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ESTABLISHED liS \ OL TheChristiarflndex Published Every Thursday, Cor. Ivy Street and Edgewood Avenue. Organ of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia. SVBHCHIPTION PKICK: One copy, one year 12.00 One copy, six months LOO Obitvariks.—One hundred words tree of charge. For each extra word, one cent per word, cash with copy. To CORKKseoNnKNTH—Do not use abbrevi ations: be extra careful In writing proper names; write with Ink. on one side of paper. 0o not write copy intended for the editor and business Items on same sheet. Leave off personalities, condense. Bvsinkss.—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 time vour subscription expires. If you do not wish it continued, or der it stopped a week before. We consider each subscriber permanent until he orders his paper discontinued. When you order It stopped pay up to date. Remittances by registered letter, money order, postal note. For the Index. Our Missouri Letter. This is the first time I have at tempted to write anything to the Index since the death of the la mented McMichael. I well re member his letter to me asking that I contribute an occasional letter from Missouri. I also noted the energy and ability with which he conducted the pa per, the growing wealth of which continues on even after the mas ter hand is stilled in death. The sharp discussions con ducted by B. 11. Carroll, G. W. Gardner and' J. B. Gambrell are very interesting though they be tinged-with acid, I suppose that the truth needs to be stated in all of its bearings even il its prop agators be charged with acrimo ny. In Missouri we are about as we have been—making progress slowly. Our schools are all in a flourishing condition; were it not for the financial depression 1 am sure in most, if not all, large ad ditional rooms would have to be furnished, as it is, Harden Col lege has made room for more young ladies, Stephens has ex pended a few thousands in new buildings. Web City is a new college with Dr. Joshua Cook called from LaGrange where he had presided for thirty years. Grand River College has built lerge dormitories foi girls, and expecting to make extensive preparations for boys on or near the campus. Our missionary enterprises are somewhat retarded on ac count of money affairs, but with such men as Tutt, Boyer and Campbell at the head of affairs commendable progress is reached. All our work in this State is carried on under the “ Missouri plan,” which plan has so entrenched itself in the hearts of our people that they are loath to try any other plan. OUR MEN. Some of them are growing old, but better. A man said at the State meeting at St. Joseph that Dr. S- H. Ford was a “ stronger man than he ever was.” Dr. Yeu man still presides at our Gener al Association with all the dig nity of his young manhood. The young men are great W. L. R Smiih, J.C. Armstrong and heart-strong he is, S. F. Taylor, R. P. Johnson, D. T. Denman, G. W. Hatcher, Dr. Vassar, somewhbt advanced in years, but ever young in heart. Lowery—all—all—all. We have had a great ingather ing among our people so far. Our pastors prove the best evangel ists. I hope to commence next Sunday with Dr. Green, of Wm. Jerrell at the helm to be fol lowed by Dr. D. T. Denman, of Hanibal. T. M. S Kenny. Trinton, Mo. For the Index. Editor Christian Index. — We doubt the Alum ii of Rich mond College scattered through out Georgia will be glad to hear something of the movement for the spread of information on missionary theories recently in augurated by their Al ma Mater. All Baptists have marked with enthusiasm the awakened inter est manifested by institutions of learning in this most vital sub ject, and the success of the first formal course of lectures on mis sions in a Southern college ar gues well for the future of this movement. Rev. E. Y. Mullens, our asso ciate secretary, so well and fa vorably known throughout the South, has recently delivered at the college three lectures on the Missionary Interpretation of Christianity, treating his theme under the following heads: (1) As reflected in the Life of the First Great Missionary; (2) As revived in the beginning of Mod ern Missions; (3) As embodied in the Triumphs of Modern Mis sions. The interest awakened in the minds of his hearers was worthy Ill< CHRISTIAN INDEX. of note, and at the conclusion of the third lecture Professor S. C. Mitchell offered resolutions strongly indorsing the series of lectures and thanking the lectur er for his magnificent services, and then resolutions were unani mously endorsed by an enthusi astic audience. Every Southern college which claims and obtains the privilege of hearing these lectures is to be congratulated. , The lectures were in no sense sermons, but discourses on mis sions broad, thorough. Catholic, treating missions not asadenom inational or church movements but as a vital element in the pr ogress aud elevation of man kind. Mr. Mullens exhibits in his treatment of his subject a breadth of view, an historical spirit a poetic faculty for tracing