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The-Christian Index. Vol. 57 —No 42. Table of Contents. First Page—Alabama' Department: Liberty (Cbambers'Co.) Association; Roanoke Male and Female Institute; The Spirit of the Religious Press. Second Page—Correspondence : Returned Missionaries—R H Graves; Outlines of A Sermon—H CH; Faith, Hope, Charity— A C Mclntosh; Sunday-School— Lesson for November 16—‘'The Love of the Fath er.” Third Page—Children’s Corner: Our Baby —Poetry; The Old Mirror's Story; Beth’s Errand; “All Right.” Fourth Page—Editorials : Intercessory Pray er; The Lump of Figs; Flags, Flags, Flags; The Musicians, etc. Fifth Page—Georgia Baptist News. Secular Editorials; News Paragraphs; Destruction of Monroe Female College; Contumelious Colorado; Prof. Mallon ; Our Soldier Boys; Life’s Merry May— poetry ; Georgia News, etc. Sixth Page Obituaries ; New Advertise ments. Seventh Page—The Farmers' Index: Winter is Coming; The Poor Man’s Coffee Pot; Clement Attachment. Eighth Page—Florida Department: Among the Associations; More Revival News; Receipts of Mission Board ; Memorial of Mrs. Belle Boykin, etc. Alabama Department. BY SAMUEL HENDERSON. LIBERTY (CHAMBERS CO.) AS SOCIA TION. It hid been fifteen or twenty years since we met this body of Christians. In ante bellum times, we were for years a docketed messenger from the old Tuskegee to the Liberty Association; and Oh, how many pleasant incidents had marked our intercourse with the brethren for over twenty years! De siring to renew those delightful asso ciations, we resolved to visit the body on the occasion of its late session at Roanoake, Randolph county, Ala., at a distance of seventy miles from our home ; especially as a beloved son, who bears our full name, and who resides at Roanoke, came all the way over for us. His company beguiled the tedium of travel, albeit we passed over some pretty rough country. Passing through Lineville, Clay co., we spent the night with our old friend and brother, W. D. Haynes, a merchant of many years standing there. Let us observe, in passing, that the Lineville Baptist church was the first to which we ever preached; it was then called “Crooked I Creek.” . Os courseour vbflt there call-I ed up many pleasant recollections. The next evening about 3 o’clock, from a high hill, two miles from Roan oke, or nearly so, we saw two spires rise up before us, the one from a mag nificent structure, the “Roanoke Male and Female Institute,” the other from the new Baptist meeting house, one of the most tasty and elegantly furnished buildings of the kind in the State, just finished. The two buildings were standing in lovely propinquity to each other, as if drawn together by that moral cohesion that always unites Christianity and learning. On enter- ; ing the well filled house, an indescrib- ! able glow of kindly sensibility, a kind ! of mesmeric enchantment, stole over | us, such as can only be inspired by a j body of earnest working Christians. | The jpersonel of the assembly was grand—such as we have not seen sur passed in a similar body for many years. We found Rev. J. P. Shaffer, i the pastor of the Roanoke Baptist church, in the Moderator’s seat, and . Rev, Wm. Bledsoe recording the pro ceedings. The body adjourned a short time after we arrived, appointing SABBATH-SCHOOLS as the special topic of discussion that (Friday) night. The report of the committee on that subject called out a profitable discussion of it from several brethren’, led by our venerable brother Carmichael, and concluded by brother Bailey, Corresponding Secretary of the State Board. Quite a deep interest was awakened, and we doubt not that other schools will be organized. Ten o’clock, A. M., on Saturday, was set apart to receive and discuss the re port on STATE MISSIONS. After the report was read, detailing the fact that about three hundred dollars had been raised and expended during the last year for their district evange list, brother David, he (brother D.) addressed the Association in away that went to the heart of the vast assem bly. His kind and genial spirit wins and conquers wherever he goes. The writer, by special request, as a member of the Board, added some remarks on the plans and policy of the Board, and then brother Bailey concluded the dis cussion in his usual happy manner, and cash and pledges to the amount of about five hundred dollars were raised for the ensuing year. This was an advance of two hundred dollars on the past year, and was quite encouraging to the Board. The body adjourned at 11 o’clock to hear a capital sermon from brother G. E. Brewer, of Opelika. The report on FOREIGN AND HOME MISSIONS awakened a lively interest, and in ad dition to the amount sent up by the churches for the two Boards, the gen- SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST. of Alabama. eral collection on Sunday was