The tendency of modern science is to eliminate old methods; of modern philosophy, to discard old theories; of modern Christianity, to use modern science and modern speculative philosophy to subvert old beliefs and annihilate ancient faith, “which was once for all delivered unto the saints.” Jude 3, R.V. The horse is being supplanted by the automobile, the steam-engine by the electric engine, and the telegraph by the wireless telegraph. In like manner, not to be outdone by scientists and thinkers in the process of substitution, modern divines, in an effort to offer an up-to-date religion, are producing numerous ponderous volumes of vast learning in a Herculean effort to give us a Christless Bible; nay, a Bibleless Christianity.
Man has become so learned in art, so successful in science, so potent in war, that his pride revolts at the thought or the suggestion of there being anything beyond the scope of his progressive, adjustive, or creative genius. To hint at a limitation of his achievements is to insult his ability; to criticize his methods is to malign his morals; to disagree with his conclusions is to flout his genius; and to deprecate his emasculated religion is to traduce the man. In the overweening pride of his progress he is rearing a lofty intellectual Tower of Babel. Like the Babel of the plain of Shinar, its top is designed to “reach unto heaven;” nay, to God Himself. But let man beware lest his modern Babel share the fate of the ancient Babel, for “the secret things belong unto the Lord.” Through the veil of infinity man can not penetrate. Here the daring of his speculation is the measure of his folly. Here silence is the highest eloquence.
The world is being filled with pleasing fables, wooing man from the stony upward path of virtue to the flowery, easy highway of gratification, luring him to pleasant dreams of Oriental languor in Elysian palaces of bliss. Honest truth-seekers thus encompassed with a seducing salvation of enrapturing ease, find their minds often clouded in perplexity and their souls shrouded in darkness. And the world in general is tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, without anchor, compass, chart, or Captain. This, in an ever-increasing degree, is the work of Higher Criticism.
Enemies Now from Within
Once the attack upon the Bible was from without. Once the van of devastating criticism was led by a Voltaire or a Paine. A century ago a Rousseau was mightiest in hurling invectives at Christianity. Nay, only two decades ago an Ingersoll held highest the banner of Bible criticism. Then the friends of the Bible knew its enemies, for they were open and avowed.
But to-day the divine stories upon which our parents were nurtured, around which their affections entwined, and by which their faith was supported, are declared by the theological professors of many of the greatest colleges in the world to be not only untrue in some parts, but false in every particular—the myths of a superstitious and ignorant people, generated in an age of darkness.
Thus has the banner of infidelity been wrested from the Paines and the Ingersolls, and held aloft by religious leaders. Thus are the foundations of our faith ruthlessly torn away, not by men who, like Gibbon and Voltaire, are the declared enemies of Christianity, but by the world’s most renowned professed believers. Thus is the Bible smitten by the hand of a friend. Thus is it betrayed with a kiss.
While bending might and main, devoting talents, giving means, and even lavishing wealth of genius, upon the unseemly work of undermining faith in the Old Testament, belief in the New Testament, and firm reliance upon the infallibility of Christ; while attacking with fiendish delight, and subjecting to sarcastic ridicule, one who has a simple, childlike faith in the Bible as it reads, these modern divines blandly claim to be doing all of this for the good of Christianity!
The Words of Christ
Down through the ages with clarion voice ring those memorable words of Christ, spoken to the ancient Pharisees: “If ye believed Moses, ye would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?” John 5:46, 47. The ancient Pharisee, tho the religious leader of the age, did not believe Moses, tho he professed so to do. The modern Pharisee does not believe that Moses ever wrote a word of the Bible, and furthermore he doubts the very first sentence: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” “Not so,” says the modern Pharisee; “in the beginning the heavens and the earth did not exist, for they were evolved after millions of years, from a gaseous state.” Hand in hand with this teaching there has been a growing denial of the infallibility of Christ’s words. But Christ foretold the result of the denial of the writings of Moses: “If ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?” Then let us be careful how we doubt or criticize even the apparently unimportant statements in the Bible; for it was also Christ who said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matt. 4:4.
