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THE CHUROH. AND ITS OONOORD.
The tendency of mind is toward
association with mind. The desire
of society is an inherent and indes
tructible element of human nature.
“The two main properties of man,”
says More, “are contemplation and
sociableness, or love of converse.”
The heart, isolated from its fellows,
feels that violence has been done to
a fundamental law of its constitution
—the impulse which must always
urge it to hold in high valuation the
fellowship of the souls around it, as
an indispensable requisite to its own
personal felicity: it must enjoy them
that it may fully enjoy itself.
It is fair to demand, then, that re
ligion, if it claim acceptance as a
system adapted to our nature and
our needs, must adapt itself to so
obvious and so important a feature
in the economy of the human intel
lect. And we find, therefore, that
the Bible everywhere regards man
as a social being. It is in this char
acter that Christianity imposes on
him bis most solemn duties, throws
around him his most exalted privi
leges, ami inspires him with his most
relined enjoyments. In the Lord’s
prayer we are instructed to say,
“Our Father who art in heaven,” to
remind us of the equality, the union
and the sympathy which subsist of
right among all who come into the
divine presence ; to give us a pledge
that the lost brotherhood of the race
shall be regained' by believers at his
feet. A strong and perhaps not in
accurate expression of this truth
gave birth to Methodism. Wesley
formed the little society of fifteen
fellow students at Oxford under the
force of a remark made to him by a
Christian more mature than himself :
“You wish to serve God and go to
heaven ; remombor that you cannot
serve him alone; you must therefore
find companions or make them; the
Bible knows nothing of solitary re
ligion.”
The religion of the Bible, there
fore, means not only a personal
character, but a social relation; it
means a social relation based on a
personal character. A moment’s
thought will show this. With every
change of the purpose for which
they arc created .societies take new
forms, find new centres of attraction,
confers tho supremacy of new prin
ciples of organization, of vigor and
infirmity, of growth and decay, of
perpetuity and death. Literary so
ciety has elements of vitality and
efficiency peculiar to literature; com
mercial society elements of vitality
and efficiency peculiar to commerce j
religious society elements of vitality
and efficiency peculiar to religion. A
church i s a religious society, and
must, therefore, exist on religious
principles, its own distinctive ele
ments. But religious principles are
sufficiently defined for our present
purpose as right states and affections
of the heart, Godward and manward
Os course, a church is an association
of persons, the states and affootiions
of whose hearts are right; right and
therefore, accordant; right, and
therefore, co-operative; right, and
therefore through their alikeness at
peace. 'This is the ideal, this is tho
true church. As there can be no
literary society where there is no
cultivation of the mind, or habit of
study; and as there can bo no com
mercial society when there is no cap
ital, and no labor, no manufacture,
no tillage of the soil, and no ex
change, so there can be no religious
society—no church—where this pur
ity and this fraternity of the states
and afflictions of the heart are want
ing. Without these there may be
the name of the church, there may
be the creed of the church,there may
be tlio ceremonial of the church,
there may bo the personnel of the
church ; in a word, there may bo tho
body of jtho church; but the church
itself, the life, tho spirit of the
church, there is not and there can
not be.
This representation of what is es
sential to religious society, or tho
church, combines purity in personal
character and fraternity in social re
lation. The combination is not cas
ual, but vital: it is in the nature of
things and not simply in our way of
Stating them. For good, especially
good as deriving existence from the
spirit of God, preserves and must
preserve concord through the whole
range of its principles and exercises
That which is right and holy can
never bo at war with that which is
holy and right, since this would be
no other than to be at war with it
self and with its author. The har
mony of the church, as a rule, is in
proportion to its holiness. The
church’s dissensions furnish a fair
standard for the admeasurement of
its defilings. According to the apos
tle James, the wisdom that is pure
is also peacable, gentle and easy to
be entreated. And where envying
and strife is, there, he tells us, is not
only confusion, or tumult, or un.
quietness, but every evil work.