the thread of connection in event, seemingly disparate, which ar gue th it in time he will develop into a speaker and writer who will be well qualified to present to Christian people the problem of missions in its scientific and historical aspects. And we may hope that the active duties of his position will not take too much of the time which he would fain devote to the study. Os such a man we have great need at this day when the popular demand requires Christianity to make its appeal for missions not merely to man's notions but primarily to man's intellect. The college has enrolled 212 students up to date. Six new students, two of them from Georgia, have entered since Jan Ist. Mitchell Carroll. Richmond college, Va , Jan. 7, 1896. For the Index HELL. BY A. C. WARD. Much more is said about heav en, in th’e preaching and conver sation of to day, than is said about hell. This is as it should be and yet it is right that we get proper conceptions of the meaning and purpose of hell. Time and space will tot admit a discussion, or even a statement of the condition of things, which makes hell necessary. Our con sciences, besides oftentimes in flicting severe punishment, con stantly hold -up before us fu ture retribution and punishment for sin. True, conscience may drop off to sleep, or become hard ened, but even then there will still be a “fearful looking foi” that punishment which it teaches is certain to follow all wrong do ing. As regards the kind of suffer ing, or torture, of hell, we are not able to declare. This much we can say. There will be noth ing of enjoyment or pleasure. Undoubtedly hell is a place of torment. “ I am tormented,” said the rich man to Abraham. Its very torments will induce “weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.” It is not for me so say just what kind of malignant pas sions will be turned loose in hell. Certain it is that those passions which breed hatred, strife and pain will all be relegated to the confines of hell and the abode of the lost. Os the amount of suf fering in hell, no mortal tongue can tell. No mind can grasp it. No painter can depict it. “These shall go away into ever lasting punishment.” The effort to make the word “everlasting” have a different meaning when applied to hell from that which it has when ap plied to heaven is very danger ous and rash. The Greek, from which both are translated, uses the same word. The punish ment will undoubtedly be etern al. The theory has been advanced that this punishment will be of a purifying character. In other words, that the wicked will ulti mately be rescued from hell. We cannot find it so taught in God’s Holy Book. This theory would make the words eternal and ever lasting to mean neither eternal or everlasting. The “door v ill be shut.” The great “gulf fix ed.” “He that is filthy let him be filthy still.” If earth cannot prepare human beings for heav en , hell will certainly be no bet ter place. As well teach that the proper place, for a child to learn good morals and purity of character, is among cut throats, thieves, and the vilest of the earth. In order that all may escape the doom of hell, together with its eternity of woe and despair, God has graciously given us through Christ away of life. Hell is to be the position of sin ners. Faith in Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Thus the believer in Christ is no long er a sinner, in that the blood of Christ applied to his soul cleans es from “all sin”. Hell to the redeemed, becomes a proper place for the reception of all the (SUBSCRIPTION, Pxr Year.- •■•2.00. j I TO MINISTERS, 100. I ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY. JANUARY 23, 1896. wicked and as such a protection for the just. Fortlie Index. Our Favored Land. BY REV. W. O. DARSEY. The most popular country of all the earth is this country. Thank God that you live here and now. While there are out rageous evils in all the country that need to be thundered down, do not let us ignore the privi leges we possess, but try to live worthy of them. We are too apt to take our privileges as a matter of course. Do you real ize what a great advantage we have in worshipping God as we please and where we please? If the Norwegian boasts of his rocks, and the Siberian is pleased with the land of perpetual snow, if the Romans thought that the muddy Tiber was the favored river in the sight of heaven; if the Laplander shivers at his eulogy of his native clime, shall not we, born under these fair skies and standing amid these glorious civil and religious liber ties, be public-spirited? For such a grand country you can afford to vote and speak and pray and rejoice that who ever is President of these States, the heritage of national blessing which we received from our fathers will be the inheritance of our children, and the patriot ic cry of David, which we often now make in regard to our coun try, may be made a century after we are gone to our long home by those who come after us: “Go around about her; tell the towers thereof; mark ye well her bul warks; consider her