Earlier text: THE GALILEAN FISHERSIntroduction
By G. B. THOMPSON
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter [Greek, Paraclete], that he may abide with you forever.” John 14:16. In writing concerning the office and work of the Holy Spirit promised to the church, I have no desire to present merely some theory concerning the ministration of this divine Guide and Teacher, the “third person of the Godhead.” I believe it to be true that the greatest need of God’s people to-day is not mere theory, but a greater fulness of the Holy Spirit. It is not more light as to what is Christian duty, but more power to do what is known to be duty. It is not some theory aside from the message and work of God we need, but the power of the Spirit to preach the message. That there is a dire need of deeper spirituality and more fervent zeal in the church, not alone with the laity, but with the ministry as well, all will readily admit. Apostolic power, though promised, is far from being freely realized. With far too many it is a theory rather than a living experience. God’s watchmen need this heavenly anointing. The minister is an ambassador of Christ. He is one entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation. God is engaged in the work of reconciling a world given over to rebellion. The minister is sent, in God’s stead, with terms of peace. This is a work so great and so exceedingly difficult that all the treaties and peace compacts of nations are as nothing. This high and holy calling of reconciling a sinner to God can never fulfil its mission through anything but deep spirituality and earnest piety. “We have heard much of late about a learned ministry, and God forbid we should ever be afflicted by so great an evil as an unlearned one. We have been often reminded of the necessity of an educated ministry; but in this case, as in every other, men must be educated for55 their vocation. But then that education must be strictly appropriate and specific. We are very properly told from many quarters that we can do nothing without a pious ministry. Nothing can be more true, nor can any truth bearing upon this subject be more momentous; for of all the curses which God ever pours from the vials of his wrath upon a nation which he intends to scourge, there is not one so fearful as giving them up to an unholy ministry. I trust our churches will ever consider piety as the first and most essential qualification in their pastors, for which talents, genius, learning, and eloquence would and could be no substitutes. It will be a dark and evil day when personal godliness shall be placed second to anything else in those who serve at the altar of God.”—“An Earnest Ministry, page 31. A cold, formal ministry may, through learning, eloquence, and logic, make men think; but a ministry vitalized by the Holy Spirit will stir men’s hearts and make them feel, as well as think. That which is the need of the ministry, is the need also of the laity. We have entered upon uncommon times. Wolves are masquerading in sheep’s clothing; new and old controversies commingle; dangerous heresies, dressed in the livery of heaven, seek admission into the church. A power from beneath is exerting a strange, bewitching power everywhere. The church is traveling over enchanted ground. Many of the elect of God, who believe the Word, have been peering through the fog of unbelief about them for several decades, looking for the return of the Bridegroom from the wedding. Some have become drowsy, and some are fast asleep. The cares of the world, love of money and pleasure, have choked the word in the hearts of some, and no fruit is brought to perfection. A few are awake, but these are in danger of being thought “peculiar,” “extreme,” “good men or women, but unpractical.” Without doubt the holy unction promised in our text is the greatest need in every church to-day. It is not some demonstration for which we are to look. “The kingdom of God cometh not with outward show.” Luke 17: 20, margin. “Take a Leyden jar that is not charged with electricity. You may handle it freely and without care. Now place the jar for a few minutes in contact with an electrical machine. What is the result? The contact has not produced any visible change in the jar; to all outward appearance it is just as it was before, a simple glass jar partly coated with tin-foil and having some metal attachments. But touch it carelessly, and you are at once made aware that a great change has taken place. You receive a shock, perhaps slight, perhaps severe enough to kill you. What has caused it?—The invisible electricity with which the jar had been charged. “Precisely in the same way let a church that is without influence or effectiveness in the community be filled with the Holy Spirit, and although there may be no external change, although the services may be the same in form and esthetic value, although its preaching may touch no fresh themes and may be uttered by the same voice, yet every one who comes within its walls will feel the divine influence. No new methods, no new workers, no new instrumentalities, it may be; but the old methods, the old workers, the old instrumentalities, filled with a new life and power. Such a church will make its influence felt throughout the town or city where it is established. It will be a spiritual generator, and every member will be a live wire, transmitting the divine life to all whom he meets. The weakest disciple will become a channel of this power, the indifferent will be aroused, the careless will be moved, souls will be saved.”