What Makes A Presbyterian?

1900

The Great Churches of Christendom

A Series of Articles From Their Several Leaders Showing What Is Required of Their Communicants in Matters of Doctrine and Duty.

By Dr. W. C. Gray, Editor, The Interior

Strictly speaking, Presbyterianism is a form of church government, but that form is an expression of great principles, principles which were implanted in the bosom of man, illustrated in divine revelation, and crystalized in the only form of government which ever received explicit divine sanction; namely government by the representatives of the people. The primitive family was at once the state and the church; the father of the family being the priest and the ruler of his household. He was the first elder. Aggregations of families were governed by councils composed of these elders. When families increased and became communities the elders ruled through representatives. Thus the ancient and primitive church of God was ruled until the time of Saul. It was a divinely sanctioned theocracy, administered through representatives of the people. The people were rebuked when they desired to substitute a monarchy, a centralized government. The local rule of the elders was continued. Christ found them ruling in the synagogue. Paul instituted them in the churches which he organized. This form of government remains today what it was when Enoch walked with God, when Abraham thrashed the kings, when, at Miletus, Paul bade a weeping adieu to the elders of Ephesus, and when the General Assembly bounced Briggs; a theocracy administered by the representatives of the people. It will continue throughout eternity. When John looked from the cliffs of Patmos into the Golden City, did he see a "prudential committee?" John was a well-posted man, as well as a sweet prophet and a sublime bard; but, to save his soul, he could not have told a prudential committee from a coroner's jury. Did he see a bunch of mitered abbots, big or little, from an acolyte to a pope; anything of that kind or variety? If he had, he would have laid down his spiritual binocular and exclaimed with a sigh, "Where am I?" Nay. He saw four and twenty elders in the exercise of their spiritual functions There were one hundred and forty, and four thousand there already — not a pope nor a prudential committeeman in the whole heavenly country. The brethren of the other communions will all come into the most ancient, the divine and the eternal church of God, at last.

Presbyterianism a Model for Governments

Allow me to assure Drs. Henson and Gilbert, who have so ably and agreeably set forth the claims of their respective denominations, of an abundant entrance. They will wake up on the other side and be in the Presbyterian Church without knowing it. It will be a case of infant baptism. When they come to sprinkle that heavenly infant, Dr. Henson, I will volunteer to hold the child.

The Presbyterian Church, therefore, stands for a government of the people, by the people, and, under God, for the people. Our federal government took Presbyterianism as its model. It does not always realize its ideal. It is the fate of all free governments to fall at times under a dictator. Caesar tramped down the freedom of Rome, the two Napoleons the freedom of France, and a little dictator sometimes bobs up in the Presbyterian Church; but he soon bobs down again.

The doctrine of the Presbyterians is in accord with his polity — the sole sovereignty of God and the perfect freedom of man. The sovereignty of God can receive no help from us, but the freedom of man may receive much. The first element of freedom is knowledge; therefore the Presbyterian who knows his calling is devoted to the education of the people. Thus it has come about that the Presbyterians possess a higher average of education than any other people. They are deeply devoted to the interests of free schools, academies, colleges, schools of every kind and grade. They are rigid in requiring thorough scientific, historical and classical education of candidates for their ministry. It is the highest ambition of father and mother to educate their children.

That men may be free they must be virtuous as well as intelligent. The Presbyterian is therefore a champion for every instrumentality and reform that will elevate the moral standard of men. They are vigorous defenders of the Sabbath, because it is essential to the intellectual, moral and spiritual enlightenment of men. They are uncompromising enemies of the saloon, because it is a chief force in maintaining the devil's institution of human chattelhood. Whatever degrades men enslaves them to their own passions, or to the will of other men is determinedly resisted. They regard the Bible, and therefore they so strenuously defend it, as the magna charta of human freedom, the charter of God, upon which a man may stand and bid defiance to any master, civil or ecclesiastical — to satan, to the pope, to the civil autocrat. We stand in this freedom wherewith Christ Jesus hath made us free. To this Presbyterians have testified with their blood on many a battlefield, with their eloquence on countless platforms and pulpits. See how our Hollanders met Alva, our Orangemen met James, our Roundheads met Charles, our Scotch Irish met George III. They have nailed their doctrine of human freedom fast to their standards.

