Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

4 fate ami fßapiiisi Rev. D. E. BUTLEB, Managing]! Editor Ediiob ai. Conthibctoes: De .7. 8. LAWTON Atlanta, Georgia. Brv. J. S. BAKER, !>,I) Quitman, Georgia. Rev. S. G. IIILLYER, D.D Forsytb, Georgia. Ret. T. G. JONES, D.D NaahTille, Tennessee. In the dwelling of the Almighty can come no footsteps of decay. Its day will know no darkness —eternal splen dors forbid the approach of night. Its fountains will never fail; they are fresh from the eternal throne. Its glory will never wane, for there is the ever-present God. Its harmonies will never cease; exhaustless love supplies the song. There must bo an unmixed satisfac tion in growing old when one reflects that it is gradually and surely bring ing one nearer the joys of heaven, just as minors, heirs to rich estates, may be impatient and eager to reach their ma jority and possess their wealth. And then to know that ono is leaving be hind one a life of truth and usefulness, that has contributed, however humbly, to human welfare, is a consolation that must inevitably help the aged to be calm and hopeful in view of approach iDg death. We must have our daily soul work between ourselves and God, our secret communion with Him,or we shall starve, even though surrounded by plenty. Wo must read our Bible, do our praying and believing and weeping before the Lord, conquer our own enemies in the strength that Jesus gives, and grow in grace and the knowledge of God, singly and in his sight. Wo cannot be par doned in masses, or saved in crowds. Straight is the gate, each must find it and enter it for himself alone. Let us be ware, lest in seeking outward excite ment, we forget and lose the blessed ness of inward Christian life. Let us walk with God! We should accustom ourselves to think of departed friends, not as being lost, but as Laving gono before; for in reality they are not dead, but aro only sleeping, and will soon awako and arise to everlasting life. Death to them is a short and dreamless repose, and a thousand years to them will be “but as yesterday when it is past.” Though we no longer behold them, they are ours still—ours to love and cherish till we all shall meet again. Our departed friends aro gone before, foot-sore and weary, we follow on, and soon with them wo will slumber in the dreamless grave. Many of the good, tbe beautiful, and lovely, have vanished from our view, but they still have an existence, and wo can think of them, dream of them, and love them tho samo as if they wero here, or sep arated from us but for awhile. Thoy aro our jewels, cur heart’s treasures, and they shall bo ours forever. A Christian’s Greatest Grief is not occasioned by tho number or mag nitude of his past sins, but by the evi dence offered in the daily operations of his own the spirit of carnal ity, which he brought with him into tho world, still exists, and is daily making efforts to recover the absolute sway which he once exerted over his moral affections, ere his scepter was wrested from him by the spirit of God. The Christian mourns for his sins, but while ho mourns ho rejoices in the assurances of God’s Word, that with him “thero is forgiveness ;” that “with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption j” that the blood of Christ “cleanseth from all sin;” that he will in “no wise cast out any that come to him ;” “that ho hath borne our griefs, aud carried our sor rows,” etc. He feels, therefore, that he may safely cast the burden of his guilt upon Him who is both able and willing to bear that burden. But the saino Scriptures which teach these important, soul-cheering truths, teach also that without holiness no one shall see the Lord; that before one can bo admitted to Heaven ho must be “reconciled to the will of God by the death of His son." Ho is conscious that he lacks that perfect holiness, that entire reconciliation of his will to the will of God in all things, that is neces sary to fit him for dwelling in the pres ence of Him who requires us to bo holy as He is holy. Then he can feelingly say with a poet: “My grief and burden long has been, Because I cannot cease from sin." Note—lt is not because of the recollections of past Bins, but because of the motions of ain in the flesh, alluded to by Paul in Rom. vii: 5, 18. _ lie deplores the incessant promptings of a spirit of carnality to resist the Will of God. As long as we continue in the flesh, we shall hare need to watch and resist that spirit. THE CHRISTIAN INDEX AND SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST. THE SAVIOIR’S GREAT COMMISSION. The above is an old subject. It has been be fore our people a long time. But so long as it is unfulfilled, its binding obligation is Mill upon us. 1 o convert the world to Christ is the mission of his people. Our Baptist Zion has its part to perform in this great work. The organisation of the Southern Baptist Con vention, with its boards at Richmond, and at Marion, is a visible proof, that, to some extent, we recognize our obligations and are trying to fulfill them. But our Boards, for some cause, are now en cumbered with difficulties. The great ques tion is, how can they be