Newspaper Page Text
ESTABLISHED 1821.
The Christian Index.
Published Every Thursday, Cor. Ivy St.
and Edgewood Avenue.
J. C. McMICHAEL, Pbofrietor.
Organ of the Baptist Denomination in
Georgia.
Bubsceiption Pbicb:
One copy, one year- . •
One copy, six mouths l uu
Obituaries. —One hundred words tree of
Charge For each extra word, one cent per
word! cash with copy.
To Oobbbspondknts.—Do not use aorevia
lions ;beextracareful in writinfr proper names ;
write with ink, on one side of paper; Do not
write copy intended for the editor and busi
ness items on same sheet. 1-eave off personal
ities. condense.
Busin ass.—Write all names, and post offices
distinctly In ordering a change give the old
as well as the new address. The date of label
indicates the timeytur subscription expires.
If you do not wish it continued, order it 'tie
ped a week before. We consider eats sub
scriber permanent, until h; orders his paper
discontinued When you order it stopped pay
up to date
Pr>-•rririCßS by check preferred; or regis
■free etter. money order, costal note.
NEW GRAFTS ON OLD STOCK!-
BY DR. J. B GAMBRELL,
In discussing the proposal for co
education in Mercer University,the
Baptists of Georgia ought to have
every part of the question set clear-
Ip before them. This is a primary
necessity to a right conclusion. Let
us understand the matter.
It is not proposed (mark it well)
to do in Mercer what the Female
Colleges are doing. Oar Female
schools are excellent and are un
doubtedly better adapted to the
general wants of female education
than is Mercer. What they are do
ing, we do not wish to do; we
could not do it without reconstruct
ing our courses and enlarging our
teaching force. There is not a man
in Mercer who wishes to do this.
I cheerfully go further and say,
that the female schools are doing
much we are not trying to do, and
are placing special stress on certain
studies that are specially adapted
to women. I commend them for
it. It is a wise adjustment of
courses to conditions.
One thing is certain the schools
we have ought to be cherished.
And it is equally certain that Mer
cer without radical readjustments
cannot do what is so well done by
the female colleges. I have no de
sire to try it. I have repeated this
to make it plain.
But having made that plain, let
me say what no one will deny. In
Greek, Latin, English, Mathematics
Chemistry, and some other
branches, Mercer goes clearly be
yond the fernale schools. These
schools go as far as the demands on
them will justify, they cannot go
further. They are limited, just as
the Academies are ; they cannot go
above the level of a pretty large
demand. We are limited at the top
in precisely the same way. (There
are things for which our graduates
must go to some such school as
John’s Hopkins, and in Theology,
to the Seminary. lam glad for
them to go.
Mercer wants to do two things,
and these lie beyond the range of
the female schools.
i. We wish to give to women
graduates from the female schools,
post graduate work in such of our
courses as they may elect. This
does not modify or effect in the
least the curriculum of the Female
Colleges.
Let them make their standards
to suit themselves. The higher
they place them the better. But
we are dealing with a practical
question. There are women who
want these advance studies. They
ought to be encouraged to take
them, and we ought not to force
them to go North to get them.
There are many female colleges
and they divide the aspiring wo
men, so that they cannot be com
bined at one point in a female
school for post graduate work.
They go North because they can
get what they want. Mercer can
do this work and help herself
while she helps these women. The
only options are i let Mercer do it,
or let the women go to the co edu
cational universities north of us.
Which shall we choose?
The second thing I want to do
is to give teachers their profes
sional training in Mercer. Is not
Mercer open to women in Peda
gogy? Yes, in away. They can
take that school, but no collateral
studies. They pay the full fee, but
are limited in privilege. Here is a
real case which illustrates : A wo
man who has taught several years
wished to make Latin a specialty.
She wanted Pedagogy and Latin,
but she is shut out. Nearly every
teacher wants review or “filling
in” studies along with Pedagogy.
When they apply for this collat
eral work I am compelled to deny
it to them, for I shall keep within
the limits set by the trustees.
