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VOL. LXXXV1I. RICL
God and ,0?r
11' work is worth doing at all, it should be
done for tile glory of God; and it should be
dune under his guidance and in his way.
The test of the worthiness of a piece of work,
or a line of work is to be found in the question,
What has Hod to do with it ? What place has
shis work in the plans of Hod, and in what way
will it work for the welfare of humanity, and
contribute to the bringing in of the kingdom
of Hod?
Whatever cannot be brought under this classilieation
had better be left undone. Work which
is not for the glory of Hod is sheer waste of
effort, or downright wickedness. A few years
ago 1 heard a Y. M. C. A. worker make the
startling statement that in the city of Chicago,
one out of everv eighteen of the men at work
* " V
was engaged in some occupation which was
destructive to health and morals. The word ;
devil, Greek diabolos, from the verh diaballo,
means slanderer, defamer, that which traduces
and destroys character and opposes
God. So then, that which is not for God | |
must be classified as under the dominion of !
the defamer, the tradueer, the destroyer.' !
i i
When Benjamin West, as a boy, showed re- ;|
markahle artistic talent with the use of ; |
brushes made from the cat's tail, and with
colors given him by the Indians, his Quaker
parents and friends felt that Providence had |1
somehow played a joke on them, and they i |
gravely consulted together as to whether 11
painting pictures was really a useful occu- !
pation. After serious prayer and thought, I!
they decided that the man who painted beautiful
pictures was making a real contribution
to the glory of God und the welfare of men, !'
and the boy went to Philadelphia ot study '
under an artist named Williams. And a
right worthy life-work did West accomplish as
an artist. After studying Michael Angelo in 1
Italy, he settled in Ixmdon, and became a
favorite of Sir Joshua Reynolds. George 111 11
appointed him historical painter. He was >
the first artist who dared to discard the
Greek and Roman costumes in painting his1
.-*4- 3 ,1 J
u'ntni uiuirncifrs, iiuu usl'u luuucru uusiuum
against the protect of Sir Joshua and other
friends, in painting his "Death of General
Wolfe." He produced over 400 large canvasses;
was one of the founders of the Royal Academy,
succeeding Sir Joshua Reynolds as its president.
No one looking at his "Penn's Treaty with the
Indians," or "Christ Healing the Sick" in the
gallery at Philadelphia can doubt that he was
inspired in his work by genuine desire to be
useful in his day and generation.
The Bohemian artist, living in gay irresponsibilitv
n tVlO Tialin nimrfor ol Porio mav amilo
at those sober old Quakers seriously discussing
the ethical and religious significance of an artistic
career; yet many an artist would be saved
i from moral wreckage and put on the road to
|
ihkjle
aL^^WisjK^' SOUTJim
) QENTffAi
^jKfaiThe 4?Qtjm
IMOND, NEW ORLEANS, ATLANTA
^aily Work
usefulness and success, by asking himself honest
ly the .same question.
There is a sac redness about a man's choice of
a life-work. The old distinction between sacred
and secular, between ministry and laity, is lading
out. In true Presbyterian ism, it never existed,
for our deacons and elders, although engaged
in so-called secular occupations, are, according
to Scripture, vested with duties and
responsibilities just jus serious as those ol' the
preacher.
Preaching directly upon the subject of a call
to preach is treating the thing in too narrow a
fashion. Is it not better to preach a great deal
to young men and women upon the choice of
life work? Lf we can induce our young people
GOD PITY US
Is it worth while that we jostle a brother,
Hearing his load on the rough road of life?
Is it worth while that we jeer at each other
In blackness of heart??that we war to the knife
God pity us all in our pitiful strife.
God pity us all as we jostle each other;
uw iiaiuuu us an iur uie mumps we feei
When n follow goes down; poor heartbroken brother,
Pierced to the heart?words are keener than steel,
And mightier for woe or for weal.
Were it not wall in this brief little journey,
On over the isthmus down into the tide,
We give (hiin a fish instead of a serpent,
Ere folding the hands to be and abide,
For ever and aye, in dust at his side?
