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The Philadelphia “Presbyterian” ex
presses the belief that “the interest felt
in the Higher Criticism is plainly wan
ing. Os course. The interest of novel
ty abates, and there is no interest of
truth to replace it.
Edmund Gosse, in the June “Century,’’
expresses the opinion that “as a religious
poet of our time, Christina Rosetta has
no rival but Cardinal Newman.” It is
the quality of the work, not the quantity
which determines an author's rank: but
still there may be an occasional nugget
which comes from a quarry not a
mine.
The Jews were allowed to eat no bread
not even “parched grain,” nor yet
“green ears”—from the harvest of the
year, until the sheaf of the wave-offer
ing had first been presented to the Lord.
They could use nothing of it as their
own, before they had made solemn con
fession that it was not theirs but His.
God is between us and everything that
we enjoy here; and there can be no
rightful enjoyment of anything unless
we have first found and acknowledged
him as its owner and giver—finding
Him and finding it in Him.
In his recent “Biography of John
Ruskin,” Collingwood finds “the essence
of Ruskin’s work—throughout a life of
intense application in art criticism, po
litical economy, ethics and teaching, and
burdened by frequent physical infirmity
—summed in one word, sincerity.” And
Sir Frederick Leighton, in his address to
younger artists at the late banquet of
the Royal Academy, “I would beg them
to keep ever before their eyes the vital
truth that sincerity is the well-spring of
all lasting achievement, and that no
good thing ever took root in untruth or
in self-deception.” Nowhere does this
twofold testimony more need to be laid
♦o heart than Vhere men recognize thera
fseGes as artinis who build a character
/and build a life “under the Great Task
amaster’s eye.” No such life, no such
Character, is built acceptably, without,
/from first to last, sincerity.
The Church Review says: “So far
from believing that Agnosticism is a
logical substitute for belief, as spreading
we blieve, from every evidence that
reaches us that it has seen its meridian.
Within a few years it will give place to a
new mode of denial.” It has already
reached its high-water mark, and what
threatened to be a flood has begun to
subside. The unbelief of human nature
may not relinquish its warfare against
divine truth, but it will find itself con
strained to abandon this form and this
weapon of warfare for some other. It
will see for itself that its carnal enmity
toward the gospel can not find valid ex
pression in the principles and phrases
(or the phrases without principles) of
Agnosticism. Agnostics will sigp their
own death warrant, and reappear under
some new style and type of “death in
life,” to open afresh the old battle be
tween right and wrong and truth and
falsehood—the confession of their de
feat in the present and the prophecy of
a defeat no less decisive in the future.
In the “Nation” for May, (Berlin,) M.
Kronenburg points out the dawning re
action among cultured classes against
the scientific teaching that the field of
possible human knowledge is limited to
things apprehended of the five senses.
That teaching is falsely called scientific,
and has had only a partial and tempo
rary acceptance. There has always been
a large and influential body of thinkers,
for whom no pall of scepticism has dar
kened the problem of man's spiritual
nature and destiny: and those who for a
season had drawn that pall over their
eyes, are now measurably putting it aside
for a clearer vision than they knew be
fore their years of doubt. Spirit is not
really giving place to matter, and the
universe is not really crowding God out
of sight. So long as man is conscious of
a mind that knows matter, he
knows himself as spirit; and to know
himself as spirit is to know the other
and divine Spirit, the God whois at once
in the universe and above it. Higher
than the five senses, and more real, must
ever be the sense of the supernatural,
the eternal and the divine, and of our
supreme relation to that. This, in due
season, every science worthy of the name
must be constrained to own—must own
not of constraint but willingly.
