Newspaper Page Text
ESTABLISHED 1821.
WChristianlndex
eubinnel Every Thursday
By BELL A VAN NEBB
Address Christian Ikdii, Atlants, Ga
Organ of the Baptist Denomination in
Georgia.
subscription Prior:
One copy, one year 0.00
One copy, six months i.o*
ABOUT OUR Advbrtisbks.— We propose
hereafter to very carefully Investigate our
aArerttsers. We shall exerclseeverycareto
Allow only reliable parties to use our ool
rbuii.
Obituabibb.— One hundred words free of
■Barre. For each extra word, one cent per
word, cash with copy.
To Oor>rbspondbnts— Do not use 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.
Bubinhsb.— 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 your subscription
expires. If you do not wish It continued, or
4er it stopped a week before. We consider
each subscriber permanent until he orders
his paper discontinued. When you order it
stooped pav up to date.
Bbmittanobb by registered letter, money
order, postal note
CtristOne and Manysided
Life presents the same features
to the toiling myriads of England
as to the dwellers amid the vine
yards and pasture lands of Ju
dah, to whom Isaiah wrote when
he compared it to the experiences
of a caravan passing across a
sandy waste. Sometimes it is
the sirocco blast of temptation,
burning hot; the air is laden with
particles of grit that sting and ir
ritate, and find their way through
closed doors; thus all day long
the devil vexes us. Sometimes
the tempest of trouble rises high;
the cavillings and misjudgments
of men, difficulties in daily busi
ness, the overwhelming competi
tion and strife of our time, com
bine to till our lives with storm.
Now we happen on a dry place,
from which human love seems to
have retreated, so that no green
thing breaks the monotony of our
pilgrimage, no child’s embrace,
no tender caress, no tone or touch
of love. And, again, we are tra
versing a weary land; we are
tired, tired of the inward strife,
of the daily cross, of the perpet
ual demand on our sympathy
and self-control, longing for the
evening bell, and the passage
across the harbor-bar from the
restless sea to the tranquil wa
ters of the haven.
We nrnst not. take the pessi
mist’s view of life. In every year
there are more hours of sun than
of rain, in all lives there are more
joys than sorrows. For all grief
there is an anodyne; for all loss
there is compensation. Nature
is always beautiful. Troops of
fresh young lives are ever pour
ing into our world, with their
merry laughter and their gay
frolic. The very work of life
brings zest and interest; and hope
is ever painting its bright fres
coes on the dark cloud that hides
the future. And yet it is undeni
able that there are many sad as
pects to life which press them
selves upon our notice, and some
times cause heart and flesh to
fail.
Men naturally resort to the
readiest methods of averting the
pressure of anxiety and pain.
The natural man is always look
ing out for his hiding place, the
niche in the rock which may
serve as one. He resorts to a
temporary expedient which
serves him in pressing difficulty;
but shortly after he is seeking for
a covert against a tornado, which
all suddenly has broken upon
him. After a while he is sensible
of consuming thirst, and searches
in another direction for water.
And again worn by fatigue he
looks around for a great rock,
casting a sharply-defined shadow
on the burning sand, in whose
blue depths he may find shelter.
Thus man is always seeking help
in different quarters to carry him
through the pressing anxieties
and difficulties of his life.
The children of this world hide
themselves under the golden can
opy of money, which wards off
many of the grosser forms of
evil, but cannot satisfy the crav
ing of the heart for love and
sympathy and rest. They yield
themselves to systems of philoso
phy that brace men to suffer with
stoical fortitude and indiffer
ence, as when the weak and bone
less animal makes for itself the
hard shell or case that shelters it
from collision and shock. Or they
take refuge in some passionate
human attachment, seeking in
man or woman the covert, the
water-spring, and the shadow of
a great rock; a hope which is
doomed to disappointment, be
cause none is all-sided enough to
supply another’s need in the num
berless necessities of human ex
perience. These are broken cis
terns, clouds without rain, the
mirage without the fountain, the
grate without fire.
