Newspaper Page Text
The Christian Index.
THE BjraS T, THE OHBBBU! #
[ OF Tennessee.
VOL. 55—Nc. 2.
Table of Contents. >
Wnwr Pag*.— Alabama Department : Be cord of
State Events; Spirit of the Beligtour Press;
Baptist News and Notes; General Denomina
tional News; We Can Make Home Happy—
Poetry: Ebemezer —Onoe -a-Month ; The
Rainy Day-Poetry; Florida Baptist Conven
tion ; etc.
B*oovn Page.— History and Importance of Sab
bath Schools —Elder W. L, Geiger.
Third Page.—Seleot Miscellany : What Shall I
do for a living?—Saturday Evening Post;
Night in the Moon ; etc.
Fourth Page. —Editorial: Manna for God’s
People—Rev. S. G. Hillyer. The Bible in the
Schools; Becond Baptist Church, Atlanta —
Synopsis of Sermon by Rev. A. T. Spalding ;
Georgia Baptist News ; Narrow Escap \; Rev.
C. M. Irwin : A Recognized Fact.; Think—Rev.
D. E. Butler. Macon Letter—Rev. S Boykin;
etc.
Fifth Page Tha Human Will—Rev. A. J.
Battle ; A Curious Document—J. B Cheves,
Secniar Department: Leah Mordecai, a novel.
by Mrs. Belle Kendrick Abbott. People will
Talk—Poetry. Georgia .News ; News of the
Week—Foreign and Domestic; Grange Notes;
etc.
Sixth Page.— Cheap Transportation—Synopsis
of Address Delivered before the Georgia Slate
Grange, at its recent session in Atlanta, by
Col. B. VV. F.-obol.
Seventh Page.— Science and Agriculture : Work
for the Mouth; Something Concerning tiie Fal
lacy of the Idea that Bought Pork is Cheaper
than that Raised at Home—Georgia Grange;
etc.
Eighth Pagk. —Communications : Female Uni
versity—J. M. Robertson. Sunday-school De
partment : Introductory; Review of 1875-
Outlook for 1876; Recent Trip Through the
Rohoboth, Friendship aud Bethel As lociations;
Contributions—T. C. Boykin. Marriages Ad
vertisements)
INDEX AND BAPTIST.
ALABAMA DEPARTMENT.
There is a daily mail between Eutaw and
Greensboro.
At Perryvilie coin is selling at seventy-five
cents per bushel.
There are 111 prisoners in the Mobile jail,
of whom 98 are negroes.
There was a Christmas tree at the’Talladega
Baptist church Christmas night.
Daily prayer-meetings are being held in
Selma.
Rev. Mr. Gotland, Methodist, of Abbeville
has joined the Baptist church.
Rev Thompson died in Tuscaloosa coun
v■■ ■ -
The Court house at Ashland, with all the
records of the county, was burned the 18th ult
Rev. J. W. Walden has been installed in
the pastorate of the Franklin street Presbyte
rian church, Mobile.
The Alabama Grand Lodge and Grand En
campment of Odd Fellows will meet in Hunts
ville, February 7th.
The Primitive Pathway, the organ of the
Primitive Baptists, has made its appearance.
It is edited by Elder Henderson.
The Sabbath-schools of Orion joined in
thanksgiving exercises on the last Sabbath of
the old year.
Dr. Wm. Locke, a Methodist minister, has
Joined the Baptists, and was baptized recently
by brother L. W. Duke.
White and black emissaries are busily at
work in the State endeavoring to induce col
ored men to emigrate to the West.
Three years ago, the section of land where
Cullman now stands, was sold for taxes at
eighty cents, and now it is assessed at two hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars.
Before his final departure from Selma, Rev.
M. S. Andrews was presented, by members of
other churches and others not connected with
his pastorial charge, with a beautiful gold
headed cane.
Rev. Parker Thompson, familiarly known
a* “ Father Thompson,” did at his residence
near Tuscaloosa on the 18th nit. He was an
excellent man of God, and for many years in
strumental in organizing churches in his part
of the State.
Marion was visited by quite a destructive
wind and rain stofm on the night of the 28th
ult. Houses were unroofed, trees uprooted and
fencing blown down. There was but little per
sonal injury done. A negro c >ild was killed,
and several per-ons received slight bruises.
