Newspapers / Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.) / Nov. 12, 1925, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
VOL. XLVII. CHARLOTTE, N. THE BIBLE AS IT APPLIES TO MODERN LIFE Address by Prof. C. N. Shropshire, S. S. Missionary, delivered before the Canadian Synodical Sabbath School Conven tion and School of Methods, Cotton Plant, Ark., September 3, 1925. In this brief discourse, we must mention the attacks that are being made on the integ rity of the Bible. Modern life may be blessed with certain inventions that assist our com fort, but essentially we are no different as human beings than in the time of the Biblical saints, prophets and seers. Science is not attacking divine truths, but is assisting. But there are certain skeptics who laugh at the good traditions of the Bible, denounce it, and go their way, beset with tempta tions and sins and wasting their substance. We, in these days of hur ried mechanical life, need the Bibld more than ever because of its ^/precious heritage of truths, of spiritual and, pipral worth. Carrvingr»'thfe- •.'great we are no blqdlflK\Mtfc|[ -it every daifSn the yW khituat, r reverent1 &i$yv-df tftb^i^uresftrsiv* indispeirs^J8W'. issk#*Jj?o6k so ,i^stin3jt ** nqhe that speaks; with im au thorny; nolle that so raises us into .twjMf presence of eternal realities. The sacred writers had, beyond alL/other men, a living sense of the spiritual and divine, r They awaken con science as none others do, and they keep it tender, by bring inlg it constantly to p, stand ard that knows no compromise or hesitation. Nowhere else can we find one so lofty, so all an searching.- Lika the sun, it shows notes other wise hidden. It lights up abysses within us, before un suspected, and sets us a per fect ideal of holiness. Remember the first words in our Bible,—“In the begin ning God.”Every day ought to be commenced with the words, In the beginning Jesus. He must be the Alpha, the first, the beginning. If, before you rush into a new enterprise, my brother, you would sit quietly down and be sure Jesus Christ is first, it would save you from landing in many a quagmire. Make Jesus first in everything, every act, every sermon, every thing that can be begun, con tinued and ended in Him. Let the glory of Jesu£ be your aim in every service. His glory should be the thought that animates you in making money, in house-keeping and in all our mission work. Human nature is selfish and there is no salvation, either for the individual or for society, which does not save from self ishness. If the Bible is applied to modern life, that life will be .cleansed from selfishness. / Organized society is asking the question today, “What must I do to be saved?” And the answer - comes from the “Great' Teacher, “Love thy neighbor as Thyself.” The in dividual can be saved only as he accepts the first command; society can be saved only as it accepts the second. This sec ond law was certainly intend ed to govern men in their re lations with each other, pre cisely as the first law was in tended to govern men in their relations with God. The one follows naturally from the the other. Men could not come into perfect harmony wiiih God without coming into per fect harmony with each other. If God is to be loved as a Fath 'er, men must be loved as brothers. We cannot suppose ^hat one command was in tended for an earthly and the other for a heavenly society, that the one is practical and the other idealistic and im practicable. Christ declared that the second is “like unto” the first, and that on “these two” hang all the law and the • prophets. These two com mands rest on precisely the same authority; they are in application of one and tjie same principle to man in his two-fold relations. There is no walk of virtue the Bible does not aid; no for bidden path in which it does not set an angel to warn us back. There are examples, counsels, promises, for all. It meets every condition of life and contains the archetypal man, Christ Jesus, from whom to copy. Apart from all else, His presence gives it an un speakable charm. Treating, in turn, of all that is highest, even its separate words and phrases are weighty. Religion without a living study of it, is a blind superstition, instead of an intelligent' faith; it slights the guidance God has vouch safed us, and follows its own whims and fancies. ^How to make the right use o^-our Bibles is the great point.