Newspaper Page Text
11 mHB I
VOL. LXXXV. EICHMON1
?@? Cbttt
\ tEW YEAR will soon be here. Before the
1^ Old Year is gone it will be well for each
of us to spend a little time in earnest, honest
thought. During these last days merchants
and other business men all over the country
will be taking inventories. They want to sec
wherein they have succeeded and wherein they
have failed, and they want to know what they
have on hand that will be available for the future.
This is just what every individual ought
to do in regard to matters of far more importance
than material affairs. He should take an
inventory of his life. Looking back over life
during the year now closing, wherein have you
succeeded in accomplishing those things which
have come to you as duties to be performed ?
Be perfectly candid with yourself. It is only
by knowing-what you have done that you can
judge of what you can do. Be just as candid
in seeing whore you have failed. By studying
VA111? -Po A 1 1 * '1
..Hunts jfuu icuru u> avoid maxing mem
in the future. Comparing losses with gains,
failures with successes, see what the year has
brought to you, and see whether you are better
equipped for life than at the beginning of the
year. If you are, put your equipment to work.
If you are not, do your best with what you have.
In either case try to fit yourself better for doing
the work in the world which God has given you.
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THE CHURCH ought to enter upon another
year resolved that by God's grace it shall
ho a better year than the past There is so
much for the Church to do, and, by comparison,
she has done so little. But before anything can
he done it is necessary for the Church to realize
that it is made up of individual members. It
is necessary for each member to realize that
the success of the Church depends on each one
doing his part Therefore, the most important
work that the Church can do is to put its mem
bers in the best possible condition.
+ + 4*
HAPPY NEW YEAR! How familiar will
be the sound of those words for the next
few days. It is a fine wish. Does it not really
include all that we can wish ? To be really happy
one must have a reasonable amount of worldly
goods to supply bodily wants. He must have
health and strength of body, which will enable
him to perform comfortably the work to which
ho is called, and to engage in legitimate pleasnres.
Ho must have a cheerful disposition that
will enable him to look upon the brighter side of
I things, no matter in "what circumstances he may
I be placed. He must have the love and fellowship
of loved ones and friends. Abo^ e all, c
must have the abiding presence of the Saviour
in his abounding and pardoning grace and in
his comforting and sustaining care. But how
can all these great blessings be brought id one
in this world? Is not the wish that we ma e
rt'ally a prayer, or ought it not to he a praj er
to the Giver of every good and perfect gift,
that every neede4 blessing may be bestowed up
D, NEW ORLEANS, ATLANTA, DEORjuirtal
jgoteg anb Com
on him for whom the wish is expressed ? But
every sincere prayer carries with it the obliga
non to do all in our power to secure its answer
ourselves. Let us follow our wish by faithful
effort to give happiness. To do this we must
begin by cultivating happiness in our own lives.
We cannot give to others what we do not possess
ourselves. We are always giving to those
about us. Let us see to it that wo do not give
trouble or sorrow, but that we constantly add
brightness and cheer and the joys of salvation
to those about us.
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>lti anb JZeto
Ring out. wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty night;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die,
Ring out the old, ring in the new.
? Ring, happy bells, across the snow;
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the trne.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind.
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor;
Ring in redress'to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause.
And ancient forms of patty strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life;
With swdeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out false pride in place and blood.
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right.
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old.
Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free.
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.
JL
T T T
RESOLUTIONS are often made on New
Year's Day, which promise improvement
in life in some particular. Such resolutions
are right and they are valuable, if they are
made seriously after careful thought. It does
not make any difference on what day of thev
year this is done, if the resolution is put into
practice. The trouble with so many resolutions
is that they are carelessly made; sometimes
without finv renl ronvirtirm
ought to bo kept, or that it will be wrong not
to keep them; sometimes without stopping to
consider one's ability to keep them. In either
case they will not be kept. A resolution made
and not kept is a great injury, because a broken
resolution makes it harder to keep another. New
Year's Day is a good time to make goo<J resolutions,
and the other 304 days in the year are
good times to keep them. To keep them will
require more than human strength. All
strength abides in God and we may have all we
need for the asking. ^
EMIAW
WESTERNPfPESBYTERlAtA
\AL PRESBYTERIAN 6
hiern Presbyter/an
'1 n6' -1n N?*501
\ \
ment
THE FEDERAL COUNCIL of the
Churches of Christ in America, at its recent
meeting in St. Louis, received from our
Church its nrntftat flCsiimt wlinf it CAiiaiflnMii
r ' ?0~ " *v vv?umv*vu
improper encroachment upon the sphere of the
State by the Council's officers, and its objection
to the Council's dealing \?ith "matters that are
wholly extraneous to the recognized mission of
the Church on earth." The reference was specially
to requests to the government for action
leading to enforcement of peace among the nations,
and for the adoption of a prohibition
amendment to the Constitution of the United
States. Certain phases of social work and country
church work are also referred to in the protest.
In answer the Council replied that it was
its purpose to maintain the principle of the separation
of Church and State. It said, also, that
the recommendations of its committees and commissions
were not binding upon any denomination,
until they had been adopted by it. The
Council appointed a representative to present
its position to our next General Assembly.
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GERMANY has asked this and other neutral
countries to send a message to the
allies that she is ready to consider terms of
peace, but gives no intimation as to what terms
she will consider. Judging from newspaper
reports from the countries of the allies they
are not ready to treat with Germany on the
subject, until she is ready to propose something
definite. The whole world is longing for peace
and it is hoDed that ere lone the fearful war
will be brought to an end on such basis that
there may never be another.
+ + +
OTJR READERS have already expressed
many good wishes for us for the coming
year. We would like to make some suggestions
as to how they may help to make the good wishes
come true. At least we are going to take the
privilege of telling you of some of the things
that we want to receive, and which will go
very far towards making the New Year a happy
one for us. We want first of all your prayers.
We feel that the publishing of a Church paper
is one of the most important parts of the work
of the Church. To do this as it should be
done we need help. We have the promise that
where God's people are agreed in what they
ask it shall be done for them. If all our readers
will unite in this prayer through the year,
what a volume of prayer will go up to the
throne of grace! In material matters we need
to have our readers to pay up their subscriptions
as promptly as they can. It does not
add to our happiness at all to have to send out
statements of account, when the label shows
when the subscription is due. One more source
of happiness may be added. If those who *?n.
joy the paper themselves will each make an
effort to induce someone else to subscribe for
it, our happiness woxiJd be greatly increased,
and we would be enabled to do our work much
better than we otherwise could.