Newspaper Page Text
May 29, 1912] T H ?1
made a great deal of money during the last ten
years.
The object of my journey was to attend the
ih anniversary of the Rev. E. T. Wenfold,
D. D., as pastor of the Newjort News Presbyterian
church. A vast assembly tilled the
.splendid auditorium. 1 was proud of Dr. Wellford,
one of my old boys from the Richmond
1 u.st church, as 1 looked at the crowd of happy
faces before me. I do not know a more successful
pastorate than that of Dr. Wellford. When he
took cliarge there were about sixty members,
worshipping in a rude frame building. Now
there are about five hundred and fifty communicants,
and they have a magnificent $60,000
ciiurcii ui graune, a spienaia moaern pdant, ana
l)r. Wellford is not only a great pastor, but is
also the foremost citizen of Newport News. I beg
to say, sotto voce, that a very large part of the
success of this beloved man of God has been due
to his able, charming and wise helpmeet, who
knows how to fill the most difficult office of pastor's
wife and mistrass of the manse.
After the public meeting at which addresses
were made by the Rev. Stuart Nye Hutchison,
of Norfolk, the Rev. Lloyd T. W ilson, of Newport
News,' and the writer, with other parts of
service by ministers of several denominations, a
reception was held in the chapel with music and
1 I 4 1
itVounicuw auu gunuxai fcuciauiiuy. i\. spiendid
silver loving cup from the congregation, was
presented, a line serving tray by the Sunshine
Circle, a silver vegetable dish and half a dozen
silver spoons by the Ladies' Aid Society, and a
handsome umbrella by the King's Daughters. At
about eleven o'clock the delightful evening came
to an end, and so was completed one of the most
delightful occasions it has ever been my good
fortune to witness.
May the best blessings of the Lord rest upon
Dr. and Mrs. Wellford in their home and their
church and may they go on in happiness and
peace, along the path their feet are treading,
until they reach the golden gate and enter in
through the light and glory of a happy old age,
into the city of God.
Robert P. Kerr. Baltimore,
Md.
A QUESTION OF MORALS.
REV. A. S. FISKE, D. D.
Were there no God, no deiinite authoritative
, "iiiuuai'u oi rignt ana wrong and no immortal
soulhood, why, then, Utilitarianism?present
mundane expediency would be left alone to command
action. But, given God and holy law to
guide the judgment and validate the conscience,
then mere calculations of temporal expediency
and utility cannot be the standard of a supreme
authority. The question of personal mural integrity
must turn on deliberate conformity of
conduct and character to that supreme requirement
of divine law. If one candidly denies the
existence of a God who created all, who provides
for and has the right to govern all, why
then Via e 1 - * 1 * *
- "v. aiuBt xurmuiaie as oest ne may a scheme
'or the utilities to be promoted by himself and
his fellows. It will be difficult for him, in the
teeth of the universal instinct of selfishness and
human lack of omniscience and long forecast,
t? set afoot and make commanding an altruism
which shall promote the highest good of the
greatest number. "Without the innate convict'on
that there is some authentic standard of
nght and wrong for the guidance of the con
s,'ience it would be hard to imagine any workahle
shape of social life or law. As matter of
',u't those who deny God and divine legislation
>nd themselves under bonds to an undefinable
Ulstinct to be wary of obtrusion upon the innate
c"npiousness of mankind that there is such a
I '
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SO
law obligatory upon tliem, and that a law for
all their relations with their fellows in all mundane
affairs. So the mere calculation of expediency
is far from their actual governing force.
They find a fundamental moral law aboriginal
in human nature. How it got there they take
little pains to inquire. Counting God out such
quest would be vain indeed. The Atheist, however,
claims a morality, and he's proud of it.
which deals fairly with all his fellow men in
their present temporal interests.
With those who intellectually believe in an
all-wise, all-powerful, good Creator and rightful
Ruler of his universe the case is entirely different.
Their claim for foundation of morality must
rest on the purpose to every one with whom they
have to do his exact and rightful due. His claim
to moral standing would 1-m UntKr if
?. D .. wv "UI/IJ ?? X V/V>UCU ILy
after dealing with nine men, he should plan
and carry out with a tenth a deliberate and
scandalous fraud. That would prove him a
scoundrel. Let him utter ten truths and then
a deliberate and malignant lie. He is not even
nine-tenths of a true man. He is a liar! To
make him that he doesn't need to lie every time
he opens his mouth, but only once in a while
when it happens to suit him. He needn't kill
every man he meets to be a murderer, but merely
one.
Now let us say that this well esteemed, good,
moral man, who deals fairly with his fellows
and boasts loudly of it, should turn out to be
constantly dealing falsely with his best friend
and most generous benefactor, defrauding him
of his just claims, refusing to discharge to him
his fair obligations. "What would you say?