The Eulaula Times says: There is, so far
as we can learn no scarcity of labor in this
immediate section. Indeed, many a field hand
could be easily spared Iroin this region and
leave it in all t he better condition. A tew, un
der lalse promises made them by emigration
agents from the West, are leaving, but their
pnsence is not missed in the least.
—The Church Journal says: “A sensation
has been created by a Methodist ‘ Bishop,’
Dr. Haven. Our first acquain tance with him was
on the occasion of his delivery, some years since,
of a sermon on ‘ miscegenation’—i. e., the inter
marriage of white people with negroes. He
strongly advocated the measure, not only on
physiological, but on' high moral and Metho
distic grounds, and handled the discussion with
a loving familiarity (physiology and all)
which gave his hearers and readers the satis
laction of feeling that he iiad thoroughly mas
tered the subject.
Spirit of the Religious Press,
The Texas Christian Advocate says;
A short time since the authorities of Toledo.
Spain, closed a Protestant church and i xpelled
a pastor and school master. Wherever Cathol
icism is dominant, it is intolerant. The same
policy would mark their history in this coun
try if they held the reins of power.
—Commenting on that part of the Presi
dent’s Message which discusses religious and
educational questions, the Evangelist says :
It is not a good sign for the permanency of
our Government, and the sufficiency of our Con
stitution, when in presidential campaigns new
theories are started, and new issues are made,
affecting the whole character ,our national
charter. For political and personal ends nov
el schemes are proposed ; and these may be
called shrewd moves on the political chess
board, but tiie gam. is a hazardous one for the
people—the stake is •( more importance than
the players. For ..no transient object a radi
cal change is propounded ; one candidate out
bios :h other in his appeal to some popular im
pulse, or some local interest. Who can tel]
how far this may go, if it is encouraged V Ii
might mad to vital changes, affecting the whole
relation of the general Government to the right
and vested interests of the State. * * *
The proposal to forbid all “religious” teaching
is a hazardous one. Who is to define what is,
aud what is not, religious? How many per
sons are there who wish to have all religion in
every form excluded from popular education?
If “religion” may beexcluded by the State, why
not ‘ morals” also, for people differ nearly as
much on moral theories as they do on religious
theories.
—The Golden Rale maintains that church
“ sociables” are apt to be over formal, and that
their object is nullified when held in a house
of worship. The people who indulge in them
feel awkward.
The fault lies in the place. There is a place
to laugh, as well as a time; and a church is
not a place where a man loves to explode a
rocket-like joke, or where a wag can tickle the
company with the dryness of his drollery. As
long as religion is preached as applicable only
to a certain range of faculties, it will never
elicit the hearty co-operation of the remaining
faculties in man. Our experience has been
that a sociable held in a public hall, or a pri
vate house, is worth ten held in the rooms of
the church. /
•
—Under tlyf • , ? “ minister’s wife,”
the London Bap? . ne has the following
bit of pleasant satire :
“ The minister’s wife oygbt to be select ed/by a
commit, Jeofthe church. She should be war
anted never to have headache, or neuralgia ;
she should have nerves of wire and sinews ol
iron ; she should never be tired nor sleepy,
and should be everybody’s cheerful, drudge;
she should be cheerful intellectual, pious, and
domesticated ; she should be able to keep her
husband’s house, darn his stockings, make his
shirts, cook his dinner, light his fire, and copy
his sermons ; she should keep up the style of
a lady on the wages of a day laborer, and
be always at leisure for “ good works,” and
ready to receive morning calls ; she should he
secretary to the Band of Hope, the Dorcas So
ciety, and Hume Mission ; she should conduct
Bible classes and mothers meetings; she should
make clothing for the poor and gruel for the
sick; and, finally, she should be pleased with
ererybody and everything, and never desire
any reward beyond the satisfaction of having
done her own duty and other people’s too.
