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ESTABLISHED 1821. TheChristianlndex Publiibed Kvery Thursday By BKLL JC VAX XEHH Address Christian Index,Atlanta, Gn Organ of the Baptist be nomination in Georgia. Subscription Prior: One copy, one year One copy, six months !.«• ABOUT Oua Advertisers.—We propose hereafter so very carefully investigate our advertisers. Weshall exercise every care to allow only reliable parties to use our col omni. obituaries.—One hundred words free of charge. For each extra word, one cent per word, cash with copy. To Correspondents—Po not use abbrevi ations; be extra careful in writing proper names; write with Ink, on one able of paper. Bo not write copy Intended for the editor and business items on same sheet. Leave Off personalities, condense. Business.-Write all names, and post offices distinctly. In ordering a change give the old as well as the new address. The date Ot label Indicates the time your subscription expires. If youdonot 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. Letter From China. 4 The Western world has been tilled with the news of the expul sion from Sz chuan and the foul massacre of Jhua Sang. Men's hearts have trembled in the pres ence of a Father who allows such brutalities to befall His children. Strong men and gentle women were driven from their homes without a moment’s warning. Delicate young ladies and little children were horribly murdertd in hitherto most peaceful homes These events have not only shaken the missionary brother hood out here, but all the world as well. But there is a calm side to the question. The God that allowed James to be beheaded, and Peter to be imprisoned, and Piul and Silas to be beaten, and innutnera ble martyrs in the ages since to be burned has all along had a great purpose t 9 accomplish through the sufferings of his people. And so now. The missionary question re ceives more attention now than ever before, perhaps. At least new phases of the problem are brought home to us. We are told by one writer that we are trying to “Christianize China at the • point of the bayonet.” By this charge I suppose he means that *we missionaries enjoy the pro tection of our governments. It seems to me to be a very strong expression for so harmless a proceeding. Os course I am en tirely safe in saying that no man has ever beco ne a Christian in China except on his own free will and so far as [ know in every case it has cost him much perse cution, often even to death. Therefore the charge above is pure “bosh.” But should not the missiona ries be protected in this work ? Would it be right to allow this great country to shut its doors at pleasure in the faces of God’s messengers ? I know that some regard the great risks the glory of mission work, and the risks will be tremendous when reduced to the minimum But what would the withdrawing of government protection of missionaries mean? We would be regarded as not having the approbation of our own people and we would all be ordered to leave or be murdered at once. An intelligent Christian Chinaman made this statement in a meeting not five days ago and I believed hi a. This gov ernment protection which we en joy is no more than Paul’s Ro man citizenship to which h i ap pealed repeatedly and with suc cess. In leaning on our govern ments I surely think we are in good company. The American government has recently shown itself quite vigo rous in looking after tn -e mat ters. Col. Denby, United States minister to China, has all along shown himself very friendly to the missionaries. In the inves tigations of the Hwa Sang mas sacres the United States Consul, Col. Hickson, a Southerner, was most active in bringing the guilty to justice. And now finally our government has sent a Commis sion to Sz chuan to investigate matters there. And this Com mission, instead of consulting comfort and going quietly by steamer the thousands of miles from Tieutsin to Chingtu, have gone overland, in bad convey ances, over bad roads and stop ping in bad inns. And to add to their discomfort, the journey is performed in winter. We have just had intelligence of their ar rival in Sz chuan. Now this looks like business. There is somebody pushing this matter who is friendly to American mis sionaries, and who doesn’t intend that we shall appeal to our flag in vain. We don’t want any help from armies in making these people Christians. We only want to claim the privilege of Ameri- THE CHRISTIAN INDEX. J SUBS, For Yx*«,-...t2.00. I ITO MIK \£*RS, 1.00.1 can citizens. Wouln anything short of this be right? Are the Chinese to be allowed to traverse every part of our broad domain at will and must we be excluded from China? Shall China be hedged in with a wall with no Christian foot to tread her scil? Is it really nobody’s business how much cussedness China harbors? Can any man in this day of uni versal communication live unto himself ? I believe that America was raised up by God to help the world get out of its tangle, and I thank God for such Christian statesmen as Charles Denby and J. W. Foster. We