Macon-Talladega County AlArchives News.....A Virginia Letter July 11 1872
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Linda Blum-Barton http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00003.html#0000645 November 3, 2004, 10:41 pm

The Christian Index.
Many pleasant acquaintances were formed during a brief sojourn in Alabama some 
years since.  Never shall I forget the kindness, especially of Judge Mason, of 
Tuskegee, Reynolds, of Talladega, Judge Chilton, and Gov. Shorter.  And now, 
one after another, within a few years, all of them are gone from earth.  All of 
them were men beloved, gifted, godly, and who could ill be spared by their 
families, their State, their churches. -- But He who loved the, and who is 
doing all things well and wisely, has taken them to Himself.  They are 
perfectly satisfied with what Jesus has done, and would not have it otherwise.  
The last to go was John Gill Shorter.  What a beautiful character, and what a 
life was his!  The account of his last days stirred my soul, and whilst 
saddened at the thought that such a man had left us, I rejoiced to think of his 
crown and thanked God for the testimony his servant was permitted to give to 
the sustaining power of the Gospel, the sufficiency of the atonement for every 
need of a sinner.  Thus God is calling His people home.  When they have for a 
time done and suffered His righteous will here, He, having provided some better 
thing for them, calls them to be with Him, that they may behold His glory, and 
enjoy the pleasures which are at His right hand.  Let those of us who are left, 
follow these departed worthies as they followed Christ, and work for the Master 
while we may.
Many of your readers will be glad to know that the Lord has continued to bless 
His people at this place.  Through the Church has suffered heavily during the 
past year, in the loss of some of its most valued and efficient members, those 
who are left have seemed disposed to rally together more than ever, and some 
have come "from without" to journey with us to the "better country."  Every 
year for seven years past, we have been favored with seasons of refreshing.  It 
may be interesting to some to know that our house of worship stands on the spot 
where once stood the famous old jail, in which Ireland and other Baptist 
preachers were once confined, for the crime of preaching "the glorious Gospel 
of the blessed God."  The part borne by Baptists in the great struggles of the 
past for "soul liberty," religious freedom, is beginning to attract attention.  
What astonishing ignorance there is upon this subject, even among our own 
people!  How little do the great multitude of Baptists know of their glorious 
past!  What a pity that any of them should go through life as though 
apologizing for existence, and hoping that no one will think hardly of them for 
daring to be in the world.
Last week was quite an interesting time among the Baptists of Richmond.  The 
society celebrations, the Alumni dinner, the Alumni Society meeting, laying of 
the corner stone of new building, and the Commencement exercises, all of 
Richmond College, occupied several days, and brought together quite a number 
from a distance.  As your Richmond correspondent will probably give you 
accounts of these pleasant occurrences, I will not go into details concerning 
them, and will only say that the occasion furnished opportunity for a pleasant 
and profitable reunion of quite a number of our preachers from different 
portions of the State.
Permit me in closing to congratulate you on the Index, and to tell you that its 
visits are highly appreciated.  More anon.
J. B. Taylor, Jr.
Culpeper C. H., Va.  July 1.



Additional Comments:
The Christian Index.
The Union of 
South-Western Baptist, of Alabama          The Christian Herald, of 
Tennessee.     
Vol. 51 -- No. 27     Franklin Printing House, Atlanta, Ga., Thursday, July 11, 
1872.    Whole No. 2627.


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