The Gospel Trumpet - 34:36

              So will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been Icattered In the cloudy and dark day. -E:z:ek. 34:12.
And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.-Jer. 32:38. At evening time it shall be light.-Zech. 14:7.
Volume XXXIV.
THE PRAYER OF FAITH
BY ~L\ liY .r. Hli;LPHINGSTINE
Prn~'('l'F! of fail h, illIl!, reach tlw portnls,
Comf' from 11l'!il'ls illHt yeal'1l, desire,
Ht'llrtH 1l1:d; "ill lInt, 110 unamrwerc<1,
HrutrtCl nglow \ri1li 1lonvC'nly fired
HI'nrtH fh:;I' Jll'flJl. JlOt. mC'l'Cl words utter,
I rflar1~ lint bill1 iug, douhtiIlg, 'Weak,
H"arts that 7t'now thftt Gnil ha.th promised,
And his fae,a eXpt!ctant seck.
StHlh fU'C prayers that Teach the heavens;
fro tlwHe, nod iH ulwnys noar:
''1':1'0 thpy rnll" he A('lHls the answer,
It Whill:! tlwy're spanking" he doth hear.
Many prnY('l'R .~ecm 1cft u;nuTlswered,
For the }'nt:her knoweth hCflt;
JI'enr not. flouI, but calmly trusting,
On his hOf:\om sweetly rest.
Somo drty thou shalt know the answer;
And the pain aelny hath given
ShaH lIe 're(~ompem!(!d with glory
In this life or up ill liCawm.
•• •
IJooldng at the vast multitude without the
f.!TIHpcl, at our wit's end we exclaim, 'as ,did the
disdples, "I.lord, whence shall we buy bread
that these may eat?" vVere there no other source
than that which onr finite minds can calculate,
w(' wonld be foreocl to the conclusion that all we
ran do is to send them away to get bread for
'j hemselves as hest tl1ev can. But God is not so
limited. "Give ye th~m to eat" is the part he
h as assigned us; he ,,;ill furnish the bread. We
llced not ask God how nor what, ,but simply do
the work he bids us, and the :multitudes will be
ahundantly supplied.
The world laid the cross upon Jesus as if he
'were a criminal f,J'uilty of the grossest sins. The
same sneering, envious spirit of the world places
a cross of ridicule and scorn and even perse­cution
upon every humble follower o~ ?hrist.
. At some time in the life of every Ohn&tlan he
must feel the weight of thi~ ignominious cross.
But our Lord bore it before us) can we !tot bear
it now 1 Why need we marvel if the world hate
us' it hated him before it hated us. It hates
us,' not because we are worthy to be despised,
but because the hatred rankles in its own bosom
and must find an outlet. It· persecutes because
Anderson, Ind., U. S. A. Thursday, September 10, 1914. No. 36 .
it has the spirit of murder which, though with­out
cause, cries, "Away "\vith this mun. "
The sinner seeks refuge in the world, hut alas,
the floods of disconsolation eover even its high
mountains· rrhe only place of safety is in, the
ark. '
"Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place
and rest awhile." J esns spoke these words to
the discip1es after they had returned from their
mission of labor. They had toiled,-they needed
rest· So it is in the life of all ministers-they
need rest. rroo often we overlook this and many
times we press them with our burdens aI1d cares
(many of i,vhieh we could dispose of ourselves
alone with God), lUltil they are sometime.3 weary
and worn in the extreme. We· must not do 1;11is.
They need rest, and they must have it. Besides
physical rest, they, too, need to be with Jesus.
They need to spend time with him and, as it
were, to talk over their work together. 'Ehey need
his kind instruction concerning whom to "for­bid"
(l\1ark 9: 38-40) and ,,,hom to encourage.
They need his gentle restraint to "rejoice rather
becanse their names are written in heaven·" But
all this they can not get unless we give them
time to rest and to spend with him.
God offers to every man life (spiritual life),
peace, joy, contentment, in fact, all that he needs
or that his being longs for. But man say~, "I do
not need your offer, I will find all these things
for myself." Life, he mistakes for abundance
of possessions; peace, he. mistakes for ease; and
joy, for selfish g:t:atification. All these together
he thinks will bring l~im contentment. But alas!
Who in all the world can testify that eonten1r
ment ever came from these-that in his bosom
has ever reigned for even one moment that pure,
ealm, restful contentment which is the continual
portion of the Christian Y ,
:Man can refuse God's- offers, but there is no
substitute. Man may refuse tI1e cool, sparkling
water, but he can not quench his thirst on delica:.
cies·, water he must have or he perishes. Just
so the thirst of man's soul can not be quenched
by the follies of this world, but by the "water
of life·" "Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come
ye to' the waters." "Let him that is athirst
come. And whosoever will, let him take of the
water of life freely. "
--+--
The minist~y of the apostles was not a sub:.
stitute for, but a perpetuation of, Christ'~ own
..
ministry. "He that receiveth you," said Jesus,
"receiveth me"; moreover, "He that rujecteth
you, rejecteth me." Nor are the ministry whom
God calls' and sends in our day inferior tq these;
they have the same divine call and commission
• which the early apostles had. rrhey have also
the same work to perform that the apostles did
-to preach salvation from sin to a l.)st and
ruined world. God honors them as the ministers
of righteousness, and as such we must respect
and esteem them· The world, in many iU!ltances,
looks do\\'n upon them as weak, but not so with
God. He esteems them so· highly that he honors
even those wIlO minister to their needs, counting
it as done unto himself and they as deserving a
share 6f the ministers t rewards.
Christ to the troubled, weary soul is a refuge,
refreshment, and rest. ,The stOl"IDS of life may
beat fiercely upon him, but in Christ'11e always
has a refuge, a hiding-place, a safe retreat.
There he may fiee, and there he is safe. There
his spirit is refreshed; God feeds him there. And
there he' may rest. To the weary, troubled
soul, oh, how mnch is comprehended in that
sweet word "rest-" But were it not fOr the
storms, how seldom we would fly to our Retreat,
how seldom partake of his consolation alone,
and how little we would rest in him. Thank God
for the storms of life!
As yet OUr vision of God is beclouded. As
yet we can not pierce the mysteries of his nature.
As at Sinai, when he doscended) so today his
appearance seems to the finite mind as "a
smoke. " He· moves in the cloud, in the tllick
mist-emblems of mystery. "What I do thou
knmvest not now, but thou shalt know here­after."
"I have yet mnny things to say unto
you, hut ye can not bear tl1em no""v." "Now
we see through a glass darkly," But it shall
not always be so. Some day we shall ~ee him
face to fac:e, and then shall we know even as also
we are known. 0 what comfort to the pure in
heart, when at last he sllall see his God 1 ....
To obtain· salvation, one must first realize that
he is a sinner; then in open confession of his
sins to the Lord and with a contrite heart .he
must repent and :forsake his evil way-his sins.
Having done this, he· must believe on the Lord
J esns as his only Mediator and. Savior, trUsting
not morality, but the blood. of Jesus.
.;..-Anme Parker Strautker.