—On the topic of “ country ministers,” the
Golden Rule gives the following fine touches of
rhetoric :
Many people make the great blunder of sup
posing that our city pulpits monopolize the
ministerial talent of the country, it is a very
natural blunder for people to make; and yet
it is a blunder, nevertheless. Every gie.it city
has its great men in all professions. But where
it has one great man, it has scores of small
ones. To one who has served ministerially in
country and city churches the error of the pop
ular estimate is seen. We know of dozens of
ministerial brothers serving in country church
es, many of them in small, out of the way par
ishes, who, judged either by the standard of
scholarship, of zeal, or pulpit efficiency, are
able to stand side by side with those who rep
resent the highest average of talent in our city
pulpits. Indeed, we do not hesitate to say that,
in our opinion, taking them man for man, the
preachers in the country churches, will out
rank on an average the preachers of the cities.
A man must be very strong in his originality ;
he must be intensely personal in his character
istics, in order to resist those influences in city
life which are calculated to level him down
ward, in the scale of personal power. In the
country, a man can grow naturally. He furn
ishes the standard of judgment to his par
ish, in himself. His development is norma),
and not artificial. His study of character can
be more thorough, and his knowledge of life,
while less varied, less complex, less full, per
haps, can be more individualistic than it can
be in the city. There is also a moral educa
tion possible to the preacher in a country par
ish, that js not possible to oDe who conducts a
great, swiftly-working metropolitan organiza
tion. He who can look out through his study
window upon a wide landscape or a stretch of
ocean, or who lives within sight of the solemn
hills, who can retire at will from the noise of
human activity into the sweet and suggestive
quietude of nature, —has possibilities of spirit
ual culture which are denied those who live
amid the noise and rumble, and narrow pros
pect of our city streets. Meadows and forests,
and the solemn ocean shore, the quiet of night,
and the peacefulness of undisturbed days, can
teach one as neither books, nor statues of
bronze, nor the sight of human faces can ever
do. “ I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,
from whence cometh my strength.’'
—The Beliyii/us Telescope, with farseeing ac
curacy says : “Slang is not wit. Neither is
the misspelling of words humor. And we may
go even further, and say that the prevalent
disposition to present everything, serious as
well as trifling, in a ridiculous light, is also
bad as a matter .f morals Yet there are many
people whose sole cflyrt in writing and in con
versation appears to be in the direction of
what they consider ‘smartness.’ That eon-
FRANKLIN PRINTING HOUSE, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, JANUARY 13, 1876.
stant trifling with the sad realities of human
life ; with the serious work of human kind ;
with the events of the day, and with the facts
of history; witii the character of the living,
and with the memory of the dead, is lowering
the tone not only of literature, but of morals.
The world itself is net a huge joke, however
some people may so nflect to consider it.”
—The Standard says . “ The organs of the
English establishment are much troubled con
cerning the liberal and Christian spirit of Dean
Stanley. They hold to the old Pharisaical, pro
acriptiv; policy of ‘ the church,’ while he is
imbued more with the spirit of the present
time. The English Churchman reproaches him
with ‘ unfaithfulness,’for the reason that liein
vited Dr. Moffktt to lecture in Westminster Ab
bey. The Church Times declares that he has
‘once more degraded the venerable church
which is so unfortunate as to be committed to
his charge by making its have a lecture-room
in which non-conformist ministers may deport
themselves.’ It is thus that- these bigoted
churchman are helping on disestablishment
which is sure to come at no distant day.”
—There is a deal of homely truth and
weighty suggestion in the following dis
quisition on “Breakdowns,” which we cut
from the Christian Weekly :
The world is full of people who, in virtue of
all probabilities, ought to have been successes,
and are failures. Fine talents, fine opportu
nities, fine physique have done whatever was
possible for them ; and yet they fritter away
life playing shilly shally with their own good
fortune and with the world’s expectations.
Sometimes the reason lies on the surface ; it is
perhaps idleness, drunkenness or too much
pride to undertake the little items and details
so essential in every effort; but just as often
the cause is past our finding out. The man
seems possessed with some spirit of contradic
tion, or ruled by some creation from the dark
places of sentimentality or conceit. He for
sakes willingly, and with an assumption of su
perior wisdom, the broad, straight road which
all traditions and experience recommend,
smiles incredulously at warnings of danger,
and persists with a headlong passion rather
than a strong will, in that infatuation destined
to destroy him.
