Newspaper Page Text
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HENRY H. TUCKER, Editor
GOD FORBID.
This expression occurs fifteen times
in the common version of the New
Testament, to-wit: Luke xx: 16, Ro
mans iii :4, 5, 31, vi :2,15, vii:7,l3,
ix :14, xi :1,11,1 Cor. vi :15, Gal. ii :17,
iii :21, vi :14.
In the original Greek the expression
does not occur at all! Tn every case
the words used by the sacred writers
are me genoito; and these words mean
simply, Let it not be; no more and no
less. The name of God is not there,
nor is it alluded to or implied in any
way whatever. How King James’
translators ever came to translate the
words me genoito into God forbid, is a
mystery. It may be said, indeed, that
God only has absolute power to forbid,
and that the earnest desire that a thing
shall never be, res,lves itself into a
prayer embodied in the words, God
forbid. But while this may be very
good doctrine, tbe so-called translation
is not a translation, either good, bad
or indifferent. It may be said, too,
that the words me genoito are more
emphatic in Greek than the words,
Let it not be in English, and that King
James’ servants in their anxiety to re
produce the emphasis, neglected to
translate the words, and substituted an
English expression which, while it
fairly represents the vehemence, utterly
misrepresents the language. So let it
be; but if this article should ever re
appear in some other tongue, we hope
eur expression »o let it be will not be
translated God grant it. Yet, were this
done, the case would be exactly parallel
to the work of King James’ men, ex
cept as to the emphasis. The Revisers
in their marginal note use the words
Be it not so, which.it will be seen, cor
respond exactly in sense to the words
used by us, Let it not be. Some of the
commentators, in order to preserve the
emphasis, use the words, By no means;
and Dr. Conant, with the same object,
says, Far be it; and this, to some ex
tent, avoids tameness and comes nearer
the spirit of the original; though, in
fact, it is impossible to express with
exactness in English both the meaning
Irvor of the Greek. But
le difficulties may be, it is
admitted that God forbid is
ation of me genoito; and it
y objectionable on the
■ it makes an unauthorized
name of God, and hence
ofanity. If me genoito had
red, Never while the world
translation, ridiculous as it
would have (been quite as
le the spirit would have
1 preserved, and the pro
fanity avoided. Let us not be under
stood, however, as approving a render
ing so absurd.
Yet, strange to say, the revisers have
reproduced the expression God forbid
tn fourteen out of the fifteen cases
where it is used. In their marginal
note on Romans iii :4, they say, “Or,
i>e it not so, and so elsewhere,” mean
ing thereby, that wherever the words
me genoito occur, they may be rendered,
Be it not so. But why did they not
put the words Be it not so in the text?
They knew that this was the proper
translation ; why did they not adopt it?
We can see but one reason for it; the
Canterbury rules put them in leading
strings, and did not allow them to do
what they knew to be right. But
whatever the reason may have been,
the fact is, that the reproduction of an
error so glaring, and which nobody has
ever attempted to defend, greatly di
minishes the authority of the New Ver
sion, and convinces us that it ought
not to be and cannot be a finality; and
we must fall back for comfort on the
hope that there is a good time coming,
when people will be willing to have
the Bible translated into English, un
der no restrictions of any kind, or from
king, or convocation, or anybody else.
It is noticeable that in one place out
of fifteen where the expression me gen
oito is used, the Revisers have rendered
it just as they ought to have done. In
the common version Gal. vi :14 reads
thus: “God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross.” The same passage
in the New Version reads thus: “Far
be it from me to glory save in the
cross.” Why the Revisers should have
rendered me genoito properly “Far be
it” in one place and “God forbid” im
properly in fourteen places is a won
der and nothing less. If they dared to
face the Canterbury dictators in one
instance why not in all? We do not
know. But the facta in the case go to
show that they knew what was right
and failed to do it.
