Christian herald., January 25, 1884, Page 5, Image 5

CHRISTIAN
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HEBALD.
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the saints, in reference to those of
the married women who had tram­
pled underfoot the law subjecting
wives to their husbands who had
refused to honor and obey them,
and who were turbulent 1n church,
asking men irrelevant questions,
and were praying and prophesying
without a vail upon their heads,
which was a tacit denial of the
headship of the man—of his right
to rule, and was an insult to the
degnity conferred upon him in
making him the ruler. This is the
class of women Paul restricts his
TanguagifTo^
have keep
silence. Nor has the silence refer­
ence to the obedience of any divine
command. “ If man love me, he
will keep my commandments.”
Then, “ Let the women keep silence
in the churches,” instead of being a
general law enjoying general silence,
making the Bible a bundle of con­
tradictions, it is an effort to reduce
some insubordinate woman to the
obedience of law; leaving all wo­
men as free to worship in the
church assembled, and to aid in
edifying it, as if this language had
not been uttered. True, women
were then aided in the proper per­
formance of these high duties by
gifts of the Holy Spirit. But the
fact that God imparted this aid to
women demonstrates that he desired
this aid from women, that it was
pleasing in his sight, acceptable
through Christ.
Then the dear sisters that desire
now to please him well in all things,
•should carefully and prayerfully
study the Scriptures and thus ob­
tain the aid to do this word then
given through the Spirit. The Lord
help us to know and do his will,
that we may hear it said to us,
well done good and faithful servant
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
self to the death of a martyr for
the truth..
2. J ames the S on of A lphasus .
—It has been claimed without evi­
dence in order to make this James
a blood relation of Jesus that
Alphajus was the same Clopas, and
that Mary the wife of Ctopas was
a sister of Mary the mother of
them is the victor. The man who
is always trying new experiments
rarely succeeds in any of them;
the Qian who finds one thing to do
and does it, is the successful man.
The difference between doing and
dreaming is made by patience, per­
sistence, steadfastness, firmness.
Patience is firmness in enduring
pain physical or mental: persistence
is firmness exercising force against
obstacles; steadfastness is firmness’
adhering to a purpose. I meet in
every walk in life men whose ill
success used to be a mystery to me.
The are briiliant in conception,
fertile in resource, energetic in
tion; and yet their lives are fail­
ures. Men of less capability win
the successes their friends were con­
fident... they“ "^pGld win: -i • now
know where always to look for the
secret of these failures: unstable as
water, they cduld not excel.
To cultivatirffgnness, never enter
on an undertaking until you have
counted the cost. Forecast the dif­
ficulties and impediments in your
'way. Whdh you have once entered
on ah undertaking, never abandon
it because of difficulties and impedi
ments, unless your judgment defin
itely pronounces it impossible. Then
abandon it absolutely and forever.
Never leave one enterprise half done
because another looks easier: All
enterprises look easy before they
are undertaken; all useful enter
prises are difficult when they are
undertaken. After you have be­
gun your work get all the counsel
you can as to how it shall be ac­
complished ; never listen to any ad­
vice, as to whether it shall be ac
complished. The worst possible
symbol to put on your coat of arms
is an interrogation mark. No man
can develop a spirit of courageous
firmness who lives in perpetual
doubt about himself and his work.
Believe in your work ; believe in
yourself. And believe iik both bd*
cause you believe that God has
given you your work to do. “ Fear
not; for I am with thee: be not
dismayed; for I am thy God this
is the secret of the divinest firm­
ness. He who possesses this secret
of the Lord, who believes himself
set in his place and given his work
by God, has the means for preserve
ing an unwearied patience, an un­
shaken persistence, an unfaltering
steadfastness.— Christian Union.
brother of Joseph. It is very un­
likely that there were two sisters
named “ Mary ” in the same family.
‘<It is possible/’ says Dr. Schaff,
“that this is the James whose
.xruitluxr-iu.nallpd Mary (tho
not
a sister of Christ’s mother) and who
is styled on account of his stature,
James the Less, and he was the
brother of Joses. According to
tradition he labored in Egypt, where
he suffered martrydom by cruci­
fixion in the city of Ostrakine.”