What weight the foregoing con
siderations, grouped together, attach
to the exhortation addressed by Paul
to the saints in Christ Jesus at Phil
ippi: “Do all things without mur
merings and disputings, that ye may
be blameless and harmless, the sons
of God without rebuke in the midst
of a crooked and perverse nation,
among whom you shine as lights (as
luminaries, and heavenly orbs) in the
world,” Phil. 2 :14, 15. Picture to
yourself a church in which this coun
sel is faithfully and universally ob
served. A church in which there is
no variance, no discord, no jar, no
faction, no feud; a church in which
“all kindly think and sweetly speak
the same,” while “often for each
other fiows tho sympathizing tear;” a
church in which differences of opin
ion never induce estrangement of
feeling, nor diversities of taste swell
into opposing currents of action ; a
church in which the affliction or the
reproach or the loss of one is the
grief of all; in which to every indi
vidual as dear and as sacred as his
own reputation is the reputation of
the entire membership; in which
every brother has the heart of a
brother indeed and every sister the
heart of a sister indeed! Ah, if we
could paint these things instead of
simply speak them, kindling with the
view, the soul might well take fire
and the bosom glow with intense and
unutterable emotions. Surely, an
gels themselves might linger in the
midst of such a church, half-willing
to forsake for its communion the
communion of their own celestial
hosts.
Is your church, a church of that
kind, reader? If it is, how far was
it you that made it so, and how far
is it you that keeps it so? If it is
not, what had you to do with pre
venting it from reaching that state,
and what have you to do with suffer
ing the years to roll by with never
an effort to reach it? These are no
trivial questions. They have to do
with the great and vital truths
which are the only reasons why
churches should bo churches at all
or why Christians should be Chris
tians at all. For many, alas, there
lie in them unrecognized because un
sought proofs that their place and
portion are amohg those illusions of
the spirit which are sadder than the
saddest illusions of the senses; that
is to say, among Christians that are
not Christians and churches that are
not churches. May wisdom be
granted us to look on them with
something of tho solemnity which
shall clothe them at the judgment
seat of Christ, where in tho words of
tho apostle we must all appear—
“must all bo made manifest”—
“must all bo turned inside out.”
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
Prof. William Arnold Stevens, of
Rochester Theological Seminary, ex
presses, in the Homeletic Review’ for
September, the opinion, that “taken
as a whole, the Acts of tho Apostles
is tho least read book of tho New
Testament.” We do not know by
just what lines of proof ho reached
the conclusion as to this special neg
lect of tho narration of life and ex
perience among believers during the
thirty-three years immediately fol
lowing the thirty-throe years of our
Savior's sojourn on the earth, of
which the four Gospels give us such
record as was divinely deemed meet.
But so far as the neglect exists, w e
share his regrets over it: “we beat
the breast as he wails to us.” (Matt.
11 :17.)
This neglect obscures, as ho says
two points of doctrine “calling for
urgent emphasis never more than to
day, as standing in vital relation, and
only to each other, but to the pres
ent cxegencies of Christian thought.”
: Acts, he tells us, “is the book of the
Holy Spirit,” and he counts it “not
too much to say that its twenty
eight chapters afford a greater abun
dance of information on the work
and methods of the Spirit than anv
other book of the Bible.” Acts also
“is the book of tho Church,” a body
of believers of which the agency of
the Spirit was the organizing princi
ple, in its fundamental idea a witness
ing body, and through its fidelity to
that idea emphatically nnd distinct
ively a missionary church. Surely,
it requires no second glance to as
sure one that these are momentous
1 departments of religious inquiry, car-
I rying in themselves the weightiest
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBERIS. 1892.
dissuasives from neglect of that por
tion of Scripture which constitutes
our principal source of knowledge
respecting them.
But in addition to the inherent
importance of these two themes, we
have a further reason for searching
out the fullest light that the Script
ures shed on them. In his “Ancient
Christianity,” Isaac Taylor makes it
undeniably certain that there was an
apostasy akin to the Roman but ear,
lier ;an apostasy before the age of
Constantine and Nice, and setting
its mark on the three centuries im
mediately succeeding the close of
the Scripture canon. According to
Taylor, the apostasy resulted from
the leaven of oriental philosophy in
its Gnostic forms which crept into
the teaching of the churches, bear
ing fruits of sacramentalism and as
ceticism. According to Dr. A. 11.
Lewis, as indicated by the title of
his recent work, “Paganism Surviv
ing in Christianity,” it resulted from
a much more general influence of
Pagan thought and Pagan institu
tions on the belief and practice of
Christians. But explain it as we
may, the fact of such an apostasy, so
early, so widespread, touching ques
tions so vital, must seriously dis
count the testimony of antiquity on
doctrinal and ecclesiastical matters.
It shuts us np more and more to the
Sacred Volume as our only safe
guide, and renders it doubly crimi
nal on our part to neglect the light
shed by Acts on the doctrine of the
Holy Spirit and the Christian
Church.
