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OUR PULPIT.
THE NATION'S BIN AND DUTY.
A SKIIMOS I'llKACIIKI) IN THE FIRST BAI'
tist cnuitcn, Atlanta, ga., by
KEV. J. B. HAWTIIOHNE, l>. I>.
Text. I*a. “Woe unto the wicked, it
■halite ill "ith him; for the reward of hie
hand* shnll be given him."
Thia is what God commanded his
prophet l*aiah to any to the people of a
reprobate and wicked nation in the die
tant peat, and it is the substance of
what he requires me, and every other
Christian minister in thia land, to say to
the people of this nation. The minister
who shrinks from this grave responsi
bility, and who has not the nerve to de
clare vhat God has demanded him to
speak, is unlit for his high vocation, and
should step down and out. The God
who spoke to Isaiah is the same God
who s]a .iks to you and to me. He is
“the satin yesterday, to-day and for
ever.’’ lie is a ruler. He not only ex
ists eben where in a limitless universe,
but lie reigns; he sits upon a throne and
admhiist' rs laws. We are more than
und<r law, we are under a living, per
sorua, supreme Lawmaker.
THE LIVING LAW-I.IVKII.
W(- live in an age of science, and
science magnifies law. It talks loudly
and [unceasingly about what law does.
But why are many scientists• <> reluctant
to recognize and prods’ Zie grander
and inure solemn I’ behind all
law is a Law g' .ge? When
mensayth.it ~ seu-perpetuating
* and self-iegulating; when they say that
nature determines the courses of the
stars ami controls the seasons, ami
shapes and guides all the atlairs of men,
do they not ascribe to it intelligence
ami will? And can anything have, in
telligence and will without personality?
Verily, all things are governed; but
govi rnment without a governor is un
thinkable, A man may boast of being a
law unto himself, and of having his
own way about things in this lite, but
when an earthquake comes and shakes
his dwelling from its foundation, or
when a cyclone comes and lays his home
and neighborhood in ruins, or when pes
tilence comes and takes away his chil
dren, ami spreads over a whole city
alarm and lamentation, bereavement anil
death, he finds himself confronted by
another will immeasurably stronger
than his own, and which it is folly anil
madness to resist. Oh! thou self-willed,
God-rejecting man, hear me! There are
circumstances of which you are not a
master. One of them is the death-chill
that comes and freezes the life current
in your child, ami another is the stop -
ping of yosr own pulse and breath.
We know not only that God exists,
and that be rules the world, but we are
taught both by nature and revelation,
the eternal principles upon which his
administration is conducted.
“nmuTKorsNKSs and ji moment
are the habitation of this throne - ” His
government is based on principles that
are inherent in his own character. He
recognizes certain immutable and ever
lasting distinctions between right and
wrong. In dealing with men, he com
mends and rewards the right, and con
demns and punishes the wrong. “Say
to the righteous, it shall be well with
him.” Woe to the wicked; it shall be
ill with him.” “The Lord knoweth the
way of the righteous, but the way of
the ungodly shall perish.” “Well done,
good and faithful servant; thou hast
been faithful over a few things; I will
make thee ruler over many things.”
“But cast ye the unprofitable servant
into outer darkness; there shall be weep
ing and gnashing of teeth.”
v Now . in the light of God's righteous
v iliitfacter aipf us look out upon
this troubled'nation, and see what is the
fundamental cause of her unrest. I be
lieve, that in dealing with a people,
(rod’s ministers cannot improve upon
the methods of the old prophets. They
not only preached against sin, but they
located it;pointed to it, in the most di
rect and fearless manner, and told the
guilty why they suffered, and what they
would still sutler, if they did not repent.
God helping me, 1 will try to follow
the prophets. I do not believej that
wicked men are to be benefited by tell
ing them how much wiser, and better
and more progressive they are than their
fathers were. I do not believe that
moral diseases can be cured by flattery.
This country needs to be puriiied rather
than glorified. 1 can afford to speak
plainly and faithfully, because I have
but little to lose. I am not, and never
will be a candidate for political or social
favors; 1 covet nothing but an abiding
sense of fidelity to him whom 1 call
“Master” I am
NEITHER OPTIMIST Noli PESSIMIST.
