Newspaper Page Text
AI \ ,
I he Christian Index.
iuijgMFS*'* 1 ■ —JiJF'-ui Mo.-es g a ——h : / ■
VOL. 59.
Table of Contents.
First Paee—Alabama Department: Condi
tions of Siiccetsful Authorship; What is
Persm al Faiib; Is it Preaching? The
Religious Press.
Second Page—Correspondence: Jottings By
the Way ; Three Motions; A Well Ordered
Church’; Programme of Sunday-school
Convention. Bethel Association ; ‘ Mercer
Men i» Texas’’—J. E. Willet; From the
Seminary at Louisville ; Missions; Death
of Baiton Scott ; A Word to tbeChurches
in Georgia; Things Which a Minister
Can’t Do; The Sunday-school Lesson for
January 30th—Simeon and the child Je
sus; < andor of Judgment.
Third Page—Children’s Corner: Character
Building—po-trv; Jack’s New Year's
Find ; Neglected Children.
Fourth Page—Editorials: What Kind of
Men were the Applies; Inter-Biblical
History ; A Remarkable Mortuary Report;
Sunday-school Letson—Dr. Tucker.
Fifth Page—Secular Editorials : News Para
grrnlis; Communism in America; The
Revi»ed English Bible ; New Books;‘‘Boy
cotting;'’ Georgia News.
Sixth Pa e— Household: A Psalm for New
Year’s Eve—poetry ; Sunday Afternoons;
Miscellaneous; Obituaries, etc.
Seventh Page—Farmers’ Index : To Start an
Orchard Cheaply; Checking Cotton ; Im
proved Seeds; Climate—Localizing Effect
on Agriculture.
Eighth Page—Florida Department: Sayings
and Doings; Alachua Association ; A
Letter of Greeting; Historiacal Sketch—
Leesburg Church ; Florida News.
Alabama Department.
BY HAMUKL HENDERSON.
CONDITIONS OF SUCCESSFUL
AUTHORSHIP.
f
When a writer of books presumes
to address that august tribunal, a trib
unal that figures so largely in Prefaces,
Dedications, and Introductions, a trib
unal that inspires such profound re
verence that no one dares to approach
it otherwise than cap in band,
yclept “a reading public,” there must
be certain conditions in what be offers
quite essential to success. The mere
time and mechanical labor it costs him
to prepare his matter for the press is
a small thing, in which the “reading
public” is about as much interested as
in the costume of au eastern bride.
When the Rev. Dan. Taylor finished
and published his book on Romans,
he waited on Robert Hall, and asked
him in great earnestness, if he (Hall)
had read bis book? Mr. Hall answered
that he bad “looked over it a little.”
“Why,” said Mr. Taylor, “is it possible,
Mr. Hall, that yon treat a book of an
old friend that way, that has cost him
twenty years earnest study?” “O, sir,”
said Mr. Hall, “when a man sets out
to prove a certain thing in an elaborate
treatise, and states the sum wrong, one
has not the time to follow him through
all the processes by which he reaches
the answer. You stated the sum wrong,
Mr. Taylor—you stated the sum
wrong.”
When a man perpetrates authorship,
with any well grounded hope of se
curing the public ear, he must
Ist. Have something to say—some
thing that nobody else has said, at
least in the way he says it—and some
thing, too, that will strike out fresh
lines of thought, either in speculative
or practical knowledge. Platitudes
which have been worn threadbare for
years, will only serve to consign his
book to that dead sea, oblivion, where
ninety-nine hundreths of the books of
this age will soon be engulfed. That
"reading public” of which we have
spoken, is not unlike some city belle,
with a hundred suitors—it has grown
quite coquettish. And then it is about
as heartless. On some writers it throws
a momentary smile—with some it
fondles in freakish carelessness —and
on some, perhaps one in a thousand, it
bestows the full measure of its pat
ronage. The book that has something
in it the world cannot do without, docs
not need the crutches, stilts, and stays
of criticism, of annotations, foot-notes,
and the like, to give it currency. Much
of this kind of “learned lumber” has
been foisted upon the world to hook
on some tenth-rate aspirant for immor
ality to some great name, content to
walk in the mere shadow of his hero.
