July 1928
456
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
seat in the pulpit. Presently one man came in and sat down, and the preacher began. As the service closed, the solitary hearer departed and left the preacher alone. Twenty years later Dr. Beecher was traveling in Ohio, when a stranger accosted him. “Do you remember preaching twenty years ago to one man?” he asked. “Yes, yes,” said the doctor, grasping his hand, “that I do; and, if you are the man, I have been wishing to see you ever since.” “I am the man,” came the answer. “That sermon changed my life and made a minister of me, and yonder is my church. The converts of the sermon, sir, are all over Ohio!”
The wax was unable to reply at once, and when it again looked up it bore a beautiful impression, the counterpart of the seal which had been applied to it. “Ah, I understand now!” said the wax, no longer in suffer ing. “I was softened in order to receive this lovely, durable impress.”
J uly 30, 1928 Text; Jn. 16:23
King William III of Prussia was once unable to sleep in consequence of the pain of a broken bone. While lying awake he thought: “Who has treated' me the meanest during my life?” He thought of one Col. Massenbach, who on account of his cari catures of the King had been imprisoned for ten years. He gave order for the man’s release. At the time, Massenbach had been reading the story of a wonderful answer to prayer. ,He was suddenly convicted that, although he had tried all means of getting release, he had never prayed. In Jesus’ name, he prayed for freedom. The next day, the order for his release came.
A ugust 2, 1928 Text : Phil. 2 :3-5
James McDougall, a young Scotchman, a candidate for the ministry, was on his way to the pulpit to preach his trial sermon. James had worked hard' on that sermon, and he felt that it was a good one. He knew he had a good voice, and he was confi dent of making an excellent impression. As he walked up the aisle and mounted the high pulpit steps, the pride in his face and walk was evident to everybody in the church. Old Robin Malair, the sexton, slowly shook his grizzled head. “I hae me d'oots o’ yon laddie,” he said to himself. The sexton had seen many a candidate mount those steps, some in pride and some in humility, so now he had his doubts. James McDougall made a miserable failure in the pulpit that day. And when his wretchedly delivered sermon was done he walked slowly down, the pulpit steps, head bowed and' heart humbled. “Ay, laddie,” mused old Robin, “if ye had gone up as ye came doon, ye’d have come doon as ye went up,!” Humility is a great grace. Let us all covet it. Earnest Gordon relates a circumstance showing how the course of nature may be frustrated in the case of the cater pillar, and illustrating vividly the danger that threatens every human being with the destruction of his hope of eternal life with the glorified. The story is as follows : “Alexander Morel, in his studies of butterfly life, tells how he searched for cocoons of a rare butterfly in the Haut Valais, hoping to raisersome of the purple and silver beauties. He finally succeeded in finding five chrysalides in perfect health on a certain Alpine plant which attracts them. But when the time of birth came, out of the first crawled an ichneumon; out of the second another; out of the third still another. Only the fifth and last produced a butterfly, “What had happened? The ichneumon fly had deposited its eggs in each of the living caterpillars. The ichneumonized cater pillar lived as if nothing had happened—ate, grew, constructed its cocoon. The unfortunate caterpillar did not realize it was possessed, that under its skin it carried a perfidious enemy, which, after letting it live, transformed its destiny altogether. In fact, this mysterious substance, which should have given birth to a butterfly, passed altogether into the body of a little larva and became an ichneumon.” A ugust 3, 1928 Text: Lk. 16:13
J uly 31, 1928 Text: Jas. 2:14
Two gentlemen were one day crossing the river in a ferry boat. A disputé about faith and works arose, one saying that good works were of small importance, and that faith was every thing; the other asserting the contrary. Not being able to con vince each other, the ferry-man, an enlightened Christian, asked permission to give his opinion. Consent being granted, he said : “I hold in my hands two oars. That in my right hand I call ‘faith’; the other, in my left, ‘works.’ Now, gentlemen, please observe, I pull the oar of faith and pull that alone. See ! The boat goes round and round and makes no progress. I do the same with the oar of works and with precisely the same result, no advance. Mark! I pull both together, we go on apace, and in a very few minutes we shall be at our landing place. So, in my humble opinion,” he added, “faith without works, or works without faith, will not suffice. Let there be both, and the haven of eternal rest is sure to be reached.” As the flower is before the fruit, so is faith before good works. Faith is the parent of works, and the children will bear a resemblance to the parent. It is not enough that the inward works of a clock are well constructed, and also the dial-plate and hands ; the one must act on the other ; the works must regulate the movement of the hands. —Archbishop Whately.
A ugust 1, 1928 Text: Prov. 4:25
We never know what the results will be of a piece of work faithfully done, even though apparently unnoticed. In the early part of his career, Dr. Lyman Beecher, an American preacher, once arranged to preach for a minister whose church was in a remote district. It was mid-winter; the day was stormy and cold, and the snow lay so deep that he could scarcely find his way. On his arrival, although the church was empty, he took his
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker