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T H E K IN G ’S BUS INESS MOTTO: "I, the Lord, do keep it, I will water it every moment, lest any hurt it, l will keep it night and day. ■ .................................i-n .... . ■■= Isa. 27:3 • PUBL ISH ED M O N T H L Y B Y TH E EUv. T . C . H O R T O N , Editor in Chief BIBLE IN S T I T U T E OF LOS A N G E L E S Rev. KEITH L. B R O O K S. Managing Editor Entered as Second-Class Matter November 17, 1910, at the Post Office at Los Angeles, California under the A ct o f March 3, 1879 ■ Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, A ct of October 3, 1917 authorized October 1, 1918.
Ju ly, 1920. __________________________Number 7 CONTENTS
Volume X I
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Editorials: Talking vs. Toil (635) Tlie Real Christ (637) It Made No Difference (638) A Flagrant Falsehood (638) Brethren, Pray for Us (639) Do You Know? (649) The Power Behind (640) World-Into-the-Church Movement (641) Sentence Sermons (643) Marriage and Divorce—By Dr. A. C. Dixon (645) What Jesus Taught About Money— By Dr. A. T, Pierson (647) Salvation of the Household—By Rev. B. Davidson (652) Notes on the Jews and Prophecy (656) Homiletical Helps (658) Spirit of Truth and Spirit of Error (660)
Thoughts for the Unsaved (663) Bible Institute Happenings (664) Evangelistic Stories (667) Daily Devotional Headings-—By Dr. F. W. Farr (701) Good Books (709)
Fundamental Studies— By T. C. Horton (710) Perils in Africa—By Dr. Chas. Hurlburt (715) *®-Help us put the K. B. in the hands of needy Christian workers. PLEASE When sending subscriptions, address correspondence to Office of The King’s Business, Bible Institute of Los Angeles, 536-55S South Hope Street. Checks may be made payable to Bible Institute of Los Angeles. Do not make checks or money orders to individuals connected with the Bible Institute. Y E A R S U B S C R IP T IO N P R IC E— In the United States and Its Possessions and Mexico, and points in the Central American Postal Union, $1.00 per year. In all other foreign countries, including Canada, $1.24. (5c. ad.) Single copies 10 cents. See expiration date on the wrapper, BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES 536-558 South Hope Street - - - • - Los Angeles, California O N L Y O N E D O L L A R A
A PRACTICAL PROPOSITION You are entitled to know WHERE and HO^X^ your money is used in the Lord’s work.
INSURE YOUR INVESTMENTS FOR THE LORD The world is the field. The work is definite. W hat the Lord has laid upon your heart to do with your funds you should have the joy o f doing, and we will gladly help you to do this by giving you the benefit o f our years o f experience in studying the world field, the work and the workers. W e are in touch with missionary enterprises in this and other lands, where loyal-hearted men and women are laboring with unfeigned faith in the whole W ord o f G od , and with unfail ing devotion to the souls o f the lost. Don’t waste a penny! Make it go as far and as fast as you can in the saving o f souls out o f a ruined world. W e will joyfully serve you in the matter without any charge, and put you in touch with dependable agents and agencies. Write us for any desired particulars. OPPORTUNITY SPELLS OBLIGATION
BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES. T. C. Horton, Superintendent.
T k e Enter-Ckurck-Into-The-W orld M ovem ent
T A L K IN G vs . Toiling More than a hundred years ago Thomas Jefferson said : “ I served with Gen. Washington in the Legislature of Virginia, before the Revolution, and, during it, with Dr. Franklin in Congress. I never heard either of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the main point, which was to decide the question. “ They laid their shoulders to the great points, knowing that the little ones would follow of themselves. If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it he otherwise, in a body to which the people send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour? That one hundred and fifty lawyers should do business together ought not to he expected.” Is not the Church a little over burdened with “ talk-fests” ? Has it not too many wise men, burdened and bowed down with an insatiate desire to tell thé dear people how to run the Church? They call themselves specialists. Many of these dear brethren have never run anything successfully excepting their ideas. Their heads are full of theories. They have wonderful “ talk- fests.” They can talk by the hour. They toil not neither do they spin” excepting the spinning of their theories. The Church is long on specialists who are prepared to tell us how to do it. We need some illus trations showing us how it has been done. This everlasting talking business gets on our nerves ; it has the sound of brass and the tinkling cymbal, and the brass is there good and plenty. We love you dear brethren, but time is short, and souls are dying, and we must be honest with you. We are tired nigh unto death with your telling us how to do it. Won’t you please take up a job and show us. The Message
