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"THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
REV. EDWARD LAWRENCE HUNT.
Subject: *That They Might Have
Lifes: ™
Washington, D. C.—The Re¥v. Ed-
ward Lawrence Hunt, on Sunday
preached the following brilliant
sermon from the text: ‘I came that
they might have life, and that they
might have it more abundantly.”’—
John 10:10: .
Jesus’ object was to give men life.
His church preaches this through her
chief sacrament: “My flesh I give for
the life of the world.”
*‘Oh, the wild joys of living! * * *
The hunt of the bear’—are these:
the President’s holiday words or
Browning’s? Even that life is the
gift of God through Jesus Christ,
“without whom was not anything
made that was made.’’
Physical life is good. There is
something better. The ‘‘high man”
who ‘would not discount life, as fools
do,” who would ‘‘not live thus, but
know” is ‘‘still loftier than the world
suspects.” There is something higher
still. ‘To know” is not eternal life,
but to know God—and the gift of
God is eternal life, through Jesus
Christ. ‘This is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou
hast sent.” :
To give man that life, Jesus must
come, “I came that they might have
life.” Why could not the living
Creator give that life by His mere
word?
First, because death had passed
upon all men, for all sinned. The
God of Law, who brezihied into man’s
nostril the becntl, of life, when man
became a living soul, ordained the
law, “The soul that sinneth, it shall
die’; or, to put the same truth in
other words: The God of tf.ove
warned man that ‘‘the wages of sin
is death.” Man scorned love's
Then felt with-
in him that sin is a fatal disease.
So came Jesus to put away sin by His
death, that as sin reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through
righteousness, unto eternal life
throuzh Jesus Christ.
*‘Grace” means He died for our
sins that we, set free from sin, made
alive unto God, might live. He came,
then, to free us from that death
which means separation from the liv-
ing God; to reconcile us to God in
one only way, by death, so that here
on earth we might live with God.
And, further, He came to free us
from the fear of that death which is
the blowing out of the candle. By
risinz from the dead, and so bring-
ing life and immortality to light by
His Gosjel, He inspires the hope of
immortality. Hence we do not
Stretch lame hands of faith and grope,
And faintly trust the larger hope,
but we lay strong hold on the hope
set before us, as an anchor of the
soul, sure and steadfast, entering in-
to that within the veil.
This eternal life must be laid hold
of by man, “I came that they might,”
Man gets it by faith: ‘He
that liveth and believeth on Me shall
never die.” I. is ‘‘whosoever be-
lieveth” that ‘‘nesd not perish, but
have eternal life.”
Remember eternal life is not mere
duration. Jesus is the quality. How,
not how long, we live; and because
of quality, endurance: ‘No one is
able to snatch them out of My
Father's hand.” To know God, to
share His life, .to walk in love with
Him until God is tired of you, means
to live with Him forever.
Second, He came because man
must have a teacher and an example
of the best life. “If when we were
enemies we were reconciled to God
by the death of His Son, much more,
being reconciled, we shall be saved
by His life.”
Jesus’ life is the hope of the race.
One man has lived in the fullest
healthy exercise of all his powers—
no man need despair. The ideal has
been realized. He has also given
us the secret of success. It is willing
surrender to God. It is to learn
God’s purposes and with loving
sympathy work them out with Him.
This involves first and always the
destruction of selfishness. it means
we must follow Christ. And “If any
man will come atter Me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross. For
he that will gain his life shall lose it:
but he that will lose his life for My
sake shall find it.”
Ezcept a corn ‘of wheat shall fail
into the ground and die, it abideth
by itself alone. Dut if it die it shall
live abundantly. What a pitiable
time the mean, selfish man must have
to abide alone here on earth with
the grasping fellow even he himself
despises. And if at last, in disgust
at himself, he should follow the ex-
ample of a Judas (whose association
with Jesus gave him at least enough
conception of a true manhood to be
‘enough disgusted with himself to kill
himself) —then? Then he must keep
on ‘‘abiding by himself alone,” for-
ever with a murderer, dlone.
Judas—Jesus! Grasping—giving!
Which will you follow?
