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any 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. ©lls ffiltxietiim Jstdeai Published Every Thursday at 67 South Rroad Street, Atlanta, Ga. j. c. McMichael. Proprietor. Organ of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia. Subscription Price : One copy, one year S 2.00 Due copy, six months 1.00 Obituaries.—One hundred words free of charge. For each extra word, ono cent per Word, cash with copy. To Correspondents.—Do not use abrevia tions; be extra careful in writingproper names; write with ink. on one side of paper; Do not write copy intended for the editor and busi ness items on sumo sheet. Leave off personal ities; condense. Business.- -Write all names, and post offices distinctly. In ordering a change give the old as well ns the new address. The date of label indicates 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. Remittances by check preferred; or regis tered letter, money order, postal note. We give our Review of tho Week on the second page after this, rather than on the first. W’o also transfer the expo sition of the Sunday-school lessons from the second to the Literary department of the Index. The church at Dangerfield Texas has secured as pastor Elder J. H, Floyd. Brother W. D. Powell reports the de. mand for Bibles by tho Mexicans greater than ever before. The position of the State Evangelist in Arkansas seems to go begging. Two brethren have been elected to the place by the State Board and both declined to accept. The hawk and the swan were prohib. ited to the Israelites as unclean, though they were regarded as sacred by the Egyptians—perhaps they were so regar ded. How much that is accounted sa. cred by man, is accounted unclean by God! When Zacharias asked for a sign to confirm tho words of the angel, ho was asking, while he knew it not, for a pun» ishment to rebuke his own unbelief.- That ill-advised sentence cost him ten long months of irksome, bitter silence, (Luke 1: 18-20.) Let us not unbeliev ingly tempt God to chastise us. In some of his vaporings on the ques tion of “womans rights,” Rev. Daniel Whitney says: “In my father’s house, sisters were just as good as .brothers,” That was a queer house, where, as this language implies, brothers were (in their own conceit) just as good as sisters! W'e are very glad that it was not our fa ; ther,s house, and that wo were not one of those boys. The prigs! The puppiesl “Tho Methodists will never reach the masses until they adopt generally the practice of street preaching.” So says their great London light, Rev. Hugh Price Hughes. And we may gather from the New Testament that, if the apostles did not seek street preaching, neither did they shun it. There are those, too, who shall in the last day say to Christ himself, “Thou hast taught in our streets,” There are (real or alleged) spiritual benefits which range at no very high fig ures in the markets of our time. Here, ■ for instance, is a Society for Praying for tho dead, which will enroll your name on its list of members and inscribe it on the “intercession paper” insuring a place in all the praying of, the whole Society, 'J the dirt-cheap cost of seventy-five cents a year. Surely, it is worth that unless Indeed it is worth nothing. It is “just the thing” now-a-days to disparage doctrine and especially ortho doxy in doctrine. The willingness of a Congregational church at Meriden, Conn, to have a minister installed as pastor who held the most sceptical views of tho inspiration and authority of the Bible tanght in the school of Higher Criticism,” and embrace the Pantheism which con founds the universe with God. practical ly defying the creatures and disowning the Creator, was tho legitimate fruits of tills disparagement. The “Western Recorder” quotes a staunch Methodist as affirming that the growth of the church is hindered by tho preaching of the “second-blessing” doc trine of “sanctification,” In confirma tion of this news, ho points to a district in one of the Kentucky conference, which “teaming from shore to shore with sec ond-blessing preachers and second-bless iug evangelists." showed for the year a decrease in contributions and in Sunday school work; and a gain in membership of only twenty-four. The banner of Pizarro in the conquest of Peru and tho sword of Cortes in tho conquest of Mexico are regarded as nov elties worth showing among the marvels of tho World's Columbian Exposition this year. These implements of human passion may grow unique and strange; but not tho passions themselves. Men may look at the sword and the banner with wondering eyes, but feel no wonder themselves and oxclte none In others by carrying in their own bosom the ainbl. tronthut followed the banner ortho cru. elty that wielded tho sword. For doubt less there will bo many a rudimentary Cortes aud Pizarro among tho throngs at tho