VOL. VI
JUNE, 1915
No. 6
ONE D O L L A R A YEAR
(Eh? King 0 lusinga MOTTO : “I the Lord do keep ./i, / w;/// water it every moment lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day."—Isa. 27:3. , R. A. TORREY, Editor T. C. HORTON, J. H. H u n t e r and J. H. SAMMIS, Associate Editors A. M. Row, Manager Organ of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Inc. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. Entered as Second-Class Matter November 17, 1910, at the postoffice at Los Angeles,
California, under the Act of March 3, 1879. C opyright by R. A. T orrey, D.D., and Bible In s titu te of L os A ngeles, 1915
DIRECTORS
Rev. A. B. Prichard, 'Vice-President. Leon Y. Shaw, Treasurer. R. A. Torrey. Giles Kellogg. H. A. Getz.
Lyman Stewart, President. William Thorn, Secretary. T. C. Horton, Superintendent. E. A. K. Hackett. J. M. Irvine.
DOCTRINAL STATEMENT We hold to the Histpric Faith of the Church as expressed in the Common Creed of Evangelical Christendom and including: The Trinity of the Godhead. The Deity of the Christ.
The Maintenance of Good Works. The Second Coming of Christ. The Immortality of the Spirit. The Resurrection of the Body. The Life Everlasting of Believers. The Endless Punishment of the Im penitent. The Reality and Personality of Satan, House-to-house visitation and neighborhood classes. (8) Oil Fields. A mission to men on the oil fields. (9) Books and Tracts. Sale and dis tribution of selected books and tracts. (10) Harbor Work. For seamen in Los Angeles harbor. (11) Yoke Fellows Hall. Thoroughly manned. Our Mission for men with Boot Black and Newsboys Class and Street Meetings. (12) Print Shop. For printing Testa ments, books, tracts, etc. A complete establishment, profits going to free dis tribution of tracts. (7) Bible Women.
The Personality of the Holy Ghost. The Supernatural and Plenary au thority of the Holy Scriptures. The Unity in Diversity of the Church, which is the Body and Bride of Christ. The Substitutionary Atonement. The Necessity of the New Birth. P u r p o s e The Institute trains, free of cost, accredited men and women, in the knowledge and use of the Bible. Departments: W. The, institute Classes held daily exceptSaturdays and Sundays. (2) Extension work. Classes and con ferences held in neighboring cities and towns. (3) Evangelistic. Meetings conducted by our evangelists. (4) Spanish Mission. Meetings every night. (5) Shop Work. Regular services in shops and factories. (6) Jewish Evangelism. Personal work among the Hebrews.
OUR WORE
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Editorial: Message from the Two Laymen—A Funda mental Library—The Demoralizing Influence of War —Guilt Before God of Men Responsible for European War—Would Moody Attract Notice if He Were Living Today?—A Remarkable Editorial from a Secular Newspaper — Undue Emphasis on Sex Problems, Devil’s Snare—Back to Fundamentals.__ ___________ 461 The Ministry Exalted. By Rev. G. W. Truett, D.D............___ 467 The Montrose Bible Conference________ _____ j_____ ___ ... 475 Great Revivals and Evangelists—II. George Whitefield, Concluded. By John H. Hunter..._.....______.-._479 Changes in China. By Miss Ruth Paxson..___ ....____ ...____ 487 The Order of the Star in the East. By Phillip Mauro_____ 489 Light on Puzzling Passages and Problems.___.,___________ 497 The Efficacy of Prayer. By Rev. P. S. Henson, D.D,........... 499 Hints and Helps._____ ____________ .............._____________ 505 At Home and Abroad_____________ ...... ..............______ ____ 509 Bible Institute Activities. By the Superintendents_______ 5 13 International Sunday School Lessons. By R. A. Torrey and T. C. Horton...._________ _________ _____ ...___ ____ 521 Daily Devotional Studies in the New Testament for Indi vidual Meditation and Family Worship. By R. A. Torrey..............,__..:..:..... ...______ __ _________......... ...... 535
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T. C. HORTON Superintendent Bible Institute of Los Angeles
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Vol 6
JUNE, 1915
No. 6
E D I T O R I A L
The two laymen who furnished the money to pub- lish twelve volumes of F undamentals and send them to English-speaking ministers and Christian workers throughout the world have also sent, at their own expense, the April, May and June num
Shall We Continue to Send This Magazine to Your Address?
bers of T h e K ing ' s B usiness , to those to whom they had previously sent the F undamentals . Their subscription to T h e K ing ' s B usiness terminates with this number; and if those who have received the magazine for these three months wish it to be sent to them hereafter, it will be necessary for them tc send their own subscriptions from this time on. We have greatly appreciated the very many letters of approval of T he K ing ’ s B usiness that we have re ceived from those to whom it has been sent, and wish it were in our power to continue sending it to them all, but We have no fund at our command that makes it possible for us to do this. We especially regret the necessity of cutting off the subscriptions of any foreign missionaries.
It has been a source of gratitude to know from thousands of letters received from all over the world, that the volumes of The Fundamentals have proven a great blessing to the readers.
