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February 12,1913] T H E J
had a missus and a little un, like that, I'd stay
to hum."
Elizabeth smiled appealingly! "John," she
breathed.
"1 know Joe is right, Bess, and I'm going
to stay at home hereafter."
"Bless you, John," whispered Elizabeth.
Then a sleepy baby murmured. "Papa loves
mamma and Elsie again."?Selected.
WHAT THE KINO DID.
DY PEARL HOWARD CAMPBELL.
Among the numerous titles which King
Qeorge received last summer at his coronation,
was that of "Defender of the Faith." There
are various ways in which England's sovereign
may be called upon to defend the faith of the
realm, so the interpretation of it has varied
with the time in which the ruler lived and with
his character.
King George is, first of all, deeply religious
in a simple way and his idea of defending the
faith is to set his people the example of a
blameless, upright life. High in authority, he
does his duty in his own calm, auiet wav.
During his recent visit to India, he spent a
Sunday in rather a remote part of the empire.
The Indian gentlemen were all very curious to
know how he would pass the day. Would he
huntf Would he receive visitors! Or would
he rest! Ilis cares and responsibilities had
been very great. Perhaps he would use this
opportunity for physical refreshment. The
idea that he would spend a portion of the day
in worship never entered their heads.
xet mis is precisely wnut he did. Lake the
humblest of his subjects the King went to
church and bowed in adoration before the King
of kings. The Rev. Fred. Perrill, writing in
the Indian Witness, says that before the service
began, the king spent a few moments on
his knees in silent prayer. Then he joined in
the hymns and prayers, listened closely to the
sermons, seeming in every way to appreciate it.
It was a very bare little edifice, that house
of worship which the king honored with his
presence. The royal seat was no different
irom tne other furniture in the building. There
were no flags, no decorations, nothing at all to
indicate that England's king and Indiu's emperor
was present. The only thing which
might have attracted the attention of the casual
visitor was the fact that when the service,
was ended, the audience remained standing until
the king and his suite passed out.
Mr. Perrill says that "The impression made
At- - T-- t * - -
upon me inuian community was profound.
Many Indian gentlemen inquired of me as to
what the king did in the church. I fancy they
imagined that he would exalt himself and receive
the worship of the people. I told them
that His Majesty knelt and bowed his head in
prayer. They were speechless for a moment,
and then exclaimed:
" 'What, the king actually knelt and bowed
his head!'
"And with one accord they agreed that the
king had done a fitting and a noble thing. With
various Hindustani expressions, that mean
much but which cannot be translated, they indicated
how impressed they were. They then
put a question mat oinciais in inaia would do
well to ponder. They asked:
" 'How does it come that His Majesty stops
at this little church to worship, and the officers
of the government do not regularly worship and
observe the Sabbath day V
"Let government officials, who represent a
Christian king, answer this question."
King George probably did not stop to think
what a service he had rendered the Church of
Christ, or how splendidly he had defended the
faith when he attended public worship in that
PRE8BYTERIAN OF THE 80
obscure, little church. He only followed the
bidding of his honest, religious heart, like any
other devout Christian. Yet the story will
spread like the ripples on a lake, up and down
the length and breadth of India. In the market
place and bazaar, in hut and palace, whereever
men congregate, the tale will be told of
how the king spent Sunday, not in idleness, not
i a. ^ * il - - -
ui icvixauuii, uui in worsuip 01 me one, true
Qod.
Many a native Christian, trying humbly to
follow the Master, will find his faith quickened
by the king's example.?The Advance.
THE AET OF LISTENING.
Of books telling the preacher how to prepare
and deliver his ^rmons there are many;
but of books giving the hearer instruction on
the equally important matter of hearing the
sermon we have very few. Our Lord, however,
in the multiplicity of subjects pressing
Him for utterance selected "hearing" for publicity,
and gave a caution to all privileged, in
every age, to he?r His gospel, that they should
take heed how they hear. Even before Christ's
day the prophet Isaiah emphasized the value
of hearincr Ravine "llpnr nrwt vmif onnl olmll
live." Paul must have felt that his ministry was
not without proofs of failure in a proportion .
of those present in the congregations when he
proclaimed "the Gospel as the power of God
unto salvation," for in his second letter to the
Corinthians are these words: "We are unto
God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are
saved and in them that perish. To the one we
are the saviour of death unto death, and to
the other the saviour of life unto life." Here
the message to all was the same; the passionate
earnestness with which it was delivered was
the same, yet the results were so different that
only a view of 'Heaven and Hell, in vivid contrast,
would enable us to realize it.
