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The Christian Index VOL. 55-NO. 3. Table of Contents. FniST Page.— Alabama Department : Record of State Events; Spirit of the Religions Press ; Baptist News and Notes ; Hold the Port—Poetry ; Definition of Bible Terms; Home—Poetry ; The Southern Baptist Theo logical Seminary; Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep—Poetiy: etc. Skoosd Page.— Our Correspondents : A Few Thoughts for the New Year—lß76 ; From the Brunswick Miesion—\V. D. Atkinson ; Letter from Lithonia—J. M. Stillwell; Comparative Status of the Methodist and Baptist Churches in the State of Georgia—G. R. McCall ; A Tragedy—J. H. Kinnebrew; Letter from Brun swick—W. D. Atkinson. Indian Missions : Re port of Native Indian Preachers for the Quar ter beginning October 1, 1875, and ending De cember 21, 1875—J. 8. Murrow. Select Mis cellany : One Year—Poetry ; High Education for Females ; Lost on the Plains—A Child Eighteen Hours among Snapping and Growl ing Wolves; The Ideal Editor; New Year- Poetry ; etc. Thihi) Page.— Our Pnlpit : The Kingdom of Heaven—A Sermon, written by Rev. T. B. Cooper, for the General Meeting of the Third District of the Middle Association, October 31, 1875, on the question “What is Meant by the Kingdom of Heaveu, as spoken of in va rious places in the New Testament Foutmt Page. —Editorial : Discontent: Inebri ate Asylum; Sermon—first Baptist Church; Georgia Baptist News; Raising funds for Benevolent Objects--Reform Necessary—Rev I>. E. Butler. A Tale with a Sting ; Centen nial Hymn—Rev. J. S. Baker. Manna for God's People—Rev. S. G. Hillyer. The Sin ner’s Joy—Poetry; One Dollar for our Semi nary—John It. Kendrick ; etc. Fifth Page.—Editorial: A Valuable Gift—Rev. J. S. Baker. To the Churches connected with the Georgia Baptist State Convention—A. T. Spalding; Personal; etc. Secular Editorials : The Governor’s Message; Literary Gossip; Georgia News ; Georgia Farm Notes ; etc. StxTii Page. —Patrons of Husbandry : Co-Oper ation—Resolutions and Rnles adopted at tho late Session of the National Grauge at Louis ville. Seventt! Page.— The Sunday-school: Interna tional Lessons: David in the Palace—Lesson for January 23. Eighth Page.— Our Correspondents : Raising Funds for Benevolent Objects —Tertius. Obit uaries. Special Notices, Advertisements. INDEX AND BAPTST. ALABAMA DEPARTMENT. The total bonded debt of Selma is $327,500. Rev. J. DeWitt Broadhead has accepted a call to the Huntsville Presbyterian church. The City Court of Selma is to be re-estab lished. Howard College is prospering. Rev. Dr. Henderson serves the Childers burg church this year. i—► . * v •' I Rev. W. Wilkes has resigned the pastorate of the church at Childersburg. Rev. James A. Meurer, formerly of Phila delphia, has been put in charge of the Eufau la Catholic church. Everywhere in the State, much of the meat killed last month has spoiled. Rev. Mr. Fitzpatrick has accepted a call to the Presbyterian church at Orion. The LaFayette Clipper estimates the loss of pork by the recent warm weather in Cham bers county, at fifteen thousand pounds. A little son of Rev. C. Allday, of Coosa Valley, was killed by falling into a well. A large number of hands are now at work on the Muscle Shoals canal, and the contrac tors expect to complete the work by June. Northern capitalists are negotiating for land near Calera. Rev. B. H. Crumpton, of Greenville, is working very successfully in his new field of labor. A broom factory has been established in Montgomery. Rev. J. E. Bell has removed to Georgians, where his work is meeting with blessed re ward. James Gamble, the eldest son of Capt. Ruf fin C. Gamble, of Mooresville, was recently killed by the accidental discharge of a gun. ♦ -♦ —• G“orgiana, a flourishing little town on the Mobile and Montgomery Railroad, was de stroyed by fire a few days ago. The fire was the work of an incendiary. Mias Fannie Snodgrass has taken charge of the Scottsboro Herald during the absence of Senator Snodgrass in Montgomery. Mias Fannie is a clever jouralist, and sets type. The Tuskcaloosa Gazette says: Money seems to be more plentiful in Tuskcalooßa than for some years. More goods were sold Christmas week than were in any one week since the close of the war. The North Alabamian says : The weather continues warm, bright and beautiful—noth ing like it ever known before. Violets, but tercups, crocuses, japonicas, strawberries and plum trees are in full bloom, and Bwarms of “little busy bees” improve the shining hours. Thomas Simmons and wife, residing near