The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-04-19
TWO EXCELLENT ARTICLES.

In the April number of the Methodist
Quarterly Review there are two excellent
articles by North Carolinians-"T Ed
ucational Ooutlook in the South" by B.
w. Arnold, Jr., Phi. D., professor of His
tory and Sociology in Randolph Macon
Womans College, and 1.-The Inevitable in
the Southern Pulpits," Rev. Marion T..
Plyler, NJ. A, pastor of the Methodist
church in Louisburg.
Mr.. Arnold is the son Of Rev. J. d. Ar
mold, Methodist pastor at Lexington, and
young educator of ability and growing
reputation. He writes with clear vision
of the educational progress in the South,
commends with discrimination the work
of the Southern Educational Board and
makes a noble plea for still further pro-
gress in the increased interest in the
education of woman.
Mr. Plyler takes up the three standing
charges against the South: l. Provin-
cialism; 2. Intolerance of Christians; and
3. Undue conservatism, and points out
that the Southern pulpit, not losing the
strength produced by peculiar environ
ment must take into consideration the in
dustTial transformation going on. THE
injustice in the marts of trade the cor
society call aloud for a sovereign will
speaking TO the times The pulpit must
consider the complex problems growing
out of the change from the simple rural
lifo to the congested centres and the evils
incident thereto. The pulpit must recog-
nize the intellectual awakening, the in
dustrial awakening now rebuilding old
commemorative. The pulpit must meet
present conditions. Ignorance in the
pulpit of these very real troubles to
those disconnected will never safely an
Choir the perturhed. Neither will ridicule
answer the patient search for truth made
by day and by night on the part of sim
cere truth lovers" Mr. Plyler goes on TO
say:
1T is no secret that certain Baptist
ministers discount Wake Forest College
of North Carolina, a leading institution
of that denomination, because boys go
there and learn evolution; or that certain
Methodist ministers raise a like objec-
tion to Trinity. And this with two insti-
tutions well known for their conservat-
ism. From these institutions and others
more radical in their teachings. flows a
steady stream of the brightest youth each
year; from the press come widely read
tudes and from Northern universities re-
turn earnest resolute young men to make
ideals for their respective communities
The Protestant pulpit that commands this
ever-increasing throng will be of large
thought and broad sympathies. But thia
percolation of the thought currents of the
day through the masses is not the only
force to be regarded. In the theological
n
theology, are master workmen patiently
laboring to reach conclusions that need
not be lightly treated, and cannot be
brushed aside by the wave of the hand
or cried down by catchy epithets.'
Mr.. Plyler says that mo little agitation
and some uncertainty may be expected il
these transitional times, and the pulpit
must meet the inevitable" The demand
upon the pulpit is to stand ''amid the
rude shock of the times with clear vision
and a firm foot resting upon the I'M
shaken that ever remains" What is the
security in these times? Here is Mr.
Plyler's answer: Never did worship
ping Magi look with such longing fol
the manger-throne as is the heart of tn,
world now longing for the Christ. Wher
Cncc man knows that God IS near, light
never seen on sea or land fills aGt
thrills the soul. an awful hush settles
over the mills and marts of fierce en-
deavor. the finger of God appears anew
even in a Bible newly ground in th'
critics mill, and men become a savinl
factor in a sordd world with its sin ant
shame and death; for thus they max,
vivid the forces of the eternities al,
turn the face of men to the throne o
God If the perpleXing problems of tn
New South and the conclusions of bibli
cal criticism. result in throwing the min
istry of the South back upon itself an'
lead TO dropping the plummet into tn
depth of the soul as it presses har
against the heart of God. and thus tn
historic Christ becomes regnant in tn
fink and flow, no fear need be felt whel
the day comes for final judgment upo