palaces that ye may tell it to the generation following; for this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto death.” But there is one good thought that keeps me very calm about this great nation. It has been set apart as no other nation ever was for religious uses, and from the moment that on one October morning in 1492, Columbus looked over the side of the ship and saw the staff which made him think he was near an inhabited country and also saw a thorn and cluster of berries—type oi our history ever since; the piercing sorrows and the cluster of national joys— until this happy day, our country has been bounded on the north and south and east and west by the goodness of the Lord. The Huguenots took posses sion of the Carolinas, the Hol landers took possession of New York, the Pilgrim fathers settled New England. Preceding the first gun of Bunker Hill, at the voice of prayer all heads uncov ered. Prayer at Vallej Forge. Prayer at Monmouth. Prayer at Savannah. Prayer at South Mountain. Prayer at Gettys burg. Prayer at Richmond. So this is particularly God’s land. He has certainly very merciful ly guided it thrc ugh all the per plexities of the past and he will guide it through all the perplex ities of the future. To most of us this country was the cradle and to the most of us it will be the grave. We want the same privileges which we enjoy to go down to our children We can not sleep well the last sleep un til we are assured that the God of our American institutions heretofore will be the God of our American institutions forever. When all the rivers which empty into the Atlantic and Pacific seas shall pull at factory hands, when all the great mines of sil ver and gold shall be laid bare for the nation, and when the last swamp shall be reclaimed and the last jungle cleared and the last American desert edenized, and from sea to sea the continent shall be occupied by more than twelve hundred million souls, may it be found that moral and religious influences were multi plied in more rapid ratio than the population. As our work mainly belongs to the 19th century, our chil dren's work will altogether be long to the 20th. Next century will'decide questions which this century has propounded. It will decide for all the world as be tween monarchy and republic It will decide whether the Bible will go under, or infidelity go under. That century will see Christianity triumphant or ex tinct, This 19th century has been a mighty century. It has been the first place of the tele phone of telegraphy, and the phonograph, and stenography, and the sewing machine and the reaper. But these things will do a greater work in the next century than the 19th century. The bands have just been put upon the wheels. The Chemist’s laboratory has just begun its work, and the wonders of com munication yet to be revealed as compared with the wonders al ready unrolled, will be as the vestibuled Chicago lightning ex press compared with an Erie canal boat. Our children are going into scenes that will eclipse in interest and power all that our eyes have ever witnessed. ' Brethren, who have any (p --portunity of rightly impressing the young, be sure to get them well equipped. Yes, sisters, let me say to you too, what you do for the children you will do in five years or be for all time and all eternity too late. They do not seem to be of much impor tance in the eyes of many breth ren. “Itis only a child,” they cry out. The children might better cry out, “It is only a man; it is only a woman.” They have a lifetime yet before them, a large portion of ours is already 7 gone. They are to be the achievers. My prayer is that this rising generation may be all consecrated to Christ, and that the poor woi k we have done may be somewhat atoned for by the mightier moral and religious achievements of those who make the earth and the heavens ring with their music. My prayer is that of the patri arch: “The angel which redeem eth us from all evil, bless the children.” INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF DR. JETER. BY REV. HARVEY HATCHER. Dr. Jeter was a great man with the Baptists of Virginia. They esteemed him for his gifts, his sincerity, his transparency, his purity of life, his wisdom and zeal in the affairs of the king dom of Christ and for his work’s sake. His influence was im mense. I was present once in Richmond when there was a large Sunday school gathering of the Baptist clans, when a cer tain policy was suggested and urged by quite a number and op posed by others, when Dr. Jeter arose and merely indicated on which side he was, and shook his head and the discussion closed. Some years before his death he had several attacks of the disease that finally carried him to his reward. One of these came when he was in attend ance upon the Middle District association. Dr. Lx'Vi. WTnfree, one of the strong men of the as sociation and the denomination, told me afterward that the brethren of that body never did such praying in their lives as they did that day that God would spare the life of Dr. Jeter, and his