VOL. 17.

No. 10.

The fourth session of the Winona Bible School, which closed on the 23d of August, was, in many respects, one of the most remarkable gatherings of the year. To see a thousand earnest Christians, including between three and four hundred ministers, representative of a dozen states and belonging to as many different denominations, meeting day after day to study God's Word and engage in conferences regarding methods of work, is in itself an inspiration. And this is exactly what took place at Winona daily from the 14th to the 23d of August.

Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman is an experienced and efficient leader, and in this school he secured the aid of some of the ablest Bible teachers in America, including Dr. Moorehead, of Xenia, Ohio; Dr. George T. Purves, of Princeton, and Rev. Ford C. Ottman, of Newark. Rev. G. Campbell Morgan, of London, also took a prominent part in the teaching, giving ten addresses on the development of true Christian living. The "Hillside Meetings" were of an informal character, and were addressed by Mr. Augustus Nash and Dr. Chapman.

The Bible School was not lacking in the practical application of its teaching, and special conferences were arranged for the various needs of those in attendance. The ministers' meeting, which was largely attended every morning, was most informal in character and afforded an opportunity for asking questions and giving suggestions regarding the special departments of a minister's work.

These

meetings were found to be of great practical value in the mutual exchange of views and methods of work. Mr. John Willis Baer and Mr. Shaw of the United Society of Christian Endeavor, held similar conferences for young people, which were largely attended and greatly appreciated. And Miss Harlow, of Bethany Sunday school, Philadelphia, gave normal classes in teaching in the primary Sunday schools.

The leading addresses and lectures of the Bible School are to appear in the Winona Bible Conference Monthly (2131 Bainbridge St., Philadelphia, Pa., ten numbers 25 cents), and will be found most instructive and helpful.

One of the noticeable features of the conference was the large number of evangelists who attended. Rev. R. A. Walton, who has been associated in evangelistic work with Dr. Chapman for some years, assisted in the work and gave several addresses. Mr. W. A. Sunday, who has worked extensively in evangelistic work in the middle West during recent years, was also among the speakers.

Among the most instructive Bible lectures given during the convention was that on Ephesians by Dr. Purves, in his course on the Pauline Epistles. The following extract gives the general characteristics of the several epistles, of which that to the Ephesians, in Dr. Purves' opinion, is the crowning one.

"There is a steady progress in unfolding the truth in the Pauline Epistles. Saint Paul, having been commissioned to carry the gospel to the Gentiles, and thereby teaching the doctrine of salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ, was led on and on in his statement of the truth until he had presented a complete view of the purposes of God in human history. The Epistles of Paul may be arranged in their relative order simply by reason of their contents. The Epistles to the Thessalonians deal with the particular questions of that little church; and with the question of the second advent, which was at that time especially disturbing them. We come next to the Epistle to the Galatians, in which, as I have stated, he writes the magna charta of Gentile Christianity, and the general purpose upon which the gospel to the heathen shall be based. Then we come to Corinthians, in which he deals mainly with social questions which had arisen in the bounds of the church. We have the Epistle to the Romans, in which he deals

But

with the whole question of our salvation. that was not enough, and so we have next the Epistle to the Colossians, and that deals with the person of Christ; His dignity, His allsufficiency is here set forth. Then comes the Epistle to the Ephesians, and I say that marks the high-water mark in the development of Paul's theological system."

The Sunday morning address by Mr. Morgan was also a memorable one. His theme was, The Life of Christ prior to His public ministry. We quote the following extract from this address:

It is not given to every man or woman to serve God in public places; the great majority must live their lives outside any prominent sphere, and as part of a very small circle of relatives and acquaintances. Men will not hear even the names of the great mass of the people who are living their life throughout the world today. I want to know what there is in the life of Jesus that helps such persons.

* * I am intensely interested in the way He spoke to men and acted among men in His public years; but the majority will feel that they would be better served by a revelation of how He acted amid the common-place surroundings of everyday life.

Let us, then, try and see Him in those eighteen hidden years. The two verses that I have read are the only two that give us any definite or detailed account of what Jesus was doing from the time He was twelve until He was about to enter His public ministry.

Take the two statements:

"Thou art My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

"Is not this the carpenter?"

These two passages supply the story of the eighteen years.

Jesus was a carpenter pleasing God. I think you will see the connection of these two statements.

When God gave His approval to the life of Christ it was before the public ministry had been entered upon. He was just leaving behind him the unknown years, and coming out into the fierce light that beats ever upon a public teacher. And there, at the parting of the ways, God lit up all the years that had gone with the sweet words of approval, "Thou art My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." It could not have been a pronouncement upon the temptation of the wilderness;

that was as yet an untried pathway E could not have been a declaration of m divine pleasure with Gethsemane's garden Calvary's cross; they were still to be reached No; it must have been a reference to the part so that, whatever else I know, or do n know, about the hidden years of the life of Christ, this one thing is certain, that throug them all He pleased God; for God put Hi seal upon them when they were closing be hind Him and the new years were open before Him, saying, "I am well pleased."

