Newspaper Page Text
January t, 1913 ] THE
Editorial .
King George, of England, has had an official
letter written stating that it is true that he
promised his mother, Queen Alexandria, as
1 OOI it-.i 1. - * 1 " *
Fug iiyu as ioni tnai iie wouia reaa a ctiapter
of the Bible daily, and that he has evar since
adhered to this promise.
The late Bishop O. P. Fitzgerald, whom our
people who knew him loved as much as did our
IVfethodist brethren, wrote a great many pithy
paragraphs. One of his most practical was
this: "The brother who is quick to resent insult.
real or imaginary, and is severe in his
judgments and expressions concerning those
who differ with him or cress his wishes in any
wise, does not intend to be insincere in his
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makes that impression. (Do not turn your gaze
too far away when you would apply the foregoing
remark.)" %
Editors of religious journals are not supposed
to he expert judges of the respective
merits and demerits of the stage because they
take a one-sided view of the question. It is
true that they usually see but one side of the
theatre and that the outside, but they see billboards
and magazine exhibits and often hear
what the insiders have to say, and the impression
is usually not to edification. But some of
the most adverse testimony comes from the inside.
A few years ng"> a leading actor gave
out nn interview in which he said he had refused
to let his daughters go on the stage, hepause
its influence was uniformly and essentially
corrupt; and more recently the stage reporter
of the "Chicago Tribune" said, "no
theatre in these days is the place to take a
lady, unless you know her very, very well."
Then he adds, "sin becomes moral in grand
opera."
Tt is said to be hard for a church to get just
the kind of a preacher it wants and it sometimes
comes to pass that a preacher doesn't get
just the kind of church he wants. There is
nothing mysterious in either case. Tt is all because
there is no such thing in this life as
sinless perfection. Tf the congregation were
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nearer me iaeax tney would be more capable
of seeing the merits of the minister and more
charitable toward his imperfections. If the
preacher were more like his Master he would
have such love for souls he would be engrossed
with helping them rather than getting hopeless
about their short comings. Abounding confidence
in the grace of God is a wonderful
help in either case. An exchange tells of a
clever woman whose church was at sea about
getting a new pastor. She described the situation
after this fashion: "It is hard to find
any one who fits the situation here. Sometimes
the man suggested is a bachelor; sometimes
he is married?and which is worse, who
can tell? Hut one thing we have learned,?
that good ministers are very few and far between."
To this our contemporary replies:
"Pastorless churches are apt to grow more
critical the longer Ihey wait for the angel
Oabriel to appear, flood ministers scarce t
Why. they are as plentiful as apples in an 'on.
year.' "
We have received a number of choice Chirstmas
jrifts which were much enjoyed. TTere is
a pair of samples. The firrat is from -an honored
minister who, we trust, will aHow us t/>
nse his name. Per there \s up name more fa
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SO
Notes and
i vorably known or more highly esteemed in our
i ?ntire Church than that of Dr. James R.
Crash am, of Winchester, Virginia, who says:
"You are always giving us much more than
i the worth of our money, and the scriptural con
servatism that rules your columns is altogether
to my liking." A ruling elder, "a man of
parts," writes from Pasadena, California: "I
am very much pleased with it and it continually
srrows better, or else I am growing in grace,
which is better still." Many other seasonable
things have been said and we all know that
"a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in
pictures of silver."
Tt has long been manifest that when vital religion
pets a firm hold, ritualism relaxes its
crip. The things of the Spirit arc exalted and
manipulation of the finger tips and other bodily
exercises which "are profitable for a little,"
sink to their proper level. An instance is found
in the announcement that the Baptists, "Methodists
and Society of Friends have united in
maintenance of the Western University of
China. A perplexed Chinaman commented on
the happy overriding of ceremonial bnrriers as
follows: "Me no understand. Much washee:
little washee: no washee at all." John Chinaman
is an undoubted authority on the wash
[lu-sTinn as a ousmess proposition. As to its
personal application and religious value, there
remains mueh for him to learn, hut he is an apt
pupil and is progressing finely.
In framing our new year's resolutions we
may well include one which pledges us to
more personal work in behalf of the unsaved
and for the honor of our Lord. In many of the
larger denominations the last statistics showing
the number of accessions on profession of
faith was discouraging. In the Northern
Presbyterian Church thirty-five per cent, of the
congregations reported no additions by profession.
