THERE is something for us all in Christianity which is better than a great truth, better than power, better even than new life. That something is a Person, Jesus Christ. In Christ, to be sure, are truth, and power, and life; but He is more and better than all these. We value our dearest friends more than we do the best truths or gifts or blessings that they ever bring to us. It is their own warm, loving, personal selves that are dear to us; and alongside of this, all else that comes to us through them sinks into insignificance. So Christ is Christianity’s richest meaning to us. A man who had found wonderful blessing in his Christian life was thinking prayerfully about his responsibility for sharing this with others. He saw that he had been—as is every Christian—entrusted with a great stewardship. Then it came to him just what his stewardship was, after all,—not a message, not a truth, not power, not even abstract life; but a Person. God is entrusting to our stewardship a Person, His only Son, Jesus Christ. We may literally share with others this Person, our Christ. For there is nothing else but Himself that is eternally worth sharing. Indeed, there is no such thing as spiritual power in the abstract; no such thing as life as merely an eternal vital force. Only the Person Jesus Christ is life and spiritual power. That is why we must be literally members of His body if we would have power and life. And we can share Him with others only as we let Him live out His own personal life in us. How it simplifies all things to rest down in the Person of Christ; to know Him as our warm, radiant, loving Friend; to live in Him, and rejoice that He lives in us; to let Him touch and bless others through us, and give Himself through us to them. Our gospel and our stewardship is a Person, even Jesus. — Sunday School Times.
The Value of Meditation
“No one is a wholesome, helpful member of society who can not be alone and be in good company. Society may well shun the man or woman who shuns ‘the quiet hour.’ The eternal quest for company and diversion is a sure sign of either emptiness or madness. There is no great life without meditation.”
Deserving Praise, Not Seeking It
“THE truly illustrious are they who do not court the praise of the world, but perform the actions which deserve it.”
The beautiful flock, the blood-bought flock, The Master of love is seeking, Leading them out of forest and rock, From desert and marsh-land reeking. Into the fold. From day to day He builds where the wall is torn away.
The wall is the hedge that was made above— The law of the Father's giving; And every commandment calls in love To the test of a Christlike living. But scorned by enemies past all speech, They build up falsehood to hide their breach.
And lo! as the Master's bleeding hands Would build the wall that's broken, The enemies send their deterring bands To tear away truth's token. Charging ever, they come abreast To break love's wall that must stand the test.
The under-shepherds as watchmen wait, On guard to avert disaster; They keep the foes outside the gate, And toil to aid the Master. The Sabbath of God in undimmed light Shines out to the flock as a beacon light.
But why are the Master's bleeding hands Toiling to build the broken? A storm is gathering o'er all lands, The clouds of the world give token; And safe in shelter of love's own rock The Master gathers His beautiful flock.
The storm will rage, the wolves will wait, The enemies rage and wonder; But all in vain at the love-built gate The engines of wrath will thunder. Sheltered close to the blood-stained wall, No ill to the beautiful flock will fall.
When the storm is past, when the wrath is spent, The enemies will be flying, Their wall of untempered mortar rent, The Dead Sea fruit of lying; But those who toiled with the blood-stained One Will hear the approving word, "Well done."
And then the flock, the beautiful flock, With the Master of love forever, Will rest in shade of the sheltering rock, And feed by the purling river. Sweeter and rarer throughout the years, They'll join the music that thrills the spheres.
Freedom’s Song
By N. W. Vincent
By N. W. Vincent
Our Saviour, ’tis to Thee,
Who died to make us free,
To Thee we sing!
We seek Thy love-lit face,
O, boundless is Thy grace,
Just, equal, all Thy ways,
Our Life, our King!
Omnipotent Thy hand—
Rule Thou in ev’ry land;
Thee we adore!
Uplift the sad and poor;
When tried, help us endure;
Make our salvation sure
Forever more!
Supreme on land and sea,
Our Prince and Glory be,
Our joy and song!
In tempest and in calm,
Our shield from sin and harm;
Beneath us be Thy arm
So kind and strong!
