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ESTABLISHED 1821.
The Christian Index.
Published Every Thursday, Cor. Ivy St.
and Edgewood Avenue.
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Organ of the Baptist Denomination in
Georgia.
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OTHER PERBQNS AND INOIDENTB
- I. R. BRANHAM, D. D.
There are some names not men
tioned in previous articles that de
serve not to be forgotten.
In his prime, Rev. James Evans
was a conspicuous figure among
Georgia Mel hodists. He frequent
ly preached in the Old Union
church, though I am not sure that
he was ever the preacher in charge.
He was a man of commanding ap
pearance, being over six feet tall,
and of decidedly prepossessing feat
ures.
His manner was grave and dig
nified, but nevertheless attractive.
As a preacher he was strong, per
suasive, and tender. He lived to a
ripe old age, leaving behind him a
record of constant labor, great pop
ularity, and wide usefulness.
Rev. George W. Lane, for many
years professor of Greek at Emory
college, was a gifted preacher. I
heard him, not only in the old
church but often at Oxford while
I was a student there. He was
not what the world regards a pol
ished orator, but he was, neverthe
less, an eloquent preacher. His
deep set eyes, the peculiar tone of
his voice, the earnestness of his
manner, the clearness and force
with which he proclaimed the Gos
pel, never failed to make deep and
lasting impressions on those who
heard him. His gesticulation was
not graceful, or characterized by
much variety. It consisted in rais
ing his hands up nearly on a level
with his head, then bending them
downwards loosely on his wrists,
he kept them constantly in motion
as if he were trying to fly. Awk
ward as it may seem, his hearers,
borne aloft upon the wings of
thought and feeling, weie so ab
sorbed in what he said that they
did not notice how he said it. Per
mit me to say, in passing, that Mr.
Evans and Mr. Lane especially the
latter, were favorite preachers witli
my mother.
Soon after the division in the
Methodist church 1 think a session
of the General Conference was
held in Eatonton. During that
meeting I saw and heard Bishop
Soule preach, I think he presided
over the Conference. In the sepa
ration he took sides with the
southern church. It was during
that session that I heard Bishop
Capers, Bishop Andrew was pres
ent also, and so was Dr. Lew.
Among the Baptists, strange to
say, I omitted the name of one of
our best and greatest men, one
whom I knew well, and loved much,
Rev. Chas. D. Mallary. He was a
prince among preachers, and a man
of such deep and fervent piety that
he never failed to impress thote who
came in contact with him with
his godly character. Yet, he was
a most agreeable companion even
for boys of my age. The best ser
mon I heard him preach was at the
Indian Spring, from the text, “Oh
Lord, how excellent is thy name in
all the earth.” Ps. 8: i. His
thoughts came with the rush of a
torrent, and though his utterance
was very rapid, yet it was clear and
distinct. In his visits to Eatonton
he frequently made his home with
my grandfather, Thomas Cooper.
Sometimes he was accompanied by
his two sons Charles and Rollen.
Subsequently, we three boys were
at school together at Penfield.
Charles died years ago. Rollin,
now known as Rev. R. D. Mallary,
is still living in Vineville, near
Macon, Ga. He has been one of
the most successful teachers that
Georgia has ever produced, and is
also a most excellent preacher and
pastor. It was difficu.t for me to
speak of the honored father, and
not mention the sons who were
among the earliest friends of my
boyhood.
Rev. John F. Hillyer, is another
whose name escaped me while
writing of Baptist ministers in a
former article.
He resided in the village and
was pastor for a number of years.
He was a brother of the venerable
and much loved Dr. S. G. Hillyer,
who now lives in Atlanta.
Rev. John Hillyer was not so
polished and eloquent a preacher as
his brother, but he was strong, solid,
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX.
* wA.
and sound. He possessed consid
erable versatility of talent being a
good musician, a |first rate scholar,
excelling especially in mathematics,
and a good practical mechanic.
He was the first man who took
daguerreotype pictures in Eaton
ton. He kept his camera at home,
and practiced the art more for
amusement than gain. I still have
in my possession a picture of my
self taken by him. He was a man
of genial spirit, much respected and
beloved by all who knew him. He
moved from Eatonton to Texas
where he died about two year ago,
over So years of age.
