Newspaper Page Text
December 20, 1911] THE.
plaint is a matter for the court alone to pass
upon.]
44 3. That changes proposed in our organic law
should be as few as possible, and in such form
as to affect as few parts of our Book of Church
Order as possible.
"4. That no changes should be proposed
whl/?Vl mo\r p 11
iu.uuc me uuuiuuu 01 auotner court
or tribuual to our present series of graded
eourts.
"5. That any commission provided for as a
means of dealing with judicial cases coming to
the Assembly should be solely of the Assembly's
appointment, acting under its authority and
in its name. This provision, however, need not
preclude the nomination of the members of such
commission by authority and in its name. This
provision, however, need not preclude the nomination
of the members of such commission by
lower courts.
"That nomination of members of such commission
should be so placed as to secure a membership
which shall be ordinarily outside of the
Assembly appointing it."
The eft'ect of missions upon the civilization of
foreign lands is never fully appreciated, and is
nf'tun l?* ^ 1 I- it-- ?
until cuuicij iguuieu 111 we reports ox diplomats
and tourists. Those effects, however, have
become so prominent and epoch-making as to
compel recognition. An instance of the silent
power of missions is related in a letter from Miss
Alary S. Mathews, of Hangchow, China. For
more than half a century the Gospel has been
taught in that city. The masses of the people
are still pagan, but unconsciously to themselves
they have been so influenced by Christian ideals
of social and civil order that when the time came
for action in the progress of the present revolution,
the people espoused the cause of reform and
progress without serious conflict or loss of life.
It is practically certain that the entrance of
God's Word gave the light that exposed the
corruption of the monarchies of southern
. Europe in recent years and prepared the way
ror uie wnoiesome changes winch have occured
and are still in progress in Spain, Portugal and
Turkey. Not many' years before, Prance and
Italy wrought for themselves a similar reformation
and today the reconstructive process is
under way in Asiatic countries. The weapons
of our warfare are not carnal," but mighty
through God to the pulling down of strongholds.
Here is a fine flash of oratory that we think
should not be lost. It isn't grandiloquent nor
especially rhetorical; nor is it syllogistically
constructed, but it is pungent and searching to
the last degree. A lecturer was paying his respect
to the young man who tipples and said:
"The railroads don't want him, the ocean liners
don't want him. the hanks dnn't want him tho
merchants don't want him." Then referring to
an advertisement of a saoloon-keeper for a bartender
who does not drink, "the saloon-keeper
does not want him." Turning with his most
winsome smile to the audience, he said: "Now,
girls, do you want himt"
The "indiscriminate slaughter" by automobiles
goes on. In St. Louis alone, since December
20, 1910, twenty-one persons have been killed
by them, and scores have received injuries.
New York's record was bad enough, with eight
een aeams wunin less man a year, out tnis 13
worse. The courts need to intervene, by holding
men responsible and by punishment to the
utmost limit. The evil is increasing month by
month, and the holidays will doubtless show
more fatalities than any other part of the year.
PRESBYTERIAN OP THE 80
THROUGH A PASTOR'S EYES.
BT CHARLES E. JEFFERSON, D. D., IN THE
CONGREGATION AL1ST.
A NEGLECTED STATEMENT.
Paul went to the stadium for some of his
most vivid metaphors, and the modern athletic
1 -A 1 A - - ' A . * " "
uem uas ai icasi one term?"team work"?
which church members may profitably ponder.
The Church is a co-operative institution, and
its work is done victoriously only by the linking
together of the strength and the skill of
many surrendered souls. To achieve desired
results there must be a constant subjection of
the individual will, and a mutual subordination
of mind and heart both continuous and joyous.
It was good advice which Peter gave to
the Christians of his day: "Gird yourselves
with humility to serve one another." One
catches in this sentence the picture of the basin
and the towel, a picture which Peter himself
was never able to shut out from his eyes and
which has in it significance for all generations
of nrnfnooinrr PK?*iofion? ? A 11 -
j-r* v<.vwotug v/kiA ioiiiauo* X I1C DttUI'llJIlCIll Ol 106
basin and the towel is perennially binding on
the members of the Church, and unless this
sacrament is faithfully observed, the celebration
of the sacrament of the bread and the
wine is certain to become mechanical and perfunctory.
Church members are ordained servants
of one another, and Church life reaches
the Christian level only by the constant crucifixion
of individual preference and inclination.
No one member of a church?not even the
minister?can have everything his own way.