—“Spiritual Power at Work, page 23. As we read the farewell discourse of our Saviour to his disciples in the upper room, just before he was to die on the shameful cross and bring to an end his personal work on earth, we are impressed with the fact that just as clearly as he foretold his return to the Father he announced the coming of another, a Comforter or Advocate, whose presence is guaranteed to the church till her warfare is accomplished and she becomes the church triumphant. This was the burden of his message to the disciples in his farewell discourse to them. When Saladin looked at the sword of Richard Cœur de Lion, he is said to have wondered that a blade so ordinary should have wrought such mighty deeds. But the English king bared his arm and said, “It is not the sword that did these things; it is the arm of Richard.” In like manner we may, through the Spirit, be the instrument of God in the conquest against sin. We may be as spiritually dry as was Gideon’s fleece—possessing no power, no life, going to prayer-meeting, expecting nothing and getting nothing. But let the dew of the Holy Spirit fall upon us, and a wonderful change is seen. Where once there was drought, there is seen moisture; and where there was no sign of life, the dry bones live again; where there was only weakness, there is seen the manifestations of power; where there was no earnestness or burden of soul, the zeal of God consumes us. The spirit of God is that unseen yet mighty agency which imparts spiritual life and power to the human soul. Without it men are dead, and Christianity is but a form. “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Rom. 8: 9. Only those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. The Holy Spirit is the connecting link between the throne of God and the human heart, regenerating, sanctifying, and purifying the soul. As we look over the world, we are forced to admit that there is a distressing dearth of spirituality everywhere. Many churches have withered and died. Their leaders are cold and lifeless. Real ministerial power is seldom witnessed. Much labor and money is often expended with but little results. Sinners are not moved as they once were. When calls are made for laborers to help carry the gospel to the regions beyond, but few respond. Like Elijah, men should pray now for rain, until “endued with power from on high.” This is the greatest need of the church of Christ. A Dialogue
By S. W. VAN TRUMP
On the west coast of South America a colporteur presented to a priest a copy of Señales de los Tiempos, the Spanish Signs of the Times. The following conversation resulted:— Priest: Aha! You are evidently a Protestant. What do you think of Martin Luther? Colporteur: Luther was a valiant defender of the truth. P: Will you kindly tell me how many miracles Luther performed? C: If you will first tell me how many John the Baptist performed. P: You must answer my question first. C: Then I shall gladly answer both yours and my own. St. John says of the Baptist, “John performed no miracles.” And I as freely admit that Luther never claimed more in this respect than is written of our Lord’s forerunner. It is safe to accept Heaven’s message upon its own merits and without the attestation of any apparent miracle. Truth can stand alone. But not so the miracles, as such. Truth can not be tested by miracles, but miracles must be tested by truth. The testing agent is truth. The embodiment of truth is the divine word: “Thy word is truth.” To test truth by miracles is reversing the divine order, and will lead to deception and a failure to find the truth sought for. Miracles appeal to our senses, and our senses are fallible. So if our religion is based upon apparent miracles, its lower foundation is only the unstable testimony of our own minds in place of the infallible testimony of God’s Word. Besides, we know that what are termed miracles proceed from an evil as well as a good source, as in the case of the Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses. There being two sources, then, for miracles and only one source for truth, it is manifest that in truth we shall find the confirmation of the true and the condemnation of the false in all that may be classed as miracles. There is a kind of divine reciprocity between truth and true miracles in that they witness to and confirm each other. Foreseeing that men would be subjected to the deceptions of Satan’s miracles, ages ago God gave the test whereby we may know the character of every miracle and every teaching that would be spread in the world. The divine test, the heavenly