Newspaper Page Text
The Christian Index.
THE SOTPTTT -*\ATTn^ r T I Tr!TP ."7 s cr a 'i_w i iTom ®
VOL. 55— NO. 48.
Table of Content*
First Page.— Alabama Department: Record of
State Events ; Spirit of the Religious Press ;
The Missionary Field; Baptist News and
Notes ; Rev. Ricliafd Fuller, D.D.; The Sun
day-school; etc.
Second Page.— Our Correspondents: Power of
Influence—‘‘None of UsLiveth to Himself”—
J.L. Lloyd; Letter from Quitman, Ga.—The
Chbistian Index —lts Influence Considered—
Mrs. N. A. Bailey; “Pikeism” —H.; To Some
Baptists—Monitor; Letter from Athons—J. W.
P. Fackler To the Churches of Bethel Asso
ciation—W. M. Howell; O-k-l-a-h-o-n-c-graphs
J. S. Marrow; Ordination—H. G. E.; Rev. J.
L. Ford -W. J . Johnson. Jr. The Finest Sun
day-school in the World; Select Miscellany.
Third Page.— Our Pulpit: “Tophet"—A Ser
mon, by Rev. J. H. Corley.
Fourth Page —Editorial: An Exposition : Re
ply to W. M. H.—Rev. S. G. Hillver. I' D.;
Georgia Baptist News; Noble Words ; P <" har
Sorrows—Rev. D. E. Butler. The Go 1 shep
herd—Notes of a Sermon recently preacued by
Rev. A. T. Spalding, D.D., of the Second
Baptist Church, Atlanta. Editorial Paragraphs.
Fifth Page.— Secular Editorials : Foolish Sen
timents ; Cheerful Country Homes; Personal;
A Veteran in Christ's Host; Gems Reset;
Book Notices; Literary Gossip; A Texas
Swindle ; Georgia News ; Foreign and Domes
tic Notes.
Sixth Page.— Fireside Reading ; Love—Poetry:
Age and Wisdom; “Girls, Don't Do It;"
Queen Victoria at H ome ; Going Courting.
Seventh Page.— The Farm: Hogs, and Hog
Cholera; The Dairy; Horse Notes.
Eighth Page.— Marriages ; Obituaries ; Adver
tisements.
INDEX AND BAPTIST.
ALABAMA DEPARTMENT.
The legislature is working well.
Snow, and very cold weather last week in
various parts ot the State.
The Episcopal ladies of Talladega, recently
gave a very successful entertainment.
The Alabama Methodist Conference met in
Greensboro the 6th.
Immigrants continue to arrive at Cullman.
Hog* are dying with some unknown disease
around Steele’s Station.
Anew iron furnace is to be erected at Spring
ville.
The grand jury reported a great diminution
ol crime in Dallas county.
The farmers of South Alabama are calling
for a dog law. 1
The Methodist ladies of Birmingham had a
lestival the 28th ult.
Rev. Mr. Bell has been holding a protracted
meeting with Providence church.
General John T. Morgan, of Selma, has
been elected to the U. S. Senate.
Business in Montgomery is reported livelier
than for some time past.
There has been a protracted meeting in the
Methodist church in Talladega.
. •
Jas. M. Newton, of St. Clair county, made
200 gallons ofsorghum molasses from one acre
The Catholic ladies of Montgomery will
have a fair beginning the 12lh.
Rev. P. Birch, of Unior Springs, is recov
ering from his illness.
The city of Eufaula will ask for legislation
to enable them to bond and compromise its
indebtedness.
The grund jury of Pike county hope for the
compromise of the debt due the Savannah and
Memphis railroad.
Anew postoffice, Sycamore, has been es
tablished at Sion B. Glazener’s, between Talla
dega and Syllacauga.
At a special term of the United States Cir
cuit Court, Judge W. B. Woods presiding,
held on the 4th inst., an order was made setting
aside the late sale of the Alabama and Chatta
nooga railroad, and decreeing the said road
to be sold again on the 22d day of January
next. The purchaser is required to pay $300,-
000 in cash and all liens established by the
court against the road.
w ill not every preacher send us a
nevr subscriber for 1877, and see that
the old are renewed 7
. + -
—A paragraph ill the Irish CViuic/i Advocate,
states that the steps taken by the Bishop of
Lincoln to invite the Methodists hack into the
Englich Church have been attended with good
results. “Many Methodist preachers,” it says,
'have sought ordination from the English
Bishops, and sixteen are now awaiting for re
ueption into the ministry ot' our mother
Church.”
