Young Christian: Volume 27, 1937

There lay in a large, pleasant room of a fine old residence a young woman suffering from spinal affection, brought on by a fall upon the ice while she was skating.

She was the only daughter of a proud, ambitious, haughty man, many of whose ways she had inherited. She had been envied for her beauty, her wealth, and her position, and now here she lay, helpless and hopeless.

The surgeons had said after their examination, when she insisted upon knowing the worst:

“You may live for years, but you will be an invalid and a great sufferer as long as you live.” The burden of her cry was,

“I am doomed to lie here, doomed to lie here!”

“Doomed to lie and look up!” said a timid voice one day, and turning her eyes, the sufferer saw a woman from a cottage near the village, who was moving about wiping the furniture in her room, and who, as she turned to leave, ventured to emphasize her words by a glance and a smile of sympathy.

“What can she mean by that?” the invalid thought, too surprised at the woman’s presumption to be angry. “If it is meant for preaching, I will have none of it!”

The thought remained with her. She could not see the ground anywhere, but her windows looked out into a large tree; and because her eyes must rest on something, she soon became familiar with the birds who made the tree their home. She noted the shadows cast by the sunlight, and the drip, chip of the rain. She gazed up at the clouds, noted the surpassing beauty of dawn, the glory of the sunsets, and watched the first star that smiled at her with its never failing beauty.

Those who took care of her noticed, that while she did not suffer less, she ceased complaining so much, and her mind seemed to have some new occupation.

When the woman came next, with her gentle step and her dust cloths, the girl said,

“Tell me something more about looking up.”

The woman replied:

“It is a wonderful thing to look up—to see a glorified Saviour on the throne of God, and to know Him and trust Him.”

“How did you learn all this?” asked the invalid; “you who are so busy.”

“Work is a blessing,” replied the woman. Then she told her the precious gospel of God’s grace to man in giving His Son to die for our sins, and she there and then believed it and the love of God was shed abroad in her heart—she was saved.

“But now,” said she, “I want to tell a wonderful thing that once happened to me. I was at work for a lady, and one day when I was dusting the outside shutters, she called me to mind the baby—who was sleeping in the cradle under the trees—and she said in the kind and gracious way she always had to everybody:

“‘Lie in the hammock, and look up; that is what I like to do when I am tired—I look up to God—I look up and love and trust Him.’

“I did so for nearly half an hour, and did as she told me, and looked up, up, until my soul reached God.

“When the lady came back she said, ‘Thank you; I hope you have seen that although we each have our different duties here, the life above is for us all in equal measure.’

“Well, I went back to my work a different woman.”

And then she said to the invalid:

“You were that baby, and the gentle lady was your mother. She lived less than a year after that morning.”

From that time forth the dear young lady lay and looked up. Her whole life and conduct became Christ-like and happy. She rose superior to her circumstances, and became a witness for Christ.

“They looked unto Him and were lightened; and their faces were not ashamed.” (Psa. 34:5).

“Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” (1 Peter 1:7, 8).

A New Year's Text

A very dear Christian lady, was suffering from much weakness, and as the New Year approached she was sad and oppressed.

For many years she had sought and received a New Year’s text from the Lord, and now, once more, the dear Christian lifted up her heart to her faithful God, who had been her stay so many years.

As she committed herself into His hands ere she fell asleep, she breathed out this simple, childlike prayer:

“Give me, O Lord, a word from Thyself to comfort me in the New Year.” Immediately the words came to her:

“Run with patience the race set before you, looking unto Jesus” all the way, “for the eyes of the Lord are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year” (Heb. 12:1,2, and Deut. 11:12).

She arose, cheered and encouraged in her God, and when her friends came to see her, she was delighted to tell them of the Lord’s goodness to her, saying, after she had ended her little story,

“There now! Must not that have been the Holy Spirit who brought these texts to my mind? I am sure I never could have thought of them myself; and you know it was the very word I needed. The Lord has just told me to run with patience the race He has set before me.”

Extract: Wanting in Love

In every instance in which we have been wanting in love to our brother, we have been wanting in love to Christ.

In All Thy Ways

“In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” (Prov. 3:6).

“All our ways.” He is willing to be our guide in the smallest things of life. Before writing an article, answering a letter, having an interview, or dealing with any problem, we need to look up to Him who is the Fountain of all wisdom. Look at the promise annexed:

“He shall direct thy paths.”

By day and by night He went before His people in the wilderness. He will do not less for those who today acknowledge Him in all their ways.

Copy of a Letter

Dear—

One day when you were out here, you were looking over a magazine in which you noticed the following comment,

“No Christian can be healthy in his Christian life if he mixes with the world. Acquaintances among the unsaved we must and should have, but where there is friendship with the world, there is enmity with God. The only reason for making a friend of an unsaved person, is to lead that one to Christ. How can you be at one with those who hate your Lord?”

You asked my opinion on this comment. I had that in mind when I handed you the tract, “Love not the world,” along with a few scriptures I had copied.

You have much for which to be thankful, in that God has so graciously delivered you from a most trying situation and given you, so quickly, work more desirable, and pleasanter, and with a more promising future. Starting in with different people gives you a chance to start over, as it were, free from worldly entanglements, free to be a testimony for Christ.

Yesterday morning I was reading the second chapter of Jeremiah—just my regular reading—how the Lord was pleading with Israel to repent of her idolatry and return to Him. I was quite struck with her reply,

“There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.” (verse 25).

Satan likes nothing better than to occupy the Lord’s children with “strangers” —anything to turn their hearts away from the Lord. If the old adage, “Give him an inch and he’ll take a mile” was ever true of anyone, it is true of Satan. If he can get just the tiniest wedge in between me and my loyalty to the Lord, he knows how rapidly he can widen the gap, leading on to such serious consequences as the Lord only can foresee. It is the same principle that was illustrated on the calendar leaf that I gave you.

Worldly people and unbelievers want to go to worldly places and do worldly things. If you or I show any inclination to associate with such people, they will naturally want us to do the same things with them. The only safe way is not to form any such ties or companionships; or, if they are already formed, to break them.

“Come out from among them, and be ye separate,” is God’s Word. (2 Cor. 6:17).

When Peter and John were released after their imprisonment in Jerusalem, (Acts 4), they went to “their own company” and reported the experience they had been through. This “company” being Christians, they praised God.

In Acts 12, when Peter was released from prison by an angel, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, surnamed Mark, “where many were gathered together praying.” Again, Peter went to his own company.

When Paul and Silas left the prison (Acts 16) they entered into the house of Lydia, another Christian home (verse 40). They, too, went to “their own company.”

When work is over, and duties are performed, and we have spare moments for relaxation and recreation, if we desire companionship, let us seek it in those who love the Lord. There is a satisfying and uplifting joy in Christian fellowship that cannot be imparted by unbelievers. Satan may say,

“O, have a little fun with these jolly good people. A little won’t do any harm.” But the minute our eye is turned away from the Lord, we are in danger.

All this may sound harsh and severe, and over strict, but we are not our own, we are bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:19, 20).

When once the believer completely surrenders himself to God, he will experience a deep peace and joy that he cannot possibly know while he is trying to please the Lord one minute, and do his own way the next. It takes many years for some Christians to learn this practically. How much easier and happier it would be if they would surrender themselves completely and without delay to the one who longs to fill their hearts.

You are young, my dear, and naturally desire companionship. We are all so busy and so widely separated that you have little opportunity to find this companionship in “your own company,” but you can pray to God about it. In prayer is found the solution of many a question.

Lovingly yours,

O! Hasten Thy Coming

“Through the dark path of sorrow

Which Jesus has trod,

Thy feeble ones wander,

Our Father, our God!

And the thick clouds that gather

But turn us away

From the waste, howling desert

Where He could not stay.

“O, hasten Thy coming!

We long for the day!

Bright Star of the morning,

No longer delay!

Let the groaning creation

From sorrow be free,

And the purchased possession

Be gathered to Thee.”

The Alabaster Box

(Matthew 26:6-13)

It is very needful to bear in mind, in this day of busy doing and restless activity, that God looks at everything from one standpoint, measures everything by one rule, tries everything by one touchstone, and that touchstone, that rule, that standpoint is Christ. He values things just so far as they stand connected with the Son of His love, and no farther. Whatever is done to Christ, whatever is done for Him, is precious to God. All beside is valueless.

A large amount of work may be done, and a great deal of praise drawn forth thereby, from human lips; but when God comes to examine it, He will simply look for one thing, and that is, the measure in which it stands connected with Christ. His great question will be, Has it been done in, and to, the name of Jesus? If it has, it will stand approved, and be rewarded; if not, it will be rejected and burned up.

It does not matter in the least what man’s thoughts may be about any particular piece of work. They may laud a person to the skies, for something he is doing; they may parade his name in the public journals of the day; they may make him the subject of discourse in their social circles; he may have a great name as a preacher, a teacher, a writer, a philanthropist, a moral reformer; but, if he cannot connect his work with the name of Jesus—if it is not done to Him and to His glory—if it is not the fruit of the constraining love of Christ, it will all be blown away like the chaff of the summer threshing floor, and sunk into eternal oblivion.

On the contrary, a man may pursue a quiet, humble, lowly path of service, unknown and unnoticed. His name may never be heard, his work may never be thought of; but what has been done, has been done in simple love to Christ. He has wrought in obscurity with his eye on his Master. The smile of his Lord has been quite enough for him. He has never thought, for one moment of seeking man’s approval; he has never sought to catch his smile or shun his frown; he has pursued the even tenor of his way, simply looking to Christ, and acting for Him. His work will stand. It will be remembered and rewarded, though he did not do it for remembrance or reward, but from simple love to Jesus. It is work of the right stamp—genuine coin which will abide the fire of the day of Christ.

The thought of all this is very solemn, yet very consolatory—solemn for those who are working, in any measure, under the eye of their fellows—consolatory for all those who are working beneath the eye of their Lord. It is an unspeakable mercy to be delivered from the time-serving, men-pleasing spirit of the present day; and to be enabled to walk, ever and only, before the Lord—to have “all our works begun, continued, and ended in Him.”

Let us look, for a few moments, at the lovely and most touching illustration of this, presented to us in “the house of Simon, the leper,” and recorded in Matthew 26.

“Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto Him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on His head, as He sat at meat.”

Now, if we inquire as to this woman’s object, as she bent her steps to Simon’s house, what was it? Was it to display the exquisite perfume of the ointment, or the material and form of her alabaster box? Was it to obtain the praise of men for her act? Was it to get a name for extraordinary devotedness to Christ, in the midst of a little knot of personal friends of the Saviour? No, reader, it was none of these things. How do we know? Because, the Most High God, the Creator of all things, who knows the deepest secrets of all hearts, and the true motive spring of every action—He was there in the person of Jesus of Nazareth—He, the God of know ledge, by whom actions are weighed, was present; and He weighed her action, in the balances of the sanctuary, and affixed to it the seal of His approval. He sent it forth as genuine coin of the realm. He would not, He could not have done this if there had been any alloy, any admixture of base metal, any false motive, any under current. His holy and all-penetrating eye went right down into the very depths of this woman’s soul. He knew, not only what she had done, but, how and why she had done it; and He declared,

“She hath wrought a good work upon Me.”

In a word, then Christ Himself was the immediate object of this woman’s soul; and it was this which gave value to her act, and sent the odor of her ointment straight up to the throne of God. Little did she imagine that her act would be stereotyped by the Master’s hand on the very pages of eternity, and never be obliterated. She thought not of this. She sought not, nor dreamed of such marvelous notoriety; had she done so, it would have robbed her act of all its charms, and deprived her sacrifice of all its fragrance.

But the blessed Lord to whom the act was done, took care that it should not be forgotten. He not only vindicated it at the moment, but handed it down into the future. Having the approval of her Lord was quite enough for the heart of this woman. She could well afford to bear the “indignation” even of “the disciples,” and to hear her act pronounced “waste.” It was sufficient for her that His heart had been refreshed. All the rest might go for what it was worth. She had never thought of securing man’s praise or of avoiding his scorn. Her one undivided object, from first to last, was Christ.

From the moment she laid her hand upon that alabaster box, until she broke it, and poured its contents upon His sacred Person, it was of Himself alone she thought. She had a kind of intuitive perception of what would be suitable and grateful to her Lord, in the solemn circumstances in which He was placed at the moment, and with exquisite tact she did that thing. She had never thought of the amount of money the ointment might bring; or, if she had, she felt that He was worth ten thousand times as much. As to “the poor,” they had their place, no doubt, and their claims also; but she felt that Jesus was more to her than all the poor in the world.

In short, the woman’s heart was filled with Christ, and it was this that gave character to her action. Others might pronounce it “waste;” but we may rest assured that nothing is wasted which is spent for Christ. So the woman judged: and she was right. To put honor upon Him, at the very moment when earth and hell were rising up against Him, was the very highest act of service that man or angel could perform. He was going to be offered up. The shadows were lengthening, the gloom was deepening, the darkness thickening. The cross—with all its horrors—was at hand; and this woman anticipated it all, and came beforehand to anoint the body of her adorable Lord.

And mark the result. See how immediately the blessed Lord enters upon her defense, and shields her from the indignation and scorn of those who ought to have known better.

“When Jesus understood it, He said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon Me. For ye have the poor always with you, but Me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on My body, she did it for My burial. Verily, I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.”

Here was a glorious vindication, in the presence of which all human indignation, scorn, and misunderstanding must pass away, like the vapor of the morning before the beams of the rising sun.

“Why trouble ye the woman, for she hath wrought a good work upon Me.”

It was this that stamped the act— “a good work upon Me.” This marked it off from all beside. Everything must be valued according to its connection with Christ.

A man may traverse the wide world in order to carry out the noble objects of philanthropy; he may scatter with a princely hand the fruits of a large-hearted benevolence; he may give all his goods to feed the poor; he may go to the utmost possible length in the wide range of religiousness and morality, and yet he may never have done one single thing of which Christ can say, “It is a good work upon Me.”

Reader, whoever you are, or however you are engaged, ponder this. See that you keep your eye directly upon the Master, in all you do. Make Jesus the immediate object of every little act of service, no matter what. Seek so to do your every work as that He may be able to say, “It is a good work upon Me.”

Do not be occupied with the thoughts of men as to your path or as to your work. Do not mind their indignation or their misunderstanding, but pour your alabaster box of ointment upon the person of your Lord. See that your every act of service is the fruit of your heart’s appreciation of Him; and be assured He will appreciate your work and vindicate you before assembled myriads.

Thus it was with the woman of whom we have been reading. She took her alabaster box and made her way to the house of Simon the leper, with one object in her heart, namely, Jesus and what was before Him. She was absorbed in Him. She thought of none beside, but poured her precious ointment on His head. And note the blessed issue. Her act has come down to us in the gospel record, coupled with His blessed name. No one can read the gospel without reading also the memorial of her personal devotedness.

Empires have risen, flourished, and passed away into the region of silence and oblivion. Monuments have been erected to commemorate human genius, greatness and philanthropy—and these monuments have crumbled into dust; but the act of this woman still lives, and shall live forever. The hand of the Master has erected a monument to her, which shall never, no never, perish.

May we have grace to imitate her; and in this day, when there is so much of human effort in the way of philanthropy, may our works, whatever they are, be the fruit of our heart’s appreciation of an absent, rejected, crucified Lord!

In Season and Out of Season

“To everything there is a season,” and the season for the gospel worker is this present moment—now; “the night cometh, when no man can work.” Never again will he have a better opportunity for working for eternity than this day offers.

“Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.”

Now is the period which may be brought to a close at any moment, for when the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, this “now,” this day of salvation will be over. Now, the golden present, the opportunity which will never return. Therefore, let us heed the scripture exhortation, “Be instant in season, out of season,” remembering that in and out of season means always, everywhere.

Nor is it only because the day is far spent and the night is at hand, that we need exhort one another to the work, for a deep desire after reality in divine things abounds in many hearts, and calls for the loving energy of every true servant of God.

The only ease infidelity offers is “a leap in the dark,” and the only balm formalism presents is an undefined shadow of a substance which may or may not be found when life is passed!

The no-belief of the skeptic covers unrest of soul; the ceaseless effort of the formalist to reach to rest evidences that the desired end is not attained.

But the true Christian has rest, for he has Christ, and Christ dwelling in the heart by faith fills the breast with life, light, and liberty, and it is the unanswerable witness to theories of darkness and doctrines of unrest.

Christians, you have “the treasure” (2 Cor. 4:7); in you is the fountain of living waters (John 7:38), and you are set here upon the earth to bestow of the treasure, and to communicate of the living waters to others. Men, women, and children around you thirst; they are poor, they need Christ, and God has given you His salvation, not merely for your own blessing, but that you may be a blessing to others—even as He said to Abraham,

“I will bless thee... and thou shalt be a blessing.”

And certain it is that the nearer a Christian dwells to the source of all blessing—God himself—the fresher, the sweeter, the richer are the streams of blessing that, through the Spirit, flow out of his heart to the refreshment and blessing of others.

Let us then arise, and shake off the dust of the earth from our souls, and go forth as from Christ to the Christless world, with hearts and hands laden with divine bounties to the unsaved and the unsatisfied. Be instant in season and out of season, for always do men need Christ, and peace, and rest, and joy.

The Faithful Jewess

Not very long ago, a young Jewess was brought to the Lord, and truly converted. Her husband had died a few years previously, leaving her with five little children to bring up and care for. In order to do so, she obtained a position in one of the departments of a large store: and it was during this time that her conversion took place.

She lost no time in letting it be known among her fellow-workers, with the necessary result that a great stir was caused, accompanied by much opposition. But the young Jewess was true to what she had learned of the Lord; and did not cease by word of mouth, as well as by her walk and ways, to testify of Christ. It was not long ere it reached the ears of her employer, and she was summoned into his presence.

“What is the meaning of all this that I hear about you and your Christ?” he asked. “You have been the cause of a great disturbance and stir among my assistants. This has got to stop. I will give you till the end of the month: and then, if you still persist in going on in this way, you must either give up your Christ, or give up your work, and go.”

The Jewess was somewhat taken aback by the turn affairs had taken; and was silent for a minute or two.

“That is going to be rather hard, Sir,” she said: “for, as you are aware, I am a widow with five young children to care for. But, if it comes to that, Sir, I’ll choose to give up my work, and starve, rather than give up my Christ.”

At the end of the month, she was again summoned into her employer’s rooms.

“Well,” he said, “I hear you are still speaking of your Christ. You remember what I told you?”

“Yes, Sir, I do” was the Jewess’ reply: “but my decision is unaltered.” Then the manager said,

“We have decided to retain you in the store, and you are to be the manager of your department.”

Her gratitude to God may better be imagined than described: and it is worthy of note that she continued to witness for the Lord as faithfully as before.

“Then that honor Me, I will honor: and they that despise Me, shall be lightly esteemed.” (1 Sam. 2:30).

“If any man serve Me, let him follow Me: and where I am, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him will My Father honor.” (John 12:26).

Would that, among the people of God today, there were more of that spirit of wholehearted devotion to Christ, which characterized the Jewess who was prepared to sacrifice everything that her heart would naturally count dearest to her, for His sake!

The Bosom of The Father

The bosom of the Father was an eternal habitation, enjoyed by the Son, in the ineffable delight of the Father— “the hiding-place of love,” as one has called it, “of inexpressible love which is beyond glory; for glory may be revealed, this cannot.”

The soul may have remained unexercised about such thoughts as these, but the saints cannot admit their denial.

“Son of God! Thy Father’s bosom

Ever was Thy dwelling-place;

His delight, in Him rejoicing,

One with Him in power and grace;

“O what wondrous love and mercy!

Thou didst lay Thy glory by,

And for us didst come from heaven

As the Lamb of God to die.”

Lost Years

A Christian soldier lay dying. As he looked back over his recent years he was condemning himself. It was true he had lived in an upright way, and his life had thus witnessed for righteousness. But he had not been active in seeking to make the Saviour known to others. Speaking to a fellow-believer he remarked,

“I die as a Christian, and I die contented; but O! if I could have died as a Christian worker.”

“I am peaceful and assured in view of death” he said later, “but I am not joyful and glad. Those three lost years keep coming back to me. Do you suppose,” he then inquired, “that we shall be able to forget anything after death? If so, I should like to forget those three years.”

And will not regret be ours, dear fellow-Christians, if we have wasted years to look back upon, years filled with self-serving and self-seeking, instead of with the service of Christ in seeking His glory, the comfort of His people, and the salvation of the lost?

Correspondence: Object of Thought in Eph. 3:18; 1 Cor. 3:17

Question: What was the object of thought before the mind of the apostle when he wrote the words, “Able to comprehend... what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height,” in Ephesians 3:18?

Answer: Some who have studied this passage long and closely have suggested that “the mystery” is before the mind of the Spirit. The mystery, or church, is clearly the grand theme of the epistle. It includes Christ in His heavenly and earthly glory, and the church associated with Him. She will then be, as His associate, high above all others, above every family in heaven and earth. That which God kept so long a secret in His own mind, may still be left in part so. And there we can happily leave it.

Who could define the glory that is due unto the Son, the Son whom the Father delights to honor? But that which is the foundation of the mystery, as well as its joy and glory, has been fully revealed, as the Apostle goes on to say,

“And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.”

We can never know His love perfectly, but we shall know it more and more. It has been fully revealed, and yet it must remain forever unfathomed. The Apostle is dealing with infinitudes, which to us now are divine paradoxes. It is of His love he speaks. That precious love is the spring of all blessing. It fills all, “all saints,” characterizes all, strengthens all, perfects all. The sons of God, as morning stars, shall shine forever, to the delight of His eye and His heart, in the eternal heavens of His love and glory. They will be the unfading luster of His throne, the immediate companions of His joys, and the perfect delight of His heart.

Question: Will you please explain 1 Corinthians 3:17?

Answer: In this chapter we have laborers in the assembly of God on earth. Paul laid the foundation, and others built on it, but everyone was to take heed how he built. Here we get responsibility. We have three samples of builders.

Verse 14 is a good builder, who builds according to the Great Architect’s plan, and he gets his reward.

Verse 15 is one who loses his work, though he is a saved man.

Verse 17 is an unsaved man, he and his work merit and receive destruction. Unsaved priests, ministers, class-leaders and all kinds of teachers are included in this.

What Made the Change in Old Charlie

Charlie was a terror to all who knew him in the town where he lived. The children would run away when they saw him coming, and no one wanted to be in his company.

A servant of the Lord who lived in the same town, used to call on Sunday afternoons from house to house leaving little gospel tracts. Charlie would often be sitting at his door, in his working clothes, untidy and dirty, pouring over a newspaper. The gentleman always greeted the old man kindly, but only received a surly grunt in reply.

Nothing daunted, he continued to call week by week at the cottage, leaving a little tract each time. If Charlie would not take it, he would lay it on a chair near the door. As he passed on, his heart was lifted in prayer that God would use the silent messenger, telling of His love to sinners, in blessing to the gruff old man.

And so the years went by, and the gentleman continued calling at Charlie’s cottage on his round, without any sign of encouragement from him. But one afternoon in answer to his knock, he heard the words,

“Come in, my friend, come in,” and on entering he was greeted with a bright and happy smile from the old man.

It was with a glad heart now, so welcomed, he entered the small room for the first time, and heard with joy from Charlie’s lips, how his eyes had been opened to see his need of the Saviour. The little books that had been left so often, he had for awhile been reading, and they had pointed him to God’s Word, which told Him of the Lord Jesus who was ready to pardon and forgive even such a great sinner as he was.

Simply as a little child he had believed on God who “raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:24, 25), and he was now rejoicing in the knowledge of the forgiveness of all his sins.

Full and deep was the thanksgiving and praise which rose from that little cottage that Sunday afternoon, as they knelt together to thank God for His great mercy to the old man who had for so many years resisted His loving entreaties.

Let me plead with those of my readers who have never yet come to that loving Saviour. Do not think because you are young you have plenty of time. God wants you to be saved now. He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9).

May this story encourage those who do know the Lord Jesus as their Savior, to continue seeking to spread His glad tidings, even though you may have to wait a long time, as this servant of the Lord did, before you see any result from your labors. Remember the verse which says:

“Let us not be weary in well-doing: For in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Gal. 6:9).

Extract: A Mountain Goes

“All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive.” (Matt. 21:22).

This supposes faith and intimacy, so to speak, with God. The heart is supposed to be in His interest, and then, if there is faith as a grain of mustard seed, a mountain goes.

Having Done All to Stand

Ephesians 6:13, 14

There are certain occasions when we have to “overcome”; others, when we have to “stand” (Eph. 6:13). How do we employ the corresponding days of peace which the Lord permits us to have? To strengthen ourselves in the truths God has given us, or to go to sleep amid comfortable surroundings, only to be unexpectedly awakened when Satan returns to the charge, and to find ourselves powerless in the presence of the enemy?

Those who are not fed are not able to fight. Let us use the times of prosperity in growing in our personal knowledge of the Lord, and in walking in communion with Him. We shall thus be strengthened to resist fresh attacks, and avoid falling into bondage more cruel than that from which we have escaped.

My Rock and My Savior

Mrs. M., who was lying on her bed, suffering great pain, made a touching and striking remark to me:

“Long ago I gave my body and soul to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my Rock and my Saviour, and I am well cemented on that Rock!” This was said with deep feeling, it plainly showed me that she knew how secure she was and is in Him.

“On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand.”

It seems to me that this dear woman, in her simple way, gave utterance to a sublime truth; she knows that the sheep of Christ shall “never perish, neither shall any pluck them out” of His hand; that the believer is as truly connected with Him as the members of the body with the head, and it is her joy to rest in assurance that, by God’s grace, she is so “well cemented” on the Rock that no storm can ever move her from that place of safety.

“For who is God save the Lord? or who is a Rock save our God?” (Psa. 18:31).

Riches and Poverty

2 Corinthians 8:9

He reigned in heaven, and angels stood

In silent awe before His throne,

Where rays of glory, like a flood

Of ambient luster, o’er Him shone;

And heaven’s eternal arches rang,

Filled with the echo of His name,

Where thousand times ten thousand sang

With ceaseless joy and glad acclaim;

While ranks of shining seraphim

Struck their bright harps of praise to Him.

He came on earth, the Son of Man,

He laid His wondrous glory by—

Who in that human face might scan

Trace of that power that ruled the sky?

Few were His hours of rest and brief;

His lips refuse the cup of mirth,

A Man of sorrows and of grief,

He bore the destiny of earth:

A day of toil, night of prayer,

He taught His wearied frame to bear.

He lived in heaven, the King of kings,

The God of hosts, the Lord of all;

The angels spread their glorious wings,

Prompt to obey His every call:

And joy unmingled, unsubdued,

Unknown, ineffable delight,

Fell o’er the blessed throng who stood

Before His footstool day and night;

No eye hath seen, no ear hath heard,

The bliss of heaven’s eternal Lord.

He bore on earth a dreary lot,

His holy heart with anguish torn;

He came, His own received Him not,

He drank the dregs of shame and scorn.

Forsaken in His bitterest hour,

His chosen followers left His side:

Can this be He? the God of power!

Despised, rejected, crucified!

A crown of mockery on His head,

And those He loved and trusted, fled!

Yes, this is He, and this, is love,

Love unimagined and unknown;

He left His Father’s joys above,

Turned from His kingdom and His throne;

Yea, cast aside His holy crown,

A weary wayfarer became;

Bore e’en Jehovah’s bitter frown,

Endured the cross, despised the shame,

Then conquered hell and burst the grave,

And rose omnipotent to save.

The Epistle to the Romans

Chapter 8:14-18

Great and exceedingly precious truths have been before us in connection with the Holy Spirit’s presence on earth, dwelling in each believer, but much remains to engage our attention in the division of the chapter which begins with the 14th verse. The Spirit is the strength, the power of the new life; and the thoughts, desires and affections of the new nature are ours, practically, by His action in our souls, as we have seen; but there is another part of the work of God in us which is directly associated with the presence and operation of the Holy Spirit, and that is our relationship to God.

