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THE KING’S BUSINESS
in the book before, he might have been free. So men neglect the Bible, which would set them free from the slavery of sin .—The Christian Herald. N either shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” That wealthy promise has not become exhausted by the lapse of time. Rather has the promise acquired a new and deeper significance, and it now embraces in its generous charge the inter ests of the soul. We move amid moral pestilences. Plague-stricken people are all about us—men and women afflicted with moral and spiritual diseases which carry germs of perilous contagion. How are we to escape them? “Evil communications corrupt !” Is that true always ? How, then, of this further word: “He went to be guest with a man that, was a sinner” ? The Master went into the very precincts of the plague, and yet was immune in the foul contagion. Disease de mands prepared conditions. If the condi tions are absent the contagion is impotent. What, then, was our Lord’s condition when He entered into fellowship with men and women who were smitten by the plague of sin? “The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me.” There was no appropriate condition in which the devil could find a footing. There was no con genial soil in which the evil germs could fructify.— I. H. Jowett. “A young man of my congregation called upon me in great agitation of mind. He said he felt that he was a great sinner, that he could not bear to live in the con dition he was in, that his attention had been anxiously turned to the subject of sal vation several times before, but he soon forgot it again, and he was afraid it would be so now. Said he, “I have wanted to come and see you a good many times, but I never could make up my mind to do it till yesterday.” Because his attention had been arrested before, and he had gone back to indiffer-
men would set on their conduct, and goes as far as he can. But if Christendom’s pres ent giving is hilarious, it would be interest ing to see what perfectly decorous giving would be .—The Continent. W hen do we get our salvation? How long do wc need to continue to pray for it? A Colorado reader asks a question about a phrase often heard in prayer which calls «-for a clear answer. He writes: Is it scriptural to pray, “and at last save us” ? I have been a Christian thirty-four years, but I could never pray, “and at last save us,” because I know by God’s Word that I am saved now. For Jesus said, “He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life.” When God puts a thing into the present tense, we lose a great blessing by putting it into the future. And the present tenses of the Bible are among the richest parts of God’s love to us. God does not want us to keep on praying for salvation: He wants us, having taken it by believing on Jesus Christ as our Saviour, to praise Him for it, but not to keep asking for that which is already given and received.— 6 *. .S'. Times. A E uropean who had been seized and imprisoned by an Abyssinian king was al lowed to go at large, but a heavy iron fet ter on each ankle kept him from making his escape. A European traveler saw and pitied birriJ but dared not openly help him, as he was watched by the king’s officers. He was, however, allowed to give the captive a book. The poor prisoner was disappointed. He did not want books, and would have been much better pleased with a gift of food or clothing. The book was laid aside and for gotten. Three years afterwards, in an idle moment, he examined the book. There was something hard in the back of it. He pulled it out, and behold, it was a file! It was the thing of all others he most needed. He made his way to the woods, filed off his fet ters, and in a few days had reached the coast and was safe from pursuit. He could not forgive himself for having endured those three years of slavery. If he had only looked
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