ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE

AND EXPERIENCE

BY

WILLIAM JONES, M.D., D.D., LL.D.

OF THE SAINT LOUIS CONFERENCE

WITH AN INTRODUCTION

BY

DOUGAN CLARK, A.M., M.D.

OF THE FRIENDS CHURCH

BOSTON AND CHICAGO

THE CHRISTIAN WITNESS COMPANY

1895

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

THE Red Sea rolled its victorious waves above the chivalrous dead of Egypt's great army. It stood forever as a barrier between the taskmasters of Goshen and the shouting hosts of liberated Hebrew slaves. But wide and treeless stretches of blistering sand lay round them on every side. Although they were free, forever free, and the echoes of their independence anthem still lingered upon the desert air, or swept up the dry and sultry wadies on the hot wings of the wind, still the land of promise the future home of the people and the nation was ten days march westward across the trackless wastes of the desert.

Their inheritance lay on the other side of the Jordan. The clusters from Eshcol, the pomegranates, the rocks filled with honey and the valleys abounding in succulence, soil and climate, field, orchard, and vineyard, attest the divine veracity.

The possession of that inheritance could not add one jot to their freedom; that was perfect. But the land, their inheritance, could lay its wealth on their altars; it could open its resources for their sustentation, and give to them its facilities for growth and culture.

In that land was to be built the greatest nation the world had ever known; and from that centre was to go forth the influences that were to direct the

thought of the world, and shape its history to the end of time. There in the fulness of time the Saviour was to be born, and the Book of Revelation completed.

But God's plan embraced much in detail. It involved man's obedience to law, and his fidelity to the divine purpose. The establishment of the nation was impossible without the development of a true manhood.

Bedouinism has its chivalry; but Jerusalem must have its prophets, its priesthood, and statesmen.

Ilderim, first among the Sheiks, was great in his tribal display; but when the world's most wealthy and cultured ruler stood before King Solomon, her verdict was that "The half had not been told."

The unlettered and grimy slaves were free, and Egypt was forever spoiled; but the corner-stone of the great empire was not yet laid.

God brought the liberated company to the cooling fountains and the refreshing shades of Elim, that they might rest for a time and adjust matters; that they might at once enter upon their promised inheritance, and build the throne of David, and prepare for the wisdom and splendor of Solomon.

Between the place where the seventy royal palmtrees spread their foliage and flung their fragrance upon the air, and the place in the west where the fruits and spices of Carmel added their richness to Israel's store, the great events of all the ages have transpired. There arose the "Royal throne of David, the poet king of Israel;" and there in Oriental lustre was the brilliant career of Solomon. There the religious institutions and rites of divine worship were established ; and there the Saviour was born.