The world is, in the main, a just world; and
in making success the one thing forever good,
it has perhaps given us as perfect a measure as
would be generally available. For the quali
tics that must be cultivated in order to gain
success in life are mostly great qualities; and
there is no higher proof of this than the fact—
whether we like to say it broadly out or not —
that to succeed in this world has come to be
looked upon as one of the ultimate fruit* of
t!** go. peh Wily not 7 -It tg die „u&cfeWT
men who cultivate that patience which Button
rays “is genius ;” that industry, sobriety, hon
esty, economy, etc., that both the gospel and
the world acknowledged to be “lovely and of
good report.” It is the successful men who
send out our missionaries, build churches, li
braries, and hospitals, and give in every gen
eration the push onward that the world waits
for.
—“Economy” is a subject for terrible earn
est consideration in these times. As judicious
an article on this theme as we have seen for a
long time, is the following from the National
Baptist:
The hard times result largely from waste
and loss. During our war, a million men
were withdrawn from production, and became,
consumers; and all the while were destroying*
to their utmost. Since the war, we have
sunk money in mines, and unproductive rail
roads ; we have lived very extravagantly and
wastefully. The remedy lies in wasting less
and in earning more. Let us not be misun
derstood. Do not, dear and honored reader,
hasten to the kitchen and dismiss one of your
servants; do not, in the name of pity, grind
down your poor seamstress, and take into your
own hands the work she is now doing ; and
then, when she lias become an object of char
ity, give her at the expense of her self-respect
and her energy, what she would most gladly
earn. But there are places where you can
economise. Put an end to waste. Are you
wasting gas, coal, wood, oil 7 If you have com
pany, let your entertainment be modest. You
can economize in your dress ; you can wear a
cheaper silk, or a woolen. Look after your
kitchen. The waste of an American family
would support a French household. One of
the secrets of the prosperity of the French is,
that nothing is wasted. If a chicken, or a
sheep, is killed, each fragment is economized.
The chicken’s feet are made into soup. The
water in which fish has been boiled is not
thrown away, but is made into soup. In our
markets, the heads of sheep are thrown away,
or sold for two cents, to the bone boiler. We
are ashamed of economy. The most difficult
words for an American to pronounce are “I
can’t afford it.”
—Over the signature of brother J. M. Wood,
we find the following in the Barnesville Ga
zette.*
On Christmas Eve, soon after dark, the mem
bers and friends of the Baptist church began
to make their appearance at the pastor’s house.
Some of the ladies passed through to the din
ing room and took charge of things generally,
and placed upon the dining table various pres
ents that were brought or sent in. After an
agreeable social gathering of young and old,
the pastor an! family were permitted to in
spect the gifts of Santa Claus, and found that
all the members of the family had been so
kindly remembered, by the presentation of ar
ticles good for food and raiment, as well as a
few bills of “ magic worth,” the love of which
is said to be the “root of all evil.” It is of
priceless worth to a pastor to be thus remem
bered by a people for whom he has labored tor
eight consecutive years, and it was this feature
of the surprise whicli gave it its greatest value.
It is pleasant, too, to acknowledge some band
some testimonials of regaid by esteemed
triends who do not have connection with the
Baptist church. May the Great and Good
Oiiq bless {ill who thus remembered the preach
er and family.
—■" '
*? Starrs, Harrison & Cos. (Nureerv-men
and Florists,) Paincsvllle, 0„ for their four cat
alogues, which Will be sent free: No. 1 Fruit
anil Ornamental Trees j No. 9. Choice Roses,
tfreou-Houso Plants, etc ; No* X Sweet Ohesnut
Circular ; No. 4. Wholesale list. Tho firm is an
old and reliable one and offers extra induce
ments.
BAPTIST MEWS AND NOTES.
A correspondent from Hot Springs, Ar
kansas. says: “Although the climate is
warm and genial, yet the Christian portion of
tlm community appear to be cold and indiffer
ent in the cause, and the Baptists are by no
mesps an exception. lam surprised that our
Ilotne Mission Society have not entered this
field, for I believe that with a little effort a
guxi. strong church could be established,
" deb would, in a very short space of time
become self-sustaining. The Baptists now
have a feeble church here, but as I understand
have no regular pastor. Is there not some
earnest Baptist minister, whose heart is full of
the love of Christ, who would rejoice in the
biased work of building up a strong Baptist
interest here ? Brother, where are you ? Let
sucl an one write to our warm-hearted
brother, E. G. Smith, banker, Hot Springs,
wife will gladly respond to any such commu
nist thin. I am not alone in the belief that
the strangers who come here would contribute
liberally to the support of a good, earnest min
i4bs.”
