474
THE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Roman Catholic, or th e P ro testan t, not the Baptist, Methodist, or Presbyterian, hu t th e tru e church, made up !of tru e believers, regardless of th e ir name, working for th e salvation of a lost world. Focused E ffort Means Power.— In th e eighteenth century an immense burning glass was constructed in France, in which all th e heat, falling on a g reat lens, was then concentrated on a smaller one till at the focus such was the heat, th a t iron, gold, and other metals ran like melted b u tter. Another one made in England by P ark er, fused the most refracto ry substances; and dia monds were by it reduced to vapor. Oh, for focused unity among Christians! A traveler found his path through a precipitous ravine blocked by an im mense rock, which, w ith the greatest of his streng th , he could not move. -He sat down, helpless in despair. O thers came along the same road, and each, in his tu rn , draw ing together, they be sought Heaven to aid them. But no voice replied; no ángel appeared to roll away th e stone. And then, as if in spired, one asked, “May we not suc ceed together, where we failed alone?” Before th eir united streng th the b arrier yielded, and left th e way open.—-Lam- menais. Golden Text H lustration.& $'A s the spokes in a wheel become nearer to each other, as they approach th e center, so may we be drawn n earer to Christ, our Common center, and into closer union With each o ther.” If th is golden text was lived out in th e power of th e Holy Spirit, Alexander Campbell’s exhortation would not be needed; for he said, “Let the Bible be sub stitu ted for all hum an creeds; facts, for definitions; things, for words; faith, for speculation; un ity of faith for unity of opinion; the positive- commandments of God, for hum an legislation and tra d i tions; piety, for ceremony; morality, for partisan zeal; th e practice of reli
gion, for th e mere profession of it.” Men ta lk about fra tern al relations, bu t our Lord did not pray th a t they may be one as John and Jam es are one, or as brothers are one, b u t as “Thou and I are one.” You cannot express one God in a split church. A Boy Who Shared. John 6:1-14. Memory Verse.— “ It is more blessed to give th an to receive.” Acts 20:35. Approach.— Do you boys and girls like to go up to th e mountains, or out into th e country? Yes, indeed we all do, and you know when I have tim e to tak e a little trip like BEGINNERS th is it always makes AND PRIMARY me th in k w hat a Mabel L. M errill wonderful Saviour we have to make the beautiful trees and flowers, and hill3 and th e beautiful green grass, and the bubbling, sparkling stream s, and oh, ever so many other things too. Ju s t a sho rt tim e ago I was in th e country where a little stream of w ater ran down through an orchard, and th e w ater was so clear and sparkling as it bubbled over th e rocks, and th e grass on eith er side of th is lovely stream grew so green and beautiful. As I stood watching the w ater in th e sunlight, some little birds came down to drink, and they looked so happy. You know, boys and girls, this little stream made me th ink of our story for today, - because th e little stream shared its w ater w ith th e an i mals and bird s to drink, and ra n down through the orchard w atering th e grass th a t grew along its shores. Ju s t because the stream was giving out, th is kep t its w ater pure and clean. Then I am th ink ing of ano th er place, O so different from th is one. There was a little pool of w ater bu t it was standing still and did not let any of th e w ater flow out to w ater the country round about. Its w ater looked d irty and was covered w ith a green scum. There were no bird s drinking of
Made with FlippingBook HTML5