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will come as much as is needed. The one thing
God wants is the right kind of faith and following
that will come everything that the church needs.
Oh, that we might see the unlimited possibilities
ahead of us in the exercise of faith. Seeing it we
will grasp it; grasping it we will live, it and when
we do we will become an interrogation point to the
world. That is what God wants. Just as long as
the amount of money that a church gives can be ex
plained, just that long will God be left out of
the giving: but when the church gives to that point
where it cannot be explained, then somebody is
going to say, “Well, I do not understand that.”
While they pause to think about it, God’s Spirit
will slip in and say, “It is God.” The same thing
is true with reference to every other department of
life.
Now then, observe the second point, that he in
cessantly makes mention of them in his prayers.
Paul prayed for the church in Rome. I wonder
how many of us have learned to emulate Paul’s
example in that ? How many of us have prayed for
our own church? I am afraid a very small per
cent of us. We pray, perhaps, for everything in
the world but our church, and that perhaps is the
explanation of why there is oftentimes so much
criticism of the church. There was once a cer
tain person who became very distasteful to me. It
troubled me. It came to me one night while I was
in prayer and I began to pray for that man, and
God took every bit of feeling about him out of my
heart. I saw just as many flaws in that life as I
saw before, but I saw things that I did not see
before.
Paul prayed for the church in Rome. Oh, God,
help us to get a lesson from Paul! Pray for the
church at home, and not only for the church at
home, but all churches. Paul was broad enough to
realize that he had a connection with all the church
es in the world. My brethren and sisters, we have
never learned the alphabet in the prayer life. We
have never yet learned how to pray.
In the third place, that he might be prospered in
the will of God to come to them. “In the will of
God! ’ ’ Do you think that is a careless expression
just to fill up space? There is something doubly
significant in that expression. Paul did not want
to go unless it was the will of God. Paul realized
that God had a plan for bis life, just as God has
a plan for every life, and, realizing that, he con’-'
not afford to step out of God’s plan. He only main
tained connection as he stayed in God’s plan for
his life.
Have yo unever stopped to think that you too
have a plan laid out by God for your life? If 1
am a fanatic, it is on this subject, that God has a
plan for my life; that he has a place in this big
world for me to fit in; a place that will not fit any
body else in the world.
Do not try to do your Christian work like some
body else. Try to know how God would have you
to do it, and when you have a clear interpretation
of the will of God, do what God wants done.
In the fourth place, you will see that the reason
for his desire to come to them was not that he
might see them and shake hands with them, but it
was that he might do them good; that they might
be established in their faith; and further, that he
and they might be comforted in each other’s faith.
See the great apostle putting himself down on a
common level with the church of Rome, saying,
“We can strengthen each other’s faith, and help
each other out.” Oh, the simplicity of this mighty
man of God! How dependent we are one upon
the other! There is no man taught of God, how
ever ignorant he may be, that cannot teach me,
and no man feels that more than I do. I think
some of the most profound truths that I have ever
heard have come from some of the most ignorant
men, whose minds and hearts have been opened to
receive the Spirit, and upon whose hearts and minds
the Spirit has operated. Oh, my brother, if you have
not had the chance that somebody else has had,
do not grow discouraged, God is as able to give you
you thoughts as He is able to give any man, how
ever wise in the wisdom of this world.
Now, I want to draw a few practical conclusions
concerning the church.
First, that it is of divine origin, j-
“In the will of
The Golden Age for August 15, 1907.
Second, that it has divine conditions for mem
bership.
Third, it imposes divine obligation? upon its
members.
I want the time to come when men and women
will realize the bigness of the church of Christ;
that it is God’s institution; that it is the biggest
organization in existence; that as God’s institution
it demands of us that we shall put into it our best
endeavors, and when our people realize in deed and
in truth all this, the church will prosper as never
before.
r r
The South in History and Literature.
By Mildred Lelvis 'Rutherford.
(The Franklin-Turner Co., Atlanta.)
Following upon her valuable works, 11 English
Authors,” “American Authors,” and “French Au
thors,” this gifted author has published the most
timely and valuable volume of all, in her “South
in History and Literature.” In our opinion it is
by far the most comprehensive publication ever is
sued in this particular field. No better means of
giving the author’s purpose and the scope of the
work can be adopted than that of quoting from the
Preface. It is there stated that: “The South in
History and Literature has been written with a two
fold purpose:
“First: To aid any who wish to know the truth
concerning the South and what her gTeat men and
women have accomplished in the realm of letters.
“Second: To give to others the benefit of any
records that the author has found available, with
the hope that an interest may be thus awakened
that shall lead to further investigation on their part
along the same lines.”
In explanation of her reason for the length of
selections from certain not very well known au
thors, the author says: “It is natural for criti
cism to come, because long extracts have been giv
en from authors that are not well known, and few
or no extracts from the leaders of thought in our
literature. The reason should be evident; any li
brary will contain the works of our well-known
writers, while few libraries will contain the writ
ings of the others.”
