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ESTABLISHED 1821. JFheGhristianlndex fublitnel Every Thursday By BELL &• VAN NEBS Address Christian Index, Atlanta, Ga (rgan of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia. Subscription Prick: One copy, one year SB.OO One copy, six months I.o* About Our Advertisers.—We propose hereafter to very carefully Investigate our advertisers. We shall exercise every care to allow only reliable parties to use our col -amns. Obituaries.—One hundred words free of * eharge. For each extra word, one cent per ■word, cash with copy. To Correspondents—Do not nse abbrevi ations; be extra careful in writing proper names; write with ink, on one side of paper. Do 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 Os label indicates the time your subscription txplres. If you do not wish it continued, or der it stopped a week before. W'e consider tach 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. The Fourih Gospel But if neither biography nor theology, what then? Recall how the evangelist himself de scribes his work —a selection of scenes from his Lord’s life, re counted in order to produce a practical and controlling impres sion on the hearts of his readers. And then consider how the per sonality of the author pervades the whole narrative, not obtru sively, but as the individuality of the virtuoso pervades his ren dering of another’s music, Bee thoven's or Chopin’s. The book is full of details which have no appreciable significance for the life of Jesus nor any appreciable bearing on the argument for his Messiahshipand Saviorhood. We are told that it was the tenth hour when Andrew and another came for the first time into fel lowship with the new Master —a matter of no concern to the evan gelist’s readers of any century, but of momentous interest to those two. He remarks that John the Baptist’s first testimony was delivered at an otherwise un known Bethany beyond Jordan, that his later confession was at Aenon near to Salim, that the pool of Bethany had five porches full of sick folk, that it was Laza rus’ sister Mary who anointed the Lord in Bethay. These and many like details have small sig nificance for a biography, none at all for a Christological argu ment; but they are naturally characteristic of a memory dwell ing lovingly on the experiences of a momentous youth. They give the impression of abundance of resource; the evangelist could have told much more and told it more fully had he wished. Some of the details are clearly for the reader’s benefit, that he may un derstand more fully. Some of them show that the writer has been carried back into the past, and a far-away ness, like the ab sent look in loved eyes when early days come to mind, per vades the words. True, every such touch of unstudied reality serves to bring more vividly be fore the readers the scenes which fill the evangelist’s heart. Biog raphy could have no more price less material, argument no more convincing evidence. But these are not studied data nor con scious argument. They are little marks telling of the vividness of that inner picture from which the evangelist draws for the comfort and admonition of a later day. The author’s personality ap pears also in the comments and explanations which he often in serts in his narratives. Most commonly these seek to help his readers —as when he explains Jewish terms or customs which would be unfamiliar to them, or notes that some of Jesus’ doings and sayings w’ere not understood by his disciples until after the resurrection, or explains some of Jesus’ words by referring to his superhuman knowledge. Now and then, however, after some most exalted word of Jesus, or high testimony to him, the com ments carry us away from the simple record and into the inner chambers of the disciple’s soul, to share his deepest contempla tions. As we pass from Jesus’ heavenly teaching of Nicodemus to those dear words, “For God so loved the world,” we are with drawn from that upper room with its dim lights and eager in quirer, and listen to the medita tions of a soul completely mas tered by the Lord of his youth, and wont to contemplate with love and adoration the meaning of that life and death. Consider further the unconcern with which the evangelist passes over long gaps in his record of Jesus’ life. Between the events of the sixth chapter and the sev enth a whole summer has elapsed. All of the rich ministry in Galilee which is recorded in THE CHRISTIAN INDEX. 