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become sober and by the grave of God bieea the
world.
And so we might gu down the catalogue of
sins. L'pon repentance, when anv sinner out of
a true .sense of his sin, and apprehension of the
inercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and
hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with
full purpose of and endeavor after new
obedience, he will Hud pardon, immediate, sweet
and eternal awaiting him. Bless God for that.
Any fin may be the unpardonable sin. Why?
When it is unrepented of. Any sin puts us beyond
the place of mercy if we stubbornly persist
in it. When we say. "I would rather have this
sill, than God and salvation and a new life."
When we persist in saying that, we have committed
the unpardonable sin. When we persist
till the life ends, or probation teases, then there
is no forgiveness in this life or the life to come.
lTnconfessed and hence unrepented sin is the unpardonable
sin. This was the case with the
Pharisees. They refused the Lord of life. They
had to ascribe sAme motive, as they stubbornly
said: "lie does it because he is in league with
Satan?" Hence Christ warns them.
The young ruler loved his money and position
more than Christ's service and eternal life.
Hence he went away sorrowful.
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a lie iieuiew c,urisiiaus were m uunger 01
apostasy under tlie pressure of scorn and persecution.
Hence alter having tasted of the good
things of (J'od, if t'hey went back and wilfully
sinned they were in danger of the tinal punishment.
Why is it unpardonable?
Not from the nature of the sin itself. But
from the fact that it is uuconfessed. The very
condition of pardon is denied.
It is unrepented of, aud repentance is preliminary
to pardon. It is a state of mind in
which the sinner cannot receive forgiveness, has
no concern for it. Does not want it, and would
scorn it if thrust on him.
When we remember that salvation is not so
much a salvation from the torments of hell, as
the transfer into the delightful service of Qod,
we can see how this cannot be done to a stubborn
and unrepentant man. It is unpardonable because
in the ordinary operations of grace, the
whole Trinity has taken part and there is no
more of the Godhead to separate on the sinner.
The Father has sent the Son to die lor our
life. The Son has given himself for our sins.
The Iloly Spirit has called and applied in a
sense the knowledge of the truth.
What other person of the Trinity is left?
It is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. He
persisten o nis
the one who has come in touch with the stubhorn
will, and been rejected.
Well may we pray. "Search me. 0 God, and
know my heart; try me and see and know my
thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way
in me, and lead me in the way evelasting."
THE CALL OF CHINA.
Many who are watching the signs of the times
have their eyes turned toward China. That vast
empire with its teeming population and untold
undeveloped wealth will hold the key of the
future in the Orient. The resources of Japan,
immense areas of which are rocky wastes, arc
not comparable to those of the "Celestial Kingdom"
of hoary antiquity.
An evangelized China would be tbe most powerful
nation of the world, and proportionately
a power for righteousness. That one vast commonwealth
would become a shining light to all
the principalities of Asia. It would establish
standards of justice and liberty, promote peace
and prosperity, furnish models of law and gov
BI8BYTEE1AK OF THE 80
eminent, encourage industry and learning, develop
natural wealth and world-wide commerce.
In all these, and pre-eminently in religious faith
and character, China would become a model and
a compelling inspiration to the entire Orient.
Shall lie who was to be, not only the glory
of His people Israel, but "a Light to lighten
the Gentiles," whose redeemed shall come "from
the land of Sinim," established his spiritual do
minion over this vast area? We are told by
those in position to know thait the answer, so
far as humanity can determine, must be given
by the Christian people of this generation. The
alternatives are Christianity and materialism
and the choice cannot long be delayed. Mateialism
means the grossness and baseness of mere
animalism for all Asia. Christianity means the
re-establishment of revealed religion in the land
of its birth.
Of the authoriites who have snokew imnres
sively an this theme, none seem to have a more
comprehensive grasp of the present situation,
or to be more profoundly impressed by the
clarion call of opportunity, than does Rev.
Frank W. Bible of Hangchow. A recent address
by Mr. Bible is thus outlined in the "Associate
Presbyterian Magazine:"
"China's recources are greater than ours, her
brain power equal, how are we going to offset
thisf My children and your children will pay
the nennltv if we Hn nr?t. fete reliorirm tn the
Chinaman and lift him up so that he will not
work for live cents a day. This is the solution."
He told his audience thst pig-iron made in
iJankow can be shipped to Brooklyn, N. Y., and
from there to Buffalo by rail and sold at less
than Pittsburg iron, that it can be shipped to
Toronto, Canada, and undersell the market. "In
jut one field of China, there is enough coal to
last 750 years. The veins are 45 feet deep.
Just imagine, and all pure anthracite, as good
as any Pennsylvania or Welsh coal ever mined.
But this is only one field. It is estimated that
the total coal supply of China is 419,000 square
miles, and sufficient to last 1,750 years."
