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ESTABLISHED 1821.
The Christian Index
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For the In dex.
PERSONAL EFFORTS IN WINNING
SOULS.
BY J. 11. SPENCER, D. D.
Lest I be misunderstood in this
article, I may be permitted to
say at once, that I regard it the
duty of all Christians, who are
not paupers, to contribute freely
of their material substance to
the cause of Christ. All we have
belongs with ourselves, to God,
and we cannot withold it from
his service, without sin. As
freely as we have recived, we
should as freely give. Not mere
ly of our superfluity should we
contribute to the great cause of
Christian missions, but in our
poverty we should practice rigid
economy and self-denial, that we
may have somewhat to give for
the spread of our Lord's gospel.
We are contributing scarcely a
tithe of what is due from us.
Hundreds of our churches are
pleading pauperism as an excuse
for giving absolutely nothing for
carrying out the divine commis
sion. for the execution of which
they were especially organized.
The plea cannot be sustained.
There is not a church in the
Southern States so poor that it
cavi.uot.to its spiritual, if not ul
timately to its material advant
age, give something to the cause
of missions. We ought not to be
astonished if the chastening
hand of our Father lies heavily
upon us.
But the purpose of this article
is to urge personal consecration
to the Redeemer's service. Christ
demands the individual labors of
all his servants in his vineyard
and harvest field, and no hired
substitute can till the place of
any one of them. God accepts
our gifts if our hearts go with
them, as he did the alms of Cor
nelius and the contributions to
Paul's necessities; but not as
substitutes for our personal ef
forts. One earnest Christian soul
is more precious to him than all
the gold of the Nevadas, and the
cattle on a thousand plains.
Great nominally religious organ
izations, in which spirituality is
not made a condition of member
ship, such as the Roman Hie
rarchy and the church of Eng
land, may be sustained by money.
But Christ's kingdom is not of
this world, and his churches can
not be established and built up
by the use of material means.
Paul and his colaborers intro
duced the gospel in Asia Minor
and Eastern Europe, and gath
ered their converts into the
nuclei of churches. But those
churches were established, en
larged and multiplied, by the
self-sacrificing labors of God's
children who lived on the soil,
and who were prompted not by
the hope of worldly compensa
tion, but by the love of Christ
and the souls of men. So it has
been in all lands where the gos
pel has triumphed, and so must
it be till the world is conquered
for Christ. The great sum of the
labors, by which our fallen and
rebellious race is to be brought
into subjection to the Savior of
sinners, must be performed by
spiritual men and women, with
out worldly compensation.
When our Lord commissioned
his early disciples to preach his
gospel among their own people
in Judea, he directed them to go
without scrip or purse, or two
coats a piece; and even when the
first missionary went to distant
regions, he depended upon the
labor of his own hands, and the
voluntary contributions of the
people among whom he labored,
to supply his temporal necessi
ties. It was the spirit of self
sacrifice, of holy zeal, and of per
sonal consecration to Christ and
his cause, that enabled these men
to turn the world upside down.
It is not -the perfunctory minis
tration of hirelings, however
learned and eloquent, but the
tearful persuasions of Christ’s
devout little ones, tilled with the
Holy Spirit that moves the mul-
TI’E CHRISTIAN IN DEX.
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titudes irresistibly, one by one,
towards the cross of Christ.
Less than a hundred and fifty
years ago, God brought from va
rious countries on both sides of
the Atlantic, a little band of poor
illiterate Baptists into the colo
ny of Virginia. There was not a
wealthy or educated man among
them. But they were tilled with
the Holy Ghost and with faith.
Their places of worship were
the rude cabins of the settlers,
their tobacco barns, the shady
groves, and, in numerous in
stances, the prison yards, where
their humble ministers preached
to them through the iron-grated
windows of county jail:. They
had a few illiterate preachers
and exhorters, who, however,
were entimately familiar with
the word of God; and their pri
vate members sang the gospel,
in the old orthodox hymns. They
were feebly equipped with human
instrumentalities. Bui God was
with them; and within a single
generation, in the face of tierce
persecution, and the raging of a
seven year's civil war, they won
the Old Dominion from the cor
rupt church of England, to the
blessed Son of God.
