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10 (994) THE
the cause ol' Christ. It will seek to stir men t
work in their own churches.
The end of the movement will be the enlistin
of a larger number of men in all departments c
church activity, and more complete consecratio
of them to Christ and his church, the giving c
greater life and vigor to the men, and the wir
ning to the church of a larger number of then
A conference, convention, campaign, or whal
ever one chooses to call it, will be held in eac
nnp ttf thu PlttPC iitoliulnrl in tUo niono Afor? r\
special gifts in the various lines of church a(
tivity and in the attracting of men and boy
will be the workers in each place, and the loca
pastors and laymen are to be depended upon fo
the application. Improved methods of Bibl
study, the most effective means of reaching me:
in the shops and factories, the best method o
handling the student problem, and other sue]
matters will be presented and considered. Evan
gelistic meetings will also be held, and men wil
be called upon and have the opportunity to de
clare themselves for Christ.
The movement may be made vastly useful, or i
may become a dismal failure. It will surely b
the latter if those interested in it allow it to de
generate into a mere artificial attempt to d
things which the ehurch has already been doini
or is commissioned to do. This is its chief dan
ger. It will be hard for a "team" going th
round of a score or more of cities to prevent it
self from dropping into professionalism, an<
from professionalism into censoriousness, an<
from censoriousness into pessimism. Last yea
a group of men went through the land, experts
they claimed to be, in the interest of purity, ant
it was not long until it fell into this evil state
and its itinerary was one of discomfort and un
happiness, with no good results whatever, am
each visit followed with the maledictions of th
community whose character or conditions it de
preciated.
Another danger of the movement is that it
special agents will not be sufficiently intelligen
concerning local conditions to know how to ad
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Cases of this kind have already been experienced
Strangers cannot understand local condition
as wise and faithful men resident there. In thei
zeal they may easily fall into errors which wil
seriously damage the cause or defeat the verj
end towards which they are pressing. The valm
of each campaign will therefore depend largely
upon the relation to it of the local pastors ant
Christian workers. If the latter do not take liol<
of it and endeavor to shape it the result will no
be either successful or happy. With their in
telligent and earnest co-operation the visit of th<
speakers and outside workers may be made usefu
and their churches may be greatly forwarded ir
their regular work.
THE FLORIDA KILLING.
The euphemistic name "euthanasia" does nol
hide the atrocity of the deed in which, it is al
leged, a poor woman was put to death, at liei
own request, by certain fanatical co-religionists
to end her sufferings.
The power over life is in God's hand alone
and under no circumstances whatever may it be
taken in hand except as God ordained, either
by his own act or by the judicial and most carer?11v
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ciety in such cases as God has justified the latter
in handling. One's own wish and consent are as
little a reason or warrant as another person's
wish or agreement. To kill can never be justified
except as provided for hy divine right and
law. It is next to unthinkable that any one
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE (
? should even think the contrary. And yet the
1' lorida case has let loose a lot of cranks who
& have crazily maintained that by consent of the
victim, and when the latter is certainly doomed
11 to die in a short while, and by a wretched and
painful death, it is right for those of whom it
l~ i asked to become the agents of that one's death.
l- The distinguished ex-president of Harvard has
put himself on the wroni? side of this nraetieal
k question. Another man, of supposed standing
^ and ability, has actually maintained that the tak''
ing of one'8 own life is a personal right and may
8 be justifiable, provided tbat there be certainty
that the person .is of no value to society; that
r under the latter condition, society having no ine
terest in the case, the determination of the matn
ter and the termination of the life are personal
f rights and rest entirely with the individual con"
cerned.
Even granting the premises of such misguid^
ed reasoners, who is to determine, and how, that
the wretched and suffering death that is expected
is sure to come, or that the person immediately
involved has no relation whatever to society?
e
The whole scheme is ntterlv imnrnetiniihlo a?
well as monstrously gross. Those who would
take part in it and help to cause an "euthana
sia" can have no possible guarantee tht the patient
is doomed or that his loss will have no beare
ing upon the community. It would require conscience
and infallibility to find an assured war^
rant such as this. Science cannot find it. There
^ can be no sufficient justification of a killing, and
r the legalizing or leaving unpunished the produc'
ing of an easy death would demoralize society.
It would open the door to the wildest fanaticism.
' It would Set a nreminm linnn i(mnroni.o Tt
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would break down the strongest bulwarks of
^ human happiness and safety,
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DR. GRENFELL GETS A HEARING.
