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Page Two t ItALEIGH CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. Thursday, July 11, 1912. 0 T EDITORIAL Nofes and Comments The latest tobacco legislation on the part of the Church that has attracted our attention was en acted by the Methodist Church up in Canada. The resolution passed after a good deal of agitation records the "uncompromising opposition of the Church to the cultivation of tobacco, and calls upon church members not only to desist from the industry, but to use every effort to bring about its ultimate complete cessation." This sounds more radical, perhaps, than any position that has been taken south of the Canadian border; but it has at least the quality of being logical to commend it. If the tobacco habit is inherently morally wrong at all, the Church of Jesus Christ dare not stop till it gets to the root of the matter. If it is not morally wrong, there is too much in this world that is for the Church to be expending her ener gies to estop certain classes of her membership from its use. Is Japan civilized? This question is raised by recent reports of her dealings with Korea. Notice has been given in these columns of the imprison ment of Hon. T. H. Yun upon the charge of some political offense. Those who are best informed as to the character of this Christian gentleman find it impossible to believe that he is guilty of any crime, political or otherwise. But this is not the worst. The imprisonment of an innocent man might occur in any country, but startling stories are told of the tortures to which such prisoners are subjected in an effort to extort confessions from them. It is a return to the methods of the inquisition which belong to the dark ages. For instance, it is said that some of them have been tied up by the chin in such position that it was with difficulty that they could rest their weight upon the tips of their toes a position that one can see would soon become torture of the worst kind. The civilized world should rise in revolt against such practice. The revolutionary movements of the new re publics to the south of us seem to be losing out. Dispatches state that the organized revolution in Mexico has ended, and the warfare has taken on a guerilla form a kind of fighting in which the Mexicans are adepts from long experience. The following from the Cuban Evangelist also encour ages the hope of more settled conditions on that island: "We are glad to announce that the force of the revolution seems to have weakened to the extent that the uneasiness that was felt by many people is rapidly giving way to the spirit of con fidence. The congregations attending our services are larger than a month ago, and it is with pleas ure that we are able to report that our work has not suffered to any appreciable degree on account of these unfortunate disturbances." The equilib rium of these new republics is not difficult to dis turb, and the danger of a recurrent outbreak is al ways present; but it is through the grilling of such processes that governments find themselves. The movement to strongly endow educational institutions of the Church is an opportune one. The Wesleyan University, under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church (North) has re cently added a million dollars to its endowment, thus bringing the endowment of that institution up to more than two million and a half dollars. The New York Christian Advocate wisely says that this ought to be more than doubled in the next ten years to meet the increasing demands of modern education. We must come to a better apprecia tion of these institutions. We are proud of our Trinity College, and justly so; yet it has at pres ent only about $450,000 in productive endowment. We have been accustomed to think of it as rich in recent years, and the uninitiated have wondered what it could do with so much money. Such a thought can result only from a failure to realize the situation. In view of the large amounts that are being given to State institutions each year, collected by the sheriff from the people; in view of the large educatonal foundations that have been established whose settled policy excludes church institutions from participation in their funds, and in view of the great need of the educational world, the Church must establish larger founda tions than she has done in the past. We must put more money into these institutions. Let us roll up the additional million dollars for Trinity, and let us do it quick! THE CHURCH AND POLITICS THE OTHER SIDE. EAST week we called attention to some ap parent efforts on the part of the Roman Catholic Church to dominate American pol itics and to use the machinery of govern ment to further the interests of their heirarchy. To this program we cannot enter too vigorous a protest, and against the accomplishment of such an end our people cannot be, too thoroughly on their guard. We should occupy the same position if any branch of the Protestant Church should adopt such a policy. The separation of Church and State as organized agencies must be maintain ed, or we shall run into perils more dangerous than those we seek to avoid. And yet the church cannot be indifferent to pol itics any more than she can to any other depart ment of human life. There is such a thing as right and wrong in the methods employed to elect men to office and in the enactment of laws this just as truly as there is right and wrong in the daily life and conduct of men in any other direc tion. The truth is we know of no field of activity where the Church needs to sound a clearer call than for civic