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4 HENRY H.TUCKER, Editor. THE CONVENTION. The State Baptist Convention of Georgia meets in Athens on Thursday, April 21st, the very day on which our paper is published. The Index sends its loving salutations to the brethren. May their counsels be harmonious, and may they be wise. Let it be remem bered that each session of the Conven tion ought to promote the good of mankind and the glory of God. If these ends be not attained, the Conven tion is useless lumber, and ought not to exist. If the Convention, as a whole, is to be a blessing, each one of its parts should contribute to the result. Let every membei of it, therefore, feel that there is a personal responsibility resting on himself. Let each one remember that if he does not add something to the power of the Convention for good, he is simply a dead weight for others to carry, and that his absence would be an advantage. There is, however, this strange peculiarity in the case: that a man may add to the effect by taking away from it. If he takes home with him, when he leaves the Convention, better views of denominational polity, and increased interest in the affairs of Zion, and warmer love for the brethren, and increased spirituality of mind, he will be aiding the Convention in its work, and will thus be not only a re ceiver, but a contributor; thus, in the blessed arithmetic of grace, subtraction has the power of addition. To the re flecting mind, this last remark may suggest several analogies. In one de partment subtraction has even more power than addition, for it is more blessed to give than it is to receive. Division and multiplication also ex change places, for dividing good multi plies it, and multiplies without dimin ishing, but, strange to say, by enlarg ing. Grace is the reverse of nature. But we forbear. Brethren! may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. THE CONFLICT OF OPINION. Sometimes we spend a leisure half hour in a lawyer’s office, and amuse ourselves by looking over his books, — a class of books to which we devoted some attention in our earlier years, and which we still regard with some interest as old acquaintances. In tur ning over the pages of “Georgia Re porte,” where the decisions of the Su preme Court of the State are recorded, we notice very frequently after the rendering of the judgment, such words as these: Crawford J. dissenting, or Speer J. dissenting, or Jackson C. J. dissenting, or Trippe J. dissenting, or McCay J. dis senting, or Bleckley J. dissenting, or Warner C. J. dissenting, or Brown C. J. dissenting; and turning back to the earlier volumes we find, Starnes J. dis senting, or Nisbet J. dissenting, or Lumpkin C. J. dissenting. What does this mean? It means that of the three Justices on the Bench two were of one opinion, and that the third held a dif ferent opinion. This court is composed of men of mature years, of long experi ence, of profound learning and of great ability. They have no interest directly or indirectly in the cases which they decide. For the most part they have never seen any of the parties litigant, and have never heard of them, until they are represented in court by their counsel. They are not vexed with stupid or unscrupulous juries, nor with tergiversating witnesses, nor with the wrangle of the courts below ; the case is all made up, in writing, the facts are all accepted as final, and the court has nothing to do, but to state what is the law. There is nothing to bias the minds of the Justices; they have no interest at stake, and no prejudices nor partialities. They have simply to say, whether the court below was right or wrong. Each case is argued on both sides by able lawyers, and all the au thorities of value, for centuries back, are quoted and referred to, chapter and verse. They are in no hurry to give their decision ; they take their time on each case, and reach their conclusions only after deliberate and careful study. Yet, after all this, it frequently hapjiens that the court is divided in opinion, in the proportion of two to one; and there are not wanting cases where, when the same principle has been a second time adjudicated the former minority becomes a majority, and the court overrules its own decision. Nor is this peculiar to Georgia; we find the same in the reports of all the States; we find it also in the reports of the Su preme Court of the United States. In the last named court it is not uncom mon for two or three of ihe nine Jus tices to differ with the majority. It would seem that the principles of the law, and of its interpretation and ap plication ought by this time to be so well settled, that the Judges could agree upon them. In general they do agree; still such cases as we have referred to, are by no means rare. The physicians are to say the least, equally inharmonious. In diagnosis, in prognosis, in the mode of treatment, in the nature and effect of remedies, their opinions are varied and conflict ing. The most learned and the most able among ther. do not agree. Some THE CHRISTIAN INDEX AND SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST: THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1881. of the best minds we have or ever had, are devoted to the humane and Christ like profession of medicine, and yet be ing wholly unbiassed, and having no selfish interest to subserve, they differ. In metaphysics and sciences of kind red nature, there are various schools, each composed of clear-headed thinkers who have no desire but to ascertain the truth, and with whom there can be no motive to deflect them from the right; yet they differ. In the natural sciences the same phenomenon may be observed. Let two chemists or a dozen be brought into court as witnesses, where the tes timony of experts is needed, and it will be found that the science of chemistry is accompanied with great variations, sometimes perplexing and sometimes amusing. The chemists differ. The geologists are more dogmatic than any other class of scientists and with less reason ; for they change their opinions oftener than any others; but they by no means justify the adage, that “Birds of a feather, flock together.” If half a dozen of these could be brought into court to testify as experts, the exhibition would be ludicrous, and would afford rare sport to the lawyers if it bewildered the juries. The geo logists differ, and not only so; it some times happens that one of them will differ with himself, and teach in his last edition what contradicts his first. Statesmen differ on the science of government, for everything that can be thought of has been tried, the ex periment always having some advo cates and some objectors, and yet to this day scarcely a question has been settled; linguists, grammarians, and lexicographers, differ, no two of them having ever yet been found alike; professional soldiers differ on ques tions of military science and tactics ; navigators differ; architects differ, engineers differ; agriculturists differ ; bankers, financiers,manufacturers, and merchants, differ; even the mathemat icians are not all of one mind ; and in short, there is no science nor art nor calling in this world, which does not give rise to various questions on which there will be great differences of opinion among those who are en gaged in it. Yet, in all these sciences, arts and callings, there are certain facts and fixed principles. If these were known and understood, and if human powers of reasoning were perfect, and if each man without bias were to apply him self with sufficient zeal and persever ance, all differences of opinion would cease. From this it is fair to infer, that the causes of the trouble are de fective knowledge, defective capacity, and inadequate study. These things pertain to human nature; and hence until we become something more than human, it is in vain to expect that we shall agree. True, agreement may be reached on many questions and many points may be settled as science ad vances, and as the race improves, but so long as we are imperfect, it may be expected that some of our opinions will be erroneous; and it can scarcely be supposed that any two men can be found whose opinions on all subjects, whether right or wrong, will be exactly the same. It is human to differ. Yet there are men who reject the Christian religion and even ridicule it, because as they say theye is so much difference of opinion among its advo cates! Why do they not object to, and ridicule all the arts and sceinces for the same reason? Their objection is not against the Christian religion, but against human nature. Their argument is reduced simply to this: “We will not accept the religion of Jesus because human nature is what it is.” Should they accept this formula, they would tell the truth without knowing it. Their own depraved na ture is the secret of their opposition. We shall believe that the real reason is the one which they allege, when they apply the same reason to all other things; but so long as they apply it to no other thing, they must excuse us for saying, that it has the appearance of a mere subterfuge; a subterfuge with which they cannot deceive us, much less the Almighty, and with which they ought not to deceive themselves. The Kansas Prohibition Law.— The enemies of this law have circulat ed the report that it prohibits the use of wine at the Lord's Supper, and also the manufacture and sale of all the medical tinctures, essence of pepper mint, laudanum, paregoric, spirits of camphor, etc. etc.; and The Index which tries to be cautious, published the report, expressing a doubt, however, as to its truth. We have since seen a letter from Governor St. John of Kan sas which declares that there is not a word of truth in the report. This is just as we expected; but the littleness exhibited by the opposers of the law in resorting to such measures must make it painful to honorable men to be in their company. We heard of a man recently who be ing in a community where he was a stranger was suspected on account of h : s conversation of being a Christian. We think that some members of Bap tise churches, if avnong strangers would be regarded as above suspicion. There is a disease commonly known as the spring