Newspapers / The Christian Sun (Elon … / March 21, 1906, edition 1 / Page 2
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FROM THE FIELD VIRGILINA. This year I am serving the churches at Virgilina, Va., and Durham, N. C. Durham called me for my entire time; hut Jkindly consented to allow me to be away one Sunday in each month. This Sunday the pulpit here is supplied by a visiting brother. 3Revs. E. M. Carter, J. S. Carden, J. U. Newman and W. C. Wicker have all preached here since con ference. At Virgilina we have ■preaching the 1st and 3rd Sun days. Revs. T. W. Strowd and A* W. Andes have supplied there when pastor was away. Tbe work of completing the church building at Virgilina was delayed till spring. An order has 'heeo placed at the factory % mahout three hundred dollars worth wfchurch furnishings. This with ether improvements will make tbe cehoreh ueat and comfortable. The church is making material prog ress and it is hoped that this is an evidence of spiritual growth. We me looking forward to a revival here this summer. Nuggets from Bible Mines. NUMBER VII. '‘Behold, I give unto you pow er to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you.—Luke 10:19. That verse has puzzled many a Christian. Even theologians have itocd before it, burdened under a of the mystery of the language itil fairly crying inwardly, what it, wbat can it, mean? Many have tried to explain it, only to mystify the thought. The difficulty arises largely through the wrisose of a single word; in, the En jpisb translation tbe word p> wr recurs twice, while in tbe Greek * occurs only once. The word first translated power in the text (exous -ia) should be translated authority, and then- the text- would-•-read' ah,1. itr 1 fi-c iiiik SOU 4*|<" ; T give unto you atb ww «>><•' ihonty to. tread. <on serpents > and scorpions, and over all the power of tbe enemy; and noth ing shall by any means hurt you. Art sustaining the justice of this view of the facts, permit me to sub jait reasons for it. In the Greek, Che second word translated power is amt “exousia” as in the first, .but 43tmaizHii”from the root of the word djf aamite, from which ‘power7 » derived, showing clearly that 4be inspired writer bad a different thought in mind when he used the -word “exons ia” from wbat ho did when he used the word “dunamin.” It is true in a number of instances in fte New Testament the word “exou m&” is translated power but it signi fies die power of authority, as in Titos 3:1, where we read: “Put fbera in mind to be subject to prin cipalities and powers (exousias), hot the reference is unquestionably to the power of authority, not to fbe power of f >rce. A general throws 1»«« army against the eneruy^ He does that by authority. A cannon throws its ball against the enemy, Jbut it does that by the power of iaree. The student of the Word will do well to keep this distinction in miadtHid seek,in interpreting a pas sage in tihicb the word ppiier oe 4tur*,i0 deteimine whether the power wf aatbority, or the power of fore*, is meant;for much depends on mak ing this distinction correctly in getting at the true meaning of a passage, as in Luke 10:19. In many other passages in the New Testament this word “exousia” is translated authority. See Matt. 7: 29; 8:9; 21: 23; Mark 1:22;11:28; 13:34;Luke 4:36;9:l;19:17;Johu 5: 27;Acts 26:10,12; Rev. 13:2, and many others. Were it so translated in Luke 10:19,much of the difficul ty which has so long puzzled Eng lish readers would at once disappear. Then as a matter of fact, Jesus did not promise to give His disciples power in themselves to do these things,but he gave his disciples auth ority to claim, and by faith to use his power for their safety and protec tion in His service. He had. already told them that all power had beeu given to Him of His Father, aqd in Luke 10:19, He simply gives them authority to use His power ip their work by means of their tnit|t in Him. As an excellent commen tary on this interpretation of this text, I need only quote the words of Jesus himself, when He said to His disciples: “All things are possi ble to him that believeth.” Thus by faith He places all of His power at the command of His servants, when in need. The difficulty then is not one of power, but one ot faith; for if the Lord's servants have the faith they can readily get the pow er and the wisdom and the skill to use it in extreme peril as indicated in the text, By faith they can com mand God’s power. This promise was made good to Paul See Acts 28:3—6.Many similar iustances ot the exemplification of this truth have been furnished, even in mod ern times, in the life and service of missionary* on the field. We have ail account of a newr convert in a hea then land being forced to dr:nk a deadly poison by his enemies, but it hurt him not. There are also many other illustrations of the same truth-, viz. : Authority to call on God for deliverance in a mome it of great peril. See Life of Jno. G. Paton, James C. Chalmers, and ILef me illustrate tnlfe pHi^csi jJie;-' Mr. E. H. Conger represented tbe United States Government in Chi na during the “Boxer” uprisings, a lew years ago. At times be was in