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FROM THE INDIAN TERRITORY.
Dear Index : —I have just returned
from a ride of about 200 miles among
the Indians, and J must Hay that they
are the most orderly and peaceable
people I have ever seen, everything
being considered.
The Baptists outnumber all other
denominations and have done a great
work. Dr. If. F. Buckner has labored
for 30 years, and eminent success has
crowned his efforts. When he came,
there were about 125 Baptists among
the creeks, and there are now 2,590
and at least this number have gone to
the better land.
Are they really converts and believers
in Jesus?
"By their fruits ye shall know them.”
They sing and pray, live and die about
like the average white Baptist.
They have impressed me favorably
during my sojourn among them.
The Muscogee Baptist Association
met at Wewoka, Sept. 10 and adjourn
13th Sept. The attendance was not
as large as last year. Three reasons
were assigned—political excitement,
postponement from 3d to 10th Sept, on
account of election for Chief and sub
ordinate officers and the excessive
drouth.
The introductory sprmon was preach
ed by Rev. Wm. McComb, a man of
fine natural ability and some cultiva
tion. lie has been Superintendent of
public instruction of the Muscogee
nation and has just been elected a
member of the House of Warriors, cor
responding to our House of Represen
tatives. He preached in Creek and I
was struck with the gracefulness of the !
delivery and the apparent adaptibility
of,the Creek language to public speak
ing. Good sermons were also preached
by Bro. Buckner Bro. E. L. Compere,
of Ark., Bro. P. O. Broch, missionary
employed by the Western Association
of Georgia, and in Creek by Rev. John
Mclntosh and Rev. James Foster, na
tive preachers, the former a Creek and
the latter a Seminole Indian. Rev.
John Mclntosh is a grandson of Gen.
William Mclntosh, who was killed by
the Creeks in 1825 because of the
treaty at Indian Springs, and is now
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of
the Muscogee Nation, and at the same
lime missionary to the so-called wild
tribes, 250 miles West of Eufaula, the
Wichitas and neighboring bands.
Your correspondent was appointed to
hold forth on Sunday afternoon and
delivered a lecture on “The Devil” to a
very appreciative audience. All the
English, speeches Were translated by an
interpreter, and among 1 the advantages
of tills plan is the opportunity of
watching the effect of « sentenceSvhile
the interpreter is translating.
Bro. John Mclntosh reported 51
members among the wild tribes, organ
ized into two churches. He baptized
the Chief of the Wichitas as his first
convert, and just before he started to
the Association he baptized twelve be
lievers.
The Baptist Mission is the theme of
conversation, and unless work is begun
immediately, our friends will grow de
spondent. Such work has been delayed i
thirty years while weaker denominations
have established mission schools and I
made them self-sustaining by the |
amount allowed by the Council for I
board and tuition and the proceeds of
the farms attached to the schools. It
is also feared that the Council may I
repeal the law’ authorizing the Baptists I
to establish the mission. 1 telegraphed |
to Dr. Mclntosh about the condition I
of affairs, and he answered that he
could not come now and that he de
sired Bro. Buckner to forward esti
mates of the costs of the buildings.
There is a grand opportunity to
plant for eternity through this mission
school.
Your correspondent's Chairman of a i
committee, had the honor of drafting a j
memorial, addressed to the Council of |
the Muscogee Nation, praying that a ;
proper marriage law should be enacted
at the next session in October, and the '
Association adopted it and appointed I
a committee to present the memorial
to the Nation Council. The Chief
Justice, Rev. John Mclntosh, and the
present Chief, Hon. Ward Coochman,
are members of the committee.
After conference with Presbyterians
and Methodists, I was assured that if
the Baptists would take the lead in
urging the Council to pass a marriage
law, that the other denominations
wotdd co-operate in the movement and
hence the memorial by the Muscogee
Baptist Association.