Thy gospel we receive;
Thy promises believe;
Thy Word is true!
With Thee in sweet accord,
We shed Thy light abroad,
Come soon with Thy reward,
Our home make new!
Refuge
By W. R. Patterson
[This hymn, contributed by Mr. W. R. Patterson, 3025 White Avenue, Fresno, Cal., is issued in sheet music by H. Kirkus Dugdale Company, of Washington, D. C. Those desiring it may address the author. Ed.]
Lord of the light and landscape,
And Sovereign of the deep!
By night, by day, guard Thou our way,
And over us Thy constant vigils keep.
Who dost the wind and wave control,
Canst calm the tumults of the soul.
Life's stern tasks we bravely meet,
Nor feel dismay or fright.
The Force which guides the planets' course
We know will ever lead us right.
The storm-swept way we will not fear,
With such a Refuge ever near.
What care we tho the tempest drive
The stormy billows high.
All but fulfil Thy perfect will
On land and sea, in earth and sky.
With faith in Thy unfailing power,
Thrice armed we for the darkest hour.
Whate'er Thy wisdom choose for us
We know is for the best.
Life's mysteries tho we may not know,
Our faith shall wait and acquiesce.
To Thee a note of praise we lift,
For each and every hallowed gift.
Lest We Forget
When good old Jacob learned to give
One tenth to God of all he had,
He found that he with ease could live,
And blessings came to make him glad.
Maybe you owe to God a debt.
Pay up at once — lest you forget.
'Tis said this law was set aside —
Some boast they are no longer bound;
But if love makes the path more wide,
It would a better way have found.
No better plan has reached us yet.
Pay up at once — lest you forget.
“But I am very poor,” you say,
“With scarce enough to eat and wear.”
Perhaps you've robbed God's tenth away,
And lost the blessings He would share.
Of all men you are most in debt,
Pay up at once — lest you forget.
— Victorian War Cry.
Fuel for Trouble
By Nixon Waterman
Or trouble others make us,
We've little to fear,
For we know we can surely defeat it;
Few people get in hot water, 'tis clear,
But they furnish the fuel to heat it.
Nixon Waterman.
India During 1912
By George F. Enoch
(From Our Own Correspondent)
The Bank at Bombay
Sumaree Temple, at Benares
Hall of Private Audience, Delhi
Council House Street, Calcutta
The varied experiences that have befallen this great land during 1912, serve to emphasize the fact that no portion of the world is any longer isolated. This earth might well be compared to the human body, with one common heart, the life-blood of which permeates the entire system. If the life-blood is corrupt, the entire body is affected deleteriously. There can be no doubt that the results of modern inventions in this great nation are being felt for ill as well as for good. The unrest of the Western world is being reflected in the Orient. The strikes, and moral corruption both as seen in the life and the literature of the West, are being reproduced in these Eastern lands. How sad the condition is, can only be appreciated by those who have the vision of what the case might have been had the West been what it should, when it came into vital touch with the Orient. Where there might have been the impartation of life and vitality, resulting in the regeneration of the effete East, we see only the introduction on a large scale of those seeds which will but hasten the decay of the entire body.
Results of the Visit of the King
Still, in the midst of prevailing conditions that cause one to look into the future with the gravest forebodings, there are some evidences that the overruling Providence has still a remnant, and that He is so shaping events as to hold in check the forces of corruption until all have been warned and the honest in heart gathered out. We have now had one year in which to weigh the results of the visit of H. M. King George the Fifth to India, and the probable results of the changes and boons announced at that time. Even the most casual observer must admit the good results of this visit and the boons then announced.
Rearrangement of Bengal
Bengal had been so partitioned by Lord Curzon that the native population had taken great offense, and that formed at least congenial soil for the microbe of unrest. The sedition and political crimes and even murders that followed in its wake, revealed a condition that showed how easy it was for the political fabric, and even social fabric, in this great land, to disintegrate and involve India in a chaos that no one has been bold enough to try to picture. This dissolution of the political fabric has been postponed by the great boons. Among these, stands out prominently first the rearrangement of the partition of Bengal. As divided by Lord Curzon, there were two provinces with a lieutenant-governor each.