This is a work the female
schools do not touch. It goes now
to co-educational schools, not Bap
tistic. But, if we allow this col
lateral work, is that not the same
as allowing co-education, through
and through? No. Our course in
Pedagogy is one year, and no un
dergraduate woman could do any
TEE CHRISTIAN INDEX.
thing with our courses in a year.
The very conditions of the case
would effectually regulate the mat
ter. There could be no motive to
use Pedagogy as a mere device,
and besides the Faculty of Mercer
are honest.
As to Pedagogy, we have the
option of allowing it done in Mer
cer or sending the women as we
have been doing in droves to
schools North, and now to our
State school at Athens, all of which
are co educational. We will not,
in either case, defeat co-education ;
we will defeat ourselves and con
centrate a most valuable and in
fluential patronage on schools over
which we have no control and
which are dominated by influences
not al ways friendly to us.
Seventy-five per cent of the
teachers of Georgia are women. I
confess I want Mercer to take hold
of so greit a power for herself and
for the Baptists. They are going
to some co-educational school for
special training. As I see it, we
cannot make a more monumental
mistake than to drive them all away
from us to these other schools. Be
fore we do it let us, at least think
long and well.
Dr. H. H. Harris, for many years
professor in Richmond college and
now professor in our Seminary, in
discussing the “new education” ad
mits, as we are all bound to do, if
we know any thing about it, that
there are many good ideas and
methods in the new, but adds :
“lotly insist that it is easier,
better, and, above all, much safer,
to engraft them, one by one upon
the old stock, rooted as it is in the
hearts of Christian people, rather
than to tear up the old to make
room for the new * * * Our
established schools need constant
pruning and attention, lopping off
decaying or unfruitful branches,
cutting back any prurient growth,
inserting new and healthy grafts.
But our safeguard against the flood
of destructive isms is in gradual re
formation, without any radical
revolution.”
I wish every brother who reads
this article would stop and ponder
Prof. Harris’ words till he gets the
full meaning of them. Wiser
words, in my opinion, could not be
written. And they are timely,
just now when every thing in the
South is on the move.
Education is growing and wid
ening its scope. New shoots are
putting out. We cannot stop the
growth; we wish to encourage it.
But this very growth brings us in
making our policies, to the
PARTING OF WAYS.
We must decide, and decide be
fore very long, whether we will
graft the valuab'e fruit bearing
shoots into “the old stock, rooted,
as it is in the hearts of Christian
people,” or let them grow up apart
from the old stock, as the highest
education of women are doing
now. Will we make these fruitful
branches a part of the old stock or
put them away from us and let
others have them? That is the
question, sharp, simple and plain.
For these branches, it is co educa
tion any way. But we may de
cide whether it shall be co educa
tion under the conservative and
wholesome influences of our es
tablished Baptist institutions or
co-education under State control
and in institutions North. My
mind is made up. I wish I could
show the far reaching effect of our
decision on our denominational
schools and on our general inter
ests. But the limits of this article
will not allow me to go into that
phase of the question. We hud
better think.
At last, we must come to the
facts or the facts will, later on,
come to us. Theories must yield
to facts. Here is a fact to ponder.
Mercer has not grown a particle in
forty-five years. She has done no
ble work along given lines, but she
has not grown at all. In this she
has kept close company with our
other Baptist schools in the South.
Some have done a little better,
some not so well; but in general,
they are going along about as they
were going when the war came.
Education has broadened and de
veloped immensely, but our col
leges have kept about the same. In
Georgia the denomination has
grown in every way, but Mercer
has not.
Fifty years ago Waco Univer
sity was founded in the new State
of Texas. She adopted, or rather
held to co-education, for separate
schools that began to be planted.
Waco has followed the grafting
plan constantly, and Waco now
has between 800 and 1000 students,
and the other Baptist schools of
the South keep close around the
two hundred mark. Waco grafted
in the new shoots, the others threw
them to State schools and separate
schools.
In my heart,l believe the grafting
policy the true one. In general, it is
much safer to evolve or expand
from a good root than to revolu
tionize. Evolution is progress,
revolution is destruction, or at
least dangerous. I have noted a
good many objections mostly to co
education in general and not to
such as is proposed in Mercer. Hap-
ISUBSCRIf ■ Yc*r, -..«2.00. I
Ito ministr 1.00.1
ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, JUNE 20 1895.
pily, we need not theorize. We
can have facts io guide us. I
hardly expert to argue the case nt
all; but do expect later to submit
facts from those who know.