righteousness. Too long have men been content for evil to hide itself behind the laws enacted by legislatures and enforced by civil courts. It is not within the province of legisla tion, State or national, to abrogate the enactments of Jehovah upon Mount Sinai. Laws that run counter to the eternal principle of right have no proper place upon the statute books of any coun try, and no man should be supported in public life in this or any age who is not governed by his highest conception of what is morally right in the stand which he takes upon every question of pub lic policy. The enactment of a law should never be determined by the number of votes it may win for the party, nor by any dishonest commercial gain that may be secured by it; but every law should rest back upon the eternal principle of jus tice, and its purpose should be to contribute to the general weal. We need statesmen, and not mere politicians. And the Church cannot forbear to demand right eousness on the part of the peoples' servants. The preacher should never become a partisan in politics, but no more can he condone evil in men because it manifests itself in the sphere of politi cal life. The old prophets had a message for the kings of their day. Elijah appeared in the Court of Ahab and said: "As the Lord God of Israel liv eth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." It was the unrighteousness of Ahab's life that call ed for the terrible famine that followed for three years and six months. At the end of that time the king and the prophet met again, and the politician said to the prophet: "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" Politicians since have often charged the men of God who dared to challenge their course with being disturbers of the country. They have insisted that it was the preacher's business to preach the gospel and let politics alone. They would relegate the preacher to the task of dis coursing about the other world, while the politi cian would take a hand in running this according to his own selfish purposes. It is the old story, re peated over and over again. Elijah had a differ ent view, and we have a notion that he vindicated his position on Mount Carmel. He threw back ' into the teeth of the king the challenge: "I have not troubled Israel, but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the command ments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baa lim." The old prophet had a distinct notion that righteousness ought to be respected in the politi cal councils of the nation, and that politics, what ever other governmental policy might be pursued, ought to be saturated through and through with the recognition of moral obligation and a proper respect for religious truth. Here is where the Church must wage her battle in the political life of the nation, and men must learn that she not only has the right to sound this call, but that she cannot escape from the obligation to do so. The attempt to dominate politics and turn the machin ery of government to the furtherance of the inter ests of any particular denomination, or sect, is one thing; and to demand that politicians and law makers of all classes shall embody the principle of righteouness in their acts and legislate for the general weal is an altogether different thing. It is upon the latter that we insist. R ELIZABETH CITY DISTRICT CONFERENCE. (Editorial Correspondence.) IOANOKE Island is a historic spot of ground with wide reaches of water extending in all directions. If we might use the term, it is an inland island; for the outlying banks separate these waters from those of the great ocean beyond. It is situated between the waters of Albemarle Sound on the north and of Pamlico Sound on the south. The island is about twelve miles in length with an average width of about two-and-one-half miles. For so small an area the elevation of many points on the island is more than one would expect and the soil is more sub stantial and fertile. Of course the principal In dustry is fishing, but there are nevertheless some thriving farms on the island. It was among the earliest settled places on this side the sea. Every school boy knows of the unsuccessful attempts of Sir Walter Raleigh to plant a colony there as early as 1585 and 1587; but it is not our purpose to re count here those early struggles. The colonists whom he left there had disappeared when the is land was visited again, and what became of them has never been known. It was on this island that Virginia Dare, the first white child born in Amer ica, was born. It was near Fort Raleigh. The outline of the old Fort is still preserved, and stone pillars have been set to mark the points of its star-shaped contour. A granite slab with proper inscriptions, and formed of the three kinds of granite furnished by the Old North State, stands near the centre to testify to coming generations the truth of these early annals. As we stood there with bared head for a few moments, we felt that we were on sacred ground. The impulse came to us to transcribe the inscription and give to our readers a cut of the monument; but it occurred to us that this had been done by our predecessor some years ago, and we forbore. Our Church at Manteo, the principal village on the island, is a beautiful structure, adequate for the needs of our congregation at that point and is thoroughly embalmed in the hearts of our people. It was erected a few years ago under the leader-
North Carolina Christian Advocate (Greensboro, N.C.)
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July 11, 1912, edition 1
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