Characteristics of Presbyterians To-day

Wherein does the present Presbyterian differ from his predecessors? Chiefly in that he knows more — hence he is not so narrow, turbulent or bigoted. He is more liberal with his money because he has more of it. He is more liberal in his charity toward other faiths, because he sees that they are on his side in the great war for Christ's kingdom. He is not so dogmatic and pugnacious, because the more he knows, the more he knows he does not know. He has plenty of information to acquire along that line yet. Our men who know it all are now confined to two classes — old men who stopped acquiring knowledge forty years ago, and young men who have not yet begun to acquire it. They are the fellows who stand ready to explain things to God.

The traditions of Presbyterianism are, as we have seen in the line of a broad and enlightened patriotism. This has its drawbacks so far as the church is concerned, in that our people give almost as freely to outside enterprises and charities as they do to their own, thereby earning for themselves the sobriquet, "God's foolish people." It loses for us much practical sectarian zeal. It is exemplified in the number of men of our faith who occupy positions of great civil responsibility. Our presidents are predominately Presbyterian. Of the present governors of the states there are more than twice as many who are Presbyterians as of any other type.

What is the present chief duty of the Presbyterian? I must say that it is to inform himself more thoroughly of his mission in the world, and to concentrate his strength more closely upon it. He must stop scattering. He cares little about ceremonial, the mode of baptism, etc. He does not believe in the "historic episcopate," nor in anybody's "divine rights."

Cardinal Beliefs of the Church

What he believes in is regeneration, moral reform, education, liberty, human brotherhood and equality before God and the civil law. Let him put his money and his muscle behind his own works. Let him be more watchful in spotting demagogues, civil or ecclesiastical. Let him not allow himself to be diverted from his work by controversies over non-essentials.

It is said by some that Presbyterianism stands for doctrine. No, it does not, in the sense that it is a sexton's guard standing at the mouth of a funeral vault to prevent the stealing of the dead. It stands for living principles toward man and pure worship toward God. It stands resolutely for the Bible because the Bible is its charter of rights, terrestrial and celestial. It stands for God as the universal Sovereign, for Christ as the expiatory Savior, and for man as a lost sinner, whom it is the duty of every Presbyterian to find and bring back to his Father's house.

—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 9.

Why Be A Christian?

1900

The Well-Known Business Men's Evangelist Answers This Query of The Ram's Horn

By William Phillips Hall

I answer, first, because God commands me to be a Christian. For He "now commandeth all men everywhere to repent." Acts 17:30. To be a Christian means to be obedient to God. To be obedient to God means to do right. If I do right, by becoming a Christian, I am right. For as Faber beautifully writes:

"Right is right, since God is God,
And right the day must win:
To doubt would be disloyalty,
To falter would be sin."

If I am not a Christian, if I fail to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, I am wrong. For "to him that knoweth to do good (or right) and doeth it not, to him it is sin." James 4:17. I am, therefore, a Christian because, it would be wrong for me to be anything but a Christian. As obedience to God's laws in nature is necessary to insure His blessings in the natural world, likewise obedience to His moral law is necessary to insure His blessings in the moral and spiritual world. Positive and continued disobedience to God's laws in the natural world results in natural death. Positive and continued disobedience to His moral and spiritual laws results in moral and spiritual death. All those who are not Christians — all those who have failed to "believe on the name of the Son of God," — are "dead in trespasses and sins." For "he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:36.

