1900
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS UNITE IN CHRISTIAN WORK UNDER THE WATCHWORD
"In His Name"
Look up and not down,
Look forward and not back,
Look out and not in,
Lend a hand.
Such were the sentiments of that wonderful little book, "Ten Times One is Ten," written by Edward Everett Hale, and they have found an embodiment in the International Order of King's Daughters and Sons. This organization has proven marvelously successful and its membership today is over 400,000. So broad was the foundation laid that its sentiments do not conflict with any church creed and its membership is found in every quarter of the globe. "In His Name" was made the watchword and the silver Maltese cross was chosen for the badge. Those who preferred could wear instead of the cross a purple ribbon, either badge signifying that the wearer had undertaken special work for Christ "In His Name."
The King's Daughters as an organization came into existence at the residence of Mrs. Margaret Bottome, in New York City, on the morning of Jan. 13, 1886. Nine ladies met together to organize themselves into an order, or sisterhood, of service. Mrs. Bottome was chosen as president, Mrs. Mary Lowe Dickinson, secretary, and Miss Hamersley, soon succeeded by Miss G. H. Libby, treasurer. The remaining members present were Mrs. Theodore Irving, Mrs. F. Payson, Mrs. C. D. P. Field, Mrs. J. F. Ruggles, Miss S. B. Schenck, Miss G. H. Libby.
The name, The King's Daughters, was suggested by Mrs. Irving, a well-known educator of New York City, who had been in the habit of giving this name to young ladies as they went out into the world from her school. The original plan was to form "Tens," as many ladies' societies in large churches are called. But this was found impracticable and the name "Circle" was substituted, so that any number might be included.
For some time no effort was made to extend the idea, the members not seeking notoriety and shunning the publicity of their plans. Even today it is difficult to secure complete information for the same reason. Strictly speaking, it is not an organization, from the fact that no attempt is made by the officers to control the work undertaken by local circles. Any who desire to form circles address the headquarters in New York City for suitable literature to put them in touch with the aims of the order, and then they decide on what work they desire to undertake in their locality. Oftentimes each member of a circle will lay out special work for herself, in addition to the general work of the circle. More than one thousand different lines of work have been entered upon, which members have undertaken "In His Name."
In 1887, after urgent request, membership in the order was opened to men and boys, and its incorporated name is now The International Order of The King's Daughters and Sons.
For the past two decades there has been an intense and growing desire on the part of many Christian people for more reality in religion. It was first among the objects of The King's Daughters to develop the spiritual life and at the same time to start the individual at once in some form of practical Christian activity. The founders recognized that "love enough to create the desire to serve" was much more universal than is generally supposed.
No attempt has ever been made by its Central Council to examine into the theological views of its members. It considered it had no right to question the love of those who accepted a call to commit themselves to labor for His sake and in His name. Referring to it on the platform, a public speaker recently said: "It is the only absolutely Catholic organization known to me." A well-known editor wrote of it: "It is one of the two greatest human forces now at work in the world to bring about the unity of the church of God."
One strong point made by The King's Daughters is to teach all members of "Circles" that they are not their own, but that they belong to God and to humanity. They wear the little cross as an outward acknowledgment of this. There are state and county branches, chapters and city unions in America and Canada, and national branches in foreign lands. Its order of service is "the heart, the home, the church, and the world." While the organization is absolutely inter-denominational, perfect loyalty to that branch of the church to which its members belong is insisted upon, and all Circles at work in churches are under the teaching and guidance of their own pastor or rector.
Within its ranks can be found not only the little child and the wayworn pilgrim, but some of the noblest men and women who, in the church, the state, the university and the business world, are today shaping the policy and guiding the affairs of the nation in this marvelous nineteenth century.
What are they doing "for the love of Christ in His name?" Everything that can help the souls and bodies of the children of God; building churches, paying mortgages on those already built, building and furnishing parsonages and rectories, educating young men and women for the ministry and for the foreign mission field, taking care of orphans and widows, of the old and the sick, building hospitals and infirmaries, maintaining day nurseries and kindergartens, sending trained nurses to the homes of the poor, and following the sailors out upon the lonely seas with evidences of loving care for their spiritual and bodily welfare.
A Commercial Circle was formed in Baltimore less than a year ago, and members of it can now be found in almost every line of business in Baltimore. Six men in a large corporation deeply conscious of the need of "shining" Christians in their own offices, met at a private house to petition God for some practical method by which they could shine for Christ right where they were. God manifested Himself at the meeting and all were blessed, energized, and returned determined to do their utmost.
They met again one Sunday afternoon in the basement of church and so forgot the flight of time in their devotions that the sexton arrived to light up for the evening services, and though there was not the least excitement, God was so powerfully present that tears were shed and men who never before had done so, prayed aloud.
Out of these two meetings sprang the Commercial Circle, which now has representatives among merchants, lawyers, clerks, brokers, and others throughout Baltimore. It is intended especially for business and professional men and women.
The four lines of work which are emphasized by the Commercial Circle are: Missionary, prisoners, the poor and shut-ins, and hospitals. The first question this organization asks is, "Are you a Christian?" The next is, "Are you shining; if not, why?"
The following poem appeared in a recent number of "The Silver Cross," the weekly organ of the Order, and it beautifully expresses the aims of the organization:
In His Name
This is the task, so little, yet so great:
To keep the ear ajar for voice of God;
The eye alert for sign of messenger
From near or far that brings His high command;
To keep the hand to toil, the feet to haste,
The voice to echo loyally His own,
The heart to throb swift answer to His will.
All this, and more: To lift the stricken up,
On grievous wounds to pour the oil and wine;
To heal where hurt is sorest, to bow down
And lift the fallen, and to lead the blind;
To answer every plaint of human pain
And strengthen e'en the little ones of God.
Ah, glorious work! worthy the knightliest soul
That ever 'neath the banner of the cross
Set steadfast face toward far Jerusalem,
Or died for right to guard an empty tomb.
Small need to quarrel o'er His sepulchre;
His grave is wheresoe'er His Christhood dies;
He lies enshrouded in the hearts of men.
To rise in strength and cast the evils out
That stay the Christ-life in the human soul;
This is the work. And the reward is this:
To see on human faces, stained and scarred,
The dawning light that says the Lord is risen;
That they have seen, like Mary, face to face,
The majesty of kingliness and power,
The tenderness of wondrous love and grace
By which all wrongs shall measure their brief hour,
And one by one, before the matchless sight,
Slink, Judas-like, each to his own dark place.
—The Ram's Horn, March 17, 1900, p. 6.
Showing posts with label Gospel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gospel. Show all posts
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Not an Educated Dog
1901
In the "Floresta Espanola" of Melchior de Santa Cruz the author has an anecdote of Cardinal Pedro Concalez. That prelate noticed that one of the priests in his retinue, a Biscayan, carried a short sword under his cloak. The cardinal reproved him and told him that it was wrong for a cleric to carry arms. The Biscayan replied that he carried the weapon to defend himself if he were attacked by a dog. The cardinal said that in case he saw a dog running at him he should begin to recite from the gospel of St. John. The priest acknowledged that this was a good way, but held to the dagger, "because there are some dogs who do not understand Latin."
In the "Floresta Espanola" of Melchior de Santa Cruz the author has an anecdote of Cardinal Pedro Concalez. That prelate noticed that one of the priests in his retinue, a Biscayan, carried a short sword under his cloak. The cardinal reproved him and told him that it was wrong for a cleric to carry arms. The Biscayan replied that he carried the weapon to defend himself if he were attacked by a dog. The cardinal said that in case he saw a dog running at him he should begin to recite from the gospel of St. John. The priest acknowledged that this was a good way, but held to the dagger, "because there are some dogs who do not understand Latin."
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Model African King
1910
The Christian village of Hombo in Africa is a proof of the power of the gospel. At daybreak every morning the horn is blown and the people assemble at the king's house to hear the word of God read, and to praise and pray. Witchcraft and superstition have fallen under the power of the gospel, and the heathens are taking knowledge of it. The native church at Loanda contributes $17 a month for the support of native workers on a native station in the interior of Angola.
The Christian village of Hombo in Africa is a proof of the power of the gospel. At daybreak every morning the horn is blown and the people assemble at the king's house to hear the word of God read, and to praise and pray. Witchcraft and superstition have fallen under the power of the gospel, and the heathens are taking knowledge of it. The native church at Loanda contributes $17 a month for the support of native workers on a native station in the interior of Angola.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
God Alone Permanent
1905
How hard it is to keep our footing firm amid the ebb and flow of things! To-day is not yesterday. New things have come to claim attention; many cherished things have gone. An unseen hand is shaking this kaleidoscope of a world, and nothing can last that depends merely upon the present aspect of things. The great problem, therefore, is to seek God with a thirst which will persist through all changes.
Test of Truth of Doctrine
The truth makes free, brings joy, hope, encouragement. The truth of a doctrine may consist in this, does it cause the mind to rejoice? If a doctrine does this, it may be set down as true, as coming from God. If a doctrine casts a shadow over the soul, if it is destructive of calm delight, if it causes faith to halt, trust to doubt, hope to falter, it is surely not of God and His gospel; it is an error of human origin.
