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P?bruM? IV. I VIM | TBI !
Editorial 1
The last Sunday of thia month, the 23 rd, and
the Thursday preceding, have been named by
the General Assembly aa days of Prayer for the
Youth in Schools. Colleges, Seminaries and
Churches. For about ninety years such a day
has been observed in tha Ohnreh Oh?niw?* in
the day set apart, and complication* brought
Hbout by various voluntary organization* have
aused much confusion and have divided and lessened
attention to this time-honored custom. It
i* to be hoped that this year, when we go back
to the old time, will witness a quickened interest
in the day.
Of all the elements of success that may be
supposed to enter into the proceedings and offices'of
the Laymen'8 Convention at Memphis,
cone is so vital and none can be so fruitful as
appeal for enduement with power from on high,
an immovable reliance upon the omnipotent energy
of the Holy Spirit- The Convention expects
not only a fresh impetus wrought into the
souls of those who attend, but a re-baptism of
the entire Church by the Holy Ghost. "What are
the counsels and plans, the organizations and
onward movements of men if not sustained, vitalized
and empowered by Divine grace? To gtand
against the wiles of thg devil, requires the whole
armour of God, and this armour is God's gift.
We must believe that, resisting all tendency to
reliance on human device, this convention and
our people throughout the Church are persuaded
tnat tne tasK 01 evangelization is so lormmaoie
that only he who redeemed his people can gather
them to his fold.
Comparison of the numerical strength of
Roman Catholics and Protestants is almost impossible.
The former do not record numbers in
their churches in the same way as the latter.
They tell you only how many "souls" are registered
in each church or parish, not how many
are communicants or even how many "souls"
hare reached the ordinary communicant age. By
"souls" they mean the entire list of the baptised,
no matter whether those baptized are a few
weeks old or in mature or advanced age, no matter
whether they have grown up believers or
skeptics, and no matter even if they have left the
Roman Catholic faith and deny all religion.
Their numbers are therefore altogether overestimated.
It is not unlikely that these reported
numbers could be safely reduced at least onet
h i rrl i>w r>mamta Ka
u . J lxnTOinuui uuum mz juaii* cani?'*?*v-vi,
according to the Roman method, as having fifty
per cent, more "souls" than they usually claim.
Christian fathers and mothers who have been
faithful to their duty to their children should
expect an early turning of their children's
hearts to Christ. Tnatoad of regarding the early
impulse on the part of such children to come
into the church as improper and not to be encouraged,
they ought to regard it as God's reapnnse
to their own faithfulness. Tt is God's
hearing their prayers and rewarding their Activity.
Indeed, net to accept it in the latter
light is to question God*h honeaty, hi* faithfulness
as a povenant keeping Ood. They are supposed
to have asked Ood to help tftem in dnty
to their children, and then when Ood has done
this and kept his word, they shrink from the
miwrtr in umimm an/) ttia rtf V>nir
VI V\/ ?UV11 |7I ajvin aiiu V?ic vi f"'
effort*.
At the recent meeting of the Federal C&oneil,
conglomerate of religions etewa foond opportwitty
for exprmrion, and the opportunity wat
ntilieed liberally Among the dbief apeaVen
P&BBBTTIKIAI OF THS S
Notes and
were some who gare forth clear, ringing testimony
to the precious truths of the old gospel
Of this number was Goreroor Marshall the incoming
Vice-President of our republic, -whose
address has been pronounced the finest in the
Pniinoil Tsaw cf UU V ohmi nl
wwmmw**. m. " v vi iiim J iA/ics iu c lvuiiu iii tur
sentences that follow: "I hope that time will
never come when the people fail to applaud an
expression of faith in the divinity of Jesus of
Nazareth." "I do not believe any people will
long abide who cease to believe in the unseen and
the eternal. The founders of the American Republic
closed their declaration of [principles
with an appeal to God for his approval, and
their example mav well be imitated bv their oc.
cessom."
That was the great faith of a great mar, described
by Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the emancipator of
China, in his book entitled, "Kidnapped in
London." He was seized by authority of the
Chinese Embassy to Great Britain, to be placed
on an Oriental steamer and shipped to China.
For years he had been preparing himself, by
study and travel, to aid in giving civil liberty
J ?I:J-i - - ?
lwurru ciuignlenmerat 10 nis people. Would
it all end in his being carried a prisoner to China
and beheaded? He rays, 44My despair was complete
and only by prayer eonld I gain comfort
but for the comfort afforded me by
prayer, I believe I should have gone mad."
Some days elapsed and then he says, "There
came over me a feeling of calmness, of hopefulness
and confidence that assured me my prayer
was heard." Soon after a note was smuggled to
him by an English friend which told him that
v- r>_:*:_v 4 * ' -
uir wiiuMi (^i?rnimeai naa Ulierposwl And
would secure his release. Thus a converted
heathen was spared to effect the political regeneration
of the greatest of pagan nations and
to teach Christian America afresh that '"the
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much."
