VOL. VII MAY, 1917 No. 5 mss) The King’s Business Published once a month by the BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S. A. ONE DOLLAR A YEARTHE KING’S BUSINESS VOL. VIL MAY, 1917 No. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Editorial: Magnifying Inconsistencies of Christians—Prac- tieal Appreciation—The Christian a Bond-Servant- “Love Suffereth Long, and Is Kind’—Kind Words from a Far Country—Real and Fictitious God—A World League for Peace—The N “Try the Spirits Whether They Are of God’’—Our Civilization a Dead Failure—ls Jesus Hated Today? —"God Is Light”... 387 The New Birth. By Dr. R. A. Torrey vanced The Goseél Lighthouse. By:Osenr Ziamentinn “398 Equip a Soldier To — ~. 400 A New Definition of God... . 400 Glorification Through Death. By Rev. Francis L. Patton... 401 The Navaho Indians. By J. W. Baldwin o Puzzling Passages and Problems... The Winning of Elijah David Samuel. By Mi Homiletical Helps. By William Evans. Evangelistic Department. By Bible Institu Through the Bible with Dr. Evans ; The Far Horizon.. : sauces OU International Sunday School Lessons. By R. A. Torrey and T. C. Horton... 441 Daily Devotional Studies in the New Testament for Indi- vidual Meditation and 4 Femily Worship, By R. A. Toreey seecceseecssscesssseseceescesnneessnsesennnanonanosen 459 - 409 SUBSCRIPTION PRICE In the United States and its Possessions and Mexico, and points in the Central American Postal Union, $1 per year. In all other foreign countries, $1.24 (5s, 2d.). _ Single copies, 10 cents. Receipts sent on request. See date on address tag. “Sept. 17" means Expires Sept. 1917, ete PUBLISHED BY THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES 936-558 SOUTH HOPE STREET LOS ANGELES, CAL.386 THE KING'S BUSINESS Annuity Bonds! A BAD beginning will almost invariable result in a bad ending. Begin by thinking seriously about the needs of the Bible Instifute of Los Angeles, and that will make you wish to have a part in the great work of preparing consecrated men and women for the work of soul winning. Have you ever investigated our Annuity Bond Plan? If not, doit now! You will be glad! There are other ways in which you can help. Interest others in sub- seribing for The King’s Business that they too may know what the Bible Institute is doing. Address T. C. Horton, Superintendent, Sixth and Hope Streets, Los Angeles, Cal,, for full particulars, ne STU UU AUTA LEAL VEN EONOMUEGAUEGCEOU TEAC EE EUC ETAT HELP THE “K. B.” Subscription Fund Through the Generosity of Appreciative Christian People, this Magazine goes to MANY MISSIONARIES W 220. cannot afford to pay the sub- scription for themselves. The fund for this purpose is now exhausted but the requests continwe to come. Last year one lady sent us $25 to be so applied, and here is a sample expression of gratitude: “It helps me in so many ways that I look for- ward to its coming each month. I hope my few words convey some idea of the gratitude I feel, through being one of those fortunate ones who receive your magazine.” BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES 5 SUERTETHE KING’S BUSINESS —w—_—_—_—_— || vous MAY, 1917 No. 5 | Oo -EDITORIAL a Some people are always talking about the inconsis- Magnifying’ tencies of Christians. They are always picking flaws Inconsistencies in this Christian or that, and they are not content with of Christians. pointing out the flaws of character that really exist, they magnify them. Why is this? Those who do it do not know themselves oftentimes, but the real reason is because they hate Jesus Christ, and therefore they desire to find flaws in those who profess to believe in Him. Show me a man or woman who is all the time finding fault with Christians and I will show you a man or woman who hates Jesus Christ. A friend in Ohio shows his appreciation of THe Kine’s Practical Bustness in a very practical way. He writes: “Since Appreciation. I cannot find words to express to you how much I appreciate Tne Kinc’s Business, I thought I would resort to some practical way of expressing myself, by sending a few subscrip- tions for the magazine, which were easy to get.” Enclosed in the letter was a check for $5.00, with the addresses of five persons to whom to send the magazine. Another friend in Michigan, who has written us in times past of his appreciation of the magazine, is sending subscriptions almost every week, scmetimes six or seven in a single letter. If our friends find the magazine helpful, and it is not possible for them to secure subscriptions, we would be pleased to have them recommend it. In 2 Timothy 2:24, Paul says: “The servant of the The Christian Lord must not strive.” The word here translated a Bond-Servant. “servant’’ means a “bond-servant,” or “slave,” i.e, a ‘servant that his master owns and not merely hires. We belong to another, not to ourselves. We are not our own, Christ is our owner. We ought never to lose sight of this fact. My hands do not belong to me, they belong to Christ, to be used not for my work, but His, My feet are not mine to run where I wish, they are Christ’s feet to run where He wishes. My eyes are not mine to look at what I wish them to see, but Christ’s, to look at what He wishes them to see. This fact settles the question as to whether a Christian ought to go to the movies or the theatre. Our eyes will not see there what Christ wishes us to see. My ears are not my own, to listen to what I wish to hear, they are Christ’s, to listen to what He would have me hear. My whole body is His property. So with our possessions, our money is not our own, a slave cannot own property. Our money is our Master’s, to be kept as a sacred trust for Him and used at His bidding.388 THE KING’S BUSINESS These are good days for the Christian to bear in mind “Love Suffereth Paul's opening words in his wonderful description of Long, and Is Kind.” the everyday manifestations of love found in the 13th chapter of First Corinthians, “Love suffereth long, om is kind,” Love endures injury after injury, insult after insult, wrong after Wrong, slander after slander, and still keeps right on loving and forgiving and forgetting. It wastes itself in vainly trying to help the unworthy and ungrate- ful, and still it loves on. And it “is kind,” it knows no harshness. It may be severe, even as Jesus Christ Himself was on occasion severe, but its necessary severity is shot through with gentleness and tenderness and pity. If there was ever a day in which love was needed, real love, divine love, as described in the Word of God, it is the day in which we live. - We are in receipt of the following letter from Hebron, + Kind Words from Brynmawr, New South Wales: “I am so pleased with a Far Country. Trix Kino’s Bustness. I may say it is quite an inspi- ration to go through the Sunday School lessons week by week, and I praise God for such a clear, simple and Seriptural definition of God’s Word. Also every article helps to establish one in the faith, In this month's number I had a great blessing through the reading of that won- derful New Years letter of William Romaine. T pray every one that reads it may catch the same wonderful glimpse of the, wonderful efficacy and power of the Blood and Righteousness of Jesus Christ for them.. I enclose the amount of a year’s subscription to have the magazine sent to a dear friend in a neigh- boring town.” There are many who think they wish to know and are Real and Fictitious willing to do God's will and that it is God’s will that Surrender to God. they are secking to know, but what they are really seeking is to get God to say yes to their own plans and to get God to endorse the plan that they themselves have already subconsciously formed. And they are not waiting, as they suppose they are, until God tells them what His will really is, they are waiting until God tells them to do the thing that they wish to do and in their subconscious self have made up their minds to do. “So they think and think and think, and pray and pray and pray, until they think themselves into thinking that God tells them to do the thing that they themselves wished to do from the outset, and this thing that they wished to do from the outset may not be God’s plan at all. This is one of the most frequent causes of thinking we have the mind of God when we are only doing the thing that we wish to do. Men and women who go to God for guid- ance in this way, that is without having absolutely put aside their own will and their own opinion, when they do think themselves into a place where they fancy that God has endorsed their plan, are the most-positive in saying that “God tells me to do thus and so.” So then, if we would be guided of God, we must make absolutely sure that we have put away our own will entirely and are utterly willing to, and desirous of, doing God's will, whatever it may be. We must be sure that we are silent before God and truly listening for. His voice, and not still listening to this desire that we have in the depths of ‘our heart, that God shall tell us to do the thing that we wish to do.THE KING’S BUSINESS 389 One cannot but sympathize with the dream of Presi- A World League dent Wilson, and of other leading statesmen of this for Peace. and other lands, of a league for peace among the nations of the earth, a peace to be maintained by an army gathered from all the nations entering into the league. It is a fair and attractive dream, but it is only a dream. If the nations banded together for such a purpose, each nation in the league would be looking out simply ‘for its own interests, and, when it served its purpose, would either use the league for its own selfish purposes or withdraw from it. The Word of God tells us plainly that “‘even unto the end” of the present dispensation there “shall be war” (Dan. 9:26), and no amount of skilful statesmanship, even though it be guided by the highest motives, will be able to change this predicted history of the world. But not only do we know this from Scripture, but everyone who knows the history of the past with its Holy Alliances, and who knows the rulers of the earth as they rule us today, can entertain for a moment the thought that any hope can be founded upon the humanitarian dreams of Mr. Wilson or any other great statesman. For the United States to go into such a league would not protect us from war, but only hasten the day when it would be involved in a world- wide war. The vision is,as many have characterized it, “a noble vision,” but itis only a dream. The vision of a “world banded together to prevent war, or a universal -and permanent reign of peace,” may make an appeal with great power to all lovers of their fellowmen and to all who have risen above petty international jealousies, but, however fondly one may hope that this vision become a reality, any one who knows men as they really are, and: knows the future as it is clearly revealed in the Word of God, must know that these vis- ions never will become a reality until the Lord Himself comes, the Prince of Peace, and then these international leagues will be unnecessary. God guides His children a stcp at a tine. It is at this The Next Step. point that many miss their way. They seek to know the whole way that God would have them go before they will take a single step. But God’s method is to show them a step at a time. Look at Peter in Acts 12, God led him a step at a time: First,.the angel smote Peter on the side and awoke him, and told him to arise up quickly. This Peter did, and his chains fell off from his hands. Then the angel said unto him, “Gird thyself and bind on thy sandals,” “and he did so.” Then the angel said, “Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me,” and Peter did exactly as he was told. He was not even sure that he was awake, but he followed step by step even when he thought he might be asleep. They passed the first and second guard and came to the iron gate that led into the city. Peter did not stop and. ask as to whether the gate would be opened or not, but jtist followed up to the gate and when he got to the gate the gate opened of its own accord. Thus God led him step by step, and thus God leads us. The trouble with many of us is that we wish God to show us the whole path and are not willing to go a step at a time, The thing for us to do is to take the next step that God shows us in answer to our prayer, and not wait until God shows us the whole way. If we will go as far as we see, the rest of the way will be shown us when we get there. All we need is God’s guidance for today, to see the next step. Follow on step by step as He leads you and the way will open as you go.390 THE KING'S BUSINESS Let us never forget that not all spiritual impressions “Try the Spirits are from the Holy Spirit. There are other spirits ‘Whether They Are beside the Holy Spirit and we need to try the spirits of God.” whether they be of God (1 John 4:1). Some people are so anxious to be led of the Spirit that they are willing to be led by any spirit. So long as it is a spirit, that satisfies them. They thus plunge into the errors of spiritualism, or of the tongues movement, or other forms of fanaticism. We do well to heed the very solemn warning of God’s word and try the spirits that speak to us, or seem to speak to us, and see whether they be of God, or whether they be of Satan. We should never forget that our most dangerous enemies are not flesh and blood, our fellowmen, but are “the principalities, the powers, the world rulers of this darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heaven lies” (Eph. 6:12). But while we recognize the existence and the activity in human history, and especially in our present-day history, of eyil spirits, unseen forces of evil, we do not need to be in fear, for He that is with us and in us is wiser and mightier than they, and it is our privi- lege, by putting on the whole armor of God, to be able to stand against all the wiles of the Devil (Eph. 6:11). And “to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Rev. Dr. Chas. H. Parkhurst, the well-known preacher Our Civilization and reformer of New York City, is reported by the a Dead Failure. New York Times as having said at the annual meet- ing of the Congregational Church Extension Society of Manhattan and Brooklyn, “Our civilization, broadly considered, is a dead failure.” This statement differs widely from Dr, Parkhurst’s optimism about our civilization in times past. “There is no spot in the page of history,” said Dr. Parkhurst, “so black as the blot that has just recently been dro; upon it. Our civilization is brilliant, but it is unholy. The fruits of our civilization, stich as intelligence, discoveries, inventions of all kinds, have been the most effi- cient contributions to the brutalities of the last two years.” He went on still fur- ther to say: “The current ebullition of the patriotic spirit is wonderful, and from one point of view is most encouraging, but is purely the outcome of our humanism. The world will continue to be a fighting world until it is a better world, and when it is a matter of fighting, the nation with the weakest mil- itary equipment will be the victim of a disastraus liability.” We think that Dr. Parkhurst is in the right. Indeed, he is waking up to the real character of our civilization and to the baselessness of the expecta- tions of those who have been hoping that the Millennium would come by a process of evolution from our present civilization. Many have recognized .the baselessness of these hopes for years; indeed, ever since they began to understand their Bibles and to understand unregenerate human nature as it is revealed in the Bible, and as it is revealed in history. It is true that “the world will continue to be a fighting world until it is a better world” and it will not be an essentially better world until the Lord Jesus comes and takes the reins of government. Someone will ask, has not the Gospel then been a failure? No, the Gospel is accomplishing exactly what it was intended of God to accomplishTHE KING’S BUSINESS 391 in this present dispensation, i.c., it has been gathering out of the world “ a people for His name” (Acts 15:14). If God had intended the Gospel to save the world in the present dispensation, then the Gospel would have been a failure, but anyone who carefully studies his Bible will see that this was not God’s intention regarding the Gospel at all. When God, by the power of the Gospel of His grace, has completed His church by gathering out of the Gen- tiles a people for His name, then God will go on to the next step in His plan— that of dealing with the Jews again and saving the Jews as a nation, and then through the saved Jews, He will go on to completing the rest of His plan. Things do look dark and we do not wonder that Dr. Parkhurst is depressed, but there is no reason for depression. The darkest hour precedes the day and “black as the blot” is “that has just recently been dropped upon” our civiliza- tion, it is but the harbinger of the coming dawn. It is when far-seeing men feel as Dr. Parkhurst feels at present, when men are “fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the inhabited earth,” that we should lift up our heads, knowing that our redemption draweth nigh (Luke’ 21:26-28). We are glad that some of the shallow optimists are waking up to the fact as to how shallow and baseless their optimism is, but we do not like to see them becoming pessimists. Better far to become a true optimist, one who is an optimist because he knows human civilization will fail, but that, when it has failed, God will come in with His civilization, by sending His Son to take the reins of government and to rule in righteousness. As we read the history of the past it seems incredible Is Jesus that the men of Christ’s day should have hated Him so Hated Today? unanimously and so bitterly as they did, but when we consider certain facts of present-day life, we soon see that, incredible as it is, the Lord Jesus is hated as bitterly today as He was when He was here upon earth. It is true that the hatred of Jestis Christ today is not generally as outspoken as when He was here on earth, but it is not less real. There are many ways in which men show their hatred of Jesus Christ. One of the commonest ways in which men show their hatred of Jesus Christ is by the delight they take in the fall of any man who bears the name of Christ, or professes to be His disciple. How the newspapers delight in the story of the fall of a Christian man. When such a man falls the papers never forget to put into the account that he was a Sunday School superintendent, or an elder or a deacon. Indeed, they put it in sometimes when it is not trie. And how the people delight to read it. Above all, if a minister of Christ goes astray, or is reported to haye gone astray, how much the papers make of it. Why is this? Because men hate Jesus Christ and the man who has fallen bears the name of Christ, and so they delight to see him go down and to see the name of Christ’ thus dragged in the mud. If an infidel goes wrong, there is very little made of the fact that he was an infidel. Indeed, little is said about his going wrong. But if a Christian minister goes wrong, column after column, day after day, appears in the paper about it. Strange, is it not? No, not strange at all, but simply a proof that this old world hates Jesus Christ today as bitterly as it hated Him when it nailed Him to a cross.392 THE KING’S BUSINESS These three words, found in 1 John 1:5, “God is “God Is Light.” light,” contain one of the most marvelous revelations regarding God's character to be found in the whole Bible or any other literature. But the words, besides being such a marvelous revelation of the holiness and love and wisdom of God, have a practical appli- cation to our everyday life. They throw a great light on the question of God's guidance. It is because they forget that God is light many go astray when they are secking to learn and do God’s will. They have impulses, they know not from what source; they have what appear like leadings, for example, to go to the foreign field, or to do some other thing, but they are not at all sure it is God’s leading. Very likely it is not God's leading; and yet they follow it for fear they may be disobeying God if they do not, or, perhaps, they do not follow it, and then get into condemnation through fearing that they have dis- obeyed God. Many fall into the deepest gloom from this cause. They had an impression that they ought to do a certain thing, they were not at all clear the impression was from God, they did not do the thing, and then the devil has made them think that they had disobeyed God, and some even think they have committed the unpardonable sin because they did not obey this prompting (the origin of which they were not at all sure). If we would only bear in mind that “God is light” and that therefore God’s guidance is clear guidance, we would be delivered from this snare of Satan. Provided our wills are entirely sur- rendered to God, any leadings that are not absolutely clear are not from Him, as yet. We have a right in every case where we have any impression that we ought to do a certain thing, but where we are not absolutely sure it is the will of God, to go to God and say to Him, “Heavenly Father, I desire to do thy will; my will is absolutely surrendered to Thine, now if this is of Thee, make it clear as day, and I will do it,” and if our wills are absolutely surrendered to God, and we really realize our inability to decide for ourselves, and are ready to be led of Him, God will make it as clear as day if it is His will, and we have a right not to do it until He does make it clear, and we have a right to have an absolutely clear conscience in not doing it, until He does make it clear. God is a Father and is more ‘willing to make His will known to us than we are to - make our will known to our children. Provided we really desire to know His will and desire to do His will at any cost, we have no right to be in mortal fear before God and to be in constant apprehension that we have not done His will. , When we accepted Christ as our Saviour and surrendered our wills to God we did “not receive the spirit of bondage again unto fear” but the Spirit Who gives us a place as sons, whereby we cry, “Abba, Father,” in perfect childlike trust in Him (Rom. 18:15). We would not mislead our children in such a case. We would not leave our children in any doubt or uncertainty. We would make our will as clear as day, and so will God make His. And the way that is not made clear as day is not God’s way.THE KING'S BUSINESS 399 THE GOSPEL LIGHTHOUSE By OSCAR ZIMMERMAN WHE Bible Institute of Los Angeles desires to put a miniature Lighthouse, in the form of a savings bank, in homes, churches, Sunday Schools and in the hands of generous people, where deposits may be made to the credit of the Sailors’ Fund. The bank is here shown full size. It is neat, ornamental and novel, and will at once attract attention and invite contribu- tions wherever placed. The appeal is made for a regular monthly contribution of 50 cents or more. Fifty cents will supply one or two Bibles, or five Moody Books (30 sermons by D. L. Moody, R. A. Torrey, and others) ; or 10 Chinese New Testaments; or 12 Eng- lish New Testaments; or 12 Japanese New Testaments; or 25 English Gospels of John ; or 200 or more clear Gospel tracts. One dollar will supply two lumber ves- sels with three books each (15 to 18 ser- mons), 12 Gospels and one tract for each of fifty men; or two large Japanese freight- ers (90 men) with 90 Gospels and a few tracts; or twenty Chinese, or twenty-five Japanese New Testaments, for passengers on their way to South America. As a lover of men, concerned for their spiritual welfare, you would be interested and gratified to hear the story of the light house work in Los Angeles and San Fran- cisco Harbors, for which the sSeamen’s Department of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles is responsible. With the blessing of God, we hope to extend it until every important port on the Coast is a center whence “The Light of the World” shall warn the sailor, and invite him from the perilous sea of sin to which he is aban- doned, into the harbor and refuge of God's peace. In our cosmopolitan ports every day is a Pentecost. “Men out of every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5) are Providen- tially present to challenge obedience. The world to which we are told’ to “go” is brought to our doors. Men from all parts of the United States, from Alaska to the gulf; from Canada, Central and South America; from Sweden, Germany, Norway, Denmark, England, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Greece, Russia and Italy, are at our door and can be reached with the Gospel. A lighthouse and pamphlet will be sent postpaid to all persons who write the Bible Institute for them. Secure one for your- self and interest others in your church