Message from the Two Laymen
Tt was not our purpose or expectation to become directly interested in the continuance of the work, and we now have no interest beyond that which has moved us from the beginning. There has not been nor can there ever be any commercialism in connection with this work. Subscriptions were made for our Fundamental friends for the April, May and June numbers of T he K ing ’ s B usiness , in the hope that they would find it possible to become subscribers for that magazine and also secure some subscriptions from others. Nothing could give us greater joy than to know that our seed-sowing had resulted in securing a large number of friends who will keep in touch with the fundamental doctrines through T he K ing ’ s B usiness , which is pledged to maintain a loyal stand for the faith once delivered to the saints. It has been gratifying, also, to know that out. of this Fundamental work, there has developed the great Commission Prayer League, under the direction of Mr. T. E. Stephens, of Chicago (808 No. La Salle Street), which has proven to be a mighty force of good to several thousands of friends. TWO LAYMEN.
462
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.
A great many inquiries reach us concerning: The Funda- mentals,;: and we take this opportunity of answering the
Conceming the Fundamentals ■
questions usually asked.
, First, no further copies of The Fundamentals are to be published. Second, no complete sets of back numbers can be supplied. Volumes two, three, four and five are entirely exhausted. Third, a few copies of volumes one, seven and eleven are on hand, and a large number oL volumes six, eight, nine, ten and twelve. It is the purpose of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, to which institu tion the plates have been given, at an early date to print in pamphlet form some of the best articles contained in the twelve volumes, and to form from them a “Fundamental Library.” These pamphlets will be sold at as low a price as possible. Address all communications to the Bible Institute Book Room. ---------------- We have recently received from an earnest Chris- Demorahzmg tian woman in Berlin a communication in which Influence of War she says, “The Americans here in Berlin have had an opportunity to see the German people from closest view and all to whom we have spoken share the opinion that German soldiers are incapable of any such brutalities as are attributed to them.” The question, however, is not what we think men are incapable of as we see them at home,'but what they do when inflamed by war, and what has actually occurred. The demoralizing effect of war is almost incredible to one who has^ had no experience in war. Men who are most kindly and upright men in times of peace, oftentimes become perfect brutes in times of war. We do not believe all the stories of atrocities committed by German soldiers that we have heard and read, but some of the stories are proven to a demonstra tion to be true, incredible as they seem. The awful Falaba incident, the facts that are proven about it, show what a high type of Germans are capable ot when they have been demoralized by the influence of war. The murder of women, children and cripples by Zeppelin raiders, inflamed with a lust for blood, shows the same thing. Moreover, unfortunately, the atrocities are not limited to German soldiers. We hold in our hand as we write a missionary periodical that tells what Ger man missionaries, and even American missionaries connected with German Boards, were subjected to at the hands of English soldiers and English officers. Their mission stations were plundered, they were shipped off to detention camps and subjected to indignities. One missionary woman in perfect health, but with a little child, was subjected to such hardships that she died. We will not go into the details of the awful story, but there seems to be no possibility of doubting its truth. It is simply an illustration of the demoralizing effect of war, both upon officers and men. Wrongs were committed against women by troops in South Africa during the Boer war that were shocking. This, we have from one who was in South Africa at the time and sympathized with the English. We have seen the same effect of war upon Americans. We were with our troops at Chickamauga during the Spanish-American war and a personal witness to something so awful that we could not put it in print. We saw young men belonging to good families, sometimes college men, turned into vile offenders. We do not mean
THE KING’S BUSINESS 463 to say for a moment that war has this influence upon all soldiers or officers. On the contrary, some of the noblest Christians we have ever met have been officers and men in the British army, in the German army, and in the Ameri can army. But a close study of war in our own and other countries has con vinced us of the awfully demoralizing effect of war. War is a devilish thing and naturally leads to devilish results.' In the February 27th issue of the New York Evening Post, one of the most careful and respectable newspapers in America, a correspondent, Robert Dunn, writes without any seeming realization of the light in which he puts himself of having visited the Bavarian trenches near Eille and taking a rifle from a German soldier, and then shooting at two French soldiers. As he was not a soldier, but a representative of a neutral country, this, of course, was nothing more nor less than an attempt at murder, of which he is appar ently proud. Such is the effect of war. The fancied glory of it is swallowed up in the real horror of it. The awful guilt before God and man of those per- Guilt Before God sons responsible for the present European war, of Men Responsible awaits the verdict of history, for the European War We have all heard of the frightful condition of affairs in Belgium; all our hearts have been wrung with agony at the story of what the Belgians have suffered, but now we are beginning to hear of even more awful things in Russian Poland. We read: “There are 6,000,000 Poles in the portion of Russian Poland that is being- fought over. Of these, according to the Red Cross men, 1,000,000 are abso lutely destitute. They are without food or the means to buy food. . . . It is not merely that money is lacking, flour is lacking. It must be