Look at the roses saluting each other;
Look at the herds all at peace on the plain,
Man. and man only, makes war on his brother,
And does in his neart on his peril and pain,
ShaillPd hv th r? lirntac Mi of crs\ ArtUfn
? w? u?vo v?mv vtvnu va mc [/laiu.
Is it worth while that we battle to humble
Some poor fellow traveler down into the dust?
God pity us all! Time too soon will us tumble
All men together, like leaves in a gust;
All of us hunvbled down into the dust.
?Joaquin Miller.
to honestly submit their lives to God, and lion
4.1-- - -1- xl ' ' ' ? ' ?...
t'suy usk tne question, " \uoru, wiiat wilt thou
have me to do?" we may be sure that the Church
will never lack for preachers, medical missionaries,
teachers in our mission schools, Home and
Foreign, and all the other work which has been
enterprised. We can also be sure that those
who go into so-called secular occupations will
do so with such a sense of responsibilty to God
that they will give liberally of their means to
T ...?i- ? ? hi
i-tu 1 j -Jii uug urnu a VY UI 1\; uty well US glVlIlg 11Uerally
of their time for the work of the kingdom
of God.
If work is done for the glory of God, it should
also be done under divine guidance. If we
do not consult God at every step of the way,
how can we be sure that the ultimate end of
our work will he for the glory of God? More
than we need men who contribute largely of
iiKIAIN
TEfitNPf??S& YTEP/Am
L PftESBYTEfflAN ?
'?M/PR?5BYT?AVA*
JULY 2, 1913. NO.
______ By
Rev. John Calhoun Sligh
iheir time and money to the Church, we need
men who forge every link of their business enterprises
in the fear of Cod. A great merchant
was known to be a man of deep pieYy. An
acquaintance was doubtful how he could attend
to so much business, and yet keep close to God.
lie dropped into ^lie store for several hours;
and noticed that the merchant, at every stroke
of the clock, would go hack into his private
cilice, for a few minutes. And this is the prayer
lie would offer up: *'I^ord, 1 thank thee that
thou hast kept me for the past hour; and 1 implore
thy keeping and saving power for the
hour to come."
One can see a cynical and skeptical smile
at the very suggestion of such a thing. The
^ man who makes his private olliee a place of
I silent prayer will surely go broke! He could
not possibly succeed' So says the world with
trrau omnliuoio ???wl
r. . tt., > nyiMioiii aiiu unailllllll V.
And yet it was nut .so long sigo during the
life insurance investigations and other disclosures
ot' business corruption that an article
appeared in the Wall Street Journal saying
that what the country needed was a revival
of old-fashioned religion, the kind of religion
that makes a man take time to have family
nrilVPIN nii.1 minsne liin> 1"
j ?u*<v* uuno* o xiuii iaj ijuii wur* L'iirL*
; Wednesday afternoon in order to go to prayermeeting.
And only recently in the investigations
concerning the money trust, J. P. Mor,
gan declared that character more than money
' was the basis of credit; that he had known
11 a man to borrow a million dollars upon nothX
ing but personal character.
And in the panic of 11)08, the only man
a who was closed out of business in the town
t where I was then living was a man who was
known to be a hard drinker and otherwise
m inunoral. The wholesale pcoplfe closed lii.n
m out, not so much because of the few hundred
dollars he owed them, as because of the fact.
'? that a man of his habits was sure to go down
> under the strain. And in the same town,
about eighteen months later, the sheriff of the
county went to the bank to borrow $100. The
cashier refused because it was generally known
that the officer was leading a double life. The
sheriff was so deeply stung by this refusal that
soon afterwards he blew his brains out with a
pistol, leaving behind him a letter making confession
of his sin, -warning"the young men of
the community, and adding this significant statement:
"I went to the hank to borrow $100 and
was refused. If I am not. fit to borrow $100, I
am not fit to live." Tf these men had taken
God into their daily lives and work, they would
have been saved from wreckage.
Carlisle says: "Genuine work alone, what
thou doest faithfnlly, that is eternal, as the
Almighty Founder and World-builder himself.
Rtand thou by that; and let 'Fame' and the
rest of it go prating."