or community in doing likewise. Speak to your Sunday school superintendent with a view of having the bank used for birth- day gifts to the Seamen's Fund; lay the plan before your Young People’s society, Missionary society, Bible class, men's brotherhood, and other organizations. a, Mission Work Seattle AN interesting note from H. J. Ranton reports the establishment of a success- ful Rescte Mission and Sunday school in Seattle. He is full of thanksgiving to God and of joy in the work. Meetings are held on Wednesday and Sunday evenings. Eight apparently genuine conversions occurred during the first month. Street meetings are held; the tough element has shown approving interest and been led to listen to the good news. Brother Ranton has shown tactful discretion, and several. instances of successful interviews with souls, which were backed up by practical Christian philanthropy, testify to his devo- tion and self-sacrificing spirit. Remember him and his work. His address is No. 2400 First Ave., Seattle, Wash.THE KING’S BUSINESS EQUIP A SOLDIER AtMost daily inquiries reach us from possible students, as to the “bread and butter problem” during a training course for service. We are compelled to reply that the Institute has no fund for Cadets of the Kingdom. We need a fund for loans without inter- est, to students who have no other means of support. Students cannot justly be held responsi- ble for diligence in study and training and, at the same time, for earning their expenses. They are liable to break down during the course, or so to prolong it as to be delayed in equipment for the ficld. Consider the following important finan- cial facts: $6.00 will support a student for a weck; $25.00 will support a student for a month; $250.00 will support a student for a year; $500.00 will support a student through the entire course. If you will lend us the money, in the name of the Lord, for all or part of the course, we will lend it to promising candi- dates who will return it, in due time, to perpetuate its beneficence in helping a suc- cessor. And you may have the satisfaction of knowing that your money will get busy immediately, since every student, from the beginning is in active service in one or more departments of evangelism, as a part of his or her training. Pray about it and for it, and for the Institute. Make your check payable to the “Bible Institute of Los Angeles.” A NEW DEFINITION OF GOD HE “Young People,” published by the American Baptist Publication Society, in its issue of January 27, has a of ten “Rules of Living for Girls.” Nine of them ate splendid rules of life for young people, or old people, but not one of them could be kept without the power of the new life which comes from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is given to every one that believes in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. The tenth rule, however, seems remarkable, coming from this source. It reads “T will speak and act truthfully, and live with sincerity towards God and man, remembering always that there is but one God, viz.: Truth, Love, Life, Good.” ‘This last statement suggests that these ten rules emanate from the Christian Sci- ence headquarters. We have no doubt that these “Ten Rules” slipped into “The Young People” without careful scrutiny on the part of the editor of that department, for we are confident there would be no endorse- ment of such a statement concerning Jeho- vah. Our hearts are full of sorrow in view of the insidious false teaching that creeps into so many places through magazines and newspapers; and through teachers in our Sunday Schools and day schools and col- leges, the effect of which is to undermine the faith of young people in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ and the great doc- trines of the Scriptures.Glorification Through Death amuneMtatily d Verily, verily, 1 By Rev. Francis L. Patton President of Princeton Seminary say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone} but if it dic,’ it bringeth forth much fruit—John 12:24, E ALL know that it was nec- essary for Christ to die, and that His path lay through the valley of the shadow of ~ I do not take this text to illustrate this idea, but to concern myself with a line of illustration which has no reference to His death, and so will avoid the suggestion. We have here, in the first place, the enunciation of a prin- ciple which goes far toward unifying the moral and spiritual history of our world. Glorification through death is a principle that may be seen in various spheres of observation, and in the relation of the indi- vidual to the race. For instance, a man of ordinary education has a family of boys and girls. He has reached that time of life, the sure sign of middle age, perhaps a lit- tle beyond, when he ceases to raise the question ‘that he has been raising about himself, How shall I make the best of myself? and he begins to raise the ques- tion—the only question he thinks of after that—What shall I do for them? “Well,” he says, “I had but a limited education; they shall have the best the country can «give or they are willing to take. I had but few opportunities; there is no lack of opportunity for them, I had many a rough encounter? when I first set out in the world; they shall have the advantage of my accum- ulated earnings to set them up in. life.” Sure enough, the boys grow up and fill positions that the father and mother did not fill, and could not fill; and by and by they all come home again, and as they look on the dead man’s face they say, or rather, they seem to say, ‘Father did well by us,” and they may very well say it. His hand had wrought for them; his head had thought for them; his heart had beat for them; this is the long result—the father lies in his coffin, and the children go their several ways in life, and repeat in their own experience the story; and so, “the indi- vidual withers, and the world is more and more.” And this principle of glorification through death is illustrated further in the fact that, when the lower forms of life or civiliza- tion disappear to make room for the higher, the one dominating phase of the doctrine of evolut is the seeming unity with which it invests everything; because, imag- ine it true, and there at once you see how moving are the poet's words:402 “I held it truth, with him who sings To one clear harp in divers tones, That men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things.” This is the story not of the potential, but of the actual. And what is true of the material world is true of the spiritual world. The history of the spiritual world is a history of displacement. You may account for it by the love of glory or by the sentiment of revenge, but we know that God's glory is the final cause, and it is all explicable upon the great scale of divine providence. We all understand that there is a definite relationship between our present and the past, and that we today are the heirs of all that civilization that has gone. Our acts are the result of all that has gone before. They were the seed and we are the harvest: “Except a corn of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” The mass of this early civilization survives in the civilization of today. Where do you go to find the origin of the great principle of civil liberty? Where do you go, but to that crowd of sturdy peoples who lived along the banks of the Rhine, and whom Tacitus describes, or to those sturdy barons at Runnymede who extorted the Magna Charta from King John? It is just as true in the sphere of science or philosophy. It is a far cry back to Thales of Miletus, and yet our owitr boasted century, the nineteenth, and this which may have boasts of its own, has a close relation to the civilization of the very far past. Our astronomy is different from their astrology, and our chemistry is different from their alchemy, but they are closely associated. We see further than they did sometimes, just because we are as pigmies borne on the shoulders of a giant. THE FRUITS OF DEATH This principle of glorification through death is ‘illustrated once more in that a new and expanded form of life is the fruit of death. Take -the railroad at the Proper season of the year, and see the corn standing as a dazzling glory in the fertile THE KING'S BUSINESS fields of the golden West. Mark how tow- ers herald the approach to the towns and cities, and ask what they stand there for. These are the nation’s treasure-houses. These are the storehouses of the world. This is the annual coronation of nature, and simply so many illustrations of the text: “Except a corn of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth alone; but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.” Change the illustration and borrow one from the humbler phases of the animal world, like the caterpillar, which eats up the floor of the leaf on which it creeps, until, by and by, as it begins to realize that its life is nearly done, it sets its house in order, turns undertaker, weaves itself a silken shroud, and awaits the dawning of its resurrection day, and soars away a bright-winged butterfly—a beautiful illus- tration of the text: “Except a corn of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” That is the story of our life. We are born and we grow; we go on our way, renew our infancy with impaired faculties, and then we pass away. Life is a battle, and we win our greatest victory when we lie down on that battlefield and die. Life is a race, and the goal is at the grave. Life is a journey, and the path that we take lies straight for the valley of the shadow. of death. The valley is dark, but beyond the darkness and across the river I see the lights of that celestial city; I get an echo of the angels’ song, and the glimpse that I get tells me that it is worth all it costs to die. The principle of glorification through death is illustrated in the death of Juda- ism. Judaism was a divinely founded insti- tution—a theological seminary. +The pur- pose of it was to disseminate the knowl- edge of the one living and true God. With the approach of the pagan world and Christianity it gathered up its energies to give birth to Jesus of Nazareth. That is what it existed for; and in the throes of the birth-struggle Judaism died, Let us not speak reproachfully of Judaism, forTHE KING’S BUSINESS the glory of Christianity is the glory of Judaism with an added glory: “Except a corn of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bring- eth forth fruit.” Once more (for this is our Lord’s own illustration concerning Himself), the prin- ciple of glorification through death is illus- trated in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We see Jesus made a little lower than the angels and crowned with glory and honor, He suffered that we might conquer. He drank the bitter cup in order that we might taste something of the sweetness of the joys of His Father's house. He has settled the question of His own place, and of our place, too, in the scale of being. The ques- tion whether the finite and the infinite can ever come together has been solved in the doctrine of the incarnation. We do not want any more to sing the old song, which never amounted to very much in the way of music or poetry: “T want to be an angel, And with the angels stand, A crown upon my forehead, A harp within my hand.” We do not want anything of the sort. Angels never rise so high nor stand so low as man. They know nothing about sin or repentance or salvation through Jesus Christ, and are not worthy to sit with Him who judges the ten tribes of Israel. This text not only fastens on us this principle of glorification through death, ‘but, in the second place, it gives us a two- fold vindication of death, the first being the perils of survivorship, and the second being the promise of grace. Death is one of the most philosophical things in the world; and if you put yourselves in the right attitude toward it, it is one of the kindest agencies in nature. There is such a thing as a time to die; for two reasons at least. THE PERIL OF IT One is the solitude of old age—the peril of survivorship—“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth 403 alone;” it abideth alone. You can imagine a person very old, His eyes have grown dim. Generations have grown old and died, but he still lives on. He is too old to take kindly to the new ideas, or to see much reason for the changes taking place. He is too old to have an interest in the present, too old to have any friends, and at last he es, and lives, and lives, until he seems ‘€ a monumental intrusion into the pres- ent, an object that people stop to look at when they are in a reflective mood and wish to mark the flight of years. Who would not court a new-made grave rather than risk the perils of survivorship? Then there is the promise of grace. Our blessed Lord hallowed the grave by His presence, and left it upon the morning of the third day. The promise of Christ us a connection with His own glorious resurrection; and planted with Him in His death, we shall be with Him in His glory. And so the message comes to you and to me: Be not afraid. “Do not hesitate to go down, even into the grave. Our Lord has not made it unnecessary for us to die, but He has robbed death of its terrors. He has made easy the approach; He has fes- tooned the entrance with flowers; and we tide through its portals, singing as we go, “O grave, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” and we turn to dis- cover that the door of death is the gate of heaven. FRUITLESS CONSERVATION Again, this text teaches one other truth. As we read it, we can not very well help being impressed with the idea that there” is embodied in it the thought that there are two contrasted modes of being: a fruitless conservation and a prolific decay. The seed corn is very’tenacious of life, and there is a story that grains taken from an Egyp- ‘tian mummy have been planted and have germinated in English gardens. I believe that this is not so, but the tenacity of wheat in respect to life is true. It abideth; but it abideth alone. Let it reproduce itself, and by and by there will be enough of harvest to feed a nation. . We must! : 404 make a choice between a fruitless con- servation and prolific decay. And this choice comes to us in so many ways. We see it in the sphere of prejudice. Preju- dice is often, but it is not always, right. It is very often misplaced or perpetuated beyond a time when it does any good, (You never find a man cherishing a prejudice, because he says he is “standing up for a principle”) It was good enough when he started; it served its purpose at first; but it has outlived its usefulness, and is now just a prejudice. A good many years ago, at the foundation of the London Mis- sionary Society, a speaker said, “We stand today at the funeral of bigotry.” There is not a word of objection to that, except that these obsequies have been so unduly protracted. God send the day when men shall recognize the lineament of Jesus Christ in one another's face, whether they be Presbyterians, Episcopalians, or what! And this principle, this choice, whether there shall be a conservation that is fruit- less, or an expenditure that is generous, meets us everywhere. It meets us in our relationship to the past. There is a sort of medievalism cherished and fostered by some people with an odor of sanctity—they love things which are old. And there is a vandalism that destroys the old, and wor- ships the new, because it is new. My friends, they are both wrong. Let us look at our inheritance of the past in proof of this. Hold fast to that which is true, and do not hold anything that is not, Read the great formularies of worship with the critical light of modern thought, and hold on to that which is true. The Jerusalem Chamber is not holy ground, the Westmi ster divines are not inspired. If they said what was true, it is because of the truth of what they say that we hold on to it, not because they said it. And what is true in regard to these formulas holds true in reference to our own individual life. SEEN ON THE CANVAS But there are times, I suppose, when people who live in a city as busy as this is, and where the engagements of the week THE KING'S BUSINESS run into two weeks, and where every hour has its own employment, there are times, I suppose, even here that people have lei- sure to sit still while the fire burns; and in these choice stolen hours, I suppose, fig- ures of long ago come out upon the can- vas and stand there in bold relief; and we say that they were happy days. Imagine the dear old room, and those pictures of long ago coming before us, when our imag- ination was all aglow. I can imagine that the door-bell might ring, and that one of those that we have not seen for fifty years was announced. I can imagine the con- versation that would ensue. We would talk excitedly for twenty minutes, and then the conversation would flag, and before the hour was up we would be completely disil- lusioned, and would see that our paths had diverged. All that sor€ of thing was good in its way and time, but'it is not the time for it now. Of course, we must have a foundation for the house. Still we do not live in the cellar, We live’upstairs in the sunlight, and experience says we do well. These past incidents of life are just the foundation, and it is the superstructure after all that you build upon; and unless a man is willing to part with the past, he is going to make a mistake. MUST MOVE ON Unless we learn to do better today the things that we did yesterday, and paint a better picture today, and write a better poem than the last, and are more proficient in our arts, we are just as good as dead. We are eternally improving and moving on. There is a conservation, steadfast and still; and there is a forgetfulness and a generous prodigality of past attainments that is prolific of vast results. There is your health. What are you going to do with it? You had better wear out than rust out any day. You can see people who make themselves obnoxious to you by their everlasting attitude of complaint. There is something better for a man to do than to take care of his health, and he will prob- ably live longer if he does not. Is a man who has an intellect expected to haveTHE KING’S BUSINESS nothing better to do than to play nurse to his body that he has to summer in the North, and winter in the South, and to clothe with purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day, and give it now and then a trip to Europe—a body that is bound to di There is your life. What are you going to do with it? There is your moncy. What are you going to do with it? Why,,invest it, and be careful about your security, and don’t be careful about the interest, and keep on investing and reinvesting, until it will take the fig- ures of astronomy to count it. As fortunes go now, astronomy is not in it, Invest it, and then what do you do? There are so many things that some people might do and do do, that so many more people might do. HELP THE CHURCH They might perpetuate their names by doing something for the Church, for edu- cation, and for the world, and its moral, spiritual, and intellectual advance. God be praised for this! You, who have cast your bread of benevolence upon the waters of philanthropy hope that you will receive it after many days. This world’s history shows that our forests have not been cleared by the brawn of men who lived in 405 comfortable homes. ties been secured? How have our liber- By the blood of men who counted no service too great. Can we do that? William of Orange might have lived a long life, but he stripped him- self of land and fortune, and planted him- self in deadly opposition to Alva, and died a monument to the fall of Spanish tyr- anny. Yes, my friends. in humbler spheres it is your privilege, and mine, in the hquse of this tabernacle, to choose between the alternative of conservation which is fruit- less and an expenditure that is substantial, generous, and prodigal. It is a choice for us to make. Wrap yourselves in your mummy folds, and live for yourself or, in generous forgetfulness, live for God and country, and for fellowmen while you live, and when the hour comes, without fear, if need be, drop into the ground and die. Help us, O Lord, to endure as good sol- diers of Jesus Christ. Help us to do our daty so completely that every day we do better and become better and be with Christ. Help us that we may be ready for death, and in that last encounter may be as brave as in all the other encounters of our lives. Give us this faith to the end. For Christ's gake. Amen. caret eC Ce A To My Son By Nellie McVey © you know that your soul is of my soul such part, That you seem to be fiber and core of my heart? None other can pain me, as you, dear, can do; None other can please me, or praise me as you. Remember the world will be quick with its blame, If shadow or stain ever darken your name. “Like mother, like son,” is a saying so true, The world will judge largely of “Mother” by you; Be yours, then, the task—if task it shall be— To force this proud world to do homage to me. Be sure it will say, when its verdict you have won— “She reaped as she sowed—lo! this man is her son.” CTE TT Ci oT A AA Ne KA ARR406 THE KINGS BUSINESS THE NAVAHO INDIANS 4 By J. W. BALDWIN AVAHO INDIANS occupy a large scope of territory in northern Arizona and north-western New Mexico. The latest census returns show that there are more than 32,000. They are self-sup- porting, living largely from their flocks and herds, and they are also the: only makers of the famous Navaho blanket. There are 11,000 children of school age, but the Government and the churches have only made provision for about 2000, leaving find; sometimes living under an overhang- ing rock, occasionally in a tent; sometimes in a “hogan,” and in summer on the open plain with a fringe of brush to keep the goats from running through the sitting room. ‘When a missionary visits a Navaho fam- ily he sits on the ground in their camp fire circle and tells them of the true God, the way of life through our Lord They listen attentively, but and Jesus Christ. Tolchaco Girls at Navaho Indian School, Leupp, Ariz. 9000 children in ignorance, darkness and cruel superstition. Up to ten years ago there were but ten missionaries on the field. The present force is small, but is laying a good founda- tion for those who will follow. The whole tribe is in pitiful bondage to the evil one but a great ransom price has been paid for them and it is the work of the Lord’s servants to bring them out. The Navahoes are nomadic, méving when grass and water are exhausted and a very difficult people to evangelize. Scattered on the, mountains and hills and hidden away in the canyons, they are sometimes hard to the story sounds strange to them after cen- turies of praying to sun, earth, wind, dark- ness, bears, snakes, ete. One of the greatest obstacles to the preaching and reception of the Gospel is the Medicine Man. He sits beside the patient, shaking his rattle, a dried’ gourd, and chanting a céremonial sofig to drive away the evil spirits responsible for the sickness. The people have utmost faith in this system. We, of course, tell them of Him who when He walked the earth healed with His touch and cast out demons by his word, and that He is just the same today. | |LIGHT ON S PUZZLING PASSAGES and PROBLEMS By R. A. TORREY Does John z2t:22, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me.” stand as a prophecy: of the (then) coming event of Fohn, in the Isle of Patmos, “for the word of God"? I take it to be so from Rew. 1:17 where it would seem to mean that while John was in Pat- mos, “He (Christ) laid his right hand upon him (or mé)”, that Christ therefore did visit John and thus fulfill the Scrip- ture in John 21:22, I do not think so. This interpretation seems to me to be very fanciful and far- fetched. It almost seems absurd to think of Jesus saying to Peter, If I will that he tarry till I come to him in a vision, what is that to thee? It would apparently seem to have very little sense or meaning. What John saw as recorded in Rev. 1:17, you will see if you look at it in the context, was something that he saw “in the Spirit,” a visionary appearance of the Lord. Of course, the vision stood for facts, but it was, nevertheless, a vision. There is no more reason for supposing that there was’ an actual bodily coming of Jesus than that there were actual candlesticks and a man with actual stars in his hand, and with a literal two-edged sword proceeding out of his mouth. The most natural interpreta- tion to put upon our Lord's words in John 21:22 was that He referred to a personal, bodily coming of Himself such as is spoken of so often in the Bible, eg. in Acts 1:11. Who is the “He” in Rev. 4:3? If you will read on through the passage you will see in verse 8 that the He is the “Lord God, the Almighty;” and if