The Overflow
Next week
The "Special Issue" of the Gospel Guardian will be in the mails next week. Many thousands will be seeing a copy of this journal for the first time. We ask all our friends to do what they can to get it read. This is our urgent appeal for UNITY among God's people; we want it given the prayerful study such a subject deserves.
Close of Volume Seven
With this issue we bring to a close seven years of continuous publication of the weekly Gospel Guardian. Not a single issue has been missed in that time, and very, very few have been even one day late. It is a record we are proud of, and which we expect to maintain on into the indefinite future.
From Missouri?
With the advent of warmer weather we suppose the nation will be subjected once more to that seasonal hysteria of the American female which apparently operates on the assumption that the entire population of the nation is "from Missouri." What, with their backless, armless, neckless, strapless dresses, their bikini style bathing suits, their short, short, short, shorts and halters, they seem determined to "show" us! Whether we want to be shown or not.
Their names, please?
Brethren W. L. Totty and Sterl Watson have been making fantastic and incredible claims as to the number of gospel preachers they know who were "changed" by the Porter-Woods debate in Indianapolis from being vigorous "opposers" of institutional benevolent societies to strong "supporters" of such organizations. Repeated inquiries by interested brethren have thus far been signal failures in the effort to elicit the names of these "changing" brethren. Brother Watson is reported to know three such men, and Brother Totty has been heard to declare that he knows eight. But their identity is a deep, dark secret.
From Owen Sound, Ontario
This page is being written the last week in March from Owen Sound, Ontario (300 miles north of Detroit), where the editor is in a fine gospel meeting. This excellent little congregation was started two years ago by the efforts of Roy E. Cogdill who spent several months in this "mission" field of the north. In spite of heavy snows and icy roads our attendance at each service has been truly encouraging. There are about thirty members here now, and with bright prospects for continued growth. Keith Thompson is the local preacher.
Two more
Some weeks ago we asked our readers to send us bulletins from Brethren attending the Abilene debate last fall who thought Brother Harper had sustained his position (defending Herald of Truth) by the Scriptures. Out of the scores of bulletins in which we had seen reviews of the debate only one had made that contention. Now we have two more of that persuasion: Brother Charles L. Houser of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and Brother A. E. Emmons of Mayfield. Brother Emmons did not attend, the debate, but only accepted Houser's report of it. Has anybody else seen a report? We'd like to have it!
Douthitt-Warren?
It seems possible now that a discussion may finally be worked out between Cecil B. Douthitt and Thomas B. Warren for San Antonio, Texas. If so, the Tant-Harper discussion, scheduled for San Antonio, will be moved to another city. Further announcements will be made as the situation develops.
Hypothetical question
One of the favorite types of argumentation brethren employ these days in trying to sustain "institutionalism" is the hypothetical question: If A equals B, and C equals D, and P and Q are equally related, why would not X equal Y? It reminds us of this problem in logic and arithmetic: A squirrel, frightened by a dog, ran into a hole in a hollow tree, and ran twenty feet up inside the tree and stuck his head out of a hole there. Seeing the dog barking furiously, the squirrel got twice as frightened, ran down the tree twice as fast as he has run up it, and stuck his head out of the hole at the bottom of the tree for another look. There was the dog! This frightened the squirrel twice as much all over again, and he darted up the tree for a look from the top hole. Again he saw the dog, and again his fright doubled. Hypothetical question: How many trips would it take, and how long, until the squirrel would be poking his head out of both holes at the same time? This is a total problem, each constituent element of which, taken independently of all others, is a constituent element which is true. Will somebody please answer, Yes or No!
"Old Reliable," eh?
"Orphans cannot be cared for without an institution; and I mean an institution other than the church" (Basil Overton, G.A., Feb. 9.) "If the Baptists who preach faith only can work like beavers to promote their faith and their church, surely we who are pleading for undenominational Christianity should show greater zeal and more sacrifice in promoting the cause of New Testament Christianity than anybody does in promoting a human creed or organization." — M. Norvel Young, (in the same issue of the GA.) Brother Young contrasts promoting "Christianity" with promoting "a human creed or organization"; yet Basil Overton contends that it is impossible to care for orphans without some such human organization!
How to tell
"You can always tell a well-informed man: his views are the same as yours." Same goes for a man who is sound in the faith; fair-minded, intelligent; progressive, and spiritual. But there is one kinship that is deeper, stronger, and more to be cherished than a thousand antagonisms and differences; that is hostility to the Guardian. Brethren who have that in common can love each other to perfection even though they may be poles apart on masonry, the war question, institutional orphan homes, church support of colleges, hats and hair, the menace of the movies, marriage and divorce, the eldership, church recreational centers and kitchens, etc., ad infinitum.