
 sidering fully, he disobeyed in one particular and the dif- 
 ference between speaking to the rock and striking cost him 
 a place in the promised land. There was a solemn lesson 
 in this. No man may palliate his conscience or make a plea 
 before God because he has been mainly right before God and 
 therefore he may afford to be wrong a little. God has but 
 one rule, and that is to be exactly right. 
 
 There was a man who came to our Lord inquiring the 
 way of life. He was a model young man in many respects, 
 moral outwardly, upright, reverential. He stood right on 
 the border line of the kingdom. He was right everywhere 
 but at one single point. He loved money more than he 
 loved God, and being nearly right in his life, and not ex- 
 actly right, he was all wrong, for he turned away sorrow- 
 fully. There is no recorc that he ever did get exactly right, 
 and so he is all wrong today. 
 
 And then there was Saul, the King of Israel, a mighty 
 man in his day, and greatly honored of God. He had a 
 great victory, by the blessing of God. The command was, 
 to make a complete finish of the enemies of the Lord, with 
 all their belongings. Saul committed the mistake that multi- 
 tudes are committing today. He undertook to do some per- 
 sonal thinking, where God had already done the thinking. 
 To his thinking, a happy notion struck him; he could save 
 the best of the cattle and there could be a great sacrifice 
 and God mightily honored. Saul had gone on all right, 
 
 132 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 until he got right up to the point, and the difference between 
 annihilating the whole business, and saving a little of it, 
 cost Saul his kingdom. Obedience is better than sacrifice, 
 and God intended that Saul and all who followed after, 
 should lay that to heart. 
 
 Then there was Achen. He did not take anything like 
 all the heathen had in their city. He just took one golden 
 wedge and a Babylonian garment. He might have taken 
 more, but as it was, he was stoned to death. 
 
 There was a Roman judge who heard the Apostle Paul 
 make a tremendous appeal to him, and the judge was 
 mightily moved. He said : "Almost thou persuadest me to 
 be a Christian." He came up to the very door of the 
 kingdom, stopped, and failed to take the last step. Doubt- 
 less he went back to ruin. That is what unnumbered thous- 
 ands are doing today. Almost, but not altogether. It is a 
 common thing in a city to see people missing a street car by 
 a little. They almost reach the place in time but are en- 
 tirely left. 
 
 Taking these examples, and any number of others, which 
 might be presented, the question arises in the minds of many 
 whether one who is so near right should be punished be- 
 ing altogether wrong. Let us look at the underlying prin- 
 ciple. Downright honesty in religious matters is essential 
 to any acceptable service. If one be wrong in his heart, 
 every act of his life is vitiated. Because this is so, it is 
 written: "The plowing of the wicked is sin." Plowing 
 itself is a good thing. It would be a great help to the coun- 
 try, if more people were engaged in it but the plowing of 
 the wicked, those whose hearts are not right with God, is 
 sin. A wrong motive will vitiate a proper act. It follows 
 therefore, that to be nearly right is to be entirely wrong. 
 This is enforced by Christ's exposition of the moral law. 
 He taught that whoever was guilty on one point is guilty 
 of all of it, the lesson being that he violates the spirit of the 
 
 133 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 law, which goes through the entire decalogue — the great 
 spirit of love and obedience, without which no worship can 
 be acceptable to God. 
 
 There are plenty of opportunities of application. I 
 doubt not that many who read this article, upon a moment's 
 reflection will realize that there is something the matter 
 with them. Many are spiritually weak. Many are in the 
 dark. The exact point from which any of these may have 
 deflected from the straight road, may not be described, 
 but it all began from a relaxation of purpose ; the giving up 
 of a fixed purpose to be exactly right, and an acquiescence 
 in something nearly right. Once the soul has given up its 
 high purpose, it drifts, and thousands who meant at the 
 start to be nearly right, find themselves now to be far off 
 from the straight and narrow path. It is easier to anchor 
 one's self by a fixed purpose to be exactly right, than it is 
 to keep somewhere in the neighborhood of the right; for 
 once the anchor is raised, no one can tell where he will 
 drift. I renew my plea for recruits to the exactly- right 
 wing of the army. 
 
 134 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 CONCERNING DOING EXACTLY RIGHT. 
 
 BHE weakness of the pulpit today lies largely at a 
 single point. We do need ministerial education, 
 we do need better ministerial support, and we do 
 need in many places a more adaptable ministry, 
 but our supreme need is not at any of these points. The 
 sore weakness of many a pulpit lies in the fact, that the 
 preacher does not try to be exactly right, but only conven- 
 iently right — as right as the common run of preachers, 
 or as right as the sentiment of the church will approve. 
 The much abused word "conservative" is wrongly applied 
 to many a preacher. He temporizes with evil and splits dif- 
 ferences in theology to keep along with the thick of the 
 crowd, and all this goes under the dignified word, "con- 
 servatism." Many of this class of preachers, instead of mak- 
 ing a specialty of being exactly right, are engaged perpetual- 
 ly in trying to keep anything from happening. If they can 
 keep everything quiet, they are thoroughly satisfied. How 
 smiling are many of the letters read in the associations! 
 After reporting a long list of blanks, they wind up smiling- 
 ly: "We are in peace with one another," and that is re- 
 garded the acme of church life. In any numbers of cases, 
 the letter might read : "We are at peace one with another, 
 also with the world, the flesh and the devil. Ours is a very 
 conservative church, and our pastor is one of the most 'con- 
 servative' preachers in the country." This is the plain Eng- 
 lish of the situation. In many places, neither the pastor nor 
 the church nor the individuals are trying to be exactly right. 
 To be sure, they would not be willing to be understood as 
 palpably wrong, but the "conservative" position lies some- 
 where between right and wrong. 
 
 Now, I say that this is the abomination of desolation, 
 standing where it ought not. There are preachers who shy 
 from every question involving a palpable right and wrong, 
 
 135 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 and they think they are wise, and fool a lot of people into 
 the same notion. I have known some of this class, who could 
 never be induced to come out straight on the prohibition 
 question. They are opposed to saloons and drunkenness, 
 and in favor of temperance, but when the time comes to 
 put the saloon down and out, they fall back on "conserva- 
 tism," and that means, so far as they are concerned, conserv- 
 ing the saloon. 
 
 What multitudes of preachers trim and flinch and worm 
 around the truth, as to giving. Everybody ought to give. 
 They hope the brethren will feel like it. It is a good thing 
 to give. They are missionary, and go to pieces if somebody 
 intimates that they are not. It is all right to support the 
 orphans and widows, but they do not believe in pressing 
 the brethren on the money question. When they shoot off 
 at all on money, they aim their little guns, not on the scrip- 
 tural level, but to the level of public opinion. They would 
 not camp with the hardshells, nor will they go up and take 
 the high ground of the scripture, but they buy land some- 
 where between the highlands of New Testament teaching 
 and the low grounds of downright hardshellism, and live 
 it out there. 
 
 And this same tribe does not aim to be exactly right in 
 their preaching on the doctrines of the New Testament. 
 They have great respect for the "feelings" of the people, 
 and the bottom truth about many is, that their main endeavor 
 is not to be exactly right, but to get on the soft side of the 
 people. These preachers lower doctrinal standards. They 
 would not like to press election too far, or salvation by 
 grace alone, or baptism in its place or communion either. 
 They are Baptists in easy places, but they do not make a 
 specialty of being exactly right anywhere. Somewhat right 
 is good enough for them. They are of the pale, pea-green 
 variety, unfit alike for sunshine or rainy weather. 
 
 136 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 What I want to say now is, that these people are not half 
 as smart as they think they are. They get left. The people 
 who make a specialty of doing exactly right, are the peo- 
 ple who always lead and always come out ahead. God is not 
 with the man who aims to be half right, three-fourths right, 
 or ninety per cent, right. He is with the man who aims 
 to be entirely right. The exactly right people have always 
 been the people to do things, and, in the wind-up, they have 
 the respect of the world, although the world may hate 
 them. John the Baptist made a specialty of being exactly 
 right. He could not get along with Herod, nor Herod's 
 woman, and he could not get along with the Pharisees, the 
 religious dudes of that day ; but he got along with God and 
 fulfilled his mission gloriously. God gave him a quick pas- 
 sage to his eternal home, and Jesus Christ passed on him the 
 supreme compliment, that no greater man had ever been 
 born of woman. John was a do-exactly-right man, if it 
 made an earthquake, and he landed the cause he stood for 
 at the right place. 
 
 Daniel was a do-exactly-right man up to the high-water 
 mark. Moses was a do-exactly-right man, and he got across 
 the Red Sea, bag and baggage. The Hebrew children were 
 do-exactly-right men, and they came out of the fiery fur- 
 nace in good shape. The do-exactly-right prescription is 
 good against water, lions and fire. Gideon was a do-ex- 
 actly-right man, and he cleared the aliens out of his coun- 
 try. Luther was a do-exactly-right man on the doctrine 
 of justification by faith, and he turned the current of his- 
 tory. God does not do anything with milk-sops and trim- 
 mers. 
 
 In a meeting held by one of our evangelists, the leading 
 woman of the place, a member of the Baptist church, who 
 had been hanging on to the world and to the church, con- 
 cluded, under a powerful appeal, to join the do-exactly- 
 right wing of the army. She went home, burned up all the 
 
 137 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 cards in her house, made splinters out of certain gaming 
 devices, brought out her cut-glass wine set and beat the 
 whole thing into bits with a hammer, and then explained to 
 her husband, that from that day on she would give her ser- 
 vice to God. She arose in the church and said: "I have 
 lived a double life," asked forgiveness, told what she had 
 done, and in less than a week her husband was converted. 
 One woman known to myself changed the whole attitude of 
 a church on the financial question by doing exactly right 
 and doing it openly. 
 
 What the world needs today is a large re-enforcement 
 to the do-exactly-right wing of the army. Half right is 
 not right at all; three-fourths right does not count; ninety 
 per cent, is bad; ninety-nine per cent, is not good. Any- 
 thing shorter than an honest purpose, fixed in the heart, to 
 do right on all questions as they arise, will not give strength 
 to a Christian life, and about the sorriest specimen of hu- 
 manity under the sun is the preacher who is trying to make 
 up in tones and attitudes and platitudes for the lack of down- 
 right sincerity of heart, which will commit him irrevocably 
 to the right side of every question, as God gives him to 
 see the right. 
 
 A few do-exactly-right people in each church will work 
 the mightiest revolution known since Luther withstood 
 princes and prelates at Worms. Do-exactly-right preachers 
 will take counsel of God. They will deliver God's message 
 with no rant or tremor. They will preach in view of the 
 great white throne. Like the do-exactly-right Apostle Paul, 
 when he first appeared before Caesar, they will never stand 
 alone, but will always behold the Lord with them. Under 
 their preaching, Mrs. Grundy will take a back seat, and 
 "they say" will yield to, "thus saith the Lord." These do- 
 exactly-right preachers are the only ones worth their weight 
 in sawdust. And when the pulpits are filled by do-exactly- 
 right preachers, the pews will be filled with do-exactly-right 
 
 >3« 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 church members. There will be a stiff atmosphere in the 
 churches and the Lord's hosts will be as terrible as armies 
 with banners. 
 
 Can't we drum up large re-enforcements to the do-cx- 
 actly-right wing of God's army? Who will join? 
 
 THE GREATEST QUESTION. 
 
 A 
 
 MONO Baptists the Great Commission is common- 
 ly accepted as the immovable rock upon which all 
 missionary enterprises are built. Every word of 
 it stands on the supreme authority of him who 
 introduces the document by declaring that all power in 
 heaven and earth is given to him. We may, therefore, confi- 
 dently assume, that so long as we pursue the policy marked 
 out by the Commission itself, there will be behind us and 
 with us the "All-power" of the Lord himself. 
 
 The Commission divides itself naturally into sections. 
 We have first, "Go, teach all nations." Going precedes 
 teaching, and teaching follows going. Baptists have stood 
 against the world, not only for the substance, but for the 
 divine order of this great commission. After teaching, or 
 disciplining, people are to be baptized. Baptism has not 
 only its function, but its place as well, and the Lord places 
 it in the Commission, where he wants it to stay. 
 
 Following baptism comes another course of teaching, 
 which, like the commandment of God, is very broad. We 
 are to teach "All things commanded." Every part of this 
 document connects itself back to "go," and it is a missionary 
 document from beginning to end. 
 
 A large number of Baptists have steadfastly held to go- 
 ing and to baptizing, but a less number have held firmly to 
 the course of teaching which is to follow baptism. Dr. J. M. 
 Robertson, in a recent discourse in our presence, demon- 
 
 139 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 strated, with great force, that this second course of teach- 
 ing is just as essentially and truly missionary work as the 
 first ; that it belongs to the same great missionary command ; 
 that it connects itself inseparably with the go; and that the 
 apostles themselves so understood it and so practiced. With 
 marvelous clearness he showed in the discourse referred to, 
 that while Paul made one tour planting churches, he, himself 
 made two missionary tours, strengthening the churches by 
 teaching them the "All things commanded." He not only 
 made these tours himself, but he sent others on a like mis- 
 sion to the churches; two at a time generally, and some- 
 times more than two. 
 
 Even a casual survey of the field throughout the South- 
 ern states will convince any one that we have cut the Com- 
 mission in twain, and limited its scope to the mere matter 
 of planting churches; while we have left the great and en- 
 during question of Church Culture almost untouched. In 
 this case, as in all other cases where we go contrary to the 
 divine teaching, we have suffered greatly. Our churches 
 throughout all the South are not much more than preaching 
 stations. The church itself is not developed. The purposes 
 of the churches are little understood by the masses, and the 
 obligations of the churches but slightly felt. Taking the 
 country over, by careful estimates made by competent per- 
 sons, not over 25 per cent, of the churches throughout the 
 South contribute at all to missions. Many old associations 
 do absolutely nothing. The contributions of the contributing 
 churches represent a very small per cent, of the membership 
 of those churches, and the contributions are, as a rule, a 
 mere fraction of what the contributors really ought to give. 
 The result of this lack of church culture, which has come 
 down to us from the fathers through a failure to carry out 
 the commission in its fullness, is exceedingly humiliating. 
 Nowhere in the world do Baptists give as poorly as in the 
 Southern states. Almost a million and a half of us, on a 
 
 140 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 great effort, give about $125,000 a year to foreign missions ; 
 whereas it would be easy to find one hundred and twenty- 
 five churches that ought to give more, or even to find one 
 hundred and twenty-five men who ought to give more. 
 
 When we consider this situation in all of its bearing, it 
 ought to stir us to the very depths. We have only touched 
 the fringe of the question when we discuss the meager giv- 
 ing of some churches and the no-giving of most of the 
 churches. In case of failure to do right, the reflex influence 
 of the failure on those who fail is greater than the failure 
 itself. Sin is a gun that always kicks back harder than it 
 shoots forward. 
 
 What are some of the results, present and prospective, 
 of this condition of things ? In the first place, we have very 
 low church life. Low in every respect. So low, indeed, 
 that in many cases it is hardly possible to discover the slight- 
 est pulsations of life. Churches that stand entirely out of 
 the order of the commission are churches without divine 
 favor. The membership are weak, poorly prepared to resist 
 temptations; easily carried about with prejudices, and, in 
 general, hard to get along with. 
 
 Another result is, the pastors are uniformly not sup- 
 ported. In general, they are compelled to support them- 
 selves in some secular employment. They farm about 
 enough to spoil their preaching, and preach about enough 
 to spoil their farming. And so men who might de- 
 velop into great power as gospel ministers are all their life- 
 time mere weaklings. They are not only weak, but many of 
 them become subservient and work in harmony with the un- 
 developed, inactive and prejudiced of their congregations. 
 This is the systematic, or rather, unsystematic way, which 
 starves them first, and then the churches as a result of their 
 starvation. 
 
 Another serious result is, that these churches, undevel- 
 oped, inactive and disobedient to the divine command, are a 
 
 141 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 dangerous force in the denomination. The idle are dangerous 
 to themselves and others also, and those who are doing 
 nothing good are almost sure to be doing something they 
 ought not to do. They are a constant peril to the order 
 and progress of the denomination on all lines. They become 
 a great obstructing force. They can be used by men who 
 have a use for them. They are subject to spasms of ex- 
 citement, and by reason of their weakness in Bible knowl- 
 edge and spiritual life, are a great burden and care upon 
 the more active in their own churches, associations and con- 
 ventions. No great forward movement can be projected that 
 does not have to overgo the opposition of the inert, unin- 
 terested, untaught and prejudiced part of the denomintion. 
 We stand in jeopardy every hour throughout all the South- 
 ern states from this great mass of inactive, do-nothing 
 Baptists. 
 
 We do not take the view of many pessimistic writers 
 that they are unconverted. The mass of them we believe 
 to be converted, and they are less to blame for the present 
 state of things than those who have been placed by divine 
 Providence in the forefront. Our denominational policies 
 have been narrow, insufficient, and far sh xt of the scope 
 of the divine commission of our Lord. The trouble that 
 looms up dark and forbidding, before the mind of the 
 thoughtful Baptists is that these churches are a nesting- 
 place for the unnumbered hosts of do-nothing Baptists in 
 the time to come. It puts a nightmare on our spirits to 
 think of generations of Baptists throughout this, the great- 
 est Baptist country on the face of the earth, and only a 
 small per cent, of them doing anything, and that small per 
 cent, doing only a small per cent, of what they ought to do. 
 
 This is the situation and not a dream. No wise man 
 among us will shut his eyes to it. It is to be considered as it 
 is, and dealt with in a practical way. Practical men, not 
 dreamers, are needed to change the front of things, and 
 
 142 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 bring the whole denomination in Texas, and elsewhere, near- 
 er up to the New Testament standard. It is said by men 
 who oppose practical methods for changing this state of 
 things, that these churches have pastors who ought to train 
 them and lead them in all practical missionary work. That 
 much is granted. But the churches planted by the Apostle 
 Paul had pastors. He had given orders that elders be or- 
 dained in all the churches, and it was done; but, notwith- 
 standing that, he provided for the visitation of the churches 
 to bring them to the proper standard of usefulness. We 
 shall hardly see the time when we can improve on the divine 
 method of doing things ; and there is at the bottom of this 
 opposition to apostolic methods in developing churches, an 
 unworthy spiritual conceit, which runs into a monstrous 
 spiritual deceit. Let us face the situation. One hundred years 
 have gone since the cause was planted in some parts of the 
 South, a half a hundred since it was planted in some parts 
 of Texas, and yet, the oldest churches having had pastors 
 all these years, many of them are among those who do noth- 
 ing at all. The truth of it must be told. This is no par- 
 ticular fault of the pastors, but is a result of their environ- 
 ments. They have not been taught. It is no humiliation 
 to any man of God to say to him that there are things that 
 he ought to know that he does not know. There is only 
 one kind of preacher in this world, that we thoroughly dis- 
 believe in, and that is the man who thinks he knows enough. 
 Now, if this situation has continued for all these 
 years, and is growing rather worse than better, when will 
 it mend itself? Is it not time that the denomination broaden 
 its plans to compass the whole design of the great com- 
 mission? Just as certainly as we live this work of righting 
 the inactive, or poorly developed churches is the work before 
 Texas Baptists today. It is the cure-all remedy. Right 
 these churches and teach them all things commanded, and 
 a strong church life will be the best possible safeguard 
 
 H3 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 against wordly temptations, the best safeguard against here- 
 sies ; a guarantee of pastoral support ; a guarantee of co- 
 operation in our mission work, and a guarantee against the 
 disturbances that so often hinder the progress of Zion. 
 
 Even from the financial standpoint it is the greatest 
 problem to be worked out. In Mississippi, some twenty 
 years ago, many of the associations having completed, as 
 they thought, their associational work, had dropped entirely 
 out of all co-operation in the spreading of the gospel beyond 
 the preaching in their own meeting houses. One of the 
 largest associations in the state, numbering about 2,500 peo- 
 ple, living in an excellent country, gave habitually less than 
 $100 a year, which was distributed in a loose way among 
 some broken-down preachers in their own association. The 
 state board employed some of the ablest men in the state 
 to teach the ''All things commanded'' in these churches. 
 Among them was that heroic spirit which went from New 
 Orleans the other day to glory — Dr. D. I. Purser. We have 
 in mind at this writing the work he did in the above mention- 
 ed association. A few months was spent with the churches, 
 the association came into hearty co-operation, and for the 
 years succeeding has given perhaps $1,000 a year for the 
 spread of the gospel. This is but one of the many instances 
 known to the writer. In nothing was the financial, wisdom 
 of the board in that state so demonstrated as in its effort 
 to bring to the support of all missions the inactive associa- 
 tions and churches, and that ought to be the leading business 
 of our board in Texas until there is a new face put on things 
 in this great state. 
 
 That objections will be raised is absolutely certain, and 
 it is certain that these objections will come, mainly, from 
 those who have studied the matter less, and need the work 
 the most; but no amount of objection should turn a great 
 convention away from an honest effort to carry out the com- 
 mission of our Lord in its fullness. 
 
 144 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 WHICH WAY, THIS OR THAT? 
 
 r s^ | NE of the chief of the debaters advises that "Dr. 
 IVjJJ Gambrell" get up some debates as a means of unit- 
 jj^PJ ing the brethren. He has had a little debate with 
 a Campbellite debater, and he says all the Baptists 
 lined up together. Likely those present did. But unhap- 
 pily for the suggestion,, the brethren who do things to 
 much account were not there, p.nd will not be at the next 
 one. The Campbellite with whom this debater came the 
 best part of a thousand miles to debate told us that the 
 trouble with him had been that he could not get a debate 
 with a representative Baptist. This will be his trouble next 
 time we see him. 
 
 I do not insist that debates never do good, or that it is 
 never wise for a Baptist to take part in them. I have a 
 feeling to the contrary of this, though i have never seen 
 the time when a greater victory could not be won by not 
 having a debate. Hence, though challenged repeatedly in the 
 past, I never saw my way as a minister to do what the flesh 
 and the world would delight in, take the "cuticle" off an ob- 
 streperous belligerent. I knew it could be done, and had a 
 feeling that there would be some satisfaction in it ; but 
 there was no market for Campbellite and Pedobaptist 
 "hides." And, besides, I preferred to take another course 
 and get the "hides" and the people in them all in the Bap- 
 tist churches in a comfortable state of mind, soul and body. 
 Thus I have missed some fine chances for debates. Still it 
 may be that now and then a debate would do good. 
 
 This article is directed against the professional debater, 
 his spirit and methods. I have a long, painful, unsatisfactory 
 acquaintance with the subject in hand, having seen the cause 
 suffer many things at the hands of this unhappy class. Are 
 they or their ways helpful toward denominational unity and 
 co-operation ? They are not. I could write down the names 
 
 145 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 of the leaders of the tribe and show that severally and 
 collectively they are the most factional, turbulent sowers 
 of discord within Baptist ranks. This is notorious. They 
 have the contentious spirit and must fight on till death, 
 and fight they will. Turned into pugilists by their debates, 
 they lose interest in other things, and must turn everything 
 into a fight. Well did Dr. J. B. Moody turn away from a 
 course, which was rapidly disqualifying him for higher, 
 holier and better things. To secure unity with such a spirit 
 and such methods, the denomination would have to be like 
 them, and that would be to turn our whole working force 
 into a perpetual prize ring exhibition. Look at the very 
 heroes of the debating arena, and they are in one eternal 
 round of fights, with outsiders and insiders. The less unity 
 on that line the better. 
 
 But I have well matured convictions on the subject, going 
 to particulars. It may help us to a fair understanding of 
 the matter to state some of them. 
 
 1. Speaking now of the professional debaters, I risk 
 nothing in saying, that of all men among us, they are poor- 
 est representatives of New Testament Christianity. They 
 are extreme in statement, lopsided in doctrine, and off tone 
 in spirit. They are the unsafest guides in religion, being 
 extreme at this point, entirely blank there, and in spirit 
 trash, and of the world, the flesh and sometimes worse. 
 Read their papers ; read the accounts given by their admir- 
 ers of their performances, and see the coarseness, the vain- 
 glorious spirit, the utter absence of that spirit which breathes 
 through every page of the New Testament. It is the spirit 
 of the bully and the prize ring, not the spirit of the Naza- 
 rene. Can this sort of thing win for Jesus ? No. It is a re- 
 proach to the cause and a curse to the Baptist people. 
 
 2. These debaters and debates infect the denomination 
 and the public with their vainglorious spirit. They make 
 contentions and strifes in communities to the detriment of 
 
 146 
 
Tex Years in Texas 
 
 the spiritual life of God's saints. They never dispose the 
 people to prayer or praise or to any of the sweet charities, 
 which are the strength and chief ornaments of religion. 
 They are, as they go, fruitful of many small questions which 
 do minister strife rather than godly edifying. They have 
 turned multitudes, even whole churches, away from the 
 main things and set them off into vainglorious wrong, while 
 the last are neglected. 
 
 3. These debates harden sinners, as well as saints, the 
 way they are commonly carried on — a battle of gladiators 
 without tenderness or love ; without grace or unction. The 
 communities where they are held become spiritually dead 
 and barren, like spots where log heaps or brick kilns are 
 burnt. The results in many cases are such as to appall any 
 soul devoted to the chief thing for which Christ lived and 
 died and rose from the grave and intercedes on high, the 
 saving of the lost world. They are schools for the deceitful 
 handling of God's Word. 
 
 4. They are not favorable to the propagation of the 
 Baptist faith ; for they commence in an atmosphere of oppo- 
 sition, and men's minds are set against the truth. The 
 conditions are bad to begin with, and nearly certain to get 
 worse. Both sides nearly always report a victory. The 
 world, the flesh and the devil have a fine chance at an ordi- 
 nary debate where the "fur flies" for the fun of it, and where 
 sinners lost are made partisans touching things beyond 
 them. This is not the place for truth to have the best 
 chance. Without one shadow of a doubt, I believe the 
 professional debater a burlesque on New Testament Christi- 
 anity, and an awful curse to the cause of Christ, if a 
 time came when some Goliath must be met, let the churches 
 select some spiritual pastor, well rounded in his theology 
 and Christly living, and let this man, in lowliness of spirit, 
 care for the cause, and then take care that he be not infected 
 with the spirit to go about and seek whom he may get up a 
 
 14/ 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrexl, D. D. 
 
 debate with. And let him be careful not to be beguiled into 
 starting a paper to exploit his views, so as to catch things 
 coming and going. 
 
 What is the best way to unify our people? I answer: 
 Lift up a standard for the great thing nearest the heart of 
 Christ, even the rescue of the perishing. Not hold debates, 
 but hold revival meetings, blood warm ; God has given every 
 redeemed soul a love for this. A revival will heal more bick- 
 erings, more strifes, more heartaches and heart breaks than 
 anything ever set agoing among men. To see the lost com- 
 ing home to God, will lift a man or a church higher than 
 anything else this side of heaven. A great revival will burn 
 out the dross, purify churches, and clarify the atmosphere. 
 It opens more hearts than anything, and disposes more peo- 
 ple to receive the truth and walk in it. It makes the finest 
 possible conditions for preaching Bible doctrine, and re- 
 sults in baptizing more Campbellites and others than all 
 the debates ever held. Moreover, it associates strong doc- 
 trine with Christly spirit, and puts no stamp of reproach 
 upon the Baptist name, as the average debate does. 
 
 "Dr. Gambrell" is distinctly in better business than hold- 
 ing little, pesky debates. To preach to a little congregation 
 in a school house, as I have been permitted to do lately, 
 and to hear the shouts of souls born to God is immeasurably 
 more glorious than all the pitched battles of all the debaters 
 walking the earth today. 
 
 I may be extreme, but I can't even imagine Paul quitting 
 his great missionary work to hold a five days' debate with 
 Diotrephes at $100 a debate. I must close with this remark 
 additional: We owe something to God's people who are 
 not Baptists, and it is bad to give them a stone for bread. 
 
 148 
 
s 
 
 Ten Years in Texas 
 
 THE LAW OF THE HARVEST. 
 
 OWING and reaping is the world's work. We go 
 a ceaseless round in this common employment. It 
 is seed time now, and then harvest. The farmer, 
 having regard to due seasons, plants, and in the full- 
 ness of time gathers into his barns. The merchant buys 
 and sells and gets again. The capitalist invests and col- 
 lects. The politician canvasses and goes to the legislature, 
 so all the world toils in ceaseless circles, all sowing and 
 reaping, some in sorrow, some in joy. 
 
 The laws governing the harvests are the same in tem- 
 poral, intellectual and spiritual things. We are all under 
 these laws and must do our life work under their inexorable 
 sway. They are fixed by the hand that made the world, and 
 the fulness of it. They reach to every square inch of man's 
 kingdom, and they take life out of the realm of chance and 
 give to it a fixed rule of action. 
 
 The first feature of the law of the harvest I mention, 
 is that all are sowers, whether they wish to be or not. No 
 man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. In 
 this life a man cannot be a Mr. Nobody. He is somebody 
 by virtue of living, and his life is a continuous seed-sowing. 
 So intensely true is this that every human life affects the 
 moral level of the world even as every drop of water affects 
 the sea level. This imparts to every human being an unspeak- 
 able value, and ought to deeply impress us with the impor- 
 tance of looking closely after the very lowly. A neglected 
 girl, left parentless by an epidemic in New York State, be- 
 came, in time, the mother of a generation of six hundred 
 criminals. Society sowed neglect, and reaped a harvest in 
 kind. This neglected girl lost the State $3,000,000, to gather 
 the tares and prevent further ruin. Society, as well as in- 
 dividuals, sows and reaps under the law of the harvest. 
 We sow saloons and reap murder, gambling, poverty, 
 
 149 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrkll, D. D. 
 
 squalor, social disorder, wrecked homes; temporal, intel- 
 lectual and spiritual ruin. The politicians concern them- 
 selves in such matters with trying to curtail the harvest. 
 
 The Unlettered Negro who Digs His Living out of the Ground is Wise 
 Enough to Plant What He Wants to Gather. 
 
 50 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 Statesmen, knowing the law of the harvest, concern them- 
 selves with the sowing. 
 
 The law of the harvest, furthermore, is that the sowing 
 and the reaping is the same in kind. Even the dullest far- 
 mer knows this. The unlettered Negro, who digs his liv- 
 ing out of the ground, is wise enough to plant what he 
 wants to gather. He does not plant at random, just any- 
 thing his hand finds. For corn he plants corn, for potatoes, 
 he plants potatoes, etc. This is the law : "Whatsoever a 
 man soweth, that shall he also reap." In the natural world 
 we have natural demonstrations of this truth in such an 
 endless series that no one questions the absolute certainty 
 of the law. But this same law holds all through life, in the 
 intellectual as well as in the spiritual. There is no differ- 
 ence. The eyes of the world are holden that they cannot 
 see this. They sow evil and expect to gather good. They 
 sow darkness and expect to reap light. They sow hatred 
 and expect love. They sow folly and expect to reap wis- 
 dom. They sow strife and expect peace. Everywhere ev- 
 erything produces after its kind. Under the law of the har- 
 vest, seed multiply, some thirty, some forty, some a hun- 
 dred-fold. This law of increase is limited by conditions. 
 The yield is larger in rich soil prepared for the seed. Sea- 
 sons also affect the harvest. But the law of increase holds. 
 There is a story of two Scotchmen who, upon leaving the 
 mother country each resolved to bring with him something 
 which should perpetually remind him of home. One brought 
 the seed of thistle and the other a colony of bees. The 
 thistle rapidly spread over a large section of America to the 
 grief of every farmer. The bees have spread, also, and fur- 
 nish honey for millions. True or false, the stery illustrates 
 the law of increase. One evil word produces others, and 
 they others still, until a whole community is convulsed with 
 strife. We are planting saloons in our new possessions. 
 They will multiply and curse the races we have set our 
 
 151 
 
by Dr. J. B. GambreIvL, D. D. 
 
 hands to bless and elevate, and this government can no more 
 escape the harvest than can an individual escape the harvest 
 of his sowing. We are sowing blood-guiltiness, and the 
 harvest will be the blood of our own people. 
 
 Applying the law of the harvest, Paul said to the 
 church at Corinth: "They that sow sparingly shall also 
 reap sparingly." This, in temporal things, comes home to 
 the common sense of every one. He is an uncommon fool 
 who economizes in seed corn, when a single grain planted 
 is likely to produce hundreds of grains a little later. But in 
 spiritual things such folly characterizes whole churches and 
 even whole denominations. Herein is the weakness of many. 
 They sow sparingly and expect to reap abundantly. They 
 skimp in all the work and ways of the church, and then 
 lament the leanness of the church. The individual with- 
 holdeth more than is meet and expects to increase. "There 
 is that scattereth and yet increaseth, and there is that with- 
 holdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty," says 
 God. 
 
 From these general remarks on the law of the harvest, 
 let us draw some lessons profitable to individuals and 
 churches. It is easy to see the folly of the notion that young 
 men must "sow wild oats." If they do, they will reap wild' 
 oats, and the likelihood is the crop will constantly reproduce 
 by grain left on the ground. Wild oats is another name for 
 tares, and tares are dreadfully hard to eradicate from the 
 soil, once they take root. There is every reason known 
 under heaven why young men should not sow wild oats. 
 Paul, in parceling out advice to different classes, admon- 
 ished young men to be sober-minded, the Greek being wise 
 or reasonable. If a man is to sow wild oats he ought to 
 wait till he is old, so as to shorten the reproductive period. 
 The real foundation of future success is laid by men in early 
 life. The seed sown reproduces in the character of the 
 person, and he becomes like the things he does. Besides, 
 
 152 
 
Tex Years in Texas 
 
 early good deeds reproduce in others to our life-long advan- 
 tage. The sheaves are brought back and fill our barns in 
 old age. To sow economy and industry in early life is to 
 gather a harvest of plenty in old age. To sow kindness early 
 is to gather staunch friends amid the gathering shadows 
 of age. Kindness reproduces from father to son, from 
 friend to friend. How often do old men meet the young 
 and hear them say, "I have heard you spoken of by my 
 father or my mother, perhaps it is my grandfather or grand- 
 mother who loved you for the good you did them." 
 
 The sower must commit the seed from his hand to 
 wind and weather, not forgetting that God rules both wind 
 and weather. No one can tell which grain will prosper. 
 We must sow beside all waters, at morning, noon and even- 
 ing. The Lord of the harvest keeps watch o'er all the seed 
 and will reward the sower. 
 
 It comes to pass often, that one sows and another reaps. 
 The Sunday School teacher sows the seed and years after 
 in another place perhaps, a pastor or evangelist reaps, and 
 both rejoice together. The mother plants the seed in her 
 child's heart and dies. When the great harvest home 
 comes at the end of the world, she will reap what in tears 
 she sowed, but did not live to see spring up and bear fruit. 
 None of us can labor in vain in sowing the seed of the 
 Kingdom. 
 
 In spiritual sowing we are just where we are in tem- 
 poral sowing. In both cases, the increase is of God. No 
 man can make corn grow. The light and the moisture are 
 of the Lord. In the natural world seed time and harvest, 
 under the good providence of God, do not fail. It is so in 
 spiritual things. Churches and people who go forth sowing 
 with tears, do reap, though there is much about it mysteri- 
 ous. The idle churches fail. The sowing churches reap. 
 There is amid all the uncertainties of it, a divine certainty. 
 Faith sees it, and withholds not its hand. 
 
