134
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
•March 1930
upon conduct, but upon the acceptance or rejection of Christ; but for the amount of the reward or the severity o f the punish ment we shall be judged, not only by what we did, but by what we professed. 41— SAT OVER AGAINST THE TREASURY—The gasophulikon, consisting of thirteen chests; nine were for money gifts instead of sacrifices, and for Temple tribute, and four were for free will offerings for Temple use. WAS WATCHING HOW THE CROWD CAST IN MONEY—Little did they dream that He to whom they were making their gifts was watch ing them 1 MANY RICH PERSONS CAST IN MUCH—And no doubt many of them prided themselves upon their fancied liberality, and some made their offerings with much ostentation, that they might be “seen of men,” not only forgetful but careless, meanwhile, of the divine eye. 42— ONE POOR WIDOW—Lonely, widowed, poor! One of the helpless ones referred to in verse 40. What had she to offer? TWO LEPTA, WHICH MAKE ONE QUADRANS— The lepta was the smallest Jewish coin, the quadrans was Roman. The lepta is said to have been worth three farthings and a quadrans three halfpence. With what scorn and contempt both she and her gift would be regarded by the rich donors. But not so by Him who sat over against the treasury watching. 43— THIS WIDOW, THIS POOR ONE, HATH CAST IN MORE, etc.—In spite of her poverty, so that poverty is no bar to offering acceptably in His sight. “More” ; not in human valuation, but in His. Neither of the gifts was, o f course, o f any actual value to Him—no gifts are, for He needs none of them— it was the motive and the actual sacrifice that made the offering of such value in His sight. The Fine Art of Conversation We have noticed in many biographies noble tributes to the conversational powers of good and great men and women of former days. This age excels in many things, but spirited and intelligent conversation is not one of them. If a friend drops in to spend the evening we turn to the radio to help entertain him. A New York newspaper has said that “the members of the Smart Set never get that way by listening to one another.” Let us. not be too hard on the Smart Set, for most of us are nol fountains o f wisdom in our social intercourse. Has conversa tion fallen to such a low ebb because we are too weary to talk? Or is it because we are too indolent? Or is it because we are oo ignorant? Whatever the reason our age is losing much. Entertainment is a poor substitute for conversation.— IVnlchnian- Examiner. m |p5| The Master Sculptor The story is told of a sculptor who worked on a piece of beautiful marble but only marred and spoiled it. He became discouraged and .abandoned his work. Finally, the mutilated block of marble was rolled into the back yard, where it remained unnoticed for a long time, exposed to the weather and half hid den by weeds and rubbish. But one day the famous M ichel angelo observed the marble and saw its possibilities. The result was the justly admired statue of young David, the Shepherd-lad. with sling in hand and stone in sling in the act of hurling the missile which laid Goliath low. But; this beautiful statue was carved out of a block of marble that had been marredand thrown aside as useless. Who will say that the great Master Artist of the universe, the Divine Sculptor of human character, can not take our broken and imperfect selves and fashion them into some thing nohle and beautiful if we will let Him?
The Deliverer B y W illiam Q lney
D oubt vexed my soul; And Reason could not bring to me relief: To Christ I yielded up my thought’s control, And He restored, Belief. G uilty was I And all my efforts could not cleanse from guilt: Christ purged me through the Blood of Calvary For helpless sinners spilt. F ear made me His — The fear o f Death and of the great White Throne; But Christ, who died and rose, granted the blis$ To know He could atone. H abit enchained And Resolution could not set me fr e e ; But when I bowed at Jesus’ feet I gained Triumphant liberty. I sought for “ access” but found progress slow; I knew that to “ draw near” would mean soul- rest; And Jesus showed me how. D istance distressed:
W eakness I felt:
I would win souls but knew my feebleness: I looked to Him who can the hard heart melt; He deigned my zvork to bless.
that David’s prophecy has been partially fulfilled (cf. Heb. 10: 12, 13). and through that o f St. John, that the final and perfect fulfillment is yet to come (cf. Rev. 11:15). 37— WHENCE THEN IS HE HIS SON?—It placed the Pharisees in an awkward dilemma; either they must abandon the descent of the Messiah from David, or admit His superior ity to the King. A like difficulty confronts men today, but in many cases they do not seem to be conscious of it. THE GREAT MULTITUDE HEARD HIM GLADLY—Because, in their simplicity, they accepted His teaching without carping or question ; the rulers, in their subtelty and fancied wisdom, only caviled at it. The man who cavils, carps, criticizes the divine revelation, will never arrive at the comprehension of the truth. 38- 40—There were three evil characteristics in these scribes: (a ) ambition; they desired the chief seats in the synagogues, and at the feasts; (b) avarice; they devoured widows’ houses, either by the imposition o f excessive religious taxes or by inducing the widows to minister to theii; necessities; (c) they covered all this evil with great and hypocritical show of external piety, wearing long sweeping robes with phylacteries and tassels o f extra size, and making long prayers in public (cf. Matt. 6:5; 23:5, 14). LONG PRAYERS—It is not long prayers, but fervent ones, that God desires. THESE SHALL RECEIVE THE MORE RIG OROUS JUDGMENT—Salvation or damnation does not depend
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter