Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

12 THE PRESBYTERIA Young People's Societies mttnmnuinuuuuttmtnunmntnimmnmmimmnnnnttmm:;; LIFE LESSONS FROM FIRST JOHN Topic for Sunday, December 5: Life Lessons for use from First John. 1 John 4: 7-21. DAILY READINGS. Monday?A lesson In fellowship. 1 John 1: 1-7. Tuesday?A lesson in holiness. 1 John 1: 8-10. Wednesday?A lesson In divine love. 1 John 3: 1-4. Thursday?A lesson in brotherliness. 1 John 2.7-11. Friday?Profession and possession. 1 John 1: 8. Saturday?A lesson in prayer. 1 John 3: 19-24. Tne writer 01 tnis episue was, accuiuiug iu uauiuuu auu well-nigh universal belief, the youngest of our Lord's chosen Twelve, and the latest of them to die. Thus his Christian life spanned more years than that of any of the Twelve, with a longer and richer experience of the Saviour's love, and a longer test of the faith. In addition, he was very close to the Master. Called to discipleship in the very beginning of the Lord's ministry, he was peculiarly trusted and honored by Him at its very close. He was admitted to peculiar Intimacy with Christ. He was one of the favored few at the raising of Jairus' daughter, on the Mount of Transfiguration, in the Garden of Gethsemane. One special proof of his nearness to the heart of his Master was the manner in which Jesus entrusted his mother to John's care, on the day of the crucifixion, when it is recorded that John '"took her unto his own home." , As to the result of these conditions, and from his own most manifest faith and tenderness, John drank most deeply of the oaviour s gi aue turn was wen picpaiea ten ui iuc iuiucod to others. He tells us naturally of fellowship with Christ. He had experienced it. Its richness and fulness had filled and satisfied his own heart. He preached the gospel of Christ "that ye also may have fellowship with us." He tells us of the source of cleansing. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth from all sin." "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." He tells us the sad fact, no less true because it is sad, of our sinfulness. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not In us." He tells us the blessed fact,* rich in its comfort, of our having an advocate to plead for us before the Father's throne. "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins." He tells us that fellowship with Christ should produce fellowship with one another. "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.... and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.'" Via tollo 11 a that vaa ran nnt Inva P.hHat and the wnrld at the same time. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love thp world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is In the world is not of the Father, but Is of the world." He tells us of the proof of Qod's love and its pattern to us. "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." If a man having this world's goods minister not to his brother, "how dwelleth the love of God in him?" He tells us the warrant for answered prayer. "Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his com mandments, and so those things that are pleasing in his sight." "And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of him." tions that we desireth of him." V1 \ s ' r' ?? N OF THE SOUTH. November 24, 1909. Prayer Meeting THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. Week Beginning November 28. There are two facts that stand out with clearness In the records of missionary work in The Islands of the Sea. The first is the blessing that true missionaries bring in the way of material progress and prosperity, apart from their great work of carrying the glad tidings of salvation to lost souls. The second is the curse that godless traders leave upon the material progress and prosperity of these islands, apart from the fact of their wicked lives, making it harder for the gospel to be received by the natives. History abundantly proves that godliness is profitable for the life that now is, as well as for that which is to come. The FTench have been, and still are, a great enemy to missionary enterprise. Their colonies are hard fields. But Christ is God, with omnipotence, as well as with all other of his attributes, and his servants know that they can do all things through Christ. From the Missionary Review of the World we take a record of early missionary work in Madagascar, which gives us a vivid picture of what missionaries undergo: The story of missions in Madagascar begins with a dream. One night, early in the last century, Dr. Phillips, the godly principal of a theological school in Cardiganshire, Wales, after reading much about Madagascar, had such a vivid dream of the great island lying in heathen darkness that he related it next morning to his school. "Now, who will go as a missionary to Madagascar?" he asked abruptly at the close. "I will go!" rang out the voice of David Jones without a" moment's hesitation. "And I will go!" came almost as quickly from the lips of Thomas Bevan. As the London Missionary Society had long been desirous of establishing a mission in Madagascar, the offer of these young Welshmen was gladly accepted, and, in 1818, they left England, each accompanied by a wife and baby. Arriving in Antananarivo on October 3, he found the king, Radama I., ready to receive any number of English missionaries, provided skilled artizans came with them to teach his people to be "good workmen as well as good Christians." To this the London Missionary Society wisely gave heed, and of the fourteen men sent out in the first eight years no less than eight were pious working men, skilled in carpentry, weaving, tanning, blacksmithing and printing. Chief among them was James Cameron, whose great practical ability won him the lasting regard.of the people. In 1821 David Jones was gladdened by the arrival of David Griffiths, another young Welshman from Dr. Phillips' school. Together they reduced the language to writing, began the work of translating the Bible and other Christian books and opened schools to teach the people how to read. As time went by and reinforcements came, the mission grew and prospered. Though for eleven long years no converts were baptized, there were many whose faces were turning toward the Light. In 1827, when Radama died, one of his wives?he had twelve?seized the throne and ascended it as Ranavalona I. Her first thought was to banish every European living in the island, but on account of the training the people were recelv ing in the useful ajts, she deferred this for a time. The missionaries would have been dismissed at once had not the queen in some way gotten possession of a bar of English soap?there was no soap in Madagascar in those days?which pleased her so much that she wished her people to learn to make it. She accordingly asked all the missionaries to assemble'at one place, as she had an Important com- ' munlcation to make to them. Messengers were then sent, who thanked them in the queen's name for what they had done for Madagascar, and inquired if there was anything else mey cuuia t.eacn me people, i'o tnis tney repined that the Malagasy still had much to learn and mentioned several branches, among them Hebrew and Qreek. The messengers then withdrew, but presently returned to say that the queen did not care much for languages which nobody spoke. Was