Overworked Hymns. And now an English bishop advocates a one-year moratorium on nine famous hymns which in his judgment are used too frequently in our public worship! It is a fact that from a great hymnbook the minister generally confines himself to the selection of fewer than 100 hymns for all his services. How many ministers and choir directors mark in their hymnbooks the date on which given hymns were used? It is only by keeping a record that we obviate the danger of constant repetition. There are in all our church hymnals scores and even hundreds of noble hymns which are never sung in our worship. If the minister does not know music, let him ask his choir to run through with him a few new hymns every week.—The Watchman-Examiner (Baptist), Oct. 29, 1936.
Resurrection Emphasis.—It is a far cry from the idea of the immortality of the soul to that of the resurrection- of the dead. Christianity has nothing to do with transmigration, or with the idea of Nirvana. . . .
Christianity believes in the "resurrection of the dead" and not in a hazy and nebulous immortality of the soul. It does not believe in the "infinite worth" of human life, and it does not think of spiritual life in terms of so much divine stuff in the soul. It reckons life in terms of obedience in present life situations. We do not live in heaven here. We live in hope on earth. Jesus believed in "one world at a time." He believed that this world is the place where man lives as a creature, and that man is not an angel but a mortal who needs to live his life filled with the transcendent purpose which God has for him in this world.—E. G. Homrighausen, in The Christian Century (Hod.), Nov. 11, 1936.
Paganism Rampant.—The public school system of America has become a most effective agency for the propagation of paganism. The results are being felt in the morals of our young people. It has displaced God in their thought, and with God thus displaced, they are brought under the sway of their natural sinful passions. America is rapidly returning to the condition of the race described In the first chapter of Romans. In that case, when the people no longer gave God the place of lordship in their hearts, they fell into Idolatry and all kinds of immorality. The secret of the decadence of morals in America is due to the fact that God has no place in the life and affections of the people—P. B. Fitzwater, in Moody Monthly (Fund.), November, 1936.
Moral Sag.—Some folk sigh for the good old days of the past. But those good days were days when men realized they were bad and they needed help. Our title means, Oh, for the days when people were conscious of badness and were ashamed
Before prohibition no women would be seen in a saloon. Now, without shame, they bang over the bar for the cocktail hour, Openly and brazenly on the street and in trains, they puff their cigarettes and blow the smoke in the faces of those unfortunate enough to be near. In the bad old days, a gentleman turned to the lady and said, "Do you mind if I smoke?" Now the ladies might well do the asking. —Moody Monthly (Fiend.), November, 1936.
Religious Controversy.—Religious controversy is the battle for truth. It is not to be feared. Profound convictions are dying out, and that is one reason why men are so strenuously objecting to controversy in our day The Watchman-Examiner (Baptist), Nov. 19, 1936.
Sikh Evangelism.—Dr. E. Stanley Jones recently declared that the Sikhs in India are levying about one eighth of a day's pay on all their members to get funds to convert the untouchables to Sikhism; the Moslems of India are organizing to raise a fund of one million rupees for the training of one thousand Moslem evangelists.—The Watchman-Examiner (Baptist), Nov. 19, 1936.
Catholic Campaign.—Few movements in the contemporary world are more deserving of pondering in a self-searching spirit by Protestants than the launching of the world-wide campaign of the Roman Catholic Church against communism. It is very Instructive to see the hierarchy of the Catholic Church at Rome, which remained as silent as a stone Buddha over the trampling on human rights by Italian Fascism, and the rape of Ethiopia by Italy, now discovering a great cause to which it must arouse the world. This evidently means the end to what, two years ago, gave promise of becoming a valiant stand of the Catholic Church against Hitler, for now the church joins Hitler arm in arm in a world-wide red hysteria, —Halford E. Luceock, in Zion's Herald (M.E.), Nov. 18, 1936.
Communistic Philosophy.—Why all this fear of communism, since the Communist Party has never been able to build up a large membership in this country? The immediate danger is not principally in the Communist Party, but in the communist philosophy, which has infiltrated into the souls of numerous college professors, elementary and ' high-school teachers, and into the minds of untold numbers of factory and mill workers, as well as of the unemployed. Most of these may not be willing to endorse the whole program, declared and implied, of the Communist Party, but they accept enough of it to make the movement a real threat and danger to our republican form of government."—Our Sunday Visitor (R.C.), Oct. 18, 1936.
War No More.—War as a means of the settlement of national and international misunderstandings has lost its strategy and is a grandiose anachronism, outmoded by advancing high ideals. I think there will never be another great war. We have passed that bloody milestone. By arbitration and in council chambers, adjustments and pacts will be made that will be humane and reasonable and permanent and Christiam—Rishop Charles Edward Locke, in The Christian Advocate (M.E.), Nov. 5, 1936.