Where demonstrations come in the
ories go out.
DOUBT IN A DUNGEON, OR LOOK
ING FOR ANOTHER CHRIST.
REV. C. C. BROWN.
“Art thou the coming one, or are
we to look for another?” was a
message sent to Jesus from a dun
geon. The world is full of dark
places, where souls lie in chains.
If sometimes, then, these prison
ers doubt, lam sure God sets it
down to the weakness of the flash,
as Jesus did with John.
Jesus had been doing many
mighty works in Galilee—had
healed the centurion’s servant at
Capernaum, and raised the widow’s
son at Nain. The latter miracle
seemed to create the greatest ex
citement. Luke says the report of
it soon spread southward all over
Judea. News flies rapidly, and it
does not require much imagination
for us to conceive how the report
spread from lip to lip- —that the
new Teacher had raised a dead
man—a man whom they were car
rying forth to bury.
These wonderful reports about
Jesus were brought to John the
Baptist who was in prison.
Months before this John had re
peatedly said, in private and in
public, that it was a sin for Herod
to steal and marry his brother Phil
lip’s wife, while Phillip was still
alive. Herodias, the woman in
question, tired of Phillip, to whom
his father had left no royal estate,
had consented to leave her husband
and become the wife of Herod, if
ha would cast off his Arab wife.
To this Herod was willing. They
both knew that the new prophet—
John —was a man of great influ
ence among the people, and his
consent to this unlawful union
would do much towards removing
popular disapproval. So they ap
pealed to him; but John was un
yielding in his opposition. The
next —the only other step —was to
get rid of John. Herod’s summer
home was at the castle Machaerus,
seven miles north eist of the Dead
Sea. He took his new wife there,
it seems, and then sent for John
once more ; but the wise forerun
ner was as stubborn as ever in his
opposition. But—and the guilty
couple saw it—it would not do to
turn John loose. He might talk
among the people to their hurt; so
they just dropped him in the dun
geon under the castle, and there
left him, hoping possibly that he
would die in confinement.
Now the weary months drag on.
One day, by some means, some
of John’s old disciples managed to
get permission to visit him, and
brought him the wonderful news
about Jesus —told him that he was
healing the sick, expelling demons,
and had even raised the dead. All
this only perplexed John the more.
Could not Jesus deliver him ? Could
Jesus riise the dead and yet not be
able to rescue him ? Did not Jesus
know where he was, and why he
was theie? Did Jesus care so
much for the dead and so little for
the living sufferer? These ques
tions perplexed him. Had he made
a mistake in announcing this Jesus
as the Messiah ? Could it bethat’
there was some other Jesus who
was to come?
So John said to two —“ certain
two”—of his disciples that they
must go to Jesus and ask him the
question, “Art thou he that cometh,
or are we to look for another? ”
You see, John felt that he was
being neglected. Why did not the
Great Teacher, whom he had so
faithfully heralded, pay him some
attention? Why did he not send
some sort of message? A single
word would have done him good.
But to be forgotten, as it seemed
to him he was, was tearing at his
heart and breaking hisspirit. There
are many sorrows caused by neglect,
whether it be real or imagined. I
remember a young woman, whom
I visited many times during a long
illness, who said her one prayer
was to die. She believed she was
being neglected, and complained
that her sisters were tired of wait
ing on her. John, in his blindness,
construed Jesus’ treatment of him
as neglect, and so in pardonable
doubt of mind, he asked—just as
any one would have asked—“ Art
thou he, or did I mistake the man ? ”
The two messengers came and
said to Jesus, “John the Baptist
sent us.” If there was any wrong
in asking a question which implied
doubt, they did not want to be re
sponsible for it; so thsy said plainly,
“John sent us.” We do not say
we have any doubt of thee, Master ;
but John has, and he wants to
know if thou art he that was to
come—the one whom he preached
as Messiah.”
