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EBTABLISHED The Christian Index i*obUUel Kvery Thursday By BELL & VAN NEBB Address Christian Index, Atlanta, Ga Organ of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia. Bumc«iptio» Pbicb: Ona oopy, one year One oopy, six month! 1.0 ABOUT OUB ADVBBTIBBBS.—We propose koraafter to Tory carefully Investigate our advertisers. We shall exercise every care to allow only reliable parties to use our 00l- ÜBne. Obituabibb.—One hundred words free of charge. For each extra word, one oent per word, cash with oopy. To COBLBBBFOKDBNTa— Do not use abbrevi ations ; be extra careful In writing proper names; write with ink, on one side of paper. Do not write oopy Intended for the editor and business items on same sheet. Leave off personalities, condense. BvsiirßßS.—Write all names, and post •Aloes distinctly. In ordering a change give Use old as well as the new address. The date at label Indicates the time your subscription axplres. If you do not wish it continued, or der It stopped a week before. W e consider each subscriber permanent until he orders hit paper discontinued. When yon order it Stopped pay up to date. remittances by registered letter, money •rder postal note America for Christ. We demand America for Christ for the world’s sake. It is well known that America is the great cosmopolitan nation of the world; it is a fusion of na tionalities. Hence the eyes of all nations are upon us; hence all the nations claim kinship with it. We can best see the relation of America to the world by putting it in contrast with England. England and America are the great unmeasured Christian pow ers to whom God has largely com mitted the evangelization of the nations. What we wish to notice as we put them side by side is the different ways in which, under the providence of God, they find their opportunities and their duties. England has comparatively a small territory and a full and overflowing population crowding her small territory. As a natur al result she throws out her peo ple from her overcrowded territo ry; she sends out colonies upon colonies into other lands. For three hundred years colonization has been a marked feature of her foreign policy. She has made her presence felt by her colonial pos sessions and by her arms in every part of the globe. In America, as well as in Asia and Africa, she has her English speaking settle ments; while the uncivilized tribes and races around have felt the beneficence of her protection and p#iFtr. A he'rever she has planted her standard she has carried the fruits of a thousand years of prog ress and liberty and learning and religion and law. This she has done in British and Cen tral America, in Sierra Leone, in Natal and in the Trans vaal Republic, and especially in British India. For the hundreds of millions of people thus brought under her sway, she has assumed the direct responsibility of their temporal and eternal weal, and if she gives to these good govern ment, and the means of educa tion, and the true religion, and the Christ of God, she will do her fair share toward the evangeliza tion of the world. The work of America, on the other hand, is different. Instead of sending out her colonies to dis tant lands, and bringing other peoples under her sway by con quest, she has opened her vast territory to be colonized. She has invited all nations and races to meet and mingle here and make one composite family, thus form ing a world's republic, and thus illustrating the world’s humanity. In view of this America becomes to the world what the normal school is to the State. On her own soil she gathers the children of the nations, and in her homes and churches and schools she trains them to be the teachers of the world. This is an opportun ity such as is given to no other nation on the face of the earth. These polyglot populations are thrown upon her to be fused into one nationality by one culture and one faith and one liberty and one civilization and one religion. The responsibility laid upon her, therefore, is a double one: first and supremely, to keep the fountains of her own intelligence and virtue and religion pure for the sake of the native-born in the land; and second to ply with all the forces of Christian learning and religion the thousands of the unevangelized who have come to her shores, that they may send back to their old homes, in the form of letters and newspapers and earnest appeals, the blessed gospel of the Son of God to work as a regenerating and converting power in the different fatherlands across the sea. All this being true, it is the veriest truism to say that America taken for Christ means the na tions of the world far and near taken for Christ; America a Christian nation means a mighty witness for God among all lands of the earth. I would like to arouse an enthu siasm on behalf of our grand na- THE CHRISTIAN INDEX. (SUBSCRIPTION, PsbTbab.