In the Old Testament the position before God of believers is rarely called “sons” or “children”, and in those cases, in the original Hebrew, a single word is used: “ben”, meaning offspring, without indicating whether male or female. But the usual term is “servants”, in the sense of bondservants or slaves. (See for instance, Gen. 26:24; Lev. 25:55; Josh. 1:2; 2 Sam. 7:5).

Here in verse 14 God’s evident purpose is to contrast the position of believers in this time of free grace to Jew and Gentile alike with that of Israel under law.

“As many as are led by the Spirit of God” —the true mark of the Christian— “they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the (or a) spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”

How great is the difference—not a slave in bondage, but a son, adopted by God!

By the Spirit then we cry, Abba, Father. So also is it written,

“And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father.” (Gal. 4:6).

“Abba” is Aramaic, the language used by the Jews when the Lord was on earth; “Father” is the translation of the same term of relationship (Pater), from the Greek in which it was written—the commonly used language of Gentiles in Palestine and other lands at that time. This expression is found in a third place in Scripture. (Mark 14:36), where the Lord is praying in the garden of Gethsemane. Does it not make known to both Jewish and Gentile believers that God desires to be known as Father by everyone who comes to Him through Christ?

The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of adoption because He it is who brings us into everything that is attached to this precious relationship of sons, and as we get presently, of children before God. Mark how completely it is the Spirit’s working in believers and directing their thoughts, words and actions that characterizes their position according to the Scriptures. We, believing God in what He has said concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, are justified from all sin, are born again and given eternal life and a new nature; given the Word of God, too; but the presence and indwelling of the Spirit gives power, hope, love, joy, peace, intelligence, and very much more in the path of faith.

And now, in verses 16 and 17, a further unfolding is given of our relationship to God.

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God; and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.”

Our position then, in contrast with that of the believers under the law, is that we are sons, but our proper relationship is that of children; “sons” suggests the thought of privilege, a state into which we are brought before God, while “children” implies intimacy of relationship.

The sixteenth verse makes plain that the Holy Spirit is a person, distinct from the believer in whom He dwells, for “the Spirit bears witness with our spirit.” He takes part in all that I have from God through Christ. Observe here too, that we have the positive witness that we are, and do not merely hope to be, children of God.

Ah, dear young Christian, are you in the conscious enjoyment of this precious relationship with God? The Spirit of God dwells in you; does His leading give character to your life?

How, do you ask, is this bearing witness by the Holy Spirit carried out in the believer? It has been very simply explained. Dwelling in me, acting in me, He has produced in me the affections of a child of God, and by these affections the consciousness that I am one of His children. Then, though I have the written and infallible Word of God to give me the assurance that I am His child (see John 20:17; 1 John 3:1, 2, where “children” should be read instead of “sons”; and other passages) the indwelling Spirit tells me Himself that I am. I have this testimony in my heart, in my relationship with God, but the Holy Spirit as distinct from me bears testimony to me.

Verse 17: “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him that we may be also glorified together.” We who believe in Christ are heirs of what God possesses; Christ is the constituted heir of all things (Heb. 1:2), but in Him we have obtained an inheritance, and the Holy Spirit is the earnest of it (Eph. 1:11, 14). We are to share it with Christ. Amazing grace!

There is a condition attached to this sharing of His inheritance; it is, “if so be that we suffer with Him.” Not all of us are permitted to suffer for Him, but all who are genuinely His, suffer with Him. If the Holy Spirit dwells within us, He must necessarily bring out in us feelings that correspond to Christ’s.

When that blessed one passed through this world, He suffered because everything was opposed to Him, and we who have the divine nature pass in measure through the same suffering. Sin has put its stamp on everyone here; misery abounds; man is at a distance from God, the victim of his own desires and the prey of Satan. Having the life of God, a nature suited to Him, we suffer at every token of dishonor done to Christ. How precious is this tie which binds us to Christ, by reason of which we, joint-heirs with Him of coming millennial glory, are permitted to taste a little of what He suffered in a world where sin has placed its stamp on all, ere we go to be with Him in a scene where sin and death can never come!

In the 18th verse the Apostle compares the sufferings of believers in the present period with the coming glory, and out of his own experience, far beyond that of any other follower of Christ, he tells us that these sufferings are of no account in comparison with that glory.

(To Be Continued. D.V.)

The Unity of the Church of God - An Address: Part 1

Part 1.

“And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.” (Eph. 1:22, 23).

“There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.” (Eph. 4:4).

Whence came that church? It must be a wonderful church if He is Head of it, and it is His body. What was its origin? The only place we learn about these things is in the Word of God. Suppose we read a well-known verse in the 16th of Matthew:

“Upon this rock I will build My church.”

Here is something that must be very precious to Christ, because it is “My church”, and He says, “I will build it.” If it is His, and He is the builder, surely He has all right, authority and title as to all that concerns that church— “My church.”

In Matthew 18:20 there is a little verse that links on with this, “For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them.”

This church is so precious to Christ; it is His; He is Head of it, that He, Himself, as it were, takes personal charge of it: “there am I in the midst.” If the church only realized that that blessed One is there, claiming that position, the Head of the church, the one in their midst, how that ought to inspire us with reverence and awe—all that concerns the welfare and destiny of Christ’s church in this world. That church means much to God, whether it means anything to you or not. It means much to Christ, though perhaps there might be those here, to whom it means nothing.

There is a verse in Ephesians 3:21, “Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

All that accrues to God in the nature of glory at this present time, is wrapped up with the interests and welfare and destiny of that church. I wonder if you ever stopped to think how much the church means to God. We cannot think rightly in divine things at all if the church has no part in our thinking.

“Head of the church which is His body.” He is the builder; He brought it into existence; it belongs to Him.

Perhaps it would be well to see historically when this church began. Evidently it did not exist in Matthew 16, for He did not say, “I am building” but “I will build.” It was still a future thing. If we look at the first of the Acts it will bring us closer to its genesis.

“And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of Me” (1:4).

There is a promise He makes—a very important promise—a physical promise. How much hinges on that promise. Look at the next chapter, and we will see that promise fulfilled,

“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (2:1-4).

There, beloved brethren, as is well-known to most of us here, is the beginning of that thing that Christ announced in the 16th of Matthew— “My church.”

There were perhaps one hundred and twenty in that upper room; most of them had believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for some time; they knew Him and loved Him, but they were not members of the body of Christ. There was not that union with Him in the power of the Holy Spirit that is so familiar to us now; just a hundred and twenty believers. Suddenly there came down from heaven that promise of the Father, that Spirit of God, instantaneously uniting them into one body. That was a union never to be dissolved—a unity formed for eternity. That act which took place there in the 2nd of Acts, abides forever.

If we turn to 1 Corinthians 12:13, we find these words: “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”

From the 2nd of the Acts on, we have in existence the church of God, but up to this time we find the material is Jewish. God has in mind to baptize both Jews and Gentiles into one body. God is not going to be satisfied that His church be composed only of Jews. They were the ones who had the oracles of God and the promises of the Old Testament, but now the vine is going to run over the wall. God is going to blast that middle wall, and bring both into the best place that His own divine wisdom and divine counsels could bring into being. He is going to bring Jews and Gentiles into one body, uniting them to a glorified Christ, giving them a heavenly destiny and a heavenly calling. Up to this time the material is Jewish. Turn to the 8th of the Acts, and you will find the thing broadening out.

“Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them” (ver. 5).

“But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the Name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women” (ver. 12).

“Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (for as yet He was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit” (vers. 14-17).

(To Be Continued)

Extract: The Object of Interest

If the Word of God be not an object of interest to our hearts, something injurious will usurp its place, and thus the affections and desires will be turned from Him who alone is entitled to them, and who says,

“My son, give Me thine heart.” (Prov. 23:26).

Something Worth Living For

Whoever has been used of God as the instrument to write upon the tablets of a human heart the name of Jesus, has not lived or labored in vain.

On some hearts are written fame, glory, power; on others, words not only corruptible but corrupt—avarice, oppression, sensuality; for a man is what fills his heart, and for the treasure of his heart he lives. Now, on our hearts inscribed with our objects, God uses the ministry of His gospel to engrave the name of His Son, and when that name is graven in the affections, the life is changed, and the objects are altered, and a man is a Christian indeed.

Paul sums up the noblest Christian living in these words:

“To me to live is Christ”; Christ, not self; Christ, not fame, or glory, or power; Christ, no longer avarice, or oppression, or sensuality; for where Christ dwells, there He reigns, and where He reigns there peace and joy dwell. The heavy burden of unforgiven sin is exchanged for the burden of His yoke; the bondage of legal effort, for the liberty wherewith He makes us free; the drudgery of religious duty, for the bright joy of serving the Lord.

What holds good for the ministry of the gospel to the unconverted, is equally true for ministry for the Christian. The great aim of ministry for God’s people should be to fill their hearts with Christ.

Now, he or she who can so influence his or her fellow-Christians as to lead them to make much of Christ, has not lived or labored in vain! Such work will stand in the great testing day, when the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

The Need of Prayer

It is of the essence of the new nature that the believer has to live in dependence on God, and to find its present exercise in the midst of trials, by cultivating that confidence in Him which finds its proper expression in prayer.

Even Christ, Himself God’s wisdom, habitually waited on God, prayed at all times where men least look for it, and spent the night in prayer when the occasion called for it. If He then, Who never lacked wisdom, so lived, how much should we be ashamed of our failure in so drawing near to God, and drawing from Him what He so readily gives!

Guidance

Some of you have been exercised lately I believe, about how you may know the will of God in matters of everyday life. It is a very blessed thing to acknowledge God in the very smallest detail of our lives.

“In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” (Prov. 3:6).

Not only in the big undertakings, but in all the little things as well. God is deeply interested in them all, and He delights to be consulted by His children about all their goings. I’m sure if we always “acknowledge” God we would get on better and happier than we often do.

I knew a Christian girl, a dressmaker, who was one of those that consulted God about her everyday life. She had a hard earthy master to serve, and there were constantly difficulties cropping up about ladies’ dresses in her daily employment.

“I just tell God about them,” she said, “and it’s wonderful the deliverances I receive. I ask His help and guidance in meeting with customers, and He always gives it.”

No wonder she was kept peaceful and happy. I remember a young engineer telling me, that every time he moved the handle of his engine to draw up men from the coal pit, he lifted up his heart to God for guidance, and by this means he was kept in dependence on God all the day long.

I know worldly people, and some Christians too, smile at all this. They think it weak and childish; they rather “use their wits” in these things. Very well, let them do so: one day they will come to their “wits end” as the Bible says (see Psa. 107:27); then they will be cast on God.

In all things on which God has spoken in His Word, it is ours to obey promptly, but there are thousands of details in our daily lives, for which we have no “chapter and verse” command, and in these we are to “acknowledge” Him; seeking His guidance, and watching with single eye to see His hand open up a pathway for us. When you need a situation, a suit of clothes, a ship’s berth, a seat in a train, tell God about it: everything is in His hand, under His control, and He can—and will if He sees fit—cause every created thing to serve His trusting saints.

Ask counsel of the Lord when you are in doubt, and faithful is the Word,

“Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.” (Psa. 37:5).

Pilgrims and Strangers

Our ways and habits should be those of strangers, citizens of a foreign country, whose language, and laws, and customs are but poorly known here. Flesh and blood cannot appreciate them, and therefore it is not well with the, saints of God when the world understands them.

Purpose of Heart

Put your whole heart into whatever you do for the best of Masters—the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a fine text in 2 Chronicles 31:21, “In every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.”

Now, may it be true of you, dear young friends, who love the Lord, and before Him seek that which is “good and right and truth,” and whatever you do may be done for Him with all your heart. Half-hearted people are poor servants, and we should not be poor servants of our Lord and Savior. It is a happy sight to witness a child serving his mother with all his heart, doing his very best for love’s sake. The Lord of all is pleased with such service rendered to Him.

The Bible

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God... that the man of God may be perfect.” (2 Tim. 3:16, 17).

It is of the utmost importance to a believer to know that God has given a Book to all His children which, if they use aright, will furnish them unto “every good work,” so that they do not require to go outside it for instruction or counsel in anything connected with their lives, or anything God would have them do. This is of great value to us to remember, in times when men are attacking the Word of God, and critics are leaving little to us of the Bible.

Correspondence: Heaven Immediately?; Iniquity/Transgressions/Sin; Genealogies

Question: Is the soul, in every case of conversion, as immediately fitted for heaven as in the case of a penitent thief on the cross?

Answer: Surely it is. The standing of the believer in Christ, and his title to heaven, are the same from the first.

In the preaching of the gospel, the sinner is invited to come to Christ just as he is. No matter what may be his state of mind at the time, or his past history, he is entreated where he is, and as he is, to believe God’s testimony concerning His beloved Son, to look in faith to Christ, to come in heart to Him; and with this assurance from Christ Himself,

“Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37). All that come are received. None are rejected. But they are received when they come, and never cast out.

There is no thought in the gospel of the sinner needing to do anything, feel anything, or be anything, to fit him for the Saviour. The sinner is addressed as lost. There can be nothing lower than this. There may be many degrees in sin but there can be none in that awful word “Lost.” In this condition he is invited, entreated, besought, to look to Jesus, and be saved.

“Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” (Isa. 45:22).

Salvation meets the sinner, not for looking, or after looking, but in looking.

Was it the first, second, or third look at the brazen serpent that was new life to the dying Israelite? We all know it was the first. When he looked he lived (Num. 21:9).

And so must it ever be with the perishing sinner. When he looks to Jesus he is saved. And let us not forget, that what meets him is “the salvation of God”; which includes every spiritual blessing.

Question: What is the difference between “iniquity,” “transgression” and “sin”? Have we all iniquity?

Answer: Iniquity is self-will and unrighteousness. Transgression is breaking the law. Sin is offense against God.

We have all sinned against God, but we may say, as in Isaiah 53:6, “Jehovah hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Question: Why are the genealogies in Matthew and Luke different?

Answer: The difference will be better understood by considering the subject of each gospel.

Matthew presents the Lord Jesus as heir of the promises and heir of the throne of Israel. To be this he must have a legal title by His birth through Joseph, who was the natural heir to the throne. So Matthew’s Gospel gives Joseph’s genealogy, who was the husband of Mary; this gave Jesus the title as Joseph’s Son.

In Luke the Lord is presented as Son of Man. Jesus was of the royal lineage of David, but was only supposed to be the Son of Joseph. Matthew 1:20 and Luke 1:35 show His miraculous conception by the Holy Ghost. We must find therefore the actual genealogy in Luke. Mary, therefore, was of David’s line, but through Nathan, not Solomon; from there the line is different. Now Joseph, the supposed father of Jesus, was not the son of Heli, but was the son of Jacob (Matt. 1:16). So we must leave out the words in italics and read: Jesus... was of Heli, of Matthat, of Levi,... of Adam, of God. Jesus was of all these.

From David’s sons the line varies because the one is Joseph’s and the other Mary’s genealogy. Mark presents the Lord as the Son of God as Servant, so begins when His service begins, with no genealogy. John presents Him as Son of God, the eternal Word, who was with God and was God. God has no beginning, no parentage.

My Heart Is So Hard!

It pleased God to visit the town of H., and the surrounding villages, with a time of general awakening. It bore no resemblance to those seasons of fitful and forced excitement, resulting from laborious efforts in what are called “special services,” which are too often mistaken for revivals in the present day. It was a time in which the awakening and converting power of God’s Holy Spirit was like “showers on the grass,” or “a dew from the Lord that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men” (Mic. 5:7).

The preaching of the gospel was attended by crowds who had not been wont to attend it; seriousness sat on every countenance while listening to the Word; old and young, men, women and children, were impressed with the importance of eternal things; and numbers, among whom many have fallen asleep, but the greater part continue to this day, “were turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.”

One of the converts in this time of blessing was Sarah A., a married woman of middle age, humble circumstances, and no education; but a person of stronger mind than many whose advantages were greater than hers. How she was first led to consider her fallen state, and solemn prospects for eternity, I do not at this distance of time remember; but her convictions and distress were so deep and long continued, as to leave an impression which no lapse of time could erase. Regular in her attendance on the preached Word, and diligent in searching the Scriptures, she cried earnestly to God for mercy, and was always ready to listen to any Christian who would converse with her on the solemn question of how she was to be saved. For months her distress continued, amounting sometimes almost to agony; and nothing that was addressed to her seemed to afford the least relief. Her case became the subject of frequent and anxious conference among those who were laboring for the Lord; and often did they unite in prayer on her behalf, but still deliverance was delayed. The constant burden of Sarah A.’s complaint was the hardness of her heart.

“My heart is so hard,” she would say; “I see what a sinner I have been, but I cannot feel it. I believe all you tell me, but though my sins stare me in the face, I cannot shed a tear; my heart is as hard as a stone. What is to become of me, poor, wretched, hardened sinner that I am?”

Often and often was she told that we are not justified by feeling, but by faith: that even faith justifies only as it receives Christ, and trusts in Him, in whom all the saving virtue dwells; while she, on the other hand, was trying to make a Saviour of the softened, tender feelings after which she craved. I remember saying to her,

“Hardhearted as you are, it was for such as you that Jesus died. Come to Him as you are. Bring your hard heart to Him. Behold the Lamb of God. One believing look to Jesus will do more to soften your heart than pouring over your sins and impenitence will do in a year. You wish for penitential feelings as a warrant for looking to Jesus and trusting in His precious blood; but depend upon it, if ever you have such feelings as you desire, they will be the effect of beholding Him by faith—of believing God’s record of His Son.”

But all seemed to be in vain. While actually holding up before her the love of God in the gift of Jesus, and the love of Jesus in dying on the cross for His very foes, her attention would be fixed, and the hope awakened in one’s breast that she was drinking in the good news. But no sooner did the sounds cease, than she would reply, with such a look of settled despondency,

“It is all true, but I can feel nothing; my heart is as hard as a stone!”

One day, when we had almost become accustomed to her despairing looks and accents, we were all startled by hearing that Sarah A. was rejoicing in the Lord. No time was lost in visiting her, to hear from herself how this change had come to pass. Its reality was apparent in her countenance, and in her whole demeanor. Her account was as follows:

“Last night was a dreadful night. Lying awake, and thinking of my sins, wondering how it was that I could neither feel them nor get rid of them, it seemed to me that God was quite giving me up to the hardness of my heart, and that there was nothing for me but the worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not quenched. What a night have I had! Towards morning I got upon my knees and began to cry to God. How long I continued I cannot tell; but what the Bible says about God so loving the world as to give His Son, and about Jesus dying on the cross, came to my mind, and somehow I began to think of His love, and I could think of nothing else. Before I was aware of it, my heart melted, and I found myself weeping to think of what Jesus had suffered for my sins. My tears flowed so fast, and yet they were not so much tears of sorrow as of joy. My load was gone, and I could only praise my Saviour, and weep before Him, that He should have died for such a wretch as me. What love! to die upon the cross for such a wretch as me!”

Such was her account; and, she gave it, she who had never shed a tear when bemoaning the hardness of her heart, wept profusely as she dwelt upon the love of Christ, exclaiming, again and again,

“O the precious blood of Christ. That precious blood! It even avails for me!”

The change was as abiding as it was evident. It is many years now since the writer, from change of residence, lost sight of Sarah A.; but as long as he had the opportunity either of observing her or hearing of her, she was rejoicing in Christ, and enabled, amidst much outward trial, to adorn the doctrine of God, her Saviour.

Dear reader, are you, like this poor woman, looking into yourself for some softening of heart, for some deeper sense of sin, before you trust your soul to Jesus? May you learn by her case, that the only way to have your hard heart softened, is to look to Jesus as you are.

“Behold the Lamb of God!” It was for sinners such as you that His blood was shed; and His “blood cleanseth us from all sin.”

Nothing but Thy blood, O Jesus,

Could relieve the sinner’s smart;

Nothing else from guilt release us,

Nothing else could melt the heart.

Sense of sin doth only harden,

All the while it works alone;

But the grace that seals our pardon,

Soon dissolves a heart of stone.

Fragment: No Time for Murmuring or Fretting

If for each blessing we would thank God, there would be no time left us to murmur and fret.

The One Who So Loved Me

Jesus, I know that Thy blood can save,

For I know it has saved me;

I once feared death, and the dark, dark grave,

And the darker eternity.

I felt my sins were a fearful load;

No language my sorrow could tell;

And ah! as I walked the broad, broad road,

I knew ‘twas a journey to hell.

But I heard of one who loved me so,

That He came from His throne on high,

To bear the weight of my sins and woe,

And to bleed on the cross, and die.

He washed my sins in the crimson flood

That flowed from His open side,

And I knew I was saved by the precious blood

Of the Lord who was crucified.

So, now, a sinner redeemed by blood,

In Christ accepted I stand,

And wait, as a blood-bought child of God,

For my home in the heavenly land.

And this is the joy I seek below,

As I sing of His love so free,

That others the wondrous love may know,

Of the one who so loved me.

His All-Seeing Eye

“The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.” (Psa. 34:15).

Jesus knew where the animal stood that was to carry Him into Jerusalem. He knew where His prophet Jonah tried to hide. He needed no one to direct Him to Abraham’s tent. None had to tell Him that Nathanael had been under the fig tree. He knew beforehand the plight of the Syrophoenician woman and for the purpose of helping her He went all the way up into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.

He knows, He loves, He cares.

Influence

A man is known by the company he keeps, says the proverb, and real greatness affects those who approach it. If we would be like Christ, we need be much in His company. When the wisdom and boldness of the apostles staggered their enemies, there was but one way of explaining the difficulty—

“They took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13).

Bethany - Response: Part 1

(Mark 11:11; Jeremiah 7:11)

Part 1

Leaving the temple, its ritual and ceremonies—the falsity of mere profession seen and appraised by Him as hateful (compare Col. 2:19-23), Jesus turns away to Bethany, characterized in the sight of heaven as “the town of Mary and her sister Martha” (John 11:1), to find response to His love that ever cheered the “Man of Sorrows.” The place where His loved ones lived was dear to His heart.

After rising from the grave triumphantly, we find the Lord giving His company to humble followers in an “upper room,” rather than in temple courts, further emphasizing His own words as to the gorgeous temple:

“Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” (Matt. 23:38).

He still “looks round about upon all things,” seeing not only the profane and immoral, but also the worldwide nauseous religious profession that ignores His Person, love and claims. Away from all such semblance of devotion He would lead the “little flock,” and give His company to hearts drawn by His love to render response He values.

In our days those all-seeing eyes still behold the secret intents of every heart: He sadly, yet lovingly, looks upon those of His own redeemed ones who choose the company and pursuits of His defamers, as He looked upon Peter, in order that they too may “weep bitterly” for having wounded His loving heart, even though delivered from the terrors of the damned, rescued from the horrors of an endless hell, and claimed by the love that sought and found their lost souls. His look of love assures recovery to Bethany; produces the heartfelt response toward Him which His loving heart desires. Thus the restored soul with kindred spirits may consort, that the repast prepared for Him at Bethany long ago, may still be spread to refresh the “High and lofty one” who yet deigns to abide with “humble, contrite spirits” found at the Bethany He loves.

Bethany afforded Him, of old, His last resting place on earth. Not from the temple or confines of Jerusalem, but from Bethany, He ascended. As from Bethany still, as from the hallowed presence of the Lord, loyal hearts may be found viewing the world’s religious and irreligious disregard for His Person, work and Word; and feeling, besides, the deeper grief to His heart occasioned by the cold indifference of any of His own, whose first love He laments as “left” (compare Rev. 2:4). Such loyal hearts, such sharers of “His reproach,” turn away from “the camp” (Heb. 13:13), in order to welcome Him in, as Martha did into “her house”; adopting the young believer’s answer “every room,” when asked the question, “Have you any room, for Jesus?”

The blessed Lord comes when and where He is wanted. May we “perceive” in the “Holy One” (as the Shunamite did in the “holy man of God,” 2 Kings 4:9,10) such attractiveness as may lead us to desire His company; to make for Him a “little chamber” on the “wall” of separation; to minister to His rest (the “bed”); obediently to learn at His feet (the “stool”); and to have the light of His Word (the “candlestick”) dismiss all darkness from the chamber, from the heart, He occupies. Such chambers will not be tenantless.

John 14:23 tells us that abiding occupancy by the Father and by the Son is assured. Our Beloved’s communings He directs to hearts (Luke 24:32), not to intellects. A heart for us how wondrously He has evidenced! Those who have a heart for Him yield refreshing to the glorious God, who by every right lays claim to undivided hearts.

A sanctuary we may provide as we answer our Father’s plea, “My son, give Me thine heart” (Prov. 23:26); the plea of Christ our Lord, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Eph. 3:17); and welcome the entrance of the Spirit, “because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts” (Gal. 4:6); and enjoy His love, “because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts” (Rom. 5:5); and seek to honor the sacred Word of the living God,

“Thy Word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against Thee.” (Psa. 119:11).

(To be continued)

Extract: The Gospel

The gospel is not producing a happy world, or spreading out a Garden of Eden. It proposes no such thing, but to take out of the world a people, a Heavenly people, for Christ. But the presence of the Lord will make a happy world bye and bye, when that presence can righteously return unto it.

Zeal

I was one day walking along a road at what I thought at the time was a good pace. Presently I heard someone overtaking me, and in a moment or two a man, much smaller in stature than myself, caught me up, and easily passed me. Seeing one so small making better progress than I was, immediately stirred me to put forth more energy, and of course, being the taller of the two, I quickly overtook the little man, and as quickly left him behind. He had not slackened his pace, but I had practically doubled mine.

“Your zeal hath provoked very many.” (2 Cor. 9:2).

Is there not a lesson for us in this, dear fellow believer? Of prominent gift we may have but little. We may be small in stature. But if what we have is made the most of, we are bound to be, not only a blessing ourselves, but an encouragement to others who have perhaps far more ability, but who are faltering through discouragement. We never know how far-reaching our influence is.

“Your zeal hath provoked very many.”

Many eyes are upon us, dear friends. Let us be zealous, therefore, in everything, and our reward will be great. Our opportunities will soon be gone. Today is all we have. May we be stirred up then to increased energy in the interests of our Lord, of His saints, and of poor, perishing sinners.

The Only Lever

With what are you seeking to move those dull, heavy sinners heavenwards? You will never stir one of them an inch with aught else save the cross of Christ. Not all the army of morality, education, and reasoning will bring one soul out of the darkness of sin into the light of God’s glory. All the excelsiors of the day, lift no soul higher than the earth.

And what lever is it with which you raise the souls of God’s people above the world? Would you use a tool made out of the world? There is no power for practical godliness like the cross, and none at all apart from it. Leave out the cross, and what is Christ to you? It is the crucified Christ who is glorified, none other. And if you know Him not, as the one who died for sinners, you are surely ignorant of Him altogether.

A Searching Question

If a friend to whom you are greatly indebted should ask you to speak a word to your acquaintances in favor of some cause in which he was interested you would do it readily enough.

Your Saviour, who has done so much for you, asks you to make known His gospel wherever you can. Do you comply as readily with His wish as with that of an earthly friend? It requires little effort to speak if your heart is warm with love for Him, and no one can estimate the good you may do to souls that are perishing for want of a friendly word of warning, as the following incidents will show.

Two young men stopped at a wayside brook to water their horses. They were strangers traveling in different directions in more senses than one. As they paused a moment, one addressed a kindly word to the other about the interests of his soul. Then they both passed on, never to meet again.

But the young men addressed could not shake off the impression of those words, but turned them over and over during his solitary ride. This circumstance led to his conversion, and, though a young man of great wealth and brilliant prospects, he renounced all in order to preach the gospel in a foreign land. Not till someone sent him The Life of James Brainerd Taylor, with a portrait, did he learn who it was to whom he was so much indebted.