 *53 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gamcrell, D. D. 
 EVANGELIZING THE FAR WEST. 
 
 S"""!OME years ago, Pastor Bunting, then of Pecos, 
 backed up by that church, and aided by religious 
 jjjj§ people of different denominations, who desired 
 the religious welfare of the scattered people of 
 that section, began the Madera camp-meeting. Like most 
 great things, it began small, but has grown, year by year. 
 The place is 500 miles w r est from Dallas, 45 miles south of 
 the Texas and Pacific Railroad, up in the Davis Mountains. 
 If anyone supposes that there are no mountains to speak of 
 in Texas, he is mistaken. The whole country in the west 
 is high. The boasted mountains of New England, put down 
 out there, on a sea level, would make deep holes in the 
 ground. On this elevated plateau, there are real moun- 
 tains. Up in a deep canyon in these mountains is the spot 
 where the great cowboys' campmeeting is held. To get 
 there you must go on purpose. It is not on the way to any- 
 where. The mountain pass opens into a wider place, a 
 valley of a few acres. A mountain stream comes down to 
 supply water for cowman use, and an excellent place for 
 baptizing. 
 
 John the Baptist was fond of the wilderness, and he 
 stuck close to Jordan, and other places where there was 
 "much water." Madera would have suited him exactly. 
 Encircling this open space are the lofty cliffs rising hun- 
 dreds of feet perpendicular. It is one of the most pictur- 
 esque spots the eye ever beheld. 
 
 Last year there were about 300 campers; this year be- 
 tween 400 and 500. They were there from Houston, San 
 Antonio, El Paso, Dallas, and other remote points. Some 
 came 400 miles out of the country, taking trains at their 
 stations, coming part of the way, and then traveling 180 
 miles in their private conveyances. The diameter of the 
 campmeeting circle was full 400 miles. 
 
 154 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 People came for one great purpose — to seek their soul's 
 good ; not every one, but that was the predominant thought. 
 The cowboys were there in great force, manly, respectful, 
 and reverent. The great ranch men and women were there 
 with their full force. Peoples of many denominations were 
 there, broad-minded and tolerant, all co-operating up to the 
 point of agreement, and no further, yet without bitterness, 
 when they could go no further. 
 
 These ranch people are great. The average person from 
 the East must revise his judgment of the ranch people. They 
 are uncommonly intelligent, thoroughly orderly and self- 
 respecting. They have cut out the rowdy and the scrub. 
 There is no more place for them among these high-minded 
 people. There were large numbers of young people present, 
 and during the entire time, we noted not so much as an in- 
 discretion. 
 
 The hospitality of the people is boundless. The finest 
 beef one ever ate is provided, and all the campers are in- 
 vited to help themselves. People turn in and eat anywhere. 
 The social feature is not left out by any means; but it is 
 not foremost. 
 
 The one large feature of the meeting was its intense re- 
 ligious purpose. That seems fixed. One ranch woman, 
 standing as practically alone for Christ on her great ranch 
 of more than 400 square miles, brought her entire establish- 
 ment, except one negro woman, to keep the place, hoping 
 that salvation might come to her house. And it did. Every 
 one was saved, and she went before several of them into the 
 baptismal waters. One man, 73 year old, who had spent 
 much of his life on the waters, but who lived in the moun- 
 tains alone, walked 20 odd miles, with his heart set to seek 
 the Lord. He was baptized at the very last. People from 
 remote parts were careful to bring the unconverted, hoping 
 they might find grace and salvation. Some entire camps 
 went away rejoicing in the Lord. 
 
 155 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 How many were saved? God only knows. Almost ev- 
 ery service some came over the line. One of the first con- 
 verts was a man of great strength, whose wife said at the 
 very start : "I am here to see my husband converted ;" and 
 speedily it was done. Then she wanted everybody saved. 
 What a noble dissatisfaction does this soul-winning create 
 right in the midst of the highest joys heaven gives to mor- 
 tals here below! 
 
 There were mountain top meetings, hours "when heaven 
 came down our souls to greet, and glory crowned the mer- 
 cy seat." Some of these were quiet and heavenly, when the 
 dews of grace fell gently on our hearts. Then there were 
 great conquest meetings, resembling the irresistible on- 
 slaught of a conquering army when the vanquished throw 
 down their arms and come under the flag for protection. 
 At one such meeting 23 surrendered; at another, 28, and, 
 perhaps, more. They came singly, and in groups, under 
 the powerful pleadings and solemn warnings of Pastor Tru- 
 ett, who was the principal preacher of the meeting. The 
 preaching was strong and thorough. The converts were 
 admonished to take their stand and to obey Christ the Lord, 
 and not man at all. Things went on very much after the 
 New Testament fashion. Twenty-one were baptized in the 
 beautiful stream hard by. There were 4 baptizings, one 
 at midnight. Some cowboys were to leave next morning, 
 and, having found the Savior, desired to follow Him that 
 very night. There were 4 of them. There was water and 
 no one could forbid them. Not a few will join Baptist 
 churches at home, and numbers will join other denomina- 
 tions, according to their several views. There were not 
 less than 75 professions, and many backsliders were reclaim- 
 ed, and won to a higher life. 
 
 Some evenings the girls formed companies and marched 
 up and down the camp singing sacred songs. Then men and 
 
 156 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 women broke into groups and went to the mountain sides 
 to pray and labor with the unsaved. 
 
 One of the best features of the meeting was the deep- 
 ening and maturing of the religious life of God's people. 
 There was a drawing in all round. The sublime possibilities 
 of Christian faith were brought out strong. The power 
 of the gospel to save, and save the worst, and to save at 
 once, and to save eternally, gripped many hearts. There 
 were at least a dozen preachers present, and I believe not 
 one failed of a great blessing helpful toward a new order 
 of preaching. 
 
 I cannot help believing that one of the best features of 
 the meeting was its utter openness and candor; its relief 
 from all unnecessary restraint. People spoke out freely, 
 even boys and girls. Men came seeking salvation and said 
 so right out. Everything was easy. 
 
 Eminent ministers were present belonging to other de- 
 nominations, and rendered efficient service. Among these 
 were Pastor Moore, of the First Methodist Church, San 
 Antonio; Dr. Little, superintendent of missions in Texas 
 for the Northern Presbyterians, and Pastor Bloyse, of Fort 
 Davis Presbyterian Church, whose praise is on the tongues 
 of all good people in that entire section. 
 
 These notes must be brought to a close, though multi- 
 tudes of things crowd on me, all worthy of mention. Camp 
 was broken at noon Monday, and the people moved out of 
 the canyon on to the wide prairies, separating here and 
 there, making for their distant homes, many with new hopes 
 and all in love. One of the wonderfully beautiful things 
 about these glorious western people is their love for each 
 other. It is beautiful beyond words. The long caravan 
 looks like an army train; 75 or 100 stopped the first night 
 at the Cowan ranch, after a drive of 25 miles, made in about 
 4 hours. The horses in the west don't know much about 
 walking. A beef is killed for all to help themselves. The 
 
 157 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 "church wagons" are opened and the cooks, Negroes and 
 Mexicans, go to their work. After a while one cook cries 
 out : "Here it is. You had better come and get it, or I will 
 throw it out." Men and women, boys and girls, all come 
 up and take a tin plate, a tin cup, knife, fork and spoon, 
 and go and get what they want. They sit down on the 
 grass, tailor-fashion, chat and eat. There is some hearty 
 and wholesome romping out on the open. The shadows 
 of the evening fall on the wide plain. The campers gather 
 in a group, sitting on the grass, and one after another 
 quotes a passage from the holy Book of God. A girl leads 
 in a song. Then there is a prayer, "God be with us till 
 we meet again" floats out on the air, then another prayer, 
 and every one prepares to sleep the sleep of peace. The 
 beds are spread out on the open plain in groups by families 
 and we lie down. Looking up to the clear sky studded with 
 stars, the 19th Psalm comes to me with a strangely happy 
 meaning, "The heavens declare the glory of God and the 
 firmament showeth His handiwork." 
 
 It is morning, and the cooks are rekindling their fires. 
 With breakfast over, we break camp piece meal, and go our 
 several ways, to meet next year, if God will, all expecting, 
 praying and willing to work for much greater things when 
 we meet again. It is worth a trip across the continent to 
 be in such a meeting. 
 
 «£ *# 
 
 158 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 CHURCH SOVEREIGNTY AND DENOMINA- 
 TIONAL COMITY. 
 
 BHESE two questions lie close together. It is quite 
 easy for us to press either one beyond its proper 
 limits, and thus interefere with the other. There is 
 nothing about Baptists which are more thorough- 
 ly agreed than church sovereignty ; that is, the right of 
 each separate church to govern itself and to regulate all 
 of its affairs after its own mind without any interference 
 from the outside. Once upon a time, in the heat of a 
 popular discussion, we struck off this statement, which pre- 
 sents the case about like it is: "A church is a complete 
 institution in itself; it is finished off and tucked in at both 
 ends, and has no contrivance for attaching itself to any- 
 thing else." That is the truth in a figure. 
 
 While the church sovereignty is universally accepted 
 among Baptists, it is also widely understood that a church 
 has not sovereignty in the sense that it can do anything it 
 pleases, but rather, that it is under limitations of the law, 
 and that Christ is the head of the church. It is not a legis- 
 lative body, but an executive body ; therefore, there are 
 limitations upon church sovereignty. 
 
 First: No church can exercise in any such way as to 
 go beyond its own sphere. Outside of that sphere it has no 
 power, and in fact, no existence. The limitations of church 
 sovereignty are the bounds of the church itself. All mat- 
 ters pertaining to more than one church are regulated by 
 denominational comity. 
 
 Second : The simplest kind of truth is that one church 
 cannot press its sovereignty to the point of depriving other 
 churches of equal rights with itself. To illustrate: If one 
 church should exclude a member, or depose a minister, an- 
 other church could on its bare authority immediately restore 
 the brother to membership, or to the ministry; but, it would 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrexl, D. D. 
 
 have no claim in the world on another church to recognize 
 the act. or to co-operate with it ; other churches having an 
 equal right to an independent judgment. 
 
 The Scriptures unmistakably show that sovereign 
 churches did co-operate for the support of the gospel and 
 for the maintenance of sound doctrine. We may, therefore, 
 follow the apostolic churches in these particulars, but all 
 questions concerning co-operation go not on sovereignty, but 
 on comity. A council composed of messengers from 
 churches can never be invested with the slightest degree of 
 church character. It is at this point that a great many 
 otherwise sound Baptists fall into the heresy of Presby- 
 terians and Episcopalians. It is altogether within the power 
 of the sovereign church to send messengers to a council, 
 as the Antioch church did send messengers to Jerusalem. 
 But no church can claim anything of their messengers in 
 council on the score of church sovereignty, because the 
 transaction is carried entirely beyond the limits of inde- 
 pendent churches, out on the open field of inter-church or 
 denominational comity. 
 
 On this broad platform the plans for co-operative effort 
 in denominations are wrought out. Here the messengers 
 from the churches ought to stand on equal footing. Here 
 there should be mutual confidence and respect; openness 
 and fairness, and consideration for the welfare of the one 
 common cause. The church which will not enter this field 
 of comity except with the understanding, that the other 
 churches shall yield to its judgment, ought, as a matter of 
 common fairness and decency, to refrain from sending mes- 
 sengers. A council necessarily implies freedom to hear and 
 discuss and determine. A body of messengers absolutely 
 fixed cannot be a council at all, and so if we fall into the 
 practice that some of the churches have recently adopted 
 of instructing their messengers to our great denominational 
 councils, and putting them beyond all counsel that should 
 
 160 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 at once bring the whole matter of associations and conven- 
 tions to an end. 
 
 There is one thing immeasurably greater than a great 
 convention, however large it may be in numbers, however 
 imposing in the character of the messengers present, and 
 that is the spirit in which a convention ought to be held. If 
 there be not present a common respect, and a willingness to 
 confer in the spirit of brotherliness, then a great conven- 
 tion may be lowered to the level of a group of caucuses, 
 each working to secure a definite end, without reference to 
 the spirit of deliberation. From such a convention, in the 
 language of the prayer book, "The good Lord deliver us." 
 
 "SQUIRE SINKHORN'S" MISTAKE. 
 
 ONCE heard Dr. J. R. Graves, in my house, greatly 
 interest and instruct a number of preachers by re- 
 lating, in the way of illustration, the following story: 
 Somewhere in Kentucky there lived a magistrate by 
 the name of Sinkhorn. Of course he was Esquire Sinkhorn. 
 A lawyer returning from the state capital to the county 
 where Squire Sinkhorn administered justice met a constable, 
 whom he knew, with a citizen in charge. He inquired where 
 the constable was taking the man, and was informed that he 
 was taking him to the penitentiary by order of Squire Sink- 
 horn, and that he was to be committed for two years on 
 charge of horse stealing. The lawyer said to the constable : 
 "You had better take that man back. If you put him in the 
 penitentiary on the order of Squire Sinkhorn you will be in 
 trouble." The result was the man returned with his pris- 
 oner, accompanied by the lawyer, and the case was reopened 
 before Squire Sinkhorn, the lawyer telling him it was be- 
 yond his power to send a man to the penitentiary. Squire 
 
 161 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrkll, D. D. 
 
 Sinkhorn averred that he was acting within the law, and at 
 once produced the code and read that part of it which pro- 
 vided that for stealing property to a certain amount a man 
 should be sent to the penitentiary for any given time within 
 certain limits. This man, Squire Sinkhorn avered, was un- 
 doubtedly guilty of horse stealing, and therefore he had 
 sent him to the penitentiary. But the lawyer said: ''Give 
 me the book." And he turned and read the section of the 
 law providing that every one so charged should be tried 
 before a jury of his peers, detailing at length the manner of 
 trial. Squire Sinkhorn was greatly astonished, and woke 
 up to the fact that he had not read far enough. This Dr. 
 Graves used to illustrate how certain persons have fallen 
 into a great error in discussing the 6th of Hebrews by not 
 reading far enough. 
 
 Squire Sinkhorn's mistake will illustrate the mistake of 
 many others who read only in patches and snatches, and 
 never get a full view of any question which they seek to 
 discuss. Indeed, Squire Sinkhorn stands at the head of a 
 great procession of men in law, in politics, in science, in re- 
 ligion, who come to hasty and vicious conclusions by not 
 reading far enough. 
 
 A little learning has been declared to be a dangerous 
 thing. It is very dangerous in law, as illustrated above. It 
 has been amazingly fruitful of perils in science, where little 
 snatches of truth have been taken, and men have built up 
 theories on a single segment of truth. But in no sphere has 
 Squire Sinkhorn's mistake been so fruitful of evil as in re- 
 ligion. The whole theory of Universalism is based on a 
 few passages of Scripture taken out of their connection and 
 awav from their meaning. The Universalist does not allow 
 the Bible to speak on the whole question, and so almost 
 every false religion is built up on some select passages taken 
 out of their true meaning. The cure for the evils of a par- 
 tial view of the truth is the full view of the truth. 
 
 162 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 At an association in Georgia, where a number of 
 preachers were gathered in a large country home, one 
 brother animadverted severely on the fact that the congre- 
 gation was invited to stand for prayer. He regarded it the 
 abomination of desolation, standing where it should not, 
 and said that he had denounced the custom all over the coun- 
 try as unscriptural. When asked the ground of his denun- 
 ciation, he referred to the fact that Paul and the elders of 
 the church at Ephesus kneeled down to pray. A brother 
 present, taking a Bible as the conversation was going on, 
 selected and afterwards read many passages touching fche 
 question of attitude in prayer, and from them altogether it 
 was seen that sometimes people stood, sometimes kneeled 
 and sometimes lay prone upon the earth, and from a full 
 view of the subject it was evident that the Scriptures put no 
 emphasis on the attitude, but all the emphasis on the condi- 
 tion of the heart. When the reading was through the 
 brother who had condemned standing said that he ought 
 never to preach again as long as he lived. It was sug- 
 gested to him that the remedy for his mistake was not to 
 quit preaching, but to find out all the Bible said on any ques- 
 tion before making up his mind. He had simply made 
 Squire Sinkhorn's mistake. He had not read far enough. 
 This mistake is notably the mistake of the Arminian. 
 He reads only those passages which teach on the human 
 side of religion, and from them he makes up his conclusion, 
 leaving God a very small place in salvation, and some of 
 them no place at all. The Antimonian reads all about pre- 
 destination and hardens it into fatalism. With him there is 
 no place for human action. His entire mind is directed to 
 the God side, and because he will not read the other side 
 he has a perverted and hurtful view\ A notable example of 
 this was the brother who took for his text "The grace of 
 God which bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men." 
 He laid the stress of his sermon on the grace that bringeth 
 
 163 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 salvation, but did not even look to the end of the sentence, 
 for the doctrine of the text is, that "the grace of God which 
 
 " Squire Sinlchorn" 
 
 brings salvation," is a teacher of duty. So, if he had read 
 far enough, he would have seen that the grace of God runs 
 
 164 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 right out into human actions, just as the sap passes through 
 the fibre of the wood and makes leaves and fruit. 
 
 Our so-called "Gospel Mission" brethren are much 
 given to Squire Sinkhorn's mistake. Their whole effort is 
 to prove the separate action of churches. They commence 
 with the action of the church at Jerusalem which sounded 
 out the word through Judea, Samaria and the regions 
 roundabout, and from that argue that a church, single and 
 alone, ought to be a missionary force. They next take the 
 church at Antioch, which was in that day the second great 
 missionary center of the world, from which especially 
 sounded out the word to the Gentiles. They read how, in 
 obedience to the Spirit, Paul and Barnabus were sent out 
 as missionaries from that church, and deduce from that 
 very correctly, that a church is thoroughly competent to 
 send out missionaries. Here they stop. But there is more. 
 For instance, it would appear that Jerusalem and Antioch 
 held a council and thereby laid the foundation for all coun- 
 cils between independent churches. If they would read on 
 further they would see that Paul, whose membership was 
 probably at Antioch, arose to the position of a great mis- 
 sionary leader, and that he brought about co-operation 
 among the churches in the support of missionary enter- 
 prises. If they would read over in 2 Cor. 8 they would see 
 the divine method of rounding up a great collection and of 
 a rrying out a common purpose among the churches. Three 
 things were done: (1.) Paul wrote letters to Corinth about 
 this collection, just as our secretaries today write letters to 
 our churches, soliciting collections and co-operation. (2.) 
 Paul went to what would be regarded now a prodigious 
 extreme. He sent a number of brethren to the church at 
 Corinth to help work up a collection in that church after 
 they had already promised it. This was a system of agen- 
 cies in the churches on a very strong scale. (3.) There 
 
 165 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrkll, D. D. 
 
 were a number of men selected by the churches to take 
 charge of the common fund and to distribute it. The rea- 
 son for this was that nobody might be blamed. Now this 
 is exactly what is going on today, only we do not put in on 
 it as strong as Paul did. 
 
 If the brethren would keep clear of Squire Sinkhorn's 
 mistake and read far enough they would see that while Paul 
 and his traveling&companion preached, and planted churches, 
 and ordained elders, that afterwards they went back over 
 the same ground and taught the churches and helped the 
 churches. They were missionaries to the churches. 
 
 There is a great deal in reading far enough. The short 
 sight is not as good as the long sight. Part of the truth is 
 not as good as all of the truth. And the man who believes 
 his theory, or accepts his doctrine from a partial view of the 
 truth, is constantly in danger of being upset by more truth. 
 
 A good many men need today, as Squire Sinkhorn did, 
 to revise their findings, finally making them to conform to 
 the whole doctrine of God's Word. 
 
 166 
 
Tex Years in Texas 
 
 PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING CO-OPERATION 
 AMONG BAPTISTS. 
 
 (Outline of Lecture delivered at Baylor Summer School. ) 
 
 B— "1APTISTS stand pre-eminently for personal obedi- 
 i ence to a personal Saviour. With us, in the realm 
 JTO of religion, the family is lost. Each individual soul 
 must repent for itself, exercise faith for itself, make 
 a personal confession of Christ and be baptized for itself, 
 and on his own faith and confession. Following baptism is 
 an endless series of duties ; every one of them is to be per- 
 formed as a personal act of service and worship. 
 
 This, of course, implies the principle of voluntary ser- 
 vice. There can be no coercion in religion. Every act from 
 the beginning to the end must be of good will, not by con- 
 straint. In delivering his people from the bondage of sin, 
 our Lord has made them his own free men and endowed 
 each one of them with high and holy prerogatives. 
 
 But this does not imply that each one is to live a sepa- 
 rate life. That is, te stand apart from his brethren in acts 
 of worship and service. It implies, rather, that these indi- 
 vidual free men shall come together in the unities of the 
 gospel and stand together in helpful relations for the carry- 
 ing out of the will of their common Lord and Master in the 
 world. 
 
 It ought to be spelled large that liberty is not license 
 and it is not foolishness and it is not separation. Liberty 
 limited by law is the formula of all spiritual and civil prog- 
 ress. Whoever comes into the liberty wherewith Christ 
 makes us free, at that moment goes under the laws by which 
 that liberty is limited. The laws of the spiritual kingdom 
 tend, all of them, to unity and co-operation. The very Spirit 
 of Christ which reigns in his kingdom is a spirit of harmony. 
 So all through the New Testament the spirit of strife, schism 
 and opposition is discounted. 
 
 167 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambreu,, D. D. 
 
 The individual Christian finds in the church the place 
 where he can most successfully co-operate with his fellow 
 Christians in the work of the Master. Let us pause a mo- 
 ment at the door of a church and contemplate the conditions 
 of admission to its sacred fellowship. Whoever comes into 
 the church must, by. the very act, bind himself to the laws 
 governing the church. He is committed to its hight and 
 holy purposes, to its great mission in the world, of spreading 
 the gospel. He is committed under the laws governing the 
 church to seek the peace of that body ; to live up to the cov- 
 enant founded upon Scripture teaching and to co-operate 
 with his .brethren in that church to fulfill the will of the 
 Master. 
 
 This means that within the realm of law he is to submit 
 his individual judgment to the judgment of the church ex- 
 pressed in a scriptural way. No false idea of independence 
 can be successfully urged to justify the individual mem- 
 ber of the church in his opposition to the church, unless 
 the church depart from the doctrines of Christ. There will 
 be in every church many things which will test the spirit 
 of each member. There will be many things about which 
 there will be diversities of opiwien : The pastor's salary ; 
 who should be the pastor; work to be undertaken by the 
 church, the methods of the work, the workers, and a hun- 
 dred things will arise to test the great Baptist principle of 
 submission of the individual mind to the mind of the church. 
 It is not too strong to say that within the realm of the 
 church and within the limits of the teachings of Scripture, 
 every individual member is bound in all good conscience 
 and reason and Scripture, too, to submit his individual judg- 
 ment to the judgment of the church rightly expressed. 
 
 It follows that no member has a natural or spiritual 
 right to remain in the church unless he will co-operate, for 
 churches were ordained of God for the very purpose of pro- 
 moting co-operative work among individual Christians. 
 
 168 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 Our churches, as a rule, are far from maintaining their 
 tendencies of ovegrown and altogether unscriptural per- 
 sonal independence which sets the will of one man against 
 the law of Christ and the will of his brethren. 
 
 Let us go one step beyond this position. The churches 
 are independent of each other, but, like the individual, not 
 independent of law. We greatly need to emphasize the 
 fact that the independence of the churches is itself limited 
 by the laws which create them and assign them their places 
 and work in the Kingdom of Christ. The stars in the heav- 
 en are entirely independent of each other, in that each one 
 of them is a complete entity and separated from the others, 
 but they belong to one great siderial system, and are all 
 under general laws which regulate their courses in the 
 heavens. So Christ has set his churches in his kingdom, 
 each one a complete body, endowed with all the attributes 
 of self-government and all of them together subject to the 
 laws which govern in the kingdom. Here again the formula 
 of liberty limited by law applies. When we open the 
 Scriptures we are not long finding that under the inspired 
 leadership of the Apostles, separate and independent organ- 
 izations did co-operate for the carrying forward of the 
 work of their one common head. They united in the sup- 
 port of missionaries, and in the support of the poor and 
 gave their consent, judgment and united support to the es- 
 tablishment of sound doctrine against heresy. The churches 
 of today need not hesitate to follow in the wake of the 
 churches of the apostolic time. There is one example in the 
 Acts of a council of churches. The initiative in this council 
 was taken by the church at Antioch, by sending messengers 
 up to the church at Jerusalem. The occasion for calling this 
 council was some disturbances concerning doctrine in the 
 Antioch church. The example is good for the modern prac- 
 tice of councils for the churches. We have these councils 
 now under the names of associations and conventions and in 
 
 169 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 them the basis of an inter-church co-operation is formed. 
 
 With regard to these general bodies there are several 
 things to say : 
 
 First. They exist entirely outside and beyond the 
 sphere of the churches. And in that sphere they have all the 
 authority that there is or can be to regulate and control 
 themselves in matters of membership, etc. The churches 
 occupy a sphere to themselves and these two bodies, entirely 
 dissimilar in nature, can have no authority at all in common. 
 The churches have a divine constitution and order and are 
 executors of the laws of Christ in their realm. The general 
 bodies are absolutely without ecclesiastical power or char- 
 acter and can only exercise powers within their circle and 
 which concern the matters for which they are formed. 
 
 Second. The churches gain no added power by affili- 
 ating with general bodies. It is possible for a church to 
 exist in completeness, endowed with all the functions of a 
 church and live entirely to itself. While this is true for a 
 church, it is equally true that it is impossible that the local 
 churches shall delegate any of their powers to a general 
 body. It is an axiom well established, that delegated powers 
 can not be re-delegated. We must therefore think of the 
 churches as being above the general bodies, and in no way 
 subject to them. In its sphere, the weakest little negro 
 church in Texas is greater than the Southern Baptist Con- 
 vention. 
 
 We stand now at the parting of ways with respect to the 
 relation of local churches to general bodies. The theologi- 
 cal thinking of the world has divided into two lines : First, 
 it is held by many large and influential bodies of Chris- 
 tians that the local churches merge themselves into the 
 general bodies so that, in fact, the general body, by what- 
 ever name, association, convention, presbytery, synod, or 
 what not, is the sum of all the smaller bodies. That is the 
 Episcopal and Presbyterian view. The other line is that 
 
 170 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 these local bodies do not and can not merge themselves into 
 general bodies, but that they affiliate with the general bodies 
 through messengers. This is the Congregational or Baptist 
 view. Under this doctrine, the local churches are bound 
 always to be independent. It is impossible that they can put 
 themselves in any position where a general body can control 
 them. They can not, in fact, strictly speaking as churches, 
 become members of a general body, because if they became 
 members, then on every question of division we would have 
 the majority controlling the minority and the independence 
 of the churches would absolutely and forever disappear. It 
 is worth stopping to remark that in every self-governing 
 body, where questions are debated and finally put to vote, 
 it is impossible in the nature of things, that any part of that 
 body should refuse to be governed by majority. Now, if 
 local churches, as such, do become actual members of gen- 
 eral bodies, then they subject themselves, beyond peradven- 
 ture and beyond remedy, to the control of an outside body. 
 This is repugnant to the principles of Congregationalism, 
 and has been repudiated by every Baptist writer who ever 
 treated this question. 
 
 The churches through these general councils control the 
 co-operative work in which they are engaged. This is done 
 by messengers from the churches who sit in council and 
 reach conclusions by submitting the questions to vote. The 
 only way that churches can ever control any co-operative 
 work is through their messengers who are supposed to rep- 
 resent their feelings and convictions in the general bodies 
 having control of the work. It is clear to the smallest com- 
 prehension, that if any church affiliating with a general 
 body is to have any voice in controlling the work of that 
 body, it must do it by messengers, not through any direct 
 action. 
 
 It must always be assumed that the churches are not in 
 law bound by anything that a general body proposes. In 
 
 171 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 other words, an association or convention can not hand down 
 decisions which will bind the churches, but the influence of 
 these general councils must always be great, and if it is 
 found by any church, that it can not submit to the conclu- 
 sions of a general body, its remedy is to cease to co-operate. 
 
 There is another question which goes beyond the one I 
 have just discussed. What are the limitations of the powers 
 of these general bodies That question is answered by the 
 constitution of each separate body, as we have them or- 
 ganized for missionary and educational purposes. They 
 have complete control of the work in their sphere. To il- 
 lustrate : A convention of messengers from the churches 
 with a constitution providing for a mission board, and ar- 
 ranging for the prosecution of missionary work would have 
 full control of the co-operative work in its realm. The 
 money contributed to a general fund would be dispensed 
 under the rules and regulations governing the body, but it 
 must be borne in mind always, that while a board may em- 
 ploy a man to preach, it can never ordain a brother and 
 can never do any of these acts which are assigned specifically 
 to the churches. 
 
 Baptists have always guarded with scrupulous care the 
 independence of the churches. It is the fortress of our 
 safety and the strength of our work. Sometimes, however, 
 we have not equally guarded an extreme to which we may 
 go in the opposite direction. Some have supposed that the 
 independence of the churches necessarily carries with it 
 the doctrine of the isolation of the churches. Some have 
 supposed again, that a church affiliating with a general 
 body might, because of its independence, govern the action 
 of that body in which other churches are as much con- 
 cerned as itself. No church, as such, may assume to control 
 any work in which other churches are interested. The other 
 churches are also free and independent. 
 
 I close with one simple statement. We must never 
 
 172 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 forget that a church occupies a circle to itself and occupies 
 all of that circle ; that no other body can intrude itself within 
 that circle to the least extent and that no church can go 
 beyond that circle, and we must remember that those bodies 
 which are voluntary are alike beyond the circle in which 
 the churches exist, has a sphere of its own and in that sphere 
 it is just as free and independent as the churches are in their 
 sphere. It is impossible with right-thinking to have the 
 least conflict between those two bodies. 
 
 STACKPOLE UNIFICATION. 
 
 *T* HE function of a stackpole is well understood by 
 *, farmers. The fodder or oats or whatever is to be 
 
 BBa3l stacked has no cohesive power in itself. It is pure- 
 ly passive. 
 
 The stackpole makes a steady center around which the 
 passive bundles may be piled. It gives steadiness and a 
 measure of strength to the helpless mass of material lying 
 around it. If the pole is strong the stack may be a fixture. 
 If the pole rots at the ground or should be removed for any 
 purpose or in any way, there is a calamity to the stack. It 
 begins to fall to pieces and wastes. 
 
 Analogous to this is a kind of unification in many 
 churches. Some pastors have the knack, if not the design, 
 of unifying the people around themselves. Their method 
 is to create a personal following, and by personal influence 
 hold their place and do whatever they accomplish. Their 
 following may be large and enthusiastic; but the pastor is 
 the stackpole. If he remains and does well, and nobody 
 with more personal magnetism appears on the scene, good 
 reports may go up to the association or convention, or get 
 into our wide open papers. But, if he leaves, or some win- 
 some evangelist comes along, or if he should make a bad 
 
 173 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 break, there is at once a falling away, and it is made plain 
 that many people joined the pastor and not the church ; 
 that they have not grown into the body of Christ, as mem- 
 bers one of another; but have simply attached themselves 
 to the man, as a dog attaches himself to his master, to 
 bark and bite at the master's word, or to be fed by him. 
 
 This was the weakness of the Corinthian Christians. 
 They had more than one stackpole. One said, "I am of 
 Paul," and another, "I am of Appollos." The great-heart- 
 ed servant of Christ refused to be a stackpole of these weak, 
 carnal church members. In the intensity of his loyalty to 
 his divine Lord, he exclaimed, "Who, then, is Paul, who 
 Appollos, but ministers by whom ye believe, even as the 
 Lord gave to every man." They were at the most only ser- 
 vants, and whatever success they had was not of themselves, 
 but was given. Study the lesson in I Corinthians, third 
 chapter. 
 
 A more contemptible thing than a pastor's building up 
 a personal following among church members can hardly be 
 conceived. It is the prostitution of a great and sacred office 
 to a very low and little ambition. A man of such mind 
 should quit the pulpit and take to ward politics. 
 
 When one of these stackpoles is removed the church falls 
 to pieces. Any succeeding pastor finds around him a heap 
 of human rubbish, which refuses to coalesce with the vital 
 forces of the church. They literally cumber the ground. 
 The master builder constructs on Christ and around Christ, 
 and leads, not for himself, but for Him whose he is. He 
 roots and grounds the people in the truth, so that, whether 
 he dies or lives, remains or moves, the church, unified in 
 the truth, holds together and goes right on. 
 
 This stackpole unification extends beyond church lines 
 and the pastoral office, out into the wider fields of human 
 activity. We would name more than one noble institution 
 of learning which came near being wrecked by a retiring 
 
 i/4 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 president or gifted teacher. It is a crucial test of a man's 
 devotion to the cause and to a trust committed to him when 
 
 Some Pastors have the Knack of Unifying the People Around Themselves. 
 
 circumstances make it needful that he retire from an hon- 
 orable position. It tests, to the core, the work he has done. 
 
 175 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrkll, D. D. 
 
 If he leaves the friends of the institution united and strong 
 for the work, he shows himself a man of high qualities. 
 
 There are two states in this Union in which the Baptists 
 have suffered ills from which a whole century will not re- 
 lieve them, because prominent men divided the brotherhood 
 on themselves. The men who did it are, no doubt, in heav- 
 en ; but their mistakes live. 
 
 If grief and sorrow and repentance could be in heaven, 
 they would bewail the effect of the partisan spirit infused 
 into the brethren on earth. 
 
 We have been a reader of Baptist papers forty years and 
 now give it as our firm conviction, that personal leadership 
 has given Baptists more trouble, impeded their progress 
 more, weakened our churches more, disgusted more good 
 people with us, and, in general, done us more harm than all 
 the enemies we ever had on the outside. The words person- 
 al leadership are used in contradistinction to a leadership of 
 principles. 
 
 Personal leaders of factions have for forty years been 
 thrusting their private affairs on the denomination, gather- 
 ing partisan followers and distracting the brotherhood with 
 issues which are of no manner of concern to the great body 
 of disciples. Private property interests, which have taken 
 on a semi-denominational importance, have been back of an 
 untold amount of strife and personal war. 
 
 In Texas we want unification, but not stackpole unifica- 
 tion. We can never agree about men ; it is not needful that 
 we should. God has graciously relieved us of the responsi- 
 bility of that burden of holding the great judgment. He will 
 attend to that. That leaves us free to do his work. 
 
 We want unity around the cause and the institutions of 
 Christ. Here all good people can agree. Questions about 
 men have always been distracting. But Christ said, "And 
 I if I be lifted up will draw all men unto me." 
 
 176 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 We do really wish pastors and all who read these lines 
 would consider this matter and resolve that there shall be 
 no personal domination in our churches or in our denomina- 
 tion, that the cause of Christ for its blessed self shall have 
 the right of way, and that men shall not distract Christ's 
 servants with their personal matters. 
 
