El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-10-28
NEW MODERATOR SPEAKS
DANNY TO SOCIAL UNIONS

Rev DR.. Mark A Matthews, Of Sc
attic moderator of this year FresDy
terrain general assembly, has been IN
the east for some weeks attending
meetings. of official commissions, ana
Of course preaching in leading puIpllS
and addressing Presbyterian soclal
unions He is taking the plan OF pam
sDeaking without doubt he speaks lhe
truth. but there are heard on all slGes
determinations and charges OF UNFAIR
ness and unfamiliarity with condlIois-
He charges that America IS not ClI4S-
fis1 and that Catholic and Protestant,
oo1S55e-ed together. have nothing to
boast about when, after all OF these
v-aars of effort nearly 100000 people
in America have not been enroled.
Nobody escapes this moderator
blackball list. To the ministers he is
saving that their waste or time IS noun
ing short of a scandal He charges tlal
thew have no conscience IN the matter
and seem to care not at all about the
sin of time unused Tor Coo Il -. -
+he time that is wasted by PresDy terrain
minister's he says, L could carry the
rosDel to all in America inside OF SIX
months" He declares that PresoyJeIan
ministers are, VII the resi- oL 'a aS
church merely playing at the task OF
making American Christian LayInel
nut their banks and their shops 1Irst
and prayer meetings either second OF
not at all - Id
razor is not less plain. He tells them
NOT to reckon themselves part OF a
judiciary, but rather to count Ineul-
/ selves evangelists. 1t is their business
/ TO win people to the church, ana ne
tells the pastors that L their elders
( do not win people to depose them, ana
TO put in elders who Will he uecldI =
that If elders were in earnest they
vvOuld duadruple the 55sOOO reported
10 +be General assembly each year as
! received on confession Of faith, a num-
| her which he characterizes as absurd
/ for a great church OF L4UU,UUO mem
/ bers. Goddess trustees IN PresDyterlan
/ churches come in for their snare OF
/ the blame and he adds that deacOns
! would get what is coming to them only
| that deacons in Presbyterian churcnes
[ are disappearing
/ Presbyterian pulpits this moderator
| fears are afraid Of their own shadows,
/ for he tells Presbyterian ministers
] that they cannot expect to win the
! world by shouting platitudes. Tney
l are afraid even to order their own men
to take vigorous hold, and so, Wnlle
( they themselves have all of the ma
/ cbinerv they allow men and religion
I movements to come IN and 70 WoIk alo
! get glory He asks why lOU,UOO chill
] dren and Young people, bapuSed IN the
I Presbyterian church, have not been
/ brought into actual membership ana
! he criticizes 200 suspended mem
/ bers-suspended, he says, chiefly te
{ avoid taxation on enrOleu MEMBER
/ shin. That 90 percent Of these sus-
/ pended members remain suspended IS,
/ he charges, the fault Of elders and
! others remaining in the church who
/ fail to do their duty.
! Especially severe is this coast leader
/ upon Presbyterian members who do
! not study their bibles and do not have
! family prayers. He says his church is
I growing up in ignorance of the bible
/ and its contents, and that this is caus-
! ing divorces, WayWard girls and crlml-
nal boys The lack Of a family altar
/ is a cause of the wave Of materialism
/ that is sweeping over the country.
( More than that, it explains, he says
/ why crime is rampant and growing
! more so and why America is putting
} into a grave her domestic purity Only
/ 8 percent Of Presbyterian families have
/ daily prayers in the home He touches
! politics at times by saying that the ef-
4 fort to reform by legislation will prove
! a failure.
/ The Rev DR.. Matthews is a southern
/ man by birth and q western man by
! education. A decade and a half ago
I he went to Seattle and took the First
/ Presbyterian church there, when it was
( at a very low ebb. Today it is the larg-
] est Presbyterian church in the world,
/ and organized for effective work as
/ are probably few churches of any name