Jf 1 were either of these 1 would be
unfit for the work of a Christian teacher,
and unworthy of leadersnip in any un
dertaking tin the public good. 1 try to
see, and 1 do see, both the good and the
evil in the world, 1 uphold and ap
plaud the good, and 1 reprobate and
smite the evil. In doing this, I know
that I am following the wisest and holi
est Being that ever ministered to man
kind. 1 see what is meritorious in the
people of this country. They are intelli
gent, enterprising and philanthropic.
They know how to do grand things, and
they have the energy and courage to do
them. No people are more responsive
to human suffering, though some of
their methods of responding are very
queer, and very incompatible with the
spirit of disinterested benevolence. It
is a very crooked sort of philanthropy
which says, “Give me an oyster supper,
or a ticket to a musical festival, or to a
lecture on the Passion Play, and I will
give you twenty-five cents for the Brun
swick sufferers.”
Notwithstanding these inconsistencies,
I recognize and appreciate the fact that
the American people excel all other
people in kindness to the suffering and
needy. And this kindness is not limited
to the unfortunate of their own country.
The poor and distressed of other nations
will testify that their philanthropy is as
broad as the earth. But in giving them
full credit for all that is good, I am not
blind to the fact that, as a people, they
are very unrighteous, and that their
vices vastly ougbtweigh their virtues.
1 have not time this morning to enumer
ate their sins, but if you wish to know
what is their (most radical and charac
teristic sin, I tell you plainly and em
phatically, it is dishonesty.
A DISHONEST NATION.
From the base to the apex of Ameri
can society there is visible to every eye
a selfish, grasping, materialism. Every
where men are reaching after and ap
propriating to themselves things which
do not legitimately belong to them.
They steal, but so indirectly and inge
niously, that the law - , as we have it in
terpreted and administered, fails to over
take them. In every community of this
country there are people, who, by some
species of deception, manage to get hold
and lay up, or consume, or waste, a
good share of what other people have
honestly toiled for.
What article of food is there on the
market that is not adulterated by some
degrading mixture? Is not that dishon
esty? Is it not theft? Is not the man
who sells me adulterated milk, or adul-
terated butter, without letting me know
it is adulterated, dishonest? Is he not
a tlieif according to the law of God re
vea'e I in the sacred Scriptures? The
merchant who deceives me as to the
quality of his goods, or gives me short
mearure, is a thief. The same is true
of the mechanic who builds my house
or puts into it materials inferior to those
named in his contract it is true of the
lawyer who advises his client to sue
w hen he knows that his claim is spuri
ous, and that it is impossible for him to
recover. It is true of the doctor who
continues to visit and prescribe for ids
patient, when lie knows that his patient
no longer n eils medical attention. It
is true of the legislator wdio accepts
certain substantial favors from a great
business corporation, with the under
standing that it will have his support
when called for. It is true of the news
paper man, who, when he cannot find
exciting news to give to the public,
makes it,—coins it out of his own fertile
brain. Go to New York or Chicago and
visitone of those places where men gam
ble in grain, or meat, or railroad stocks,
and you will find an army of men, who
while they would not suffer their re
spectabiliy to be challenged, look one
another in the face and say and do things
which they know to be dishonest and
villainous.
The brilliant audacity of our great
commercial centres is imitated in cities
as small even as Atlanta. Yes, it is at
tempted in our rural villages and insight
of country graveyards, where sleep the
ashes of a noble ancestry —men who
feared God and kept his command
ments, The .State makes a distinction
between
THEFT AND Flt A I'll,
but God's government knows no such
distinction. The man who swindles me
out of a dollar and the man who picks
my pocket stand on the same moral
level. 'I he State makes a distinction be
tween the bandits who combine and
rob a country store, or village bank, and
those financial wreckers of Wall Street,
who combine their forces, ami by a
single blow crush a railroad, in which
thousands of people have invested the
fruits of their honest toil. But tried by
the law of the Bible, the men who rob a
bank are no worse than the men who
steal a railroad. Recently a certain
class of sociologists and moralists have
devoted themselves largely to the inves
tigation of crime; its source, its statis
tics, and its correction. But it seems
to me that these men leave out of their
calculations the thousands on thous
ands of respectable unpunished crimes.
The vagrant thieves, who are caught
and sent to the chain-gang, are not
more numerous than the gentlemanly
thieves, who haunt the lobbies of leg
islature, municipal chambers, and the
bribable courts, and who go into the
marts of trade, and by a sort of financial
jugglery, get the fruits of honest men's
labor without paying much for them.
