Newspaper Page Text
July 5, 1911 ] _ T H E 1
Editorial 1
The Assembly's decision that a Presbytery,
may exercise its own judgment as to the method
of electing its commissioners Appears >to be
most satisfactory to the church at large. It is
certainly in accord with the genius of Presbyterianism.
"We are receiving the Alabama Presbyterian,
the Christian Messenger, of Yorkville, S. C., The
Home Missionary, of Muhlenburg Presbytery,
and the Texas Presbyterian, all of them sound
on/^ uri/^A nn?nlr/\ A %%?. ? -11 mi
?uu niuc anonc. nujf UUB UJ. UlUSe Willi lfl
Presbyterian of the South would furnish a
wholesome, inspiring and enjoyable supply of
religious reading for every family of our Southern
Church.
The tide has decidedly turned as to the
number of young men engaged in theological
study. In 1870, in all the Protestant theological
seminaries in the United States there were 3,254
students. In 1895 there were 6,615. Then the
number began to decline, and in 1902 there were
5,410. In 1910 the number was 7,587, of whom
1,161 were in Presbyterian, 1,188 in Methodist,
1,655 in Baptist, and 1,099 in Lutheran seminaries.
The attendance for the present year,
1911, shows a still further advance.
The Minutes of the General Assembly give us
the figures of the ecclesiastical year just closed.
it is always interesting to trace the strength of
the church in the largest centres of Presbyterianism.
The tables' show the following statistics
for these centres: Atlanta has 4,317 communicants,
Louisville 4,143, New Orleans 3,908,
Richmond '3,830, Birmingham 3,237, Nashville
3,195, Memphis 3,137, Charlotte 2,942, Houston
2,065, Dallas 1,784, Port Worth 1,647, Lynchburg
1,594, Wilmington 1,574, Norfolk 1,456,
Charleston, (W. Va.) 1,425, Greensboro 1,390,
St. Louis 1,319, Kansas City 1,275, Knoxville
1,138, San Antonio 1,128.
The recent missionary exhibit in Boston
brought out the fact that orthodoxy pays. In
the last forty years in Boston, "the Baptists
have increased from twenty-two to forty
churches, with membership doubled, the Congregationalists
have grown from twenty-two to
thirty-four, and have more than doubled their
members, the Methodists have risen from nineteen
to thirty-three, with membership nearly
doubled, the Episcopalians have multiplied their
sixteen congregations by two and their membership
by three, Presbyterian churches have
grown from three to nine, and Lutherans from
two to fourteen. The twenty-eight Unitarian
organizations have dropped to twenty-three in
.1911. Congregationalist churches that have
swung away from the Christocentric idea of the
religious system have secured a reputation for
drifting naturally into the Unitarian fold. Yet,
with these accretions, Unitarianism has not been
able to maintain itself."
The advantages of a distinctively Christian
College can be inferred by answering the question
; "Would you prefer to have your son under
the influence of a scholarly Christian gentlemen
every day for four years, or under the influence
of a scholarly infidel for the same period t" We
are sometimes told that even Christian colleges
do not devote ranch time to teaching religious
truth. This is doubtless true and very properly
so if reference is made to texts books on re
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SO
Votes and
vealed religion, .but even the old authors are
being quoted now as saying that the value of an
education does not consist in the amount of
technical knowledge derived from text books
but rather in the character that is formed and
the capacity acquired during the college course,
for right thinking. If we use the term "righteous
thinking" we get a suggestion of the
superior value of an education received under
the tuition of reverent Christian men. As we
look back over our college course the memory of
text books is vague, but the memory of the men
vulin fonrrlif no ^ ? ? 3 ?* ?
...w wugiiu uo icmaiuo licau oxiu ciear aua meir
influence abides.
It would be a real service if an experienced
and otherwise capable committee were appointed
to name a list of the one hundred best books
for a young minister's library. In the prime
of manhood we very properly see visions and
dream dreams, but sometimes these are visionary
and dreamy. We can't master all the books, not
even all the good ones, and to have a learned
volume on the library shelf is an entirely different
proposition from having its contents
x e 5 * - it -
truusierrea 10 tne gray matter of the brain.
