Newspaper Page Text
February b, 1918] THE
they will decline the kindness offered them. The
railroads are not offering their facilities with the
intent of disarming opposition.
The thought of some that it is unbecoming for
ministers to accept reduced rates, and that they
are thereby making themselves objects of charity,
is altogether unwarranted and should not be
entertained for a moment. We have heard many
railroad officials discuss thus very point, and it
has been their unanimous judgment, so far as we
have met and heard them, that they do not regard
their offer as a charity but as a recognition
of the value of the ministers' work along their
lines and of the usefulness of the profession to
the railroads themselves- Some of them have
even gone so far as to declare that but for the
abuse of the privilege which would follow
through some unworthy men, they would advocate
giving ministers free transportation always
between their fields and in their normal
ministerial work. We once knew a minister who
sneered greatly at a railroad certificate, exclaiming,
"Is it passible that you use that thing?" It
would have been better if he had used one of the
"things" himself and thereby have saved something,
through the railroad's kindness, to go on
the defots about which he was so careless.
ULAJUflO KJfiULGION EASY.
The responsibility of the Ohurch for prevailing
sins, such as belong to the category of vice
and crime, has lately become a live question because
of repeated insinuations in the great
dailies, and a direct charge against the Church
made by an advanced religious publication of
the higher-critical school. This charge was to
the effect that the Church was responsible for
the wounding of a distinguished citizen by a
would-be assassin; responsible because it had
not converted the criminal and thus prevented
the crime. It is time for these critics to place
tV* aI n '*? -?
iuui luia picioiiou uu luc iaui umi tilii, ill
manifold forma, prevailed yi the time of our
lord's ministry, in his very presence and despite
his solemn, searching rebuke.
The idea of these would-be censors of the
Church and champions of the public welfare
seems to be that the Church must provide every
opportunity and inducement that is thinkable
for conducting the millions of the masses into a
kind of moral and social paradise and entertaining
thera there so lavishly that it shall be
virtually assured that they will never again
think of going wrong. If the Church doesn't
make the utmost approximation to that.kind and
degree of service, it is culpable.
It is not proven that this is the way to help
society, much less is it proven that it is the way
to save souls. Christian life does not consist
in living in a state of moral inaction and irresponsibility
Christians are not carried to the
skies on flowery beds of ease. Neither are sinners
saved by such coddling or fawning as would
eliminate half their moral responsibility. If
such processes could even insure their assent to
Christian profession they would stiM lack the
moral stamina and force of conviction that
would be needed to sustain them in their pro
Vgfflon. The principle obtains inviolably in
social, intellectual and physical life; it is no less
forceful in religion. Religious ease and luxurionsnesB
ore positively enervating. The principle
is pictures(fuely set forth in this vividly
metaphorical presentation by The Advance:
TU,o. ?1 ? J J ? Al
mr ap|/uai ui uciiwmi is liiiii znmieiy ur lilt*
State or the Church carry people, not that the
individnal walk on his own legs. Everybody is
to be given ,n ride. If society can not fnrnish
the ride, then society is all wrong. If the
Church can not go ont and wheel people to its
services and then wheel them back home again,
the Church it no good. Four-fifths of the present
PRESBYTERIAN OF T H ? |
complaint*} against the Church proceed from tl
idea that it ought to carry a lot of half-bake
people through life and later on send them '
another world in a parlor car. Not long ago
read a lengthy discussion in an English r
ligious weekly of the young-man problem. Ar
this was the sentiment running through it, ths
the Ohurch was not putting wheels under tl
young men. It was still clinging to the old ar
outgrown idea that young men ought to loam i
walk. If the Church is to meet this modern d
mand, it will have to lay in a bigger supply <
wheels. At present it does not have enough 1
go around. And the same is true of society,
lacks a supply of wheels for the whole blKromii
crowd.
But what is a still more painful eonsideraitioi
we can no longer ask the young man or tl
young woman to walk straight. If they t
astray it is no longer their fault. Society is 1
blame, or the city is to blame, or the Churoh
to blame. The alleged "greatest citizen of Oh
cago" is full of this idea. Magazine writers r
peat all the changes on it, and lecturers thundi
it from the platform, and even preachers induH
in it- In a word, society has got to furnish
wagon, a driver and a front seat, if it expec
any young modern to keep on the right roa<
Put them on their own legs and they will tur
down the wrong lane.
Well, of course, society, Church and 0011
munity must do their part, hut I do not hes
tate to say that when everybody has to be loadc
in a wagon to be carried over the right roa<
there is bound to be a broken axle before the ol
concern gets very far. m.
FAR AWAY FIELDS ARE GREEfl.
In many cases "hard times'' is merely
relative term. Much depends on the person;
equation, the individual point of view. The]
are many living in luxury, but always uud<
a strain, who are hungering for the simp
life, while others tire of rural scenes and sin
plicity, regarding them as privations, and a
pire to the more elaborate and strenuou
sometimes called nerve-racking, life of the eit
One toils for more money to get modern coi
veniences and luxuries; the other is undi
a grind to get wholesome food in abundan<
and variety from the plantations. The Detro
Free Press puts the case in a dialogue betwet
an old lady and her little granddaughter, thui
*i Li c j uui xuiao y ^iauuma, nui
you were a little girl?" asked the child.
