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“ THE BIBLE IN THE TEACHER'S
STUDY—HOW TO PREPARE
THE LESSON.”
BY REV. H. D. D. BTRATON.
The preparation of a Bible lesson
for purposes of instruction, presupposes
a personal taste and relish for divine
things—an appetite for spiritual truth.
Otherwise all labor in this direction
can be nothing else than gratuitous
drudgery. In order to “know the
things that are fully given us of God,”
a capacity for apprehending them
must exist in us. There must be an
experimental knowledge of Christian
life in its impulses Godward—in its
hopes, joys and fruition. To the natu
ral man, the Bible in its spiritual sig
nificance is a sealed book. “The secret
of the Lord is with them that fear
him.” A distinguished scholar once
said : “The subject of experimental re
ligion, of which Christians speak, is al
together a mystery to me.” The rea
son is furnished by Paul, 1 Cor. 2 : 14 :
“The natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God, neither
can he know them, for they are spirit
ually discerned.”
No teacher of divine truth can study
the Bible successfully unless he can
appeal to that truth as verified in his
own heart and experience. The Bible
is the true fountain of eternal life, in
which we may bathe our wearied and
wasted hearts, and come forth to our
work strengthened and refreshed alike
for the conflicts of life and the impar
tation of blessing and instruction to
others. It is to Christianity in its sub
jective aspects, in its experimental
forms, that the first students of divine
truth constantly appeal, whether this
experience wore derived from the di
rect teachings of Christ’s personal
ministry, or imparted to them by those
subtle ethereal influences which came
from heaven in a divine influx into
their hearts after Christ’s resurrection.
“As it is written, ‘I believe and there
fore have I spoken,’ we also believe
and therefore speak.” “The Spirit of
God beareth witness with our spirit
that we are the children of God.”
“How precious also are thy thoughts
unto me, O God! how great is the sum
of them.” “I have esteemed the words
of thy mouth more than my necessary
food,” etc., etc.
The measure of our love to Christ,
as well as the extent of our usefulness
Iffitny part of Christian work, may be
tested in this way: The scholar who
listens to the instructions of a great
teacher with a listless vacuity, is very
unlikely to receive any good from him
for himself, and less likely to impart it
to others. It is by personol contact
with him, by being always in his pres
ence, by breathing the same air, that
the students in the school of Christ
become imbued with his spirit and
clothe themselves with him. The true
teacher gives only of what he has re
ceived, and no more. If he has caught
the spirit of the Master, his heart will
burn within him; if he has looked
upon the brightness of that celestial
face, its glory will be reflected from his
own, and he will feel in its high spirit
ual import the force of John’s declara
tion, “We have seen with our eyes, we
have tasted ; our hands have handled
the Word of Life." This, then, is
necessarily the first essential requisite
to successful study of the word of God.
We must know its divine value by
practical experience.
The proper study of a Scripture
lesson demands a measure of intellec
tual qualification. The written reve
lations of God are in no sense incon
sistent with the functions of intuitive
reason. A distinguished thinker and
author has well said : “The powers of
the mind are the instruments which
must be employed in every investiga
tion of the Scriptures. * * * Ti ie
interpreter must be well enough ac
quainted with the philosophy of the
mind to distinguish the several facul
ties, to discern their various offices, to
know the limits of their abilities, and
how far he may trust them implicitly
and when he ought to distrust them.
* * * The chief difficulty lies in
the question, What is the use of rea
son both in judging whether the Bible
is from God and in ascertaining its
meaning? Some have maintained that
the only correct way by which we can
decide the claims of the Scriptures to
a divine origin or ascertain what they
teach is to bring them to the test of
reason; for if both reason and revela
tion are from God they must harmon
ize ; and if Scripture contradicts rea
son, then, as we know the latter to be
from God, the former cannot be from
him. This principle, however, clear as
it may seem, is quite indefinite, and
lends to all manner of perversions of
the Scriptures, and often to their entire
rejection.” But the difficulty lies in
confounding together terms that are
essentially different. The intuitive
faculty, “the organ of necessary," truth,
cannot be imperfect in a true man.
