50
January 1930
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
more time in the rack, you wouldn’t have- to spend all that time discussing how to get your folks to attend.” It isn’t the preacher’s flowery prayer, Or the way the choir sings, Or the size of the coin your neighbor gives, Or the help your brother brings. It isn’t the size of your favorite church, Or the cost o f your favorite pew, Or the style o f the clothes the members wear; For it isn’t the church, it’s you. For a chain’s as strong as the weakest link, Arid if breaks with a heavy load, But a church that’s full of the links that pull, Can level the roughest road. If you get in tune with the Master’s will, With your heart and your labors, too, You will love your church, though it has its faults, For it isn’t the church, it’s you. S ong S tories How firm a foundation, ye saints o f the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word. “Once at evening devotion in the old Oratory of Princeton Seminary,” Dr. C.' S. Robinson relates, “the elder Hodge, then venerable with years and piety, paused as he read this hymn, preparatory to the singing. In the depth of his emo tion he was obliged to close his delivery of the final lines with a gesture of pa thetic and adoring wonder at the match less grace of God in Christ, and his hand silently beat time to the rhythm instead: “I’ll never, no, never, no, never forsake!” To th e ’work! to the work! We are f servants of God, Let us follow the path that pur Master has trod. Fanny Crosby wrote the words of this hymn in 1869, and it was set to music by W. H. Doane two years later. I sang it for the first time in the home o f Mr. and Mrs, J. B. Cornell at Long Branch. The ser vants gathered from all parts o f the house while I was singing, and looked into the parlor where I was seated. When I was through one o f them said: “ That is the finest hymn I have heard for a long time; won’t you please sing it over again?” I felt that this was a test case, and that if the hymn had such power over those ser vants it would be useful in reaching other people as well; so I published it in “Gos pel Hymns” in 1875, where it became one of the best work-songs for our meetings that we had.— Scmkey.
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January 1-— "The land whither ye go to possess it is a land o f hills and valleys and drinketh water o f the rain of heaven: a land which the Lord thy God careth fo r: the eyes o f the Lord are always upon it, from the beginning o f the year even unto the end o f the year” (Deut. 11: 11 , 12 ) . Good morning, glad New Year! You are here: so am I. God is your Master: He is also mine. You can not tell me what you will bring me, so I’ll patiently wait. If you bring me limitations, I shall spell them love. If you place hindrances be fore me, I shall make them helps. If you introduce me to disappointment, I shall remove the small d and put in its place a capital H. No, no, I have no resolves, except to be like my Master, no purposes unless undertaken on His plan! So I meet you, New Year, gladly and joy ously, knowing that whatever betide all will be well. What is going to be our truth- for the New Year? Is it not that the love which has never deserted us shall come closer to us, because it finds us readier to re ceive it,-—making us better, stronger, purer, nobler, more manly, more woman ly, more fit for life; not because God loves us any more, but because we, with new openness, are more ready to receive Him into our lives? “As mountain travelers, at some resting- place, Are fain to pause, their distant path to trace; Bathed in the purple haze, their eyes yet scan The clustering homestead where that path began, The joyous stream that slaked their eager thirst, The turning-point whereon their vision burst, A world of glory never dreamt before,— E’en so the New Year bids us paus.e once more, Sweet memory’s tender, softening influ ence feel, While at the wayside cross she bids us kneel; Then, with brave hearts, serener heights ascend, Where sunlight and deep peace forever blend.” —o— January 2— “Everywhere and in all things I am instructed ” (Philippians 4: 12 ). Everywhere and in all things 7 am in structed. A beautiful word in the Greek, now translated in the Revised Version, “I have learned the secret.” What secret? To be blessedly content with the will of my God; to be emptied and still satisfied. If God Almighty take away what seems to be a requisite for my earthly pleasure, He substitutes for it Himself, and I am contented. “I have learned, in what soever state I am, to be content,” What
a blessed second realization o f the power o f Christ, the moment I make Him the one thing instead of taking the all things that are to be found on earth! First you see the body subdued; secondly you see the grumbling nature altogether changed into one o f calm satisfaction and rest in God; thirdly, in the 13th verse, "7 can do dll things," or “I am all-pre vailing now.” All things I am prevailing in, through Christ, which strengtheneth me. Here we pass into a wider sphere o f service. We began with the body; we passed into the condition of satisfaction in the Lord; we now pass off into service, and we say, “Whatsoever my Lord com- mandeth, I find He gives me the ability to do, because I have made Him the one thing of my life.” “I have all things and abound.” Brethren, “let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded; and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.”— Rev. Prebendary Webb-Peploe. ' —o— January 3— “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him" (Eph. 3:12). Satan cannot stand against God’s works. And God works specifically against Satan when Christians ask Him to do so. “Asking God” is prayer. There fore Satan hates prayer. In “A Call to Prayer” a powerful British writer, ex plaining Satan’s dread of prayer, says: “He knows he cannot frighten saints with hideous features, or overcome them by course enticements. He stands at the por tal of prayer as an ‘angel o f light.’ He does not attack, he diverts. The church that lacks prayer is usually full o f good works. Activities are multiplied that de votion and meditation may be ousted, and organizations are increased that prayer may have no chance. Souls may be lost in good works, as surely as in evil-ways. The one concern of the devil is to keep the saints from prayer. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.” Why not keep Satan on the rack all the time? “ Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees.” —o— January 4— “Jesus constrained his dis ciples to get into a ship” (Matt. 14:22). The Lord constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and sent them into the darkness on the sea. “And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them.” Though He did constrain them, it was only after giving them a first-rate meal. “They did all eat, and were filled.” He feeds well before He tries well. He had given them miracle bread. He feeds well before passing His children through the heat of the fire. He is my Father, and my Father is so tender, so compassionate,
This Comes from England “7 thoroughly enjoy the read ing of T he K ing ’ s B usiness and find it invaluable as a help in Sunday-school work. I have been a teacher for nearly twen ty-five years and apart from the Book it is the best help I know for Sunday-school teachers."
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