Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 96. No 4.
RICHMOND, VA
JANUARY 25, 1922.
SCOTLAND IS BURNING, was the them^
of, a song that was often sung by the chil
dren of other days, the meaning of which we
never knew. But to-day it seems to bo true that
Scotland is burning, but it is with a heavenly
fire. On another page will be found an inter
esting account of what is taking place sent us
by our English correspondent. We expect to
have a later report next week. A paper pub
lished in Dundee, Scotland, tells something of
how it started among the fisherfolk of Yar
mouth and other coast towns: "It seems," says
the Dundee paper, "that Jock Troup (by the
way, he is a cooper from Wick) had a firm con
viction that a revival was coining this year. One
day, while at dinner on board a drifter, he sud
denly declared that there was a 'sound' as of
'showers of blessings.' Then and there the crew
knelt, and, catching Jock's conviction and as
surance, they went forth to find the revival ;
and they did.
"During the herring fishing the thing grew
and spread, and in the end every church in Yar
mouth was full to overflowing. All denomina
tions united, and immense crowds listened to
preaching which was charged with power. It is
said that four thousand people professed con
version, and the missionaries of the various
churches made out lists of the young converts
and sent these to their home ministers.
"Skeptical people said: 'Excitement! It
won't last.' Well, the folks are all home now,
and from every port comes the news, 'The re
vival is spreading.'
"Meetings are being held every night, and
they are crowded to the door. The young con
verts continue to bear witness for God, and hun
dreds are joining anew. Old members are re
newing their vows, and are confessing that their
feelings had been becoming lukewarm."
TTENTION has been called to the fact
that an error was published in several
Church papers in regard to the postage to Ja
pan. One of our missionaries *\vrote that the
postage had been doubled. This is, we under
stand, true of the postage from Japan to this
country, but is not true in regard to the postage
from this country to Japan. The rate remains
as it has been. On letters to Japan the post
age is five cents for the first ounce, and three
cents for each additional ounce or fraction there
of. Writers to our missionaries should be care
ful to see that the correct postage is put on their
letters. If there is any deficiency, the receiver
of the letter will have to pay double the amount
of the deficiency.
y J LSTER is determined to resist the effort
to compel it to go into a union with the
southern part of Ireland. They realize that tlie
south is controlled by the Roman Catholic
Church, and the Church will control in politics
as well as in religion. Ulster has never made
any complaint in recent years of its treatment
by England. It recognizes itself as a part of
the British Empire, just as really as are Eng
land, Scotland and Wales. It is Protestant and
it is loyal to the empire. It does not wish to
be swallowed up, as a small minority, by a
large majority, which has no sympathy for its
views. Recently meetings were held in various
parts of Belfast at the same time, which were
attended by 10,000 people, who enthusiastically
supported this position. A member of the U1
ster Cabinet said at one of these meetings : "The
loyalists of Ulster can rest satisfied that onr
determination to maintain our Northern Parlia
ment unimpaired is unaltered and unalterable,
and that under no circumstances will we agree
to an All-Ireland Parliament, dominated by the
enemies of the empire. I am confident that
loyal Ulster will remain unshaken in the pres
ent crisis, and that peer and peasant, employer
and employee ? in fact, all classes of the com
munity ? will stand together and sacrifice every
thing, if necessary, rather than yield up Ulster's
interests and Ulster's rights. I feel that if we
hold fast in this spirit, whilst at the same time
desiring peace with honor, we shall be remain
ing true to the best traditions of our race, and
I am absolutely confident as to the ultimate re
sult."
MANY CHRISTIANS are doing tine work
for the blaster and for their fellowmen.
There are many more who want to do some
thing and do not know just what can be done.
