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December i, 1909. THE PRESBYTERIAJ
DO WHAT YOU CAN.
When the disciples of our Lord criticised the act of
the woman who anointed him, his reply to their words
of complaint was, "She hath done what she could."
The Lord wants his people to be doing Christians.
What we have done will ava51 fnr no ;?
?? u<\y Juu&ment.
"Do what you can," is all that is asked of any
of us. God always holds us responsible for doing
our duty; results we are to leave with him. Christ
asks no impossibilities but accepts your smallest gifts
and humblest services. This woman had done but
little, but that little was considered enough by our
Lord. It was the measure of heart feeling she put into
this service that gave it such value to the Lord. Christ
always recognizes and commends the superior value
of heart feeling over outward acts. Do your duty and
God will take care of results Tt vmi "a
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you could" then the result will be acceptable to him.
Your ability is the measure of your responsibility.
To "whom much is given much will be required." I
passed a home where a gentleman was sprinkling the
lawn. His little girl, a child of about six years, was
helping papa as her chldish fancy prompted. She
would bring her toy watering pot to the father, and he,
reducing the force of the stream, would fill it from the
hose.
It mattered little to the grass and flowers whether
the water which they needed was given through the
large sprinkler or the child's toy watering pot. So it
matters little to the world whether you are a man of
one, two, five or ten talents, so you give it the best you
have. The one talent man giving his best is better
than a ten talent man giving his worst. It is not how
much you give to the world, but what you give to it.
There are a great many more little things to be done
than big ones. Do not forget that the things done for
...*11 t _ r .. ? -
uuibcivcs wm soon dc iorgotten, Dut the things that
are done for Christ are immortal.?New York Observer.
VALUE OF CHURCH ATTENDANCE.
No danger is more subtle or fatal than the philosophy
which disparages the value of church attendance.
Break up the Christian assembly, and Christ's grip
upon the nations is broken. The sense of God and the
sense of sin, the august beauty of truth and the high
dignity of duty, the sweetness of communion and the
raptures of heaven, all these are heightened and made
real in the great congregation. We kindle one another
and lift up one another when as brethren we
meet to meditate and pray.?Exchange.
norxm uiti a t> ?vr< nrn.
uwiiiu TTiini v/nc/ irXii!fA?i?i5.
The man who asserts that he has a right to do
what he wishes seldom wishes to do right. That is
an independence which puts everybody else under
bondage. It is a mistaken idea of liberty that gives license.
One's sphere is not altogether his own if that
of some one else is in part superposed upon it. In a
world of relations and connections, dependence and interdependence
must be marked more strongly than independence.
Any man will destroy his usefulness
quickest by a disregard of the rights and desires of
others.
. % *
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& H
J OF THE SOUTH. 9
"He who always does what he wants is not wanted
very often for what he does." We all love such a man
in the sense that we wish him to be better. The
natural course is to love him at a considerable distance. *
XT -
ino one is attracted to a boor with any strong affection.
Seeing that one esteems another most when that
other has due regard for the rights of his fellow-men,
it follows that one must esteem himself most when
he, too, exercises care touching the privileges of other
people. Recently a friend remarked that the essence
of Christianity is to think of the other man first. Selfishness
and Christianity are as much opposed to
each other as day and night, as much as hemlock and
nectar. By precept and example Jesus Christ has
marked out the way, and the way passes far on the
other side of self-conceit and oppression.?Religious
Telescope.
IRREVERENT PRAYING.
My brother, take heed to that for which thou prayest!
There lies the difference between the pious and
the impious mind. It is not thy praying that makes
thee good?not even thv sinceritv in nrauor t* :*>
^ j --- ^4%*^ vt. xl 10 nol
thy sense of want that makes thee good?not even
though expressed in abjectness. It is not thy feeling
of dependence on Christ. It is the thing for which
thou prayest, the thing for which thou hungerest, the
thing for which thou dependest. Every man cries for
his grapes of Eshcol; the difference is not in the cry,
but in the grapes. It is possible for thee to ask from
thy God three manner of things: Thou mayest ask thy
neighbor's vineyard; that is bad. Thou mayest ask
thine own riches; that is neither bad nor good; it is
secular. Or thou mayest ask to be made unselfish;
that is holy. It is not thy prayer that thy Father
prizes; it is the direction of thy prayer. Dost thou
deem thy child a hero because he asks thee for a holiday?
Nay, though he sought it sorrowing and with
tears. But if he asks thee to let him share his joy
with a brother or sister, then thou art exceeding glad;
then thnu eavpet '
?. jiuuu an. my son; tnis aay have i
begotten thee!" So with thy Father. He waits till
thou criest for a crown?till thou prayest for his presence,
longest for his light, sighest for his song, hungerest
for his home, faintest for his footfall, callest for
his company, tarriest tor his tread, seekest for the sign
of his coming. That will be thy Father's highest joy.
?Rev. George Matheson.
Why will some of our preachers persist in reversing
the announcement of their texts? How can the average
hearer follow "the third clause of the fifth verse of
the thirteenth chapter of Second Corinthians?" The
mind goes roaming back and around, trying to work
it out by a backward movement, and before its search
is over the preacher has given the words and the poor
1!.i - ? *
listener is lost trom the beginning of the discourse and
fails to get into its subject until the preacher has in
some way expressed it later on. A lesson may be
taken from the lawyer's or judge's citation of authorities
in the courts. These always give the book first,
then the chapter, then the particular paragraph or
case.