In all true life there is educa
tion and growth. We pass up
ward from things to human sym
pathy, and seek in men and wo-
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX.
I • ÜBSCM. PTION, PbrTras.— *2.00. I
ITO MINISTERS. 1.00. I
men the comforter we originally
sought in wealth, or travel, or
book. Then we pass from the
outward to the inward, from the
finite to the infinite, from the
time sphere to the eternal. We
start back appalled at the insuf
ficiency of the tenderest human
love to meet the exhaustless
hunger of our souls, and long for
the divine in human form, pre
sented to us in the man. Finally
there comes a great unity into
our life, and having found the
Man in whom all the fulness of
the Godhead dwells, having real
ized something of what he can be
to the soul that he made and re
deemed. we return again to men
and things, and find in them a
beauty and fitness which we had
never realized before. Nature
wears a lovelier dress, because
the Man whom we love arrayed
her, and her hues and scents are
borrowed from his thought.
Children are lovelier, because
they reflect traits of his charac
ter. All true thoughts are
more satisfying because we
detect in them the intonations
of his voice. Earthly friendships
are transfigured, because as we
lift them to our lips they brim
with water from the fountain of
his love; and the commonest inci
dents of life are invested with un
wonted meaning, because all
things are of him, and through
him, and to him forever.
For the Christian, only one Be
ing is needful. There is a bless
ed unity in his life. He desires
only the Man of whom Isaiah
spoke, the Man that trod the soil
of Palestine, that died upon the
cross, that lives in the glory, the
Man Christ Jesus. Jesus is the
one answer to every question, the
one satisfaction of every desire.
To the apostles the Master was
all in all. In him they found
strength for spiritual conflict,
defense from their foes, tender
ness amid rebuke and reproach,
rest in weariness; and Jesus
Christ is willing to be as much
and more to all who believe on
him through their word. Dur
ing his earthly life, he was the
one answer to all the aches and
ills of human bodies. Blindness,
paralysis, demon possession,
found their antidote in his pres
ence, his name, his touch. And
he is still all-sufficient to meet
each demand now of the spiritual,
as then of the physical life.
There is something more.. The
soul that abides in Christ ex
tracts blessings from the repeat
ed discipline which reveals the
many-sidedness of Christ. It
greets sirocco and tornado; it
welcomes drought and weariness;
it rejoices in tribulation; because
out of all these things it is ac
quiring an experience of qualities
and attributes which otherwise
had slumbered in Christ un
known. Human need has always
been the background for the rev
elation of God’s nature, as the ail
ments of a child reveal the tender
patience of the mother, and as
the virulence of disease the re
source of doctor or nurse. You
asked to know' him, then be not
surprised if you are placed on
steep standpoints of vision
whence unexpected glimpses of
his nature may be obtained.
Not unfrequent ly men teach us
what the Man can be. They are
but broken lights of him. Splint
ers from the crystal, drops from
the fountain. One setting forth
this trait, and another that of his
character, but none of them able
to combine more than one, or at
the most tw’o, of those character
istics which the prophet attrib
utes to the Man whose praises he
recites. They are coverts, but
not hiding-places; or hiding
places, but not rivers; or rivers,
but not shadowing rocks. Take the
best of the best of men; gather
into one all the chivalry, bravery,
tenderness, loveliness, which
have dwelt in the fairest of our
race; and all together will not
suffice to depict the comprehen
siveness, and glory, and sufficien
cy of the Son of Man.
It should be our ambition so to
live that men may catch glimpses
of Christ in us, so that they may
say, If this man or this woman is
so strong and sweet, so true and
tender, w hat must not he be in
whom their virtues dwell as their
home? And for ourselves, such
may be our fellowship with
Christ, that w r e shall be less sen
sitive to the transitions and
trials of our mortal life. There
shall be no more sirocco, or wa
terless waste, or unbearable heat,
because in having him, we shall
be shielded in him. These great
modern cities will become in our
eyes as fair as lands of perennial
spring; and sad, homeless, deso
late hearts become more sensible
of their possessions than of their
losses, of the One Presence than
of the absence of any. “Our sun
shall no more go down, neither
shall our moon withdraw itself,
for the Lord shall be to us an
everlasting light, and the days
of our mourning shall be ended.”
