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June 28, 1911 ] THE
Editorial ,
The Assembly's Minutes for 1911, a portly
volume of two hundred and sixty-six pages,
has come to us from the hands of the Stated
Clerk, Dr. T. H. Law. Dr. Law is to be congratulated
upon the promptness with which
he has issued it. Never before in the history
of the Church has it appeared so soon after
the rising of the Assembly.
The total number of additions to our church
1 ? ?4. 1 o a orr -
lust year was on examination and 13,744
on certificate, being 45 more on examination
and 1,426 more on certificate than in the preceding
year. The total contributions of the
churches amounted to $4,042,428, as against
$3,855,913 the year before. In only five years
of the entire history of the church have the
additions by examination exceeded last year's.
The aggregate membership of the church, of
actual communicants, is now 286,174.
With the great May meetings the problem of
unity and union again came out and demanded
the usual attention. It still seems that many
have not yet caught the essential difference
which exists between unity and union. The
words sound alike, and the ideas underlying
them are closely related, but only the unthink
ing will confound them. There may be genuine
unity without union. There can be no genuine
union without unity. Unity is ever the first
to be sought. It is a matter of principle. Union
may sometimes be better not sought. It is a
matter of expediency.
One of the charges against the Roman
Catholic Church in the resolution introduced in
the recent General Assembly by Mr. Painter was
tint that church "always has been a menace and
a blight to the civil and religious liberty of
every land where it has obtained a foothold."
In nrortf nf thio nno ?n?/wl k-.-.* i ?-1 11
? , ? ?. ?..u vuv uv^u uui tuun at uiose
lands in which Romanism has had undisputed
sway and compare them with those other lands
where an open Bible and liberty of opinion
have been permitted to all. The Roman Catholic
Church itself has profited by the presence of
the latter, for it has been more careful as to
its life and teachings where these have perforce
come in contact with intelligence and
freedom. One cahnot judge of the Roman
Catholic Church solely by what he sees of it
in a land like ours.
Many who deny the tithe system quote the
words of Paul in II Corinthians 9:7, "As he
purposeth in his heart," as showing that a
change was made in the rule governing giving.
An exchange rightly says that such an application
of the words will be seen to be improper
when the whole passage is read. "Paul is
giving instructions concerning a special offering
for the poor. In God's economy there are
tunes and offerings.' The tithe is what we
owe, the offering is what we give. One is an
expression of debt, the other of gratitude. The
difference is that between paying and giving.
God fixes the amount we owe him, but he leaves
us to fix the amount we will give him."'
One of our valued British cotemporaries, The
Presbyterian of London, quotes from our
editorial columns and calls us "The Presbyterian
of the South, one of our most interesting
exchanges." That sounds good to us.
Our British friends may get better acquainted
with us here in the South after awhile and may
find that we are about the closest kin they have
on this side of the Atlantic. To hear a culti
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE S<
Notes and
vated Briton speak the King's English, one
might suppose he was educated in a Southern
University. He hasn't the nasal twang of the
Northerner, nor the predominant guttural tones
of the Canadian. Perhaps The Presbyterian
doesn't know that the modern movement for
world peace started in the South. We are
pleased to announce that it did.
Secular journals of sundry kinds are given
to intimatiner that t.hp clnrv r?f tho
Church is waning, and assigns as a reason that
the world can now get on without it. McLaren
says, "Our enemies talk as if Christianity was
on the point of perishing, as they have been
doing ever since it began." There are indications
that it was never so vigorous or aggressive.
For instance The United Presbyterians,
having a membership less than our own by
about 115,000, proposes to raise one million dollars
for missions during this year. "We are undertaking
to raise more than a million for the
Assembly's Home and Foreign Missions. Presbyterial
and Synodical missions will increase
this amount far beyond the million mark. A
few years ago half these amounts would have
been the limit. This is but a minor feature?
the financial, of the Church's progress.
The press brings to our attention the immense
sums that are being paid for noted paintings,
rare books, old manuscripts and antiques in general.
One painting recently sold for half a
million dollars: a Bible brought the sum of
fifty thousand dollars; a single brief manuscript
was bought by an Italian dealer for Mr. J. P.