Just try the experiment of speaking a word for the Saviour to the acquaintances whom you meet so often who have no hope in Christ. They expect it of you.

A young lady at a boarding school seemed so utterly indifferent, so studiously cold, that though it was a time of awakening among the girls, no one felt willing to address her. At length one who had long mourned over her case determined to make at least one direct appeal. That appeal brought a gush of tears from the seemingly haughty girl.

“I thought no one cared for my soul,” she said, with deep feeling. She was soon rejoicing in the knowledge of forgiveness, and her case taught me a lesson I can never forget.

“If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand” (Ezek. 33:8).

On one occasion Charles S. was summoned to the dying bed of a brother. Entering the room, the relative extended his hand and, with deep emotion, said,

“I am dying, and you never warned me of the state I was in, and of the danger to which I was exposed through neglecting the salvation of my soul!”

“Nay, my brother,” replied Mr. S., “I took every reasonable opportunity of bringing the subject before your mind, and frequently alluded to it in my letters.”

“Yes,” exclaimed the dying man, “you did; but that was not enough. You never came to me, closed the door, and took me by the collar of my coat and told me that I was unconverted, and that if I died in that state I should be lost. And now I am dying, and but for God’s mercy I might have been forever undone!”

No wonder that this affecting scene made a lasting impression on Mr. S.’s mind. A young lady at school was urged to attend to her soul’s salvation.

“I was much interested in this subject a few months ago,” she replied. “Miss L— was to spend a night with me, and I was very glad. I had often heard her voice in the girls’ prayer meeting, praying for the conversion of the scholars, and I felt sure she would talk with me about my soul. But she said not a word about it. All her conversation was about some new dresses we had, and about the merry evening she had spent. I tried to introduce the subject once by saying that I had been laughed at for being so sober, and that someone had said they believed I should get converted if I stayed in Miss S.’s school, and that I had answered I hoped I might. Miss L. only remarked,

‘I hope you will too, Julia,’ and then she returned to the dresses again. To tell you the truth, I have not troubled myself much about the matter since that evening.”

And I fear the poor girl has given no further thought to it. When last I saw her, she seemed as insensible as a rock. Even a sister’s dying in all the agonies of remorse for a godless life was not sufficient to arouse her.

Are we ready to make known the good news to those around? May these incidents stir up our hearts to be faithful to those we meet daily, and in the sense of our weakness ask the Lord to take our lips that they may speak forth His worth that others may be attracted to Him.

“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” (Rom. 1:16).

The Meekness and Gentleness of Christ

Nearing the end of his second letter to the Corinthians, the beloved Apostle uses these pleading words: “Now I, Paul, myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:1).

Here was the sovereign remedy for softening hard hearts; calming angry spirits, and humbling proud wills. Meekness is a treasure to be sought.

“Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth... seek righteousness, seek meekness.” (Zeph. 2:3).

If we feel that in us there is a deficiency of meekness, and, perhaps, an excess of pride, what shall we do but seek Him, in whom all meekness dwells? And is it not also true that gentleness is the result of a meek spirit, the fruit of a plant rooted in the nature of that meek and lowly one, whose yoke we share?

“The fruit of the Spirit is... meekness.” (Gal. 5:22, 23).

Thus Paul taught the Galatians, and then in his practical way bids them make use of it in dealing with a brother overtaken by a fault,

“Restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” (Gal. 6:1).

Meekness will aim at restoration, rather than indulge in condemnation. It will be saying, “I must be gentle, because tomorrow I may be in this same strait.”

Nowhere is the need of meekness and gentleness more urgent than in the inner circle of the household of God. At no time is it harder to exhibit and practice meekness than when dealing with the disorderly, faint-hearted and weak members of the family. Only by wearing it constantly as one of the beautiful garments of grace, can we expect to be able to manifest it when Specific occasion requires.

“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved... meekness... and above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.” (Col. 3:12-14).

This is the Christian’s judicial robe in which forbearance and forgiveness will be granted on a heavenly scale. “Even as Christ forgave you.”

With the garment goes the interior adornment, for the eye which looks for more than outward beauty:

“The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” (1 Peter 3:4).

In days when great gifts are so coveted and esteemed, and are so dangerous, let us not undervalue what He so highly prizes. It is a grace equally becoming to the young and old sister or brother in Christ.

Meekness is connected with keeping “the unity of the Spirit.”

“With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph. 4:1-4).

Without these things there can be no practical expression of the oneness of the Body of Christ. With them, how could heresy, high-mindedness, and other disruptive forces ever exist? The Lord knoweth them that are His in all the strange associations around us. If we desire to manifest to them the preciousness of the place and portion which we, through grace, enjoy, meekness and wisdom far beyond our natural powers are necessary and available.

And if we consider the largest circle of our testimony, that is, the world at large, those quiet virtues have their place. We are

“To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men.” (Titus 3:2). Why? Because,

“We ourselves also were sometimes foolish.” (Titus 3:3).

All we possess we owe to the kindness and love of God our Savior, who are we that we should be anything but meek and gentle?

“In meekness instructing those that of pose; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.” (2 Tim. 2:25).

“But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith.” (1 Tim. 6:11,12).

First flee as Joseph fled; then follow hard as Caleb followed; then fight as Joshua fought, with full assurance of victory.

To be meek is not to be weak, morally or spiritually. Moses, renowned for his meekness (Num. 12:3), was also renowned for his inflexible faithfulness (Vs. 7). The gracious lips of Him who is “meek and lowly in heart,” blazed with fiery indignation against the scribes and Pharisees. We may safely follow our blessed Lord’s steps, but with unshod feet, for we are prone to error. If so be that we must act in judgment, let it be on our knees in meekness and gentleness, for we ourselves need daily mercy as we need our daily bread.

“Blessed are the meek.” (Matt. 5:5).

“The servant of the Lord must... be gentle unto all.” (2 Tim. 2:24).

“O Patient, Spotless, one,

Our hearts in meekness train,

To bear Thy yoke, and learn of Thee,

That we may rest obtain.”

Be Careful for Nothing

We are in relationship with God; in all things He is our refuge, and events do not disturb Him. He knows everything. He knows it beforehand. Events shake neither His throne nor His heart; they always accomplish His purposes. But to us He is love; we are through grace the objects of His tender care.

He listens to us and bows down His ear to hear us. In all things, therefore, instead of disquieting ourselves and weighing everything in our own hearts, we ought to present our requests to God in prayer, with supplication, and with a heart that makes itself known, for we are human beings, but with the knowledge of the heart of God, for He loves us perfectly; so that, even while making our petition to Him, we can already give thanks, because we are sure of the answer of His grace, be it what it may; and it is our requests that we are to present to Him.

Nor is it a cold commandment to find out His will and then come; we are to go with our requests. Hence it does not say, you will have what you ask; but God’s peace will keep your hearts. This is trust; and His peace, the peace of God Himself, shall keep our hearts. It does not say that our hearts shall keep the peace of God; but, having cast our burden on Him whose peace nothing can disturb, His peace keeps our hearts.

Our trouble is before Him, and the constant peace of the God of love, who takes charge of everything and knows all beforehand, quiets our disburdened hearts, and imparts to us the peace which is in Himself, and which is above all understanding (or at least keeps our hearts by it), even as He Himself is above all the circumstances that can disquiet us, and above the poor human heart that is troubled by them.

O, what grace! that even our anxieties are a means of our being filled with this marvelous peace, if we know how to bring them to God, and how true He is.

“Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.” (1 Peter 5:7).

“Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27).

Behold He Cometh

I am listening for the footfall

Of my own beloved Lord;

Searching daily in the Scriptures,

His most blest and sacred Word,

Where He tells me He is coming—

Coming soon to take me home;

Yea, and all His blood-bought children,

Who shall share His glorious throne!

I am listening for the sounding

Of the trump of God—the last;

When the sleeping saints awaken

As they hear the mighty blast;

And the living and remaining

In a moment changed shall be;

For this mortal then, God tells us,

Puts on immortality!

O, the shout when He descendeth—

His triumphant shout we’ll hear,

As He comes to the mid heavens,

And we all behold Him near!

Yea, the very sight will draw us

From the earth to His blest feet.

Say, can words describe the rapture

As our Bridegroom thus we meet!

It may be while we are listening

For His summons: “Come away!”

We shall hear those words so precious—

He may utter them today!

Then how urgent His commandment:

“Go out quickly,” gather in

Poor, lost sinners, sad and weary,

Whom the Saviour died to win!

Correspondence: John 10:35; Baptizing in the Name of; Jude 21; Heb. 12:22-24

Question: Please explain John 10:35.

Answer: In Exodus 22:28. “gods” distinctly means judges or rulers, and it is in this sense the Lord uses the word here. These judges were the representatives of God’s government in the earth, and if they were called gods, how could the Jews accuse Christ of blaspheming, for calling Himself the Son of God, when He had been sent in a far more special way.

Question: Please explain the difference between baptizing “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matt. 28:19); “in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38); “in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 19:5).

Answer: The baptism is the same, and we should believe that the same words were used, as there is only the one command, but the baptism is described in different terms according to the case. Thus in the command when “all nations” are contemplated we get the full words given; in Acts 2, specially Jewish, the name of Jesus is made prominent, being the one who had been rejected by them; while in Acts 19 it is the “Lord Jesus” being Christ in resurrection, and not addressed specially to those who had just crucified Him.

Question: Please explain Jude 21, “looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

Answer: We give the following remarks by another. “When one sees what are the fruits of the heart of man, one feels that it must be His mercy which presents us without spot before His face, in that day, for eternal life with a God of holiness. No doubt it is His unchangeable faithfulness, but in the presence of so much evil, one thinks rather of the mercy. Compare in the same circumstances, what Paul says 2 Timothy 1:16. It is mercy which has made the difference between those that fail and those that stand (Compare Ex. 33:19).”

Question: Is there any significance in the order observed in Hebrews 12:22-24?

Answer: We think there is. There are eight things in all each being separated by the word “and.” 1, the mount; 2, the city; 3, the innumerable company of angels; 4, the church; 5, God; 6, spirits of just men; 7, Jesus; 8, the blood. The earthly Zion raised the apostles thoughts to the heavenly city and to heaven generally, then to their innumerable angelic hosts, and then to the church enrolled there by the grace of God. God as judge, naturally introduces the spirits of those faithful ones who had suffered righteously on the earth. This leads on to the new covenant and its Mediator, who will again establish relationship with God’s ancient people, and not only with them, but, in virtue of His precious blood (that does not cry for vengeance as did Abel’s), with the whole Millennial earth. The passage thus speaks of God, Christ, heaven, angels, the church, the remnant of the Jews, and the redeemed earth.

The Name of Jesus

Some time ago a company of men were waiting in a public hall, and to wile away the time they began to sing popular songs. Among them was a Christian who would not join in the singing of his unsaved companions. Seeing this, one man leaned over and said,

“Can’t you sing?”

“O, yes” said our friend, “but only what my mother used to teach me.” A shout of laughter went round the room, and he was asked,

“What is that?”

“Listen,” he said, and then he sang the well-known words,

“How sweet the name of Jesus sounds

In a believer’s ear!

It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds

And drives away his fear.”

A look of surprise was seen on the faces of the men and some of them joined in the singing. The Christian, with a face full of joy showed his delight in the theme—that peerless name—its sweetness was very real to him.

Again he sang—

“It makes the wounded spirit whole,

It calms the troubled breast;

‘Tis manna to the hungry soul,

And to the weary rest.”

The fire of that song seemed to stir up the emotions of those men, their voices increasing in volume, the Christian entering into all the wondrous love of Him who “healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” (Psa. 147:3).

Once more the glory and sweetness of that name filled the room as, the words rang out—

“Blest name! the rock on which we build,

Our shield and hiding place;

Our never-failing treasury, filled

With boundless stores of grace.”

The singer, conscious that his feet were on the Rock, and that he was hidden in the cleft of that Rock, was enjoying communion with his Lord, and praise and worship seemed to flow out as he continued to sing—

“Jesus! our Saviour, Shepherd, Friend,

Thou Prophet, Priest and King;

Our Lord, our Life, our Way, our End,

Accept the praise we bring.”

The presence of that blessed Person seemed to be very real—the Saviour who died to save us, the Shepherd who sought and found us, the Friend who never leaves us, the Prophet who unfolds all the wonders of God’s love, the Priest who ever lives to make intercession for us, the King of glory, with whom His own shall dwell forever.

The next verse was sung in a subdued voice—

“Weak is the effort of our heart,

And cold our warmest thought;

But when we see Thee as Thou art,

We’ll praise Thee as we ought.”

This seemed almost too much for the men as they realized how fully the Christian entered into the words he sang. The last verse rang out loud and clear—

“Till then we would Thy love proclaim

With every fleeting breath;

And triumph in Thy blessed name

Which quells the power of death.”

The song finished; there was a tense silence for some moments. Then one, a professional singer, rose and stretched out his hand to the Christian, saying,

“Shake hands, sir. I am not religious, but I do admire a man who has the courage of his convictions.”

This gave our friend a good opportunity to tell out the glad tidings of salvation. One man present who was a Christian, said to the singer afterward,

“How did you do it? I should have been terrified.”

“I do not think you would” he replied, “if you thought of the Lord Jesus, Who He is and what He has done for us; you would feel as if you must speak of Him.”

Dear fellow-believer, let us ask ourselves what we are doing with the opportunities which the Lord gives us to show to others that we belong to Him? We may not be called on to witness for Him in public, but if we are in the enjoyment of His love, we shall be constrained to speak of Him. Surely we can tell of the one who is our Saviour, Shepherd, Friend, and point the unsaved to Him who not only can save them from sin and its power, but can fully satisfy the longings of their hearts.

Two Helps for the Way

At the end of Hebrews 4 I get two helps for the way: one the Word of God; the other the intercession of Christ.

I am not only protected by the Word, but I am also directed by it. It protects me from going in a way in which I might be drawn aside from its direction; and then being in the road, it directs me.

In the road I get the company of Christ; He says to me, I have been all along it, and I can give you My sympathy in it. The one who is passed through the heavens, is the one who is sympathizing with me all along the way—I, a poor weak thing always wanting to turn up one or another of the ninety-nine roads. And the more alive I am to the enjoyment of things here as a natural man, the more temptation and attraction there is to me. Well, then, as I refuse to go up any of these other roads, the more I have Christ’s sympathy with me as I tread His path.

Christ does not sympathize with a person in a wrong path. There are two actions in the Word of God: it corrects and it directs. The Lord corrects Martha and directs. Mary. A father would say to his child, If you walk in the mud, I cannot walk with you; you must come out of it if you wish to be with me.

You must feel your feebleness, your inability to stand all the difficulties of the way; but the Lord says, I will keep you company; I have been through it before you, and I have never touched sin. If He had ever touched it, He could not have lifted me out of it.

The Idol

Whatever passes as a cloud between

The mental eye of faith and things unseen,

Causing that brighter world to disappear,

Or seem less lovely, and its hopes less dear;

This is our world—our idol—though it bear

Affection’s impress, or devotion’s air!

Bethany - Response: Part 2

Luke 10:38-42

Part 2

Here we have words for hearts to cherish and obey, placed above service that hands may render. His Word expresses His will, before which the fairest of seemingly pious expressions of self-will earn but condemnation.

To hear Jesus is the “one thing needful.” Martha’s “many things” would only end in disappointment for her and for Him. The hearing ear for His Word ever delighted and glorified Him, and still does so (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).

We are told (Col. 3:23) that “whatsoever” we do is taken account of. The motive determines whether valuable or worthless. Self-occupation is the death blow to all true service, for as with Martha, it leads to our judging others (her sister), having no good word for them; souring instead of sweetening our spirits.

Martha’s “my,” “me,” “me,” “dost Thou not care?” (v. 40), betray the unrest of soul within, and the lack of such needful preparation, for true service as occupation with Him and lowly attention to His word would afford. Let us contemplate the significant difference between Martha distracted and Mary attracted, and learn, as Martha did, to serve acceptably as in John 12:2.

Heavenly motives in smallest things, lift meanest drudgery of daily life to highest service, and earn His loving commendation rather than rebuke.

When no longer “cumbered,” Martha’s service gladdened the Lord, and won an honored place in the imperishable record of that blessed Bethany household, each an object of the love of Christ and heartily responsive to it. Note how naturally their message to the Lord as to Lazarus reads, “him whom Thou lovest;” still equally true of every child of God.

His love led our glorious Lord to enter Martha’s lowly “home,” and sacred words from His blessed lips corrected her faulty service as the sequel shows, for we read in John 12 that “Martha served,” the record of divine approval when all the work connected with the supper she lovingly prepared was performed for “Him.”

The heart set right, drawn by the constraining love of Christ, ears, hands and feet were governed to suit Him, and were no longer moved by self-occupation or her unbroken will. As listening to the Lord expressing His tender heart’s desires for His loved ones, in true lowliness “at His feet” humbly hearing and heeding His Word, who could read John 13; 14; 15; 16; 17, and fail to render responsive service in hearty compliance with His will?

(To be continued)

The Power of the Air

(Ephesians. 2:2)

During this century determined efforts have been made to gain the supremacy of the air, and with a great measure of success, as e. g. aviation, wireless telegraphy, and radio. Enormous numbers of receiving sets of the latter are in the homes of this country, obtaining news, music, etc., from all over the world. The Word of God tells us,

“The heaven and the heaven of heavens are the Lord’s: but the earth hath He given to the children of men.” (Deut. 10:14; Psa. 115:16).

It is profitable, therefore, to inquire whether the air is properly man’s domain, and whether such scriptures, if not forbidding, at least would discourage the believer from such exercises. We do not wish to offer any instruction to worldly men, as such, but the Christian is “dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world.” (Col. 2:20).

We find from Scripture that the enemy works in two ways, by “corruption and violence” (Gen. 6:11). We would consider a little the influence of the “prince of the power of the air” in its corrupting character, as affecting God’s people today. The heavens, we must remember, contain countless spiritual beings. The angels, that have kept their first estate, minister to those who are heirs of salvation (believers) (Heb. 1:14). Others, who have always opposed God’s work in souls, the “wicked spirits,” are equally yet in “heavenly places,” and are the cause of ceaseless conflict to the Christian (Eph. 6:12). The “wireless corporations” who transmit, are worldly associations, which are not under the direct guidance of God’s Spirit, and their programs are not calculated to edify the Christian.

Persons say that they can shut it off, if there is anything coming on of which they do not approve. But, in practice, from curiosity or other reason (the old nature in us, if not kept in the place of death, soon regains the upper hand) after the news and music (harmless in themselves perhaps), one is led on to other things. Is there not a danger of the enemy succeeding in getting the spirit and the power of the world into the very citadel of the Christian’s home?

We have all heard of the capture of the city of Troy. The Greeks are said to have besieged it for near ten years without success, and then resorted to a stratagem. They constructed a wooden horse, which they filled with armed men, and placing it during the night in full view of the city, retired as if abandoning the siege. The Trojans, who had met the open assaults so often, at length allowed their curiosity to overcome them, and drew the horse into the city. In the night the armed men in the horse opened the gates to their army, and the city was taken.

We think we may not unfairly call the radio, spiritually for the Christian, the enemy’s “Trojan horse” of today. We have heard of cases where believers will listen to things on the “wireless” which they would not think of admitting for themselves or their children at a concert or a theater. Is there not the suggestion of the “wiles of the devil,” that for those who do not go to the world for the reason only that they do not wish to be seen, he has put in their hands that by which they can have the world in the home and no-one can see them? No-one?

“The eyes of the Lord are in every place” (Prov. 15:3) and He sees, if in the very sanctuary of the believer’s family life, there is a source of defilement.

“I know,” says the Lord of Abraham “that he will command his household after him to keep the way of the Lord.” (Gen. 18:19).

Is it sufficiently realized that, however wonderful the “wireless” is, the believer has, for faith, something infinitely more marvelous? For, if by the radio a message can girdle the earth in a few seconds, it can never rise above earth. But prayer in faith, and transmitted by the Spirit, immediately reaches “far above all heavens” to the ear and heart of our Father. (Rom. 8:26, 27).

O, that God, by His Spirit, would make more real to all of God’s people the divine “wireless” (if one may use the expression without irreverence) which He has provided for us— “praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude 20, 21). And may He also give us to know far better the divine link, which binds all believers on the earth together, as “one body in Christ” (Rom. 12:4, 5), and the communion with the Father and the Son, which is our happy portion, as we “walk in the light, as He is in the light” —the glorious knowledge of God fully revealed in Christ. What an encouragement is the word in Isaiah 65:24,

“Before they call, I will answer!” Even the very thought of need of His children, before it is expressed, finding an echo in the Father’s ear and heart!

May the Lord give us, dear brethren, to consider our ways. He has given us much truth and great privileges. May we be, all of us, “ensamples to all that believe.” Is the world and are worldly-minded Christians to see that, in spite of all our truth, we admit the “lust of other things entering in,” which “choke the Word, and we become unfruitful”? (Mark 4:19).

“Behold I am with you, saith the Lord of Hosts,” and “My Spirit remaineth with you.” (Hag. 1 & 2:4, 5).

“Fear ye not,” He adds, and

“Who is he that shall harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” (1 Peter 3:13).

Only thus can we stand against the “wiles of the devil,” and in putting on “the whole armor of God... praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” (Eph. 6:18).

May He keep us from the spirit that is in the world, for “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away... but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” (1 John 2:16, 17).

Notes of an Address to Sunday School Workers

“Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.” (John 1:35-37).

“Andrew... first findeth his own brother Simon... and he brought him to Jesus.” (John 1:40-42).

“Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.” (John 4:39).

(Jesus) “went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there He abode. And many resorted unto Him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this Man were true. And many believed on Him there.” (John 10:40-42).

“The chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.” (John 12:10, 11).

These five scriptures are cited to bring before us the various means which were used in each case to lead souls to believe on the Lord Jesus. And as Sunday School workers I believe it is helpful to look at these records, as they serve as an encouragement to us in the work the Lord has given us to do.

In the first scripture we get John’s rapturous exclamation, “Behold the Lamb of God!” This would appear to have been the spontaneous outflow of his heart as he looked upon the Lord Jesus, who so filled his heart that he thus exclaimed concerning Him, and those five memorable words are used to turn two of his disciples to Christ. May not this have a word for us, directing us to more heart occupation with Christ that our words may come with more telling effect upon our scholars, that they too may follow Jesus?

Then with Andrew we have the character of the true soul-winner who seeks out his brother and brings him to Jesus. Not much are we told about Andrew, but the little we have recorded gives us to see that he went out of his way to find souls. It was he who discovered the little boy in John 6. There are those whom we might be able to seek out and bring personally to Jesus. Many a soul who listens to the weekly message may need a personal word, and may have difficulties which will only be discovered by this individual dealing. May the Lord give us discernment and heart for this work among our scholars.

In the woman of Samaria we get a lovely example of the full overflowing confession of Christ from a soul that is fresh in its love to Him. She goes to those who had known her in sin, and speaks of Him so that many of the Samaritans believed on Him. This surely is a blessed example of the first love of a newborn soul. Ah! how much do we know of this? How soon our love cools down and our ardor too! The Lord had to complain of this in His message to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2. “Thou hast left thy first love.” What a comfort His love has not cooled, but it is only as we abide in the sunshine of His love that our hearts will burn, and we too shall be able to testify in a way which will reach those we long to see saved. The verses in John 10 have been a real cheer to my heart in connection with the work among the children. “Many believed on Him there.” Why was that? O! it is full of encouragement! “John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true.” John was but a voice telling of Jesus. He did no miracle, nothing to make people wonder or applaud his work, but what he said was true, and after many days it bore fruit. John may have thought his work was in vain. We know he did get discouraged, and yet the wondrous result— “many believed on Him there” —is attributed to his faithful message. Let us take heart and see to it that all things we speak of this man are true, sowing the good seed of the Word, and it may be we shall find as John did, that our labor was not in vain, and that “many believed on Him there.”

The last scripture shows what a power there is in a miracle. Lazarus had been dead, but the life-giving word of Christ had given him life, and he is a living witness to this fact, and by reason of him many believed on Jesus.

May we never forget that we are miracles of divine grace! Did not the voice of Christ speak to us when we were dead in sins, and give us life? May the children see that this is so, and that our lives as well as our words are a definite witness to Christ! and so by reason of us many may believe on Jesus.

The Ten Virgins

Matthew 25:1-13

From the parable before us of the ten virgins we necessarily perceive that there are those who, though associated with the people of God in profession and outwardly appearing to belong to them, are not in reality alive to God. They appear to be looking for His coming, but they are not longing to behold Him, or to go in with Him to the marriage. It is not the earnest desire of their hearts to behold Him as He is; their souls have not gone forth, crying,

“Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” They more resemble those servants who exclaimed,

“My Lord delayeth His coming,” and then followed on in their own pleasure. But they know not the delight, the joy, the heavenly happiness of waiting in longing expectation to see His face, and dwell with Him forever!

But we have in this account of the ten virgins an evidence of the extent to which even outward profession may go. Though there were but five wise, yet they all went forth to meet the bridegroom—yes, ostensibly for the same purpose, “they all went forth.” They were alike in companionship; they all had the lamps of profession. In what then did they differ? In this: they had not just the one thing, the only thing, that fitted them to receive the bridegroom. They were without the light wherewith to usher in the Lord; they wanted the very thing which alone could make them suitable companions for the Master; namely, the participation of the divine nature, the impartation of light, the indwelling of God the Holy Ghost. They wanted the fixedness of the affections wrought in the soul by the oil of gladness, wise virgins, and which waited but for the appearance of the bridegroom to emanate in a flame of glory.

This was what they wanted; this is what the believer has; and this it is that makes the mighty difference between him and the world.

“At midnight the cry came:” the heavenly virgins arose. Though conscious of much weakness in themselves, they rise at the cry of their beloved; for there is that in them which answers to the cry. The foolish virgins trimmed their lamps; but their lamps failed to burn! And is there no remedy then? None! According to the Saviour’s awful declaration:

“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still.” (Rev. 22:11).

Here finishes the total distinction between the tares and the wheat. Now is it openly seen that their objects, hopes, and associations were totally different—opposite and irreconcilable. One is of the world, the other of God; one is quickened by Christ, the other is reserved to be burned.

“Bind the tares in bundles, and burn them; but gather the wheat into my garner.” (Matt. 13:30).

And why are the wheat still spared, but as witnesses of the grace of our Lord; to display to the world the image of Him, whose they are, and whom they serve; to manifest the inseparable union existing between them and their glorious Head, as He said Himself, “that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them as Thou has loved Me”? (John 17:23).

And are you, believers, thus distinguished in the midst of a world judged guilty of the crime of rejecting the Lord of glory, and turning Him out of the world? You are walking in a condemned world, on which sentence has been passed, but the execution of it is still averted, until the last of Christ’s saints is gathered into the garner. Are you conscious of this, and yet are you, can you, be living in association of pursuits, feelings, desires, or appearance with them? The believer’s delight is the Lord’s glory. Where is the Lord’s glory—in an association in any way with His enemies? No. The saint that looks with delight to his Lord’s coming, is one with Him in feeling and desire—the Lord’s will is his.

Now do you contemplate the time when He will come to receive you to Himself, and when subsequently all that offends Him shall be swept away, and His own shall reign with Him? Can you contemplate with delight that period, when all that oppose the truth of God, everything that you now behold belonging to the World, shall be destroyed by the brightness of His coming, shall be consumed by the breath of His mouth? All things that offend shall no longer dwell there.

This is the saint’s whole delight; this is what he is looking and longing for, and hastening unto, namely, the coming of the Lord. Is this your personal desire? Is this your habitual experience? Then are you crying,

“Tarry not; come, Lord Jesus: even so, Amen”?

Then are you aiming at greater meetness for your heavenly Master and Bridegroom? and are you trimming your lamps to have them in readiness to meet and light your Lord when He shall appear?

