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HF.NRY H. TUCKER, Kdltor
A LINGUISTIC BLESSING.
Bless God for the English language!
There are few things for which we have
more cause to be grateful than
for this glorious heritage from
our fathers. Whatever its defects
may be, there is no language
like it. For exactness and for
fulness, for terseness, clearness, beauty
and force, it has no equal. What can
not be expressed in English cannot be
expressed at all. Its very resonance is
expressive; as occasion may require
now soft and musical, now murmuring
and monotonous, now harsh and terri
fic. It warbles like a canary, it coos
like a dove, it screams like an eagle, it
roars like a lion, it bellows like a bull
of Baslian. In delicate sentiment it
sighs like the zephyr; in rousing ap
peal its crash is like that of an ocean
billow on a great rock. In its pettish
moods it jerks out though' with a snap ;
in dallianee it has languishes like a
lover; in devotion, its whisper is likJ
that of a huge organ which jars the
walls and chills the blood; its sublimar
peals are like thunder set to music.
What a blessing to have the go<pel
preached to us in a language of such
capabilities! The utterances of other
tongues throw but a feeble ray on
truth: English flashes like a Drum
mond-light. The grand doctrines of
the New Testament find grand expres
sions in a tongue which it took the hu
man race more than five thousand years
to produce, and which is the grandest
thing it ever did produce. The gospel
in English and the gospel, in French
are the same in substance, but not the
same in effect upon the human under
standing or on human feeling.
All peoples speak a language which
is the product of their own genius,
combined with the force of surround
ing circumstances. Our ancestors,
equal to any in genius, were aided by
circumstances peculiarly adapted to
develop a tongue of power. Two
mighty streams with their tributaries
rushed together, and now in one vol
ume roll in in majesty together.
It drained a continent; the icy re
gions of Northern Europe, the milder
zone of the Mediterranean shores, and
the regions of the Euxine and the
Caspian were all laid under tribute.
There has never been such a combina
tion of intellectual forces, such a result
of genius, not added to genius, but of
genius multiplied by genius. In the
strife of tongues the weaker elements
of all disappeared, and in the survival
of the fittest, we have none but the
immortal words that hold their own by
the right of conquest. Admit all that
can be said against our tongue,—it
can afford to make admissions—and
after all, it has no rival. Admit that
it has no grammar, and that it is em
pirical and arbitrary; yet there is a
higher law, indefinable perhaps by us,
from whose operation springs its ver
satility, its beauty and its force. The
grammar-bound languages are like
the waters of a canal, which flow tame
ly between walls built by the engineer;
but English meanders wantonly like a
brook, or dashes from crag to crag like
a mountain torrent, or plunges head
long like Niagara, or gehtly winding
in vast curves rolls on like a flood.
Law controls it, as it does everything;
but not the mere law of linguistic me
chanism. Men unaided could never
have produced it; the providence of
God brought elements together from
which it is the resultant.
The sun never sets on its domain ;
on the sea it is supreme, the islands
one by one surrender; it has captured
continents, Occident and orient; and
is extending its sceptre over the world.
No tongue ever spoken by man has
done so much to remedy the disaster
at Babel. What a future lies before it!
What will it not have accomplished in
a few more centuries! It is the young
est of the civilized languages—the ba-
by-language; it is but just out of its
cradle, but with what energy it has as
serted itself! How it has outstripped
the spoken tongues that wereo'd when
it was born!
What calamity more appaling could
befal the English-speaking people, than
to be deprived of their language, and
be forced to adopt in its stead the
speech of rude barbarians! What
could we do with a wretched vocabula
ry of a few hundred gutturals? To
say nothing of the language of science,
admitting that we could do without
such words as angle, arc, circle, degree,
sine, and co sine, abstract, concrete,
affinity,objective, subjective, analysis,per
ception, genus and species, and others
of like character, how could we live
without the language of the affections,
without such words as meekness, gen
tleness, goodness, forgiveness, forbear
ance, patience, purity, generosity, love f
What would become of our prayers if
we had no such words as grace, mercy,
holiness f Above all howcould we endure
life with no word answering to the word
God J How hard it must be to convey
to the heathen mind, either the senti
ment of the Gospel, or its doctrines or
its morals, when their language affords
no medium of communication. If
forced ourselves to speak such a lan
guage, oar minds, in a few generations,
would shrink to its wretched dimen-
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX AND SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST: THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1881.
sions, and we should degenerate into
savages.
