Newspaper Page Text
2
PARTING WORDS TO THE BAPTISTS OF
GEORGIA.
Drab Brethren : I bid you adieu I I be
lieve in a divine call to the ministry, and
divine guidance in tbe ministry. I have
been satisfied as to the duty of accepting the
invitation of the Coliseum Place Bqitist
church. New Orleans, and of the Home
Mission Board, to b-come the pastor of said
church. Twice before n>y return to Georgia
this church called me but the way did not
seem clear, at that time, for entering the
service. Now I think tbe time has come. I
believe God made me a pastor, and I know
the work is dearer to me than any employ
ment on earth can be. I hope to be of use
in organizing and laying the foundations ol
future churches in our largest S rnthern
citv, where we have b it little strength and
nil tence.
The territory of Georgia once reached the
Mississippi river, and 1 do nut feel, in these
days of rapid transit, that I shall be far from
my brethren in this State, or that I shall be
severed in sympathy from their enterprises
L t me have, dear brethren, your favor and
your prayers I
The few months in which I have labored
exclusively for Mercer University has in
creased my love for my Alma Mater, and
mv sense of her importance to the Baptists
and people of the Commonwealth. We
cannot have our needs met as a Christian
people without Mercer University, It is
fundamental to the best education of our
sons and the rising ministry. The State can
never do the work in education which we,
as Baptists, are riqiired to do. Thetenden
cy of higher education in our day is antago
nistic to tbe kingdom of Christ. There is
great need of Christian colleges to resist this
tendency, and to exercise a conservative
influence on the State colleges These State
institutions are controlled by trustees, many
of whom are politicians, and sustained by
legislators, many of whom are demagogues
In such hands there is less security in the
character and teaching of a professor, than
in the hands of a Board of Trustees elected
by the Georgia Baptist Convention. With
the most munificent means under the con
trol of the L-gislature, tbe success of the
State colleges is not satisfactory. 1 lie Agri
cultural colleges, instead of being feeders to
the State University, or Mercer and Emory,
are really sappers. At Thomasville I was
told that not probably more than three
students would go to any college from that
school the next year. In the school at Mil
ledgeville, where the first year there were
four hundred pupils (as I was told), there
are now only about two hundred and seven
ty five. And from this school very few will
go to college. After a pupil has been in the
school—at one of these Agricultural schools
—from tbe primary school, through the
'studies of a Sophomore cla s, he is weary of
school. When the course here is finished,
and the Chancellor of the University has
conferred the certificate of graduation there
is an end of school days. They study medi
cine or law, or go into business. So it is
that, practically, these schools hurt the State
University end the other colleges There are
fewer men going to college any where. Many
half-educated men, but too few thoroughly
trained men. Too few prepared, as natives
of the South, for leadership of our civilize
tion.
I believe in special taxation to give free
education to all trie people, so far as primary
education is concerned. I have spoken
much for common school education, and
served on tbe Board of. Education in Savan
nah, but I do not believe in taxation to give
free tuition in colleges and Universities
The State is interested deeply in having in
telligent voters, and hence should support
primary schools, even by taxation, but there
her work in this direction should end.
Higher education is a luxury for which the
individual, the community, or the Christian
denomination, should pay. If made free, it
should be by endowments in some of the
various forms This is the method of the
best institutions in America I speak of the
i nexpediency of free tuition by- taxation in
Universities, not in primary education. I
am not res|>onsible lor the obtuseness of
those who cannot make this distinction.
In my work for Mercer, I have found the
farmers, as e rule, poor, and unable to give
large amounts for endowment. The Bap
tists of the South are largely agriculturists.
Toe one practicable way to keep Mercer
abreast of the best institutions of the times,
is for the churches to give annually to sup
S lenient the deficiency of income until en
owment may come from the rich. Let the
month of December in each year be the
time for all the churches to make their an
nual collections for Christian and ministerial
education in Mercer University. Let the
names of individuals aud churches making
contributions be kept by the President and
Treasurer of the University and published
quarterly.
In view of the short crops, and other ob
stacles, Mercer University is in a pr- sperous
condition. It has nearly one hundred stu
dents in the four college classes, and an
unusually large proportion of paying stu
dents There is also an increase of ministe
rial students, and some of them are men of
great promise.
In leaving, I may add that my native
State is dear to me, and that I returned to it.
two years ago, fully expecting to finish my
life-work on her soil. Man proposes, but
God disposes I go very cheerfully and
hopefully to labor at the mouth of the
" Father of Waters ” Ou its banks rest the
bodies of my father, my brother, and my
two sons. The great valley has, for me,
very sacred associations.
Affectionately,
Sylvasus Landrum.
REV. IF. B. BENNETT.
