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For the Index.
Sunday School Lesson for March 22.
—Faithful and Unfaithful Servants
Luke 1-2:37-18.
BY. S. G. HILLY ER.
The basis of this lesson is evi
dently the second coming of
Christ. Though not mentioned
in terms, yet it is the event to
which the Savior’s words on this
occasion clearly point. It de
serves, therefore, to be fully
considered.
I. NOTICE, FIRST, THE CERTAINTY
OF HIS COMING.
Its certainty depends upon the
veracity of the New Testament,
and upon it alone. If we admit
its veracity, then we are by faith
assured of the second coming of
our Lord; for it is mentioned, as
the learned tell us, more than
three hundred times by the
writers of the New Testament.
These writers must have been
fully persuaded, in their own
convictions, of the truth of the
prophecy; for we discover that
the expectation of its fulfilment
was one, and a very important
one of the motives that inspired
and directed all their self deny
ing labors Indeed, the second
coming <-f Christ is so completely
interwoven with the story of
Jesus and the teachings of
the apostles, that to elimi
nate it would destroy the
whole fabric of Christianity
itself; and the New Testament
would be relegate d to the regions
of fable and fiction.
11. THE MANNER OF HIS COMING.
He shall come in the clouds of
heaven, accompanied by holy
angels, heralded by the sound of
the trumpet, and in great power
and glory. And he shall come
in his own proper person and be
visible to every eye; even they
who pierced him shall see him.
(Rev. 1:7.)
111. THE TIME OF HIS COMING.
In presenting this topic for
our consideration, let me say in
advance, I have no reference to
any human calculations upon the
subject. My aim is, if possible,
to determine at what point in the
order of events God has fixed
the second coming of Christ, i.e .
his second personal and visible
coming. His invisible presence
has never been withdrawn from
his people. When he was about
to be taken up out of their sight
he said to them: “Lo! I am with
you alway to the end of the
W’orld.” He is with them in the
ministrations of the Holy Spirit
whom he sent in his place to be
their guide, their comforter, and
their helper. Though sitting at
the right hand of his Father in
heaven, he has been all the time
reigning, by the agency of his
Spirit, over the kingdom of God
on earth.
In the progress of that king
dom we notice, from time to time,
important events that stand as
epochs in its history. Such an
epoch was the day of Pentecost.
Another was the conversion of
Constantine; another was the
reformation in the sixteenth cen
tury, and another was the revival
of modern missions in 1792. All
these are past. They were sea
sons when Christ came to his
people in his providential guid
ance and in the grace of his
Spirit. But we look for other
epochs yet future. Such will be
the restoration and conversion of
the Jews, the fall of antichrist,
the ushering in of the Millen
nium, and last of all, the great
day of judgment.
Now it is somewhere in the
successive periods of time
marked out by these future
epochs that we must look for the
personal and visible coming of
Christ. And I think that our
present lesson points clearly to
the judgment day as the tithe of
his coming, for which ha so ear
nestly exhorts them to watch
THE CHRISTIAN INDEX.
and to K Jy. If you will read
the whole .esson carefully, and
compare it with Matt. 24:42 51.
you will see thatthe subject of the
Savior's warnings is the coming
judgment over which he himself
shall preside. But to make cer
tainly, if possible, more certain,
I will quite Matt. 25:31, 32:
“When the Son of man shall
come in his glory, and all the
holy angels with him, then shall
he sit upon the throne of bis
glory; and before him shall be
gathered all nations ”
These words were addressed
to his disciples. He was sitting
upon the Mount of Olives. At
the beginning of the 24th chap
ter he began to speak to his dis
ciples about the impenling fate
of Jerusalem, which was near at
hand. And then he went on to
speak of his own coming and of
the impending judgment. And
in the close of the chapter, gives
substantially the same admoni
tions which Luke gives us in our
present lesson. He proceeds, in
lie 25th chapter, in the same
line of warning to give first the
parables of the ten virgins and
of the talents, both illustrating
the sad effects of being unpre
pared to meet the coming Lord.
Then with the words above
quoted, he introduces his won
derful account of the judgment
in all its solemn realities. “Waen
the Son of Man shall come.”
Come from where? If he had
been, as the pre-millenarians be
lieve, already reigning in his vis
ible person at Jerusalem, sitting
upon the literal throne of his
father David over a subdued
world what need for him to come
from anywhere? Was he not
already, according to the pre
millenarians, on the earth at Je
rusalem with his official atten
dants all around him? Surely
the language of the Savior must
imply that his coming to judg
ment is to be directly from
heaven. Then we can under
stand the other clauses that, de
scribe his glory and his retinue
made up of all the holy angels.
