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2 (462) THE!
CONSERVATIVE PRINCIPLES AND METHODS
IN CHURCH \vOKK.
.. 1 have noticed that The Presbytkkian of the
South seems to stand for a conservative application
of Bible principles in our church work. In
this you have my sympathy. 1 may be considered
an old fogy, as not up-to-date, etc. Nevertheless,
1 must protest that 1 cannot conceive of
Paul and the other leaders of the early Christian
Church as having banquets, conventions,
laymen's movements, men and religion movements?all
wonderfully advertised as equipped
with expert musicians, expert speakers, etc.?to
bring about an inspirational wave of enthusiasm
(by the way, the word "inspirational" seems to
be much over-worked in our church literature),
to raise funds for Foreign Missions, or some other
church work. Some of these "experts" (no
doubt earnest Christian brethren they are, but
not the embodiment of all the wisdom of the
church), not satisfied to let well enough alone
when our church was steadily advancing year
by year in the amount of funds raised for
Mififiinno miiof 4-r*~ 1 ?
? vigil A'xiwvJiUUO, XX1UO1/ L?I\U UU1U Ui tilC 1IC1II1
and thrust the church out into the great deep of
a two hundred thousand dollar debt upon our
Foreign Mission treasury. I am one who believes
that our church ought to pay this debt,?
but let us not keep on plunging the church in
this reckless manner into debt. Dr. Johnson, of
Richmond, in a recent review of the Chattanooga
Convention, while he commends much, yet
points out some defects, such as a rather offensive
assuming of leadership on the part of socalled
"experts,"?some unwise and unfortunate
utterances,?and the expensiveness of their
plan of raising church money. He estimates the
expense of that Convention to be about sixtythree
thousand dollars, and the money it raised
to be about forty-five thousand dollars. To my
mind these new fashioned methods are largely
responsible for the heavy foreign mission debt,?
because they have depended upon getting
pledges of money by spurts of enthusiasm?
mauy 01 mese pieages Deing unpaid. A recent
official statement from our Foreign Mission office
showed that these unpaid pledges amounted to
nearly one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
These terms "conventions," "movements," etc.,
do not sound much like Presbyterianism, as the
Bible sets forth Presbyterian principles. These
modern methods are said to be inspirational.
But can we not get the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit in our daily life of prayer and study of
God's Word, in connection with the public ordinances
of the church? Any other inspiration
than that of God's Spirit is a mere effervescing
of enthusiasm that will soon vanish.
These movements are said to be educational.
But can we not have a more effective education
by relying upon our many pulpits teaching line
upon line of Bible doctrine, supplemented by its
teaching of our Sabbath schools and families?
Much of the money raised at these conventions
would have been paid by generous men without
going to these conventions. Making no allowance
for the heavy expense of holding these conventions,
and no discounts for the unpaid
pledges?still is it not true the money raised by
these conventions is a very small part of the
total contributed by the Church for Foreign
Missions?
In one point I do not agree with Dr. T. C.
jonnson, wnen tie advocates as a substitute for
these conventions more of the time of our General
Assembly being taken up with inspirational
addresses on the benevolent causes of our
church. The Assembly, as I conceive, is a
church coijrt'and not a convention,?and there
ought to, be no attempt to turn it into a convention.
Our Baptist brethren may act that
way,?but Presbyterians have a different cont
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE S(
ception of the teaching of the Bible as to church
rule.
1 am heartily in sympathy with Foreign Missions,?was
partly raised on '4 From Greenland's
Icy Mountains" and the biographies of the early
missionaries, some of whom were among my
kiiiKmon huf T it- 4- - ?--- 2 ?
?^?, uuv j. uu uuii uuuucjvc it iu ue wise lor
our church to swing so far out into the Foreign
Mission work as to neglect Home Missions,? as*
1 would be concerned to see some splendid
structure that is being erected beginning to have
its dome and upper parts far out of proportion
to its base.
All this may be considered by some as the
raving of an old man,?but I will record my appeal
to the church to come back into the "old
paths" of Bible teaching, and Scriptural
methods. Only let us have more prayer and
faith, and work,?with humble reliance upon
the Holy Spirit to bless the Gospel of Christ.
Crockett, Texas. S. F. Tenney.
SOME STARTLING FIGURES.
According to the 1912 edition of Kennedy's
official Catholic directory there are 15,015,569
Catholics in the United States.
A year ago the Catholic population of the
country was 14,018,761, while ten years ago it
was 10,976,757, showing an increase of 4,018,812
for the decade. Twenty years ago Catholics
numbered 8,615,18o, showing that within twenty
years the Catholic population has nearly
doubled.
This directory also says that there are 17,491
priests in the United States, and 13,939 Catholic
churches. There are 83 seminaries, with 6,006
students preparing for the priesthood; 229 colleges
for boys and ^ 01 academies for girls. There
are 5,119 parochial schools, with an attendance of
1,333,786. There are also 289 orphan asylums,
v An iit * * - ---
curing lur *?(,axj. orpuans. including the children
in parochial schools, orphan asylums, academics,
colleges and other charitable institutions,
the grand total oil young people under Catholic
care amounts to 1,540,049.
