"IF you will read the list of the 'Immortals who are not born to

precious heritage of poverty;-the soil upon which mankind produces the virtues which enable our race to reach a still higher civilization. It is because I know how sweet and happy and pure the home of poverty is, free from perplexing care, from social envies and emulations, that I sympathize with the rich man's boy and congratulate the poor man's boy.

"It is from the ranks of the poor so many strong, eminent, self-reliant men have always sprung. Remember there is no line of business in which success is not attainable. Do not be fastidious; take what the gods offer."-From College Lectures.

6-19

EVERY DAY RELIGION-DIVINE ORATOR 171

Never man so spake. John 7: 46.

Hear a word that Jesus spake

Eighteen centuries ago

Where the crimson lilies blow

Round the blue Tiberian lake:

There the bread of life He brake

Through the fields of harvest walking
With His lowly comrades talking
Of the secret thoughts that feed
Weary hearts in time of need.

-Rev. Henry J. Van Dyke.

I

'T is doubtful if Jesus ever sat at the feet of any of the famous rabbis of his day. It is certain that he never studied at the feet of the philosophers of Greece and Rome, nor of the dreamy Orient. He never travelled, except possibly barely across the confines of Palestine, a country about the size of the State of New Hampshire. How came he to emancipate himself from the sectarianism and sectionalism of his country and century? How came he to be the contemporary of all the ages? How came he to utter in the sermon on the Mount truths which socially and religiously the foremost thinkers of to-day can barely understand, and dare not fully apply to the solutions of the problems of the hour? No mere human thinker has ever approached the sermon on the Mount. But in pure spirituality of thought our Lord surpassed it in his last address to his disciples. This address bears ineffaceable marks of his supreme divinity and absolute deity. "Never man spake like this man," is the testimony not only of his contemporaries, but of all ages since.

Speak, Jehovah, for Thy servant heareth.

1 Sam. 3: 9.

Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which Thou has broken may rejoice. Amen. Ps. 51: 8.

Bring ye the whole tithe into the store-house, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now herewith, saith Jehovah of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Mal. 3: 10.

No man is born into the world whose work
Is not born with him; there is always work
And tools to work withal, for those who will,
And blessed are the horny hands of toil!
The busy world shoves angrily aside

The man who stands with arms akimbo set,
Until occasion tells him what to do;

And he who waits to have his task marked out,
Shall die and leave his errand unfilled.

-James Russell Lowell.

́F we are to receive great blessings from God, we must make great preparations. Without the presence and power of God all our efforts are unavailing. Human learning and eloquence can never take the place of the Spirit's presence and power. To receive the Holy Spirit we must make trenches in our hearts, homes, and churches. God cannot consistently give us blessings for which we are not prepared by cherishing earnest desires and making appropriate efforts. We honor God by expecting great things from him. Giving does not impoverish God; withholding does not enrich God. God never puts a premium on human laziness. God works gloriously with us. Great blessing evermore shall follow obedient preparation.

God is my king of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. Ps. 74: 12. Thou art the God that doest wonders, Thou hast made known Thy strength among the peoples. Amen. Ps. 77: 14.

6-21

PREPARING FOR BLESSING-EXAMPLE

173

For none of us liveth to himself, and none dieth to himself. Romans 14: 7.

No life can be pure in its purpose and strong in its strife,
And all life not be purer and stronger thereby.

-Owen Meredith.

No drop but serves the slowly lifting tide,
No dew, but has an errand to some flower,
No smallest star, but sheds some helpful ray.
-Unknown Author.

N living a life of sin, directly and indirectly, we wrong others as well as ourselves. No man has a right to set a bad example; no man can live for himself. Every act is far-reaching in its immediate influence and in its ultimate consequences. One wrong act may start a circle of influences which will reach to eternity as a pebble dropped into the quiet lake starts ever widening circles which reach the shore. This is a tremendous thought. It makes life real and terrible, if it is a life of sin; it makes life rich and glorious, if it be spent in the service of God. The guilt of one involves many in its consequences. If a man could sin and suffer alone, sin would still be bad enough; but since the innocent must suffer with the guilty, sin becomes unspeakably sinful and terrible. The law which has its illustration in these experiences is universal and immutable as gravitation.

Lord Jehovah! behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power and by Thine outstretched arm; there is nothing too hard for Thee, who showest loving kindness unto thousands, and recompensest every one according to His ways and according to the fruit of His doings. Amen. Jer. 32: 17, 18, 19.