Newspaper Page Text
court in the homo Church has any ecclesiasti
cal jurisdiction. It would only be in cases
where a missionary under charges of holding
heretical views would voluntarily come home
and appear before some home Presbytery that
had no real authority over him, that the Church
would have any way at all of testing the truth
or falsity of such charges by one of its own
courts. We would be glad for the Missions to
consider the problem involved in this situation,
artd to report to us their judgment as to what
bearing it might have on the question of the
wisdom of severing our missionaries' connec
tion with their home Church courts. We would
like them to consider, in the light of all that
has transpired recently in regard to the mat
ters mentioned in this communication, whether
some method cannot be found by which they
would be enabled to render all necessary as
sistance to the native Church courts during the
formative stage of the Church's development,
without placing themselves under the jurisdic
tion of those courts and outside of the juris
diction of the Church courts with which they
were connected at home.
Praying that the Spirit of God may guide
us in our effort to handle this difficult matter
in such a way as will best promote the interest
of His cause and Kingdom in China and in the
world, I remain
Fraternally and truly yoiirs,
S. W. Chester,
Secretary for Executive Committee of Foreign
Missions.
THE CUP OF JOY.
By Emily J. Bryant.
Many people plan to escape religious reading
and religious conversation. Jokes, laughter
and fun ^.tertain them far better. They seem
to think it possible to live and not be touched
at every point with the value of the religious
element in life.
Friend, pause and let me say that, as long
as you are a part of humanity, religion is a
subject you cannot abolish without vital loss,
and those who do not think so will do well
to investigate this matter at once.
Since man is endowed with an imperishable
spirit which demands attention and craves
nourishment, all our problems have a religious
side. We say that all questions which touch
humanity in their solution must take into their
consideration this inner voice, spirit and power
and hence are termed religious.
To neglect opportunities for religious con
versation, study and growth is*to neglect the
very highest and noblest possibilities of human
life, to approximate the life of the beasts of
the field.
Such neglect leaves undeveloped and uncul
tured the noblest reaches of mind and spirit
and leaves us without the highest and truest
joy. > -
It is our privilege to live at the top of the
mountain which overlooks the wonderful
scheme of creation in which humanity occupies
the most exalted position. The spirit of man
can be molded and shaped in large degree by
what he hears and reads. The spirit within
needs quality and culture as well as the mind,
and failure to perceive and accomplish this
is vital and means the loss of the best and
highest of our natural endowments.
Thd world's goal is the abundance of the
thing we can possess and hold, but these are
not eternal, while the spirit within us is. Some
?day we shall leave these treasures of earth,
but the culture, growth, ripeness and rich
ness, the quality of the inner spirit will never
fail nor fade. It becomes our own, a part of
Our personality and inseparable quality.
We are not social butterflies, flitting between
bud and blossom, but immortal spirits fitted to
live here amid a multitude of good and evil,
yet with a power to choose and reach by study
and thought that growth and vision which
shall lift us to a higher plane of life and from
this again, by the same process to a still higher
plane. There is no limit to the possibilities of
growth and expansion of spirit if we but grasp
the truth and faithfully follow it. This is the
true and only foundation to build our high
est and purest joy on. The foundation of truth
will never fail and the holy joy which accom
panies the spirit's growth along these lines can
never disappear.
You speak of suffering. Yes, suffering is
one of the realities of the life we live, and
through these realities only may we attain unto
our chosen end, our fullest and highest devel
opment, our full and perfect happiness.
Newton, N. J.
THE FIRST MAN.
By Rev. J. L. McKinstry.
In the distant long ago
Some six thousand years or more
lie was only common clay and dust upon the
earth,
Till the Lord of all came down.
Fashioned him from the ground,
And lo! the first of all the human species had its
birth.
Of noble mien was he
And passing good to see,
As his gaze first swept the earth and all the
lower creatures,
His soul looked from his eye,
Immortal not to die,
And he was like to God in all essential features
Dominion to him was given
By the Author of earth and heaven
O'er all nature and all created things,
Though weakened now by sin,
Even yet still bow to him
Every creature, and to him tribute brings.