Character
Character is great and worthy in itself and not because of the greater or less fame of a deed through which it manifests itself. The sad sacrifice of Gordon at Khartoum, for the sake of England and of Egypt, is of the same heroic quality as the sacrifice of the missionary among the Arabs or the Chinese, of whose name and fame the world hears but little. It is not the kind of thing through which we show ourselves, but the kind of self we have to show, that counts with God.
How hard it is to keep our footing firm amid the ebb and flow of things! To-day is not yesterday. New things have come to claim attention; many cherished things have gone. An unseen hand is shaking this kaleidoscope of a world, and nothing can last that depends merely upon the present aspect of things. The great problem, therefore, is to seek God with a thirst which will persist through all changes.
Test of Truth of Doctrine
The truth makes free, brings joy, hope, encouragement. The truth of a doctrine may consist in this, does it cause the mind to rejoice? If a doctrine does this, it may be set down as true, as coming from God. If a doctrine casts a shadow over the soul, if it is destructive of calm delight, if it causes faith to halt, trust to doubt, hope to falter, it is surely not of God and His gospel; it is an error of human origin.
Character
Character is great and worthy in itself and not because of the greater or less fame of a deed through which it manifests itself. The sad sacrifice of Gordon at Khartoum, for the sake of England and of Egypt, is of the same heroic quality as the sacrifice of the missionary among the Arabs or the Chinese, of whose name and fame the world hears but little. It is not the kind of thing through which we show ourselves, but the kind of self we have to show, that counts with God.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
"I Am the Resurrection and the Life"
1905
April 9 — Sunday School Lesson
GOLDEN TEXT. — Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. — John 11:25.
Introduction. So far as we can arrange the story of Christ's life from the various Gospels, the events are as follows:
The Feast of Tabernacles, October 11-18, A. D. 29, where took place the events recorded in John 7 to 10:21, ending with the parable of the good shepherd (John 10:21).
Interval of About Two Months between John 10:21 and 22, recorded in Luke 9:51-10:42. Jesus went from the Feast of Tabernacles to Galilee, and soon after left there, proceeding eastward to Perea, and thence down the Jordan on the eastern side.
The Feast of Dedication, December 20-27, A. D. 29. Jesus goes up to this feast (John 10:22,23), is a guest of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus at Bethany (Luke 10:38-42), Mary choosing the good part which shall not be taken from her. During the day Jesus discoursed in Solomon's porch of the Temple (John 10:22-39).
Returns to Perea. Beyond Jordan (John 10:40-42). December, A. D. 29. Here he spends January (A. D. 30) and part of February, speaking the Parables and Discourses recorded in Luke 14:1-17:10. Here we find him at the beginning of to-day's lesson.
I. "Twin Scenes — Lazarus Sick at Bethany. Jesus Busy at Bethabara."
We may, perhaps, make this supreme miracle of Jesus more real and vivid by picturing before our minds the contrasted but related scenes at Bethany and Bethabara.
1. At Bethany on the Mount of Olives, two miles from Jerusalem, lived a family of three members, Martha and Mary and Lazarus, who was, probably, the youngest of the three. Lazarus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Eleazar. The village is now known as El-Azarieh, or Lazarieh, from the Lazarus of to-day's lesson.
Not more than five or six weeks before this, at the Feast of Dedication, Jesus was their guest, and Mary sat at his feet to learn, while Martha was busy with her household duties for his entertainment (Luke 10:38-42).
After Jesus left, Lazarus was taken sick, "it may be by one of the sudden, sharp, and frequently fatal fevers of Palestine," such as that from which Jesus delivered Peter's wife's mother, and it is implied that the assault had assumed an alarming form.
2. At Bethabara, a day's journey beyond Jordan, twenty-five to thirty miles distant, near the scene where Jesus had begun his ministry now so near its end, where he was baptized, and had gained his first disciples. Little time remained and every moment of it was precious for his work. So here he was teaching, preaching, working miracles, giving his last counsels, training his disciples.
II. "Twin Scenes — A Messenger on the Way to Jesus. Lazarus Dying at Bethany."
1. The Messenger. The first thought of the sisters, when all common means failed, was to send a message to Jesus that "He whom thou lovest is sick." No request was made. The message was itself a prayer. They knew that Jesus would do the best thing possible. When we or our loved ones are sick, we should go to Jesus with our trouble; not to the neglect of means, for whatever helps and cures is the gift of God's love, but for guidance, and help, and blessing.
2. Lazarus Dies at Bethany. Soon after the messenger had gone, Lazarus died, and, as usual, on account of the climate, was buried on the same day in the family tomb outside of the village, and a large stone was rolled against the entrance.
III. "Twin Scenes — The Mourning at Bethany. Jesus Remains Two Days Longer at Bethabara."
1. At Bethany. Jesus could have reached Bethany in two days after the messenger left. The two days' delay beyond this time must have been full of anxiety and trial of faith and love, on account of the mysterious delay.
2. At Bethabara (vs. 3-16). After the messenger had reached Jesus, he waited two days before he started for Bethany. We must remember (1) that Jesus had been driven away from Jerusalem, and it was running into the jaws of death to go back there; (2) that Jesus loved the Bethany family and greatly desired to help them. Jesus states that the reason for the sickness was "for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." Therefore he abode two days longer in the place where be was.
The Mysterious Delay. (1) It may have been necessary in order to complete some work in which he was engaged; and it was to the glory of God and his Son that he should place duty before all considerations of personal feeling. The brightest stars in the crown of some of the greatest characters, stars which shine down the ages when almost all else is forgotten, are the deeds of duty and patriotism at the cost of help for one nearest and dearest. (2) "This delay was necessary to the consummation of the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus in such form as to forever prohibit the impression that death had not really taken place." — Abbott. (3) It was needed to develop and increase the faith and love of the Bethany family and his disciples, and give them a vision of the future life and their Savior's power, such as can be seen only from the mountain-top of sorrow. (4) It would lead many to believe on Jesus, and thus glorify the Son (v. 45). (5) Jesus himself was soon to lie three days in the grave; if, therefore, he was able to raise up Lazarus after four days' burial, they would have stronger faith in the resurrection of Jesus from his three days' burial. (6) It has been to the glory of the Son of God, in that it has shown to all generations that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.
IV. "Twin Scenes (vs. 17-37) — The Meeting of Jesus with Martha. The Meeting with Mary."
1. Bethany. The Meeting with Martha. The house at Bethany was full of sympathizing friends. Word came quietly to Martha that Jesus was near the town, and she immediately went out to meet him. She greeted him with the words, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." There were two sorrows, that her brother had died and that Jesus delayed his coming. Yet the words imply faith and hope, not complaint.
2. The Meeting with Mary. Martha returns to the house and secretly says to Mary, "The Master is come and calleth for thee." This loving message is sent to each one of us, in many ways. Let us open our ears and hearts to it as Mary did. She went to Jesus, (v. 32) "fell down at his feet," and spoke the same words as those with which her sister had greeted Jesus. The thought must have been continually in their minds, and often repeated to one another, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."
33. "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping." Like the maidens in Tennyson's "Princess," "She must weep or she will die." "He groaned in the spirit." Groaned, not in outward expression, but in his inmost soul. "And was troubled." The word means to agitate, to disquiet, as the waters of the sea in a storm. "His whole frame shuddered. A storm of wrath seemed to sweep over him."
35. "Jesus wept." Shed tears, wept silently, an entirely different word from the "weep" and "weeping" of the mourners in vs. 31,33. It is well that this short sentence should be in a verse by itself, the shortest verse in the Bible, but one of the most blessed.
36. "Then (therefore) said (imperfect, kept saying) * * * Behold how he loved him!" The word for "love" is the more passionate word used in v. 3 by the sisters, not the higher word used of Jesus in v. 5 by the Evangelist, laying emphasis on friendship.
37. "Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind." This was the last, most widely known, and most marvelous miracle which had been wrought in Jerusalem only two or three months before. The inference was natural and just.
V. Lazarus Restored to Life. — Vs. 38-45.
38. "Cometh to the grave. R.V., 'tomb.' It was a cave. And a stone lay upon it." 39. "He hath been dead four days," and, therefore, Martha inferred naturally that decay had begun. It is not stated as a fact.
40. "Said I not unto thee." He had, doubtless, repeated to Martha what he had said to his disciples (v. 4). "If thou wouldest believe." Trust in the goodness, and power, and promises of Jesus, not in any definite work to be accomplished. Such must be our faith. But her faith was necessary to the blessing. "See the glory of God." They would see a work of God which would manifest his power and love to men, which would exalt his Son as the Messiah, and bring divine blessings to the family, to his disciples, and to the world.
41. "Jesus lifted up his eyes." A natural, simple, but expressive act of worship. "And said, Father, I thank thee." Is not the address recorded in these verses simply a thanksgiving spoken in respect of a previously offered private prayer?
42. "And I knew that thou hearest me always." He was never denied, for he always prayed in the right spirit, with the right motives, and in perfect sympathy with the will of his Father. "Because of the people which stand by I said it." So that they would know that his power was from God, and recognize his relation to God.
43. "He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth." As one would speak loud to awaken a sleeper. It was loud in order that all the people who had come to the tomb might realize whence the power came.
44. "And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes." "It was the Jewish custom to wrap the dead comparatively loosely in a winding sheet or shroud, which would have impeded, through not prevented, arising and walking." — Abbott. "Loose him, and let him go."
