Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-09-03
For Sunday Reading
dill Sort, ofObinions

| AH S0rfS az Cbfni0ns
''Our hope for the church of tomor-
row is in the children Of today" says
the Northwestern Christian Advocate.
What does the church of today owe
to them? First, a demonstration of
| the reality of the religious life. Chill
| dren are born imita tors, and imitation
| easily becomes habit 1t is Of the first
| consequence that children should be
| persuaded OF the worth and beauty of
religion as the informing spirit of char
acter. And such persuasion is accom-
| pushed much more readily and power
| fully by example than by precept. 1t
| is emphatically for this that the church
stands. Indeed, the church has no
particular function apart from this. 1t
IS very we'll for purposes of definition
to say that the church is a congrega-
| ton of faithful men in which the pure
Word of God is preached and the sac
raments duly administered. But en-
phasis must come upon the faithfulness
OF the men in whom the word and the
sacraments show their proper effect.
| Only as men are able to show life in
the spirit do they vindicate the value
of church life and organization
Writing under the caption, after
the Edinburg Conference, What?" the
Churchman (Prot. Epis.) says: The
Edinburg conference brought christians
| of many names. from many nations.
face to face with the christian
world and their responsibility for it,.
The next step to be taken is for the
divided churches of christendom to
/ face each other fairly and squarely as
a divided household incapable, as such,
iof fulfilling the obligation of christen-
/ dom to the world. The initial achieve
ment of Edinburgh is fundamental
The representatives of christian
churches and christian organizations
came together, and together studied
the world missionary problem. This
was the supreme fact of that confer
ence. Let who will estimate the results
| of the meeting a. Edinburgh. let the
estimates vary as they may. the vital
| fact remains-what was done together
and could not have been done apar.
1t is agreed that neither convictions
nor principles We're impaired in the
coming together or in what was done
together, which is only another way
| Of saying that christians can do things
together honestly and in good con-
science. without the sacrifice of prin-
ciple or the compromise of conviction.
! NO4AiiAAS loSStiiei - d great gain. ID-
ing anything great or small together is
a vast gain. both are signs of living
and growing cooperation. whose end
or destiny is the union of all fra gments
OF divided christendom in a unity that
loses no atom of liberty, or of variety,
but guarantees both variety and lib
erty. the infinite variety and liberty of
the children of God in the one family
of Cod
Echoes of the great world mission
airy conference will roll around the
world" observes the Christian Work
land Evangelist. "All over America and
Europe meetings have been held to
hear the reports Of delegates. The
British papers have devoted several
weeks to printing impressions by all
sorts of men. We have been reading
these letters and have been very much
struck by their unanimous agreement
on two or three points-and these let
ters are from statesmen, officers, mer-
chants and scientists. a. Well as cler
gymen. They are all agreed on these
points: first. that the time for de-
batting foreign missions has gone by.
After the reports, gathering up the de-
velopment of eastern nations under
christian influences, which were read
at Edinburgh, he who desires to ques-
ton foreign missions shows either his
Ignorance or his mental incapacity.
The simple truth is that where they
have not gone all sorts of atrocities
and cruelties to women and children
unmentionable, and rapine and pow
erty and awful disease persist; where
they have gone, all is changed. The
missionary simply transforms the COM
munity where he goes from a wicked
pesthole into q place of happy, healthy
reasonably pure homes. Another thing
these impressions all agree upon-and
they are written by fair-minded men
is that with all the good there is in
them, the ethic religions are utterly
impotent to raise the nations to any
civilization approaching the western
world. Here they agree with Presi-
dent Taft, ex-Vice President Fairbanks
land Mr.. Bryan, all of whom have said
after experience in the east and travel
thru eastern lands. that the only
hope of the east is christianity. The
third thing on which all these men
agree is that industrial training and
public education must go hand in hand
with moral and religious uplift. There
must be both individual regeneration
and social reconstruction going on hand
in hand. On one other thing all are
agreed. namely. that a great revival
or rather a new and before unknown
manifestation of missionary enthu-
siasm is about to take possession of
the Christian church. The Laymen's
Missionary Movement in the United
States with it's sudden and remarkable
growth. gave great encouragement to
this view
"The cry for union is in the religious
air. says the Jewish outlook. but why
shout it aloud from the housetops when
no effort is made to realize it, why
cry union when there is none and
seemingly can not be any? Reform and
orthodox Jews can no more unite in
common worship than the myriad sects
of christianity can or will unite. Every
now and again. Jew or Jewess will
come forward with the plea, but it is
never attempted or put into any prac-