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In the Littles.
To have to do with nothing but the true,
1 he good, the eternal— md these, not alone
In the main current of the general life,
But srnallexperlences of every day
To learn not only by a comet’s rush.
But a rose's birth—not by the grandeur, God,
But by the comfort, Christ.
—Browning.
The Dried-Up Springs ot Life.
‘•These ate springs without water.” 2 Peter
2-1" (Revised Version).
This is Peter’s characteriza
tion of certain people who live
for the senses, and are devoted
to the pleasures of a worldly life.
It is a very striking picture. To
appreciate it one must have lived
or traveled some time i n a moun
tainous or hilly country, where
the treasures of the snow are
gathered in the great reservoirs
of the mountains, and, when the
springtime comes, and the sun is
high in the heavens, and the
days are long, the snow melting
on the long mountain slopes finds
its way down through the tis
sures in the rocks, and, follow
ing underground channels, comes
out down the mountain-sides and
among the foot-hills in bubbling
springs of pure water. I was
born among the hills, and on my
father's farm in my childhood
there were a number of these
springs. Some of them were
ever-living. Summer or winter
seemed to make no difference to
them. In hot or cold they poured
forth their full, fresh tide of
cooi, sweet wavfer *rrom some
great reservoir so inexhaustible
and so protected that it could not
be reached by the cold or checked
by heat. But on the same
farm there were other springs
that, when the warm rains came
in the early springtime, gushed
forth an abundance of water. A
stranger passing through the
country might have thought that
these were the most valuable
springs on the farm; but later in
the season these fountains which
did not draw their water from
any channel from the mountains,
but from some little local water
shed among the hills about them,
gradually narrowed their output
until by the time the hot days of
July had come they were dried
up entirely, and the channel
where the promising stream had
run in April was dry and bare.
This is the picture which Peter
sets before us as a portrait of
the man or woman who, instead
of drawing hope, and courage,
and strength from the high hills
of righteousness and the lofty
reservoirs of the Bible and
prayer, depends upon the local
watershed of the earth. Tell me
the source from whence you get
your strength and pleasures, and
I will tell you how long they will
endure and when your spring
will run dry.
Let us inquire for a moment
what are some of the springs of
life that are necessarily tempo
rary, and must in the naiure of
things soon dry up, and refuse
to give us joy and peace.
The first is youth. It is a
spring, a source of pleasure and
joy to every one who makes the
journey of life. There is a cer
tain hopefulness, an elasticity,
an abounding optimism about
youth, which finds joy of some
sort in almost everything. It is
a period when it is delightful
simply to be alive, to breathe
the air, to look upon the trees
and the sky, to scent the flowers,
to sleep, to dream, to grow, to
peer toward the mysterious fu
ture and wonder concerning the
hidden possibilities of this new
developing life. Yes, youth is a
spring, a fountain of joy and
pleasure. I speak of mere physi
cal youth; the fact that life is yet
to be lived and that one may
make it what he will. But de
lightful and glorious as this
fountain is, it is certain that it
comes from the local watershed
of life and will soon have poured
all the waters from its slender
reservoir. Its springtime has
already passed for most of us,
and for many it has passed alto
gether. Youth is a spring that
will dry up for every one.
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX.
Health is a spring of joy and
strength, a natural source of
gladness and delight. To stand
out in the broad sunlight of God’s
day and feel that your physical
and intellectual manhood is
strong and complete, that all the
organs and faculties of body and
mind work harmoniously to
gether, and that you have in all
its wholesome roundness the
power to do among your fellows
what a man or woman can do, is
a bountiful source of joy and de
light and a cause for profound
thanksgiving to God on the part
of every one that possesses it. But
this, too. is a spring that will
dry up. No man’s body is so per
fect but that it may be wounded
and mangled by some accident or
misfortune before to morrow
night. No woman’s figure is so
graceful or features so beautiful
but sickness may distort the one
and blight the other with scarce
ly a moment’s warning. Disease
lurks in the very air we breathe
and waits for us morning and
night, and soon the strongest
arm must tremble and the most
giant like form recline in weak
ness and lose the grace and beauty
of health. Yes, our health and
strength and beauty are springs
that will dry up.
Another great fountain of joy
and delight is human friendship.
God has given us wondrous
power of comforting and making
glad each other by kindly fellow
ship. And many a person who
has not much strength or beauty
and has passed beyond the vigor
and enthusiasm of youth, still
counts himself firm in an im
pregnable fortress because of the
friendships that gird him about.