ordered to be equally divided between them. Brother J. H. Kinnebrew was present, and presented the claims of the Indian department of the Home Board in quite an impressive manner. Another feature of the proceedings that struck us with great force, as in dicating progress in every good work, was the appointment of a committee to report on the subject of raising an INDIGENT MINISTERS’ FUND. The subject was introduced by our brother, W. D. Bulger, a lawyer of ability and distinction, so recognized all over the State, and he was made chairman of the committee, to report on Saturday night. The report recom mended the appointment of a canvass ing committee, composed of one mem ber from each church, who are to re port at the next session of the body the amounts subscribed, said amounts to be paid in four annual installments. A permanent board of trustees of this fund is to be appointed next year, who are to take charge of this fund, and invest it in safe securities at lawful per cent., the interest only to be used. They aim to raise, at once, as much as •$2,500. Col. Bulger informed us that he thought he knew five or six men who would start the enterprise with ■sloo each. We bid them God speed in this long neglected, yet noble work. We doubt not their success. On Sabbath, the stand was occupied by the writer and Brother W. S. Lloyd, of the Tuskegee Association, as their names occur. It was the largest as semblage we have seen for many years. At the close of the service, the body adjourned sine die. Altogether the meeting was one of unusual interest. It was worth riding seventy miles over rocks, hills and mountains to attend. To grasp the hands of Carmichael, our dear old “Hugh,” the Bledsoes, father and son, David, Lloyd, Roby, Davis, Shafter, the two Cumbies, Prof. Johnson, and others, as also such laymen as Scroger, the Shealeys, Bulger, Handley, Burns, Morgan, etc., etc., was to us a dear privilege. We need scarcely add that the citi zens of Roanoke did their full duty in the way of hospitality. That kind widow Christian woman, sister Disha roon, asid brother Hike Robinson, i whose thoughtful attentions we shared, are remembered by us with sincere gratitude. We also did something for both the Alabama Baptist and The Christian Index. We hope to meet the old Liberty next year at Lafayette, Chambers county, Alabama. ROANOKE MALE AND FEMALE INSTITUTE. Roanoke is something of a classical word in our country, marking as it did in his day the residence of one of the most remarkable, eloquent, and withal eccentric statesmen our country ever produced. That Randolph coun ty should have a Roanoke town in it, is quite a natural coincidence, and seems to keep up a very pleasant his ! torical association. “John Randolph I of Roanoke,” is about as pat a phrase las our history affords. It is very cred itable to the taste of the good people of . Randolph that they are resolved to I keep up a connection of names so eu ! phonious to American ears. So much for names, now for things. The institution of learning at Roanoke I is, without doubt, one of the best of its I kind in our State. Its faculty con- j sists of Prof. B. F. Moore and Rev. J. i P. Shafter, of the collegiate depart ment, and Miss Annie Spikes in the primary, and Miss Sallie E. Phillips in the musical department, all of whom i are eminently fitted for their several ’ positions. Indeed, they have acquired j a reputation over a broad surface in our State second to none known to us. . Progress and order are their watch words. Moreover, they have one of , the largest and best arranged build ings in Alabama. It is two stories high, the lower story cut up into four ■ rooms sufficiently large to accommo- ■ date more than a hundred pupils—the upper story is used as a chapel, capable of seating from eight hundred ■ to a thousand people, surmounted by * a spire that can be seen for miles. Every room has its quota of well-ap pointed furniture. Indeed, the entire structure, external and internal, ex hibits a high degree of taste, and would be a credit to any town or city in Alabama. Much of the credit of this institution is due to our brother, Rev. J. P. Shaffer, who has given to the Institute, up to this time, the most unremitting care and attention. Prof. I Moore has contributed largely to its present standing and efficiency. He is a graduate of the University of Vir ginia, and, perhaps, has few equals in our country as a ripe scholar, an effi cient instructor, and a wise an<l pru dent administrative officer. But after all, a community in which such an institution can take such a firm hold, Atlanta, Georgia, Thursday, October 30, 1879. and in which its growth is watched and guarded with sedulous care, de serves no ordinary commendation. The Roanoke of to-day is not the Roanoke of twenty-three years ago, when we last visited it. It is as if a new population