The politician who gets into office by
bribery, falsehood, or ballot-box stuf
fing, is a thief, and the virtuous element
of society should rise up and brand him
accordingly. The merchant who gets
the trade of a community by slandering
his competitors, is a thief. The news
paper publisher who gets the patronage
of a city or State government by claim
ing a larger circulation for his paper
than it has, is a thief. The contractor
who gets a municipal job by dividing his
profits with thecommittee charged with
letting out the work, is a thief. But
these are respectable thieves; and they
are respectable only because they are
UNWIIII'I’KD OF JUSTICE.
I repeat it then, the great characteris
tic sin of this country—the great Ameri
can disease is dishonesty. What is the
remedy? My prescription is to poi .t
out the popular mistakes which have
invited and fostered this iniquity, and
then lift ijo agajust* it the. evoKlastiug
principles of Bible morality, find the
old-fashioned safe-guards of personal
integrity.
If men, who are leaders in business,
politics, and social life, will not regulate
their conduct by a high code of morals,
their exanude will be pleaded by men
less prominent, as a license for every
species of crookedness.
I sometimes step into a commercial
convention where men prominent in the
great world of trade, are discussing
commercial measures. 1 sometimes visit
a political convention, where a paity
platform is made and candidates for
political office are nominated, and in eith
er place 1 am impressed by the fact that
there is very little insistence upon fealty
to high ethical principles. “Will it
pay?” “Is it popular?” “Will it win?”
These are the consider.tions which de
termine the fate of almost any measure
that comes before one of these conven
tions. How seldom in such a place do
we heal it said: "This is right, and let
us stand by it whether w e win or lose.”
Or, “ That is wrong, and let us oppose it
at any cost.” How seldom do we see
one brave enough to rise up in the midst
of this deafening clamor of calculation
and profit, and say, “Sink or swim, sur
vive or perish, let us doour duty.”
If the merchant ortho banker in com
mercial circle, or the political leader in
caucus or convention or legislative hall,
will not hold himself to a high standard
of ethics, it is no wonder that the pen
niless and hungry tramp does not hold
himself to it, when fortune favors
him with an opportunity to rob a hen's
roost, or raid a melon-patch! If the
manufacturer's conscience does not de
ter him from defrauding his customers
with spurious goods, would it be strange
if conscience did not deter his confiden
tial clerk from running away with the
contents of his money-drawer?
UNDESERVED SYMPATHY.
In looking carefully into the influences
that have promoted the grow th of dis
honesty in this country, 1 am disposed
to believe that an indiscreet and ill-ad
vised sympathy for certain classes of
thieves lias had much to do with it.
A man who has stood high in commer
cial and social circles embezzles money
to the amount of fifty thousand dollars.
He is arrested and sent to prison.
Presently, tender-hearted people, un
mindful of the public weal, go abroad
from street to street and from house to
house, to awaken sympathy on his be
half. They carpet his cell and decorate
it with the loveliest and rarest flowers.
They send him the best meals which
professional caterers can i rovide; they
write beautiful and pathetic articles
about him for the newspapers, and do
their utmost not only to brighten but
to shorten his term of punishment.
Now, while sympathy for a poor crim
inal is commendable, such manifesta
tions of it as I have described, are often
productive of great mischief. They
render the criminal less sensitive to his
crime, and inspire thousands of shallow
minded people to say, “ Well, after all,
theft is not so disgraceful: and convicted
thieves have a very good time.” Do
not cite the divine pity in vindication of
such conduct. God's government is not
unqualified pity. It is pity balanced
with justice.
It is severity tempered with mercy.
Theft is a crime, and justice, good gov
ernment, and the best interests of so
ciety, demand that we shall make the
thief feel that his crime is
DISGRACEFUL AND DAMNABLE.
