p. 7 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 3. (1/16/1907)

THERE IS NO NEED TO WORRY.

"THERE is no need to worry. When God shuts a door, He opens a window." A world of sunshine and hope is epitomized in this Italian proverb. To look out on the world with eyes unclouded by shadows of fear or doubt or worry; to go forward in the spirit of love and trust, never for an instant wavering in faith or hope; to resolve—

"Never to look behind me for an hour; To wait in weakness and to walk in power; But always fronting forward to the light"—

is to take a long step toward a happy and successful life. To look back constantly on past mistakes and failures is as destructive to the growth of spiritual beauty and power, aye, and to the development of material success, as it is to look forward to ills that may never come. The people who take a melancholy pleasure in recalling the fact that they "have seen better days," and in bemoaning present conditions, never see "better days" again. Their attitude of mind shuts them out from all possibility of happiness or prosperity.—Selected.

The Passing of Man

By Washington Irving

MAN passes away; his name perishes from record and recollection; his history is as a tale that is told; and his very monument becomes a ruin.—Washington Irving.

MIRACLES, MARVELS, AND MYSTERIES.

By William S. Sadler

III.

The Miraculous Element of the Bible.

WE are aware that many scientists and religionists of to-day deny the miraculous element in the Bible. We are equally aware that they have done nothing to disprove it. We are not disposed to accept this denial. The only evidence in disproof of the miracles of the Bible brought forward by modern skepticism and criticism is included under three heads:

"We can not understand these miracles."
"We do not see such things happening to-day."
"They are contrary to the established order of nature."

None of these reasons is sufficient to overthrow the miraculous element of the Gospels. The scientist is surrounded on every hand by things he can not understand; in fact, he can not fully and satisfactorily explain a single fact observed in the energy and life of modern chemistry and biology. Still, these sciences are accepted, notwithstanding our ignorance of many of their fundamental laws.

Again, the geologist accepts the records of mountain and vale, and upon them builds vast theories and fancies, altho he does not see such things happening to-day as have taken place in past ages; yet when it comes to the Bible miracles, they are to be rejected on the very grounds which are sufficient to accept everything else on!

Who told the critic that the Gospel miracles were worked contrary to, or in violation of, natural law? What evidence is there that any of these laws of nature were broken? Who has proved that the divine unknown law of miracles is contrary to the, at best, partially understood laws of nature? Let these questions be answered before we presume to make positive statements as to how miracles were wrought.

This question of miracles, the relation of God to nature, etc., constitutes an arena in which many fierce struggles are destined to take place in the closing experiences of the Gospel. It is our purpose here to but briefly call attention to a few fundamental things, and point out the stepping-stones of error in connection with the study of God and nature.

It must be recognized that in modern scientific and religious tendencies there are two great extremes and wholly erroneous views of God and His relation to His universe.

a. Materialism.—By whatever name the materialist is known, he may ever be identified by this one all-pervading teaching; namely, "Nature is all; nature is the reality of God." While the materialist may theoretically concede the personality of God, yet it will always be found that he worships a god without intelligent control of his universe, and without absolute control of the laws of nature.

b. Pantheism.—To the pantheist, the "supernatural is all contained in nature." While pantheism may concede a God who has absolute and intelligent control of the universe, yet it is always a God without personality.

So it will appear that both views are un-Biblical. Neither the materialist nor the pantheist can believe in miracles; for when we get to the bottom of it, neither class believes that God exists apart from nature. They do not regard nature as the habit of God. They do not regard God as working intelligently in and thru nature. Therefore, miracles within the Bible meaning of the term are unknown to these false systems of belief.

Natural science is simply man watching God work. There is the will of an intelligent and Almighty Person behind the operations of nature. They are orderly; they are according to law. Every created thing bears the stamp of "a manufactured article."

It must also be recognized that the miracles of God may be of two classes—miracles of Creative Power, and of Controlling Providence. Both are subject to the will of the Infinite. The habits of God, as reflected in nature, are governed by principle, not by rule. (But it must be remembered that the nature we view to-day has been distorted by sin and marred by transgression.) What man terms "natural law" is in reality but

a glimpse of the principles of God's character which are being unfolded in the physical world. The discrepancy between miracles and nature does not prove that God has violated His own laws in the working of the miracle; it merely reflects the ignorance of man concerning the laws of nature. The very term "miraculous" signifies, not that the act is against law, but that its laws are unknown—that is, unknown to man.