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THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NE S S says, “ Go work in my vineyard” . You have been telling us about the vacant fields, now take a vacation from the “ talk-fest” , and try the “ work-fest” awhile and give us a little “ rest-fest”-, and when you have made good in some real “ test-fest” , come back and we promise you a real good time at a festival. —T. C. H. F inancing Salvation It is helpful, sometimes, to see ourselves as others see us and the secular newspapers often prove good photographers of the Church. The Los Angeles Times in a recent issue had an editorial on ‘ ‘ Financing Salvation” which had a little iron in it, as well as some irony. It was com menting on the big, newsy advertisements of the Inter-Church Movement. We wish we could give the whole editorial, hut must content ourselves with a few extracts which evidence its trend: _ “We have all heard about the campaign drive due April 25th to raise a few hundred million dollars for Christian salvation. * * * The thirty Christian denominations represented are not exactly united on little matters of creed and ceremony; our souls are still offered an embarrassment of choice of ways and means; but they speak as one voice in exhorting us to ‘come through’ with the filthy lucre, by which alone the simple creed of Jesus and His humble fishermen disciples can be perpetuated. In short, religion has decided to adopt the methods of big business and brilliant financial co-operation, whatever its other multi tudinous differences may be. Our Christian pastors and masters tell us, vide the advertisements, that ‘nothing but millions can buy salvation for a world torn with war’, and they are probably right, since that same world which we are told ‘a shaft of light has struck’ boasts few humble carpenters and fishermen to renounce all worldly comforts, to follow a possessionless Master today. * * * These expensive advertisements teem with ironical truths. They demand ‘In America we must have Sunday School experts, 'Bible teachers, skilled fishers of men.’ How very far we have travelled from the simplicity of Jesus, from the Sermon On the Mount, from that sublime doctrine, free and gratis for all who cared to take. They, say ‘The realization of humanity’s need for Christ at this time has followed with sudden, blinding brilliance, not unlike that which came to Saul of Tarsus’. But Sauls of Tarsus seem to be peculiarly rare. Rather are they forsaking the ministry on all sides because of the meager worldly reward entailed. Nothing but millions can lure them back or create new Sauls. Our modern Sauls don’t accrue without expert training and the promised reward of high salaries. * * * Every item in these expensive advertisements is quite logical. One cannot take issue with a single assertion. They all rec k of efficient promise; of indubitable statements as to conditions and needed reforms. And yet, somehow, they leave us with a feeling of irony that Christianity should have come to such a pass. Per haps it is due to the glaring omission of exhortation to our spiritual duty— only our financial duty is emphasized. We are not asked to each and every one of us constitute ourselves a personal missionary without pay. We are not asked to examine the condition of our own souls, our own lives, our own spiritual prac tices. We are only exhorted to pay for the religious education of others; the religious improvement of others. There are numerous paragraphs beginning “ Your money will buy * * * etc.’ explaining just, how much other people’s service it will buy. In fact there is a general impression of buying ourselves off from personal duties other than money. ‘We must continue to send out men and women who will carry the Christ-life into their businesses, their recreations and their homes.’ Send other people out, you see; not necessarily be those other people ourselves. * * * They will raise their hundred millions and doubtless we shall all give, just as we have always given,—but unless most of us take our Christianity more per-
THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NE S S 637 sonallv and individually, unless we recognize a few other requirements in ourselves besides fu rn to llg the money, our deputed Christianity isn’t going to do the world much good, and our financial credit won’t cut much ice in Heaven. — T. C. H. T h e REAL Christ Dr R A Torrey, Pastor of the Church of the Open Door of Los Angeles has been giving a remarkable series of Sunday morning sermons on the “ Real Christ” , covering the following themes: His holiness; His love to God- His love for His fellowmen; His love for souls; His compassion; His meekness; His humility; His manliness; His optimism; His prayerfulness Every sermon was bulwarked with the Scriptures, and great audiences ol people listened Sunday after Sunday to these vivid pictures, going away refreshed in soul and with larger apprehension of the Lord. We could not but wish that some of our friends of the gospel who speak so much of “ The Larger Christ” , could have heard them. g 1 There can be no “ Larger Christ” . He is God manifest m the flesh. He is the Creator. All things were made by Him and for Him. Men use meaningless terms when they speak of, “ The Larger Christ . What the church needs is a larger conception of the “ Real Christ. A better knowl edge of Him, a more definite realization of Him. We need to know Him better, to walk and talk and live with Him. It is wonderful how He grows upon us as He grows in us. Wonderful how the Holy Spirit loves to .take the things of Jesus and show them unto us, how He loves to bring His words to our remembrance, how He loves to glorify Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord to us. , , „ I „ I The more we know about Him the more wonderful He becomes to us, and the better we love Him. If we permit His Holy Spirit to have His way,