Jesus heard this appeal and then
went buisly on with his work. A
man standing by had a demon;
Jesus healed him. So of others
who were lame or deaf or blind.
After he had wrought a number of
miracles in the presence of John’s
messengers, he turned to them and
said, “Go and tell John what you
have seen and heard.” What he
meant was that his works were
the proof of him, and he was wil
ling to be judged by them. “Tell
John, too,” he said, “blessed is the
man who is not offended in me.”
That is, “Tell him, Yes, I am the
one who was to come, and he must
not fall into error or sin because I
do not act towards him as he thinks
I should. His weakness does not
change my truthfulness.”
All this only meant that John
must go on bearing his suffering
alone. Did it not seem cruel ? And,
mark you, jesus never did send or
bring him any relief. He allowed
his faithful herald to be there in
that dungeon, until, one night, a
Roman soldier climbed down to
him and chopped off his head with
a sword. Some of us may be
foolish enough to try to explain
this ; others will be asking for the
why. But no explanation can be
found in this world, more than this,
that sometimes God's will runs coun
ter to ours, and his will is best. Sub
mission on our part is all that is left
to us. Neither wrath nor rebellion
affords an iota of relief.
I think, then, the title to this
article is the right one—-Doubt in a
Dungeon—and there are many
sorts of dungeons in this poor
world where complain ng sufferers
are lying in doubt and agony of
mind concerning this same Jesus.
The dungeon of bereavement is the
darkened room, where the mourner
sits in sorrow, looking upon the
wreck and ruin of hope, and ask
ing, “Art thou he? Can it be that
thou art he? Then why am I
thus?” The dungeon of want is
the house where the larder is empty
and where Jesus seems to have for
gotten to send bread. Phis sufferer
remembers how the Psalmist said
he had never seen the righteous
forsaken nor’his seed begging bread,
and then, as the cry of hungry
children tortues her spirit, she asks
in tears, “Art thou he? Is there
not some mistake?”
The dungeon of bodily affliction
is one of the commonest. How
ever great and good one may be,
his soul is never independent of his
physical condition. A man’s health
tells on all his life. Doctor Rush,
an Englishman noted in medicine,
after curing hundreds of cases of
mental depression, himself fell sick
and lost his religious hope and
would not believe his pastor who
told him his soul was right and his
body wrong. Andrew Fuller,
Thomas Scott, Will'am Cowper,
David Brainard and Philip Melanc
thon, were all m'ghtyL'.en of God ;
but all of them A-.I -w.c Jcopoud!
ency because imprisoned within
the dungeon of physical weakness.
An eminent physician says Tal
mage gives it asjhis opinion that
no one ever died triumphantly if
his disease was below the dia
phragm. Stackhouse says he does
not believe Saul was insane when
David played on the harp before
him ; but he was hypochondriacal
because of some disease. The Dean
of Carlisle, one of the best and
most useful of men, wrote these
words : “Though I have endeavored
to discharge my duty as well as I
could, yet sadness and molancholy
of heart stick close by and increase
upon me. I tell nobody, but lam
very much sunk indeed, and I wish
I could have the relief of weeping
as I use to. My days are exceeding
ly dark and distressing. In a word,
Almighty God seems to hide his
face, and I trust the secret to hard
ly any earthly being. I know not
what will become of me. There is
doubtless a good deal of bodily af
fliction mingled with this, but it is
not all so. My door is bolted at the
time I am writing this, for I am
full of fears.” During the earlier
part of his life, Merle D, Aubigne,
the Swiss historian ot the Reforma
tion, was vexed with depressing
doubts. His old pastor refused to
argue away the young man s per
plexities, saying, “Were I to rid
you of these doubts, others would
come. Let Christ be your Savior
in his own way. Do his will. He
will dispel the clouds.”
