HINTS AND helps.

CONDUCTED BY D. L. MOODY.

A lazy man's prayers are not very apt to be heard, for he doesn't undertake to help to answer them as far as he is able. As Spurgeon used to say, "Though God steers the ship, we must pull the ropes."

The requests we make to God are not unheard because we do not receive the answer when we expect them. "If the ships of prayer do not come home speedily," says a writer, "it is because they are more heavily freighted with blessing."

An excellent analysis of the familiar text, Matthew xviii. 20, has recently come to my notice. Perhaps this text is the most oft quoted reference ever given in the average prayer meeting, but few of us have ever realized all that this analysis enfolds as being necessary to the best meeting.

A man who is truly filled with God's Spirit will be an easy person to live with and work with. These "touchy," jealous people who are ever being slighted and whose dignity is ever being injured, are too much interested in their own glory and not greatly absorbed in Christ's. Let a piece of iron become heated, and if you then touch it you will only feel the heat and not the iron: so when a man is thoroughly a holy man you become conscious of the indwelling Power before you discover any selfish jealousy or pride.

THE EJACULATORY PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE.

A Father's Prayer for a Son: "O that Ishmael might live before thee!" Gen. xvii. 18. Sampson's Prayer: "Oh Lord God, remember me. Judg. xvi. 28.

Moses' Prayer: "I beseech thee, show me thy glory." Ex. xxxiii. 18.

Jabez's Prayer: "Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed." I Chron. iv. 10.

Hezekiah's Prayer: "Lord I am oppressed, undertake for me." Isa. xxxviii. 14.

Christ's Prayer: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke xxiii. 34 The Thief's Prayer: "Lord, remember me." Luke xxiii. 42.

The world is ever looking for strong men, men who are conscious of their powers; but what the church needs are men who, like the apostle Paul, realize their weakness and can say, "when I am weak I am strong." Charles Kingsley has well said: "Our true knowledge is to know our own ignorance. Our true strength is to know our own weakness. Our true dignity is to confess that we have no dignity and are nobody and nothing in ourselves, and to cast ourselves down before the dignity of God, under the shadow of whose wings and in the smile of whose countenance alone is any created being safe. Let us cling to our Father in heaven as a child walking in the night clings to his father's hand."

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Ephesians ii. 8. Grace is the divine side, and faith the human side of salvation. Grace reaches down from heaven and lays hold of faith reaching up from earth.

The holier a man becomes, the sweeter sacrifice becomes for the sake of Christ. Samuel Rutherford said of the cross he was called to bear in service for Christ, "it is the sweetest burden that ever I bore; it is such a burden as wings are to a bird, or as sails to a ship, to carry me forward to my desired haven. Those who by faith see the invisible God and the fair city, make no account of present losses and crosses."

The Christian life has experiences that can not be measured by any of the world's measures. Salvation itself is a matter of revelation and not investigation and, as Bishop Bossuet says, "the heart has reasons that reason does not understand."

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EDITORIAL NOTES.

In response to an editorial notice in our February issue, to receive and forward contributions from our readers for any Christian work in which they are interested, we have received a number of replies and open our receipt column with this number. We trust that this offer may be taken up by many of our subscribers and may become a convenient method for them to donate in small sums to objects which enlist their sympathy. All expenses of exchange and postage will be borne by the RECORD OF CHRISTIAN WORK, So that the amount entrusted to us will be devoted entirely to the object for which it is given.

The interest which has been expressed by many of our readers in the Northfield Conventions has induced us to place a large order with the publishers of the Northfield Echoes for the coming season in order to secure a special price to our subscribers. The Echoes is an illustrated magazine, published in four numbers, giving full verbatim reports of the principal addresses at the Northfield meetings. It had been our purpose to devote considerable space to reports of these meetings, but as it will be impossible to give anything but short extracts from the addresses, without omitting other important departments, we have felt that we could best serve our subscribers by securing these reports in full at a reduced price. The regular subscription rate for the Echoes is one dollar a year; but in view of the special price at which we secured the order we are enabled to offer our readers Vol. V (1898) of Northfield Echoes at seventy-five cents, postpaid to any

The arrangement between the editor of the RECORD OF CHRISTIAN WORK and the publishers of Northfield Echoes has been with the express understanding that this offer should be made exclusively to readers of this magazine and we would direct attention to the blank form for ordering the Echoes, (among our advertisements) which must be filled out and accompany the order in every case.

