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February 9, 1910. THE PRESBYTER!
"World's Congress of Young Women's Christian Association
will convene; and all these will climax in the
World's Missionary Conference in the city of Edinburg,
in which the greatest thinkers and scholars and
leaders will meet together, pray together and plan together
for the carrying out the slogan: The world for
Christ in the present generation!
T1 i-l ? ? ? ? - * *
?uc=?c meetings may not ne puDiisnea so noisily as
others, but from them, no doubt, in the province of
God, will issue streams that shall refresh the earth, and
Hood the world with the knowledge of Jesus. I am so
glad that it is the privilege of each one to have a proportionate
share in these great world movements, and
that each one can give, go, or send. That in the King's
business each one can have the joy of service, of living
a life of trust and devotion of augmenting all spiritual
tides with bounding hearts and the rills of your beneficence.
May God burn in all hearts
x ne magnitude ot i-Tesent-Day Opportunity
in meeting the world's needs. This is the opportunity
of a life-time. To enter as a factor for righteousness,
to see the stategic time, to consecrate talent, time and
money for the extension of the kingdom is to have the
joy that can only come from a consciousness of duty
well done.
O that God may lay upon the hearts of His people
the opportunities of the hour! For it's coming! The
dawn of the day of the Lord, the sounding in the mulberry
trees, the coming of the universal reign of the
T? T J i i
ivuig. liven so, j_oru, come quiCKiy'.
Union Springs, Ala.
MEDITATIONS ON THE LORD'S PRAYER.
"Thy Kingdom Come."?A Missionary Meditation.
The phrases "Kingdom of God," Kingdom of Heaven,"
and "Kingdom of Christ" are of frequent occurrence
in the Bible, and all refer to the same thing,?the
reign of Christ in the hearts of men.
When questioned by Pilate, Jesus distinctly said that
as He was "one with the Father," His Kingdom was
the Kingdom which he had come to set up, was "not of
this world," but a spiritual Kingdom,
that of which Daniel so gloriously prophesied: (Dan.
7:14;) an everlasting kingdom, (2 Tim. 4:18); a glorious
kingdom, (Psa. 145:12) ; and it was also the kingdom
that was promised to them that love Him
(Isa. 2:5.)
Our Blessed Lord had romp tn pctahlicl"! itlic Uitinr
?
<lom, and, in giving this petition to the disciples in
response to their request: "Teach us how to pray," He
showed them that if they loved Him, if they desired to
pray aright, they must pray for the coming of that
Kingdom, not only in their own hearts, but in the
hearts of all men.
Among the Jews there has been a saying. "He prays
not at all, in whose prayer there is no mention of the
Kingdom of God."
Robert E. Speer, in his splendid booklet on "Prayer
and Missions," says:
"Eighteen long centuries of waiting, during which
_ _ O' O
His Kingdom has not come, are alike the evidence and
the result of the absence of expressed desire that the
King and His Kingdom should appear. Perhaps more
so now, than for years, yet very little even today does
[AN OF THE SOUTH 167
the long cry arise: "Thy Kingdom Come," not only as
an inner advent to hearts in Christendom, but over all
the world."
Our Saviour distinctly commanded His disciples to
pray for laborers to this end: "Pray ye, therefore, the
Lord of the harvest that He would send forth more laborers
into His harvest." And who can estimate the
power of humble, faithful prayer?God commanded
prayer in the evangelization of the world!
Says Dr. A. T. Pierson "The Church has two comparatively
unused mottoes: the power of consecrated
money, and the power of covenant prayer. The possi
unities ot either has not yet been fully proven. How
long shall it take us to learn that the grand inspiration
to missions, the world, and to all missionary spirit
and sacrifice in the Church is prayer? Not appeals to
men, but to God."
What true heart can look forth upon the seething,
groaning mass of humanity, with all its desperate misery
and hunger of body and soul; its need of uplifting
and cheer, without conscious longings for the coming of
that "everlasting Kingdom, wherein dwelleth righteousness?"
And whose heart does not cry, in view of
all this:
"Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly."
But when our Lord commanded His disciples to pray
for more laborers, He did not release them from the
obligation to do more than pray.
T T ? -1 - 1 f. . I - ? ? - * -
rae snoniy aiter tnat sent tneni tortli with that other
great command,?His farewell order: "Go ye into all
the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature."
Did you ever realize that our Lord's promise to be
with us alway was conditioned upon our obedience to
this command? "And lo, I am with you alway even
unto the end of the world."
Ruskin says "If you do not wish for His Kingdom,
do not pray for it, but if you do, you must do more
than pray, you must work for it."
It is hard to believe that one could pray devoutly and
earnestly for His Kingdom, and not work as well as
pray. Do what? you say.
It is true that the great majority of us can not go,
nor, are we indeed called to spread the Gopsel of the
Kingdom in far-off lands, but our obligation to these
still exists. By intelligently informing ourselves as to
their needs, and as to the work of others for them, we
may be able to pray intelligently and hopefully.
When we pray "Our Father"?may we not include
these far-off wandering ones?
Then, even if we can not go, we may share in the
great privilege of this work by giving to send others.
With many this can only be done by sacrifice and
self-denial, but it is still a privilege.
Sarah ITosmer, of Lowell, Mass., although a poor wo
man, supported a student in the Nestorian Seminary,
who became a preacher of Christ. Five times she gave
fifty dollars, earning the money in a factory, and she
sent out five native pastors to Christian work.
When more than sixty years old, she longed to furnish
Nestoria with one more preacher, for Christ, and
living in an attic, she took in sewing until she had
i:_i i i _i :_i?i T ? -1 i ? '
ueeuiupwsiicu nci ciieiisucu purpose, in ine nanas OI
this consecrated woman, money transformed the factory
girl, and seamstress into a missionary of the Cross,
then multiplied her six-fold."*