exposition, not destined to make any display of themselves in the course of human events perhaps,—unless it be laAnarohists. Ijc f Ijmimn f The Manuals preparred for uso at funerals contain passages of Scrip ture arranged under separate heads, according to the occasions to which they are deemed specially appropri ate. It is not designed that all tho passages under each head shall bo read on every occasion indicated by that head. The compiler of the Man ual has simply selected a number of hundred passages and grouped them together for the convenience of tho minister; and from this selection tho minister selects at each particular time such as he will use then, guided by the hope of variety in the fre quent recurrence of similar, occas ions, or by varying degrees of adap tation in the passages to the circum stances of different cases, or by tho measure in which the services as u whole are or are not limited for time and the several parts may or may not need to be restricted in length. All this seems too obvious to need the saying; but we have known fune ral programmes to some extent disar ranged by the disproportionate time consumed in reading the whole array of passages printed in the Manual as apposite to funerals of its class! The child of a minister at Harve hill, Mass., was smitten with typhoid pnenmonia, and the father, believing the will of God to be that the child should die, left it without medical treatment, to the “lingering lang uisbment” of desease, and the “mor tal agony” of death. Every unbias ed mind will pronounce his course unwise from the intellectual point of view, and from the moral point of view, wicked. We have no right to pry into the unrevealed purposes of God, to judge in the absence of rev elation what these purposes are, and on the ground of that judge ment to neglect the use of all the means within our power to subdue desease and to avert death. We tri fle with the sanctity of life when wc do this; wo come dangerously near the border-land of murder, if we do not cross the line.Fortunately,suchin stances are rare; and when one occurs jt shocks the whole country. But is there not a companion error, nuy, a companion crime, working deadler mischief, and yet much more com mon? Are there not sinners for whom, personally, Christians cease to pray, for whom Christians put forth no further effort personally, because their long continuance in transgres sion and the enormity of their offen ces creates tho impression that God has given them up to die in their sins? Is not this as unwarranted an intru sion into the realm of the unrevealed divine will as the Haverhill minis ter’s? Who that does it can bo sure that he does not reach tho border land, or cross the line, of soul mur der? Dr. Robert Young, author of the “Analytical Concordance to tho Bi ble,” published thirty years ago a version of the Old and New Testa ments translated according to tho let ter and idioms of the original lungua gee.” It has found its way in Scot land, into some measure of use in con nection with theConinionVersion and as auxiliary to it, and a revised edi tion has more recently been given to the public. Dr. W. G. Blaikie of Edinburgh, says that it seems to be admirably adapted to serve tho end of “causing the Scriptures to present to tho English reader not only the same general meaning, but even the same minute shades of thought and feeling which they present to those familiar with the original tongues.” And the “Examiner,” N. Y., in reply to a correspondent who enquired as to its merits, pronounced it “a very faithful literal rendering, useful to those who cannot read the original but wish to know the literal mean ing.” There is another class to whom it may prove helpful, those who from long familiarity with the stylo of the Common Version read it with loss interest and find in it less stimulant to thought than in former years, and who will gather freshness and Kost from the literal and idioma tic version. But it is not suited for exclusive use, and should not come into competition with other versions, or lend readers to lay these versions aside. Dr. Young, himself, express lycmphasizes this point. We could wish, therefore, that when the Ex aminer’s correspondent asked wheth er it is preferable to the Revised Version, that paper should have made only this jocose answer: “It is ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 9, 1893. preierable for such as prefer it, as Mr. Lincoln said, ‘One who likes that sort of thing will find it about the sort of thing he likes.’ ” But perhaps this is the humorous way of branding the question as preposter ous, and in that case we accept the answer as our own. Some damaging statments having been recently made by a man named Gregory in regard to American for eign missionaries in Chin a,Mr. Jas. P. Cadman called on Dr. H. C. Mabie for a confirmation or denial of the reports. . *- Here is the conclusion of his re ply. “Tho intimation ( of this man. Gregory that any American mission ary is in the habit of visiting an opium palace for the sake of indulgence in he vile excesses of these places is, I am sure, a statement made with • out waraant. At all events if such were the case such missionary would be dismissed summarily from the force of any missionary society in existence. I have myself visited witbin the last two years more than three hundred ‘ of these foreign missionaries in Ja pan and China, Burmah and India, and I deliberately state that, all things considered, these missionaries are the most unselfish and devoted body of men living—faithfully la boring for the moral and spiritual renovation of these spiritualy degraded people, Mr. Gregory of the Royal Engineers, stationed at Hong kong, to the contrary notwithstand ing. EXAMINATION BY AN ORDAIN ING PRESBYTERY SHOULD NOT EMBRAOE PERSON AL EXPERIENCE- When a Presbytery is called to examine and ordain a deacon or preacher, it is common to begin the examination by requesting the candi dates for ordination to relate their experience of grace. This I object to, as unbaptistic. Not that it is without universal precedent,but that it is violative Os the first fundamen tal principles of church membership. I am aware of the scriptural qualifi cations of the men who are to be set apart to these solemn offices, includ ing tho experience that is inquired after by the Presbytery, but it ought to be remembered that the direction given is not to the Presbytery but to the church in selecting. The men who are to be “looked out” are to be men “full of tho Holy Ghost” which simply means men who tho church has good reasons to believe have grace. The scriptural order for the sotting apart of deacons and pre sumably of preachers, first is an elec tion by the church which is to be guided in its selection by the qualifi cations laid down, and afterwards the ordination by the Presbytery by prayer and the laying on of hands. It is somewhat doubtful whether the Presbytery should examine tho can didate in any respect at all, still it may be allowable that on points of doctrine where officers are supposed to be better acquainted than the en tire membership for the Presbytery to examine as to the views held and the extent of the knowledge of those about to be made officers in the church. 1 only enter protest against tho custom of examining on the experi ence of grace, because I believe it discredits the church. Every church is the judge of its own membership and no Presbytery or any other body of men, or angels, may “loose what the church has bound, or bind what the church has loosed.” It is a fun damental principle of all Baptist churches, that every one becoming a member shall give satisfactory tvi dece of a change of heart. It la an other fundamental principle of nil Baptist churches, that the heart OIIUO changed never gets unchanged. It is also, a professed conviction of all Baptist churches that when one of their members gives just reason to believe he has never had a changed heart, that he shall be excluded from membership. So when a churoli elect# curtain brethren to either of the offices, that election carries with it the warrant of the church that the elect ones are converted men. Therefore when a Presbytery reop ens the question of conversion, it sets the church aside. The church has twice asserted its approval of the candidate for piety. When the can didate becomes a member of the church, he was regarded as a regen erate man,,and when he was elected it was reaffirmed. Then when a Pres bytery inquires into the spiritual state of men thus acredited it becomes the popish judge of the highestpower on earth. Suppose a Presbytery should find upon examination that there was not >good reason to believe the candidate had experienced a change of heart what could they do? Refuse to or dain him, certainly. Then the church must discredit the judgement of the Presbytery, or exclude. They cannot excude, because a member cannot be excluded from a church without a change founded upon evi dence of lack of fitugss for member ship. That charge could not be sus tained in a church that had immedi ately before .affirmed its confidence in the piety of the brother by elect ing him. It may be said that all this would be true of the absence di any other qualification. No, the church has not asserted in the reception into membership any other qualification necessary to either of the offices. It is not required that candidates for membership shall be versed in the doctrine/and practice of the church. The church is the school for teaching regenerate, baptized persons, MI things whatsoever He has command ed." Those selected for officers are such as have made suitable advance ment that they may become teachers. And therefore the same would not