"We thought we were, my dear," replie
the grandmother. "We were pioneer farr
ere, and lived in a log cabin. It was larj
and comfortable; the tloors were warmly ca
peted, and we had plenty to eat and plenty 1
wear. But we raised everything ourselves, an
made our own cloth. We had no money to g
to stores, even if there had been any stor<
to go to, and so we felt very, very poor. Thei
were two things we were all very fond of, an*
oh. how we loneed for them! How often w
wished we could afford them! But we couldn'
and sometimes it made us feel very miserab
to be so" poor. Those two things were sa
mackerel and store molasses."
"O-o-ol" said the little girl. Why. whi
did you have to eat, then?"
"Nothing but beef, mutton, chickens, ven
son, quail, squirrels, wild ducks, brook trou
and such things. As for molasses, we hadn
anything but maple syrup."
Try working the Talent Money Plan this waj
It is easy. Secure a new subscriber for Th
Presbyterian o*- the South. Send 50 cenl
of the subscription price to this office, inclhdin
the name and address of the subscriber. Retai
$1.50 for the Talent Money Fund. Then g
* after another subscriber. You will be helpin
Foreign Missions and Home Missions at the sair
time It works like a charm.
SOUTH (107) 11
lit; THE FEDERAL COUNCIL.
>d
t(j BY AN ELiDKK.
e- Allow me to say a word commendatory of Dr.
id Hall*8 article in a recent issue of the I'resby
terisn of t.hfi Smith ^ th? *v.~* -?-i- c*?A1
?i?c ciiwi mat viie omnnern
Presbyterian Chrch ought to get out of "The
to Federal Council."
e- I feel sure this is n<? place for us.
With EXr. Mathews of the Chicago University
to
at its head, to a plain man it looks as if we have
ltr everything to lose and nothing to gain by remaining
in such company.
11 1 could never understand how the "higher
w critics" can talk of certain parts of the Old
^ Testament as 44mythical/' when Christ himwM
i.s ouoted and evidently approved these things.
S- 1 wish here to relate an incident and conveisae'
tion that occurred a good many years ago, when
* the Southern Church was agitated over I >r
? Woodmw'u nr* "-mvi..*:??? 1
o . VII C??1UMUII U) 1118 ClWiS
ts at Columbia Seminary. This incident never ap
d. pea red in print. A great lawyer had a relative
>n who sympathized with Dr. Woodrow's position.
The latter was a lawyer too. and an active official
in the Presbyterian Church.
<1 The great lawyer was not a communicant, but
d, sometimes attended church with his wife, who
(' was a godly woman: he had great respect for the
Presbyterian Church. Though an educated man,
when excited or emphatic, he often said "whar"
for "where " In talking to me, said he, "what
u does he mean bv sympathizing with the evolution
al theory?" I can't understand it at all." I could
re not enlighten him as to the why, except to say
?r thttt Vio.il ? L J "*
.mu a BUL1 WUU ULUL'UUtHl U1\ W <MXl
le row's lectures.
i- The old lawyer continued: "I believe Adam
a- was made out of the dust of the ground just as
a, the Bible says he was; if you cut out that verse,
y. you might as well cut out the whole chapter
u" and the whole book of Genesis, and then (with
3r great emphasis), whar will you bet"
This lawyer subsequently represented Ills
11 State in the U. S. Senate, and died while hold!U
ing this otTice. He was a man of great intellectual
power and acumen, and a close student of
!U the Word of God. w. r. n.
Selma, Ala.
sd
lire
It is a great pity when a man's ability or oar
pacity for effective and useful work are nullified
to by the possession of bitterness or prejudice,
id Sometimes such a man imagines that he is moved
jo by "principle," and that his contentions are al?s
ways for right, justifying him in his attitude
:e towards those whom he regards as his opponents.
A, Hut when his attitude is chronically that of a
re man of a rancorous or bitter spirit, very few men
t, ever give him credit for principle or right. A
le verv marked case of these conditions was found
it in Senator Heyburn, who died some weeks ago
in Washington. He was a man of great naturaJ
it power but utterly spoiled for any good work by
the intense bitterness of his spirit, and especially
j. his hatred towards the South and anything
Southern
't
What a wonderful, yet mysterious relief comes
to us, almost invariably, from telling out our
p. sorrow or perplexity! It is because of this
e recognized fact, this teaching of actnal experits
ence that God has provided the fellowship or
g communion of the saints, and that he offers the
n sweet sympathy of one who was tempted in all
p points like us, to whom we may tell our griefs,
g In his love he invites us to go and tell him the
te whole story of our trial, and in his sympathy
he will "hear our griefs and carry our sorrows,"