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ESTABLISHED 1821.
The Christian Index
t’ub'J»h«l Krery Thursday
By HELL Jt VAN NKt*B
ACdrens CHRISTIAN INDEX. Atlanta, Ua
Jrgaii of the Baptist Denomination in
Georgia
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For the INDEX.
An Appeal to the Baptists of Georgia
to Establish an Institution Wnhin
Their Bounds tor the Higher Edu
cation of Their Young Men.
BY ALEXANDER.
Baptists of Georgia:
The writer of this appeal is a
pastor of one of your churches.
His heart is profoundly interest
ed in your welfare and earnestly
desirous for your prayers and
prosperity. He has meditated
deeply and for many years upon
some of the thoughts in this ex
hortation. He is known to but
few of you personally. He is
greatly in love with you. He has
for a long time considered you
the best set of Baptists in all
this land of ours. He admires
your orthodoxy, is encouraged by
your unity along many lines of
Christian enterprise and wonder
fully inspired by the number of
your leaders, men of culture, zeal
and power. He has often won
dered why such a vast host of
■Christians, believing in the abso
lute supremacy of God's Word,
and the infallibility of Christ’s
promise, were not more effective
in the service of our Master! 11,is
heart has been deeply grieved, as
he contemplated the possibilities
of your strength, and then
thought of how little you were
doing. He is sure that you love
your Lord, he knows you are true
to the great doctrines of grace;
and because of all these facts he
feels constrained to say these
things to yon, ‘‘to stir up your
pure minds byway of remem
brance.”
My brethren, a great crisis is
upon us. We stand face to face
with issues so grave that our per
petuity as Baptists depends upon
our proper appreciation of and
our correct solution of these is
sues. It is no longer a question
of choice, the duty is imperative.
To fail now is to be relegated, as
a people, to ignorance, decay and
destruction. We need an institu
tion of learning for the higher ed
ucation of our boys.
God commands it. His will is
that we as his people shall glorify
him in everything.
By the very conditions of our
acceptance of his grace we be
came wholly his. We gave our
selves entirely to him. “We are
notour own; we have been bought
with a price.” Not to use our
energies and powers for him is
to be guilty of spiritual embezzle
ment. We are under the
most solemn sanction to develop
to the highest possible usefulness
every force of our mental, physi
cal and spiritual being, to avail
ourselves of every opportunity to
better fit our lives for his service.
Our environments demand it.
It is an age of the human mind's
greatest activity. Men are, as
never, before, engaged in search
ing ont the great facts of the uni
verse. The science of the world
is probing after the very secrets
of God’s being. The so-called ad
vanced thought has laid its im
pious touch upon the Word of God
and questions the utterances of
the Holy Spirit. The infidelity
of the hour, exultant in the
strength of trained intellects,
boldly challenges Christianity to
open conflict. The writer of this
has no fears for the Word of God.
As the Lord is eternal his Word
will endure forever. But the ten
dency of the day is to lead young
men to think that culture and
Christianity are incompatible;
that to be scholarly is to be skep
tical. We need an institution
manned by men loyal to God and
his Word, to train the minds of
our boys so that the world may
know that one can be devoted to
science and to Christ at the same
time; that one can be devel
oped in the gymnasium of
thought, panoplied with the
world’s greatest knowledge and
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX.
nevertheless be faithful to God,
loyal to Christ and submissive to
the guidance of his Spirit. Men,
who having grappled with the
masters of science, are able to
make plain that nowhere is there
any conflict between natural laws
and the Word of God.
Our relations to God and the
world make this duty imperative.
Baptists teach some truths that
can be learned from no one else.
Some great principles of human
liberty, some fundamental truths
of God's saving grace, some expo
sition of God's Word must be
taught by Baptists if the world
ever knows them at all. The lib
erty of conscience, the right of
every individual io judge for him
self in matters of religion, regen
erated membership, the suprem
acy of God's Word, the autonomy
of the local church, and the indi
vidual freedom of every member
are taught alone by the Baptists.
If we do not teach them nobody
else will. It requires the whole
Word of God to make a man free,
and we alone hold to all of that
Word. Our duty to our children
prompts it. It is an age when
they will be taught. Baptists
cannot afford for anybody to
teach their children but them
selves.