—The Glorious Lord—Meyer.
ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY. DECEMBER 3, 1896.
For the Jxmx,
Reminiscences of Georgia Baptists.
BY S. G. HILLYER.
No. 17.
TRAIL. CREEK CHURCH.
Hitherto I have written, most
ly, of persons. It may relieve
the monotony of these reminis
cences to present, now' and then,
a story of some particular
church.
1 will, therefore, devote this
paper to some recollections of
Trail Creek church.
Trail Creek meeting-house
stood in a grove of oaks on the
roadside, two miles east of
Athens, which was built on the
west side of the Oconee river.
Exactly when the church was
organized Ido not know. I first
became acquainted with it in
1822, when I was about thirteen
years old.
ITS MEMBERSHIP.
The membership of Trail Creek
church was composed, chiefly, of
plain people who lived round
about it in the country upon
their farms. A few others may
have been engaged in various
mechanical trades. These two
classes, including, of course, such
members of their families, both
males and females, as had pro
fessed conversion, constituted
the main body of the church.
These were all plain people.
Their education was limited to
such as they had obtained in the
“old field schools” of that day. In
addition, however, to these, there
were a few lady members from
the town of Athens. At that
time there was no Baptist church
in Athens. Hence the ladies re
ferred to, being true to their
Baptist faith, identified them
selves with their brethren and
sisters in the country church that
was nearest to them.
Another element of the mem
bership of Trail Creek church
was made up of colored people
from the neighboring planta
tions and possibly some from the
town of Athens. Let it never be
forgotten that the Christian peo
ple of the South were not then,
and are not now, unmindful of
the spiritual wants of the colored
people. In “ante-bellum times”
nearly all our churches included
a full proportion of colored mem
bers. Provision was made for
their accommodation in our meet
ing-housed On baptismal
sions, it was perfectly in oruer
for white and colored candidates
to meet at the same water, and
be baptized by the same pastor.
In the house of God, they listened
to the same sermon, and when
the time for the memorial sup
per came they partook together
of the sacnsd elements. In all
this, Trail Creek was no excep
tion to the general rule. We
would have these facts remem
bered by our descendants as an
offset to the severe denunciations
which have been poured out upon
Southern Christians on account
of their connection with slavery.
its preachers.
The preachers who served the
Trail Creek church were, with
only one or two exceptions in la
ter times, plain men with but lit
tle education. The first one I re
member was Mr. Goss. I think
his first name was Isham. He
was the pastor, if I remember cor
rectly, in 1822. He was then an
old man. Some of his sons fol
lowed in his footsteps and be
came Baptist preachers. An
other pastor, whom I knew much
better than I did Mr. Goss, was
Bev. Jack Lumpkin. He was a
brother of Chief Justice Joseph
H. Lumpkin and Governor
Wilson Lumpkin. His education,
like most of our Georgia preach
ers of that day, was very limited.
But he was a man of good practi
cal sense, and of deep piety and
earnest zeal.
These preachers had never
heard of the “higher criticism.”
They knew nothing of church his
tory. But they knew Christ and
him crucified, and were well ac
quainted with all the steps of the
Christian’s experience. These
themes they could unfold to their
hearers in such terms as at once
to allure the ungodly, and to
comfort the saint in all his per
plexities and doubts. Then in
their social relations there was a
beautiful serenity and at the
same time a seriousness of man
ner that spoke of Jesus and his
love to every beholder.
I remembfer, on one occasion,
Mr. Lumpkin came to spend the
night at our house. My mother
and grandmother were glad to
see him. He was their pastor.
After supper, the evening was
spent in religious conversation,
and closed with family worship.
