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. 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