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10 (58) T H E F
as long as God is gracious, continue so. Moses
pathetic prayer should be ours: "Let thy work
appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto
their children."
Even if the fathers have eaten sour grapes, the
children can sl?>W forth the crrflee nnrl crlnrv of
God. A. A. L.
NOTES IN PASSING.
BY BERT.
I suppose it has always been
The Present Need, more or less true that faittliful
men have had occasion to
deplore the spiritual feeblesess of their day. In
our day the need is very apparent. There is a
large bdy of men in the Church as well as out of
it who profess to see no cause for apprehension
in the religious situation. They adopt the words
of Browning, "God's in his heaven, all's well
with the world," as being the lawt word upon
the i-ubjeet. That God Is in his heaven I rejoice
to know, but he must be as blind as a bat
who hugs to his breast the delusion that "All's
well with the world." Can all be well with
h wnu niai industrially, commercially, religiously
juil socially is at war with itself? Can all
ho well with the world when the hands of capital
and labor are at each other's throats? When
powerful combinations with a brutality that is
inhuman throw their colossal weight upon individuals
incapable of defending themselves and
out of the malice of sheer greed ruin them to
stifle competition? When the man who produces
gets a mere pittance, and the consumer
pays a great price, and somewhere between great
fortunes are being made at the expense of both?
Can all be well with a world when for the evangelization
of the millions of heathen only a few
cents per week is all that can be gotten from
the Church!
Notwithstanding the conditions
Unjustifiable there are found many who call
Optimism. themselves optimists, and who
preach about lifting up the
spirits, and believing in God, and having faith
. J 1 A i V * i a ? - '1 1
an men, unu so ou. dui tms son 01 iroiny declamation
fails to reach the point of satisfaction
in the hearts of concerned and thinking men.
It is not a question of believing in God. It is a
question of so presenting God to the men of our
day that they must believe in him, and give him
a bigger place in their calculations, and hold uppermost
in their minds that however they get off
with their misdeeds on earth they will have to
reckon with lnm .'aooner or later. It is not a
question of a God in the heavens, but a God right
here on earth, who is mightily interested in us
and our dealings with our fellow men. There is
too much pointing of the finger to the clouds and
saying, "Lift up your eyes God is there." "We
need to bring God down to this earth and so
thrust him into our daily living that men will
feel him, and be over-awed by his nearness and
obey him. If we will bring God down to earth a
little more we will not need to lift up our eyes
to find the heavens, for heaven will be all about
us. ine nrst step toward hrmcpng a revival is
to f~el the need of one. and certainly he does
not feel the need who is full of this spirit of false
"optimism" that would stifl? the cry of warning
lest it should cause a sensation.
And suppose it were true that
An Evident any considerable portion of the
FacA. world did so live as to give good
grounds for optimism, and it is
true that in the Church there are many whose
lives are equal to those of the saints of any age.
still it is not less trne that "evil men and sedueera
grow worse and worse," and here is onr
RESBYTERIAN OF THE SO
concern. There are as great evils in tjhe world
to-day as there ever were. And we ought to be
irouoica aDOin it. ror evils to-day as bad as in
the past are worse.
AN OPPORTUNE INQUIRY.
We note that the Y. M. C. A. people have beeu
discussing the relation of the Association to the
Church. This is a timely topic and it is exceedingly
important tha't a ..nst determination of the
"subject shall be reached. The Church furnishes
all but a negligible part of the working force of
At-- TT A r r. * V. ? - - -
me i. ju. o. a., it nas nurtured and trained the
men and women who furnish the millions of dollars
used in Y. M. C. A. building each year.
Church people supply the bull, of the other millions
that support secretaries and assistants, field
agents and administrative departments. Young
men from families of the Church are depended
on to sustain distinctly religious work and promote
its interest in the associations. Surely the
relation of the Association to rhe Church ought
to be very intimate.
It is said that some Y. M. C. A. people regard
the Church as antiquated and don't mind saying
so, which fact may he accredited in part to the
impetuosity of youth, hut it would uot be safe for
rno idea to spread widely, for while the Church
is very old it is also very new. It is getting new
life from heaven even' day and the truth that it
holds is vitalized every morning and evening by
that sublimated energy that comes alone from
the throne of grace. The life, organization, authority,
and potency of the Church of Christ is
as new and fresh as his infinite thought and
boundless love at this passing moment. The
Chairch has an imperishable charter from the
.~e ,..u? J?:-j? -?' ?_ ? .
avujfj vi njiune uuiiumun mere 5/nau De no end,
and religions societies can claim the covenants
contained in that charter only as they are participants
of the grace dispensed to that spiritual
kingdom of which the Church is the visible expression.
