IN Matthew 7, and Luke 6, Jesus taught that the wise man always digs deep and establishes his house on the rock. Only such houses, or characters, as are thus founded, can ever stand. All others are built on the sand, and some day will fall, and great will be the fall. No other foundation can any man lay than that which is laid, and that is Christ.
This rock foundation is found by the sinner only by digging deep. Great was the condescension of Christ to become a rock upon which we may build for eternity. From his humble birth in a manger, all through His earthly life He humbled Himself as a man, even to the death on the cross, a crucifixion. He descended into the lower parts of the earth—the heart of the earth; He was bruised for our iniquities; wounded for our transgressions. He made His soul an offering for sin. This Jesus, by descending to the very depths of human wo, became the rock foundation, to which, by humiliation, and repentance, and crucifixion, the sinner may dig. Finding that Rock, he falls upon it, is broken, and healed.
Thus was Christ as a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The experience of the condescension of Christ to constitute Himself the foundation rock, or basis, for man's salvation and elevation, for long centuries was daily and continually typified by the divinely-appointed service of offering animal sacrifices. Only such animals were acceptable as were young, sound, clean, and perfect. Then this desirable and beautiful animal was taken, slain, its blood spilled, its body cut in pieces, eaten in part, and burned.
How great, how incomprehensible, the love of God, who gave His beloved Son, the Lamb of God, to die for man, and thus to open the way for man to get a sure footing upon a pathway that leads to everlasting life! Let none deceive themselves by thinking they can climb up to heaven in any other way, for "there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
Now when the sinner has found Jesus as the true foundation, when he has been all broken with contrition and godly sorrow for sin, when he has, by that almighty Saviour, been lifted from the mire and clay, and set upon the rock with the new song of praise to God in his mouth, he is now entered safely through the straight gate upon the narrow way; and henceforth he is to pattern after the Christ life, to grow up into Him in all things. For Jesus not only died our sacrifice, thus becoming our Rock-foundation, but He also lived our example and thus becomes the model or the pattern of the building that we are to erect on the Rock.
In the parable of the sheepfold, Jesus repre10sents Himself first, as the door to the sheepfold, second, as the sheepfold itself, then third and last, as the Good Shepherd. Likewise in this parable Jesus is the foundation, the model, and also the owner of the building. If at last it is found that our characters are built on Christ as the only true foundation, and are built after the pattern or model of Christ, the only true model, then Christ, the owner, will say to us at last, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
GO ONWARD.
By John Hay
[Written by the late John Hay for a religious gathering, by request.]
LORD! from far-severed climes we come
To meet at last in Thee our home.
Thou who hast been our guide and guard
Be still our hope, our rich reward.
Defend us, Lord, from every ill.
Strengthen our hearts to do Thy will.
In all we plan and all we do,
Still keep us to Thy service true.
O, let us hear the inspiring word
Which they of old at Horeb heard;
Breathe to our hearts the high command,
"Go onward, and possess the land."
Thou who art Light, shine on each soul!
Thou who art Truth, each mind control!
Open our eyes, and make us see
The path which leads to heaven and Thee!
DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS AT CREATION.
By B. E. Crawford
THE beauties of the earth as it came forth from the hand of its Creator are beyond the power of human language to describe. All was harmonious and perfect. No mark of sin rested upon the fair young earth; no falling leaves or drooping plants told of the havoc that sin has wrought. Time would fail to tell of the glories of the new-born earth, but we may well spend a few moments in considering briefly one phase of the subject.
As our minds turn toward the far North and the distant South, the regions covered with perpetual ice and snow, unblessed with vegetation, except a few species of mosses, lichen, and stunted arctic plants, there comes to us almost unbidden, the inquiry, Was it always thus, and will it ever continue so?
Let us, at the beginning of our investigations, study carefully several Scriptures which throw valuable light on the subject under consideration.
The inspired record, in Gen. 1:29, 30, says: "Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat."
