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A FOUNDATION GRACE.
*
If the central fact in the Gospel is the death
of Jesus Christ for our sins, the central ex
perience in our souls is ilie exorcise of saving
faith in Ilim. Faith is that, which makes real
the object of our hopes. It gives an unques
tioned testimony to the things that wo caunot
see. No one saw the world made. Faith
alone reveals that it was by the imperial fiat
of a Supreme Being.
Forgiveness for sin has been the cry of an
anguished humanity, for the power and pollu
tion of sin is so apparent, that men perish
under the burden of the thought. There must,
by a human as well as a divine necessity, be a
sin-offering, but it cannot be pressed upon an
unwilling sinner. It must be received by
faith and this cardinal grace makes our hope
of forgiveness a solid reality.
Man has always wished for communion 011
terms of intimacy with God. We cannot walk
with one in whom we do not believe. Only as
we trust do we commune. Ilence faith finds a
way in which man can come into holy fellow
ship with God, and makes that the most real
thing in our. daily life, despite the distractions
of the world.
This world is a world of shocking and often
unexpected disasters. Sometimes they are dimly
foreseen, and more fearful because they are.
How shall we meet them? Faith in a God who
never forgets and always prepares is tlie only
way. Noah met the deluge by faith and so can
we.
Deep in the heart of all is the desire to bless
others. Away back in Ur God told one man and
one woman how they could be a blessing, and
along the strange trail of faith led them to
the point of highest usefulness in making them
the ancestors by faith of a Saviour.
We wish to know the future. We peer at
the dim curtain that marks, and yet conceals,
the coming years. We want to know what
will be the future of our children. By faith
Jacob and Israel blessed, in revealing the fu
ture of their children.
Sin is a polluting thing; and passion is a
power. Can man escape? Is it possible to
resist? Joseph was tried as many men are,
yet escaped by faith in an upright God. The
allurement of the world is mighty. Love of
money is the sin of the Church. Power appeals
to great souls.
IIow can we lay it all at Jesus' feet, if we do
not believe that lie alone is worthy of it, and
to serve Him is higher honor than to sit 011
the throne of Egypt. So Moses found out and
so can we. The powers of this world are en
trenched and are occupying the land of God's
people. Can these walls of sin go down? Only
by the shout of a believing people. So fell the
walls of proud Jericho and so will fall all who
oppose the march of God's people.
We wish to rise. Man is the upward crawl
ing animal. Out of the slime we wish to come.
So faith lifts us into the light and purity of
God, even as it made Rahab a member of the
chosen people. We are only ordinary folk,
and we live for the most part in humble
places.
No trial is too hard for us, no sacrifice t<>o
great, but faith alone, clinging to Jesiu wjll
carry us through.
Are we cultivating it. It can grow. Are wc
praying for a strong faith ? A. A. L.
Contributed
ASSEMBLY'S HOME MISSIONS.
Financial Facts.
The apportionment for Assembly's Homo
Missions for the present year, 1922-1 92i{, is
$760,000. The receipts for the; six months end
ing September 30th, were $30,746 less than
Mian for the same period last year, and $234,
006 less than the amount due this cause on this
date.
Magnitude of Operations.
The Committee supports in whole and in
part 634 pastors, evangelists, teachers, com
munity workers and nurses, in the various
fields for which the Assembly is responsible.
The average cost per missionary supported by
the Assembly's Committee is $857, including
cost of administration, promotion and the
amount expended upon buildings.
The work cannot be maintained with the
present inadequate income, even on the low
standard of the past. There is every indica
tion that the .Committee will close the year
with the largest debt in its history, and this
at a time when every consideration of religion,
national welfare, and world need calls for an
advance in every department.
New Buildings Begun.
In addition to the support of the workers,
who always have first claim, the buildings to
replace the burnt dormitories for the mountain
schools at Canoe and Blackey, Ky., and the
boys' dormitory at Stillman - Institute, which
was condemned by the State authorities as
unsanitary and unsafe, are imperatively needed
and must be completed. To complete the build
ings now in the course of erection will call
for an expenditure of $100,000 by January 1.
Funds Needed.
