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VOLUME SIX
NUMBER TWENTY
LIFE’S EVENING GRANDLY CROWNED
Dr, Robert Stuart MacArthur, Preacher, Patriot Statesman and Scholar, and Forty-two Years Pastor of Calvary Church,
New York, Elected President of the Baptist World Alliance—Thrilling Memories of Great Philadelphia Gathering,
(Editorial Correspondent.)
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ONWELL’S Temple was crowded!
Nearly four thousand Baptists
were cheering.
There were English and Irish,
Scots and Finns, Poles and Rus
sians, Germans and Hungarians,
Japs and Burmese, Africans and
Persians, and workers and dwel
lers in Bulgaria and Siberia,
China and India, France and Spain, the lands
of Mohammedan darkness, and the islands
of the sea.
With a thrilling babel of voices they sang
the songs of Zion—different tongues, but the
same tune and the same Spirit—while the
very glory of the skies wrapped the whole
Convention in atmosphere divine.
Any effort to lay the hand on the moun
tain-peak hour of the great Alliance would
be honestly disputed by some eagle-eyed,
warm-hearted soul who saw the glory from
another angle. There were so many moun
tain peaks—it was a regular Himalayan
range, not capped with the “eternal snows”
but crowned with the Heavenly warmth and
beauty and grandeur and glory breaking
continually in wondrous splendor from over
the Everlasting Hills!
A majority, perhaps, would vote for the
hour when John Clifford delivered his mar
velous manifesto, a part of which we pub
lish on an other page; some would possibly
mention first the Alliance sermon by the
great Welsh preacher, Thomas Phillips, of
London, wherein we learned that “Grace
outloves Love itself,” others would place the
palm on the hour when the great hearted
English Secretary, J. H. Shakespeare pre
sented one by one to the tearful cheering au
dience the heroic souls from European and
Asiatic lands, many of whom “bore in their
bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus” —hav-
ing suffered worse than death for Christ and
His Hruth, —the hour when Vining’s sacred
flame of eloquence swept the enchained au
dience afresh into tears and cheers, and F.
B. Meyer led in raising $70,000 to help build
the Baptist University in St. Petersburg or
Moscow.
Some would place the emphasis on the
hour for “Christian Education” when Dr. E.
M. Poteat, President of Furman University,
closed the discussion, or rather brought on
an inspiring symposium by the greatest 20-
minute speech of TRUTH and brilliant elo
quence that was made during the whole Al
liance. Still others would declare that tne
most vital hour was Saturday night, when
“The Church and the working man” was the
ATLANTA, GA., JULY 6, 1911
theme, and Prof. Walter Rausenbusch, one
of the greatest Christian Sociologists in the
world closed the discussion with a trumpet
call to the Church of Christ to hurry out to
meet the every-day needs of the working
man. Still again, many enthusiastic hearers
would declare that the greatest hour of the
Alliance came with the almost matchless
Sunday morning message of President E. Y.
Mullins on “The Lordship of Jesus.” With
many devout souls the service on “Consecra
tion” the last Sunday afternoon would be
counted the best of all—the service that was
Sfe * ME
.. .
DR. ROBT. STUART MacARTHUR,
President Baptist World’s Alliance.
•V
closed by our own Dr. L. G. Broughton in a
characteristic address of pointedness, pathos
and power. And still again, those who love
the climax of Climaxes, the wonderful closing
hour on Sunday night would be crowned the
grandest hour of all —the hour which no de
scription can describe, when the only George
W. Truett that the world has today, thrilled
as only Truett can, four thousand people—sit
ting, standing, smiling, crying, rejoicing over
the duty that Baptists owe to America —and
then when, everybody in that great throng
took somebody by the hand and sang “Blest
be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian
love.”
MacArthur an Ideal World-President.
But we frankly believe that, very close to
the greatest, most far-reaching hour of the
Alliance Was the announcement of the elec
tion of the new President. The atmosphere
was tense with expectancy. Russell H. Con
well, the golden-hearted colossus who, under
God, built the great Temple where we were
meeting, mounted the stage and talked as
only Conwell can of perfect peace and har
mony in such a gathering. Nobody but the
committee knows who has been nominated,
but let us all agree that if the committee re
ports unanimously we, too, will unanimously
indorse their unanimous action.”
Now who could resist such an appeal ? And
it was so agreed. When the name of Dr.
Robert Stuart Mac Arthur was called there
was a burst of enthusiasm. Indeed, there
would have been great enthusiasm if the
name of Dr. E. Y. Mullins, or any other hon
ored leader had been called—for the spirit of
brotherly unanimity was in the air. But it
was argued by many of Dr. Mullins’ warmest
friends that even ten years from now when
the Alliance is expected to meet again in
America—doubtless in Louisville—Dr. Mul
lins will then be several years younger than
Dr. Mac Arthur is now. And while Dr. Mul
lins at the head of the Southern Baptist The
ological Seminary will be training young men
to help “bring in the kingdom,” Dr. Mac Ar
thur, rich in years and abundant in labors
and powers—resigning Calvary pulpit where
he has preached the gospel with such power
for more than forty years, will spend his
time largely in world-wide travel, studying
the interests of the World Alliance and try
ing to secure absolute religious liberty, not
only for Baptists, but for Christians of every
name in every land.
Perhaps no other man in America was
quite so well equipped for this high position
of honor and influence as Robert Stuart Mac
Arthur.
In addition to his gift of eloquence, his
wideness of culture and wideness of travel,
making him already a world-figure, those
who have known him for a generation declare
that he is renewing his youth every day and
is at the very zenith of his powers. Verily,
it is the beautiful crowning of the evening of
a grandly useful life.
The Golden Age especially congratulates
its readers on the enlarged opportunity which
Dr. Mac Arthur will have for enriching them
through our columns. He has long been one
of our special contributors, and The Golden
Age family will eagerly follow him now on
his world-wide mission.
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