548 souls in th e behalf of Christ, to speak a word h ere and th e re for Him, to tu rn men from darkness to light. We should not rest till we had essayed the New Evangelism to which Christ calls His disciples in these critical yet opportune days. HAVE YOU ANY CONCERN? A devoted elder, burdened for souls, one morning called upon a sceptical blacksm ith for whom he had geen w rest ling in prayer. With deep feeling, he said, “Mr. R., I am greatly concerned for your salvation,—greatly concerned for your salvation! ” and burst into tears. He could say no more, and returned home. “Greatly concerned for my salvation!” It rung' through the blacksm ith’s ears like a thunder-clap in a clear sky. “Greatly concerned I ought to be for my own sal vation. What shall-1- do?” It was a new and unanswerable argument for religion. He went to his Christian wife, and asked her what to do. She advised him to follow the elder home. He did so, and greeting him, said, “I am come to tell you
T H E K I N G ’ S ' B U S I N E S S
th a t I am greatly concerned for my own salvation.” They prayed together; and the man, whom no logic could reach, was converted,—a striking testimony to the power of sympathy.
KEEP UP THE TEMPO “The king’s business requires haste” (1 Samuel 21:8). Theodore Thomas, the famous orchestral leader, was once train ing his orchestra, endeavoring to teach them to play Wagner’s “The Ride of the Valkyries.” Thomas was an idealist in music, seeking for perfection in every thing he did. Under this influence, he in structed his musicians not to attem pt to produce the unusually fast tempo Wag ner called for, bu t rath e r to make sure th at eyery note was accurate. His musi cians responded with a will and with great pains reproduced the piece note by note. But th e production was a failure. Thomas, therefore, decided to abandon this portion of the opera and to substitute something easier. Upon second thought, however, he made up his mind to try the piece once more. This time, he told the performers to keep up the tempo even if they had to sacrifice some of their note accuracy in doing so. The musicians again responded and in this instance had their thought upon the tim e rath er than upon the perfection of reproduction. At once, every one present discerned th at the production was a remarkable success. “The Ride of the Valkyries” was finally given before large audiences and with great applause. The spiritual moral is plain. There is such a thing as dwelling too much upon detail and aiming a t too great a perfection, when all the time the chief thing which is required is expedi tion. For instance, education is a good thing and it is well to pursue it; but when it is carried on too long and far by a candidate for Christian service, it may result in allowing thousands to perish.-fv China’s Millions.
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BIBLE M ENDER S
1 T would be excusable, if § these menders of the Bi- | ble would offer th eir hy- | potheses modestly. But ¿ J one cannot excuse them 2 when they not only ob- 1 trude their novel scheme ' |
1> with the utmost confidence, but | j, even ridicule th a t Scriptural one 1 | which always was, and is now, held I | by men of the greatest learning and | | piety in the world. Hereby they | | profnote the cause of infidelity 1 | more effectually than either Hume | | or Voltaire.”—(John Wesley in 1 | Journal, Vol. iii., p. 504.)
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