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January 1, 1913 ]
THE BRIEFS
lly K<t. Geo. L. ]
"Always hedp the under dog" is a i
homely saying, a quasi-proverb, that s
meets a kindly resi>onse in every heart, l
Somewhat in this spirit may 1 venture i
n word in behalf of that friendless i
waif, "The Brief Popular Statement?" 1
This is now in progress of prepare- t
lion, will 'be submitted to the next As- i
sembly. and "will then run the usual j
gauntlet, if indeed it has not already i
begun. For, as l remember, scarcely i
a word of commendation or approval 1
or defense has yet been uttered, save
one voice beyond the sea, Dr. Matthews
of London; while per contra there has
been quite a chorus of criticism and
condemnation, begun ere the Assemfbly
adjourned, and continued almost to the
present.
Now, without formally replying to
any of these objections, there are several
considerations that really uneet
them', and tend I think to show Cho
reasonableness of the request and the
use and value of the Brief Statement
should it be adopted.
And first, an illustration. Here is
an army of conquest and occupation.
It has been long at work, and with
IU1J1IIJ IVIIUUED uas uuuic gitai auv&nccs
and many permanent conquests,
yet "there remaineth very much land
to be possessed," and just now there
is renewed interest land greatly in- (
creased efforts to go up and possess '
this unoccupied country. In all this (
work the artillery has played a most
important part; the "heavy artillery"
in permanent batteries and on great ^
warships, the "field batteries" with the
armies and taking part in great battles,
and the "horse artillery" with guns
of lighter weight as part of the cavalry
equipment; these all after thorough
trial and proved most useful and effective.
But just now in this new, &g
gressive campaign it lias been found ,
that none of these weapons -uro avaii- ,
oble at certain times and places; the 1
advance guards, the scouting parties, ,
and those on the firing and picket
lines have been greatly annoyed and
retarded by a sort of guerilla warfare,
and by frequent attacks from "bush- (
whackers" who strike suddenly and re- 1
tire quickly. .No guns now on hand '
avail nere; wnai seems io oe needed
are a few Gatling iguns, or other small '
and light rapid-fire guns, that can-be 1
carried anywhere, used Instantly, and '
with deadly effect. So the officers in '
oomr.ntand apply to the war department
for a supply of these light guns, so
much needed, so easily supplied, and 1
which they are sure will prove so effective
in this great forward fovenr.ent.
What response would be given,
fhonld 'be given, to such a Tequest?
Why granted of course, all would say.
But suppose Instead of a favorable answer,
this suggestion and request
should meet from some officials and
1- 1 ->
roiuicio umy l'oiuiiipsb, lnmuerence,
neglect and even ridicule with hints of
cowardice or at least lack of a true
heroic spirit; while others remind
these malcontents, as they term them,
of the splendid equipment already possessed
and of the magnificent work
done in the past by this arm of the
service thus equipped, and then exhort
that they cease taking counsel of
their fears and 'ookinyr for newer and
better weapons, bur rather cultivate
a /tiffornnf or*,#l ?
V. w..? ivuu WVWGI opil 11 '1X1 did
riearts of the soldiers themselves, for
the great need Is not different -weapons
hut a different esprit de corps, not new
mins but new men, real men, genuine
soldiers.
One can hardly Imagine puch replies
to such suggestions and r9Q4".e*tf, Ye*
f H fc fktSBV ttKlf
TA TEMENT
Leybnra, D. D.
s not thi? yery much the way in which
orne good brethren, and oven one or
wo Presbyteries, have regarded thi3
equest for a shorter and more easily
inderstood statement* of what Galvln*m
is and what Presbyterians believe
md teach? I know very well that no
Ihistration is ever perfect and com)letc;
but I believe that this is a fair
llustration and substantially complete.
\.nd if so, it largely meets the difllcul.ie8
and answers the objections
wrought against the proposed brief
statement, as well as suggesting the
easons for it and the benefits to flow
rom it.
I^et me further ask two simple, prac
ical questions: Here is a plain laAxnng
man, sensible, intelligent and in
comfortable circumstances, a fair average
man of the great middle class
>r "common people" such as "heard
-iimj gladly." He conies to a Presbyterian.
pastor and says: We are stran;era
here, live near your church, go
0 your Sunday school, and we like
vhat we have seen and heard; but
lefore joining jour church I- want to
snow what Presbyterians believe, and
each. What would this pastor do?
