The central theme of the Bible, the theme about which every other in the whole book clusters, is the redemption plan, the restoration in the human soul of the image of God. From the first intimation of hope in the sentence pronounced in Eden, to that last glorious promise of the Revelation, “They shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads,” the burden of every book and every passage of the Bible is the unfolding of this wondrous theme,—man’s uplifting, the power of God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Here we behold the Majesty of heaven, as He humbled Himself to become our Substitute and Surety, to cope single-handed with the powers of darkness, and to gain the victory in our behalf. A reverent contemplation of such themes as these can not fail to soften, purify, and ennoble the heart, and, at the same time, to inspire the mind with new strength and vigor.
The Science of Redemption
is the science of all sciences; the science that is the study of the angels, and of all the intelligencies of the unfallen worlds; the science that engages the attention of our Lord and Saviour; the science that enters into the purpose brooded in the mind of the Infinite,—“kept in silence through times eternal;” the science that will be the study of God’s redeemed throughout the endless ages. This is the highest study in which it is possible for man to engage. As no other study can, it will quicken the mind, and uplift the soul.
Jesus said of the Old Testament Scriptures,—and how much more is it true of the New,—“They are they which testify of Me,” the Redeemer, Him in whom our hopes of eternal life are centered. Yes, the whole Bible tells of Christ. From the first record of Creation—“for without Him was not anything made that was made”—to the closing promise, “Behold, I come quickly,” we are reading of His works, and listening to His voice. If you would become better acquainted with the Saviour, study the Scriptures.
The Science and the Song.
The theme of redemption is one that angels desire to look into; it will be the science and the song of the redeemed throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. Is it not worthy of careful thought and study now?
The infinite mercy and love of Jesus, the sacrifice made in our behalf, calls for the most serious and solemn reflection. We should dwell upon the character of our dear Redeemer and Intercessor. We should meditate upon the mission of Him who came to save His people from their sins. As we thus contemplate heavenly themes, our faith and love will grow stronger, and our prayers will be more and more acceptable to God, because they will be mixed with faith and love. They will be intelligent and fervent. There will be more constant confidence in Jesus, and a daily living experience in His power to save to the uttermost all who come to God by Him. As we meditate upon the perfections of the Saviour, we shall desire to be wholly transformed and renewed in the image of His purity. There will be a hungering and thirsting of soul to become like Him whom we adore. The more our thoughts dwell upon Christ, the more we shall speak of Him to others, and the more clearly represent Him to the world.
Every Essential Truth.
In giving us His Word, God has put us in possession of every truth essential for our salvation. Thousands have drawn water from these wells of life, yet there is no diminishing of the supply. Thousands have set the Lord before them, and by beholding have been changed into the same image. Their spirit burns within them as they speak of His character, telling what Christ is to them, and what they are to Christ. But these searchers have not exhausted these grand and holy themes. Thousands more may engage in the work of searching out the mysteries of salvation. As the life of Christ and the character of His mission are dwelt upon, rays of light will shine forth more distinctly at every attempt to discover truth. Each fresh search will reveal something more deeply interesting than has yet been unfolded. The subject is inexhaustible. The study of the incarnation of Christ, His atoning sacrifice and mediatorial work, will employ the mind of the diligent student as long as time shall last; and, looking to heaven with its unnumbered years, he will exclaim, “Great is the mystery of godliness.”
In eternity we shall learn that which, had we received the enlightenment that it was possible to obtain here, would have opened our understanding. The themes of redemption will employ the hearts and minds and tongues of the redeemed through the everlasting ages. They will understand the truths which Christ longed to open to His disciples, but which they did not have faith to grasp. Forever and forever new views of the perfection and glory of Christ will appear. Through endless ages the faithful householder will bring forth from his treasures things new and old.
THE “LORD OF THE SABBATH.”
By A. L. Anthony
“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath; therefore the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” The word “therefore” is very significant here, forming, as it does, the fitting introduction to the logical conclusion of Christ’s argument.
What is the gist of the argument?—Plainly, that the man is of more importance than the Sabbath (important as that is); that man’s life, physical as well as spiritual, is to be considered before and above any perfunctory Sabbath observance; for the Sabbath was not made before man, but for him, he to be the master, or lord, and it to be the servant. Therefore the Son of Man—the second Adam—must be its Lord.