Supposing now that best friend, that greatest
benefactor, happens to be God himself, who gives
and sustains his life and. bestows everything that
makes life worth while, with whom his relations
are most intimate, constant and vital. This God
who is rightful Ruler, who is absolute owner of
all things and all souls, whose right to all one
has, is, or can be or do is supreme. This God
is as real and actual a person as anv in tli#? nni.
verse. Yet this moral man, who believes all
::!? ut Grd. renders hi u 110 gratitude, no love,
no service, hardly ever thinks even of his person,
his presence, lives in God's world, on his
bounty, using the life he sustains, the powers
of body and soul which he preserves?lives it all
as if God were not in all thoughts. Did he treat
any fellow-man so, he would be a monster, a
human pervert, a degenerate! What must be the
moral basis of such a character? Is it, can it
be reckoned in any sense sane? Can it pass
muster in any system of ethics? Only the man
who baldly denies the existence of any God can
justify such a God-forgetting life.
But now think on the lower plane for a moment.
Many a man holds himself as of blamelftss
morals so Inner us ho HoqIo ?oi??1ir v.
? UM AAU VLWl*AO J-CHiiJ ?tiiu LUC
present earthly and temporal interests of his
fellows. But suppose that he believes himself
and his fellows to be immortal, concerned in this
world but for a little space of time, going out
into another life vaster, hugely more significant
and enduring for ages and ages. Through endless
time these souls are to be in process of development
in capacity for action, joy or sorrow.
Suppose that he believes rationally that lines of
character and performance here settle like lines
of that vast evolution of the endless future and
yet ne cienoerately gives himself only to the
present welfare, unconcerned with the eternal
weal or woe of his fellows. Suppose even that
he lives such a life as to encourage his fellows
to give themselves wholly to present interests,
giving the go-by to all the tremendous concerns
of the hereafter, so bracing them in reckless defiance
of their supreme obligations and neglect
of their highest interests for time as well as for
IUTH (383) 3
eternity. By his personal attitude, with all the
effectiveness of the affection and respect that he
has won among men, he is all the more inliuential
in holding others to a contented indifference to
God and Uhrist and the eternal salvation. What
must be fairly said of the moral basis of such
a life either as regards God or man? Is there
any soundness in his moral foundation? Is it
in any sense ethically defensible? If there be
a God or if he believes there is one?no! A really
defensible claim to moral integrity must be
based on the purposed discharge of every obligation,
the recognition of every just claim of
every being in the universe, whether fellow-man
or God. In this purpose the supreme care must
be for the supreme concerns of the soul in this
and in all worlds. Such an intellectual belief
about such a God as is ours, revealed in Jesus
Christ, absolutely commands a matchless gratitude,
a surpassingly affectionate and joyful obedience
to his every requirement and a loving
adoration of his holy person?a love supreme
above all other?a love that shall crown and glo*
i r oil J ?11 1 ' "
nij an tuaiauiu <111 u all 1116.
New Orleans, La.
A SAFE BIBLE.
It would be supposed, from what some people
say about the Bible, that it is an unsafe book for
some persons to read, or hear read, especially
young people. It is claimed that there are portions
of it which are unfit to be read in a family
circle. A minister of the liberal type says: "I
used to be in great perplexity regarding the
presence in a book, which claimed to be all the
Word of God, of many things which I dared not
read in family worship, or in public service; for
instance, parts of the lilth and 38th chapters
of Genesis. 1 found many passages of the Scriptures
which I dared not call to the attention of
my children for fear of exciting in them evil and
lustful desires." What a very delicate and refined
soul that man must have! It seems that he
has had to be most careful lest his dear aud innocent
children should become morally contaminated
by the Bible. He has used the utmost care
to prevent his young children from being led
ast;..y horn the path of virtue by tthe Old Book.
In one place in his article he calls it the "sacred
Sciiptures," and one would suppose that a
really "sacred" book would not be dangerous in
one's family; but it appears that this super-excellent
man thinks that it is positively and
powerfully dangerous. When he reads it aloud
in his family he has to be continually on his
guard for fear that lie will read some words
which will corrupt the morals of his innocent and
unsuspecting little ones. How very careful he is
to protect them from learning bad lessons from
til A T^iIiIa I A /V~ V.? ? - A ? " * 1
tn<, uiuic; i/ura uk not onen leei mat ins wife
runs a great risk in reading such passages as he
refers to? It might excite "lustful dtfsires" in
her, and even lead her to leave her husband and
join some "affinity." Some rather decent wives
have done such a thing. And is this good man
himself safe in reading such a perilous book?
What an escape he made when he was a boy, if
he read those bad passages, and remained decent
afterward! His escape was marvelous. Why
does he allow such a book to remain in his house ?
It is possible that his children may secretly get
hold of it, and thereby be led to ruin. He
should not allow them to study physiology, because
there are dangerous suggestions in it. Does
this man suppose that his children will have a
reverent regard for the Bible, if they are influenced
by his treatment of it? "Well, the Bible
is a safe book, whatever skeptical ones may say
about it. C. H. Wetherbe.
No prayer takes hold of God until it first ,
takes hold of man.?Horace Bushnell.