Newspaper Page Text
Jkanu&ry 30, 1912 ] THE
such damage by making full restitution of all
that he had wrongfully obtained. To this he
was obliged to give his unqualified assent. And
so I pressed home upon his conscience the truth
thoroughly complete, perfect.
hi a word, Jesus saves us from wrath, and
curse, and woe; from the hell of fire and its
eternal torments; and saves unto blessing and
blessedness in Heaven, those that trust Him as
the Saviour of simiers. Heb. 7:25, "He is able
to save them to the uttermost (or completely)
that come unto God by Him." His is a complete
salvation.
An Indian, when asked what the Lord had
done for him, gathered some dry leaves into a
circle, and, placing a worm in the center, set
them on fire. As the flames drew nearer on everv
side, arid wprp nlmni -
v , ?.v U?VUI> tv bUllOUUlC tuc worm,
he lifted it out, and placing it safely on a rock,
looked up and said, "This is what Jesus did
for me." Yes, Jesus delivers us from going
down into the fires of Hell, and translates us to
prepared places in Heaven on high.
Hell is a dread and great reality, and those
who will not let Jesus save them from sin shall
most certainly, and of their own volition, go
away into everlasting punishment. And just
as sure as there is a Hell for the impenitent and
unbelieving and evil doing, so sure is there a
Heaven of eternal life and perfect blessedness,
awaiting each and every one who trusts and
obeys, loves and serves, the Blessed Lord.
Is it not worth while then to receive the Lord
Jesus Christ as our Saviour, obey Him as our
I f~ll rr:~ ' -
auu i.uiiu?v xjliin as our example!
Conclusion: It is plain there is no need of
talking to a man about salvation in a future
life until you have talked with him about salvation
for the present life, and not of the latter
'till you show him there is salvation from the
past life, with all its sinful accounts stored up
against him.
Salvation is from evil behind and against us;
from evil within and about us; from evil beyond
and beneath us. Salvation is unto justifi
cation, sanctification and glorification. Salvation
is from bad to good, from unclean to holy,
from defective to perfecting, from imnntpnt tn
strong, from miserable to blessed, estate.
Jesus saves the penitent and believing sinner
from evil, past, present and to come.
And herein appears the practical value of
Christianity, the salvation for the times, all
times, in that it makes ample provision not
merely for the present, but for the^future, as
well as for the past, of sinful man who turns
from his sin unto the Saviour.
It secures a man life unto God, power for
God, holiness of life, cleansing from pollution,
saving from the dominance and habitude of
evil. It secures a man the favor of, likeness
unto, and presence with God. It secures righteousness,
holiness, happiness, and glory in
Heaven as over against nell and its torments(everlasting
punishment).
Jesus by His Death and Life (Spirit), and
Grace delivers us from the guiltiness of sin,
from the power of sin, and at last from the very
presence and penalty of sin; from all that negatives
life to all that gives positiveness to it. The
Lord Jesus puts us in a position where we will
be at our best, and up to our most in living day
by day. Christ saves the life from whatever
tends to misdirect it, mar it, hurt it, cramp it,
kruin it, damn it; and does to it that which changes
it, betters it, helps it, perfects it, energizes
it, completes it, makes it whole, brings it to the
full of its possibility unto God. For error He
gives truth, for enmity He exchanges love, for
perversity (self-will) He offers self-surrender,
for evil doing He would substitute obedience to
the will of the Lord.
(Continued on Page 5.)
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SC
THE WISE MEN AND THE STAR.
BY REV. B. U. FLEMING, D. D.
" U we men from the Last came to J erusalem,
saying, V\ here is he that is bom King of the
Jews/ for we saw his star in the Last, and, are
come to worship him." Matt. 2:1, 2.
Miss Agnes Smith Lewis, whom Dr. W. W.
Moore calls along with Mrs. Margaret Dunlop
Gibson, "the most learned women in the world,"
in a paper read belore the Victoria Institute, London,
says: The Sinai text makes the wise men
say in Matt. 2:2, "We have seen his star irom
the Last and are come to worship him." One
day 1 happened to be transcribing this passage,
and I asked myself, "What can from the Lust
mean? is there any justihcution lor it in the
Greek? Looking closely at the original text, 1
saw that if you take it to be a loose construction,
common in popular speech, you might just as
easily read, "We, being in the East, have seen
his star,' as you might say, "I have seen Brooks'
comet in Cambridge." And at once there hashed
on me the solution of a difficulty which 1 have
often fell. Uow could a star visibly move in
the sky? Aud if the wise men saw a remarkublo
star to the east of them, why did they not go
oh' to India 1 The fact that they travelled to
Palestine shows that the star was in the west
when they saw it. They went to Palestine, over
which the star appeared to stand, and they could
not go further west because of the sea.
it happened curiously enough that Dr. Dcissman
was visiting us at that time, and as he is
one of the hrst living authorities in Biblical
n 1- T . %
vjieek, 1 iook tne passage to liim. He asked me
at once for a Greek Testament, went off to liis
room to look at it, and in two minutes he returned,
saying: "You are quite right, the passage
may be read just as well, "We, being in
the East, have seen his star.' Such loose constructions
are quite common in English."