Seed-Sowing and Fruitage
The modern religious teachers and leaders not only adopt the old infidel arguments, but enlarge them; they not only endorse the conclusions of the most rabid infidel, but strengthen them; they not only repeat the old infidel watchwords, but invent new ones even more radical and destructive. The violent unbelief of Voltaire and Paine has been baptized, and rechristened “Higher Criticism.” In the doubting minds and sordid hearts of the scoffing infidels of a century or more ago were germinated the seeds of the rampant unbelief that, under the sedulous cultivation of learned divines, is opening into full bloom in the devastating Higher Criticism of to-day. Fallacies and frauds advanced a score of times in the past and a thousand times exploded, are by the Higher Critics gravely repeated again as new and important truths.
The Higher Critic’s maxim that the Bible must be studied like any other book, is the basis of all present criticism; and this theory has led to its corollary that the Bible must be like any other book. They believe not Christ’s teaching that “Thy Word is truth” (John 17:17), because it contradicts their own! But either the Bible is true or it is not. It is the Word of God or a delusion. It is absolutely reliable or not at all. It is either infallible or utterly untrustworthy. There is no middle ground. One must take his position either with Christ, Paul, and John, or with Paine, Voltaire, and Gibbon. But the Higher Critic is trying to manufacture a middle ground. He endeavors to be at once both infidel and Christian, and succeeds in being only infidel.
Doubt and Faith
That I have not exaggerated; that the Higher Critic is a doubter first, last, and all the time; that doubting is not only a pleasant pastime, but a serious business with him, I will now prove. Nay, more, he actually teaches to the divinity students, as a valuable and indeed indispensable acquisition, “the art of doubting.” A religious teacher in the Wesleyan University wrote in the North American Review for April, 1900, as follows:
“In every sphere of investigation, he should BEGIN WITH DOUBT, and the student will make the most rapid progress who has acquired THE ART OF DOUBTING WELL. . . . We ask that every student of theology take up the subject precisely as he would any other science: that he begin with doubt. . . . We believe that even the teachings of Jesus should be viewed from this standpoint, and should be accepted or REJECTED on the grounds of their inherent REASONABLENESS.”
Doubt is the means by which unsanctified reason always works. Self is its mainspring and self its goal: self its element, and the worship of self its result. But “O thou of little faith, wherefore dost thou doubt!” Matt. 14:31. “Neither be ye of doubtful mind” (Luke 12:29), for “whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23), and in fact “without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Heb. 11:6); while on the other hand “all things are possible to him that believeth.” Mark 9:23. The wisdom of the Higher Critic is dangerous; for “the world through its wisdom knew not God,” 1 Cor. 1:21. All these theological exalters of reason should obey the urgent words of Paul counseling them about “casting down reasonings, . . . and bringing every7thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Cor. 10:5.
In face of these scriptures, the fact that “the art of doubting” is actually taught as the most essential qualification for learning religion in a divinity school, is a most appalling condition of affairs, and is significant of the trend and effect of all the teaching of Higher Criticism. Its foundation is doubt, and its object is to promulgate doubt. Doubt is its essence, infidelity its sphere, and atheism its result.
A Sinister Meaning
The present and increasing vogue of Higher Criticism has a subtle and sinister meaning. With its corrosive doubt it besmirches with sacrilegious hands everything within its reach. That Book which our Lord and His apostles called “the Scriptures,” “Holy Scriptures,” “the Word of Truth,” “the Sacred Writings,” “the Oracles of God,” and always regarded as “inspired of God,” and the authoritative, infallible record of God’s dealings with the world, the Higher Critic tells us is a patchwork of legends and childish myths, put together in an age of ignorance, by superstitious or fraudulent religious leaders, and is not only unreliable in some particulars, but false in records of history, degrading in morals, debasing in spirituality, and from cover to cover “gangrened with error.”
Nevertheless, this “patchwork of errors” was always Christ’s court of last appeal. “Have ye not read?” “It is written,” “Thy Word is truth,” were the watchwords of His life. His life and teachings were simply saturated and steeped with its glorious imagery, its eternal principles, and its divine love. In the lonely watches of the night it comforted Him, when weary with His taxing labors it refreshed Him, through the agony of Gethsemane it sustained Him, and even from the agony of the cross He passed to the peace of eternity with its soothing message upon His dying lips. Shall “all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27), which were so absolutely essential to Him, be deemed by us of doubtful and even dubious value? Shall the redeemed discard as unnecessary what was endorsed, given, and sealed by, and essential to, the Redeemer?
