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Destroy the Jews It is the puzzle of the ages. A Baptist preacher in Colum bus, Ohio, found the answer to the riddle, and allowed us to print it in a 12-page tract. Pharaoh tried to drown the Jews, but failed. Haman tried to hang them, but failed, Nebuchadnezzar tried to burn them, but still they lived! Rev. H. O. VanGilder tells exactly why they failed; and he tells specifically how they must go about it, who wish to destroy the Jews, and suc ceed. Hitler of Germany should read this tract. Russia needs it too. Every Jew hater must see it. And more important still, every Christian needs to read it, for it gives the answer which every Christian wants to know. It is yours for 10c includ ing a sample copy of our paper THE CHOSEN PEO PLE. Just enclose 10c in a letter and say, “Send me How to Destroy the Jews.” And may we remind you also of the continuous need of our Missionary undertak ings? Our work merits your every confidence. It is a pro gram of world-wide Gospel testimony to the Jews. Your fellowship in prayer and gift is always welcomed and ap preciated. THE CHOSEN PEOPLE is of course sent to all contributors.
ïïht $ible Tamil#3tta#a^ine Motto: " Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood." —R ev . 1:5.
Volume XXIII
October, 1932
Number 10
TABLE OF CONTENTS Crumbs from the King’s Table—The Editor.................................. 423 The Army of the Two Hundred Million—-Louis T. Talbot........... 424 Safeguarding Gospel Music—Herbert G. Tovey.... .........................426 La Margarita— the Pearl—Donald D. Turner.................................. 427 Across Thirty Years with Christ—Mark A. Matthews..... .............. 429 He Gave Gifts—Roy Talmage Brumbaugh......................................431 The Alphabet of Science and the Inspiration of the Bible —Harry Rimmer........................................,......................... ..,.433 Present-Day Fulfillment of Prophecy—Louis S. Bauman...............434 Studies in the Epistle to the Hebrews—John C. Page.................... -..A37 Heart to Heart with our Young Readers —Florence Nye Whitwell............ .............|.... ........................ 439 Junior King’s Business—Martha S. Hooker..................................... 441 In the Jewish World—James A. Vaus....... ........................................ 443 Our Missionary Page—John A. Hubbard........................................ 444 International Sunday School Lesson Commentary........................... 446 Notes on Christian Endeavor—Mary G. Goodner............................453 Daily Devotional Readings......................................... ......................... 456
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POLICY AS DEFINED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES (a) To stand for the infallible Word of God and its great fundamental truths, (b) To strengthen the faith of all believers, (c) To stir young men and women to fit themselves for and engage in definite Christian work, (d) To make the Bible Institute of Los Angeles known, (e) To magnify God our Father and the person, work and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; and to teach the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our present practical life, (f) To emphasize in strong, constructive messages the great foundations of Christian faith. S36-SS8 S. Hope St., BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES, Los Angeles, Calif.
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October 1932
(5»* m m Ls/rom THE KING’S TABLE . . . By T he E ditor
est courts of Christian tribune, but what we, the rank and file, have to do is to remember that Christ is but a day old, born today as well as twenty centuries since, living today as certainly as He lived when He walked in Jewry and did miracles in Galilee. But we have let Him out of our grip, we have allowed Him to pass us unnoticed, we talk more about ancient history instead of testifying to present ex perience. Christ is now living. The gospel is as mighty today as it ever was. The human heart is unchanged. The disease of the heart needs the exact remedy which is found in the gospel, and if we faithfully and lovingly preach and live what we know of inspired truth, the hearts of men will own our call of God and our ministry by tongue and pen, and life shall not fail without some noble recognition and response. e could take you to many scenes that would show the infinite profitableness of faith in God. We would not withdraw the flowered curtain, behind which sinful life drinks its poison cup. We would take you to houses that have been desolated by misfortune and show you the prof itableness of religion in the sweet patience which it has wrought in that heart. We would take you to the house of affliction, where youth has been turned into old age by long continued pain, and show how the fire had left the gold and consumed only the dross. We would take you to men who once were the curse and terror of society, and show you the light of Christian intelligence in their coun tenances and the love of Christian charity in their actions. We would take you to the chamber where the good man meets with the last enemy, and as he smiles at the so-called king of terrors and passes upward to the quiet and holy place, calm, fearless, exalted, we would say, “ Behold, the profit which comes of knowing and loving the Saviour of the world!” Patience T 1 othing refines the soul so much as the exercise of willing, uncomplaining, rejoicing patience—to be prepared that tomorrow should be as monotonous as today, and to know that for the next year there will be no change in our solitariness and weakness, but that we shall still be living under the same gray sky and be blown upon by the same cold, cruel wind, and yet to say, “ Seeing this is God’s do ing, it is best; He will turn this pain to good uses; He will make this weariness an opportunity for deepening our spiritual knowledge, and for encouraging and sustaining our spiritual vitality.” Thus faith grows. Not to know God’s plans and yet to believe God; to have no information extending beyond the immediate moment and yet to be sure that all will be right at the last, is to grow in faith and to become solid at the center. The only right spirit, in relation to divine providence, is to acknowledge the mys tery, to bow before it, to wait patiently for God. O Chris tian, we are in God’s school, and school will soon close! Let us learn all the lessons well. It Pays u u