9L I • . CRI PTION, Pl. «a.OO. I Ito .ministers. i. 00.1 our other Gospels is omitted here, excepting the single inci dent of the Master’s compassion on the hungry multitude. Yet, as has already been noticed, the structure of the book is most sim ply chronological. Evidently it Ims not occurred to the writer that these gaps and omissions would cause remark. Had he planned a biography he could not have written as he has, unless he himself were ill-informed. But his purpose being to establish a conviction concerning his Master, he seems to have let his thought wander over those blessed years and select such scenes and teach iugs as would best serve him— perchance the scenes and teach ings that had come to have deep est interest for his own heart as year after year he contemplated the days so full of love and awe when he leaned on Jesus’ breast. Possibly his complete omission of most that the other evangel ists have recorded may have been due in part to a wish to supple ment them and show’ how far from complete they are as rec ords, notwithstanding their effec tiveness as portraitures of Je sus. This, however, if it had any influence with him, was plainly secondary. His first purpose was to set before his readers those scenes in his Master’s life which after all the lapse of years most moved him and seemed most suit able to establish the faith of others. There is a like air of retrospect in the descriptive title the evan gelist uses for himself, “the dis ciple whom Jesus loved.” If we could think of it as used with anything of pride or self-congrat ulation, it would at once become utterly odious to us. But as it occurs in the Gospel it suggests rather the disciple’s absorbing recollection of a heavenly inti macy. It is not difficult to con ceive how one admitted to such an intimacy would be so lifted above regard for human fame that the thought of what others would find in his chosen self-de scription would not occur to him. It draws attention to the Master rather than to the disciple. He is absorbed in his devotion to a Lord who gives his life its only worth for himself or for others. Finding a need for a fresh testi mony to his Master's life and mis sion, a need arising from pecu liar conditions of life and thought in what seemed to him the last days, he collected and wrote for the aid of wavering faith some of his personal remin iscences of those great and bless ed years. Such reminiscences reveal quite incidentally the personality of him who offers them. The fact that with a naive of self-ef facement he could name himself as the special intimate of his Lord, and that he could give us just that picture of his Master, so unapproachably glorious and exalted as we have it in his Gos pel, will always constitute his chief distinction. He is the one of the apostles who saw deeply enough into his Lord’s meaning, and thought profoundly enough on his Lord’s nature, to preserve his fullest self-declarations and suggest the loftiest interpretation of him. Interpretation is the proper term, for, passing by the prologue as not characteristic of the evangelist’s thought, he gives no evidence of being naturally of a speculative mind. He loves to dwell on fact, on matters of his own and others’ experience. “He that hath seen hath borne wit ness” is his characteristic decla ration. “We beheld his glory . . . of his fulness we all re ceived,” he writes touching the incarnate Logos. His habit of thought is truly objective; he leans on facts more than on ideas. True, facts are only significant as they relate to spiritual things. The spirit world is to him the only ultimate reality. His assur ance concerning it, however, is not an intuition, but an experi ence; as he puts it elsewhere, “that which we have seen with our eyes . . . and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life . . . declare we unto you.” To him —as to Paul—the unseen things had objective real ity, and could overmaster the mind and absorb the heart. For him that unseen world had had one clear manifestation —“the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness, and declare unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.” He is a man mightily controlled by an influence from without himself. He thinks with that influence ever in mind. Life and death for him consist simply in the soul’s relation to his Master. His heart’s home is in that Master’s bosom still. His deepest longing is that men may know and trust his Lord and find their deathless life in him. —Rhees, in The Bible as Literature. ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 26. 1896. The Extensive Power of the King dom of Heaven. Matt. 13:31 A sermon preached at the Baptist church, Hawkinsville, Ga., Sunday, November 15, 1896. BY REV. R VAN DEVENTER. “The tree is the product and measure of the roots.” “The world tree,” a Norse myth, had boughs reaching beyond the stars and roots that reached down in the death kingdom. This sug gests a truth relative to the kingdom of heaven as presented to us in the parables of the “mus tard seed and leaven"—giving the extensive and intensive power of that kingdom. 