bo true of either qualifications. A man may be a good and faithful member of the church, who would not bo at all suited to boa deacon or preaohor. But no unregenerato man is qualified for membership. To recur, my earnest protest a gainst the custom of examining can didates for office on the Christian ex perience, grows out of a sacred re gard for the “old land-mack” a re generate membership. Let it be im pressed on the world that member ship in aßuptist church means con version to God, and whco "•< devel ops that membership/has been ob tained by any who are not “born again” let the church promptly sev er the unfruitful branches, that which the church alone can do, and which ho church cannot do on the judge ment of a Presbytery. • F. C. McConnell. - WRONG AND DANGEROUS. I have no inclination, Mr. Editor, to engage in an extended controver sy with Bro. McCall or anyone else who may differ with me about the right of a church to petition or me mcrialize the law-making powers of the State or country; but unless I take some notice of the pretended proof to the opposite of my views as expressed in your issue of December Bth, somebody else may accidentally agree with my critic and thereby secede from the correct polity and practices of Baptist churches. Tho first point made against my article seems to be unworthy of a man like your Quitman correspon dent. 1 made no mistake when I assorted that a church is not amena ble to civil government; and I may go farther and declare with equal truthfulness that Christians, as suoh are not. In another capacity the same persons are, but the state has no power to proscribe a form of re ligion, to regulate a man’s belief, nor to prevent the free exercise of religion in anyway whatever. In. requiring obedience to civil laws tho state is not holding the church amenable to it for its religious views and practices. Take, for example, what was in. tended to illustrate the opposite ¥ low,. Let the state enact a law that churches should not assemble on the Sabbath, and that Christians should not religiously observe it, and we would instantly see a forceful ex pression of my views and doctrines that tho government has no right to dictate religious service or regulate the affairs of Christians. All true Baptists would then declare that in that domain (and that domain is the full limit of a church’s prerogative) they are not amenable to govern ment. Martyrdom might be reviv ed, but good Baptists would never surrender their convictions or vary their practices. The point at issue is, that the church's prerogative <loes not extend to secular matters, aud that the church should in no wise undertake to rwulato them. I don’t understand bow anyaa* 1 JistM seriously question my position.' Yes, civil organizations afd makers or executives of civil Hie law creates them or is mtidte iby them. But a church does not its existence to any earthly authufiSty and belongs not to earth. “My kviilg ; dom,” says Christ, “is not of ibis world.” Talk aboutstraining.it gnats-mid) swallowing camels! I dou’t remem ber swallowing anything lately ilia! tasted like a camel; be* if this ftaib dency of churches to impress their peculiar views upon the governnaanl continues long, we will all be iftWtV ing gnats, and camels too, enough without straining for tiiftii). They tell us it is not dictation. BtoJ if the denomination given to tiouing knew it had enough VOtets in its control to carry its poiiid it would be “dictation” or something stronger. They call the right #® petition jr sacred ono! Whence its sacrodness. if sacred means holy or of divine origin or Godly right. Be sides, all is not expedient that hap pens to be lawful. We have a right to bear arms, but it is by no means obligatory . upon us to bear tliona and it might be the height of folly for us to carry a pistol or gun to church every Sunday morning. The truth is, a state cannot confer ft right upon a church—civil noff £&• oted. Our rights are God-given nftd itlaliefiable. The State may or may hot recognize them. If-'Jtdoes not, however, every Christian ih de mand and every Christian citlißft should endeavor to procure 5 them at noy cost whatever to themselves. Brother McCall is just as unfortu nate in his citations from history th prove that Baptists Lave been tinned to exercise the right of peti tion. I suppose that brother will be one of the first to see aud ackrtDVv ledge his error. In not a single instance, Cited from Dr. Armitage did any Baptist Organization undertake to influence Jftffislatinn on any subject wfiateveV- People who entertained Baptist no tions, were called Baptists, w ere Bap tists, sought to secure freedom fi‘O!H political oppression and contended tor just the truth that I am not# de tending and commending. Tboy 9aid the government had no right to regulate worship. Other relig ions had control of several states and sought