There is another and a very common
mistake that has done much to encour
age dishonesty. It is the idea that if a
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX: THURSDAY FEBRUARY 8.1894.
man has one strong and conspicuous
virtue we should be very tolerant of hi)
vices
One of the most distinguished men
that ever occupied a seat in the Senate
of the United States was notorious for
making debts which he never paid, and
never showed any disposition to pay,
but his political friends excused him and
apologized for him on the ground that
he gave liberally to every beggar that
came to his door. Our toleration of
such looseness in public men gives
license to dishonesty. A man's philan
thropy is no legal or moral offset to his
note in bank. He may give half of his
income to the church, or *to the poor,
but if he will not pay his just debts,
there is not one liber of honesty in him,,
and society should treat him according
ly. The large sum which Ananias laid
at the Apostles’ feet to be distributed
among the poor did not offset the lie that
he told in making his gift. God smote
him with instant death, to teach the
world that no good deed can compen
sate or atone for a bad one.
Another cause for this laxity in morals,
may be traced to the churches. If a
church-member's religion is very emo
tional, if he seems to be hapyy in the
Lord, ami if he makes profession of
high spiritual attainments, we are dis
posed to tolerate him in neglecting
many of the most
CARDINAL 111 TIES
of Christian life. “Wives obey your
husbands.” I know some women who
are too pious to do that, and who will
never forgive Paul for laying such an
1 obligation upon them. I know men who
are too pious to support, their families,
i Having attained to a state of sinless
perfection, they have quit work and left
their wives and little children to strug
; gle for themselves. There are some of
. these “saints par-excellence” who are
I 100 holy to pay a butcher’s bill. Some
who gaze so steadfastly into heaven,
that they cannot see the deacon when
he passes the contribution basket. Now,
1 say that the Church helps to demoral
: ize the world, when it tolerates and
fosters such ideas of religion. The man
or woman who wilfully and habitually
neglects a plain, domestic duty, is a
very unworthy exemplar of the religion
iof Christ. The church-member to
, whom duty is less sacred than good-
I feeling, has a fatal misconception of the
! one thing needful.
In these times of unrest and anxiety,
when markets are overloaded, and the
wheels of industry hang idle; when mer
chants go to their counting-rooms in the
morning, not to see how much money
they can make, but how little they can
loose; when church treasuries and mis
sion treasuries are shrivelled and empty!
when hope dies out of the hearts of the
poor, not for lack of bread in the land,
lint for the want of work; in this unhap
py state, men everywhere are asking,
“What is the matter with our country?”
The political doctors think that they
have gone to the bottom of the matter,
I and they commiserate those who ques
; tion tlie infallibility of their wisdom.
But, unfortunately for the doctors, they
, are not agreed among themselves. One
! tells us that the .Sherman Law is
THE DIREFUL SOURCE
of our country's woes. Another tolls
I us that tlie iniquitous tariff is the Pan
dora box from which all our troubles
come. One cries, “Tlie Monometallists
have robbed us.” Another shouts, “The
; Bimetallists have wrecked us.”
My countrymen, God knows, and I
, trurt that tlie day is not far distant
, wlietjyou will see that the trouble lies
| deeper than any question of currency,
!or tariff, or both. The basal, radical
cause of our national infelicity is a
, chronic state of dishonesty.
For years we have been living largely
lon false pretenses. Thousands of men
: have been swimming in wealth that was
purely ficticious. liusiiicss. supposed ,tj,\
s be done on solid capital, have been done
;on bubbles of air. We have walkdcl in
I vain shadows, and called these shadows
i property. Much of the luxurious living
■ in our land has been maintained by un
mitigated fraud. We have promoted to
places of honor and responsibility, men
who have asked to be trusted when
there was nothing to trust. Men capa
j ble of any duplicity ami shamed of no
i dishonor, have been called to the front,
: while men of unflinching integrity have
, been relegated to the rear. In every
j community, men with sad faces and
broken hearts will tell us how they have
i been deceived, betrayed and circumvent
ed and robbed of their all.
Now what is the fruit of all this reck
i less, audacious, and long-continued in
iquity? It is just what you see and feel
to-day,—a loss of confidence. Men have
I ceased to trust one another, and that
has brought commercial stagnation,
paralysis and death. “Woe to the wick
' ed; it shall be ill with him; for the re
ward of his hands shall be given to him.”
The meaning of this is that God will
punish a wicked people with the inevita
| ble and
N A Tl' 11A I CONSEQUENCES.
of their own folly. We had our seed
time: it was propitious. We planted,
and now comes the harvest—dissension,
bitterness, strife, crimination and re
; crimination, bankruptcy, want, cries for
bread, riots, mobs, arson, robberies,
murder,
What is the remedy? Any legislation
[is mere patch-work. It is a mere anats
thetic that can bring only temporary re
lief. The disease is moral, and the
remedy must be moral. We must re
i pent toward God: and the remedy must
be real and radical. As individuals we
must repent, and seek forgiveness of
him who is exalted to give repentance
: and remission of sins.
