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September 20, 1911 ] T ft t
Editorial j
The brave inheritors of the faith of the Hugenots
in France are having a hard fight
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nated iti the tragedies and terrors of the French
Revolution. The Society of Free Thinkers of the
City of Nimes has requested the government to
enact a law inflicting heavy fines or imprisonment
upon any who shall use for instruction "books
which are contrary to the truth;" that is, books
which do not accord with their own atheistic
teachings. Mr. Wilfred Monad, writing on
French free thought says: "In truth UeVer did
Frahce need a Pascal more than now." To be
indighaht with these Jacobin free-thinkers is
more thah they deserve. Ridicule is more efficacious?and
more French," France must have a
great baptism of evangelical conviction or the
republic must collapse. There is no more Vali-.4,4
4.-.44,4_4-4_1_4- J? 1- i . . 4
mil uuiiiiuuuiuji ux uenevers toaay tnan tne
Evahgelical Church of Erabce abd it may cotbe
to pass under the blessihg of God that their faith
ahd courage may shake and theh transform the
hatiott.
A groUp bf psychological phebomena is to be
fobnd in the fact thdt the chief speakers ib faVor
of the bbiob of all chiirches are representatives
of the Episcopal and Disciples (Campbellite)
denominations. Next to the f&omabists and
perhaps the Mormobs these two hate been the
foiost exclusive of probiibeht rellgiobs bodies
Ib their ciaiiris to he The Church. Now two Or
three questions emerge. Does each hope by correspondence
and conference to cohtert all the
heretical sects to its owh why of thinkibgt Does
each have in iiiibd that it biay surrender those
claims which all along it has insisted were hot
Ohly distihctiVe but fhfadamehtal T itas cacti
Concluded iipoh niature reflection that outward
hhity is iriorC important than distinctive principles
ahd that therefore tbe principles iriay be siipprfessed
or ighbred fot the sake of orgahic otiettess?
These ahd other ihquiries may fihd ah
ahswer ih the pi*oceedihgs of the "World Conferehce
oh Faith ahd Order" which is to be.
It would cohduce to the wClfdrte bf oiir betoVed
Chhrch tthd to the honor of the Master, whose
We are and whom we serve, if all our people
who remove from one community to another
would promptly become identified with thfeir fellow
ehurchhteh in the vicinity of their new
homes. Why should a servant of our Master
lose a year or two of fellowship and enlisted service
simply because he changed his dwellihg
placet It is exceedingly desirable that jJastoira
shall ebUrleOhBiy *adVisfe debhrtihg Holliniliiiil&bts
tb tikfe with thbrh certificates dip hieitiberShip
addressed to the sessiohs of sister churches
'of the sataie faith and order ib the Communities
ih which they are to reside, tb redebt years
there have beeh tides of migration to the larger
cities. The prophets are saying that these tides
are about to turn and it might be a blessed thing
for the Chnrch and therefore for the tides if they
should turn, but for the present they are still
rising. Then let our country and town pastors
keep the city men busy looking after their precious
sheep who are in transit and should be
quickly gathered into another division of the one
great fold. Occassirinally we have requests to
throw out such suggestions as the above. This
time it comes from Washington City, where we
have two vigorous, growing Southern Presbyterian
churches, and if there are two more capable
and lovable pastors in Washington than Pastors
Taylor and Bird, of the Central and Second
churches ^ have yet to learn their names.
E ...C. ",X . ..'-vi. V.
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE S<
Notes and
Below will be found a ballade worthy of the
occasion, written by Dr. Benjamin B. Warfield,
the distinguished Professor of Theology, in
Princeton Seminary, in honor of the One Hundredth
anniversary of the founding of that distinguished
institution. Throughout its century
of widening influence Princeton has remained
a bulwark of sound doctrjne and is today
at once a citadel of strength in defence of
truth and an advancing host against its enemies.
If through another century the church
is to await the coming of her Lord, may it be
found at its close that Princeton has won renown
and rendered service proportionate to that which
shall constitute her centennial crown on September
22, 1911.
BALL ABE OF PRINCETON SEMINARY.
At the Opening of Its One-Hundredth Session.
By Benjamin B. Wat-Held.
A hundred years have sped them by
And brbught their gifts to land and sea,?
Wars, peace, empire, achievements high,
Delights men scarce had hoped could be,
And with it aii, some vanity i
Deep deep, the gulf 'twixt now and then.
What are these hundred years to thee,
O Princeton, leved of God and men?
Upon thy hill, serene of eye,
Thou sjt'st in calm; and joyously
Thou cali'st the years as they fly,
That they may lay upon thy knee
Tribute from their fecundity:
The balance strike 'twixt now and then!
What are these hundred years to thee
Q Pfinceton, loved of God and men?