to rule in accordance wath their peculiar tenets. The Baptists said it was wrong—that religion con atitutecl a separate kingdom. bless tho memory of their noble struggles and marvelous achieve ftiente. The boon they so dearly bought is too precioqs to be surtUlh dered by endeavoring again to the church and the world. If our rights were again iinpesUtoll your numble servant would esfeifua it an honor to bo first to sign a pellk lion fiff a rodrpss of grievances ovtv.f i return to religious freedom, atllfi P w F ould oven covet the honor to limit it whenever tho occason demaudttd, 4 would not be acting inconsyStout willy my present views to doiuaud my rights. But if after asking fn? the separation of tho churches fk'Oin Hit! State I should proceed then to Use iiie church to influence fchtt State on matters not right, I bo inconsistent and bo trying to W tlo what I had just accomplished-. It the Baptist denomination'then urged that tho church and stato WUl'9 separate and ‘distinct and thus Se cured immunity from civil or hlUViki'-- chal control, and now seeks to IV guiato by church authority, or pFßA ligo pf church respectability, Ulij matters that do not affect il iW A tihiirijh, tho force of its first great argument is broken and it pvesonh tho appearance simply of tho IWltoiH fttil flying to get on top. I bate not in this article nor any other contended that a chureli V.t its individual members have a fight th Violate tho laws of tho land, i Rnuw #o tttd commanded to bo Biibjftbt io the powers that be HI matters of secular coueetih Tliiit is ono point for which I fliil oontending and wo all know that 10 form a conclave for thd purpiMW Bi directing legislation has no utushlU whatever with subjection. TV fiat if the constitution does guaranty tho right of petition and places no limit calculated to exclude those acting in a capacity not recognized by tho slate? That may be duo to the fact that tho stato has not fully endorsed l Baptist conceptions of Christ’s teach ing respecting their sole Heavenly r allegiance, or to the fact that un-bap- UStTc Ideas prevail, that, after all, a partial control over religious mat ters is retained. But that is only a reason why we should watch with fhYfeasfid assiduity tho approaches fd 1 our liberty. It may be seen that the good bro ther and I hav.e not read different histories so much as we have read the same history differently. He i thinks ho sees where Baptist churches and Associations are privi leged to petition a court or power On any subject it chooses relating to the welfare of the country. I see where Baptist people, and perhaps 1 Baptist bodies, have asked to be se parated from the state aud that alj i other religious organizations be; and i being free that no heirarch should ; rule them. Certainly they did not ’ expoc? to become any part of a hior i arch themselves. I have known ono denomination in corfforonce to memorialize the Ij’eglSTattffe in favor of public schools and Tmother to petition and declare ’ against them. I have know n Asso l Conferences and Synods to 7 petition the state and county for ’ prdfilbltbry legislation, and have hfiara bl disciplining their members for voting a prohibition ticket. The law or Georgia now appropriates '■ceftani fines to the maintenance of Stirid'ay-fichools, while there is a res -1 pectable religious opposition to Sun fiay-gbfibols. And so it goes ad in- MitufiV. Most of thoso who read thiS 'article have pronounced views Oil tHSS'e questions, but to use one donofliihation in legislation to oppose the do'etrines of another and to use public funds to maintain perhaps denominational, is ail wrong and Baptists o watco Up to these matters. Brotli r McCall thought ro say that lie did not know run.y b‘6 just as proper for me tBRB tnat 1 Show him equally as well as the liti'o girl knew tho Lord’s }><y or; She said she knew it, but when aSko’fl to recite it she explained that (ho only knew it when she saw it. I may go a little further and say J know him well enough to love him, well enough to love him as a Chris tian brother, and honor him for bis Riiown lldelity to Baptist faith and Baptist institutions. I hope his mightif pen and tongue will always be iised in defense of truth and Hglih Your fellow servant, M. J. Webb. WWon, Ga., Jan:-14, 1892. Mdses is perhaps, for many reas ons, the most prominent of Old Tes ttment Characters. His name was given him for no special characteris tic of the man; as that of Joshua, sis wo Shall seo further on : he was ’drawfi horn the waters of the Nile in a most wonderful and providential manner. In the Hebrew language MbStiS Signifies water —drawn. It is pusSllitlß his name has more reference to Egyptian than Hebrew origin, however in either event, his name was given him as a memorial of the fact of his delivery from the royal dhferiJW. Thb Subject of this communication is to ascertain