As rearranged by the king, there are now three political divisions. That portion of East Bengal containing many Hindu Bengalis, whose separation from their brethren was so bitterly resented, has been reunited to Bengal proper, and Bengal has been elevated to the rank of a presidency. Hitherto there have been but two presidencies in India, the Bombay and Madras presidencies. The government of these political divisions is in a large measure independent of the viceroy’s government, the governor being appointed from England, and more liberty is allowed the legislative councils. But in addition to this, the western and southern portions of the original Bengal province have been made a separate province with a lieutenant-governor in charge, and the northeastern portion has been made a separate unit with
a commissioner in charge, and last but not least, the capital has been removed from Calcutta to Delhi. The year has shown that while these modifications and the removal of the capital have been unpopular in Bengal, still the greater blessing of a united Bengali nation has more than compensated; and this year, a day set apart by the Bengalis as a day of mourning and sedition, known as Partition Day, was scarcely observed, and was not attended by any Indian of note as in former years.
Removal of Capital
The removal of the capital has appealed to the imagination of India; but now that the sentimental part has been unduly emphasized, and the people have to face the stern necessity of providing the wherewithal to build the great city, it is a question if India will be able to bear the burden. Financial burdens frequently prove the disillusionment and undoing of sentiment. However, the building of the new city has been begun, and work is proceeding night and day. Only the future will tell if India can bear the financial burden.
Educational Progress
But to the readers of the SIGNS, doubtless the most interesting of the results of the visit of the king is the great impetus that has been given to the cause of education in India. Up to that visit, the system of education had only touched the fringes of India’s millions. But the greatest gift of the king was the large financial gift, with the added impetus, that the new policy as outlined by him changed the policy of Indian education. For the first time,
those responsible for the educational policy of the nation, began to talk about universal education and compulsory education, its natural corollary in a land like India. In the supreme legislature of India, an Indian gentleman, Mr. Gokhale, introduced a bill with these two objects in mind, but the government voted it down on the plea that altho they were friendly to the idea of the bill, they were not yet able to finance such a tremendous undertaking, but promised to push every resource steadily to that end.
Both for weal and for wo, this policy will henceforth be steadily pursued in India. Already two native states are pursuing this policy, Baroda in West India and Mysore in South India. Who can tell the outcome of the education of the millions of the rising generation, regardless of caste or condition? In this vast educational movement, the missions have a duty that can not be lightly regarded. The powers of evil will doubtless leave no stone unturned to sidetrack this movement to the injury of the people. Will the Christian societies be as vigilant to turn it to a good account?
But not only did the visit of the king give an impetus to primary and universal education; but it also gave birth to the hope of great religious universities, where the followers of Islam and the Hindu could be given higher education under an environment which, if possible, would build up and not tear down these religions. Accordingly, able lecturers visited the two communities in all parts of India to arouse a sentiment in behalf of, and raise means sufficient for, the establishment of a Moslem University at Aligarh, and a Hindu University at Benares. The government agreed to consider the proposition, provided that $1,000,000 in cash could be raised for the establishment of each institution. The desired amount was successfully raised, not without much effort, and especially great difficulty on the part of the Hindu in reconciling opposing factions. When the final conditions were laid11down by the government, there were two conditions that proved very unpalatable. In the first place, the universities were not allowed to take a religious name, but were to take their name after their respective cities; and in the second, the dream of the organizers of a network of affiliated religious colleges to embrace the whole land, was vetoed.
