627
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
October 1928
came in, and the father said to her, ‘Mother, Johnny wants the hatchet. It is behind the kitchen door. I wish you would hide it away.’ I turned to him and said, ‘You told your boy a lie, and he knows it.’ ” The minister then visited the house of the woman who had complained o f his sermon. While they were talking, her child was making a noise with a hammer. The mother said, “Mary, stop that noise, or I will punish you.” The child looked up, but went on hammering. The threat was repeated, but with no avail. At last, the mother, getting angry with the child, said, “Mary, stop that noise, or I will kill you !” The hammering went on. My friend had a large walking-stick, which he handed to the woman, saying, “Will this do?” “What for?” she said. “ To kill your child; you said you would.” “ Oh,” she said, “but I did not mean it.” “ No,” answered the minister, “and the child knew you were not speaking the truth.” Oh, let us purpose before God that in our homes our Yea shall be yea, and our Nay, nay, so that our little ones may grow up in an atmosphere o f truth and sincerity, and we may be able to lead them in the paths o f righteousness. Charles G. Finney tells how once, when he was preaching a course of sermons on being filled with the Spirit of God, many were responding and receiving the fulness o f God’s Holy Spirit. There was one lady, however, who was asking for it, but her prayer was not answered. She constantly complained that “ Nothing seemed to help her” ; and Charles Finney wondered what was the hindrance.'.in fier life, why it was she was not filled with the Spirit. After a little time, he came to stay in her house, and he had not been there long before he discovered the reason. Some people came to call one morning, and, pro testing that she was quite offended that they had not called before, she pressed them to stay and spend the day, declaring that she could not consent to let them go. They excused them selves and left the house. A? soon as they had gone, she said to the servant that she “wondered these people had so little sense as to be always troubling her and taking up her time.” Finney overheard this, and immediately rebuked her, telling her she ought to see for herself why Jiier prayers to be filled with the Spirit were not answered. It was because she,had the daily habit o f insincerity that amounted to downright lying. The Spirit o f Truth could not dwell in such a heart. gte- A great sculptor in Italy, Vincenzo Gemito, was acknowl edged to be one of the leading artists o f his time. He was given a commission by King Humbert and Queen Marguerita to make some beautiful things for their palace. The queen desired a silver centerpiece for the dinner table. Gemito made a lovely design, and was ready to cast the group in silver. But a few State officials, in opposition to- thé king and queen, refused to make the necessary grant of money. Gemito went as far as his means would permit but he needed more money in order that he, might complete his work. He applied at the office of the treasurer for the money, but it was said that they were not on friendly terms with the king and queen and his application was refused. Day after day, week after week, and month after montKihe received no favorable response. He became so im poverished that he was utterly discouraged. For nearly twenty years he was unable to go on with any of his work^ beqaüse of the mental unbalance. But his daughter married a young man who also was preparing to do the same kind of work that the great sculptor, her father, had been doing. Knowing how great an artist his father-in-law was, the young man asked him to teach him. So the aged sculptor began to teach his son-in-law. They surrounded the aged man with love and gentleness. Little by little his old-time skill came back. Finally, he was able to do as high a quality of work, as he did before the great catastrophe twenty years previous. In Italy today it is said he is considered the leading sculptor of the nation. His strength had been renewed, through the kindness and love o f members o f his own family who recognized the power that was in ■him, long in abeyance. If, then, a daughter and a son-in-law, being imperfect, O ctober 9, 1928 T ext: Mt. 5:37 O ctober 10, 1928 T ext: Isa. 40:31
Illustrated Daily Text Interesting Stories f r om Everyday Life r9n
O ctober 6, 1928 Text : Mt. 5 :39
One evening, when the light was beginning to fade, Mr. Hudson Taylor, dressed as he was in Chinese costume, came down to the side o f a river in China intending to cross, He hailed the boatman from the other side, and while waiting for him to bring the, boat across, he stood down there on a jetty. Presently a Chinaman, richly dressed in silk, came down, and stood waiting a l s o a n d when the boat drew near, this man, not seeing that Mr. Hudson Taylor was a foreigner, took his hand and struck him a blow on the side o f the head, and knocked him over into the mud. Mr. Taylor said himself that the feel ing came to him, just for a moment, to smite that man; but God immediately stopped him. When the’ boat came up, the Chinaman went forward to get into it, but the boatman said, “No, I came across at the call o f that foreigner.” When the Chinaman turned and saw that Mr. Taylor was a foreigner he could hardly believe his eyes, and said, “What! You a foreigner, and when I struck you like that you did not' strike me back?” By that time Mr. Taylor had stepped into the boat, and he replied, “ This boat is mine. Come in here, and I will take you out to the ship where you want to go.” On the way out, Mr. Taylor poured into the ear of that Chinaman the message of the Gospel of salvation, which had made him, a foreigner, treat in this way a Chinaman whq had struck him. He left the man with tears running down his face; and, although he never saw him again, he had good hope that the Gospel of Christ had entered with power into that man’s heart.
O ctober 7, 1928 Text : Mt.' 5 :23-24
“ First be reconciled to thy brother.” A minister tells of meeting a lady who had been attending a convention for the deepening of spiritual life. It was on the Friday, when we were to have a praise meeting. He said to her, “Are you not coming to the meeting?” “Yes,” she said, “but before doing so I must go home, and write two letters of recon ciliation.”
O ctober 8, 1928 T ext: Col. 3:9
A minister told the following story. He.said: “I was very greatly distressed to find that the children in my parish were so untruthful. They seemed to think nothing o f telling a lie. I prayed very much about it, and determined-- to fipd out the cause. At last I traced it¿to theirfncfifnes.-, I fotfnd out thafe.it was there they .first learned to s a y ‘that which was not true. I then preached on the subject a sermon which made some of my people very angry. One man came to me and said I ought not to preach as I did. I told him that I had prayed very much about it, and that I had in my mind his home as well as others. Another member o f my congregation, a woman, also called me to order for preaching such a sermon. “A few weeks later I visited both of these homes. First, I went to the man’s home, and while we sat talking, a little boy came into the room and said, ‘Father, I want the hatchet!’ The father said, ‘I don’t know where it is !’ The boy came a second time and received the same answer. At last his mother
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