fever. We rise to en quire if the Baptists of Atlanta have it all the year round. THE ELASTIC BIBLE. Not long ago, a man claiming to be a Baptist preacher, while visiting our office, expressed the sentiment (if we understood him correctly) that when ever any of the moral precepts of the Bible conflict with what our observa tion and experience show to be exped ient and proper, we are to take it for granted that those teachings were in tended to be only “local and tempor ary” in their application. So far as we could judge on short acquaintance he was a man not likely to form opin ions of his own, and we presume that what he said, was merely the echo of what he had heard. The heresy which he had adopted is boldly anounced by prominent preachers, and by leading religious journals in the United States. Their doctrine is that what Christ and the apostles said, was intended for the people of the age in which they lived, and is not applicable in these days of progress and enlightenment. Princip les, they admit, remain the same, but the conditions are so changed in these modern times that what was right eighteen hundred years ago, may be wrong now, and vice versa. Some of the Temperance apostles and Woman’s Rights advocates, and some of those who still howl over the corpse of slav ery, and ismists generally are apt to indulge in this free and easy way of making right and wrong dance to their own tunes, and exchange places at their dictation. We are in favor of temperance, and cheerfully accord to women all the rights, which as a class they are qualified to exercise, and are glad that we are relieved of slavery, and wish that we could be relieved of all the isms ; but the elastic Bible which can be squeezed into a rat-hole or ex panded over a continent we can never accept. Those who do accept it, have virtually set aside the word of God al together, and have substituted the ever varying notions of men in its place. “The teaching of Paul and his ordin ary conduct were for his'own age, not for ours,” says the N. Y. Independent: and from our friend, The Watchman, we learn that Mr. Beecher has said : “In baptism, in the Lord's Supper, in the structure of the church, or in any of the ed ucatorv methods, men were not bound one whit bv Scripture Human society has so changed that to follow biblical forms might 1 be impossible. The whole book of Romans was to-day mistranslated by the theologv of the country merely because men have taken methods and forms having reference to a certain state of Jewish society—which were Jewish, provincial, transient, relative—and set them up as essential to be followed in our dav. The truth was that the sources of revelation that were authoritative were hu man nature as it testifies under the overrul ing providence of God—the testimony of God through the ages in the actual develop ment of human nature —that was God's re velation to mankind.” To illustrate his own looseness the Plymouth pastor said that he had been asked, whether he found infant baptism enjoined in the Bible, and when he said he did not. he was asked. “Then why do vou do it?” He replied, “’Cause I’m mind to!” This is probably as extreme a view of the authority of the Scriptures as would be taken by any except an out spoken infidel; but it is the logical out come of the loose views of inspiration and of interpretation entertained by many. Some of our own brethren we fear are tending in the same direction ; but we are happy to be able to say that in our part of the country this insidious form of infidelity has few, if any, ad vocates. The visitor to our office whose remark suggested the present writing, informed us that his home was many miles away from here. We should have known as much if he had not in formed us ; the distemper with which he was afflicted sufficiently’ indicated , the place of his abode. One of the Banks in Atlanta recent ly suspended payment. The deposi tors are outraged because payment of their checks for their own money is re fused, and they are unsparing in their denunciation of the managers, apply ing to them all the epithets descrip tion of fraud etc. etc., which our lan guage, copious in such expressions, af fords. It would be well for each of these persons to remember that he ' himself is a bank, and that the Lord Almighty is his chief depositor, and that his drafts have been dishonored times without number, sometimes wholly ignored, sometimes cashed at the rate of one cent in the dollar. ■ The gospel is to be supported, the world is to be evangelized, the ignorant 1 are to be instructed, the poor are to 1 be cared for. In each of these things there is a draft from the Almighty on each man’s resources. Have these drafts always been honored? These are money orders, but there are others equally imperative, though of a differ ent kind. Individual effort personal service is demanded. Has it always been rendered? Besides these there is another draft of a far higher grade than any that have been named. It is in these words: “Son give me thy heart.” Have you honored the draft? If not, remember that the Bank so fiercely denounced has violated