My second answer to the question, "Why be a Christian?" is, because I can become spiritually alive, — "alive unto God," — only by becoming a Christian; and that by being "born again." For "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3. And "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." John 3:6. Becoming a Christian is being born again. When my darling baby boy lay dead in his little coffin; when I looked for the last time on earth down upon that baby form, those golden curls, those wee waxen hands, that sweet infant face upon which the lines of sin never had been traced, and, thank God, never would be, I would have given a prince's ransom to have opened once more, in life, those lovely blue eyes, then closed in their last long sleep; I would have gladly given all the property I then possessed on earth, and mortgaged all that I might possess in the future, to have unsealed once more in life those sweet little lips then sealed in death, — but I did not possess the price that would purchase such a priceless boon. But, after all, I had the blessed consciousness of the fact that as that darling babe was one of God's own, an infant Christian, — "for of such is the kingdom of heaven," — I should be privileged to press that loved boy again to my heart in life, in the better, heavenly country above, because God's dear Son had already paid his ransom from death and the grave, as He also did for every one, — and the price was His own precious blood. So with Charlotte Elliott I sing:

"Just as I am without one plea
but that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee,
0 Lamb of God, I come, I come!"

My third answer to your question, "Why be a Christian?" is, that I may be saved from my sins. For "thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins." Matt. 1:21. If I become one of His people, He has promised to save me from my sins; and in meeting the condition I find, from personal experience, that the promise is made good. No sinner lives so low in sin but that the Savior will save him if he will become a Christian. While holding an evangelistic service last spring in one of our eastern towns, I spoke on the text, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." Prov. 28:30. I illustrated, as best I could, the awful truth of the first part of the text, and then told how God, for Christ's sake, would have mercy on the sinner who forsook his sins and accepted Christ as his Savior. Eleven men then publicly announced their intention of forsaking sin and accepting Christ as their personal Savior.

After the service was dismissed, the leading man of the town, a man whose name is familiar in almost every household in the land, came to me and said: "I know you will be delighted to learn that one of those eleven men who accepted Christ this afternoon was the wickedest man in our town. He not only sold liquor, but committed other crimes of equal magnitude against society. He has just come home after serving a term in states prison, and today gives himself to God." Another friend said: "That man, when he was sentenced to states prison, vowed that when he gat out again he would shoot the man upon whose complaint he was tried and sentenced. When he entered the church this afternoon the man whom he had threatened to kill ushered him to a seat." Several months passed by, then, at the Northfield Christian Workers' Conference, a man of fine appearance held out his hand and said: "I am very glad to see you, Mr. Hall." I did not recognize him at first, he was so changed for the better; but a word from a friend revealed the fact that I held by the hand he who had been "the wickedest man in B — ," but who was now, by the grace of God, a Christian gentleman, a prince of heaven, a son of God!

"He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean;
His blood avails for me."

My fourth, and last, answer to the question, "Why be a Christian?" is, because it pays. My father told me, when I was a little fellow, that he had become a Christian while listening to a sermon on the text, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these (necessary) things shall be added unto you." Matt. 6:33. I remember the narration of this fact very deeply impressed me as a boy, and as the years went by I learned by personal experience the truth of the text. The best paying investment any man can ever make is the investment of himself in Christ.

Several years ago, while conducting an evangelistic campaign in the city of Boston, I preached on the text that had led my father to Christ. I told my hearers that the promise of the Master was as good then as when it was originally given. One of those who listened was a young man who had apparently done his utmost to secure employment, but without success. Raised in a good home in the country, he had come down to the city expecting to better his condition in life, but failing to find employment, and falling in with sinful companions he soon fell into sinful ways, spent his last dollar, and then went shelterless and hungry, and that in the dead of winter. Like a drowning man grasping for a straw, he accepted Christ as his Savior, thus meeting God's condition for the fulfillment of His promise. He was immediately brought into contact with a man who furnished him employment, together with food and clothing for his pressing need, and returned the next day to tell us how God, for Christ's sake, had pardoned all his sins, and fully provided for his temporal necessities as well. Thus in becoming a Christian, I obey God, receive eternal life pardon of, and victory over, my sins, and have the glorious assurance that I have a home in heaven (as well as on earth) where I shall spend eternity with the loved ones to my heart so dear, and with the altogether lovely and incomparable Jesus, my Master and my God. Why should I be anything but a Christian?

—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 10.