—Recently native missionaries have started
for the interior of South Africa to preach the
goppel in a country hitherto unreached.
They are under the charge of the French Prot
estant Mission of Basutoland. One of the
Christian natives walked eight hundred miles,
going alone into the unknown region to ace
what avenues might be opened for mission
work.
—The Protestant missions of Hong Kong
have gathered 2,200 native Christians, of
whom 1,400 are regular attendants at the Lord’*
table.
the SOITTH-WESTEErNT BAPTIST,
of Alabama.
Spirit of the Religious Press,
—Says the and Examiner Chronicle with pro
found truth ;
Look into the home of a fretful manor wo
man, and mark the discomfort, the unhappi
ness, the positive misery they often cause with
in its sacred enclosure. Notice a fretful man
in his business relations—how disagreeable he
makes himself to others, and how much he
detracts from his own power to act coolly and
wisely. See such a man in the church—what
an amouit of friction and trouble he causes,
"here all should work smoothly and quietly.
Besides the rasping and discomfort such a
person occasions, the example he sets is most
pernicious. Children easily catch the manners
of their elders, and fretful people have no one
to blame but themselves, if they have worri
some, teasing, disagreeable children.
—Rev. Mr. Rossvally, “a converted Jew,” is
giving trouble in New York city, and the Ex
aminer begs of him “a few flashes of silence.”
—Congregationalism must be of a peculiar
kind in England, judging from the utterances
of Rev. Dr. Bachelor in the English Independ
ent recently. He says: “I hold no convic
tion more strongly than that Baptist baptism,
both as to subjects and to mode, is no baptism
at all.” If the immersion of the believer in
wate:, according to the Divine command, is
not baptism, perhaps Dr. Bachelor will tell us
what sprinkling uncoucious bubies may be
called.
—The Congregationalisl tersely says; “Ab
solute truthfulness is a corner-stone in the so
cial fabric, and we are interested in keeping it
in its place.”
—The Christian Register draws grateful con
solation from the financial paessure and dis
tress which lias characterized our coantry for
several years past; it looks upon these afflic
tions as blessings in disguise. It says :
When family after family has been stripped
of its wealth we have talked of them as
ruined. But often it has been the very re
verse of that. In the midst of their mounting
riches, they were going to ruin, the sons be
coming dandies and spendteri/ts, perhaps
worse; the daughters dancing-puppets and fash
ion-blocks for the exhibition of new elegan
cies of toilets ; the father an iron machine for
coining money; each member of the family
going alone his cold, selfish way. But in the
depth of calamity there is found a mutual love
in the heart of each that now first blooms out.
They find themselves ready for self-denial and
endurance, saying one to another, “We will
stand by each other, aijd help and comfort each
other.” The reckless, harumscarum boy be
comes thoughtful; the stern, despotic father
tender; the young fellow flings away cane and
cigar, and in bard, honest work rises to man
hood ; and the butterfly sister finds in ttie
turning and fixing over of old dresses, and the
little culinary contrivances and household in
genuities which an empty purse and a scanty
larder force her to, a health and a happiness
sought in vain at sumptous dinner parties, or
the moet fashionoble receptions. The lo * of
family estate, the pinching of hard times, is
oftener the making than the marring of any
boy or girl, man or woman, in whom the real
stufl ol manhood or womanhood exists.
—The Jews are awaking to the necessity of
education among their people. The Messenger
says: “The pressing need of Judaism in
America is education for young and old. The
religious schools now attached to almost every
place of worship supply the beginning of a sys
tem which, properly extended, will embrace
Bible classes for the young, popular lectures on
Jewish history arid literature, and a course of
Hebrew instiuction adapted to the special
wants of students.”