had moved in and made all things new. What has wrought the change? for while many of the old have died, their families compose the bulk of the population. The answer is found in their splendid churches and their educational insti tution. The piety and the public spirit that can project and carry to completion such enterprises, can con vert a wilderness into a garden. This modest village is one of the greenest spots of our noble old State. Let us say, also, that the Baptist church here has, under the pastorate of Brother Shaffer, reached a high point of efficiency, both in numbers and activity. One thing they ought to do, and we say it in all kindness— they ought to have preaching at least twice a month. In such a communi ty, this seems to us to be a necessity. It would well nigh double the efficien cy of the church. The business men of the place would be a credit to any town or city. The merchants are doing a large, safe busi ness ; for the town is surrounded by a thrifty, industrious community of farmers. Roanoke is the home of our old friend, the ex-Congressman of this district, Hon. Mr. Handley, whose princely donations have done so much to establish the Institute and build the fine churches that ornament the place. Messrs. Gibson & Burton publish quite a newsy, spicy paper at this point, creditable to themselves and the com munity “The Randolph County News.” Revival in Tuskegee.—Dr. Roby informed us at the Liberty Association, that, at a meeting recently held in his church in Tuskegee, there were added twenty-five members. Such news from our dear old charge was not a little grateful to us. On Wednesday night last, at prayer meeting, eighteen young ladies and gentlemen connected themselves with the Baptist church. Most of them join ing by experience, dated their conver sion to the latb Methodist >Aeeti»g. The ordinance of baptism will be ad ministered Saturday night next.—Ox ford, Ala., Record, October 16. The Religious Press. —Wholesome words are these from the New Orleans Christian Advocate : From the active pursuits of business men sometimes retire in the meridian of their strength. But there is no period in the Christian’s course when he is at liberty to cease from labor for Christ. He must do what he can till death relieves him of further duties here. He can never truly say that he has given enough, nor that he has done enough, nor even that he has suffered enough- The good and faithful servant receives his discharge only when he enters into the joys of his Lord. The infirmity o! years may come upon him, the weakness of sickness, but he must work as he can, and with una bated purpose and zeal. While the breath is in his body his work is not done. In every case the faithful Christian ceases at once to work and live. Neither as to him self, nor as to the world around him, will it ever happen that there is nothing more to' do. As far as strength and circumstances permit, he is in the midst of his work to the very last; and, were he to live a thousand years, it would be the same. The real satisfaction at the end cannot be that there is no more work to be done, but that we have done what we could. If there be then a clinging to life, its strength will grow out of the desire to do something more and worthier iu the field of Christian labor. There is one regret that thebeliever s likely to feel most deeply in the dying hour; that which is connected with the sense of work, but partially and negligently d- ne. The blood of Christ may put away the sins of impatience, indolence and distrust, but they will linger among the last ingredients in the cup of things to be sorrowed over and to be repented of. I ’.Nst'c< 'EMFfL People,— The per cent age i of people who are unsuccessful, in the world ly sense of the word, is a very large one. ! <lften, God snatches away, by his providence, through no apparent fault or failure of theirs, the fruit of •j.en’s labors when it is just dropping, ripened, into their hands. ■ Other men come into life hopelessly desti tute of the “knack” for getting ahead at any thing. The farmer who hinks be is making a good bargain when every one else sees that it is a bad one; the school teacher who dots not know how to win the confidence or in spire the enthusiasm of his pupils; the ntin inter, whose “ways” repel people when he takes the most pains to win their good will — such persons are found everywhere. They do the best they know how, but they don't succeed. And since it is an ex[>erience that is divinely assigned to so many, may we not conclude that the ministry of poverty and defeat is often better for us than any worldly success could be. “Bles-ed are they who make money or achieve prominence,” did not find a place in the Beatitudes—does not, in fact sound much like them.