To make this enterprise a suc
cess requires money, men and
boys. Money to build houses,
provide appliances and afford
means for needy young num to
secure an education. Men to fill
the places of teachers; boys for
the classes. Baptists of Georgia
have all these. Money in abund
ance. men well equipped for work
waiting for your bidding, boys ea
ger to enter the moment the
doors are open. Brethren, are
we equal to the emergency? To
us the school means much of
power. First of all. it means
unity; not centralization, but
unity ; oneness of thought, of pur
pose, of faith, of methods. It
means a united host of consecrat
ed and trained men keeping
step in the march against the
powers of darkness under the
leadership of a Captain who is
almighty and invincible. Do tve
value this opportunity ? An op
portunity in the work of God is
where man’s necessities and God’s
omnipotence meet.
It came to the children of Is
rael at the Red sea when they
were pre.-sed by their enemies
behind, and God said, “Go for
ward,” and they obeyed, and lo!
a people was disenthralled and a
nation born. It came when they
stood on the margin of the Prom
ised Land and listened to the evil
report of the spies, and for forty
years had to wander in the wil
derness. It came to the church
atJerusalem when theHolySpirit
descended, and she remained un
faithful to the command to go
and preach everywhere, and
God's judgment of persecution
scattered her membership to the
four winds. It came to the
church atAntioch when the Spirit
said, “Separate Barnabas and
Saul unto the work which
I have called them,” and
the church responded and Asia
and Europe were brought to the
feet of Jesus. If we know the
times of our visitation this insti
tution means victory, the truth
triumphant, Christ exultant,
heaven rejoiced, and God glori
fied.
If we close our eyes to the
presence of our Lord and deafen
our ears to the calls of the Holy
Spirit it means to us the hand
of God's judgment in the scat
tering of our forces, and our wan
dering in the wilderness of ig
norance and lethargy for forty
years.
For the Index.
Mercer University and Secondary
Education.
BY CHAIRMAN P. D. POLLOCK. A.M.
The present educational condi
tions in the State are far from
ideal. In the development of
those forces . which enter into
the bone and sinew of education
at large, as it approaches the ideal
the higher institutions must play
an important part. In this work
Mercer has had in the past an
honorable share and wishes to be
of greater service in the future.
The secondary schools generally in
the State have done fine service.
The increased appropriations, by
the legislature just adjourned, for
the better support and equipment
of the common school system of
the State is a matter of congrat
ulation to all who appreciate the
vital relation which an educated
citizenship bears to every social,
civil, moral and religious interest
among us. That abstract fabric
of manifold and subtle human
elements, which we call civiliza
tion, must rest ultimately upon
intellect trained for methodical
and skilled service, and upon
emotion and volition educated
into harmony with the thought,
purpose and will of a beneficent
God. It is chiefly to the latter
that we must trust for regener-
ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY. JANUARY 7. 1897.
at ing and redeeming power. In
tellect may be, is in fact oftimes,
revolutionary and riotous. The
State, as well as the individual,
must have a conscience. Faith,
hope, the brotherhood of man, the
fatherhood of God—love in the
larger and richer sense must be
come our food and drink. Men
will then become knights of the
Holy Ghost, and States will be
come divine Galilees for valiant
knights-errant in the cause of the
holy chivalry id' “peace on earth,
good will toward men.” But
you say this is highly ideal. I
answer, the ideal is the real in the
ft ■ A-
o
008 * sOSI a
MERGER UNIVERSITY, MACON, GA.
true sense; and it should be the
mission of every higher institu
tion of learning to enlist vig
orous manhood and womanhood
in the service of the ideal as
founded upon Christ and the
higher and richer interpretation of
his life and words than the world
has yet accepted, or can yet com
prehend.
The State may endow the com
mon schools with money, but who
must endow them with men and
women to teach them ? The State
may create the machinery; this is
indeed its duty. Its failure* in this
particular has been almost crim
inal, has been, in fact, to our
shame and confusion. But where
is the philosopher’s stone that
must turn its money into brain
and heart power? It is not the
hopeful,prayerful and heroicband
of teachers who must define the
real value of the money expend
ed; who must weigh the heart
throbs estimate, direct and
shape the intellectual and
spiritual forces of childlife
which are to become posi
tive forces for good or ill in
State life? Is it not also the in
telligence and culture of the men
and women sent out from higher
institutions and secondary schools
that constitute the sure founda
tions upon which the school-house
in any community must rest? Do
not all educational reforms came
from the top? Is it not a matter
of history that the college and
university have come first in our
civilization? Such is indeed the
case.
It must not be forgotten, how
ever, that secondary education,
the wealth of influences that have
gone out from the high school
and academy, has borne an
honorable part in this struggle
for a higher interpretation of life,
for the emancipation and regen
eration of man.