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THE K I N G ’S BU S I NE S S He will make Him seem to us, “ The chiefest among ten thousand and the One all together lovely. ’ ’ If the Real Christ could be lifted up in every pulpit in our land, how He would draw people to Him, and how the tide would turn, and it would not he possible for men of God like Bishop Rhinelander, of Philadelphia, to say that, “ The United States as a nation has turned away from Christ.” Him up ! Lift Him up ! And if you do lift Him up, in the pulpit, in the Sunday School, in the home, in the busy mart of trade, by lip and life you will see a tide flowing in toward the Real Christ. __T. C. H. •$!£. ¿We. ^ I T M A D E N o Difference Here is a newspaper that says, “ We are pleased to report that the storm that blew down th e ................. ........ ........ . Church did no serious damage to the town.” Probably the reporter was just a bit careless about his diction but the item just as it stands should give us a thought. What about your church? If it should blow down or burn up, would it make any difference? Would the devil’s crowd rejoice? Does it stand for anything in the community ? Is it out and out against the things of the world, the flesh and the devil in the town? Is it fulfilling its divine mission or is it sort of a religious club ? Here is a statement just received from a Southern California Baptist pastor who says that by a vote of the deacons of the church the following resolutions were presented to the church and approved. This is the kind of a church the devil does not like. Would that its kind might be multiplied in these days of great church worldly movements. RESOLUTIONS mTTTriy'^iT,f,ralise 9 0d for adding t0 our church those that have renounced the THEATRE, together with the MOVIES, CARDS, the DANCE, and TOBACCO with other compromising practices. J Thf ug?1 the world may persecute such clean Christians, it does not respect the profession of God’s children that indulge in these worldly amusements .£ Our experience teaches us that these weights and handicaps not only prevent the believer from reckoning himself dead to the one manner of life, but they ensnare and drag him into backsliding. Though these fleshly indulgences are growing in popularity, Spirit-filled,.soul winning brethren have a keen healthy conscience against these things They produce a distaste for prayer-meeting and Bible study. They beget an indifference to the peril of the lost. They destroy intimate communion with Christ. They seal the lips of Christian testimony. God is planning to make this church different from the Laodicean type that prevails m these latter days. He is calling us to be a body separated unto Himself, filled with His joy and power. Therefore we strongly advise our loved fellowmembers to renounce all these forms of disloyal worldliness, in order that they and the church may not grieve God’s, but rather be filled with the Holy Spirit.. " l S —K. L. B. j&S? A F L A G R A N T Falsehood One of those six hundred dollar advertisements in a secular paper with a picture of our Lord in the carpenter’s shop, and underneath the words,
THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NE S S 639 “ Think what Labor owes to Him” , carrying a camouflaged appeal for funds from the working men, and written by some paid advertising agent who knew nothing about the Bible, contained one of the most blasphemous lies we have ever seen when it said,—speaking of our Lord, “ He spoke a phrase that flamed with power, ‘ You are the Sons of God’, He told them” . This is an infamous lie calculated to deceive the working men. Christ never spoke any such words, never any words that could by any means sug gest such a thought. Nor does the Bible anywhere suggest that any were sons of God, save those who become children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. He did say to the rulers, “ Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” He did say, “ He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Every dollar obtained by this advertisement from the working men or from the so-called “ friendly citizens” who dwell in “ No Man’s Land” , was obtained under false pretenses and would entitle one to have the authorities who authorized the advertisement printed arrested, and any sober minded judge would be justified in sending them to prison. A great and grievous wrong has been done to our fellow men and there will be a fruitage of untold sorrow as a result. What would happen were one of these men to go into a church where the real Gospel of the Son of God was preached and the minister should have for his text, “ The wages of sin is death,” or, “ The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God,” or “ In hell he lifted up his eyes being in torment,” or “ He that believeth on the Son hath life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on Would he not be justified in condemning the preacher and the church and shaking the dust off his feet as a testimony against them? This is all the result of the money-mad craze which has possessed the leaders. Look out for the reaction. —T. C. H. jpsg Uir JSs? Jiè B rethren , Pmy for us We are distinctly commanded to pray for ministers, that doors of utter ance may be opened to them (Gal. 4:3), that they might speak boldly (Eph. 6 -19 20), that they might be clothed with righteousness (Ps. 132:9) and that the word spoken might be glorified (2 Thess. 3 :1). There are probably few people in these days who pray for the minister as much as they criticise and if the ministers are thus neglected, what about the Christian editors? Through the progress of the printing art the possibilities for doing good or evil through the printed page have become tremendous. Probably more people are being touched through the printed page than by the voices of preachers. In the case of many of our religious periodicals the congregation of the editor amounts to hundreds of thousands of people a month—more than even the greatest minister is able to reach. The editor’s words go directly into the homes and reach every member of the family who reads. Printed words are more likely to be carefully considered than words uttered in haste. The thoughts are permanently set forth so there can be no mistake as to the meaning. The words may be re-read until the mind grasps them.