The Consequences. 45. "Many * * * believed on him." (1) Lazarus henceforth was a perpetual sermon on the loving power of Christ. (2) The rulers from that day forth planned to put him to death. (3) Jesus left Jerusalem for a time and was concealed in the wilderness with his disciples.
April 9 — Sunday School Lesson
GOLDEN TEXT. — Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. — John 11:25.
Introduction. So far as we can arrange the story of Christ's life from the various Gospels, the events are as follows:
The Feast of Tabernacles, October 11-18, A. D. 29, where took place the events recorded in John 7 to 10:21, ending with the parable of the good shepherd (John 10:21).
Interval of About Two Months between John 10:21 and 22, recorded in Luke 9:51-10:42. Jesus went from the Feast of Tabernacles to Galilee, and soon after left there, proceeding eastward to Perea, and thence down the Jordan on the eastern side.
The Feast of Dedication, December 20-27, A. D. 29. Jesus goes up to this feast (John 10:22,23), is a guest of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus at Bethany (Luke 10:38-42), Mary choosing the good part which shall not be taken from her. During the day Jesus discoursed in Solomon's porch of the Temple (John 10:22-39).
Returns to Perea. Beyond Jordan (John 10:40-42). December, A. D. 29. Here he spends January (A. D. 30) and part of February, speaking the Parables and Discourses recorded in Luke 14:1-17:10. Here we find him at the beginning of to-day's lesson.
I. "Twin Scenes — Lazarus Sick at Bethany. Jesus Busy at Bethabara."
We may, perhaps, make this supreme miracle of Jesus more real and vivid by picturing before our minds the contrasted but related scenes at Bethany and Bethabara.
1. At Bethany on the Mount of Olives, two miles from Jerusalem, lived a family of three members, Martha and Mary and Lazarus, who was, probably, the youngest of the three. Lazarus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Eleazar. The village is now known as El-Azarieh, or Lazarieh, from the Lazarus of to-day's lesson.
Not more than five or six weeks before this, at the Feast of Dedication, Jesus was their guest, and Mary sat at his feet to learn, while Martha was busy with her household duties for his entertainment (Luke 10:38-42).
After Jesus left, Lazarus was taken sick, "it may be by one of the sudden, sharp, and frequently fatal fevers of Palestine," such as that from which Jesus delivered Peter's wife's mother, and it is implied that the assault had assumed an alarming form.
2. At Bethabara, a day's journey beyond Jordan, twenty-five to thirty miles distant, near the scene where Jesus had begun his ministry now so near its end, where he was baptized, and had gained his first disciples. Little time remained and every moment of it was precious for his work. So here he was teaching, preaching, working miracles, giving his last counsels, training his disciples.
II. "Twin Scenes — A Messenger on the Way to Jesus. Lazarus Dying at Bethany."
1. The Messenger. The first thought of the sisters, when all common means failed, was to send a message to Jesus that "He whom thou lovest is sick." No request was made. The message was itself a prayer. They knew that Jesus would do the best thing possible. When we or our loved ones are sick, we should go to Jesus with our trouble; not to the neglect of means, for whatever helps and cures is the gift of God's love, but for guidance, and help, and blessing.
2. Lazarus Dies at Bethany. Soon after the messenger had gone, Lazarus died, and, as usual, on account of the climate, was buried on the same day in the family tomb outside of the village, and a large stone was rolled against the entrance.
III. "Twin Scenes — The Mourning at Bethany. Jesus Remains Two Days Longer at Bethabara."
1. At Bethany. Jesus could have reached Bethany in two days after the messenger left. The two days' delay beyond this time must have been full of anxiety and trial of faith and love, on account of the mysterious delay.
2. At Bethabara (vs. 3-16). After the messenger had reached Jesus, he waited two days before he started for Bethany. We must remember (1) that Jesus had been driven away from Jerusalem, and it was running into the jaws of death to go back there; (2) that Jesus loved the Bethany family and greatly desired to help them. Jesus states that the reason for the sickness was "for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." Therefore he abode two days longer in the place where be was.
The Mysterious Delay. (1) It may have been necessary in order to complete some work in which he was engaged; and it was to the glory of God and his Son that he should place duty before all considerations of personal feeling. The brightest stars in the crown of some of the greatest characters, stars which shine down the ages when almost all else is forgotten, are the deeds of duty and patriotism at the cost of help for one nearest and dearest. (2) "This delay was necessary to the consummation of the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus in such form as to forever prohibit the impression that death had not really taken place." — Abbott. (3) It was needed to develop and increase the faith and love of the Bethany family and his disciples, and give them a vision of the future life and their Savior's power, such as can be seen only from the mountain-top of sorrow. (4) It would lead many to believe on Jesus, and thus glorify the Son (v. 45). (5) Jesus himself was soon to lie three days in the grave; if, therefore, he was able to raise up Lazarus after four days' burial, they would have stronger faith in the resurrection of Jesus from his three days' burial. (6) It has been to the glory of the Son of God, in that it has shown to all generations that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.
IV. "Twin Scenes (vs. 17-37) — The Meeting of Jesus with Martha. The Meeting with Mary."
1. Bethany. The Meeting with Martha. The house at Bethany was full of sympathizing friends. Word came quietly to Martha that Jesus was near the town, and she immediately went out to meet him. She greeted him with the words, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." There were two sorrows, that her brother had died and that Jesus delayed his coming. Yet the words imply faith and hope, not complaint.
2. The Meeting with Mary. Martha returns to the house and secretly says to Mary, "The Master is come and calleth for thee." This loving message is sent to each one of us, in many ways. Let us open our ears and hearts to it as Mary did. She went to Jesus, (v. 32) "fell down at his feet," and spoke the same words as those with which her sister had greeted Jesus. The thought must have been continually in their minds, and often repeated to one another, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."
33. "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping." Like the maidens in Tennyson's "Princess," "She must weep or she will die." "He groaned in the spirit." Groaned, not in outward expression, but in his inmost soul. "And was troubled." The word means to agitate, to disquiet, as the waters of the sea in a storm. "His whole frame shuddered. A storm of wrath seemed to sweep over him."
35. "Jesus wept." Shed tears, wept silently, an entirely different word from the "weep" and "weeping" of the mourners in vs. 31,33. It is well that this short sentence should be in a verse by itself, the shortest verse in the Bible, but one of the most blessed.
36. "Then (therefore) said (imperfect, kept saying) * * * Behold how he loved him!" The word for "love" is the more passionate word used in v. 3 by the sisters, not the higher word used of Jesus in v. 5 by the Evangelist, laying emphasis on friendship.
37. "Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind." This was the last, most widely known, and most marvelous miracle which had been wrought in Jerusalem only two or three months before. The inference was natural and just.
V. Lazarus Restored to Life. — Vs. 38-45.
38. "Cometh to the grave. R.V., 'tomb.' It was a cave. And a stone lay upon it." 39. "He hath been dead four days," and, therefore, Martha inferred naturally that decay had begun. It is not stated as a fact.
40. "Said I not unto thee." He had, doubtless, repeated to Martha what he had said to his disciples (v. 4). "If thou wouldest believe." Trust in the goodness, and power, and promises of Jesus, not in any definite work to be accomplished. Such must be our faith. But her faith was necessary to the blessing. "See the glory of God." They would see a work of God which would manifest his power and love to men, which would exalt his Son as the Messiah, and bring divine blessings to the family, to his disciples, and to the world.
41. "Jesus lifted up his eyes." A natural, simple, but expressive act of worship. "And said, Father, I thank thee." Is not the address recorded in these verses simply a thanksgiving spoken in respect of a previously offered private prayer?
42. "And I knew that thou hearest me always." He was never denied, for he always prayed in the right spirit, with the right motives, and in perfect sympathy with the will of his Father. "Because of the people which stand by I said it." So that they would know that his power was from God, and recognize his relation to God.
43. "He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth." As one would speak loud to awaken a sleeper. It was loud in order that all the people who had come to the tomb might realize whence the power came.
44. "And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes." "It was the Jewish custom to wrap the dead comparatively loosely in a winding sheet or shroud, which would have impeded, through not prevented, arising and walking." — Abbott. "Loose him, and let him go."
The Consequences. 45. "Many * * * believed on him." (1) Lazarus henceforth was a perpetual sermon on the loving power of Christ. (2) The rulers from that day forth planned to put him to death. (3) Jesus left Jerusalem for a time and was concealed in the wilderness with his disciples.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Judgment Day
1910
Judgment or Blessing Today Yours To Choose — Matthew 25:31-46
That there is a day of judgment is a fact, but it is difficult, and not so important to decide the exact nature or time of the coming of the Lord to judgment. It is said in Matt 24:29-34 that "this generation shall not pass away till all these things be accomplished," and it is repeated in Mark 13:30, Luke 21:32, and again in Matt. 16:28, "there are some of them that stand here, which shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom," when "the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then shall he render unto every man according to his deeds."
This must refer to the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the old dispensation or age, and the coming of the gospel dispensation. But it does not exclude the great and final coming and judgment day at the end of that age.