“ Be of Good Cheer, for I Believe God ” his is an “ Apostle’s Creed.” It is a short, but pregnant one. Paul risks everything upon it. There is not room in it for qualification, for reserve, or for subtle suppres sions which destroy the energy and the pith and the mystery of faith. It is a dewdrop, holding within its comparative smallness of form all the mystery and all the meaning of the sea. Paul uttered it in extremity, when there appeared to be no God. He said it in an empty house, nothing left but the bare walls, and the walls reeling, trembling, shak ing under a shock of uncontrollable power. That is a good time to profess your creed. It may be that we cannot ex press our true creeds when all is going well—when we are in splendid health, when we are not surrounded by any danger, when we have no unpaid bills and a sufficient in come. Under such circumstances, what creed can a man have? Under such circumstances, a man does not hold himself. He is a doll on the lap of luxury. It is when a man is torn limb from limb, mocked, spat upon, cursed, that he knows what he really believes. Here is where Christian ity seems to the world to have lost power. It has become a fine subject for argument, a subtle conundrum, a depart ment of transcendental metaphysics, a thing which only cunning minds can comprehend, and trained tongues can adequately express. It is no longer to the world a heroic faith, a great utterance of conviction, a heart so full that it cannot speak, a mind so mad that it cannot settle itself down to the prison of logical and pedantic forms. When trouble is near we have a good deal less argument and a great deal more prayer. What would be thought of your children if they made it their business to write essays upon their father every week, and if they were to justify their essay writing by the protestation that it was needful to have “ intelligent concep tions of fatherhood” ? Do you not think that the gray haired father would smile to see his little child commencing an essay on the “ Psychology of my Father,” on “ The Mar velous Methods Adopted by my Father in the Government of his Family,” on “ The Various Faculties of my Father and the Mystery of their Exercise” ? His old wrinkled face would smooth itself out with a great, broad smile if he saw the poor little toiler dipping his pen to round off into rhetorical completeness a sentence that would precisely describe “ the method o f my father’s government.” He would rather have one great big hug than all the essays the infant scribe could write, one great all-round hug than the finest metaphysical analysis which the infantile psychologist could perpetrate. Oh, let us go back to the simplicity of faith and quit our nonsense! The Christ of Today he church has lost her inspiration, her weight, her spiritual philosophy. She is content to have a Christ two thousand years old. The church is today defending the Christ o f the first century instead of living the present Christ who is now praying for her. The historical argu ment will never cease to have its own proper value; docu mentary evidence must always be valuable in the very high
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October 1V32
ARMY
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TWO HUNDRED MILLION B y LOUIS T. TALBOT* Los AngelespCalif.
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f 1 s soon as the church is taken out of the world, there will arise in Europe that strange man, the Antichrist. The world has seen some strange men rise in Europe; hut this man, who will appear after the church is gone, has his por trait in the Book of God. We catch glimpses of him all through the Bible. Every rebel against God, from Cain on down through the ages, foreshadows him. He will put before the nations of Europe the solution for all their troubles. He will have plans that no other European states man ever conceived. The people will think that what he pre sents as the solution of their troubles is the way out of chaos, and he will be made the head of European affairs. One thing he will do is this: The Word of God says that he will have associated with him ten kings, who will be ruling over that part of Europe that came into existence through the breaking up of the Roman Empire—like Lenin, Mussolini, and Trotsky—men who have been tossed up on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea by the stormy waves of Bolshevism, men who have usurped authority and have taken their places by forcer The Antichrist will be the head of them all. When he appears on the scene and sets up his cabinet, there will come into existence what Na poleon tried in vain to bring to pass; what the Kaiser at tempted to do, but in which he failed; what President Wil son had in mind, but failed to accomplish—a real league of nations. There will be a revival of the Roman Empire, typified by the ten toes of the image which Daniel saw—• a league of ten kingdoms. S phere and M ethods of O peration The Antichrist will not be the ruler of the world; he will be the ruler of those nations that occupy the territory of the old Roman Empire. He will be the last Kaiser, as it were, of those nations that came out of the old Roman Em pire, the ten-toed kingdom, with himself as the head. But in that last day, three other great confederacies also shall arise. First, the Word of God says that there will be a “ king of the north.” That king will be the Antichrist’s greatest antagonist. Read the thirty-eighth chapter of Ezekiel. There God says concerning him: “ I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws” (v. 4 ). He is talking of the Prince of Rosh. The name of Moscow (Meshech) is mentioned there, and this is how he shall come into power. As soon as the Antichrist declares that he is king, and forms his ten
toed confederacy, there will form overnight, as it were, a great consolidation of the European nations not in the Ro man Empire: Austria, Germany, and others. These will head up under the last ruler of the Russians, of whom Ezekiel wrote. We are living in a day of confederations, of consolida tions. Hardly a week passes that the papers do not an nounce the coalition of several banks or insurance com panies. So it will be in the end time of Gentile dominion.