Jemison, Chilton county, have twenty-four children bnried in one graveyard. This aged and childless couple live by themselves and do their own work. The Eufaula News says: “John Evans liv ing in the lower part of the county was found dead Hear his house one day this week under circumstances that created a suspicion that be ' met his death at the hands of his son.” THE SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST, o? Alabama, MHO IS, THE 9HKDEBEK ? Mr. James T. Fields visited Pomeroy, the boy murderer, in hie jail and learned from him that be had been a great reader of blood-and thunder stories. He had read sixty dime nov els, all about scalping and other bloody per formances) and he had no doubt these hooks had put the horrible thoughts into his mind which led to his murderous acts. For a long time past we have not read a paragraph more calculated to awaken sad and Berious reflections than the one above quoted. The boy was found guilty of atrocious murders, and the law of the land duly condemned and will execute him. The effect has been removed—why not the cause also ? Is the man who voluntarily plants an upas tree whose exhalations will poison the surrounding atmosphere and cause stupor and death, responsible for these deplorable effe- ts or not ? Is the wretch who poisons a well responsible for the sickness and death of those unfortu nate individuals who, using the tainted water, are destroyed by it r By parity of reasoning—to continue our meta phor—it seems to us that the parties who planted the upas tree of licentious “blood-and-thunder” literature in the fertile heart-soil of this poor boy, are equally responsible ; and the wretch es who poisoned the well of his thoughts with the demoniacal decoc tions, brewed in their own vile brains, tainting the clear waters which may originally have welled there, with the deadly virus of “ dime novels,” should be considered the prime influ encing causes which led to the deplora ble effects for which the boy is to be bung. Are these not in essence partici pators of his crime ? Will not the great Judge at the bar of heaven, when the record book of divine justice shall be promulgated, so rule? Wo to those who then shall tremble and sink under the annihilating verdict, but who now flour sih as a green bay tree, by reason of the poison fruits they are now cultivating at the expense of the souls of the yoatb/of 'r t * —Thomas Carlyle achieved his per - manent fame, first, by the publication of his marvelously brilliant “ French Rev olution.” It is said on good authority, that the late Sir William Hamilton read this book through at a sitting, al though the book extended over three volumes, and though it took him thirty six hours to do it. From the Report of Hon. J. M. McKleroy, Superintendent of Public Instruction, for the scholastic year ending Sept. 30th, 1875, we learn that the fund for public schools for the year was $565,042. Of this sum there was ap propriated to White schools $315,792 Colored schools 234,021 The number of pupils enrolled was White children 91,202 Colored children §4,595 The number of schools taught during the year was White.. 2,610 Colored 1,288 This is the largest number of public schools ever before taught in the State. The average period for which the schools were taught was four months and four days, and the average cost of tuition per pupil for the white schools was $3.09 for the term of ninety days, or 69J cents per month. That of the colered schools was 91J cents per school month. The outlook for the current year is not so favorable. The fund for this year was re ported October Ist at $287,281. This is just about half what it was for 1875, but even this moiety, under the rulings of Gov. Houston, has been reduced $111,568, leaving only about $175,000 available for the schools of 1876. The Mobile Register says : A series of reli gious services, which are being held nightly in the Franklin street Methodist church, by the United Methodist, Baptist and Presbyte rian churches, are, we are glad to state, nu merously attended. Sunday night—the open ing night—the crowd was so great that many were unable to obtain admission. Last night there appeared to be little or no diminution. The meetings will be continued. The Meteor is the title of a monthly journal, edited, published and printed by inmates of the State Insane Asylum, at Tuscaloosa. It is a small paper, but is a very interesting one. Its editorial columns display marked ability and finer command of English than half the newspapers of the country can