One great trouble is that we are so much accus
tomed to expecting that almost all kinds of be
nevolent work shall be done by some organiza
tion, when what is needed by destitute and suf
fering about us is some personal service that
can be rendered by one who is governed by the
principles of the Lord Jesus Christ, who went
about doing good. A recent writer in a secular
paper suggests a Lend-a-N ap-Club as a means
of accomplishing this end. She says there is
many a weary mother with f *om one to a half
dozen children who is not able to employ help
in taking care of them. Frequently she is kept
awake a large part of the night. The next day
she must do all of her house work while she
watches and cares for the children. There is
no time when she can stop and rest and take a
much-needed nap. This writer suggests that
there are many women and girls who are not
so closely confined, who could occasionally at
least take charge of the children for an hour or
two, and so let the mother have time to get the
nap that will mean so much to her in preserving
her health and strength. A Lend-a-Nap-Club
may be composed of one or many members. "In
asmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least
of these, ye have done it unto me."
WIRELESS telephony has proved itself a
great blessing to the traveler on the sea,
and by bringing aid in time of need, has saved
many lives. Its latest application is putting it
into churches, that those at a distance may hear
what is said by the minister and others in the
service. The Continent, says: "Interested
speculation, half quizzical, half serious, is be
ginning to cluster around the question whether
the churchgoer of the future will go to church.
Already it has proved entirely practicable fo
a man to sit in his own home ? even, for that
matter, to lie abed if he is too lazy to rise ?
and hear to the minutest detail all that his ears
could gather if he occupied the accustomed
pew in his usual place of worship. The wire
less telephone, though so recent an invention,
is already in Sunday-by-Sunday used for this
very purpose in both Pittsburgh and New York,
and the reading of Scripture, the pastoral
prayer, the music of organ and clmir, and every
accent of the sermon are carried to the tele
phonic ear of every listener at any indefinite
distance who owns the right kind of earpiece
and can adjust it to the accurate wave-length.
At present the listener may hear also the con
gregational singing, though if custom went to
the farthest edge of scientific possibility, there
obviously would be no congregation left to sing.
And of course in that case the collection would
disappear, too, although the modern upholstery
of collection plates has already removed this
process from the audible part of Christian wor
ship. Is then the Christian congregation on the
point of dissolution by the adverse refinements
of an electrical age? Quite possibly this ques
tion may soon pass from semi-jocular banter of
preachers and churches into a very grave prob
lem of Christian organization. But The Conti
nent has no doubt that in the long run the apos
tolic injunction not to forsake the assembling
of themselves together would justify its essen
tial demands upon even the most modern of
Christians. To hear the most eloquent of ser
mons and the most melodious of music 'in ab
sentia' will not fulfill to any soul conscious of
its spiritual needs the ministry of the congrega
tion of the house of God. The oneness of a
worshipping company carries a power of up
lift to every soul included therein which no
experience of solitude can possibly duplicate.
And while solitude has its uses, the society of
fellow-worshippers has other uses for which no
solitude can ever be an adequate compensation.
In the long run, therefore, neither the wireless
telephone nor any other device of man will dis
possess the habit of the religious-minded to
gather together for united prayer and praise ?
for congregated waiting upon God. And the re
sult in the end may well be the crowding of
churches with new and larger throngs. Those
who have not been churchgoers, as they 'listen
in' 011 services of worship, will be taken with a
new curiosity to see and share the visible setting
of all that they hear, while those who may tem
porarily abstain from attendance upon church
with the idea that they can receive at home all
which church attendance has formerly given
them, will discover the lack of something so
vital that a new hunger for God's house will
soon draw them thither again. Xo scientific
invention of the past has essentially harmed
the Church, and it need not be feared that the
wireless telephone will prove destructive of
what has thus far survived by force of the in
evitable needs of human nature and the in
herent character of the Holy Spirit's ministry
to man."
TIIK Continent says: "Don't lie afraid of
modernism." The well informed child of
(tod. who is well grounded in the faith, need
have no fear of modernism for himself. The
well armed man who is wide awake need have
no fear of the prowling wolf, but he is going to
use his weapons, if necessary, to protect his
sleeping and helpless children and those of his
neighbors." The Continent adds: "Christ is
utterly modern." That is very true, but it is
also true that Satan is "utterly modern," and
lie is using some of the advocates of modernism
to injure or destroy the weak and helpless peo
ple of the world. It behooves the soldiers of
Christ to use the weapon with which they have
been provided, "the sword of the Spirit, which
is the word of God," in an effort to protect and
defend the helpless.