Newspaper Page Text
8 THE PRESBYTERI/
the Bread of Life. The Bible possesses such power
with the Korean Christian that one new-born disciple
and a Bible have furnished a whole village of believers
for the missionary to instruct and organize when he
arrives. '
As a student of the work and a participant in fellowship
with many of the leading1 native Christians 1 came
to recognize, at least, five characteristics of the Korean
believers. They believe in prayer, they practice prayer,
they honor the Lord with their simple confidence in
the promises and their petitions are answered. They
believe and study the LJible. The Korean carries his
Bible and hymn book everywhere. He studies the Book
in private and in the great annual meetings tor the
study of the Word. He, as the head of the family,
has family prayer and teaches his children the Scriptures.
I have never elsewhere seen so nearly fulfilled
the command of Dent. 6:6, "And these words, which
i command thee this day shall be in thine heart: and
thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children, and
shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and
when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest
down, and when thou risest up."
The Korean church is self-propagating. The individual
Christian "findeth first his own brother," and the
village church feels its responsibility for the next village.
This, in a large measure, accounts for the rapid
growth of the Gospel in Korea.
Self-support is another decided characteristic of the
Korean Christian. They build their own churches and
village schools, and pay man}' of the native evangelists
+ IX 71-II- i 1- - ? t
anu itmucis. w uiic tne cnurcn is not aitogetner seltsupporting,
it is as nearly so as the self-sacrificing contributions
of the members can make it.
The missionary spirit of the church is inspiring.
When the first men were ordained they at once sent
one of the strongest of the seven to Quelpart. the large
island in the south, as a missionary. There are other
missionaries, Korean missionaries, successfully preaching
the Gospel in Manchuria, etc.
The praying, Bible loving, self-supporting, self-propagating
missionary church in Korea, composed of a
people recently redeemed from darkest heathenism
and poor in worldly possessions, is a worthy pattern
for the long established wealthy church at home.
Nashville, Tenn.
Rob the world of the Bible- and you have robbed it
of its chart, robbed it of its compass, robbed it of its
Magna Charta?the bulwark of its liberties?robbed it
of that which has produced the noblest manhood and
the purest womanhood; robbed it of that which has
worked out its highest civilization, robbed it of that
which has made the Christian nations the most enlightened,
the most progressive, the most humane, .the
wealthiest, the most powerful people on the face of
the earth.?Henry B. Williams.
Kindly words, sympathizing attentions, watchfulness
against wounding men's sensitiveness?these cost
very little, but they are priceless in their value. Are
they not almost the staple of our daily happiness?
From hour to hour, from moment to moment we are
supported, blessed by small kindnesses.?F W. Robertson.
iN OF THE SOUTH. October 6, 1909.
Devotional and Selections
HEART'S DESIRE.
Have you worked for gold 'till your coffers are full,
Forgetting 'twill leave you at death's dark brink?
Have you tasted of pleasure and quaffed so deep
, That now there is left but the dregs to drink?
Have you struggled and struggled to capture fame,
To fflnHrlon v/miv ?1
. ~ juui ucni i, niiu ;uui ui uw 10 auurn,
Only to find 'neath the laurel leaves
The sting of envy, and many a thorn?
Have you toiled in the "sweat of your brow for bread,"
Planting the seed and tilling the sod?
'Till, like Adam, you ate the forbidden fruit,
And from Eden were thrust by an angry God?
Have you tried everything that this world can gave?
And seek for a prize that is lasting and higher?
Than gold or pleasure, or fame or bread??
'Tis found in Jesus, the heart's desire
?John Richard Moreland.
HOW THE BIBLE HAS AIDED THE WORLD'S
GREAT AUTHORS.
At the University of Virginia, Dr. C. Alphonso Smith
delivered an address in the University chapel Sunday
night, September 19, to the student body on "The Enduring
Influence of the Bible."
In his endeavor to impress his hearers with the inralrnlahlp
vallip anri far.rMct-ii?-irr n.. ~'
_ .M.MV 4Ut VUV.IIillg lltVlttl J lllilU^ll^C UI
the Bible, he spoke as follows:
"The Bible is a part of world literature. With the
exception of the novel and the editorial, both of
which arose in the eighteenth century, there is hardly
a type of modern literature or form of modern discourse
that may not be found in the Bible. I yield to
no one in my admiration of the classical literature, of
the modern literature, and of the more technical literature
of scientific achievement. But in vividness
and intensity, in elevation of appeal, in the extent of
her literary empire, and in the duration of her sovereignty,
the Bible takes easy and secure precedence.
The most advanced nations of the world are the children
of her fireside; the centuries themselves have
been but handmaidens in her service. There is no
modern literature worthy the name that has not felt
ner influence; tnere is no regnant people whose striving
she has not shepherded.
"Not only is the Bible a literature in itself, but it is
a literature that has peculiarly influenced the literature
of which our own is a part. From Caedmon to Kipling,
English literature is permeated by Bible thought
and Bible diction. The first coherent words of English
speech that have come down to us are Caedmon's
hymn, a hymn which is not only Biblical in its phraseology,
but which is itself a paraphrase of the^ first verse
of Genesis.
"Of Shakespeare's use of the Bible, Bishop Charles
Wordsworth says: 'Take the entire range of English
literature, put together our best authors who have
written upon subjects not professedly religious or theological,
and we shall not find, I believe, in them all united,
so much evidence of the Bible having been reatf