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4 (The ©ftristian £ndrx J. C. McMICHAEL,:: Proprietor Continued from last week. SON-HOOD. Among the privileges of Son-hood, we must not omit that of inheritance. A son of God is an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ.” Rom. 8:17, “If children, then heirs: heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” Gal. 4:7, “Thou art no more a ser vant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” What is the inheritance ? We know not exactly what it is. Nor could wo comprehend it, in all its fullness, even if it were minutely described. Here is what Paul says of it in 1 Cor. 2:9, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have en tered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 1 Cor, 3:21-23, “All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life or death, or things present, or things to come: all are yours; and ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. Its qualities are such as give it eternal durability. 1 Peter 1:4, it is described as “an inheritance incur ruptibie, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.” Besides this it is perfectly safe, because it is “reserved in heaven for you.” To make it doubly sure the heirs ‘tare kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” “.Salvation,” “Eternal life,” the life of God in the soul. Joint heirs with Christ, whatever is his we share with him. It includes a kingdom. “Come, ye blessed of my Father* inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” A throne. “To him that overcometh will I give to sit down with mo in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne”. A crown. “Henceforth there is a crown of righteousness laid up for me which the Lord, the righteous judge will give me at that day.” Besides these privileges, certain changes take place in our condition, and certain effects are produced up on oiw character, begun in the pres ent, and continued in the future life. We are free from the law of sin and death. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Rom. 8:2. Free, not from my obligation to obey the law, but from the necessity of saving myself by it. Grace did not abolish the law, but rather established it. Faith in Christ, so identifies with Christ, that he becomes “the end of the law” to every believer. The end, or object of the law, is to give life. He who keeps the law lives by the law, is justified. Every true believer in Christ, keeps the law, in Christ, dies in Christ, therefore, lives in Christ, is justified in Christ. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for us. Gal. 3:13. 2. Fear is cast out. Fear of God. “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage to fear, but ye have receiv ed the spirit of adoption whereby ye cry, Father. Rom. 8:15. Before it was nothing but fear, slav ish fear, arizing from the conscious ness of sin, and the certainty of com ing retribution. Now guilt is gone, fear is cast out love rules the heart, while the thought of his continual presence constitutes of our chief pleasure. Fear of death. Because of the fear of death wo had been, before, all our life-time ift bondage. Now, we look upon the day of death as our deliverance, as the day of our glorification, as our crowning day, as the day that shall usher us in to the full fruition of the inheritance reserved in Heaven for the children and heirs of God. Sin, the sting of death, having been ex tracted, jleath and the grave are 6v allowed up in victory. We pass through llhe valley of the shadow of death fearing no evil, Jesus being with us.’ His rod and his staff com forting us. 8. We are purified. Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is pure. Ist Jno. 8:8. The faith that unites us to Christ not only “works by love,” “but purifies the heart.” In Christ we are new creatures. It is a gradual progress ive purification, a growth in grace. It is denoted by increasing hatred of sin, by a dying of “the old man,” a walking after the spirit, a renewing of the spirit of mind. Thus, we are made free with the iberty of the children of God. 4. These changes are continued and perfected in the future life. As we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Phil. 3:21. For whom he did foreknow He also did predestinate to be conform ed to the image of His Son. Rom. 8:29. Now are we the sons of God and it doth not appear what we shall be. but we know that when He shall ap pear we shall bo like Him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 Jno 3:2. There are clear and distinct traces of family likeness to be seen now. Such was the conduct of Peter and John in the presence of the Sanhe drin that “they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.” The more we keep company with