Newspaper Page Text
The Christian Index
VOL. 55-NO. 33.
Table of Con tents.
FIRST Page.— Alabama Department : Record of
State Events; Spirit of the Religious Press ;
Baptist News and Notes ; General Denomina
tional News ; Notes of Travel in Georgia; etc.
Second Paoe.— Our Correspondents: “Terns
of Commumon’'—G. R. McCall; The Coosa.
Association—T. C. Boykin : Good Meeting at
Indian Creek—J. M. Stillwell; Memory; A
Model Sermon—Poetry : Mount Olive Churob
i—J. G. Speights ; A Pastor Wauted ; Ordina
tion—Mount Fisgah Churoh, Montgomery
County; Inquiry ; Is it Right to Take Up Col
lections for Religious Purposes in Our Sunday
schools?—C. H. Stillwell Select Miscellany:
Explorations Around the River Jordan ; etc.
Third Paoe.— B< arching the Scriptures : “Epis
copacy Tested”—An Essay on Apostolic Suc
cession—The Baptist Churches of the Present
Day—Pedobaptism Considered.
Fourth Paoe.— Editoiial: The Lord's Day vs.
The Jewish Sabbath—Rev. 8. G. Hillyer. Mer
cer University; Georgia Baptist News : The
Word of God is Like Music; Revival at Greens
ville, Fla.; Great and Little Sins; Trust in
God is No Matter of Mere Sentiment—Rev.
D. E. Butler. Letter from South Carolina;
etc.
Fifth Paoe— Secular Editorials : What Differ
ence Does it Make; Labor and Capital; A
Good Wife to a Man of Wisdom is Strength
and Courage; The Drones; Judge James
Jackson’s Address; A Free Tress; The Sa
tanic in Literature; A Question; Last Days;
Flint River Association ; Georgia News ; etc.
Sixth Page. —The Bunday-school: Lesson for
September 3, 1876; Sabbath-school Conven
tion- etc.
Seventh Paoe. —The Farm : Remedy for Chick
en Cholera—Max Wier : Remedy for Hog Chol
era—D. M. Barkley, M.D.
Eighth Paoe.— Publishers’ Department; Trib
ute of Respect; Obituaries ; Advertisements.
INDEX AND BAPTIST.
ALABAMA DEPARTMENT.
In July, there were 151 deaths in Mobile.
Diptheria is prevailing in Jacksonville.
Rust is on the cotton in Clarke county.
The fall term of Talladega circuit conrt
begins 11th prox.
Opelika will soon have anew Methodist
church.
The real estate of Montgomery is assessed at
$4, 789, 550. k
Caterpillar have appeared in Henry county
cotton fields.
Dr. T. J. Palmer has assumed editorial con
trol of the Greenville South Alabamian.
A Y. M. C. A. has been organised in
Talladega.
The 'name of the postoffiee at Manack,
Lowndes county, is changed to Burkeville.
The Supreme Court has adjourned until
December.
Nice beef sells in Montevallo at four cents at
pound.
The daily issue of the Birmingham Inde
pendent will be resumed on the Ist of October.
The new cotton mill in Selma will soon be
ready for operation.
William M. Marks, Esq., an Bged and
prominent citizen ofMontgomery, is dead.
Reports from the prairie counties say that
the caterpillar have stripped the large cotton
plantations in that region.
Wm. Farnham (colored) has been locked out
of his church, and threatened, for voting the
Democratic ticket in Monroeville.
Messrs. Turner A Simpson, of Birmingham,
have patented a valuable improvement; in
railroad locomotives.
The protracted meeting in the Brundidge
Baptist church closed after most fruitful pro
gress. Forty-eight were added to the church.
The Montgomery Mail says the r utlook for
cotton iB very glocmy. The corn crop is the
best ever made.
The Rev. C. H. Skelton, of Scottsboro, has
moved to Marion, for the purpose of aiding in
editing the Alabama Baptist.
The Public School Board of Montgomery,
have elected Mr. M. C. Davis a Principal of
the Public Schools in the city vice Prof. Hogg
resigned.