— Good. Company. We do not know what real success is. Doubtless it often seems to us that a man is failing when if we could see the end from the beginning, as God sees it, we should know that tlfat man is nearing heaven every day. Doubtless, too, we often think that a man is suc ceeding when he is in fact on the high road to everlasting ruin. Mere world ly “succeed," as it is called, is very short-lived, tend, to the vast majority of mankind, it would doubtless be in jurious. It is well that the Lord reigneth. —lt is said to be a fact that the additions to the churches are smaller during the year in which a presidential election is held than at other times. The inference is, that some people’s politics are paramount to their re ligion. This is a shame to Christians. Let this reproach be avoided in 1880. — Christian Advocate. The religious press is responsible for a good deal of this; whereupon we propose to all our exchanges to solidify. It is said that the South is “solid,” and also that the North is “solid.” Now we suggest that it would be well for all the Christians in the country—North, South, East and West—to become "solid,” and set their faces against all wrong, and against all that leads to wrong; making war against the com mon enemy, forbearing with one an other, and aiding one another in every good work, and all in the spirit of Jesus. When this solidification takes place, it will matter but little what the politics of the country may be. —The Presbyterian Banner (Pitts burgh, Pa.,) has the following : Why business is stagnant in the South, while it has revived in the North, is a query to many. The Richmond State explains this by pertinent reference to the Southern spirit of lepudiation, which makes capital shun investment in the States where finan cial dishonety i- most rampant. To this may be th general of per son as w r ' A- ■xfV V’s- which is believed in the North <(’ the South Many people in the South say that there is no good reasi n for this apprehension ; never theless, it is entertained by the great mass of Northern people, and that too from a pretty large aggregation of facts. The South owes it to itself to remedy this state of things as soon as possible, as it is rapidly making a "solid North.” Here is a work in which ministers and all public men in the South can and must take an active part, if that en tire section of country, capable of so much in the future, is not to be left behind farther than ever. It is the true friends of the Sou'll who warn it of the dangers to which it is exposing itself. To all which we have a few things to say in reply. 1. Business is reviving at the South. We must think that there are very few cities or towns in the United States in which improve ment is either more rapid or more steady than this city of Atlanta, in which we write. 2. Capital does not shun investment here. It is steadily coming into the State from the North I and elsewhere. Only a few days ago we saw a Northern gentleman, repre-1 senting a million anil a quarter, nego- j tiating for a purchase to that amount j in our State. 3. As to “financial dis- j honesty,” we have only to say that notwithstanding all the efforts of “re ligious,” and other papers, to break I down our credit for political purposes, | the six per cent, bonds of the State of ! Georgia are above par in Wall street, I and have been so for a long time. 4. As to "insecurity of person and proper-1 ty,” we confess that the situation is not j satisfactory, but we arc ready to com-I pare statistics with Pennsylvania, and if our record is not the better of the ; two, we shall be greatly surprised. 1 5. 11 is true, as the Banner says, that “the great mass of the Northern people believe” all the evil that is said of us. The reason of this is that they are mis led by “religious” and other papers. 6. As to the “large aggregation of facts,” the Banner well knows that ugly facts enough can be gathered in any city or State in the world, if skil fully manipulated, and with careful suppression of other facts of opposite nature, to make that city or State ap pear to be worse than Sodom itself. The Banner knows also that there are many industrious workers in this field, and that it is to the interest of many thousands of people in these United States to denounce and vilify the South. 