a him, the more we appear like him, the more we imitate his ways, catch his words, and imbibe his spirit. But then, seeing him as he is, face to face,our view of him more perfect, the more powerful becomes the in fluence of His presence upon us. The transfiguration was an emblem of hu manity glorified at the Resurrection. They arc the sons of god who are “born of God” and who have “receiv ed the spirit of adoption whereby they cry, Father.” The sons of God begin the en joyments of children and heirs here, but only as minors. Hereafter, they shall enter into full possession of their inheritance, sharing its unfad ing glories with Jesus, their “Elder Brother.” HOW ERROR GROWS. The Methodist Protestant denom ination, in former years, granted to women the privilege of speech-mak ing in the assemblies of the church and in other public gatherings, and made them eligible to sit as lay dele gates in the General Conference, the body that legislates for the whole communion, and the Annual Confer ences, the bodies that interpret and execute that legislation. This was done in the face of explicit prohibi tion by the Apostle Paul, “Let your women keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law,” 1 Cor. 14:34. “Let the wo men learn in silence with all subjec tion. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to bo in silence.” 1 Tim. 2:11-12. This year, that denomination has taken a further stop, not to say stride, in the same direction. The General Conference struck out the word “obey” from the vow of the bride in the marriage service of the Church, all the female delegates voting for the measure. Hero was another apostolic principle trodden under foot: “wives submit yourselves un to your husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church ; and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let wives be to their own husbands in every thing,” Eph. 5 :22-24. The thoughtful reader will note two things. The divinely ordered relation of the sexes is disturbed by the former action in the ecclesi astical sphere; by the latter, in the domestic sphere. The former puts woman in an unscriptural position in her church-life, the latter in her home-life. Both set her free from* set her against, inspired restrictions; the former, against restrictions bind ing her as a believer in Christ; the latter, against restrictions binding her as a wife and a mother. Now why, when the one has been brought in, should it draw the other after it ? The reason is plain: there is a cas ual connection between the two;one spirit genders them. If we cannot trace that connection for ourselves here it is in the case of the Method ist Protestant Church acting itself out in history, and making itself cer tain even iu the absence of explana tion. But why should we doubt that the habit of disregarding ex press Scriptural injunction strength ens by indulgence, and flows onward with both a deeper and a wider cur rent ? And who shall say that God who instituted the relation of the sexes and knew what is necessary to keep those relations pure and happy, did not see that a blow’ against wo manly silence and subordination in the church is, in the very nature of THE CHRISTIAN INDEX: THURSDAY, JULY 21. 1892. the case, a blow against the ethics of marriage in the family? For one, we believe that both these questions might w ell be put in the form of affirmations. It seems clear to us that if w’oman does not keep to the New Testament law in the ecclesias tical and public sphere, in the final issue she neither will nor can keep to that law in the privacies and sanc tities of home. The bond of restraint cut in the one case, will slowly but surely ravel out in the other. PROGRAMS. One of the best letters Bill Arp ever wrote was addressed to Abra ham Lincoln, in 1861, just after he had issued his proclamation com manding the rebels to disperse. The first sentence was: Mr Linkhorn :—Are you not ishuin too much proclamashun ?” Indeed, it did prove to be too much. Looking over the long programs that have been published in the In dex for centennial mission meetings, and the multitude of details they contain, we are led to think that there is danger of issuing too much program. Would it not be better to allow more freedom in the selection of sub ?ects ? Would it not be better still to have more preaching, more pray ing and ringing the old time spirit ual hymns, more of simple worship, with less advertisement of mission themes ? The programs give a for mality and stiffness to the meetings that make them cold and barren of lasting results. If the Holy Spirit is present, and our hearts are warm ed with love there will be no lack of interest in missions. One more suggestion. Do not invite too many speakers. Two or three besides the pastor, W'ill be quite