Did you ever attend a prayer-meet
ing which began at 6 I’. M. and contin
ued until 7 A. M.? Thirteen hours
continuous worship, praying, singing,
exhorting and yet no boisterous confu
sion, snch was the service at Wewoka
last Sunday night.
Bro. Broch preached about thirty
minutes and then followed the all-night
prayer-meeting. They sang their In
dian songs. Levi Mitchell was an
Indian Baptist exhorter, and a poet and
musician and his songs are popular
with Creek Baptists and they sing with
melody in their hearts and voices.
Imagine your emotions, reader, were
you to approach a vast crowd just be
fore day-light, all singing at the top of
their voices, clapping their hands in
The Christian Index and South-western Baptist: Thursday, October 2, 1879.
ectasy, some grasping the hands
friends, some exhorting with up-lifted
arms, and suddenly three prolonged
blasts from a horn bursts upon your
ears—the stars twinkling, and the
gray dawn breaking, and dim sugges
tions of Gabriel’s trumpet arising in
your brain.
As you gazed on the upturned
faces, patiently, hopefully worship
ping during the long hours of the
night; worshippers at dusk, at mid
night, at dawn, and still singing with
apparent delight, while the bugie blasts
summoned the weary ones who had
fallen asleep to return to the place of
prayer, and then vainly tried to re
member such all-night-worship by
white Christians, perhaps unbidden
tears might start and a silent “God
bless them” might whisper in your
heart.
The Creekshave two mission schools,
Presbyterian and Methodist; 28 public
schools, kept open ten months in the
year; a Legislature or Council, com
posed of a House of Kings (Senate)
and House of Warriors (Houseof Rep
resentatives), and the Chief, similar in
some respect to a Governor.
A traveller is agreeably surprised to
find mowing machines cutting grass
on the prairies, cultivating and gang
plows in the field, fat Durham cattle
grazing on the plains, occasionally
grade-Cotswold sheep, and frequently
cooking stoves and sewing machines
in the houses. Still, you can find
“sofkey," a cold soup made of lie homi
ny and pretty tough no the uninitiated,
and also “abuskey," regular Jeff Davis,
corn-meal coffee, made of parched corn
pounded into fine meal,sweetened and
water added. These drinks are very
nourishing and after riding from 30 to
00 miles, either without crossing water,
ordrinkingout of muddy, stagnating
pools of water, you can tolerate “sofkey
and abusky” and cease to wonder at the
Indians. The’water is simply awful in
most sections—during the fall of the
year, and now, all the creeks and some
of the rivers are dry.
INCIDENTS.
Indians are fond of funerals. At a
recent camp-meeting (not Baptist)
13 funeral sermons were preached. My
informant said : “They had preached
nine funerals and one preacher, he
preached away on another funeral and
1 kept listening to know whose funeral
it was. After awhile he said, ‘My
brethren, our friend he died—he died
—well, I don’t know when he died.’
Then he wont on and I listened to find
out who it was that died, and he said,
‘Our friCnd who died was named,’
and then he looked at a paper and went
on, ‘he was named—our friend who
died, he was named—well, and I don’t
know what his name was!' ”
WITCHES AND OHOSTS.
“There was a witch jn the kitchen
last night,” said my Uchee-Indiafi host.
‘‘Do yoM believe in ghosts?”
yes.’ “Did you ever see one?” “Yes.”
"When?” “My wife’s uncle wag buried
about a year and I dug him up and
buried him again Here in my yard and I
when the coflin was lying by the new
grave I saw him walking round by my
yard fence and he had on the same old
hat and coat I saw him wear before he
died, and I told Brown to look, but he
couldn’t see him.” W. O. T.
FROM WA SHI Nt I TON.
Mv Dear Brother—Since I re
ceived my commission as General
Evangelist and Theological Instructor
of the Freedmen Preachers of the
South, from our Home Mission Board,
at Marion, Ala., “to labor in ministers’
institutes in connection with Dr. 8. W. I
Marston, of the American Baptist I
Home Missionary Society, of New I
Yoik,” I have been hard at work.
