March 1929
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sorry for your sins,” was the answer. A little girl on the back seat raised her hand. “Well, my little girl, what do you think?” asked the gentleman. “I think,” said the child, “it’s being sorry enough to quit.” That is just where so many people fail. They are sorry enough at the time, but, as one man said, “I kept chopping off one sin at a time for weeks until I made up my mind that if I was ever to be a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ I must let Him wash me inside and out. When I made this decision the Lord made a thorough job of it, and it has never had to be done over.” An example of sham repentance is furnished by the story of a man who was robbed of one hundred dollars. A long time afterward he received this letter: “Dear S ir: Five years ago I robbed you of one hundred dollars. I am filled with remorse that I could have done such a thing. I send you a dollar and a half to ease my conscience.” Conviction is not repentance. It is one thing to be awakened at five o’clock in the morning and it is another thing to get up.— Christian Endeavor World. Mar. 6. Then Confession, Rom. 10:9,10. A dumb love is acceptable only from the lower animals.— Henry Van Dyke. Mr. Moody said that “in a prayer meet ing in Boston a little Norwegian boy, who could speak only broken English, got up and said: ‘If I tell the world about Christ, He will tell the Father about me.’ That wrote itself upon my heart, and I have never forgotten what that little boy said.” “If il tell the world,” yes, that is what it means to confess Christ. Mar. 7. Then Obedience, Matt. 7 :24-29. A child was forbidden by her father to go to the shore of a lake.' But some fas cination drew her to the forbidden place. She gathered a number of beautiful shells, of which he was a great admirer, and carried them to him. But when she put them in his hands, he dashed them away from him, simply saying in explanation, “My child, to obey is better than to sac rifice.” The lesson was never- forgotten. —Christian Endeavor World. Suppose a mother gives her child a beautiful flower-plant in bloom, and tells her to carry it to a sick, friend. The child takes the plant away, and when she reaches the friend’s door she plucks off one leaf and gives it to her, keeping the plant herself. Then afterwards, once a week, she plucks off another leaf, or a bud, or a flower, and takes it to the friend, still retaining the plant. Has she obeyed? Nothing but the giving of the whole plant would be obedience. Yet God asks for all Our life—heart, soul, mind, and strength; and we pluck off a little leaf of love now and then, or a flower of affection, and give these little things to him, keeping the life itself. Shall we not say, “Let Him take all” ? Mar. 8. Then Careful Following, Eph. 5 :1, 2. Christ going before is a meaningful remark which a convert in Africa made, , as reported by a missionary. “The trail is hard and tangled;” he said, “but there is a Man ahead of us.” Yes, there is a Man ahead. Jesus always goes before. He is ever in front. He never asks us to tread a path which has not been trodden by His own feet. Yet He does bid us follow. Do We obey ?—Christian Index.
Mar. 9. Then Godliness, Tit. 2:11-15. How is it that our great naval guns can send their balls of steel weighing half a ton for fifteen and twenty miles?. Is it that the guns are so very large or the charge of p o w d e r is tremendous? No, not for that reason, not for that reason chiefly, but because they have tre mendous reenforcement—else the cannon would recoil and the ball would fall with in a mile. Why is it that some men can speak to the wayward and prodigal and as they listen respectfully the word finds its way far into the heart, and you hear them say: “Well, that man practices what he preaches and it is all right,” while from another there is a turning away with dis gust, and you hear the word “hypocrite” ground out between the teeth? How is it? Ah, it is the reenforcement, the thorough godliness; it is the goodness of the life. Godliness is practical religion.— Dewey. March 17, 1929 How the Church Helps Us to Live the Christian Life Heb. 10:19-25 Daily Scripture Reading Mar. 11. By Teaching, Jas. 1 :18-25. Charles Reade, of England, the em inent novelist, was led to study the Old Testament by a remark of the famous Matthew Arnold. The remark was as follows: “The old Bible is getting to be to us literary men of England a sealed book—we think we know iP—we were taught it at home—we heard it read in church—perhaps we can quote some verse or even passage, but we really know very little of it. I wish, Reade, that you would take up the Old Testament and go through it as though every page of it were altogether new to you—as though you had never read a line of it before. I think it will astonish you.” Mr. Reade did so. He entered upon the task with such zeal as characterized his work. The result was he not only became astonished at his discoveries, but the study led to his conversion. He opened his heart to the truths of the Old Testament and found them full of .convincing power. A tourist, proud of his fertile home- country, visited the upland moor of Scot land. Looking out at the expanse of heather he somewhat contemptuously asked a Scotchman, “What do you raise here?” The peasant looked the tourist straight in the face.as he answered: “Our land is rather barren, and we do not raise much produce, but we build schoolhouses and churches, and raise men.” The rich est harvest garnered on the fields of time is a crop of men, and there is no such field in which to raise men as that in which the schoolhouse and the church are builded side by side. There is no encouragement in the Word of God for illiteracy, nor for the intellectual apart from the moral and religious. The history of the world thus far has proved that the wisest men and the most brilliant minds, with few exceptions, are those who open the Word of God and visit His sanctuaries. Mar. 12. By Shepherding, 1 Pet, 5 :l-4. A Colorado shepherd tells this story of a dog that is his efficient helper, in the care of a large flock of sheep. On one occasion the dog was left to' keep, watch of the
March 10, 1929 How to Become a Christian Acts 2:37-41; 16:30, 31 Daily Scripture Reading
Mar. 4. First Step, Faith, 1 Cor. 2:1-5. When 'conducting a Gospel mission in a barn in Gloucestershire, at the close of a service a woman who was anxious about her eternal welfare told me that she could not believe on Christ. I knew her name, so I said, .“Mrs. Franklin, how long have you been /Mrs. Franklin?” “Why,” she replied, “ever since I married Mr. Frank lin.” “And how did you become Mrs. Frahklin?” “Why, when the minister said ‘Wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband?’” “You said,” I in terrupted, “ ‘I’ll see, or I hope so’?” “No,” she replied; “1 said, ‘I will.’ ” “Mrs. Franklin, God is saying to you, ‘Will you take my Son as your Saviour ?’ ” “My,” she exclaimed, “is that all! Is that all! What a fool I have been not to do it before. Yes, I will. I do take Jesus to be my personal Saviour.” Faith is the act of will in receiving Christ.— The Christian. When Dr. Paton was translating the New Testament into an island language, he found great difficulty in finding a na tive word for “believe” and “faith.” While he was at work in his study one day, one of his native teachers came in, hot and fired from a long walk. He threw himself down on a cane chair, and, putting his feet on another, used a word which means, “I am resting my whole weight here.” Instantly Dr. Paton had his word. The natives of' that island now know faith to be an act whereby the whole weight of mind and heart is resting on Jesus '^Christian Herald. During a reyival in a factory town a foreman in a factory was awakened, but could not find peace. His bogs, a true fol lower of Christ, sent him a note request ing the foreman to call upon him at 6, p. m. Very punctually the man ap peared. “I see,” said his employer, “you believe my word, but here is another let ter for you.” With this he handed his caller a piece of paper upon which the lat ter found the words: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give: you rest,” and “Whosoever cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” The man’s lips quivered, his eyes filled with tears of joy as he said* “I see. I see, faith does it.” Mar. 5. Then Repentance, Acts 2 :38. A gentleman once asked a Sunday school what was meant by the word “re pentance.” A little boy raised his hand. “Well, what is it, my lad?” “Being
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