Several important facts are here brought to view. These scriptures contain diet-prescriptions for man and all animate beings. Wherever man or beast or fowl or creeping things should dwell, there herbs and trees were to grow and bring forth a plentiful supply of healthful, nourishing food.
Some may say it was God's design that man and animals should live only in the warmer parts of the earth. Turning again to the Holy Book, we read: "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
The descendants of Adam and Eve were to replenish and subdue "the earth," not only a part, but the entire earth; and wherever any living creature should exist, there man's dominion should extend.
As stated above, plants grew wherever animals lived, but we have a still more definite statement than this, to the effect that plants were found "upon the face of all the earth;" and from Gen. 2:6 we learn that "there went up a mist from the earth, and *watered the whole face of the ground."
The Garden of Eden was especially favored with a great variety of useful and beautiful plants, for "out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden."
It was God's design that the whole earth should, under the hand of man, become as beautiful as the Garden of Eden, and this would have been the case had man but fulfilled the Creator's glorious plan.
In Gen. 1:31, we read: "And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." "All was perfect, worthy of its divine Author." The atmosphere was mild and uniform in temperature. No piercing winds blew from the frozen regions of the North, nor heated blasts from the parched deserts of the Equator. "No taint of sin, or shadow of death, marred the fair creation."
At the time of the Fall the atmosphere was changed, and became subject to marked variations in temperature. The flowers drooped, the leaves fell, and there appeared the first signs of decay.
Such are the scripture evidences concerning the distribution of plants at creation. Let us see what science says. Prof. W. C. Stevens, in speaking of the time known to geologists as the Cretaceous period, says:
It is a fact of great interest that the plants of this period occur as fossils in northern latitudes all around the world; and we may be quite certain that there was a continuity of land masses in the vicinity of the Arctic Circle at that time. The sequoias, which are now restricted to California and Oregon, occur as fossils in the Cretaceous strata of Greenland, England, France, Germany, Italy, Siberia, Alaska, and Kansas. The northern hemisphere at that time was like a vast botanic garden in which were growing side by side plants which are now distributed in various climes. Cycads, palms, and tree ferns were near neighbors to oaks, beeches, and chestnuts, and with them were found the, at present, cosmopolitan compositae and leguminosae.
The same author, in speaking of the original distribution of plants, says:
Whether they first originated on the earth, or whether independently in more than one locality, is not known. It is known, however, that when they had advanced sufficiently in the course of their evolution to form tissues which could be preserved as fossils, they were fairly uniformly distributed throughout all latitudes, the earth down to Middle Tertiary time having a temperate climate, even within the Arctic Circle. After that time, snow and ice accumulated in and beyond the Arctic Circle, and extended far southward in the form of moving glaciers. Land plants had then to move northward by means of their seeds and spores, or become exterminated. When the ice again retreated toward the poles, only those exile plants which were able to adapt themselves to extremes of temperatures moved northward.
The following paragraph concerning the climate during the time known to geologists as the Carboniferous Age, is quoted from Dana's "New Text-book of Geology":
The wide distribution of the coal regions over the globe, from the tropics to remote Arctic lands, and the general similarity of the vegetable remains in the coal-beds of these distant zones, prove that there was a general uniformity of climate over the globe in the carboniferous age, or at least that the climate was nowhere colder than warm-temperate. Besides, corals and shells existed during the subcarboniferous period in Europe, the United States, and the Arctic Zone within twenty degrees of the north pole, and so profusely as to form thick limestones out of their accumulations; and some Arctic species are identical with those of Europe and America. The ocean's waters, even in the far north, were, therefore, warm compared with those of the modern temperate zone, and probably quite as warm as the coral-reef seas of the present age, which lie mostly between the parallels of twenty-eight degrees either side of the equator.
