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January 29, 1913 J T H ? . P
Presbyterial Home Mission Committees, Presbyteriai
Evangelists and others directly responsible
for the work are urged to bo present. Plans
are on loot to secure the attendance of some
one connected with Home Missions or Evangelism
from every Presbytery. The value of such
a conference can not be overestimated. The
Assembly's Campaign Committee on Stewardship
and Evangelism will be present and it is (
hoped that out from this conference every one ,
will go with a new hope and determination to ,
make this the best year in soul winning ever
knuwn in our Church.
The great possibilities of the Convention and ,
of the special conferences should bring every j
Southern Presbyterian to his knees. The Move- ,
meiit recognizing the need of prayer early issued
"A Call to Prayer," asking ministers and laymen
to pray daily for the Convention. May the
number of those who are now praying for the
Convention increase and may there be such a
volume of earnest prayer offered that this gathering
may prove the greatest spiritual uplift
that has ever come to our Church.
BLGIN NOW TO PLAN.
To atteud yourself; to send your pastor.
To send a member of the session; to send a
member of the diaconate.
To send a representative of the Sunday school.
To send a representative of the Missionary
Society.
To send a representative of the Adult Bible
Class.
To send some one in your place if you cannot
attend.
DOCTOR ELIOT VERSUS THE MISSIONARY.
BY REV. D. W. BRAKNEN, D. D.
Former Presideut Eliot, of Harvard, expressed
some rather remarkable statements before
a recent meeting of Unitarian, Universalist
and Congregational ministers in Boston. His
utterances were based upon the world tour he
completed not a great while ago, the tour occupying
about a year.
In his address he made, it is said, a careful
discrimination, revealing the characteristics of
the Chinese and Japanese minds, and showing
that it is utterly, impossible for the old faiths
to reach these orientals. He said further:
"If Christianity has nothing better to offer
these people than such dogmas as the atonement,
original sin, the Trinity, and an everlasting
liell, then the missionary task is futile."
Doctor Eliot was generous enough to acknowledge
that the representatives of these
outworn dogmas are working in these lands
with splendid enterprise and devoted selfsaeriliee,
while the liberals, sit in "smug content,
offering the world of missions, in the hour
of its hunger, only the dry bones of criticism
of those who already serve."
Evidently these statements of Doctor Eliot
were made without giving sufficient consideration
to recent changes. For, if we are to believe
such a careful writer as Doctor Barton,
of the Congregational Board of Missions, the
Chinese people are at this very moment turning
in multitudes to the very missionary whose
task the aged critic declared was futile, and
are entreating the man with the outworn dogma
to teach them the way of life. It is the
sober judgment of Doctor Barton that no situation
in- the history of the Christian Church
parallels the opportunity before the missionary
in China. In Japan, also, according to recent
information, Christianity has for the first time,
been placed on an equal footing with the old
religions, thus giving it a standing and an open
door it has not hitherto enjoyed. z
(Continued on page 11.)
RESBYTERIAN OF THE 80
The Grace of G
BY BEV. N.
"And of his fulness have all we received, and
'jrace for grace."?Jolm 1:16.
Get a clear idea of this term "grace.'' It
means favor to the undeserving. Read that
definition again, and think. For if it is correct,
then "grace" must exclude the idea of
merit. For no right-thinking man, who is wellinformed,
can claim that his cha/acter is such
before God that he can demand Ood's favor,
as a matter of justice. It also excudes the
idea of works; for if his works were of such a
character as to allow him to lay claim to God's
favor, then he would be independent of the
atoning work of Christ. Now let us proceed
by asking:
WHAT IS "GRACE," AND WHAT DOES IT INCLUDE?
1. The {great plan of the first person of the
Trinity for the salvation of Adam's race. Who
would dare say that either his merit or works
deserve the care, thought, sympathy and love,
exercised by the Father in that scheme of redemption
which was made before the worlds
were formed! 2. The humiliation of Christ in
withdrawing, for a time, from the adorable
Trio; leaving, for the most part, the admiriug
homage of Arch-angels; in being born under
all the limitations of finite nature, including
subjection to the restrictions and penalties of
a holy law which had been violated; in leading
a life of toil and reproach, and in dying the
shameful and horrible death of the cross. Who
would say his merit or works deserve such humiliation
on the part of the Son of Qod! 3.