The Story of a Race Track Gambler Brought to Christ

1900

Notable Conversions

In a little mission in San Jose, California, a number of earnest Christian workers were holding an enthusiastic meeting, when in strolled a young man twenty-three years of age, uncultured, somewhat ignorant, but well versed in the art of horse training. William Mullen had lived many years with the associates of the race track and had adopted all their habits, and had also received the root of all evil, the desire for money. While he sat listening to many give their experience and tell how God had redeemed them, and others telling how God had kept them and prevented them from a life of shame, in the midst of the testimonial meeting the young man stood up, saying, "You people testify for Jesus Christ, I want to give testimony for the devil — I have served him all my life." What they thought of this is not known save to themselves. But he did not care, for he continued on saying; "I am bad, I have tried to be good, but I can't be good, there is no good in me. You say that Jesus Christ will save me, unless he does I will never be good. For every time I have tried to be good I have failed and I can't be good, but I am going to be good if God will make me good, and I am not going to leave this building until Christ does save me."

He sat down, and at the close of the meeting an old lady invited him to the front to kneel, and while waiting on God for some miraculous power to work upon him, the good old lady by his side kept saying, "Brother are you saved; do you feel you are saved?" Little did she think that she was acting in the person of Satan tempting the young man, for he desired not any such talk. It was an opportunity he wanted to be with the stranger whom he had met, God himself. He wanted God to reveal the light and he desired to be but alone. Getting up he testified that he believed that God would save him, but he was not quite sure.

He knew little of the Scripture, excepting a few passages that were taught him by a gentleman in Washington, D.C., many years ago, when he was an orphan boy with nowhere to go, sleeping under hay stacks, back of boilers, in coal sheds or other places that the boys of the street provided for him. Yet, a few of those verses had sunk deep into his heart. He remembered the kindly words and he remembered the good Sunday School teacher Mr. Clayton, who told him that some day Jesus Christ would save him and make a man of him. Mr. Clayton had met him on 14th Street in Washington, and stopped him, saying, "Little boy, what Sunday School do you go to?" for Mr. Clayton thought he was a good subject for the Sunday School. He looked up into Mr. Clayton's face, and said:

"I dinna gan' to Sunday School."

"Won't you come to my Sunday School?" said Mr. Clayton.

"Naw, I dinna' want to gan' to your Sunday School."

Mr. Clayton coaxed, but his coaxing apparently was all in vain. Finally, looking at the boy he said: "Do you want to go to jail?" Tears now came to the boy's eyes and he looked up into his face and said, "Mister, if you winnit put me in jail, gan' to your Sunday School," thinking that the Sunday School might not be quite as bad as a jail, for he remembered in his early childhood days the big stone wall that surrounded the institution of charity in which he was imprisoned for no greater crime than being an orphan.

And so the next Sunday at the door of old Mt. Zion Sunday School in Washington, D.C., there came a rap. A gentleman invited the stranger who was knocking inside of the church or Sunday School: "Won't you come in little boy?"

"Naw, but if you will, please tell Mr. Clayton I'd oot here."

The gentleman smiled, walked inside and called for the Sunday School teacher, Mr. Clayton, telling him there was a boy at the door.

The good teacher asked the whole Sunday School to promise, and got their promise, that they would not laugh at the strange little boy that was coming in. As Mr. Clayton went to the door he kindly took him by the hand. He looked upon the new scholar dressed up in a coat many times too large for him, covered with ham fat, a large man's pair of pants with the waist pinned around to one side, (possibly it was a horse shoe nail that acted for a button, as such was used commonly by him), but he had his hair combed at least, and it was so uncommon that the good Sunday School teacher who had noticed him many times made a note of the fact as he brought the boy down the aisle, to the sound of the clitter-clatter, clitter-clatter of the shoes that were too large for him.

The Sunday School scholars were compelled to put their handkerchiefs in their mouths to keep from laughing.

The good teacher, who had learned to act in the name of Jesus his Master,. went further than this, and at the close of the Sunday School he said, "William, you must come home with me now and have dinner; Mrs. Clayton wants you to come." All things were prepared for him on that table where he sat down to a nice white table cloth, silver knives and forks, plenty of dishes and good things heaped up purposely for him. It was the first time in his life that he was a guest, and a guest in the name of Jesus Christ.