And yet all friendships that are
of this world alone are perisha
ble springs. It is not only that
we have to run the risk of the
frailties of human nature and
take the chance that some cruel
misunderstanding shall separate
us from the love of our friends;
but they, too, are subject to all
the laws of weakness, and sor
row, and affliction, and death
that threaten, and many times
within a single year a soul that
looked upon strong friends like
bulwarks on every side, has seen
them vanish away like mists be
fore the morning sun, until they
stood friendless and alone. Yes,
friendship is a spring that will
dry up if it has no higher source
than earth.
But, somebody says, you have
left out one source of joy and
pleasure —What of riches? Alas !
that, too, is a spring that will
dry up. But you argue with me
that money will purchase ser
vants to care for you when you
are weak; it will ministerto your
taste, and give you power to sur
round yourself with many pro
tections and shelters; and all that
is indeed true. But mi ney can
not keep alive in you the vigor
and enthusiasm and power of en
joyment of youth. Wilberforce,
in speaking of the Richmond
villa, belonging to the Duke of
Queensbury, whose wealth was
many millions of dollars, says
that once on dining with the
Duke in company with a party of
celebrated guests, although the
dinner was sumptuous, the views
from the villa most enchanting,
and the Thames was in all its
glory, the Duke looked on with
indifference. In reply to Wilber
force, who, then a young man,
had made some appreciative re
marks on the beauty of the
scenery, the Duke protested al
most angrily, “What is there to
make so much of in the Thames?
lam quite tired of it. There it
goes—flow, flow, flow, always the
same.” All his wealth could not
keep for that sensual old man
the bright appreciation of nature,
and of beauty everywhere,
which had been the natural in
heritance of his youth. Money
can not bribe disease to stay
away, and it can, after all, do
little to stay its ravages. Money
can not keep our friends alive, it
can not stay the coming of the
white horse and its rider. It is
proverbial that shrouds are with
out pockets, and Scriptural that
we brought nothing with us into
this world and we can take noth
ing out of it.
Count them over, the great
sources of joy and pleasure for
the worldling: youth, health,
money, friends. They are all
there; everything that the
worldly man can know is grouped
under some one of these four,
and there is a limit to the reser
voir which each of these springs
draws upon, and they shall ail
dry up, and leave the soul that
trusts to them naked and bare,
bankrupt and hopeless at the
last.
Ah ! you say, it is a sad ser
mon you are preaching to us. I
wish I had stayed at home. But
I thank God you may give it a
bright side if you will, for there
are possible to the human soul
springs that draw upon the
higher watershed of the hills of
God, whose streams flow on with
ever abounding fulness through
(SUBSCRIPTION, PeiY ..•2.00.1
ITO MINISTERS, • ... 1.00. f
youth and manhood and old age;
streams that are only sweetened
by affliction and weakness, that
can not be frozen up by poverty,
nor scorched and dried out by any
lack of human fellowship Jesus
said to the woman at the well of
Sychar that she had been drink
ing of that well only to thirst
again, but he was able to give
her living water which should
be within her soul a fountain
springing up unto everlasting life.
Paul, in the thirteenth chapter
of his first letter to the Corin
thians, said that there are some
springs that abide, “but now,”
he says, “abideth faith, hope,
love, these three; and the great
est of these is love.” The Psalm
ist says, in a grateful tribute to
God, “All my springs are in
thee.” I call you from the low
lands of worldliness, where all
the springs of life shall dry up,
up to the treasures of the high
lands where there are streams of
joy that shall flow forever. — The
Fisherman and His Friends. —
Banks.
For the Index.
President James P. Boyce on Church
Historians and Baptist Succession.
I have been reading, with in
tense interest,for the second time
extracts from the inaugural ad
dress of Dr Boyce, which was
delivered at the completion of
his first session as theological
Brofessor in Furman University.
T. Broadus, in his Memoir of
Boyce, pronounces it a very re
markable production, and says:
“Its ideas entered into the con
stitution, and chiefly determined
the peculiarities of the Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary.”
This address is entitled, “Three
Changes in Theological Institu
tions. ” In giving his reasons for
promoting theological scholar
ship in our country, and among
our own people,Dr. Boyce makes
use of language which plainly
declares that Baptists were very
far from receiving justice at the
hands of others. He regards the
past history of Baptists as a mat
ter of vital importance, and de
clares that an obligation rests
upon them to maintain the truth
in such matters. But let him
speak: “The history of religious
literature and of Christian schol
arship has been a history of Bap
tist wrongs. We have been over
looked, ridiculed, and defamed.
