THE
42
K I N G ' S
B U S I N E S S
February, 1936
^Around the King’s Tables B y P a u l W . R o o d
visitation, and in sorrowful remembrance of our own faults and crimes as a nation and as individuals, to humble ourselves before Him and to pray for His mercy—to pray that we may be spared further punishment, though most justly deserved; that our arms may be blessed and made effectual for the reestablishment of law, order, and peace throughout the wide extent of our country; and that the inestimable boon of civil and religious liberty, earned under His guidance and blessing by the labors and suf ferings of our fathers, may be restored in all its original excellence: Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do appoint the last Thursday in September next as a day of humiliation, prayer, and fasting for all the people o f the nation. And I do earnestly recommend to all the people, and especially to all ministers and teachers of religion, of all denominations, and to all heads o f families, to observe and keep that day, according to their several creeds and modes of worship, in all humility and with all religious solemnity, to the end that the united prayer of the nation may ascend to the Throne of Grace, and bring down plentiful blessings upon our country. How sorely the United States needs a leader in this dark and solemn hour who would call the nation back to God. Oh, for national humiliation and repentance that would lead to a national awakening! Recently a lady came up to M. E. Dodd, the well-known Baptist preacher and leader, Unto Jesus after he had concluded a powerful sermon, and she said, “ Dr. Dodd, I have read your books, I have heard your radio messages, but I have never seen you face to face. Please step down from the platform so that I may have a good look at you.” “ Sister,” said the preacher, “ you had better not look at me too closely. I am afraid you’ll be disappointed. I am just an ordinary, frail human being. I want you to look beyond me to Jesus. You ’ll never be disappointed in H im !” One o f the members o f Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s church induced a friend to come to hear his pastor. Spur geon preached a magnificent sermon in which he exalted Christ. The guest was strangely silent as he left the church. “ What do you think o f Spurgeon?” asked the man who had brought the visitor. “ Oh, I haven’t been thinking o f Spurgeon,” came the answer. “ I ’ve been thinking o f his wonderful Lord.” A preacher had begun to slip spiritually, and there was a lack o f vitality and warmth in his message. One morning this preacher found a slip of paper on the pulpit with this message: “ W e would see Jesus.” The words came like an arrow into the pastor’s heart and drove him to his knees, where through contrition, confession, and tears he was brought back into intimate fellowship with the Lord. There was new unction and power in his preaching, and one morning soon after, he found another slip with these words: “ Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.” Does the world see Jesus in you and me? Are we ex alting Christ or self? Are we making disciples glad be cause they see Jesus in our lives and in our ministry? Men are hungry. They need Jesus. We are here to represent the Lord. Are people impressed with our won derful Christ when they see us and listen to us? “ Have Looking
Abraham Lincoln and A Day of Prayer I N t h is month when we celebrate the birth of Abraham Lincoln, it seems especially appropriate to call attention to the fact that our martyred President was a God-fearing man. One of the outstanding sights in Washington is the Lincoln Memorial, located in Poto mac Park, facing the Wash ington Monument and the Capitol. The statue o f Lin coln, designed and modeled
by Daniel Chester French, is in the central hall o f the Memorial. On the south and north walls are massive stone tablets, extending from floor to ceiling and inclosed in stone frames. The Gettysburg Address is inscribed on the south wall and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address on the north wall. The serious reader is deeply impressed with the Biblical quotations and the references to God found in this inaugural address. W e quote some of these phrases that refer to God: “ The Almighty has His own purposes,” “ a living God,” “ if God wills,” “ fervently do we pray,” “ as God gives us to see the right.” The reverent attitude o f Lincoln is further revealed in his letter to Thurlow Weed, written March 15, 1865: Every one likes a compliment. Thank you for yours on my little notification speech and on the recent inaugural address. I expect the latter to wear as well as—perhaps better than—anything I have produced; but I believe it is not immediately popular. Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them. To deny it, however, in this case, is to deny that there is a God governing the world. It is a truth which I thought needed to be told, and, as what ever o f humiliation there is in it falls most directly on myself, I thought others might afford for me to tell it. One of Lincoln’s most significant state papers is his re markable proclamation o f a national fast day, August 12, 1861. W e quote it in fu ll: .Whereas a joint committee of both houses o f Congress has waited on the President of the United States and requested him to “recommend a day of public prayer, humiliation, and fasting, to be observed by the people of the United States with religious solemnities, and the offering of fervent supplications to Almighty God for the safety and welfare of these States, His blessings on their arms, and a speedy restoration o f peace” : And whereas it is fit and becoming in all people, at all times, to acknowledge and revere the supreme govern ment of G od; to bow in humble submission to His chas tisements; to confess and deplore their sins and trans gressions, in the full conviction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning o f wisdom; and to pray with all fervency and contrition for the pardon o f their past offenses, and for a blessing upon their present and prospective action: And whereas when our own beloved country, once, by the blessing o f God, united, prosperous, and happy, is now afflicted with faction and civil war, it is peculiarly fit for us to recognize the hand of God in this terrible
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online