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6 THE PRESBYTERIA
the Lord shall raise him up." Paul attributes the healing
of Epaphroditus, his brother and companion in
labor, and fellow-soldier, to God's particular blessing.
"For indeed he was sick, nigh unto death, but God had
mercy on him ; and not on him only, but on me also,
lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow." The Psalmist
blessed the Lord not only as the one who forgave all
his iniquities, but who healed all his diseases.
There can be no doubt that the doctrine of healing
in answer to prayer has been much abused, but there
has been far less of error ami r\( intm-.*
~..v. v^m I ..Ijiu > 11 v i v mail in
the cold, calculating rationalism that excludes the Divine
presence from the most cherished interests and
most sacred relationships of life: and \vc are in far less
danger of harm to the Church from this doctrine of
healing than we are of unbelief in excluding the intervention
of our Heavenly Father from the most sacred
interests of our earthly life.
DEATH OF DR. THEODORE L. CUYLER.
The venerable Dr. Theodore L. Cuyler came to the
earthly close of a life of eminent and extensive usefulness,
in the Christian ministry on Friday night, February
26, in his eighty-seventh year. He had been ill
but a few days, and died of debility due to old acre.
He was a native of Aurora. New York of both Dutch
and Huguenot ancestry. He was a typical Princeton
man, being a graduate both of the College and of the
Seminary.
From 1846 until 1890 he had pastorates in Trenton.
N. J., in New York City and in Brooklyn, and there
was given him more than fifty years of pulpit service,
sound, evanrrplirnl fpr\T>nt- on/-i - '
... _ , ... ,v..v M..U it in 11 ui 111 a i<ngc measure.
His ministry for thirty years in the. Lafayette
Avenue Church, in Brooklyn, was especially memorable
with the many seasons of large ingatherings.
But Dr. Cuyler was especially and richly blessed in
the ministry of his pen, in all the later years of his
long life. We do not know of another Christian minister
to whom it was given as to Dr. Cuyler to continue
so remarkably the freshness of his mind in the
production of a literature, so full of acceptable and
effective service to his fellow men. He was the author
of fifteen or more books on religious subjects and
of about seventy tracts. He has contributed to papers
and magazines articles of a religious, evangelical and
devotional kind, which are said to number more than
four thousand. Many of these articles appeared in
the weekly papers of all the Protestant Churches and
have been translated into a number of the languages
of Europe.
Avoiding controversy and denominational differences
his pen has carried the truth and grace of Christ into
every part of this and other lands. In later years he
wisely also avoided all sectional and political differences
and thereby immensely widened his great field
of usefulness.
A few years ago, Dr. Cuyler published his "Recollections
of a Long Life" in which he described his associations
and conversations with the leading men of
the world of all classes through, a half century. He
knew Carlyle and Spurgeon, and Gladstone and Stan
>N OF THE SOUTH. March 3, 1909.
ley in England and in his own country he knew Webster
and Greeley and Lincoln and many others.
On the occasion of the opening of the new building
of Union Theological Seminary at Richmond in 1898,
lie made an address that was most appropriate as it
was bright and memorable, in which lie wittily said
that the errors and vagaries of the New Theology and
Modern Bible criticism had been so little felt in Union
Seminary that "they had not rattled a window pane."
Dear old I)r. Cuyler. he had some vagaries of his own
but they were loosening their hold upon him and the
love 01 Liod in ins heart was warming liini more and
more toward all men. J. P. S.
SEVERAL REASONS.
By Rev. J. G. Snedecor, LL. D.
There are several reasons for supporting our missions
among the negroes, which seem to have been
overlooked by our people generally.
I. The worse the negro grows the more he needs
our moral help. People who use the negro's badness
as an excuse for not giving to this cause have gotten
their religious convfttions into a topsy turvey shape.
The greater his need the more certain our duty. "I
came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."
2. The command of our Lord to love our neighbors
as ourselves had no exceptions annexed to it. Not only
so, but our Lord set us an example by including in his
ministry of helpfulness, the very class to which the
negro has been consigned?the social outcast." Not
only so, but with wise foresight, he teaches that racial
lines cannot be used as an excuse for not obeying the
second great commandment. The Jew refusing to help
a poor unfortunate of his own race is held up to scorn;
while the ^niriariton : 1 '
? ivnu ^idnuiy ignored tne hatred
of his people to the Jew, is held up for our imitation.
Are we imitating the good Samaritan in our treatment
of the negro?
3. The inconsistency of our hands-off policy in this
matter would he ludicrous if it were not so sad. The
appeal that ignorance and superstition makes to our
missinnnrv 1 fA e~: * "'
j me iT.un:an in me uongo Free
State is no stronger or more urgent than the same appeal
from the African in America. Indeed the fact that
the American negro has lived so long in contact with
our Christian civilization without being more thoroughly
changed thereby, is the most fearful indictment
that could be framed against our religion.
4. Whether we will or not, the negro is being educated
and is developing certain traits of character.
How fatuous and futile is our criticism of these traits,
and the methods that are producing them, when we
have nothing to offer but criticism. We claim with
some justice that the present methods in negro education
arc lacking in those natural and sane elements
that would fit the negro for his present life in the south.
Wo claim with entnfl 1 e 0
? nuui me must iunaamentai ot
educational mistakes is being committed by those
whose judgment is being warped by sentiment, and
that the negro is being unfitted for his environment.
Very good; but when the nobler spirits of our South