No germ of life was he
In some distant sea,
Originating long ago, accidentally or some way,
But when he first looked up to God
'Just from out his native sod,
He was more truly man than he is today.
Regards the brazen infidel,
Learned in human lore quite well,
You may be related to some insect as you say,
But so far ad I'm concerned,
And so far as I've learned,
God created me and my line out of clay.
For the wicked infidel,
Breathing views and words of hell,
Awaits somewhere in God's tremendous space,
Like a sevenfold heated urn,
Where the wrath of God shall burn,
A dreadful fate for him and all his protoplasmic
race.
To the thief upon the cross,
Who had counted all but loss,
Speaking softly, "Lord, remember me,"
The Saviour turned His head
And to him gently said,
"With Me today in heaven thou shalt be."
If there be no revelations
From the God of men and nations,
Full many a man-made theory occupies the man.
Let inspiration lead the way
Out of darkness into day
And lo! a God-created brotherhood ? mankiiyl.
Germantown, Tenn.
IN THE NORTHERN PRESBYTERIAN
GENERAL ASSEMBLY? DR. PLU
MER 'S SPEECH.
(From Richmond Dispatch, June 4, 1877.)
On Tuesday last, when the subject of the res- ?
toration of friendly relations with the South
ern Presbyterian Church was under considera
tion m Chicago, in the General Assembly of the
Northern Presbyterian Church, the following
scene occurred. The Chicago Times is the
painter :
Rev. Dr. Van Dyke, in the course of a speech
against making any further concessions, though
he said in substance that he was opposed to
the late war, alluded to a statement which had
been made in the city to the effect that a dele
gate was in Chicago from the Southern Gen
eral Assembly, and that this General Assembly
had refused to receive him. This was not true;
but a distinguished divine of South Carolina
was visiting the city, a man whom he had loved
as his own soul, and he moved that Rev. Dr.
Plumer be invited to address the General As
sembly upon the subject of reunion. To the
discredit of the members the motion was not
unanimously carried. The invitation so churl
ishly accorded procured a response which must
be characterized as extraordinary.
All eyes were turned toward a cynosure un
der the gallery, near the main entrance. A lit
tle gentle clapping of hands in that direction
disseminated no infection beyond the narrow
immediate circle. Slowly the group separated
and through the friendly breach thus formed
strode a majestic figure. As the grand vision
dawned upon the upturned faces of the As
sembly resistance to its charms was impossible;
generous impulse overcame the heat of preju
dice and courtesy paid voluntary tribute to the
highest type of manliness. The applause arose
and swelled, waned again; then waxed higher
and more fervent as the royal form went on
down the aisle, and as the gallery caught the
first glimpse of his advancing figure ladies and
gentlemen arose en masse and cheered and
cheered again, while the pent-up emotion of
the scene found vent here and there in un
checked tears.
Th is man might have sat for Michael A?
gelo's Moses. In Italy, some of the landscapes
are admired because they so remind the be
holder of Claude Loraine's pictures. Dr.
Plumer is a living sculpture of heroic mold. As
he stood there facing the Assembly, calm and
rigid, one could not resist the fancy that- the
statue of a patriarch, or a prophet, a Moses
or Elijah, would have such a personification.
Above the average height, symmetrical in pro
portion, straight and firm, he presented the
rare ami beautiful spectacle of perfect old age.
His hair and beard are white as Ihe purest
snow; the latter waved about upon his breast
like a flowing vestment. His hair lies thick
and undulating, in lines of statuesque grace.
Ilis ey.^s are bright, as with a consciousness of
being near enough the Gate of Light to catch
a reflection of the glory from within. His fea
tures, aspect, stature, expression, gesture ?
for already his curving arm commanded a
thrilling silence ? all spoke a man of power,
strength and grace. At first, his voice was low
but not indistinct. The volume increased with
the increasing unction of his thought, and as he
proceeded all eyes were rapt upon his, for
brief as was his speech the Assembly recog
nized the first true orator who had stood be
fore it. What he said must be read in full. How
he said, that pen would be indeed presumptu
ous which would attempt to describe. The
spectacle was one never to be forgotten by
those who saw it ? as a spectacle of the grand