What is most remarkable of all is,
that the American revisers allowed the
phrase God forbid to pass without pro
test when not one of them will say
that those words are a translation of
me genoito. How could this ever have
happened? We do not know.
Not a Baptist sermon has ever been
/reached in a portion of Texas, two
hundred miles square, between the
Brazos on the South and the Kansas on
the North, and Wichita county on the
East and New Mexico on the West.
This section is fast filling up with good
citizens, and the General Association
of Texas will occupy it.
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX AND SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST: THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1881.
BELIEVE AND SHUDDER.
In the common version of the New
Testament James ii :19 reads as fol
lows: “The devils also believe and
tremble.” In the revised version it
reads thus: “The devils also believe
and shudder.” The New York Observer
objects to the change on the ground
that there is not enough difference in
the meaning of the two words to justify
it. We approve of the change, and for
the following reasons: 1. There are two
worsts in Greek which may be trans
lated tremble. One is tremo, the other
is phrisso; both have substantially the
same meaning, differing chiefly in this,
that the latter is the stronger expres
sion ; if it means the same as the
former word, it means it more intensely.
Now, supposing that the words tremble
and shudder mean exactly the same
thing in English, shudder is the stronger
word of the two; and strong Greek
ought, if possible, to be translated into
strong English; the Greek in James
ii :19 is phrisso, the strong word, and
not tremo, the weak one. As tremo is
to phrisso in Greek so is tremble to
shudder in English ; and this fact ought
not to be ignored in exact translation.
2. The word tremble is of Greek origin,
while the word shudder is of Teutonic
origin ; and whenever the choice is be
tween a native word and a foreign one,
preference, in the absence of special
reason to the contrary, should always
be given to the former. Unlearned
persons, who know nothing of the
origin of words, are, nevertheless, al
ways more impressed with those which
are of blood kin to them; and the
learned are still more deeply impressed,
for they see not only the difference, but
the reason of it. 3. The word tremble
is applied to inanimate objects as
well as to sentient beings, while the
word shudder is never used (unless
by a strong figure) except in reference
to creatures. Thus, a leaf may trem
ble; no one would say that a leaf
shudders; the most illiterate person
would not make this mistake. As the
Apostle James is speaking of persons
and not of things, the word ought to
be used which applies to persons and
not to things; hence shudder is the
proper translation. 4. One may trem
ble from physical causes only, as from
cold, ague, or nervousness ; one shud
ders only from moral causes, such as
fright, dread, or horror. The word
tremble gives the idea of shaking or
quivering without reference to the
cause of the shaking; the word shud
der conveys the same idea of shaking,
and at the same time points back to
the cause of it, that is, to some emotion
or moral feeling. Now, as the devils
stand quaking in the presence of God,
not from mechanical causes or physi
cal infirmity, but from mingled emo
tions of hatred and dread, it is proper
that a word shodld be used which Ex
actly and fully describes their condition.
The word shudder does this; the word
tremble does not. Hence, the revisers
were right in making the change;
which the Greek justifies, if indeed it
does not make necessary.
In speaking of devils, we used the
word quaking in preference to the word
shaking. ■ There is the same difference
between these words, as between the
words tremble and shudder. Quake is
the stronger word; “the hand may
shake, or the head may shake, but it
takes the whole body to quake.” And
again, things shake but never quake;
persons do both; when they quake it
is always from moral causes, never from
physical. This has not always been
the usage, it is true; but it is the shape
into which our language is now crys
talizing. The compound word earth
quake is almost the only modern repre
sentative of the loose usage of former
days. The drift of the usus loquendi is
towards exactness, and towards the ob
serving of nice distinctions; and this
is one reason among others, why a new
version of the Scriptures is needed.
The Baptist papers are exercised about a
Dr. Kendrick, one of the American revisers
of the New Testament, who gave co-oper
ation, endorsement and moral support to the
new translation of Rev. xix. 13, where it
says of Christ that He is arrayed in a gar
ment sprinkled with blood They would
have it read “dipped," as in the Authorized
Version.—Southern Churchman.