Dr. Grenfell, the intrepid explorer and pio^
neer medicine man of Labrador, has sent a message
for the "Men and Religion Campaign"
which is now in progress. There are some things
in this message which not only brand the famous
l* doctor as radically heretical but manifestly ins
sincere. He makes venomous thrusts at systematic
r statements of Christian doctrine and at those who
' subscribe to such statements. As a sample he
^ says: "Conventional religion (by which he
e means evangelical churches with their regular orf
ganization and accepted creeds)says that Christs'
1 message is, "Follow the teachings of other men
1 who know better than anyone else." Now Dr.
t Grenfell knows that the evangelical churches
- teach no such thing. He proceeds: "They
? know Hebrew, Greek and theology better, but
1 the monitor God puts in an honest man's own
1 heart is a far better interpreter," which means
that he thinks himself and his like better interpreters
of God's will than the trained expounders
of inspired truth. Again: Christ never
asked submission to a cut and dried creed or
^ sought admiration or adoration."
Now it is well known that our Lord's entire
ministry was the teaching of a definite, unalter'
able creed. No other teacher has ever declared
the things that men must believe as he did. And
' he included the whole of Christian doctrine?his
! divinity, his kingship, his priesthood, his pro
phetic office, the offer of salvation and the way
of life in his discourse and said: "If ye helieve
not that I am he ye shall die in your sins."
The Lord's entire ministry was an appeal for
the adoration of men. His claim of equality and
unity with the Father, his miracles, his parables
of the kingdom, his claim to be king over a spiritual
sovereignity, his foretelling his death for
the sins of the whole world, and his resurrection,
> o T Hi [ October 18, 1911.
ascension and enthronement in glory, constituted
an appeal to his followers for their adoration.
He accepted and approved the worship of his
disciples and others on numerous occasions. His
triumphal entry into Jerusalem was designed to
elicit the adoration of the multitude.
Again, in the Labrador doctor's aversion to a
definite, orderly statements of Christian doctrines
and their adherents, he assails the ministry after
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una insuiou: me soie ana oniy real reason why
certain earnest men do not acknowledge they are
Christ's followers, i. e., Christians, is because
they don't want to be linked up with the samples
of manhood parading a title they have pirated, or
which men have prostituted by conferring it on
any one who signs his name to their shiboleth."
The whole truth is that this spectacular doctor
hates the preaching of the cross which is
"to them that perish, foolishness" and champions
a religion of human merit, in his zeal for
which he dictates articles of religious belief with
a degree of presumption that entitles him to a
place in the front ranks of living dogmatists. As
far as we can interpret this man's creed he is
Unitarian to the core?"Christ to be followed,
not worshipped," but feels the need of recognition
by the Christian Church. In courting this
recognition he would fain use the opportunity
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Church in its established principles of belief
and their respect for its ordained ministry.
BOISE'S WAY OF MARRYING DIVORCED
PEOPLE.
Press dispatches announced a few days ago
that the "court" presided over by Archbishop
Amette had decided in favor of the validity of
the Eames-Gogorza marriage, it having held
that the civil ceremony gone though between Gogorza
and the wife from whom he was divorced
did not constitute a valid marriage, and that
therefore there could not be such a thing as a
divorce in that case. The previous marriage
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iuua place merexy Deiore a justice of the peace,
and therefore the Achbishop's court held that
Gogorza was free to marry. As to the freedom
of Emma Eames to marry, the court said nothing
about that, it being clear to it that she and
the husband from whom she was divorced had
neither of them been baptized before their marriage,
so that there also could be no divorce, there
having been no previous marriage!
That the parties to this infamous piece of business
should be willing to consent to the conditions
named by the church and agree that previous
marriages were not marriages at all, is the
shame of it. That the church which is always
claiming that it seeks to maintain and honor the
marriage relation, and that it positively refuses
to marry divorced persons, should consent to
such a marriage, provided the parties would
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onauieicssiy to acfcnowledge themselves as
never having been married before, is worse than
a shame. It is a sin against decency and
against sincerity. It is an honoring of shamelessness
and a mockery of the sacredness of marriage.
It is time for the state to act in cases like this.
It shonld not allow any ecclesiastical procedure
or decision to set itself up against the morals of
men, to bring discredit upon its laws and contempt
upon its regulations. Any pronouncement
by priest, bishop, pope or court of any of
these, against the validity of the act of marriage
duly performed under legal sanction, should be
treated as contempt of court and shonld be dealt
with by law.
What a man does for the love of Ood, he does
I