Newspaper Page Text
10 (202) T H E P
THE MEMPHIS CONVENTION. 1
The Memphis Home Missions Convention of 1
the Laymen's Movement lias gone into history. (
What place will it occupy there?
First of all. it will be a large place. This, he- 1
cause it was a large convention dealing with I
lrge things. Sixteen hundred sturdy men, the 1
flower of the manhood of the Church, could
hardly he put together "without making something
very large. They came from every corner
of the Church, over eleven hundred of them
from beyond the boundaries of the great State in
which tb^ meeting was held. And they were
strong men, ministers, secretaries, college and
seminary presidents, professors, railroad men,
merchants, farmers, lawyers, clerks, students,
editors, the workers of the Church in every department
of her activities.
Such an aggregation, animated by a great
purpose and vitalized by the Spirit, was bound
to be strong. And thus the convention's place
in history will be a forceful one. Live men
working on live themes produce live results. The
subjects considered for the mast part living, the
speakers thrilled with the power of their themes,
a body of singularly sympathetic hearers sought
and echoed the utterances from the platform,
and the whole mass was melted together, fused
into a unity which was hot and intense from that
which made it. one. There was not much demonstration.
Applause, clapping, and the like, was
rare, either during the addresses or following
them. The feeling was too deep for that. When
he stream has depth it cannot be noisy as it was
when bounding over the rocks in the mountains
and hills. TV>o~c was all the time present the
mightjer demonstration, of intense silence, and
fl fit ill lolttiAof on'Acnr.mA h*?AAl?'?n. ?~ * ?
.-v..., .vol. <?. ?i.hiuic uicamiig n]> ui mi* immense
throng.
The spirit tluit was there controlled the convention,
rather than the men who were in charge
of it. It dominated and shaped everything, and
bent some things its special way. In the judgment
of some, it saved the convention. There
were not wanting those, loyal and devoted souls,
with hearts full of love for Home Missions and
with heads full of wisdom in prosecuting the
work, who feared somewhat for the convention.
The rUYKrram lnnteil Vdt'U mnnll lilra rminli nf
the literature that was circulated last fall from
New York for Home Mission Week. A large
proportion of speakers was gathered from outside
our bounds, and especially from outside
our Home Mission territory or fields. Thus it
was thought that the essential feature of Home
Missions as our Ohurch understands the work,
giving the gospel to the destitute in the midst
of us and at our very doors, was to be given a
minimum of attention, while those things which
in other quarters are emphasized as the chief
elements of Home Missions, such as immigration
laws, social, sanitary, and economic problems,
would be most to the front. This fear was a
little accentuated and some alarm was for a little
time spread when the opening note of the convention
was the singing of the hymn, "My
country, 'tis of thee." If there was suggestion
or danger of this, however, it was quickly swept
away by the deep, pervading spirit which was
present, and the dominant thought of the gath- (
ering was evangelistic. The gospel was put forward
as the power of God unto salvation from
all ills as well as from the guilt of sin. The
TTaIv Snirit \rne p/inntfTiiTo/l onJ *1?
J "??J tvwgUi/iVil IUIU liUUUICU ua tut;
ilivine and only Agent, and the Word of God (
utls set forth as the ordained means for making
better homes and raties and country. In the <
bringing about of 1his spirit and temper in the
convention we would easily place first the opening
prayer, after the somewhat disconcerting
hymn, by Dr. Dowry, of Memphis, and the de- 1
votional leading of Dr. Dobyns, of Missouri, 1
RESBYTERIAN OF THE S <
ioth of them laying hold upon and bringing
mt that inner feeling with which the delegates
mme to the meeting.
We own to some disappointment that, in both
program and sessions, more attention was not
riven to tne practical work and needs of our
Church in tlie great Home Missionary territory.
The work among foreigners, the negroes, and
the "mountain whites" was all too little exploited,
but we listened in vain for something
on that which constitutes the great bulk of our
distinctive I tome Mission work, the preaching
of the gospel, the development of Sunday school!,
and the building of churches among the unevangelized
people in the recognized great Home
Mission field of our Church, in Arkansas. Florida,
Louisiana. New Mexico, Oklahoma, and
Texas. The population, churches, conditions,
1 v ? -
openings, ana neons in These parts of our
Church, and what we are doing or not doing
Tor them would have made a most appealing
picture. The development of the spiritual interests
of these regions forms an almost endless
and certainly a most stirring topic.
The Memphis Committee and all others who
had in charge the arrangements for the meeting
and the facilities and comfort of those who attended
it deserve all praise. The provision for
tlin rv>r\/vl ?*-??? 4 e 4 ' '
ii.t iinrirtJiss auu :yr uie care or me visirors was
admirable and smoothly conducted. The meeting-place,
the Second Presbyterian church, whose
pastor is Rev, Dr. A. B. Curry, could not be
excelled for spaciousness and beauty. In its dignity
and splendid proportions and complete
equipment it failed in only one respect to meet
the conditions, and that was that it was too
elegant to he used freely, as a common hall might
have been used, for hanging maps, tables, streamers
and the like.
