Etiquette—See Absurd Notions.
Etiquette, Breaches of—See Missionaries'
Mistakes.
Etiquette in the East—See Calls and
Conveyances in the East; Propriety.
Etiquette Superseded—See Courage
versus Etiquette.
EVANESCENT LITERATURE
We may be sure that any piece of literature
which attracts only by some trick of
style, however it may blaze up for a day and
startle the world with its flash, lacks the element
of endurance. We do not need much
experience to tell us the difference between
a lamp and a Roman candle. Even in our
day we have seen many reputations flare up,
illuminate the sky, and then go out in utter
darkness. When we take a proper historical
perspective, we see that it is the universal,
the simple, that lasts.—Charles Dudley
Warner, Atlantic Monthly.
(945)
EVANGELISM, APOSTOLIC
As the fairy god Ceres in the old Greek
mythologies went forth from Mount Olympus
moving over the desert land, touching
the miry bog and widening it into a river;
touching the thorn-tree and causing it to be
laden with olives, and the brier and it bears
its luscious figs; touching the desert plain
and it becomes a garden, so these disciples,
filled with the light and love of Jesus Christ,
go forth into the mortal darkness and spiritual
destitution of the heathen world until
under their influence pagan Rome casts all
her idol gods into the sea and crowns Jesus
King of kings and Lord of lords.—J. H.
Jowett.
(946)
EVANGELISM, UNHERALDED
In my mail the other evening I received this unsigned letter:
I won't let this incident pass without writing
to you of it. My little daughter is a
member of your Sunday-school. I do not
have any religious faith. All my life I have
been an unbeliever. The children of our
neighborhood went to Sunday-school, and
my little girl wanted to go with them. I
consented. She came home one Sunday with
certain verses to commit to memory, and
said that when she learned them perfectly
and recited them to her teacher, she would
get a Bible as a reward. Last Sunday she
did not return at the usual time. I waited
for her for a while, and then went to the
Sunday-school to see if she was there. I
went into a room, and at once saw my little
one standing and reciting the verses which
she had studied. The young lady who was
hearing her had her arm around her. Oh,
sir! I can not describe the feeling that went
through my whole being. I thought, If some
one had done that to me when I was a child,
what a different life I might have had! As
I stood looking upon the scene, I made up
my mind that I would start next Sunday and
go to church, and try and get into touch with
the spirit which the Sunday-school teacher
showed."—J. F. Carson, Sunday-school Times.
(947)
EVANGELISM, UNUSUAL
Rev. W. E. Bentley, who is rector of an
Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, has induced
nearly twenty young actors to quit the stage
and become Episcopal ministers. He maintains
what is almost a theological seminary.
(948)
EVANGELIZATION
In regard to the divine method for the evangelization of the world, the following bit of imagery is not without its deeper meaning. Mr. S. D. Gordon imagines that after Jesus went back to heaven, He and Gabriel had a conversation something like this:
Gabriel is saying: "Master, you died for
the whole world down there, did you not?"
"Yes." "You must have suffered much."
"Yes." "And do they all know about it?"
"Oh, no; only a few in Palestine know about
it so far." "Well, Master, what have you
done about telling the world that you have
died for them? What is your plan?"
"Well," the Master is supposed to answer, "I asked Peter and James and John and Andrew, and some more of them down there, just to make it the business of their lives to tell others, and others, and yet others, and still others, until the last man in the farthest circle has heard the story."
And Gabriel is supposed to answer: "Yes—but—suppose Peter fails. Suppose after a while John simply does not tell others. Suppose their descendants, their successors away off in the first edge of the twentieth century, get so busy that they do not tell others, what then?"
