THE FAMILY ALTAR

July 1.

"For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which

was lost." Luke 19:10.

The same compassionate Jesus that came to seek and to save

the white man came to seek and to save also the black man. As the

Lamb of God He took away the sin of the world and also the sin

of the Negro race. His command to His Church is clear and

emphatic: "Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the

name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching

them to observe .all things whatsoever I have commanded you."

His Church has obeyed that command and carried His saving

Gospel also to the Negro since the day that Philip preached the

glad tidings of the crucified Savior to the man of Ethiopia, the

treasurer of Queen Can'-da-ce. (Acts 8, 27.) Ever since, there

have been believing children of God with a black skin in the

Christian Church, and among them faithful pastors and bishops

of great learning and piety. We have about 12 million Negroes

in our country whose fathers were slaves; and we know what

it cost our nation to free them from their bondage. But far

more cruel is the spiritual bondage of ignorance and superstition

and vice in which so many of the sons of Ham still live among us.

Men may differ about the political and social rights the Negro

ought to possess among us, but no man dare question the Negro's

right to the saving and uplifting Gospel of Christ. Whoever

opposes Negro Missions opposes not only the clear will of his God

and Savior, but opposes also the best interests of his country; for

it is alone the converting and sanctifying Gospel of Christ that

has divine power to lift the unconverted, vicious Negro out of the

slough of his moral degradation, even as it does with the vicious

white man or with the depraved heathen in foreign lands. The

Negro Mission carried on by our Church for years is being signally

blessed of late. Let us gladly support it with our prayers and

contributions.

 

 DAILY READINGS IN LIFE OF CHRIST - J.R. Miller (1890)

July 1. The Touch of Faith

"And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?" Mark 5:30 

How did he know that one touch — amid all the jostling of the crowd? The multitude were close about Him, pressing up against Him. The disciples even thought it strange that He should ask such a question. The people could not help touching Him. Ah — but there was one touch different from all the rest! There was a heart's cry in it — a piteous earnest supplication. It was not like the jostling of the crowd, an accidental or a thoughtless touch, the mere touch of nearness; there was a soul in it. So, amid all the crude pressure of the multitude, He recognized it.

In every church service all are near to Christ — but all are not blessed. All press up against Christ — but some go away as they came, carrying with them sores unhealed, weakness unstrengthened, heart-hunger unfulfilled. Others, sitting close by, receive rich help. The first, though near, reach out no hand of faith, while the others touch the hem of Christ's garment.

The services of the Church may be compared to telegraph wires through which messages are all the while passing. You may climb up and put your ear to the wire, or hold it in your hand; but you will not hear a word of all the important messages that are flashing through it. But let an operator come with his instrument and attach it, and he hears every word. So in the church services, we touch the invisible wires that bind Heaven and earth together. Along these wires messages are flying up from earth to Heaven, prayers, praises, heart-cries, faith filled desires; down from Heaven to earth answers of comfort, cheer, joy, and help, blessings of pardon, healing, life, peace. But many know nothing of all this, no flash of healing, new life, joy, or help comes to them; they are close — but have no faith attachment. The others touch by prayer and faith.