The Reformed Presbyterian Standard and also 0\ir ... - Rparchives.org

July 8, 1914.
A FAMILY PAPER.
E D I T O R I A L
John W. Pritchard, Editor.
CATHOLICISM AXD UNITARIANISM.
Mr. Sunday is reported to have said in his opening
meeting in Huntington, W. Va.;
"I am not going to attack the Catholics. No, I
have too much dirt and filth in my own Qooryard.
It will keep me itiusy cleaning the Protestant
bunch. There are as good men and as bad
scallawags in the Protestant church as in the
Roman Catholic. The Catholic priests have said
masses through the ages over the rotten remains
of the Unitarians."
We have no defence or apology to offer for Unitarianism.
"Whosoever shall confess that Jesus
is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he
in God." "He that believeth not God hath made
Him a liar, because he believeth not the record
that God gave of His Son" (1 John 4:15; 5:10).
But nothing is gained for this rock.truth of Christ'anity
by setting Unitarianism over against Romanism.
One denies the divinity and atonement
of our Lord; the other professes to adore Him as
the Son of God, yet robs Him of every honor and
prerogative as the Eternal God; it professes to
glory in the cross, yet substitutes penance and
purgatory for the blood that cleanses from all sin.
There are devout Catholics who ibelieve in Jesus
and in Him alone for forgiveness and life eternal,
just as there are Unitarians who trust in Him
alone for salvation; but neither Catholic nor Uni.
tarian is helped to believe in Him by the teachings
of the Church to which he belongs. He believes
in spite of their creeds, not because of
them. Both systems are false and deluding, and
nothing is gained iby comparing one with the
other. "To the law and to the testimony, if they
speak not according to this testimony, it is
because there is no light in them" (Isa. 8:20).—
The Christian Instructor, May 5, 1914.
THE REPEAL OF THE TOLLS EXEMPTION.
This has been effected:
"Washington, D. C, June 15.—President Wilson
today signed the Panama tolls exemption repeal
bill as amended in the Senate and agreed
to by the House. He signed the bill with a quill
pen used by President Harrison in signing the international
copyright law in 1891 and by President
Taft in signing the Panama-American copyright
treaty, the Lincoln Memorial bill' and the
act incorporating the National Institute of Arts
and Letters. The pen is the property of Robert
Underwood Johnson of New York."
The freedom granted the coast.wise shipping
of canal passage, was in keeping with similar
grants through the Federal canals in United
States territory, and was of course, opposed by
tbe railroads, though they received large land
grants in fee in aid of the enterprises, and though
other countries largely subsidize their shipping
interests.
Both the Democratic and Progressive Federal
platforms in 1912 declared for freedom for this
shipping, and President Taft had signed the bill.
Mr, Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic candidate,
spoke on August 15, 1912, as foHows:
"One of the ibills just passed by Congress provides
tor free tolls for American ships passing
through the canal, and prohibits any ship pass.
ing through the canal which is owned by any
American railway company. You see the object
of that, don't you We don't want the railways
to compete with themselves, because we understand
that kind of competition. We want the
water carriage to compete with the land carriage,
so as to be perfectly sure that you are going to
set better rates around by the canal than we
wuld across tbo continent."
When the Mexican trouble became acute, the
President personaHy addressed Congress, pressing
repeal of the provision for diplomatic reasons,
whatever views the Congressmen might have of
the rightfulness of the measure. The House acted
promptly, ibut the Senate debated the question
long, and only after amendment could the
repeal go through.
On Thursday, June llth, the Senate passed the
repealing bill. The measure as approved by the
upper House is not the same as that endorsed hy
the President and passed by the House of Representatives.
To the original biH was tacked the
Simmons-Norris amendment, specifically reserving
to the United States any and all rights it may
have under the Hay-Pauncefote treaty, and is to
declare that "the subject of this act shall not be
construed or held as n, waiver or relinquishment
of any right the United States may have * * *
to discriminate in favor of its vessels by exempting
the vessels of the United States, or its
citizens, from the payment of tolls, or in any
way waiving, impairing or otherwise affecting
any right of the United States under said treaty
or otherwise with respect to the sovereignty over
the ownership, control and management of said
canal and the regulation of conditions or charges
of traffic through the same."
Senator O'Gorman of this State quoted at the
close of his speech of May 7, the following from
the Congressional Government of Woodrow Wilson,
page 233, on the powers of the President:
"His only power of compelling compliance on
the part of the Senate lies in his initiative in negotiations
which affords him a chance to get the
country into such scrapes, so pledged in the view
of the world to certain courses of action, that the
Senate hesitates to bring about the appearance of
dishonor which would follow its refusal to ratify
the rash promises or to support the indiscreet
threats of the Department of State."