Critics have committed the gross
est pervasions,violated the plain
est rules of criticism,and omitted
points which could not have been
developed without benefit to us.
Historians who have professed to
write the history of the church
have either utterly ignored the
presence of those of our faith, or
classed them among fanatics and
heretics; or,if forced to acknowl
edge the presence of our princi
ples and practice among the ear
liest churches,have adopted such
false theories as to church power,
and the development and growth
of the truth, and principles of
Scripture, that by all, save their
most discerning readers, our pre
tensions to an early origin and a
continuous existence have been
rejected.” It will be seen from
this extract that Dr. Boyce had
a very poor opinion of church
historians so far as their fairness
toward the Baptists is concerned.
But Dr. Boyce refers to the early
origin of Baptists, and speaks of
their continued existence in such a
way as to make the impression
that he believed that the Lord
has had in the world, ever since
New Testament times, a people
who have held to the principles
and practice which are to day
held by Baptists. I suppose he
means not only the independence
of the churches,a converted mem
bership, and believer’s baptism,
but baptism by immersion, and
immersion only. I shall not un
dertake to say whether we are to
infer, from the language of Dr.
Boyce, that he believed that it
was possible to trace historically
this continued existence or not
It is certainly true, it seems to
me, that he believed that it ex
isted, and had historians been
fair it might have been traced.
We have heard a great deal
said recently because some of
our brethren have been greitly
disturbed about the past history
of our denomination. They have
been ridiculed for being so fool
ish, and we have had expressions
like this: “What difference does
it make,Baptists are not founded
on history, but they go back to
the New Testament as the foun
dation for what they believe and
teach?” A brother, in the Reli
gious Herald, used pretty hard
names, calling his brethren who
believe in Baptist history, and
who were greatly concerned about
it, “Romanized Baptist?” I
think the article unworthy of
him, and especially is the spirit
manifested toward those who are
not pleased to agree with him to
be condemned. Let us hear Dr.
Boyce on this subject and see if
he was a “Romanized Baptist,”
and if be had no concern about
the history of our people. We
ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, AUGUST 20. 1896.
shall find that he upbraids us for
having too little interest in such
matters. He says: “The Bap
tists in the past have been en
tirely too indifferent to the posi
tion they occupy. They have
depended too much upon the
known strength of their princi
ples, and the ease with which
from Scripture they could defend
them. They have therefore neg
lected many of those means
which extensive learning affords,
and which have been used to great
advantage in the support of other
opinions. It is needless to say,
gentlemen, that we can no longer
consent to occupy this position.
We owe a charge to ourselves—-
as Christians, bound to show an
adequate reason for the differ
ences between us and others; as
men of even moderate scholar
ship, that it may appear that we
have not made the gross errors
in philology and criticism which
we must have made if we be not
right; as the successors of a glo
rious spiritual ancestry,illustrat
ed by heroic martyrdom, by the
profession of noole principles,by
the maintenance of true doctrines;
as the church of Christ which he
has ever preserved as the witness
for his truth by which he has il
lustrated his wonderful ways and
shown that his promises are sure
and steadfast. Nay, we owe it
to Christ himself,whose truth we
hold so distinctly as to separate
us from all others of his believ
ing people; to whom we look
confidently to make these princi
ples triumphant; for whose sake,
on their account, men have ever
been found among us willing to
submit to banishment, imprison
ment and martyrdom; and for
whose sake, in defense of the
same truth, we are willing now
to bear the scorn and reproach,
not of the world only,but even of
those who love our Lord Jesus
Christ.”
I conclude from these extracts
that Dr. Boyce believed that
Baptists are the successors of a
glorious spiritual ancestry, and
that if church historians had
been fair to the Baptists it would
not have been a difficult matter
to trace this ancestry through the
centuries,and I conclude further,
that had historians been fair to
us, possibly Dr. Whitsitt would
never have discovered Baptists
in England who practiced sprink
ling for baptism. t
G. y. Gardner.
Fort Valley, Aug., 1H96.
For the Index.
. Money’s Nigger.
BY REV. H R BERNARD.
Nigger is a genuine English
word. It means a derision—a
depreciation—according to Web
ster. For a man to own a man
has been, and is now, considered
in most localities and by most re
ligious people as a monstrous
proposition. The truth is, we
look with horror on all forms of
the servile. The genius and es
sence of religion is found in the
brotherhood of man—and Father
hood of God. As bad as it may
be considered to have once been
a negro slave, it is infinitely
worse to be money’s nigger.