—The Sunduy school World appropriately
says: “Teachers are not called on to explain
every verse or phras" in the Bible. Not a few
of its truths are stated therein, in the plainest,
simplest terms which can be found in the Eng
lish language. Any attempt to express these
truths in a more simple or a better way, will
be likely to confuse the scholar and end in
utter failure. We once heard a learned min
ister, of some note, read from the pulpit, the
account of the coming of the Holy Ghost on
the Day of Pentecost, as found in the second
chapter of Acts, and make brief* comments,
according to his custom, as he read. Reading
the thirteenth verse: “And others mocking
said, these men are full ol new wine, he paused
to explain, “The deriding Jews, charged that
the apostles were under cerebral excitement,
produced by vinous fermentation.” Most of
his hearers probably itmught, with Dr. Thom
as Scott’s parishioner, that the B.bleexplained
his comment amazingly !”
BAPTIST SEWS AVI) SO I KS.
—The Christiansburg Messenger says : Kev.
J. R. Harrison, who is now conducting the re
vival exercises at the depot Baptist church,
lias been instrumental in the conversion of 472
persons since September 1. He has been in
the ministry nineteen years, and during that
time has been instrumental iri the conversion
of 10,000 persons, and has baptized 1,54s
—The Baptists of Dubuque, lowa, are
building the largest and finest church edifice
of the denomination in the Stale The best
part of it is that it will absolutely be all paid
lor.
—The Free Will Baptists report this year
74,651 members. The increase in twenty
years lias been 25,677, or a little more that titty
per cent. During the year there has been an
increase of 118 ministers, 05 churches and
2,523 members.
—The Central Baptist publishes a warning
against an impostor whose name Ik H. T.
Loyd. He has a license to preach from some
FRANKIIN I’IiINTO'G HOUSE, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, DECEMBER 14, 1870
church in Tennessee. He is supposed to be
making his way from Missouri to Texas. One
of his weaknesses is to contract debts and not
pay them.
—The Baptist Messenger, West Virginia,
thinks its difficulties overcome, and starts out
on its way again.
—lt is stated that twenty-six Baptist minis
ters in lowa have come from other denomina
tions.
—The whole number of members connected
with the German Baptist churches at the last
annual report was 22,501. The number of
churches is 110; associations, 5 j of these, the
North-Western numbers 2,623 members ; the
Prussian, 12,619; the Middle and Southern,
2,594; the Danish, 2,006 ; the Russo-Turkish,
2,174, besides 458 members in South Africa.
More than half ot all the church members are
in Prussia. Geographically distributed, North-
Western Germany embraces 2,487 members;
Prussia, 8,485; Middle and South-Western
Germany, 2,176; Holland, 136; Switzerland,
418; Denmark, 2,006; Poland, 1,657; Rus
sia, 4,560: Turkey, 121 ; Africa, 458.
—Says the Chronicle and Examine Candid
Pedobaptis's who have any claims u sclul ir
ship admit that baptize and immerse are syn
onymous terms. They hold, however, that
aflusion will answer every purpose. While
we cannot agree with them in this latter par
ticular, we can at least grant that their posi
tion is a consistent one. But there are those
who make assertions that make us doubt either
their scholarship or their candor. The British
Quarterly Review, which will not be suspected
of leaning to the Baptists, has a significant
rebuke of such controversialists in review
ing Dr. Willis Lord’s “Theology for the
People: ”
No scholar will dispute that the proper and
primary sense is that of dipping, and we think
that Dr. Lord makes a rather lame defense of
the practice of sprinkling infants on the
grounds of mere philology. He does not
seem to see that the question is not one which
can be argued on the narrow grounds of the
strict sense of the word baptize. He is quite
as dogmatic a Pedobaptist aH some of the old
school of Baptists were dogmatic the other
way.
The Missionary Field,
—The raisjjionanup of,the S.tuday-sehool
union, in Illinois, report that there are entire
townships in that Slate that have no Sunday
schools. This is bad for the “banner Sunday
school State of the West.”
—The California Chinese mission of the
Congregationalists has maintained for the year
past thirteen schools, in which 1,530 Chinese
scholars have been enrolled. In three years
one hundeed and thirty Chinese have, under
instructions received through the mission, be
come Christians.
—At the recent meeting of the Synod of
Kentucky, the Woman’s Missionary Society of
Kentucky made its first annual report. This
Society collected during the year SI,BOO, and
very properly divided it between the Home
and Foreign fields.
