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J. C.'McMICIIAEL,:: Proprietor.
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TAKE THESE THINGS HENOE.
About six months after the bap
tism of Jesus, he made his first en
trance into the temple at Jerusalem.
Instead of finding it a place whol
ly devoted to the service and wor
ship of God, he found a market in
the court of the Gentiles where men,
by permission of the priests, were
engaged in changing money, and in
Belling oxen, sheep, and doves.
Those who came from a distance
exchanged their foreign coins at a
discount for such money as was cur
rent in the city. The money chang
ers made a profit by the exchange.
With the money thus obtained, oxen,
and sheep, and doves were purchas
ed from those who kept them on
sale in this temple market, to be used
in sacrifice.
The money, the beasts and the
birds were, in themselves, good
things. The temple and the sacri
fices were consecrated to a holy
purpose. So long as the motive in
changing money, and selling the
beasts and birds, was obedience to
God, and the object in their use was
to glorify God in His temple and
public service, money-changing and
selling were approved, when done in
the proper place.
But this, was not the motive, nor
the object, of the money-changers,
and dealers in merchandise.
The motive actuating them was
selfish, and their object was to secure
their personal interests.
They made use of the place to ad
vance the sale of their commodities.
They degraded the house of God
to a worldly purpose.
They made the house of God, the
assembly of his people, and religion
subservient to personal gain.
In doing these things with such
motives, and with such objects in
view, they profaned God’s house and
were guilty of sacrilege.
When Jesus saw what they were
doing,and why they were doing it, his
holyfindignation was roused. He gath
ered up the “small cords” with which
the beasts had been led into the
temple, made a whip of them, drove
out the oxen and sheep, turned over
the tables of the money-changers,
and said to them who sold doves,
“Take these things hence and make
not my Father’s house a house of
merchandise.”
The oxen were useful, the sheep
were innocent, the doves were harm
less, and the money needed for pro
curing the sacrifices to be offered
but the dealers in these things,
not only took no part or interest in
the services of the temple, but were
disturbers of worship, diverted the
attention and time of others from it,
and sought nothing but their own
sordid, selfish ends.
This purging of the temple by
Jesus, has suggested some things
■oticed during the late session of the
Southern Baptist Convention, and
the need to have a like work done
there.
In the yard, in the vestibule to the
auditorium, and in the basement of
Trinity Church, there were a num
ber of tables and stalls where various
objects were offered for sale.
The merchandise consisted mainly of
books, some secular, some religious.
They were, in themselves, all good.
There was no harm in selling them
at the proper place and time.
But we honestly and decidedly
think, and say, that that was neither
the proper place or time.
Why?
For the same reason that it was
not the proper time or place for
those whom Jesus drove from the
temple to deal in oxen, sheep, or
doves.
Those men were there for person
al gain. And so it was at the late
convention.
Except the publications of the
Suuday-school Board of the South- I
ern Baptist Convention, which were
distributed free, other books offered
for sale were the property of private
Individuls, who, through their agents
were selling purely for personal gain.
They were taking advantage of
the great assembly to advance the
aale of their commodities.
They were degrading the house of
God to a business purpose. They
were making the house of God, “a
house of merchandise.”
They took no part in the services
in progress, while they diverted
many others from doing so, at the
same time.
Is there not now needed a whip
of small cords in the hands of some
one who possessing some of the zeal
and courage of the Master would
fearlessly purge his house and with
* firm voice command, “Take these
things hence, and make not my
Father’s house a house of merchan
dize.”’ ‘
. THE NORTHERN BAPTISTS.
Out brethren of the North have
been holding their anniversaries in
Philadelphia, and a royal good time
they have had, if we may judge
from the newspapers. The Ameri
can Baptist Missionary Union had
an admirable report from its board
at Boston. In pursuance of the vote
of the Union at its last annual meet
ing, the work of the year was plann
ed on a scale involving an expendi
ture of $600,000. The actual ex
penses including payment of a debt
of $61,593.94 from the previous
year, was $635,927.24, an increase of
$102,159.09 over the previous year.
'Die receipts were increased $96,998.
72, being $569,172.93. Although
there is a debt of $66,754.31, the fi
nancial result of the year must be
considered a cause for encourage
ment, as the expenditures of the so
ciety have increased $221,416.85 in
the last three years, and have more
than doubled in the last nine years.
It appears from the treasurer’s re
port that the amount received in di
rect donations to the treasury has
been $278,724.24. The women’s so
ciety of the East has . contributed
.$82,670.97 ; of the West, $35,520.28.