relieved ? How can they be supplied with the means of carrying on their mission work ? The first step towards answering this ques tion is, to ascertain the true cause of their pres ent embarrassment. Some would answer, that the hardness of the times is the cause. Well, the times are hard. But we do not think this is the true cause. We claim, in round num bers, about 100,000 missionary Baptists in Georgia. Suppose that each of these could be induced to give five cents a month, it would run up, in twelve months, to $60,000. But, suppose we grant that one-half of these 100,000 are too poor to give anything. We still have 50,000. Suppose each of these could give live cents a month—the aggregate would be $60,000 for Georgia’s contribution to our Boards. Then, if each of the Southern States should give in proportion to Georgia, we suppose the whole amount would reach, perhaps, $200,000 per annum. With these figures before us, it is simply unreasonable to refer the distress of our Boards to the scarcity of money. We cer tainly are safe in assuming that 50,000 Baptist in Georgia are able to give five cents a month to our Boards. We go further and say that they are willing to give it. Then why have they not done it ? There are several reasons. One is, many have not had the wants of the Boards explained to them. They take no re ligious papers —they are living in the rural districts. They seldom attend our Associa tions and Conventions. Hence, though mis sionary at heart, they are not aware of the facts which would appeal to their liberality— and, hence, they neglect to give even one dime in the whole year. There are others, however, who neglect their duty, because they are not favorable to the plans which have been adopted for carrying on the work. Let us not Iks misunderstood. Mission work is one thing, the method of carrying it on is another thing. There are ex cellent brethren who have the work at heart; but who honestly think that our present sys tem of Boards and agencies is not expedient. Nevertheless, many noble brethren of this class continue to contribute to these Boardsj preferring to support a method which they do not approve, rather than neglect a work which they love. But many of this class have not such magnanimity. Because they do not ap prove the method t they denounce the work it self. Thus it happens that thousands of our brethren, some for one reason, some for anoth er, tail to contribute one cent. Hence, the burden of supporting the cause is devolved up on only a fraction of our great denominatio And it is just on account of this fact that the plea ofhnrd times becomes valid and pertinent. When a few have the money to raise they must give, not dimes, but dollars, and fives, and tens, and twenties, and hundreds. We know that many have been in the habit of giving according to these figures. Now when financial distress has come, and reduced their incomes, even below the reasonable wants of their families, they must reduce their contribu tions, they can still give, and they do give something—but not enough to sustain our mis sionary work. As to this particular class, it may truly be said, that the hardness of the limes has curtailed their contributions to our Boards. While the country was prosperous these brethren did carry on a respectable mis sionary work. But now they are not able to do it. Well, they ought never to have been allowed to carry it on alone. Had our whole people come up to the work with their nickels, and dimes, our treasury would hardly have felt the change in the finances of the country. Since writing the above we have seen the ar ticle of our correspondent on the question: “Are our methods of collecting funds for be nevolent purposes wrong ?” who proposes to follow with additional views. Hoping that the writer will give some light upon this im portant question, we will wait for his views. When he is through, if necessary, we may add some suggestions of our own. There is no surer soul-death, no more inevitable paralyzing of worth and force than self-exaltation and self praise. The shadow of self blights growth, maims power, cripples influ ence. There are men in some aspects almost great, in others, pitifully small, because they will not stand out of their own shadow. There are men who have the ability and the will to perform the most valiant service for one and another great cause, who are wise, brilliant, eloquent; who yet have been of little or no worth to their fel low-beings, simply because they are willing to do nothing without securing full credit for it, to rear no column in tho temple of regenerated humanity, unless they can inscribe their names on it s capital. An eccentric brother in Kentucky, is reported to have said, recently: “Breth ren this old Baptist chain has not a single missing link. I can give it a jerk and hear it jingle clear back to the river Jordan." HE CIS-T L'SDEBSTifD IT, All our readers are not endowed with sharp intellects. One of them acknowl edges that he is so defective in the power of penetration that he cannot understand the “ wherefore” of many things reported in the papers as hav ing been done, said and sung, in refer ence to the grand centennial movement, that had aroused, from the sleep of centuries, the minds of men, women and children, in every department of Christendom. As we do not possess enough of the quality of a whetstone to enable us to sharpen his intellectual powers, we turn him over to out cen tennial orators, and trust, in their clemency, they will undertake to illu mine his mind, and enable him to com prehend the things which have, so far, remained incomprehensible to him. To aid them in their benevolent work, we will state,briefly, some of the things . which he says he cannot understand. 