7. We agree with the Banner that “the South owes it to itself to remedy this state of things as soon as possible.” For this reason we are try ing to improve our character by foster ing virtue at home, and trying to im prove our reputation by correcting such false and harmful impressions as the THE CHRISTIAN HERALD, of Tennessee. editorial of the Banner is calculated to make. —A lady who prays each Sabbath morn ing that she may that day have something suited to her either in the way of encourage ment or reproof, finds that she is never dis appointed. A woid in the Psalm, or prayer, or sermon, is sent her, and she goes home not only feeling that her prayer has been answered, but that she has been benefited by the services. How many Christians do just this way? How many families, in their Sabbath mornings’ devotions, and how many Christians, in their secret prayers, make it a special petition that the pastor may be blessed in his preaching, and that they may have spiritual profit from the exercises ? If there were more of this, there would be greater edification. United Presbyterian. Our observation is, that people gen erally get what they go for, when they go to church. At any rate, when they go to get’ good, they are sure to get it. Meat for Men.—No man who believes that he has a truth in hand feels any encour agement to present it to one whose mind is empty of all knowledge. The more knowl edge one has in any department, the more ready is he to comprehend and appreciate discoveries in that department. The enthu siastic inventor has his zeal dampened when he finds that he has been attempting io ex plain his wonderful invention to a man who is totally ignorant of the first principles of mechanics. To him who knows nothing of mathematics, or astronomy, or chemistry, what splendor is there in the discoveries of Faraday or Leverier? It is just so that want of knowledge in the hearer dampens the zealof the preacher. Paul was on the full stretch of an argument on the priesthood of Christ when he was suddenly arrested, in mid-career, by the recollection of the want of knowledge in those to whom he was writing. He stops to complain that they are dull of hearing, that when they should be feeding on meat, they are drinking milk; that when they should be teachers, they need to. be taught first principles, and when they should be men, they are babes. We modern and feeble followers of the apostles feel the same drawback. I admit that I believe there is much very inapt, crude, and stupid preach ing, bnt I insist that there is much more stupid hearing, and the failure of great effects in all preaching is not so mudb due to the f&lpit as 10 the pew. The man who preach es must know something, he must study, he must make some preparation. No man bnt a fanatic ever attempts to talk about that of which he is conscious of knowing nothing. But do you not undertake to listen to dis courses in departments of thought to which you have given no attention ? And do you not suppose that this is exceedingly discour aging to the pastor? If you endeavor to render your minds receptive, as he tries to render his impartive, would there not be better success in preaching ? Did you ever try to kindle a fire ? Do you remember that it was not so easy to make green wood burn as it was to kindle dry wood? An ignorant hearer in the church is like a wet log on the fire that simmers, and sobs, and frets through a very long process before it becomes dry enough to kindle. There is a contest be tween the log and the fire whether the fire shall kindle the log or the log shall extin guish the fire. Just so it is when an earnest preacher has to deal with an ignorant con- i gregation. And indeed it may not be a con gregation ignorant of art, and science, and literature, and politics, and business. It may be greatly learned in all of these things, and yet ignorant of spiritual things. It is I all the more painful when this ignorance of, the highest things is found with learning in the lower departments. There must be i some fountain of spiritual knowledge. The ■ oracles of God are the only sources of that knowledge. For physical science the ma terinl universe is the field ; for mental science the intellectual constitution of man'; for spiritual science the mind of the Spirit in the word of God. And all these several de partments are perfectly harmonious. Now, just as there is a progressive system in any other department of knowledge, in nature and mind, by which we can ascend from simple facts to their complex connec tions, and from these connections to generali zations which we call laws, so there is a progressive system of truth in the Bible. Religious knowledge must be progressive. We ought to know more than our fathers. And this does not necessitate the making of a new revelation. A book written on geology a quarter of a century ago is abso lutely worthless now except as a mile stone far behind to show the progress of later investi gations. So of chemistry, botany and as tronomy. Yet these do not necessitate the idea of fresh creations. The affinities, the plants, the rocks, lhe atoms, the stones, are the same as they have been for thousands of years; but our acquirements in the know!