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THE KI NG' S BUS I NE S S What are these editors giving the people? How important that they use words of wisdom and truth and that they waste no words in these busy days. Oh, Christian, pray for the editors that doors of utterance for vital things may be opened to them, that they may write in love, yet without fear or favor, that they may be clothed with righteousness and that the word written might be glorified. Hear the call of Christian editors, Brethren, pray for us. __K. L. B. Do Y O U Know ? That the devil is playing a big game in these last days, playing it in the world and in the Church ? Do you know that the devil is seeking to destroy the faith of men, women and children in God’s Holy Word? Do you know that the devil is using some officials of high standing in the Church to accomplish his devilish work? Do you know that some of the devil’s agents,—infidels—are filling the pulpits of so-called orthodox churches? Do you know that it is a rare thing to find a school, college or seminary where the devil is not at work, through the professors, injecting the virus of doubt and denial of the Word of God into the minds and hearts of our youth and making them an easy prey to every false system? Do you know that in heathen lands the enemies of the truth are begin ning to eliminate the men who are sound in faith and doctrine, and to install Bible-denying men in their place ? Do you know that many of the so-called church papers are controlled and edited by Satanic sooth sayers whose writings are inspired of Satan, and designed to shipwreck the souls of the readers ? Do you know that much of the so-called Sunday School literature pre pared for teachers and scholars dishonors God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit, and will produce a harvest of tares ready for the burning ? Do you know that crime is on the increase in this land of ours in such terrible proportion that the statistics would startle you from your fanciful dreams and false hopes ? Do you know that there is a cloud bigger than a man’s hand, which spiritual eyes can see, hovering over the earth and which portends an on coming storm which will bring sorrow and desolation to a sin cursed world? Do you know that, knowing all of these facts, God expects you to stand fast in the faith and to use all of your God given powers to save something out of the ruined and wrecked world, and that He will hold you responsible for doing this ? What are you going to do about it? When are you going to start? —T. C. H. s k g&y T H E P O W E R Behind the Throne “ Our Sunday Visitor,” a Roman Catholic paper published at Hunting- ton, Ind., recently quoted Vice President Marshall as follows:
THE KI NG ' S BUS I NE S S 641 “ There is a religious communion which venerates and worships a type of woman—The Blessed Virgin. It delights me to consider her the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of God incarnate upon the earth. I do not myself happen to be a communicant of that great church; but I hope I shall be violating none of the proprieties, when I say that the feelings of those com municants from the divine standpoint have appealed to me from the human standpoint. * * She, the typical mother of all time, has glorified and beauti fied and made sacred motherhood in all the ages. But particularly has she made sacred that motherhood, which for a cause, in which the son believes,, has been ready and willing that the son should give up his life, his fortune and his sacred honor to the accomplishment of his noble ideal.” (Address at Convention of War Mothers.) The editor says that Mr. Marshall understands the Catholic principle. It seems strange that Mr. Marshall, who is supposed to be a man set for the defense of the true Gospel, should be dishing out soft soap of this kind to the Romanists, and especially in view of the fact that the Roman church has such a strangle hold upon our government. Perhaps he has not been correctly quoted. No doubt the Roman influence is so powerful that it compels the homage of many of those in authority, but surely those who believe in the Bible, ought to stand up for their convictions or at least refrain from giving the Romanists encouragement. In England, Wm. E. Gladstone pointed out that the Roman church had entered upon a new and dangerous policy, namely an attempt to gain con trol of all the civil governments of the world, a power it had exercised dur ing the dark ages; and as a means to the desired end the Vatican council had asserted an enlarged power of the pope over his subjects in every land, com manding them to obey him whenever he should claim to exercise civil power. In America, Abraham Lincoln said: “ I do not pretend to be a prophet, but I see a very dark cloud on our horizon, and that cloud is coming from Rome. It is filled with tears and blood. The true motive power is secreted behind the walls of the Vatican, the colleges and schools of the Jesuits, the convents and the nuns and the confessional boxes of Rome.” The man who shot Lincoln was a Catholic. The man who shot Roose velt was a Catholic. The man who shot McKinley was a Catholic. The man who shot Garfield was a Catholic. Isn’t it about time the Protestant voters of this country did a little meditating on the words of Gladstone and Lincoln? —K. L. B. ^> 642 THE K I N G ’ S BU S I NE S S world. Of course the Lord Jesus said, “ Love not the world neither the things which are in the world” , but it is such a different kind of a world now, so kindly, cordial and it has such a good standing and so much cash. It seems cruelly narrow to be so old fashioned in this new era. Even a number of ministers of Chicago have petitioned that the bars may be let down a little lower. They say they are human and want a little recreation after the tedious toiling in the preparation of their Sunday essays. They want to throw the dice, stretch their weary limbs in the innocent dance, and sit on the front seat at the vaudeville, and let- the dear people know that they are one with them. There is such a terrible strain upon the poor fel lows, so many committees to look after, and so many wires to pull. The nervous strain is so great, they must have a change lest their shattered nerves give way and the pulpit be vacant and the dear flock without the “ weakly” food ! We have been misunderstood by the world." They have imagined that we were a strait laced, long