[Dean Shailer Mathews, D.D., in Christian Work and Evangelist.]

If I believed the church of Jesus Christ did not center about its religious message, I would turn to some other form of operation in which such little contribution as I could make might be institutionalized for society; but because we all believe that the churches of Jesus Christ stand for a spiritual message that shall invoke a social passion, that shall lead men out into larger service in which the very nature of religion shall be exploited in terms of brotherhood because founded upon liberty and an experience of the divine paternity, we here together undertake to plan for the great tasks as we face an awakening and a uniting Protestantism. These tasks are intensely concrete and personal. Unless I mistake the drift of the present day, we are face to face with problems that make the issues of the ancient world look almost puerile. We face the issue of whether a civilization that is prosperous can remain religious and moral. Never has there been a prosperous state that has not morally fallen. In the same proportion as idealistic and spiritual forces can contribute to the permanency and power of civilization will civilization be a blessing.

We are face to face with the issue of bringing cooperatively to the non-Christian world not merely a civilization, but an ideal of civilization. If our civilization cannot carry to the people beyond the seas something better than commerce or various forms of government, it is in great danger of being injurious rather than helpful; and if we Protestants do not intend to see to it that the progress of our western civilizations carries to the world our ideals of Christian service, we shall be recreant to the duty to which God calls us.

[British Congregationalist.]

The beginning of the year is for the church, as well as for the business world, a time of stock-taking. It is a good and healthy thing to try to discover first where we stand, and to reckon up our resources for the future, and our failures and successes in the past. Generally speaking, the result of this is not felt to be altogether encouraging in these days. There are no great triumphs to be recorded. The church is not going on from strength to strength, from glory to glory, The kingdom of God is not drawing visibly nearer, nor is there any assurance of the ultimate victory of righteousness and peace. It is an easy, if thankless, task to point out many signs of failure and even of retrogression, and there are not wanting Cassandras among us who are only too ready to take up their prophetic burden of lamentation and woe. But it is an entire mistake to dwell only on the dark side. To the healthy mind there is always a touch of madness about a Cassandra, and to a Christian, pessimism is the last word of unbelief. "We bid you to hope" is the inevitable Christian message, and one that comes with all the more force and pertinence when days are dark, and when men's hearts fail them for fear.

[From an editorial in Dallas (Texas) News.]

Anger is an impulse to destruction. It is not creative or constructive from any standpoint. Its children are remorse and regret, death and destruction, sorrow and desolation. It has been the undoing of kings and the ruin of empires, the breaking of friendships and the severing of ties of love. It is a stranger to reason and unacquainted with prudence. Small wonder, then, that the wise man said, "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city;" and he said this also: "Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools." Like every other tree, it is known by its fruits. The record of anger all down the ages is red with the blood of innocence and helplessness. It is a crimson stream of egotism, impetuosity, and wilfulness.

[Universalist Leader.]

Whenever criticism disturbs us, it is time for us to reexamine our position. If it is sound, the storm will pass without doing any damage. If our position is not sound, it is foolish to denounce criticism for pointing out its weakness. If we are going out into this great war with untruth, and if we expect to beat off the enemy, we must have something more than mimic, dress-parade truth on our side. Truth which criticism can shoot full of holes is not truth. That alone is truth which is unsinkable. All of which simply illustrates the folly of anger when some one points out the weak spots in our armor or the faults in the construction of our ideas. Criticism never finally conquered one atom of truth. All that criticism ever has done or every will do is to cleary away the debris and clear off the barnacles which impede the progress of truth.

[Christian Register.]

To specialize the sacred and leave all else to the secular, to connect holiness with one class of doing and leave every other class outside, to distinguish some things as sacred with the plain intimation that other things are unsacred, has done immeasurable harm, and sundered for the most needy portions of life that which they require. The place for a holy spirit is not in a metaphysical scheme, but in human life. There ought to be some way of speaking of it so that the wayfaring man will desire to get it rather than avoid it. An energetic spirit, a kind spirit, a cheerful spirit, a courageous spirit,—all the kinds of good purpose included under the phrase "a right spirit," all these make up a holy spirit. To put them into life aware of their high relationship is to make the spirit of a new time holy.

[Advance.]

What does God require of us, asks Micah, but "to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" The righteousness which is the white robe of the saints, is not merely keeping oneself unspotted from the world; it is a positive life in which the three primary virtues—justice, mercy, and humility—are all blended. There is some truth in the affirmation that what men demand today is justice instead of charity. More than one employer screws the wages of his employees down to the last possible turn and then credits himself with the "presents" he generously bestows on Christmas day. That is not justice. Justice means better wages and fewer "tips."

[Watchman.]

Man has himself the consciousness of direct relation to his creator and feels in himself the instincts of his nature. Religion is the expression of his aspirations and assurances. The good man in particular feels that he cannot perish like the unthinking clod. His conscience and heart respond to the standard of Scripture. It is true that sin impairs man's consciousness and sense of relation to God and eternal things, but there is always that moral consciousness to which the word of God appeals with a response. The apostle has stated: We preach "to every man's conscience in the sight of God." The strength of religion is the answer of conscience to its appeal.

[Zion's Herald.]

We spend too much time trying to explain doctrines about Christ and too little time declaring the fact of Christ. The doctrines are interesting, and they help us to know the Master better; but, after all, it is the fact that is supremely important, for it is the fact that saves. We go back for our warrant to the beginnings of Christian history, and find that the work that was done then by the apostles was this witnessing and heralding task. They were busy proclaiming Jesus and the resurrection. It was not until long after the apostles had ceased their work that the great explanations came into being.