We are inclined to think that this
neglect had much to do with that
early declension from the purity of
the faith. When Chrysostom says
that “there were many among his
hearers to whom the book was not
even known, while many again
thought it so plain that they slighted
it,” one cannot well help feeling that
if the case had been different, if
there had been a better knowledge
and a more just appreciation of the
book, the faith of Christians would
have been less vulnerable to pro
cesses of corruption.
Nor is it unlikely that this neg
lect, if we perpetuate it in our own
case, will be judicially avenged on
us, as it seems to have been on
the ancient church. It may deliver
us into the hands of the old error
under aggravated forms, or into tl;o
hands of errors worse and more dead
ly than they.
We hope, therefore, that tho stud
ies of our Sunday-schools, for what
remains of the present year and for
part of the year to come, in the book
of Acta will secure special attention,
not frem teachersand scholars only,
but from the membership of tho
churches at large. We are in the
habit of saying, and we say justly
that Acts is a Baptist book. But
there is another thing which we
would more like to say, a deeper and
a higher thing, namely, that Bap
tists are an Acts people. Per
haps, we shall make some progress
in that direction if, for a reason, it
becomes to us all (not tho least but)
the most read book of the Now Tos
t ament.
THE GO3PEL SOLUTION.
Tho solution of the labor problem
is confessedly one of the most per
plexing questions appealing to politi
cal economists for settlement. The
Carnegie troubles at Hempstead, tho
mining outrages in Idaho, tho rail
road strikes in New York, and the
lamentable disturbances in Tennes
see, all force this problem to the
front in the minds of all who
thoughtfully contemplate our coun
try's future. How shall tho ques
tions involved bo met? If tho liber
ties of our free land are to be per
petuated, tho murmuring discontent
and overt acts of labor cannot always
be silenced and crushed at tho point
of the bayonet. Present efforts to
“put down the turbulent laboring
classes” scannot long be successful.
There is an irresistablo power for
wreck and ruin in those classes when
roused to hate and fury. The track
of human history is strewn with ovi.
donees of the final failure of brute
force as tho solution of social prob
lems. Tho fearful “reign of terror”
in Franco was the legitimate out
come of the relentless despotism of
the privileged classes against the
masses. It is common to say harsh
things about the blooody actors in
that era of unbridled ferocity, but
thoughtful students of the history
leading up to 1790 in Franco easily
see the inevitable outworking of the
inexorable law of cause and effect.
Tho vials of wrath have been poured
out in historic pages upon the simple
peasants of Germany who rose
against their titled oppressors in
1525. Impartial judgment to-day is
compelled to decide that, in spite of
the excesses to which their phrenzy
may have given birth, those peasants
were in the’main right in their de
mands. The rebels of to-day are
the patriots of to-morrow.
Christian thought, at least, should
approach the consideration of our
present problems in the spirit of
Christ, and Christian statesmen
should seek the solution of them
upon the principles of immutable
right. The golden rule of Jesus
should be the regnant law of all. “As
ye would that men should do to you
do ye also unto them.” This em
bodies eternal right, this forbids all
wrong. Cast this sublime principal
into the seething bitter waters of all
social agitation, and they become
calm and sweet. This has been
strikingly illustrated by the million
aire merchant prince and evangelist,
Mr. Charles N. Crittenton, who has
taken into partnership five of the
heads of departments. in his great
wholesale house in New York, pro
nounced by the New York “Times”
“probably the largest in the world.’’
The New York press is full of praise
for this notable deed. The New
York “Herald” says : “On its face
the transaction was simply the re
organization of the house of Charles
N. Crittenton as an incorporated
company.
Suppose the same principle had
controlled in the consideration and
settlement of the Carnegie and sim
ilar troubles referred to, is it not
fair to presume that justice and con
tent would have triumphed? Os
course, our argument assumes that
all sides to these unfortunate distur
bances shall loyally revere and ob
serve thegolden rule. It is as binding
on the masses as on the classes—on
labor as on capital. The employee as
well as the employer must recognize
its supreme arbitrament. All can
see that in the Hempstead affair, for
example, that neither Carnegie’s
company uor the striking men had
any regard for the rule. Each party
there seems to have been controlled
only by selfish determination to win
regardless of right. We say nothing
as to the merits of the questions in
controversy, we simply maintain
that in the consideration of the con
tested questions neither party seem
ed to care a straw for the golden
rule. Indeed, whatever may be true
as to the socialistic and anarchistic
tendencies of tk( "striking working
men, tho Carnegie company is com
posed of men who do not recognize
Christ’s law. In a recent issue of
the National Baptist of Philadelphia,
is a letter from a prominent Presby
terian minister in Pittsburg, in
which the startling fact is stated that
Carnegie himself, as well as every
member of his company, is an
acknowledged unbeliever! The sev
eral members are mentioned either
as open infidels or professed agnos
tics.