We of the colleges and univer
sities have failed ofttimes to
place a proper estimate and dig
nity upon the work which our
high schools are accomplishing
under great difficulties, and we
have been inclined at times to
feel that our work is apart from,
and independent of, the methods,
plans or purposes of the high
schools. The high schools have
in turn failed sometimes to real
ize their indebtedness to the col
leges, and have failed to appre
ciate intelligently or fully how
vital and organic the relation is
that binds them to the culture
above them —a culture which
should be an unfailing and help
ful source for strength, aspi
ration and fresh ideals.
The college-bred high school
teacher is less likely to make such
a mistake.
The high schools have also
made the mistake to feel that the
work of the humble teacher in
the elementary schools, unknown
to fame, is of no consequence in
its relation to secondary educa
tion, while the colleges and uni
versities have, it appears, utterly
failed to realize that the humble
teacher in the log hut, who lov
ingly and prayerfully points the
child upward, is actually and tru
ly digging deep and making sure
the foundations upon which the
great superstructure of education
must rest. Out of our misinter
pretation, our ignorance, our
'prejudices perhaps, have grown
a diversity of school interests,
loosely thrown together without
system or correlation, and yet we
sometimes wonder why ii is that
the educational machinery moves
so sluggishly. We have failed lo
le.ilize that we muse in a serious
sense stand or fall together.
If we should take from the
locomotive its fuel and water, the
steam chest and axles, would it
be any wonder that the driving
wheels would be inert and power-
less. The difference in our work
is not a difference in honor, but a'
difference in degree merely.
We need an educational sys
tem. A system, however, cannot
exist without well-defined limita
tions between elementary, sec
ondary and higher education. In
this system the high school would
hold an important place. In fact
one of the greatest needs to-day
in the State is well equipped,
strong and progressive high
schools for education,
schools that ip*elfcb»L|v recog
nize theii
lligently interpret their bearings
up as well as down, that know
what a high school is, what a
college is, and that are willing
upon such an intelligent basis to
organize, plan and develop their
work in perfect harmony with
well-defined forces above and
below.
But who shall say what the
high school is, and what its limit
ation, should be?
The State says what the com
mon school is, and what its lim
itations are. This the State has
a right to do, because the public
money cannot be indiscriminately
and indefinitely appropriated, but
appropriated only to those teach
ers and schools that conform to
a definite standard of work laid
down as the limit of educational
training for which the State is
willing to pay. We should say
that the high school work, there
fore, if no mistake has been made
in defining the common school,
should begin where the common
school leaves off. It seems that
there should be no difficulty up to
this point, but there is a failure
even here. The failure to inter
pret their relation to grades be
low is not the important consider
ation, however, in this present
discussion. It is not so much
where they begin, as where they
end, or try to end, that concerns
us now.
If the State supported the high
schools, then it would doubtless
be the policy to fix standards of
work, and define the scope of
work If the higher institutions
then adjusted to the high school
standards, we would then have a
system. But it is not the policy of
tlie State to support public high
schools, and it is not our purpose
to discuss this principle here, but
to inquire whether under the
present educational conditions
such a thing as system can be se
cured.
The high schools of the State
may be divided into two general
classes, public high schools —
those supported by municipal
taxation, and private high
schools. The standards of work
in the public high schools are not
at all uniform, neither is there
anything like uniformity in the
limitations or scope of what con
stitutes a high school course. The
high schools in the cities are, as
a rule, clearly marked from the
elementary schools, often in a
separate building, and under a
separate corps of teachers; where
as the larger per cent, of private
schools in the State must deal
with the problem of elementary
education, under the same roof,
and generally with teachers
teaching both high school and
elementary grades.
In the last report of the Com
missioner of Education of the
United States, Georgia is credited
with 88 public high schools and
89 private high schools. About
23 per cent, of those pupils who
complete the high school course
enter college. The 23 per cent,
includes male and female.
The public high school and the
private high school have there
fore one problem in common, that
is, to adjust their course of study
not to suit the 23 per cent, only
who go to college, but to suit the
77 per cent, who never go to col
lege. We find, for example, such
studies as physics and chemistry
in the high school course, which
properly belong to the junior
class in our colleges, but an ele
mentary knowledge of which has
generally been deemed necessary
for those pupils who do not ex
pect to take a college course. For
students in the high school who
expect to enter college, such study
would be worse than a waste of
time.