We were not aware until we saw the
statement in the above named Epis
copal paper that the Baptist papers
were exercised on this subject; but
then, one always has to go away from
home to get the news. A solitary writer
in the Baptist Weekly complained of
the New Version on this account, but
this was because he did not know that
the Greek word accepted by the revis
ers as the true text, was properly trans
lated sprinkled. If the word were bebame
non it would certainly have been trans
lated dipped in; but the word is eran
tismenon, and this is translated sprink
led, just as it ought to be. We are reluc
tant to think that our esteemed contem
porary would make an unfair statement
and must therefore suppose that he
was not aware of the fact that the Greek
word is erantismenon, (sprinkled,) and
not bebamenon, (dipped in).
We are obliged to think, too, that he
has not read the passage in the New
Version; for if he had, he would have
seen the marginal note which says,
“Some ancient authorities read dipped
in." This indicates two things: 1.
That the word accepted as the text is
not bebamenon. 2. That if it had been
bebamenon, it would have been transla
ted dipped in. Os course if our brjther of
the Churchman had seen this, he would
not have said what he did. It is well
not to meddle with the New Version
without reading it
We beg, too, in the most deferential
manner, to suggest to our polite friend of
.the Churchman, that the article prefixed
to Dr. Kendrick’s name is significant
of disrespect. We must think that it
slipped in by accident, and is not in
dicative of intentional discourtesy.
Probably it was a typographical error.
Dr. J. R. Graves and Close Com
munion.—Has Dr. Graves abandoned
the doctrine of close communion ? This
question is asked us with a good deal
of earnestness. It is not easy, we may
say it is not possible, to answer it with
a plain yes, or no. His position is this :
that Baptists must either abandon the
practice of communion with “members
of sister churches of the same faith
and order,” or they must open their
doors to Pedobaptists and the rest of
the world. He selects the former of
these alternatives, and consequently
is close, very close, in his terms of com
munion. On the other hand,he declares
that the position heretofore held by
himself, and now held by us, on the
subject of communion,is “inconsistent,
unscriptural, and evil only;” we quote
his own words; and judging by these
words only, Dr. Graves might be re
garded as an open communionist.
What is remarkable is, that he regards
us as such, but we are happy to know
that our views are in accord with those
of the Baptist denomination for cen
turies back, and with those now held
by all our brethren with the exception
of those who have joined with Dr.
Graves in his new departure; and de
parture it appears to us, is the proper
name for it. We have not departed,
we stand just where we always stood,
and there we expect to remain.
Don Quixote had his Sancho Panza;
and, as was meet, Talmage has his
Miller! In an attack on the Revised
New Testament, Dr. A. W. of
Charlotte, N. C., tells us that “what is
good in it is not new, and what is nei\
is not good that “the old English of
our version has been wantonly sacri
ficed ;” that “texts, treasured up in the
popular heart, and enriched beyond
description by the tender, touching,
sacred associations of hundreds of
years, have been rudely seized, tortured
and crucified into accord with the friv
olous conceits of a pedantic and bom
bastic criticism and that “the Grand
Old Tree, which sheltered generation
after generation, who have fed and
feasted upon its fruits and been healed
by its leaves, is recklessly clipped, and
maimed, and stripped of its luxuriant
foliage,” etc. He even goes so far as
virtually to exclude the Revisers from
salvation; for he says that in omitting
I. John 5 : 7 from the text of Scripture,
they have “taken away from the wSMds
of thJ book of this prophecy;” quoting
Rev. 22 :19, to describe their offence
—which passage announces as the
penalty to be visited dn the offender,
that “God shall take away his part
out of the book of life.” Now, to all
this the sufficient answer, for every
one who knows the reverend gentle
man, is—that A. W. Miller said it.
God Save the King.—This expres
sion occurs four times in the common
version of the Old Testament, to-wit:
1 Sam. x :24, 2 Sam. xvi:l6, 2 Kings
xi :12, 2 Chro. xxiii .11.