While Dr. Marston has been labor- j
ing in Texas, and preparing for winter
work, I have been in this State, and
we have corresponded so as to make |
our arrangements come together. I (
am very glad to hear that Drs. Spald-'
ing, Gwin and yourself have consented [
to give us material aid by lectures,
when we come to Atlanta. We shall 1
hope to secure similar assistance at;
other points of our work.
The month of .July, and part of Au
gust, 1 spent in Dougherty, Baker and
Mitchell counties, holding regular Bi-'
ble schools, (or institutes,) which I I
think were productive of great good.
In August, 1 labored two weeks in the
same good work here in Wilkes coun
ty, and have spent several Sabbaths as
[ a General Evangelist.
Brother Marston and I have just
agreed as to a series of appointments
for October, of which he will also write.
We might be in Savannah, October
Ist to 6th; then at Live Oak, Fla:, Oc
tober 9th to 12th; at Albany, Ga., Oc
tober 14th to 20th ; at Macon, October
23d to 26th; then at Atlanta and
Rome, October 27th to 31st.
We shall aim to have three sessions
daily in each of these institutes, and to
give every possible advantage to those
! who may attend upon our instruction.
We shall be aided in all cases, when
it is practicable, by the best talent of
our denomination in lectures, and Dr.
Marston and myself both having ha 1
I considerable experience in Sunday
j school work, we Hatter ourselves that
i we shall lie able to present many of
the important trutlls of Scripture in
I such manner as to make them inter
esting and instructive to our pupils.
Fraternally yours,
W. H. Robert.
Washington, Ga., Sept. 10,1879.
RE-IMMERSION.
Since the re-immersion of Dr. Weaver
by Dr. Boyce, a great many questions
have sprung as to the regularity, valid
ity, etc., of his Methodist immersion.
Some have held the extremely liberal
view that there was no necessity for a
re-immersion—that his first immersion
was a Scriptural baptism ; but the ma
jority of those who have written and
commented upon it have declared it
no baptism, and hence the second im
mersion proper and Scriptural. Up to
this date, I have seen no question as to
whether he has yet been baptised. Will
the editor and readers of this paper
pardon my impertinence if I ask what
right had Dr. Boyce to immerse Dr.
Weaver? An editorial note states that
“the re-baptism was administered on
the responsibility of the two parties
named, without the authority of a
church.”
If Dr. Boyce had the right to ad
minister baptism, without the authority
of a church, upon what principle did
that right rest? If upon the ground
that he is a preacher, it may be an
swered that the Methodist administra
tor was also a preacher. If the ordi
nance is in the hands of the ministry,
rather than the church, there being no
evidence that the Methodist is not as
truly a minister as is Dr. Boyce, it fol
lows that Dr. Weaver has been baptized
twice. It will not do to say that Dr.
Boyce had been ordained and the
Methodist had not. Both wereordrined
with the usual ceremony of imposition
of hands. Nor will it do to say that
Dr. Boyce’s ordination was by the au
thority of the church, while that of the
Methodist was not.
Ordination by authority of a church
is but a recognition of a Divine call.
The call to the ministry is of higher
authority than a church, and a failure
on the part of a church to recognize
the higher call and ordain, cannot
effect or abrogate that call. No more
can a Divine call to preach be abro
gated by a church failure to recognize,
than can a Divine regeneration be ab
rogated by a church failure to recog
nize the regeneration. Nor will it do
to condemn a Methodist immersion on
the ground that the administrator him
self had not been baptized. 1. It is
not shown that Dr. Weaver’s adminis
trator had not been immersed. 2. The
real call to the ministry often exists
before baptism, and he might therefore
be a minister without baptism. If Dr.
Boyce had the right, “on his own re
sponsibility, without the authority of a
church” to baptize Dr. Weaver, it must
have been because he was a minister.