- To "read as a task, or as if the'*, mere words, understood or riot, have some magic pow er, is to .make it a dead idol. We niffst understand, if we would profit. What is needed to do so? The master key to knowl edge of Scripture is a deep sympathy with it. There is a divine faculty in the religious soul, apart from outward at tainments, or intellectual pow er, which instinctively recog nizes * spiritual truth. It may not'-fcnow sor* orach1'Tif- the^fet ter as it might, but it has an intuitive sense of the meaning beneath. It may not be able to reason, but it feels; and no logic is truer than that of the breast. Luther’s saying is golden: “Pectus est, quod the ologum facit,” the heart makes the divine. Love, ever so humble, enters deeper into the mind of God than is possi ble to mere intellect. The strongest of all evidence is that of experience. We today need preachers and teachers, Sunday school missionaries, and conirrecra tions that believe the Gospel of the Bible is the Word of God; that Jesus was divine; that He wrought miracles, and taught the people; that He was crucified, buried and raised on the third day, ac cording to the Scriptures. We also believe that He founded the Church, and that it is the work of the Church to evange lize the world. We need today to wage ceaseless opposition to the type of modernist preach ers who are unbelievers, and hold that the Bible is not a revelation from God to man, but a record of what' man through centuries of search has thought God to be. Such modernist teaching has much corrupted modem life and the religious spirit by denying the Deity of Jesus and His mira cles, His atoning death and His victorious resurrection. The age demands men of faith who believe the Gospel is a divine revelation, who are fundamentalists in the sense that we hold firm to faith in a personal God, the Sonship of Jesus, the divine inspiration of the entire Bible, in the mir acles, atonement by blood, and in salvation by the New Tes tament plan. The cross of Jesus Christ is the central fig ure that should be dominant in modem life. Our Christian pulpit was not erected to cor rect philosophic or scientific error, but to lead men to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ'. It is the Gospel that is to day needed for this age of doubt. To abandon the Gos pel is to venture on the peri lous and shifting sands of con troversy and the with its attendant ment, impiety, and sin. vealed in the Books of Testament, the Gospel forth clearly to all who read its message. The contains every element complete revelation from Divine, putting us in with superhuman that science could never tain. Modern life needs its tifying influence. We are disturbed by so many tors to distract our aims to disturb our peaceful ence. The movies, the the temptations of drink, excesses of the theatre, modest dress in with display of ankles breasts, bobbed hair, the sion for riotous in living, for luxury, dance, the cabaret,—all the soothing antidote of Bible’s influence with' wholesome atmosphere of gious calm. Modern life is heedless of a future and reckons not that existence is but the Placing our faith in inventions, we forget there exists a supernatural divine; we forget the and run to perdition, and less corrected by prayer and study of the we are doomed and lost. YOUR COOPERATION YITED. “Pure religion and undefinjl before God and the Father S| this, To visit the fatherin' and ’ wiuowtf "tit their affiictiqp and to keep himself unspotbar frorcujfcfce- worid.”—Jap»«l?*er! 27. ** The voice of the helpless, the cry of the distressed strikes a responsive chord in the hearts of the people of North Caro lina. That voice and that cry has been answered in the erec tion and equipment of orphan homes which have been plant ed by religious and fraternal organizations in various sec tions of the State. The ques tion of maintenance on a prop er basis is one with which the management of these homes have to contend from time to time. It is the question of maintenance for which this committee asks the considera tion of all North Carolinians during the approaching Thanksgiving season. A Call To Service. It is the duty of today with which we would be most con cerned. The sun will tomor row either rise in splendor or behind a mask of weeping clouds. Remorse comes from something that' happened yes terday, or the dread of what tomorrow may disclose. But let us remember that the same iuvc aim patience timt aie ail ticipated for the ’morrow will shine with tender promise in to the heart of today. In no other channel of effort is our mission in the world so vividly and practically exempli fied as it is in the support of the orphan homes. Here are gathered the fatherless and motherless children of our State enjoying the fostering care and protection provided for them during the years of their youthful development. In these homes they are given the education and training so essential to their success in the great battle of life in this world and to fit them for a happy existence in the life to come. Responsibility To The Child. It is to one of these splendid institutions that every man, woman and child in North Car olina, who is blessed with earn ing capacity, is requested to forward the amount of one day’s income on, or near, Thanksgiving Day. Let us forget self, rise above senti ment and remember our fun damental responsibility to the child—the orphan