And this is imiy first question.) Would
e give him the Confession of Faith,
myinig, Here, you will find fully stated
ill you wish to know? Would he? "I
row not." Certainly not, if he was
1 wise man, Because he knows that
A oliro iho r'AhfoeelAn n AM/I
\/ give vuv v/uiiicooiuu (i (.uutuugii auu
satisfactory examination three things
ire needful, viz., Time, for It cannot
5e done in an hour, or a day, or a
week. Ability, good sense and a traln'd
intellect as well; and will, a strong,
letermlned purpose to do this hard
work and carry it through to the end.
Rut the fact is that not many average
men have any one of these, while not
>ne in a hundred possesses all three.
What then? Why he would give him
'What we believe," or "Why I am a
Presbyterian," or "The Creed of Presbyterians."
or some such books and
" rootc Waii1/1 K a t9 IX."onl /lr? 't 1
1 ? " VUIU '11^ IIVV. M UUIUI1 t TVU i
Again. Here is a man of the same
^lass and character out on the frontier.
He comes in the same spirit to one
our Home Missionaries (this is not
in imaginary case). Ana he says, We
;?re about to join with you people, but
our neighbor's preacher heard of it,
and came over and said, You are not
ctoing to join that Presbyterian church,
are you? Do you know what they beileve?
Their Book teaches that Jesus
died only for the elect, sore whom God
has chosen from eternity; that all the
rest were foreordained to eternal death
before they were born, their names are
known and their number fixed, so that
they cannot be saved no matter what
they do; that all Christians are not
only sinners, but are all the time sinning,
that even the best of them do
every day break God's commandments
?some of them, all of them?in thought
word and deed; and that while some
inifants dying in infancy, the elect ones,
are saved, the rest must be lost.
Xow, continues this friendly and
honest Inquirer, I want to know about
"hhis; please lend me your ibook and
mark the places so I can see for myself.
And this is done. What then?
In a few days perhaps he returns looking
troubled, and says: You book seem.s
to teach very much what that preach
er said. If I understand it; and that
surely is not the way God talks about
these subjects in the Bible as I read it.
Now, what Is this domestic missionary
to do? (Tills Is my second question,
and one not very easy to answer.)
But two things at least he must try
t H OF TB E SOUTH
and do. One and the hardest, he must
s-how that the Confession does not
mean and teach certain things charged
against It; the other, that what it really
does teach and mean Is Scriptural
and tree. In any case he has a hard
job, and "will be a happy man If he
holds this inquirer and his family for
the Presbyterian church.
'Now. I ask In all candor, would It
not be a good thing in such and similar
cases to have a brief statement which
could be uBed with a remark like this:
"Here is what Presbyterians believe
the Bible teaches: It is plain, short,
easy to understand, yet authoritative
and complete, covering the whole
ground and including all important
truths and vital doctrines. Presbyterians
and Calvinists hold and preach
nothing other or different from what
is found in this." "What a godsend
such a Brief Statement would be to
many on the frontiers, and to many
elsewhere as well! And what possible
barm could come of it?
bos Angeles, t;al.
COMMUTING THE SENTENCE.
Edward E. Lane.
Just a month ago there streamed into
the capitol in Richmond, Virginia, a
iong line of people, lawyers, Judges,
business men, an author of note, society
women, ministers. ' 5. :j carried sheaves
of petitions gig- d by thousands of
people, praying the commutation of the
icntc ul ucaui Vi. a juuiiig uiuviutaineer.
He was a murderer and had
tried to escape, but the strong arm of
the law had reached into the coves and
the silences of the forest, and had
drawn him out to trial and to sentence
of death. In impassioned words and
with tears, those who plead for him,
told of his youth, the bonds that bound
his clan together, the false mountain
ideals of honor, the bad example that
had led him to join in th? murder and
destruction of a Virginia court. They
begged that justice might be tempered
with mercy, and that his youth and his
heedlessness of consequences might
mitigate the heavy penalty of death.
Tn the mountains of Virginia thousands
of hoys and girls are under sentence
of ignorance, Illiteracy, and lawlessness,
perhaps some day the penitentiary
and death. They are our own
Wood brothers, chiTdrens of the same
race. Their ancestors fought with ours
under {Scotch pnd "English banners on
many a blooded battle field. Their
forefathers were part and parcel of the
invincible infantry that followed "Washington
through the Revolution to independence.