Your readers remember, perhaps, the let
ter I wrote them in your columns begging
for aid to assist in building a church at this
place. No one but sister Everitt—widow of
Rev. 8. D Everitt —replied. God raised us
help in a different way, not with means to
build a church, but by sending us a preacher
and it is of him, his preaching and its results,
lam going to write. Not many Sabbaths
after my letter appeared, I received a card
from our dear brother, Rev. W. B. Bennett,
of Quitman, Ga , telling me he would make
us an appointment, if it was desired. Ac
cordingly, my husband, whois only half
brother—his heart being in the church
though bis name is not saw our Methodist
brethren and obtained permission to occupy
their church. The appointment was made
known generally and when brother Bennett
came he met a large congregation and
preached one of his clear, plain, practical
sermonswhicb delighted his attentive hearers
In the afternoon the few members of the
Baptist church met at brother C. A. Smith's
residence and earnestly requested brother
Bennett to give us a monthly appointment,
which be kindly consented to do aud which
promise be has since kept. At his August
appointment be bad the pleasure of re.'eiv
ingtwo members, postponing their baptism
until the 3rd Sabbath in October, which day
was one of pleasure to those who followed
Cbe candidates to the water's edge, believing
that Christ led the example. The sun threw
• mellow caste over nature's autumn
drapery, all was still.and the greatest solem
nity prevailed, which made the ordinance,
so gracefully and earnestly performed,
doubly impressive. The questions asked by
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX AND SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1881.
the minister and replied to from the Bible
failed to draw comment from our Pedobap
tist brethren, the act was sustained Accord
ing to appointment, brother B preached at
night and tbe Spirit of the Lord was with
him. The exercises of the afternoon gave
him renewed vim and he preached a sermon
full of earnest, persuasive truths. His text:
"Son and daughter give me thy heart.” ad
niitted lender solicitations and his pictures
of what tbe consequences would be if they
complied, were so beautiful, so gloriously
grand that at theclose of bis sermon he dis
covered the effect, invited mourners for
prayer, and to tbe utter gratification of pa
rents, brothers and sisters, siveral presented
themselves. Tbe Lord was with us
Now brethren, you are all convinced of
this being a broad field, that much good can
be done, that Baptist doctrine can live and
fl mrish here. It is rooting firmly, but
needs a shelter. The Methodists may tire
of us in the near future and we must have a
house of our own. Can't you aid us? We
will see.
Alice Pannal Tomlinson.
Homerville, Ga , Nov. 1881.
POPERY.
There is more Popery in our country than
most of us are apprised of. It is planting
itself with powt>r in our large ci ties, the seat of
power. As may be expected the immigrated
foreigner heartily accepts it as his mother
religion and exerts himself to waft it upon
the breeze of progress. And, strange to say,
many of our own native inhabitants are
a-cepting it.
Nor is the Roman Catholic Church the
only place where Popery exists. We take the
position that it is found in every church or
denomination opposed toa free government
The Episcopal Church is governed by tbe
counsel and direction of her Rector or Dean.
Here free government is opposed, which is a
form of Popery. In the Presbyterian Church
we find a similar example. Here the
c mncil chamber is vested in her Presbytery
It (the Presbytery) is the Presbyterian
Church. It is Pope or monarch of tbe
Church. The Methodist Episcopal Church
presents another branch ot Popery. The
Bishop, who is thir chief counsel, makes and
gives tbe laws to his subordinate officers,
wh< se duty it is to see that they are carried
out. Perhaps these so called Protestant
denominations will deny the relationship to
Catholicism, but the analogy is tooapparent
to every observer to be denied.
Nor does it stop here. I am constrained
to say that it has crept into our stylish Bap
tist Church, who claim to be advocates of
free government. Some of our assuming
preachershave, in taking the "care” of the
churches, assumed consulship, and taken
from them their freedom. We see them on re
ceiving a candidate to membership, give the
right hand ot fellowship in the “name of the
church.” Again, theapostles in all of their
writings, used the pronouns, "We,” "Us,”
• Our,” “Them,” etc We take up one
of our [religious papers and read an ac
count of a meeting somewhere, and it be
gins “I” commenced a meeting, “I” bap
tiz'd so many, "I” did thus and so at “my”
church. The truth of the matter is they
want to be seen and applauded by men and
exercise dominion over them.
R-cently a case occurred on this wis-: A
gentleman wishing to unite with the church,
told his experience to the pastor, who pre
sented his application (while moderating
the conference) and moved his reception.
The church stated that it was customary
in Baptist churches to have candidates relate
their experience, and as tbe applicant was
present thej’ preferred to hear from him
I’he pastor replied. "Brethren,! will have
you to know that lam Bishop of thischurch
and will exercise that authority and receive
him.”
Another instance occurred under the
writer's own observation, as follows : The
subj-ctof foot washing was brought up and
discussed before the church. The pastor
opposed the subject. Seeing it was highly
probable that the church would vote for it,
he arose, and before taking the vote, threat
ened to give up the care of tbe church if
they voted for the subject. Thus you see,
by his Popish threats, be' endeavored to de--
prive the church of her liberty and lead her
captive at his will.
