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March 24, 1909. THE PRESBYTER
PRINCE AND PAUPER.
The Bread Line is a pathetic reality in New York city,
and doubtless has its parallels in numerous other great
cities of our land. Twenty-five hundred men, gaunt
looking, half starved, half clad, crowd about the entrance
to the Bowery Mission at the uncanny hour of
one o'clock every night to receive the morsels of food
that may be portioned out to them?the contribution
that public charity makes to aid them in keeping ?oul
ana Doay togetner. l ney are described as heedless of
the biting, wintry winds, careless of snow and sleet,
huddling together for warmth and carrying a bit of
board or sacking on which to stand while waiting for
the line to move by slow stages up to the counters where
the simple fare is dispensed. Early in the night the line
begins to form and not until toward the morning hours
has it entirely vanished. The beholder cannot fail to
notice their shivering, shrunken bodies, their hollow
eyes staring from pallid faces, their anxious look as they
glare into the mission rooms, fearful that the last loaf
may be gone before they can be supplied.
These are men out of work, and they are in the first
oidgcs oi starvation; uniortunate they are, probably
suffering1 because of their own sins in many cases, but
our fellow-beings. Each was once a mother's pride and
later in the flush of youth was lured by prospects of a
bright, prosperous future. But strange things come
into one's life unawares. Sometimes fortune smiles
(where its favor was little dreamed of and sometimes
fortune takes its flight'where it was thought to be most
secure.
It is not always the fault of the man who is down
fin U ? ' " ? b ' ' * * " * *
I i..at tic isn i ianng better in life. It is the fault of no
one. In the shifting confusion of human affairs, the
emerging of conditions that none could foresee, it comes
to pass that many a manly heart is stricken and brought
low; feet firmly planted have their foundations swept
away, and the armor is stripped from the most vigilant
and brave.
In the same city are the mansions of the rich, more
elaborate in their appointment than the palaces of patricians
amidst the most advanced luxuriousness of ancient
Rome. The pauper and the money-magnate are neighbors
and fellow-citizens in the metropolis of our great
republic. What contrasted esfates are the heritage of
brethren!
"Whose fault is it?" may be inquired. The fault of
none and the fault of all. Society is abnormally constructed;
trade, citizenship, human conventionalities
are on a wrong basis. They are of the earth earthy.
As long as they are man-made they will be so. "All
seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ."
Men will go on with their humane societies, and this
m is well, but not until the compassionate Spirit o ins
possesses the souls of men, will there ever be a genuine
and effective fraternity. The power that brougit a
Saviour to a lost race must be the power that wi wor
mightily and triumphantly for the recovery of^ t le race
from the bondage and consequences of sin. No love is
deep and abiding enough to go after that which is ost
until he find it, except the love shed abroad in the eart
\l~"?
[AN OF THK SOUTH. 5
stooping- to dispense momentary comforts to the comfortless
will not heal the world's wounds. You cannot
quench Vesuvius with teaspoons of water. The rivers
of divine love must overflow the conflagrations of earth.
Then let us give the gospel of dying love and living
power to a stricken world. Let us pcJssess that gospel
and the faith which if incnircc TU..O ....11 -
NOTES ON THE COUNCIL.
Dr. Searle and Dr. Shaw did fine preaching, sound,,
earnest, practical and helpful.
The members all enjoyed their entertainment in the
hospitable homes of the people.
Dr. Alexander made an ideal host, and his introductions,
albeit a little fulsome, were taking and most sincere.
Dr. Roberts paid a fine tribute to the Southern
Church, in his response to the welcome to New Orleans.
When the discussion on Colored Evangelization was
liveliest, the one black preacher, in the rear seat, was
peacefully slumbering.
The Northern and Southern Churches really make
up the council. Outside of tTieir delegations there were
only three members.
Fewer than half of the members were present. Eleven
of the Southern Church's twelve, and fifteen of the
Northern Church's thirty-one, were on hand.
The Kentucky Synod's attitude towards denominational
institutions and the Carnegie Pension Fund was
strongly reflected in Dr. Lyons' speech.
Each of the churches supplied by the members orr
Sunday insists that it had the best sermon of all. The
old truths were taught and no uncertain gospel
preached.
The impression was constantly made that the council
can do very little. Everything of an executive native
must be referred to the original bodies appointing
it.
One morning paper, alluding to the "after dinner"
c? rv/i if f Un 1 tmiU aam J 1? ? ? 5?1- " * 1
al mv. 1U111.11EU11, citucu iiicm ungm, .anorner
put it "light." Was there only bad proof-reading here?
The council voted a good "honorarium" to the sexton.
The hard work of this man, upon whose activity the
comfort of a body depends so greatly, is usually little
appreciated by the church courts.
Dr. Roberts, of Philadelphia, perceptibly "bridled" at
the suggestion that perhaps the recent Church Federation
meeting in Philadelphia might have been "stampeded"
by the introduction of some of our Reformed
Church's general principles.
"The Westminster" is troubled herauce afrjnorompnf
was made for an "escort of honor" for President Taft
composed of the handsomest men that could be gathered.
Is this a phase of the new doctrine of "femininity""
which is thrusting itself into everything? The "feminine"
in the Bible has been for a long time a fancy of
the critics. Not long ago we saw articles on the
"feminine" in Paul, and the "feminine" in Moses. Why
not select men by their looks, not by their courage, or
strength, or good deeds?
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