Asa people we must repent—we must
clothe ourselves in sackcltoh and sit
down in ashes. We must get back to
those everlasting principles of Bible
morality from which we have drifted.
We must put away everything that is
false, dishonest anil deceptive, and re
! turn to the virtuous simplicity of our
Christian fathers in the purer and hap
pier days of the Republic. Let us do
! this, and deliverance will come.
It will come as tlie days comes,
When tlie night is done:
Ami tlie crimson streak on the Ocean's cheek
Grows into the mighty Sun.
SIOO REWARD, SIOO
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ASKED AND ANSWERED.
BY DR. C. K. W. DOBBS.
1. What is the meaning of He
brews 6 : 6.
2. In John 3: 16, we have these
words: “For God So loved the world,
etc., and in the same chapter 27th
I verse, “A man can receive nothing
, except It be given him from heaven.”
I Which of the two words that I have
underscored contain the most mean
ing, each taken in its own connec
tion? We had as a general question
in the Sunday-school, What is the
shortest word in the New Testament
containing the most meaning? The
two words to which I call your at
tention were given as answers. The
school is divided as to which is right.
Will you please settle the question
for us?
I always read your column in the
Index and derive much pleasure
profit from it.
k. a. s.
1. The verse in the epistle to the
•Hebrews states that it is impossible
that those who have fallen away
from Christianity “should be renewed
to repentance ; seeing they are cruci
fied to themselves tlie Son of God
afresh, and putting him to an open
shame.” The quotation is from the
improved Bible Union Version. Dr.
Kendrick comments: “Their recove
ry is hopeless ; they have exhausted
tile divine mercy.” (American Com
mentary.) This is not to be con
founded with the sin against the
Holy Spirit, of which our Lord
spoke in Mark 3; 29, 30; nor with the
sin unto death, of which John wrote
(1 John 5: 10), whatever those sins
may have been.
The passage in Hebrews positively
asserts that there is no repentance
for those who are described as
“fallen away.” Whatever may be
true as to the doctrines commonly
known as ‘-falling from grace” and
the “perseverance of the saints,” if
this passage bears at all on the ques
tion, it teaches that he who falls is
beyond hope of renewal. It will be
seen that the Revised Version aban
dons the hypothetical “ii” of the
King James Version. Still the
whole argument of the sacred writer
has a hypothetical form. The pas
sage is confessedly a difficult one,
and it is not good exegesis to wring
out of a doubtful passage a meaning
conti ary to the other passages clear
antt unmistakable in their positive
teaching concerning the certainty of
the believers final salvation. Thank
God, though he falls he shall not be
utterly cast down.
2. Really we do «iot see the value
of such in the Sunday
school. Still we will try to help our
good sister in her perplexity. In
the Greek the adverb “so” is express
ed emphatically, while there is no
word at all for “it” in verse 27, it
beitg expret ,< d, according to Greek
etiNjfm, in the jerb “be.” This
vv«^i / to ’ the former to
be the more important. Hovey says
that “die adverb so means, with so
great a love.” The emphasis in
verse 27 is to be laid on the phrase
“unless it be given him from heaven”
—that is all man’s honor or success
in God’s service is from the giver of
every good and perfect gift.
1. I see by the almanac that Eas
ter Sunday this year does not come
on the same day that it did last year.
Why not?
2. Ought Baptist’s to observe Eas-
ter? I find it mentioned in Acts
12: L L. M. D.
1. It would require many columns
to explain this matter fully. Brief
ly, early Christians held that Christ
suffered death on the very day the
Jews celebrated the Passover, the
day on which the lamb was sacrific
ed. In the earliest times, therefore,
Easter was celebrated on the same
day that the Jews celebrated their
Passover. Afterwards the great
majority of Christians attached more
importance to the day of the resur
rection, which was the Sunday fol
lowing, and insisted that Easter
should be celebrated on that day,
that is the Sunday which followed
the 14th day of the moon of March
(the Jewish calender being in lunar
months). The question became a
very troublesome one in church cir
cles, as will be seen by reading the
history of the subject, and there was
much controversy about it. Con
stantine brought the matter before
the Council of Nice in 325. The
question was fully discussed, and
finally settled for the whole church
by adopting the rule which makes
Easter day to be always the first
Sunday after the full moon which
happens upon our next after March
21 ; and if the full moon happens on
Sunday, Easter is the Sunday after.