Among many incidents that oc
curred in the old church, I will tell
of only two.
The first occurred while I was
quite young, the second in ISS2 or
3, while I was living in Macon.
As before said, the galleries
which were assingned were fur
nished with comfortable pews just
like those occupied by the white
people on the main floor. They
were gradually elevated from front
to rear so that all could see and be
seen by the preacher from his high
pulpit. The railing in front was
covered by a plank eight or ten
inches wide. During the Sunday
morning service, and in the midst
of the sermon, a white man sud
denly appeared standing on the
plank, on the right side of the pul
pit. He at once began to run at
full speed, swinging himself around
the little posts as he came to them,
and continued until he had made
the whole distance around the
the sides of the gallery. The
preacher astonished, ceased speak
ing, and the whole congregation
watched with bated breath, expect
ing every moment to see the man
fall to the floor below.
Immediately, two or three gen
tlemen went up into the gallery
and on examination found the man
to be a stranger and perfectly crazy.
After such a startling 6cene, the
attention of the congregation was
so distracted that the services were
closed and the people dismissed. It
seems that no one but a crazy or a
drunken man could do such a thing
with impunity. It is not true that
a merciful God holds such unfortu
nate people with the hand of a
special providence?
The other incident occurred
while Bro. Eden was pastor of the
church. He is not the same man
as the field editor of the Index. He
had just closed a successful meeting,
and there was a number of persons
waiting for baptism. I had prom
ised a lady, that when she joined
the church I would go over to bap
tize her. She was among the num
ber of candidates on this occasion.
Judge W. F. Jenkins and wife
were to be baptized at the same
time. There was a warm friend
ship existing between Judge Jen
kins and Bro. Marshall, pastor at
Harmon, so he was requested to
come and administer the ordina
tion to them. Bro. W. A. Dodge,
the preacher in charge of the Meth
odist church, had a lady to join his
church, who insisted upon being
immersed, 60 at his request, the use
of the baptistry was given him. Bro.
Eden, also, had a number of per
sons to immerse. It fell to my lot
to preach the sermon that night.
I did so, from the text, ‘Follow
Me.” The two corners of the
church, to the right and left of the
pulpit, where the “Amen pews are
placed, were cut off by curtains,
and used as dressing rooms. Just
before Bro. Dodge went down to
immerse his candidate, I said to
him, “Bro. Dodge you had better
let me take you down there and fix
you up, before you baptize your
candidate.” Though it was a piece
of good-humored pleasantry, I do
not think he relished it very much,
and I was sorry I had indulged
in it. To me it was an exceedingly
pleasant service. It was peculiar
in the fact that these four
preachers present, one of them a
Methodist, all to administer the
rite at the same time. I believe
that was the last sermon preached
in the old church.
Bro. Editor, there are in any other
things that I might write about.
It is said that old people love to
think and talk about scenes of their
childhood and early manhood. So
I have found it to be the case in
this instance. But I must stop, lest
I weary your readers with matters
mainly of personal interest. I will
only add that next to the south side
of the church, in the first line of
graves, lie buried a number of my
kindred, among them seven little
brothers and sisters. Farther
down, near the enclosure of my
grandfather and mother Cooper’s
graves, is buried our oldest child.
The graves are very thick in this
old Cemetery, all the way down to
the vacant lot below, so that you
could scarcely dig a grave there now
without striking a coffin. Many
of the graves that were plainly
marked in my youth have entirely
disappeared. So it will soon be
with us, dead,buried and forgotten.
God help us all to be ready when
our time comes.
Rev. W. N. Cleveland, brother of
President Cleveland, in response to
the question, “Is Grover religious?”
Answered, “he is a believer.”
I SUBSCRIPTION, Rim. t.
»TO MINISTERS, 0.1
ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, MAY 30 1895.
STRONG IN GRACE-
J. S. BATCH WEI. Li
In 2 Tim. 2 :1, Paul exhorts Tim
othy (his true son in the flesh) to
be strong in the grace which is in
Christ Jesus.