Miracles might fittingly be compared with comets, which seem to be irregular and unclassified, but further study of many comets has shown that they are regular in their irregularity.

To judge a miracle as out of harmony with the laws of God is equivalent to saying that we in our finite state know all the laws of God.

We would, therefore, make a difference between the ordinary wonder-working of God in the natural world, as revealed at every turn in the open but mysterious book of nature, and the extraordinary and instantaneous miracle-working recorded in the Bible, which God has effected thru His prophets, His Son, the apostles, and His church.

In conclusion, we would call attention to the fact that while universal life, energy, and power have their origin in, and proceed from, God, they are diffused thru our world by various channels which are wholly distinct and different. It is true the Scriptures declare that God is the "fountain of life," and that the psalmist also says "power belongeth unto God;" but while there is in the universe but a single fountainhead of power and life, there are several distinct and separate channels of its communication to our world. W. S. SADLER, M.D.

WITNESSING FOR CHRIST.

By Ellen G. White

IN order to save fallen man, under a sense of the infinite magnitude of the task, Christ undertook to represent to the world the character of God in His great love for the world. Nothing was allowed to divert His attention for a moment. His one effort was to carry out the plan of God laid before the foundation of the world. Said Christ, "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life that I might take it again." "As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep." That is: "My Father hath so loved you, that He even loves Me more for giving My life to redeem you. In becoming your substitute and surety, by surrendering My life, by taking your liabilities, your transgressions, I am endeared to My Father; for by My sacrifice, His will is fulfilled, His law vindicated, and God can be just, and yet justify him who believes in Jesus."

This is a love that passeth knowledge. Shall we not be filled with astonishment at the amazing riches of the grace of Christ? Jesus alone could do the work. Knowing the height and depth of the love of God, he engaged to come into the world to make it manifest to sinners. Nothing less than the infinite sacrifice made by Christ in behalf of fallen man could express the love of God to lost humanity. It is impossible for us to conceive of the riches of His grace abundantly provided for all who believe on Christ. And having thus Himself represented the love of the Father, He has enjoined upon those who believe in Him to represent His character to the world, and thus reflect the glory of God in their own character.

Jesus says, "As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world," to be witnesses for Me. Christ calls upon each of His followers to represent His goodness, His mercy, and His love to the world, as He represented the love of the Father. He has made those who believe in Him as their personal Saviour, partakers of the divine nature, that they should not perish, but have everlasting life; and those who are saved by His grace are to reveal His power to others, that others may be saved thru their instrumentality. All who are truly converted are commissioned of God to be light bearers to the world.

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." It is the privilege and duty of every child of God to obtain day by day a living experience in the things of Christ. Thru a connection with Christ, we are to go forth in His Spirit, with His mind, as agents to cooperate with the divine, to bear to the world the message of the love of God to man. We are to proclaim that Christ is our Advocate, that the bow of promise encircles the throne, that the Lord is waiting to be gracious. This work must not be set aside because it requires self-denial and self-sacrifice. Looking to the Author and Finisher of our faith, we must see there our pattern, and shape our life after the example He has given.

The church may individually be all that they profess to be; for if they will seek the Lord with all the heart, they will be filled with the Spirit. Jesus Christ is the Pattern, and every one who copies the Pattern will estimate the value of his own soul as the purchased possession of Christ. He will see that the Lord requires all the members of His church, as living, human agencies, to exert a sanctified influence in unity to build up the Redeemer's kingdom in the earth. The careless inaction, the indolence, the neglect to improve a single faculty and intrusted capability which might have been employed for blessing humanity, robs the world of the promised influence of the Holy Spirit, which might have accompanied with its presence the living witness for God. A message from heaven is sent to the world by those whom the Lord has called. They are to make known the salvation of God, that, by the testimony of those who are sanctified, many may be saved.

MRS. E. G. WHITE.

IN THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.

LORD, what a change within us one short hour Spent in Thy presence will prevail to make, What heavy burdens from our bosom take, What parched grounds refresh, as with a shower! We kneel and all around us seems to lower; We rise, and all, the distant and the near, Stands forth in sunny outline, brave and clear; We kneel how weak, we rise how full of power! Why, therefore, should we do ourselves this wrong, Or others that we are not always strong, That we are ever overborne with care, That we should ever weak or heartless be, Anxious or troubled, when with us is prayer, And joy, and strength, and courage are with Thee? —Anon.

