He Kept the Watch

1895

"I was at Old Orchard one time and attended one of the meetings led by Rev. Stephen Merritt," said a Lewiston gentleman to a Lewiston Journal reporter. "After a short address the people were invited to lay their jewels on the altar for missions. Women wept as they tore off earrings, bracelets and gold rings. Diamonds were given freely. Mr. Merritt himself placed a gold watch on the altar. Finally up rose one man with a ponderous frame and slowly pulled from his pocket a shining gold watch. It was worn, but was still a handsome thing. He held it in the palm of his big hand as he looked at it. 'I have lost that watch,' he said. 'It has been all over the world with me.' Like Mary's little lamb, it was always with its owner. It was the parting gift of a dying mother. To part with it would be like the giving up of a brother. 'Yes, I love it, and I'm going to keep it,' and he sat down like a stone, with never a particle of humor in his face."

Mission Notes

1900

Statistics declare that in the entire kingdom of Spain there are only 3,230 children in attendance upon Sunday Schools.

Fifty years ago there were not fifty medical missionaries in the world. Fifteen years since there were but 250; while today there are over 600.

China, the greatest mission field in all the world, with at least 386,000,000 people, has a total of only 2,500 Protestant missionaries. Nearly one-fifth of these are ordained ministers.

The Zulu Bible, published by the American Bible Society, is an influential factor in South African affairs. "Whatever happens in the Transvaal," says the secretary, "the Bible will not cease to do its silent work."

It has been proposed by many who have been touched by the manner in which the six children of the Rev. D. H. and Mrs. Lee met their death in the recent disaster at Darjeeling, to perpetuate their memory by erecting a permanent institution, known as "The Dennett Training School and Home for Bengali Girls" in Calcutta. Mrs. F. L. Sperry, of Mt. Lake Park, Md., will give further information.

A Christian Endeavor meeting is held every Monday evening among the five troops of the United States cavalry stationed at Puerto Principe, Cuba. Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, has a Christian Endeavor Society, organized in December, 1899. One active member is a native, a clerk, that has learned to speak English well. There are four Puerto Rican associate members.

—The Ram's Horn, March 17, 1900, p. 18.

The Mission of Christ

1900

EVERY DAY RELIGION

Suggested by Sunday School Topic for March 25th, 1900

"I tell you," exclaimed the Man-of-Spirit, "the trouble with us is that we haven't backbone. We're afraid! Why, we call ourselves a Christian nation; the world calls itself civilized, and look at it! What has the church to do with the ruling of this country? Nothing! We ought to rise in our might and make ourselves felt! But we don't do it! And I'm afraid we won't do it. It's discouraging, the lack of backbone you find in the world. Don't you think so, Uncle Bez?"

"Well, I've found some pretty determined people in the world," replied Uncle Bez. "Some of them determined to do the right thing, and some determined to do the wrong. I don't believe that it's altogether a question of more backbone; I don't think that is the crying need of the church today. In fact, I'm not so sure that we haven't too much backbone, some of us. I'm not sure that we are not a proud and stiff-necked generation.

"I think if you'll get down your New Testament and read a little of the life of Christ, you will very soon see that He does not require us to carry the world by storm. You remember that He warned His disciples against seeking to 'domineer' men; 'for the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.'

"He was born in a stable; no man was crowded out of the comfortable inn to make room for the King of Glory.

"He began busying Himself 'about His Father's business,' when other boys were busy with games.

"His fore-runner was not a knightly herald in purple, but a man in camel's hair from the desert.

"Immediately after His ministry began, the devil began to tempt Him to take the kingdoms of the world for His own, but He would not — that was not the sort of rule He came to establish.

"He called disciples unto Him — that they might care for Him, watch Him and guard Him? No — they slept while He passed through the greatest agony the world has ever seen. 'Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.' He gathered them about Him that He might, with infinite patience and tenderness, teach them the way to live.

"He explained to Nicodemus that the Son of Man 'must be lifted up' — must give His life as a ransom for many.

"To the woman at the well, a Samaritan with whom the self-righteous Jews had nothing to do, and again to the publicans and sinners who gathered at Matthew's house, Christ went bearing the message of eternal life.

"To His friends and neighbors at Nazareth He declared that He was anointed 'to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind' — 'to minister.'

"At Capernaum He healed many, casting out devils, and forgiving sins — healing body and soul — ministering unto poor, sin-sick man.

"But in all of it, there's not a word about rising in His might and taking the world by force.

"Christ never drove any one. The only force He uses is the power of love, to draw all men to Him.