The Book a Dead Letter
It is in vain that one refers the Higher Critics to Paul’s classic words upon the inspiration of Scripture: “Every scripture is inspired of God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.” 2 Tim. 3:16, 17, R.V., margin. Nay, they deny it. They teach that no scripture is in any way more inspired of God than the writings of Browning, of Shakespeare or even of Plato; that it does not fit him to teach anything, and leaves him incomplete in every particular, not furnished for anything.
The fact must be faced by Christians, that the issue is no longer between the open and avowed unbeliever and the Bible. The enemies the church has to fear are no longer those on the outside, but those within; nay, its very highest and most honored leaders. The danger is not from the Tom Paines and the Ingersolls, but from the teachers of ministerial classes and the presidents of theological colleges. No matter how unpleasant the duty, the issue must be faced, and sides must be chosen, not in a reluctant manner, but whole-heartedly, “nothing doubting.” No matter how brilliant the error, nor how much like “an angel of light” the advocate appears, there are but two sides,—that of Christ and that of Satan. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” Joshua 24:15. “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.” 1 Kings 18:21.
In other words, shall the divine Book by which Christ’s whole life was guided, His spirituality nourished, in which His teachings were rooted and grounded, by which He overcame every temptation and conquered all the legions of the satanic world—shall, I say, this God-given Book be flippantly subjected to the skeptical scalpel of Higher Criticism, and dismembered at their behest, discarded by their dictum, according to the standard of their ever-changing caprice? or shall we stand firmly upon “the Scripture that can not be broken,” and say, “Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief”?
Showers of the Latter Rain
By Delwin Reas Buckner
By Delwin Reas Buckner
What joy that thirsty traveler must feel,—
Assailed, his heart, by gusts of sudden fears;
And bathed, his eyes, by storms of briny tears,—
As he beholds for days a sky of steel,
Then all at once forgets his pangs of pain,
And on the sand in glad thanksgiving kneels,
As distant landscape blurs and thunder peals,
Announcements of a welcome shower of rain.
Like him should we not also fold our hands,
And give our God all glory, all the praise,
For His repeated mercies time again!
Each day good news we have from needy lands
That rain abundant of the latter days
Is watering the hearts of thirsty men.
Ambato, Ecuador.
Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost
By L. L. Ashton
THAT single yet important work of the Holy Ghost is so sadly misunderstood. So simplified is it that all can share its influence; so important that all should earnestly seek its association. To one class it is said, “Quench not the Spirit.” 1 Thess. 5:19. We should drink deep of it, that our whole being may be permeated, as the leaven that leaveneth the whole lump. So will we develop such characters as will serve to draw men to God.
To the other class it is said, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.” Eph. 4:30. Cut the wire between you and God, and there is no communion; drive away or insult the Holy Spirit if you will, and you have no hearing in the courts of heaven. This continued to its ultimate is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. It is dangerous ground; keep off.
L. L. ASHTON.
Baltimore, Md.
Nowhere Else to Go
I HAVE been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.—Abraham Lincoln.
Dreams of Better Things
WE forget our dreams because we have not the inspiration of the Presence in our lives. We fail to sing our sweetest because we are not keyed to the Divine Harmonies. But the door of hope is never closed to him who would enter. Look to the hills, from whence cometh our help. Close your ears to the din of world-strife ringing in them, so that you may hear the still small voice whispering within of hope and courage and help and achievement. Tear from your eyes the film of worldliness, and get a fresh vision of God. Tune anew the chimes of your soul, and set them ringing in harmony with the music of heaven. Link up with God, and the forgotten dream will flash again from the recesses of memory with new glory, and under its inspiration life will take on new aspirations, and you will move again under the impulse of a mighty purpose and the enthusiasm of a reincarnated youth.— N. Y. Observer.
Christianity and Civilization
THE British East India Company said at the beginning of the nineteenth century, “The sending of Christian missionaries into our Eastern possessions is the maddest, most expensive, most unwarranted project that was ever proposed by a lunatic enthusiast.” The English lieutenant-governor of Bengal said at the close of the nineteenth century, “In my judgment Christian missionaries have done more lasting good to the people of India than all other agencies combined.” —Van Dyke.
