102
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
March 1931
rocking with unrest. China is teeming with unrest. In dia is seething with unrest. Palestine is quivering with unrest. All Europe is tossing to and fro with feverish unrest. The whole world is “like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt” (Isa. 57 :20). Chinese dragons are spitting, Russian bears are growling, American and German eagles are screaming, British lions are roaring—in fact, all the beastly beasts in the world menagerie are hissing, snarling, and snapping their blood-thirsting jaws, ready to chew and claw and rip each other to pieces. They are ready--—ready at a moment’s notice—for the awful holocaust, the most aw ful that the world has ever known. Armageddon alone will end it. “M e n ’ s H earts F a il ing T hem for F ear ” Fear! Fear everywhere! Do we need wonder that, in the United States alone, the list of suicides has leaped to over 400 a week, more than 21,000 in a year ? Business everywhere has been at a standstill for a year. States men everywhere are prophesying dark days ahead. Their pictures of the morrow, “unless war can be avoided,” cannot be more darkly drawn. And war, they say, is sure to come. Pessimism seems to have gripped the very vitals of men. Could the great Master, if He were among us today, paint a truer picture of our day, than He painted nearly two thousand years ago when He spoke of “men’s hearts failing”—dying within their breasts—“for fear” ? T h a n k G od Then —“then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with great power and glory.” Then “the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” Saints of God need not despair. For them the glory draws nigh. Verily, “look u p !” “Lift up your heads!” “Ye trembling saints, fresh courage take, The clouds you so much dread Are big with mercy and shall break In blessing o’er your heads.” —o— Experience There is no school like experience. Its lessons are so taught that we cannot forget them. For instance, Peter learned that “following the Lord afar off” generally means the ultimate denial of our Lord. He learned further that backsliding causes the bitterest grief and the keenest an guish. He learned also that to trust in one’s own strength is to fail in the critical hour. These are all lessons of the ut most importance to Christians. Few of us realize the dan ger of an indolent and unfaithful life. We have no thought that it may be the easy road to apostasy. While we are ac tually leading this life of disobedience, in hours when we are left alone with out memories and our consciences we are plunged into sorrow, shame, and darkness. How often we feel that we are strong enough in ourselves to meet temptation, and the result is shameful defeat! From Peter’s restoration let us learn that unworthy Christians may become worthy, that weak Christians may become strong, and that our failures may become stepping stones to success. What a wonderful illustration of these things do we find in Peter’s later life of consecration and victory! ' Let no one be discouraged. God can take us as we are and make of us mighty instruments for advancing His king dom.— W atchman-Examiner.
Hitherto and Henceforth B y A n n ie J ohnson F l in t Hitherto the Lord hath helped us, Hitherto His hand hath led, Hitherto His arm protected, Hitherto His bounty fed; Will His love desert us wholly, Will His. heart our need forget, Will His presence clean forsake us, Who hath never failed us yet? Let the Past we know assure us Of the Present’s certain aid, Till the Future’s dark forebodings In the light of faith shall fade; Still He hears our supplications, A s our days our strength shall be; And His grace is all sufficient For the needs of you and me.
—Sunday School Times.
they had not better apply the axe to the vast machines of which they have been boasting; for men who do not earn do not buy. Again, crime wave follows crime wave, ever mounting higher. The New York Supreme Court says: “The wave of crime seems to engulf the country. Criminals are running wild. Crime has become a pro fession.” With vast masses literally forsaking all re ligion, and consequently losing all fear of God from their hearts and ever growing more and more lawless, law- abiding people are made to wonder if there will ever be found “a passage out.” Then again, statesmen everywhere freely admit that another world war will not only completely beggar the nations, but will turn the whole earth into one vast charnal house, and will end the white man’s boasted civilization. Representatives meet again and again in World Courts and League'Assemblies only to admit that every move is blocked by'human selfishness, and that there is literally “no passage: out.” Perplexity! Once again, behold the strangest sight upon which heaven ever looked down: The world’s richest nation, America, is filled with hungry, naked, and all but starving people—-if reports are to be believed. Tens of thousands are calling for bread and threatening to take it by force unless it is otherwise provided. And yet, when we ask for the cause of these woes, we are blandly told that it is over-produc tion ! We have too much food, too much gas, too much of everything! Therefore, farmers are told to curtail production, to sow less acreage in order that men will not starve to death. Oil fields must curtail. Manufacturers must curtail. What a commentary on human government! - But then, every age has ended just there, in the failure of human government and in perplexity. “T h e W aves and th e S ea R oaring ” “Sea and waves” are the divine type of nations—the never-resting nations. Egypt is trembling with unrest. North America is rolling in unrest. South America is
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