Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-12-12

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worlds resources. Our church's S
glorious history. our present wealth
of intelligence and capacity, should
guarantee a system strong enough,
and at the same time elastic enough
TO meet any demands of the new
era upon which we are entering"
In launching his indictment against
the church's present methods, the
Rev. Mr.. Hogg spoke in fiery vein.
Old methods will not begin to meet
the needs of to-day, nor can the
church remain unprepared and in
efficient under the pressing condi-
tions OF the present day. Recon
struction will be preached. and lee
tured, and pressed, and magaZined
until the word will become as un-
popular as the words expert and
efficiency became several years ago.
Tons of indifferently printed liter
ature, addressed by High school stu
dents at SIS. a month, and mailed in
one cent envelopes, from Compara-
lively unknown post offices, in the
name of committees reorganized for
the third or fourth time in n decade,
will not begin TO prepare the church
TO meet the crying needs of a new
world following the Gethsemane of
Flanders and many Calvary Hill in
sunny France and Belgium"
Salaries Too Low
The speaker said the. notes of
progress in the Synod were quite
pronounced, largely as a result of
the persistent pushing of the synod
ical Committee and local pastors. 1t
was stated that the Synod had raised
100000 more for foreign missions
than during the year preceding the
organization of the committee. One
church, as a result of an every
member canvass. had increased its
benevolence from $4,000 to $4,000,
and current expenses from $1,000 to
$4,000. Other gains were shown to
be in proportion.
1t was stated that the action of
the 1917 Synod in urging thirty per
cent. Slcrease in pastors salaries had
borne much fruit. A total of over
S75, 900 had been added to the salar-
les in the Synod. But this made an
average Increase for the 1000 pas
tors of only SIS. The pastors
throughout the Synod are taking 10
teaching school, soliciting insurance
and working in the factories to sup
speaker stated that, to the everlast-
ing shame of the officers and men,
bers of our churches, very few pas
tors salaries were increased without
the direct suggestion of Presbyterial
or Synodical committees.
A strong plea was made for more
elastic ecclesiastical system. The
large majority of the churches in
Synod, said the speaker, had the
permanent eldership. Though these
men were generally the most repre-
sentative bankers. business and pro-
fessional men of their cities and
towns, they stood too often for re-
action and all that was unprogressive
in their official church activities.
Calls For New Methods
I'VE demand, and rightly. high
standard of spirituality. Intelligence,
preparation and general ability on
the part of our pastors" said Mr..
Hogg, then we ordain them and
send them into churches in which
there are single elders who can OBJ
struct, temporarily upset, or abso-
lutely undo the work of the most
gifted and consecrated pastors and
other officers. From being one of the
first republican forms of church gov
ernment, we are making haste 10
become the least. Where fear and
selhshness do not obstruct, lack
of democracy succeeds. Few churches
have a real congregational meeting
unless at the calling of the pastor,
and then ten TO, fifteen per cent. OF
the members gather for the purpose.
The majority of our boards of trus-
tees seldom or never meet formally.
Bookkeepers and office clerks too
often attend to the real work of the
trustees.
1t will not do merely to reorganize
our state and national Presbyterian
Church committees. covering up the
same old men, the same old meth
ods and the same old system under
some high falutin' titles. a new
spark plug, says the amateur, to
mix our metaphors somewhat we
are told we need reorganized COM
mittees and repaired machinery. But
on the contrary. we want to scrap
lot of the old and begin all over
again.
Have we not men in our Synods
and General Assembly capable of the
original thinking and courageous ac-
tivity necessary? Suppose president
Wilson had TO get along with the
remnants of the cabinet of his five
predecessors? What kind of a re-
public would we have?"
Urges Church Union
The address of the Rev. DR.. ].
Frank Smith, of Dallas, Texas, mod
orator of the General Assembly, U.
S. A., was enthusiastically received
last night by an audience that
crowded the main auditorium of the
Pine Street Church to capacity. The
approval of the audience was so
strong that several times it broke
into open applause.
DR.. Smith not only stated that he
is in favor of the union of all
churches, but he declared that the
time is ripe and that Presbyterians
are ready for the union. In attack
ing the problems facing the Presby-
terian Church. DR.. Smith compared
the situation to a struggle in arms,
and the means of solution as a mobi-
lization of the forces of the church
to action. He urged the mobilization
of men, mobilization of finance and
of genius.
THE Presbyterian Tasks" upon
which theme DI Smith spoke. in
cludes not only = new church in a
new era of thou%6t and reconstruc-
ton, but other concrete problems as
well. Among the specific things that
the speaker commended to the
thoughts of his hearers is the condi-