child. Let us remember that our problem and responsibility as patriotic citizens of a great, progressive commonwealth is to see that every child has an equal chance for development into upright manhood and woman* hood. In no other way may this responsibility to father less and motherless Children be more effectively discharged than by whole-hearted co-op cration with the management of the orphan homes. The Formative Period. In the very nature of things, orphan children are not capa ble of determining the wisest course to pursue along life’s pathway. Divergent paths lie out before their vision. The unseen and the unknown stir Strange emotions in their ten der hearts. The siren voice of the worid often appeals to their young lives, and sinful pleasures enter where better things should abide. Shall we, men and women of North Car olina, ignore the promotion of their highest and best inter ests and yield entirely to the accumulation of worldly effects for our own comfort? Give as God Has Prospered You. me numoie aay laDorer is as much entitled to become a beneficiary of God’s blessings fbr his smaller donation as is the captain of industry who gives proportionately of his means to this worthy cause. The appeal is to every class and condition of men and wo wen to join in taking advan tage of this precious privilege to “visit the fatherless in their affliction.” %*£ii!k some measu c the re d, two “cfiihe people to this in ^and, a jipst <*>r Chi* Cliildpil already in/me orphanages, for the managements (have come to rely upon liberal Thanksgiv ing Day receipts to meet the budget of the closing year. Liberal contributions from all concerned would certainly op en the doors of these orphan homes to additional inmates who ought to be there. Finally. We call upon the editors of the State papers, daily and weekly, secular and religious, to give the widest publicity to this movement which is phil anthropic in purpose and State wide in extent. We call upon all church leaders of all denomina tions, including pastors, Sun day school superintendents, women workers and others to influence, to urge the giving of a day’s income to some one of the orphanages. We call upon the officers of the various fra ternal orders to bring this ap peal to the attention of each man in their membership and try to enlist his support of this modest offering. We respect iuuy request me superinten dents and teachers of secular schools, colleges and universi ties to induce their students and friends to unite with them in giving a day’s work, or wages, to the needy orphans of North Carolina. We invite the cooperation of doctors, merchants, public officials and all others to p' s the word along with the divine injunc tion: “Suffer little children to come unto me for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Most respectfully, M. L. SHIPMAN, STACY W. WADE, W. A. GRAHAM, J. R. YOUNG, JOHN D. BERRY, MRS. KATE BURR JOHN SON, MRS. JOSEPHUS DAN IELS. Raleigh, N. C. People who want friends must show themselves friend ly. No one can live in selfish isolation and then when sor row or misfortune comes tc them expect to find themselves sustained by the helpfulness of sincere friends. Friendship is something worth while. It is not be spurned.—The Monitor CHARACTER BUILWNG . . __ | By Mias SalHe Archer _____ Upon the teachers in the Sunday school and the school room falls the great resonsibil ity of training boys and girls in building noble characters. In many instances the parents of these girls and boys leave this training largely in the Stands of the church and school, so upon us rests this grave re sponsibility. For what purpose are our Sunday schools ? Do they not exist primarily for the molding of Christian character? Chris tian character is human nature in its best form; it is moral or der individualized. Men of character are. not only the conscience of society, but in every well-governed state they are its best motive power. It is moral quality in the main that rules the world. The strength, the industry and the civilization of nations depend upon individual charac ter and the very foundation of civil security rests upon it. Laws and institutions are but its legitimate outgrowth. As surely as effect follows cause, so surely does quality of char acter amongst a people produce | the best and highest results. We can only attain the high est results in the development of human character as we bring it into conformity with God’s will. For there can he no true and permanent character un les it be founded on true and permanent principles. And these principles for the reg lation of human action must not be based on vain apecula MtuBBrtioi updfl of God as revealed to man. This is the highest law of human action. The building of character is slow, because it takes hold of the eternities—the eternity of the past and the eternity of the future. The destruction of character is but a