By this arrangement Easter may
come as early as March 22, or as late
as April 25.
2. The word for “Easter” in Acts
12: 4 is that everywhere else render
ed “passover,” and should have been
so translated here. The Episcopa
lian commentator, Dr. Plumtre, says :
“In this solitary instance the trans
lators have introduced, with a singu
lar infelicity, the term which was
definitely appropriate only to the
Christian festival which took the
place of the Passover.” There can
scarcely be a question but that the
King James translators allowed their
sectarian interests to control them
in putting “Easter” in the text.
Even the Roman Catholic authors of
the Rhemish New Testament did not
do that The Revised Version, as
in so many other places, corrects the
error and restores “Passover.”
“Easter” comes from the name of
the old Saxon goddess “Eostre,”
whose festival was celebrated in the
Spring. The New Testament does
not ordain the observance of any
particular anniversary days or sea
sons. Interpreted in the light of
primitive Christian literature and
practice, the New Testament appears
to sanction the observance of the
weekly “Lord’s day,” but nothing
more. For this reason the early
Puritans refused to observe Christ
mas, Easter, and other ecclesiastical
days, and they went to great ex
tremes in their opposition. Most
early Baptists strongly sympathized
with them, and many of our breth
ren to-day emphatically disapprove
of any recognition whatever of
“Easter.” We once knew a good
man who went so far that he al
ways urged his people to ob
serve both Christmas and Easter
Sundays as “fast days I” He would
invariably preach on the death rath
er than the birth, or resurrection, of
Jesus, on those Sundays. This dear
brother was an extremist, and very few
Baptists now share his extreme views.
It has long been the custom of this
writer to preach on the resurrection
of our Lord, or some related theme,
on what is known as Easter Sunday,
and he sees nothing wrong in such a
recognition of the day. Let every
man be fully persuaded in his own
mind. Rom. 14: 5.
How can the disadvantages aris
ing from our present mode of grant
ing letters of dismission be avoided?
CLERK.
This inquiry comes from the clerk
of the church at Crawfordville,
which in formal conference proposes
to her sister churches the following
plan, namely:
“When a member removes from
our bounds, he or she will be ex
pected to have some regular Baptist
church, within six months, to make
application for their letter of dismis.
sion or transfer of membership, un
less some arrangements be made to
the contrary.”
We question whether the average
Baptist would cheerfully submit to
such an arrangement. We Baptists
are very much in favor of indepen
dence and personal liberty. It is to
be presumed th it every church
member asking for and receiving a
letter of dismission intends to use it
conscientiously. The one who does
not so intend would scarcely lie
worth the postage necessary for the
correspondence suggested by our
Crawfordville brethren. Better try
the time honored Baptist usage a
while longer.
CHURCH DISCIPLINE FOR 1894-
BY REV. J. C. SOLOMON.
Dear Index :—Allow me to
express just a few thoughts for
your many readers. Possibly they
will not prove non-interesting.
There lire many Baptists here —
good, bad, and indifferent, and still
they come. We want only one
kind, viz., God-fearing. Christ-lov
ing, soul-seeking Baptists. To this
end we are praying and working.
We heartily believe that the
pruning knife has been left too
long in disuse. Too many dead
branches remain on the tree.
I am in for a lopping off, a gen
eral, close trimming—too much
dead weight—too many pulling
back—too many scotching the
wheel—too few at work—too few
pulling—too few loving, serving
Christ.
It really seems that a good, large
per cent, of our churches, or of our
church members are asleep. They
are in a profound slumber, sleeping
as if there would be no waking.
What is the matter? What is the
remedy? How can we correct the
evil? Something evidently must
be done. You see plainly, for it
is an ocular demonstration, that
not a few of our churches are do
ing practically nothing for the
spread of the gospel, for the glory
of God.
Too many of our members are
dead to Christ, dead to the
churches, dead to themselves, dead
to real usefulness. Is there no
remedy under the sun? Certainly
there is. A church stands in her
own light of her own volition
when she tolerates it. She walks
with crutches when she ought to
go leaping and rejoicing in her
strength. She grovels in the dust
when she ought to soar like a lark.