The Montgomery papers report the death
of a young man of their county, named Daniel
Lord, in a strange manner. He'was seining,
with others, in Weaver’s mill pond, and at
tempted to swim across the pond, holding two
live fish in his mouth. One of the fish, a
perch, worked its way into his throat and
strangled him. His companions got him out
of the water alive, but he died of strangulation
in a few minutes. The fish was afterwards
taken from his throat.
—The Century of Oospel M r ork gives the fol
lowing as the increase of ministers in the lead
ing Protestant denominations of the country
since 1776; Methodist from 20 to 20,<53;
Baptist from 370 to 19,517 ; Presbyterian from
140 to 7,954; Congregational from 575 to 3,-
233; Lutheran from 25 to 2,662; Reformed
German from 25 to 623; Reformed Dutch
from 25 to 476 ; Episcopalian from 250 to 3,-
140 ; Moravian from 12 to 75. There are al
together about 60,000 clergymen in the Uniftd
States.
THE SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST,
of Alabama.
Spirit of tile Religious Press,
—The New York Methodist hurls these ring
ing words at the selfishness of the British na
tion, in connection with the terrible onslaught
of the Turks upon the Christians in the rebel
lious provinces:
The situation is an awful one. Turkish
prisons have been emptied to fill up barbarian
armies; peaceful provinces have been laid
waste by fanatical irregular troops. One Sul
tan has been murdered and a drunkard, stag
gering to the grave with delirium tremens,
reigns in his stead ; every Christian in Turkey
is in daily peril of assassination; the wretched
government is as poor as a Sioux tribe, and as
expensive as a bankrupt estate, and, to make
the time one for serious thought, Servia seems
to be at the mercy of the savage horde pour
ing into her valleys. Christian people in this
country ought to speak plainly to their English
brethren. These atrocities, these indecencies,
could not exist, but for English gold and Eng
lish guns. There are other ways of preserving
the balance of power —and if there were not,
it cannot be maintained by heaping one scale
with slaughtered Christians. The Christian
world demands an account of imperial Britain,
and a change of policy. There has been more
than enough of these horrors—they have be
come unendurable. The unholy alliance be
tween the Turk and the Englishman must be
broken.
—The Christian Register makes these points:
“ The Christian Giver says, ‘ the offering of
swine’s flesh’ under the old dispensation would
not have been more abominable than the prac
tice of raising money at ‘church fairs’ by
raffles, grab-bags, fish-pools, sham post-offices,
ring-cakes, etc. We know of one Unitarian
minister who gave notice of a church fair, but
added, that ‘although the money was to be
raised tor religious purposes, there would be
no gambling.’”
—The Western Baptist says there is a preach
er in Arkansas, who has missed no appoint
nient in sixteen years regular preaching, and
one year walked twenty-eight miles to a month
ly appoinlment.
—The Baptist stringently comments on the
too-prevalent sin among church members of
making promises that are never kept. It
holds the following powerful argument:
There is one phase of dishonor among
church members that is a great shame to the
Christianity of the nresont day—that is, the
reckless promises on subscriptions and the
shameful failures to meet them. There are
too many subscriptions taken at Conventions
and Associations unless they were more
promptly met. It is so common to make
pledges, that many brethren feel that they
would hardly be deemed liberal Christians if
they did not subscribe as often and as much as
others, and it is lo be regretted that many
pledges teem to be made for mere show. It
a imeliow occurs that many such pledges are.
made and soon forgotten by those who made
them, as though Christian obligations were as
light as chaff, and promises made under what
we call religious feeling had no binding force.
It is scarcely expected that half the amount of
such pledges will be paid. If any one thinks
that such a source is not displeasing to God, let
him read the account of the pledge and failure
of Ananias and Sapphira io the fifth chapter
of the Acts of the Apostles, and how God dealt
with them. It is not a shame to churches
when their subscribtions, even to their pastors,
are not reliable? Church members make
pledges year after year and never pay them,
and yet are held in fellowship, and by many
deemed honorable Christians. This has be
come so common that the dishonor of it is
scarcely thought of; and has it come to that,
that the promise of a Christian is worthless?
