"Brethren, my heart's desire and my supplication to God is for them, that they may be saved" (Rom. 10: 1, Am. Revised Version).

These are the words of one whose heart was on fire with holy zeal and purpose to save souls, by the presentation to them of Jesus Christ, the long-looked-for Messiah of the Jewish people, the one who should "save his people from their sins." It was the Jewish people, -his own kinsmen in the flesh, as he calls them,-for whom Paul

was so deeply concerned. The intensity of his yearning for their salvation is shown by the language of the text. "My heart's desire," -that in which his heart would experience full satisfaction,-"and my supplication to God,"-his earnest prayer,-he says, "is for them, that they may be saved." That is, with all the intensity of his Spiritfilled being, Paul longed for the salvation of his own countrymen.

He was possessed of a consuming, compelling passion for winning souls. He looked upon a sin-cursed world and saw the awful havoc wrought in human life. By his own remarkable experience he knew that the only complete deliverance from sin was through Jesus Christ. He was not ashamed of the gospel; he knew that it was the power of God unto salvation to every one that would believe; and it was because of the certainty of this conviction that he determined with all the intensity of his great soul "not to know anything. . . save Jesus Christ and him crucified."

But how little we have of this passion for winning souls, as individuals, as churches, as a denomination. We are giving first place. to other things instead, I fear, and are seeking to accomplish by and through other means that which can come only through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and manifested through each individual life.

The ambition for other things has taken a mighty hold upon us as a people. Our passion is for other things, rather than the saving of souls. Many are giving their time and energies entirely to the carrying on of the particular line of business or work in which they have chosen to engage. Not that necessity of livelihood always compels it, but rather because they have become completely absorbed in and by it. Here is one who is engaged in some particular kind of work or business. His entire thought and energy is given to the management of his affairs. He goes from his home early in the morning and returns late at night, with only a few minutes snatched away possibly for lunch at home at noon, if at all. There is no time in the morning for the practice of the Quiet Hour, or for the talking over with the family of religious things. At the close of the day, because of such constant application of his energies to his work, he is worn and exhausted. By the end of the week, he is too tired to attend the Friday night prayer meeting, and likely he may be too worn to even attend the regular Sabbath morning service. Such was the excuse I heard from a prominent business man not long ago. Never mind, that automobile ride on Sabbath afternoon will put him in fit shape to begin the grind again the first of the week.

Here is another who is a farmer. He goes through the same procedure throughout the week, from day to day, the only difference being in kind of work. He has one of the largest, most up-to-date dairy farms in all the particular section in which he lives. He, his family, and help, rise early each morning. There is a hurry and bustle; the numerous cans of milk must be gotten to the factory or shipping station, or condensery, as it may be, on time; and the routine work of each day must be pushed ahead with a drive. Again, there is no time that can be spared for God, perhaps not even for the Sab

bath morning service.

"Will a man rob God?". Yes, he will not only rob God but he will rob himself, his family, and others of eternal life, now, in this present world, and in the world to come. And all for what purpose? Simply that he may increase his herds and his acres? What right has one who declares himself to be a Christian to develop his business until he can spare no time for God? How can our lives be said to be consecrated to God,-holy, acceptable to God,— when our bodies are worn out with an excess of physical labor and our minds constantly diverted by the pressure of these things? How can we expect or hope that there will be any great anxiety among us for the unsaved with such conditions as these existing among us? Not that there are not holy, consecrated business men, farmers, and others among us, but I fear that they are in the minority. I know well enough that there are those among us who are consecratedly giving to the cause, according as God has prospered them. But there is too little of anxiety among us for the unsaved; we have become too self-satisfied, too taken up with our own affairs.

Christ himself announced his own mission in these immortal words, "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost." The world, humanity, is lost without Jesus Christ, and without the passion for the unsaved burning in the hearts of his followers the world will still be lost. But we shall never have this anxiety for the unsaved until, like Paul, we can say, with a vital, appropriating faith, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation . . ."; until we can sincerely say our "heart's desire and supplication to God is for them, that they may be saved."

This is the passion that has possessed every noble saint of God in all the ages. "The most inspiring literature for the church today, aside from revelation, is Christian biography. It will thrill the dullest heart and quicken the feeblest pulse to meditate upon the marvels which God has wrought through those heroic souls that have been willing to count all things loss for him. There is one thing that impresses us as we study. With one accord they were possessed with this passion for souls."

The few sentences preceding are from a little book, the title of which is, "The Passion for Souls." It is one of the half dozen or more books dealing with the subject of personal evangelism, and made available for any who may desire, through the Circulating Library of our Theological Seminary at Alfred. I wish many might read it. A postcard request to Dean Main will bring it to you without farther trouble.

And because it has always kindled anew my zeal when I have read it, I am taking liberty to quote from it at some length. Continuing, the writer says:

"It was this that caused Xavier to cry out from the deck of that Indian ship when a vision of untold hardship and suffering came before his eyes as the price of turning isles and empires to Christ: 'All this and more, O my God, if only I may win souls for thy Kingdom.'

