1902
Quakeress at Woodstown, N. J., Worships in Solitude to Keep Possession of Building
The little orthodox Friends' meeting-house at Woodstown, N. J., has only one surviving worshiper, Miss Priscilla Lippincott, an old woman, who, twice a week, carefully arrayed in the garb of that sect, goes alone to the building and frequently sits an hour on "First day" in the cushioned pew which she has occupied for 50 years.
Sometimes she sits in silence; at others, when the spirit moves, she speaks, with the long since emptied benches as her only earthly audience. The orthodox Quakers, once so numerous, built the meeting-house, but all save Miss Lippincott have died, joined other meetings, or united with the Hicksites. If Miss Lippincott should fail to hold services in the little meeting-house it would revert to the heirs of the original owner of the land, but so long as services continue to be held there it cannot be disturbed, and, therefore, she never fails to be at the door, with the big brass key, at the hour for service on "First" and "Fifth" days.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Living the Life of Self-Surrender
1902
There will come to every manly man times in his life when he will see that there is something which is legitimately his, something which he has a right to, something which nobody can blame him if he takes and enjoys to the fullest, and yet something by whose voluntary and uncompelled surrender he can help his fellow man and aid the work of Christ and make the world better.
Then will come that man's trial. If he fails and cannot make the sacrifice, nobody will blame him; he will simply sink into the great multitude of honorable, respectable, self-indulgent people who take the comfortable things which everybody says they are entitled to, and live their easy life without a question.
But if he is of better stuff, and makes the renunciation of comfort for a higher work, then he goes up and stands humbly, but really, with Jesus Christ. He enters into the other range, that other sort of life where Jesus Christ lived. He is perfectly satisfied with that higher life. He does not envy, he does not grudge, the self-indulgent lives which he has left behind. He does not count up what he has lost; he does not ask whether he is happier or less happy than he would have been if he had kept what everybody said he had a right to keep.
It is not a question of happiness with him at all, but gradually, without his seeking it, he finds that the soul of the happiness which he has left behind him is in him still. Like fountains of sweet water in the sea it rises up and keeps him a living soul. He has left the world's pleasures and its privileges only to draw nearer to its necessities, which are its real life. So what he gave he keeps a thousand fold in this present time, and eternity is still before him, in the end everlasting life. — Phillips Brooks.
There will come to every manly man times in his life when he will see that there is something which is legitimately his, something which he has a right to, something which nobody can blame him if he takes and enjoys to the fullest, and yet something by whose voluntary and uncompelled surrender he can help his fellow man and aid the work of Christ and make the world better.
Then will come that man's trial. If he fails and cannot make the sacrifice, nobody will blame him; he will simply sink into the great multitude of honorable, respectable, self-indulgent people who take the comfortable things which everybody says they are entitled to, and live their easy life without a question.
But if he is of better stuff, and makes the renunciation of comfort for a higher work, then he goes up and stands humbly, but really, with Jesus Christ. He enters into the other range, that other sort of life where Jesus Christ lived. He is perfectly satisfied with that higher life. He does not envy, he does not grudge, the self-indulgent lives which he has left behind. He does not count up what he has lost; he does not ask whether he is happier or less happy than he would have been if he had kept what everybody said he had a right to keep.
It is not a question of happiness with him at all, but gradually, without his seeking it, he finds that the soul of the happiness which he has left behind him is in him still. Like fountains of sweet water in the sea it rises up and keeps him a living soul. He has left the world's pleasures and its privileges only to draw nearer to its necessities, which are its real life. So what he gave he keeps a thousand fold in this present time, and eternity is still before him, in the end everlasting life. — Phillips Brooks.
Sermons the Preacher's Deepest Thoughts
1902
"Almost no preacher to-day dwells exclusively upon sin, salvation and the relation of Christ to the sinner," says the Congregationalist, of Boston and Chicago.
"Important as these themes are, other aspects of the mission of Christ in the world and of the purpose of Christianity are being brought to the front. We regard this as extremely desirable. Preaching is something more than the reiteration of traditional truths in conventional ecclesiastical language. A sermon is the embodiment of a man's deepest and most real thought, phrased in words which everybody can understand and addressed to the real needs of real people.
"Jesus Christ was a popular preacher. He employed parables and talked about the lilies and the clouds, the barrel of meal and the play of little children, and weighed carefully all His words with a view to making the truth which filled and flooded His own soul plain, winsome and powerful in the eyes of others."
"Almost no preacher to-day dwells exclusively upon sin, salvation and the relation of Christ to the sinner," says the Congregationalist, of Boston and Chicago.
"Important as these themes are, other aspects of the mission of Christ in the world and of the purpose of Christianity are being brought to the front. We regard this as extremely desirable. Preaching is something more than the reiteration of traditional truths in conventional ecclesiastical language. A sermon is the embodiment of a man's deepest and most real thought, phrased in words which everybody can understand and addressed to the real needs of real people.
"Jesus Christ was a popular preacher. He employed parables and talked about the lilies and the clouds, the barrel of meal and the play of little children, and weighed carefully all His words with a view to making the truth which filled and flooded His own soul plain, winsome and powerful in the eyes of others."
Judas' Burning Day
1909
This the day when that arch-traitor who betrayed his Lord is burned in effigy here in Mexico — Judas in a hundred fantastic forms, made of cheap pasteboard, grotesquely painted and most ugly of feature, sometimes a mere caricature of a person hated by the populace, a personal enemy — even female Judases in skirts. Full of malodor and cheap gunpowder, the Judas goes off in smoke amidst shouts of derision, burned to make a small boy's holiday.
Modern whitewashers of the great criminals of history, who transform noted poisoners, murderers and the scourges of mankind into near-saints, have tried in learned works to prove that Judas the Bad was a Jewish patriot, mistaken, no doubt, but a would-be benefactor of his people. The vast majority of people, however, simply won't let it be so; they have long ago made up their minds about him, as they have about Nero, the imperial artistic assassin; about the fat and lascivious Henry VIII., and about Benedict Arnold, the brave, hot-headed and sensitive turncoat, who betrayed his country's cause and proved anew the ancient proverb that a renegade is worse than ten Turks.
Mankind demands for the edification of the young a fair share of historical villains, who furnish texts for sermons and enable preachers and orators to turn a sentence neatly.
The Judas-burning custom is gradually falling into desuetude here at the capital, along with other traditional practices, and more's the pity. But in bystreets, in humble neighborhoods, Judas gets his desert, which in a direct way impresses a lesson on the youthful mind. Somewhere beyond the stars, in some perchance solitary place, amid great gloom, the traitor is expiating his crime. He may have repented, and so some day may fall once more into the interminable and always upward struggling human procession, for there is no setting of bounds to the Divine mercy. He fell far; he may rise to immense spiritual heights. The star of hope never sets for the soul of man. — Mexican Herald.
This the day when that arch-traitor who betrayed his Lord is burned in effigy here in Mexico — Judas in a hundred fantastic forms, made of cheap pasteboard, grotesquely painted and most ugly of feature, sometimes a mere caricature of a person hated by the populace, a personal enemy — even female Judases in skirts. Full of malodor and cheap gunpowder, the Judas goes off in smoke amidst shouts of derision, burned to make a small boy's holiday.
Modern whitewashers of the great criminals of history, who transform noted poisoners, murderers and the scourges of mankind into near-saints, have tried in learned works to prove that Judas the Bad was a Jewish patriot, mistaken, no doubt, but a would-be benefactor of his people. The vast majority of people, however, simply won't let it be so; they have long ago made up their minds about him, as they have about Nero, the imperial artistic assassin; about the fat and lascivious Henry VIII., and about Benedict Arnold, the brave, hot-headed and sensitive turncoat, who betrayed his country's cause and proved anew the ancient proverb that a renegade is worse than ten Turks.
Mankind demands for the edification of the young a fair share of historical villains, who furnish texts for sermons and enable preachers and orators to turn a sentence neatly.
The Judas-burning custom is gradually falling into desuetude here at the capital, along with other traditional practices, and more's the pity. But in bystreets, in humble neighborhoods, Judas gets his desert, which in a direct way impresses a lesson on the youthful mind. Somewhere beyond the stars, in some perchance solitary place, amid great gloom, the traitor is expiating his crime. He may have repented, and so some day may fall once more into the interminable and always upward struggling human procession, for there is no setting of bounds to the Divine mercy. He fell far; he may rise to immense spiritual heights. The star of hope never sets for the soul of man. — Mexican Herald.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
To Abolish the System of Pew Rents
New York, 1909
West Genesee Street M. E. Church Takes Decisive Action
Free Seats After January 1
Rental System, Rev. J. C. B. Moyer Says, Made Many Uncomfortable and Affected Church Attendance
Pew rents are to be abolished at the West Genesee Street M. E. Church, beginning January 1. The free seats system was adopted by the Church Society after the entire matter had been carefully threshed out by the Finance Committee, the Official Board and the pew renters, and final action, at the meeting of the quarterly conference this week, was unanimous.
For months there has been a feeling in this parish that church attendance suffered because of a pew rental system. It was argued that more persons would attend church if the rule of "first come, first served," so far as sittings were concerned, prevailed, and after January 1 the promoters of the free pews will have an opportunity to observe how much difference there is under the new system.
The pastor of the church, Rev. J. C. B. Moyer, favored free pews. He said yesterday, "I believe it is a good move. During my pastorate the church attendance has shown an increase, but it has not been as large as it should be in a community so thickly populated. The rental of pews made just a few feel uncomfortable and inconvenienced a much larger number."
It was said that the rentals from the pews at the West Genesee Street Church amounted to only between $800 and $900 and that the finance committee was of the opinion that the current expenses of the church could be met to better advantage under a free pew system than at present.
There is a general tendency among churches of the country to abandon pew rentals and throw the houses of worship open to the public. It is believed that those who would rent pews would give the same amount in other ways and that visitors might help to swell the finances by contributions that would not be forthcoming under the old plan.
Free pews have been much discussed in conventions and among individual churches during the past few months and it is believed the action of the West Genesee Street Methodist Church will be followed by other churches of Syracuse in the near future.
—The Post Standard, Syracuse, NY, Nov. 13, 1909, p. 7.
West Genesee Street M. E. Church Takes Decisive Action
Free Seats After January 1
Rental System, Rev. J. C. B. Moyer Says, Made Many Uncomfortable and Affected Church Attendance
Pew rents are to be abolished at the West Genesee Street M. E. Church, beginning January 1. The free seats system was adopted by the Church Society after the entire matter had been carefully threshed out by the Finance Committee, the Official Board and the pew renters, and final action, at the meeting of the quarterly conference this week, was unanimous.
For months there has been a feeling in this parish that church attendance suffered because of a pew rental system. It was argued that more persons would attend church if the rule of "first come, first served," so far as sittings were concerned, prevailed, and after January 1 the promoters of the free pews will have an opportunity to observe how much difference there is under the new system.
The pastor of the church, Rev. J. C. B. Moyer, favored free pews. He said yesterday, "I believe it is a good move. During my pastorate the church attendance has shown an increase, but it has not been as large as it should be in a community so thickly populated. The rental of pews made just a few feel uncomfortable and inconvenienced a much larger number."
It was said that the rentals from the pews at the West Genesee Street Church amounted to only between $800 and $900 and that the finance committee was of the opinion that the current expenses of the church could be met to better advantage under a free pew system than at present.
There is a general tendency among churches of the country to abandon pew rentals and throw the houses of worship open to the public. It is believed that those who would rent pews would give the same amount in other ways and that visitors might help to swell the finances by contributions that would not be forthcoming under the old plan.
Free pews have been much discussed in conventions and among individual churches during the past few months and it is believed the action of the West Genesee Street Methodist Church will be followed by other churches of Syracuse in the near future.
—The Post Standard, Syracuse, NY, Nov. 13, 1909, p. 7.
What Is Heaven?
1902
It is a place of overpowering brightness. Everything that ever came from thence tells us so. Chariots so bright that the only thing to which they could be likened was fire. Angels with faces shining so that men must veil their eyes before them. Moses and Elias so surrounded with glory that the three disciples were overcome with the vision on the mount of transfiguration. The walls are like a great jewel, the streets of pure gold and every single gate a pearl. You know the brightness of one little gem as it sparkles on your finger, but O! the wonderful thought that every gate is a pearl, and the day will come when we may go sweeping through the gates if we will. God has done everything that He could do, and our entering in now rests upon ourselves. But the brightness of heaven, aside from the presence of Christ, is not due to the gates, nor to the walls, nor to the streets, but to the presence of those who have been redeemed.
I have been told that the deeper the water the larger the pearl. Whether that be true or not I can not tell, but I know that from the greatest depths God sometimes takes His brightest jewels. It is no cause for discouragement if you have been a great sinner. Paul was a persecutor, Bunyan a blasphemer, Newton a libertine, and yet they shine to-day as the jewels of Christ. Geologists tell us that the diamond is only crystallized carbon, charcoal glorified. This book tells us something better than that, that "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
Heaven is a place of unutterable sweetness. Can you imagine the number of little children there? Can any one describe the sweetness of a child's song? And when you remember that your own little one may be there! What wonderful singing it is as their lips are touched by the finger of Christ, and their hearts are thrilled with His presence. — Rev. Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman.
It is a place of overpowering brightness. Everything that ever came from thence tells us so. Chariots so bright that the only thing to which they could be likened was fire. Angels with faces shining so that men must veil their eyes before them. Moses and Elias so surrounded with glory that the three disciples were overcome with the vision on the mount of transfiguration. The walls are like a great jewel, the streets of pure gold and every single gate a pearl. You know the brightness of one little gem as it sparkles on your finger, but O! the wonderful thought that every gate is a pearl, and the day will come when we may go sweeping through the gates if we will. God has done everything that He could do, and our entering in now rests upon ourselves. But the brightness of heaven, aside from the presence of Christ, is not due to the gates, nor to the walls, nor to the streets, but to the presence of those who have been redeemed.
I have been told that the deeper the water the larger the pearl. Whether that be true or not I can not tell, but I know that from the greatest depths God sometimes takes His brightest jewels. It is no cause for discouragement if you have been a great sinner. Paul was a persecutor, Bunyan a blasphemer, Newton a libertine, and yet they shine to-day as the jewels of Christ. Geologists tell us that the diamond is only crystallized carbon, charcoal glorified. This book tells us something better than that, that "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
Heaven is a place of unutterable sweetness. Can you imagine the number of little children there? Can any one describe the sweetness of a child's song? And when you remember that your own little one may be there! What wonderful singing it is as their lips are touched by the finger of Christ, and their hearts are thrilled with His presence. — Rev. Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman.
Three Requisites of an Orator
1902
By Henry M. Dowling
Three great requisites are demanded of everyone who would speak well. He must be clear, he must be forceful, and he must please. Clearness will be secured by translation and composition. How can we speak forcibly and in a manner to excite pleasure? Anyone may avoid egregious blunders; it is the able orator who makes his speech sinewy in its strength, charming in its beauty.
"Bold propositions, boldly and briefly expressed — pithy sentences, nervous common sense, strong phrases, well-compacted periods, sudden and strong masses of light, an apt adage, a keen sarcasm, a merciless personality, a mortal thrust — these are the beauties and deformities that now make a speaker most interesting." Nothing is more artificial than the adornments in a spoken discourse. They do not necessarily arise from the peculiar attractiveness of the subject. Erskine could throw a charm about the most repulsive causes; and there may be speakers who, without strenuous effort, could render sterile and disgusting a subject boundless in suggestiveness and luxuriant in beauty.
In all your compositions, oral and written, first outline the general plan of your matter, and then select portions to be embellished by chaste adornment, not in the spirit of the pulpit orator who annotated his sermon manuscript with stage directions such as, "Here weep!" but with a rational sense of the places where ornament may appropriately be inserted, to clarify the thought, vitalize the argument, or arouse new interest on the part of an audience. At one point, you will decide to use a bit of vivid description of men or scenes; at another, you will mark, as a proper place to thrust forward a pungent antithesis, a picturesque metaphor; at another, you will select, as affording an opportunity, a supposed speech of your adversary or of a third person, or pretend to read from an imaginary document; at a fourth, you will see to it that you express indignation and apologies to the audience for being overborne by your feelings. — Success.
By Henry M. Dowling
Three great requisites are demanded of everyone who would speak well. He must be clear, he must be forceful, and he must please. Clearness will be secured by translation and composition. How can we speak forcibly and in a manner to excite pleasure? Anyone may avoid egregious blunders; it is the able orator who makes his speech sinewy in its strength, charming in its beauty.
"Bold propositions, boldly and briefly expressed — pithy sentences, nervous common sense, strong phrases, well-compacted periods, sudden and strong masses of light, an apt adage, a keen sarcasm, a merciless personality, a mortal thrust — these are the beauties and deformities that now make a speaker most interesting." Nothing is more artificial than the adornments in a spoken discourse. They do not necessarily arise from the peculiar attractiveness of the subject. Erskine could throw a charm about the most repulsive causes; and there may be speakers who, without strenuous effort, could render sterile and disgusting a subject boundless in suggestiveness and luxuriant in beauty.
In all your compositions, oral and written, first outline the general plan of your matter, and then select portions to be embellished by chaste adornment, not in the spirit of the pulpit orator who annotated his sermon manuscript with stage directions such as, "Here weep!" but with a rational sense of the places where ornament may appropriately be inserted, to clarify the thought, vitalize the argument, or arouse new interest on the part of an audience. At one point, you will decide to use a bit of vivid description of men or scenes; at another, you will mark, as a proper place to thrust forward a pungent antithesis, a picturesque metaphor; at another, you will select, as affording an opportunity, a supposed speech of your adversary or of a third person, or pretend to read from an imaginary document; at a fourth, you will see to it that you express indignation and apologies to the audience for being overborne by your feelings. — Success.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Preacher Whips His Hearers with Sarcasm
Ohio, 1922
Marietta Pastor Recommends Jack Dempsey as Successor and Quits Job in Disgust
MARIETTA, Ohio, Sept. 26. — "They tell me when your last pastor preached his farewell sermon he said he would never recommend a preacher for this pulpit. I would not go as far as that. I think I have someone in mind who would be the right man for this church. He is a London minister and is called 'the fighting parson.' Whenever anyone disagrees with him he takes them outside the church and gives them a good licking. I recommend him for this pulpit.
"But, you say, 'Oh, we don't want an Englishman.' Then you can get someone in this country. There is Jack Dempsey; he's good enough for you. Failing him, you could get a mechanical, life sized preacher that some of the officious in the church could run."
In these words Rev. Mayson H. Sewell opened his farewell sermon in the fashionable First Presbyterian church here Sunday evening.
Before he had finished he made the arraignment of his congregation so hot that many of Marietta's "first citizens" arose from their pews and left the church.
Mr. Sewell lambasted the card players and dancers and continuing said: "There are lots of people who have lots of money, fine clothing, beautiful homes and fine limousines who are poor — poor in sympathy, poor in charity, poor in the experience of real, vital religion, maybe poor in honesty and in integrity. You think you are educated and know it all. Christ says you are blind — blind in regard to your spiritual state and your lack of spiritual vision. There is a great difference between what some people think themselves to be and what they really are. There is little hope for the man whose eyes are sanded with self-conceit and blinded to his own deficiencies."
Dr. Sewell came to Marietta eight months ago from New Philadelphia. He is an Englishman by birth and soon after coming here asked for a three months leave of absence to visit his European home. The session of the church refused this and the refusal led to an open break. The pastor appealed the case to the congregation, declared the session was autocratic and tendered his resignation.
The congregation voted nearly unanimously to accept. Dr. Sewell says he has had enough of America and will return to his native land.
—The Coshocton Tribune, Coshocton, Ohio, September 26, 1922, p. 3.
Note: The above article actually gives the pastor's first name and middle initial as "Myson M.," changed here. Other newspapers all give his first name as "Mayson" and whether it's "H" or "M" would be a toss-up. But his name appears on a Google search as "Mayson H. Sewell," being pastor at Arlington Heights Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, 1912-1913, and the same name at another place in 1910-1912. The great "sarcasm" headline is from an Indiana paper.
Marietta Pastor Recommends Jack Dempsey as Successor and Quits Job in Disgust
MARIETTA, Ohio, Sept. 26. — "They tell me when your last pastor preached his farewell sermon he said he would never recommend a preacher for this pulpit. I would not go as far as that. I think I have someone in mind who would be the right man for this church. He is a London minister and is called 'the fighting parson.' Whenever anyone disagrees with him he takes them outside the church and gives them a good licking. I recommend him for this pulpit.
"But, you say, 'Oh, we don't want an Englishman.' Then you can get someone in this country. There is Jack Dempsey; he's good enough for you. Failing him, you could get a mechanical, life sized preacher that some of the officious in the church could run."
In these words Rev. Mayson H. Sewell opened his farewell sermon in the fashionable First Presbyterian church here Sunday evening.
Before he had finished he made the arraignment of his congregation so hot that many of Marietta's "first citizens" arose from their pews and left the church.
Mr. Sewell lambasted the card players and dancers and continuing said: "There are lots of people who have lots of money, fine clothing, beautiful homes and fine limousines who are poor — poor in sympathy, poor in charity, poor in the experience of real, vital religion, maybe poor in honesty and in integrity. You think you are educated and know it all. Christ says you are blind — blind in regard to your spiritual state and your lack of spiritual vision. There is a great difference between what some people think themselves to be and what they really are. There is little hope for the man whose eyes are sanded with self-conceit and blinded to his own deficiencies."
Dr. Sewell came to Marietta eight months ago from New Philadelphia. He is an Englishman by birth and soon after coming here asked for a three months leave of absence to visit his European home. The session of the church refused this and the refusal led to an open break. The pastor appealed the case to the congregation, declared the session was autocratic and tendered his resignation.
The congregation voted nearly unanimously to accept. Dr. Sewell says he has had enough of America and will return to his native land.
—The Coshocton Tribune, Coshocton, Ohio, September 26, 1922, p. 3.
Note: The above article actually gives the pastor's first name and middle initial as "Myson M.," changed here. Other newspapers all give his first name as "Mayson" and whether it's "H" or "M" would be a toss-up. But his name appears on a Google search as "Mayson H. Sewell," being pastor at Arlington Heights Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, 1912-1913, and the same name at another place in 1910-1912. The great "sarcasm" headline is from an Indiana paper.
"Dr." Dowie — Tells Miserable Sinners To Get Up Early
1902
Shouts Wisdom to Waukegan Followers — Makes Some Extraordinary Remarks in a Sermon
Waukegan, Ill., June 9. — John Alexander Dowie preached Sunday to the faithful in Zion City. It was the most remarkable address he has yet delivered. He said:
"May the Lord have mercy on you miserable sinners who want more than eight hours sleep. Men, you miserable sinners, get up early and give your wives a cup of milk while they are in bed. Women, if you have miserable, lazy husbands report them to me and I will give them hall Columbia. I will try a horn, and if that does not work I will yell fire. I will teach you all to get up early and work. There is another thing: You will have to stop this roving about nights. Ten o'clock is late enough for anybody to be out. Those found in the streets after that will be sent to the city prison."
—The Newark Advocate, Newark, Ohio, June 9, 1902, p. 1.
Shouts Wisdom to Waukegan Followers — Makes Some Extraordinary Remarks in a Sermon
Waukegan, Ill., June 9. — John Alexander Dowie preached Sunday to the faithful in Zion City. It was the most remarkable address he has yet delivered. He said:
"May the Lord have mercy on you miserable sinners who want more than eight hours sleep. Men, you miserable sinners, get up early and give your wives a cup of milk while they are in bed. Women, if you have miserable, lazy husbands report them to me and I will give them hall Columbia. I will try a horn, and if that does not work I will yell fire. I will teach you all to get up early and work. There is another thing: You will have to stop this roving about nights. Ten o'clock is late enough for anybody to be out. Those found in the streets after that will be sent to the city prison."
—The Newark Advocate, Newark, Ohio, June 9, 1902, p. 1.
Old Time Religion — A Meeting of the "Holy Jumpers"
Wisconsin, 1906
Practiced by Holiness Band in This City
Primitive and Active
Members Give Lively Manifestations of Emotion. Mr. Farson Preached Sunday Evening
For people who like old-fashioned things, who look back to an earlier and simpler civilization with regret and who honestly believe that more primitive manners indicate more honest and genuine feeling, the meetings of the Holiness Band, or the "Holy Jumpers," as they are known, now being held is this city, are heartily recommended. The "Jumpers" have no use for the elegancies, the culture and the restraint incident to the times. They scorn material luxuries and they find in the quiet religion of the present day churches only dust and ashes.
They believe in revivals, continuous revivals, old-fashioned, praise-the-Lord, Hallelujah, revivals, where when a man feels inspiration, he shouts and sings and jumps up and down, and in any way that comes natural expresses his joy in salvation.
The meeting conducted by the Band at the Athenaeum, Sunday evening was like the old-time Methodist camp meetings one reads about.
It began before seven o'clock and continued more than two hours, every moment of which there was something doing. The Band sings with tremendous gusto, their songs of the rollicking, swinging, camp-meeting order, with about seventeen verses apiece. One of the remarkable things about the "Jumpers" is their length of wind. They can sing seventeen verses with the utmost enthusiasm, every once in a while bounding up and down like a rubber ball, without once stopping to take breath. Many of their prayers and testimony are of the same breathless, rapid-fire type.
Mr. Pettingill leads the chorus singing, singing, and also sings solos, accompanying himself upon the zither. He has a good voice and it is pleasant to hear him. For the choruses there is also a cornet, played by one of the men, and a cabinet organ, played by one of the women. Sometimes a singer stops singing to shout out a regular Indian war-whoop, or a woman's voice shrieks out in high G. Often the singers sway and swing, as in "balancing" for old-fashioned quadrilles, and now and then they jump up and down and crack their heels together. The lightness with which these middle-aged people perform their gymnastic feats, argues well for the effect of their regimen upon the physical condition.
Duke M. Farson of Chicago, one of the leaders of the Band, preached Sunday evening. At least he called it preaching, though most people would have called it exhorting. His theme was the need of sanctification, of the actual presence of the Holy Ghost. According to Mr. Farson, real religion means two distinct processes, conversion and sanctification, like a double-barrelled shot gun, as he said, and the former is of very little use without the latter. The man who is sanctified is washed clean of all meanness and wickedness, and is made holy; the Lord lives with him and walks with him. Mr. Farson strode up and down the platform to illustrate.
Mr. Farson hasn't any use for many of the Churches of the present day. Perhaps they used to have sanctification but they haven't got it now. He declared that the Lord believes in revivals, continuous revivals, and he is with the Church that holds continuous revivals, and with none other; he hasn't any use for the Church that has one week of prayer and devotes all the rest of the year to strawberry festivals and oyster suppers. The speaker waxed merry at the expense of the preacher, who writes his sermons, "for fear he should forget what he once thought," and who wears out the carpet just back of the pulpit and no place else. He, Farson, used to prepare his sermons with infinite pains and trouble. Now he has learned the futility of such performances; he has learned that the only way is to fill the heart with true religion and then to open the mouth and let the heart speak.
"It's a great thing to have no reputation to sustain," declared the speaker. "I'm so sorry for the poor man who is getting ten thousand a year and has the reputation of a big preacher to hold up. Think of always having to preach so as to please your board of managers, or they will retire you and get someone else. Now, we don't have to please anybody. If you don't like our meetings, you needn't come. We didn't ask you to come anyway. Of course you're welcome, but we don't owe you anything. You don't pay us $50 a year and we are not asking you for any collections.
Mr. Farson bounded up and down, with an expansive smile, and the members of the Band nodded and smiled approval.
"I saw something that I liked as I came into this hall," continued the speaker. "The letters W O W, — wow," and he gave vent to a war-hoop that split the air.
Mr. Farson looks like the typical city business man. He appears well-fed, and well-dressed and is clean-shaven. He says he was a traveling-man for thirty years, and thought he always frequented the churches, wherever he went, he found very little religion in them. Now he is apparently satisfied that he has found the only genuine simon-pure brand.
The Band is holding its meetings down-town, while the heating-pipes are being put in to the big dining-room at the Fountain House. As soon as that work is completed, the meetings will, it is said, be held there. The down-town meetings naturally attract large audiences, but they are perfectly orderly. The Athenaeum was crowded Sunday evening, and the people laughed occasionally, though hardly so much as those who were conducting the meeting. But there was not the slightest symptom of disrespect. Members of the Band who served as ushers would also, it may be presumed, serve as policemen if necessary. The "Jumpers" have not had Chicago training for nothing.
—The Waukesha Freeman, Waukesha, Wisconsin, March 15, 1906, p. 1.
Practiced by Holiness Band in This City
Primitive and Active
Members Give Lively Manifestations of Emotion. Mr. Farson Preached Sunday Evening
For people who like old-fashioned things, who look back to an earlier and simpler civilization with regret and who honestly believe that more primitive manners indicate more honest and genuine feeling, the meetings of the Holiness Band, or the "Holy Jumpers," as they are known, now being held is this city, are heartily recommended. The "Jumpers" have no use for the elegancies, the culture and the restraint incident to the times. They scorn material luxuries and they find in the quiet religion of the present day churches only dust and ashes.
They believe in revivals, continuous revivals, old-fashioned, praise-the-Lord, Hallelujah, revivals, where when a man feels inspiration, he shouts and sings and jumps up and down, and in any way that comes natural expresses his joy in salvation.
The meeting conducted by the Band at the Athenaeum, Sunday evening was like the old-time Methodist camp meetings one reads about.
It began before seven o'clock and continued more than two hours, every moment of which there was something doing. The Band sings with tremendous gusto, their songs of the rollicking, swinging, camp-meeting order, with about seventeen verses apiece. One of the remarkable things about the "Jumpers" is their length of wind. They can sing seventeen verses with the utmost enthusiasm, every once in a while bounding up and down like a rubber ball, without once stopping to take breath. Many of their prayers and testimony are of the same breathless, rapid-fire type.
Mr. Pettingill leads the chorus singing, singing, and also sings solos, accompanying himself upon the zither. He has a good voice and it is pleasant to hear him. For the choruses there is also a cornet, played by one of the men, and a cabinet organ, played by one of the women. Sometimes a singer stops singing to shout out a regular Indian war-whoop, or a woman's voice shrieks out in high G. Often the singers sway and swing, as in "balancing" for old-fashioned quadrilles, and now and then they jump up and down and crack their heels together. The lightness with which these middle-aged people perform their gymnastic feats, argues well for the effect of their regimen upon the physical condition.
Duke M. Farson of Chicago, one of the leaders of the Band, preached Sunday evening. At least he called it preaching, though most people would have called it exhorting. His theme was the need of sanctification, of the actual presence of the Holy Ghost. According to Mr. Farson, real religion means two distinct processes, conversion and sanctification, like a double-barrelled shot gun, as he said, and the former is of very little use without the latter. The man who is sanctified is washed clean of all meanness and wickedness, and is made holy; the Lord lives with him and walks with him. Mr. Farson strode up and down the platform to illustrate.
Mr. Farson hasn't any use for many of the Churches of the present day. Perhaps they used to have sanctification but they haven't got it now. He declared that the Lord believes in revivals, continuous revivals, and he is with the Church that holds continuous revivals, and with none other; he hasn't any use for the Church that has one week of prayer and devotes all the rest of the year to strawberry festivals and oyster suppers. The speaker waxed merry at the expense of the preacher, who writes his sermons, "for fear he should forget what he once thought," and who wears out the carpet just back of the pulpit and no place else. He, Farson, used to prepare his sermons with infinite pains and trouble. Now he has learned the futility of such performances; he has learned that the only way is to fill the heart with true religion and then to open the mouth and let the heart speak.
"It's a great thing to have no reputation to sustain," declared the speaker. "I'm so sorry for the poor man who is getting ten thousand a year and has the reputation of a big preacher to hold up. Think of always having to preach so as to please your board of managers, or they will retire you and get someone else. Now, we don't have to please anybody. If you don't like our meetings, you needn't come. We didn't ask you to come anyway. Of course you're welcome, but we don't owe you anything. You don't pay us $50 a year and we are not asking you for any collections.
Mr. Farson bounded up and down, with an expansive smile, and the members of the Band nodded and smiled approval.
"I saw something that I liked as I came into this hall," continued the speaker. "The letters W O W, — wow," and he gave vent to a war-hoop that split the air.
Mr. Farson looks like the typical city business man. He appears well-fed, and well-dressed and is clean-shaven. He says he was a traveling-man for thirty years, and thought he always frequented the churches, wherever he went, he found very little religion in them. Now he is apparently satisfied that he has found the only genuine simon-pure brand.
The Band is holding its meetings down-town, while the heating-pipes are being put in to the big dining-room at the Fountain House. As soon as that work is completed, the meetings will, it is said, be held there. The down-town meetings naturally attract large audiences, but they are perfectly orderly. The Athenaeum was crowded Sunday evening, and the people laughed occasionally, though hardly so much as those who were conducting the meeting. But there was not the slightest symptom of disrespect. Members of the Band who served as ushers would also, it may be presumed, serve as policemen if necessary. The "Jumpers" have not had Chicago training for nothing.
—The Waukesha Freeman, Waukesha, Wisconsin, March 15, 1906, p. 1.
Divine Help Promised for Temptation
1903
Temptation to evil is a matter in which our personal moral fiber is involved, just as in a trial through suffering our powers of endurance are tested. What is your attitude toward evil? Is it one of apology and condonement? How perilous! Is it one easy familiarity? God pity your weakness! We have a duty to ourselves. Luther used to say: "We cannot keep the birds from flying around our heads, but we can prevent them from building their nests in our hair." We may not be able to keep temptation away, but we need not let it in the house. We should not expect God to lock the door and keep His hand upon it. We are the doorkeeper of our own souls.
Naturalists tell us that the scorpion will never use his sting, of which he is exceedingly careful, unless he can find a spot on the body of his desired victim sufficiently soft to admit its insertion without fear of injury. Temptation never assails the soul except at vulnerable points. Our own lusts determine the spots which the enemy strikes.
But fortunately the whole burden of resisting temptation to evil does not rest with us. Divine help is promised. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God." Wisdom is called by a sound writer "the art of Christian conduct." That art can be acquired of Christ Himself. He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. He can and will impart the power of successful resistance. Moreover, there is specific promise in the premises. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to men, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will also with the temptation make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." For him that endures there is the blessed crown of life. – Rev. George P. Eckman, pastor of St. Paul's M.E. Church, New York City.
Temptation to evil is a matter in which our personal moral fiber is involved, just as in a trial through suffering our powers of endurance are tested. What is your attitude toward evil? Is it one of apology and condonement? How perilous! Is it one easy familiarity? God pity your weakness! We have a duty to ourselves. Luther used to say: "We cannot keep the birds from flying around our heads, but we can prevent them from building their nests in our hair." We may not be able to keep temptation away, but we need not let it in the house. We should not expect God to lock the door and keep His hand upon it. We are the doorkeeper of our own souls.
Naturalists tell us that the scorpion will never use his sting, of which he is exceedingly careful, unless he can find a spot on the body of his desired victim sufficiently soft to admit its insertion without fear of injury. Temptation never assails the soul except at vulnerable points. Our own lusts determine the spots which the enemy strikes.
But fortunately the whole burden of resisting temptation to evil does not rest with us. Divine help is promised. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God." Wisdom is called by a sound writer "the art of Christian conduct." That art can be acquired of Christ Himself. He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. He can and will impart the power of successful resistance. Moreover, there is specific promise in the premises. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to men, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will also with the temptation make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." For him that endures there is the blessed crown of life. – Rev. George P. Eckman, pastor of St. Paul's M.E. Church, New York City.