are anxiously awaiting news from the work proper of the Commission. Consul Read was the leading name on the Commission. Yours for freedom and for Christ, C. W. Pruitt. January 16, 1896. For the Index “Jesus the Messiah.” Luke 9:18 27. The Sunday school lesson for March Ist is now before us. It presents to us several topics of special interest. Notice, first: “Jesus was alone praying, and his disciples were with him.” These words cer tainly mean that Jesus was pray ing with none present except his disciples. Or, in other words, he was holding a devotional ex ercise with his disciples. On other occasions he was accus tomed to seek some secluded place where he might be entirely alone in prayer to his eternal Father. Such seasons were, no doubt, inexpressibly refreshing to his soul. Yes, on the moun tain side he would spend hours of the night in holy fellowship with God. What; n example for secret prayer! How does it em phasize the precept which he has left on record for the guidance of the individual Christian through all the ages! “When thou prayest, go into thy closet and close the door, and pray to thy Father who seeth in secret, and he shall re ward thee openly.” Thousands of saints have veri fied, by a happy experience, the wisdom of the precept. But the case before us, in our present lesson, presents an ex ample of social prayer; for Jesus was praying with his disciples. The example was n iver forgot ten. When Jesus Wus taken up into heaven, his disci pies were wont to meet on the first day of the week for social worship And the propriety of the custom was signalized by all the glories of the day of Pentecost. The custom was carried forward by the apostles to the churches of the Gentiles. So we may recog nize, in this interesting incident, the germ of that public and so cial worship which has been practised by all Christians from the day of Pentecost till the present time. If this view of the case is correct, how sacred ought we to hold our meetings for social worship! It is worthy of special notice, that the elementary form of so cial wor ship vas a prayer-meeting —Jesus was praying with his dis ciples—but soon there was added to the prayers, praise and thanks giving in song; exposition of the Scriptures, and other addresses designed to strengthen the faith of the people and to encourage them in every good work. Read 1 Cor. 14:26-33, and see how exactly Paul has given us an out-line of a church meeting met for social worship. Let us now return to the les son. After Jesus had closed his prayer, he entered into con ver sation with his disciples by ask ing them a question: “Who say the people that I am? ” There were several answers reported, showing that the people were very much divided in their opin ions; some said that he was John the Baptist, others that he was Elijah the prophet, and others supposed that he was, at any rate, one of the old prophets that had risen from the dead. He then asked them: “Who say ye that I am? ” “And Peter an swering, said: “Thou art the Christ of God.” Matthew's account of this con versation is more full than Luke’s. But lest I should wan der too far from the present les son, I will confine myself to Luke’s report. When Peter so boldly declared that Jesus was the Christ of God, he straightway commanded his disciples “to tell no man that thing.” The reason for that command is not given; but look ing at it from our standpoint, and in the light of subsequent events, I think we can find a good reason for it. At that time the burning desire of the Jews was to obtain deliverance from the Roman yoke. They were actually hop ing and looking for the Messiah as the one under whose guidance they should be delivered from bondage and once more be organ ' ized into an independent king ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27,1896. dom, with their Messiah tte Son and heir of David—upon the throne. The disciples themselves were more or less possessed with these glowing ideas of Messiah’s king dom. They were not yet suffi ciently instructed as to the nature of Messiah’s kingdom. At that time it was not his purpose to interfere at all with any of the political powers of this world. He had a work to do of a very different kind. He had come to accomplish the far more impor tant work of human redemption from the powers of darkness. In view of all these facts, which the Savior very well knew, it would have been unwise to al low himself to be at once pro claimed as the veritable Messiah. The temper of the Jewish mind towards the Romans, was such that a proclamation of his Mes siahship, just then, would no doubt have raised a widespread rebellion of the people against their oppressors. They would have rushed into it, hoping that Jesus would become its champion and its leader, and bring into it all the energy of his supernatural powers. But this, Jesus could not do without abandoning the great purpose of his mission above alluded to. The rebellion, with out his aid, would have been crushed in all the horrorsofa cruel and bloody retribution. Jesus, foreseeing