If a minister chances to forget this, he renders
himself unhappy, and is in danger of making
things unpleasant for his church. The church
officials, as well as the obscurest of the saints
must cultivate the grace of giving in. Let two
or tnree church members resolve that their
wishes shall prevail, break what will, and the
New Testament ideal of a Church of Jesus is
shattered. Christians must give and take and
take and give, or growth in social life becomes
impossible. Unless a man denies himself and
takes up his cross every day, he cannot become
a good church member. It is an easy thing to
put a cross on the church building, but it is
far from easy to build the cross into the heart
of church life and work. Self-denial to most
of us does not come naturally, and we forget
sometimes that it is possible for it to come by
grace.
What is there about the Church which satisfies
every member completely! Certainly not
the architecture, nor the creed, nor the order
of service, nor the time of service, nor the
length of service, nor the hymn-book, nor the
snape 01 tne pews, nor the lighting, nor the
ventilation, nor the organ, nor the choir, nor
the way of raising money, nor the method of
general administration. Every one would prefer
at least some one thing other than it is, and
therefore all alike are called upon to surrender
personal choice for the general good.
The ver^r existence of the Church is conditioned
on the cross. In the preaching service,
for instance, every one must be ready for selfsacrifice,
for no sermon can come with equal
light and healing to every one who hears it,
and as there are in the congregation many
ages and numerous grades of culture, and divers
capacities and numberless needs to be met,
the preacher, if he be faithful, will often be too
hicrh or ton lnw
v, ? - ? ? ? v "j iw aui tv Hie 11??11is ur too lar
to the left to satisfy a part of the congregation.
The wise preacher gives each one of his people
meat in dne season, and if a man gets no meat
ont of a sermon this Sunday because it was a
sermon containing milk for babes, he ought not
. to make a wry face as though he were the most
>Qf B <1211) 11
maltreated ol men, but rejoice that the babes
are being nourished, and wait patiently until
next Sunday when, possibly, uieat will be
served again.
n _ v v
At is a uau sign wnen a church member is
enthusiastic over every sermon his pastor
preaches. It shows that one particular type
of mind is being fed, and the chances are that
a dozen other types are being starved. A versatile
and fertile preacher will soar up and
down and range far and wide, content to be
counted dull now and then by good judges in
his congregation, in order that he may reach
the various levels of all the people whom God
has intrusted to his guidance.
The midweek service cannot be hewn to suit
the taste of every member of the church. No
matter what the fnnn nf enpw!n/> 1
_ uui T1V.C, were will ue
good souls and true who would prefer a form
quite different. A considerate preacher will
therefore be careful to study variety in his midweek
service, and not allow it to crystallize
into an inflexible form which edifies only himself
and the deacons. But no matter what the
form, there will always be certain of the elect
who are not altogether happy. Their joy would
be great if they only knew how to sacrifice
themselves for others. He is indeed to be pitied
who cannot get out of any church service, no
matter what its form, nutriment for the upbuilding
of his spiritual life. Simply to meet
with one's fellow-Christians and to bow the
head with them in prayer is itself a means of
grace, and the endurance of trifles which cut
across the grain of predilections is indeed a
small price to pay.
Children are sometimes so selfish they cannot
play together, and certain Christians are so
Belfish they cannot work together. Uncongenial
personalities sting them into frenzy, or
plans of work not according to the liking drive
them sulking to their tent. If one were not
afraid of such Christians being killed?for they
are not yet prepared to die?one would be
tempted to wish them condemned to play football.
Football is to many an altogether Pagan
game, but it certainly calls for one Christian
grace, the grace of personal self-abnegation.
The individual player loses himself in his team.
He makes himself of no reputation, and works
like a servant, that the organization of which
t_ _
ue is a member may win. No college expects
to achieve athletic victories which has not perfected
its player in team work. The members
of a Christian church can expect no splendid
triumphs until they are willing to work together.
No, brother, we have nothing to say concerning
the appointment of three American cardinals
by the Roman pontiff. What need of it?
The thing has been talked and written of ad
nauseam, and as if it were a fine thing. We
are Americans. We see no credit or help to the
principles of American citizenship, much less
to American principles of religion, in adding
another bunch of men to whom millinery is more
than Christianity, to go about the country with
ren Rcnn caps on their heads, to he called "princes,"
"your eminence," to add to the befrocked,
beskirted, begowned feminized men who glory in
dressing up and-being called "your lordship,"
"your grace," and the like, and who are sworn
to put a foreigner's will and policy above that
of native land, and to teach others to do the
same. The whole business is too anti-American
o be noticed into familiarity.
This material world would be a better world
if it were more conscious of the vital verities
of the unseen world.. .