Bloomfield says,“means
no less than exert thyself powerful
ly,” or according to Boise, “made
powerful” in the grace, etc. The
element wherein srtength exists,
Paul was a firm believer in a
healthful, robust Christian charac
ter. He was himself a giant in
grace, and he ardently desired Tim
othy to be such ; therefore he says,
“My son be strong (not in the arm
of ilesh nor your own righteous
ness, but) in the grace which is in
Christ Jesus.”
Timothy needed just such an ex
hortation as this, inasmuch as he
was a young and inexperienced
preacher of the gospel, just begin
ning, you might say the work of
the ministry. His habits were un
fixed and his principles untried to
some extent, at least, and the in
vestiture of divine grace would se
cure him from many of the in
numerable follies and temptations
which follow close upon the heels
of every young minister, and older
ones, too, as to that matter, but
more especially the young ones.
Then, too, he was in the midst
of a “crooked and perverse nation,”
1 people crooked both in doctrine
and practice, and at the same time
stubbornly refusing to be guided
by simple gospel truth. Some
found their chief delight in wordy,
profitless conversations, while oth
ers declared that the resurrection
had passed, and by the profane,
meaningless gibberage of so-called
learned men, the faith of their hear
ers was overthrown, hence that
which amused and delighted some,
wrought death to others. The
stream of corruption was deep and
wide, bearing everything down its
rapid current to the gulf of hope
lessness and superstition.
Against this powerful current of
corruption, young Timothy had to
stand, yea rather shun, for it is
cankerous and a hot bed of godless
contentions. But how is he to
avoid the insidiousness of this en
chanting stream unless empowered
by grace? No man is of himself
able to make a successful contest
against sin. We have only to re
vert to the case of Peter in order
to be convinced of this fact.
Moreover, Timothy was intrusted
with the solemn, sacred duty of
preaching the gospel and of com
mitting the same to “faithful men”
who in turn would instruct others.
Preaching the gospel is of itself
enough to thoroughly engage the
heart and brain of the oldest,
sturdiest and most experienced
Christian minister, so to faithfully
perform the arduous work of
preaching the gospel, to successful
ly resist youthful lusts and seduc
tions of evil designers, he had great
need to “be strong in the grace
which is in Christ Jesus.”
One of the means of securing
this much needed strength is the
Word of God. “Study to show
thvself approved until God, a
workman that needeth not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word
of truth.” 2 Tim. 2 115. There is
nothing so well adapted to qualify,
fortify and strengthen the child of
God against every form of evil as a
diligent and prayerful study of the
Word of God. This was the weap
on with which the Savior routed
Satan in the wilderness. Paul was
no stranger to the keen, discerning
and vitalizing nature of God’s
truth. “For the word of God is
living (R. V.) and powerful and
sharper than any two edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of
the joints and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and in
tents of the heart.” Heb. 4:12.
It is no mere guess to say that the
reason there are so many puny,
faint-hearted and undeveloped
Christian men and women, is be
cause they do not search the
Scriptures; and as long as Chris
tian people persist in this inexcusa
ble and hazardous practice, it will
be utterly impossible to attain to a
very high degree of strength in
grace.
It is the peculiar privilege of
every lover of Christ to be endued
with great grace and to study the
Word in order to grow thereby.
There have been times when the
Word of God was precious or
scarce, and privileges few, never
theless we read of unbounded zeal
on the part of many in spite of the
paucity of privileges, but since our
advantages have been multiplied,
our zeal seems to have cooled.
What is the cause? Is it true that
familiarity with God’s Word has
begotten within us a feeling of con
tempt? God forbid! Then let us
with joy honestly improve our
heaven-exalted opportunities and
tremble at the thought of our re
sponsibilities. It is not oniy our
privilege and duty to be strong in
grace, it is also to our joy in this
life as also in that life which is to
come.
No man can be strong in grace
without at the same time being
flooded with joy inexpressible and
full of glory.
Are you a seeker after real hap
piness? Then let your visits be
frequent to, and prolonged at the
throne of grace, and as you de
velop in grace, your happiness
will develop in a corresponding
ratio, and the strongest Christian
here will have the largest cup of
joy hearafter.
