The Presbyterian of the South : [combining the] Southwestern Presbyterian, Central Presbyterian, Southern Presbyterian. [volume], June 18, 1919, Page 13, Image 15

About The Presbyterian of the South : [combining the] Southwestern Presbyterian, Central Presbyterian, Southern Presbyterian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1909-1931

Image provided by: Library of Virginia; Richmond, VA

                
Mr. J. B. Spillman, of Columbia, S.
C., had as his subject, "Reach Out for
Men." He advocated advertising. He
said the Church must advertise be
cause it is not reaching the men. The
population of this country is 1,15,000,
000. There are 25,000,000 Protes
tants and 17,000,000 Roman Catho
lics. There are 25,000,000 children
under ten years of age. This leaves
48,000,000 who ought to be members
of the churches who have not been
reached. The seating capacity of the
Protestant churches is 53,000,000, and
of Roman Catholics 4,000,000. If all
the people of the country wanted to
go to church at one time, only half
of them could be seated in the
churches. But few churches are ever
nearly full. To get people to church
the church should advertise. The best
advertising medium is the newspaper.
We have the goods to deliver. Let us
tell the people about them. Are you
afraid to put a message from Jesus
Christ alongside of an advertisement
of Christian Science?
Rev. J. M. Wells, D. D., spoke on
"The Church Paper." He said that
the Church paper is absolutely essen
tial to the spiritual life of the indi
vidual Christian. Men need it as food
for their souls. Some Who did not
like asparagus said that it was raw
at one end and rotten at the other.
The secular newspaper is raw; it gives
news chiefly of the sensational. The
secular magazines are rotten. The
religious papers g.'ve well prepared
and wholesome food. You cannot
train your children properly without
the Church paper. It will interest
and help theQi. It is neecled by every
member of the family.
The Church paper is needed by the
Church. The great work of Foreign
Mission, Home Mission, Christian Ed
ucation and Ministerial Relief and
Sunday School Extension needs the
co-operation of the Church papers.
The secretaries can do no better than
use the Church papers. We are build
ing well. The Church papers are the
cement that bind the building togeth
er. Go home, men, and put the Church
papers into your home.
Rev. George E. Guille, of Athens,
Tenn., spoke on the subject, "Train
Your Men." He urged the importance
of Bible study and prayer. He said
that ottr sufficiency Is in Jesus. Whtfn
asked about indulging in a certain
worldly amusement, h6 ha (t replied:
"I feed on angels' good and have lost
my taste for onions and garlic. If
you like onions and garlic, eat them,
but please keep away from me."
Knowledge is the supreme attainment
of the spiritual life. We should know
what Is the calling. Ignorance is the
great defect of the Christian of to
day. Abide in fellowship with Jesus
Christ and you will know how to get
things first hand from him through
the Bible. Jesus does not want your
service unless he has your soul. We
think we need many things. He says,
"One thing thou lackest."
Study the Bible and pray; these al
ways go together. We should study
the Bible and teach our men, that
they may be equipped as soul win
ners. Dealing with souls is our bus
iness.
Work Overseas.
An afternoon session was devoted
to the discussion of the work in some
of our foreign fields.
Mr. H. C. Ostrom, of Tokushfma,
Japan, said that the people of thai
country are no worse than other east
ern ^nations. Japan is non-Christian.
We opened Japan to the world, so our
obligation is to give it the gospel.
Japan is now the fifth and possibly
the fourth nation In power in the
world. What we need to do is to get
into Japan and feach the people the
truth, and that the truth must be
through Jesus. We have given them
business methods and science. We
ought to give them the gospel. The
need of Japan is the gospel. Its pop
ulation is increasing at the rate of
800,000 a year.
Mr. Alfred D. Mason, of Memphis,
Tenn., is a member of the Executive
Committee of Foreign Missions. He
told of a recent visit to Mexico and
described conditions in that country.
Our Church has been assigned a most
excellent field in the southern part of
the country. The great need is for
men and money to begin the work at
once. We have only five missionaries
with which to begin.
Captain M. L. Swinehart, of Kwang
ju, Korea, speaking of the political
conditions In that country, said that
the Christians are standing true in
the midst of the turmoil. They are
standing the test. He read a letter
from a Korean, who wrote: ' We see
only brightness through it all behind
the dark clouds." There is no great
mass movement towards Christianity
in Korea, and there has only been one
in the past. But many are being won
by individual effort. Koreans are do
ing their part. They are on fire for
Jesus. There is great need for mis
sionaries, both men and women.