faced, severe, sober lot of people. We must show them that we are just like themselves, a jolly bunch, loving to dance and play cards and see the shows. We want them to understand that they won’t have to give up anything, just come in and be one with us. We must have money to make things go, and to get money we must have members, and we know now from our good preachers that we are all the Sons of God, brothers and sisters, you know 1 When we get the world in, we will pad our rolls, and pay the preacher, and having established good and hearty rela tions we can go on together to------ ? —T. C. H. THE PRICE OF TH IS M A G A Z IN E We are still trying to hold out against the price-boosting movement that is going on all about us. We are giving today far more actual Bible material for $1 a year than some other papers of the same nature are giving for $2. Some of these papers have raised their rates twice in the last year, and while they have increased the size of their publications somewhat, the extra space has been absorbed by extra advertising. Many people have complimented us for holding to the popular price of $1, and some are asking how we can do it. We are going to be frank with our readers. We are doing it by facing a deficit every month in spite of the practice of strict economy and of hard work on the part of our office force. Those who contribute to the work of the Bible Institute help us to keep sowing the seed through The King’s Business. We have an increas ing conviction that no step should be taken that would limit the testimony for the Truth in these days. It is not a question of money. God has richly blessed our message to both saints and sinners, and we feel we ought to trust Him to supply all needs, and to continue to forge ahead. One change only we will make. Single copies, beginning July 1, wilt be 15 cents instead of 10 cents. The subscription price, $1 (in U. S.) w>ll remain the same. The actual printing cost of our last issue was 10 cents per copy, aside from all other expenses. We feel therefore that friends who desire extra copies will willingly pay 15 cents per copy. Friend-—we need your prayers and some very substantial aid beside. We want to widen our testimony. Our subscribers, from the standpoint alone of an opportunity to do something definite for Jesus Christ, should be willing to take hold and help us in this. Will you try to get us another subscriber— one of your friends? What the magazine has done in transforming scores of homes, it may do in your friend’s home. It may bring them an entirely new vision. Loan your copy; do a little talking for us, and if they do not come through with a subscrip tion, why not send it to them as a gift? This is the way to help us—-and its the Lord’s work. KEITH L. BROOKS, Managing Editor. Men measure a gift by its value to the receiver. God measures it by its value to the giver. Men may be able to polish men, but only God can cleanse men. What God does not give, man can never gain. What God does give, man can still lose. Hatred of Satan is a part of religion; but the under part. Love of God is the upper. He who clings to life has not yet re signed his own will. He who courts death has not yet submitted to God’s will. By doing wrong you become God’s debtor. By suffering wrong you become God’s creditor. In prosperity men ask too little of God. In adversity, they are apt to ask too much. Without God all is a riddle. With God, all is not yet intelligible, but what is intelligible, is at least intelligent. The godly are apt to err in thinking that they can know all about God. The ungodly err in thinking they can know nothing about God. By realizing our unworthiness of God’s love, we become worthy thereof. We must come to God as children if we are to walk as men. Men may draw the color line at black, yellow and brown, but God draws it only at scarlet. To be delivered from all fear, we must have but one fear— of God. The fool’s problem is solved when he is satisfied with himself. The wise man’s problem is not solved till he is satisfied with God. The freest man is he who is made a captive of Christ and then is captivated by Christ. Two things hide the stars; the clouds of the night, the light of day. Two things hide God; deep adversity, liigh prosperity. Sandal wood imparts its fragrance even to the axe that cuts it down, so true piety praises God even for His judg ments. To fear pain is natural. To fear pleasure is supernatural. The sorrow that runs easily to tears is apt to run off as easily as tears. It is the empty boiler that explodes* not the full one. The work of tears is not yet done until they veil our eyes to other’s faults and open them to our own. It is not the water without the ship that sinks it, but the water within the ship. That the smallest cloud hides the stars from us is due not to their small ness but to ours. The ills of life, nine times out of ten, are our invited guests, and then we pro ceed to eject them as intruders. The sharpest thing of sorrow is the question, why MUST it be thus? But sorrow is meant to teach us not to ques tion. The lightning is brightest when the clouds are darkest. Calamities are the fires kindled by a merciful God for consuming the rub bish we have not courage or zeal enough to burn ourselves. It is the severe scouring that shows whether the pot is gold or only gilded. He is truly rich who has nothing left to be deprived of. Pure faith can dwell only in a pure heart. Shells you may find on the beach, but for pearls you must dive. Marriage and Divorce As Taught by Christ What Does the Marriage Relationship Mean in the Light of Scripture? And How Can it be Broken? Bj> DR. A . C. DIXON Bible Institute of Los Angeles woman by divine institution and divine act, joining them in a relation closer and more binding than the relation between parent and child, SO UNIFIES HUSBAND AND WIFE THAT THEY CEASE TO BE TWO AND BECOME ONE FLESH. Jesus declares that they are no more two but one flesh. (Matt. 19:6). I do not know all that this means, but it plainly teaches the duality of husband and wife, and makes this duality the unit of home life, treating husband and wife never as individuals but as one. The duality of husband and wife makes a living or ganism, of which Paul says the husband is the head and the wife is the body. T o1 unmarry them is to destroy this living organism; and that is murder. The word “asunder” is very suggestive. Some early Christians