If you would live you must first
wish for it. One object of Jesus’
life was to awaken your desire for
the fullest life. Contrast, then, your
life with His, with the life of the
best character you know, with the
man you hoped in your youth's beset
dreams you might some day be.
Note the appalling railroad wreck
of the past week. Read its allegory.
See two pictures—the freight car
loaded with blessing; two cars with
dynamite with power for good; the
passenger train with its freight of
souls. What thrill of the music in-
dustry in the song of the whizzing
wheels and the whishshsh of the
greeting as the two iron steeds of
strength and speed, fed with black
bread from the heart of the earth,
rush past, cach on its own track!
Few sights are beautiful. z
But look again. Some freight cars
leave their track, fall across the
other's track—and woe!-—the sicken-
ing, sightless horror of the wreck;
the groans of the dying, the ghastly
dead unknown.
It’s the lesson of our life, with its
trains of body and spirit—on their
God-laid tracks fraught with Dbless-
ing. Earth has no picture - more
beautiful than man, all his powers
in fullest play in harmony, soul help-
ing flesh as flesh helps soul. But
look again.
throw both
tracks.
Hell has no picture more hideous.
Oh, man, wrecked by selfishness,
Jesus came to redeem you and set
you again on the right tracks; to
throw open the tracks of new life
to you. Watch His life on earth of
transcendent glory and follow Him.
The trains are running on the Penn-
sylvania system to-day and travel is
even safer.
Third.—Jesus came, because only
by Himself becoming the vine of
humanity could God’s life flow into
man’s in a way to sustain and de-
velop a free manhood. Only by this
infusion of Christ's life can weak
man follow Him and grow like Him.
“I am the vine, ye are the branches.”
“Except ye eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink His blood ye have
no life in you.” “I am the living
bread, the bread of God which
cometh down from Heaven and
giveth life unto the world.”
A shallow infidel with flippant wit
called this the ‘‘cannibalism of the
church.” This is not a church ques-
tion. It is as practical as the call
of the doctor on which your life
depends. It is more vital. Jesus
cares little about our formal worship.
He cares much about our daily con-
duct. He cares most about our real
motives, our inmost life. The most
superficial thought must convince
any man that we can have no life
save from the God in whom we live
and move and have our being; and,
furthermore, that we must receive
His life through the channels of His
own appointing. His channel for us
is the Son of Man. “If ye abide in
Me and My words abide in you, ye
shall ask what ye will of life and it
shall be yours. If any man live not
in Me, he will be a withered branch
and be burned. If you live in Me,
God will break forth into glory of
abundant fruit in your life. Your
joy will be full, your peace undis-
turbed, a puzzle to men in the world
of trouble, your strength as the
strength of God.”
Richard Mansfield’s most thrilling
sentence is, when as the prince, de-
prived of a natural childhood and
vouth, with the vehement passion
of a mighty stream which suddenly
bursts the dam which had long re-
strained its natural flow, he says to
his fellow students: “We are young,
and we're going to live.”” This hun-
ger and thrust for life, abundant life,
Jesus approves. Even to those who,
in their eager infatuation for life,
choose ‘‘the way that seemeth right
unto a man, but whose end is death,”
Jesus speaks: ‘1 came that you
might have life. He that cometh
to Me shall never hunger, and he
that believeth in Me shall never
thirst.” Come to Jesus, and your
youth will have all your eyes and
heart can crave.
Oh, man about to turn away un-
convinced, take a few Sabbath hours
to see the life He lived, and that vou
may live with Him—to imagine the
face and bear the accents of the
Prince of Life when He said to His
contemporaries in Palestine as He
says to His contemporaries in Amer-
ica to-day: ‘‘You will not come unto
Me that you might have life.”
from their God-laid
Faithful Stewardship.
One of the plainest duties of stew-
ardship is that we bring conscience
and deliberate consideration to bear
upon our administration of this
world’s goods. We are not faithful
stewards if we spend according to
our own whim and fancy, and let
‘“‘charity’’ depend, as it so often does,
on little better than accident or habit.