Mr. F. W. McElroy, of Luebo,
Africa, told of the great movement to
ward Christianity. The great need is
for missionarid&. There are now on
the field only twenty-two, where there
are supposed to be fifty-one. The
shortage is due to death, ill health
and necessary furloughs. Showing
how much in earnest the native Chris
tians are, he said the natives had a
prayer meeting every morning before
C o'clock, attended by five or six hun
dred people to pray for God's blessing
upon their work of the day.
Rev. G. E. Guille, of Athens, Tenn.,
closed the conference with an earnest
and helpful talk on the importance of
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Stewardship of Ufe and Property.
In a conference on this subject
three addresses were made.
Rev. W. R. Dobyns, D. D., of St.
Joseph, Mo., spoke on "Stewardship
In the Word of God." He said every
relationship is covered by the word
of God. Stewardship in the word of
God pertains to everything in the
world. In Eden, God said, "keep and
dress it." This principle runs all
through the Scriptures. We are stew
.ards of life. We are responsible for
our own life and for the lives of
others.
Our supreme responsibility is tho
telling of the story of Jesus Christ as
widely as possible. We recognize "the
crown rights of Jesus Christ," by
which we recognize his right to rule
over us. Peace in the world will
never come, except through the Prince
of Peace.
We are stewards of the hope of the
gospel which is the personal presence
of the Son of God.
How much hast thou received? God
gives life and all 'that we have. How
much do we owe to God? Everything.
Will a man rob God? Yes, in tithes
and offerings. What is that in thine
hand? Everything in your hand be
longs to Him. No Christian has a
right to hoard unused a penny beyond
that which is necessary for his sup
port and that of those who are de
pendent upon him.
Dr. E. M. Poteat, Secretary of the
Laymen's Missionary Movement, spoke
on "The Stewardship of Property."
He quoted:
"III fares the land, to hastening ills
a prey.
Where wealth accumulates and men
decay."
He called attention to the enormous
increase of wealth in this country,
which has never been equaled in the
w,?7? ?f lh? WOr"1' W"?? the war
was in progress the people of this
ouutry laid by, in perfectly good in
vestments one billion dollars a month.
Var contributions were for all causes
about $600,000,000. This was only
about 4 per cent, on our savings,
hat are we going to do about it'
e should recognize wealth as a peril
ra?ld.vCH " " " Per"
wealth d?Brocl"M '? the face of
Preachers must grow the
courage to preach the New Testament
08*1 "ifii N? rich man can be saved
a rich man, nor a poor man as a
wmL ran- 4lBu8,ness ?en must be
taughf U NeW Testament to be
the r rn Qre afraid? go back to
e Cross and be converted over again
Under ,he Old Testament dispensation
e > ear of jubilee was established to
tTheen,l&nretatinCreaSe0fWea,th
u 6 is not enough to give tn r?,i
wouId?be tha" 0"e aeventh of our time
would be enough to give Him
Dr. W. E. Doughty. Secretary of the
Laymen a Missionary Movement, New
Yorl : spoke on "Releasing the PoweT
of the Church Through Prayer"
bal^ofM "?L P<mlec?8t ?? the
Pose of ,Jf 1,8 sala the pur.
Pose of this convention was that all
Who altended lt should tlmt an
connectloh Jes?, Chr|sl ??>>
th? Church hnu ?
STea'9 f -Th
SrT^ r sx
prayer se"-'?reettlng service and
were 6fom*f old :? ^ ^'8c'p'es ?' Prayer
The Place was shaken. The
Church needs to be shaken. The wa"
shak e8n f0" "ut ? ?? "
snairen far more. This win
through prayer. The Y. M. C. A came
through prayer. So the Student Vol
Tcaul ?Vement and Missionary Ed
spTrU ^f^r1 Came thr?Ugh thG
M This will come through prayer. Y.