Between the King of the North and the Antichrist will exist hatred and antag onism. Then the third man to arise will be the King of the South. He will be the last King of Egypt. It is in teresting tb note that in your day and mine Egypt has ceased to be a British pro tectorate, and is again a kingdom, with a king on the throne. The King of the South will be the first in that day to offer resistance to the Antichrist. The Antichrist will turn on him with his army to stamp out that re bellion; but no sooner will he subdue the uprising in the south, than he will find the King o f the North com ing against him. And as he goes forth to meet the King of the North, “ tidings out of the east” will trouble him. In that day, there shall be a coalition not only o f the nations which comprised the old Roman Empire, not only o f the other nations of Europe with Russia, but a combination of all the dark- skinned peoples— the na tions of India, o f China, of Japan, of the Mongolian hordes—all of whom will line up under one leadership.
The Army Reviewed And the number o f the army o f the horsemen were two hun dred thousand thousand [200 million] and I heard the num ber of. them. — R ev . 9:16. And he gathered, them to gether into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. *- Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For 1 will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue o f the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day o f battle. — 14-1-3 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusa lem on the east, and the mount of. Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; cmd half o f the mountain shall re move toward the north, and half o f it toward the south. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, cmd his name one. —Z ech . 14:4. 9.
*Pastor, Church o f the Open Door.
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October 1932
were stolen from the people of my color and from the peo ple of the East.” Coming events cast their shadows before! On my return trip, I met certain engineers who had been in Japan for some time. I told them what the Japanese had said, that this country was going to consolidate the East, aqd win the confidence of the Mongolian race and of India and of other eastern countries. “ Is there anything to it?” I asked them. “ We have been in Japan for seven years,” they replied, “ and that plan is in the minds o f the people of Japan today. The seeds of discontent and resentment that have been sown in their midst are taking root and beginning to sprout.” T he C oming C onflict ' Now, let us return to the picture of what will take place when the,nations of the earth come together in the end time. We have.seen how the Antichrist will rule over the W est; how the King of the South will “ push at him” ; how the “ king of the north will come against him like a whirl-, wind” ; and how the uprising of the nations in the East “ shall trouble him.” Thus the last great conflict that is often spoken about will be between the North, South, East, and West. Heaven will take part in the struggle. The eleventh chapter of Daniel tells us that the Antichrist “ shall divide the land for gain” ; and then “ the king of the
O f course, in the church of Jesus Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile; there is neither bond nor free; there is no color line. Any man who loves the Lord Jesus Christ is my brother in Christ and part of. the same Body to which I belong. Therefore, I am not talking about Christians in Japan, or China, or any part of the earth, but I am dealing with nations as nations. R ising P ower in the E ast The world is populated by approximately two billion people, and two-thirds of that number belong to the col ored races. The Asiatic races—the races of the eastern part of the world—--are growing and out-numbering those o f the West. There is a reason for this. In times of famine in the East, the- West has always sprung to the rescue, and rightly so. I f it had not been for the aid of the United States extended to China, it is estimated that twenty-five million people would have died. So the yellow races, the brown races, are increasing in numbers because of the shel ter and aid the West is giving them. There is also another reason for the increase, and it touches a delicate subject. While the East knows nothing about birth-control, the West is practicing what is known as race-suicide. Go through China or Japan or any o f those eastern nations; and you find there families of seven or eight children. Whether the father has a job or not, he has a family, a big family. If the West is going to compete with the East, as far as population is concerned, there will have to be born in every home in the .western nations five or six children in order to keep pace with the East. B iding H er T ime ' I f you journey through the East today, you will find pervading the air a sort o f expectancy, a sense of waiting. The East is biding her time, awaiting the hour when she shall be able to assert her rights, bring honor to her peo ples, and regain the lands of which she thinks she has been defrauded by the western peoples of the earth. A few years ago, I was traveling to Australia. On board ship I met a Japanese. Almost every Japanese one meets is a friendly sort of person, affable, bland, smiling; but this man was not. He was taciturn, unfriendly. We got into conversation one day. When he asked me where I was going, I told him I was on my way to Australia. He asked if I were an Australian, to which I replied that I was. “ Australia used tp belong to the colored people, did it not?” he asked next. “ Yes,” I answered. “Will you kindly tell me how your people got posses sion o f it?” And he went on to answer himself. “Why,” he said, “ you got it through murder, bloodshed, and graft. Early settlers went over and murdered and plundered and stole, acquiring for themselves vast areas of land. And what are your immigration laws nbw?” There was justice in that question. I could not help but admit it. We have a slogan in Australia. It is this: “ Aus tralia for the white man.” No dark-skinned race is allowed to go into that land and settle down to live unless high standards have been reached. There is tragedy in that situation. Down through the middle o f Australia runs a strip of land that will produce anything and everything that China and parts of India produce. The colored man cannot go in there to work it, because the immigration laws bar him from entering. The white man cannot work it, be cause no white man could stand the climate which prevails in that section. Therefore, the land lies there, going to waste, instead o f being utilized. “ The East,” the Japanese went on, “ can afford to wait. The day will come when we can consolidate the East, and we will challenge any nation to shut us out from lands that