enough. They can do the preaching, and give general di rection to discussions. Let these be free, informal, giving any who may feel inclined, the opportunity to speak. You may “ent” the program, but don’t “dry it.” Take the stiffness all out of it, and let the meetings go of themselves. Finally, Do not forget to make pro vision for the traveling expenses of those whom you invite to aid you and notify them of the fact w hen you extend your invitations. A failure in this matter may cause disappointment and vacancies in the programs. MIRACLES. In “Robert Elsmere,” Mrs. Hum phrey Ward says: “Miracles do not happen.” Os course not; they arc works of God, and it would be an evil omen for our reverence, if we could say of God that he “happens” to do this or that They come to pass, they take place because they are divinely wrought, wrought un der a law’ of divine purpose, wrought through a forth-putting of divine power. What “happens” is, that men deny miracles ; a sore fault for which they must answer sorely. But from that fault, grievous as it is in itself, we may gather profit to ourselves. Not in vain was Jonah swallowed by the great sea-monster and delivered after three days alive: not in vain—even if all past ages have learned no lesson and reaped no benefit from his strange experi ence : not in vain, for now he serves as a touchstone to this proud Nine teenth Century ; putting many wise and learned men to the proof, and showing whether, with conscious or unconscious infidelity, they will bold ly denounce the story as a myth or weakly, construe it as an allegory. We are thankful to Jonah for un masking unbelievers even among theologians; perhaps they might have hid themselves from us but for the help he renders. And so of mir acles in general: they are the Ithu riel-spear, at whose touch the Satan of skepticism, “squat like a toad” in professors' chairs, or editors’ rooms, or pastors' studies’, stands unmasked. Let us not carelessly throw away the profit they may insure us in this re gard, by paying no heed to the clear, unmistakable line of separation with which they set off by themselves a class of thinkers who are false to the fundamentals of Christian theology. AN APPEARANCE OF EVIL. Under the law of Moses, to be a leper made a man permanently un clean; and only to have looked like a leper for a season, constituted an uncleanness which required the washing of the clothes for its remov al, (Lev. 18:6.) No Christian can innocently disregard appearances. There is a measure of the guilt of a sin in not caring whether we seem to be guilty of it or not. ‘•A GOOD OLD AGE.” When Abram was in the shadow of that “horror of great darkness” hat fell upon him while he dwelt in the plains of Mamre, God gave him this assuring promise : “Thou shait go to thy fathers in peace ; thou shait be buried in a good old age.” The sacred history long afterwards tells us so simply: “Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years ; and was gathered to his people.” Ah, what beauty and grandeur do those sacred obituaries display ! In them we have no fulsome flatteries of the worthy dead; no elaborate recital of their life-work; only their peaceful departure to the blessed communion of their people. Opening the holy volume we find the same beautiful record concerning the hero Gideon and the Psalmist David. Os the latter it is written: ‘He died in a good old age, full of ‘days, and honor.” Yes, honored by his God, and honored by the innu merable company of the elect ever since, who find in his sweet songs winged words with w hich to bear heavenward their praises and pray, ers. There is pathos profound in the fervent supplication of the trou bled David when he prayed : “Cast me not off in the time of old age; Forsake me not when my strength faileth.” God did not forsake His trusting servant. After his checkered and sometimes sadly-wandering career David found the divine promise true. His latest days found liis soul com forted with the presence and smile of His God. Eliphaz, in his beauti ful description of the happy end of the divine chastening, said: “Thou shait come to thy grave in a full age, Like as a shock of corn cometh in its season.” Indeed, Eliphaz appears to have been greatly impressed with the. pre serving influence of virtue, and with the certainty that vice tended to shorten one’s days. Hear him once more : ‘Let him not trust in vanity, deceiv ing himself; For vanity shall bo his recompense. It shall be accomplished before his time, And his branch shall not be green. He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, And shall cast off his flower as the olive.”