touchstone, is, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isa. 8: 20. We have special days of prayer. We have recently passed through a week of prayer. Why not make the year 1913 a year of prayer? It is this spirit of constancy in Christian service which will bring success. But little is accomplished by spasmodic effort. We never heard of one becoming a great student by occasional study. Men do not succeed in affairs of worldly business by occasional and haphazard effort. Success comes as the result of earnest study, deep thinking, consecrated effort, earnest perseverance. We must apply these principles to our experience in religious things if we would obtain true success in Christian living. If our needs were great at the time of the week of prayer in December, our needs are even greater to-day. Every month our responsibilities grow heavier. Continually there is coming against us the increasing power of satanic temptation. The forces of darkness are combining for the last great struggle with the forces of light. It is only as we take hold of a power outside of ourselves—the power that comes down from above—that we shall be able to stand our ground and fight the good fight of faith in the year spread out before us. We need to pray much. Alone before God day by day we need to open our hearts to the searching scrutiny of his Holy Spirit and to receive from him the power which he is waiting to bestow upon us. The closeness of heaven’s touch comes in this earnest personal seeking. We may pray at public service, at the church prayer-meeting, and even at the family altar; but this is not enough. We need, as did Daniel of old, to go alone before God. If we are students or workers in our institutions, we can not depend alone upon the chapel service or the institutional family devotion for help. Many there are who depend upon these occasions for obtaining strength, and do not reach out after the greater power which will come only with personal seeking. And this personal communion will not grow irksome. It will be an occasion where friend will commune with friend. Shut in with God, our ears may become attuned to heaven’s divine melodies, and we may hear the voice of Jesus addressing us in tenderest accents. To him we may unburden our inmost hearts. We may tell to him our grief, our sorrow, our every perplexity. It is in such communion as this that we gain the victory over personal sin, that we are brought to the consciousness of blessed acceptance. Let us cultivate these heart-to-heart talks with the Saviour, not occasionally, but daily and constantly. Let us make 1913 a year of prayer. Delivered From Raging Heathen
By W. A. S.
In olden time it was said of believers in dire trouble, “They cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.” Ps. 107: 6. Many a time since has the same arm of the living God been stretched forth to rescue and deliver in time of special danger, when all human help was in vain. In the days of the terrible Boxer uprising in China, in the year 1900, a missionary family was fleeing from the interior province of Shansi, southward to Hankow, a thousand miles of peril on every side. The story of “God’s delivering power” is told by Mr. A. E. Glover in the book “A Thousand Miles of Miracle in China.” But a few paragraphs can be quoted here. The little party—Mr. and Mrs. Glover, two children, a Chinese man, and a Bible woman—had spent weary days on the road, and been robbed and stoned. Now they were prisoners in a village inn, their escort refusing to attend them farther, and the villagers filling the street and crying for the blood of the “foreign devils” whom they held responsible for the drought and famine. The missionaries prayed for grace to meet death. But, just then—the door was pushed open, and a soldier in full uniform entered, and quietly hung his coat and cudgel on the latchet. His handsome face and commanding manner were something out of the common, and could not fail to arrest attention. But this was not enough to account for the effect his sudden appearance produced upon all. I can not describe it. It was simply startling. He was only a non-commissioned officer sent on special service to Li-ch’eng; and he was merely putting up at the inn for the night in the ordinary course of his journey—that was all. No, not all. Our eyes were opened to see in him none other than God’s deliverer. Even as he entered the door, he stood before us as the very angel of God. I might almost say “a light shined in the prison, there was something so supernatural about his presence. It was the most remarkable experience of its kind that I ever had, or my wife either; for we were both conscious of it at the same time. Not only so, but his coming produced a corresponding fear in the hearts of our enemies. The rabble thought he must have been sent by the authorities as an official protector. The visitor was kindly disposed, and agreed to act the part that the people’s fears had assigned him, and to lead them out of the village next morning. That evening the missionaries had worship, and sang