1. The unpretentious beginning. Had not the prophets of Israel and poets told the Jew that the kingdom would surpass for gran dear anything the world had seen? Their misconception of poets and prophets’ words caused them to look for a temporal king dom. No doubt they had in mind the great empires that had sway ed scepters for a season and had gone down to give place to an other of more regal splendor. The Assyrian had given way to the Babylonian, the Babylonian to Persian, the Persian to Roman. They knew of the kings as they went to conquest robed in purple vesture striped with silver ami over it a garment glittering with gold and gems. Around their waists a golden girdle, from which hung the sword with scab bard aflame with jewels. On their heads were tiaras of rarest gems. Around these monarchs would be gathered 1(1,00(1 pikemen with their pikes tipped with gold and silver, followed by infantry, cam els and archers to the number of (>OO.OOO. When the Jews remem bered these things and were cher ishing the prophetic utterances of priest and prophet, and were put ting a materialistic interpreta tion upon these prophecies, we are not surprised that they should have been surprised when their king was born in a manger. He announced himself as Messiah at the head of a few humble Gali leans as obscure as himself. They looked for a reign of ma terial prosperity when the har vest would be plentiful and presses would burst and barns would be filled to overflowing. When poverty would flee away and the social life of the nation would be ideal. Instead of this the king came with a new teach ing, telling them to seek first righteousness and other things would be added. There is in our day a tendency in the same direction. The hu manitarian, the Christian social ist say Give us a reign of plenty, fill the barns and presses, and the ills that now beset us will be gone. In the midst of it Jesus says, My kingdom is not meat and drink; but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Though but a mustard seed, in it was the possibility of a tree so large that comfort, home and protection might be found in the branches. The kingdom of heav en, not the church, the reign of grace might have such a modest beginning, but in it was life to produce the Christian civiliza tion which blesses our world, the Christian institutions and churches that are helping God to bring back a wandering world to himself and the grandest mission work that the world has ever seen. 2. The kingdom of heaven is a growth. David sung of the vine that filled the land. Psalm 80:9. Daniel told of the stone that filled the earth. Daniel 2:34. We should remember that, the kingdom being a growth, will re quire time to reach maturity, when it shall give place to further plans that are divine. Because it is a growth it is slow. The Bible we love so much is a growth. Four thousand years must pass after Adam before the “seed of the woman” would bruise the serpent’s head. The Gospel of John could not have been written till John had learn ed about the divine nature of Je sus. Even our Savior grew in knowledge and grace. The time came when his mission was un folded, when the cross stood be fore him and he knew for what purpose he came to earth. The Christian grows in his life. To him Jesus is the larger Christ. When the disciples left the sea to follow him they knew but lit tle about him. As they saw his miracles in Canaan, hispowerover devils, sickness and death, they were impressed with his power more and more, but when they were on the Mount of Transfig uration they gained a conception they seemed not to have had be fore which Peter expressed in the w’ords, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Even af ter that he did not fill so large a place in the minds of some. As- ‘ter his death and resurrection he enabled Thomas to see him, not “Jesus of Nazareth,” not the “man of Galilee,” not the great Teacher and wonder worker, but "My Lord and my God.” As God’s children grow in grace, Je sus becomes to them more than Savior, even King and Master. Religion is more than a “life in surance” against the ruin of time and wrath of judgment; it is a blessed life. Salvation becomes something more than a "fire es cape,” but a present power to make this life a sacrifice well pleasing to God. The kingdom of heaven grows into an organism. The Assyrian, Persian, Baby lonian empires were held togeth er by a king. When he died or was put aside the empire crum bled —fell away. The Roman em pire was held together by the peo ple, every Roman being a part of the nation. It is thus with the kingdom of heaven —Christ the head, every child of God, every brother of Christ a member of the body. While nobody would die for Alexander or Charle magne's kingdom, because the in dividual was lost sight of, there are and have been millions who would die for Christ's kingdom, because the individual was a part of it recognized. 