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December 29, 1909. THE PRESBYTERIAN
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"UNTIL HE FIND."?Luke 15:4.
By Anna Temple.
O tender shepherd! climbing rugged mountains
And wading waters deep,
How long wouldst thou be willing to go homeless
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"I count no time," the shepherd gently answered,
"As thou dost count ana bind ,
The days In weeks, the weeks In months; my counting
Is just?until I find."
"And that would be the limit of my journey.
I'd cross the waters deep,
And climb the hillsides with unfailing patience.
Until I found my sheep."
Bryn Mawr, Pa.
WHY I AM A PRESBYTERIAN.
By Rev. Henry W. Burwell.
To be a Presbyterian, with the emphasis on "be,"
places the individual in no mean position before the
world. The hand that holds aloft that blue banner before
a perishing humanity, if it is true to its sacred
trust, is the hand that, in the wise providence of God,
is capable of bringing more real blessedness to the
world than any other hand, unless that other hand
also raises the ensign of Presbyterianism. Such a
statement as this could only be the product of inexcusable
conceit unless it were the setting forth of a
fact capable of demonstration to every right-thinking
mind. To do this as briefly as possible is our present
task. I am a Presbyterian:
Because Presbyterianism always places God where
he belongs. Every breath of every true Presbyterian
is but an acknowledgment of the infinite and eternal
supremacy of God over all things. As was so truly
and lorcibly declared by Dr. Minton, Presbyterians do
not believe so much in the sovereignty of God as they
believe in a sovereign God. A triune Spirit, infinite,
eternal and immutable; a personal working power, not
a simple force, who is the Creator, Governor, Preserver
of all things he has made; a Being who is omniscient,
omnipotent and omnipresent, who sees, hears,
understands all things, and directs all things for the
accomplishment of his own eternal purpose. From the
beginning to the end God is, the past, present and
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everlasting now. He is not the God of the Deist, nor
of the Pantheist, but one in whose heart's eternal
affections every creature that he has made finds a part
as well as a place. To him we raise our voices in
psalms of praise, to him we direct our petitions when
we bow in the sacred sanctuary of supplication and at
his feet we lay the sacrifice of our devoted service,
trusting in the merit of the Divine teacher who has
taught us to call him Father. Whatever he may be to
otners, to the true Presbyterian he can only be "God
over all things, blessed forever."
Because Presbyterians always place the Scriptures
where they belong. The message of Presbyterianism
to the world is that this infinite God has seen fit to
bow down to this sin-cursed earth and, in the incon*
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ceivable sweep of his condescension and mercy, lias
uncovered before a dying humanity the glory of his
grace and the wonders of his love. This revelation is
contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments,
and is the only rule to direct mankind in his
search for the truth, the fulfilment of his highest destiny,
to glorify God, the development of the purest and
noblest character for the life that now is and the inspiration
for the most glorious hope, pointing to the
life that is to come. With this sacred volume in its
hand, Presbyterianism stands before the world and
declares it to be her one and only infallible rule of.
faith and practice and that whatsoever is not commanded
here, either by its plain declaration, or by good
and necessary inference therefrom, is forbidden and
hurtful both for the individual and the Church. Where
the Word is silent, the Presbyterian Church has never
dared to speak, but where the Word has spoken, the
Presbyterian Church dares not keep silent. Her gospel
is nothing more nor less than the whole counsel of
God, and to the world she has declared it, whether > ^
men will hear or forbear. Woe betide the day when
our beloved Church shall depart from this, her historic
position as to the Word of God, for in that day will her
crown jewel be lost and her glory depart.
Because Presbyterianism always places the Church
where it belongs. It has often been claimed and proclaimed
that the Church was and is the custodian of
the truth of God in this world. The answer of Presbyterianism
is an emphatic denial. No mere man or
company of men has ever been found in this world
that is either good enough or strong enough to keep
the Word of God, and to none of his creatures, either
individually or collectively, has God ever committeed
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sum a iiuqi. i iic \_nurcn nas never Deen intallible in
this world, nor will it ever be so. The keeping and
proclamation of the message of the Word is not in the
hands of the Church, but with the Holy Spirit, who
works in and through the church as the divinely appointed
witness before men to the truth which he has
inspired. The Church can only declare the message as
she receives it and can only march according to the
orders of her divine King and Head. To heaven she
has always directed one question and that, "Lord,
what wilt Thou have me to do?" To the cry that man
must have an infallible interpreter of an infallible
Word, there is but one answer: "God is his own internrpfpr
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as upon the day of Pentecost, although by different
means and in different forms, does the Spirit speak today,
and there is no power in the Church for the accomplishment
of her mission to men save as she
receives it from this abiding, divine source. And
yet, though all of this be true, the Church is
worthy of all honor as the Bride of the Lamb,
the earthly fold of the followers of Christ, the
mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit, the type of the soul's
eternal inheritance, the visible body of Christ her
Head. To prove worthy of her high and sacred trust,
to stand ever as a witness to the power of the gospel
of Jesus Christ for the salvation of men, to hold up
the Cross as the one and only hope of a dying humanity
and concentrate all in the one cry, "Believe on the
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