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14 (182)
Third Convention
Missionary
11) Hen J. ?
Begin low,
Proceed alow,
Take Ore,
Kise higher;
A, way a remain possessed
When most impressed.
This little suuza, which has been
commeuded as containing the correct
pi limine* of genuine eloquence, serves
weii to describe the eloquence of the
thiee days' Contention of trie Lay men s
Missionary Movement ihe.d * eiiruary
18-20 in the Second Presbyterian
church, Memphis, Teun.
The first day there wras deliberation,
and a feeiiug of apprehension that tne
Convention was not going to be what
many had been hoping and praying for.
But the second day, wnen the delegates
had arrived to the number approximately
cf 1,500, and the preliminaries
had been eot out nf the wav. and the
Convention began to enter into the
heart of the program, it took hre, and
rose higher. And on the third day the
cumulative force of the p log ram was
felt, and there was such an impression
that it was necessary for the Conven
to hold itself in restraint, suppressing
its enthusiasm, in order to avoid a
burst of enthusiasm toward the close
which was only smoldering as & volcano
beneath.
The eloquence of the Convention was
of the genuine kind, Informing as it
did the intellect and convincing the
tudixent affei-rinir thn fnAiinvn nnri
etiriing them deeply, and moving the
will to the point of securing decisions.
And from the time Dr. Curry in his
address of welcome expressed the wish
for himself and the Convention that
it mi?hl prove to he a power house
where would be generated a dynamic
force suiliCient to run all tne macninery
of the Church, on thiough each session,
until Mr. lunes made his closing
appeal lor a closer fellowsnip witu
Jesus Christ, there was not a moment
when ti.e delegates did not feel that a
sueil Of eiooueuce wits heinir cast over
tneui, and hoping ibut it would spread
from Meuipuis to tne uuaost corner of
the Chuicn, und tueuce exert its luduence
upon the whole of tne world.
The largest number was from Tennessee
with 5U9, including the delegates
from Memphis, and the next largest
delegation being from Mississippi with
190.
Dr. Carry's Address of Welcome.
Dr. Curry, pastor of the church in
which the t onventlon was held, deliver
ed to tbe delegates the address of we!co
r e, in which he said in part: "I deem
It a signal honor to be selected to speak
some words of welcome to this the first
Convention of our laymen in the interest
of Home Missions."
"I look," said he, "upon this Convention
as an epoch making event in the
history of our Church." A Judge In the
Supreme Court of the 'J. S. some time
ago declared this to be a Christian nation.
We have been thinking that be
cause vro are a Christian nation there is
little left for us to do beside give the
gospel to the non-Christian nations. We
have seemed to forget the foreigners
who are coming with increasing numbers
to our shores. And so we have
come upon & day when less than one
11:11? or our popuiaciob :s cnnstian.
The growth of the non-Chrlatlans has
been greater than the growth of the
Christians.
Our Church has not emphasised the
duty of evangelizing the home land as
It should have emphasized It; aiftl we
have not done as well in this matter as
THE PRESBYTER1
of the Laymen's
Movement
alter Cobb.
,^9 /v?. n..?
owiuv vi vui oioicr ucuvuimauuuo, oui
we are making improvements.
Let ua come to this Convention with
our minds and hearts open. Lei us come
in the spirit of an expectant faith. Our
obstacles are great, but we have a great
God. We look to him who said, "All
power la given unto me in heaven and
in earth." Let us come in the spirit
of intercession, if we do not, God will
not be with us. And if wr do not, God
will not bless us, and if be should, we
would not be prepared to carry that
blessing to others.
At Niagara underground is said to be
tne greatest power house in the world.
This Convention, if we come in the
spirit which ought to characterize us,
is a place in which may be generated a
spiritual energy sufficient to move forward
the whole machinery of our
Church in Its work In our own country.
In this desiie, with this purpose, and
with this prayer, in the name of our
Lord, we welcome you, you from the
mountains, you from the prairies, you
from the cities?we give you a heartfelt
welcome.
Response of Dr. W. J. Martin.
in responding 10 cms welcome address,
Dr. Martin, President of Davidson
College, began by thanking Dr.
Curry for his words of welcome. We are
glad he said to come to this great and
growing city by the Mississippi River.