--. SI.OO. | Ito ministers, 1.00.1 tiona z y. Let the enthusiasm of other nations over nationalities infinitely inferior to ours teach us. la?t us gather a stimulus from the enthusiasm which other have rel ative to nationalities that are as yet only in the air, that have as yet taken no better shape than a dream. We had an illustration of such enthusiasm a few years ago, during the days when the name of Parnell was untarnished and when the character of Par nell was a masterful and rallying power. Men of the Celtic race, colleagues of Parnell, crossed the Atlantic to plead in this land the cause of a nationality which ex isted only in human hope. You remember how these men were re ceived. The largest auditoriums in our largest cities were crowded to suffocation to receive these del egates of the National League of Ireland and to express sympathy with constitutional liberty and home rule and national right. The green flag with the harp was unfurled and waved; great au diences were thrilled and lifted into rapture by the simple idea of an Irish nationality. If such be the treatment of an unattained thing, if such be the enthusiasm that can be created by an unreal ized dream, how great should be our enthusiasm over our Ameri can nationality, purchased by the revolution and then purchased again by our long civil war? It is not a thing of dream, but a thing of glorious reality, sending its genius and its spirit to theends of the earth. My fellowmen, our country is the battle ground on which the conflicts of the ages are to be fought and decided. It is the val ley of decision, filled with multi tudes and multitudes. Every in stinct of our being ought to say, “Let that nation be saved, and saved at once, which carries the world’s largest hopes and the world's final destinies.” In the Christianizing of our nation the republic has its life at stake, so ciety its order, labor its reward, home its happiness, and the world its future. What are we going to give the world as it pours in upon us on every side? With what are we going to Americanize and Christ ianize and utilize these multi tudes, these millions from the dif ferent nationalities? That is the burning question of the hour. How are we going to unftfjW*ftlr citizens? There are certain things we must eliminate from them, which are alien to our history and our faith, and which are deadly in their effects. There are imported treasons which would throttle the republic and against which we must not adopt half-way meas ures, but measures which will destroy them root and branch. How are we going to fuse into our nationality and make good citizens of the incoming masses, the men whose personality will be as great a political power in a very few months as is the person ality of the native-born octogena rian? I am told that we must edu cate them. Pass that on, for that is true; we must educate them. We must educate them by our na tional days, which lift up as on a pedestal the great historical facts and doctrines of the nation. We must educate them by righteous laws, clearly proclaimed and rig idly enforced. We must educate them by preserving intact our blood-bought institutions which are the embodiment of the essen tial truths of our nationality. Es pecially must we educate the children of these incoming multi tudes. .There are fifteen millions of school children in this land, who in a few years will receive the republic in to their hands; as Christian patriots we must stand by the rights of these children, and we must stand by that insti tution, that great unifier of the nation, which the fathers built for them and which has been in thenationfromthevery beginning, viz., the free public school. Par alyzed be the hand, foreign or native born, Protestant or Catho lic, that dare fire a murderous shot against that strong citadel of American unity and American intelligence. Such a man should be treated as we treat the man who fires on the flag. But something more is needed. We must give the incoming masses the pure, simple Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is our only bulwark against moral evil and intemperance and social impurity and atheism. When we take away the false religions and the deadly isms from our new-made citizens, we must give them some thing in the place of these; and we must give them something pos itive. The Gospel is that positive something. It brings man posi tive models, positive views of him self and of his destiny, positive commandments, positive princi ples, and positive duties. —Makers of the American Republic— Gregg. ATLANTA, GA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17. 