With the Baptists, this was the
battle ofthe ages. They had not
gained so great a victory in a
thousand years. Within thirty
years after they began active
operations against a godless hie
rarchy, supported by oppressive
taxation, and defended by the
strong arm of the civil govern
ment, two-thirds of the popula
tion, as said Mr. Jefferson had
become dissenters, and a large
majority of these adhered to the
Baptists. The victory was far
reaching in its results. It made
the Southern States the Baptist
stronghold ofthe world, from that
period until now. To-day more
than half of the Baptists on the
globe are in our beloved South
land. The principles adhered to
and the means used in accom
plishing thisglorious achievment
are worthy of study and imita
tion.
In the first place; the Baptists
pressed upon the attention of the
people a pure gosp’el without
abridgement or compromise.
They studied the Bible dilligent
ly, and made it the great weapon
of their warfare.
In persecuting r.oin> of their
preachers before a civil court on
a charge of‘'preaching the gospel
of the Son of God contrary to
law,"an Episcopal attorney said:
“May it please your honor, these
people are great disturbers of
peace: they cannot meet a man
on the road, but they must ram
a passage of Scripture down his
throat."’ The Baptists have not
preached politics, social ethics,
or moral reform. Their constant
theme has been Christ crucified.
Since they have acquired prop
erty (for they were very poor in
colonial days), they have used
their material resources for the
suppo t of their preachers, about
as liberally, perhaps, as other
religious sects. But they have
never regarded the ministry as a
lucrative profession, but rather
as a holy calling; nor have they
ever depended on money as a
principal means of promoting
their cause. The great sum of
their spiritual labors, even those
of their preachers, have been
performed without the hope of
earthly reward. The love of
Christ has constrained them, and
they have devoted their personal
efforts with joyous enthusiasm
to his service “without money
and without price.”
Our principles are less conge
nial to corrupt human nature,
perhaps, than those of any other
religious denomination. We are
still the sect everywhere spo
ken against. Our.Jenets, there
fore, cannot be propagated
through carnal motives or
worldly instrumentalities.
If we would continue to pros
per, we must continue to develop,
conserve and employ our spirit
ual forces. Every church mem
ber should not only keep in close
union with Christ, but he should
be a laborer with God in the
Master's cause. The man, who
being called on by his pastor to
lead in prayer, replied, “Pray
yourself, we pay you to do our
preaching and praying,"' misap
prehended the nature of Chris
tian obligation and privilege.
God cannot be worshipped by
proxy.
If the Christian millionaire
should give all his wealth to
the support of religious institu
tions, it would not excuse him
from personal service to his
Master. Nor is it possible for
a Christian to develop his spir
itual powers, or attain to a high
degree of religious enjoyment,
without such service.
God has given us all, even the
poorest , some earthly possession.
Let us use it to his glory. But
all of our material wealth would
constitute but the least and
meanest of our acceptable offer
ings; and that i» acceptable to
God only when our hearts and
ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, ATGI ST 8, 1895.
prayers go with it. It has been
said that a strong, willing man
is the best species of capital.
The capital with which our fa
thers began Baptist operations
in Virginia and the Carolinas, a
century and a half ago, was only
a few hundred poor, illiterate
church members. But each tal
ent speedily gained ten talents,
and. ultimately each little one
became a thousand. Our capi
tal is more than two and a half
millions of enlightened Christian
men and women. Oh that God
would enable us to use our vast
resources as dilligently and ef
fectually as our fathers did
theirs.
Eminence, Ky.
v.-r,
For the Index.
ADVENTISTS!?) IN JAIL.
PR. W. L. KILPATRICK.
Dear Inpex:—ln the “Sabbath
Outlook" of .Inly L s th, I
see quoted from the “ Christian
Intelligencer" of July 3rd, as fol
lows: “We learn from the Ex
aminer that there is now in
Georgia a man universally recog
nized as a good citizen who is
shut up with incendiaries, thieves
and murderers, ami with them
waiting departure to a chain
gang: and the reason is, that on
Sunday he had worked quietly
in his own back field, dist urbing
nobody, and acting in obedience
to his conscience.”
Now. brother Inpex, while Ido
not believe everything that I find
in the papers, yet I am almost
afraid that this statement is cor
rect. I say afraid, because lam
jealous for the good name of my
native State. Since 1H65, 1 con
fess to no very groat degree of
concern for the reputation of
many St ates beyond Georgia and
her sisters in suffering, but I am
jealous for these. Os course I
understand that this citizen is a
Sabbatarian. He observed Sat
urday as his Sabbath, and was
plowing in his field on Sunday in
violation of the statute which
says: “Any laborer or other
person whatever whoshall pursue
their business or work of their or
dinary callings on the Lord's Day
shall be guilty of a misdemean
or, etc. This party was duly
convicted, I suppcjse, according
to the provisions of this law.
