O HAPPY DOVE!                   429

congregation in regard to the correctness of their faith, and then
admitted to full membership (see Dis., ch. 3, sec. ii, page 124).
  In full membership there must be a mutual agreement between
the person joining and the church joined; hence he must be
competent, and have authority to choose for himself the kind of
moral training he thinks best for himself The baptized child is
under the moral instructions of its parents; and according to the
theory of the A. M. E. Church, if practiced as it is laid down, the
child would be under a catechist until he was so impressed and
imbued with moral ideas that he would profess a saving faith in
God.
  We hold that by the teaching of the faithful parent, supple-
mented by the teaching of the Christian Church, the child can be
so trained in the ways of right living that, when the period of
moral responsibility is reached, he will readily, and from choice,
make choice of a Christian life; and in making that choice, comes
the knowledge of his acceptance, which fills his soul with peace,
joy and happiness. In the knowledge of his acceptance comes
the evidence of the new birth. But however this may be, we
claim that it is the indispensable duty of the Christian parent
and the Christian Church to labor to this end.
   Cape May, N. J.



                               XIV.
                          O HAPPY DOVE!

                       BY EDW. A. CLARKE.

     HAD I thy wings, O happy dove of Peace,
          Moonlit with silver, sunned with yellow gold,
          When windy storms adown thy valleys rolled;
     I'd to my mountain flee, where tempests cease.

     His clefts of rock safe should my song release,
          Had I thy voice; my sweetest tones enfold
          The sad that sounds thro' all true love, consoled
     To be at rest; my faith and hope increase;

     Till, all aflame with grateful love, I'd take
          The olive branch to wanderers tempest-tossed;
     On hearts baptized with burning grief I'd make
          My comforting descent; to all the lost
     A messenger of hope ! Sin's vale forsake,
          O soul, and make of self a holocaust!

   Jefferson City, Mo.




			

African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, Vol. 07, Num. 4

O Happy Dove

A.

Volume:  07
Issue Number:  04
Page Number:  429
Date:  04/1891