In the original Hebrew it does not
occur at all! The words there used
are yechi ham-melech, which mean sim
ply May the king live, and the same
words are used in all the versions.
What we have said in another article
on the words God forbid, is equally ap
plicable in the present case, except that
the error here is less excusable than
that in the New Testament, because
‘there is not here so great a call for em
phasis, and the needless use of the
name of God is more wanton. The
French expression Vive le roi is an ex
act translation of the Hebrew, and what
is unusual, the phrase is more energetic
in French than in English. We hope
that those who are now engaged in the
revision of the Old Testament will give
us the text just as it was written, and
without the unwarranted variations in
troduced or sanctioned by the servants
of King James.
The Right Hon. Earl Nelson con
tributes an article to the Nineteenth
Century, on the unity of the church,
in which he says, “Baptists are avow
edly beceming more negligent in en
forcing the baptism of their adults.”
What he means must be this: that
the tendency of open-communion
among the English Baptists (whichhe
thinks is growing) is to displace the
baptism of adults altogether, and as it
is certain that we do not baptize our
infants, the result will be that the de
nomination will entirely disappear.
We agree with the Earl as to this ten
dency of open commnnion.
About half the Baptists of Texas
are within the bounds of the “General
Association,” and nearly all the rest are
included in the “State Convention.”
But there are three other “State” Con
ventions—the East Texas, the Central,
and the North Texas. We hope that
no personal rivalries or sectional jeal
ousies have had a hand in this multi
plying of organizations.
Rev. Daniel Gould, who died at
Dunstable, Eng., recently, in his 81st
year, had been pastor of a Baptist
church in that city more than 55 years.
GLIMPSES AND HINTS.
"For no word from God shall be void
of power.” This sentence is itself a
word from God, found in the Revised
New Testament, Luke 1:87.
The Baptist General Association of
Texas, which was the first to send a
missionary to the Wild Indians in the
western part of the Indian Territory,
was also the first to recommend, ap
point and agree to support a mission
ary to Brazil. It now proposes to re
inforce Rev. W. B. Bagby in the latter
field, by the appointment of Rev. Z. C.
Taylor, a student in the Southern Bap
tist Theological Seminary.
Half of the outward voyage of a re
cent tourist to Europe was through a
dense fog. But the ship made its way
toward the “desired haven” ;as truly
during days of gloom as when the air
was filled with sunshine. And so, the
cares and sorrows of this life may
darken the course of the Christian, but
cannot obstruct his on-going to “the
Shining Shore.”,
A midnight procession of priests at
Rome, two or three weeks ago, bearing
the body of Pope Pius IX from the
niche in St. Peter’s church where it
had rested to the tomb prepared for it
in the church of San Lorenzo, was in
terrupted by the populace, who sought
to extinguish tbe lights and to over
turn the bier, and for whose suppres
sion it was necessary to call out the
military. The Papacy appears to be
in evil odor even in its own “holy city.”
Rev. M. B. Wharton, D.D., writes to
Dr. Lawton that he reached London
safely, Tuesday, July 26th. He heard
Spurgeon preach to “a Thursday night
congregation of three thousand per
sons,” and was confirmed in his esti
mate of Spurgeon as “the greatest of
living gospel preachers.”
The Cincinnati Gazette says that
three-fourths, if not a larger proportion,
of the 500 deaths which occurred in
that city recently from the effects of
excessive heat, are traceable to the in
temperate use of intoxicating liquors.
Read the appeal, on our second page,
in behalf of the First Baptist church,
New Orleans, and render help accord
ing to the ability which the Lord hath
given you. The field is of the highest
importance, and the church is em
inently worthy of succor.
Memorial Baptist church, Philadel
phia, of which Dr. P. 8. Henson is pas
tor, is sometimes called by the profane
“the church of the Holy Hippodrome.”
In what sense is it a horse-course, that
it should receive this queer name?