- i edge of all these is perpetually enlarging. The records of God's mind in the Bible need no addition or appendix, yet the workers in this field will expand the area of religious knowledge as long as the Bible anil the hu man mind co-exist in the universe, just as astronomy will extend its domain so long ns the mind of man co exists with God's multitu Whole No. 2392 dinous stars. There is just as much a science of supernature as there is a science of naturo but it is absurd to complain that the Bible is not written scientifically, in an orderly body of dogmatic theology, as to complain that the book of nature was not written scien tifically, that is, all the plants arranged in growth, in parterres, and in strips like rib bons, and all the animals set along as they are arranged in the great cabinets of natural history. No, let God be praised forever that he did not make this world after the stiff pattern of a Dutch garden, but flung the beautiful all about, giving man’s mind the capability of educing the scientific system from this apparently promiscuous prodigality of God’s creation. Just so he made the Bi ble, history and prophecy, and song and drama and letters. There is a string of truth on whicn they are strung, a principle moving through them all. It is our business to dis cover that principle, and not content our selves with being amused at the phenomena of individual truths, and not destroy our intellecual symmetry and equipoise by inces sant devotion to a truth separated from all its connections. — Rev. Dr. Deems, in Sunday Magazine. —We have received a large number of abusive letters in our time—what editor has not?— lnterior. Well, the editor of The Index has never yet received an abusive letter, but perhaps that is because he has been in office so short a time—only a year. —ln a certain district in Western New York objection is being made to the re-elec tion of a very worthy member of the legis lature, becaused it is charged that while at Albany last winter he “wasted his .time in Sunday-school work.” Whereupon the can didatein question replies, that he did spend his Sundays at the State capitol in labors connected with Sunday-school interests, and furthermore he expects to spepd his Sundays next winter in precisely the same way, whether he is elected to the legislature or not. This statement gives his political op ponents a fine opportunity to cry out: “Hear him! hear him! He says he will do it again,”—and we hope he will. The number of public servants who evince this hanker ing for Sunday-school dissipation is on the increase, and in view of the general bent of human nature it does not seem strange that some are found to object. We hardly ex pi it would come from Western Ji iw York. We clip the above from The Sun day-School Times with the remark that if the legislator spoken of bad attend ed a horse-race,or had been a frequenter of theatres and drinking shops, and given to profanity and other vices, it is probable that not a word of censure would have been uttered. Shall They be Cut Off?— lt is some times a difficult matter to decide whether a delinquent Church member should be cut off or borne with longer. The conscientious pastor may be helped by this suggestion: As long as there is manifest a desire to flee from the wrath to come and lead a new lite, forbearance may be exercised. When it is manifest that no such desire exists, the place of such delinquent is outside. No soul should be given up upon whom the Church has the least hold, but the church must free itself from responsibility for such as drag its sacred name down into the dust to be the scorn of wicked men. The pastor who cuts off' a soul which, though erring, is still struggling for the new life, makes a sad mis take. The pastor who, from any motive of fear, or carnal policy, fails to protect the visible church of Christ from the damage done by impenitent and incorrigible trans- I gressors of her laws, commits a blunder equally fatal. The principle embodied in what is I said in the above extract from the Christian Advocate (Nashville) is cor -1 n et, bnt in its application there may I be many embarrassments. Mere de ! linquents may be borne with for a time, longer or shorter, according to circumstances, but in cases of gross immorality the offender should be promptly cut off from the fellowship of a church, even if he professes re pentance. Otherwise the most atro cious crime might be committed with impunity. It takes time to convince the world, and it ought to take time to convince the church, that a profession of penitence is genuine, and that time is better spent by the offender out of the church than in it. Short but good is the following from The Central Baptist: Children would be miserable and disobe dient, if they regarded their parents only as rulers. Why should Christians bury every thought of God in the idea that He is only to be obeyed and feared? Why not view him as | one who provides for and protects all His , children? In Him they may trust, and I with Him thert is safety. Murfreesboro, Tenn., ships cedar I saw-dust North, where it is converted | into paper.