The “Christian Leader," a Lutheran
paper of Cincinnati, pronounces “Ro
manism a composite of Judaism, Pagan
ism and Christianity, Paganism predom
inating.” It confesses also, “humiliating
as the confession may be, that the Pro
testant churches are still more or less
impregnated with Paganism and Judaism
Christianity predominating." Whether
these things are or are not too severe to
be said, they are misleading. All the
errors anywhere prevailing among Chris
tians, may be traced and should be
traced, and Archbishop Whately traces
the errors of Romanism, to “their origin
in human nature." We have no need to
go abroad to other countries, or races, or
ages, in quest of the Judaist, or the Pa
gan, who may bear, byway of vicarious
reproach, the blame and the burden of
the false beliefs incorporated into the
religion of the New Testament as our
creeds and ecclesiasticisms embody it.
No: our nature, the sin of our nature—
that is the Pagan, that is the Judaist.
Right here at home, and in our own
bosom, and hy ourselves, is the work of
alloying and debasing the pure truth
carried forward Not Judaists and Pa
-Bans, but Romanists, are answerable for
io wrings of Romanism; and for the
THE CHRISTI AN INDEX.
wrongs of Protestantism, not Pagans and
J udaists but Protestants are answerable.
It is only after the great and vital truth
is fully recognized, that we may turn
for a secondary and illustrative light to
the page of history, and hope to see our
own errors the more clearly for seeing
them in those who went before us.
MATTHEW V. 14- “YE ARE THE
LIGHT OF THE WORLD. A FRAG
MENT FROM SOME SHEETS NOT
HITHERTO EDITED BY IGNOTUS.
BY REV. F. C. JOHNSON.
The words immediately following
are, “A city situate upon a moun
tain cannot be hid, neither do men
light a candle and put it under a
bushel-measure (so that its light is
obscured) but on a candlestick, and
it shines (so placed) to or for all
that are in the house. So let your
light shine, that men may see your
good deeds, and glorify your father
in heaven." These disciples, to
whom it is said “ye are the light of
the world," are immediately called
by implication a city, not situated
in some sequestered deeply shaded
valley, so that one could pass quite
near, without being aware of the ex
istence of a city in his vicinity; but a
city built on the top of some moun
tain, which lifts its head above the
surrounding plain, and is and must
be visible from afar. The very ob
ject of their being made light, is
that they may be seen. A light we
see not, is to us no light. But a
light is seen not for its own sake, it
is seen, not merely to be seen, that
is, that itself be seen, but that it may
show something else—may show the
way to something else. When,
then, the disciples are called by im
plication, a city built on some high
mountain, top, which by its very lo
cation, is conspicuous from afar, at
tracting the eyes of all who enter
and traverse the surrounding plain,
he points out one thing in disciple
ship, which has sometimes been for
gotten viz. that in its very essence
and nature, it is to be seen, looked
at, gazed at. And since he had
said “ye are the light of the world,”
he means that those who look at, see,
gaze at, and have their eyes fixed
upon these disciples ; these onlookers,
I say, these examiners, these atten
tive viewers are the world of man
kind, all races, tongues, people and
languages under the w-hole heaven.
Therefore, if thou, a brother sayest
I will be a disciple, but not known
as a disciple,’ surely, in this case,
thou art foolisn tor to be a disciple
of the Christ, is to be a part at least
of a city that is situated upon the
top of a high mountain, so that it
cannot be hid from the dwellers of
the low-lying plain which is at the
foot, and around the mountain. To
be a disciple of the Christ, and not
to be known as such, viewed looked
at, examined as such by the world.
This is impossible. The Christ is
the mountain, high, very high, yea,
highest. Men of the world are the
plain, wherein that mountain tower’s
heavenward. The character of the
Christ is an elevation. The char
acter of the world is not elevated.