you will read on still further you will see that it is “Qur Lord and our God.” You may wish to ask still further, but is it the Lord Jesus? This question is answered in the Sth chap- ter, 13th verse, where a clear distinction is drawn between “Him. that sitteth on the throne” and the Lamb. Of. course the “Lamb” is the Lord Jesus. What particular reason is there for the translation “life of the ages” instead of everlasting life and eternal life, in Wey- mouth’s translation of the New Testa- ment? Js this work a translation or o revision, or both? ‘There is no good reason for so rendering the Greek words which the Authorized Version renders as “everlasting life” and “eternal life’ The phrase used in the Greek is “Zoe aionios.” “Zoe” means life and “aionios” is an adjective. It is an adjective derived from the word “aion” which means age, but which itself is” derived from a word “aei” which means always. The meaning of the word “aion- ios” is not “of the ages," but rather, age- fasting (ic, lasting throughout all ages), or everlasting. Our English word “ever” ‘comes from the Latin word which cor- responds to the Greek word “aion.” The meaning of words is determined by their usage and the usage of the word “aionios” in the New Testament is, of that which has no end and “everlasting” or “eternal” is a perfectly proper translation according to the usage of the word. “Of the ages” is not a proper translation. It is a mis- leading translation. In regard to Wey- mouth’s translation of the New Testa- ment in general, it is a very unreliable book. You ask whether it is a translation or a revision or both. In some places it is neither one nor the other, but an interpre- tation rather than a translation, and not a reliable interpretation. The so-called trans- lation is sometimes so inaccurate and so biased, and to such an-extent the substi- tution of what Weymouth thinks the Bible writers ought to have said for what they408 THE KING'S BUSINESS really did say, that it is irritating; and yet many people are quoting this translation and Moffat's as if they were improvements upon the Revised Version. They are not. They do not approach the Revised Version either in fairness nor in accuracy of ren- dering. At times they are exceedingly Moffat carries his vagaries to the extent of changing the order of chapters and verses, when there is absolutely no MS authority for such a change, but it suits his taste better that way. A man may be a great scholar and yet so lack balance and discrimination as to be utterly undependable even in the fields in which he is an acknowledged scholar. ae STUDENT VOLUNTEER BAND HE Student Volunteer Band of ‘the Bible Institute has had the rare priv- ilege, during the past month, of hearing a number of returned missionaries represent- ing fields all over the world. E. O. Mills, for nine years a missionary in Japan,.and at present a student in the Bible Institute, gave us a treat with his lec- ture and exquisite views on Japan. Dr. Silas Johnson, for twenty-two years a medical missionary in the Kamerun dis- trict, West Africa, gave us a stirring pic- ture of the inception and growth of the Kingdom of God among the natives of West Africa. The Presbyterian Church at Elat holds the distinction of having the largest church membership in the world. At another meeting the students received a blessing from Dr. Cameron Johnson, who presented in his unique and attractive man- ner, the miraculous story of God’s dealings in Korea. Aside from these popular lectures, talks of a more intimate nature are given to the members of the band. Miss Badgley, one of the students, who is a returned mission- ary from North China, gave us a very helpful talk on conditions to be met with on the foreign field. While these talks and lectures greatly inspire the students, it is from the prayer bands the deepest blessing comes. Pre- ceding the lecture hour, the African, the South American, and the Asiatic Prayer Bands meet in separate class-rooms for intercessory prayer, for half an hour. There has been a marked increase in the interest and numbers of the prayer bands for the past few weeks. We sincerely praise God for this missionary quickening among the students, and believe He is going to lead many to devote their lives to work where the need is greatest and where they will count for most. Maryorte Hanson. ge Mr. Hackett's Philanthropy ONCERNING a well known work of philanthropy, by the late E. A. K. Hackett, who at the time of his death was a director of the Los Angeles Bible Insti- tute, the Record of Christian Work says: ‘An Indiana Presbyterian layman, Mr. . A. K. Hackett. sent $4000 to Drs. Mary Fulton and Mary Niles, those indomitable missionaries of Canton, to found a school for training Chinese women physicians. That was not many years ago, yet the lit- tle medical school has already turned out more than 100 graduates. who are working in all parts of China. These graduates are nearly all Christians. As a by-product of the institution, should be reckoned the 8000 patients treated in its hospital and dis- pensary last year alone—a very pretty return in itself on a $4000 investment. The work is growing so that a second $4000 is needed for enlargements. Who will give it? The writer recalls meeting Dr. Fulton’ in the Canton Presbyterian hospital in 1891. She was, in spite of ill health, hang- ing to her work, and has toiled through the twenty-five years intervening. Such a work and such a woman should not lack material equipment.”THE WINNING OF ELIJAH DAVID SAMUEL A Bene Israelite— Jewish Hindu, of India W Exe sitting one morning-—Soon- derbai and I—on the veranda in front of our bungalow, discussing some business in connection with the work, when the postman arrived and handed her a letter from a well-known Indian Christian in Bombay, He wrote to ask if we could take the wife and four children of a Bene Israel- ite man into our Home, support, educate and train them for future service, It was not very long since the war had commenced, our funds, never very high, were lower than usual then, and many around tis were speaking of the need for retrenchment in every direction and we ourselves had been feeling that perhaps it would be unwise to take any new girls into our Home. It looked foolish on the face of it to enter- tain the idea of supporting an entire fam- ily, and yet what ought we to do? There was much in the case that interested us, and presently Soonderbai said quietly : “They are Israclites—God's ancient peo- ple—wouldn’t it be wonderful to win, them for Jesus? Perhaps that is what God means —perhaps He will give us this great privi- lege!" There is quite a large community of Bene Israel people both in Bombay and Poona—a people not easy to reach and from whom very few have been won for SS By Miss E. Hall Zenana Training Home, Poona, India Christ—for the opposition to the Gospel is strong and persecution bitter. They have a large handsome synagogue in Poona, and every Saturday you may see a throng of white-robed worshippers passing into it If\we tried to feach these people of Christ, their-true Messiah and Saviour, we must be willing to face the consequences. We talked matters over, and prayed that our Father would show us His will, and after a time it seemed wise to offer a home to the three elder girls only, and then to wait and see how things developed. Not long after this, when arrangements had been made, the family one day turned up on our compound—Elijah David Sam- uel, his wife Seemwabai, four girls—Mir- iam, Elizabeth, Diamond and Flora—and the one boy Leon. They had come to see their children duly installed in the school and to make the acquaintance of ‘those who would have the care of them. The father had been a veterinary surgeon, and had some little knowledge of medicine per- haps and not a little confidence in his own ability! We were not a little amused at the strict and careful injunctions he gave us as to the care of his offspring, and I at least was a little alarmed at the extent of his conversational powers. I thought he would never leave off talking,410 THE KIN very quickly The elder girls sc us, and were soon quite happy and at hor Nice, well made friends wit mered children who the parents knew the Gospel, and learn no objection. s y to us to know these girls were joining in Chris- tian hymns and prayers and being taught of Him who is Israel's Deliverer. They hadn't been many months with us before we found them one day weeping in great 1 Mission education, and he was sent tc School some dis way. Seemwabai w able to come to reg- ular classes and to learn from Soon- ‘ herself of the Saviour's love. From the first she was very responsive, and it z on the ground teachin us to pray f Elijah David Samuel and his Family, Poonah, India, Miss Scott in the background distress because when their mother visited them that morning she was faint and \ not having tasted food for two ¢ father was partially paralyzed ai nd unable and poor to work most of his time wabai could not get enough to keep th in food. If we meant to win these people for Christ we must do something at once and it ended in the mother coming daily to do a little sewing and other work in the school so that we could pay her enough to keep them from starving. Two kind friends undertook the boy's support and Ah how let led our hearts and ur God that He did not blessed opportunity! She nfess her Saviour by nediately, but husband and we felt it better for many reasons that she should wait awhile. For some time T had heen troubled about Samuel I knew he was fairly well read, tling with questions, and that it would be no easy task to try and help him. But one day I invited him to come and sce me—inwardly trembling as I nised was ai baptism im her objected himselfTHE KING'S BUSINESS thought of what the interview might mean and his powers of oratory! Tt ended in him accepting my invitation to come and study God's Word with me every afternoon. Those hours were not exactly easy at first. He wanted to discuss almost every subject under the sun except what I had asked him for, and was full of various philosophies of which I knew nothing but the name, and was so anxious to compare one with another that I won- dered if I had made a mistake in inviting him. One day I told him from my own per- sonal experience what Christ was to me, what He had done for me. He seemed touched, and then I prayed with him that God would open his heart to receive the truth. T begged him to lay aside all his theories and to simply come to the Serip- tures asking God to reveal Himself through them, I noticed such a difference after this—the Word began to grip him—its won- derful power laid hold of him, he would read on far beyond the passages given, and then as I compared the Old with the New Testament—the law and the prophets fulfilled in Christ, and traced the wondrous story of God’s love and Salvation from Eden to Calvary, I could see the command had gone forth from the Throne: “Let there be light, and there was light,” light breaking dimly and almost unperceived at first, but increasing and strengthening as the days passed. Can you who read, enter into the holy joy that filled my heart when one day he said: “I believe Jesus Christ is Divine. He must be the Son of God.” All his queries, his speculations ceased when he let the Word find an entrance. Is not that an answer to much of the questioning and doubt that so often threatens to overwhelm ‘the faith of many of God's children? Later ‘on, Samuel told me he wished to be bap- tized at Easter, explaining that on April 18 the Jews kept the Passover and on that day, as the first born in his family, he wished to confess Christ and offer himself to God. What a holy impressive service it 411 was! None of those present will ever for- get it—as husband and wife simply and earnestly “answered the questions put to them and avowed their faith in Jesus Christ as their one and only Saviour. First of all, their five children were all dedicated to God. I had never seen anything more touching—and then the parents, with two of our older girls, went down into the waters of baptism. As we bowed our heads in prayer for them and the people they represented, we prayed that these might be the first-fruits of many from their nation, and that God would wondrously use and bless this fam- ily as His witnesses among Israel. Their relatives had tried their utmost by threats and persuasion to draw them back and some had even offered to support the whole family if they would take their children fram our school and turn from Christian teaching. They simply refused, though at the time the temptation must have been great. Muktha came to us a wild untutored Hindu girl with an evil temper. She was one of those also who confessed Christ by baptism with these Bene Israelites. How we praise God for His work in her! She is now a trusted worker in a Mission school in Bombay and seems settled and happy in her work. April 17 was Surangi’s wedding day—one of our young teachers—and when the festivities were in progress I remarked to Muktha (who was spending her holiday with us): “This is a happy day for Surangi"—for a happier brighter little bride I have seldom seen. “Yes,” she replied, “but tomorrow will be my happy day. I have waited for it so long, now I shall show everyone that I am Christ's” And ag she stood in that group waiting her turn for baptism her face was radiant. “Out of darkness into His marvellous light"—truly the day of mitacles is not passed when He can transform a poor wild ignorant girl as she was, into one of His own! Iam writing this away on the hills of South India, where I am staying for a rest during the hot weather, and it has412 THE KING'S been good to get news of the Bene Israel man through Soonderbai. She writes to say he is very seeking"to win his own people to Christ, and one day when a friend came to visit him. he asked that two of our girls might be allowed to go and sing hymns for them. But his guest was “vy not at all pleased and exclaimed has come to you—you are always speaking of Jesus Christ, can't. you keep quiet?” ‘How can 1?" he answered, “He is the true Messiah, He is Creator and God, He is Lord of all and King of Kings.” He was very anxious to have family worship in BUSINESS much more.” Her were coercing her, so cther while we went He coaxed, here we thought father we left them alone t into another room to pray. offering the usual bribes of pretty saries, bangles. etc., and picturing the happy (?) she would have if married; then find- threatened and Il to no purpose. He went away very angry got the mis- sionary from his station to write and plead he he saved from e to whom he had talked But when we ing her still te. he stormed, at way very and even re th his cause, might be sh: ani boasted his match. Group of Hindu Girls at Za his home. and sent to ask that some one would come and teach him how to conduct it Some months ago, girls, Pudmee, was brought face to face with a great temptation. Unknown to us, her father arranged a marriage for her and came to take her away—much to our disap- pointment as she was only 14. Yet we had no power to interfere, as her father was her lawful guardian. To our surprise, she absolutely refused and came to us asking that she might not be sent away. “I am too little to marry,” she said, “I want to one of our younger nana Home, Poonah, India found it was not the girl's wish to marry we determined she should not be forced, and how thankful we were later on for her escape—two months later, the man who would have married her went blind and shostly after died! So our little Pudmee has been saved from much misery and sor- t live to do service for Jesus Christ to whom she belongs, There is much more I could write about, but space forbids. were row, and we ast may Continue to pray for us, dear friends; and praise too for the priv- ilege and joy which is ours in this service for Christ.FOR THE SERMON, Homiletical Helps BIBLE READING, GOSPEL ADDRESS By WILLIAM EVANS The Conclusion of a Sermon HE Greek orators expressed their con- ception of the importance of the Con- clusion of an address, or oration, by calling it “the final struggle which decides the conflict.” It is not too much to say that the last five minutes of the sermon is the most important part of it. It is during this time that the issues involved are decided, if decided at all. Yet how very seldom the conclusion receives the prepar- ation and thought it ought to by virtue of its important place. Very often its mat- ter and form are left to the inspiration (2) of the moment. How scattering, and wild, and pointless are the “concluding remarks” of the average sermon—what aimless exhortations! This is sad indeed when we remember that we have been speaking for thirty or forty minutes for the very purpose of accomplishing the work of the last five minutes. The Intro- duction and the Body, or Argument, of the sermon, with its definition, explanation, proof, and argument, have been dealt with for the very purpose of bringing things to an issue in the Conclusion. What a mis- take, then, to neglect the thorough prepara- tion of this important part of the sermon. What form shall the conclusion take? ‘The answer to this question depends alto- gether on the manner in which the matter which may properly belong to the conclu- sion has been included in the preceding part of the sermon. If the main issue of the conclusion be to leave the listener with the impression of completeness, then it may be well to gather up the missing threads. This is sometimes done by what is calle¢— Recapitulation. Cicero defines Recapitulation as “recol- lection revived, not speech repeated.” By this we are not to understand that to repeat the divisions or leading thoughts of the sermon is a breach of homiletics, but that recapitulation must not consist merely in such repetition. - It should take the form, rather, of a grand resumé in which is gath- ered up in a few striking, well-chosen, soul-moving sentences, or in a well-chosen and pointed illustration, the grand central idea and purpose of the entire sermon. Poem, or illustration. Sometimes the conclusion of the sermon takes the form of a poem, or a verse of some well-known hymn. Or the sermon may be finished by the use of one striking sentence. What should be the length of the con- clusion? It should not be any longer than the introduction. Five minutes is long enough. Conclude when you are through, however. If you say, “And now, finally,” let it be finally. Do not say, “Now, this last word,” and then still go on. If it is the last word, let it be the last. Indeed, it may not be wise to let it be known that you are bring- ing your sermon to a close. Finish before your people think about it. It is better to leave a congregation longing than loathing.414 THE KING'S BUSINESS SERMON OUTLINES ~- The three following sermon outlines are from “The Ideal Ministry,” by Dr. Herrick Johnson. They are intended to show the method of development along certain hom- iletic Lines. Theme: Coming to Chri Result. Text: “Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37) Intropuction. What a precious word “come” is in human language and relation. How much more precious, how unspeakably precious, in the gospel sense, when spoken to lost wanderers from God; and when accompan- ied with the gracious assurance, “I will in no wise cast out.” I. The way of coming, Negatively 1. It is not by commencing a process of reformation. Every sinner who comes to Christ will reform; but Its Method and he does not come to Christ by reforming. 2. It is not by attending religious meetings and joining the church. He may do this and be as far from Christ as ever. 3. It is not by simply reading the Bible and offering prayer; doing these things is not coming to Christ. Men have done them and yet have perished, Affirmatively : It is having Christ in the thought and heart as the hope of salvation, to the exclusion of all else. Illustrations : A burning building, man inside, his thought on the only door by which escape is possible, saying, I must reach that door or perish. An Israelite, pursued by the man slayer, fleeing to the city of refuge. Bunyan’s Pilgrim, with his eye and mind on the light, fleeing from the City of Destruction, This involves: (a) Looking out, not looking in. (b) Looking to Jesus, not looking to self, or sin, or Church, or Bible. This is a confession: (a) That the seeker is a sinner need- ing to be saved. (b) That he cannot save himself. (c) That no one else can save him. (d) That Jesus can. IL The result of the coming: Absolute certainty of Christ's welcome. (a) No matter what the degree of previous guilt; He will in no wise cast out. (b) No matter what the decree of God; He will in no wise cast out. (c) No matter how weak the effort; He will in no wise cast out. (4) No matter how slight the convic- tion of sin; He will in no wise cast out. Conetusiox Careless sinner, blinded sinner, outcast sinner, infamous sinner, come and come now. And He who never broke His word, will keep it with you, and welgome, pardon, cleanse, and save. Text: “But I have this against thee, that thou didst leave thy first love” (Reve- lation 2:4), Onject: To bring lost love back by Pressing home the guilt of it, and urging the remedy for it. Intropuction, The first word of the ascended Lord sent back to His blood-bought church—“He that hath am ear, etc.” therefore adapted to any church similarly conditioned. Christ first commends, and this His blessed way, if He can find aught commendable. Nev- ertheless He has this against the church of Ephesus, that she has left her first love. Theme: First Love Left. I. The signs of it. Negatively, not a want of service, for this church was rendering servi (a) By laborious toil active church, (. 2). AnTHE KING’S BUSINESS (b) By holding fast to the truth (v. 2). Am orthodox church. (c) By patient endurance (v. 3). A suffering church. Positivel (a) A want of ardent personal affec- tion in service. (b) A want of joy in service, (c) A want of self-forgetfulness in service, MH. The sin of it. (a) When love is gone, all is gone. Take the heart out of religion, and nothing is left but dry bones. “My son, give me thy heart” is the cry of God’s heart. He can take nothing less and keep His throne. Ill. The cure of it. (a) “Remember.” (b) “Repent.” (c) “Do.” ‘ConcLusion. Christians, can our blessed Lord see this sin in this church? Let every one examine himself, applying these tests: Is it with warm personal affection and heart- felt joy we are doing work for Christ? If the sin of having left our first love lies at our door, let us heed the warning of our Lord, and remember, and repent, and do our work for Christ in the glow of per- sonal affection 415 Theme: Sin Will Always Return to Plague the Sinner. Text: “Thou art the man” (2 Samuel 12:7). Istaopuction. The circumstances. I. Sin has a fearfully blinding power. (a) Through passion. (b) Through habit. (c) Through searing the conscience. II. God can pierce the blindness and bring guilt home. (a) By His knowledge of the heart's secrets (Psalm 90:8)—Achan. (b) By His control of circumstances. (c) By His power of evoking con- science—Judas, Felix. III. He is pledged to bring guilt home to every sinsing soul (2 Corinthians 5:10; Ecclesiastes 12:14). IV. Sense of personal guilt is thercfore inevitable. (a) Either in the life that now is, (b) Or at the judgment. Conctuston. Men should welcome the preaching that shows them their sin; for the exposure and convietion are inevitable somewhere, Bet- ter far be convinced of sin now while par- don is possible, than when probation is ended, Reckless, hardened hearer, “Thou art the man.” Self-righteous hearer, thou art the man. Professedly Christian hearer, grinding the face of the poor, driving a sharp bargain, making the worse appear the better reasonindulging in amy secret sin, like David, having merely the form of godliness, “Thou art the man!” BIBLE READINGS “This God Is Our God” The God of Peace (Philippians 4:9). The God of Love (2 Corinthians 13:11). The God of Pardon (Nehemiah 9:17). The God of Salvation (Isaiah 12:2). The God of Patience and Consolation (Romans 15:5). . The God of Hope (Romans 15:13). The God of all Comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3). The God of all Grace (1 Peter 5:10). The God of Glory (Acts 7:2). —D. L. Moody. The Christian's Sevenfold Position . God has conferred upon believers a sevenfold position which cannot be sinnedNe but which is dependent upon their practical state for its enjoyment. 1. Relationship, for they are children (Romans 8:16) 2. Fellowship, for (John 20:17). % 3. Dignity, for they are sons (Romans 8:14). 4. Glory, for they are heirs (Romans 8:17). 5. Separateness, for they are saints (1 Corinthians 1:2), 6. Nearness, for they are Peter 2:5). 