1. He cannot understand why greater efforts are made to impress with a sense of our obligation to God for the civil and religious liberty we enjoy, than with our obligation for the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free; unless they deem it a greater boon to be freed from the tyrannic rule of civil governments than from the dominion of sin and satan, under which all in an nnregenerate state were held, (and still are), or believe that the world is more in need of information on the ono sub ject than on the other. 2. Ho cannot understand how, or why it is, that the erection of colleges, and the sustaining of learned profes sors in them, should bo considered more necessary to evince our gratitude to God than the erection of houses of worship, and the sending forth and sustaining heralds of tho Cross to preach that ever blessed Gospel that is declared to be the “ power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth: to tho Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Rom. i: 16. 3. He cannot understand why so many, and such cogent appeals aro made to us for 'pecuniary contributions, while but few and feeble are the ap peals made—if, indeed, there be any— to sanctify our hearts to the Lord, unless they believe that gratitude to God is more evidently evinced by pecuniary contributions than by an entire conse cration the heart, with all t’ r , .o Him from whom all ouiHnfflPff .ngs flow. He thinks if tho hearts of professed Christians were wholly con secrated to the Lord, thero would be no need for tho prodigious efforts that are being made to raise funds for the en dowment of our colleges; as, in that event, there would be ample funds pro vided, without any special solicitation, to enable us to carry on, successfully, all our benevolent enterprises. He thinks our centennial workers are —to use an old simile —hitching the cart before the horse. Asa herald of news we report the difficulties that have occurred to the mind of one of the many thousands of our readers. We hope no one will hold The Index responsible for the opinions expressed or implied in our report of tho difficulties that agitate the mind of our bewildered reader. What reason have the young people for withholding from the church the service they can aud ought to render? Why are they not free to act and la bor in her work and mission ? With them, her efficiency will be increased, and her success accelerated. Without them, her difficulties will be multiplied, and their own well-being imperiled, both in time and eternity. Let them give to her, and so to God, the beauti ful incense of their young, cheerful and vigorous life. Thb book of Revelation is not so much an upward and forward vision, as inward; through form to essence, through manifest effect to hidden cause. Seal by seal the roll opens inwardly. None can fail to recognize the on ward sweep of the book toward a tri umph which, in cycle after cycle, deep ens, until out of battle and storm, and mystic clouds, the new Jerusalem emerges in crystal beaqty. The bed of death brings every hu man being to his pure individuality, to the intense contemplation of that deep est and most solemn of all relations, the relation between the creature and his Creator. Ejaculatory prayer is the short dagger to use for defence against temp tation, when we have no time to draw the long sword of solemn prayer. BRIEF NOTES. —The Texas Baptist Herald refers to our proposition, and the endorsement of it by the Western Recorder, that each church appoint a committee to see that each member in it takes a religious pa per, and adds, “Several pastors in Texas have undertaken to put the Baptist Heraldinto every family connected with their churches.” Will not our Georgia pastors enable us, at an early day, to make a similar statement in reference to them and The Index ? —We do not deny the change of be ing an old fogy; but we disclaim being entitled to credit for the interesting ar ticles that have recently appeared in our columns over the signature “ Old Fogy.” They who ascribe those ar ticles to us rob a worthy brother of his honest due. Let justice be done, etc. —We question whether we do not excel all other denominations in the number of Smiths we have set to work in the gospel ministry. According to the Year Book for 1876, published by the A. B. P. S. at Philadelphia, there are in one State (New York) 24 Smiths who have a “ Rev.” prefixed to their names ; in three States, Missouri, Ken tucky and Georgia, there are 14 in each ; in the two Virginias combined, the same number—l 4; in three