That he shall come to the judg
ment directly from heaven is also
indicated by all the descriptions
of his coming to which allusion
was made under the second
topic.
In view of what has been said,
I think we may conclude that we
need not loik for the second vis
ible coming of Jesus till he shall
come to judge the world in
righteousness according to the
appointment and j urpose of the
eternal Father.
But the argument makes that
awful day, whose duff is buried
in impenetrable mystery, by far
the most important to each one of
us of all tiie days of eternity
itself. Is it any wonder that our
loving Savior, in view of the
tremendous realities that he
knew were suspended upon its
irrevocable verdicts, should have
warned his disciples, and
through them all mankind, by
precept and by parable, to be al
ways “ready” to meet its com
ing? This brings us to the
special design of the lesson be
fore us. It was intended to
teach us:
IV. THE ATTITUDE WHICH ALL
CHRISTIANS SHOULD HOLD TO
WARDS ‘ THAT DAY.”
The Savior’s intention was to
let his disciples know that he
would soon leave them, and that
during his absence he should
entrust, in great measure, his
estate (the interests of his king
dom on earth) to their care and
faithfulness. And he also taught
them that some day he would re
turn to them; and then there
should be a reckoning with them
as to the manner in which they
had kept the trust committed to
their faithfulness; for “judgment
must begin at the house of God.”
Such is evidently the teaching of
the parables employed in the
lesson.
The day of his return is not
fixed; but we have found that it
shall synchronize with the final
judgment. We know not how
near or how remote it may be in
the distant future. But it will
surely come with all its eternal
consequences. Then our attitude
towards it should be an attitude
of expectation and of watchful
ness. We should be ever ready
for the summons: “Go ye out to
meet him.”
It is a sad truth, that there are
many foolish virgins, many un
faithful stewards, many idle and
lazy servants who bury their
Lord’s money. It will go hard
with them at the day of judg
ment.
In the light of this lesson I
think our preachers should fill
the air with their warnings. A
failure to do it may convict some
of them of unfaithfulness.
Brethren, let us awake to the
solemn responsibilities that rest
upon us. Are we “ready” to
meet our Lord at his second
coming?
273 Washington St., Atlanta.
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For the Ini ex.
What ot the Future?
BY W. A. .IARREL, D. D.
In a recent article in the North
American lieview, Mr. M. G. Mul
hall, one of the standard statisti
cians,controverts the opinion that
the nations of Christendom aie
undergoing serious changes as
regards vital statistics, and that
their rates of increase are declin
ing. Taking the vital statistics
of the seven European nations
that have for a half century kept
accurate records, he shows that,
while the birth-rates of the seven
nations—England, France, Prus
sia, Austria, Holland, Belgium
and Scandinavia —have notably
declined since 1880, the decline
in death-rates has been still
greater, so that the surplus of
births over deaths is not falling
but rising; that marriage-rates
have declined since 1880, but the
number of children to a marriage
has increased in every country
except Belgium; and that the
natural increase of population
has proceeded with greater ra
pidity than ever before. As for
the United States, it is found
that the rate of increase of pop
ulation has been steadily declin
ing. In the five decades, from
1830 to 1890, except that in which
the Civil War occurred, the an
nual rate of increase of Ameri
can-born population was almost
uniform, at 231 per thousand;
but in the decade from 1880 to
1890 it fell to 174. As no statis
tics of deaths and births are
kept in this country, the cause
for this unquestioned decline is
not easy to ascertain. It has
been coincident with an extraor
dinary increase of urban popula
tion, and the reasonable infer
ence is that the overcrowding of
population in cities is unfavora
ble to children The colored
race is proportionately declining,
although much more prolific than
the whites; this being due to the
high rate of infant mortality
among the negroes. Forecast
ing the populat ion for the census
years 1900 and 1910, Mr. Mulhall
predicts that in the latter year
there will be of white Americans
68,400,000; of colored population,
9,400 000; and of foreigners, 12,
200,000, a total of 90,000,000, as
against the 62,622,000 of 1890.
As our area, including Alaska,
is 3,000,000 square miles, the
Union could easily support 210,
000,000 souls, or three times its
present population.