Birmingham and Chattanooga have
become household words with us, and
now wo hope Memphis shall be added to
this list. In those cities the laymen
met and heard the challenge of lost
heathenism. To-day, and in this city,
we are met to hear another challenge,
the challenge of the homeland.
There are In our Southland 20,500,000
unsaved. They are our own, blood of
our blood and bone of our bone.
The foreigners are coming In Increasing
numbers, mote than enough in
one year to populate six cities the size
of Memphis. And we have the Negro
Problem. There are only two ways to
solve this problem. It must be done
either by the bullet, or by the Bible,
and the firet of these la unthinkable.
The aliens in our midst cannot solve
this problem. It must be done, if done
at all by us, the Southern white peoni
a
And here I pledge the laymen of the
Southern Presbyterian Church, not the
ministers, not the women, but the laymen.
that as we leave this Convention
we will face this challenge of the home
land, as at Birmingham and Chattanooga
we faced the challenge of lost
heathenism. But I do tot nlertse thl? In
my own name, nor In our own ttrengin,
but in the name of him who saiu, "Not
by might nor by power, but by my
Spirit.''
At the close of this address. Dr. Clyce,
of Sherman, Tex., led In prayer, asslng
that God would make the Laymen faithful
to the point of facing and meeting
this challenge of the home land.
Address of Iter. Homej- McMillan.
The general theme for the afternoon
session was, "Facing the Facts."
Dr. McMillan In -peaking from tho.
point of view of Assembly's Home Missions
said In substance: There is a
very Interesting passage In the Gospel
or .MBiinew wnicn auggcst* tnc closeness
of the relation between knowledge
and action Id missions. Jesns went out
on an Investigating tour. When be saw
the appealing need he was moved with
compassion. This compassion led him
to prayer. Then followed quick action
to meet the need. Knowledge awakens
sympathy; sympathy moves to prayer
AW or THE 800TB
and prayer leads to action. This la the ?
order In all missionary work. I
There are three things we need to
realize: (lj The biguesa of the work. 1
Mr. Uladsioue said uiaL Llie Li. S. Is Liie 1
babe of the largest couunuous empire 1
ever established by tuau. A ceutury ago *
we nuiubeied aboul lour uiiliious; now 1
we number uiore Lbuu a hundred mil- '
liou3, aud at ibis rate of increase ibe 1
next eeuiury will see ub pass the live
hundred mililou mark. U) The complications
of the task. Ouru Is not 1
a homogeneous people. Here dwell
races of all colors, ll 1s not so with '
other nations. Here we have the perils '
of the (alse doctrines of the Orient, the
perils of Mormouism, of materialism, ot
babbalh UesecraLiuu. There is uuiv one
power that can weld these hetergeueous
elements into oue whole, aud lhal is the
power of the gospel, id) Importance
of the task. Tue Home Mission enterprise
is vitally connected with the enterprise
of foreign Missions, The Edinburg
Conference said, "The pioblems
of Foreign Missions rosolve themselves
into the problems of the home case." 1
We are battling for more than a contingent,
we are bs'tliuK for the world.
The work of the lbtu century was the
wok of winning the west; the work ot
the 20th will be the development of the
South. The Assembly's Work is distinrfiVA
frntu <3vnnrllr?al ami Proohv.
lerial in that it represents the aggressive
work of the Church.
Iter. J. K. Hooker, of Richmond, Va.,
spoke on the subject of Syuodical and
Presbyterial Home Mlssious. He said'
We wish to acknowledge the debt we
owe to the Synod of Kentucky for the
origin of Synodlca) Home Missious.
Through Dr. Guerrant, the Synod of
Kentucky blazed the way, and soj e other
Synods have followed. Some of us
know what a boon Synodlca! Missions
have been to North Carolina. and we or
Virginia will never cease iu give thanks,
and we take off our hats to the bine
grass region that gave us tho cue.
Synodical and Presbyterial Missions
are closely related to each other; they
'cannot be separated; the iu'eiest of one
is the interest of the ether, and there
ought to be harmony between them.
Dr. Booker confined himself to aa account
of Synodical Missiona as conducted
in Virgiula. in giving a history
of the work, he told haw the Assembly
appointed a committee some years ago
to report upon tho work, and bow the
committee reported and the Assembly
approved and adopted the Virginia and
North Carolina plan. The Virginia plan
be said is typical Tbre may be a
greater work In other synods, but there
cau be none more difficult than that
of Virginia. It has all the problems to
be found in the work in any of the
otter Synods. About twenty-three years
ago the Synod of Virginia sprang to
her feet with astonishment at the problems
of her work. There could be no
walling on ceremony. Red tape had to
be set aside. Although 1W years had
DasBed since the ormnizntlnn nf tn?