The Congregationalist mentions the fact that
a certain community of Bulgarians arc greatly
Stirred oh the subject of Baptism. It appears
that a Baptist colporteur visited them, and in
a short time they comprehended the idea of
Scji}fiare baptism as anew revelation on the
Buhjtct. The result was that all the Protes
tants in that region save two or three united,
and iin writing expressed their purpose of
being re baptized in accordance with the Gos
pel inode.
—-The Second Baptist church of Richmond,
Vs..during the pastorate of its present pastor,
Rfc|| Dr. Bitting, has raised for beneficent pur
potjes $50,000.
|yi he Religious Herald, of the 6th inst., con
taiiA a vigorously written letter from Bro. W.
H. Davis, of Hepzibah, Ga., reviewing Rev.
H: Woodsmall’s charges, that the white peo
ple Of Georgia refuse to give their legal rights
to colored people. Bro. D. denies the asser
tion, and proveß the facts of his denial.
l'he Baptists in Sweden are making fine
progress. Churches and Sunday-schools are
spripg.ng up throughout the land. At the
cloi'9 d f 1874,225 churches, 141 pastors, and a
m p pVsbip of 10,160, are reported. All of
tin rif spite of persecutions on the part of the
ft'lt Imph?’!? >gnd 'he Stale which re
mind fts of the darkest days of the Inquisition.
For instance, in 1856, a brother, who was la
boring as a colporteur, was fined one hundred
crowns for having read a chapter from the Bi
ble publicly. Another brother was imprisoned
for several weeks, and fed only on bread and
water, for allowing the Bible to be read in his
house. In the following year six brethren
were, at different times, confined in the cell
prison ot Christianstad. One of them, a blind
colporteur, was confined in this prison eight
days for having circulated religious books and
tracts. When taken from the prison an iron
chain was attached to one of his ankles. He
was then taken to another station, where new
irons were placed upon him. In this condi
tion he was sent back to his home and com
pelled to pay a considerable sum to the author
ities for their trouble. Another colporteur
was seized, severely bulleted, stripped of his
clothing, sponged with cold water, had his
hair cut close to his head, was dressed in a
prisoners dress, and thrown into a cold, damp
cell, on a cold winter day. The law, that all
young young people, who have grown up with
out being sprinkled and confirmed in the State
church, cannot he legally married, is rigor
ously enforced. Hence, those members ol
Baptist churches, who have not been confirmed
in the State church, are compelled to have re
course to a form of marriage, which is consid
ered illegal, as the State church clergy are
not permitted by law to unite any except
those who have been confirmed in the State
church. Nor are Baptist clergymen allowed
to bury, even the members of their own church,
but recourse must be made to the Established
Church.
Some persons spend all their time in sur
veying the difficulties before them. They look
at them until tney grow as high as heaven,
and seem to shut out the possibility of success.
The way to deal with difficulties is to march
right up to them and tear them down, and
sweep them out of the way. When we get
closer to them and take hold of them with our
hands the mountains dwindle into atoms.
—The reports from the Episcopal churches
of the country show a falling of! from la-t
year of more than 3,000 communicants, while
the confirmations are over 4,000 less. There
are sixty Bishops to 251,000 communicants, or
a little over 4,000 to each Bishop, on an aver
age. There are over 3,122 ministers, which
would supply one to a congregation of about
ninety.
We heard it stated yesterday, says
the Columbus Time?, on the authority
of a gentleman who had taken the
trouble to ascertain the facts, that the
money value of the whisky received at
the depots at this city during the year
is at least equal to the money value of
all the com received during the same
period.
And still people want to know some
of he reasons for the “hard times.”
General Denominational Dews,
—The Young Men’s Christion Association
of Brooklyn spent about $6,000 in the Moody
and Bankey meetings. There is no numerical
estimate of the conversions made, but the com
mitteemen say that large additions are being
made to the churches and to the Christian As
sociation.