A True Christian — Sharing Christ's Ideals
1903
Children enjoy music long before they understand the color, scale and the laws of harmony. Indeed, millions go through life enjoying the beautiful in nature and art without ever knowing anything about the laws by which colors complement each other. Also millions go through life as Christians without ever stopping to work out philosophically their ideas about the Bible or the church or the creed. And yet they are Christians, because they are loyal to Christ.
History tells of a young paint-grinder in the studio of Italy's great master who developed striking evidences of artistic skill. When an enemy of the great teacher came to the boy and urged him to found a school of his own, saying that wealth and honors and invitations to kings' palaces might be his, the youth answered in effect: "I am not ambitious to found a school or dwell in a palace, but I am ambitious to catch Raphael's spirit and reproduce in myself his ideals."
Now, that simple thought condenses in a word the essence of the Christian life. It is an ambition to rise to the level of Christ's thoughts, to feel His throb of sympathy toward the poor and weak, to abhor evil as He abhorred it, to hunger for righteousness as He hungered for it and to walk with our Father as Christ walked with His. He is a Christian who is loyal to Christ in thoughts, sympathies, friendships, purposes and ideals. — Newell Dwight Hillis.
Children enjoy music long before they understand the color, scale and the laws of harmony. Indeed, millions go through life enjoying the beautiful in nature and art without ever knowing anything about the laws by which colors complement each other. Also millions go through life as Christians without ever stopping to work out philosophically their ideas about the Bible or the church or the creed. And yet they are Christians, because they are loyal to Christ.
History tells of a young paint-grinder in the studio of Italy's great master who developed striking evidences of artistic skill. When an enemy of the great teacher came to the boy and urged him to found a school of his own, saying that wealth and honors and invitations to kings' palaces might be his, the youth answered in effect: "I am not ambitious to found a school or dwell in a palace, but I am ambitious to catch Raphael's spirit and reproduce in myself his ideals."
Now, that simple thought condenses in a word the essence of the Christian life. It is an ambition to rise to the level of Christ's thoughts, to feel His throb of sympathy toward the poor and weak, to abhor evil as He abhorred it, to hunger for righteousness as He hungered for it and to walk with our Father as Christ walked with His. He is a Christian who is loyal to Christ in thoughts, sympathies, friendships, purposes and ideals. — Newell Dwight Hillis.
In Temptation, Look to the Saviour's Greater Glory
Ohio, 1902
Discussed by Rector of All Saints Church Sunday
Church Members Should Pray Over Their Amusements — Where to Draw Line
Rev. J. D. Herron, of All Saints Episcopal church, preached Sunday morning on the "Temptations of Christ." His sermon was a timely one, treating as it did of amusements of the day. After treating of the "lust of the flesh" and the only hope for the drunkard he spoke as follows on the "lust of the eye" and the "pride of life."
The lust of the eye, the power of the world to make us forget God, to make us worship and serve the creature more than the Creator, to choke us with cares and riches and pleasures, so that we may bring no fruit to perfection, this lust, what life is there which has not felt its blight?
It is a hard temptation to decline, for it changes with the circumstances of each life. It is not the same for any two individuals. There are sources of temptation to every life. All seek naturally after pleasure. Pleasures are not evil in themselves, but all of them, when touching upon our bad hearts, are prime causes of evil. People say that they must have pleasures, that it is a natural hunger of the heart, and they say rightly. But pleasure has its limits. To escape the poison of worldly lust, it must be sanctified by the word of God and by prayer.
Do dancing, card playing, theatre-going, croquet, billiards, lawn tennis, novel reading, music, painting, gossiping, lunching interfere with the flow of your religious life, benumb your soul from prayer, from desire for the Holy Feast, from thoughts of Heaven, from meditations upon the life and the love of Jesus? "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into Hell."
Do you ask, how can we draw the line? How can we know when these pleasures of life are hurtful to us? Would it not be better for the church to give us rules, and tell us what we may do, and what we should not do? Dear friends! the Saviour gave us no rules. He gave us simply himself. Let the Holy Feast of the altar, where He comes to meet you, be your guide. For there you will be with the Saviour upon the top of an exceeding high mountain, the mountain of human aspiration, from which the evil one has been dethroned, and as the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them pass before your imagination, the vision of a greater glory will fill the eye of your soul.
—The Portsmouth Times, Portsmouth, Ohio, Feb. 22, 1902, p. 7.
Discussed by Rector of All Saints Church Sunday
Church Members Should Pray Over Their Amusements — Where to Draw Line
Rev. J. D. Herron, of All Saints Episcopal church, preached Sunday morning on the "Temptations of Christ." His sermon was a timely one, treating as it did of amusements of the day. After treating of the "lust of the flesh" and the only hope for the drunkard he spoke as follows on the "lust of the eye" and the "pride of life."
The lust of the eye, the power of the world to make us forget God, to make us worship and serve the creature more than the Creator, to choke us with cares and riches and pleasures, so that we may bring no fruit to perfection, this lust, what life is there which has not felt its blight?
It is a hard temptation to decline, for it changes with the circumstances of each life. It is not the same for any two individuals. There are sources of temptation to every life. All seek naturally after pleasure. Pleasures are not evil in themselves, but all of them, when touching upon our bad hearts, are prime causes of evil. People say that they must have pleasures, that it is a natural hunger of the heart, and they say rightly. But pleasure has its limits. To escape the poison of worldly lust, it must be sanctified by the word of God and by prayer.
Do dancing, card playing, theatre-going, croquet, billiards, lawn tennis, novel reading, music, painting, gossiping, lunching interfere with the flow of your religious life, benumb your soul from prayer, from desire for the Holy Feast, from thoughts of Heaven, from meditations upon the life and the love of Jesus? "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into Hell."
Do you ask, how can we draw the line? How can we know when these pleasures of life are hurtful to us? Would it not be better for the church to give us rules, and tell us what we may do, and what we should not do? Dear friends! the Saviour gave us no rules. He gave us simply himself. Let the Holy Feast of the altar, where He comes to meet you, be your guide. For there you will be with the Saviour upon the top of an exceeding high mountain, the mountain of human aspiration, from which the evil one has been dethroned, and as the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them pass before your imagination, the vision of a greater glory will fill the eye of your soul.
—The Portsmouth Times, Portsmouth, Ohio, Feb. 22, 1902, p. 7.
Claim Gift of Tongues
1906
Members of New Sect Suddenly Endowed With Ability to Speak Chinese and Greek
Power to heal the sick, to prophesy, and the gift of tongues like that which enabled the first apostles to preach the gospel in strange lands, are all claimed by the members of the Church of the Full Gospel, a new religious sect which in the past three years has sprung up in Colorado and grown with remarkable rapidity.
In an old church on the corner of Nineteenth and Welton street, the congregation in Denver, which now numbers 800, holds its meetings on Sunday for regular service. Every Wednesday afternoon a meeting is held at which it is claimed the power of Divine healing has been again and again manifested. The Rev. G. F. Fink is founder of the new sect. The pastor of the Denver congregation is the Rev. S. A. Brelesford. Fifteen young men are now preparing themselves to become missionaries in foreign fields. Most of them understand no foreign language, but they will leave in the faith that this difficulty will be overcome through divine aid.
The claim is made that in the presence of many people members of the church have already been gifted with tongues they never heard before. Ethel Brelesford, the 12-year-old daughter of Pastor Brelesford, is said to have recently spoken in Chinese. James Diltz, assistant roadmaster of the Rock Island, recently resigned to become a missionary. He, too, they say, can speak Chinese. Others have spoken in German and Spanish, and two were gifted with the Greek language.
Members of New Sect Suddenly Endowed With Ability to Speak Chinese and Greek
Power to heal the sick, to prophesy, and the gift of tongues like that which enabled the first apostles to preach the gospel in strange lands, are all claimed by the members of the Church of the Full Gospel, a new religious sect which in the past three years has sprung up in Colorado and grown with remarkable rapidity.
In an old church on the corner of Nineteenth and Welton street, the congregation in Denver, which now numbers 800, holds its meetings on Sunday for regular service. Every Wednesday afternoon a meeting is held at which it is claimed the power of Divine healing has been again and again manifested. The Rev. G. F. Fink is founder of the new sect. The pastor of the Denver congregation is the Rev. S. A. Brelesford. Fifteen young men are now preparing themselves to become missionaries in foreign fields. Most of them understand no foreign language, but they will leave in the faith that this difficulty will be overcome through divine aid.
The claim is made that in the presence of many people members of the church have already been gifted with tongues they never heard before. Ethel Brelesford, the 12-year-old daughter of Pastor Brelesford, is said to have recently spoken in Chinese. James Diltz, assistant roadmaster of the Rock Island, recently resigned to become a missionary. He, too, they say, can speak Chinese. Others have spoken in German and Spanish, and two were gifted with the Greek language.
The "Holy House" — Jesus' House Appears
1906
Legend of the Home of Mary and the Saviour
Let me first give the main outlines of the legend. At Nazareth was preserved with pious care the House of our Lady. The dwelling place in which she received the gracious message of the Incarnation, the lowly home which sheltered the Holy Family for so many years, was a very precious sanctuary. On May 10, 1291, a month after the taking of Tripoli and Ptolemais, this Holy House was carried by the hands of angels from Nazareth to a place in Dalmatia between Flume and Tersatz on the Adriatic shore.
It was a one roomed edifice, built of red square stones, fastened with cement, and bore proof of age and Oriental design. It stood without any foundation and had a wooden decorated ceiling. The walls were covered with frescoes; there was a door and a narrow window; inside there was an altar of stone, an ancient crucifix, a small cupboard, containing a few vessels of common use; a chimney and hearth, above which was a cedar statue of our Lady with the Holy Child in her arms. The pastor of the place learned in a vision that the building was the House of Our Lady; the stone altar that at which St. Peter celebrated mass, and the statue the work of St. Luke the Evangelist. In proof of the vision he was cured of a serious illness. A deputation of four responsible persons forthwith were sent to Nazareth to investigate the mystery, and there they found that the house was no longer to be found.
Measurement and other means taken proved that the house that had suddenly appeared in Dalmatia was indeed none other than that which had as suddenly left Palestine. Three years after, on December 10, 1294, the Holy House again disappeared, and under the pontificate of Celestine V. came to Recanati, a little town in the March of Ancona, when it fixed itself in a laurel grove belonging to a pious lady called Loreto. It was discovered by some shepherds and soon became recognized, and was henceforth a much frequented place of pilgrimage. Eight months afterward the house removed to a small hill, three miles from Recanati, to land belonging to two brothers, who, however, fell out shortly afterward over the division of wealth which began to flow to the new shrine.
To save strife between the brothers the house was suddenly lifted once more, and this time settled down, finally, in the midst of the public way, which, had to be diverted in consequence. Here, too, in the course of time a chapel was built, which gave way in time to the present basilica. The famous pilgrimage of Loreto goes on today. Popes, kings and princes have visited this shrine and left great gifts. Later on a festival with liturgical rites was instituted; and in time the feast of the translation of the Holy House was extended to many countries. — Fortnightly Review.
Legend of the Home of Mary and the Saviour
Let me first give the main outlines of the legend. At Nazareth was preserved with pious care the House of our Lady. The dwelling place in which she received the gracious message of the Incarnation, the lowly home which sheltered the Holy Family for so many years, was a very precious sanctuary. On May 10, 1291, a month after the taking of Tripoli and Ptolemais, this Holy House was carried by the hands of angels from Nazareth to a place in Dalmatia between Flume and Tersatz on the Adriatic shore.
It was a one roomed edifice, built of red square stones, fastened with cement, and bore proof of age and Oriental design. It stood without any foundation and had a wooden decorated ceiling. The walls were covered with frescoes; there was a door and a narrow window; inside there was an altar of stone, an ancient crucifix, a small cupboard, containing a few vessels of common use; a chimney and hearth, above which was a cedar statue of our Lady with the Holy Child in her arms. The pastor of the place learned in a vision that the building was the House of Our Lady; the stone altar that at which St. Peter celebrated mass, and the statue the work of St. Luke the Evangelist. In proof of the vision he was cured of a serious illness. A deputation of four responsible persons forthwith were sent to Nazareth to investigate the mystery, and there they found that the house was no longer to be found.
Measurement and other means taken proved that the house that had suddenly appeared in Dalmatia was indeed none other than that which had as suddenly left Palestine. Three years after, on December 10, 1294, the Holy House again disappeared, and under the pontificate of Celestine V. came to Recanati, a little town in the March of Ancona, when it fixed itself in a laurel grove belonging to a pious lady called Loreto. It was discovered by some shepherds and soon became recognized, and was henceforth a much frequented place of pilgrimage. Eight months afterward the house removed to a small hill, three miles from Recanati, to land belonging to two brothers, who, however, fell out shortly afterward over the division of wealth which began to flow to the new shrine.
To save strife between the brothers the house was suddenly lifted once more, and this time settled down, finally, in the midst of the public way, which, had to be diverted in consequence. Here, too, in the course of time a chapel was built, which gave way in time to the present basilica. The famous pilgrimage of Loreto goes on today. Popes, kings and princes have visited this shrine and left great gifts. Later on a festival with liturgical rites was instituted; and in time the feast of the translation of the Holy House was extended to many countries. — Fortnightly Review.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Words of Wisdom — "A Beggar at God's Door"
1906
Art thou a beggar at God's door, be sure thou gettest a great bowl, for as thy bowl is so will be thy mess. According to thy faith, saith He, be it unto thee. — John Bunyan.
Kind looks, kind words, kind acts and warm handshakes — these are secondary means of grace when men are in trouble and are fighting their unseen battles. — John Hall.
I have looked up every Scripture where anything like meditation is mentioned, and I find that we are never once told to meditate upon sin. — W. H. Griffith Thomas.
Who is meant by our neighbors we cannot doubt; it is every one with whom we are thrown into contact, he or she, whosoever it be, whom we have the means of helping. — Dean Stanley.
You can help your fellow men; you must help them, but the only way you can help them is by being the noblest and the best man that it is possible for you to be. — Phillips Brooks.
Who could believe that from that unpromising bulb would spring the gorgeous flower enveloped in its sheltering leaves? Yet such shall be our body then compared with our body now. — E. H. Bickersteth.
The cure for heartache is to be found in occupations which take us away from our petty self regardings or self pityings, our morbid broodings, and which connect our life with other lives and with other affairs; or merge our individual interest in the larger whole. — Charles G. Ames.
If there be a pleasure on earth which angels cannot enjoy, and which they might almost envy man the possession of, it is the power of relieving distress. If there be a pain which devils might pity man for enduring, it is the death bed reflection that we have possessed the power of doing good, but that we have abused and perverted it to purposes of evil — Lacon.
By giving to the repetition of an act of duty a fixed regularity, I can multiply my moral power in that direction as much as a man multiplies his material power when he gets hold of a lever. By faithful habit I can make that which was at first laborious come to be after a while less difficult, then easy, and perhaps at last spontaneous and delightful. — G. S. Merriam.
Art thou a beggar at God's door, be sure thou gettest a great bowl, for as thy bowl is so will be thy mess. According to thy faith, saith He, be it unto thee. — John Bunyan.
Kind looks, kind words, kind acts and warm handshakes — these are secondary means of grace when men are in trouble and are fighting their unseen battles. — John Hall.
I have looked up every Scripture where anything like meditation is mentioned, and I find that we are never once told to meditate upon sin. — W. H. Griffith Thomas.
Who is meant by our neighbors we cannot doubt; it is every one with whom we are thrown into contact, he or she, whosoever it be, whom we have the means of helping. — Dean Stanley.
You can help your fellow men; you must help them, but the only way you can help them is by being the noblest and the best man that it is possible for you to be. — Phillips Brooks.
Who could believe that from that unpromising bulb would spring the gorgeous flower enveloped in its sheltering leaves? Yet such shall be our body then compared with our body now. — E. H. Bickersteth.
The cure for heartache is to be found in occupations which take us away from our petty self regardings or self pityings, our morbid broodings, and which connect our life with other lives and with other affairs; or merge our individual interest in the larger whole. — Charles G. Ames.
If there be a pleasure on earth which angels cannot enjoy, and which they might almost envy man the possession of, it is the power of relieving distress. If there be a pain which devils might pity man for enduring, it is the death bed reflection that we have possessed the power of doing good, but that we have abused and perverted it to purposes of evil — Lacon.
By giving to the repetition of an act of duty a fixed regularity, I can multiply my moral power in that direction as much as a man multiplies his material power when he gets hold of a lever. By faithful habit I can make that which was at first laborious come to be after a while less difficult, then easy, and perhaps at last spontaneous and delightful. — G. S. Merriam.
No Funerals on Sunday
Indiana, 1906
Cemetery in Muncie, Ind., Will Bar Burials on Holy Days and Holidays
Muncie, Ind. — Heeding a popular cry against Sunday funerals, the trustees of Beach Grove cemetery, in Muncie, have issued an order forbidding any burial in that cemetery on any Sunday, on January 1, May 30 or December 25, of any year except in cases of great necessity or contagious diseases. This order is not to take effect, however, until the first day of next year. After that time, therefore, if there be Sunday funerals in Muncie, the burials must be made in some country cemetery or in some other town.
The cemetery trustees give the following as their reasons for this action: The Sunday funeral disturbs the quiet of the Lord's day, as it is frequently attended by bands of music and by hundreds of curiosity seekers, and is "often accompanied by an evident desire for display on the part of the supposed or real mourners;" if funeral services are held in a church, they frequently disturb the regular service of that church; cemeteries are most often visited on Sundays and a funeral serves to excite morbid curiosity and causes visitors in the burying ground to trample upon graves and to "disregard the decorum that should attend such occasions;" the Sunday funeral is in violation of the decalogue which says: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," because it necessitates work on the part of the cemetery employes.
