Newspaper Page Text
r # >
VOL. LXXXVII. RICHMON
The Appea
Publication specially requested by tbe Ladles'
Missionary Society of the First Presbyterian church
of New Orleans, La.)
John 10:38: "Believe the works."
There is a wonderful pathos in this situation.
There is a tremendous A4?r#?erru?nt an il^noiafiWA
_ _ _ 0 - uu A* J. vmouuiv;
appeal?'both to faith and to common sense. The
Master is at this last resort. The Militant Prince
of Peace entrenches himself and his cause at the
last ditch, here. His back is at the 'wall, against
the world. He lifts his last weapon?"Believe
the works."
In his conquering, loving approach to the human
mind and heart Jesus Christ used three
great lines of flHvnnno v-~ ??J Al '?
_ _ *- not, uc uscu iue ringing
testimony of the Propberts of Israel, culminating
in that of John the Baptist with its
supreme climax, "Behold the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the world."
Second, there was his own declaration, speaking
as never man spake, of himself and his mission:
"I am the light of the world," "I am the
door," "I am the Good Shepherd," "I am the
way, the truth, and the life," "I come to seek
and to save that which was lost," "I am come
that men might have life, and that they might
have it abundantly, "I am the Son of God."
Third and last, when the minds of men refuse
to yield up their stubborn, selfish nreiudices
and their hearts rejected these great overtures
of love, he urged in final approach against skepticism,
indifference and unbelief.
HIS WORKS.
"Regard, if you will," he practically says,
"all that the Prophets and John said of me as
empty doctrines, or my interpretation of their
messages as false; of my own testimony of mv
self, say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified
and sent into the world, thou blaspbemest;
because I said, I am the son of God; but, If I <lo
not the works of my father, believe me not, but
if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the
works that ye may know and believe that the
Father in in me, and I in him.'' From that final
argument, those living concrete proofs, to be
consummated and sealed with his own blood,
there was, there is, no alternative resort but the
stupid, brutish one of foolish physical violence,
the mad clutching of the stones to hurl at him,
and?The Cross.
"Believe the works!" That final appeal of
the 'Master-Workman to men's minds and hearts,
he presses to-day as insistently as in the days
of his flesh, and with a measureless emphasis in
the ever accumulating achievements of nineteen
centuries of his Mediatorial power. No longer
from the restricted area of the Holy Land, with
Old Jerusalem as a center. don? h? Trvairflhnll hin
^hxl-wrought works, but "From Greenland's
mountains to India's coral strands, where
Africa'8 sunny fountains roll down their golden
sands," from the islands of the seven seas, aye,
mbma. \m j mc \crv//r/
BS5mWg7 \f The sou j.
D. NEW ORLEANS, ATLANTA, FEBR1
1 Irresistible
from the literal "ends of the earth," to-day,
my brethren, he summons yofar attention and
faith by liberated millions, by civSiLzed nations,
bv VftniRKilllT PttOwniomo ? ? ?? ?J
, ?e . ueuiuiuiu>, ltjt mrni, wvuieii alia
children redeemed in every land-^es, the
very dogs of Uganda in "the open sore of
the world" have learned the difference?to "believe
the works."
Unmistakably, the Prophets of old;- spokesmen
for Rod, whose words are in our mouths,
have uttered the Almighty Decree, so that it is
more than poetry and music we sing:
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does his successive journeys run;
His Kingdom stretch from shore to shore
'Till moons shall roax and wane no more.
MY MISSION
I was longing for a mission?
Fancy made it something grand?
Something that would win the praises
Of the world on every hand.
So I squandered time in waiting
For the chanee that never came?
Quite forgot to think of others
Tn 1~~~: ? f
iu uij iuugui|{i> aiier ianit1.
But one day I had a vision
Of the needy ones near by? i
Of the hearts that starve with hunger
Till they faint, and fall, and die. ,
Starve for little deeds of kindness,
Or a word of hope and cheer,
And the smiles that cost so lijttle j
But can make it heaven here. ;
Then it was I found my mission?