Photo by Adelbert Bartlett B e d o u in H o r s e m a n b e sid e t h e D e a d S e a — t h e r ic h e s t sp o t o n THE FACE OF THE EARTH, FOR WHOSE POSSESSION MANY NATIONS WILL SCHEME AND STRIVE. south shall push at him.” When he moves out to meet the King of the South, the King of the North will sweep down upon him; and as he is preparing to strike at him, “ tidings out of the east . . . trouble him.” The army of the Two Hundred Million will be on the march! Is I t P ossible ? Some one might ask skeptically, “ Do you think the East could get together an army of 200,000,000?” In China, there are 450 million people; in the Mongolian countries, no one knows how many. And if those peoples ever get under the domination of the Japanese, things can be done, and done quickly. Fifty years ago, Peary went into Japan to bring about trade relations with America. At that time, the Japanese did not have a railroad, or a telegraph, or ma chinery of any kind; Fifty years ago! During the period since that time, Japan has taken on Western civilization, has built -up an army, and years ago met the Russian hordes and conquered them, sending their vessels to the bottom of the sea. [Continued on page 436]
October 1932
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i — * 1 / I r * 11 Copyright 1931 by Herbert G. Tovey in “ Gospel Solos and Duets No. 3 with Trios.” ’a t a jegua rd ing GQSPEL MUSIC By HERBERT G. TOVEY Los Angeles, Calif. w . J J ~d f -
[Mr. Tovey, who is chairman of the music faculty o f the California Chris tian College, Los Angeles, Calif., is well qualified to write on the subject which he has chosen fo r this brief article. For more than ten years, he was associated with the Bible Institute of Los Angeles as a teacher of music and has written many splendid gospel hymns. His book, "Gospel Solos and Duets” (see page 455), will be welcomed by gospel singers who are looking for songs with a message. — T he E ditor .]
means of his magnificent choirs and the gospel singing of his congregations. Is that kind of ministry to cease? It is true that there are many so- called gospel songs in print that exhibit poor words and music, that were written and published by individuals who were ignorant of the common laws governing song writing. This fact should incite the church to greater care and should cause her to demand a creation of gospel music that is both pure and powerful. It should be remembered that a
J . n th is materialistic age with its many self-pleasing devices, the ques tion arises, Is the Christian church bowing to the trend of the times and ceasing her vigilance in the realm of sacred music? It is true that “ catchy” melodies
please the ear. It is an easy matter, therefore, for some music of this char acter, used in sacred connection, to pass unnoticed by listeners, carrying with it dangerous doctrine that robs Christ of His rightful place and makes God merely an idea moving through the mind of mankind. This can never be said of the true gospel hymn. A lack of appreciation of the gospel hymn leads to a very real and prevalent danger. If this kind of hymn de parts, there will go with it that direct appeal to the indi vidual heart,, which must issue in a definite act of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; and in its place will come the more general type of hymn, which some modern authorities are advocating. This latter kind sets forth Christ as a great Leader of youth, as a superior Teacher, and as the Father of mankind; it gives no help to the individual that is sold under sin and lost. In it, the simple evangelistic message is lacking, and the outstretched hand of willing faith finds no stable staff to grasp. The great John Wesley roused the latent church to action through his dynamic hymns embodying evangelistic truth. Luther changed deeply prejudiced minds by his carols built around the theme of a personal faith in a per sonal Saviour. Sankey brought the world to penitential tears through his tender songs of God’s love for the sinner. Charles M. Alexander persisted in preaching salvation by
hymn is not a gospel hymn unless it carries a definite evan gelistic message—the message contained in John 3 :16 and John 1:12 and 13. Such were the songs that the early Chris tians sang. Because the heart o f man is just the same today as in those distant years, and the heart of God, unchanged, waits to make sons of God of all who will come to Him by way of Calvary’s cross, the message of the gospel hymn must still sound forth. The gospel hymn must abide. The Ministry of Praise The need of more prayer is great. But the need of more praise is still greater, if possible, and yet it is scarcely recog nized. The power and use of praise are largely unconsid ered factors in Christian experience. Yet there is a praise life and a praise ministry as surely as there is a prayer life and a prayer ministry. The one is necessary to the other. They are joined in the nature of the redeemed life, and without this union, full health of soul must be wanting. Praise is the blossoming of faith, needful for the fruitage o f prayer.—H. C. W .
