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10 (970) THE I
CONVERSION NOT PERVERSION.
The plea is often made by the liomanists that
the efforts of Protestant missions in Roman
Catholic countries like Brazil, Mexico, Cuba,
Porto Rico, the Philippines, etc., are solely to
pervert Catholics from their faith, and it is
boldly affirmed that a "perverted" Spanish or
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when he leaves the Church of his fathers. When
Protestants seek to enlighten ignorant and superstitious
Romanists, it is "perverting" them,
it is unholy "proselytism." When Romanists
seek to convert Protestants, it is thoroughly
legitimate work and is worthy of commendation!
And as for the statement that these converted
Romanists lose all faith in Christianity,
and that it is, as one speaker lately put it, "a
well known fact that whenever a Latin Christian
loses his Catholic faith, he becomes an absolute
atheist or agnostic," one needs but to
remember that the whole Protestant body came
out of the Romanist body not many centuries
ago, but it would be somewhat unfair to say
that all Protestants are absolute atheists or
agnostics! A further fact, that could be corroborated
thousands of times over, is that
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churches to-day are those faithful souls who
have realized the errors of the Romanist faith
and have come to the acceptance of the simple
and pure faith taught us in the Word of God,
who have talcen the Bible as their only guide
and have made the Lord Jesus Christ their
only mediator. There are no more people in
the world, and none more active in every form
of Christian endeavor and devotion, than those
who have had the courage and grace to repudiate
the superstitions and man-made doctrines
and worship of Rome and to accept the gospel
in all its simplicity and power as it is given to
us in the Word of God; who look to no church
or sacrament or priest or minister or saint to
save them, but solely to the atoning blood of
Clrist; who accept no infallibility but that of
the Divine Spirit and of the Bible which Re
inspired.
HOW TO BECOME HONEST.
A prominent religious journal attempts to encourage
and instruct a business man who said
lie was inclined to be honest and straight with
his customers, but found it impossible, because
"people are fooled everywhere, so they have to
be fooled at my store too." The advice is given
to stand straight up in the strength of a square
n.arJiood, to know that honesty is something to
have?a superlative possession, to practice independent,
stalwart holding on to one's own
moral standing ground, and know that he will
have to square accounts with the Judge of all
the earth. Now that is the world's way of makincr
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A well known writer says of some extreme types
of English Puritanism that, "the reformation
which it wrought was only external. Men's
manners were coerced but their hearts were
unchanged. Then the Christian basis of charaster
is announced: "Nothing makes a new man
but a new heart. It is like weeding a garden; it
is not enough that the weeds be shorn, they
must be eradicated. Mere reformation is temporary,
regeneration alone endures. The principle
is that the heart must have a tenant and it avails
nothing to drive out the unclean snirit. unless
the Holy Spirit be admitted in his room. The
house may be swept and garnished" but as
long as it is "empty" it is open to the reinvasion
of its old tenant. Let Jesus into your heart and
his presence will fortify it. It i8 all expressed
in Dr. Chalmers' phrase, "The expulsive power
of a new affection." Once you have tasted
RESBYTERIAN OF THE 80
the best you have 110 liking for anything inferior."
Worldly morality says, "Be honest for honesty's
sake, for the sake of self-respect." The
appeal is insufficient, so long as the house is
empty, though it be swept and garnished, it is
open to the return of the unclean spirit of coveteousness.
When that spirit returns with seven
spirits more wicked than himself and enters in
and dwells there, it is vain to talk about standing
straight up in the strength of a square manhood
and holding on to one's own moral standing
ground and knowing that he will have to
square accounts with the Judge of all the
earth." When the demon of coveteousness and
seven spirits more wicked than himself are the
occupants of the house they are in control un
til expelled by a stronger.
The remedy for coveteousness is divine grace
which renews the mind so that it loves Christ
more than it loves money. This is the advice
to give a man who thinks that business rivalry
drives him to dishonesty. The man who loves
money most will not stand straight up if he
thinks that by stooping he can catch an extra
dollar.
The great defect in modern school methods
and in our efforts at modern enlightenment is
that we are telling the youth of our land to
stand straight and not telling them that the
"first and great commandment" is, "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart
and with all thy soul and with all thy mind"
and "the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love
thy neighor as thy self."