There is really a judgment day at every great crisis of the nation or of our lives, at death, at the coming of rewards or punishments for our actions, at every time of decision. For instance, we have seen within the last few years many persons who have been for years growing rich by graft and dishonesty and have suddenly met their judgment day, while others have been reaping the rewards of faithful service. So young men who have been going on in course of drinking and rioting for a long time, suddenly find themselves drunkards, in ill health, incapacitated for their best work. They have been brought up at a judgment day; while those who have resisted temptation and been faithful and true are also reaping their rewards.
Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand. The sheep, the righteous. Come. Draw near to your Elder Brother, to your Father, to your home, for here is the place for you. Ye blessed of my Father means exactly "my Father's blessed ones," denoting not simply that they have been blessed by him, but that they are his. Blessings innumerable had come to them through their being willing to become his children and accept the kind of blessings he had to bestow, such as his loving care, the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, the experiences of the gospel, the renewal of the heart, the bestowal by the Spirit, the power to become children and heirs of God, the gifts and fruits of the Spirit, eternal life, the favor of God, the rest in the everlasting arms, the pavilion under the shadow of his wings.
Receive not by purchase, or by labors, but by becoming children of God, like God, and therefore heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ Every one must be the heir of him whose child he is. He that is a child of sin is an heir of sin; a child of the devil inherits from the devil; a child of goodness and of God inherits from God. The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom which consists in righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. 14:17), in which saints reign over infinite forces and powers to make them minister to happiness and good: "All things are yours," because "ye are Christ's."
Ye have done it unto me, the poor and needy and sick, and all the classes whom Jesus helped in Palestine are his representatives now on earth. The only visible expression of our love to him is through them. What a privilege this is to show our love to our Master. How it enriches our life if we keep in mind that we are not only helping the needy, but expressing our love to our Master. The unconsciousness of the righteous shows that their virtues were sincere and true. Whosoever does good deeds for the sake of the reward deserves no reward, and will obtain none, for the soul of goodness is left out of such deeds.
Unconscious goodness is the highest form of goodness. The beginner in music counts his measures, and studies on what note he shall place each finger; but the perfect musician strikes the right notes and expresses the right emotions almost as naturally as he breathes or as the birds warble their morning songs.
The cause of the doom was the refusal to do the deeds that belong to the heavenly kingdom and to be ruled by its motives. They refused to be fit for heaven. They decided to live selfish lives. The plan of their lives was such that all the evils of society — graft, child labor, poverty, degradation, crime, oppression, drunkenness, disease, could go on without any effort on their part to put an end to them.
The punishment is like the sin: it omits heaven and joy and God and the companionship of the good from our lives, and adds the everlasting fire.
This is a warning of love. It is a statement of the fact that by the very nature of things sin leads to ruin, and righteousness to heaven. No evil can enter heaven, for if it did heaven would not be heaven any longer.
President Eliot of Harvard, in an address to medical men, said that however people might refuse to believe in a future hell, it was the doctor's business to show young men that if they persisted in certain vices they would find a hell in this life. It is for each of us to make the choice, and start on the way which leads where we wish to go and live forever.
The law of the harvest is "to reap more than you sow."
Judgment or Blessing Today Yours To Choose — Matthew 25:31-46
That there is a day of judgment is a fact, but it is difficult, and not so important to decide the exact nature or time of the coming of the Lord to judgment. It is said in Matt 24:29-34 that "this generation shall not pass away till all these things be accomplished," and it is repeated in Mark 13:30, Luke 21:32, and again in Matt. 16:28, "there are some of them that stand here, which shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom," when "the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then shall he render unto every man according to his deeds."
This must refer to the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the old dispensation or age, and the coming of the gospel dispensation. But it does not exclude the great and final coming and judgment day at the end of that age.
There is really a judgment day at every great crisis of the nation or of our lives, at death, at the coming of rewards or punishments for our actions, at every time of decision. For instance, we have seen within the last few years many persons who have been for years growing rich by graft and dishonesty and have suddenly met their judgment day, while others have been reaping the rewards of faithful service. So young men who have been going on in course of drinking and rioting for a long time, suddenly find themselves drunkards, in ill health, incapacitated for their best work. They have been brought up at a judgment day; while those who have resisted temptation and been faithful and true are also reaping their rewards.
Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand. The sheep, the righteous. Come. Draw near to your Elder Brother, to your Father, to your home, for here is the place for you. Ye blessed of my Father means exactly "my Father's blessed ones," denoting not simply that they have been blessed by him, but that they are his. Blessings innumerable had come to them through their being willing to become his children and accept the kind of blessings he had to bestow, such as his loving care, the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, the experiences of the gospel, the renewal of the heart, the bestowal by the Spirit, the power to become children and heirs of God, the gifts and fruits of the Spirit, eternal life, the favor of God, the rest in the everlasting arms, the pavilion under the shadow of his wings.
Receive not by purchase, or by labors, but by becoming children of God, like God, and therefore heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ Every one must be the heir of him whose child he is. He that is a child of sin is an heir of sin; a child of the devil inherits from the devil; a child of goodness and of God inherits from God. The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom which consists in righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. 14:17), in which saints reign over infinite forces and powers to make them minister to happiness and good: "All things are yours," because "ye are Christ's."
Ye have done it unto me, the poor and needy and sick, and all the classes whom Jesus helped in Palestine are his representatives now on earth. The only visible expression of our love to him is through them. What a privilege this is to show our love to our Master. How it enriches our life if we keep in mind that we are not only helping the needy, but expressing our love to our Master. The unconsciousness of the righteous shows that their virtues were sincere and true. Whosoever does good deeds for the sake of the reward deserves no reward, and will obtain none, for the soul of goodness is left out of such deeds.
Unconscious goodness is the highest form of goodness. The beginner in music counts his measures, and studies on what note he shall place each finger; but the perfect musician strikes the right notes and expresses the right emotions almost as naturally as he breathes or as the birds warble their morning songs.
The cause of the doom was the refusal to do the deeds that belong to the heavenly kingdom and to be ruled by its motives. They refused to be fit for heaven. They decided to live selfish lives. The plan of their lives was such that all the evils of society — graft, child labor, poverty, degradation, crime, oppression, drunkenness, disease, could go on without any effort on their part to put an end to them.
The punishment is like the sin: it omits heaven and joy and God and the companionship of the good from our lives, and adds the everlasting fire.
This is a warning of love. It is a statement of the fact that by the very nature of things sin leads to ruin, and righteousness to heaven. No evil can enter heaven, for if it did heaven would not be heaven any longer.
President Eliot of Harvard, in an address to medical men, said that however people might refuse to believe in a future hell, it was the doctor's business to show young men that if they persisted in certain vices they would find a hell in this life. It is for each of us to make the choice, and start on the way which leads where we wish to go and live forever.
The law of the harvest is "to reap more than you sow."
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
The Glory of the Nazarene
1910
By Rev. Wm. E. Tilroe, D.D.
And we beheld his glory. — John 1:14.
That a citizen of the earth, some nineteen centuries ago, a certain Syrian Jew, one Jesus of Nazareth, lived a life that was a life of glory, is the thing that is here said. Other things are said, but our matter of talk is this. It is not a theological vision, but a plain record. "The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory."
Not that to the son of Zebedee theological vision was wanting. To him the historic Jesus of his generation was an eternal, ineffable something known as the Word of God. "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God, and the word was God," and "The word was made flesh and dwelt among us." As speech is a revealing, a message, from the soul invisible, so the Christ was a word from God. Further, this Christ was with John the potent universal Creator. "All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made." This same Creator and word has also life and light. "In him was life, and the life was the light of men." There may be existence without light, but existence without life there is not, and that new thrilling thing, the key of being, the light of the world, and the secret of destiny, is in the Christ.
Surely the invisible and ever-abiding Jesus shone zenith high in the eyes of John, and there was theological vision in plenty. But it was this vision become flesh and dwelling among us that was the immediate concern. One too poor for where to lay his head; barren of social prestige, without culture of the schools, writing no books, showing scant regard for organism or institutions, setting the sword into its sheath, beggaring himself deliberately of every arm of power in honor with the ages, and so mighty as to bend and rock the earth with his tread, making men suspect him nothing less than God, was a spectacle unspeakable for a Galilean fisherman. Fifty years and more he remembers what his eyes have seen, and only the greatest words under the sun and stars are able to tell his tale. "And we beheld his glory."
The glory of the Christ life may be seen earliest, possibly, in that it is the only one of its kind. It was a unique life. Jesus Christ was one, "only begotten." In all the ages he has no fellow. When Napoleon said: "Not one is like him," he had this vision. It is of the genius of greatness to carve a niche for itself, to fly in its own orbit, to evermore walk lonely. Moses, Aristotle, Caesar, Shakespeare, are memories of the forgotten, and live among the dead. So there was never another like the Son of Mary. Reverence is born of respect, and worship of the Christ may well begin by finding him among the solitary few. History can neither be written nor read without mention of His name. Jesus of Nazareth is even now Jesus of the planet.
