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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. £.