Societies should keep close, very close,
to the Church.
Again it has been said, and we know not how
extensively it may be time, that the trend of the
y. M. C. A. is toward social, athletic and industrial
development rather than toward spiritual
nurture. It is possible for the grace of God to
direct and refine all of life's lptritimotA
and interests and that is the way and the only
highway of true advancement. It is much to be
desired that this shall be the method and aim
adopted in all departments of culture. But it
must be borne in mind that grace comes firtat;
grace is supreme and to dissociate any interest
from the dominance of grace is to cut the radial
cord that holds that- intornot - j
wnauu 110 U1UJII (UTJUIIU
its rightful center. If social features or athletics
cross their boundn they will go off like
wandering stars to be engulfed in a rayless night.
Another criticism that we have heard suggests
that the Y. M. C. A. does not sufficiently stress
the gathering in of homeless, friendless, untrained
and mistrained men of our cities and towns
whose very condition is a pathetic appeal for the
grasp of a Christian hand and the magic uplift
that a courageous Christian heart can orive A
jrreat work has been done in this department beyond
a doubt. It was in behalf of such work
that the Association was first formed, and this
mu/3t continue to be a prominent department of its
activity if its usefulness shall continue to expand.
The need for it increases: available resources
are larger than ever; facilities for train
ing workers are extensive; the fields are white
unto the harvest. An alluring and a commanding
future awaits the great organization which must
over he one great department through which the
Church of Christ expresses its faith and con
secrates its service.
The organization has gone ilito many foreign
U T II [ January 22. 1913
lands bearing the message of salvation through
the redemption of the Cross. In army and navy
it has done a work which probably denominations
could never have done so well. May it
hasten t.llP time U'hnn omnioc K?
- - v.v UVU ni4tnv:o tuiu lia T 1C3 ouail I/O
no more. In the cities it has fostered the spirit
of Christian fellowship and co-operation. In the
slums it has lifted poor fellows without number
from the mire and from impending despair.
May it hold on its way of rescue and fellowship,
of making strong men for life's great field of
achievement to the end. If in any degree it has
lost, its bearings may its inquiry into its relation
to the Church set it right. m.
OUR INFLUENCE.
Cain asked, "Am I my brother's keeper?" It
is Ihi.s Cain spirit asserting itself whenever one
ignores his relations to others. The tie that
binds man to man is not solely that of blood or
kinship or community of interest. Influence is
to be taken account of. The influence which one
exercises over another is as real and as important
a factor in life as any other that determines
action or shanes belief Afen Mnnnt li
And their outward community of life is but an
expression of the deeper currents that carry
them together in their inner life.
Character has most to do with that influence
which one exerts over another. It is what they
fire rather than what they do or what they have
or give that bestows upon men power over their
'ellows. To use this power wisely, the firteft thing
is to get oneself right. There must be reality,
genuineness, in the man or woman who would influence
others for good. Light illumines. Fire
tnvras. Uharles Kingsley has happily said that
if we wish our neighbors to see what God is like,
we can do this by letting them see what he can
make us like. God's handiwork in a beautiful
Christian character is the world's finest proof
of the reality of religion. It is a testimony that
every believer is capable of giving.
Great thonghtfulness and godly tact are indispensable
to the exertinc r>f wlinloonma
fluenoe. Many a person of fine character and
lofty purposes and motives effects but little with
others because of failure to go about it in the
right way. Tact is wisdom put into action. It
is not mere policy or form, a hypocritical pretense
to be what one is not. It is intelligent
adaptation, wise adjustment, judicious application.
As "wise as serpentfc" while as "harmless
as doves" is the Christian ideal.
Another thing useful is to come into contact
with others. Use both tact and contact! The
electrical current must have contacts to enable
it to pass from line to line, to give light or power.
To wield an influence one must come close to
others in* affection and interest and effort.
"Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart; so
doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty
counsel. Thine own friend, and thy father's
friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's
house in the day of thy calamity; for better is a
neighbor that is near than a brother far off.'"
; * --
uuu muiipcuctu jivii ; bu a man snaxpenetft the
countenance of his friend. An in water face answerpth
to face, ro the heart of man to man."
The wise exercise of influence will be to draw
out the best that is in the others by giving to
them the best that is in ourselves.
But while the measure of influence is character.
and the means tactfulness, the channel
ronfcact, the source, more important than all, is
the Holy Spirit. Hils indwelling produces a
power and a reserve force which can be found
< *
rrom no otner possession. Christian inflnence is
Ood speaking through the believer.
The Lord needs his witnesses everywhere,
by the wayside inn as well as before the multitude.?Anna
Shipton.
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