Zhc Xutbetan Dtsttor
GOD’S WORD, OUR RULE ; CHRIST, OUR PATTXRH ; A PURI FAITH, OUR WATCHWORD.
Voi*. XXXVI—No. 7. NEWBERRY, 8. C., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13,1902. Whol* No. 1T06
Investigation baa
Young Men developed the pleas-
•nd Religion, iug fact that more
yonng men attend
chorcb than U generally snppoeed.
In the rural districta one in two
young men go to chnrch regularly;
one in threeoeeauionaliy, undone
in fourteen not at all. In city
life, one in four regularly, one in
two oocaieonally.', and one in seven
not at all. TbU ie cheering in
deed, and epeaka well for the
young men and for the growing in*
flnenoe of religion.
Another hopeful fact ia that the
absence of the few who remain away
from the honae of God is the result
of indifference or thoughlleeaueea
rather than of infidelity. Certain
ly each indifference is a aio against
themselves and God, but at the
same time there is more hope of
saoeesa ia winning them to Christ
than would be possible were they
confirmed toeplics. Many of them
are draen away from religion by
the attractions of this pleasure-
loving age and have no special
objection to Christianity itself.
There is a mistaken idea among
non church-goers which must be
corrected, and which sober reflec
tion would show to be false and
roinona. Some of them tell us
that they can be as good Christians
out of the chnrch aa in.it. Were
this true then the founding of the
chnrch by onr Lord wonld have
been unnecessary—a thought not to
be entertained even for a moment.
All attempts to set aside the
Chmch of God, claiming that it is
not necessary to the salvation of
men, is an impeachment of the
wisdom of God Himself and a
strike at the very fonndations of onr
holy religion; and to eay, as some
do, that the chnrch .has failed in
any measure in the accomplishment
of her great mission is to say
that Jeans was mistaken when
He said, "The gates of hell
shall not prevail against it."
Such opposition to the chnrch is
simply blasphemous, no matter
^ from what source it emanates.
And yet many people will hang
entranced upon the ministry of
men whose chief stock in trade is
abase of the church, her holy in
stitutions, and her divinely or
dained ministry. Whenever any
mau goes ont in the capacity of a
religions teacher and says the
church is wrong and that all
preachers are wrong, be ia a re
ligions anarchist and the enemy of
God. Nor will it avail to argue in
extenuation of bis guilt that he is
honest, sincere, and conscientious
in his views, for if he be a man of
any intelligence whatever be knows
that God established His chnrch,
ordained a living ministry, and
provided for the perpetuation of
His chnrch, her ministry, and her
sacraments. True some preachers
may he in error—there was a Judas
among the twelve and an apostate
Julian among the early Christians
— but that by no means proves that
ail are wrong. Generally men
who go oat ia opposition to the
established forms of religion are
apostates themselves and are sim
ply seeking to jaslify their own
mistakes, or to gain mercenary
ends. Jeans said, "Go work in
my vineyard and whatsoever is
n«ht 1 will pay thee;" and in Acts
it is written, "The Lord addsd to
•he chnrch daily such as should bs
saved." From these divine prem
ises the conclusion follows that no
salvation, no reward is promised
outside of the Chorcb and apart
from her holy sacraments. As
the blood on the lentels was life to
the Jew so these are Iife.to ns
through onr blessed Lord.
Conditions have so changed in
these latter days that onr young
men have no valid exonse for re
maining ont of the chnrch, if in
deed any snob excase ever existed.
Religion is now esteemed and pro
fessed by the great leaden of
thonght in almost every depart
ment of life, and men who oppose
it are looked upon with eome de
gree of snepioion if not indeed
with positive distrust. Even in
ancient times it was argued that
no obligation wonld bind a man
who did not believe in a Supreme
Being to whom men mast finally
account for all their acts, and the
ancients were nearer the truth than
many supposed. The notion
p^med to be this: If there is no
U.daod no reality in Religion
then ei*. drink and be merry, for
tomorroM we die; if there be no
snob thing as accountability after
death then gratify the fleshly
appetite, for death ecds all. This is
good logic and clearly evidences
the fact that those who icoff at
religion and God are walking in a
dangerous way. We know that it
is possible for them, amid the
moral inflnenees of this Christian
age, to live honorably before men,
bat the chances are largely against
them. "If the righteous scarcely
be saved, where shall the ungodly
and the sinner nppearf" This is
pertinent. If it be herd for those
who live daily under the restraints
of religion to walk humbly and
rightly before God how mneb more
diflenit mast it be for thoee who
feel none of thoee restraints and
who repudiate the notion of moral
responsibility before an it finite
God. And, hence, yonng men
make a fatal mistake when they
ignore the church, religion acd
God.
A suggestive fact has recently
come into noticj in this con-
nectidn, to wit: Where both
parents belong to the same chnrch
seventy eight per cent of tbe yonng
men are members, showing the
power of example sod of parental
influence. It is therefore obvious
that no parent can afford to negiei^
the cbnrch of God. How blessed
it will be when parents can come
op to God at Heaven’s gate and
say, "Here am I and the children
whom Tbon gavest me.”
"Collier’s Weekly"
A Negative usually portrays mat-
view. tens in a fine pictorial
manner and faitbfnl
to the text, hot in an editorial note
laat week about Miss Stone’s cap
tivity among the brigands of Bul
garia it holds up to view a faintly
detlnod negative of each a grand
picture of missionary effort as that
heroic woman presents to the world.
What a dwarfed, one-sided opinion
of missionary work is embraced
in tbe remarks of the "Weekly"
that in view of the ralease of Miss
Stone, "nearly everybody is equal
ly sorry that she placed herself in
s position where her capture was
possible," and that "perhaps, now,
she will return to this oonotry,
where energetic missionary work
is needed and where it ia not so
perilous as it eeems to be among
more primitive Christians." Thia
suggestion is threadbare and with
out effective argument. It is the
fame old selfish, one sided view of
Christian missions, in which no
progress in any period of the
church's history has ever been
made, since the persecution of the
early Christians at Jerusalem, nn-
leaa the heralds of tbe cross pos
sessed tbe spirit of eelf-sschflce
such as tbe case of Miss Stone
presents. The Christian church
does not hold such s one sided
view that its mission work is only
to be carried on in easy stages at
boue to tbe neglect of other lands
where perils mast be eonfrooted
K'*ewhere in Ibis
Second Lutheran L isofTheVisi-
Conference tor will be found
sot:« important
announcements to tr ard ts the
Second Lutheran Gei eral Confer
ence, which will meet in Philadel
phia daring tbe week following
Euter. Tbe program is an in
teresting one, and tbe range of
snbjecta bears evidence of thonght
*in its preparation, and keeping in
view tbe aim of tbe coming to
gether of representatives of tbe
three general bodies under whose
auspices tbe conference is held,
a fuller so operation of Lutherans
for tbe prosperity of onr great
chnrch in America While Dr.
Himnn issues tbe program as sec
retary of tbe conference committee,
tbe statement by Rev. L L. Smith,
tbe United Synod’s representative
on tbe committee, has some points
which claim the special and prompt
attention of onr district synods..
The suggestions made by our
representative should be all that is
necessary to obtain tbe funds
assigned to the United Synod as
its part of the ejxpenses of the con
ference. and we call attention to it
now that onr congregations may
readily respond to tbe aid of the
canee.