To the names of Dr. W. A. Mont
gomery and Dr. M. Hillsman, Asso
ciate Editors, the Baptist Reflector
Nashville, adds the name of Rev. E. T.
Winkler, D.D., as “edi.torial contribu.
tor.” “N6ne m&y this t Hpleknot undo.’’
The Texas Baptist General Associa
tion will support Rev. W. M. Flournoy,
appointed by our Richmond Board as
missionary to Mexico.
Whatever has been done in this
world, minorities have done it. Even
when a majority has engaged in great
movements, there has been within it a
band of thinkers and workers, serving
as the excitative and executive force;
and this band has been so small as to
be a minority, not merely as regards
the whole community,country, or gen
eration, but as regards the very ma
jority set in motion by it.
The native Christians, living in the
hamlets in the vicinity of Ongole, (as
Dr. S. F. Smith writes to the Boston
Watchman,) are accustomed to meet
every morning, often to the number of
250, to spend an hour in religious wor
ship before engaging in labor.
Our Foreign Board, Richmond, has
appointed as missionaries, (probably
to labor at Tung Chow, China,) Rev.
J. P. McCullough and his wife, nee
Flora 0. McAdoo, both native Ten
nesseans. The husband, a graduate
of Rochester University and Crozer
Theological Seminary, is a Baptist pas
tor at Parma, N. Y.
The Deseret News is responsible for
the incredible statement, that the
“PrayingCircle”of the Mormon church,
( according to the principal organ of
that sect at Salt Lake City,) has
been unceasingly praying for the death
of President Garfield, as an enemy to
Polygamy.
Do we owe it to the Exodus that
there are in Kansas, among the colored
population, one association, eight or
dained ministers, and twenty-five
churches, with 2,200 members?
Candidates for baptism among the
Baptists of Berlin, Prussia, are cloth
ed in robes of white. Some of the older
members follow the injunction : “Greet
one another with a holy kiss.”
Rev. J. W. D. Creath died at Cam
eron, Texas, July 28 th. A native of
Virginia and entering the ministry in
that State, he has been since 1846
identified with our cause in the State
where his ashes await the resurrection
of the just. Without the brilliancy of
genius or the polish of thorough cul
ture, and with no special force of in
tellect, his eye has been so single, his
.zeal so uniform and glowing, his pur
poses so steadfast and his labors so un
tiring, that we can well credit the
words of the Texas Baptist Herald :
“The noblest man in all our ranks has
fallen.”
There were some marriages in Bom
bay recently, in which the youngest
bridegroom was fifteen months old and
the youngest bride nine months. Thou-
sands will see the incongruity and ab
surdity of linking that unripe age with
matrimonial rites, who nevertheless
link it with the ordinance of Christian
profession, and see no absurdity or in
congruity in the act!
Rev. T. Harley, in the London Bap
tist, “as an eye-witness for seven years
in the Southern States,” says: "I un
hesitatingly affirm that the white peo
ple of the South are the truest and
best friends of the colored people who
live among them, and that the colored
people themselves know and acknowl
edge the fact.” He states that the
white Baptists of Baltimore have spent
from $35,000 to $40,000, in building
houses of worship for colored Baptists
since the close of the war.
The Old-order Brethren among the
Dunkards claim that baptism must be
administered “in a stream, there being
no Gospel for baptizing either sick or
well persons in a mechanical vessel, in
a house or outside.”
“One of our mest learned ministers”
said, the other day, to the editor of the
Baptist Weekly, in relation to certain
views held by some of our brethren but
regarded by him as extreme: “The
river Jordan, followed too far, leads to
the Dead Sea.” .
The funds provided by the Southern
States annually for the education of
the colored people, are now estimated
at $1,000,000.
We notice the name of Dagg’s Man
ual of Theology among the text books
in the Presbyterian Institute for train
ing colored ministers, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
The American Baptist Home Mission
Society has appointed Rev. S. W. Mars
ton, D.D., Secretary for the Southwest
district. Dr. M. deserves “honor, love
and help for his work’s sake,” and for
his own.