Many a negro slave in this South
land of ours, notwithstanding his
slavery, had faith in God, lived
and died in that faith and went
home to glory. But can a man
live and die money’s nigger and
go 'anywhere except to hell?
What do Christians say who have
open Bibles and read the Scrip
tures? The men and women who
have done the great and good
things promotive of God’s king
dom, and consequently of every
precious interest, have never been
money’s niggers. God’s people
have always been a free people.
God was Abram’s friend. He
would not destroy the wicked
cities without first conferring
with him about it. He honored
Abram signally on one occasion,
notwithstanding he was to blame,
by allowing him to pray for a
certain king. Abram was not
money’s nigger. When his ser
vants and Lot’s servants disputed
about.the fertile lands, Abram,
being free,went to the mountains,
surrendering all to Lot. One of
money’s niggers would not have
done that. Nehemiah in building
the wall was a freeman, and set
tie people a good example by his
open-handed liberality when oc
casion offered. Notwithstanding
David’s sins he was an illustrious
character. He was a faithful
friend, a magnanimous enemy, a
wise ruler, a courageous soldier,
a skillful general, an affectionate
father, a sweet poet and a divine
musician. David is a good wit
ness for God and religion. He
has done great service, but in
nothing more than in testimony as
to money. David was a freeman.
He was never at any time mon
ey’s nigger. When the issue was
raised he was equal to the occa
sion, and said I will not have a
place or house of worship that
costs nothing—like Abram who
said to the children of Heth, when
they offered the burial place free
of cost, “I will pay you in current
money with the merchants what
it is worth. ’
Our Savior made a whip of
small cords and with it drove a
gang of money's niggers from
the temple. The young man
whom the Savior loved, but who
went away sorrowful, was mon
ey’s nigger. It was to money’s
nigger that God said: “Thou
fool.” Remember, too, that God
killed this man —this nigger. The
man simply acknowledged his
servitude —spoke of the supe
riority of money, that was all.
Oh, the shame! Oh, the ruin!
of this slavery, this bondage to
money. Money is a cruel master;
under his lash we are compelled
to stoop so low! Money teaches
his slaves some speeches —great
pieces of oratory they are. Here
is one: It is the great can't spare
it speech. How thoroughly he
has drilled his subjects on an
other: “Charity begins at home,”
and then another —this is his re
ligious declamation: “He that
provideth not for his own house
hold,” etc. He can lean on that
one. Amidst money’s niggers
there are orators and orators.
And then these niggers are all
more or less given to tricks.
Here is one for illustration : Bro.
Gibson, we will say, appeals to a
nigger that belongs to about
$200,000, and asks for SI,OOO to
put in Mercer’s endowment. Now
just listen to the nigger: “Well,
yes, I want to do something, but
I want the church to act, you
know; and 1 would like for my
gift to go in to stimulate the oth
ers. Just as soon as they are all
ready, I hope to do something.”
Wants to wait until all get
“ready.” Wants everybody to
do his part, and is waiting for
what he hopes and prays may
never come to pass. Another
nigger that does not belong to
quite so much money wants to
wait until that first nigger,whom
the world ignorantly calls rich,
gives as much as he—the second
nigger—thinks is right. Until
then he will do nothing. He
knows the first nigger will never
come up to the standard he has
set for him. He is safe under the
argument until that time, and that
generally makes him safe for all
time. Tricky! Why a circus
mule is an innocent babe com
pared with one of these niggers,
of whom the preachers and the
deacons and society and the
church are all afraid because he
belongs to a few thousand dol
lars. Hard! Slate is pliable by
the side of him. Pour water on
slate, it runs off. Pour a conclu
sive, Scriptural argument on a
nigger, showing that according
to the Bible he ought to give one
tenth of his income to religion,
and it runs off. Can never soak
in. He is a nigger. Money’s
own dear nigger. Some niggers
belong to a great deal of money
—some to less Some are in one
business; some in another. Some
sell whisky; some even preach.
I mean preach around about the
Gospel. Preach the Gospel—
never.
He will preach Christ on the
cross, but he will not quote the
passages of the Sermon on the
Mount that refers to the money
question. He will preach Christ
on Calvary, but notion the other
Mount. He will preach and say
nothing about missions—is afraid
that this would interfere with his
little salary. Look in the glass,
fellow, and see how black you
are. Do you know yourself? Let
me introduce you: Ladies and
gentlemen, brethren and sisters,
this black man is one of money’s
nigger preachers.
