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March 27, 1912. ] THE i
lem for the name of the Lord Jesus, and presses
on.
And now at last he reaches Jerusalem, coinpletihg
the journey he had so set his heart upon.
But what does he accomplish by it? What possible
benefit accrues to the cause of his Master
4- U o .A_ i-L X * 1
iiicic ur ciscwucrc i uu tue contrary, in nis
effort to conciliate the Jewish Christians in
Jerusalem, he binds about his neck the yoke
of Ceremonialism that he had .long since cast
off, and very nearly approximates the practice
of dissimulation for which he had rebuked
Peter at Antioch. The scheme failed, however.
His conduct was misunderstood, or misrepresented.
lie is arrested; put in prison, and his
public ministry is ended.
Not his usefulness; for in prison at Caesarea,
and at Rome, he writes some of his noblest
epistles; but there are no more missionary
journeys. True, he goes on a long journey to
Rome, as he had previously planned. But how Y
As a prisoner. And for what purpose? What
does he accomplish by it? The Church at Rome
luid Ituon fminrlorl nlrnn Axt TKo o +
?v xvuiivtvvi U1L VUUJ . XXIO \J TV 11 gi^at
Roman epistle had already been written. And
his journey to Rome, and his two years' residence
there, had little to do with the subsequent
history of the Church in that city.
Now note these striking facts: From the
time Paul reaches Jerusalem to the end of the
book, the Holy Spirit is not mentioned, or referred
to, except as having spoken through
Isaiah the prophet, 28:25; a passage that has
no bearing upon the question at issue. This
fact is very singular when we remember that
the Acts is pre-eminently the book of the Holy
Ghost. In this book he is mentioned fifty-three
times, but all of these, except the pne just
noted, are in the first twenty-one chapters.
Seven long chapters in which he does not appear
a single time! What splendid opportunities,
too! Before the multitude in Jerusalem.
Before the Sanliedrin. Before Felix. And Festus.
And Agrippa. "Filled with the Spirit,"
he counfounded Elymus the sorcerer, and won
the Roman deputy to the faith; and who can
say what might have resulted, if on these supreme
occasions, he had been under the unhindered
influence of the Holy Ghost?
More striking still is that fact: Up to this
point in his life, Paul is constantly represented
as being in closest touch with the Holy Spirit.
Called and sent forth by the Spirit as a missionary
to the Gentiles, 13:2-4. Filled with the
Spirit, he rebukes Elymas the sorcerer, and
leads Sergius Paulus to a saviner knowledge of
the truth, 13: 6-12. Under his ministry the disciples
at Antioch in Pisidia are filled with joy
and the Holy Ghost, 13: 52. Sent by the Spirit
to the Council at Jerusalem to determine the
relation of Gentile Christians to the Mosaic
law, 15:2 and Gal. 2:1-2, and guided by him
to a wise conclusion, 15: 28. Forbidden by the
Spirit to tarry in Asia and Bithynia, 16:6-7,
in order that he might catch the vision of the
man of Macedonia and be the first to preach
the gospel in Europe, 16: 9-10. Importing the
Spirit to the disciples at Ephesus, 19:6. Repeatedly
admonished by the Spirit of the dangers
awaiting him at Jerusalem, 20:23.
Such is his relation to the Spirit thus far.
but from this point onward, not once is he said
to have been led by the Spirit, filled with the
Spirit, empowered by the Spirit, or in any way
to have imparted to others the graces of the
Spirit. These reiterated warnings are the Spird's
last recorded communication, and from the
book in which he had been the chief factor
be disappears, and the hand that had directed
the apostle's movements hitherto is seen no
more.
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SO
These are the facts as we have gathered them
from the inspired record. Is not the inference
just, if not necessary, that the Spirit had another
and better plan for his servant, and in
prosecuting his own plan in the face of oft repeated
efforts to dissuade him from it, Paul
resisted, and therefore grieved, his faithful
Guide, and deprived himself of his guidance
henceforth ?
Not that he wholly forfeited the Spirit's
* presence and gracious influence. The Spirit
was still his Comforter and Sanctifier. He was
still an inspired teacher. Still an apostle greatly
beloved of God for his own and his work's
sake. Still an eminently successful servant of
God; though he might have been far more successful
had he cast his own plan overboard,
and cheerfully acquiesced in the divine plan.
Athens, Ga.
TODAY.
Where did I lose the key to yesterday?
1 cannot find it. though I've wandered back
Upon the way, and searched, and searched, and
searcnea.
Methought 1 held it fast, and foolishly forgot
That winged Time could wrest it from my
Grasp: There are so many thingB I left undone
That I would do?so many did. I never meant
To do. 1 would correct them all. could I
But ope the door and step me back to yesterday
Again! But, nay?the key is gone?and massive
Bolts and bars, that will not entrance yield,
Forevermore upon the Past have sprung.