-•-The Protestant church at Toledo, Spain,
has been closed by the Catholic authorities,
and the pastor and school-master expelled.
—A. B. Searle, the Evangelist, is about to
begin a series of meetings at Troy, N. Y.
—A great revival is in progress in Harris
burg, Pa., under the labors of Rev.E. P. Ham
mond. Five hundred arose tor prayer in one
evening. Over one thousand persons have
thus far be- n converted.
—The Board of Managers of the American
Bible Society has deputed Rev. Luther H. Gu
lick to superintend the work of Bible circula
tion in Japan and China. He will go East im
mediately, and enter upon his work. He will
supervise the manufacture and distribution of
the Holy Scriptures in languages understood
by the hundreds of millions of people in those
great empires.
—The Reformed Episcopalians will soon
issue a paper to be called the Appeal. It is to
be published at Chicago, and edited by Dr. S.
J. Fellows, assisted by Bishop Cummings.
—A company of “ Yoke Fellows ” has been
organized in St. Louis, for practical religious
work. Their plan is to go forth, two by two,
throughout the destitute portions of the city,
visiting from house to house, and stributing
tracts, holding prayer-meetings, and preach
ing.
—The select vestry of Richmond, England>
decided sometime ago to build a Nonconform
ist mortuary chapel in the new cemetery at
that place. The chapel was recently dedica
ted, and invitations were sent to the Vicar and
his curates to attend the {service. They replied,
acknowledging with courtesy the invitation,
hut added : “It is, however, quite impossible
that we can accept your invitation, since it is
altogether contrary to the doctrine and discip
'ine of the Church of England that either her
clergy or her faithful laity should attend a ser
vice in a Dissenting chapel.”
—Rev Henry Whin, the oldest Methodist
clergyman in theTinited States, and probably
the oldest clergyman in the world, died, on
the 28th alt., at the residence of his grand
daughter, on Staten Island, in the 101st year
of his age
HE CAN MAKE HOME HAPPY.
Though we may not change the oottage
For a mansion tall and graud,
Or exchange a little grass plat
For a boundless stretch of land—
Yet there’s something brighter, clearer,
Than the wealth we’d thus command.
Though we have no means to purchase
Costly pictures rich and rare—
Thoi gh we have no silken hangings
For the wails so cold aud bare—
We can hang them o’er with garlands,
For flowers bloom everywhere.
We can always make home cheerful,
if the right course we begin ;
We can make its inmates happy,
And their truest blessings win ;
It will make the small room brighter,
It will let the sunshine in.
We can gather round the fireside,
When the evening hours are long ;
We can blend our hearts and voices
In a happy, social song ;
W e can guide some erring brother,
Lead him from lhe path of wrong.
We may fill our homes with music,
And with sunshine brimming o’er,
If against all dark intruders
We will firmly close the door
Yet, should evil shadows enter,
We must love each other more.
There are treasures for the lowly
Which the grandest fail to find ;
There is a chain of sweet affection
Binding friends of kindred mind—
We may reap the choicest blessing*
From the poorest lot assigned.
Leighton says, “ It is an argument
of a candid, ingenious mind to delight
in the good name and commendations
of others ; to pass by their defects and
take notice of their virtues; and to
speak or hear willingly of the latter,
for in this, indeed, you may be little less
guilty than the evil speaker, in taking
pleasure in evil, though you speak it
not.
FROM VIRGINIA.
In a brief note from Lynchburg,
dated December 15th, brother B. G,
Munard furnishes the following pleasant
information fiorn his field of labor:
“Dr. Mclntosh, Cm responding Sec
rotary of our Home Mission Board for
tbc Southern Baptist Convention, paiu
us a visit a few days since. He ini.de
a fine impression— preached two uhle
sermons, and took an active part in our
revival meeting, to the edification and
delight, of our people. He is a grand
man, we all fell in love with him. Dur
ing the meeting of nearly five weeks,
we had forty.lour professions and some
twenty-five additions ; eleven were bap
tized, several others await baptism and
others will join. J had four to join
last Sabbath. God is gieatly blessing
our churches in Virginia. More anon/’
lr Ihy merries wer ■ of the growth of thy
Heaven'"' 17 ’ th ° U n " Blltwt |, P a,e voyage to
WHOLE NO. 2802
THE RAINY DAY.