But the glory of Christ is unique, especially, in being such a glory to the mind of God. Jesus Is the only begotten "of the Father." A compliment of benediction gathers its music and fragrance from its source. The great of earth must read their glory, always, in a revised version. The noonday light of one generation fades in another to a smoking taper. "Call no man happy until he is dead," is an ancient epitaph. Only the judgments of the immortals stand. That the life of the Christ is a glory with the Eternal, is at once a patent of worth and a call to prayer. That worship of the historic Jesus is not rank idolatry finds its one reason here; he is in time a veritable manifestation of the eternal God. Forevermore the Almighty Father exists in some fashion as a revealer, and in this fashion never repeats himself. "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God." Like the shock of earthquake or the rising of the sun this divine word breaks into human history as Jesus of Nazareth and passes on, and very rightly men tarry in reverence at his feet. That human soul which sees in Christ a unique, solitary, unshareable revealing of God alone may worship him.
This leads me naturally to say that the glory of the Christ life is seen also in its transcendence. It is a biography evermore parting from men and carried out of their vision. "The darkness comprehended it not." "The world knew him not." "His own received him not." Men face the Christ not only with mortal opposition, but with mental collapse. They reject him as surely that they are little as they are wicked. Their logic falls in a heap. They walk by faith or stagger to the dust. Unless they believe on his name, receive him, are given right and power to be sons of God, are veritably born again, they never catch the glory of the Christ. A simply human Christ, a Christ who is not transcendent, turns every Christian church into a heathen temple, baptism to an empty, wicked farce, the bread and wine to symbols of a gigantic lie, and Christian people everywhere into the most miserable of men.
By Rev. Wm. E. Tilroe, D.D.
And we beheld his glory. — John 1:14.
That a citizen of the earth, some nineteen centuries ago, a certain Syrian Jew, one Jesus of Nazareth, lived a life that was a life of glory, is the thing that is here said. Other things are said, but our matter of talk is this. It is not a theological vision, but a plain record. "The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory."
Not that to the son of Zebedee theological vision was wanting. To him the historic Jesus of his generation was an eternal, ineffable something known as the Word of God. "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God, and the word was God," and "The word was made flesh and dwelt among us." As speech is a revealing, a message, from the soul invisible, so the Christ was a word from God. Further, this Christ was with John the potent universal Creator. "All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made." This same Creator and word has also life and light. "In him was life, and the life was the light of men." There may be existence without light, but existence without life there is not, and that new thrilling thing, the key of being, the light of the world, and the secret of destiny, is in the Christ.
Surely the invisible and ever-abiding Jesus shone zenith high in the eyes of John, and there was theological vision in plenty. But it was this vision become flesh and dwelling among us that was the immediate concern. One too poor for where to lay his head; barren of social prestige, without culture of the schools, writing no books, showing scant regard for organism or institutions, setting the sword into its sheath, beggaring himself deliberately of every arm of power in honor with the ages, and so mighty as to bend and rock the earth with his tread, making men suspect him nothing less than God, was a spectacle unspeakable for a Galilean fisherman. Fifty years and more he remembers what his eyes have seen, and only the greatest words under the sun and stars are able to tell his tale. "And we beheld his glory."
The glory of the Christ life may be seen earliest, possibly, in that it is the only one of its kind. It was a unique life. Jesus Christ was one, "only begotten." In all the ages he has no fellow. When Napoleon said: "Not one is like him," he had this vision. It is of the genius of greatness to carve a niche for itself, to fly in its own orbit, to evermore walk lonely. Moses, Aristotle, Caesar, Shakespeare, are memories of the forgotten, and live among the dead. So there was never another like the Son of Mary. Reverence is born of respect, and worship of the Christ may well begin by finding him among the solitary few. History can neither be written nor read without mention of His name. Jesus of Nazareth is even now Jesus of the planet.
But the glory of Christ is unique, especially, in being such a glory to the mind of God. Jesus Is the only begotten "of the Father." A compliment of benediction gathers its music and fragrance from its source. The great of earth must read their glory, always, in a revised version. The noonday light of one generation fades in another to a smoking taper. "Call no man happy until he is dead," is an ancient epitaph. Only the judgments of the immortals stand. That the life of the Christ is a glory with the Eternal, is at once a patent of worth and a call to prayer. That worship of the historic Jesus is not rank idolatry finds its one reason here; he is in time a veritable manifestation of the eternal God. Forevermore the Almighty Father exists in some fashion as a revealer, and in this fashion never repeats himself. "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God." Like the shock of earthquake or the rising of the sun this divine word breaks into human history as Jesus of Nazareth and passes on, and very rightly men tarry in reverence at his feet. That human soul which sees in Christ a unique, solitary, unshareable revealing of God alone may worship him.
This leads me naturally to say that the glory of the Christ life is seen also in its transcendence. It is a biography evermore parting from men and carried out of their vision. "The darkness comprehended it not." "The world knew him not." "His own received him not." Men face the Christ not only with mortal opposition, but with mental collapse. They reject him as surely that they are little as they are wicked. Their logic falls in a heap. They walk by faith or stagger to the dust. Unless they believe on his name, receive him, are given right and power to be sons of God, are veritably born again, they never catch the glory of the Christ. A simply human Christ, a Christ who is not transcendent, turns every Christian church into a heathen temple, baptism to an empty, wicked farce, the bread and wine to symbols of a gigantic lie, and Christian people everywhere into the most miserable of men.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
July 4 — Christ Gives the True Liberty of Soul
1886
By Rev. D. J. Baldwin
A Sabbath school lesson for the 4th of July comes before us. Can the teachers and scholars turn aside from the noise and confusion of celebrations and give a quiet hour to Bible study?
We stop right at the beginning of this lesson to consider the source of all our liberty, and why we have such a marked day while other nations do not thus celebrate one. Most certainly special blessings have fallen to us and the gifts of God have been abundant. "Thou last not dealt so with any people." Christ came to give liberty to the captives, and here he has most wonderfully shown the power of his spirit in making men free.
We all like to celebrate the blessings of civil liberties and the glory of our republic; but where would be found the glory of our national life if Christ had not opened blind eyes, and turned into the hearts of men the love of God? No true and lasting liberty ever come to men apart from the teachings of Christ and the power of his truth. Christian nations can alone be free nations; and the glory of the cross can alone give us true civil liberty. It is the power of Christ's spirit that has opened the eyes of the blind, and we owe all of our progress in national glory to him. Let us acknowledge this fact.
There will be an unusual amount of rejoicing and thanksgiving this year. Notwithstanding all that has come up on the nation in the way of trouble or disaster, still there has been wonderful progress seen in all that pertains to true life. We are advancing year by year and no one can fail to see this who reads or notices the changes that are taking place on all sides of us.
We have not yet attained into full liberty, but we have in our churches and Sunday schools laid the foundations of such liberty, and a new generation is coming on to declare the work of God and make strong the defenses of the Christian church.
How many blind eyes has Christ opened the last year? How many souls have been made free from the guilt and power of sin? There are actual results enough of the work of Christ among men to cause every one to praise God for his goodness. We are coming out into the liberty of the sons of God. We are learning to love light and truth and the souls of our fellow men. This is one of the facts that we come forward to celebrate; and one of the causes of rejoicing that touches every loyal heart in this nation to-day.
The shadows of spiritual darkness may be over us but the light is breaking. The morning of a better day has dawned; and let all true patriots praise God for it. There is liberty of soul and peace of conscience for every believer in Christ. We do not deny that much sin and spiritual darkness still reigns among the people. When Christ was on the earth he never opened all of the blind eyes. Thousands went down under his touch who never saw the light of day. He could not change the laws of life and death at once, but he could give his grace and love for all men and this should bring in the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, in God's own time.
Christ is present among men to-day, and every miracle of the past is a sign, and a glorious one, of the power of his Gospel. If Christ was anxious to have a man born blind see the glory of God in the natural world, how much more must he desire that the soul should see the glory of God in the spiritual realm!
Hence he says no one sins because he is born blind, but because he refuses to be made whole. There is too much love in Christ to allow him to leave us in our blindness. He will flash out the rays of light and truth upon our hearts, and every year shall show how much he has done for those who are walking in darkness and the shadows of death.
Even now, as we go over the old songs of a liberty loving people, and hear again the stories of a nation's salvation, we do not forget who opened the eyes of one born blind and laid the true foundation of all our blessings in church and state.
In the midst of our enthusiasm and love of country let us go back and give the Savior of lost men his right and true place in our hearts, and acknowledge him as the only true light that shines into the hearts of men.
—The Kellogg Enterprise, Kellogg, Iowa, July 2, 1886.
By Rev. D. J. Baldwin
A Sabbath school lesson for the 4th of July comes before us. Can the teachers and scholars turn aside from the noise and confusion of celebrations and give a quiet hour to Bible study?
We stop right at the beginning of this lesson to consider the source of all our liberty, and why we have such a marked day while other nations do not thus celebrate one. Most certainly special blessings have fallen to us and the gifts of God have been abundant. "Thou last not dealt so with any people." Christ came to give liberty to the captives, and here he has most wonderfully shown the power of his spirit in making men free.
We all like to celebrate the blessings of civil liberties and the glory of our republic; but where would be found the glory of our national life if Christ had not opened blind eyes, and turned into the hearts of men the love of God? No true and lasting liberty ever come to men apart from the teachings of Christ and the power of his truth. Christian nations can alone be free nations; and the glory of the cross can alone give us true civil liberty. It is the power of Christ's spirit that has opened the eyes of the blind, and we owe all of our progress in national glory to him. Let us acknowledge this fact.