3. The kingdom of heaven in its extension is for service. In the mustard tree the birds find a home —protection and comfort. The kingdom is for man. Paul understood it thus when he said all things are yours. This world —the literature, art, science, wealth —all for man, and Christ is for man. The kingdom of heaven has come to us to fit us for him who shall come to his kingdom. This reign has come to us that we may reign with him who shall reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. The very life of this reign of grace—Jesus is ours— for man. I had the sin; he bore the penalty that I might go free. He took the shame and gave me the glory; he took the thorns and cross, and gave ine the crown of life; he took the humiliation and death and gave me the life. In this “reign of grace” we may look for, we may expect, blessing. The banner of peace is given to the breeze. In the life of na tions it flaunts the viifltue of Lib erty, the deserts wild blossom as the rose, and the earth will be filled with (ruth. F. r the Index. Reminiscences of Georgia Baptists. BY S. G. HILLYER No. 16 JOHN B WALKER. In the year 1784 or 1785, not long after Cornwallis had deliv ered his sword to Washington, there was a group of emigrants at Yorktown. Among them were the families of Edmond Byne and Robert Carlton. In the har bor lay the brig Nancy, about to sail for Savannah, Ga. Aboard that ship the emigrants, with their children, servants and household goods, took passage for their new homes in Georgia. Mr. Byne’s family included his wife and his children, among whom were two daughters. Mr. Carlton’s family also included his wife and several children, among whom were, at least, three daugh ters. The heads of these families were already members of Baptist churches and were people of sin cere and earnest piety. When all things were ready the ship weighed anchor and passed down the Chesapeake and out upon the bosom of the broad Atlantic. The wind was favorable, and the day was prom ising. The passengers were full of hope, expecting to reach Sa vannah in three days. But hardly twenty-four hours had passed before the weather changed. In a little while a dreadful storm struck the ship. It dared not hug the shore, for fear of the breakers along the Carolina coast. Its only safety was the open sea. Thus it was carried far away from its proper course. For days and weeks the storm, with only partial inter vals, continued to rage. I never saw a storm at sea; therefore, I cannot describe it. My grand mother, the youngest daughter of Mr. Carlton—a young lady of about eighteen summers, was an eye-witness of all the horrors that threatened, for weeks, the safety of the ship and the lives of the passengers. From her lips I heard (he fearful story. One night it seemed as if the time of the end had come. The passen gers were lying in their berths enduring as well as they could the perils of the hour, when sud denly the ship careened so much that it seemed to be falling on its side. It was then the voice of one of those pious men was heard, amidst the howling winds, saying: “Lord, help us up,” and straightway the ship was set up right, and that danger was pass ed. Was this coincidence, be tween the earnest prayer to God and the relief which followed, due to the action only of unknown “second causes”? Subsequent events proved that God had use for, at least, some of those passengers and there fore preserved them. I can not linger longer upon this memorable voyage. Suffice it to say, that the brig Nancy, after five full weeks of storm and peril, dropped her anchor in the river in front of the city of Sa vannah. After a short delay in Savan nah, Mr. Byne and Mr. Carlton, with their families, proceeded up the country to their destined homes. Mr. Byne settled in Burke county, where, after a time, he was ordained to the Bap tist ministry, and Mr. Carlton settled in Wilkes, near Broad river. In these preliminary para graphs I have made special men tion of Mr. Byne ami Mr. Carlton, because (a) they were both Bap tists; (b) they were from the same county, King and Queen, in Vir ginia; (c) their families were inti mately associated in their fearful voyage to Savannah, and, finally, because both families have left descendants in Georgia, many of whom were Baptists. One of the daughters of Mr. Byne married Mr. —. —. Walker. I am sorry that I cannot give the first name of either of the par ties. They made their home in Morgan county, where they raised a family of three sons and two daughters. One of the sons was JOHN BYNE WALKER. With his early years I was not acquainted. lie was a married man and a member of the church when I first knew him. He was a large planter and lived, for a time, on his estate in the country, but after awhile he built an ele gant house for his family in the suburbs of Madison, that they might enjoy better social and re ligious privileges than they could find in the country. In that elegant home he and his noble wife dispensed a grace ful and a wide hospitality. They also transferred their church membership from Indian Creek to the church in Madison, with which their subsequent lives were identified. In his new home brother Walker was surrounded with all that was needful to in sure him and his family a large degree of domestic happiness. But it was in brother Walker's religious life that I knew him best. I was for two years his pastor. I had known him, to some extent, before; but as his pastor I knew him in his home and in the church. As a church member he was punctual and faithful to meet all that was re quired of him. I really cannot recall one single time that he failed to be present at a public service of the church except when he was absent from home. He was not used to speaking in public, yet in conference he would speak on any matter of business with great clearness and