Let it be remembered that the Sabbath was given to man while he was yet sinless; when he was, under his Creator, “lord of the earth.” Man was not, of course, to exceed his prerogative, nor abuse his privileges as lord and master. “A righteous man regardeth [even] the life of his beast.” So the righteous man will not abuse his privileges in his use of the Sabbath. He certainly will not trample it underfoot, as many are doing to-day.
But as sinful man has forfeited, by sin, his right and title as lord of the earth, so also, he is no longer lord of the Sabbath. Christ, the sinless and successful Second Adam, the Son of Man, is now, in a twofold sense (as Son of God and Son of Man), the only and rightful “Lord of the Sabbath,” as He is also “Lord of all.”
So we find that most of the Sabbath observance in, and for a long time before, Christ’s day, among other observances, was a mere “yoke of bondage.” And much of the Sabbath observance ever since has been, and is still, of the same character. The master and the servant have exchanged places. Mere legal Sabbath-keeping, on any day, amounts to nothing. And if this is true with reference to the Bible Sabbath—the seventh day—it can not be any less true of a day not thus sanctified. If man was not made for even the true Sabbath, he certainly was not made for any counterfeit Sabbath.
Again, the true Sabbath was made by the Creator for man, while the counterfeit was made by man, without any divine authority. Not only is a person that makes counterfeit money considered a criminal, but the person also is guilty who knowingly uses it. And what should be thought, what does God think, of people who not only keep the spurious Sabbath, but also attempt to compel their fellow men to do the same? Yet this is just what certain self-styled “reformers”—over-zealous Sunday advocates—are doing to-day. Thus they not only usurp Christ’s prerogative as Lord of the Sabbath, but they also, at the same time, assume lordship over men’s consciences. This is surely a great departure and a great sin.
Let us consult the Lord of the Sabbath—our Lord—in His teaching and His example, and learn what true Christian Sabbath-keeping is. His yoke is not galling, but “easy;” His burden is not “grievous to be borne,” but “light.” And we are assured that if we come and learn of Him, we “shall find rest”—true Sabbath-keeping—to our souls. But there is no compulsion, either in the coming or in the learning. No man, nor body of men, can justly prescribe even the particular manner of Sabbath observance. No long drawn out rabbinical rules, no pharisaical nor Puritanical regulations, tedious even in their minuteness, are allowable in the light of New Testament preaching and practise. The plain Word of God is the only safe and all-sufficient guide. “Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh.” Gal. 5: 13. “It is lawful,” says Christ, “to do well on the Sabbath day.”
Plymouth, Cal. A. L. ANTHONY.
WERE THEY NEGLIGENT?
By E. S. Brooks
AFTER the Redeemer had been raised from death by the Father, He did not inform His apostles that the sanctity of the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week. Nor did He inform them that from that time the days of the week would begin and end at midnight. Was He negligent? The apostles called the Sabbath by its proper name, and the “first day of the week” by its proper name.
In Acts 13:14 we read that Paul preached on the Sabbath day. In verse 42 it is said that the Gentiles besought Paul to preach to them on “the next Sabbath,” not on the next day. But we are not informed that the next Sabbath was the next day. In verse 44 we are told that on “the next Sabbath” a great number came to hear.
The writer failed to say anything about “the first day of the week,” nor did he inform us that there was a disagreement between Christians and Jews regarding the Lord’s day. We are nowhere told that the Jews (very sensitive regarding the Sabbath) complained that Christians had a rival Sabbath.
In Acts 20:7 we read of a meeting on “the8first day of the week,” without any hint that it was the Lord’s day. Such a meeting would naturally take place after sunset, the close of the Sabbath day. Since Paul would start on a journey Sunday morning, how natural that a farewell meeting should take place the previous evening after the close of the Sabbath. Here was a good opportunity to tell us that “the first day of the week” is the Lord’s day, but he failed to write the few words. Was Paul negligent? or was the Spirit negligent?
In 1 Cor. 16:2 we learn of the brethren being advised to look over their business matters so as to determine how much they could donate to the famine-stricken brethren in Palestine. Paul has failed to inform us that this business affair should occur on the Lord’s day; but he called the day by another name.
In Rev. 1:10 but six additional words would have been needed for John, the seer, to have written, I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, the first day of the week. Why did he fail to insert the last six words? What a consolation such a parenthetical phrase would have been to Protestant Romanizers! Was John negligent? E. S. BROOKS.
THE “RECEIVER” INSTRUMENT.
By T. E. Bowen
EVERY wonderful invention is but the revelation of some wonder of our God before hidden from view. The telegraph, the telephone, the power of steam, simply brought into action powers that had been here during ages of the past, undiscovered, reserved, so the Lord tells us, until the “time of the end.”