such results, was wise to seal, for the present, the lips of the disciples. In cor roboration of the above explana tion, note the words which im mediately follow his charge of silence. He said: “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and chief priests and scribes, and be slain and be raised the third day.” These words photo graphed in lines of deepest shade, yet relieved by a beam of living light, the sublime work of human redemption. The dark shades represent the suffering, the rejection and the death of the great Redeemer; while the glowing light throws over the whole picture the splendor of the resurrection. The words above quoted were no doubt intended by the Savior to repress, in the hearts of his disciples, any emotions of world ly ambition that the emphatic announcement of his Messiah ship, just made, might awaken. To the same end he set forth, in the following verses, the ab solute conditions of being his disciples. Study the verses and you will learn that to be Christ’s disciple, youmustdeny yourself, you must take up your cross, and you must follow him. The words had a primary reference to the little audience that Jesus had around him. He had just told them what would happen to himself in the near future. If, therefore, they would be his disciples, they must deny themselves against any flattering hopes of honors or emoluments in any earthly kingdom. Each one must take up his cross —hisshare or burden of duty laid upon him by the Master, however heavy it might be. And then all must follow him if need be, even unto death But while thus applicable so clearly to the disbiples then present, the conditions were evi dently intended for all times and for all peoples. They bind you and me as truly as they bound Peter and John. Are we, like Peter and John, trying to regu late our lives according to these conditions of discipleship? If so, then we may hope to follow Christ, not only in self-denial, in sufferings and in death, but also in the glory of his resurrection. S. G. Hill yer. For the Index. Notes and Comments. BY .1. C HIDEN, D. D. A correspondent asks: “ Does not Renan distinctly hold that the four Gospels, substantially as we have them, were written by the authors whose names they bear, and that these Gos pels are genuine, honest narra tives from men who were con temporary with Chiist?” It has been some years since we read Renan’s “ Life of Jesus, but we are confident that, in the edition which we read, he did take the position assigned him in the paragraph quoted above. And the admission means a great deal, for if Jesus did what these evangelists say he did, and if he said what they say he said, then it follows with inexorable logic that our historical and doctrinal Christianity rests upon an im pregnable basis, whatever may be thought of the inspiration of the evangelists. In the Second Epistle of Paul to Timothy occurs that much dis cussed text: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for re proof, for correction, for instruc tion in righteousness. ” The Re vised version here supplies the word is after Scripture, as we see by the italics. The original has no word here for “is.” The version of the Bible Union sup plies “is" in the same place. Their rendering is: “ All Script ure is inspired by God.” Bishop Ellicott, an exceedingly able and decidedly conservative scholar, renders : “ Every Scripture in spired by God isalso profitable," etc. In this rendering he is sus tained by Origen, Hammond, Tyndal, Cranmer, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Herther, Wiesinger, the Latin Vulgate, the Westmin ster revisers, and “nearly all the best versions.” In his com mentary on the passage, he says that “ all Scripture ’’ for “ every Scripture,” is “a needless de parture from the regular rules of grammar.” Os course he means Greek grammar, and as a Greek scholar he has few equals among living Englishmen. He also says that “ this expression does not exclude such verbal er rors, or, possibly, such trifling historical inaccuracies as man's spirit, even in its most exalted state, may not be wholly exempt from, and human transmission and transcriptions may have in creased;” but that it “does cer tainly assure us . . . that the,se writings, as we have them, are individually pervaded by God's Spirit.” Olshausen, who differs widely from Ellicott’s view, still holds that, the passage 1 does not war rant our building on it a theory of inspiration, and of determin ing from it the relations of di vine and human agency in Script ure.” Still, if Paul knew what he was writing about, then it follows that the fact of inspiration is clearly made out, whatever may be said of the theory. And what the Apostle meant by “ Script ure ”is also clear enough. For him “the Scriptures” were au thority, as they were for Christ himself. The following “floating” item is something more than a figure of speech, for it suggests, in brief phrase, some solid and im portant truths: “When you rise unrefreshed from your bed, on a dull, morning, you have little or ao appetite