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January 1929
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
the cobbler answered back, the preacher in astonishment said, “Man, you should not be cobbling shoes, you, a man with such thoughts and such a manner of ex pressing those thoughts 1 You should not be doing secular work!” And the cobbler said, “Sir, take that back!” “What?” “That I am doing secular work. Do you see that pair of shoes there?” “I do.” “They belong to Widow Smith’s Son. Her husband died in the summer. She nearly died too, but she was kept alive by her boy. Now her boy has a paper route to help the widow keep the roof over their heads, and the bad weather is com ing on; and God Almighty said to me, ‘Will you cobble Widow Smith’s boy’s shoes so that he won’t catqh pneumonia and die this winter ?’ And I said, ‘I will!' Now do you preach your sermons under God Almighty’s direction, as I trust you may; and I will cobble Widow Smith’s boy’s shoes under God Almighty’s direc tion; and in the day the awards are given out, He will say to you and to me the same sentence, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ ” That is a high way of cobbling shoes 1 Do we not feel as though we wish God would make us cobblers, every one of us, if we could cobble shoes like that? But you in your degree and I in mine as members of the Body must be functioning according to the dictates of the Head, Jesus Christ. T— ---------------------------------------- ? P U L P I T P O I N T E R S i*------------------------------------- ------- * When a man tells you that he believes in a God too good to send people into everlasting punishment, tell him you be lieve in One who is too good to pen up saints and devils forever together. — o— Had John the Baptist refused to preach until he could get into a church with stained-glass windows, the world might not yet have heard that it had a Saviour. — o — There are people who think if they stand on the river-bank and throw a straw to a drowning man, they have done enough. Such are the people who give twenty-five cents toward missions. — o— God hasn’t much use for the man who does all his work with his mouth. If you want to find out how much meanness there is in a man, go at him with a collection-basket. —o— If some preachers wouldn’t try to do so much themselves, God could do more for their congregations; —o— Trying to hit little sinners by shooting over the heads of big ones, is a poor way to carry on Gospel warfare. —o— The main reason why many preachers do not have Gospel results is because they do not do Gospel preaching.
One said, “Man, I would get him off the track. I would not be mild in dealing with him. I would not invite him to get himself off. I would be rough, and seize him, and by main strength I would drag him off though I dropped exhausted by his side.” “And,” said the preacher, “that is the state of every unsaved spul—asleep between the tracks, and God’s judgment express almost due.” The poet Cowper was subject to fits of depression. One day he ordered a cab and told the driver to take him to London Bridge. Soon a dense fog settled down upon the city. The cabby wandered about for two hours and then admitted that he was lost, though he had been in the busi ness for many years. Cowper asked him if he thought he could find the way home. He said that he did and in an. hour landed him at his door. When asked what the fare would be he mentioned a sum, but he said that he felt that he ought not to take anything as he had not filled his order. “Never mind,” said Cowper, “you have saved my life. I was on my way to throw myself off from London Bridge,” and he gave him double the usual fare. He then went into the house and wrote the hymn— “God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to*perform; He plants His footsteps on the sea, And rides upon the storm. “Blind unbelief is sure to err And scan His work in vain; God is His own interpreter And He will make it plain.” —to— Know You’re Alive 1 Jn. 5:13 Dr. G. Campbell Morgan recently related the following story. At the conclusion of a Gospel meeting in one of the New Eng land States, he had been about to step into a taxi when he was stopped by a man who told him he had been preaching dangerous doctrines, because during his address he had said he did not know the hour, the day, the month, or the year he was born again. The man insisted that every born-again person should know when the transaction took place. Dr. Morgan said, “Are you alive?” “Certainly I am,” replied the man. “Are you sure?” asked the d o c t o r . “Positive,” replied- the man. “Do you remember the day you were born?” asked the doctor. “No,” replied the man. “Then you are not alive,” said Dr. Morgan. The illustration had its effect, and Dr. G. Campbell Mor gan proceeded into the taxi. God’s Mysterious Ways Rom. 8 :28
In order that the waters of judgment might be kept out of the ark, and those who were inside might be protected, it was covered within and without with pitch. “Pitch is within,” etc. (Gen. 6:14). Newberry renders, “Pitch, to cover, to make atonement.” Rotherham’s transla tion is, “Cover within and without with pitch.” As there was a double covering for those within the ark, a covering of atonement without and a covering within, so Christ covers us without from the judgment due to our sin by His death, and covers our sin within. Thus Christ’s atonement covers what we are, and keeps from us what we deserve, for as the judgment of water fell upon the pitch, so Christ endured what was due us. * * * The R. V. rendering of Jas. 5 :5 is, "Ye have lived delicately on the earth.” The word “delicately” is suggestive as reminding us that luxuries and wanton living as readily take refined and artistic forms as any other. Moral mischief often comes with indulgence at the table. High ly cooked and seasoned foods bear mischievously on the fleshly nature and are closely associated with the moral life, * * * The word "covetousness” in the original means “having more.” It is not neces sarily wishing for what someone else has, but wishing for more than I have. The root of all covetousness is being dissatis fied with what we already have. t*------------- :-----------------------------—■f SERMON GARN I SH *--------------------------------------------- * A Christian Face Isa. 50 :7 A scholarly American lawyer, a lec turer of great ability against Christianity, came to the offices of a Presbyterian church for membership, and gave a full confession of faith in Christ. The pastor then asked in amazement what had wrought the conviction. “Judge Tate’s face,” the lawyer replied; “I was struck with a something in his face, which I Couldn’t comprehend, nor account for; it was a light, or a peace, or an intangible but very real something, I could not tell just what. But it caught me tremen dously. I went to see him repeatedly, ostensibly for legal consultation. We never talked about religious things. I studied his face, as I would any bit of evidence, and the conviction became irresistible that the thing that so affected his face was his faith in Christ. I sifted the thing through. There was a fact; it was a new thing to me; I ha — o— Cobbling For God’s Glory Col. 3 :17 — o— Asleep on the Track Eph. 5:14 Dr. W. B. Hinson told the story of a cobbler of Edinburgh. One day the new minister was making his initial calls, and he called at the cobbler’s shop. He talked loftily to the cobbler, as we preachers are wont to do when certain fits of stupidity possess u s! And when We believe it was Dr. John McNeill who said to a group of ministers, that he once came upon a drunken man fast asleep between the railway tracks, and the midnight express was almost due. He said to the minister: “What would you have done?” It did not take long to think.
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