great peril, and bodily at their raep cy, having in himself no means of resistance, and yet he was unhar.n ed. Tbe secret of his safety, on the human side, lay in the fact that he had authority from the President of the United States to call for the power of the whole country to sup port him in his perilous situati n and Mr. Conger did it, and the murderous multitudes were h Id back, and Mr. Conger was sav. Now there are just two things about this protection. Tbe President ha-l given Mr. Conger authority to use the power of tbe home governme it, and Mr. Conger had faith in his country to use his authority, and he did it, and escaped unhurt. So the power of tbe United States stood as a mighty wall between its representative and the enemy— they dreaied the power, not ihe power that was in Mr. Conger, but the power be bad authority to call to his aid. So it is with the ser vants of God. As Jesus sent his servants forth as sheep among wolves, he gave them authority to command His power whenever they should be in danger, and like Mr. Conger, if they have taith in ipis authority, have no oattse to fear, for God's power stands be tween His servants and tbeir ene mies, a mighty wall of protection. Kuowiog the authority his servants have to command His power, our spiritual enemies stand in fear, as the Chinese did. We have not able instances of this in the New Testament, where demons cried out in f ar at the preseuce of Jesus, sometimes even begging Him not to touch them. Having faith to use this authority, we should fear no evil, for God is able to do all, ami more than we can ask, or think, for us. All hinges, not ou the power, but on the faith to exer cise the authority we have in com manding the power. G. D. [The title of these articles has been changed from “Digging Bible Gold” to “Nuggets from Bible Mines,” as a matter of taste ] Henderson. BY REV. N. G. NEWMAN. We have been much pleased from time to time in noting the development of.the Eastern North Carolina Conference. Not long since a church was organized, built, and paid for, at Sanford, N. C. At the last conference at tention was turned toward Hen derson. Conference made an ap propriation of $100, and Rev. M. W. Butler was placed in charge of the work. A hall was rented and comfortably furnished, and on the 4th Sunday in November a church and Sunday school were organized, each with thirty-five members. Brother Butler reports the congre gations and collections encourag ing. They have services the 2nd, 4th and 5th Sundays at 11a. m., aud 7:30 p. m., and every Wednes day night. Money is being raised for the purchase ot a lot, which has probably been decided on by this time. THE PLACE. We h*ve little personal ac quaintance with Henderson, but from what we can learn there is an opportunity. Henderson is lo cated on the S. A. L. R’y. in Vance county and has a popula tion of 8,000. It has a knitting mill, two large cotton factories, a buggy factory, carriage factory, and oil factory. It is also a large cot ton, tobacco, ahd horse market: These wool* iiwU&te stability atkR growth a1 Not fk&rifafa&tisf'- aievgrat- Chris tian churches from which there will he a constant exodus to town. THE MAN. Brother Butler has had about 25 years experience iu tie min istry and is one of the loyal and faithful adherents to the cause of the Christians. Organizing and building churches is not new to him. In our first pastorate four teen years ago were two churches organized by Brother Butler, one of which was built and paid for under his ministry. We shall ex pect good results from his earnest and faithful labors at Henderson. THE SUPPORTERS, Earnest and faithful effort on the part of pastor does not always guarantee success. Other condi tions are essential. His hands must be held up. Few things are more discouraging to a pastor than indifference from his own people. I mean those of I) is owu denomina- « tion. In many places while the pastor i9 laboring to establish a new work, numbers of his own denomihatfoh stattd off and neither join his church not* give it their sympathy afldi help. We trust that the Heuilewou church may pmve a faithful band, that the members of the Christian church moving in will oast in their lot with them, heart and hand, and that the Eastern North Carolina Conference will stand behind the enterprise until we have in Hen derson a neat and attractive church paid for and a pastor for all his time. Southern Christian Con vention. The Southern Christian Conven tion will meet in Burlington Church, Burlington, N. C„ Tues day evening 8:U0 o’clock, May 1, 1906. The program will provide for the completion of the business on Friday night, May 4, 1906. We hope that all delegates eleet will either atttnd or arrauge in time lor an alternate to be in their place. The Committee will enter at ouce upon the preparation of a pro gramme aud we will lie glad to re ceive suggestions from auy who will be kind enough to send them to W. W. Staley, Suffolk, Va. We hereby cexuest all chairmen of committees and heads of depart ments to prepare their reports and to have all matters in shape lor a successful and pleasant convention. W. W. Staley, P. J. Kernodle, J. W. Wellons. " <i> Needs and Opportunities, 1900. By Rev. J. W. Harrell. N. C. ft VA. CONFERENCE. Previously Reported. if81 .12; Pleasant drove, 6 .31; Hanks Chapel, 3 .80; Centre Grove, 2 .05; Bethel, 2.55; Rev. T. W. Strowd, 1.44; EASTERN VIRGINIA CONFERENCE. Previously Reported, $221). 