Thb Methodist administrator was a
minister under the higher call, and as
the ordinance is in the hands of the
ministry, and not the church, the first
immersion was Scriptural, and the last
unnecessary. If the fiußAj b j'cript li
ra], the lasywad n4|'> ar£uinei>t|
that makes the last SiVipZural? on the
ground of Dr. Boyce being a minister,
makes the first Scriptural, which con
demns the last. No escape from this
reasoning can be made by denying the
existence of a ministry without regular
baptism and church sanction in ordi
nation.
“The Spirit and the Bride say come ;
let him tluit heareth say come,” etc.
The hearer may, therefore, say “come,”
even before forming a church connec
tion. Besides, it is in the experience
of thousands of our best ministers, that
they heard the call to preach long be
fore their baptism—some even hiding
their light outside the church, to keep
from discharging the duty of preach
ing ; while many others neglected the
duty long after they had joined the
church.
But if the ordinance of baptism is in
the hands of the church, and not of
the ministry, then neither the first nor
second immersion is a Scriptural bap
tism, both having been administered
without the authority of the church.
With this statement of the case, it is
not clear that the administration of
Dr. Boyce was not a Scriptural baptism
at all? If the ordinance is in the
hands of the ministry, there being “one
baptism,” and the first having been by
a minister, therefore Scriptural, the
second was not Scriptural. If the or
dinance is in the hands of the church,
then the administration by Dr. Boyce
was not Scriptural, for it was “on their
own responsibility, and without the
authority of a church.'’
The only tenable position is that
neither of the immersions was Scriptu
ral, for neither was by the authority of a
church.
I have yet to see a “Book of Prayer,”
“Confession of Faith,” “Discipline,” or
“Articles of Faith,” of a Baptist asso
ciation or church, that does not declare,
“We believe there are two ordinances
in the Church of Jesus Christ, Baptism
and the laird’s Supper.” This is the
concurrent voice of all the denomina
tions, and especially of all Baptist or
ganizations, whose Articles of Faith it
I lias been my privilege to see. If there
i is one, however, in existence that de
, dares the ordinances to be in the hands
lof the ministry, will some one be so
| kind as to tell us where it can be had?
Any argument under the reading of
j our Articles of Faith, that puts “Bap-
I tism” in the hands of the ministry,
I also puts “the Lord's Supper” there.
If because of ordination, ministers have
the right to administer baptism, “on
their own responsibility, without the
authority of * church,” to such subjects
as they deem fit, have they not the
same right to administer “the Lord’s
Supper” to any band of baptized be-
lievers they may meet, and that too
without the authority of a church?
Under our Articles of Faith, if bap
tism is not a church ordinance, neither
is church communion. If the minis
ter is the judge and administrator in
one, he is in both, and Baptists are
wrong,and Methodists are right.. Their
preachers do hold the ordinances. We
should change our Articles of Faith,
or condemn independent administra
tions of ordinances.
J. M. Robertson.
BOWMAN.
Dear Index : —I returned yesterday
from Clarke’s Creek church of Frank
lin county Georgia, where on Sunday
morning last I baptized three young
ladies of much promise as the fruits in
part of a nine day’s meeting, including
some nights, held in August last. Af
ter the baptism, which had been wit
nessed by a large concourse of people,
I preached to all that could get in the
church building from the words : “For
we must all appear before the judg
ment seat of Christ.” At the close of
the sermon several other young ladies
came forward for special prayer. May
they all realize the mercy 1 of God as
extended to them through our great
mediator, Jesus Christ, unto life eter
nal. May they all be prepared right
early for baptism and a place in the
church of Christ that they may ever be
useful and happy Christians. Please
say, amen.
Having returned home, I stepped
into Bowman and found. The Index of
last week in the store in which my son,
who was recently baptized is clerking,
brought it back with me and read a
part of the contents last evening and
the remainder this morning, not with
out emotions of heart to the shed ling
of tears. Blessed paper! The
news of so many good meetings and
of so many baptisms as the results
could but be very encouraging and
cheering to me, and your many read
ers. So may it be! The news, too, of
Bro. S. Landrums return to his old
Savannah charge, and of the unani
mous and joyful reception with which
he was hailed, as well as the account of
his first sermon and the so appropri
ate lines in verse, gladdened my heart
no little. I thought, while reading
with warm heart and weepin", eyes,
that just these lines were worth a year’s
subscription.