Let this be your desire, your joy, your delight: that you may be found watching and waiting to go in unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Food for the Household

Matthew 24:45-47; Luke 12:42-44

“Feed the church of God, which He has purchased with His own blood.” 1 Peter 5:2.

“Feed the flock of God which is among you.” Acts 20:28. And the church of God, or the flock of God is to increase with “the increase of God.” Wondrous language!

Let us watch, beloved, against the attempt of the enemy to corrupt the meat of the household. The unfoldings of John about the Son of God, and of Paul about the church of God, are meat in due season now; and we are not to attemper the food, stored up of God for His saints, to man’s taste or reasonings. The manna is to be gathered as it comes from heaven, and brought home to feed the traveling camp with angels’ food.

“I commend you to God, and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32).

Fragment: Being Half and Half

The thing that hinders our rejoicing is not trouble, but being half and half.

If one is in the world, his conscience reproaches him; if he meets spiritual Christians, he is unhappy there; in fact, he is happy nowhere.

Be Ye Kind

O! dear friends, let us learn, through grace to be kind, for I think if there is anything we are deficient in, it is just in that—kindness. I fear there is a solemn lack of it among Christians, a sorrowful want as to it somewhere. Indeed, some people seem to me to think that there is some sort of merit attached to being kind—where it is, I cannot understand. It requires no great effort or self-denial to be a stick or a stone. I doubt not it is more or less according to our nature: but, O to be like Jesus Christ! O to have the compassions and the tenderness of Himself in our souls, and to have been so touched by it ourselves, to have come so in contact with it ourselves, in our own histories, that we understand what it is to deal with others in the same way that we ourselves have been dealt with by Him.

Let us ponder these words:

“Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Eph. 4:32).

'Tis Sweet to Know

‘Tis sweet to know that Jesus came

From heaven, and bore the curse and shame

That we might ransomed be.

Forever be His name adored,

Our only Saviour, Priest, and Lord

Throughout eternity.

‘Tis sweet to know He rose again,

And left death’s awful dark domain

For God’s right hand on high

And there He sits in glory bright,

Above dominion, power and might,

The one who came to die.

‘Tis sweet to know He intercedes

For those whose thoughts and words and deeds

Apart from Him are vain,

Until our feet on that blest shore

Shall stand, to never wander more,

O’er all with Him to reign.

‘Tis sweet to know He’ll come again,

Whose delights were with the sons of men—

The ex’llent of the earth,

To whom His goodness did extend,

Who, through the ages without end,

Shall sing His matchless worth.

‘Tis sweet to know the day is near

When we with Him shall then appear

In glory bright and fair;

When o’er the whole creation wide

God’s glory, through the Lamb and Bride

To all men will appear.

‘Tis sweet to know, in that blest day,

All men shall own His rightful sway,

Any every knee shall bow;

And all confess Him Lord to be

Who died, that sinners such as we

God’s boundless love might know.

‘Tis sweet to know He’ll usher in

A universe of bliss, where sin

And death can never come.

God’s rest! God’s blest eternal day

Shall be our home, while all will say

He died our love to win!

Correspondence: Eph. 3:19; Rom. 8:32; John 19:34 & 1 John 5:6-8; Proof of Guilt

Question: What is the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19) with which the believer may be filled?

Answer: All that God is. It is not “filled with,” otherwise we could hold it, that is, the finite could hold the infinite! But “filled unto” or “into,” just as an empty vessel without a bottom might float about in the ocean and be filled into all its fullness, any amount of water passing through it as long as it remained in the ocean, but incapable of holding a drop if taken out. Such is the believer.

Question: Does “for us all” Romans 8:32, mean all men or only believers?

Answer: The passage all through is addressed to those who “are in Christ Jesus,” and does not therefore raise the question as to the scope of Christ’s death. That is answered elsewhere.

Question: Why is blood named first in John 19:34, and water first in 1 John 5:6-8? Does water here refer to cleansing by the Word?

Answer: In the gospel “the blood” is mentioned first by the Apostle, because it is God’s side of the atonement, and answers His claims on man as a sinner. In the epistle, water is uniformly named first because it is a question of our walk as Christians, and water is the symbol of the cleansing action of the Word and the Spirit, by which we are born again (John 3).

Question: Is there any one fact that, beyond all others, proves man’s guiltiness before God?

Answer: The grand question for the whole world, and for each human heart, is this: “How has Christ been treated?”

A murderer was preferred to the holy, spotless, loving Jesus. The world, the heart, got its choice. Jesus and Barabbas were set before it; and the question was put, “Which will you have?” What was the answer, the deliberate, determined, answer? “Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.”

Tremendous fact! A fact little weighed, little understood, little entered into; a fact which stamps the character of this present world, and tests and makes manifest the state of every unrepentant, unconverted heart beneath the canopy of heaven.

If I want a true view of the world, of nature, of the human heart, of myself, whither shall I turn? To police reports? To the calendars of our Grand Juries? To the various statistics of the social and moral condition of our cities and towns? Nay, all these, it is true, may set before us facts which fill the soul with horror, and make the blood run cold.

Let it be distinctly seen, and deeply felt, that all the facts that were ever recorded of crime, in, its blackest and most fearful forms, are not to be compared with that one fact, the rejection and crucifixion of the Lord of glory. This crime stands out in bold and black relief from the background of man’s entire history, and fixes the true condition of the world, of man, of nature, of self.

A Form of Godliness

Some years ago a lady was, suddenly taken ill. You may guess how frightened she must have been when I tell you that she did not know Jesus. She had been, as she said, a good churchwoman, and had passed for a good Christian, because she was regular in her attendance at church, took the sacrament often, gave much money for religious and charitable purposes, and was well acquainted with what people call “the plan of salvation.”

“But,” she said, “I have never cared to know a living Savior, nor to know from Himself that my sins are forgiven.”

This was what she told a Christian lady who went to see her, and then she added, in hopeless anguish:

“It is too late to seek Him now, I have had the form of godliness without the power of it. I am lost; lost forever.”

Think, dear young reader, how dreadful this must have been to her—a foretaste of the judgment to come! Would you wish to escape such fearful distress? Come to Jesus now, at once, and you shall never feel what she felt when she cried, “I am lost, lost forever.”

It was in vain that the dear Christian who had come to see her told her “God is love,” and tried to set before her the all-sufficiency of Christ to save her as she was. She kept on saying:

“The gospel is not for me; it is for others. For me it is too late.”

In the meantime her disease was running on rapidly to the end, and the death she so dreaded grew nearer and nearer. Still her friend went to see her, and day and night ceased not to pray for her, that the Lord would give her power to believe. At last one day, when she was very near her end, she said:

“Sometimes I think I could almost believe the message,

“‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.’ But then for me it has sounded in vain through a long lifetime. And now I can justify Him in saying,

“‘You have never cared for Me. You have been satisfied with Christianity without Christ; and now, because you are dying, you come at the last moment in cowardice to My feet. Depart from Me, I never knew you.’”

Her friend, in great distress, called silently on God to open her eyes to see Jesus as He is, and then pointed out to her how sinful it was to speak against the character of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“I have not said anything against His character,” she replied, earnestly; “I have told you I could wholly justify Him in condemning me.”

“You did not intend it, I am sure,” replied her friend, “yet you have described Him as a miserable trifler. He has said, ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;’ and, ‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out;’ and because you are weary and heavy laden, and are a dying creature, He is to say to you, as you stand trembling on the brink of eternity, ‘I cast you away from your last hope... My promise fails towards you.’ I entreat you never to say it of Him again, for I cannot bear it.”

“Neither can I,” said she as the light flashed into her soul, and she saw the wickedness of her unbelief. “I never understood before what an injustice I am doing Him! What shall I do? My last sin is my greatest!” Then, clasping her hands, she cried, “O Lord Jesus Christ, I am so grieved; I am so ashamed I have distrusted Thy goodness, Thy marvelous enduring love, Thy truth, Thy faithfulness. My unbelief in Thee is my greatest sin of all. Lord I now believe; help Thou mine unbelief.”

Faint with conflicting feelings, and the exertion she had made, she turned to her friend and said:

“Perhaps now I had better thank Him for having kept His promise; for having forgiven me all. I would rather not distrust Him anymore. You speak the words, and I will join as much as my strength will allow.”

I need not tell you how gladly and thankfully her friend did as she requested, and thus together their praises ascended to Him who “turneth the shadow of death into the morning.”

On parting from her, her friend repeated to her this old verse:

“The soul that to Jesus has fled for repose,

He will not, He cannot, give up to his foes;

That soul, tho’ all hell should endeavor to shake,

He’ll never, no never, no never, forsake.”

Dear reader, will you imitate her long neglect and unbelief; or the faith that took Him at His Word, and found forgiveness of sins by His blood, and eternal rest at last in His unchanging love?

Some think that, if they know all about the Lord Jesus Christ having died for sinners on the cross, they are all right; but to know this without ever having really come to Him, and believed in Him as one’s own dear Saviour, is worse than not to know anything about Him. God’s Word says of some such persons,

“It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them,” (2 Peter 2:21).

And then there is another thing you have often been told about, and that is the danger of putting off from day to day “repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.” What a terrible risk to run!

God's Rest

Hebrews 4

The point here is not rest merely, but “His rest,” that is, God’s rest. The prominent thought of God from the beginning was to have rest. As soon as everything was made, and He saw that it was very good, He rested. The Sabbath was the sign of it, and in the time that is coming, it is said,

“He will rest in His love.” (Zeph. 3:17).

The great desire of man, too, is to rest. It is man’s ideal; it is God’s reality. The question for each of us is, are we looking for a rest before God’s rest? There is rest of conscience for us:

“Come unto Me, all ye that labor and I will give you rest” —but it is not that. Neither is it rest of soul:

“Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Matt. 11:28, 29).

It is the day when everything will be in unbroken rest, gathered round Himself; His rest. Is that the rest we are looking for?

What is the desire of every man from the politician down to the lowest and the poorest? He is looking for the day when he can lay down his cares and cease from toil, rest on his laurels, spend a happy old age in the bosom of his family, have a bright sunset in some little spot he has retired to.

If you had asked the Apostle Paul, however, in what way he expected to spend the evening of his days, he would have answered, “I expect to be martyred.”

It becomes a testing question to everyone, therefore, whether it be God’s rest he is looking for, or whether it is a rest in time. Are you waiting for God’s Sabbath; are you looking for no rest till this comes? We shall never find our resting place until we get into God’s rest, and that rest is not on earth, it is in heaven.

The Patience of Hope

O Jesus, precious Saviour,

O! when wilt Thou return?

Our hearts, with woe familiar,

To Thee, our Master, turn.

Our woe is Thine, Lord Jesus!

Our joy is in Thy love:

But woe and joy all lead us

To Thee, in heaven above!

We ponder the long story

Of this world’s mournful ways;

We think on holy glory

With Thee, through endless days.

We see God’s gracious order

All spoiled by man below;

See all around disorder,

Meek hearts beset with woe.

Where’er we ope’ the pages,

In which—Thy wondrous Word—

Man’s path through varied ages

Is given us, to record,

Of failure, ruin, sorrow,

The story still we find:

God’s love but brings the morrow

Of evil in mankind.

To Thee we look, Lord Jesus,

To Thee, whose love we know;

We wait the power that frees us

From bondage, sin, and woe.

We look for Thine appearing,

Thy Presence here to bless;

We greet the day that’s nearing,

When all this woe shall cease.

Trust in Him at All Times

Psalms 62:8

He always warrants us to trust in Him, and He is at all times worthy of our trust. Let us trust Him and we shall conquer our fears; patiently endure our trials; successfully pursue our work; rise above our cares, and overcome our foes.

That we may trust Him, He has revealed His character, pledged His Word, sworn that He will not be wrath with us, and assured us that He is unchangeable.

O may we with a steady faith

Believe whate’er Jehovah saith!

At all times trust our heavenly Friend,

And on His faithful Word depend.

Bethany - Response: Part 3

Bethany-Response

Part 3

John 11
Companying with Jesus, hearing His Word, receiving His ministrations of love, sympathy, power and glory in John 11, leads to His loved ones (John 12) ministering to Him, gratifying divine longings for response.

Bethany lessons unfolded in Chapter 11, are all centered in verse 4 to promote “the glory of God” was the spring of all the Saviour’s actions. The Spirit leads us to view all circumstances with reference to God’s glory. His object in permitting sickness, death and all other trials, the “needs be” (1 Peter 1:6) and “the end of the Lord” (James 5:10, 11), will manifest that our Father’s glory may be the outcome (Compare 1 Cor. 10:31).

The Lord’s love is a wise and a faithful love. His glory and our blessing are bound together. Two days delay (v. 6) may chafe our spirits. Our impatience would hasten relief, making the grave mistake of seeking immediate ease from pressure, rather than the glory of God; and hindering our viewing, as we surely may, the bright rainbow yet to shine through clouds however dark.

Jesus looked on the progress of sickness, the sister’s grief, on death itself, yet gave no relief until every human hope had vanished (Lazarus was dead four days). A real mercy it was; nature says “No,” faith says “Yes,” for “precious” faith emerged from the trial “unto glory” (1 Peter 1:7). For our example, we behold as Jesus’ motive, the divine will; and as His object, divine glory. We witness at the grave of Lazarus heavenly glory shining out over the dreary region of death, glory soon to be participated in by all His own, for He will deliver them from the grasp of the enemy, just as He raised Lazarus.

Meanwhile, faith may answer every evil suggestion as to apparent lack of sympathy or succor, by use of His Word, “blessed are they that wait for Him” (Isa. 30:18), “His due time,” knowing that the Lord’s delays are not refusals., Paying no attention to man’s vaunted “common sense,” but every attention to that true wisdom of Proverbs 3:5, 6; welcoming every means that He employs to rid us of all hateful vain confidence-to faith, the tears and groanings of our blessed Lord call for heart appreciation of His sympathy with human misery so real; and also of His sorrow, so profound, because of the unbelief and hardness of heart exhibited by careless souls, indifferent to the evil conditions that so grieved His heart; conditions akin to the distressing moral departure from God, prevalent in our day. O, for hearts to feel, as He does, the moral corruption of our worldly surroundings!

Thanking God for the record of our Saviour’s sympathy with human sorrows, and sharing the grief by which holiness regards sin’s havoc, may our souls now rise to witness the Saviour’s triumph. The sisters sought Jesus in their distress, and so may we. They called Him “Lord,” and so honored the Nazarene. “He whom Thou lovest” as much as says, “His love, not mine, the resting place.” “Is sick” humbly owns that divine love permits illness. And all this is supplemented by the further lesson that not even natural affection, but God’s glory should impel our every action.

The Spirit of God would stimulate our faith to see the glory of God displayed on the darkest background; to see the grace of our Beloved’s heart revealed. Jesus waited Mary’s coming (v. 30); she, his call (v. 25). Surely the words “calleth for thee” lent wings to her feet. Thus she was found “where Jesus was” to behold His face, to fall at His feet, and then only to speak her heart’s burden. Happy example for us! Exposure of corruption the flesh dreads (v. 39). Unbelief saw but a decomposing body; faith, the glory of God (v. 40). Note the order. “Believe” and then as surely “see.”

New creation we too experience (Eph. 2:10) by the same mighty “working” to walk in the newness of resurrection life, brought into being by His Word as in verses 43,44. The tender touches of His ways of grace appear the sweeter as power and glory fill the scene. We are encouraged by the very mention of His dear ones; Mary named first in v. 1, for commendation v. 2. Martha first in v. 5, for Jesus “loves” the weakest; and we shall see in John 12 the testimony of risen life that Lazarus rendered to His praise and the glory of God.

(To Be Continued)

Trust

Why should I worry about tomorrow?

Hasn’t today enough of sorrow?

God never intended me to see

What even one day ahead would be,

So I must cling to my Father’s hand,

And wait to see what His love has planned

For tomorrow.

Sufficient of evil there is today,

But listen! I hear my Saviour say,

“The Father who even the raven feeds,

Will surely supply His children’s needs;

And the one who fashioned the Lilly’s grace

Will raiment provide.” So I’ll lift up my face

And trust for today.

God's Ways

God’s ways are behind the scenes; but He moves all the scenes which He is behind. We have to learn this and let Him work, and not think much of man’s busy movements; they will accomplish God’s. The rest of them all perish and disappear. We have only peacefully to do His will.

“That ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” (Col. 4:12).

Christian Joys

I used to think that to be a Christian was to be very miserable; to have no joys, no brightness in life, What a mistake! A Christian truly following Christ is, on the contrary, the only really happy person, because his joy depends neither on anything within him nor around him, but on what the Lord is to him, and has done for him. “Rejoice in the Lord alway.”

I remember asking a Christian why he looked so miserable sometimes, instead of happy, as he should be. He said that he could not be happy because atmospheric influences and bodily condition were often against him.

Atmospheric influences! Bodily condition! Well, let us try and see if such reasons are enough in themselves to tip over the balance of a Christian’s joy. Look at Paul and Silas in Acts 16. Anyone who knows what the prisons were in Roman days, in the southern countries, can imagine that the atmosphere of that inner cell was not very invigorating or savory. Look at them! thrust into the inner prison, their feet made fast to the stocks.

What about their bodily condition? Their backs were lacerated by the Roman scourge, and bleeding from the many stripes that had just been laid upon them. Was that a condition of body likely to produce joy? No, indeed. Atmospheric influences and bodily condition certainly did not help these two prisoners. It was night, though little difference would there be between day and night there, for no ray of sunshine could pierce as far as that inner prison.

Ah! but do they not sink under such treatment, and groan beneath such burdens? Let us see. “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God.”

Surely atmospheric influences and bodily conditions did their worst here, but only with the effect of forcing prayers instead of grumbles; and praises instead of groans from the prisoners. Why? Because Christ was the object of their hearts. The joy of the Lord was their strength. The other prisoners heard them; strange sounds, indeed, to them—praises to God at midnight.

Fellow believer, we are not told to rejoice in ourselves, nor in our circumstances, but

“Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice.” (Phil. 4:4).

Extract: God for Us

God is for us in giving, for us in justifying, for us in everything; even as with the children of Israel, He took care of their very clothes as they passed through the wilderness. God is for us through everything. If death stare me in the face, well, Christ went through it. If evil powers be against me, well, I have a love with me that has been tried, and has destroyed that power. I learn in these very things the perfectness of the love of God. It comes out in the minutest circumstances in every little detail. I come up boldly to this truth that

“If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).

There is nothing that can make me say, I do not know whether He is for me or not. If it be difficulties or trials, I say,

“Well, it just shows what pains God is taking with me.”

Labor and Rest

“The apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told Him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.

“And He said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile; for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

“And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.” (Mark 6:30-32).

There is a word of great sweetness and comfort in these verses. We are introduced to a scene of real labor and toil. The Lord had called the twelve, and sent them out two by two, without anything for their journey save a staff. They went forth without scrip, or bread or money: they preached, they cast out devils, they raised the sick; it was a time of diligent service and incessant toil, but a time of labor which resulted in fruit. After this we find the apostles returning, gathering themselves together and rehearsing to their blessed Master all they had done and taught.

He had sent them forth, as it were, empty handed and destitute of all man’s resources, and now they have returned and are spreading at His blessed feet their acquired treasures, the fruit of their work and toil; He, with all that tender grace and kindness which were ever His own, accepts it all, and in the divine and blessed love which ever sought the good of His own, He says,

“Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest awhile.” (Mark 6:31).

Let us note it well. He does not say, “Go and rest,” but “Come and rest.” Ah! it is not the desert place that could furnish the rest, if so, it might have been “Go,” but it is Himself there, there where no distraction can intrude, no surge of worry, no blast of care can for a moment enter. O! how blessed His company in that sweet retreat, made so by Himself alone!

But there is a further precious thought here. Our own Master and Lord knows the snare of active service, even for Him—the danger of giving it that place which alone belongs to Himself—the temptation to His poor, weak child and vessel to be more absorbed with it than with Him; hence, how often do we hear Him say,

“Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest awhile.”

We are told that “there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.”

In this busy day of ours, with its confessed and crying needs on every hand, how true the picture before us is; yet while recognizing fully our clear, distinct duty to the church and the world, and not in any wise seeking to clothe our indifference or selfishness with a religious sanctimonious garb, let all who love His blessed service, which is indeed perfect freedom, bear in mind the lesson of our passage, which is plainly this, that the quality of our work will be poor and attenuated indeed, if it be not connected with Christ, from Christ, for Christ.

Those who really and truly work for Him, must first of all be sustained and fed by Himself, as they hear Him say, “Come and rest.” And O! how gracious of Him to take His poor wearied worker by the hand, as it were, aside, apart in a desert place with Himself, shutting him out from all but Himself, that with mind undisturbed and heart undistracted, all may be gone over with Himself, in rest and quietness, and fresh thoughts of Himself and His love thus impressed upon the heart, producing renewed vigor and energy for further service for Him.

After this we have recorded a delightful instance of the deep compassion of that heart which was ever touched by distress and need. We are told the people “out went them and came together unto Him.” O! how He did attract the weary and wanting ones! How He also met and taught and filled them! How He made the desert place to yield bread enough and to spare, and then having finished all in His compassionate tenderness and goodness He Himself departed into a mountain to pray; His meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him and to finish His work.

But we must bring these thoughts to a close by a glance at the end of the chapter. In the departure of Jesus into the mountain, we are shown in figure His taking His place of intercession on high; His disciples cross the water in a boat, and we have their vicissitudes; it is such a comfort to think of what is said here,

“He saw them toiling in rowing.”

Not the shades of night, nor the earnest vigil which He kept in prayer on the mountaintop, nor the storm-lashed lake that they were crossing, none of these could hide His poor servants from the Master’s eyes. Then He who “saw them” came to them in the darkest part of the night, walking on the water in supreme majesty, but in love, and spoke such words of comfort,

“Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.”

“In darkest shades, if He appear,

My morning is begun.”

Lastly, observe it is said, “He talked with them.” How blessed the rest of that intercourse, after all the toil and labor.

Fragment: The Rule for Christian's Conduct

We have the rule for the Christian’s conduct. It is very simple, very sweeping, and uncommonly satisfactory to the heart that really desires to do the will of God.

“Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Col. 3:17).

Counsels to Young Christians

Cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart. Depend on Him. There is power in Christ; there is sufficiency in Christ for all He would have you do or be. Some are allowed a long season of joy on first believing. But God knows our hearts, and how soon we begin to depend on our joy, and not on Christ. He is our object—not the joy.

Sin no longer remains on you, but the flesh is in you to the end: the old stock will put forth its buds, which must be nipped off as they appear. No fruit can come of it. It is the new nature that bears fruit unto God. But though the flesh is in you, do not be thinking of this, but think of Christ. As you grow in the knowledge of Christ, a joy comes, deeper than the first joy.

I have known Christ more or less between thirty and forty years, and I can truly say I have ten thousand times more joy in Him now than I had at first. It is a deeper, calmer joy. The water rushing down a hill is beautiful to look at, and makes most noise; but you will find the water in the plain deeper, calmer, more fit for general use.

Cleave to Christ with purpose of heart. A distracted heart is the bane of Christians. When we have something that is not Christ, we are away from the source of strength. When my soul is filled with Christ, I have no heart or eye for the trash of this world. If Christ is dwelling in your heart by faith, it will not be a question with you,

“What harm is there in this and that?” But rather,

“Am I doing this for Christ?”

“Can Christ go along with me in this?”

Do not let the world come in and distract your thoughts. I speak especially to young Christians. They who are older have had more experience in it, and know more what it is worth: but it all lies shining before you, endeavoring to attract you. Its smiles are deceitful; still it smiles. It makes promises which it cannot keep; still it makes them. Your hearts are too big for the world; it cannot fill them. They are too little for Christ: He fills heaven, He will fill you to overflowing.

Cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart. He knew how treacherous the heart is, and how soon it would put anything in His place. You will have indeed to learn what is in your own heart. Abide with God and you will learn it with Him, and with His grace. If you do not, you will have with bitter sorrow to learn it with the devil, through his successful temptation.

But God is faithful. If you have been getting away from Him, and other things have come in, and formed a crust, as it were, over your hearts, you will not at once get back the joy. God will have you deal with this crust, and get rid of it. Remember Christ bought you with His own blood, that you should be His, not the world’s.

Do not let Satan get between you and God’s grace. However careless you may have been, however far you may have got away from Him, count on His love. It is His joy to see you back again. Look at the sin with horror, but never wrong Him by distrusting His love. Mistrust not His work, mistrust not His love. He has loved you, and will love you to the end.

Talk much with Jesus. Never be content without being able to walk and talk with Christ as with a dear friend. Be not satisfied with anything short of close intercourse of soul with Him who has loved you and washed you from your sins in His own blood.

Fragment: A Portion and a Sanctuary

“Rejoice in the Lord always” —there is the positive portion.

“Be careful for nothing” then, as to all that is down here; and in laying our burdens on His throne and heart, it is peace—for He is not troubled, and knows the end from the beginning—the peace of God keeps our hearts. What a sanctuary to have in going through!

The Will of the Lord Be Done

If God is love, if His promises are true, if He is faithful to His word, if His will is influenced by justice and mercy, holiness and love, if He only wills what is for our good and for His own glory, ought we not daily to use this language? His heart is set upon our welfare, and He works with this object in view. Still we want our own way.

Believer, God wills thy holiness—thy true happiness—thy everlasting welfare. Give up then at once, and strive to say at all seasons,

“The will of the Lord be done.” (Acts 21:14).

Correspondence: John 1:9; Phil. 3:2; Why Read Revelations?

Question: What does “lighteth every man” in John 1:9 mean?

Answer: The “Word”, the Son of God, is the true light, and, coming into this world, shines for every man—both Jew and Gentile. It shows what every man is by nature. It does not mean that every man sees it. The sun shines on blind men, but they do not see it. The light shows out what man is, and “the light was the life of men.” It shines for every man, so that all may receive the blessing of John 3:16.

Question: What is the meaning of “the concision” in Philippians 3:2?

Answer: The concision mean those who are trying to improve the flesh by cutting off bad habits. The truth teaches us that the death of Christ is the end of the flesh before God, and that our old man is crucified with Him. (Rom. 6:6) The circumcision in Philippians 3:3 recognize this. Colossians 2:11 means dead with Christ. “The concision” do not know this, but teach the improvement of man without redemption.

Question: “Why should the book of Revelation be read?”

Answer: The most direct reason is that the SPIRIT of God particularly enjoins that it should be read, and pronounces a peculiar blessing on those who do so. At the very opening of the Book, as if anticipating the opposition of man’s heart to do so, and that Satan would specially seek to undermine its value and throw it into the shade, the Apostle John is led by the Lord to preface his epistle by a benediction in these words:

“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand.”

And as if this were not enough to stamp its peculiar sacredness, and as if foreseeing that man would even dare, not only to disregard it, but to even tamper with its very structure, he concludes it with a malediction on any one who should either add to, or take from “the words of the book of this prophecy.”

The book of Revelation unfolds the judicial or governmental ways of God: first in the churches, and then in the world; in special connection with the coming of Christ in judgment, and the entire overthrow of Satan’s power in the heavens and the earth. Satan, acting instrumentally through men, is exposed, and his power brought to nothing. With his instruments he is shut up in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, and finally cast into the lake of fire in this book; hence he especially hates it, and would fain keep the saints, and the victims of his wiles from seeing the truth about him, by hiding the light that exposes him, and which shines so brightly in the pages of the book of Revelation.

What should specially render this book dear to the believer, is that it brings the Lord Jesus before him, reaping the fruits of the cross, as the Lamb, in power and glory.

Sow Beside All Waters

A wealthy Christian lady was walking in her garden one day, near to where a workman was repairing part of the garden wall. She stopped and spoke to the man about his soul, pressing home the necessity of being saved, and ready to meet God; but the word seemed to have but little effect. Years after, while speaking to another workman, she said,

“Thomas, I fear you have not yet looked to Christ for salvation.”