He must necessarily believe in his own
existence, his identity; he must recog
nize the distinction between right and
wrong, that every event must have a
cause, and so on. All men are alike in
possessing these fundamental laws of
belief. But reason is often taken in
another sense as denoting the reason-
The Christian Index and South-western Baptist: Thursday August 21, 1879.
ing faculty—that faculty which de
duces conclusions from premises, dis
tinguishes truth from error, and com
bines means for the attainment of
ends. Truth, taken in this sense, is
far from being infallible. Intui
tive reasen is the faculty by which we
distinguish truth from absurdity; by
the understanding we distinguish the
true from the false.” “In judging
whether a doctrine is true or false,
aside from the direct testimony of God,
we must have and know that we have
in full view before our minds every
consideration which has any connexion
with the doctrine, or ought to have any
influence in the decision. Now, thus
to judge of the doctrines of the Bible
implies a comprehension of reasons
and considerations which are wholly
beyond man’s present knowledge, and
his wisdom is to take the well accred
ited testimony of God.” * It is upon
this principle that we believe the doc
trine of the resurrection on such testi
mony, as there is nothing in reason
antecedently against it. But if the
Bible taught that God is the author of
sin, our reason must reject it intui
tively, as it is impossible to conceive
that God can hate sin and be the au
thor of it at the same time. By keep
ing such distinction in view, the stu
dent of the Scriptures will be enabled
to prosecute his work in searching
them until he realizes that they are the
•power of God. The teacher who stud
ies a lesson merely for the purpose of
deriving from it a stimulus to his emo
tions will hardly succeed in imparting
much valuable knowledge to his pu
pils. A teacher may know nothing of
the original languages in which the
Bible was written; but yet, if his mind
is disciplined to the ‘extent requisite to
the work of imparting information to
others, the old fashioned English ver
sion will afford him all the most im
portant implements to success in the
work. The very first essential requi
site to an intelligent comprehension of
any Bible lesson is to read it carefully
without note or comment, and apply
the rules of interpretation which one’s
plain common sense may suggest.
This will prevent that confusion of
ideas which an indiscriminate resort to
commentators and all kinds of hetero
geneous opinions will occasion. “The
loose ideas of the age and the facility
with which people are induced to take
up any doctrines which claim to be in
the Bible or any views, however ex
travagant, in regard to the Bible,
whether for or against its authority,
come from the fact that men do not
study the book itself intelligently and
earnestly enough to find out what its
real meaning is. A young man asked
the great biblicaVand patriotic scholar,
Dr. Routh, then more than ninety
years old, what he should read as a
student of theology. After long con
sideration the old man said, with many
pauses, ‘I think, sir, were I you, sir,
that I would, first of all, read the gos
pel according to St. Matthew.’ Here
he paused again. ‘And after I had
read the gospel according to St. Mat
thew, I would, were I you, sir, go on to
read the gospel according to St. Mark.’
And so on through the gospels and the
Acts of the holy apostles he would
have the young man go. The advice,
coming from one who hardly had his
peer for accurate and extended biblical
learning, is wise and wholesome.”
After the teacher has carefully read the
lesson in its connexion and received all
the light that co-ordinate passages can
throw upon it, then it will be his busi
ness to look into all helps within his
reach for purposes of further elucida
tion. He, if he is a wise and conscien
tious teacher, will consult his maps,
his genealogical tables, the principal
historical features of the lesson, the
dates, the meaning of proper names,
its biographical connection if it deals
with scriptural personages, and, in
short, all appliances and means that
will equip him for an intelligent and
faithful impartation of all the knowl
edge that can reasonably be collected
bearing directly upon his theme. He
ought to be careful in studying sim
plicity in describing and questioning.
Clearness in statement is indispensa
ble. It is the easiest thing in the
world to becloud a Scripture subject in
dense fog of high-sounding but mean
ingless phrases. It will be fatal to our
success also as teachers if we spend too
much time in wandering outside the
text. A young man about to enter the
ministry was greatly disturbed at the
reflection that he would have to pre
pare two sermons a week, and would
I>e expected to give something new and
fresh every time ho preached. Ho
mentioned his alarm to an experienced
minister, who gavo the key to success
in this enterprise—“ Always stick to
your text” How many teachers—yes,
and preachers also—would do well to
profit by this sagacious advice. It is
painfully true of some teachers what
was said of a certain Hard Shell Bap
tist preacher once—“lf his text had the
small pox, he would never run any
risk of catching the infection.” There
is perhaps no department of Bible
preparation more important than the
seeking of apt and forcible illustration
for the purpose of impressing the les
son permanently upon the mem
ory and heart. Great care, however,
ought to be taken in making proper
illustrative selections. There is great
danger in over-illustration—a heaping
up of anecdote, parable, allegory and
fanciful interpretations, creating a mor
bid appetite for highly-spiced intellec
tual food on the part of the pupil, to
the neglect or disparagement of the
more wholesome food of. the word.