 A Southern brother once attended a meeting in Massa- 
 chusetts. It was a wide open meeting for a talk, and the 
 brethren and the sisters, too, got off on the war, on Grant 
 and other men. They went to a great length. After awhile the 
 Southern brother was called out to speak. He reluctantly 
 rose to his feet, hardly knowing what to say. Finally he 
 said : "Brethren, while you have been talking my mind has 
 been busy. I do not believe much you have been saying; 
 a great deal of it I know is not true. You and I will never 
 see the war alike and we will never get together on it or the 
 questions growing out of it. On many of them I have per- 
 sonal knowledge and deep feelings, and am sure you are to- 
 tally wrong. But sitting here listening I thought of what 
 I wrote my wife yesterday. I said "these people love Jesus 
 just as we do. They love his Word." I was just now think- 
 ing, too, of Paul's words to his brethren at Phillippi : 'I 
 thank my God upon every remembrance of you for your fel- 
 lowship in the gospel from the first day until now.' We 
 will never agree on Lee and Grant, on Sherman or Stonewall 
 Jackson ; but can't we agree on Christ and have fellowship 
 in him ? He is the great unifier and peacemaker." 
 
 At once the tone of the meeting changed and as the broth- 
 er went on to speak of the great Captain of our salvation, 
 as any one might have done, there were tears and later, 
 warm hand clasps and fraternal greetings. The lesson is 
 plain. Let us lay it to heart and practice it. 
 
 177 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrexl, D. D. 
 THE BATTLE GROUND FOR MISSIONS. 
 
 SYERY church is an ever-continuing battle-ground 
 for missions, or should be. For missions were the 
 churches formed. For missions in their varied 
 forms, do the churches exist. They are not worth 
 the name unless they are doing the things commanded in the 
 great commission. Missions is the true mission of the 
 churches of Jesus Christ. They stand for what Christ stood, 
 for the life, the doctrine, the work, the Spirit of their Head. 
 Each several church is a body of Christ. Its members are 
 His tongue, His hands, His feet, His heart, all conjoined 
 to carry out the will of Him who is the Head over all. 
 
 Missions involves going. Christ sends, we go, go on 
 His errands, to evangelize, to baptize, to teach the all things 
 commanded and to do them. The commission outlines the 
 sphere of the activity of every church, both as to duties and 
 extent of territory. Each church must stand for all the com- 
 mission or fail to respond to the authority of the Divine 
 Head. 
 
 The battle for missions must be fought out to a finish 
 in the churches. The issue must be made on the authority 
 of Christ, and there should be no modifying of His broad 
 ed right or it will be lost in the pitching. It is not a question 
 of preference, nor of feeling; but of obedience. Every 
 church member has joined an army of conquest. He must 
 play the soldier, and soldiering is not easy The enlisted 
 man must, first of all, learn the lesson of subordination and 
 self-sacrifice. He must obey. This means that he must give, 
 for he is so commanded. It is not optional. The pastor is 
 God's leader of the host. He should magnify his office, by 
 making full proof of his ministry. It is his bounden duty to 
 see that the work is done, for the Holy Ghost has made him 
 overseer of the flock. The avaricious must be taught, ad- 
 monished, urged, pressed to give. There is no more reason 
 
 178 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 why a member should be indulged in covetousness than in 
 drunkenness. 
 
 This seductive sin has long had the right-of-way in the 
 churches. In the battle for missions this is Satan's strong- 
 hold, his chief fortification in the King's country. It must be 
 taken. Men and women must be confronted with the author- 
 ity of God's Word and crowded to do their duty. With the 
 Word of God their hearts and pocketbooks are to be opened. 
 
 Their chief obstruction to the development of many 
 churches is a few leaders who are covetous. And in the 
 face of God's Word they are tolerated. Christ will not honor 
 a pastor or church thus dishonoring Him. 
 
 The battle must be fought clear out to the edges. Now- 
 only a few give and fewer give up to the divine rule. The 
 problem of the future is to be solved by enlisting all in ev- 
 ery church in the great Christ-ordained and Christ-led mis- 
 sionary movement. This is the work of the pastors as lead- 
 ers in the churches. Missionary secretaries can not do it. 
 They may help, but the pastors must work it out in their 
 churches. This can be done, not instantly, not easily; but 
 it must be done if Zion ever puts on her beautiful garments 
 and goes forth to conquer as she should. This is our supreme 
 problem today. To its solution every energy of the denomi- 
 nation ought to be divided with increasing prayer and unfail- 
 ing zeal. 
 
 The churches are the heaven-appointed missionary 
 forces. They cannot transfer their work, nor their respon- 
 sibilities to conventions, associations or boards. It is to be 
 deplored that attention should be so much directed away 
 from the churches to extra ecclesiastical bodies. And it is 
 to be still more deplored that any one should consider that 
 in some way churches may blend in general bodies for mis- 
 sionary purposes. We need to come back to a clear con- 
 ception of primary principles, lest we lose out in the main 
 fight in the churches, where alone victory is to be won. No 
 
 179 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrkll, D. D. 
 
 matter what conventions or boards initiate in counsel, it must 
 all be referred back to the churches for their sanction. This 
 is the true "initiative and referendum," which ever presses 
 the whole question of missions back into the churches, and 
 leaves it there, where Christ placed it, and where the battle 
 for progress must be constantly fought against the world, 
 the flesh and the devil. 
 
 Boards do not do mission work. This needs to be kept 
 clear. If one hundred men give a hundred dollars each to 
 build a meeting-house and employ three men to see that it is 
 built, the three men do not build it. The one hundred build 
 it, and the three are only their instruments or agents. "The 
 messengers of the churches," spoken of in second Corin- 
 thians, did not relieve the saints in Jerusalem, except as the 
 servants of the churches contributing the fund. The real 
 doers of the work were the churches. They were the 
 sources, the "brethren" were the channel through which they 
 wrought. They were a "board," but Paul pressed the work 
 in the churches, because it was pre-eminently the work of 
 the churches. This is the model for all time. Into the 
 churches, every one of them, from the greatest to the least, 
 with all of Christ's work. The battle for progress must be 
 fought out in the churches, and the pastors should lead. 
 
 The churches must not only do the work, but they must 
 direct it, each one directing its own gift. Whatever plans 
 are proposed, or agencies, by counsels, the matter is up to 
 and into every church to direct its own funds. It may 
 use a board or not. It may do work alone, if it choses; 
 but no church can lay down its individual responsibility in 
 the matter of doing Christ's work. 
 
 This year should be made memorable by a mighty re- 
 newing of the missionary effort in the churches. Plans 
 should be devised to reach every church and every individ- 
 ual in every church. This will help the churches, honor 
 Christ and bless the world. 
 
 180 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 GREAT MEETING, AND SOME REMARKS. 
 
 HAVE been intending to say something about the 
 Palopinto Campmeeting for The Standard readers. 
 Since the write-up of the Madera meeting, out in 
 Davis mountains, I have had letters from many 
 places, some of them far away, indicating a quickening on 
 the subject of a sound evangelism. I write this for the 
 encouragement of a movement, happily now widespread, 
 and still spreading. 
 
 Palopinto town and county have suffered much for lack 
 of harmony and the tender, faithful preaching of the gospel 
 of the grace of God. A brother, not a Baptist, said for years 
 it had been a battle ground for all sorts of wars over incon- 
 sequential questions. Christians had been greatly hurt, and 
 sinners hardened. Large numbers of the strongest people 
 in the country were unsaved, and many of them abandoned 
 to eternal ruin by those who had ceased to pray for them. 
 There is no temperate language that will adequately char- 
 acterize that method of preaching which bruises the sensi- 
 bilities of God's people, vulgarizes the gospel, and turns 
 the lost away from the gates of heaven. 
 
 But all about these were God's reserves, who waited 
 and prayed for salvation to come to the people. 
 
 Preparations were made to care for all who would 
 come. The meeting was widely advertised by Pastor Clouse 
 and his co-workers. Christians of all denominations co- 
 operated beautifully, and with the full understanding that 
 it was to be a Baptist meeting, yet hoping and expecting, 
 that it would be thoroughly Christian in tone and purpose. 
 The attendance was good, notwithstanding some special 
 drawbacks. Here, again, it was proven that difficulties, 
 drawbacks, etc., do not count where a few get right with 
 God. Ring it out again and again, there are no difficulties 
 
 181 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 with God, and we end our difficulties always when we reach 
 God with them. 
 
 The meeting was a series of direct attacks on the pow- 
 ers of darkness. The preaching was strongly doctrinal in 
 the deep and blessed sense of the Word. The foundation 
 of hope was made bare. The great doctrines of grace were 
 proclaimed with love. It was a doctrinal revival. It was 
 understood and accepted by all, that we were to preach out 
 of our hearts the whole counsel of God. We all went to- 
 gether as far as we could, and there was no friction, but 
 thorough respect and the tenderest Christian love where any 
 differed. The whole meeting ran on a high plane, and the 
 natural thing happened : a great conquering, triumphant 
 revival, with a blessing for every hungry soul. 
 
 There were hours, tragic in their crucifying power, 
 hours there were of great prayer, when men and women 
 went to the depth for those they loved; there were hours 
 as heroic as one ever saw on a battlefield ; there were hours 
 when, faith having conquered, rested serene in a holy confi- 
 dence, as soldiers lie down to rest after a victorious battle; 
 there were hours so triumphant, that men and women were 
 swept, as if by a whirlwind from the mountain tops of glory, 
 Pentecost returned to bless the earth again, and men and 
 women shouted aloud with uncontrollable rapture. 
 
 Pastor Truett delivered his soul one night on sinning 
 away the day of salvation. In all my life, I have never heard 
 an appeal that had in it so much of the very essence of life 
 and death. It was directed to those who had long withstood 
 God. Their ranks broke. White-haired men were moved. The 
 strongest appealed for prayer. Men fell like dead men. It 
 was a terrific hour. As the preacher plead, men and women 
 prayed, some aloud at intervals. When the break came, 
 shouts went up like the shouts of a great army, when a diffi 
 cult position is taken on the battlefield. It was not an hour 
 of surrender, but of conviction to be followed up. Some 
 
 182 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 fought out during the silent hours of the night, and came in 
 happy next morning. Another great hour was when a 
 strong man, much honored by his countrymen, after a silent 
 struggle, came forward and appealed to know if Jesus would 
 save the worst sinner on earth. Being assured of it, he cried 
 out, "O God! the worst man in the world surrenders," and 
 he did. In a few minutes he was testifying, while old 
 friends rejoiced around him. 
 
 The baptizing scene was glorious, and well worth de- 
 scription ; but I must turn to another feature of this article. 
 
 What were the results ? The one broad, general result 
 is the carrying of the whole cause of Christianity up on the 
 upland. If I am not mistaken, the religious life of the 
 country was greatly elevated and strengthened. There were 
 scores of conversions, and about 25 additions to the Palo- 
 pinto Church; others will join other denominations, accord- 
 ing to their faith, and churches around will receive acces- 
 sions. This, however, was not all, maybe, not the greatest 
 good. The religious thinking of the country has been 
 largely changed on many points. This is but a restatement 
 of what was said there. The bitter, acrimonious preacher 
 of small "pints" will have a hard time in that part of the 
 moral vineyard. And the sentimental, sloppy preacher, who 
 never goes into anything over his shoe tops, will find a peo- 
 ple who will call for something more solid. I can but believe 
 the Baptist cause was greatly helped, by being associated 
 with preaching unctious, rich in grace, and disassociated 
 from such preaching as some have heard. The best doctrine 
 in the world ought to preached in the best way. The real 
 spirit of our State work was born to the people of that great 
 section in the tender, spiritual, powerfully persuasive preach- 
 ing of Pastor Truett. It will heal and help. 
 
 The enlistment of strong men in the aggressive work 
 of the denomination is a gracious feature of the meeting. 
 Oh, what strong, noble people we found out there ! How 
 
 183 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D 
 
 hungry for bread warm from the great Father's table. How 
 joyous in their conscious fellowship with the mighty, con- 
 quering army of God all over Texas. They had not felt 
 the sweet influences which have so blessed other places less 
 remote. Large reinforcements are coming into line, as a 
 result of these inland meetings. And my own heart was 
 wonderfully blessed and enlarged. I came back to put more 
 spirit into our great State work. Hardly ever in my life, 
 did souls seem so precious to me. I am certain our public 
 men need to be caught up in these mighty currents for the 
 sake of their own work. 
 
 One distinct result will be the fixing of a great camp- 
 meeting ground, where thousands can come from the re- 
 gions round about and remain away from the cares of life 
 for a few days, to hear the things of the Kingdom discussed 
 by men given to them, heart and mind. Who can measure 
 the advantages of such meetings for salvation, indoctriniza- 
 tion, edification and training? There is a diamond mine 
 out in the Palopinto Mountains, richer in those fine young 
 people than all the hidden wealth of South Africa, which 
 provoked the Boer war, that cost England $1,200,000,000, 
 and tens of thousands of lives. 
 
 There is coming to me new visions of spiritual conquest 
 as I see how, as of old, God's word and Spirit triumph 
 wherever the gospel is faithfully preached. It is the old 
 story new again, as it was when Peter, fresh from penitence, 
 and from the throne of forgiving grace, preached at Pente- 
 cost, and sinners of all degrees, there and then, threw down 
 their arms of rebellion, and rushed under the white flag of 
 the King for salvation. Such meetings and such scenes as 
 I have so imperfectly described, bring into the soul a new 
 faith in the power of Jesus to save to the uttermost, and to 
 save at once. 
 
 Pastor Buntin of Gordon, is chairman of Committee on 
 the New Camp Ground. This means it will be well done. 
 
 184 
 
Tex Years in Texas 
 BLESSED BE BOOKS FOR THEY ARE A BLESSING. 
 
 I 
 
 HAVE just read The Standard of July 3, and see 
 that my very good brother, A. J. Harris, has been 
 charmed awav from the use of tobacco. As from 
 
 I Would not be Very Particular as to What Induced a 
 Devotee of Tobacco to Quit. 
 
 185 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 time to time I had observed with what zest he wasted 
 fragrance of the cigar on the desert air, I had supposed him 
 one of the incurables, but he has quit. Beloved, do not quit 
 too often. Let this time suffice. 
 
 I would not be very particular as to what induced a 
 devotee to tobacco to quit its use. If he quit in disgust, if 
 he quit out of deference to his friends, if he married a wife 
 and quit ; oh, there are a hundred good reasons for quitting, 
 but some of them are better than others. Pastor Harris, ob- 
 livious of all other inducements, quits because he cannot buy 
 books and smoke cigars. That is good. With a mental 
 appetite equal to the natural appetite of the shark, he was 
 compelled to decide beteween a degree of mental starvation 
 and a kind of regrettable physical comfort. He chose the 
 better part. 
 
 What a thing is a book to charm people to higher and 
 better living, and this reminds me of myself when I was a 
 boy. What great things a book did for me. I was not ad- 
 dicted to the tobacco habit, having smoked only once in all 
 my life, and that had the happiest effect on me. I quit. I 
 was addicted to the dog habit. My soul went out in ten- 
 derest longings toward every dog I saw. I loved dogs for 
 what they were, and for what they could do. I had accu- 
 mulated a large assortment, fox dogs, coon dogs, squirrel 
 dogs, rat dogs, deer dogs, fighting dogs, trick dogs, and then 
 quite a number unclassified — just dogs. To my boyish mind 
 every dog had in him great possibilities of something useful 
 in the dog line. I never had enough dogs. It was a con- 
 stant struggle for room for my dogs, and a long suffering 
 mother endured more than she ought to have endured. Like 
 Brother Harris and his cigar, I had a natural affinity for 
 dogs and was a great hunter. I went with my brother and 
 father one night to a Board meeting and met the colporter. 
 I had always had an idea a book was a pretty good thing, 
 
 186 
 
Ten Years kn Texas 
 
 but had never fallen in love with them. Having sold two 
 coon skins, I had two dimes, and among the boys in that 
 country I ranked as a captitalist. As I looked over the 
 books I wondered if there was one for two dimes. Selecting 
 one I thought would suit me, I asked the price. It was 
 twenty cents and a trade at once. I put that book under my 
 jacket with my hand on it and ran home, touching the 
 ground at high places. And I sat up with that book until I 
 read it through and through and knew it all. It was a book 
 made for boys. Great vistas were opened. I saw mountains 
 and seas and ships and armies and great statesmen and 
 scholars. Jt worked in on me. Then I came to the same 
 place, as a boy, that the distinguished pastor of the First 
 Baptist Church, San Antonio, reached. It was books or 
 dogs. Oh, my dogs, how I did love them. Trayler, 
 Ranger, Watch, and all of them, but I could not know what 
 a person ought to know and keep up with all those dogs. 
 It was a square case, one or the other, and with a sense of 
 suffocation I sent word to the Negroes and boys that the 
 entire lot of dogs were at their disposal. They came with 
 ropes and took them away. I had many a cry over it, but 
 I held to that book and got many other books. My mother 
 was delighted. That book was an epoch in my life. I did 
 not love the dogs less, but books more. To this day no man 
 can beguile me into a fox chase. I would hear horns and 
 dogs for weeks to come in my sleep and waking. I would 
 not be able to drown their voices for the sake of hearing 
 the church choir on Sunday. No, I have quit dogs. I quit 
 forty-five years ago, and have not gone back to them since. 
 Let me hope that Brother Harris will hold out forty-five 
 years. 
 
 Now let us come back. How many people in Texas 
 are smoking and following dogs and keeping sorry com- 
 pany and wasting all their time because they have never 
 fallen in love with books ? And they have not fallen in love 
 
 li 7 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 with books because they never had a good taste. Mothers 
 and fathers are wondering that their girls and boys are so 
 giddy, that they do not love home, and that they keep idle 
 company. They expect their children to give up every fool- 
 ish and low thing without any substitute, without any higher 
 or better motive or impulse. I do not know any greater 
 folly than that exhibited by thousands of men all over this 
 country, who have great homes, great farms, horses and 
 buggies for their children, and no books. The boy who falls 
 in love with good books is nine-tenths saved from every 
 form of vice. Whoever loves good books loves good people, 
 and good things, and is walking along the enchanted gal- 
 leries of the past, communing with the great souls who have 
 lived before, and looking far out into the future, catching 
 always the first gleams of sunlight on the mountains ahead. 
 And good books are so cheap. Anybody can have books. 
 A few dollars expended every year will soon 
 make an accumulation of good books in any home. 
 Neighbors can exchange, and there is not a community in 
 Texas so poor that every boy and girl in it, to say nothing 
 of the men and women, might not feel the exaltation that 
 comes to one in the reading of good books. 
 
 And more. If we read good books we become like the 
 things we read about. If we read of great men, the ten- 
 dency is for us to become great. If we read of great things, 
 we grow to be like them. Good books are a sovereign rem- 
 edy for a thousand ills. Why in the world don't people 
 buy good books ? 
 
 And still more, many a soul has been won to God and 
 heaven by reading a book. A thousand times a dull soul 
 has been set aflame by a single book. If I were a pastor I 
 would look after the reading of the people. I would sell 
 books, lend books, do anything to induce people to read 
 good books. A good book is a shining lamp in the home that 
 never goes out. 
 
 188 
 
T 
 
 Ten Years in Texas 
 LOPSIDEDNESS IN MISSIONS. 
 
 HERE is not another enterprise under heaven 
 known among men so well calculated to stir the 
 human heart as missions. Every real missionary 
 movement sets two currents to running in opposite 
 directions. One flows outward and the other inward. One 
 is the spirit of altruism, and the other selfishness. 
 
 The mission enterprise awakens the noblest enthusiasm 
 but it is often beset by many human limitations. Once it is 
 allowed that we may in any way be influenced by mere 
 human considerations or feelings, we are involved in end- 
 less questions of preference. Missions stand in the author- 
 ity of Jesus Christ. They are a doctrine, not an expediency. 
 For instructions concerning missions, we must go to the law 
 book of the Kingdom, the New Testament. From this 
 source we may most surely learn what we need to know, 
 as to this livest of questions. There are some things we 
 may gather with unerring certainty from the living oracles, 
 and these certain things must be our guides amid the com- 
 plexus of conflicting opinions which divide people into small 
 groups of missionary advocates. 
 
 I leave out of consideration in this article the anti- 
 missionary and the omissionary, both obnoxious to the plain 
 teaching of God's Word. I shall discuss lopsidedness in 
 missions, and there is plenty of it to discuss. Before enter- 
 ing on the discussion, I desire to make a few preparatory 
 remarks. 
 
 Missions must always be considered from the stand- 
 point of the whole world's conquest to the obedience of 
 faith. The far-reaching meaning of the conversion of any 
 soul is the conversion of other souls, reaching on to the 
 consummation of all things. Every convert belongs to 
 this army of conquest, which is never to stack colors till 
 the reign of Christ is completed in the earth, till the annun- 
 
 189 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 ciation hymn of the angels shall be a reality. Any view of 
 missions which detaches one part from another is insuffi- 
 cient; any conception which gives to one part a supremacy 
 is worse than insufficient, it is bad. Any plan which limits 
 the efforts and prayers of God's people to a man or a 
 single section is hurtful. The Christ view — "all the world," 
 "every creature" — is the only true view. No Christian, no 
 matter how little or poor or weak or ignorant, can stand 
 for less than all that Christ stands for — all of it, to the outer 
 limits. 
 
 But there be many who are for associational missions 
 and no more. These say such is our work, and so it is ; but 
 not one particle more their work than is the work in China. 
 To a very great extent our present crippled condition, as 
 a people, comes of lopsidedness in the training of the young 
 churches. The churches concentrated on associational mis- 
 sion till the territory was dotted over with churches. Then, 
 having made no connections leading outward, they ceased 
 their efforts, remained undeveloped and many have per- 
 ished as the result of lopsidedness in missions. If we are 
 at all wise, this monumental blunder will be carefully 
 guarded against in the future. Every little mission church 
 of today, from its infancy, should be trained for world- 
 wide missions. If the conversion of one soul means the 
 conversion of other souls in an endless chain of influence, 
 grace and salvation, so the establishment of a church today 
 means other churches, till over the whole wide world 
 churches shall grace every landscape and welcome earth's 
 children to the fold of the good Shepherd for rest and 
 safety. 
 
 Some go as far as State missions and stop. "Is there not 
 as much as we can do in our State ?" May be there is vastly 
 more than we can do; but, if our eyes are not holden, we 
 will see that we can do the work near far better, if, in our 
 spirit and purpose, prayers and efforts, we go full length 
 
 190 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 with Him who loved the world. The outflow of the mission 
 spirit to China, to darkest Africa, will make the current 
 swifter nearer home, provided it be in deed and in truth a 
 genuine mission spirit. 
 
 We need a proper standpoint from which to look at the 
 whole question. That standpoint is the Cross, where Christ 
 died for the world. From Calvary all nations, tribes, kin- 
 dred and tongues are equidistant. A world lost in Adam 
 is to be saved in Jesus, through the preaching of the Cross. 
 The races of men were made of one blood, and are to be 
 redeemed by the one blood. Territorial divisions do not 
 count in Christ's purposes of grace. 
 
 But this round, full New Testament view of missions 
 is sorely marred by lopsidedness in the thither view of 
 things. Foreign missions have to some an attraction, not 
 unmixed with the heroic. There is a charming heroism in 
 people's going far hence on the sublime mission of winning 
 the heathen. Besides this there are various and very spe- 
 cious arguments advanced to show that foreign missions 
 should have a pre-eminence in all our plans for world-wide 
 missions, all of which is very short-sided and lopsided, hav- 
 ing neither scripture nor common sense to support it. Dr. 
 Edward Judson, a son of the apostle to Burmah, in a mis- 
 sionary address, in the interest of foreign missions, said, 
 with great fire, good sense and point: 
 
 "We must be sure, however, that our foreign mission- 
 ary spirit is genuine and not a mere fad. The sure test is 
 whether we are interested in everything lying between the 
 heathen and ourselves. To many of us distance seems to 
 lend enchantment to the view. We burn with enthusiasm 
 over the miseries of people far away, but are limp and 
 nerveless as regards suffering close by. We find ourselves 
 greatly interested in foreigners when they reside in their 
 own land, so much so in fact that we send our best men as 
 missionaries to them and pay their traveling expenses; but 
 
 191 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 when the Lord puts it into the heart of these same foreign- 
 ers to come to our shores, paying their own traveling ex- 
 penses, instead of rejoicing over their advent, we are some- 
 times inclined to turn away from them in despair. They 
 do not look so picturesque near by. This is only the sem- 
 blance of the true missionary spirit — a counterfeit, not the 
 real coin." 
 
 There is considerable lopsidedness of this sort among us. 
 It lacks the tone and substance of genuine New Testament 
 missions. 
 
 Sometimes workers in one department of missions, 
 home, foreign or State, become so immersed in that par- 
 ticular part of the work that they can see nothing else. The 
 common sense of the masses of God's people must save us 
 from lopsidedness in one direction or another. Sometime 
 ago a brother seriously proposed that all foreign mission 
 money be collected without charge, or that the expense be 
 put on other departments of the common work of Christ. 
 This is sheer lopsidedness. Another would induce every- 
 body to give nearly all to foreign missions and only a pit- 
 tance to home missions. Still another will give largely to 
 State missions and hardly at all to home or foreign. All of 
 it is hurtful even to the favored mission. No severer blow 
 could be struck at foreign missions, for instance, than for 
 an effort to be made to leave home missions out or nearly 
 so. Where are the funds to come from to support foreign 
 missions? From the home field, of course. Suppose we 
 lose our home field, how will that affect foreign missions 
 in the future ? No prophet is needed to tell. 
 
 Turn it round. Suppose we concentrate on missions at 
 home. What then? We will have denominational stagna- 
 tion, and, in the end, death in our home churches. The 
 New Testament is luminous along the whole line of opera- 
 tion. Churches were planted and nurtured through courses 
 of training, not only for themselves and the regions near by, 
 
 192 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 but as sources of supply for operations further out. The 
 two went together, lengthening the cords and strengthening 
 the stakes. Woe be to those who despise this order. 
 
 Undoubtedly the general policy of the Convention is 
 the wise one. It only needs to be made effective in the all- 
 round development of our churches to stand four-square 
 to all the demands of the gospel to the ends of the world. 
 If we will unitedly follow the true conception of a rounded 
 development, Texas Baptists, in this generation, will stand 
 for more than all the South does now for the evangelism of 
 the whole world. Lopsidedness, whether in one direction 
 or another, will hurt the one great mission enterprise in 
 which are wrapped up the hopes of humanity. 
 
 TWO LARGE EXAMPLES, WITH LESSONS. 
 
 W 
 
 HEN Phillip the Second came to the throne of Spain, 
 he came to the greatest empire then in the world. 
 It looked as if Spain would rule the world, and that 
 was in the Spanish mind, just as it is in the Russian 
 mind today to dominate all Asia, and, later, the world. It 
 was an hour for much Spanish congratulation which degen- 
 erated into national vanity and conceit. The monarch fell 
 under the bad influence of the current feeling, if, indeed, 
 he did not lead it. He decreed that no Spanish youth should 
 leave Spain to study abroad, and no teacher should be im- 
 ported into Spain. This decree was based on the conception 
 that Spain had nothing to learn from abroad. It was that 
 spirit of pride which goes before a fall, a spirit so deep and 
 all-pervasive that till this hour it dominates the Spanish 
 mind. 
 
 When Phillip decreed the insulation of the Spanish 
 mind, he laid an ax to the root of all Spanish greatness. 
 
 193 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 It was as if a man put an iron band around a growing tree. 
 Either the tree, by its growth, would burst the band, or the 
 tree would die, not all at once, but surely, little by little. 
 With Spain the inevitable happened. The nation did not 
 burst the band, but decay began at once. Through weary 
 centuries national decay has marked the course of that once 
 powerful people. Her colonies have fallen away from her 
 like dead limbs from a falling tree. The last were Cuba, 
 Porto Rico and the Philippines. Little is left that decrepid, 
 laggard nation. Her people walk in a vain show, hugging 
 to their bosoms ideals long since outgrown. 
 
 Spain fell by taking a wrong mental attitude toward 
 the larger world of truth she counted herself to have at- 
 tained. She scouted the truth not home found or developed. 
 Her attitude was a facing in. She practiced involution, not 
 evolution. Having a wrong mental attitude, she could not 
 learn. Her dismal history of bigotry, arrogancy, intoler- 
 ance, persecution, priestcraft — all of it — had its taproot in 
 her mental attitude, unfriendly to the wide world of truth. 
 As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. People individ- 
 ually and collectively are as they think. Phillip the Second 
 wrought the ruin of Spain when he faced Spain in. This 
 is a large example of the working of a principle. 
 
 Let us take another example, looking the opposite way. 
 Fifty years ago Japan was insulated, along with Corea and 
 China. Her people were not allowed to go abroad. Her 
 emperor, representing the oldest dynasty in the world, re- 
 versed Phillip's policy and Japan's, too. He faced his peo- 
 ple out by giving them a new mental attitude towards uni- 
 versal truth. The brightest of the youth of the empire were 
 
 194 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 sent abroad to learn. England, Germany, America and 
 France received relays of Japs, of both sexes. They came 
 feeling their mission to be torch bearers. Nor did Japan 
 stop at this. She brought to her great national university 
 the most eminent teachers of the world, and paid them sal- 
 aries which would create an uproar in America. She im- 
 ported men to reconstruct her whole civilization, putting 
 everything on the best known basis. She saw that her ships 
 were outclassed, and forthwith set about constructing her 
 present up-to-date navy. Her army was reconstructed 
 throughout. Her armaments were of the best. Her public 
 school system was organized to reach every boy and girl 
 in the empire. Missionaries were welcomed. The mental 
 attitude of Japan is : "We are doing the best we. know, 
 but if you know better tell us." 
 
 What has been the result of this new attitude? Ask 
 Russia. But the world knows. Hardly ever was there such 
 an awakening. The Japs are the leaders of a third part of 
 the world. A new life thrills the nation from its ancient 
 throne to its utmost borders. Her people are standing 
 flooded with the sunrise of a new and glorious life. From 
 peasant to prince, there is enlargement, and an all-conquer- 
 ing spirit of achievement. The whole people are assimila- 
 ting to higher ideals, and Japanese greatness is written in 
 letters of light, as across the vault of heaven. 
 
 Now for some lessons. No greatness is possible with- 
 out a proper mental attitude. This comes with tremendous 
 force to Southern Baptists. The South has been badly en- 
 vironed for fifty years. The effect of Southern environment 
 
 195 
 
ey Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 has told on Southern thinking. With respect to the Negro, 
 we have been in a defensive attitude. With no intention of 
 entering the domain of politics, I feel nevertheless con- 
 strained to say that our strenuous president has done the 
 South and the nation a grievous wrong by reviving the race 
 question. The whole South needs to face out and blend 
 harmoniously in the national life. This is the need of South- 
 ern Baptists. In some way our young people, for their own 
 enlargement, and for what they can do, ought to face out, 
 and feel their responsibility for the spiritual life of the 
 whole country and the world. Two-thirds of the Baptists 
 of America can't be shut up to one-third of the people of 
 this great country in their thinking and efforts. We must 
 face out. 
 
 The same lesson is good all along the line. The church 
 which faces in will follow Spain to the shades of death. 
 The association which lives for itself will die to itself. The 
 preacher whose thoughts and efforts revolve around him- 
 self and his church, will circle in and come to a dead stand- 
 still at the center. 
 
 These lessons ought not to be lost on our people. If 
 our boys and girls think great thoughts, they will be great 
 men and women. If every Baptist in Texas could feel that 
 he or she belongs to a great army of conquest, which is to 
 reach every spot of the globe and bring the lost tribes of 
 earth to the obedience of faith, our churches would rise glo- 
 riously into strength and world-wide usefulness. Our su- 
 preme task now is to bring our people to a right attitude 
 toward the whole world. 
 
 196 
 
Tex Years in Texas 
 THE PASSING OF THE BULLY. 
 
 HE BULLY is a product of society in its crude, un- 
 formed state. He belongs to the period of razor 
 back hogs and long horned cattle, and he disappears 
 with them. Over most of the country, all three of 
 these primitive products have gone the way of all crudities 
 of an overgrowing civilization. The places that once knew 
 them know them no more. But here and there a specimen 
 remains, more curious than valuable. 
 
 The old time bully was a great man in his day and gen- 
 eration — in his own eyes and in the eyes of his sort. He 
 was on hand at all meetings, political speakings, and wher- 
 ever the people congregated. It was his self-appointed duty 
 to regulate everybody. He was always looking for some- 
 body who needed whipping, and was wonderfully lucky to 
 find what he was looking for. But he was careful not to 
 find the wrong one. There was a fighting frenzy in his 
 blood, and it took plenty of fighting to make him endurably 
 cool. 
 
 The bully was soon known, and nice people avoided him. 
 Gentlemen did not attend public meetings to fight. They 
 kept apart from the bully for the sake of peace. The bully 
 was quick to see this, and that was taken as a concession to 
 his powers. His set saw it, and gave it out that they were 
 "skeered" of him. A good deal is allowed to some animals 
 simply because they are disagreeable — who wants to fight 
 a skunk; a biting dog is avoided because nice people can't 
 afford to bite all the dogs that would bite them. 
 
 Whoever wants to see the bully depicted in all his vain 
 glory, should read "Georgia Scenes." I have seen it all in 
 my day, Ransey Sniffles, and all. The big bullies soon have 
 in their tram a lot of little bullies, all having the same spirit, 
 but varying in size and strength. They are an amalgam of 
 coarseness, brutality, cowardice, impudence and self-conceit, 
 
 197 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 with the inevitable brag and noise. They can strut standing 
 still, and all life is a strut with them. 
 
 "And It's Fight You Are Wanting, Is It;' 
 The bully is allowed much liberty, but he always reaches 
 his limitations, sooner or later. I knew one, a powerful man, 
 physically, who had beaten many men brutally, having 
 
 198 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 forced them to attack him by his coarse abuse. One day he 
 thought he saw an Irishman in need of his professional ser- 
 vices, and he began his preliminary treatment in the way of 
 abuse. The Irishman was small, but he said, "And it's fight 
 you are wanting, is it ?" It was agreed to, and they went into 
 the ring. It was soon over. The bully never touched the 
 Irishman, but he hit the ground as fast as he got near the 
 little son of Erin. The Irishman was a trained boxer. The 
 bully was in bed three months, during which time he in- 
 dulged many profitable meditations on the cruelty of fight- 
 ing. He joined the church later and always regarded the 
 Irishman a means of grace, one of those righteous provi- 
 dences employed to bring in the elect. 
 
 This man made an excellent citizen and church mem- 
 ber. Two minutes with that Irishman took the frenzy out 
 of his blood. I knew another bully to be cured in a half 
 minute, by a boy with an ugly knife in his hand. Not a 
 drop of blood was shed, but his blood congealed as the boy 
 moved toward him, and it never got hot again as long as he 
 lived. 
 
 The political bully is a strain above his common street 
 brother. He has the same qualities, the difference being the 
 arena of action. He may be educated, but that in no way 
 changes his nature. I have seen an educated hog, but he was 
 a hog all the same. The gravest question of statesman- 
 ship, requiring careful handling, and needing cool discus- 
 sion, are treated by the bully as matters personal to his oppo- 
 nent. He aims to win, and does win, with some, by low 
 flung abuse of his opponent, and by making himself so dis- 
 agreeable that no one wishes to meet him in discussion. He 
 clouds every question, and odors men out of competition. 
 His brazen effrontery goes for courage ; his bald assertions 
 for truths; his vehemence for convictions; his billingsgate 
 for arguments as strong as "holy writ." 
 
 The worst of the tribe of bullies is the religious bully. 
 
 199 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 He is the street bully joined the church, bringing into the 
 church his old spirit and manners. 
 
