Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-16

tional aid of the negro. without violating
the rights or the social order or either
race. declares that the evangelization OF the
negro Ia to be accomplished by neither
long-range sentimentality nor short-ranSe
Indifference, and that the time has fuiy
come when the black mans white heigh-
Dor and that same black mans too-far-
away friend must sit down together IN
mutually satisfying conference about what
is the next step. neither party to the con-
ference claiming a monopoly OF wisdom.
methods or responsibilities.
A Specific Appeal.
After naming various religious and edu-
cational opportunities for aggressive church
work in the south. the preacher concluded
with a specific appeal to his own church
to devote TO that section for the next hve
years all of the funds and workers that
can be spared, since the religious and pa
triotiC mission of this church to the south
just at this time is so sublime and so fuli
of promise as to send this great assembly
to its knees In gratitude and in prayer
for divine guidance.
Foreign Missionary Meeting.
In the opening sentence of the sermon
Dr. I.andrth recalled the fact that most
appropriately the last general assembly
before the union was essentially foreign
missionary meeting. and he thought this
first union assembly might be properly
a home missionary meeting. When. there
FORE, he proceeded, he VINO unwortnily
utters the opening message of this historic
day speaks a heart plea for an aggressive
going of our united denomination into Jul
dea and Samaria, he does not feel that ne
Is saying aught that would be out OF &C
cord with the sentiments of the veteran
and beloved missionary moderator of TINS
body who is not forgetting to talk with
God in our behalf, the while that In our
stead is preaching the gospel in the utter
most parts of the earth.
A Call From God.
"Wth % per cent of The membership of
the former Cumberland Presbyterian
Church living west and south of the mid
population city in which the assembly Is
meeting shall we not interpret the voice
of the recently effected union as call
from God to the united church to possess
that east and SOUTH?
After showing that although. as result
OF the civil war. the taxable values at tne
south were less than half as large In 1870
as they were ten years earlier, many lines
of manufacturing and agricultural indus
try have been multiplied from two to ten
fold during the last ten years and that
even the value of the south's staple. the
cotton crop, has increased 100 per cent, the
speaker asked If such section does not
offer irresistible Inducements to any
church that wants to do its duty and at
the same time plant itself In strategic
places whence in the coming years 1t can
go forth TO greater achievements for the
Master? Especially attractive to church
and educational enterprises is the greater
half of the SOUTH Texas, Arkansas. Okla
homa and beyond, where both the now
united churches have made some beginning.
and where opportunities of church growth
and greatness are as abundant as con-
tinued industrial advancement Is sure. The
material development of country Is pur-
chased at the price of faith and courage
and money and qualified men: permanent
n
cost.
The Church and the South.
The sentiment sometimes expressed that
the American Presbyterian Church should
leave the south to the Southern Presbyte-
rian Church was combated with the facts
about that church. which is now numerical |
ly weaker than Is the united church in the |
southern states of Arkansas, Kentucky,
Missouri. Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas, |
and AZ per cent of whose strength Is in the |
Carolinas and Virginia. Southern Presby- |
terianiSm, without our cooperation. can
never overtake the Presbyterian poSSbili- |
ties and demands of the south in general, |
and of the southwest in particular. That
this cooperation will be welcomed nobody
acquainted with the liberal leadership of
the southern church need entertain a
doubt; and that this same cooperation shall
never degenerate into unfraternal rivalry.
but instead that IL shall hasten a cOnSum-
nation so devoutly to be wished, the ulti-
mate organic union of the two churches 1T
Is the plain duty of all concerned to strive
TO insure.
Religious Needs.
Claiming that the religious needs of the
south are not proportionateIy greater than
are those of other sections, and rejoicing In
the recent revIvals of educational interest
and civic integrity. DIR. Landrith reminded
his hearers that 1.-The old south inherited
ha in slit nd of HI,
slavery, and by natural processes of en-
vironment came to believe that evil to be
good But the new south has accepted the
true doctrine that all slavery Is wrong, and
has made a matchless beginning In freeing
itself from that other CALLING bondage Of
the ages. the rule of the licensed liquor
traffic, in comparison with the worst forms
of which the severest phases of human
slavery were akin to benevolence.
The church must henceforth WELD its
mighty influence for evident righteousness
and against plain wrongdong. no matter
what political or other agencies may favor
or condemn the church's attitude. That
way lies prosperity for the cause of the
salvation of souls. True courage and de-
pendable character always make haste to
accept the overtures of uniformly moral
and uncompromisingly militant church.
church that has no weapons to WELD
against the good and no olive branches to
offer to the bad
Efforts to Prejudice.
Regarding the efforts 10 prejudice the
progress of the united church in the south
by calling 1t the Northern" Presbyterian
Church. the speaker asked, after noting the
growth of patriotic spirit and the fraternal
feeling existing today. even between the
old soldiers who once fought each other:
Think you that this same southland. cher
ishing no longer, where patriotism or COM
mercialLsm is concerned, its half-century-
old animosities will now revive its long
slumbering sectional hate for the pltiabe
purpose OF denying to a church for awhile
mainly northern, the coveted privilege or
being a blessing to a land sanctifed by the
blood of American chiyalry, and now SO
ready for a baptism of the blood of the
lamb that was slain from the foundations
of the world? Who so base as to credit
the cruel slander?'
Brotherly Kindness.
Mentioning among the hindrances to the
success of the united church the bitter op-
position engeudered by misformation among
the opponents OF the union in the former
Cumberland Presbyterian Church. DR.. Land
nth said:
ours Is the present duty of making
known with brotherly kindness that, as