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May IV1912] THS
Editorial 1
Our good friends of the Northern Church have
already begun to "groom" candidates for the
moderator^hip of their General Assembly, which
is to meet in Louisville May 16. Drs. Matthews,
of Seattle, MeEwan, of Pittsburg, and McClure,
of Chicago, are the names now presented. If
the three could take turn in presiding, the Gen
erai Assembly would be assured of -the very best.
The New York Presbytery, at its recent meeting,
licensed three candidates for the ministry,
prepared for their work and indoctrinated in
the Union Seminary of that city, who declared
that it was to them an open question whether or
not the body of our Lord Jesus Christ was raised
from the dead, whether Jesus was born of a virgin,
and whether Lazarus was raised from the
dead. Their doubt of the raising of Lazarus was
because they could not trust the Gospel of John.
Happily, the Presbytery of New York is not the
Presbyterian Church.
Two strong Presbyteries of the Northern Presbyterian
Church have overtured the General Assembly
to take such action in reference to the
work of the Board of Publication and Sabbath
School Work, in Philadelphia, as will secure the
exclusive use of the Holy Scriptures as the text
in all Sabbath school instruction, and that all
comments and explanations thereon be in harmony
with the standards of the Presbyterian
Church and the Word of God. The reason for
these overtures, and their purpose, are very
plain. That there should be occasion for them is
an unhappy fact.
The "Graded Lessons" which have been fallen
upon by the International Sunday School As
wtiauun are proving iar rrom satisfactory to
many. Their omission of the Scripture text,
their exploitation of the lives of the "saints'*
rather than the Word of God and of human his
tory rather than the Divine Word, and their ignoring
of the cardinal principles of the faith,
especially as to the supernatural in its relations
to the scheme of redemption, have made them
subject to serious and just objection. Our own
Church'8 Committee of Publication and Sunday
School Work has done wisely to leave them out
of its Sunday school literature.
A little humor now and then relieves the wear
and lightens the burden of life's more serious
problems. Our ministers and' elders at Presbytery
often employ spare moments between sessions
in social1 relaxation and enliven such occasions
with recital of humorous incidents stored
in the memory or received by tradition; When
guarded against excess such diversions are favorable
to both mental and physical' refreshment'.
Even our grave English Presbyterian relatives
are not strangers tothe practice. It is related
that some years ago in the North-London Presbytapir
t> mi it t t
v,.j nan iwiv. i nomas Alexander, wno was passionately.
addicted to the violin. There was an
animated discussion regarding the increase of degrees
assumed, to be purchased in America. We
are all rnnning. to D. D.'s, said Alexander with
virtuous contempt; there is William Chalmers, D.
IX, Peter Lorrimer, D. D., and more. Dr. Chalmers
rose and with a twinkle in his eye, gravely
said: "The Presbytery, has heard Mr. Alexander
deliver his soul about degrees, but the whole Pres
"j*.ci-y Knows that Mr. Alexander is himself a
fiddle D. D.!" When the business was over and
the members adjourned for tea, Dr. Chalmers
linked.his arm in Alexander's and-said. ^ an> .
Tom, I believe I was sent into the world to keep
you right."
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE 34
Votes and
The blanks sent out this year for the annual
statistical and systematic benevolence of the
churches have proved to be somewhat confusing
to many. This, doubtless, will pas* as they he
come more familiar. A more serious matter,
however, is that thev nree.hide iwmwt# nnmnari.
son of the present year with the past as to all the
lines of beneficence which were embraced in the
consolidation of executive committees. Again,
they fail to show some lines of activity of the
churches. By the elimination of items and columns,
specific offerings made to certain causes
are not named or published, and the churches
which make them are given no credit for those
specific causes.
It is a pleasure to announce that the articles
of Dr. Orts on The Religious Future of America,
are being read with increasing interest and enthusiasm,
numerous expressions of commendation
having been received by the writer himself and
by The Presbyterian of the South. The original
order of these article* will be slightly
changed in the numbers which are to appear before
the meeting of the Assembly. The next
three articles to appear will be "The Apparent
Power and Real Weakness 01 the Roman Catholic
Organization;" "What Rome Demands of Public
Servants;" "Rome and the Ballot." These
discussions are considered especially important
at this time because of the prospective report to
the Assembly on Romanism as the enemy of civil
and religious freedom.