Illustration should never be adopted
exceptas judicious seasoning, lest the
relish for sound doctrine should be im
paired, and the “sincere milk of the
word” be converted into a noxious, del
eterious and diluted mixture. The
apostle says there is a wresting* of
Scripture to the destruction of those
who study it.
As regards commentaries, while
many of them contain valuable sug
gestions, it is not often you can get
from them what you are in search .of.
Instead of being exhaustive, they are
very exhausting. The teacher also
may overburden his own mind, and by
consequence the mind also of the pu
pils, by having too much to say on any
one lesson. It would seem to be im
portant to let his thoughts, his faets
and illustrations cluster around onejor
two salient features in the lesson, so
that the class will be certain to carry
away with them at least one valuable
priciple or leading thought, and there
by the danger will be greatly obviated
of having the attention so dissipated
and attenuated by a multiplicity of
subjects that nothing gets below the
mere surface of reflection. A distin
guished and successful preacher attrib
uted the valuable results that had ac
crued from his ministry instrumentally
to the fact that he usually brought the
greater part of his discourse to bear on
one word or one point in the text. As
for instance, “Marvel not that I said
unto you, you must be born again.”
The word which he made most promi
nent in handling the text was the word
must. A moment’s reflection will con
vince any one of the wisdom of this
plan. In interpreting Scriptures we
must not overlook the fact that they
are a record of continuous historical
revelation of God, and not, as the mys
tics of the fourteenth century taught,a
mere series of dissolving views or a
collection of changing pictures. These
enthusiasts spiritualized or allegorized
everything in Scripture, whether it
were a record of national history or
miracle or biography. Thus Eckhart,
in his sermon on the restoration of life
to the son of the widow of Nain, makes
the city of Nain represent the soul of
man, the disciples the rays of light en
tering into the soul, and the widow’s
son the human will, which is met at
the threshhold of the soul, as it were,
and quickened into new life ere the
heavenly light can enter.) The other
extreme in the method of interpreta
tion is that which characterizes th#
German school of biblical criticism and
reduces everything in Scripture to a
basis of rationalistic philosophy. Till,
pious and painstaking student keefuß
safe and huddle course'; and while re
cognizing all Scripture as given by in
spiration of God and as “profitable for
doctrine, for correction, for reproof,
and for instruction in righteousness,”
at the same time keeps before his mind
and heart the inqiortant fact that the
Spirit which dictated the word takes of
the things of Christ and shows them to
him in all their plenitude of spiritual
meaning; so that he shall not rest on
, the letter that killeth, but be inspired
and illuminated in all those spiritual
functions with which, by virtue of the
new nature God has imparted to him,
he has been invested.
It is clear to the most superficial ca
pacity that spiritual truth is only dis
cerned by those who are spiritual, and
that the nearer we approximate in
character and spiritual apprehension
to Christ Jesus, the more fully replen
ished will we be in all those attributes
which combine to render us workmen
that shall not need to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth, and
the less reason will we have to appre
hend confusion and dismay before
Christ at his appearing.
Lastly, another important element
in preparing a Bible lesson is sincere
love for the book itself, combined with
prayerfulness and devout enthusiasm
in its study. If we go about this work
merely as a task to be performed, it
will do us very little good, and failure
in instructing others will be a foregone
conclusion. The spirit which should
inspire a student of the Bible ought to
find its expression in the devout ejacu
lation of the Psalmist, “0, how I love
thy law; it is my meditation all the
day.” It is not to take the mere
fringes and fag ends of our time to
hurry through our lessen, but start
with it in our thought and heart from
day to day, making it the pabulum of
our intellectual life, that by the pro
cess of thorough assimilation it may
become the vital element of every men
tal process. “I delight in the law of
the Lord after the inward man.” This
is the true secret of that magnetic at
traction which wins and holds interest
and devout attention. The teacher is
full of his subject; and as he muses
the fire burns—the holy and undying
fire of heavenly zeal and consecration—
and it will glow in his face and burn
in his thoughts, and wrap him in the
atmosphere of a holy influence and
power that cannot be otherwise than
salutary and divine. If the teacher
comes thus, with mind and heart sur
charged with the electric fire from
heaven, ho will not need to be flaunting
in the faces of his scholars the tattered
fragments of lesson sheets, and dragging
out the half hour in laborious conning
over the thoughts in print which every
