EDITORIAL AFTERTHOUGHTS
, Thieving everywhere. Some people will 'e v e n tak e offense th a t doesn’t belong to them. New York ehurehes have been 'making f reat efforts to fill up th eir empty benches y expensive advertising. Newspaper sug gests all they need to do is hang up a sign saying, “ Gasoline inside, 19 cents a gallon.” Maybe i t ’s the poor “ g as” they have been g etting in some of them th a t has driven the people out. I t ’s a sad commentary on our advanced civilisation when the w orld’s greatest singer, Caruso, could tru th fu lly answer the question, “ W hat is the degree of the w orld’s civilization to d ay ?” by saying, “ Well, a t any tim e 3,000 to 4,000 would pay from $2 to $8 to hear me sing and 100,000 would pay from $5 to $100 to see a prize figh t.” I t is said th a t in the Capitol building at Washington, out of the several hundred special police officers not more th a n ten are P rotestants. These officers are ap pointed by Senators and Representatives. When, a short time ago, 1200 employees were dropped- from the Government p rin t ing office, not one of the number was a Roman Catholic. Seems th a t Rome has things p retty well taken over a t the seat of our government. The K nights of Col umbus are busier th an ever in politics, lobbying for or against the measures which are approved or disapproved by the Pope. Interchurch lease of the Greenhut Build ing, New York, has been canceled. The owners asked the n eat little sum of $750,- 000 to. release -them, and the fellows who thought the renting of th e building a good investm ent a re hustling around to get the $750,000. I t was found th a t the build ing could not be sublet to advantage. Rev. F red Smith in a le tte r printed in ‘-‘ The L ife of F a ith ,” quoted the head of one of the m issionary societies on the field who expressed the view th a t ‘.‘it is b e tte r to teach the native the human origin of the Scriptures, so th a t la te r on the native would n o t have to unlearn a lo t of pious ro t.” About the same time another paper published a statem ent by ' the new director of religious work w ith
the Y. M. C. A. on the Rhine, a B aptist m inister. He says, “ I t is all piffle to talk about holding Bible classes and prayer meetings w ith the soldiers.” The up-to- date classifications of the Gospel “ which is the power of God unto salvation, ” are not very genteel, to say the least, and re veal not only an attitu d e b i t a- spirit. An article in Dr. Lyman A b b o tt’s paper, “ The Outlook,” explains the thousands of v acan t pulpits and th e empty seminaries in this country, as follows: “ We are w it nessing a strike against the church. Our young students have struck because the theological train ing of students is out of date. They see the present unhappy plight of the pulpit where well-meaning men are floundering ineffectually, unable to grapple w ith the problems of a revolutionized modern world because they were equipped w ith antiquity as th eir tool for improving the p resen t.” T h a t’s an explanation we have never seen before, bu t it w on’t hold w ater, and it is clear th a t the w riter h a sn ’t looked anound the country very much. Why are the’ sound theological in stitutions and the Bible In stitu tes crowded to capacity w ith young men preparing for the m inistry and missionary work, while the infidel institutions have to pay people to attend them? And why is it th a t the most successful churches in the country are th e ones whose pastors pjeach th e old Gospel? We h a v e n ’t heard any complaints about dw indling congregations from men like Haldeman, Norris, Dixon, Torrey, H in son, Myers, Straton, Massee, Matthews, Riley, and scores of others throughout the land who stand for the old Book. Pathfinder editor is asked by a sub scriber w hat age we are now living in— “ Is it the golden ag e?” The editor re plies th a t afte r tak ing a look a t the fem inine styles, he thinks it is th e “ garb ag e.” H aving before us a Sunday news paper containing a large picture of a beau tifu l society bathing girl sittin g on the beach clothed in good intentions and smok ing a corn-cob pipe, we th ink th e editor made a good guess. A le tte r from a friend tells of the M eth odist Conference a t Asbury P ark , N .J., where Bishop Berry took his usual slam a t premiUenniallsm before a lim ited au-
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