She mourns in sack cloth and ashes
when she ought to throw around
her the beauteous garment of righ
teousness ready for the coming of
her Lord.
We need a revival of discipline,
an old fashion, clear-cut, straight-
The Largest Retail CLOTHIERS in the South.
PRICE TO ALL.--
. . MACON, . . — 77 ATLANTA, . .
552-854 Cherry Street. 39-4■ Whltehall- 3 3- 34 S. Broad.
forward, scriptural way of dealing
with members. It does seem that
church discipline is almost a lost
art. Our preachers and our
churches are either afraid, or it is
not popular, or it is cruel, or it is
distasteful. The rule is get all you
can and keep all you get, and the
pity of it is many, too many are
not worth the getting. The back
door has been shut too long. The
people have been imprisoned. So
open wide all the back doors and
give the world an opportunity to
pass out of the church.
If members will neither pay, nor
pray, nor come, nor go, nor help,
nor lead in any way the burdens of
the church, then they themselves
are burdens and hindrances to the
prosperity of Zion. If we can
not arouse them, if we cannot use
them, if they have taken too much
of the devil’s opiate, why, then let
us see to it, that they finish their
nap outside the “church pail.”
Such a class always brings re
proach on a church and is an ap
probrium to the cause of our
[ blessed Master. Brother pastors
i what say you to turning over a new
; leaf in ’94? Let us all this new
j year “beard the lion in his den.”
I Shall we be abashed? Shall we
stand back? Shall we hesitate a
moment because of the unpleas
antness of the task? I admit it is
unpleasant and at times smacks of
hardness and unkindness. But
shall we not endure hard
ness as a good soldier? For
one I am in for keeping, a clean,
pure, attractive house for God, let
it cost what it may. The unwhole
some, offensive, covetous, world
loving members must go. They
are a curse to the church. They
are a disgrace to the cause. They
are real barriers to the Holy Spirit.
Harvest Bells.
Song book in round and shape notes
and words only, is strongly endorsed by
Drs. Broadus, Manly, Gambrell, A. .1.
Frost, and thousands of others, and by
nearly every Baptist paper in the U. S.,
Canada and England. Let churches aud
Sunday-schools write for terms, and they
will see how the middle man can be
knocked out. Address.
W. E. PENN.
14dec-ly St. Louis, Mo
SEEDS, PLANTS
AND VINES.
My stock of new crop (1893) Garden Seeds is
coming in, all fresh, new and tirst-class. Send
j in your order»e»rly and receive prompt atten
I tion. I keep a full stock of Standard Garden
' and Flower Seeds.
Strawberry Plants, Rasberry Plants, “nd
Blackberry Plants. All tlie best varieties of
Grapevines fr‘'m one to two years old: embrac
ing all the tested varieties suitable to the South
LaFrance, Meteor. Merechal Neil Roses,
and all the new and beautiful Roses t» lie.
1 found. Our plantsaret»'oyearsold,and bloom
and thrive with very little care.
Tube Roses, Sweet Peas. Poppies. Glad
iolus, Lilies, Geraniums, verbenas, and all
kinds of bedding and pot plants.
1 h nurwrß
19 South Bro.ul St., Atlanta.’Ga.
P. O Box 187.
jan4“t f
\Seeds! Seeds! Seeds!
Fresh. Pure and Reliable, Sent by mail on
receipt of price.
“Dixie Laud” Bunch Bean>oc
Buncombe Cabbage 10c
Improved White Ga.. Collards 10c
Golden Dresden Radish 10c
Jones’“Jumbo” Watermelon -10 c
New South and Nixon Cantaloupe loe
Jackson Wonder Bean ~ 10c
Golden Queen and Ten Ton Tomato 10c
Descriptive Catalogue Free. Address,
H. H. ARRINGION.
Mention this paper Summerville. Ga
Writing Mention Christian Index.
Mark W. Johnson
Seed Company.
35 S. Pryor Street Atlanta, Ga
Oldest and most extensive Seed House
South. Reliable Seeds of every descrip
tion on hand in their season. Wholesale
and Retail.
FOR THE FIELD.