A TRIBUTE TO THE OLD TESTAMENT AND TEN COMMANDMENTS.

By K. C. Russell

REV. WALLACE RADCLIFFE, of the Presbyterian Church of Washington, D. C., recently said in an address which he gave concerning a stricter observance of Sunday:

"I believe in the Bible. Not in the Sermon on the Mount alone, not in the beautiful words of Jesus, nor in the poetry that here and there may be brought out from its contents. I believe in the Bible as the word of God, and the Old Testament as just as authoritative and just as inspired, and carrying in itself just as largely the word and the authority of God as the Sermon on the Mount, or the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. "That has been the trouble with all of us. We have by the criticism of to-day, by the fine scholarship, been persuaded in the Old Testament and emphasized in the New, we have been somehow or other accepting the fact that the contents of the Old Testament are to be passed by. But in its contents rests the Ten Commandments. 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy' is there, and it is just as obligatory upon the Christian conscience as the fifth, or sixth, or seventh, or eighth commandment, and I have just as much right to disobey one as to disobey the other. We must call the church back to its loyalty to the word of God, and in the pulpit and in the Christian life somehow or other encourage its study, and impress its authority upon the individual conscience and the Christian life."

The foregoing tribute to the Old Testament and the Ten Commandments will be appreciated by all who believe that the Bible is the word of God, in these times when infidelity is increasing on every hand to such an alarming extent. It is to be regretted, however, that one who gives expression to such praiseworthy statements as these should be so deceived as to think that a return to belief in the Old Testament, and the Ten Commandments in their entirety will result in a better observance of Sunday, which has no foundation in the Bible, but is an institution which is wholly of heathen origin.

All who believe the Old Testament and Ten Commandments can readily see that if they are emphasized and accepted by the people, it would result in the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath, for the Old Testament abounds with the most conclusive evidences that the seventh day (Saturday) and not Sunday (the first day of the week), is the Sabbath of the Bible.

In the very beginning we read, "And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." Gen. 2:2, 3.

And in the very bosom of the Decalogue, where the only commandment for a weekly Sabbath is found, it says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Ex. 20:8-11.

Now while we most heartily concur with the foregoing tribute paid to the Old Testament scriptures and the law of God, I truly believe that one of the most effective ways to remedy the growing disbelief in the Bible will be for ministers of the Gospel, and all other classes of Christian people, to personally honor the Old Testament scriptures and the law of God by beginning at once to observe the Bible Sabbath, and teach others to do the same. Many good and honest people, who know that the Bible teaches that the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath, are puzzled to understand why ministers of the Gospel, and others who make a high profession of Christianity, do not obey the Bible in this particular, and so they logically reason that if that part of the Bible which enjoins the observance of one of the Ten Commandments can be put aside with impunity, why is it necessary to be so particular in regard to other portions of the Bible? And thus their faith in the word of God is shaken, and the Bible is considered of little importance.

SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES.

By F. D. Starr

Hebrews.

THO we have so often been overwhelmed with wonder as we have had our attention called to the particular points of excellence of the various books of Holy Writ, yet it would seem as if our astonishment, as we ponder the contents of this book, exceeds anything yet experienced. Words utterly fail to convey any adequate statement of the riches of divine revelation concealed and revealed in this unique book.

This book was written probably somewhere between the years A.D. 62 and 64, for the particular benefit of Hebrew Christians in Palestine, tho we of this age may derive more benefit than any one else from its perusal.

The book has this peculiar feature to begin with, that its first word, according to our English versions, is God. This is a striking peculiarity, tho it is not the case in the original Greek. There we find there are five words preceding the word God. The exact construction of the first two verses of this book is correctly given by Rotherham, thus: "Whereas in many parts and in many ways of old God spake to the fathers in the prophets, at a last stage of these days, He spake to us in [His] Son," etc. The German also follows the original quite closely in placing several words before the name of the Deity here. The Latin, French, Spanish, and Dutch, like the English, have "God" for the first word, however.

The purpose of the book seems to be stated in chapter 6:18, that "we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." Strong consolation, indeed, is found in this book.