 Every bully is a coward. Courage is considerate. The 
 religious bully has the finest field in the world. He deals 
 all the time with people, who neither have the spirit, nor 
 desire to meet him on his chosen field. Moreover, the men 
 he employs his arts upon have in charge great interests, 
 which they must preserve. Even if they desired to do so, 
 they cannot afford to punish the bully. An Irishman could 
 find no place for his gifts in the chosen field of the religious 
 bully. All that can be done is to avoid him. Educate the 
 masses and wait for his passing. 
 
 In all circles the bully is passing. Social order eschews 
 him. Patriotism abominates him. Religion abhors him. 
 He is thinning out. The progress of civilization is leaving 
 him behind. The future dominant factor in civil life must 
 be a statesman, reasoning and reasonable. The religious 
 leader must be religious and a gentleman. Discussions must 
 go on principles. Abuse of men will influence only the very 
 low, and that in ever lessening degrees. The progress on 
 all lines is away from the bully, to the man of good manners, 
 sound reason and sane spirit. The bully is passing, and the 
 mourners are few. 
 
 mm?* 
 
 p 
 
 200 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 A LETTER TO A YOUNG PREACHER. 
 
 OUR letter is before me. There is nothing that I 
 have undertaken more difficult than to advise a 
 young minister in his starting out. It is only on 
 the general lines that anyone can speak, because 
 God has a special work for each one of his servants and he 
 brings them into the work in a way that neither they nor 
 others can know. I may make the following suggestions 
 with safety: 
 
 Commit yourself fully to the Lord and remember that it 
 is absolutely safe to do so. You cannot know where he will 
 lead you, nor how he will lead you, but he will lead you by 
 a way that he knows, and it will be, without doubt, the right 
 way. Looking back over my life, I see now how unfound- 
 ed were all my early fears, and I see, also, of what little 
 account were the many precautions that I have tried to 
 take. Commit your way to the Lord and he will bring it 
 to pass. 
 
 In the next place, remember that it's not intended for 
 you to see far at a time. I was greatly helped when I started 
 out in the ministry by what an old brother told me. He 
 said : "You are a young man, and I want to tell you some- 
 thing from my experience. All my life in the ministry, 
 now for more than fifty years, I have been able to see but 
 one step at a time. Much of the time, it has seemed to me 
 that I was coming right up against an impassable wall, but 
 when I took the step that was before me, even and clear, 
 I found that it either brought me to where I could turn the 
 corner, or else the wall was removed ; and, so for fifty years 
 I have gone on preaching, and have had enough to eat and 
 all the work I could do." 
 
 It was a very helpful message to me, and one that I 
 found to be true in almost thirty years of ministerial life. 
 Therefore, my advice would be to take the step that you 
 
 20T 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrexl, D. D. 
 
 can take. If you feel called to preach, preach; preach in 
 school houses, in a private home, preach at all times, preach 
 to little congregations, preach anywhere ; and always preach, 
 not to preach, but to do good. Aim at saving somebody or 
 helping somebody, and it will be a delight to you how 
 things will get out of your way and fields will open before 
 you. I do not have a shadow of doubt, that the Lord has 
 use for every minister, who is set to do his will, and he 
 will carry him through, and make him a success, if he will 
 trust the Lord and go forward. 
 
 It is hardly necessary, I would think, to advise against 
 hunting places, for the tone of your letter indicates any- 
 thing else but such a spirit. And yet it will not be amiss 
 in this letter, while I am writing to say that place-hunting, 
 a desire to get up in the ministry, has kept many a man 
 down in the ministry all his life. I have been much with 
 young ministers in my time, have tried to help them and 
 have watched their course much. I have seen those who 
 sought places where they thought they would be respected, 
 and could live easy, and I have seen those who sought to do 
 the work and thought little or nothing of the places, going 
 out into the backwoods, going among the negroes, preach- 
 ing to little congregations and pouring out their souls in 
 preaching to the poor and the neglected and the ignor- 
 ant, — I have seen these two classes for years, and I have seen 
 the man who wanted to go to a big town and preach in a big 
 church fail in his work, become soured and profitless to 
 himself and to the cause. I have seen the man who went 
 to the country, and thought only how he could best do God's 
 work, set all the country places afire and have men write to 
 him and come after him to go up higher. Some of these 
 are now in the greatest pulpits in the whole country. Spur- 
 geon's great ministry began this way. He preached out in 
 a little village, a few miles from Cambridge, and the people 
 were too poor to pay the ferryage across a stream for a cart 
 
 202 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 that was to carry him out to his preaching place, so he walk- 
 ed out to the stream, went across at less charge, and rode 
 to his place of preaching in a cart; but he set the village 
 afire up there, and the world knows the rest. 
 
 You wish to know, without doubt, whether you are call- 
 ed. If my own experience is worth anything, and the ex- 
 perience of many others with whom I have spoken, you 
 are liable to have doubts as to your call to the ministry 
 about as often as you get cold in the work. God never in- 
 tends that his people shall have the joy of assurance about 
 anything outside of the path of duty. The path of service 
 is the shining way that shineth more and more unto the 
 perfect day, but whoever forsakes that path will have more 
 or less of doubt about everything religious. I think I can 
 tell your experience in advance, and it will run this way: 
 When you have been much in prayer and are very humble 
 in your feelings and take hold upon the promise of God 
 and preach in the power of the Holy Spirit, you will not 
 have any doubts about whether you are called to preach. 
 But if you grow worldly minded, neglect prayer, get puffed 
 up about some previous success and preach in your own 
 wisdom, you will be apt to get out of the pulpit with some 
 very strong doubts as to whether you have been called to 
 the ministry. I do not know any way in the world to live 
 above doubt except to live a high spiritual life. The clouds 
 shadow the low lands. 
 
 Now, my brother, if you have in your heart a longing for 
 souls and a drawing toward the work, and if these experi- 
 ences are stronger when you are more religious, go right 
 into it and your faith will strengthen, your capacities en- 
 large and you will pass through your ministerial life with 
 perhaps about the same ups and downs as all the rest of us. 
 
 203 
 
by Dr. J. B. GambrelIv, D. D. 
 BEAUTIFUL FIGHTING. 
 
 A—^T the first battle of Manassas the Southern troops 
 . were all new, and really, according to the rules of 
 MB war, were whipped all day, but were not enough 
 trained in military tactics to know it. The writer, 
 with nearly everybody else on the Southern side, fought 
 practically without officers. We never had the least idea 
 in the world that anybody was whipped while he had a gun 
 and cartridges and room to load and shoot. But, neverthe- 
 less, we were falling back in a kind of wavering way, and 
 the officers who had better ideas of military affairs, realized 
 the seriousness of the situation more than the soldiers did. 
 It was really this ignorance of the technical points of war 
 that gave us the victory later on. Along in the evening 
 General Smith came on the field with recruits. We were 
 all glad to see them and the enemy were sorry to see them. 
 They came up in double-quick, and having made quite a 
 distance from the depot, they were worn. One of the gen- 
 erals who had been holding out all day, rushed up to the 
 first line of recruits and said : "Fall in, gentlemen, fall in ; 
 there is beautiful fighting here anywhere." And they did 
 fall in and the Federals fell out, and we had the victory. 
 
 Now, in Texas we have a great battle line, and the fight 
 goes with varying success at different points, but it is safe 
 to say to every true soldier, that, if you will just fall in, 
 you will find beautiful fighting anywhere, plenty of the 
 enemy, and not very far to find, with a good cause and all 
 the enthusiasm that a living faith in the Captain of our sal- 
 vation can give us. We want the spirit of fight in us, not of 
 fighting each other, but of fighting the enemy. 
 
 A brother recently said to the writer as we were dis- 
 cussing the late war: "A great many of our men were 
 killed by their friends." We all recall that the immortal 
 Tackson fell, wounded to death by his friends. Let's take 
 
 204 
 
Tex Years in Texas 
 
 care how we fight. In every great fight there is more or 
 less of confusion ; we cannot fight in blood earnest with 
 perfect precision. It was that sort of thing that lost one 
 
 "There is Beautiful Fighting Here Anywhere." 
 hundred battles to Napoleon. The generals on the other 
 side were so punctillious and nice that they felt that battles 
 
 205 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrkll, D. D. 
 
 had to be fought out on certain plans and by certain rules, 
 or else they were not decently won. The old Austrian gen- 
 eral claimed that this young Frenchman did not fight accord- 
 ing to any military rules, and, therefore, he was not entitled 
 to military recognition. But, all the same, he got the Aus- 
 trian's cannon and his bagage and his men, and sent him 
 out of Italy in very bad military plight. It won't do in a 
 great fight to stop and consider every little point. It's no 
 time in a charge to stop to sew on buttons; a great many 
 things will be regulated after the fight is over. 
 
 Now, in Texas, we want to have a great fight this year, 
 we've got plenty of fight to satisfy the most unreasonable 
 along that line. Let's not stop to settle little points till we 
 win the victory. Men who have wounds and bruises and 
 sores and divers troubles of one sort and another ought to 
 keep them out of view, until we have gone through with 
 our great battle. A great many things will come right easy 
 enough, if we only work toward the right point. 
 
 In this fight let everybody come in, no matter what he 
 thinks of men, nor what he thinks of past battles. If he 
 wants to see the Baptist cause succeed and men saved, let 
 him put that to the front, for that's the thing to fight for. 
 A good soldier fights for his country in battle without any 
 reference to whether he likes his officers or not. A good 
 Christian strives for the mastery of this great Captain's 
 sake, and he will not abandon the cause, nor hurt the cause 
 by stopping to complain of personal troubles between him- 
 self and some fellow soldier. 
 
 The fact is, we have often noticed that soldiers, who 
 would fall out in camp and fight each other in camp, while 
 they were doing nothing else, would not only go in, side by 
 side, in a great battle and fight like heroes, but they came 
 out with mutual admiration for each other's courage, and 
 their personal animosities were sunk in their love for the 
 
 206 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 cause for which they both fought, and they became fast 
 friends. 
 
 A great year of missions, in which the fighting will be 
 forced from one side of Texas to the other, would do more 
 to uplift us, unify us, settle personal animosities and dig- 
 nify the Baptist name in Texas than anything else we can 
 do. There is such a beautiful chance now for everybody, 
 for the old veterans, for the women, for the young people, 
 for the children's bands, for the new disciples — such a good 
 chance for everybody to have a share in a good fight that 
 we hope that not a person who bears the name of the great 
 Captain will be sulking in his tent during this year. Just 
 fall in ; there is beautiful fighting all along the line. 
 
 207 
 
I 
 
 by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 DREADING THE PROCESS. 
 
 HEARD Dr. Geo. Needham relate a story of a 
 strong man who hung on the edge of a meeting, 
 evidently deeply interested but refusing to do any- 
 thing. When pressed in a personal interview, he 
 admitted his deep conviction and longing to be a Christian, 
 but said in explanation of his conduct, I dread the process. 
 Here was a mind misled, likely by false teaching, or, maybe, 
 by false deductions, from his own observations. It is 
 quite easy to preach too much about the plan of salvation. 
 As to that, it is not impossible to preach too much about 
 Christ. There is a distinct difference between preaching 
 Christ and preaching about Him. The first is saving preach- 
 ing; the second may be far from it. 
 
 The best preaching and teaching is that which brings 
 the sinner, by the shortest road, to look upon Jesus by faith, 
 that keeps all thoughts of mere process out of the way. No 
 sort of process should be allowed to crystalize in a church. 
 No special form of service should be held to, until it be- 
 comes the force of unwritten law. There is much in recog- 
 nized slavery to a fixed order. This applies to every part 
 of public service, to preaching not less than other things. 
 For in effectiveness, I believe there is nothing worse than 
 the regulation service, with the regulation sermon, made 
 out with the precision and fixedness of cut flowers. Law- 
 yers are bound to do better or quit, and politicians would not 
 get on at all, if they went under the yoke after the fashion 
 of the regulation preacher. 
 
 "The process" has a deep grip on the average mind. In- 
 deed, it has stifled that openness of heart and mind, that 
 ready response to truth, which marked the conversions of the 
 apostolic period. Of all the pictures of a real conversion 
 given us in the divine records, not one is so instinct with life 
 and action as the parable of the prodigal son. Here is a sin- 
 ner, a real hard case. He has played the fool to a finish. 
 
 208 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 He has gone far beyond all respectability. He has gone 
 past the dogs and reached the hogs. He has gone far off 
 into a strange land. Then in his dirt and rags and hunger, 
 he thinks. Like the prophet would have us all do, he 
 thought on his way and turned. Sorrow wrung his soul. 
 He made up his mind what to do. He would return to his 
 father's house. He rose and struck out. There was no 
 parleying, no hesitation, no delay. To put it in the graphic 
 words of Sid Williams, "He hit the grit in the middle of 
 the road, and never stopped till he got there." It was soon 
 done, this settling of the whole question, and as quick as 
 time would allow, he was sitting at his father's table, well 
 dressed and eating the best in the land. 
 
 As we go back and read of the conversions of the New 
 Testament, we can hardly fail to be impressed with the 
 simplicity of the whole business. In a short ride, the Eunuch, 
 being an honest seeker, came into the light. And forth- 
 with he obeyed in baptism. That the conversion was genu- 
 ine, there can be no doubt. The chariot seat was a mourn- 
 er's seat ; but he never thought of it. He- thought of no 
 process. The Master called Andrew, and he followed, the 
 spirit working inward grace. Andrew went and told his 
 brother Simon, and he came, and believed. The woman at 
 the well, half heathen, outcast, dark in her heart, her mind 
 and her life, steeped in vileness ; yet in one short interview, 
 she repented, believed and went flying back to town saved, 
 with a message of hope to the hard men of the town. Many 
 of the men believed through her word, and that right away. 
 
 The thief on the cross, hardened in sin, disgraced, out- 
 cast, amid the agonies of crucifixion, in a short hour, heard, 
 saw, his heart melted, he confessed, believed and his ran- 
 somed spirit shot out of the horrors of that, the world's 
 darkest hour, to be with Christ in paradise. How quick, 
 how simple, how certain it all was. 
 
 In studying it all over, I have been deeply impressed that 
 
 209 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrexl, D. D. 
 
 we need to get back in our thinking, our faith and our ef- 
 forts to the simplicity of the better times. Preachers can 
 afford to be excentric. What is an excentric? Why it is 
 something which moves out of a circle. The doing of the 
 same thing the same way by everybody all the time, has 
 great weakness in it. It brings about a psychological stag- 
 nation. It has all the weakness of a written ritual, without 
 its good English and flourish. 
 
 If we ever come to our best, we will have far more 
 liberty than we now allow ourselves. Where the Spirit of 
 the Lord is, there is liberty. Look at Pentecost. That was 
 a day when Mrs. Grundy quit the grounds. Men and 
 women, too, spoke as the Spirit gave them liberty. "The 
 process," what was it? Repent and believe, right now on 
 the spot. Thousands did, and were saved. Nobody thought 
 of any process ; they thought of the truth, poured out of 
 warm hearts by tongues of fire. 
 
 Quite recently I have been watching the developments 
 of the growing revival spirit among us. Two cases occur- 
 red, one in each of two Dallas churches, where people 
 heard, repented, confessed all in an hour. In another ser- 
 vice one heard, repented, believed, confessed and was bap- 
 tized all in a single service. Why not? 
 
 It will be a great time when preachers get the "pro- 
 cess" business out of their own minds and preach for imme- 
 diate results. It is a sublime scene when a preacher grap- 
 ples his congregation with the truth and presses men to 
 immediate decision. This hour of victory will be greater 
 when churches look for it and pray for it, even while the 
 word is spoken. What an era will that be when soul-win- 
 ners have faith to crowd the unsaved and bring them to for- 
 get processes, surrender, believe and live. It looks like we 
 are somewhat emerging from slavery to processes and at- 
 taining to a more heroic faith. Processes may well be 
 dreaded when they take the life out of us. 
 
 210 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 A FINE EXAMPLE OF ORGANIZED EFFICIENCY. 
 
 T~"1HE military organization is the most perfect known 
 to men. No matter how large the army, the indi- 
 JHHi vidual is still the unit of organization. The indi- 
 vidual is never lost sight of for a moment. On 
 any morning each individual can be accounted for, if the 
 situation is normal. 
 
 In the whole scheme of organization, two things are held 
 constantly in view: First, making the most of the individ- 
 ual, and, second, making the individuals support each other 
 for the highest efficiency. These are the primary ideas in 
 military organization. They are at the base of all the larger 
 organizations, such as regiments, brigades, division corps, 
 armies. No matter how large the army, its efficiency de- 
 pends on the faithful application of the two primary princi- 
 ples just named. If the companies are incoherent, ragged, 
 loose ; if the units be spiritless, and untrained, there can be no 
 effiicency in the subdivisions of the army. The strength of 
 the units will determine the force of the organization. 
 
 For all large undertakings large combinations of units 
 sub-organized are needful. Yet no army can ever rise above 
 the general average of its individual soldiers. And this prin- 
 ciple holds in all organized society. Hence the necessity to 
 keep close to the heart of things in dealing with large 
 forces. The home, the school, the church, are the real mak- 
 ers of America. The statesman combines and directs forces 
 created for him. 
 
 We have before us today, a demonstration of what has 
 just been said on a large and imposing scale. It is the 
 second demonstration on the same field of action within 10 
 or 12 years. It is now conceded, even by the Russians, that 
 the Japanese army is the most powerful military force afield 
 on any part of the earth. It easily whipped China a few 
 years ago — 40,000,000 Japs against 400,000,000 Chinese. 
 
 21T 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 It has, from the firing of the first shot, shown its superiori- 
 ty to Russia. The great empire of the North is learning a 
 lesson its military men ought to have known, and all its 
 leaders as well. Numbers do not count much against some 
 other things. The countless hordes of Xerxes were as 
 nothing against the disciplined, high-souled, trained Greeks, 
 who, on the immortal field of Marathon, locked shields, 
 10,000 of them kept step, sang their peans, and bore down 
 everything before them, as each soldier stood in his place, 
 and supported every other soldier. The army of Japan 
 has every element of strength developed to a very high 
 degree. 
 
 To begin with, the individual soldier is intelligent, high- 
 spirited and patriotic. Ninety-two per cent of the Japs can 
 read, and they are perhaps, the greatest readers, taken al- 
 together, in all the world. Intelligence will win on every 
 battlefield, and let us lay it to heart. Almost 92 per cent 
 of the Russians cannot read. Which will whip? Which 
 ought to whip ? 
 
 Add to the intelligence and patriotism of the Japanese 
 private soldier perfect military organization, from the low- 
 est form to the highest, and you will begin to understand 
 why things are happening as they are. 
 
 But there is still another great element of success, not 
 to be lost sight of for a moment, and that is the leadership 
 of this splendid army of spirited, alert, dauntless soldiers. 
 Their officers, from the lowest subalterns to their great 
 Field Marshal Oyama, are trained, devoted and courageous 
 to their finger tips. Many an army has gone to pieces under 
 indifferent officers. 
 
 Note one other element of power in this conquering 
 army : They are willing to suffer. Private soldiers as well 
 as officers are willing to endure hardness as good soldiers. 
 They expect it. They are all, to a man, on their country's 
 altar. They are willing to live or to die for their country. 
 
 212 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 They believe in their country, in their Emperor, who trusts 
 them. They count it an honor to die for their country. Their 
 friends and relatives at home share this high view. 
 
 Added to all this is the skillful leadership of the army. 
 Their generals are selected solely for their ability. There 
 is no favoritism in the army or navy. The prince of royal 
 blood fights under an officer educated and trained out of the 
 thick of the population. It is all different with the Rus- 
 sians. 
 
 I have been transferring all this to our Baptist people. 
 Paul dwelt much on the military features of a Christian's 
 life. "Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." 
 He himself was a great soldier. He fought to a finish the 
 good fight. He counted not his life dear unto himself. In 
 no area of human action is there a call for higher soldiery 
 qualities than in the realm of Christianity. The whole life 
 of a Christian is a series of battles for the conquering of 
 the enemies of the King eternal. The world is the battlefield 
 and every disciple a soldier. 
 
 In the army of King Jesus, every soldier is a volunteer. 
 There is no conscription, and there is no compulsion. Vol- 
 unteers are always the best soldiers. The motives for ser- 
 vice in this army are the highest that ever moved intelligent 
 beings. Love, immortality, glory fadeless and transcendent 
 move us to service. 
 
 Under the voluntary principle we may have the most 
 perfect, flexible and efficient organization the human mind 
 can conceive, all of it resting on the individual as the unit 
 and following the perfection of military organization, in 
 which the individual stands for all in him, and each stands 
 for all, and all for each. It is given to us to demonstrate 
 on a large scale what the voluntary principle is worth in 
 the Christian warfare. We may put to shame all the "strong 
 church governments" by the no government of the New 
 Testament, which leaves individuals free to co-operate for 
 
 213 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrexl, D. D. 
 
 the glory of our common Lord on principles of love and 
 consecration. The campaign we are in ought to do it. 
 It will, if each one will stand in his place, and do his duty ; 
 the individuals, the pastors, the associational workers, the 
 women, the Sunday School officers. Such a demonstration 
 on so large a scale, will be worth an untold amount to the 
 cause we represent in Texas, now and hereafter. Texas 
 Baptists may, and I believe will, to a large extent, demon- 
 strate in Christianity what Japan is demonstrating in war. 
 We will give a fine example of organized efficiency, and do 
 it this month. May every soul thrill with high and holy 
 purpose, and may the spirit of the living God brood over the 
 great army and lead us on to a victory of love, faith and 
 consecration. 
 
 THE PROBLEM OF DENOMINATIONAL 
 PROGRESS. 
 
 W"1HAT is the problem of denominational progress? 
 mm It is men. Our supreme need is men — men, of 
 JEHj course, of the right sort. With the right kind of 
 men, and women to match, all things are possible. 
 The best plan of doing anything is a man. President 
 Faunce, at Waco, struck the keynote of progress when he 
 put the emphasis, in his great speech, on man. "Let us 
 make man" is the text for all the times. "Let us make mon- 
 ey" is a small thing to say. To raise the whole denomina- 
 tional level, we must raise the level of Christian manhood. 
 
 By all odds, the chief glory of any country is its people. 
 This is true the world over. The Scotch have an exceeding- 
 ly rugged country, but they are a glorious people, because 
 they are religious and devoted to education. No equal num- 
 
 214 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 ter of people in the world exercise a wider or better in- 
 fluence over every realm of human activity. 
 
 The value of the right kind of men to a country can 
 never be computed. A man may easily be worth millions of 
 dollars to a country. Governor Joseph Brown, of Georgia, 
 has been worth many millions to his State in actual money, 
 by his practical wisdom in directing the public mind of that 
 State. Ben Franklin largely created the industrial North. 
 Let us transfer all this to our denominational life. Men 
 are our great want; men who are wise to see what Israel 
 ought to do; men with visions of the future; men of lofty 
 ideals ; men embued with the spirit of the New Testament ; 
 men willing to serve in any place, and whose highest con- 
 ception of life is to serve. 
 
 At this very hour Texas Baptists need ioo equipped men, 
 not to fill places, but to make places. Wide is the difference 
 between the spirit of the man who wishes to fill a place 
 and that of a man ready to lay himself out to make a place. 
 Our want is place-makers. Paul had the greatest spirit, 
 because he was ready to put his whole being into founda- 
 tion work. He had the true vision of glory. You can see 
 the brass globe on the top of the church steeple much further 
 than you can see the foundation stone, but it is not one- 
 thousandth part as important. 
 
 We have a vast field, rich in possibilities. There are 
 mines of human wealth in Texas richer than all the diamond 
 mines of the world. These are waiting development. They 
 are waiting the coming of the right men and women. If 
 worked, they will enrich the world, intellectually, religiously 
 and materially. 
 
 Our present need is a reinforcement of men, apostolic in 
 spirit and in labors. These men are wanted to go to needy 
 sections and devote their lives to building up. If these 
 men can be had, the future is safe. But they must be adapt- 
 able, as well as devoted. It is ideal to have a pastorate, 
 
 215 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambreix, D. D. 
 
 preach regularly and have an ample income. But all that 
 belongs to an advanced condition. Places are not made that 
 way. 
 
 During the Civil War I met, in East Virginia, a young 
 Baptist preacher, Rev. J. F. Dean. In that part of the 
 State Baptists were weak, and, in the main, they were held 
 in derision. They were few, poor and unlearned. There 
 was no one to lead them up and out. Young Dean was 
 from Columbia University, from which he graduated with 
 credit. He determined to devote himself to building the 
 Baptist cause in East Virginia. To do this, he began teach- 
 ing and preaching. He established himself at a small village 
 in the very heart of the country he wished to lift up. Year 
 in and year out he went on with his work, teaching and 
 preaching. Twenty-five years went by, and a great transfor- 
 mation had come. He had sent relay after relay of stu- 
 dents to Richmond College from his Windsor Academy. 
 The Baptist cause was redeemed and the country greatly 
 blessed. In that section great churches have grown up, and 
 are led by an intelligent ministry and laity. He did not suf- 
 fer for a living. A few years ago the teacher-preacher 
 died, and thousands rise up to call him blessed. His works 
 do follow him. He made a place and made men. 
 
 Let us come nearer this way. Shortly after the war I 
 had many talks with Gen. M. P. Lowery, who had come 
 back to his home in the hills of Tippah County, one of the 
 poorest counties in that State. We talked of the future of 
 the whole south of our State, to which we were both de- 
 voted, and especially of the north end of it. It was clear 
 that nothing would redeem it but sanctified intelligence. He 
 had many calls to important fields, but determined to de- 
 vote himself to that sectio'n of his State. The question of 
 a school was much discussed. I urged him to found a 
 school at his home, far interior, and thus make an intellec- 
 tual center, from which a new life should go out to bless the 
 
 216 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 country. He urged me to undertake the enterprise. He 
 questioned his mind whether a preacher should teach. At 
 last he reached a conclusion and began his great work. Blue 
 Mountain College is the result, and it is one of the greatest 
 schools in the South. Its influence is more than State-wide. 
 The whole land has felt its uplifting power. 
 
 Things like these can be done in many places in Texas. 
 The opportunities are many. They wait for men and women 
 with minds and hearts and a true vision. 
 
 But we may look another direction with equal encourage- 
 ment. There are scores and even hundreds of churches in 
 Texas rich in all sorts of possibilities of good, only waiting 
 the coming of a pastor who will commence on a bare 
 living and work constantly toward larger and better things, 
 It is all a mistake that every young preacher must be fully 
 provided for before he should enter upon a pastorate. A 
 hundred young men of the right type can establish them- 
 selves in ever-growing pastorates in Texas, if they will 
 commence right and go on right. This was done by Pas- 
 tor Ammons, of the Tabernacle Church, Houston. To do 
 after this sort will make character, and character is strength, 
 and strength is success. 
 
 To a large extent, we look to our schools for intelligent 
 leadership. Consecration is the very heart of Christian ed- 
 ucation. We are rightly concerned for the culture of our 
 rising young people. There is even more room for anxiety 
 that they put their culture to the highest use, by serving 
 where service is most needed. The preacher who makes 
 service second to position is spoiled. Service will make 
 position, and it will grow men. But position of itself will 
 not make men. 
 
 Our whole problem of progress is to be solved by de- 
 veloping men and women of the true type. There is not any 
 more need for consecration in China than in Texas. Our 
 development is arrested in many places for lack of heroic 
 
 217 
 
p.v Dr. J. B. Gambreix, D. D. 
 
 leaders. There are noble men and women ready for any 
 service, if only they can have leaders, intelligent, courage- 
 ous, self-sacrificing and adaptable; men and women above 
 class and race feelings ; men and women who will 
 not look at the ministry from the social and financial stand- 
 point, but from the standpoint of the cross. The right kind 
 of preachers can do well anywhere, for God will be with 
 them. 
 
 I cannot close this article without a word to preachers' 
 wives, and to those good women who expect to be preachers' 
 wives. A preacher's wife may greatly help or hinder him. 
 If a woman expects her husband to use the ministry to pro- 
 mote her and his social position, or for ease, she makes an 
 unspeakable mistake from every conceivable standpoint. The 
 glory of the ministry is service, and no wife can have any 
 glory separate from her husband. Alas! for a worldly- 
 minded, self-serving preacher's wife. She will prove the 
 truth of that scripture which teaches us that whosoever will 
 save his life shall lose it. The royal road to all good, and 
 to the greatest honor, here and hereafter, is the way of ser- 
 vice consecrated by the footprints of the Son of God. 
 
 LIZARD KILLING. 
 
 SOME years ago a brother was visiting the state con- 
 1 vention of a sister state and heard a prolonged 
 JIB discussion on a very small point of parliamentary 
 law. It seemed that every brother present was 
 especially strong on . parliamentary order, and had an 
 opinion to give on the question in debate. This 
 was characteristic of the state, in a measure, for many 
 years. Under the lead of the paper most read among the 
 people, they had turned their religious meetings into de- 
 bating societies, and had discussed all manner of questions, 
 
 218 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 without any regard to their importance or to the appropriate- 
 ness of the discussions, or to spiritual conditions. It goes 
 without saying, that in such a state, the practical duties of 
 Christianity would be very much neglected. Next to noth- 
 ing was done for missions, and still less for education, but no 
 people were busier, none could become more enthused, or 
 annually had greater discussions, but they were all about 
 things that were trivial. 
 
 When this brother saw an opportunity, he got the floor, 
 and after talking in a semi-humorous way for quite a time, 
 until he had turned the whole convention into sympathy with 
 himself, he began to come down closer and closer upon the 
 practice of wasting life on questions that gendered strife 
 rather than godly edifying, making his discussions as serious 
 and severe as he could, not to irritate his hearers too much. 
 Toward the close he related the following incident, which 
 really occurred within his knowledge : 
 
 "A gentleman sent his son after dinner one day to lay by 
 a promising piece of corn. About the middle of the after- 
 moon, the father walked down to the field to see how the 
 plowing was going on, and to his amazement he saw that 
 Charley was running and thrashing and making a great ef- 
 fort evidently to kill something. He had already beaten 
 down and destroyed about a half acre of corn and he called 
 out, 'Charley, what in the world is the matter?' Charley 
 explained that he was lying down sleeping, a lizard ran over 
 his face, he got up, ran after it and intended to kill it. His 
 father said, 'Now, see what you have done ; you have lost 
 half the evening, and destroyed half an acre of corn, and 
 what is the use of killing the lizard anyway? If you kill 
 him he is worth nothing, and if you don't kill him, he will do 
 no harm.' Charley replied, 'I don't care ; I am going to kill 
 him, if I lose a crop.' " 
 
 "This," said the speaker, "represents many a Baptist. He 
 goes to sleep until some little question that has no good in 
 
 219 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 it — and no harm either — is sprung, and then he is all wide 
 awake, ready to settle that question, if the Lord's work is 
 
 Charlie Kills the Lizards and Ruins the Corn. 
 
 utterly neglected." Waiting a moment to allow it to strike in, 
 
 220 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 he continued, 'I neglected to say that Charley was the son of 
 a Baptist, and was half idiot.' " 
 
 The anecdote did its work. One of the brethren who had 
 been a leader in the discussions rose to his feet, waving a 
 ten dollar bill and said, "I want to do something." The 
 money was turned over to education, the trend of the con- 
 vention changed, and for many years the whole state has 
 been on the up-grade. The same speaker told the anecdote 
 in his own state convention, and a young brother, attending 
 the meeting for about the first time, heard it. Soon after- 
 ward he went away to the Seminary, and in a few years be- 
 came Secretary of Missions for the state of Tennessee. He 
 took up the lizard anecdote and went from one end of that 
 state to another, employing it with fine effect to illustrate 
 how Baptists were allowing the Methodists and other de- 
 nominations and the devil to take the state, while the Baptists 
 were discussing little questions among themselves, and ques- 
 tions, too, which amounted to nothing, no matter how they 
 might be settled. It served him many a good turn, for he 
 told it with inimitable effect. 
 
 At the B. Y. P. U. convention in Wilmington, N. C, one 
 of the speakers, to the great amusement and evident instruc- 
 tion of the great audience, brought forward the lizard anec- 
 dote again, and told it, not as it was originally told, but in 
 substance. It carried the point, and was much spoken of by 
 those who heard it. 
 
 This is the history of the anecdote, and that was one 
 lizard which really did good in the world, albeit, it never 
 intended to do it. Really, may not the lesson of the story 
 have a wide application? Are there not many questions 
 debated among us of such trivial importance, that we may 
 well compare them to the chasing of a lizard, and isn't it 
 really true that some of our preachers, some of our churches, 
 
 221 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 too, have lost more than one crop chasing lizards ? There is 
 an old proverb which illustrates the same point, "The game 
 is not worth the candle.'' In the common affairs of life men 
 always consider whether the thing they are after is worth 
 their time and trouble. Why should we not be equally reason- 
 able in religious matters ? Isn't it a thousand pities that able 
 men will so often throw away life with all of its opportuni- 
 ties on questions that are trivial? 
 
 There conies to my mind at this moment a very able 
 preacher who threw away the latter half of his life discuss- 
 ing a very abtruse and unsolvable question relating to re- 
 ligion and science. And we all know how earnestly and 
 often in the not-long-ago people discussed Melchizedek, al- 
 ways ending where they began, in a midst of darkness. There 
 are minds that delight in the mystical and the curious. There 
 are people who spend a great deal of their time on puzzles, 
 and if they can get a religious puzzle, then they are in the 
 heighth of their glory. Of one of this class a man with a 
 genius for characterization said, recently, "He is a donkey 
 ;braying in a deep mist." 
 
 We all might study with a great deal of profit the intense 
 earnestness and practical good sense of our Lord and his 
 apostles. One of these curious people came to Jesus once 
 with a question: "Will there be many saved?" Our Lord 
 did not answer his question, but he did for him something 
 a great deal better ; he gave him some practical advice as to 
 seeking for himself to enter the kingdom. 
 
 Let each one of us see that we do not resemble Charley, 
 who only stirred himself out of sleep when the lizard crawled 
 over his face, and then lost all regret at the failure of a crop 
 in his intense desire to kill a harmless little animal, and if 
 we have any proclivities in that direction let us remember 
 that Charley was not of a sound mind. 
 
 222 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 TWO CHAPTERS ON MONEY AND METHODS. 
 
 HHE TWO great chapters in the New Testament on 
 money and methods are the 8th and 9th of 26. Cor- 
 inthians. Nowhere else can we learn so much as 
 to methods of co-operative work among the 
 churches. The immediate occasion of the writing of these 
 instructive lessons was the rounding up of a great collection 
 for the poor saints at Jerusalem. This was partly missionary 
 and partly benevolent. The Jerusalem saints gave largely, 
 many all they had, to keep the Pentecostal revival going. 
 Then came wasting persecution. Jerusalem was a great cen- 
 ter of evangelism. It was of the utmost importance that the 
 church be supported that it might carry forward its work. 
 
 It appears clear that Paul was conducting this cam- 
 paign among the churches. From this it is certain that the 
 Holy Spirit sanctioned the common sense idea, that some- 
 body must look after all business of consequence. The 
 notion that the large affairs of the kingdom, involving co- 
 operation among the churches, must be left without human 
 superintendence, has no support in reason or scripture; but 
 is flatly negatived by both. No one can read the 8th chap- 
 ter without being convinced that, as in all other things, 
 religious, the Holy Spirit uses men who employ common 
 sense methods. 
 