TOUCHING ALL OF LIFE.
Our Saviour said, "I am come that ye might
nave life and tliat ye might have it abundantly."
It is a narrow and unwise explanation that
eon fines that to spiritual life. The life of the
soul freed from sin. and brought into communion
with its Maker.
Life is wider than that. Life develops into
more than that. Life covers all the range of a
man's being that touches everything around
him. Mau is not only related to God, hut to
nature and to his fellow-man. Life has to do
with all these.
Jesus Christ came to give its life abundantly,
not only in intensity, bul in breadth. To touch
life at all points and make everything, even
the bells on the animals to express righteousness.
Modern life is complex. We read about the
"simple life," but it gets less so, year after
year.
Unless our civilization is shot through with the
religion of Jesus Christ, it will break down. The
idea that religion is to be confined to the soul;
to the relation of man to God. and 5<? prcln.^
from tlie social, political and civic life of mankind,
is fatal to all life.
Our first and foremost and constant aim is to
get right and keep right with God, but not onr
only purpose. "What about this material world'
What about this complex thing we call society,
in narrow or wider sense? It is astonishing how
much God has to say about onr relations to the
world about us. Our duties to our fellowman?
t?ur social relations. If God put so much about
these things in his Book, why should we not
consider them in our churches?
What is the relation of the Church to Society t
Our social natures reach out of the home.
We want to mingle with other than our families.
In fact there comes a time when the boy or girl
thinks more of somebody that is not of the home
i
)UTH ^ March 5, 1913
It is right, else there would never be any other
homes established.
"Who shall present them the field for the development
of their social faculties? Shall they
go to the world? Then will come to pass thai
sad condition, when "the sons of God saw the
illlllirlltorc /Yp yyion tlinf 4-Vtsv** '- 5 a1
D.....u iuui mat. mcjr were lair; aiiu liiey
took them wives of all which they chose."
Why should not the Church censor the amusements
of the day! Why not furnish a clean,
healthful and uplifting amusement to tired men
and women? Is it not certain that many of the
abominations of society would be forever banished
? Is it not possible for the good and innocent
to drive out the evil?
Why should the Church not have a voice in
setting the fashion of dress? Dr. Thos. L.
Preston said once in the First Presbyterian
church of Richmond: 4<I hope to see the Church
of Clod set the fashion of dress." Certainly the
"abominations of rleRolntinnc" ?Mtii
MV-'W.UV.V?.VI ? II II It HlVIl cu
many women drape themselves would never be
invented. The bis? hats, the scanty skirts?extravaganzas
of style would be excluded.
What i* the relation of the Church to driest
Tf the Bible protcribes amusements and lays
down principles of dress still more does it interfore
in civil government.
No people are better than their government
long, was a common saying of Dr. Thos. E.
Peek, than whom no man saw things clearer.
Home decayed from the top. America will do
the same thing. The governing class affect all
else. Civic righteousness is a powerful factor
toward spiritual righteousness.
Why may not the Church find her voice to
speak of the civic injustice of the day. The
limping, lagging justice of our courts. The failure
to enforce law in our cities. The allowance
of the House of Evil. The grafting common
enough. The iniquity too often behind "Big"
and "Little" Business, too, as for that. The
low wage and limited opportunity given to a
largo class of our people.
These evils in our "body politic" lhat cross
our Bible teachings. Why should we pass them
by in silence!
Surely here is a large sphere in which the
Church should make her influence felt. Unless
her voice speaks from the Word of God, will not
Ihe world be filled with the voices of false prophets
speaking lies?
What of the relation of the Church to our more
nnininl /
v..* **? v*<t- ny c /"
We can live that to the glory of God. No
part of our nature needs to be guarded more.
We are to use so as not to abuse. We are richly
to enjoy, but in this part of life the enemy of
our souls finds the easdest success.
Why should not the Church of God speak out
here?
Jesus Christ came to touch all life. If we are
his voice in the world are we not strangely silent?
A. A. L.
We never pass through the celebrated
"Statuary Hall" of the United States Capitol
without being stirred to increasing love lor our
country and admiration of its real greatness.
That which so moves us is the sight of that splendid
bronze figure underneath which is the single
word "Lee." Only a great country would thus
give a place of honor to one whose career and
character were suclwas Robert E. Lee's. The inautruratinn
-anil
0 ? tuuuaaiius me opportunity
to have their patriotism quickened as they see
the monument'to a great American hero so conspicuously
placed.
"Who thinks most of himself gets least for him elf.