imported or starvation follows. There afe 2,000,000 others who will suffer, but may save themselves. . . . Russia struck .at Germany. The German armies invaded Poland in retaliation. They swept almost to Warsaw—and an invading army sweeps fairly clean. There were some things left when they passed over. They were driven back, and the Russian armies covered this territory—and they gleaned what was left. Then the Russians were driven back—sacking as they went—and the Germans covered the ground once more. Three times unhappy Poland has been fought over. It had little at the beginning. It has nothing now. For months Poland has been starving, not merely going hungry. That is a commonplace of war. Poles have been dying because they cannot get food. . . . Beggars follow the stranger in the Polish cities. Some of them are mute. They only look at the stranger through hollow eyes and hold out skinny hands. Others are vociferous. They cling to the garments of the passerby. They cry for aid in an uncouth dialect. They run out from dark ened doorways. The man who gives is pursued by a crew of them.” “A dispatch from Paris to the New York Sun tells that the Polish pianist Ignace Paderewski, trying to establish a committee of relief for Poland, says, ‘It is said today that 17,000,000 Poles are now suffering from the horrors of war.’ Official statistics show, according to Paderewski^ that 120 towns and 400 villages in Poland have been destroyed and the losses of the residents of these places are estimated at $1,200,000,000. Ten millions of ype°ple>he said, are without food and shelter.” This is not all. Appalling stories of suffering, sickness and death are coming from Servia; 60,000 people dying from typhus fever, nurses and doctors,- British and American, dying as a result of their own labors of love in the afflicted districts. -
464 THE KING’S BUSINESS But this is not all. Countless thousands of homes in England, Scotland, Ireland, France, sGermany, Austria, Poland, Russia and Servia are darkened and desolate through the loss of husbands, fathers, sons. The story is almost enough to drive one mad. And some one is responsible for all this, the one who is responsible for the war. Who that some one is, we do not feel able to say at the present moment, but God knows who it is, and within a few years at the outside the- whole world will know who it is. The specious reasons and excuses that are put up to defend those who are guilty will not stand the merciless test of time. The whole world will know, and when the world does know, that man (or those men) will be hated and execrated and despised more than almost any man in history—-more despised than Nero or Caligula. And probably in the ultimate outcome will be despised in no other land so much as in his own, upon which he has brought such dreadful calami ties, and he will have to go up before the judgment bar of God and answer to a God who cannot be deceived for the enormity of his offenses. How mad men are to think that they can ever gain anything in the final outcome by unjust and unnecessary war. We have been greatly surprised by an editorial Would Moody Attract paragraph in the April issue of The Christian Notice if He Were Worker’s Magazine. We usually agree with pretty Living Today? much everything that is said in this excellent peri odical, but certainly the editor must have been sleeping when this crept in. We read: “And yet how different is Sunday from Moody. Different in his appear ance,'his surroundings, his methods, his style; different in the tone and char- . acter of his message, in his attitude toward the church and its ministry, and s especially in the vision and outlook before him. Tempora mutcmtur, nos et matamur in illis. The change from Moody to Sunday measures the change which has taken place in the church and in the world during the last thirty-five years. Sunday’s ways would not have been tolerated in Moody’s day, and if Moody were now living his type of evangelism would be so quiet and respect able as to attract no notice.” We have nothing to say against Mr. Sunday and his work. We rejoice in all that God is doing with him, but we do not believe for one moment that his methods are any more demanded In our day than they were in “Moody’s day.” If Mr. Sunday’s success is real, it is not largely dependent upon his methods, but because he is preaching the truth in the power of the Holy Spirit. And the marvelous success of Mr. Moody's work was due not so much to his methods as to the fact that he had a message from God which he delivered in the power of the Holy Spirit. If Mr. Moody were living today, backed up by the prayers of so many godly people as he was in his own day; and If he spoke today, as he did then, so manifestly in the power of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven, he would attract just as much notice today as he did in his own day. The present day is not essentially different from the day in which Mr. Moody lived and worked. People are perishing for lack of the Gospel today as they were then, and when men arise, backed by the believing, persistent prayers of many godly people, and preach the simple Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit, they will attract attention in any day. It is a mis take that dishonors God to think that in order to attract notice and win many souls for Christ, it is necessary to resort to extravagant and extraordinary methods.
THE KING’S BUSINESS 465 God bless Billy Sunday! But God forbid that we should attribute his marvelous successes to his eccentricities and extravagances. If we thought his success were attributable to these things, we should cease to believe in Billy Sunday. We stand today on the truth of our Lord’s statement, “Ye shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you” (Acts 1 :8 ), and the man who is endued with the power of the Holy Spirit will accomplish things, even though he is led to adopt quiet and unostentatious methods and to use chaste English, and is no adept in the use of slang, and even no adept in the art of advertising.
The Wall Street Journal of Monday, March 29, 1915, contains a most notable and remarkable edi- torial when we consider the source from which it
Remarkable Editorial from a Secular
Newspaper
, comes. It reads as follows: A “BUSINESS”' REVIVAL.