Muncie ministers are heartily in favor of the plan and it is believed the public will be, also.
Cemetery in Muncie, Ind., Will Bar Burials on Holy Days and Holidays
Muncie, Ind. — Heeding a popular cry against Sunday funerals, the trustees of Beach Grove cemetery, in Muncie, have issued an order forbidding any burial in that cemetery on any Sunday, on January 1, May 30 or December 25, of any year except in cases of great necessity or contagious diseases. This order is not to take effect, however, until the first day of next year. After that time, therefore, if there be Sunday funerals in Muncie, the burials must be made in some country cemetery or in some other town.
The cemetery trustees give the following as their reasons for this action: The Sunday funeral disturbs the quiet of the Lord's day, as it is frequently attended by bands of music and by hundreds of curiosity seekers, and is "often accompanied by an evident desire for display on the part of the supposed or real mourners;" if funeral services are held in a church, they frequently disturb the regular service of that church; cemeteries are most often visited on Sundays and a funeral serves to excite morbid curiosity and causes visitors in the burying ground to trample upon graves and to "disregard the decorum that should attend such occasions;" the Sunday funeral is in violation of the decalogue which says: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," because it necessitates work on the part of the cemetery employes.
Muncie ministers are heartily in favor of the plan and it is believed the public will be, also.
The World's End Coming Soon, According to Lima Man
Ohio, 1905
Whittredge Advises People to Sell Everything in Order to be "Clean" on Judgment Day
Lima, O., Feb. 22. — Wm. Whittredge, who was put in jail here for refusing to send his nine-year-old daughter to school because the world was coming to an end in March, is now issuing daily bulletins beseeching the people to watch and pray, claiming that he, like of Noah of old, has been delegated as the Lord's apostle and prophet.
Whittredge has formulated a new cult known as "The Church of the Israelites," which has for its teachings preparation for the coming of the Messiah. He has a number of converts in this and adjacent counties, and among his divine orders Whittredge instills the decree that followers must sell their worldly goods and be ready and "clean" to make their peace.
Yesterday Whittredge received in his mail, which has grown quite heavy, a letter from S. J. Hickey, dated East Orange, N. J., in which the writer asks for blessings, and follows with the statement: "Perhaps we can help each other in this situation through Christ, for I, too, have been jailed by the powers that be, and can heartily sympathize with you."
In his latest reiteration of the coming of the end in March, Whittredge proclaims through the press: "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of Man now be. Noah knew and warned the people; remember some one else now knows. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secrets to His servants, the prophets. Whereby, when ye regard, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, and it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets. And what I say unto you I say unto all. Watch and pray."
—The Newark Advocate, Newark, Ohio, Feb. 22, 1905, p. 6.
OTHERS
Who Agree With Wm. Whittredge
That the World is Coming to an End Next Month
East Orange, N.J., 76 Midland Ave.
Mr. Wm. Whitredge,
Lima, O., Feb. 14, 1905.
Dear Brother —
A recent press dispatch informs us that you have been jailed for refusing to send your daughter to school, your reason being that you believed the end to be so near as to make it not worth the while. I am also of the opinion that the destruction of the cosmos by fire, as predicted by the Apostle Peter, is very near at hand and extend you my sympathy. Will you kindly tell me what has convinced you of the truth concerning these last things, perhaps we can help each other in the situation through Christ. I, too, have been jailed by the powers that be, and can heartily sympathize with you.
Your brother in Christ Jesus. S. J. HICKEY.
The Lord is come with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. These are murmurers, complainer walking after their own lusts, and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advance. Jude 14-15-16. A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh a sign, but no sign will be given but the sign of the Prophet Jonah. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Noah knew and warned the people; remember some one else will know. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth His secrets to His servants, the prophets. Whereby, when ye regard, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. And what I say unto you I say unto all, watch and pray. MRS. WM. WHITTREDGE
—The Lima Times Democrat, Lima, Ohio, Feb. 20, 1905.
WAIT FOR WORLD TO END
Decatur, Ind., March 9. — Waiting for the world to come to an end and advocating the creed of their sect, several families, under the leadership of William Whittredge, formerly of Elgin, Ohio, are preparing for the millennium, which they say will be here in April. The little band has no name, but its members apparently are sincere in their belief. When Whittredge and his followers came here quietly several weeks ago they attracted little attention, but it was noticed that the entire band of three families was housed in one dwelling. Then the people of the neighborhood began to wonder. It was made known yesterday that the strangers were simply waiting for the world to come to an end and tracts were scattered over the city warning residents that the end is expected in April. The followers of Whittredge in preaching their doctrine point to revelations, and on the tracts they distribute are printed quotations from the bible. The members of the band are all intelligent and well informed.
—The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN, March 9, 1905, p. 9.
Whittredge Advises People to Sell Everything in Order to be "Clean" on Judgment Day
Lima, O., Feb. 22. — Wm. Whittredge, who was put in jail here for refusing to send his nine-year-old daughter to school because the world was coming to an end in March, is now issuing daily bulletins beseeching the people to watch and pray, claiming that he, like of Noah of old, has been delegated as the Lord's apostle and prophet.
Whittredge has formulated a new cult known as "The Church of the Israelites," which has for its teachings preparation for the coming of the Messiah. He has a number of converts in this and adjacent counties, and among his divine orders Whittredge instills the decree that followers must sell their worldly goods and be ready and "clean" to make their peace.
Yesterday Whittredge received in his mail, which has grown quite heavy, a letter from S. J. Hickey, dated East Orange, N. J., in which the writer asks for blessings, and follows with the statement: "Perhaps we can help each other in this situation through Christ, for I, too, have been jailed by the powers that be, and can heartily sympathize with you."
In his latest reiteration of the coming of the end in March, Whittredge proclaims through the press: "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of Man now be. Noah knew and warned the people; remember some one else now knows. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secrets to His servants, the prophets. Whereby, when ye regard, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, and it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets. And what I say unto you I say unto all. Watch and pray."
—The Newark Advocate, Newark, Ohio, Feb. 22, 1905, p. 6.
OTHERS
Who Agree With Wm. Whittredge
That the World is Coming to an End Next Month
East Orange, N.J., 76 Midland Ave.
Mr. Wm. Whitredge,
Lima, O., Feb. 14, 1905.
Dear Brother —
A recent press dispatch informs us that you have been jailed for refusing to send your daughter to school, your reason being that you believed the end to be so near as to make it not worth the while. I am also of the opinion that the destruction of the cosmos by fire, as predicted by the Apostle Peter, is very near at hand and extend you my sympathy. Will you kindly tell me what has convinced you of the truth concerning these last things, perhaps we can help each other in the situation through Christ. I, too, have been jailed by the powers that be, and can heartily sympathize with you.
Your brother in Christ Jesus. S. J. HICKEY.
The Lord is come with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. These are murmurers, complainer walking after their own lusts, and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advance. Jude 14-15-16. A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh a sign, but no sign will be given but the sign of the Prophet Jonah. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Noah knew and warned the people; remember some one else will know. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth His secrets to His servants, the prophets. Whereby, when ye regard, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. And what I say unto you I say unto all, watch and pray. MRS. WM. WHITTREDGE
—The Lima Times Democrat, Lima, Ohio, Feb. 20, 1905.
WAIT FOR WORLD TO END
Decatur, Ind., March 9. — Waiting for the world to come to an end and advocating the creed of their sect, several families, under the leadership of William Whittredge, formerly of Elgin, Ohio, are preparing for the millennium, which they say will be here in April. The little band has no name, but its members apparently are sincere in their belief. When Whittredge and his followers came here quietly several weeks ago they attracted little attention, but it was noticed that the entire band of three families was housed in one dwelling. Then the people of the neighborhood began to wonder. It was made known yesterday that the strangers were simply waiting for the world to come to an end and tracts were scattered over the city warning residents that the end is expected in April. The followers of Whittredge in preaching their doctrine point to revelations, and on the tracts they distribute are printed quotations from the bible. The members of the band are all intelligent and well informed.
—The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN, March 9, 1905, p. 9.
Sermon — "Prepare To Meet Thy God"
Ohio, 1905
The Protracted Meetings at the First Methodist and Presbyterian Grow in Interest
Rev. Wean, of Bryan, delivered another one of his splendid sermons at the First M. E. church last night, taking for his text, Amos 4:12: "Prepare to Meet thy God."
I take it that the person who tries to dispose of Jesus Christ has a problem on his hands. With the coming of Jesus into the world there has come a responsibility upon all mankind. With all the means of knowledge of Christ and the love of God to-day can we shirk this responsibility? I never found an infidel who did not expect to be a witness at the time when justice was meted out on the great day. Science will agree with the Bible altogether after a while. We all agree on this one point, that some time there will be a judgment.
This meeting with God somewhere after death at judgment is an important event. God is impartial; no matter who we are we must all be there. Death levels all. The rich man comes at last to the grave, the pauper although he has lived apart from the rich man they lie down together. The young lady who spurns her mother's prayers, denies her father's Christian life and goes out to the world's pleasure will be glad to come back to find a place by them at death.
Death knocks at no door, he comes unbidden. Death furnishes a good living for the undertaker. Death is a mighty monarch marching forth in the land. Don't treat it lightly for it is an important event. If I never attracted attention in my life I shall attract attention at death. The oldest, worthless tramp who is crushed beneath the wheels of the car attracts the attention of the large crowd. The unconcerned and frivolous, think when in the presence of death as they have never thought before, but the time to think is not over a casket, think in life.
In the name of God, in the name of all that's good why is it so hard to get men to prepare to meet God? You will get ready for a whole year for a wedding, you will plan for months for the pleasure of a friend. Why wait to prepare for death? I do not take much stock in death-bed repentance, many a man would be unwilling for his heart to be laid bare, many a girl would not want her companions to see her heart. What will it be when all hearts are bare before God and the angels?
Prepare for death, prepare to meet your God. Get ready for the time when the Great Judge shall mete out justice without partiality. Oh, prepare to meet God, you haven't a moment to lose. All God has done and said, all His plans are that you may be ready to meet Him. Jesus is such a loving Savior, come to Him now.
—The Van Wert Daily Bulletin, Van Wert, Ohio, Feb. 1, 1905, p. 3.
The Protracted Meetings at the First Methodist and Presbyterian Grow in Interest
Rev. Wean, of Bryan, delivered another one of his splendid sermons at the First M. E. church last night, taking for his text, Amos 4:12: "Prepare to Meet thy God."
I take it that the person who tries to dispose of Jesus Christ has a problem on his hands. With the coming of Jesus into the world there has come a responsibility upon all mankind. With all the means of knowledge of Christ and the love of God to-day can we shirk this responsibility? I never found an infidel who did not expect to be a witness at the time when justice was meted out on the great day. Science will agree with the Bible altogether after a while. We all agree on this one point, that some time there will be a judgment.
This meeting with God somewhere after death at judgment is an important event. God is impartial; no matter who we are we must all be there. Death levels all. The rich man comes at last to the grave, the pauper although he has lived apart from the rich man they lie down together. The young lady who spurns her mother's prayers, denies her father's Christian life and goes out to the world's pleasure will be glad to come back to find a place by them at death.
Death knocks at no door, he comes unbidden. Death furnishes a good living for the undertaker. Death is a mighty monarch marching forth in the land. Don't treat it lightly for it is an important event. If I never attracted attention in my life I shall attract attention at death. The oldest, worthless tramp who is crushed beneath the wheels of the car attracts the attention of the large crowd. The unconcerned and frivolous, think when in the presence of death as they have never thought before, but the time to think is not over a casket, think in life.
In the name of God, in the name of all that's good why is it so hard to get men to prepare to meet God? You will get ready for a whole year for a wedding, you will plan for months for the pleasure of a friend. Why wait to prepare for death? I do not take much stock in death-bed repentance, many a man would be unwilling for his heart to be laid bare, many a girl would not want her companions to see her heart. What will it be when all hearts are bare before God and the angels?
Prepare for death, prepare to meet your God. Get ready for the time when the Great Judge shall mete out justice without partiality. Oh, prepare to meet God, you haven't a moment to lose. All God has done and said, all His plans are that you may be ready to meet Him. Jesus is such a loving Savior, come to Him now.
—The Van Wert Daily Bulletin, Van Wert, Ohio, Feb. 1, 1905, p. 3.
That Awful Day Will Surely Come
1907
The Congregation Smiled
Two country clergymen had agreed to exchange pulpits on a certain date. One of them made the following solemn announcement to his congregation on the Sabbath previous to the event:
"My dear brethren and sisters, I have the pleasure of stating that on next Sunday morning the Rev. Zachariah B. Day will preach for you. Let us now sing two verses of hymn No. 489, 'That Awful Day Will Surely Come.'"
And it took him some time to discover why the congregation smiled.
A Queer Custom
Curious Basket Ceremony of Siamese Ancestral Worship
If the "basket supper" of worthy tradition is a feature of New England church sociability, the orient has a fashion of its own connected with baskets, and religious ceremony. Mary Cost, in her book on Siam, tells of a custom which forms a mysterious part of Siamese ancestral worship.
The ceremony is called krachat, which means basket. When the time for observing it is at hand, the king commands the princess to make large baskets and to buy articles with which to fill them. Around the palace booths are built, covered with red and white cloth, and here the baskets are displayed. The king himself goes out to inspect them.
The baskets are filled with all sorts of things, from rice, sweetmeats, sugar, cakes and onions to articles of a more lasting nature. The baskets are woven in all sorts of curious shapes. One may be in the form of a cart hauled by two buffaloes covered with tobacco instead of hair and with many useful things in the cart. Tree baskets have all sorts of articles hanging to the branches, such as saws, knives, handkerchiefs, and so forth. Bushel baskets are pierced with doors, in and out of which run automatic dolls covered with coins. Some of the baskets are immense, being sixteen feet long.
The show lasts a week, at the end of which the priests draw lots for the spoil.
The Congregation Smiled
Two country clergymen had agreed to exchange pulpits on a certain date. One of them made the following solemn announcement to his congregation on the Sabbath previous to the event:
"My dear brethren and sisters, I have the pleasure of stating that on next Sunday morning the Rev. Zachariah B. Day will preach for you. Let us now sing two verses of hymn No. 489, 'That Awful Day Will Surely Come.'"
And it took him some time to discover why the congregation smiled.
A Queer Custom
Curious Basket Ceremony of Siamese Ancestral Worship
If the "basket supper" of worthy tradition is a feature of New England church sociability, the orient has a fashion of its own connected with baskets, and religious ceremony. Mary Cost, in her book on Siam, tells of a custom which forms a mysterious part of Siamese ancestral worship.
The ceremony is called krachat, which means basket. When the time for observing it is at hand, the king commands the princess to make large baskets and to buy articles with which to fill them. Around the palace booths are built, covered with red and white cloth, and here the baskets are displayed. The king himself goes out to inspect them.
The baskets are filled with all sorts of things, from rice, sweetmeats, sugar, cakes and onions to articles of a more lasting nature. The baskets are woven in all sorts of curious shapes. One may be in the form of a cart hauled by two buffaloes covered with tobacco instead of hair and with many useful things in the cart. Tree baskets have all sorts of articles hanging to the branches, such as saws, knives, handkerchiefs, and so forth. Bushel baskets are pierced with doors, in and out of which run automatic dolls covered with coins. Some of the baskets are immense, being sixteen feet long.
The show lasts a week, at the end of which the priests draw lots for the spoil.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Hindoo Proverbs — Truth, Contentment, Patience, Mercy
1907
Happiness consists in the absence of anxiety.
Truth, contentment, patience and mercy belong to great minds.
Little things should not be despised. Many straws united will bind an elephant.
It can never be safe to unite with an enemy. Water, though heated, will soon extinguish fire.
He who removes another from danger and he who removes terror from the mind are the greatest of friends.
Courage is tried in war, integrity in the payment of debt and interest, the faithfulness of a wife in poverty and friendship in distress.
Every one looking downward becomes impressed with the idea of his own greatness, but looking upward feels his own littleness.
He who in your presence speaks kindly, but in your absence seeks to injure, must be rejected like a bowl of poison covered with milk.
Happiness consists in the absence of anxiety.
Truth, contentment, patience and mercy belong to great minds.
Little things should not be despised. Many straws united will bind an elephant.
It can never be safe to unite with an enemy. Water, though heated, will soon extinguish fire.
He who removes another from danger and he who removes terror from the mind are the greatest of friends.
Courage is tried in war, integrity in the payment of debt and interest, the faithfulness of a wife in poverty and friendship in distress.
Every one looking downward becomes impressed with the idea of his own greatness, but looking upward feels his own littleness.
He who in your presence speaks kindly, but in your absence seeks to injure, must be rejected like a bowl of poison covered with milk.
A "Cure" for Cussing
1907
The Penitent Scotsman Found His Load a Heavy One
A clergyman In Scotland observed with much perturbation that a member of his congregation was greatly given to the use of strong language. Over and over again he remonstrated with the man to give up the bad habit. In time the man himself came to see the error of his ways, and desired no less earnestly to break himself of the use of bad language. The difficulty, however, was to find a method of doing so. One day the clergyman hit upon a happy thought.
"Get a bag," he said to the man. "and every time you swear put a pebble into it. At the end of the month you will bring that bag to me. I will count the pebbles and see what the effect has been."
The man accepted the idea with alacrity. He got a bag, and, religiously, every time he swore what Mr. Gilbert in the "Pinafore" calls a "big, big D," he duly put a pebble into it. At the end of the month he went to the clergyman, taking the bag with him. It was not an easy task, for, as any one might see, the bag was very full and very heavy. He went into the clergyman's study and put the bag on the table.
The minister looked up with a serious expression. "This is very serious, my friend. I am sorry to see you have so many pebbles in the bag."
