women to find time for meditation and prayer. We must, contend for it as for our very life. There is a wonderful reflex blessing that comes to those who become intercessors in behalf of others. While we give ourselves to prayer for those things which are for God's glory, God graciously remembers our own needs and supplies according to His riches in glory. Phil. 4:19. The Lord is interceding at the right hand of His Father, Heb. 7:25. The Holy Spirit is making intercession for us. Rom. 8:26. Shall we not unite in earnest supplication, laboring fervently in prayer that we may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Col. 4:12. . . . . .. . , , , ^ Decay of Belief. President Cyrus Northrop, of the State University, recently delivered an address before the Chicago Baptist Social Union. In it he made the following reference to the present religious conditions. It seems to me that, in looking at the religious condition of the country—I do not mean the statistics of the churches, nor the. amount of gifts to missions and philanthropy, nor the general condition of the Church as an organization—but I do not mean the state of thought in the Church itself in reference to its own faith—it seems,to me that we are confronted by four marked changes which have grown into prom- inence in the last few years. If I am wrong, I shall be glad to know it. And if I am right, I shall be grateful, as I am sure you all will be, tp any biblical scholar who will show us the truth. . These changes, stated briefly, are: First, a decay of belief in the supernatural ; second, what I may call the disintegration of the Bible; third, new views re- specting inspiration ; fourth, loss of the sense of accountability. These four changes are essentially one. They are at le^st shoots from a common root—and that root is doubt as to whether God ever has had any communication with men. Under this doubt, Christianity ceases to be the religion which God intended for men to cherish, and becomes simply one of the religions of the world—a purely human device, like Confucianism or Mohammedanism, of no more', authority than these, and to be preferred to these only as its teachings are more reasonable and uplifting. There is a world of difference between saying this thing is true because God said it, and God said this because it is 'true. Thç former carries with it the certainty of "Thus saith the. Lord." The latter is of no validity, because many things may be true, which God never said. And if God never said anything to men, inspiration becomes so attenuated that it is hardly discoverable under the more or less theory which grants-inspiration of some degree to every one Who voices a noble truth,., and grants no higher inspiration, though perhaps a greater degree of inspiration, to any one else. Under this arrangement, a man must first get his idea of God, and then determine whether anything is the product of Divine inspiration according as it meets or does not meet that idea. "There is in this no possibility of revelation in the usual-sense. The order is inverted—God does not reveal truth to men ; the truth, on the contrary, reveals God. Now. this may or may not be satisfactory to some. But it is, to . say the
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