The Overflow
The Saints' Necessities
Paul instructs Christians to communicate "to the necessities of the saints" (Rom. 12:13). The January 5, issue of Herald of Hope, published k by the Gunter Home for the Aged, lists among its contributions received some tobacco from one of the churches in Texas. Now which good congregation will contribute a few jugs of "speerits" that the aged saints may have all the "necessities"?
Brickbats
"It is a pathetic thing to see you jump on personalities to the great extent which you do. You make the personality and the "jumping on" the principal thing, and you place the issues second. You have made it your practice to condemn people and not practices. It is no wonder that your publication is referred to as "the slander sheet." ....
Sincerely, Alan Highers, Searcy, Ark.
And Bouquets
"I want to express to you my appreciation for the good I feel you have done in bringing before brethren everywhere both sides of present day issues. A one sided editorial policy on the part of any 'brotherhood' paper is not worthy of the respect and esteem of right thinking brethren. I hope that the editorial policy of the Gospel Guardian will continue in the future as it has in the past .... open to both sides of any question that may arise."
Faithfully yours, Jess Hall,
Fort Worth, Tex.
A Worthy Competitor
Some of the brethren are distressed to the point of agony by any sort of "dispute," "discussion," "feud" or "fight" within our own ranks. And when the public press describes a "feud" between Broadway Church in Lubbock and the church in Madison, Tennessee, over the size of the Sunday School attendance as a "friendly feud" — well, all our feuds are friendly.
But just to get the fight out of the family, why doesn't one of these congregations work up a little rivalry with Temple Baptist Church in Detroit? On a recent Sunday they reported a Sunday School attendance of 5,718. And their building cost $2,000,000.00!
"People's Padre"
In the five years we have been publishing the Gospel Guardian we have had no book of its kind to receive the quick and enthusiastic public response that has been given "People's Padre." We ordered what we thought was an adequate supply from the publisher. Ten days later we had to duplicate that order. Ten days after that we duplicated that order again. And just last week we sent still another order for four times our original order. This is Emmett McLoughlin's story of his fight to free himself from the intellectual and spiritual bondage of the Roman priesthood. It is one of the most moving and heart-warming autobiographies we have ever read. The book sells for $3.95.
Lines From Lard
"The churches of Christ in the whole land owe it to themselves, and to the high and just ground they have taken, to guard with sleepless vigilance against even a semblance of an innovation on the practices and usages of the apostolic church. Apostasies' begin with things that `have no harm in them,' and end in ruin. At first they creep, but in the end they stride continents at a single step. Finally we say, Watch, Beware!" — (Moses E. Lard, 1864)
The Cogdills
If all goes well as expected, by the time you read this Brother Cogdill will have discarded his crutches. He has been using them since his near-fatal wreck of March 19. Since getting back on his feet he has held meetings in Tarrant and Cullman, Alabama, two in Kentucky, and right now is scheduled to be in Lewisville, Texas. After this meeting he will return to Canada for further work there. Sister Cogdill is now out of her body cast, and hopes within a few weeks to be free of the steel brace which replaced it.
Summertime Embarrassment
Somebody from Crystal City, Texas, sent in this: "The lady of the house is often embarrassed when the preacher calls because of her shortcomings. That is, her shorts do not come to where they should."
The Right To Execute
The right to burn "heretics" at the stake is still stoutly claimed by the Catholic Church. Edward M. Gallagher, chaplain of St. Anthony's Boys' Home (Catholic) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, recently declared: "If one of its members goes wrong, the Catholic Church has a right to cut him off, to excommunicate him, and if need be to burn him at the stake." Under such teaching is it any wonder that backward Catholic peoples can be whipped into a frenzy of hate and persecution against non-Catholics?
Dunne - Pickup
At long last Professor George H. Dunne has cleared his material with his board of censors, and we will very shortly resume the publication of the exchange between him and Brother Harry Pickup, Jr. Our last articles in this discussion were published in December. We have been this long awaiting Professor Dunne's reply — a reply that he wrote months ago, but which his superiors would not let him release without some corrections and changes.
At Last!
In the Gospel Guardian of March 18 Brother E. R. Harper had an article in defense of the "Herald of Truth" broadcasting arrangement, and at the close of that article promised to follow it up with still another article entitled "The Lufkin Cooperation Plan." Presumably in this article he planned to do what we have pleaded with him to do for many months, explain exactly what his objection is to the Missionary Societies. Repeatedly since March 18, we have pleaded for that article; but it has not been forthcoming. But now, at last, after three months, Brother Harper does furnish us with another article. We will publish it next week. We have asked and asked for some scriptural defense of the "Herald of Truth" arrangement. The article next week is Brother Harper's response to our oft-repeated request. Look for it!