- The number of missionaries under
appointment during the year has
been 417, of native preachers, 947 ;
in European countries, 1,083. Os
churches connected with the missions
there are 1,459, of members 163,881;
in heathen lands, 83,597. Baptized
during the year 18,549. Thirty-nine
missionaries have been added to the
force and' 207 preachers; the in
crease in number of churches is for
ty-four, and in members 11,239.
The stations occupied in heathen
lands alone number seventy-three,
the out-stations, 990. Os the bap
tisms 10,971 were from among the
heathen. The scholars in Sunday
schools number 78,187 ; in other
schools, 22,284.
The Home Mission Board also
presented an encouraging report.
The total expenditures for the year
were $448,038.24. For missionaries’
salaries, $207,166.96; for teachers’
salaries, $82,684.34;gifts to churches,
$36,084.90 ; loans to churches, $29,
900 ; expenses of schools $15,140.49;
annuities, $15,908.66; expenses of
administration at the rooms, sl3,
333.17 ; general expense and publi
cation account, $13,171.14; superin
tendents and district secretaries,
$21,771.60. The balance in the
treasury is given as $35,855.46.
The work of the society has been
carried on in forty-nine states and
territories; also in Ontario, Manito
ba, North West Territory', British
Columbia, Alaska, and in six states
of the Mexican republic. The whole
number of laborers is given at 1,053,
being 105 more than last year. The
total membership in churches aided
is 46,624; 4,335 have been received
during the year in baptism, 5,053 by
letter and experience ; churches or
ganized, 119.
The American Baptist Publication
Society report that the total receipts
in the Bible Department for the
year were $21,412.34, of which $3,
200.16 were for reivsion. The pay
ments made were $30,901.85, of
which $2,477.88 was to the Ameri
can Baptist Missionary’ Union, and
SI,OOO to the foreign mission board
of the Southern Baptist Convention,
for Bible work in foreign fields.
The balance on hand for the work
until Bible Day, Nov. 13, 1892, is
$3,932.25. The balance on hand for
Old Testament revision is $1,537.62.
The final revision of the Ameri
can Bible Union version of the En
glish New Testament, by the com
mittee, Drs. Henry G! Weston, John
A. Broadus and Alvah Hovey, is
completed and printed from funds
contributed by generous friends for
this purpose.
The receipts in the missionary’ de
partment for the year have been
$118,415.25, or $22,921.03 more
than last year. Os that sum s3l,
323.56 were designated by the do
nors for permanent funds. The to
tal payments have been $128,909.31;
overdrawing the missionary’ fund
$822.27.
The number of missionaries and
workers under appointment during
die year is 138; by these 17,940 ser
mons and addresses have been de
livered, 58 churches constituted, 695
persons baptized, 376 Sunday-schools
organized, and 531 institutes held
and addressed.
In the Publishing Department the
total sales of the year have amount
ed to $533,656.59, being $4,062.80
more tl.an those of the preceding
year. The receipts in all these de.
partinents of the society amount to
$673,484.12. During the year 124
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX; THURSDAY, JUNE 16. 1892.
new publications have been issued,
396,000 copies. “The total number
of copies of books, pamphlets, tracts
and periodicals, new and old, printed
during the year is 35,403.500, an in
crease over last year of 991,750
copies.”
Os special interest to Southern
Baptists is the following paragraph
from the report: The society, joint
ly with the board of the Southern
Baptist Convention, is engaged in
the publication of a series of gr aded
Catechisms; Dr. Broadus being en
gaged for the preparation of the “in
termediate” numbei of the series.
“Two sets of plates, precisely alike,
with the imprint of the houses were
made, and the cost equally shared
by the two parties. One set of
plates will be used by this society,
and the other by the Sunday-school
Board of the Southern Baptist Con
vention. The price will be the same
in both cases. It is believed that
the Catechism has great merits.”
OUR THOUGHTS OF GOD.
In a recent article on the United
States, “Blackwood’s Christians have
very quaint ideas of the attributes of
God, and are in fact idolaters. Each
has his own ideal god—a flexible
and comfortably fitting ideal god,
who acts at all times and under all
circumstances as his worshipper de
sires.”
So sweeping a charge, of course,
could not have rested, in the mind of
our critic, on any basis of adequate
proof. Manifessly, the malignant
wish was father to the detractive
thought.