18M For the Index. History and Application. BY BEV. J. H. GAMBRELL. Samuel Johnson thoroughly disliked Scotchmen, and was un willing for Scotland to have any credit for Lord Mansfield’s suc cess, because he was educated in England. Concerning Mansfield he said: “Much may be made of a Scotchman, if he be caught young.” This remark applies with singular force to Christians. Much may lie made of young church members, if they be taken in hand and trained for usefulness now. This is the object of the Baptist Young People's Union. Let every church have this train ing school. Simonides proposed to teach Themistocles the art of memory, and was answered: “Ah, rather teach me the art of forgetting; for I often remember what I would not, and cannot forget what I would.” The Holy Spirit will teach the Christian the art of forgetting those things which are behind, and of reaching forward to those things that are before. “On little circumstances hinge great destinies.” Constantinople was lost by the flight of John Justinioni from an important post, because of a slight wound, the pain and blood of which alarmed him. Following his re treating footsteps, the common soldiery surrendered the whole situation and cause. Courageous, non-retreating leadership in Zion is the pre-emi nent need of the times. Let all who assume to occupy stations of leadership lead under the divine guidance, and all will be well, (live every church in America the leadership of a courageous pastor and mission debts will be liqui dated, the saloon curse blotted out, and Sunday desecration ended. A leadership that cannot be terrorized by pain or blood would usher in a new day. Bacon describes Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, “as a most fit man to keep things from growing worse, but no very fit man to re duce things to be much better.” In other words, Robert Cecil, if he lived now, would be called the wise, conservative man. A good deal of our modern conservatism amounts to nothing thjpu ble enterprises. Many wMsc SIP ents and culture render them cap able of accomplishing great things in aggressive work for God and humanity, are whiling away their lives, trying to keep things from happening. Going on to perfec tion is the only preventive of re trogression. It ought to be the ambition of every Christian to be a “very fit man to reduce things to be much better.” A great thing it would be if Georgia Bap tists were stirred by this ambition for missions and Mercer Univer sity. In 1796 Napoleon wanted to cross the bridge at Lodi, which was being swept by Australian batteries. One of his officers said it was impossible for men to live in such a storm of bullets. “Impossible,” said Napoleon, “that word is not French.” Bear ing a standard, Napoleon was the second man to cross. Just one hundred years later, servants of Jesus Christ hear his voice say ing, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every crea ture,” and are saying, “Impossi ble. Times are too hard.” Mer cer University is hampered in its great work and appeals for larg er revenues and increased facil ities, and 165,000 Baptists are saying, “Impossible” to do it. Those who fight for the uplifting of humanity, and the glory of the King, ought to be as heroic as he who fought to aggrandize him self, and make humanity sup pliants at his own feet. The colonial Governor of Vir ginia, 1671, scored ministers for advocating education. He said: “Ministers should pray more and preach less. But I thank God there are no free schools, nor printing; and I hope we shall not have for these hundred years, for learning has brought disobedience and heresy and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them and libels against the best government. God keep us from both.” “The world do move.” A man who entertains such sen timents could not be elected dog killer in Virginia now. Experi ence has shown in thousands of ways that the most perfect and reliable obedience is born of the highest intelligence, and that “we must educate or perish by our pos terity.” There are men still who, like Berkeley, think they are called upon to regulate the con duct of ministers, and like him their assumed wisdom receives rebuke. A gentleman was walking through a cemetery, in which were buried a number of those who fell during the late war. On the board at the head of one grave he observed simply the word “Un known,” which inspired this cuplet: “ Unknown is all his epitaph will tell, But if Jesus knew him, all is well.” Though the soldier eyes closed on earthly conflict ami carnage, away from home and mother, if Jesus was there with his own, it was the hour of supremest triumph with “the boy in gray.” Though the post of duty may be far removed from earthly home and loved ones, yet to those whom Jesus knows, it is very near the eternal “home, sweet home,” that he has gone to prepare for them. From what spot we bid adieu to the world does not mat ter so much, nor is it important that mother's kiss seal the eyes and lips for the last repose. If. Jesus knows us, he will be there and worth more than sweet moth er's presence. In Savannah, Ga., May 5, 1736, Mr. Wesley, the founder of the great Methodist denomination, was asked by Mrs. Parker to bap tize her child, but she did not want it dipped,and refused to cer tify that the child was weak. Wesley declined to baptize the child, and on September 1, 1737, he was tried by a grand jury of forty-four men, convicted on ten counts, and ordered to leave the country. The fifth count, as stated by Wesley himself, was this: “By refusing to baptize Mr. Parker’s child otherwise than by dipping, except the par ents would certify that it was weak and not able to bear it.” This occurred here in Georgia where those who claim to believe what Wesley did abound, and yet they deny that immersion is bap tism. In his journal, February 21, 1736, Wesley made this