The work of the Iloly Spirit in applying the redemption
of Christ to the hearts of men; for
without this work thei plan so wisely and lovingly
made and so faithfully carried out,
would be of no avail. This He does by arousing
an interest in the sinner's mind concern1
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sin and that Christ is the Saviour of sinners,
and then by regeneration, both persuading and
enabling him to accept the provisions of the
Gospel. Who will say that his merit or works
deserve the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
This plan of "Grace" was not prompted by
an angel, or any other creature, but was (a)
spontaneous; it originated in God?in God's
head and heart?in infinite wisdom and love;
(b) It was self-directed, directed by God himself,
uninfluenced by anything or any creature
outside of himself; uninfluenced by any foreseen
goodness in his creature, man. In other
words, it was not directed so as to terminate
upon and save the fallen angels. It was direct
eel, by divine choice, toward lost man. But
not so directed as to save all men. For the
revelation of this plan was confined to one
small people for about two thousand years.
And millions of heathen live and die in utter
darkness. Salvation sufficient for all, efficient
for God's chosen people only. Just why this
is, we cannot tell. "Even so, Father; for so it
seemed good in thy sight."
This plan of "Grace" completely satisfies
the soul. No one, who has heartily accepted
its nrovisinns hppnmr>a /iincotiefin/l ? >??>
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something better, for there is nothing better.
It will finally cleanse the soul of the last trace
of sin. It feeds the mind - from innumerable
sources in this life, and will infinitely expand
its powers in the life to come. It will change
our vile body, and make it like the glorious
body of our Lord. So it saves the whole man.
But "Grace" has another meaning. When
a man gives a soft answer for a blow, we say
"It was the 'grace' of God that enabled him
to do that." We mean that he was under the
influence of the Holy Spirit. And now, pov
U T H (75) S
\od in Salvation
B. MATTIES.
erty of language eompels us to use a term ths>
at first sight is objectionable. We say that
"grace" is "irresistible." But we neither
mean that it cannot be resisted, nor that it
overpowers a man in a physical sense, as would
a cyclone, and saves him against his will. But
it simply changes his will from a state of rebellion
to u state of submission to God's will.
And this in the sweetest and gentlest way.
And "grace for grace." That is, grace add
ed to grace; the JNew Testament added to the
Old. The Old Testament was a grand revelation.
It emphasized truthfulness, honesty,
and spirituality in worship as did no other ancient
religion; and, we may add, as no other religion
of any age has ever done. Not only so,
but it showed the only way of salvation. But
it was necessarily incomplete. As shadow to
substance; as picture to original; as model to
machine; as history to eyewitness; so was the
Old compared to the New dispensation; for the
fulness of time for the Incarnation was not
come, "God having prepared some better
thing for us," who live in the latter days.
"Grace for grace." That is, grace in abuiul
ance. Grace sufficient to make us "clean every
whit." When water is scarce, a man washes
only his hands; when it is plentiful, he bathps
his whole body. We act sometimes as if we
thought there was not enough grace to go
around, and so content ourselves with leaving
off only a part of our evil habits. When the
truth is, there is no sin which grace will not
finally overcome; and the many sins in which
we yet indulge should have been cleansed out
long ago. For there is no limit to "tho nhnnd
ant grace of God," which is as boundless as its
divine Author, of whose "fulness" we have all
begun to receive.
"Grace for grace"; to meet every demand.
Just as water from inexhaustible fountain fills
a cistern to overflowing, so the "fulness" of
Christ comes to us in time of trouble?if we only
receive it. It sustains us and makes us fat
and flourishing, as a tree is sustained by the
sap that flows into it from fertile earth. Or
as light from the sun fills the air, so that "there
is nothing hid from the heat thereof."
"Grace for grace." That is, grace in ut
corresponding?to the "fulness" of Christ, of
which we have all received. Ah! if Christ
would but enter myriads of human hnHios ??
He once entered one human body, and dwell
in every community, what might He not accomplish
as a light in the world! But did it
ever occur to you that this is just what He
does, in the lives of His followers? He dwells
in them by His Spirit. He once said to His
disciples, "Ye are the light of the world."
Hence His humility, His meekness, compassion.
devotion and love, must shine out from us.
And this leads to the last thought.
, "Grace for grace"?grace, in us, for others.
To this end grace was given?"As every man
hath received the gift, even so minister the
same one to another, as good stewards of the
manifold 'grace' of God." 1 Pet. 4:10.
"Grace" is a sacred trust to be used for the.
good of others; and we are commanded to do
good to all men, as we have opportunity, especially
to those who are of the household of
fnitli
Riverdale, Qa.
The earthly city is the home of sin, disease,
poverty and death. The heavenly city is free
from all these. If you desire to enter the heavenly,
you mu9t do all in your power to make
your earthly city like it