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August 21, 1912 ]
ROTARY ELDERSHIP.
The spiritual nature of our church
organization seems to be overshadowed
by her material awakening.
Never was there a time when the material
side of our Church was more
nourishing.
More funds are contributed to our
work and more men are at work than
ever before in our history.
But the enemy is masking his forces
within our walls, and our spirit of tolerance
is astounding.
We are fast drifting to materialism,
and our church to what men think is
right.
The higher critic is striving to place
the Word of God on a level with profane
history.
Our higher church courts are criticising
our standards and shaking the
faith of our church members in them.
The International Sunday School
Committee Is dodging the hard and unpleasant
parts of the Word of God. Our
Sabbath schools are leaving out the
Shorter Catechism from their curriculum,
or teaching it in broken doses, which
amounts to the same thing, viz.: That
there shall be no Presbyterians in the
next generation, for a Prsbyterian without
the Shorter Catechism is but nominal.
The family altar is seldom found in
our houses, and the children seldcm
hear the Word of God in their homes. ,
The baptismal vow is broken on all
Rides and few pray with and for their
children.
The sacred canon has been closed for
nearly 2,000 years and cannot be changed.
Science and invention are work.ng
wonderful changes, but the Word of
God abldeth forever. We claim that we
have divine authority for our doctrines
and church government and our law is
the law of God.
We claim that our officers are called
to their work by the Holy Spirit and
are set apart by the servants of Jesus
Christ in his name.
Even our deacons, according to the
Scriptures, are set apart by the laying
on of the hands of the officers of the
church in the name of Jesus Christ,
though their duties are of a temporal
nature. (See Acts 5 and 6.) I cannot
v unvri?o in iu; iiiuia (ow one xnus endued
with the Spirit, and sett apart as
Stephen was, could be expected to retire
after a brief service, lay down their
ofllce, and annul their vows. Yet some
of our brthren would induct our elders
into office much as a civil officer is
sworn in.
Ordination by rotation cam only tend
to secularize the office.
Xow, under the law, an elder who is
unacceptable to the congregation cam be
required to cease to act, but this is quite
different from accepting the office for a
brief term as a call of God.
Brethren, don't persuade yourselves
that this step will stop there.
The office-of elder is as much a call
from God as is that of his pastor. Thev
rank the same In the courts of JeBUS
GhriBt.
When you abase the one, the abase
"lent of the other will surely follow.
The Church of God will be turned Into
a society' of men, without divine authority.
I thiuk the Session should, at least,
hesitate to ordain and Install an In.
competent man, even If he be unanimously
elected.
To find competent men enough to rotate
would be exceedingly rare at any
rate and hence the law would be useless.
JOIN THE
THE PRE8BYTERI
even if there could be found any authority
for it in the law of God.
There should be a "Thus sayeth the
Lord" to justify a change in the fundamental
teachings of our church.
I would suggest to our brethren who
are in favor of rotary eldership that it
would be wiser to overture our Assembly
to prepare a course of study for
newly elected elders, and to appoint a
commission of their Presbytery to attend
to the examinations of these
brethren, both In experimental religion
and in the doctrines and laws of our
church, for the apostle enjoins them to
be prepared to give a reason for the
faith that is in them.
As it is tt is certainly the duty of the
session to examine the?m in doctrine and
faith.
Keep unqualified men out of the Session
and rotation w,ill not be desired.
Very respectfully,
I. T. Young.
THE BIBLE.
Opinions of the World's Great Writers.
Compiled by C. T. Wettsteln.
General Chns. G. Gordon: England's
" Chinese Gordon:"
"Study the Bible with courage and
humility. The key to it is the living of
God in our soul. How few forget to
take their daily meals, but we allow
our souls to starve, although H craves
after food which is the Word of God."
Will.um I. German Emperor:
"Don't join those that reject the Bible,
the only source of truth, cr who falsify
its words by arbitrary interpretation.
The foundation and the rock which must
De our support in this world, is an unadulterated
faith as the Bible teaches
if."
Keuolienius: M Water of State in Holland,
in a speech in Parliament:
"The Bible must be the basis of all
laws."
''omit of Oxenstlernn: Minister of
State of Sweden, to the Ambassador of
England:
"My greatest pleasure, which is more
to me than anything in the world can
give me. is the cognation of the love of
God and the reading of this precious
Book (the Bible). You, my deaT sir, are
in the prime of life; in great favor with
kings and princes; are entrusted with
highly important commissions, aud enjoy
good health. But all this will desert
you sometime. Then you will
understand my words better, and you
will And that they are true; then you
will recognize that there Is more wiBdom,
comfort, truth and pleasure In a
quiet life consecrated to God and the
reading of his Word than in all favors
of kings."
Frederick William HI. of Prussia,
A T 1
i?noi/ctiui ui v^ucaii ix_>ui?e:
"How many excellent things I may
have seen In my life, and how many
precious things I may have read in the
books of the most renowned authors, a
different feel'ng comes over me when I
read the Bible with devotion. From It
we gain a peculiar spirit of certainty
and confidence, of rest and pence- In
every word is truth and every sentence
encloses a world of thoughts. And the
Sermon on the Mount, oh, <my God, what
a treasure! More wisdom in a few
pages than in all the books of the
theologians."
? t\..?a ? ? * - ?
nillK ItIISill V .Kioipil 01 Itwedcil s To
Counselor von Sternberg, who found
him reading in the Bible:
"I like to look for strength by the
reading of this book, because 1 find that
the dev.! never lays more hostile snares
for men than for those who want to be
' Presbyterian DI
* of The Soath *
AN OF THE SOUTH
responsible to God alone for their
actions."
Wm. II. Seward:
"The whole hope of human progress
depends upon the constant Increase of
the influence of the Bible."