The final examinations of Union Seminary at
Richmond, Va., began April 23rd, and will be
continued for about two weeks. The public exercises
of commencement week will begin Sunday,
May 5th with the baccalaureate sermon by
Dr. Dunbar H. Ogden, of Atlanta. The address
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same day by Rev. Dr. Wilbert W. White, of the
Bible Teachers' Training School of New York.
On the following Tuesday Rev. Dr. Walter L.
Lingle will be formally inaugurated as Professor
of Hebrew Language and Literature. The Seminary
this year attains its centennial and very
properly has enrolled an even hundred students.
With its splendid group of buildings, its able
corps of professors, its adequate endowment, the
prestege afforded by the eminent service rendered
fo the Church in the past, and its well known
adherance to the imperishable truths of revealed
religion, the Seminary begins its second century
of service with an invigorating and inspiring outlook.
A correspondent to The Herald and Presbyter
remarks that "it is somewhat reassuring to learn
that the Roman Catholic Church is really making
less progress than is often presumed. The official
Roman Catholic Directory just issued shows
an increase in the United States for the year of
onlv 396,808. When we consider that every child
confirmed, and every infant baptized, is included
in the statistics of the Roman Catholic membershin.
and. also, when we remember that the large
immigration is almost entirely from countries
which the Papacv claims as its own, this seems
an increase very disheartening to the Vatican.
All the more because the great proportion who
fremient that church are generally blessed with '
a hieh . birth rate. Tt is not strange, therefore,
that under such discouragement their leftders in
this country?-the cardinals and archbishops?
bitterly or>posc tlie public school, which widens
intelligence, that they seek in politics the power
and influence they cannot retain or grasp by
character and creed."'
)UTH (493)' 9
Comments
\
A RECORD AND WITNESS.
In his characteristic way, Dr. Talmage once
said of a good religious newspaper, generous in
its sympathies and devotional in its tone, that
after reading it "we feel as though the angel
flying through the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting Gospel to preach had with the flap
ping ot ins wing stirred the air on our cheek and
forehead." He further said: "I believe the
consecrated printing press is the chief agency
under God to save the world." "It pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe,", but the religious press is a close and
indispensable ally. It was unknown in the time
of the apostles, it is universal now.
It h everywhere conceded that those sources
of spiritual culture which inhere-in family life
are steadily declining; it is regarded as essential
that they be restored to their one-time buoyancy
and dominance. Notice some of them?the fam
ily Bible, family prayer, observance of the Lord's
day, sound religious literature, religious instruction
in home and school, the sacredness of family
ties and relationship, the family as a spiritual
organism; these are being rudely ignored or forgotten.
Can the home survive without the light
and stimulus of religious literature? What kind
of literary tastes are forming there; what estimates
of the Church and her work; what conceptions
of spiritual truth and Christian duty ;
of the real import and relative values of this
earthly life.
We reflect again that the preached Gospel is
the great world illuminant, but the church pap.r
is the preacher's first and perpetual aid in stemming
the awful tide of worldly sophistry and
lust. Ih the home it promotes religious intellisrenpp
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loyalty to Christ's kingdom, familiarize* with
the progress of the Church in her several great
departments of service, emphasizes the dignity
and majesty of our Lord's work, confirms conviction
and fortifies character. It is a supplement
to the Sabbath service, the worship of the
week, the Sunday school, the young^ people's
meetings and the daily life of the family.
In its survey of the activities of the Church
it presents concisely the progress of the Church
in the home land, planting of new organizations,
revivals of religion, the extent and character of
Christian beneficence, home mission extension,
the promotion of Christian education. It makes
known the extent of Christian service throughout
the world, brings tidings of the Gospel's
conquests in far away mission lands, records the
toil and heroism of Christ's ambassadors in
breaking down the barriers of superstition and'
enlightening the peoples that sit in darkness.
Surely the church paper of these modern times
may share the tribute of the prophet who said:
"How beautiful upon the mountains are the
feet of him that hringeth good tidings, that
publisheth peace, that hringeth good tidings of
good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto
Zion, Thy God reigneth.
The triumphs of redeeming grace are shown
ns object lessons in the records of church enterprise
and endeavor. Why this vast expenditure
of money for supporting the Gospel, the erection
churches, the education and support of the
ministry, the nnhlieatinn nf libraries nf litor.
ature, the evangelization of the masses, the
founding of hospitals, the endowment of Christian
schools? Why the consecration of the
flower of our young manhood to the ministry
and our young womanhood to missions at home
and abroad? Whence the zeal of our devoted'
women and the testimony and liberality of our
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