Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-17
RELIGIOUS NEWS
AND COMMENT

| Reformed Church in America met at As
bury Park, N. J.. June s. The chief mat
ter of public interest to come before the
800 delegates was the report on marriage
and divorce, submitted by the Rev. DR..
johnson, the representative of the Re
| formed Church in the interchurch confer
ence on that subject. The report urged
| that ministers be enjoined by the synod
to refuse to marry any divorced person I'M
til one year from the decree, and not then
unless the divorce was granted on Scrip
tural grounds. The report of the commit
tee on church union submitted to the synod
the Pittsburg conference plan. and resolu-
| tons were adopted approving the general
| scheme.
Many a man can be good citizen with
out being good Christian, but there is
not man in the world who can be a good
Christian without being a good citizen" SO
said Lieut.. Gov. Bruce to the Mems League
of the Park Presbyterian Church. New
| York. His theme was THE Duties of the
| Citizen to the Church and State" Every
where, he said, the good outnumbered the
evil, and 1t was only necessary for the
| GOOD TO get together to make their power
| dominant. 1t was as much the duty of a
Christian to be at the polls as it was to be
| In the pew; as much to help the oppressed
| by good civic administration at home as to
contribute to the betterment of the heather
abroad. If Christian citizens fail In ris-
| ing for the benefit Of the country, 1 am
ready" he said, ito lay the blame at the
door of the church. for the church has
marvellous power If 1t will use it rightly
A Roman Catholic priest writes to the
Independent some words of caution in re-
gard to the acceptance Of the proposed
catholic Encyclopedia as representative
| either of Roman scholarship or of Roman
Catholicity. I'm America" he says, Cath
olfcs are just beginning to fall into two
classes which have been sharply defined in
Europe for long time. We are finding
out that here, too, the movement of IDEAS
| Is marking off the camps, thus far at peace,
! SO far as our country is concerned, but
inevitably destined for future war; the
camp OF conservatives, obscurantists and
| mediaevalists on the one side and of pro-
| gressives, liberals and moderns on the other.
we have now among a faSt-growing
multitude of good and loyal men who have
been obliged by their study, thought and
| travel to hold opinions which the old-fash
| Toned school would condemn as rash, I'M
| Catholic, or even heretcalr In such mat
! tiers as Biblical criticism, church and state,
| temporal power and Italian autocracy,
| practically all independent Catholic scholars
| in the world have adopted views over which
| our classroom manuals have placed the
| danger sign, Non lcet' But there is no
stopping the new spirit now. Its march
onward and its ultimate triumph are as sure
| as the courses of the stars. Sentence of
| death may be pronounced a few times more
| against modern ideas, but executed it can
never be. Ideas are beyond the reach of
all tribunals, civil or spiritual, secular or
sacred"
w. Robertson Nicon. in recent sermon
in London, gave utterance to the following:
Christians must never forget, as the pub
lie mind becomes more and more engrossed
with economics, that reformers have had
their day and done their work, but Christ
Jesus, and He alone. still gives new life.
He is not primarily the deviser of a social
system but the quickener of the individual.
Instead of regeneration by organization He
offers regeneration by inspiration. He sees
life changed, shaped and glori1ed by the
life of God and regards the future of society
with splendid and unfaltering hope. With
out Him no social changes will make the
burden of loss lighter or the fountain of
tears less bitter
Mr.. James Stokes of New York has Of
fered $4,000 to the Society for the Moral
Improvement of Young Men in st. Peters
burg on condition that 100000 more be
raised in Russia for a building. The head
of the society is Prince luxembourg. who
is closely related to the car. Prince Hill
koff, minister of the Russian railroads, is a
deeply interested member, and proposes to
organize railroad associations at the divi-
| sion points on the Russian railways.
In the St. Petersburg association MEM
bership 2,000 men have been enrolled, and
| the limit of capacity to accommodate the
| has been reached In it's present rooms. Sew
eral religious meetings and Bible classes are
| conducted. The movement has been given
| permission by the government to extend its
| branches throughout Russia, and its secre-
| tary given the unusual favor of free trans
| portation over all the railroads, the pass
| being issued by the car himself
The New York friends of Dr. W. T. Gren-
fell Of Labrador have formed an association
for the purpose of helping this work for the
fsherfok of Newfoundland and Labrador.
About $12 GOO has already been contributed.
This mission Is fundamentally Christian,
but is also medical and philanthropic on
the board of directors of the new assocla-
ton are DIR. Henry Van Dyke, Hamilton w.
Mabie and others. The treasurer is Eugene
Delano, SO Wall street, New York, and the
secretary, Mr.. Ernest Hamlin Abbott
All London today, says the British Work
| man. is singing 1.-The Glory Song" as 1t
never before has sung any other hymn 1t
is heard everywhere. 1t is the popular
hymn in the Torrey-Alexander meetings
and is widely sung in the Welsh revival
meetings On buses and in the street. in
| trains and in homes, one hears it sung and
played and whistled. 1t is even sung in the
theaters, and played by strolling street
| bands In England 1t is the most popular
revival hymn of this generation 1t is
equally popular in every country where
| Messrs Torrey and Alexander have held
| their meetings Its great popularity began
lists in Melbourne. From there 1t swept
across the continent of Australia like
tornado and has since been the 'Hallelu1ah
Chorus" in the meetings held by them
"The popularity of The Glory Song"
says Mr.. Alexander, sis due to the fact that
it is within the compass of the average
voice. 1t does not grow monotonous. The
words appeal to any man OF woman. 1t
has a pathos from the first verse to the
last There are no rough places in it. 1t
has a strong sweet melody" The author
of this popular hymn is Mr.. Charles H.
Gabriel of Chicago, the well-known COM
poser of church and sunday school music.
Mr.. Gabriel wrote both the words and
music.
'.The Glory Song not only gives pleas
ure to those who sing it, but 1t has been
the means of the salvation of many souls.
At one service held in London by Messrs.
Torrey and Alexander. Jew was convert
ed through the song. AS the people were
singing:
when by his grace
I shall look on his face"
the thought flashed through his mind he
said, "What if Jesus is the Messiah, after
all? If he is then / shall never have the
joy of looking on his face" That thought