Newspaper Page Text
February 'M, 19)3] T H E P
of conventions to infuse some of their life into
them. Some new blood and new methods will
help them greatly. Suppose we make our Presbyteries
more in the nature of conferences. Get
out of the cut-and-dried methods, and freshen
lin thf> nmrnWilKm on mow hot a a t
THE RAILROADS' COURTESIES, AGAIN
An esteemed brother, one who is not given to
rushing into print or addicted to criticism in any
unpleasant way, takes exception to our recent .
editorial on the railroads' courtesies to ministers.
His objections to our article are, that it
leaves the impression upon the mind of the
casiuu reuuer unit uie lunroaus axe trying unduly
to indueucc ministers; that it represents
the ministers us receiving a reduction in transportation
rates much greater than the facts warrant;
and that it encourages the idea of the
people that ministers get everything cheaper
than anybody else, and thereby causes them to
leave the salary ol their pastor absuidiy i>w because
they have the idea that he gets a discount
or rebate at every corner.
in reply we icpeat that the courtesy oi the
tadroads are given rather than asked, though
tliey are not Jui ced upun any oue. The vario
(oiupanic* provide a regular central agency to
attend to the natter. Their blank forms are put
at every leuduig station. Their agenta frequently
hand out these forms to the ministers in the
neigiiborhood or call their attention to them.
W e did not say, as our brother writes, that the
railroads "press" them upon the ministers, but
that "the courtesy is not usually a solicited one,
but is kindly oiTered by tbe railways." *
That the reduced rate is a great help to many
is proved by the very obvious tact that so many
make use ot it. it is very true that one may
huy, wiietner lie be imuisier or anybody else, a
mileage book and thereby secure the same rate as
that given the minister in the Southeastern
Stales, hut the minister cannot readily do that
it he lives on one oi the lines which charge
twenty-hve dollars lor a thousand mile book, as
some very important lines do; and to purchase
a book anywhere liie minister must have a surplus
of twenty dollkrs or twenty-rive dollars to
invest, perhaps months in advance of his complete
use of the book; and that any mileage that
is lett Ht the cud of the years is partially lost.
Mot many ministers who have two or three little
churches fifteen or twenty miles apart, and who
must needs use the railroads, can afford to pay
twenty dollars at a time, and'that in advance.
J\nd still further, as to the amount of the reduction:
it is not so inappreciable an amount
as our dear brother thinks, and as he would experience
were he living on a meagre home missionary
salary in one of our great Synods west of
the Mississippi, where the rate given to ministers
in the section and work in which they most need
it, is not one-third off but one-half off!
As to the impression amongst the people that
these transportation facilities will make, and the
practical effect the railroads' courtesy will have,
we feel sure that our friend has over-estimated
the evil. We question if one in a thousand of
the people thinks more of this source of help to
his pastor, or uses it more as a warrant for makinor
hin minnnrt crr.ollor than Via rVnoa nf tho no.
casional wedding fee or basaet of vegetables or
Christmas turkey that finds its way to the pastoral
pocket-book, or of his wife's or kitchen
table. At best, while very helpful to the ministers,
the reduction does not bulk large enough
to be more than a pleasant help, and it makes it
practicable for many a feeble little church a few
miles away from an available man to secure his
presence and thereby to maintain its services. It
becomes in many cases really a gift to such
&ESBY TE&1AS OF T H * 80
churches rather than to the ministers who serve
them. It' the painful effect will follow, as our
brother fears, then it is very unwise for us to
ask or accept reduced rates of travel to Presbyrery
or Synod or Assembly, and we would do
well to cut off?cvcrv other form of courteous help
that is extended to the ministers nr the ohinvli
courts or the churches.
NOTES IN PASSING.
BY BEBT.
''The same Lord is Lord
The Same Lord, of all, and is rich unto all
that call upon him." No respect
of persons with God, and no poverty of
dealing. If he is Lord of all, then those who
have, ought to share with those who have not,
for a brother's need constitutes an obligation.
1 have no riffht to all I have, nor ran I in anv
true way enjoy what I have so long as another
is in want.
There is no parsimony with God. lie is rich
to all that call upon him; to the Jew and the
Gentile, the Chinaman, the African, and the
South Sea Islander. To all he is more willing
to give than they to ask. And he gives more
abundantly than they can ask or think. Surely
he is a God from whom we may expect great
things, and for whom we may undertake great
things.