Choice selections Scarlet Clover, Red
Clover, Alfalfa—Lucerne, Rescue Grass,
Blue Grass, Herds Red Top, Orchard
Timothy, Bermuda, Johnston and Lawn
Grsss, etc.
Seeds for the Garden.
SPECIALTIES.
Jacksan’s Wonder Bean, Lord Bacon
Jones and White Ivy Water Melon Seeds,
Georgia Collard, Cattail Millet, Spanish
Peanut, Chufas, Ensilage. Corn, etc.
Fertilizers, Davis Swing Churn. Send for
prices.
4jan-4tn
Writing Mention Christian Index.
BUHNGAMANO
As we are now fast becoming a musi
cal people and the Piano is considered
an essential part of the furniture of our
homes, and lias been the means of bring
ing sunshine into many a one, thanks
to such enterprising men as Steinway A
Sons, who for over 40 years have worked
incessantly to bring to the front the now
famous
STEINWAY
PIANO
until it is now, as every one knows, the
“STANDARD
OF THE
WORLD !”
■ - W
The house for many years has been
conceded universally to be the most ex
tensive of its kind in existence. The
workmen are of the ripest experience
and may well be considered as the finest
artists in their line, using only the
Best and Finest Material.
Add to this their many and varied inven
tions and it will explain why the
Steinway Piano
lias the most agreeable, elastic touch of
unerring precision, producing the finest
and
Most Lastinj Qualities of Tooe,
and why the PIANO remains in tune
and has greater durability and excellence
than has ever been obtained in any Pi
ano. To have a
Steinway Piano
is to have the best that can be had, and
this is a satisfaction not to be underrated
for a moment.
As their Southern Agents we
Duplicate New York Prices,
saving you freights and other expenses
and will be money in your pocket if you
buy from us direct. Write us, or call
and select in our warerooms.
Fnw & Bradley Music Co.
63 Peachtrte St<ATLANTA, GA. *
Writing Mention Christian Inokx,
Rome Railroad Co. ol Georgia
In effect 9:00 a. m.. Sunday, October 30, 1892
Right is reserved to vary from this schedule
as circumstances may require.
Rome to Kingston—Passenger Ttrains Daily
Stations. No. 1. ! No. 3. No-5.
I.v.Rome ... 900 am 215 pm 715 am
Second Avenue-■ 904 " 219 " 717 “
Brick Yardl 910 “|2 25 “ 723 "
Freemans 918 "I 233 “ 728 "
Dykes; 923 ‘ 238 “ 732 ”
Bass Ferry[ 929 “ I 244 “ 737 “
Eves !9 34 “ I 249 " 743 -1
Mnrchisons 945 " 300 “ 75' "
Wooleysj 952 " j 307 “ 754 “
Ar. Kingston!lo 00 “ | 315 " 800 “
Atlantal 115 pm! 625 “ 11025 “
Chattanoogal 1 30 " I 600 “ 1
Kingston to Rome—Passenger Trains Daily
Stations. No •’ No. 4. No. 6.
Lv. Chattanooga 750 am 120 pm
Atlanta 810 "!1 20 " 3 35p
Kingston 1 50 “ I 405 “ 600
WooleysJO 55 “ 1 411 “ 606
Murchisons 10 59 “ I 417 " 610
Eves 1113 " 1426 " 617
Bass Ferryill 18 ■* i 434 " 623
Dykes;ll23 “ i 440 “ 628
Freemanslll2B “ : 445 “ 632
Brick Yard 1135 “ 451 “ '6 37
Second Avenue.. 11 42 “ 457 " !6 43
Ar. Rome .1145 “ i 500 “ | 645
Nos. 1, 2,3 and 4 trains run daily, making
close connection at Kingston, Ga.,(both morn
ing and evening) with Western & Atlantic
trainsgoing North to Chattanooga, Tenn., and
South to Atlanta, Ga. 1
Nos. 5 and 6 (Rome Express) will run daily
between Rome and Atlanta, Ga., except Sun
day, makingclose connection at Atlanta with ,
the Central s fast train. “Nancy Hanks.” for »
Griffin, Macon and Savannah.
W. F. AYER, Superintendent.
INDIGESTION. IT ®‘‘’T, A " D
CURE. Valuable
DYSPEPSIA. b ook free.
address, chas o TYNER,
DRUGGIST, - ATLANTA, GA.