THE KING’S BUSINESS
602
are beginning to realize that the trouble is much deeper than they thought. It is not in the stomach but in the heart. We are beginning to realize that the world is not wait ing for us and our programs but for HIM— for the Lord of Glory who alone can save us from the shame of our sin and failure and turn the dark ness of the world on its hinges and let in the light of His glory and es tablish righteousness in the earth. The beauty of this hope is that we do not necessarily need to wait a thousand years to have it realized. He may come at any time. In a mo ment, in the twinkling of an eye all may be changed. Our hope is not in an evolution from below but in a revelation from aboye. No man can intelligently study the New Testa ment and be a pessimist. It is radi ant with hope. But it is a hope that is centered not in man but in our Re deemer God. This does not mean that we are to fold our hands and do nothing while the harvest is per ishing. On the contrary, it means that it is time for us to begin think ing about bringing back the King. This will be our next study. The flower shines not for itself at all, Its joy is the joy it so freely diffuses; O f beauty and balm it is prodigal And it lives in the life it freely loses. No choice for the rose but glory or doom To exhale or smother; to wither or bloom. To deny is to die.
late Dr. A. R. Wallace came to the conclusion that men made little or no progress in the last twenty centuries. It is this twofold development that makes it possible for two earnest souls to be honest in what they say and yet take different views of the question. The man who studies the tares ex clusively cannot see much real prog ress in the world so far as moral character is concerned. On the other hand the man who sees nothing but the wheat cannot help but feel that there is a definite unfolding of the divine purpose in human history which means progress. But the great hope o f the world is not in any gradual progress by which the good is to overcome the evil. If this were our hope the outlook is anything but encouraging. After nineteen hundred years of evangeliza tion the cry that comes from the broken heart of the world is anything but heartening. The men of our age announced their program for the reformation of the world in such a way as to suggest that the world had been just waiting for us and our pro gram. But after years of social re form and big social programs men T HE sun is ever pouring his gold On a hundred worlds that need to borrow ; His warmth he squanders on summits . cold His wealth on homes of want and sorrow. To give is to live.
To Give Is To Live
Dead is the hand that is not open wide To help the need of a human brother; He doubles the length of his life-long ride Who gives his portion to help another; And a thousand million lives are his Who carries the world in his sympathies. To live is to give. —Selected.
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