with sound judgment. Hence he was listened to as a safe adviser; and in prayer-meeting he would, when called on, lead in prayer. And he was liberal in giving to all the charities of the church. True, brother Walker was a rich man, and some may say that he could afford to be liberal. Very true; but how many thousands are there who can afford to give, some more and some less, who never give a cent? When Dr. Mallary was collecting the first endowment for Mercer Univer sity (I think that was the time), brother Walker gave his note bearing interest at 8 per cent, for fifteen hundred dollars. And he paid that note. Brother Walker loved his brethren. Hence he was often present at our religious convoca tions. I remember once, at a meeting of the Central Associa tion, the colporter was making his report. The incidents he told were intensely interesting. He told of meeting one old man who was so blind that he could not read a common Bible. He need ed one of large type, but the cost of such a one in those days was very high—far beyond the poor man’s means. The colporter had none to give him. He told this story with a pathos that went to every heart. Brother Walker met the case practically; he told the colporter to get just such a Bible as the old man needed and he would “foot the bill.” Such a man was John B. Walker. A faithful Christian and an earnest Baptist. But the closing years of his life were sad. Three of his children died soon after they were grown. Then his wife was taken away also, and his other children were separated from him. In the meantime, as an effect of the war, he was reduced to poverty. He left his elegant home and lived almost alone in an humble cottage only a few miles from his former residence. He was then very old, but his faith in God was never shaken. A friend, who knew him in his prosperity, when with him not long before he died, alluded sym pathetically to his heavy losses. "Yes,” said this aged saint, “I have lost all, except what I have given away.” What he had given away he had given to the Lord. That, he knew, was still to his credit. One might preach a ser mon upon his words? “I have lost all, except what I have given away.” In conclusion, let me add a few more words about the Byne and Carlton families. Mr. Byne’s other daughter, Anne, married Mr. Harris, of Baldwin county. They had one son and t wo daugh ters. Their son was Hon. Iver son L. Harris, who sat for a time as one of the judges of our Su preme Court. A daughter of Mrs. Harris married Mr. Hansell. He was the father of General Andrew Hansell, who was the fa ther of Captain William A. Han sell, of Atlanta, and his daugh ter, Leia, is now the wife of my son. L. P. Hillyer, of Macon. Mr. Carlton’s eldest daughter became Rebecca Matthews. She was the mother of two Baptist preachers —Philip and James Matthews, Jr. His youngest daughter mar ried John Freeman, a soldier of the Revolution. She had one daughter, who married Shaler Hillyer, who was the father of Rev. J. F. Hillyer, Hon. Junius Hillyer and myself. One of my sons, Rev. J. L. D. Hillyer, is a preacher. So the Carlton family sent out five Bap tist preachers for Georgia. Finally, I have in Macon a little grandson, Hansell Towers Hi li ver, who, on his father's side, is a lineal descendant of Robert Carlton, and, on his mother’s side, is a lineal descendant of Edmond Byne. Thus these two families, a hundred years after the voyage of the brig Nancy, be came connected by marriage. 5G3 S. Pryor St., Atlanta. For the Index. The Unrecognized Diamond. BY KEV. J. H. GAMBRELL. It is related that a man bought a piece of land. He was very poor. A neighbor told him that there was buried in an Indian mound, on his land, a diamond of great value. He rejoiced and determined to find it without de lay. He set to work digging for the treasure. A passer-by asked what he was digging for, and was told a diamond. How long have you been digging? was asked. Ten days, was answered. And have not found the diamond yet, was rejoined. No, said the digger, but I have found the prettiest rock you ever saw. He took from his pocket the pretty rock and was told that was the very thing he was seeking, when he remarked, Bless my life. I found that the first day I dug, and did not know what it was. This story ilb’strates a great fact. This: people often are richer than they think they are. They have riches in their posses sion of unrecognized power and usefulness. It seems to, at least one man, that this story illus trates the status of affairs as be tween Georgia Baptists and their diamond-Mercc-University. Geor gia Baptists have this diamond of priceless value, but do not recognize its worth. Their fathers, now in heaven, delved and dug for it, and, with their final farewells, bequeathed it to those who live to-day, yet its transcendant possibilities for good are unrecognized by the in heritors. Georgia Baptists do not love Mercer University like their fathers did, because they do not appreciate the power locked up in it like the fathers did. If Mercer University nestled in the hearts of Baptists of to-day as