"I have been more and more convinced," says a well-known evangelist, "that the best adapted persons for a special work in a church are to be found on the spot." This we believe to be the consensus of opinion of many of our leading religious teachers of today. In many a church it may be said that there is always a revival in progress and every communion sees new members accepted upon confession of faith. There is, we believe, a misconception on the part of many of the true work of the evangelist, whose work is not less to preach to the unconverted directly, than to seek to arouse the church to the privileges and opportunities at hand. Very often a church is in no condition to carry on a revival and far less able to care for those who may have been converted during a series of special meetings. A church that is spiritually dormant and a ministry that draws chiefly from the daily press for sermon material, needs to be awakened to some of its responsibilities as much as the world needs the gospel. The evangelist is then a messenger to the church in much the same sense as the prophets of old were messengers to the chosen people of God. Whereever he is able to awaken the Christian church to greater activity and individual members to thorough consecration, his work is not less efficient in furthering the Kingdom of God than when his labors are devoted to those who are without the church and its influence.

The strong bonds of Christian sympathy which exist between the United States and Great Britain are more potent than diplomacy and statesmanship in the preservation of peaceful relations between the two nations. Every year the Christians in these two countries are being more closely drawn together by bonds of mutual regard and we believe that Mr. Meyer, in his last address at Washington,

expressed the sentiments of scores of thousands on both sides of the Atlantic. Speaking of the kindness he had received during his visit in this country he said: "I shall go away from this country feeling that the cords of amity and concord and love between these two great nations are perpetually strengthened by the interchange of this Christian ministry. When you come over to our side we welcome you in our churches; and as you welcome Englishmen from the other side in your churches, the shuttle goes to and fro and weaves an indissoluble bond of national amity and friendship."

**

The requests for free copies of the RECORD OF CHRISTIAN WORK, to be sent to missionaries and other Christian workers, as offered in an editorial in our February number, have already exceeded one hundred, the number which the publishers offered to contribute. In many instances friends have written in behalf of foreign missionaries in Africa, India and China and expressed their belief that the magazine would be greatly appreciated by those in far distant lands. Many others have written in behalf of home missionaries on the frontier or in Alaska. One gentleman writes of a case where a minister, in a certain town, has a family of ten to support on a salary of five hundred dollars and can not spare any money for religious literature. Another reader sends us the name of a lady missionary among the poor whites in the south, who receives no salary, but devotes literally her all to work among these people. These are only two requests taken from scores of similar ones from all over the country.

In sending us these names many of our friends have expressed their appreciation of various departments in the paper and have assured us of the blessing they have received in reading many of the articles. This has led us to believe that there are among our readers those who would be willing and glad to cooperate in still further extending this free list to ministers and missionaries. The publishers have consented hereafter to send copies of the RECORD OF CHRISTIAN WORK to such workers as we have described, at the actual cost of the magazine, and in our next issue we shall open a subscription list to such a work. Any sums, however small, will be most acceptable, and

we trust that many of our readers will give us their support in extending the scope of the magazine to those who cannot afford to subscribe, but would greatly appreciate the articles and helps it affords them in their work.

An article entitled "The Decay of the Sunday school," by Edward Bok, has appeared in the March Ladies' Home Journal, which may be profitably read by any who are interested in Sunday school work. We do not agree with many of Mr. Bok's criticisms, which in our judgment are far too severe and sweeping in their charges, and after "a careful study of over two hundred Sunday schools" we are surprised to learn that in his estimation "the average Sunday school of today is a rebuke to intelligence and a discredit to the church." One of the most apparent weaknesses in these Sunday schools, that Mr. Bok has studied, has been in the superintendents themselves. As a class they have not possessed any "force" and have been themselves devoid of sufficiently strong personality to make attractive to the children. In too many instances they have been failures in every work they have undertaken; but in spite of all this their respective churches have appointed them to this most important office. Many of these criticisms are undoubtedly deserved in some Sunday schools, but we believe the same charges could in every instance be brought against the churches with which the respective Sunday schools are connected. The faults that are so apparent in the special department of the church, in most cases, emanate from the church itself, so that the old adage may be modified to truthfully say "like church, like Sunday school." If the church is dead and devoid of spiritual power what else may be expected but a listless and perfunctory Sunday school; and as regards the average Sunday school superintendent, we believe that he will compare favorably with any other church officer in intelligence, ability and attractiveIn discussing the subject of teachers for the younger members of the Sunday school, Mr. Bok pays a high tribute to the labors of Christian women, which we heartily agree with. "The right, sympathetic, warm-hearted woman in a Sunday school class," he says, "can do more in one afternoon with a benchful of children than a man can hope to do in a month." In this statement Mr. Bok is supported by all the most experienced Sunday school workers in the country, and we trust that his words may result in influencing many a young woman to devote her energies to the work for which she is specially adapted by her natural endowments and womanly sensibilities. On the whole the article is suggestive and is calculated to awaken a deeper appreciation of the possibilities of this most important department of the church.

ness.