 It is perfectly clear that separate, independent churches 
 co-operated in the one great move. It is just as clear that 
 co-operation was voluntary, not by compulsion. Paul in 
 every expression appeals to their love, their devotion and 
 never once to his authority. They are to give of a ready 
 mind, not grudgingly. All his appeals go to the heart and 
 consciences of the saints. 
 
 We learn, also, that in matters financial it is right to use 
 the force of example to influence those who need to be lift- 
 
 223 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 ed to a higher plane of giving. Paul tells the church at Cor- 
 inth of the noble giving of the churches of Macedonia. Why 
 should we be so squeamish in using common sense methods 
 in the great business of inducing each other to give, as we 
 should? Here we have apostolic example, falling in with 
 common sense. 
 
 We may furthermore learn, that it is right to send men 
 to churches to urge them to do their duty. Paul sent, not 
 one simply, but more than one. Here again common sense 
 and Holy Scripture coincide. Indeed, the whole modern 
 notion that collections must go by spontaneous combustion 
 is completely exploded by Paul's teaching and example, as 
 shown in these two chapters. They are marvels of common 
 sense and practical wisdom. 
 
 It appears further, that it is right for a church to make a 
 promise. Paul commends the Corinthian church, because it 
 was ready to undertake and promise. But Paul, led by the 
 Spirit, did not leave it at that. He urged them to go on and 
 complete their collection. He had been boasting of them, 
 and he urges them not to put him and themselves to shame 
 by falling down on the collection. He went further and 
 sent men to look after it. He knew the danger of cooling 
 off. 
 
 And the marvelous wisdom of this divine plan is display- 
 ed in the rule of giving. Every one and every one as the 
 Lord had prospered him. The poorest could give as well, 
 though not as much, as the richest. Besides, the giving was 
 all to go on the underlying fact, that all prosperity, great 
 or small, comes from God. This is the very cream of the 
 whole matter. This should be the unbending rule in every 
 case. 
 
 The 8th chapter particularly settles one great point never 
 to be lost sight of in managing money given for religious 
 
 224 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 purposes. Paul associated a number of brethren together, 
 selecting tried men and men of the highest repute in the 
 churches to receive and administer this fund gathered from 
 the several churches. He tells us why, and his reason is 
 good. He would avoid blame by "providing for honest 
 things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the 
 sight of men." He would so manage the fund as to hold the 
 confidence of the brethren and the churches. Where there 
 is no power to compel, there must be confidence to win. 
 This is God's plan. These "messengers of the churches, the 
 glory of Christ," were not messengers sent by the churches 
 to some general body, but a board or committee traveling 
 with the fund of the churches. There is here revealed a 
 great principle in the management of denominational finan- 
 ces. It is at this point that what is called the gospel mission 
 plan breaks down. It is neither according to scripture nor 
 common sense, because it does not safeguard denomination 
 finances. I have recently had a letter from Mexico which 
 informs me, that a meeting-house built by the gifts of the 
 churches sent to one man is now rented for a dance hall. 
 The brother took title in his name. He is now in this coun- 
 try and collects rent from the property. Because this 
 method has in it no safeguards and can never appeal to the 
 common sense of the plain common sense masses, it will 
 never have anything more than a spasmodic existence. Paul's 
 principle should never be sunk out of sight. It is vital to all 
 large success. 
 
 It appears from a study of these scriptures, that the 
 churches severally, each for itself, chose the messengers to 
 travel with and administer this bounty. A convention may 
 name a number of brethren and recommend them to the 
 churches to administer a common fund, but after all each 
 church must choose or reject these men, commonly called a 
 
 225 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambreix, D. D. 
 
 board. They are only the messengers or agents of as many 
 and of such churches as chose to employ them to disburse 
 their funds. This is a point as vital as the co-operation of 
 the churches on the one hand, and the independence of the 
 churches on the other. Whoever tries it will search the 
 scriptures in vain to find one example of two or more 
 churches ''through messengers" to a general body choosing 
 men to administer their funds. The choice was direct, as is 
 shown in the wonderfully instructive scriptures under con- 
 sideration. A convention may nominate men ; the churches, 
 each for itself, must choose. This was the method wrought 
 out under divine direction. It is a marvel of simplicity and 
 common sense. Within the limits of these principles lie our 
 safety and our success. These prnciples define clearly how 
 co-operation on the widest scale may be practiced with per- 
 fect safety to the independence of the churches. They also 
 show how co-operation may be powerfully promoted. 
 
 These are but a few of the lessons contained in these 
 two great chapters. They are a compendium of revealed 
 wisdom and plain common sense touching religious giving 
 and financial management on a large scale. They are worthy 
 of profound study. Whoever understands these will not go 
 far wrong on the general question of church finance and 
 denominational management. They mark out the King's 
 highway, leading to the largest success. The great bulk of 
 the denomination has always kept within the limits of truth 
 and safety. Only within recent times have we had men ad- 
 vocating the doctrine that churches can transfer their 
 authority through messengers into a general body, and thus 
 give a board church authority to do church acts. And what 
 is called "gospel missions" on the other hand ignores scrip- 
 ture example and common sense. Keep in the middle of the 
 road. 
 
 226 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 CONSERVATISM AND CORNS. 
 
 N ENGLISH wit tells of a man who, being applied 
 to by a corn doctor, refused an offer to have his 
 corns removed, exclaiming: ''What! them corns; 
 twenty years have I kept them.'' 
 
 Here is one kind of conservatism for you. And it is 
 the kind very much lauded by many whose thinking is only 
 in the bark of things. Conservatism may or may not be 
 good. Corns gain no value by their age. They are a kind 
 of belonging not desirable, and the longer one has them 
 the less use he finds for them. A man of ordinary judgment 
 will be ready to part with this kind of property on short 
 notice, and pay something for the privilege. 
 
 Nevertheless Douglas Gerrold's conservatist has many 
 close kinspeople in America, as, no doubt in England. They 
 cling to what gives them trouble for no better reason than 
 that they are used to the thing that way. 
 
 Spurgeon tells us of the great trouble he had to get a 
 grotesque, high and thoroughly unholy pulpit removed and 
 a sensible one put in its place, all because the nonsensical 
 one had been there a long time. Dr. Gill had occupied it. 
 It was associated with his long ministry. Why should it 
 be removed? It counted for nothing, that for real preach- 
 ing, it was wholly unsuited. It was a corn not to be sacri- 
 ficed to comfort or sense. I have myself had a similar ex- 
 perience with a pulpit, and only succeeded in removing the 
 old one by promising to use the material in it to make a new 
 one. 
 
 Not a few churches hold on to a set of old leaders, 
 deacons and others, after they have long been a burden on 
 every member of the church. These effete leaders are most 
 known as not leading. Like veritable corns, they locate 
 themselves on the body, and make it very uncomfortable if 
 they are rubbed. They are like corns in that they are ex- 
 
 227 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrfjx, D. D. 
 
 crescences. They have no vitality in themselves. They add 
 nothing to the strength of the body; but they won't put 
 
 What! Them Corns? Twenty Years Have I Kept Them. 
 
 up with any pressure. Their whole force lies in making it 
 uncomfortable when not let alone. 
 
 228 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 A man with corns on his feet very soon learns the 
 value of room for them. He never fails in buying shoes 
 to remember his corns. He makes ample provision for them, 
 not because he loves them, but because he will hear from 
 them if he does not give them plenty of room, and let them 
 have due prominence. They will retaliate without mercy 
 if any repression is used. 
 
 It is even so with some men in the churches. Hard and 
 horny, without tenderness or consideration for others, they 
 occupy chief seats, and have their way for no other reason 
 than that the people dread to touch them. They can turn 
 the pleasantest occasion into a terror and they will do it 
 remorselessly if they are rubbed the wrong way. People 
 put up with them for no other reason than that it is trouble- 
 some to do anything against their wishes. These excres- 
 cences, like thorns, preempt their places, and serve notice 
 that whenever they are crowded there will be a row in their 
 neighborhood. 
 
 In many churches these disagreeable, not leaders, but 
 setters, are permitted to annoy and pain the church for no 
 better reason than the Englishman refused to have his 
 corns removed. They had been there a long time. We read 
 of a knave in the Acts who controlled the people because 
 of a long time he had bewitched them with his tricks. 
 
 Coming back to conservatism, let the question always 
 be asked whether the thing to be conserved is worth hav- 
 ing, or whether a better thing might not be had in its place. 
 Conserving corns is a poor business. There are some other 
 things not worth conserving. The old Latins asked a preg- 
 nant question : What good ? What is the good of corns ? 
 If none, then let them go by the best means at hand. My 
 experience with them is that you can afford to swap them 
 for nothing and pay boot. Equally certain is it that many 
 churches can afford to dispense with a so-called leadership 
 
 229 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 even if, at the cost of a temporary tumult. I have seen 
 people who could do very little besides sit up and nurse a 
 collection of corns which, on the slightest provocation, put 
 their owner on a rack of pain. Without adding a thing to 
 the force or happiness of the body they claimed special at- 
 tention, and gave the owner no time for much else than try- 
 ing to keep them from making trouble. And in scores of 
 churches the whole body is occupied trying to keep a few 
 useless members from destroying the happiness of all the 
 other members. 
 
 My deliberate judgment is that corns are good property 
 to part with by the quickest and easiest way possible, no 
 matter whether you have them a week or twenty years. 
 They do not improve by acquaintance, and like the deadly 
 tongue, no man can tame them. And many churches can 
 well afford to part with an element which only remains to 
 give trouble no matter how old or how young these people 
 are. The Irishman, who had an ailing tooth extracted, and 
 remarked to it as he laid it aside, "Now, ache as much as 
 you please," was a philosopher in his way. 
 
 Here I drop the subject, inviting the reader to work it 
 all out to his own satisfaction, only remarking that conserva- 
 tism is a good thing if the thing conserved is worth the 
 trouble. 
 
 230 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 A CASE OF APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION WITH 
 NOTES. 
 
 HAT waste is a sin there can be no doubt, if we con- 
 sider the matter in the light of the scriptures. Our 
 Lord, exercising divine and limitless power, multi- 
 plied a few loaves and fishes, till they were sufficient 
 for a great multitude. But in the midst of the abundance of 
 divinity, He taught a lesson of economy by commanding that 
 the fragments be taken up, that nothing be lost. Nature, 
 reason and religion all abhor waste, and, I believe that the 
 greatest sin of our time is waste. It is a sin of which the 
 churches are fearfully guilty. 
 
 But in considering the question of waste, we need to be 
 careful to know what real waste is. Judas felt he made a 
 strong point on Mary when he objected to the anointing of 
 Christ. The exceedingly precious ointment would soon per- 
 form its function and be gone. It might have been sold 
 for a round sum, and the proceeds given to the poor. Judas 
 was a type of a class in the churches today — a rather large 
 class, it is to be feared. Covetousness was at the bottom of 
 this objection. Judas did not care for the poor, but he did 
 love money ; and, in his soul, he did not like a liberal exam- 
 ple of giving set before the people. Moreover, he did not 
 have the face to come out square and open before the Mas- 
 ter and his fellows and oppose honoring the Savior, but he 
 made a fictitious display of a concern he did not have, and 
 set up one good cause against another. This is an old trick 
 still in high favor with Judasites. It is always something 
 else. If it is a foreign mission collection now on, they are 
 taken with a great spasm of concern for the heathen at 
 our doors. If it is a home mission collection, they are for 
 sending the gospel to the millions, who never hear of Jesus. 
 If it is for both of these in one collection, they remember 
 
 231 
 
by Dr. J. B. GambreXl, D. D. 
 
 that the pastor's salary is behind. This is the way of the 
 Judasites. 
 
 But there is another phase of the question of waste pre- 
 sented by Judas, head of a tribe in Israel. When Mary's 
 warm heart and keen spiritual vision prompted her to do 
 the thing which filled the world with a sweet fragrance, 
 Judas put in where he did not belong. It was not his money 
 Mary was lavishing on her Lord. It was Mary's own mon- 
 ey. By this mark is a real Judasite best known. He wants 
 to regulate other people's money while he keeps his own. 
 Much of the din and confusion of the Christian world is 
 kept up by those who are simply objecting to what others 
 do. Let the readers make a note of this, and consider the 
 objectiors in his part of the moral vineyard. The likelihood 
 is, he will be surprised at the similarity of what went on in 
 Christ's day and what is going on now. The successors of 
 the noted Apostle Judas have the tribal mark well set. Some 
 of them are mixed, to a degree, with other apostolic tribes ; 
 but blood will out, and they show themselves, with more or 
 less plainness, every time the question of money is up. 
 
 There is a feature of the apostolic economy of Judas 
 that should be noted with care. While objecting and com- 
 mending a proper consideration of the poor, he was keeping 
 his real motive under cover. He wanted the money himself. 
 Back of all the talk was self. And the scriptures are very 
 bold, for they do say he was a thief. What is thievery but 
 getting what does not rightly belong to you ? 
 
 The successors of Judas are not smart. They have their 
 own personal interests to serve, and they try to head oft 
 and capture every move, so as to turn it their way. If there 
 is a great mission move agoing, they tell the people there 
 is too much ado about money. Better keep clear of the 
 thing, or it will cost too much, and a lot of the money is 
 wasted anyhow. A Judas pastor shunts missions aside be- 
 cause they might absorb his salary. Poor fool, he is like 
 
 232 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 his apostolic predecessor, or playing his double game against 
 God, who has said that whosoever will save his life shall 
 lose it, and whoever loses his life will find it. 
 
 There have been Judasites who took to running papers 
 for a living. They are for economy. Elaborate plans for 
 spreading the gospel fill them with dismay. My, the ex- 
 pense! They do not know what it is to throw themselves 
 into the great work unreservedly, and sink or swim, survive 
 or perish, live or die, with the Master's cause. And if the 
 people get caught up into a swelling tide of missionary zeal, 
 they will get left. Then begins the working of the Judas 
 spirit. They will not come out and tell what is in their 
 hearts. But they begin to object to what other people are 
 doing with their money. They raise the cry of waste. And 
 in the meantime they have their own schemes wherewith to 
 turn contributions their way. They cut up shines, get up 
 counter-movements and pose as defenders of the faith. One 
 of this tribe charged $100 for a three days' debate, and gave 
 it to the secretaries for loving money. Another has kept 
 the hat passing for himself while he cries waste of mission 
 money. This has been the cry against every great move- 
 ment for Christ and His cause from the days of Judas till 
 now. The great givers have had joy in it, and the successors 
 of Judas have been active in opposing. Likely it will go on 
 this way till Christ comes. What ailed Judas, that, with all 
 the light around him, he drove on to such a dismal end? 
 Spiritual blindness was his trouble. Mary saw what he 
 could not see. She saw the Christ in His death and resur- 
 rection glory. With such a vision filling her soul, she could 
 think of herself and of her money only, as she and it might 
 honor the Lord. To love and faith, to withhold was to waste 
 all. Hers was the true vision. All life and all treasure can 
 only be rightly estimated by looking at them from Mary's 
 standpoint. Love has good eyes ; selfishness is as Wind as a 
 bat. 
 
 233 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrexl, D. D. 
 
 From the true standpoint, we are to study all economic 
 questions in the kingdom. Let me suggest a few. Here 
 is a pastor with a warm heart, longing to be useful in the 
 ministry. He serves a church anxious to secure his services 
 for as little as possible. They keep him in a financial strain. 
 Here is waste, grievous waste; because with a little more, 
 the man of God might employ all his powers for the main 
 thing. This is a waste of heavenly resources. In hundreds 
 of cases 25 per cent added to the pastor's salary would 
 double his efficiency. But Judasites likely will not see it. 
 
 Many think to strongly equip missionary forces is a 
 waste. Get weak secretaries, put them in a corner, with- 
 hold resources, or else do away with secretaries entirely. 
 What is this but waste of all that is best ? It has been dem- 
 onstrated 100 years. Last year our State Board raised in 
 Texas $176,000 in round figures and expended it at less than 
 5 per cent. Four thousand, four hundred and eighty-four 
 people were baptized, 114 churches constituted, and over 
 8,000 people were brought into the churches under the faith- 
 ful labors of 259 missionaries. Yet with some it was count- 
 ed that money was wasted. More than $40,000 was raised for 
 home and foreign missions by our board, scores of meeting- 
 houses were built, and a great upbuilding work done in the 
 churches. Ail this was done while the cry of waste went up 
 from multitudes doing not a thing, but objecting and trying 
 to tell other people what to do with their money. They are 
 the true successors to Judas. 
 
 There is another view, and a very solemn one, too. Here 
 it is. Under the mistaken view of saving, many are hoarding 
 unneeded money, piling it up, adding house to house, farm 
 to. farm beyond any possible need. Two men live neighbors. 
 One lives to give. The other lives to keep. The first has 
 sent his money in streams to preach the gospel over the 
 world, to help colleges, hospitals, to help God's cause every- 
 where. He dies. Has he wasted his money? The omei 
 
 234 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 kept all and dies leaving a large estate. Has he saved his 
 money? A man dying requested his friends to put this on 
 his tombstone : 
 
 "What I gave I have ; what I kept I lost.'* 
 
 There is such a thing, and let us never forget it, as lay- 
 ing up treasures in heaven. The rich man of the scriptures 
 died poor indeed. He wasted all by keeping it. 
 
 The greatest thought of all is, that this life extends itself 
 into eternity. We can only be rich toward God by giving 
 as Mary did. She saved all she gave and brought a vast rev- 
 enue of glory to her Redeemer. 
 
 Multitudes ought to ponder this question of waste. It 
 goes to money, to time, to influence, to everything. All 
 is wasted that is not used for the honor of Him who is Lord 
 of all. 
 
 THE EVIL OF THE FIGHTING SPIRIT. 
 
 UST this morning I was reading in the third chapter 
 of James and came on these words, beginning with 
 the fourteenth verse : "But if ye have bitter envyings 
 and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not 
 against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, 
 but is earthly, sensual, devilish, for where envying and 
 strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the 
 wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, easy 
 to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits without par- 
 tiality, and without hypocrisy, and the fruit of righteousness 
 is sown in peace by them that make peace." How wonder- 
 fully apt are the words of Revelation, how true to nature 
 and suitable to all ages. These words have their application 
 in our times and are full of instruction for us. 
 
 The object of this article is to call attention to and 
 
 235 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrkll, D. D. 
 
 emphasize the wickedness of the spirit of fighting. Let us 
 remember that there is a spirit of truth and there is a spirit 
 of error. Sometimes truth is disassociated from the spirit 
 of truth. There is such a thing, and it is not as uncommon 
 as it ought to be, as preaching the truth in the spirit of the 
 devil. It is quite possible for a person to advocate truth 
 in a spirit which altogether destroys the truth. 
 
 Of course, fighting has a prominent place in the Bible. 
 There is a great deal of militarism in the New Testament. 
 The Christian life is reckoned a constant warfare. Strange 
 as the expression may seem in print, it is easy to fight in 
 the spirit of peace; and this is the only way in which it is 
 lawful for Christians to fight at all. Our Lord was the 
 Prince of Peace and yet he is the Captain of our salvation, 
 and the Leader of his own people against the powers of 
 darkness. He fights in the spirit of peace and love. He 
 fights not to hurt and wound and kill, but to save. That a 
 good many people in modern times who bear the name of 
 Christ, and are fighters, do not fight in that spirit does not 
 need any proof. There is oft against the spirit of peace in 
 contending for the truth and for righteousness, the spirit 
 of strife, the love of fight, the disposition to hurt; a gener- 
 al spirit of antagonism which shows itself in the writing 
 and in the speaking of men, who, in their own thinking, 
 are set for the defense of the gospel. 
 
 It is this devilish spirit of fight that has brought the 
 preaching of baptism into such disrepute in many quarters. 
 Some brethren who have felt themselves specially set for 
 the defense of the ordinances of the church, and the church 
 itself, have gone to battle in these great interests in the 
 spirit of the prize ring. They stand ready to crack every 
 head that pops up, and they do it in the spirit in which men 
 contend for the mastery in worldly things. There is little 
 wonder that a great many pious people uninstructed, have 
 turned away from the preaching of the truths of the gospel 
 
 236 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 in disgust, because they felt and recognized the spirit of 
 fighting, the utter absence of the spirit of love, and felt 
 that any preaching done in that style was unfit to hear and 
 wholly unsafe to believe. 
 
 Looking back now over a good many years of strife 
 and fighting, I give it as my deliberate judgment, that the 
 spirit of war, of contention, of worldliness, which has char- 
 acterized very much of the preaching of the doctrines of 
 the Baptists has done us more harm than all the preaching 
 of pedobaptists in the same length of time. It is not a 
 pleasant thing to say, but a very important one for us to 
 think upon. 
 
 And then when we come to our denominational dis- 
 cussions, what a vast amount of all the writing in our 
 papers and the discussions in our public bodies bear the un- 
 mistakable mark of the spirit of contention. Even the com- 
 mon people are not satisfied except for a short season. 
 They know when a preacher is seeking to reach a sound 
 conclusion with his brethren, and they know by a spiritual 
 intuition when he is characterized, in his utterances, by a 
 wicked spirit of fight. This spirit is every way wicked and 
 devilish. It is of the earth earthy and, it appears to me, 
 one of the very worst things about it is that it associates 
 the sacred interests of Christ's Kingdom with the lowest 
 and worst passions of the human heart. Even the world 
 understands its own spirit and recognizes it in those who 
 contend on whatever ground and for whatever cause in this 
 wicked spirit. Who has not seen a whole community of 
 sinners turn out to hear a fight in a church where this spirit 
 unmistakably reigned? The same class of people would go 
 to see a prize fight or a dog fight, or any other kind of a 
 fight. They recognize their own spirit and are drawn by it, 
 to the great shame of Christianity. 
 
 There are few more deadly things than the association 
 of that which is holy and good with that which is low and 
 
 237 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 mean. Those who are animated in their perpetual righting 
 by this wicked spirit are always loud in their protestations 
 of deep concern for the cause. Generally, they hold them- 
 selves up as being willing to sacrifice themselves for some 
 cause for which they are fighting, when, in fact, they are 
 contending for the mastery simply as men would in a polit- 
 ical arena. People are not very long deceived by such pro- 
 fessions and always, in the end, turn away with a less opin- 
 ion of religion than they had before they met such cham- 
 pions. 
 
 This wicked spirit of strife readily diffuses itself among 
 the unspiritual, to their very great detriment. It is not 
 hard where religion is at a low ebb, for a few men to di- 
 vide a whole community and array them in parties, one 
 against the other, about a thing in which not one of them 
 has a particle of interest. We have known a whole county, 
 a whole state, and even several states, to be involved and 
 wrought up to fever heat by the contentions of a few men 
 about matters personal to themselves, with only the thinnest 
 veneering to cover their sefishness. There is much that is 
 partisan and fleshly in the average Christian. He is, for a 
 season at least, good game for such a spirit as works in the 
 hearts of those who contend for the mastery in the spirit of 
 the world. Churches, associations, conventions have been 
 paralyzed by this spirit. The Apostle says, '"Where envy 
 and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work." Only 
 turn this spirit of strife loose and get it a-going among a 
 people, and every evil work will result. Suspicion, lying, 
 backbiting, evil surmises and all uncharitableness will be 
 the fruitage. What a miserable and deadly thing it is. 
 Confusion and every evil work is the result of the spirit of 
 envying and strife. 
 
 This spirit works its greatest ruin in those who enter- 
 tain it and act under its dictations. Some men are natur- 
 ally combative, and if they yield to the spirit of combat, 
 
 238 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 they will find that more and more they will grow in that 
 direction and less and less they will like the things of peace 
 
 
 fiiliP 
 
 -tV" i'",' 1 ; 
 
 /^ 
 
 77e-^4^ 
 
 Confusion and Every Evil Work is the Spirit of Envying end Strife. 
 
 and love. Some have gone so far already within our knowl- 
 edge that they can not enjoy peace. Everything is too dull, 
 
 239 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 unless there is a fight of some sort. They do not like to 
 go to church, if there is nothing but praying and singing 
 and ordinary preaching. They will go long distances to 
 hunt up somebody who will pitch into somebody else, and 
 the man who will pitch in most will have most of these un- 
 happy souls to hang to his ministry, at least for a season. 
 Nothing more completely ruins a preacher than harboring 
 and cultivating the spirit of fighting. Not a few men of 
 our acquaintance have practically ended their ministerial 
 career even before middle life, because they were everlast- 
 ingly fighting somebody. 
 
 Some, indeed, are so fond of fighting that they will hunt 
 through the papers and find something, perhaps a thousand 
 miles away, to pitch into before their congregations. Some 
 foolish thing that some woman said in New England or in 
 Old England, some little figment of error from the brain of 
 a German who has smoked his old dirty pipe until he 
 doesn't know the difference between Bismarck and Melchiz- 
 edek. He is taken up and pounded to smithereens before 
 his people. Such men, if they lived in Ireland, where there 
 are no snakes, would have snakes shipped to them just for 
 the sake of killing them. 
 
 There is a limit to the endurance of good people along 
 this line. When people have borne, perhaps, with some 
 pleasure at the start, the fighting, when they turn away 
 from their busy employments which have wearied their 
 bodies and minds through the week and go up to the house 
 of God on Sunday and instead of finding rest for their souls 
 in the promise of God and food for their souls in the bread 
 of heaven, have all their passions lashed into fury by some 
 fightitive preacher, such turn away from him and seek 
 somebody who will feed them and give them the real bless- 
 ings of the gospel. Alas, for the preachers today who have 
 fought themselves out of work, fought the world, the flesh 
 and the devil and their own brethren until they have lost 
 
 240 
 
Tex Years in Texas 
 
 all spiritual power themselves, all love for the sweeter and 
 better things of the Bible and have become so dry and un- 
 profitable that the people turn away from them. In every 
 such case the people are right. 
 
 It would be for us all a most profitable study of our own 
 hearts to find out how far, even in our contentions for the 
 truth, we are animated by this evil spirit of contention and 
 strife. Some of us need to be especially guarded. All of 
 us need to separate ourselves from men who are undoubted- 
 ly of this evil spirit. Not one of us is so strong as not to 
 need the spiritual help of his brethren and it is not good 
 for us to be with those who are constantly seeking to make 
 us like themselves — strife-mongers. 
 
 As we love our own peace and growth in grace, as we 
 love the work of our Master and would seek to be useful in 
 it, as we love our brethren and desire to help them, as we 
 love the lost world and desire to save it, let us cultivate the 
 spirit of peace and pursue it. 
 
 I 
 
 PAUL, THE TENT-MAKER. 
 
 N the abundance of mail coming to my office, nearly 
 every phase of denominational life is revealed. It 
 is impossible to read many of the letters without 
 tears, such heroic devotion and suffering, as well 
 as joyous consecration, do they reveal. I have been led to 
 compare what is going on among us now with what hap- 
 pened when Christianity was just rooting itself in human 
 hearts and in human society. 
 
 If is often said, and yet scarcely need be said, that, 
 next to the Master, Paul was the mightiest personality of 
 the apostolic period. He was colossal in his mind and in 
 his character. He was unmatched in his labors. It is prof- 
 
 241 
 
by Dr. J. B. GambreIvL, D. D. 
 
 itable to study him at any angle. He was a great scholar, 
 easily first in the apostolic group. He was the most mas- 
 terful spirit in the realm of evangelism, going from city to 
 city, with a tongue like a flame of fire. He was the finest 
 defender of the faith, meeting any foe on any part of the 
 ground. He was a matchless superintendent of missions, 
 and the greatest master of constructive Christian work of 
 his day. His was the greatest, most successful, completest 
 life lived since Christ ceased to walk among men on this 
 earth. And what completes its greatness is its superiority 
 to all outward circumstances. To him the small distinctions 
 of avocation, nationality, station, etc., amounted to nothing. 
 I come to a view of him which we may well consider in 
 these days. Let us look at Paul, the tent maker. Following 
 the wise custom of the Jews, young Saul learned a trade. 
 He was a tent maker. This was a wise custom of that far- 
 off time which all parents of today should follow with their 
 children, boys and girls. Nothing can take the place of work 
 in the formation of character. Not to know how to work is 
 a dreadful weakness in any life.. One of the most famous 
 generals of the Civil War said to me after the war closed: 
 "I am so helpless. I would give anything to be a good black- 
 smith." Paul went about on his great mission, not only with 
 a wholesome respect for work, but more with a sustaining 
 sense of independence. He could never become helpless 
 while he had health. I shall never cease to thank my par- 
 ents, especially my mother, that I was made to work, even 
 when it seemed useless, from the standpoint of anxiety about 
 making a living. I could make a living blacking shoes, for 
 I was trained to it. We need to keep close to the old paths 
 in these fast days. Woe to idlers! 
 
 The time came when Paul's tent making stood him and 
 his great cause well in hand. He made tents, not as a bus- 
 iness, but as a temporary expediency to defray expenses and 
 to enable him to carry on his work in a given place. 
 
 242 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 Today I received a letter from a brother preacher saying 
 he is pastor of 3 churches and farming to make a living. 
 
 r 
 
 ^ 
 
 Woe to Idlers. 
 
 He added that he was often tempted to leave the field, but 
 just could not. Blessed be God for men conscience bound, 
 
 243 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 who can not leave important posts for ease or on any nice 
 points of propriety. 
 
 The tent making incident in Paul's life throws a flood 
 of light on the general question of preaching and the preach- 
 er's living. Very briefly let us study some lessons drawn 
 from it. 
 
 i. A preacher is called to preach. That is his business. 
 Everything else is incidental. In a sense, he is paid for 
 preaching, but from the standpoint of his call to preach, he 
 is paid that he may preach. If he makes tents, or farms, or 
 clerks in a store, or teaches school, he is only making ex- 
 penses, that he may go on with his real business of preach- 
 ing the gospel. 
 
 2. Times come when preachers ought to make expenses 
 by some sort of work while he preaches. The right to a sup- 
 port is clear in reason, and in scripture ; but the preacher, 
 anxious above all things to further the cause, may waive this 
 right. Paul did it and showed his greatness in doing it. The 
 man who stands always on his rights is a size or two under 
 the man who will, for a great cause, forego his rights. Paul 
 was great enough to make tents and preach. Let us thank 
 God that we have men with us today great enough to plow 
 and preach. Such men are God's heroes in the earth. Such 
 men have laid the foundations of the cause from State to 
 State in this western world — of whom the world is not 
 worthy. If I am not mistaken, we are pressing the matter 
 of pastoral support too far in some cases. All hail to the 
 men who still walk in the illustrious foot-prints, as times de- 
 mand, of the world's first man and greatest preacher, Paul, 
 the tent maker. 
 
 3. What a flood of light does this incident throw on 
 Paul's earnestness. He was no dilettante preacher, full of 
 nice and delicate dignities to be coddled and cared for first 
 of all. He had that stalwart dignity that came of living up 
 to a great moral purpose. He was no carpet knight, but the 
 
 244 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 dust-covered hero from a great battle field, upon which had 
 been fought out the destiny of immortal beings. His dignity 
 was the simple but sublime dignity of usefulness, than which 
 there is nothing greater in human character. From all this, 
 I conclude that every preacher should stick to his business 
 of preaching, even if he must make tents, saw wood, black 
 shoes, dig ditches, drive a dray, teach school, practice law 
 or sweep the streets for expenses. God has marvelously 
 blessed men of Paul's spirit, and He will yet. 
 
 There is as much real dignity in serving God in one place 
 as another. The honor lies not in the place, but in the ser- 
 vice. Two brothers in the same church lived side by side. 
 They discussed the destitution in a rather remote neighbor- 
 hood. One was a preacher. Both were farmers. The 
 preacher by agreement went and held a meeting in which 
 many were converted. The other remained and laid by the 
 corn for both. Who doubts that in the last day their reward 
 will be equal? They will share the glory as they did the 
 labor. 
 
 TWO POINTS OF VIEW— SELF AND SERVICE. 
 
 H EARLY everything depends upon getting the right 
 point of view in looking at a landscape, a picture, 
 a city, or a subject. If one, from some tower in a 
 great city, looks across the streets, it will seem one 
 interminable mass of disorder. If his tower happens to be 
 at the crossing of two great streets, he can look in four di- 
 rections and see that what otherwise seemed disorder, is 
 magnificent order. 
 
 The real trouble most people have in studying the two 
 standing questions for debate, predestination and free will, 
 is getting the right standpoint. I never talked as much a5 an 
 
 245 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 half hour with an Armenian on the subject of predestination, 
 that he didn't insist on considering it wholly from the stand- 
 point of free will, or rather, from the human standpoint. 
 Predestination from the finite, human standpoint, is foolish- 
 ness. But let the man go over to the right standpoint, con- 
 sider predestination from the point of view occupied an 
 infinite God, who knows all things and works all things 
 after the counsel of his own will, and anything but predes- 
 tination is foolishness. From the Divine standpoint, salva- 
 tion on any other idea than the election of grace, is ridicu- 
 lous. If men are saved, somebody saves them. Everybody 
 agrees that God saves. If He saves, he either does it on 
 the grab-bag principle, or else He saves on purpose. If He 
 saves on purpose, He had the purpose before He saved. 
 Then the question: "When did He form the purpose?" 
 The apostle answered: "Before the foundation of the 
 world." GocL could not be an infinite God and not do that 
 way. Free agency must be considered solely from the 
 standpoint of humanity, and election from the standpoint of 
 divinity. 
 
 There is a scene depicted in the gospels, tender, beau- 
 tiful, instructive, which illustrates the difference between 
 the standpoint of selfishness and the standpoint of service. 
 Our Lord is in a circle of friends. Around Him are His 
 disciples. There comes into that company a tender-hearted 
 modest woman, and, without words, breaks an alabaster 
 box of ointment, "very precious," and anoints our Lord in 
 the presence of the company. Immediately, one of the men 
 present raises the question as to the waste of this ointment, 
 and suggests that it might have been sold and the money 
 used to much better advantage in caring for the poor. 
 
 Here are two characters: one looking at everything 
 from the standpoint of service, and the other from the stand- 
 point of selfishness. Let us take a few lessons from Mary, 
 the server, in this scene. 
 
 246 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 She had not as good opportunities as Judas, the ob- 
 jector, to know the deep things of the kingdom of God. 
 She had not heard as much, had not seen as much, but she 
 saw and heard with a different spirit, and looked at every- 
 thing from a different standpoint. She had evidently seized 
 upon the great central truth of the gospel, the divinity of 
 Jesus Christ. Judas had not. She had further apprehended 
 the truth that Christ was to die and be buried, for she 
 anointed Him unto His burial. This was a truth that even 
 the foremost of his apostles had scarcely grasped. The 
 whole attitude and bearing of Mary, here and elsewhere, 
 shows her tender and loving devotion. Love has a keen eye 
 for duty, and for chances, while selfishness can stumble 
 over the finest opportunities in the world and never see 
 them. The spirit of service can see a long distance into 
 spiritual things. Mary saw the crucifixion and the burial. 
 Others did not see it 
 
 The spirit of service was not quite so good in figures 
 as the spirit of selfishness, but, without close calculation, it 
 went further. When Mary anointed the Lord she anointed 
 the poor of the earth. She anointed all humanity. What- 
 ever magnifies and glorifies Christ and lifts Him up among 
 men, benefits humanity in all conditions. There is a strain 
 of opposition to missionary operations and ample provisions 
 for church services everywhere, on the ground that we had 
 better use the money some other way. Whatever upholds 
 the gospel and its fulness and sweetness among the people 
 most effectually reaches the very bottom round of society, 
 and lifts up, sanctifies and helps. The act of Mary went to 
 the very extremities of the race. Even further than she 
 saw, doubtless. 
 