Thus we find that both science and the Bible prove very conclusively that there was a time when the climate was mild and equable in all parts of the earth, and plants were uniformly distributed over its surface. Science, however, furnishes us no accurate data from which to determine the exact time during which this condition existed. This we learn from the Scripture record to be during the period which extended from the time when "God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good," until the day that sin entered the world through man's disobedience, and the Lord mercifully provided Adam and his companion with garments of skins as a protection from the extremes of heat and cold.
The present condition of things will continue to exist until that scripture is fulfilled which says, "Behold, I make all things new." Then will the earth be restored to its original beauty, and "they that have kept God's commandments shall breathe in immortal vigor beneath the tree of life."
SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES
By F. D. Starr
MARK.
The writer of this book was a nephew of the illustrious Barnabas, the companion in labor of the apostle Paul. (See Col. 4:10.) It was concerning him that these two celebrated leaders in Gospel work had a contention, as recorded in Acts 15:37-39. If it had not been for the interest this young man's uncle had in him, who can tell what might have happened to him? Rejected for the time being, by the apostle Paul, he might have given up in discouragement, and abandoned the work. Thus would the church have been deprived of his labors, and we deprived of the book that bears his name. It pays to be tolerant and long-suffering toward those who may be out of the way, and who do not manifest the devotion to the work that they ought. Let us imitate Him who would not break the bruised reed, or quench the glimmering torch.
Mark was not one of the twelve apostles, and his book is the shortest of any of the four Gospels; but, brief as it is, the story of Redemption is fully told in its sixteen chapters.
The writer introduces the subject thus: 'The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,' and then briefly refers to the work of John the Baptist. But was there absolutely no Gospel till John appeared? Certainly there was, for we find it in existence in the days of Moses and even of Abraham. See Heb. 4:1, 2; Gal. 3:8. What, then, is meant by the beginning of the Gospel? Doubtless much the same as Paul meant when, in writing to the church at Philippi, he said: 'Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the Gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only.' But Paul's departure from Macedonia was more than twenty-five years after John the Baptist preached the Gospel. What is meant by the 'beginning of the Gospel' then in this passage? Doubtless the beginning of its promulgation in Philippi, and in the same sense is the same expression to be understood as found in Mark 1:1; for the Gospel has actually11existed ever since the promise of redemption was given in Eden.
The question may be asked: What is the Gospel? The answer is, 'It is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.' Rom. 1:16. There has never been any other means of salvation offered to man. Acts 4:12. It is a very great error to receive anything as Gospel that is not Gospel at all, as may be seen from Gal. 1:6-9. But, serious as this is, it is fully as serious to reject that which is Gospel. Sometimes persons fail to discern what is Gospel, and what is not. They object to certain things that are being taught, and say: 'I do not care to hear on those topics, I want to hear the Gospel preached.' Perhaps it may be the explanations of the prophecies to which their attention is called, the prophetic symbols, and the fulfilment of prophetic time, and they say they want to hear the Gospel instead. But we read that following the preaching of John the Baptist, Jesus Himself came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Mark 1:14. Surely Jesus knew what was Gospel and what was not. And what is His first Gospel announcement as given in this text? Listen! 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe the Gospel.' The time is fulfilled. What time can be meant? —Prophetic time of course. So the special Gospel message that the Saviour proclaimed was in reference to time, and its fulfilment, and the necessity of the people's believing this Gospel warning that was thus based on prophetic time.
But if an announcement concerning prophetic time and its fulfilment was Gospel then, why is it not Gospel now? It must be Gospel, for we read that a warning goes to the inhabitants of the earth, just before the second coming of our Lord, which has for its key-note the fulfilment of prophetic time. This will be found in Rev. 14:6, 7. The announcement is that the hour of God's judgment has come; and this proclamation is said to be 'the everlasting Gospel.' Let no man think then that he is not hearing the Gospel when he is listening to the explanation of prophetic symbols and prophetic time. Chapter 13 of this book is worthy of special study along this line. It was given in answer to the earnest inquiry of the disciples concerning the future.
