T h e
K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
573
September 1928
chair, he went out and got a sword, pointed it at the breast of his wife, and exclaimed, “Are you not afraid o f that sword?!’, She instantly'answered, “No,” “Why not?” asked the officer. “ Because I know it is in the hands o f my husband, and he. loves me too well to hurt me.’.’. “Then,” said he, “remember that I know whom I believe, and that He holds the winds in His fists, and the waters in the hollow o f His hands.” oak There is an interesting story told in connection with the China Inland Mission, which illustrates how we may take by faith that for which we have asked. At the close o f one of the conferences held in China, those present were led to ask God definitely for a hundred new missionaries to be sent out within the next twelve months. The need was so great, and the faith that God would answer prayer was so strong, that one of the missionaries present proposed that they should appoint a meet ing for that day twelve months to give thanks for the hundred missionaries sent out. But another rose up and said, “Why should we not have the praise-meeting now? The promise is, ‘What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them.’ Let us receive and give thanks, for those whom God is going to send.” Rev. Charles Fox tells a story of one of his parishioners who was seeking salvation for three years and could get no assur ance o f sins forgiven. One day, when he was having tea with her, he passed his cup and asked for a second cup of tea. She poured it out and handed it back to him. But he looked straight past it, and said once again, “Will you please give me some more tea?” The lady shook the cup she was holding out, to attract his notice. But still he appeared not to see, and said yet more earnestly, “ Do please give me some more tea!” Whereupon the lady answered, “ I have given it you. Why do you not take it? Why are you treating me like this?’’ To which Mr. Fox replied, “ Do you realize, Madam, that this is just the way you are treating God? You have-been asking and asking Him for salvation all these years, and He has given you Jesus Christ, and you have not accepted Him as your Saviour.” A missionary was once holding some meetings to create an interest in the regions beyond. His hostess, while talking o f the great need o f funds for the mission field, said, “You know, the other day,, I was about to buy myself a new pair of gloves. But instead of doing so I gave the money to the society.” The mis sionary took no notice of the remark, and she supposed he had not heard h er: so, when walking to the meeting, she again told him of her act of self-denial;,;i He once more appeared not to hear. But on their way home, when she again made the state ment, he began to thank her, and to praise her for this act o f gen erosity. He said so much that she was covered with confusion, and replied, “Why do you make so much of this?” He answered, “Did you not wish me to know, and to appreciate your self- denial? If so, my praise is all the reward you will get, and I want to give you as much as possible!” O ctober 1, 1928 T ext: Matt. 7.8 O ctober 2, 1928 Text: Rom. 6:23 O ctober 3, 1928 Text: Matt. 6:1
his reading, and a careless 'servant took the papers to start a fire. They were gone—those biting, caustic lines for which the writer was famous:" Carlyle was in despair when he learned of the fate of his book, and moped about for weeks, and thought he would never take up his pen again. But one day he looked across the spaces from his window and watched a bricklayer at work. The man was a master of his trade and handled his trowel like an artist, and Carlyle became interested. At last he caught the idea, and an inspiration for work took possession of him. He, too, could love his work and become a toiler again if he would, and, like the bricklayer, he could go forward and tackle his stupendous task, a brick at a time.
S e pt e m b e r 28, 1928 Text: Psa. 51.
It is impossible to comprehend the power of the fifty-first Psalm upon the race. Kings, scholars, and cottagers have read it with the same spiritual profit. It was the death song of thè French Protestants in the times that for cruelty have had few equals. It was sung by George Wishart when taken prisoner before his martyrdom at St. Andrews. Its opening verse was the dying cry o f the Scottish martyr, Thomas Forret, whose grave was green a quarter o f a century before Scotland became free from ecclesiastical tyranny. Its cry for mercy was repeated by Lady Jane Grey upon the fateful day o f her own and her husband’s death. Its burning words broke from the lips o f John Huss at the place o f his execution, near Constance. John Rogers repeated its confessions and triumphant paeans on the way to the fires o f Smithfield. The words of the Hebrew psalmist were spoken by Sir Thomas Moore “ who was famous through Europe for eloquence and wisdom”—as he laid his head upon the block. Its seventeenth verse, written by St. Augustine upon the wall of his sick-chamber, did not make the text any the less real to the great German Reformer. The seventh verse of this same Psalm was found on a tablet of copper amid the eternal snows on the highest point o f the earth’s surface, near Cape Beechy, “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
S e pt e m b e r 29, 1928 T ext: Psa. 139:3-5
There is a legend of Michael Angelo. He was engaged on a painting, but grew weary and discouraged while his work was yet incomplete, and fell asleep. While he slept an angel came, and seizing the brush that had dropped from the tired artist’s fingers, finished the picture. Angelo awoke at length, affrighted that he had slept; but, looking at his canvas, his heart was thrilled with joy, and his soul was uplifted beyond measure, for while he had slept his picture had been finished, and it had been painted fairer, far fairer, than any picture o f his making in the past, with tint and hue diviner, and a light of God above it breaking. Angelo had done his best, and God had done the rest.
S e pt e m b e r 30, 1928 T ex t: 2 Tim. 1 :12
The wife of a ship’s officer was sitting in the cabin near him during a storm at sea. She was filled with alarm for the safety o f the vessel, and was so surprised at his serenity that she cried out, “My dear, are you not afraid? How is it possible that you can be so calm in the midst o f such a storm?” Rising from his
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