Dr. Moorehead, of Xenia, Ohio, also cont buted richly to the teaching. He is not teacher to be easily deflected by new teachin and certainly has a wonderful knowledge the Bible. The following extract is from his lecture on Job.

Now it is believed by not a few that the tria came upon Job when he was at least in the neighborhood of sixty years of age, so that when he had died he had lived for two cente ries-two hundred years. If that be so, you must shove back his age into the distant past Abraham lived 175 years; Jacob lived 14" years; Moses lived 120 years. You have gott. go back of Abraham even to find a parallel 2 duration to the age of Job. Terah, the father of Abraham, was 205 years old. So not a few who have studied the story with some care have come to the conclusion that Job's time d life-the period in which Job lived-antedates the giving of the law to Moses by several cen turies.

There were three mathematicians, two of them astronomers of very great repute in Europe in the last century, who undertook to determine the age in which Job lived from the constellations mentioned in the 28th chapter of this book. I could give you the names of these astronomers-two of them at least, if any one wishes to know them. Now, from these constellations, working according to the procession of the equinoxes, as astronomers call it, two of them came within six years of each other in the date of the time of Job's existence, and the other was distant from them by forty-two years, and the estimate of the three is that Job lived about the year 2130 before the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was probably, therefore, a contemporary of Abraham, if not just a little

hat the notion of the existence of an evil spirit called Satan sprang up in the prehistoric imes, and long before the critical acumen mong men had been developed to any great :xtent. Have you ever noticed that there are out four times in the entire Old Testament where Satan is mentioned? One in the garden of Eden; second, in the book of Job; third, when David numbered the people, Satan rompted the act; and in the book of Zechaiah, the last but one in the Old Testament, where Satan stood by the high priest Joshua, when he was clothed with filthy garments. Just those four times. Well, according to this authority, the critical acumen was not highly developed in those days. But what about the New Testament? You know the genius of the Greeks had filled the world at that time with the most majestic classics that the world has ever seen; that Rome had filled the earth with the glory of her name. I think Seneca, and Epictetus, and dozens of others I might name, had a critical acumen as keen as that of any man living today. Now, then, twenty-eight different and distinct titles and names are given to this evil spirit in the New Testament. Make a catalogue, you can do it in alphabeti. cal order; put down all the names of the devil in alphabetical order, with something of the description of the power embodied in the name. Apollyon, Belial, Beelzebub, devil, evil spirit, and so you go on for twenty-eight of them. Listen, it is worth your hearing; when the critical acumen was developed among uninspired men, God swept back the curtain that hides that evil spirit from us.

The dedication of the Lyman Marshall Missionary Home, a gift of Dr. F. L. Marshall for the use of home missionaries, added special interest to the conference. This building is to be used as a rent-free house for vacation periods by home missionaries of the church whose salary is not more than $800. Dedication services were held Sunday, August 21st, at 4 o'clock.

THOUGHTS FROM WINONA.

Galatians is the Magna Charta of the Gentiles.-Dr. Purves.

Christ can gild the tears of sorrow and add a new lustre to every joy.-G. C. Morgan. Some people think Christians are all ascetics -with the accent on the first syllable.-G. C. Morgan.

The Incarnation is Love making God like me, in order that Love may make me like Him.-G. C. Morgan.

Every man is eager to give up his brother's idol.-Anon.

AN OUTLINE.

i.

1 John i. I.

"Which we have heard,

ii. which we have seen with our eyes,
iii. which we have looked upon,

iv. and our hands have handled, of the word
of life."

This text describes four kinds of Christians. Some who hear Christ from afar; some who see Him only; some who are near enough to behold Him; others who come into fellowship with Him.-Dr. J. W. Chapman.

OLD ORCHARD CONVENTION.

The annual gathering of the Christian and Missionary Alliance at Old Orchard, Me., seems to lose nothing of its former power and attractiveness.

This year's conference was

very largely attended and was marked by a deep spiritual interest. During the last few days of the meetings the crowds in attendance exceeded all the accommodations of the place, and it was almost impossible to find a vacant room in the many cottages and boarding houses.

The teaching at the conference was chiefly on Bible study, although there was special emphasis laid upon the teaching of deeper spiritual truths. This teaching also found expression in a keen interest in missionary work for which department of the Alliance there was raised over fifty thousand dollars.

As in former years, Dr. A. B. Simpson was the ruling spirit, guiding and directing the various meetings. He was ably assisted in this work by a number of efficient teachers, including Revs. Dr. Chapell, F. A. Senft, Dean Peck, D. H. LeLacheur and Walter Russell.

The exercises of each day began by an early morning prayer meeting held at 6:30 and conducted by different leaders each morning. At 8:30 Dr. Chapell gave a series of lectures on the book of Hebrews. The 10:30 service was led by Dr. Simpson and was devoted to lectures on the development of the Christian life. Afternoons and evenings were devoted to special services such as children's meetings and missionary conferences.

The Old Orchard Conference was closely followed by a similar conference at Nyack-on