"Hoot, minister!" exclaimed the man cheerfully; "this is only the 'devil's' — the 'damns' are all at the dikeside in another bag. They were over heavy to bring up!" — Excelsior.
The Penitent Scotsman Found His Load a Heavy One
A clergyman In Scotland observed with much perturbation that a member of his congregation was greatly given to the use of strong language. Over and over again he remonstrated with the man to give up the bad habit. In time the man himself came to see the error of his ways, and desired no less earnestly to break himself of the use of bad language. The difficulty, however, was to find a method of doing so. One day the clergyman hit upon a happy thought.
"Get a bag," he said to the man. "and every time you swear put a pebble into it. At the end of the month you will bring that bag to me. I will count the pebbles and see what the effect has been."
The man accepted the idea with alacrity. He got a bag, and, religiously, every time he swore what Mr. Gilbert in the "Pinafore" calls a "big, big D," he duly put a pebble into it. At the end of the month he went to the clergyman, taking the bag with him. It was not an easy task, for, as any one might see, the bag was very full and very heavy. He went into the clergyman's study and put the bag on the table.
The minister looked up with a serious expression. "This is very serious, my friend. I am sorry to see you have so many pebbles in the bag."
"Hoot, minister!" exclaimed the man cheerfully; "this is only the 'devil's' — the 'damns' are all at the dikeside in another bag. They were over heavy to bring up!" — Excelsior.
Wise Words — Souls Occupied with Great Ideas
1896
Instead of praying for effects, let us pray that we may be enabled to fulfill causes! — Professor Drummond.
Only he who puts on the garment of humility finds how worthily it clothes his life. — Phillips Brooks.
The best cure for sorrow is to sympathize with another in his sorrow. The cure for despondency is to lift the burden from some other heart. — Anon.
A soul occupied with great ideas best performs small duties; the divinest views of life penetrate most clearly into the meanest emergencies. — James Martineau.
There is no action of man in this life which is not the beginning of so long a chain of consequences as that no human providence is high enough to give us a prospect to the end. — Thomas of Malmesbury.
We are never without help. We have no right to say of any good work, it is too hard for me to do; or of any sorrow, it is too hard for me to bear; or of any sinful habit, it is too hard for me to overcome. — Elizabeth Charles.
There is no such thing as patriotic art and patriotic science. Both art and science belong, like all things great and good, to the whole world, and can be furthered only by a free and general interchanges ideas among contemporaries, with continual reference to the heritage of the past as it is known to us. — Goethe.
Exert your talents and distinguish yourself, and don't think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire. I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing while he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark. — Dr. Johnson.
Instead of praying for effects, let us pray that we may be enabled to fulfill causes! — Professor Drummond.
Only he who puts on the garment of humility finds how worthily it clothes his life. — Phillips Brooks.
The best cure for sorrow is to sympathize with another in his sorrow. The cure for despondency is to lift the burden from some other heart. — Anon.
A soul occupied with great ideas best performs small duties; the divinest views of life penetrate most clearly into the meanest emergencies. — James Martineau.
There is no action of man in this life which is not the beginning of so long a chain of consequences as that no human providence is high enough to give us a prospect to the end. — Thomas of Malmesbury.
We are never without help. We have no right to say of any good work, it is too hard for me to do; or of any sorrow, it is too hard for me to bear; or of any sinful habit, it is too hard for me to overcome. — Elizabeth Charles.
There is no such thing as patriotic art and patriotic science. Both art and science belong, like all things great and good, to the whole world, and can be furthered only by a free and general interchanges ideas among contemporaries, with continual reference to the heritage of the past as it is known to us. — Goethe.
Exert your talents and distinguish yourself, and don't think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire. I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing while he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark. — Dr. Johnson.
There's No Vice Quite Like Profanity
1828
PROFANITY
There is no vice committed, which promises so little profit and gratification as Profanity — few vices have a more powerful effect in lessening our reverence to the Supreme Being — weakening the bands of civil society — and degrading us in the estimation of the good and the wise. — Almost every other crime has a tolerable pretext for the commission — Swearing stands unprotected, either by mental or sensual enjoyments — it may emphatically be called an absurd and an inconsistent vice, as the moment gives no gratification, and promises us no advantage or profit in future.
The Drunkard receives immediate pleasure from the intoxicating draught — the Thief expects to gain profit by his infamous employment — the Murderer gratifies his vengeance for a real or supposed injury — and even the Traitor has in view the advancement of himself in the destruction of his country. Weak and impotent is the gratification of the Profane Swearer — he tosses from his tongue irreverently the name of that ALMIGHTY BEING; 'in whom he lives, moves and has his being.' He on every slight occasion calls on his creator to damn his soul to the regions of despair and misery — and was not our God a merciful and benevolent Being, 'who delighteth not in the death of a sinner,' his situation would be too dreadful to paint — too wretched to imagine. Separate from the dread and fear of the indignation of the ALMIGHTY in the other world, the effect produced on society, by profane swearing, in this world, has a direct tendency to destroy the moral and religious institutions of our country — and in some instances would prostrate the property, blast the reputation, and endanger the lives of our citizens. What confidence, follow citizens, can you have in the oath of that man, in a court of justice, although he calls the SUPREME BEING to the truth of his testimony, when in every circle he enters, with every man he meets, he uses the name of that God, who is the author of every good and every perfect gift, with irreverence. The obligation and the solemnity of an oath are destroyed — and the idea of perjury being a crime has no effect on the mind. See a man trembling on the verge of the grave — see his head whitened with age, his limbs feeble and inactive — and his soul just ready to leave his decayed body to appear at the bar of his God — bear this man, who instead of saying, 'God be merciful to me a sinner,' hear him using expressions of profanity, which palsey the feelings of the soul. Language would fail to express our sentiments of such a man — we only regret that he possesses no other mark of humanity than the form of a man.
—The Delaware Weekly Advertiser and Farmers Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, July 31, 1828, p. 1.
PROFANITY
There is no vice committed, which promises so little profit and gratification as Profanity — few vices have a more powerful effect in lessening our reverence to the Supreme Being — weakening the bands of civil society — and degrading us in the estimation of the good and the wise. — Almost every other crime has a tolerable pretext for the commission — Swearing stands unprotected, either by mental or sensual enjoyments — it may emphatically be called an absurd and an inconsistent vice, as the moment gives no gratification, and promises us no advantage or profit in future.
The Drunkard receives immediate pleasure from the intoxicating draught — the Thief expects to gain profit by his infamous employment — the Murderer gratifies his vengeance for a real or supposed injury — and even the Traitor has in view the advancement of himself in the destruction of his country. Weak and impotent is the gratification of the Profane Swearer — he tosses from his tongue irreverently the name of that ALMIGHTY BEING; 'in whom he lives, moves and has his being.' He on every slight occasion calls on his creator to damn his soul to the regions of despair and misery — and was not our God a merciful and benevolent Being, 'who delighteth not in the death of a sinner,' his situation would be too dreadful to paint — too wretched to imagine. Separate from the dread and fear of the indignation of the ALMIGHTY in the other world, the effect produced on society, by profane swearing, in this world, has a direct tendency to destroy the moral and religious institutions of our country — and in some instances would prostrate the property, blast the reputation, and endanger the lives of our citizens. What confidence, follow citizens, can you have in the oath of that man, in a court of justice, although he calls the SUPREME BEING to the truth of his testimony, when in every circle he enters, with every man he meets, he uses the name of that God, who is the author of every good and every perfect gift, with irreverence. The obligation and the solemnity of an oath are destroyed — and the idea of perjury being a crime has no effect on the mind. See a man trembling on the verge of the grave — see his head whitened with age, his limbs feeble and inactive — and his soul just ready to leave his decayed body to appear at the bar of his God — bear this man, who instead of saying, 'God be merciful to me a sinner,' hear him using expressions of profanity, which palsey the feelings of the soul. Language would fail to express our sentiments of such a man — we only regret that he possesses no other mark of humanity than the form of a man.
—The Delaware Weekly Advertiser and Farmers Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, July 31, 1828, p. 1.
Where the Deaf May Hear
1896
Many an old lady goes to church of a Sunday and sits through the service in a frame of mind devout to a degree, but never hears a solitary word of the sermon.
There is a preacher in Syracuse, Rev. George B. Spalding, D. D., who has changed all that. Dr. Spalding is pastor of the first Presbyterian Church, a religious body made up in the main of wealthy folk to whom money is no particular object.
Moved at first by the lamentations of some of his aged parishioners that they could not hear his preachments — Dr. Spalding was a newspaper man before he joined the clergy, and is a practical soul withal — he arranged, for the better delivery of the Gospel to those deaf brethren and sisters, speaking tubes which ran from a large metal receiver — really a megaphone immediately in front of him on the pulpit, down under the flooring of the auditorium and up into the pews.
The megaphone is built into the front of the pulpit, so that when reading or speaking the doctor addresses it directly.
So successful did the clergyman's device prove, that speaking tubes were put into every pew in the great auditorium. Any person, who is hard of hearing and happens to be a visitor to the church, will find means at hand of hearing the sermon.
One deaf old lady, who went to Dr. Spalding's church the other day, having heard of the speaking-tube system, burst into tears when she put the transmitter to her ear and caught the sound of the preacher's voice. She said it was the first sermon she had heard in over a quarter of a century. — New York Journal.
Many an old lady goes to church of a Sunday and sits through the service in a frame of mind devout to a degree, but never hears a solitary word of the sermon.
There is a preacher in Syracuse, Rev. George B. Spalding, D. D., who has changed all that. Dr. Spalding is pastor of the first Presbyterian Church, a religious body made up in the main of wealthy folk to whom money is no particular object.
Moved at first by the lamentations of some of his aged parishioners that they could not hear his preachments — Dr. Spalding was a newspaper man before he joined the clergy, and is a practical soul withal — he arranged, for the better delivery of the Gospel to those deaf brethren and sisters, speaking tubes which ran from a large metal receiver — really a megaphone immediately in front of him on the pulpit, down under the flooring of the auditorium and up into the pews.
The megaphone is built into the front of the pulpit, so that when reading or speaking the doctor addresses it directly.
So successful did the clergyman's device prove, that speaking tubes were put into every pew in the great auditorium. Any person, who is hard of hearing and happens to be a visitor to the church, will find means at hand of hearing the sermon.
One deaf old lady, who went to Dr. Spalding's church the other day, having heard of the speaking-tube system, burst into tears when she put the transmitter to her ear and caught the sound of the preacher's voice. She said it was the first sermon she had heard in over a quarter of a century. — New York Journal.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
The Press and the Clergy — Telling the Truth?
1910
A certain writer has said that no newspaper which took truth for its standard would make a pecuniary success. The press might return the compliment by remarking that no minister who told the truth about his congregation, alive or dead, would occupy the pulpit much longer than on Sunday afterward. The press and clergy go hand in hand with the whitewash brush, rosy spectacles magnifying little virtues and kindly throwing little deformities into oblivion. The pulpit, the pen and the gravestone are partners in saint making.
Hopewell Church Notes
CALVARY BAPTIST
Rev. Edwin S. Fry, pastor.
OUR KING — On next Sunday the thoughts of millions of Christians will be turned to the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, and to the acclaim, of the multitude, "Blessed is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven and glory in the highest." Jesus Christ reigns today. In all lands and among all classes there are multitudes who place loyalty to Christ above every other allegiance, who render to Him a willing obedience. The explanation of His power over human affections is given in the following words credited to Napoleon. "Alexander, Caesar and myself founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon love and at this hour millions of men would die for him." This the divine force that is conquering the world. Those who feel the love of Christ constraining them recognize its conquering power and gladly join with devout Isaac Watts in saying
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun,
Doth his successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.
—The Hopewell Herald, Hopewell, New Jersey, March 16, 1910, p. 3.
A certain writer has said that no newspaper which took truth for its standard would make a pecuniary success. The press might return the compliment by remarking that no minister who told the truth about his congregation, alive or dead, would occupy the pulpit much longer than on Sunday afterward. The press and clergy go hand in hand with the whitewash brush, rosy spectacles magnifying little virtues and kindly throwing little deformities into oblivion. The pulpit, the pen and the gravestone are partners in saint making.
Hopewell Church Notes
CALVARY BAPTIST
Rev. Edwin S. Fry, pastor.
OUR KING — On next Sunday the thoughts of millions of Christians will be turned to the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, and to the acclaim, of the multitude, "Blessed is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven and glory in the highest." Jesus Christ reigns today. In all lands and among all classes there are multitudes who place loyalty to Christ above every other allegiance, who render to Him a willing obedience. The explanation of His power over human affections is given in the following words credited to Napoleon. "Alexander, Caesar and myself founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon love and at this hour millions of men would die for him." This the divine force that is conquering the world. Those who feel the love of Christ constraining them recognize its conquering power and gladly join with devout Isaac Watts in saying
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun,
Doth his successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.
—The Hopewell Herald, Hopewell, New Jersey, March 16, 1910, p. 3.
Reason Why Covenanters Do Not Vote
Pennsylvania, 1915
Dr. Wylie Presents Some Very Convincing Arguments to Listeners
Believes Reform Will Come in Time
Says Nation Has Not Recognized God in Its Constitution
In an interesting and convincing address given at the Reformed Presbyterian church of this city yesterday morning, Dr. R. C. Wylie, dean of the theological seminary of that church in Pittsburgh, told why members of his sect do not vote.
"War," said Dr. Wylie, "is not always wrong. In the Revolutionary war the Americans were right; in the Civil war the North was right, and in the Spanish-American war, the United States was right. God commanded Joshua to make war on the nations of Canaan because they were corrupt. That war was right.
"The work of Joshua is symbolical of the work of the people of all ages. Christ said, 'Go ye into all the nations of the world and preach the gospel.' He left an unfinished work to be done by the people. "Sometimes God destroys evil powers; sometimes he lets them destroy themselves.
"When he commanded Joshua to tear down, he also told him to build up; and the nation he had conquered was made better by the rule of a good people.
"Today we have many evils to contend with. There is the evil of desecrating the Sabbath, the evil of divorce, and the evil of the saloon. All of these have caused the downfall of man and the ruin of nations. People direct their attack at all this corruption, but what comes of it? Divorces are permitted by the laws of the nation; liquor many be prohibited for a while in some sections, but there is no lasting result.
"There is a great fundamental law underlying the whole thing.
"Take first the case of an individual. His friends wish him to reform. He succeeds in overcoming his taste for certain evils. But if he does not change internally as well as externally, is that reform going to last? Our habits are nothing more nor less than the outward growth of our inward souls.
"As with the individual so it is with the nation. What is a nation's real relation to God? This has been the question of all ages. There have been three great theories built up to try to answer it.
In the Middle Ages we have the Papal theory. The pope was all powerful. He received his authority from God and ruled both church and state.
"In time, however, kings began to tire of being dictated to by the pope. Then, they developed the theory of the Divine Right of Kings. They did not deny the pope received authority from God, but they claimed the authority came as direct to them as to the pope.
"But the people grew discontented at the tyranny of the kings and they developed the 'Social Contact Theory.' All powers were with the people, irrespective of God. American politicians hold to this theory. They know no other and wish to know none.
The kings were right in getting away from the papal theory and the people cannot be censured for breaking away from the kings.
"The harm was in going to the other extreme, and completely exterminating God from their government. Our constitution was framed when this theory was at its height. The name of God is not mentioned in it.
"How can we build up a better nation and cast out these evils if we have no good foundation? It is folly to try to make better laws and a better government so long as the material we build on is defective. Where did the United States get the constitution? From the very beginning of the laws of nations down to the time it was framed. The frame-work is excellent: It is the system that is wrong. Let the frame-work stand, but bring in this: 'We the people of the United States, acknowledging almighty God as the source of all power and authority in good government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the ruler of all nations and His will as the standard for the decision of moral issues in national life, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, to ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.'
"The government of the United States has done some splendid things but the moral system is defective. By so stating the preamble, the constitution is not changed, but it does change the aspect of the people toward God.
"Every nation has a God. We believe in God. Why don't we express it in our constitution? It was a grave mistake not to acknowledge God in making the constitution of a great nation like this.
"People will say we Covenanters do not help by not voting. Did the ancient Christians vote for Christianity? Was their cause not regarded as hopeless? Yet today Christianity rules most of the world. Does it not help to keep this thing before the public? We do not sympathize with the man who does not vote and has no reason for not voting. We do not respect that man who is too indifferent or whose own personal affairs occupy too much of his time to vote. As conscientious Christians we cannot help to support the laws which install immorality in our country.
"The laws are in harmony with the system and the system as it exists allows divorce, desecration of the Sabbath, open saloons and many other evils. Why help support something that is partially good but obstructs the thing that is wholly good. There is sin somewhere and it must be with the people who do not encourage reform
"We would gladly vote could we conscientiously do so. But until the recognition of God comes as an issue before the nation it is impossible. "If we did not have ample reason for our beliefs we would not preach them.
"There are four great reasons why we believe we are right.
"First — is the philosophical argument. A nation has a direct relationship with God. It is inconsistent to accept a system with wrong principles. A good follower of Christ cannot do it.
"Second — Historical facts bear us out. Take Rome for instance. It persecuted the Christians, refused the doctrine, became corrupt and immoral and ruined itself.
"Third — The great Biblical principle is separation of God from evil. In business you do not seek to come in contact with unscrupulous men. Neither should you do so in government.
"Fourth — Our cause is practical. If it were not we would not attempt o advance it. The objection is raised that we do no good; that if every one did as we are doing the country would be ruined in a short time. But my dear friends if every one did as we are doing corruption, vice and immorality would be gone forever. A reformation is not brought about in a day, nor a year, if it were so it would not be a lasting one. But time will tell, although we may not be here to witness the fact."
—New Castle News, New Castle, Pennsylvania, Oct. 4, 1915, p. 2.
