Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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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.