Now while there are so many
violations of other Sunday laws
—hunting, running excursion
trains and such like—which go
unpunished, it does seem strange
that this Sabbatarian offence
should ha ve been singled out for
prosecution. I would be very
glad if some good brother in the
county where this conviction
was obtained would write to you
(Index) and let us all know if
the case was fairly stated as is
found in this quotation from the
“Outlook.”
But there is another feature of
the subject. I am heartily in
favor of the above law so far as
it goes, but I am still more
heartily in favor of another law
which shall make an exception
in favor of all Sabbatarians,
whether Jews or Gentiles: I
mean those persons who consci
entiously keep the seventh day
as the Sabbath, and then labor
on the first day; but so labor as
not to disturb or annoy those
who are keeping this Ist day as
their Sabbath.
To some, this may seem to be
a small matter, but nothing is
small that interferes with a man's
serving God according to the
dictates of his own conscience,
this service molesting no one
else.
In the old country, in times
past, the heavy hand of persecu
tion was laid upon the “Seventh
Day Baptists.” They suffered
even unto death. In the United
States there are now some ten
thousand of these Baptist breth
ren, besides many Sabbatarians
who are not Baptists. We have
here in Georgia some four or five
organizations of “Seventh Day
Adventists.”
It should be put beyond the
power of any one to interfere
with them for opinion’s sake. I
sincerely trust that some mem
ber at the approaching session
of the Legislature will introduce
a bill in accordance with the sug
gestions above made. In the
meantime, if matters are just as
the “Sabbath Outlook” has been
infermed, I trust that some good
Baptist brother who is cognizant
of the facts will move in the case
so as to secure executive clem
ency for the benefit of this offen
der.
Some twenty-two States in the
Union have already made such
exceptions to the operations of
their Sunday laws. Let Georgia
do the same. Let there be no
semblance of religious persecu
tion in our State.
Hephzibah, Ga.
TA *5
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the Index.
For the Index.
MERCER’S PROFESSORS AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
PROF. S. C. MITCHELL.
The helpful experiences al the
University of Chicago this sum
mer have been many, but none
perhaps more enjoyable, at least
by me. than the opportunity of
getting acquainted with many of
the leading educators of this and
other countries. For of the sSO
students in artendance, perhaps
nearly three-fourths are teach
ers.
I suppose the institution that
has sent the largest and, I will
freely say, strongest represcnta
tion. is Mercer University. There
are five of her professors here,
and it occurred to me that possi
bly Dr. Gambrell would like to
get a word as to how his col
leagues are. Howl have enjoyed
renewing my friendship with
Profs. Metcalf and Sellers, and
getting to know and appreciate
Profs. Pollock. Moseley and
Wooster! If I could meet Prof.
Murray, of whom so much is
told me, I should then know the
whole of that rare combination
of young men with quickening
aspirations and varied culture
that have been brought together
in your university under the
leadership of him whose heart is
as tender as his character and
intellect are strong. For it is to
Prof. Tichenor to whom 1 am
grateful for first teaching me the
sinewy language of Cicero and
Tacitus. Do the Georgia stu
dents call him “Tich” as we used
affectionately todo in Kentucky?
I hope, brother McMichael,
that you believe in menjmving
a special aptitude for ‘certain
things; at least I do; and the said
Prof. Tichenor is a marked in
stance of this. Painstaking,
conscientiously exact, scientific
ally thorough in his researches,
patient and sympathetic with his
students and their problems, he
is admirably fitted to teach that
noble and practical language.
But a word as to the Mercer
men about me. This is written
in Kent Theatre —words here
sometimes have stran ri ‘ mean
ings, this Theatre is tyc chemi
cal lecture room. Whfi we are
waiting for Principal A/Al. Fair
bairn, OV Oxford £?%yMty.
England, who is gi* rut," iis a
course of lectures of superb
power on “The Philosophy of
Religion,” I look across the audi
torium and see Prof. Mosely sit
ting near another Fellow of the
University of Chicago. This
Fellow by whom he sits is from
Washington City, quite good
looking, exceptionally bright and
attractive. As degrees and
names are rendered a little am
biguous by the advances in co
education, perhaps I ought to ex
plain that this Fellow is a—girl.
Prof. Mosely has been an at
tentive listener to the Horr and
Harvey debate, and will preach
a sound, guilt-edged standard to
Georgia's youth. I have the
pleasure of sitting beside him in
the philosophy room, and have
more than once been helped by
him in our talks by his luminous
and searching views of that
favorite subject of his.
