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Many good and strong things were said in be half of MISSIONS During the Session of the Southern Baptist Convention. Subscribe to and read the Christian Index, if you would keep informed. ESTABLISHED 1821~ Site ffihviotiait index Published Every Thursday at 67% S. Broad Street, Atlanta, Ga. J. c. McMichael, Proprietor. Organ of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia. Subscription Price : Ope copy, one year $ 2.00 Ono copy. Six months 1.00 One copy, three months 50 Obitva-BIES.—One hundred words free of charge. For each extra word, one cent per word, cash with copy. To Correspondents.—Do not use abrevia tions; be extra careful in writing proper names; write wish ink, on one side of paper; Do not write copy intended for the editor and busi ness item* op same sheet. Leave oil personal ities; condense. BttaurEss.—Write all names, and post omces distinctly. In ordering a change give the old as well as the new address. The date of label indtpatos the time your subscription expires. If you do not wish it continued, order it stop ped a week before. We consider each sub scriber permanent, until he orders his paper discontinued. When you order it stopped pay up to date. KemiTtancrs by check preferred; or regis tered letter, money order, postal note. Creed and character are to each other as cause and effect. Creed makes character. What a man be lieves about religion is his religious creed, and is the mould into which his life is cast. “The devil never takes a vaca tion.” Neither does God. But that is no reason why you should not come away for a season and rest”, as Jesus and his disciples did. But be sure you do all for his glory The greatest educating power and the mightiest moral beverage known to men is the Christian pulpit. lie who sustains the preaching of the gospel by his money and his example and his prayers is contributing in the most direct and efficient way to the moral uplifting of the world, “My peace I give unto you”, said Jesus to his disciples. What a peace was that! The peace of infinite holiness and infinite power. By far the most of our disquietude comes from wrong-doing and wrong-wish ing. As we grow toward Him we come nearer to the peace that “pas seth understanding.” We publish|to-day on our first page the first of a series of articles pre pared by one of our regular contribu tors Rev. J. M. C. Breaker, of Mar shall, Texas. Our contributor, you will remember was the author of the “Prize Essay on Communion” pub lished by the South-Western Pub lishing House, Graves, Marks & Co’ in 1859. The other articles will soon follow the one in this issue. Are we not in danger of expecting to much cf our laws? Law can do something, but it can do no great deal toward making men and women blameless. Our government is great and strong, but it has its limitations. A good lock is a better keeper of a hen-roost than the best statute against stealing. And if there were no thieves, the lock itself would be useless. The government connot make people either virtuous or hap py, and that is not its object. Our only hope both here and hereafter is in the gospel. That is a burning thought which fell from Dr. Gibson’s lips at the Convention in La Grange:-“The present generation of heathen are our heathen” Every minute we de lay some Soul perishes that can be reached by no body else. When we are gone the heathen that now lives will be gone. We shall meet them at the judgement bar of God. How will you feel brother when you look into the face of one whom you might have saved, as he turns away, condemned, into night. We say we must make the children missionaries, quite true, and we must be missionaries. If these who now live are to wait till our children grow up, for the Gospel, they will be lost. The simple Baptist Church is the greatest thing in the world. All of our deliberative bodies acknowledge this great fact, in that, they are all advisory and not legislative. I heard a great man say, the other day, that he was becoming more and more impressed that a plain, simple Church was the most effective or ganization on earth. Aside from the fact that a Baptist Church is the New Testament church its very structure is assurance of beauty and strength. Its organization is the simplest thing in the world. There is not a wheel, pully, belt or lever too many, nor one too few. Me chanics well know that a perfect machine has just enough machinery JJfie jffiwtian to meet the purposes of its existence and no more. If this was ever true of any machine it is true of the church. Sometimes I think of the organism of the church and wonder if the author of it did not fashion ft after the order of the stars. Philoso phers tell us that the planetary sys tem is held together by a law of matter that attracts all other matter to itself. So that world revolves around world with perfect precision and