recovery was attributed to the fact that God heard and ans wered the cries of the people. A few years before his death I was in the city on Thanksgiving Day and attended services at the First church. Dr. Jeter spoke feel ingly and told of the things for which we should be grateful. After the benediction Dr. J. L. M. Curry remarked to some of us that he thought that we ought to be most thankful for the gift of Dr. Jeter. These only feebly indicate how the brethren loved him. With mark ed individuality it was very nat ural that he should have some ways of his own and say and do some things peculiar to himself. It was also quite natural that some things should have been said of him that were without foundation. It is of these I wish to write. Dr. Jeter’s father was a very successful squirrel hunter and doubtless Jerry often “turned” the squirrels for him. After awhile he tried his own hand at the business, but he did not in herit the skill of his father Late in life while on a visit to Bed ford county, he was passing a certain point in the road with cousin Robert E. Hather, when he halted and said: “ Cousin Robert, right here I came squir rel hunting when a boy, and was alone and walking quietly and came very near to a squirrel eat ing a nut on the gronnd, but I supposed that one could only be killed up a tree, so I ran at him and cried, shoo! shoo! and the squirrel ran up the tree and I saw him no more, and after it was too late it came to me that I could have shot him just as well on the grornd.” Deacon Josiah Rylani,of Rich mond, told me that he heard Dr. Jeter f- ay that this really occur ed while he was pastor of the First church in that city. He w’as walking across a vacant lot one day and came to some boys engaged in a game of marbles. He sought to avoid treading on and removing the marbles that were spread about in his path way. His foot struck and dis displaced a marble despite his caution. The owner of the mar ble became very angry and straightening himself up and in his strongest tones, he cried aloud: “J. B. Jeter! A long-leg ged creeter! A tin-pan beater! A pancake eater!” Dr. Jeter looked at him a moment and said to him: “My friend you may yet become a poet,” and passed on. While I was a student at Richmond col lege (1854 58) I was a pretty reg ular attendant on the ministry of Dr. Jeter, then pastor of Grace St. church. The custom of the church at the time was to meet monthly in the afternoon for the administration of the Lord’s Sup per. Several hundred of the members would come together and ample time was taken for the ordinance which always closed with a basket collection for the poor of the church. I was pre sent one afternoon when Dr. A. M. Poindexeter, then assistant corresponding secretary of for eign mission board, was present. They were both able, earnest , godly men and both made very tender remarks on the ordinance and a deap solemnity fell on the audience At the close Dr Jeter requested the male mem bers to remain after the benedic tion, as they had need of select ing a deacon. And as the dea cons started with the baskets he opened the Bible and said that he would read what Paul said of the qualifications of dea cons. And while he was adjust ing his glasses and finding the chapter, he remarked that in apostolic times they had deacon esses, that is female deacons. Just then his eye fell on the pas sage (1 Tim. 3:12) and he began: “Let the deacons,” that is men or women, “be the husbands of of one wife,” and and at that point he exclaimed: “No that is not right!” and went on with his reading. But there was an audi ble smile among the people that played havoc with solmenity. He used to say that when he grew up there were many anec dotes floating over the country that were told on “some man” or “some fellow,” but he went to St. Louis in 1849 and remained several yeaisand on his return he found that all these anecdotes had been fixed on him. The result was that many false stories were told of him. He admitted that a man preferred to hear him preach above all others because he had “the most mournfullest voice of any man” that he had ever heard. But he denied most in dignantly the story of the woman crying under his preaching lie Cause his voice reminded her lef the voice of her favorite but de parted mule. There was a very unsavory one floating in his old neighborhood in Bedford county and on one of his trips among us my father and James M. Rucker, a cousin of his, ventured to ask him of it and he was indignant and denied it with an earnest ness that made them wish that it had not been mentioned. These only show how unreliable are some stories told on him. I never heard till I came to Geor gia the story of his forgetting his name at the postoflice when he called for his nail. He left and soon met a friend who call ed him Brother Jeter and he then he remembered that such was his name and secured his mail. Thus the story runs and it may be true; and I arfd I cannot deny it. But I knew him from my youth till his death, was his as sistant pastor from the spring of 1866 