His notes, comments, criticisms, etc.
may be obscure enough to gratify the
vanity of the famous "Duns Scottis,"
(hence our English word“dunce”) and
may even serve to obscure an occasion
al passage of his author by “various
readings;” but then, he has succeeded
in getting his name before the public
for the moment, and is content to be
kicked out of company in the very
next edition of the work. An author
who has something to say, and says it
well, has no need of that immense
tribe of “penny-a-liners” who touch
only to obecuie.
2nd. A successful author must be
characterized by an integrity to truth,
an integrity that is proof alike against
the seductions of flattery or the carp
ings of enmity. The writer who lives
in history, must never dip his pen
either in honey or in gall. True genius
is always characterized by a transparent
simplicity and candor that dares to see
a virtue in an enemy as well, as a fault
in a friend. If his productions are sub’
jective as we say, self-evolved, he must
be true to his convictions, for no reader
need to be long in determining this
quality in his style. Earnest convictions
of truth will assert themselves in a
manner to impress like convictions in
the minds of readers. Or if his produc
tions are objective, history for instance,
he must ‘naught extenuate, nor set
down aught in malice.” Tlie historian
or biographer may tell the truth and
yet convey a falsehood. He may so
group facts, which in themselves and
by themselves are true, and so shade
them, as to convey to the minds of
others “the thing that is not.” Or he
may be guilty of the "suppressio veri,"
just at the point where the true im
pression ought to be conveyed, and thus
perpetrate a base slander.
3rd. Breadth of intellect—the power
to grasp a subject in all its relations—
is an essential quality for an author
who expects his productions to live be
yond his generation. There are not
a few authors who write well, but who
are sadly deficient in this respect. They
seem to be capable of seeing but one
side of a question ; and they experi
ence the fate of him to whom Job re
fers, when he says “He that appear
eth first in his own cause seemeth just,
but his neighbor cometh and searcheth
him.” We occasionally encounter men
as well as books of so vast a depth and
compass of information, that when we
venture to contest some point with
them, we discover that they have
thought out our side of the question
far more thoroughly than we have done
and they dispose of our arguments with
an ease and force that makes us feel
quite blank. We sometimes, at long
intervals, read a book, which, when we
lay it down,leaves us with the conviction
that the subject or subjects it discusses
are settled, and we never think of
opening these subjects again. We have
so thoroughly appiopriated the matter,
the method, the arguments, the illust
rations, etc., that they all become ours
aimbst as much so as if we had written
the book. Indeed, we are left to won
der why we had never seen the whole
matter in that light before. This is
a good criterion by which to judge of
a good sermon as wellas of a good book.
That is a rare capacity which can pre
sent truth just in that form in which
it will take root in every mind with
which it is brought in contact.
4th. Condensation i a. most ewerf
tial element of good authorship. It
requires some wisdom to know just
how much to say, and how much the
reader can supply. We have read not
a few authors who, to use a homely
illustration, never gave the readers the
credit of having any teeth. They
masticate every thing so thoroughly
that w’e have only to swallow what they
offer us. A book that gives the mind
no employment, that strikes out no
lines of profitable thought, that leaves
us just about where it found us, is as if
a teacher should do all the recitations
for his pupils. Such books are, as Lord
Bacon expresses it, “like common
distilled water, flashy things.” To use
the language of the same great author,
“some books are to be tasted, others to be
swallowed, and some few to be chewed
and digested, that is, some books are
to be read only in parts; others to be
read, but not curiously ; and some few
to be read wholly, and with diligence
and attention.” We suppose that a
sensible man who had a library of a
thousand volumes, unless they were
selected with more than common care,
could count on his fingers the number
of authors who would fall in the last
category, that is, such as it will do to
read “with diligence and attention.”
It is interesting to observe, as one grows
older if not wiser, how few and select
are the authors whom he chooses to
occupy his hours of study.
