THE K I N G ’S BUS I NE S S attainm en t of everlasting life. When pure Christianity is given th e first place, tru e m orality will always follow. When moral reform s are given th e first piace, Christianity degenerates in to mere hu- m anitarianism . TUESDAY, Aug. 19. Matt. 18:21-35. Duty Toward O thers. The Divine a ttitu d e and action to w ard us should be reflected and re peated in our a ttitu d e and action to w ard others. The golden ru le is good bu t th e Gospel ru le is b etter because it makes Divine grace th e stand ard ra th e r th a n our own desire. “ Be ye kind one to another, tend er-hearted , forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake h ath forgiven you.” Eph. 4:32. To tre a t our fellow men as we would like to have them tre a t us may be safe for them and for us, b u t to deal w ith them as God has d ealt w ith us is pleas ing to God. The servan t in the p ara ble was no t unrighteous b u t ung ra cious. Surely a man ought to pay his debts. If he does not w ant to pay them , should he not be made to pay them ? I t ill becomes a man however who has not been compelled to pay his own debts, to use compulsion to collect those due him. It is commonly sup posed th a t righteousness is th e highest possible stand ard b u t grace is so much higher th a t a man really falls from grace when he acts in righteousness, as did th e servan t in the parable. W hat would become of us if God dealt w ith us according to our deserts? The worldly wise who follow th e David H arum ru le declare-th is doctrine to be subversive of all social stand ard s and destructive of all business success. Be it so. The Word of God calls th e Chris tia n a strang er and a pilgrim . T h at is to say, he is an anachronism in the present age and an anom aly in human society. 1 Cor. 1:25, Acts 17:6. WEDNESDAY, Aug. 20. Jam es 1:19-27 Doers of th e Word. H earing and doing are related not only as antecedent and consequent bu t as cause and effect. In order th a t th is relationship may come into existence, a moral choice and effort is necessary. A sound en ters ear-gate and travels along th e aud ito ry nerve into th e b rain as a sensation. There it is apprehended by the m ind and is transform ed into a perception. The word conveyed a though t which relates itself to other facts of consciousness and passes into
780 Acts 6:7. How many m illions th ere are on earth today! F in ally in heaven th e re are an innum erable m ultitude. Rev. 7:9. The census of heaven cannot be taken. Since no such language is used of th e lost, we may confidently cherish th e hope th a t th e saved will vastly outnum ber the lost. Matt. 7:13- 14 may characterize th e p resen t age when th e church is a little flock and refer to its prevailing tendency. Even so, three-flftlis of th e heathen world die in infancy before reaching m oral ac countability. These are surely saved by the A tonem ent of Christ. Add to th is immense num ber the countless myriads of the m illennial age who are saved in the coming kingdom ; th e relative pro portion between th e saved and th e lost may be th a t of th e en tire population of th e United States compared to th e num ber of crim inals in h er various peniten tiaries. Hell is th e pen iten tiary of th e universe. It was bu ilt no t for matt but for th e Devil and his angels. Matt. 25:41. Heaven is made for man. John 14:2. If a few incorrigible hum an be ings insist on crowding into the Devil’s place of confinement, it is no t God’s fa u lt by any means. If hell is a lake, heaven is an ocean. , C reation is no t a failure, n eith er is redemption. Christ shall yet see of th e trav ail of H is soul and be satisfied. MONDAY, Aug. 18. Duke 10:25-37. Social Responsibility. Moral reform s promote th e same end th a t civil government does. They change th e form of an evil but do not remove it. They help to check the grow th of evil and thu s keep th e world in a tolerable condition. They are no sub stitu te for th e Gospel b u t they per m it a fu ller proclamation of th e Gos pel while restrain in g in p a rt th e mys tery of iniquity. The children of God should tak e th e same a ttitu d e tow ard them as to civil government and give them all th e support th a t is th e ir due, as p artial and tem porary re stra in ts upon existing evils. The danger con nected w ith them is th a t they substi tu te hum an effort for Divine power and encourage th e hope th a t by means of them alone, sin is being p u t away and righteousness is being established in th e earth . The B ible-taught and Spirit- led believer can no t afford to become too much absorbed in them , since they p ertain entirely to th e present age, lest he give, a wrong impression to th e world as to w hat rea l Christianity is, viz., the
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