Wireless telegraphy is but the revealing of a wonderful truth in science that Christ might have told when He was walking about the hills of Judea, but did not—vibrations through air by which communication could be had at a distance. This discovery in the scientific world is certainly wonderful, yet it is not more important than another in the spiritual realm. Wireless telegraphy is but the perfect tuning of the transmitting instrument with the receiving instrument. The secret is here. The two must accord perfectly. And they are so perfected that there shall be no other instruments precisely the same, or no secret communications could be made.
Thus God’s Spirit is moving or brooding over men to-day. The transmitter is perfect, but nearly all is lost upon men’s lives because the human receivers are not attuned to the heavenly vibrations. Consequently, men go on wholly ignorant of wonderful messages God has for them, wholly unconscious, unimpressionable because sin has marred the soul receiver.
If this is not so, what meaning is there in such expressions as these? “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, . . . whom the world can not receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him;” “Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me; because I live, ye shall live also;” and “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
It is by listening to, and obeying the words of God sent us in the Bible that we shall become attuned to hear the wonderful things Christ has for us to hear and know. Men about us who are living in wickedness and sin will not get the message. “The sheep hear His voice; and He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him; for they know His voice.” “And other sheep I have, . . . them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice.”
Have you heard, dear reader, this voice calling you? You certainly may, and among the ten thousand discordant voices found here, you may for yourself hear that loving, pleading call of the Great Shepherd calling you by name. You have never yet experienced true pleasure if you have not heard His call.
Rome, N. Y. T. E. BOWEN.
Search the Scripture
By F. D. Starr
Philippians
We find, according to chapter one, verses 13 to 16, that this book was written while Paul was a prisoner at Rome. The date of this writing was about A.D. 64, or nearly thirty years after the apostle’s wonderful conversion. From Eph. 3:1; Col. 4:10; and Philemon 9, we learn that these other three letters were also written when he was in bonds. These books are consequently called the “prison epistles.”
The interesting account of the first introduction of the Gospel to the Philippian people, is found in Acts 16. It was to this place that Paul first went after hearing, in vision, a voice inviting him in the noted missionary call, “Come over into Macedonia, and help us.” This seems to have been the first place in Europe to be favored with the labors of the apostle to the Gentiles. Here it was that Paul and Silas were imprisoned, and delivered by the mighty earthquake. Here the damsel possessed with a spirit of divination followed the apostles, crying out, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, which show unto us the way of salvation.” Here we find a class of devout Sabbath-keepers who gladly accepted the Gospel. Surely the work was begun in Philippi in a manner to carry conviction to the honest in heart.
According to the German version of Acts 16:12, Philippi was “the capital of Macedonia and a free city.”
Being better acquainted with the circumstances under which the letter was written, we can better appreciate the contents of the book. In chapter one we have a remarkable proof of the apostle’s devotion to the Gospel, inasmuch as he states that some preach Christ from an evil motive, supposing to add affliction to his bonds, yet he rejoices that Christ is preached, because in some way this would result in the advancement of the Master’s cause. The idea that there is nothing for us to do, only to believe on Christ, is corrected by the statement of Phil. 1:29, where it is stated: “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” It is not sufficient to merely have a passive belief in the Gospel of Christ, but there must also be a willingness to go forth with Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.”
The Marvelous Condescension
and humiliation of our Lord is graphically brought to view in Phil. 2:5–8. Jesus made Himself of no reputation. The Revised Version reads, “emptied Himself.” The French translation is that He “annihilated Himself.” Other translations give the idea of disrobing Himself. The original Greek word has the signification of becoming as nothing. What a wonderful example for us to follow in divesting ourselves of all earthly advantage; in short, doing as our Master bids us, denying ourselves of that which this world holds for us that seems so dear.
In chapter four is to be found a most precious lesson on the subject of contentment. The apostle says: “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” He adds, “I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” The writer has also given us elsewhere some very plain instruction on the grace of contentment. In 1 Tim. 6:8–10, we read: “And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. . . . For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” Also in Heb. 13:5, we read; “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have.” In these passages, covetousness and contentment are put in direct opposition to each other. It would seem from this that we must be either the one or the other—covetous or contented. Is there any middle, or neutral, ground?
Are we contented? How few there are who can respond in the affirmative to this question. Are we covetous? Surely no one will want to admit that this is his condition. But what else can it be, if we are not contented? No wonder the Saviour said, “Take heed and beware of covetousness;” and the apostle said, “I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Covetousness seems to be249the tap root of sin, the root of all evil, hence after one like the apostle Paul has thought himself to be living in all good conscience unto this day, he finds, after all, that some of the roots of covetousness have not yet been eradicated.