7. Authority. for they are kings (Reve- lation 1:6) —D.L. M. they are brothers priests (1 As the Sand Abraham's seed (Genesis 22:17) Joseph's corn (Genesis 41:49), David's seed (Jeremiah 33:22). Solomon's largeness of heart (1 Kings 4:29). God's thoughts unto us (Psalm 139:18). The Lord’s Silence Where ts He silent? Before Caiaphas. (“Jesus held his peace.” Matthew 26:63). Heartless ecelesias- ticism. Before Herod (“He answei ‘d him noth- ing.” Luke 23:9), Empty curiosity Before Pilate (“Jesus gave him no answer.” John 19:9). Carping crit icism. To what is He silent? To hypocrisy. John 8:6. said, tempting him.” To false accusation. Matthew 15:2, 3, 5. “Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? To foregone conclusions. “Whence art thou?” What makes Him silent? Men's contempt. Proverbs 1:22.28, Men's carelessness. Song of Solomon 5 Men's selfishness. Amos 824-12. Men’s sin. Isaiah 1:15; Jeremiah 11:14. When is He silent? “This they John 19:9. THE KING'S BUSINESS In His love. In His wisdom, Zephaniah 3:17. Matthew 15:23. In His power. Revelation 8:1. IWhy is He silent? To arouse men's consciences. John 8:0, 8 To increase our earnestness. Matthew 15:23 To educate faith. Job 23:8; Matthew 15:23. To teach humility. Matthew 15:23, To what is He not silent? The prayer of the penitent. 2 Chronicles 7:14. The ery of the widow and orphan. dus 22:23. The voice of a child, The desire for Himself, Psalm 145219, Luke 18:13; Exo- Genesis 21:17. Proverbs 8:17; The ery of the needy. Psalm 12:5; 72:12. The praise of His people. 2 Chronicles 5:13, 14. —D. L. M. Christ's Three “I Comes” Lo, I come (from heaven to earth). Psalm 40:7. T come to thee (from earth to heaven). John 17:11 {come quickly (from heaven to earth). Revelation 22:20. One Thing one thing hath failed. Joshua 23:14. God's ysomises One thing have I desired. Psalm 27:4, Communion. One thing befalleth, Ecclesiastes 3:19. Death. One thing lacking. Mark 10:21. Con- version. One thing needful listening ear. One thing 1 know. ance. One thing I do. Philippians 3:13. Prog- ress. Be not ignorant of this one thing, 2 Peter 3:8 The Lord’s return. —D. L. M. Luke 10:42. The John 9:25. Assur-THE KING'S BUSINESS “Put On the Whole Armor of God” Ephesians 6:11-17. The girdle of truth (for service). “I am the truth.” John 14:6. The breast-plate of righteousness (for the affections). “The Lord our Righteous- ness.” Jeremiah 23:6. The sandals of the preparation of the gospel of peace (for walk). “He is our peace.” Ephesians 2:14. The shield of faith (for temptation). “The author and finisher of our faith.” Hebrews 12:2. The helmet of salvation (for protection). 417 was God.” John 1:1. “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 13:14. —D. L. M. Five “‘Ifs” to Beware Of 1, “If thou wilt.” Luke 5:12, Doubt of divine willingness. 2. “If thou canst.” Mark 9:22. Doubt of divine power. 3. “I I may.” Matthew 9:21, Doubt of personal fitness. 4. “If it be thou.” Matthew 14:28. Doubt of divine word. 5. “If the Lord would make windows in “The Lord is my salvation.” Psalm 27:1. heaven.” 2 Kings 7:2. Doubt of The sword of the Spirit, which is the divine providence. word of God (for defense), “The Word —D. L. M. 9 SOUTH AMERICA Interesting Letter irom Will Payne, Missionaay in the Argentine Republic. ie Leads a Strenuous Life Among the Mexicans. ARLY in November I had to go to Buenos Aires, and I took advantage of this to hold some gospel meetings in Rosario and Santa Fe and to help a little at a few of the assemblies in the Buenos At Quilmes it was very encouraging to see how the work is growing and how the band of workers, with our Brother Drake, work so happily in the Sunday School and open air meetings. In spite of the big strain of the press work our brothers, Drake and Couchman, find time for a good many meetings. I had a Sunday with Mr. Petter and the others at Calle Brasil, The crowd of sym- pathetic friends reminded me of the happy days of service years ago with Mrs. Payne in the large tent that we had on the site of the present hall. At Lanus we had a full hall for the one meeting that I was able to have with Brother Williams. He misses the help of Brother Airth, now with the army in’ Europe, but it was good to see how Mr. Lawrie is throwing himself into the gospel work, The three days with Mr. Strange, on the river and at the meeting at Tigre, were enjoyable. The motor launch “Good News” is well known on the river, and we wére able to visit a number of places with the message of life. The crowded hall at night was a delightful sight. I spoke to several converted persons. A young ex-Jesuit priest has professed conversion and we trust that he may prove real. He tells of much persecution, Special meetings were arranged at Rosario, and although the weather was stormy, we had a full hall at most of the meetings, when many souls were dealt with. On the Sunday the hall was packed to excess and about fifty to sixty persons filled the windows and doors. The Sunday School is splendid. I spoke to an adult class of about seventy-five, while there were some fifteen classes going at the same time.418 THE KING'S T had my class in the patio, as the hall was full of children. On the Ist and 2nd of November all-d: meetings had been arranged for believers. and Mr. Hy Smith of Rosario and Mr. St. John joined in the ministry. At night we had gospel meetings, continued every night for thirteen d: At almost every meeting we had conversions. I have never known a time of such sustained interest, and souls in the greatest anxiety was a common sight. We had some interesting cases of conversion in the earlier nights, and these in their turn brought their friends and neighbors, and these also pro- fessed to be saved, As in Rosario, the hall in Santa Fe is proving too small for the number of people who wish to come to hear the gospel, and the Sunday School is car- ried on with the greatest difficulty. The enlargement of both halls is a most urgent matter. It is so distressing to see the workers hesitate about inviting the people for fear that there would not be room for them when they came. I trust that the Lord may lay this need on the heart of some of His stewards. The whole republic is passing through a time of the greatest financial pressure and there are many people out of work. For the last seven or eight months little or no rain has fallen. The animals are dying for want of water and food. Very soon the people will find it hard to get bread, as the wheat crop in many parts has proved a failure and most of the reserve stocks have gone to Europe. We are forced to help large numbers of people every day. I have been back in Cordoba for a few days’ visit with my children. The work progresses and souls are being saved. Mr. and Mrs. Peterkin have come from Tucu- man, and are hard at work on the language in company with’ Mr. and Mrs. Findlay. They all do a lot of most useful visiting and tract distribution. 1 have just returned from a visit to Villa Maria and Rufino, at both of which places we have had a very interesting time with the Gospel and among the Christians. BUSINESS In Villa Maria Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have worked very hard during the absence of Mr. and Mrs. Langran with the Bible coach and they, together with Mr. and Mrs. Baker, who recently arrived from England, are carrying on an aggressive work of evangelization. They felt that the time had come for some special meetings, and after a week of prayer we commenced the meet= ings for the gospel. The weather was not very propitious, as the heat has begun, but we had a fair number in at every meeting and towards the close the hall was well filled. Rufino is a place on the direct line from Buenos Aires to Mendoza and Valparaiso. Mr. Gibson, who came from Kilmarnock and holds a post as driver on the railway, often spends a night or two at Rufino, and he has used well his time. Two Austrian Christians lived on farms about eighteen miles out, and they were in the habit for the last three years of coming in on the Sunday to give out tracts. In this way quite a large number of people had heard the gospel, and finally a house opened for holding simple meetings. Two couples were saved and one or two others came from other parts, We had about 100 to listen to the gospel, and the Sunday School is encouraging. I am always glad when I sce what God can do without a sort of official missionary, and this work that has been the result of the self-denying labors of these busy farmers and railway men is a grand testimon: We are suffering a good deal from the great heat. Today (December 4) it was 103 in the shade. How we long for a really good day of rain. There is great need on all sides. Places like Rufino are plentiful in this land, where, if no rain falls, the people are dependent on the wa- ter that the train brings along for their cooking and drinking purposes. At one railway station that I passed I saw about fifty bullocks lying dead, They had died from thirst on the train before they got them to a place where there was drinking water.EVANGELISTIC D REVIEW OF THE MONTH'S ACTIVITIES By Bible Institute Workers | ?PARTME WORK IN PACIFIC COAST HARBORS Nt field it ield it se ms doubly true that we sow beside all waters.” A letter from away oe, Azore Islands, written by an whom we met several tim on ves- sels ply between the East Coast and Cali. fornia, brought us joy and the assurance that the printed page is being used of God, Oscar Zimmermann, Supt. those who doing Christian work in distributing those who never think of the great truths of the Christian life. I never knew what life was before. If we could only welcome the truth in early life and then abide by the Christ teaching, there wouldn't be any sorrow or pain or books to Supt. Zimmermann and one of his “Opportunities” a fact which has been a constant source of cheer to the worker's heart. In no other calling does a man have so much time to read as that of a sailor on ships plying on long routes. This man testified to the blessing the books we left with him had brought. In part, he writes: “In gratitude for the many benefits I have received through the books given by you, I wish to give thanks to God and to misery in our life. I have found so much benefit and help in reading and studying Christian literature that I have no taste for any other. Thank God for showing me the way. Iam, yours, F, M.” Tt is true that we often hear of but one who was healed, although ten were really made whole, The other nine were silent, yet all were healed of their leprosy.420 Stepping into the sailors’ forecastle on board a new arrival, a Japanese steamer, we found only one man present. As the Japanese Gospels were placed in the bunks and a tract offered this man, he reached under his pillow taking out a Japanese New Testament saying that it was given him in San Pedro. Inside the cover was the stamp of the worker and of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. He was reading it every day and we are sure the Lord is speaking to him. Although he had been transferred to another vessel, the Testament was treas- ured and read. “Time is short!" On the last journey of a certain trans-pacific liner, among a large company of Chinese were a dozen real old men. The day of departure found the worker busy and the weather very bad, but a voice within seemed to keep the need before us. The ship was reached and the Gospel given to those dear people, though we felt burdened for the old men who gave the worker such a good welcome and took so readily the Chinese tracts offered them. A week passed and a cable from Honolulu THE KING’S BUSINESS told of the safe arrival of the ship; also that the vessel had met bad storms just after leaving the Golden Gate, during which most of the old men had died of seasick- ness and were buried at sea, What a les- son was learned, and how glad we were that these men were given the Gospel before leaving the last harbor which they were to enter with that ship. We thank God that we are not relying on the distribution of old newspapers and that, knowing no substitute for the old Gospel, we are enabled to speak to many of Him in their hour of need. On another page of this issue will be found a picture of the miniature lighthouse which we are hoping to place in many Christian homes. A postal to the Seamen's Department, care of the Bible Institute, of Los Angeles, will bring one. They are free, but we have only a limited number, so that your request should be received as soon as possible. Fifty cents set aside each ‘month will enable us to distribute the Gos- pel on many ships all along the Coast. Pray much for us and the work. ee es WORK IN THE OIL FIELDS By Frank J. Shelley I HAVE not hid thy righteousness within. my heart: I have declared thy faithful- ness and thy salvation, I have not con- cealed thy Loving Kindness and Thy Truth from the great congregation.” These words from Psalm 401 were used by Mr. Spurgeon in what was almost his last ser- mon, and are profitable meditation for the servants of the Lord. Some dear people were found in the Olinda fields, to whom we ministered the Word, and tried to create an appetite for the substantial things of God. In the Mid- way section, we had a fine response at Reward, preaching to a splendid congrega- tion of about sixty oil men, and felt greatly encouraged. Many homes were visited and the Word given out, after which, the weather being so very wet and the roads almost impassable. we went to Bak- ersfield and took up work along the Asso- ciated Oil Linc. Received a hearty wel come at McFarland, the people coming and personally thanking us for a Bible reading on the Epistle of John, exposing the errors of Christian Science. There was much conviction here but no conversions. Tt rained torrents at Visalia, but God opened up the way for us and we met Brother Roark, an Ifstitite boy, with whom we labored in-a~Gospel meeting for six days. We saw nine people converted that very wet week, and praise God for His goodness. We were greatly delightedTHE KING’S BUSINESS to find Church that the had pastor of the Baptist the Institute and hoped to return, and also that at the Meth- odist Church the pastor is recommending the Institute to his young men. At Goshen we met the wife of the super- intendent of the Associated Oil Company, who had been converted a short time ago, and was very anxious to know the Word attended 421 other day from II Kings 4:40, 41, on the “Poisoned Pottage and the Cure,” and as we think over the conditions in the oil fields, the thousands who are starving for the Bread of Life, as the sons of the prophets were starving when Elisha visited them, and think of those who have gone out and gathered the “wild gourds” (the wieked doctrines of Satan, Russellism and Supt. Shelley and His Familiar Surroundings of God and do His will. Her husband is a good fellow, only lacking “the one thing needful.” One lady thanked us heartily for saying that the “teaching” not Won't you pray for him? people needed “preaching,” and another said the opening of the Scriptures made the Bible a new book to her. The Lord gave us a great message the Christian Science), we realize afresh that the only hope for them is in God’s precious truth. If we feed on Christ we shall have something to give out to the starving mul- titudes, How true it is, as Mr. Spurgeon said, “the dead can get along without bread, but the living cannot.” And Jesus said “I am that Bread of Life.” O, that we might have our hearts set upon Him as we’ make the Lord Jesus king of our lives!THE KING'S BUSINES. n WORE IN THE SHOPS David Cant, Supt IKE the stirring events in the great but the rewards will come to those who war drama, each and every day bring- have borne us up in 5 in that day so ing startling devel are the triumphs rapidly approaching. We have seen men and victories in which we have been priv- on their knees crying to God and He has ileged to g the past month as thed_seen and heard and answered. We have battle has been waged by our Master, Jesus looked into the sin-stained faces of crooks Christ, against the mighty foe, Satan, anc at pres- and criminals—400 of them lodged Supt. Cant (on Front Seat) and His Shop Crew We praise to Him for a his hosts of darkness. great door and effectual opened to ws. and which, thank God, no man can shut until the Lord shall shut it. As the doors to churches, clubs, shops, car barns, laundries, fire engine houses, jails, hospitals, Himse poot-fatms and the highways and byways, have swung open, we have marched in and seen opposition. and antagonism melting, and the tender, gracious Spirit of God subduing and breaking down, and taking possession. We wish you might have witnessed the stirring scenes in both city and county jails, are constrained ent in y jail, and twenty-seven charged with manslaughter; we have seen heart- ken confessions, and have been able to th the blood of Jesus God's Son, cleanseth from all gin. In the car-barns, where the noise and confusion and the bad and boisterous Ian- guage have sometimes compelled us to omit the public mecting and just mingle among the men, sowing the seed here and there where God opened the way—even here we have seen, during the past month, a mar- vellous change, and when we resumed our meetings one could almost hear a pin drop, the tears falling, and listened to the b toll Christ even sethTHE KING'S BUSINESS 423 the men were so quiet and attentive. God is constraining men to think, for the time is short. On our way to a certain shop meeting, we were on several occasions accosted by a group of.women eating their lunch out- side a large factory, and asked to sing to them. This we did a few weeks ago, and just as soon as the music started up they came swarming around from all quarters and we had a blessed time. Many were foreigners, but they understood enough to join us in singing, “Just the Love of Jesus, ©, How Sweet,” and the way those poor, tired, hungry faces lighted up! We have now arranged a regular meeting, conducted by some of the women students of the Institute, and are praying and expecting a harvest of souls from this most needy field. In another place which we have regularly visited for over a year, we have just reaped a good return, The head man was laid on our hearts, and the ploughing and sowing and reaping continued till the burden grew so heavy last week that we could not sleep on the night preceding the meeting, and we had faith to claim him for the Lord; and, sure enough, next day his decision came clear and decisive. As he grasped. our hand we knew the long struggle was ended and that Jesus had come into that heart. It was a happy band of Christian workers that came driving home in the fine auto-bus the dear Lord has given us to facilitate His work—and singing into the ears of the worried-looking street crowds. “What a wonderful Saviour is Jesus, my Jesus, What a wonderful Saviour is Jesus, my Lord.” Remember us before Him as we go forth upon another month's glad service, for who can tell whether it may not be the last before He comes. . . ———————— WORK AT BIOLA CLUB Marion H. Reynolds, Supt. OW wonderful it is to rely upon God for the harvest after we have faith- fully sown the seed! In some recent let- ters we have these testimonies : “I am surely enjoying the little Bible that you handed to me that night that I visited your meeting and there found Christ. I am reading it every day, and get more and more interested. I have just begun to realize that I have been saved and can see more and more the right way to live. My prayers are all being answered. I would like to have what literature you have to spare about the Bible and about our Lord Jesus. I pray that you may continue to do worlds of good, and ask God to bless you.” Another writer from Washington: “Through the Biola Club I found out that the Word of God has not grown old, though I had. I like the Biola Club because you have nothing to offer but the Word of God, and that is indeed our only hope of salvation and the means whereby we find Him in whose death and resurrection we must believe in order to be saved. I am attending the First Baptist Church here in Freeman, but I ofttimes wish I could be at the Biola Club, for it is a good feeding- place, With these testimonies and with the grace of God to spur us on, we push for- ward to do more work for Him. Young men are being reached and homes are being reunited because their wayward sons are being sent to them. Three of our boys are now here working in order to go back to their homes, and what a day of rejoic-424 ing it will be when the mothers again see their boys and see what a change has come over them, And then, too, what happiness there is in heaven when the sinner returns to the Lord! And so with these joys and these things to labor for, we press forward in our work. The noon-day prayer meetings are proving to be of great spiritual help to the business THE KING'S BUSINESS men who attend them, and they often express their appreciation to the workers. The evening meetings are reaching the “down and out” but, as some would say, “up and out,” and by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the Word, we get them before they get down May God ever keep us faithful “until He come.” men who are not oc WORK OF THE BIBLE WOMEN Mrs. T. C. Horton, Supt. SAD-FACED little woman was urged to attend a Bible class held near her home. After repeated invitations she came, and recently her testimony was, “You can never know what the study has meant to me.” Trouble in the home had pressed so hard-on her that she had no courage left, and, as she said, the Word seemed to waken her out of sleep. Now she has had f: to not only pray for her husband but has induced him to attend Bible class. A tourist attending Bible class said: “We expected to see a great many things when we came to California, but we never expected such great things as we are get- ting out of the Bible. We are already over our time in Los Angeles, but just cannot bear to leave; God is giving us such a blessing here.” “A little child shall lead them.” In house-to-house visitation one afternoon, we found a little five-year-old boy who was not ‘attending Sunday School, and asked the mother if we might enroll him. She replied that she was a Christian Scientist, and that he was too young to send alone. We promised to send for him each Sun- day, and the little fellow’s pleading finally won the mother’s consent, and he has not misséd a single Sunday since he started three months ago. One rainy morning, a short time ago, we hesitated about calling, but decided it would be better for us to be disappointed than to have him ready and no one call. We found him ready and another little four-year-old boy in the same apartment house ready to come with him. A few weeks ago the mother said she was surprised to hear the child singing his lit- tle songs and telling her the Bible story each week, and that she could not answer his questions. She asked if she would be permitted to visit the Sunday School, and of course was urged to come. We are praying that through this dear child she may be led out into the truth, an extract from a letter written by a member of one of our Bible classes, who has gone down into New Mexico to take up government land: “I have felt the leading of the Lord for some time, to come to New Mexico and God has Blessed me in a mighty way here. Today I have learned that I could have the schoolhouse in which to hold Sunday school. There are many hungry souls here and it is the desire of my heart to be used for his glory. 