Geerge MacDonald has said
Our Neighbor, that "the love of our neighbor
is the only door out of the
nf col f " * ' Tlio /^iinrvoon col T '' Vi atv
liuilgguu U1 ogii. a 11V U Uli^VVU W1 Ot u, UVff
powerfully that expresses the condition of the
selfish. They are closed up in a dungeon, there
is no light, the air is foul, there is no vision, no
companionship, no liberty. No sound of any
voice but their own, and if it has any music in
it, it is because their imprisonment has warped
their judgment so that they have lost the power
of discrimination. "The dungeon of self.*' The
way out is to break down the door and let in
the light and air from other worlds, and hearken
to other voices whose sounds are sweeter than
our own. at least, let us helieve thev are as sweet.
That will do for a beginning. It will help ns to
remember that the more we take to our heart the
less room will there be for self.
44Put ye on the Lord Jesus
Putting On Christ." It seems strange to
Christ. speak of treating the Lord. Jesus
Christ as if he were an article of
dress. And yet something like that is evidently
what the apostle has in mind. Or may be I
should say, the whole dress. Our apparel is
what the world sees. The man himself is hidden
within the clothing. Is that not exactly how
the matter ought to stand with all believers! So
to be clothed upon with Ohrist that he can say,
and the world will admit it, 4'For me to live is
Christ." Or the ordinary dress may give way
x. _ xl Xl 1_ X _ r xl J ?# xL _
10 me ruougru 01 xne armor ana unirorm or rue
soldier, and at once we become soldiers, let us
hope good soldiers of Jesus Christ, wearing his
badge, fighting his battles, enduring hardness
in his Name, and in his Name going on to glorious
victory.
"God has a work for every
"To Every .Van man." No saying is more
Jlis Work." familiar. Indeed we have
'heard it so much it makes
bat little impression. Still it is very awfully
true. I say "awfully" with reference to the
number standing around "all the day idle." 80
much work and so few workers; so many idlers
U T .1 (17S?) 11
deploring the lack of effort and enterprise on
the part of others; so many pointing out the
failings of others. 1 suppose it has always been
true that men who do not work are held back
from honest toil by the felt necessity of pointing
out imaginary failings of others. We arc living
in a strenuous time, a time of many activities,
and little work. A time when a man's faithfulness
is shown up by inaithematic&l ratios, and
we know exactly how many men it takes to bring
tt soul to Christ, and how much money it costs.
So that we ought to be able to say," give me ten
men working by the union scale, and one hundred
dollars, and in six weeks I will land a convert
and guarantee him." It does seem to me
lliaft this figuring business is overdone. It is
ulhjul uaie we were nnuing anotner oasis oy
which we were sitting in judgment upon the
children of Qod. Many a faithful, and earnest
man of Qod has seen the year go by and no visible
results of his prayers and pleadings, his admonitions
and besecchings comfort him. He
has buried the dead; he has brought consolation
to the oppressed; ho has given new courage to
the hopeless; he has over and over wept with
those who weep, but because his work cannot be
shown in ratios he has done nothing. On the
other hand many a man with less heart agony,
but differently situated can show up figures and
is hailed as a great success. I have no objection
to the honors heaped upon the second, but I am
speaning lor me otiier. We are overworking the
figures.
"Obsolete," "antiquated," "musty," and
like terms are often used, nowadays, concerning
the fundamental principles of the faith, the doctrines
of God's Word. They are born of dislike
of the truth rather than of loyalty to it. Old
and new may be predicated only of things that
are not eternal. There is no sequence of time in
that which is eternal. Truth is truth, in all the
HXDN h?<a n)u*nvs liann V. n.. .1 >1..? .? ?I"
_0?, ?j ~ ?jw> ?.* uiu auu a may a will ue
truth. There was never a time when it was not
what it is, nor is there ever a time to come
when it will not be. Tne apprehension of it may
vary in the different ages, the clearness with
which it is set forth may vary, the form of its
expression may become antiquated or obsolete,
but the truth itself is always the same. It ia
1 - "
oecause w. is unenanging that it is the foundation
upon which men may securely build. No greater
calamity could be conceived than the destruction
of men's confidence in its permanency.
Another expression which is nowadays a sweet
morsel in the mouths of a certain class is "vision."
It is almost a& common as "conservative,"
"standardizing," and the like. A bright lady
friend of ours lately remarked that she would
not be surprised if we should have amongst us
before long a great many pop-eyed people, as
many are thinking these days that they are
having "visions-" The authority for the claim,
found in the prophets, is a misinterpretation of
the word of Qod.
God does not ordinarily accomplish great
things by great numbers. The men whose heart
he touches to be the prime actors in life are
comparatively few. It is as if he intended us
to learn that the praise is not to be given to
men, but to himself. "Not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us; but unto thy name give glory."
One way of making birds sing is to cover their
cages with dark oloth. It is almost as if the
birds, like Paul and Silas, sing to solace themselves
in their imprisonment. Can not this be
reason why the dark curtain is sometimes over
our llveif
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