A hundred years of thihking high,
Of rfeverfencfe and 6f loyalty:
Of ppen heart to every cry
Of human need and misery:
Bach year more true, each year more free.
Well hast thou wrought, 'twlxt now and then.
Much are these hundred years to thee,
O Princeton, loved of God and men.
jSnvcfc
Men mark the yedrs as past they flee,
And mark their tale 'twixt flow and then:
And mark the waxing ministry
Of Princeton loved of God and Men.
THE SOCIAL SIDE OF CHURCH LIFE.
Social life is the happy result, not the end or
purpose of church life. John preached and
labored earnestly with those whom he addressed,
that they might hate fellowship one with another,
but he distinctly averred that sUflli fellowship
was "with the Father and with the Son Jesus
Christ.'' The latter is to be sought as the chief
end of the spiritual life. Attained, it will produce
the other. The fellowship with each other
will be a happy result. And wheh otir love
for one another in the church and our association
nnll PallnwsViin nnd social liffi t.here SDrinfif Out of
our loVe for iiim by whom we are begotten to a
lumber iiffe afad bfecbhlfe brethren, it will be gehuihe;
hot affected; ferVefat, hot cold; actite, "not
idle. LoVe such as this in its source will consolidate
the chhrch and quicken all her energies.. It
will becohie the substantial basis of loyalty and
cohstahcy. It will tnake the family of God compact,
homogeneous, helpful, sympathetic. It will
give fruitfulhess ahd vigor to her whole life.
The unreal thihg called by some the social life
of the church, brought about only by outward
connection with the church, manifested only in
the formal gatherings of people, and out of which
it is sought to warm the careless and indifferent
into interest and activity, is sure to deceive and
disappoint in the end.
Entering the church, as some may, in order to
have the advantage of its social aspects is a low
motive. It savors of a commercial spirit. It
sets up a kind of worldly gain as the object of a
professedly spiritual act- Entering the church
because of its spiritual life, however, is a different
thing. It is yielding to the happy influences
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Comments
which go out from those who make the church
attractive and helpful because they have their
Saviour and His love always there. It is going
into a home the pervasive atmosphere of which
is that sweet peace which comes from the presence
in it of Jesus, the Elder Brother. Going into
it brings the other advantages just in proportion
as one enters not for the advantages'
sake, but for the sake of Him whom they worship
there. It is the cultivation of the deeper
graces and principles of the spiritual life, such
as faith, repentance, love, gratitude, the spirit
of obedience, desire to live for Him who lived and
died for us, that causes the soul to put forth those
other graces which bind men together.
THE PURPOSE OF MEETING IN GOD'S
HOUSE.
God calls his people together at statel times.
He did it of old, in the great obligatory gatherings
of the Jewish regime. He does it today,
in the assemblies of His people. To the latter
He issues the injunction that they forsake not the
assembling of themselves together, intimating
that some have failel in tha respect, and he
urges it all the more in view of the fact that
"the day" is approaching, the day of need and
the day of accounting. The better to facilitate
this assembling he has set apart a day distinctly
for that and kindred purposes. And in all the
ages the relation between the progress of the
church and the faithfulness of its members in
attending its ordinances has been most intimate.
It is therefore a most important as well as a
pertinent question. For what purpose has God
orderel these gatherings on His day and in His
hotise 1 Are they designed to cultivate the social
aspects of the Christian life ? Are they to please
the taste and furnish something for the gratifipntinn
nf ttio npsthptio ndfnppl A r-a tliow nrliiln
away the time? Are they even, primarily, for
the purpose of developing the Christian graces
aiid activities? The original appointment of
them, and the words of our Saviour to the Samaritan
woman would seem to exclude all these
eflds as primary by one great inclusive purpose:
they are appointed for worship. They are provided
that men may use them to bring an offering
to the Lord, not a contribution to themselves.
The worship of the triune God, in His greatness,
majesty, perfections, and grace, is the center
and all-absorbing object of the reverential
gatherings of His people. The mediatorial
throne of Christ is to be set, as it were, in the
very heart of the meeting of Christ's people as
a church. The Holy Spirit is to be invoked as
the present active Comforter and promoter of
Holy aspirations and desires, and these are to
come through the worship of Him in His holiness
arid gracious power. Incidentally there will
come (pleasure, grace, development, increased
knowledge, happy Christian communion,, the delight
of the social instinct, the cultivation of refined
tastes, but these will be only incidents. The
primary end is worship. Only insofar as this is
sought will the end which God sets before His
people be attained.
Nothing is ever gained by paying attention to
the supposed slights which one encounters. In
the vast majority of cases they are an exaggerated
estimate of one's own importance. Chey
are an attempted projection of one's own greatness.
If there are real slights let them alone.
Avoid them. Live above them. The serenity of
mind and heart which lifts one above such
i things removes the cause for them even when
; they have been intended. Time will soon ali
lay all the trouble and right -the slight.