It it quite the thing for journalists and ro
mincers to criticise the vanished race of Xea
England Puritans as having been narrow, in
tolerant and era el in morals and religion. Thes<
writers Iiave made the term "Bine Laws," sorm
of which they have invented outright, an evei
ready weapon for assailing the higher stand
ards of moral rectitude for which the Pnritar
fathers stood. It goes without saying that Neu
England is no longer liable to the charge nl
maintaining rigid formulas of ethical propriety
for neither the beliefs nor morals of the father'i
prevail. A recent development that is at leas
suggestive in this connection is the announce
ment of the prosecution of a group of exploiter
for the illegal use of the mails in selling worth
less stocks. Among these names are those o
Julian Hawthorne and Josiah Quiney. Botl
family names are perfectly familiar to the aver
nge reader of American history and literatim
The progenitor^ of both men were of sturd;
Puritan stock and not only ranked high in th
realm of literature and statesmanship respective
ly, hut what is better, in personal probity
Vow npon the son of Nathaniel Hawthorne, dir
languished author and upon the great grandso
of the distinguished orator and patriot of th
Revolution. Josiah Oninev. hss come fhe
proaeh of government prosecution for raring t.h
mail* to defraud the public. Such events at
sad, hnt they can be aeeonnted for. Whe
Christian faith has been discarded and mer
humanitarian sentiment hat taken it* place the*
i remains no tnffieieut basis for moral integrity
i Expediency may avail for a time but the mei
OOTH J jj (168) t
Comment
rule of expediency may counsel adventure into
hazardous experiments. When the floods of
temptation some the foundation of sand ghrss
waj.
NOTES IN PASSING
BT BEET
Emerson sayB, "Finish every
A Kelt Day day and be done -with it. Ton
have done what yon could; some
blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget
them as soon us yon can. To-morrow is a
rew day; you shall becrin it well ooron?.)?
rod with too high a spirit to be encumbered with
your old nonsense.**
That sound*; well, but it is faulty as & philosophy
of life. You cannot 4'finish every day
and be done with it/* Your life is not a sequence
of separate days like bo many planks of
a fence which touch each other, but are separate
individuals. The pleasures of yesterday carry
over ana ongnten your spirits for the work of
to-day, and the blunders of to-day will inevitably
cast tbeir dark shadows over the opening of
tomorrow. This rannot be avoided, and ought
not to be avoided, and any attempt to ignore
this is fatnoua.
The sue cess of to-morrow demands that we
( carry over into it a very great deal of to-day.
We need to do this both for admonition and inspiration.
There is a sense in which we must
forget the things which are behind in order to
reach out to those things which are before, but
> :* J ' " ? "
j i uues hot caii ior dropping them out of out
j sonl-experiences altogether. Many mesn hare
I been stimulated to noble exertions through the
memory of yesterday's failures.
J To 4'finish every day and be done with it"
may do very well for such beings as have no
future, but it will not do for immortal souls who
do not finish anything.
"Ye are complete in ITrm."
Completeness. The incompleteness of life, the
weakness, the inability, the lack
of point and accomplishment have led to many
tears and laments. So mnch done and so little
accomplished. So mneb suffered and so little
jrainod by it. So many plans laid and so little
propre*? made. Sorely the came is not worth
the candle the dtm/wrln w/\wtV "AO*
? ?..v iuj wui iu ? uiir. IV
f all who harp so thought, and so felt, I offer the
, words of the text, "Ye are complete in him."
9 Maybe the things yon hare been straggling ? ?"
t hare been no part of yonr task after all; maybe
yon have overlooked yonr own place in the plan
s altogether and hare fretted yourself almost into
yonr grave trying to do what belongs to somet
? \r._v * * v.*
?. wuuy nnp, .mhjiic iihvp wi neiorp yonr eyoB
(i some attractive hnman model and yon have dedi*
eated yonrsolf to he as he was withont taking
>. time to consider whether yon have the same or
y a different temperament. His achievements
e mijrht not fit yon any more than his hat wonld.
s Yon thoneht yon oonld he complete in him but
K yon cannot.
J- Yet yon can he complete in every famltv and
n power, in every thonsrht and aspiration. God
e made yon to he a complete and perfect in
s dividual, and in Christ this oomplotrnoss is aae
smrod. If you maVo s habit of looking nmoh to
? Christ yon xrfll ho improssod with tho porfootionn
n yon pomoivo in him Tn thoir light yonr own
? faults will show up most <rtarimrly. Ton will
* not nood snrono to toll von yonr wraknpsa. yrm
r. will Vnow thorn bettor than anyone eoold pon?
v *?hly toll thorn Rot Ton rannot Vnow yonraelf