boast. —A “mission,” another term for revival, conducted somewhat on the Moody and San key plan, is being held just now among the Episcopalians of Cincinnati. As weeds grow rankest in richest ground, and fruits ripest in hottest climates, so do sins grow to the greatest heights where the Gospel sud climbs highest. FRANKLIN PRINTING lIOUSE, ATLANTA, GEOI 61 A, JANUARY 20, 1876. Spirit of the Religious Press, The Christian Adifocaie says: “It has seemed to us that scarcely any other class of our church workers are so completely left out of the reli gious sympathies of Christian people as are the conductors of church papers. If the paper is approved, there is very little thought ofgiving the editor the moral and spiritual support of the religious sympathies and prayers of the church. He is applauded and cried ou ; but is lie prayed for ? If it is disapproved, he is dealt with with less of deference than any other, even the most inconsiderable, official in the church. In his solitary place he may feel the need of what it may be suspected he seldom has —the benefit of the prayers of Christian readers. —The Congregalionalist has a penchant for pressing its inquisitive finger on little sore spots, as instance the following : There are a great many peojde who never would commit a great fraud—oh, no !—who yet do not hesitate to commit nsmall one. The woman returning from Europe with lace hid den upon her person, is one of this class. The contributor to the Congregaiionulist who sends his manuscript at printed matter rates, is another. The correspondent, who writes his message on the inner folds of a newspaper, and then mails it simply as a newspaper, is another. The Post master-General of Great Britain payH that 14,000 newspapers were detected doing this illegal service between England and the United States, and Canada last year. If we are going to have anything to do with religion, let us adopt It fairly and fully, and be honest in all things. —Relative to the ever-present question of “ church debts," the Churchman, discourses as follows. Commercial principles have no place in churches, whatever may be said of the" converse —that church principles have a place (or should have) in commerce. And the root of the evil lies just where we have))ut it, in the notion that a church must pay for and main tain itself, just as a theatre or opera house, or concert hall sustains itself. The truth is that every Christian is bound to maintain public worship according as God has prospered him. We do not discuss here the best methods of do ing this. There are ideal theories of the mat ter always to be kept in view, but not to be rashly pressed. But this plain distinction lies at the bottom of all, that the church is to be maintained by the people, and not to be “ run” on business, that is upon remunerative prim pies. The layman who makes a profit, no mat ter how small, ont of a church is guilty of sin. the same sin, in kind, as that of tin priest who sells its sacraments- And the lay man who seeks to manage a church so as to spare himself ■ hat can rightly G;„rd.>;, step, and that a long one, towards the same sin. —The Christian Standard closes a teaching sketch of a young man who was sacrificed o the demon Rum, with the following trumpet tones of warning : This is the picture of thousands in our rum cursed land to-day ; and Oh ! wonder of won ders I—thousands more with open eyes, are starting in the same path ; and thousands of parents and other citizens are indifferent to the advances and ravages o! this demon 1 Chris tians are standing idly by, with sealed lips, and pulpits say nothing, while the work of destruc tion goes on. Arouse lor we shall perish 1 —The Standard discusses the subject of tax ing church property as follows ; It is not as in monied corporations, like a bank or a railroad, where the interest of each individual is exactly defined, and as capable of exchange or sales as if it were a piece of real estate. But if the ownership is indefinable in its nature, the pecuniary advantage of it is simply nil.. A church property is not a source of income, in any proper sense of that word, ei ther to the church, or to its members. What ever may be derived from it goes, not to the emolument of either the one of these or the oth er, but to the promotion of the general aims of the church, which are purely religious and be nevolent. To claim a right to tax the proper ty of churches, is to lay upon these bodies and the men and women who compose them, the burden of maintaining religion and morality in the