It is not the opulent, the wealthy, alone who are subject to this vice; the poor vagabond, too slothful to earn a livelihood, is just as full of covetousness as the millionaire could possibly be. Let us read about him in the words of the wise man: “The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labor. He coveteth greedily all the day long; but the righteous giveth and spareth not.” Prov. 21:25, 26. While possessing nothing, on account of his laziness, he wickedly covets the substance of the diligent. “Covetousness . . . is idolatry.” Let us beware of it.
But, says one, it is impossible to be content with merely food and raiment. Let us see. In the scripture from which we started out in this investigation, we find the apostle stating that he had learned to be content even without these necessaries of life. If he could be contented without them, can we not be contented with them? Surely, by the grace of God, we can be contented and cease our murmuring.
The latter part of chapter four needs to be carefully considered in its lessons concerning communicating of our substance to the advancement of the cause of Christ, and thus offering a sacrifice that will be acceptable to God. The days of sacrificing for the support of the Gospel are not, surely, all in the past.
It is interesting to note from Phil. 4:22, that there were true believers even in the emperor’s household. The Lord doubtless has those to-day in kings’ courts who are known to Him as His own faithful servants.
Perhaps the most important exhortation contained in this book is that found in chapter four, verse eight. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
We are to control our thoughts and cause them to dwell on only such topics as will bear the above description. Shall we say we can not govern our minds? That is just what Christianity is designed to enable us to do. “Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” But this will be an entirely different line of subjects than those in common usage. What is it that gives to sensational papers and books their attractive qualities?—The fact that they give the details concerning that which is impure, unjust, unlovely, untrue, of evil report, and dishonest. The world is full of such departures from virtue, and the literature of the day is filled with accounts of the same. How much better to turn from such polluted streams to the pure Fountain of living waters. The book of Philippians is filled with such elevating and pure themes. How delightful its study!
F. D. Starr.
THE END IS NEAR.
By Joseph D. Needham
Clouds and darkness gathering o'er us,
Awful tidings with them bear;
Scenes of misery spread before us—
Death, and pestilence, and war;
All in one loud, piercing chorus,
Tell us that the end is near!
Hearts of men within them failing
For the coming woes they fear;
All their efforts unavailing—
No propitious signs appear;
Sin increasing, crime prevailing,
Tell us that the end is near!
Selfishness is all abounding;
Gold the idol everywhere,
Worshipped by a host confounding,
Gold for all that's good or fair;
Crowds the mammon-god surrounding,
Tells us that the end is near.
Formal godliness increasing,
Power denied and forms held dear,
Church and fashion coalescing,
Forming now the character;
Rites so popular and pleasing,
Tell us that the end is near.
War, the heaviest curse of nations,
Running on its dread career;
While the mass its desolation,
Listless or applauding, hear—
War, with its abominations,
Tells us that the end is near!
Sinner, wouldst thou in the glory share
Of that message thou dost hear?
Wouldst thou have the hope before thee,
Told by priest and king and seer?
O believe redemption's story;
Look to Christ! the end is near!
JOSEPH D. NEEDHAM.
Parkersburg, W. Va.
LIFE-GIVING SURGERY.
“Why does God, if He is love, permit this continued suffering of mine?” is the cry of many a sorely tried child of God. “Have I not suffered enough? He could work a miracle and heal me at this moment; why does He not do so?” Yet we would not beg the surgeon, while his skilled hand and life-bringing knife are in the midst of an operation that means release from pain and death, to cease his work, and to stop torturing the sensitive, shrinking nerves and body. He could stop, of course, just where he is; and that would be the most unloving thing he could do. To bring the full blessing of restored and extended life, he must complete his work. May we not trust the loving heavenly Father as fully as we trust our surgeons?—Sunday-School Times.
WHAT IS TEMPTATION?
EVERY man knows that he is constantly, fearfully, tempted, but few men give thought to the eternal, pivotal significance of the great fact that they are tempted at all. Every temptation presents to a man an opportunity for choice, and he is likely to think it a great issue if the supposed gain of wrong-doing seem great, and a small issue if the supposed gains are not really what he longs for passionately. He measures the temptation, and guards against it, in proportion to its intensity and inducements, forgetting that the lightest inclination toward an act which is not wholly clean may be the real pivot on which his whole being turns just then and for all time. As he chooses then, so he may come to be; and no man can presume safely upon that moment when the issue seems hardly worth the cost of a fight with self. Every temptation is worth a fight to the death, simply because it is a temptation.