Next morning, it happened that
I was sitting with Mr. Lumpkin
by the fire. Presently he leaned
toward me, and, placing his hand
upon my knee, he tenderly ex
horted me to seek the Savior. I
cannot recall his words; but,
though they produced no practi-
cal effect at the time, yet seventy
years have not effaced from my
memory that gentle touch, that
earnest face ami that kind,
though brief appeal. And in years
long afterwards I have thought
how well it would be if our pas
tors would, in like manner, watch
for opportunities to allure the
young to Christ. It was that
good brother, Jack Lumpkin, who
baptized, in 182fi. my brother.
Judge Junius Hillyer. There
were other pastors, but 1 have not
space to mention them.
A CASE OF DISCIPLINE.
In Trail Creek church was an
old man, whom I will call Bro.
A. He was not smart or gifted,
though he sometimes tried to
preach; but his brethren loved
him for his blameless life ami his
earnest piety. He'lived by cul
tivating a small farm, which
yielded barely enough to support
his family in a very humble way.
In a neighboring church about
ten miles distant was another old
man, whom 1 will call brother B.
With him I had no personal ac
quaintance; but I suppose he,
too, was in good standing with
his church.
It came to pass' that brother
B. son married brother A.’s
daughter. The young people
lived in a cottage to themselves,
depending for a support on the
products of a small farm. They
had not thus lived very long be
fore the husband lost, in the early
spring, his only plow nag; and
he had not money t* buy another.
Without a horse it was impossi
ble to make a crop.
In this crisis brother A. gave
to his daughter a pony, with
which the husband might save
his crop. This relieved the sit
uation for the present. But not
longer, perhaps, than a few
months later, the busband him
self died, and left his wife a
w idow'. To add to her affliction,
her husband’s creditors, by due
process of law, under the statute
that was in force in those days,
levied upon the pony and had
him sold at auction. Then Bro.
8., the father-in-law, at the sale,
bought the pony and gave it back
to the widow of his son.
Now, strange as it may seem,
this matter led to a falling out
between those two old men. Bro.
A. had said to vaidons persons
that heJmd to his
■ , •
"ho
and upon this A.
was charged with falsehood.
This charge became known to
the Trail Creek church, and they
took brother A. under dealing.
When the trial came on, brother
B. and his daughter-in-law were
both on hand. Brother A. was
deeply affected. When called on
all he was able Io say was that
he did give the pony to his
daughter, and he should stand to
it. At length the young widow
was called on to state who gave
her the pony. She replied that
her father-in-law had given it to
her. This testimony seemed de
cisive. And poor old brother A.
was convicted of lying by the tes
timony of his own daughter.
Whereupon he was excluded.
But the female members, al
most unanimously, were shocked
and grieved by the action of the
church. The intelligent sisters,
who were from Athens, were es
pecially grieved; because they
saw how easily all the facts could
be exjdained so as to show that
Bro. A.’s assertion was true, as
he understood it, while at the
same time, it was true that Bro.
B. had also, on another occasion,
given the same pony to his
daughter-in-law. But there was
not a male member present who
could make the explanation—
that is, no one saw the way out of
the difficulty. Brother A. him
self, perhaps because he was so
overcome by his feelings, could
not defend himself.
But those Athens sisters would
not give \up the matter. In a few
days they took counsel together,
and resolved that at the next con
ference they would ask permis
sion to express their views of the
case.
They then selected Mrs. Frank
lin—one of their number —to be
their spokesman. Accordingly
at the next conference, when the
place for miscellaneous business
was reached, Mrs. Franklin arose
and, having obtained permission,
addressed the church. I was not
present, and will not try to report
her speech.
But its effect upon the church
was decisive. She made it plain
that, if the father-in-law did, af
ter the sale, give back the pony
to his daughter-in-law, brother
A., on a previous occasion, had
given the same pony to his daugh
ter, and, therefore, he was not
guilty of falsehood.
The brethren saw their mis
take, and in a few minutes Bro.
A. was unanimously restored to
fellowship, to the great joy of
the church.
Now, who were these sisters
that were thus instrumental in
vindicating an injured brother
and in restoring the harmony of
the church? They were of that
little group, already referred to,
who lived in Athens. One of that
group was Mrs. Franklin, the
mother of Mrs. Governor McDon
ald, of this State. Another was
Mrs. Cobb, the mother of Gen
erals Howell and T. 11. 11. Cobb.