its ob ligations to men: you have broken your faith with God. The depositors declare that they have been robbed of their money. Whom have you robbed by refusing to pay him his own? Every time you hear of a broken bank or of a repudiating State or of a dishonest debtor, be reminded to inquire how the account stands between you and your Maker. There is much work for Baptists to do in Atlanta, and they should be do ing it. Northern Baptist Anniversaries. The Baptists of the South have what is called the "Southern Baptist Con vention." The Northern Baptists have no such organization as this, but they have that which for practical purposes corresponds to it. Their Home Mission Society, their Foreign Mission Society, and their Publication Society, and perhaps other societies of like charac ter, hold their meetings at the same time and place once a year. Thus several organizations with them ans wer the purposes of one with us. There are some advantages in their plan, and some in ours. We do not know which is best, but we incline strongly to our own, and would do so even if it were an original question ; but it is not such a question, and we are glad of it We are always disposed to be conservative, and to “let well enough alone.” We should not have thought of saying anything about this matter, except for the fact, that we have just been re quested by the Northern societies to publish the rates of fare on the various railroads leading to their piece of meet ing. As not one of these roads lies within the territory where The Index circulates, it will be no discourtesy for ns to decline publishing the list of rates. We announce, however, that the “National Baptist Anniversaries” will be held at Indianapolis, Ind., May 18—25, 1881, and we pray that the Lord may be with our brethren there and guide their counsels aright. P. 8. —Since the above was written we have received the following: “The Western and Atlantic Railroad will sell excursion tickets from Atlanta to In diananolis and return (connecting per Nash ville. Louisville and Indianapolis) for $7 00, May 14 to 16 coupons good nntil Jane Ist. Applicants should state the purpose for which thev want tickets. The time for selling the tickets mav perhaps be extended by applying to B. W. Wrenn. Atlanta. The Southern brethren are cordially invited to attend." The editor of The Index grateful'v acknowledges a personal invitation ex tended to himself, and would accept it if he could. Ordination of a Georgian in Cal ifornia. —Our brother Theo. J. Weil, a native of Athens, in this State, and who was baptized several years ago by Dr. Thomas E. Skinner during his pas torate in Athens, and who has been preaching for several years, was recent ly ordained to the work of the gospel ministry in Yountville, Cal. The pres bytery consisted of brethren John T. Prior, formerly and now of Georgia, but at that time a resident of California, J. B. Hartwell, our missionary to the Chinese, Joseph Roberts of Napa city, and T. J. Arnold, also of California. Bro. Weil says of the church of which he is now the pastoV, and to which he has been ministering for some months, that it has recently re duced its debt from $1,400 to $l,lOO, and that $650 more is pledged in sums of 50 cents and upward to be paid by the Ist. of June. He says, “We have raised no money by indirect means, but have only presented the Scriptural command to give; and we hope soon to pay off the whole debt in the same way, and thus show that a Baptist church can live scripturally.” The church, he says, has recently excluded seven persons; among them two for heresy and one for non-attendance and not contributing to church expen ses. On this showing we predict suc cess for Bro. Weil and his church. The California Baptist State Con vention meets May 11th. It is well, doubtless, at times to re buke the parade of personal experience in the pulpit and the prayer-meeting, in which some men indulge until one feels as though they speak two words for themselves to every one spoken of Christ. But, perhaps, we may not safely assume the office of censor in this matter, unless the experience which we hold in reserve is marked now and then (to quote Blackmore’s happy phrase) by “tears, the voice of silence.” Tears of penitence when we look at ourselves, and tears of joy when we look at Christ, we were going to say; but it may be that the peni tence most freely melts into tears when, looking at Christ, we see what sorrow and shame and blood our sins cost him, and tears most freely flow from the fount of joy when, looking at ourselves, we find “Christ in us, the hop of glory.” Where the tears are altogether wanting, it might not be unwise to ask', whether we do not hold back our experience because we really have none to put forward. In which case, our state, if not worse than that of the men whom we rebuke, would, at least, be bad enough to keep us busy over the task of setting ourselves right. Another Promotion.