Man’s notions and Bible truth are not commonly at one on this great fact of life. To most men temptation means allurement. In the Bible its primary meaning is “testing,” “proving.” To most men the problem in the struggle is the comparative attractiveness of a righteous and an unrighteous course, because of the supposed gains or losses of either, in the line of the alluring act, or its overcoming. But the Bible calls men to the highest level of facing every temptation as a test. The vital issue is the break with righteousness, and on that a man stands or falls. So far have men swung out from this central truth that there is even such an utterly-debased attitude toward temptation as that of the thief who measures with his glance the porch pillars and the overhanging eaves, the shadow of the house front, and the glitter of a luxuriously-furnished room beyond the open window, and the high probability of his being able to do the job without being caught. Yet every thief always gets caught in his thieving, not by the police, but by the act itself. It is not the jail that he ought to fear. It is the thieving,—the break with righteousness, and any other attitude toward the problem is unworthy even of a thief.
The Bible is clear on the significance of temptation, and no man need be confused by side-issues in his warfare. The allurements of a temptation are nothing more than the means by which the test is applied. They are never the temptation itself, never the main issue. When God tried, or proved, or tempted Abraham by directing him to offer up Isaac as a burnt-offering, the heavenly messenger, when Abraham had indeed been proved, suspended the dread ending of the test,—“for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me.” Abraham was proved to be on God’s side unreservedly. The test was everything. Failing in that, Abraham could not be the factor that God wanted him to be in His plan.
When Jesus was led up into the wilderness to be tempted, He was led there to be tested. Satan’s purpose, made clear in every form of temptation which he presented, was to draw the Son away from the Father, and this the Son could not tolerate. He would not test God, whose Son He was, and thus imply doubt of Him. He would make no presumptuous exhibit of His power under any inducement. And when Satan suggested to Him a short cut to power, Jesus brings that incident to an abrupt close, utterly repudiating the Satanic suggestion that any service, any power, any glory, might be attained apart from His Father and His true mission. Had He failed in that test, the overwhelming consequences of that failure would not have been in the things that were offered Him, but in the mastery of darkness over light,—in the very failure itself.
And what did Jesus and His schooled followers teach concerning this testing which is a part of life?—The disciple was to pray that he might not be put to the test; he was to be vigilant against the approach of any testing time; he was to be, not like “those on the rock . . . who, when they have heard, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who for awhile believe, and in time of temptation fall away.” In the end it was given to these plain men, even when they were contending with one another over foolish questions of preferment, to hear from the lips of the tempted, sinless Christ, that they, even they, were to be appointed unto a kingdom, because “ye are they that have continued with Me in My temptations.” Troublesome students that they were in the school wherein He taught them, yet they remained with Him in His testings, sharing the contest and many of its victories. Comrades of His in such a warfare were not to be forgotten.
And their testing was to continue. There should be no relief from that. Nor could they promise relief to others, even tho they could promise victory. It was James who would exultingly urge men to “count it all joy when ye fall into manifold temptations; knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience.” And he would leave men in no doubt about the true significance of the testing. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been approved [has stood the test], he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to them that love Him.” “Even so run,” writes Paul, “that ye may attain. . . . I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so fight I, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage. . . . There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted [tested] above that ye are able; but will with the temptation [the testing] make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.”
Temptation is no mere allurement to an unworthy act. It is in life and of life, persistent, insidious, never other than dangerous, never trivial, and always pivotal. Every temptation is a test, and no test leaves a man just where it has found him. Thanks be unto God that every test can bring us nearer to Him!—Sunday-School Times.
Life Lovely, Death Not the Lord's Doing
By T. H. Nelson
LIFE is lovely, but death is devilish. it does not look like the Lord’s doings. His immutable nature makes it impossible that the Author of life could be also the author of death, as this would imply a change and a foolish attack upon his own works.—T. H. Nelson.
HIS MOTHER’S TRAINING.
ROLAND stopped and looked at the sign “BOY WANTED.” It hung outside a large cutlery establishment next door to a store where there had been a big fire. He had made up his mind that he was old enough to look for work and try to relieve mother. Should he go in?
He hesitated, then with all the courage he could command went inside. He was sent back to a room where men on high stools were writing in big books, too busy to notice him; but a tall gentleman did, and questioned him so fast that he could hardly answer.