Prof. Sellers, whom I learned
to love at Mississippi College,
was seen at an early hour this
morning entering with quick
steps the great chemical labora
tory. When will I see him again?
Not until dark, for he works all
day hard in that laboratory. My
admiration for Sellers in his am
bition to make the scientific work
in the South really first class,
grows out of the fact that I shall
never cease to regret the meager
ness of the scientific teaching
which I have had. For this, no
body is to blame. It resulted
from the times, from lack of
funds. Things are bettering, I
trust, throughout the South.
But I am painfully conscious
that in a sense I am forever shut
out of certain great, and in this
day, almost essential fields of
thought, by sheer ignorance of
the principles, methods, and
terms of these sciences. As ed
ucators we must change this
fact, so that the youth of the
South will be led into these fruit
ful fields as well equipped to at
tain mastery as in classics or
general culture. I was some
what surprised by the* question
put to me by the President of a
great university, “Where is the
Baptist college that teaches
science?” This question had
reference to the spiri as well as
the facts of science. I believe
that we can trust the men who
are now filling the science chairs
in the South to right what has
been wrong, to supply what has
been lacking, and l> surpass
what has been done in this now
vitally important subject of
physical science. How bright
and encouraging the prospect of
this is when we look toward
Mississippi College, where that
enterprising Dr. Provine —all
credit to you Trustees for mak-
ing him chairman! has built
and equipped a splendid labora
tory almost without asking the
Board for money, just by sheer
enthusiasm fortruthand its pro
gress. I maybe wrong, brother
Editor, but I believe that a help
ful impulse will come to the South
shooting, uplifting influences in
many directions, literary, social,
and religious, from this aggres
sive study of science.
Prof. Metcalf has found his
highest enjoyment, perhaps, in
listening to the sound, inspiring,
cultured lectures of a Mi'. Hamil
ton W. Mabie, the brilliant editor
of the Outlook. I can under
stand Mr. Metcalf's intense de
light in these because they re
mind me strangely of the forces
that throb in him. The lectures
are literary and yet highly phil
osophical in character, sweeping
the whole range of culture, cul
ture in Matthew Arnold's sense,
the best that men have thought
and done. They abound in ap
peals for a sounder, deeper life
as the basis of our literature,
yielding freshness, distinctive
ness and power. He moves in
the world of the great books, and
yet not unacquainted with the
books of our own day. In it all
there breathes that force of
idealism and spirituality, that
exalts feeling and transfuses
thought into character. But
Mr. Mabie is only one of the
voices that reach Prof. Metcalf.
He is imbibing deeply the spirit
and knowledge of Principal
Fairborn, who is one of the rec
ognized leaders in religious
thought of this century. Along
with these lectures, this versa
tile young ma n st udies assiduous
ly French, German, finds time to
visit with Prof. Pollock the New
berry Library to see copies of
the original folio editions of
Shakspeare, spending an hour
and a half studying their char
acteristic features; ami he makes
the Field Museum yield up its
treasures of Natural History to
him. May I whisper a word in
the ears of the students of Mer
cer? I envy you the pleasure of
sitting before this Metcalf; for
of all the men that I have met in
my student life, he has contribu
ted ufijpre to stimulate my enthu
siasm for sound culture than any
ot icr. Teaching is basally in
sp ration, impulse, the electric
spark that. Hashes through your
eye into my soul. May the
South have many more such!
Prof. Pollock is pursuing three
courses of lectures on various
phases of English. The course
by Dr. McClintock, who by the
way is a Kentucky man that
holds a very high rank in the
university, is on the history and
development of English criticism.
Another course is by Dr. David
son on Tennyson's “In Memori
am.” From hearing one lecture
by Dr. Davidson, I am satisfied
Prof. Pollock is enjoying rare
opportunities in his interpreta
tion of the masters of English lit
erature. Then too with Dr. Crew
he is maikng a special study of
the thousand-souled Shakspeare.
In addition to this I see Prof.
Pollock's face at all the lectures
of consequence; for you must
know that his main study here
this summer is the problem of
education in genera]. For this
the libraries, the methods of the
university, the helpful contact
with various thinkers, offer many
fruitful suggestions. I trust
that all of our Southen colleges
will follow Mercer and some oth
ers in having chairs wholly de
voted to English. Wemuststrive
for a distinctive literature, one
native to the soil, that truly rep
resents what is deepest, origina l,
and vital in American life. Such
we have not as yet, but to that
evolution the South can contrib
ute a large portion, for in her
spirit, in the anglo-saxon blood
that flows in her veins, in the
very crucial experiences t hrough
which she has passed, in the
present conscious stirrings of a
new life and thought, are the
possibilities out of which such a
literature as shall have the
breath of a continent and the
freshness of a new world is born.