 There is another peculiarity of the spirit of service. 
 While it cannot see the end of service, nor compass the 
 good that may be done in the long run, it has an accurate 
 eye for the right path, and whatever it does, it does in the 
 
 247 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 direction of the remotest possible good. No humble soul 
 knows just how much good it is doing. The young farmer 
 in Iowa, who stood up in the country conference and begged 
 that a young preacher might be given a chance, and when 
 told and argued with that the young preacher was igno- 
 rant, still pleaded for him, and said: "Let's send him to 
 school. I will give ten dollars toward sending him to scho:l 
 a year," didn't know much, but he had the real spirit of ser- 
 vice. He did not know what he was doing for the world 
 when he was helping to educate John E. Clough, the great 
 missionary to the Telugus ; but his earnest pleading carried 
 the point in the church, and John E. Clough carried the 
 gospel to the Telugus, and he has baptized multiplied thous- 
 ands of them. 
 
 Mary did not know all she was doing. She did not know 
 that from the resurrection of Christ onward to this hour, 
 humble hearts would be catching inspiration from her noble 
 conduct, and that her alabaster box of very precious oint- 
 ment would fill all the world with the fragrance of her sanc- 
 tified service. 
 
 Look again how things went from the standpoint of 
 service. Once a person has thoroughly committed himself 
 to serve, he arranges everything in life from that standpoint 
 I have just this half hour read of how one of the richest 
 young women in New York has joined the Salvation Army 
 and is giving her social influence, her intelligence, her 
 wealth, to the rescue work of that organization. She has 
 come to look at service as the great thing, and all these 
 others as incidental, to be used in service. So Mary saw it. 
 She did not sit down to figure on the price of the ointment. 
 She did not sit down to consider how much of other things 
 might be bought, if she would sell it. There was but one 
 consideration. That was the best use of it, and love told 
 ber that the best use of it was to anoint her Lord and Sa- 
 viour. This is ever the spirit of service, and this is the way 
 
 248 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 everything looks from the standpoint of service. There is 
 not very much arithmetic in it, but there is more power, 
 more graciousness, more blessedness. 
 
 A final remark on this side of the question is, that ser- 
 vice glorifies everything. How many millions of times have 
 women broken alabaster boxes ! How many millions of 
 times have women expended many times the price of that 
 ointment! And yet there has been no lasting perfume, no 
 enduring glory. It lacked the sweetness of service. All 
 real service, out of unselfish hearts, is glorified and glorify- 
 ing. 
 
 Now we will turn over to look at the ugly side of this 
 picture and the lessons teem. Here is the first, and a very 
 striking one. Out of the twelve men who first companied 
 with our Lord, and who had His honor and His cause par- 
 ticularly in hand, one of them was an arrant knave. Judas 
 never was anything but bad. He was a devil, and the main 
 devil that was in him was the devil of selfishness. As Mary 
 looked at everything from the standpoint of service, he 
 looked at everything from the standpoint of selfishness. He 
 stood connected with the twelve who stood immediately 
 around the Lord. He saw the miracles, he heard the heavenly 
 teaching. No doubt he was more or less moved from his 
 teaching. No doubt he was more or less moved, but he 
 was never moved from his selfishness. He was treasurer 
 for the apostolic company, and carried the bag. This was 
 exactly to his hand. What a lesson is here of the mixing of 
 the good and the bad in religion. Sometimes people are 
 dazed and amazed that bad men should be developed in re- 
 ligious circles. It is exactly the place where we should 
 expect to find the worst of men, as well as the best. There 
 never was anything good, never anything that could get a 
 grip on humanity that evil men did not seek to get hold 
 of it and control it in their own interests. 
 
 240 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 It was right up to the notion of Judas to run the whole 
 ministry and work of Jesus Christ in the interest of his own 
 finances, and Judas is the progenitor of a large family of 
 spiritual children. That is what some people want with 
 churches ; that is what some preachers want with the min- 
 istry; that is what some others want with position. When 
 Judas hanged himself he did not end his family by a big 
 lot, and, according to the law of progression, some of them 
 have gone to the point that they won't even have the public 
 decency to hang themselves. 
 
 Look again at the methods of selfishness. It went to 
 the heart of Judas that Mary poured out the ointment and 
 anointed her Lord. "Why this waste?" Selfishness is 
 given constantly to economical cramps and convulsions. 
 You can notice the workings of it always along the lines of 
 the severest economy, often on the point where economy 
 turns into absolute waste. It wants to skimp and trim in all 
 matters of service. The pastor is to be put upon the barest 
 living. The whole service of Christ is to be laid out on the 
 scantiest pattern, while there is abundance for everything 
 else. It takes the right kind of eye to see through the var- 
 nish and veneer of this cry against waste and service, and 
 to discern the real selfishness that underlies the whole thing. 
 We know exactly what ailed Judas, and the whole narra- 
 tive is set before us in the gospel to teach us that the spirit 
 of selfishness is what it is. 
 
 Now look at the audaciousness of selfishness. "Why 
 this waste?" Whose waste? Wasn't it Mary's ointment? 
 Did it cost Judas anything? Was it any of his business? 
 What concern had he with this gracious woman's love offer- 
 ing to her Lord? An unseemly spectacle is it, hard gritty, 
 mathematical calculations over against the tender pulsa- 
 tions of a woman's love. But hasn't it been this way all the 
 time ? Who are the people today who are crying out waste ? 
 Are they the people who are giving? It is now forty years 
 
 250 
 
Tex Years in Texas 
 
 I have been noticing things in religious circles, and, prac- 
 tically without exception, the cry of waste in the kingdom 
 of God has come from those who are sitting in judgment on 
 other people's giving. Mary wasn't wasting anything that 
 Judas ever gave, and yet, Judas felt called on to regulate 
 matters. He is the father of a pestiferous tribe in Israel, 
 who pop up on all corners to regulate other people's doing. 
 
 We will take another lesson. Notice jn this narrative 
 how Mary struck another track. Here was a supreme oc- 
 casion, a great hour, an opportunity to be used or lost once 
 for all. Mary saw it. Mary glorified her Lord and herself 
 by serving the hour, and that with all her heart. Judas did 
 not see the hour, nor the time. He saw the money. He was 
 good in figures, good in arithmetic. He wanted to stop the 
 thing. Not to say that Mary shouldn't give — no, no — but 
 to propose another object. Just then he had a spasm of 
 concern for the poor. Nobody ever knew of him having it 
 before, nor after, but that spell took him right on the spot, 
 and he said: "It might have been sold for three hundred 
 pence and given to the poor." 
 
 It's ever thus. Get after selfishness about missions, and 
 immediately there is a great concern about the Orphans 
 Home. When there is to be a great' round-up for the Or- 
 phans Home then it is something else. Reader, did you 
 ever chase a small pig along an old-fashioned worm fence, 
 and try to catch him? Now you have him in this corner, 
 and when you are about to put your hand on him he slips 
 the crack and is over on the other side. You get over there 
 and hem him after a time, and just before you get hold of 
 him he is through another crack and back. You can not 
 catch him. That pig is a picture of the selfishness that rules in 
 the heart of many a man, from Judas down. You can never 
 exactly find the right place, nor the right thing. Take your 
 
 2sl 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 collection for what you will and there is something else that 
 is in need. "By their fruits ye know them." Gracious Mary 
 and selfish Judas represent two great types in the kingdom 
 of God. 
 
 TRUMPETING HARDSHELLISM. 
 
 BHE Hardshell Baptist paper, Baptist Trumpet, has 
 had plenty to write about since we called the atten- 
 tion of the denomination to the revival of this pecul- 
 iar and deadly cult. When the Trumpet says that 
 there is a great deal of Hardshellism in missionary churches, 
 we feel compelled to admit the truth of the statement. There 
 is no danger that Hardshells outside Missionary churches 
 will increase. The pure bloods do not propagate. The hy- 
 brids do. 
 
 The Trumpet has a great variety of choice expletives, 
 which it applies vigorously to this writer, after the style of 
 two generations ago. They do not need nor deserve special 
 mention. 
 
 It is charged that we used to be a predestinarian, which 
 is correct. Our objection to the Hardshells is that they 
 are unsound on predestination. They are hard on one side. 
 They are only half predestinarians. They believe in the 
 predestination of the end, but not of the means. They deny 
 half the Scriptures on predestination and convert the other 
 Scriptures into nonsense. Let us illustrate : A man deter- 
 mines to have a well at a certain place, that is, he predes- 
 tinates, or predetermines to have it. But he stops there 
 and makes no plan by which the well is to be dug. That is 
 Hardshellism. 
 
 Let us turn the other side. Another man wanders about 
 and begins to dig; he does not know what, a well, a post 
 hole, or simply a hole. He has not made up his mind what 
 
 2^2 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 he will do, but he is digging. That te an Arminian, and 
 he is as foolish as a Hardshell, but no more so. Another 
 man makes up his mind to have a well and he chooses all 
 the means necessary to carrying out his purpose. His pre- 
 determination takes in both the end and the means. This 
 represents God's predestination. It is wise in all its goings, 
 selecting and making efficient all the means leading to the 
 end. "If a man is going to be saved he will be saved any- 
 way," is not true. He will be saved, but God's way, not 
 anyway. And God's way is by the preaching of the gospel, 
 which he has given command shall be preached to every 
 creature. Through the preaching of the gospel he will take 
 out of all nations a people for himself. 
 
 This leads us to notice that the brother remarks that if 
 "Dr. GambreH" were called on to prove his statements 
 he would whine. No, he would not. He would prove them 
 if he thought it useful to do so. He will take three of them 
 as samples, selecting those most complained of, and prove 
 them without being called on. We charged that Hardshell- 
 ism dismembers the Scriptures and sweeps half the Bible 
 out at the back door, which means that they discard in prac- 
 tice a part of the Bible. Is this true or not? Let us take 
 the commission. They hold to baptism stoutly. They take 
 baptism right out of the middle of that great command. Be- 
 fore it comes "go preach," "teach," "all nations," "every 
 creature," and after baptism, "teaching them to observe all 
 things whatsoever I have commanded you." What is this 
 but committing violence on the word of God? Is not a re- 
 fusal to go and a refusal to teach the "all things command- 
 ed," downright rebellion against the King Eternal? It is 
 this thing that obedient souls cannot fellowship. We offer 
 this as a specimen of the Hardshell method of tearing the 
 Scriptures to pieces and throwing them away. The same 
 thing runs through their whole cult. 
 
 We said they used one Scripture against another as a boy 
 
 2 53 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell. D. D. 
 
 Hardshellism Dismembers the Scriptures and Sweeps Half 
 the Bible out at the Back Door. 
 
 uses one nail to drive another out. This hurts the feelings 
 of the Trumpet brother. It is a severe charge, but if it is 
 true, the remedy is not to call names, but to reform. Is it 
 
 2 5 4- 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 true ? Take the whole Scripture teaching concerning effort 
 for the saving of men, teaching in precept and in example 
 which is abundant, and with Hardshells it is displaced by 
 an insistence on predestination and related doctrines. This 
 is the Hardshell method constantly employed. The Trumpet 
 furnishes plenty of illustrations of what has just been said. 
 
 Then take the Scripture doctrine of giving, which is so 
 clearly and strongly taught, and it is driven out by an un- 
 holy use of the Scriptures which inveigh against the love 
 of money. For seventy years men who keep their money, 
 who have never given a cent to bless the heathen with the 
 gospel, who go in the face of the Scripture, that the labor- 
 er is worthy of his hire, berate those who give and sacrifice 
 for loving money, as if, on the face of it, those who keep 
 their money are not greater money lovers than those who 
 give it. It is as certain as the judgment, that Hardshells 
 do play one Scripture against another to justify their do- 
 nothingism. 
 
 Another grievance is that this writer said Hardshellism 
 cultivates ignorance and abhors light. This is true or false. 
 The truth or falsity of the charge must be tested by our 
 Lord's rule. "By their fruits ye shall know them." We 
 appeal to history. During the seventy years of Hardshell ex- 
 istence have they not fought the missionaries on every 
 move to enlighten the world? They have opposed missions 
 and Christian schools of all sorts with a vehemence worthy 
 of any cause. Where in all these years have the Hardshells 
 built a school or founded a mission? If they are in favor of 
 enlightenment, where are the fruits? We are not entitled 
 to stand on professions, but must stand or fall by our deeds. 
 If seventy years of history do not slander Hardshellism it 
 is a deadly enemy to progress and enlightenment. 
 
 255 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 In all we have written on this subject we have had noth- 
 ing but the kindest feelings for the Hardshells, as they de- 
 light to call themselves. Many of them have been our per- 
 sonal friends. We glory in the divine sovereignty in pre- 
 destination and in the election of grace. But we speak of 
 the cult, and it is, as sure as we live, an enemy to the prog- 
 ress of the gospel. As such, our soul abhors it. None of 
 this is written with the thought that the out and out 
 Hardshells will be helped. For the most part they are pet- 
 rified. We write to save our own people from the doom that 
 awaits all people who withhold their energies from the 
 spread of the gospel. Anti-mission churches will die as 
 certainly as the Commission is true. And they ought to 
 die. They cumber the ground. The efforts to fill our 
 churches with the unholy spirit of strife and selfishness is 
 in the interest of Hardshellism. It is the old spirit and 
 the old method and will bear the same kind of fruit. It 
 will dry up all benevolence, starve pastors and drive pros- 
 perity from the churches. We should shun it as we would 
 the black plague. 
 
 The most tremendous efforts ought to be made now to 
 purge our churches of the leaven of Hardshellism. Papers 
 and pastors ought to thunder against it incessantly. It 
 ought to be stripped of all its deceitful disguises, and 
 shown in all its littleness, in all its mischievousness and 
 rebellion against the reign of grace in the world. No tame 
 words will serve. Its alliances are with ignorance, selfish- 
 ness, evil surmising, fuss mongers, and whatever is of the 
 world, the flesh and the devil. In its deceitful meshes are 
 devout souls, and it should be our care to deliver them from 
 this snare of the evil o»e. It is our present, pressing duty. 
 The fight should be taken up and waged to a finish. 
 
 256 
 
IS 
 
 Ten Years in Texas 
 
 THE WORKINGS OF HARDSHELLISM. 
 T HAS already been said that Hardshellism is, as to 
 progress, a negation. Its first name was "anti- 
 effort." It is do-nothingism. Whether under one 
 name or another, in the Hardshell ranks or in the 
 Missionary ranks, it has the same spirit and works by the 
 same methods, and leads to the same results. It flourishes 
 best in dark places, remote from schools, and always feeds on 
 ignorance and prejudice. True enlightenment is a sovereign 
 remedy for the evil. 
 
 Take this denomination over the whole country and it has 
 almost disappeared. In a section of country where the 
 two wings were so evenly divided that it was thought nec- 
 essary to compromise in many churches, there are now 25,000 
 missionaries and a few years ago seventy-two Hardshells, 
 gathered in twelve churches, having nine ministers, and 
 four out of the nine preachers were living separated from 
 their wives. They were contrary to all men, and women, too. 
 This is hardly an astonishing statement. The spirit of 
 objection, strife and division which they had cultivated as 
 against the missionaries, could not help reacting disastrous- 
 ly on themselves. It is always so with us. He who shoots 
 must suffer the recoil of the gun, and all sin is a gun that 
 kicks back harder than it shoots forward. The persistent 
 opposition to, and criticism of others, sets up a habit of 
 fault-finding which goes to every part of a person's being 
 and into every department of his life. 
 
 Moreover, when this habit becomes predominant and 
 fixed, it is the big fish that eats up all the small fry of bet- 
 ter traits of character. In so doing, the perverting and 
 hardening effects of this evil habit go on to the utter de- 
 struction of the judgment and the elimination of sweetness 
 from the soul. Evil surmises take the place of that chari- 
 ty that "thinketh no evil." The perverted mind sees back 
 of everything done by the workers some sinister design. 
 
 257 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrexl, D.D. 
 
 The heart corrupted by its own do-nothing policy becomes, 
 like a stagnant pond, the breeding plaice of slimy, creeping, 
 sinuous thoughts and imaginations. 
 
 It is a cardinal principle in humanity to seek to justify 
 itself. This is a widely recognized truth. A brother who 
 does not wish to pay a debt is likely to fall out with his 
 creditor. He seeks to find a good reason for not paying, 
 not in himself, but in the other man. To this well-known 
 principle of human nature we are to attribute the workings 
 of hardshellism in and out of Missionary churches. It 
 works the same way and to the same effect, no matter where 
 it works or on what pretense. 
 
 A gentleman had trained a large dog to pull a light gar- 
 den plow. Whenever any one came about, the dog would set 
 up a terrific barking as if he would tear the intruder to 
 pieces. The gentleman, who had observed the ways of the 
 dog carefully, explained that there was no danger in the 
 dog; that he only barked so as to have an excuse for not 
 plowing. That was undoubtedly a Hardshell dog, tho pos- 
 sibly he was in a Missionary family or church. 
 
 When Dr. Broadus said the "workers never grumble and 
 the grumblers never work," he was close to the exact truth. 
 Working and grumbling do not harmonize. They are two 
 opposite forces. Religious work promotes soul health, as 
 physical work promotes bodily health. The most ear-split- 
 ting calamity-howlers are the men who have quit honest 
 toil and taken to crying hard times, blaming it all on some- 
 body else. 
 
 Concerning the truth of these observations, we ask our 
 readers to make observations around about them. Who are 
 the men and women in your church who are finding fault 
 with the pastor, the deacons, the Sunday School workers, 
 etc? Who is it that believes too much money is spent on 
 the church ? If we are not off in our reckonings the do- 
 nothing clement is the complaining element. Make a note 
 
 258 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 of the workings of hardshellism in your church, and when 
 you are satisfied with your observations at home extend 
 them to your association. Note the brethren who make the 
 most noise and clamor against large and liberal things, and 
 
 7pJ?S6>** J 
 
 Men who Have Quit Honest Toil and Taken to Crying Hard Times. 
 
 259 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 see if large and liberal things are costing them anything. 
 In our observation we have found, without exception, that 
 back of every outcry against real progress was the hardshell- 
 ish spirit of do-nothingism. 
 
 In an association a brother fought a mission measure 
 from year to year. In a speech before his association he 
 vowed he would never give a cent to that cause. A brother 
 rose and asked him how long it had been since he had giv- 
 en to anything. It turned out that it had been years, just 
 how many he could not tell. It was another case of stop- 
 ping the plow to bark. And his case is by no means singu- 
 lar. Extend your observations as far out as you will and it 
 will appear in the light of the facts, that religious idleness 
 promotes obstruction, strife, discord, suspicion, meddle- 
 someness, backbiting, and every evil imagination. Do- 
 nothingness, by a law of its own nature, perverts the soul, 
 makes it acrid, unhappy and full of fault-finding. It dries 
 up all nobleness of spirit and puts its victim on the spirit- 
 ual down grade. 
 
 We have growing Christians, churches and associa- 
 tions stricken with this spiritual plague and dried up. It 
 is as disastrous to a church as distemper is among sheep, or 
 mange among dogs. Every vital force is paralyzed and all 
 progress is stayed. Let even liberal souls come under the 
 spell and all liberality is dried up. As in all other human 
 experiences, there is action and reaction. Do-nothingism 
 promotes fault-finding, and fault-finding promotes do-noth- 
 ingism. This truth may well put us on our guard. Many 
 a pastor has joined in to find fault with his brethren in the 
 wider field and wound up by being starved out in his 
 own field. 
 
 260 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 A PLEA FOR SIMPLICITY. 
 
 BAPTIST is the product of the New Testament. 
 Spurgeon said of them, "They are sprung direct out 
 of the loins of Jesus Christ." Jesus Christ was the 
 world's greatest citizen, the mold and perfection of 
 the highest manhood. He was simplicity itself, in life, in man- 
 ner, in teaching. He was the commoner of all ages. The com- 
 mon people loved Him gladly because they understood Him 
 and because He loved them, helped them and gave them 
 hope. But while Jesus was the unmatched commoner, he 
 was, also, the very pink of true refinement, the beau ideal 
 of a gentleman. And to the most exquisite refinement, He 
 added the highest courage. I believe that no sane mind can 
 contemplate Jesus Christ, as revealed in the gospels and 
 even imagine this matchless man, young as He was, indulg- 
 ing any of the fads and eccentricities of dress, sometimes 
 seen in His ministers. A clergyman's coat! Horrors, no. 
 He was too great in his admirable symmetry of character 
 and sincerity to resort to any of the small tricks of the 
 grotesque weaklings to win notice. The peculiar garb, the 
 fancy touches of theology, the catchy names peculiar to 
 some religionists, were far removed from this matchless 
 man whose simple goodness and greatness were his all-suffi- 
 cient adornment. All special garbs are an offense to the re- 
 fined Christian taste, whether the dress be the Quaker drab, 
 or the priestly coat, or the old-fashioned Methodist cutaway, 
 or what not. 
 
 My plea is that Baptists follow the simple manner of the 
 Master. There is ethics in dress, and that we are most 
 surely taught in the scriptures. Paul was on the true line, 
 following in the steps of the Master. Christian women 
 ought, as a matter of good religious taste, to avoid extrav- 
 agancies in dress. An over-dressed woman in church is an 
 offense against true refinement. A fussily dressed woman, 
 
 261 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 blazing with diamonds, is an offense against good taste any- 
 where. True Christian culture will grow such crudities off ; 
 joining the church will not do it; but Christianity struck 
 through will. Christian culture is the perfection of culture, 
 the transforming of a human life into the image of the di- 
 vine Christ. 
 
 I plead for simplicity in the pulpit. The gaudy worldli- 
 ness, so much in evidence in some pulpits and so doted on by 
 some feeble saints, is monstrous from the standpoint of the 
 simple, pungent teaching of the great Teacher, and His 
 apostles. It is like a street and dress parade at the judg- 
 ment. No man ever affected such a style, nor tolerated it, 
 when he got in earnest. Earnestness is always simple, direct, 
 unaffected ; and if there is but one earnest man in the world, 
 the preacher ought to be that man. Much of the eloquence, 
 so-called, of the pulpit today is nothing short of monstrous. 
 It belongs in spirit and kind more to the theater than to the 
 pulpit. This appeal may be greatly strengthened by con- 
 sidering its belittling effect on the whole subject of religion. 
 Has it come to this that preachers must fish with such world- 
 ly bait to catch men for God? It is a reflection on the 
 power of the Gospel and the work of the Spirit to assume 
 that we must resort to such tricks as are commonly reputed 
 to win men. Gowns, rituals, catchy subjects, etc., will not 
 help Baptists. Our strength lies in preaching the plain gos- 
 pel in simplicity, with hearts deeply embued with the spirit 
 of Jesus, and not at all in frills and feathers, fads and fol- 
 derol, starch and stilts. If there are some who can't be won 
 without such things, they are not worth the cost of the 
 catch. Every little catch-minnow device in a church is a 
 detraction from the dignity of Christian worship and a de- 
 parture from the simplicity of Christ. It continues to be 
 true, that the preachers whose ministry is drawing the mul- 
 titudes are the men who preach the old doctrine, with plain- 
 ness and the power sent down from heaven. Let Baptists 
 
 262 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 stick to their business, which is to follow Christ and not to 
 ape Papists or any of the second crop of apists. 
 
 /^?- 
 
 All Special C-Jarbs are an Offense to the Refined Christian Taste. 
 
 I plead for simplicity of the meeting-houses. We 
 are upon a great time for building meeting-houses, and what 
 
 263 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gamlrkll, D. D. 
 
 a mess is made of it in many places. Spires away up higher 
 than any other church in town, knobs, corners, stained-glass 
 windows, vaulted ceilings to ruin the acoustics, with notions 
 and fancies galore. Is it all worth while ? No, it is not. It 
 is much of it worse than waste ; k is an offense to good taste, 
 and a hindrance. Do we warn good houses? We do. But 
 we do not want flashy houses, and we do not want to spend 
 great sums of money for what we do not want. In the light 
 of the New Testament and conserving the tone and spirit of 
 Christ, houses for Christian worship should be in 3imple 
 taste, built for service, rather than for show. There ought 
 to be a new dispensation of church building among Bap- 
 tists. We have a few meeting-houses recently built in Tex- 
 as, which are models of good sense, simplicity and good 
 taste. They have in their outward appearance the true dig- 
 nity of solidity and due proportion inside ; they are every way 
 suited to be the home of a church ; auditorium where people 
 can hear, with numerous working rooms. Everything neat, 
 in its place, nothing fanciful, flashy or fantastical. Each of 
 these has the organ placed in a way to suggest congregation- 
 al singing. 
 
 It is argued, with seeming force, that Baptists must keep 
 in style or their rich people will leave them. What shail 
 I say to it? There are rich people and rich people, rich 
 fools and rich wise. The rich fools must be held, if at all, 
 by the power of God's living truth in their hearts, and lo 
 feed them on religious trumpery is to minister directly to 
 the wrong side of their nature. The very moment we com- 
 mence with the vanities of the world to hold people, we 
 switch from the main gospel track, and get on a track lead- 
 ing into some other place, where they can beat us two or 
 three to one. Some rich, uncultivated people, who are not 
 certain whether they are respectable, will leave the Baptists. 
 Unless they can get better, they ought to go for our good, 
 and they will never get better by being fed with husks. The 
 
 264 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 rich wise and cultured will be delighted with simplicity in 
 our churches. They see enough of vanity, shallowness and 
 show all the week. When they go to church, their souls 
 long for the pure, simple gospel. 
 
 I hold that the Baptists above all other people ought to 
 be set for the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. Alas, for us 
 if we go to putting on airs. 
 
 CONCERNING COLLEGE DEGREES. 
 
 TL| ON. JOHN ALLEN, of Mississippi, in his last 
 mfJmt speech in Congress, appealing for an appropriation 
 a»gml to establish a fishery station in Mississippi, facetious- 
 ly remarked that there were millions of suckers in 
 the world now and millions more just waiting to be hatched. 
 Very few things go further to demonstrate the approximate 
 accuracy of Mr. Allen's statement than the ease with which 
 people are taken by college degrees. So large a place does 
 the degree fill in the public mind, or at least in the minds of 
 suckers, that I deem it worth while to make some observa- 
 tions on the degree business. 
 
 Be it known to all men by these presents, that the legal 
 right to confer college degrees of divers sorts can be had 
 of the Legislature of any State pretty much for the asking. 
 A charter can be obtained giving to any set of men the 
 authority to grant degrees under the seal of the corporation. 
 A school in a State east of Texas, located in the country, 
 having no building except a plain wooden structure ; a 
 school which seriously advertised itself to teach Caesar, Vir- 
 gil and Latin ; this rural Southern University was authorized 
 to grant degrees all the way from B. S. to Ph. D., LL. D., 
 and the degrees were granted with a lavish hand. 
 
 It is in the matter of college degrees, as touching the 
 State, very much as it is in religion. Any kind of a society 
 
 265 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 may be chartered under the laws of the State in the name of 
 a church. There are churches and churches, colleges and 
 colleges, universities and universities, degrees and degrees, 
 and suckers world without end. 
 
 In educational circles, where the genuine is sought rather 
 than the pretense, there has come to be a standard somewhat 
 definitely fixed for college degrees ; but in every descending 
 step from the high plane of the true college there are schools 
 giving degrees with no corresponding scholarship. Yale, 
 Harvard, Chicago, Brown and Baylor have approximately 
 the same standard for B. A. ; but schools whose work would 
 hardly introduce a student to the Freshman class of a real 
 college can give degrees, and do give degrees. 
 
 I come now to discuss the most important features of the 
 degree business. Degrees are used by Cheap John insti- 
 tutes as a decoy. The fine boy or girl in the country, with 
 no knowledge of educational matters, but with splendid 
 possibilities, is told that by going to a certain school the 
 degree of B. A. or something else, can be obtained in a com- 
 paratively short time. In the mind of the unthinking, B. A. 
 stands for something in education. The sucker thinks if he 
 can get the B. A. in school for two years, and it would take 
 him four or six years in another, that he had better go 
 where he can get it in two years. In his ignorance, he sup- 
 poses that B. A. stands for an education, and it does, more or 
 less ; in a great many cases a great deal less. Schools that 
 cannot do honest college work, and their proprietors know 
 they cannot do it, give regular college degrees as an induce- 
 ment to patronage. They water the stock and sell watered 
 stock instead of genuine. I raise the question whether this 
 is dealing honestly with the unsuspecting? To deceive the 
 unwary in education is next to deceiving people in religion. 
 
 In order to get at the degree business properly, it is al- 
 ways proper to ask "From what school?" A degree is like 
 a promisory note. The value of it depends upon what is 
 
 266 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 back of it. A ten-dollar note signed by one man is worth 
 more than a thousand-dollar note signed by some other man. 
 
 Degrees are Uted by Cheap John Institutions as a Decoy. 
 
 I raise the question now whether there ought to be a gen- 
 eral discussion of this whole matter to save honest people 
 
 267 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrexl, D. D. 
 
 from being gulled, and whether there ought not to be a 
 classification of the schools, that people might understand 
 what they are getting when they get a degree. I understand 
 the difficulty of any hard and fast lines, but in some way or 
 another, for the dignity of education and the genuineness 
 of it, too, there ought to be such a common understanding 
 of matters as would break up the sucker fishing industry in 
 the realm of education. To be very plain about it, I believe 
 that colleges ought to be required to maintain a certain 
 standard of work and that schools below that standard should 
 not be classed as colleges. If the State is to take a hand in 
 chartering institutions, why not charter them in such a way 
 as to really further the cause of sound education and put 
 it out of the power of just anybody to degrade degrees which 
 are symbols of certain things educational, and thereby im- 
 pose on the untaught and unsuspecting. One thing is cer- 
 tain. There ought to be downright honesty in dealing with 
 all educational questions, and humbuggery in education is 
 next to the worst humbuggery in the world. 
 
 NATIONALIZATION OF THE SOUTHERN 
 SPIRIT. 
 
 T"1HE South, like the nation, has grown by stages or 
 epochs. There was first the colonization period, 
 followed by the period of colonial development, 
 leading up to and into the revolutionary period. 
 Then came the period of constitutional adjustments and 
 trials. During this long period, the nation was led by the 
 South. But during this period the economic conditions of 
 the whole country changed, slowly, under the operations 
 of economic laws, shifted from the North to the South. No 
 longer interested in the institution financially, the North- 
 
 268 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 ern conscience had an abnormal development. The South, 
 deeply interested, could not see the inevitable, and the desira- 
 ble, and hence did not provide for a peaceable solution of a 
 grave question. 
 
 The war came and left the South bleeding, exhausted 
 and friendless. Then came reconstruction, with nothing 
 noble and inspiring in it, but everything ignoble and de- 
 pressing. Following this period, was a long period of con- 
 valescence, with numerous backsets. We are now at the 
 end of this period, and the South stands today like a robust 
 giant, full of rich blood, ready for all eventualities. 
 
 With the beginning of the slavery agitation, the South 
 began to take up a sectional attitude toward the nation. 
 The spirit of the South took on a sectional tone. Two ante- 
 bellum speeches have in them the germ and the potency of 
 all that has happened since. I refer to the speech of Sen- 
 ator Hayne, of South Carolina, said to be answered by 
 Senator Webster of Massachusetts. The first was a master- 
 ful discussion of the autonomy of the government, lean and 
 sectional in spirit. The second was not an answer, but a 
 reply. It clothed the skeleton and constitutional frame work 
 with flesh and blood and gave it national spirit. 
 
 It was an evil day for the South, when it suffered itself 
 to be led into a sectional attitude. It meant defeat in the 
 council of the nation and finally on the battle field. It was 
 a rash surrender of every advantage to those rated as our 
 enemies, now happily, as I see it, our friends. I am not 
 saying the South was not right from a constitutional point 
 of view, but only that the South erred in policy. As one 
 who gave four years to war to make good that error in tac- 
 tics, I may be allowed thus to write. The sectional attitude 
 of the South has been held in large measure, for 40 years. 
 In a feeble way, I have sought to contribute one man's mite 
 to thoroughly nationalize the Southern spirit for nearly that 
 whole period. 
 
 269 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 I believe the hour has come for the South to get out 
 of the corner, and let our influence and power flow even out 
 into the currents of national life. The race question is now 
 national, with the heavy end of it still resting on the South. 
 But the North has all it wants of it ; quite enough to bring 
 them to sanity. Besides, our foreign possessions have forced 
 a recognition of the fact that incompetency can not be trust- 
 ed with government, the grave men of the Banther con- 
 tention. President-elect Taft has had good schooling abroad, 
 and will go into the White House with a diploma from 
 the university of experience. He has already gone on record 
 in a way to assure the whole South. 
 
 The South is on the eve of the greatest development the 
 world has known. It will happen according to the Scripture. 
 We will see good according to the days wherein we have 
 seen evil. We are now receiving the first payment, under 
 the law of compensation. A broad non-sectional spirit will 
 immensely help us in the era of development into which 
 we have already entered. 
 
 Sectional politics cannot help us or the nation. Since 
 the war, the South's first concern has been to save her civ- 
 ilization from a deluge of ignorance and venality. Having 
 saved ourselves, we must help to save others. The Southern 
 alignment in politics is morally bad. The Northern De- 
 mocracy is largely composed of the saloon, gambling riff- 
 raff class ; the class we would not wish to see in the saddle 
 in the South. They can not win in the North, and ought not 
 to win. I would not vote the Democratic ticket in the North, 
 if I lived there, for about the same reasons I would vote 
 the Republican ticket in the South — for the sake of good 
 government. With the spirit of the South thoroughly na- 
 tionalized, we might lead a great anti-liquor movement, and 
 do for the nation in delivering it from the thraldom of 
 the saloon what the North did in the matter of slavery, only 
 without bloodshed. Aligned as she is, the South can never 
 
 270 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 be a great national force in politics or morals. The South 
 has a wide open door, out of a corner out into a wide field 
 of usefulness and power, with everything to gain and noth- 
 ing to lose by walking out and leaving the dead past to bury 
 its dead. 
 
 From a Baptist standpoint, the call is loud to come out 
 into a wider field of activity and influence. There are 26,- 
 000,000 people in the South, and, in round numbers 4,000,- 
 000 of them are actual communicants in the churches of 
 the baptized. There are in round numbers 50,000,000 in 
 the North and approximately a million Baptists. These 
 figures suggest both an opportunity and a duty. The re- 
 ligious life of the nation will affect the national life. Gov- 
 ernment is founded, taught and enlightened by religion. 
 The largest contribution Baptists can make in morals and 
 morals rest in conscience, to the national life and safety is 
 to teach the precepts of the New Testament and diffuse the 
 spirit of the New Testament throughout the masses of our 
 citizenship. This is the antitoxin for the Romist leaven every 
 where seeking to innoculate the body politic. 
 
