The Overflow
Words fitly spoken
"The silence that is now being urged can only stultify the minds of men. There are times when it becomes necessary to speak out. Sure, there may be dangers in speaking out, but there are far greater dangers in silence . . . It is possible to love one another without agreeing with each other. Consequently, it is perfectly possible to disagree without being disagreeable. Any one group has the right to look at another group with a critical eye so long as it is done in love and with the sole purpose of ascertaining the truth. To refuse to permit such examination is the height of intolerance."
— Olin Hicks
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An aroused Episcopalian Seems like lots of people read the Guardian, and their reactions vary. Brother Cled Wallace got this lovely note from an Episcopal rector out in California not long ago:
"Dear Mr. Wallace: In the Gospel Guardian, December 15, 1949, issue, in an article entitled 'A Clear Name For Our Church,' you ask the question, 'We would like to know just what advantage the Prayer Book has over the New Testament anyway.'
My answer to you is simply, 'Just read it - from the title page through the Articles of Religion, including all the fine print on every page.'
I am sure that it will be most evident.
Sincerely, C. Boone Sadler, Jr."
—O—
Next week!
Next week we double in size! After one year as a weekly we find our position secure enough to make this enlargement possible. Thanks to all those loyal friends who subscribed, and who are now renewing. Have you sent your renewal yet? Don't miss this new "double-dip" paper; it's worth your reading—and worthy of your support.
—O—
Gospel Advocate - 1940 style
"A study of the New Testament reveals the fact that each church was independent of every other church. The church in Jerusalem had no ecclesiastical authority over the church in Antioch, Ephesus, Philadelphia, or Thessalonica . . . The good work of one church may be cited to encourage another church, but never connected organically with other churches. No church has any right to send out its representative, delegate, or appointee and lay just claims upon other churches for support or help to carry out its own program."
— H. Leo Boles
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Comfort them that mourn
"A woman was mourning deeply At the death of her husband dear, When the preacher came to comfort her And allay her grief and fear.
`Weep not, sister!' he observed,
`You have no cause for worry.
This body here is but the shell, The nut has gone to glory.' "
— Nat Campbell
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Have you any books?
The immediate need at Florida Christian College is for books for the library. If you have books that you are willing to donate, send a list of what you have to the school. They will inform you which are acceptable. Do not send any books without first checking with them, for many could not be used. Address: Temple Terrace Station, Tampa 4, Florida.
—O—
Burnett's Budget One of the sharpest pens of the past generation was that wielded by brother T. R. Burnett, who wrote under the caption "Burnett's Budget." In the Gospel Advocate of 1895, he had this to say about church choirs:
"And now comes the report that a lady committed suicide in church while the choir was singing. It seems impossible for a long-suffering world to say or do anything that will cause the choir to commit suicide."
—O—
He doesn't know the brethren!
We see where an elder in the Broadway Church, wants all the members there to give up one meal, one entertainment, one shoe-shine, two cups of coffee, one bus fare, and one cigar each week between now and September, hoping thereby to raise $70,000 to go on their new building. Obviously he doesn't know the brethren very well. They may give the $70,000 all right, but you can bet your bottom dollar they won't give up their coffee and cigars to do it! Really, that's asking too much! !
—O—
Paying for the meeting The above reminds us of the time brother J. D. Tant held a very successful meeting in a Texas town. He was paid the usual pittance, and was invited back for the next year. He agreed to come provided each family would give him the slop fed to one hog between then and the time appointed for the meeting the next year. His proposition was quickly accepted—until the brethren began to figure the difference in price between a hundred baby pigs and a hundred full grown hogs. It was twice as much as they had ever paid for a meeting. They withdrew the invitation.
—O—
Cause, or effect?
"A prominent New York physician told me a few days ago that the constant chewing of gum has produced weak minds in fourteen cases of young girls now under treatment, the constant movement of the mouth causing too great a strain on the head." (Quotation from the Ladies Home Journal) Guess we've been mistaken on this point—we were laboring under the impression that this gum-chewing mania (in church services, at least) was the effect rather than the cause of a weak mind.
—O—
Ho-hum Comes now word that an "eminent anthropologist" has at long last found indisputable evidence of man's connection with the anthropoid apes. He has found the missing link in an African cave! Excuse us while we yawn. We get about as excited over such dispatches as we do over the pope's discovery of Peter's bones. And guess where he is going to find them? Right! They will undoubtedly be unearthed right under the high altar in St. Peter's church. We put about as much credence in one story as in the other.
—O—
"Like another paper in the brotherhood."
Did you see that sweet little dig at the Guardian in a letter to the Christian Chronicle the other day. A certain sister from Santa Ana, California, sent brother Hicks some subscriptions, and told him what difficulty she had getting them because the people feared his paper "might be like another paper in the brotherhood!" The other paper is the Guardian. We know because the sister herself told us so. She feels that the editor of the Guardian is lacking in both conviction and courage because he refused to turn a gospel meeting into an "anti-tobacco" crusade. She sent him a nine page typewritten letter (single-spaced) in advance of the meeting telling him how to hold it! When he didn't follow her advice, his paper became nothing less than a low, dirty, unprincipled, "hate sheet," and he revealed himself as something several degrees under a skunk! You still think you want to be an editor some day? What a life!