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May, 1936
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
was inclined to be angry ; then she reflect ed that at least the prescription was not an expensive one. She went home determined to read conscientiously her neglected Bible. In a month she went back to the doctor’s office a different person, and asked him how he knew that was just what she need ed. For answer, the physician turned to his desk. There, worn and marked, lay an open Bible. “Madam,” he said, “if I were to omit my daily reading of this Book, I would lose my greatest source of strength and skill.”— The Wellspring. III. B ooks a n d R eading 1. The clothing of our minds certainly ought to he regarded before that of our bodies.— R ich a r d S teele . They praise those, but they read these books all the same— L a t in E pig r a m . Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.— R ic h a r d S teele . Books will speak plain, when counselors1 blanch.— F r a n cis B aco n ; 2 . Books, books, With golden locks— Hives of rarest honey ; Story,- song, A friendly throng— The world for little money. elected . . We search the world for truth ; we cull The godd, the pure, the beautiful,' From graven stone and written scroll, From the old flower-fields of the soul, And, weary seekers of the best, We come back laden from our quest, To find that all the sages said Is in the Book our mothers read. — J o h n G. W h it t ie r . . 4. Leaders for this meeting will find in the K in g ’ s B u s in e s s for August and Septem ber of 1935 a discussion in which Wilbur M. Smith deals with the relation between the Bible and secular books in the Chris tian’s reading. j y C ho ices This, at least, we must say to ourselves : }VI am not going to allow any book, no mat ter how fascinating, to be read any day be fore I have given time to the Word of God.” Now I know, as well as any man, how difficult such a rule as this is. I have often failed to keep such a rule myself, but I can honestly say that I long today, more than ever in my life, really to abide by such a program as this. , . . We will have to exercise the greatest ingenuity and scrupulous care in choosing only the best reading . . . . The books with which we become acquainted, in English or European literature, should always be the great works, the works that are true to the hu man heart and true to the fundamental ideals of life, the products of the great minds of our race, of the true explorers of our souls, and not the output of some of our obsessed, over-sexed, and foul- minded so-called literary artists of this strange age. Throw thé trash into the furnace. Shrink from books of minor im portance. Look upon volumes that do not make you stronger, your mind richer, and your heart purer, as the very enemies of your life. Don’t even have them around. Sweep a whole shelf of books into the ash can and leave one great one remaining, if there is danger of the great one’s being ignored while you waste your time on the others.— W ilb u r M. S m it h .
DAILY “Devotional “Readings A MESSAGE FOR EVERY DAY OF T H E MONTH
JU N E lg i The Choice of the Will
will do the same with us. Lie down, proud f e a r t! Quit thine idols! .. . And the prom ised peace will come unto thee. — C h a r les H addon S purgeon . JUNE 4 The Omnipotent One “They need not depart” (Matt. 14:16). The Lord Jesus is perfectly confident that He can meet orir needs. . , . He is the One who for thousands of years has met the needs of those, who put their trust in Him. As the- God of providence, He keeps the barrel of; meal from wasting, and the cruse of oiplfrom failing. He draws; rom onqpthe testimony: “I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken,'nor his seed beggirig bread,” and from another, “There hath not failed one word of all his good promise.”— G . H. _C,; M acgregor . He knoweth the need of my life For shelter and raiment and food; In each trifling care of the day The word of His promise is good; He knoweth my thought from afar, The wish that I never have told, And every unspoken desire His wisdom doth grant or withhold. He knoweth my frame is but dust, He knoweth how much it canhear ; I rest; in that knowledge supreme, I trust in His power and care. ^ E - A n n ie J o h n s o n F l in t . JUNE 5 In a Safe Place “Still he holdeth fast his integrity” (Job 2:3). In the form of a proverb; Satan launches a cruel insinuation: “Skin for skin, yea, all that a mari-’hath will he give for hif; life.” . . . The archfiend, who accuses the saints before God day and night, in his unspeakable m a l i g n i t y against them, charges the faithful servant of Jehovah with intense and revolting selfishness. Another protecting hedge has now been removed. Satan has permission to attack Job’s body, but to spare his life. Let the child of God be comforted in the knowl edge that Satan could not touch a single hair of Job’s head without permission. Stand calmly and steadfastly in the center of God’s will, tried and tempted one, so that you can always say, ; “Because he hath set his . love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name” (Psa. 91:14). Let us dismiss from our thoughts the mistaken idea that love..§1 treated in the Bible simply jas-.va feeling, or an emotion, and let us settle ourselves upon the convic tion that love is a law of life, a principle of conduct, distinctly chosen and followed in obedience to the Master; and thus'shall we escape the subtle snare which the fowl er sets for unguarded feet . . . You know when you set your lbve upon God, arid you know when you set your love.upon something else, because you know which way the obedience of your will and the choice, of your whole nature leads. If you choose Mammon, you love Mammon; if you choose God, you love God. — A . T. P ier so n , A§, the years pas? on, welcome to know that there is not an interest dear to us which has not its enemies, real and terrible. There was a time when the loved presence of father or mother kept whole our sense of security; later On, it was; enough to be in the near neighborhood of'our.-fel- lows; still later, wise precaution and timely foresight kept away from us the feeling of danger. But at last, and by slow, sometimes terrifying advances, We reached the truth, and knew that only the Ever lasting Arms could save us from sinking beneath the dark waves of overwhelming woe. God does not make us secure by removing the dangers from our lives, but by Himself becoming our Shield right in the very midst of them. And His protec tion gives far more than safety; for as we learn from the closing verses of the psalm, beneath the shadow of His wings we may grow up into all holy fellowship, with Himself.—M. G. C. JUNE 3 Patience in the Testing Hour "The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion^, Psa. 145:8). The chastening must answer its purpose, or it cannot be; brought to an end. Who would desire to see the gold taken out of the fire before its dross is consumed? Wait, O precious thing, till thou hast gained the utmost of purity. These furnace moments are profitable . . . Perhaps, moreover, we have not displayed sufficient submission to the divine will. Patience has not yet had her perfect work. The weaning process is not accomplised; we are still hankering after the comforts which the Lord intends us forever to outgrow. Abraham made a great feast when his son Isaac was weaned; and, pera’dventure, our heavenly Father JUNE 2 Protection and Growth “Because thou hast made the Lord . . . thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee” (Psa. 91: 9, 10).
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