King's Business - 1914-02

TH E KING ’S BUSINESS

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“If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of-Christ.” A workman, a wicked man and an in­ fidel, was at work one day in. the dome of the Crystal Palace of London. Suddenly he heard a great voice saying solemnly, “This is a faithful, saying, and worthy of all ac­ ceptation, that Christ Jesqs came into the world to save sinners.” From that day the man was a Christian. Whose was the great voice? It was Spurgeon’s. . The famous preacher, having to speak in the Crystal Palace, feared that he could not fill .the vast area, and so came to test his voice, using only those words that the workman overheard. Dr. Cuyler told the story of a prominent business man whose Christian wife had died praying for his conversion. One night, while lying awake in the darkness of his room, he heard a voice from the little bed at his side, “Take my hand, papa, it’s so dark.” He reached forth his large, strong hand, and took the small, trembling one in it until the frightened child fell asleep. Then that strong business man looked up through the darkness, and said, “Father, take Thou my hand as I have taken the-hand of my child, and give rest of soul, for Jesus’ sake.” Then it was that he felt the comforting in­ fluence of the Divine Presence, and knew that God was nigh. The fiftieth anniversary of organized Sun­ day School work in Germany was celebrated in 1913. The Rhenish Union for Children’s Services and Sunday Schools issued a tract in honor of the event, in which occur the following words from Pastor Schneller, the doyen of German missions in Palestine: “He who goes to the Sunday School as a child gets a blessing from the Lord. I no longer remember what we said and heard there, and the prayers that were there offered. But our souls were early given an upward bent, and I feel today how my heart was warmed. And this warmth has continued on as a well-heated

hours, silent times, systematic Bible study with their teachers, physical exercise on the beach sands and evening camp fires, to the time for the night’s quiet, the whole mis­ sion was blessed to all and we are grateful to God for this' time of seed-sowing and fruit-gathering. According to ,R. V. Ihering, the author of an important, work on prehistoric peo­ ples, the Phoenicians, who were the greatest mariners of antiquity, had no compasses, but employed in the place of them trained doves to determine the direction of land. Releasing one such they watched it rise, soar, and if it observed traces of land, dis­ appear in that direction. Otherwise it would return to the ship. This agrees with the account in Genesis of No.ah’s dove. It is said that in all literature the sen­ tence best loved by mankind is the one beginning: “For God so loved the world.” The tongue stammers and the pen falters in bewildering amazement in attempts to speak or write of this great, loving, coup­ ling link between God and the world. Its individuality leads us out into the realm of wonderment. Its greatness humbles us. Its power saves us. Think of i t ! God so loved me that He gave His own begotten Son, that I, believing in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life—and He would have loved and given just the same if I had been the one solitary offender in cre­ ation. I cannot understand it. Can you ? Major Whittle has told of an experience when, late one very cold night, he went to the station to take a train. The gate­ keeper, as instructed* required every pas­ senger to show his ticket before going into the car. This compelled many to put down their stachels and be otherwise greatly in­ convenienced; and the gatekeeper had to stand some pretty severe abuse. “You seem to be a very unpopular man tonight,” pleas­ antly said the major. “I only care to be popular with one man,” the man replied, “and that is the superintendent.” Paul said,

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