Finally, perspicuity of style is of
great consequence to first-class of
authorship. A great critic has said
that no author has succeeded better in
saying just what he meant to say, no
more and no less, than good John Bun
yan. With the exception of a few ob
solete words and phrases, a child of ten
years old can understand every word
he uses, and yet the magic of his genius
enchains the rapt attention of the
most gifted and cultivated. There
is also a species of involved style—a
style in which one sentence is half
concealed in another, and that in a
third, and so on indefinitely—and the
whole is lost in such a multitude of
words, that it takes as much time for
the reader to fish out the meaning of
an author in a given paragraph, as it
took the author to write it. Now, the
average reader has not the time for so
1 bootless a task and he is apt to consign
1 the volume to the obscurity in which
it is written. Then there are others
so stilted, so florid, so abounding in
“jaw-breakers,” that a common reader
must Itavc a dictionary at his elbow to
consult at every turn of a page. In
this cose, ho is apt to adjourn the read
ing of that book to the middle of the
next century. How hard it is for some
THE FRANKLIN STEAM PRINTING HOUSE.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 1881.
writers to realize that obscurity is not
profundity! True learning and acurate
thinking always make things plain.
Pedantry and sciolism are apt to obscure
whatever they touch. Old Ricbanf
Baxter used to say, “It takes all our
learning to make things plain.” And
let us add, that the learning that fails
to do this, is not worth acquiring.
WHAT IS PERSONAL FAITHf
Some one has defined faith to be “the
assent of the mind to an intelligent
proposition.” This, with proper restric
tions, is true. Confined to the facts, doc
trines and duties taught in the word of
God, the definition will hold —extended
to the “mystery of Godliness,” the
“deep things of God,” the Trinity, for
instance—things, we mean, which in
finitely transcend human intelligence
—it is defective. The definition we
would give to faith would be about this :
The credit wq give to a divine utter
ance, simply and solely because it is
divine. This is the element in Abra
ham’s faith that gives it such currency
with God and man: "Abraham be
lieved God, and it was counted to him
for righteousness.”
But we are not going to write a
treatise on faith. Our purpose at pres
ent is limited. To get at this purpose,
let us ask this question: “Can any
man be said, in the proper sense of that
term, to believe a doctrine, however
true it may be, who has never, by per
sonal investigation, verified it for him
self?” Or this : “Can any thing be true
to him, or be a part of his living creed,
which he has never intelligently appre
hended?” Must he not assimilate, in a
sense, whatever shall enter it; to his
Christian life and practice? Perhaps
the reader will think tnat our questions
are answered in the terms in which
they are proposed. Well, that is
about the purpose of asking them.
What has the faith of the nearest and
dearest friend or kinsman on earth to
do with your faith? What good will
the faith of the whole redeemed throng
in glory do you, if the truth that ma
tured their piety is a sealed book to you?
God’s word is a vast store-house of
spiritual food. But, then, it must be
received, or appropriated, like our
natural food, before it can impart life,
and health, and strength to the soul.
No matter how true, or how important,
a doctrine may be in God’s word, if you,
reader, do not appropriate it, if you do
hot make it yours Ly a kin-4 of spiritual
assimilation, it will exert no more in
fluence upon you than a proposition
in “Euclid’s Elements,” of which you
you are totally ignorant. “Os his own
will begat he us by the word of truth.”
But how? By “receiving that truth
in good and honest hearts.” “Sanctify
them through the truth ; thy word is
truth.” But how sanctify them? By
placing that Holy Bible on your shelf
to be taken down only when your pas
tor comes to pray in your family? No;
but by searching its pages, by bringing
your mind and heart in daily contact
with its truths, until they are “written
upon fleshy tablets of the heart,” and
become a reigning power there, regulat
ing all the ends, aims and purposes of
life, and disposing you to every good
word and work. Can any man ever
claim the benefit of a principle that
never actuates him?' Can a principle
either of doctrine or duty ever actuate
him, that has never been intelligently
received? What if your creed is in the
Bible—what if, as you profess, its sub
stance has been condensed and put
upon your church book—have you
made it yours by a clear, distinct, cor
dial apprehension of its contents? Your
creed, dear reader, is just as large, and
no larger than the doctrines and pre
cepts you have intelligently accepted
and habitually exemplified in your
daily life. This may cut down your
creed to a very meagre size, but it is all
that you can fairly claim. The demon
stration of an algebraic equation on a
black board is all Greek to the man
who does not know the alphabet of
algebra—the sublime doctrines of grace
that nourish the faith and piety of an
intelligent, matured Christian, may be
more than Greek to him who is as
much of a babe at the fortieth year of
his professedly Christian life as he was
at the beginning.
Christians—thriving Christians—are
represented as being “rooted and
grounded in the faith," the truths of
the gospel. Every tree has a “tap-root”
mainly to keep it steady in a storm, as
well as "lateral roots” to gather nour
ishment from the soil. Even so, (we
hope we are not fanciful,) faith sends
its tap-root into Him who is the foun
tain of life, and its lateral roots into
those vast “treasures of wisdom and
knowledge,” the oracles of God, where
by he "may bo perfect, thoroughly
furnished unto every good work.” But
this is the reward of industry and per
severance. He is “like a tree planted
by the rivers of waterbut he is more
than a tree. He is a living, active
“worker together with God.” So that
if he would grow in grace, and in the
knowledge es Jesus Christ, he must
"receive with meekness the engrafted
word of truth” in adequate measure.
We are persuaded that the sickly,
immatyje, dwarfed Christianity of our
age is in great part the result of allow
ing family and social influences, and
purely worldly motives, to influence us
in the decision of the vital question as
to our religious connections, instead of
the word qf God. What moral right
has any being on earth, from the parent
down through the whole scale of kin
dred or friendship, to obtrude into that
sacred ground between the conscience
of the man and his God? Advices
that fail to recognize the holy Scrip
tures as the last and highest standard
of appeal, are both unauthorized and
may be fraught with consequences the
most direful. It has often occurred,
and we have known instances of the
kind, that, when the conscience of some
believer becomes agitated upon some
question of Christian doctrine or duty,
his spiritual adviser is at vast pains to
quiet his anxieties by persuading him
that the point in question is of no con
sequence! An infant is sprinkled, say ;
that infant reaches manhood ; he reads
in the word of God that repentance and
faith alway| precede baptism ; and he
desires to 'obey this form of sound
words—" hen troops of friends gather
around him to do what? Why, to in
duce him to believe that an act done
?n him in unconscious infancy, and of
which he can never have any more
personal conviction than if it never had
been done, is to him “the answer of a
good conscience!” As if the conscience
could have any jurisdiction over an act
done bcfhre it existed I
IS IT PREA CHINGf
There is a style of preachers—and
no doubt the reader has encountered
them occasionally—who bestow little
thought upon their sermons, and who,
beyond their few introductory remarks,
seem to huti no more idea what they
are going to say, or what they are aim
ing at, tftla • the profoundest “sleeper”
in the “amen corner.” They often set
off well, and for ten or fifteen minutes
they are edifying—that is, so far as
they have studied their subject they
are entertaining. But then, having
gone through with what they know,
they seem to conclude that it will not
do to stop there. A sermon of ten
or fifteen .mites’ length, they sup
irieoH’to their con
gregation* .h'ey, th&vfore, strike off
at random, get up a full head of steam
and abandon themselves to the im
pulses of (he moment, without any
idea as to jvhere they will drift. Os
course none of our readers belong to
this class, for they are generally men
who never take religious newspapers,
and who denounce “book learning” as
a monstrous absurdity and heresy. But
if we could get the attention of such
an one, we would venture to offer a
suggestion which an old minister once
did to a young minister in our hearing.
He advised his young brother always
to have a good thought to begin with,
and a good thought to end with. A
good beginning and a good ending
would at least be some indemnity to a
congregation for their time and atten
tion.
