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12 THE PRESBYTERIAN y who begs for mercy: "Go in peace; thy faith hath saved thee." When our Master said, "I am with you always," he meant that we have but to open the door and he will enter. A strange mist of uncertainty seems to hang over the minds of many Christians when they are urged to rp:ili7P- anrl achnliin lio.*- c? ...... ms.ii oavwr as a living presence. Because their eyes see no form of flesh and blood, they think of Jesus in a vague, shadowy fashion, and imagine a radiant personage away off on a celestial throne. That Jesus should come into their houses and hearts as really as lie came into the house of Jairus and the heart of Lydia, seems to them a devout dream. But why limit his omnipotence and his omnipresence? Why insult him by giving the lie to his exceeding great and precious promise? The most thorough cure for unbelief is a close grip on Christ. The prayer which he loves most to hear, and delights most to answer, is the prayer: "Come, Lord Jesus." This is the best New Year's prayer that we can offer. The right start for the opening year is a start toward our Lord and Savior, and a fervent petition to him to come into our hearts, into our homes, and into our daily lives. Today the want of this dying world is Christ. The one gift that includes all spiritual gifts, the blessing that enwraps all blessings for us is Jesus. A personal Jesus accepted is salvation; a personal Jesus obeyed is sanctification; a personal Jesus trusted is perpetual joy; a personal Jesus possessed is our only power. Without him all preaching is empty clamor; without him all viiliiv.ii uiainineries out idle clatter. If we covet a genuine revival of spiritual life and power, let us all open our lips, our purses, our hands and our hearts to this deepest, grandest, most heaven-born of petitions: "Come, Lord Jesus 1" Brooklyn, N. Y. CHURCH-GOING A NECESSITY OF LIFE. 'PllA frvllmiFiM/v ~ 1 *v^.wv.i.g itaauus as 10 wny men should attend church have been sent to me by distinguished men throughout the country in answer to a personal inquiry: 1. Man needs the church because of the temptations that assail him, the pressure of materialism, the commercial spirit of the day, and the tendency to look down so much and up so little. 2. The Church needs men. God has always worked through instruments, and it is his desire that a man's life shall be the channel through which he may flow to reach other lives. 3. Intellectual culture may be obtained in the church. The averace man has little t?m#? *<-*? ? 0 iUi ivauuig, 11L Lie upportunity for recreation and lectures, and the average sermon is a stimulus to the. intellect. Remember, however, it is not so much what one hears as the impression that is left upon him. 4. The example of church-going is an index of the community. The reflex influence upon oneself is the very best, and upon others it is conducive to good order. 5. The church furnishes to all classes of men a form of recreation that is most delightful. A change OF THE SOUTH. January 6, 1909. of occupation is rest, and the man sleeps in the morning because he has toiled through the week. 6. Men ought to attend the church to be good and then they will be good for something. It is a fact that the worshipping faculty is in man and is the climax of his other faculties. The soul must have God. Men misunderstand the spirit of the church. The work of the church begins with the soul and its needs. It is not to be criticisorl hpraii" -1 * ** u iiul uo wnai me ciut> docs, nor what the lodge docs; the church is neither a charitable institution nor an educational institution; it is a place of regeneration, conversion and eternal salvation. Upon one's decision as to whether he shall be true to the church depends a great deal. If that decision be against the church, the result may be disaster; if in favor, all is well. The individual life is strengthened, the social life made purer, and the home life better in every way.?J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D. HOLINESS. Holiness appeared to me to be of a sweet, pleasant, charming, serene, calm nature. It seemed to me it brought an inexpressible nnrifv hr;orli*??cc t J . 7 pv. clV^Ll LI 1"* ness and ravishment to the soul and that it made the soul like a field or garden of God, with all manner of pleasant flowers, that is all pleasant, delightful, and undisturbed; enjoying a sweet calm, and the gentle vivifying beams of the sun. The soul of a true Christian appeared like such a little white flower as we see in the spring of the year, low and humble on the ground, opening its bosom to receive the pleasant beams of the sun's rdnrv rpin!rin? a --- - ?1 ? 0?-j , . ao ik wciCj in ct caini rapture | diffusing around'a sweet fragrancy; standing peacefully and lovingly in the midst of other flowers round about, all in like manner opening their bosoms to drink in the light of the sun.?Jonathan Edwards. SEEING THE GOAL. It is a great disadvantage in life not to know why we are alive, or for what we are heading. Yet many live on, day after day, without seeming to have any clear consciousness of this. They do not realize or care, that life is a race, and that, when running a race, it is well to have some thought for the goal. Said one of the runners in the recent Marathon race in England: "Of what does one think on such a run? Of nothing except the far-away goal. For the rest, the mind is blank; perhaps little thoughts flit across the mind, but they are wiped out at once by the big outstanding thought of the finish." It is not difficult to pick the men and women of our acquaintance whose lives are plainly dominated by "the big outstanding thought of the finish." Their minds are not, like the Marathon runner's, a blank, nor are their daily thoughts and duties mere flitting trifles; but they see a goal, for *1 1 t~ - '? -* . -- - N - iiiciuscivcs anu ior orners; tney see it all the time, and it is the great, outstanding fact of -their lives. Therefore they-run, not uncertainly, but to win. ? *