That the pledge of a church of Jesus Christ is
not reliable ? Is it not time for a reformation?
Let Christians think and act. Let the sin be
blotted out, and,the standard of.Christian honor
be raiseed higher.
—“lt is a thing to be borne in mind,” says
the Standard, “by American Christians, as well
as by others, that if re'igiori has uses for art
—which is tiue—still when these in any sense
or to any degree become themselves to a re
ligion, they are scarcely lesß false and mis
'eadinp than the Madonnas and crucifixes of
Papistiy, or the wood and Btone idols of Pag
anism itself
—The Catholic World for August has an ar
ticle on “The Next phase of Catholicity in
the United States,” in which it says that
church has a better chance now than in Cath
olic countries. It urges, now that such pro
gress has been made in building churches,
cathedrals, schools and asylums, that atten
tion shall now be given to colleges and uni
versitee.
—The Standard, briefly discussing another
view of the church taxation question, re
marks :
Those who advocate the taxation of church
property lave no idea of the amount of vol
untary taxation which they assume, which
but for them would be a chaige upon the
property of the general public. On this sub
ject the New York Observer remarks that “men
of the world do not realize that our churches
are vast charitable organizations. Nearly all
of the public poverty is among those who will
not submit to religious influence and church
discipline.” The Hebrew Association of New
York alone, spent $43,495 for the relief of
their poor, which relieves the public treasury
to this extent. So it is the country over.
Christian churches spend vast sums contin
ually for the same purpose, of which no ac
count is made,
—Relative to immersed Pedobaptists, the
Baptist Weekly says:
In the past lew months, in a number of in
stances, persons have desired to be immersed,
previous to uniting with Pedobaptist churches
and Congregational, Presbyterian, Episcopal
and Methodist pastors have administered the
“one baptism” known to the New Testament.
It seems really better than letting the con
verts go to the Baptists, but it may not be so,
if their churches should have any considera
ble number of immersed adherents. For in
stance, Dr. Landels reports, that lately the
Congregational pastor of an English “Union”
church called the Baptist members together,
and told them that they must either cease to
talk about their distinctive doctrine, or leave
FRANKIIN PRINTING HOUSE, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, AUGUST 31, 1876.
the church. These people preferred to keep
a good conscience and left the church. While
such cases prove what a mocking and delu
sion it is for Baptists to hope to conciliate
others, unless they abjure all rights of personal
thought and speech, if shows what dangerous
germs may be introduced into a Congrega
tional, Episcipal.or Methodist church. There
fore, our brethren who congratulate them
selves on keeping these people from the Bap
tists, will do well to “rejoice with rembling.”
—The Standard, under the caption : “Can
anybody tell us,” reads the churches a well de
served lecture, which we trust will be produc
tive of mnch good :
We read in the Alabama Baptist, first, that
“no man acquainted with the religious destitu
tion in that State can doubt that it is mission
ary ground.” Second —that “the work done
by Rev. T. M. Bailey, one of the missionaries
of the State Board, is almost incredible.”
Third —that, “with all the glorious results
achieved hy him, the deplorable fact stares us
in the face that he has not been sustained.”
Here are three facts following one another.
What we want to be told is, why has this
missionary not been sustained ?
Were this an isolated case, it would not ap
pear so singular. But there are hundreds of
others the country over, where pastors have
been called from their work by the authorized
voice of the denomination, and put into the
field under a solemn covenant and promise of
a salary, and then have not been sustained! We
know of political emissaries who are sent into
the field to conduct a campaign, who art paid
five times more than is ever promised any mis
sionary. Why the money of Christians is not
as readily given as that of politicians, iB what
we Would like to know.
BAPTIST NEWS AND NOTES.
—The Baptist church in Edgefield, Tennes
see, pays its pastor, Rev. W. A. Nelson, week
ly and so keeps out of debt.