In an editorial published in The Wall Street Journal some eight years ago, and republished many thousands of times by English-speaking newspapers all over the world (perhaps oftener .than any other production of the kind), it was pointed out that a decline in religious belief was a serious matter for the business of this or any country. - It was advanced then, and the proposition is now repeated, that any man engaged in commerce would prefer to do business with one who sincerely believed in God, and responsibility in a future life for errofs committed during his little time on earth, than with one who believed in nothing. To put it in the baldest form, the insurance risk would be less. Such a man would try to keep his contract not because he feared the courts or the police, but because he believed himself responsible to the Highest Court of all. Not long ago it was pointed out in these columns that one of the effects of the war might be a widespread religious revival. There is a difference, not of degrees but of kind, between the man who sincerely believes in something and the man who doubts everything. It would be wrong to say that the form of his belief does riot matter. But if he is sincere, it is better to believe some thing than nothing. Perhaps nine-tenths of the evils from which we suffer are beyond the reach of statutory law. But they are all susceptible to amendment by conscience through the mercy of God. There is every sign that such a religious revival is developing; and if this is the case, it is of infinite concern to business men. Even such movements as . are inaugurated by spectacular evangelists, who preach down to their hearers rather than up to their God, are significant If that sort of froth or scum is apparent on the surface, there is a movement of greater depth and potency below. In this direction lies reform, because the only real reform starts in the individual heart, working outward to popular manifestation through corpo rations, societies and legislatures. Here, then, is the better remedy, and a better promise for future business managed under the best standards of honor and humanity, than anything Con gress can enact, or the Department of Justice can enforce. Here is a move ment which renders investigation committees unnecessary, which brings em ployer and employed together on the common platform of the love and fear of God. Th,is is the promise of the future, and it is something which Providence in its infinite mercy grants us, to assuage the wickedness and misery of war. If this great thing emerges from the terrible conflict now in progress, if thereby there shall be created peoples sober, reverent, industrious, forbearing and not deficient in that wholesome sense of humor which is bred of piety and humility, we may say that, in spite of ourselves, through the goodness, of God war is not all loss. The above editorial occupied the leading place on the first page of the
466 THE KING’S BUSINESS paper. When prominent financiers thus express themselves about the need and usefulness of religious revival, it certainly is time that wé ministers and churches were waking up. “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things Undue Emphasis are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever on Sex Problems things are pure, whatsoever things are of good re- the Devil’s Snare port: if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Phil. 4 :8 . One of the most dangerous tendencies of the present day is the emphasis put upon sex. We have numberless books on sex written and advertised. We have sex novels and sex dramas and sex movies. We are attempting to have sex ual hygiene taught in schools, and these questions are constantly referred to in sermons. The net result is a frightful epidemic of immorality and sex ab normality and morbidness. The days when we heard little of these things were more wholesome and 'pure than these days when we are hearing alto gether too much. Pet the mother or father teach the daughter or son what they really ought to know and then drop the subject. Social Purity organiza tions and conventions have often done far more harm than good. One of the most notable religious documents of Back to recent origin will be found on page 512 of this Fundamentals magazine. It is a call “Back to Fundamentals,” signed by practically every prominent Presbyterian minister and hundreds of leading laymen of the Presbyterian Church, through out the United;States, headed by Dr. Maitland Alexander, moderator of the General Assembly, and Dr. Mark Matthews, the most recent ex-moderator of the same body. The call is short, occupying'a space of but a few hundred words, but fully covers the ground which has been so persistently covered in former issues of T he K ing ’ s B usiness ,' and which .will characterize all future issues. In the United States, Mexico, Canada, The Philip- Foreign pines, Hawaii, and all points in the Central American Subscriptions Postal Union, the subscription price of T he K ing ’ s B usiness is $1.00 per year. In England and all other foreign countries, the price is. $1.12 (4s 8d.) per year, postage paid. Our attention has been called to the fact, by some of our good friends in England, that many persons in foreign countries do not know the exact value of the United States coins, no more than many persons in this country know how to express values in English coin.
By Rev. G. W. Truett, D. D.
Of Dallas, Texas, Considered One of America’s Greatest Baptist Preachers.
N ote . —The following address was delivered by Rev. George W. Truett, D. D., of Dallas, Texas, before a gathering of all the ministers of Los Angeles, September 1, 1914, and was taken by one of the stenographers of the staff of T he K ing ’ s B usiness and has never before been printed.— E ditor .
SgKcgb ¿gj-OTT. do not expect a set message from me this morning. I do not have one to bring. I must content myself with just talking along in a most informal way to you, my brothers, my comrades, about the great business, the Christian ministry. You all agree with me that noth ing can take the place of the Chris tian ministry. The diffusion of knowledge, the wonderful triumphs of the press, the marvelous march of civilization; neither of these things nor all of them together, can ever take the place of Christian preaching. As loner as men have hearts that feel and suffer and hope and aspire, just that long will the work of Christ’s true preachers be the most important work in the world. Nor will history ever let us forget that the triumphs of the pulpit (the true pulpit) are the supreme triumphs in all civiliza tion.
Halcyon for the Christian religion have been those days when Christ’s prophet and preacher took his proper place in the affairs and in the thought and in the leadership of men. It was so in the days of Tertullion and Augustine and Ambrose; it was so in the days of Calvin and Knox and Latimer and Luther; it was so in the days of Whitefield and. Wesley and Calvin and Jonathan Edwards; it was so in the days of Spurgeon and Beecher and Joseph Parker and Phil lips Brooks. And halcyon days for Christianity have been the days of great preachers, true preachers. The most lamentable scandal and the su preme handicap in this earth for the progress of Christianity is the ignor ant, ineffective, unworthy pulpit. It behooves all good men with all pos sible diligence and faithfulness to guard the pulpit, for out of it to an awful degree are the very issues of life.
