Newspaper Page Text
. 20 . THE
Ecclesiastical
THE MAY APPEAL FOR FOREIGN
MISSIONS.
Dear Friends: First of all, we exlend
to you our congratulations foj- the
splendid progress which yon have made
during the year just closed towards our
goal of a million dollars a year for foreign
missions. The total receipts for
the year were $412,000 and the gain over
last year was over $S8.000. We have
made a ^ain of more than $135,000 since
the Assembly, at Birmingham, adopted
the platform which asks the church to
bring its contributions to the mark of
$1,000,000 at the earliest possible day.
The receipts of the past year would
have totally eliminated the debt wit*
which we began the year, but for the
fact that over $40,000 of the amount
received was designated for new and advance
work, which was not included in
the appropriations for the year.
1. rirsi 01 an, lei us matte a 'iimi uisposition
of the remainder of this debt,
amounting at present to about $2J,000,
by the contributions of the present
month. This can easily be done, and we
are conhdent that it will be done.
2. It has been the earnest desire of
the Executive Committee to have our
treasury placed in a condition thai would
enable us to forward to the missions at
the beginning of each quarter the whole
amount appropriated for the quarter, so
that they may have their funds in hand
when they are due, and may not be subjected
to the inconvenience of borrowing
from foreign banks while waiting for the
appropriations to be sent from our treasury.
May we not hope that this great
need will be provided for by the contributions
of the month of May?
3. More important even than the 'collection
to be taken this month is the
organizatipn of the work according to
the plan proposed in the following resolution
passed by the great Laymen's.
Missionary Conference at Birmingham:
"We recommend the thoroughly organized
canvass of the entire membership of
each church for individual subscriptions
on the weekly basis for the work of
mloninno ??
May not this result be reached long
before the present fiscal year is closed?
We feel assured that the result of such
a canvass carried out in the spirit of
the Birmingham Conference would be a
subscription of not less than a million
dollars for our work. If all the missionary
committees of the Laymen's Movement.
which have been organized, or
shall be organized in the near future,
with the co-operation of the pastors and
the Women's and Young People's Missionary
Societies, set themselves resolutely
to the task, every member of every
church In our Assembly can be reached
llflfhin fhn nnvt oivhr rl o trr.
i> iviijii me iicai niAtj uajo. ouunniir
tion blanks and other literature for making
the canvass will be promptly furnished
on request. Instead of making
these subscriptions to individual special
objects, which would require correspondence
and involve delay, It is suggested
that they be made directly to the Annual
Million Dollar Fund asked for by
the General Assembly, to enable us to
: PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOU!
discharge the whole lesponsibility that
has been devolved upon our church l'j
ist share in the work of world evangelization.
4. We also appeal to those whom Gol
has blessed with large means, that they
consider the calls of this work, which we
believe to be the greatest work in the
world, and give to it after a manner
worthy of the work itself and worthy of
themselves as Christian business men engaged
in dealing with large enterprises,
if you can give $F>,000, or $10,000, or $20,000
to this cause and still nave enough of
this world's goods left in your hands to
provide the comforts of life for yourself
and your family, why not make the gift
at once, for the love of Christ, and trusting
in the promise of God, that you are
at the same time making an investment
frcm which you will receive a hundred
row even tn tnis present lite, as well
as great and unfailing reward in the life
to come? S. H. Chester,
James O. Reavis,
Secretaries.
foreign mission committee
n6tes.
The Executive Committee of Foreign
Missions met at the mission rooms,
Tuesday, April 6.
Prof. C. C. Knight, of Westminster
College, Missouri, was appointed as a
missionary to Brazil. Miss Emma T.
Frve. of Achsah, Va., was also appointed
as a missionary to Brazil. Both of these
are to he sent out when the way is
made clear.