It is a plain—very low. To be in
the Christ, is to have an elevation of
sentiment, a loftiness of aim, a purity
of heart, and fixedness of holy pur
pose, a stainlessness of truth, a zeal
of love, a steady and full habit of
forgiveness, a firmness of endurance,
a longsufferingand unyieldingness of
perseverance, a sleepless vigilance, a
ceaseless frequency of prayer, and
tirelessness of effort, an unquench
ableness of desire and deathlessness
of hope, that place you far above the
world, that necessarily make you
observed watched, wondered at,
gazed upon. So then, brother dear,
cease to murmur and complain, as if
a wrong was done thee, when thou
art watched, examined, scrutinized
and censured in this world, by men
of the world. For thou wast put
upon the mountain for this very pur
pose. 1. Pet. iv;6 “For this cause
was the gospel preached also to
them that are dead, that they might
be judged according to men in the
flesh, but live according to God in
the Spirit." Cease then to complain
of that for which the gospel was
preached unto you, and rather be
solicitous, that when looked at by the
world, you do not cause the way of
truth to be evil spoken of, that you
do not awaken disgust in the be
holder. Be careful that your dis
graceful nakedness appear not.
Butlsaythe light is not only to
be seen, but so seen that something
else be discovered to the seer, that
the way he should walk in be made
clear to him. And so it is added
“Neither do men light a candle and
put it under a bushel, but on a can
dlestick, and it shines for the benefit
of all in the bouse.” So let your
light shine that men may see your
good works and glorify your father
in heaven.” The shining of your
light has two contemplated results,
the one of which is valuable and to
be desired only as a mean to the
other, which is the great and final
end of your shining. Ist result that
men may see your good works.
This is the first result which serves
as mean to the second and all im
portant one. Now take notice,
disciple of the Lord, that the shining
of thy light means this,
and this only, the doing of good
deeds.
ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY. JULY 20,1893.
Hast thou no good works ? Is
thy life not a doing of good deeds ?
How then knowest thou, that thou
art a disciple of him who went about
doing good ? How shall the world
know it? Yea more how shall God
know it? Doth God know a star
that shines not? Were it only a light
ning bug, does it not shine ? Be it
no more than a tallow dip, yet it
gives out light. Thou art a disciple
and yet thou doest no good. Then
thou art a star that shines not. I
remember that somewhere I did
read of “stars for whom is reserved
the blackness of darkness” I think
the author called them “wandering
stars.” “For me ” saith an ancient
wriier, “To live is Christ.” Now
the Christ is heaven’s messenger, and
earth’s benefactor He went about
doing good. When then that ancient
writer did say, “For me to live is
Christ" he said “my life is a doing
of good, it is a message from heaven,
it is a benefaction to earth—-it is
light.”
But now the candle put on the
candle-stick, shineth not for itself,
but for those in the house. It shines
not, that you may see it and say,
“that is a beautiful light,” but it
shines that you may see the owner
of the house, the builder of the house,
that you may see the furniture and
know how to conduct in that house
and how to go about in it. The
candle lights you to seek and find
and use what is in the house, in a
way answerable to the kind intent of
the householder who invited thee
there to be sheltered from the storm
howling outside, and to enjoy what
his hand put there for thy use. Not
that thou shouldst say “this is a lovely
candle,” nor even, “this is a fine
house richly furnished for me,” but
that thou shouldst bless his benefi
cience, and glorify him who built
and stored and lighted the house, and
has invited thee to come in and be
happy.
So thy good works are not, that
men should say, “oh 1 what a good
man” or even make them bestow
one thought on thee. But they are
for this end, that the world through
thy good deeds, should be led to
know God, “the father of lights,
from whom cometh down every
good and perfect gift” and to love
and praise and thank and serve Him
for ever and ever. Not for thy own
sake art thou a disciple, not for thy
own glory, not even for thy own
Salvation, as any final end ; but “for
the praise of his grace, who made
thee accepted in the Beloved.” One
in a certain place speaketh on this
wise concerning the disciples of the
Christ. “But you are a select kin
dred, a royal priesthood, a consecra
ted nation, a people for a peculiar
property, that ye might show forth
the virtues of him who called you
out of darkness into his admirable
light.”
