Newspaper Page Text
December 25, 1912 1 THE
Editorial 1
To our readers throughout the South, in
many parts of the North and West, and in foreign
lands, we extend our best wishes for a
pleasant Christmas and for a happy and prosperous
new year. In their numerous vocations
and diversified interests, and in solving their
peculiar problems, we trust the year now closing
has not been lived in vain. It is a characteristic
of the kingdom of grace that difficul
lies 100 iormiaanie to De conquered and barriers
too obstinate to be removed may be transmuted
into agents and messengers of blessing.
Thus the survey of a twelve-month may present
to the enlightened vision a fertile, though
perhaps undulating landscape in which precious
.fruits, if not fragrant flowers, have grown and
where rich harvests have been gathered though
the song-birds' notes were few.
"We wish to pay a tribute of esteem to the
memory of Mr. Henry Meyer, who died at his
home in Richmond on December 16, in his
seventy-seventh year. Mr. Meyer was a printer
by occupation and was employed ih prepar
mg xne weemy publications of The Central
Presbyterian through a period of more than
fifty years. Tie was warmly attached to The
Central and its successor, The Presbyterian
of the South. After his retirement from business,
he continued to i co&ive the paper, to which
he was more than entitled, without charge. Recently
he visited the office and paid a sum to
cover several years' subscription, saying he
was able and preferred to pay the annual subscription
price. Those who have been readers
for many years may credit Mr. Meyer with a
fair share of the service they received. The
man in the shop and the man at the desk are
workers together in the world's evangelization
as well as in its industrial and commercial progress.
The name of Henry Meyer will be
cherished in grateful remembrance.
A bill will be introduced into the Arkansas
legislature this winter providing for the inspection
by government officials of all public or
private hospitals, reformat.nrv bnmAa fcrmnoo
of detention, convents, asylums, sectarian seminaries,
schools or institutions. Three publications
in the Middle West, having a total subscription
list of about two millions, have been
exposing the iniquities of convents and other
Romish institutions whose methods are con
cealed from the public. They have shown that
many practices of these institutions, as in
priest-ridden Illinois, are in violation of civil
law and moral decency. The public conscience
has become aroused, and Arkansas promises to
take the lead in purging our civilization of the
revolting practices of a semi-pagan religion.
Many governments of Europe, including some
in ?l.i.u T>~. : 1 L 11 ? ?
?? *riiluii nuuiiuiisiu iias neia run sway ior centuries,
have totally prohibited the operation of
convents.
Divers editors of the secular press "have been
amusing themselves for some years past in a
friendly rivalry in the discovery of the meanest
man. Some remarkable specimens have been
brought to light and introduced to the reading
public as the latest monstrosity and the mast
monstrous of them all. Our neighbor, the "Religious
Herald," has, of course, not entered the
lists in this competitive search, hut has nevertheless
evidently unearthed a specimen that
should take rank wtell up toward the front. The
Herald wisely refers the plassifying process to
its readers aftd asksr "What should a church do
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE S
Notes and
with a deacon who in twelve months spentte five
times as much for strong drink as <hc gives to
missions? As a further item of information, we
would add that he is n prosperous man, and gave
as a reason for not reading his denominational]
paper that he was not able to pay for it. Strange
as it may appear, in view of the above facts,
he is quite influential in his church.''
In tuning an instrument, the musician must
set at least one string right and then adjust all
the rest to it. If that one be wrong, all the
others will be wronff. If it h?vo nnt
CT. MM. w V"V [JXbUIl
to make it agree with other instruments, it will
be clear out of harmony. The instrument may
do a little for itself, but it cannot take part in
the concert. To make heavenly music, each of
us must be attuned to Christ, one standard, and
to his life, one key. If out of harmony with him
we are out of harmony with one another.
The few whom God chooses to be his instruments
in the doing of great things are given
traits of character and graces which themselves
indicate that it is God's power and not
their own that brings results. Humility, endurance,
constancy, faith, courage, dependence
upon the divine strength, diligent and be
ueving use or the tiod-given means, implicit
obedience to him; these are among the elements
of their power and success, and they all involve
the presence of God.
Phraseology has more to do with the truth
than some people are careful enough to note.
