Newspaper Page Text
January 15, 1913] THE P
Editorial ?
"The Church Calendar of Praver for 1913"
lias just come from our Publication Committee <
in Richmond. It is handsomely printed and 1
artistically bound and illustrated. It represents 1
all the causes of the Church, giving a concise i
statement of the work of each of the four Ex- 1
ecutive Committees, together with a calendar i
that is educational and inspirational. It contains
a list of all the foreign missionaries and
of the workers on the Home Mission field, and
days are assigned for the remembrance of them i
by name in the prayers of the Church. The
Po Innrlo r o lr no tVin nlo oa a P th a T)aa1. a C
v/u ftv*i\aui ianv.o mc j'invc VI Wir 1 UOI 1JUUI\ Ul
Prayer" and "Home Mission Prayer Calendar" i
formerly issued separately by the Committees
of Foreign and Home Missions. A copy of this
Calendar should be in every home in the Church.
A pastor in Pennsylvania, -who has been more
than forty-four years in his present charge,
with a characteristic twinkle in his eye, we are
told, the following reason for his extended pastorate:
"The reason why my people have kept
me so long is because I keep them so short. I
rarely preach over twenty minutes. My sermons
would not stand liomiletic criticism, I
know. I never try to say everything about my
subject. I iust take un two or three nnints
hammer them home, straight, hard, quick, and
hot."
Our good friend, the editor of the Presbyterian
Standard, tcllR in his last paper about
the "Betrothal Party for Cats," lately given
by a society woman of New York, and asks:
"Ts this the limit*" Why, no, Dr. Bridges.
Co read our little editorial of a few months ago
4.^11! 1 1 - 1 - -
Li-mug huuui a ueauiuui young woman ana ner
mother whom we saw traveling with their ugly,
weak-eyed poodle, and ealling to the sorry little
thing, when it got to the end of its tether of
silk ribbon and silver chain, "Come back to
your mother, dear," "Come back to your grandmother,
dear!"
Senator Kenyon, who is pressing the " Kenyon-Sheppard"
bill in Congress, a measure in
which all the friends of temperance and the
opponents of the liquor traffic are interested,
lately displayed in the Senate chamber a circular
sent out by a mail-order liquor house bearing
the words, Uncle Sam fe Our Partner."
The liquor dealers were exactly right. It is
because the government permits it that the evil
traffic can be carried on in States which have
declared themselves opposed to it. The traffickers
are violating the law of these States, and
they do it under the protection of the United
States government. "Uncle Sam" is their most
valuable and useful partner. "Without him they
could do nothing.
*31?
It is aimost amusing to see how many of even
the religious papers are wondering what President-elect
Wilson will do with Mr. Bryan, or
whether he will do anything whatever with him.
It matters very little. Mr. Bryan is going to
be just the same useful, intelligent, loyal man
that he has always been, no matttcr where he
is nlaepd An/1 nrnAion'.H ?"" ? ? ?'1
M iiic onmc UiUy LKJ WWU
of Wood row Wilson. The country is to be congratulated
that it has two such men. They are
wholesome, useful, vigorous men, deriving not
the smallest part by any means of their great
Dower from their splendid Christian character.
Men of their type are a guarantee of the permanency
and reign of the best principles of our
civic life.
RESBYTERIAN OF THE SOU
Votes and
The one hundredth anniversary of the birth
f T.i\nn t. ?*-* vn?aotn?i n * ?* ?*?.!
It 1/iitiu uiviii^oiuj^ Iilia^iuiltll jr diiu t'A[MUI ?^I *
Lhe mnn who opened up a continent to civiliza- ori
tion and Christianity, will be widely celebrated 0f
in Ameriea and Europe. "While Scotland, the
big little country that has given to the world e0
so many of its benefactors, is the home of Liv- ps
ingston's birth, all civilizations have shared the p(
fruits of hits heroic faith and his living sacrifice. jn
American missions has entered into his labors
and reaped harvests of souls that he discovered, p!