States, Illinois, Tennessee and Alabama, 9 each ; making in the States named an aggregate of 107 Baptist ministers by the name of Smith. There are in sev eral other States a plurality of Smiths, with a sprinkl'ng of Smithes and Smythes, that we have neglected to in clude in our reckoning. The Year Book makes no distinction between white and black Smiths—neither do we. GEORGIA BAPTIST NEATS. From Bro. D. G. I Janie 11, writing from Walthourville, we learn of a protracted meet ing held at Jones’ Creek, from the fourth Sab bath through the union meeting on the fifth Sabbath in January. Seven were baptized during tbe meeting, most of whom had been expected for some time. Brethren G. A. Blount aud T. S. Linford assisted —the for mer during the entire meeting and the latter during the two closing days. —The Augusta C'onstitiUionalist of the Bth lost says: The regular Sunday-school concert of the First Ward Baptist church, on Sunday, was an enjoyable affair. Judge W. R. Me Laws made a most interesting address. —The McDuffie Journal, alluding to a re cent article entitled “Should a minister be recompensed for his services, ’’says: PmfS botice a very sensible article under the abovej adirgin The Christian Index from Rev.) ' .Hillman, of our county. The wri ter, afiTr reciting the duties of a pastor to his flock, defines the duties of the flock to the pas tor, in which we fully concur. Ministers who are appointed to lead in “ways that are holy” should at all times be encompassed by as fa vorable circumstances as possible, and never be allowed to have pecuniary obligations ac cumulate until those with whom they deal suspect them of neglect or carelessness. Their influence for good is not only impaired, but their power of doing good, in consequence of pecuniary embarrassment, is greatly lessen ed.” —The Alabama Baptist alludes to our greatly esteemed co-laborers as follows : Dr. J. S. Baker, a venerable father in Israel, writes that though alive, he feels himself dy ing a lingering death. He retains his mental vigor, as his occasional articles to our paper will testify. He has sent solutions of the rhythmical puzzles published January 27. How many others solved those puzzles ? —Brother W. C. AVilkessends us the follow ing gratifying news from his fine field of labor in Gainesville; “The college opens with nearly 80 pupils. We are occupying our new church building. The congregation and Sab bath-school continue to increase; additions every conference; prayer meetings growing in interest.” —The Macon 1 degraph and Messenger says: The Second Baptist church has been, for a long time, seriously embarrassed by a burthen of debt which pressed heavily upon it, and which at the present juncture, promises to bear more heavily unless some measure is adopted which will liquidate it in a reasonable length of time. This condition of affairs is fully ap preciated by the congregation, and they are easting about for some means of savin g their place of worship. To assist in the accom plishment of this end, the ladies of the con gregation have organized a “Working Socie ty,” and have set to work to assist in raising the necessary means. They will approach the public in various ways, and will accept any contribution, no matter how small it may be. In furtherance of this praiseworthy object, the pupils of the Blind Asylum, through their courteous Superintendent, Professor Williams, have consented to give a concert on the 18th instant, tor the benefit of this fund. A fine sum will, doubtless, be realized. —An excellent denominational work is under prosperous headway in the suburbs of Atlanta. A little faithful band, about five months ago organized a church at Bellwood. The meetings were first held in an old school house. The Lord added to the membership, and they have been enabled to build a comfortable house of worship, which will seat 250. They have also organized a Sabbath-school, of which our worthy friend and brother, John 11. Phillips, is Superintendent, Scholars and teachers number about sixty, and the school is rapidly increasing. May the Lord’s blessing be poured out abundantly upon this church and Sunday-school, that it may grow and prosper continually. THE HUMAN WILL. IY A.. J. BATTLE. NO. VIII. THE THEORY OP THE SELF—DETERMINING POWER OP THE WILL. Philosophers, who deny that the Will is governed by motives, or causes, extraneous to itself, maintain that it possesses a self-deter mining energy, or the uncontrolled power to originate its own volitions. This position is held by some able metaphysicians, and by the great body of Arminian Theologians. Among the distinguished advocates of this the ory are Cousin, in France, Tappan, of New England, and Bledsoe, a Southern writer of high reputation and superior ability. Cousin ascribes to the Will an absolute and undetermine# power to act as cause. “This cause, in order to produce its effect, has need of no other theatre and no other instrument than itself. It produces it directly, without anything intermediate, and without condition : * * * being always able to do what it does not do, and able not to do what it does.” Mr. Tappan contends that all cause lies ultimately