Do the people in such congregations heed
the appeal and command: "Let him that heareth
say come?" This is an age of personal
work. The business that has no solicitor, none
to explain and declare its merits, is liable to
decline. The materials of household and industrial
use are largely machine made, but in
dnslUnrr with rntinnn! hfMncre erttiul nnrt r\nliti/mt
machines are in disrepute. The following that
stays and makes good is hand-picked, the reward
of personal influence. It is so in the
realm of religion. There are numberless;
hesitant souls that are waiting only for the
sympathetic touch, the word of courage, the
earnest invitation, the brief but assured testimony
of those early disciples, 14 We have found
the Messiah," 44Comc and see," '4lie brought
him to Jesus." Let us resolve that during the
year 1913 wo will imitate the example of those
first followers of our Lord whoso simple
words and prompt services are recorded in the
f rst chapter of the Gospel of John.
The late Mrs. Eddy's son is right in his contention
before the courts that his mother's
"Christian Science" was not a religion, but a
business. It paid her most handsomely. She
was careful to use the privileges of copyright,
which put the source of her revenue under the
protection of law, as a business matter. She had
enough business shrewdness to make the profits
of that which she dealt as a tenet of the faith she
taught, large and sure. She traded in the faith
/>f her followers and became a millionaire.
a
? U T H (1423) 9
Comment
THE COMING YEAR.
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nu iwu twor8 are ;ihkc. 10 most or us tney
differ widely; more widely than two countries
through which the explorer may pass or two
8oa3 over which the mariner may sail. Many
expectations based on what has been, ore disappointed,
and many forebodies that are but
analogies of what has been never assume substantial
form. Each oncoming year holds the
allurement of novelty and ot opportunity for
larger attainment than was made in the past.
For whatever the change or variety the groat
nnmnon a XTnf V>^ ? 1 1 A
KUI|/v?k) uni. >.oiuvi a giuijr uuu ul messing 10
his children remains unchanged. His purposes
are always perfect and to alter them would
render them defective. His promises and covenants,
which compass the entire range and
variety of life, hold good through each passing
year. Surely those promises so abundant and
so gracious are a sufficient basis for most tranfinil
PXIlPPtnnriT n ri cl nndaiinfa/l
r. T uxviuuu tuu \;uui agr US WW
face the problems and tasks that await us.
Tn the realm of the spiritual we may be ever
renewing our youth. Spiritual attainment is
the product of continued reinvigoration from
the one gracious Source of spiritual life. "We
apenlc of childhood as the formulat've period
of life. So it may be in the acquiring of purely
natural qualities, though it is not exclusively
so. Knowledge, of the most permanent and
practical nature, is often acquired in later
years. The mind becomes enriched with truth
when best trained for acquiring it and when
most generously stored with past acquisition
But if the passing years are marked bv in
tellectual progress, by ever enlarging treasures
of experience and by constant enrichment in
the endowments of earthly wisdom, how much
more may they be hallowed and made radiant
by increasing endnement with the wisdom that
is from above. The path of the just shineth
more and more unto the perfect day. The
heaven-endowed soul is ever young; its youth is
renewed like the eagle's. The spirits that wait
on the Lord renew their strength, they mount
11 n witVl w'mrrc! no rninlo.- . ? ?J *
...... ...uv> iw buvjr iuii <uia ure noi
weary, walk and are not faint.
The past is designed to be an incentive and
inspiration for the future. The Psalmist tells
us that God's wonderful works are declared that
we might set our hope in God. Hope based
on merely earthly advantage is speculative and
may be utterly delusive. Many of life's most
pathetic tragedies are but the wreckage of vain
hopes based upon human probabilities that lured
sagacious and over-confident minds. He whose
Jorwnrd vision ranges along the low level of
earth may wisely estimate as much of pain as
of pleasure encompassed within the boundaries
over which he shall pass. But if we set, our
hope in God he makes the days to come as sure,
as firm and real in their fruition as were the
blessings of the irrevocable past. The faith
that looks onward draws hack the curtain and
reveals enough of the wisdom and graciousness
of God's purpose to calm our thought, illumine
the 'ife and make our hearts courageous.
A T? Anfl/Vftlr f*A *- 3 *
vunuun ou inn rtjiu w assured, a nope
that attracts its fragrance into the very present,
and makes things that are to he revealed, the
realities ot" a living faith, should impel to cheerful
and vigorous service. We may well face
the coming year, freighted as it is with hidden
nossihilitirvs rosnlvo/l nnAn Jti*?.
, - t U|/Vlt pivoriib UllltT J IVitU
hrave hearts awai*?np the call of opportunity,
filling the fleeting hours with deeds of loving
service. .Tl'en as the hoars are passing they
trill hear witness to us of the Divine love even
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