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10 (896) THE
up with stately mien, and self-satisfied air and
drop their little penny and go on their way as if
they had done some commendable thing. And
the Lord looked at them with considerable intnroor
WA VOW*
Then he saw a poor widow in threadbare garments
and hunger-pinched face come hesitatingly
forward as if she felt herself out of place amongst
so many of the rich and fashionable society leaders,
and he kept his interested gaze upon her until
she unostentatiously dropped her two pieces into
the box and turned away.
Not a word to either the rich or
What He the poor. But he called his diciples
Said. to him and had a word with them. I
suppose he thought everything ought
J A Alt i 1. J L! A 3 1
to interest tnem 11 it interested mm. auu ne
wanted to think out loud a little where they could
hear. And his thoughts were to the effect that
these out of their much had cast in a little, but
she out of her penury had given all.
Now if we read between the lines we will find,
I think, that he was saying some rather important
things. He is saying that it is not what we give
but what we keep that counts. Generosity is not
shown by the size of your contributions, but by
the size of your balance. Many a man may be utterly
stingy and yet give a sum far in excess of
that given by a very generous soul; the difference
is in what remains. The better off we are the
harder it is to give in proportion, which shows the
grip of accumulating wealth. Many a man excuses
himself from giving his tithe because it is so
large, as if his was any larger than the poor man's,
a tittle is a tithe,, no matter the amount. It will
help us to do right if we take our eyes off what
we give and place them on the abundance that
is left.
He is saying also that the Lord's treasury is after
all but a device by which men and women are
given an opportunity to reveal their true selves.
It is not because he needs that he commands us
to give. But it is that we may have an opportunity
to combat and destroy the utter selfishness
of that humanity from which we all suffer,
our actions where our money is concerned we maniAnr
rno 1 onnls a a in nn nflinr paso. Tlfirf
God and mammon clash, and here we show which
we esteem the most.
And 1 think also he is saying, that we are the
poorer for what we grudgingly give, and the richer
for what goes from us cheerfully. The widow
did not hear him sDeak. vert he did speak to her.
and her sense of soul peace when she returned
to her poor home after doing this great thing
was rich reward. The rich had no such feeling.
Maybe they regretted the pittance they had in decency
to give, and complained in .1 perfectly modern
way that religon cost so much that is the way
they do who pay little. They havj no recompence
for what they do. There being :io Christ in their
gift it is a dead loss. If you vant to grow rich
by your giving there is only one way, put Christ
into it.
The true spirit of this poor woman is clearly
seen in the fact that she gave both coins; had
there been any single speck of pelf in her she would
have kept one for herself. But she had a deep insight
into truth and she could keep for herself
only what she gave to God.
In your offerings, don't see the
A Concluding church or the poor, see Christ,
Thought. and see him looking at you.
GivoHtn the highest way and you
will be blessed.
Then don't measure your gift by that of another.
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SG
You don't measure what you pay the grocer, or
voiir tdilnr t>v ulmf vnnr noitrliKftr tiovo T-Iia on.
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is different from yours, and it is between
him and his creditor alone what he shall pay. So
give to God as you owe him between you and him
alone, and enter into the joy of hilarious giving.
CHURCH WORKERS.
y r
If somebody would give a clear definition of
what church work is and show how all the members
of the church can encacre in that work so as
to be recognized as workers, that somebody might
lie regarded as a benefactor to multitudes who
want to be steadily useful in the church, yet find
no place for regular, overt religious activity.
Appeals are constantly being made for workers.
The rank and file of church members are being
constantly chided for inaction. The ideal church
is described as one in which everybody is at work.
And the average conception of work is, helping to
increase the number of names on the church register.
its financial income and attendance and ela
borating its furnishings and general equipment.
These results are often accomplished by officious
and questionable methods, almost anything to boom
and make a record.
There can be no doubt that there is strong temptation
to encourage this notion of what Christian
usefulness is. The simple explanation is that the
average mind judges & church's prosperity by the
appeal which it makes through statistics, paint and
polish, music and stained glass, to purely natural
tastes and modes of thought. The man or woman
therefore, who is active in bringing these
things to pass is called a church worker.
