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29. I believe that it is the duty of man to obey
the will of God as revealed in the law and Gospel,
the sum of which is, "Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as
thyself.*'
30. I believe that the Sabbath is the Lord's
day; therefore, T should keep it holy.
31. 1 believe in the sanctity of the oath; that
God's name should be used with all holy fear and
reverence.
32. 1 believe that the sacrament of baptism is
n sign and seal of the regeneration of the believer,
and of his ingrafting into Christ; and that baplism
by sprinkling is according to the scriptural
use of water, symbolizing the work of the Holy
Spirit.
S3. I believe that Christian parents should avail
themselves of the covenant promise by dedicating
their children to God in baptism.
31. 1 believe that the Lord's Supper symbolizes
the death of Christ; and that we should invite
to the lord's table all who love Him in sincerity
and truth, and who are in irood and regular stand
ing in evangelical Churches.
35. I believe that I should be a loyal und faithful
attendant upon all tho services of my Church,
ready at all times to render a willing service.
36. I believe in supporting the Gospel at home
aud abroad by a regular, systematic and proportionate
giving as God lias prospered nie.
37. I believe in reading the word of God daily,
receiving it with faith and love, laying it up in
my heart, and practicing it in my life.
38. I believe that the family altar should be
maintained in every Christian home.
39? I believe in the pra}'er life; and that all
our petitions should be offered in the name of
Jesus Christ our adorable Ixird.
Carthage, N. C.
CHRISTIAN LIFE.
It is evidently true that many people do not
understand the true nature and character of personal
Christian life. They do not understand its
origin. They are ignorant of its source. It has
its origin in God. It is impossible that one should
obtain Christian life from any human 6ource.
Jt does not, therefore, issue from one's self. No
one is naturally a Christian. The idea that all
people have been born in the spiritual image of
God is a false idea. It is directly contrary to
general Bible teaching. The advocates of that
theory would have it appear that inasmuch as
one was born in the image of God all that is
further needed is a proper development and culture
of that imatre. the result, hoinir nntnal Phria
c-, ? w o *"
tian life. This is the logical conclusion of such
a theory. It is a bastard theory. No one was
born in the spiritual image of God to any such
extent as to make that image a basis for the creation
of Christian life. Everyone was born with
a sinful nature; hence, true Christian life cannot
be evolved from that nature. Christ taught that
the natural man must have a new birth. It must
come to one from above. It comes down from
heaven. As Christ came from heaven, so true
Christian life comes from heaven. It cannot come
from any other source. It comes through Christ,
and from whence He came. In His prayer, as
riven in the seventeenth chanter nf .Tnhn f'l.iMaf
? , ? )
in referring to his true disciples, said: "They are
not of the world, even as I am not of the world."
There is great significance in those words. As
pertaining to the disciples, the meaning is that
their Christian life was from heaven; hence it
vas not natural and earthly life. It was a heavenlv
life. It proceeded from the same world that
Christ proceeded from. It is even so now. There
has been no new plan for the production of the
Christian life. God's plan is unchangeable.
C. H. Wetherbe.
2 PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SO
An Intimate Viev
BY PRESIDENT G
There will doubtless be many to render tribute
to the memeory of Dr. S trickier. Surely, he has
been a great figure in our Southern Presbyterian
Church. That he was a great preacher and a
great teacher of theology is generally recognized.
That he was a brave soldier and a beloved captain
of that splendid company of college boys
who went out from Lexington at the beginning of
the Civil War is well known. That he was endowed
with creat intellectual cifts no one will
C O
question. Having been associated in a more or
less intimate way with some of the leading men
of this generation, both in public and in private
life, I do not hesitate to say that he was quite
as able as any man that I have known.
It is far from my purpose to attempt any
comment concerning such phases of his career
as will most surely be discussed by others. There
are, however, certain intimate features of the power
of Dr. Stickler's life concerning which I desire
to brielly allude while the record of his great
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view of an official relationship with him for a
decade in the administration of a great college,
1 have known him in a way that perhaps few
men have been permitted to know him. I have
seen him tested by the most exacting tests by
which men are ever tested. In this hour of my
own personal bereavement I desire to say that,
measured by the most severe standards, he was
always a genuine man; that he exhibited, under
the most trying circumstances, the finest attri
butes that belong to human character.
