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February 7,1912] THE
P&AY1LB FOB, YOUTH.
Thp second Sabbath of February ia
by our General Assembly as a "Gay of special
prayer for the youth assembled in our various
schools, colleges and' seminaries, and for the
baptized children of the Church?that God
would be pleased to pour out his Spirit upon
them and sanctify them to the blessed work of
making his way known upon the earth, his saving
health amongst all nations."
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is declining in the estimate of the Church we
may not determine. Certain it is that there is
call for a tremendous awakening to the imperative
need of godly, sanctifying influences in
the education of our youth. The secularizing of
our schools by processes in which the religious
element in education is ignored; in which relations
to God, his moral government, his law and
his gospel are treated as though they were not,
must be counteracted by emphasis upon moral
and spiritual truth. We must have men and women
who value courage, honor, truth, reverence
and every Christian virtue and are not deluded
by the things which are seen as the goal and
f 1!P 11T 1- *1 ' *? ? * -
crown 01 ure. wnne a suotie materialistic infidelity
is rife in many institutions of higher
learning, the Church must plead for guidance,
for light and power, that its own institutions
may be kept secure from the infection, and that
its youth may be taught and led of the Holy
Spirit.
To this end importunate prayer should be
offered, not for one day only, but always, by
every heart that loves and hopes in our boys and
girls. If God, in answer to the believing supplication
of his people shall be indeed the guardian
and guide of the children of the Church, then the
future is radiant with promise; tides of worldness
and doubt will be turned back, schools of
learning will be either hallowed by his presence
or they will be abandoned to their fate. Halls
uiiu lecture rooms, enauwments ana specialists
do not make a college. Mental, moral and spiritual
power count for more than all the rest.
Like all departments of active life, the supreme
need of our educational enterprises in
this day and hour is divine grace in answer to
prayer. Then shall we not pray, shall we not
ask, shall we not seek, unitedly and imploringly
when it is the one thing that we can all do, and
when it is the one medium through which the
gracious gifts of Heaven come upon the children
of men? Shall there not be a bond of
sympathy and unity holding the entire Church
in earnest supplication that student life may be
adorned with Christian graces and the principles
of our holy religion made supreme in its character.
The drinking habit and consequent evils
among college and university students have of
late attracted general attention and eliaited
ominous comment. A Chicago man recently
published startling figures, overdrawn no doubt,
which some presidents hastened to denounce.
Some of these men were connected with institutions
noted for their liquor features and for
general unrestraint of immoral habits. Some
years ago Dean Vaughan addressed the students
of Michigan University on "College Life," and
said: "At least ten per cent, of University of
Michigan students ought never to have entered
here. The greatest curse to university students
here is alcohol. Nearly every case of going
wrong can be traced to drinking. The American
saloon is the greatest curse on God's earth and
Ann Arbor gives a good example of it. The
amount of drinking among Michigan University
students is deplorable and it is while under the
influence of liquor that many do the disgraceful
sots which bring discredit on themselves and the
PRESBYTERIAN 07 TBS 84
institution they attend." Happily we hop* the
tide is now turning and those institutions that
once thought they were net responsible for
either the moral or spiritual conditions of their
students are remembering that "self-preservation
is the first law of nature."
AN EASY WAY.
About as fine a specimen of the "wide gate"
and broad way" against which the Saviour
warned his disciples as we have ever seen is in
the following generous offer. It'will be observed
that the spiritual benefits derived from the
"recitation of the rosary" have a double value,
in that they may be made applicable not only to
the "reciters" here but also to the "souls in
purgatory." Here is the offer. It is taken from
a daily paper of New Orleans, where Romanism
ao i am['<1111 ;
"Of the many Catholic indulgences which
have been attached to the recitation of the rosary,
that originally conferred upon the Crosier
Fathers, is as rich as any popularly known. This
indulgence was confirmed and renewed in 1884
by the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences and
by Pope Leo XIII. According to this privilege,
an indulgence of five hundred days applicable
to the souls in Purgatory may be gained each
time a Hail Mary or an Our Father is recited on
the beads of a rosary ' indulgenced' by the
Crosier Fathers. This indulgence is one of the
richest and easiest to gain, because it is not
necessary to meditate on the mysteries of the
rosary nor to recite all the rosary nor even one
decade. One prayer said amidst occupations,
no matter which bead of the rosary, will gain
this indulgence of five hundred days. Catholics
who desire this indulgence attached to their
rosaries can gain it by annlviner to anv nnp nf
the Jesuit priests who are empowered to confer
it."
A very sad omission in this announcement is
that of the price at which this most excellent
"indulgenced" rosary may be had. Of course
there is a price for it, quite good as a source of
revenue, but infinitesimal when compared with
the wonderful value of the use of it!
