It may be that some of His professed followers may again fail Him, and that others will step in to do the service which He requires.  In the hour of darkness all His recognised disciples forsook him and fled; and when the tragedy on Golgotha was over, it was not Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, who rendered Him the last service, but holy, humble women, and Joseph and Nicodemus, who up till then had not been reckoned as disciples at all.  There are times in the history of the Church when our Lord seems “crucified afresh, and put to an open shame,” while His so-called disciples remain silent and hidden.  Superstition and sin still join hands to put the Christ to death, to bury Him, and seal His sepulchre.  But secret disciples are meanwhile avowing themselves; coming from the east, and the west, from the north, and from the south, to fill up the vacant places, to do the needed services, and to rejoice in a risen and glorified Lord.  Better by far the doing of a simple act of love to the Saviour who died for us—­such as Joseph did—­than loud professions of loyalty, or accurate knowledge of creeds.  Hear once more the solemn words of Jesus:  “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.”

        “And that voice still soundeth on
        From the centuries that are gone
        To the centuries that shall be! 
  From all vain pomps and shows, from the pride that overflows,
  From all the narrow rules and subtleties of Schools,
        And the craft of tongue and pen: 
  Bewildered in its search, bewildered with the cry: 
  ‘Lo here, lo there, the Church!’ poor, sad Humanity
  Through all the dust and heat turns back with bleeding feet
        By the weary road it came
  Unto the simple thought by the Great Master taught,
        And that remaineth still: 
        ’Not he that repeateth the Name
        But he that doeth the Will.’”

PHILIP, THE EVANGELIST

BY REV.  GEORGE MILLIGAN, M.A., D.D.

Philip the Evangelist must be carefully distinguished from Philip the Apostle.  And though it is little that we are told regarding him in Scripture, that little is very significant.  He first comes before us as one of the seven chosen by the early Church at Jerusalem to take charge of the daily ministration of charity to the poor widows (Acts vi.  I ff.).  And when this work is hindered by the outbreak of persecution following on the death of Stephen, we find him at once departing to enter on active missionary work elsewhere (Acts viii. 4 ff.).  The fact that he should have selected Samaria as the scene of these new labours, is in itself a proof that he was able to rise above the ordinary Jewish prejudices of his time.  And this same liberal spirit is further exemplified by the incident in connection with which he will always be principally remembered.