269
May 1927
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
it dawned upon the disciples that His kingdom was a heavenly and spiritual one, designed for all mankind. Had He remained in visible presence, men would have continued to clamor for Jesus to push Him to,a temporal throne. Human nature is prone to want visible and material results. The Church, through Him, would ever have been seeking temporal power. A visible reign He shall have in due time, but then His blood-washed Church shall appear with Him, a glorious Queen, to “reign with Him.” “Jesus knew,” says Dr. Merriam, “that the unseen and spiritual is the real life, and He went away to compel His disciples to fix their eyes on Him in the unseen world, and to find their inspiration for the toils and trials of life, and for their hopes and victories and eternal future, in a Leader, who, though invisible, yet is universal, immortal, eternally t r i u m p h a n t .' While He has not for 1900 years been within the range of mortal sight, we know that Jesus has been consciously and powerfully present for the comfort and inspiration of believers. In spite of some disagreements between those who accept Him as Saviour and Lord, so clearly has His spiritual power been manifested to those who truly love Him, that millions have been able to testify in the words of Peter: “Whom having not seen, we love; in whom, though now we see Him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Pet. 1 : 8 ). Honoring Our Grand Army Men T HIS month we shall especially remember our soldier dead, and honor a few remaining heroes of the days when the great principles of our American Constitution^ were at stake. We have known some of these venerable men of the Grand Army who have rued the fact that they have been spared to see a day in which many of our rising
The Invisible Christ “It is worth while for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart 1 will send Him unto you” (John 16:7).
{OR those who had left all to follow Him and who had none to go to but Himself (Jn. 6 : 68 )—for those whose hopes were all centered in Him—these must have been difficult words. Yet our Lord says: “I, tell you the truth; it is expedient that I should go.” We may not be able to fathom all the deep counsels of God in this plan,
but the divine order was that the Son of man should com plete His work on earth by dying as the Lamb of God, then rise from the dead, ascend to heaven to become the High Priest of His people, then send forth the Holy Spirit to give wings to His Gospel and to abide in believers of all times and places. Humanity must ascend to heaven before the Spirit could descend to humanity on earth. What if Christ had not died and ascended ? God might have endowed Him with continuous human life and let Him remain on earth as the personal Teacher and Guide of the Church. Would it not have been better to have kept Him here to speak His wonderful words and work His wonderful miracles among the various races of mankind ? How wonderful would it be to be able to appeal to Him as Head of the Church at Jerusalem to settle some reli gious dispute! We foolishly reason that had He remained as the vis ible Leader, the Church would have been more united and successful. Yet He who was “the wisdom of God” declared: “It is expedient that I should go.” In human form, His labors would have been limited. Though He might speak all tongues and have affinity with all races, He could still be in but one place at a time. But few people could have His direct labors in their midst. There would always be discontent in various quarters because He was not where it was considered He was most needed. Considering the immense population, how many of one generation would ever enjoy His per sonal and visible presence ? In our day He might broad cast by radio His wonderful messages, but even this could not satisfy the deepest needs of human hearts. Our Lord knew that, by His going to the throne of Majesty on high, He could, as the Mediator between God and man, manifest His power in the lives of men every where through His Representative, the Holy Spirit, mak ing His spiritual presence and power available to all, and leading all into the truth who should yield to Him. At the same time, His teachings have been left to us in the Inspired Word. Not until the Saviour died and passed out of their sight did the disciples fully realize that He was something more than man. It was the impulse of the resurrection and the gift of the Spirit which brought the marvelous progress of the Gospel. The triumphant career of the Church did not begin until Jesus ascended to the glory. Then it was that
generation should be carried away by Bolshevistic propaganda—a day in which reflections are openly cast upon the characters and motives of the fathers of our constitution, and even when vilification is heaped upon the names of such men as Washington and Lincoln. What could make a deeper cut into the hearts of these aged heroes- whose love for country led them to make such tremendous sacrifices!
A program of misrepresentation is being widely carried on by dis loyal agitators and enemies of America, and in harmony with the class hatred for which they stand. It is being spread among our school children, and, sad to say, some preachers have handed over their pulpits to perverters of the Constitution. It is high time for the church people of our land to awake to what is going on. Those, at least, who cherish our, .constitutional purposes, principles and ideals—who
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