“You, my dear lady, are mistaken,” replied the workman, “I have looked, and I am saved.”

“How did it happen?” she inquired.

“It was while you were speaking to James, my fellow worker, when we were repairing the garden wall.”

“How did you hear?”

“I was on the other side, and heard your words through a hole in the wall.”

A word spoken in due season, how good it is, and how often has God made such a word the message of life to souls. Be encouraged to speak for Christ everywhere, and at all times. God will look after His own Word. Sow beside all waters. We do not know where the seed may find a lodging place; it is our part to sow.

A servant, in unpacking some goods, sent from a grocer’s store, found among the packing a piece of paper with the hymn

“Just as I Am Without One Plea” printed on it. She had never seen or heard these words before, and by the blessing of God, they were the means of leading her to the Saviour.

How that tract came to be there, I cannot tell. Possibly someone had thrown it away, but the Lord looked after it, and the fruit was sure. The great thing is to sow in communion with God. Then our sowing cannot fail to have His blessing, even if it may seem to be rejected.

A young man was offered a tract on the street one evening. He took it, tore it up, and threw it back in the giver’s face. That seemed a hopeless case. The worker was discouraged. The devil whispered:

“Stop giving tracts, they do not good.”

Several weeks later, a young man called at the house of the tract distributor, and asked if he could see him. He was in great anxiety of soul, and he said the first real sight he got of himself was that night after he tore the tract up on the street. God used his own wickedness to arrest him.

“In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” (Ecc. 11:6).

“Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters.” (Isa. 32:20).

Prayer

Our hearts are like stringed instruments, which require frequent tuning. Out of tune, let the instrument be never so beautiful, the hand never so masterly, the sound is but jarring discord. Prayer it is which tunes the heart for praise.

Girded Loins and Lights Burning

Luke 12:35, 36

The state of the soul is the first thing; it must precede service. It is,

“Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning.”

Before we can serve, our own state is in question; not the service, but the quality of the service depends on it.

Christ, the revelation of Christ, must be applied to everything; it is a dirty world, and you must have your heart rightly tucked up as you go through it— “your loins girded.”

There must be these two things; the heart in order (kept so by the Word of God); and no will of our own. The instant we are not in the consciousness of God’s presence, self comes up—will is there: but if we are in earnest, running to attain, we are glad of the removal of every hindrance to our running.

Try your heart by this. Do you think a man running a race which he cared to win, would weigh himself by keeping even gold upon him?

I judge everything by one object: Christ being my object I judge all by Him, and I say, If this hinders me in running after, in apprehending, Christ, let it go.

Then when you have your heart in order, comes the full and unqualified confession of Christ before men: “Your lights burning.” If the heart be not right first within, of course profession is useless, but where it is true, let us show it out. There is always a shrinking from confession when there is not power within.

A Christian is one whose affections are fixed upon Christ, and who is waiting for Him. Everyone should be able to see that you are a man waiting for Christ. If we were so, it would cut up by the roots ninety-nine out of a hundred things people so live for down here.

Can the world say of all of us as of the Thessalonians of old: These are a people who have given up every idol to wait for God’s Son from heaven? The world ought to think so. It is, Blessed are those servants whom He finds, not only waiting, but watching for Him.

The Double Intercession

Roman 8:26, 34

In these verses we are furnished with a truth of the most precious and consolatory nature, namely, the double intercession which is being continually carried on, in our behalf. In verse 26, we have the intercession of the Holy Spirit in us; and in verse 34, we have the intercession of Christ for us.

“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

Here we have the intercession of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, to help our infirmities, and carry on His intercessory work with unutterable groanings. He creates desires in the soul which are too profound for utterance, and cannot be clothed in human language.

But there is more than this. We have not merely the Holy Ghost dwelling and acting in us, down here, but we have also the Lord Jesus Christ living and acting for us up in heaven.

“Who is he that condemneth. It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”

What full provision. What abounding consolation! What precious encouragement! What a mercy to know that even in our coldest, darkest, and most barren seasons—when we seem hardly able to utter a single syllable—when our hearts seem as cold and as hard as the very boards we are kneeling upon, how truly blessed, at such times, to remember the solid and soul-sustaining truth, that the Holy Ghost is groaning in us, and that Christ takes those unuttered groans and presents them to the Father, in all the preciousness and acceptableness of the one who produces them, and the one who presents them! The double intercession is continually going on. Morning, noon, eventide, and midnight, the Holy Ghost is acting in us, and Christ is acting for us.

“I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever.” (John 14:16).

“Wherefore He (Jesus) is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (Heb. 7:25).

This double action can never be interrupted for a single moment. The very weakest believer is maintained before God in the divine power of this double intercession—the intercession of the Spirit in him—the intercession of Christ for him. What comfort for the heart in this! What ample provision “for the exigence of every hour!”

It frequently happens that the Christian finds himself afflicted, in his seasons of retirement, with excessive barrenness and wandering. He tries to pray, but cannot. He finds it impossible to throw his desires into intelligible form. He groans, and that groan is the fruit of the Spirit’s mighty operation; it ascends, as such, to the throne of God, and is presented there by that blessed Advocate who ever lives to make intercession for us. Nothing goes up, save that which is of the Spirit. The unutterable groan is produced in us by God the Spirit; it passes up through the priestly hands of God the Son; and is thus presented to God the Father.

The Lord Jesus Christ knows how to separate the precious from the vile, in all our actings and exercises. He casts the vile away, and presents the precious to God, in our behalf. We have an illustration of this at the close of the first chapter of the book of Leviticus. There we see the offerer bringing an offering of fowls unto the priest.

“And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar, and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar; and he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes; and he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder; and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire; it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord.” (Lev. 1:15-17).

The priest’s eye discerned, at once, what parts of the offering were fit for God’s altar, and what for “the place of the ashes.” This was his business. The offerer brought the sacrifice to the priest, and the priest prepared it for the altar. He separated the precious from the vile. The priestly eye and the priestly knife were needful ere the sacrifice was in a fit condition to be presented upon the altar of the God of Israel.

All this is full of meaning—full of instruction—full of comfort for the Christian. In our very best services, and costliest sacrifices, there is abundance answering to “the crop and feathers” of the Levitical ceremonial; but, blessed be God, we have “a Great High Priest” in whose hand we can place all our offerings, in the fullest assurance that He knows what to do with those offerings, and that when they have passed under His priestly eye and under the action of His priestly hand, they shall ascend to the throne of God in all the fragrance of His most excellent name. This is eminently calculated to impart confidence to our hearts while we seek, notwithstanding our felt weakness, to respond to the exhortation of the Apostle,

“By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But to do good and to communicate, forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” (Heb. 13:15, 16).

We need not be afraid to bring the very smallest offering. We may not be able to present “a bullock” or “a lamb;” our measure may be only that of “a turtle dove,” or “a young pigeon.” It matters not. If only the Holy Ghost originates the sacrifice, then Christ will assuredly present it, and God will be “well pleased.”

Service on Earth, and in Heaven

I have had much joy in the thought that our names are written in heaven. What repose! God makes no mistake; He knows whom He wishes to place there, and it will be suitable; we shall not be unfit for such a place. What joy! and if we have to wait, we have what Heaven will not give; to work for the Lord where He is rejected; to serve Him well.

“His servants shall serve Him,” it is said but that service will be either a service of joy and goodness in which we shall be superior to those who profit by it; or a service in which we shall glorify God directly. But it will not be bearing the reproach of Christ in the place where we have the glory of participating in His sufferings, even in a very feeble measure. May He give us to be faithful until He comes!

Bethany - Response: Part 4

Part 4

John 12

Beholding Jesus the last week before the cross, its shame and woe, thinking not of Himself, but devoting all of that solemn season to ministry to and intercession for the little band of those He called by the endearing name “His own,” we join with those who loved Him to extol the matchless attraction, the record of John 12 presents.

“The house of Simon the leper” at Bethany (Matt. 26:6) He deigned to enter, who as “inhabiting eternity” was ever “the high and lofty one.” Grace shines afresh as the Spirit of God puts on record the lowly earthly abode the Lord of glory loved. We are now to see the further condescension of the one above all others accepting the feast they made for Him (v.2). “Jesus came” in that day, and still comes at the call of those who desire His company.

If chapter 11 declares what they were to Him, chapter 12 as plainly states what He was to them; not only what the Lord has done (chap. 11), but in chapter. 12, constrains loving hearts to gratify His desire for response. If in chapter 11 He wept with them, we see in chapter 12 that He rejoiced with them. Blessed Partner, in sorrow and in joy alike! Not alone “every room” that He may “abide with us,” but the homage of our hearts we would render, taught by the scene of John 12 that (like Lazarus) as “new creatures in Christ Jesus,” “passed from death unto life,” we may enjoy what new birth introduces us to, His company; may exercise the holy privilege of “sitting at the table with Him” —communion; may emulate in worship, (Mary), pouring our hearts’ unreserved store upon His Person; and like Martha, may serve where every activity derives its value from its object, “ —inasmuch as ye have done it unto Me.” Dear to our Lord that they made Him a supper. Communion and worship and service do so yet, Lazarus “at the table with Him,” in resurrection life, shows what awaits believers, “ever with the Lord” in glory. Meanwhile, Lazarus witnessed the power of new life; not what he said, but was, demonstrated the work of grace that led “many,” because of Lazarus, to believe on Jesus.

Mary, by lovely example, enters into His mind, anticipating the intentions of His love (His approaching death). Suited worship pours its richest treasures on the sacred head of the rejected King (Matt. 26:7), and upon the feet (John 12:3), that brought the Son of God as a lowly Man to Bethany’s humble home. Her estimate of His Person, “three hundred pence,” contrasts in bright relief with the “thirty pieces of silver” that Judas and the chief priests allotted as the price of His betrayal. Such worship as Mary’s the worldly-minded still regard as “wasted;” but it was not left for Mary to vindicate her devotion—her Lord and Saviour answered for her.

Every loyal heart may rest content that such worship gratifies Him, as the imperishable record of His appreciation may be gauged by this solemn fact—that we read of only one alabaster box of ointment broken for bestowal upon Him! May the Lord awaken grateful hearts to bring Him many!

Mary’s worship was no sudden impulse. Of that which expressed her devotion we are told, “she hath kept this” —too costly to use it herself or bestow it on others, but not too costly for His anointing. Wicked hands would soon do Him violence; her loving hands would bring to Him her treasure store. Such is the inestimable value of the Person of Christ in her esteem! Then His esteem the record publishes. The kind of box, the weight of “precious ointment,” its value and its fragrance, all receive divine mention. Her reverence for the Son of God, attested by the use of her glory (hair) to wipe His feet and the memorial of her act as far flung as the gospel, all combine to characterize worship as that which our God “is seeking.” May the Holy Spirit mightily move our hearts to pour out, as Mary did, our love for Him in worship!

Contrasts serve to endear Bethany to our Lord and those who love Him:

1. A world of foes including temple worshipers;

2. A handful of friends delighting in His company at Bethany.

3. Mary gave to gratify her Saviour;

4. Judas sold his Lord to acquire thirty pieces of silver.

5. Mary drew attention of all to her Lord-Judas would turn all thoughts to “the poor.”

6. “Why this waste?” is yet the universal human verdict;

7. Divinely weighed, we learn love’s sacrifice is never “wasted.”

8. A chorus of accusers may still be heard below;

9. An Advocate to plead His people’s cause lives on high.

(To Be Continued)

To Those Gathered to the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ

“What is important is not ‘The Brethren’, but the truth they have...God could set them aside, and spread His truth by others—would, I believe, though full of gracious patience, if they be not faithful. Their place is to remain in obscurity and devotedness, not to think of Brethren (it is always wrong to think of ourselves,) but of souls, in Christ’s name and love, and of His glory and truth only—not to press Brethrenism, but to deal with each soul according to its need, for Christ’s sake.

“Unworldliness, non-conformity to the world, self-denial, abnegation in love to others, is what is called for... Let them walk in love, in the truth, humble, lowly, unworldly, and also for Christ, as little (and content to be little) as when they began, and God will bless them. If not, their candlestick may go (and O, what sorrow and confusion of face it would be after such grace!) as that of others... doing the work of evangelists, making full proof of their ministry, humble, lowly, devoted and simple; because devoted in heart, and separated to Christ.

“As regards also the activity outside them, it is one of the signs of the times, and they should rejoice in it... But it does not give their testimony at all... I do not believe attacks on anything to be our path, but to be superior, and for the truth in grace.

“Self-defense is every way to be avoided. The Lord will answer for us, if we do His will... God has no need of us, but He has need of a people who walk in the truth, in love, and holiness.

“‘I will leave in the midst of thee, an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of Jehovah.’ (Zeph. 3:12).

“The gospel we may, and must rejoice in, yet it only makes the testimony of Brethren outside the camp more necessary than ever; but it must be real... If Brethren fall in with the current Christianity inside the camp, they would be another sect with certain truths.”

Stewardship

“Give an account of thy stewardship.” (Luke 16:2).

We must give an account. We may be called upon to do so soon—suddenly. Of our talents, how engaged; as money, voice, influence. Of our souls, and all their powers; as understanding, will, affections, and memory. Of our conduct toward others, and the cause of God. Of the sentiments we entertain and propagate. Of our opportunities for usefulness.

Beloved; you are a steward, do you realize this? Your Bible is the Master’s rule, and your directory, do you search it as such?

Go on Sowing!

Go on sowing!

Though yet no life appears,

The Seed is incorruptible;

‘Tis working through the years.

Go on sowing!

Thou may’st not reaper be,

Yet with the reaper thou’lt rejoice

Throughout eternity.

Stilling the Waves

Luke 8:22-26

Here is a display of what we may expect if we follow the Lord, and the opening out of what the Lord would be to those tried by such circumstances. The consequence of being the disciples and companions of Jesus, is that they get into jeopardy every hour; they are not on terra-firma, but are tossed about on the troubled sea, and Christ Himself absent (“asleep”).

“There came down a storm of wind on the lake,” the ship was filled with water, and they filled with fear, and were in jeopardy. But the fact was, Christ was in the same boat with them. He who made the worlds, the Son of God, was with them, and yet they are afraid, and cry out, “We perish,” as though He could be drowned, thus showing they had no sense of who He was that was with them in the boat.

To us, now calmly reading the circumstances, what absurdity there seems in such unbelief, when, alas, is it not just the same with ourselves spiritually? Have we no sense of jeopardy when tossed about, and trouble is in the church? In truth we have, for there is many a heart, saying, “Who will show us any good?” forgetting what God is acting and doing, though man is battling to all appearance against God’s purposes. But God is not baffled, and He is calmly carrying on His purposes through all the storms raised by men or devils.

In John 16 we find the disciples sorrowing because Jesus was going away, and the Lord had said to them (chap. 14),

“If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, because I said I go to the Father.” In chapter 16 Jesus says,

“Now I go My way to Him that sent Me, and none of you asketh Me, Whither goest Thou? But because I have said these things, sorrow hath filled your hearts.”

God was accomplishing His blessed purposes in redemption by Christ’s going. You forget that God is acting in all this, for you cannot suppose that God is to baffled as to give up His purpose. The disciples thought when Jesus was crucified, that all their hopes were disappointed. They say,

“We thought it had been He that should have redeemed Israel.” (Luke 24:21).

In fact, in that very act, and at that very moment, all was being accomplished for them. Where is the Lord going? should have been their question. It is not now that there seems no jeopardy, no confusion, no sorrow; but faith looks at and through it all to God, and asks,

“What is the Lord doing? Where is the Lord going?”

In and through all the trouble, the Lord has not turned a hairbreadth out of His way. We may be in distress, but faith will not say the Lord is far away, but will know Him nigh at hand.

Verse 24. The Lord let them be in jeopardy, the ship filled with water, and Himself asleep on purpose to put their faith to the test, to prove if they were really trusting Him, and that it might be seen if such foolish thoughts would arise when they were put into jeopardy. They say, “Lord, we perish;” but they were in the ship with Christ, and could they be drowned? He said to them: “Where is your faith?” Well might He say thus to them, for though the water was in the boat, He was there too, and could sleep through it all. It was not so much of Him they were thinking as of themselves.

“We perish,” said they, and it is just the same now, for the fact of being in danger with Christ in the boat, is the same at one time as at another, just as impossible now as then.

And in truth, Christ is much more with us now, being more perfectly revealed to us, and we are united to Him, one with Him, so that He is with us every moment in the power of the Spirit. However high the waves may rise, there is no drowning His love and thoughts towards us. The test is to our faith. The question is: Have we that faith which so realizes Christ’s presence as to keep us as calm and composed in the rough sea as the smooth?

It was not really a question of the rough or the smooth sea when Peter was sinking in the water, for he would have sunk without Christ just as much in the smooth as in rough sea. The fact was, the eye was off Jesus, on the wave, and that made him sink. If we go on with Christ we shall get into all kinds of difficulties—many a boisterous sea, but being one with Him, His safety is ours. The eye should be off events, although they be ever so solemn, and surely they are so at this present time, and I feel them to be so, for none perhaps has a deeper sense than I of the growth of evil, and of the solemn state of things. But I know all is as settled and secure as if the whole world were favorable.

I quite dread the way many dear saints are looking at events, and not looking at Christ and for Christ. The Lord Himself is the security of His people, and let the world go on as it may, no events can touch Christ. We are safe on the sea, if only we have the eye off the waves, with the heart concentrated on Christ, and on the interests of Christ. Then the devil himself cannot touch us.

Abiding in Christ

The little child is not self-confident: it fears the untried and unknown, it seeks the companionship of mother or friend, and it is willing to be led. O, for the child-heart, with its simplicity and trust; its unbounded faith and lovely guilelessness! Many strong men may read these words who glory in their strength, and they must be converted and become as little children, if they would learn the secret of abiding in Him.

It is said of the great soldier Naaman that “his flesh came to him as the flesh of a little child.” It was a splendid combination! The stalwart form of a man was combined with the soft, sweet flesh of childhood. And these qualities should blend in each of us—strong and simple, manly and childlike, like David, the champion of Israel whose heart was not haughty, or exercised in matters too great, and was like a child weaned from its mother. Such are counted by the Father as His babes, fed with the sincere milk of the Word, taught secrets which are hid from the wise and prudent, and instructed in the art of abiding in Him.

It is not easy to abide in Christ all at once. It is the growth of years, the result of perpetual watching and self-discipline, the outcome of the blessed Spirit’s tender influence on the inner life. It is not easy at first to get the creeper to entwine itself in some chosen direction. The string and hammer, and knife must be used; but in time it is satisfied to adopt the new and forced attitude. And the clinging of the soul to Christ comes as the result of the prolonged habit and self-discipline beneath the culture of the Spirit of God.

Christian Obedience

Christianity substitutes obedience to a person, for that of obedience to a law. In legal obedience, a person fulfills a contract which he has undertaken. Christian obedience is like that of a slave to his master whom he loves. He does what he is told, without a will of his own.

If I bid my child do three things, and he does only two of them which he likes to do, and takes his own way in the third, in-subjection of will is as much evidenced by his disobeying in one point, as if he had in all.

Christ’s obedience was perfect, and is our pattern. He was put through every trial to see if there was in Him an unwillingness to obey—that is sin—and it could not be found. In the garden of Gethsemane He chose rather to have God’s face hidden, than to fail to obey. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

There is nothing so humble, or so unselfish, as obedience. It supposes that we have no will of our own.

Rest in Jesus

Matthew 11:28, 29

Jesus, I rest in Thee,

In Thee myself I hide;

Laden with guilt and misery.

Where can I rest beside,

‘Tis on Thy meek and lowly breast

My weary soul alone can rest.

Thou Holy one of God!

The Father rests in Thee,

And in the savor of that blood

Which speaks to Him for me;

The curse is gone—in Thee I’m blest;

God rests in Thee—in Thee I rest.

The slave of sin and fear,

Thy truth my bondage broke;

My happy spirit loves to wear

Thy light and easy yoke.

Thy love, which fills my grateful breast,

Makes, duty joy, and labor rest.

Soon the bright, glorious day,

The Rest of God shall come;

Sorrow and sin shall pass away,

And I shall reach my home:

Then, of the promised land possessed,

My soul shall know eternal rest!

Fragment: Everything Connected

I can trace everything connected with my circumstances, and what I am here to the first Adam; but, connected with all my blessing in Christ, I have to go up there where my life is hid with Him in God. How wondrous the grace of God! His mercy does, not rest merely in the cleansing blood, vast as that blessing is, but it puts poor sinners into association with the Son, in life above (Col. 3:3). God reckoned to Him our guilt, and if we are freed from guilt and in association with Christ in life, we get power from Him to walk as living men.

Correspondence: Dan. 12:4; Col. 3:15; Luke 17:30; 1 Tim. 4:10

Question: “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Daniel 12:4. When will this be?

Answer: In order to rightly apprehend this statement, we must go on with another portion in verse 10, “None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.”

A more correct rendering of verse 4 might be, “Many shall diligently investigate, and the knowledge (thereof) shall be increased.” Here we see “the wise”, that is, the faithful Jewish remnant, searching the prophetic Word, and using it for their guidance in the day of the setting up of the abomination of desolation in the holy place (compare Matt. 24:15, 16). This has reference to the days of tribulation through which Israel will pass in the time of the end, before the setting up of the Millennial Kingdom on earth.

Question: What does “singing with grace” mean in Colossians 3:15?

Answer: Not merely with melody of voice which man can hear and appreciate, but with the grace of Christ in the heart which God alone can see and love. No singing is beautiful to God that lacks this; while the feeblest song, though with a broken voice, that is the fruit of His love and grace in the heart, is sweet to His ear.

Question: What is the “day when the Son of Man is revealed” Luke 17:30?

Answer: It is the day of His public appearance when He descends to the Mount of Olives to reign over the earth.

Question: Would you explain the meaning of 1 Timothy 4:10 where it speaks of God as “the Saviour of all men.”

Answer: We understand this to mean that God is the gracious Preserver of all, but especially of those who believe. God takes care of sparrows. (See Matt. 10:29). You ask, “In what sense is Jesus the Saviour of all men?” and then quote 1 Timothy 4:1. Now we adoringly own Jesus as God over all, blessed forever; but the apostle in verse 10 is not speaking of Jesus in His saving work, but of God in His gracious Providence. Scripture is divinely accurate. You never find any distinction without a difference. We must ever remember this.

The Skeptic Saved

For five years Harold and I had been working together in one place of business. He was a young man of great talent and promise, but without God and without hope.

I had often seen that his companions were professed skeptics; together they mocked my profession of believing in Christ. Occasionally I observed on his desk infidel books, and anything I said to him was only listened to because as his senior he was bound to show me a measure of respect. The bitterness of his spirit, his opposition to truth, or to my naming the Lord was very manifest.

A few years of city life with its confinement, and seductions to a young man of energy and ability, were sufficient to germinate the seeds of consumption, and poor Harold was at length compelled to return to his old home.

One Lord’s Day when I went out to see him, I found him sitting by the fire in a large and comfortable dining room. I had many inquiries to make about the state of his health and other things, to all of which I received pleasant answers. At length I spoke of sin, and God’s remedy for it. For a moment or two he allowed me to proceed until I quoted Scripture, then he turned and said,

“With regard to those things you had better keep your own opinion to yourself, as I have mine, and as for the Bible it is only a collection of old manuscripts.”

I begged him not to allow Satan to deceive him with such a lie, but he retorted,

“There is no Satan, it is a mere get-up.”

I said but little more to him, as he met everything in the same way. At length I rose to go, my Bible in my hand, but I could not open it. I thought of praying but I could not pray. My heart was sick. I felt that I had failed, that every weapon was powerless. I held out my hand to say farewell, and almost choked as I said—

“Harold, you will not hear me now, but if ever the day should come when you feel your need of Christ, I shall come most gladly to see you, and tell you how you may be saved. Believe it or not, as you like, there is no rest for you, until you put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and although you will not hear me, I shall never cease to pray for you.”

Thus I left him, and weeks passed by. I heard occasionally that although his strength was failing, and his friends were dropping off, he was still as hard as ever. At length I received a message that he wished to see me.

This time I found him lying on a couch. I sat down, but he took little or no notice of me, his eyes seemed to be fixed on the wall. Presently I spoke of the sufferings he was passing through; but he said nothing. Then I asked,

“Have you found out yet that there is no peace for you until you accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour? Do you wish to accept Him now?”

His lips quivered, and I saw an evident struggle to keep down emotion; but he was as weak as a child, and his feelings mastered him. Taking his hand in mine, I asked,

“Have you ever tried to come to Jesus?”

“I have tried, hard, hard,” he replied, and then he burst into tears and sobbed like a child.

I laid before him the truths of the gospel, how God had loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son to bear our sins and their punishment. How God had laid our iniquities on Him, and how He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, and died the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God, and that him that cometh to Him He will in no wise cast out, but says,

“Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28).

“If the Saviour were here now, visibly, and offered you pardon, would you not gladly accept it from Him?”

“I wish He would take me, but my heart is so hard, so wicked,” he replied.

“Do you not remember that the prodigal in the 15th chapter of Luke said, ‘Father, I have sinned,’ yet the father kissed him? God has only that one way of receiving sinners, and upon all who believe, God puts the best robe. He has done all for you, removed everything out of the way, that you may come straight to His arms and heart.”

The next time I called, a smile of welcome on the pale, but now calm and peaceful countenance told me that the struggle was over, and that the Lord had found His own.

He was graciously spared for six months after this, to give evidence of a true work of God. We had often spoken of the Lord’s coming for us, and so I said,

“Jesus may come very soon, and then we shall go together.”

“It is all one; for if He does not, I shall at any rate be with Him, and we shall meet there soon. It will only be as a moment until we meet again—the time will not seem long when I am with the Lord” he replied and smiled.

“Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” (Heb. 10:37).

Fifteen Years Without a Break

Introduced to a young lady who had attended Sunday School for fifteen years without a break of any kind, I inquired as to when she found Christ as her Saviour, to which she replied,

“Only last year.”

Teachers, toil on, your “labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 15:58).

The Sheep of the Flock

“We have heard the plea for trying to keep

The lambs in the narrow way,

And well we may: but what of the sheep—

Shall they be allowed to stray?

“‘Twas a sheep, not a lamb, that wandered away,

In the parable Jesus told;

A grown-up sheep that had gone far astray

From the “ninety and nine” less bold.

“Out in the wilderness, out in the cold,

‘Twas a sheep the Good Shepherd sought,

And back to the flock, with love untold,

‘Twas a sheep the Good Shepherd brought.

“And why for the sheep should we earnestly long,

And as earnestly hope and pray?

Because there is danger, if they go wrong,

They will lead the young lambs away.

“For the lambs will follow the sheep, you know,

Wherever the sheep may stray;

If the sheep go wrong, it will not be long

‘Till the lambs are as wrong as they.

“And so with the sheep we earnestly plead,

For the sake of the lambs today.

If the lambs are lost, what a terrible cost

Some sheep will have to pay.”

Bethany - Response: Part 5

Part 5

John 12

Martha: no cumbrance or complaining calling for reproof, but unselfish love waiting upon the desires of His heart. The one thing needful learned, her ministering to Him shines now as acceptable service in the glittering galaxy of communion, worship, service, the essentials for that Bethany supper prepared for Him. Not “many things,” but one object sought after, her example tells us that Christ Himself (surely our one object in a coming eternity) should here and now win from our lives such grateful service as the love that bore the sufferings, of the cross demands, namely: that we should be at His disposal, and saved for His pleasure, having hearts that covet the joy of constantly gratifying His every wish, and by such service honoring Him in a scene where bold scorning or cold indifference sadly contrast with—Communion—the mutual joy of loving hearts; the being in His company for the simple joy of it—with Worship—the homage of the heart to which He has become “the preciousness” (1 Peter 2:7, N. Tr.)—with Service—testimony flowing out of communion, devoted regard for his interests, serving His heart, studying His pleasure. We are warned against objectors, such as Judas; all who are mere followers by profession—betrayers as with a “kiss” —terming only that service which regards human advantage, for “poor”, and as “waste” the heart’s, lofty purpose to gratify Him only, against those who bear no such mark of true service, as Paul’s “humility,” “tears,” etc. (Acts 20:17-35). On the other hand, we are encouraged to treasure in the secret of our souls, the heavenly incentive, His words, “Me ye have not always,” should exercise over our lives.