There will be an unusual amount of rejoicing and thanksgiving this year. Notwithstanding all that has come up on the nation in the way of trouble or disaster, still there has been wonderful progress seen in all that pertains to true life. We are advancing year by year and no one can fail to see this who reads or notices the changes that are taking place on all sides of us.
We have not yet attained into full liberty, but we have in our churches and Sunday schools laid the foundations of such liberty, and a new generation is coming on to declare the work of God and make strong the defenses of the Christian church.
How many blind eyes has Christ opened the last year? How many souls have been made free from the guilt and power of sin? There are actual results enough of the work of Christ among men to cause every one to praise God for his goodness. We are coming out into the liberty of the sons of God. We are learning to love light and truth and the souls of our fellow men. This is one of the facts that we come forward to celebrate; and one of the causes of rejoicing that touches every loyal heart in this nation to-day.
The shadows of spiritual darkness may be over us but the light is breaking. The morning of a better day has dawned; and let all true patriots praise God for it. There is liberty of soul and peace of conscience for every believer in Christ. We do not deny that much sin and spiritual darkness still reigns among the people. When Christ was on the earth he never opened all of the blind eyes. Thousands went down under his touch who never saw the light of day. He could not change the laws of life and death at once, but he could give his grace and love for all men and this should bring in the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, in God's own time.
Christ is present among men to-day, and every miracle of the past is a sign, and a glorious one, of the power of his Gospel. If Christ was anxious to have a man born blind see the glory of God in the natural world, how much more must he desire that the soul should see the glory of God in the spiritual realm!
Hence he says no one sins because he is born blind, but because he refuses to be made whole. There is too much love in Christ to allow him to leave us in our blindness. He will flash out the rays of light and truth upon our hearts, and every year shall show how much he has done for those who are walking in darkness and the shadows of death.
Even now, as we go over the old songs of a liberty loving people, and hear again the stories of a nation's salvation, we do not forget who opened the eyes of one born blind and laid the true foundation of all our blessings in church and state.
In the midst of our enthusiasm and love of country let us go back and give the Savior of lost men his right and true place in our hearts, and acknowledge him as the only true light that shines into the hearts of men.
—The Kellogg Enterprise, Kellogg, Iowa, July 2, 1886.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Freedom for Service, Freedom from Besetting Sins
1902
CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR
Topic For the Week Beginning Aug. 24 — Comment by Rev. S. H. Doyle.
Topic. — Freedom for service. — 2 Tim. 2:4; Gal. 5:1; Heb. 12:1-2.
God saves us not altogether for the sake of saving us, but also that our lives may be consecrated to Him. We are saved to serve. In the twelfth chapter of Romans Paul says, "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." That this consecration and this service may be performed to the fullest extent it is absolutely necessary that we should be free and untrammeled in our service. That freedom for service is necessary Paul suggests to Timothy by the illustration of the soldier. "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of life that he may please Him that hath chosen him to be a soldier." No soldier can be entangled with other affairs in life. He must give himself up entirely to the service; he must be free from worldly cares and avocations or it will be absolutely impossible for him to produce the best results as a soldier. The same thing is true of the Christian soldier. To be a good soldier of Jesus Christ we must have freedom for service.
1. We must be free from affairs of this life. There is nothing that so much interferes with active Christian service as unnecessary association with the things of this world. A spirit of worldliness crushes out a spirit of consecration and service. An unwise indulgence even in the harmless things of life seriously interferes with the faithful performance of our obligations and our duties to God. Unnecessary worries about the cares and the business pursuits of life deprive us of the power to serve God as we ought to serve Him. While in the world we are not to be of the world to the extent that our relations with the world interfere with the performance of our duties to God.
2. We should be free from false conceptions of the law. "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberties wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." The yoke of bondage here referred to was the bondage of the law. It was the conception of the ancient people of God that they were to be saved by the observance of the law. The result was that they became slaves to the law. It usurped the place in their lives that Christ should have had, and it was impossible under these conditions for them to render the cheerful and whole hearted service to God that was His due. The lives of many Christian people have been made miserable and they have been made incompetent for service by a false attitude toward the law. The early religious experiences of Martin Luther were of such a character. He was taught to look upon God as a severe judge ready to punish and to destroy him for the breaking of His law. He had no idea of God as a kind and loving Father or a realization of the fact that Christ had kept the law for him and had paid the penalty for it on the cross. The result was that his life was miserable and he was unfitted for the best and truest service. It was only "when the scales fell" from his eyes and he lived in the liberty wherewith Christ made him free that he was enabled to perform great service to God. Christians are not above the law; they are not immune from the penalties of the law, and yet in Christ they possess a freedom from it that should inspire them to better lives and should give them greater liberty for effective and whole hearted service.
3. Freedom from besetting sins. "Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." All sins have not the same attractive power for all people. What tempts one man may have no temptation for another. In each one of our lives are besetting sins or sins that easily entwine themselves about us. The apostle here likens the form of such sins to the flowing robe of the Grecian athlete. We can easily understand how the runner would be hindered in the race if he had about him the loose, flowing garment of the Greek. It would wrap itself so closely about him as to hinder his every movement. Such is the result of besetting sins in the life of service. If they are allowed to have power and influence with us, they hinder us and destroy our powers for effective service. That we may be free to serve it is therefore important that we should lay aside all cares and all besetting sins and that we should look to Christ for the power to overcome besetting sins and to continue in the life of faithfulness and of patient service.
CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR
Topic For the Week Beginning Aug. 24 — Comment by Rev. S. H. Doyle.
Topic. — Freedom for service. — 2 Tim. 2:4; Gal. 5:1; Heb. 12:1-2.
God saves us not altogether for the sake of saving us, but also that our lives may be consecrated to Him. We are saved to serve. In the twelfth chapter of Romans Paul says, "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." That this consecration and this service may be performed to the fullest extent it is absolutely necessary that we should be free and untrammeled in our service. That freedom for service is necessary Paul suggests to Timothy by the illustration of the soldier. "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of life that he may please Him that hath chosen him to be a soldier." No soldier can be entangled with other affairs in life. He must give himself up entirely to the service; he must be free from worldly cares and avocations or it will be absolutely impossible for him to produce the best results as a soldier. The same thing is true of the Christian soldier. To be a good soldier of Jesus Christ we must have freedom for service.
1. We must be free from affairs of this life. There is nothing that so much interferes with active Christian service as unnecessary association with the things of this world. A spirit of worldliness crushes out a spirit of consecration and service. An unwise indulgence even in the harmless things of life seriously interferes with the faithful performance of our obligations and our duties to God. Unnecessary worries about the cares and the business pursuits of life deprive us of the power to serve God as we ought to serve Him. While in the world we are not to be of the world to the extent that our relations with the world interfere with the performance of our duties to God.
2. We should be free from false conceptions of the law. "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberties wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." The yoke of bondage here referred to was the bondage of the law. It was the conception of the ancient people of God that they were to be saved by the observance of the law. The result was that they became slaves to the law. It usurped the place in their lives that Christ should have had, and it was impossible under these conditions for them to render the cheerful and whole hearted service to God that was His due. The lives of many Christian people have been made miserable and they have been made incompetent for service by a false attitude toward the law. The early religious experiences of Martin Luther were of such a character. He was taught to look upon God as a severe judge ready to punish and to destroy him for the breaking of His law. He had no idea of God as a kind and loving Father or a realization of the fact that Christ had kept the law for him and had paid the penalty for it on the cross. The result was that his life was miserable and he was unfitted for the best and truest service. It was only "when the scales fell" from his eyes and he lived in the liberty wherewith Christ made him free that he was enabled to perform great service to God. Christians are not above the law; they are not immune from the penalties of the law, and yet in Christ they possess a freedom from it that should inspire them to better lives and should give them greater liberty for effective and whole hearted service.
3. Freedom from besetting sins. "Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." All sins have not the same attractive power for all people. What tempts one man may have no temptation for another. In each one of our lives are besetting sins or sins that easily entwine themselves about us. The apostle here likens the form of such sins to the flowing robe of the Grecian athlete. We can easily understand how the runner would be hindered in the race if he had about him the loose, flowing garment of the Greek. It would wrap itself so closely about him as to hinder his every movement. Such is the result of besetting sins in the life of service. If they are allowed to have power and influence with us, they hinder us and destroy our powers for effective service. That we may be free to serve it is therefore important that we should lay aside all cares and all besetting sins and that we should look to Christ for the power to overcome besetting sins and to continue in the life of faithfulness and of patient service.
Eternal Life a Present Possession
1905
By Rev. C. A. Dixon
in the Gospel News Pulpit
Immortality Not Eternal Life
The difference between immortality and eternal life is clearly intimated in these scriptures. Immortality means everlasting existence, but eternal life is not eternal existence. Dead things exist. I can imagine a stone existing a million years, but after the million years have passed it will be as dead as it is now. Corpses exist. Men dead in trespasses and in sins on this side the grave exist, and they will exist after death. One does not begin really to live until he has accepted Christ; but he exists.
Let us accept the definition of eternal life which the Lord Jesus himself gave and this will clear away all misunderstanding. Turn to John 17:3: "This is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." It is as clear as a sunbeam that eternal life is here defined as knowing God through Jesus Christ. To know God is to live; to refuse to know God is to continue to exist in a state of death.