entry: “Mary Welch, aged eleven days, was baptized according to the custom of the first church and the rule of the Church of England, by immersion. The child was ill then, but recovered from that very hour.” Has Wesley ceased to be good authority among his own people? It looks that way. It was an unvarying custom with Pericles to pray to the gods before he spoke in public. The responsibility of public speaking almost overwhelmed him, he might which speaker and hearers much annoy ance and even mortification, no doubt. If such a custom was ob served by all public speakers of to-day, many a scandalous, in famous falsehood would die un born. If political speakers were to pray before speaking,weshould speedily see an end of political rancor and partisan bitterness, and an end there ought to be of these things. If prayer were to become the prelude to public speaking, more than half of our public speakers would resign their vocation and go to plowing. Then the people would rejoice. Selah! When Lucullus, with his small army, encamped before the army of Tigranes, the latter remarked: “If they come as embassadors, there are too many of them; if they come as soldiers, there are too few of them.” If all profess ed Christians who are doing noth ing for the cause of Christ at home and abroad, fancy they are embassadors for him, there are too many of them. If only those who are doing something for his cause in every land are his sol diers, there are too few of them, and genuine recruits enlisted by the Holy Spirit are sorely needed. The deep need of the times is an army for Christ, bound together and dominated by the holy de sire and exalted purpose of Jesus Christ. Enlist every church member in such an army, and the hill tops and valleys of every land, in less than a year, would ring with and re-echo the glad tiding of free salvation. What would the harvest be? Greensboro, Ga. For the Jndbx. Reminiscences of Georgia Baptists. BY S. G. HILLYER. No. 19. THE SUNBURY CHURCH CONTIN UED. As was stated in last week’s paper, I became acquainted with the Sunbury Baptist church in the month of January, 1832. I had been elected by the board of trustees to take charge of the Sunbury Academy, and was on hand for that purpose. This brought me into intimate rela tions with the patrons of the school, who represented nearly every family in the village. I also became a member, by letter, of the Sunbury church, and was identified with it for nearly the whole of that year; so my oppor- tunity to know the church was about as good as could be desired. The pastor of the church was Rev Josiah S. Law, the oldest son of Rev Samuel S Law. Os this young brother 1 will speak farther on. I wish first to give some ac count of the church itself. ITS HABITS. It was the rule of the Sunbury church to have public worship in the meeting house every Sunday. The pastor preached two Sundays every month; the other two he visited other churches in the county. One of our Sundays, when the pastor was absent, was supplied by his father, of whom a brief account was given last week. This arrangement left one Sunday without a preacher. But the church met for worship on that day all the same. Some member of the church, by pre vious arrangement, would con duct the service. It included the usual exercises that were ob served when the pastor was pres ent. The service was opened with a hymn, and many sweet voices joined in the singing. It was good to listen to them. Then followed a prayer by the leader of the meeting, or by some brother whom he called on for that service. After prayer, another hymn was sung. Then followed the sermon. The leader had selected, from some volume of printed sermons, one which he judged would be appropriate for that occasion. This sermon he read with a clear, earnest, and reverent utterance, and it was reverently listened to by the peo ple. After reading the sermon, if the leader chose, it was in order for him to emphasize the thoughts of the sermon with words of his own; and this was sometimes done. This habit, or custom, of the church was already established when I joined it. How long it had been observed I do not know. I soon found, however, that I was expected to bear my share of its burdens, and I tried to do it as well as I could. Besides this extra Sunday ser vice, the church, of course, had its weekly prayer meeting. At these meetings the pastor was usually present, and conducted the worship. The prayer meet ings were, generally, well at that supplementing the rich and earnest preaching of our beloved pastor and his ven erable father, could not fail to be followed by good results. One effect was, there were some conversions. Not many, for the community was very small, and the greater part of them were al ready connected with the church in Sunbury or with the Congre gationalist church at Medway. Still there were some who were brought into our fold. The place of baptism was at the foot of the bluff that afforded an extensive view of the beautiful bay. On such occasions it seemed as if the whole population of the village were gathered on that bluff to witness the impressive ceremony that was