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T^C^NE COMFORT.
The initial nolo of the Gospel is sounded in
Isaiah 40:1-2. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my
people, saith the Lord. Speak to the heart of
Jerusalem, and say unto her, her iniquity is
pardoned, her warfare is ceased, and she shall
receive double at the Lord's hands for all her
sins." These words are the beginning of the
Gospel according to Isaiah. It peals with a
note of joy as the heart of the prophet leaps
out to meet God's salvation.
"Comfort" is one of the gracious words. It
means, relief, cheer, nay, even joy in the lace of
adverse circumstances. It is needed. Trouble
is no respecter of persons. Sin lies at the door
of every heart, and sin always means, result
ing misery. But it is the peculiar gift of the
Christian.
Note how God gives a gracious reason for
this changed point of view. We are brought
into happy relationship with God. We are
His people. He is our God. This change we
call "the new birth." "The adoption into the
family of God." We are no longer the chil
dren of the evil one. We are God's and have
a right to all the blessings of our Father's
house.
This alone ought to make us leap with joy
in the presence of any evil that may come to
us. But this is not all. We are assured that
the period of our hard service in sin is over.
We are no longer the driven slaves of Satan.
No longer do our evil passions drive us with
cruel bit. No longer are we in bondage
through fear of death, the most terrible weap
on of our arch enemy, the devil. "For w?
have not received the spirit of bondage again
to fear, but we have received the spirit of
adoption whereby we cry 'Aba, Father.' ' '
This is a public declaration, spoken to all
men ? so that no one can make us afraid. The
fatal cause of hardship and misery and shame
is removed. "Her iniquity is pardoned." Sin
is the cause of all unhappiness. Only when
the cause goes does the cure come.
God is delighted that lie can forgi\e, that
lie can be just and yet the justifier of them
that believe. It is a relief to Him to be able
to receive us to Himself.
The word means "To accept with pleasure
one, as an atonement for another." It beau
tifully describes the heart of God in viewing
the work of the Mediator.
Then, too, the best is yet to come. "She shall
receive double for all her sins." Looking
back at the Cross it shows us the sufficiency of
the atonement. "Double," means more than
enough. Jesus, being Divine, is a sufficient
atonement for all the sins of all the world.
Looking forward it reveals the sufficiency of
Jesus to satisfy our souls.
We speak of giving up pleasure and selfish
pursuits for the gift of Christ. What folly.
We get more than we give. We receive far
more, and increasingly, throughout the ages.
These are the grounds of our comfort. It is
ours to receive them, and to be happy in them.
The Christian should be the happiest of men.
Are we sounding out the joy of God? Is there
the shout of praise on our lips? There ought
to be.
A. A. L.
T>o the work that's nearest
Though it's dull nt whiles,
Helping when you meet them,
Lame dogs over stiles.
? Kingsley.
Self-control in trifles trains to self-control in
crises.
Contributed
ORTHODOXY IN CHINA.
By Rev. S. II. Chester, D. D.
The writer of this article is very loth to ap
pear in the Church papers in connection with
the discussion of this topic. I deem it import
ant, however, to make a brief statement with
reference to an article on the subject by Rev.
Hugh "White, published in the Presbyterian of
the South under date of June 7th. I am well
assured that Mr. White would not make any
statement that he did not believe to be abso
lutely true and accurate. It happens, how
ever, that he was quite a long distance from
the places where the things which he mentions
are alleged to have occurred, and the report
of what did happen, in traveling that listance,
as is too often the case, came to vary essentially
from the actual facts of the case.
Mr. "White states first that the Annual Con
ference of Mission Boards in New York re.
fused to "sanction" the Biblical Encyclopedia
which was being prepared by Dr. Woods, in
China. As a matter of fact, this conference
did nothing of the kind. The question of
financing the publication of Dr. Woods' En
cyclopedia was brought before the Literature
Committee of the New York Conference and
that committee, mainly on the ground of the
size and expensiveness of Dr. Woods' work,
did not feel able to entertain the proposition of
financing it. That is all that the New York
Conference has had to do with the matter.
Mr. White also makes the following state
ment which could only refer to the Executive
Committee of Foreign Missions, "The Board
of his own Church, while granting all other re
quests, would not grant this missionary's an
nual appropriations except on the condition
that the money should not be used on Orr;"
Orr's Encyclopedia being the basis of the work
Dr. Woods is preparing.