The people know well enough the solemn duty
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ul ucmg liunt'si; uiey lute 10 see it ana commena
it in others, but where coveteousness is the
dominant lust of the soul they have within
them dishonest hearts and and mere precepts
and essays on the merits of honesty will not
change them. The world is engaged in the supreme
folly of trying to make evil trees bear
good fruit, of getting a holy product out of unholy
seeds and soil. The Christian method is
totally different. "Either make the tree good
and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt and
its fruit corrupt, for the tree is known by its
fruit.''
AN INGENIOUS BAPTISTRY.
Our good friends, the Baptists, rather boast
of the simplicity of their organization, methods
and worship, and especially of their freedom
from man-made devices. And yet we were told
the Other dav of a most incenirms nnd nortaiTilw
very man-made method in which the ordinance
(the Baptists are repudiating the word "sacrament")
of baptism is administered. In the
church in question, just back of the baptistry
there is a large oil painting. It represents a
mountain scene, with a stream of water pouring
through the rocks. At the bottom of the picture,
where the lower side of the frame would
be, there are ingeniously arranged rocks, over
which, as if in prolongation of the pictured
stream, a real stream of water pours into the
baptistry below. When a baptism is to take
place, and the night service is almost invariably
chosen, the baptistry is properly filled beforehand,
the lights are turned out, except just
over the pool, the stream is turned on, and
there you are! But where is the biblical simplicity
t
The Baptist Chronicle has this to say concerning
a certain class of preachers encountered,
and of whom most happily our church rarely
has a specimen: "The preacher who starts out
as a public regulator will regulate nothing. He
will soon fail to regulate himself."
0 1 fl [October 11, 1911
THE 1911 BIBLE.
We must confess that we were not very cordial
towards the proposition, when it was first
announced, to bring out the 1911 edition of the
Bible, commemorative of the tercentenary of
the "King James Version." It seemed to be
but another movement to multiply versions of
the word of God, resulting in increased confusion
and debate, and doinc vinl#?nr>o +r?
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timents and associations which cluster about
the old book in the form in which it has been so
long familiar. "Of making many books there
is no end." The Holy Bible, though made for
us, has been a victim of this same tendency,
until we have come to have so many versions
that there is danger of altogether breaking the
peculiar ties which bind us to the old book, not
to speak of the "much study" which the multiplied
versions involve, and its "weariness of
the flesh."
We must confess again, however, and this
time in different vein. The 1911 Bible has appeared.
It has disarmed all opposition and inhospitably
of reception. As we examine at
closely we find that it is the same old book of
blessed memory. Its substance and divisions
are unchanged, and its language is that which
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we nave Known iroin childhood, that is precious
to so many souls, and that has been wrought into
the hearts and experiences of so many believers.
Nothing whatever has been done to the
text, except to correct a very few unhappy or
improper translations found in the Authorized
Version, and to make a very cautious and always
warranted use of the unquestioned dicta
of scholarship as to the change or removal of
certain words or clauses. The carefulness with
which these corrections have been made, and
their infrequency, are constantly manifest as
one reads along.
As to form, the old verses are retained.
Yet, by a very simple but effective device, which
it is a wonder no one has before suggested,
that of double spacing, the paragraph system
is fully presented. A most elaborate and practical
system of chain references, prepared by
a master in that art, together with a collectedreference
system, helps the student to trace
through the entire Bible the greater themes of
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mc uivme reveiauon, ana to trace also the use
of important words in their most characteristic
sense. The mechanical features of the edition,
as to type, paper used, and binding, are of the
very best character. The edition is easy to read.
Where the famous "India paper" is used it is
a marvel of lightness. Where the plainer paper
is used it is one of the most desirable of all the
editions which we have had in our hands.
We welcome the version, and it has captured
us. No apology need be given for the dislike
to part with the old. The hold of the old version
on the minds and hearts is not due, as the
preface here well states, "to mere habit, nor to
an unthinking, traditional veneration, but to its
own qualities." Its "supremacy has been
maintained throughout the most revolutionary
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mice uuijureu years oi numan history. The
whole of science, of philosophy, of theology, and
of social theory has been in the melting pot.
Absolutely nothing in the sphere of human
thought and belief has survived merely because
it was ancient or venerable." That the editors
of this commemorative edition have not touched
this hold which the merit of the Authorized
King James Version has secured is matter for
profound gratitude. That they have the rather,
by the little and warranted correction, here and
there strengthened this hold is also true and is
matter for thanks.
Strong and content, I travel the open road.?
Whitman.