This one thought should encour
age every child of God to seek those
means of grace more diligently
whereby they may be strong in the
grace which is in Christ Jesus.
THE GOLDEN RULE.
BY F. R. BOSTON.
This is a great saying. The gol
den rule indeed. But you willob
serve that our Lord does not claim
anything novel or original about it.
For he says it is the summation of
the teachings of the law and the
prophets —the prophets of old
taught the substance of it, and the
law required it. It is embraced in
the command, thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself. But this is
not all. Some of the wisest and
best of the heathen have uttered
sentiments like that —conspicuous
among the Chinese—and Isocrates
among the Greeks, and some of the
great Rabbis among the Jews.
While the sentiments as taught by
man is similar to that of Christ, it
is not the same —man put the rule
in a negative form,and makes one’s
self the supreme standpoint, as' for
example the Greek Isocrates says :
“What would anger you, if done to
you by others that do not to them.
Christ puts the rule in an affirma
tive way, and has God's fatherhood
the standard, as we will see later
on.
You may ask how these men
came to a knowledge of a rule that
was so much like the golden rule of
our Lord. I think the answer is
found in the first chapter of the
Gospel of John and fourth verse.
“In him was life and the life was
the light of men.” John meant to
say that Christ is the source of all
life. He is the fountain of life to
man. As he is man’s life, he is al
so man’s illumination. He is the
true light which lighteth every
man that cometh into the world.
So that whatever of true light or
understanding men have, they re
ceived it originally from the Word
of God, the second person in the
Trinity. All the truth which we
find in heathen philosophy and re
ligion came front »jLc pri (native
revelation from God. For truth
lingered on in the world after sin
and corruption came, like day-light
after the sun goes down.
Therefore I think the golden
rule as it appears in a similar, but
imperfect and negative form among
the teachings of men is, as some
one has said, the primative com
mand of God in the hearts of the
nations.
Does our Lord mean that the
rule shall be applied absolutely in
all cases without conditions? As
for example, must the Judge acquit
the thief because if he were in his
place and guilty he would like to
be acquitted, or must a jury decide
in favor of a murderer because if
they were in the accused’s place,
they would like to free, or as Dr.
Broadman says in his study of this
text. “Here is an ignoble drone,
begging alms, does the golden rule
require you to do to him as he
wants, and so pamper him in his
wicked laziness, or here is a reel
ing sot thirsting for another pota
tion, does the golden rule require
you to gratify his accursed thirst?”
You see the rule cannot be applied
in an absolute sense. It would
break down all safe guards of so
ciety and subvert the good to the
evil and worthless.
The golden rule begins with
“therefore”that must be significant.
It shows there is a connection be
tween our text and what Christ
has just said. The golden rule is
the outgrawth of the preceeding.
Christ had been stating and illus
trating the doctrines of prayer.
We must ask, seek, and knock.
Then on the other hand God is so
willing to answer the prayers of
his children. No, men are evil,
yet they are willing to give good
gifts unto their children. How
much more is your Father which is
in heaven willing to give good
things to them that ask him. In
other words God is our lather, he
treats us as sons —hears our
prayers and gives good things to
us when we ask him. Therefore,
as God deals with us as sons —so
we must treat each other as broth
ers. As God acts the part of a
father to us, we must act the part
of brothers to each other. There
fore,all things, whatsoever ye would
that men should do to you, do ye
even so to them, for this is the law
and the prophets. The spirit of
sonship towards God, involves the
spirit of brotherhood towards man.
As the sons of God all that we can
reasonably ask from others is broth
erly treatment regulated |by right,
justice and love. All things, what
soever, includes that and nothing
more. That which we would have
from others consistant with broth .
erhood, we should do to others.