Our Southern Mission Board has appro
priated S2OO to help the Second church in
Knoxville, Tennessee.
—Representatives were present, at the Mis
sissippi Baptist Slate Convention, from 69
churches, 18 Associations and two Ladies’ Aid
Societies. Of 143 delegates, 71 were ministers
and 72 lavmen.
—The Baptist colleges in the West are hav
ing rather a hard lime, according to a corres
pondent of the Examiner and Chronic!e. Two
of the professors at Georgetown College, Ken
lucky, have resigned, owing to the financial
condition of the Institution. Bethel College,
Rnsselville, Kentucky, has also had trouble,
while the South Western-University at Jack
sonville, Tennessee, “has come to a stand still
for want of funds," both the President and the
agent having resigned.
—A student of William Jewell College,
Missouri, hy the name of Crouch is evangeliz
ing with wonderful success during vacation. He
is a native of tennesgee. He received about
eighty inlo the church at Plattesburg, eighty
or more at Providence, and 116 or 116 at
Platte City, and is now preaching with fine
success in Independence.
—The Baptist church at Culpepper stands
on the site, and partly on the foundation, of the
old jail in which Baptist ministers were once
imprisoned for preaching the Gospel contrary
to the laws of the colony.
—The new Broadway church, Louisville,
(Dr. Burrow’s,) will he ready for occupancy in
October.
—The Chinese Mission work in California
is being conducted hy the Baptist churches in
San Francisco. Missionaries have been ap
pointed, and Mission premises rented, and the
work commenced under very auspicious cir
cumstances. This is the plan which the Home
Mission Society has for sometime urged upon
the brethren in California: The responsibili
ty of carrying on the work is in the hands ot
those,who, being on the field, can give their
personal supci vision to the work, and thus en
sure a gretlsr efficiency than if the responsi
bility of the work remained in a Board, 3,000
miles and more from the field of operatons.
—The Baptist church at Elkhart, Indiana,
has increased from 85 to 190 in twelve months.
—The committee appointed by the Board of
the Home Mission Society, New York, to
select a Secretary to fill the place of Dr.
Bishop have unanimously made choiceof Rev.
Dr. Cutting. Dr. Cutting has decided to ac
cept the appointment, and will assume the
duties of the office early in September.
—Dr. Breaker has resumed the charge of
Second church, Chattanooga, temporarily. He
still adheres to his determination to leave the
State, but will serve the church for a few
months.
TF.iVVESSEE IMPTIST SEWS.
Rev. L. B. Fish rites:
“ I am just home from the Cumberland As
sociation, which met near Springfield. It has
been, organized five years, and numbers twenty
five churches, and about 3,000 members.
Most of the churches have Sunday-schools, and
take a great many Kind Words. Two churches
were received—Clarksville and the Third
Nashville. Much interest was manifested re
garding tl e Southwestern Baptist University.
Some means were raised toward its endow
ment by the financial agent, Dr. Shelton. Dr.
Caperton, of the Western Recorder, Dr. Gard
ner, of Bethel College, Ky., biother Chaw
doin, of the Home Mission Board, were pres
ent. The meetings were quite devotional, and
a large number asked prayer, and some found
precious rest in Jesus before the meeting
closed.
Maj. Jos. Hardie, of Selma, who has been
in attendance on the Y. M. C. A. Internation
al Convention, at Ontario, Canada, of which
last year he was President, is on a general (our
through the Northern States in the interest of
the Association.
General Denominational Ness,
—Mr. Yallie Hart, of Alabama, has gone
to Texas to join the revivalist Penn as a singer.
—The Rev. Isaac Bird, one of the earliest
American missionaries to Syria, died lately in
Massachusetts, in his eighty-fourth year.
—Lord Charles Hamilton has joined the
Church of Rome and become a Jesuit priest.
He officiates at the Pro-C athedral of Kensing
ton.
—After a hard struggle for more than four
years, the First # Preebyterian Church of Gal
veston, Texas, is now worshipping in their new
and elegant chapel.
