Newspaper Page Text
March 9, 1910. THE PRESBYTERIA]
THE REAL BIBLE.
When one gets aw?y from the fact that the Bible has
jnst such meanings and purposes as God designed that
it should have, and assumes that he has a right to interpret
and understand it as he pleases to do, then he takes
entirely unwarranted liberty with the Bible. Such a
man grossly deceives himself, and as many others as
he can induce to adopt his own course. Remember
that the Bible can never be reallv changed hv anv in
* o J J "**
terpretations which human beings can put upon it, or
any part of it. It is not subject to revision in any such
sense or to any such extent as to make it obligatory on
God to do differently from what he has intended to do,
or does intend to do. They may govern themselves by
the interpretations which they place upon the Bible,
but God is in no wise bound to act toward them in
accordance with their interpretations, if they deviate
from the actual truths of the Word. God judges men,
not by their opinions of what the Bible ought to teach
and declare, but by the real meaning of its messages.
Scholars may decide that certain passages of Scripture,
which are contrary to their own conceptions of
truth and righteousness, have no binding force upon
people today, and hence may be rejected without harm
to themselves, but such decision can not make void the
divine authority of those passages, nor free the rejecters
from their responsibility.
There are men in theological seminaries and in
churches who are practically making a Bible to suit
their own conceptions of the kind of Bible which they
^ are willing to believe and be governed by, but such a
book will be a rebuke to them in the day of final judgment.
No one can evade those parts of the real Bible
^ which condemn him. excent at hi<i nwn
> r ?w fvl " J-,'6,Jr
thing is to be gained by accepting the Bible as it really
is, and according to its true meaning.?C. H. Wetherbe.
CHRISTIANITY NOT DECLINING.
Says the editor of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin
:
"This age is often accused of an unduly critical attitude
toward religious doctrine, and even of downright
scepticism in many quarters. That the charge is exaggerated
is fairly well established by a government bulletin,
entitled 'Census of Religious Bodies.'
"In 1906 there were thirty-three million church members
of all denominations in the United States. A billion
and a quarter of money was invested in church
property, and eight new churches were being erected
everv dav. Here is eviHenr#* nf o mo ??i
v ^ ? - W Iimivnai piuspcill^
I that can only have its foundation in the faith of the persons
who supply the money for it.
"The source of the data is so impartial that the facts
and figures given about the churches can not be questioned
; and the bulletin will serve excellently as a reply
to those who affect to see growing popular indifference
toward the truths of Christianity."
THE FEAR OF THIRTEEN.
The fearful grip which this No. 13 superstition continues
to have upon the hearts of men and women in all
walks of life is incomprehensible, says O. S. Marden
in Success Magazine. Yet every intelligent person
knows that nothing in this world can possibly take
\
N OF THE SOUTH. 297
place without a cause and that the cause must be sufficient
to produce an effect. The most ignorant person,
it would seem, should know that the arbitrary
No. 13 has no more power to produce any effect, to
cause any calamity, than a drop of ink. The fact that
the ink or paint instead of being in the shape of a
round dron i<s nnt into tVio * - - *
. r -w ?*-? * tuv &viin ui <x numeral i^ CLOCS
not add any force or power to it. A drop of ink or
paint on the door of a hotel room would have just as
much power to produce harm as it would if formed into
the figure 13.
"YOU OUGHT TO KNOW."
Almost all of us can remember the friend who upon
various occasions has said to us "Now you must not be.
offended if I say something to you that I really feel
it my duty to speak about." There is another form of
friendship quite as common, especially among women,
that leads one to tell the other some neat little gossip
about herself or family, not that the relater believes a
word of it, but because the victim "ought to know."
These customs amone- our friends arp en
o - ? ?- ^ wv wiuiituii inai
we accept them as matters of course; and even when we
are most exasperated by them, we know we shall forgive
them in time. A sad experience teaches us that
much.
The friends who compliment sincerely or who repeat
frankly the pleasant things they hear of us are so rare
that we seldom meet them. Yet if friendship is looked
upon abstractly, if it is regarded as a feeling founded on
mutual regard and congenial pursuits, it is a little remarkable
that we are so reticent in our expression of
appreciation and regard.
Friendship means help and support as well as mere
liking; and he has been a poor friend to us if in the
hour of need and loneliness we do not involuntarily recall
some word of comfort, some expression of confidence
that makes us stronger to bear the present trial.
It is not enough to love; we must let the loved ones
know we love them.
There are but few persons leading earnest lives who
do not feel that they fail to thoroughly realize even the
most limited of their aims; and if they are unhappy
enough to be sensitive as well as earnest, it can not be
prophesied how much real good a hearty word may do
them in times of mental trouble. Then it is that a true
friend will think it well to tell them something encouraging,
something strengthening and reviving that they
"ought to know."?Selected.
The faith that claims a promise complies with conditions
expressed or implied, and never fails. The mind
of the Lord is available to all who seek to know it in
this momentous matter.
Our prayer for deliverance from evil includes all
that the words imply. Our religion takes in delivererance
frnm all that rm r>i~'* ?-i-- ? * '
? ?v nut tn auu mc enjoyment oi ail
that can bless us in the fullest sense of the words now
and forever.
Good intentions that are vague in their scope and indefinite
in their application do not get any whiter worth
mentioning. The prayer that prevails is that which has
earnestness in its spirit and definiteness in its aim.