On th? other hand what more sub
lime benefaction could be conferred on
a miserable barbaric race, than to cut
out its foul and contemptible tongue,
and to substitute in its place for all
time, the copious, expressive language
of Webster and Worcester, in which
Bunyan wrote, and Shakespeare, and
Milton, and Macaulay, and in which
our Bible is written! Just this bene
faction has been conferred by the prov
dence of God on six milliomi of the
rudest tribes on the Western coast of
Africa. Tme, they were transported
across the seas, but they came to a
healthier clime. They were not de
prived of liberty, for liberty they never
had. They merely changed masters,
taking civilized for uncivilized. And
now they have become joint-heirs with
us of the English language, with all
its wealth, and beauty and refinement,
and developing power; joint-heirs too
of all the treasures, priceless and
matchless, embodied in its literature.
Even if they had been reduced to
bondage for this purpose, would they
not have received infinitely more in
the blessing, than the price they paid
4or it? It was tl.e wrath of man that
enslaved them in the first place; it
was the cupidity of New England that
brought them to our shores, and it fell
to the lot of their late masters, to give
them the English language, and with
it, (God be praised), the religion of
Jesus!
Let no one be alarmed ; we are not
makingan argument in favor of slavery,
we are simply gazing at a gigantic fact.
Whatever may have been the right or
the wrong of slavery, whatever may
have been the merit or the demerit of
any who were connected with it—di
rectly or otherwise —the fact is that
those who would have been jabbering
the gibberish of savages in Africa with
its belittling and soul-destroying influ
ence, are the inheritors of the grandest
language ever spoken by human be
ings, with all that that implies.
On one occasion, a man who had
been a life-long opponent of slavery,
when addressing an American audi
ence, spoke of some of the blessings
which God had developed out of the
great evil, and he was received with
storms of indignation. It-would have
been well for that maddened audience
to remember that touching passage in
the fourteenth chapter of Genesis,
where the same argument was used
with melting power, when Joseph said
to his brethren, ‘‘Now, therefore, be
not grieved, nor angry with yourselves
that ye sold me hither, for God did
send me before you to preserve life;
and God did send me before you to
preserve you a posterity in the earth,
and to save your lives by a great deliv
erance ; so, now, it was not you that
sent me hither, but God.” The gentle
Joseph, great as he was gentle, mag
nanimous as he was tender, looked not
at the occasion of his bondage, but at
the outcome of it. After all, it was
only to save life that he was sent, and
the sore bondage of a whole people was
the consequence of it; but here a na
tion has been regenerated, transformed
from brutal savages into civilized,
christianized, English-speaking men.
Admit the whole catalogue of horrors,
real or unreal, that have been alleged,
admit that they were ten times worse
than they are said to have been, and it
still remains true, that God is able to
bring good out of evil, and to make the
wrath of man to praise him.
Thurlow Weed makes it a point to
read all of Dickens’ works through
every year, and has read them through
some twenty or thirty times. What a
reproof this fact conveys to professed
Christians, who do not read the
Scriptures through regularly, though
these are so much less in bulk, so much
grander in matter —the only word of
God to man—the charter of salvation
—the key to the kingdom of heaven?
Suppose the churches should institute
a strict search into this matter, and ex
clude from their membership all per
sons who are not habitual Bible read
ers ; would they not gain, and gain
greatly by losing them?
Have you changed your place of
residence recently? Or, are you about
to change it? Then, remember, as the
United Presbyterian tells us, that “a
man who moves into a new neighbor
hoot! is going there as a missionary:
he is to carry the Gospel with him.”
You realize, when ministers make these
changes, that God sends them to wit
ness for him in new pulpits. Do not
forget in your case that God is simply
sending you to witness for him at new
firesides. Your commission is as true,
as solemn and as impossible of escape
as theirs. “Every disciple must be a
discipler."
The distinguished German geogra
phers, Herren Behm and Wagner, in
the recent edition of their work, give
Africa a population of 205,679,000.
Now, as the instruments for the diffu
sion of the gospel among this mighty
host must be drawn largely from the
colored race in our country, the impor
tance of communicating to this race
the double light of education and a
pure Christian faith, assumes propor
tions which no mind can fully grasp.
Let us hope that Baptists North and
South are awaking to a sense of their
obligation and their opportunity in thia
matter.
DEATH 01 THE CZAR.