According to the Cherokee Advocate,
there are in a population of about 60,-
000, in the Indian Nation, 154 Baptist
churches.
The Eleventh Baptist church, Phila
delphia, has, in connection with its
Bible-school, a class of Chinese; and
Spruce street church will probably
have one.
John T. Wilds, in the Christian at
Work, mentions an aged colored min
ister at the South, who does not know
the alphabet, yet can repeat more of
the Scriptures than any educated man
of Mr. W’s acquaintance. His mistress,
in times of slavery, taught him every
day a Bible verse, and he has remarka
bly retained all. That mistress was,
not in name only, a Christian at work ;
end there were many more like her
before the war than our Northern
brethren think.
—Hawkinsville Dispatch: We learn
from Messrs. J. J. Jelks and J. 8. Wil
lis, who, as the correspondent and
representative of the Hawkinsville Bap
tist church, attended a meeting at Sa
lem church, in Wilcox county, on Sat
urday and Sunday last, that action
was taken preparatory to the founda
tion of a new Association to be com
posed of churches now represented in
the Houston Association. This action
was taken in accordance with the
wishes of the churches in the lower
counties of the Houston Association.
The membership of the Houston Asso
ciation had become so large, and the
territory being so extensive, the meet
ing believed it advisable to form a new
Association. The following churches
withdrew from the Houston Associa
tion and will meet on Saturday
before the fourth Sunday in Septem
ber next with Zion Hope church, in
Irwin county, for the purpose of or
ganizing a new Association : Big Creek
church, Wilcox county, Friendship’
Pulaski county, Pleasant Hill, Wilcox
county, Salem, Wilcox county, Union,
Wilcox county, Zion Hope, Irwin coun
ty, Harmony, Wilcox county.
The Houston Association is compos
ed of forty or more churches, situated
in Pulaski, Dooly, Wilcox, Irwin,
Worth, Lee, and Macon counties.
The annual meeting of the Association
will be held with the church at Dray
ton in October. It is probable that
other churches will withdraw and enter
the new Association.
—Meriwether Vindicator: At a gen
eral meeting held at the Baptist church
at Hebron in the 7th district, begin
ning the 23d of July the following
resolutions were unanimously adopted :
Whereas, the hand of an assassin
has stricken down the Chief Magistrate
of the United States and thereby arous
ed the indignation of our entire peo
ple ;
Be it therefore resolved, —That it is
the sense of this Christian body that
our stricken Chief Magistrate be made
the object of special prayer for the res
toration to health and resumption of
the duties of the chair of State, and
that this body extent to him their con
dolence and to his household their
heartfelt sympathies.
—Rev. Chas. A. Stakely, of Elberton,
the "poet-preacher,” occupied the pul
pit of the Second Baptist church of
this city, last Sunday, morning and
night. His sermons were very fine,
and greatly enjoyed by the large con
gregations present.
—Rev. J. W. Fackler has tendered
his final resignation as pastor of the
Lumpkin Baptist church. This still
leaves him in charge of the following
churches: Union, Shady Grove, Elim
and Shiloh.
GEORGIA BAPTIST NEWS.
Shady Grove church, Laurens coun
ty, has been blessed with a gracious
revival. The meeting lasted five days
and resulted in ten accessions to the
church.
Pleasant Plains phurch, Washington
county, held a series of interesting
meetings recently, resulting in the
membership being greatly revived, and
fifteen accessions to the church.
An interesting meeting is being
conducted in the Sixth Baptist church
in Atlanta.
The Sunday School Convention,- of
the Mount Vernon Baptist Association
was held at Shady Grove church,
Laurens county, commencing Friday
before and including the fifth Sabbath
in July. The Introductory sermon
was preached by Rev. Isaac J. Peeler.