The high schools in their rela
tion to ihe public, must thwefe”e
meet certain requirements, and
in their relation to the colleges,
or to students who are preparing
for college, must meet certain
other requirements. This is one
serious difficulty. If the high
school happens to be under the
control of a principal who does
not properly interpret the rela
tions of secondary and higher ed
ucation, he may endeavor to com
pete with the colleges, or per
suade his students and the com
munity that he can do college
work, or persuade them at least
that there is really no well de
fined difference between college
work and the work he can do.
Such high schools are a detri
ment to higher education, as well
as a positive injury to the educa
tional hopes and prospects of in
dividual students who are beguil
ed unto believing that their edu
cation is indeed complete when
they have taken the course in
such schools. This would be a
case where the teacher, on account
of ignorance and lack of training,
deceives himself and the public.
Do such high schools exist? It
is a case of free lance in the realm
of private high schools, as to
whether the schools shall be call
ed high or higher. Many com
munities and teachers are exceed
ingly reckless in the matter of
names. The diversity of work in
its character and plan is there
fore in the realm of the private
high schools much less uniform
than in the public high schools.
Suppose, however, that the
principal of the high school is
college bred, that he does not
yield too much to public clamor,
that he knows the limitations
of secondary education, that he is
familiar with the college curri
cula, and that he really wishes to
put his school in line with the
colleges and point his pupils
higher, has he any standard from
above to guide him? He has boys
and girls in his finishing class.
Can he find any uniformity of re
quirements for admission to the
college classes in the female col
leges? No. Can he find uniform
ity of requirements for admission
to the freshman classes of the
three leading male institutions in
the State? No. The standard in
the latter case, however, is much
more definite than in the former.
What is he to do therefore? There
can be no such thing as system
in our educational work until the
higher institutions can agree and
offer a standard fixed and definite
to guide the high schools. If the
school is a Baptist school, under
Baptist control and influence, it
can ally itself in curriculum, plan,
spirit and purpose with Mercer’s
curriculum. The chain of in
fluence is then complete. We
can intelligently help them, and
they can intelligently help us.
The general influence of Mercer
University can be thrown to de
veloping and strengthening them
and they in turn can develop and
strengthen Mercer University.
Several most excellent secondary
schools have already done this,
and it is exceedingly desirable to
have others do the same thing.
We know these schools are co
educational, hence the problem is
not entirely solved with them.
They send girls to colleges as well
as boys; and they may now and
then prepare boys for college in
their community who prefer to go
to Emory and the State Universi
ty. If the State University, Em
ory and Mercer had a uniform
standard of entrance require
ments, it would materially aid in
throwing our school work in
Georgia into a system. Such a
movement is on foot. The State
University and Mercer have prac
tically agreed on the same re
quirements for entrance to our
freshman classes. Emory will
most probably,agree.
In the meantime we are proud
of our secondary schools that are
already affiliated with Mercer,
and others that express a desire
to confer with us looking to such
agreement.
I give the names of some of
them. They are excellent in
many ways and it gives me pleas
ure to put them here as our rep
resentatives, as well as the rep
resentatives of an excellent and
progressive educational spirit, in
their sections. If space permit
ted they might be spoken of with
pleasure in a special way, show
ing in detail what work they are
accomplishing under their ex
cellent corps of teachers. John
Gibson Institute, Bowman, Ga.,
Prof. A. E. Keese, principal; Per
ry-Rainey College, Auburn, Ga.,
Prof. J. A. Bagwell, principal;
Houston High School, Arabi, Ga.,
Prof. J. E. Powell, principal;
Bethel College, Cuthbert, Ga.,
Prof. A. J. Clark, principal; High
tower Institute, Cumming, Ga.,
Prof. A. E. Booth, principal; Lo
cust Grove Institute, Locust
Grove, Prof. Y. E. Bargerdn, prin
cipal; Hearn Academy, Cave
Springs, Ga., Prof. J. L. John
ston, principal; New Ebenezer Co
llege, Cochran, Ga., Prof. A. M.
Duggan, principal; Union Insti
tute, Glennville, Ga., Prof. W. N.
Smith, principal;Hephzibah High
School, Hephzibah, Ga., Prof. C.
n. S. Jackson, principal; Ryals
High School, Prof. D. E. Green,
principal; Daniel High School,
Vidalia, Ga., Prof. M. L. Lawson,
principal ;HiawasseeHigh School,
Hiawassee, Ga., Prof. A. B.