- Whether this persistent “comfort er” of Job was inspired or not, he was a poet of no mean order. Thinking along this line we have been impreseed with the divine care for old age. One of the most sug gestive words in the Levitical law is that which commands : “Thou shait rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man.” Long afterwards the wise man said : “The beauty of the old men is the gray head;” and the hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteous ness.” A good old man! What a benediction to all around him! How beautiful the psalmist's glowing lan guage : “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; He shall grow like a cedar in Leba non. They that are planted in the house of the I,ord Shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall bring forth fruit in old age; They shall be fat and flourishing!* It is delightful to see an old man who has “grow n old graceful ly”-one who has not soured with increasing years. The central figure in the world’s gallery of statesman is Glad stone, fitly known as the “grand old man” by political friends and foes alike. Though his four score and five years might well claim rest, he yet chooses to stand in the forefront of his nation’s hosts, leading the struggle for the true and the right. From his tongue or pen there has come no plaint of pessimistic fear or foreboding. His eagle eye is to wards the light, and his words are words of cheer and hope for his peo ple and the world. We know of one who has grown old in our Geor gia ministry—one who may justly be named as our “grand old man.” He, too, has passed his more than four-score mile-stones in the life journey. Yet his loving heart-beats in unison with the advancing thought and effort of the age, and he lives a sweet and peaceful life, “bringing forth fruit in his old age,” as the columns of the Index frequently show. From his comparative retire ment he recently wrote A charming letter in which occurred this golden sentence: “Though lam necessarily deprived of the great pleasure of meeting my brethren socially, my heart beats in cordial sympathy with them, and I rejoice in all their work for our blessed Master.” Ah! such a heart will be ever young, throbbing with the warm blood of interest in the busy moving world. He evidently is enjoying God’s promise in “good old age.” When the royal prophet would en courage Israel to steadfast faith, he speaks for God thus: “Even to your old age I am He; and even to hoar hairs I will carry you,” Whose heart does not feel a holier thrill as he sings: Even down to old age, all my people shall prove My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable lover And when hoary hairs shall their temple adorn. Like lambs they shall still in my bosom be borne. THE BTATE BOARD. The State Mission Board met in Atlanta last Tuesday in obedience to a call from Secretary J. G. Gibson. S. A. Burney, D. D., presided over the meeting and Rev. S. Y. Jameson acted as Secretary. There were present Brethren F. C. McConnell, W. L. Stanton, B. D. Ragsdale, A. B. Vaughan, jr., P. A. Jesup, A. D. Freeman, Geo. R. McCall, H. C. Ilornady. The corresponding Secretary re ported collections for the several Boards. Up to July Ist he had re ceived 81,571,28 for state missions since the convention. The fact that he has received 8812,38 more for this same period than he received last year the same time is encourag ing. At the former meeting the appor tionments were made. At this meeting the secretary rendered a detailed account and some few new appoint ments, were made. In view of the fact that The Index publishes all the receipts and expen ditures made by the Board through the Corresponding Secretary and publishes any and everything the Board desires free of charge the fol lowing resolution was unanimously passed : Resolved, that our Missionaries be required to solicit subscriptions to The Christian Index, the same to be an item of their monthly re ports. Dr. Gibson also suggested to the Board the propriety of the Index is suing a State Board Quarterly to be edited by Dr. Gibson, the subscrip tion price to be 25 cents a year. The Board endorsed the suggestion and authorized Dr. Gibson to proceed with the Quarterly the same to cost the Board nothing. The first issue of the State Board Quarterly will appear the first week in October. Subscribers to the Index at 82.00 a year will get the Quarterly edition and those who pay 25 cents will get only the Quarterly. In this move ment every Baptist family in Geor gia can be informed of the needs and work of the State Board by the ex penditure of 25 cents a year. The State Board realizing the power and influence of the Index for good, by the resolution passed, now require, every missionary em ployed by the Board to consider taking subscriptions to the Index a part of their work. In fact, many of our pastors consider circulating the Index mission work. There are zealous laymen in the