( 1) The golden rule is the crite
rion of character. By it we can
test ourselves as to our right rela
tion with God and by it our fellow
men can judge of our relations to
God. If we are indeed the chil
dren of God by regeneration and
by the spirit of adoption —if we
have the spirit learing witness
with our spirits that we are the
children of God, then it will be
manifested and demonstrated by
our conduct and dealings with our
fellowinen. We will act toward
each other like children of a com
mon father. It is impossible for us
to huve the spirit of sonship and
not be kindly affectionate to one
another. When we are lacking in
brotherly feeling and conduct, it is
a positive evidence that vve are
lacking in the spirit of sonship to
ward God. For a narrow, selfish
spirit that thinks only of itself, that
has no concern for the needs, con
dition, or welfare or prosperity of
its fellows cannot animate a child
of God. Here is the way that the
apostle John puts this fact, in 1
John 4 20. If a man say, I love
God and hateth his brother, he is a
liar, for he that loveth not his
brother whom he hath seen, how
can he love God whom he hath not
seen? and this commandment we
have from him, Must he who lov
eth God, love his brother also ? So
you see the golden rule gives us a
criterion by which to judge of our
right relations to God.
(2) The golden rule is a safe
guard against all censorious judg
ment.
In this very chapter our Lord
warns against censorious judgment
—where one is inclined to pick out
the faults of others, criticise them,
inspect them, talk about them and
magnify them, and thereby inflict
constant pain. Censoriousness is
the outgrowth of a cruel and selfish
spirit that ignores his own great
faults, which are beams, but loves
to point out the motes in the lives
of others. The evil heart not only
loves to make them, but the evil
heart loves to hear them. They are
the spice of many newspapers and
the charm of most of gossip. It. is
as cruel as it is wrong. It gives
pain and trouble—it produces
heart-burnings and alienations.
But the golden rule when carried
out in our conduct toward each
other is a safe guard against cen
sorious judgment —as we would not
have our brother to inflict pain on
us by harsh and merciless criticism,
so we will not pain and mortify
him. I think this was Miss Have
gal’-s principle which regulated her
conversation with reference to j
others. What gave her pain she.
abstained from saying about oth
ers.
A friend once heard Dr. Hogue,
of Richmond say on one occasion,
that he had spent his life in at
tending funerals, and if all the good
and beautiful things which he had
heard said about the dead, could
have been said about them while
they were living, how much
brighter their lives could have
been, how fewer the clouds and
how much less the heart-aches.
What most people need is, less crit
cism, less censure, less fault-finding
—more praise, more encourage
ment, more kind words, more of the
golden rule in our lives, homes and
church relations.
(3) The golden rule is the ground
of all evangelical and missionary la
bors.
The great truth taught by the
word of God is this, that God has
made of one blood all nations to
dwell on the face of the earth. In
the beginning God made man in
his own image in his own likeness,
and endowed himjwith attributes
akin to himself. Men of all fami
lies, of all nations, of all climes are
the children of God. This is what
Paul taught on Mars Hill to his
Athenian audience. Apart even
from the redemption of Christ the
spiritual family of God, there is a
common brotherhood of man be
cause of a common Fatherhood of
God.
With reverence to man’s spiritu
al elevation and salvation from sin,
there is a brotherly claim and obli
gation resting upon all who have
light and salvation. With our
spiritual vantage ground elevation
and illumination, what would we
have others to do for us if we were
in darkness, ignorance, degrada
dation and loss because of sin? You
say of course we would have them
bring to us the word of life—yes,
that would be doiug for us a broth
er’s part. Brother helps brother in
time of need, of distress. How
often we have seen this beautifully
and touchingly shown. A brother
will overlook faults and failures
and only recognize the fact of need
and want. As we would have
others who are more blessed than
we do a brother’s part by us, so we
who are more blessed than others
should do a brother’s part for them.
So you see the golden rule requires
us to labor for the salvation of men
from their sins and secure to them
spiritual elevation, happiness and
usefulness. Therefore the golden
rule calls us to engage in personal
work for the elevation and salva
tion of our fellowmen. It calls us
to work in the Sunday-school—
w thin the boundry of our congrega
tion —seek out and make opportu
nities for doing good. Even more
than this. The golden rule is in
the interest of Foreign Missions. If
you do not practically believe in
Foreign Missions, you do not be
lieve in the golden rule. The man
in foreign lands is as much the off
spring of God as the man at our
door. He is as much our brother
as one of our native land. The
golden rule requires us to do a
brother’s part for the man in China
as well as the man in America.
