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December 31, 1913.
THE IDOLATRY OF THE MASS.
THE MINISTER'S PERSONAL AND DEVO­
Protestants have been aroused by the attendance
of the President and of the Secretary
of State on Thanksgiving Day, at the
TIONAL USE OF THE BIBLE.*
By the Rev. T. M. Slater.
It will be recognized that the minister needs
to use his Bible as an aid to personal devotion
Roman Catholic services with the celebration
the same as any other Christian, None of us
of the Mass.
can claim to be "aboriginal saints," and unless
In the Fall of 1904 there was held in Edinkirgh
we make a diligent use of the ordinary means of
|a. National Ptotestant Congress, to grace we cannot long l^eep our standing as ordin­
discuss Romanism and Ritualism in Great ary Christians. Of tbis no other evidence is needed
than the difficulty ol which we are all conscious
in the faithful performance of this duty.
Britain and Ireland. The discussions were
published in book form and make a valuable
So great and good a man as old Thomas Fuller
contribution to the cause of Pure Worship. makes this confession: "Lord, I discover an arrant
W'e take from this book the following extract
laziness in my soul. For wben I am to read
from Rev. George lianson of Dublin:
"What is the teaching ol Rome in regard to the
a chapter in the Bible, before I begin it, I look
where it endeth. And if it endeth not on the
sacrifice of the Mass? The Maynooth Catechism same side, I cannot keep my hands from turning
says: The blessed Eucharist is the sacrament ol
the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus
over the leaf to measure the length thereof on
the other side; if it swells to many verses, I begin
Christ, under the appearances of bread and
to grudge. Surely my heart is not rightly
wine. * * * -\Ve believe that Christ, true God
and true man. Is wbole and entire under the appearance
of either bread or wine. .^ 1. * "We
believe that the God of all glory is under the
affected." Nor is the author o£ these humble
words alone in the infirmity of which he complains.
But what Mr. Spurgeon said in regard to the
appearance of our corporal food, just as we believe
that the same God of all glory suffered
minister's private prayers, may with egual truth,
be applied to his private use of the Bible. Says
under the appeara-nce of a criminal on the cross.'
The decree of the Council of Trent is the most
the London preacher; "He prays as an ordinary
authoritative deliverance on tbe 'Worship ol the Christian, else he is a hypocrite. He prays more
Host.' 'This Council teacheth that in the pure
and holy sacrament of the Eucharist, alter the
than ordinary Christians, else he is disqualified
for the office which he has undertaken." He who
consecration of the bread and wine, our Lord is called to preach the Word and to distribute
Jesus Christ, true God and man, is truly, really,
the Bread of Life to others, must himself taste
substantially contained, under the appearance of
these visible things. * " * There is, therefore, that which is upon his own lips and partake of
no room to doubt but that the faithful of Christ that which passes through his hands. For, as
should adore tbe Most Holy Sacrament with the
highest worship due to the true God.' According
to that, the sacrament is to be adored, and adored
'with the highest worship due to the true God.'
See, then, what happens according to the Roman
Bernard says: "It would be wholly monstrous for
a man to be highest in office and lowest in soul;
first in station and last in life."
But the very nature of the offlce which we
fill and the exactions of the service which we
•Catholic theory. The priest pronounces some render lays upon us a double necessity that we
three words over the bread and wine and instantly
they become 'the body and blood, soul
aad divinity of Christ.' He lifts up the supposed
incarnation of Jesus, and cries, 'Ecce Agnus Dei
indeed live by every Word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God, Neglecting the devotional
use of the Scriptures, failing to apply them faithfully
in our private reading to our own heart
qui toUit mundi peccata.' The whole congregation
fall on their faces and worship, smiting
upon their breasts and saying, 'Mea culpa! Mea
culpa!' What does this mean? As Abbe Gamme
boastfully puts it: 'Docile at the voice of the
priest, the Word of God descends from the seat
of his glory and incarnates himself in his hands.'
Christ re-incarnating himself at the beck of a
man! Could profanity go further? If this is not
idolatry, in what sense or under what form is
such enormity possible?"—(Pages 214, 215.)
MOLDING BRITISH OPINION.
The Mexican correspondence of the London
Times continues to be so strongly pro-Huerta
and so hysterically anti-Wilson that a motive
must exist for the propaganda. The correspondent
ol the London Times, writing from Saltillo,
a Federal garrison town, 40 miles southwest of
Monterey, quotes -wth approval the opinion ol an
unnamed "prominent Englishman," that while
General Huerta has been accused, perhaps unjustly,
of the death of one roan. President Wilson
and Secretary Bryan are responsible for the
loss of thousands of lives, because if they bad
Mt failed to recognize President Huerta tbe civil
war would have ended long ago. Tbis is pure
and rabid assumption.—N. lY. Sun, December 9,
1913.