Friday, April 1st.

Isaiah xlvii. 1 to 7.

Verse 1. Babylon, at the time of this vision the seat of world power, ever at enmity with the kingdom of God, is here personified as "daughter of the Chaldeans," the counterpart of the "virgin daughter of Zion" (ch. xxxvii. 22). In ch. xlvi. we have the downfall of the idols; in this chapter, the downfall of the city. The dynasty of Nebuchadnezzar was to end with Beltshazzar; "no throne" for a Chaldean, any more.

Verses 2 and 3. All here described had been inflicted by Babylon upon Jerusalem. Now the Queen of Babylon was to become a female slave grinding at the mill, and subjected to brutal indignities.

Verse 4. This verse is introduced as an interlude of praise as Isaiah recognizes the one who is speaking, and who will surely accomplish all that He has promised for His redeemed people. It is as if some wise politician had heard Isaiah speaking these words of doom about proud Babylon, and had broken in with unbelieving utterance concerning the greatness and strength of the proud city, and the utter impossibility of its overthrow. The only reply the prophet makes is "Our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel." Let us give the same reply to any suggestion made to us, that any promise of God can ever be broken, or any purpose of God be defeated

Verse 5. When the sun arises, the stars disappear. So when God exalts Jerusalem, her enemies slink away in silent shame, and their brief day of power and glory is forever gone.

Verses 6 and 7. Where God entrusts power, He calls to accountability. He would permit Babylon to chastise Israel in the way of discipline, but not to oppress them in cruelty,or destroy them in wrath. A parent may allow, even direct, a servant to punish a child for disobedience; but if the servant gets into a rage and uses his delegated power unmercifully, the parent's displeasure and wrath is quickly turned away from the child, and visited upon the servant. This was God's feeling toward Babylon. In addition to their cruelty to Israel, there was the sin of insufferable pride, defying God, and demanding worship from His creatures.

From Rev. G. Campbell Morgan:

That question of Isaiah, "Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" has no reference

to hell, but is rather the prophet's description of heaven; for he gives an answer which indicates that the favored ones are men of pure heart and clean hands, who have not lifted up their souls to vanity If thou hast been to the cross of Christ for cleansing, so that thy sin is put away by His sacrifice; and if, by grace, thy nature is pure-then thou art the man that dwellest in the everlasting burning of an infinite, unquenchable, divine love. But if in thee is an impure thing; if down in thy life is some wedge of gold which tells the story of lust for that which is forbidden of God-then the fire must be to thee a devouring flame which already burns upon thy life, depriving thee of physical powers, blunting thy mental faculties, and shriveling thy spiritual forces. God becomes, by the very effect of His infinite love, the destroyer of all evil. Were it otherwise, eventually nothing but impurity would live. It is because, along every avenue of evil, I discover God contradicting, negativing, driving back, that I have any hope whatever about the future of humanity.

Text for the day, verse 4.

Saturday, April 2d.

Isaiah xlvii. 8 to 15.

Verses 8 and 9. "Dwellest carelessly," or "securely" in "safety" is the idea. The same word is used in speaking of the protection Jehovah would be to Israel (chap. xxxii. 17, 18). Note how Babylon rests upon itself for this security, impiously arrogating to itself the essence of Deity in the boastful words: "I am, and none else beside me,”— words applied by Isaiah in a special manner to Jehovah alone as seen in chap. xlv.,-and in the claim of immutability: "I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children." "In a moment, in one day," Babylon should be a widow, and be childless. Swift as the lightning from heaven would the hand that wrote upon the wall of Belshazzar's banqueting hall, fall upon the haughty "daughters of the Chaldeans." God deals with individual dynasties,-like Jeroboam and Ahab, in Israel; David, in Judah; Pharaoh, in Egypt; Nebuchadnezzar, in Babylon, and so on. The overthrow of the Chaldean dynasty by Cyrus is reckoned as the immediate fulfillment of this vision. The city continued on for many centuries, before all that Isaiah saw came fully to pass. The remote and full fulfillment of what Isaiah saw is given in Rev. xviii.,

when the last great world-power that fights against God (typified by Babylon), is suddenly and forever destroyed.