Apropos of this style of preaching,
we once heard a harangue of over an
hour and a half, we suppose, in which,
in the very midst of the speaker’s most
intense excitement, he “lost the thread
of his discourse,” (if it ever had any
thread,) and threw the full volume of
his voice into the ‘ gospel key,” and
drawled out a whole “bar” of “demi
semi-quavers,” without uttering one
word. That is the only passage in the
sermon that we remember. As Dean
Swift once said, in caricaturing the old
Puritans, much of the effect of this
kind of preaching depends upon its
coming through the nose. In the style
of preaching known as the“voz etpric
terea nihil," (a. voice and nothing more),
the nasal twang is singularly eupho
nious. Its dulcet tones fall upon a
congregation like a shower of sopc rifles.
Rev. W. Wilks.—We understand
this brother has been called to the pas
toral care of Hephzibah and Pleasant
Grove Baptist churches for this year,
and that he has accepted and entered
on the work. They were, heretofore,
under charge of our brother, Rev. T. P.
Gwinn, of Oxford, who succeeds the
late Rev. S. G. Jenkins in his two
churches, Antioch and Cold Water.
Rev. W. 8. Griffin.—This brother
has been called to and accepted the pas
torate of the Baptist church, Mt. Zion,
i at Alexandria, Calhoun county, Ala.,
. a church, by the way, to which we have
been preaching for the last ten years.
Our relations have been so ]Jeasant
there that we shall visit them often for
the next year.
The National Baptist is on the lookout for
information it will scarcely be able to find.
It. wants some skeptic to show us “a group
of islands that have been redeemed under
tbe influence of unbelieving culture.
J THE CHRISTIAN HERALD,
( of Tennessee.
The Religious Press.
One of our valued exchanges pub
lished not in this latitude has the fol
lowing :
Regarding educ'tion in the South, snob
an item as the following serves not only to
encourage us with hope but to convince ns
of the unparalle ed needs of the hour. In
Sou’h Carolina statistics indicate that in
three years, owing to efforts put forth, there
has been this three fold-increase, • viz :
schools, 400; teachers. 407; pupils, 31 67ti
That, such an enlargement as tins is po-stble
speaks something of praise, but much more
01 blame. Wby lias so large a population so
long been neglected? Is tiieie any reason
why there should not have been as inanv
schools, teachers and students long ago? jt
is high time, for the reputation as well as
the improvement of the state that there be a
change.
Tiiis reminds us of a little anecdote.
A man once went to another and sa d
“Good morning, Mr. C. My wife sends
you her compliments, to which I beg
to add my own, and we both request
tiie pleasure of your company at our
bouse to meet some friends on Thurs
day evening to tea. Shall we expect
you?”
Mr. C. answered rather gruffly,
“Yes, I’ll come, but I’d like to know
what’s the reason you have not invited
me before!”
One thing we are glad of, and that
is that when we repent of our evil ways
and abandon the n, a merciful God will
not upbraid us with the past. What a
comfort that is to us bruised reeds!
The Christian World propounds this que
ry: “Is it consistent? What? Why, for
Mr. Sniffens, a somewhat prominent mem
ber of tbe church, to decline taking his
church paper on the ground that he ‘has
renewed his subscription to a fl <sby weekly
in order to get the conclusion of a tale in
which blood, border slang, and fast ways
are worked into a mess suited to the de
praved tastes of its patrons.’ And yet tills
man issurprised when, bis cbildren'exhibit
a marked distaste for the Bible, and an
aversion to all that is pure, modest and rev
erential.”
. The Sort of Man to Re elect —lt is sta
ted that a Northern friend of Hon. J. Ran
dolph Tucker, of Virginia, sent him, during
the late Congressional campaign, a check for
$2 500 to help him carry his election. Mr.
Tucker sent it back stating that he could not
employ this method in his candidacy.
Sorely does the country need more Tuckers.
We copy the above partly to give
honor to whom honor is due and part
ly in the hope that the noble example
set may incite others to do likewise.
We take the more pleasure in this be
cause the distinguished gentleman’s
name happens to be ts e same as qur
o»;n, and because h, vnay perhaps be,
and probably i«, a lletii oousin.”