Political Progress
As a result of the new political representation of the people both in the supreme council and in the provincial councils, the plan has worked most admirably, and has done much to allay political discontent. Private members have brought forth notable bills, some of which have not passed and some are still under consideration; but they all show that India has statesmen who are rising to the political needs of India. Mr. Gokhale’s education bill; the pitiful but vain attempt of Indian members to revise the excise policy of India so that liquor drinking be at least not encouraged in this great land; Mr. Basu’s bill to revise the Indian marriage laws so that the various castes and religions might intermarry without civil disabilities; Mr. Madge’s bill for the discouragement of bringing prostitutes from foreign countries into India, from the West, chiefly, and from Japan; and Mr. Dadabhoy’s bill for the raising of the age of consent for girls from 13 to 16, and for the abolishing of the Indian custom of marrying minor girls, usually infants, to the gods of the temple, in the picturesque but brutally literal Indian idiom, “tying them to the stone;” and the further protection of minor girls from immoral lives before they are old enough to understand the meaning of such a life, are among the most notable. It is sad to know that most of these are destined not to pass now, because of the prevailing popular sentiment being against them. But they are evidences that leading Indians are becoming awakened to these evils, and we trust this sentiment will grow.
GEORGE F. ENOCH.
(Concluded next week)
One of the hideous gods in the inner sanctuary of a temple. To such an idol, millions of Hindus constantly direct their worship.
Looking for a Deliverer.
—The Bombay Guardian, copy of which is sent us of October 5, shows that there is gaining root in that country what is called the new Avatara, or J. K., worship. This has taken strong hold upon the Theosophical Society, one of whose leading lights is Mrs. Anna Besant, who was at first the wife of a country clergyman, and later an ardent follower of Bradlaugh the notorious infidel, and then fell under the influence of Madam Blavatsky, and who now assumes a leadership herself.
Bhagwân Dâs argues: “A world teacher is needed sorely; therefore he will come, and by taking a disciple’s body some forty years hence, or fifteen, or only ten, as the world’s need is great. This one [J. K.] is the most likely; therefore this is the one. The world teacher’s influence is already upon it. What can outsiders know? They have only to believe and follow. Let us all begin worshiping it at once. No others are any good.” This J. K., they believe, is the second god of the great Hindu triad, who has had nine separate incarnations of deity, and they believe that the tenth and the last is still to be, when the last Avatara is revealed in the sky riding a white horse, with a drawn sword blazing like a comet, for the final destruction of the wicked and the restoration of purity, righteousness, and peace. Then the last age, the age of universal righteousness, will set in.
Such is Hindu common belief, we are told, and it is also true to some extent a belief shared by all religions: the Jew, the Christian, the Mohammedan, and the Buddhist,—all wait for the Coming One. Some of the Theosophists have already chosen the one who is to become the incarnation of the Coming One. This cult of the Coming One Mrs. Besant is preaching with great enthusiasm. She says: “We see other signs of the approaching coming, in the rapidly increasing expectation, and in the desire expressed in so many directions for the arising of a leader strong enough to deal with difficulties menacing the very foundations of society in the West. . . . The crisis in which we are standing is too great for ordinary men to deal with, and we lift up our eyes to the hills, whence great teachers have come aforetime to the world’s helping. Surely the world’s need has never been greater than it is to-day.”
But Mrs. Besant, and all the others who are looking for that Coming One, will not find it in the cultured youth J. K., nor in any other hoped-for human, but in Jesus Christ the Lord. He has already come as a Saviour from sin, a Saviour who would bring relief to India to-day, if He were received individually by its people. Some day He is coming again. Let our readers hold to the Holy Scriptures as to what that coming shall be, and endeavor to help all those who are looking for some coming deliverer to see that this coming deliverer is the Christ of God.
And Why Not?
THERE is a woman in Paris that is called “the antiseptic lady.” She possesses what is a hitherto unknown property, of human emanation from her hands. She has been examined and experimented with by physicians, and is willing to be experimented with by others. It is said she has power to preserve both vegetable and animal matter by touching it. During the period of five years that she has been under the surveillance of physicians, she has vegetables and small animals all perfectly preserved, and free from the least sign of decay or putrefaction. These are only touched by her hands once a day. A small animal killed by a gun, it is said, was kept as perfect at the end of four years as it was the day it was brought from the forest, the fur clean, bright, and shiny, and not the least sign of decay about the body. A rose was plucked and placed in her care, and at the end of ten days had dried, but every particle of its color was as natural as when picked in full bloom, with the leaves bright and green, adhering to the twig with the same tenacity as while growing.
