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THE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
‘Lincoln declined to join a church be cause of conscientious scruples. His reason forbade him to accept some of the doctrines taugh t by th e Baptist and Christian churches, to which his par ents belonged, and of the P resbyterian church, of which his wife was a mem ber. Nevertheless, he was regu lar and reverential in his attendance upon wor ship. Shortly a fte r his m arriage he rented a pew in the F irs t Presbyterian Church of Springfield (111.) and occu pied it w ith his wife and children a t the service each Sunday morning unless de tained by illness. (This has caused many of Lincoln’s chroniclers to erron eously state th a t the P resident ■was a P resbyterian.) In Washington he was a h abitual atten d an t a t th e New York Avenue P resbyterian Church, and its pastor, Rev. Dr. Gurley, who was also his intim ate friend, said th a t he was a tru e believer and entirely w ithout guile.’ Though Lincoln was not a member of any p articu lar church he was neverthe less a devout Christian.” »THE PART PRAJTER PLAYS T h at man is th e most imm ortal who has done th e most and th e best praying. They are God’s heroes, God’s saints, God’s servants, God’s vicegerents. A A an can pray b etter because of the prayers of the past; a man can live holier because of the prayers of the past, th e man of many and acceptable prayers has done th e tru est and g reat est service to the ’incoming generation. The prayers of God’s saints strengthen th e unborn generation against th e des olating waves of sin and evil. Woe to th e generation of sons who find th eir censers empty of th e rich incense of prayer; • whose fath ers have been too busy or too unbelieving to pray, and perils inexpressible and consequences untold a r e th e ir unhappy heritage. F o r tu n a te are they whose fath ers and moth ers have left them a wealthy patrimony of prayer.— E. M. Bounds.
. ^nijjiiiiiii;uiiuiiiHiiiiiiuu;iiinHiiiHiiijji[iiniiniiiiii!imNiiiniHuiiniiiN!iiiiiiiiiiinniiiiiiiiiii[iiiiiiiiii 1 SETTING JESUS Li AT NOUGHT Bj> REV. JOHN THOMAS
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|N these words lies the core of th e wrong treatm en t of our Lord. Herod began his ■ ill- treatm en t of Jesus in th is “And Herod w ith his men of war
way:
set H im a t nough t.” It was w ith this attitu d e of mind th a t th e tragic rejec tion of Jesus by th e Jew ish nation be gan. For thus P eter expresses the fact: “This is th e Stone which was set a t nought of you builders.” The Sceptical Criticism of today as sumes precisely the same attitud e. It deliberately and arrogantly sets the au th o rity , of Jesu s a t nouglit. The pro fessors and preachers of th e new scep ticism join hands w ith Herod and the Jews in setting the Lord of T ru th a t nought. Out of th is tragic fountain all evil springs; and it is no wonder th a t th e everlasting Gospel of th e Son of God is trea ted w ith increasing rude ness in these apostate days, while -the mocking world accelerates its pace downwards to hell. Recently, a Rev. Professor .addressed th e children from a B aptist pulpit in W ales.' He spoke on th e prophet Jonah. The critical and supercilious profeis- sional genius told th e children th a t “ he would n o t in su lt th e ir intelligence by expecting them to believe th e story of Jonah and the whale.” Setting aside the stupid mischievousness o f this bla ta n t unbelief, th e statem en t from th e intellectual side was sheer nonsense. The professor’s unbelief in the miracles w rought by God has no more to do with his intelligence than it has to do w ith his stomach. There are sceptics, of his type who will no t ‘‘in su lt your intelligence” by expecting •you to believe th a t “Jesus
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