Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 2
April 5, 1951
NUMBER 47, PAGE 12

The Overflow

F.Y.T.

"There is no reason why contributions intended for the Franscati Orphans Home should continue to pass through our hands, and in order to avoid any possible criticism, as well as to simplify matters, we are asking that all churches and individuals who have sent money to us in the past for the work in Italy shall in the future send their contributions to Brownfield."

—Hayes Avenue Church Detroit, Mich.

—O—

Mortification, Not Modification

We see where the Lubbock brethren have slightly modified their "Lubbock Plan" for soliciting contributions from other churches to aid in Broadway's program in Germany. The purpose envelopes are NOW "being supplied without the name of any church on them." (They were formerly supplied with Broadway's name and address on them.) That's an improvement, all right, if only a small one. But may we suggest that what that plan needs is mortification, not modification.

—O—

From A Married Man

"When a wife tells her husband she has a lot of things she wants to talk about, she usually wants to talk about a lot of things she hasn't got."

— Walter Werth

—O—

Working In Reverse Gear

Brother Brewer says (in the G. A. recently) that those who go along with "Tolbert Fanning Yater Tant" and the Gospel Guardian will find themselves traveling in "reverse gear" most of the time. Well, that statement brings quite an inner struggle to the said "T.F.Y.T." The "T.F.Y." part of him, being really rather fond of Brewer, protests vigorously what the "Tant" part of him wants to say. But he knows in an instant what Jefferson Davis Tant would have replied to brother Brewer. In fancy he can see the twinkle in that old warrior's piercing black eyes, and hear the slightly nasal twang with which he would have said, "Why, before God, brethren, brother Brewer is right. The kind of article he usually writes to the Advocate (hypothetical Higgins and his horse-lot, for example) needs to be rolled off the pages by tumble-bugs. And, as everybody knows, a tumble - bug always works in reverse gear!"

—O—

"The World At Large"

The Vine Street Christian Church in Nashville, Tennessee, recently retired its pastor, Roger T. Nooe, and at the same time commissioned him to be "minister to the world at large." Isn't that kind of a big bite? Sort of reminds us of one of our brethren who went to Chicago about twenty years ago and organized a singing chorus. He sent out advertisements for several years telling of his "Chicago Chorus." Then the ads began to tell of this brother's "National Hymn Chorus." A few years later the same group of singers took the name "Universal Hymn Chorus." We haven't seen any advertisements from them recently, but are fully expecting the next step to be " Celestial Choir." Seems to us Dr. Nooe and our singing brother ought to get together. They'd make quite a team.

—O—

Preacher's Boy

The name of Albert B. Fall, Secretary of the Interior under Harding, and notorious for his part in the Teapot Dome scandal, has been in the news again in comparisons between Teapot Dome and the smelly mess that is being turned up in the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Not many people knew it, but Fall was the son of Philip S. Fall, one of the most idolized gospel preachers in Tennessee's history. What is that old saying about "preacher's boys?" And that calls up a speculation that has often intrigued us: doesn't "Barabbas" literally mean "son of a rabbi?" Was that notorious murderer also a preacher's boy?

—O—

Those Nashville Endorsements

Brother Jesse M. Kelley, preacher of the Grandview Heights Church in Nashville, writes us in no uncertain terms that brother Willard Collins in his endorsement of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (to which reference was made on this page in the February 8 Guardian) did not speak for the Grandview Heights Church. He writes, "Dr. Peale was not endorsed by this congregation, nor was authority delegated to anyone to be spokesman for this congregation in endorsing him. I assumed that brother Collins was speaking for himself." We opine brother Kelley wasn't the only gospel preacher in Nashville who affronted by the quasi-official character of brother Collin's endorsement. Obviously the Banner thought, and tried to convey the impression to its readers, that brother Collins was voicing the attitude of Nashville's churches of Christ. Why would a gospel preacher allow himself to get mixed up in a sorry mess like that anyhow?

—O—

Forgot To Say When

These strapless and shoulderless evening gowns, apparently fairly well agreed upon as conventional garb for actresses in television shows, remind us of the comment made by an inebriate viewing one of the telecasts. Said he, "They look like they were poured into their dresses and forgot to say when."

—O—

Four Abreast

It was at a recent college lectureship. Principal speaker for the occasion was a brother who has never been known to suffer from any sort of inferiority complex, and whose self-esteem recently has given unmistakable evidence of responding, sympathetically to the world - wide inflationary spiral. As he marched down the aisle as the service was ready to begin, an unpretentious farmer was heard to murmur, "Hail, the conquering hero comes—four abreast."

—O—

Too Many Committees

Did you see brother Showalter's fine editorial recently entitled "Too Many Committees In This Church," and did you wonder what Texas congregation was referred to in the editorial and the accompanying article? Lest undue suspicion be directed toward many fine congregations in the state, we think it proper to say that the article calling forth brother Showalter's good editorial was written by brother C. F. George, a deacon in the Austin Avenue congregation of Brownwood, Texas. And that, in spite of the rash of committees, Austin Avenue is doing a mighty fine work. (See editorial page, this issue.)