Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

THE RIGHTEOUS FALL OF THE INAUGURAL BALL-Page Four RUNNING TWENTY-ONE STORES FOR GOD -Page Five . /TTY ' I H E* C O x - VOLUME EIGHT NUMBER FORTY-NINE (< A CITIZEN OF TWO KINGDOMS” Caleb A. Ridley, Who Led a Strenuous But Winning Fight For Civic Righteousness, While Pastor in Beaumont, is Called Back as the Guest of the “Oil City of Texas, 9f to Address a Great Opera House Rally on “Christian Citizenship." T the “old guard,” as he calls them, who stood by him in the famous “cleaning up” fight, which characterized almost the whole of his stormy, but victorious’ pastorate there, but is supported in this return engagement by many magnificent men, whose business he “fought to a finish,” and who have been big enough and fair enough to 11 fess up ’ ’ that they were mistak en and that Ridley was both right and brave in his truceless battle against municipal guardian ship of licensed wrong. Two Fighters Slept Together. A striking illustration of how Ridley man aged to win the men whose business he fought, is found in the fact that before he left Beau mont, he went hunting and actually slept with a lawyer who had one time threatened his life. “Say, Judge,” said Ridley, with a twinkle and a smile that made the hunter’s tent lumin ous with good feeling, “do you remember that time you threatened my life if I mentioned your name again in public?” “Ah, hush! Ridley, let’s forget it all. We are friends now.” And the two former fighters snuggled up to gether, liketwo little chicks, nestling under the brooding wings of love. “A Citizen of Two Kingdoms.” It is impossible for us to give here, anything like a report of Ridley’s Beaumont address. In fact, Ridley can not be reported—he must be heard; but we give a few paragraphs here and there, that our readers, who do not know his manner of speech, may come to an appreciation of the man whose present work with the Cen tral Baptist Church is at once the wonder and admiration of Atlanta. In six months he has built up one of the largest congregations in the city and has had 300 additions at the regular services of the Church, the new “Whitehall Temple” being necessary to hold the overflow ing crowds. From the subject, “A Citizen of Two King doms” we give the following lightning flashes: “When Adam fell he lost Eden, both to him self and his fellows, for the whole race went down with him. From then until now the ef forts of high heaven have been towards man’s redemption—body and soul. We have been HERE is something to make the blood tingle in the kind of invita tion which calls Caleb A. Ridley back from his Atlanta pulpit to his old “baliwick” in Beaumont, Tex., this week to address a city-wide rally on Christian citizenship. He speaks at the Grand Opera House, and is the special guest, not only of ATLANTA, GA., JANUARY 30, 1913 dull disciples in reading His will for our good. He first sent His patriarchs and prophets, but we would not listen to them. He then gave us His written word, but we refused to read it. He then gave us Jesus, the Word incarnate, and we put Him to death on a cross, while the earth tottered, the heavens opened and the sun was shamed into shadow. But now He says, to Christian men everyhere: “Ye are my epistles, known and read of all men. God’s men can not be neutral.” Doing Right Because It Is Right. ‘ ‘ I often think of the young man Moses, fac ing the simple issue of right and wrong. The modern politics could see no harm in UM iiL mH St - w / Up ' > M CALEB A. RIDLEY. allowing his name to be associated with great business enterprises, no matter if they were not very religious; but this young man had a con science as well as a liver, and when conscience declared the institution evil, Moses said, ‘Here is where I break with it,’ and he did. He turn ed his back upon position, power and promi nence, and lost a kingdom by it; but the issue was clear. There was nothing else to do. He must do right simply because it was right.” Every Social Question Is Spiritual. “Every social and moral question is at heart spiritual, and God’s man acknowledges no such distinctions in his work as ‘sacred’ and ‘secu lar.’ To him the whole life is to be lived as unto God. It is as religious to paint a picture as to prepare a sermon; to plow a furrow as to preach; to vote right as to pray. Sacred ness exists, not in things, but in spirit. God did not reject Cain’s offering because it was fruit, nor accept Abel’s because it was meat, but He rejected Cain’s sacrifice because he had no respect for Cain. A sermon may be sacri ligious and a social may be spiritual. “God’s man lives under the pressure of great responsibility. He must face every moral question as a citizen of two worlds, for morals extend on into eternity. He must oppose graft because his Father’s Book says: ‘Thou shaft not steal.’ Lying is to be rebuked, because God’s curse rests upon it. The city fathers who make crime easy and wickedness popular, are to be condemned, and if necessary denounc ed and dethroned, because they are riding rough shod over the principles of law and or der, which uphold the fabric of our natural life. The liquor traffic is to be fought from pulpit and from pew, by-path and platform, furnace and fireside, college and counter, field and fo rum alike, because it fattens upon the red blood of our men and the destroyed virtue of our women.” Waging a Holy Warfare. “Like Samuel of old we are waging a holy warfare, and should feel that when we contend we are fighting the battles of the Lord. No matter how uneven the conflict nor how well en trenched the enemy seems to be, the struggle is no losing one. Stand firm, strike hard, wait a moment and strike again till, like Olea of Cas tile, the shattered sword falls from your dying grasp. Your Captain has won on a thousand fields. In olden times monarchs often fought when kingdoms were the stakes, but we fight for righteousness for righteousness’ sake. “Under the influence of Christ’s religion, man is beginning to stand erect in the great empire of thought. He is tearing away from supersti tion and ignorance, and ceasing to bow to the mandates of tradition. Instead of looking back through geneological vistas to see what apes we used to be, we are spurred on by the inspiration—glory of our Lord to look down the sweep of the broadening centuries to see what gods we shall be. God’s man is always a man of vision.” The “Old Guard” in Beaumont. “And it should stir you militant men here in Beaumont to remember that the vision you shared a few years ago with the man whom you have called back to this hour, was not merely the impractical dream of dreaming men. We can but remember with a quicker throb in the blood that leaps our veins that while our local battle in Beaumont against mu nicipal devilment was at its highest and hard est, Frank Norris, who was then the fearless, fighting Editor of The Texas Baptist Standard, (Continued on Page 4.) ONE DOLLAR AND FIFTY CENTS A YEAR :: FIVE CENTS A COPY