moment’s work. While we go forth train ing boys and girls in character building we ourselves are build ers. We gather the material for the building of character from the quarry of thought and hew it into noble or ignoble ac tions. The foundation of character is laid very largely in youth. Then comes the work of erect ing the superstructure. Silent ly we go about this work; each day finds us crystalizing some thought into action, embodying some action into character. The habits we form, the com pany we keep, the books we read, the customs surrounding all serve to help build our r.haracter. The magnificent buildings which bring forth admiration because of beautiful architec ture and valuable material were not built in a day. So it is also true that the character that challenges the admiration of the world will take every moment of life spent in hum ble dependence on God for its successful formation. We who are character build ers, if we wish a perfect model and a perfect example, such an example we find in the life of the “Lowly Nazarene.” Hu man experiences teach the fol ly of building our character upon the sandy foundation of worldly pleasures. For every foundation must be tried, and only those characters founded and built upon firm founda tions can stand the test of time and circumstances. We are born with certain tendencies which are the natural results of a depraved nature. But these tendencies are fully cap able of development; but to properly develop them is a life’s work. It begins with the rock ing of the cradle and ends at the grave. As we go forth shaping the lives of the young girls ant boys let us remember tjial those lives are influenced bj us; therefore, see to it that their lives are surrounded by only that which is good, pure, wholesome and sweet. / ^ See that the foundation is properly laid at the fireside in the home. Let mothers and fathers be careful that the at mosphere of the home is what it should be. For from the homes must come those boys and girls who will be the fu ture leaders of our race and rar nation. Chula, Va. DEATH OF DEVOTED DAUGHTER AND MOTHER Mrs. P. A. White Wednesday night, September 30th, God in His infinite wis iom saw fit to call to her heav enly reward Mrs. Bessie Tay lor White, wife of Dr. P. A. White, pastor of Greenleaf IVesbyterian church, Keeling, Tenn. Mrs. White was bom in Keeling, Tenn., 39 years ago and was the daughter of Elder James A. and Mrs. Evaline Taylor, she being the elder daughter. During the month of June Mrs. White was called to Keel ing to attend her mother, Mrs. Evaline Taylor, during an illness, but after being at home a few days was stricken and was forced to undergo an op eration. For quite some time relatives and friends were very hopeful but unforeseen complications arose which has tened the end. Aft)Jr completing the ele mentary school Mrs. White at tended Mary Holmes Seminary, West Point, Miss.^and gradu ated l adlfoheiMH». tered the teaching professi<M rendering creditable and ac ceptable service in her own community. §he had been a life long member of Greenleaf Presbyterian church and was ever faithful and untiring in her devotion to' her work. She led an exemplary, Christian life which was commended to emulation and which has earned for her eternal life such as comes to every Christian. The funeral services were conducted at Greenleaf Pres byterian church, October 2nd, at one o’clock. A large, crowd of devoted neighbors and friends were present to pay their tribute of respect. Dr. H. L. Peterson, pastor of Beth el Presbyterian church, Mem phis, Tenn., who, nearly three years ago, officiated at the marriage of Mrs. White, of ficiated also on this solemn oc casion. He delivered a fine and well-merited eulogy, as he had known the deceased from girl hood. The Rev. M. J. Nelson, of Hoffman-Stf. Mary’s Institute, Mason, Tenn., Dean W. H. Nel son, faculty representative of Lane College, Jackson, Tenn., and Prof. Chas. H. Hutchings, S. S. M., were present and took part in the services. Inter ment was in Greenleaf Ceme tery. ! Mrs. White leaves to mourn her departure a devoted hus band, Dr. P. A. White, her father, Elder James A. Tay lor ; one brother, John Tay lor, a sister, Mrs. Lucy Taylor Davis, Brownsville, Tenn., and a host of relatives and friends. 'i1. J Mrs. J. A. Taylor Mrs. Evaline Taylor, wife of Elder James A. Taylor, of Keeling, Tenn., died at their home Saturday, October 17. She was 69 years of age. She was married to Elder James A. Taylor 42 years ago. To this union were born four children: Mrs. Bessie Taylor White, Mr. Robert Taylor, Mr^ John Taylor and Mrs. Lucy Taylor Davis. Mrs. Taylor had been in de clining health for quite a few months. In June she sent for1 Mrs. White to attend her, re-* (Continued on page 3) <>», ■ - - t til 1 i
Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 12, 1925, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75