 But the Baptist program must always proceed from a 
 single starting point : the individual conscience enlightened 
 by the word of God. So our first business is to win men to 
 the truth and then to teach them to apply the truth along 
 the whole cause of life. It is a simple program, with a sim- 
 ple book for a guide. The Baptist message was made for 
 the masses. It will not fail, preached with the tone of the 
 New Testament. Amid the jangling and multitudinous 
 voices of the North where fads and fancies have fed on the 
 souls of the people, Christ's message will win, if it be not 
 diluted or warped or compromised, or entangled with other 
 things. 
 
 The point I am coming to is, that the great Baptist 
 strength of the South ought to be turned toward the spirit- 
 
 271 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 ual contest of the nation. There must come a readjust- 
 ment of forces, having in view a better handling of them, 
 for the war we are in, so that the Baptists of the South 
 may bear a worthy part in redeeming the nation. 
 
 By nationalizing the Southern spirit the South may enter 
 into a new era of national growth. She may lead in a sane 
 and permanent settlement of the race question, both in 
 America and in our colonial possessions, a thing now in 
 process. For forty years the nation has floundered about in 
 the dark and has only learned how not to setttle it. 
 
 The South may lead with a solid front, in the pending 
 settlement of the liquor question, and take a leading part 
 in emancipating the nation from its greatest curse and 
 peril. The temperance reform is needing a strong base to 
 press on to national success. The South may easily be- 
 come such a base, if it will cut itself loose from its bad 
 political alliances in the North, and speedily strangle the 
 monster, in our own territory. A solid Prohibition South, 
 with other impending policies suited to the impending in- 
 dustrial development, which will enrich our people beyond 
 a dream; with new national adjustments, and a new out- 
 look on the world, with the spirit of leadership restored to 
 us, the South will take its proper place in the councils of 
 the nation. It may be the head of a great intellectual and 
 moral development instead of being the tail of a very sorry 
 dog as it is now, stuck on to the Northern riff-raff, called 
 Democracy, which is largely rumocracy. 
 
 Baptistically, with proper readjustments to our North- 
 ern brethren, we may lead America in a new movement for 
 the bringing in of the reign of Jesus according to his word. 
 But we must abandon the sectional spirit and come out of 
 a corner to do any of it. 
 
 272 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 THE WORK OF PREACHERS. 
 
 BECENTLY a lawyer in a tirade of abuse, in which 
 he declared that women and preachers could 
 neither perceive nor tell the truth, also said 
 preachers are parasites in society, living on the 
 honest toil of other people while making no return 
 for what they get. The applause given the sentiment 
 by some preachers present and by others indicates that the 
 sentiment has something in some part of the public mind 
 to support it. I have long seen inklings of the fact that 
 there are preachers who feel that the ministry is a class 
 exempted from the honest toils of humanity. These feel 
 no moral obligations to earn a living. They are sponges 
 and dead-beats. To say this, is in no way to concede the 
 truth of the allegation aforesaid, any more than to affirm 
 that there are lawyers who are court-house bullies and all- 
 round toughs is tantamount to vulgarizing the whole legal 
 profession. 
 
 Passing from the low exceptions in the ministry to the 
 general high level of the highest calling on earth, and re- 
 marking as we pass that preachers need not complain at 
 being classed with women in any classification of virtues, I 
 come to deal with the work of preachers. They must stand 
 or fall by their Master's rule: "By their works ye shall 
 know them." The man who reads history cannot remain 
 ignorant of the fact that with the coming of Jesus Christ 
 into the world there came the greatest regenerating force 
 among men humanity has felt. His teaching went to the 
 secret sources of all human conduct. When Jesus left the 
 world, He gave His teaching into the hands of His chosen 
 ministry. They expanded Judaism, stripped it of its swad- 
 dling clothes, gave it a new heart-beat, opened to the world 
 its true meaning, and taught the sanctity of all human life 
 and the universal brotherhood of man. Ministers bearing 
 
 273 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 the message of their Master, renewed the hopes of the race. 
 They lifted humanity above the beastialities of heathenism 
 and reconstructed the thought and life of the people who 
 heard them. When the vast Roman empire fell by its own 
 corruption, ministers garnered the seeds of the Christian 
 civilization which now is, and sowed them amid persecu- 
 tions, poverty and martyrdoms beside all waters. 
 
 Ministers, directly and indirectly, have founded every 
 college, seminary and university in Christendom. Oxford, 
 Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Berlin, Heidelberg, Har- 
 vard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, all of them and all the rest, 
 State universities not excepted. Ministers have not only 
 founded these, but they have stood by them and guarded 
 them through the centuries. Ministers have been the fore- 
 most force through the ages in popularizing learning. They 
 do now give and always have given a greater per cent of 
 their scanty income to schools and education than any other 
 men on earth. They have stood for the church and the 
 school house side by side, and these are the light houses 
 that dispel the enveloping darkness of all times. These, 
 the church first, are the civilizing forces operating constantly 
 to build a better social order. 
 
 Preachers have made and enriched the literature of 
 civilization. They have written a vast volume of the world's 
 best books. They have held the light for the writing of 
 what else is good. But for the work of preachers enlight- 
 ening the masses in England there would have been no 
 Shakespeare, no Lord Bacon, no written English jurispru- 
 dence. Over the mother isle today would reign the uncul- 
 tured barbarism of our heathen ancestors. Our own great 
 country would be unknown on the map of the world. No 
 statue of liberty enlightening the world would have been 
 dreamed of. There would be no liberty. England and 
 America would be no other than heathen nations. Christi- 
 
 274 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 anity is the heart and life of modern civilization, and preach- 
 ers are the heaven ordained light-bearers of Christianity. 
 
 Preachers, more than all others, have built the Ameri- 
 can commonwealth with the truth they are commissioned to 
 preach. The Bible is humanity's book. Its Divine Author 
 is humanity's best friend. The Gospel is a message of free- 
 dom to the race ; freedom from destructive vices first, and 
 freedom from outward oppression next. It is no accident 
 that where there is the free preaching of the Gospel the 
 people enjoy liberty. A great political philosopher said : 
 "All people are as free as they deserve to be." The Gospel 
 builds character and secures freedom by making people 
 ready for it. Preachers, with the scantiest living, plain, 
 unpretentious men, have traversed mountains, valleys and 
 plains, laying the foundations of civilization, and have build- 
 cd the present social state, themselves little knowing the 
 value of their service to the world. They thought most of 
 heaven, but enriched both worlds. Preachers have enriched 
 the commerce of the world. They have gone to all lands 
 and taught people how to live. Barbarians are neither good 
 producers nor good buyers. The higher Christian life is 
 the longer life. Its power to produce is enlarged. Its 
 needs are multiplied. Christianity is the commercial force 
 in the world, because Christianity leads the race toward all 
 possibilities. Many a preacher, moreover, has enriched a 
 neighborhood by a hundred fold more than he was paid for 
 his services. He has broken up saloons, led men to sobriety, 
 and taught them to use their money in right ways. Thus 
 whole communities have risen from poverty and squalor to 
 affluence and refinement, and the preacher did it with his 
 heavenly message, told may be in poor English. 
 
 Preachers have, by their teaching, contributed more than 
 physicians to the health of humanity. Better than healing 
 is prevention. Christianity tends powerfully to the lon- 
 gevity of the race, because it works in the individual the con- 
 
 275 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 ditions of health. Whatever properly regulates the life 
 makes for health. 
 
 Preachers have stood for every great moral and social 
 reform. They have heroically fought back the destructive 
 tides of evil which submerge human hopes in despair. 
 They, as a class, stand for sobriety against the saloon, for 
 honesty against gambling, for home against the brothel, foi 
 marriage against concubinage; they stand for law against 
 licentiousness. The church and the preacher are the bul- 
 warks of society against all combinations of evil. 
 
 Preachers have been the founders and unfailing support- 
 ers of all forms of benevolence. They have followed the 
 drunkard, the libertine, the gambler to his last hour with 
 calls to a better life, and when he sank into the grave, the 
 victim of his own vices, they said the best words they could 
 at the grave, and then took his orphans to some friendly 
 asylum and cared for them till they could care for them- 
 selves. All this preachers have done, without money and 
 without price, purely for the love they feel and preach. 
 
 As a great class preachers have done all these things and 
 more, all the time knowing they could never hope for more 
 than a common living. They have enriched the world, con- 
 tent themselves to remain poor. There is not another class 
 among men who have done half so much for the world and 
 received so little of this world's goods in return. Their 
 reward is on high. They do not expect it here ; they do not 
 seek it. But to call them parasites is a graceless falsehood. 
 
 276 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 CONCERNING RELIGIOUS NOTIONS. 
 
 I 
 
 F THE religious notions of people could be given 
 tangible form, they would make a rare collec- 
 tion of bric-a-brac. There would be all sorts 
 of odds and ends, closely resembling the con- 
 tents of a boy's pocket after he has had free range 
 for several days. Yet many people cling to their peculiar 
 notions with even more tenacity than the small boy holds on 
 to his store of bent and broken nails, old screws, bits of 
 crockery and glass, holes, with just enough of something to 
 go around the holes ; strings, tin things, dog teeth, and what 
 not. 
 
 Religious notions stand for many in the place of religion 
 itself. They have no religion and do not want any, but 
 they are devoted to their notions. They seem to have a no- 
 tion that notions about religion are all any one needs. They 
 stock up on notions and let the devil take their souls. These 
 little conceits become fads. People will discuss their relig- 
 ious fads till all the sands of life run out and they go unre- 
 generate into eternity. All fads, whether religious or not, 
 are small vanities. There are fads in ladies' bonnets, in 
 neck-ties, in watch-charms, in shoes, in books, in pronun- 
 ciation. All of them are as the mistletoe to the solid wood. 
 They come and go with times and seasons. There is in 
 dress and in literature a kind of fashion of fads. But be- 
 longing to the same light order of things is the eccentric fad. 
 You can see this in the way some do themselves up for com- 
 pany. I have in mind now a preacher with natural oddities 
 of facial formation. He cuts his beard in a way to bring 
 out these peculiarities to the greatest possible degree. The 
 effect is ludicrous. Another preacher accents his general 
 build by wearing a coat nearly to his heels. Another, with 
 bald head, wears an enormous mustache coming out and 
 over his mouth like a buggy top. These are eccentric fads. 
 
 277 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 Even great men may indulge eccentric fads. A great 
 speaker wore a large ring on the little finger of his left hand, 
 and gesturing, so held his finger and hand that everybody 
 was bound to notice the ring. This was unconscious, no 
 doubt, but the ring was his fad. 
 
 Fads of fashion, fads of eccentricity may be very inno- 
 cent. They may even be of some service by making people 
 laugh, but religious fads hardly ever fail to hurt. They are 
 especially damaging to weak minds and to the strong self- 
 willed. They are the notions upon which so many plant 
 themselves. Little? Yes, but many a minnow has been 
 caught on a pin-hook, and even large fish are now and then 
 caught in the same way. The dextrous handling of a line 
 with a pin-hook on it has landed many a trout on dry land. 
 It will make sure work of nearly any fish if he will hold on 
 to it. Fads are the devil's hooks for foolish souls. 
 
 The man with peculiar notions is common. He abounds 
 most where deep religious convictions and feelings least 
 abound. These religious fads grow thickest in the dry bark, 
 furthest from the life-blood of genuine piety. Two causes 
 will account for nearly all of them. Ignorance of spiritual 
 things is the mother of religious notions, but conceit has a 
 large share in the business. These two easily combine into 
 obstinacy, and then we have a bad case. Often a sinner 
 chases a little notion right into the jaws of death. Many are 
 hopelessly conceited. It is striking, picturesque and remark- 
 able to be odd. The silly fool thinks his notion marks him 
 a man of broad mind, and he has not enough mind to know 
 that he has no mind to mention on the subject of religion. 
 Young people at the big-head age are especially afflicted 
 with notions about religion. Questions which men like 
 Lamar, Gladstone, Webster, Wayland and other like think- 
 ers pondered long and solemnly and settled all one way, the 
 man of notions settles before he gets his shoes on in the 
 
 278 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 morning, and comes out with a lot of notions flying as loose 
 as his uncombed hair. 
 
 Where trivial minds have notions, God has thoughts. 
 God's thought concerning religion, as it touches our souls 
 and lives for this world and the world to come, are recorded 
 in that marvel of all literature, the Bible. God has thoughts 
 of us; of our state, of our needs; thoughts of our frailties, 
 cur dangers — all about us. These thoughts are to a hair 
 line. They are as deep as our nature, and as far-reaching 
 as the soul's eternal destiny. They compass us on all sides. 
 They are strong, terrible and tender. They reach to the 
 highest heaven and to the lowest hell. God made us. He 
 knows all about our complex and mysterious being. In 
 His Word He talks to us about Himself, about ourselves, 
 about the worlds, about sin, about salvation. The Bible is 
 a book of God's great thoughts, compared with which hu- 
 man notions are not so much as the motes that fly in the 
 air. To accept God's thoughts is to think like Him. They 
 will make us wise, humble, careful, happy and great. They 
 will make the noblest character, the most useful men and 
 women. 
 
 The man with a peculiar notion is apt to be neither great 
 nor useful. W r e have seen him in many places. While 1 
 was holding a meeting in Springfield, 111., two men with no- 
 tions showed up. One had a notion that he ought to go out 
 as an unbaptized preacher, just to demonstrate that baptism 
 does not save. His notion was that the church ought to 
 receive him and ordain him for that purpose. He was ready 
 to argue it by the hour, and insisted that I should hear him. 
 He had some peculiar notions, which he was sure would in- 
 terest me. "Not a bit," was the reply. "Your notions are 
 not worth your shoe-strings. Your shoe-strings do keep 
 your shoes on, but your notions separate you from God, 
 from His church and from His service. They are utterly 
 worthless, and indicate a vanity too light to discuss. If you 
 
 279 
 
by Dr. J. B. GambreUv, D. D. 
 
 were right with God, you would throw your peculiar notions 
 to the winds and accept God's law." We parted. It is usu- 
 ally a great mistake to dignify people's religious notions or 
 fads by serious discussion. In treating a field overgrown 
 with weeds, it is not worth while to take time to pull up a 
 weed at a time. Give it a thorough, deep plowing, and you 
 kill all the weeds, while you are preparing the soil for a 
 crop. 
 
 This big-headed notionful age needs more than trimming 
 in — it needs deep subsoiling with the plowshare of God's 
 eternal truth. Whoever saw a broken and a contrite heart 
 pestered with notions ? There was a very light crop of no- 
 tions in Israel when the law was given on Sinai, and the 
 people did exceedingly fear and tremble. One of God's 
 great thoughts of sin and eternity will make an end to all 
 dallying with notions. Do not dignify religious fads by 
 seriously arguing with the man with a notion. 
 
 A student came up to a crowd of students, and striking 
 an attitude, said : "Boys, I am an agnostic." "No, you are 
 not," said a sensible boy, "Herbert, you are just a plain fool, 
 and don't know it. That's is all that ails you." Ignora- 
 mous is the Latin for fool, and agnostic is the Greek for it. 
 The boy was right. The remedy was quickly applied, and 
 the cure was complete. 
 
 On a train a disciple of Ingersoll was detailing his no- 
 tions, and a man near by said : 
 
 "You don't believe that," whereupon the fool avowed 
 that he did. Then the other said : 
 
 "Well, if I did, I would keep it to myself, for it don't 
 sound smart." 
 
 This ended it amid a roar of laughter from the passen- 
 gers. All these answers were good and are given as a 
 short method with notions. 
 
 Dr. Willingham, in a fine address on missions, in the 
 First Church, Dallas, gave some telling blows on some peo- 
 
 280 
 
Tex Years in Texas 
 
 pie's notions about missions. There are just two views. 
 One is God's and one is the devil's. God's law is, "go preach 
 to every creature." The devil's notion is "don't do it." The 
 man who is not out and out for preaching the gospel to every 
 creature is with the devil on that subject, and that is the 
 short of it. Reader, where are you ? With God or the devil ? 
 Beware of religious notions. They are worth nothing, 
 and may do you endless harm. Have convictions rooted in 
 God's Word. In the wind-up only truth will abide. If you 
 want fads in anything let it be in something as light as the 
 fad. In religion seek the verities. Rest only in the Word 
 which shall endure forever. Let no vanity beguile your 
 soul as to eternal things. An hour with the Bible in honest 
 search for God's way, is worth cycles of time running after 
 human notions. It is said, if you give a monkey a rock to 
 hold and he falls into the water, he will go to the bottom 
 holding to the rock, and will drown without ever thinking to 
 turn it loose. I do not know whether this is true of mon- 
 keys or not, but I do know that many men will go to ruin 
 before they will turn loose a little notion not worth a tooth- 
 pick. 
 
 THE CASE OF THE MISSIONARIES. 
 
 TTHE present disturbances in the far East have revived 
 ] the infidel and barbarous objections to missions, 
 SUB which have been forthcoming on all like occasions 
 since the inauguration of -modern missionary enter- 
 prises. Certain writers, or more correctly speaking, writers 
 of uncertain grade, are lamenting that civilization must now 
 take up the missionaries' burden. These "barbarians in 
 broad-cloth" have many ways of expressing their inward 
 feelings concerning missionaries, but whatever the form of 
 expression, the spirit is the same, and that spirit is alien to 
 
 281 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 Christianity and to modern civilization. These writers have 
 become the apostles of liberty, but the liberty they extol is the 
 liberty of heathenism, darkness and barbarism. It was such 
 liberty as our forefathers enjoyed when they lived in huts 
 and lodges and went half clothed. 
 
 The case of the missionaries rests on the fundamental 
 principles of civilization. It is a law of nature, as well as of 
 Christianity, that no people can keep what they do not 
 give away. Receiving and giving are the two conditions 
 of health and growth, and no people can violate either con- 
 dition and flourish. The great principle of the Scriptures is 
 "As you have received so minister." The very existence of 
 Christianity depends on the fulfillment of these conditions. 
 The people who have been missionary abroad have grown 
 at home. It comes to it, therefore, that, if America is to be 
 Christian, America must be missionary. Nothing is more 
 certainly taught in the word of God, and nothing more com- 
 pletely harmonizes with the law of nature, than that bless- 
 ings unused are taken away. The teaching of the parable 
 of the talents carries this lesson. The man with one talent, 
 who wrapped it in a napkin, was a hard-shell. He violated 
 the great law of increase, and, therefore, the Master took 
 the talent from him and gave it to the man who had used 
 his talents. 
 
 In considering the case of the missionaries, therefore, we 
 are to consider whether America is to be Christian or heath- 
 en. If we withhold the light from the nations of the earth, 
 that light will be taken from us, and the gentlemen who are 
 now distressed at the burden of the missionaries or their 
 descendants, will have the delight of living as free as the 
 Filipinos or the Chinese. This is the first count in the con- 
 sideration of the case. The next is that the people who 
 are now concerned and wish to withdraw all missionaries 
 on account of the troubles in the East, are not Christian at 
 all. They walk by the light of the Christian, enjoy the order, 
 
 282 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 the peace, the prosperity, the general enlightenment of the 
 Christian, but are themselves anti-Christian. No man who 
 is willing to leave the nations of the earth in heathenish 
 darkness, in the face of the commands of Jesus Christ, has 
 any just claim to Christianity. The all-pervasive and reign- 
 ing spirit of Christianity is the spirit of altruism. 
 
 Because this country is largely dominated by Christian 
 feeling and thought, we have our matchless schools, our 
 newspapers, our great railroad systems, our large commer- 
 cial life — in short, our social order. The fountain of this 
 stream itself has been much corrupted in its onward flow. 
 It is impossible that a country like this should live to itself. 
 To do so would be to reverse all the processes of thought 
 and spirit, which have brought us to the very zenith of 
 human accomplishment. Because we could not live to our- 
 selves, the war with Spain was begun. Because of the high 
 spirit of our people, twenty millions of dollars were given for 
 the Philippine Islands, when we might have taken them for 
 nothing. Because of the humane feeling cultivated in us 
 by Christianity, our ships bore the Spanish soldiers back 
 to their homes from Cuba. Because of this very thing we 
 have the spirit of all civilization, and we cannot recklessly 
 lay down our obligations in the East. The question goes 
 deeper than party politics and formal declarations. The 
 whole matter rests in the deep consciousness of a great 
 people, along whose pathway the light of truth is shining. 
 
 When William Carey began his missionary enterprise in 
 India, he had a noisy set in England to deal with. He was 
 the butt of ridicule in the British Parliament. The East In- 
 dia Company refused him a foothold within its territory, 
 and argued that it would not do to interfere with the long 
 established religious feelings of the natives. But Carey 
 lived to see a complete change of feeling. He became by all 
 odds the most important man in India to the British Gov- 
 ernment, and later in life, he was, perhaps, the most honored 
 
 283 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 man in the British Empire. He prepared the literature 
 which opened the way for commerce and for political im- 
 provement. The missionary movement in India has long 
 since overthrown the most inhuman of the heathen prac- 
 tices of that country. There is growing up a new civiliza- 
 tion from the seed planted by Carey. That civilization calls 
 for clothes, farming implements, and houses, and it has 
 enriched the commerce of the world by more money than 
 there is gold in the world today. 
 
 Missionaries have been the pioneers of civilization in 
 every part of the world. The plain men who have gone 
 with the stream of immigration west in this country for two 
 centuries, have done more to build the American States 
 than any other class of men in the world. They have every- 
 where laid the foundations of social order. They have ev- 
 erywhere taught the sacredness of human life. They have 
 everywhere insisted on the sanctity of the home. They have 
 everywhere been the enemies of drunkenness, gambling, 
 rioting and every species of disorder. They have made the 
 work of the statesman possible. Without the work of the 
 missionaries of America, there would be no liberty, as we 
 now know it. 
 
 This government is not called on to teach religion. In- 
 deed, by the very nature of things it is forbidden to teach 
 religion, but the free exercise of religion is a fundamental 
 principle of our government. This government is called on 
 to protect its citizens in every part of the world, according 
 to the terms of the treaties with the several nations of the 
 earth. A government that will not do this, deserves no sup- 
 port at home nor respect abroad. The missionary has the 
 same right to be in China about his business as has the mer- 
 chant. The troubles in that country have not come through 
 missionaries. They have come by the enormous outside pres- 
 sure and by the innate opposition of the Chinese mind to all 
 human progress. 
 
 284 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 I think it may be taken for certain, that China cannot, 
 in the nature of things, be a hermit nation. The time is out 
 for that. The man who believes that can be is too far back 
 to be talked to. The reconstruction of China is as inevitable 
 in the great sweep of Providence as is the movement of the 
 heavenly bodies. If Christianity is good for America, for 
 England and other nations, it is good for China. At any 
 rate the world has reached a stage through the enlighten- 
 ment of Christianity itself, when the right to think is regard- 
 ed as inherent. The Chinese can not be an exception to the 
 course of events throughout the world. This being true it 
 must be admitted that the case of the missionary in China is 
 the case of the missionary everywhere else. He is a good 
 man in America and he is a good man in India. He is a 
 good man in the Philippines, and he is a good man in China. 
 He has no sword to enforce his teaching. His success de- 
 pends upon enlightenment. He has a patent from heaven 
 to shed light. He has blessed every spot he has ever touch- 
 ed on this earth. He will bless, regenerate and elevate 
 China. In the last analysis there is no choice between the 
 missionaries and heathenism. It is to be regretted that we 
 have American journalists who prefer heathenism. 
 
 I 
 
 "POOR, YET MAKING MANY RICH." 
 
 F THE reader will turn to Second Corinthians, 6th 
 chapter, 4th to 10th verses, he will see a picture of 
 the life of many a preacher. Only it does not fall 
 to the lot of any of us in these latter days to be im- 
 prisoned. But it would be easier than some other things. 
 Last year, in an humble home in the country in Missis- 
 sippi, died a man who literally lived a life of self-denial, and 
 yet who enriched the whole country. He was Elder Isaac 
 
 285 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrexl, D. D. 
 
 Smith, my friend and brother, and co-laborer of other years. 
 He was my pastor, and I was his pastor. I taught his 
 children. He was a strong supporter of the school, which 
 had a good deal to do with changing things round about. 
 
 Bro. Smith was a man of moderate ability and moderate 
 education. He never preached a great sermon in his life. 
 His gifts lay more in the way of exhortation and in song. 
 He was mighty in prayer and gracious in living. I suppose 
 during his whole lifetime in the ministry he never received 
 $500 a year for preaching. He owned a little farm, and what 
 with doing work on that and preaching to the churches, by 
 close management, especially by the help of a frugal wife, 
 he raised his children in credit, and managed to give largely 
 his time to enriching others. 
 
 The section of country where he ministered is a broken 
 country. In the early settlement of it wickedness abounded. 
 Nearly all the people were poor, and many of them kept 
 themselves and families distressingly poor by drinking. 
 There was in this country, arid six miles from my father's 
 home, a little town called Ellistown. Here we received our 
 mail, and had blacksmithing done, and here our family physi- 
 cian lived. It was the center of a community of several 
 thousand people. Just east of the little town is an elevation 
 in the road, and from that one can look down the flat, wide 
 street, through the place; for, after all, Ellistown was not 
 much more than a broad place in the road. My first recol- 
 lection of it is of a little group of houses with three saloons, 
 two stores, a doctor's shop, a blacksmith shop, a cabinet- 
 maker's shop. The fences on either side are so connected 
 with the houses that one could not pass without going 
 through between the stores and whiskey saloons. 
 
 It almost passes in belief in these days the things that 
 occurred in Ellistown, and I have no doubt, in hundreds of 
 other places in early times. There were regular feuds — the 
 lower neighborhood against the upper neighborhood. Then 
 
 286 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 there were family feuds, and these feuds were kept up from 
 year to year, very much as they are in the mountains of 
 Kentucky now. The battles were fought out at Ellistown. 
 When it was a neighborhood feud, the members of the dif- 
 ferent family feuds would merge and fight it out on the 
 neighborhood line. When it was a family feud they would 
 fight it out among themselves. No pistols nor knives were 
 used at that time. It was regarded as the extreme of dis- 
 grace for a person to use a "weepin." 
 
 On occasions the people gathered. You could see thern 
 darting in on their little horses, or climbing over the fences, 
 if they came afoot, and coming cautiously out in the open, 
 looking in every direction to see who was there. It rarely 
 or never occurred that there was righting without first 
 steaming up for it. When no movement was made and 
 time dragged heavily on, some man would bet a treat for 
 everybody that some other man could throw somebody down, 
 or could outrun him, or outjump him ; or the bat was on 
 the toss of a coin, heads or tails. Anything to bet on. Whis- 
 key was about thirty cents a gallon. Of course, in every 
 case, somebody lost the bet, and everybody got the drink. 
 I have seen them line up a hundred strong, like a military 
 company, upper neighborhood and lower neighborhood men 
 side by side; and a man would take a bucket of whiskey 
 with a gourd, go down the line, and let every man drink as 
 much as he wanted. This would be repeated a time or two, 
 and then the quarreling and fighting would begin. More 
 than once, as a small boy, I have stopped on the little eleva- 
 tion just east of the town, and seen a group of men fighting 
 all over the street. And as the postoffice was at the other 
 end of it, I sat there on my horse in fear until there should 
 be a slack in the fighting. 
 
 Of course all sorts of ugly things were done in the 
 fights. Men's noses, ears and fingers were bitten off and 
 eyes knocked out. If the fighting was unusually lively all 
 
 287 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambreix, D. D. 
 
 hands would stop at night and co-operate in building a ring 
 of fires so as to have light, and then go in and fight it out. 
 
 One of the last times I was in Ellistown, before going 
 away to school, and afterwards to the war, I saw what has 
 never faded from my mind. It made a profound impres- 
 sion on me at the time, but the pathos of it has grown with 
 the years. A very large, strong man, not over thirty-five, 
 was drunk, yelling like an Indian and going up and down 
 the road, bantering everybody for a fight. It was in Jan- 
 uary. The ground was frozen, and following after him was 
 a girl about twelve years old, thinly clad and walking bare- 
 foot on the frozen ground. I remember well her pathetic 
 plea to her father to come home. Her mother had sent for 
 him, and there was no wood. When he went home I do 
 not know. 
 
 A good many years passed, the war was over, and, a 
 grown man and a preacher, I went back to Ellistown to 
 help in a meeting. A mighty miracle had been wrought. 
 There was a meeting house right down in the little village. 
 As I sat with the pastor in the pulpit, I saw the man who 
 had staggered up and down the street with his little girl fol- 
 lowing him, drive up with a two-horse wagon. His family, 
 quite a large one, got out, all well dressed and happy, and 
 he a noble looking specimen of manhood. He came into 
 the church and sat down on the front seat. As the crowd 
 gathered, one of the former saloon-keepers, with a bit of 
 his ear gone and his face scarred all over with innumerable 
 fights, came to the front and sat down. All around were 
 sitting the men that I recognized as belonging to the upper 
 and lower neighborhoods and to different families. They 
 were members of the church, clothed and sitting at the feet 
 of Jesus in their right minds. 
 
 I noticed, also, as I went through the country then and 
 afterwards, a great transformation. The homes which were 
 the abodes of squalor and the habitations of cruelty had 
 
 288 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 taken on a new look. They had been improved in innum- 
 erable ways. Farms were enlarged, fences were better. The 
 stock that the people used, instead of the little, scrubby 
 ponies, ill fed and ill kept, were sleek, well kept and ser- 
 viceable. The whole country had changed. In due time the 
 saloons had disappeared. Prohibition prevailed, and with 
 the course of years, schools were everywhere. The people 
 became enthusiastic for education, temperance and every- 
 thing that is good, and all things had become new. 
 
 Now, how did this happen? Elder Isaac Smith was 
 sent a missionary to Ellistown. At his first appearing these 
 rude men gave him to understand that he was not wanted. 
 When he attempted to preach they threw rocks at the house, 
 and, as he good-naturedly said, "You know when I could 
 not preach I could sing." He would stop in the middle of 
 his sermon, and, with his rich, mellow voice, sing a song, 
 and then, when the stoning ceased, he would take up his 
 subject and go on. The ever-recurring miracle of grace took 
 place. Men who would bow to nothing human, under the 
 power of the story of the cross bowed to Christ. They 
 were made new creatures. The love of God was shed 
 abroad in their hearts, and that love diffused itself in richness 
 throughout their homes, and everything was benefited. Re- 
 ligion had come to the front. Wickedness, of course, went to 
 the rear. The regenerated husband at once began a new life. 
 He looked after the interests of his family, enlarged his 
 farm, and took care of his stock. True religion will benefit 
 everything. It will make better mules, better dogs, better 
 cats, better fences, better houses, better everything. 
 
 To a large extent the squalor and misery disappeared 
 from that country, and the saloons have gone long ago. El- 
 der Isaac Smith did not continue at Ellistown many years. 
 Others succeeded him. He preached around in other places 
 in that country, notably at one church for thirty or forty 
 years, building it up from the foundation. Of course 
 
 289 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambreix, D. D. 
 
 throughout all that belt of country there were men of like 
 mind and spirit, and they worked together to a common end. 
 But no man stood better for every interest of humanity than 
 Elder Isaac Smith. Whatsoever things were pure, whatso- 
 ever things were of good report readily had his endorse- 
 ment and his help. Every church had a friend in him. Ev- 
 ery school had him for a friend. Every movement in the 
 direction of temperance had a friend in Isaac Smith. 
 
 Now, let us stop and consider. Taking twenty miles 
 square in that country, and it is perfectly certain that $50,000 
 given away every year for the betterment of the homes and 
 the lives of the people would not have resulted in anything 
 like as much comfort and happiness as that which resulted 
 from the plain preaching of the gospel by that humble minis- 
 ter. Money could have bought shoes for the girl that walked 
 on the frozen ground ; it could have piled up wood at home 
 for the shivering family; it could have supplied clothes and 
 food ; and what money could have done for her 
 it could have done for scores and hundreds of other 
 families. But it would not have brought happiness 
 to the home. There cannot be any happiness 
 where there is brute wickedness, and if $50,000 had been 
 spent any year on that country in the interest of the suffer- 
 ing women and children there would have been the very 
 same need of $50,000 next year, only, perhaps, a greater 
 need ; for the burden of support would have been taken off 
 of the husbands and fathers, and they would have gone 
 deeper into dissipation. Reformation of the country came 
 through the preaching of Jesus. Nothing can be done for 
 people who will not do right for themselves. It was the 
 truest philosophy to elevate the country by lifting the men 
 in the country. There are no bad countries where there 
 are good people, and there are no good countries where 
 there are bad people. A dissipated population could not be 
 enriched. A religious, industrious, self-respecting people 
 will never be utterly poor. I say with all confidence that 
 
 290 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 the work that Elder Smith did for the people throughout 
 that belt of country is worth to them in money not less than 
 $50,000 a year, and it is worth to them in happiness what 
 no tongue can tell. He made many rich, though, I suppose, 
 never in his life was he worth as much as $1,500 in money. 
 And yet he never complained, never sought riches, and al- 
 ways counted it his supreme honor and happiness to be a 
 blessing to others. 
 
 That is one picture — the picture of one man's life, and 
 it is the picture of the lives of thousands of plain gospel 
 preachers, whose record is on high. Not much is known of 
 their work. Indeed, as a rule, they do not know much about 
 it themselves. Perhaps most preachers think very little of 
 the ultimate results of their work. They keep their minds 
 on the thing that is next to them, and working, planting 
 and cultivating, they do not look to the ultimate harvest in 
 worldly returns. 
 
 It is easy from this concrete example to understand the 
 real civilization of the world. Civilization does not con- 
 sist in clothes. It does not consist in money. It consists 
 in spirit. And people are civilized just in proportion as they 
 approximate the perfect standard of life set forth in the 
 gospel. Jesus Christ was the only perfect civilian that the 
 world has ever known. All the rest vacillate between civil- 
 ization and barbarity. 
 
 Contemplating the work of one faithful minister of 
 Christ and then turning for a moment to think of a paid at- 
 torney in a Texas courthouse, who, in the presence of a great 
 rabble, could characterize preachers as incapable of telling 
 the truth and as parasites on society, a feeling of immeasur- 
 able disgust takes possession of the mind. 
 
 Fifty years Isaac Smith talked, preached, sang, prayed 
 and lived the gospel among a plain people. His work re- 
 deemed many homes from blight and ruin. Out of those 
 homes have already come bright and shining lights to bless 
 
 291 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 the world. Full of years and goodness, last year he lay down 
 in his log house, and he heard a voice from above saying, 
 "Come up higher." His brave spirit went away from the 
 tabernacle of clay to rest with God forever. Men like Isaac 
 Smith are the real heroes and the real benefactors of the 
 human race. 
 
 THE SAFETY OF THE BAPTIST METHODS OF 
 WORK. 
 
 WO ARTICLES have preceded this, one bearing 
 particularly on the corrective force of free govern- 
 ment, and the other on the working value of the 
 
 government. In the first it was attempted to show 
 that while there would be disturbances among all free peo- 
 ple, the disturbances themselves would throw off the causes 
 of them with an unerring certainty, just as water, by its 
 commotion, purifies itself. In the second article an attempt 
 was made to show that because the free idea appeals directly 
 to the renewed heart, without going round about, and with- 
 out the interposition of human authority between the divine 
 Lord and the redeemed soul, it has the greatest religious 
 force. And also, because, by its very simplicity, there is 
 less friction and an easier method of detaching those who 
 cannot be induced to work in peace. 
 