John Locke, English Philosopher:
"God is the originator of the Bible;
our salvation is its aim and its words
are the truth."
Robert Boyle: As prominent in chemistry
as Newton in astronomy:
"Placed besides the Bible all human
books, even the best ones, are like
planets that receive all their light and
all their glory from the sun."
Prof. J. W. A. Klrchhoff: Hellenist
and epigraphlst in Berlin:
"The greatest authority in geology,
the table of nations. Gentsls 1:10, is the
safest foundation for all studies in the
history of nations and must be considered
entirely authentic."
"Dr. Y. H. von Schubert: Physician,
minerologist and professor of natural
sciences in Munich and Dresden:
"Th*> divine truth of tho TM'hl.a
not need out defense and vindication. It
remains forever. Indisputably the same,
whatever oversaplenee may say against
K. But It Is something highly to be enjoyed
when we see that unprejudiced
natural science, the dee<peT it penetrates
into its territory, the more it acknowledges
that the books of the great works
of God, nature, always confirms everywhere
what the Book of Revelation tells
us."
G. Galilei: Renowned scientist, who
wps the first one to declare that the
earth moved, for which he was tortured:
"The holy scriptures and nature have
their or'gin both from the divine "WOrd.
the former as inspiration of the Holy
Snirit. the latter as the execuotrs of the
divine commands."
Professor Flinders Petrfe, Egyptologist,
says that there is nothing abnormal.
nothing to be questioned, in the
general outlines of the Bible story of
the exodus. He contends that the spread
of wrilng in thoBe days has been enormousdy
underestimated. "It is my firm
conviction," he says, "that the Europe
01 a century ago was rar more Illiterate
than the eastern world In Bible times.
We have, for instance, a papyrus containing
a cook's account, scrawled in a
very clumsy "hand, with the reckoning
all wrong; but it shows that even a common
servant of those days knew how to
write. We have another containing a
peti'tion from a peasant. These things
are extremely important as showing the
probability of documentary record of a
historical nature at the time.?(Jewish
Oh ronlcle.l
Johannes von Jfneller: One of Germany's
greatest historians, in a letter
to h? son:
"Learn to understand the Bible by the
Bible, the Old Testament by the New
Testament; both from the needs of your
heart. Never Investigate who the son
was; nobody knows it but the Father.
Never trv to prove the truth of his doctrine.
Whosoever does not accept it as
a child, is not susceptible of it. It la
impossible to prove it in a human manner.
How can we recognize what Is
not open to our senses? Furthermore,
the miracles he did not perform to convince
us?else we would have more particulars.
hlrt hecniisp fhmiiffh
Apostles wer? convinced and the attention
cf the people of the country were
to he attracted. Now we have Christianity.
in itself a miracle enough, and
the spirit, which He willingly gives to
those who want it and which leads us to
the Father."
Rossenr St. Hflalre: French Historian:
\NOCLUI
(975) 17
"I have traveled much In the North
and South, and one fact always surprised
me. Where the Bible is not the
foundation of education, of society and
of life, there is no literature for the
children nor for the masses of the people.
Look at Spain, Italy, even France
?in short, at all countries where the
Bible is not read, and we find nothing
to read for children and the laborer.
However, in England, in Germany (in
America) we find a large and complete .
Chrietiall literature for children and for
the people in which the national spirit
is reflected as in a mirror."
Ernst Morfs Arodt: German poet and
professor of history in Bonn:
"Whoever knows and feels what it
means to read frequently in the Bible:
that every Christian, who can read finds
in this 'book of all books,' so to say,
lijs Saviour and the twelve apostles as
his teachers and daily companions;
whoever 1b at home in villages and outage?,
and fs familiar with the life of the
peasants and the laborers?he knows,
too, that the:3 ore jet many true Christians
who, with the Bible as their guide
amidst the confusion of the times, always
knew in whose light they should
walk and who never lost their faith in
this light."
Dnke of Wellington: England's great
hero. In a speech:
"I am not a schoolmaster and am no
judge on educatfonal subjects. But I
wish to express my opindon on one subject?and
I want to express It with great
emphasis?that, if religion is not made
the foundation of the education in our
schools, it will be your fault if in the
future, there will be eo many more educated
devils in the world."
Professor A. Johnston, Princeton University
:
"Even among the warmest friends of
the public school system there Is an increasing
number who are disposed to
think that the American common school
system is mischievously one-sided in its
neglect of the religious element in man's j
nature, and that a purely secularized
education is really worse than no education
at gll."
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
(Continued from poge 8.)
the greatest born of woman. He was a
witness to Christ and to truth, from his
earliest utterance to his dying hour. He
was a true witness. He told the truth
and opened and unfolded and applied it
for those who had not seen it. He was
a faithful witness. He uttered his testimony
regardless of everything but
truth's own eternal nature and bearing.
He was a brave witness. He cared not
what wenlH hanrvcm Mmooif ->* * *>-?
result of faithfulness. He was willing
to sacrifice his life for the truth, to seal
his testimony with his blood. He was a
suffering witness. He paid a heavy
price, of autfcere life in the desert, of a
year or more in a prison, and of death
itself, for his testimony. He was the
most marvellous example the world has
ever seen of loyalty to what was right.
And Ohristt's words concerning him show
that John was embraced in the promise,
"Be thou faithful unto death and J will
arive thee a crown of life."
NOTICE
A T-iADY TEACHER wanted to teach
fhree small girls English and music.
References required. Address Mrs.
ChaB. Paul. Ftehersville, Va.
YOirNG LADY DESIRES a position as
governess In private family. References
exchanged. Miss X, iFort Defiance.
Va.
J See Announctm
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