Professor Gulliver, of Tidover Seminary,
set himself squarely against the tendencies
of tbe times, when fie said in a late speech
tiiat the need of tbe day is “more doctrine,
more Puritanism, and longer sermons.”
We are not in sympathy with what
is called Puritanism, but more sound
doctrine, and more carefully prepared
sermons in place of thoughtless har
angues would do us good. There is
great call also for a more rigid observ
ance of the strict regime of the New
Testament than is common among us.
The Puritans were extremists; it is
scarcely an exaggeration to say, that
we also are extremists—extremists in
the opposite direction. We oppose all
extremes, but if we must choose be
tween these two, we prefer the Puritan.
Having thus defined our position we
may now say with Professor Gulliver
that “we need more Puritanism.”
Back from Kansas. —A Dallas correspond
ent of tlie Galveston News says : “Five
families of negroes, crowded in three wagons,
passed through here yesterday, en route to
ibeir former homes in Robertson county,
from Kansas, where they emigrated last fall
during tbe Kansas fever. They were a
wretched, poverty-stricken set. Thirty
eight went to Kansas in tin's gang and only
twenty-seven returned, the others having
died there of disease superinduced by expos
ure and hunger.”
Perhaps these were exceptional cases.
It may be that others who have gone
to Kansas have done better.
Two Classes.—Two classes of people every
pastor is sure to meet. Tbe first is made up
of chronic grumblers, finding fault with
every person and every thing. They do not
“like” the pastor, but tbe pastor may find
comfort in asking himself whether there
could be any comfort in being a person such
as these people would like. It would involve
a change of character and action that would
ferment all the hone.', not only of a commu
nity, but of the church itself, into vinegar.
God help any man from conformity to such
people.
There is. however, another better class of
church officers and members, generally the
modest ami efficient in a congregation, who
shield their minister be ore the people, but
make suggestions to hint, for the good of the
cause ol Christ. To such people, pastors, if
sensible themselves, usually listen,—Mes
senger.
The majority of people do not have any
opinions. Tliey have simply notions, im
pressions, sentiments, feelings; tliey have
prejudices, a desire to lee this tiling prevail,
or that. But bow many men are then thut,
concerning any great problems of tbe world,
have earned tlie right to say that tliey have
an opinion ? How many men are there tiiat
have studied the question, that have weighed
opposing claims and probabilities and testi
mony, so that their opinion is worth tbe
breath it takes to utter it? There are
thousands of people who are like looking
glasses ; they have a shadow of whatever
happens to be standing before them. They
have an opinion so long as they are talking
with some positive person who believes
something, but let that person go away,
and it is ready for another track.— M. J.
Savage.
Yes, some are like mirrors, just as is
above stated. Others are like a photo
graph plate. Somebody throws a shad
ow on it and there it remains; but,
unlike the photograph plate, the shad
ows on these minds.is ineffaceable.
They get a notion from somebody in
their youth, and it goes with them
through life.
A Judge's Opinion of a Jury. —A judge
had to sentence a prisoner, at Danville, Vit,
a few days ago. to prison for eighteen yeais
for murder, the jury making a “compromise
verdict.” The judge informed the defend
ant tiiat the sentence was due to the “moral
cowardice of twelve men.” Telling him
that be believed him guilty, thejudgeadded:
‘ You should rejoice and praise God tiiat you
fell into tbe bands of, and tried by, a jury of
your peers.”
And lest the exquisitely fine point of
the judge be lost on some, we explain
that what he meant to say was, that
the man was a murderer, and that the
jurors who compromised on the peni
tentiary, when he ought to have been
hanged, were no better than he.
An entertaining writer in The Watch
man gives us the following:
A short time ago the notorious John
Kelly, of New York, came to Boston to lec
ture for a Roman Catholic charity. It was
simply and purely a sectarian matter. It had
no public interest nor significance whatever.
But it seems as if the city of Boston had been
made chargeable with his expenses while
here. He came at the bidding of Catholics,
be lectured to, and for, Catfiolics, but tbe
Romanists have always had a queer way of
having their bills paid, their schools sn; port
ed, and their expenses met bv tbe public, in
a manner unknown to other denominations.