for breakfast. But do you conclude that it is useless to go to the table ? No y’GU* feel that food is necessary, and you take your seat at the table as usual, and not unfi/equently, after a mouthful of palatable food, your feeling changes, and you make a comfortable meal and go out refreshed to the work of the day. So, if you feel no desire for spiritual food, no disposition to pray, no wish to read the Bible, do not yield to the feeling. Per severe, and remember that your spiritual food is never more nec essary than when you feel least inclined to take it.” This thought recalls the mem ory of a stalwart drayman in a seaportcity—a man of few words, but strong in the faith. From early morn to dewy eve he was handling heavy bags, boxes and barrels six days in the week, and yet he said that nothing rested him so much as going to church on the Lord’s day. Cultivate a healthy spiritual appetite. It grows by what it feeds on. Richmond, Va. For the Index Communion with God. BY MRS. LAURA RICHARDS. It is the happy privilege of every truly regenerate child of God to commune with him. The Holy Spirit, as a person, guides and directs the spiritual life. It is his mission on earth. “He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” Sometimes we feel very far away from this Comforter. We allow our imperfections, our shortcomings, to come between us. We put them up as barriers. Jesus bore our sins in his own body on the tree. When he has put them away, why should we seek to call them ours and be hampered and burdened with them ? “ Tempted in all points like as we are, he is able to suc cor the tempted,” and he does it through the Holy Spirit. The immediate, personal pres ence of God ! How incompre hensible ! Not God the Father, but God the Spirit, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.' “ The Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart.” “The Lord is nigh to them that call upon him.” ‘- Made nigh by the blood of Christ.” It is a privilege of which we may avail ourselves to come into intimate fellowship and com munion with God. To speak to him as face to face. He has a willing and waiting ear into which we may pour our every emotion, be it joy or sorrow. Our every plan may with confi dence be laid before him. We may counsel with him, talk with him, walk with him, if we are in obedience to him, and recognize his sovereignty in all things. “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” A short verse of Scripture, but a volume of meaning. It stands out in bold prominence in the Bible. That the intercourse was pleasing to God is proven by the fact that he took him to himself, took him into still closer com munion and fellowship, look him from mortal to immortal. It shows God’s love for one of his creatures. It shows his conde cension. Their communion which was for many years, was a fel lowship so intimate, so free, so true, so pure, that God saw noth ing intervening save the veil of the flesh, and when that was transformed by the divine hand of God into the spiritual, this earth was no longer his abiding place. God would have his redeemed approach him in confidence, in trust, forgetting as he does, the flesh with its imperfections; look ing not at ourselves but to him. The imperfections of the flesh are all put aside, covered, re membered no more by the Father who sees the re deemed through the Son. But for the intervention and help of the Holy Spirit, the contem plation of our sins would weight us down; but for his uplifting, a sense of our unworthiness would be crushing; but for his guid ance, our blindness would mis lead us. If we were perfect we would have no need of the Holy Spirit. It is the humanity that necessitates his presence. David said: “ Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence. If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me ” It is blessed assur ance when faith can grasp the abiding presence of God. The closer the soul gets to God the more hateful sin appears. Not only is the contrast greater, but the light of God is turned on to reveal the sinfulness of God’s presence there is no ex cuse, no cloak for sin, but there is condemnation of sin. This is the Spirit’s mission. Jesus came to save souls; the Spirit came to guide and direct the saved soul during the earthly pilgrimage. With such ,a guide, can any danger befall’’’ Even though the redeemed soul, through the weakness of the flesh, should be drawn into sin still, the Guide and Teacher never leaves or for sakes. Probably the best definition of the Holy Spirit is the Paraclete, the one joined to. That more nearly expresses his nearness to the soul. Why should there not be communion and fellowship? How could it be otherwise ? And yet there is a possibility of it. “ Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” That is the greatest barrier to com munion and fellowship. How sad that Christians with such a Guide, with such superior and happy privileges, with such a Teacher, ever present, should wilfully and knowingly sin ! The condemnation of their Guide