464
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
November 1932
cerned, there is no doubt in the minds of either modernists or fundamentalists as to our rating. We are not only true to the old Book as the infallible rule of faith and conduct, but the members of this faculty also agree on the great fun damentals of interpretation. As to our attitude toward the churches and pastors, we are not here to tear down, but to build up. When you students go out to help in the different churches o f this city, or anywhere else, please remember that the pastor of the Church is in charge. You are to go with a positive mes sage. Be courteous, no matter where you go. Never trim your message, never dishonor your Lord, but declare your message with the sweetness, the joy, and the poise that will attract instead of drive away. This Institute must not stop. It was founded by men of God. It was dedicated to “ him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.” It must not go down. It cannot fail. This great body of students before me, and this splendid faculty, are a token from God, and can mean nothing else than that the Bible Institute must go on in her splendid work, and palsied be the hand that interferes with the onward progress of this chariot of God! There is one necessary condition for our success: This Institute will live and accomplish its mission, only as there is perfect harmony among the students, the faculty, and the Board of Directors. Each student, teacher, employee, mem ber of the Board must yield to the Spirit of God as He pleads: “ Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice,” and “ grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” God cannot bless us unless we are willing to live together as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. We are going to prayer for a few hours, and there will be no recitations today. May it be a time of heart-searching, a time of confession, a time of getting closer together in the Lord. If any one has been injured by another, why not fix it up today ? Why try to carry on when the Spirit is grieved ? Why not be kind, tender-hearted one toward another, for giving each other, even as God for Christ’s sake has for given us ? It is possible for us to start a revival today. God is willing, and He is waiting for us. Oh, would it not be a great day, a great start for a great year, if ,we would hum ble ourselves before God and each other, and surrender everything, including personal ambition, that interferes with God’s blessings being poured out upon u s! What a Bible Institute this would be this coming year if we all would yield to the impulses of the Holy Spirit today! We can start something here that will set the Western Coast on fire for God. I tremble for the outcome if we fail to do i t ! With this vision in mind, I am more than willing to step down from the President’s chair to a humbler place, in order that some young man with collegiate education, for he must have that; with splendid culture, for he must be a gentlenfen; with a strong body, for he will need that; with a keen mind, and he will need that; with a love for young folk, and a great vision for them; and above all, one filled with the Holy Spirit— I say I am more than willing to yield the heavy responsibility to such a man. It is the pur pose of the Board of Directors, of which I shall remain a member, to secure such a leader, and may I welcome his coming soon! I want, under God, to render every assist ance I can to the Board, to you teachers, and above all, to you dear young people, for whom I would gladly yield my life, if such a sacrifice would encourage you to put forth your best efforts this year to prepare for leadership, and go out to lay down your lives as stepping-stones in the brook
of time, that on them the Son of Man might walk in His triumphant progress around the world to call out for Him self a church which is His body.
Bible Readings in Schools According to the Victoria [B. C.] Colonist, the Min ister o f Education in Ontario has approved a series of graded Bible readings in three volumes for use in the public schools of that province. Volume one is for the use of children under nine years of age, volume two for children from nine to ten, and volume three for the use of older children. There are readings for each day of the school year. Rev. R. A. Hiltz, writing in The Canadian Journal, says: “ The fundamental difference between these readings and other lists referred to in the regulations is that these readings are selected in harmony with the needs and inter ests of pupils concerned.” What remains before these readings can be made a part of the public school curriculum is the approval of the Board of Education. Presumably, however, that is a pure formality, because the Minister of Education has given his consent, and the volumes have been published on his author ity. No matter how circumscribed the readings may be, it is a step forward in the truer purposes of education that Ontario should have decided to inculcate the highest prin ciples of morality in its public schools. It is only a question of time before other provinces will follow suit. Spiritual Amnesia This Thanksgiving season ought to be a great time for curing people of a certain disease of which I have read. The disease is called “ amnesia.” This disease is a comparatively rare affliction— for tunately so. Its main feature is forgetfulness. There are cases on record in which men have forgotten their own names, the date of their birth, their family relations—in a word,' cases in which memory had become a complete blank, and the past was utterly blotted out. Such is amnesia. Physically, it is fortunately a rare disease; but spiritually, it is not rare. Not in vain does the Psalmist call upon his soul, “ And forget not all his bene fits.” Kipling has, as the refrain of his immortal “ Reces sional,” the words, “ Lest we forget, lest we forget.” Ingratitude is nothing but a form of spiritual amnesia. It stands for a voluntary or involuntary blotting out of the memory of the past. The mind is no longer sensitive to past benefits bestowed. It is as if these things had never been. And thus ingratitude becomes a spiritual menace. God’s own people are very apt to suffer from this dis ease, and we forget past mercies in the face o f present emergencies, as if they had never been. Now, as we have said, this Thanksgiving season ought to be a great time for curing people of amnesia. Let us forget not all His benefits. Let us bring them to mind. And also, let us talk about them. “ O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good ; for his mercy endureth for ever. Let the re deemed of the Lord say so.” They, above all others, should say it, sing it, shout it. Do not keep it in. Do not be silent about it. If you feel gratitude to God, say so. “ Forget not.” Get over your amnesia. You can if you will. And “ speak out your praise.” “ O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good ; for his mercy endureth for ever.” —G. B. F. H allock .
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