Mr. Frick, the leading man in this
trouble, was once a member of a
Baptist church, but years ago he
turned his back on Christ. No
marvel is it, either, for his peculiar
methods in the many troubles in
which he has figured as the inveter
ate foe of organized labor, stamp
him as one who has always scorned
the sublime precept of our Lord.
Happy shall we be as a people
when Christ’s golden rule shall be
tho recognized regnant law in private
and public life. When this precept
shall control in trade and commerce,
in the adjustment of the mutual re
lations of capital and labor,in thought
and conduct, wo shall rightly solve
the burning problems now disturb
ing our peace. And let us ever
ponder tho mighty fact that no
question is ever settled till it is set
tled right.
HIMSELF. YOURSELF.
“That is the best gift which has in
it the most of the giver.”
Wo found that sentence in an in
teresting article written by Prof.
Jas. 1). Butler, about Shaw's Garden,
St. Louis, in The Watchman. Aug.
18, 1892.
Mr. Shaw not only gave his mon
ey to purchase the land and to pay
someliody else to lay off and plant
the garden, but ho spent much of
his time, in supervising and directing
the work, and did a great deal of
personal labor in executing his own
plans for improving and beautifying
it. He gave himself as well as his
money.
Many of our gifts are unmixed
with self. The gramenta given are
not only empty in a literal sense, but
they arc too often empty of the spirit
of the giver. Much of tho money
given is simply dead cold com with
out any of the life or warmth of the
giver about it. Such gifts may go
on their missions, and do the receiv-
er good so far as relieving bodily
want is concerned. But if the gift
goes alone, if none of the giver’s
self goes with it, there is little bles
sing to the giver, and little gratitude
from the receiver. The heart of
neither giver or receiver is moved.
That is not the way God gave.
Jesus, His Son, was not merely a
man. He was Emmanuel, “ God
with us.” In giving His Son, there
fore, God gave Himself.
So Christ, in his own person and
nature, gave himself. He “ loved us
and gave himself for us.” “He
gave himself for our sins.” “He
gave himself a'ransom for all.” His
love, his labor, his life, were given
for us.
In giving, this is our example. Let
not the gift leave our hands without
carrying ourselves with it. If need
be, if the occasion and the cause
demand it, our whole being, soul and
body, should be given. It w’as this
spirit of giving which Paul so highly
commended in the Corinthian Chris
tians,-“ Themselves they gave first
to the Lord, and to us through the
will of God.” 2 Cor. 8: 5.
In any event, let us give our hearts
along with our gifts. Let our desires
our prayers, our love go with them
and abide with them. Remember,”
that is the best gift which has in it
the most of the giver.”
CONVERTING A SINNER. JAS. 5 :20
1. The work.
Sin is the transgression of the law,
the law of God. A sinner is a trans
gressor of the law. He is a wan
derer, as the word transgressor
means. He is going contrary to the
law of God. He is going away from
God, away from good to evil, from
happiness to misery.
To convert one is to turn him
around. It is to start him in the op
posite direction from that in which
ho has been going. To convert a
sinner is to turn him from disobe
dience to obedience. It is to get
him out of the wrong way into the
right way. It is to turn him from
Satan to God, from sin to holiness,
from self-dependence to dependence
on God, from works of law to works
of grace, from self-righteousness, to
the righteousness of Christ.
That is converting a sinner from
the error of his way.
2. The result.
(1.) A soul is saved from death.
“The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
“The wages of sin is death.” Not
tho death of the body. That is the
inevitable doom of all. There is no
discharge from that war. It is ap
pointed unto men once to die, and
there is no escape from the appoint
ment.
The death referred to is spiritual
death, eternal death. It includes
the guilt of sin, the reigning
pow’er of sin, the love of sin, and
banishment from the presence of
God, dwelling with Satan, the ex
tinguishment of hope, the blackness
of despair, forever.
(2.) Hiding a multitude of sins.
Not the hiding of the sins of the
person who does the work, but the
sins of the converted sinner.
Even in a short life an unconvert
ed man commits a multitude of sins.
