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March 31, 1909. Tilt
would be the foulest blot on our fair
name if this great conception of a loving
heart should fail. No other great cause
of our Church spends as small a sum -on
its office expenses and administration
as this. If there have been failures in
the past to realize highest ideals of
litisineas surppsc nil ihot r\f
10 vi iuc pasi.
Today the business management of this
institution is of the best. Sound, conservative,
wise, and far-seeing in even
the smallest detail. Let us rally to the
support of our Greatheart in his noble
work.
"Sky Pilot."
WHAT DOES IT PROVE AS TO MODE?
This Presbyterian pastor was specially
called to visit a Baptist family, where
there was an invalid, who was not a
Christian.
The invalid is a young lady of twentyone
years of age and in the last stage
of consumption.
On the pastor's first visit "he preached
unto her Jesus" and her duty to him
and her soul. He found her densely ignorant,
but anxious to hear and learn,
and she was not long in coming to a
clear decision and, whai seemed to him,
a true conversion.
Not wishing to take any advantage of
her Baptist people, she was asked to
join the Baptist church, and. she replied
that that was her wish.
"Do you wish to be immersed," she
was asked. "Yes." "Do you think the
Doctor will consent to that?" "Yes, 1
hope so."
Quite convinced that the doctor
would not give his consent, the pastor
proposed to see him and ask his opinion.
To save disappointment and further-anxiety.
he Said! "Tt in mv r\r\lT\lnr.
.. ? J V|/auivu vuat
the doctor will not agree for you to
be immersed. In case he does not, I
will see the Baptist minister and ask
him if he will agree to sprinkle, and
if he refuses, I will do it for him and
lie can take you into his church that
way." This was agreed upon. The doctor
and the Baptist minister were seen
that morning. The doctor said it would
be impossible to immerse her, in her
physical condition, and the minister said
It would be likewise impossible to receive
her in her unbaptized condition,
for it was under the water, or, 110 baptism
with him. "More than that," said
he. "Our church is a congregational
church and members are only received
by a vote of congregations assembled.
So, tell her, for me, I advise her to go
to your church."
To this, she agreed, and was duly received
by the Session.
Now, the Baptist Church, in common
with the Presbyterian Church, teaches
that baptism is necessary to obedience
and obedience to salvation, both malting
allowance for impossibilities which
may arise, and thus rely upon what
our Episcopalian friends call "the uncovenanted
mercies" of God.
Rut, as in this case, do not these
same Baptists enlarge these impossibilities
unduly and thus lay upon us burdens
not warranted by the Scriptures,
and bring us again into bondage? It
does seem so.
To an unbiased mind, and one appr?L
IE PRESBY^^TAN OF THE SOU'.
dating fully this glorious fact: "He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered
Hini up for us all, how shall He not
also with Hini freely give us all things''"
the simpler mode and the one more
easily adapted to all circumstances, so
loig as there is life and a conscious disposing
mind and consent, certainly has
reasonable preference, to say nothing of
any textual proofs.
RICHES IN POVERTY.
By Rev. R. D. Carmichael.
In the Revelation of Saint .John we
have some account of the church at
Smyrna from the viewpoint of the Master.
The story is short ar.d simple.
Nothing is said of achievements. No
complex ethical state is set before us.
Itc hictnrv t" -
j ?o muicu 111 I WO WOrUS
tribulation and poverty. It had a solitary
call, and that was to fidelity in
the midst of suffering. Of the church
there this much is recorded?it was persecuted
by the Jews. It had no social
influence and power with the help which
these may render. It had no earthly
comforts to soften its hardships. And
the conflict was to wax sorer. But the
sufferings of this insignificant church
have a dignity of their own. That church
exists till the present day. Unrelenting
hostility was its early experience, but
eternal victory is its reward. The light
of the Gospel has never gone out in
Smyrna.