—Our vener able brother Isaac W. Whitlock for many years an honored and efficient deacon of the First Baptist church in Augusta, but more recently a citizen of Atlanta, was called to “come up high er” on the 7th of March. To preach to him was a pleasure, for there never was a more appreciative listener, and to know him was to love him, for all his qualities were amiable, and he was truly a man of God. An obituary notice and some resolutions of the Augusta church in regard to his death may be found on our sixth page. We were about to say that we had lost a friend, for such is the suggestion of nature, but faith assures us that we have not lost him; he has only gone before. Monument for Dr. William Wil liams. —To the Alumni and former students of the Southern Baptist Theo logical Seminary, Dear Brethren :—At Lexington last May a meeting of our beloved Sem inary was held in which no little en thusiasm was manifested. It was de cided to increase the memorial fund to a sufficient amount to erect a suitable monument to maik the last resting place of our great Baptist brother, Dr. Wm. Williams. For-this purpose a committee of one from each state was appointed. As the appointee for Georgia, I make this late appeal to you to contribute your selves, and solicit contributions from others for this worthy object. We have on hand not quite S2OO, and must raise not less than 8300 more by the meeting of the Convention in Colum bus. Do your best, brethren, and what you do, do quickly; and remit to me at Augusta, Ga. The shaft must be rear ed early after the convention adjourns. Expecting early and substantial res ponses from all, I am affectionately, your brother, E. R. Carswell, Jr. N. B.— Any reader of the Index who desires to bear some humble part in paying this debt of honor, due from our Baptist brotherhood to the memo ry of Dr. Williams, may remit as above. Amounts as small as one dollar will be gladly received. E. R. C., Jr., A Bible translated from the Russian is the only printed book in the Turko man language. Who can say what a prophecy of light and blessing for Central Asia lies in the printing of that Bible? DeQuincey made a mem orable distinction between the litera ture of knowledge and the literature of power; but in that one book these two literatures are blended. And then,the Author of the book goes with it, to do his own work as the Quickener of dead souls, from the Caspian sea to China. We hope that the circulars sent out by Dr. Henry Randall Waite, from the census office at Washington, to ob tain religious statistics, will secure a prompt response from every minister among our readers. In no other way can the Baptist denomination have a proper showing in the next census. To withhold the information asked is to hide —and in that degree to disown — what the Lord has done for us. The Central Baptist fears that “there are preachers who have not grown half an inch since they graduated.” It is to be hoped that some of them have not and will not—provided their own estimate of their stature is correct. If they should grow, what denomination al enclosure could they enter, unless (according to the song of English children on Easter Monday in olden times) we might “Open the gates as high as the sky?” The Southern Presbyterian says that there is a very serious discouragement to labor among colored people on the part of its denomination, in the fact that “they love the water of the Baptists and the fire of the Methodiste.” If the preferences of that race for Baptists reached no farther than the water, — which, by-the-way, is our Lord's, not ours, —we should count it a discourage ment, not serious merely, but insupera ble. Rev. E. B. Simmons, missionary of the Southern Baptist Convention, writes to the Texas Baptist Herald that there were fifty-two baptisms last year in connection with our work at Can ton, China. In addition -to what is done in that city we have nine out stations and eight schools. A new chapel was dedicated recently at Tsung Fa, distant about sixty miles. A writer in one of our exchanges speaks of Dr. Talmage as a “disting uished ‘master in Israel.’ ” Now, master, in the New Testament sense, we believe, means teacher; and how ever highly Dr. Talmage may have been rated in certain other respects, we hardly think that so much as the very slightest suspicion of being a teacher has ever fallen on him. Spurgeon professes to find historical proof of the existence of Baptist churches in England as early as the times of Henry IL, (A. D. 1158) and from that date down to the present. The Sunday-school convention of the Stone Mountain Baptist Association will meet with Zion church 10 miles, from Conyers, on Friday before the fourth Sunday in July next. Albert Harkness, author of the pop ular series of Latin text-books, fur which he receives an annual royalty of some SIO,OOO, is a Baptist and a dea con. Rev. T. T. Eaton, D. D., of Peters burg, Va., has been unanimously call ed to the Walnut street Baptist church, Louisville, Ky. A Mississippi Baptist represents our brethren in that State as “70,000 strong, and increasing more rapidly than any other denomination.” The Baptist Sunday-schools of At lanta we learn will have mass meetings on the fifth Sundays of May, July and October. GEORGIA BAPTIST