SOME MISTAKES ABOUT THE BIBLE.
BY DAVID JAMES BURRELL, D. D., LL. D., MINISTER
MARBLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH, NEW YORK CITY.
If the Bible is our only "rule of faith and
rvnnnfion' ' ?? ^ 11 '
?oa v>inisliuus proiess?men mistakes
in that quarter are dangerous. And there are
many such mistakes current in these days.
First, it is a mistake to speak of the Bible as a
mere "book among books."
It is "literature," but more. The fact which
differentiates it from all other books is its inspiration.
It is the only Book in the world that
justly claims to have been composed by "holy
men who wrote as they were moved by the Spirit
of God."
Second, it is a mistake to think of it as "full
of errors."
That there are error in each and all of the
hundreds of current versions and translations
of the Scriptures goes without saying; but (1)
they are few; not by any means so numerous as
represented by anti-Biblical critics who delight
to make a mountain out of a molehill ? thev
? J * ? /
are relatively unimportant, not affecting in the
slightest degree any of the moral or religious
teachings of the Book; and (3) they are of such
a character as to indicate clearly that they came
by translation and transcription and were not
iin the original autograph as it left the hands of
those "holy men whowrote as they were moved
by the Spirit of God."
Third, it is a mistake to think that the Book
is for soholars exclusively, sr that 44 Biblical ex
OUTH (131) U
parts" know more about it than anybody els*.
This was the mistake made by the Church before
the Reformation, when the Bible was chained
to the high altar and reserved for the use of
men "in holy orders." It was to everybody that
Christ spoke when he said, ''Search the Scriptures;
for in them ye think ye have eternal life,
and these are they which testify of me."
FnilPTII a 1"- * - * ' " '
- VV?.U) iu 10 a luisia&B iu linnk or amrm tiiat
the Bible has been or is "losing ground" in these
last days.
On the contrary more copies of the Scriptures
are being sold and read and studied and loved
and revered and lived by than ever before in the
history of the world. Christians believe in the
Bible now as always. Infidels, loose livers, false
teachers and destructive critics do not, never
did and never will believe in it.
Fifth, it is a mistake to suppose that one can
keep his Bible without believeing it.
When a man (like Jeliudi with his penknife,
see Jeremiah 36:20-23), begins to cut and slash,
he might as well commit all to the tiames. For
if the Book be proven untrustworthy in parts,
it is unworthy of trust at all. Falsus in uno,
falsus in omnibus. No Alpine tourist would engage
a guide who was known to be imperfectly
acquainted with the way or untruthful in his
statements about it.
Sixth, it is a mistake to assume that one can
be a Christian without believing the Bible.
TUTU-i. - T ' ' ~
is u ^iirisnuni une who accepts Christ;
as a Priest to atone for his sins, as a Prophet to
instruct him and as a King to rule over him.
"When a Christian wants to know what to believe
about a thing he simply asks "What does
Christ teach about it?" The teaching of Christ
as to the Scriptures is perfectly clear. He spoke
of them as "the Truth" and "the Word of
God." He preached and practiced them and
instructed his disciples to do likewise. If the
Scriptures were full of errors and therefore un
trustworthy, as alleged, he probably knew it;
but never once, by word, syllable or sign, did he
indicate that he did not believe them from beginning
to end. The Book that was good enough
for liiin ought to be good enough for those who
profess to follow him.
The keynote of a true Christian profession is
in that word "follow." Sincere Christians are
in no danger of being led away into dangerous
error by false teachers; since Christ said, "My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they
follow me."?Christian Intelligencer.
Perhaps there is more than mere poetical
thought and expression in that beautiful part of
the Shepherd Psalm which reads, "He maketk
me to lie down in green pastures." It i3 said that
shepherds often have to retard the fast feeding
of the sheep, and that it is for this reason they
go before the flock. Our Shepherd must needs
do the same thing. His sheep sometimes strive
to feed too fast. lie holds them back, compelling
them to lie down, not always because of satiety,
but sometimes because they need rest and quiet.
His setting himself in the way of what they
think progress is in love and wisdom. "When lie
thinks best he will let them rise and move forward.
Whatever changes the years bring to us, we
ni nof *1 1
.. uoi; c?ci ?\cc(j uur eyes on me living Uhrist. He
will always be all we need. There will never be
an experience through which he can not safely
take us. We are leaving the old year behind,
but we are not leaving Christ in the dead year.
We need not be afraid, therefore, to go forward,
if we go with him.?J. R. Miller.
One can change his nature without God with
the fume ease that a clock can repair itself.