These are drills that are dangerous, and,
to say the least, they are hostile to the liberty
and independence of the Baptist Church.
Yahoo.
ORDINATION, AND THOUGHTS ON MIS
SIONS.
In response to the invitation of the Baptist
church at Monroe, Walton county, Georgia,
the following Presbytery assembled for the
purpose of setting apart to the full work of
the Gospel mirystry, W. Stokes Walker, a
member of the above named church : H D
I). Straton, J. A. Harris, J M. Brittain and
J. F. Edens, the pastor of the church.
At eleven o’clock on Saturday morning. J
A. Harris preached an instructive sermon on
•'Walking in the Truth.” As all the Pres
bytery had notarrived.theordination services
were not begun until night
At seven o’clock a sermon was preached
by J M. Brittain on "Paul’s Faithful Say
ing,” after which the Presbytery was organ
ized by electing J F Edens, Moderator,and J.
M. Brittain,Clerk The following order fortbe
evening was observed: 1. Presentation of
the candidate in behalf of the church, by G
C Selman. 2. The examination of the can
didate as to his Christian experience, by J.
A. Harris. 3 His call to the ministry, by
J M Brittain, 4 His doctrinal views, by
H. I). D. Straton. Other services were post
poned until next day.
At eleven o'clock on Sabbath morning the
services were coutined as follows : 1. An
excellent ordination sermon, by H. D. D
Straton, on "The Glorious Gospel of the
Blessed God Committed to our Trust.” 2
Ordaining prayer by J F. Edens. 3 Laying
on of hands, by Presbytery. 4. Charge and
presentation of the Bible, by J. M. Brittain.
5 Charge to the church, by J. A. Harris.
6. Right hand of Fellowship, by the Pres
bytery and church. 7. Benediction, by the
candida’e.
At night W. Stokes Walker preached an
interesting sermon on ‘Where is your Faith.’
And thep closed one of the most solemn and
impressive ordinations we have ever wit
nessed. The fact that the Foreign Mission
Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
had appointed the brother ordained, as
missionary to China, added much to the
seriousness of the occasion. Young, man
ly. and vigorous, pious and enthusiastic,
our new missionary goes to the far east with
promising usefulness He had spent nearly
four years at the Semi ary at Louisville,
Kentucky, in profitable preparation for min
isterial service. Will not the heart of the
immortal Yates beat with new joy at the
early prospect of needed help in the evening
of bis useful life? Our ardent prayer is that
the cloak of this venerable servant of the
Lord, may fall on our young brother.
In a few days, two young ministers are
expected to leave their native land, for far
olf China. What an arduous work lies be
fore them 1 Did man ever embark on a
nobler mission ? To tell the world of "Jesus
and his love” is surely the sweetest work of
man.
Baptists of the South I Lay upon your
consecrated altar, close beside the names of
those al reaiiy in the field, the names of W.
Stokes Walker, and C. W. Pruitt, our young
missionaries to Shanghai and Tung Chow.
China. To praise God best, let us see to it
that our alms accompany our prayers. Let
us, as churches, move forward in the great
work committed to us. and a rich reward
will await us here and hereaf-er.
J. M. Brittain.
Covington, Ga., Dec. Sth, 1881.
PEN DROPPINGS.
BY L L V.
Our Legislature has decreed that tuition in
our State University shall be free. We ini
p tgn not the motives of those who voted for
this measure, but we feel quite sure that they
c immitted an error. We know not the line
of reasoning by which they sustained their
action. But to our thinking, nothing strong
er, nor indeed, half so strong, can be urzed
on this side of the question as upou the otb
er. Douh'less it was claimed that wiihout
aid, a.sufficient number of boys could not
go to college to supply the demand for edu
cated men. If this be. true, the aid offered
is not commensurate. As we all know tui
tion is a small, though not insignificant
item of the expenses of collegiate education.
Board, clothing, books, travel, foot up an
amount whicn few can pay who would think
an additional fifty or eighty dollars insup
portable. Our people in the olden time had
a pri le which would have been hurt at the
proffer of State, or any aid in educating their
sons, when they felt able to pay in full.
This pride is so much of a virtue, that we
should rather stimulate it than seek to
crush it.
But we think it a mistake to suppose this
aid needed. There have been tor some years
between five and six hundred young men
at college in our State, exclusive of those
from Georgia who are attending collego else
where. This number is sufficient for the
demand. Our high schools furnish young
men with training to fit them for trades
What is asked of colleges is that they should
prepare them for engaging iq the learned
professions, in literature, and the more ad
vanced departments of science. For some of
these we need perhaps a higher culture than
can be supplied at present by any of our
colleges But quite as many have been pay
ing to attain tbe grade of scholarship which
is now offered as have been finding, or are
likely to find, the outlay a proti able invest
ment To multiply recklessly the number
of educated men far beyond tbe demand will
not increase, but lessen thesum of happiness
in the country
ORDIN A TION.