state who even send money for sample copies to distribute. The missionary or pas tor who secures a subscriber to the Index, strengthens the cause, helps the Board, benefits himself and edu cates the subscriber. Will not every pastor, every working brother and every consecrated sister in Georgia resolve that they, too, will take up the circulation of the Index and send us one or more new names. With such help we will make a pa per that will be the equal of any. There are some timid Chrstians who are easily alarmed at the noise made by infidel attacks on our holy religion. Especially do they trein. ble when they hear about the awful things the “higher criticism” is going to do. To such we commend the following from a witty speaker: “The guns of these ‘advanced thinkers’ go off with a tremendous report, a cloud of dust fills the air, and fearful souls cry out, that the walls are falling. But when an ex amination is made it is quickly seen that they have simply knocked down a lot of stuccol” • The candidate for Vice President on the People’s Party ticket, Gen. Fields, is a Baptist. Several years ago we think he was moderator of the Virginia General association. The Prohibition Vico Presidential candidate is a Baptist preacher and editor. Gen. Palmer, who was so prominently mentioned for the head of the Democratic ticket, is also a Baptist. TWO PICTURES. How different is the picture of the Sabbath day in Scotland as drawn by Duncan McNeil to the picture one sees in our Amerjcan cities on the Lords day. If the Scotch ideal of the Holy Sabbath prevailed in America, we should spend no labor or thought to prevent the opening of the World’s Fair on the Sabbath. Let us pray and work for the love and fear of God as Scotland is said to manifest it. Daniel McNeil says: “The fear and love of God is not more apparent in any na tion of the globe than Scotland to day.- Travellers tells us “that Edinburgh its capitol city, is like a church in its sanctity and careful observance of religious rites and duties on the Sabbath day. Cooking is done on the Saturday previous, public con veyances do not lumber through the streets, cars are still, no door for drinking allowed open, men, women and children wend their way plea santly to the House of God and back to their houses, keeping the Sabbath day holy, and by their demeanor, walk and conversation, rendering holiness to the Lord. And as it is in the chief city, so in the towns, villages, hamlets and granges of the realm.” This is an ideal picture and whether it can be true or not it sug gests an exceeding wholesome les son for every child of God. In many of our American cities on the Sabbath it is difficult to distinguish the noise and rattle of wheels and cars from those of any other day. We are drifting rapidly farther from the Scotch practice we fear. In considering the plans of our brethren who resigned as missionar ies in China, the Biblical Recorder gives some statistics as a very strong argument against their plans: There are thirty-four general Protestant organizations, like the Foreign Mission Board of the South ern Baptist Convention, in the United States, five in Canada, twen ty-seven in England and sixteen in Germany, doing mission work among the heathen, and they are all 'work ing virtually on the same plans and methods of our Board at Richmond. If there is, therefore, any one thing on which we seem to have the con sensus of opinion of the missionary Protestant Christian world it is.on the “plans and methods” of mis sion work in heathen lands. The organizations referred to above had in 1891, according to re ports now before us, 11,388 stations, 7,921 missionaries, 40,083 native la borers, and 726,883 church members and they received for their work 811,106,714. These natives, con verted heathen, gave last vear to the Lord’s cause 8652,624. A WORD FOR UNITY. Christian fraternity ought to be stronger than political rivalry. We hope it will prove so in the case of the two Southern Baptists who have been made rival candidates for the Vice Presidency of the United States, Rev. J. B. Cranfill, of Texas, by the Prohibitionists, and Gen. J. G. Field, of Virginia, by the People’s Party. Let them borrow from Abraham and Lot the motto: “We be brethren”—brethren first, and on ly after that, politicians. This motto would not be amiss, in fact for all Baptist candidates, who ask their fellow-citizens to choose between them in filling an office. And why should it not have place and have power with all Baptist voters who in making that choice stand on oppos ing sides? But the principle in volved applies, not only as between Baptist and Baptist, but also as be tween Christian and Christian. Sure ly “the communion of saints” ought to live through the excitements and agitations of a political campaign ; ought to prove a calming oil of grace on the troubled and angry waters. INCONSISTENCY. The wife of Ulysses sat at her loom through the day weaving dili gently and skilfully; but when night came she unravelled all the day’s work again. So we may think of witnesses for Christ, whether in the pulpit or pew as weavers, who from the loom of official labor and person al life should bring forth for the souls of men robes of salutary in fluence and saving truth. And the times when “they say and do not,” the times when through inconsisten cies of spirit, speech and action, they bring reproach on the cause of the Master and in the Mas ter himself—we may think of these as night seasons, in which what they have wrought, no matter how skill fully or diligently, is by their own hands unravelled, with here and there a soiling never to be cleansed or a breaking to be reknit no more THE THEATRE. In the late work on “Ibsenism,’* G. B. Shaw, an advocate of the thea tre, says: “Indecency and vulgarity are rampanton the London stage, from which flows the dramatic stream that irrigates the whole country.’’ This is the voice of a friend to the stage, and its tone of course, is lit tle likely to be too stern, Who can doubt that what it confesses is the truth ? But it is probably not the whole truth, since the partiality of the critic naturally tends to undue leniency iu judgment. How stands the case, then, with the stage in America? Can we hope that it is better morally than the English ? If not, can the Christian innocently frequent it ? A WORD OF WARNING. “The Review of- Reviews,” is a periodical of great popularity, and in many respects deserves it. it should be read with caution, as thererunsthraugh.it, cropping out at times, what W. H. Mallock calls the “devout” (but which seems to us most undevout) “idea, that the essence of Christianity will somehow survive its doctrines.” M'e will be wise to guard against this insidious leaven, lest we come to drcam of “religion without theology,” which is the first or sentimental stage, and and the Bible at last takes shape to us practically as “a revelation that does not reveal”—which is the sec ond or infidel stage. GUILTY SILENCE? As there is “a darkness which may be felt,” so there is a silence w’hich may be heard. Not talking often talks. The failure of professed Christians to tell the story of Christ’s love, may itself tell of indif ference toward him and his truth. It may bo easier to “give account of idle words” than of this idle silence; who knows? “Turn away my eyes from behold ing vanity.” For that is the only way of turning away the heart from desiring it, or of turning away th* feet from pursuing it, or if turning away the hands from filling them selves with it. This prayer and this reason for the prayer ought to be kept in mind by Christians, in decid ing whether they shall take their “summer outing,” their “heated term vacation,” at some fashionable resort or in some quiet retreat. THE FUTURE. In some Darwinian articles to the Magazines, Grant Allen commends a “virile contempt” as the feeling prop* er toward the belief in a future stat*. According to scientific (?) scepticism, then, it is manly to regard ourselves as “beasts that perish 1” Well, w r ho need care for the “contempt” of a perishing beast ? The Journal and Messenger, our splendid Cincinnati Baptist organ, says: “Our Brethren in the South are wide awake and earnest in their Mis sionary Centennial movement.” This opening sentence is followed by an editorial written in fine frater nal spirit. We trust the figures read at the next Convention will f ullyjus tify all the kind words said of us. Mr. Joseph Hemmcrich An old soldier, came out of the War greatly enfeebled by Typhoid Fever, and after being in various hospitals the doctors discharged him as incurable with (oawmpiioa. Ho haa been in poor health since, until he began to taka Hood’s Sarsaparilla Immediately his cough grew looser, night sweats ceased, and ho regained good general health. Ho cordially recommends Hood’s Sar saparilla, especially to comrades In the <l. A. B. HOOD’S PlLl 8 euro Habitual Constipation by rsstorlng peristaltic action of tbs alimentary canal. Keady July let* Gospel Jl.viniiH Nos. 5 and 6 Combined 4,is Pieces, many of which can be found in ne other book. Music, Sen per inn: 70c, on. by Mail. Words, 820 per 100; 22c. ea. by Mail. THE I THE John Church Co.' Biglow & Main Co. 74 \\ . 4th St., Ciu’ti. I 7« E, nth St., N. Y. T M Mll* fct M ' , '* r NUW anti teciite po» '■ fit 1 rt M ■■ rC lUHdtia in theColtetf*' “'"‘n kSo TlWHMlir'iV •’■*»* S hoc. 4 u.lheootMh m__ »ud SouthwMt. Vaeta« tea are ro rurring rv-rr rtAjr. Re<istration f*a fa.no, C-tld .tamp blank., AMERICAN Bl UF A(' OF EUUUATIC . Miss CARTER, Propnetor, Cokj Blds. NASHVILLB.Ti ..N