Knew what work God meant for me,
II Ana 1 cried, "Forgive my blindness.
Now, at last, thank God, I see!"
And my heart, that had been selfish
In its longing to be great, 1
y great fields of labor waiting
For me just outside my gate.
So I seek to scatter sunshine <
In a dark and cheerless place,
Loving words have given courage; 1
Smiles have cheered the tearful face. i
In the joy of helping others I
God's good time I waste no more ;
Since my life has found its mission
Waiting at thevery door. <
i
Ebcn E. Hexford in The Christian Herald. i
m '
uoo ^
Men may, and alas! men do, even many of his I
professed disciples, regard ail this that the
Prophets have spoken of him as an iridescent j
dream. j
More -widely, too, to-day than when he lived >
among men have been proclaimed the M1aster's 1
own words as to himself and his mission: and, f
tnark you, these are just the words of the v
sacred record against which a rampant dis- a
tinctive criticism gnashes its teeth in impotence. (
YTEPlA/sh
hl Presbyter/an <c
'HrfPM 72fZ>?-cD\s-rc r->/ a a/
i n**if w * * f * cyr/*i/w
U ARY 26, 1913. NO.
Rev. G. H. Cornelson, D. D.
Yet, there are many even among those who never
think of denying what Jesus has claimed for
himself that refuse him that necessary ?nd
liwinfll aptivp faith ^""-1 ?1 1? J
ucmauucu uy uiese sovereign
claims he urges fur himself: "I am the light
of the world," "Come unto me, all ye that labor
and heavy laden." *
Still, Jesus hath another hold on us, this final,
inescapable appeal to our minds and hearts.
Prom what we call the Foreign Mission fields,
though never so called by him, for him "The
field is the world," he increasingly demands
of us and of all men, "Believe the works!"
Ah! my brother, I challenge you in the name
of our Master, these works of his in "the fester.
ing heart of heathenism," as we so lightly term
the non-Christian lands, are overwhelming.
Men, by the score, esteemed in business, politics,
and society for their security and critical
acumen have been unable to resist any longer
this final approach of Jesus to their minds and
hearts. In a recent issue of The Continent there
comes ths personal testimony of a converted
skeptic:
A certain eminent son of "Wisconsin, who has
been in more than nn<? crvnt ?n '
_r.. uu uic givuc n surface
where but two or three hardy white men
have ever ventured, and whose books are accordingly
known and quoted the world over, had an
experience some little time ago which, as he himself
frankly says, converted him.
Formerly a professor of the not uncommon
creed that whatever religion any people have is
"good enough for them" and that there ia no
reason why the tenets of Christianity should be
substituted therefor, he found himself in China
roceutly, and was granted an audience with one
of the two or three men who are known to world
"ilL- 1 ' ~ "
uuLtaincii us me nrains of Utnna of to-day and
to-morrow."
The proper intercourse of honorific greetings
was followed by eager questions aa to the state
[>f China, and finally the traveler asked what, in
the mind of the distinguished Chinese, was the
principal need of China to-day.
Instantly came the answer, "Christianity, of
course."
"Yon astonish me," said the American. "I
bad supposed you would have named new business
methods, a new and progressive administration,
education, or such things? May I ask why
you sav. * ChrisrKnnii*.*- ????>? "
J V. ?, wx WIUI BC I
"Because it is the only thing that goes deep
jnough," said the eminent Oriental. "China
leeds all those things you mention, and many
nore, but it needs Christianity first, because that
mderlies all the rest. Take a single instance.
We have gold mines in inner China of which T
mow well, and which would make your Klondike
ook, as you say^like 30 cents.' It is gold which
s easy to work. But we cannot work it. Why
lott Because if we were, to fill our canal boats
u>l of it and start them toward the coast, every
rillage mandarin through whose boundaries our
joats passed would extort his bribe to let them
>ass, and every other official, little and bi|g,
vould as you say 'get his,' too, and when we
cached the coast we would have no gold at all?
nd would be lucky if we still had the boats No,
liina can never be reformed until it has a new