Two others were my own mother
and grandmother. Then there
was Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Mil
ledge, the mother of the late
Colonel John Milledge, though I
am not sure that she was on hand
at the time of our story. If not,
she joined the group only a little
later.
Was it not a good work that
the sisters accomplished? And
does it not prove that the female
membership of our churches can
occasionally rise above the con
ventionalities that so embarrass
them even in church affairs, and
thus prove themselves a blessing
to churches and society.
563 S. Pryor St.
For the Indbx.
Education.
BY REV. JO. SOLOMON.
“Education,” Webster says,
“means the bringing up, as of a
little child, instruction; forma
tion of manners. Education com
prehends all that series of in
struction and discipline which is
intended to enlighten the under
standing, correct the temper and
form the manners and habits of
youth, and fit them for useful
ness in their future stations.”
One cannot be educated if in
struction be not given. Some
agency or power or principle or
being must appeal to the senses
and take hold of one’s mental
faculties, though crude and un
promising they may be, and lead
them out into larger and more
wholesome proportions. There
must be some outside principles
or forces to act upon the brain
and soul life.
The man must have some sort
of environments —some outside
help. Let it be never so meager,
yet its existence is one of the
large predetermining elements
of educational success. These
helps may be books, magazines,
or the common newspaper of the
day.
thousand avenues
find entrance
into Timhuman Ynind. If a man
will only open his eyes and ob
serve the myriad events that are
passing and listen that he might
catch up nature’s harmonious
sounds: the maiden’s melliflu
ous notes, the soft warblings of
birds, the rustlings of leaves, the
sad low' moan of the sea. All
these are educators —graceful
and gracious masters.
But all these beneficent teach
ers, with all of life’s throbbing
interests, with this world’s
mightiest impulses, cannot im
press, cannot educate a fool.
There must be a brain and a heart
in a man before you can impress
him with anything. The X rays
may play an important part in
the coming years in determining
the mental fitness of our young
men and women for college life.
If there is nothing in a man you
can get nothing out of him.
But we have all heard of the
educated fool. He is a danger
ous character. The trouble with
him is he knows so many things
that are not so. His knowledge
tends to destruction. Again all
the mighty educational forces,
which God has crowded into this
world’s wondrous theater, cannot
lead out the innate drone nor lift
up the consummate laggard.
There must be something within
on which to operate. There must
be a live, hearty, responsive na
ture. The soul within must re
spond to the forces without. All
the masters of earth will be un
able to lead out the dull spirit
that hates learning. You cannot
teach the unteachable. One
must be willing to be taught. He
must desire knowledge if instruc
tion would be had.
“ Learning by study must be won;
’Twas ne’er entailed from son to son.
However, if taken at a tender
age, before a wilful and outrage
ous opposition has obtained, the
remedy of the old-fashioned ped
agogue, as expressed by Byron,
might prove a means of grace:
Oh ye, who teach (the Ingen ous youth of
nations
Holland. France, England, Germany, or
Spain
I pray ye flog them upon all occasions.
It mends their morals; never mind the
pain.”
“He that spareth his rod hateth
his son, but he that loveth him
chasteneth him betimes.”
If fathers and mothers will re
member this and go back to first
principles, though the practice is
not in vogue now a days, and all
the odds are against it, yet is
there a hope for the child and a
campaign of education may be
inaugurated that shall prove a
brilliant factor in the solution of
problems that must and will meet
the coming generations. With
all the educational facilities at
our doors, with the broad sun
light of knowledge shining all
round our heads, with opportuni
ties shimmering like the leaves
before our very eyes, we are
obliged to receive instruction. To
grow up in ignorance in such
times as these were a crime—a
crime against God and a crime
against humanity. It is to sin
against light and reason. Eter
nity cannot make reparations for
the abuse and waste of these
heaven-born privileges. There is
no excuse for a smattering when
great supplies may be had.