October 1932
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W PEARL
By DONALD D. TURNER* Porlamar, Margaritaf'Venezuela
ios T e S alve ” was the name of the little sailboat in which we left Porlamar, Margarita, Venezuela, for our first trip to the pearl fishers’ huts along the coast of the Caribbean. We had not been out long before we appreciated the meaning of the boat’s name: “ May God save you.” The sailors sighted a large school of sardines with several sharks and other large fish after them. One immense shark seemed almost as long as our fifteen-foot boat, but the na tives said that it was only ten or twelve feet. We sailed right through the center o f the sardines and, using poles, played at harpooning the sharks, hitting some but doing no damage, although two or three came within arm’s reach. Having learned all we desired there, we left the sar dine school, and the men arranged the dragnets, throwing them overboard to see what they would pick up. These nets, or rastras, have a flat iron blade that drags on the ocean floor, with iron arms bent to form the mouth of the net, which is fastened behind and ends in a ring to which the cala, or drag-rope, is tied. The fishing is done at any depth up to seventy feet. Generally, each boat carries two rastras, both worked on the same side, one in front and the other in the back, the right distance apart to properly guide without the rudder, as all four sailors are busy when haul ing in. We were told that a boat usually brings in from ten to twenty gunny sacks of oysters each day at the beginning of the season. This amount slowly decreases until it is less than half that amount. Those who use divers in regular diving suits get about double this production. S eekers A fter P earls Soon we landed at the ranchería in Las Maritas. Very crude palm huts were used as temporary shelters from the sun, and the men sat on tiny cross-legged chairs to open the oysters. Sometimes several boats are owned by one man, and all their men use the same shed. Each haul must be kept separate, and disputes are frequent over two or three oysters falling from one pile onto common ground. Who knows what they might contain ? As we went from one hut to. another, offering tracts and asking, “ What luck?” we were given various receptions. Some took the literature eagerly, saying that they had read tracts before and liked the gospel. Others were indifferent and said that they could not read. Occasionally an “ enemy” was found. A few had crosses and images on the sand be side them, in the vain hope that thus their “ luck” would be better. As one man can open only three or four sackfuls of oysters in a day, the larger sheds had several men open ing the shells, while the owner or his representative watch ed them. It was to this supervisor that we talked and o f fered a gospel, unless some one else spoke up. Anything *Missionary o f the Orinoco River Mission.
