October 1928
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
580
sprèad indifference to the old Gospel message. Shall we not hold a straight course, remembering the exhortation: “ Preach the Word in season and out o f season,” for we have a guarantee, that “ in due season we shall reap if we faint not.” ■ ■ r ■ JÜ When Conveniences Are a Curse T H AT was a startling statement made in one o f the secular magazines lately— that most of those who have made a study o f the late war, agree that it might have been avoided but fo r the existence o f the telegraph. A hundred years ago, during the era o f the galloping courier, thé news, of the murder at Sarajevo would not have reached the more distant parts o f the world, such as St. Petersburg or Christiania, until two or three weeks
. The queen’s chamber was beyond the gallery, and the inches of that should be added. to 1882, and a corres ponding number o f years added to the same figure, bring ing the date further dpsjpi. This date, also, failed to work, and later the king’s chamber was added. When the third date failed, a further discovery was made, and this was that the calculations had started from the wrong point. The central point of history was not the change from B. C. to A. D., but the cross. This gave another 29 years with which to play, and calculations began afresh. Some crucial event was supposed to take place May 29, 1928. This date passed calmly by and the students of the stone Bible must now find some new kink in the calculations. W e do well to say with the Psalmist: “ I have stuck unto thy testimonies,” and it is certain that here we shall
afterwards. It would have taken a month before anyone in Berlin or London could have discovered what anyone else in Stockholm or Madrid was thinking about the possible consequences of this political drama. As it was, all the telegraphic wires of Europe were suddenly charged with bristling messages. Some of these came so fast that they overtook each other, con tradicted each other, and left their re cipients completely at sea, or free to accept any interpretation they wished. Add to this the confusion of trying to revaluate one language into another. Add to this the necessity ' of putting highly technical diplomatic French into some form o f Servian or Russian that would convey a clear meaning to recipients un familiar with the jargon. Add to this the habit o f coding and decoding that forced the whole correspondence to be stilted and awkward. Add to this— but enough. If the electro-magnetic telegraph had not been invented, a few quiet weeks of deliberation could almost certainly have shown the way out of the difficulties. We are by no means underestimating the value of these wonders o f modern
discover no dates for future events. W e shall be busy if we faithfully proclaim the essential truths and prepare men for the Lord’s coming, which is to be “ in such an hour as we think not.” “ In Season and Out of Season” H OW many o f our ministerial readers have, from time to time, sat under the juniper tree and said to themselves: “ My usefulness is ended. I am accom plishing nothing” ? Even Charles H. Spur geon, we are told, had his days o f “ seeing blue” and more than once wrote out his resignation in moments of depression. While often these feelings may be due to a tired body,¿;we cannot doubt that Satan constantly strives to depress the servants of Christ. ,
R ev .ROBERTEAGLEN WHO SLEPT IN JESUS SEPT. 24« 1893,AGED77YEAR8. ALSO MARIA, HISBELOVEDWIFE, WHO FELL ASLEEP DEC.4 » 1803 AGED 80 YEARS. I t WAS THE ABOVE R ev .ROBERTEAGLEN whom ^ AeftAI_ ■ H i ■ ■ ■
Writing in his paper The Sword and Trowel in 1874, Mr. Spurgeon told of his conversion in a little Primitive Methodist chapel in Colchester, in December, 1850. He had been compelled to turn in thither by a severe snowstorm, which even de layed the preacher. The text was Isa. 4 5 :22 and the minister preached most earnestly to a handful o f people. “ Look, young man, look to Jesus,” said the preacher, and Spurgeon looked straight to Jesus and was saved. The Christian Herald (London) has recently brought out the facts regarding the faithful preacher whom God used on that occasion, and concerning whom Mr. Spur geon in his lifetime never seemed to be clear. The man Was Robert Eaglen, Primitive Methodist minister, who was in his appointed place on that Sunday morning. It Was left to the Rev. D. Sheen (M r. Eaglen’s son-in-law) to gather all the facts o f the case and give them to the world. He has now “ passed onward,” and those also whose personal testimony he produced, but some o f their descendants ánd friends still remain, and several o f them have strongly confirmed the facts. Mr. Eaglen was at the time a thin, sickly looking man, though laté^he was restored to health. The rough notes o f his sermon on Isa. 45 :22 are still in existence. Mr. Eaglen sometimes told the story to friends but never in public, and so it has never become generally known. Three good men, well known, weré present at the service, and they testified to having seen Mr. Eaglen in the pulpit and young Spurgeon in one o f the pews. Many ministers today áre complaining of the wide-
invention, •but the fact remains that practically all of these conveniences— the telephone, the telegraph, the radio, the printing press and rapid transit—are being made to speed up the devil’s business. Someone suspects a neighbor. The breath o f scandal goes like lightning over the telephone to another friend. Perhaps within an hour a score o f phones have been ring ing, as each recipient o f the news imparts it, with a few additions, to someone else. By nightfall the news has spread many miles. There may not be a particle of truth in it, but the victim can never hope to catch up with the story. It cannot be undone. The name of Nobel is known to everyone, in con nection with the prize for those who contribute greatly to the cause o f human progress. What few persons know is that Nobel was a kind-hearted citizen who bestowed dynamite upon this world. Nobel expected great things o f dynamite. It was to be a godsend to the farmer con fronted by stumps and rocks. The life of the miner was to be safer and happier. It would benefit the whole industrial world. But the inevitable military experts got busy. Dynamite was used to blow human beings into “ kingdom-come,” and old Nobel left the money from his
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