Hinduism's Break.—News of what is characterized as "the greatest Hindu reform in 800 years" came on Friday of last week [November 13] by wireless from Madras to the New York Times. The message reports that the maharajah of Travancore has just issued a decree that none of his four million subjects, including the hundreds of thousands of out-castes, or untouchables, shall hereafter be barred from the temples of Hinduism. In his statement as quoted in the New York Times and reprinted here by special permission of that paper, the maharajah said :
"We've decided, and hereby declare, ordain, and command, that subject to such rules and conditions as may be laid down and imposed by us for preserving their proper atmosphere and maintaining their rituals and observances, there should henceforth be no restriction placed on any Hindus by birth or religion on entering or worshiping at temples controlled by us and our government."
Prohibition of temple entry and untouchability have been the two outstanding disabilities under which the millions of outcastes of India have suffered from time immemorial. . . Among the numerous factors at work in this modern social upheaval in ancient Hinduism, Christianity's teaching of love, brotherhood, and human justice is playing a major part. No comment is necessary upon this big break in Hinduism to Christian leaders whose eyes are even half open. In India today there is presented the most magnificent opportunity for genuine Christian leadership and service that has arisen in the last one hundred fifty years.—Zion's Herald (M.E.), Nov. 18, 1936.
Serious Situation.—As I travel over Europe, I am more than ever impressed with the seriousness of the situation that confronts us. When I see that within a day or two damage can be done which no time ever can replace. I begin to realize we must look for a new type of security, a security which is dynamic, not static—a security which rests in intelligence, not in forts.—Charles Augustus Lindbergh, in Epworth Herald, Nov. 7, 1936.
Humanity's Breakdown.—The survey of world affairs is a sickening sight. What does it all mean? Is it really the breakdown of human intelligence? Are we a lot of little people struggling with problems too big for our powers? One thing is clear. that organized religion is called to contend with almost world-wide opposition.
A determined attempt is being made by the dictators to break the power of the Christian communities, and in lands said to be governed by democracy, the tyranny is not less. Was persecution more rife under Nero in the days of the Roman Empire than it is today?
Is the world nearing the close of a dispensation, the end of one of those cycles of time preceding the dawn of a new age—not necessarily better, but more adapted to human conditions?—The Watchman-Examiner (Baptist), Nov. 5, 1936.
Commercialism Eliminated.—We began this year with the pledge, "No Commercialism in the Church." The pledge, I think, has been fully kept. We are now beyond the half-way mark in the church year, and neighboring pastors, Ladies' Aid presidents, and laymen are asking, "How is your plan. working? How are you coming out ?"
I will answer financially: We are in a better condition financially than we have ever have been at this time of the year. But let me answer in another way : There is a finer spirit and a loftier temper in this church than for many years past. . . .
Some of our friends are saying, "We are waiting to see how you come out at the end of the year." Pessimists ! 0 ye of little faith ! Will you condemn us if we should be ten dollars short? Will you criticize if we should still need a hundred dollars? Isn't it worth a hundred dollars to any church to be freed for one whole year from those pestiferous pleas for a pound of this or that? Would it not be better to owe a hundred dollars than to ruin a hundred tempers?
But halfway through the year we have already gained more than all we can possibly lose. Our finances are better. Our fellowship is richer. And our tempers are angelic !—Charles Parkin, in Zion's Herald (Meth.), Nov. 4, 1936.
Membership Drift.—As a denomination we [Baptists] believe in evangelism—enthusiastic, red-hot evangelism, but as a denomination we ought to believe also in conservation. We are tremendously anxious to get people into our churches, and often we pay precious little attention to them afterwards. The average church in the older communities remains about stationary in membership. Broadly speaking, as many drift away as are received into the membership. There is an apparent and steady increase for a few years, and then comes "the cleansing of the roll" and a large number of names are dropped. Where does the fault lie? Whose is the responsibility? What a shame it is that so many drift beyond the sympathy and watchcare of the churches! Suggested methods of "keeping the roll clean" do not seem to help in the slightest. What we need to learn is how to keep the people in the churches so that the roll will not need to be cleansed. We wonder if enough emphasis is put upon the obligations of church membership in our day? Is it not true that there is a growing feeling that a man need not be in a church to be a consecrated Christian? Is it not true that we are allowing men to despise the church of Christ? Whatever the reason, we know that it is a fact that thousands are drifting out of the churches, and thousands of those who remain in the churches refuse to recognize church obligations. Where does the fault lie? Whose is the responsibility?—'Watchman-Examiner (Baptist), Oct. 29, 1936.