This, for the cause of missions,
I have clipped from The Watch
man, of Boston. Think of our
country in about-ten years hav
ing 90,000,000 ! Few of our
fathers ever thought of such a
thing. Then, of its ability to so
easily support the 210,000.000.
Yet, this is incalculably below
its capability. What of the re
ligious condition of this to-mor
row’s vast population ?
Considering our beloved South
land is to soon be the manufactur
ing part of our country and, con
sequently, its great capital
center do we not almost stand
appalled before the question,
what of its religious future ? Is
our great nation to become a na
tion of infidel, drinking, volup
tuous mammon worshippers ?
Is our great Southland, instead
of continuing its envious history
for faith and life, to become the
accursed spot on which mammon
will erect his throne ? Will the
next generation see our children
as materialized slaves, crouch
ing around the foot of mammon’s
throne? Considering the ad
vent of manufacturing interests
will cause a vast host of heathen
—Romish foreigners, to crowd
into our land which our fathers
so hallowed and gave to God, the
question more than doubles its
force. As well now make up
our minds that the once easy
going, rural and notedly con
servative Southland of our
fathers is passing away to never
return.
Southern blood and Southern
institutions, like the waters flow
ing into the Gulf of Mexico, will
soon be a thing of only the past.
Let us remember that, as in
ages passed, our God rules the
world and that he is with his
people, through them, especially
to fulfill his eternal purposes.
To his call, in the signs of the
times and the Great Commission,
let us rally to our churches, our
missions, our educational work
and our country’s need for poli
tics instead of office-seeking
demagogy. Thus we will
make our beloved Southland as
much greater than it was as the
man is greater than the boy.
Thus we will prove faithful to
the heritage and trust of
our fathers, in our churches,
our missionary and educational
institutions and our country they
bequeathed us; thus we will ren
der doubly sacred their memo
ries, hallow their graves, bless
the great crowds which God’s
providence is sending us to feed
with the bread of eternal life,
ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY. MARCH 111, 189(1.
glorify God and then lie down in
our final sleep for our children
to likewise hallow our graves,
bless their time and generation,
and when our Lord returns
with them meet him with joy, to
partake of the revelation of his
glory—the glory of saving a lost
world.
Dallas, Texas.
For the Index.
Notes and Comments.
REV. .1. C. Hl DEN.
A correspondent of the Central
Presbyterian recently gave a
scathing criticism of the sensa
tional methods which are becom
ing so fashionable among a cer
tain class of “revivalist” preach
ers. The criticism was not too
severe. Indeed, it would be dis
ficult for Junius himself to make
it too severe. And this condition
of affairs suggests and empha
sizes the thought, that sober
minded people should be willing
to labor and to make sacrifices in
order to support institutions
whose object is to train our
preachers in the knowledge of
what the Scriptures teach. Never
was there a greater need of
preachers who can take a pas
sage of Scripture, tell us what it
was intended to teach in the ex
act connection in which it occurs,
and then apply the teaching to
the current needs of our actual
every-day life. Th is is preach ing,
and it is just this for which the
professors in our Theological
seminary are laboring to prepare
their students. Should we not
do what we can to help them?
There is a self-balancing power
in the moral, as well as in the
physical universe. When “Stone
wall” Jackson was professor of
Natural Philosophy in the Vir
ginia Military Institute, one of
his most frequently repeated
formulas was “Action and
reaction are equal, contrary
and simultaneous.” This is
one of the great universal laws
of physics. The stability and
equilibrium of the material uni
verse are based upon it. And
something analogous to it is true
in the intellectual and moral
universe. There is a law of
balance, or “compensation,’’ in
all the known works of God. No
power is ever wasted in the ma
chinery of Heaven , Everything
that seems lo be gdmg 'to wreck,
or to waste, is still at work some
how or some vhere. And this is
only another form of that mar
velous, sweeping statement of
Paul, “All things work together
for good to them that love God.”
It is not always easy for us to
put ourselves in the places of
those whom we criticise, and yet
it is often important to do it, as
we are to be just in our estimate
of human actions. “Oh! Daisy,”
said the mother, as she glanced
al the hands of her four year-old,
“You never saw my hands look
ing like those, did you?” “No,”
said the little culprit, “but your
mamma did. ”
Ata certain church conference,
at which this scribe was moder
ator, a member applied for a letter.