harmony. May it not be true that the love of truth and the love of one another is God’s spiritual gravitation, that is an ever opera tive law', in the churches, that makes them stand together in spite of all tho distractions and alienation that attempt their dissolution. THE LORD'S DAY. Continued from July, 2Sth. I find it necessary to write one more, and I hope only one more ar ticle on the above subject. I wish to say to all who have read my articles, that it has been no part of my de sign to impair, or lessen any one’s respect for the Lord’s day. On the contrary my purpose has been to vindicate and emphasize its claims by delivering it from the mist and fog of Judaism, and by placing it on its own proper and independent ground in the Christian system. It is a lamentable fact, that thou sands of church members have no higher idea of the Lord’s day, than, that it is a day on which they must suspend their ordinary labors, ac cording to the requirements of tho Jewish Sabbath. In this we dis cover a lurking judaizing spirit still surviving among the churches. Hence it comes to pass that a great many people will absent themselves from the house of God on the Lord’s day, for the most frivolous excuses. Some will employ their time in read ing novels, literary magazines and political newspapers, others will in dulge in social conviviality and idle gossip, while some will even go out on Sunday excursions for mere pleasure and yet none of these may feel a single twinge of conscience simply because they have done no regular work. Now in a»i candor, would not these parties be more in nocently employed if they had been engaged, for the same length of time in some useful work ? Take notice I am not talking about the ungodly, who make no profession of piety. We must relegate them to tho laws of the land, and to the magistrate whose business it is to enforce these laws. But lam talking of church members who prof ess to be the servants of Christ. When these fail to meet the obliga tions of the Lord’s day, it ought to be a matter of deep concern to the churches, for by this class of persons Christ is grievously wounded in the house of his friends. Now I verily believe that the abuses of the Lord’s day, to which I have just referred, are due in great measure to the Jewish idea which our religious teachers have so long and so persistently associated with the Lord’s day. It has been taught for centuries, that the Jewish Sab bath was transferred to our Sunday, and tho fourth commandment has always been quoted as setting forth the manner as well as the obligation of its observance, so that it is called throughout our religious literature, the “Sabbath day,” a title never ap plied to it in the New Testament. The effect of this teaching has created a wide spread impression that the sus pension of labor, and of some forms of amusement, constitute about the total sum of what we owe to the Lords day. And practically, many do not suspend their amusements. Let me not be understood to im pair, in the least degree, the honor due to those great and good men already referred to, of all denomina tions, who have identified the Jewish Sabbath with the Lord’s day. They in spite of ther itualistic dress which their view’s gave to the Lords day, did apprehend clearly its moral ele ment, —which made it to be a day for the worship of the Father in spirit and in truth. No doubt this was true with many pious Jews. The fourth commandment did indeed contain a moral element, —it pointed directly toward God as the one su preme object of worship. And the elect and godly Jews so understood it. But the inode of keeping the Sabbath was by suspending all man ner of labor and by offering an ad- ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY. AUGUST 25, 1892. ditional sacrifice upon the alter. These outward and visible obser vances were required of every Jew without regard to his moral charac ter, and his failure to perform them was punished with death. And on the other hand whoever fulfilled these requirements w’as adjudged innocent of violating tho Sabbath without regard to his state of heart. Hence it become a mere ritualistic service for a great majority of the people. Very much like this has been the history of the Lord’s day. Under the teaching above referred to, not only people of the world, but many church mem bers think if they abstain from labor and a certpin class of amusements that they have kept the Lord’s day, and their consciences arc easy. The idea of worship is kept almost out of sight. Hence it has come to pass that the Lord’s day has been disfig ured by many abuses whereby, in many communities the power of the Gospel is greatly impaired. The remedy for these evils is to bring back the churches to primi tive and Scriptural views of the Lord’s day. Let the people of God be taught that it was designed to af ford a special time and opportunity to worship