There are great and wonderful things in this book; but it seems that one reason why these things were difficult to utter, was the slowness of heart to understand and believe on the part of those to whom these things were spoken, for we read (5:11): "We have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing." What a serious impediment is our dull comprehension that prevents us from appropriating the blessed truths that glisten from every verse of this inspired composition.

The exaltation of our divine Redeemer is set forth in chapter one, and his humiliation is just as clearly emphasized in chapter two.

The urgent necessity of making use of the present opportunity for salvation, while it is called to-day, is set before us in the third chapter.

Among the many valuable points brought before us in chapter four is a very clear proof of the perpetuity of the Sabbath. This chapter deals with the subject of rest. From verses 1 to 8 "rest" is mentioned six times. In every one of these instances the word in the original is the ordinary word for rest; but in verse 9, in the statement "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God," the "rest" is from the original word meaning to keep the Sabbath, and is correctly rendered in the marginal reading—"keeping of a sabbath." So here we have the positive statement that Sabbath-keeping is not abolished, but that it still remains. Thank the Lord for the Sabbath and for this clear proof concerning its continuance.

The Sanctuary.

The subject of the sanctuary and its cleansing is the leading topic of chapters eight and nine. Much light is here thrown upon this matter of so much vital interest, and we have here a good illustration of the fact that oftentimes matters that are drawn out at full length in the Old Testament, are set before us in a few words and in a very concise form in the New Testament. There is no discrepancy whatever between the two, but in the one we have the matter of the other in condensed form. As stated in the Methodist Discipline, Art. 6, "The Old Testament is not contrary to the New!"

What Christian has not felt a new inspiration in perusing the glowing account of the experiences of the men of faith as recorded in chapter eleven. The climax is reached in verse 35. Before this we have the record of men who were delivered from suffering and death, after this the account of those who suffered all manner of hardships, and died most excruciating deaths. A great contrast, but all died in faith, for it takes as much faith to endure a trial as to be saved from it. Enduring faith is as necessary as conquering faith. In fact, what we need and what we should pray for is, oftentimes, not so much to be delivered from trouble as grace to endure it.

May the closing benediction of this blessed book be ours—"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, thru the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work, to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, thru Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Heb. 13: 20, 21. F. D. STARR.

"GLORY TO GOD."

By Flora E. Yergin

GLAD are the praises the angels are telling, Sweet are the anthems they sing; "Glory to God," every note is now swelling,- "Glory to Jesus, our King."

(CHORUS) Sweetly the song of the ages Floats from the azure above; Telling God's wonderful mercy,- His wonderful, wonderful love.

Freely His love, like the river, is flowing, Strong as its Fountain to be; Great as the Heart its bright treasures bestowing; Gift of its fulness to me.

FLORA E. YERGIN.

HEBREW AND HEATHEN LAWS.—No. 3.

By Albert H. Darrow

MR. RIDPATH rightly says that "the Hebrew laws were not produced by processes of legislation, but were proclaimed as edicts of absolute authority." But when he observes further that "there was no recognition of a right of lawmaking among the people," he should remember that he has already previously declared the Babylonians and other learned ancients to have had no capacity for lawmaking, and where there is no capacity how can there be a right to do that which could only result in disaster?

"The concept of the right of the people to produce their own laws had not yet risen upon mankind." ("History of the World," Vol. 5, pp. 302, 303.) Is it likely that any conception of such a right could dawn upon the minds of those who were unable to exercise that right with discretion?

"Israel and Judah alike were pervaded with the theocratic spirit, and the monarchical in form, yielded largely in policy and administration to the dictation of the priesthood. Otherwise, the Jewish monarchies may be regarded as absolute. They differed not much from the oriental despotisms with which the reader is familiar. There was no secular constitution by which the kings were held in check." (Id., Chapter 109.)

The last sentence sounds like a sophistical trick in logic. Why was a secular constitution necessary to hold the kings in check? Would not a religious constitution operate at least equally well in a theocratic state, especially under "the dictation of the priesthood"?

Mr. Ridpath admits that they had a constitution. He tells us on pages 299, 300 that "it was in the giving of the Decalogue as a fundamental constitution to ancient Israel that the recognition of Jehovah as the one and only King and Ruler of His people was enunciated. . . . The stone-written constitution which Moses brought from the mountain of solitude was deposited in the ark, and became the very central fact of nationality, embodying both the fundamental principles of government and the covenant between the people and the invisible King." Again, "The statutes thus came to the Hebrews in the desert." "From the Decalogue proceeded all the other statutes of the Israelitish nation."