going on at its base, in the waters of the incoming tide. It was a scene to make glad the angels of Heaven. Another effect of this habit above mentioned, was to diffuse a religious atmosphere over the entire community. I do not mean that all were Christians. There were some in Sunbury, as well as everywhere else, who made no profession of piety— who were people of the world. But even these rendered an out ward respect to religion that showed that they recognized its presence, and, in some degree at least, appreciated its value. They associated freely and pleas antly with religious* people, and were often, I may say usually, at tendants upon the preached Gos pel. This religious influence was felt also in the Sunday-school. It included the children of both denominations, and was well at tended. Another fact which, by the grace of God, signalized the Sun bury church deserves to be no ticed. While the white members of the church scarcely ever ex ceeded thirty persons at any one time, yet, during the first thirty years of its existence, there went out from its fold nine Baptist preachers. I will give their names, as well as I can, in the order of time: Jacob Dunham, Samuel S. Law, James Shannon, J. 11. Campbell, Josiah S Law, Edward Stevens, James O. Screven, and Adam T. Holmes. To this list I think should be added the name of brother Carlos Stevens (who makes the ninth), for, although he entered the ministry a few years later, yet he was raised up under the influences of the Sunbury church, and I think was baptized into it. Brother Shannon, the reader will remember, was already a minister of the Presbyterian church; but among the causes that providentially led him to make a thorough examination of the baptismal question, one was certainly the influence of the Bap tist church which he found in Sun bury. I have not placed my own name in the foregoing list because my connection with the Sunbury church was perhaps too short to give me a right to do so. But, in my own mind, I am clearly con scious that my association with that godly people, short as it was, did much to deepen my impres sions toward the pulpit. The facts above stated present to us a marvelous record (of only thirty years) for a church of less than forty white members. It may serve to increase our interest in this record to notice more par ticularly some of the brethren whose names have been mention ed. The first on the list is the name of REV. JACOB DUNHAM. Brother Dunham and his wife had the distinction of being the first white persons baptized into the Sunbury church. This occur red in 1806. In a few years brother Dunham began to preach. My acquaintance with him began in 1832. The incidents of his life I cannot relate, but the man ner of his life and the character of the man, it was easy to learn; for he was well known far and near over the counties on the sea board in which he labored. His education was very limited and he was poor in this world’s goods, and yet he yielded to the call of the Holy Spirit and preached the Gospel, almost without compen sation in the highways and the hedges. His labors were chiefly devoted to the colored people and to the white settlers that were living in the pine woods which lay back of the richer lands of the seaboard. It is said that he would work on his farm during the week till the time came to meet one of his appointments; then, if the place could be reached by land, he would saddle his plow horse and ride sometimes 10, 15, or 20 miles to fill his engagement. But if the place was beyond the river, or upon an island on the coast, then he would take his lit tle boat, and like the disciples on of Galilee, row himself ■fc the waters to preach (he to xlui poor negroes on some plantation. Nor were his labors in vain. It is not improb able that during his life he bap tized more than a thousand of his humble hearers, including both black and white. Such was the manner of his life. His character was held in high esteem by all. He had not the learning and culture of Dr. Mal lary, but he was like him in the depth and fervor of his piety. Jesus dwelt in his heart by faith, and he was rooted and grounded in love. Dear old man! How bright will he shine in the day of Christ! I love to contemplate the life and character of such a man. It makes me desire to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus. May this be the effect up on every one who reads this brief reminiscence. It only remains to say that brother Dunham raised a large family, which was a household of faith. Only one of his children is living—Mrs Ashley, now re siding in Atlanta. She is a mem ber of the Second Baptist church. Some of his descendants, how ever, are still to be found in dif ferent sections of the State. May they all attain to the spiritual stature of their sainted ancestor. Other names will be noticed next week. 563 S. Pryor street, Atlanta. For the Index. Silver and Whiskey. BY REV. T. M. GALPHIN. Our politicians are materialist and must be approached from that point of view. We have just passed through a most ex citing materialistic political cam paign. The battle cry on the one side has