it did in the hearts of those gone before there would be no care-worn expression on the faces of Bro. Bernard and his immediate co-laborers about the outcome of the effort to raise that imperatively demanded SIOO,OOO additional endowment. If any Baptist thinks Mercer is not equal to other institutions and therefore sends his boys else where to be eq- ipped for life’s struggle, may it not be that he would think better of Mercer if he had done more for it? Be sides this, is it not easy to see that he is divorcing the interest of his children from his own ed ucational plant, and that in turn the interest of their children will be divorced from it to the latest generation? There will be ex- VOL. 76-NO. 48 ceptions, of course, but the rule will be against: his own denomi national enterprise. This is said, not against other institutions, but in favor of Mercer Univer sity. There is a rapidly growing con viction that the State cannot furnish the highest and most de sirable character of education for the reason that the State cannot cultivate and develop the spirit ual nature. Surface facts, that are born of deeply underlying principles, tell the observer of the trend of events, in clarion notes, that in the oncoming years higher education will be almost exclusively under denominational and individual control. Institu tions not under the prohibitions that applies to State institutions alone can play upon, develop and polish the dual nature of the stu dent. This they will do accord ing to the ability their equip ments furnish, and their equip ments will be according to their available resources. It follows logically that the institution with the best re sources and equipments will do the best work in producing sy metrical man and womanhood at the least cost. It is also true that sensible people will pat ronize the institutions that give them the best returns, and for the least money. The denomination or individual in Georgia that furnishes the best educational plant for making polished Chris tian men and women out of the abounding material at the small est cost is going to set the pace for and lead all others of every sort. Would that Georgia Bap tists realized this fact! If Georgia Baptists permit any other denomination to furnish better education:.! facilities than they do, it is absolutely certain that that denomination will lead and have greater pow’er in the State than the Baptists. The de nominational institution that has the best endowment and equip ment in Georgia is going to lead in the religious thought and con viction of the State. Such an institution will do better and cheaper work, and will have more students than institutions that have to struggle, year by year, for existence. To at least one mind, it is a perfectly clear proposition that Georgia Baptists must either give Mercer University an ample en dowment or surrender the leader ship of the educational and re ligious thought of the State for all time. Let this fact throb in the very bones of Georgia Bap tists: if we lead the educational and religious thought of our State, we must pay the price of leadership. We must know the cost of leadership, and like those worthy to be intrusted with it, hasten to pay it, before others win the prize. Year by year our Methodist brethren are making payments on the price of leader ship in this State by increasing the endowment and facilities of their splendid educational plant at Oxford. This means that they are after doing the best educa tional work done in Georgia, which will give them leadership in the State. Baptists are mak ing large contributions toward securing leadership for our Meth odist brethren by Going nothing for Mercer University. Baptists need not give any money to Em ory College, but simply withhold from Mercer University what it needs, and Methodist thought and conviction will dominate Georgia in a few years. This will be true because every student is a live ally of the institution that equips him for his life work. He is not only an advertisement, but an active agent. There are and will be exceptions to this rule, of course, but the rule holds good. The very day that Georgia Bap tists, by withholding the money that it needs, agree that Mercer University shall be second to any denominational or State institu tion, is the day that Baptists sur render leadership and become fixed in the public mind as sec ond in importance in educational and religious matters. Jesse Mercer, Billington Sanders, Thos. Stocks, the Crawfords, the Brant leys, the Sanfords and a host of other Baptists who sleep, never intended such a thing should come to pass. Shall we, who have entered into their labors, bring it to pass by withholding our money from Mercer Univer sity? This article isn’t elegant in construction or diction. It is not intended to delight, but to stir. It may “stir up a hornet’s nest.” I hope for such a result, and every hornet may sting the writer if only it will pass on to Mercer University with a Scriptural con tribution for its endowment. Mer cer must be amply endowed and thoroughly equipped. Greensboro, Ga.