Let us not be misunderstood. These things
ought not to be left undone wherever justified by
wise discretion and consecrated purpose. Convenience,
ornamentation, spaciousness and other
ministrations to comfort and taste, are not to be
desnised. We can onlv denlore abuse and excess in
these minor departments of church life, as in all
things else. But there are other things incomparably
higher that ought to be done. And these
things are heing realized in many churches which
are suspected of being destitute of typical church
workers. If asked what these are, we answer, they
are "the weightier matters of the law, justice
and mercy and faith."
Are there not churches, many of them, in which
these "weightier matters" are not the pre-eminent
characteristics of those who are counted
workers, which are yet regarded as the live
churches. Tithing mint, anise and cummin in
olden times was somewhat different from calling
the cradle roll and readjusting the choir at
regular intervals in these modern times, but
may have been prompted by much the
same spirit, and certainly neither could com
pare with that spirituality of life which is expressed
in "justice and mercy and faith."
What is church work? An important part of
it consists in regular attendance on the services
of the sanctuary when practicable, and devout
participation in those services. A very important
part consists in the regular and Teverent reading of
God's word and meditation thereon. Another vital
part of church work consists in regular, importunate
and fervent prayer, heart to heart fellowship
with Christ and tarrying long in his blessed
presence. Another great department of church
work is Christ-likeness in daily contact with all
others of whatever class. "Justice, mercy and
faith"?how potent and resistless these are. when
applied as the very expression of oneft 'inmost
> U T H . [July 31, 1912 I
lite, 111 enlarging Christ's kingdom! "Building
up the church," Yes, that is building on a
rock where storms will rage in vain.
Still another part of church work is personal
testimony. The most effective testimony is given
in the silent language of a godly life, such a life
as we have just described, but the heart of a friend
can offer its best testimonial of true friendship by
commending in earnest words the love and saving
grace of the Christ whose very name is the
charm and treasure of the heart that loves him.
The soul that has found the source of endless
joy and tells it to another is a friend indeed, and
is a church worker pre-eminently.
Let us ask again, what is a church worker? It
is one whose life reflects the life of Christ, whose
experience is the product of his grace, one whose
life is hid with Christ in God, one who tells to
the most lowly, by deed and word, in most informal
and unconventional ways, the truth that
sovereign grace saves and keeps and satisfies the
longing, hungry soul. The church worker is one
who walks with God, who steadily grows into the
image of Christ, whose daily life gets its quality
from communion with him, who abandons as worth
less and rejects as injurious everything that would
hinder or interrupt that communion.
It may be replied that this is spritual life'but
there is a church life distinct from this and not
included in it. We answer, It is exceedingly
doubtful. The soul that is illumined by grace, aflame
with love, girded with truth and energized
through faith is the one that is best qualified to
tithe the mint anise and cummin, The believer
who has Bought first the kingdom of God and
his righteousness is the one that will have all needed
temporalities supplied. The church in which
God dwells by his Spirit is the one that will conduct
its worship and work most nearly according
to his will. The church needs pervasive godliness
wrought into the very fabric of the soul for more
than the latest methods and appliances. It should
have proper organization for efficient service, but
its functions are spiritual and its pre-eminent requirement
is to be endued with power from on
high.
THE COUNTRY CHURCH.
The religious problems of the rural districts is
looming large these days. The theoretical settlement
of it, in central committees located in the
great metropolis is very fine, and the handling of
"the outstanding questions" very philosophical and
the analysis of figures and reports very learned
and acute, but the actual facts are none the less
present and none the more remedied.
In some sections the effort to maintain and develop
the country churches has been practically
abandoned. The drain upon the churches has so
far exceeded all possible accretions that it has
seemed useless to try to maintain them or to
prosecute new work in similar localities. The ef
fort of more social features, to induce strong
preachers to man them have thus far effected little.
The real difficulty seems to be as far as ever
from a practical solution.
Th? causes which have lately contributed to the
greater social life of the country, such as telephones,
rural mail delivery, and the speedy automobile,
have done much to break up the isolation,
but they have in many cases only added to the
facility with which people get to town and find
tneir social me there, and so far from strengthening
the country churches have but complicated
the problem. In the country everything faces cityward,
and so strongly that all efforts to make it