—Major Cole, the Chicago Evangelist, has
beeitcwnducting a very successful, though un
obtrusive, revival work in Great Britain. At
the beginning of the month he was at Pesth.
—Bishop Quintard’s collections in England
for the University of the South (Episcopal)
amounted to $13,280, besides a promise from
a lady of $36,000.
—Rev. R. S. Duncan resumes the agency
for Missouri for the Foreign Mission Board of
the Southern Baptist Convention.
—The project for a conference at Geneva on
the sanctification of the Lord’s day, has already
gained many adherents.
—The committee in charge of the arrange
ments for Mr. Moody’s revival meetings in
Chicago this autumn, have decided to erect an
immense wigwam capable of seating 8,300
people.
—The state of affairs in Spain is so vexa
tious to the Pope that he has called a meeting
of Cardinals.
—lt is said that during the past year two
thousand and forty-three French Catholics in
Montreal abjured the Papal religion,
—Six million dollars to ministers, and over
six hundred million dollars for tobacco, are
paid annually by the people of the United
Btates.
—A Congregalional council haß just deci
ded that donations are not to be reckoned as
part of the minister’s salary. The donation is
a matter of grace. The salary is a debt. The
paying of a debt by donations has the bad
effect of causing the church to regard the pay
ment as a favor, and thereby it comes to think
much more highly of itself than it should.
—At a recent communion in the Pilgrim
Congregational church of Brooklyn, N.Y., (Dr.
Storrs’) there were admitted to membership on
coufosrion of faith four Turkish Armenians, a
l learnt’ ” n< * a Chinaman ; besides members
‘CtqJjrcNhjU’rkm church, and representa
tives Rom. the extreme Northern and South
ern Slates .
—An Anglican church congress is to meet
in Plymouth, England, October 3-6th. The
programme announces a discussion of the
Bonn Conference and the old Catholic move
ment, the temperance question, the slave ques
tion ir. Central Africa, and the relations of
church amt State.
—The General Council of the Christian
Union ol the United States, which met in Han
cock county, Ohio, last month, has printed i;s
proceedings. The Union contemplates the
abolition of sectarianism, and its doctrine of
union is contained in the following resolution :
‘‘Tnat all religioud associations built upon a
narrower basis than that which treats all the
Christians of a place as equal brethren of the
one church of the place, or which presents
creeds, tests and usages that exclude part of the
Christians of a place, are not built after the
New Testament model, and have no claims to
he regarded as churches of Christ.”
—A society has been formed in London for
the colinization of Byria and Palestine with
Christian settlers from England.
—The work of the Home Mission Society
among the Germans has been very successful.
There are laige regions of country where the
American-born population has moved away,
leaving an almost pure German population.
In many places in Wisconsin the English
speaking Baptist churches have become ex
tinct and in some instances church-edifices
have been left unoccupied. These buildings
could be occupied at once by the expenditure
of a little money, and German Baptist churches
organized and successfully carried on.
—The Protestant native Christian popula
tion of India, in one hundred and thirty years,
will be one hundred and thirty-eight millions.
—There are in the United States 69,871 Sab
both-schools. with 753,060 officers and teach
ers, and 5,790,683 scholars; and in Canada,
4,401 schools, with 35,745 officers and teach
ers, and 271,381 scholars. The grand total of
the Sabbath-school army of the continent is
6,850,869.
—The Baptists have four small churches
among the Scandinavians in Dakota. Two
Scandinavian Baptist clergymen have lately
made a Missionary tour among these churches,
which has greatly strengthened them. The
Scandinavians in the Territory number between
15,000 and 16,000 persons.
—Nine Jewish ministers of New York city
have ui ited in a card calling the attention of
their people to the “growing evil of extrava
gance and display at funerals.” They suggest
a return “to the simplicity by which Jewish
funerals were formerly characterized,” and
that costly caskets and expensive floral dis
plays be dispensed with.
—New Zealand is quite active in Sundav
school work, having a Sunday-school Union
THE CHRISTIAN HERALD
of Tennessee.
working in co-operation with the parent so
ciety at London.