“What kind of work do you expect to do? Don’t know? Most boys do. Never worked out before? Suppose you think it’s all play. Well,” pointing to some steps, “go down there, and the man at the foot will tell you what to do.”
Roland went down and found half a dozen boys at work, with their sleeves rolled up,251cleaning and polishing knives. The man at the foot of the steps looked up and said:
“Come to try your hand? Well, three boys have just left in disgust; doesn’t seem to be boys’ work, somehow, but it’s got to be done. You see,” he said, picking up some knives and scissors and showing spots of rust on them, “the water that saved our building the other night, injured some of our finest goods. If you want to try your hand at cleaning, I’ll show you how. We pay by the dozen.”
“’Tisn’t fair,” said one of the boys, “some have more rust on than others.”
“If you don’t like our terms you needn’t work for us,” said the foreman; and the boy, muttering that he wanted to be an errand boy and see something of life, left, while Roland went to work with a will. As he finished each piece, he held it up, examined it critically, and wondered if mother would think it well done.
When the hour for closing came, the gentleman who had sent him downstairs appeared, and looking round at the boys, said:
“Well?”
“There is the boy we want,” said the foreman, pointing to Roland. “‘Boy wanted’ doesn’t mean any kind of a boy. Mother know you came? No? Well, take her your first wages, and tell her there is a place open to you here. Then put your arms around her neck, and thank her for teaching you to be thorough. If more boys were thorough, more boys would succeed in life.”
“I guess, mother,” said Roland, when he told her about it, “it was because I tried to do everything as you would like it. I forgot I was doing it because there was a ‘boy wanted.’”—Sunday-School Advocate.
MAX HILL
By Max Hill
SUCCESSES OF YOUNG MEN. NO. 3.
THERE was some question as to whether mention should be made of the successes of Alexander, but on second thought it seemed well so to do. While we do not look on his successes with approval,—I might say the ambition that led to those successes,—we can but admire the vim and zeal he displayed. We must remember, too, that the ambition to be a great warrior, to lead armies, to conquer, was the greatest to which a young man of that age and country could aspire. To be content with a life of ease and peace was not commendable in any man trained as Alexander was, least of all in the young prince, the son of Philip of Macedon.
Born in such an age, heir to the throne, and as such to be leader of the people, commander of the army, Alexander was early trained in the arts of war and government. But not alone was he trained in these lines, for we read that he had famous teachers, the great scholar Lysimachus being one, and Aristotle another. These taught him the philosophy of the Greeks, the traditions, the myths, the exploits of the heroes, the greatest of which were written by Homer, an ancient poet who lived and wrote four or five hundred years before Alexander’s time. Alexander was very fond of study, delighting in the association of these famous teachers. It is said that he even carried a copy of Homer’s poems with him on all his conquests.
What were his successes? The story is no doubt familiar. Fearless even in childhood; when only a young man hurling a wine cup at his father, the king, for speaking slightly of his mother, whom the king had put away; even before this, riding the untamed charger, Bucephalus, which the king’s own horsemen pronounced too vicious for any rider; called suddenly to the throne on the assassination of Philip, he took the reins of government, assumed the leadership of the army, and for twelve years led it through mountain-pass, turbulent river, deadly forest, and burning desert, to victory after victory. Cities, states, nations fell before him, till at last he sat in the conquered city of Babylon, ruler of the world, at the age of thirty-two.
Would that the account might be closed as the life story of our own Washington can be, that content with the glory gained, the victories won, the successful general would seek the interests of his people and be content with his achievements. But such can not be the conclusion of the life of Alexander, for, the conqueror of the world, he could not control himself, and died, we are told, of a fever brought on by excessive drinking.
The lesson: We, as Christians, fight more important battles, serve a greater cause, follow a greater Master; should not our ambition, our ardor, our zeal, be equal to Alexander’s?
MAX HILL
LIFE AND DEATH.
By Ernest Crosby
[By Ernest Crosby, in Conservator.]
So he dies for his faith. That is fine—
More than most of us do.
But say, can you add to that line
That he lived for it, too?
In his death he bore witness at last
As a martyr to truth.
Did his life do the same in the past
From the days of his youth?
It is easy to die. Men have died
For a wish or a whim—
From bravado or passion or pride.
Was it harder for him?
But to live—every day to live out
All the truth that he dreamt,
While his friends met his conduct with doubt
And the world with contempt.
Was it thus that he plodded ahead,
Never turning aside?
Then we’ll talk of the life that he led.
Never mind how he died.