Taken all in all, money's nig
ger is a hard case—more nearly
hopeless than any other man,
both as to time and eternity. I
do not know of what use he is.
Perhaps he makes sure the gio
rious doctrine of election. Some
times he is liberated made
white, and by the grace of God
is saved. And yet there are some
things you can’t—God cannot —do
for him here. I speak it reve
rently. Take Jacob. When be
was born I think he was black,
and for some time his color did
not improve. If there ever was
a slave to money Jacob was one.
I think money must have been
very proud of him—he was so
servile, so obedient, so subser
vient. He did a great deal for
money, but money in the end let
him die in a borrowed home—a
dependent. After a long service
in the interest of money he was
forced to say that his days had
been “evil.” God cannot do the
best things here for even a con
verted man who has persisted
for years previous in being mon
ey’s nigger. Service to money is
founded on love of money, and
you know this is the root of all
evil. I will not attempt byway
of detail to give in illustration
the mean things I have seen
money’s niggers do. They re
tard and impede the Gospel.
They are in the way as church
members. Think ot it! What do
we need to-day? We have the
open;Bible—access to all nations
—men and women equipped and
ready to go and “door die.” We
have wise leaders, electrical ap
pliances, the printing press,
cheap means of transportation—
everything—everything—to op
erate the. Gospel, except money.
The niggers have that, and the
most of us, I am sorry to say,are
niggers. Niggers in a hopeless
state humanly speaking. Nig
gers bound to money and “a
feared of the perlice,” too. Mer
cer University stands in the mid
dle of Georgia with more power
for good enveloped in it than any
property we own or any enter
prise -we foster, with a constit
uency of 163,000 —shall I say it’s
white Baptists?
I say white Baptists. Are all
white? Are we all free? Mercer
University is starving, dying,
and has been for three years in
some departments, for want of
that which the money—sloo,oo0—
would supply. There is plenty
of money. No lack of money.
The money after all can be had
Why do we not have it? The
answer is simple: Money that
we once owned “has turned the
tables on us,” and now owns too
many of us. Too many of us are
money’s niggers. When shall we
be delivered? Who will lead us
out of bondage? Must we mis
erably perish? Reader, are you
black or white, a freeman or nig
ger—which?
For the Ineex.
W. L. Kilpatrick.
BY S. BOYKIN.
In common with all Georgia
Baptists, I was greatly shocked
and pained by the sudden death
of Dr. W. L. Kilpatrick. No no
bler Christian spirit, no more ef
fective worker, no truer type and
model of the high-toned, useful
and lovely Christian has graced
the annals of Georgia Baptist
history. It is very doubtful if
the generation now passing
away numbers one who has done
more good in the Baptist cause
in Georgia than he. He stands
forth as the ideal, and the beau
ideal of a true Christian. He was
one of the few left among us
who really bind the present with
those days when “there were
giants in the land,” and great is
the pity that he was not allowed
to complete those reminiscences
that would have been invaluable.
For, with all matters of Georgia
Baptist history, for the last half
century, he has been intimately
associated, and no one has done
more than he to uphold the dig
nity and honor of our denomina
tion. Not only has a great man
in Israel fallen, but, what is bet
ter, a good man—one whose name
will not only shine in Baptist an
nals, but will be enshrined in
many—very many—hearts by
words and deeds of Christian
charity and loving kindness. His
true epitaph will be, “Well done,
good and faithful servant!”
Though many names will shine
bright in Georgia Baptist his
tory, none will shine brighter
than his; and his memory will
give sweet fragrance to his own
day and generation.
Nashville, Tenn.
Journal and Messenger: “If
Baptist church succession from
the time of Christ till now can
not be proved by the word of
God, then no one is under obliga
tion to hold or teach it.” So says
the American Baptist Flag, and
says truly. And, inasmuch as
such succession cannot be proved
by the Word of God, it is just as
true that no one should teach it,
and that he who teaches it is per
verting the truth of God. Let it
be understood that there is a wide
distinction to be made between
“Baptist succession ” and “Bap
tist church succession”. That
there have been Baptists in all
ages—that is, people holding the
essential doctrines of the faith as
Baptists hold them—is a general
ly received view among us; but
that there has been a succession
of organized churches, essential
ly Baptist, each deriving its life
from another Baptist church,and
so tracing its lineage back to
Christ and the apostles, is what
few really intelligent Baptists
believe, and what neiiher the
Word of God requires nor history
ustifies.