Comment: I'm usually pretty tolerant of some of these crazy offshoot groups. This one seems to have the ways of the nitwit down pat, and really rankles me. The guy is so self-righteous and judgmental about everyone else, but then sits back and says if society isn't perfect he's not going to participate, and yet he hopes that somehow everything gets better. Plus, it's not the great biblical principle that God separates himself from evil. Sure, there may be a prooftext that indicates something like 'not looking on evil,' but the entire foundation of the incarnation of Christ says the truth is just the opposite of these Covenanters. And this guy, what would he say of the prophets, that they were somehow against God because they suggested reforms and a more just society in Israel? His argument would be that that was a theocracy, which by his opinions on the Constitution, sounds like what would satisfy him — but one wonders (he would enforce his narrow view by Constitutional amendment, but would probably come to the sad realization that conversion and inward truth is tough to legislate). As for the prophets, they seem to represent a minority point of view in an overall society that was neglectful of the traditions or understandings of tradition as they saw it. No, this guy's argument that it's purity or nothing in society is one I will not respect. I wonder if he kept his own house based on that theology. If it's not absolutely clean I refuse to live in this house! Well, there's micro and there's macro. He needs to be consistent. Plus, just between you and me, I imagine he was just as big a sinner as everyone else out there he so proudly despised. So, what was his name, Wylie? Wylie, take a hike. And as for "time telling," his last statement, it doesn't look like it paid to be overly optimistic without raising a finger and just sitting back as a pure naysayer. So take a hike, bud. We’ll leave you in 1915, although you would have been more comfortable in 1915 B.C.
Dr. Wylie Presents Some Very Convincing Arguments to Listeners
Believes Reform Will Come in Time
Says Nation Has Not Recognized God in Its Constitution
In an interesting and convincing address given at the Reformed Presbyterian church of this city yesterday morning, Dr. R. C. Wylie, dean of the theological seminary of that church in Pittsburgh, told why members of his sect do not vote.
"War," said Dr. Wylie, "is not always wrong. In the Revolutionary war the Americans were right; in the Civil war the North was right, and in the Spanish-American war, the United States was right. God commanded Joshua to make war on the nations of Canaan because they were corrupt. That war was right.
"The work of Joshua is symbolical of the work of the people of all ages. Christ said, 'Go ye into all the nations of the world and preach the gospel.' He left an unfinished work to be done by the people. "Sometimes God destroys evil powers; sometimes he lets them destroy themselves.
"When he commanded Joshua to tear down, he also told him to build up; and the nation he had conquered was made better by the rule of a good people.
"Today we have many evils to contend with. There is the evil of desecrating the Sabbath, the evil of divorce, and the evil of the saloon. All of these have caused the downfall of man and the ruin of nations. People direct their attack at all this corruption, but what comes of it? Divorces are permitted by the laws of the nation; liquor many be prohibited for a while in some sections, but there is no lasting result.
"There is a great fundamental law underlying the whole thing.
"Take first the case of an individual. His friends wish him to reform. He succeeds in overcoming his taste for certain evils. But if he does not change internally as well as externally, is that reform going to last? Our habits are nothing more nor less than the outward growth of our inward souls.
"As with the individual so it is with the nation. What is a nation's real relation to God? This has been the question of all ages. There have been three great theories built up to try to answer it.
In the Middle Ages we have the Papal theory. The pope was all powerful. He received his authority from God and ruled both church and state.
"In time, however, kings began to tire of being dictated to by the pope. Then, they developed the theory of the Divine Right of Kings. They did not deny the pope received authority from God, but they claimed the authority came as direct to them as to the pope.
"But the people grew discontented at the tyranny of the kings and they developed the 'Social Contact Theory.' All powers were with the people, irrespective of God. American politicians hold to this theory. They know no other and wish to know none.
The kings were right in getting away from the papal theory and the people cannot be censured for breaking away from the kings.
"The harm was in going to the other extreme, and completely exterminating God from their government. Our constitution was framed when this theory was at its height. The name of God is not mentioned in it.
"How can we build up a better nation and cast out these evils if we have no good foundation? It is folly to try to make better laws and a better government so long as the material we build on is defective. Where did the United States get the constitution? From the very beginning of the laws of nations down to the time it was framed. The frame-work is excellent: It is the system that is wrong. Let the frame-work stand, but bring in this: 'We the people of the United States, acknowledging almighty God as the source of all power and authority in good government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the ruler of all nations and His will as the standard for the decision of moral issues in national life, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, to ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.'
"The government of the United States has done some splendid things but the moral system is defective. By so stating the preamble, the constitution is not changed, but it does change the aspect of the people toward God.
"Every nation has a God. We believe in God. Why don't we express it in our constitution? It was a grave mistake not to acknowledge God in making the constitution of a great nation like this.
"People will say we Covenanters do not help by not voting. Did the ancient Christians vote for Christianity? Was their cause not regarded as hopeless? Yet today Christianity rules most of the world. Does it not help to keep this thing before the public? We do not sympathize with the man who does not vote and has no reason for not voting. We do not respect that man who is too indifferent or whose own personal affairs occupy too much of his time to vote. As conscientious Christians we cannot help to support the laws which install immorality in our country.
"The laws are in harmony with the system and the system as it exists allows divorce, desecration of the Sabbath, open saloons and many other evils. Why help support something that is partially good but obstructs the thing that is wholly good. There is sin somewhere and it must be with the people who do not encourage reform
"We would gladly vote could we conscientiously do so. But until the recognition of God comes as an issue before the nation it is impossible. "If we did not have ample reason for our beliefs we would not preach them.
"There are four great reasons why we believe we are right.
"First — is the philosophical argument. A nation has a direct relationship with God. It is inconsistent to accept a system with wrong principles. A good follower of Christ cannot do it.
"Second — Historical facts bear us out. Take Rome for instance. It persecuted the Christians, refused the doctrine, became corrupt and immoral and ruined itself.
"Third — The great Biblical principle is separation of God from evil. In business you do not seek to come in contact with unscrupulous men. Neither should you do so in government.
"Fourth — Our cause is practical. If it were not we would not attempt o advance it. The objection is raised that we do no good; that if every one did as we are doing the country would be ruined in a short time. But my dear friends if every one did as we are doing corruption, vice and immorality would be gone forever. A reformation is not brought about in a day, nor a year, if it were so it would not be a lasting one. But time will tell, although we may not be here to witness the fact."
—New Castle News, New Castle, Pennsylvania, Oct. 4, 1915, p. 2.
Comment: I'm usually pretty tolerant of some of these crazy offshoot groups. This one seems to have the ways of the nitwit down pat, and really rankles me. The guy is so self-righteous and judgmental about everyone else, but then sits back and says if society isn't perfect he's not going to participate, and yet he hopes that somehow everything gets better. Plus, it's not the great biblical principle that God separates himself from evil. Sure, there may be a prooftext that indicates something like 'not looking on evil,' but the entire foundation of the incarnation of Christ says the truth is just the opposite of these Covenanters. And this guy, what would he say of the prophets, that they were somehow against God because they suggested reforms and a more just society in Israel? His argument would be that that was a theocracy, which by his opinions on the Constitution, sounds like what would satisfy him — but one wonders (he would enforce his narrow view by Constitutional amendment, but would probably come to the sad realization that conversion and inward truth is tough to legislate). As for the prophets, they seem to represent a minority point of view in an overall society that was neglectful of the traditions or understandings of tradition as they saw it. No, this guy's argument that it's purity or nothing in society is one I will not respect. I wonder if he kept his own house based on that theology. If it's not absolutely clean I refuse to live in this house! Well, there's micro and there's macro. He needs to be consistent. Plus, just between you and me, I imagine he was just as big a sinner as everyone else out there he so proudly despised. So, what was his name, Wylie? Wylie, take a hike. And as for "time telling," his last statement, it doesn't look like it paid to be overly optimistic without raising a finger and just sitting back as a pure naysayer. So take a hike, bud. We’ll leave you in 1915, although you would have been more comfortable in 1915 B.C.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Emerson One of "Ten Moral Leaders"
1902
Almost feverish eagerness was displayed to get into Tremont Temple by throngs of people to hear Professor E. H. Griggs's closing lecture. There was particular interest in observing how the only American named in the list of "ten moral leaders" would be estimated, in comparison with the nine Europeans.
The lecturer certainly could not have disappointed Emerson lovers through failure to assign a sufficiently high place to him. Not only did Professor Griggs pronounce Emerson "the prophet of democracy," "the most fertilizing mind which our country has produced," but he declared, with passionate eloquence, that Emerson's place is not lower than that of the very loftiest of the nine other moral leaders in the list.
That list comprises, besides Emerson, Socrates, Marcus Aurelius, St. Francis, Savonarola, Erasmus, Luther, Bruno, Victor Hugo and Carlyle. — Boston Daily Advertiser.
Almost feverish eagerness was displayed to get into Tremont Temple by throngs of people to hear Professor E. H. Griggs's closing lecture. There was particular interest in observing how the only American named in the list of "ten moral leaders" would be estimated, in comparison with the nine Europeans.
The lecturer certainly could not have disappointed Emerson lovers through failure to assign a sufficiently high place to him. Not only did Professor Griggs pronounce Emerson "the prophet of democracy," "the most fertilizing mind which our country has produced," but he declared, with passionate eloquence, that Emerson's place is not lower than that of the very loftiest of the nine other moral leaders in the list.
That list comprises, besides Emerson, Socrates, Marcus Aurelius, St. Francis, Savonarola, Erasmus, Luther, Bruno, Victor Hugo and Carlyle. — Boston Daily Advertiser.
Science Seeks Name to Give Mystic Energy
1921
Theosophical Lecturer Tells of Scramble to Identify Mysterious Force
Eugene W. Munson, of the National Theosophical Society, lectured on theosophy in the auditorium of the City Library Monday night. Weather conditions prevented a very large attendance.
Mr. Munson spoke on "The Hidden Side of Things." For several years he has been traveling in the United States. His lecture tonight will be illustrated with slides.
"The search today for that mysterious energy back of living forms is a scramble. Practically all schools of modern science and philosophy are in the hunt. And these schools have given the thing for which they are searching a name. Science calls it energy. New Thought calls it Mind, Spiritualists say it is the spirit, psychologists call in the subconscious mind, and Christian Scientists call it Divine Mind. Theosophists agree with all of them. We see a grand scheme of evolution in which Divine Life, manifesting as the sons of God, wells up through myriads of forms with its outward going energy. This intangible potency, eternal mystery, or indwelling life is the thing for which men search."
Mr. Munson said that the method by which this "Spirit" contracted matter was complex and worthy of considerable study. He told and illustrated how vibrations tended to run up and down the scale, reflecting into the higher as well as the lower forms.
—The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin, Oct. 11, 1921, p. 3.
Theosophical Lecturer Tells of Scramble to Identify Mysterious Force
Eugene W. Munson, of the National Theosophical Society, lectured on theosophy in the auditorium of the City Library Monday night. Weather conditions prevented a very large attendance.
Mr. Munson spoke on "The Hidden Side of Things." For several years he has been traveling in the United States. His lecture tonight will be illustrated with slides.
"The search today for that mysterious energy back of living forms is a scramble. Practically all schools of modern science and philosophy are in the hunt. And these schools have given the thing for which they are searching a name. Science calls it energy. New Thought calls it Mind, Spiritualists say it is the spirit, psychologists call in the subconscious mind, and Christian Scientists call it Divine Mind. Theosophists agree with all of them. We see a grand scheme of evolution in which Divine Life, manifesting as the sons of God, wells up through myriads of forms with its outward going energy. This intangible potency, eternal mystery, or indwelling life is the thing for which men search."
Mr. Munson said that the method by which this "Spirit" contracted matter was complex and worthy of considerable study. He told and illustrated how vibrations tended to run up and down the scale, reflecting into the higher as well as the lower forms.
—The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin, Oct. 11, 1921, p. 3.
Dr. Spalding Finds Lesson in Life of Lew Wallace
1905
Says the Author's Christianity is a Miracle of Miracles.
"The Author of 'Ben Hur' Ready Meet Death" was the subject of a sermon preached by Rev. Dr. George Spalding at the First Presbyterian Church yesterday morning. Dr. Spalding took his text from the second epistle to Timothy, chapter 1 and verse 12, as follows: "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day."
In part Dr. Spalding said of General Lew Wallace: "He was a strange, wayward boy at home and in college, erratic in faith and conduct, but down under the foaming surface there were great profundities of conviction which had been placed there by a mother's ceaseless prayers. How the deeps of his soul heaved when, having enlisted his regiment, he received from the patriotic women of Indianapolis a stand of colors. Wallace before an immense crowd drew his soldiers upon the public square. Taking the flag in hand he shouted to his regiment, 'Boys, remember Buena Vista, where many of us fought. Down on your knees. Now let us swear before God to defend this flag with the last drop of blood.'
His Trip to Palestine
"This was the man who afterward fell under the influence of Ingersoll, who repeated to him the mistakes of Moses. 'Can you believe in miracles?' asked the skeptic. The answer was 'Ingersoll and I have been traveling in Palestine and I have taken the Bible as my best guide book from place to place. I am putting my believe into a story. I shall call it Ben Hur. I believe that the Christ of Palestine was the Son of God.'
"The Christianity which he lived out and left behind him is itself the miracle of miracles. And more and more through all the years after this great man knew in whom he believed. More and more this Christ was the interpreter of God and his own conscience. More and more he found God's reconciliation of righteousness and mercy in the forgiveness of his own great sin and guilt. And so when he lay there peering into death and the judgment of eternity, amid the laughter of his grandchildren, he received the announcement of his physician and with Christ before his eyes and Christ in all his convictions of unworthiness and with Christ in every love of his great heart he said with Paul of old, 'I am ready to meet my God.'
"Dear people, will not every one of you join with me in the prayer, 'Let me live the life of the Christian and let my last end be like his'?"
—The Post-Standard, Syracuse, NY, Feb. 20, 1905, p. 7.
Says the Author's Christianity is a Miracle of Miracles.
"The Author of 'Ben Hur' Ready Meet Death" was the subject of a sermon preached by Rev. Dr. George Spalding at the First Presbyterian Church yesterday morning. Dr. Spalding took his text from the second epistle to Timothy, chapter 1 and verse 12, as follows: "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day."
In part Dr. Spalding said of General Lew Wallace: "He was a strange, wayward boy at home and in college, erratic in faith and conduct, but down under the foaming surface there were great profundities of conviction which had been placed there by a mother's ceaseless prayers. How the deeps of his soul heaved when, having enlisted his regiment, he received from the patriotic women of Indianapolis a stand of colors. Wallace before an immense crowd drew his soldiers upon the public square. Taking the flag in hand he shouted to his regiment, 'Boys, remember Buena Vista, where many of us fought. Down on your knees. Now let us swear before God to defend this flag with the last drop of blood.'
His Trip to Palestine
"This was the man who afterward fell under the influence of Ingersoll, who repeated to him the mistakes of Moses. 'Can you believe in miracles?' asked the skeptic. The answer was 'Ingersoll and I have been traveling in Palestine and I have taken the Bible as my best guide book from place to place. I am putting my believe into a story. I shall call it Ben Hur. I believe that the Christ of Palestine was the Son of God.'
"The Christianity which he lived out and left behind him is itself the miracle of miracles. And more and more through all the years after this great man knew in whom he believed. More and more this Christ was the interpreter of God and his own conscience. More and more he found God's reconciliation of righteousness and mercy in the forgiveness of his own great sin and guilt. And so when he lay there peering into death and the judgment of eternity, amid the laughter of his grandchildren, he received the announcement of his physician and with Christ before his eyes and Christ in all his convictions of unworthiness and with Christ in every love of his great heart he said with Paul of old, 'I am ready to meet my God.'
"Dear people, will not every one of you join with me in the prayer, 'Let me live the life of the Christian and let my last end be like his'?"
—The Post-Standard, Syracuse, NY, Feb. 20, 1905, p. 7.
Detecting a Culprit
1893
The Rev. Joseph Haven, who preached in Rochester, N. H., during the last quarter of the last century, has been always remembered for his genial spirit and his inexhaustible humor. One story told of him has many parallels, but it is quite as likely to be true in his case as in any.
The boy had been guilty of some grave offense, and yet would not confess it.
"I can tell who did it," said the parson, and accordingly he called together all the boys suspected and explained to them that he had confined a rooster under a kettle in a darkened room. One after another they must pass in and touch the kettle. When the guilty boy touched it, he might expect to hear the rooster crow.
The lads filed in and out again and were made to display their fingers. All but those of one lad were sooty. He, the guilty one, had not ventured to touch the telltale kettle. — Youth's Companion.
The Rev. Joseph Haven, who preached in Rochester, N. H., during the last quarter of the last century, has been always remembered for his genial spirit and his inexhaustible humor. One story told of him has many parallels, but it is quite as likely to be true in his case as in any.
The boy had been guilty of some grave offense, and yet would not confess it.
"I can tell who did it," said the parson, and accordingly he called together all the boys suspected and explained to them that he had confined a rooster under a kettle in a darkened room. One after another they must pass in and touch the kettle. When the guilty boy touched it, he might expect to hear the rooster crow.
The lads filed in and out again and were made to display their fingers. All but those of one lad were sooty. He, the guilty one, had not ventured to touch the telltale kettle. — Youth's Companion.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Practical Religion As Great Sculptor Felt It in His Life
1917
John Bacon, the noted English sculptor, whose genius was immortalized in prose by Lord Macaulay and in verse by the poet Cowper, was a man of pronounced and practical piety. No matter how much he was occupied with business, how exalted by applause, or how tempted by wealth, religion was always his greatest concern.