99; EASTERN N. C. CONFERENCE. Previously Reported, $2 00: -i Grand Total, $329 .42. We give below another tract by our Mission Secretary Ilev. J. G. Bishop, D .D.,; which should in terest1 every-ihewber^of1 the Christ4 ianiChfcrdb.;.,, “Ina general way Japan needs the gospel, needs to be evangelized, needs it badly, needs it now. Not only for her own sake, but for the sake of the Orient. If Christianized, her growing influence in Eastern Asia will make for righteousness, otherwise it may not. Then for her own sake she needs the gospel. She now has it, in some parts, but not enough of it. Ao Tokyo is the headquarters of several mission boards, it is, perhaps, the best sup plied with the gospel of any other part of the Empire; and yet if a stranger in the country were to spend his first few days visiting the various heathen temples in this cap ital city,seeing the tens of thousands daily worshipping idols, as we have seen them, and while on his rounds moving among the teeming masses he had scarcely seen a building that would suggest an idea of a Christ ian church, he would wonder it there were any Christians at all in the city.There is to-day about one - Christian to every one thousand persons in Japan! NEEDS? Yes, and God jvill hold the Christians respqnsibie for doing their part in Supplying thesis hgede. For our own Work more mission aries are needed; Think of it: in the Tokyo field only two missionaries, Prof, Woodworth and Miss Petrod; and they confined, must be confin ed, so < oselv to itio educational work. Tiijs school is very essential. Native workers must he trained,, but this should be supplemented with much evangelistic work, more than they have time or strength to do. Not only in the eitv and its suburb-; but out. out,—why, it is seventy-five miles before we reach another of our churches, the inter vening and surrounding space filled in with cities and villages ami mil lions of people, the most of whom are worshipping idols and have not yet learned of Christ and the way of salvation, and among whom the Christians have not a single work er. Our two missionaries in Tokyo simply cannot reach them. Must these people, our brothers and sis ters, perish lor lack of the gospel unless other denominations give it to them? It would seem that every, reader of these lines who has had a vision of Jesus Christ, and whose heartbeats in sympathy with Hifc heart as it yearus over those for whom He died, would cry out, ‘•Lord, what wilt thou have me to do” to send re-enforcements to this field? The ]X)ssibilitie» of the Utsuno miya or middle field are hardly touched as y«t. In the whole space ol 21G miles between Tokyo and Sendai we have just two mis sionaries, Brother and Sister Fry, one native preacher and one Bible woman. Of the next province north of Utsunomiya Bro. Fry writes: “It is almost as ueedy as this, A station at Tokushima, its capital, would connect the different parts of our work, and the mission aries would be fairly swamped with tremendous opportunities.” The Christians ought to have a mission ary in that capital city sooq. What an opportunity for some brother or sister of means to say to the Etfardr “I will take that city for Christy You find the missionary aud I will furnish the means.” It would then soon be done. The Northern Field, if possible, is the most needy of all for re-en forcements. Miss True has already remained two- years beyond her term. Hbr> health; demand* theft* she take- her; furlough for. regia This leaves as missionary only Brother McCord for this whole field from Sendai, with a popula tion of near 100,000, to Iehinoseki, sixty miles north, with many vil lages ranging in population from 500 to 20,000, in which territory we now have 24 churches and out stations, and 13 Sunday schools,— all to superintend and look after. One man for all this! New recruits for this field? Any one with any knowledge at all of missionary work in non-Christian lands can see that they are needed; and the Christian churches in the United States and Canada will be recreant to their God-given trust if they do not provide for tbeir send ing. Sendai is the missionary head quarters for all of Northern Japan, as Tokyo is for central Japan. Ours is the only denomination in the city that has not already provided a church building. Mr. Kitano, our native pastor here, is one of the ablest and leading native pastors in the city. But if we are to main tain our prestige and influence with the natives themselves, our church must in the near ftiture be provided with a church building, 'the pas^ tor and church are doing what they can in gathering funds for this pur pose, but for this task they are unable of of themselves, they must
The Christian Sun (Elon College, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 21, 1906, edition 1
2
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