were “sawn asuhder” and that is the kind of work the divorce courts are doing. They are sawing asunder those who in God’s sight are organically one and are thus murdering the home life of our land. 5. The marriage of one man and one woman by divine institution and divine act, joining them in a relation closer and more binding than the relation between parent and child and so unifying them as to make them no longer two but one flesh, CAN BE DISSOLVED ONLY BY DEATH. When under the orange blossoms you pledge before God and man to take each other “for better or worse till death do you part”, you echo the teaching of Christ. Jesus says: “It hath been said, who soever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement. But I say unto you that whosoever shall put HE message of our Lord Jesus Christ concerning marriage is five-fold. 1. and one woman is a DIVINE IN STITUTION. In the beginning The marriage of one man God made them male and female, one man and one woman. (Matt. 19:4). Lamech, the first polygamist, was a descendant of Cain, who founded a civilization of city- building, music and mechanical arts with out any recognition of God, whose au thority he had repudiated, and polygamy, which, like other sins, God endured but never approved, was in direct opposition to His law. 2. The marriage of one man and one woman is not only a divine institution, but a DIVINE ACT, “WHAT GOD HATH JOINED TOGETHER.” (Matt. 19:6). The fact that marriages turn out badly is no proof that God did not have part in the ceremony. The first marriage did not turn out very well. The husband was en ticed, by the wife into sin, and both hus band and wife learned to know what a broken heart means when they stood over the corpse of their son, slain by the mur derous hand of his brother. 3. The marriage of one man and one woman by this divine institution and di vine act JOINS HUSBAND AND WIFE IN A RELATION CLOSER AND MORE BINDING THAN THE RELATION BE TWEEN PARENT AND CHILD. We read in Genesis 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife.” Jesus quotes these words with approval. (Matt. 19:6). 4. The marriage of one man and one 645 THE K I N G ’S BUS I NE S S away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adul tery.” (Matt. 5:31, 32). The word “forni cation” means uncleanness between those who are unmarried and adultery means uncleanness between persons one of whom at least is married. Moses never gave a writing of divorcement in the case of adultery, for the penalty of adultery was death, and there was no exception. “The adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death,” (Lev. 20:10). Jesus at least implied that this was a righteous law when He said, “He that is without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her.” (John 8:7). Turn to the law of Moses in Deut. 24:1 and you will see that the husband was permitted to put away his wife, if she found no favor in his eyes, because he had found some uncleanness in her, which evidently referred to sin committed before marriage. If he discovers that he has married a bad woman he may put her away. But the words of Jesus give no permission to remarry, for the phrase, “her that is divorced” is only one word in the Greek and means “a divorced woman.” So that Jesus really says whosoever shall put away his wife and marry a “divorced woman” committeth adultery. In the light of this law of Moses it is clear that Christ used the word “fornication” in its usual sense of uncleanness before marri age and distinguishes it from adultery, as is done in Matt. 15:19, Mark 7:21 and Galatians 5:19. Moses gave writing of divorcement only to the man who dis covered after marriage that he had married a bad woman and for that rea son she found no favor in his eyes, and when released she might marry again, if any man, now knowing her character, as it had been revealed by the divorce pro ceedings, should see fit to take her for his wife. But even this, Jesus declares, was due to the hardness of their hearts .and not to any commandment of God. “ But from the beginning it was not so.” (Matt. 19:8). Jesus appeals from the temporary concession of Moses to the eternal law of God. In the beginning God made them male and female, one man and one woman, and there was no provision for divorce. The Pharisees asked, “Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement?” Jesus, replied: “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives.” God suffers evil to exist which He does not approve and Moses acted on the same principle. Christians, however, are not to govern their conduct by the evils which God suffers but by the law which He gives. The Universal Law Matthew’s Gospel, written specially for the Jews, mentions the one exception which Moses “suffered” on account of the hardness of their hearts, but when Mark and Luke write for the Gentiles there is no mention of any exception, but a plain statement of the teachings of Jesus con cerning marriage and divorce. “Whoso ever putteth away his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shail put away her hus band and be married to another she com mitteth adultery.” “Whosoever putteth away his wife and marrieth another com mitteth adultery, and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.” These words give us the law of God for all ages. There may be divorce for adultery and it may be wise to separate for other causes, but remarriage NEVER, and thus the way is open to repentance and reunion. God pleads with adulterous Israel and prom ises to receive her back if she will only repent. And when sin has broken up the home it is possible for repentance and re generation to restore it, but such a possi bility is forever precluded by remarriage. In Ephesians 5:25-32 Christ is revealed as the husband “who loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanc tify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might pre sent it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.” He and His bride are one body, never to 646 THE K I N G ’S BUS I NE S S be “put asunder.” Have you said “yes” to Christ in response to the appeal of His love and thus become His spiritual bride? If so, He will supply all your need on earth and at last take you to the home prepared in heaven. JONAH STILL AT HOME The editor of “ Life” makes a pointed comment regarding a Chicago Univer sity professor’s tirade against the story of Jonah. He says: Professor Richard