With pleasure would we pause a while and consider the interesting features of each chapter of this book, but space will not permit. We simply notice the sublime commission to the disciples given in the closing chapter: 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.' How these words echo down through the ages, and how joyous the thought that this command is being obeyed by the heralds of the Cross who are going into the dark corners of the earth that are so full of the habitations of cruelty, to rescue souls from perdition. 'And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them.' Mark 16:20. Or, as the Latin version gives it, 'the Lord co-operating.' We have co-operative societies, and we all know very well what the idea of co-operation is. Divine power united with human effort brings sure success. May this co-operation be ours.
THE POWER OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST.
"GOD forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Gal. 6:14.
"They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." Gal. 5:24.
"I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Gal. 2:20.
"Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Rom. 6:6.
THEY were living to themselves; self, with its hopes, and promises, and dreams, still had hold of them; but the Lord began to fulfil their prayers. They had asked for contrition, and she surrendered for it to be given her at any cost, in His way, and He sent her sorrow; she had asked for purity, and He sent her thrilling anguish; she had asked to be meek, and He had broken her heart; she had asked to be dead to the world, and He slew all her living hopes; she had asked to be made like unto Him, and He placed her in the furnace, sitting by "as a refiner and purifier of silver" (Mal. 3:3), until she should reflect His image; she had asked to lay hold of His cross, and when He had reached it to her it lacerated her hands.
She had asked she knew not what, nor how, but He had taken her at her word, and granted her all her petitions. She was hardly willing to follow on so far, or to draw so nigh to Him. She had upon her an awe and fear, as Jacob at Bethel, or Eliphaz in the night visions, or as the apostles when they thought they had seen a spirit, and knew not that it was Jesus. She could almost pray Him to depart from her, or to hide His awfulness. She found it easier to obey than to suffer, to do than to give up, to bear the cross than to hang upon it; but she can not go back, for she has come too near the unseen cross, and its virtues have pierced too deeply within her. He is fulfilling to her His promise, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." John 12:32.
But now at last her turn has come. Before, she had only heard of the mystery, but now she feels it. He has fastened on her His look of love, as He did on Mary and Peter, and she can but choose to follow.
Little by little, from time to time, by flitting gleams the mystery of His cross shines out upon her. She beholds Him lifted up, she gazes on the glory which rays forth from the wounds of His holy passion, and as she gazes she advances, and is changed into His likeness, and His name shines out through her, for He dwells in her. 2 Cor. 3:18. She lives alone with Him above, in unspeakable fellowship: willing to lack what others own (and what she might have had), and to be unlike all, so that she is only like Him.
Such are they in all ages who "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth." Rev. 14:4.
Had she chosen for herself, or her friends chosen for her, she would have chosen otherwise. She would have been brighter here, but less glorious in His kingdom. She would have had Lot's portion, not Abraham's. If she had halted anywhere—if God had taken off His hand and let her stray back—what would she not have lost? what forfeits in the resurrection?
But He stayed her up, even against herself. Many a time her foot had well-nigh slipped; but He in mercy held her up. Now, even in this life, she knows all He did was done well. Even now she begins to enter into His joy, for she has suffered with Him. It was good for her to bear the cross, for by so doing His crown is hers. She is rich in that not her will but His, was done on her and in her, and therefore, now, she is ready to have it done through her, and thus to be unto Him an instrument of power.—Anon.
THEY WERE ALL BUSY.
A CHRISTIAN worker, who heard of a poor girl's death, was anxious to know whether she had died a Christian; so he went to her minister and asked: "Was Mary a Christian?" "I don't know," was the rejoinder. "Three weeks ago I felt that I should go and speak to Mary about her soul, but work of various kinds was pressing. Mary was in my congregation, and I satisfied myself that I could speak to her at any time; so I did not go, and now Mary is dead, and I don't know whether she was a Christian or not."
