April 1927
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winner. Though this is a commercial age—and perhaps, because it is—Ahere never has been a time when people so hungered for spiritual light.” . * * * * He was called a fool, and was laughed at by his friends. For ten years he was practically penniless. But always Charles Goodyear said: “If it is to be done, it must be done, and it will be done.” The result was a product which has revolutionized more than half of the world’s industry. Would to God the Church had more men who would make a similar resolve in rela tion to the work of Christ. * * H= Dr. Helfenstein declared recently that “the biggest business: of the Church is to keep the children from wandering away from God, to be lost on the ‘low way’ of sin. The Church should show great interest in bringing the wanderer back to God; but its major emphasis should be with the children, in seeking to keep them within the fold 6f God’s love.” That seems a commonplace statement, yet how difficult it is to get people to act along these lines. Rich dividends await the church that gives proper consideration to the children. Ruskin was right when he declared, “What a child cannot understand of Christianity, no one need try to understand.” •;$ 3(C 3|C 9^ S(C “How many people know that a Presbyterian Missionary is responsible for one of California’s great industries?” asks a writer in the bulletin of the central Brazil Mission. Bahia, Brazil, is the native home of the finest oranges in the world; it is the place of origin of the seedless orange. In 1870 the Rev. F. C. Schneider, the first Presbyterian missionary to Bahia, secured, and' ¿sent to California slips of the seedless orange. The “Mother Orange Tree” is still to be seen on the grounds of the Mission Inn in Riverside. Many communities of bur fair state owe much of their prosperity to the far-sightedness of this Presbyterian missionary. ♦ 3jc sfs * Subversive societies and organizations actively working for the destruction of Christianity,. civilization and government in America, number several hundred—there are now listed 275. Devoted to the interests of these various cults of destruction are 1500 publications, which include daily and weekly papers printed in many languages, with large circulations. Of these the “Daily Worker” (Communist), Chicago, printed in English, is the largest. Of the Weeklies the “Young Worker” (Commun ist), printed in English is the largest. In addition to these out-and-out communistic and socialistic publications, various subversive organizations maintain an active propaganda service which reaches out into the ordinary news paper, magazines, college and school publications and church periodicals. The accomplishments of this service are all but incredible, so insidious is the method of approach. ( “What’s What”) 3* s|e * The Literary Digest points out that 1926 was the year of disasters. There was no single overwhelming catastrophe like the Russian famine or the Japanese earthquake. Yet in its whole history the Red Cross was never called upon in a single twelve months to relieve the victims of so many misfortunes. As the Springfield Republican recalls, “in two months, it had to deal
“None of us is perfect, For even those,” said Grimes, “Upon the straight and narrow way. Detour, alas, sometimes.” ♦ * * * “A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one,” says the “American Patriot.” * * * * One kind of an automobile thief is the man who steals the hour of the church service to go riding in his car. * * * * The United States now has about 240,000 places of religious worship in charge of over 215,000 clergymen. 5ft Sjt * * The Los Angeles Times made this editorial statement: “The, clergy may do as it pleases, but it takes a lot of nerve to abolish hell in times like these.” 3ft s|e sfe * We have been told that one uses sixty-two muscles of the face when he frowns and thirteen when he smiles. Some people are wasting a lot of energy. 5f« 3ft * * The largest sum of money ever left to a single church was recently bequeathed to the Chicago Congregational Extension Society. The amount was $11,000,000. Hi * * 3fe It would be well if more modern fathers wrote to their sons at college as did this one. His son wrote: “No mon, no fun, your son.” The father answered: “How sad, too bad, your dad.” s|e sfc sfs sfc The Rev. D. D. Forsyth, corresponding secretary of the M. E Church, deplores the fact that one-half of the 150,000 Protestant churches in the rural districts are closed on Sunday because of the dearth of ministers. s|e sfe * * “It remains irrefutably true,” says the Biblical Review, “that the best apologetic for Christianity is a Christian. A life that exemplifies Jesus Christ, our divine Saviour and Lord, is more effective with men than the finest theological argument.” * * * * “No matter how many damp places you went to last week,” says “The Methodist,” “if you took cold at all be sure to say you took cold in the church. And then see how many other people also always get their colds in church. Is there nothing significant about such ridiculous excuses being so general?” sfs * * a|e “Absence of children from church congregations is sympto matic of a dying church,” Justice Thomas Crain told the New York Federation of Churches. Dr. S. G. Hefelbower of Carthage College finds 8,000,000 American children growing up in' fipn- ehurch homes. “Spiritual illiteracy is a fact,” he says ,“and the church cannot deny a large share of the responsibility.” sfc a|e * sj: Harold Bell Wright, seven of whose books have aggregated sales of over eight million copies, told a newspaper reporter: “What Americans want and need now is spirituality.' The pub lic wants wholesome literature. The author who writes to sat isfy a soul hunger, or ’a personal or public need, is the financial
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