THE . KING’S BUSINESS 847 The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the recog- nized earthly heads of the Church of England, sent
A Pastoral
Letter out a letter at Whitsuntide, which is worthy to be deeply pondered by all Christians, whether they be long to that communion or some other, and whether they belong tp that land or some other. The following excerpts are made from the letter. It is the office of the Church of Christ, to'quicken and to guide the spir itual forces on which 'the strength, the steadfastness and the nobility :of the national spirit depend. , , We are girding ourselves afresh for the material conflict, and tor pro- • viding whatever is needed to insure its full and final success, but we lack de termination and persistence in the output of our spiritual force. Foremost therein we place unhesitatingly the power of prayer. . . . What we chiefly need at present is not a new appointment of special days or a new set ot pub lished Forms. Rather we want a more literal fulfillment of the plain duty of “continuing instant in prayer.” The duty lies imperatively upon all who profess and call themselves Christians, but it grows incalculably in weight by the solemnity of these tremendous weeks of tense conflict, of crushing bereave ment, and of continuous suspense and strain. Are tjie Christian people of our land putting into the high service of prayer anything like the energy and reso lution, or the sacrifice of time and thought, which in many quarters are forth coming with a ready will for other branches of national service? . Remember alwavs that prayer means something even larger and deeper than asking wisdom 'for our King and his Ministers, protection for our sailors and soldiers, comfort for the anxious and the bereaved, victory for the cause of our Nation and its Allies. Prayer implies a reverent sense of the Sov ereignty of GOD. a hold even when we are bewildered m the darkness and confusion upon the certainty that HE is set in the Thrdne judging right. And prayer means—for without this we dare not come into His presence—the humble deliberate, heart-felt confession of our sins: sms of selfishness and self-indulgence, sins of hardness and complacency, sms of sheer laziness and lack of thought. We have in days of quiet made too little of the claim of God ’ upon our lives. Can we wonder that in stern hours like this it is hard to kindle afresh the deep and simple thoughts which we have allowed to grow laiio-uid and uncertain? But such re-kindling there must be. Give earnest heed to this most sacred of all duties. Set yourselves, even m the midst of exigencies and passions of war, to be loyal to the spirit of Jesus Christ. greatlv blessed. Among these conferences is that at Montrose, Pa., where great emphasis is put upon the prayer life. There are other conferences as large, or even larger, but there is probably none at which there is so large an array of great Bible teachers from both sides of the oceans, who are selected not so much because they are great platform speakers^ as because^ of their ability to make systematic and harmonious Bible teaching interesting and profitable to the average minister and believer. Among the speakers of this year were: Rev. Dr. W. H. Griffith Thomas, formerly of Oxford Uni versity, now of Wycliffe College, Toronto; Dr. A. C. Dixon, of- London; Dr. W. B. Riley, of Minneapolis;' Dr. William Evans, of the Bible Institute, LoS Angeles; Rev. John Mclnnis, Syracuse, and many others. Some of the strongest addresses will appear from time to time in T he K ing ’ s B u sin e ss . We give in this number as our Fundamentals article, the opening address in the course given by Dr. W. H. Griffith Thomas. Summer Conferences for Bible Study and Prayer have become a very prominent feature of and factor in our modern Christian life. They have been more numerous than ever this year, and apparently more Summer Bible Conferences
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