body has read—painfully dragging
along and wishing that tho superin
.tendent’s bell would give the signal for
release. The preparation of a Bible
lesson must be a failure unless some
thing of a devout enthusiasm is be-
gotten in the teacher. If he has
caught even a ray of Christ’s enthu
siasm, there will be no employment
half so sweet and exhilarating as the
study of the Bible. “The zeal of thy
house hath eaten me up.” He will be
less afraid of making a grammatical
blunder than of speaking with a cold
heart or with listless indifference. He
will keep steadily before his mind that
he has immortal souls to deal with, and
that he must be answerable to God for
the manner as well as for the matter
of the training he is preparing to give
them. What success would an advo
cate before a jury be likely to realize if
he should appear before them in be
half of a client and speak his speech
in the dull, lethargic tone of a som
nambulist? The wise pleader must
take the place of a man conscious of
innocence, but who is unjustly charged
with crime, and he bends up “each
corporal feature” to the task of con
vincing twelve men that he is inno
cent. If he does not prepare himself
to meet every point and repel every
charge, he knows he is likely to be de
feated, his client ruined, and himself
disgraced. With how much greater
diligence will a wise and conscientious
teacher prepare to battle against the
foes of God and man, wrench the
weapons of Satan from his grasp, and
rescue an immortal soul from death
and desttuction. To do this he will
“clothe himself with zeal as with a
cloak,” and leave no point of his
ground unexplored where peril may
lurk or danger threaten the interests
of those who have been committed to
his hands.
In prosecuting this work, the care
ful student of God’s word will not fail
to recognize his own ignorance and
helplessness; and he will therefore con
stantly repair to a throne of grace, that
he himself may obtain mercy and find
grace to help him in his time of need.
His devout aspiration will ever be,
“Open thou mine eyes that I may be
hold wondrous things out of thy law.”
If Christ found it necessary to spend
whole nights in prayer and commu
nion with God during his personal
ministry, how much more needful must
it be for those who are compassed with
infirmities and are so easily tempted to
turn aside from the truth and be en
tangled in the crafty wiles and snares
of Satan. As the great end of Bible
study to a true Christian is to save
himself and them that hear him, he
will be wise in seeking his equipment
directly from the armory of heaven;
and the more sensible he becomes of
his utter dependence upon divine
grace and strength, the more assured
Efill he bq of in the winning of
souls.
•Christian Review, t British Quarterly
Review.
PAUL THE WEALTHY.
“I have all things and abound.”
These are remarkable words. In
fact, when we consider Paul’s surround
ings at the time he uttered them, they
are very remarkable indeed. Behold
him bound in chains and immured in
a dungeon, despised and rejected as
the Master was before him, persecuted,
afflicted. The world hates him. He
endures the contradiction of sinners.
None of the “mighty ones” of earth
speak in his favor. He is before us,
stripped of wealth and all earthly
power. He looks into the future and
beholds the prospect of an untimely
and cruel death.
Now,we would very naturally expect to
hear Paul,or anyone else situated sim
ilarly, cry out in accents of lamentation,
“Wo is me“ Surely my lot is a cruel
one“lt had been better for me that
I hail never been born.” But, instead
of all this, we hear him exultingly ex
claim, “I have all things and abound.”
What can he mean? Has the presen
tation to him of a few presents of
trifling value, by the hand of Epaphro
ditus, inspired him to the utterance of
such language? This cannot be. We
look for a deeper meaning in these
words. Paul was looking at things
unseen as well as at things seen. The
things of eternity, as well as the things
of time and sense, rose before his
vision, and he realized the truth to
which the Psalmist gave expression
when he said, “The Lord is my por
tion.” The Christian’s riches—who
will number them? who will measure
them? who will weigh them? When
the Lord is our portion, what else is to
be desired? What more is possible?
Certainly Paul was justified in saying,
“I have all thingsand abound.” “Yes,”
one may say, “it may have been all
very well for the apostle to say this,
but does not the very’ fact that he had
all things forbid the same declaration
on my part? How can it be that the
apostle could have all things, and at
the same time each one of all the
saints could have the same?”
The benefits of the covenant (thank
the Lord for the covenant!) are not to
be materialized and divided out in por
tions. Had there been but one sinner
on earth, it would have required the
life and the death of Jesus to redeem
him; and, on the other hand, each
one of the elect may claim all the ben
efits purchased by the blood of the
atonement One man’s entire posses
sion of “cUf thing a” does not interfere
with any other man’s entire possession
of the same.
H. R. Bernard.
“One good mother is worth a hun
dred school-masters.