1 want you to send me the miniature Tabernacle, like the one we were studying there, Am enclosing check and would like any lessons or information that will help in this work. Please pray FollowingTHE KING'S for me here that my life may lor eter- nity in speaking to some 2 Returning from class one afternoon we found a phone call te ha member of our Bible class to call upon a woman 1 to the mmended habits had brought her husba He had r poir of separation. Mrs. Horton and her E! w Thought to her as a means of over- comin, sin. We found her very. sick, tors giving her but six months to live. When we asked her if she had any hope should she be taken away she burst into tears and told us that th she 1 Christian home, she did not know BUSINESS 425 the salvation which is in Christ. Showing ne Way as clearly as we could, we asked if she would not just at that moment make the decision for Christ, and kneeling together she placed her trust in Him as ly as a little child, and rising from r knees and with tears st ‘aming down ficient Corps—1917 her face, she was able, through the Word, to take her place as a child of God. New nought had failed to help her, but the Thought of God, expressed in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world, had lifted the poor. helpless sinner into. the position of a child of God Almighty. ap WORK AMONG THE JEWS James A. Vaus, Supt. T has been much on our hearts of late to gather together a number of our con- verts and present to them the necessity (as an act of obedience), the privilege of Christian baptism. When the subject was broached we found, as we expected, that while some were ready, willing and even anxious to be baptized, others, though they were rejoicing in their Saviour and giving public testimony to His saving power, were not quite willing as yet’ to go all the way with their Lord in the matter of baptism. There seems to be an inbred prejudice in the hearts of Jews against baptism, and this is not to be greatly wondered at when one remembers that, years ago, many of 1 | |426 them were compelled at the point of the sword, to kiss the cross and submit to so- called Christian baptism. Besides this, there is a natural shrinking from taking a step which will bring upon them a_ veritable storm of abuse from their friends and rela- tives. While the persecution which Jews usually have to undergo when first they confess their faith in Jesus Christ, is severe, that which is meted out to them when they become baptized, is intensified ten-fold. A Jew who has received Christian baptism to his unconverted brethren, a thing despised, loathed and abominated; an object of scorn, ridicule and contempt At the close of a recent mid-week prayer meeting in “The Church of the Open Door,” a rather unusual ceremony was wit THE KING’S BUSINESS nessed, when seven of our Jewish converts presented themselves for baptism. The conversion of a Jew is a matter of such rare occurrence that a ceremony where seven of them were baptized at’ one time, was of especial interest. One of these can- didates, herself but a convert of a few weeks, already had won her first soul for Christ, and bringing her girl friend (a Gentile) with her, they were baptized at the same time. We desire the prayers of God's people for these who have left Judaism, for already some of them have had to face terrible persccution at the hands of mem- bers of their own families. Pray also for eight or more converts who have not as yet the courage to be baptized because of fear of the consequences of such an act. —___o THE SPANISH WORK R. H. Bender, Supt. HEN the writer was asked to take up this work among the Mexican camps, he wondered if he would be able to produce “the goods,” in view of the exist- ing conditions—Atheism and Socialism on one hand, and on the other the dense super- stition, ignorance and indifference of many. While debating the proposition, different passages of Scripture would come to mind, such as, “My words they are Spirit and they are life;” “The Word of God is quick and powerful;” “My Word shall not return unto me void * * * but shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” With these messages from God we could not doubt His call to take up the work, and now after three months of sced-sowing we are glad to report that He has done exceeding abundantly above all that we had hoped for. For, since we began this work, four young men have accepted Christ as their Savior, and from the three families whose pictures appeared in the April num- ber, eight children are now attending an American Sunday school. One of the women testifies that she is glad we came to her house with the Gospel, for both she and her husband are so happy. The latter was embracing the Socialist teaching, but now he is a changed man, and she said “I want my children to be brought up in the true Christian faith.” Another woman testifies that all her life she devotedly prayed to the saints, and had never received any help from them, but, now “since the short time I have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ I am so happy and feel so much better in my health. Oh, if we had only known it years ago, what a lot of trouble and affliction we might have been saved.” One of the young men converted said, “TI can't describe the joy I feel since my sins have been forgiven, and I am happy all the day long.” His companions and he read and pray cach night. ‘We have found some very hungry souls in many of the camps and have not had to stand and knock for admittance, for there is always a hearty invitation to come in.THE KING’S BUSINESS 427 One of the men converted, testified that one day his boss provoked him and he was angry, but almost instantly the Spirit reproved him and he asked God to forgive him and immediately his anger left him. There is one thing very encouraging about these converts; they do not keep the good news of salvation to themselves; they tell their neighbors and whoever comes to their homes of their experiences and read the Scriptures to them. One old Mexican, after hearing one of the women converts read a portion of the Scriptures, with tears running down his cheeks, said, “It’s all true, and we have been ignorant so long of these things.” A friend of one of the young men con- verts, stopped on his way out of town to pay him a visit, and found him reading the Bible. His friend said, “Won't you let me take this Bible with me?” and he said, “yes, take it,” giving him, also, some tracts that had been left with him. Thus the work goes on, and only eternity will reveal the glorious harvest from this seed sowing. ——__.-—___ THE EXTENSION DEPARTMENT Geo, W. Hunter, Representative M2 progress in Bible work and much of blessing have been seen during the month, At Tacoma, where a class has been conducted for the past eight months, there has been a wonderful reve- lation of God's gracious love in the lives of many persons, particularly in the life of ‘one man who, for several years, has been out of fellowship with Christ, but who, after persistent invitations from a family which has been used of God to open the way for the work, came one night to the Bible class. “The seed, which is the Word of God,” found lodgment in his heart, and from that night he has been a persistent and aggres- sive missionary for the Bible class in that section, His whole family has been attend- ing the class, including his wife, a san and his wife, a daughter and her husband. The whole neighborhood is stirred up by his changed life, coupled with his persistency in reaching them by invitations, and scarcely a week goes by that from two to five mew ones do not attend. Some come but the one time, others return again and again. He has worked zealously for his own household, and the fruits of his efforts are seen in the changed lives among those he loves. Dr. Evans gave us a splendid confer- ence at Seattle. The response from the Christian people was generous, and the amount of good done will only be known in the eternal world. Among other things being accomplished by this department is the distribution of literature. In one week, recently, a friend in Cleveland, Ohio, sent for Bible-study literature; another asked for Bible-study leaflets, and was supplied; a pastor in Cal- ifornia sent and was supplied with a goodly number of Bible-study leaflets for use in his church; another person asked for and received literature dealing with vital questions along Christian lines; over 200 copies of one book have been car- ried to the several Bible classes and dis- tributed ; another book (on the prayer life), has been supplied in such large numbers that no récord has been kept of the copies distributed. Constant and increasing calls are coming for literature from all over the country on a sort of “chain-library” plan. Several books have been sent to friends with the request that they be passed on to another friend after reading, each reader writing his name in the book. This brings inquiries about that particular book and428 others, and puts good literature into hands that appreciate and will read it. Several thousand tracts have been sup- plied to those who spend their lives in tract distribution, and since the writer was for five months in charge of the Bible Institute's exhibit at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San “Francisco, up to the Present time, he has been permitted to do a large work along that line. Many inquir- ies come to him from people who received help there, and hundreds of pages of help- ful tract and Bible-study literature have been placed where they are doing excel- lent work. Others, both in Seattle and in California, have been led to attempt this THE KING'S BUSINESS kind of missionary work. One man in Cal- ifornia spent nearly $50 for literature and sent it on to friends and relatives in other States. Another man here in Seattle has distributed over twenty copies of “Jesus is Coming.” among friends and relatives in other States, as far back as Jowa and Mis- souri, After reading. they send them on to others, and thus the doctrinal and inspira- tional literature of the Bible is being dis- seminated, Conditions, are much the same here as they are elsewhere. The need for definite prayer has been empha- sizd, and we are more and more seeing the fruits. Pray much for us. spiritually, ———.——_—__ THE DEAN’S PART T the Revival Conference held in Chi- cago early in February, one of the speakers was Dr. R. A. Torrey, dean of the Los Angeles Bible Institute. From the account of the conference given in the Christian Workers’ Magazine it is to be seen that Dr. Torrey took a prominent part in the proceedings. On the second day he conducted a prayer hour, delivered an afternoon address on “Personal Work” and an evening address on “A Preacher's Business.” On the third day he conducted the prayer hour and also gave an address on “The Conditions of Success in Per- sonal Work. On the fourth day he taught the Sunday school lesson, and on Sunday preached on “The Second Coming of Christ.” On the closing day he spoke of the financial needs of the Moody Insti- tute and delivered an address on “Why God Used D. L, Moody." On that day Dr. Torrey was made an honorary member of the Moody Institute Alumni Associa- tion, one of the first to be so chosen. Four more representatives of the Institute Family sailed from New York for Kijabe, British East Africa, on March 10. They are Mr. and Mrs, Andrew Uhlinger and Mr. and Mrs. George Johnson. The honor roll grows rapidly.T HE N E W TESTAMENT ROMANS (Continued) O FAR in our study of the book of Romans, we have completed the first two general divisions: Sin—The Wrath of God—Despair (1:18-3:20) and Justifica- tion—The Righteousness of God—Hope (3:21-5:21). We are now considering the third gen- eral division—Sanctification—The Holiness of God—Assurance (6:1-15:13)—which is subdivided as follows: 1, The possibility of a holy life (6:1-23). 2. The method of a holy life (7:1-8:39). (a) The fruitless struggle after holiness (7:1-25). (b) The secret of a holy life—The Holy Spirit (8:1- 39). 3. The sphere of a holy life (12:1- 15:13). We here take up (b) under the designation: 2, The Method of a Holy Life (7:1- 8:39) (b) The secret of a holy life—The Holy Spirit (8:1-39). It has been well said that chapter 7, set- ting forth the fruitless struggle after holi- ness, is like a starless night; whereas chap- ter 8 setting forth the secret of victory, is like a midsummer morning with promise of a brighter tomorrow. Chapter 8 begins with “no condemnation and ends with “no separation.” There is no mention of the Holy Spirit in chapter 7; whereas in chap- ter 8 He is mentioned from sixteen to twenty times. Failure comes from absence of the Holy Spirit in the life; success from the fulness of His presence. In chapter 7 the voice of the Holy Spirit is not heard whereas in chapter 8 it is heard everywhere, One wonders whether any other part of the Scripture is as full of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in relation to the believer as this chapter. In chapter 7 the law, which cannot sanctify, is mentioned twenty times; whereas in chapter 8 it is mentioned but four times. There need be no defeat in the Christian life if one learns the secret of victory in this chapter, and if the full blessing of the gospel is allowed abso- lute sway in the heart. Verses 1-4 describe the believer's com- plete freedom from condemnation, whether from causes without or within. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” The moment a man believes in Christ he passes out of the realm of condemnation and death into the realm of life and acceptance (cf. John 5:24). Past sin is all atoned for; the future is secure because of Christ's com- plete redemptive work, The believer is now “in Christ Jésus.” Jn Him there is no condemnation; outside of Him all is con- demnation. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” delivers the believer from “the law of.sin and death.” A new law is intro-430 THE KING'S duced into his heart and life by virtue of which he receives deliverance from the law of sin and death. The secret of putting sin to death is by possessing the life of the Holy Spirit. Death comes by life, not life by death. We cannot gain the Holy Spirit by putting to death the deeds of the body. but we put to death the deeds of the body by being filled with the Holy Spirit, The very liberty for which the soul haid cried out (7:25) is here granted (8:3) through the power of the Spirit. Note the words “in Christ Jesus.” The Holy Spirit is not separated from Christ. Any blessing that comes to us as the result of the fulness of the Spirit is always con- nected with our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are Spirit-filled will speak of Christ and not so much of the Spirit. Where the Spirit resides there Christ is most promi- nent (cf, John 14;26; 15:26, 27; 16:7-14). There is no such thing in real Christian experience as an advancement from Jesus Christ to the Holy Spirit. Every activity of the Holy Spirit concerns Jesus Christ. Were it otherwise, He would bear witness of Himself and not to Christ, and this would be contrary to the expressed pur- pose of the Spirit's advent into the world. It is through the efficacious offering of Christ on the cross that the claims and power of sin have been neutralized in the life of the believer. The law's righteous demands have been met and the believer has entered into a life of joyful and vic torious service, Verses 5-11 describe the element which the Spirit-filled believer lives—the element of the Spirit and not of the flesh. Note that “the flesh” is mentioned ten times, and “the Spirit” twelve times in eleven verses. The believer no longer walks after the flesh, but after the Spirit He is still in the flesh, but is not living according to it. It may reside, but does not reign in him. “Sin should not exist in his life, surrounding him and rising up like a swarm of flaming serpents, but as worms beneath his feet.” If this is not true of the believer, then he has no right in BUSINESS to the name of Christ, for “if any may have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (8:9). Sins of the mind as well as sins of the flesh are to be overcome. The man who js indwelt by the Holy Spirit receives a spiritual disposition, Sins of thought may not be as apparent, but they are just as dis- astrous as sins of the bady, Deliverance in the realm of thought seems to come Jast of all in the experience of the believer. How often do we complain of lack of spir- itual disposition and purpose. We fail in our relish or desire for the study of the Scriptures, for prayer, or attendance at the house of God. True liberty in Christ gives Jiberty of thought and furnishes a spiritual disposition. If a man is truly spirit-filled, he will have a desire and disposition for these spiritual things. It is a kind of law of spiritual gravitation. The end and object, then, of being Christ's is that a man should be free, both in the realm of thought and activity, to do the will of God. The result of such a life will he a life of peace and the hope of a glorious resurrection, an earnest of which has already been given us (cf. 8:11). Tn 8;12-30 the obligations of the justified man ate set forth, The challenge is thrown out, “We are debtors.” There is obligation and responsibility arising from sonship (8:12-17). If we are sons of God and indwelt by His spirit, we will live as God would have us live—a holy life. Holiness is a duty, an obligation, not an ambition or a luxury; it is a duty, not an adornment. If we are really controlled by God's Holy Spirit, we are actually put- ting to death the deeds of the body. The power to accomplish this is the Holy Spirit who. resides in the believer (8:13, cf. Philippians 2:12). This power will doom sin, Either we kill sin or sin will kill us. The indwelling Spirit will help us to kill sin. The obligation of sonship carries with it the element of reward (8:18-30). The believer is an heir of God and joint-heir with Jesus Christ. To what is Christ heir?THE KING'S BUSINESS. (Mebrews 1:2; 2:7). In Christ, God has given all this to us (cf, Romans 8:32; 1 Corinthians 3:21-23). It is this glorious Prospect of future reward in glory that enables the believer to bear manfully and in a Christlike spirit the sufferings of this present time, The believer awaits that grand moment of the revealing of the sons of God. He has within him a pledge of that day, a kind of first fruits. “He knows there’ will be a renovated mature for a regenerate life, He is saved by hope. The indwelling Spirit assures him of facts which he himself may not be able to express. For this reason he knows that all things are working together for good. He can triumphantly exclaim: “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He'that spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh tercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribula- tion, or distress. or persecution, or famine, As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things pres- ent, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (8:31-39). or nakedness, or peril, or sword? The Problem of the Rejection of Israel, cc, 911 Some think that chapters 9-11 are not necessary to the main argument of the epistle, that if one began with chapter 12, following the end of chapter 8, no break in the argument would be noticeable. 431 Indeed, some teathers suggest leaving out chapters 9-11 in order that the drift of the argument may not be broken. It seems to us, however, that Paul’s dis- cussion of the righteousness of God, its need, its ground, and the method of its appropriation, makes these chapters neces- sary. In chapters 1-8 the statement has ‘been made that salvation is for the Jew first; that such an application of the gospel to the Jew first was in accord with certain promises which had been made to the chosen people, promises which seemed to give them, if not the monopoly, certainly the precedence. The history of the proc- lamation of the gospel, however, showed that the Jews, more than the Gentiles, seemed to be excluded from its blessings. Alienation from the gospel was apparently the lot of the Jew, but how could such alienation be reconciled with the promises of God—promises which surely were not null and void, even though Israel was unworthy, unbelieving, and untrue? We should remember, further, that to the chosen nation of Israel was granted a clearer and deeper revelation concerning the Messiah and His coming than that given to the Gentile nations. In a unique sense “salvation was of the Jews.” It was of and to Israel that Christ came. The ques- tion naturally arises, How comes it, then, that Irael, more than the Gentiles, failed to recognize Christ, for whom they were looking? If the Christ whom Paul preached was really the Messiah, would not the Jew, rather than the Gentile, be first to recognize this fact? Did not the Jew possess the oracles of God? Was he not in a unique and peculiar relation of nearness to God? Was he not, in a favored sense, the recipient of the revelation of the adivine will? Was it not natural, then, for the Jew to accept what God would have made clear to him, that the Christ as proclaimed in the gospel of Paul was the true Messiah? How can the rejection of the Messiah by the Jews be reconciled with these facts? Chapters 9-11 present the answer to these questions. They set forth432 the true relation existing between God and Israel, between the pro s of the old dispensation and the gospel of the new. As we know from the history of Paul, he was now about to bid farewell to Jewish territory. His face was turned towards Gentile Rome. No more fitting oppor- tunity could present itself for the discus- sion of the whole problem of the relation of the.Jew to the promises of God and the gospel than in connection with the letter to the Romans. The truth of these chapters may be summed up somewhat as follows: While it is true that God had entered into cer- tain peculiar relations to the nation of Israel, those relations were necessarily sovereign and gracious. They did not leave the dealings of God open for challenge or discussion. Whatever favors God bestowed upon these people were of pure grace. If God at any time desired to withdraw those gracious favors, He was at liberty to do so without being suspected of unfaithful- ness or of being untrue to His promises. If the Jew would closely consider the promises made, he would find that they were based on faith and applied just as well to a Gentile as to a Jew. Indeed, that Jew alone was a true Jew who was a Jew in heart by reason of his faith in God. If the promises made have not been fulfilled, the fault is with Israel, and not with God, and yet the fault is not with all Israel, because there is a remnant who had faith. The day is coming when the reconciliation of Israel as a nation shall take place. In that day Jesus will be seen and acknowledged to be the Messiah. What great purposes God has for the world! How we limit them by making them individual! Let us beware lest that which was given us for service we lose by selfishness. We keep what we give away; we lose what we keep. What an encouragement lies in these chapters to believe in the ultimate and final purposes, of God and His gospel. The true Chris- tian is the best kind of an optimist. Christ shall see of the travail of His soul and be” THE KING'S BUSINESS satisfied. Righteousness will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. “Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does his successive journeys cun.” This means glory and blessing for every true believer in the Lord Jesus. Canst thou, my heart, canst thou lift up thy voice and sing, “I know that my Redeemer liveth and because He lives, I too shall live A general view of the argument of these chapters may be presented from a three- fold point of view: First we have the argument from God's side, setting forth the divine sovereignty and dealing with the question of election (c. 9). Second. We have the argument from man’s side, setting forth human responsibility and dealing with the ques- tion of rejection. (e. 10). Third. We have the purpose of God set forth with tegard to Israel, asserting that the rejec- tion is but temporary and-not final, and that ultimately Israel will be restored, conclud- ing with the comforting thought that what seems to be severity on the part of God is but His kindness working out His pur- poses for both Jew and Gentile (c. 11). I. The Argument from God’s Side (c. 9). The apostle, after expressing his deep sorrow for the rejection of Israel, declares that that rejection is by no means incon- sistent with God's faithfulness to His prom- ises, with His justice, or with His work of prophecy. 