December 1927
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Ariadne and the Silken Cord Theseus Slaying the Minotaur Phil. 2:1; Gal. 6:12; 1 John 3:17; Mai. 3 :16; Eph. 6:17; 1 John 3:8; 1 Tim. 6:12; Matt. 4:4, 7, 10. Ariadne was the daughter of the king of Crete, and Theseus was the son of the king of Greece. There are several mythological legends about their: love for each other, but none more beautiful than that of the incident connected with the slaying of the Minotaur by this young hero. The Minotaur was a mighty mon ster with a bull’s body and a human head. His home was in a cave with labyrin thine windings so artfully conceived that whoever entered could never find his ' Way out unassisted. Seven Athenian youths and seven maidens were devoured by this monster every year as a tribute from Athens to Minos, king of Crete. The Athenians were in deep sorrow on this account, and Theseus determined to slay the monster. He offered himself as one of the yearly victims, and when with the others he was exhibited before the king of Crete, Ariadne the king’s daughter was present and became deeply enamored of the young Athenian. Her love was returned. She furnished him a sword and when he entered the cave she tied a silken cord to his ankle, and told him that whenever he felt her pull upon the cord he would know she was thinking of his bravery, and that in his danger he might be assured of her sympathy and her love. The sympathetic pull of the cord so inspired and encouraged him that the monster was slain by his sword. There is many a poor fellow fighting a hard battle all alone. He is almost down in the struggle with sin. _His pas sion has assumed a monster mien. His doubts have become far more serious than he ever expected they would. He’s trying to do a good work-in a hard field, and the discouragements have almost overwhelmed him. You may not be able to do much to help him, so you think, but a cheer will put new life into him. A little encouragement helps a great deal, and many a man has failed for the want of it. A signal pf love, of interest, of sympathy, of prayer, will sometimes bring victory where defeat seemed certain. —'W. E. B. --------------------- II I SENTENCE SERMONS | ------------------- :------------- ;--------— —* The hoarded life is the life that is lost ; the spent,.the sacrificed, and the scattered life is the one that is saved. ' —o— We must find God to be our all -in the midsf of all, if we would find Him suffi cient when possessed of nothing. —o— It is easier to fall for anything than to stand for .something. Too many people pray for emergency rations rather than daily bread. — o — There is no better cure for a religious grouch than lifting someone’s burden. , —o— There is something sweet in being pruned by a wounded hand. —o— The greatest calamity may be God’s bridgeway to the promised land.—Helen Keller.
*------------------------ — ---------------- -r \ POINTERS FOR PREACHERS J"----------------------- -------------------------- 4. “If seeking applause—use “apple sauce.” —o— Dr. Dale, writing to preachers, says: “People need consolation—really need it. They do not merely long for it; they must have it.” —o— ■ “Ninety-nine per cent of any Christian worker’s assets are made up of his char- —Don O. Shelton. —o— It takes a lot of religion for a preacher to shout at another preacher’s meeting. —o— The Methodist Protestant ¡says: “The true minister does not choos6 the min istry ; the ministry chooses him. This whole business of persuading men to preach is dangerous. God still knows how to choose His apostles. ~ °— Every preacher needs one good critic who kindly but firmly will tell him the truth to his face. Well be it for him if his wife is Such a critic. —o— The preacher is a man with a message rather than a man with a good delivery. Even Balaam’s ass could preach when he had something to say, and the preacher who is minus a message is worth less to the kingdom than was that poor beast. —James I. Vance, D. D. “Nothing under heaven is so disgust ing as, irreverence in the pulpit, and especially in those boorish stunts, punning on the parables, and truckling about stupid vulgarities which have no earthly connection with the text, with the* Scrip tures or with the truth.” ^Lorne- Pierce. :—o— Dr. James Black went to preach in a country church in Scotland. “Hae ye your sermon written?” asked the beadle. On Dr. Black’s reply that it was even so, the beadle exclaimed: “I’m rale gled, be cause when thae folks come wi’ paper, ye ken they’ll stop when that stops; but when thae hae nae paper ava, the Al mighty Himsel’ disna ken when they’re likely to feenish.” —o— The one who leads in prayer is not ex pressing his own individual needs alone, .but is presumably the mouthpiece of the assembly, and his petitions should be . such as to be intelligible to those present, and also represent their needs, that they may be able to say Amen! —o— When death called away Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne, a note was opened which had been delivered during his ill ness. It was from one who had heard his last sermon on Isa. 60:1. It read, “I heard you preach last Sunday evening, and it pleased God to bless that sermon to my soul. It was not so much what you said, as your manner of speaking that struck me. I saw in you a beauty, in holi ness that I never saw before." “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us/’ —o— Once when Spurgeon was to preach, he was a little late coming, and his grand father, who Was a preacher, went on with the service. He announced his text and had been preaching some time when C. H. Spurgeon arrived. When Spurgeon came
in, his grandfather said, “Here he is— Come on, Charles. I have been preach ing from such a text, and have just cov ered the first point—you go on from there!” So Spurgeon went on with the second point Of the text, and preached gloriously. When he came to an experi mental aspect of it, the grandfather got up and said, “I know more about this than you do,” and resumed the sermon. Coming to another point, he said, “Now, Charles, you may finish the seripon!” —o— The Rev. R. Heppenstall, a Primitive Methodist minister, relates that he was recently invited to address a gathering of mothers at a church in the vicinity. No specific subject was requested, and the reverend gentleman discoursed upon a number of topics,- chiefly domestic, which he thought would be of general interest to the mothers. When he was nearly through with his address, Mr. Heppenstall asked his audience if there was any other matter they would like him to speak on before he concluded. A tired, busy mother rose and said, “If you please, sir, I would like to hear more about Jesus.” ';. “I felt,” says the. minister, “that I had missed my way—here was a dear mother’s heart yearning to hear about Jesus, and I had been talking about other things!” The story of Jesus and His love is ever new ; let us tell it again and again. «b--------;--- :— ----- --------------------- * Illustrations by Dr. Biederwolf | ------------ ---------------- ---------- ------- 4 Cacus Stealing the Cattle of Geryon Num. 32:23; Eccles. 12:14; Luke 12:2; Matt. 10:26. Geryon was' a monster who dwelt on one of the western isles. In his possession was a herd of bright magnificent oxen. One of the labors imposed upon Hercules was the bringing of these oxen to his cousin Eurystheus. While driving home the oxen, he had to pass one of the seven hills of Rome, in a cave of which dwelt Cacus, a huge giant. Overcome by fatigue, Hercules slept, and while the hero was sleeping, Cacus Stole part of the cattle. He pulled them backward by their tails to his cave so that their footprints might not show where they had been driven. It seemed as though they had gone in the opposite direction. Hercules was com pletely deceived. But when he drove the remainder of the herd past the cave where the:'Stolen onés were concealed, those within commenced to low, and by the low ing of the cattle the thief was discovered. It was but the work of a moment to kill the giant and recover what he had lost. Sin will make itself known; if not in one way, then in another, and it will bring you into judgment. You are not sure the sun will rise tomorrow ; it prob ably will, but you are not sure it will. There are other things of which you are not' sure, but God did not make a mistake when He said,‘“Be sure your sin will find you but.” It will find you out in the remorse of an accusing conscience. It puts its telltale marks upon the face, and finds you out in the way of natural consequences. It will find you out in your offspring, and if you escape any of its harvest here, you may be sure you
will reap it all hereafter. It does not pay to sin.
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