King's Business - 1919-04

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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S tation of Divine life, evidenced by holy living? Of what advantage are men’s methods, of the multiplication of wheels within the wheels if there be no real grist for God ? Is there a danger that teachers will be occupied with the methods, be they ever so good, rather than with faith in the quick and pow­ erful Word of God? Is there a subtle fear in the heart of the teacher that the Word is not sufficient, that changed conditions demand something more attractive than the Word itself? Is there a growing tendency to believe that substitutes are more effective than the sword of the Spirit ? What is the test? What have we a right to see if the methods are better, more conducive to best results? Have we a right to expect boys and girls, young men and women, more deeply engrossed in Bible study, more holy in daily life, more concerned in the saving of other souls and if not, It is not the dress parade, be it ever so perfect in its manual of arms or beautiful in its maneuvers, that proves the value of the army, but it is the drive through storms,-through sleet and mud and water and shot and shell in the face of the oncoming-enemy. If we apply the acid test to our Sunday Bible School, to its officers, teachers and scholars, in the daily drive, during the days of the week, with the conflict of home and school and business life, what will it be? If methods hinder the devotional period, if they hinder them from the Word and prayer, if they rob the teacher of the needed time, if they hinder the hand to hand work for deeper spiritual lives, if they hinder the testimony of scholars concerning the experiences during the week—then let us dispense with some of the methods that adorn the dress parade and get down to brass tacks and give the needed time to the one great essential in the training of our scholars—“ The Bible.”— What? The war has wrought changes for the good and changes for the worse. But gradually people are going to forget those eloquent war sermons in which they were told of the glorified earth that was to be made possible by victory over the Hun. We are beginning to find that even though Germany is out of the game, the Hun in human nature is anything but dead. Those weaknesses of human nature are once more asserting themselves with a vigor that is positively alarming. A returned army chaplain recently said in a large men’s meeting in Los Angeles: “ If I have been able to read conditions as they are in Europe, and as I have found them to an alarming degree since my return to this country, within a few years there will be a war that will make this last war look like a Sunday School class in comparison. Almighty God has sent me back to this country as a prophet to warn men that their only hope is Jesus Christ.” Discontented, war-worn, hungry millions are being inspired by an unscrupulous propaganda from the pit, to fierce hatred against the rich and the educated. The luring promises made to the downtrodden poor are being answered since the war by shoving living expenses higher and wages down. Washington authorities estimate that 20,000,000 will have died of starvation the first four months of 1919. As many as were killed or died of wounds T. C. H. D E M O C R A C Y and tke Human Heart

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