EXTRACTS FROM AN ADDRESS
TO THE LADIES’ MISSIONARY
SOCIETY, OF QUITMAN.
READ BY THE PRESIDENT, BEFORE THE
SOCIETY, JULY 28.
Knowing, as we do, that in heathen,
as well as Christrian lands, the foun
tain of influence is the home, and be
fore there can be streams of blessings
emanating and flowing from it, it must
be surrounded by an atmosphere of
Christian morality ; and that this can
be produced only by and through the
gospel, we have been stimulated to
give and pray for the Christianization
of the girls of Miss Whilden’s school.
Soon these girls will go forth from the
school-room to enter upon the respon
sible duties of life. How important
that their hearts be illumined by the
light of divine truth! The gospel is
the only lever which can loosen and
lift their souls from the dark quarry in
which they are slumbering. May the
realization of this fact give us a new
impulse towards our work, and a clear
er view of its magnitude.
******
Oh, that it were indelibly impressed
upon the mind and heart of every
Christian lady that the dying Saviour
did not bequeath the duty of giving
the gospel to the heathen, to men
alone, but made it rest with equal
weight upon the daughters of Zion.
“In Christ there* is neither male nor
female.”
* * * » ♦ •
When we consider that it is only in
Christian lands that woman is not a
slave; that it is only there that she is
held in the high esteem which God in
tended her to be ; and only there, that
she is believed to possess a heart from
which noble aspirations spring, and
to be endowed with mental and moral
faculties which fit her to lie man’s true
companion; is it not surprising that
any christsan lady can be indifferent
to the claims which rest upon her to
help to raise her oppressed and be
nighted sisters of heathen lands from
their degradation oy giving them the
blessed gospel? for that alone will se
cure to them happy and respected
positions; and that alone can save
their souls from eternal wretchedness.
With us the gospel is the charter of
our privileges, and the pledge of our
salvation; so it must be with them.
Sad, indeed, is it to think of a Chris
tian woman being selfish with the
heavenly boon of salvation. “The gift
unshared would be unblest.”
* * * * * «
In reading the history of the first mis-
the <ros» —Paul and Barna
bas—do we not find a Lydia, a Phebe,
and “honorable women, not a few,”
waiting upon the wants of these de
voted men? And do we not read of
Jesus and his apostles being minister
ed to by Mary Magdalene, Joana, and
other pious women? Why, then,
should not Christian women of this day
be encouraged to minister to the ne
cessities of missionaries in our own
and heathen lands?
Priscilla, as well as her husband, ex
pounded to Appollos “the way of God
more perfectly.” Why, then, may
not female missionaries tell “the old,
old story of Jesus, and his love” to the
heathen mother and daughter! And
why may not we be to them as were
Aaron and Hur to Moses? My sis
ters, it is both our privilege and duty
to lie co-laborers with our missionary
sisters,in working for the cause of Christ
“in the regions beyond.” If the Sa
viour were now upon earth,l doubt not
he would speak words of approbation
of the w’ork of female missionaries, also
of our efforts to serve him, and would
regard both as “precious ointment
poured forth” at his feet
** x * * * *
Believing that women can accom
plish greater results in working for the
spread of the gospel by combining their
efforts in Missionary Societies, I would
urge you to maintain your society—
work and pray for its prosperity. Let
the history of your work be written on
the face of China’s shores, and around
it cluster the gratitude of some who
may be led to drink of the water of
life. Then when life’s labors are end
ed we may expect to be welcomed
home by some unknown to us here,
and to receive from the Master the
plaudit, “well done.”
PEN DROPPINGS.
BY L. L. V.