On Bunday afternoon, the 18th day
of March, Alexander 11., Emperor of
Russia, was assassinated intone of the
streets of St. Petersburg. He was rid
ing in a closed carriage, accompanied
by the Grand Duke Michael, and with
a small escort, when some one in the
crowd threw a bomb, which exploded
near the carriage, and destroyed the back
part of it, but failed to injure its occu
pants. These stepped out, when imme
diately, another bomb was thrown by
another person, the first assailant hav
ing been already arrested. The second
bomb exploded at the Czar's feet, shat
tering both his legs, and almost tearing
one from his body. He died in one
hour and a half, having uttered only
one word after he was struck —the
name of the Czarowitz. f
Os course, the news was borne on the
wings of lightning to all parts of the
civilized world. Governmental authori
ties in all countries have sent the usual
messages of condolence. On the other
hand, public meetings have been held
by those who sympathize with the Ni
hilists, and resolutions have been passed
expressive of gratification at the death
of a despot.
The new Czar, Alexander 111, son of
the late Emperor, became immediately
the Autocrat of all the Russias. For
this reason, it has been said that the
Nihilists made a blunder; they in
tended to rid the country of a tyrant,
and succeeded ouly in killing a man.
The truth is, they killed a man, and
gave a blow to despotism. The reign
of Alexander II has been comparatively
mild, and has been marked by several
liberal features. Only a few years ago
he emancipated twenty-five million
serfs, and thus made freemen of that
number of slaves. In fact, he stands
out prominently as by far the best of
all the Romanoffs, and was really a
benefactor to his people. Still, the gov
ernment was autocratic and arbitrary;
the spirit of modern times had reached
not the masses, it is true, but enough
of the people to make them a great
power, and they became restive
and bent on change. They perhaps
bad no malice against the man, but
they were determined to be rid of the
Czar. Have they succeeded? Not
yet. The new administration may take
the hint, and so relax its rigid rule as
to satisfy the people. If so, the “Czar”
is disposed of; if not, we may look for
another assassination, or for some form
of revolution. The end may, or may
not be, long coming; but it is only a
question of time. Free government
will eventually be established, and it
ought to be. The malcontents are de
termined, and their determination will
spread to the masses as light and
knowledge increase. An intelligent
people cannot be held by arbitrary rule.
The men who threw these bombs
knew that they forfeited their lives,
and yet walked to certain deaj£. If
the second bomb had not accomplished
its object, doubtless a third would have
been thrown, and a fourth, and a fifth.
The Emperor’s time had come.
Can the course of the assassins be
justified? We have never been able to
frame an argument which justifies the
killing of any human being, except un
der the mandate of law. The right of
revolution seems to be almost univer
sally admitted, and, at any rate, it is
sure, on certain occasions, to be put in
practice, but to our mind, the argu
ment, which sustains it has never been
convincing. Moral science must be
strained very hard to afford such an
argument, and it is needless to say that
the spirit of the New Testament is
wholly on the other side. Yet, this
spirit must be the rule of a Christian's
life. With a good man, the settlement of
this question is more a matter of theory
than of practice. Such things generally
settle themselves, or rather,are settled by
the Providence of God. The Lord casts
down the wicked with the hand of the
wicked, and makes transgressors the
antidotes of each other. We have no
sympathy with despotism, and none
with murder; but our confidence is
firm, that God will make the wrath of :
man to praise him, and that, when his
purposes are accomplished, the remain- '
der of wrath he will restrain.
The new Czar is thirty-six years old,
and was married about fifteen years
ago, to Maria Dagmar, daughter of the
King of Denmark, and sister to the
Princess of Wales, who is destined to be
the Queen Consort of England. The
sister of the present Czar is wife of a
younger brother of the Prince of Wales.
Thus the future King of England and
the present Czar are by marriage
doubly related.
Morals and Mathematics.—Math
ematics is a measure of nothing but
quantity, and consequently is not ap
plicable to questions of morals; still
sometimes it may throw a side-light
on the moral condition of a people,
and afford some service in making an
estimate of that condition. The sta
tistical tables, which show the number
of crimes in proportion to population,
illustrate what we mean. We have
recently amused ourselves with a little
calculation based on the following facts.
The area of Atlanta is comprised
within a circle, whare circumference
(disregarding fractions) may be stated
at nine miles. There are twelve po
licemen on duty at a time, and these I
suffice to keep as good order probably
as can be found in almost any city.
