The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-01-25
For the Central'Presbyter-.l
More About Appeals for Help.

| Ah CooI .. LlNtCOIo, w do III uOI Il IlUIlG
incongruous to send out 81. s" caveat or
veto, along with the appeal" of the
Secretaries in regard to the collections
for Home Missions in your paper of De-
cember 28th. 1882 The cause of Home
Missions will feel the effect of ]. s veto.
Perhaps not as he intended; but it will
feel it nevertheless.
And in the issue of the 18th "L. B.
j." throws in shovel full of sand to
stay the tide of iberality which, in the
imagination of these brethren, threat
ems dire evils. With your permission l
accept "L. B. Us" invitation to some
one to speak his mind on the subject.
What are these brethren alarmed at
Against what do they wish to produce a
reaction in the mind Of the Church ?
Hear them, against THE continual and
crying demands coming from every por-
ton of the land for money for Church
purposes. j.
The great object to be regarded by
us all is to impress the thought on every
mind that they only deserve help who
try to help themselves" We must in
ject into the mind of the Church the
lesson of reaction against this mendi-
can't spirit. L. B. ].
We'll, it is perfectly evident that these
brethren know the art of killing dog
By giving him bad name. Hence
their use of the expressions: Needless
appeals " and "mendicant spirit"
Is there anything in the frequency
and urgency of these appeals to be
alarmed at? A few Presbyterians in
some lonely corner get hungry for spirit
ual food. They organize a new church
and the first question asked is, how
much will DR.. McIlwaine give us?'
Well, that is the very thing we have
for years been trying to get these Pres
byterians in lonely corners to do. We
have been in every possible way appeal
ing to them to hold on to the Presbyte-
rian faith and not go into organizations
of other connections; and the appeal has
been backed with a promise of help
And now when these appeals made to
them are bringing us appeals from them
to make good our promise, shall we say,
You are mendicants, we don't want
you. If you cant pay for your own
preaching and build your own church go
to the Baptists or the Methodists, our
Church is not "a charitable institution ?'''
But L. B. j" says these feeble
churches cannot live without the aid of
the Sustentation Committee" Suppose
they cannot What if some of them die
despite that aid Is it our mission as a
Church simply to organize self-sustain-
ing Presbyterian churches? Have we
no mission with reference to the salvation
of souls? know of one feeble church
which for twelve years has been aided
by the Sustentation Committee And
owing to certain circumstances it will
probably not be self-sustaining for years
Through the instrumentality of the Cos
| pei preached there, more than one hun
dred souls have been saved some OF
them have gone to the church above
some OF them have gone to the self-sup-
porting churches in other places, and its
membership to-day is less than when it
was organized, but still it Is doing a
good work
No, no let us repudiate the idea that
we must help only that church which
will live. Our mission is not to build
up selt-sustaining churches, but to preach
the gospel and save souls.
" The great object to be regarded by
us all is to impress the thought on every
mind that they only deserve help who
try to help themselves.
Indeed Is that ID. B. Us inter.
probation of the gospel, which incul
Gates, as it illustrates, the idea of help.
ing those not able to help themselves
and even those who do not try. The
Gospel help reaches even to an inability
of will
And a." is alarmed because to his
mind these appeals indicate that " the
Church is fast becoming one grand chari-
table institution built up by voluntary
contributions
Well, there is at least one benighted
enough to believe that this is lust what
Jesus intended his Church to be. And
therefore, he can see nothing very alarm
ing in the fact, if it be fact that the
gospel conception of corporate body
in which the weak receive all needful
help from the strong, is about to be real
lied. If the Church ought not to be a
good charitable institution, built up by
voluntary contributions, what ought it to
be? ] await an answer in the meekness
of teachable spirit.
But why should these appeals not be
made? Why should the Church not re-
spond to them2 Because, says 81. %
though a great portion Of the land is
dnotitutn of oep11ipo ro1i c,icr fboro ;g o., -