G. Moulton, editor of the Modern Reader’s Bible and pro fessor of literature in English in the University of Chicago, has recently been getting himself disliked among the or thodox. He is reported as having said that the story of Jonah is “ utterly de void of truth,” and that “ it is one of the worst printed books in the world.” The charge, that the story of Jonah is devoid of truth, is, of course, most ser ious. But then, critical people have doubted Santa Claus, and it has not seemed to make much difference. Jonah will be with us for some time yet. BUT WHAT’S IN A NAME? Now that the nation is dry, an enter prising dopeologist has compiled the fol lowing for the benefit of the disconsolate “ wets” : Rye, N. Y.; Bourbon, I1JL; Green River, Ky.; Cliquot, Mo.; Champaign, 111.; Brandy Keg, Ky.; Brandy Camp, Pa.; Brandy City, Cal-; Port, Okla.; Sherry, Tex.; Brandywine, Va.; Gin, Miss.; Wine, Va.; Tank, Pa.; Booze, Tenn.; Drinker, Pa.; Aqua, Va.; Vichy, Mo., and Lithia, Fla. Take your choice. —-The Wheeling Register. ate ate IT’S EASY Said a minister recently: “ Brethren you can raise $100,000,000 dollars easier than you can get 100 prea chers to pray.” ALL IN ONE DAY'S MAIL Baptist Ministe;rs Pro and Con From a Baptist Pastor at Cambridge, Mass. From a Baptist Pastor at Augusta, Ga. Dear Sir: Dear Sir: Your June number is so good that I am very anxious to place a number of copies in the hands of our people. I am writing to ask that you send me, if pos sible twenty-five copies. I will thank you just to mail me the bill, upon receipt of which I will mail you check to cover same. Fraternally yours, Hugh S. Wallace. Your utterly unchristian paper is a fine exhibition of the apocalyptic mind. I wonder how any reasonable man could produce such a slanderous sheet and call himself a Christian. Some weak brother sends the paper to me. and I put it where it belongs, in the waste basket. Very Truly Yours, Dr. Elmer W. Powell. This man puts the King’s Business in the waste basket. This man puts The King’s Business in the hands of his people. WHERE DO YOU PUT IT? Wkat Jesus Ckrist Taugnt About Money The Scriptural Plan of Giving— a Contrast to Some Modern Day Money Raising Methods By DR. A . T. PIERSON O UR Lord’s teachings as to money gifts, if obeyed, would forever ban ish all limitations on church work and all concern about supplies. These teachings áre radical and revolutionary. So far are they from practical accept ance that, although perfectly explicit, they seem more like a dead language that has passed out of use than like a living tongue that millions know and speak. Yet, when these principles and precepts of our Lord on giving are col lated and compared, they are found to contain the materials of a complete ethi cal system on the subject of money, its true nature, value, relation and use. Should these sublime and unique teach ings be translated into living, the effect not only upon benevolent work, but upon our whole spiritual character, would be incalculable. Brevity compels us to be content with a simple outline of this body of teaching, scattered through the four Gospel narratives, but gathered up and methodically presented by Paul in that exhaustive discussion of Chris tian giving in 2 Cor. 8 and 9. I. The Principle o f Stewardship The basis of Christ’s teaching about money is the fundamental conception of stewardship. (Luke 12:42; 16:1-8) Not only money, but every gift of God, is received in trust for His use. Man is not an owner, but a trustee, managing another’s goods and estates, God being the one original and inalienable Owner of all. The two things required of stew ards are that they be “ faithful and wise,” that they study to employ God’s gifts with fidelity and sagacity—fidelity so that God’s entrustments be not per verted to self-indulgence; sagacity, so that they be converted into as large gains as possible. This is a perfectly plain and simple basal principle, yet it is not the accepted foundation of our money-making and using in the Church today. n . The Principle of Investment In our Lord’s teachings we find this kindred principle of investment: “ Thou oughtest to have put my money to the exchangers” (Matt. 25:27). Money changing and investing is an old busi ness. The “ exchangers,” as Luke ren ders, are the bankers, the ancient Trap- ezitae, who received, money on deposit and paid interest for its use, like mod ern savings institutions. The argument of our Lord refutes the unfaithful ser vant on his own plea, which his course showed to be not an excuse, but a pre text. It was true that he dared not risk trading on his own account; why not, without such risk, get a moderate interest for his Master by lending to professional traders? It was not fear but sloth that lay behind his unfaith fulness and unprofitableness. Thus indirectly is taught the valuable lesson that timid souls, unfitted for bold and independent service in behalf of the kingdom, may link their incapacity to the capacity and sagacity of others who will make their gifts and possessions of use to the Master and His Church. Hi. The Subordination o f Money Another most important principle is ithe subordination of money, as em phatically taught and illustrated in the rich young ruler. (Matt. 19:16-26.) This narrative, rightly regarded, pre- 648 sents no enigma. With all his attrac tive traits, this man was a slave. Money was not his servant, hut his master; and because God alone is to he supreme, our Lord had no alternative. He must de molish this man’s idol, and when He dealt a blow at his money the idolatry became apparent, and the slave of greed went away sorrowful, clinging to his idol. It was not the man’s having great possessions that was wrong, but that his possessions had the man; they possessed him and controlled him. He was so far the slave of money that he could not and would not accept freedom by the breaking of its fetters. His “ trust” was in riches— how could it be in God? Behind all disguises of respectability and refinement, God sees many a man to be an abject slave, a victim held in bonds by love of money; but covetous ness is idolatry, and no idolater can en ter the kingdom of God. How few rich men keep the mastery and hold money as their servant, in absolute subordina tion to their own manhood, and the mas terhood of the Lord! IV. The Law of Recompense We ascend a step higher, and consider our Lord’s teaching as to the law of recompense. “ Give, and it shall be