The man next went to Mary's Sunday-school teacher, and asked: "Was Mary a Christian?" "I don't know," was the answer. "Two weeks ago I felt that I ought to speak to Mary about her soul; but I was busy and I said to myself, 'I can see Mary at any time in my class,' and I didn't go. And now Mary is dead, and I don't know whether she was a Christian or not."
Mary's mother was next asked: "Was Mary a Christian?" She replied: "I don't know. A week ago I felt I ought to ask Mary whether she were a Christian; but I thought there was no need of being in a hurry. Mary was living with me, and I could see her every day. And now she is dead, and I don't know whether she was a Christian or not."
The three people most responsible for Mary's soul resisted the promptings of the Holy Spirit to speak to her, and now she was gone to her endless eternity, and the opportunity was forever lost.—London Christian.
GRIEVE NOT THE SPIRIT.
1. THE office of the Holy Spirit is threefold: (a) It is to be a comforter of the Lord's people. John 14:16-18. (b) It is to reprove, or convince, the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Chapter 16:7-11. (c) It is to be the teacher and guide in all things pertaining to the truth. Chapter 14:26; 16:13.
2. It is through the Spirit that our prayers are made effectual. Rom. 8:26, 27.
3. The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, is the Christian's only weapon of warfare. The rest of his armor is defensive. Eph. 6:13-17.
4. The only unpardonable sin is the sin against the Holy Spirit—attributing its work to the work of Satan. Matt. 12:22-32.
5. The sin against the Holy Spirit is unpardonable, because it is a rejection of the only means by which one may be convinced of sin and led to Christ, who alone can forgive sin. John 16:8-11.
6. The minister of Christ is qualified for his work by endowment with the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8; 2:1-4, 16-21.
7. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Gal. 5:22, 23.
8. What the human race needs is liberty (Rom. 5:12, 18); Jesus Christ came to "proclaim liberty" (Isa. 61:1; John 8:36); and "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 2 Cor. 3:17.
9. For the foregoing reasons, it is highly important that we "quench not the Spirit," and "despise not prophesyings," which are given through its dictation for our instruction. 1 Thess. 5:19, 20.
10. For the same reasons, we are enjoined to "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Eph. 4:30.
Choosing Our Environment
"WE can not determine our heritage, but we can select our environment."
THE GOSPEL IN TRACTS.
IN these days of busy people and much reading, in these days when seed should be sown beside all waters, in these days when seed must be scattered as the leaves of autumn—sown morning and evening—too much stress can not be laid upon the importance of the leaflet and tract. They should be in all languages, and on hand for all occasions. They contain the truth in brief, pointed lessons, comprehensible to any one who can read. They often give a grain of comfort to a troubled mind, and often start an aimless mind on a train of thought that leads to a desire for further truth and usefulness in life. A missionary of experience says:
The opportunity for the work of the printed page in China has never been as great as it is now, when she is awakening from her long sleep. Japanese political and social literature is having a wide field in China, and the people are eager, hungry to read anything that relates to Western learning and methods. It is the great opportunity in the history of the evangelization of China for the tract societies to spread far and wide the Christian message, and I hope that it can be vigorously seized.
The Chinese and Japanese regard Christianity as a phase of "Western learning and methods," and it is important that they receive the truth in regard to it, rather than to be given the popular perversions of Christian doctrine, or to be left with the idea that Christianity is properly represented in business exploit or military aggrandizement.