1. The apostle’s rejection (971-5), It may have been that Paul had been accused of being disloyal to his nation. The expressions of these verses show the oppo- site to be the case. The sincerity of the apostle is witnessed to by his conscience, by Christ, and by the Holy Spirit. Paul really meant what he said. There may be some question as to whether we really understand his statement, which may be rendered as follows: “I could pray, if such a prayer would be heard, if it would Sorrow for Israel'sTHE KING'S BUSINESS be possible, that I myself might be sepa- rated from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” Or, others would read the verse as follows: “Myself was once wishing to be separated of accursed from Christ, that is, when I was my Jewish condition, before conver- sion.” In this sense, then, he prays f6r his brethren, for their condition now is what his was formerly. It is probably best to see truth in both these views. The privileges of Israel are set forth in verses 4 and 5, privileges which are described also in 3:1-8. These are set forth in order to show the purpose of such blessings, namely, to be a benediction to the world. How sad that a nation with such a high calling and such glorious priv- ileges should have had such a sad fall; that a nation from which the Messiah had sprung should, after all, be shut out -from the blessings of the gospel and in a sense be cast away! 2. The righteousness of Israel's rejec- tion (9:6-29). (a) The question of God's faithfulness to kis promises is dealt with in verses 6-13. The apostle says that because some Jews were excluded from the blessings of the gospel, no violence has been done to the faithfulness of God, for while some are rejected, others, through faith, were accepted. (b) God's promise was not made to all Israel, nor is all Israel rejected (9:14-18). Physical descent is not enough to prove a man to be a Jew. Ishmael and Esau were children of Abraham, although neither was a child of promise. God has always worked along the lines of selection, as his dealings with the nation in the past clearly show. God’s blessings are by promise, not by birth. God is not bound to save Israel, even though it has fallen, for the covenant He made with them was not one which could not be dissolved through unfaithful- ness on their part. Furthermore, God has greater plans than those which concern 433 Israel alone. God's heart is big enough to take in the world. Practical Lessons Where God's promises scem to fail, the fault is to be found with us and not with God. We should not charge God with unfaithfulness. All the blessings that come to men in come, not because they deserve them, but simply because of the gracious will of God. God gives us bless- ings with which to bless others. When these blessings are kept for ourselves, we lose them. Not all Israelites are of Israel, Not all members of the church belong to the real Church. Not all who profets Christ are real Christians. To have one’s name on the church book is one thing; to. have it written in the Lamb's Book of Life is quite another. Just as in 9:6-13 the rejection of Israel was compatible and consistent with God's faithfulness to His promises, so here the rejection of Israel is consistent and compatible with His righteousness. This is shown, first, by quotations from the Old Testament (9:14-18) setting forth God's right to grant spiritual blessings to whomsoever He will and to harden those whom He chooses. This He has a right to do irrespective of anything that man can say. It is within the privilege of God to have mercy and compassion if He will. It is worthy of note that in these verses nothing is said of God hardening men. What is stated is the absolute right of God to have mercy and compassion on men if He wants to. Tig is not the usual view taken of this argument, but it is the true ‘one, We know from the teaching of Scrip- ture that God wills to have mercy on alll who will receive it. It is only those who, like Pharach, for example, deliberately harden their own hearts, who are allowed to remain in that hardened condition, and thus God’s will is carried out even in the hardening. We are not to understand that Pharaoh was created in order that he might’ be hardened of God. What we are to under- stand by verse 17 is that God took such434 THE KING'S a man and allowed him to be raised up on the stage of history, not that He, person- ally, might harden or damn him, but as a sample of the man who hardens or damns himself. The wonder to us is that any man could have been stubborn and hard enough to resist such dealings as God had with Pharaoh. Pharaoh, however, had set himself deliberately to oppose God. Many times, probably ten, he is said to have hard- ened his own heart. Only after repeated self-hardening did God harden Pharoah's heart. A careful reading of Exodus 9:23- 27 gives us Pharaoh’s own confession that hé was responsible for his own con This ought to put an end to our caviling about God’s dealings with Pharaoh. (c) Because God is Creator He has sov- ereign rights over His creatures (9:19-23). The irreverence of the creature is rebuked by the Creator in these verses. God has reasons for His dealings with man which the creature cannot understand and consequently should not question. Man, because he is a sinner by nature and action, has forfeited all claims to the mercy of God. God, therefore, has the tight to exercise mercy or judgment. How beautifully these verses show us that God exercises mercy and long-suffering towards sinners, even in their wickedness and hard- ness. These He endures with much long- suffering. It is interesting, also, to note that the vessels of wrath fitted to destriuc- tion, are so fitted by themselves, by their own hardness of heart; whereas the ves- sels of mercy are fitttd by God. Men fit themselves for hell; God fits them for heaven. God is responsible for grace but not for sin. It is true, man is in relation to his Creator like clay in the hands of the potter, but we must remember that the Potter is loving and merciful, and also that man has a free will—something which the clay does not possess. (d) That the Gentiles should be saved as well as the Jews is the testimony of Scripture (9:24-29). The Jews ought to have known this fact, for the Scriptures were full of it. The BUSINESS conversion of the Gentiles is a vindication of God's faithfulness to His promises, and not the opposite, as these Jews were affirm- ing. God had rejected the ten tribes for their wickedness, and this rejection was reckoned just and in no way invalidating the covenant; why should the rejection of a part of the Jewish nation in Paul’s day, because of unfaithfulness on their part, be considered a violation of the righteous- ness and faithfulness of God. God has been perfectly fair, righteous, and faith- ful in His dealings with His people. While He can do whatever He chooses to do, yet what He chooses to do is always absolutely right, just, and merciful. I. The Cause of Israel's Rejection—The Argument Presented from Man's Side—Israel to Blame (9:30-10:21). 1. Isracl would not accept God's way of salvation (9:30-10:4). The Jew would be saved by law and not by faith, and because of this the Messiah became to them a cause of offense. “They aspired to acceptance; God wanted them to submit to it. To them it was attain- ment; to God it was surrender, They sought salvation by their own zeal; God offered it through Christ's blood. They wanted it for seif-exaltation; God offered it hy self-humiliation.” Instead of building on Christ they stumbled over Him. In pursuing after Christ in their own way they lost Him, while the Gentiles, seeking Him in God's way, found Him. So it is “not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth,” The Jews are not taken to task because of their lack of interest in the plan of sal- vation, Paul was a Jew and very zealous. Fault is found with the Jewish manner of seeking to secure salvation. They had false ideas of righteousness. 2. Israel stumbled over the simplicity of God's plan (10:5-r3). Had God asked them to do anything hard such as ascending up to heaven to bring Christ down, or going dawn to the deep to bring Him up, they would gladly have doneTHE KING'S BUSINESS it, but simply to believe in God's testi- mony about Christ, to acknowledge Him to be the Lord and Saviour—all this seemed so simple, too simple, indeed, to be true. Because the message was so easy of access, so simple in nature (7:13), they stumbled over it. The redemptive work of Christ is the very core of the gospel. This must be believed in with the heart, and confessed with the mouth, Confession of Christ with the mouth, if He is not, believed in truly with the heart, is a false confession. A belief in Christ which does not issue in confession of Him with the mouth, is a false faith, To confess with the mouth only is hypocrisy; to believe with the heart only is cowardice; to believe with the heart and confess with the mouth means salvation, 3 Any plea of ignorance of the gospel . on their part was without grounds, for the gospel had been fully proclaimed to them, nor should they be surprised at their rejection, for that also had been foretold by the prophets (10:14-21), Summing up the message of the whole chapter, the thought is this, that the rejec- tion of Israel is Israel’s own fault. Instead of accepting God’s plan of salvation, they had sought to establish one of their own, and thus had become responsible for their own rejection. Ill. The Rejection of Israel Is but Partial and Temporary, (11:1-36). Israel must not infer, because of the absolute sovereignty of God (c. 9), and because of Israel’s hardness of heart which caused her rejection (c. 10), that God was finally done with His people, that this rejection was final and complete, or that the nation which had been God’s special treasure was now cast off forever. Israel will not always be as she now is, in a state of rejection. The day will come when she will see her mistake, will welcome the Messiah, and become a blessing to the nations. 1, The faithful remnant (11:1-10) (a) God still has, amid the unbelief of 435 the nation as a whole, some faithful Israelites, just as in Elijah’s day (11:1-5). Was not Paul himself a-Jew? There has never been a total apostasy on the part of God's people. Just as in Malachi’s time (Malachi 3:16), so in that day, God had a faithful remnant. God still has His saints, even where we least think of them —“even in Sardis." These “remnants” are the the salt of the earth. From this it is' clear that even in Paul’s day, the rejection of Israel was not final and complete, There was still a remnant according to election of grace. (b) This faithful remnant is according fo grace not works (11:6-10). This failure on the part of the Jews to recognize that salvation is by grace has led to the large ingathering of the Gentiles and the large rejection of the Jews. Just as the remnant has accepted God's right- cousness by faith, so must the whole nation, if it would be saved. The remnant is prophetic. < 2 The casting oway of Israel is only until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in (14:11 16). The nation which has been so peculiarly blessed of God is not to end in rejection and apostasy. Out of seeming loss will come great gain. The conversion of the Gentiles will stir up the Jews so that they will turn to God and in turn become a blessing to the world. The Jews are to be the great missionaries of the coming age. 3. The Gentile should realise how indebted he is to the Jew, and consequently should not boast himself against the Jew (a1: 17-24). Tf the chosen people, with all their pecul- iar privileges, could fail so disastrously, what will be the end of the Gentile if he, without these privileges, should cease to exercise faith in God? God still has great Purposes for the Jew. Therefore, the Gen- tile must respect the Jew. God did not cast ‘off Israel because He wanted to take in the Gentile, nor because the Gentile was any better than the Jew. It was becatise ‘of unbelied that Israel was cast off. The436 THE KING’S BUSINESS Gentile stands by faith. If he, also, should lose faith in God, he likewise would be cast away. 4. God's ultimate purpose for the Jew (11:25-32). Here is the revealing of a great mystery. An advance is made from the past to the future, Surely no human ingenuity could conceive of such a destiny. The result of deepening knowledge with reference to the mysteries of God will be ‘humility, not pride (11:25). ‘When God has taken out from among the Gentiles those He has determined upon —when the. fulness of the Gentiles shall have come in—then God shall “deal with His own chosen people. 5. The closing doxology (11:33-36). png Institute Recital CREDITABLE recital was given in the Auditorium on March 16, by the music’ pupils of Prof. Trowbridge and Prof. Marsh, in which all the pupils acquit- ted themselves creditably. The program follows Piano solo, “Valse Caprice” (Hendriks), Miss Helen Wetmore; contralto solo, “O Rest in the Lord (Mendelssohn), Mrs. E. A. Gottberg; tenor solo, “Sweet Will of God” (Morris), Osear Weiss; piano solo, “Irish Melody” (arr. by Grainger), Miss Lillian. Christensen; soprano solo, “Alone with Thee” (Bailey), Miss Edith Torrey; piano solo, “Etude, F Sharp Minor” (Neu- pert), Miss Viola Hanson; (male quar- tet, “Fair Eden Land” (Wilson), Messrs. McLean, Hart, Cochran, Shaw; piano solo, “Nocturne, G Minor” (Chopin), Miss Helen Blackman; tenor solo, “I'm a Pil- grim” (Johnson), B. S. Williamson; soprano solo, “Love Divine” (Nevin), Miss Carol Lovejoy; piano solo, “Fantaisie Impromptu” (Chopin), Miss Leila Robin- som; contralto and tenor duet, “My Faith Looks Up to Thee” (arr. by Bassford), Mrs, Gottberg and Mr, Williamson. plumes Elizabeth's Example Extract from letter received from D. K. Ward, missionary in charge of the Pres- byterian Navaho Mission, Tuba, Arizona: “We are rejoicing over the work of the Holy Spirit, in the hearts of a few of our Indians, especially the movement and unrest of the Hopis. Elizabeth's brother, Homer, was at our house yesterday and in his conversation he said he did not think much about the world now, just about his soul and how to help others to be saved. Elizabeth's sister, Anna, was recently bap- tized. Anna's husband is also at unrest and seems about to break away from the old way. God is working. Remember these two great tribes in your prayers at the Institute.” Note—“Elizabeth,” mentioned above, was a student at the Institute during 1916. - = Meets a Need O. F. Burgess, Laurium, Mich.: “I am herewith enclosing you draft on Chicago for $7.50, for five subscriptions to THE Kinc’s Business and Our Hope, for one year. I find THe Krine’s Business more and more meeting the substantial need in the expounded word of the Sunday School lessons. The devotional section is a quick- to the appreciation of something spoken with authority in these “neither one thing nor the other” days, God bless you in every word and work.”aR A aT A CR The lar Hlorizom ‘A Glance at the Field at Home and Abroad [Ca] ec oa LE RR a eC) EUROPE.—One of the ingenious fea- tures of the work of the Y. M. C. A. in the European war camps, is the use of the special abilities of the prisoners them- selves. Men of all callings, professions and trades are available, In the larger camps, whole university courses are in operation. Eighty-five trained instructors were found in one camp, pining for occu- pation. Several ‘thousand students were soon enrolled in serious pursuit of learn- ing. All the countries have given and lost of their best. It is these well-equipped men whom the Association is discovering and organizing into efficient servants of the desperate need of the prisoners of every warring country. . RUSSIANS.—Some Russians carry the Bible on their watch chains. The book is only one inch square, and three-cights of an inch in thickness. It contains all the five books of Moses in Hebrew, and the, title of the chapters in Latin. The type is so small that a glass is needed to read, but the Russian does not trouble himself about that. He is satisfied that he carries the Word of God with him. MALAYSIA—The influence of mis- sionary work in the agricultural settle- ments of Sitiawan and Sarawak, Borneo, has put an end to practically all forms of heathen worship, even among the Chinese who are not members of the church. In Sitiawan, non-Christians are constantly coming to the church to be married, No heathen temple is to be seen. for miles around, and there is practically no idolatry in the homes of these people. A. Chinese Board of Education has assumed. responsi- bility for all village schools and appoints and controls the teachers. Prejudice against the education of girls is now a thing of the past, although the Chinese here have always been more conservative than those in other cities of Malaysi KOREA.—The Korean Christians are proving as faithful in systematic giving, as in many other forms of Christian activity. The women are taught to put aside a por- tion of rice and other grain each time they prepare a meal and bring it each Sunday in ‘a special little sack. Men and boys are instructed to weave a pair of straw shoes each week during the Icisure hours of the evening and bring them as an offering. These plans were heartily adopted by the churches. A young leader of another small Korean church, becoming ashamed of his church's lack of zeal, obtained seventy-five gospels from Andong, put aside fifteen for the other members and kept sixty for his own task. Rising before dawn one morning for prayer, he put his sixty books in a box, and with a sack to receive grain, in lieu of the cash price of the gospels, he started out. In his own village he sold the whole sixty before breakfast. CHINA.—The story is told of a poor stone-mason in the village of Lai Yang, where he is about the only Christian, who for the last two years has hired one of the best school-teachers employed in the mission, paying him half of the $90 yearly salary, and even contracting debt to do this. Unsatisfied with the cramped and crowded quarters in which the school has to meet, he has erected a large building with rooms for both school and church, giving his own land for the site, most of the stone and much of the work. He has done all this without money and in the face of discour- aging opposition, yet he, has never lost faith and courage.438 SOUTH AFRICA—News has been received of the death of Dr. Andrew Mur- ray, president of the South African Mis- sion, a minister of the Dutch church and author of many well-known devotional books. Dr. Murray was born in South Africa and died at the age of 88 Thous- ands of Christians all over the world are indebted to him for his spiritual messages. INDIANS OF GUATEMALA—There are in the Republic of Guatemala between 1,200,000 and 1,700,000" individuals of pure Indian blood. The proportion that can be reached directly with the gospel by the Spanish-speaking evangelist will perhaps be 20 per cent. The Catholic church has a nominal hold over the majority of the Indians. But much more deeply seated than Catholicism, is the ancient pagan reli- gion, which in spite of the opposition of the priests, has survived until the present day. This is a primitive sort of sun wor- ship having altars on high hills and vole canoes. The prayers of the witch doctors are supposed to be especially effective in curing the sicle and bringing evil upon the enemy. INDIA—The Sholapur church of about 600 members has a native pastor who preaches and talks so the children can understand him. They enjoy sitting on the hard stone floor listening to his Sunday- afternoon sermons. It is a strong, virile religion that he preaches but one day it surprised even him to hear the boys and girls, some of them not more than 13 years ald, arise in weekly prayer mecting and offer sentence prayers. They have done it frequently since and they do it very natur- ally and reverently, too. Li Yuan Hung, president of China, has just given $5000 to the Canton Hospital, in acknowledgement of the fact that this was the first agency to bring China the practice, teaching and publication of West- ern Medicine. This hospital is now eighty years old and has 300 beds, largely for charity patients. THE KING’S BUSINESS MISSION report tells the story of a Japanese convert, Mr. Nakashima. When he began his Christian life he had failed for several thousand yen. The courts had legally absolved him from pay- ing this amount, but he considered it his Christian duty to repay what he owed and has at present but 300 yen to finish the account. This splendid example has given him a reputation for honesty which has spread far and wide, so that he is now much in demand in the settlement of all kinds of disputes. He has a Sunday school in small rented quarters. Recently eight persons were baptized in this place—all of them led to the truth by Mr. Nakashima. ‘The group has in turn started four preach- ing places, giving their Sundays to evan- gelistic work. The last news from Kaifu states that Mr. Nakashima, who is engaged in the manufacture of hosiery and who has now eight knitting machines, is soon to have twenty in his charge, the proceeds of three of which he proposes to give to the Lord’s work.—Record of Christian Work. A missionary, writing of woman's status in China, says: “I remember when fleeing with refugees during a time of rebellion in the North, we crossed a temporary bridge and one small-footed girl of 14 or 15 fell into the water. Having on wadded clothing she floated for a time. The father, instead of jumping im to save her, shouted aloud that any one.saving her might have her. A gallant came forward and won the prize. The crowd had only congratula- tions for the winner, no sympathy for the one who was saved.” ‘The Japan Evangelist reports in Tokyo “happenings in the past month very much out of the ordinary." Among these are carly morning prayer meetings with an attendance approaching 800; tent meet- ings with an attendance of 2000; numerous street meetings where the most dignified and learned scholars preach to the pass- ing throngs; and all the leading daily papers of Tokyo are taking the Christian message to their millions of readers daily.THE KING’S BUSINESS The Grip of the Octopus R. MANUEL G. PRADO, director of the museum in Lima and a well known Peruvian publicist, write: “What does A dead sea in which churches and monasteries appear as barren and waterless islets. When a street is pro- jected a nest of Jesuits is planted. When an avenue is marked out z building of the Salesians glares white. Convents, which - for lack of native inmates ought legally to be closed, fill up with foreign friars and, as in obedience to a word of command, are transformed into colleges. Thus the city’s people are ringed in by more than a hun- dred edifices built for worship and relig- ious teaching, but do not possess a single public school worthy of a civilized city. “From the city the religious orders radi- ate through the whole republic, They reign in Arequipa, dominate Cajamarca, invade Huanuco, extend to Puno and end in mas- tering the remotest ranches. All this with the complacent permission of Congress and our Governors. “Qne cannot have education where there are no normal schools, where all instruc . tion is limited to the di ited repetitions of manuals made up from alien works. All our doctors belong to the Catholic Union, to the Perpetual Adoration and to the Arch Confraternity of the Rosary."—Record of Christian Work. Lima resemble? The Empress of Japan has presented to a Christian hospital for lepers in Kumamoto the sum of 6000 yen. An edition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah, in popular Japan- ese, has been recently published in Tokyo. The imitative Buddhists of Japan are planning one more institution of Christian pattern—a central Buddhist tabernacle in Tokyo. ‘The English Baptist Mission in Shantung has twenty native pastors in’ self-support- ing native churches, each of whom looks after from ten to fifteen small communities of Christians. These Shantung Baptist 439 churches also support two Christian teach- ers to evangelize non-Christian areas. A further step has been taken towards winding up the opium trade in China, The last twenty-five per cent. of the opium shops in the Shanghai Municipal Reserva- tion having been closed. The open period for the provinces of Kiangsi, Kiangsu and Kwangtung and the extention of time for the sale of Hongkong stocks having been passed. In Yucatan are hundreds of Koreans, nominally Christians, but in need of pas- toral guidance. They receive the Presby- terian missionaries gratefully and are care-, ful to pay all expenses connected with such visits. Nineteen hundred Chinese are also resident in Yucatan, mostly in the city of Merida. Work in the Philippines. HE last mission report of the American Methodist Church gives striking pic- tures of the old superstitions of the Filipino and of the new religious faith which'is ever ‘more firmly rooting itself in the islands. At the Roman Church in Obanda one corres- pondent bought an assortment of wax fig- ures, of hands, feet, eyes and ears, being assured by the woman who sold them that had he any ache or deformity of any kind it would be made whole by burning the corresponding wax figure before an image of the Virgin. With him was an American who had lost two toes, When he com- plained that the receipt did not work, the seller appeared greatly surprised, but refused to refund. One of the Methodist pastors was for- merly a swindler and high-salaried official of the erstwhile Filipino Republic. Then he found Christ and gave up all to do the work of an evangelist on $7 a month, supporting wife and four ‘children, too. He is preaching a Gospel which makes saints from sinners, He keeps two boxes with sotvenirs of his ministry. The one contains a bag of bricks and stones which have been thrown on his entering various towns to preach. In the second are little440 steel Blades, each about three inches long and sharp as a razor, the weapons of the roaster in the cockpit. Scores of men who have heard the Word have repented and killed their fighting cocks. Those who have been rich enough to own tari (spurs) have brought them to Pedro. No wonder the people have been allowed to tear up the church tiles to stone the preacher, for the priest is the largest stockholder in the local cockpit. ° The Filipino Methodist preachers are insistent on high moral standards for their people. During the quadrennium a young preacher was guilty of immorality under what some felt to be extenuating circum- stances. When it was proposed to allow him to preach again the Conference leaders with practical unanimity burst out with: “No, he has disgraced the church and if we permit this the people will think that we are just like the friars. Protestantism is a pure religion and we must maintain its reputation for purity before the people.” These Methodist preachers in the islands are denying themselves to send the Word to other parts of the archipelago. Tithing their $7 a month salaries and collecting what they could from their flocks, they were just able some years ago to provide for a missinoary. The next year the preachers and people of that province sup- ported two missionaries instead of one, and THE KING’S BUSINESS the neighboring province, having caught the contagion, was also financing one. This year these two provinces will support five missionaries and still another province puts an additional one in the field, This is a purely Filipino movement. All the mis- sionary furnishes is suggestion and advice. The money is collected by Filipino preach- ers, paid to a Filipino treasurer, and by him turned over to the support of the Filipino missionaries. It should be said that the Church of Rome has undertaken a great house-clean- ing which is correcting many of the abuses of former days. Filipino Catholic students, after finishing their training in the islands, are sent to Rome for advanced instruction, Already some of these young priests have returned and are being sent into the prov- inces where the Roman Church hag fallen most into decay. Great sums of money have been collected in America and else- where to restore ruined churches and to build schools and hospitals. Yet all this has not yet interfered with the progress of evangelical religion, In the past year, says our Methodist report, covering but little over eight months, more than 5000 con- versions were reported, and these might as well have been ten or twenty thousand, had we the mission force to train and lead the workers—Kecord of Christian native Work,International S. S. Lessons Exposition and Practical Application By R.A. Torrey Outlines and Suggestive Points [co] a a A By T.C. Horton A a Jesus the Servant of All MAY 6, 1917. LESSON VI. John 13:3-15. (Read vs. 1-17. Memorize vs. 14, 15). Gouven Text: “And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be the servant of all."