Morgan of New York for the sum of twenty-five
thousand, five hundred dollars. The manuscript
is an autograph letter written by the great Protestant
Reformer, Martin Luther, to Emperor
Charles V. It was written in Latin, in the year
1521, when Luther was returning from the Diet
of Worms. It was designed to justify the reformer's
position before that memorable Diet.
The communication was committed to a trusted
imperial official, but its contents were of such
a character that its delivery to the Emperor
was not regarded as prudent. It was accordingly
withheld as is noted on the manuscript.
Sometimes one hears of people declining to
do acts of beneficence because, as they say,
those for whom they do anything are so ungrateful.
If the gratitude of those whom one
tries to benefit is the measure of duty and its
reward, then one might frequently do well to
waste no time in the effort. If duty is the
ground of one's doing, however, and if the reward
is from God, then one may be persistent
and faithful all the time, for God will not forget
his labor of love.
NOTES IN PASSING.
BY BERT.
"For it became Him in bringing many
sons unto glory to make the captain of their
salvation perfect 'through sufferings." Heb.
2:10.
Does perfection always come through sufferings?
no, not always. Visit the prisons of every
state, and the haunts of vice of every city and
inquire of the unfortunate strays upon life's
highways as to the reasons for their being
where they are, and they will pour out into
your shocked ears tale after tale of man's inhumanity
to man, which is only a little less horrible
than man's inhumanity to woman. They
will tell you of confidence misplaced, of protestations
of friendship and love that were a3
)OTH (609) 9
Comments
false as the pit out of which they came, of
homes shattered, of hopes destroyed, of lives
wrecked. If in suffering alone there be any
virtue to lift the soul to perfection then there
are in the penitentiary some who are very near
the level of angels. But their sufferings have
not perfected them, they have only aroused all
the latent evil of their natures, driving them
to revenge upon the guilty or to drink to drown
their sorrows. ar?H this in turn hoo ir?/i +?
and greater evils.
On the other hand the thorn in the flesh has
been a real means of grace to many a life.
Read the lives of the great Bible characters,
Abraham, Joseph, David, Daniel, Paul, John,
and others and it will be found true beyond all
question that the things they suffered instead
of embittering them against man, or disgusting
them with life, were potent agencies to lift
them close to God.
Now what causes the difference ? Why is one
man made worse and another made better by
sufferings? The answer has to do altogether
with the sufferer's relation to Jesus Christ. The
unbeliever and the believer move in opposite
directions. The unbeliever not being sustained
by Christ is at the mercy of his own passions ;
the believer has a certain nlnop nf rofllfffl on/1
J.?.WW A va-U^V QUVl
comfort, and understands that whatsoever hefalls
him is meant for his enrichment.
It is true in nature that perfection comes
through suffering. The vine is made more
beautiful and fruitful by pruning. The knife
is necessary to its perfection. The gold as it
comes out of the ground is a very little gold
and a great deal of dirt. But when the fire has
done its work, and the hammer, and the press,
and you look at the case of beautiful watch
cases in the jeweler's store, and the rings, and
the chains, and the pins, and the many other
things which the refined gold makes you see
how valuable was the process through which it
had to go.
And the same is true with the diamond. First
a dull crystal with nothing of beauty, but when
it is cut and polished and properly dressed it
returns back to him with interest every ray of
light the sun sends unon it. And the samp i?
true with stone. Every slab of marble contains
an angel or a hero, but it requires much
sawing, many strokes of the hammer and chisel
to get it out. And so in our life. If suffering
does not make perfect we cannot be made perfect.
Christ was made perfect by the things He
suffered. Not perfect in character, He was
always that, but perfect as a Redeemer. By
means of His sufferings he learned how to
sympathize with those who suffer in the same
way and from the same cause; by means of his
sufferings also he is enabled to set us a good
example of patience, and quiet endurance in
affliction; and by means of his sufferings he
reconciled us to God.
Suffering is a proof of sin ; but not necessarily
of the sin of the sufferer.
Many are sensitive to pain, who are not in
the least sensitive to that which brings pain.
If we were as sensitive to sin as to its consequences
we would have little need to think
of the consequences.
Conscience makes cowards only of those of
whom it cannot make heroes.