—Miss Seward, M. D., of the Presbyterian
Mission of Allahabad, has a very large dispen
sary and zenana practice, having seen 2,980
patients during the past year. She has been
asked into many high caste Hindoo zenanas,
and even into the secluded Mohammedan
homes.
—Education in Japan is coming more and
more under Christian influences. The present
Government director of the Imperial Univer
sity at Tokio (Yedo) is Hatakeyama, a native
Christian gentleman, who was educated in
America, and who now wields an immense
influence in his own country.
—Of forty-nine missionaries sent to the wes
tern coast ot Africa, by the American Mission
ary Association, sixteen have died in the field,
and thirteen returned within a year on account
of ill heal'h ; but on the other hand, one of
its missionaries has remained twenly-four years,
one nineteen, and the other seventeen years,
with occasional respite of return to America ;
and one remained twelve consecutive years,
and two others five.
■Hie number ol church members iu the
Methodist California Chinese Mission is thirty
e.ght; probationers, ten; assistant preachers,
j two. Daily preaching is kept up in .Van Fran
| cisco. Four paid teachers are employed in
the evening schools for beys and men. The
amount expended for the year 1875,6 lias
| been nine thousand one hundred dollars.
—The vast interior of South Africa, from
| the Val river to the Central Africa lakes, is
j open to missionary tflorl. North Central Af
| riea can he reached by the Gambia river under
British protection.
I —Two missionaries have founded missions
in New Guinea. They desciibe the people
whom they minister to as very vicious and
degraded They are born thieves,and stick to
their trade. “Ihey have no religion of their
own, no temple, priest, or god. This total
absence of religious Deling is one ol our great
list difficulties iatrying to bring the truth to
hear upon them. We seciu to have nothing to
start with—nothing to work upon.'’
At the Huntingdon races in England two
missionaries distributed large quantities of
tracts, pupere, cards, portionsol'Scripture, and
other religious publication* among the gath
ered thousands.
General Denominational Ness.
lhe Pall Mall Gazette has lately been
turning its attention to the Jesuits in America,
and lcokirur nfter their numbers and condition.
It may he IVoi.i a wearriness of the strife, it
s-iys, between church . M nd State in the Old
World that some salons Catholics begin to
look wistfully toward America as the country
which is supposed to accord the most absolute
religious freedom to all sects and churches. It
then refers to the twenty-nine Roman Catho
lic churches in St. Louis, and the college there
manned by twenty Jesuit professors, to the
palatial convent near by, to the Francbcrn
monastery near it, to the increasing am!
strengthening Romanist institutions in our
other large cities, and to the delight among the
Jesuits over the ‘•'indifference” with which
ihi.~. propaganda is witnessed by citizens of the
U nited States.
The Lev. Lewis Hamilton, the first Pres
byterian minister who went to Colorado,
preached the first sermon in 1859, in an un
fiwished building in West Denver. Now the
1 reshytery of Colorado reports twenty-six
ministers, twenty-eight churches, and 1,303
communicants.
Mr. Moody does not believe in church
fairs and festivals; says they should be cleaned
out like a nest of unclean birds —which is a
speech rather too sweeping.
The membership of the Presbyterian
church of lowa is 17,052.
The laberpacle Baptist church, Brooklyn,
is in a very pibsperous condition. The Rev.
Thomas Ramfeut, D D, LL.D., was called to
the pastorate five years ago, and during his la
hors the church lias grown to a membership
of over 400, with a Sunday-school numbering
about 800, a handspme, tastefully furnished
brown-stone church edifice, and a growing
congregation. Dr. Rambaut is of Huguenot
stock, was educated for the Episcopalian min
istry, and was graduated at Trinity College,
Dublin. Becoming dissatisfied with the pro
fession that had been chosen lor him, he came
to this country, and studied law in Savannah,
Georgia- A sermon preached by the late Dr.
Richard luller in Augusta, was the means of
his conversion, and he at one* joined the Bap
*ud devoted himself to tluqr reach
mg <fTthe gospel. He was for many years
closely identified with the educational inter
ests of his denomination, and is now pastor of a
most interesting and united people.