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it. liioie saici mat me agricultural resources
of China are equally rich. In Manchuria there
were 13,000,000 acres of wheat. It has the richest
copper field in the world, also gold and silver,
and petroleum, and the largest salt beds. China
was using natural gas 300 years before you Pittsburghers
discovered it. The Chinese coal miner
gets five cents a day, and there are hoards of
them to do the mining.
In speaking of the recent political change, he
said the "revolution was the quickest and least
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ing so many people, that the world has ever
seen. lie believes the time has come for action.
"It is the biggest crisis and the greatest opportunity
that ever confronted the Christian rer
ligion." The President of the New Republic,
Yuan Shi Kaa, has asked the missionaries' aid
and has given them and all the Europeans religious
freedom. Dr. Geo. F. Pentecost, who is
no mean authority, says: "Yuan Shi Kai is the
greatest man in the world today."
Dr. Bible is a Presbyterian missionary. He
is in this country to raise money for the Chinese
missions. He believes that only the white light
of Christianity can keep that race from over
running the world. "She is already asking the
question, whether she shall have a moral force
in the great awakening and when she comes into
the heritage of the Western nations. The missionary
said: "The country was just starting
the biggest event in the history of the world
since the discovery of Aemrica. It is really the
biggest event since China began to expand and.
pushing on the outskirts of Rome, caused that
empire to crumble."
PRESBYTERIANISM AND CHRISTIAN
EDUCATION.
(Continued from Dasre 3)
following: "Bible study in my estimation is a
live thing. I did not realize its true value till
this year. At the beginning of the year I did not
want to take it, but am truly thankful that it was
eompulsory. T will have to confess that before
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> U 1 il (155) 11
this )t'ar 1 don't remember ever having read a
chapter of the Bible in my life." Another who
after completing the Bible course went to the Uni
vereity of Va., told of exposing the ignorance and
rebuking the presumption of a student there who
was contending that the Koran had as much claim
to inspiration as the Bible. The study of the
Bible is required of all students, whether candidates
for the ministry or not, Jews, Catholics, and
all. The type of Theology has always been I'rineetoniun.
The Divinity School still believes in
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deau. In concluding our reference to the University
we wish to speak of the contribution the Synod
of Mississippi has continued to make for many
years in the way of students; and this may be attributable
to the existence of two preparatory
schools which co-ordinate with the University.
And as a member of the Synod of Tennessee 1 suppose
I may venture to sugges't such a thing for us.
One or two Presbyterial or Synodical preparatory
schools would serve as feeders and save us the loss
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schools in sympathy with other institutions.
Dr. Dinsmore in his book on the Scotch-Irish in
America, describes the life of these pioneer people
and their feeling on the subject of Christian education,
and his words may form a fitting close to
this address, lie says: "These Scotch-Irish people
had a great hunger for education, and the desire
to give their children better advantages than
they had had themselves was central and dominant
in all their purposes. These old pastors assiduously
encouraged this feeling and wisely guided it.
They founded classicul schools called academies in
man}' of their congregations, and thus gave encouragement
and opportunity to young people
who aimed at the higher education. Particularly
did they lay on the conscience of their people the
duty of dedicating the choicest of their sons to
the ministry of the gospel at home and abroad.
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one boy who was set apart to go to college,
and it was a main part of the family purpose and
plan to send him. Many of these boys were solemnly
dedicated to the sacred oflice before they
were born, as Samuel was by his pious mother.
Mothers bore sons for the ministry; fathers worked
their hands to the bone to pay their way, and
the entire family when necessary, practised the
closest economy and self-denial, and all rejoiced
in the honor God had done them in choosing one
of the boys for the holy office. What wonder that
Washington and Jefferson college founded and
sustained by these people, and fed by these parochial
schools, shoulld have had so great a part
in Presbyterian and American history? It is in
place to ask whether there are now many such
breeding-places and nesting-places of trained and
consecrated ministers and elders in these madly
materialistic days? lias the great change in condition
and conviction in this respect that has
come in recent years, anything to do with the
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for the ministry? Are there many communities
where fathers and mothers wrestle with God for
their sons before they are born, pleading that they
may be chosen and qualified for His service anywhere
in the world, however that service may bring
hardship, obscurity and poverty, if only it contributes
to the upbuilding of the Kingdom of God?
Are pastors as earnest and vigilant in Dressing this
duty on their people, and in seeking out boys
"whom Ood may call to the sacred office, as were
the pastors of our childhood and of our fathers?
This is worth thinking of."
Southern Presbyterian University.
There was a Door to which I found no Key
There was a Veil past which I could not see.
The Door was Life and all it meant to me;
The Veil was Death that closed Life's mystery.
The Veil was rent when back to life he came.