revealing the name of Sostratus in the solid stone beneath. So the waves of time may chip off all human names from the church, but the ñamé of Jesus is engraven in its. eter nal foundations and no power of earth or hell can efface it. Beautiful Feet “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace (Rom. 10:15). T HIS is our Heavenly Father’s comment upon the work of His loyal witnesses in the earth. Men may spurn the message and brand its bringer as a grafter or adventurer. The preacher himself often concludes that the task is a hopeless-one. Yet all the time, the Father is saying: “How beautiful the feet!” Though from the human viewpoint, it seems a total loss, in heaven it is counted worthy of “the King in His beauty,” for -it is the work which the King Himself began (Acts 1 :1). People have strange ways of estimating a preacher in our day. He is often judged by the array of letters after 'his name, the cut of his coat or the kind of a collar he wears, his ability as a mixer—but in God’s book of esti mates, the man who has gone forth in humble dependence upon Christ, to give forth the simple, divine message of peace through the blood of the cross, is the one who has beautiful feet, and will hear “Well done” in the great rewarding day. gfc áfe The Love of Luxury A CCORDING to the 1925- figures, 90 per cent of the . automobiles, pianos- and phonographs sold in the United States are sold on the installment plan. Cabinet radios to the amount of 85 per cent are sold on this plan, and 75 per cent of the washing machines, vacuum clean ers, kitchen cabinets and similar articles. When statesmen become alarmed over this situation, and for business reasons, as well as for reasons of sound character influence, call upon the people to put the brake on, it is certainly time for Christian people to be con cerned. Installment buying as a habit is not only ener vating to character, but is leading hundreds of church people to assume greater burdens than they should carry, forcing them into’a mad rush to make payments and keep up appearances. The result is that it is little indeed that God gets out of them, and they in turn are deprived of the blessings of heaven which are poured out upon those who bring their tithes into the storehouse (Mai. 3 :10). Few people realize that merchandise sold in this way is usually extravagantly priced to begin with. A famous manufacturer has admitted that he would rather make a sale on installment than for cash. He can get 24 per cent from the installment buyer for the credit accommodation, and can borrow money at 3J4 or 4% to carry the load. Even after deducting collection costs, he can make 12 to 15% clear. He argues that if the American people are so ridiculously foolish as to be willing to pay such usury, why not let them ? If the orgy of installment buying was confined to necessities, it would not be so serious, but it is largely confined to luxuries. This means that in many cases the
The Indestructible Christ “The scribes and, chief priests sought how they might destroy Him"[Mark 11:18). Y « » Z H A T is more strange to us,' after these A «lis V í ÍM j , nineteen centuries, than the idea of “des- J\W¡fAw|jy troying Christ!” The historic supremacy J esus is incontrovertible. He cóüld no more be destroyed than the sun could be blotted from the circle of the sky. His power over men is to this day the power of- a living personality. Skepticism about Christ is skep ticism about history itself. The very vehemence with which the claims of Jesus Christ have been-denied and His kingdom assailed proves that there is something far more than human power back of Christianity. All the logic pf criticism, all the reason ings of philosophy, all the devices of naturalism and pantheism, all the brutality inspired by the- powers of darkness, have not been able to stay His-march across the centuries. His influence is the marvel of history. It is a spec tacle that no skeptic can answer. Let anyone explain how the life of Christ can be interpreted as a mere human one and yet reconciled with the fact that He has conquered every realm whére His Gospel has been preached through out the world. There is nothing in all literature or phil osophy that can equal the light of the knowledge of the glory of God as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ. Not only is it written on the open page of Scripture, but it. is impressed upon the souls of millions of believers, voiced in the jubilant hymns of the church and interwoven in all civilization worthy the name. It is omnipresent in the history of the world. Christ, the God-man, is still the Lord of life. He is the Saviour of the world, the King of an eternal kingdom. Destroy Christ—How utterly impossible! One can not brush away the experience of millions who have gone triumphantly to heaven, or expel Christ from the con sciences and lives of living millions. The Christ who marched right over the seemingly unconquerable forces of Judaism, heathenism and imperial Rome will certainly not go down before the assault of any modern association of atheists. Dr. Storrs says: “Christianity is built, let it never be forgotten, on the ruins of three prodigious, ambitious and defiant establishments—a perverted Judaism, deriving vast strength from the truths it denied; an ancient, haughty and universal heathenism, and a military empire that encompassed the earth. The forces which brought all these to naught were not astute ^combinations of states men, the eloquence of scholars or the strategy of soldiers. They were the forces which Paul could only describe a score of years after Christ had ascended a$ “the things' which are not.” Ptolemy once had a great building erected and wanted his name engraved upon it. Sostratus, the architect, did not feel the King should receive all the credit since he had done nothing but put up the money. However, he had the King’s name engraved in the plaster on the front of the building but underneath, in the eternal granite, he caused his own name to be carved. Years afterward when the elements had gotten in their work, the plaster fell away,
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