put together in the different wards, sometimes artistically arranged, and help to brighten them up all the week through. They continually enable me to start naturally with the text 'God is love,' for why else did He send the flowers but to give pleasure? We may then trust His love in this loathsome disease, and its trying separation of families and removal of the bread-winners. We may also pass on to the highest proof of love in that 'God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' The little portions of truth appended to the flowers are also greatly valued. I am sometimes astonished at the reverence shown by those who seem to be amongst the lowest of our social system, for all come from the poorest of East and North-East of London. The texts are read thoughtfully, and generally carefully preserved. The nurses are often asked to disinfect them, that they may be sent home. I always suggest that those who are writing letters should copy the text, and, if they can, write something about it. The texts are often remembered, as shown by the remark, 'That is the text I had before,' or 'the same as you had last week,' addressing a companion. In the case of those in bed the text generally gives me a subject to start from naturally, in giving a few thoughts on the all-important subject, which may be recalled when the text-card is taken again from under the pillow. I am sure our gracious Lord looks down upon the Mission with loving approval." Our readers will, doubtless, rejoice to send more flower-messengers during these summer months to Miss Ellis, 115, Sloane-street, London, S.W., who will gratefully receive them; or to the Secretary, at the Central Depôt, 110, Cannon-street, E.C. UR BIBLE CLASS. BY A. ST. G. C. NUGENT. OD meant to teach us a great deal about Himself, when He compared His Holy Spirit to oil (Ex. xxix. 7; Acts xi. 38). God always promised oil as a blessing (Deut. viii. 8; xxxiii. 24). And was not the gift of the Holy Spirit, the chief blessing which Christ promised to His Church? The produce of oil from the olive-trees in the East is said to be enormous, and that there, "the fruit of the olives is one of the first necessaries of life." It is so largely used for various purposes that every household is dependent upon it. The Holy Spirit is a necessity of our spiritual life, and of its maintenance. Do let us recognise our need of Him as "oil" in our every-day life. We need never lack, for God is willing to give "abundantly " (Tit. iii. 5, 6). In Bible lands, oil is used for food, i.e., for growth and strength, far more largely than with us. God's children are "partakers of the Holy Ghost." "We have been all made to drink into one Spirit," and it is said of John the Baptist, "he grew and waxed strong in spirit" (Luke i. 80). Oil as a great cleansing power (for it is thus used as soap in Palestine) represents the work of the Spirit, who has power to cleanse and to sanctify our hearts and lives (1 Cor. vi. 11). Again, oil was much used as a medicine, and it was counted "valuable for wounds and bruises" (Luke x. 34). Oil soothes pain, and it is said to counteract the effects of poison, and "to promote health by closing the pores of the body, to prevent their inhaling impurities." Do we not see in all this a picture of the healing, comforting Spirit, who can counteract Satan's poisonous suggestions and deeds, and who can guard us from what is unholy (Matt. xii. 28). Again, "oil animates. Oil was used to make a man's face to shine (Ps. civ. 15). The man's face who is in gloom is not in the full light of the Holy Ghost." Do we know this anointing with "the oil of gladness"? "Oil also lubricates, or softens. The wrestlers of old used to be rubbed with oil to make their limbs more supple and easy to yield, that they might run more freely, and also to prevent their enemy grasping them easily." It is God's Spirit who enables us to "yield" more quickly to God's will, and 'to run in the way of His commandments (Rom. vi. 13; viii. 1416); and we find that the more we have of His Spirit, the less is our enemy able to touch us to our hurt. Oil illuminates. It has been well said that if we would be shining lights for God among men, we must be as a wick bathed in this heavenly oil, and lit also by the Spirit (Zech. iv. 11-14; Matt. xxv. 1-13). Oil is God's sign of consecration. "Prophets, priests, and kings were of old anointed with oil. But you say, 'I am neither of these.' Then are you a poor leper? For if so, you, too, are anointed with the oil of the Holy Ghost. The diseased, ransomed leper cannot escape this blessed oil. After the blood, oil was poured on his hands and feet" (Lev. xiv. 14-18). Oil has the power of making some substances transparent, i.e., of letting light pass through them. God's Spirit has surely the power of making all hearts and lives transparent, "open to God through and through," and of turning dark hearts into channels for "the light to pass through. We all know how oil is used to make machinery work smoothly. The more we possess of this heavenly oil, the more will we be able to work without jarring one upon another, and without noise (Eph. iv. 1-3; 1 Cor. xii. 11). May we have grace to use this holy gift of oil more and more! THE CHILDREN'S CORNER. 159 THE CHILDREN'S CORNER. HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS. BY M. E. W. lady and her daughter were on their way to a poor sick boy; they had already provided a few little delicacies such as invalids appreciate, and the mother was considering what other little thing she could take with her to cheer his weary moments, when, in passing a confectioner's, she caught sight of "buns." "Those will be sure to please him," she said, and her daughter exclaimed, "I will take him some 'hundreds and thousands,'" at which her mother smiled, thinking it was a very strange idea. They each purchased that which they thought would please their sick friend, and proceeded on their way. When they arrived at the cottage they were greeted by a sorrowfullooking woman, and in the corner of the room lay the poor little boy, nearly worn out by incessant coughing and pain; he took no notice of the visitors, and when the "bun" was given him he still remained silent, so weak was the poor little sufferer. At length the "hundreds and thousands" were produced, and, to the surprise of his friends, his whole countenance brightened, he did not look the same child, so eager was he to possess those tiny sweets. "How strange that you should have brought them," said his mother, "my boy has been wishing for some all the morning, he has not looked so happy for a long time." And then they knew that it was the Lord who had told His child to buy them. Few would have thought that such a simple present would have given so much pleasure, but God knows each thought, and transplants it from one heart to another. Let us ask God to point out to us the work He has for us, and to send His Holy Spirit into our hearts to guide and teach us, and to give us grace to follow in the steps of our Saviour. And let our motto be this: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding." "Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward' (Matt. x. 42). 160 WHAT IS MODERN INFIDELITY? "WHAT IS MODERN INFIDELITY ?" HE Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol speaking at a meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society, said: "Let us now put the question, though we know very well what the answer will be beforehand. Does the blessed Book correspond to satisfy, and more than satisfy, this newer estimate that seems to be formed of it, this newer principle that concerns itself with it? As I have said, we know the answer, but let us for a while consider that it is not completely made out, and that we have to give it. We can never fairly confront modern infidelty unless we do this. "Now what is modern infidelty? Does it concern itself now with the measure or the amount of inspiration of this book? No. It did so once and in better days than the present. Most of us can remember that in the earlier periods of our lives theories of inspiration were those which were most frequently brought forward on occasions like these. A perfectly different form of attack was then directed against God's holy Word. "What is the form of attack now? Modern infidelity is totally, we might say even contemptuously, silent as to the subject of inspiration or non-inspiration. It denies completely the fact of their being any revelation from God at all. That is the position taken up, and if you would properly confront modern infidelity, you must prove this to them-and you can prove it-that there was a revelation, and just in that form which modern thought has expected that it would be. "You can show to them that in the very opening pages of this blessed Book God was pleased to reveal Himself, and as page passes after page you see the blessed light growing and spreading and becoming more bright. You pass over the history of the patriarchs and you find light more widely spread around you; then you go onward into history and day seems fully dawning; and then along the great reaches of prophecy you see the light increasing and increasing until it burns; and with the last of the prophets you see the sun on the horizon, and lo! three centuries pass, and the Sun of Righteousness is shining. 66 That, my friends, is the sort of broad answer the Bible gives to the modern thinker, to his now dominant principle of thought, which it would take many words completely to unfold and to substantiate; but this may be said, and truly said, to be the kind of answer which we are quite ready to give to those who dare deny the fact of revelation." |