A Present Possession
Eternal life is a present possession, not a future continuity. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." Write the little word "hath" in capital letters, for eternal life is in the present tense. It is the gift of God through Jesus Christ. Immortality was imparted when God created man in his own image. Sin brought death which is separation from God, but it did not bring non-existence. Man continued to exist after he had sinned. To say that the words, "perish," "die," "destruction," mean annihilation is to speak unscripturally and unscientifically. Science knows no annihilation, it simply recognizes changes of form and substance. Death does not bring about annihilation of the body. We keep it several days after death and tenderly lay it away beneath the flowers.
Note: The main text of the sermon was Job 14:14, "If a man die, shall he live again?" This is just an excerpt of Rev. Dixon's sermon.
—The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN, Aug. 21, 1905, p. 9.
By Rev. C. A. Dixon
in the Gospel News Pulpit
Immortality Not Eternal Life
The difference between immortality and eternal life is clearly intimated in these scriptures. Immortality means everlasting existence, but eternal life is not eternal existence. Dead things exist. I can imagine a stone existing a million years, but after the million years have passed it will be as dead as it is now. Corpses exist. Men dead in trespasses and in sins on this side the grave exist, and they will exist after death. One does not begin really to live until he has accepted Christ; but he exists.
Let us accept the definition of eternal life which the Lord Jesus himself gave and this will clear away all misunderstanding. Turn to John 17:3: "This is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." It is as clear as a sunbeam that eternal life is here defined as knowing God through Jesus Christ. To know God is to live; to refuse to know God is to continue to exist in a state of death.
A Present Possession
Eternal life is a present possession, not a future continuity. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." Write the little word "hath" in capital letters, for eternal life is in the present tense. It is the gift of God through Jesus Christ. Immortality was imparted when God created man in his own image. Sin brought death which is separation from God, but it did not bring non-existence. Man continued to exist after he had sinned. To say that the words, "perish," "die," "destruction," mean annihilation is to speak unscripturally and unscientifically. Science knows no annihilation, it simply recognizes changes of form and substance. Death does not bring about annihilation of the body. We keep it several days after death and tenderly lay it away beneath the flowers.
Note: The main text of the sermon was Job 14:14, "If a man die, shall he live again?" This is just an excerpt of Rev. Dixon's sermon.
—The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN, Aug. 21, 1905, p. 9.
Monday, May 14, 2007
The Herald of Good Cheer Will Preach
New Jersey, 1907REV. DR. HORACE W. BOLTON
The herald of good cheer who will preach at First M. E. Church tomorrow
Sixteen hundred million human beings live on our planet today and each individual of this countless myriad has friends who have crossed the great divide and entered the dark valley, called death, Camille Flammarian, the great French philosopher says.
That the soul exists as a force we do not doubt, that it is one with the cerebral atom, the principle of organization, we may admit. That it thus survives the dissolution of the body we conceive. But what becomes of it? Whither does it go? Who then is not interested in the awe inspiring subject pertaining to the beyond and who is not an eager seeker after any light which may be shed upon this immortal and ever-absorbing topic? No one has ever returned from the unseen land to which millions are passing every year to portray the events which there have taken place, and all our knowledge must be obtained from the interpretation of God's word.
Theologians study these great points, commentators comment upon and strive to bring out the force and facts as they penetrate these sublime mysteries. Pastors formulate their own ideas after long and serious thought and preach sermons touching upon these marvelous questions. Orators and authors delve into the wonderful problems and prepare arguments and reason the why and why not of all the many advancing theories which have arisen regarding the life beyond and yet the human mind and the burdened soul and the stricken home and the broken-hearted friend as pictured through the earth tabernacle of frail humanity grasps at all this hoping to hear some good news, some cheering omen, longing for a ray of hope and faith to meet their individual case and help them as in sorrow they plod along the pathway of life.
Dr. Bolton is a born optimist, sees the bright side of life, has met and mastered many obstacles through his long pilgrimage, and cheerful under all circumstances, chases gloom away by his unswerving belief in the goodness of his Creator. His life has been one continuous good cheer to others. All along his pathway as he has preached the glorious gospel which he represents he has looked beyond and studied the wonderful unfolding of this earth-life as it is transformed into the soul-life beyond. A matured man beaming with life and happiness, he is a great student of human nature, an astute and scholarly leader in the higher realms of thought and influence and has been a special seeker for knowledge regarding the afterlife.
Dr. Bolton comes to First M. E. Church tomorrow and will bring messages of hope and love as he presents to us his views on these momentous and exalted subjects.
In the morning at 10:30 his topic will be "Walk About Zion." In the evening at 7:45 he will preach upon one of the greatest themes ever pondered over by the human intellect, "Our Friends Beyond."
—Trenton Evening Times, Trenton, New Jersey, Dec. 7, 1907, p. 8.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Christ's Second Coming – Working in The Meantime
1895
In every age since the advent of Christ, he has had numerous followers who were expecting his instant coming. When his immediate disciples saw him rise majestically in the clouds they heard the assurance that in like manner he would appear again. This promise they quite naturally applied to themselves, and in the apostolic age it was the common belief that the Lord would soon appear.
But as time wore on it became apparent that the purpose of Christ's first coming was not to bring the world from darkness to light by a magic process, but it was to reveal the Father's love and so inaugurate the dispensation of the Holy Spirit under whose guidance and influence human life would be transformed as fast as it could be brought subject to the gospel's power.
That Christ is sure to come is as certain as his sacred promise is true, but we doubt the utility or the propriety of laying extraordinary emphasis upon this part of our Christian hope. The time and manner of his coming are matters which he has preferred to leave us in ignorance, and we can see no advantage in prying into the counsels of heaven respecting the divine intentions regarding this planet.
As our artist well shows in the cartoon of this week, the call of the Master is to the opportunity that is present, immediate and around us. Our aim should be to watch, not that he may find us waiting, but that he may find us working. — Ram's Horn.
In every age since the advent of Christ, he has had numerous followers who were expecting his instant coming. When his immediate disciples saw him rise majestically in the clouds they heard the assurance that in like manner he would appear again. This promise they quite naturally applied to themselves, and in the apostolic age it was the common belief that the Lord would soon appear.
But as time wore on it became apparent that the purpose of Christ's first coming was not to bring the world from darkness to light by a magic process, but it was to reveal the Father's love and so inaugurate the dispensation of the Holy Spirit under whose guidance and influence human life would be transformed as fast as it could be brought subject to the gospel's power.
That Christ is sure to come is as certain as his sacred promise is true, but we doubt the utility or the propriety of laying extraordinary emphasis upon this part of our Christian hope. The time and manner of his coming are matters which he has preferred to leave us in ignorance, and we can see no advantage in prying into the counsels of heaven respecting the divine intentions regarding this planet.
As our artist well shows in the cartoon of this week, the call of the Master is to the opportunity that is present, immediate and around us. Our aim should be to watch, not that he may find us waiting, but that he may find us working. — Ram's Horn.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Whittlings — Sentence Sermons & Bits of Wit
1917
By Rev. L. R. Akers
The sure sign of the little man is the big head.
Some people think obscurity is synonymous with profundity.
The modern church prefers a live wire to an inflated tire.
"Talk is cheap," we have heard, but it all depends upon who talks.
Oftentimes a cheerful hello! Is the best dispeller of a tearful woe.
Six-syllabled words are too often the exhaust of a one-cylinder man.
The newest thing in some churches would be a sermon on the old gospel.
To keep from being a "dead one" while alive is a full-grown man's job.
Continual straining after the new is often an effective way of emptying the pew.
There's no use to look like a saint on Sunday if you go out and act like a sinner on Monday.
The D. D. degree may loom large on earth, but the S. S. degree (Seeker of Souls) is the only one recognized in the University of the Skies.
By Rev. L. R. Akers
The sure sign of the little man is the big head.
Some people think obscurity is synonymous with profundity.
The modern church prefers a live wire to an inflated tire.
"Talk is cheap," we have heard, but it all depends upon who talks.
Oftentimes a cheerful hello! Is the best dispeller of a tearful woe.
Six-syllabled words are too often the exhaust of a one-cylinder man.
The newest thing in some churches would be a sermon on the old gospel.
To keep from being a "dead one" while alive is a full-grown man's job.
Continual straining after the new is often an effective way of emptying the pew.
There's no use to look like a saint on Sunday if you go out and act like a sinner on Monday.
The D. D. degree may loom large on earth, but the S. S. degree (Seeker of Souls) is the only one recognized in the University of the Skies.
Life In The Cross
1917
How much our Master spoke about life — the life that it now and the great life eternal! Is life worth living? That depends absolutely on the individual view of life and the view the individual takes of the God of life and of the world in which he lives.
The fullness of life does not consist in the abundance of earthly possessions, but in spiritual wealth. So many take the wrong view of life and obscure its sweetness behind a cloud of pessimistic thought. To pursue happiness is to miss it; she is a fleet runner and cannot be overtaken. The true fountain of life is within one, in the heart, and there we are just as young as we feel ourselves to be. "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
Don Juan Ponce de Leon revered the cross as an outward symbol and planted it everywhere in the lands he discovered and conquered; but God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Ritual is beautiful, solemn, instructive; but if it is only a form, it is a dead thing and ought to be buried out of sight The cross is the noblest symbol the world knows or possesses, and the best place to erect it is in the garden of the heart, wherever else it may stand.
