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T h K
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
May 1930
Lord, what a change within us one short hour Spent in Thy presence will prevail to make! What heavy burdens from our bosoms take, What parched grounds refresh as with a shower! We kneel, and all around us seems to lower; We rise, and all the distant and the near Stands forth in sunny outline, brave and clear. We kneel how weak, we rise how full of power. Why, therefore, should we do ourselves this wrong, Or others, that we are not always strong, . That we are ever overborne with care, That we should ever weak or heartless be, Anxious or troubled, when with us is prayer, And joy and strength and courage are with Thee? T he I nfluence of H er D a ily T eaching
In the third place, a mother’s influence is felt in her daily teaching. Some one has said that given a Mark Hop kins at one end of a log and a James A. Garfield at the other end of the log, we. have a university. It is a truth well stated, for a real university does not consist in costly buildings, rich endowments and a long history, but rather in the quality of teachers and students. And of all earth’s teachers who is the greatest? Our Mother! Why? Be cause first of all she faces Godward and drinks deep draughts from the Fountain of all wisdom, and then goes , forth and puts heart into all she says and does. Back of her teaching is the wealth of a mother’s love, a love which is deeper than the seas, higher than the heavens, and as enduring as the ages. When all other earthly loves fail, mother’s love abides. Back of her teaching is a concern so deeply rooted that it will not let her rest until she has expended her very best effort to shape aright the destiny of her children. Every true mother realizes that she is engaged in a far greater task than building houses, or ships, or railroads, or great business blocks. Hers is the nobler task of helping to build precious lives. Henry Drummond once said, “Foun dations which are to bear the weight of eternity must be securely laid.” This is the firm conviction of our mothers and therefore they seek to lay deep and wide and strong the foundation principles of character in the lives of their children. This foundation building is not easy. Sometimes it seems that all their teaching will be for naught. Then bit ter days come, tears and heartache, and more tears and still more heartache. Nevertheless, with a courage and a patience such as only mothers know, they arise from bended knees to begin the battle anew each day and im plant in the young lives entrusted to their care those high and holy principles of truth and honor, purity and patience, courtesy and kindness, gentleness and goodness, reverence and faith, without which they know that a life is worse than wasted, yea, without which life becomes a menace to others. And so mother becomes our first teacher. She lays the foundation upon which others are to build. At mother’s knee we learn to lisp our first evening prayer. It is she who answers our first eager, searching questions concern ing God, It is she who gives us our first conceptions of heaven and immortality. With fine discernment, it is she who draws for us the clear distinction between right and wrong and calls upon us to choose the'right and Spurn the wrong. Other teachers may and will come, but not one will be received with that confidence and eagerness ac corded a real mother. Because this is so, she stands at the head of the long procession of earthly teachers. Moses owed much to his teachers in the great Egyptian University at Heliopolis. We read that “he was learned in all the wisdom o f the Egyptians.” Much as he owed to his
that upon a business associate, what shall we say about the daily presence of a godly mother in the midst of her children in the home ? Who can measure that influence ? T he P ower of H er P rayers The second source of a mother’s power lies in her prayers. The Book is filled with promises concerning prayer and its answers. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says, “H e that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder o f them that diligently seek him.” The Psalmist, with all boldness, looks up into the face of the Heavenly Father and declares, “N o good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” And Jesus says, “Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Every devout mother lays firm hold of these promises and makes them her own, and this accounts, in a large degree, for her unusual strength, her steadfastness of character, and her subtle and far-reaching influence brought to bear upon the lives of her children and her children’s children. Hannah prayed and made her vows unto God; and she lived to see her son become the mighty prophet, Samuel. Monica prayed and her son was recalled from his way wardness and became the great St. Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo, a light and a comfort to all Christians in north ern Africa and even down to the days of the Reformation. Margaret Luther prayed and to her son, Martin Luther, was given such faith and love and courage that he became the central figure of the Sixteenth Century, the mighty Reformer, and the founder of the church which bears his name. Mrs. Wesley prayed and that glorious day dawned when her two sons, Charles and John Wesley, were aflame with love and zeal for God. They became the channels of God’s grace through whom a countless host were brought into the Kingdom. ¡Mrs. Moody prayed and her son,- Dwight L. Moody, was so filled with the Spirit of God that he became, beyond question, the greatest evangelist this country has ever known. Oh, a mother’s prayers! What transforming, trans figuring power is exerted by our mothers as they fall upon their knees and make earnest intercession for us. Arch bishop Trench grasped the truth when he wrote those memorable lines:
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