—The Southern Presbyterian church' is rap
idly extending its works among the colored
people. Its presbyteries hive recently li
censed a number of colored men to work among
their own people as evangelists.
—The time of holding the Pan-Anglican
.Synod in England, has heed changed from
the Autumn of 1877 to the month of July
1878.
—The magnificent building of the Young
Men’s Christian Association, in Philadelphia,
was opened for inspection recently, but will
not be used until it is entirely paid for. The
ground upon which the building stands cost
$185,000, and the building itself, $286,190.
All the money, except $114,040, has been
raised.
—The following list will show that the
Episcopalians have a strong hold In many of
the cities of this country: Philadelphia, 86
churches and chapels ; Chicago, 15; New
York, 76 ; Brooklyn, 31; Baltimore, 26; Bos
ton, 19 ; St, Louis, 15 ; Louisville, 18; Cleve
land, 13 ; Newark, 12; New Orleans, 10 ;
Buffalo, 10; Jersey City, 9; Memphis, 7; Roch
ester. 7; Troy, 7; San Francisco, 7; Hartford
7; Mobile, 6, Utica, 5; Milwaukee, 4.
—The next National Congregational Coun
cil will meet in 1877.
—The Evangelical Association (Albrights)
now report 104,302 members, 857 itinerant
and 526 local preachers, 1,300 churches, and
1,744 Sunday-schools. The missionary con ri
butions amounted to $08,300.
—There are forty-seven Young Women’s
Christian Associations now in the United
States.
1 he entire number of Young Men’s Chris*
tian Associations in North America is over
one thousand.
—The Rev. W. Ryder, D.D., of Chicago,
ban been appointed General Jsecrelary ol the
General Convention oJ UuiverwalißU in the
United SsUtei.
Far the Index and Baptisui
BKV. KICUAUD FILLS!:, IJ.D.
The announcement of D.\ Fuller’*
death, recall* to my mind a circum
stance which may interest your readers.
\V hen 1 was a school girl, more than
thiily years ago, Dr. Fuller assisted at
a protracted meeting in the Baptist
church of Augusta, Georgia, where f
•ived. A school mate, a Baptist, asked
mo to go one night and hear him. Of
his sermon, I only remember now that
it was one of groan power. At its
close Di. Fuller read the hymn, “Hast
en sinner to be wise.” His reading
was so impressive that ai! nigh Land
tor days, his solemn tones rang in
my ears, and I have never read or
heard the hymn since that it did not
arouse in my tutud a faint echo f tho
great preacher’s voice, heard 60 ma..y
yea.rs ago, saying, “ Hasten sinner
to be wiae.”
the OETIEISTIAv lSr ZEEZETIIEE.A.I-iZD
of Tennessee.
Neither then, nor afterwards, did I
mention this circumstance, until nearly
twenty years had elapsed, when I
chanced to visit my former schoolmate,
who had married a Baptist preacher.
One day 1 picked up her hymn book,
the Baptist Psalmody” of Dr. Basil
Manly, (another Baptist preacher with
whom I have had pleasant associa
tions,) and, opening it, saw this hymn.
I turned to her and asked if she re
membered t-e occasion when we went
together to hear Dr. Puller, and also
related tin effect of the hymn. Her
reply was, “I well lemember the time
and the hymn; and what is remark
able, your account of the impression
that hymn produced ®u you, is an ex
act ri Etion of my own experience. I
never iv heard the hymn since with
out seeming to catch an echo of Dr.
Fuller’s voice as he said, “Hasten, sin
ner, to he wise. This is the first time
I have eve • mentioned it.”
... . E. A.. B.
Washington, Ga.
International Sanaa? scnool Lessons,
BRIEF SUMMARY.
Dec. 30—The Spread of the Gospel *• xi: 19-30
Dec. 17—Peter’s Release, “ xii: 1-17
Dec. 24 Review, or Selection.
Dec. 31—Annual Review, or Selection.
Lessou for Suuday, December 17, 1870.
PETER’S RELEASE.
Acts 12: 17.
1. Now about that timo Herod the king
stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the
church.
2- And ho killed James the brother of John
with the sword.