communities where they are planted, and then make them pay for the privilege of bearing this burden. There seems to be no strict sense in which church property is “ prop erty,” or is justly liable to taxation. —The Interior contrasting true worship with the false doctrines of perverted Science (so called) says: The tides of religious thought and duty, like those of the sea, are recurrent, and aB once it was the mission of Israel to imprees on polytheist and atheist the sovereign, only God, so has that mission fallen to the Church ol this age. At last the victory for theism as against atheism or pantheism, is not to come through intellectual combat mainly, but through the lives of God’s people, the humblest as well as the greatest, living before men as in the pres ence-chamber of God; living an awful faith in Him, before which the vagaries of infidelity will vanish like vapors in the light of the sun. Let this, then, be the endeavor of God’s people to make manifest a divine life in the world and walk as Israel did under the shadow of divine presence. —The Examiner and Chronicle, commenting on “Praying Band” missions, i.e. young men forming themselves into what is called a “praying band,” and going about from place to place, seeking by methods of their own to arouse Christians to activity, and to lead sin ners to repentance, calls the object praise-wor thy but the plan objectionable—“wanting in the large Christian experience which the ma turer believer brings to the performance of evangelistic labors, and deficient in knowl edge of the field they undertake to cultivate, they are quite as likely to do the wrong as the right thing— to hit hard when gentle dealing is moßt needed—to denounce when they Bhould commend or tenderly persuade. The zealous young men who underfake these missions may be.very useful at home, where 'they know the field and are known. But it is a hazardous ex- periment to encourage a body of inexperienced persons to go. traveling about as evangelists, exhorting, reproving, and seeking to instruct the churches in their duty toward the uncon verted.”; And if hazardous, surely it ought not to be tried. “We wouldjnot, however, be understood as objecting in the le; t to the proper exercise of any and every “ piritual gift” with which some of these earn, st young brethren may be endowed. Within their own church and neighborhood, and under the judicious direc tion of the pastor and other experienced guides, tbeyjmay lx; made eminently useful la borers, and Jdo good service for their Lord. But until better evidence is presented than we have yet Jhe efficiency of “praying band” miesfcns, we shall hold to the opinion that pastors and churches may safely be left to carry on t|ie work of Christ without their aid.” —The Ckfigtian Intelligencer says: How mnhy teachers in Sunday-schools ex pend any efiort to impress upon their scholars the duty, nr to create in their minds the desire to attend upon the worship of God in His ho ly .temple on His holy dav? And yet what practical results eat flow from the labor that is given to teach c ddren to “remember the Sabbath day to kee > it holy,” if nothing ef fectual is soe to bi ng them into the courts of His liousd on that holy day 7 The work of one or twipiourg in Sunday-schools on Sun days will make but a slight impression—will too often ! e work va-ted—if, instead of being supplemejfcd-l'v their dutiful and reverent at tendance divine service, it is given over, a-- ,s too jfften the case, to amusements at home or 6 > walks or strolls along the streets or in the (fields. We do not advocate forcing children church, certainly not until persua, tion and (J example have failed. The cJJIIJ should baled to it as a privilege, or as a dffl/ whose observance is pleasing in God’s eye, and whose non-observance is displeasing to Him. If property trained betimes, the young will as little think of absenting themselves from church on Sunday, as of going to their day school or their week-day work on Sunday; and such absence will cause a feeling of un easiness in their consciences, that will operate to hold them in the right path. Make the children reali a that Sunday should be spent in God’s house, if possible, and that a Sabbath without a church is only a lesser evil than a church witfiout a Sabbath. v NEWS AND NOTES. —A jfmarkably fruitful revival is in pro gress af the Baptist Church in Marshall, Mo. —The religious laws of Hungary are to he the.r-resent session of the Hun -1 Canadian Pres-" byterFims find they have too great a variety of psalm and