that might take the men’s minds off their work did not meet with approval. As the oysters are opened, the upper half of the shell is cpt loose and thrown into a basket. The men then search for pearls with their eyes and fingers. When they have taken out the pearls, or else discovered that there are none, they place the flesh o f the oyster in a can and pile the shells apart. After dark each night, when the men can open shells no longer, they cook the oysters, boiling them until they almost fall to pieces. During the balance of the night, this flesh rots in a barrel standing by the shore. At dawn, the ranchero pours in water, stirs the whole vigorously, and then drains off the “ soup,” leaving the dregs in the bottom of the barrel. In these dregs are found many pearls, which, although they are small, make this precaution worth while. Years ago, when the fishing was good, the oysters were left to rot in any old, abandoned boat, or in a vat of some kind, the pearls falling to the bottom to be picked out of the corruption when the work tvas over. One of our members in Puerto Fermin, a tall Guaiqueri Indian, told me of his experience in Maracaibo. He was almost overwhelmed one morning as he saw the sin and vice on every hand, follow ing always in the wake of the oil boom. Later, sitting in the plaza, he noticed one of his countrymen pass by with a Bible and hymnal in his hand. Following the man, he soon entered the Evangelical Church. As he gazed from the doorway upon the Christians, he thought of the times when he had buried his arms in the corruption of oysters in an old hull and brought up the shining pearls. So were these gems reached by Christ’s powerful arms out of the corrup tion that is in the world through lust. T he F orming of the P earls Pearls are the only precious stones produced by a living organism, instead of being formed in the earth. And they are the result of the suffering of the living organism. A grain of sand, or possibly some small animal of the sea, fleeing from an enemy, takes refuge inside the oyster. The shells then close, and the intruder is covered by a secre tion. Little by little, the nacre is put on it, and the oyster forms the precious gem out of this thing that intruded upon its peace. Oh, that we poor humans might so transform our so-called “ crosses” into shining jewels for our Maker! Considering the church as the pearl and Christ as the Merchant who gave up His all to purchase her, let us re member that our luster depends upon the One who suffered in order to make us His jewels. If the pearl is not com pletely covered by the flesh o f the oyster, it becomes ex posed to the action of the sea water. The iodine and salt attack the nacre of the pearl and kill it, the result being a dull gray stone that is valueless. So the. Christian was in the world without the beauty of holiness, until Christ cov-
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of the rastras. The rastras nearly always-belong to the owner of the boat, so that he receives three and a half shares, while the men receive six or seven, according to the number of rancheros needed. The half-share is usually given back to the captain. When divers are used, the boat owner gets half of the proceeds, and the rest is divided among the men, the diver getting at least a double portion. If he is able to do so, the owner buys the pearls at a price agreeable to all. Otherwise, the owner and the men go together and sell the pearls to some dealer who is licensed by the government. T he V alue of the P earl Before a price is set, the “ lot” of, pearls is classified. Three divisions are made: mostacilla, or birdshot, is the
ered him and put on him the robe of righteousness. It is a beautiful sight to see mounds of pearls on a dealer’s black- topped table. Some day the Saviour will present His bride in shining splendor to the Father. What a glorious day that will b e ! Taking the view that the gospel is the pearl of great price, there are lessons for us, too. It is the suffering of our Saviour that is the fountain of the gospel. The pearl is the only precious stone whose value is intrinsic. The raw pearls are washed, but that is all. No cutting or polishing by a lapidary is necessary to enhance their value. So Christ pre sents in the gospel a finished work. The moment a man, tries, by his own efforts, to help in his own redemption, he takes from the glory of Christ, and the gospel loses its luster for him.
smallest and least valuable ; re donda,' or round, the better pearls, are worth about twice the price of the. mostacilla; the de vista, or good pearls, are sold according to individual weight. Small dealers buy at the ranch erías or in the cities. After making more complicated classi fications, the small dealers sell to larger dealers, most of whom take the gems to Paris for final sale. The prices are not steady, and one merchant will classify differently than another; so that there is not only the uncertainty of what will be found in the oysters, but also the uncertainty of what the final result will be. The whole business takes on the semblance of a great gamble, and the gaming spirit animates many of the owners and deal ers. So the kings of the earth and the merchants shall bewail
Babylon and lament her fall; they will weep and mourn because no man buyeth any more their merchandise of pearls (Rev. 18:9-12). No longer than a decade ago, the officials here cooper ated with the Roman priests in animating the men and own ers to dedicate a day’s catch to the Rbman Catholic Church-. Some priests bought pearls to send them, they said, to Spain or to Italy, where the images, are reputed to have costly necklaces of pearls. In Revelation 17:4, we read, “ The woman was . . . decked with . . . pearls.” The quality that is first sought in a pearl is perfect roundness. The gates of the New Jerusalem are not said to be of mother-of-pearl, but each gate is a separate pearl (Rev. 21:21). In the Twenty-fourth Psalm, where we read, “ Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors,” we might reasonably infer that the gates will be gigantic pearls, perfectly round, and moving up and down to open and close the gate. It is a revelation of Christ and His perfect salvation wrought for tis. By His suffering, He has gained for us a glorious entrance through the pearly gates. Nothing unclean can enter, be cause the blood of the sacrifice cleanses. The pearls would close and crush the unclean thing that tried to enter. Only those who trust Christ’s finished work on Calvary shall enter the New Jerusalem. Walking back to Porlamar in the moonlight, two hours along the shore, we thought of the oysters down beneath the [Continued on page 432]
The fishermen work very hard during the pearl season. Sailing from the ranchería about two or three o’clock in the morning, they catch fish for their food. At dawn, they go to work with the dragnets without stopping until three or four in the afternoon. The men on shore are not idle, as you can see. Yet, when pay day comes, most of the men spend their hard-earned money in the saloon and have one “ grand time,” returning penniless to their work after hav ing borrowed money from the owner to leave with the family before sailing. Job was right in placing the price of wisdom so high that the value of pearls should not be mentioned. These men who handle precious pearls have not the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom. Many are quite superstitious, and are easily led into fanaticism. Only the Spirit of God can change their hearts and give them a love for the truth. Services among them must be very informal,' and the explanation of the gospel simple. It was in Las Maritas that we held a service entirely by the light of the full moon. The tropical moonlight was sufficiently bright to enable us to read the hymns quite well. It was the first time most o f them had ever attended a gospel meeting, so that their audible comments as we spoke were surely to be pardoned. The profits for every one in the pearl fishing are always on a share basis. Each fisherman and ranchero gets one part of the price when the pearls are sold. A share and a half is given for the use of the boat and one share for each
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cross
ears
WITH CHRIST
Æ&ÊÊÈÊË
By M ARK A. M ATTHEW S * Seattle,1 ash.