A letter was received from the secretary
of the Union of Evangelical
Churches in Hrnsspls nfforirur the pnnrf
offices of that body in adjusting the relations
between our mission iu Africa
and the authorities of the Congo Inde-'
pendent State. The secretary was instructed
to convey the grateful appreciation
of the committee of this kind offer,
and also to ask the secretary of the
Union to inform the Belgian Colonial
Minister that the committee .would be
glad 'o have him visit Luebo and Ibanj
during his nroposed tour in Africa, and
that instructions would be sent to our
missionaries to afford the Colonial Minister
every opportunity for a satisfactory
investigation of our work.
Rev. Jas. O. Reavis, D. D., made a report
to the committee of his recent visit
to our Cuban mission iollinf of tho in.
spiring opportunities that are opening up
to us more and more in our work in
thut field. The treasurer was instructed
to send $2,000 as a loan to the church
at Cat donas, to meet immediate necessities.
and to be returned by the church
within the next two years.
The secretary reported that Dr. R. P.
liaird, of our North Brazil mission, died
on the train at Jesup, Ga.. of acute gastritis,
on the night of March 9. Also
thai Dr. C. C. Owen, of our Korean mission,
died at Kwangju, of pneumonia, on
Anrtl 4.
Rev. T. A. Wharton, D. D., of Columbia,
Tenn., offered his resignation as a
member of the committee, in view of
his proposed removal to Sherman, Texas.
Dr. Wharton's resignation was accepted,
and the secretary was instructed to express
to him the deep regret of the com
'H. /*pril 14, 1909.
mil tee 011 account of his lemoval, and
a sincere expression of our appreciation
of the faith! ulnes? and value of the services
rendered by him as a member of
the committee. Mr. Andrew Dale, a member
of the First Presbyterian church of
Columbia, Teuu., was elected by the
committee lo fill the unexpired term of
Dr. Wharton.
The treasurer's report announced receipts
for the month of March of $98,295.55,
a gain over the receipts of March,
1908, of $40,643.41.
Receipts for the fiscal year were $112,156
63, a gain over the year ending
March 31. 1908, or $88,277.99.
Nashville, Tenn. S. H. Chester, Sec.
DR. PATTON AT THE UMivrociTv
OF NORTH CAROLINA.
By Rev. LeRoy Gresham.
The unusual privilege enjoyed during
the week just gone by the faculty and
students of the University of North
Carolina, and the citizens of Chapel Hill,
was that of listening to Dr. Francis L.
Pat ton of Princeton. Dr. Patton came
as the guest of the University, to
deliver the annual lectures on the
McNair Foundation. This Foundation
calls for a series of three lectures on
3omo subject bearing upon the defense
of the Christian faith. In the present
instance, however, the lecturer, upon too
joint request of the pastors of the town
of all denominations, after finishing the .
regular series on Saturday night remained
over Sunday to deliver a fourth
lecture, and incidentally to preach in the
Presbyterian Church on Sunday morning
a notable sermon on sin.
The four lectures were upon the
general subject, of authority in religion,
the specific titles being, in order: the
Authority of the Hible, the authority of
the Church, the authority of Christ, and
the authority of the reason. Apart from
the fact that the teetni-ec u~
.?Vvv>tv? ?M- IU UC
published later under the auspices of
the University, it would be quite useless
for the causal hearer to attempt even a
synopsis. Brief indications as to their
content must suffice.
With regard to the authority of the
Bible, the lecturer, while approaching
the subject through the modern
Inductive - rather than through the timehonored
a priori method, nevertheless
arrived at a view which was to all intents
and purposes indistinguishable
from what we have been taught to call
plenary inspiration. Rut the change of
method comes as a distinct boon to many
in these days. For it is useless to deny
that there have been those among us
who, with minds naturally inclined
through scientific training to inductive
rather than deductive reasoning, have
found a genuine difficulty in dealing with
the doctrine of inspiration, not indeed
in the doctrine itself but rather in the
strictly a priori and even ex cathedra
terms in which that doctrine has so
onen been couched.
Treating of the authority of the "Church
Dr. Patton did not mince words in saying
that what authority it had. or
assumed to have, rested ultimately upon
the authority of the Bible.
The lecture upon the authority of
Christ was perhaps the profoundest of
the series. It was, in effect, an answer