But perhaps I was stirred the more,
not only because I had been one of the
presbytery, years ago, at Salem, Ogle
thorpe co., Ga., to ordain Dr. Lan
drum, but because I had been led
from Georgia for a time into Kentucky,
and after trials connected with afflic
tions found a safe return to our good
old Empire State. Here to labor on
till the time of my departure will have
i coine, then here to die, and here to be
< buried to ata'ait undergrotind my sufi
mons to rise at the coming of the
Judge of the whole earth, who will
assuredly do right.
I could but wish, while reading, that
our dear Bro. E. W. Warron would ac
cept the call for him at Macon, Ga.,
and say, farewell, my good, warm
hearted Virginia friends, God calls for
me through dear Georgia friends, and I
must obey the call and go. You pray
for me still and God helping me I will
pray for you. I would tell him, if 1
could see him, come back, come, back to
Georgia, we need you here, and want
you here. I thought when I saw him
in your growing city and at the South
ern Baptist Convention that he would
be happier to return. God guide him.
Yours with respect,
I. 11. Goss.
Bowman, Elbert Co., Ga. Sept. 16, 1879.
TUGALO BAPTIST ASSOCIA
TION.
This body closed its session for 1879,
at Nails Creek church, Banks county,
Ga., Sunday, Sept. 21st. Elder Bar
ton was re-elected Moderator, and Dr.
A. W. Brawner, Clerk. The attendance
was good, and the business transacted
in a dignified and orderly manner, al
though there was some exciting sub
jects brought before the body. The
business was transacted very slowly in
consequence of not having a brief,
printed order of business, but adopting
the minute of the previous year, as
their order of business. The associa
tion has something like three thousand
members,after dismissing four churches
located in South Carolina. Some
i ting like 100 baptisms were reported,
but nothing sent up for missions ex
cept in their own bounds, in which
had been expended about sixty dollars
and not quite that much had been col
lected. The association does not be
long to any State or general organiza
tion. and the writer thought he could
see the result, in the meagerness of
missionary effort and funds.
Corresixindents were appointed to
• > the North Georgia Missionary Associa-
tion.
11 There is missionary spirit in the
, I body for there are Christians in it, but
1 1 it is latent, in the main. “Uncle
' j Shad” was sent to the association by
his “boss,” he said, to represent the
I State Board of missions, for which he
, is acting as evangelist, and he cxplain-
■ ed the Board and its works in general,
i He had good, earnest attention, and
■ money was voluntarily given him for
i State Missions, Indian Missions and
the old ministers’ fund.
The Sarepta Association was repre-
• sented by its Moderator, Bishop W. B.
J. Hardman, and Bishops, Starke, I
Brock and Adams, who added much to :
the interest of the occasion by their
preaching and speeches. The Liberty
Association was represented by Elders
Jackson and Purcell. Bro. Allen, a
young minister from South Carolina,
was present, and Elder Wilkes, of
Gainesville, arrived on Saturday and
made a good showing for the Female
Seminary, of which he is President.
The audience on Sunday was immense,
and such attention to preaching is,
seldom, seldom seen under like cir
cumstances.
The Index is but little read in the
Tugalo, and the territory, including
Banks and Franklin counties, mainly,
has been, until recently, quite inacces
sible. Visitor.