For the Tndx and Baptist.{
NOTES OF TRAVEL IN GEORGIA
After mouths of travel in upper
Georgia, among the mountains and in
by-places, it has been suggested that
perhaps a few jottings respecting the
religious aspects of the social life in
which we have mingled, might find a
welcome to your columns.
Always deeply interested in Sunday
schools, we allow no opportunity of ex
amining their workings to escape us ;
consequently, though finding ourselves
among Methodists, on our first Sab
bath in Wilkes county, we made our
way to their Sunday-school, which
they keep up as an evergreen, though
they have preaching only once a month.
The preacher was present on that day,
and we were gratified to hear from
him a most earnest appeal in favor of
regular and systematic contributions for
Foreign Missions. He insisted that an
important item in early religious train
ing was the persistent cultivation of
Christian benevolence, and particu
larly commended to that school the
support of a Bible-reader in China, as
an object within the compass of their
means, and worthy of their ambition.
The next Sabbath we spent at dear
old Behoboth, a church which for
more than half a cei tury had
untainted by heresy, a tower of strength
and a beacon light among Baptists.
We had the pleasure of attending a
conference there on Saturday, and were
amused and pleased to note a feature
in the meeting never before brought to
our notice m the conduct of the busi
ness of a Baptist church. The whole
of the mail membership was called,
and every absentee who did not send
in a satisfactory excuse, was cited to
appear at the next ensuing conference
and answer for his absence. We were
told that absence from three succes
sive meetings made a member iable to
exclusion, under their by-laws. The
remarkably large attendance of mail
membership was highly gratifying tes
timony to the beneficial effects of the
rule, but the excuses presented by ab
sentees and the debates on their recep
tion or rejection, were vastly amusing.
One young man who was absent on an
excursion to the coast, was excused
without debate or dissent. Another
who-was attending a picnic in the
neighborhood, was held amenable for
neglect of duty; though the friend
commissioned to present his excuse,
stated to the church that the brother
had a young lady under his escort. It
looked to our uninitiated eye like
rather a partial sentence.
Then there was an overseer who, in
making his arrangements with his em
ployer, had reserved Sa’urdays for a
crop of his own. He pleaded’ that his
crop was in the grass, and he could
not neglect it to attend. There was
much debate on this case—some tak
ing the ground that the brother had
only Saturday in which to work for him
self, and therefore out to be excused
Others argued that he was equally work
ing for himself when he worked for an
employer who paid him for his time,
and that he should have taken into ac
count when he pitched his crop that
every fourth Saturday belonged to the
Lord. He was not excused.
The Sabbath-school at Rehoboth was
an evergreen, but as the church has
preaching only two Sundays in four, it
is not very entbsiastically sustained.
Then there was one featuie in it that
impressed us sadly. There were a
large number of young people present,
at an early hour, in attendance on the
preaching who did not take any part
in the exercises. To our apprehension
this seems to be the very class most
susceptible of deriving benefit from
the earnest and devout study of the
Scriptures.
In this respect, we found a gratify
ing contrast in a neighborhood school,
at the distance of a few miles from Re
hoboth, and sustained once a fortnight,
on the evenings of the Sabbaths, when
there was no preaching nearer than
Washington. Nearly all the pupils in
this interesting school were adults. It
was a very pleasan’ and profitable
Sunday evening neighborhood gather
ing for Scripture studies and sacred
songs, and was sustained mostly bv
the effo-ts of one family. Who will
imitate their example ?
On the last Sunday in July, we
found ourselves among the mountains,
ten or twelve unles from Rome, Ga.,
and were invited by the lady whose
guest we were to accompany her to her
Sunday-school—the only religious
gathering whithin our reach that day.
The school assembled in a rudely con
structed school house—there being no
church within many miles of the place.
The locality was but sparsely settled by
a poor people, who could not afford
any means of riding, and then there was
another school, we learned, at the
Ridge Valley Iron Works, at the dis
tance of two miles, which drew to it.