Volunteer^M* ?Ut ?f prayer- Stuffenl
volunteer Movement, Missionary Fd
ucatlon Movement, spirit of prjer
#>Jo n0t knoW any Wfty by Which
the Southern Presbyterian Church win
be split open to the heart until enough
their6 hantd "T a"d women Iift "P
by prayer a"d ,ear ?Pe" the
(2) Pilling with the spirit The
fJmh ? tarHed and Prayed- On the
( ay the Spirit came. Through
prayer God reached the Jews, Samari
tans Romans. Greeks-the world.
tol8)tSr?rjth bo,dne8s- He 8h?wed
how the Methodist Centenary Move
we're 3 thr?UBh Ther"
"r;;,,Ghd~nand^~
(4) When they had prayed th?
Tbl?Clme ?' a'eWard"hl') *<?? realized.
This movement must go ,he way of
the cross |f ? ,s to mt9 (he ^
Experience Meeting.
voled? to Swhaf.t6r"?0n Se8alon was de"
oted to what some of the delegates
dlaTeiM -I' ?" 0l<Ma3"l0,le<1 Metho
dist experience meeting." p?rty OIr
expert^ "7 " thelr P"sonal
experience, in rendering service of
"eZ'J T "re *"d to God-,
service It was good to be there, and
w" ! """ ""3 W"? one of the
best and moat helpful services of the
convention. e
Rev. E. W. smith, I), d.
One of the stirring addresses made
tomth tW? Convent,ons meeting
together was by Dr. Smith, Secretary
a gniDh'lc" M,HS,?nS- ,n wh,ch he gave
Lm ? amount of the work in our
fields in the Orient, lie paid high
r bute to the character and work of
our missionaries, and plead that their
number might be greatly increased
and that they might be better equipped
and supported. As an illustration of
the need, he said thftt in the section
of China for which we are responsi
ble there are 17,000,000 people. If
the Church could ?enda200 new mis.
slonaries to that field && once, each
one of our force would have 60,000
heathen to evangelize.
The closing address was made by
Mr. J. Campbell White, Secretary of
the Inter-cliurch World Movement, on
the subject, "Will We Accept the Chal
lenge of the Hour?"
THE ATLANTA CONVENTION OF
WOMEN.
Though the first of its kind, this
convention, Minerva-like, sprang full
grown into being, the registrations 6f
women running up to 683, and the
States represented being sixteen, with
Georgia in the lead. (Naturally . . .
she had to be at home and receive
her guests.)
The women came from East, West,
North and South, and then from the
land of "somewhere." ? The soul of
each woman present was filled with
conflicting emotions of joy over being
in this great meeting, and real sor
row over the many women from her
home Church who did not come to
help carry home the great things given
at Atlanta June 10th-12th.
The banner, given for the largest
registered delegation from any one
church, was presented to the Central
church of Atlanta, who proudly pre
sented a roll of ninety delegates.
The parallel conventions, The Lay
men's, and the Woman's Auxiliary,
had as the ever-present theme ? and
never-to-be-forgotten ? Stewardship;
stewardship not only of money, but
of time, talent and treasure ? a com
plete consecration of self and life.
Leaders of national note often led
our thought into the great things they
had found out; and the very best of
our Southern Church's manhood and
womanhood beckoned the lay-woman
to higher plains of activity, of prayer
and of faith.
Our seven mission fields, Mexico,
Brazil, Japan and others, were repre
sented, while Africa had a strong del
egation of seven missionaries; and
from Korea there was a goodly com
pany who lived before us, in veritable
moving pictures, events as they are
in that country, including a wedding,
a church service and a noisy funeral.
The visiting women who brought
us stirring messages were Mrs. E. C.
Cronk, who scintillates love and ser
vice, and Miss Milligan, Literary Sec
retary of the United Presbyterian
Church, who out of a full heart and
gifted mind stirred our very souls to
the manifold blessings of more and
better service.
The whole world for Christ, and
individual service, are the two voices
constantly chiming In our minds, and
echoes of these, as presented at the
Atlanta Conference, will appear from
time to time on our woman's page.
C. L. C.
WORK ANI) PRAY.
"Lord, when we pray, 'Thy kingdom
come! '
Then fold our hands without a care
For souls whom thou has died to save,
We do but mock thee with our
prayer.
"Thou eouldst have sent an angel
band
To call thine erring children home;
And thus through heavenly ministries
On earth thy kingdom might havo
come.
"But since to human hands like ours
Thou hast committed work divine,
Shall not our eager hearts make haste
To join their feeble powera with
thine?"