The Biblical Recorder: A Bap
tist preacher must be poor. We
make proposition general,
for we do not know even one who
is rich. He must be poor for
more reasons than one, though
were there only one, and that
were Christ’s advice to the young
man who would follow him, that
were sufficient. Christ gave life,
and more than life, that the Gos
pel might be given to men; and
his immediate followers gave,
first, lheirall, and, in the provi
dence of God, were finally re
quired to lay down their lives in
| martyrdom.
VOL. 76-NO. 34
For the Index
Reminiscences of Georgia Baptists
BY S. G. HILLYER, D.D.
In giving these reminiscences,
let me say, once for all, I shall
not limit myself only to such
things as I can personally re
member. I shall feel at liberty
to speak of what I have found in
our records, or have learned
from what I know to be reliable
tradition.
List week I spoke of the
limited advantages of education
which were accessible to the peo
ple of Georgia a hundred years
ago. The want of these ad
vantages our Baptist brethren
suffered in common with their
fellow citizens. But the Baptists,
I told you, in spite of their hum
ble learning, with the Bible as
their only text book, were sound
in the faith. I spoke also of
their earnest fellowship and how
it gave a charm to their social
life.
In the year 1771, Rev. Daniel
Marshall, an ordained Baptist
minister, originally from Con
necticut, came into Georgia and
settled on Kiokee creek, in what
is now Columbia county. He
was not very learned, but he was
a man of excellent sense, of deep
piety, and a good preacher. He
soon gathered the few Baptists
in his neighborhood to his meet
ings, and in the spring of 1772,
he organized them, with some
others whom he had baptized,
into a church, called after the
name of the creek near which the
meeting-house was built, the
Kiokee church. This was the
first Baptist church ever or
ganized in Georgia.
In June, 1771, six months after
Mr. D. Marshall settled near
Kiokee creek, another missionary
entered the State. This was Mr.
Edmond Botsford, who was a
native of England. He came
into Georgia, however, from
South Carolina. He was only a
licensed preacher. As such, he
had traveled and preached quite
acceptably in Carolina, and
among other places, at Euhaw, a
church on the Carolina side of
the river about 25 miles below
Augusta.
On the Georgia side of the Sa
vannah river there was a group
of Baptists who had associated
into a society and had been rec
ognized by the Euhaw church as
a branch. These brethren in
vited the young licentiate to
come over and preach for them.
This he did. The brethren were
so much pleased with him that
they persuaded him to remain
with them for at least a year.
Not long afterwards he was or
dained by the church in Charles
ton and returned to his Georgia
flock fully clothed with the func
tions of a Bap ist minister.
His people built a log house
for their religious services, which
was long known as Botsford’s
meeting-house. A church was
soon organized, certainly not
later than 1773. It is believed
to have been the second Baptist
church organized in Georgia.
Marshall and Botsford knew
each other and worked harmo
niously. They were about forty
five miles apart, one in Colum
bia county and the other in
Burke. But neither limited his
labors to one locality. They
were practically missionaries.
They preached far and wide, es
pecially in middle and upper
Georgia, as far as the white set
tlements extended. In this work
they were aided by a few licensed
preachers.
Now, foot up the account. In
1773,in the colony of Georgia we
find the Baptist denomination
represented by two churches,
two ordained ministers, perhaps
half a dozen licensed preachers,
and less than 200 Baptists in all
the colony.
How stands the account to
day?
Without aiming to be exact, for
I have not the recent statistics
before me, it may be safely as
sumed that the Baptist denomi
nation in Georgia is to day repre
sented by about 1,200 ordained
ministers, by 1,600 organized
churches, and, including the col
ored people, by at least 300,000
communicants. This is nearly
one-fifth the population of the
Gee rgia of 1890.
To what is this amazing growth
to be attributed?
First of all, let us gratefully
acknowledge that it was due to
the spirit of Christ that was
with his people, and, especially,
with his ministering servants.
The Spirit gave to the little band
of ministers, already mentioned,
an earnest faith and a self-sacrific
ing zeal in the Master’s cause. It
has already been noticed that
Marshall and Botsford did not
confine themselves to one locality.
They preached throughout the
country as they could find oppor
tunity to do so. And their suc
cessors followed their example.
We cannot fail to discern among
our early ministers a genuin*