And yet we should bear in mind
that what he charges against us is,
in fact, a tendency of human na
ture? ‘Thou thoughtiest that I
was altogether such an one
as thyself,” was the endictment
under which God arraigned
apostates in Israel of old. It is, then
an error into which the enemy of
souls may’ entrap us if we do not
keep guard against his devices in
this respect.
We should bear in mind, too, that
this wrong tendency of our nature is
most likely to work toward indul
gence in sin. The indictment of old
was preferred against those who did
evil things, and argued, because God
kept silence from rebuke and chas
tisement, that he felt no righteous
anger and would inflict no righteous
judgment. We should especially
fear, then, lest this error may be tak
ing root within us, when any pres
ence of sin in the heart or any pow
er of sin over the life which once im
pressed us as inconsistent with the
possession of “the good h’ope through
grace,” no longer troubles the con
science or weekens a shade of doubt
whether after all what we call our
Christian experience may not be a
delusion and a snare.
What we have said is sufficient to
show that this matter is too momen
tous to be summarily and hastily
dismissed. The charge as it stands,
taken as a whole, may be transpa
rently false, but how is it as re
gards each one of us personally?
This, each one must decide for him
self. Would it harm any of us to give
time and thought and prayer and
study of the scriptures to that de
cision ?
May’ we not ask, also, whether the
attributes of God have had the meas
ure of prominence due them in our
pulpits ? One minister, at least, re
calls, as among the most pleasant
memories of his official life, the re
mark of a Christian sister since
“passed into the skies,” after his
labor for a yeaV - or more in a new
field: “God is so different to me
since 1 heard y'ou ; you have given
me a wider, clearer, deeper, more
living,more constraining,more touch
ing ideal of Him.”
Let our people seek for themselves
and let our pastors strive to give
them, more and more, scriptural
thoughts of God. For it is as true
with regard to the vision of faith
here, as with regard to the beatific
vision hereafter, that in proportion
as we “see Him as He is,” we “shal
lie like Him.”
REV. GEORGE WILLIAM GARNER.
Rev. Geo. Wm. Garner, from whom
we print a sermon to-day, was born
May Ist, 1859, in Pike County Geor
gia. He is the oldest of four sons
of John P. and Eliza M. Garner, who
had also one daughter. At the age
of sixteen he made a profession of
religion under the preaching of Rev.
J. M. Wood, D. D., and soon began
an active Christian life for the Mas
ter.
Most of his early training was ob
tained at the plow handle by day,
and the pine knot by night—owing
to the straightened circumstances in
which his father was left by the cruel
war. But endowed with indomita-
ble energy and determination, at the
age of twenty-one he began to lay
the foundation for a useful life in the
pursuit of an education. One year
on the farm and one in the school
was the order until he had prepared
himself partially fox a college course.
During these years of trial and fideli
ty to his God he had some serious
impressions of the gospel ministry.
These impressions were kept to him
self as far as such impressions can be
kept. But that faithful man of God,
Rev. E. M, Hooten, in an inter
view, learned of these impressions.
At once he was licensed to preach
by the Mt. Olive Baptist Church.
Bro. Hooten and Dr. N. B. Drew
ry, of Griffin, Ga., presented the mat
ter of aiding Bro. Garner at Mercer
University to the Flint River Asso
ciation. The plan met with favor,
and by their aid he was enabled to
complete his course in June 1886.
Through the summer he did evan
gelistic work. In the fall he was
called to the Hapeville Baptist church
in Fulton county. Tirzah and Prov
idence Churches in Spalding coun
ty. In the spring of 1887 he taught
the South Bend literary school in
Fulton county, in addition to his
church work. He was convicted be.
fore the end of the term that the
Lord did not intend for any man to
labor hut six days in the week, so he
resolved to cast himself entirely
upon the Lord and devote his entire
time to the gospel ministry.
In 1888 he moved to Fort Valley,
Ga., where he preached two Sab
baths in the month, continuing at
Tirzah and serving also the Rey
nolds church in Taylor county.
On the 22nd of Feb, 1888 he was
happily married to Miss Fanny R.
Cherry an active member of the
First Baptist Church in Macon, and
an efficient teacher in one of thumb
lie schools of that city.
Mr. Garner not enjoying good
health at Fort Valley, accepted a
call to his present field of labor, the
Greenboro Baptist Church and sub
sequently the Smyrna Church for
one Sabbath in the month.