The day is cold, and dark, and dreary ;
It rains, and the wind is never weary ;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall.
And at every gust the dead leaves faff
And the day is dark and dreary.
My life is cold, and dark and dreary ;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts will cling to the mouldering past.
But the hopes of youth fall thick in tiie blast.
And the day Is dark and dreary.
Be still, sad heart, aud cease repining ;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all;
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some dayß must be dark and dreary.
—Long/Mew.
For the Index and Baptist.)
EBENKZER.
A pastor of four weak churches sat
in his study, near the close of the old
year. Darkness had settled over the
world without, and the chery lamp
shone brightly around the room, yet a
darkness deeper than the shades of
night had enveloped his tnind.
His churches, though they had prom
ised him but little for the year’s labor,
■had none of them fully paid that little.
The amount, though small to them
when divided, was large to him when
it must all be lost. He had been com
pelled to incur some debts during the
year, with the promise to pay in the
winter. How should he ever be able
to meet them, and how support those,
who, the Lord had plated under his
care ? Must he yield his convictions
of duty, and divide his time between
his churches and the school-room ? He
longed to give himself wholly to the
work of the ministry, but he must be
honest and faithful to his family
While his mind was troubled with
thoughts like these, he ran over the
work of the year just closing. At the
beginning of the year he had refused
the offer of a large school, in order
that he might give himself wholly to
study and preaching. During the year
he had been instrumental in building
up two new churches and destitute
places, preaching at them ninety-nine
sermons, besides holding protracted
meetings at his own churches.
Truly, thought he, the Lord has
helped me. I have no time for the
school room. Xf I live cby .. i.. i,.-..-
must still keep to my si ' f m braid", yt
to hath tfei' Ltt.J ale.
the future, “I will *tn t # smaSidS^'-
afraid.” I know that “He is abb to
do exceeding abundantly above all
that we are able to ask or think.” If
it be His will that I “ make tents,”
why, I will do it cheerfully. But I
must be free to labor; my time must
not be compromised.
Now, at the close of the old year, as I
remember the mercies of the past, and
how the Lord has graceiously crowned
with success the labors of the year,
I would raise a stone of helping:
“ Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”
May we not joyfully sing,
“Of God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come;
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home ”
Once- A-Month.
December 31, 1875.
For the Index and Baptist.]
FLORIDA BAPTIST CONVENTION.
The Florida Baptist Convention will
meet with the church in Gainesville,
commencing Friday, February 11,1876.
We hope to have some of our Georgia
brethren with us at that time, and we
here extend them a cordial invitation
to come and see us. Onr esteemed
brother, L. B. Fish, has been with us
on two conventional occasions, and we
are anxious to have him come again.
Be sure and come my good brother
Fish. Remember the time, Friday be
fore the second Suuday in February;
remember the plac : —Gainesville, Flor
ida. J. H. Tomkies.
Gainesville, Florida. Jan. 4, 1876.
Forth* Index and Baptist.|
flint kivkk .ndian missions.
Brethren, the aggregate report of
your missionaries —Benjamin Baker,
Solomon Baker and Wilson Nail, for
the quarter ending December 31, 1875,
is as follows: Miles traveled, 1423;
sermons, 116 ; churches and stations
supplied, 11; prayer aud other meet
mgs, 93; Sunday-schools, 3; number
of pupils, 122; baptized, 7.
Ibis report came the4th of January,
and t heir salaries ordered to be sent
iorward on the sth. Will the pastor
°l ''ach cliur b, or some brother in
.aeh church in the bounds of Flint
ltuer Association, take a collection for
our Mission during the winter and
curly spring, and send the funds to C.
F. Newton, Jr., Griffin, Ga. Please
do not fail in this; some of the
churches failed to pay in at our last
session, and promised to send during
the winter. .Remember this brethren.
J. M. Wood,
Chairman Executive Committee.
As wtetls grow rankest in richest ground,
a' (I fruits rip -st in hottest dim ties, so do sins
grow (o llie greatest heights where the Gospel
pun climb.i highest.
—During the past year about 100,000 ner
rir been addedi i,y ">