and prayed in the hearing of the angry crowd in the street. Mr. Glover continues:— “Whoso offereth the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifieth me; and prepareth a way, that I may show him the salvation of God.” The second miracle of that memorable day followed almost immediately upon the conclusion of our worship. We had pleaded with our God to have mercy upon the people, not only in their deep spiritual need, but also in their temporal distress. And we asked very definitely, in the hearing of all, that, for the glory of his great name, he would be pleased to send the rain in abundance that night, that they might know that he was the merciful God, and that we his servants were not the cause of the drought. Scarcely had we laid ourselves down on the kang, ere his voice answered from heaven in a thunder crash that shook the prison, and the rain fell in a deluge that ceased not all the night through. When morning broke, it was clear shining after rain; and the song of the Lord was in our mouths. The gate of our prison-inn opened to us, as it were, of its own accord. Our heaven-sent soldier rode beside us and never left us all the way. No one molested us as we passed out into the road and along the highway to Shae Hsien. Indeed, we scarcely saw a soul, for at daybreak all hands had hurried to the fields to take early advantage of the long-looked-for opportunity for putting in the seed. Later, while temporary refuge had been found at a mission station, still held by a lady missionary, they were assured by the mandarin of the town of his protection. But one day at private prayer Mr. Glover had Joshua 8: 5 impressed upon his mind: “We will flee before them.” He shrank from that word “flee,” which seemed to stand out before all others with a voice of command. Could they take to the road again? But at family worship the place for reading included 2 Sam. 15: 14: “Arise, and let us flee; for we shall not else escape.” And it came again like a peremptory command to hasten. Following the conviction, they began to prepare for the journey. While engaged in packing up, word came that the mandarin had been ordered to withdraw all protection; and so they fled at midnight, and escaped the slaughter that had been decreed for the day following. On another occasion, ready to drop with fatigue, they were being driven by57 a mob to a temple area where they were sure to meet death. Mr. Glover says:— We were being swept on toward the temple; and as we neared it, for the second time that dreadful day the ominous boom of the processional gong broke on our ear. At a word from Sheng-min [a Chinese Christian] we stopped and faced round. “Don’t go on,” he whispered. “They mean to stone you to death there. Turn quickly.” As we did so, the mob hustled us severely, and with hoots and yells urged us to keep the direction they indicated. It was at this most critical juncture that we experienced a really marvelous instance of God’s direct interference. Sheng-min had read the peril of the moment. Knowing that we could go neither backward nor forward, he again whispered:— “Down the steep—quick! Follow the track!” Instantly we obeyed the direction. A thin “goat” trail was just visible among the rocks and shrubs of the declivity; and in single file we threaded our way—down, down, until at a bend in the track we were hidden from sight. Quickening our pace, we hurried on with a strength divinely renewed. In that hour we proved what it was, in the extremity of physical weakness, to “run, and not be weary,” to “walk, and not faint.” The moment we disappeared over the side, the mob simultaneously stopped dead at the spot, as if arrested by a sudden and irresistible power. The loud yells and cries of a moment ago were stilled to silence—absolute, awful silence. So startling was it that I dared to turn and take one look. I could scarcely believe my eyes. The mob lined the ridge in hundreds, motionless as if spellbound, helplessly watching us—poor, miserable us, whom they triumphantly believed they had so completely in their power—slip away from under their very hand. Not a single soul of them attempted to follow. Sheng-min alone was behind, bringing up the rear.
. . . On we sped with wondering hearts, in the consciousness that God had, for the third time at least that day, wrought for us a great deliverance. Space requires closing these testimonies here. All the long way of that flight from Shansi, fanatical people were planning death for the fugitives; but day by day the blows aimed were warded off, and every time when it seemed that the end had come some delivering providence was sure to be revealed. No wonder that those who passed through these experiences of protection amid raging fury came to cling to God’s promises as to a material staff of power and strength—something so real and present as to be almost handled with the hands. Again and again on the thousand miles of flight they heard the voice of God saying in his word: “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” The Sabbath a Sign of Sanctification
By F. M. W.