The ordinalion of brother A W- McGaha
and brother Willie Y Browning, by order
of the Talladega Baptist church, at Talladega
Alabama: Elder J. J D Ranfroe, Pastor, on
Sabbath. Nov. 27th, 1871
At 11 o’clock, a. m Eider Samud Hender
son preached the ordination sermon ; text
2 Cor 215. Theme —Study What was not
study, what was, what to study, aud tbe
great purpose of study with the minister of
the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, were
discussed with earnestness before a large and
attentive audience.
The Presbvter.v, composed of Eiders Satn'l
Henderson, E T. Smith, J C. Wright J J
D. Renfroe and John B Mynatt, was organ
ized at. 7 o'clock. P. M , Elder Samuel Hen
derson acting as Chairman and Elder John
B Mynatt as Secretary The Chairman made
a few remarks introducing theservices before
the congregation. A hymn sung by the
choir and the reading of a few passages of
Holy Writ bv the Pastor, commerced the
work of tbe Presbyterv. Prayer in behalf of
the Presbyterv was offered by the Chairman.
The Pastor, Elder Renfroe, announced to the
church that, the Presbytery was now rea ly
for the work of ordination, whereupon, Dea
con John W. Bishop introduced the candi
dates in behalf of the church. The Pastor
had an extended examination of thecandi
dates on their Christian experience, call to
the Gospel ministry and upon the leading
doctrines of the Bible. Tbeordination prayer
by Elder E T. Smith, and tbe imposi
tion of bands by tbe Presbytery, were fol
lowed by an impressive charge from Elder J
C. Wright. The Pastorthen brought forwad
two large gill Bibles, stating that they were
presented through the Presbytery, by a sister
of the church, and that they contained
both the old and the new translation of the
New Testament. The whole exercises then
closed by extending the hands of greeting by
the Presbytery aud the church. The bene
diction was pronounced by the newly or
dained Elder, A W McGaha.
Jno B. Mynatt, Sec’y.
The Great Exposition Incomplets.—
The Exposition, from all nccounts, is truly
a wonderful thing. The fruits of the farm
and the fruits of the loom are exhibited
Would it not be well to exhibit the fruits of
the rum seller? Could he not show some
fruits in the shape of paupers, lunatics,
prisoners, malefactors, heart broken widows
and starving children,” that would be not
only interesting but also touching and
startling?
I wish to suggest this to the worthy gentle*
men who manage the Exposition that they
may make it complete, if it takes all winter.
W. A. Overton.
Union Point. Ga . Nov 25th, 1881.
To the Churches of the Sarepta Asso
ciation.—Dear brethren : At the last session
of the Association there were pledges made
to pay for sister Goss'home, to be sent to
your agent within sixty days. The time has
expired and your agent is anxious to get
this matter settled. It will take every dol
lar pledged to pay the debt, as P. W. Davis
made a mistake ofs6 50 in his report to me
It may be that some of you have forgotten
your pledges. Please permit me to name
the churches and amounts as found on the
list: Buena Vista, $5, Union, $5; Harmony
$5; Providence, $5; Crooked Creek. $5; Har
mony Grove, $5; Deep Creek, $5. If any
church, not named above, has not paid,
please respond. The list was made out
with {pencil and I may have made some
mistake. G. M. Campbell, Agent.
E.berton, Ga.. Dec. sth, 1881.
HUXLEY ON THE BIBLE.
"I have always,” says Professor Huxley,
“been strongly in favor of secular education
in the setice of education without theology ;
but I must confess I have been no less seri
ously perplexed to know by what practical
measures the religious feeling, which is the
essential basis of conduct, was to be kept up
in the present utterly chaotic state of opinion
on these matters, without the use of the Bi
ble. The Pagan moralists lack life and col
or, and even the noble Soic, Marcus Anto
nius, is too high and refined for an ordinary
child. Take the Bible as a whole; make
the severest deduction which fair criticism
can dictate for short comings and positive
errors: eliminate as a sensible lay teacher
would do, if left to himself, all that is not
desirable for children to occupy themselves
with ; and there still rehiaius in this old
literature a vast residum of moral grandeur
And then consider tne great historical fact
that for three centuries this book has been
woven into the life of all that is best and
nob est in English history ; that it has be
come the national epic of Britain, and is
familiar to noble and simple, from John
O Groat’s House to Land's End, as Dante and
Tasso were once to the Italians; that it is
written in the noblest and purest English,
and abounds in exquisite beauties of a mere
ly literary form ; and dually, that it forbids
the veriest hind who never left his village,
to be ignorant of the existence of other coun
tries and other civilizations, and of a great
past, stretching back to the fartherest limits
ot the oldest nations iu the world. By the
study of what other books could children be
so much humanized, and made to feel that
each figure in that vast historical procession
Ulla like themselves, but a momentary space
in the interval between the two eternities,
and earns the blessings or the curses of all
time, according to itseff >rt to do good and
hate evil even as they are earning their pay
ment for their work?
" And if Bible reading is not accompanied
by constraint and solemnity, as if it were a
sacramental operation, I do not believe thtre
is anything in which children take more
pleasure. At least I know some of the pleas
ant rec Elections of my chlidhood are con
nected with the voluntary study of an an
cient Bible which belonged to my grand
mother. There were splendid pictures in
it, to be sure, but I recollect but little or
nothing about them, save a portrait of the
high priest in his vestments. What comes
vividiy back to my mind are remembrances
of my delight in the histories of Joseph and
David, and of my keen appreciation of tbe
chivalrous kindness of Abraham in his deal
inge with Lot. Like a sudden flish there
returns back upon me my utter scorn of the
pettyfogging meanness of Jacob, and my
sympathetic grief over the heart breaking
lamentation of the cheated Esau, “Hast thou
not a blessing for me also, O, my father?"
And I see as in a cloud, pictures of the grand
pbantasmagoria_of the book of Revelation.
"I enumerate, as they issue, the childish
impressions which come crowdingout of the
pigeon holes in my brain, in which they
have lain almost undisturbed for forty years.
I prize them as an evidence that a child of
five or six years old. left to his own devices
may bedeeplv interested in the Bible, aud
draw sound moral substance from it.”—Con
temporary Review.”
OLD TRUTHS'
There are certain truths which evangeli
cal Christians of all ages and nations have
professed. Tnese, it may be, are few, but
they are fundamental. They are such as a
belief in the Creation, the Fall, Inspiration,
the divinity of Christ the Atonement. Regen
eration, the Resurrection and Future Judg
ment. These are tbe essentials of religious
belief.
They are tried truths. Constitu.ing. as
they do, the prominent and central features
of the various Creeds they have been the ob
ject of continuous assault. All forms of un
belief have united in thair rff >Hs to unsettle
the common faith of Christendom in these
great doctrines- They have stood the intel
lectual shocks of centuries. And to-day
they have a lodgement as strong and deep
and secure in the Christian heart as in the
days of the Apostles. S »me of them have
become part and parcel of Christian experi
ence. They have been attested in the deep
est feelings of those who have passed from
death unto life, aud in ctiaracteristic-i that
are common to those who differ in everthing
else. Tnese truths have formed Christian
characters and given it that peculiar unifor
mity which makes Abraham and Paul and
Calvin brethren in moral attributes as well
as in profession.
They are precious truths. Much as the
Christian world of to day values secular
truth, and enthusias'ically as it labors in its
discovery and application, it would not sur
render one of those battle scarred heir looms
for all the inventions of Watt, Arkwright,
Fulton or Morse. They are dearer than life
Thousands would die as thousands have died
in their defence.
They are living truths. Tbe world has
grown old. Innumerable generations have
come and gone. V. st changes have marked
thehistory of every one of them, and yet
these old truths are as fresh and vital, they
are as pertinent and timely to day as they
ever were. The world cannot outgrow them.
Men of this nineteenth century need to
know them and believe them as much as our
barbarous ancestors.
Hence they are powerful truths. Their
assertion, their positive and uncompromis
mg assertion is the very best corrective and
surest antidote of poisonous erros. Rampant
unbelief need not be assailed directly. It
will bemost effectually combated by an un
equivocal utterance of the great truths of
Christianity. Says Dr. Darling in the Oc
tober number of the Presbyterian Review :
"It is a noticeable fact that Christ seldom
sought directly to refute error. He very
rarely made positive attempts simply to dis
lodge false views of truth from the minds of
his countrymen. His mode of dealing with
wrong views of truth was not so much to
expel them by argument as to drive them
out by the expulsive power of their own
great correlative and antagonistic test. Christ
dealt with a wrong creed exactly as he did
with a wrong affection.
“ Thus should it be with us. The polemics
of theology have no comparrison in impor
tance with its dogmatics A vehement de
nial of error is never so effective as a bold
proclamation of truth. “ You cannot shovel
out darkness.” said John Newton, "but you
can shine it out."
Let these old truths then be brought to
the front. There is in them a majesty and
power which will expel error, as light expels
darkness Tney are true, mighty, and en
during, for they are the words of God, which
liveth and abideth forever. —Associate Re
formed Presbyterian.
MISSIONARY CLIPPINGS.
From The Baptist Missions! y Magazine.
South America. —A revival has oc
curred among the Americans in and
about Santa Barbara, resulting in sev
en additions to the Baptist Church,
seven to the Methodist Church, and
four to the Presbyterian Church.
When a man pulls out his penny
and gives that, when he is laying by
dollars, I can only consider that he
forms a pretty accurate measurement
of the value of religion.
China Open.—The present is a time
of unprecedented opportunity for car
rying on Christian work amongst the
Chinese. The time has passed when
the Church could only pray for admis
sion. It is now proved that the spirit
of toleration amongst the natives is
such that missionaries, whose methods
are marked by prudence and adapta
tion, may settle throughout the coun
try. In short, the empire is now open.