HOW FAR IS IT TO CANAAN f\
As the weary, travel-soiled pilgrim I
nears the place of his destination,!
passing over an unfamiliar road full of
pitfalls and snares, is ready to ask every
chance passenger he meets for tidings
with regard to the distance yet to be
traversed ere he reaches the spot where
he anticipates rest and refreshment,
so does the aged Christian pilgrim,
footsore and worn with his long years •
of travel in a world of sorrow and of
sin, long for the rest of Heaven. As I
he wends his lonely way, thinking of ,
the loved and lost who have entered I
before him into its blessedness, with I
yearning heart he sighs, “How far is it !
to Canaan?” The companion of his
youth has been snatched from his lov- j
ing embrace by death’s relentless hand. ■
How was her death-bed clouded by the I
knowledge that a large share of his i
life would go out on her departure, for
mutual joys and sorrows shared for
long years together had moulded their
beings into one. The loving ties form
ed by nearly half a century of wedded I
intercourse sunder with a wrench |
which leaves the living heart quivering
till life's close. Ah! how had he reeled
and fallen when that terrible blast i
swept over him. He had thought per-1
chance that he was the stay and prop, j
and that her gentle nature leaned in j
winsome tenderness on him ; and so it |
did, yet when he fell prostrate under
the blow, he realized that he leaned on j
her as well, that pale and weak though
she might have been, yet her sustain- ;
ing love had upheld him in every pre
vious trial of his life, since first with
mutual hearts entwined, they had, in
happy youth, joined their destinies to
tread life’s path together. How gladly
would she have waited for him,‘if it had
been her Father’s will that they might
have gone down hand in hand into the
dark Jordan, though each must have
met alone its engulfing waters.
Her love was one perennial fount of
earthly happiness, and now it was for
ever dry. When adverse fortunes had
be§n their together, they had
breasted the waves of adversity. When
disappointments overtook them, their
keen edge was blunted bj’ mutual sym
pathy ; and when their cup of earthly
happiness was full, how each revelled
in the joy the other was tasting, and
by it felt their own enhanced. To
gether they had watched over the in
fantile sports of their children, and
pointed out to each other with pride
and joy the developing intellect. They
had together shared in nightly vigils
when sickness had prostrated their dar
lings, and together they had bent over
the open grave as they laid away their I
dead. Sorely as their bereavements I
pressed, they still had each other, and
together they guided the steps of the |
remaining ones through life’s uncer
tain way up to manhood and woman-|
hood.
Many years have passed since the j
light of his life was taken from him, I
but the sadness deepens and the lone-1
liness increases. Alas! How far is it!
to Canaan? Yet, Oh! how’ unfit are 1
we for the land where all is purity and j
love, where evil passions never enter, |
and where God’s own presence so fills 1
all space that we shall feel and realize 1
what we now know to be true, that i
every thought of our own heartsis laid
bare before Him. Will he receive a |
heart that has so rebelled under His I
discipline? He remembereth that we !
are but dust. Can he accept one who
is so quick to censure his fellow man?
He knoweth our infirmities.
Full of evil passions, quick to resent '
wrong—slow to forgive it. Quick to '
see other’s faults—slow to excuse them. |
Ready to give way to temptation— '
slow to resist it. Ready to grasp at I
earthly pleasures—slow to cultivate
spiritual enjoyments. Full of unbe- ■
lief and hardness of heart, evil ever I
present with us, even when we would I
strive to do good, can such hearts ever j
be received into that glorious land [
lighted by the blessed presence of a |
Holy God ? Or would they find any- 1
thing congenial to their sordid and ’
grovelling natures in an atmosphere '
so holy and amidst such pure and glo
rious surroundings? While we have ,
an abiding hope, that through the
blood of the Crucified One we shall l
be saved from the consequences of sinji
we believe that when we awake in
likeness we shall be delivered
. well IL will wrap
- "i 1 - in th.- -p ,tL .. i. 1 ..
111 -- ie -pl 111 hl- hie I
hi- hi will 1-h
'll. .
'
DR. ADIEL SHERWOOD.
Dear Index—The announcement of
the death of Dr. Sherwood has brought
back from my memory many pleasant
things. The old church at Eatonton,
Ga., known as the Union church, was
built in 1818. It was long used in
common as a place of worship by Bap
tists, Presbyterians and Methodists.