For the mathematician I have
ever entertained the highest awe,
believing that he possessed some
strange wizard-like power where
by he could adduce results so
wonderful from processes that
seemed to me so barren. This
feeling of awe I have in a large
degree in my associations with
Prof. Wooster, who is hard at
work on his special lines of in
vestigation. In him as in all the
Mercer men I see plainly a de
termination to keep in touch with
the most recent advances in their
various departments. After all,
what makes a college ? It is not
massive buildings,great libraries,
a numerous faculty. It is the
spirit of one or more men that
have the inspirational touch, who
have an instinct for culture, for
life. What may we not expect
of Georgia Baptists with her
institution of learning manned as
it is ?
I shall be disappointed if the
results of the united labors of
this body of bouyant young men
headed by the great coinoner do
not prove that their association
in Mercer is something more
Ilian a singular coincidence in
education in the South.
.July 30th.
For tin* Index.
THE EXPOSITORS’ COMPRESS.
BY P. S. WHITMAN, D. D.
It is quite obvious that Schol
ars give themselves much un
necessary trouble in their efforts
to harmonize the gospels. When
one of the gospel writers has de
scribed a transaction, then, if
another tiescribes anything sim
ilar, our scholars seem wonder
fully inclined to take upon
themselves to show that it is the
same transaction. A common
writer for a weekly, treating on
the figtree, that our Lord cursed,
Mk. 11:13 evidently confounds
it with the parable of the figtree
by introducing the words “Be
hold these three years I came
seeking fruit on the figtree and
find none, cut it down."’ words
found in the parable, Lu. 13:7.
Now this writer is simply
thoughtless in his mistake. It
is altogether different when the
learned expositor, who makes
his blunder with two passages of
scripture professedly before him
under examination. Our schol
ars after weighing considerat ions
pro and con accept of false con
clusions and stick to them. And
alas, these conclusions are pre
sented to us as essential to gos
pel harmony!
This fallacy of the scholars
prevails, especially we may
say, in their review of the
passion week of our Lord. John's
introduction of this eventful
period is so explicit that no one,
we should suppose, would under
take to disturb it. “Then Jesus,
six days before the passover,
came to Bel hany where Lazarus
was- whom he raised from the
dead. There they made him a
supper, and Martha served; but
Lazarus was one of them that
sat at meat with him. Then took
Mary a pound of pure nard very
precious and anointed the feet of
Jesus and wiped his feet with
I her hair. All this, Ae know,
was before the triumphal entry.
Christ’s ministry day after day
in the temple followed, then
those distinguished lessons to
the disciples as he sat on the
mount, at the close of which
Christ says ye know that after
days is the passover; Matthew,
having give an account of all
this, proceeds to relate how Je
sus was in Bethany at the house
of Simon the leper and that while
there, as he sat at meat, there
came unto him a woman having
an alabaster box of very preci
ous ointment and poured it on
his head.
Now can there be anything
more amazing than that scholars
should take it for granted that
the eating here spoken of and
the whole occasion is the same
as that described by John when
Lazarus sat at meat with Jesus
and Mary anointed his feet?
We give the comment made by
Canon Farrar in connection with
the occasion six days before the
passover: “John 12:1. So they
made him a supper there and
Martha served.” St. Matthew
and St. Mark say a little myste
riously that this feast was given
in the house of Simon the leper!"
The canon seems aware it is a
“feast" —a supper as complement
to Christ, that John describes.
The mystery is the canon does
not see that neither Matthew
nor Mark has anything to say of
a “feast.” They incidentally
bring in the clause “as they sat
at meat.” They say no such
thing as Canon Farrar so coolly
avers, that the feast which John
describes was given in the house
of Simon the leper. How can he
say this, when il is as plain as
the Divine pen can make it that
they are describing what occurr
ed after the triumphal entry—af
ter all oui' Lord's ministry in the
temple, when we know that the
supper made for Jesus and about
which the Canon is writing, was
before these events? Has it
come to this that men high in
the ministerial office must bring
the inspired pen into conflict
with itself by stating what is
manifestly untrue?
