Newspaper Page Text
Dwtnber 0,1911] THE :
Editorial 1
We hear of only very rare instances of our
churches observing "Reformation Day," as
suggested by the General Assembly. Evidently
the suggestion does not appeal to the church
at large. The numerous demands for special
days has turned many away from all such
appointments.
Dr. Parker wrote of his own life, that it
was "full of sin, red with guilt, marred by
daily failures, the morning vow always lost
in the evening shame." Paul wrote of himself,
even in the height of his splendid career, "that
which I do I allow not." "In me, that is in my
flesh, dwelleth no good thing." "The good that
I would I do not, but the evil which I
would not, that I do." John, in his ripest
days said, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves." The nearer one comes to
the light, the deeper will be the shadow cast
by sin. The whiter the snow the blacker the
dark spot upon its surface.
The far-reaching effects of single good acts
can scarcely be conceived. The Church sent
John Leighton Wilson to the Guinea Coast of
Africa. lie became God's agent in the suppression
of the slave trade. Thp rVmrMi oont
Hampden C. DuBose to China. He was more
instrumental than any man there in the recent
putting down of the opium traffic. These two
men alone have saved millions of lives. If foreign
missions had accomplished no more than
the giving of these two men to the world and
the world work and life, foreign missions
should be written down as a grand success.
The best way to promote the Men and Religion
Movement is to induce the men of the
church to subscribe for and read the church
paper. They will then become informed as to
the affairs of the church. Information is essential
to intelligent interest in anything.
There is no enternrise on pnrtVi lmf ia an
spiring and profoundly interesting as the great
world-wide out-reach of our Lord's Kingdom,
and the upbuilding at home of the sublime
structure of human faith and character. "When
people are enlightened as to the proportions
of the firrent. work; the zeal, courage, self-sacrifiee.
faith, resourcefulness and godliness of
those who are ensraged in that greatest and noblest
of all human endeavors, they will be
attracted and. if in any degree worthy of
their profession, will become enlisted.
The religious newspaper has been called the
assistant pastor. Indeed a speaker at the
Methodist Ecumenical Council said he would
rather have the church paper than a walking,
breathing assistant who might get in his way.
He valued the silent, unanswerable assistant
who works at night, in the morning and in the
hours of leisure is the religious journal He
believed that "we can set our churches ablaze
if we give them the religious newspaper in
every home. A good slogan for some of the
numerous "movements" of the day might be
"A church paper in every home."
A suggestion of how "A religous paper in
every home" may materialize is found in the
following incident and the moral therefrom
found in the columns of The Congregationalist.
"How did you happen to take the Congrega
tioualistf" we asked a business man the other
day, whom we discovered reading the paper on
the train. "My pastor asked me to," was his '
reply, "in the first place, and then I liked it
<?o well that T have kept on taking it." ITere
in a nutshell is the secret of successful pro
V
i ' V".
P R E 8 BY T B R I A N O P T H B SO
Votes and:
paganda. Nothing is so effective as the personal
work. " It not only contributes-to the'growth of
newspapers, but to the. development of ev-t
ery worthy undertaking, and .even.to.the ex.-. ..
tension of Christianity itself.. .. *
The decision of the Supreme Court.'of-the
United States, ordering the Circuit Court, *
which had ruled that it' wafs tHthoUt juris-"'
diction, to hear the Board of Publication case
on its merits mav rpaulf in ?
w ? VWM*W AAA V*H5 UU1UUIS18 BC"
curing the valuable Cumberland Presbyterian
Publishing house. The decision does not
touch any local church properties, qs it was
upon the appeal of non-residents, outside of
Tennessee, claiming interest, that the Supreme
Court ordered the lower court to take
jurisdiction and hear the case on its merits.
The Cumberland Presbyterians will have unin- /
terrupted hold on their church buildings un- *
less the plan followed in Louisville many1*
years ago is practiced and loeal church mem-> i
bers are "colonized" temporarily over-in aiiother
State, that being "non-residents", they
may carry their snii* bn*r\ a o.-* i
?vim vuiiicu oiates
courts. * ' '
. -T
... i ... > ;lv. * \
Princeton seems to have a penchant fpr
Southern men. Both Seminary and University
reach out from time to time toward the South
for select men. The latest choice is that of
Dr. J. M. T. Finney, who is head of the department
of clinical surgery in the Johns Hopbins
Dispensary in Baltimore. A special com-:
mittee of the board.ot trustees of JJmj.IJpiyyer- fl>
sity selected Dr. Finney to become president
of the University as the successor of Governor
Woodrow "Wilson. Dr. Finney was born in
Mississippi where his parents, who were resi
dents of Maryland, ;were sojourning, lie. is
the son of a Presbyterian minister and is a ruling.
elder in the Brown Memorial Presbvt#>r??n
Church. He has declined the high office that
has been proffered and will remain in his
present position..