We are stewards in regard to what
we spend on ourselves and our fami-
lies, as well as in what we spend for
purposes beyond ourselves; our per-
sonal and domestic expenditure, our
savings and our gifts, and the propor-
tion between them should all equally
pass under the inspection of delib-
erate conscience. If that were once
thoroughly understood and practised
by us, we should be very different
people, and there would be very dif-
ferent results from many an appeal
that is made to us. Stewardship
means deliberation, and intelligent
consideration, and conscientious dis-
posal and administration as oi a
fund that is not mine, but is put into
my band.—The Rev. Alexander Mc-
Laren.
The Livery of Christ.
If you wear the livery of Christ
you will find Him so meek and lowly
of heart that you will find rest unto
your souls. He is the most mag-
naminous of captains. There never
was His like among the choicest of
princes. He is always to be found in
the thickest part of the battle. V/hen
the wind blows cold He always takes
the bleak side of the hill. The heav-
iest end of the Cross lies over His
shoulders. If He bids us carry a bur-
den, He carries it also.
His service is life, peace, joy. Oh,
that you would enter on it at once.
God help you to enlist under the ban-
ner of Jesus Christ.—Last words of
the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon.
What Prayer Gives.
Prayer gives serenity, calmness,
peace, trust, after the anxieties of
expectancy, the exultations of success,
the agonies of sorrow and bereave-
ment. What is prayer, that it will
make us thus tranquil ard joyous,
thus calm and trustful? What is
prayer, that it purifies and exalts us,
helps us to live worthily and hope-
lb fully? It is an irrepressible sense of
want seeking supplies from the the
Infinite Fulness. It is aspiration climb-
ing along the craggy pathways to the
Fountain of all joys and fruitions—
George Simmons.
The Spirit-Filled Life.
The Spirit-filled life is empty of
self. When Christ comes in self goes
out. The two are incompatible.
When Jesus begins to reign He de-
thrones selfishness and pride. If
there is to be a new life, there must
The lusts of the flesh |’
be an utter surrender of the old will, !
with all its ways. The presence of
God in a person’s heart is proved by
a character of unselfishness and ser-
vice. It is impossible for Christ to
dwell in a selfish heart, for to do so
would be to share an idol’s throne.—
Ram’s Horn.
|
Best Girl’s Boquet.
This is the way a Colorado bache-
lor lays a boquet at the feet of his
best girl: “There is gladness in her
gladness when she’s glad, there is
sadness in her sadness when she’s
sad. But the gladness of her glad-
ness nor the sadness of her sadness
is nothing to her madness when she’s
mad.”’—Harper’s Weekly.
Study of Dress.
The study of dress in bygone ages
is something more than a gratifica-
tion of casual curiosity. It grants to
costume a share in the making of a
nation. The Warwick Pageant,
which is transforming a sleepy little
Midland country town into a kaleido-
scopic series of living pictures, re-
calls the Sherborne Pageant, which
Mr. Calthrop tells us was his oppor-
tunity ‘‘of seeing a mass of people,
under proper open-air conditions,
dressed in the peasant costume of
Early England.” Such spectacles un-
doubtedly revive interest in the his-
tory of dress.—London Globe.
Business Girl as Wife.
She understands the ‘value of
money, having had to work for it
herself.
She has learned in her business ca-
reer the necessity of system in all
work.
She has probably learned to dress
neatly and carefully, without extrav-
agance.
She knows by experience the work-
ers’ need of a quiet, restful home at
the day’s end.
She knows the unfairness of load-
ing the business person down with
household errands.
She should make the best sort, be-
cause she knows the worries that be-
set a man in business.
Our Women vs. Parisiennes.
Expressing himself as enchanted
in the main with the young women
from these shores, a lecturer in Ber-
lin adds: “The American is a French-
woman cooled on ice. The French-
woman has temperament and shows
it. The American woman has tem-
perament and hides it.” He dwells
thus on another difference: ‘‘The
American is an artist in passing by.
Her bearing is magnificent; she sees
just what she wishes to see. Many
persons are angry because she does
not see them. The American has not
the same longing for attention and
admiration as her French sister, who
sees everything as she passes and
has a smile for every one and every-
thing.”’—New York Press.
Changed Gown to Suit Jewels.