That last thing in the description
of disciples, “a people for a peculiar
property,” needs some fuller explan
ation. In Greek it is “la-os eis per
ipoiesin,” which itself is the transla
tion of the Hebrew “am sgulah.”
In 135 Ps. 4th v. “The Lord, i. e.
Jehovah hath chosen Jacob for him
self, and Israel for his peculiar treas
ure.' Now peculiar treasure in He
brew is this very word “Sgulah.” In
Ecclesiastes 2 chap. 8 verse. “I
gathered me also silver and gold,
and the peculiar treasure of kings
and provinces.” Here again pecu
liar treasure is “sgulah.” Again in
Ist Chronicles 29 chap. 3 verse.
“And further because of my delight
in the house of my God, I have given
over and above all that I have pre
pared tor the holy house, a peculiar
treasure which I have.”
In the verse preceding he had
said, what he had prepared, and then
in this 3rd verse he adds, that in ad
dition to this large preparative, he
had a private treasure, which his de
light in God’s house moved him to
contribute and then in the 4th verse
he tells us what that private treas
ure was. It was 3000 talents of
gold of ophir, the supposed purest
gold, and 7000 talents of refined
silver. This was a treasure, that
belonged not to David the King,
but to David the son of Jesse, the
man David—when, where or how
acquired we are not told, but as our
version expresses it, it was “his own
proper good”—“sgulah".
In Deut. vii: 5. Moses says, “For
a people art thou consecrated to
Jehovah thy God; Jehovah thy God
hath selected thee out of all nations
which are upon the face of the earth,
a people as a treasure, or perhaps
the sense may be better expressed
in English, has selected thee from all
earth’s; population, to be a people
who are his peculiar possession and
treasure.” I am sure this is the
meaning. A people who belong to
him, not like all other nations, by
right of his being “Elohim” who in
the beginning created the heavens
and the earth, not simply as the
Creator, who said “Let us make man
in our imago and likeness,” not
merely as preserver of all mankind
But in his character of Jehovah the”
God of Abraham and of Isaac and of
Jacob, having acquired a peculiar
and as it were, private property in
them, by reason of having done for
them what He never did for any
other nation of people on this earth ;
Even as Moses saith Deut. iv : 32 :•
39. “For ask now of the days that
are past, which were before thee,
since the day that God created man
upon the earth, and ask from the
one side of heaven unto the other,
whether there hath been any such
thing as this great thing is, or hath
been heard like it? Did ever peo
ple hear the voice of God speaking
out of the midst of the fire, as thou
hast heard, and live ? Or hath God
assayed to go and take him a nation
from the midst of another nation, by
temptations, by signs, and by won
ders, and by war, and by a mighty
hand, and by a stretched out arm,
and by great terrors, according to
all that Jehovah your God did for you
in Egypt before your eyes? Uuto
thee it was showed that thou mighti
est know that Jehovah is God; there
is none else beside him. Out of
heaven he made thee to hear his
voice, that he might instruct thee:
and upon earth he showed thee his
great fire; and thou heardest his
w ords out of the midst of the fire.
And because he loved thy fathers,
therefore he chose their seed after
them, and brought thee out in his
sight, with his mighty power out of
Egypt; To drive out nations from
before thee greater and mightier
than thou art, to bring thee in, to
give thee their land for an inheri
tance, as it is this day.