in thee Will, a power which is self-moved. Mr. Bledsoe denies that volition is the effect of anything, whether motive or mind it is the action of an independent agent, the Will: “The mind puts forth its volitions without be ing efficiently caused to do so, —without being impelled by its own prior action, or by the prior action of anything else. The conditions or occasions of volition being supplied, the minds itself acts in view thereof, without be ing subject to the power or action of any cause whatever.” These views agree in making the Will ex empt from the operation of any impelling cause—an autonomy, or independent power, with inherent capacity to do or refrain, at its own uncontrolled option. This theory is objectionable for the follow ing reasons: First, it contradicts one of the acknowledged intuitions of the mind, —a uni versally recognized first principle of thought: namely, the principle of causation. The law of causation is, every event has a cause, or every begun existence, or every occurring phenomenon, is the effect of some preceding energy, called a cause. An event or phenome non without a cause is inconceivable by the mind. And, therefore, philosophers have ev er placed causality among the categories of thought, the intuitive truths of .the mind — truths that are self-evident, necessary and uni versal. To say then that volition, an act of the Will, can take place without a cause, is to state what the conscious mind pronounces im possible. When an act has been performed, it is legitimate to ask why it was done? The answer is, according to this theorv, the mind so willed ?t. Why did the mind so will ?To this there is no answer, and can he none, for there is no law governing the Will —it wills thus, or the opposite, without motive. But this (joes not meet the demand of the en quiring soul, which is ever curiously prying into the spring of actions, and the cause of un explained phenomena. This demand of uni versal reason is seen in the child whose facul ties are just unfolding, and in the untutored savage, as truly as in the mature philosopher. The little child sees a watch, observes the mo tion of the wheels, hears the ticking of the little machine, and instantly exclaims‘what makes it do so?’ In this curiosity to know the cause, he is on a level with the philosopher. Indeed he is a philsopher, bent upon the discovery of causes, and you leave him unsatisfied and thirsting, until you have assigned a cause. It is this yearning of the soul after a cause, which givis so ready an entrance to the idea of a God into the mind, and which, in the breast of the ignorant, ascribes all strange and unex plained occurrences to the direct agency of God. The mind must rest in > lething, and hence it seeks the simplest solution of the mystery, in the Great First Cause. Now the operation of the Will is no exception to the rule, that the mind demands a cause of every phenomenon. If I see a man do anything whatever, the motive for which is not appa rent, I cannot avoid the mental inquiry why did he so? A man commits suicide. On ev ery hand, from the youngest to the oldest, the question springs up spontaneously, why (lid he take his life ? The German press pronounced Thommassen’s crime the natural outgrowth of American civilization; and while Ameri cans residing in Germany are indignant at this aspersion, and while thoughtful minds are asking for “a psychological cause,” the auto nomists say, there is no cause; he willed it, that is all. They ignore the avarice in his “heart” —a thing which the Bible declares to be “desperately wicked”—and would have us believe that he contrived that infernal scheme, without a motive. But the question of uni versal reason, why ? will not down at the bid ding of autonomists. Now, it does not avail against this inexorable fact of our concious ness and experience, to draw a distinc tion between the relation of cause and effect, and that of agent and action. If by this equivo cal word, action, is meant the operation, or put ting forth of power, then there must be a cause for that operation. A machine may have power to act, but its action is never self-pro duced. The powers of nature act, but their ac tion is always the effect of some antecedent en ergy. If action signifies the product or result of the operation of the power, it is palpably caused by that operation. And in all such cases, the question is ever coming up: Why ? Why? Why? We repeat then, that the hypothesis of the self-determining power of the Will contradicts one of the universally acknowledged maxims of reason, that every event must have a cause. Secondly, the theory under review is con travened by ail analogy. Everything in the material universe is admitted to be subject to this relation of cause and effect. All action, motion, existences and phenomena, occurring in the physical creation, are produced by ante rior power or force. And not only in nature, but in mechanics, in civil society, in mind, and in morals, we witness the operation of causes, and can find no event without its cause, either known or sought for. Even the advo cates of the view under consideration admit, that the understanding