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468 THE PREACHER AS A MAN. Now this Book of God has a great deal to; say to us as MEN. It rings as with a trumpet note to us first of all as MEN. In how many ways it gives emphasis to ourselves, to our manhood; “Take heed to thyself,’ “Be thou an example,” “Be the right kind of man.” How much the Bible makes- of that note. And how impor tant that we should regard it, that first of all we are MEN before we are preachers. Some of you men could say all this so much better than I can say i t ; and yet,. I am your guest for this morning and you expect some message from me. So I say, before we are preachers we are men. We are men ! Oh, how manhood in the ministry ought evermore -to be exalted. It is a crime for a preacher to be a pesky little man. The biggest man in all the town ought to be the prophet of God ; I mean the biggest in manhood in all the town. Our calling calls for that. If a preacher be ungenerous, if he be envious, if he be pesky, if he be lacking in magnanimity, in kindli ness of soul, in bigness of manhood, how terrible the lack! The world will forgive our crochets, if we are genuine men.- It will over look a lot of our slips and our lapses if down underneath we are men of moral muscle and true to the core. We are to be MEN first of all. John the Baptist! Oh, what a man he was before he was a preacher! And Paul the Apostle, the greatest single credential that Christianity has ' ever had—-what a man he was! Wouldn’t you have delighted to have seen him and have watched those eyes of his flash when he called evil to ac count and when he uttered the mighty things for truth. Coming before everything else we are to be manly men in the ministry. They tell us that “knowledge is power,” and so it is,
but character is,, power. My brother, what we are in ourselves counts so very much. We give out what we are. GREATEST ASSET. The greatest thing about a man is the atmosphere he carries; the great est thing about a church is her atmos phere; the greatest thing about an in stitution is its atmosphere ; the great est thing about a preacher is the at mosphere that radiates from him. Oh, how powerful was William Pitt, be cause he was first of all such a man; and how marvelously influential was George Washington, because there ra diated from him something that made men almost revere him. Character is power! First of all, God and men expect us to be the right kind of- men, and that means, of course, that we are to magnify our office. The Apostle Paul said, “I magnify mine office.” Now -the preacher who does not, is certainly in the wrong pew; he has got into the wrong place. The Christian minis try is the most masculine, the most heroic business in all the world. It is not a task for prigs; it is a task for great big-souled men. And -what a tragedy when a prophet of God has little unworthy conceptions of his task. What a tragedy when he is looking for a soft place; when he is taking the nearest cu t; when he will not pay the price to be the big, all- around man that he ought to be in this biggest of all businesses from God to man—the preaching of the Gospel. What a tragedy! I say to the boys in the schools, fit ting themselves to preach, (for when a man reaches 45 he can begin to ad vise the boys a little), “Gentlemen, be the best students in college. Don’t look for those soft electives. Don’t cut out the mathematics; grapple with these big questions that stir up the brain cells, now while you are in col-
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469
had lost the sense of perspective. He would go down to the village into one man’s store and write sortie letters on this man’s paper; then he would go to another store and write more let ters on that man’s paper; then would come the whistle of the train and he would fairly fly for his life to the de pot to get his letters mailed. One day when he was preaching he said, “What more can I do than I am doing One practical layman said, “I don’t know, unless you should meet all the freight trains, too, to mail your letters.” The world won’t follow a man like that. We are not to lose the sense of perspective. And as students of that same great Gospel we are to watch with uncompromising diligence that we do not waste our time. Over the failure of many a preacher you might write two little words, - “He dawdled.” COMMERCIALISM. The preacher has to watch against the temptation to commercialism. 1 tell you, my brothers, this love of money stirs many a strange fever in men’s blood and the very atmosphere of it is powerful. That preacher who is swept on by the love of money has admitted a deadly microbe into his deepest soul that will overturn his ministry. We can do better than to put these supreme energies of our God-sent lives into our passion, into our hurry, into our effort to pile up material things. The temptation there to us all is very great, for we have our families, we have our children. O, my brothers, the preacher who is swept aside and infected with this vice of commercialism, from that hour he is a Samson with his locks shorn. We must put some things, Christ’s things, above the money-loving spirit. Then we must watch, and constant ly watch also, against professionalism. How we are tempted to be profes- sionalists; how We are tempted to
lege. Make these football men who lack religion, respect you because you pay the price to be men, leaders of thought in the community in which you live.” Now the preacher is all along called upon to watch with all diligence and prayerfulness as to his habits and mo tives. I dare say that the preacher is the most tempted man in the world. The Devil has a grudge against the true preacher. He has it in for the true preacher. The sorry preacher does not trouble him much, but the true preacher must be a constant ani mus to that Evil One who seeks to torment and destroy, and therefore the preacher must watch with all diliT gence his habits and his motives; must watch with patient persistence and prayerfulness the very secrets of his deepest life. PREACHERS’ TEMPTATIONS. There are certain great temptations to the preacher. For one thing he is tempted to be idle. And what a mis erable fault is idleness anywhere, and most of all in a prophet of God. Oh, I don’t mean that he will go off and sleep all day, though sometimes I think he may do that—I mean he loses the proper sense of perspective. I mean he will put a big amount of time on lit tle inconsequential tasks. What an in congruity for an elephant to waste all his days picking up jpins*! What an in congruity for God’s prophet to spend all his energies on little inconsequen tial nothings. If he does not watch the little places, the morning will get away as he putters here and there doing real ly nothing. What a sin is tha t! What a sin is that! We are to be more than putterers running around here and there. We are to be men of concen tration and definiteness who get the deep things that preachers ought to have, to voice them into the ears of a needy world. I heard of one such preacher who