Many years went by and as some one would say to him while carousing, "All Christians are hypocrites," tears would come to his eyes and he would say, "No, boys, I know better than that, there is one man on earth who is a Christian," and off would go his coat ready to fight as he would repeat, "I know that there was nothing on earth that would cause a man to take me in when I was a boy like Mr. Clayton did, if he was not a Christian." And so a tender spot was gained in his heart, and when the time came that God pressed him and showed him his utter inability to lead a good life without him, he accepted Jesus Christ.

To return to the little mission meeting in California, the young man, having given his testimony, as stated, promised he would return the next night. The next night they asked him to testify for Jesus Christ. Rising, he said, "I am saved, I know that I am saved, for I have not wanted tobacco all day." This was the test that he put God to. He said that if God would save him from the habit that he had followed from his childhood, that he would believe that God had saved him from his sins.

The very next day William Mullen was called to preach. As before said he knew little of the Scriptures, but in the corral, where the horsemen were gathered, he would tell them the wonderful works that God had done for him. He could not declare unto them the Gospel as put forth in the Scriptures, but he would say, "Oh, I know that I am saved, I know that God has saved me for I have not uttered an oath and I could not help swearing before, I have not used any tobacco and I always loved it before, but now I do not care for it. I know that God has saved me, for he has made a new man of me, for the things that I used to love I do not care for any more now, and the things that I did not love I like now. I know and I have heard others say that he has done the same for them, and he will not turn anybody away, for I see that everybody that comes to him gets saved. I know that he will save you because he saved me, and if he could save me he could save anybody on earth."

Many have listened to the glad story, some have accepted it, some now are already in the field repeating the story, some have gone as missionaries, some are ordained ministers of the Gospel, while he goes on his simple way telling that Jesus Christ has died for sinful men.

—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 11.

Conversion In Childhood

1900

The evangelist of the Free Churches of England, perhaps the greatest living evangelist of the world, Gipsy Smith, is a firm believer in the conversion of children. In an address made by him at a noon prayer meeting in London, and reported in The Christian, he pointed out that many Christian workers testify to having found salvation in the days of youth.

Mr. Smith went on to say that we need a deeper realization of the importance of evangelistic work among the young. We can scarcely begin too early, but we can easily postpone dealing with the question until it is too late, and the child has become a worldling. The late Mrs. Booth once said, "I believe it is possible to be ten minutes ahead of the devil." Save an adult and you save a unit; save a child and you save a multiplication table.

Mr. Smith told of an evangelistic mission in the North of England, at the conclusion of which a critical member grumbled about the only visible fruit being "only a boy." Yet that lad-convert is known today as Rev. Thomas Cook, the esteemed Wesleyan evangelist. At another mission a similar incident occurred, and the people said, "It's only a gipsy boy." That "gipsy boy" is now known as Gipsy Smith.

Mr. Smith added a story — told with a human interest and pathetic touch that moved many to tears — of his own little son. The lad was convicted of his need of Christ under his father's preaching in a meeting at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester. Many pressed forward to seek the Saviour. The boy stood for a time anxious and weeping, but timid, "the tears running down his face like bubbles in a mountain spring;" but ultimately he walked down the aisle, and entered the inquiry room. Nothing was said until the next morning, when, before daylight had broken, the little fellow crept into his father's room, taking with him a Bible which was a parental birthday gift. He had written, on the title-page, below the name: "Converted July 17, and the Lord added to the Church."

Concluding his appeal, Mr. Smith said that "Christ put heaven's richest diadem on the cradle of every homestead in the land when he said of the little ones, 'of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.' "

—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 20.

God Redeems Israel

1900

The New York Observer says: "The need of individual Christians and of the church and nation today is the trust, not simply the variable hope, that God will redeem Israel. There is no doubt that Israel needs to be redeemed. There is enough that is wrong with Israel as it is. Israel cannot have the kingdom unless it be made right with God. And the Israel that needs to be redeemed is not simply the visible church, but the whole range and area of human interests, whether private or public, whether secular or religious."

—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 21.

Duties We Perform

1900

The Nashville Christian Advocate says: "It has been said that duty is an angel with a sad face, and the saying contains at least an element of truth. Some duties it is easy for us to perform. We take them up with a sense of joy and delight. But some are hard and difficult. The sight of them makes us shudder and draw back. None the less must we look them squarely in the face. It may be that the very things which we regard with most repugnance have in them just the discipline that our souls most surely need."