In the whole range of biblical his
tory, no character, save that of the
grand mystery of the incarnate God,
is more sublimely mysterious than that
of the prophet Elijah. He comes
forth unheralded by any trumpet—
simply “Elijah the Tishbite”—and
standing in the royal presence, an
nounces the sore calamity that is to
come upon the land for the sins of the
apostate King. There is something
of the sublime in every scene in which
we subsequently behold him. Again
and again does he appear with all the
suddenness of an apparition before the
weak, uxorious Ahab, and sternly re
bukes his follies and crimes. At Car
mel, having put to confusion the false
priests of a false religion, and having
as a judge condemned them to death,
he ascends the promontory and wres
tles in prayer with Jehovah for the re
moval of the fearful curse. Again we
see him taking up his abode amid
the dreary deserts of Arabia, and hold-
ing high converse with God from the
bold peaks of Horeb. From this ex
alted communion he comes forth
amdßg men only for a brief period, to
announce the decrees of the King of
kings, and then, amid clouds of glory,
he is borne away from the sight of his
admiring successor. Having received
this extraordinary mark of divine favor,
it is right that he should be enrolled
among the greatest of prophets. Yet,
great as was the power and distinction
conferred upon him, he was not made
the medium through which God would
communicate his great truths to the
children of men. It was not for him
to look back over the history of the
past and behold, in wrapt vision, crea
tion’s dawn, when light first dispelled
the reign of chaos, and “planets, suns
and adamantine spheres” took up their
ceaseless march. Nor did he look
down through the vista of coming
time, and, like Daniel, see thrones crum
ble and great empires decay; or, like
Isaiah, pause in exulting wonder over
the city and the mount where the last
scene in man’s redemption should be
enacted. No fire of inspiration seems
to have touched his lips. No holy im
pulse moved his hands to write thoughts
that shall warm, comfort and in
struct mankind until the latest day
of time. Yet is he clearly indicated
by God as far greater than any of
those to whom these tasks were com
mitted. He alone, of all who have
lived since Noah, was snatched from
the agony of death. He was one of
two sent from the unseen world to hold
converse with the Son of Man, when
he for a moment unveiled his glory.
And when the Forerunner was sent to
herald the coming Redeemer, it was
with the spirit and power of Elijah
that he was inspired. Why he should
be assigned this pre-eminence is not
the least of the mysteries connected
with this mysterious personage. Guid
ed by human judgment, we should not
have assigned him a rank higher than
Moses, who wielded the graphic pen of
the historian, or Isaiah, whose soul
glowed with intense poetic fervor, or
even the royal David, through whose
lyrics the pious emotions of a hundred
! generations have found utterance. But
God understood, as man cannot mis
take, the character of this prophet,
who at his bidding was willing to incur
the displsasure of a wicked king and
the threatenings of his more wicked
wife, and, rather than compromise his
religion, exiled himself from the face
of men and took up his abode amid
the solitude of the desert. Apart from
the mystery surrounding it, this frag
mentary history of the prophet’s life is
full of instruction and encouragement.
God honored tl>e servant who so ear,
nestly strove to honor him. Not only
did he send “the chariot of Israel and
the horsemen thereof” to bear him in
bodily form from the toils and perils of
earth, but he pronounced his character
such as befits the one commissioned to
announce the coming of the Lord to
redeem, to justify, and eventually to
judge, the world.
ITEMS FROM SOUTHERN GEOR
GIA-THREE PRE A CHERS AND
THEIR CHURCHES.
Dear Index : I seldom write for the
papers, but in response to your earnest
i appeal for news from various parts of
the country, relating either to churches
or individuals, I send you the follow
ing brief items:
Brother J. M. Rushin, of Boston,
preaches to three churches, two in
Thomas and one in Brooks county.
While all of his churches are in good
; working order, his success at one of
them, New Oclockonee, has been won
derful. This church is situated in the
lower part of Thomas county, sur
, rounded by a wealthy and intelligent
! population. At one of his regular
! monthly meetings, without any special
i protracted meeting, Brother Rushin
received twenty for baptism. Others
' have joined at different times, and there
; seems to be a revival spirit pervading
i the neighborhood. Amongst the addi
: tions were some of the best citizens of
I the county.
Brother T. A. White, of Quitman,
preaches to four churches, two in Brooks
and two in Thomas county. He is an
earnest, zealous preacher, and his
churches seem always ready to second
his efforts. In each of his churches he
has had gracious revivals during the
past six weeks, and quite a number
have been added to them.
Brother E. B. Carroll, of Hickory
Head, preaches to two churches, Hick
ory Head in Brooks and Valdosta in
Lowndes county. In both of these he
has recently had interesting meetings,
which resulted in considerable addi
tions to these churches.
These three brethren, Rushin, White
and Carroll, are all young, strong, en
ergetic and efficient preachers. Two
of them have not enjoyed the benefits
of a classical education, yet they are
all intelligent and know how to use the
English language correctly and with
power. What is still better, they thor
oughly understand the plan of salva
i tion as taught by Jesus Christ and his
I apostles and have great faith in its
I power and efficacy. Hence they never
attempt to improve it by any of the
inventions or devices of man.
We have other excellent and efficient
preachers in this part of our State, but
I write about the three brethren above
mentioned because I happen to be bet
ter informed as to the condition of their
churches and the success they have
more recently had. Fraternally, B.