“A little learning Iha dangerous thing,
Drink deeper touch not the Pierian Spring,
Their shallow drafts in toxic ne the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.”
Our people are too indifferent
to this sacred cause. They do
not realize the importance of true
education—of brain and heart
knowledge. They do not compre
hend her scope and power and
grandeur and possibilities. Ad
dison says: “What sculpture is
to a piece of marble education is
to a human soul.
Then how well we should chisel
—how faithfully! how persistent
ly! Then never cease this heroic
struggle for knowledge till life’s
roughness is all smoothed out and
every excrescence is lopped from
the soul.
Garfield said in his acceptance
speech in 1880: “Next in impor
tance to freedom and justice is
popular education, without which
neither freedom nor justice can
be permanently maintained.” O,
for the maintenance of freedom
and justice.
Make education so popular, so
attractive, so urgent that our
children w ill cry for it as they do
for bread.
When will we as a race—when
will we as Baptists—rise up in
our Christian manhood and reap
what God has so graciously put
in our reach? 0, let us clothe
ourselves with Christian knowl
edge as with a goodly garment!
Knowledge is power. Ignor
ance is weakness. Therefore, if
we would cope with the nations—
if we would not be surpassed by
the other religious denominations
of the world in mental wealth
and Christian culture—we must
not be dreamers, but with inex
haustible resources at our feet let
us spur ourselves to the suprem
est effort, and as day follows
night success will surely come.
Disraeli, in his memorable
speech before hie House‘of Com
mons on June 15, 1874, said:
“Upon the education of the peo
ple of the country the fate of
this country depends. There is
no period in the history of the
world in which I believe it has
been more important that the dis
position and mind of the people
should be considered by the State
than it is at present.”
Surely, we are grateful for
what the State has done for us.
She has done nobly. For this we
will praise her. But the State
has no religion. She cannot hob]
up the crucified to the lost. She
may do her best, but her best is
a failure ;
No education with Christ left
out is complete. We would en
corporate the pure Word of God
and all our articles of faith, for
on God’s Word all true Baptists
stand in every high school and
college in our land.
With all love in our hearts for
others, we are here to defend not
apologetically, but boldly, our
cherished faith, and to commend
to all thoughtful, earnest, truth
seeking minds our Baptist
schools and colleges.
Among those for our girls are
Shorter at Home, the Southern
Female College at LaGrange,
Cox’ College at Manchester, and
Monroe Female College at For
syth. All of these schools are
well situated, officered by good
Christian men and women, with
code of morals and system of
study that appeal very eloquent
ly to our sympathy and patron
age. We would most earnestly
commend these several schools to
your faithful and loyal consider
ation.
Last and best of all, God’s
sweetest gift to Georgia Baptists
is Mercer University. Centrally
located, high above malarial in
fluences, beautiful for situation,
manned by one of the strongest
young faculties in the South, red
olent of memories, proud in
honors, glorious in promise, old
Mercer stands to-day the peer of
any similar institution in our
Southland.
She is the just pride of every
loyal Baptist heart.
Her name is synonymous with
greatness. Her achievements in
the past have been little short of
phenomenal.
She is needing your help. She
has needed it for a long time. She
has claims on you Georgia Bap
tists which you cannot in truth
deny. Mercer needs SIOO,OOO to
day. She is calling for it. You
! have it to spare. Will you with-
VOL. 76-NO. 49
hold it and impoverish her long
er? Let not her cfy be made in
vain! Are you seeking invest
ments? You can make no better
investments than in brain and
heart manhood and heavenly
citizenship. Such investments as
these will pay dividends which
shall pass as currency beyond the
skies. Some of you rich Bap
tists have thought to leave Mer
cer a good sum when you are
gone. We thank God that such
a thought has ever stuck in your
brain, but why not see with your
own eyes the grandeur of your
gifts and feel the thrill of their
beneficent results? You can do
this and then have plenty to die
with. You won’t need much for
such an occasion as this, anyway.
