The Overflow
Sermon Subject
Three gospel preachers in Alabama have declared on their sacred honor that they heard a brother gospel preacher deliver a sermon last month which he entitled: "I Would If I Could, But I Can't; And I Guess I Probably Shouldn't If I could." Whew!
G. C. Brewer - 1919 Style
"It is certain that the bishops of one congregation have no authority to oversee the affairs of another congregation. They have authority in only the one congregation. All the ecclesiasticisms and hierarchies of the present day have come as a direct result of failure to observe that principle — the principle of congregational independence." (The Model Church, page 13) Yet in 1953 Brewer has "yet to be convinced" that there is any violation of these principles for the elders of one church (Grove Avenue) to fire the preacher of another church (Karlsruhe) and hire another preacher in his place — and all this without either the consent or even the knowledge of the Karlsruhe congregation!
Grove Avenue Again
Incidentally, while we are on the subject, it seems that the effort (successful) of the Grove Avenue elders to control a congregation in Germany is quite in line with their past habits and present policies. Fifty miles northwest of San Antonio is the little ranching town of Bandera, Texas. Not long ago a young gospel preacher went to one of the elders of the Bandera congregation and asked for an appointment with the church. He was informed by this elder that all preaching appointments for the Bandera church were made by the elders of Grove Avenue in San Antonio. Whereupon this young preacher wrote Grove Avenue, and asked for an appointment to preach in the Bandera church. In due time the Grove Avenue elders answered his letter, granting the appointment for a certain Sunday. (If anybody doubts this, we can produce both letters.) Maybe the Bandera congregation read Brother Goodpasture's declaration that "any congregation would be fortunate to be under their (Grove Avenue elders') oversight," and decided to put themselves under such!
And That's Not All
Might as well tell the rest of the story while we are at it. The 1953 roll of members of Grove Avenue congregation lists Jesse P. Sewell of Searcy, Arkansas, as one of their number. Now, if we are correctly informed, Jesse P. Sewell is himself an elder in one of the Searcy congregations. Thus we have the lovely spectacle of Grove Avenue elders "exercising the oversight" not only of the Karlsruhe (Germany) church, and the Bandera (Texas) church, but also over one of the elders of the Searcy (Arkansas) congregation. On what meat hath our little Caesars fed that they have grown so great?
Dunne - Pickup
We're sorry about that delay in the discussion between Harry W. Pickup and George H. Dunne, S.J. It may be caused in part by the opposition the Jesuit priest is encountering from his superiors who are much opposed to the debate. We already have the first installments of it, however, and hope to have the rest of it by the time we begin publication next month. It will be well worth waiting for.
"All Night Sinning"
Brother Vernon T. Posey of Anchorage, Alaska, sends us a clipping that tells how the ladies' Bible class of East Side Baptist Church in King's Mountain, North Carolina, quickly sold out when they had 500 tickets printed for an "All-night sinning." When some horrified dowager discovered the typographical error, and had a new batch of tickets printed for an "All-night singing" — they couldn't sell a single ticket!
The Egotist
We know a preacher who habitually resigns his work and moves on to a new field when he discovers that just one person in the congregation holds him in disfavor. To us that is the height of egotism. Does the brother aspire to be more highly favored than his Lord and Master? Does he demand a degree of popularity to which neither Christ nor the apostles ever attained? Christ did not have the good-will of all to whom he preached; both Paul and John named some of their detractors. When a man is willing to preach what Paul and John and Peter preached, he is almost certain to incur some opposition ...sometimes even from among his own brethren.
A Christian Home
Then there was the denominational preacher who was eloquently lauding the virtues of the Christian home. "Just think," he entreated, "of the fine influence of that wonderful Christian home in which Joseph and Mary reared the child Jesus!"
Why No Reply
In the Gospel Advocate of August 20, the editor of that journal published a short paragraph from J. D. Tant in 1929 which showed Tant's support and endorsement of Tennessee Orphan Home. The quotation was followed by the editor's question, "Who has drifted?" We've been asked why we did not reply to this. The answer is simple. We replied to this two years ago — (Gospel Guardian, November 8, 1951) when we showed that J. D. Tant did support the orphan home, and did solicit help for it — but only as a temporary and emergency makeshift. Tant wrote:
"The Home is used as a clearing house to find homes and locations for orphan children. When my brethren come back to the Bible from where we have drifted to be like the sects, then every local congregation will be an orphan's home to care for three or four children. We will then have a thousand orphans' homes in Tennessee caring for three or four thousand children, instead of one home caring for one hundred."
The editor of the Gospel Advocate knew that the above was in print from J. D Tant when he wrote his editorial of August 20. He knew that the brief paragraph he printed from Tant, taken alone, did not set forth fully Tant's attitude toward the Orphan Homes. For a man to make a deliberate and studied distortion of the known convictions and attitude of one who is dead marks him as a trickster of extraordinary feather.
There is probably little to be gained in replying to such perversions, for the readers of the Gospel Advocate will never see the reply that is made. The "fair" policy of that journal does not permit of any answer to its charges and accusations.
Answering The Sabbatarians
William E. Wallace of Hickory, North Carolina, has written one of the best tracts we've ever seen in answer to the Seventh-Day Adventists. It treats with concise and unanswerable argument and scripture every basic contention the Sabbatarians make. We have the tract in stock, and it sells for 15 cents; $1.50 per dozen; or $10.00 per one hundred. It is excellent for use in special classes.