Realizing the great responsibility
of being a servant of a King and fol
lowing such an array of talent as‘
Crawford and Tucker, Strickland
and Straton, Mell, Montgomery and
Ivey, he has gone forth in the
strength of the Almighty, and is do
ing the best work of his life. He
wins his way into the hearts of bis
people by his fajdtful labors as pas
tor, and puts great stress on the
healthy church discipline of our fath
er’s Testament, on building men and
women for God, on prayerful and
earnest attention to the salvation of
the children, and on the development
of his churches on the line of Chris
tian beneficence. There is no
church of its size in the Southern
Baptist Convention that contributes
more to missions and general ben
eficence than the Greensboro church.
In the Georgia Association Minutes
for 1891 credit is given this church
for $3,707.62 cts. exclusive of pastor’s
salary.
The Index has been rather sur
prised at some of the criticisms made
in the religious press in the bounds
of the Southern Baptist Convention
since that grand body held its re
cent session in this city. For in
stance one complains that instead of
a church that would seat only 1500
persons, the committee should have
secured a tent that would accommo
date thousands. Without any at
tempt to answer the complaint we
question the taste and propriety of
accepting an invitation, and after
ward appearing in the public prints
with an indictment of your host.
Would it not have been more Scrip
tural and Christ-like to have arraign
ed us while here with us ? Would'
it not have been more brotherly to
have reminded us privately of our
short-coinings ?
Brethren of the religious press, let
us check up right now, this dis
position to transfer the discussion of
the short-comings, errors, or weak
nesses as the case may be, of our
brethren, to the columns of the
press.
There is no argument needed to
show the necessity, and wo consider
a word to the wise, sufficient.
It seems to be a very easy matter
for an editor to sit in the sessions of
the Southern Baptist Convention, lis- "
ten to the utterances of a brother,
and when the Convention is over,
attack these utterances through his
columns. Is this just to the brother
who had the manhood to speak his
sentiments before the brethren as
sembled in Convention ? Is it right
to thus transfer the discussion to an
other State, and answer or attack
the brother before an almost entire-'
ly different audience? If this is
journalistic ethics, we do not care to
be ethical.
Dr. Lansing Burrows has little
sympathy with the effort to “reduce
the Southern Baptist Convention,”
and thinks they are mistaken w-ho
object to it as “large and unweildy.”
Dr. Burrows has a right to speak
out in meetings. In the Western
Recorder he says : “Somehow breth
ren do not lay stress enough upon
the educational power of Conven
tions. It has been my lot twice to
see the brethren pouring into my
bishopric, and twice have they left
the most blessed influences behind
them. It was a quickening power
here in Augusta, for from the meet
ing in 1885 have sprung all those ef
forts which have developed the
church-life and the missionary zeal
which characterizes the mother
Greene street church. It is worth
all the thought and time and expen
diture of nervous vitality and means
entailed by it. The few unpleasant
things are counterbalanced by the
immense Good. There were a dozen
of my people at Atlanta, and Tt
looks as if I must put the brakes on
them, lest they have a zeal not ac
cording to knowledge. Yes, it was
a blessed thing for us in Augusta
that the Convention came here seven
years ago; the Methodist, brought
their Conference and the Presby
terians their General Assembly, right
after; but I hear folks talking about
that Baptist Convention until this
day.”
Rev. J. 11. Luther, D. D., in the
Baptist Standard, advises the forma
tion of a new convention, not in op
position to the Southern Baptist
Convention, but in harmony with it.
He says: “The field is large enough
for two bodies. Why not have them ?
There is no ecclesiasticism to ob
struct the measure—no red tape—no
church voting—no legal environ
ments. The initial step could be
taken in our Tfxas General Conven
tion with the understanding that if
two other States will unite with us
in the enterprise, committees from
the three states will meet at once
and organize a Board for Foreign
and Home work. If the Southern
Convention thought best it could
commit one section of its work to
the new Board, say Brazil missions;
or the new Board could at once es
tablish an additional mission in Bra
zil and thus inaugurate the new
movement.”
A correspondent asked the Rev.
Dr. Gray, editor of the Interior, the
Presbyterian paper of Chicago,
“When was the first Presbyterian
church organized, and by whom ?”
His reply is as follows:
“The first notice of a Presbyterian
church that we have is in connection
with the burial of Jacob—the funer
al was attended by the elders. The
ancient church was Presbyterian,
and the form came over into Chris
tianity.”
This moves us to remark that the
facetious doctor might have gone
further back and fared as well. Is
it not written that Japheth was
elder in the family of Noah? Even
then, according to Sam Jones, the
palm of antiquity must be yielded to
the Methodists, for they began with
Adam. Did he not fall from grace ?