hymn-books, and are now trying to unite upon one out of the many. —An English Quaker evangelist has left England for a preaching tour through the United States. —Four memorial tablets are to be placed in the Christian College at Aintab, Asiatic Tur key, in memory of four American missionaries, the Rev. Messrs. Merriam, Walker, Dodd and Goss, who dedicated their lives to Oriental mission work. —Dr. Jeffry, of Brooklyn, after equivocat ing and attempting to conceal his views for several yeare, has at iast taken position square ly with the Open Communionisls. —The Baptists of Michigan number sociations, gathered ; n 307 churches, with a membership of 21,448. They have, including 7 licentiates, 304 ministers, of whom only 147 are pastors, leaving 157 churchless ministers, or more than half of the whole number. There are at the same time 100 paslorless churches. —Twelve Chinese have been admitted into the Baptist church of Portland, Oregon, during the past year, through the labors of Rev. D. I. Pierce, in his Chinese school, and of the native preacher Dong Gong. —Dr. J. W. M. Williams recently celebra ted the twenty-fifth anniversary of his pastorate of the First church, in Baltimore. —lt is suggested that every pas: or provide himself with a diary for 1876, in which to note regularly every occurrence of the year, of im portance to him or his charge. —Rev. M. H. Lane, the new pastor of the Central Baptist Church, in Nashville, is meet ing with the most gtatifying success in his ministerial labors. —The Edgefield (Tenn.) Buptist church, Rev. W. A. Nelson, pastor, closed the last year in a fine spiritual condition* The church has 245 members, with 250 scholars and teachers in the Sunday-school. The church has also two missions, one numbering 118, the other 110, and a week-night prayer-meeting at each. —As the American Baptist missionaries in Assam are not making very rapid progress among the Assamese, they are turning their attention to other heathen within their reach. The Kols who cultivate the tea gardens in the Brahmaputra Valley, seem to be ripe for the gospel, and the people of the Neya Hills, since the idea of British occupation has been ably abandoned, show their former readiness for Christian teaching. —The Morrißlown (Tenn.) Bnpiint liejlecior says: “The Baptist Church at Cleveland holds a musical concert on the first Sunday night in each month, and takes up a collection for Foreign Missions. The plan works well, and the contributions increase on each occa sion. W ould it not be well for other Church es to adopt this, or some other systematic plan, for raising Mission Funds 7” —The Moss Creek (Tenn.) College Echo will hereafter be published in Morristown in the office of the Htfledor. THE CHRISTIAN HERALD of Tennessee. / General Denominational News, —The altar now being constructed in Italy, for th* Filth Avenue Catholic Cathedral in New York city, will cost $25,000. —A bill has been introduced in the Ohio Legislature providing for taxing church prop erty. —Mr. Peter Herdie, a millionaire of Wil liamsport, Penn., made the Protestant Episco pal Church of that place a Christmas present of anew edifice, fully furnished, with an organ and other requisites, which he had built at a cost of $160,000. —The Methodist estimates that there are 270,000 families in the Methodist communion who take no religious paper, and places the circulation of non-Methodist papers in that denomination at 90,000, which is just equal to the united circulation of the official Methodist papers. —The Chillian government has passed a law that neither Catholic Priests nor womea are entitled to vote in political elections. —The government of Japan has issued an edict which sets forth that in consequence of the many conflicting theories on matters of faith, “ the existing religion shall continue to be respected until the trutli of some other re ligion shall have been conclusively established. —The receipts of the largest five Foreign Missionary Societies in England during the year 1874-’76 were as follows : Wesleyan Mis sionary Society, $899,730 ; Church Missionary Society, $879,175; Society for the Prop agation of the Gospel, $674,130; London Missionary Society, $517,765; Baptist Mis sionary Society, $200,000. —The Moravians have a missionary fund of $106,900, and 355 missionaries in the field. —Tlie audiences addressed by Mr. Moody, in Philade'phia, during a recent week, aggregated about 130,000; of these, about 3,000 arose for prayer, and 1,000 went into the inquiry room. —The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions have published their Report presented at Chicago in October. They have in charge 18 missions, with 78 stations and 498 out-stations They employ 150 ordained missionaries, six of whom are physicians; there are more than 200 female assistants; the whole number of laborers sent from this country, in cluding 10 physicians not ordained, being 378. These, witli tiie native pastors and teachers and helpers, form a working force of 1,434. Under their caie and instruction are nearly 12,000 1 cUorth ajemh .vs, and- over 22£flP pupils in schools. Tlie receipts for the past year were about half a million of dollars. HOLD THIS FORT. Ho, my comrades ! see the signal Waving in the Bkv ! Reinforcements now appearing, Victory is nigh! “ Hold the fort, for I am coming,” Jesns signals still. Wave tlie answer back to Heaven, “ By Thy grace we will.” See the mighty host advancing, Satan leading on ; Mighty men around us falling, Courage almost gone. See the glorious banner waving ! Hear the trumpet blow ! In our Leader’n name we’ll triumph Over every foe. Fierce and long the battle rages, But our help is near ; Onward comoH our great commander, Cheer, my Comrades, cheer ! DEFINITIONS OF BIBLE TERMS. A day’s journey is about twenty three and one-fifth miles. A Sabbath day’s journey was about an English mile. Ezekiel’s reed was nearly eleven feet. A cubit was nearly twenty-two inches. A hand’s breadth is equal to three and five-eights inches. A finger’s breadth is equal to one inch. A shekel of silver was about fifty cents. A shekel of gold was $8 00. A talent of silver was $538 32. A talent of gold was $13,809. A piece of silver, or a penny, was thirteen cents. A farthing was three cents. A mite was less than a quarter of a cent. A gerah was one cent. An epah, or bath, contains seven gal lons and five pints. A bin was one gallon and two pints. A firkin was seven pints. An omer was six pints. A cab was three pints. Foil Farmers.— We cull the attention of farmers to the advertisement of the Empire Portable Forge and Blacksmith Tools, made by the Empire Portable Forge Company, Troy N. Y. The use of these Forges will save a of trouble and time to farmera; and by their use a farmer bimsell can readhy do four-fifths of his repairing. Read the adver. tisement and send for catalogue. Sunns, Tubes, Bulbs.—We call the at tention of our readers to the advertisement of Messrs. Edward J. Evans & Cos., nursery and seedsmen, Yoik, Pa. Having had per sonal dealings with those gentlemen for years, wc can unqualifiedly endorse them as honorable prompt and reliable business men , The articles they advertise arc all that they are represented to be, and those dealing with ' them wiU be guaranteed satisfaction. WHOLE HO. 2803. HOME. There is a spot on earth supremely blest, A dtarer, sweeter spot than all the rest, Whore man, creation’s tyrant, casts aside Hiss word and sceptre, pagentry and pride, While in his softened looks beninly blend The sire, the son, the husband, brother, friend ; Here woman reigns ; the mother, daughter, wife. Strews with fresh flowers the narrow way of life ! In the clear heaven of her delightful eye An angel-guard of loves and graces lie; Around her knees domestic duties meet, Ami fireside pleasures gambol at her feet. Wiiere Bhall that laud, that spot of earth be found; Ait thou a man ? a patriot ? look around ; Anj thou shalt. find, howe'er thy footsteps roam, That land thy country, and that spot thy home ! Tlie Southern Baptist Theological Seminary— Centennial Effort. The Board of the Southern Baptist Theo logical Seminary proposes to use the Centen nial movement to advance and complete tlie endowment of that Institution. It is believed that tlie Baptists of *he South will join in one united effort for this purpose. It will be remembered that tlie proposed re moval to Louisville, Ky., was conditioned upon the raising of $300,000 in Kentucky. With the aid of the Centennial movement in thtt t State, this will have been secured by the Ist of May, 1876. remains, then, for the other Southern States to lulfill the purposes which 4i|ve been expressed—that $200,000, in addi tion, shall bra raised outside of Kentucky. There should be neither difficulty nor delay in doing this. The two hundred thousand dol lars can be raised at once if one united and general effort be made. The Centennial move ment furnishes the opportunity of doing so- While the various colleges in the different States are securing larger contributions, as well as that from tlie dollar roll, it is proposed