"This was the ambition that impelled Wesley through his devoted life, with its numberless ministries and self-denials.

"It was this that gave birth to the mighty zeal of Whitefield and sent him up and down the land and across the sea, a flaming torch for Christ.

"This passion burned in the breast of Rowland Hill. The people of Wotton called him a madman. This was his defense: 'While I passed along yonder road I saw a gravel pit cave in, and bury three men alive. I hastened to the rescue, and shouted for help until they heard me in the town almost a mile away. Nobody called me a madman then. But when I see destruction about to fall on sinners and entomb them in an eternal mass of woe, and cry aloud, if perchance they may behold their danger and escape, they say I am beside myself; perhaps I am, but O, that all God's children might thus be fired with desire to save their fellows.'

"It was this that led Shaftsbury to turn aside from the attractions of a brilliant social life that he might minister to the riff-raff of London. He literally turned his nights into day. He made himself the companion of thieves and harlots that he might win souls for Christ.

"The passion drove Robert McAll from his beautiful English home to the slums of Paris. He was a cultured man, fond of art and letters, but he put these aside and took up his abode amid the moral destitution of the French metropolis that he might point wretched souls to the cross. Can you think of anything more pathetic or more beautiful than the picture of this man and his devoted wife opening their first hall in an open shop, with a little organ, a table and a few chairs, and standing up before twenty-eight people to speak in broken French the message of a Savior's love? But such fires of zeal could not be extinguished. They burned on and on until scores. of gospel halls had been opened to shine like beacons in the midst of this night of sin."

And never until there shall be awakened within us a mighty, compelling passion and anxiety for the unsaved need we expect or hope that souls will be born into the kingdom, or added to our numbers.

But to turn to the text again. Paul earnestly longed that the Jews, who occupied a special relation to God, and in redemptive history, might be saved from their sins through Jesus Christ, the promised One of Israel. This would have given Paul complete satisfaction of heart. There was every reason why they ought to have accepted Christ as their Savior. But Paul knew full well that Israel would reject Christ, and he placed the responsibility for this rejection upon themselves. And the responsibility for this rejection lies in the fact that in their ignorance they were seeking for salvation in their own way, rather than through Christ as provided by God. "For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God." They had missed the way; had depended on wrong things. This is why Paul placed the responsibility for their rejection upon themselves.

But I wish to carry this thought a little farther, and apply it to ourselves as a people, and in doing so, I trust that it may not cause offense. Is there not a possible analogy between the Jews of Paul's

time and Seventh Day Baptists of today? Holding to all of God's commandments, and to the Sabbath commandment in particular, we have come to feel, I think I am safe in saying, that we stand in a special relation to God. And yet, in what particular way is that special relation evidenced? Wherein is there evidence to show that we are spiritually superior to other bodies of Christians? Who would be willing to say that the average Seventh Day Baptist excels in consecration and spiritual life many of those who hold membership in the churches of the great Protestant denominations? Is the spirit

of worldliness less manifest in our own churches? Have we greater anxiety for the unsaved? I believe that real sincerity compels us to admit that spiritually we are not greatly superior to those who make up the membership of other churches. The warmth and vitality of the spiritual life of our churches fail to substantiate our spiritual superiority. Very recently one of our ablest pastors said, with deep feeling and concern, "I feel that there is a woeful lack of consecration, intercession and active faith among us." Is it not so?

Gradually, but surely, our numbers are shrinking, because there are constantly increasing inroads being made upon us by those who forsake the Sabbath-the one thing, and the only thing, which warrants our existence as a distinctive religious body.

But why this condition of things? In our case we can not plead ignorance. Seventh Day Baptists do not forsake the Sabbath for lack of knowledge, but because of lack of conviction as to its essentialness, -because of the compromising, condescending spirit which is prevalent among us. Other things have been given first place. The spirit among us is something like this, "Keep it if you can, if it doesn't interfere with personal success; if it does, sidetrack it, for it does not matter so very much after all. And anyway, there are lots of just as good people as Seventh Day Baptists, and they are keeping Sunday. Yes, there are good people who are keeping Sunday, and we have no right to question their sincerity, though they may be in error, so long as we show this sort of weak-kneed conviction regarding the Sabbath. But that will never justify us in our lack of faith and obedience.

Not only does this lack of faith and conviction as to the essentialness of the Sabbath give rise to the question, on the part of others, as to our sincerity, but the "woful lack of consecration, intercession and active faith among us" is responsible for our failure to bring about those results which some have been earnestly hoping and praying for. Various ways have been devised and tried, and that honestly, too, to revivify our denominational life; and all have signally failed of accomplishing the desired results. And why?

In the Sabbath Recorder of November 27, 1916, Dr. Gardiner, in a searching editorial, has, it seems to me, accurately diagnosed our trouble. Dr. Gardiner said in part:

"We have been giving much attention, and wisely so, to machinery and to methods of work. We have organizations and organizations, and have talked and talked about efficiency; but with all the push and pull of our workers, with all the plans and resolutions of associations and Conferences, the returns seem entirely too small. So far