But I am sure the dungeon of
sin is the most horrible of all. It is
sin that often puts a Christian in
the dark and lets his feet sink
down in the miry clay. There one
sufferes under the hand of God and
under the working, the gnawing
of his own conscience. He there
clearly sees how he himself has
brought the trouble on himself, as
if he had entered the dungeon, and
then sprung the lock that shut him
in. But John was in a dungeon
for doing right and for preaching
the truth. I cannot explain this. It
just seems to be the calling of some
persons to suffer, as if God had said,
“Go, lie down in the dungeon and
pine and die.” And often to the
sufferer it seems that God never
comes near to him any more. To
such, it is all mystery, and the aw
ful question repeats itself, “ Art
thou he that should come? ” Mean
while, others are having a very dif
ferent experience.” To yonder
man who has just had his sight re
stored by Jesus, no doubt comes.
Yonder cripple, who yesterday
dragged his poor body along the
earth, is able to walk to-day; Jesus
has healed him. No doubts, no
hard questions come to him for
answer. The deaf man, healed
now, finds the whole world new
and full of music, and no doubts
come to him. But to you —poor
John, in your dungeon—the fate
ful doubts come thick and fast, and
you want to send a messenger to
Jesus to ask, “Art thou he? ”
Looking for another Jesus —
that’s what this means—that’s what
these tempted ones want to do.
Their Christian life has no power,
no light; they are worried about
the condition they are in ; the evil
times seem to be growing worse ;
prayer is weak and feeble. Doubt
torments them in the dark dungeon.
I know God looks in pity upon the
spirit which is compelled to cry
sometimes, “ Art thou he that
should come ?”
But are there no words of com
fort for these prisoners? Not
much. Lie down in your dungeon,
John. If Jesus does not come to
you, your duty is plain. L ; e down
and be still. Don’t clank your
chains nor roar in your complaints.
Out in Galilee yonder —somewhere
away from you—Jesus is doing a
great work for others- for others
if not for you. The lame are le ip
ing, the blind are seeing. If he
does not work on you and for you.
he is doing much for others, and I
can only say, “Lie down in your
dungeon.” And remember, as you
lie there, Jesus said of this patient
sufferer, that a greater man had
never been born. What a queer
road to greatness! How can a man
be great in a dungeon? How can
a man be great who has nothing to
de—nothing except to lie still in
the darkness and suffer? Our idea
is that to be great, the people must
gather around and praise us, and
we must have a high place in the
world. May be our ideas are alto
gether wrong. May be so I May
be so ! O may God pity the pris
oners whose spirits are complain itig
this day, and asking,“Art thou he?
Art thou he? ”
Sumter, S. C.
For the Inc ex.
FROM BRAZIL-
The readers of the Index may
consider themselves each addressed.
Do not put aside the little peti
tion sent to you from the dark re
gions of Brazil. Please read it first
and then judge for yourself. You
may not be able to help, but perhaps,
after reading it, you may feel like
kneeling down and asking the Lord
to help ns. Campos is the most
flourishing city of the State Rio. Ils
inhabitants number over 30,000.
Four trains leave the city daily to
different parts of Brazil. We are in
constant contact with over 2,500,000
souls.
The people as a rule, are intelli
gent, and, when years ago the grs
pel began to be published, many re
ceived the news gladly. A little
|[ BB BSD Q
ts s 0 0 q |~j
Our Upstairs Room; the only one we
could get.
community was formed and daily the
Lord added to its numbers faithful
followers. At first they worshipped
in a small upper chamber, but soon
the members outnumbered the seat
ing capacity. They looked for an
other house, and after much search
ing found another upstairs room that
can hardly accommodate 100 and
our actual mewbership is nearly 150.-
Every night that the doors are
opened many come to listen, but
soon leave, for the heat is unbearable
so many crowding together.
We are doing our bast to save; but
times are so bad and we are so poor
13 n
What we want to build. Only $5,000
(£1.000). Help!
that we do not know when we shall
be able to get a proper house for
worship. Meanwhile the work suf
fers.
Will you not help us? $5,000
(£1,000) is all we need. Pray for
Brazil and for your missionary,
Solomon L. Ginsburg, Pastor.
For the Index.
FROM MIX 100.
BY REV. .1. G. CHASTAIN.
I have just returned from an ex
tensive tour among our churches and
stations. Three persons were bap
tized and others await the ordinance.