Correct Interpretation of the Bible
By Bush
The progressive elucidation of the Scriptures, whether by the expository labors of critics, the researches of travelers, or the fulfilments of prophecy, may be compared to the gradual rolling away of the morning mist from a splendid landscape. As the sun advances, the shadows retire, and new and interesting features of the scenery are continually opening upon the delighted eye of the spectator. Or it may be said to resemble the slow but momentous process of unfolding the ancient papyri, which the ravages of time and fire have spared among the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Here, as every successive word and letter which can be redeemed from the crisp and crumpling texture of the blackened parchment is noted down with the most scrupulous care, as forming a part of the continuous record, and going to make out its entire sense; so the sense of the Sacred Volume is gradually elicited, item by item, and needs only to be collected and treasured up with equal solicitude, in order to constitute a possession of infinitely more value than the choicest literary relics of antiquity.—Bush.
The Word of God
1. Where is God's Word current and established?
“Forever, O Jehovah, Thy Word is settled in heaven.” Ps. 119: 89.
2. What is the nature of this Word?
“The words of Jehovah are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace on the earth, purified seven times.” Ps. 12: 6.
3. How was this Word given to men?
“Men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1: 21.
“The Spirit of Jehovah spake by me, and His Word was upon my tongue.” 2 Sam. 23: 2.
4. How does God regard His Word?
“Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name.” Ps. 138: 2.
5. What is that Word to the believer?
“The words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life.” John 6: 63.
6. What change is wrought in us by this Word?
“Having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the Word of God, which liveth and abideth.” 1 Peter 1: 23.
7. How is this life to be maintained?
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matt. 4: 4.
8. What will feeding on that Word accomplish?
“Long for the spiritual milk [of the Word], . . . that ye may grow thereby unto salvation.” 1 Peter 2: 2.
9. What will the Word used be to us?
“For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light.” Prov. 6: 23.
10. What will it make our path of life?
“The path of the righteous is as the dawning light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Prov. 4:18.
Wisdom
THE WISE business man will recognize all his relationships, obligations, duties, privileges. He will rightly weigh between the little things and the great, between the minute and the hour, between the momentary present and the infinite future. That does not mean, however, that he will ignore or throw away the little, spend foolishly the minute, consider of no worth the present. But it DOES MEAN that he will see in that little the possibilities of much; that he will value the minute by the hour into which it grows; that the single brick will be of the quality he desires the house to be; that the present shall be spent in such a way that he will meet it with gladness in the infinite, ever unrolling future.
Therefore the wise business man will have regard for the future, the future beyond the present moment, beyond the present life; because this life gives no promise of continuance. To-day there may seem to be strength and vitality; to-morrow the form may be prone and cold in death. The eyes which saw large visions of present-life greatness are sightless. The busy mind that conceived such great schemes is oblivious to every earthly impulse. The enlarged barns and storehouses and business and farms, are now dead dreams; and the heart which hoped in the present life, is dead with its hopes.
The WISE business man will recognize this. He will rightly weigh the relative worth of things. He will not barter eternity for time; he will use the time as a part of eternity; he will place in the structure such materials as will persist and endure forever.
A little eyelid shuts out from men the glorious light of the sun. So a little dollar is made to blind us to eternal riches. A little present gain shuts from most men the future gain, so that the momentary gain means eternal loss.
The wise business man will not sacrifice life for lust.
He will not barter probity for property.
He will not count coin of more value than character.
The intelligent, honest, wise business man will therefore take time to consider the things of eternity. Every principle of business demands it. Every expansive principle of soul and mind demands it.
His business will not then be planned with $10,000, $100,000, or $1,000,000 as its goal. All those conceptions will be small and cheap. It will not be planned with the one ambition of securing social standing for his wife or his children or himself among the great. These are utterly insignificant in the hour of death, in the building of character, before the Great White Throne.
His business will be planned for eternity. It will be planned for character-making and humanity-blessing here; for eternal riches and honor and glory; for companionship with the best and truest and greatest of all ages; for social and moral standing forever with the eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
Effect of the Bible
By Moister
WHEN Naimbana, a black prince, arrived in England from the neighborhood of Sierra Leone, the gentleman to whose care he was entrusted took great pains to convince him that the Bible was the Word of God, and he received it as such with great reverence and simplicity. When asked what it was that satisfied him on this subject, he replied, “When I found all good men minding the Bible, and calling it the Word of God, and all bad men disregarding it, I then was sure that the Bible must be what good men call it, the Word of God.”—Moister.