given unto you” (Luke 6:38). We are taught that getting is in order to giving, and consequently that giving is the real road to getting. God is an economist. He entrusts larger gifts to those who use the smaller well. Perhaps one rea son of our poverty is that we are so far slaves of parsimony. The future may reveal that God has been withholding from us because we have been with holding from Him. It can scarcely be said by any careful student of the New Testament that our Lord encourages His disciples to look or ask for earthly wealth. Yet it is equally certain that hundreds of devout souls who have chosen voluntary poverty for His sake have been entrusted with im mense sums for His work. George Mul- THE KI NG ' S BUS I NE S S ler conducted for over sixty years en terprises requiring at least some hun dred and twenty-five thousand dollars a year. Note also the experiences of William Quarrier and Hudson Taylor, and D. L. Moody and Dr. Barnardo. Such servants of God, holding all as God’s, spending little or nothing for self, were permitted to receive and use millions for God, and in some cases, like Mul ler’s, without any appeal to men, look ing solely to God. This great saint of Bristol found, in a life that nearly rounded out a century;-that it was safe to give to God’s purposes the last penny at any moment, with the perfect assur ance that more would come in before another need should arise. And there was never one failure for seventy years! V. Superior Blessedness Kindred to this law of recompense is the law of superior blessedness. “ It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Paul quotes this as a saying of our Lord, but it is not to he found ’in either of the Gospel narra tives. "whether he meant only to indi cate what is substantially our Lord’s teaching, or was preserving some pre cious words of our Great Teacher, other wise unrecorded, is not important. It is enough that this saying has the au thority of Christ. Whatever the blessed ness of receiving, that of giving belongs to a higher plane. Whatever I get, and whatever good it brings to me, I only am benefited; but what I give brings good to others— to the many, not the one. But, by a singular decree of God, what I thus surrender for myself for the sake of others comes back even to me in larger blessing. It is like the moisture which the spring gives out in streams and evaporation, returning in showers to supply, the very channels which filled the spring itself. VI. Computation by Comparison We rise a step higher in considering God’s law of computation. How does He reckon gifts? Our Lord teaches us 649 THE K I N G ’S BUS I NE S S that it is by comparison. No one nar rative is more telling on this theme than that of the poor widow who dropped into the treasury her two mites. The Lord Jesus, standing near, watched the offerings cast into the treasury. There were rich givers that gave large amounts. There was one poor woman, a widow, who threw in two mites, and He declared her offering to be more than any of all the rest, because, while they gave out of a superfluity she gave out of a deficiency— they of their abund ance, she of her poverty. She who cast her two mites into the sacred treasury, by so doing became rich in good works and in the praise of God. Had she kept them she had been still only the same poor widow. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And the two mites “ make a farthing.” He who, as the Superintending Provi dence of nature, watches the fall of a sparrow, so that “ one of them is not forgotten before God,” also, as the Over seer of the treasury, invisibly sits and watches the gifts that are dropped into the chest, and even the widow’s mite is not forgotten. He tells us here how He estimates money gifts—not by what we give, but by what we keep—not by the amount of our contributions, but by their cost in self-denial. This widow’s whole offering counted financially for but a farthing. What could be much more insignificant? But the two mites constituted her whole means of subsistence. The others re served what they needed or wanted for themselves, and then gave out of their superabundance. The contrast is em phatic; she “ out of her deficiency,” they “ out of their supersufficiency.” Not. all giving— so-called— has rich reward. In many cases the keeping hides the giving, in the sight of God. Self-indulgent hoarding and spending spread a banquet; the crumbs fall from the table, to be gathered up and labeled “ charity.” But when the one possession that is dearest, the last trusted resource, is surrendered to God, then comes the vision of the treasure laid up in heaven. VII. Unselfishness in Giving We ascend still higher to the law of unselfishness in giving. “ Do good and lend, hoping for nothing again” (Luke 6:35). Much giving is not giving at all, but only lending or exchanging. He who gives to another of whom he ex pects to receive as much again, is trad ing. He is seeking ¡gain, and is selfish. What he is after is not another’s profit, but his own advantage. To invite to one’s table those who will invite him again, is simply as if a kindness were done to a business acquaintance as a basis for boldness in asking a similar favor when needed. This is reciprocity, and may be even mean and calculating. True giving has another’s good solely in view, and hence bestows upon those who cannot and will not repay, who are too destitute to pay back, and too degraded, perhaps, to appreciate what is done for them. That is like God’s giving to the evil and unthankful. That is the giving prompted by love. To ask, therefore, “Will it pay?” be trays the selfish spirit. He is the noblest, truest giver who thinks only of the bless ing he can bring to another’s body and soul. He casts his bread-seed beside all waters. He hears the cry of want and woe, and is concerned only to supply the want and assuage the woe. This sort of giving shows God-likeness, and by it we grow into the perfection of benevolence. Y lll. Sanctified Giving Our Lord announces also a law of sanctification. “ The altar sanctifieth the gift”— association gives dignity to an offering (Matt. 23:19). If the cause to which we contribute is exalted it en nobles and exalts the offering to its own plane. No two objects can or ought to appeal to us with equal force unless they are equal in moral worth and dignity, and a discerning giver will respond most
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