to the spring of 1867 and it seemed to me that I heard all that was ever said of him and yet I never heard this story of him. I do not believe it. He was married four times and this fact gave rise to many wild stor ies that had their origin in the fertile brains of the jesters. It was told of him that he was once paying attention to a woman while pastor of First Baptist church in Richmond and some one said; “Brother Jeter, do you think that the First church will be satisfied if you marry that wo man?” His reply was: “1 do not know nor care; if the First church wants a wife let it go and get one to suit itself. I propose to marry to suit myself.” I can not affirm nor deny that having never asked him about it. And from his independent spirit one might suspect that itwas said by him. But still it bears the marks of very doubtful parentage. And it was told and often re peated that he made haste to marry after the death of his wife and some friend said to him: “Why Brother Jeter, are you thinking of getting married so soon and your wife scarcely dead?” And he answered: “I reckon she is as dead as she will ever be.” This was surely false, for it was unlike him in every possible [aspect. And then his record denies it. Here it is: he was married the first time to Miss Margarett T. Waddy, Oct. 5, 1826. The date of her -death is not given, but the record says: “Alas! his new joy speedily perished. The lady of his choice was of slender frame and frail constitution, and in a few months fell suddenly sick and soon after sank to her grave.” -This oc- curred while he lived in Camp bell county and he says he set tled in the Northern Neck “ in the autumn of 1827” and she was then dead. He married his si c ond wife, Miss Sarah Ann Gas kins, Dec. 9, 1828. There were more than twenty-six months from his first to his second mar riage and his first wife only lived a “few months.” I know that there was a whole year between her death and his second mar riage, and perhaps as much as eighteen to twenty months. His second wife died Oct. 29, 1847, and he married Miss Charlotte E Wharton, of Bedford county, in January, 1849, making about fifteen months. His third wife died Aug. 19, 1861, and he mar ried Mrs. Mary C. Dobbs, May 5, 1863. Here more than twenty months passed between the death of his wife and his subsequent marriage. Few men had a more exalted conception of the mar riage relation than did Dr Jeter. Dr. Jeter died Feb. 18, 1880, aged 78 years and 7 months, and bis death was a great shock to his friends far and wide. He died on Wednesday morning and the next Saturday night I came into Ashville, N. C., from a meeting in the country and a postal card from my wife stated: “ The papers announce the death of Dr. Jeter.” The depth of my sorrow surprised me He was far advanced, was ready for the change, yet it seemed so hard to realize that he was gone and I should see him no more on earth. The next day I went to the Bap tist church in Ashville where A C. Dixon was pastor and was in the midst of a great revival. With several others I sat upon the large platform and during the sermon the thought came to me: “ To-day is Jeter's first day in heaven,” and I was never more overcome with emotion in my life. The scene of Jeter be fore the throne in company with Wm. Harris, W. F. Broadus, C. George,Spencer Cone, R. Fuller, A M. Poindexter, J B, Taylor, Daniel Witt and a host of his co laborers, came so vividly before my mind that heaven never seemed so near. It seemed to me that I could almost hear the sweet strains of heavenly music and see them in their raptures and glory. God grant that when life’s work is finished I may see them. Atlanta, < fa. For the Index. Friendship. MISS ALICE LAWHON. Abraham was called the friend of God because of his faith in the Lord and his implicit obedi ence unto Him The friend of God! What condescension on the part of omnipotence, what exaltation on the part of human ity. Man and God friends! The attachment between Jonathan and David is the most striking human friendship that is record ed in sacred history. It was a friendship that shadowed the lasting tie between Christ and His disciples. We read of no costly presents exchanged be tween these young men as to kens of devotion to each other, there were vows of fidelity pass ed between them—words from the depth of manly, sincere hearts corroborating their undy ing friendship. This was a friendship nourished under ad verse circumstances, under pe culiar trials still their fidelity to each other never wavered. The big hearted, clear sighted young man Jonathan must have loved his father, the king, but he knew of Davids innocercy, and he was also aware that it was jealousy growing in the heart of Saul that prompted him to destroy David. How morti fied and hurt Jonathan must have been by his father’s conduct and if he could have honestly done so, how gladly he would have shielded Saul's acts. But his was a lofty nature that could rise above all stringent surroundings and do what was right because it was right. This noble man as a friend