It will be remembered that Governor Wilson,
the ex-president of Princeton University,
is a Virginia boy. Dr. Warfield of the Seminary
is a Kentuckian, and at least three of.
the sturdy and valued ministers of our Church
have been invited to accept.professorships in
the Seminary within a,few years past.. It was .
under the leadership of Dr. Archihald .Aloxan-.,
der, a Southern man,?that the General Assembly
established the Seminary, in 1812, and the
endowment to a, very considerable e^feqt^ con-,
sisted of gifts from Southern people; all of
which is very interesting and very proper.. It
seems significant that the most prominent
Presbyterian University and most representative
Theological Seminary of the North, insti-.
tutions which have thriven for generations in
the atmosphere of sound religions faith should .
so irequently turn their eyes southward when
in quest of the best native ability, thorough
scholarship and sonnd faith.
The Presbyterian, speaking of the- presentwar
between Italy and Turkey and of the trouble
in China,-well remarks that "these tumults,
although they may only be ephemeral,-yet go to
show us that peace does not come as a mere-net
of the will, neither can it be obtained for.
money; can it come by mere diplomacy, , Peace
is a frnit, and the tree that bears it is purity
and righteousness. Let tre seek, then, that
righteousness which exalteth, and peace will fol
low." .-. r
0 T H i (llfl)
Comments
WISE TO WIN SOUL8.
The critical attitude of the world towarda
the ministry of the Gospel has never in all the
history of the world been more marked than
it is just now. "While there is little justification
of it,'and while in most cases, taken specifical- >
ly,'it is the product of prejudice or indisposition
towards the truth, it has to be taken as a
present fact and the problems it makes huve
to be confronted. The chief need of the min
istry, ne<t after pure motives, high purposes, .
and ample equipment, is wisdom.
t4 Behold, I* send you forth as sheep in the
midst-of Solves? be ye. therefore wise as serpen
t?, and harmless as doves." Men are to be
won, not' driven, into the church. Beth the
conditions and the end of Christian effort ;
therefore, call for the exercises of the greatest
wisdom on the part of those who would bring-them
to the truth of Christ. Not Only are those
whom they seek to win naturally indifferent to
the truth as it is in Jesus, but they are also
antagonistic to it. And this antagonism is so
pronounced and bitter in many cases that
those who have it, in order to offer some kind of
justification for it, attack the propagators of
the truth. Thus they become like wolves
ready to devour the sheep. Hence the need of
wisdom. The effort to bring even the bitterest
opponents to Christ is not to be given np because
of these conditions but because of them
is to be all the more earnestly made. The antagonism
is proof of the need of the truth. It
is therefore added reason for the faithful to be
the more diligent and earnest.
The wisdom needed' here is described at
length in God's word. First of all, it is "from
above," a gift of God who "giveth to all men
liberally,' and upbraideth hot." Then :next it
is "pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to "
be- eiitterited. full- of merry and good fruits,
wifhoht partiality, and without hypocrisy." It
is-tfr be'exercised in' a. purity of spirit and
motives which will cause all its acts to be pure,
sincere, disinterested. A conviction on the part '
of. hirh whom one would win that one's purposes
are thoroughly pure and disinterested
will go very far towards breaking down the
first barriers in the way.' Tt is alato to be
peaceable.' It should seek to avoid whatever
might arouse antagonism, and to produce ns
unnecessary conflicts'. It is the mistake of *
many to think that faithfulness in testimony
to-'the truth required them to use bricks or
sledge-hammers or bludgeons on every possible
occasion. The result 'is ihat after awhile
they fail- altogether tb get s'b much as in reach
of. those*'whom they would help, and' save.
Peaeeableness and gentleness will disarm the
spirit of resistance.' They will attract attention,
win confidence,''produce affection* and '
these will he a> direct and easy road to the
heart. At the sarae timef this peaeeableness'
need be at the expenses of sincerity; for this
true wisdom is "without* hypocrisy." 'When'
it is known to be a fact'that one has strong'
convictions and'has the oonrage of .'them while'
.i. -si.- ' *
nt i no name ume ne is gentle and considerate, *
he is all the more attractive even to his opponents.
'
Perhaps one Teason why the church has not
won nrore people is that she has neglected this *
wisdom of serpents and harmlessnesS of doves. "
She has devoted herself too strenuously to com*
batting.error instead of building up truth. She '
has pursued too assiduously the policy of pull-"
ing dowu the evil to make "room for the good, '
rather than building'up the' good until it '
forces out the had. Especially has this been '
true iu .tftp many cases in: dealing with the ad- *