"He came to minister. Don't let us get the notion into our heads that we can do His work for Him. He has work for us to do — work in plenty if we do not turn from it, but it is not His work. We may become co-laborers with God, but only to do our own part. We must leave God's part with Him. 'God giveth the increase.' The results belong to Him, and our faith is very weak if after we have done the best we can according to our conscience and God's pointing and the common sense He has given us — our faith is very weak, I say, if we can't trust the outcome with God, but think we must get our backbone up, and 'rise in our might,' and take a club and drive men into the kingdom of heaven. We are not going to establish any inquisitions in these days; we have learned to know the love of God better than that.

"But, on the other hand, while we are to allow Christ to minister unto us to our soul's salvation; while we are to accept what He does for us; while we cannot 'convert' the world nor a single soul — we must follow in His steps if we are His children, and become also ministers inasmuch as it is in our power. After Christ has ministered to us, we must go and find our brethren as Andrew and Philip found Nathaniel; as the woman of Samaria went to the men of her city, saying, 'Come and see'; as those who were healed at Capernaum brought others to be healed; as Mathew made a feast and invited in publicans and sinners to see and hear the Master. We, too, must become ministers.

"I wouldn't become discouraged if I were you," Uncle Bez went on. "I know there are a good many things in the world we would like to have different. I know the devil seems to have a pretty good grip on some of the best things in the world, but I've faith enough to believe it's all coming out right in the end. Christ came to minister — and I don't believe His mission will be a failure. Do you?" — JOHNSTONE MURRAY.

Letter To Besieged Missionaries in China

1900

As an item of record and for the benefit of those clamorous bigots who a few months ago were holding the Christian missionary responsible for all the ruin wrought to "trade and human life" in China, we print herewith the text of a letter addressed to this noble band of Christians by Mr. Conger, minister plenipotentiary of the United States in China:

"Pekin, Aug. 18 — To the Besieged American Missionaries: To one and all of you so providentially saved from the threatened massacre, I beg in this hour of our deliverance to express what I know to be the universal sentiment of the diplomatic corps — a sincere appreciation of and profound gratitude for the inestimable help which you and the native Christians under your charge have rendered toward our preservation. But for your intelligent and successful planning and the uncomplaining assistance of the Chinese I believe our salvation would have been impossible. By your courteous consideration of me and your continued patience in most trying occasions I have been deeply touched, and for it I thank you most heartily. I hope and believe that somehow in God's unerring plan your sacrifices and dangers will bear rich fruit in the material and spiritual welfare of the people to whom you have so nobly devoted your lives and work. Assuring you of my personal respect and gratitude, believe me very sincerely yours, E. H. CONGER."

—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 6.

God's Opportunity

1903

Someone has said that "each human life is another opportunity for God to display His grace and power." So it is and the thought will grow upon you as you meditate upon it. Just think, "I am God's opportunity!" Isn't it wonderful! Isn't it glorious! When we look at others whom God has richly blessed and honored in service we can see how it is, but do we ever think of ourselves as God's opportunity?

Every one that responds to God's call, "Come!" gives God a large place in the world. Every one who obeys God's command, "Go!" assists God in gaining a larger place in the hearts of men. Every regenerated heart and life is a new garden in which God plants His seeds of love and grace; a fountain out of which flow constant streams of healing power. Take it home and say to yourself, "I am God's opportunity." Be that, and your life will become unutterably grand, and your experience unspeakably sweet. — Presbyterian Journal.

Motanic Bad Indian No More

1908

Cayuse Chief Becomes a Christian — Makes Dramatic Confession

Spokane, Washington. — Motanic, bad Indian, terror of the Umatilla reservation southwest of Spokane and leader of pagan customs among the Cayuse braves, has embraced the Christian religion, and, as a consequence, there is rejoicing among the faithful in the Tutilla Presbyterian mission. The conversion of the chieftain was the dramatic climax to the ordination of Rev. Edward Conner, a full-blooded Cayuse, as minister of the gospel a few days ago.

Following the singing of the Cayuse version of "Washed in the Blood of the Lamb," in which braves and squaws joined heartily, Motanic, dressed in barbaric splendor, arose from his seat and, facing the congregation, declared his intention to live a better life. He vowed he would abandon the pagan customs, bid goodbye forever to the feathered headdress and the red and orange paint, to participate no more in the festal parades nor partake of the white man's firewater. He would not steal, gamble or cheat his fellow man or brother. Motanic had become a Christian. It was a fitting close to the ordination of Conner.

At the conclusion of the services which made Conner a full-fledged minister of the gospel there was stillness. Motanic walked to the front of the altar. Tears streamed down his weather-bronzed cheeks and his big frame shook with sobs. He looked neither to the right nor to the left. Motanic confessed his sins to the world and swore allegiance to a new king.

Suddenly a glad note burst from the throat of a little brown woman in the corner. It was the signal for a spontaneous outburst of song from the Indian congregation. Then his faithful squaw went home with the chief.