to David could generous ly ignore his position as the son of a King, his relation to Saul, his inheritance to the throne were David annulled, and be loy al and true to the man for whom he had vowed lasting friendship. His character was striking in sincerity and true aspiration a just and compassionate man, a loyal friend, he was a symbolic of that grander man, Christ Je sus; the “Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Christ said to his disciples: “Ye are my friend if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not ser vants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doe th; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” Then there must abide a loyal friendship between us and Christ if we would know the VOL. 76-NO. 4 whole will of God and so live a life of truth and contentment. SIOO,OOO for Mercer, The Trustees of Mercer Uni versity, pursuant to a call of the secretary, held a meeting in Ma con on the 14th of this month. The question of raising £loo,ooo> endowment for the University w as considered, weighed, and the compaign launched. There was no difference of opinion as to the need of such an endowment. The resolution to begin the work was heartily endorsed. The thing was recognized as the Lord’s work and must be accomplished for his glory. A warm appreci ation was manifest that the mat ter was precipitated just now by a resolution introduced into the Pastor’s conference of Atlanta by a prominent Atlanta pas-tor. This will naturally put Atlanta in the lead in this great work. At lanta when she begins does noth ing by halves. Her pastors have the heart and the brains, her people have money for the Lord’s w’ork, and these two forces combined in the direction of this endowment will arouse the force all over the state as perhaps they have never been. The Baptists of Macon have the Institution located in their midst and they have all the benefits that accrue therefrom, yet in the annual support of this school they have done nearly as much, if not quite, as all the rest of the state combined. It would be hard to find a more loyal, more conse crated, or more self sacrificing people for anything than Macon Baptists are for Mercer. They give their thousands every year and any deficit always fails on them to bear. The work pm posed now is for endowment. Macon has never failed to bear her part; she will not now. This work, however, belongs as much to one part of the state as anoth er. Baptist principles are worth as much now as when our people suffered banishment, ostracism and death for them. A great. University is one of the most po tent agencies for the propagation of these principles Our Uni versity is as much the property of the northern and southern sec tion of the state as of the cen tral. Bro. Bernard's people, near Athens, work and pray and give in proportion to abili ty, as much as the people in and around Macon. What we need is for our people to feel and act as these noble bands of Christian workers. In the mass meeting held at night, held in the First Baptist church, attended by a number of prominent pastors, and friends in Macon, the proposition was endorsed -with cordiality, if not with enthusiam. All the friends present pledged their support. There will be a central commit tee with President Gambrell as the head w-ho will have the matter in charge, and will plan and prosecute the work. It -was thought wisest to extend the time to three years. Bit this does not mean that we shall do less work but that we shall do well what is done. Now for the work. Let every pastor get the conviction into his heart, like a coal of fire, Uhafc this is God’s work and nrosJ be done and the conviction will vswlc into a reality Let us not invite Dr. Gambrell to ©os churches but work with hi-stiaadl strengthen his hands. The- work: must be done. May the- Jfloly/ Spirit lead and mightily fil'l wsr President or that he shaO iwgiin and continue in the power of Je sus Christ. J. D. Chapmavn. Phenix City, Ala., Jan. h 5. We are moving up all al'wig the line at West Side The new year has come and % good many of our people atro taking hold of church work with renewed energy. The church is still increasing in membership. Our Sunday-school has diminish ed for the present on account of measles. Prayer meetings very well attended. The young men’s prayer meeting is doing great good. Its influence is being felt throughout the city, both in church and social circles. We hope to do greater things for the Lord this year than ever. This servant has his hands full. We are serving this church for full time but Ladania church said we must preach for them once a month, so we preach: every 2nd Sunday evening. We hope by the help of the Lord to> dothem good. On ward and up ward to the prize of the higla calling in Christ Jesus should be the Christian motto for T 96. E. S. Moncrief. The Telfair Enterprise says; “Rev. W. J. Barton filled his regular appointment at the Bap tist church Sunday. His subject was the “Light of God,” and the sermon one of the best we heard in a long while.”