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preach just to preach, as the old countryman admitted, “Just to fill our app’intments.” When the preach er’s place is carried on in a perfunc tory, professional way, and when he goes like a galley slave to his task, and when he is rapturous with delight when he finishes his task, he is al ready shorn of his power. The pulpit is to have in it those mighty tides of passion; and if we find ourselves wanting in passion, if we fyid our selves bound about with the clothes of formalism and professionalism, we are to fight with all diligence, we are to pray with prayers unutterable in their desire, that we may come back with the freshness of men who have seen the King, and then come to tell men what we have seen and felt and heard. We must come with our mes sages to preach to men. CIVILIZATION’S BANE. Another thing we must watch against is the love of ease. The bane of religion is the }pve of ease; the bane of civilization is the love of ease; the nation is even now plung ing on the rocks if its supreme con cern is to be at ease, and the church is but a grinning skeleton if her dom inant thought Ts the love of ease. And the preacher is a snickering ca terer to the crowd, and is not a prophet of God, if he loves ease. I had a letter once from a man who said, “I want you to help me get an easy job. I have had a hard job, now I want an easy job.” Do you know what I wrote back to him ? I wrote back, “If I were you, I would give up the Christian ministry or change my motives.” God’s prophets looking for ease! Look in this Book Divine and see there the men who wrote their deepest selves, their life blood in the social order. Not a man of them was out for ease. “I count not my life 3ear unto myself,” said Paul, “if I can do the things He asks
of me to do.” A good soldier of Jesus Christ endures hardships. Thè preacher is going on the rocks if he is affected with the idea that the great thing in the ministry is some soft snap, some easy job. I don’t think many ministers have that con ception. I know the preachers of this country; they are the dearest crowd of men beneath these stars, and it stirs all my soul that there are such men, and such men of God. MUST BE GENUINE. And all along the line the preacher has to watch as to his spirit. I have already said the supreme thing about us is our Spirit, that all along we should watch our spirit; we impart ourselves. O, what need for us to be transparent as the sunlight, honest as truth itself, genuine to the Gore, for we impart ourselves. We impart our selves! Our spirit—what a differ ence in the spirit of men! Think of old Caleb. Old Caleb had a differ ent spirit. They went out to look at the land of promise; they came back saying, “We are as grasshoppers in their sight.” Old Caleb said, “They are giants and we are as grasshop pers, but we are able to overcome.” Caleb won at the age of eighty and five years because he had another spirit from the other men. O, our spirit, brothers; let’s not mistake hys terics for piety. Now that is pretty easy. Let us not mistake hysterics for piety; let us not imagine we are especially pious because we are emo tional. Let us not be blubberers; let us not be whiners ; let us not be sniv ellers. Let us meet our task without any impatience or murmuring. Let us not tease the people to death with 'Jeremiahs ; let’s paint golden mor rows because .ours is a great God, ours is a great God, and we have a message of reinforcement superhu man, and let us worthily illustrate it in voice and life.
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notoriety, we have admitted a microbe that is hard to expel—a preacher hunting for notoriety ! God’s prophet hunting for notoriety! God forbid! He is to do better than that. He is to be bigger than that, and he is to stay by the great things that shake civilization, and transform to the very deepest depths of human thought and life and character. And the great preachers have stayed by the great things. You could not imagine Spur geon preaching on some subjects ; you could not imagine Paul speaking on some subjects, i The great preachers stayed in the mighty current by the great themes. We can do better than to be ranters ; we can do better than to be lambasters; we can do better than to get off a series of gasoline explosions. We are prophets of God and we must worthily represent our cause. My soul stops aghast when I see God’s prophets nibbling at some little inconsequential thing. THE POSITIVE NOTE. In our preaching, there must run through it all forever the positive note. Now if a man cannot be posi tive with his message, let him ïtay in his closet with God until he can be. I tell you when this weary world looks up into our faces with its under tone of heartbreak and asks for bread, we don’t want to be giving them stones. Negatives don’t get any where ; the affirmative, -the positive preacher gets somewhere. God’smes sage for His messenger is, “Preach the preaching that I bid thee.” It is all made out for us, and he who comes to this great treasure-house of information and inspiration shall get his message and the message - that sinful men and women need. A great Frenchman said, “Man is incurably religious.” You must sat isfy that religious longing. I am not saying Christian longing; there is' a difference between religion and Chris-
THE MESSAGE. ■ I should say; something about the preacher’s message. I have said some thing about the man! I should say something about his message. You agree with me, I am sure, my brothers, (and my fathers many of you) that it is a matter of infinite importance that the preacher’s message should riot'be all his lifetime a misplacing of the emphasis. Misplaced emphasis explains many a tragic failure of preachers. We are specialists, my brothers, and we are to come with the right emphasis. Who is the false prophet? He is the man with the misplaced emphasis, that is, the false prophet. Oftentimes, and full many a tirrie, we shall be tempted to give the chief place in the synagogue to 'some secondary and subsidiary mat ter and the great things must be given second place in our ministry, if we are not careful. Away down South they have an institution that has start ed more wheels than they can stop in a generation. I spent two days there. One man talked’ about resolving everything in the Bible into 3’s and 5’s and 7’s. They asked me, “What do you think of that ?” I said, “Why not make it 13 and 15 and 27?” O, my , soul, this misplacing of emphasis, and the chief things must take back seats in the synagogues sometimes be cause the preacher misplaces the em phasis. “What about Melchisedec ?” Now think of a preacher wasting his life on that. “Where did Cain get his wife?” With a weary, hungry, needy world crying out for bread. We are to watch that we do not get a misplaced emphasis. It behooves us as preachers to stay by - the great themes. God’s Book and the mes sage appointed for the preacher. Stay by the great themes. NOTORIETY ITCH. Now if there should come into our little heads and hearts an itch for