Now suppose these twelve policemen
to be distributed over this surface so
as to be equidistant from each other,
what area would each one have to
guard, and what would be the distance
of each man from his neighbor?
The circle above mentioned contains
7.06 square miles; hence, each police
man has to patrol 7-12 of a square mile,
(leaving off the .06), a space equiva
lent to a square having 1844 yards for
each side. To walk around this square
he must travel a little more than three
miles, and if each were to stand in
the centre of his square, he would be
1344 yards from his nearest neighbors.
If any one thinks that he can divide
this circle into squares, so as to give to
each policeman in practice what we
have given him in theory, he is wel
come to try.
We merely wish to show, that our
people are generally law-abiding, and
that a very small police force is all
that is necessary to keep them quiet
and orderly. The same conclusion
may be reached in a different way.
The population of Atlanta by the late
census, is something less than 35,000;
but this is more technical than real,
for it includes only those within the
corporate limits. Our last city Direc
tory shows a population of in
cluding the immediate suburbs, all
whose inhabitants are practically citi
zens of Atlanta. Twelve policemen
suffice for the whole; that is, one police
man for every 3.622 inhabitants. We
may say in round numbers, that it
takes very little more than the four
thousandth part of a policeman to
keep each one of us in order.
A friend writes us that in his neigh
borhood certain Methodist ministers
have declared that it was impossible
for John to have immersed any one in
the river Jordan, as the water was only
eighteen inches deep; and to refute
this we are requested to give a des
cription of the river Jordan. We beg
to be excused ; but suggest to our friend
that he would do well to refer the min
isters who have made this statement to
Bishop Pierce, who, we are sure will,
in the first place, give them proper in
formation as to the facts in the case,
and will then, in his affectionate but
forcible way, reprove them for stating
as a fact that which they ought to have
known is not a fact. The erring min
isters themselves are weak brethren,
and must be borne with, by their intel
ligent hearers, patiently.
Those who “mind the things of the
Spirit” find occasion of profound grief
in the low standard of Christian char
acter nowadays. If any of our readers
are slightly affected by it, we ask them
to weigh thoughtfully the opinion of
the Christian Statesman, that “the out
look over the evangelical churches of
America to-day is more painful than
at any time during the last fifty years.”
Is this true? Does Dr. R. G. Strong
overstate the matter, when he speaks
of “the total lack of the power of vital
godliness in the lives of most professing
Christians?” But the subject should
not be left in this indefinite form; w T e
should make personal application of it.
There can be no general delinquency
except as the aggregate of individual
delinquencies. Let each, then, lift the
standard higher in his own life: this is
the direct and the only path to collec
tive improvement.
The Vicar of Rochdale, England,
said,not long ago: “When I am dead,
when some of you are dead, others
may live to see the day when Unitarian
ism will be the acknowledged religion
of the country.” If this evil prophecy
is to obtain fulfilment, we count those
the happier who shall die before that
day comes, and shall not see it. But
the prophecy can not be fulfilled. The
doubts of which it is born are traitors
to the power of the Scriptures and the
Holy Spirit. The deity of Christ was
never so W’idely, intelligently and unal
terably recognized as now. Carlyle
once said : “At bottom this is the wish
and prayer of all human hearts—Give
me a leader;” and beyond every prece
dent of-past times, the noblest spirits
of the age are crying for the leader
ship of Christ as “God manifest in the
flesh.”
- -One of the oldest subscribers and
most ardent friends of The Christian
Index is our venerable brother James
Roberts, of Dalton, Ga. In a recent
letter, renewing his subscription, and
directing The Index to be sent to a
dear relative at his expense, he says:
“I do not wish her to be without it, as
I sometimes get one paper that I would
not be without for two dollars.” The
i handwriting is remarkably clear and
I firm, although he says: "I will close
my long letter by telling you that if I
live to see the 26th day of this month
(March) I will be 85 years old. I
transact all my own business and do
all my own writing."
Many thanks to our beloved and
venerable friend and brother.
Barnsville Gazette: Rev. J. H. Weav
er tendered his resignation of the pas
torate of. Sardis Baptist church, on
Bunday the 6th instant. His resig
nation was accepted, and on the follow
ing Tuesday Mr. Weaver left Barnesville
for the up-country. He has many
friends here who regret his departure
and wish him health and prosperity
wherever he may go.
—The annual Sunday-school con
vention of the Stone Mountain Baptist
Association will meet in Atlanta on the
Ist of April.