the Father in Spirit aifd in truth, not only at home and in their.closets but also in the public assemblies of the church. Let the world see Christiaps, with one ac cord, and voluntarily, laying aside their business and even their inno cent amusements, that they may worship God, not once a year, as at an annual meeting, not once a month after the manner of many churches, but once a week, —on every Lord’s day. Could this kind of service be continued faithfully and regularly, it would not be long before the ungod ly would crowd our meeting-houses. The preached word would fall upon attentive ears, the prayers of the saints would rise as in cense before the throne of grace, and the holy spirit would crown the work w’ith his saving-power. It was John, the beloved disciple, who said: "I was in the Spirit on tho Lord’s day.” These words are very significant. They intimate to us that even the beloved disciple was not always in the spirit. This is implied in the structure of the sentence. And it is comforting to some of us whose religious emotions are variable and fluctuating, to learn that this great Apostle suffered similar fluctuations of feeling. But another important thought suggested by these word* is that the Lords day is a time when Christians may look for special manifestations of divine grace. It was not an ac cident that Jesus chose the day which we call Sunday as the day when he would reveal himself to his servant. He had already signalized that day by his resurrection, and by the wonders of the day of Pentecost. He now confers upon it another sublime distinction by unfolding, in symbols to his beloved disciple, a panorama of this worlcKs history to the end of time. These facts let me say again, could not have been acci dental. It must have been his de sign, so to associate in the minds of his people, the first day of the week with himself as to make it forever a sweet memorial of his love. He did not burden it with exacting de mands which were enforced by phy sical penalty, but he made it to be the season of a spiritual banquet to which his people may freely come and enjoy all the precious fruits of the spirit in loving fellowship with one another, and w’ith the Triune God. True, it is our privilege to be “in the Spirit” every day. And, no doubt, there are some devoted saints who do enjoy a comfortable frame of mind through all the days of the week. But it is worthy of notice, that this very class of saints, who make the best use of tho closet, the Bible and the family altar at home, are the people who appreiate most highly, the privileges of tho Lord’s day. Even they feel how the shackles of business often impede their religious progress. And if it be so w’ith those devoted saints, much more is it so with thousands of church members, whose surround ings are less favorable, and whose caros are far mono perplexing and oppressive. How exactly, then, is the Lords day adapted to our condi tion and wants. It is a day on which we may innocently throw off the shackles of life, —a day which we may devote to the service of God, both at home and at church. It is a day in which we may be in the Spirit. Let us consider what being in the Spirit means. I think, the saint in that state enjoys the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Spirit, he feels a lively desire to do Ilis will, to glorify His name, and to enjoy His name, and to en joy his presence. Again when one is in the Spirit his heart is full with the love of all mankind. And -his desire is to do them good to the ends of the earth. The soul possessed with this inspir ing love to God and man is aglow with holy enthusiasm. Like the bush which Moses saw, it is on fire and yet is not consumed. It mani festd*itself first in praise and thanks giving, and its lofty shout is “glory to God in the highest.” Then it manifests itself in the number, mag nitude and cost of tho various in stitutions of mercy, which Christians have founded for the relief of the suffering, and for the salvation of the lost, —and its earnest prayer is, “peace on earth and good will amongst men.” Hence “to be in the spirit” implies a heart on fire with the love of God and the love of man. And this blessed state of mind may best be sought and found on the Lord’s day. ‘ 8. G. Hillyeb. 