A Congregational missionary, in a recent address concerning tract work, is quoted as follows:
Among my earliest recollections are the Sunday afternoons when, as a little boy, I ran by the side of my mother, and helped her in the distribution of tracts, which were carried to the humble cottages of the lowly. It was the only reading they had, and our visits were looked forward to with pleasant anticipation. Tracts have had a greater influence upon the world than many people imagine. The tract society has a great future before it, if it will only seize the opportunity. Two new fields of great magnitude are open. First, the West, with thousands of small places too small for the church and the Sunday-school. Here are thousands of people cut off from everything to divert the mind, with neither lectures nor shows, and, in many cases, not even having newspapers. Some time ago I had a letter from Montana. A good woman had given a freighter a bundle of literature to scatter on his way among the lonely ranchers. One bundle was given to a woman, who afterward wrote to say, "The papers you have sent saved my life; I was about to commit suicide when I received the reading. I read every scrap, then re-read. I thank God for your timely gift." I received a letter from a young lady who had gone to New Mexico for her health. She says the spiritual destitution is deplorable. The nearest church is twenty-five miles away, and the service is in German. The English-speaking church is about the same distance in another direction, and there is preaching once a month. She tries to gather a Sunday-school, but many are afraid of her on account of her lung trouble. Yet here, and in a thousand localities, is where the distribution of tracts would most certainly reap a rich reward. There is no other way of reaching these places.
Referring to the vast settlements of foreigners in our Northwestern States and Canada, another missionary says:
A great opening, and one of incalculable importance, is the new frontier, forming at the rate of nearly a million a year of every tribe and kindred and tongue. It must be remembered that thousands of these new-comers, when they leave their homes, leave their religion behind them. It will take a long time to train men and women to preach to these people, but the tract society can reach them by preaching in every language, through tracts that will bring the Gospel to aliens in the language in which they were born. The very sight of the simple Gospel message in their own language will touch their hearts. Many of these people are homesick past belief. The breaking away from native land is heart-breaking, and the reading of one of these little comforters would bring great joy to many a weary heart. No more important work ever came to our people than this, to Christianize the multitudes that are now thronging to our shores. It needs a faith that believes in casting bread upon the waters that will be seen only after many days, but whose return is nevertheless sure. What we sow, that shall we also reap.
THE WOULD-BE MISSIONARY.
Missionary timber should be thoroughly tested at home before sent abroad. The sensational and romantic soon wears off, and the missionary is confronted with grave and complicated problems sufficient to test him to the core. The mere enthusiasm often seen in a “rousing” missionary meeting is no proof that the participants therein are equipped for the field. A. T. Pierson's daughter, a missionary in India, shortly before her death wrote the following weighty words to a prospective missionary, and we commend them to our readers:
“My Dear Brother: I write words for you to ponder and pray over. Do not go to any foreign field until you know beyond a doubt that God has Himself sent you to that particular field at that particular time. If you marry any mission field in haste, you will repent it at leisure. There is a romance or halo about being a missionary which disappears when you get on the field, I assure you. And, believe me, from the first moment you step upon shipboard upon your way to the field, the devil and all his agents will attack, and entice, and ensnare you, or try to do all these, in order to defeat the purpose for which you cut loose, and launched out. Nothing but the fulness of the Holy Spirit will carry any one through; and if you do not know that you have received this, do not fail to obey the command to tarry until you be endued with power from on high. Believe me, the foreign field is already full enough of prophets that have run, and He did not send them. Because of this, things are in a sad state in India, in the missions themselves.
“If you know beyond a doubt—and you may—that God is empowering and sending you there, and now, go, and fear not; and when, through the days, months, and years of suffering that are sure to be in the cross-bearing life, the question arises again and again, ‘Why is this? Am I in God's plan and path?’ the rock to which you will hold in this sea of questionings and distresses is, ‘God sent me here, I know beyond a doubt; therefore I may go on fearing nothing, for He is responsible, and He alone.’