One fashionable dressmaker in
London says that a bride-to-be had
given an order for a going-away gown
to match superb fire opals set in sil-
ver. But her fiance gave her a beau-
tiful set of amethysts—necklace,
brooch, bracelets and earrings. “She
came to me in great excitement a
few days before the wedding,”
snapped the modiste, “and said she
couldn’t possibly wear the going-
away dress we had almost finished.
What would go with a ‘blaze of color’
would not go with amethysts at all,
she said, and she was determined to
wear the purple stones when she
started on her honeymoon. Of
course, we had to get to work. We
made a mauve outfit to match her
jewels in just two days.”’—New York
Press.
A Plea For Girls.
There is nothing better for a girl,
sometimes, than a little hearty
praise when about her home duties.
Many good people whom we know
act in a directly opposite manner and
think nothing better than fault find-
ing and blame. We find sore bur-
dens enough, bitterness and pain and
hard work enough in our lives to de-
press us and keep us humbie. A
hearty word of commendation or even
a look of appreciation will brighten
the heart and send a girl ahead with
new hope and energy, and if given
at the right moment will do her no
harm, says Woman's Life. We know
of girls who are really heart starved
for a little praise and appreciation of
the many little deeds they accomplish
from day to day, and become way-
ward and depressed for the lack of
appreciation from their parents, who
really think they are using their chil-
dren in a kindly manner.
Social Philosophy.
As soon as he gets grown most
every mother begins to worry about
her son for fear that he will get
bald-headed before his time.
One reason that men make so
much fun of rouges, complexion lo-
tions, ete., is that they don’t know
how to use them artistically.
If you must flirt. girls, for Heav-
en’s sake flirt with something that
you won’t be ashamed of if it should
happen ‘to take’ seriously.
Have you noticed that the women
who are slighted when invitations
to affairs are sent out never go to
the Bible for consolation?
Papa is always willing to take
little Willie to the circus, but he
raises a long and a loud howl if
he is asked to take little Annie to
Sunday-school.
Speaking of a natural-born gen-
jus, how about the widow who can
make her half-grown children feel
perfectly at honfe in che presence
.of a prospective stepfather?
The Back Unbeautiful.
“The first thing I say to a woman,”
cays an authority on physical culture
and its attendant ethics, “when she
comes to me for advice and sugges-
tion, is ‘turn your back to me.” It
is remarkable how few women pre-
sent’ a good looking back, straight
and shapely, with shoulder tips in
line, elbows not poking, hips even,
and no protuberant shoulder blades.
“In one of her stories Mrs. Cruger
makes a clever, fashionable woman,
who is displaying a Worth gown to
some friends, ask anxiously: ‘Is the
back right?’ and when told that it is
the perfection of elegant fit in the
back, say, with relief: ‘Then I shall
keep it.’
“One has so many resources to
conceal an unfitting iront; one’s
arms and hands, a how of ribbon and
the like, but the back is hopeless,
and must be above reproach, or
words of similar effect. Mrs. Cruger
is right, and she might have gone
further. The back is not only the
crucial test of a woman’s gown, it
also is of her general appearance. A
good back is rare. Watch women on
the street and you will be surprised
to see how few will own one.” :
Miss Scherer’s Start.
In most cases the San Franciscans
have made their new start in life
with courage and hope. A particu-
larly interesting instance of rising to
the demands of the occasion was that
of Miss Mabel Sherer, a bright and
good looking young stenographer,
whose place of employment and her
home were both destroyed by quake
and fire. Miss Scherer saved nothing
but a trunk, with which she and her
crippled father managed to get to a
park, where they were given shelter
in a tent. Further aid Miss Scherer
declined to accept, as she was too
proud spirited to take her stand in
the bread line. The trunk contained
$100 in gold—her savings—and with
this she bought a wagon and neces-
sary stock, and at once setup a porta-
ble coffee and waffle kitchen. This
she managed with such success that
soon she was doing a flourishing
trade. In fact, her new business has
proved so much more profitable than
her old calling that she will probably
not return to the latter. It is not a
wild prediction that one possessed of
so much energy and business talent
will some day be the prosperous head
of some big establishment.—Leslie’s
Weekly.
Marriages Between Rich and Poor.