Now hear what another —a
professed harmonist of the gos
pels —says on Matt. 26:3: Now
when Jesus was in Bethany at
the house of Simon the leper.—
It is this: “John seems to place
the supper at Bethany, some
days earlier when Jesus arrived
at that town on his first coining
up to the passover. Matthew and
Mark place it here in connection
with the treason of Judas.”
Here, again, how cool the stu
pidity—not to see that while
John is describing that special
demonstration of a supper made
to Jesus, Matthew and Mark are
VOL. 7--NO. ‘3l.
speaking of a casual repast.
And, this difference not taken
into account, can anything be
more stupid than this assumed
impossibility for Jesus to have
had more than one supper in
Bethany during passion week?
Where is ignorance like this, to
be so blind to facts as not to
know that Jesus, whilst he pass
ed the day in the temple, was
every night in Bethany? Such
we say, to talk so
coolly of the supper, as if there
could not have been more than
one, though there are two oc
casions under description re
moved from each other by a space
of four days!
The comment of another equal
ly eminent is no less amazing.
It is on the next verse (Matt.
26:7). There came unto him a
woman having an alabaster cruse
of exceeding precious .ointment
and she poured it “on his head.”
Notice the comment: “John
makes the apparently conflicting
statement that she anointed the
feet." How much abuse of the
inspired narrative lurks in this
brief comment! Who has told
the author of this comment that
Matthew is here telling what oc
curred four days before as set
forth by John? Why write as if
no woman “spoken of by Mat
thew could be any other than
Mary the sister of Martha?
Where the necessity, when Mat
thew tells of Jesus being one
night at the house of Simon the
leper of comments just as if he
was only repeating what we find
presented in John's record as oc
curring four days before? Fur
ther on we find some answer to
our for we are told that
“two different feasts in Bethany
with a similar anointing and con
versation, only three or four
days apart, is out of question!"
Well, when thia is maintained in
the face of Ihe inspired narrative
to the contrary, we may well
ask Has it come to this that stu
pidity is the measure of learn
ing? The supper described by
Matthew anil Mark is no more
the same that John describes.
Ilian “two days" is the same as
•‘six days," or Simon the leper is
the same as Martha or Lazarus
Why should leafned me; thit k
it unbecoming in them to admit
the possibility ,af
fording the -to <>’ : ♦ van
one supper; or, that! more than
one woman in that place which
he regarded with so much favor,
could have loved him, and have
sought the dear privilege of
paying a signal honor to his
person when conscious that his
burial was near?
What can't expositors do.
sometimes stretching, sometimes
compressing? To give us “palm
Sunday" they first stretch one
day into two, and then compress
the crowded events of four days
into three. But here, in treat
ing of these different accounts,
the one of John, the other of
Matthew and Mark, they take
two separate evenings or nights,
as Friday and Tuesday, and com
press them into one—then two
women into one, and then also
two houses, as Martha's and Si
mon's —if not Martha and Simon
themselves!
For the Index.
DEATH IS YOURS.
1 Cor.
The Apostle is here “taking
stock" of the believer's posses
sions and, among other things,
he says: Death is yours. But.
“I don't want that,” some will
say. How our human natures
shrink away from the coming of
the dread master! Though we
are “weary and worn with earth -
ly strife,” we shudder at the
thought of the death—bed, the
coffin, the grave. Though we
sometimes have sweet, glorious,
uplifting foretaste of the joys cf
the life everlasting, yet, we can
not think of death without
shrinking. But, if Jesus is ours,
death hath no terrors. He hath
bursted the bonds of death and
the gravu and, through him, all
that are his shall come forth to a
glorious and unending life of joy.
My soul is in rapture as I think
of it.
••There is no <b-at h I What seems so is tran
sition;
Tii is life of morin 1 brent h
Is but i In* suburb of the life elysian,
Whose portal we call death.*’
I have stood by the bedside of
a dying believer. All was calm
and peaceful. Divine grace had
hushed the restless dread and
the brave, trustful soul could
say: “0 death, where is thy
sting? 0 grave, where is thy
victory?” With perfect compos
ure, he said: “Good-bye” to fa
ther, mother, sisters, brother,
pastor, relatives and friends and.
with the words, “I’m going home
to rest,” on his lips, he quietly
folded his hands, closed his eyes
and passed away. Tell me that
religion is not a stay, a solace, a
comfort when it enables one to
die like that. Yes, the religion
of Jesus is a living and potent
reality. If Jesus be our hope
Continued on Bth pnge.