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"THE UNFINISHABLE TASK." One of our secretaries has written a re markable book, entitled "The Unfinished Task of Our Cliureh." Every line of it throbs with a fresh interest on a subject that arouses every lover of his country. It is well that the 100,000 women of our Church are study ing it. It is time the men as well as women were giving more attention to the great de mands of the Kingdom of God in our home land as well as abroad. The Church has been milling around in a circle without any definite aim. There is knowledge enough and study till the flesh is weary, but to most people it does not get us anywhere that we can see, because it is not tied up to some high and definite goal. We are tempted to coin a new word at the head of this article and think of our task as unfinishable. This by no means discourages us. We do not want to think of a task done t hat lifts us to a level of supine idleness and furnishes no incentive to higher living. 1 "Life is not as idle ore, but iron digged from central gloom, And bathed in baths of blinding tears, And battered with the shocks oP doom, To shape and use." \ Then life as far as we know will always have its difficulties, its problems and its dis appointments. It is unfinishable. Its very na ture creates, out of our dead selves conquered, living stones to higher things. Men say, we are constantly being called on, for money and service. Surely no business can stand still. It begins to decay at once. The very success of one mission station, de mands enlargement of the same or replanting at other places. The training of the present generation, does not do away with the train ing of the coming generation, nor make it much easier. By strenuous efforts the men of today heave the heavy world upward, and then the com ing generation, laying hands to the load, lifts it an inch or so higher. This has some splen did results. We need never fear that we are the people and we will do it all, or even have it all to do. There is a plenty right at hand to keep us busy. We need not stint our ef forts for fear material will run out and our last days be spent in compulsory idleness. Science is teaching us that the worn-out fields are rich in untold possibilities, but new methods and fresh applications must be made. The deserts shall blossom like the rose garden and there is much land still to bo possessed So in the spiritual realm of life there is enough for all and then our task will be unfinished. Neither need we worry ourselves about the probelm of tomorrow. The generation that comes will take care of that. Our task is today, and well-done, leaves enough for others. We need hold back no modicum of energy or prayer. The task of today is ours. The question will not be have we finished the task, but have we tried our best to accom plish it? When we can say we have; then our reward is sure. What a task it is to carry the message of life to near an hundred million souls and that in this generation. It might well appal, but God helping us we can do our part and we will do it well. A. A. L. Contributed MODERNISM IN CHINA AS DISCUSSED IN THE CHARLESTON ASSEMBLY. By Rev. A. M. Fraser, D. D. In a recent article in the church papers. Dr. Donald Richardson, of our Missionary forcc in China, gives a strong and interesting ac count of " Modernism in China. In the course of that article, he mentions the debate on that subject which was held in the Charleston As sembly. He refers, with strong disapproval, to a cable read to the Assembly which one of its members had received from a missionary in China. If any blame is to be attached to any one for the reading of that cable, the reader of it was more to be blamed than the sender, because the man who sent it did not address it to the Assembly but to his per sonal friend. I wish to say, therefore, that it was I who received and read the cable, and I assume the entire responsibility for the read ing. I do regret, however, that I read the cable instead of stating its contents, because the language in which the cable was couched diverted the attention of the Assembly from the point which was under discussion at that time, to the expression "railroaded through," which occurred in the cable. The state of the question was this : The Standing Commit tee on Foreign Missions had brought in a re commendation that the Assembly direct its Executive Committee not to. contribute money to the support of the National Christian Council in China. Dr. Richardson opposed this recom mendation, and one ground of his opposition was that the Assembly had no information that such a council had been formed in China. I had in my possession a cable from a mission ary in China informing me that it had been formed and I read it to the Assembly. That, of course, settled the question of fact raised by Dr. Richardson as to whether such a coun cil was actually in existence. But when I read the cable, at once the debate turned to the expression "railroaded through" which occur red in the cable. It had no connection with the point at issue. The point raised by Dr. Richardson was not as to the method by which the council had been formed, but as to whether it had been formed at all. As to whether or not the expression "railroaded through" cor rectly described what happened in China, I would prefer to get the testimony of those on the ground rather than the testimony of those who were in America. Since the adjournment of the Assembly our North Kiangsu Mission in China has passed a paper touching the Na tional Christian Council substantially the same as the recommendation which the Standing Committee offered in the Assembly. This shows that the advocates of that recommendation in the Assembly were not as ill informed on the subject as Dr. Richardson imagined. T will go further and assume the responsi bility not only for the reading of the cable, but also for the sending of it to me. Modern ism exists in China, Dr. Richardson says so. A great deal has been written about it in the religious periodicals, and it has been freely dis cussed in other Assemblies besides our own. Am I wrong in being concerned about it, or in feeling that it is my duty to *e concerned about it? Is not every watchman upon the walls responsible for being alert to this insid ious danger? I happen to have several friends amongst the missionaries in China. They are men whose scholarship, orthodoxy, good jndg merit and piety 1 trust as much as i trust any brethren at home or abroad. May I not ask them to write me fully what they see* May they not write me freely without having their letters censored by any agency of the Church, or any self-appointed individual? Does any human authority exist that can forbid my us ing the information acquired in that way? 1 did not ask any one to send me a cable, bat I did ask my friends to keep me informed. One friend chose to comply with my request by using the cable. If anybody was guilty ot" impropriety, I am chiefly responsible. "Let the righteous smite me." It is unfortunate, that when the National Christian Conference in China liad an oppor tunity to say in its "wonderfully thrilling state ment" that the "Holy Scriptures are the only infallible rule of faith and practice," it should merely have said that tho Holy Scriptures are "the supreme guide," a formula that errorists might easily accept. It is also to be regretted that one whom we all esteem as highly as we do Dr. Richard son, and one who is charged with the train ing of our young Chinese ministers in theology, and in the spirit of Christ, should have used such expressions as "mental delusions," "bug house" and "paranoiac" in his references to a fellow minister. Does not that come danger ously near to saying to him, "Thou fool?" Staunton, Va., November 1, 1922. "THERE REMAINETH YET VERY MUCH LAND TO BE POSSESSED." Joshua 13:1. Rev. J. M. Wells, D. D., President, Columbia Theological Seminary, Columbia, S. C. God had promised His people a fair and godly land. He had in a wondrous way led them to that land. By the right ^arm of His power He had given them much of that land. But they had failed to occupy all of the land. They had failed to avail themselves of the infinite power of the Almighty. And now many years had passed; and still there re mained yet very much land to be possessed. I have taken this as a fitting example of the situation of our Presbyterian Church in this, our own land. God has prepared us here a goodly land as the heritage of His people. It is a land of rare fertility and beauty. It is a land underlaid with iron and coal and all those minerals that enrich and strengthen a nation. It is a l^fid in that temperate zone in which all the great nations of history have developed. Wondrously He led our Church forefathers here, guiding them as truly as ever the pillar of cloud and fire guided Israel. Hither He brought the freedom-loving Scotch-Irish from Ulster. Hither He brought the stalwart Scotch, men of catechism and covenant. Hither He led the brilliant Huguenots, after bloody St. Bartholomew's day. Hither He guided the finest strain of Presbyterian Puri tans from old England. Hither He brought the sturdy burghers from behind the dikes of Hol land. Hither He guided the finest of the Germans from the Palatinate. Hither He brought Swiss Reformed and Welsh Dissented. And out of all these sturdy strains of Presby terian stock, He made our great Church, fey the right arm of His power He gave them pos session of much of the land. When the Revo lutionary War closed, we, as a Church, were in possession of much of the land. And there has never been a time since our forefathers entered in, tHkt the power of God Almighty has not been available for the further conquest of the land. But more than one hundred and