In the town of Rayones our mem
| bers have suffered outrageous perse-
cution recently. Time and again
they have been imprisoned and fined
on|'he most trivial charges and with
out the least show of justice. Our
native pastor there told me that he
had seen men come out of whisky
snops raving like demoniacs, but that
he had never seen them come out of
a church that way until he went to
Rayones. The resident priest is vir
tually mayor, judge and sheriff, and
by hie tirades against the “Protest
ants” in his Sunday sermons (?) his
members become so infuriated that
our native pastor suspended the Sun
day night me tings for fear of mob
violence.
Leading Catholics of the town sent
up to the Governor of State a
formal petition asking that all Pro
testants be expelled fiom the town.
But as the Alexican government
guarantees religiois liberty to all
within her bounds, the petition, of
course, was rejected. In his reply
the Governor gave them a severe
rebuke for some of their illegal pro
ceedings, and thus put a quietus to
their fury. A reaction is taking
piece in the town, and we pray that
“all things may fall out rather unto
the furtherance of the gospel.”
Evidently a great change is com
ing over this country. It is grati
fying to see many towns and dis
tricts, long closed to the gospel, now
becoming open and hopeful fields
Catorce is a mining towm of 6000
inhabitants, and is one of the most
fanatical, godless places in northern
Mexico. Because of the danger in
curred by missionaries even visiting
there the gospel has failed to gain
entrance. But recently several
Mexican believers have gone there
for business, and one of them, a Bap
tist, has written me several letters,
lie wished me to go and will help
me open the work. Many of our
leading men tlrnk God has a great
bb ssing in store for Mexico in the
near future.
I go this week to San Luis Po
tosi, one hundred and fifty miles
South of here, to attend the annual
meeting of the National Sunday
school Convention of Mexico. As
all evangelical denominations are
represented, we expect a large at
tendance.
Because of the gratifying results
attending the recent Toluca Confer
ence to consider the subject of the
Holy Spirit, we have dec ded to hold
a similar meeting at Saltillo June
28 to 30 for the benefit of our native
workers and all others who may at
tend. The program has been sent
out, and the responses from our na
tive brethren show a deep interest
in the meeting. We all need a bless
ing. If our preachers become in
flamed with holy fire from on high,
some of the same spirit will be im
parted to the churches and individ
ual Christians. Will not every reader
of the Index unite with us in daily
prayer that God may this year pour
out a great blessing on the work and
workers in Mexico. And while you
are praying for others, may your own
souls be blest.
Doctor Arroyo, Mexico, June 5,
1895.
For the Chbuiiian Index,
PHILADELPHIA NOTES AND NEWS-
The closing exercises of the
Training School took place last
Tuesday at the First church, where
eight young ladies graduated being
addressed by Rev. Dr. Weston. The
school is open for young women
over 20 years of age of any denomi
nation. It is located at 762 South
10th street. Mrs. J. N. Cushing,
Preceptress, and the expenses are
$l5O 00 for the the school year.
Belmont Avenue church,organized
in 1889,has had a prosperous history
under its earnest pastor Rev. A. F.
Williamson. He said lately if you
want your church to prosper you
must “hustle.” They broke ground
for a new edifice June sth. It will
have an audience room seating
1,000 and a Sunday-school room
seating 1,200, all to cost $42,000.
Tne commencement of Temple
College, Rev. R. H. Conwell, took
place last Monday evening. The
great edifice was packed. It has
a number of branch schools in the
city and proposes to open one in
Camden, N. J. There have been
during the past year 6,000 students.
The four Needham brothers are
all preachers and their sister mar
ried a preacher. George C. per
haps is best known. He preached
last Sunday in the Tenth church
from the vision of Peter in Acts 10,
showing the security, purity, dest
iny. origin, uuity and mission of
the church.
Rev. C. 11. Wooston continues
to draw crowds at the East church,
where he has baptized 600 in nine
years. By a reference to the State
minutes his church of 800 members
seems to have given nothing last year
for State mission work or education.
He is now preaching a series of lan
tern sermons, and appears in a robe
at the morning service.
We have lost a useful worker in
the death of Miss Beulah Kennard.
Her father Rev. J. H. Kennard,
was a very useful man serving the
Tenth church for nearly 30 years.
He died June 24, 1866. He left an
only son, Rev. J. S. Kennard, of
Chicago.