has fulfilled His promises. History reveals the fact that since His ascension He has personally abided with and man ifested Himself to His church in a glorious manner. Let Paul, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, the Wesleys,, the Spur geons, the Moodys, and the mighty men of evangelistic fervor and power speak! They testify to the fact that they were ever conscious of His presence, of His power, and of His daily bath of grace. Would it be thought presumptuous for us to give our humble testimony? (a) No other power could have regenerated a boy, and carried him through the conditions and the awful squalor following the Civil War. No other power could have sus tained one and overcome the difficulties that labor, study, work, and struggle entailed until the pulpit was reached. No other presence, personality, or power could have guided the first churches, magnified the work, increased the fields, and multiplied the membership, except Jesus Christ. (b ) It was in the height and glory of that Southern pastorate when His voice was heard and His call was an swered. “ Come over into the West and help us.” Those were happy days and the most loyal people that ever lived were faithfully at work, and untiringly assisting in evan gelizing that section. His voice was supreme, His command was sufficient, and we turned our back on the land of our nativity and came to the city of matchless beauty and opportunity, accompanied all the way by Christ. Without fear, and in the full confidence of His presence and power, we entered this pulpit thirty years ago today to proclaim the unsearch-
"And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end o f the world” (Matt. 28:20). ^C ( hrist had just announced that all authority had been vested in Him, that He was supreme in earth and heaven, and that the absolute authority and power of the Godhead residing in Him would be exercised by Him over the church and through the church. The significant word “ therefore” indicated that that authority would be exercised at once. It was manifested in the giving of the commission. The final commission was issued, “ Therefore, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.” It was the only commission given by Christ to His church. By the authority vested in Christ the commission was issued, and, in that authority, the minister of the gos pel goes forth to evangelize the world. He does not go in his own strength, in natural power, or by the authority of nations, but by divine authority, by divine right, and by supernatural power. He does not wait for nations to invite him, nor does he ask the permission of nations to go, but in spite of all things—even the objections of the combined powers of the world—he goes forth to proclaim the good tidings o f salvation. The commission itself would indicate to one the suffi ciency of power and authority, but Christ knew human weakness and the need of encouragement, support, and fel lowship, therefore He gave the everlasting promise of sus tenance and protection when He said, “ Go, and, lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world.” One will never exhause the study of this commission or His promise of personal support. The commission and the promise. were given to the whole church, the body of Christ, His bride. It was also given to the individual min ister, Christian worker, and untiring evangelist. We rejoice not only in the commission, but in the promise of Christ to accompany the individual. No worker is too small for Christ’s attention; no one ever gets big enough to walk alone. Without Him and His presence, it is impossible to carry out the terms of the commission, or to do the work therein authorized. We heard the call and the promise in the hour of regen eration and have never doubted either and can testify to the fulfillment o f the promise in the daily experiences of a lifetime. 1. T he P romise G uarantees C hrist ’ s P ersonal P resence God had made similar promises to His servants. He promised to be with Jacob, with Moses, with Joshua, with the judges, with Jeremiah, and with Israel in the land of exile. His presence was manifested to Abraham and to all of the mighty men o f those ages. His promises were ful filled. He never neglected nor deserted His own. Christ *Pastor o f First Presbyterian Church, at which this thirtieth anni versary sermon was delivered.
Jesus Calls B y K a th r yn ,D ick To a life o f fruitful service, Service wrought with love for Him, Not to be a passing fancy Or a changing whim. To a life o f consecration, And a passion fo r the lost,' Thinking not o f self or pleasure, Counting not the cost. To a life o f prayer and giving, Faithfulness and all things true, To a life o f daily blessing, Do you hear God’s call to you?
