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January 20, 1909. THE PRESBYTERI^ THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER. In a recent issue of The Central Presbyterian, by an oversight, there appeared a partial prospectus of a daily paper announcing special Sunday features for the year. It is needless to say that we are not favorable to the Sunday newspaper, and are not disposed to favor its circulation. In some secular journals there are some articles suitable for Sunday reading, but the great mass of the contents of the Sunday paper is at best of purely secular interest, and much of it is ok questionable moral influence. The evils nf ^hikIdv in,," 1 1 ? - wv...viu^ jvviiiiausiu ait iilcUUlUlU, cl TIC I some of them of an indirect or reflex nature. The working of employes in printing shops, the distribution and circulation of papers on the day of rest, and the deliberate profanation of the day for the sake of getting gain, purely as a business proposition, are clear violations of divine law, and in many cases of the statutes of the State. The issue of special Sunday editions and the running of special Sunday mail trains indicate the gigantic proportions that this particular form of Sabhath secularization has assumed. From the purely Christian standpoint the evil is aggravated, multiform and alarming. It is a formidable barrier to the progress of Christian thought and activity. All over our land there are multitudes of homes in t- i ? * vvuii.il pcrsuiis wno nave Deen trained to reverence the Lord's day and the ordinances and institutions of the Church, entertain themselves with the morning paper, while public worship is in progress in the churches. Attendance on public worship is diminished, and the very element of the people who need the Gospel most are withheld from its influences. There are others who read the paper through and then hurriedly, and with little serious thought, resort to the place of public worship their minds preoccupied'with sensational or purely secular themes, and practically impervious to spiritual truths. Such persons refuse to give their souls a fair chance to be "nourished in the words of faith and of good doctrine." Robust character cannot he develnnerl whero secular affairs monopolize the thought throughout the seven clays of the week... A man with Christian convictions should shun the secularization of the Lord's day as he would flee from a pestilence. As he loves his family, the peace and purity of his home, the integrity and nobleness of his children, their reverence for sacred things, their maintaining a pure and enlightened conscience, their culture in the refinements of life, their moral excellence and beauty, their growth in spiritual symmetry and strength, he should guard well their privilege of hallowing the Lord's day and cherishing the day as an inestimable heritage that must not be taken from them. To cope with the acpressirm^ of the ^nnrlav n#urc. OO" "" ** paper is a problem that challenges the best, most prayerful effort of the Church in these modern times. That it is one of the established institutions of the age does not relieve its menace nor the magnitude of its injury. If we are to approximate Scriptural standards of spiritual life, we must approximate Scriptural standards of keeping his day "holy unto the Lord." lN OF THE SOUTH. 5 NOTES IN PASSING. By Bert. The Divine origin of the Bible can be settled in many ways that arc satisfactory to the believer, there is one argument, however, which seems to be sufficient, that is, its forehanded meeting of emergencies. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man" is a plain word, and plainly teaches that all present troubles have been already foreseen and provided for. If you will fully equip yourself with the facts of Scrip ture you will in the lives of men who lived and acted their parts long ago he able to reconstruct your own ; and if you will largely drink in the inspiration of Scripture you will find always at hand an antidote for every poison sin may instill into the heart. "That which is to be hath already been." The present day problems have long since been solved and the answer as big as infinity lies before you. If God calls you to give up something that you greatly love to or for him. you are standing with Abraham on Mount Moriah with your Isaac on the altar. You can judge what yielding or withholding means by the act of the patriarch. When wordly honor or Christ's cause is the stake, place Daniel before vnn anrl iiw1or/? tmuroolf l>? 1- ?- A?J ? J _ ? jruuiat.11 11} 111111. ,1-UlU SU 11 goes J your life has already been lived as it should have been, you have only to follow copy. The world cannot receive the Spirit of Truth "because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him." In order to see clearly there must be appropriate organs of sight, and these must be in the best condition. A blind man cannot see anything, a man with two eyes can see only imperfectly if his eyes be imperfect. You cannot dis unguisn any particular color it you look through glasses of that color. Neither can a heart in love with sin understand the riches of the Spirit's gifts or the inspiration of his presence. And yet the heart can feel its need of something to bring it into contact with the heavens. If any man will do himself the justice to acknowledge to God this need and will call upon the Spirit to open his blind eyes, he will become a living witness to the truth that miracles are not yet ended. Probably the most appalling loss of life from earthquake shocks in historv is to be charged arrainst recent catastrophe in Sicily and the southern portion of Italy. Considerably over one hundred thousand persons are believed to have perished. The shore line has been SO chanced as tr> nnrprnomi^ahlp nnrl if ic c^i/4 the depth of the straits of Messina has been reduced several hundred feet. The whole civilized world was shocked at the disaster, but what counts for more, the whole civilized world is coming to the relief of the stricken t land. The ready and abundant expressions of practical sympathy from near and far are a wholesome evidence that the great heart of humanity beats true. There is much that is sordid and unlovely about us, much that we would be richer without, at the same time the spark of Divine fire, our original birthright, has not yet ceased to burn.