The Christian index. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1892-current, December 03, 1896, Image 1

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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.