It must be believed by those who have regard for the Holy Scriptures, that when man came from the hand of God, the highest of all His creatures, it was not in God’s design that the animalcula or bacteria—the smallest creatures—could have any effect upon his life. He must have had that fulness of life which could be by no means affected by any creatures that were lower. This woman may be possessed of somewhat of that normal life, able in a limited way to impart it to other things, not in the way of giving life, but of preserving. We will also find, in these latter days of wonders, the devil working miracles as well. It may well be believed that this master mind has learned much during the thousands of years that he has been planning and executing wickedness, and yet above him in power is the Infinite Himself.
An Appeal for Decency and Peace.—
By Editor
We have received from the Society of Friends, of Philadelphia, an appeal for cleanness in the newspapers of the world. They ask the question, “Who shall say how many crimes, how many foul and dark deeds, have been the fruit of the printed page in the daily paper? Like begets like. Again, we plead for righteousness in the whole make-up of the newspaper.” They properly ask for a standard which puts purity and good conduct and honesty ahead of dividends and good profits, and that our newspapers shall stand for Christianity in dealings between nations. They also plead that united efforts shall be put forth for peace in the world, and that the nations may settle their disputes by arbitration. We believe that both appeals are proper, and that they come from the heart; but we also wish frankly to say that just as long as newspapers are run for money, and by unconverted men, they will go on in just the same way as they are going; and just as long as the carnal heart of man is at enmity to God, there will be wars among nations. Not but what we would desire otherwise. With all our hearts we would feel to sympathize with our Quaker friends; but the Word of God has clearly and implicitly told us just what we may expect in the times preceding the coming of the Master.
The Price of Peace.
By Editor
The Springfield Republican, in its issue of December 19, well says:
“‘No man on earth,’ said New York’s governor-elect, Mr. Sulzer, the other day, ‘is more in favor of universal peace than I am, but I know the best guaranty of peace is for the United States to have as great a navy as any on earth.’ Just so, and for Germany to have as great a navy as England and for England to have a navy 50 per cent greater. That way madness lies, and the poorhouse, too. ‘The cost of a battle-ship is a bagatelle,’ says Mr. Sulzer loftily, ‘when you consider the cost of war.’ When you consider the cost of peace, however, battle-ships is in the plural, and the faster they are built the faster they go to the scrap-heap. Build 10 next year, and in a few years you will be told that an appropriation for 10 battle-ships just about makes good the wear and tear of the navy.”
And we may add that it is this sort of thing which has placed the awful burden upon Europe which she is bearing to-day; and the end is Armageddon.
Peace and the Garden of Mesopotamia
One writer in the New York “Independent” of December 19, Mr. Wm. T. Ellis, has an article on “If Peace Prevailed,” and among the other things, he suggests of the wonderful work that could be done in the Euphrates Valley. He says, “Germany wants Mesopotamia, but she can not colonize it with white people, because of overcrowded India and overcrowded Egypt.” “But it is perfectly clear,” he declares, “as every statesman will admit, that Germany could possess and cultivate Mesopotamia, without opposition, were it not for the threat to India contained in this colonization. The ancient bugaboo of war has laid a palsying hand upon this garden spot. Remove the menace of militarism, and the Bagdad railway system would swiftly go through to completion with the coöperation of the world; and there,” he tells us, “one could purchase almost everything that is needed,—bitumen from wells and plaster for palaces; and where now are a few decadent cities and occasional villages, a population of 12,000,000 prosperous people could be supported within five years.” But war comes in consequence of sin, and it is sin that has made the great, choice garden spots of earth what they are to-day.
First Ship Through Panama Canal
According to Congressman Fitzgerald, chairman of the House Appropriation Committee, the first ship to pass through the Panama Canal will be sent through on September 25, 1913, the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the Pacific by Balboa.