The truth is, our peaceful relations with England
do not rest on a nice adjustment of commerce
and trade. We bring in here a nobler and
better view from a letter of the Earl of Shaftesbury
to Rev. Dr. James tMcCosh, dated at London,
Sept. 27, 1868, on the eve of the latter's departure
for America.
"All deep and sustained earnestness in religion
(as distinguished from the feeling and action in
support of establishments, political and ecclesiastical)
seems to be fast declining. The determination
of St. Paul to know 'nothing but
Jesus Christ and him crucified' will soon be accepted
or understood by a few only, either here
or elsewhere; and yet between the religious people
of America, and the religious people of England,
there cannot be, except in this principle,
any .firm ground of union. The feeling inspires,
and the habit of thought it both creates and maintains
(I speak not here of eterna Ithings), are the
sole guarantee for the harmony of nations, and for
perfect freedom, collectively and individually, under
either a monarchy, or a republic."
The Presbyterian General Assembly met in May
at Chicago. A reorganization was made of the
Home Mission Board to gain a measure of decentralization.
The committee on Union Seminary received an
extension of time.
"The Assembly instructed a committee to report
next year on the feasibility of a plan, recommended
by the federal council of churches of
Christ, providing for the establishment of one
Protestant church in towns of less than 500 population,
where all Protestants might worship. This
plan was suggested as the firststep in a movement
for bringing together all Protestant
churches."
This is the Federation of which Professor
Mathews of Chicago University is President.
WHEN ONE CAN WORK FOR CHRIST.
One of the speakers at the Conference on
Evangelism Thursday evening at Synod quoted
Charles M. Sheldon to the effect that if one did
not engage in work for Christ, it was because
he was conscious of his sinfulness. The remark
may have 'been stronger than this. It may have
Ibeen that he was conscious of his sin and felt
that it was not repented of and not forgiven.
Even if it had been that strong, it would scarcely
have gone beyond the Scripture. When David
repented of his sin of adultery and murder, he
prayed, "O Lord, open thou my lips." While sin
lay on his heart, his Ups were closed.
There is an excellent reason why an honest
man cannot talk of repentance and forgiveness to
others while he has not repented of his own sin.
A hypocrite, or one who has great gifts in the
way of self-deception, may urge repentance while
he himself has not repented, but it is a hollow
message and reaches no true spiritual result. An
honest man could have no heart in doing personal
work for Christ while he himself is unrepentant
and unforgiven, and that is the reason
why so few people have their lips open to speak
a word for their Lord.
Personal work is a great searcher of the heart.
When one talks to others, he cannot but talk to
himself. If he is not consciously sincere, he cannot
talk with effect and his weakness is in some
sort a confession. Paul was a powerful preacher
because he lived in all good conscience. He
could bring other people up to the mark because
he lived up to the mark himself. David could
not speak of the righteousness of God and of
God's grace, as long as he lived in known sin.
The fact that he tried to justify himself In his
wrong doing did not relieve his conscience nor
open his lips. His Psalms were no comfort to
him as long as he held back from repentance and
confession.
Among the miracles of our Lord was his causing
the dumb to speak. No single instance ot
this is on record since, but we see an example ot
it when a sinner repents, confesses and is forgiven.
His lips are opened. When sin is put away,
the dumb speak. Many a man develops unexpected
powers when he is truly converted. Even
nature seems to wake up when sin is put away;
the fields are glad, the hills shout for joy and
the trees clap their hands. The enthusiasm of
a new convert is proverbial and he holds it until
he falls into sin; then he becomes discouraged
and his lips are closed. Our dumbness and our
sadness are the natural results of our sinfulness.
This may seem like a harsh judgment, for
most of us say but little for Christ and that
little where there is least need for it. But few
speak heart to heart where a testimony for him
might bring a soul to see its sin and seek the Saviour.
We are as a rule not doing much personal
work for the Lord. Does that mean that we are
conscious sinners and not conscious of repentance
and forgiveness That seems to 'be the
conclusion, for David led by the Spirit, declares
that when his sin ispardoned and he is cleansed
he will teach transgressors the ways of God
and sinners shall be converted to him. Willingness
to speak and power to reach men come
through joy in one's own salvation.
There is both warning and encouragement in
this view of religious experience; warning that
our silence is the result of our sin and that we
need not so much resolve to speak as to seek
God's grace to break off our sins and repent of
them at once; and encouragement that when we
do seek God with the whole heart for mercy and
cleansing, our lips will be opened in the joy of
his forgiveness and we shall have both the disposition
and the power to tell tr3,n8gressors God's
ways and lead them to the Saviour.