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OUR CHIEF TEXT BOOK. Now it means if we are to preach like that, that we are to be men that have as our chief text-book, God’s Book. I have one pain at my heart as I go up and down this country hère and there, to find some preachers who are not at all studying the Bible for their messages, as it ought to be studied. Our message is undoubted ly higher than mere human ethics ; our message is undoubtedly deeper than the exalting of poor bruised hu man nature. Ours is a definite mes sage and we are to come to that Book, and get from that Book our message and then come from that secret place and speak what our souls have seen and known and felt and tasted and followed of the Word of God. O, that is necessary now that the doubt is abroad, and even glorified some times. Think of a man glorifying doubt. You might as well glorify palsy. Think of a man coming in that door with his arm bound up with palsy and having people glorify the palsy. How much more should we hesitate to applaud if a man is guilty of moral palsy. The preacher of God’s Gospel is to come with a message clothed with positiveness, simplicity and definite ness and without that offensive, un certain sound that sometimes comes. Ah me, but the Bible is a positive Book, and its prophets and preachers and apostles were prophets and preachers and apostles with a positive message. Eisten to it—nothing un certain ; nothing gelatinous about God’s Book— “T here is none other name under H eaven given among MEN WHEREBY we must be saved .” That is positive! That is positive! And listen to John: “Who is a liar,” ( the Greek is wonderfully strong— W ho is the boss L iar ) “but he that flenieth that Tesus is the Christ.” And listen to Paul : . “If any man preach
tianity. You must satisfy that relig ious longing in man with the right kind of food. In this country there is a man who has been doing some writing and has unsettled the faith of many people. I need not call his name, for the preacher should not be offensively personal. What a gentle man the preacher ought to be—he ought to be the gentleman of the town. This man who has been writ ing, whose writings have unsettled the simple faith of not a few, is now in deep trouble physical and domestic. One of my dear friends, a friend of this great writer of his unbelief, asked him a bit ago,; “How are you coming out?” This writer of unbe lief, this man who has laughed at our simple faith in Jesus as the All- sufficient and atoning Saviour—my friend asked him, “How are you com ing out?” He had just buried a daughter with consumption, swift in its terrible work, and a son had just been drowned, and his wife was in the thrall of a compjete nervous break-down, and my friend asked him, “How are you coming out?” “Oh, man needs a God to pray to, a God to pray to for rain.” That was his language, poor soul. Our preaching is to have through it forevermore the positive note. The reason why certain religious cults and fads are flourishing, one reason, is that they are proclaimed with a posi tiveness that has in it no hesitation. The reason why certain political fads in the earth are applauded by un counted tens of thousands is, because they are uttered by men with tremen dous positiveness, and the people fol low. O, the preacher of the glories of the grace of God is to come with a message unhesitatingly positive and sound it in men’s ears. If the trum pet give an uncertain sound, alas! for the issues of the battle.
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to be men of one Book. We are to stay by our blessed business of shep herding of souls for the Eternal Shep herd. The shepherding of souls for the Eternal Shepherd. “We watch for souls as they that must give ac count.” And that is to be our pas sion; that is to be our note; that is to be our spirit forevermore. But before our people we are to be the mighty objectives of the Gospel of the grace of God and to summon them to the programme into which Jesus calls u s ; and we are to go out into our communities after the tallest men in them, and'the sinfulest men in them, and the high and the low and the great and the small, for they are in our parish, and we iwatch for souls as men that must give account. I am closing this month just twenty years as a pastor, first of a village church, then of a modern city church. O, my brothers, you feel as I do. I am persuaded that if I had a thousand lives offered to me this day by my Master and He should say, “You may do as you please with this other thousand,” I should not hesitate one second, I should say, “Let every one of them preach Jesus Christ to a lost world. “Happy, if with my latest breath, I may but preach His name, Preach Him to all, and cry in death Behold, behold, the Lamb.”
unto you any other Gospel than that is preached, let him be accursed.” That is positive. And Jesus was the Prince of dogmatists.' You and I can dogmatize about our Master’s message to a weary world, or it will be beaten and cut into shreds in its weary woe and heartache and sin. O, that calls for such careful study of the „Book Divine, the supreme Book. The text Book for preachers is God’s Book. NO CANNED GOODS. Certainly we are to be clever men in other things. Eyes and ears are to be kept open. We are to know what is going on in the world. We are to search the vast and great deep books of literature, b u t o u r c h ie e BOOK, OUR PR E -EM IN EN T BOOK IS TH E B ook oe G od . And if we do not watch, we shall be giving our people canned goods. We can do better than that. And even the plain peo ple know the difference between a voice and an echo. Men who get their sermons from newspapers and books are echoes. Men who get their messages from the Book of God are voices. “I am the voice of one cry ing in the wilderness.” If we do not watch we shall can our materials—we shall fill up with canned goods and give them out to the people. Some people are sandpapered by books—bedridden by books. We are
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TWO WAYS OF SEEING IT
“Don’t imagine yours is the only Gospel, because it isn’t.” Yours truly, P. S.—As “Fundamentals” is only sent to Protestants, why have you sent it to me, and many other Catholic priests?
WO letters just received from England in the same mail are full of suggestion when read side by side. The one that at tacks “Fundamentals” illustrates the need of the publication quite as much as the one that speaks in commendation of it. Neither letter really needs any comment: “Y ork H ouse , W itney , O xon , March 15, 1915- D ear S ir : —I am heartily glad to hear that “Fundamentals” has reached its final volume. As the perusal of its-pages (with occasional exceptions) causes one mental and spiritual nausea, Y shall be grateful if you will kindly refrain from sending me any similar productions. It is with a feeling of intense relief that I assure my self that the true presentation of the Chris tian faith is to be found in the sober, solid and sacramental teaching and practice of that branch of the Catholic Church called the Church of England, of which, unworthy though I am, I have the privilege of being a priest. The Sacramental Life is of the very essence of Christianity. It seems to be absolutely ignored in “Fundamentals.’ As Christianity is sacramental to the core, a non-sacramental religion cannot be true Christianity. Mere emotionalism, combined with childish attacks on devout and capable Biblical scholars, would drive me away from religion if I thought that such teach ing was the real teaching of Christianity. The one sickens me, the other irritates me. I will pass on to you what Archbishop Temple said to a pictistic clergyman: G IVE us a watchword for the hour, A thrilling word, a word of power, A battle-cry, a flaming breath That calls to conquest or to death. A word to rouse the Church from rest To heed her Master’s high behest. The call is given: Ye hosts arise, Our watchword is, Evangelize!
