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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