The Leipsic Missionary Society (Lu
theran) has twenty missionaries and
twelve thousand native members in
the Indies. Last year it received and
expended about sixty-five thousand
dollars
China is Moving.—The mighty
forces which are acting upon her are
gradually overcoming her inertness and
carrying her along. Ere long she will
catch the spirit of the age, and aston
ish the world with the rapidity of her
onward march. The resources of the
country are simply inexhaustible, and
the Chinese are capable of the highest
development.— London Miss'y Herald.
A new college has been founded at Cam
bridge. England, which is intended especial
ly for the training of missionaries, both home
and foreign. Its name is to be Selwyn col
lege, in honor of the Missionary Bishop of
that name. It has already received a sub
scription of SIOO 000 toward the erection of a
building The idea is a good one, and might
be adopted in this country with profit.
Dr. Pierce's "Favorite Prescription,” for
all those weaknesses peculiar to women, is
an unequalled remedy. D stressing back'
ache and "bearing-down” sensations yield to
jts strength-giving properties. By druggists.
Missionary Department.
REV. J. H DaVOTIK D.D,,( v ..,„„
REV. C. M. IRWIN, D.D., ( «<»lon.
MISSIONARIES STATE BOARD.
J. H. DeVotie, Atlanta, Ga.; C. M. Irwin, Mt.
Airy, Habersham, Rabun and White counties;
V. A. Bell. Ringgold, Whitfield and Chattooga
counties; Chas Edwards, Toccoa, Habersham
county; T. C. Tucker, Cassandria, Dade and Wal
kercounties; W. J. Kina. Nannie; P. A. Jessup,
Eastman,DodgeanlTelfalrcountles; A.C. Ward,
Brunswick- George A. Blount, Eden, Effingham,
nryan and Libert;.- counties, D. G. Daniell, Wal
thourville; J. H Campbell, Columbus, Muscogee
county; Alfred Corn, Blairsville. Towns county;
T. C Boykin, At’anta, State of Georgia; Simeon
Maxwell. Talbotton, Talbot county; W. B. Ben
net, Quitman; W. V. Perdue, Valdosta; G. H.
Washington, col., Albany. Mitchell county; J. C.
Biyan.col., Americus, Schley, Lee and Dough
erty comities; Frank M. Simmons, col., Stone
Mountain ; G. B. Mitchell, col., Forsyth ; S. A.
McNeil, col.. Quitman ; M. Brigman, Agusta ;
THE MISSIONARY FEMALE DOCTOR.
Mr Dear Sister : How would the ladies
of Georgia like to help us raise the special
f nid for one .’’dv ductor ? So far. only $72
d >!!ars have jb e i received. I hardly know
bow money cuuld be better expended just
now for our cause, than in this way.
Yours, respectfully,
H A Tupper Cor. Sec'y.
Richmond, Va., Nov. 25th, 1881.
The above letter, from our brother Tupper,
will be read with interest by the ladies of
our Societies, and we doubt not we shall re
ceive kind responses by the close of the next
quarter, Feb'y Ist, 1882. Dear sisters, let us
hear from you. Cannot, each Society send
us $lO for this young lady?
Mrs. Stainback Wilson, P. C. C.
Mrs, A. C Kiddoo, Cor. Sec’y.
A PLEASING INCIDENT.
BY MRS M T. YATES A S B C , SHANGHAI.
As a general rule, our Chinese converts
show their faith more by words than by
works; which, indeed, is rot surprising,
since active faith depends so much upon a
knowledge of what the Scriptures teach in
reference to individual duty ; and, unfortu
nately, a large proportion of our people are
so scattered, or so circumstanced, that we are
unable to give them minute and regular
instruction in Sundav-schools and Bible
classes- Hence it comes that few of them
have got beyond the one idea of securing
good for themselves. The benevolent part
of Christianity is yet to be developed, or
implanted—a very gradual process, in all
ages of the Church.
This being the case. I am glad to record an
exception to the rule—something that was
done whilst I was away last year, in Ameri
ca, which pleased me very much, because it
shows growth in a few at least.
Amongst our church members there is a
Mrs. Lear. She belongs to a good family,
and can read her own language. Her hus
band was a teacher, and kept school in his
own house until, unhappily, about two
years ago, he lost bis mind As the burden
of the family was thus thrown upon Mrs.
Lear, she endeavored to keep up the school
herself; bat her husband's mad ways fright
ened the children* causing one after an
other to drop off, till hardly any were left,
and she began to be in straits for daily bread
Still, she held on bravely, without asking
aid of any one.
Another of our Christian women, Mrs
Tsang, saw the struggle, and feeling that
sort of pity which can not rest without doing
something to help, she set her mind to work
and soon evolved a plan which wa- to secure
the assistance that Mrs. Lear so much needed,
and also contribute to the furtherance of the
Gospel
Sue proposed to change the school into a
free Christian.school, and asked a number
of the Chinese sisters to join her incontribu
ting something towards its support. Mrs.
