Note and Comment

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 19, 1914

Afraid to Talk Religion

A WRITER in the Methodist Recorder of London, charges that many members of the Christian church are afraid to speak to their fellows of Christ or the way of salvation. He says:—

We must crash through our timidity, and our reserve, and our smug respectability, and go out into the highways and byways and compel men to come in to the gospel feast. The socialist and the suffragette put us to shame. In all weathers, at every street corner, they are vociferously peddling their wares. The goods that they hawk with such consuming zeal may or may not be valuable. We cannot doubt the infinite worth of the truth we proclaim. We have the pearl of great price to offer to men, and shame upon us that we are so sluggish in discharging our trust!

The foregoing statement is all too true. To too great an extent do the things of time and sense, our own personal affairs, our selfish pleasures, absorb our thought and attention, and the things of God are deferred for a more convenient season. We need to make Christ first in our thoughts and affection—the overmastering, all-absorbing influence of our lives. When he becomes in our affections the pearl of great price, the One whose glory we are constantly seeking and whose kingdom we are constantly endeavoring to advance, we shall gladly welcome every opportunity of speaking a word in his name.