For some time past he had evi
dently been dissatisfied with the
church, and had been neglecting
his duties as a member. He did
not say that he desired to join
another church; and he probably
intended to pocket the letter and
thus feel relieved of his member
ship. When the application was
made,one of the brethren, who had
“taken in the situation,” arose
and said : “Brother Moderaior,
our Brother H. is not in good
standing in this church, and I
submit that we have no right to
grant him a letter. I move that
his case be referred to the Stand
ing Committee on Discipline.”
The motion was unanimously
carried. The committee investi
gated the case; the member ac
knowledged his fault, amended
his life and then did not want a
letter.
Another member asked for a
letter. For two years he had
paid nothing to the support of the
church. He had no disposition
to pay anything, and probably
intended to join a church where
they had “a free gospel.” He
was asked if he wished to be ex
cused from paying his dues on
the ground of inability. He was
a young, healthy man, doing a
prosperous business; and he said,
“No.” He was told that he
could not get a letter, and as he
persisted in his refusal to pay
his dues, he was regularly ar
raigned and excluded on the
charge of “covetousness.”
The evident effect which
these two cases of discip
line produced upon the church
life of those who manfully did
their duty and met the issue, was
extremely gratifying to the pas
tor. How would your church
deal with such cases ?
Richmond, Va.
“He who is not willing to go any
where for Christ is fit to go nowhere
for him.”
For the 1 ndex.
Praying for Missions.
BY REV. G. w. HURT.
There is not as much of it in
public or in private as there
should be. One of the Chris
tian’s highest duties and sweet
est privileges is to pray. It is
indispensable to the health of
the soul. It is as natural lor the
vigorous, robust Christian to ap
proach often the throne of grace,
as it is for the healthy, growing
boy to seek the dining hall. One
is no more essential to physical
development than the other is to
spiritual.
Not all food is healthful to the
body, and not all prayer is profit
able to the soul. Indeed, that
should hardly be called prayer
which does not bring us into the
presence of the king with an of
fering which he will delight to
honor.
“Ye ask, and receive not, be
cause ye ask amiss, that ye may
consume it upon your lusts.”
There is too much “celestial beg
gary” in our prayers, and far too
little real, anxious praying for
the coming of the kingdom of
God. We are taught to pray for
that, to work for that, to live in
expectation of that. Such pray
ing is in harmony with the who e
tenor of scripture teaching It
will bring us nearer to God. It
will make us more susceptible to
the influences of the Word. It
will bring China and Japan, aid
Africa and Armenia and the “ut
termost parts of the earth" near
er to our hearts and cur purses.
God will answer such prayers.
Our missionaries, boards and
secretaries often ask us to pray
for missions. Do we ever treat
the requf st as pious cant ? If, in
all our churches and closets, the
prayer were offered heartily and
intelligently, “Thy kingdom
come,” it would be better than the
collection of thousands of dol
lars for missions. The money
would soon come in surprising
sums, and the money that comes
in answer to prayer, and is ac
companied by prayer, will be
prayerfully and wisely used. Oh,
for a mighty revival of praying
for missions “Lord, teach us
to pray, as John also taught his
disciples. And he said unto them,
when you pray say, Father, hal
lowed be thy name. Thy king
dom come.”
’ • Guyton, Ga.
For the Index.
“In my Father’s House. ’
BY C. H. WETHERBEE.
These words spoke Christ.
They suggest that his Father’s
house is a great home. The true
son feels that he has a real home
in the house of his loving and
loved father. There is comfort
in the thought that he has a
father to go to, where he is ever
welcome and can there rest his
throbbing head and refresh his
tired spirit and unburden his anx
ious and troubled heart. There
is no such exquisite freedom
anywhere else.
“In my Father’s house” —there
I find sympathy and encourage
ment and kindly concern for my
best welfare. But not all father’s
houses are like this. Some chil
dren feel easier and more con
tented and happier in some other
father’s house than they do in
their own father's house. But
the true father —the father who
has a true affection for the chil
dren of his bosom and is in cir
cumstances to make his house a
comfortable abode —such a
father’s house is a joyous and
cherished home for his true
hearted children, /\nd yet the
best home, in the best house on
earth, cannot be compared with
the great Father’s house and
home in the glory-land. We
may take what we call an ideal,
earthly home, and think of it as
affording a faint and feeble illus
tration of the exceedingly gor
geous and glorious home of the
blessed Father in heaven. And
if we be true brethren and sis
ters of Christ we can speak as
Christ did, and say: ‘ ‘ J/?/ Father’s
house.” We can call it our home,
our ideal home, a home in which
the sunshine of the glory of God
forever lights it. and the sweet
est and dearest of influences
make it fragrant with their pres
ence and immortal with their
power. In that home there will
be nothing lacking—no lack of
the riches of a heavenly Father’s
dearest love, nor any lack of the
purest affection of sainted breth
ren and sisters, neither will there
lack a perfect, mutual confidence.