In the heaven we soon shall enter, there will be no reproach, no cross to bear, or shame to suffer for His sake; no world to refuse, or self to deny. It is only here we have Him to honor by identifying ourselves with His rejection, by standing for Him amid the hatred and antagonism of enemies of the cross of Christ; seizing the brief opportunity to have “fellowship with His sufferings” before it passes forever, to be succeeded by the fellowship of His glory.

Bethany! dear Bethany, the Christ of God was there to share their happiness, and still it is His joy to manifest His loving presence where He is welcomed by hearts desiring His company, because attracted to His Person. A feast for Him His loved ones spread (John 21:9-12), Whose love is not chilled by being undeserving on their part.

The gracious appeal of His feast for them is well calculated to lift dull spirits to His presence. They were cold; He knew it. Hungry; He knew it. Fearful; He knew it. Ashamed; He knew it. But the same as before, their Lord was thinking of them, spreading for them a table of refreshment.

Companionship—with our risen and glorious Head, desired by Him, so blessed for us, even amid Laodicean abhorrent conditions—may to His joy and ours be experienced yet. That He should be outside (Rev. 3:20) shows what recreant hearts are ours; that He should “knock” shows the measureless love that will not be denied His desire of companying with those He loves so dearly; presenting Himself and the purpose of His love to sup with us, sharing, feeling, bearing the pressure of our earthly pilgrimage. Then to “sup with Him” in the heavenly scenes where fellow-participation in joys unending will forever satisfy the Eternal Lover and His loved ones.

(Concluded)

A Word for Tried Ones

A blacksmith, about eight years after he had accepted Christ as his Saviour, was approached by an intelligent unbeliever with the question:

“Why is it you have so much trouble? I have been watching you. Since you joined the church and began to ‘walk square,’ and seem to love everybody, you have had twice as many trials and accidents as you had before. I thought that when a man gave himself to God his troubles were over. Isn’t that what the parsons tell us?”

With a thoughtful, but glowing face, the blacksmith replied:

“Do you see this piece of iron? It is for the springs of a carriage. I have been ‘tempering’ it for some time. To do this I heat it red-hot, and then plunge it into a tub of ice-cold water. This I do many times.

“If I find it taking ‘temper,’ I heat and hammer it unmercifully. In getting the right piece of iron I found several that were too brittle. So I threw them in the scrap pile. Those scraps are worth about a cent a pound; this carriage spring is very valuable.”

He paused, and his listener nodded. The blacksmith continued:

“God saves us for something more than to have a good time—that’s the way I see it. We have the good time all right, for God’s smile means heaven. But He wants us for service, just as I want this piece of iron. And He has put the ‘temper’ of Christ in us by testing us with trial. Ever since I saw this I have been saying to Him, ‘Test me in any way Thou dost choose, Lord; only don’t throw me in the scrap pile.’”

“The Lord of hosts... shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver.” (Mal. 3:3).

“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” (Rev. 20:6).

“Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.” (Isa. 62:3).

Our Work

I leave it to every man’s conscience what his work is; it is whatever the Lord would have you do. There must be duty. If it be your duty to go to the stake, go. I dare not declare to anyone what he ought to do. I am dependent. I am longing for the Word to show me what I am to do, and the moment I obey it, I am all right. Saul of Tarsus says,

“Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”

The greatest thing to be deplored in the present day is the aimlessness, uselessness, want of any definite occupation of nearly every one. I believe everyone has a mission. I cannot tell others what theirs is: I might make a mistake if I tried to. Still I can say to a woman with a family, “There is no doubt about yours” but, I add, the banks are not the river, though they may determine the river. And just as the banks of the river are the greenest, sweetest spots, so it is at home, with those who are nearest to you, that you are to show forth most practically and perfectly your mission.

Moses set to work forty years too soon with his mission. His was muscular Christianity. Afterward he was sent by God to do the work; but he had to beware of his muscularity to the end. It was that which prevented his going into the land.

Extract: Worldliness and Separation

Worldliness so rampant, calls for renewed separation from all that is not according to the Word of God. Departure from the plain paths of Scripture is on the increase, and we are in danger of being overcome by the plausible reasons and fair speeches of those who advocate toleration of that from which God in His grace has delivered us.

When the heart gets cold, and self-interests are allowed, then there is a tendency to make little of real separation from those things which God has forbidden.

“Come out from among them, and be ye separate saith the Lord.” (2 Cor. 6:17).

A Lesson in Arithmetic

Willie spent his life like most schoolboys. He went to school in the morning, back home at noon to dinner, then off again for the afternoon, and home to tea. The evening was spent in preparing his lessons for the next day.

Nothing very exciting ever happened. In Willie’s day there were not so many football and cricket matches as there are nowadays, nor were there any motorcycles! But one day, however, he did get a surprise. On opening his desk at school to get out his books for the day’s lessons he found someone had been there before him and had written on the inside cover of his notebook the following lines:

“The one who by addition grows

And suffers no subtraction,

But multiplies a thing he knows,

And carries every fraction;

Who well divides his precious time,

Each part proportion giving,

To sure success aloft will climb,

Interest compound receiving.”

Whoever could have written it? It must have been one of the teachers, Willie thought, for the writing was clear and well-formed, too good a hand for one of the boys.

Willie is now grown up, but he has, never found out who wrote the lines, nor has he ever seen the words anywhere again. The rhyme made a great impression on him, and he did his best to add to his knowledge, to divide his time rightly, the result being that he did well at school and became later an able and successful man.

He is still adding and multiplying, but in a different way from when at school. Let us ask him and see what sort of arithmetic he is doing now.

“Are you still doing addition, Mr. Willie?”

“Well, yes, I hope so, there is plenty to be done.”

“But whatever are you adding?”

“Peter tells us to add, doesn’t he? If I remember rightly he gives us seven things to add. Let us read what he says:

“‘And beside this... add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity’, which means love.” (2 Peter 1:5-7).

“And does it say anything in the Bible about subtraction?”

“I think it does. Isn’t there a verse that says,

“‘Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown’? (Rev. 3:11).

“This was said to the Christians at Philadelphia, and the same thing was said to the Christians at Thyatira in the second chapter of Revelation.

“It isn’t much use adding, if we allow Satan to come and subtract, so the Christians in both these places were warned to suffer no subtraction. And one of the best ways to avoid losing what we have gained from God, is to multiply what we have.

“Solomon says, ‘There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty,’ and the Apostle Paul prays that the Colossians may increase in the knowledge of God. You can light thousands of candles from one wick without dimming its light. Each one of us can increase by learning of God, and making the knowledge we have known to others.”

“But however do you carry every fraction, Mr. Willie?”

“That was a lesson the Lord Jesus taught His disciples when here. ‘Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost,’ He said to them after the miracle of the feeding of both the five thousand and the four thousand. The bread of God, which the Lord Jesus Himself had blessed, was too precious for the birds of the air to feed on; it was to be eaten by those for whom Jesus had come to die.

“Then, again, to continue our Arithmetic lesson, a man of God was to divide well his precious time. Paul tells Timothy some of the things he was to attend to; his time was to be divided in ‘giving attendance to doctrine;’ to reading God’s Word; to exhortation; to instructing those who oppose the truth. He was told to ‘meditate on these things’, so he had no difficulty in knowing how to divide his time.

“Peter tells us what the result of diligence will be—it gives us compound interest. He says,

“‘Wherefore rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’”

Compound interest means that your capital is given back to you, added to your interest. This God will certainly do. He will never be any man’s debtor. It is worthwhile to be diligent in the work of the Lord!

“There is no man that has left... for My sake, and the gospel’s, but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time... and in the world to come, eternal life.” (Mark 10:29, 30).

Suffering for Christ

If we suffer with Christ, we shall also reign with Him. Suffering comes in as the consequence of our adoption into the family of God. It was quite different from sorrow as a man connected with the first Adam. Paul desiring to be spent in filling up sufferings for Christ, was suffering on quite another ground from Adam-suffering.

There never was a higher life, there never were higher motives, nor higher hopes, than those in the Apostle Paul! And all came out practically in the life of a man like this; his whole practice was correspondent with his heavenly position. His thought was, “God has given me as a sort of bell-bearer to His flock.” God bethought Himself of His people, and Paul for a pattern to guide and help them on, and they were to follow him, as he followed Christ.

It becomes a very solemn question in a day like this, in which the name of Christ is taken up very easily, whether we are following after Christ, whether the cross is before the mind as that which crucifies the world to us.

A very solemn question in connection with what the throbbing of the pulse of the inward life is, in those who are Christ’s—do they know the cross? or do they show forth the spirit of the world? Is it in their hearts? Take any one passing through the street—the world is all about him, but is it in his heart, or is he living out of it? It is a blessed thing to say, We have naught to think of, or to seek, but heavenly things.

“Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God;” that is our profession.

If there is a place strange to me, it ought to be this place where my Lord was crucified; and if it is not so, what is it but a place where I have been walking in the flesh—satisfied to have passed through the Red Sea, and that is all.

Sowing and Reaping

“Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.” (1 Cor. 3:8).

“Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters.” (Isa. 32:20).

Hast thou labored in the shadows

Though thy work seemed all in vain?

Hast thou sowed the Seed so precious,

Toiling in the Saviour’s name?

Dost thou weary of the sowing?

Art thou longing now to rest?

Do thy steps begin to falter

Tiring of thy high behest?

Listen to the words of promise,

Spoken once for such as thee;

“Blest is he who by all waters,

Sows the Seed untiringly.”

“I have seen thy patient efforts,

I have counted all thy tears,

While for. Me thou still hast labored

Through the long and barren years.”

“Yes, and now, I’m coming quickly

And with Me is My reward;

‘Tis for faithful service granted,

Service done to Me, the Lord.”

“Precious to My heart thy labor—

All that’s done in Jesus’ name—

Done because thou lov’st the Saviour

Him who bore Thy sin and shame.”

“Nothing done for Me forgotten,

Though it seemed thy work was vain

Soon thou’lt find thy sheaves in glory

When with Me thou e’er shalt reign.”

Precious Saviour, Thou are worthy

Till Thou com’st, O! may I be

Faithful, earnest in the labor

Chosen by Thyself for me.

Extract: The Only Thing I Have Time For

If the only thing I am looking for is the coming of the Lord, feeling how soon I shall be with Him, I shall feel that I have not time for a thousand things that might otherwise occupy me.

Isolation

It is one of our great difficulties at the present moment—indeed it has ever been a difficulty—to combine a narrow path with a wide heart. There is very much, on all sides, tending to produce isolation. We cannot deny it. Links of human friendship seem so fragile; so many things crop up to shake confidence; so many things which one cannot possibly sanction, that the path becomes more and more isolated.

All this is unquestionably true. But we must be very careful as to how we meet this condition of things. We have little idea how much depends on the spirit in which we carry ourselves in the midst of scenes and circumstances which, all must admit, are peculiarly trying.

For example, I may retire in upon myself, and become bitter, morose, severe, repulsive, withered up, having no heart for the Lord’s people, for His service, for the holy and happy exercises of the assembly. I may become barren of good works, having no sympathy with the poor, the sick, the sorrowful: living in the narrow circle within which I have retired; thinking only of myself, my personal and family interests.

What, we may well inquire, can be more miserable than this? It is simply the most deplorable selfishness; but we do not see it, because we are blinded by our inordinate occupation with other people’s failures.

Now it is a very easy matter to find out flaws, foibles, and faults in our brethren and friends. But the question is, How are we to meet these things,? Is it by retiring in upon ourselves? Never; no, never. To do this is to render ourselves as miserable in ourselves as we are worthless, and worse than worthless, to others.

There are few things more pitiable than what we call “a disappointed man.” He is always finding fault with others. He has never discovered the real root of the matter, or the true secret of dealing with it. He has retired, but it is in upon himself. He is isolated, but his isolation is utterly false. He is miserable; and he will make all who come under his influence—all who are weak and foolish enough to listen to him—as miserable as himself. He has completely broken down in his practical career; he has succumbed to the difficulties of his time, and proved himself wholly unequal to meet the stern realities of actual life. And then, instead of seeing and confessing this, he retires into his own narrow circle, and finds fault with everyone except himself.

How truly delightful and refreshing to turn from this dismal picture to the only perfect man that ever trod this earth! His path was indeed an isolated one—none more so. He had no sympathy with the scene around Him.

“The world knew Him not.”

“He came unto His own (Israel), and His own received Him not.”

“He looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but he found none.”

Even His own beloved disciples failed to sympathize with, or understand Him. They slept on the mount of transfiguration, in the presence of His glory; and they slept in the garden of Gethsemane, in the presence of His agony. They roused Him out of His sleep with their unbelieving fears, and were continually intruding upon Him with their ignorant questions and foolish notions.

How did He meet all this? In perfect grace, patience, and tenderness. He answered their questions; He corrected their notions; He hushed their fears; He solved their difficulties; He met their need; He made allowance for their infirmities; He gave them credit for devotedness in the moment of desertion; He looked at them through His own loving eyes, and loved them, notwithstanding all.

“Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.”

Christian reader, let us seek to drink into our blessed Master’s spirit, and walk in His footsteps; and then our isolation will be of the right kind, and though our path may be narrow, the heart will be large.

Do You Love Jesus?

As Mr. M—, a true child of God, alighted from the cab, he was about to follow his usual custom of handing a tract to the cabman, when this question from him greeted his ear:

“Do you love Jesus?”

What a delight it was to Mr. M— to hear these words, and to find in the cabman a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. What an example that cabman was of following the command to preach the Word, and to be instant in season and out of season. God grant that his searching question may be blessed to the salvation of many souls.

And now, my reader, let me ask you,

“Do you love Jesus?” If you cannot honestly answer that you do, ask yourself why you do not. What! not love Him who died for you?

“He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with His stripes we are healed.” (Isa. 53:5).

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Phil. 2:6-8).

He has done all this for you, and yet you do not love Him? Is it possible. We beseech you, before it is too late, to turn to Him.

“Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.” (Isa. 55:6).

Yieldingness

“Yield yourselves unto the Lord.” (2 Chron. 30:8).

Unconditional yielding to the Lord brings us into full unity with Christ to abide in Him, and He in us, and causes us, to walk humbly with Him among our fellow men. It places us in sweet fellowship with Him and His. While waiting for His glorious return, we are privileged to live on His life, nourished, fed, strengthened, and constantly filled with His Spirit and presence. Our part is just to give ourselves to Him, fully recognizing our own worthlessness, and ever abide in Him.

Correspondence: Amos 8:11-12; Luke 22:19 A Command or Request?; Souls Sleep?

Question: When will be the time spoken of in Amos 8:11,12, a famine for the Word of the Lord?

Answer: When judgments are falling on Israel in the coming tribulation, they will seek for some word from God for guidance and comfort; but will not find it. God will for a time leave them in darkness and perplexity.

Question: When the Lord said, “This do in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19), was it a command, or a request?

Answer: To those who truly love Him, it was more than either of them. It was love’s gift to express to us His love; and in our remembering Him, we express our love to Him. Precious privilege!

Question: Do the souls of believers sleep when they die?

Answer: The idea of the souls of believers being asleep when absent from the body, is at once unscriptural and absurd.

“Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” Was this to be in an unconscious state? Has the soul of the thief been asleep for the last 1900 years?

“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Has Stephen been asleep ever since?

“Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” Is this to be asleep?

“Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.” Why not say, “Having a desire to be asleep”? Is it far better to be asleep, to be unconscious, than to be enjoying Christ, and working for Him here?

“Sleep in Jesus”, and “shall not prevent them which are asleep” refer to the raising of the bodies of those who are now with Him, waiting for their glorified bodies (1 Thess. 4:14; 15).

“The dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (1 Cor. 15:52).

If That Is Christianity, Then I Am a Christian

One bright summer morning a cab drove up to the station just as the great entrance-door closed after the departure of the nine o’clock train.

“You are just two minutes late, Miss,” said a porter. “The train did not go on time today, either, as we were delayed for five minutes.”

What a disappointment! Circumstances unforeseen and unavoidable had caused a delay of several minutes beyond the time set for leaving for the railway station; but she went, still hoping that quick driving would make up for lost time.

“Seven minutes past nine,” the porter said, glancing at the clock, “and the next train for S. will not go until four.”

With a weary, disappointed feeling in her heart, the young girl threw herself down on a seat near the window of the waiting room; for the “next train at four o’clock” meant a wait of nearly seven hours there, and afterward a journey of 140 miles by rail. She was going home from school for her holidays. For a moment a rebellious thought arose in her heart, “How tiresome this is! God could have prevented this disappointment if He chose, and I shall never be able to stay here for seven hours.” It was but for a moment, however, and then the thought came,

“Perhaps He has something for me to do here for Him.” Her heart went up in prayer, and she whispered, “Father, is there anything I am to do for Thee? If there is, show it to me, and give me power. O, give me power to do something for Thee, Lord. I am very foolish, and very feeble, but Thou canst give me wisdom; and if I am to speak of Thee, give me words to say.”

Several people went in and out of the room, but she spoke to none of them. At length a shadow crossed the window, and an old lady entered and took a vacant seat beside her. The lady was in mourning, and looked, O, so sad and weary and careworn.

“This is the one; I must speak to her,” the girl thought; “but how shall I begin? It is so hard to speak to strangers.” Her heart beat very quickly, but she moved closer, and ventured a commonplace remark. The lady answered kindly, and so the ice was broken.

“May I ask if you know that your sins are forgiven?” she asked. The old lady looked a little startled at first, and then said,

“O, I pray to God, and hope He will forgive me; but certainly I cannot say that my sins are forgiven.”

“But Jesus died; and He would not have had to die, if our prayers, or anything we could do, could gain us pardon for our sins from God.”

“I am not trusting in anything I can do; but certainly one must pray. I am a sinner, a great sinner, I know; but I know also that God is a very merciful God, and trust that He will hear my prayers and receive me, though I sometimes fear I am too great a sinner.”

“It was for sinners that the Lord Jesus died. We were covered with sin, and could not do one thing to help ourselves, for God says, ‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die.’ Now death to us for our sins would be eternal banishment from God. But the Lord Jesus was very pitiful; He loved us, and He said, ‘I will die instead of them;’ and He came down and died for us. We owed a great debt to God, and the blessed Lord Jesus undertook to pay it. God is too holy to pass over sin, and death was the only price that He could accept for our ransom, because He had pronounced death to be the penalty for sin, and He cannot lie.” In her eagerness she went on,

“Now that the Lord Jesus has fully paid the price that God’s justice demanded, God is able righteously to save sinners. The blood of the Lord Jesus was poured out for the vilest, and now God would not be just if He punished a sinner who trusts in Jesus for salvation. There is a little verse of a hymn which says,

‘Payment God will not twice demand;

First at my bleeding Surety’s hand,

And then again at mine.’

“Will you not believe it? ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life?’ John 3:16. And now you have not a single thing to do but just to take God at His word, and believe that He so loved you as to give His beloved Son to die instead of you, and God says you are saved. There is not a tear, not a prayer, to be added to His work, for the Lord Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ Will you not take the salvation that God is freely offering you? There is nothing left for you to do but just to trust in Jesus.”

The lady had listened very attentively to every word. Now she looked up, and while tears of joy burst from her eyes and rolled down her furrowed cheeks, she exclaimed,

“If that is Christianity, then I am a Christian.” Then as if searching in her memory for something hidden deep down there, she repeated, very softly and very slowly,

“Perish! it cannot be,

Since Jesus shed His blood;

The promise is both rich and free,

And He will make it good.”

She was very glad, and no wonder. She had found the Saviour, who had long been seeking her, the one whose pardon she had been craving, while all the time He had been pressing it upon her. Now that her blind eyes were opened, she could look up and see Jesus as her Saviour—Jesus, the one whose very presence there at God’s right hand, is enough to prove to a poor anxious sinner that God is forever satisfied about his sins. Once God laid the sinner’s sins upon His beloved Son, as He hung upon the cross. There He fully atoned for them. Now He is seated in brightest glory at God’s right hand—a proof that the sins are forever gone.

A porter entered the waiting room to say that the old lady’s train was about to start. She rose, grasped her young friend’s hand and went, tears of joy still welling up in her eyes, leaving behind her in that waiting room a glad, and thankful and happy heart.

How this incident speaks to us Christians, that no circumstance can cross our path, but what the Lord permits in His wisdom. And we should ask Him to show us what He would have us learn, and do in it. Let us seek to lay hold of opportunities to speak a word for Him, looking to Him for guidance.

Extract: Speaking to Souls

The question of speaking to souls is a question of personal love to the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not say you have no gift for it.

Do you love Christ? If so, you will never lose an opportunity of speaking a word for Him.

He Will Come Again

He whom we love will come again

In majesty and power

To claim His bride, the blood-bought church,

We watch and wait the hour.

All cleansed from sin, in spotless white,

A glorious, happy throng,

His presence comforts while we wait—

Our hearts burst forth in song.

Not one asleep, shall Jesus find,

Whose lamp is filled with oil;

The Spirit keeps us wide awake

To greet the Lord, our all.

In triumph over sin and death,

The dead in Christ shall rise;

And we, caught up along with them,

Shall meet Him in the skies.

Extract: Praise and Love

Let us ever remember that God recognizes every expression of praise and of His people’s love. He knows so well what His love and grace are to us, that He must expect us to praise Him.

The Unequal Yoke

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” (2 Cor. 6:14, 15).

The children of Israel had been separated from the nations by God. Four times Balaam sought to curse them, and when this failed he succeeded in getting them to mingle with the Moabites, and to join themselves to Baalpeor (see Num. 22:25), and thus ruined the people who had been called out to be a living witness to the one true God.

Many Christians who once were bright, earnest, separated, and devoted children of God, have been ensnared by Satan, formed an unequal yoke, their testimony spoiled, and they are today total wrecks, and a danger to all who come near. Satan ever seeks to get the thin end of the wedge in first, and few see where it all leads until too late.

You, my true fellow-believer, have been marked off from the world, and bound with indissoluble ties to every child of God, but as surely separated from the unbeliever as Israel was from the nations. Christ has won your heart, and this world you can only know as the place where He was crucified. Grace has taught you that you no more belong to it than does your rejected Lord, and to be a friend of the world is to be false to Christ. An unbeliever has taken his side with the world and against Christ, for “he that is not with Me is against Me”; he hates His name, despises His Word, and tramples His blood under foot.

Of all evils the saddest consequences come from the unequal yoke. A young man or woman becomes engaged to an unconverted person, and often deceive themselves by the fact that they are very moral and upright, and thus seek to persuade themselves that they are not doing wrong; but the truth is, they are being joined to an enemy of God, a hater of Christ, and a child of wrath.

There is no middle path, and bitterest sorrow is the only harvest that can be reaped.

“Can two walk together except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3).

Useful lives have been ruined, and much dishonor brought upon the name of the Lord Jesus through this unequal yoke. It is neither faithfulness to Christ, love to them, nor justice to yourself to continue for another moment such an unholy path.

“Ponder the paths of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.” (Prov. 4:26, 27).

The enemy may also allure the Christian by the cycle, football, cricket, and many other clubs where the unequal yoke is formed under the plea that (1) “Recreation is needed”; (2) “What harm is there in this?” (3) “May I not by joining be an influence for good?”

Let us openly and honestly face these queries.

(1.) Recreation is necessary, especially for the young, but is there none better than that which is in disobedience to the Word of God?

(2.) The “harm” lies, not in riding a cycle, or playing at football, but in the unholy alliances with the world.

(3.) Are you really sincere in your plea that you may be an influence for good to others? Is this your real and sole object in joining? Do you seek to embrace every opportunity of speaking for Christ, or is it not true that you dare not introduce Him because you know He is not wanted? O, be real before God! These things are not the trifles they at first sight appear. Beware lest you so become one of the world that, like Lot, your testimony is not believed.

Then, again, there are religious associations where believers and unbelievers are joined together, and some, alas! go so far as to include every parishioner—regardless of new birth—and oftentimes immoral persons are allowed to take the Sacrament professedly in remembrance of the Lord’s death. This is the very worst kind of evil. How can they remember a person they know not? God says to His own people who thus mix with what is so false,

“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” (2 Cor. 6:17).

“Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins.” (Rev. 18:4).

Dear fellow-believer, ponder these things well. They are not small and insignificant matters. Not only your blessing, but the glory of Christ is at stake. The unequal yoke includes every association—religious, commercial, or otherwise—where believers and unbelievers are joined together by common ties.

“Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Cor. 6:20).

Extract: Sitting at the Lord's Feet

Sitting at the feet of the Lord is really reading, meditation and prayer. You have to live with a person to know him. If you are going to know the Lord Jesus, you must read His Word. When you read the Word of God, see to it that it ministers Christ to you.

The Closing Days of Christendom: Part 1

Part 1

I have just been thinking how the great apostate systems, whether civil or ecclesiastical, are destined to advance in strength and magnificence, as their day of doom and judgment approaches. Witness the condition of the Woman in Revelation 18; and that of the Beast in Revelation Chapters 13 and 19.

And I ask, is not this present moment, through which we are passing, giving pledges of this? Do we not see the great apostate ecclesiastical system advancing to occupy itself of the world, with something of giant strides?

And is not the world, as a civil or secular thing, spreading itself out, in improvements and attainments, and cultivation of all desirable and proud things, beyond all precedent? Are not these things so, beyond the question of even the very least observant? And are they not pledges that all is now on the high road to the full display of the Woman and of the Beast, in their several forms of greatness and grandeur, which are, thus, according to God’s Word, destined to precede their judgment? These things, I own, are very plain and simple to me.

But again I ask—is there any notice in God’s Word, that the saints or the church are to rise to any condition of beauty or of strength befitting them, ere the hour of their translation come? The apostate things, as we have seen, are to be great and magnificent just before their judgment—but, I ask, is the true thing to be eminent in its way, strong and beautiful in that strength and beauty that belong to it, ere its removal to glory? This is an affecting inquiry. What answer do the oracles of God give us?

Paul, in 2nd Timothy, contemplates “the last days,” in their perilous character, and the ruin of the church, which we have seen, and do see at this day, all around us. But what condition of things among the saints does he anticipate as following that ruin? I may say with all assurance, he does not contemplate the restoration of the church’s order as a whole, any rebuilding of God’s house, so to speak, any recovery of corporate beauty or strength worthy of this dispensation; but he exhorts those who find themselves in what has become as a “great house,” if they would be vessels unto honor sanctified and meet for the Master’s use and prepared for every good work, to purge themselves from the vessels unto dishonor, and follow the virtues and cherish the graces which become them, calling on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Peter, in his 2nd Epistle, contemplates “the last days” also, and very unclean abominations among professors, and very daring infidel scorning of divine promises in the world. But he gives no hint that there will be restored order and strength in the church, or in corporate spiritual action as a whole; but enjoins the saints to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour, and to be assured that the promise of His coming and majesty is no cunningly devised fable. He speaks to them of an entrance into the everlasting kingdom, but not of a return to a restored order of things in the church on earth.