It has been truly said that if the Sabbath of the Lord had always been observed by the human family in accordance with divine instructions, there never would have existed an infidel or a heathen in this world. This we believe is the truth. The institution of the Sabbath in the beginning, and the commandment as given at Sinai, call direct attention to the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and to his creative power as manifested in forming this earth, as a reason why the institution should be observed. Hence, had the day always been regarded, the minds of men would have been held to the worship of the one true God. God evidently designed the Sabbath as his great distinguishing mark or characteristic in all ages and among all people. By its observance, man would recognize the Lord not alone as Creator, but also as Redeemer. The Sabbath was to be observed forever, not alone as a memorial of the creation of man, but also as a sign of the sanctifying process wrought in man's heart by the regenerating grace of the Spirit of God. In being a memorial of creation, it became in the very nature of the case a sign of sanctification; for sanctification is nothing more nor less than re-creation. The psalmist prays, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” In the thirty-first chapter of Exodus, the particular purpose the Sabbath of the Lord was to serve is thus set forth:— “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. . . . Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” The question naturally arises whether in making the Sabbath a sign of sanctification, the Lord designed it alone for the Jewish nation. This can be determined only by an understanding of who are comprehended in the term Israel. If it be found that Israel applies only to the literal descendants of Jacob, then this distinguishing feature connected with the Sabbath is not applicable to other nations. But if it be found that the term Israel is more general in its application, and includes not the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob after the flesh, but their children according to faith, then it must be admitted that the Sabbath as a sign of sanctification is as closely connected with the children of faith among the Gentiles as with the children of faith among the literal descendants of Abraham. The apostle Paul offers a solution to this problem. In his epistle to the Romans he says, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter.” Rom. 2:28, 29. Again he says of Abraham, “It is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,” “the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised.” Rom. 4:17, 11. And in his letter to the church in Galatia, the apostle further says, “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” Gal. 3:7. The promises made to Abraham, the promises confirmed with an oath, were to the father of the faithful and to his seed. The seed of Abraham to whom the promise was made was Christ, as is proved by the words of Paul in this same epistle, when he says: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds [plural], as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed [singular], which is Christ.” And to sum up his argument, he says, “And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Gal. 3:16, 29. In the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, every one who enters the pearly portals must enter through one of the gates of the twelve tribes. God counts as a true Israelite that man who has accepted Christ Jesus as his Saviour, and in whose heart the regenerating, re-creating grace of his dear Son has done its work. And this is true whether that man is white or black, Jew or Gentile, of lineal descent from Abraham or of foreign and distinct blood and ancestry. Another question naturally suggests itself in this connection: What is sanctification? To sanctify is to set apart to a holy or sacred use. The man who is sanctified to the service of God is God's man. He has accepted Christ as his Saviour and Redeemer. In his heart the Holy Ghost is operating, and he is walking in the light and liberty of the Lord. Numerous scriptures might be cited in verification of this. Read John 17:17; then Rom. 15:16; Eph. 5:26; 2 Tim. 2:21. It will thus be seen that no man, either in the old dispensation or the new, could be sanctified outside of the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ and the operation of his Spirit. Hence the sanctified of God are those in every age who are in Christ Jesus, in other words, Christians. We are now prepared from the foregoing58 considerations to draw the following conclusions:— 1. That the Sabbath of the Lord, the Sabbath having its origin at creation, the one observed by the Creator, the one sanctified or set apart for the use of the human family, was made by Christ Jesus the great sign of the sanctification of Israel. 2. That Israel embraces the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ in all ages of this world's history. Christians to-day belong quite as much of the stock of Israel as Christians in the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 3. Therefore God designed that his one universal Sabbath should be the distinguishing mark of the Christian church in all ages, and to-day it stands as the sign of his people as fully as in the ages of the past. The logic of this conclusion forever sets at rest the claim that the Christian is above the law, and is not required to observe the Sabbath of the Lord. None but the Christian can observe the Sabbath. It is not a sign to the worldling, but a sign to the Christian. Rather, it is a sign to the world of the sanctification of the man who bears the name of Christ. Outward Sabbath observance will not bring sanctification, but the Christian will be able to say with the psalmist, “How love I thy law!” And the outward form of observance will be but the indication of the law that is written on the heart, and of the loving regard for the precepts of Jehovah. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” Ps. 34:7. Profitless and Useless Discussion