It is stated that by actual count 1,357
churches in our Assembly did not make an
Every-Membor Canvass in March. Many
churches that make the canvass do not make
adequate provision for Assembly's Home Mis
sions. The Committee is compelled, in view
of this embarrassing and hindering situation to
call upon those churches that did not make the
Every-Member Canvass for an offering during
November, the Assembly's Home Mission
month.
A Five-Fold Work.
The Committee would remind the Church
again of the five-fold responsibility of the As
sembly's Home Missions. We are sure that the*
Church is not willing for any one of these im
portant undertakings to be discontinued. If so,
which one shall it be?
Evangelism? Evangelism is the life of the
Church. It is the first step in world conquest.
Conversion must precede culture. The Assem
bly evangelists last year added 3,871 members
to the Church upon profession of their faith.
In addition to the General Evangelists, special
Evangelists are supported for the mountain
eers, Indians, Mexicans, Negroes and prison
ers.
Church Erection? The denomination that
builds most grows most. The Church must
lengthen its cords and strengthen its stakes,
if the increasing demands for men and money
for the manifold missionary undertakings of
the denomination are to be met. Applications
for assistance from promising projects amount
ing to more than $200,000 have been declined
for the lack of funds. The tragedy of our
Home Mission work is the number of oppor
tunities for expansion that are lost forever.
Colored Evangelization? This is an obliga
tion assumed by the first Assembly, and which
in a limited way the Church has been trying
to meet. After years of waiting and planning
a new and larger Stillman is being built. When
the Committee is now ready to go forward,
shall this work be halted?
Mission Schools? The young people are the
hope of the nation and of the world. Future
leaders of the Church and the State are in
these Home Mission Institutions in the moun
tains, among the immigrants, Indians and Mex
icans. The work is being held back for lack
of suitable buildings and equipment. These
young people that are looking to the Church
for guidance cannot be turned adrift except
at a cost the Church should be unwilling to
pay.
Pastoral Support? The hundreds of Home
Mission pastors serving churches in villages
and country communities of the West and in
growing centers of the South, are doing a pio
neer work that calls for the greatest courage
and heroism and faith. These small and feeble
churches of today will represent the strength
of the Assembly tomorrow, and be the sup
port of our far-flung mission lines in other
lands.
Conclusion.
These five departments of Home Mission ser
vice must be maintained if the Church is to go
forward. Each one is fundamentally impor
tant, and none can be neglected except at a loss
to the cause of Christ. There were added to
the Church last year, through the agency of
Assembly's Home Missions, 9,638 upon profes
sion of faith, and 2,908 upon certificate. It is
doubtful if larger results were ever obtained
at so small A cost.
The Executive Committee of Home Missions,
Presbyterian Church in the United States,
1522 Hurt Building, Atlanta, Georgia.
A SPECIAL NEED IN CHINA.
By Rev. Wm. F. Junkin, D. D.
Dear Brethren of the Southern Presbyterian
Church, will you not redouble your energies
in behalf of the work in China at this time?
This is a day of change, change. The Chinese
are demanding new things, better things. It
is a* day of glorious opportunity, and of pe
culiar importance for our own missions.
Read the article in the next issue of this
paper by Dr. Nelson Bell on "The Bible Union
of China." We must not shut our eyes to
the fact that there are sorious dangers ahead.
The contest is on. Modernism, both open and
insidious, has come to China. Your representa
tives in China as a body stand against it. Our
position is clear. And a great host of mis
sionaries of other denominations stand with
us. It is most gratifying to hear the many ex
pressions of appreciation for the acknowledged
conservative standing of the Southern Pres
byterian missionaries.
Pray, I bog you, for wisdom and grace for
your missionaries to meet the dangers and
thd perplexities of this day. Pray that we
may not be narrow, sectarian, bigoted; and
also that we may not for the sake of outward
union and a too liberal brotherly-kindness sur
render fundamental principles of our own be
loved Church and of all evangelical Christian
ity.
Do not be disturbed bocause of the forma
tion of the Bible Union of China. Rejoice
in it. Glory in it. Again I beg you to care
fully read Dr. Bell's article. "We of the Bible
Union are already over two thousand strong.
Many other missionaries are with us in belief
and heart, but for various reasons have, so