Marriages are constantly occurring
in the United States between young
men of great wealth and young wo-
‘men engaged in earning their own
living; but, despite the familiarity
of the phenomenon, no such marriage
ever fails to cause apparently aston-
ished comment and, above all, copi-
ous newspaper gossip. In Europe,
where those who have inherited
wealth are taught and really believe
that they are superior clay to the
class of inherited poverty, and the
latter assent to the teaching, such
alliances may well cause a slight
shock, diluted perhaps with some
pleasure at the condescension of the
man. In our country, however,
where one family can hardly have the
pas of another by a single century,
astonishment is ridiculous and out
of place. Few of our richest men are
idle, and their work differs only in
magnitude from that of the poor.
If we grant that a century of idle-
ness can enervate a family, a marri-
age into the ‘working classes’ can
only be beneficial. Stock must be
enriched from time to time from
near the soil. Advocates of highly
restricted interbreeding are fond of
pointing to the race-horse as a su-
perior product of their principles. A
race-horse, however, is a poor creat-
ure from the point of view of useful-
ness; he is a beautiful specialized
bundle of nerves and requires more
coddling than a healthy human baby.
Interbreeding does not work out
well in the human species; the
haughty Austrian aristocracy, which
considers the nobility of France and
England as upstarts, and ostracises
any member who marries into a fam-
ily much younger than the Caesars,
is not as a class strong and healthy.
It is from Austria in great measure
that our circuses secure their giants
and midgets, a fair proportion of
whom are illegitimate, and many
other of the various ‘‘freaks,” ob-
jects of interest, certainly, but hard-
ly of pride. Intellectually, we do not
think that the statesmen of Austria,
Spain and Russia are the equals of
those of France and the United
States, while the English commoners
have given a remarkable account of
themselves. .. We should be disposed
to applaud the good sense of any
rich young American who married a
beautiful girl of poor but decent an-
tecedents, in spite of the fact that
such marriagas depend upon unreas-
oning sexual attraction, like the
great majority -of marriages. As it
is, we can only note the care Nature
takes of the race, he
she may be of the ind
York Medical Journal.
The King of Spain h
supply of Irish tweeds frei
robe.
rever heedless
al.—New
SIBBTH SCHOOL LESS
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM
MENTS FOR SEPTEMBEL 9.
Subject: Jesus Enters Jerusalem in
Triumph, Matt. xxi., 1-17—Gold-
en Text, Matt. xxi., 9—Memory
Verses, 9-11.
I. Preparations for the triumphal
entry (vs. 1-7). 1. ‘Drew nigh”
This was Sunday, commonly called
Palm Sunday. Jesus and His disci-
ples left Bethany and journeyed to-
ward Jerusalem. ‘‘Bethphage.”” The
location of this town is not definitely
known; it was between Bethany and
Jerusalem. “Sent—two disciples.”
Supposed to have been Peter and
John. After they left Bethany Jesus
sent these disciples on ahead.
2. “The village.” Bethphage.
“Ye shall find.” Here we have a
wonderful instance of Christ's pre-
science in very minute matters.
“Loose them.”” The animals were
tied; and so men’s possessions are
“tied” by pleasure, or greed, or gain,
or habit, or the gordian knot of sel-
fishness.
a
3. “Straightway He will send
them.” Our Lord did not beg, but
borrowed the colt, therefore this
should be understood as the promise
of returning him.
2. “Might be fulfilled.” Was the
chief motive of Jesus merely to ful-
fil a prophecy, and did He turn out
of the way for that purpose? Rath-
er, let us see that this was the right
thing to do at this time. It was
necessary in order to fulfil His mis-
sion for Him to offer Himself, on
this last opportunity, to the Jews as
their- Messiah King, so that they
might accept Him and be saved. “By
the prophet.” Zech. 9:9. 5. ‘The
daughter of Sion.” The church.
“Behold.” Give attention and look
with astonishment and wonder. “Thy
King cometh.” Jesus Christ is ap-
pointed King over the church (Psa.
2:6), and is accepted by the church.
6. “Did as Jesus commanded.”
What a blessing it would he if every
one did as Jesus commanded them,
without stopping to question, or sug-
gest a different course. 7. “Their
clothes.” They spread their loose
outer garments on the colt and sat
Jesus thereon, thus acknowledging
Him to be their king.
