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February 26, 1913] THE I
Editorial 1
"Beg pardon!" But won't everybody get
busyf "We are paying off the Foreign Mission
debt. Are there any who do not want to helpt
Are there many who cannot helpt Let us work
"every one over against his own house," and
"each according to his several ability," and by
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vuuowiaipCU niauuui UJJU 1119
opportunity shall justify. 11 -will be a great day
when, with a clean slate, we continue the onw.ir l
movement toward evangelizing the nations
Just four weeks until the centenary of Livingston,
the pioneer missionary and explorer o?
Africa. Three hundred thousand Presbyterians
may honor the memory of this great apostie by
freeing the mission treasury of the last dollar of
debt. But what is more important, Is not thi9
our Master's workt
Some say the public conscience is getting
more sensitive. It may be so. Occasionally we
see signs pointing that way. Here is one from
a fine field of opportunity that has as yet received
but scant cultivation. A recent Episcopal
speaker said in a moment of compunction.
"I believe that the motive of competition appeals
altogether too much to me. I rejoice and
thank Ood if I can do anything to steal a good
Methodist or a good Congregationalist." "But
what will the poor brother do, and a good many
others who have "taken orders," if they stop
stealing 'Methodists and Congregationalists.
True, Baptists and Presbyterians and others
will be left, hnt wVlPn tVlP (inno(iion/in
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wake np it often gets wide awake. In that case
sheep-stealing must end and the fold must consist
of converts rather than perverts. It will be
a much better fold than the old kind?healthier
and more tractacle. fewer chronic ailments, and
much more likely to be genuine sheep instead
of goats.
The Roman Catholic Church asserts that it is
not unfavorable to the distinctive features of
our American government, that it is patriotic
and American; and yet, in connection with a recent
visit of the rector of a college in Belgium, it
is stated in one of that Church's organs, as n
matter of great interest, that from that one institution
thorn hr;vo onmo *? fliJu
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( nly more than eight hundred priests, but four
archbishops and thirteen bishops. These "Your
Grace" and "Your Lordship" foreigners are
the ones who give orders to their priests as to
how the people shall be asked to vote on our internal
affairs. Every one of them regards the
ruler who sits in the Vatican, and whom they
accept and believe in as a secular prince quite
as much as a spiritual prince, as superior to this
nation's ruler, and hold that their allesriancc is
first due to him.
Ministers in their efforts to carry the message
of love to the unsaved, and especially in their
appeal to the unconverted to come to Christ,
constantly find their greatest difficulty, not in
the attitude of those whom they would bring to
Christ, but in the direct opposition of those
who ought to encourage others to come. "Ye
entered not in yourselves, and them that were
entering in ye hindered." Under the specious
nouon mat tneir cnuaren are too young to give
themselves to Christ, or that they are not yet
enough taught,.or that their desire is from emotion
and impulse and not from conviction, or
that there is plenty of time yet, even parents
ofterf^stjind in the way of their children and
hindi^'them from entering into personal covenant
tWTh Christ, ~ Those who do this assume an
awful responsibility.
PRESBYTERIAN 07 THE 8 <
Votes and
Congratulations to Washington and Lee University
and to all its alumni and friends, are
now in order. The announcement that the institution
had received a bequest which would increase
its endowment by more than a million
dollars lias been confirmed by a statement authorized
by the executors and addressed to
President Smith of the University. The donor
of this handsome gift was the late Robert P.
Doremus, of New York, probably a native of
Maryland. His generosity and wise disposal of
his wealth, that it may b? a perpetual contribution
to Christian education, must be warmly
commended. The estate will not be available
for the University during the life of Mrs.
Doremus, but it is expected that it will steadily
increase in value. Meanwhile the authorities
may be planning and working toward the larger
service which increased endowment will justify
and sustain. The trouble with some great uni
versifies is that they hnve so much money and so
little manhood. We believe that W. and L. can
stand a few millions more and still have money
and manhood well proportioned.
The recent Federal Council of Churches declared,
as the first in a series of principles and
purposes to which it is pledged: "For equal
rights and complete justice to all men in all
stations of life." "Equal rights" is usually ft
civil or political term signifying or necessarily
including the right of suffrage. From this
affirmation a large portion of our most intelligent
and capable citizens dissent. On the
Pacific Coast they protest against granting
suffrage to the Oriental. In the East they protest
against giving the vote to a large percentage
of immigrants from Europe. In the South,
bitter experience through weary years disclosed
the awful blight of negro enfranchisement. To
this article of belief, and purpose our Church,
as one of the constituent bodies in the Council,
stands pledged. The Church has no right to be
dealing with such a question. Neither as an
integral organization nor in alliance with other
organizations is it a part of the Churches business
to make a political deliverance.