NEWS. —Rev. E. R. Carswell, Jr., delivered a lecture in the Baptist church in Thom son, on Wednesday night, the 20th inst., on the subject of “The Elements of Success,” the proceeds to be applied to the payment for repairs on the church. —The Thomson Journal says: “Through the energy of Miss Cora O’Neal the Baptist Sunday-school has an organ again. This will add new interest to the exercises, for which the young lady deserves much credit.” —Rev. T. J. Pilcher has been called to the pastorate of Elim church to succeed Rev. L. R. L. Jennings. The latter has accepted the pastorate of the Sparta Baptist church. —Rev. E. R. Carswell, Jr., pastor of the Calvary Baptist church, Augusta, acknowledging recently through the Augusta News, the receipt of a copy < f a’sennon on “Baptist Baptism,” by El der J. S. Lamar, sent by an unknown friend, says: “I write to return thanks to the ‘nameless’ friend .(or his helpful kind ness, and to give him every assurance that neither the Bible nor his fraterni ty shall be misrepresented in the dis course proposed for Sabbath evening. The paragraphs marked with pencil are already provided for in my arranged discussion. “In all Christian affection, in all hon esty of purpose, in all meekness of spirit, I oppose myself, now and ever more, as a wall of adamant and a ram part of fire against what I deem er roneous in doctrine, or corrupt and corrupting in practice. With love for man, zeal for God’s truth, and uncom promising antagonism to error, all my pulpit ministrations shall be marked. So help me, God my Saviour.” —The Executive Committee of the Georgia State Sunday School Associa tion, elected Rev. W. T. Cheney, pas tor of Curtis Baptist Church, Augusta, as one of the delegates to the Third International Convention, which meets at Toronto, Canada, June 22d, 1881. —Sandersville Mercury : Rev. J. T. Adams preached on Sunday last a very eloquent and impressive sermon, to a large and intelligent congregation at the Baptist church, of which he is the pastor. —A Convention of the Sunday schools of the Rehoboth Association will be held at “Spalding,” near Mon tezuma, May 27, 28 and 29. Each school and church is entitled to three delegates, and one for every additional twenty-five members. The programme is very interesting, and will be partici pated in by brethren Battle, Warner, Ross, Sanford, Mcßride, Niles and others. —Thanks. At the last conference meeting of the Micanopy Baptist church, held April 3d, 1881, the fol lowing resolution was unanimously adopted: Resolved, That the thanks of this church, be, and are hereby, tendered to the Baptist church of LaGrange, Ga., for a liberal contribution of fifteen dol lars; and to the Ladies Benevolent Union of the First Baptist church of Atlanta, for their donation of a hand some pulpit lamp. J. D. Johnson, C. C. —The Baptists in Elberton have or ganized a weekly prayer meeting. They meet for worship every Tuesday night. —The following is the programme of the General Meeting of the Noonday Association to convene in the Baptist church at Marietta on Friday before the first Sunday in May. Introduc tory sermon, M. B. Tuggle. Organiza tion. Discussion of subjects: Ist. How can the influence of female members of churches be best developed and util ized? Speeches by I. M. Springer and M. B. Tuggle. 2d. To what extent may church members participate in worldly amusements? Speeches by D. J. Maddox, J. J. Northcutt, of Acworth, and Prof. Howard. 3d. Devotional exercises. 4th. Is the Lord’s Supper a local church or denominational or dinance? Speeches by W. H. Dean, D. V. Stokely, W. L. Starnes, and W. J. Baiter. sth. What is the best fin ancial system for the churches to adopt? Speeches by James R. Brown, M. S. Paden and D. V. Stokely. 6th. How can the churches best promote reviv als? Speeches by Alfred Northcutt, A. J. McCoy, G. Roberts and J. A. Me Murray. 7th. Should the churches tell their pastors when they call them what salary they may expect? Speeches by George Roberts, Sam. Earle and A. W. York. Bth. How can the churches best promote temperance? Speeches by M. B. Tuggle, J. J. Keeter and N. Brooke. 9th. Sermon, Saturday 11 a. m. W. H. Dean. 10th. Speeches on missions, Sunday 10 a. m., by James R. Brown and W. H. Dean. The New York Times speaks some noble words for the missionary cause. In a recent issue it says that the missionary world, which is growing larger and larger, embraces inter ests now of immense importance. The wonderful successes wrought in Turkey, In dia, China, Japan, Africa and its outlying islands, and the South Seas, stimulate the churches to raise more money, and lead to larger efforts and increasing results in the field. Eleven societies increased their totals of communicants in connection with their foreign missions the past year by about twenty-two thousand. The great Central African missions still maintain their ground, if they do not make much advance, while in Turkey, India. China, Japan, and other countries the past twelve months have brought about great results. Surely, the Church has abundant encouragei-ieat to enter with new zeal into the missionary work.