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•THE! CHRISTIAN NATION.
Vol. 59.
E D I T O R I A L
NEW YORK, OCTOBER i, 1913.
REFORM NOTES.
The second Sabbath of September was quite
widely observed as a day ol prayer for the Bible
in the Public Schools. The National Reform
Winona Conference had this subject before it.
The Christian Statesman for September says:
"Dr, James S. Martin, ot Pittsburgh, introduced
this year a new series of lectures on the subject
of the Eible in the Public Schools. He made
very clear and forcible the argument for Christian
education as a preparation for American cit -
zenship; and that the moral content of Christianity,
as revealed in the Bible, is the one ethical
standard recognized by the American conscience.
He analyzed the forces opposed to Christ an
teaching in the schools, enumerated the evils
which would result from surrender to these
forces, and flnallydeveloped a plan of moral warfare
against these organized influences. He also
explained the attitude of the National Reform Association,
declaring that the Association does not
attack any race, nor any creed, nor any organization;
but that this Association is simply the
defender of the Christian institutions of America,
and that, as a consequence, it is at war with
whatsoever race or creed presumes to attack
these sacred institutions of liberty. The general
line of argument pursued by Dr. Martin found instant
veriflcatlon in the testimony of Dr.
d'Aubigne as to the national results of the purely
secular education in France.
"Dr. Lyman Edwyn Davis introduced a new series
of lectures this year under the general title
of Literary Forces in Social Progress, the sp>
ciflc subjects including The Ethical Mission of the
Drama, The .Moral Opportunity of the Daily
Newspaper, The Moral Achievements of the
Great Xovel, The Bible as the Oracle of the Great
Books. He also delvered in the Assembly .Auditorium,
his well-known lectures on The Kingdom
of Common Sense and The 'City and the Man.
"A new speaker was introduced to Winona
this year in the person of Rev. Grant W. Sowe",
who gave an instructive series ot lectures on the
subject of Socal Uplift, delivering also his popular
lectures entitled Abraham Lincoln the Lib
erator, and The March of the Centuries."
The Pittsburgh Board of Education has prescribed
the i;se of Proverbs only in school reading,
under the new Pennsylvania law requiring ten
verses of the Bible to te read every morning—
hardly an observance of the law in its scope.
Tbe Roman Catholic influence let the law go
through at Harrisburg in exchange for a repea^
of the law vesting church property in the cong.-egation
so far as to allow the titles to their
churches to be vested according to Canon law.
Now a small portion of the Bible is given to the
Pittsburgh school children.
The thirty-ninth annual meeting of the National
Christian Association met at 10:30 a. m., July 2S,
1913, in the X. C. A. building, 850 West Madison
street, Chicago. The meeting was called to order
by President Rev. E. B. Stewart, who requested
Rev. T. C. McKnight to lead in prayer.
ANNUAL REPORT OP BOARD.
Tn 1912 the Boird appointed our President, Rev.
L'. B. Stewart, to correspond with the managers priceless principles attained and profes,sed.
of the Christian Citizens' Convention to be held To be more explicit, it may be said tha
in Portland, .lune 29 to July 0, 1913, which was to
according to the basis submitted by the com
consider all subjects touching the welfare of our
government and its citizens. The committee declined
to allow the queston of the relation of asked to abandon its attitude as a definit
mittee, the United Presbyterian Church i
secret societies to civil government to be considered
and avowed witness for the following prin
on its platform, but Rev. J. W. McGaw, the ciples, which are set forth in its "Testi
X'ational Secretary, suggested that the Association
hold a meeting about the time of the Con­
mony":
vention, though not in connection with it. It was
I. That the Book of Psalms is the onh
finally decided to hold a convention in Seattle, manual of praise authorized by (x)d for us(
Tacoma, and Portland, which was done with in solemn worship;
gratifying results.
2. That membership in any secret society
is unwise and unlawful;
"THE SEATTLE CONVENTION. (The writer.
Rev. Thomas M. Slater, is the President of the
Washington Christian Association opposed to secret
3. That slaveholding is unlawful;
so'cieties.—Editor). The holding of the re­
4. That communion in sealing ordin­
cent conventions in Seattle, Tacoma and Portland
ances should be limited to those who are
was of more than passing interest to the subject to the discipline of the Churc'h;
friends ol the work on the Paciflc Coast, and in
5. That in certain circumstances covenanting
may be a duty, and that the obliga­
some sense marked an epoch in the history of
the cause here. * -^ •* vVe feel unable to adequately
express our indebtedness to the Association
for coming with these meetings to the Coast,
tion of certain covenants may descend to
posterity.
and especially to Secretary Phillips for his services
as an organizer and director of the work,
It may be urged that, according to a recent
movement on the part of our Church,
and to Dr. Blanchard for his inspiring and convincing
addresses. May they both be spared for ordinary members of fhe Church are not required
many years of like service and of blessedness
to assent to all the ^positions just
in the cause of their and out Master. To Mr. specified; but are only called upon to main-
R. A. McCoy, of New Brighton, Pa., we are alsoindebted
for collecting and forwarding a gener­
Icain an orderly and teachable attitude in
regard to them. I regret to say that such
ous contribution to aid in this work. He and all
who helped with him will surely be remembered is the illogical condition to wlhich we have
in the Great Day of rewards."—Christian Cynosure,
September, 1913.
sunk by recent legislation. But so far as
THE PROPOSED UNION.
Rev. James Harpier, D. D., of Xenia, contributes
to the Christian Instructor of September
i6, the following:
Fully three months have elapsed since our
General
A.ssembly ordeiried that the report
of the jomt committee on union between our
Church and the Presbyterian Church in the
United States be printed and published. This
order I do not regard as an "overture" in
the technical 'sense, directing that a vote of
the presbyteries for, or against, union be taken
on the basis proposed by the committee
aforesaid. I deem it to be simply a direction
to the Church to- examine carefully the proposed
basis so as to- be able to decide with
intelligence wliether or not negotiation for
union in this case should be prosecuted further.
Having read with close attentioii the proposed
basis of union, I feel constrained to
say that, thijugh calm and courteous in style,
it seems to me more like a form of capitulation
dictated to a cowed and anxious garri-
.son by a confident investing foe than a plan
of union between two coequal parties. The
language used in tbe document under notice
is gentle and winning, but the course commended
involves tbe surrender of one of the
negotiating parties to the other and, what
is of more importance, the abandonment of
ministers, ruling elders, and licentiates are
concerned, assent to the Testimony, as well
as to the Westminster Confession and Catechism,
is still required.
Having indicated the surrender on our
part which union on the basis now proposed
would involve, let us consider wbat, if any,
surrender is to be made by our friends of
the Presbyterian Church in the United
States.
So far as I can discover, the only concessions
which, according to the joint committee,
'the Southern Church should be expected
to make are these two, namely:
I. That the United Presbyterian congregations
entering into the union be allowed,
without interference, to continue the use of
the Psalms exclusively in lihe service of
praise. In connection with this it is suggested
that the united body should provide.
or adopt, a proper version of the Psalms and
even recommend the use of it, not, however,
the exclusive use of it, as a manual of praise.
2. That s/hould the union be achieved,
the name of the resulting body shall be "The
United Presbyterian Church of North America,"
which is at present the legal title of
our Churah.
The first of these can hardly be called a
concession, certainly not a great one, in view
of the fact that neither of the two largest
Presbyterian churches in ftihis country has
ever questioned the propriety of using the
Psalms in praising God. Indeed, it would
appear from the "Digest" of Baird and
Moore that in the early Presbyterian body
(Continued on page 6.)