Ho lives, daily, in disobedient© to
God’s hoiy law. He is a continual
and persistent rejectot of the mercy
of God in Christ Jesus.
Besides these direct transgsessions,
his influence on others multiplies the
number until they go beyond the
bound of computation.
The longer an unconverted man
lives, the greater the multitude of
his sins.
No matter how old he may, nor
how great the multitude of his sins,
if he is converted from the error of
his way, and his soul saved from
death, his sins are all hidden. They
aro cast into tho depths of the sea.
They are remembered no more
against him, forever.” Blessed is
the man whose transgression is for
given : whose sin is covered.”
3. Can a Christian do such a
work ?
Os himself, he cannot As an in
strument in God’s hands, he can.
In the work of salvation God uses
human instrumentality. “The Man,
Christ Jesus,” tho only Mediator be
tween God and man, was made flesh
and dwelt among us, that we might
come to God through Him. God
Himself used the instrument of a hu
man body, that He might accomplish
His purpose of grace in atoning for
sin on the cross.
Jesus called twelve men, w’hom he
specially instructed, endowed with
miraculous power, and sent thorn
forth to proclaim the good news of
salvation. Through the preaching
of these men thousands were con
verted and saved. Thousands and
millions more have been converted
and savd through like human in
strumentalities. The work goes on
to-day by the use of the same kind
of means. It has pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save
men. He has committed unto men
“the ministry of reconciliation.” He
has called and sent out men “as am
bassadors for Christ.” It is the bus
iness of these men to persuade men
“to be reconciled to God.”
The whole Bible w T as written by
human hands guided by the Holy
Spirit. It is the work of human
hands to prinf it, and to bear it to
those who have it not. It is the
w’ork of human minds to study it,.of
human lips to proclaim and to ex
pound it. Not one word of the
New Testament was written by
Christ Himself. It was all written
by men as they were moved by the
Holy Spirit. All Scripture is given
by inspiration of God.”
So it is the duty and privilege of
every believer in Jesus to be an in
strument in his hands to convert
sinners, to save sonls from death,
and to hide multitudes of sins.
For what knowest thou, oh wife,
whether thou shalt save thy husband ?
Or what knowest thou, oh man
whether thou shalt save thy wife ? 1
Cor. 7 :16.
Paul became “servant unto all
that he might gain the more. To
the Jews, as a Jew ; To them under
the law, as under the law ; to them
without law, as without law ; to the
weak, as w’eak ; I am made all things
to all men, that I might by all means
save some.” 1 Cor. 9 :19-22.
Take heed to thyself, and unto
the doctrine ; continue in them ; for
in doing this thou shalt both save
thyself and them that hear thee. 1>
Tim. 4 :16.
So every Christian may be, and
ought to be, an instrument for the
same work. Every true Christian
is an intercessor. He may’ success
fully’ persuade his fellow-men. His
prayers of faith, and his godly’ life
and example will avail much toward
the salvation of those around him.
God does not always keep His pow
to Himself, but often clothes his peo
ple with it. He who has ordained
the instrument, will, by that instru
ment, accomplish the thing for
which He ordained it.
Learn.
1. Every saved person should be
a missionary.
Saved himself, he desires the sal
vation of others. Knowing the
worth of his own soul, he knows the
worth of other souls. Having seen
his own danger, he know’s the dan
ger of others Knowing the terror
of the Lord, be persuades men to bo
reconciled to God. Having felt the
love of Christ, that love constrains
him, and he becomes an ambassador
for Christ.
2. A strong proof.
An effort to save others is a strong
proof that he who makes the effort
is saved himself.
A man who makes no effort in
any’ way, to save others, gives strong
proof that he is not saved himself.
Such a man had better make careful
examination into his own condition.
3. The honor of it.
God has associated us with him
self in the work. We are “co-work,
ers with Him.”
The work itself is honorable.
Christ deemed it worthy of His in
carnation and sacrifice.
In it the mission of the Holy Spir
it is fulfilled. God, the Father, gave
His Son that it might be done.
The sum of moral evil is dimin
ished, and the sum of moral good is
augmented by’ it.
The salvation of the soul is the
sublimest of moral triumphs.
“His work is honorable and glo
rious.” “They that be wise (or
teachers) shall shine as the bright
ness of the firmament, and they that
turn many to righteousness, as the
stars forever and ever.” Dan. 12 :3.
4. To hide Sin.
Sih is tho ugliest thing in the
world. Its ugliness shows itself
everywhere.
It is seen in every repulsive face,
in every deformed body, in every
angry look, in every scowling coun
tenance, in every idiotic stare.