Some months ago, perhaps a year or
more, there was a great jubilation
among the religious papers when the
Supreme Court of the United States
decided that the law against polygamy
passed some eighteen years ago, is con
stitutional. The Index did not join
in the jubilation, but declared, 1, that
the law could not be enforced. 2. That
it ought not to be. The facts now
show that in our first proposition we
were correct. The law is an utter fail
ure. The Mormons laugh at it, defy
it, and trample on it. It does not op
erate even as a check to the evil, and
is, as though it were not. The truth
of our second proposition would be just
as paipable, if the law were actually
enforced. The amount of wretchedness
and misery entailed by it. on thousands
of innocent children, would be incal
culable. We repeat now what we said
then, the law ought to be repealed,
and another ought to be passed which
would work injustice to none, and
which it would be practicable to en
force ; and then it ought to be enforced.
Speaking on this subject the New
York Independent says:
“We believe that the true remedy
consists in dispossessing the population
of Utah of the right of self-government,
as a political organization, and in pla
cing the entire government of the ter
ritory in the hands of a commission,
civil or millitary, to be appointed by
the President, with the advice and con
sent of the Senate, which commission
should be regulated by careful provis
ions of law, and charged with the duty
of prosecuting and punishing all poly
gamous offenders against the law,
and at the same time sustained by a
force (military, if necessary) sufficient
to carry the law into effect against all
opposition.
“We are aware that this is a very
sharp and incisive mode of doing the
work, and would not reccommend it if
milder methods contained any promise
of cure. We, however, see no prospect
of exterminating polygamy so long as
Mormons bear rule in Utah. Society
must be reconstructed there to the
very foundation, and this cannot be
done by any forces that exist in the
territory itself. The Government of
the United States must lay its strong
hand upon that territory, and ordain
the destruction of polygamy at all
hazards, and use the means that will
accomplish the result.”
This is sharp and incisive certainly;
but we may come to it at last, but the
vigorous enforcement of a well framed
law ought to be tried before we re
sort to such extreme measures. We
have never yet had a good law on the
subject.
GEORGIA BAPTIST NEWS.
The Philadelphia Baptist church,
Tatnall county, are building a new
house of worship.
The Louisville Nows and Farmer
says: Mr. Boykin, Sunday-school Evan
gelist for the Baptist denomination of
Georgia is doing a good work. He
seems peculiarly fitted for this extreme
ly important position. He lectured
here on Sabbath night last to a good
congregation among which there were
many parents and children. May the
Lord bless his work wherever he may
go-
Griffin News: The Trustees of the
Peabody Educational Fund have pre
sented to Eev. Dr. J. H. DeVotie, of
this city, a Peabody medal, in appreci
ation of his deep interest in the cause
of public education, and in recognition
of his influence in inaugurating Public
Schools in Columbus, Ga.
The testimonial is a large, heavy
bronze medalion, very handsome. Upon
one side is the following inscription :
Upon the first circle, “Education—A
Debt due from the Present to Future
Generations.” Just under that, “The
Trustees of the Peabody Educational
Fund.” On the open face, in the centre,
“Presented to Dr. J. H. DeVotie, first
President of the Public School of Col
umbus, Georgia. Elected March 12,
1867.” Under that “Proverbs 8, 11.”
Upon the obverse side is a medalion
bust of George Peabody, surrounded by
the inscription, “George Peabody, born
18th Feb. 1795; died Ist Nov. 1869.”
The medal thus conferred is quite a
distinguished honor for our esteemed
fellow-citizen, but richly merited.
The editor of the Sandersville Her
ald says: We had the pleasure of wor
shipping with the Baptist church at
Davisboro, on last Sabbath. We have
rarely, if ever, seen a congregation and
membership, that seemed to cherish a
higher regard or more sincere affection
for a pastor, than is cherished by this
excellent church, and intelligent con
gregation,for their honored and beloved
pastor, and that the able Christian
minister, Rev. W. L. Kilpatrick. His
amiable presence will of itself do much
toward drawing out a good congrega
tion. Rev. T. C. Boykin, the inde
fatigable and efficient Sunday-school
agent, lectured the school and preached
to the gratification and edification of
the people.
We have recently learned that on the
first Sunday in December last our
brother E. Culpeper was ordained to
the work of the Gospel ministry by a
presbytery consisting of brethren E. S.
Harris and J. H. Cline on the call of
Friendship church, Oakland, of which
church brother Culpeper was a licent
ian and a member. A sermon, the
subject of which was “Obedience better
than Sacrifice,” was preached by Bro.