and to whose rescue he summoned the whole
- ill
Church on earth, with an eloquence that sounded
round the world. The centenary will fall
on March 10 and our Committee of Foreign
Missions has approved and requested its oh- pr
servance by the entire Church. Probably in
our next number will appear a program of np- m
propriate exercises recommended by our Com- j
mittec. These will be so varied as to be adapted
to the uses of churches, Sunday schools and p>
missionary societies. Literature for the occa- '
si on will be provided by the Committee without -\j
charge. Rn
in
A bill ha*5? been introduced into the legisla/- ai
lure of Illinois which should become a law and fr
should be adopted by the legislatures of all the a
States. According to the purport of the hill as
published, it provides for the establishment of m
a hospital and farm where liquor victims may ei
be sent by eourt order at the request of rela- A
lives or bv personal netition. At the mnnnsnrl -.1
hospital and farm the patients will be given iz
medical care free or for a small payment. The di
hospital will be governed by a board of five bi
members, to be appointed by the governor, if a<
the mensure becomes a law. A companion bill ti
will provide for an appropriation of $230,000 ai
bv the legislature to establish the farm. The ti
safety, comfort, and good order and self-respect se
of society require that persons of the class pro- ti
vided for in this bill shall be disposed of in a ti
way that will prevent their running at large, ni
Provision shonld be made for the bf?st scientific
treatment with a view in nnnlifvm<? thorn for
sane and useful citizenship; also religious ad- w
vantages should provided by well qualified cj
Christian workers with the hope, through a
abounding grace, of spiritual regeneration. g
o
"Father Pliclan'* has been, for more than a ei
third of a century, a loading authority in the 0
Middle Wcttt on Roman Catholic principles and pl
policies, lie doesn't hesitate on occasion to de- o:
elare frankly the faith that is in him. His vow b
nf moutnl rncom?olinn rlnnon 'f 1 Ua ^ **i
?* *? ' ?iu?4 i v.j? i fimuil UUVOM l UilVf IIIC 1UI III UL
concealing his rabid hatred of Protestantism. S1
In a recent number of the "Western Watch- n
man," of which he is editor, he expressed the P
hope that the Protestant estimate of 70,000 llu- "
guenots massacred in Paris on the night of St. *
Bartholomew is correct. lie says he has "heard a
ring out many a time the very bells that called c
the Catholics together on that fatal night." .i
"tviow olivn cwnnklw^n auk /wi?o ava o
jk max, j u* u^>> "" ??v*cv4 o < V * 4? ?jr IU vm Wl O. ?' V
liave never written in extenuation or palliation 0
of the Inquisition. We never thought it needed
defense.. Our heroes are the Duke of Alva and k
Catherine de Medici." "Father" Phelan is a r
Catholics of the most genuine and approved type, d
He doesn't believe in obscuring the principled n
that his Church has proclaimed through a long e
line of popes and councils. Adjusting the s
Church to suit American civilization is irritat- t
ing to his temperament. TTe believes in the real <]
things. ITe writes for Catholics, on whose sym- t
pathy he relics, but also glories in his shAme v
to all the world. v
T H ' (33) 9
Comment
THE FEDERAL COUNCIL IN ACTION.
There is need for co-operative and concerted
ideavor on the part of the Christian people
our land in advancing the kingdom of our
cdecmer. There is room and a call for the
necrted activity of all the evangelical Church.
IIow this is to be secured, and its wise pur>ses
accomplished, is a problem that does not
deed baffle solution, but does demand resourceil
leadership and the spirit of the Master who
ayed that his people might all be one in life
id motive and consecrated purpose.
The tremendous task of borne evangelization
ipeals for wise adjustment of plans, the frugal
?e of resources and mutual reinforcement of
lcrgy and effort. The problem of evangelizing
million fresh immigrants every year is a
ighty challenge to Christian faith and courage,
he stimulation of dormant Christian convioon
to energetic service is an impossible task
icept as a triumph of abounding grace leavenig
the whole mass of Christian profession,
'inistering in life name to the sick, the forikcn,
the oppressed?this and much more is
iclnded in the example of him whose we are
id whom we serve. Surely systematic service,
ee from friction, wisely distributed, keyed to
maximum of results, is to be desired.
rrooaoiy tnesc nave been the thoughts in the
inds of those who planned and those who have
icouraged the Federal Council of Churches,
t least one of the constituent bodies of this
liance realized that it was entering an organation
which included certain elements which
id not accept its own views of sound doctrine;
tit it also understood that in teaching and
;tion the Council accepted the Holy Scripires
as the inspired Word of God and as the
ithoritative and only rule of faith and pracce.
^Moreover it understood that the aims and
(rviccK of the federation were founded on scriplral
authority and to be accomplished by scripiral
methods. These were to be evangelical
id evangelistic.
It appears however that the Council has beune
mainly a mere humanitarian organization
base policies might just as well be of Confuan
or Ltadhist origin. And it is obvious that
t its recent meeting great prominence was
iven to the rejection of the inspired authority
f the Scripture? as held and cherished by tlio
/angelical Churches, and regarded as the basis
P A1 ? _ a ? *
i v^nristmn service. 1 nose iaets appear conlusivcly
from the able and fair-minded comment
n the Council which appeared in our last numer.
written by Dr. Robert McAlpine Hall. The
epudiation of the "traditional" view of inpi
rat ion by an imported speaker, who was not
member of the Council, and the generous aplause
given to his utterances marked an epoch
1 the Council's history and decided an issue
hat has hitherto been a subject of debate. In
ddition to this the Council gave unmistakable
\t!/^ Annn A p ?f? nl AAmnUwlAw
Tivuiiv-r ui J iv) uwtu in n i uunijMLAiuii UI1 llltJ SUUect
of inspiration, by electing to its highest
flfiee a man who is known as one of the princes
f the order of " higher critics."
It may be objected here, as has been done
efore. that the Council does not exist for the
urpoirc of formulating or expounding Christian
loctrine. The answer is that the objection is
low too late. The facts of the Council's pro_
_ :i # a . a tin ? *
wcungs renue it. w natever may De its con(itution
and by-laws, the Council has commited
itself to the exposition of doctrine: and
loctrine which touches the vitals of the Chrisian
system: doctrine upon which as a basis the
chole system rests; and in pronouncing ndersely
on the doctrine of inspiration, through