is ever present to reprove and re buke, bringing peni'ence, bring ing remorse. Temptations that assail and trials that await, serve a two fold purpose, in showing God’s power in deliverance, and human weakness in withstanding. How often has a victory been won, with the sure convictian: “ I could not have done it by myself, in my own strength. ' There must be communion and fellowship sympathy and co-op eration. “Without me ye can do nothing ” Why are there so few’ happy Christians in the world ? Want of communion and fellowship with the Spirit of God, and there by grieving the Holy Spirit. “ Quench not the Spirit.” If so, th* re is a disposition refusing to be led and guided. Out of sym pathy and co-operation there can be no happiness. “In thy pres ence there is fulness of joy.” There is happiness and only there. “At thy right hand are pleasures forevermore,” that is heaven’s joy. If there can be no greater pleasure in heaven, than that which the presence of God yields to the disembodied soul, how great must be the joy in the consciousness of his presence, in this present life. Canton, Ga. All life is set to law, and God gives man all he can give him. But “as ye sow so shall ye reap,” is a law of God. And, like all his laws, it is radical and un changeable For the Index. The Fall of Adam BY ADDISON BRAINARD. In the account of creation that is given in Genesis, man is rep resented as created in the image, or likeness of God. While, in that part of the cre ative story which gives us a faint glimpse of the state of pri mordial human innocence, no ut terance of Adam, and no acton his part, that can be regarded as indicative of the state of his mind, when consciously in the presence of his Maker, has been preserved; the language attrib uted to that Maker, implies the existence, and exercise of mutual confidence. To bless man, and give him dominion over all that lived upon the face of the eart i, was to place him nearer to him st If (God) than was any other living form; while the single prohibition, which limited the exercise of personal freedom, was, doubtless, intended for a test of personal fidelity, the re ligious observance of which would enable man to prove that divine confidence was not mis placed. In brief, before Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, there is not a shadow of direct, or im plied evidence that the divine manifestations, with which he was favored, were not welcomed by him, as visits from a trusted, berevolent and sympathetic friend. Assuming that Adam, while in a state of natural innocence, sus tained a relation of implicit con fidence to a fatherly Creator; al so, that the elementary essence of human nature is, in all ages, the same, and there is but one way in which such a normal re lation can be accounted for. As was fully revealed in the person of Jesus, the God of Adam was the God of eternal right. As a being who could not look upon sin with the least degree of allowance, He (God) must have been unable to discern in Adam either moral spot or blemish, or any such thing; for then, as now, the existence of sinfulness in the creature would have been equivalent to inher ent antagonism thereto, which, whenever divine right became manifest to consciousness, would not Jail to .assert itself; and, if the moral nature of the first man was in antagonism to his own, God could not, consistently, have produced man good. Inasmuch as the infinite cannot be assumed to be subject to the finite; the Creator cannot be sup posed to become the servant of the work of his own hands; and the righteousness of the inferior includes a disposition, on his part, to respect the rightful au thority of his superior; the vol untary subordination of the will of oui first progenitor to not only the requirements, but the wishes of the Author of his be ing, is naturally implied, as a matter of course. Withal, the absence of wrong, in the moral nature of the intelligent crea ture, is the non existence, in him, of the only known impedi ment of sincere and confiding love; which, if evil is admitted to have had no place in his soul, miy be safely assumed to 1 a/e been the ruling sentiment of Adam, when, —in a state of pris tine purity, —he was conscious of the presence of the God of love. If it is granted that primordial man was created with no taint of sin in his moral nature; that he was voluntarily submissive to divine authority am that he was a natural lover of God, it follows that, in freedom from evil, and in consequent purity of affectional nature, he was created in the image of his Maker. With those two all-impoitant constit uents of his intelligent self hood like tl.e same elements in the character of God; and on the as sumption that the remainder of his endowments were in corre spondence therewith, —as they must needs have been, if he was in harmony with himself, —it is morally certain that, as he came from the hand of the Maker, all that entered into the composition of man's original individuality, was in perfect harmony with a divine environment. That man was, according to