( |) The golden rule will be the
properly applied law of the king
dom of heaven.
The God of heaven is setting up
a kingdom. Daniel the beloved
beheld it in vision. Christ preached
that its beginnings had set in on
earth. He taught his disciples to
pray, “thy kingdom come”. Peter
exhorts us to hasten forward its
coming. But in its final coming
and consummation, its final per
fection, what will be its requiring
principle, governing the conduct
of its citizens one toward another?
It will be this same golden rule.
As God loves his children, his peo
ple, his subjects, so they will love
each other. As God is their Fa
ther, so they will be to each other
as perfect brothers. The golden
rule applied will remove all cause
for friction and opposition and hos
tility. The result will be everlast
ing peace, concord, harmony. Dr.
Broadman beautifully says, “The
golden rule is the golden key to the
golden age. In that perfected so
ciety, that ideal common wealth
which shall yet most surely come,
where in all men's good shall be
each man’s rule. The lowly Law
giver of the Mount shall himself be
enthroned in the heart of her main
ly, His only scepter the golden
rule.”
Such is the golden rule and its
teachings. But its application in
our lives, how difficult. (1) Let us
set the Lord Jesus before us as the
living example of it. (2) Let us
ask him for power to obey and ful
fil it. The good things surely in
clude this also. (3) Let us prac
tice it, so shall we come to perfec
tion.
THE TREND OF THE AGE
BY A. C. WARD.
We live in an age of excitement
bordering on insanity. Everything
goes with a rush and a whirl. In
the physical world every idea of
safety is fait bee <ming swallowed
up in the one thought of speed.
Everything that does not rush along
with almost lightning speed is too
slow. Along with this desire for
speed is the excitement for the dis
covery of something new. The
news of yesterday is stale, while
that of day before yesterday is pos
itively unfit for use. This desire
for speed and this crave for some
thing new is making a deep and
lasting impression upon the youth
of our day. In fact it would seem
as if they are fast coming to the
front upon these lines. In their
efforts to excel, they are forgetting
that the only safe rule is to “ make
haste slowly.”
There is always a charm about
the young man who desires to ex
cel. The whole world stands ready
to help him along provided his ef
forts to win success are put forth
along legitimate lines. It is also
true, that to-day, as never before,
the eyes of the whole world are
turned toward the young. Young
men are put into responsible posi
tions of trust, and right well do
they maintain themselves. But,
while all this is true, do the young
people fully understand the situa
tion? Are they aware’of there*
sponsibility which rest upon them?
Are they ever pausing for a mo
ment to consider the future? We
are aware that there are numbers
of associations and organizations
into which they have banded them
selves for the furtherance of their
objects. Some of these institutions
have a religious side to them, it is
true, but this is largely only an ad
junct. Religion is not the real ob
ject sought. Their purpose is not
to actually strengthen the church
of Christ. That is too narrow —
too restricted in its views. The
cry is “more room” and a larger
field of operation. In view of all
this we may well ask to whither
are we drifting, and what will be
the end? As a consequence, many
are neglecting the church, and we
fear neglect to study God’s holy
word. Hundreds of young men,
and young women, too, for that
matter, never go inside of a church
for months at a time, and when
they do go, it is only because some
sensation is expected, by the flam
ing announcement of some sensa
tionalist who is to occupy the pulpit.
Certain it is that there is need
for sober thought and earnest ef
fort on the part of the church to
hold the young in the good old
way.
"~One thing brings on another. The
idea is now, that the young people
have a summer assembly. When
will they be ready to push the gos
-1 pel out over the world ?
VOL.
For The Index,
HYMNOLOGY, OL.J AND NEW.
BY REV. .1. T. S. PARK,
There is a charm about vocal music
which enstamps the first and ineffa
cable lines on the tablet of memory.
Often have children been separated
from their patents in early childhood
by Indian raids and other war*, see
ing them no more till all the linea
ments of countenance were sreming
ly lost and beyond recognition.
When other efforts to id< ntify them
had failed, the mother, by singing
some sweet lullaby that she always
employed while nursing, to soothe
her restless children—as if by magic
—evoked to the child’s recollection
from memory’s storehouse, that dear
long lost voice of a cherished pa
rent.