Almost all Unitarians, for instance, are quite
ready to say that they accept the divinity of
Jesus of Nazareth, and it is a pet phrase with
them that Jesus was "God in man," which is
a very different thing from saying that Jesus
was God, or that he was God and man. They
make a distinction between divinity and deity
which sometimes deceives the unwary. "When
they attribute divinity to Jesus it is in the same
sense in which they say that there is divinity
in truth, divinity in beauty, divinity in nature.
This is far from saying that there is deity in
Christ, a fact which they utterly deny.
Here is an old precept about what a sermon
ought to be, garbed in such attractive new dress
that it is entitled to a freah share of our respectful
attention and cordial approval. It is quoteed
from Dr. Charles E. Jefferson by "The Continent,"
with the observation that the author
surely ought to know the "why" of sermon-being
as well as the "how" of sermon-making: "Abundant
life is the prime essential in preaching.
Everything that increases the vigor and volume
of a man's vitality is a good things for the sermon
Sermons are a sort of fruit growing on a
certain so-1 of huuia 1 tree called a n i?isrter. A
good tree brings forth good fruit. In seme men
intellectual power n feeble; in others (.motional
life Ls thin and sluggish; in others spiritual force
is scant. Their sermons reveal their poverty.
But the man who Ls thoroughly alive, thrilling
with sympathy with the things of men and the
thoughts of God. will be like the tree which John
saw planted hy the river, and his sermons, like
so many leaves of the tree, will he for the healing
of human hearts and lives."
Some pleasant word spoken by us almost
unconsciously, and certainly with no expectation
of its ever being heard of again, comes
back to ns now and then, winged with love and
appreciation and telling ns that it carried com
OUTH (1899^ 9
Comment
foH and help. IIow it then fill us with joy!
What an incentive to speak such words whenever
we can! And how carefully should we
avoid the opposite kind, lest they, too, sometime
return and not so happily.
NOTES IN PASSING.
BY BERT.
As time goes on the Christ
Glad Tidings, uas spirit continues to extend
its influence over an enlarging
area of the world. As men come to a true
understanding of its deep meanings, it is inevitable
that they should pay tribute to it.
The Christmas message is a message of peace.
Peace between God and man; peace between
man and man; peace between man and his own
soul. It is not only a proclamation of the possibility
of universal peace, but it is God's gracious
invitation to the race to avail itself of
peace on the basis of the work beginning in
Bethlehem and completed at Calvary.
It is more than this: it is heaven's declara
tion to man of the only possible condition upon
which universal peace can ever beenmp ? fan*
Arbitration treaties are good as far as they go;
they bring men to a better understanding of
each other, and brush aside the insignificant
causes which in the past have led to war. Disarmament
agreements are good, they relieve
the toilers of a heavy burden, and release multitudes
of men from the army of destroyers to
the army of producers. But so long as men refuse
to surrender completely to the Christ, so
long will they be controlled by unworthy passions,
and so long as human passions are outside
the control of Christ so long will we have
wars.
That is a great day for any soul when it
humbles itself to become his servant who is
Servant of all. Surrender is the only path to
ma8terv. He who hnnsto >.? iu ?
w ?Mw ' > ins. vim jiuiatcr
has a fool for a servant. The Christmas spirit
is the spirit of humility and service and unselfish
thought of others. And yet how many
thousands in the lands where Christmas is best
known and most honored dread its approach
with a feeling akin to horror. To multitudes in
Christian lands it is only a time for drunkenness,
debauch, and revelry. It does seem that
Satan comes to his most complete control of
our poor humanity at the time when Christ is
most in view. How much of misery and
wretchedness comes with the Christmas time
to many poor hearts. While we sing "Peace
on Earth" let us in our hearts make melody.
If "Peace on1 Earth" be only a song, it is a
dirge.
nr?i
mere seems to be a very real
yew Year, "fitness in the opening of the new
year so soon after the Christmas
time. The advent of the Son of God and
Saviour of men into the world is bound to mark
a new beginning somewhere. The birth of
Christ in the heart of a man, whether it takes
place in May or December, opens up a new cal- ?
endar and gives time something more to c?mmomAMfa
Un* ? ?1 * *
i^ut a ucw yt-ar wmcn nas no otner
meaning than the change of a figure is not
worth noting. There ought to be harmony
everywhere; a new year ought to he suggestive
of a new man with new thoughts, new aspirations,
new determinations, new loyalties. To
man, unless all things are new nothing is new.
The spiritual life cannot ho lived piecemeal.
The goal is a "New Man," that means not reformation,
but regeneration. But this also is to