When we remember that this Decalogue constitution was given to the Hebrew people by an "invisible King," that "from the Decalogue proceeded all the other statutes of the Israelitish nation," and that both the constitution and statutes were intended to guide both rulers and priests in administering the affairs of government, and the people in their daily conduct, did not the Hebrew code of laws answer every purpose of a secular constitution and laws? In one sense they were secular, that is, they were designed for, and adapted to, an earthly government.

The laws of Moses, given by Jehovah, furnished to Israel a code of statutes elaborately covering every civil duty and offense known to modern lawmakers, and constitute the only instance of a constitutional monarchy in ancient times. And since the Hebrew people had a right in all freedom to accept or reject the laws proposed for their adoption, and were required to and did exercise that right, were their rights or liberties infringed? Was a despotism thrust upon them? Were they, like other ancient peoples, compelled to submit to laws not of their own choosing or repugnant to them? Most certainly it was a misfortune to other nations that they did not have the same beneficent provision!

Mr. Ridpath is constrained to admit that "there was much of practical value and common sense in the rules of conduct, property laws, and special regulations among this people. Some of the legislation was unique and original. The peculiar arrangement by which the lands were assigned to the occupants under a kind of national lease subserved an admirable purpose in the economy of the state. The agrarian troubles to which nearly all the other nations of antiquity were subject, and which frequently led to civil wars and revolutions, were unknown in Israel. There never was a happier balance between feudal absolutism in the ownership of land and socialistic ownership than was the fifty-year tenure recognized by the Jewish constitution." ("History of the World," Vol., 5, p. 303.)

Upon this last quotation we have no criticism to offer, except that the "fifty-year tenure" is not mentioned by the Decalogue. Blackstone, in his commentaries, says that "upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws," and that, "if we could be as certain of the former as we are of the latter, both would have an equal authority;" but that, since we are not to conclude from the coincidence of these laws that they were ever discoverable by human reason, "they can never be put into any competition together," which is the same as to say that the scriptural revelation is the revelator and interpreter of all law, without which natural law is uncertain and variable, as manifest in all heathen statutes and customs.

DIVINE CONSOLATION.

OUR sorrow never comes in vain, The flowers are the sweetest after rain, The touch of grief but makes us strong To sing a nobler, truer song.

No random dart can dare to fly, Since One all-seeing reigns on high. He heals each wound and each distress, And closer comes the hurt to dress.

O welcome sorrow, blessed grief That brings such One to my relief; O, empty was the former bliss When I compare its joy to this.

Ascending on the road to God, I spurn not grief but kiss the rod That drives me upward to the skies Where pure rejoicing never dies.

Celestial breezes gently blow Wherever streams of sorrow flow, Nor drink we from our cup in vain, If from the draught heaven's joy we gain.

O drooping heart, arise and sing, For God Himself doth blessing bring; He closer comes to wipe our tears, And longer stays to hush our fears.

SWEETNESS AND SUFFERING.

By J. R. Miller

THERE are certain fragrant trees which bathe in perfume the ax that cuts into their wood. So it was with the life of Jesus. Wrong or injury done to Him only drew out more tenderness, sweeter love. We have a remarkable example of this in the very moment of crucifixion. It was when the nails were being driven through His hands and feet that He prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”—J. R. Miller.

The Atheist’s Obligations

By Henry Ward Beecher

Tho a man declares himself an atheist, it in no way alters his obligations.—Henry Ward Beecher.

Good Wishes Cannot Save

By Thomas Shepard

It is not wishing and desiring to be saved that will bring men to heaven: hell’s mouth is full of good wishes.—Thomas Shepard.

A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH.

(From a leaflet in the American Sunday-School Union.)

MR. E. B. STEVENSON gives the following incident from his experience as a missionary of the American Sunday-School Union.

A friend called my attention to a neighborhood of over eight hundred people without a church or Sunday-school. I asked him if there were any Christians. He said, “No—O, yes; there is one man down there who makes enough profession for a whole township.”