From the same source the following additional
statistics are obtained: Number of Catholics in
New York, 2,778,076; in Pennsylvania, 1,616,920;
in Illinois, 1,447,400; and in Massachusetts,
1,381,212. The following Southern States are
also mentioned, with the number of Catholics:
Louisiana, 583,000; Texas, 300,917; Maryland,
260,000; and Kentucky, 158,945.
According to a religious census of the United
States, which the writer of this article saw in a
recent issue of the Literary Digest, the number
of Catholics in this country in 1911 was 12,575,085,
which number is 2,440,484 less than that
given by Catholic authorities. The same census
says that the increase in membership in all
churches during the past year, both Catholic and
Protestant, was 594,366, of which 230,665
indicates the former's increase and 363,701 the
latter's increase. The number of Methodists in
this country is 6,819,660; the number of Baptists
is 5,634,565; Lutherans, 2,289,897; Presbyterians,
1,944,181; Episcopal, 956,930; Reformed,
451,938; Latter Day Saints, 400,650; United
Brethren, 311,834; Dunkards, 123,677; Friends,
122,796; Adventists, 95,764, an so on with smaller
branches of the Protestant church.
To unthinking people the foregoing statistics
are uninteresting, but to the fRr-sicrht#>rl woinii
fill, real protesting Protestant they are filled
with meaning. Are the American people as
gullible as these figures on Catholic growth would
seem to indicate? The Catholic Church has determined,
if possible, to capture America for itself;
ousted as it has been from the courts of
the most important nations of Europe?Germany
and England?it is making its last stand in this
country whiffi should be and is naturally op
1
) U T H [April 24, 1912
posed to its principles. Shall America be Catholic
or Protestant? The next twenty-five or
fifty years will probably answer the question. If
you are a Protestant, be an active, aggressive one
and protest, and our country will be saved to
Protestanism. d P M
THE PULPIT AND PULPIT QUESTIONS.
In The Presbyterian, March 20, there was an
interesting account of an enthusiastic meeting of
the Ministerial Union of Richmond and vicinity
at which the resolution was unanimously adopted
that "the prophetic office of the pulpit demands
not only the preaching of the evangelical
truth as it is in Jesus Christ (i. e., the simple
Gospel), but also the application of this truth to
present problems confronting the city, the State
and the Nation."
Note present problems:
Emigration; woman's suffrage; tariff and free
trade; capital and labor; individualism; high
cost of living; the dissolution and protection of
trusts; race suicide; the race issue; international
O r?Ki t noti r\r> . rlicin ?.??? ? - P
uiuibiutiuu , Uidaiuiaiucuij rcuucuua 01 army
and navy expenditures; the providing of old age
pensions; the white slave traffic; the liquor
traffic; federal supervision and states rights;
inter-state commerce;. the regulation of supply,
preventing over-production; private and public
sanitation; good roads; civic improvement;
business and political restraint; the diminution
of the number of suicides; the struggle of the
individual for self-recovery; the reclamation of
bankrupt business; the liberation of the courts
from financial influences; the recall of judges;
the divorce evil; the educationand training of
children; adultry, and other problems of a
similar nature.
Note the following queries:
1. Is this course in keeping with the great
commission, "Go ye into all the world and
preach tbe Gospel to every creature?"
2. Is it in accord with the example of Christ
and his apostles who adhered strictly to the
preaching of the Word of God?
3. Is it not a virtual admission that the
Gospel is a failure?
4. Will it not so obscure the line of demarkation
separating between the church and state as
to bring these into serious conflict?
5. Will it not so secularize the pulpit and
church as to submit the mission of the church
and render it apostate?
6. To what extent is this course the outcome
of the passing "fad," that "the modern, intelligent
business man" . demands something
more than "the preaching of the simple Gospel?"
7. Does not the ministry of to-day need more
theological independence?independence of human
opinion, human science, human philosophy,
and human literature? The words of Paul
should be the battle-cry of every minister: "With
me it is a very small thing that I should be
judged of you, or of man's judgment;" or, as
the original reads, "by a human day." To be
judged by a "human day" is to be judged by the
spirit of the age. The Zeitgeist is reflected in its
philosophy, science, literature, ethics, and art.
The Word of God is judged^by "a human day,"
whenever it is "interpreted by the shifting
theories in human speculation, and the changing
fashions in human taste and culture, instead of
boincr internrotod hv itself " Tnetond nf hoincr
influenced'by the Zeitgeist, the Spirit of the day,
the ministry of our Lord should be controlled by
the Zeitgeist, the spirit of eternity.
These questions are raised and proposed in the
kindest feeling. If this is the right course, it
should be universally adopted.
^ R. L. Benn.
>