Jesus coming to them with blessings .
comes with striking representations of
himself. He announces to the little band
of faithful worshippers that "the First
and the Last" is speaking to them. We
cannot number the ages backward to
that first. Over what centuries we must
pass to reach the last I know not; in
the universal administration-of love there
will be no "It is finished." Moreover He
reminded them that He is also the one
"who was dead and lived again." The
counsels of eternity are epitomised in
the three words, "I was dead"; the problem
over which the ages have been in
perplexity is solved jy the two words,
"lived again." The power and vitality
of the church center about the cross of
Christ; but this has been made possible
by the empty tomb which was disPnVPTPfl
*hrpp rlovo nffnt. *?4
? ?? uujo unci. i nc gieuitisi
argument Christianity has to offer is
insinuated in the words, "Come, see the
plafce where the Lord lay."
Would you think that such a Master
would speak only to the high? But He
comes to Smyrna, though the church is
in sorrow and poverty-stricken. Though
He cannot commend them for good
works actually accomplished, yet will
He bring a message of encouragement.
He reminds the poverty-stricken ones
that they, are rich. You will find the
whole messaee in the second chanter of
the Revelation. Do you notice that His
reminder of the'r riches is thrown in n
parenthesis? A volume in the little sentence
cut off by itself, a gem in a dark
setting, a garden in a wilderness, a song
of hope mingling with the night-winds
of despair?such are some of the figures
by which you may see the many-sided
beauty of His timely reminder. .
A good man is heir to a vast estate;
shall I not leave it to you to estimate
* "f
rH. 17
the vastness and value of that estate?
But he is rich in the present also. There
is no proportion between wealth and
happiness, nor between wealth and nobleness.
The fairest life which this
earth has ever known was that of a
poor man, and with aS its beauty it
moved within the limits of narrow resources.
"The fairest blossoms do not
grow on greedy plants which plunge their
roots into the fattest soils." A little
dirt ill the crack of a rifted rock is
sufficient to produce the beautiful violet.
The little church at Smyrna did not
know how rich it was. It was rich in
faith because it was justified by faith.
It was rich toward God?not laying up
treasure for itself, but serving God. And
it was rich in the time to come. It
was their poverty which made them
rich; for it gave firmness to their grasp
and reality to their possession of Christ.
Self-complacency was entirely shattered.
They knew that they were dependent
on Christ and the discovery was thdir
greatest blessing. In him they had
enough for their needs. He called them
to be faithful and they were faithful.
In their narrow sphere they had
enough discipline for the eternal future
immeasurable in extent and stupendous
in possibility. This life is a short time
to prepare for all of it, but one who
has learned dependence on the Master
is not in danger. It is as if Jesus were
saying: "Go on; do noi fret as though
you were forgotten, but endure as those
who will be surely rewarded. Do not
look down at difficulties, but up at the
power of God. Be not dismayed by variations
of feeling, but stand loyal to
obedience. Heaven is around you; God
is above and within you?be not deceived
by the scepticism of the eye, but
be informed by the vision of faith, and
your victory will be your reward."
Oxford. Ala.
Ninth Council qf the World Alliance:
The ninth Council cf the "Alliance of the
Reformed Churches throughout the
world holding the Presbyterian System,"
will be held in New York City,* June
15-25, 1909. The business sessions will
be held in the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian
Church, corner 55th street. This
Council will represent in one body more
than eighty Presbyterian national and
denominational churches, found on all
the five continents, and a constituency of
flhon*
?m.iiy minions or persons. The
chairman of the Committee of arrangements.
is Rev. D. J. Rurrell, D. D., No.
1 W. 29th stieet, and the secretary.
Rev. J. Ross Stevenson. D. D., No. 7 W.
55th street New York Oity. For the
Alliance, William H. Roberts, American
secretary, 515 Witherspoon Building,
Philadelphia, Pa.
The Evangelistic Committee of New
York City intends to enlarere the
of its work during the coming season
to include not only services in tents,
shops, parks, and streets, as during the
last four summers, but to hold meetings
also on docks, in forts, prisons,
and hospitals, conducted in English or
in foreign languages adapted to the
various locations. The grand opening
rally will be held in Carnegie Hall