Perhaps the moat striking intimate characteristic
of Dr. Strickler was his straightforward
simplicity. He never had recourse to the aitiiicial
springs of power. He was content to rely
on the primary sources of life. He was the kind
of man who loved to rest his eyes on the rolling
fields of grass and grain. He was the kind of
man who knew how to find a tonic strength in
wandering out to the hilltops to enjoy the sweet
confidence of nature and its silent oeace. He
believed, in simple things. He set the example
oC simple words and simple manners and simple
habits and simple duties. Simplicity v/as the
'Keynote of his life, his manner, his speech.
Simplicity, however, was not the only intimate
characteristic of Dr. Strickler. No one who knew
him will forget his great-hearted faith and generosity
and optimism in the presence of misunderstanding,
and even of adversity. Whenever
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opposing groups and creating misunderstandings
he had faith that silence and hope and fortitude,
with time and a clean conscience as their ally,
would in the end ensure the reign of righteous
judgment and good will. I do not believe Dr.
Strickler's life, strenuous as it was in view of
his leadership in so many far-reaching issues,
was ever shadowed by the memory of any injury
that could not be repaired; but if it were thus
shadowed, his policy was to make all mankind
the legatee to receive his expressions of restitution.
J do not believe that he ever had reason to feel
regret for any wrong that could not be righted;
but if he did have reason to feel such regret, his
remedy was to place the whole world on his pension
list. One thing is certain?he never syndicated
his sorrows, his cares, or his regrets. He
never put on exhibition the catacombs of his life.
He never passed his cup of sorrow to others. If
he had regrets and cares and sorrows, instead of
forming a syndicate, he organized a trust, reserving
for himself every share of the stock.
There are other intimate characteristics of Dr.
Strickler that deserve a larger emphaais and a
fuller recognition than the limits of this notice
U T- H [ August 27, 1913
v of Dr. Strickler
IEO. H. DKNNY.
will permit. I might write a volume concerning
his promptness in all things, with the single exception
that he never made haste to perform an
act today that would make tomorrow ashamed;
concerning his perseverance except in doing a
wrong thing; concerning his calmness except in
the presence of deceit; concerning his high conception
of duty, a word to which his life has g<ven
to inose wno knew mm best a new significance and
an added dignity.
I do ask an opportunity to refer in a special
way to the two attributes of his character that
impressed me most strongly. One of these was
the wonderful modesty of the man, and the other
was the remarkable charity of judgment and
catholicity of feeling that dominated his life. Of
modest men Or. Strickler was the most modest
that I have known. The fact is, notoriety and
applause were not only distasteful, but even painful,
to him. The Napoleonic cloak of egotism was
never wrapped about Ins great figure. He never
cherished the feeling that he was treading the
stage alone.
It would be more than superfluous to say that
Dr. Strickler was a deeply religious man. Yet it
is worth while to say that his religious life was
characterised by the utmost charity of judgment
and catholicity of feeling. lie was a man of the
broadest human sympathy. He thought no evil.
No man could make him say an unkind word or
do an unkind thing. He was an agnostic in only
one respect; namely, in the formation and the
expression of a judgment concerning the motives
of his fellow men. His charity truly suffered
long and was kind. He did not And time to watch
his neighbor's garden for the reason that he was
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Dr. Strickler was intensely loyal to the Church
of his fathers. He was a man of profound conviction
of truth. lie stood firm in the faith once
delivered to the saints. Indeed, I am inclined
to think that his loyalty and steadfastness resulted
at times in a misapprehension of his viewpoint
by that type of mind that habitually characterizes
advocacy of new movements as "progressive," and
just as habitually pronounces loyalty to old landmarks
as "reactionary."
No man in the Southern Presbyterian Church
lias been more hichlv hnnnrprl in fbia <w?norotiAi>
?0?j ?
than has Dr. Strickler. It is a tribute to the
Church that it has honored such a man. "Show
me the man whom you honor," said an ancient
Chinese philosopher. "I know by that symptom
better than by any other what kind of man you
yourself are. For you show me then what your
ideal of manhood is; what kind of man you yourself
long possibly to he, and would thank the
gods, with vour whole soul, for heinnr if vnn nnnlrt V
, Q ? J ?
The Church to whose services he devoted a long
and fruitful ministry will mourn his loss. The
two great seats of learning whose life he touched
in so many ways will honor his memory. Great
hosts of men and women at home and abroad who,
like myself, are indebted to him for help and inspiration
will not forget the kind of life he lived.
University of Alabama,
August 13, 1913.
It is the house-to-house canvass, the still, silent,
daily hunt for souls, that brings the real
returns. Twelve months in the year for silent
soul saving are better than any one month given
over to a revival. Keep the doors of your church
eternally open to soul saving. Don't confine it
altogether to Sunday and prayer-meeting night.
Idle hands do most damage.