3. And because ho saw it pleased the Jews, he
proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then
were the days of unleavened bread.)
4. And when ho had apprehended him, he put
him in prison, and delivered him to four quar
ternions of soldiers to keep him ; intending af
ter Easter to bring him forth to the people.
5. Peter, therefore, was kept in prison; but
prayer was made without ceasing of the church
unto God for him.
G. And when Herod would have brought him
forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between
two soldiers, bound with two chains ; and the
keepers before the doors kept the prison.
7. And, behold, the angel of the Lord came
upon him. and a light shined in the pyison; and
he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up,
saying. Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off
from his hands.
8. And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself,
and bind on thy sandals ; and so he did. And
ho saith unto him. Cast thy garment about
thee, and follow mo.
9. And he went out and followed him : and
wist not that it was true which was done by the
angel ; but thought he saw a vision.
10. When they wore past the first and second
ward, they came unto tlio iron gate that leadeth
unto the city ; which opened to them of his own
accord; and they went out and passed on through
one street; and forthwith the angel departed
from him.
11. And when Peter was come to himself, he
said, Now I know a surety, that the Lord
li ith sent His angel, and hath delivered me out
of the hand of Ilerocl, and from all the expecta
tion of the people of ihe Jews.
12 And when he had considered the thing, he
came to the house of Mary, the mother of John,
whose surname was Mark ; where many wore
gathered together praying.
13. And as Peter knocked at the door of the
gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Ithoda.
14. And when she knew Peter’s voice, she
opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in
and told how Peter stood before the gate.
15. And they said unto her. Thou art mad.
But she constantly affirmed that it was even so.
Then said they, It is his augel.
10. But Peter continued knocking; and when
they had opened the door, and saw him, they
were astonished.
i 17. But,he beckoning unto them with the hand,
to hold thei r peace, declare 1 unto them how the
Lord had brought him out of the prison. And
ho said, Go show these things unto James and
to the brethren. And he departed, and went in
another place.
Golden Text.— The augel of the Lotd an
campeth round about them that fear Him, and
dellvoreth them. Pa. 84: 7.
EXPOSITION.
Verse 1, 2. —Herod the king. Agrip
[ pa I, grandson of the Herod ofMatr.
j ii: l(i-19. Stretched forth his hand,
j Literally, “cast his hands upon” — t e.,
| caused them to be suddenly and vio
I lentlv seized. Compare iv :3 ; v:18 j
xxi:27. His office of “king,” repre-
I seating Roman sovereignty, enabled
him to do so arbitrarily, and without
preliminary process. Certain of the
church. I’he leaders—foremost iu
Christian influence. Killed with the
sword. A Roman mode of death.
Verse 3. the Jews. They
doubtless had influenced hitu to the
deed, and were rejoiced to find at last
the Roman power moving readily and
decisively to do what by themselves
they bad failed to compass. To take
Peter also. No doubt simply because
he was, and from the start had been,
the most prominent preacher of the
Gospel, ami hence the greatest strength
of Christians and opposer of Judaism.
'Then were the days of unleavened
bread, lhe Festival of the Passover,
so described because, during the festiv
al of seven days, no leaven was to be
used in food, or to be kept iu bouses.
Ev xii: 15-18,
V erse 4.— Put him iu prison. Herod,
it seems, from the last elui.se of this
verse, conformed to the Jewish scruple
against executing a criminal during the
time of their feast. Wo may, there
fore, infer that. James was beheaded
before the beginning of the feast, i. e ,
the 14th of Ntsun or April, and proba
bly just before, while the pilgrims were
WHOLE KO. 2248
gathering, and the storm was growing
more and more angry. Thus the de
liverrnce was occasioned by this scruple,
and Herod’s politic respect to it, but
caused by God’s own gracious sover
eign purpose and power. So striking
ly work together human and divine
agency, and even sinful and holy pur
poses. After Easter. The word here
wrongly rendered Easter is that which
elsewhere is uniformly translated “the
Passover, aud should be here.
Verse 5. —Prayer was made. They
did nothing else, it would seem, and
only because nothing else remained to
be done. They prayed and worked
while work] was for them. The latter
failing, they only prayed. If we recall
wbat Peter had teen to che cause, we
can better apprehend the intensity of
taeir present anxiety.
