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April 24, 1912] THE
Editorial 1
THE TITANIC.
The Titaus were a fabled race of giants, enormous
in size and resistless in strength, the sons
and daughters of heaven and earth. The great
ship, of whose rragic and awe-inspiring fate all
me v?vnu iiuw Kiiuws, uore me name ot tins
mythical race. As a triumph of naval architecture
the Titanic was the crown and culmination
of all the ages. Possibly no single product of
man's genius and wealth has surpassed her in
combined magnificence, scientific appliances, and
exhibit of human skill and resources. Certain
it is, that she was the queen of the seas. From
the human viewpoint she was well named; representative
of human greatness, power and pride,
luxury and learning. But) in collision with the
forces which God has ordained she was crushed
like an egg-shell and is no more.
It is not to be doubted that such an event is
pregnant with solemn and awful lessons. God
is teaching us every day by his. providence, if
only we have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Ilappy will it be for the nations of today if they
will hnnr Vlio wnim onJ .UI- 5
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The shores of the past are strewn with wrecks,
and beacons stand out with grim distinctness,
warning of sunken rocks and treacherous tides,
of giant forces which men dare not defy.
"Babylon is fallen" was the cry uttered at the
climax of her glory. Rome was never so splendid
as when hidden forces were wasting her foundations
and her doom was already sealed. The
names of her statesmen, orators and warriors of
that very day of doom, are immortal. Rome had
rejected and forgotten God and he made her
name a reproach. Warnings from the fate of
later civilizations are quite as distinct, and unheeded,
they will be no less fateful.
Are Britain and America steering a course
along which monsters of perils lie in wait? Are
the love of wealth and power, of luxury and
pleasure their masters? Do their greatness, their
self-sufficiency entice them to forget the laws,
the faith, the supreme Benevolence that made
them great? Leaders in the world's nrntrrp.ss
are they infatuated with a consciousness of the
supremacy which God has given them, forgetful
of him from whom their blessings came J If so
it is in harmony with his government of his ancient
people to admonish them that in themselves
they are as nothing in his sight, and that man
at his best estate is altogether vanity. In God's
providential warnings a law prevails that ofttimes
the few shall suffer for the many, that the
many may be spared: "Those eighteen upon
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think ye that they were sinners above all men
that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, nay; but
except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
What can be the design of such events in the
providence of God but'' that they might set their
hope in God and not forget the works of God,
hut keep his commandments"?
There is a dangerous tendency in modem
thought to ignore God's sovereignty over his
creation and magnify man's greatness, and consequently
to ignore the divine immanence in the
affairs of human life. But, "Have ye not
known? Have ye not heard? Hath it not been
told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood
from the foundations of the earth? Tt
is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth
and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers,
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and
spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in, that
bringeth the princess to nothing, and maketh
the judges of the earth as vanity. Lift up your
eyes on high, and behold wha hath created these
things, that bringeth out their host by number;
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE S<
Votes and
he ealleth them all by names by the greatness
of his might for he is strong in power; not one
faileth." "'He gathereth the waters of the sea
together as an heap, he layeth up the depth in
storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord;
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe
of him." "Thou rulest thfi rairinc nf fho con.
when the waves thereof arise thou stillest them.
The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine;
as for the world and the fulness thereof thou
hast founded them. Thou hast a mighty arm;
strong is thy hand and high is thy right hand.
Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy
throne; mercy and truth shall go before thy
face. Blessed is the people that know the joyful
sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of
thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice
all the day, and in thy righteousness shall
they be exalted, for thou art the glory of their
strength."
About three years ago the race track was
drivtn from New Orleans, one of the last strongholds
in which it had entrenched itself. A year
and a half later a vigorous effort was made to
re-introduce it. The repeal of the law which
ejected it and the re-introduction of the "king's
sport," so-called, were contended for by large
numbers of people who thought they had lost in
business and that the city was suffering from the
absence of the nefarious business. These advocates
of its restoration would not listen to the
testimony concerning the vast evil that had been
wrought in the community by the gambling
which the race track had produced. Wrecked
character, ruined lives, stealing, embezzlements,
and the like, were passed by, in the eagerness of
many to get back a thing which was only evil.