“But if you have to admit, ‘I do not know whether He sent me or not,’ you will be thrown into an awful distress of mind by the attacks of the great adversary, not knowing what will be the outcome, and you will find yourself crying out, ‘O, that it were time to go home! What a fool I was to run ahead of the Lord.’ Do not think, my brother, that God sends us to the field to sweetly tell the story of Jesus, and that is all. He sends us there to do what Jesus came into this world to do—to bear the cross—but we will be able to trudge on, tho bowed under the weight of that cross of suffering, and even of shame, if our hearts are full of Him, and our eyes are ever looking upon One who is invisible, the One who sent us forth, and therefore will carry us through. Forgive me for writing thus plainly. I pray that this message may shake in you all that can be shaken, and that that which can not be shaken may remain as firm as the Rock of Ages.”—Selected.
KOREA AS A MISSION CENTER.
REV. J. L. GERDINE of Korea, writing in the Korean Methodist, contends that Korea may become the religious forerunner of Japan and China. He says: "China and Japan will need a demonstration of the suitability of revival movements to oriental conditions, and we should furnish it. Who can doubt that a national revival in Korea would inspire the workers in these neighboring empires as few things could? It has already been demonstrated that God is only waiting on our faith and efforts to work in wondrous power among this people. The special revivalistic efforts, last year, at half a dozen centers in Korea, were each attended by marvelous spiritual manifestation, and have marked a distinct difference in the life and labors of many of the people. We believe that what is needed is efforts in all the centers of work in Korea, and extended as far as possible to the smaller groups. The providential indications, too, seem to teach that there is no need for us to wait."13Japanese Christians are rapidly entering Korea and are establishing churches. It is certain that the time is not far distant when the Gospel of Christ will have borne witness throughout the hermit kingdom.
WAIT AND TRUST.
HOLD on, my heart, in thy believing!
The steadfast only wear the crown;
He who, when stormy waves are heaving,
Parts with his anchor, shall go down;
But he who Jesus holds, through all
Shall stand, tho earth and heaven should fall.
Hold in thy murmurs, Heaven arraigning,
The patient see God's loving face;
Who bear their burdens uncomplaining,
'Tis they who win the Father's grace.
He wounds himself who braves the rod,
And sets himself to fight with God.
Hold out! There comes an end to sorrow;
Hope from the dust shall conquering rise;
The storm proclaims a sunnier morrow;
The cross points on to Paradise.
The Father reigneth; cease all doubt;
Hold on, my heart, hold on, hold out!
—Selected.
AN APPEAL FOR THE YOUNG.
By H. F. Phelps
ON the banks of yonder stream are gathered a group of merry-hearted boys. They are preparing for a swim. Listen to the shouting and laughter! See the splashing of the water! They feel no danger. They are a happy company.
A sudden change comes over them. A boy that can not swim has gone beyond his depth and is drowning. There is a cry for help. All within hearing are aroused to activity. A man plunges into the stream. The drowning boy must be saved; and, a most reasonable thing, there is no one to raise the cry that the man is engaged in a private enterprise.
But another scene is constantly before my eyes. I see, not one boy, but one multiplied by tens of thousands of boys and girls going to ruin—eternal ruin—all unwarned, but encouraged by example upon every hand in the use of rum and tobacco. O what a sight to behold! It is a most pathetic scene. My soul is stirred to anguish! Must this be so? Is there no life-line, no message of warning, of encouragement, to these dear youth?
Yes, there is a message from One whose heart of infinite love led Him to give His own life to save these souls from every form of impurity. It is the mission of the journal, Save the Boys, to give this message of love. But where are those who will carry these pages to the perishing? A few respond. But O so few! While we wait, thousands perish.
When the writer began this effort, he asked that a few crumbs might fall this way. But he is growing more bold. He now asks for a whole loaf. He desires that our people everywhere shall aid in the circulation of this journal wherever there are boys to save. He asks that in the coming missionary campaign our churches, and every organization within our churches, shall give this little journal a place. Come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty foe, intemperance—the twin evils of rum and tobacco. Why not? There is no reason.
Thirty cents a year is the price of the journal; or twenty-five cents in clubs of five or more to one address. Address, Save the Boys, Washburn Park, Minneapolis, Minn. H. F. PHELPS.