So that these people, the type of
disciples of the Christ, are his, as no
others are, and they were so acquired,
that they misfit show forth his vir
tues. They are lights, not to be
admired for what they are now, or
were formerly, not for what they
have done, are doing, or ever will do,
not fbr what they have given to
them, or ever will have given to
them, but that they may exhibit to
others, the virtues of him, who called
them out of darkness into his ad
mirable light. The virtues of Jeho
vah! and what are they? Mercy
pity, long suffering, slowness to
anger, readiness to forgive, abun
dance of grace and truth—pardoning
iniquity, transgression and sin, keep,
ing mercy unto the thousandth gen
eration of them that love him and
keep his Commandments—but one
who will not leave the guilty unpun
ished, visiting the iniquity of fathers
upon children, and children’s chil
dren unto the third and fourth gen
eration. But now in the Christ
what an exhibition of those virtues
to believers! “God so loved the
world, that he gave 1 is only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth on
him, should not perish, but have eter
nal life.” ,
In Ephesians v‘: 8. Tis said,
“though ye were formerly darkness,
yet now are ye light in the Lord :
walk (i. e. behave, or conduct your
selves) as children of light; for the
fruit of the light is in all goodness
and justice and truth, searching for,
(and when found approving) what
is acceptable to the Lord : and have
no share in the fruitless doings of
the darkness, but rather put them to
shame (by shewing throngh your
good and just and truthful conduct,
that they are shameful), for it is dis
graceful even to say the things done
by them in secret. Now whatsoever
is put to shame is manifested (or
made apparent) by the light; for all
that manifests itself is light.” Light
is its own evidence, where it is said
“ye were formerly darkness," that
means people living in ignorance of
the truth, which the Son of God has
revealed. The lives of those people,
did not show the way of life, but
mislead even unto death those who
imitated their depraved doings.
“Light in the Lord,” is men who in
consequence of their union with the
Lord, are good and just and true.
They are beneficent, in all their
transactions just, true to their word.
They put to shame and demonstrate
the utter wrongness of unbelievers’
unkind unjust and false doings, by
their own deeds of mercy, justice and
truthfulness. It is these good deeds
that make them light, shewing the
way of life, and not darkness lead
ing from God, and ending in death.
Light is the first of created things.
At the command of God, it shone
out of darkness. “Let there be
light,” this is the first of all divine
words, and “light was," the condi
tion Sine qua ijon, to every subse
quent creative act. Light is co-ex
tensive with life, vegetable, animal,
human, on earth or in heaven. Light
is heaven’s sweet messenger. From
out the darkness, shrouded chaos,
leading forth the resplendent cos
mos. Giving and guiding life,clothing
with beauty, and inspiring joy. It
is the opposite of darkness and the
enemy of death. But darkness does
not hide light; yea rather darkness
is the chosen field, whereon Light
wins its triumphs and manifests its
glory. Light can only bo hidden by
light that excels. Thus the light of
the moon, stars and lamps, is hidden
by the light of the sun, which is Lord
'of the day. To such light as that of
moons, meteors, stars, lamps, light
ning bugs, and glow worms. Night
is assigned. They are visible only
in the night. When one sees them
he knows it is night. They reveal
the realm of night, and proclaim the
absence of the sun.
| The day is the sun’s creation and
empire. The sun’s place is in heav
en* There, hath the Creator set his
| tent, (“our citizenship is in heaven.”
Philippians. iii: 20.) From his tent
issuing, as a bridegroom from the
nuptial chamber, in splendor clad
and marching forth like a hero con
fident in his prowess he maketh the
circuit of the heavens, and naught
in the low underlying earth is hid
from his penetrating and quickening
heat. All earths’ beauty and life
and joy are droppings from his heav
enly ways. It is day to us or the
sun’s reign, what time he is riding in
state upon the heavens, in his bene
ficent and splendid progress from
the East to the West. And all the
bloom of flowers, all the greenness
of growing grass, and ripening of
luscious fruits, and singing of sweet
songsters, and life in the waters and
on the land, this all belongs to the
day, the kingdom of the sun, which
has his throne in the heavens. He
that saith to the disciples “ye are the
light of the world” saith of himself
“I am the light of the world. He
that follows me shall not walk in
darkness, but shall have the light of
life.” Jesus in the flesh, bearing
our sins, and living on earth is the
light of the world, (physically the
light of the world is the sun.) Jesus
ascended to heaven, is in the disci
ples and shining through them, the
light of the world. Christ in them
makes them the moral sun that
lightens mankind.