1 have searched the records of the Executive
Committee for two years past in vain for any
minute that would justify this statement of
Mr. White. The natural effect of the state
ment, if believed to be correct, would be to
discredit Qur Executive Committee as being
unsympathetic with the effort being made to
preserve sound teaching in our missionary in
stitutions in China. The various actions of the
Executive Committee taken in connection with
this matter, would require too much space to
be printed here, but they would show the very
reverse of any lack of sympathy with those of
our brethren in China who are most concerned
about this matter.
The Executive Committee has addressed a
letter to our China Missions conveying to them
the action of the General Assembly taken on
this subject, and instructing them to make the
maintenance of essential orthodoxy in the
teaching of our Union schools a condition of
our continued co-operation in these schools.
We deem it very desirable that this co-opera
tion be maintained if it can be maintained con
sistently with our fidelity to the truth and
without compromise of principle. Three mem
bers of our China Missions are members of the
faculty of Nanking Theological Seminary, and
we deem it a matter of very great importance
that these representatives of our Church
should not be deprived of the opportunity of
influencing the rising generation of ministers
in the Chinese Church by withdrawing from
that seminary, unless it should become abso
lutely necessary for them to do so in order to
preserve our testimony to the truth unim
paired. We are confident that under the di
rection of men like Dr. Richardson, Dr. Priee
and Dr. Lancaster, our representatives on the
faculty, and the other members of our China
Missions who are represented on the Hoard of
Control of the institution, anything that may
have crept into the school that needs to be
eliminated can and will be eliminated. If this
proves impossible after judicious efforts on the
part of our epresentatives to that end have
failed, it will then be time for us to consider
the matter of our withdrawal.
Meanwhile, let us not become panic-stricken
and lose confidence in the ability of the men
who compose our two China Missions to handle
this matter in the way it ought to be handled;
and let us not make it more difficult than it
would otherwise be for them to handle it
wisely and efl'eetively by creating an impres
sion in the Church at home that things are
so much worse than they really are. So fur
as our own missionaries arc concerned they
are sound and loyal to the core, and the same
is true of the vast majority of the entire mis
sionary body in China. This being so we may
be reasonably confident that an insignificant
minority of radicals and free thinkers will not
be able to destroy the foundations of the faith
in the rising Church of China.
SUNDAY NEWSPAPERS.
By Rev. W. J. McMillan, D. D.
The ministers and pastors of churches in this
and doubtless other cities have received ready
made announcements addressed to their con
gregations. In this city the announcement in
part is as follows: \
"To the Congregation: I hereby endorse
William Jennings Bryan's Bible Talks, which
are to be printed in the Sunday issue of the
? , and I take pleasure in recommend
ing them to the members of this church.
"William Jennings Bryan, as you know, is
a great church layman ; in fact, he is conceded
to be the leading lay preacher in America to
day. More than this he is one of the greatest
authorities on the Bible and one of its most
lucid interpreters. Out of the richness of his
knowledge of the Scriptures he is writing
these articles for the readers of the
one each Sunday.
"I commend these Weekly Bible Talks to
you, because I know they will stimulate and
renew your knowledge and understanding of
the Bible."
There follows a place for the signature of
the pastor and of the Sunday School superin
tendent, by the signing of which their endorse
ment of the above is secured.
To my mind this is an attempt of the pub
lishers of newspapers to increase the sale of
the Sunday edition, to do so under the guise
of bringing forward "the leading lay preacher
of America," to bring the principle of the
Jesuit up to date. Just how many ministers
and congregations will be led to lend their aid
to the promotion of Sunday newspaper circu
lation I do not pretend to surmise. But it is
to be hoped that ministers and churches will
not lend themselves to the further promotion
of the assumption that the end to be secured
justified the means to be employed.
The publication of splendid articles in th?
edition can^never justify the circulation of the
Sunday newspaper. It is a pity that in the
sale of these syndicated articles, for such '
take them to be, Mr. Bryan did not expressly
stipulate that they should be given to the peo
ple in some edition other than that issued on
Sunday.
The Sunday edition of the newspaper is one