Against Unification.—The Eastern conference of the Methodist Protestant Church, meeting at Atlantic City [New Jersey] on October 9, voted by 69 to 32 not to approve the pending plan for unification of the three major branches of American Methodism. Press reports indicate that the vote was influenced by fear of the theological and social liberalism of the Mettiodist Episcopal Church, –Ten–conferences of the Methodist Protestant body have approved unification ; approval by 16 is required to bring that denomination into the union.—Christian Century (Mod.), Oct. 21, 1936.
Catholic Death.—It is consoling to know that our relatives and friends who have left this life are still united with us even after death has taken them out of sight.
It is a still greater consolation to know that death is only a temporary separation, that one day we shall be reunited with our loved ones who are in purgatory or in heaven if we faithfully fulfill our obligations on earth.
Today and tomorrow throughout the Catholic world the faithful in their united prayers and attend. ance at the holy sacrifice will give public expression to their belief in the existence of this mystical bond of union.—Our Sunday Visitor (R.C.), Nov. 1, 1936.
Catholic Prominence.—Prominent Roman Catholics are much in evidence right now in the preelection news, and rather strikingly divided one from another. President Roosevelt's number-one man, James A. Farley, is a Catholic who thinks the President is all right. Alfred E. Smith. who generally walks right up in front in ecclesiastical processions, thinks Mr. Roosevelt is about one hundred per cent wrong. Father Coughlin is outspoken, and his bishop backs him up, while a great discussion goes on as to whether the Osservatore Romano is really official or not, as it condemns Father Coughlin. Meanwhile, Monsignor Ryan, of the Catholic University in Washington, steps up to praise the President and deny that he has any "red" leanings, while red-hatted Cardinal Pacelli, the highest-ranking papal officer ever to come to our shores, arrives presumably to fight communism in this country and to interview the President about it, according to press reports.—The Presbyterian, Oct. 22, 1936.
Not a Stimulant.—Alcohol was formerly regarded as a stimulant by the medical profession, and is still commonly so considered by the laity. We know this conception to be wrong. Modern methods of study of man and the lower animals prove unquestionably that the effects formerly thought to be evidences of a stimulant action of alcohol are, in fact, evidences of exactly the opposite effect, namely, inhibition.—The Christian. Advocate (M.E.), Oct. 22, 1936.
Education's Failure.—Speaking at a social-science meeting, a former New York police commissioner pleaded for more education as a deterrent of youthful crime. But what kind of education? In the report at hand no form is specified, but no country in the world can compare with the United States in the number of schools, and in the cost of maintaining them. In spite of these institutions, our crime record continues to grow. We do not need more schools, but better schools, schools in which religion is considered at least as necessary for good citizenship as reading and writing. When shall we get them?—America (R.C.), Oct. 24, 1936.
Atheistic Colleges.—Occasionally our non-Catholic brethren are shocked into a realization of the fact that our so-called "nonsectarian" colleges and universities are hotbeds of hostility to revealed religion. At the convention of the United Lutheran Church, held last week in Columbus, Dr. Gould Wickey, relying on reports from many tax-supported colleges, protested against attacks on religion by professors and administrators, on the ground that they are forbidden by the same clause of the State Constitution which outlaws the teaching of religion at the expense of the State in any public institution. —America (R.C.), Oct. 31, 1936.
Anticommunism Crusade—Not much has been heard about Cardinal Pacelli's alleged errands to the United States—the establishment of diplomatic relations between our state department and the Vatican, and the enlistment of President Roosevelt in the Pope's proposed world-wide crusade against communism. Perhaps some data about the first of these will be disclosed later. As to the second, whatever may be the method of approach in this country there is no doubt of the Pope's intention to make a coalition of all available forces, Catholic, and non-Catholic, to fight communism. . . .
But just at that point the invitation is less likely to be acceptable to non-Catholics. Most Protestants are opposed to communism as a social system. All of them are opposed to communistic atheism, as to any other– -But the Roman-Catholic Church has a political and social philosophy of its own, which is as unacceptable to Protestants as is the communist philosophy, atheism apart. And it is impossible to suppress the suspicion that the Pope's interest in the proposed campaign is not merely to oppose atheism but to extend the acceptance of the Catholic theory of state and church.—The Christian Century (Mod.), Oct, 28, 1936.
Sunday's Introduction.—We have abundant evidence both in the New Testament and in the early history of the church to prove that gradually Sunday came to be observed instead of the Jewish Sabbath, apart from any specific commandment (see The Lord's Day or the Sabbath, by Norman C. Deck).—Moody Monthly (Fund.), November, 1936.
Lawlessness Rampant.—With the arrest of a noted gangster, J. Edgar Hoover made the statement that there were three million criminals who commit sixteen million crimes in the United States each year. Recently Will Durant made the statement that this generation of ours is the most unscrupulous of the generations of men. Not only is there widespread crime, but there has been a lowering of moral standards.—Ivan Lee Holt, in The Christian. Advocate (M.E.), Nov. 5, 1936.