why this grea( and goffil than was not allowed to take ilia Children of Israel across the Jor dan aiifl info the land of Canaan. It M true that he succeeded in his undertaking so far as to get them ftlittbst—but not quite into the prom isVil land. Uh was by tho highest authority, cbfttiiiMtbned to deliver these slaves 8f tli'j Pharaohs, under the eye of •JestiS Christ, from their burdensome Md galling yoke of servitude. It wbnid be a pleasing task to inquire intb the divine philosophy of this long servitude of the special people of VtbU; Wc learn a great lesson iloiri tttb words of Jehovah, when ho said; 11 ! khow the thoughts that I think toward you saith the Lord, thoughts bt jWncb and not of evil to give you i'.li bXDboted end.” And the facts affli Ittbldent# of record in Jewish IlistorW were ordered in view of a “ttUMCU end”—tho God of the Old and llbw Testuinent had one pur se bonly—one end in expo ctation. This inquiry however, just now, is a side track to tho main line. Mosos as a general and leader of thoso people was a grand success. Ho stands without a peer in ancient or medieval history. He fully undor- Brother Minister, Working Layman, Zealous Sister We are gtrlving to make □?lie Index the best of its kind. Help us by securing • new subscriber. VOL. 70—NO. 6. stood his orders, and when he began the work assigned him, he never got his consent to surrender. He looked far beyond the immedi ate task then before him: he saw in qimself a type of the future deliver er of a spiritual Israel. Deut. 18: 15; Acts 3: 22. His heart was therefore fully set on that day, when he, as he vainly hoped, should see Israel across the Jordan and happily housed m Can aan.—when he would rule over the people of his God in that happy land. Very strange indeed there was no abatement of his manhood. The vigor of his young life was contin ual : he muth have concluded that his life work was not complete and that he would divide the land among the twelve tribes and provide for them, not only a moral decalogue, but a code of civil jurisprudence. But alas! he must die on this side the Jordan. Moses knew much of the offices of Jesus Christ. We are taught that he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he had respect to the recompense of reward. This “recom pense of reward” refered to his re lation to Jesus Christ, and the future delivery of spiritual Israel, by his "great prototype, Jesus Christ. He saw in himself and the twelve tribes in their transit from Egypt to Canaan, illustrations of the future dealings and treatment of God to his people under another dispensa tion. The cloudy pillar by day, a firy pillar by night, taught him a special providence. He saw that the rock was Christ. He saw in the brazen serpent, Christ on the cross. " He . Jiad “respect for the recompense.” filled l)iin, as it o£ calf and tl.e children of turned to Egyptian idolatry and corrupted themselves and thereby provoked God, that he had apparent ly determined to destroy them root and branch; Moses most heroical ly threw himself in the breach and argued with God and prevailed with his maker; the six reasons given, why God should not destroy these people, were primarily for his glory in eyes of the surrounding nations. He had set his heart on the time when Israel should cross over Jor dan under his personal supervision and direction—but such was not the divine plan. Moses must stop in sight of deliverance and on this side Jordan. Moses is the law-giver. He was accorded as the representative of the law, the distinguished honor of a prominent place at the transfigura tion of Jesus Christ, and discussed with Elias, who was the representa tive of prophecy in the divine plan the subject of Christ’s death. That discussion is no) of record The wanderings of the children of Israel in the wilderness under tho direction of Moses are strongly typical and forcefully illustrative of the sinner while in sin and rendering obedience to law in search of de liverance. Moses took the twelve tribes in sight of deliverance, but was not al lowed to go further. Ho must now close his work, and turn over to an other agent, the consummation of the work of deliverance. Joshua, a Hebrew name, signifies “Savior”—“Jehovah will save.” He was a man of faith preeminently and as the representative of faith in the divine plan, completes the work of deliverance. The law is our school master to lead us to Christ, but can no more deliver than could Moses. Joshua delivered Israel, Jesus delivers the sinner. J. G. McCall. Prof. Reuben Hancock Garnett, late of Georgetown College, Ky. died at the family homo, “Lauefield,” King and Queen Co., Va., January 13th. The Texas Sunday School Board, hjsvo appointed Rev.- W. F. Tynes to >hold local assemblies for formal Sunday school work. »- ’ —a There are six Mexican Raptlstohurche# in Toxas with a membership of nearly 300,