I immediately drove to the community, called upon this man, and asked if they had a Sunday-school. He replied, “No, but if there is a place on earth that needs one, it is right here. See that house over there! One of the worst men you ever met lives in it.” He gave me a free sketch of that man’s life for the past twenty years. He then pointed to the next house, and the next, giving the history of all his neighbors. If one-half of what he said was true, they ought to have been in the penitentiary.

Looking around, I saw a boy on horseback. I asked, “Who is that boy?” The man gave me his name, saying: “He is the meanest boy in all this county. Talk about heathen! They haven’t even got a Bible in their house.”

By this time the boy rode up. I reached out my hand and said: “Hello, Jim! Come up here, I want to shake hands with you.” I gave him a good, hearty shake, told him I was going to have a meeting at the schoolhouse, and asked if he knew where I could get a boy to go around and tell the people.

He said, “Will I do?” “First-rate, if you will go.” “All right, I am the boy you need.” I promised him a nice Bible if he would scatter the notice and not miss a single house.

We had hardly concluded our bargain before the boy put his hands upon his hips, turned to the old man who had been standing by, and said, “I might as well commence now. Going to be a meeting at the schoolhouse next Sunday morning at ten o’clock! Come down; bring the old woman and all the kids along!”

Sunday morning I drove to the schoolhouse a little early. To my surprise it was crowded, and a number of boys standing around the door I said, “Boys, I would like to get in.” One of them spoke up, saying, “So’d we.” “Let me in and you can follow me.” “No, we can’t. It’s chuck full clear up.” “Nothing can be done until I get in.” “Don’t make no difference, you can’t get in here.”

I was obliged to go around and crawl in thru the window. As I reached the desk, I looked down, and there sat my Jim on the front seat. He looked up with a smile, and said, “I fetched ’em.” “I see you did,” and gave him his Bible. After my address, we organized a Sunday-school.

We went to a house near by for dinner. When we were seated the lady began to laugh. I asked her what was the matter. She said she was thinking about Jim. I asked, “What about him?” “Well, he rode into our front yard, never looked to see if any one was around, and began to yell with all his might, ‘Going to be a meeting down to the schoolhouse next Sunday morning at ten o’clock. Funniest fellow you ever see in your life will be thur! If you don’t come you will miss the biggest thing that ever come to this part of the country.’”

In the fall, I went back and held some meetings. There were about a dozen hopeful conversions, among them this boy. We secured a minister, and held protracted services, in which over forty professed faith in Christ. They organized a church and erected a building.

I met Jim at the college he was attending. He had grown so I failed to recognize him. He said, “You remember the meeting you held in our schoolhouse?” “Yes, I remember it, and you, too.” “Well, I gave my heart to Christ at that time, and have come here to make something of myself.” “How would you like to be a Sunday-school missionary?” “I think I would like to do just that kind of work.”

During his summer vacation, we sent him out as a missionary. About the first of August he wrote that he had organized eight Sunday-schools, and in order to put them in better shape, some meetings should be held. I wrote at once, “Go ahead, and may God bless you.”

He commenced holding services in groves, calling out two or three of his schools in a sort of a convention, and continuing meetings at night. At the close of his summer’s work, over two hundred had professed conversion. The next vacation he worked again, also the third summer, having the use of a tent for special services.

During the last summer, which was spent in very hard communities, he was compelled to sleep in his tent at night to protect it from the roughs who threatened to cut the ropes and damage the canvas. At the close of the season he was taken with pneumonia, caused by exposure and overwork. He lingered thru the winter, and on the fourteenth of March he died.

During these three summers he organized thirty-three Sunday-schools, having gathered into them over eleven hundred boys and girls.

Eight churches have already developed from these schools.

Six of these churches have erected buildings of their own.

In special meetings he held, ten hundred and twenty-five persons professed faith in Christ.

Thus early in the Christian warfare the young hero fell! His memory is precious, his example an inspiration, and his labors continue to yield fruit.

The great cause to which he devoted his life still survives. Every year missionaries of the American Sunday-School Union are gathering about eighty thousand destitute children into Sunday-schools. Many of them are careless and heedless. Some are diamonds in the rough. The loving hand of Christian sympathy and the influence of divine truth are polishing these gems for the Master’s crown. Noble and useful characters are being developed.

Put a rollicking, fun-loving boy on the right track, and you have started a powerful agent for good.