Lear would give the use of her school-room,
t-be could let the half of her house for two
dollars a month, and two more would en
able her to provide for herself and her hus
band. Seven women were found who
agreed to give twenty cents a month for this
double purpose; and then Mrs. Tsang told
her plan to my husband, ’ and asked if he
would not add our daughter's name, and
mine, to the list, to make up the desired ten.
He did so willingly, knowing we should be
glad to help in so good a work.
Notice was duly given, as to the new con
ditions under which the school was to be
carried on, and the number of pupils very
soon increased —chiefly new ones, whose
parents were too poor to pay for education.
Christian books were introduced and Mrs.
Tsang, or one of the others, makes weekly
visits to encourage the teacuerand help her
explain the lessons. When dismissed for
the New Year holidays, a small present was
provided for each child, byway of reward
and encouragement. I have had nothing to
do with the management.
They tell me from week to week what has
been done, but I do not remember that even
as much as a suggestion, on my part, has
ever been needed. I have not yet been to
the school, for I wished these women to feel
that it is their own special work. Besides
this weekly superintendence,visits are some
times made to tbe mother's of tbe scholars,
and others in tbe immediate neighborhood,
to tell them of the way of salvation.
This enterprise is particularly pleasing be
cause entirely voluntary, and because it in
volves the g ving of monev by those who
have very little to give, with one excep
tion they are poor women, accustomed to
daily toil. Oae (a widow) has only four
dollars a month. Two others have six
dollars a month, each ; and on these small
sums they not only feed and clothe them
selves but have something left for contribu
ting to the native pastor’s salary, and to the
support of an assistant, sent out from our
church, who preaches at Soochow, besides
helping Mrs. Lear's school and giving fre
quently to their sick and needy neighbors.
One of these same women came to me
a few days ago, holding something in her
hand, wrapped in a bit of paper, Apologiz
iugfor the smallness of her offering, she beg
ged I would receive it to help pay for a new
school house we are building. She said "it
is very little, but I want to do something
towards it: make me happy by accepting
this mite.” Unwrapping ner little parcel I
found four dollars. Glad to see that she had
it in her heart to do this, I thanked her
warmly; but said, “we do not need this
money for the school-house, and you can
find other ways of doing good with it—you
must let me give it back to you.” But she
could not be persuaded—if we did not need
it for the house, she would buy a school
room clock with the money—a clock would,
of course, be necessary. To this I consented,
seeing that her heart was set upon it; and,
hereafter, I may have something to tell of
the school-hours regulated by her gift.
* There are no asylums for the Insane,in China.
They are allowed "to do as they please, unless
very violent. In that case they are chained.
An Indian fakir, having been converted to
the gospel, still occupies a position by the
side of a great thoroughfare, but instead of
standing on one foot, and holding his hand
above his head for hours at atime, as before,
he has built a little chapel, and dug a well,
where he entertains passers-by with a cool
ing draught, while he discourses to them of
the waters'of eternal life.
The English Baptists are not afraid of col
lections. Contributions to the various causes
were made during the sessions. A collection,
for exampple, was taken at the conclusion
or the sermon of Mr. Spurgeon.
RESULTS OF MISSIONS.
"I often wish that some of the cavillers
who are forever sneering at Christian mis
sions could see something ot their results in
these isles. But first they would have to
recall the Fiji of ten years ago, when every
man's hand was against his neighbor, and
the land had no rest from barbarous inter
tribal wars, in which the foe, without respect
of age or sex, were looked upon only in the
light of so much beef; the prisoners deliber
ately fattened for the slaughter; dead bodies
dug up that had been buried ten or twelve
days, and could only be cooked in the form
of puddings; limbs cut off from living men
and women, and cooked and eaten in the
Cresence of tbe victim, who had previously
een compelled to dig tbe oven and cut the
fire wood for the purpose; and this not only
in time of war, when such atrocity might be
deemed less inexcusable, but in time of
peace, to gratify thq caprice or appetite of
the moment.
“Think of the sick buried alive; the array
of widows who were deliberately strangled
on tbe death of any great man ; the living
victims wro were buried beside every post of
a chief s new house, and must needs stand
clasping it while the earth was gradually
heaped over their devoted heads; or those
who were bound, hand and foot and laid on
the ground to act as rollers, when a chief
launched a new canoe, and thus doomed to
a death of excruciating agony ; a time when
there was not the slightest security for life
or property, and no man knew how quickly
his own hour of doom might come; when
whole villages were depopulated simply to
supply their neighbors with Iresh meatl
"Just think of all this, and of the change
that has been wrought, and then just imag
ine white men who cau sneer at missionary
work in the way they do. Now you may
pass from isle to isle, certain everywhere to
find the same cordial reception by kindly
men and women. Every village in the
eighty inhabited isles has built for itself a
tidy church, and a good house for its teacher
or native minister, for whom tbe village also
provides food and clothing. Can you realize
that there are nine hundred Wesleyan
churches in Fiji, al every one of which the
frequent services aie crowded by devout
congngations; that the schools are well
attended, and that the first sound which
greets vour ear at dawn, and the last at night,
is that of hfinn-singing and most fervent
worship, rising from each dwelling at the
hour of family prayer? ” —At Home in Fiji,
b. Miss Cummins.