So we are not surprised to find thst the may
or approved the bill of Mr. Parker to the
amount of $44 10 for “refreshments on occa
sion of the visit of the Comptroller and
friends of New York.” For a great city like
Boston, that can support 3 OUO grog shops,
licensed and unlicensed, this is but a small
sum to throw away on a man who comes
from New York to lecture in Boston Theatre
for ihe benefit of a Catholic charity. But it
shows us what Rome will do if she ever gets
permission or opportunity to thrust her
hand into the public treasury. .If a Baptist
had come from New York to lecture for a
Baptist charity, and such a charge should be
presented to the city for approval, it would
meet the honest indignation of the whole
people. But how quiet the press is about
this case ! The next tiling will be tbe public
entertainment, at the expense of the people,
of some Catholic Bishop. The encroach
ments of Rome cannot be guarded against
too carefully. “Small thing to niske a fuss
about,” says the reader,—“only $44 10,” —
but the principle is the same as it it bad
been forty-four millions, “Only a little
straw 1”
(And again he says:
Leo XIII. has made a “Marqn'articnlarflP, z
M'/irphy, a plain citizen of Sa asbury,
A bat can the niuu d-j s|tb
age in this country ? Iv is moitMMHHEo
handle it than to manage the
LL. D , or any of the co. lege hono.-m^.Uen
Marquis Murphy ap|M>ars with tbe emblems
I of his new rank, be may well remind the
beholders of the story of anew recruit who
was asked by a war worn Austrian officer,
"What decoration is that you are wearing?”
and was obliged to answer, "It is a medal
our cow won at acattle-show.” Titles given
by the Roman Pontiff to American citizens
are of equal value with “the medal our cow
won at the cattle-show.”
Tbe Pittsburg Advocate seems to have a
genius for asking questions. For example:
Why does the force, or whatever it is, of ev
olution stop its upward work at man? Why
does it not advance to new and improved
forms instead of calling a halt and stopping
with what it has already wrought?
The reason alleged in China why the Chi
nese become Christians on reading the Bible
is, th ‘t the ink used has a power to stupefy
the reader and take away his reason, and so
.make him ready to believe false doctrine.
The people are warned against buying or
reading foreign books. Tlie missionaries
are suspected of desiring to kidnap Chinese
children to sell them. That, or s imetning
like it. might be expected. Tlie devil is ever
ready to challenge or explain away tlie pow
er of tlie truth, and as usual, things more
incredible than the truth are resorted to. —
Messenger.
'Die best friends of pastors are those who
take and read and pay for their Church pa
pers. And if pastors realized what an ally
they have in the religious press, they would
not be indifferent upon the subject. The
Christian World suggested a yearortwo ago,
tiiat there should be a department in every
theological seminary, which should teach
candidates their duty in this regard. The
i thought was a good one. To refer again to
I our Methodist brethren ; one reason why
they are so prompt and active in this mat
ter is, that their [residing elders and bishops
question them crosely upon that point at
every Conference. They are asked about
tiiis just as they are asked about pastoral
I visiting.—Messenger.
If all the Baptist pastors in Georgia
were to make the effort, they could
double the number of subscribers for
The Index in a few weeks; then what
a paper we should have I
An exchange says: "It is given as one of
the happy illustrations of State legislation
that while one law in Maine requires every
medical student to practice dissection before
’ receiving his degree, another taw forbids the
dissection of any bodies except those of ex
ecuted criminals, and still a third law abol
ishes capital punishment! To obey or diso
bey— which?
The First Baptist church of Providence at
1 I the last Christmas departed from tlie pre—
1' vailing custom in a commendable manner.
Instead of having n festival for the Sunday
school children, the officers collected tbe
money for the entertainment, ns usual,
then apportioned it among tlie classes, ana
1 each class carried a supply of Christmas
. stores to some suffering family.
The reason men succeed who “mind
i their own btisinesi” is because there is so
little competition in that line.
NO. £.