Preacher to Don Overalls, Study Social Problems

1916

DENVER, Colo., Oct. 30. — The Rev. Allan A. Tanner, prominent Denver churchman, resigned yesterday as pastor of the First Congregational church and people's tabernacle to don overalls and study economic and social problems at close range in the industrial centers of the east.

"The church," declared the Rev. Tanner, "either must get back on a human plane or get out of business."



Says Parents Should Supervise Courtships of Young Generation

AURORA, Neb., Oct. 30. — Speaking on the faults of the American people at the men's meeting of the Aurora Y. M. C. A. Sunday Judge Corcoran of York, declared that some of the worst evils in America are the divorce evil, profanity and laxity in church attendance. He insisted that the divorce evil is being accentuated by the failure of parents to properly supervise the courtships of their children.

Too often, he said, boys and girls marry without paying any attention to the true sanctity of the marriage relation. He cited instances in his own court where girls of seventeen and eighteen, with children in their arms, have been turned out on the world as widows. This, he said, would never occur if the parents would see to it that their children formed proper companionships and thoroughly understood the sacredness of the marriage relation.

Judge Corcoran said that the vice of profanity is more common in this country than in Europe. For three months, he said, he traveled in Europe without hearing profanity, But immediately upon his return to America, his ears began to tingle with profanity from the lips of Americans. He urged all men present to align themselves with some church and become active workers. The meeting was attended by a large number of men of Aurora, Marquette and Hampton.

In Christ — The Limitless Ideal

1909

By Rev. Frank T. Benson in the Church Calendar

It has been said of some men that they think in continents; they live and act in hemispheres. In Jesus Christ we see this character in its perfect flower. Indeed the large ideal and the world-vision is the legitimate fruit of a Christian civilization.

Christ's was the life which alone had no limits in time. He was a world-man. No age could claim Him, and no race could lay its hand upon Him and say, "He is of us." The truth He taught was of the same character. Each era as it comes and goes has some central thought or ideal which controls it. Around that thought clusters the air, and the science, and the philosophy, and even the action of that age. But the truth that Jesus taught had no such limit. It was neither the product of the time in which He lived, nor had it the imperfection of a limited horizon. He saw all truth at its fountain. He beheld it not in its segments but in its perfect circles. For these reasons the truth Jesus uttered was full of the deepest significance. The simplest word He uttered sometimes was capable of elaboration until it reached the uttermost man, and the ultimate time.

In His labors this limitless ideal was ever present. His ideal had within its purview not the Jew alone, but all men, everywhere. When He saved the soul of one man it was to add him to the sum total, but that man was not the end. He was saved that his influence and labors might be added to those saved like him until they might reach forth to save the world. The Gospel might begin at Jerusalem, but it must not stop until it has belted the globe. Jesus in every expression of His purpose and every energy of His divine nature was a world-conqueror.

Those who follow in the footsteps of Jesus have no business to be satisfied with small things. He gave His disciples no other commission but a world-wide commission. The man or the church that glories in his or its insignificance never learned that spirit from Jesus. No man, who has any true conception of the real character of Jesus, can fail to see that it was never His intention that any man should die without first having the opportunity of hearing, from consecrated and burning lips, the evangel of hope as it issued forth from the cross.

The church has suffered sometimes more from narrowness than from devils. We contract and minimize Christ and the glory of His gospel by the insignificance of our ideals and service. We labor to bring forth a mouse. In a world which is doing great things, a world with its world-wide enterprises, the church cannot expect to hold her own unless she leads in still wider vision and still mightier enterprise. There is some reason for the taunt of the world which we sometimes hear, "The church is too slow." But the taunt is getting more and more unjust. The modern missionary propaganda with its slogan of carrying the gospel to all nations in this generation, is as grand in its conception as it is mighty in its performance. In her evangelism, in her charities, in her fellowship, the church is pushing forth the contracted horizons of her ideals to world-wide scope.

The church is capable of doing greater things than the world inasmuch as she assured that all power is hers as she moves forward in accordance with the will of her divine Master. Behind a militant church is the Almighty God. The apostle lost all fear and claimed all things when he said, "I can do all things through Him that strengtheneth me." This is the true spirit of the church, and it is irresistible.

What we need as a church is to get into touch with the limitless ideal of Christ, and to order our labors in the light of that revelation. To do this we must face the taunt of those who are too indolent or too worldly to move, and would hold back the church that they may continue in their self-complacency. Added to this will be the taunt of the world, which, under Satan's control, always views with alarm an awakened church. We ought not to allow these to control us. The Lord is our example. Our marching orders are from the King, and at the end of our days we must give in our account to Him. Heaven's highest reward will be to have Him say, "Well done" to us.

The value of a great ideal and an exalted service upon the individual is blessed beyond computation. A man's own faith and energy are great in the degree in which he sees and appreciates the greatness of the cause in which he is enlisted. If he thinks meanly of his cause, if it seems to him of no great consequence, he will find no heart to do noble deeds in its furtherance.

