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3?? THE PRESBYTERIA
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| Young People's Societies j;
THE USE OF MONEY.
Topic for Sunday, March 20: Money a Cui se or a Blessing.
Luke 12:13-21; Matthew 6:19-21.
DAILY READINGS.
Monday: loot's temptation. Genesis 13:10-13; 19:15.
Tuesday: Blest Abraham. Genesis 13:2, 14-18.
Wednesday: Deceitfuluess of riches. Matthew 13:22.
Thursday: A rich man's privilege. Matthew 27:57-60.
Friday: Proceeds of oppression. James 5:1-6.
Saturday: Gold used for God. Luke 8:1-3.
Money is not in itself an evil. The Bible nowhere pronounces
it such. It is the love of it, the use of it, the lust for it
that does harm.
By money is not meant the mere circulating medium which
people use, but that for which it stands, possession or wealth
in, greater or less proportion.
The gathering of sufficient means to provide for the ordinary
present needs of life is not discouraged by the word of God.
To be "diligent in business" is positively enjoined.
So also the laying by of provision against coming needs is
right in God's spirit. "He that provideth not for his own house
~w.v. utiiicu vuc iauu auu is nuisu 1UUU ail lUIKiei.
Money may be made the medium of blessing to its owner.
If ho holds it as a trust and uses it as such, in a wise and
faithful stewardship, he derives from it a companionship with
God at once elevating and ennobling.
The most practical way of keeping money from harming
oneself is to remember whose it is and to regard it as not one's
own. It is not even ourselves who have acquired it. It comes
of God's hand.
God gave very simple and plain rules as to man's disposition
of his means. "Let every one of you lay by him in store according
as God hath prospered him." The law of proportional giving
is so clear and unmistakable that no one has any excuse in
evading or setting it aside.
If proportionalism is the fundamental principle of giving, it is
but a step to the next question, What proportion? and the
answer is to be found in the divine provision, a tenth as the
minimum. Even if this nronortion be a mere siiccestinn and
not a formal law, God's suggestion should be to His people
more than law!
John McNeill says that the best proof of a man's conversion
is not to be found in his statement of it. "Show me your
hands; show me your purse;" what one does, what one gives,
what one does with the means put in his hands is the proof
of what he is.
Dwight L. Moody used to tell of one of the richest men in
Ohio. He was a life convict in the penitentiary. His lands had
enhanced vastly after he was condemned. There was money
which did its owner no good whatever, showing that it is not
in the possessed but in the possessor that its usefulness and
value lie.
The sp notification of the heart sanctifies the purse. Those
who are "rich towards God" will not be in danger of over-valuing
for themselves the property which God entrusts to their
keeping. No gold is so dull but that it reflects the character
of the man who holds it. That man can never be too rich
whose heart is so true to his Lord that his possessions are
regarded, as his body and his soul, as not his own but the
Lord'si
A HARMONIOUS PLAN.
Instead of being an unnatural plan, the plan of salvation is
in perfect harmony with human nature as we understand it.
Sacrifice is the language of love, and Christ, in suffering for
the world, adopted the only means of reaching the heart, and
this can be demonstrated, not only by theory, but by experience,
for the story of his life, his teachings, his sufferings and his
death has been translated into every language and everywhere
it has touched the heart.?William J. Bryan.
N OF THE SOUTH. March 9, 1910.
I^ssaasasaa """"
Prayer Meeting
CHRIST'S WORDS THE GREAT REASON FOR
FAITH.
Week Beginning March 13. John 4:39-42.
These are the closing words of the account of our Lord's
interview with the woman of Samaria. These Samaritans had
no dealings with or sympathy for the Jews. Because of antip
athies between the two races, or peoples,, they were predisposed
to reject any overtures, religious or social, or civil, that came
from Jewish sources. They were the less numerous and less
prominent of the two peoples and accordingly their wits were
sharpened and they were on the alert against any approaches
that might be made by Jewish teachers. Prejudice is one of
the most formidable obstructions to the ingress of truth and
one of the most powerful agencies in resisting it.
But the effect of this interview was the complete conviction
of the woman of Samaria of the truth of our Lord's teaching
and of her own guilt and need of salvation. Not only was
her mind fllllv norenarloH Vi"? ?<?? 1 "
? r wy uci rnuiai uaiure responaea and
under the exactions of her enlightened moral discrimination
she wa3 contrained to condemn her own conduct and to seek
cleansing from sin. She promptly became a witness for the
truth; an act that tested her sincerity and courage for she
knew that her words would at once excite suspicion; she would
would probably incur the displeasure of her friends and neighbors.
Here courage in witness-bearing under the circumstances
is entitled to our undeserved admiration. The effect, however,
was most happy. Many of the Samaritans of that city
believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified,
"He told me all that ever I did." They came out to meet Jesus
and besought him that he would tarry with them. He consented
and abode there two days. And the effect was that
"many more believed beeausd of his own words." Their crowning
testimony was, "We have heard him ourselves and know
that this indeed is the Christ the Savior of the world." What
splendid testimony this is. In its exact form it is worthy to
be wrought into our confessions of faith ?"? -1?* -
nu vy u contrasts
with some of the vague and evasive statements that are appearing
in the writings of some modern expounders of Christian
doctrine or expositors of the Biblical text."
The Master's words were convincing to the Samaritans and
should be convincing to us. They are words of wisdom. His
enemies throughout his ministry were astonished and perplexed
by the well-balanced, lofty character of his discourse. They
sometimes cavilled or sought to entangle him in his speech
but he answered them with such reasonableness, or scripturalness,
or logical force that thev
? vuiiniseu, or silenced, or
convinced. Sometimes questions of morals were raised, sometimes
questions of tradition or scriptural authority. Difficult
social or civil problems were propounded, problems pertaining
to the heavenly life, the state of departed saints were submitted
to him for solution, His doctrine was always impregnable.
It has stood all the tests of all subsequent time to which it
has been submitted. Science, discovery, advanced learning, the
increasing experience of human history have not only not impaired
or refuted his teachings but have rather confirmed
them. While Pagan religions and skepticism in many forms
have rejected the religion which Christ taught, these have
borne testimony to the marvelous wisdom of this extraordinary
teacher. The best productions of Oriental sages and of Greek
poets and philosophers suffer eclipse 'when brc ught into comparison
with the utterances of the Prophet of
.,UHHICVU, XIIO
leacmngs nave given direction and character to the best
thought and the purest, strongest literature of subsequent
times. Those teachers that have adopted the standards which
He reared have been recognized as instrumentally the moulders
of the best thought and life of successive stages of civilization.
Our Lord's words are words of authority. True, He was preeminently
reasonable and painstaking in His enunciation of
truth. It was enforced by clear logic and appeal to the testi