Green, principal.
For the Index.
Mercer and Missions.
BY J. D. CHAPMAN, D.D.
Every pastor is supposed to
keep before his people the com
mission of our Lord for evangeliz
ing the world and for this work
they pray and make regular con
tributions of their money. Men
fully equipped for this work are
perhaps more needed than mon
ey. To neglect our means for the
intellectual equipment of these
men would be to defeat the very
end of missionary labor; and yet
has this not been the policy of our
churches towards Mercer? I
think it can be truly said that
Mercer, by her superb intellectual
equipment given to so many min
isters and laymen, has done more
for missions than any other
agency in the State. Our
churches, however, have never
been made to feel the need of
fostering the educational part
VOL 77-NO 1.
of missionary works and for this
reason Mercer has not shared to
any great degree in our regular
contributions, nor fully in our
sympathies and prayers. Nor can
we give any good reason for this
state of affairs? Mercer has an
endowment; yes, tint not ade
quate. If the Foreign Mission
Board had a half million endow
ment we could hardly think of
limiting the scope of the board’s
work by the income from this.
Many years ago Mercer had much
the same endowment that she
has now; then we had a handful
of Baptists, now we are a host.
What was sufficient then is by no
means adequate now. Other like
institutions all around us have
made giant strides, both as to en
dowment and the character and
extent of work done. We must
endow, or as Baptist we will take
a seat very far in the rear.
Again, I think we often err in
supposing that our people possess
a knowledge of Mercer and the
opportunities offered there for
young men. In going over the
State I have found the very oppo
site to be true. In nearly every
community there is perhaps one
man, or more, who attends the
associations and in this way
keeps fairly well posted, but
many have not so much as learn
ed that there is such an institu
tion. A fearful indictment!
Well, we will never remedy the
evil by hiding the facts. People
know more of the boards than
they do of Mercer.
My contention is, that our peo
ple should have a full knowledge
of all alike, and to do this Mercer
must have some place in our
church gatherings for prayers
and gifts. Why not let one or
cer months, during which time the
cer months during which time the
gifts of the church in every de
partment will go in this direc
tion? It will be a time of prayers
for the institution, and if the pas
tor will let him preach one edu
cational sermon during the time;
if not, let him before some one of
his sermons call special attention
to Mercer and to the fact that all
the benevolence of that month
will go towards endowing this
university. This in my own ex
perience has been no loss to the
boards but great gain in many
ways. In this way Mercer be
comes a recognized agency in our
denomination, is entrenched in
the affections of cur people, and
the University day by dav
strengthened for better work.
But this is not all. 'any a young
man with latent power becomes
awakened as to his possibilities
and is started in a career of use
fulness. I know of one church
where in this way five young men
of bright promise were last fall
caused to enter Mercer, most of
whom had hitherto felt that they
could not afford the time or the
money. Now these young men
are all standing either at the
head, or near the head of their
classes. Is not such a result as
tliis worth many such efforts of a
pastor? A pastor’s work is
many-sided and he may elevate
intellectually and physically as
well as spiritually and morally.
But who can estimate the influ
ence of Mercer upon missions? It
was the missionary spirit that
caused it to be established. Our
fathers felt that their young men
were neither trained sufficiently
for home work nor foreign work,
and Mercer was established to
meet this deficiency. So far as
I know, we have had very few
missionaries to go from Mercer
to the foreign field, and this is
to be deplored, but the indirect
influence of Mercer’s training
upon missionary work can never
be estimated. The missionary
spirit in this State, among Bap
tists, began with the growth of
this institution, and I make bold
to say that wherever in the State
Mercer’s influence is most felt
there the boards receive their
greatest support. In whole coun
ties in the northern and southern
portions of the State, where the
woods are literally full of Bap
tists, we receive nothing for mis
sions simply because they have
barricaded their doors against
Mercer's influence. The spirit of
missions has grown in the village
churches along the recently built
railroads in direct proportion as
the spirit of Christian education
has entered them. Mercer, then,
must be endowed and enlarged
till her influence shall reach every
nook and corner of this Empire
State.
Savannah, Ga.
Many conclusive considerations
might be cited in favor of a custom
of church attendance, but perhaps
no prettier phrasing of the true spirit
and motive of worship can be afford
ed than was suggested by the late
Oliver Wendell Holmes, who thus
explained his own habit of regular
church attendance: “ There is a lit
tle plant called Reverence in the
corner of my soul’s garden which I
love to have watered about once a
: week.”