SPILMANOGRAPHS
WOBDS OF WISDOM
By B. W. Spillman.
There are a number, of people who talk first
and think afterwards. They give advice about
matters and get the facts later.
After the Southern Baptist Assembly at Riage-
crest, N. C., had been in operation ten years a
pastor of one of the largest churches in the South
wrote two columns in a Baptist paper urging the
•establishment of a Southern Baptist Assembly
ground. He outlined a plan by which it could
be done. He described Ridgecrest with accuracy.
But he had never heard of it—though the papers
had been making announcements about it for
jears.
And now, behold, a distinguishd editor of one
•of the leading daily newspapers of the South
■comes to the front with an editorial request
that Ridgecrest, Montreat, and Blue Ridge se
cure at times the same speakers. He expatiates
at length on why this should be done.
A postal card and a little patience waiting for
a reply would have brought the information that
this has been done for many years.
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At a verj sharp curve in a mountain road
there is a sign having painted on it a skull and
it are the words, “Just! Testament.
cross bones. Under
Around the Corner.”
It is even so. We never know what is just
around the corner. We go along the even tenor
of the way thinking that all is well with a smoefh ;
sea and a fair wind^ when suddenly a storm |
breaks and rages in fury for a while. Then!
The New Testament the Law of
Christanity.
By W. T. Connor, Professor of Theology
Southwest Baptist Seminary.
I have heard Dr. Gambrell tell how some
great Catholic at the council at which the
decree of papal infallibility was promulgated
stood on a chair andjwaiving a piece of paper
containing that decree above his head said:
“Let the world go to pieces and we will re
construct it on this paper “ In the last few
years the world hais gone to pieces. It needs
reconstructing on right principles. The only
platform on which the world can be rightly
reconstructed is the New Testament. It is
our business as Baptists to see that the world
is reconstructed on the basis of the New
Testament.
Somebody says: “What about the Old
Testament? Is not that a revelation from
God?” Yes; but it is preparatory.^ It leads
up to the New. And there are some'subjects
on which we find no help in the Old Testa
ment; for instance, the church and its ordi
nances The church is a New Testament
institution. We get no help in understanding
the church and its ordinances from the Old
is not a matter of speculation, but of actual
experience. We do not know this because we
reasoned ourselves into believing it, but be
cause we found it so when we exercised our
faith in Christ as Saviour and Lord.
The central thing in the New Testament is
the redeeming grace of God mediated to us in
Christ Jesus our Lord. The world needs this
revolutionizing and reconstructing message.
This message will reconstruct human society
through and through. It is our business to
see that the world gets this message.
Seminary Hill; Texas.
Again, somebody says: “What about our
Articles of Faith? Are they not authoritative?
No; not in the sense that the New Testament |
is. They are only a convenient summary on
some of the leading points of doctrines as to
what we believe the New Testament teachef.
PATCHED PROVERBS
By Clifford A. Owens, Evangelist Home
Mission Board.
Wliat a tragedy to save time and lose eternity.
Think often of your Master and>tbua learn to
master your tooughls.
A swearing man is seldom a wearing man.
We that are weak beai the infirmities of the
strong.
If you lack inspiration, try your luck with
perspiration.
We manifest our liberality not set much by the
amount we give as the amount we have left.
Your lamp must be burning and the globe
kept clean if you are to be a light in the
world.
The man who blows his own horn is that much
like a mosquito.
The faith that removes mountains is usually
found opera'itig a sieatn shovel.
People often make a “break” when they break
the silence.
If you dress “to be seen of men,” verily
have your reward.
you
""“iTfsl^ire^^rWif^ returned from ^! So we go to the New Testament for our final j Ks better to work and reason than to shirk
great work and went up to Jerusalem. For six , and authorative statement of what Christ-j
days he enjoyed the aelifhtful association of his j ianity is arid what Christians should believe | onnd’'our ow.n business
friends and then a aang of liars got busy and I 3nd practice. The Old Testament gives I's Cphg ,,,30 ^ho slings mud” seldom has sand in
the demons of le le ngi carnna ; .Judaism. Judaism is not Christianity, nor is' Ins craw.
xo 0 j -now^ jus V .a is aioun j Christianity grows out' People who try to ' play the game” often get
some time,
the corner.
