heroism that is in the defense of helpless nations; but, on the other hand, let us not practice a selfdefense and join it so easily to self-applause. England well knew that if she went not to Belgium's defense her own borders would be invaded; and America has come slowly to the conviction that if she joined not the Allies she would fight with Germany alone when once that brute force had finished with her close neighbors; and whatever the magnitude of our heroism, we can hardly claim that it is unselfish. Had it been wholly unselfish, it would not have been so tardy in its expression! I thank God for the work of the Red Cross! I count it an evidence of the salt of Christianity in modern society. I thank God for the ministry of the Y. M. C. A.! It is God's medium of ameliorating human suffering. I thank God for ministers who offer their services to government as soldiers and chaplains, combined. By their presence and their preaching, more of morals will be retained and Christ will be better known at the battle-front. But I cannot forget that we have long had equal occasion of heroism and have neglected it, and equal opportunity of sacrifice and have despised it, because our profession of Christianity has not been sufficiently sincere to make it, like its Lord, sacrificial. Many a Londoner is giving millions now to wage war against Germany, who, five years ago, walked into his palace at night and forgot the thin, pale faces of East End children; forgot the ragged, starving mothers, who slept not because hunger was a mor

tal agony; and unpaid fathers, who faced a monthly deficit that made it impossible properly to feed and keep the child at school. Thomas Tiplady says, "I had a stray dog in my tent to-night and offered her buttered toast and she declined it; but where in East London is a child that would turn away from buttered toast? When at Christmas time we gave them bread spread with jam, and cheap cake, they stuffed themselves like ravenous wolves and then, by stealth, hid what they could under their clothing." And Thomas Tiplady adds, "The faces of those children haunt me as the horrible sights on the Somme have never done and can never do." Who that has lived in New York or Chicago has lacked opportunity of chivalry and self-sacrifice?

For years our foreign mission boards have pleaded for more money and the Macedonian cry has been a wail coming to us from every country; and yet men have gone on hoarding millions, not much disturbed; and churches have been complacent and content with contributing pennies and nickels and dimes to the unwelcome contribution box that glided past the noses of comfortably seated pew-renters; and now that the time has come when the Government taxes everything we have, and the world-war compels us to put up our thousands and millions, we would much like to congratulate ourselves with the idea that we are a great and generous and unselfish people; but, unfortunately, the facts of yesterday face the

effrontery of to-day, and if it were less bigoted it would not boast, but often blush with shame.

Has it ever occurred to us that when the great day of the final judgment comes, Jesus may say, "I was in the trenches and you sent Me no socks; I faced the French winter and ye had knitted Me no sweaters; My ears were bitten with frost and you forgot to provide Me a helmet," but it is settled He will say, "I was an hungered and ye gave · Me no meat; thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink. I was a stranger and ye took me not in; naked and ye clothed Me not; sick and in prison and ye visited me not."

Let no auditor dare to say that I have spoken aught against adequate and sacrificial provision for the soldiers. My own lads are among them, two from my family and one hundred from my church. I could not endure to have them neglected. One hundred of my young men and women are in the battle-line; I should be ashamed to minister to my church if it for one moment forgot them, and I should not forgive myself if one of them were hungry and cold and I did not share in the sacrifice essential to his comfort; but what I am trying to burn into the hearts of men and blister my own heart with at one and the same time, is this fact, viz., that every church in the world and every Christian man on earth is daily situated in the midst of sacrificial opportunities, and in proportion as we accept the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the selfishness that has been our weakness and that threatens even to work our personal and

collective ruin, we will put away, and will wage that greater war against the devil and all his agencies, with all our might, for, however we may hate the German atrocities, we cannot forget that they are but a single feature of the age-long and world-wide war that Satan wages against God and righteousness. Our greatest war is not with the Kaiser and Germany, it is with the devil and hell; and the old gospel-the Book-is our only effective instrument of battle.

I could wish for time to develop the other points mentioned:

THE WORLD-WITNESS

Let me just outline in conclusion. The ministerial mind will see the possibilities. "This gospel of the kingdom (Christ's kingdom) shall be preached."

1. That witness should be in the language of the Word and the power of the Spirit.

2. That witness will only be borne by true and intelligent believers.

3. That witness will, however, be carried to the world's borders.

"Then shall the end come."

THE AGE-WINDUP

1. It will for ever end Satanic sovereignty.
2. It will abolish human government.
3. It will establish Theocracy in the earth.
"The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Noon Session, Thursday, May 30, 1918. Conducted by

REV. W. B. RILEY, D.D.

WRITTEN QUESTIONS

Brethren, I come to-day, as you understand, I think, not to make any address at all, but to answer some questions that have been submitted in writing. The number is not great, and I think I may be able to take them up in a very brief time.

Ques. 1. "What is the best point of contact to discuss the gospel of the second coming with the higher critics?"

Ans. The point of Bible teaching! It is the only point or basis on which to proceed. I don't think it much worth while to engage in debate if the Bible is ruled out. The whole question is a Biblical question; that is why it is amazing to me for an international man to write upon the subject, "Will Christ Come Again?" and never quote a text. I thought this was a matter of Biblical discussion, and I still believe it.

Ques. 2. "Will you define the difference between the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of heaven?"

Ans. I do not think there is any difference! The phraseology in the New Testament covering these points uses the terms interchangeably. The