THE KI NG' S BUS I NESS
1075
Faithfulness Bespeaks Faith Colonel Havelock told his boy, Henry, to wait for him a little while on Lon don Bridge. That was at noon. The father having in the pressure of busi ness' forgot the son was LESSON waiting for him, did not ILLUSTRA- return until seven o’clock. TIONS But the boy trusted his father and although dis appointed and perplexed, knew that all was well. Faithfulness Suggests Steadfastness. It is the custom of the Chinese Chris tians to present a missionary leaving on furlough with a beautiful silk and satin banner. On this they embroider a motto describing his character of work. A motto was given to a lady missionary by the natives, who had spent nine years with them: “ O constant heart for the Lord.” It would have been appropriate for Joseph also. In the Susquehanna River, between Waverly and Wilkesbarre there stands a stone some fifteen feet high. It stands in about fifteen feet of water and must be sunk into the gravel for ten or fif teen feet. It may have been broken off the cliff above it by heaving frost, in ages past. However, that may be, there it stands unmovable. The floods of ice and debris have never moved it. In the early days when’ Sullivan came up the river conquering the Indians, he fired his morning salute of artillery at it, but only clipped off a corner. It never moved. The Indians made it the mark ing spot of their wanderings and the early surveyors used it as a center from which to make their surveys. There are always some lives in each age to which men tie, like this “ Standing Stone,” Joseph was a life of this character. There used to be an old battered safe standing in the Broadway, New York, on which was the notice: “ It stood the test; the contents were all saved.” It had been in one of the hottest fires New York ever saw, but the old safe carried its treasure safely through it
ay. No life so safe as that which is guided and controlled by Christ. Faithfulness Brings Its Reward. A slave woman named Ogunro, liv ing in the Ilale country west of the Niger, longed for freedom and worked hard until she secured it. She then traveled to another region to enjoy her life. Here she was converted to Christ, and this gave her a new ambition. What she now longed for was to tell the Ilale people, among whom she had been a slave, what good things she had learned. She went back to Hále, worked hard and earned money, builded a church, and late in the year of 1903 she placed the church at the disposal of the nearest Christian pastor. When a record of faithfulness like this comes to us from darkest Africa it ought to stir us to a greater faithfulness, like Joseph. The great preacher, George Whitfield, said just before his death, “ Lord Jesus, I am weary in Thy work, but not of Thy work. If I have not yet finished my' course, let me go and speak for Thee once more in the fields, seal the truth, and come home to die. I had rather ,wear out than rust out.” He ran to the window, panting for breath, and saying, “ I am dying,” almost imme diately breathed his last in his chair. During a visit to Dr. Finlay, of Prince- town, America, the doctor said to Whitfield, “ Mr. Whitfield, I hope it will be very long before you are called home; but when that event arrives, I shall be glad to hear the noble testi mony you will bear for God.” “ You will be disappointed doctor,” said Whit field. “ I shall die suddenly. It has pleased God to enable me to bear so many testimonies for Him during my life, that He will require none from me when I die!” God help us to live this faithful life. Genesis 41:33. Let Pharaoh look out a man. God’s true prophets did not merely predict the future, they also
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