JUNE 15, 1914 



477 



A„ L MooJ 



OUM HOME 



Editor 



I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of 

 the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from 

 evil. — John 17 :15. 



As thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that 

 they also may be one in us; that the world may be- 

 lieve that thou hast sent me. — John 17:21. 



On page 275 a good friend suggests 

 doubling up the country churches, and asks 

 ine if 1 justified the existence of sects; and 

 on the next page another friend tells us how 

 a good live pastor got his church so filled 

 that there was not standing room. He vis- 

 ited eighty saloons in the town on Sunday 

 and Sunday night, and found only six pay- 

 ing any attention whatever to the Sunday- 

 closing law. Again, on page 285 Dr. Miller 

 discusses having so many denominations. 

 As I was down in Florida I did not see it 

 until it came out in print; and you may be 

 sure I had a big laugh at his expression, 

 " us younger ones." Is it not a pretty good 

 joke from a man " eighty-three years 

 young"? Well, I think I can pretty well 

 agree with my good old friend Dr. Miller. 

 If we could get together and talk it over I 

 assure you we should not be very far apart 

 in our opinions and suggestions. Now, right 

 here comes in a kind word from a good 

 friend about " so many denominations." 



Mr. A. I. Root : — On page 275 some one asked 

 you a few very pointed and consistent questions. I 

 have not seen any answer as yet. I should like to 

 say a word or two on this subject, as it is a question 

 that lies very near my heart. 



1. Is the church of Christ celestial only, or is it a 

 part of the world?— Matt. 16:13-19. This very 

 clearly locates Christ's church on this earth, and I 

 know of no scripture that changes its name in hea- 

 ven. Wherever that may be is of little consequence 

 to the member of Christ's church. 



2. Divisions certainly are carnal, or else our 

 Savior uttered a very meaningless prayer in John 

 17 and Paul in I. Corinthians 1:10. 



3. Do you justify the existence of sects? This is 

 answered in the quotation given above in our Sa- 

 vior's prayer for unity. Then the question is, "Does 

 Christ justify the existence of sects ? From my limit- 

 ed knowledge of the New Testament I have no hesi- 

 tancy in saying it is sinful. 



I heartily endorse what a brother has to say on 

 page 285. I believe he has about the correct notion 

 of it. When we get down to " brass tacks," and 

 quit quibbling over tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum, 

 and do what the Lord says, we shall be seeking a 

 basis on which all Christendom can unite. 'Let us 

 consign to the flames all articles of faith or rules of 

 practice or any other man-made creed, and take as 

 our rule of faith and practice the New Testament. 

 When we speak where the Bible speaks and are 

 silent when the Bible is silent, we shall be at a point 

 where all Christendom will be a united church of our 

 Lord Jesus Christ. 



Albert Hollingsworth. 



Terra Haute, Ind., April 25. 



While I may not be prepared just now to 

 indorse all of the above, I wish to add em- 

 phasis to the concluding sentence : " When 



we speak where the Bible speaks, and keep 

 silent when the Bible is silent, we shall be 

 at a point where all Christendom will be a 

 church of the Lord Jesus Christ." 



Dr. Miller speaks of having so many 

 denominations just because of minor unim- 

 portant differences.* While grave questions 

 confront us that must be taken care of at 

 once, not only ministers of the gospel, but 

 good Christian people stop to fuss and 

 bother and argue about things that seem to 

 me to be pure nonsense. That exj^ression 

 does not half tell it. If you will excuse 

 slang I would put it this way : It seems just 

 awful that good, educated people should 

 waste their time and energy on things that 

 are but little more than "tom-foolery." After 

 I read " Pollyanna " some of the good 

 friends in Medina told me I should read a 

 new book entitled, I think, " The Inside of 

 the Cup." Now, while there is a lot that 

 is good in the book, the author, without the 

 least bit of reason, drags into it the dispute 

 of the doctrine of the immaculate concep- 

 tion of Jesus. I threw the book down in 

 disgust and said, " What good can come by 

 taking up a question like this, that has no 

 possible bearing on the needs of the day? " 

 There is enough tendency already, God 

 knows, to question the truthfulness of the 

 Bible as God's holy word. Suppose some- 

 body has been brought into the church, 

 prayer-meeting, or Sunday-school; and sup- 

 pose, further, he has not given these matters 

 much attention ; what possible benefit could 

 he get, spiritually or in any other way, by 

 listening to this silly criticism? If that is a 

 part of the " new higher criticism," I wish 

 to know no more of it. 



I now wish to give one more illustration 

 about wasting our time and energy on a 

 matter that cannot possibly benefit the 

 world in any way, as I look at it. Some 

 very good people are wasting their energy, 

 and I do not know but a good part of their 

 lives, toward what they call the impoi-tance 

 of changing Sunday to Saturday. Such a 

 course, as I see it, not only accomplishes 



* It just now occurs to me that Dr. Miller is a 

 Presbyterian — at least that is my recollection. Well, 

 Mr. Calvert has just returned from the State con- 

 ference of Congrefjational churches, and he says the 

 matter came up there in regard to doubling up de- 

 nominations. In fact, there has been talk for some 

 years past of uniting the Congregation alists, Presby- 

 terians, and the United Brethren. I think one thing 

 that blocked the way was a disagreement as to what 

 the new body should be called. Well, here comes in 

 the joke on Dr. Miller. Mr. Calvert says the con- 

 ference reported there are twelve kinds of Presby- 

 terians. My good friend Miller, hadn't you Presby- 

 terians better start the ball rolling by first reducing 

 the number and the kind of Presbyterians? Couldn't 

 you possibly coax them down to an even half-dozen? 



