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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
the will of the people, nor the latter on the will of the prince, but both on the will of God, who has all hearts in His hands. To Him therefore those must look who are in pursuit of pre ferment and then they begin aright. The fair gale, of preferment is not to be expected to blow from any point of the compass, but only from above, directly thence. No concurring smiles of second causes will raise men to pre ferment without the first cause.— Matthew Henry. TO LIVE IS CHRIST “It is a wonderful day of new begin nings to a man, when he finally and forever stops asking Christ merely to help him. Christ does not want to be merely our helper; He wants to be our whole life. He wants to be to us what the vine is to the branches,—every thing. The vine does not help the branch; it and the branch are one, and whatever the branch needs, the vine does. The life of sustained and complete victory consists only of Christ. ‘It is no longer I that live, but Christ that liveth in me.’ ” And so it is Christ forever! the Christ forever and aye! His life overflowing within me, whether I live or die; His for the daily service, wherever He sendeth me; And His for the joy eternal, the final victory! —Sophie Titterington. & HIM “Once it was my working, His it hence shall be; Once I tried to use Him Now He uses me; Once the power I wanted, Now the Mighty One; Once I worked for glory, Now His will alone.” — Selected.
CONFINED PREACHING If Christ were to come visibly now, which do you think would come crowd ing around Him in greater numbers, the Church and Chapel goers, or the people from the slums? If these do not come out to us, it is because we are so unlike the Master, and because we do not go out to them. The Apostolic precedent will never allow us to con fine our ministry to the inside of our Churches and Chapels. We cannot expect that the careless, and unsaved, will come in unsought. In our large towns, especially London, also in our villages, there are tens of thousands who never will hear the Gospel while open-air preaching is neglected. It is altogether a mischievous thing to con fine all preaching within walls. Our Lord was largely an open-air preacher. He often spoke on the mountain side, or from a boat, or in the public thor oughfare. Are our ministers to con tinue to preach to empty pews, when they might, by going outside, be heard by hundreds? Wesley and Whitefield were great open-air preachers, and very much of their success was due to that.—Geo. N. Willomat. Psa. 75:6-7. Promotion cometh neither from thè east nor from the west nor from the south, but God is judge: He putteth down one and setteth up another. From God alone kings receive their power. We see strange revolutions in states and kingdoms and are surprised at the sudden disgrace of some and the elevation of others; we are all full of such changes when they happen, but here we are directed to look at the Author of them and are taught where tihe original of power is and whence promotion comes. Whence comes preferment to king doms, to places of power and trust in them? The former depends not upon THE FIRST CAUSE
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