II. The triumphal procession (vs.
8-11). 8. “A very great multi-
tulle.” Vast crowds were present at
the Passover. In the time of Nero a
census was taken and it was ascer-
tained that there were 2,700,000
Jews present at this feast. ‘“Gar-
ments in the way.” An Oriental
mark of honor at the reception of
kings on their entrance into cities.
‘Branches from the trees.” This
was a demonstration of their joy.
Carrying palm and other branches
was emblematical of success and vie-
tory.
9. “Hosanna.” Hosanna is a ren-
dering into Greek letters of the He-
brew words, ‘‘Save, we pray’ (Psa.
118:25). 1t is like a shout of ‘'Sal-
vation! Salvation!” It is used as an
expression of praise like ‘‘Hallelu-
jah!” The disciples rejoiced and
praised God with a loud voice (Luke
19:37, 38), and the Pharisees with
unconcealed disgust asked Him to re-
buke them. But Jesus replied, If
these should hold their peace the
stones would immediately cry out.
Jesus here grants His people a li-
cense to rejoice and shout His
praises. “The Son of David.” A
common expression for the Messiah.
“In the highest.” In the highest de-
gree; in the highest strains; in the
highest heavens.
10. “Was moved.” “Was stirred.”
BR. V. The word in the original is
forcible, ‘‘convulsed’ or ‘‘stirred’” as
by an earthquake, or by a violent
wind. The same Greek word is used
by Matthew (8:24) to express the
effect of a violent tempest upon the
waters of the Sea of Galilee. The
multitude was greatly excited. “Who
is this?” Well may we, as wel! as
thoy, ask this question. 11. ‘This
is Jesus.” And thus He is the Sa-
viour, the deliverer (Matt. 1:21).
“The prophet of Nazareth.”” That
prophet referred to by Moses (Deut.
18:18).
JII. Cleansing the temple (vs. 12,
13). -12. ‘Into the temple.’”” This
was the next day, Monday. See
Mark 11:11-15. Jesus and His dis-
ciples went back to Bethany on Sun-
day night. This was the second
cleansing of the temple: one of His
first public acts, three years before
this, was to purge His Father's house
(John 2:13-17). ‘Cast out,” In
the first instance He used a ‘‘scourge
of small cords,” now His word is suf-
ficient.
13. “lt is written.’ In Isa. 56;
7: Jer. 7:11. "A den of thieves”
The business was right enough in it-
relf, but they had perverted the use
of the Lord's house, and were rob-
bing the people by charging extor-
tionate prices. They were destroy-
ing the very spirit of true worship.
IV. Christ's popularity (vs. 14-
17). 14. ‘“f{e healed them.” In
the presence of all the people He per-
formed most wonderful cures. He
now shows the proper use of the
temple. 15. “Were sore displeased.”
The leaders saw that-they were un-
able to check His growing popularity.
Even the children were taking up
the strain and were singing His
praises.
16. ‘“Hearest Thou what these
say?’ They were anxious to have
Christ rebuke them, but, instead,
Jesus quotes from Psa. 8:2 to show
that even this was in harmony with
the Scriptures. 17. “To Bethany.”
They again return to Bethany ta
lodge.
First Result of Self-Improvement.
Every real and searching effort at
self-improvement is of itself a lesson
of profound humility. For we can-
not move a step without learning and
feeling the waywardness, the weak-
ness, the vacillation of our movements
or without desiring to be set upon
the Rock that is higher than ocur-
selves.—W. E. Gladstone.
The Greatest.
He that is least in the Kingdom or
Heaven is g .ater than he that i:
greatest outside.—Joseph Parker,
EPWORTH LEREUE LESSONS
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9.
The Power and Blessedness of United
Prayer— Matt. 18. 19.
Holy fellowship and divine acknow-
ledgment. Mal. 3. 16-18.
Mutualssnupplication and confession.
James 5. 16.
A specific object for united prayer.
Acts 12. 12.
A pentecostal prayer meeting. Acts
1. 13, 14.
Exhortations to united prayer. Eph.
6. 18, 19.