In the current number of the Bible Student
and Teacher, page 375, the accomplished editor
writes: For the correct reading of the Greek,
translated in the Auth. Ver., "East," see below.
They were not led by the star.
"There are two words in this section (Matt.
2:1, 2) translated East; one the singular and
the other the plural of the same noun. In
tracing the words through the classical Greek
we found that the singular form uniformly
means (with the article) "the rising;" and the
plural form (with the article, "the risings)
uniformly the place of risings, i. e., "the East."
The Maori werp "fmm fVm f i \ .
? I.UU uooi ^ va. J.) ] tuejr
said, "we have seen his star in its rising," or
appearance at some point in the heavens (vs. 2) ;
and then again Matthew says, "And lo, the
star which they saw in its rising (not "in the
East") went before them (vs. 9). Weiss, the
master of textorial criticism, tacitly recognizes
this distinction in his paraphrase of this passage,
although the commentators generally fail to do
so. Attention to the distinction will aid in
understanding this Scripture, and deciding
whether the incident was natural or supernatural."
The star was evidently a "supernatural
phenomenon for their special guidance."
These solutions of a difficulty may aid the
teachers in our Sunday schools.
When you are doing the thing that is right,
which God wants you to do, you are to go
straight ahead, putting in every atom of
strength there is in you, and, having done that,
calmly leave the rest to God. He has all the
money and all the time there is, and at the
right moment will send along his servant and
do,the thing you have been praying for, if you
never consciously asked, but just kept doing.
Probably you did both; they go together.?
Jacob Riis.
) D T E m I
SOMETHING ABOUT DEAF PEOPLE
AGAIN.
Several months ago there was an article in
The Presbyterian of tub South, under the
title of, "How to Be Happy Though Deaf."
The purpose of it was to hand out some bits
of experience that might help others over some
of the rough places in a deaf person's life?for
there are rough places?and it is only by the
help of the Great Guide, oftentimes transmitted
through the medium of a fellow-sufferer's experience
that we find our way across them, into
the path of peace.
Here are a few more thoughts on the subject:
The life of the deaf man or woman is necessarily
a lonely life much of the time; that is, so far
as human companionship is concerned.
The companionship of books they may always
cuuut uu, out tnere are times, almost daily, and
especially during meals, when this loneliness is
especially trying.
A hunger, not only to hear the pleasant chat,
but to take part in it seems to be unappeasable,
and yet one cannot expect those who hear distinctly
to realize this condition. Even if they
do so partially, they easily satisfy the prickings
of conscience by thinking: "Oh, he would not
care for that. It was so trifling." That may
be true sometimes, but you know, "A little nonsense
now and then is relished by the wisest
men;" besides, there are many things mentioned
incidentally that are not so trifling, and not hearing
them places the deaf in embarrassing situations
sometimes.
men, too, they miss?they must miss the coming
in touch with other lives, and love to have
their '' say'' in reference to many subjects under
discussion, but they cannot ''pitch in," indiscriminately,
when they have caught the drift of
the conversation.
it is not to be wondered at then, that very
few deaf people appear cheerful and smiling
in the company of forgetful people.
A deaf woman who had retained her mirthful
temperament, and enjoyed a good joke most
keenly, yet did not think it obligatory to sit
laughing at jokes which the company seemed to
be enjoying hugely, saw some one say: "Tell her
that," and the quick response was, "Oh, she
looks so solemn. She can't enjoy our fun."
What made it more pathetic was that the deaf
woman, who had acquired the art of lip reading,
had seen what both of the others had said 1
She was self-controlled enough to busy herself
with some fancy work, and so spared the others
suspecting how sore her heart was for a little
whilft
Really though, in these days of multiplied
Benevolent Associations, it would seem that
among the many kind hearts that are reaching
out after ways of making others happy, some
might form associations for taking care of deaf
people in society.
To remember them, to get them in touch with
subjects under discussion, to let them talk sometimes,
and to listen when they do talk. All this,
not done perfunctorily, but with the thought in
the heart that " small service is true service
while it lasts," and done for "His sake," may
win the Master's approval.
These few suggestions are made for those who
1 1 * * " "
near, ana wnose kind hearts often pity the deaf,
but have never realized how much they might do
to ameliorate the condition of these unfortunates.
They might, take as their league name, The
Ameliorators! O. D.
For the world is not only saved by Christ,
but is saved a little more by every new man
who stands forth in anything of the power of
Christ.?Charles EL Parkhurst.