73 Wheat street, Atlanta, Ga. OFFICERS OF A SCRIPTURAL CHURCH AND THEIR DUTIES. BY J. M. C. BBEAKKK, D. D., MARSHALL, TEXAS. No. I. A “Scriptural church” is a church whose essential characteristics are taught in the sacred Scriptures, and may be thus defined : A congrega tion, or local body, of baptized be lievers, associated b;. covenant U the faith and fellowsh ! p of the Go.»i pel; pbserving the Xndhiance* of Christ; governed by Ilis >'aws, ami exercising the gifts, rights and privi leges invested in them by his word. ITS FIRST OFFICERS. The church at first, and during our Lord’s ministry, had no officers, so far as we are informed. Christ and His apostles did all the office w’ork necessary. Officers, therefore, are essential, not to the existence of a chnrch, but to its completeness; just as the two arms of the human body, which may well represent the two fold officers of a church, and quite necessary to its completeness, but not to its existence. In 1 Cor. 12 :28, and Eph. 4 ;11, we have a list of all the gifts or offi cers appointed in the early churches. They were apostles, prophets, teach ers, miracles, gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues evangelists and pastors. Many of these were extraordinary and temporary, designed to meet the peculiar needs of Christianity in its early establishment and diffusion) and when the New Testament writ ings were not yet complete. Hence, they are not mentioned in the later period of the apostolic churches, as others are, which w’ere intended to be permanent in the church, and the qualifications for which and their du ties are specially set forth. THE APOSTOLIC OFFICE. i '‘" It is contended by some, that the apostolic office is permanent, and that it is continued in a succession of Bishops, who claim superior au thority over the other ministry and the churches. Tho falsity of this as sumption is seen in the fact, that the special office of the apostles was to bo witnesses for Christ, as having risen from the dead, and along with this to work miracles, as a proof of their appointment. Says Mark, (ch. 3 :4.) “He ordained twelve, that they should bo w’ith Him, and that He might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils.’’ And after His resurrection, in Hi g last interview with His disciples, lie teaches tho same, when Ho says, “Thus it is w’ritten, and thus it be hooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in Ilis name, among all nations, beginning at Je rusalem. And ye are witnesses of these thing*’” Luke 24 :45-48. And ao the apostlea understood it, as shown by the words of Peter, when an apostle was about to be cht>- sen to fill the place of Judas. “Os these men who have companied W’ith us, all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, must one be ordained to be a -witness of His resurrection.” Acts 1:21-22. Paul w r as not an exception to this, for al though he did not see Christ on earth after Ilis resurrection, he saw Him by his supernatural revelation, while on his way to Damascus ; so that Ananias could say to him, “The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldst know Ilis will, and see that Just One, and shouldst hear the voice of His mouth; for thou shaft be Ilis witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.” Acts .22 ;14-15. And so Paul himself could reply to any that disputed his claims to this high of fice, “Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord ?” Can our modern so called Bishops say this ? Besides this, the apostles were empowered to work miracles, and to confer the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, peculiar to that age of the church, and by inspiration to know all the teachings of Christ, a power which no class of men can now right fully claim. It is evident that no succession to the office of apostle was intended, for no one, on the death of an apos tle, w’as ever substituted in his place, and when the original company be came extinct the title and office be came extinct also. The appointment of Matthias, (if valid), did not im ply a continued succession of the of fice of the apostolate, but was merely to restore again the number twelve, as originally appointed by our Lord, and which had been reduced to elev en by the defection of Judas. The office of the modern diocesan bishop has therefore no foundation or coun tenance in the New Testament apos tleship. Nor bas’it any support in the work ascribed by Paul to Timothy and Titus, when he said to the former, “As I besought thee to abide still at Aphesus, that thou Slightest charge some that they teach no other doc trine,” etc., (1 Tim. 1:3) and to Ti tus, “For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldst set in or der the things that are wanting and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge.” (Titus 1 :5.) For there is no intimation that these ministers exercised any general su pervision over the churches, but on ly that as missionaries or evange lists they were to follow the instruc. tions of the apostle, in completing the organization of the infant church, in the one case, and correct ing any errors that had arisen among the members, in the other. [to be continued.] HOW MANY DAYS DID (JHTIST LIE IN THE GRAVE? BY H. G. HILLYEB, BELTON, TEXAS. Why discuss the above question ? Almost the entire press and pulpits in the world declare that He was crucified on Friday, buried about sundown on the same day, and arose just about sunup on our Sunday, thus keeping Him in the grave one day and two