Rapidity in Nature—See Growth in Nature.
RAPPORT
In missionary work, first and foremost,
confidence must be established and the heart
won. The missionary may be learned, may
be hard-working and godly, may be earnest
as John Knox, and indefatigable as Mr.
Moody, but if the people do not love him,
they will not listen to his doctrine. It is a
terrible fact that there are some missionaries
on the field who are not loved by the
people. While unlovely and unloved, all
they do is as wood, hay, and stubble. As in
wireless telegraphy, there must be harmony
of note between despatcher and receiver, so,
ere messages to the soul pass, despatcher
missionary and receiver Oriental must be
in tune. What wonders you can do when
the heart is won! The multitude may hold
you in its grip, from dawn till sunset, still
next day you are full of hope again. It is
the missionary in tune with God and with
the heart of the East who does the work.
Let much emphasis be put on the right key
as to the heart, for therein lies the secret.—James
S. Gale, "Korea in Transition."
(2611)
Rated High, Brought Low by Drink—See Drink, Peril of.
Reaction, The Law of—See Confidence,
Inspiring.
READINESS IN RETORT
Jedediah Burchard, the brilliant evangelist
of the middle years of the nineteenth century,
who swept like a flame over New York
and New England, was holding great prayer-meetings
at Danbury, Conn., before his
preaching services. At one of these
crowded prayer services, when many were
asking prayers for unsaved relatives and
friends, and a young man had earnestly besought
prayer for an aged father, a blatant
infidel who haunted the meetings simply to
interrupt, jumped up and said, "Mr. Burchard!
I want to ask prayers for—the
Devil!" "Go right on praying, brethren,"
said Mr. Burchard, "this man also wants his
father prayed for!" That interrupter never
again was heard of at a meeting.
(2612)
READING BY SCHEDULE
Rev. W. H. Fitchett writes about a great Methodist pioneer a paragraph that shows how an education may be acquired by regular and persistent toil.
The Staffordshire peasant, Francis Asbury,
traveling five thousand miles a year,
preaching incessantly, spending three hours
a day in prayer, and without a settled home,
yet had it as a fixt rule to read a hundred
pages daily. He made himself a scholar, and
mastered Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.—"Wesley
and His Century."
(2613)
Reading Current Literature—See Literature, Current.
Reading, Eloquent—See Lord's Prayer
Interpreted.
Reading Indispensable—See Education
to be Prized.
Reading the Gospel in Faces—See Face,
The, Revealing the Gospel.
REALISM
The art of painting pictures so near to
life as to deceive the naked eye is very old.
Pliny relates that Zeuxis once painted some
grapes so naturally that birds used to come
and peck at them, and that Parrhasius once
painted a curtain so artfully that Zeuxis desired
to draw it aside so that he could see the
picture it hid. Discovering his error, he
confest himself outdone, as he had only imposed
on birds, whereas Parrhasius had deceived
the human intellect. Another time
Zeuxis painted a boy with some grapes, and
when the birds again flew at the grapes he
was very angry, saying that he was certainly
at fault with the picture. He reasoned that
had it been perfect the birds would have
been frightened away by the boy.
Caius Valerius Flaccus says that Zeuxis' death was occasioned by an immoderate fit of laughter on looking at the comic picture he had drawn of an old woman.—Philadelphia Ledger.
(2614)
REALISM, REFRAINING FROM
He came unto the door of heaven,
Free as of old and gay;
"What hast thou done," the porter cried,
"That thou should'st pass this way?"
"Hast fed the hungry, clothed the poor?"
The vagrant shook his head.
"I drank my wine and I was glad,
But I did not give them bread."