THE PASTOR’S STUDY OF THE BI
BLE IN THE ORIGINAL
TONGUES.
BY REV. HENRY G. WESTON, D .D.
I see that Homiletical Journals
and Minister’s meetings are discuss
ing “Greek and Hebrew after gradu
ation.” The question is a practical
one. The arguments for neglect are
at hand, and present their claims
with earnestness. The pressure of
daily duties, the inexorable occupa
tion of every hour, the impossibility
of attaining such expertness in these
languages as to warrant a dissent
from the masters; —there is cogen
cy in these and other reasons. But,
—to say nothing now of the great
advantages arising from knowledge
of other tongues than a man’s own,
—if one wishes to preach just the
truth which the Bible contains, he
must keep up his acquaintance with
the languages in which the Script
ures were written. Aside from dis
puted questions, the ordinary student
will find a great deal of light in the
perusal of the original which he can
gain by no other method. He will
absorb the meaning in the same way
in which he learned the idioms of
his mother tongue, ‘not from diction
aries and lexicons, but from the con
nection in which the word or phrase
occurs.
There are not a few terms in the
New Testament which have no
English equivalent. The well-known
words, both of which must be trans
lated “love,” are an example. Not
long since, I saw a notice of a ser
mon setting forth the forgiving
nature of Christ shown by bis address
ing Judas, at the time of betrayal,
as “friend.” The word thus trans
lated conveys no idea of affection or
approval, but the reverse. I once
heard in New York City, a sermon
one-third of which insisted on the
close alliance of the human and di
vine, because a particular word in
the text was applied both to God
and man. The preacher was much
mortified when he afterwards dis
covered that he had been deceived
by the English translation ;the word
in question not being applied to man
in a single instance. There are
words which ought always to be dis
criminated, which no translation dis
tinguishes. “Work” and “labor" are
examples. Work is divine; labor
came in with the curse; it is the re
sult of sin. God works, but ho does
not labor. When the Christian dies,
he rests from his labors, but his
works go with him. Love both
works and labors; it often attempts
what it cannot accomplish; it toils
under difficulties; it is hindered and
frustrated. Faith works, it never
labors. Often times the English
word conveys an entirely inadequate
meaning. Last Sunday, I heard
the 40th Psalm read in church : “I
waited patiently for the Lord.”
How many persons in the congrega
tion got the idea of “waiting patient
ly?” The original is intense an<f
emphatic. Who ever attains to the
idea of the paraclete from the trans
lations “Comforter, Advocate ? ”
Every one is aware bow much
meaning is brought out of a sentence
by an accomplished reader. Em
phasis and inflection are better than
a commentary. Men constantly tell
me, “I would rather hear So-and-so
read a chapter in the Bible than to
have an exposition of it.” In En
glish tho voice is generally necessary
to denote the emphasis. On the
printed page, capitals and italics are
a sorry substitute. The order and
formation of an English sentence are
fixed by mechanical considerations
largely regardless oi the sense.
These principles harden into rules
which rarely admit of variation. In
Greek, on the contrary, the arrange
ment and position of tho words are
determined by the sense intended to
be conveyed; the article, tho adject
ive, the pronoun is inserted or omit
ted, and if inserted, is placed so as
to give Um ) of meaning in tho
mind of the writer. Our treaties on
Rhetoric and Elocution give phrases
in which as many meanings as there
are words can be expressed by the
inflection of the voice, the order of
the words begin unchangeable. In
Greek, the collocation changes with
every changing meaning. In En
glish, we say, “a MAN’S hat” or “a
man’s HAT,’’according as we wish to
emphasize the hat or the wearer. In
the classical tongues this would be
expressed by the order of the words.
