Newspaper Page Text
February 17, 1909. TH
show appreciation of their liberality towards
a work which is as much yours
as theirs?
Yes, my friends, the seminary is in
want. It Is in want of MONEY, whicn
you are occupying as the Lord's stewards.
A. C. Hopkins.
Charlestown, W. Va.
OFFERING.
By Bertha G. Crozier.Dear
Lord, I come to Thee with empty
hands.
No gift I bring.
So busy was I. that there seemed no time
For garnering.
To one athirst beside me T.<erd, I gave
The cup I ocre.
And to a weary comrade lent the strength
He needed sore.
A little ttender child, in tears afraid,
Clung close to me.
And him I carried. So to glean, my
hands
nr? e
hcic never nee.
Dear Lord, ashamed I hide my face! I
came
Through golden lands
And yet, at last, can enly offer Thee
My weary hands!
?Harper's Monthly.
INFANT SALVATION AND OUR CONFESSION.
Shall we Amend or Put any Foot Notes to
the Confession of Faith?,
I have been very much interested in a
Qprloc r\ f orHnloo In T'limKaxlnn,!
Presbyterian Banner" on the atonement.
One reason has been the fact that we are
scon to say if any changes shall be made
to our old book. I have read these articles
carefully, and this has made me feel
and believe, more earnestly than ever,
that we need no changes of any kind in
our grand old Confession. You will find
just as much objection to the language
of the Bible as to that of the Confession
of Faith.
I remember an incident that occurred
when I was a young man preaching in
Alabama. During a meeting in a neighboring
congregation a gentleman quite
Hiuiuiiieiii ana inuueniiai made a profession
of religion. A minister of a different
church was anxious to have him
unite with his church. In order to show
him the hard doctrines of Calvin he gave
him one of our Confessions of Faith, asking
him to read it carefully. After he
had read It, the brother who gave It to
him asked him what he thought of it.
The answer was, he did not have near
as much trouble with the coarse print as
with the fine. The result was he joined
the Presbyterian Church; notwithstanding
the fact that he had not been raised
under the influences of that Church.
My candid conviction is, that the great
trouble is, that, as a rule the distinctive
doctrines of our Church, the very thing
needed at this time, are not preached as
they should be. We need more of Paul's
preaching. I think the history of the
Church will prove that the great revivals
in the past have been when these
grand old doctrines have been clearly and
[E PRESBAN OF THE SOU
bold'y proclaimed. How about the Reformation
under the old reformers. Luther,
Calvin and Knox, with many others?
Hew about that which swept over the
country following the preaching of Edwards?
I wish to call attention to an editorial
in the "Cumberland Presbyterian Banner"
of October 9, last, in which the editor
calls attention to the fact that Dr. Chadwick
teaches that there is a difference between
olood shed" and "blood applied."
His teaching is that "blood shed" Is for
the inherent perversity of nature, "blood
applied" for nersonal transerpsKinn rin
makes "shed blood" take away original
sin. "Applied blood" personal transgrssion.
If that he true, does it not necessarily
follow that all infants are born in
a state of grace? None of the race, infant
cr adult, can be saved except in consequence
of Christ's work of atonement,
which fs all a work of rich, free, unbounded
grace. If infants are saved (and
this is what he is trying to prove), a doctrine
I surely believe and our
Church teaches, their salvation is
by grace, and their sweet voices
will be heard singing the glories and
wonders of redemption by the blood cf
the Lamb. All the redeemed of every
age, and tongue and tribe will unite in
the one song of redeeming love.
I would like to ask if blood shed and
not applied can be of any benefit in any
case? How about the blood of the- Paschal
Lamb, when the Passover was instituted?
If the blood was shed, but not
applied to the door-posts and lintels as directed,
would there have been any escape
for those in the house?
I wish to call attention to another statemftn
t nf Fir FhnHurlnlr In V* c* nannr /X# An
tober 30,. "Is not saving faith, or the faith
by which we are justified, the gift of
God? By no means. The grace, justification,
salvation, all the means, light and
suasion, the enabling ability, all, all are
the gifts of God. But the faith that lays
hold on eternal life is the simple and exclusive
act of man."
I would like to see how the good brother
can reconcile the two phrases, "The
enabling ability" and the "simple and
exclusive act of man."
He says further: "But some one may
ask, does not the following text affirm
that faith is the gift of God, namely, 'By
grace are ye saved through faith and that
nnt rtf vnnronlvoe if In f ??1 '
Mw? w? ^wUtBClVWO, AC AO LUC 511L UI UUU :
We answer no! He says the gift is not
faith, but salvation. I ask, if salvation
does not include faith, what does it include?
Can there be any salvation without
faith? Paul said, "Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved."
I fear the good brother in his effort to
get rid of the grand old doctrine as
taught in the old Confession of Faith, has
fallen from grace.
I am fully persuaded that in these days,
when there appears to he a tendency to
laxity of doctrine, the closer we stick to
our grand old book, just as it is, the better
will it be for the Church we love so
dearly, that has always stood for sound
doctrine, and contend earnestly for the
faith once delivered to the saints.
W. W. M.
Statesvllle, N. C.
i'f
fTH. 15
SECRETARY ROOT AND THE CONGO.
Secretary Root retires from the cabinet
to enter the senate, having, as we
believe, accomplished more for the peace
of the world than any man of his time.
There are to his credit about ninety different
treaties, all of them having as a
leading feature the removal of causes
...lEinauuiiai iMcnoii ana me subslitution
of arbitration for all other means
of settling international disputes. At
the same time he has always taken a
manly and lecided stand in cases where
the rights of our citizens in foreign
lands were in question or where ireuty
rights respecting our foreign missionary
work weie concerned. He has also shown
himself the friend of the oppressed in
ail lands, as was so markedly the ease
with his distinguished and lamented predecessor.
Acroiding to our judgment and our
feeling both, no act of his great career
. as seeretar> of state does him more honor
or more entitles him to the gratitude
of the African race and of those wh t are
interested In their welfare than the one
just made public, in whicn he lays down
11fe following as condition- precedent to
any recognition by our government of
the trnnsier of the sovereignty from King
Leopold to Belgium of the Congo Independent
State. We quote from the Washington
Pest of January 2'.):
"Baron Moncheur, on November 4 last,
rent Secretary Root a note informing hiin
of the acquisition ot the Congo Free
State by Belgium, and stating that the
I-.elgium government would 'iimmniiu i?.
sue exequaturs to consular otlioera of the
governments which request: it.'"
Root's Pive Demands.
"Secretary Root senT. a reply on January
11, in which he voiced five principal
demands, as followsA
specific assurance from Belgium that
she will respect the Brussels act of 1890,
of which (he United States is a full
signatory, and espec'aiiv article 15. as
quoted, providing for humane treatment
of the na.lves.
nuui.nuj ui Lne laoor '.ax.
Restoration to the natives of land formerly
held by them according to native
communal customs.
'Institution of the freedom of trade
guaranteed by the treaty of 1891 betwenn
the United States and the CoDgo.
An agreement to submit to arbitration
economical and commercial questions
which shall prove especially diflicult of
settlement otherwise.
Victory for Reformers.
Secretary Daniels of the Congfr Reform
Association, said:
"Our association regards the State Department's
note to Belgium as the most
important victory yet won. The position
taken by Mr. Root is essentially
identical with that taken by Sir Edward
Grey. Face to face wth the demands
of the United States and nroof
Belgium must either accede to them or
force such action that an international
conference may result."
It is one thing to know how to give,
and another thing not to know how to
keep.?Seneca.