Its tall hexagonal pulpit, perched upon
four pillars, raised the preacher’s head
i nearly on a level with the gallery, en
abling him to speak as well to the
blacks above as to the whites below.
To those who occupied seats on the
floor a long sermon was a painful
thing, since to keep the eye on the
preacher was almost like looking up to
the sky for the same length of time.
From this pulpit in his early child
| hood, the writer listened to his first
i sermons. They were preached by Dr.
Adiel Sherwood. He remembers well
I the clearness, earnestness and brevity
by which they were marked. He can
see the preacher now, as he stands in
the midst of one of his emphatic pauses,
rendered still more emphatic by the
continuous, lightning-like winking of
his eyes. While a pupil at Penfield,
in 1839, the writer was baptized by
Dr. Sherwood, and he is one around
; whom cluster pleasant recollections of
j that place.
Following Dr. Sherwood came the
; eloquent Dawson, the pointed, pathetic
j Campbell, the rapid, impetuous Malla-
I ry, whose thoughts seemed to crowd so
i thick upon his lips that he
scarcely give them utterance as
’ came. After them came the learnea
j and polished Williams, the earnest
Wilkes, the fearless, original Corley.
Among Methodist ministers were such
men as the elder Pierce and his son,
Bishop Pierce, John W. Glenn, John
P. Duncan, Jeremiah Norman, Jesse
Boring and his brother, Isaac Boring,
i and C. W. Key. Among Presbyterians
were Dr. Talmage, Rev. Mr. Baker,
now of Marietta, Rev. C. W. Lane, and
j Rev. Mr. Flinn. All these were men
jof mark; most of them are dead. A
! few still live. If these men could
j walk into this old house now, they
would observe some decided changes
'in its arrangements. The lofty pulpit
I has been lowered. As the older mem
' bers of these churches disappeared, it
gradually came down at intervals of
years, until now the box rests upon a
moderately elevated platform. It is a
vast improvement upon the old origi
nal lofty standpoint, but it would be
infinitely better with the box entirely
removed, and the speaker allowed the
freedom of an open space. However,
boxes are good things for some preach
ers, who pace to and fro like caged
lions.
But the change which would most
surprise the ministers of former days is
one that has taken place in front of the
pulpit on a lower platform, where has
recehtly |teen placed almost
and commodious baptistery. It would
have been a strange sight to all, and
pleasant indeed to such men as Sher
wood, Dawson and Campbell, to seethe
writer, whom they knew as a little boy,
standing in that pool, administering
the ordinance of baptism. Within the
last two months, it has been his privi
lege to immerse there three persons.
Just in rear of the church, not fifty
yards distant, he was born. Reared
by Methodist parents, led by his pre
cious mother to this house for worship,
I and required to sit by her side every
I Sunday, until nearly twelve years of
age, these first immersions, and his
| present relations to this church as pas
tor, seem strange providences. It was
' once a church strong in numbers, in
wealth and in piety. Though its pres
ent membership is small, compared to
former times, they are quiet, earnest,
devoted Christians, firm, unflinching
I Baptists.
In conclusion, I must be permitted
i to siy that we are indebted mainly to
brother James T. Davis and brother
j W. R. Respess for the building of the
' pool, though I believe all have contrib
; uted towards it. We are hoping and
praying that its waters may often be
troubled. I, R. Branham.
INDIAN ITEMS.
Last week we held a glorious revival
at one of my newly organized church—-*
I es, when we had the assistance of our
I much esteemed brother Compere, from
I Salem City, Ark. Some of the heaviest
stones were turned—the hardest
hearts melted. During the week the
i little church swelled from twenty-two
jto sixty-seven members. Every mom
j ing the banks of our Jourdan were
thronged with eager spectators, wit
nessing our soldiers follow the com
i mands of their leader. The Spirit
i continued to send them to us until
( forty-five were added to that little
i flock.
Six were from the Methodist church,
and the most interesting sepne was
witness brother
’ ' :■!’ -A e. '’t