THE KING’S BUSINESS
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“Open the Abbey doors and bear him in To sleep with king and statesman, chief, and sage, The missionary come of weaver-kin, But great by work that brooks no lower wage. “He needs no epitaph to guard a name Which men shall prize while worthy work is known; He lived and died for good—be that his fame; Let marble crumble; this is Living-stone.” — Punch. Follow with reverent steps the great ex ample Of Him Whose holy work was “doing good” ; So shall the wide earth seem our Father’s temple, Each loving life a psalm of gratitude. — J. G. Whittier. “ ‘He has no enemies,’ you say? My friend, your boast is poor; He who hath mingled in the fray Of duty, that the brave endure, Must have made foes. If he has none, Small is the work that he has done. He has hit no traitor on the hip; He has cast no cup from tempted lip; He has never turned the wrong to right; He has been a coward in the fight,” Betty, aged six, is something of a philos opher. The other day, as she slowly and painstakingly worked at the strip of hem ming which was her first attempt at needle work, she thoughtfully remarked: “The best thing about not putting in crooked stitches is that you don’t have to pick ’em out again.” The truth seems obvious enough, and yet how long it takes many of us to learn it, and how many bitter hours we spend in picking out life’s crooked stitches that we never should have put in. Prof. M'. G. Kyle has put forth a la re claim for archeology in the investigation of biblical literature, as is evidenced in the
title of his new volume, "The Deciding Voice of the Monuments in Biblical Critic ism" (Oberlin: Bibliotheca Sacra Co.). On the ground that “no critical theory concern ing the Bible is to be finally admitted into the faith and life until tested and attested by archeological facts,” he encourages us still to believe that the Pentateuch comes from the Mosaic age, that Isaiah is a unity, and that Daniel is contemporary history. “Those whose lives are freest from fail ure do the least criticising of those about them. When we find ourselves in a sharply critical mood, it is sure evidence that our own life is just then full of failure. In deed, it has been Scfid that we dislike most in others our own worst failings; and there seems to be strong evidence that this is often so. Jesus warned the man who saw motes in his brother’s eye that he him self was suffering from an eye-obstruction of the size of a beam. Only the Christ- cleansed, Christ-filled man can safely criti cise; and he does not often want to.” Investment in self is a losing investment; gain is had by putting treasure into other lives; enlargement is had by building your life, your ideals, your purposes, intb others. You are uplifted when you lend your own best achievement to another as a footstool for him to stand upon and lift humanity higher. No one has more definitely, more categorically stated this universal law than Jesus. “Whoso saveth his life shall lose it.” “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth by itself alone.” All life is one in so close and real a sense that any self-seeking at the expense of others is fatal. “Thou shalt love thy neigh bor as thyself”—and if occasion demand it, at sacrifice of self. There are a hundred faces to this ancient truth, one to suit every situation and incident of daily experience. The need, then, is to keep it well in mind as the invariable rule and principle of ac tion.
“What I kept, I lost; ■ yVihat I gave, I have.”
r —.Pacific Presbyterian.
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