THE KING’S BUSINESS
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ulum of learning—it is a gift divine, breathing an afflatus, an inspiration—the direst and distinct creation of God, as is the star, the sun. The speaker, then, is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the repre sentative of the Father, the incarnate Deity —He it is who is charged with the subtle learning; He it is whose lips tremble with the pathos of this ineffable music. TIME AND MANNER Though the gift itself is divine, we must remember that it is to be exercised season ably. The text is, “that I should know how to speak a word in season.” There is a time for everything. It is not enough to speak the right word, it must be spoken at the right moment. Who can know when that is! We can not be taught. We must feel it, see it hours beyond: nay, must know when to be silent for the whole twenty- four hours and to say, “To-morrow at such and such a time, we will drop that sen tence upon the listening ear.” “The day after to-morrow, he will probably be in circumstances to admit of this communica tion being delivered with sympathy and effect.” How few persons might know the right time—the right time in conversation. Some people are never heard in conversa tion though they are talking all the time. They talk so unseasonably, they talk when other people are talking; they can not wait; they do not know how to come in along the fine line of silence; they do not under stand the German expression “Now an angel has passed,” and they do not quickly enough follow in his wake. Consequently, though chattering much, they are saying nothing—-though their words be multitud inous, the impression they make is a blank. ALL THINGS IN SEASON I have' a ripe seed in my hand. As an agriculturist I am going to sow it. Any laborer in the field can tell me that I should be acting foolishly in sowing it just now. Why? “It is out of season,” the man says. “There is a time for the doing of that action: I will tell you when the time returns —do it then, and you may expect a profit able result of your labor.”
the hem of the garment trembled under if, but no biographer could catch it in his scholarly ink. THERE’S A DIFFERENCE Very few ministers can enter a sick cham ber with any probability of doing real and lasting good. They can read the Bible, and they can pray, and yet, when they have gone, the room seems as if they had never been there. There is no sense of emptiness or desolation. Other men, probably not so much gifted in some other directions, will enter the sick room, and there will be a light upon the wall, summer will gleam upon the window-pane, and angels will rus tle in the air, and it will be a scene pf gladness and a vision of triumph. How is that? The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned that I might know how —how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. The Lord God hath not only given me a word to say, but hath given .me learning to teach me how , to speak it. Place the emphasis upon the how, and then you develop all the mystery, all the tender, music, all the infinite capacity of manner. We may say the right word in the wrong tone; we may preach the gospel as if it were a curse. The common notion is that anybody can go into the Sunday school and teach the young. We sometimes think that it would be well if a great many per sons left the Sunday school all over the world. Teach the young—would God I had that great gift, to break the bread for the children, and to be able to lure and captivate opening minds, and to enter into the spirit of the words— “Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, To teach the young idea how to shoot.” It requires to be father and mother and sister and nurse and genius to speak to the young. They may hear you and not care for you: they may understand your words, and be repelled by your spirit. You require the tongue of the learned to know how to speak, and that tongue of the learned is not to be had at school, college, university—it is not included in any curric
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