to try to secure tlie Seminary endowment entirely upon the latter plan. It is preferred, unless absolutely ne< essary, not to ask for large con tributions. Jhe Seminary has ever sought the sympathy ami support of the mass of the Bap tist member hip. An endowment based upon a universal < ontribution of small sums would in itself be more valuable than one doubly as large give by one or a dozen persons, or by a small poi tion of our membership. It is in portant that the contribution be secured in mediately. The Seminary ought to be in Lou sville by the Ist of September, 1876. But, accc.i ding to the terms upon which the removal and endowment are based, it cannot be located there until the whole amount of $500,000 has been secured. In it its present location, and with only its present means, it is not doing one tithe the work for the denomi nation which it is believed possible. That it ;• been already successful and useful beyond hopes of its friends only shows that they not too sanguine in their expectations of 'its greater usefulness. That there may be no interference by the Seminary Centennial with the dollar roll work of the colleges, it lias been though* best to pre pare for it a separate form of otrtificate from any elsewhere used. The pecu'iari'.y which has been adopted is that of an engraved }>ortrait of each of the six professors, Boyce. Broadus, Manly, Toy, Whitsitt and Williams, who have up to this time taught its classes, has been printed upon each certificate. These have been prepared by one of the best artists in America. Each contributor of a dollar will receive one of these certificates, worth in itself the amount of his contribution. At the same time he will be aiding in the complete and permanent en dowment of the only Baptist Theological Sem inary in the South, in which equal advantages can be secured with those afforded by Baptist and other institutions in the North. Bring this matter at once before each church and Sunday-school. These certificates are issued in volumes of twenty-one, of fifty, of one hundred, of two hundred and fifty, of five hun dred, and of one thousand certificates. Each church and Sunday-school should have its own roll book, so that all those connected with it may be enrolled together. The stub which is retained in the book when the certifi cate is cut out is to be preserved as a part of the roll of those aiding in this work. It is im portant, therefore, that the church order a dock of such size as will probably contain the number of certificates which will be taken. The object is to secure one dollar from every member of the church, from every member of the congregation and from every child in every such family. It will be well tht each church appoint a committee of from three to nine persons to canvass for this work, to the chairman of which the book of certificates can be sent. These are furnished gratuitously, postage paid, by the Treasurer of the Seminary. Full explanations for the collectors will be forwarded with each book of certificates. Any desired information will be given by the Treasurer. Let the application be made soon, stating the number of certificates which will probably be needed. Don’t forget that each child in the Sunday-school, as well as each member of the church, should have one of these certificates. The Seminary is asking only for a limited amount. Only one-tenth as many certificates will be issued as there are persons under Bap tist influence in the Southern States. For books ot certificates or other informa tion, address James P. Boyce, 17 West Broadway, Louisville, Ky. NOW I LAY MB DO WN TO SLEMP. Golden head, so Blowly bending, Little feet so white and bare, Dewy eyes, half shut, half open, Lisping out her evening prayer. Well she knows when she is saying, “ Now I lay me down to Bleep." Tis to God that she is praying, Praying Him’her soul to keep. Half asleep, and murmuring faintly, “ If I should die before I wake”— Tiny fingers clasped so saintly— “ I pray the Lord my soul to take." Oh, the rapture, sweet, unbroken, Of the soul who wrote that prayer ! Children’s myriad voices floating Up to heaven, record it there. If, of all that has been written, I could chose what might be mine, It should be that child’s petition, Hieing to the throne divine. —ln the Baptist historical rooms in Phila delphia are large quarto albums, in which are S reserved liaenesses and autograph letters of eparted Baptist leaders. Of portraits, there are 575, placed in three volumes. Of autograph letters, there are 572, in three volumes.