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head is present. He operates through us; therefore, if we are conscious of His presence and power, we should be willing to undertake any task for Him. He will be present all the way, through each succeeding period. You have seen His manifestations for thirty years. Why doubt the next thirty ? “ Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world”—the end of each period, the end of all periods, the consummation of all ages! He abides; that one fact separates Him from all other beings. The founders of the different religions died. They do not abide. Christ came to die for us, He arose for our justification, He abides for our sanctification and glorifi cation. 3. His P resence G uarantees V ictory His is a victorious presence. There is no defeat pos sible for the church. Victory is guaranteed. We can ex claim, “ Blessed be God who giveth us the victory!” We can also exclaim, “ We can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth u s !” And we could appropriate ly add: “Who abideth with us, who supporteth us, who de- fendeth us, and who continueth with us through all the ages, changes, and consummations.” We cannot fail with His presence. We cannot be de feated when He abides with us. We cannot be assassinated when in Him we stand. We cannot be destroyed by enemies when He sets the table before us in the presence of our enemies. We cannot be crushed on any battlefied; we can not be overcome in any field of labor. His presence guarantees that the field of carnage shall be turned into the harvest field of plenty. The whitened fields shall be garnered, victory shall be written on every sprig of grass, on every sheaf of wheat, on every glistening sword, on every waving plume, and across the humble breast of every evangelist. His is the victorious presence. For thirty years, He has walked and talked. He has sown and-He has garnered; He has protected, and He has used for His glory your pastor and his forces. His presence is personal, His presence is permanent, His presence is preeminently victorious. Thus across these thirty years with Him we have come, and, standing at the threshold o f the decades yet to come, we are unafraid, and are perfectly willing to undertake any task either in this field or any other to which He may call because we know His presence is guaranteed. No minister ever had a better church, more loyal, lovable, faithful, or sweeter, more spiritual people. God bless them. I love you, my beloved people. May you ever be con scious of the presence and fellowship o f Christ. “ And he [Moses] said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have, found grace in thy sight ? is it not in that thou goest with us ? And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.”
able riches of His gospel. He was in that service, and He has been in every service since. (c ) The difficulties have been many, the obstacles have been great, the enemies have been cunning and designing, the friends have been numerous, masterful, and powerful, the field interesting and pleasant, the work glorious and successful, the results marvelous and unprecedented, all because o f His presence and His power. Mistakes have been many, sins of omission and commis sion numerous, weaknesses, failures, and falterings have been constant, but never in any one of the exigencies has Christ been absent. All the way, through all the trials, in all the difficulties, in all the successes, joys, and pleasures, He has been present. He has been first; He'has been all and in all. His personal presence was felt—we did not have to wait for the mass, we did not have to wait for the com munion table, but in every service, in every act, in every piece of work, in every circumstance, His personal pres ence was manifested. When He said, “ I will be with you,” we knew He there by made absolutely certain that His presence, fellowship, protection, and power would be manifested to us through each succeeding decade. 2. C hrist P romised to A bide with Us His is an abiding presence. He did not promise to be with us during the revival only, He did not promise to be with us just when the sun was shining and the chorus was singing, He did not promise to be with us only in the hours o f difficulty and trial, when the enemies of the world were conspiring with members of the hierarchy, but He promised to abide all the time, in all the conditions, and never to leave us. “ Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” ; The long, long trail does not have to be walked alone. It mattered not how dark the road, how long the lane, how hard the work, how dangerous the undertaking, how nu merous the enemies, or how stormy the night, we have never had to walk alone. The abiding, personal presence of Jesus Christ— marvelous! Two members of the Trinity are present all the while and cannot be taken away from the Christian—Christ at the right hand of the Father, in whom the supreme author ity and power of the Godhead is vested, and the Holy Ghost, the third member of the Trinity with us, helping us, strengthening us, supporting us, and fighting for us. The sovereign God of the universe, in the personality of the Son, and the Holy Spirit abide with us. The abiding pres ence of Christ guarantees the abiding presence and super natural power of the Godhead. It is impossible for us to explain the work that has been done here in any other way. He is present today. There are no difficulties when Christ is present. The critical hour through which we are passing, and in which the world is embroiled, cannot discourage the Christian. Christ is pres ent, supreme authority is present, the power of the God
W A L K I N G W I TH JE SU S B y H elen T hompson
’ Tis sweet to walk in Jesus’ way, To trust Him hour by hour, To leave with Him my future needs, To claim His present power.
’ Tis sweet to know these things are true, And that H e bore my shame; So I must make my daily life An honor to His name.
’ Tis sweet to know He’s with me, His hand is holding mine; And when the path gets rugged, He smooths the steep incline.
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