and the sensibility, with the states and acts of each, are determined — even necessitated. The Will alone is exempt from the dominion of causality, and its acts alone are self-caused. It is then, an anomaly in a double sense, being the solitary exception to a sweeping law, and exempt from the control of all law. Is a theory unsupported by a single analogy—nay, with which all analogy is at va riance, —likely to be true ? Thirdly, it is contrary to observed facts. In the course of this discussion, we have adduced a great variety of examples, demonstrative of the principle, that men act in obedience to in centives lying in the sphere of the sensibility. In every case, it was clearly established that the volition was prompted by feeling—such as ap petite, self-love, pity, benevolence, ambition, patriotism, fear, love, avarice, feeling of obliga tion, desire to please God, etc. We have in vestigated simple and common-place actions, as well as rare and important deeds, and, in each instance, we have traced the volition to a determining emotion. We have searched the range of conscious experience, the sphere of observation, the re cord of current events, the pages of history, the volume of revelation, and have found the Will ever acting in obedience to extraneous incentive. There are cases which, at the first glance, seem to point to the intellect —the judgment—as the source of power over the volition ; but the impelling cause or induce ment to action is an intervening emotion, which the test of scrutiny always discovers. Indif ferent or trivial actions may often appear al mostentirely motiveless; but in proportion [to the feebleness or absence of inducements, is also the feebleness and absence of the volunta ry element. We maintain that the observed facts and phenomena of the Will form a broad basis of inductive demonstration, establishing the truth of our theory, while not one action has ever clearly appeared to be inspired by the und jtermined Will. Strange autonomy this, which in all histo - ry has not performed a solitary indepen dent exploit, but has forever submitted to the dic tation of alien powers; which never exer cises its vaunted prerogativejof sovereignty, but pays unvarying tribute to foreign authority ! It is vain to say that the Will can do otherwise than it does. It js vain to arrogate powers that are never exercised. Nothing can be more ridiculous than the claim of an individ ual to kingly authority, who is, and ever has been, a private citizen. Advocates of the automons Will cannot es tablish their hypothesis by induction. That hypothesis assumes that the Will has power to do otherwise than it does. In the very na ture of tilings, it is impossible to prove this from “the facts of nature,” because the .doc trine asserts what is contrary to facts. To af firm that the Will can do what it does not do, is to affirm what can never be known to be true —a purely conjectural and ideal concep tion. Thus, we can never, by “dissecting,” “anatomizing” or questioning nature, arrive at the autonomy of the AVill. And, according to Dr. Bledsoe, any other method is unscien tific; “it anticipates, but does not interpret na ture.” And, according to Bacon, “it is the “parent of error, and the calamity of every science.” Induction, therefore, the argument from ob served facts, is against the hypothesis of the self determining power of the Will. We have, in every volition, one condition uniformly pres ent —an impulse of the sensibility —and this, by the rule of inductive science, must be the cause. The free agency of man will next claim our attention. The religious newspaper aims not to do, and if it did, could not do, the work of the pulpit; but most powerful ly does it assist and perpetuate that work. It cannot cast over multitudes the spell of eloquence, which Truth lends to the voice of the living preacher, but it can give watchful culture to the seed thoughts sown, and help to reap a more bountiful harvest. There is an elo quence of silence as well as of sound* and, as in physical, so in the moral world, the greatest results are wrought out by the most silent forces. A frag ment of truth taken into the soul through the understanding, in a quiet, reflective hour, as it leaps up frotp the printed page, may be more potent for good than we shall ever be able to know. “ Special Contributions.”—We desire to call the attentiom of every reader of The In dex to the Special Contribution depart ment. In the columns devoted to this depart ment will be found regular contributions from the very ablest writers in our denomination, on subjects of general or special interest. The choice thoughts of our best minds, and the fruit of the exegotical labors of onr most schol arly brethren, in and out of the ministry, will there be found, carefully prepared for the edi fication of our readers, and for the promotion of the cause of Christ’s truth and Christian ex cellence. We will sparp neither labor nor ex pense to keep this special department up to the highest standard, and enriched with the jewels of refined thought. Satan knows if thou playest the truant to-day, thou wilt go the more loth to school to-morrow.