“Longa via” means one thing,“via
longa,” another. Our linguistic rules
forbid alike the plastic order of the
ancient tongues, and their liberty of
employment or non-employment of
terms whose use or disuse felicitous
ly conveys the thought of the writer.
No English translation indicates, as
does the Greek original, that when
Paul says, “Thou fool, that which
thou sowest is not made alive, unless
it die,” the latter “thou” is emphatic,
and is the reason for the epithet
“fool.” He does not see what he is
himself doing. There is scarcely
anything connected with Bible trans
lation which evokes the regret of the
trauslator so much as the impossibil
ty of transferring the emphasis of
the original. Even if a commenta
tor should undertake to give the
shades of meaning evident in the
construction of a sentence, he would
be compelled to refrain on account
of intolerable prolixity. The
reader of the original perceives at a
glance what it would take a para
graph to explain. There is not a
chapter in the New Testament in
which the careful reading of the
original does not give light not
merely to the erudite scholar, but to
any observant student.
A knowledge of scriptural usage
is indispensable to correct interpre
tation. How many times I have
heard and read discussions of the
meaning of our lord’s direction to
Mary,—“Touch me not, for I have
not yet decended to my father”—
in which every argument was em
ployed except that arising from the
New Testament use of the word
“Touch.” It is found thirty-six
times, and always with the sense of
transmission, either of receiving or
imparting. It is always a momenta
ry touch, and always gives or re
ceives. Mary, with that wonderful
spiritual prescience with which she
was endowed, manifested in anoint
ing the Lord for his burial, now ex
ultjng in his resurrection, wishes to
receive the great blessing which
Christ had predicted as the conse
quence of his departure and return.
To gain this, she touches Christ.
But not yet is it possible for Christ
to bestow; he must first return to
his Father ; his ascension is indispen
sable to the receptiou of promised
spirit.
Much light is shed on great doc
trines of Christianity by the study
of the expressions of the Gospels and
Epistles. Sometimes the article is
used in connection with the Holy
Spirit, sometimes, not. There is
a prineicle here which is important
in determining the relations of the
third person of the Blessed Trinity.
It will be asked, where can |the
busy pastor find time for such study.
The writer of this article may be
excused for saying he has had a
pretty experience in ministerial life.
He has known what it is to be pastor
of several churches at once, scattered
over an area fifty miles square,
(with no railroads), his study being
the shady side of a hay stack; he
was fop years pastor of a very large
church in our largest city,) where
every night he had the conviction
that a hard day’s work had been
done, but two day’s work had been
untouched ; for years there were in
cumbent on him between Sunday’s
duties enpugh for any two men ; but
he has always found time for a half
hour of regular and systematic study
of tho scriptures, irrespective of the
next sermon, as his mornings first
work. He believes that he is justi
fied in saying to his younger breth
ren in the ministry, there is no life
so busy, done with demands so in
exorable, as to forbid this privilege
to the lover of the word of God.
BREAD FOR MISSIONARIES.
BY J. G. GIBSON, COR. SEc’y.
Dear Brethren and Sisters :
I regret that tfie necessity is so fre
quently upon me to appeal for
money, but your work cannnot pro
ceed without it. Our state mission
aries must have bread. Many of
them have performed two months
labor during this convention
al year. Their salaries are due
and unpaid. Very little money in
deed has come in for state mission
work since tho meeting of the con
vention in April. I suppose many
of our churches are waiting to send
their funds to the association. In
the meantime our missionaries are
greatly embarrassed. Brethren, why
wait for the association meeting?
| A check, postal note, money order
or registered letter will be thank
fully received and your remittance
[at once will meet a pressing want.
But if you prefer to send funds to
the Association let mo suggest that
| these gatherings will soon be upon
■ us. Every church should make it its
' business to get contributions from
all its members.
VOL. 70—NO. 28.
“Honor the Lord with thy sub
stance and the first fruits of all thine
increase.” These are God’s words.
Can we longer afford to ignore them?