T he S chool H ouse , C oate D evires ,
W ilts , E ngland ,
March 16, 1915. D ear S ir : —Having just received Volume XII of “The Fundamentals,” I must again send my warm thanks. The value I set upon the twelve volumes'is-greater than I can express. The articles from every point of view are excellent. Not only are they helpful as present reading, but will serve as a storehouse of truth for reference upon subjects dealt with in the articles. Do please convey the thanks of the writer to the two Godly lay men, servants of Christ, who have rendered this great service to our Master and to His church. These brief words may appear cold and formal on paper, but I can assure you they are indited by a grateful, appre ciative heart. My regret is, keeping in view the immensity of the undertaking, its valuable ministry, and the generosity of the whole scheme, that I am not able to express myself more suitably. But I am one of the 100,000—and again thanks. Yours in Christ’s service, (P astor ) T. S mith . t , Hope to receive a copy of T he K ing s B usiness .
The glad Evangel now proclaim Through all the earth, in Jesus’ name. This word is ringing through the skies— Evangelize, Evangelize! To dying men, a fallen race, Make known the gift of Gospel grace. The world that now in darkness lies, Evangelize, Evangelize! — Selected.
Montrose Conference
Beautiful for Situation “The Pastoral and Mountain Scenes are an Inspiration and Rest.”
OCATED on the shores of _ Lake Montrose, nestling in
cnce has one of the most beautiful and in spiring settings of any BitJle school in-the United States. , The village of Montrqse crowns one of the most attractive hills of the region, at an elevation of about 2000 feet above sea
the midst of the rolling farm lands and picturesque mountains of Northeastern the- Montrose Bible Confer- Pennsylvania,
“The Crystal Spring Waters of Lake Montrose Sparkle in the Valley”
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try, "but also a man who conducted one of the most noted evangelistic campaigns in modern times. In addition to this ’he has written a, great number of books, most of which ■have been translated into various languages. Few men have had a wider ex perience or a greater opportunity of com ing into contact with all kinds of men and putting to the test the teachings of the Word of God- At present he is Dean of the Los Angeles Bible Institute. Professor W. H. Griffith Thomas, D. D., was a pastor in thé city of London for several years, then he was called to Wy- cliffe College, Oxford, and from there to Wycliffe College, Toronto. In addition to his great experience as a pastor and as a teacher he is without question one of the most erudite men in the church today. He is well posted on every question in con nection with Bible interpretation. He has written several books and is now contribut ing the most helpful articles written on the Sunday School lesson in the Sunday School Times. Few men have a clearer or a saner grasp of the questions involved in a true interpretation of the Word of God. Rev. A. C. Dixon, D. D., has held several important pastorates in the Baptist denom ination in this country. He was for a number of years pastor in Brooklyn, and then in the city of Boston, and later of the great Moody Church in Chicago. Now he occupies the pulpit of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, which was made fa mous by the late Charles Haddon Spur geon. This is unquestionably one of the most prominent Baptist pulpits in the world, and Dr. Dixon has made a conspicuous success of his work there. He is also the author of several books which have had a very wide circulation. Dr. Dixon is one of the strongest platform men in the evan gelical church today. Rev. Robert Macwatty Russell, D. D,, LL.D., is one of the strong men of the United Presbyterian Church and was pas tor of one of their large churches for a number of years. Recently he has been
level. From the Tabernacle in which the Conference is held, are to be seen some of the most fascinating stretches of land scape in this country, whilst the crystal spring-waters of Lake Montrose sparkle in the valley. Across line a.fter line of rolling hills covered with rich farms, flour ishing orchards and green forests, one sees the Elk Mountains keeping their constant vigil against the eastern skyline. There never was a time when Bible Con ferences were more needed than in our day. The world is passing through one of the most serious crises known in the Christian era. Men are overwhelmed and confound ed by the unspeakable things that are tak ing place and everywhere they are asking the question as to whether or not Chris tianity has failed. In this state of mind the supreme need is for a fuller and truer knowledge of the Word of God. The Bible has a very real message to the conditions with which we are confronted, and the aim of a true Bible Conference is to so inter pret the Bible as to make it helpful to men in finding their way, in such a difficult time. • The/ Montrose Conference, which will be held from July 30 to August 8, inclusive, is one, of the foremost Conferences in this country, and it is preparing its pro gram this year with a definite view to helping men to a Scriptural understanding of our time, in order that they may render a more effective service to the cause of Christ. The Conference has been unusual ly successful from the very beginning. It has always had a very large attendance and has had on its programme some of the ablest teachers of the Bible on both sides of the Atlantic. This year the programme is unusually strong. The men chosen are of very wide experience as pastors and teachers. Rev. R. A. Torrey, D. D., who is at the head of the Conference, is not only a man who has made a great success of the pas torate,' having been the pastor of one of the largest Protestant churches in the coun
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