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blessing a t every possible occasion. One day a parishioner, whose type of mind was different from Payson’s, though t he would block his pasto r by having a feast in a large building of different rooms, w ith th e guests seated -in small groups, quite a p a rt from a central table. His pastor, however, had suspi cion of w h at was being attem pted, and, tru e to his own ideals, arose a t the proper time, said a word about all being one common fam ily of God, though seated a p a rt from one another, men tioned th e goodness of God in providing for all his children alike, and asked all to un ite w ith him in th e rendering of thanks. All did un ite w ith him , and were glad to unite. Even th e parish ioner who had attem p ted to sidetrack his pastor confessed th a t he was glad he had been beaten a t his own game; his pastor was righ t. ADVANCE AND ADVENT A noted preacher crystalized his th e ology of hope in th e word, “The ad vancem ent of th e sons of men is the adv en t of th e Son of Man.” No sane exegesis can adm it such an in terp re tatio n of th e glorious prom ises concern ing th e advent of our Lord. I t is the m arvel of our age th a t th e world does not 'see th a t its progress in invention and m anu factu re has b u t added to th e h o rro r of its conflicts and th a t some power higher th a n th a t of men is needed to m oderate hum an am bition and curb hum an lust.— Robt. M. Russell. THE SET OF THE SAILS “One ship tu rn s E ast and ano th er West W ith th e selfsame winds th a t blow; ’Tis th e set of th e sails and not th e gales Which tells us th e way to go. L ike th e w inds of th e sea are the waves of fate As we voyage along th rough life; ’Tis th e set of th e soul which decides the goal And no t th e calm or th e strife.”
PET ER AND THE PAPACY The P apal claim to supremacy rests m ainly on th e in terp retation of a pas sage of ScriptureJ The claim th a t P eter was th e rock on which th e Church was founded is refu ted by P ete r him self in a le tte r which he left on record, in which he tells us distinctly th a t th e Lord was th e Rock (1 P eter 2:3, 4). So also P au l understood it. The claim th a t P eter was to have successors clothed w ith au th o rity to m ake laws finds not a shred of au th o rity in the New Testam ent. The tex t itself says no t a word about successors in th e Apostolic office, P eter does no t mention any successor in eith er of his epistles and no o ther New T estam ent w riter ever refers to successors. , P eter never assumed au th o rity to m ake any law beyond th e w ritings of the New Testa ment, and in his two epistles he does n o t m ention Pope, P rie st or Confes sional. The same passage which is quoted to give law -making power gives also th e power to release us from obli gations and th e omissions in P e te r’s epistles m ust be in terp reted as a re lease from priestly authority.:—Rev. E, D. Bailey. HOW GOD FINDS USABLE MEN When some one asked Saint Assisi why and how he could accomplish so much, he replied: “This may be why: The Lord looked down from heaven upon the earth and said, ‘Where can I find th e w eakest, th e little st, and meanest man on th e face of th e earth ? Then He saw me and said, ‘Now I ’ve found him and I will work through him ; he won’t be proud of it. He’ll see th a t I am only using him because of his littleness and insignificance.’ ” THE PREACHER WON The New England preacher, Payson. was so convinced of th e desirability of having a blessing asked whenever peo ple ate anything th a t he asked such a
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