THE PSALMS.
Tbe Psalms have much of their power in
that they are the utterances of real life in its
changes The men believed, knew, felt;
thereiore they wrote. We see the hand of
God and tbe heart of man. Such men have
neverceased to be. Names change, life keeps
its course. The thoughtful man, whoseyears
are many, can sing the psalter through, and
set his own name for the pronouns. It has
been called the “sacred book of the world.”
How old it is, and yet ever young. The
churches have worshiped in its inspiring
strains, rising in its exultation, bowing in /
its confession and lament. The people have '
sung its melodies—merchants, sailors, and
ploughmen : sages, soldiers, priests ; moth
ers with their children, kings with their peo
ple. Cromwell led his men to victory at
Dunbar, with the sixty eighth- Psalm ; Lu
ther strengthened his heart with the vigor
of the Psalms. Wallacehad his psalter bung
before him at his execution, and died with
his eyes fixed upon it. Polycarp, Hilder
brand, Huss, Columbus. Xavier, Melancthon,
Jewell, gave their last breath to the words of
a Psalm. One Psalm alone has engraved
itself on the lives of men. The penitence
of the contrite soul has loved to breathe
out its miserere. Thomas Arnold had the
fifty-first Psalm read to liim when he lay
dying, and John Rogers recited itashe went
tp the stake Jeremy Taylor transformed it
into a prayer Lady Jane Grey repeated its
cry for mercy as she ascended to the scaffold
and Sir Thomas Moore, as he laid his head
upon tbe block. Augustine had written on
the wall opposite where he lay sick, “The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,” and
Bernard died with this verse on his lips. We
draw these instances from other days. They
might be found nearer to our time and in
our time. The Hebrew parchment lives in
the reverent sentence which looks down
from tbe Royal Exchange in London, down
on the busy streets and the hurrying throng
of men claiming ownership and holding
in brief possession in this world :
“ Theearth is the Lord’s, and the fullness
therof."—Dr. McKenzie.
Opium in China.—ln answer to a letter
addressed to him by the secretary of the
Anglo Oriental Society for the suppression
of the Opium Trade, Li Hung Chang, grand
secretary and viceory at Tientsin, has writ
ten a remarkable letter in which the follow
ing sentences occur.: "Opium is a subject
in which England and China can never meet
on common ground. China views the whole
question from amoral stand point; England
from a fiscal. England would sustain a
source of revenue in India, while China con
tends for the lives and prosperity of her
people. The single aim of my government
in taxing opum will be in the future, as it
always has been in the past, to repress the
traffic. It should be known that my gov
ernment will gladly cut off all such revenue
in order to stop the import of opium. My
sovereign has never dtsired his empire to
thrive upon the lives or infirmitias of his
subjects. The present import duty on opium
was established, not from choice, but becatis
China submitted to the adverse decision
arms.”
The CHiNESE.-Only let an intelligent
Christian spirit once take hold and possess
the milions of China, and you shall secure a
permanent investment of the highest good
for all mankind; for although slower and
less docile than the Japanese, harder to
win than the soft Islanders of the Pacific,
and less sensitive and responsive than the
African, the Chinese have vastly more sta
bility than any of these. Their endurance
of aB climates, ranging from the icebergs of
the North to the most malarious countries of
the tropics, is superior to that of any other
race of men. If the hard work of this world
were to be farmed out to the lowest bidder,
with political protection and honest, pay, it
seems likely that the Chinese would take the
contract. —-brom the London Missionary
Herald.
Bishop Crowther, of the Niger, Africa,
reports that he had received a visit from a
wealthy chief from Okrika, a town of 10,000
people, forty miles from Bonny, never yet
visited by a mission agent. The chief an
nounced that the Christianity of the Bonny
Mission had extended to the town, that the
people had built a church for Christian wor
ship accommodating 500 people, which was
filled every Sabbath, a school boy from the
Brass Mission reading the service.
Woman’s Influence.—A missionary writes
from Ceylon, "It is a noticeable fact, that,
where Christian women are married to hea
then husbands, generally the influence in
the household is Christian ; whereas, when
a Christian man takes a heathen wife, he
usually loses his Christian character, and the
influencer of the household are on the side
of heathenism.” And he infers that the
people are to be converted to Christ by the
influence of women.—Sabbath Recorder-
The Menasha (VVis.) Press says: A.
Granger, Esq., of this city, usei St. Ja
cob’s Oil on his horses with decided suc
cess and profit