Article May 26, 1906 Issue

From our Exchanges

with contributions from F. W. WALKER PUGH, I. F. PORTER

It is not wealth that is going to move the world. It is not intellect, nor culture, nor education, nor argument, nor material equipment. No, there is only one thing in which the Church can ever hope to outclass the world, and that is in the possession and exercise of spiritual and moral power. The world bows to that as to something utterly beyond it, mysterious, invisible, terrific, and unknown. Nothing captures men like the display of spiritual power. It paralyzes opposition and makes argument ridiculous. Money and intellect are nothing before it. The world will believe that God has appeared unto us when we can turn the rod into a serpent, and not a moment before. It holds that no man has seen God who cannot do the works of God. "What sign showest thou?" To the question, "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" Jesus had one answer: "Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." These are the credentials of the Church, and in the sight of God and universal man there are no others.

F. W. WALKER PUGH. The Standard.

Of course Christ's language is figurative in speaking of yokes, somewhat less so, perhaps, in speaking of burdens. Burdens are peculiar to individuals. Christ does not say, "Take my burden upon you." A yoke represents a harness for burden-bearers, and an easy yoke is the most effective way in which any given burden can be carried. But, while this yoke of Christ's, as a matter of course, is a thing of the spirit, it does not thereby drop out of the realm of reality and become a thing of shadows. It remains a prime reality in all the deeper experiences of life. We cannot have gone far with life if we have not found out that it makes all the difference in the world what sort of a spirit we carry into its activities and responsibilities, and it is in this power of the spirit that we find the secret of Christ's easy yoke.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

From our Exchanges

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access