Verses 11 to 15. With all of its boasted wisdom Babylon would not be able to foresee the evil that was coming,-to tell where it came from when it had arrived,-or how to be delivered from it. The city was filled with "astrologers, star-gazers and prognosticators," who claimed with great confidence and pride to foretell the future, and to secure the safety of those who consulted them and followed their devices. These are now challenged by Jehovah to save Babylon, and Babylon is told that, so far from these imposters being able to save the city,"they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame." They are also told that the merchants who had flocked to them for the sake of gain, would flee from them in their calamity. "None shall save thee." Israel had a Redeemer. Babylon had none. Has the reader a Redeemer?

From Principal Douglas:

Babylon was notorious in the ancient world as the home of astrology and kindred arts; this is indicated by the number of names for these in verse 13. In her wickedness she still was confident; and like the fool who says, "There is no God," she said, "None seeth me" (verse 10). But her very wisdom and knowledge perverted her. Therefore (verse 11) evil should come upon her for her wickedness and "mischief" (a word found again only in Ezek. vii. 26) which she shall not be able to put away; I should translate this verb literally, not be able to expiate or remove by atonement an idea familiar to Isaiah's readers (vi. 7; xxii. 14; xxvii. 9); Israel on the contrary, had a ransom or atonement provided and paid (xliii. 3). Babylon became so enormously populous as it was, partly by a process of compulsion. Its kings compelled conquered nations to settle in it. But when liberty came to be granted, they should leave and go home. Perhaps the prophet saw in this desertion of Babylon the completion of the judgment which began when the builders of Babel were scattered abroad, and the hopes of a universal empire were blighted (Gen. xi. 1-9).

Text for the day, verse 13.

Sunday, April 3d.

Isaiah xlviii. 1 to 8.

Verses 1 and 2. Here we have the high-sounding profession of "Israel after the flesh." Paul tells us how they gloried in it in Phil. iii. 3 to 5. It was all "a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof" (2 Tim. iii. 5). A perfect pedigree can never make up for imperfect piety. The same man may be the son of a saint, according to the flesh, and a child of the devil as to his moral condition. Each of our children must know for themselves the meaning of John i. 12 and 13, or all of their saying "the Lord's prayer" and going through forms of religion will be but lip service, a "mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness." How may I know that I am not one of these? I will hate and mourn over my sins; I will put

away evil from my heart and life, as God discovers it to me, and I will have the honest purpose to keep God's commandments. "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John xiv. 15). This is Christ's test of discipleship.

Verses 3 and 4. Here we have the reality of the moral condition of these great professors. They had had God's word, and had witnessed its repeated fulfillment in their history, but they had disre garded its meaning. They were obstinate and stiff. necked in their treatment of God's messengers and of God's messages. They did not believe in the prophecies of Isaiah, and would not accept bis counsel as to their danger from Babylon and Egypt. and would not forsake their sins.

Verses 5 to 8. "Lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them." "Lest thou shouldest say. Behold, I knew them." For these two reasons the Lord unfolded the future in the visions of the prophet. Things that no statesmanship could fore cast, that no political sagacity could anticipate. Babylon should be conquered by Cyrus, and Cyrus should send back the captive Israelites to Jerusa lem; Babylon should ultimately go down before Jerusalem, and Jerusalem be exalted over the nations. Yet these sons of Jacob were indifferent to the message. They had the nature of Jacob, "transgressor from the womb," but not the nature of Israel, "a prince with God."

From C. H. Spurgeon:

"With my soul have I desired thee in the night." (Isa. xxvi. 9). We have a vast number of evidences of piety: some are practical, some are experimental, some are doctrinal; and the more evidences a man has of his piety, the better, of course. But there are seasons when a Christian cannot get any. He can scarcely get one witness to come and attest his godliness. He asks for good works to come and speak for him. But there will be such a cloud of darkness about him, and his good works will appear so black that he will not dare to think of their evidences. He will have lost assurance, and with it his enjoyment of communion with God. He summons that communion to come and be an evidence, but he has forgotten it, and it does not come, and Satan whispers it is a fancy, and the poor evidence of communion has its mouth gagged so that it cannot speak. But there is one witness that very seldom is gagged, and that is, "I have desired thee-I have desired thee in the night." "One thing I know, and the devil cannot beat me out of it, I have desired thee, that I do know, and I have desired thee in the night, too, when no one saw me, when troubles were round about me." Text for the day, verse 2.

Monday, April 4th.

Isaiah xlviii. 9 to 15.

Verse 9. "For my name's sake." See how this is repeated in verse 11, "Mine own sake," "Mine own sake." The name of the Lord is always descriptive of His person. It means Himself. This is the sheet anchor of hope for the believer. "God is not a man that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent; hath He said, and shall He not do it?