To thoroughly master an average theological
or expository volume is a pretty good six months
work for a busy pastor and to multiply such
volumes very many times would imply a life
expectancy which the insurance companies
would hesitate to concede. A few choice books,
well thumbed, is a better credential of learning
and ability than half-tons of literature as unused
and unlearned and perhaps as worthless
as if written in an unknown tongue. The great
temperance movement of the day should be so
extended as to include the buying of books.
NOTES IN PASSING.
BY BERT.
Hagar's words, "Thou God seest me" ought
to be forever in our minds. We need the
thought to restrain us from sin in our moments
of temptation and weakness, and we need their
encouragement when we are doing our best under
difficulties.
The criminal must in some way do awav with
God or quit his law-breaking. If a man can
persuade himself that there is no God, or that
he can deceive God there are no longer any restraints
upon the most unbridled licentiousness.
The Chinaman believes he can deceive his god
and as a consequence the whole life of the Chinaman
is honeycombed with deceit.
It is this same thought of that never-closing
eye which has nerved the hearts of the noblest
of the sons and daughters of men to do deeds
which add undying lustre to our race. What
does it matter if we are misjudged if His eye
looks on and sees the truth? What does it matter
if the apparent results of our labors be nil
since He knows the motive, and the kindling love
at the bottom of our toils?
There are two illustrations which I have read
or me trutn tnat your sin will find you out; that
although many years may pass God will not suffer
wickedness to be forever buried.
Dr. Torry says that one night at the close of
service a woman came to him and said, "I would
like to see you in private." The next day at
two o'clock she came to his office where the
pastor of the church was present, and in response
to Dr. Torry's question as to what was
troubling her she told in effect this story:
I D T H ' (633) 9
Comments
"1 have killed a man. It was fourteen years
ago, across the Atlantic Ocean, in the old
country, in the darkness of a forest, I drove a
dagger into a man's throat, and dropped the
dagger and ran away. He was found in the
forest with the dagger by his side. Nobody
suspected me. Everybody thought it was suicide.
I stayed there two years, and nobody ever
suspected me; but I knew I had done it and was
wretched. At last I came to America te see if
I mil lH finH nonoo TTSi-ol- T * XT v?i
A "OH) -? *?CUb LU new xurit,
then came here to Chicago, and I have been here
for twelve years but have not found peace. I
often go to the lake and stand upon the pier
and look into the dark waters beneath, and I
would jump if I were not afraid of what may
lie beyond death." Think of it, fourteen years
hunted in two worlds, driven from city to city
by a conscience which would not be stilled. Surely
this wretched woman knew what David meant
when he said, ""Whither- shall I go from thy
Spirit, or whither shall I tiee from thy
presence?"
The other story is more remarkable still. Two
thousand years before Christ, some Egyptian
priests were paid large sums of money to embalm
1 1? -if ' ?
mc uuu,y ux a royai princess. When the body
was delivered to them they were under the influence
of strong drink and neglected it. "When
they sobered up it was too late to embalm it.
To cover up the crime they put into the rich
mummy-ease the body of a common woman
dipped in asphaltum. "What they had done was
unknown for a long time, but it did not remain
forever concealed. Some years ago that mummycase
was purchased by explorers and shipped to
this country. In order to create a popular interest
in exploration, it was agreed to open the
case and unwrap the mummy on some public
platform. It was opened by professor Agassiz
in Tremont Temple, Boston, in the presence of
three thousand people. Forty centuries had
rolled away since the fraud was perpetrated,
only hazy memories were left of the nations
which were occupying the world's stage at the
time, mighty changes had come over the human
race, but the cheat was brought to light, and
that in a land not then known, and by a people
who did not then exist. And when it was discovered,
that multitude at the other end of forty
centuries from the crime, and in a land far
distant, arose as one man and hissed the guilty
Egyptian priests and denounced their deception.
And surely if man's vengenance can reach out
four thousand years it is hopeless to think of
escaping God.
There can be only one standard of honesty,
though there be many degrees of realization of
it. No man has a right to set up a standard of
honesty any more than a standard of holiness and
truth. These are eternally fixed in the verv
nature of God. All we have to do is get right
up to the line.
If a man will always do the best he knows, he
will soon discover that his knowledge grows, and
will keep just a little bit ahead to lure him on
to a better best.
There are three kinds of people in the world,
the "wills," the "wonts" and the "cants." The
first accomplish everything; the second oppose
everything, and the third fail in everything.?
Anon.