Dr. W. S. Rainsford, of St.
George's Episcopal church, New
York City, rather rejoices in being
known as the “erratic Irishman,”
and he justifies the appellation by
his latest sensation. He has come
out openly as the advocate of sa
loons to be managed by good men
and to some degree under the patron
age of church, saloons where work
ing men may get beer and light
wines every day in the week includ
ing Sunday. Dr. McArthur hints
that Dr. Rainsford does not comtein
plate anything more than a slight
sensation as we are entering upon
what the newspapers call the “silly
season.”
The Western Recorder seetps de
termined to face the future back
ward. The editor has no use for cith
er modern thought or modern Or
thography. His editorial columns
are set against the fearful innovation
which omits the “u” from “colour.”
We move that the “honoured” broth
er who is “editour” of the Louisville
paper, have full liberty to manifest
jthe “Savour” of his, preference, and
that he be also allowed to express
his “favour” for any kind of “musiek”
found in the triangular selection is
suing from his “Book Concern,” even
if the grand old hymn, “How firm a
foundation,” is tortured to teach Ar
menian heresy.
The Religious Herald has this
opinion: “It may safely bis taken for
granted that the Northern Baptists
will raise their million this year for
Foreign Missions. Here is a Boston
millionaire who gives his son to go
to the foreign field and $6,000 as his
part of the , million; and here is a
brother from Orange, N. J., who has
recently become a Baptist and he
puts down his $5,000 as his part.
The million will come without doubt.
We are not so sure that the Southern
Baptists will raise their quarter of a
million, but we think it will come.”
Yes it will come if our papers and
people will earnestly pull together
this centennial year.
The New York Examiner reporter
is not very complimentary to Dr.
Kerfoot and bis recent address be
fore the Education Society in Phila
delphia, and takes occasion to twit
our Southern educational institu
tions upon their poverty and readb
ness to receive help from the North-
We do not know what Professor
Kerfoot said to justify the severe
criticism of the examiner, but we do
know that Georgia Baptists have only
grateful and kind feelings to Mr.
Rockefeller and the noble society
through which he is doing so much to
place Baptist educational interests
upon a higher plan.
A Kentucky Baptist church has
excluded a minister for “preaching
the modern doctrine of sinless per
fection,” The blue grass brethren
believe in heroic treatment for ec
cliastic ills. By the way we see in one
of the saintly “holiness” organs a
manifest perversion of a prominent
proof-text. In acts 18:2 they read :
“Have ye received the Holy Ghost
since ye believed ?” and draw from
it the argument that we may expect
a second blessing of the Holy Spirit
after we have believed. As a matter
of fact the passage literally translated
would be “Did ye receive the Holy
Spirit when ye believed ?” So the
Revised Version has it.
The State churches must go. The
American idea of a “free church in a
State” is destined to prevail among
all nations. The British house of
commons recently rejected the mo
tion for the disestablishment of the
Presbyterian church of Scotland.
The establishment won by the slen
der majority of fifty-six votes.
The end is inevitable, nor is it in the
far future. The Episcopal church
establishment of England must also
soon succumb to the spirit of relig
ious liberty.
The religious Herald reports an
eminent Northern Baptist as saying:
“You Southern Baptists, now and
then, twit us that you have so many
more Baptists than we have at the
North. If you had as large a pro
portion of foreigners as we, vou
might not have succeeded any better
than we have. What have you
Southern Baptist made of New Or
leans, the only Southern city in
which the conditions are like those
that face us in almost every North
ern city?”
The Western Recorder does not
take kindly to evolution. Witness
this paragraph: Prof. Virchow, the
great German naturalist, in his ad
dress to the recent Anthropological
Congress, declared Darwinism a fail
ure, and showed that the facts are
against it. But this will not prevent
the next callow fledgling from say
ing “all the scholars of the world
now accept the doctrine of evolu
tion.”
Rev. Dr. Joseph Parker, the windy
preacher of London, did not think
very highly of Mr. Spurgeon, and
had little use for the soul-humbling
theology preached in the great taber
nacle. Hence we are quite prepar
ed to read that he recently told his
congregation that he was often
greatly surprised at the sublimity of
his thoughts and the beauty of his
expressions. How is that as an il
lustration of modesty?