He hears the united prayer of
exiles. ‘Isa. 19. 20.
The Topic. ‘Men ought always to
pray and not to faint’”’—to grow
weary and cease. Men are so needy,
and God is so rich and so willing.
The materialists, who are forever
crying as they investigate the uni-
verse, “Here’s Law: where's God?”
and talking about the immutability of
Law, and so forth, will never succeed
in convincing more than a very few
that there is no efficacy in prayer.
And for the following reasons:
The belief in it is ingrained—a part
of the very fabric of human nature.
The Supreme Book teaches prayer
by precepl, and encourages it by ex-
amples of answered petitions.
The experience of the church, in all
the ages of its history, teaches that
prayer has a vital energy and ability
to reach God and to bring desired
blessings.
Our topic is concerned more spe-
cifically with united prayer, and to
this we now.come in our Daily Read-
ings. Said Jesus, “If two of you shall
agree on earth as touching anything
they shall ask in my name, it shall
be done for them of my Father.”
Rev. John Livingstone, a Scotch
preacher, saw five hundred persons
converted in one day. Mighty .ser-
mon? Doubtless, but there have been
nds as eloquent and convine-
, and not one was converted as a
t. What then? Why, many
] tians had devoted the whole of
the preceding night to prayer for this
very object.
rn another thing from our
; namely, that a condition of
hlessedness and power in united
praver is the confession of our faults.
James says, ‘Confess one to another
and pray for each other.” Let it be
real confession. Finally, let us not
forget to pray, as chapters and
churches, for those whom God has
called to the service of the sanctuary;
the ministers of the gospel. . They
will] be tempted. O, so sorely! to
check utterance, to prophesy smooth
things, to avoid occasions of offense
and opposition.
Never restrain an impluse to pray.
Who can tell with what treasure he
's laden when the Holy Spirit in this
way knocks at cur heart’s door
GHRSTIN ENDEHORNOTES
SEPTEMBER NINTH.
The Triumphs cf Christianity. Jchn
12: 32; {1 Cor. 15: 20-28.
The goal of Christianity is
men’; therefore the goal of. lez
Christian must be, “all men whom I
can reach.”
The triumphs of Alexander, Ceasar,
Napoleon, meant the death of" thou-
sands; Christ’s triumph ‘means. lifa,
life abundant, life eternal.
The triumph of Christianity is the
supremacy of law—of the highest
law. .
The majesty of Christianity is the
majesty of humility, and its climax is
to be in an act of divine humility.
Suggestions.
Christiamity is an organization, and
triumphs as an organization; but the
glorius results consists of the tri-
umphs of individuals—of you and me.
The triumphs of Christianity must
be such as Christ would call triumphs
—victories of humility over pride, of
love over selfishness, of purity over
sin.
How Christ must long for us to
make our longings the same as His!
It is no accident that the Christian
countries are the lands of civiliza-
tion and the ruling nations of the
world.
Illustrations.
In the “triumph’’ of a Roman con-
queror throngs of the captives he
had made were led in chains. In
Christ's triumph the captives He has
released march in happy freedom.
One of the best illustrations of the
growth of Christianity is Ezekiel's
river, first covering only the feet,
now grewn a river to swim in, soon
to cover the earth “as the waters
cover the sea.”
Christ's illustration is of a mus-
tard seed, the tiniest of objects, now
become a tree. :
The water moves back and forth in
an ellipse, but the wave moves on;
so Christianity progresses in spite of
the slowness of Christians.
We heard a young man remark la3c
week that, “The world owes me a liv-
ing.” It is hoped for that young man’s
good that he'll get the nction out
of his head. It’s a mistake, a grave
mistake, asserts the Florida Agricul-
turist. He never entertained a mors
foolish idea nor one which will bring
him a smaller measure of respect. The
world owes the young man nothing;
but instead he owes the world and
society an active, noble manhood, a
"steady, honest energy which will en
able him to associate with decent men
and wcmen in a true manliness of
character that will make his friend
ship v ble and his presence and
conipar i ired. The truly in-
{ is young man
’s happi-
which
iCe
comes Lh
thought
The number of Chinese students in
Fokyo-—38.000—exceeds the number of
Japanese students there.
Cr