Jude, also, in like manner, anticipates “the last time,” and many terrible corruptions, such as “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness.” But what then? He promises nothing in the way of restored beauty and consistency as in earlier days, but encourages the “beloved” to build themselves up on their most holy faith, to pray in the Holy Ghost and to keep themselves in God’s love; but he is so far from encouraging any hope of recovered order and strength in the church on earth, that he tells them to be looking for another object— “the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

John, in his way, gives us the judgment of the seven churches in Asia, in Revelation 2 and 3. It is a very solemn scene. There is some good and much evil found in the midst of them. The voices of the Spirit, heard there, have healthful admonitions for us, both in our individual and gathered condition. But there is no promise that the judgment will work correction and recovery. The churches are judged, and they are left under the judgment; and we know no more of them on earth; the next sight we get of the elect is in heaven. (See chap. 4)

All this is serious and yet happy; and all this is strikingly verified by the great moral phenomena around us, under our eye, or within our hearing, at this moment. For we know that the great apostate things, the things of the world, whether civil or ecclesiastical, are in the advance, ripening to full bloom of vigor and of beauty, while we see the true thing broken, enfeebled, and wasted in no wise promising to regain what once it had in days of corporate order and power.

But it is well. It is gracious in the Lord, thus to cast up before us, in His Word, the high road along which we were destined to travel, and the sights we were appointed to see. And it is happy to know, that our translation does not wait for a regained condition of dispensational order and strength; for, according to present appearances, we might have to wait long enough ere that could be. But mark further, on this same truth.

At times, when the Lord Jesus was about to deliver the poor captive of Satan, the enemy at the very moment would put forth some fresh energy of evil, and his captive apparently be in its most grievous estate.

This was another form of the same thing that we notice throughout God’s Word—that the apostate thing is in peculiar strength and magnificence just at the time when its doom or judgment is at the door, and that Christ’s thing is in weakness and brokenness, just as the deliverance He brings with Him is at hand.

Joseph, Moses and David, are samples of this also. One was taken from a prison, to feed and rule a nation; another was drawn forth from an unnoticed distant solitude, where he had the care of flocks and herds, to deliver a nation; another was raised up and manifested from under the neglect and contempt of his own kindred, to sustain, by his own single hand, the whole people and kingdom. And what may really amaze us in the midst of such things is this—that some of these were in the place of degradation and loss, through their own sin, and the judgment of God.

Thus it was with both Moses and David. Joseph was a martyr, I grant, and went from the sorrows of righteousness, to the greatness of the rewards of grace. So was David in the days of Saul, when David at last reached the kingdom. But David in later times was not a martyr, but a penitent. He had brought on himself all the loss and sorrow and degradation of the rebellion of Absalom—and the sin that produced it all had this heavier judgment of righteousness resting upon it. “The sword shall never depart from thine house.” Nor did it. And thus he was under judgment; he was in the ruins which his own iniquity brought on him; he was the witness of God’s visitation in holiness, when suddenly his house, in the person of Solomon, broke forth in full luster and strength.

Moses was a martyr, I grant, in his earlier days, in Midian, and comes forth from the place where his faith has cast him, into the honor and joy of being Israel’s deliverer. But, like David, in later days, Moses was under judgment, judgment of God for his unbelief and sin. He trespassed, as we know, at the water of Meribah, and so trespassed, as at once to forfeit all title to enter the land of promise. And nothing to the end could ever change that divine purpose. In that sense, the sword never departed from Moses’ house, as it did not from David’s. He besought the Lord again and again, but it was in vain. He never entered the land—and thus he was judged, and still under the judgment, when grace abounds; for he is (in principle) translated, borne to the top of the hill, and not to the fields of Canaan; to the heights of Pisgah, and not to the plains of Jericho and Jordan.

These things were so. But it is better to be judged of the Lord, than to be condemned with the world; for the poor, weak and judged thing is drawn forth in the light and redemption of God, while the proud and the strong bow under Him.

(To Be Continued)

Trust Him Wholly

“There hath not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised.” 1 Kings 8:56.

You will always find as you trust in the Lord that He is just as true as His Word. The devil may try to discourage God’s people, yet faith in God gives the victory. We find people today who are trying to keep themselves: if they would just trust in the Lord He would keep them.

Paul learned the secret of trusting in the Lord and so can God’s people of today. Christ says,

“Be of good cheer; for I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.

The End of the Path

“Ye did run well; who did hinder you?” (Gal. 5:7).

One of the saddest sights, and yet a not uncommon one, is, to see one who has been mightily used of God, but whose usefulness is now wholly gone. One can run back through only recent years and recall, one after another, those through whom multitudes were blessed, but who, yielding to some subtle temptation, have utterly and forever lost their opportunity of service. The same is true of scores in more secluded circles whose lives, spiritually blighted and dwarfed, tell the same sad story.

Willing to Be a Broom

“What woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house diligently till she find it?” (Luke 15:8).

We were asked at a Bible reading what the broom means in this parable. But, as this useful instrument is not mentioned in the verse, I had not given it much thought. However, as it is evident that the woman must use a broom to sweep with, the inquiry was not out of place.

Doubtless the “woman” here refers to the Holy Spirit, and the “house” to the house of Israel. God has lighted “a candle” in sending His Son into the world (cf. John 1:9), and the Spirit of grace in Christ was seeking the “lost sheep” amid the rubbish and filth of Judaism (cf. Matt. 15:24).

The Son of God has returned to heaven, and sent down the Holy Spirit to continue the work of grace until He return. The sphere of activity has widened out to the whole world, and the Divine Worker needs many brooms. This suggests Romans 10:14; “How shall they hear without a preacher?” And if the broom is a convenient instrument for the housewife to sweep with, so the Holy Spirit uses instruments wherewith to draw out from their hiding places the precious souls buried in sins, and iniquity, the price of whose redemption, as the “silver” here suggests, was “The precious blood of Christ” (cf. 1 Peter 1:18,19).

Are you willing then, to be a broom—to be worn out in such lowly service as He requires? A broom, you know, must be well made, and fitted to the hand of the user, and thus ready for use when wanted. The thrifty housewife pays the price for one, and consecrates it to her service. So we have been “bought with a price”; and God has “created us in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Eph. 2:10). And we are told in Romans 6:13, to yield ourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and our “members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”

It does not suit the natural pride of our hearts to be assigned to so lowly a place as a broom, but this shows how we unfit ourselves for effective service by allowing high thoughts. You might like the fame of Paul, but are you willing to suffer in like manner, and then be defamed and “made as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things?” (1 Cor. 4:13).

In our text the “one piece of silver” is emphasized, showing how God values one lost soul. God feels His loss, and is willing to pay the cost of its redemption. It is not hard to read John 3:16 into the context. The lighted candle is now the Word of God with which we are illumined. The diligent seeking and sweeping sets forth the perseverance of divine love— “till she find it.” But the humble instrument used in this loving search is not mentioned.

Are you willing to give up reputation (cf. Phil. 2:5, 7), and “present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God”, as His servant? Saith the self-emptied apostle, “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers (servants) by whom ye believed?” (1 Cor. 3:5).

Are you willing then, in fellowship with the love of God, to be a broom: to be jammed into the filthy corners of the earth, through scorching heat or piercing cold; to be crushed and bruised; to die, if need be, in order that the grace of God may be carried into the haunts of sin, and to the precious souls for whom God gave His Son; that His heart may be filled with joy over one repenting sinner?

Are you willing for Jesus’ sake to be a nameless broom?

Christ Is All

The Lord Jesus Christ, God’s blessed Son, is all our salvation. There is no salvation, no perfect peace, no real joy, no power over sin and Satan, no good works, no effectual service till Jesus be received into the heart. In Jesus and Jesus alone we find eternal life, present happiness, and future glory. “Christ is all.” Colossians 3:11. Jesus is the chief good—the center of rest and the source of grace and truth. God gives not His good things apart from Jesus; Jesus must be received first, and abiding in Jesus we receive every blessing.

Communion with Jesus in the Spirit by faith and prayer should be the habit of our life on earth; so precious is He, that we should never forget Him, but always realize Him present in all places. “To me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). Any other object than Jesus is below the Christian’s dignity. Pursuit after riches, or honors, or worldly pleasures is folly and sin.

A late godly and beloved minister sent the following from his deathbed to his people:

“I have preached to you for thirty-two years the complete atonement of Christ, His perfect righteousness, and salvation through His blood. These truths are now my hope, my comfort, my stay. I believe that God’s righteousness is mine, and that Christ’s atonement is my perfect satisfaction for sin; and God’s Holy indwelling Spirit is my support and my life now. In this faith I have lived, and in this faith I die. I have nothing else, and I want no more. My faith is firm as a rock.” On another occasion he said to one by his side,

“We ministers of the gospel ought to set before our people more fully the joys of communion with Christ as a living and present friend. We are apt to preach about Christ, rather than to preach Christ; about salvation, rather than to set forth the Savior. I have learned to think more about the Person of my living Saviour than about the doctrines that concern Him; and if I were raised up again from this bed of sickness—while I should preach the doctrines that I have ever preached—I would set before my people the joy of present personal communion with Jesus; for He hath said,

‘Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world.’” (Matt. 28:20).

Extract: Death

How many look at death (believers, I mean) as something solemn, the thought of which is to be avoided; instead of being able to say with Paul, “To die is gain.” True, death came from the entrance of sin, but if it should overtake me, I shall be borne upon the crest of the wave, right into the presence of the Lord, one leap into the bosom of Christ. In the death of the believer, I only see the expression of the love of Christ opening the way to a place where the soul can be present with Himself.

Correspondence: Weary/Hungry - Infirmities?

Question: We read of our Lord being “weary,” “hungry,” and of His weeping. Would these be called infirmities?

Answer: The bodily suffering and weakness that Christ felt, were a part of the perfection of His sinless humanity. In a sense they may be called infirmities, but the modern use of the word rather implies disease, or some mental, or physical deficiency. Hence we would rather say, Our Saviour had all the feelings proper to a perfect, sinless humanity.

Question: What is the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19) with which the believer may be filled?

Answer: The fullness is all that God is. It is not “filled with,” otherwise we could hold it, that is, the finite could hold the infinite! But “filled unto” or “into,” just as an empty vessel without a bottom might float about in the ocean, and be filled into all its fullness, any amount of water passing through it, as long as it remained in the ocean, but incapable of holding a drop if taken out. Such is the believer.

Question: Should a believer be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, as many were in Acts 8:16; or in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost as given in the great commission in Matthew 28:19, and why?

Answer: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” is a formula for Christian baptism. “In the name of the Lord Jesus” is authority for the act. Many of the Lord’s servants feel clear to include both, as follows: “In the name of the Lord Jesus, I baptize you unto the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.”

Question: Please explain how the heathen of Romans 1:20 could have been expected to understand God’s eternal power and Godhead, when in Colossians 2:9 the fact stated concerning the Godhead is too profound to be understood even by His own.

Answer: Colossians 2:9 sets forth the grand foundation truth of the essential deity of our Lord Jesus Christ: His Deity, and not merely His divinity. It is worthy of note that this is the only instance in the entire New Testament in which this word occurs. It seems to an English reader that the same word occurs in Romans 1:20; but it is not so. In this latter, the apostle uses the word “theiotees”; whereas in Colossians 2:9, he uses the word “theotees.” Now, although the two words differ only by a single letter, yet we may be quite sure that the Holy Spirit had His own wise reason for the distinction. What then is the difference? We believe it to be this: In Romans 1 the Apostle is speaking of creation, and showing that the heathen ought to have learned that there was something superhuman, something divine therein. But in Colossians 2 the Apostle is speaking of the Person of the Son, and for Him he claims essential deity. “In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” He was “God manifested in the flesh” — “God with us” — “very God and very man.” It is remarkable that the words referred to above, namely, “theotees” and “theiotees” occur only once; the, former in Colossians 2:9, “Deity;” the latter, in Romans 1:20, “Divinity.”

Christ Died for Us

The following is the substance of a recent conversation with a young man in deep concern about his soul. He introduced himself by saying,

“I would like to speak to you by yourself. I am very anxious, very unhappy, cannot rest. I cannot see my way clear at all.”

“Well, what a mercy! what a mercy it is to have the conscience touched about sin, and the heart in any measure turned to God! Can you believe that He is doing all this in love? Are you satisfied that God loves you notwithstanding all your sins?”

“That is what I want to feel, but I can’t feel it. I feel that I am a great sinner. You don’t know what I have been, but I can’t feel as if I would be forgiven.”

“Do you really believe that God regards you as a great sinner?”

“O, yes, indeed I do; I am sure of that.”

“But, now, tell me, how are you so sure of that?”

“Because I know it, I feel it. I have been a very great sinner.”

“But is there no other way that we may know it besides feeling it? Has not God told us in His Word that we are all sinners?”

“Yes, I know He has; and I would give the world to know that I am pardoned.”

“O, you need not speak about giving; God is not asking anything; neither is He seeking to condemn you because of your sins, but to turn your heart to Jesus. But, now, take the ground of faith as a sinner. You can only have to do with God now by faith. Know and believe that you are a sinner, not because you feel it, but because God says it. And then comes the important question, ‘What is God to me, a sinner?’ Now, don’t look within; look to Himself; hear His Word. What does it say?

“‘But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’ Romans 5:8. Can you receive the truth here so plainly stated, namely, that God is love to you a sinner?”

“The Word says it, and we should believe it; I know that.”

“But should not you believe it now? Will it be truer tomorrow? Does not God say He loves the sinner? and you say that’s what you are. Therefore He says plainly that He loves you.”

“That’s what I want to believe, but I can’t feel that He loves me; my sins seem so great.”

“Well, that’s true; but in place of looking at your sins, as you know them in yourself, look at them in the light of this verse, and you will see that it is by means of these that you know how much God loves you. It was your sins that drew forth this wondrous love, in the gift of Jesus. God loved us, Christ died for us, ‘while we were yet sinners,’ while we were black and vile as sin could make us. Righteousness judged the sins, and love saves the sinner, through the sufferings and death of the blessed Lord Jesus. O, wondrous, wondrous love! But mark, this is not all. Not only has God manifested His love in giving Jesus to die for you a sinner, but the same love has followed you in all your wanderings, and followed you to this room tonight, and now He has laid His hand of love upon you, and is drawing you to His beloved Son. O, yield your heart to the drawings of His love. Look up! only look to Jesus! Hear Him saying to you,

‘Look unto Me,... and be ye saved,’ and ‘Come unto Me,... and I will give you rest.’

“Be done, then, with your feelings and reasonings about yourself. Dwell on the love of God as it has been manifested in the death of Christ for you, and let your whole soul rest on the truth of that word,

“‘The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin.’ (1 John 1:7). The moment you take your place among the ‘us’ who believe, your sins are all cleansed away. The answer of Jesus to your every anxious look and earnest desire is, ‘Thy sins which were many are all forgiven. Go in peace’” (Luke 7:47-50).

“Well, I think I believe all that; I see it quite differently now. But I thought that I ought to feel it all in myself before I could believe it was true to me. I now see I must not look to myself, but only to Jesus.”

“Yes, my dear young man, the only sure way of keeping our eyes off ourselves, is to keep them fixed on Jesus.”

Before closing this paper we desire to say a plain word on the perplexing subject of “feeling.” We meet with it everywhere. The mistake into which so many fall is that of confounding the enjoyment of truth, when believed, with the mere feelings or impressions of their own minds. When persons say, “I can’t feel that God loves me, that Christ died for me, that my sins are forgiven,” we believe they simply mean, “I do not enjoy or feel the power of these blessed truths.” But how can these or any other truths be enjoyed, or their power felt, until they are believed? Faith never refers to self, but always to the Word of God. We meet with many who want to feel that they are believers, before they have believed the truth, and to feel that they are safe before they trust in Jesus.

Now, this is all confusion. The truth to be believed is outside of self; the enjoyment of it is within.

“Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1, 2).

In Thy Youth

“I Thy servant fear the Lord from my youth.” (1 Kings 18:12).

What a blessed statement of Obadiah’s! The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and if we know Him as our Saviour, and start with true wisdom (the fear of the Lord), our path will be a happy one in serving Him.

We call to mind what a dear old brother, who is now with the Lord, said, when addressing a number of young Christians,

“You, dear young people, in all the freshness and bloom of youth, remind me of a very beautiful bouquet of flowers. Suppose you desire to present to a dear friend of yours a very beautiful bouquet. You purchase it, and it is so beautiful that you wish to keep it for yourself the first day. The second day you admire it so much that you still keep it; but the third day you notice it is beginning to wither, and you hasten to give the faded bouquet to your friend.

“Do not treat the Lord in this way. Give yourselves to Him while in your vigor and strength. Serve Him with your whole heart. Remember what He has done for you.”

O! how little do Christian young men and women appreciate the blessing of giving God their youth—their best days, the strongest and heartiest time of their short life!

“In thy youth,” dear reader, give yourself to God for His service and honor. “In thy youth,” be out and out for Christ, a good soldier for Him. Say not in your heart,

“Why should I not delight myself in the world and its joys, as do others?” for Jesus, the Son of God beckons you to a nobler life; He calls you to self-sacrifice and devotion, in which you shall have joys beyond all that this poor world ever gave to its servants.

Dear young Christians, the truly happy life is that which is given to the Lord. There are more joys found in His service than in all the pleasures of the world, and we appeal to you, now in your youth, to devote yourselves to Him.

The Cross of Christ

The crucifixion puts shame upon man, and upon the flesh more than any other thing. The effect of Christ’s death, simply, does not give me man made nothing of, and the utter worthlessness of human nature as before God. When the Apostle wants to show the absolute separation of the Christian from the world, he says,

“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” (Gal. 6:14).

Now it is plain that this is a much graver and more forcible way of putting the case. There is nothing the world counted so foolish as the cross. Philosophers scorned the notion that a divine person should thus die: it was something that seemed so weak and objectless. They had no just sense of the horribleness of sin, of man’s positive enmity to God, and of His solemn, eternal judgment. The cross is the means of bringing it all out.

But more than that; the cross not merely shows what the flesh is, and the world, but it also proves the hopelessness of looking to the law to bring in blessing, save in a negative way. There is such a thing as the power of the law to kill, but not to quicken; Christ alone does this.

The Lord Himself

May the Lord Himself be more personally with and before us! A nearer and more real object than ever! Truth that gives thoughts is not fully the right thing; but truth that gives. Himself—that is the thing.

Jesus once here—now in the heavens—again to be here, and we to be with Him forever—the same Jesus throughout—known for eternity as He was known in His track through the cities and villages of Israel—this is the mystery that gives us Himself. It is the business of faith to reach Himself.

The centurion pierced the cloud, the thick cloud, of His humiliation, and got at the divine glories, which lay on the other side of it, or under it. The poor sinner of the city pierced the cloud, the dark cloud, of her own sin and misery, and got at the divine love that could heal it all. Faith may thus find various excellencies in Him, but it is Himself it reaches.

Faith sits and sings,

“All human beauties, all divine,

In My Beloved meet and shine.”

Let not this evangelic age give the work of Christ alone. It tends that way. Without His work, I know, all would be nothing. But let not doctrinal acquaintance with His work turn you from personal acquaintance with Himself.

Teach the Children

Before the child has reached seven,

Have him taught the way to heaven;

Better still the truth will thrive

If he knows it ere he’s five;

Best of all, if at your knee,

He learns the way before he’s three.

“He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom.” (Isa. 40:11).

The Closing Days of Christendom: Part 2

Part 2

(Continued)

So, I say, there is no New Testament promise that the church shall recover her consistency and beauty, ere her translation comes. She passes from her ruins to her glory; while the world goes from its magnificence to its judgment—ruins, too, I add, which witness the judgment of God. The sword has never departed from the house.

May I not say, beloved, in the light of these truths, comfort yourselves as you look abroad, and see what it is that is strong now-a-days, and what it is that is weak. But let me add—let not the weakness of which I speak, the corporate or church weakness of the saints, be the least occasion for personal moral relaxation. This would be a sad and terrible use to make of the truths we are speaking of, and gathering from Scripture. We are, most surely, to be separate from evil as distinctly as ever, and to cherish all the thoughts and ways of holiness as carefully as ever.

But further—We may find some hesitation in knowing exactly how to speak of Israel’s history, whether it be that, of a martyr or a penitent. It has something of each in it—more, however, I judge of the latter. But whether or not, their recoveries and redemptions illustrate the mystery which we now have before us, that the apostate thing goes to judgment in the hour of its chiefest strength and greatness; and the true thing rises from amid its infirmities and ruins to its glory and blessedness.

They were in a low condition in Egypt, as brick kilns and taskmasters tell us, and the exacted tale of bricks without the accustomed straw, just as the Lord was sending Moses and his rod for their deliverance.

So again in Babylon. The enemy was insulting their bonds, making merry in infidel despite of the captivity of Jerusalem and her Temple, when, that very night, the deliverer of Israel entered Babylon.

So again in Persia. The decree had fixed a day for their destruction, and that decree would not, could not be changed. Their Amalekite persecutor was in power, and all, as far as the eye could reach, was utter destruction—but Haman fell, and the Jews were delivered. And so will it be again with the same people (Deut. 32:36 and Isa. 59:16).

“At evening time it shall be light.”

The city will be taken; all the peoples of the earth will be round it in its day of siege and straitness; half of it will go into captivity; the houses shall be rifled, and all will be waste and degradation—but the Lord from heaven shall, in that instant, plead their cause.

“At evening time it shall be light.” The shadow of death shall be turned into the morning (Isa. 29:1-8; Zech. 14).

And again, Caesar Augustus was in strength and majesty. His proconsuls were in far distant provinces, his decree had gone to the ends of the earth, and the whole Roman world was set in beauty and order, just as Jesus was born (Luke 2). But the remnant were feeble. The family of David lived at Nazareth, and not in Jerusalem. The hope of the nation lay in a manger at Bethlehem. A devout, solitary, expectant saint or two frequented the temple, and it was shepherds during their nightly watches who had glories revealed to them. Israel had thus fallen, together with the house of David; and fallen, each of them, by their iniquity, and the judgment of God. The sovereignty of the Romans could command the chief of Israel’s sons from Galilee to Judea, to be taxed and estimated like the rest of Roman property. But the Lord was at hand. The Child, who was to be for the fall and the rise of things and people, was just born.

Let us be emboldened according to God, and judge not according to flesh and blood, but by the light of the Lord. And again, I say, as the Apostle teaches, it is better to be judged of the Lord, than to be condemned with the world. Judgment has begun at the house of God. He abaseth the proud and exalteth them that are cast down. The candlesticks are visited in the keen and searching power of Him whose “eyes were as a flame of fire” —and as far as we know them here on earth, there they are left—but the place of judgment proves itself to be next door to the place of glory (Rev. 1-4).

It is all right and comforting to faith; strange to the reasoning and religion of nature. The church will go from her ruins up to glory—the world will pass from its proudest moment of greatness to the judgment. God takes the beggar from the dunghill to set him among princes.

Would that the saints, of God were apart from the purposes and expectations of the world.

“Come out of her, My people.”

“The feeble saint shall win the day,

Though hell and death obstruct his way.”

The Lord will vindicate His own principles, and establish His own thoughts forever and ever, though the voices that witness them be feeble, and well-nigh lost in the din of the world’s exultation. May the heart of the humbled, broken saint be comforted in Him!

(Concluded)

Be Definite

“What will ye that I shall do unto you?” (Matt. 20:32).

Learn to expect in prayer, to believe that an answer will come in the very point in which supplication has been made. If I want money for the Lord’s cause, or even for my own necessities, what I am to ask for is money; if I am going on a journey and ask for divine protection, then what I am to expect is, that God will give His angels charge over me, and that accidents which were perhaps imminent will be averted; these will serve as examples of precision and meaning in prayer.

The Holy Scriptures

We desire to offer, to all who may read these pages, a few earnest words on a subject which we deem to be of commanding interest and importance, at the present moment; it is this, The divine sufficiency and supreme authority of Holy Scripture; and the urgent need of submitting ourselves absolutely to its guidance, in all things.

And, in thus stating our thesis, we would not have our readers to suppose, for a moment, that we undervalue human writings, in their proper place. And if it be asked, What is their proper place? We reply, a branch of Christian ministry, the object of which is to bring the soul into direct contact with the precious Word of God. If human ministry, whether written or oral, has not this effect, it is worthless or mischievous.

But we know that God does use, and that very largely, human writings; and hence we prize them more than we can say. We receive them as refreshing streams from the fountain head, which often reach the beloved sheep of Christ in barren places where they have no ministry at all. And further, we would add, that we have rarely met anyone who affected to despise human writings, on the plea of reading nothing but the Bible, that was not crude, shallow, contracted, and one-sided.

We might just as well say that we would not listen to a brother speaking to us in the assembly, as refuse what God had given him to write. The more we love the Bible, the more we shall value whatever agent the Spirit may use to help us to understand and appreciate its contents.

How often has a book or tract been made a rich blessing to the soul, either in bringing one to Christ, or building up, or leading on in Him! How often may we have read some passage of Scripture and seen nothing in it until the Lord had used some paragraph in a human writing to unfold its treasures to our hearts! We are, none of us, self-sufficient. We are dependent one on another. We grow by that which every joint supplieth. We need all the “helps” which God has set in the body for our common profit and blessing.

But having said thus much to guard against misunderstanding, and to put human writings in their proper place, we return to our special object in this brief paper.

There is but one supreme and paramount authority, and that is the Word of God. Scripture is all-sufficient. We want absolutely nothing in the way of guidance and authority beyond what we possess in the Holy Scriptures—that peerless, precious volume which our God has written for our learning.

No doubt, it is only by the Holy Spirit we can understand, appreciate, or be guided by Scripture; and, moreover, God may use a human voice or a human pen to help us; but Scripture is divinely sufficient. It can make a child wise unto salvation; and it can make a man perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (See 2 Tim. 3:15-17).

Now, having such a guide, such an authority, what becomes us as Christians—as children of God and servants of Christ? Why, clearly to submit ourselves absolutely and unreservedly to its teachings in all things; we are bound, by every argument and every motive which can possibly sway the human heart, to test everything in which we are engaged or with which we stand associated, by the Word of God; and, if we find aught, no matter what, which will not stand that test, to abandon it at once and forever.

And it is precisely here that we feel there is such serious failure in the professing church. As a rule, we do not find the conscience under the immediate action and government of the Word. Human opinions bear sway. Human creeds and confessions of faith govern the heart and form the religious character. Human traditions and habits of thought are allowed a formative influence over the soul. If it be merely a question of personal salvation, profit or blessing, Scripture will be listened to. People are glad to hear how they can be saved and blessed. Everything that bears upon the individual condition will get a hearing.

But the moment it becomes a question of Christ’s precious authority over us, in spirit, soul, and body: when the Word of God is brought to bear upon our entire practical career, upon our personal habits, our domestic arrangements, our commercial pursuits, our religious associations, our ecclesiastical position, then, alas! it becomes apparent how completely the authority of Holy Scripture is virtually thrown overboard. In point of fact, the enemy seems to succeed, as completely, in robbing professing Christians of the real value, power, and authority of the Word of God, as when, during that long and dreary period of the middle ages, it was wrapped in the shroud of a dead language, and buried in the dark cloisters of Rome.

It is perfectly appalling, when we come in contact with the actual condition of things among professing Christians, to observe the ignorance of Scripture and the carelessness about it. Nor can any thoughtful person doubt but that the latter is the producing cause of the former.

“If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.” (John 7:17). But if the Word of God be neglected and practically ignored as an authority, need we marvel when we find people ignorant of its precious contents?

We have been much struck of late in our intercourse with Christian professors, in noticing the little moral weight which Scripture seems to posses. You will rarely meet with anyone who is prepared to start with this one grand point, that the voice of the Holy Spirit in Scripture is absolutely conclusive—it admits of no appeal—it closes all discussion. We speak not now of man’s interpretation of Scripture—of anything in which it can be said, “That is your opinion.” We speak only of the written Word of God which we possess and to which we are individually responsible to submit ourselves, in all things. God has put His precious Word into our hands, and He has given us His Holy Spirit to enable us to understand the Word; and we are solemnly bound to be guided and governed by that Word in all the details of our practical career.

A Witness for God

“Ye shall receive power... and ye shall be witnesses unto Me.” (Acts 1:8).