Don’t delay any longer. Don’t
take it out simply in good reso
lutions. Remember “He who
gives quickly gives twice.” Now,
give old Mercer your boys, your
money, your prayers. Make sac
rifices for her worthy of your
selves and your fair denomina
tion, and the white stars in
heaven shall not be purer nor
brighter than the glory of this
magnificent seat of learning.
For the Index.
How the Sta'es Stand.
BY PROF. P. H. MELL.
1 have been reading with much
interest the statistical table given
in the November number of the
Teacher, issued by the Sunday
School Board of the Southern
Baptist Convention in reference
to the contributions of the sev
eral States to missions. This ta
ble is remarkable and I desire to
call your attention to some strik
ing facts and interesting com
parisons. Permit me to give the
table as it occurs in the Teacher:
No. Mun- Contrlbu*
Churches bers tlonsSu. e
1895 1895. Missions.
Alabama . ...1,649 1x3,826 $11,067 13
Arkansas . ...1,345 71,171 1,607 87
Dist. Columbia. 13 4,712 2,052 53
Florida .... 455 22,633 3,334 44
Georgia 1,886 164,784 11,981 49
Indian Ter. . . 299 12,162 1,943 76
Kentucky . . .1,565 170,507 7,088 65
Louisiana. . . 528 30,037 4,458 25
Maryland .... 55 9,716 8,627 84
Mississippi . .1,183 88,566 7,547 62
Missouri . . .1,809 137,956 11,636 97
N. Carolina . .1,577 155,032 12,760 00
S. Carolina . .. 875 88,050 16,367 16
Tennessee . ..1,440 123,317 4,117 92
Texas 2,571 167,453 13,739 19
Virginia .... 893 109,055 10,706 84
An analysis of this will show
that in the number of churches
the States stand as follows;
1. Texas. 9. Mississippi.
2. Georgia. 10. Virginia.
3. Missouri. 11. SouthjiCarolnra
4. Alabama. 12. Louisiana.
5. N. Carolina. 13. Florida.
6. Kentucky. 14. Indian Ter.
7. Tennessee. 15. Maryland.
8. Arkansas. 16. Dist. Columbia
In the matter of number of
members the States stand as fol
lows:
1. Kentucky. 9. Mississippi.
2. Texas. 10. South Carolina
3. Georgia. 11. Arkansas.
4. N. Carolina. 12. Louisiana.
5. Missouri. 13. Florida.
6. Tennessee. 14. Indian Ter.
7. Alabama. 15. Maryland.
8. Virginia. 16. Dist. Columbia
When we compare the amounts
of contribution to the cause of
missions we note that the order
is materially changed as follows:
1. South Carolina 9. Mississippi.
2. Texas. 10. Kentucky.
3. Nortn Carolina 11. Louisiana.
4. Georgia. 12. Tennessee.
5. Missouri. . 13. Florida.
6. Alabama. 14. Dist. Columbia
7. Virginia. 15. Indian Ter.
8. Maryland. 16. Arkansas.
Although Kentucky heads the
list in the number of members
(170,507), she stands only tenth
in the list of contributors ($7,-
088.05). In the case of South
Carolina the case is reversed.
From the tenth position in mem
bership she forges to the head of
the list among the contributors.
Georgia loses one place, chang
ing with North Carolina. Texas,
Missouri, Mississippi and Florida
remain in the same relative posi
tions in each table. Alabama
gains one point in position,
and so does Virginia, while
Maryland moves from the fif
teenth to the eighth position in
the table of contributors.
The question naturally arises
What is the cause of this great
falling off in contributions to
State missions on the part of
those States where the Baptists
are in greater numbers? Is it
because there is little need for
missionary work and that the
people are able to support the
preaching of the Gospel in each
community without the assist
ance of the State Boards? Do
these States therefore give larger
sums to the Home and Foreign
Boards? It would naturally fol
low that such should be the case
if there is little need for mission
ary work within the borders of
the State.
What a grand work for the
Master is before these 1,468,977
Baptists in the South if they
would only give one dollar each
year per capita for the cause of
State Missions —the Home Board
would have to seek for new fields
in which to spend the surplus.
I Auburn, Ala.