O, What a superlatively magnifi
cent home that is ! Tongue can
not tell it, nor mind imagine it.
Will such a house and home be
yours at last ?
There is an ocean of water for
the fish to swim in ; there is an
ocean of air for the bird to fly
in ; and there is an ocean of God
head for the soul to live in.
Weariness.
“Lord, 1 am oppressed; undertake for me.”
Isaiah :b:H.
Lord, with a very tired mind
I H«*«-k Thy face;
Thy shadowing wing alone enn be
My r sting place.
Oil. let the everlasting arms,
Around me thrown,
Mv secret sanctuary be
From ills unknown.
Thou knowest, Lord, the hidden cross
None else may set ;
For Thou appolntest every grief
That chastens me!
And I may plead with Thee, iny God,
For patient strength.
That this Thy discipline of love
Bear fruit at length
I need not ft nr lo tel 1 Thee all.
My heavenly Friend,—
Os conflict, longing, vague unrest,—
Thou sett’st the end:
And Thon wilt lead my weary feet
From world-worn ways.
Through paths of everlasting peace.
To calmer days
Lord! dwell within my heart, and till
Its emptiness;
Ret Thou its hope above the reach
Os earth 11 ness;
Baptize its love, through suffering,
J nto Thine own.
And work in me a fail h that rests
On Christ alone.
—Mary Kent Adams Stone.
The Manliness of Being: Persuaded
Now notice the beautiful meth
od of persuasion which God em
ploys. lie comes by his gospel
to every man just where he is.
He does not say to him, “Wait
first until you see your faults
and sins;’’ he does not say, “Wait
until you are a better man;” but
he comes to a man wherever he
finds him, and seeks to melt the
hard heart, and appeals to the
manliness not yet dead in his
soul, and awakens visions and
dreams of possibilities not yet
vanished; and a new man is born
—a new possession for the king
dom of God. A new power of
righteousness is given to every
man thus coming of his own free
will: and because God has
touched his heart he is born in
to the glorious liberty of the sons
of God.
See, also, the blessed testimony
that is to the truth. Think of
that. It is easy for ns to say
that God is truth.. It is easy
for us to think that God
knows all truth. It is easy
for us to declare, one to an
other, that religion is the meth
od of truth. But what is the
proof of it? The proof lies out
side of us and beyor d anything
in our plans. The proof ol all
pi-oofs lies in the divine method
itself. God has more at stake
than we have, or than society
has. or than the whole world
taken together has, in the sue
ess of his plan of redemption.
God has staked his own soul, we
may reverently say, upon saving
the world, as the witness of his
love. He has done what divinity
alone could conceive, in the sac
rifice of Jesus Christ.
What, then, does God do? He
seems to stand back and simply
wait for the sure working of his
own plan. Now we judge men’s
integrity, we judge their confi
dencein their own plans, by their
patience. Are they always try
ing to amend their ways by do
ing something different? Ah!
they are conscious of fail
ure. Are they calm and restful
-steady in hand and method?
Then they believe in themselves.
Through all the centuries God
has steadily proceeded with the
uniform method of revealing
himself to men as the means of
their salvation —sending proph
ets, lawgivers, divine messen
gers to tell men the truth, and in
the fulness of time sending his
Son with more of the truth of
God; then leaving that truth to
do its own work.
Kepler, when he had discov
ered the wonderful laws of as
tronomy, said, as he sent his
book to the press, “I can well
wait a hundred years for a read
er, since God has waited six
thousand years for an observer.”
This is God’s testimony to the
power of truth. How ample,
how sure the words when God’s
Word deals with the soul and its
needs! “Come unto me”—not
you alone, not you who do not
know temptation; not you babe
in life who have not been harmed
by the power of the world; not
you philosopher, shielded in
your school from contact with
the world as it is. “Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden”—bending under the
crushing burden of your heart—
“and I will give you rest”—de
liverance. That is the divine
method.
What, then, in conclusion?
Why, just see the obligations
that arise out of this! The great
er the privilege of our position
the greater the responsibilities.