It is heard in every infant’s cry’,
in every’ mother’s moan, in every
father’s groan, in every shriek of
pain, in every bitter curse, in every
wlifull lie, and every dying gasp.
It has changed angels into devils
and men into demons. It has shut
the gates of heaven and opened the
doors of hell. It has filled the minds
and hearts of men with deceit, theft,
adultery, covetousness, hatred, mal
ice, murder.
It is hateful, hideous.
Christian, lift up your voice, in
treat your fellowman, plead with
God, stretch out your hands, take
hold upon the mantle of Christ’s for
giving grace, cover the horrible
thing, and hide it from the sight of
God and man.
The Catholics in Indiana are re
monstrating against compulsory edu
cation, and also, against paying tax
es for the support of the public
schools, while they are, at the same
time, maintaining parochial schools
at their own expense.
They are right in opposing com
pulsory education, and in keeping
up their denominational schools.
Compulsory education is an un
warranted invasion of parental rights
and duty. It is a forcible wresting
by the State, of the child from the
hands of the parent. It is a violent
disruption of family ties, an unnatu
ral interference with home duties,
and a hurtful phase of paternalism.
The Catholics are right in opposing
it.
They are right in keeping up their
denominational, or parochial schools:
It is the solemn duty of every Chris
tian to see to it that religious edu
cation keeps even pace with secular
education.
The latter, alone, does not, can
not, train the heart. The State can
not furnish religious teachers, or
rather, teachers whose business it is
to teach religion. In that matter
the State must stand aloof, and seal
its lips. It is a work which the dif
ferent denominations only, can prop
erly and successfully do for their own
children. More than this, it is the duty
of each denomination to do it. In do
ing it, the Catholics are acting on
the right principle.
But they are wrong in calling
upon the State of Indiana to release
them from paying taxes to support
the free schools of the State while
they accept money from the Federal
Treasury, and every year lobby and
clamor for increased appropriations
to carry on their parochial schools
among the Indians. Paying state
taxes for the maintainanco of the
public schools of Indiana is no more
than all other tax paying citizens
who are members of other denomi
nations are doing. They, in support,
ing their denominational schools, are
paying double tax as well as the
Catholics. Baptists are the only
exception. They pay taxes for the
support of state schools, but they
accept no money, either from State
or Federal treasuries, to maintain
their denominational schools.
Those who take with the right
hand, for their own benefit, must not
complain if they are called on to
give with the left hand for the bene
fit of others. To be consistent if
they are unwilling to give, thev
must, also, refuse to take.
“This is my preacher” said a fond
mother to her pastor as she laid her
hand tenderly on the head of her
second son. “Arc you going to be
a preacher,” said the pastor as he
took Sam upon his knee. “Yes
sir,” said Sara. Whereupon the pas
tor inquired, “Why do you want Sam
to be a preacher ? “Because I want
one of my boys to preach and Jim
don’t take to the idea much, and
then Sam is such a good boy I think
ho will suit exactly.”
What does all this mean? Why
simply this, the people know very
little about how a man comes to be
a preacher.
Most people do not know what is
meant by “a call to preach.” Near
ly all of them imagine it is a good,
easy, fat place into w’hich a fellow
drops when he is too good to be a
lawyer or fill some other of the pro
fessions.
Sometimes tho ambitious parents
fix out the vocations of their several
boys and begin early to impress
them with their idea of the boys fu
ture life. Sometimes it does very
well, simply because it happens in
the case of some to hit, but in many
cases and especially in that of tho
ministry, it is apt to be a wreatched
failure.
Good farmers aro spoiled and un
successful professional men made by
the false ambition of parents.
In olden times the sons took up
the trade os their fathers’ That is
true now in this country in some de
gree. Thus we have the names of
those families that end, with “son.”
This son was the son of a Smith and
following his father the Son-Smith
or “Smithson.” It might not be tho
proper thing every time for the sons
to follow the trade or calling of their
fathers. There may be a first class
teachei, lawyer or statesman whose
father is a farmer, and there may be
splendid fanners whose fathers aro
in professional life. Certainly the
ministry will not necessarily come
from the families who aro in the
ministry.
Let every young man choose his
own vocation, except those who
preach. Let them wait till they have
a call from God. Ho can make him
self understood.
Mothers may pray that God will
call their sons’ to preach and they
may educate them toward their
laith, but let the Lord call them.
1 hen He will endue them with an
unction from on high.