"There is no salvation for the soul nor hope of eternal life, but in the cross. Behold, everything is the cross, and everything depends upon our dying on it; and there is no other way to life and to true inward peace, save the way of the holy cross and of daily mortification." So wrote Thomas A. Kempis. —Selected.
How much our Master spoke about life — the life that it now and the great life eternal! Is life worth living? That depends absolutely on the individual view of life and the view the individual takes of the God of life and of the world in which he lives.
The fullness of life does not consist in the abundance of earthly possessions, but in spiritual wealth. So many take the wrong view of life and obscure its sweetness behind a cloud of pessimistic thought. To pursue happiness is to miss it; she is a fleet runner and cannot be overtaken. The true fountain of life is within one, in the heart, and there we are just as young as we feel ourselves to be. "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
Don Juan Ponce de Leon revered the cross as an outward symbol and planted it everywhere in the lands he discovered and conquered; but God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Ritual is beautiful, solemn, instructive; but if it is only a form, it is a dead thing and ought to be buried out of sight The cross is the noblest symbol the world knows or possesses, and the best place to erect it is in the garden of the heart, wherever else it may stand.
"There is no salvation for the soul nor hope of eternal life, but in the cross. Behold, everything is the cross, and everything depends upon our dying on it; and there is no other way to life and to true inward peace, save the way of the holy cross and of daily mortification." So wrote Thomas A. Kempis. —Selected.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Philosophical View of Death Taken by Lane
1921
Writes Before Operation That "Lead Kindly Light" is His Gospel
SAN FRANCISCO, May 18. — Franklin K. Lane viewed death philosophically, and during the period of his apparent convalescence he embodied his thoughts on the subject in a letter he wrote to a few personal friends, among them being Isadore Dockweiller of Los Angeles, Democratic national committeeman. Before going on the operating table at Rochester, Lane said in his letter, he had "come to the conclusion that perhaps the best statement of my creed could be fitted into the words, 'I accept,' which to me meant that if in the law of nature my individual spirit was to go back into the great ocean of spirits, my one duty was to conform. 'Lead, kindly light,' was all the gospel I had. I accepted. I made pretense to put out my hand in submission and lay there."
"I need not tell you that the whole performance was managed with considerable eclat," his letter continued, "and Dr. Will Mayo was to use the knife. * * * On the whole, it was what the society reporter would call a 'recherche' affair. * * *
"I have seen death come to men in various ways, some rather novel and western. I once saw a man hanged. And I have seen several men shot, and came very near going out that way myself two or three times, but always the other fellow aimed poorly. I was being shot at because I was a newspaperman, and I should have been shot at. There must be public be concern in what is printed, as well as its truth to justify it. That is something that newspapers should get to know in this country. After the earthquake in San Francisco, I saw walls topple out upon a man, and I have more intimate glimpses still of the picturesque and of the prosaic ways by which men come to their taking off.
"But never before have I been called upon to deliberately walk into the valley of the shadow, and, say what you will, it is a great act. * * *
"There was a long ray of light leading from my bed to my door. I had opened my eyes. I had not died — I had come through the valley. In the broad part of the ray was my wife smiling, and stretching out to that unreachable door were others whom I recognized, all smiling. Things were dim, but the mind seemed definite."
—Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California, May 18, 1921, page 2.
Writes Before Operation That "Lead Kindly Light" is His Gospel
SAN FRANCISCO, May 18. — Franklin K. Lane viewed death philosophically, and during the period of his apparent convalescence he embodied his thoughts on the subject in a letter he wrote to a few personal friends, among them being Isadore Dockweiller of Los Angeles, Democratic national committeeman. Before going on the operating table at Rochester, Lane said in his letter, he had "come to the conclusion that perhaps the best statement of my creed could be fitted into the words, 'I accept,' which to me meant that if in the law of nature my individual spirit was to go back into the great ocean of spirits, my one duty was to conform. 'Lead, kindly light,' was all the gospel I had. I accepted. I made pretense to put out my hand in submission and lay there."
"I need not tell you that the whole performance was managed with considerable eclat," his letter continued, "and Dr. Will Mayo was to use the knife. * * * On the whole, it was what the society reporter would call a 'recherche' affair. * * *
"I have seen death come to men in various ways, some rather novel and western. I once saw a man hanged. And I have seen several men shot, and came very near going out that way myself two or three times, but always the other fellow aimed poorly. I was being shot at because I was a newspaperman, and I should have been shot at. There must be public be concern in what is printed, as well as its truth to justify it. That is something that newspapers should get to know in this country. After the earthquake in San Francisco, I saw walls topple out upon a man, and I have more intimate glimpses still of the picturesque and of the prosaic ways by which men come to their taking off.
"But never before have I been called upon to deliberately walk into the valley of the shadow, and, say what you will, it is a great act. * * *
"There was a long ray of light leading from my bed to my door. I had opened my eyes. I had not died — I had come through the valley. In the broad part of the ray was my wife smiling, and stretching out to that unreachable door were others whom I recognized, all smiling. Things were dim, but the mind seemed definite."
—Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California, May 18, 1921, page 2.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Dr. Harrison Speaks on "Jesus, the Bread of Life"
Sheboygan, Wisconsin, 1950
Speaking on "Jesus, the Bread of Life", Dr. Paul W. Harrison continued the series of Autumn Religious Festival programs on Tuesday night at North High auditorium. The crowd again was large because this great medical missionary has a message each night that is impressively delivered.
Dr. Harrison, who ably pictures Biblical scenes for his listeners, chose the one of Jesus feeding the crowd of 5,000, who were on their way to the Passover in Jerusalem. Jesus, their host, looking at them realized that their need was to be brought close to God. People were tremendously impressed by this great miracle and they reacted naturally. They decided to take Jesus by force and make Him king. After He had sent His disciples to Capernaum by boat, he went into the mountains alone to pray, to fight back Satan and his glittering temptation.
Another miracle performed then was Jesus walking on that rough sea to overtake His disciples. That miracle was performed to reinforce the badly shaken loyalty of His disciples.
Jesus taught the people about God's salvation, and the lesson was aimed at those who do the honest work in this world. These people were willing to reach out and take charity from God's hand even though they didn't deserve it. They were so obsessed with their desire for a free meal, so preoccupied with their empty stomachs that they could not think a spiritual thought, even if they tried. It was then that Jesus told them, "I am the bread of life," and that sentence is one of the most profound and wonderful things that He said.
Dr. Harrison said to his audience, "We get the earthly kind of bread by buying it. The heavenly bread is far closer than that. There are three steps necessary to get the bread of life. First, one must admire it and want it. Next, we must take those words and the story of that life, think about it, meditate on it, until we understand it. Then, when the matter is in your heart, you accept it."
The speaker suggested that when the bread of life is eaten and becomes a part of the soul we will organize our lives. "Mission fields," he said, "are full of people who have taken Christ in that manner. Let us not forget it is the bread of life that gets us entrance into the kingdom of heaven."
"Let us take the life of Jesus as an example to study, to imitate. What we want to do is to take this human life of Jesus and join with the common people that take of this bread — they shall live forever," he said in concluding his third message.
—Sheboygan Press-Telegram, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, October 18, 1950, page 18.
Speaking on "Jesus, the Bread of Life", Dr. Paul W. Harrison continued the series of Autumn Religious Festival programs on Tuesday night at North High auditorium. The crowd again was large because this great medical missionary has a message each night that is impressively delivered.
Dr. Harrison, who ably pictures Biblical scenes for his listeners, chose the one of Jesus feeding the crowd of 5,000, who were on their way to the Passover in Jerusalem. Jesus, their host, looking at them realized that their need was to be brought close to God. People were tremendously impressed by this great miracle and they reacted naturally. They decided to take Jesus by force and make Him king. After He had sent His disciples to Capernaum by boat, he went into the mountains alone to pray, to fight back Satan and his glittering temptation.
Another miracle performed then was Jesus walking on that rough sea to overtake His disciples. That miracle was performed to reinforce the badly shaken loyalty of His disciples.
Jesus taught the people about God's salvation, and the lesson was aimed at those who do the honest work in this world. These people were willing to reach out and take charity from God's hand even though they didn't deserve it. They were so obsessed with their desire for a free meal, so preoccupied with their empty stomachs that they could not think a spiritual thought, even if they tried. It was then that Jesus told them, "I am the bread of life," and that sentence is one of the most profound and wonderful things that He said.
Dr. Harrison said to his audience, "We get the earthly kind of bread by buying it. The heavenly bread is far closer than that. There are three steps necessary to get the bread of life. First, one must admire it and want it. Next, we must take those words and the story of that life, think about it, meditate on it, until we understand it. Then, when the matter is in your heart, you accept it."
The speaker suggested that when the bread of life is eaten and becomes a part of the soul we will organize our lives. "Mission fields," he said, "are full of people who have taken Christ in that manner. Let us not forget it is the bread of life that gets us entrance into the kingdom of heaven."
"Let us take the life of Jesus as an example to study, to imitate. What we want to do is to take this human life of Jesus and join with the common people that take of this bread — they shall live forever," he said in concluding his third message.
—Sheboygan Press-Telegram, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, October 18, 1950, page 18.
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