Church In Virginia, there were 50 out
of the 150 counties which were still
without a Presbyterian church. There
were an many as twelve Presbyteries
and Ave or six of these were staggering
under great burdens In trying to carry
on their work. A cry went up, "O, for a
, remedy!" and no sooner did the question
go up as to what should be done
than the answer was Synod must take
hold of the work. Imedlately another
question arose, a question from another
source, from constitutional obstructlonallsts.
There was heard the
bark of the watch dogs of the constitution.
These said we have twelve Presbyteries.
this is their work, and what
right has Synod to step In and do this
work? The answer was always the
, same: Synod mast do tho work. Some
[February 26, 1913
jf these were strong, and they must
bear the burden of the weak, and the
work was established on the principle
?f co-operation. This Synoriical work
livldes itself into the four following departments:
Work of Aggression, carried
an by the Presbytetial Evangelist and
Lhe Presbvteriai Superintendent, who is
the pastor at large; the work of sustenLatlon;
tbe student work, and the mountain
work.
Has the plan made good? Yes. The
Church has been caried Into thirty of
Lhe fifty counties that were without organizations;
eighty churches have been
organized and a stimulus has been given
to each of the twelve Presbyteries to do
ihir work more effectively than heretofore.
In speaking of obstructions to the
Buccess of the work. Dr. Booker called
special attention to the Church Treasurer
Obstructionist. Some one has said
lie is the slowest of all the slow. One
pastor wrote Or. Booker saying thai his
own church treasure- mignt meet a
snail in the road, but he would never
catch up with one!
It was a source of regiet to all that
Dr. A. L Philips could not bo present
to take his part on the grogram, but
Mr. McOill made a brief address, setting
forth the pioneer work of the Sunday
school. Ilu said that the work of
the Sunday school depart tuent is the
laying of the mud sills We go ahead
of the Presbyterlal evangelist in many
cases. He cited several Instances of
how the work is successfully conducted
in different places all over the Church.
Dr. Doliyns on Soul Winning.
Mr. Rowland in Introducing Dr.
Dobyns for bis first address on "Soul
Winning," recalled how the Convention
had been racing the facts from the Assembly's
point of view, and from the
Snodical and Presbyterlal. and from the
nnlnt vl?m nf the nlnnonr n'nrk nf
rw,u" W| "Vfi VI v?v "Wi a W?
the Sunday school, and now it Is to
face the facts from the point of view of
the individual.
Dr. Dobyus' first address on this subject
of soul winning was on the topic,
"Soul Winning the Business of Eterj
Christian." He began of quo'lng Paul
1st Corinthians 9:19-27.
The business of soul winning Is not
row. It cannot be delegated. It cannot
te laid by the laymeu upon the minister.
1,734 of us ministers averaged
last year less than eight apiece in the
matter of professions and additions to
thn r?Vi 111 rh loo Htfan Ana q mnnth If
1$ mighty to preach, but the work of
soul winning cannot be accomplished
by preaching alone.
Last year there were 1.000 of our
churches which did not add any members
by examination. Only five added
100 or more. And only one of these has
a record of this kind reaching over a
period of four years.
i nai soul winning is tne cosiness
of every Christian la shown (1) by the
purpose of onr redemption. Jno. 15:16,
"Ye have not cbosen me, but 1 have
chosen you. and ordained you, that ye
should ro and bring forth fruit, and that
your fruit should remain." When Christ
called the disciples he did not call tbem
to be pastor of the Highland church In
the City of the New Jerusalem. He
did not call them to be Secretary of
iMlnlsterial Education and Relief; he
did not call them t6 a professorship In
n Rpmlnnrv Rnl h? ?aM "T will malrn
you fishers of men." He did not call
them tn be lauded as great preachers;
but to be witnesses. Paul's glojy was
not that he had baptized many; not that
ho had organized a great many churches;
but It was that he had won souls.
We will not find anything more glorious
than what Paul had to do. (2) Shown
b the terms of the commission, Go aad
preach to every creature.
Last summer at the close of a little
school of ours in the Ozark Mountains a