One day when Bacon was hard at work in his studio a lady visited him, and in the course of the conversation he happened to make a remark about religion. The lady then said: "My religion is to fear God and to keep the commandments." Then she showed plainly that she did not care to discuss religion any further; whereupon Bacon said quietly: "Do you not recollect that it is said, 'They that fear the Lord spake often one to another?'"
In other words, he believed that if two people with true religious feeling met they should never be afraid or feel embarrassed to talk about their religion.
On the day of his death, Bacon desired to bear such testimony that it would be lasting and have a good influence upon others, and so he dictated the following and requested that it be placed near his grave:
What I was as an Artist
Seemed to me of some importance
While I lived; but
What I really was as a Believer
In Christ Jesus
Is the only thing of importance
To me now.
—From Home and School.
The Source of Its Beauty
Once there was a brier growing in a ditch, and there came along a gardener with his spade. As he dug around it, and lifted it out, the brier said to itself, "What is he doing that for?" Doesn't he know that I am only an old worthless brier?" But the gardener took it into the garden and planted it amid his flowers, while the brier said, "What a mistake he has made, planting an old brier like myself among such rose trees as these!" But the gardener came once more with his keen-edged knife, made a slit in the brier, and "budded" it with a rose, and by and by when summer came, lovely roses were blooming on that old brier. Then the gardener said, "Your beauty is not due to that which came out, but to that which I put into you." This is just what Christ is doing all the time with poor human lives. — Selected.
John Bacon, the noted English sculptor, whose genius was immortalized in prose by Lord Macaulay and in verse by the poet Cowper, was a man of pronounced and practical piety. No matter how much he was occupied with business, how exalted by applause, or how tempted by wealth, religion was always his greatest concern.
One day when Bacon was hard at work in his studio a lady visited him, and in the course of the conversation he happened to make a remark about religion. The lady then said: "My religion is to fear God and to keep the commandments." Then she showed plainly that she did not care to discuss religion any further; whereupon Bacon said quietly: "Do you not recollect that it is said, 'They that fear the Lord spake often one to another?'"
In other words, he believed that if two people with true religious feeling met they should never be afraid or feel embarrassed to talk about their religion.
On the day of his death, Bacon desired to bear such testimony that it would be lasting and have a good influence upon others, and so he dictated the following and requested that it be placed near his grave:
What I was as an Artist
Seemed to me of some importance
While I lived; but
What I really was as a Believer
In Christ Jesus
Is the only thing of importance
To me now.
—From Home and School.
The Source of Its Beauty
Once there was a brier growing in a ditch, and there came along a gardener with his spade. As he dug around it, and lifted it out, the brier said to itself, "What is he doing that for?" Doesn't he know that I am only an old worthless brier?" But the gardener took it into the garden and planted it amid his flowers, while the brier said, "What a mistake he has made, planting an old brier like myself among such rose trees as these!" But the gardener came once more with his keen-edged knife, made a slit in the brier, and "budded" it with a rose, and by and by when summer came, lovely roses were blooming on that old brier. Then the gardener said, "Your beauty is not due to that which came out, but to that which I put into you." This is just what Christ is doing all the time with poor human lives. — Selected.
The First Submarine (Jonah Had No Periscope)
1917
The first submarine of which we have any record was invented by God, and the first passenger to travel in it was his disobedient prophet, Jonah. This submarine was created and on hand at the moment of Jonah's greatest need. God's providence was over him even in his sin, and God would not let him perish until after he had had time for serious reflection. In this submarine Jonah was the only human passenger, and he had no periscope to show him what was going on outside and to distract his mind. Those few days of undisturbed communion with God, while it did not broaden Jonah into a prophet with a world vision, did lead him to decide to obey Jehovah, and through his obedience to save his own life for worthy service for God. This decision being made, Jonah was carried, free of charge, in God's submarine, and landed at a point nearest to Nineveh, where he was able to do the greatest work of his life. — Watchman-Examiner.
Shallow Waters and Deep
I remember walking across the intervening mile between Loch Lomond and Loch Long. Loch Lomond is an inland lake, and when I left it its waters were disquieted and boisterous, lashing the shores with angry waves. Loch Long is an arm of the sea, and its waters were perfectly calm, and I could look through its lucid depths and see the seaweed rooted on the rocks beneath. And the life of the soul, when it is like a small, measurable lake, is easily disquieted, and little disturbances toss it into convulsions. But when the soul knows God, when it recognizes its vast relationships, when it feels the tidal flow of the infinite within the waters of the breast, it has the secret of a great calm, and the little things leave it undisturbed. When the soul knows God it can be still. — Rev. J. H. Jowett in The Christian Herald.
"The bird that sings in winter is dreaming of the orange grove, and the land of sunshine, and of flowers. We learn to sing in our winter of trial as we dream of Canaan, the Lord's land."
The first submarine of which we have any record was invented by God, and the first passenger to travel in it was his disobedient prophet, Jonah. This submarine was created and on hand at the moment of Jonah's greatest need. God's providence was over him even in his sin, and God would not let him perish until after he had had time for serious reflection. In this submarine Jonah was the only human passenger, and he had no periscope to show him what was going on outside and to distract his mind. Those few days of undisturbed communion with God, while it did not broaden Jonah into a prophet with a world vision, did lead him to decide to obey Jehovah, and through his obedience to save his own life for worthy service for God. This decision being made, Jonah was carried, free of charge, in God's submarine, and landed at a point nearest to Nineveh, where he was able to do the greatest work of his life. — Watchman-Examiner.
Shallow Waters and Deep
I remember walking across the intervening mile between Loch Lomond and Loch Long. Loch Lomond is an inland lake, and when I left it its waters were disquieted and boisterous, lashing the shores with angry waves. Loch Long is an arm of the sea, and its waters were perfectly calm, and I could look through its lucid depths and see the seaweed rooted on the rocks beneath. And the life of the soul, when it is like a small, measurable lake, is easily disquieted, and little disturbances toss it into convulsions. But when the soul knows God, when it recognizes its vast relationships, when it feels the tidal flow of the infinite within the waters of the breast, it has the secret of a great calm, and the little things leave it undisturbed. When the soul knows God it can be still. — Rev. J. H. Jowett in The Christian Herald.
"The bird that sings in winter is dreaming of the orange grove, and the land of sunshine, and of flowers. We learn to sing in our winter of trial as we dream of Canaan, the Lord's land."
The Glory of the Nazarene
1910
By Rev. Wm. E. Tilroe, D.D.
And we beheld his glory. — John 1:14.
That a citizen of the earth, some nineteen centuries ago, a certain Syrian Jew, one Jesus of Nazareth, lived a life that was a life of glory, is the thing that is here said. Other things are said, but our matter of talk is this. It is not a theological vision, but a plain record. "The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory."
Not that to the son of Zebedee theological vision was wanting. To him the historic Jesus of his generation was an eternal, ineffable something known as the Word of God. "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God, and the word was God," and "The word was made flesh and dwelt among us." As speech is a revealing, a message, from the soul invisible, so the Christ was a word from God. Further, this Christ was with John the potent universal Creator. "All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made." This same Creator and word has also life and light. "In him was life, and the life was the light of men." There may be existence without light, but existence without life there is not, and that new thrilling thing, the key of being, the light of the world, and the secret of destiny, is in the Christ.
Surely the invisible and ever-abiding Jesus shone zenith high in the eyes of John, and there was theological vision in plenty. But it was this vision become flesh and dwelling among us that was the immediate concern. One too poor for where to lay his head; barren of social prestige, without culture of the schools, writing no books, showing scant regard for organism or institutions, setting the sword into its sheath, beggaring himself deliberately of every arm of power in honor with the ages, and so mighty as to bend and rock the earth with his tread, making men suspect him nothing less than God, was a spectacle unspeakable for a Galilean fisherman. Fifty years and more he remembers what his eyes have seen, and only the greatest words under the sun and stars are able to tell his tale. "And we beheld his glory."
The glory of the Christ life may be seen earliest, possibly, in that it is the only one of its kind. It was a unique life. Jesus Christ was one, "only begotten." In all the ages he has no fellow. When Napoleon said: "Not one is like him," he had this vision. It is of the genius of greatness to carve a niche for itself, to fly in its own orbit, to evermore walk lonely. Moses, Aristotle, Caesar, Shakespeare, are memories of the forgotten, and live among the dead. So there was never another like the Son of Mary. Reverence is born of respect, and worship of the Christ may well begin by finding him among the solitary few. History can neither be written nor read without mention of His name. Jesus of Nazareth is even now Jesus of the planet.
But the glory of Christ is unique, especially, in being such a glory to the mind of God. Jesus Is the only begotten "of the Father." A compliment of benediction gathers its music and fragrance from its source. The great of earth must read their glory, always, in a revised version. The noonday light of one generation fades in another to a smoking taper. "Call no man happy until he is dead," is an ancient epitaph. Only the judgments of the immortals stand. That the life of the Christ is a glory with the Eternal, is at once a patent of worth and a call to prayer. That worship of the historic Jesus is not rank idolatry finds its one reason here; he is in time a veritable manifestation of the eternal God. Forevermore the Almighty Father exists in some fashion as a revealer, and in this fashion never repeats himself. "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God." Like the shock of earthquake or the rising of the sun this divine word breaks into human history as Jesus of Nazareth and passes on, and very rightly men tarry in reverence at his feet. That human soul which sees in Christ a unique, solitary, unshareable revealing of God alone may worship him.
This leads me naturally to say that the glory of the Christ life is seen also in its transcendence. It is a biography evermore parting from men and carried out of their vision. "The darkness comprehended it not." "The world knew him not." "His own received him not." Men face the Christ not only with mortal opposition, but with mental collapse. They reject him as surely that they are little as they are wicked. Their logic falls in a heap. They walk by faith or stagger to the dust. Unless they believe on his name, receive him, are given right and power to be sons of God, are veritably born again, they never catch the glory of the Christ. A simply human Christ, a Christ who is not transcendent, turns every Christian church into a heathen temple, baptism to an empty, wicked farce, the bread and wine to symbols of a gigantic lie, and Christian people everywhere into the most miserable of men.
By Rev. Wm. E. Tilroe, D.D.
And we beheld his glory. — John 1:14.
That a citizen of the earth, some nineteen centuries ago, a certain Syrian Jew, one Jesus of Nazareth, lived a life that was a life of glory, is the thing that is here said. Other things are said, but our matter of talk is this. It is not a theological vision, but a plain record. "The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory."
Not that to the son of Zebedee theological vision was wanting. To him the historic Jesus of his generation was an eternal, ineffable something known as the Word of God. "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God, and the word was God," and "The word was made flesh and dwelt among us." As speech is a revealing, a message, from the soul invisible, so the Christ was a word from God. Further, this Christ was with John the potent universal Creator. "All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made." This same Creator and word has also life and light. "In him was life, and the life was the light of men." There may be existence without light, but existence without life there is not, and that new thrilling thing, the key of being, the light of the world, and the secret of destiny, is in the Christ.
Surely the invisible and ever-abiding Jesus shone zenith high in the eyes of John, and there was theological vision in plenty. But it was this vision become flesh and dwelling among us that was the immediate concern. One too poor for where to lay his head; barren of social prestige, without culture of the schools, writing no books, showing scant regard for organism or institutions, setting the sword into its sheath, beggaring himself deliberately of every arm of power in honor with the ages, and so mighty as to bend and rock the earth with his tread, making men suspect him nothing less than God, was a spectacle unspeakable for a Galilean fisherman. Fifty years and more he remembers what his eyes have seen, and only the greatest words under the sun and stars are able to tell his tale. "And we beheld his glory."
The glory of the Christ life may be seen earliest, possibly, in that it is the only one of its kind. It was a unique life. Jesus Christ was one, "only begotten." In all the ages he has no fellow. When Napoleon said: "Not one is like him," he had this vision. It is of the genius of greatness to carve a niche for itself, to fly in its own orbit, to evermore walk lonely. Moses, Aristotle, Caesar, Shakespeare, are memories of the forgotten, and live among the dead. So there was never another like the Son of Mary. Reverence is born of respect, and worship of the Christ may well begin by finding him among the solitary few. History can neither be written nor read without mention of His name. Jesus of Nazareth is even now Jesus of the planet.
But the glory of Christ is unique, especially, in being such a glory to the mind of God. Jesus Is the only begotten "of the Father." A compliment of benediction gathers its music and fragrance from its source. The great of earth must read their glory, always, in a revised version. The noonday light of one generation fades in another to a smoking taper. "Call no man happy until he is dead," is an ancient epitaph. Only the judgments of the immortals stand. That the life of the Christ is a glory with the Eternal, is at once a patent of worth and a call to prayer. That worship of the historic Jesus is not rank idolatry finds its one reason here; he is in time a veritable manifestation of the eternal God. Forevermore the Almighty Father exists in some fashion as a revealer, and in this fashion never repeats himself. "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God." Like the shock of earthquake or the rising of the sun this divine word breaks into human history as Jesus of Nazareth and passes on, and very rightly men tarry in reverence at his feet. That human soul which sees in Christ a unique, solitary, unshareable revealing of God alone may worship him.
This leads me naturally to say that the glory of the Christ life is seen also in its transcendence. It is a biography evermore parting from men and carried out of their vision. "The darkness comprehended it not." "The world knew him not." "His own received him not." Men face the Christ not only with mortal opposition, but with mental collapse. They reject him as surely that they are little as they are wicked. Their logic falls in a heap. They walk by faith or stagger to the dust. Unless they believe on his name, receive him, are given right and power to be sons of God, are veritably born again, they never catch the glory of the Christ. A simply human Christ, a Christ who is not transcendent, turns every Christian church into a heathen temple, baptism to an empty, wicked farce, the bread and wine to symbols of a gigantic lie, and Christian people everywhere into the most miserable of men.
In Christ — The Limitless Ideal
1909
By Rev. Frank T. Benson in the Church Calendar
It has been said of some men that they think in continents; they live and act in hemispheres. In Jesus Christ we see this character in its perfect flower. Indeed the large ideal and the world-vision is the legitimate fruit of a Christian civilization.
Christ's was the life which alone had no limits in time. He was a world-man. No age could claim Him, and no race could lay its hand upon Him and say, "He is of us." The truth He taught was of the same character. Each era as it comes and goes has some central thought or ideal which controls it. Around that thought clusters the air, and the science, and the philosophy, and even the action of that age. But the truth that Jesus taught had no such limit. It was neither the product of the time in which He lived, nor had it the imperfection of a limited horizon. He saw all truth at its fountain. He beheld it not in its segments but in its perfect circles. For these reasons the truth Jesus uttered was full of the deepest significance. The simplest word He uttered sometimes was capable of elaboration until it reached the uttermost man, and the ultimate time.
In His labors this limitless ideal was ever present. His ideal had within its purview not the Jew alone, but all men, everywhere. When He saved the soul of one man it was to add him to the sum total, but that man was not the end. He was saved that his influence and labors might be added to those saved like him until they might reach forth to save the world. The Gospel might begin at Jerusalem, but it must not stop until it has belted the globe. Jesus in every expression of His purpose and every energy of His divine nature was a world-conqueror.
Those who follow in the footsteps of Jesus have no business to be satisfied with small things. He gave His disciples no other commission but a world-wide commission. The man or the church that glories in his or its insignificance never learned that spirit from Jesus. No man, who has any true conception of the real character of Jesus, can fail to see that it was never His intention that any man should die without first having the opportunity of hearing, from consecrated and burning lips, the evangel of hope as it issued forth from the cross.
The church has suffered sometimes more from narrowness than from devils. We contract and minimize Christ and the glory of His gospel by the insignificance of our ideals and service. We labor to bring forth a mouse. In a world which is doing great things, a world with its world-wide enterprises, the church cannot expect to hold her own unless she leads in still wider vision and still mightier enterprise. There is some reason for the taunt of the world which we sometimes hear, "The church is too slow." But the taunt is getting more and more unjust. The modern missionary propaganda with its slogan of carrying the gospel to all nations in this generation, is as grand in its conception as it is mighty in its performance. In her evangelism, in her charities, in her fellowship, the church is pushing forth the contracted horizons of her ideals to world-wide scope.
The church is capable of doing greater things than the world inasmuch as she assured that all power is hers as she moves forward in accordance with the will of her divine Master. Behind a militant church is the Almighty God. The apostle lost all fear and claimed all things when he said, "I can do all things through Him that strengtheneth me." This is the true spirit of the church, and it is irresistible.
What we need as a church is to get into touch with the limitless ideal of Christ, and to order our labors in the light of that revelation. To do this we must face the taunt of those who are too indolent or too worldly to move, and would hold back the church that they may continue in their self-complacency. Added to this will be the taunt of the world, which, under Satan's control, always views with alarm an awakened church. We ought not to allow these to control us. The Lord is our example. Our marching orders are from the King, and at the end of our days we must give in our account to Him. Heaven's highest reward will be to have Him say, "Well done" to us.
The value of a great ideal and an exalted service upon the individual is blessed beyond computation. A man's own faith and energy are great in the degree in which he sees and appreciates the greatness of the cause in which he is enlisted. If he thinks meanly of his cause, if it seems to him of no great consequence, he will find no heart to do noble deeds in its furtherance.
If a man beholds in Jesus the sum of all perfections, the fountain of all goodness, the ultimate power for all righteousness; if he sees in the gospel the power of God unto salvation for all men; if he sees in the church the organized agency to carry that salvation to the world; if he realizes that the operations of grace here will find their fruition in eternal glory hereafter; if he believes that the dream of Christ was more than a dream, and that the world will yet lie at His feet sobbing out its griefs, and finding its heart's ease there; if he believes that he is a part of the host who can draw from the sources of omnipotence for its work; if he believes that a recreant church will be the cause of unutterable anguish to a lost world, which she might have saved if she had been true to the Lord and His commission — then he will shake off his lethargy, and, with his new conception of duty, and his new ideal of service, he will go forward, attempting great things for God, and God will honor his faith and his labors by showing him that even yet "the arm of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear deaf that cannot hear."