Verse 6.—Peter was sleeping. Note
that. Vet he did not expect deliver
ance. Vs. 11. Between two soldier*,
bound with two chains. “The soldier
who was„ appointed to guard a par
ticular prisoner had a chain fastened
to the wrist of his left hand, the right
hand remaining at liberty. The pris
oner, on the contrary, had a chain
fastened to the wrist of his right hand
Verse 7.—The Angle. Or, rather,
an angel. God kept His eye on His
servant, and kept His servant in His
care and control, not less in the prison
than when passing from city to city in
freedom. Precious lesson f A light
shined, etc. At once symbolizing a
heavenly presence, and enabling Peter
to make his way safely. Smote Peter,
etc. To wake him. It was time for
action, quick, prompt, vigourous, and
the angels always appear to have done
their business in a most thoroughly
common sense, business-like, practical
way, and are in that respect our pat
terns. His chains fell off, etc. See on
vs. 6 God’s power unlocked them, so
tl at Peter was seperate from his
guards, and, without waking them,
could rise and leave. The deed of God
went with the angel’s words and Peter’s
obedienee. Here is co-operation.
Verse 9. Went out. Perhaps the cell
door had been opened on the angels’s
entrance. Wist, not. Knew not. ■ That
it was true, etc. A vision from God
was always “true” as a revelation.
That is, it always made known truth.
But it was not always true that the
events occurred which, to th 9 person
perceiving the vision, seemed to occur.
Verse 10.—Iron gate, etc. Evident!
ly the gate of the prison-court or yard,
and opening immediately upon’ the
street. Forthwith, etc. Suddenly, as
no longer needed. An example again.
Verse 11.—Came to himself. See in
verse 9 the ‘ wist not.” Said Prob
ably to himself —i. e., distinctly
thought. Out of the hand of Herod,
and from all ibe expectation of the
Jews. A significant connection of the
two parties—confirming the comment
on verse 1.
Verse 12,—This “Mark” i B , with
good reason, believed to be the Evan
gelist. Many gathered, etc. The
number and the time show the intensi
ty of interest. Verse 5.
Verse 14—Knew Peter’s voice.
Recognized it, as he had, no doubt,
been a frequent as well as welcome
guest th-re. Mark was, in subsequent
time, his constant attendant and help
er. Op-.ued not the door for gladness,
etc. How true to life, and how com
plimentary to Rhoda’s heart!
Verse 15.—Thou art mad. Yet she
only asserted what their prayers had
requested ! It is his angel, sein
ing to imply a popular belief in
‘ guardian angels."
Verse 16—Continued knocking. Re.
mamed (i e., at the gate) knocking.
After Rhoda left the gate he repeated
his knocking, and, as the excited dis
cussion within went on, he kept it un
till “ they" let him in.
Veise 17.—Beckoning, etc. To still
the tumult of joy. Declared, etc. The
story showed that God was still for
and with His people. Bight again.
Unto James. Called “The Younger.”
and the pastor of the Jerusalem church.
We see Peter’s affectionate care for the
biethren in this his advice. His words
and actions also were doubless deter
mined by practical sagacity. The
change of circumstances requi-ed new
plans and action.
luvigoiato. and Be Healthy
Tbs source of nine-ter,tbs of the bcdilv ills of
mankind is a deficiency of vital power. No por
tion of the physical machinery can efficiently
pertorm its allotted duty if there is insufficient
motive force in the system. Invigorate, there
fore, iu order to regain health, l'or the resto
ration ot lost vitality, Hostetler's Stomach Bit
ters are the hebt tonic that can he selected,
since they not only impart fissh vigor into the
debilituted system, but overcome disorders of
the stomach, liver and bowels which interfere
with complete assimilation of the food, and thus
perpetuate weakness. The Bitters likewise cure
and prevent malarious fevers, remedy debilitat
ing urinary troubles, and eliminate from the
blood through thd kidneys the impurities which
originate gout, llieumaiism and dropsy. Ap
petite, digestion, sleep—iu short, every essen
tial condition of health, are promoted bv their
use.
The Baptist church in Troy ha* called Kev.
E. Y. Van Hoose to its pastorate.