—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 21.

The Right to Restrict Alcohol Traffic

1900

The Interior says: "If a man say he has a right, in the exercise of his personal liberty, to get drunk, and the dealer to sell to him if he wishes to buy — very well, so he has — but the community has violable interests in the transaction, and has a perfect right to protect them. The rapid increase of the traffic makes it certain that drastic, repressive measures are necessary to the protection of the most valuable civil interests of the people."

—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 21.

One Harmonious Plan

1900

The Homiletic Review says: "Science and religion, reason and revelation, Christianity and God, are but parts of one harmonious plan, the elements of which have not been frightened into conflict or out of existence by all the innumerable onsets of infidelity in the past, and will not be by those of the present and the future. Least of all will God, the foundation of all, be bowed out of His universe."

—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 21.

Influence of God's Love

1900

The Sunday School Times says: "Love ever goes out from God, as light and heat over go out from the shining sun as the great central orb of our planetary universe. We can shut away ourselves from the blessed influence of God's love, but we cannot change, or cause to cease, the blessed and ceaseless love of God."

—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 21.

Revising The Presbyterian Creed

1900

Dr. Herrick Johnson says concerning creed revision in the Presbyterian Church: "There are five great points that constitute 'the real issue' in the revision movement. Two of the five points are things in the confession, viz: The decree of reprobation and the 'elect infant' clause; and three of the five points are things not in the confession, viz: The love of God for all men, the duty of discipling all nations, and a formulated doctrine of the Holy Spirit. * * A supplemental creed must restate all our essential doctrines, seeking to give them scriptural perspective and proportion and form, and in absolute loyalty to 'the system' that has been our glory and our joy. Personally, I prefer the supplemental creed as the fullest and completest method of adjustment."

—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 22.

Cooperation Among Societies

1900

The Baptist Standard says: "A straw indicating the growth of co-operative relations among our denominational societies is the arrangement made by the Missionary Union with the National Baptist convention and the Lott Carey convention, both composed of Negro Baptists, largely in the South, the latter working more especially in the eastern portions of the South. By this arrangement the union offers to hold itself in the most fraternal relation with respect to work in Africa."

—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 22.

Being Good Simply To Be Good

1900

The Religious Telescope says: "Men must be good in order to be happy, but he who strives to be good merely for the sake of being or becoming happy is not good. The good are good because they love to be good, not for the sake of securing a reward afterward."

—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 22.

Notable Men and Women - 2

1900

Count Tolstoi, the famous Russian novelist, neither drinks, smokes, nor eats meat. It is his boast that he does not possess a single article he could possibly dispense with; and he has even refused to receive a bicycle as a present, on the ground that it is a luxury. His recreations are chess and lawn-tennis, at both of which he is adept.

George Muller still lives in good deeds though he has been dead some years. The income for the orphanages he founded in Bristol, England, is not diminishing. Last year it was nearly $190,000. Much of it comes in peculiar form, and shows the influence of Mr. Muller's ideas on devout minds. A large amount, for example, is money that would otherwise have been paid for life and fire insurance, but is contributed as an expression of faith in God for protection instead of trust in insurance companies.

—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900. p. 23.

Notable Men and Women - 1

1900

Dr. James M. Gray, who has been engaged in teaching in the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago during the summer, will spend the winter in New England conducting his classes in the synthetic study of the Bible in Boston and elsewhere as usual, beginning in the fall.

Dr. Thomas McClelland, the new president of Knox College, was president of Tabor College several years ago. At that time he wanted a railroad to connect Tabor with the rest of the world. Failing to interest other roads in the enterprise, he built it himself and afterwards sold it on favorable terms to the Burlington.

Major D. W. Whittle, who is said to be dying in East Northfield, Mass., is one of the best-known evangelists in the country. "There Shall be Showers of Blessing" and "I Know Whom I Have Believed" are two of his most familiar hymns. For two years Major Whittle has been confined to his bed by rheumatic fever.

—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900. p. 23.