 There remains one other phase of the question to be 
 discussed. Are the present methods of work among Bap- 
 tists safe ? A little while ago, in a Baptist meeting, a brother 
 conceded the great force of the present organization of the 
 Baptist working forces of the state, but deprecated as dan- 
 gerous the "centralization of power" in the hands of the 
 few. This was said particularly with reference to the 
 schools and the present system of correlation. This writer, 
 
 292 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 there and then, submitted the substance of what is going 
 to be presently submitted in this article. The same brother 
 has recently stated that the defense was so weak that it 
 could not be answered. There seemed to be some difficulty 
 about answering it, but we apprehend that the palpable truth 
 cf it was the difficulty in the brother's way. 
 
 Before presenting the thought I desire to b* indulged 
 to make a few remarks. It has been more than forty years 
 since I began to be an attentive reader of Baptist papers. 
 During that whole period there have been only short inter- 
 vals in which no man rose up to cry out against ''centraliza- 
 tion" and the "danger to the churches." The men who have 
 made this outcry for these forty-five years past have all been 
 involved in some sort of a fight on the denomination, and 
 have always lost in the fight, as they always will and al- 
 ways should. One thing has characterized the malcontent 
 element for the whole period in question. They have con- 
 stantly and tremendously turned up to advocate the inde- 
 pendence of the churches — a thing there has not been a 
 Baptist during the whole period to deny. The old London 
 Association was formed more than three hundred years 
 back, and from then onward to this day the independence 
 of the churches has been as much a recognized doctrine 
 among Baptists as the doctrine of immersion, and there has 
 not been, during that whole period, a man to deny it, so 
 far as history goes. Taking the Baptists as they stand today, 
 and a man could not, with a search-light, find one who does 
 not believe in the absolute independence of the churches. 
 This is kept in the forefront in all of our denominational or- 
 ganizations, and it not now, and never has been, a matter 
 of disagreement. The nearest that we come to a disagree- 
 ment is, that some think the independence of one church 
 laps clear over on another. The plain Baptist notion is, 
 that the independence and sovereignty of a church is limit- 
 
 293 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 ed to itself, and cannot be carried beyond its own member- 
 ship. 
 
 Following this is the universally accepted doctrine that 
 associations and conventions are advisory bodies simply. 
 The old form of letters to associations was : "We send our 
 beloved brother, So-and-So, whom we deem worthy to sit 
 with you in council." There is not an instance on record in 
 which an association or convention ever attempted to regulate 
 the affairs of a church, though they have always regulated 
 their own affairs. 
 
 Now, with these postulates, let us consider the safety 
 of our method of conducting denominational affairs by coun- 
 cils, without authority over churches, the churches always 
 remaining free to co-operate or not co-operate in any pro- 
 posed measures, while the associations or conventions are 
 free to act in their sphere. That is, beyond question, the 
 Baptist idea. In 1880 there was a trouble, and that trouble 
 deeply affected the general work of the Baptist General 
 Association. There was a called session of that body. Dr. 
 Burleson made the opening address. Here is what he said 
 in part: "Our constitution fully authorizes us to settle this 
 question, but only so far as membership in this body is con- 
 cerned. Our decision can only refer to membership with us, 
 and does not, and cannot fix any man's standing in his 
 church." That is precisely the view that Baptists have al- 
 ways taken. There is no difference of opinion among L>ap« 
 tists who deserve to be known by that name as to: First, 
 that a convention or association can settle matters with ref' 
 erence to its own membership; and, second, that it cannot 
 settle matters of membership in churches. 
 
 Let us turn now to look at the general effect of our sys- 
 tem. Suppose the Baptist General Convention, under bad 
 leadership, goes wrong. That is a possibility; but suppose 
 the whole matter is discussed openly before the churches 
 and the masses of the people interested, and these dis- 
 
 294 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 cussions are continued long enough for the masses of the 
 people to get the facts and form a judgment. Then, what 
 will happen ? It will happen that a consensus of opinion will 
 be expressed through messengers in the General Convention. 
 Let it be assumed, for instance, that the present attitude of 
 the Convention, with reference to the schools of the state, is 
 vitally wrong, or with reference to the mission work, or any- 
 thing else. Then the enquiry is raised, how does it happen 
 that the Convention is wrong? It must be, of course, be- 
 cause a majority of the messengers composing the Conven- 
 tion are wrong. If that is true, then how does it come that 
 a majority of the messengers composing the Convention are 
 wrong? Well, it's because the churches sending them are 
 worng. If a majority of the churches sending them are 
 wrong, then how does it happen that these churches are 
 wrong? It must be because a majority of the people in the 
 churches are wrong. Well, suppose a majority of the people 
 composing the churches are wrong. After a thorough dis- 
 cussion, continuing long enough to elicit the truth, if a ma 
 jority are wrong, then the bottom has dropped out and the 
 whole idea of a democratic form of government is a mistake. 
 The present method of doing things is just as safe as 
 the people themselves are safe. It is just as good as the, 
 people are. And the man who mistrusts such methods of 
 eliciting the judgment of his brethren really mistrusts the 
 churches and mistrusts the people who compose the churches, 
 and if he believes this a dangerous method, then he must be- 
 lieve that we cannot depend on ourselves. That is the very 
 foundation stone of the argument of hierarchs, for the au- 
 thority of one man hedged about more or less. The man 
 who believes it unsafe to appeal to the denomination at large, 
 by open discussion of the truth, and then take their judg- 
 ment, as the manner is among Baptists, is a man who, in his 
 heart, suspects the Baptist position, and is, as to the govern- 
 ment of Baptists, an unbeliever. 
 
 295 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 Let's turn this question around and look at it another 
 way. Is it really safer to believe that the great majority of 
 the people, with opportunities for knowing the truth, per- 
 sistently go wrong; or is it more reasonable to believe that 
 a croaking, fault-finding faction, full of suspicion and evil 
 surmising concerning the soundness of the very foundation 
 principles of the Baptist denomination, is wrong ? I have no 
 difficulty in thinking that these disappointed factions are 
 wrong. That they have been wrong during a period of more 
 than forty years is certain, as things have worked out and 
 been demonstrated. That the method of broad, honest, thor- 
 ough discussion of issues, and a wide-open policy with refer- 
 ence to facts, is of the Lord, I as much believe as I believe 
 that God made the light. But such discussion as this is to be 
 differentiated distinctly from the policies of invective, vitu- 
 peration, slander, personal attacks on men, false statements 
 about facts and figures, men and measures, which have ob- 
 tained from time to time, from the apostolic age down to the 
 present. Men, whose contentions are after this latter order, 
 do not discuss, they do not criticise. They are of those who 
 increase confusion by vain babblings. Discussion, with the 
 facts known, will bring God's people to the right position 
 with as much certainty as a loadstone attracts a needle, be- 
 cause God's people have an affinity for the truth. 
 
 In this view of the case all the truth wants is an open 
 field, and a fair hearing. It wants to be seen in the cool, 
 white light of reason, and it will win. Men who go afield 
 with prejudices and with a malicious spirit, can indeed con- 
 fuse matters for a time, but there is one end for all of tJiem, 
 and that is utter defeat. 
 
 I come back to say, before closing, that the man who mis- 
 trusts the great mass of people composing the churches of 
 Jesus Christ, and feels unwilling to leave the churches to 
 select their messengers, to compose a council to settle matters 
 of common concern, deep down in his heart mistrusts the 
 
 296 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 whole Baptist position, and is a good helper for every hier- 
 arch who comes round to berate God's free government and 
 open methods for His free people. It is possible for some 
 people to reach the point of believing in nothing. This is 
 commonly the case with violent minorities. 
 
 If the foregoing views be correct, ill-tempered disturbers 
 of the peace of Zion have no chance with a sound-minded 
 people. And all experience among Baptists testifies to the 
 truth of this position. As often as a great Christian democ- 
 racy is aroused to express itself, it sweeps from the field 
 the whole spawn of false issues. Truth goes up, and mere 
 agitators go down. 
 
 THE FORM AND THE POWER. 
 
 LL LIFE takes on some kind of form. To all ani- 
 mal life the Creator Himself gave form. All social 
 
 and spiritual life takes on forms, usually according 
 to the environments. Religious life has always ex- 
 pressed itself in religious forms. It was so in Old Testa- 
 ment times, even from the beginning. At first it seems 
 that the form was very simple ; later, as the true worshippers 
 multiplied and the family grew into the nation, forms were 
 multiplied and became more complex. They were not only 
 in their time expressions of religious thought, but they were 
 teachers of religious thought and feeling, and these two 
 things pertain to all religious forms. 
 
 There are not two religions taught in the Bible, one be- 
 longing to the Old Testament, and the other to the New. 
 Some one has well said, "The Old Testament is the New 
 Testament concealed ; the New Testament is the Old Testa- 
 ment revealed." In essence they are the same. There has 
 never been two living ways, but only one. Christ was as 
 much the Savior in the Old Testament day as in the new. 
 
 297 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 He was always to the lost world the lamb slain before the 
 foundation of the world. The people of the Old Testament 
 time looked forward to Christ; we look back. God saved 
 the Old Testament saints on a credit, on the promise of the 
 Son to put away their sins in the fullness of time ; He saves 
 New Testament saints by making in advance provision for 
 their redemption. The old and the new meet in Christ. 
 
 But the forms of the two administrations are different. 
 Under the old there were many forms suited to the times, 
 and to the conditions of the human mind. The types and 
 shadows of the sacred writings, in one way or another, had 
 respect to Christ. The offering of them in faith carried 
 the sinner to the great High Priest. 
 
 With the revelation of the fullness of the gospel in the 
 New Testament, the complex system was done away with, 
 and there was left but two forms, or rites — baptism and the 
 Lord's Supper. The trend from the old to the new was to- 
 ward simplicity. Today, the prescribed order of service is 
 exceedingly simple. To put the thought in current phrase, 
 there is less of the shell, and relatively speaking, more of the 
 meat. 
 
 The history of religion reveals some striking character- 
 istics. It has been difficult for the human family to stand 
 by the simple order of God's house. There has been a con- 
 stant divergence in two directions. It is well to consider 
 these two distinct trends. 
 
 First, there has been a constant tendency to multiply 
 forms beyond what is written. There is but one day ordain- 
 ed and established to be kept holy, and that is the Lord's day. 
 All along, however, good people have insisted on keeping 
 other days — Good Friday, Easter, and the like. This they 
 can do if they choose, not holding it as a doctrine, but as a 
 practical help to themselves. Paul says they may keep days, 
 if they keep them to the Lord, but in another place Paul 
 marks the tendency of it to those who keep days, "I am 
 
 298 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 afraid of you." The multiplication of days and forms is a 
 dangerous thing; it is a movement in the wrong direction, 
 though not in every case sinful. 
 
 As a matter of fact, as piety has declined, a great many 
 people have felt a sense of lack, and sought to make up by 
 multiplying "forms of godliness." Yielding to this tendency, 
 we have a great many bodies exceedingly sensitive as to 
 forms, but lost to the power. If a minister were to preach 
 without his "sacred vestment," the people would be shocked. 
 That he habitually preaches without power creates no im- 
 pression whatever. This was the state of the case with the 
 Jews. Punctilious to the last degree about all rites of Juda- 
 ism, those prescribed by God and those set up by men, they 
 nevertheless were dead to all that the forms rightly meant. 
 It was a nation intolerant, even to the smallest points of 
 outward forms, but lifeless to the simple principles of piety. 
 This is one of the ways that true religion dies. 
 There is an insect which incases itself in a shell, closes up 
 and dies, making its own coffin. So many a church has done. 
 
 Writing this article for a Baptist paper to do good to its 
 readers, I may put a question strong. Have not many of us 
 come to think more of baptism and the supper, and the form 
 of the church, than we do of the life and meaning and power 
 of these heaven-ordained institutions? We have come to 
 think of baptism, our personal baptism, as something to be 
 desired, and yet it must be said in all charity, that we do 
 not think of it as Paul put it in the sixth chapter of Romans, 
 making it a ground of appeal for high and holy living. 
 
 A man to be baptized must, indeed, be dead to sin and 
 alive to God ; and having been baptized, he must ever regard 
 himself as standing in a different relation to God's people 
 and God's cause in the world. 
 
 We do well to stand by the form of the church, the form 
 of the Lord's Supper, and the form of baptism. They are 
 themselves all teachers, and the world will never go far 
 
 299 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 wrong, spiritually, if the world be right with respect to 
 these three things. But to stand more by the form than by 
 the power is to utterly prostitute sacred things. It is very 
 grievous that so many depart from the form of God's teach- 
 ing, but it even more grievous that so many depart from the 
 power. It is the departure from the power that brings on the 
 grievous departures from everything else, and the general de- 
 cay in religion. Baptists have a distinctive mission, to hold 
 to the form of sacred things ; they have a larger mission, to 
 hold to and live out the profession of an endless life. 
 
 Let us turn now to the other side. In recent times, almost 
 to an alarming extent, it has come about that many who pro- 
 fess great spiritual power discount all forms. We have 
 lived to see intelligent persons who, in their zeal for spirit- 
 uality, and with professions of extraordinary power, set 
 aside the divinely instituted forms of religion. To many 
 of these, baptism is of little or no account. The Lord's 
 supper is left to the days of crude thought. Congrega- 
 tions, bearing the name of Christ, are formed to suit any 
 one's taste. We have what is now known as the gospel of 
 progress, and, indeed, we may well say that it is progress, 
 but certainly into the wilderness. To discount the plain teach- 
 ing of God's Word with respect to the order of religion, is 
 not in the least a sign of spirituality, but rather of arrogance. 
 We have fallen upon a time of dreaming, when the imagina- 
 tions of heated minds are supposed to stand good against the 
 revelation of God. 
 
 This dreaming spiritualism, taking now one form and 
 then another, but always assuming an independence of the 
 Word of God, is the Jack-o-lantern of the modern religious 
 emotionalism, leading out into a dark and starless night. 
 I do not trust much to the man who reads the signs of the 
 times. The trouble is that most of them read too little, and 
 see a few things too large. I have no great opinion of my 
 own power to interpret times and seasons, but venture to say 
 
 300 
 
Tex Years in Texas 
 
 that it seems to me we have come to a time when Baptists, 
 not only have a great opportunity, but weighty responsibili- 
 ties. These crazes have affected the Baptist denomination 
 less than any other. This accounts for the fact that the 
 white Baptists of America last year gained more than 250,- 
 000 members ; a number far greater than all the other de- 
 nominations gained. Some of the denominations are reap- 
 ing now what they have sown. If we, as a people, want to 
 do well, let us stand by the forms and also the power, not 
 one but both, and both joined together forever as God join- 
 ed them. We are simple men. It is not for us to go on ex- 
 cursions to invent new things in religion. It is for us to 
 make plain the mind of the Master, expressed in His divine 
 Word concerning all things pertaining to salvation. Doing 
 this, we will fulfill our missions, and may go to the Master 
 and report that in our day, we kept the Word, and did 
 ,x)t deny the faith. 
 
 K 
 
 A SLING AND A KING. 
 
 ING DAVID is one of the most interesting studies 
 in all history. He touches strongly at more salient 
 points in human nature than almost anyone of the 
 Bible characters. He was a great man, measured by 
 
 any rule, and he fulfilled a modern saying, "If a boy is to 
 
 be great, he must show himself betimes." 
 
 David was a great general, and his personal courage was 
 of the highest order. His courage, measured by the stand- 
 ards of human conduct, was audacious. He was a great 
 leader of men. He was a great poet. He was a strong and 
 wise governor. And, according to the time you take him, 
 he was a great sinner or a great saint. The one word that 
 expresses his character better than any other, is forceful. 
 
 301 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 We first get a glimpse of him as a lad, keeping his fath- 
 er's sheep. Evidently, his older brothers, and perhaps his 
 father, had little idea of the rare qualities of the boy, but, as 
 a shepherd, he showed the two qualities that will make any 
 man admirable. He was trusted with his father's flock. There 
 came a bear one day to take away one of the sheep. The 
 average boy would have run. It was before the days of 
 repeaters, Mauser rifles and the like. The weapons of war- 
 fare were primitive and harmless, compared with those in 
 use today. David, however, did not run. He had been re- 
 ligiously raised. He felt that the bear was invading a trust, 
 and that it was his business to guard the flock. So he went 
 for the bear and killed it. A lion came on the same mission 
 and fared no better. We are not told how David killed the 
 bear and the lion. We would think that it was done with 
 a sling, however. 
 
 The first time the young fellow figures conspicuously 
 after his anointing, is when he goes down to see his brothers 
 in the army. What a natural thing it was for him to go 
 down to see his brothers, to find out about them and bring 
 word home. When he got there he saw something that, as 
 Shakespeare would put it, "raised his gorge." He saw a 
 Philistine berating the armies of Israel, and the armies of Is- 
 rael all in fear. King Saul himself was ready to submit to the 
 indignity of the Philistine put on the armies of Israel. It 
 was too much for David, and he went to the king to say that 
 he would go down and kill the uncircumcised heathen. Just 
 at this point, we get a great lesson in life. Here was a tre- 
 mendous undertaking before him — one the contemplation of 
 which made every man in the army shake. But his past ex- 
 ploits now buttressed his courage. He tells how, in the name 
 of the Lord, and by God's help, he had killed the bear and the 
 lion, and if he had done that to the bear and the lion, he 
 could kill Goliath. The victories already won encouraged 
 him. 
 
 302 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 We read of the deriding of his brothers. It is all very 
 natural reading. It has always been so. The average man 
 mistrusts a person who undertakes to do an extraordinary 
 thing. In the long run, no doubt, it is the average man that 
 saves the country, but the average man never saves it on the 
 short run. His brothers thought it was a bit of uppishness. 
 King Saul doubted it, but finally yielded. The truth of it is, 
 David had a mission from God to kill Goliath, and when any- 
 body has a mission from God, opposition don't stand much 
 in the way. There is a way through it, or under it, or around 
 it, or over it, always. In my day, I have seen young men 
 und-jitake things beyond the ordinary, and all the wiseacres 
 shook their heads, but the young fellow went along, and 
 after a while, everybody said : "Well now, that was fine/' 
 
 David's exploit in killing Goliath has been much dwelt on 
 in sermons. His common sense showed itself in refusing to 
 burden himself with Saul's armor, which was entirely too 
 large, and in sticking to his sling. It is about the sling that 
 I wish to make some observations, and the first is: It was 
 a very simple thing. Nothing could be plainer than a sling. 
 It was a very cheap thing. David had probably made it him- 
 self, and he knew the swing of it. He could not do very 
 much with a sword, and as to an immense spear to match 
 Goliath's, he could do nothing at all. The spear would have 
 borne him down. There was great wisdom in sticking to 
 the sling. He had tried that. He had, no doubt, stood 
 on the hillsides while the sheep were grazing, and, after the 
 manner of boys in all times, hour by hour, hurled rocks out of 
 his sling, until he had learned to place them exactly where 
 he wanted them. 
 
 Here was an unusual occasion — one the like of which 
 would come to him no more in life ; the like of which would 
 come to no other youth in all history — a lad to fight a giant, 
 and with such tremendous issues depending on the outcome. 
 Did ever a boy face such an opportunity and such a respon- 
 
 303 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 sibility ? That would increase the desire for some extraordi- 
 nary weapons with which to fight against an extraordinary 
 enemy. But David's head was cool and level. He stuck 
 to the sling. 
 
 The lesson we get is, we must all use, in our Christian 
 warfare, exactly the kind of weapons that suit us. Many a 
 preacher has become noted for doing great things among the 
 common people, so much so, that he is wanted on an extra- 
 ordinary occasion, such as preaching a convention sermon 
 or a commencement sermon. He feels at once that the sim- 
 ple way of preaching in the country would not fit the college 
 or the convention, and so he tries a new style, only to suffer 
 mortification. If I might whisper a word into the ear of 
 young preachers, touching this point, I would say: It's 
 precisely the kind of preaching that moves the heart of the 
 people in the country, and in the plainer districts, that the 
 town people want to hear, only, perhaps, they don't want 
 to hear it it quite so long as is common in the country. 
 Let the preacher, on the greatest possible occasions, stick 
 to his sling. 
 
 Here is another observation. Many an exhorter who, 
 in his neighborhood and along with a good pastor, has been 
 a great power for good, has been ruined because he quit his 
 sling, and tried to preach. What has become of all the ex- 
 horters anyhow? It is a real misfortune for a man to be 
 brought into the Christian ministry, who hasn't the Scrip- 
 tural qualifications for the ministry. His life becomes ab- 
 normal. He fits nowhere ; he is a discomfort to himself and 
 to everybody else. And then, many a good deacon has been 
 spoiled trying to make a preacher. One good deacon is 
 worth a good many poor preachers. And so we might go on 
 to talk about the men who are good for pastors and want to 
 be editors ; good for evangelists and want to be pastors, and 
 good for one thing, and yet, want to be another. If every 
 
 304 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 one would stick to his own sling, the Goliaths of sin could 
 be laid out in long rows. 
 
 The real success of David was laid in his early experi- 
 ences. I doubt not that his mother chided him severely 
 for venturing to fight a lion and a bear, and yet, if he had 
 run away and left the flock to the mercy of the lion and the 
 bear, it is pretty certain he never would have been the great 
 King David of Israel we read about. God saw the sterling 
 qualities of fidelity and courage in him, and when He want- 
 ed a man to be faithful' to Him, and to stand up for Him 
 everywhere, He sent his prophet to anoint the lad. The real 
 foundation of usefulness and success in life is laid in early 
 life. In most cases before the boy is ten years old, he has 
 his bent for good or bad. The throne of David rested on 
 his fidelity to his father's sheep, and on his good sling well 
 used in time of need. God saw that such a character would be 
 good to take care of his people. The principle of divine 
 movement in matters of this sort, is laid down in our Lord's 
 teaching, Whoever is faithful over one talent, will receive 
 other talents, and whoever is faithless in the matter of one 
 talent, will have even that taken away from him. 
 
 Taking the whole life of this extraordinary man, from 
 beginning to end, from the time he stood, fresh from his 
 father's sheepfold, before the prophet to be anointed, on till 
 the time he lay on his deathbed an old man, the one most 
 striking thing about him was his courageous devotion to 
 duty. That meant stalwart manliness. He did not always do 
 right. More than once he did terribly wrong. But there 
 was one thing he never did do ; he never shirked. He never 
 asked others to bear burdens he would not bear. When the 
 death angel was decimating the ranks of his people for the 
 sin of which he was guilty, he did not shirk the responsibility 
 of it. When an offering was to be made to God, and his loy- 
 al subject offered his oxen and the implements of the thresh- 
 ing floor, David, with a stalwart manliness that I wish might 
 
 305 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 become common among us, refused to offer to God what did 
 not cost him anything. When that great house of worship 
 was to be built, David did not content himself with planning 
 for it and begging for it. He led the offerings with a great 
 offering of his own, as every preacher ought to do, and every 
 preacher will do, that leads his flock successfully in the. work 
 of the Lord. King David was impetuous. He had the im- 
 aginative, poetic temperament. I have often imagined he 
 was red-headed. But, with all of his impetuosity, with all 
 of his moods, he was ever a courageous, true man. 
 
 Here is another lesson. It is for all of us. God doesn't 
 use cowards. He doesn't employ shirks and dead-beats in 
 His service. He honors courage, fidelity, sacrifice, and He 
 has never yet failed to honor the people that honor Him 
 with heroic service. The method of divine Providence has 
 not changed. It's the same today as it was a thousand years 
 ago. The brave pastors, who are standing today for the 
 best things, some of them with great odds against them, arc 
 the men whom God will honor. The pastors who are yield- 
 ing to a spirit of criticism and selfishness, and trying to make 
 up with the enemies of the Lord, are everywhere losing their 
 grip. They will be cast-aways. The very men they seek to 
 placate will feel a disgust for them. 
 
 A saloon man, living in a town where there had been 
 the hottest prohibition campaign, and which had succeeded 
 to the overthrow of his business, had a great sorrow to come 
 into his home. His little child was taken away. In that cam- 
 paign one preacher in the city had refused to open his mouth, 
 except to say that he had no war to make on anybody's 
 business. The heart-broken wife said to her husband : "I 
 think we need to have prayer. We have come to an hour so 
 dark that we need a light from another world.'' And he 
 said: "I feel the same way." She said then: "Shall we 
 
 send for Mr. ," the preacher who had been neutral. 
 
 "No," said the man ; "send for Mr. . I don't want any 
 
 306 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 man to come to my house to pray for me who could hold 
 his peace against the iniquity of the bar-room." The most 
 outspoken pastor in the city was sent for to come and pray 
 for the man whose business he, more than anybody else, had 
 overthrown. God and men honor courage and fidelity. 
 
 David was king by the grace of his sling. He trusted 
 God when he killed the bear and the lion, but he did not 
 stop with trusting. He went against Goliath in the name of 
 the God of Israel, but as he went, he stopped to select five 
 suitable stones for business. Faith and the sling did the rest, 
 and on he went to the throne. We must all trust, but let us 
 not forget the sling and the needful stones. 
 
 THE NATURE AND USES OF CONVENTIONS. 
 
 T 
 
 HE NEW TESTAMENT ecclesiastical unit is a lo- 
 cal church, and there is no other. Each church is 
 independent of every other, and to each is commit- 
 ted the oracles of God to be preserved, taught and 
 executed. Each church is subject alone to its Head, the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 All ecclesiastical power or authority is vested in each 
 separate church, which is an executive of the will of Christ. 
 Church power is all delegated by Christ, and can not be redel- 
 egated. The expression "church sovereignty" is not strictly 
 correct. Christ is the only sovereign, and His churches arc 
 His executives, acting under His law and guided by His rep- 
 resentative on earth, the Holy Spirit. Even the word inde- 
 pendent applied to churches, must be used within narrow 
 limits. The churches are wholly dependent on their head 
 and subject to His law, but independent of each other and of 
 all other bodies whatsoever. To each separate church the 
 whole commission is given, and it is given to no other kind 
 of body. Nor can churches transfer it to another body. 
 
 307 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 These propositions have .common consent among the ad- 
 vocates of the New Testament ecclesiology. But everywhere 
 among the same people are other organizations variously- 
 called societies, associations or conventions. Into the nature, 
 functions and purposes of these, we do well to look. With 
 respect to general organizations, their nature and relation 
 of the local bodies to them, there are two general theories ex- 
 tant. To one or the other all Christendom holds. 
 
 By one theory, the local bodies merge into the general 
 body, become a part of it and are subject to it. Whatever of 
 authority or power belongs in the local organization is trans- 
 ferred with varying degrees of completeness to the larger 
 organization. This is the Romish theory. All hierarchical 
 bodies hold it. So, also, in a more modified form, all Presby- 
 terial bodies. Hence the expressions, "The Holy Catholic 
 Church ;" "The English Church;" "The Methodist Church 
 South;" "North;" "The Southern Presbyterian Church," 
 etc. In all these bodies the local congregations have been 
 legally merged. 
 
 There is no such phraseology in the New Testament. 
 We read of the "Churches of Galatia," "all the churches," 
 "the church at Corinth," "Ephesus," "Philippi," etc., but 
 never of one church taking in the local congregations o f a 
 province or of the world. On this apostacy from the New 
 Testament ideal of a church, Rome and all hierarchical and 
 Presbyterial denominations are built. The restoration of 
 the true conception of a church would destroy them all in 
 a day. 
 
 The second view is that held by the Congregationalists 
 and Baptists. According to this, the church never merges 
 into, nor becomes a part of a general body. It is, indeed, 
 common to hear statements to the effect that a certain church 
 belongs to a certain association or convention, the meaning 
 being, that it is one of a group of churches which affil- 
 iate with and work through the body named. As to the body 
 
 308 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 itself — that which meets from time to time for the consider? 
 tion of questions of common interest — churches do not aiK 1 
 can not belong to it. They could only do so by meeting all 
 together, or by delegating and transferring their functions 
 and powers, through chosen men, into general bodies. Under 
 the first conception, the churches would merge into a great 
 mass meeting and lose their autonomy. Under the second, 
 as under the first, the churches would violate their divine 
 charter and cease to be New Testament churches. 
 
 The true conception of a general body is, that it is for 
 counsel, with no ecclesiastical functions, and, therefore, hav- 
 ing no authority over the churches. No particular kind of 
 organization is ordained for general gatherings, though the 
 Scriptures warrant both counsel and co-operation between 
 New Testament churches. General bodies are variously 
 formed, according to the wishes and needs of those forming 
 them. They severally exist under their own constitutions. 
 Connection with them is purely voluntary. Some of them 
 admit messengers from churches only. Some adopt the 
 numerical basis. Others adopt the financial basis. Others 
 still, a mixed basis. The whole matter of organization is 
 with those framing the constitution. 
 
 It is of the utmost importance to keep it clear that these 
 general bodies, however great or worthy, can add nothing 
 to the churches. The least church in the land is complete 
 by itself. If it co-operates, it is simply a church. If it does 
 not co-operate, it is not any the less a church. A convention 
 adds nothing to a church. Whatever privileges any church 
 may enjoy in co-operation spring from the constitution of 
 the convention, and not out of the constitution of the church. 
 Privileges of membership may be, and constantly are, en- 
 larged or contracted, according to the judgment of those 
 forming these general bodies. 
 
 Arguments from the nature of churches in support of 
 representation, according to numbers and from churches 
 
 309 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 only, all arise from a misconception of the true idea of con- 
 ventions. They are not and can not be representative bodies 
 in the common acceptation of the term representative. The 
 churches can not invest messengers with any of the rights, 
 powers, authority, or responsibilities of the churches them- 
 selves. 
 
 The foregoing being true, why Baptist conventions? 
 If the churches can not transfer to a general body any of 
 their functions or burdens of responsibility; if every eccle- 
 siastical quality must remain at home, even in the weakest 
 of the churches, why be at pains and expense to hold con- 
 ventions ? 
 
 Conventions stand, like Sunday Schools, newspapers, 
 printing houses and much else, in the order of means, and 
 not in the realm of doctrine and divine order. For lack of 
 a proper discrimination between what stands in the order of 
 means and what stands in the order of doctrine, many minds 
 have been confused. Singing and making melody in the 
 heart to God is doctrine, never to be changed by church 
 choirs or what not. Hymn books and organs are means 
 tc be used or not, as worshippers choose. 
 
 Church independence, like the freedom of the redeemed 
 soul, is a great blessing, full of gracious possibilities. But 
 it may be turned to a very poor account, if there be not 
 sound discretion. It needs to be well considered. Inde- 
 pendence is not isolation. Free men and free churches need 
 not adopt a hermit life. Independence ought to and will 
 stand for all that common sense, led by the Spirit, makes 
 possible, if we be worthy of it. The New Testament doc- 
 trine of church and individual liberty opens the way for all 
 co-operation gracious hearts and wise heads can think or 
 plan. In the apostolic age blood-bought liberty turned, 
 under the lead of the Spirit and by the persuasion of a com- 
 mon purpose, to co-operation. Antioch and Jerusalem co- 
 operated in counsel and act to uphold sound doctrine. Many 
 
 310 
 
Ten Years in Texas 
 
 churches co-operated in spreading the Gospel, as Paul's let- 
 ters show. 
 
 The purpose of a convention is to promote co-operation 
 in matters of common concern. How is this accomplished? 
 Let us consider the following : A convention should be, and 
 usually is, composed of that element among us most inter- 
 ested in the things for which the body was organized. For 
 this reason, a financial basis is wise and right. Those who 
 see the farthest, feel the most and give as they feel, will 
 make the best leadership in thought and plan. While the 
 churches can not delegate anything, nor in any wise project 
 their powers beyond their limits, still, if they choose, they 
 can name brethren to attend a convention. These ''mes- 
 sengers of the churches," male and female, representing the 
 working and most interested part of the various church 
 memberships, will bring with them, not the authority of the 
 churches, but the feelings and wishes of the bodies sending 
 them. Assembled in numbers from over a given field, con- 
 venient for co-operation, the general body will represent a 
 consensus of opinion and feeling, and out of that consensus 
 will come plans to submit to the churches for their adoption 
 and use if they so wish. These messengers are the nexus 
 through whom the wishes of the churches are conveyed to 
 the convention, and the common feelings and wishes of the 
 brotherhood, conveyed back to the several churches. The 
 effect is unity in plans, great spiritual stimulation, and, as 
 a result, practical co-operation and increased usefulness in 
 doing the work committed to the several churches. And 
 this is why we have conventions ; to unify thought by dis- 
 seminating information, to perfect plans, to promote active 
 co-operation by opening channels through which the 
 churches may unite their efforts in Gospel work. All this is 
 done without the least authority from the churches to the 
 convention, or from the convention to the churches. It pro- 
 ceeds on the great New Testament principle of voluntary 
 
 3ii 
 
by Dr. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. 
 
 service. If any dream that this is a weak arrangement, the 
 answer is easy. It is as strong as the piety and common 
 sense of redeemed people, and nothing in religion can be 
 stronger. Whatever is more than this is of men and is 
 weakness. Xo service to God is good or acceptable that 
 does not proceed on the voluntary principle, guided by an 
 intelligent piety. 
 
 It is proper to note and emphasize the fact that con- 
 ventions in reality do nothing which the churches are organ- 
 ized to do. They do not ordain men to preach, either di- 
 rectly or indirectly. All authority to preach comes from 
 God and is recognized and sanctioned in ordination by the 
 churches. Boards which are creatures of conventions, agree 
 to pay men to preach at certain places on certain terms. But 
 the boards do not actually do mission work. THey are chan- 
 nels through which the churches do the work, just as the 
 brethren, "messengers of the churches" we read of in Paul's 
 second letter to the Corinthians, were the channels through 
 which the churches fed the poor saints at Jerusalem. Boards 
 are channels, not fountains. They are means, not forces. 
 The churches use them to convey their contributions as men 
 turn a thousand streams into one channel to carry their 
 united volume of water to arid plains that they may be wa- 
 tered and become fruitful fields. To elicit, combine and di- 
 rect the energies of willing workers for the carrying out of 
 the will of Christ is the function of a convention, and this it 
 does, not by authority, but by persuasion and the influence 
 of intelligent piety. 
 
 The practical use of conventions is demonstrated in the 
 conservation of forces. By a wise organization of forces, 
 more people are reached, more money elicited, and by an 
 intelligent direction, it accomplishes more good. A Single 
 great organization, as the Southern Baptist Convention, 
 pursuing several lines of work, will not only conserve the 
 forces that are to co-operate to the accomplishment of one 
 
 312 
 
Tex Years in Texas 
 
 line of work, but by a sympathetic correlation of forces, help 
 every line of work. For instance, the Home Mission Board, 
 with all of its influence, mightily stimulates the spirit of mis- 
 sions and opens up fountains of missionary supply for the 
 Foreign Mission Board. While it is doing this, the Foreign 
 Mission Board exerts a powerful influence on the Home 
 Mission work. The Sunday School Board, disseminating 
 intelligence, becomes a great factor in denominational life 
 by helping both of the Boards. Intelligence in Christian 
 work, and organization for economy, and for the proper 
 conservation of forces, through great denominational coun- 
 cils, becomes a denominational duty. The Scriptures abhor 
 waste, and everywhere teach the lesson of economy. Spo- 
 radic, divergent and often antagonistic movements, always 
 tend to waste. Unified, sympathetic movements, running, 
 perhaps, on different lines but in harmony, always tend to 
 economy and the highest efficiency. 
 
 313 
 
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