The Overflow
A Sermon With Back-Bone
Rufus Clifford, preacher for the Old Hickory (Tennessee) church, received an unusual number of commendations on a sermon he preached recently. His explanation for the better-than-usual sermon was that one of the brethren had brought him the back-bone of a hog the week before. Now, if it takes hog's backbone to put back-bone into a preacher's sermons, we recommend that the brethren revert to the old pioneer custom of paying their preachers off with a little bit of money, and a whole lot of hog—especially back-bone and intestines.
Coming Up
The Catholic Church has laid plans for an all-out assault on our traditional policy of separation of church and state: The fight will be made this year in the congressional halls at Washington. Look for tremendous Catholic pressure for some sort of federal aid to parochial schools.
Three Cheers!
Our congratulations to the venerable Gospel Advocate and her editor for the publication of Thomas Nelson Page's fine article (which we republish in this issue.) Not only was the article published, but it even got a commendatory editorial note. The publication of such an article with such a commendation is so far out of keeping with what most of us had come to expect from the Advocate that it is downright refreshing! Maybe even yet there is hope that the aging lady of Seventh Avenue has some spunk left in her spine.
How Harmful Is Smoking?
Probably many thousands of our readers will have already seen the article of the above title in January Readers Digest. If you have not read it, do so. Hitherto we have never regarded smoking as being a problem in morals, but rather one in manners. It is simply a filthy, obnoxious, and unaesthetic bad habit—sort of like picking one's nose in public. But the writer of this article really opened our eyes as to the physical effects of continued and heavy smoking.
Catholic Loyalty?
The Catholics boast much of their loyalty to the church. In the light of such we were surprised somewhat to see a statement from Msgr. L. G. Ligutti, executive secretary of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, that "perhaps 60 per cent of the Roman Catholics in New York City miss mass on Sunday mornings." Why, even the brethren aren't that bad!
Only The Fool
"Who can view the sunrise of the morn, The splendor that announces day is born, Can look into that lovely, rosy hue Reflected in each tiny drop of dew, And say, "There is no God?"
And who can hear the singing birds at dawn, An orchestra of heaven on the lawn, Or hear the laughter of a child at play, And let the heart within him say,
"There is no God ?"
—Leta M. Cox
—O—
Hollywood morals—if they have any The American press went crazy with ecstasy last May 27, when Rita Hayworth, twice divorced Hollywoodite, married the Moslem prince, Aly Khan. It was depicted as true love, the glamorous climax of a cinderella story, etc., etc., to the point of nausea. Seven months and one day after the wedding, their baby was born. Said Aly, "Seven months babies are quite usual in my family." Said the attending doctor, "This baby is not premature." Ingred Bergman, another one of these Hollywood characters, is reported by Louella Parsons, gossipy columnist of the movie stars, to be what Winchell would call "infanticipating"- more than a year after she left her home and husband in America to make a picture in Italy. And trash like Hayworth and Bergman are held up before our youth as being all that is lovely and desirable in American womanhood.
Reprints
We have no particular objection to seeing a reprint of an article if the article merits it. We occasionally run one ourselves (have one in this issue, in fact.) But we do believe it is fair and ethical that credit be given, if possible, of the source whence the article was lifted. We've noticed several Gospel Guardian items appearing subsequently in other journals, with no hint at all as to their origin. Of course, in fairness to the editors, we must say that there are some preachers who submit identical articles to three of four papers simultaneously, with no information to the editors that such is being done. Which, by our books, isn't quite kosher.
And That's That
Comes now a bitter circular letter from one R. M. Mickle who describes himself as an elder of "South Side Church of Christ," Waco, Texas, (apparently an anti-S. S. congregation). Well, Brother Mickle wants to affirm that (1) it is a violation of God's law to open any Lord's Day worship with anything except prayer; (2) the singing of an invitation song before the communion is a violation of scripture; and various and sundry other odd and bizarre ideas. He says, "Us brethren feel that we are entirely competent to deal with and take care of our own difficulties without the aid of outside brethren." No doubt, no doubt.
A Job For Somebody
Who wants to write us a nice short article in response to the following? "I am interested in knowing the truth. I want to know what part, if any, Christmas has in Christianity. What part may a person or a congregation have in the event called Christmas? I would like to see this subject discussed in the Gospel Guardian." This is in a letter from W. J. Holmes of Yakima, Washington. Will somebody submit us an article?
With Apologies To Dunn
We know a preacher over in Arkansas who occasionally gets so busy "in the Lord's work" that he has no time to prepare a sermon for the Sunday night service. More than once he has gone into the pulpit, explained his predicament to the audience, and then read an article from the Firm Foundation in lieu of a sermon! Well, we offer our apologies to Jack Dunn for this:
Time was when he was young and thin, And he preached with animation.
But now with age and a double chin, He reads from the Firm Foundation!