Now, three years after the expulsion, a bank fails
most disastrously. It is found to be honey-combed
with fraud, and everything indicates that
the fraud has beeen going on for several years,
the officials hiding the facts and making the community
believe that everything was going on
well. The offender whose downward career start
eu me wnoie institution upon its career of loss
and deception acknowledges that he lost many
thousands in race track gambling! Hundreds of
stockholders and depositors have lost their all,
and thousands of people, with innocent women
and children in the number, are suffering, paying
out of their good money for the pastime and
hope of reaping a quick fortune which the
"king's sport" afforded to others than themselves.
When the wages of sin are paid, as they
must be paid in every case, many must suffer,
and those who suffer most are not always the
chief sinners.
Dr. Bridges, the bright editor of the Presbyterian
Standard, whose writings have always had
a spice of humor, and very fine humor, about
them, promises, in a very serious salutatory
editorial, that he has "reformed," and intends
that henceforth his editorials shall be so* dry that
some of his ministerial readers will imagine that
they are reading their own sermons!
One of our good Presbyterian contemporaries
has a fine article on "Easter." in which it
wittily declares that in our Presbyterian churches
the observance of the day usually takes the
three forms of (1) hats, (2) flowers, and (3) a
sermon by the pastor on the resurrection of
Christ. It mightTiave added that the invariable
introduction of the sermon is, in effect that our
church does not believe in Easter, that it has
fifty-two Easters a year, but, that inasmuch, etc.
I a
3UTH (469) 9
Comments
NOTES IN PASSING.
BY BERT.
A spirit which looks at life
v?// ? 1- ? - -
wct/-uui/i?/>bc. umy supernciany is very apt to
deplore the unavoidable necessity
of giving way to others. But one who has
even an elementary understanding of the essential
laws of life knows that this cannot be avoided,
and one who has more deeply studied the
problem will confess that it ought not to be
avoided.
In the seventh verse of the fortieth Psalm, the
singer cried out, "Then said I, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God." This follows an assertion of
the utter worthlessness of every other kind of
sacrifice. Neither sacrifice nor offering, burnt
sacrifice nor sin offering were to be considered
in comparison with that spirit of self-denial
which expresses itself in the words, "I come to
fViir irill n n.A/1
V.V l/l?J ?? lily V/ UUU.
Shakespeare says, "Brave conquerors! for so
you are, that war against your own affections and
the huge army of the world's desires." Every
conflict we wage with determination for a holy
oause brings its enrichments, but none so wondrously
laden as the conflict against the selfish
and intemperate demands of our own souls.
Everything is possible to him who holds himself
in full subjection.
Take the short statement of John, "God is
love," and what is the idea? Why simply this,
that the life of God is a life of sacrifice. What is
love? Is it not sacrifice? Can you think of love
divorced from sacrifice? Did it not come from
God himself that "it is more blessed to give than
to receive ? And such a sentiment could only, in
the very nature of the case, emanate from ? mc
rificing life. What day has there been since the
creation of the world that God was not giving
out to his creatures? What language shall attempt
to describe the calamitous day when we
should cease for a moment to withhold his consideration
from mankind? Dr. McCosh says,
"In all genuine love there is benevolence, wellwishing,
a desire and a disposition to do good to
the person beloved." F. W. Robertson says,"One
act of charity will teach us nvore of the love of
God than a thousand sermons; one act of unselfishness,
of real self-denial, and putting forth of
one loving feeling to the outcast and those who
are out of the way, will tell us more of the Epiphany
than whole volumes of the wisest writers on
theology." The self-sacrificing life is the strong
life and the rich life. The door that opens to
let self out lets all blessings in.
To give what you want to keep is a high compliment
to the beneficiary, to give what you don't
Want is imnnsitirm f?? ,:i1'
? [ kuuamci nuw nine you
would feel like returning thanks for a gift one
wanted to get rid of.
The essence of generosity is self-sacrifice. By
this standard measure your so-called gifts to
God.
To give what you cannot afford is rank dishonesty.
It has led many a man to the penitentiary,
and many more to ruin.
To keep what you "ought to give does two
wrongs. It impoverishes him who ought to have
received, and it makes of him who keeps a receiver
of stolen goods.
Only one person can have a just claim upon
iny stolen commodity at a time. The mere fact
that one has it, so far from bedng in his favor
may be to his great discredit.