But look! 'Twas handed me at dawn?
And He who gave it seemed to me to say,
"Take this key, child, it will unlock, To-day."
I took it trembling?'twas a holy gift?this key
To priceless hours, uncome, untried: And, lo!
About me now in pure array awakes
The morn. Enchanted light and sweetness
Fill the air, and stir my soul with earnest,
Deep resolve. Help me, Oh, God! the Preser.:
To make sure: Mayhap it is my all! The Pah.
Misspent, is gone, the Morrow may yet come.
How passing good to trust me with To-day!
Staunton, Va. Mary E. Edmondson
NEW LIGHT ON AN ACCEPTED FABLE.
(Continued From fsxge 1.)
Poverty, like disease, is an accident, a result of
injustice and oppression, an offspring of social
maladjustment, a social crime, and therefore like
disease, a thing which can be abolished just as
soon as society makes up its mind to abolish it.''
Here surely it is pertinent to ask, How can an
accident be a crime ? If poverty is a result of injustice
and oppression, a frightful wrong, it can
not be an accident. If it be an accident, it must
issue from the unknown and unknowable will of
God, if there be a God; or from the constitution
of the material world, or from some mysterious
combination of God's will and the constitution of
the material world, with which man's free
acrenev is miitp nnwfirlp.ss tr? df>al whpfhor that
free agency be wisely or foolishly, beneficently or
unjustly, exercised. Can organized society protect
itself against God or Nature when either or
both arise to shake terribly the earth ?
Our revolutionists tell us that "there is no
longer any conceivable reason why poverty
should continue to shame the civilization of which
we boast." No reason? The most cogent of all
reasons remains in full force; the grasping selfishness
of the big, bad men with the big, ill gotten
incomes; the men who make and maintain the
social conditions which promote the spread of
poverty. But men are not bad, when poverty is
removed! Quid videst
Enough has been set forth to suggest the practical
remark that the Church should go slow in
adopting this new movement which proposes to
save men automatically by reforming in some
radical fashion organized society. It will be
worth while for the^Church to continue its efforts,
by means of the proclamation of the Gospel with
its warnings and invitations, to have selfishness
removed from individual men, rich and poor.
V T H \-m) 3
Society is an organism. It has many members.
They are all sick. They all need to be healed.
Only as the members are are healed can there be
any well founded hope that the body will be
healed.
The Church is reproached for not reaching the
masses. Perhaps it may be worth its while to
try at least to reach the classes in some effective
way. There are passages in all the Old Testament
prophets, in the teaching of Jesus and his
apostles, that might well be fearlessly expounded
and applied in the churches where the rich and
the powerful gather. These classes need to be
plainly told that it is extremely difficult for them
to be saved; that not many of them are called
unto salvation; that the outcast classes go into
the kingdom of God before them; that they all
need to sell that they have and give alms
and thus provide for themselves treasure in the
heavens. When did any congregation of rich
men hear this word of the Lord pressed home
upon their consciences? "Go to now, ye rich
men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall
come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and
your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and
silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be
a witness against you, and shall- eat your flesh as
it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together
for the last days. Behold the hire of the laborers
who have reaped down your fields which is of you
kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them
which have reaped are entered into the ears of
the Lord of Sabaoth." Or this: "They that
will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and
hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction
and perdition. For the love of money is a root
of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after
have been led away fiom the faith, and have
pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
Still it must be admitted that the Church's
main reliance for converts is among those whom
the rich and the powerful despise as weak and
base. The old morality and the old theology as
Wall OO
we , cru iai a? 11 is true, agree in saying
that God has chosen "them that are poor as
to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the
kingdom which he promised to them that love
him."
Saint Louis, Missouri.
"I THOUGHT OF YOU, MOTHER."
When a boy, Governor Russell, of Massachusetts,
came near being drowned. The boat in
which he was sailing was capsized, and he had
to swim more than a mile; but he finally reached
the shore in safety; and when he reached home
and told his mother what a long distance he had
to swim, she asked him how he managed to hold
out so long. "I thought of you, mother," replied
the boy, "and kept on swimming." The
thought of mother helped him in the moment
of his greatest need, and thus saved his life, not
only to himself and to his mother, but also thp
State and nation. The thought of mother has
saved many boys and girls, men and women,
from sinking. Indeed it has done more than
that. The thought of mother has not only saved
men from death, but it has inspired them to the
most noble and heroic achievements. The
thought of mother's love, mother's life, mother's
toils, mother's endless sacrifice, mother's sleepless
nights for our comfort and safety?thoughts
of these things have helped many souls over the
rough and dangerous places in life, and finally
into Father's house.?Ex.
"The Mission of Christianity sweeps through
eternity, embraces all time, and offers full sal
vation to tne lost, it is the largest thing in history,
the mightiest force in the world, and the
only salvation for men and nations."