Our Savior says “Go” and “Low I
am with you.” He does not say
“Stay” and “I am with you” How
many churches are dying, inch by
inch or dragging out a miserable,
worthless existence simply because
they insist on staying, and begging
the Lord to stay with them and bless
them in a do-nothing state. He has
not promised to do any such thing
and He will not do it. Do His bid
ding, then ask His favor and it will
come. The oat crop was fine. The
wheat crop was good. Fruit is a
bundant. The corn crop was never
more promising* Now how are we
showing onr appreciation of these
blessings ? Are we doing more, giv
ing more, loving more, praising more,
or are we simply hording more ?
May the good Lord have mercy on
us, and bring us into loving harmony
with his great purpose to enthrone
His Son and our Saviour over the
nations of the world. Dear reader,
ponder these things in your own
heart. If you desire sweet com
munion with your Heavenly Father
and spiritual growth, you will find it
along this line as you will find it no
where else. If it is the duty of one
to obey God it is the duty of all to
obey to the extent of their ability.
There can be no excuse for failure
at this point. “Obedience is better
than sacrifice.”
AN INTERESTING CHINESE
DOCTOR-
BY REV. C. W. PRUITT.
Some things in this coun try strike
one as the densest ignorance, but
then I remember that with all of us
there are limitations to our knowl
edge. That my Chinese doctor’s
knowledge is limited is to be expect
ed. I Ijave recently rented a house
on a busy street in Hwang Hien in
which to preach the gospel daily to
all comers. My next door neighbor
on the west is a talkative, self-opin
ionated doctor. While I was doing
a little work in the way oi brighten
ing up my house he would often
come in and chat. He was very
fond of letting it be known that he
had read some booka on western
science He therefore) declared it
his confirmed opinion that the earth
was round contrary to all Chinese
convictions on the subject. But he
immediately after startled me by a
statement which I had never heard
before and which impressed me as
being very amusing. According to
his theory the moon’s light is re
ceived by reflection from the earth.
This light is reflected only from the
oceans which act as mirrors, the
land reflecting nothing much. The
moon is light therefore only when it
is in position to receive the light
from the oceans. The “man in the
moon” is the obscurity produced by
islands in the oceans.
This story is at once an illustra
tion of the way in which some of
our teachings are received and of
the way in which most absurd addi
tions are often made to them. No
Chinaman will accept an idea from
the outside until it is forced upon
him. The conviction must be over
whelming. He then proceeds at
once to re-establish his self-respect
by building on the idea other ideas
from his own imagination. He in
variably tries to persuade himself
that his embellishments are more im
portant than the original idea. In
other words John is in his own land
a very self-respecting being what
ever he may be in America.
This same doctor was to pie on
another occasion an illustration of
the persistence of Chinese theories.
The whole nation seems to have ac
cepted vaccination as a useful insti
tution and its practice has become
| all but universal. This has been
true for years. And yet this doctor
laughed in my face when I told him
that by this means smallpox,had been
entirely driven out of large portions
of country in the western world.
To have smallpox is “ natural.” It
is sent by “heaven." That men can
drive it out is preposterous. It
would contravene the will of deity
himself. In his mind that is the
truth, and the utility of vaccination
is a little mysterious. And what
ever its explanation it must not de
stroy that well-rounded theory.
The same thing precisely takes
place when we preach to them.
When a fact in the religious world
comes with over-mastering power
they admit it and hold it along with
their old theories which are quite
inconsistent with it. Or else it is
warped or given a now setting and
made to do duty to establish the old
belief.
When I see this trail so plainly in
tho heathen, I am made to wonder
that so many Chinese become Chris
tians, and such true and emancipated
Christians. There are men with
whom I walk daily who accept
Christ as purely as I do, Tho ex
planation is that it is the sovereign
ty of God. His grace can raise the
dead.
Hwangbien, China, P. O. Chefoo,
May 12th, 1893.