During the boyhood of this writer,
in the third decade of this century,
the principal hymns in Mercer’s
Cluster were impressed on his mem
ory so indelibly by his mother’s sweet
voice in song, that he can now re
peat most of them at will. The same
is true of many hymns from Watts &
Rippon, anil Dobb’s collection.
Hymn books being scarce at that
time, Mr. Mercer had his “Cluster”
first published in pamphlet form, in
which shape it ran through two or
three editions, from a press in Au
gusta, Ga. In 1817 he had the work
enlarged and published in Philadel
phia. This was the Standard hymn
book among Baptists of Georgia till
the death of the Compiler. Many
of the hymns contained eight to
twelve stanzas—some more—and the
ministers, fifty to seventy years ago,
had the entire hymn sung, lining it
out by couplets
Would not such a performance as
that try the nerves of our fashion
able choirs now who seldom sing
more than four verses? Should the
hymn contain a larger number, the
u sthetic minister will instruct the
choir to omit certain stanzas. “ Let
all the people sing,” is not now com
mon.
The fifth and last editien of this
work, “corrected and enlarged by an
appendix,” was published in Phila
delphia by Charles Desilver. In this
edition is found an index of subjects
which preceeding editions did not
contain. While Georgia Baptists
used this work almost exclusively ;
Dosey’s Choice, published about the
same time by Elder Dorsey, of South
Carolina, was similar in style and ar
rangement, and generally used in
that State.
Elder S. S. Burdette, of South
Carolina, also compiled a hymn book
about this time, called the Baptist t
Harmony, also popular in pome
parts.
Those works, now out of print,
were becoming scarce in 1843, when
the Psalmist was published by Gould
Kindall & Lincolm, edited by Elders
1. Stow and S.F. Smith. This work
was the most elaborate, varied and
elegant that had ever been offered to
Baptists, and it had the endorsement
of the leading divines of that day ;
viz : Wm. R. Williams, Geo. B. Ide,
Rufus W. Griswold, Stephen P. Hill,
Jas. B. Taylor, John L. Dagg, W.
T. Brantly, R. B. C. Howell, Samuel
W. Synd.
Notwithstanding its many excel
lencies, it omitted many of the old
hymns in the “Cluster”— bo tenderly
interwoven into the worship of
Southern Baptists. Moreover, sev
eral of the cherished hymns in the
South were interpolated or altered
so as not to sound natural. For in
stance, that universally popular
hymn;, by Robinson, beginning:
“Come thou fount of every blessing,”
was altered so that the second and
third stanzas were printed :
2. “Teach me some melodious measure,
Sung by raptured saints above,
Fill my soul with sacred pleasure,
While I sing redeeming love.”
3. “By thy hand, sustained, defended,
Safe through life thus far I’ve
come,
Safely Lord, when life is ended,
Bring me to my heavenly home.”
Evidently an improvement on the
poetry, but those are not the words
our mothers and fathers sang, hence
the book was not popular at the
South. Other hymns were charged.
Drs. Richard Fuller, of South
Carolina, and J. B. Jeter, of Virgin
ia, prepared a supplement for an
edition that added upwards of 100
hymns, which were more popular
among Southeners. Still, this work,
which for fine taste and erudition
has not been excelled, had not a
large sale in the South.
Dr. W. C. Buck, of Kentucky, who
also resided awhile in Tennessee, in
Alabama, and in Waco, Tex., where
he died about thirty years ago, com
piled and published, in Louisville,
Ky., about 1848, a good collection of
hymns which he called “The Baptist
Hymn Book.” This work had a
good run in the West and parts of
the South ; but it was short-lived. In
1850 Dr. B. Manly and his son, B.
Manly, Jr., brought out an excellent
compilation of hymns, which they
called “Baptist Psalmody.” This
was copyrighted by the Southern
Baptist Publication Society, which
organization was not a success; so
the book was printed in New York,
by Sheldon & Co.
In the West and Southwest, “The
Southern Psalmist,” compiled by Dr.
J. R. Graves and published by
Continued on Bth page.