The clean faces, lithe
bodies, and eagle eyes of these chil
dren of the hills tell of a race of possible
slants. They should have be?n
swept Into the great currents of enlightenment
and progress. Their misfortune
is to have been stranded in the
backwaters of the stream' of life.
The Presbvtery of .Montgomery, and
through it the Women's Missionary Societies
of the Synod of Virginia, are
undertaking to lift, the sentence of failure
and despair from the mountain children,
On Shootlmg Creek, In Floyd
eounty, Virginia, are one hundred and
seventy-five ibovs and girls, without
school or church. There are an equal
number of children at another place
In almost as destitute a state. The
Prerfbvterv of Monteromerv wishes to
build and enuln two schools. Money Is
ereatly needed. Tf onlv one of these
mountain children was under sentence
of death, ten thousand voices would
orv. "Rave the child." Is the heart of
Vlnrlnla not tender enoueh and loving
enough to ruard all the children of the
coves and the vallevs from the ways of
rfeath? Who will help commute the
sentence? The tragedies of the mountains
now challenge the church to carry
(1431) 17
tier message of Jife. Who will take up
the challenge?
Chang? your sympathy into money
and 8eud it to Rev. D. J. Woods, Treasurer,
Blaoksburg, Virginia.
MID-C151NA .MISSION.
The annual meeting of the Mission
is usually held in the latter part of
the summer, and od Mohkunshan, just
before returning for work- and is
occasion for balancing books, reviewing
the past year's work, and making
plans for the next. It is then that we
pause to see where we are, whence
we hav? come; and, as far as we can,
whither we go.
Looking at the work as a whole, there
is much for which to be thankful, for
though it has been necessary to do the
work under most trying and unprecedented
conditions, yet there has been
progress all along the line. And while
the gains numerically have been small;
yet there has been, almost universally,
a gradual and healthy growth. And.
if in spit? of the disintegrating influence
of a revolution and its paralyzing
effect on trade and life in general, and
in a year of famine and famine fevers
which demanded toll of Christians as
well as heathen, as was the case In
Hangohow, the Church is able to make
progress, it is surely not the work of
man alone. And we would certainly
not fail to mention the growth in spirituality,
and a growth not in spite of
the conditions tout rather because of
them, for in one of the reports from
Kiangyin, after a description of the
wild excitement and abject fear on the
part of the people, which ended in a
stampede in which about se-ven-tenth
of the people left, we read: "The Christians
stood calm. Oh, how they prayed
and fasted, and God only knows how
much this time of waiting upon Him
in prayer meant to all."
In listening to the reports from the
vaTious stations, it was impressive to
notice with what regularity the open
door was mentioned and dwelt upon.
Tpon every side you hear that it is so
much easier to gain access to the people?that
the attitude toward the foreigner
is greatly improved?that those
in higher circles are more sympathetic
and willing to listen. The opportunities,
like the riches of Christ, are truly
Mmitless. Heretofore, on account of
the fact that the country people were
more accessible than those in the city,
much work was done in the country
frem tVio cltv an/1 in ovtfinc tr? tViia
work one -would pass out from amongst
throngs who knew him not. Thus reminding
us that our Saviour left the
populous western shore of the Sea of
flalilee and crossed over to the other
side to heal the demoniac, and that he
went down to the coasts of Tyre and
Sidon to cast the devil out of the
daughter of the Syrophenician woman.
And while we thank God for the countrv
work and Christians who during
all these years have been more responsive,
it Alls our hearts with joy that
the upper classes in the cities?for as
a rule that is where they live?are
more inclined to look on our message
with favor. And as a result of this
increase of lnt?resf; or wo might porhaips
better say, as a result of the slackening
of opposition, our Mission together
with two others have secured land
right In the heart of the city of Hangchow,
where a great union evangelistic
work is hoped to be carried on.
The Chinese have not onlv done
things politically?casting off the Manchu
regime?tout have laid aside their
religions to a great extent. One worker
said that she asked a Chinese wo.man
what they were doing now since
mey nna ion on servine laois. arwi rne
(Continued on page 21.) *