Ecclesia.
VOL 75—NO. 25
For the Christian Index.
FROM MISSISSIPPI-
BY REV. W. I. HARGIS. •
It must be best, cr the wise men
and women who have the universi
ties and colleges would not so de
cree, for the closing exercises of our
institutions of learning to teke place
during the hot season. Certainly
those that are now in the midst of
their closing exercises are having
a warm time. The present almost
unprecedented hot weather for the
first of June, has caught a good
many of them. There seems to be
a growing tendency to shorten the
collegiate term of our institutions
of learning. Whether wise or un
wise. the shortening of the term
will enable them to close before the
heated term, especially in the south
ern states, and in a large measure
obviate, on account of more pleas
ant weather, the great strain inci
dent to commencements, both of
schools and those who entertain at
such times.
To day was commencement day at
the University of Mississippi. The
annual address before the literary
societies was delivered by Mr. Wil
son of West Virginia, the author of
the famous tariff bill. Old citizens
of Oxford say the capacious chapel
was never so thoroughly packed be
fore. Mr. Wilson’s reception was
fully evidenced by the prolonged
applause that went up on his ap
pearance before the audience. His
address was only thirty-five minutes
long. Sensible man, he, not to
worry his audience with a two
hours speech of empty nothingness,
just simply to entertain. The ad
dress in point of value, has rarelly
been excelled here. The trustees,
as a token of their appreciation of
his worthiness to wear the tittle,be
stowed upon him the degree of
L L. D.
It was expected that Dr. W. T.
Harris, U. S Commissioner of Ed
ucation, would be present and de
liver an address. But failing to
reach here to day he is expected to
be here to-morrow and deliver an
address at the opening of the ses
sion of the Peabody Normal which
begins to morrow and will continue
for four weeks. Dr. Harris is ex
pected to remain three or four days.
Mississippi College, our State
Baptist College, closed last week,
and graduated the largest class for
many years, if not the largest in its
history. Dr. Venable, the presi
dent has resigned and accepted the
pastorate of the first church of Me
ridian. The college will probably
not have a president for the present,
but will have a chairman of the
faculty who will perform, in a
measure, at least, the duties of presi
dent. E. Provine, professor of
natural sciences has been chosen
chairman of the faculty. He is a
young man of sterling worth. He
is an alumnus of the State universi
ty, and also spent two or three
vears in the schools of Germany.
There may be better schools than
Mississippi College, but it would
be difficult to convince Mississppi
Baptists that there are.
I rejoice to see from time to time
such favorable mention of the good
work Mercer University is doing
under the leadership of the Dr. J.
B. Gambrell. When you are
tired of him in Georgia,det us know ;
there is always a place for him in
Mississippi. The Oxford church
has not yet located a pastor but the
church is now taking active steps
looking to the locating of one at an
early day. Many names have been
before the church ; some have ap
plied directly while most of them
have been recommended by friends.
One or two things must be true,
namely : The Oxford church must
be a very desirable pastorate, or
there are a great many preachers
on the lookout for a place, with
out advertising. I have been sur
prised that the fact that the church
had no pastor should have so soon
elicited propositions and recom
mendations from brethren from al
most every point of the compass.
Dear brethren, we would like to fit
up every one of you with a good
church, and a large salary, but we
have only one church, and it needs
only one pastor. But I know of
several fields that offer much hard
work and small salaries. Now let
me hear from you brethren. But do
do not speak una voce.
Does a collegiate and theological
education remove a preacher from
the country people of necessity and
right? If so we need to have writ
ten a new life of Christ and a new
and revised edition of the “Acts of
the Apostles,” in order to bring
them down to date, and that they
may be adapted to the new condi
tions of the present time, or else
cease to take the Bible as our guide.
W. I. Hargis.
University, Miss., June sth.
It was exceedingly unfortunate in
Garrett Cochran and Frederick P.
Ohl, of the Freshman class of Prince
ton, that they were out till nearly
midnight, and became involved in a
controversy with a negro, John Col
lins, which resulted in the negro
shooting both of them. Ohl has
since died and Cochran is reported
fatally shot.