The greater the love that is
shown the greater the abuse.
What is the situation to day? It
is this: not the holy God appeal
ing to a world lying in darkness,
but the holy God appealing to a
world enlightened, self-respect
ing, honest, uprightfaffectionate
men, good fathers, good sons,
loving mothers; ladies who have
honor and dignity; men with
manliness for all the work of life
except God’s work; who have
love and kindness and generosity
and patience for every one and
for everything in life except God;
who open their hearts to all
worldly interests that are
worthy, but close them against
' VOL. 76-NO. 12
everything thatdirectly concerns
God and his gospel. Think of
that! If this world, the world
about us, should heed, would not
the degraded, the heathen world,
quickly be won?
Now you see what sin is, and
the sin of “respectable sin.”
This applies to young men
brought up in Christian homes,
with all that wealth and luxury
and education and religion can
give to them, having enlightened
minds for everything thit the
world offers except God; busi
ness men proud of their strength
and their dignity and force and
citizenship; proud as fathers and
men and members of the commu
nity, but having not one pur
pose of allegiance or of love
toward the Father in Heaven,
who has given to you and is giv
ing to you everything that you
have to enjoy. Think of this,
noi as the answer of the heathen,
not as the-amswer of the poor
reprobate in the slums of the
city, to a God whose names even
they have never heard except in
curses; but as the answer of men
brought up in a Christian atmos
phere, sitting, as many of you
do, Sabbath after Sabbath, in a
Christian church, to the God who
has been appealing to you all
your lives in the gentle, manly
way of peasuasion. What shall
we say of such a man?
What remains for him who
has “counted the blood of the
covenant wherewith he was
sanctified an unholy thing,” and
“has trodden under foot” the of
fered gospel of his God? What
more can God do’ What re
mains? Is his truth not true?
It was my privilege this morn
ing to pass in rapid review the
twenty five years in which I have
been permitted to be a minister
of the gospel; but who can put in
words the experiences of those
years, in the testimony that they
have brought to the truth, Jesus
Christ, in the home, on the sick
bed, by the open grave, in sor
row, in temptation, in pain, no
less than in joy and in strength
and success? The “great multi
tude whom no man can number”
—young men and maidens, strong
men and women, aged men to
whom gray hairs have become a
“crown of glory,” because they
are found in the way of right
eousness—all uniting to bear
testimony that Jesus Christ is to
them life; that the gospel to
them is true and that no word
of it has failed. Is the message
not true?
And then as to the bearer —
what more can be done? Men
everywhere to-day say, “We are
convinced; we are not infidels.
Why, we have always believed
the truth of the gospel.” Yes,
but you do nothing for the gos
pel/ You must give yourself to
the truth. You must repent; you
must stop this life away from
God and find your life in God.
You must open your heart to re
spond to persuasion, and then it
will come true, as I said at the
beginning, that you will see
manliness in being persuaded.
There is no manliness in doubt.
Doubt is paralysis. Delay in the
face of the truth is weakness.
God summons you—not to in
quire, not to parley, not to talk
about believing; God summons
you every one, dear friends, to
believe, and so to be saved. Will
you not, then, recognize the
truth? Will you not open your
hearts to the graciousness of the
divine method? Will you not
regard the dignity of the appeal
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
away with your unbelief, with
your parleying, with your pro
crastination, and give yourself
to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to
his cause, with all your heart?
Then shall you find peice, for
then you shall find God.—Ques
tions of Modern Inquiry—Stimson.
Our Lord declared, “Blessed
are they which do hunger and
thirst after righteousness, for
they shall be filled.” How many
are there named among believ
ers who hunger and thirst after
the things of this life —pleasure
and profit and passion—to whom
would come that more blessed
hunger and thirst if they only
cease trying to satisfy their
spiritual natures with these lower
things. But hunger and thirst
almost invariably imply two con
ditions, a craving want and a
knowledge of the things to satis
fy. The craving of the soul for
something, may yield for the
time to 'the supply of sensual
food —but he who has “tasted”
and “seen” that the Lord is good,
and who “feeds” upon his word
will find that in that feeding
upon the word his soul is filled
with the Spirit. Here, then, is
the secret of this blessing: The
believer absolutely rejects all at
tempts at soul-satisfaction with
the things of this world and con
secratedly setting himself to do
God’s service, he feeds upon the
blessed word of God and finds
that by divine processes there has
come into his soul the fulness of
the Spirit.— The Standard.