Rev. J. J. Hyman was elected Presi
dent and William A. Sinquefield, Sec
ritary and Treasurer. Our traveling
correspondent writes us that the session
was one of the most pleasant he ever
attended. Perfect harmony prevailed
throughout, and it is hoped great good
was accomplished. The Association
has twenty-eight churches and twenty
Sunday schools.
The Cuthbert Enterprise of the
fourth inst., publishes the following:
“A man by the name of Jennings,
and claiming to be a Baptist minister,
is going through this section, taming
horses, professing to cure cancers, and
preaching where the churches will al
low him. We warn the churches
against him. A horse-tamer is a good
thing, and we have seen the time
when we would have been glad to have
one on hand. A man who can cure
cancers is certainly a great blessing.
It is not because he follows either of
these professions that we bring him to
notice, but because he is a disorgani
er, and brings trouble wherever he
goes. He is recommended by nobody.
On the contrary, well known ministers
who know him intimately, caution the
churches against him. Let him tame
your horses, and cure your cancers if
you will, but don’t let him preach.”
—Talbotton Register: The opening
sermon of Dr. Searcy at the Baptist
church last Friday morning, on the
occasion of the General Meeting, was
a masterful production, and excited a
profound impression.
Dr. B. L. Ross, of Fort Valley,
was in attendance on the General
Meeting. He is a most genial gentle
man and an eloquent preacher.
The next General Meeting for the sec
ond district will be held with the church
in Geneva, 1882. The General Meet
ing which closed on Sunday evening
has been productive of much good; in
structive and able discourses were
preached, a feeling of renewed earnest
ness in the Master’s cause seemed to
have been awakened. The hospitality
of the citizens and church members
was open-hearted and more than suf
ficient for the occasion.
—Sandersville Herald : The meet
ing that closed at Smyrna the past
week resulted in an accession of five to
the membership, three by restoration
and two by baptism. The members
speak of building a new church at
this place at an early day.
The Ministers’ and Deacons’ Meet
ing at Sparta closed on Sunday last.
It was, we learn from Rev. T. J. Adams,
largely attended, and an occasion of
very general interest. The hospitality
of the good people of Sparta to the
visiting members was generous and
unstinted.
Dr. J. J. Brantly, of Macon, in con
sequence of feeble health, much to the
regret of the membership, has resigned
the pastoral charge of Bethlehem Bap
tist church. Rev. T. J. Veazey has
been called to the pastorate and will
probably accept the call.
—Swainsboro Herald : A protracted
meeting is to commence at Swainsboro
Baptist church on Saturday before the
third Sabbath in this month. Ministeri
al aid is solicited.
—The church-building which the
colored Baptists of Griffin are erecting,
fell into ruins a few days ago, owing
to some fault in the construction. The
News says: A reporter visited the spot
and found the building a complete
wreck, with many huge timbers bro
ken into splinters by the heavy weight.
All efforts to find out any direct cause
for the calamity, proved of no avail.—
The generally accepted theory, how
ever, is that the contractors miscalcu
lated on the building material in some
way, and a weak spot formed which
drew the entire structure down in an
instant. The timbers were not pinned
together, it is presumed, and the . roof
being weighty, it became top-heavy.
The loss to the church will be quite
severe, and is probably about five hun
dred dollars. The community sym
pathizes with the members, especially
as this is the second time their edifice
has fallen.
—The following brethren were elec
ted officers for the ensuing year at the
recent session of the Western Sabbath
School Convention held at LaGrange:
Sect’y and Treas., A. H. Kirby, Owens
byville; Vice-Presidents, J. T. Cline,
W. H. Partridge, Ist district. J. A.
Wynne, R. G. Hood, 2nd district. J.
C. Smith, P. 0. Collinsworth, 3rd dis
trict. A. D. Freeman, E. B. Barrett,
4th district. Executive Committee:
A. R. Callaway, chairman, M. B. Har
din, W. 0. Tuggle, 8. P. Callaway, W.
A. Callaway.