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The Lord takes sriecial cove of babies ami
idiots. If he did not their tribe would be de
creased very rapidly. 1 was on a railway train
recently and saw a mother give her baby a bana
na. He ate a whole one. Then she gave him a
bottle of Coca cola and he managed to make way
with about half of it. The baby was nine
months old, so the mother said. And he prob
ably lived. God is wondrously good.
A boy writing a composition on “Man.” fol
lowing the lead of some modem instructors,
wrote; “men and women both sprang from
monkeys, but the women sprang further than the
men,” This woman sprang the other way. No
ape would have had so little sense about feeding
a nine month’s old baby as this mother had.
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Which reminds me that the late Dr. C. c. | One the au„hority of Christ,
Brow'n, of Sou'll Carolina, profound philosopher! the other the authority of the New Testa-
that he was. never said a truer thing than when! ment. We have one authority—the authority
he Ivrote, “mo.st men spend the first fifty years | gf given us in the New Testament.
There we find His mind and will for us.
The authority of Christ as given us in the
of Judaism, fulfills and completes it. But it
discardes the forms and institutions of
Judiasm and grows its own forms and insti
tutions. The new wine is put into new wine
skins.
Why is the New Testament the law of
Christianity? Because it gives us Christ, and
Christ is Christanity. The New Testament
gives us His life, His redemptive death and
resurrection, His exaltation and promised
return. It gives us the inspired interpreta
tion of Christ and His redemptive work by
the apostolic group. It gives us the record of
their experience of God’s redeeming grace
meditated to them through Christ and the
record of the missionary impulse this ex
perience gave to their lives.
The authority of the New Testament then
is the authority of Christ. We do not have
worked.’
If you will take courage you can “come back ”
If .sou are well .supplied with pluck, you need
not, env.v .vour neighbor's luck.
Observe rnv son. that “if” is in the middle and
constitutes lialf of “life.”
Do not let the heat of anger curdle the milk
of human kindness.
Sufi'er not the hand of dissipation to shake the
sand in Ifime’s hour-glass.
When pra,yer is not intense, it is often pre
tense.
of their lives digging their graves with their.
teeth; and then spend the rest of their days trv-1
ing to dodge the hole they have dug.
I New Testament does not enslave; it liberates.
The General Board of Promotion of North
ern Baptist Oonventioa reports that it faces a
crisis:
THE FACT ARE:
First: Up to April 30, 1921 the total sub
scriptions to the One Hundred Million Dollar
Fund for the entire period, including estimated
receipis of $4,000,000 from legacies, mai-ured
annuities and income on invested funds,
amounted to $2,527,191, or a little over one
half of the total required to finance the pro
gram of work outlined in the Surve.y.
Second: The total amount reported as
actually collected on account of the New
World Movement from April 1, 1919 to October
31, 1921, or twoaiid one half years, is $19,903,
559 01- 39 per cent plus of the amount subs
cribed. The reason that the percentage is
Sevent.y five joined tne San
Baptist Church as a result of the
meeting.
' There is no greater mistake made bv modern that tlie receipts during the first
Alarf-nss . ., , , ., i-p., .v,:j year of the period w ere not yet on the basis
cT T. .Marti. ; mistake of i j, World Movement subscriptions.
supposing that authority in religion is incon-j jpg inio.iisive campaign liaving been conducted
sistent with freedom in religion. The absence- at the. close of that year.
of authority is not freedom in religion, but
The Fifth Avenue BniitisA Clmrch is pu^’ i
to completion its one hundred !hou'-'''nd dr.
house of worship The editor of SOUl'M'
Wide baptist preached there last Sunda,\
to fine and spiritna| congregation. Thena^'o'
Dr. J, L. Dance has that enthu.sinst.ic quietoe;v ,sub nission to rightful authority and the right-
which keeps the great tasks ot the ciiuici ; ful authority over every soul is the authority
going on, rapidly and smoothly. igf Jesus'Christ as our Sariourand Lord- This
license. It is religious anarchy. And anarchy
is worth no more in religion than it is in any
other realm True freedom comes only by
Third; The recei\)tsfor the first half of the
current year. May 1 to October 31, 1921 have
been $2,2-27,689 or 51 per cent of- the total
collections for the same period last year.
Fourth: Unless collections for the current
year exceed the total for last year, more than
one million dollars will piooably be added to
the deficits .