The Young Peoples Union, the
precocious organ of the latest initial
society—the B. Y. P. U. A.—is mov
ed to utter this bit of wisdom:
“The pastor who does not lay out
his church work at least six months'
in advance is not fit to be leader in
such serious business as the spiritiual
conquest of this world.” Well now,
really, who would have looked in
that direction for a very “Daniel
come to judgment?”
Our dear old friend of other years,
now the Rev. A. S. Worrell, D. D.,
is publishing a •‘holiness,” monthly
in Chicago. Who that knew him in
the days when with puissant lance
he rushed into the thickest of the
fight as a “Landmark” champion,
would have ventured to prophecy
the end? Nevertheless we love the
man.
When Christian liberalism, so-call
ed compromises the divinity of the
Lord Jesus Christ, then “liberal
Christianity” becomes a crime. Dr.
Lorimer struck a clear note at the
Philadelphia Baptist anniversaries
when he said that* whenever truth
compromises with error, it itself be
comes error.
The recently, elected President of
Cornell University, J. G. Schurman,
is a member of the First Baptist
Church, Ithaca, N. Y. For several
years he has been professor of phil
osophy in the great institution over
which he is now called to preside.
GATHERED AND CONDENSED.
The Mississippi Baptist State Con
vention will be held in July at Me
ridian. The State Board will need
ro raise about $4,500 to meet the
demands.
There were forty ministerial stu
dents in the Mississippi College dur
ing the session just closed. Dr.
Venable has arranged to open a
course of Bible study for them, that
will prove profitable.
The Chicago Woman’s Club have
secured funds enough to enable
them to build a dormitory for wo
men on the University grounds. Al
ready 200 women students have ap
plied for admission.
D. C. Heath & Co., of Boston
have arranged to transfer their pub
lishing house to Chicago and do the
printing and book-selling for the
University.
The department of biology has
been organized at the Chicago Uni
versity, with seven professors and
instructors, C. O. Whitman of Clark
University being the head profes
sor.
President T. C. Chamberlin of the
Wisconsin University has consented
to give up such a responsible and lu
crative a position to become the head
professor in the Chicago University.
Dr. G. W. Northrop, President of
systematic theology in the Divinity
School, Chicago, has gone to Europe
for six months.
It seems that our Northern breth
ren had the woman question to face
in their anniversaries.
Dr. Lorrimer is reported as say
ing that one of the greatest discover
ies of modern times was the discov
ery of woman, and the greatest dis
covery of all time was that woman
had discovered herself.
Pastor Kjttridge Wheeler, South
Church, Hartford, Conn., has been
presented by his church and out
siders, a purse of SSOO.
Rev. K. O. Broody, who is at the
head of our theological seminary at
Stockholm, Sweden, returns to Con
necticut, after an absence of 26
years. His position gives him a
great influence, with the 36,000 Bap
tists in Sweden.
Dr. H. L. Morehouse having re
signed, Dr. C. R. Henderson, of De
troit, Michigan has been made Cor
responding Secretary of the Ameri
can Baptist Home Mission Society.
The Church at Adamsville, Tenn.,
has, through a presbytery, set apart
Brother Walter Young to the npnis.
vy.
~SICKNESS,
It is better to be “shut in” with
God by sickness, than to have health
shut us out from Him. To say this
is easy; and it is easy to assent to it;
but to act it out, not patiently alone,
but cheerfully—that is another and
a harder matter. Who shall attain
to it? But He who gives the lesson
can give us power to learn ; and the
believer, looking back over his path
way through the years, may feel that
the brightest sunshine of his life fell
into the chamber of languishing and'
pain. Nothing shows man his need
of God more than sickness. If Vol
taire spoke the language of the hu
man conscience when he said that “if
there were not a God to punish the
wicked, it would be necessary to in
vent one ;” so a more modern writer
speaks the language of the human
heart, when she makes an atheist,
wrung by the sufferings of a dying
sister, cry: “God! God! Exist!
Stop this agony.” And He who by
sickness shows us our need of him,
shows it that this need may seek
sympathy at his hand, and that He
may give it. He will give it. He
does. If we lack it, there is but one
reason, we put it away from us.
Form am, I'a<t.—There are
“sham battles that give us the form
and semblance of war on land, and
“naval maneuvres” that give us the
form and semblance of war by sea.
But no one derives, or can derive,
from these the name of warrior, he
ro, conquerer. Just as little can the
name of “soldier of Christ” come to
us through orthodox profession, or
outward ceremonial. No: we must
“fight the good fight of faith,” fight
it in deadly earnest, fight it to the
end.