A FAMILY PAPER.
and life, we are disqualified for the position of
a public minister of the Gospel, Wherever failure
marks our work either in public or in private,
the cause may invariably be found here.
No minister ever bandied the Word of God deceitfully
in the pulpit who was not firstguilty of
that same offense in the study; and whatever
measure of success the Master has been pleased
to grant any of us in his service has been in
direct proportion to the fulness and richness with
wh'ch we have allowed his own Word to dwell
in our hearts.
The very lowest ground upon which such use of
the Bible by the minister is needful, is the antidote
which the Scriptures afford to tbe physical
exhaustion, the mental depression and the nervous
strain incident to our work. "Let us rejoice
with one another," said P. Burks, "tbat in a world
where there are a great many good and happy
things tor men to do, God has given us tbe best
and happiest, and made us preachers ol his
Truth."—To this every true minister of Jesus
Christ will say. Amen! Witb John Bunyan we
will also agree when be says: "My beart has
been so wrapped up in this excellent work that I
accounted myself more honored ol God than if be
•Paper read before the Presbyterian Ministers'
Association cf Seattle, Nov. llth, 1913.
had made me emperor ol all the world, or the
lord of all the glory of the earth without it." We
approve of Theodore Cuyler, when he declares:
"I tell you that obscure, toiling man of God has
a joy vouchsafed to him that a Frederick or a
Marlborough never knew on the fieldof bloody
triumph, or that a Rothschild never dreams of
in his mansions of splendor, or an Astor, with his
stores of gold." With Paul, we indeed thank
Christ Jesus, our Lord, for that he counted us
faithful, putting us into the ministry. .But all
this cannot make us oblivious to the fact that
the cares and burdens of the ministry are In
proportion to its privileges, and that so much
greater as are our trials than those of other
men, so much greater must be our diligence to
wait daily upon the Word for the strength without
which no minister can do his work successfully.
Physiologically ours has been described as
an age of hysteria, and we ministers in some
measure share the spirit of the age. We have to
live in a rush. Our weeks are a continual round
Of day and night activities that tax our mental
and phyical powers to their utmost endurance.
As a consequence of this, cases of physical breakdown
or of nervous prostration are more common
among the ministry than almost any other class
of workers. This may in some cases be due to
inexcusable ignorance or neglect in matters of
diet and exercise. But no rule ot living or form
of reacreation can bring to us all that
we need as a help in the bearing cf
our burdens. Nothing but tbe Word ol
God can support us in the work of God. David
prayed: "Remember thy Word unto thy servant
upon which thou hast caused me to hope. This
is my comfort in my affliction; for thy word hath
quickened me." None but those in the ministry
know how easily Satan may use a thousand and
one things to distract us during the hours of
work, or keep us awake when we should sleep.
This means loss of efficiency and possible failure.
We can flghtSatan only with the sword of
the spirit, and we need to know how to use it
in self-defense. The man of God can be delivered
from all anxious care and thoroughly furnished
unto every good work only through reliance
upon the divine iprom-ises. While I am not
prepared to accept all the positions of those
who advocate "Faith Healing," nor do I hold that
all cases of bodily weakness either in the Ministry
or elsewhere are the result of neglecting
the Bible; yet I do believe that the Christian
church has yet to receive the lull teaching of the
Bible as _ to tbe relation between religion and
health. He has little experience of the Word of
God who does not know something ol its soothing,
quieting, restful and peace-giving influence
upon both body and mind when weary and heavyladen.
Had the church been more diligent both
in the teaching and practice of this part of
Christ's Gospel, this field might not have been
given over as it now is to errorists. We have
gone a long way towards the secret of a strong,
tranquil life when after a day of tears and
troubles we can always find refreshing in "One
of the sweet old chapters," or pillow our heads
for rest upon a single text. The minister, above
every one else, should know and understand
this. His work demands of him the strength
of a giant, and only he who waits upon the Lord
in the devotional study of his W^ord has the promise
that his strength shall be renewed and increased,
and be fltted either for service or for
sacrifice.
Much might be said of the intellectual value
to the preacher of Bible study. The Scriptures
are not only able to make wise unto salvation,
but to give wisdom concerning every subject of
human interest. It was said of a certain man
that you could not stop with him for flve min-