3. J ames the J ust ,the son of
Joseph and Mary, a holy brother,
therefore, of our Lord, the head of
the c.hurch at Jerusalem, one of the
seventy disciples, but not like the
two preceding an Apostle, and the
author of the Epistle bearing his
name. “ The party of the Ebionites
(these believers who, though accept­
ing Christ as the Messiah, still held
tq the Mosaic ceremonies) took him
for their patron; and Hegesippus
described him as a Nazarite, who
from his childhood drank neither
wine nor strong drink, had never
been anointed with oil, never bath­
ed, nor worn any but linen gar­
ments, and whose hair had never
been cut.” According to the same
authority he was killed in 69 by
being thrown from the pinnacle of
the temple by the Pharisees, but ac­
cording to Josephus he was stoned
to death by the Sadduces in 62 or
63.
This Epistle was addressed to the
twelve tribes of the dispersion, i. e.,
to the believing Jews scattered all
THE THREE JAMES’.
over the world; and its object was
BY PBOF. T. 8. DOOLITTLE, D. V.
to counteract their discouragement
T here are three persons of the occasioned by their trials and by
name of James mentioned in the the delayed second coming of Christ,
New Testament.
as also to correct their worldliness
1. J ames the son of Zebedee and growing out of this discouragement.
Salome, the brother of John the
Evangelist, both of whom .were
PERSISTENT FORCE.
Apostles, and whom Christ honored
“ Hard pounding,gentlemen,’’said
with the title of “ Boanerges,” “ the
Sons of thunder.” He was one the Wellington to aids, at the battle of
most intimate friends of Jesus, and Waterloo; “ we will see who can
—_--------------♦ » ♦......................... .
pound
the
longest.
”
It
is
this
long
The disciples returned to Jesus
was the first of the Apostles to
and
told him all that they had done.
suffer martyrdom, falling as he did pounding that wins life’s battles.
tinder the sword of Herod Agrippa There is value in force, but the This is a good rule for every minis­
ter and every Christian. Every
I. ‘•Tradition says that his accuser greatest value is in the most persis­ night go to Christ and tell him
smitten with remorse of conscience tent force. Victories are. won by what you have been doing during
confessed Christ, and after receiv­ overcoming obstacles. Ho who by the day, -and the motive which in­
ing James’s forgiveness gave him­ his patient persistence vanquishes fluenced your conduct.
-- ----- ’---------------’— --------
Thanksgiving in Sorrow.
There is crape on your door, and
sorrow in your heart. You sit down
to your table to-day, and miss the
form thatr sit ’with you and the
eyes that looked love upon you last
Thanksgiving Day. You go to
church, and the voice that mingled
with your voice a year ago is silent,
^ndyo ur v o i ce ^ siUiit.Uoit he
song cannot go without the other?
Those two voices were the two
wings of one song; and now that
one wing is gone, the other is help­
less, and the song cannot soar. The
the church dark; the life silent aDd
solitary. You could far easier keep
a day of fasting than a day of
thanksgiving.
Are you, then, denied, are you to
deny yourself, Thanksgiving Day ?
Are you worse off than the Psalmist
—feigning madness before the heath­
en king, an outlaw, driven from,
father and mother and wife and
friend,hiding from death, not know­
ing out of what ambuscade it may
suddenly leap upon him ? Hark to
•his song in the night: “I will bless
the Lord at all times: his praise
shall continually be in my mouth.”
Are you worse off than Paul—a
prisoner at Rome; neglected, alone,
almost unfriended; not knowing
how soon v the summons fo
the block would come to him;
with
the care of all the
churches on his heart, yet unable
to minister to them; slandered in.
the house of his friends, and unable
to defend himself; knowing that
heresy and corruption are creeping
into the households he loved, and
unable to warn or guard them ?
Yet it is then that he writes to the
Philippians: “ Rejoice in the Lord
alway; and again I say, rejoice.”
Are you woi-se off than Jesus
Christ—deserted by all but the
eleven; knowing that the traitor
has already gone out from the
supper-table to complete the bar-,
gain for his betrayal; knowing
that Peter is soon to deny him
with oaths; knowing that the
multitude are soon to be clamoring
for his death; knowing how his
followers’ hopes are to turn to
ashes, and his mother’s heart of
love is to be broken, and even his
own soul is to go down to death in
darkness, as though he were for­
saken by his God ? And yet then
it is that he opens his treasury and
gives to his own, as his last love
token, his joy in the dying bequest:
“ Fulfill ve my joy.” “ Be of good
cheer, I have overcome the world.”
—Christian Union.