“Taste and See”
A little boy was born blind. An operation was performed; the light was let in slowly. When, one day, his mother let him out-of-doors and uncovered his eyes, and for the first time he saw the sky and earth, “O, mother!” he cried, “why didn’t you tell me it was so beautiful?” She burst into tears, and said, “I tried to tell you, dear, but you could not understand me.” So it is when we try to tell what is in the Bible. Unless the spiritual sight is opened, we can not understand.—Anon.
Economy with Time
Many people take no care of their money till they have come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time. Their best days they throw away, let them run like sand through their fingers, as long as they think they have an almost countless number of them to spend; but when they find their days flowing rapidly away, so that at last they have a very few left, then they will at once make a very wise use of them; but unluckily, they have by that time no notion of how to do it.—Gotthold.
Economy
THE honest, GODLY business man will be ECONOMICAL. By this we do not mean penurious or miserly. He will not be wasteful. It is not economy for the builder’s apprentice or employee to pick up a nail that he has dropped or straighten one that he has bent, unless getting another involves time and trouble. Ordinarily his time is worth more to go on than to stop to recover the nail. The idle man or boy may make a gain of picking up the nails, but not the pushing employee. But in all business there should be no wastefulness. Sometimes stopping to repair a little break in the fence will save the busy farmer the ruin of his crop. The principle must become inbred, and in wisdom allowed to rule. I once knew a wood seller who to be economical would not purchase a new harness, and in consequence could haul but half a load to market. On hiring an energetic man who asked the horses to work as did he, the old patched-up harness was used up in a day. A new harness was purchased, and in a few days paid for in the extra work done. It is well to remember that “a stitch in time saves nine,” and that “if we care for the pennies, the dollars will care for themselves,” but it is also well to remember that it is possible to “save at the spigot and waste at the bung.”
Kindness
THE KIND business man will make friends and hold them. It is not always easy to be kind. The hurry and bustle of this business age are against it. American nervousness is against it. Our national disease, dyspepsia, is against it. Yet after all—
“There is nothing so kingly as kindness.”
A recognition of God’s kindness and goodness will help mightily in passing His blessings on to others. To be kind, however, does not always mean granting requests or giving valuable time to those who ask it. Sometimes it is kindness to kindly refuse, and sometimes justice to others demands refusal.
The Outpouring of the Spirit
Is It the Second Coming of Christ?
THE outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the early days of the Christian age was a wonderful event. It had been predicted by ancient prophet. One of the great blessings of the land of Palestine—the early rain—had been used to prefigure its coming and influence. The very times demanded its abundant outpouring.
This does not mean that God’s Spirit had not been in the earth before; for it had. As the articles on the Spirit, by Mr. Corliss, have clearly shown, that mighty power was upon earth in its beginning, brooding over the chaos of darkness, and transforming it into a cosmos of light and beauty.
David pleads, “Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.” Again he sings, “The Spirit of Jehovah spake by me, and His word was upon my tongue.” Through Isaiah the Lord promises, “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring.” There is an abundance of testimony to the same effect.
But the promised Seed had not yet come. God’s wonderful love had not yet been manifest in its highest concrete form. That Seed of the woman, that Life from above, Divinity in Humanity, a perfect Conqueror over sin, had not yet been disclosed. When Christ came, when God’s Spirit in Him became triumphant in human flesh over sin, it marked a new step in God’s progressive revelation. Henceforth that power was the tested and provedSpirit of God, Spirit of Christ, in and through glorified and triumphant Humanity. That Spirit can do more for humanity than could the personal presence of Jesus. Therefore spoke the Master: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you.” John 16:7.
The personal Jesus could be in but one place at one time; and His disciples could not by faith grasp His power apart from His presence. “Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died,” wailed the sorrowing sisters of Lazarus. The Roman centurion, with greater faith, pleaded, “Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed.” The disciples needed such faith, faith to grasp Christ’s power when He was absent. Therefore for their good He must go away; but He would not leave them comfortless. He would pour out His great life through the channels of His holy law, with which they were in perfect accord. That Spirit would be everywhere present in and among and with the children of God, and it would also have the power of making personally present to each one the blessed conquering Christ.