nights. And the judg ment of this vast array of piety and intelligence settles the question: and Baptists meekly accept it. Why not also accept bishops, and popes, and infant church membership, and sprinkling, which have the endorse ment of just the same piety and learn ing ? But the blessed Master says, “three days and three nights.” The correct interpretation of these Scriptures was first made by our be loved Bro. T. S. G. Watson of Texas, in his lectuees, and book upon pro phetic interpretations, and I am largely indebted to it for my own knowledge upon this, and kindred subjects. Christ says, “Treis hemeras kai Treis nuctas,” three days and three nights, five words in the Greek, five words in the English, an exact ver batim translation, and all this non sense about “parts of days and part* of nights being taken for whole days and nights is mere theological twad die. The fact is, in the days of ignor ance and superstition tho Catholic Church in getting up her feast, and holy days, seeing that Christ was crucified and buried upon a prepara tion day, and knowing that every Friday was a preparation day with the Jews, assumed that this was the day, and established the observance of “Good Friday,” and “Easter Sun day,” and all her children have ac cepted it without debate, and our English Bible translation has been mistranslated, so as to conceal the truth, and hence the general error of to-day. But Matthew says, 28 :1. “In the end of the Sabbath, as i t began to dawn towards the first day of the week,” the women came to the grave and found it empty. From the re motest'ages among tho Jews even down to the present time, they rec oned their twenty-four hour day as commencing at sunset, on one day, and ending at sunset on the next day, the night preceding the day. At six o’clock on Friday evening their preparation day ended, and their Sabbath “dawned,” “began to appear” a better translation would probably be “drew on,” and this ex pression we find used by Luke in 23: 54, to designate the time of the bu rial. “And that day was a prepara tion, and the Sabbath drew on;” this was just at sunset or six o’clock, the burial hour, and Matthew gives the same hour as the time of the visit of certain women to the grave, and found it empty. Now if. Mat thew is an inspired writer, with the Friday funeral and Saturday resur rection, at “apse de Sabbaton” we find one day and one night only, this should surely put us upon our guard. The time of burial represented by the little Greek word, apse, and that part of apse is further described “and the Sabbath drew on,” just as the Sabbath began to appear. If the Greek scholar will turn to Mark 13 :35, Christ makes use of the word “apse” to be the first watch of the night, running from six to nine o’clock, and “prai” to be the fourth watch of the night, from three o’clock until fix, or sun up, then two words are usually translated (apse) evening, (prai) morning. They used these same words to include a day prai, and a day apse, as “from morn, until even ing,” so the partichiar time of the prai, or apse, must be indicated by other expressions, as we shall short ly see. . So we find that Christ being a true prophet, could not have been buried upon Friday, provided Matthew is an inspired writer, who says that he was resurrected Saturday evening. Therefore believing, as I do, Mat thew’s record to be true, and also that Christ could have made no mis take, I count back from the hour of resurrection on Saturday evening three days and three nights, and it brings us to Wednesday as the day of crucifixion and burial. Christ was crucified on a preparation day, and buried at the close of the day, see Luke, “and the Sabbath drew on.” John speaking of that Sab bath, says it was “an high day,” Wednesday a preparation day, Thursday a Sabbath, Friday a prep aration, and Saturday a Sabbath. So Christ lay in the grave two Sabbaths. Matthew says “apse de Sabbaton,’’ plural Sabbaths. Why plural Mat thew ? Because Christ lay in the grave two Sabbaths, and it was to emphasize the fact that we might make no mistake. If you turn to the 28th and 29th chapters of Leviticus, you will find that the first day of the feast of un leaven bread was a Sabbath, on “Ho ly Convocation,” and “no Servile work, save to eat,” and this being the greatest feast in all the Jewish rituals. John calls it “an high day,” and tho preparation day preceding this, was the day of the death and burial. The Jews had many such Sabbaths. These were floating Sab baths, like our Christinas, and in dif ferent years, fell upon different days of the week. When one of these holy day*, Sabbaths, fell upon tho usual Sabbath day, or the day pre ceding or following it, the plural Sabbath was used, and the day was considered doubly holy, and strange to say that in our translation this plurality is in every instance sup pressed, sometimes called “Sabbath day” and sometimes translated week, and all this tampering with God’s Word to uphold “Good Friday.” Christ Bays “three days and three nights” this necessitates the same hour for burial and for resurrection. With this Matthew’s account of the resurrection, and Luke’s of tho burial agree. It explains tho use of plu- Brother Minister, Working Layman, Zealons Sister, We are striving to make Tlie Index the best of its kind. Help ns by securing a new subscriber. VOL. 69.-NO. 34 ral Sabbaths as used by all the evan gelists in speaking of the visits of the women to the grave, it reconciles Mark’s and Luke’s account of the time of gathering the spices to Lord’s body. Mark, 16 : 1. “A.A/ when the Sabbath was past,” the women bought sweet spices to anoint the Lord’s body. Our translation has, “had bought,” but no had in the original. Luke 26: 56. “And they returned and pre pared spices and ointments and rest ed the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” It was on Friday this work was done. Mark looks back at the Thursday Sabbath as be ing past, and Luke looks forward to the Saturday Sabbath as the day to rest on. Then examine the accounts of the visits of the women to the tomb as is recorded by the four evangelists, and no two of them agree. Why not ? If you go to the Greek you will find the times of the visits so minutely described that we are forced to conclude that three dis tinct, separate visits are described. That recorded by Matthew, was “in tho end of the Sabbath,” that is Saturday evening about sundown ; and he uses the time word apse. Even, while Mark and John use the time word “prai,” fourth watch of the night or morning, this fourth, watch lasted three hours, from three to six a. m., hence John says the vis it be speaks of was made “when it was yet dark,” that is .plain ; while Mark says in his account it was at “the rising of the sun,” and of course different things occur at different visits, made at different times of tho night. And to show the ordinary English reader how false the transla tion in some of these passages are, we will take Mark, 16 :1. “And very early in the morning the first day of the week,” an exact transla tion of tho Greek thus rendered would read about this : “In the first fourth watch after the Sabbaths,” is the time the women visited the tomb as recorded by Mark. Wednesday was a preparation day, Thursday a Sabbath, (an high day) Friday a preparation day, and Saturday a Sab bath, Christ being buried Wednes day, evening at six o’clock, on tho day fide STtlio time, and resurrected Saturday evening at sik d’clock, on the day side of the line we will find the even count, three days and thrt-e nights, perhaps to a minute, no more, no less. Rome to the contrary counts but little with me. I have often been asked if Christ arose from the tomb on Saturday evening, why change the day to the first day of the week ? lam free to confess Ido not know. We have no command for it, we have only the precept and examples of inspired apostles, for it. We know also that the day was called the first day of the week during at least the apostlea times, and our name “Sunday,” is of human origin, and wholly without Bible warrant. FROM THE BUCKEYE STATE. Perhaps the readers of the Chris tian Index would not object to hear ing from their Baptist brethren who live in Ohio. The Jordanic tribes are not as numerous up here as they are in Georgia. Still they manage to make themselves known. In this State there are 32 Associations, 626 churches, 486 ordained ministers, baptised last year 3,896, present! membership 59,211. Their church property is valued at 82,584,795. At the last meeting of their State Convention, their mission board re ported 36 missionaries in the State work. These reported as raised on their fields for pastors $11,161; for buildings and improvements $5,857, and other items, making for home expenses, a total of $21,603. Os the missionaries employed, 17 were full time pastors in important towns and cities. Six others were half time 1 ’astors. The others were “once a month” preachers or general mis sionaries. There was raised for the erection of buildings besides the foregoing, 817,235; $2,951 for the help of min isterial students; 819,609 for foreign missions; SB,BIB for home missions. Total reported missionary contribu tions $57,211. Only 91 churches in the State failed to give to missions. Tho Ohio Baptists have a fine col lege Denison University and an ex ccllent female college at Granville. Both limitations have splendid build ings and considerable endowment There are seven or eight strong churches in Cincinnati. Indeed in all the largo cities and towns ou» people are trying to do a good work for tho Master. The Methodist load tho Protestants in numbers; but the Catholics are very strong in Cincin nati, Cleveland and other Cities. The Baptists arc next to the Meth odists in members. C. E. W. D. Cincinnati. Aug. 11.