Cline, who also made the ordaining
prayer. The examination of the can
didate, on his Christian experience,
call to the ministry and views of Chris
tian doctrine, was made by Bro. Harris
and was highly satisfactory. Bro. Harris
also delivered the charge to the church
and to the candidate.
Dr. Carson’s Essay •. —A card from
the Author.—A brother whom I re
gard as “Primus inter pares, writes
me: “You do not attempt to explain
how in any event, or in any way,
God can ordain in His purpose and
bring to passby His providence, the
wicked actions of wicked men without
Himself being responsible.”
Certainly not. God responsible?
To whom? This I think would trans
cend the proper limitof human reason
ing. But I have attempted to show,
both from Scripture and reason:
1. That God does govern all mem
Have I succeeded or failed?
2. 1 have attempted to give a com
plete list of possible definitions of free
agency. If there be another, please
give it.
3. I have attempted to show that
whichever of these we adopt, God’s
government over us not only does not
exclude it, but necessarily includes it.
I beg any one who may honor the
book with a criticism, to observe just
what I have attempted. If those
points are established, is it not a recon
ciliation of what is known as Calvin
ism and Arminiaoism.
Allendale, S. Or, W. B. Carson.
SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVEN
TION
COLUMBUS, MISS, MAT STB, 1881.
All who expect to attend the con
vention are earnestly requested to for
ward their names and post-office address
to the Committee at once.
The citizens of Columbus will open
their hearts and homes to our guests
on that occasion, but it will be impos
sible to avoid confusion and consequent
discomfort unless all comply with these
requests.
Do not embarrass the Committee by
sending word to your friends here that
you are coming to their homes; write
us that you desire to be assigned to
such friends and we will comply with
your wishes if possible.
Those who wish to stop at hotels and
prefer to pay at a reduced rate, will be
accommodated on conferring with the
Committee; no reduction can be had
except through this channel. Cards
of assignment and replies to applica
tions will be sent out about April 15th.
Application has been made for Ex
cursion Rates by rail etc. to Columbus.
Full particulars will be given through
the press as soon as possible.
Address : H. W. Battle, Box 51,
Columbus, Miss.
Children’s Day.—Mr. V. T. Barn
well, Chorister of the Georgia State
Sunday School Association, has issued
a sixteen page pamphlet containing
programme, music, and responsive
readings for the celebration of “Chil
dren’s Day,” May 7th, 1881—author
ized and adopted by the Executive
Committee of the Association. Coun
ty Sunday School Associations, as well
asrindividual Schools, Superintendents,
and Choristers, are requested to obtain
a full supply at once, in order that am
ple time be allowed for rehearsal and
other preparations for the Celebration.
Remit by postal order or registered
letter, $1 50 per hundred copies; 32
cents extra per hundred if to be sent
by mail. Address the book stores, or
V. T. Barnwell,
Atlanta, Ga.
GEORGIA BAPTIST CONVENTION.
Delegates and visitors, who will an
tend the Convention to be held it-
Athens, commencing the 21st of April
next, are respectfully requested to noti
fy the Committee of Arrangements, or
Rev. C. D. Campbell, at an early day,
and give their post-office address.
J. S. Hamilton; Asa M. Jackson;
J. M. Herrington; W. B. Jackson; 8. C.
Dobbs; Williams Rutherford, Com
mittee.
—The United Presbyterian (Pitts
burgh ) says: They have old-fashion
ed notions about decency at Atlanta,
Georgia, apparently. Recently the
head of a band of strolling players was
arrested and fined one hundred dollars
for “using vulgar language and sing
ing indecent songs.” It would be well
if the magistrates in Northern cities
imitated this example.
—Prof. C. H. Toy,a former Profes
sor in the Southern Baptist Theologi
cal Seminary, and the author of the
notes on the International Lessons
which occasioned so much comment
as they appeared in the 8. S. Times
two years ago, has been called to the
professorship of Hebrew in Harvard
College.
“I can but wish that every Baptist
family in the land would take and read
The Christian Index, the most wel
come visitor to my family. My father
took it as long as he lived, and I look
upon a bound volume of The Colum
bian Star, as one of the most sacred
relics left in his library. As old as it
is, I look upon it as a compendium of
valuable religious thought.”— Extract
from a letter from Bro. W. B. Gilbert,
Horn’s Cross Roads, Miller county, Ga.