the modern scientific definition of life, alive to God. A state that may have been productive of an experi ence, not unlike that of a regen erated soul when first rejoicing in a new-born consciousness of reconciliation with the divine. After the prohibition had been disregarded, however, there is evidence of a radical change, in that, in the very first instance,— according to the record, —in which the presence of God be came manifest to the conscious ness of Adam, he sought to hide himself therefrom; and it is not altogether fanciful to infer that nothing less than the exercise of imperative authority sufficed to induce him to respond to the VOL. 70-NO. 9 query of the voice of God on that particular “cool of the day.” If it is allowable to assume that there was no mysterious virtue in the forbidden fruit; that the prohibition thereof was sim ply and purely a test of fidelity and the result of disregarding it was the moral consequence of disobedience, —or rather of dis loyalty,—the true explanat ion of that change,—which, (the change) is identical with the fall of man, —may be found in uni versal Christian experience. It can be safely affirmed of all who have been regenerated by the Spirit of God, that, however sincerely and confidently they may be rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God, if they venture upon a slightest deviation from the pathway of known Christian right, knowing and feeling that they thereby do violence to their own conception of Christian in tegrity, and place themselves in direct opposition to the purpose of the Lord concerning them In the moment of such deviation every vestige of their Christian joy, and every iota of their con sciousness of fellowship with God will disappear; will be sup planted by a consciousness of di vine and self condemnation. Nor can they recover the felicity which they have lost, except by repentance of their wrong doing, and by becoming conscious that they have obtained divine* for giveness. (For the benefit of those who had no personal Christian expe rience it may be well to add that the law of human nature which produces the above stated result is identical with that which op erales in mind and heart in an ordinary personal estrangement; a mental refeience to which will enable them to form a relative conception of the destructive ef fect of purposed delinquency, upon such normal relations as may exist between a soul and its God). To formulate the principle in scientific language: The moral nature of humanity is so consti tuted that intentional non-obser vance of the divine law of right is destructive of pre-existing harmony wdth a divine environ ment. An application of this doubt less universal law of human na ture to Adam, when in the act of d sobeying his Creator, would account for the resultant change; not by assuming the existence of some unaccountable quality in a product of the earth, —notwith standing the fact that the earth has never been known to be a source of magic,—nor by means of a special creation, endowed with special properties which was not self-progagating: but,— as the natural consequence of wilful disregard of a divine in junction which was equivalent to a personal relinquishment of per fect lo ze, and implicit confidence, —by the extinction of inherent, natural harmony with a divine environment, which, as defined with scientific exactness, is spir itual death. Nor U it needful to more than remember the effect of an un christian, —if intentional, —act or a personal estrangement upon ones self to justify an assump tion that the change from har mony with the divine, was in stantly and directly to positive and malicious antagonism there to. A state that together with a consciousness of merited con demnation, would impel Adam to endeavor to hide himself from t e presence of his still loving, though unloved God. Thus far the writer believes he has unfolded his, possibly, origi nal conception of “the fall of man” along the safe lines of an alogy with undoubted human ex perience. If, however, an at tempt is made to give a reason for the admitted certainty that all the descendants of the origi nal pair inherited the evil nature that was acquired through the fall, even though that first pair may have sincerely repented of their fault, and their forfeited heirship of eternal life may be presumed to have been restored, the task is, confessedly, no easy one. Nevertheless,' even here we have a—if it is permissible to use the term—converse parallel in the well-known fact that the offspring of parents, both of whom are sincerely Christian, must be personally regenerated before they can become of the Spiritual household of God. Savoy, Mass. Experience teaches, and his tory records show illustrious ex amples in proof of the statement, that Christians, as individuals, and in church capacity, and in all organized relations, are to im press the world and bring human ity to Christ by unselfish meth ods, by presenting the truth in a spirit of love and life. “Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him.”