If a man beholds in Jesus the sum of all perfections, the fountain of all goodness, the ultimate power for all righteousness; if he sees in the gospel the power of God unto salvation for all men; if he sees in the church the organized agency to carry that salvation to the world; if he realizes that the operations of grace here will find their fruition in eternal glory hereafter; if he believes that the dream of Christ was more than a dream, and that the world will yet lie at His feet sobbing out its griefs, and finding its heart's ease there; if he believes that he is a part of the host who can draw from the sources of omnipotence for its work; if he believes that a recreant church will be the cause of unutterable anguish to a lost world, which she might have saved if she had been true to the Lord and His commission — then he will shake off his lethargy, and, with his new conception of duty, and his new ideal of service, he will go forward, attempting great things for God, and God will honor his faith and his labors by showing him that even yet "the arm of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear deaf that cannot hear."

—Denton Journal, Denton, Maryland, March 6, 1909, p. 2.

Hidden Treasures To Find in Humanity

1874

Hidden Treasures

Many a rare jewel lies hidden in the earth, waiting for some potent hand to discover it and remove the rough exterior which so obscures the precious gem. So there are thousands of individuals living in retirement and seclusion, who need only that some kind friend should search them out and penetrate with pleasant words and genial smiles the mantle of reserve in which they are enveloped, that the world may see and recognize the nobility of soul which they possess.

Some of these may be the children of toil, and consequently, have grown rough from its associations. But, notwithstanding the brawny arm and sun-browned cheek, the unpolished manners and faulty grammar, the real diamond may be there still, and concealed though it is from human eyes, our heavenly Father beholds its brilliancy and recognizes its worth. Another class may be the victim of poverty; but even the hovel may contain an immortal gem which needs only the refining influence of Christian love to cause it to shine as brightly as the richest diadem.

The little ragged mendicant who stands at our doors asking for bread, may possess a genius that would move the world if it were rightly developed. I never look upon one of these unfortunates but what I think of the latent power that may be slumbering 'neath the rags and filth, and I have longed from the depths of my heart to possess even a tithe of the vast sums which are daily squandered upon empty baubles, that I might relieve these "little ones" whom the Saviour blessed, from the lot of ignorance and want to which they were born, and place them under the elevating influences of education and Christianity, that the talents which God gave them might be developed, and made to shine each in its own sphere.

What happier, nobler mission can there be than this! What a field is here open to the exercise of Christian effort. Neither is it an unpromising one. It is well proven that those who have been the world's greatest benefactors have arisen from lowly origin. The Almighty does not create in vain, neither does He scatter his blessings with a partial hand. I believe in the law of compensation, and that whatever is withheld in one gift is made up in another. Ah! ye who would do something for the cause of God and humanity, and who would rear for yourselves eternal monuments, shrink not from this mirror of love, even though it leads you to dens of vice and scenes of woe.

Better far, than searching for diamonds is the labor of seeking, 'mid the haunts of sin and wretchedness, those jewels of immortality, and be assured, that each one found and fitted for the Master's kingdom here, will be reflected in your crown hereafter. — Rural New Yorker.

52-Year Pork and Bean Desire to be Satisfied

1921

SAN FRANCISCO, May 17.— With a 52-year-old appetite for pork and beans, the Rev. W. D. Marsh arrived today from Australia, en route to Boston. He has been in Australia as a minister and Y. M. C. A. worker since 1868.

"I'm just going to fill up on Boston baked beans and then go back to Australia," he said. Marsh is aged 80.

—Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California, May 17, 1921, page 32.

Japanese Government Drawn to Christianity for Country

1899

WANTS A NEW RELIGION

Government of Japan at Present Much Drawn to Everything English

It has been stated on pretty good authority that the leading statesmen of Japan are thinking of making Christianity the established religion of the country, says the Evangelist. When the government of Japan was changed and the mikado assumed his kingly authority one of the first steps taken was the endowment and establishment of the Shinto religion. And Shintoism is so broad and comprehensive a belief that it has frequently allowed Christian services to be held in its temples.

To the American Episcopal church belongs the honor of being the first Protestant body to commence Christian work in Japan, for Bishop Williams established himself at Tokyo as early as 1859 and translated portions of the prayer book and Bible into the Japanese tongue. Should Japan adopt Christianity as a national faith it is not likely that it will take a church exactly to the pattern of either British or American Christianity, but the Episcopal missionaries in Japan believe that the molding of the Japanese mind with regard to Protestant Christianity rests very largely with the Anglican community, especially as the Japanese government is at present much drawn to everything English.

—Dubuque Daily Herald, Dubuque, Iowa, June 21, 1899, page 7.