By Francis M. Wilcox
The world spends a good portion of its time in profitless discussions. It is said that some of the old philosophers used to argue for hours that one could not move—he could not move where he was, and he could not move where he was not, consequently he could not move at all. The world to-day is not greatly changed. Questions of the most trivial character relating to the political, social, and family life occupy hours of time on the part of a great number. Differences engendered oftentimes lead to alienation, strife, and even murder itself. How many friends are separated over the most trivial differences! How many questions of state have turned upon matters of the smallest consequence! Families are sometimes broken up and whole communities disturbed. It is bad enough when questions of this character are confined to social and political life; but when they invade the family, and even the church of Christ, the results are a thousandfold more evil. The Scriptures of Truth deal largely with great principles. The Bible does not clearly indicate just what position one should take upon many details of the great truths enunciated in the Word. One man may apply a principle in one detail, his brother may take the same principle and apply it in another detail. Both may be right. Standing together in the recognition of the same great principle, how unwise for these brethren to spend time in unkind criticism! And yet there is much of this done in the world, and too much among Seventh-day Adventists. A good brother from an island church writes of an unpleasant discussion among the brethren, resulting in unkind criticism, over the question as to what the seven thunders of Revelation 10 said. Surely what the Lord himself has refrained from revealing, it is useless for us to speculate over. A good sister from a church in the West tells of a discussion, amounting almost to a division in the church, as to just how long it will be after Turkey makes Jerusalem its headquarters before probation will close. If in the Lord's good purpose he had desired his church to know the exact day or hour of his coming, he surely would have revealed it. He has not told us just how long after the Ottoman Empire is deprived of its possessions before Michael will stand up, whether it will be a day or a week or a month or a year. If the exact time were known, poor human nature would be inclined to take advantage of that knowledge and put off needful preparation till the last moment. We know it will not be long. The Lord says, “In such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh,” and in view of this he bids us to watch and be ready. An ardent and conscientious brother in another section of the country feels a great burden to urge his particular views of health reform upon the company of believers to which he belongs. He feels that his standard should be adopted by the church, and that one who does not follow it walks in darkness. We very heartily approve of the principles of healthful living, and personally have endeavored to practise them for many years. We believe in the consistent advocacy of these principles. It is proper that the church should take cognizance of the grosser forms of intemperance, like the use of alcohol, tobacco, etc. We do not believe, however, that the Lord has laid upon us the right to test the Christianity of our brethren by their conformance or non-conformance to some particular standard of diet which we have adopted for ourselves. Against this the spirit of prophecy directly advises. While advocating, as those who are acquainted with the “Testimonies for the Church” know, the principles of healthful living, at the same time they declare quite as positively that this question should not be made a test of fellowship in the church. God has committed to this people a great message. If Satan can only lead us off into the discussion of little details, even though these details may be right in and of themselves, and confuse our minds to the great issues before us, he will be pleased indeed. We need to guard ourselves continually against this danger. If our brethren and sisters do not measure up to our standard and conception of right, let us in the fear of God consistently and kindly set before them what we believe to be the truth. Let us exemplify our conception of truth in our lives, but let us avoid nagging. Let us not be led to make unkindly remarks. Let us not be drawn into bitter debate. Harmony in the church of Christ and love and peace among brethren are worth far more than the little that will be gained by such discussion. There are times when we must contend earnestly for the “faith which was once delivered unto the saints;” when, even though we break with dearest friends, we must maintain the great principles of the truth of God. But even this we should do in the spirit of kindness and Christian love. We read of men so engrossed in their own narrow abstractions of thought that they industriously spend their time tanning mosquito hides while their fellows are perishing in the onsweeping flood. There is danger that if we do not engage in tanning mosquito hides, we shall feel such a burden to criticize those who are thus engaged that we shall leave our fellows to perish just the same. In the church of the first century there were those, according to the letter of the apostle Paul to Timothy, who engaged in “profane and vain babblings.” Timothy was exhorted not to spend his time in such discussions. He was also exhorted by the aged apostle to avoid “foolish and unlearned questions . . . knowing that they do gender strifes.” We need to-day, as did Timothy, to heed this exhortation. We need to settle down to a realization and consciousness of the great work committed to us as a people. There is a great message to give to the world. The destinies of souls hang in the balance. No questions of secondary importance should consume our time and waste our energies to the exclusion and neglect of the great work which we have to do. F. M. W.