SHARPER THAN A SERPENT'S TOOTH.

By Editor

A WEEK or two ago, a young man, belonging to an influential, honorable family, cheated a couple of business firms in a great Western city, by false representations, out of a couple of hundred thousand dollars. The matter was brought before his father, an old man of stern integrity. The young man was his only child.

“Gentlemen, I can do nothing,” he said.

“I have paid nearly half a million dollars already to make up sums which he has embezzled. He has brought me to beggary. The law must take its course.” He turned away. The road between him and death was short, and it would be dark and hard.

On the same week an elderly woman was seen to throw herself into the Schuylkill River, near Philadelphia. She was rescued with difficulty. She held in her hand a satchel containing gold, notes, and banknotes representing several thousands of dollars. When she recovered her senses, she was asked:

"Why did you do this? You were in no danger of want."

"No, I had money enough. But I had five children once, four boys and a girl. They all went away. They have not wanted me to visit them, and they do not write to me. I have waited for years, and they have not come back. Folks told me they were doing well, and were fine gentlemen and ladies; but they have forgotten their old mother. I was so lonesome that my head got queer. Indeed, gentlemen, I tried to do all I could for my little children, but when they grew up they were tired of me."

No words of ours can add to the force of these two chapters of actual life. Very few sons and daughters are as guilty as these, but how few are wholly free from such guilt! Many a man or woman, who would not take the life of the poorest living creature, kills the souls of those who love them best by years of passive, cold forgetfulness and neglect.—Youth's Companion.

THE SOUTH WIND.

By Emma S. Bromley

WHAT do light-blown southern zephyrs Care for aching human heart, Never heeding sighs of mourning, Or how oft the tear-drops start? Merrily they blow and whisper, Cause the leaves to dance and sing; Many waves are fanned in motion By the south wind's gentle wing.

But they never touch the waters In the depths of stream or sea; Never make the ship go swifter To its chosen destiny. Lightly toss the rippling surface, Move the leaves but not the tree. Shall our lives be like the breezes, Shunning burdens in their glee?

Some lone heart may need our gladness; If we'll only heed the call, Like a beacon ray from heaven O'er some cloud our cheer may fall; And we'll never miss the helping We bestow on saddened friend, Never know that 'twas our beaming Led to their victorious end.

Blow then gently, O ye south winds; To our hearts one message teach,— That the deeps can ne'er be fathomed Which a deed of love may reach, Not content with idly living, May we learn unselfishness; Let our gladness touch the sadness Of some human heart and bless. EMMA S. BROMLEY.

IN HIS NAME.

By Christian Register

'TWAS only a kiss and a bunch of flowers, But they came in a sunny way, Like a balm to the wound in a homesick heart, At the close of a weary day.

'Twas only the clasp of a friendly hand, And the glance of a kindly light; They banished the thought of a sorrowful day, And they brightened a pain-spent night.

There's never the clasp of a friendly hand, Not a smile nor a word of cheer, Not a kiss nor a flower in His dear name given, Will be lost when the harvest's here. —Christian Register.

Nurse Wanted

WANTED.—One lady nurse, graduate in hydrotherapy methods. Give experience, place of graduation, age, and wages expected. Address, with stamp for reply, Santa Barbara Sanitarium, 118 W. Figueroa St., Santa Barbara, Cal.

THE HARDEST FIGHT.

By Theodore Ledyard Cuyler

THIS grace of silence under trial is one of the most rare and difficult graces; but it is one of the most pleasing to God and most conducive to strength and beauty of Christian character. None of us loves to suffer, and we all shudder at the sight of the probe or the amputating knife. But when the infinite love is engaged in cutting out a selfish lust or cutting off a diseased limb, our duty is to submit. Ah! the battle-field often requires less courage than the hospital! The onset of service, with drums beating and bugles sounding, does not so test the mettle of our graces as to be thrown down wounded, or to be commanded to lie still and suffer. To shout a battle cry at the mouth of the cannon is easier than to put our hands in our mouths and be silent because "God did it." If He is silent as to explanations of trying providences, let us be silent in our final submission. God knows what is best for us; that is enough.—T. L. Cuyler.

Writers’ Influence on Public Mind

WRITERS, especially when they act in a body, and in one direction, have great influence on the public mind.—Burke.

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