— Mark 10:44. DAILY BIBLE READINGS -Mon., April 30—John 13:1-11, (The Lesson). Tues, May 1—John 13 :12-20. Wed, May 2—John 13: 30. Thur., May 3—John 13:31-38. Fri, May 4—Mark 10:32-45. Sat, May 5—Luke 14;7-11. Sun. May 6—1 Peter 1. EXPOSITION AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS vs. 3-5. “Jesus (add ,) knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come (came forth) from God, and went to (goeth unto) God: He () riseth from supper, and laid (layeth) aside His garments, and (; and He) took a towel, and girded Himself, After that, (Then) He pouwreth water into a (the) bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.” The world had not appreciated Jesus. Even His own disciples had not appreciated Him. Now He was on the eve of departure from this world that had despised and rejected Him, to a world that had appreciated Him before He left it, and would appreciate Him now that He returned to it, a world where all the angels of God would worship Him (Heb. 1:6). Under such circumstances He might naturally have had a feeling of relief ‘at leaving those slow, dull, unbe- lieving disciples, to go to realms of light and faith and appreciation ‘and glory, and it would have been natural that He should be occupied with "thoughts of the glory awaiting Him, But no, on the contrary He was entirely occupied with thoughts of His disciples and their need, “having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.” His was the perfect love: constant, untiring, patient, inde- structible, self-forgetting, “UNTO THE END." Two little words of inexhaustible meaning marvelously describe our rela- tion to Him, “His own.” (v. 1). What a dignity it sets upon us—we are “His. own.” How clear it makes our absolute security (cf. ch. 17:12). How do I know that I shall spend eternity with Him? I am “His own.” How do I know that the mighty and subtle Satan will never prevail to get me? I am “His own.” Why do I rise triumphant over the world and its ambitions and its allurements and its bland- ishments? I am “His own.” How do I know that He will lavish upon me all the infinite wealth of His love? I am “His own.” Iam His by both gift and purchase. Note in passing that death is “departing - out of this world unto the Father” (y. 1). There is nothing then so dreadful for the | | |442 believer in what men call death (cf. ch. 14:28; Phil. 1:21, 23; 2 Cor. R. V.). In the opening verses of the chapter we see the black background of the Saviour’s love, viz., the unceasing malignity of Satan, incarnating itself in a human heart (v. 2, R. V.). Judas got his evil purpose direct from the Devil. If Judas had been told at the beginning the depths of infamy to which he would sink; he would have been horrified. The very sanfé Devil who was active in Judas’ time is around today. In view of that fact we do well to ponder and act upon Eph. 6:10-18 In verses 3 to 5, given above, what a picture we have of how on the one-hand the Father glori- fied Jesus and how on the other hand Jesus humbled Himself. On the one hand we read, “The Father had given all things into His hands” (cf. ch, 3:35; Matt, 11:27; 17:2; Matt. 28:18; Eph. 1:21; 8, 9; 1 Cor. 15:27); “He came forth from God.” Here we have clearly taught His pre-existence with God (cf. John 1:1; Phil. 2:6-8); “and went to God.” On the other hand, “He riseth from the supper” literal translation of the Greek) ; “laid aside His garments ;” “took a towel, and girded Himself” (ie, dressed Himself like a slave to do a slave's work) ; “poureth water into a bason;” “began to wash the disciples’ feet;” “began to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.” He did seven things, all the seven being part of the slave's work, and He did these seven servile things in full con- sciousness of His Divine authority, Divine origin, and Divine destiny. Oh, it was wonderful! There is in it an impressive lesson for us. When the consciousness of superiority of rank or ability tempts us to * shirk the lowest service for the humblest of God's children, we will do well to recall this scene and remember that “the servant is not greater than his Lord” (v. 16), and “Jet this mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil,.2:5; note context vs. 6-8). Here we see a miracle of humility and grace. No miracle our Saviour ever wrought in the healing of the sick, casting THE KING’S BUSINESS out demons, or raising-the dead, was more wonderful than this, Just so we can make the good acts of our own lives amazingly glorious if we perform them in His spirit. Oh, to think of the glorious Christ taking our vile feet into those hands that by their touch cleansed. the leper, opened blind eyes, healed the sick, and raised the dead, and to think of Him washing them and wiping them. There is a filth infinitely more repul- sive to than the filth of the roads, the filth of sin, and He is handling our feet each day and washing it off. What a won- derful Saviour! Our Lord’s acts in this scene symbolize His whole work. He “riseth from supper,” ie., rises from His rightful place in glory and in enjoyment. He “layeth aside His garments”—and just so He laid aside the garments of His Divine majesty (Phil. 2:6, 7). “He pour- eth water into a bason,” and so He provides the cleansing Word (John 15:3). He “began to wash the disciples feet,” and just so He applies the cleansing water of the Word to us (Eph. 5:26). Then He took His garments (v. 12) typical of His reassuming His glory (cf. John 17:5), then He “sat down again” (v. 12), typical of reassuming His place as Lord (cf. Heb. 10:12). vs. 6-9. “Then cometh He (He cometh) fo Simon Peter: and Peter (. He) saith unto Him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered, (omit ,) and said unto him, What I do, (omit ,) thou knowest not now: (:) but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto Him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands, (omit ,) and my head.” We have grouped these verses together because they need to be studied and treated together. The first thing to note here about Simon Peter is ‘his imag- ined humility but real pride. Peter imag- ined that he was-too humble to allow his Lord to do such a-lowly act for him as to wash his feet, but that he was really proud is evident from the fact that whenTHE KING’S BUSINESS 443 the Lord told him that he did not under- stand His action now but would hereafter, that even then he set his opinion up against his Lord’s and said, “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” It is the part of true humility to allow our Lord to do as He will, in the recognition of the fact that not only is He infinitely greater than we, but that He is infinitely wiser, too. It is not humility, but pride, to refuse any grace the Lord wishes to bestow upon us. The second thing to note about Peter is his failure to understand the meaning of our Lord’s acts (v. 7). The third thing to note is his failure to ponder the meaning of Jesus’ words (v. 9). The fourth thing to note is his talking when he ought to have been thinking (vs. 7, 8,9). The fifth thing to note is his promise of future under- standing (v. 7), What ‘Peter did not understand then, he understands perfectly now. And the sixth thing to note is his Prompt and eager repentance (v. 9). We are all very much like poor Peter at the points at which he failed. It would be well for us if we were more like him in his stronger points as they came out after Pentecost. We too, in a false sense of humility, are often ready to protest against the Lord's bestowing upon us the fullness of grace which He wishes to bestow upon us, but of which we feel utterly unworthy, and indeed of which we are unworthy, but it is not humility, but pride, to refuse grace. Whenever the Lord does anything which we cannot understand, instead of protest- ing against, or questioning His action, we should remember the limitations of our present knowledge and rest assured that what we do not understand now we shall understand some day. How much there is the Lord does in His dealings with us which we cannot understand how, but we do not need to understand, we shall “know hereafter.”. The only one who has any part with Christ is the one whom Christ washes (v. 8). Has He washed you? How vividly and with what self-evident truth- fulness the whole story brings out the unre- flecting impetuosity of Peter’s character. ys. 10, 11.’ “Jesus saith to him, He that is washed (bathed) needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. For He knew he (him that) should betray Him, (;) therefore said He, Ye are not all clean.” Consider the deep significance in our Lord's words, “He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet.” The thought is that the man who is regenerated may contract a measure of external defilement from contact with the world, just as a man who has taken a bath and whose body as a whole is clean, being covered from defile- ment, may get dust on his sandalled feet, but such an one does not need to be regen- erated again, but simply to wash off the surface dirt and eliminate the defilement by simply washing his feet. This we do by the study of the Word. We do not need to be transformed anew in the inner depths of our heart, but the external defile- ment that adheres to us by association with the world, needs to be washed away each day when we retire from the world to the secret closet in the study of the Word of God and prayer. There is also deep sig- nificance in our Lord’s statement, “Ye are clean, but not all.” “Clean” here evi- dently means, from the connection, regen- erate, thoroughly clean. There was one member of the apostolic company that was never regenerated, and that was Judas. Our Lord here pronounces all other mem- bers of the apostolic company regenerate men. It is oftentimes held that the Apos- tles were not regenerated until Pentecost, but this passage tells us distinctly that they were. But there was one unregen- erate man in the company, and the Lord “knew him.” He was never deceived about Judas. He loved Judas, and though He knew he would not respond to His efforts, nevertheless, He was untiring in His efforts to bring him to repentance, Here is a lesson for us. As there was one member of the apostolic company that was unregenerate, and as the Lord suffered him to continue a member of that company, though He knew he was unregenerate, we444 certainly ought to be very patient in deal- ing with those in our churches, the genu- imeness of whose regeneration we ques- tion. Of course, this does not mean that there shall not be discipline, for the Word of God explicitly teaches us that there should be such discipline in known cases of evil (1 Cor. 5:9-11). v.12. “So after (when) He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and sat down again, He said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?” The Apos- tles must have sat in wonder as Jesus washed their feet. Each of them had been tho full of pride to undertake to wash the feet of othcts. It was a servant's work and not one of them was ready to admit inferiority to any one else, and here the Lord and Master had done for them all, even for Judas, what not one of them was ready to do for the others. He asked them, “Know ye what I have done to you?” They certainly did not. Indeed, it was some time before they understood the full meaning of His act, and little do we under- stand oftentimes what it is the Lord has done to us. Oh, that we would study more prayerfully and carefully to know and understand the Lord’s dealings with, us. v. 13. “Ye call me Master and (, and) Lord: and ye say well; for so fam.” The word translated “Master” here means “Teacher,” and is so translated in the American Standard Version. They did well to call Jesus “Teacher and Lord,” for He is the Teacher of Teachers, the only perfect Teacher, and He is Lord. The word translated “Lord” is used of Jehovah God throughout the Old Testament in the Septuagint, or Greek translation of the Old Testament. It means in Bible usage a Divine Lord, and one who has a right to the absolute control of our lives, and that Jesus is, He is our Divine Lord and He has a right to the absolute control of our lives. vs. 14, 15. “If I then, your Lord and Master (, the Lord and the Master,) have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you THE KING'S BUSINESS an example, that ye (add, also) should do as I have done to you,’ They called Him Lord and Teacher, but they did not act as if He were their Lord and Teacher. If we call Him Teacher and Lord, let us not play the hypocrite, but rather let us make Him in our lives what we call him with our lips. If He, our Lord and Teacher, performed the lowest and most disagree- able service for others, for those far beneath Him, we too must stand ready to perform the lowliest service for all others. Are we ready to do it? Oh! how some of us rebel if men do not give us the honor and respect and place and rank that we think are our due. Let us not be con- cerned about the honor and respect paid to us, nor the place and rank given to us, let us rather seek to do service for others; then, and only then shall we have the right to call Jesus Teacher and Lord. But if we seek honor rather than seeking to be humbly useful, we have no right to call Jesus “Teacher and Lord.” The disci- ples had not known what the Lord had done to them, but here He explains it. What He had really done was to set them an example whereby He would remove the dirt of pride and self-seeking from their sin-stained souls. At this very time they were having a quarrel among themselves as to who should be counted greatest (Luke 22:24). Greatly did they need to be taught to take the lowly place of service rather than to seek their own honor, and greatly do we also need to be taught the same lesson, There is nothing that those who call themselves followers of Christ so per- sistently forget as the lesson that He so often emphasizes of seeking for themselves the lowly place of service rather than the lofty place of honor. This incident left a deep impression upon the mind of Peter, This is evident from his striking allusion to it in his first epistle (1 Peter 5:5; note especially the words “gird yourselves with humility” Revised Version; cf. v. 4). “The servant is not greater than his Lord” (v. 16) : so every Christian should be satisfiedTHE KING'S BUSINESS 445, with a lot as lowly as that of our Lord. How often we see professed servants of Jesus assuming a dignity that our Master discarded. The practice of Christlike humility in service brings blessedness in the heart (v. 17). —————o—_—_— LESSON OUTLINE (1) The Sovereign of Sovereigns, v. 3. “Knowing;” How did He know? 3:34; Isa. 11:2. How is this expressed elsewhere? Matt. 28:18. Had He indeed been with God? 3:13. Was He worthy of absolute authority? Rev. 5:12. Was ever another worthy of that? Phil. 2:10. What, principally, proved His fitness? 17:4, How reconcile present conditions, v. 1? Heb. Does “all things” things? Eph. 1:18-22. What must one be to be great? Mark 10:43. (2) The Servant of Servants, vs. 4-11. “The Son of Man came not to be’— what? Mark 10:45. What basin contains water for our feet? Psa, 119.9. Was Peter's remonstrance well meant? y. 37. Did good motives excuse him? 16:22, 23. Wherein did he err? Rom. 9:20 (f.c.). Was it characteristic? 18:10; 21:21, 22. How did he meet the alternative? vs. 8, 9; 6:68. ‘What is it to be “bathed”? Rom. 5:9. ‘What to “wash the feet"? 1 John 1:7, 9. What to be “clean every whit”? Rom. Sal; 1:1; exceed terrestrial Matt. Did Peter need the Blood bath? Luke 5:8, (3) The Service of Saints, vs. 12-15, Did Jesus resume His royal place? v. 12; Heb, 1:3, 4. Will He gird and serve again? Luke 12:37, May we give v. 7 wider application? 1 Cor, 13:12, Did the Twelve need this example? Luke 22:24, Did Diotrophes forget it? 3 John 9. How did Paul, Gaius and certain widows exemplify it? Acts 20:34; 3 John 5, 6; 1 Tim. 5:10. In what Spirit are we to serve? Gal. 5:13. Do we follow Christ’s example? 139::23, 24. PRACTICAL POINTS (1) Jesus came by water and blood, not by water only? 1 John 5:6. (2) We are saved to serve. (3) Contrast Mary at Jesus’ feet, and Jesus at the disciples’ feet. (4) “Let this mind be in you which was Psa, also in Christ Jesus.” (5) Being conscious of His supremacy, He made manifest His humility. (6) His hour came; so will yours. (7) There is no end to the love of Jesus. (8) Christ's Almightiness is manifest in His all-mercifulness. (9) The blood washes once for all; the water is for daily bathing. (10) God's great ones are the humble ones.446 THE KING'S” BUSINESS Jesus the True Vine * MAY 13, 1917. LESSON VII. John 15:1-13. (Read vs. 1-16. Memorize vs. 7, 8). Gornen Text: “I am the vine, ye are the branches.”—John 15%5. DAILY BIBLE READINGS Mon., May 7—John 15:1-11. (The Lesson). Tues., May 8—John 15:12-25. Wed., May 9—1 John 2:18-29. Thur., May 10—1 John 3 -12. Fri, May 11—1 John 3:13-24. Sat., May 12—1 John 421-11. Sun, May 13-1 John 4;12-21, EXPOSITION AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS vy. 1. ST am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.” This yerse contains the central truth of the entire passage. All the wonderful teaching of ‘the passage circles about, or is a develop- ment of this great thought, Christ is the ‘vine, and we are the branches. The basal thought of it is that all our life and power and fruitage result from our union with Him. He is the source of life, we are simply the branches through which the life manifests itself. There are many who are unwilling to be merely a branch, they wish to be the vine themselves, to have their own independent life; but when we stop to think of it, what higher honor could there be than to be a branch of the Divine vine, Furthermore, we should never for- get that it is on the branches that the rich clusters which the vine bears hang, and just so Christ has no way of manifesting His in this world except through us who are the branches. While Christ is the vine, God the Father is the vine cultivator, who by His wise care brings each branch to its highest possibilities, or, if it has no real union with the vine, removes it. It would be difficult to find in the whole Word of God a passage that on the one hand has more comfort and- encouragement in it for those who are in Christ, and on the other hand has more soleman warning for those who have a mere outward, formal connection with Christ, and into whose life there is no real flow of the life of Christ showing itself in fruitage. Our life, our power to bear fruit is from Christ, our training into the highest fruitfulness is from the Father. Union with Christ brings life and power to bear fruit, glad submis- sion to the Father's pruning and training brings a larger measure of fruitfulness. How glad we ought to be that it is the Father who is the husbandman, for He will surely make no mistakes. Further- more, He is not only perfect in wisdom, He is wonderfully tender. and kind. If any true disciple of Jesus will meditate long and deeply on the words of Jesus, “My Father is the husbandman,” he will find them filling his heart with rest and joy. v. 2, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth (cleanseth) it that it may bring forth (bear) more fruit.” The distinguishing characteristic of a true branch, of a branch that is inwardly in the vine, and not merely outwardly and by mere external connection in it, is that it bears fruit. This, as we shall see further down, is also the distinguishing characteristic of a true dis- ciple (v. 8). What fruit is we learn from Gal. 5:22; Phil, 1:11; 1 John 2:6; Rom. 1:13; Col. 1:10, and from vs. 8 and 16 of this chapter. God alone is the final fruit or not (Rom. 10:4). If one has not that real vital union with Christ that results judge as to whether we are really bearingTHE KING’S BUSINESS in fruit bearing, he is removed from his outward and seeming union, he is “taken away.” It will therefore stand each one of us in good stead to ask ourselves very earnestly and prayerfully, “Am I bearing fruit?” The branch that does not bear fruit, while it is in the vine in the sense that it has an outward connection with it, is not in real vital union with it. The sap of the vine, the life of Christ, is not really flowing into it, it does not describe a regenerate man. But even the branch that bears fruit meeds the husbandman's care, it needs to be pruned, or cleansed, that it may bear still more fruit, and the faithful husbandman will cleanse it by the Word of God (v. 3). But there are also other forms of cleansing sometimes, cleansing by pruning, the pruning of severe discipline and suffering (cf. Heb. 12:9-11). If we are disposed to chafe underneath the chastening of the Lord, underneath the cleansing work of the -husbandman, let us never forget that this is the way we shall be brought to largest fruitage. God, for our own sake, wishes us not only to bear fruit, but to beat “more fruit, and we ought to desire that too. We ought to be satis- fied with nothing short of the largest pos- sible fruitage, and that is only possible through wise pruning. y. 3. “Now (Already) ye are clean through (because of) the word which I have spoken unto you.” The disciples were already “clean through the word,” ie., they were regenerate men (cf. 1 Peter 1:23; James 1:18). There was one exception to this in the apostolic company, that is, Judas Iscariot (ch. 13:10, 11). But the Word of God not only cleanses in that it is the instrument through which we are born again, but it continually cleanses by our daily contact with it (Ps. 119:9, 11), therefore, if we desire the fullest measure of that cleansing that brings ever increas- ing fruitfulness, we should bring our lives into constant contact with the Word, which is God’s chosen instrument for cleansirig us. We bring it into contact with the Word by the daily study of the 447 Word, and daily meditation upon it, This same thought, that increasing forgetful- ness comes from cleansing through the Word, is found in Ps. 1:2, 3. Neglect of the Word is the explanation of the small fruitage of many a life. If we will not bring our lives as we should into contact with the Word, the husbandman may have to use other methods of cleansing the branch (Job 33:14:33 R. V.). What these other methods of cleansing are are sug- gested in Heb, 12:6, 11. The cleansing pro- cess is not always pleasant, but if we shrink from it we should remember that it ineatis larger fruitage. vy. 4. “Abide in me, and I in you: ‘O As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more (so neither) can ye, except ye abide in me.” The whole secret of continuous fruitful- ness is abiding in Christ. We have no teal life of our own, all the true life that there is in us is simply the inflow of Jesus Christ into us. If anything occurs to impede the-inflow of the life of Christ, to that extent we become unfruitful. If the inflow of the life of Christ is alto- gether stopped, the result is death. What does it mean to “abide” in Christ? Many very mystical and misty explanations have been given to this, explanations that leave the average student of the Bible in a great fog. But, if one will note carefully just what Jesus is talking about, then what abiding in Christ means becomes very clear and very simple. To abide in Christ is simply to have the same relation to Jesus as the living and continuously fruit bearing branch has to its vine. This branch has no independent life of its own, it draws all its Sap, its life, and fruit bearing energy from the vine, it simply lets the life of the vine continuously flow in, and the buds and leaves and blossoms and clusters that appear on the branch are simply manifes- tations, not of any independent life of its own, but the life of the vine that flows into it. Just so we abide in Christ when ‘we renounce any independent life or power ‘that we have, or imagine that we have, and _448 just look ever to Christ Jesus for His life, and let it flow in unhindered by distrust or disobedience on our part, or by an attempt on our part to do anything or to be any- thing as of ourselves, then our thoughts and desires and purposes and acts are sim- ply manifestations, not of our own life, but of the Christ life in us, To put it in another way, we should cease to think our own thoughts and let Christ think His thoughts in us; we should cease to culti- vate or heed our desires, but let Jesus Christ desire His desires in us; we should cease to form purposes of our own, and look to Christ to form His purposes in us; we should cease to pursue any imaginations or fancies of our own, but look to the Lord Jesus Christ to form His aspirations and anticipations of the futu¥e in us. v. 5. “Iam the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth (beareth) much frust: for without (apart from) me ye can do nothing.” We must always keep it dis- tinctly in mind that we are not the vine, that we are the branches which the vine bears. So many go astray by trying to be the vine, but what an honor to be a branch of the true vine, and what a privilege to have the Divine life in its fullness flowing into us, instead of trying to lead any paltry life of our own. Just in so far as we maintain this relation to Christ, described in the comments under verse 4, we shall “bear much fruit.” The whole secret, not only of no fruitage, but of small fruitage, is not abiding in Christ. The whole secret of much fruitage is abiding in Him. It is not the one who is greatly gifted natur- ally, or who has unusual educational, opportunities, who bears much fruit, but the one who simply abides in Christ. The one who has small natural gifts and little or no education, who abides in Christ, bear more fruit than the one who has great natural gifts and rare educational oppor- tunities who does not abide in Christ “Apart from” Christ, severed from Him we can do nothing at all. How many gifted people there are in this world, who really THE KING’S \BUSINESS are doing nothing that will count, or that will abide, nothing that is real, simply because they are not abiding in Christ. v. 6. “Ifa man abide not in me, ke is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, (5) and men (they) gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” The utter failure to maintain this rela- tionship to Christ of abiding in Him, and the consequent attempt to be anything of ourselves, means fruitlessness, casting forth, withering, and burning. Each one of us ought very solemnly and prayerfully to put the question to ourselves, Am I Abiding in Him, and is He abiding in me? v. 7. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will (ask whatsoever ye will), and it shall be done tunto you" Some one has said that he regards this as “the most solemn verse in the Bible.” We do not think that it is the most solemn verse in the Bible, but it is certainly very solemn. We see here that abiding in Christ is not merely the secret of fruitfulness, and abundant fruitfulness, it is also the one all-inclusive secret of pre- vailing prayer. Because it is the secret of prevailing prayer is also the reason why it is the secret of abundant fruitfulness (cf. ch, 14:12, in connection with ch. 14:13, 14). If one does abide in Christ, and Christ’s words do abide in him, there is no limit to what he may obtain by prayer. He can ASK “WHATSORVER HE WILL” and it shall be done unto him. Some one may say, “But suppose he asks something that is contrary to the will of God?” The one who is abiding in Christ and in whom Christ's words are abiding, will not ask anything that is contrary to the will of God, for his prayers; just as,his thoughts and his desires and his choices, will be the out- come of the life of Christ in him, and his prayers will be really Jesus Christ's prayers, Jesus Christ praying through him, and the Father always heareth Him (ch. 11:42). It is to be carefully noted that there is something else mentioned in this verse beside our abiding in Him, as the condition of prevailing prayer, and that isTHE KING’S BUSINESS 449 His words abiding in us. It is through the medium of His words that Jesus comes to abide in us (cf. ch. 14:23). It is vain to talk of Christ’s abiding in us if we are neglecting His words. He imparts Him- self to us through His word. Meditation upon His Word, laying up His Word in our hearts, is one of the most fundamental secrets of mighty praying. It is not enough to only meditate upon His Word and lay His Word up in our hearts, if His Word is to abide in us we must also obey His Word (cf. v. 10). Over and over again in the Word of God obedience to the will of God as revealed His Word is stated as the condition of prevailing prayer (1 John 3:22; John 14:13-16). y. 8. “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear -much fruit, (; and) so shall ye be my disciples.” Abiding in Christ brings much fruitfulness, and by this much fruit- fulness that comes from abiding in Christ, the Father is glorified. We ought to desire much fruitfulness for this reason, not merely for the fruits’ sake, and not merely that we should be honored because of much fruit, but above all in order that the Father may be glorified. By bearing much fruit we show that we are His: disciples, and, if we are not bearing much fruit, we are not His disciples. vs.9, 10. “As (Even as) the Father hath loved me, so have I (I also have) loved you: continue (abide) ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, (;) even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His Jove.” The same Greek word that is else- where in this chapter translated “abide” is in the 9th verse translated “continue.” In verse 11 the same word is translated “remain. In the Revised Version the word is consistently translated “abide” right through. The Greek word really means “remain,” or “continue,” or “dwell,” and of course, that is what “abide” pri- marily means. It is a wonderful statement that the Lord makes in the opening part of verse 9, viz. that He has just the same kind of love for those.who believe on Him as the Father has for Him. Stop, and ponder that. The condition of our abid- ing, or continuing in His love is that we continuously do as He tells us to do in His Word. Of course, if we disobey His Word there is a sense in which He still loves us, for He loves sinners, but there is an altogether peculiar love that the Lord Jesus has for the one who daily studies the Word to find out what His will is, and who every time that he finds out what the will of Christ is, does it. In demanding of us that we keep His commandments, He is simply demanding of us that we be like Him, for He kept the Father’s command- ments and thus continued in the Father's love. v. lL. “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy might be full (may be fulfilled, R. V.—may be made full, A. R. V.).” We have seen much fruitfulness, and power in Prayer as the result of abiding in Christ ; here we see a third great thing as the result of abiding in Him, viz., fullness of joy. The joy that we get through doing “these things” which Christ has jyst been teach- ing about, abiding in Him, keeping His commandments, is Christ's own joy: He calls it “my joy,” ie. His own joy, the joy He Himself had. The world has no such joy as that to give. Everything in this lesson is related to Jesus—“‘my Father” (vs. 1, 8, 10), “my words” (v. 7), “my disciples” (v. 8), “my love” (v. 9), “my commandments” (vy. 10), “my joy” (y. 11). The Authorized Version translated “that your joy might be full;” the English Revised Version translates “that your joy may. be fulfilled;” the American revisers translated, “that your joy may be made full” The American Revision comes the nearest to giving us the exact force of the word in this connection. Perhaps. an even more expressive, as well as more, exact way of putting it would be, “that your joy may be filled full.” If one abides in Christ his “cup runneth over” (Ps. 23:5), his joy is filled to the brim. |450 ys. 12, 13, “This is my cominandment, that ye love one another, as T have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” The secret of loving one another is abiding in Jesus, for He is love. And as one all-inclusive commandment is that we love one another, His love to us is the standard of measure of our love to one another. This goes beyond the Old Testa- “ment commandment that we love our neighbors as ourselves, for Jesus loved us more than He loved Himself, He sacri- ficed Himself for our sake, and we should LESSON (1) The Culture of the Branches, vs. 1-3. How do we become branches? Rom. 11:17. How are the branches cultivated? 17:17; Luke 13:8; Heb. 12:6. What is the normal development of the branches? 2 Peter 3:18. Should the branches resemble the Vine? Phil. 2:5-7. | Why are some branches fruitless? 1 v. 2; John 5:12. What is the fate of such? 1 Cor. 3:11- 15. (2) The Conditions of Bearing, vs. 4-8. What is the vital com nm? 1 John 2:28. What is the pivotal word here? How may we know we abide? 1 John 3:24, Why does fruit depend on abiding? Col. 3:3. What, primarily, is fruit? Phil, 1:20. What, secondarily, is involved? Gak 5:22, 23. ‘What, finally, results? Titus 3 Are ‘in the church” and “in Me” equiy- alent? Phil, 3:18. (3) The Commandment to the Bgethren, vs. 9-14. What is His commandment? y. 12, Of what is brotherly love a sign? 1 John 4:7. THE KING'S BUSINESS sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others. He laid down His life for us. There is no greater love than that possible. Some one may say that it is a greater love to lay down our life for our enemies than it is for our friends. No, it is the same measure of love manifested in another direction, a more remarkable direction, but not greater love. The sacrifice of self is the utmost limit to which Iove can go, whether it be love for a friend or love for an enemy. Christ did lay down His life for His enemies (Rom. 5: 8, 10). OUTLINE What should measure our love? v. How much does Christ love? v. 9. How much does God love Him? 3:35. How does love rank as fruit? 1 Cor, 13:13, What is the highest proof of love? v. 13. What is the “fruit of the vine?” Matt. 26:29. What the effect of such wine? v. LI. What promise seals and realizes all? v. 7. What is the condition of “getting things from God?” y. 7. PRACTICAL POINTS (1) The sun ripens the fruit when the leaves are clipped. (2) There is one and the same life in Vine and branches. (3) No life—no fruit; some life—some fruit; more life—more fruit; abun- dant life—much fruit. (4) The cuttings are better off, than on. 12, (5) The sbranches are useless wood, if fruitless, (6) The Word is the sword which severs the branch. (7) If we abide in Him, He will provide for us. (8) The climax of love is the crucifixion of life. . (9) The joy of the Lord is the strength of the soul.THE KING’S BUSINESS 451 The Importance of Self Control (Temperance Lesson) MAY 20, 1917. LESSON VIII. Gotpen Text: 1 Cor. 9:25. Isa. 28:1-13. “Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.’— (Memorize v. 7). DAILY BIBLE READINGS Mon., May 14—Isaiah 28: 13. (The Lesson). Tues, May 15—Luke 1235-48, Wed., May 16—Romans 1. Thur., May 17—1 Cor. Fri, May 18—1 Cor. 8. 3-23. 3:10-17. Sat. May 19—Prov, 1:7-19. Sun, May 20—Romans 1 EXPOSITION AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS ys. 1-4. “Woe to the crown of pride, to (bride of) the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower (and 10 the fading flower of his glorious beauty), which are (is) on the head of the fat valleys (valley) of them that are over- come with wine! Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which (omit, which) asa tempest of hail (add ,) and (omit, and) @ destroying storm, as a flood (tempest) of mighty waters overflowing, shall (add, He) cast down to the earth with the hand. The crown of pride, (omit , and add, of) the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet (foot): and the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shail be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer (and the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as the first ripe fig before the sum- mer); which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his Bnd he eateth it up.” By the “crown of pride” is meant the city of Samaria (see R. V.j ef 1 Kings 16:24). Is here compared to a chaplet of flowers on a drunkard’s brow. This chaplet of flowers, says Isaiah, “shall be trodden under foot” because of their sin and pride, ‘The people of-the northern kingdom as a nation are spoken of as “the drunkards of Ephraim.” Drunkenness. seems to have been so widespread as to have become a national sin (cf. ch. 5:11, 12; Hos. 7:5; °2:4-9). Amos 2:6, 8 12; 4:1; 6:6). The effect of their drink upon them was that they were “overcome” (literally, “smitten down”) by it. Let us not forget that it was the “native wines of a wine growing dis- trict” that did this for Ephraim, and not distilled spirits, nor adulterated poisons. Their “chaplet Gf pride” and “glorious beauty” was after all but a “fading flower.” So it is with every chaplet of earthly pride, and all the “glorious beauty” of this present world (1 Peter 1:24). The prophet’s answer to Israel's confidence in their crown of pride was that Jehovah had “a mighty and strong one.” This “mighty and strong one” was the king of Assyria (2 Kings 18:10-12). The Assyrians themselves were a bloody, deceitful and rapacious people (Nah. 3:1), but they were an instrument in Jehovah's hand for fulfilling His Word and bringing judgment upon His back- sliding people (cf. Ps. 76:10), The coming of the Assyrian is described by a threefold figure, “‘a tempest of hail,” “a destroying storm,” “a tempest of mighty waters over- flowing.” The thought contained in these figures is that of widespread and over- whelming destruction (cf. ch. 8:7, 8). Back of all this work of destruction and desola- tion, was the wrath of God at sin, (cf. ch. This destruction, etc. all came upon them “because they obeyed not the voice of Jehovah their God” (2 Kings 18:11, 12). Jesus uses a similar figure s| fq 452 THE KING'S BUSINESS regarding those who hear His words but do them not (Matt. 7:26, 27). These words, taken in their historical setting are deeply significant in these times of destruction and devastation and desolation that are sweeping over Europe and other parts of the world. Whatever the human instru- mentalities may be through which this awful destruction and desolation is wrought, and however great may be the guilt that lies at the door of those who are responsible for the present appalling war, the real source of the war is because the various nations have “not obeyed the voice of Jehovah their God.” Something far more important than some new instru- ment to destroy the submarines is neces- sary to bring an end to this war, viz, national repentance on the part of all lands involved, including our own. “The chaplet of pride” was to be “trodden under foot.” Just 9p ail earthly pride will eventually be trodden under foot. Two figures are used in verse 4 to describe the fall of Samaria: “a fading flower,” and “the first ripe fig’ which a man greedily eats as soon as he gets it into his hand. vs. 5, 6. “In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of His people, (:) and for a spirit of judg- ment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle at the gate.” In the midst of the awful desolation of his own time, when every crown of pride and all the glorious beauty is a fading flower, the prophet looks for- ward.to “rHaT pay” (i.e. the day of the Lord’s return and manifestation). So in the midst of present sin, and judgment for sin, in the midst of the awful desolation of this most appalling of all wars, we should look forward, both for comfort in our hearts, and encouragement in our work, to our Lord’s coming again (Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 3:12-14, R.V.). “In that day” (ie, the day of our Lord’s return), “a” crown of glory” will take the place of “the crown of pride” (v. 1), and “a dia- dem of beauty” will take the place of “the fading flower of his glorious beauty” (v. 1). “Jehovah of shosts” Himself shall. be the “crown of glory,” and “diadem of beauty” (cf. Luke: 2:32). But Jehovah is to be other things too, He is to be “for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment,” and also “for strength to them that turneth the battle at the gate” (cf. ch. 26:4; Zech. 2:4, 5; 1 Cor. 1:30). It is to the remnant that Jehovah is to be a crown of glory and diadem of beauty (cf. ch. 10:20, 21; 11:16; 37:31, 32; Rom. 11:5, 6). “In that day” He is also to be “for strength to them that turn back the battle at the gate” (cf. Deut. 20:4; Ps. 18:32- 34; 27:1). We can have Him for “a spirit of judgment” and for strength today (James. 1:5, 6; 2 Tim. 1:7; Eph. 6:10). vs. 7, 8 “But they (these) also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way (gone astray); and priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are fuil of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.” The “these also” refers to the people of Jerusalem. They also as well as Ephraim have “erred through wine,” and “through strong drink” had “gone astray.” The prevailing sin of drunken- ness had reached even God's representa- tives, “the priest and the. prophet” (cf, ch. 56:10-12; Micah 2:11)>) The priests were especially inexcusable Yecause of the plain directions in the law of which they were custodians Beata very mat- 1, ter (Lev. 10:9, 10; Ez\44 They were “reeling” through strong drink, they were “swallowed up of wine,” they were “gone astray through strong drink.” The result was they utterly failed in their officiat acts, They not only staggered with their feet, but they “staggered in vision,” and they not only stumbled with their feet but they “stumbled in judgment.” Wine and strong drink confuse the spiritual con- ceptions and rob men of judgment. The religious teacher who indulges in them isTHE KING'S BUSINESS especially culpable and utterly incapaci- tated for his holy office. The use of wine and strong drink had made even their social gatherings filthy and disgust- ing (y. 8). . : vs. 9-13. “Whom shall he teach knowl- edge? and whom shall he make to under- stand doctrine (the message)? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be (For it is precept) upon precept, precept upon pre- cept; line upon line, line upon line; here & little, and (omit, and) there a little. For with stammering (Nay, but by men of strange) lips, and (add, with) another tongue will he speak to this people. To (: to) whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest (, give ye rest to him that is weary); and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. But the Word of the LORD was into them (Therefore shall the Word of ~ the LORD be unto them) precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line «Pom line, line upon line; that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.” Verses 9 and 10 may be taken as giving us the mocking answer of the people to God’s prophet: If we take them this way the people are represented as say- ing, “Whom will he teach knowledge, etc.? Does he take us for babies just weaned? It is precept upon precept, ete.” If the prophet himself is the speaker, then Jeho- vah is represented as teaching knowledge to babies and not to the self-sufficient. We LESSON (1) The Crown of Pride. Who wore this proud crown? Isa. 7:9. For what were the “drunkards” proud? Phil. 3:19. Being “full” of what were they empty? Hosea 4:6. Were they drunk merely? Isa. 29:9. Of what, then, is drunkenness a type? Rev. 17:2, 4; Hosea 7:1-16. 453 find this teaching elsewhere (cf. Matt. 11:25; 21:15, 16; Mark 10:15); these are the ones whom He “makes to understand the message” (R. V.). And the method of His teaching is “precept upon precept” (cf. Neh. 9:29, 30; 2 Chron. 36:15; Jer. 11:7). As they had not listened to Jehovah speaking to them through His prophets, He will now speak to them through for- eign conquerors (v. 11, R, V., cf Deut. 28:47-49). If we will not hear God’s lov- ing and patient call to repentance, He will speak to us through cruel enemies. God had called them to rest, they would not hear that call, so He now sent them con- flict and destruction. Just so our Lord now calls us to “rest” (Matt. 11:28, 29), but if we will not hear that call He will send us destruction (2 Thess, 1:7-9), The whole secret of their trouble (and in fact of every man’s trouble today) was that they would, mot listen to God's Word, “THEY WOULD NoT HEAR.” The secret of any man’s ruin is that he will not hear God (cf. Ps. 81:11-13; Jer. 44:16; Zech. 7:11; Heb. 12:25; 3). The teaching ‘by for- eign enemies was like the teaching at which they mocked, “precept upon precept, etc. (v. 13), it was “perpetual iteration through the lips of hostile armies.” To this teaching they had to listen, The result of this teaching was destruction. If they had listened to God's word it would have been salvation, and to us God's teaching heeded brings salvation, unheeded, it brings death and destruction (2 Cor. 2:16; 1 Peter 2:7, 8; 2 Peter 3:16). OUTLINE In what is the sinner wallowing, typically? v8 : Are we so befouled? 1 John 1:9. What elements of society were “wet”? Hosea 7:3-5. How does alcoholism (sin) affect the body politic? Isa. 1:5, 6. Were they ashamed of their booze, bes- tiality and “belly god”? Jer. 6:15,454 Are we proud of them? (2) The Fading Crown. What composed the reveller’s wi How differ from one of gold? Isa. 40:7. What cup should withered Samaria drink? Ezek, 23:33. Would it be because Jehovah hated them? Hosea 11:8. Whither was the proud crown trans- posed? v. 3; Luke 21:24. Is there any lasting satisfaction in the world’s festivities? v. 4. What crowning lesson shall we draw from this? Col. 3:2; 2 Cor. 4:18. (3) The Crown of Glory. What “day” is. referred to? Who will be the “crown” then? Ps. 24:8, 10, Will He be one to be proud of? 1 Cor. 1:31; Psa. 34:2. What shall His princes be? Isa. 62:3. How about their glorious valley? Isa. 35. Of what shail they be “full”? Eph. 5:18. Need’ they fear “the mighty and stros crown? 1 Cor. 1:8 ve 5. THE KING’S BUSINESS . v. 6; Isa. 59:19. (4) The Fadeless Crown. Who get the fadeless crown? 1 Cor. 9:28. When will he get it? 1 Peter 5:4. By what names is it called? 2 Tim. 4:8; Rev. 2:10. What estate goes with it? 1 Peter 1:4. Who gets the mastery with either sobri- ety or salvation? 1 Cor, 9:25. PRACTICAL POINTS (1) The Bible is the “dry” book. (2) Strong drink binds strong men. (3) Strong drink is “fire-water”; men into the fire, Rev. 2 (4) “Wine is a mocker; strong drink is raging.” (5) It is a “tanglefoot” for brains, con- science and judgment. (6) The drunkard has a long night in which to wallow in his filth, = - (7) The wrath of God abides on him, John 3:36. (8) If the drunkard stays the tide of woe, he’ must stop his wine. eget The Holy Spirit and His Work (Pentecostal Lesson) MAY 27,1917, LESSON IX. John 15:26, 27; 16:7-14. (Read John 15:26-16:14. Mem- orize vs. 12, 13). Goupen Text: “He shall teach you all things."—John 14:26. DAILY BIBLE READINGS Mon, May 21—John 14:15-30. Tues, May 22—John 15:26-16:11. (The Lesson). Wed., May 23—John 16 :12-24. Thur., May 24—John 16:25-33. Fri. May 25—John 17:1-13. Sat., May 26—John 17:14-26. Sun., May 27—Acts 2:1-18. EXPOSITION AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

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