To "World Vision"
Your 1944-45 catalog duly received and contents noted. In reply would say the legs of the lame are uneven. It is attractively printed on good paper. Much of what it recommends is beyond criticism. But there are one or two things on which I should like to animadvert.
"An improved service."
My idea of World Vision has been that one or two individuals were zealously trying to get the brethren to take more interest in foreign missionary affairs, and in their behalf to publish a quarterly so named. Now I notice what ought to prove a lucrative business operating in conjunction and with great opportunity to benefit by the association.
"But 'tis strange;
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray's
In deepest consequence."
"Our deepest concern."
You say on page three, is to satisfy your customers. This may be hyperbole. If it isn't, I don't expect you to be in business very long. Most people don't engage in trade for their health, except indirectly of course.
"Heart-shield Testament."
True, I don't notice your listing of any St. Christophers to ward off the evils of travel in general and of battle in particular, but this "heart-shield testament" will almost do the same. You do not stress the necessity of reading it half so much as you do the carrying of it in the breast pocket as heart armor. You mention the miraculous in this regard. Do you not recall that the age of such died with the Apostles?
"Rev. F. N. Peloubet.
We cannot prevent the occasional sectarian newspaperman or other referring to us preachers as "Reverend." But we can eschew the use of the title among ourselves, and refrain from kowtowing to sectarian preachers by using it on them. Why should it occur in any of "our" publications then? Maybe this point is not as weighty with you as it is with some others.
"Great Songs of the Church."
Granting only for the sake of argument that is a good book, the brethren publish better. Is it at least not venal (if not mortal) to use the good when the better is neglected? Powerful winds of division, fanned by unwarranted speculation, blast the brotherhood from whence "Great Songs" is spawned.
"Dr. Daniel A. Poling, Dr. Wm. F. Albright."
These, on page nineteen, recommend a map of Palestine. Wallaces, I know; Tant, I know; Douthitt, I know. But who are these? Is there not one wise man among us, even one able to judge the value of a Biblical aid and commend it to the brethren?
"Christian Calendar."
Your subhead declares the 1945 to be the "34rd Annual Edition." My own memory of these calendars goes back nearly thirty years: You say "Societies are enthusiastic" about them. Surely not those we've been condemning as unscriptural to these many years. Further: "Placing them in every home is an excellent means of spreading the gospel in your community." This must mean that the gospel is composed of isolated, disjointed, unrelated, and context-separated verses of Scripture. To this theory I cannot subscribe.
"D. D."
Are you encouraging the rise of this degree among us by your liberal use of it in recommending Hurlbut's "Story of the Bible " on page thirty-five? "Recommended by all denominations." Including the leading people in ours? Fie for shame. This is an obvious betrayal of all we've ever stood for.
"Civil Government."
You seem to be of that sinister nature that gladly sells ammunition to both sides in a war. Remember that on page eleven you call an American soldier a "hero." On page forty-nine, in connection with the "U. S. A. Service Roll;" you term him our "lad." If I understand the implications of Uncle David's dogma correctly, the American soldier had better be called "our heel." Maybe John T., James D., and Eugene S. can make sense out of all this, but I'm stumped. You, dear Vision, remind me of Stephen Leacock's famous horseman, who, mounting his steed, rode rapidly in all directions.
"Dr. Hunley."
Since when has this estimable gentleman become the Voice of Experience to our distraught brotherhood? I believe he is soundly premillennial, will not worship without an instrument, endorses digression, and enjoys his own contributions to the "Christian Standard." Your displaying of his writings on page forty may be taken by some to be an acceptance of most of what his name connotes. "The modern pastor."
Too many of his kind are plaguing the Church of the Lord. Page sixty-two offers a book for his delectation. Is this one of the bolder recognitions of what was in the recent past a whispered fear of what has been afflicting the churches? Had I died before this event, I had lived a blessed time.
Occasionally, in some dark, sectarian mood, I have known myself to buy sectarian material from unblushing sectarians. But I have always been slow to encourage sectarianism in those who profess to be my brethren. They profess, but they do not possess my money, not yet for a while at least. More in sorrow than in anger do I consign your catalog to my open-top file, to wit, my wastebasket.