been, “Give us more money or we perish.” On the other side, “Touch our money and we are ruined.” Lying back of all their arguments has been the assumption that material pros perity is the essential basis of all national stability and greatness. This certainly is a delusion; for righteousness is the only sure foundation of true greatness for the individual and the State. All other ground is sinking sand. That righteousness exalteth a nation, is the teaching of inspira tion and the testimony of history. Righteousness brings with it all the material prosperity that is needful. “For godliness is profi table for all things, having the promise of the life that now is.” What David said of the righteous VOL. 76-NO 51 man may be applied with equal truthfulness to the nation: “Blessed is the nation that walk eth not in the counsel of the un godly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but her delight is in the law of the Lord. . . And she shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not wither.” Ma terial prosperity divorced from righteousness and the fear of God carries in its bosom the elements of disintegration, decay, and death. “Avarice and luxury have been the ruin of every great State.” It was only after Rome had been corrupted by the luxury and vices of the East that she became the easy prey to the northern bar barians. Spain in the days of Philip 11, was one of the first powers of Europe, but the silver mines of the New World poured their treasures into her lap, and she has steadily fallen, until to day she is scarcely a tenth-rate power. Solomon made silver in Jerusalem as stones in the street, but he left a divided kingdom to his son, the greater portion of which went to a stranger. “The wages of sin is death” for the nation as truly as for the in dividual. The material prosperity of the few built upon the material, mor al and mental ruin of the many is a curse to any nation. There may be other occupations in this country to which this principle applies, but it is pre-eminently trm* of the whiskey traffic. For if there is any material prosperity in this business at all, it is that of the few to the ruin of the many. All the real and imaginary evils which the silver-tongued orators have portrayed as following the “gold standard,” and all the real and imaginary evils which the golden-mouthed orators have de scribed as following the free coin age of silver, combined are insig nificant in comparison with the evils which are the direct results of the whiskey curse. If our country can stand this evil and prosper, she can stand anything; for it is sucking the life blood from the nation night and day, through two hundred thousand running sores. We have been told repeatedly by our political leaders that the free coinage of silver at 16 to 1 would be the sovereign remedy for all our woes. Have they not overlooked an evil which if abol ished would be a far greater bless ing than free silver, even from a material point of view? Would not the removal of the whiskey curse from our midst go farther than anything else towards restor ing prosperity to that class of cit izens who are forever complain ing of hard times and oppression? I believe that it would; and in support of this, consider the fol lowing facts: 1. All the silver coined from lhe mints of the United States from their organization in 1792 to December 31, 1894, would fall short by one hundred and forty millions of dollars of paying the drink bill of the United States for one year. For proof of this, compare the statistics: The whiskey bill of the United States for 1894, at the lowest es timate, was $832,373,492. The silver coined from 1792 to Decem ber, 1894, was $681,906,619. 2. It would take all the silver dug from the mines of the United States for more than thirteen years to pay the drink bill of the United States for one year. Proof—The silver product of the mines of the United States for thirteen years was 781,155,332. 3. It would require the output from both the silver and gold mines eight years to pay this bill. Proof—The total output from both the silver and gold mines of the United States for eight years was $840,305,332. Once more,if we added to there tail cost of the liquorsforone year, the cost to the government of crime, pauperism, idiocy, insanity, disease, idleness, etc., which is directly caused by this curse, it would take sixteen years of “free silver” to pay the drink bill for one year. This is a new 16 to 1, of which our materialistic politi cians have not thought. In view of these facts, I appeal to our statesmen, on the only ground upon which they seem approach able—the material—since they have failed to secure for us the inestimable boon of “free silver,” will they not give us something that is very far better, even from their point of view—the abolition of the whiskey curse. But I con fess that I have little hope of this until our politicians learn to feel and to fear the temperance forces in politics, as they feel and fear the liquor power. Augusta Ga, Nov. 19, 1896. If we would sit down and try to estimate the good our enemies do us they would soon become our friends.