That Spirit comes through the Word of God (John 6:63), direct from the throne, as on the Day of Pentecost, to every believer, baptizing all into one body, and binding all in the bundle of God’s life. It comes through angels and holy men by silent influence, by spoken word. It is manifest in conversion and other mighty miracles.
But the manifestation of the Spirit is not Christ’s second coming; for when He comes He will come in all the blazing, sin-consuming, righteousness-immortalizing glory of heaven. Praise God for the presence of our Lord through His Spirit; praise God that Christ is coming again in His own personal presence, when we shall see Him as He is. Let His Spirit now prepare us for His soon coming.
Witnessing for Christ
ARE you alone in a community, fellow Christian? Do you hesitate about speaking a word for Him because you are alone?
Shortly after Frances Ridley joined the church she was sent to a boarding-school. Of the one hundred girls in the school she was the only church-member. What should she do? Great feelings of dread arose; she could not confess Christ in that assembly of gay, worldly companions.
Yet as she thought upon it she came to feel, How can I do otherwise than confess Him? He is all in all to me. She was the only representative He had at that school. This thought gave her courage; had she not, in His providence, been placed there for the very purpose of confessing the name of Christ? If she failed her Lord, He would have no representative, no witness, in the company of all those precious young souls. She would witness for Him.
The same principle is true in the case of every one of us. We are in the world in our special community, neighborhood, environment, to witness for Christ. If the only one, so much greater the need of the faithful testimony in word and deed. “Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14. “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:38. Remember that—
“Wheresoe’er the Master calleth,
Whatsoe’er He bids me do,
Is the only field of labor
That His grace will bear me through.”
Opportunity
OPPORTUNITY for advancement, for success, is the one thing above all others which many young men, the aspiring, pushing young men of to-day, are seeking. They wish to get to the top, to be all that some one else has been, and more.
Some of these are seeking it in new fields, in unopened regions of earth; and a few are winning, while the many, strive as they will, are meeting disappointment.
Some are seeking opportunity and success in old fields, under adverse circumstances, with fiercest competition, which genders hatred, fosters selfishness, and breeds dishonesty. Many meet moderate success, many go down in the struggle. Not a few emerge from the conflict with broken health, shattered nerves, spotted reputation, and weakened character. The most successful must soon at the longest relinquish his laurels, his prize, his crown, and lie down with former generations in the dust. He has had his reward. The future promises nothing.
We would appeal to young men who long for success, and for opportunity to succeed. There is one service always open to all applicants, one call offering opportunities for all, one field open in which there is no crushing, hindering competition.
That service is the service of God for humanity. That call is God’s call to every longing soul. That field is the world. That opportunity is for almost infinite development of the finite. The labor is for eternity. Its fruit is immortal. How all other opportunities sink into insignificance as compared with the opportunity which God offers to those who will enter His service.
THE lesson for us this week is composed entirely of the writings of Solomon; namely, the last fifteen chapters of Proverbs and the first eight chapters of Ecclesiastes. Chapter 25 is the beginning of the Proverbs which the scribes of Hezekiah copied out of the many writings of Solomon, for he wrote three thousand proverbs.
CHAPTERS 30 and 31 seem to have been written by other than Solomon, and yet Solomon may have written them thus that the lessons they contain might come home to the heart in a more striking manner.
A GREATER part of the Proverbs were written about the year one thousand and later.
THE book of Ecclesiastes, a word which means the preacher, was written presumably about the year 977. Solomon had tasted of all the pleasures which this world could give; he had yielded to all the desires of the heart and the flesh; he had learned that following all the luxuries which the human mind could invent produced nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit; and Ecclesiastes is the record of the pleasure which he in his wisdom sought to find, but found it not. Very graphically the little book points out the folly of earthly pursuits without hope in God. Very forcibly it brings before us the nothingness of humanity without God; and interwoven in the sermon which is preached, is excellent practical instruction. The eleventh chapter is a splendid missionary chapter; and the last is a graphic description of the decay of man, ending with the only wise conclusion,—that man’s whole duty is in keeping God’s commandments and trusting Him.