WHOLE NO. 2233.
self those nearer to the Furnace than
to the school house.
Two features in this school, new to
us, interested us somewhat, and seemed
to us deserving of imitation : One
was the answer by a text of Scripture
instead of the usual response (present)
at the call of the roll at the close of
the school. Many precious texts of
Scripture (ominitted to memory by
members of the school, were thus re
cited in the hearing of all. If this
practice were generally adopted, it
might do much towards correcting a
neglect of pure Biblical studies, which
we fear is a prevalent evil in the Sun
day school of our times.
The other peculiarity alluded to
was the announcement on each Sab
bath of a question demanding Scrip
tural investigation, to be answered the
succeeding Sabbath. The question
proposed for that day was : “By how
many names is Jesus made known to
us in the Bible.” Some of the school
who had investigated the subject with
out any lights except the sacred vol
ume itself, had counted over a hun
dred names. The lady who was the
moving sp.rit and mainspring of this
school, and whose own library con
tained more volumes, probably, than
could have been found in many miles
of the surrounding region, gave the
number a hundred and sixty-four.
While looking around in this school,
I could not but be impressed by the
fact how much good one intelligent
and pious lady may accomplish in a
community of uncongenial taste.
On the first Sabbath in August, it
was our privilege to be present in a
Sunday-school group of a widely dif
ferent character. It was in Kirkwood,
and the school was composed of nearly
all the residents in that refined com
munity, and many from Edgewood,
two miles nearer to Atlanta.
To afford opportunity fov the prac
tice of the music, they are to contrib
ute at the county Sunday-scho< 1 cele
bration, in their tabernacle, at Decal ur,
on the 15th inst. The regular exorcises
were partially suspended for the day,but
each of the classes was called succi s
sively to their feet to recite their
texts, which they did with great readi
ness and distinctness of articulation.
How much more appropriate for the
time and occasion; and how much
bet’er suited to cultivate the memory,
and to m&ke the childreu wise and
mighty in -the Scripture, than the
various black-board exercises, so popu
lar with Sunday-school agents and
evangelists.
What impressed us most forcibly in
this Kirkwood school, was the fact
that the superintendent is the Chris
tian patriot, soldier and statesman,
Gen. Colquitt. Without previous in
timation of the fact, none would have
supposed that it was Georgia’s nomi
nee for gubernatorial honors and re
sponsibilities, who stood there with
such unassuming humility among
friends and neighbors, and read the
lonng chap, of E:c esiastes, i o uu.ent
ing with peculiarly deep and solemn
earnestness on the last verse: “God shall
bring every work into judgment with
every secret thought, whether it be
good or whether it be evil.” And
then prostrating himself on his knees
amid the group, prayed so fervently
for the Div.ne blessing on the as
sembled school, and the whole com
munity represented and embraced in
it. “Not many wise men, not many
mighty, not many noble are called,” to
be ornaments to the church on earth
and heirs of glory and immortality ;
but here and there we find one, illus
trating the fact that the power of Di
vine grace is unlimited in its sphere of
operation. God bless him, and enable
him to keep his garments pure and un
spotted from the world in his politi
cal career. If he keeps before his
own mind the realities of a coming
judgment day as he tried so eloquently
yet simply to impress them upon us,
it must certainly, we think, rescue him
from the vices of base, intriguing, un
scrupulous demogoguism, so prevalent
in our times.
We are told that the Sunday-school
in Kirkwood was originated and for
some time sustained by one single
young lady, and that for a while it
numbered only three members. She
never faltered in her work nor laid
aside her task, till she had enlisted
many zealous co-laborers, and built up
a flourishing school. The Master has
called her up higher, but her work
abides; and the school, while item
braces most of the children of the
community, is largely composed of
adults. If we have any pet theory re
specting Sunday-schools, it is that
none are too old to be benefited by its
hallowed studies and associations.
The pride of Kirkwood seems to be
her academy— not now in session—and
we were informed that even the Sun
day-school was not as methodically
conducted nor as numerously attended
during t a atiou as in term time, soon
to commence; C.