It is difficult in the space available for a short
review to give adequate mention of even the chief
merits of a work so complete in its scope and so
conscientious as to detail as is this one. The chron
ological divisions of the matter are most sensible.
Part First covers History and Literature Before
the Seventies. Among the poetry of this period,
the best known poems are the “Star Spangled Ban
ner,” “The Bivouac of the Dead,” and “Florence
Vane.” The prose writings most characteristic of
the time are “Georgia Scenes,” “Sut Lovingood’s
Yarns,” and “Major Jones’ Courtship.”
The next division covers the period from the
Seventies to the present day. To one who has not
made a special study of the authors of the South,
the list of illustrious writers, both in prose and
poetry, comes as a revelation and can but be a
source of the greatest pride. In the introduction
covering this division of the book we find the fol
lowing:
“We can point with pride to Sidney Lanier,
unquestionably one of the greatest poets this coun
try ever produced; our Paul Hamilton Hayne, who
for intellectual strength has hardly been surpassed;
our Timrod and our Poe. We can recall that our
Chas. Colcock Jones, as a historian, had high praise
from Bancroft, the first of American historians, and
that Gayarre’s History of Louisiana is well known
in France, and that our Page and Harris are well
known the world over for their dialect writings.”
Use is also made of the following discussion of
Southern writers by Hamilton Wright Mabie: “The
South of today has no explanations to make; her
quota of writers of original gift and genuine art is
perhaps more important than that furnished by any
other section of our country. These writers exhibit
certain qualities of the Southern temperament from
which much may be expected in the literature of
the future. Their work comes from the heart rather
than from analytical faculties. It is made of flesh
and blood, and it is therefore simple, tender, hu
morous, and altogether human, and these qualities
give assurance that it has long life before it. The
contribution of the South today to American let
ters is so significant and so characteristic that it
should be studied more carefully as a whole.”
Part Three of the work is devoted to the “Fun
damental Causes that lead to the Difference in the
Literature of the North and the South,” and is a
most wise and instructive discussion of the condi
tions before and after the war which had a direct
influence upon the literature of the section. Slav
ery, the social regime built upon the conditions
created thereby, the habits of hospitality; the lux
urious and easeful lives of the better social class
es, are given their proper places in the combination
of influences operating upon Southern writers.
Two chapters especialy rich in instruction and in
terest to the reader are “Theologians of the South
in Literature” and “The History of Journalism
in the South.”
We are impressed in a rather unusual way with
the extraordinary value of this work as a book of
reference, after it has afforded the pleasure of a
first reading. It is better, broader and wiser than
any work of its kind we are acquainted with. We
believe that it will find its best use as a text-book
in our schools. The children of the South who
know too little about our own writers and our own
literature can find here a mine of information and
a justification for their pride in the writers of their
own soil.
R R
Mississippi Going Dry.
A dispatch from Jackson, Mississippi, to The At
lanta Constitution declares that the saloon men in
the eight remaining counties in that State where
liquor is sold are simply trembling in their tracks
over the prospect of the early doom of their busi
ness. They are greatly troubled because they failed
to get assurances from the “National Liquor Deal
ers’ Association” that financial aid will be given
to the fight that is going to be made against statu
tory and constitutional prohibition at the next ses
sion of the legislature.
The dispatch continues:
“Without ‘the sinews of war’ the liquor men
realize that they will be unable to battle with the
prohibition forces, and as their own numbers are
relatively small, owing to the fact that there are
only eight saloon counties -in the State, the fight
will be against overwhelming odds.
“Those who pretend ability to read the signs of
the times predict with confidence that the whiskey
element will be unable to muster enough strength
to defeat the prohibition movement, regardless of
whether a campaign fund is raised for the purpose.
The counties of Jefferson and Madison have recent
ly voted the saloon out of existence, and in Wash
ington county the prohibitionists have a very form
idable organization. In the present state campaign
many of the candidates for the legislature in ‘dry’
counties are being pledged to vote for statutory
and constitutional prohibition in accordance with
the plan proposed by the Mississippi Prohibition
League, the statutory measure to remain operative
until a constitutional amendment can be acted upon
by the people.
“The saloon is virtually out of existence in Jef
ferson, which was recently joined to the ‘dry’ col
umn, and in Madison they will quit business when
the licenses of dealers at Canton expire several
months hence. This leaves only eight wet counties
in the state, and in none of the number are the sa
loon men politically strong. It, therefore, seems
inevitable that Mississippi will join the absolute
prohibition column just as soon as the legislature
can enact the necessary statute.
“ A rather singular feature of the prohibition sen
timent that has developed so strongly in the State
during the past year is the fact that it is not based
especially on the moral phase of the question, but
is a seeming recognition of the fact that ‘dry* towns
are prospering, while ‘wet’ towns are retrograding
and that purely from a commercial standpoint they
can get along better without the open saloon.”
R R
Take a vacation at Jamestown. The Golden Ave
offers a free trip to this point for just alittle work
for the paper. For particulars see page 11.
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