The Apostle Peter too must have experienced
a degree of failure in the effects for which he
labored in the presentation of Christ, else he
could not have written, "Unto you who believe
TTo io nMAlAHO T)?? f *1--? ?1? 1? 1 *
.o ^ivkiuuo. uui uuiu Liii'in wiiu ue disobedient,
He is a stone of stumbling and a rock
of offense." Whoever wrote the Epistle to
the Hebrews must have known, either from
personal experience or observation, of the close
connection between the quality of hearing and
the effect of the truth preached. For he avers
that "the word preached did not profit them
not being mixed with faith in them that
heard it.
Dr. Alexander Whito nf
- .V v/A. XJV41UUU1 llliuauu
a preacher in the front rank, savs of the qualifications
for hearing a sermon: "You have to
bring a great sense of your own sinfulness, and
a great hunger after holiness, to hear a good
sermon aright. To hear a really good sermon
as it ought to be heard, demands almost as
much mind and heart; nay, almost as much
sweat and tears and blood as it demands to
compose it and to preach it."
It is to the lack of proper attention on the
part of many of those present at a preaching
service, is to be attributed the absence of effects
which all true preaching is designed to
produce, and the absence of which is rightly deplored.
The Apostle John, banished to "the
isle that is called Patmos, for the "Word of God.
and for the testimony of Jesus Christ," affirmed
that on one Lord'3 Day he heard a great
voice and saw a vision. The voice was that of
the risen and glorified Christ, and the same was
the person in the vision. Through the voice
was communicated to John an important message
to the churches in Asia, and, indeed, to
the churches in all places and ages. But notice
the connection stated between the revelation
received by John and bis spiritual eondi
O T H i (125) 5
lion. He gives this in the phrase, "1 was in
the Spirit." That is, the present world was
shut out his inner life, and the vacancy thus
created was filled by the Divine Spirit; the
apostle was hence placed in immediate connection
with the visible world. And in this state
he was specially fitted to be the recipient of
the honor of hearing the voice of the Revealer
and of transmitting what he heard to the
Church.
T4l P urritot* n f P/inlnoi oof0? - 4 4 V ?
m. ??v ww M. a?vi VI. AJVVlVOlOO ks oaj a i liccp Uljr
foot when thou goest to the house of God, and
be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice
of fools." It is as if he had said: "Don't
allow yourself to be turned aside from the
main object of your going to the place of worship;
it is to meet God in His House, and to
render to Him some of the praise which is
His due. And when inside, be more ready to
hear the message read from the written word,
or spoken by His servant, or communicated by
the silent operation of the Spirit on your mind.
In the absence of this disposition on the way
to, and while in the House of God, your going
to and presence in will be of no avail. Indeed,
it will be the sacrifice of fools."
A large proportion of those who make up
congregations enter the public service without
a previous thought being given of their spiritual
condition. They hence enter with their
minds filled with thoughts which have arisen
in connection with their worldly associations.
and their hearts occupied with other than religious
affections. The objects with which they
have been engaged during the previous six
days thrust themselves on their attention during
the service, and the sermon has no chance
of getting that consideration necessary to leave
its impress on the life.
It is this non-preparation of the hearers for
the sermon which often makes preaching so
hard for the preacher. He knows that what
he is saying is falling on practically closed
cars.?The. Presbyterian. Toronto.
SOURCES OF UNREST.
The eye turned inward upon self is often the
reason for that unrestful spirit in which too
many spend their lives. We want some larger
thing to look upon than self can give. The
search for mere endowment of our lives with
gifts can never long content us. The world
is a smaller thing than the heart of God's
cniia. hatever we seek?whether it be
wealth or power or pleasure, or even the
thoughts and affections of the heart?we come
soon to the limits of content. The child of
God can only find rest in the heart of God.
All literature is full of testimonies to this
inadequacy of earth to satisfy a human soul
and put to sleep its longings. Such a poem
rr TVrmvonn'o '' Pa 1 A ? " 4-1 *?
?? ? j ww?? M. uiuvc v/i iii v iaacs iur 118
theine the effort to find satisfaction in the
highest beauties and gifts of the creative
imagination. The treasures are collected, but
the dissatisfaction is not stilled. The sated
heart is not at rest., It must turn to God and
to the works of God as instruments of help
for others before it can enjoy what man or
God has made in fullest measure.?Ex.
A MINATURE WATCH.
A wealthy resident of Moscow owns the
smallest watch in the world, which once be
longed to the last Empress of Brazil. It was
made in Geneva, by the famous watchmaker,
W. Goeglin, and cost over five thousand guineas.
It has a diameter of one-fifth part of an
inch, and is set in an artificially worked finger
ring, which is studded with diamonds. Geoglin
is said to have worked three years on it, and
permanently weakened his eyesight in the task.
?Coys' WorW