—Denton Journal, Denton, Maryland, March 6, 1909, p. 2.
By Rev. Frank T. Benson in the Church Calendar
It has been said of some men that they think in continents; they live and act in hemispheres. In Jesus Christ we see this character in its perfect flower. Indeed the large ideal and the world-vision is the legitimate fruit of a Christian civilization.
Christ's was the life which alone had no limits in time. He was a world-man. No age could claim Him, and no race could lay its hand upon Him and say, "He is of us." The truth He taught was of the same character. Each era as it comes and goes has some central thought or ideal which controls it. Around that thought clusters the air, and the science, and the philosophy, and even the action of that age. But the truth that Jesus taught had no such limit. It was neither the product of the time in which He lived, nor had it the imperfection of a limited horizon. He saw all truth at its fountain. He beheld it not in its segments but in its perfect circles. For these reasons the truth Jesus uttered was full of the deepest significance. The simplest word He uttered sometimes was capable of elaboration until it reached the uttermost man, and the ultimate time.
In His labors this limitless ideal was ever present. His ideal had within its purview not the Jew alone, but all men, everywhere. When He saved the soul of one man it was to add him to the sum total, but that man was not the end. He was saved that his influence and labors might be added to those saved like him until they might reach forth to save the world. The Gospel might begin at Jerusalem, but it must not stop until it has belted the globe. Jesus in every expression of His purpose and every energy of His divine nature was a world-conqueror.
Those who follow in the footsteps of Jesus have no business to be satisfied with small things. He gave His disciples no other commission but a world-wide commission. The man or the church that glories in his or its insignificance never learned that spirit from Jesus. No man, who has any true conception of the real character of Jesus, can fail to see that it was never His intention that any man should die without first having the opportunity of hearing, from consecrated and burning lips, the evangel of hope as it issued forth from the cross.
The church has suffered sometimes more from narrowness than from devils. We contract and minimize Christ and the glory of His gospel by the insignificance of our ideals and service. We labor to bring forth a mouse. In a world which is doing great things, a world with its world-wide enterprises, the church cannot expect to hold her own unless she leads in still wider vision and still mightier enterprise. There is some reason for the taunt of the world which we sometimes hear, "The church is too slow." But the taunt is getting more and more unjust. The modern missionary propaganda with its slogan of carrying the gospel to all nations in this generation, is as grand in its conception as it is mighty in its performance. In her evangelism, in her charities, in her fellowship, the church is pushing forth the contracted horizons of her ideals to world-wide scope.
The church is capable of doing greater things than the world inasmuch as she assured that all power is hers as she moves forward in accordance with the will of her divine Master. Behind a militant church is the Almighty God. The apostle lost all fear and claimed all things when he said, "I can do all things through Him that strengtheneth me." This is the true spirit of the church, and it is irresistible.
What we need as a church is to get into touch with the limitless ideal of Christ, and to order our labors in the light of that revelation. To do this we must face the taunt of those who are too indolent or too worldly to move, and would hold back the church that they may continue in their self-complacency. Added to this will be the taunt of the world, which, under Satan's control, always views with alarm an awakened church. We ought not to allow these to control us. The Lord is our example. Our marching orders are from the King, and at the end of our days we must give in our account to Him. Heaven's highest reward will be to have Him say, "Well done" to us.
The value of a great ideal and an exalted service upon the individual is blessed beyond computation. A man's own faith and energy are great in the degree in which he sees and appreciates the greatness of the cause in which he is enlisted. If he thinks meanly of his cause, if it seems to him of no great consequence, he will find no heart to do noble deeds in its furtherance.
If a man beholds in Jesus the sum of all perfections, the fountain of all goodness, the ultimate power for all righteousness; if he sees in the gospel the power of God unto salvation for all men; if he sees in the church the organized agency to carry that salvation to the world; if he realizes that the operations of grace here will find their fruition in eternal glory hereafter; if he believes that the dream of Christ was more than a dream, and that the world will yet lie at His feet sobbing out its griefs, and finding its heart's ease there; if he believes that he is a part of the host who can draw from the sources of omnipotence for its work; if he believes that a recreant church will be the cause of unutterable anguish to a lost world, which she might have saved if she had been true to the Lord and His commission — then he will shake off his lethargy, and, with his new conception of duty, and his new ideal of service, he will go forward, attempting great things for God, and God will honor his faith and his labors by showing him that even yet "the arm of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear deaf that cannot hear."
—Denton Journal, Denton, Maryland, March 6, 1909, p. 2.
The Present Church Controversy
1923
By the Rev. L. W. Almy, Pastor
Marquette Park Presbyterian Church
Newspapers the country over are giving publicity to the controversy now on in church circles between "Fundamentalists" and "Modernists." What is the average church member to think of it? Should he be disturbed, and lose his faith in God and his church? Let us see. "Fundamentalists" represent the more conservative type of Christian thinking. They are devout, earnest men. They love the Lord Jesus sincerely. They accept the Bible "from Genesis to Revelation," And they tend to a literal interpretation of the Bible's language. For instance, in Genesis, chapter 14, we find the story of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, pursued by Pharaoh's army. It is recorded that the water was "a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left." The Fundamentalist pictures water standing in perpendicular walls on either side of the fleeing Israelites.
"Modernists," on the other hand, are also sincere and earnest Christians. They represent a different type of thought from the "Fundamentalists." Modern science, with its increasing knowledge of the universe and man, has given a wider range of learning which the "Modernists" accept as authority to a greater or less degree. And the "Modernist" holds that God is great enough to have created this larger world which scientists have shown us. But the "Modernist" tends to a liberal interpretation of the Bible story. In the Red Sea story of the Israelites he finds (Genesis 14:21) that "Jehovah caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land." Here, to the "Modernist," is a natural cause of the miracle; and God used the wind to sweep the water back. Perpendicular walls, in a world where water does not stand upright, is to him unnatural.
The average church member should do his own thinking. God spoke to the boy Samuel and the Apostle Paul directly, and He will speak to humble hearts today. If this controversy is the result of earnest desire to understand God, we can be sure God will lead us to a higher understanding of Him. It is a sign that Christians are thinking. We have not "decayed at the top," but are using our heads. And it speaks well for the spirit of the day. The average man, therefore, ought to take a keen interest in the discussion. He ought to feel that God's truth is eternally true, and science can't kill it any more than "conservative stubbornness."
A New Year dawns. It will be an epochal year in the history of religion in America. It may end in a progressive step; it can end in disaster. It ought to call forth Christian patience and tolerance on each side of the controversy. Each side is Christian. Each believes in God the Father and Creator of the universe and of mankind. Each believes devoutly in Jesus as God's incarnate Son. Each desires to spread the Gospel of Love and Purity, and Peace, through Him. Let us hope that next year will see more light and less heat; more patience and less denunciation; more tolerance and less intolerance. We shall then come through the discussion without harm to the churches, and with less to regret.
—The Merchants Telegram, Chicago, Dec. 27, 1923, p. 4.
By the Rev. L. W. Almy, Pastor
Marquette Park Presbyterian Church
Newspapers the country over are giving publicity to the controversy now on in church circles between "Fundamentalists" and "Modernists." What is the average church member to think of it? Should he be disturbed, and lose his faith in God and his church? Let us see. "Fundamentalists" represent the more conservative type of Christian thinking. They are devout, earnest men. They love the Lord Jesus sincerely. They accept the Bible "from Genesis to Revelation," And they tend to a literal interpretation of the Bible's language. For instance, in Genesis, chapter 14, we find the story of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, pursued by Pharaoh's army. It is recorded that the water was "a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left." The Fundamentalist pictures water standing in perpendicular walls on either side of the fleeing Israelites.
"Modernists," on the other hand, are also sincere and earnest Christians. They represent a different type of thought from the "Fundamentalists." Modern science, with its increasing knowledge of the universe and man, has given a wider range of learning which the "Modernists" accept as authority to a greater or less degree. And the "Modernist" holds that God is great enough to have created this larger world which scientists have shown us. But the "Modernist" tends to a liberal interpretation of the Bible story. In the Red Sea story of the Israelites he finds (Genesis 14:21) that "Jehovah caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land." Here, to the "Modernist," is a natural cause of the miracle; and God used the wind to sweep the water back. Perpendicular walls, in a world where water does not stand upright, is to him unnatural.
The average church member should do his own thinking. God spoke to the boy Samuel and the Apostle Paul directly, and He will speak to humble hearts today. If this controversy is the result of earnest desire to understand God, we can be sure God will lead us to a higher understanding of Him. It is a sign that Christians are thinking. We have not "decayed at the top," but are using our heads. And it speaks well for the spirit of the day. The average man, therefore, ought to take a keen interest in the discussion. He ought to feel that God's truth is eternally true, and science can't kill it any more than "conservative stubbornness."
A New Year dawns. It will be an epochal year in the history of religion in America. It may end in a progressive step; it can end in disaster. It ought to call forth Christian patience and tolerance on each side of the controversy. Each side is Christian. Each believes in God the Father and Creator of the universe and of mankind. Each believes devoutly in Jesus as God's incarnate Son. Each desires to spread the Gospel of Love and Purity, and Peace, through Him. Let us hope that next year will see more light and less heat; more patience and less denunciation; more tolerance and less intolerance. We shall then come through the discussion without harm to the churches, and with less to regret.
—The Merchants Telegram, Chicago, Dec. 27, 1923, p. 4.
Priest Makes a Deal with Coughing Congregation
1874
The Tablet relates a story of a priest who had a coughing congregation, and who cured them thus: No sooner had he ceased to speak than, singular to relate, one cough after another died out until soon there was absolute silence in the church. Whereupon the father said something to the following effect: "My friends, I know that in this weather colds abound, and therefore it is difficult for you to refrain from coughing. Still it is impossible for me to preach and for you to cough at the same time. Let us come, then, to a mutual agreement, so that you may cough and I may preach without disturbing each other. I will speak say for five or ten minutes at a time; when I raise my handkerchief there will be an interval allowed for coughing. As soon as I let it fall I will resume my sermon, and your silence." The plan succeeded admirably.
Couldn't Blow His Horn in That Church
An organist, for many years engaged in one of the noted churches in this city, tells this:
A strange man was acting as sexton. An old gentleman who was deaf took his seat in a pew, and produced from his pocket an ear-trumpet of curious shape, and to the dismay of the temporary sexton, raised it toward his face. The sexton sprang to his side, and said something in a low voice, whereupon the gentleman endeavored to raise the trumpet to his ear, but was prevented by the sexton seizing his hand. With increasing voice and excitement, he said, "You mustn't, Sir. You mustn't blow that horn in here. If you do, I shall be obliged to put you out!" And the good old man, pocketing the bugle, heard nothing of the service or sermon.
The Tablet relates a story of a priest who had a coughing congregation, and who cured them thus: No sooner had he ceased to speak than, singular to relate, one cough after another died out until soon there was absolute silence in the church. Whereupon the father said something to the following effect: "My friends, I know that in this weather colds abound, and therefore it is difficult for you to refrain from coughing. Still it is impossible for me to preach and for you to cough at the same time. Let us come, then, to a mutual agreement, so that you may cough and I may preach without disturbing each other. I will speak say for five or ten minutes at a time; when I raise my handkerchief there will be an interval allowed for coughing. As soon as I let it fall I will resume my sermon, and your silence." The plan succeeded admirably.
Couldn't Blow His Horn in That Church
An organist, for many years engaged in one of the noted churches in this city, tells this:
A strange man was acting as sexton. An old gentleman who was deaf took his seat in a pew, and produced from his pocket an ear-trumpet of curious shape, and to the dismay of the temporary sexton, raised it toward his face. The sexton sprang to his side, and said something in a low voice, whereupon the gentleman endeavored to raise the trumpet to his ear, but was prevented by the sexton seizing his hand. With increasing voice and excitement, he said, "You mustn't, Sir. You mustn't blow that horn in here. If you do, I shall be obliged to put you out!" And the good old man, pocketing the bugle, heard nothing of the service or sermon.
The Ouija Declines
1920
William and Isaac Fuld are contestants in a comparatively unimportant suit in a Baltimore court. Each claims to have invented the Ouija board. Each one claims the right to profit from the sale of the invention. The court is asked to settle the dispute and decide who is entitled to the profits from the sale last year of 375,000 of these popular instruments of modern psychism.
Newspaper correspondents were quick to grasp the incongruity. A court with all its admitted human failings was asked to decide the question. The arbitration of the all-wise and all-known Ouija board was refused by those who might be expected to know its virtues best.
The Fuld brothers hit on a queer policy of advertising their wares.
Frequently it is reported that Ouija board devotees have become insane through too great faith in the mysterious powers of the omnipotent board. It would seem that the Fuld brothers were a trifle crazy so publicly to confess the purely mundane origin of Ouija. After such a confession in court it would appear that only those who already are mentally unbalanced would purchase Ouija as anything more than a toy.
If Ouija cannot designate its own inventor, what can be expected of it in other fields?
—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 20, 1920, p. 6.
William and Isaac Fuld are contestants in a comparatively unimportant suit in a Baltimore court. Each claims to have invented the Ouija board. Each one claims the right to profit from the sale of the invention. The court is asked to settle the dispute and decide who is entitled to the profits from the sale last year of 375,000 of these popular instruments of modern psychism.
Newspaper correspondents were quick to grasp the incongruity. A court with all its admitted human failings was asked to decide the question. The arbitration of the all-wise and all-known Ouija board was refused by those who might be expected to know its virtues best.
The Fuld brothers hit on a queer policy of advertising their wares.
Frequently it is reported that Ouija board devotees have become insane through too great faith in the mysterious powers of the omnipotent board. It would seem that the Fuld brothers were a trifle crazy so publicly to confess the purely mundane origin of Ouija. After such a confession in court it would appear that only those who already are mentally unbalanced would purchase Ouija as anything more than a toy.
If Ouija cannot designate its own inventor, what can be expected of it in other fields?
—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 20, 1920, p. 6.
Church Ring Bout is Found Success
1920
Pastor Wrestles After Fight is Finished
Bible Class and Sewing Circle Girls Wildly Cheer as Boxers Draw Blood
KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 18. — The pastor arose, motioned for silence from his flock gathered around the platform in the church basement, and announced:
"The next number on the program will be a 3-round bout between the amateur champion lightweight of the United States and the ex-welter weight champion. Following that event, I challenge anyone present to 'Indian wrestle' with me. The Sunday School superintendent has asked to be first."
That book place recently at the First Congregational Church in Rosedale, a suburb. Rev. J. H. Jones, pastor, was acting as master of ceremonies of an "athletic carnival" staged in the church basement by the ladies' aid society for the benefit of the church building fund. A swimming pool, billiard tables, moving picture machine and other items of that nature are the goal of the building fund.
Bout Draws Mixed Crowd
Young men and young women of the age frequently found in public dance halls were at the entertainment. There were, however, some of the older folks, but in every case the wrinkles about their eyes turned up instead of down.
After the pastor made his announcement, into the ring walked Tommy Murphy, lightweight, and Roy Helton, welterweight.
More excited spectators, probably, never watched Murphy and Helton. Members of the sewing circle shouted for side swipes and jaw punches. Students in the men's Bible class used the proper technical terms, while the young girls' organization invented phrases expressive, but of hazy wording.
Murphy Drew First Blood
Murphy drew blood from Helton's nose and was condemned harshly for so doing, as Helton is a member and regular attendant at the First Congregational Church. Helton landed jarring jabs on Murphy's ribs and was urged to greater effort.
Thus they fought three rounds and when time was called, kept right on fighting. The extra punches were much appreciated by the spectators, until Mr. Jones at last separated the combatants.
Mr. Jones, or as the members of his flock call him, Jones, then took to the mat. Flat on his back, with the Sunday School superintendent beside him for an Indian wrestle, the pastor seemed to lose none of his dignity.
Other husky members of the church took a turn at "Jones" and went to defeat regularly.
Pastor Wrestles After Fight is Finished
Bible Class and Sewing Circle Girls Wildly Cheer as Boxers Draw Blood
KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 18. — The pastor arose, motioned for silence from his flock gathered around the platform in the church basement, and announced:
"The next number on the program will be a 3-round bout between the amateur champion lightweight of the United States and the ex-welter weight champion. Following that event, I challenge anyone present to 'Indian wrestle' with me. The Sunday School superintendent has asked to be first."
That book place recently at the First Congregational Church in Rosedale, a suburb. Rev. J. H. Jones, pastor, was acting as master of ceremonies of an "athletic carnival" staged in the church basement by the ladies' aid society for the benefit of the church building fund. A swimming pool, billiard tables, moving picture machine and other items of that nature are the goal of the building fund.
Bout Draws Mixed Crowd
Young men and young women of the age frequently found in public dance halls were at the entertainment. There were, however, some of the older folks, but in every case the wrinkles about their eyes turned up instead of down.
After the pastor made his announcement, into the ring walked Tommy Murphy, lightweight, and Roy Helton, welterweight.
More excited spectators, probably, never watched Murphy and Helton. Members of the sewing circle shouted for side swipes and jaw punches. Students in the men's Bible class used the proper technical terms, while the young girls' organization invented phrases expressive, but of hazy wording.
Murphy Drew First Blood
Murphy drew blood from Helton's nose and was condemned harshly for so doing, as Helton is a member and regular attendant at the First Congregational Church. Helton landed jarring jabs on Murphy's ribs and was urged to greater effort.
Thus they fought three rounds and when time was called, kept right on fighting. The extra punches were much appreciated by the spectators, until Mr. Jones at last separated the combatants.
Mr. Jones, or as the members of his flock call him, Jones, then took to the mat. Flat on his back, with the Sunday School superintendent beside him for an Indian wrestle, the pastor seemed to lose none of his dignity.
Other husky members of the church took a turn at "Jones" and went to defeat regularly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
