Article March 28, 1903 Issue

Religious Items

with contributions from William D. Little, Alexander MacLaren, Victor Hugo, I. O. Rankin

Professor Henry Van Dyke, D.D., LL.D., of Princeton University, Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly, in an article in The Homiletic Review, says:—

"The sacred testament of the Egyptians was called the 'Book of Death.' Our book ought to be clled the 'Book of Life.' Its central truth is that mortals are brought to life in Jesus. 'He that believeth in me hath everlasting life.' Not, will have it some day. Do not read your New Testament that way. It is, 'hath everlasting life,' now, here, in this masquerade of a world, 'hath' something which makes life. 'I am come that ye might have life, and that ye might have it more abundantly.' Hear what Jesus said to the temper in the wilderness: 'Man shall not live by bread alone.' That is the denial of the great heresy of worldliness, which is that man shall live by bread. Christ says he 'shall not live by bread alone.' Then in the sixth chapter of John, when he gave the explanation of his saying, he said, 'I am the Bread of life.' 'The words that I speak, they are life,' and that is the denial of the heresy of the world that man shall live by bread. There are two heresies of worldliness, that man shall live by bread, and that you cannot have everlasting life in this world. Christ denies both. He says, 'He that believeth hath everlasting life,' and again, 'The words that I speak, they are spirit and they are life.'

"Surely that is a mystery, but just as surely it is a reality. Souls are being raised from the dead in the world every day—yes, every hour; inward men and women are being renewed while outward men and women are perishing. Souls are being born again continually 'not by the will of the flesh, but by the Word of God,' which 'Word' is Christ. Men are living by bread, but not by bread alone. Nobody is living by bread alone—nobody. People seem to be but it is an illusion, a masquerade. They are not living, they are dying by bread alone. Men are living by bread, but not by bread alone. Underneath the bounty they are touching the hand which fills every spiritual longing. In the wilderness they find heavenly manna."

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