We have been asked the significance of the
"articles" adopted by the Federal Conncil and
to what extent a particular Church is responsible
for the declarations and acts of that Council.
We answer. Certainly the articles are not a part
of the creed of that Church, yet the declaration
of the faith of the Council and its official acts
must not conflict with the established convictions
of the Church. The Church is responsible for the
principles adopted by the Council and for its
formally avowed policies. If the Council
should deny the true Deity of our Lord, or the
plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, or should
authorize such denial through its appointed
spokesmen, any denomination included in the
Council is responsible to the extent of its being
a part of the Council". If the Council exalts
truth and blesses society the Church shares that
service; if it promotes error and is untrue to
Christian principle, the Chnrch is responsible.
Paid choirs, chnrch finance and scape-^oats
are all interesting snbiects and often become entansrled
in the affairs of a chnrch. The editor of
on cxehanpre makes ttmie observations Hvhich combine
all these topics in one. Tie was invited to
attend a meetinor of the officers of a chnrch.
They were afraid they mnst (five np their pastor
hecanse of a deficit of some years standing
in his salary Their pastor was the most popular
) D T H ; (177) 9
Comment
and acceptable they bad ever had. The deficit
in the salary began when a paid quartet
was introduced in the church, and amounted
each year to a little less than the new expense
involved. At this point in the progress of disclosures
the visitor left, carrying with him some
impressions nnd musing which he afterward put
in shape, as follows: So far as we could judge,
they were going to blame the minister for the
deficit in the salaries of the singers and change
the pulpit supply to somehow cure the stringency
caused by the paid emplojment of a choir. The
minister is such a prominent mark he usually
serves as the scape-goat for all the mistakes of
his officers and the sins of his pew-holders. By
_ S* S * s - -
\ne way, am anyooay ever know a costly choir
that did pay, that justified its expense in additional
revenue or increased attendancef But
the instances are not few where the minister
himself has urged such a "help" only to find it
one more burden for himself to carry.
A PEOPLE'S VICTORY.
The virtuous, liberty-loving people of our land
are to be congratulated on the passage in both
TTonses of Congress of a law prohibiting the
shipment of liquors into a state and disposing of
them contrary to the laws'of that state. The plea
5s mndf! 'flint tbo Jlf?t is ?
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incr that plow as the excuse for a political coup,
the President may veto the bill. Tn which case,
howe.ver. it will he passed by the next Congress
and become a law.
The lienor interests protest vicmrouslv afrainst
letririation which in any wav restricts their business
and challenge the ricrht of the state to enact
restrictive or prohibitive laws; which translated
into plain english means a denial of the
rieht of the state to protect its own intecrrity and
the virtue and safety of its people. Millions of
dollars are snent annually to debauch public
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riot?the crime end suffering, produced by the
linuor traffic. Tn pursunnce of this policy,
traffickers nod the men they place in office, endeavor
by bribcrv and every species of intrigue
to prevent legislation designed to protect society
against the awful scourge. Commenting on the
protest against restrictive and prohibitive legislation
The Tlerald and TresJyyter says:
The liqnor business pleads for some law by
means of which it may be taken forever out of
politics. Tt wishes to be so guarded that it may
go on with its work of death and destruction,
ruining the lives of boys and girls, of men and
(LI a? V -
women, Diasring rinmps, encouraging gambling
and prostitution, and being the headquarters for
political graft, and still never be molested. That
conditions can never be secured, so long as God
in his justice exists in heaven, and good men
and women live upon the earth. They will
fight against it, nsing every lawful weapon at
their disposal, giving it no quarter and giving
it no est. The curse of the Almighty is upon it,
and his lightning will strike it some day, fairly
and sqnarely, from Ihe skie*. The weak-kneed
politicians who want office and its emoluments,
and who do not want to offend diallers, brewers
and saloon men, want the question taken out. of
polities. They tremble for their lives lest they
may lose a whiskey vote. Such politicians need
to be shown up as cowardly and worthless. They
would like to* be known ?n:l advertised as reformers.
but they do not want 1o reform anything
that needs to he reformed. The liquor
business Ymisrt be kept in politics as long as it
lives its murderous and vicious existence, in
order that righteous men may have the oppor*
1 unity to absolutely exterminate and destroy it.
Mo business tbat draws its lifeblood from the
hearts and souls and lives of human beings has a
right to any sort of protection.