A witness for God is the most uncompromising man on the face of the earth. He never adapts his testimony to altered circumstances. General unfaithfulness only nerves him—braces him up to a more complete surrender to his Master’s interests. No surrender of the truth is ever thought of. He may die, death alone being the check to the course and testimony of the witness, but he will never sacrifice one iota of his testimony. He is a man who counts not his life dear to him if he may but finish his course with joy.

I Have a Glorious Savior

I have a glorious Saviour,

Who died upon the tree;

My sins He bare, and suffered there

The wrath of God for me!

And my salvation now is sure

Since Christ the work has done,

For God declares, in righteousness,

He owes it to His Son.

‘Twas God who sent this Saviour,

This spotless Lamb, who died;

And trusting in His precious blood

I’m freely justified.

Ah! not for me by deeds of law

Salvation could be won;

Of grace alone, through righteousness,

God saves me by His Son.

O! Jesus is my Saviour;

“The Mighty God!” His name;

To seek and save the lost and vile,

As Son of Man He came.

In all His great atoning work

The will of God is done;

And God delights, in righteousness,

To bless me by His Son.

He is the risen Saviour,

Alive forever more;

He loves to ease the burdened heart

Of each whose sins He bore.

Believe—and God’s salvation sure

Is free to every one;

In manifested righteousness

He honors thus His Son.

Peggy

Peggy was a mill worker. She worked twelve hours a day, earning a small salary, and had to help support her widowed mother. But she was a happy Christian girl, and from the time of her conversion, she was a diligent worker for her new Master.

She was aroused to concern about her salvation through reading a tract, and had great faith in the value of good gospel tracts. She seldom went out without her case, which was always filled with a good selection, and she knew exactly where to lay hands on the right one for the right person.

She had a district which she visited every week, leaving a gospel message in each of the houses. At first the people were very haughty, and told her to keep her tracts to herself. Peggy smiled, looked as pleased as possible, and said,

“If I do that, then you will have none, but I mean to share them with you.” And so on she would go, nothing daunted, until every house was open to her.

Some striking cases of conversion resulted directly from Peggy’s service. One drunken man, who lay in bed on Sundays reading the newspapers, became interested in Peggy’s afternoon visits, and looked eagerly for her tract, and was eventually convicted of sin and saved.

A poor woman, unable to go out to hear the Word from lack of dress, read one of Peggy’s booklets, saw the way of life, and accepted the Lord Jesus as her Saviour.

Wasn’t Peggy’s a good and fruitful work? And doesn’t it bring a present joy as well as a future reward to those who diligently serve the Lord? What are you doing for His honored name, dear young believer? There is a wide, wide world, in which to sow the seed, and needy sinners all around, longing for the saving, sanctifying, and satisfying gospel of the blessed God to be told to them by the lip, or given them to read.

You may share this honored service, which in the coming day the Lord will not forget to own and richly reward. While some will, doubtless, oppose and reject, the Lord will open the doors and hearts of others to receive His message unto salvation; and the joy of winning one soul for Jesus is beyond all description.

The True Motive Power

A gentleman visiting one of the hospitals for lepers in India, and wishing to test the nurse on duty said,

“You must have a great deal of the enthusiasm for humanity to labor here among these awful cases of disease.”

“Enthusiasm for humanity, indeed,” replied the nurse, “that would not keep me here a week; but I do possess some of the compassion and enthusiasm of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is the reason why I am content to live and labor amid such surroundings.”

It is the “love of Christ” (2 Cor. 5:14) that is the motive of all true service for God.

“We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19).

Praying for Others

In the first place, praying for others can only happily follow in a heart at rest about itself, and knowing in itself the value of the desires it expresses for another. It could not be true or happy in praying otherwise.

Secondly, if I am praying for another, according to the will of God, and in current with the Spirit, I must receive from, association, fellowship with the Spirit, the effect and influence of His society. It is not whether my prayer is successful, but I have been in company with the Spirit of Christ in the prayer, and my own soul is invigorated by the very passage of His thought through my mind.

I cannot have His desire for another awaked in me, but by His Spirit, and this true spiritual desire will be accomplished according to God—that is, according to His mind, not after man’s judgment. Therefore when a simple, spiritual desire is awakened, and occupies your heart, touching any of His people, you may rest assured that God will effectuate it in some way, but in a way manifestly of Himself.

Correspondence

Question: Please explain “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” (1 Cor. 11:30).

Answer: These persons had failed to judge themselves—failed to discern the Lord’s body in the broken bread—they had eaten in an unworthy manner, though they were true Christians, and hence God in His government of His house, had to chasten them by bodily sickness even unto death, in order that they might not be condemned with the world. How could any intelligent person teach that “the discipline here is not connected with those weak and sickly ones”? We should say it was very closely connected with them. No doubt others were called to learn and take warning from the discipline exercised upon those erring members; but surely no father would think of chastising a good child for the misdemeanor of a bad one.

Question: Please tell me if there is any difference between confessing our sins and asking the Father to forgive us our sins.

Answer: We cannot rightly ask forgiveness of our sins when we know we are forgiven for His name’s sake, We are forgiven for eternity. (1 John 2:12). But it is needful to confess our sins, if we would walk in communion with God. And “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Question: Please explain Matthew 24:40, 41, and Luke 17:34-36.

Answer: These scriptures apply to the time when the Lord shall come to this world as Son of Man. One shall be seized in judgment and the other will be left for Millennial blessing on earth. He will take away in judgment all that offend, and them that do iniquity. (Matt. 13:41, 49). Those left behind will be the King’s subjects in the earthly kingdom Judgment swept the earth in Noah’s day and in Lot’s day; so shall it be when the Son of Man comes.

We often hear the words, “one shall be taken and the other left,” applied to the Lord’s coming for the church, but those who are taken in that event, are taken to be with the Lord, and those who are left are like the foolish virgins, left behind to believe the lie, and for judgment.

Matthew 25:13 should read, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour.” (See New Translation). The term Son of Man should not be here, as this passage stands in connection with the Lord’s coming for His own.

I Have an Object Now

On a Lord’s Day afternoon, a person was introduced to me by a Christian friend, as anxious about her soul. I found it to be a chronic case of feelings with very little intelligence about Christ, His work, or the Word of God, but most sincere and earnest. My point was, that Christ could not be more willing to receive her tomorrow than today, His Word could not be truer, or His work more complete; therefore, why not come now, believe and rejoice? The appeal in the afternoon for instant decision for Christ, was founded on these two words,

“Come now;” which had greatly interested her, and presented a new line of truth to her mind.

Like most of this class, she would be ready to own that all she had heard was true, and that she did not doubt a word of it, but it was not true to her because she did not feel it; she was waiting to experience that change within, which would be her warrant for believing that it was true to her. She acknowledged that she had been waiting for this inward change for years. Hardly anything can be more discouraging or hopeless to an evangelist than this, for the lives of such are generally most blameless; there is conscience enough to make them religious. After pointing out her mistake and assuring her that all her darkness arose from looking to herself in place of Christ, and from trusting to feelings in place of His finished work, we parted. She was back again in the evening, but I did not see her.

The following day her Christian neighbor, who had induced her to come to the preaching, let me know that the woman I had spoken to had found peace with God, and that she would like to see me. With the assistance of a friend I found her humble home. We had scarcely entered when she began to speak of the blessing she had received on Lord’s Day; but all I will give in her own words is the following. “When I awoke on Monday morning at five o’clock, the thought came into my mind,

“‘I have an object now—I have an object now.’” And spreading her hand over her breast, she added, “I used to think I must feel it all in here first, but now it’s all in Christ; and often today when I was at my work it came into my mind.”

From the simplicity of the woman, it was perfectly evident that she had no idea that she was saying anything particular; it was the truthful expression of her new experience. But, nevertheless, these few simple words went straight home to my heart, clothed with light and power. They contain truths of the very deepest and highest practical instruction and value. There is not a troubled conscience in Christendom that would not find peace in looking to that same blessed object; not a doubting heart that would not be settled; not a weary soul that would not find rest; not a lost soul that would not find salvation. True, we read,

“Look unto Me and be ye saved... Come unto Me and I will give you rest.... Hear, and your soul shall live.... Only believe.” But the power—the healing virtue—is not in the looking, the coming, the hearing, the believing; but all in the object—the heavenly Christ, the man in the glory. When the eye rests on Him as its one object, all doubts and darkness flee away. The midnight of the soul is exchanged for the brightness of the noon-day sun. Now the eye is single, having but one object, and the whole body is full of light.

“They looked unto Him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed.” (Psa. 34:5).

Daniel in the Lion's Den

It is a great thing to go on quietly with God, doing His will, and seeking in all things to please Him. We know that He will not suffer any of us to be tempted above that we are able for, but will with the temptation make a way of escape, so that we will be able to bear it. I enjoyed the word, Daniel “kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did afore time.”

That is a precious little touch by the Spirit of God. It is not enough to kneel down three times a day, but we need to pray always, and not only to pray, but to give thanks. An old and devoted Christian during the Covenanting struggles used to say, “It is the praying man who will get through.”

Acknowledging the Lord

“Did you ask the Lord about it, Nellie?” said a Christian girl to a companion who had accepted a position as nurse in a very worldly family, and who was prohibited by her mistress from going to a Bible class for young believers on the Lord’s day afternoons, where before she had received much help and instruction in the things of God. “You know, Nellie, the Word says,

“‘In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.’ (Prov. 3:6). I have always found it true, that the Lord does so order my paths, and give me situations in which I have the privilege of doing His will, and assembling with His beloved people, since I learned to acknowledge Him, and seek His guidance in the matter of service. I once had the same difficulties as you have, but it was owing to my taking my own way, and not seeking guidance from Him in the choice of a place.”

The girl hung her head, and with a tear in her eye, answered,

“No, I did not ask Him about accepting this last situation. I thought it would be so nice, and so much better than my last one, that I accepted it, before I thought of praying about it at all.”

“I thought so, Nellie; and now you are reaping the bitter fruit of following your own desires, without the guidance of the Lord. You must just bear it patiently now, and confess your sin to Him who is faithful and just to forgive. But O, remember, dear Nellie, that the truly happy path is to acknowledge the Lord in every step of life. There is nothing too small for Him to order, and such is His love for us, who are His loved ones, that He delights to choose for us, when we leave Him to do it.”

The lesson was not lost by Nellie. She never forgot it in her afterlife. The position she accepted without asking guidance from her Lord, and the trials she had to endure as the fruits of her own choosing, taught her that it is a bitter thing for a Christian to move along life’s path, without in all our ways acknowledging the Lord.

It is no uncommon mistake among the Lord’s redeemed ones so to do. But it is an evil way. The world, of course, arranges its affairs without acknowledging Him. Those who “know not the Lord,” and cannot therefore seek His counsel, choose their situations according to their own desires, but it should not be so with the children of God.

The Bridegroom Cometh! A Word in Season

The Bridegroom Cometh!
A Word in Season

Beloved brethren and sisters in Christ, the day of the apostasy is hastening on with rapid strides, and also the day in which the Lord shall come to catch His own away.

The present moment is of so solemn a character that I feel constrained to address you this word of exhortation.

Godly men everywhere, who watch the signs of the times, see the moment approaching which shall terminate the present actings of grace. The time has evidently arrived when one must speak plainly and decisively, and ask you where you are, and what you are about. You have by grace, which has shone brighter and brighter as it has approached its termination, been gathered out of the seething mass of idolatry and wickedness which now threatens Christendom and the world with an overthrow more awful than that of Sodom and Gomorrah of old; and the question is whether you are adequately impressed with the responsibility, as well as the blessedness, of the ground you are on, and walking like men and women whose eyes have been opened.

Believe me, there has never been in the world’s history such a time as the present, and Satan is occupied with none as he is with you; and his occupation with you is the more to be feared because of the subtlety of his operations.

His object is to withdraw your attention from Christ, while you suppose you are on safe ground and have nothing to fear. He would destroy you with the very truth itself. For mark the subtlety: you are on safe ground, but only while Christ is your all in all. Here is where Satan is drawing some away. Interpose anything between your soul and Christ, and your Philadelphia becomes Laodicea; your safe ground is as unsafe as the rest of Christendom; your strength is gone from you, and you are become weak, like any ordinary mortal.

Some of you are young, recently converted, or brought to the right ways of the Lord, and you do not know the depths, of Satan. But you are hereby solemnly warned of your peril; and if mischief overtake you, you cannot plead ignorance.

Again I say, Satan has his eye especially upon you, for the purpose of interposing the world in some form between your soul and Christ. He cares not how little, or in what form. If you knew but how little will answer his purpose, you would be alarmed.

It is not by that which is gross or shameful; such is the development, not the beginning of evil. It is not by anything glaring that he seeks to ruin you, but in small and seemingly harmless trifles—trifles that would not shock nor offend anyone as things go, and yet these constitute the deadly and insidious poison, destined to ruin your testimony and withdraw you from Christ.

Do you ask what are these alarming symptoms, and where are they seen? The question does not show what is the character of the opiate at work.

Dear brothers and sisters, you are being infected with the spirit of the world. Your dress, your manner, your talk, your lack of spirituality, betray it in every gathering. There is a dead weight, a restraint, a want of power, that reveals itself in the meetings, as plainly as if your heart were visibly displayed and its thoughts publicly read.

A form of godliness without power is beginning to be seen among you, as plainly as in Christendom generally. As surely as you tamper with the world, so surely will you drift away to its level. This is the nature of things. It must be so. If you tamper with the world, the privileged place you occupy, instead of shielding you, will only expose you to greater condemnation.

It must Christ or the world. It cannot be—ought not to be—Christ and the world. God’s grace in drawing you out of the world in your ignorance is one thing; but God will never permit you to prostitute His grace, and play fast and loose, when you have been separated from the world.

Remember, you take the place, and claim the privilege, of one whose eyes have been opened; and if on the one hand this is unspeakably blessed (and it is), on the other hand it is the most dreadful position in which a human being can be found. It is to be at the wedding feast without the wedding garment. It is to say, “Lord, Lord,” while you do not the things that He bids. It is to say, “I go, sir,” as he said who went not.

Beloved, I am persuaded better things of you, though I thus speak; and I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will bless Him for these few faithful words. Nothing can be more glorious than the position you are called to occupy in these closing days. Saints have stood in the breach, have watched through weary days and nights these nineteen hundred years, and you only wait for the trumpet of victory to go in and take possession of the glorious inheritance.

Other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors; and yet, forsooth, you are lowering your dignity to the level of the poor potsherds of the earth, who only wait for the rod of the Victor (and yours too) to be dashed into pieces.

O, awake, then, from your lethargy; slumber no longer; put away your idols and false gods; wash your garments, and get you to Bethel, where you will find God to be better than ever you knew Him, even in your best days. Lay aside your last bit of worldly dress; guard your speech, that if it be of Christ and His affairs, and not, as you know it now often is, of anything but Him.

Let your prayers mingle with those of other saints at the prayer meetings; they never were more needed. Neglect no opportunity of gathering up instructions from that Word which alone can keep us from the paths of the destroyer, and let your life be the evidence of the treasures you gather up at the lecture, or the reading meeting, or in secret with the Lord.

If you want occupation, with a glorious reward from a beloved Master, ask that Master to set you to work for Him; you will never regret it, either in this world or in that which is to come.

Beloved, bear with me: I am jealous over you with godly jealously. You belong to Christ, and Christ to you. Break not this holy union. Let not the betrothed one be unfaithful to her bridegroom! Why should you be robbed and spoiled? And for what? Empty husks and bitter fruits, while you waste this little span of blessing!

All the distinctions acquired here in the energy of the Spirit, will but serve to enhance your beauty, and render you more lovely in the eyes of Him who has espoused you to Himself. Can you refuse Him His delights in you? Can you refuse Him the fruit of the travail of His soul, who once hung, a dying man, between two thieves on Calvary, a spectacle to men and angels, and for you―you who have forgotten (for you cannot have despised) this devotedness for you.

He could have taken the world without the cross, and left you out, but He would not; and now will you, having been enriched by those agonies and that blood, take the world into your tolerance and leave Him out? Impossible! Your pure mind needs but to be stirred up by way of remembrance.

Let us therefore take courage from this very moment. We have lately been offering up prayers, confessing the lack of piety and devotedness. May we not take this word as the answer of our ever gracious faithful Lord, to arouse us―to reawaken our drooping energies? And then the more quickly He comes the better. We shall not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

Sin and Sins

A little crooked s makes a great difference in many things. In the Word of God we find sin and sins clearly distinguished. “Sin” is the root that produces the bad fruit— “sins”.

God judged sin; God forgives sins.

God condemned sin in the flesh, making His Son, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, by His dying in the likeness of sinful flesh on the cross. (2 Cor. 5:21). And now He remits the sins of all who believe on Him.

Do you want forgiveness, and think you must utter many prayers to obtain it? Nay, God is offering you pardon; beseeching you, by His servants, to be reconciled to Him. (2 Cor. 5:20). Sin has been judged. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and your sins are forgiven for His Name’s sake. (1 John 2:12), for He bore the sins of all who believe, in His own body on the tree. (1 Peter 2:24).

And, if a believer, you have done with sin, you are to have nothing more to say to it. (1 Peter 4:1). But perhaps you will say:

“Suppose I sin again, do I not then need to pray for forgiveness?” Let God’s own Word supply the answer:

“If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1).

“If we confess our sins” (not pray for forgiveness), “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).

Three Pillows

An old preacher, Benjamin Parsons, was asked,

“How are you today?” He replied,

“My head is resting very sweetly on three pillows, infinite power, infinite wisdom, infinite love.”

A preacher once quoted this and some months later visited a poor woman apparently dying. She said to him: “I went through a surgical operation and it was cruel. I was leaning my head on pillows, and as the surgeons were taking them away I said, ‘May I not keep them?’ They answered, ‘No, we must take them away.’ ‘But,’ said I, ‘you can’t take away Benjamin Parsons’ three pillows. I can lay my head on those—infinite power, infinite wisdom, infinite love.’”

A Prayer

O Lord, I pray,

Humbly for courage, so to live this day

The flesh subdued, Thy Spirit given sway,

That I may honor Thee.

O, might my ways,

Fruitful in kindness, gentleness, and grace,

Be such that through them only praise,

My Lord, should come to Thee.

May I be thrilled,

The selfish longings of my heart be stilled,

And all the hours of this day be filled

With wondrous thoughts of Thee.

For this I ask—

Courage and strength to do whatever task

Thou givest me; and, too, I ask

To do it willingly.

May I have grace,

Humbly, my Lord, to take a lowly place,

Finding the strength, each storm of life to face,

Lord Jesus, at Thy feet.

So may it be,

My Lord, Who hast so loved me,

Thy love shall be the lodestone drawing me

Ever more close to Thee.

What Are You Doing for Your Master?

Christ had passed through the awful hour of agony and death. He had come back from the grave a victorious conqueror, and proclaimed to His sorrowing disciples,

“All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth,” but immediately added, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

Thus to work for Him is not optional, but imperative. Not a mere matter of choice, but has all the authority of the command of Christ.

To preach is a necessity laid upon some, as Paul said, “Woe is me if I preach not the gospel,” but to work for Christ is the privilege of every saved soul. There is a sphere for all, and a work for each. There is none to whom something has not been entrusted. He gave to every man his work. None can look up to the master and say,

“I have not the privilege of doing anything for Thee.”

You may not have five talents, you may not have two, but what about the one? And for the employment of that one you are responsible. God has beautifully arranged and adapted spheres of labor, so as to meet all the diversity of capacity and talent among His people.

Remember, there is not a single inch of ground in God’s vineyard for an idler; not a niche in the great moral hive for a drone. To each He has given power and opportunity to do something. It may be only the silent, unobtrusive labor connected with the family circle, or in speaking of Christ to a few children gathered in your home or your class, visiting the abodes of poverty, the bedside of the sick and dying, in scattering a few leaflets or tracts, or the unseen labor of an Epaphras pleading for the salvation of some precious soul.

“Son, go work today in My vineyard.” If you are a son of God, by faith in Christ Jesus, then “Go work today,” is Christ’s word to you. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.”

What are you doing then for Christ? What are you doing for the salvation of souls? for the help of the feeble among the lambs and sheep of Christ’s flock? Are your hands, your feet, your brain, busy for the interests of Christ?

Do you know what it is to pray? to walk until weary? to preach until your energies are spent? to give what cost you something? Where do you serve? What is your employment? Are you laborers in God’s vineyard, not merely onlookers? Workers, not simply critical scrutinizers of other men’s work, not fault-finders with other men’s methods, and ways, and doings? We must not be narrow in our notions, nor cramped in our sympathies in relation to other workers and work, but each one doing all the good he can, to every person he can, in every way he can, for the Lord.

“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might”; and do not cease to work because you cannot fill the highest posts. If you cannot be a master builder, do not refuse to be a laborer.

“The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few.” (Luke 10:2).

Remember the words to the servants at the marriage feast of Galilee,

“Whatsoever He saith unto you, do.”

This will necessitate the study of His Word for guidance in your service, and prayer and dependence, such as that expressed in Paul’s words,

“What wilt Thou have me to do?”

Alas! How many, in the energy of love to Christ, commence with words of devotedness to His Person, and gracious care for those in need, but the freshness of their affection wanes, and a spiritual apathy sets in, and the worker becomes a spiritual invalid.

The danger of this was evident before the apostle’s mind, when he wrote to Titus,

“These things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God, might be careful to maintain good works.” (Titus 3:8).

Titus was not only to affirm, but constantly affirm, the deep necessity of being careful to maintain, not merely to commence, or plan, but “maintain” good works.

To any who are forgetting these words, of the Apostle, we would give the prescription which an eminent physician gave to a lady patient who detailed to him a long list of imaginary ills. He asked as to her symptoms and manner of life, and discovered she had both wealth and leisure, so after patiently listening to the story of her complaints, he asked for a sheet of paper, wrote down a prescription, and in the gravest manner handed it to the patient and left. Imagine her surprise when she read,

“Do something for somebody.”

“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this: To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1:27.

Christ in Glory

O happy Christian, you may well give up the tinseled vanities of time for the glories of eternity! But even now you know your place in the glory. Christ, in His Person, and in His present position in the presence of God, is the expression of your place there.

Every believer has his place before God in Christ, and in the righteousness of God, which He accomplished in Christ, having glorified Himself in that obedient, blessed one. And now, God would have all who are brought into this relationship with Himself, to have no object before their minds but Christ in the glory, so that we may do His will, and be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“O! who upon earth can conceive

What in heav’n He’s called us to share!

Or who this dark world would not leave,

And earnestly long to be there!

There Christ is the light and the sun,

His glories unhinderedly shine;

Already our joy is begun,

Our rest is the glory divine.

“‘Tis good, at His word, to be here,

Yet better by far to be gone,

And there in His presence appear,

And rest where He sits on the throne;

Yet, O! it will triumph afford

When Him we shall see in the air;

When we enter the joy of the Lord,

Forever abide with Him there.”

Fragment

“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.” (Col. 1:9-11).

This introduction presents to us a fine summary of all that one can ask of God for Christians. If we had sufficient confidence in the interest which God takes in His children, we should have greater boldness in asking God, according to the intentions of His grace. We do not live enough by this grace, and that is why our prayers are so constantly stamped with the sense of want. We are often the Abraham of Genesis 15, who asks for himself, saying to God,

“What wilt Thou give me?”

But Paul shows himself here the Abraham of Genesis 18, sitting before God, worshiping Him, and making requests for others.

Waiting

“The Lord is good to them that wait for Him.” (Lam. 3:25).

“Waiting.” This is a compound virtue. It is made up of the two Christian graces, Faith and Patience. When a man waits, it implies, first of all, belief in the reality of the object of his expectation. He believes it to have a real existence. But it implies also uncertainty as to the time of the fulfillment of its hopes. No child of God can be ignorant of this twin Christian grace.

Every redeemed soul in yonder heaven knows of it; for it is expressly said, that, from Abel downwards, it is “through faith and patience they are now inheriting the promises.”

Be Ye Separate

2 Corinthians 6:17, 18

We come out from among the worldly in order to enter into the relationship of sons and daughters to the Almighty God: otherwise we cannot possibly realize this relationship. God will not have worldlings in relation with Himself as sons and daughters: they have not entered into this position with regard to Him.

A Moment With the Bible

A moment with the Bible,

‘Ere the cares of day begin,

‘Ere the heart’s wide door is open

For the world to enter in:

Ah, then, alone with Jesus,

In the silence of the morn,

In heavenly sweet communion

Let your duty day be born;

In the quietude that blesses

With a prelude of repose

Let your cares be soothed and softened

As the dew revives the rose.

Extract

Can the Son be honored even as the Father, if He be not owned in the Godhead? (John 5:23). The faith of Him is not the faith that He is a Son of God, or Son of God as born of the Virgin, or as raised from the dead; though those are truths concerning Him, assuredly such. But the faith of Him is the faith of His proper person. I know not that I can call Jesus “Son of God,” save in the faith of divine Sonship.

Grace Sufficient

To be anxious for souls and yet not impatient, to be patient and yet not indifferent, to bear the infirmities of the weak without fostering them, to testify against sin, and unfaithfulness, and the low standard of spiritual life, and yet to keep the stream of love free and full and open, to have the mind of a faithful, loving shepherd, a hopeful physician, a tender nurse, a skillful teacher, requires the continual renewal of the Lord’s grace.

“Who is sufficient for these things?”

“My grace is sufficient.” (2 Cor. 2:16; 12:9).

Correspondence

Question: What do the three appearings in John 20 and 21st chapters signify?

Answer: The Lord appearing to Mary Magdalene, and the message she carried to the brethren down to verse 23, refer to the present time, the church period.

The Lord appearing with Thomas present, refers to Israel who will not believe till they see Him coming in glory. (See such passages as Zech. 12:10, and Psa. 73:24 read “after the glory receive me”). “Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed” primarily refers to those who are saved in the tribulation period, that is, before Christ comes in glory.

The Lord appearing to the disciples when they take the great haul of fishes in the 21st chapter points to the Millennial gathering, when the nets are not broken.

Question: How does the consecration of the priests in Israel apply to us?

Answer: Read Exodus 29 and Leviticus 8.

First, they were all washed with water—that answers to having a new life or being born again.

Aaron, when seen alone, clothed with the garments of glory and beauty is the type of Christ our great High Priest (verses 7-9). The oil poured upon his head without shedding of blood (Lev. 8:12), points to Jesus sealed with the Holy Spirit as the only one who did not need redemption, Himself the Redeemer.

When seen with his sons, they are the redeemed company of worshipers—the whole church of God. All were sprinkled with oil (verse 30). All our worship is by the Holy Spirit (Phil. 3:3), and it is all on the ground laid by the finished work of Christ (Heb. 9:21, 22).

The blood put on the tip of their right ear, on their right thumb, and on the great toe of their right foot, tells us that our whole person is consecrated to this holy service of Christ—our minds, our works, our walk, are for Him and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 10:22, alludes to our priestly consecration as born of God, and sprinkled or cleansed by the blood. Each of us, as Christians, is a consecrated priest, our hands filled with Christ to present to God. But notice, there is no hindrance on God’s part to our worshiping in the holiest of all, but there may be on ours—a cold, worldly or careless walk, will shut us out. It also says,

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” (Heb. 10:22).

“Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.” (Prov. 4:23).

Question: Please explain “I will draw all unto Me.” John 12:32.

Answer: “All” not “every” that is, all sorts and conditions, Jew and Gentile, the latter being expressly in His thoughts, it being the presence of the pious Greeks that called forth these words.

Question: In what sense did Christ “bear our sicknesses”?

Answer: The Scripture is spoken of as being fulfilled in Matthew 8:17, by which we learn definitely that the “bearing” does not refer to the cross, but does refer to His bearing in spirit every sickness that He healed, with the perfect sympathy that entered into every sorrow He took away.

Question: Is it right for believers to say they have received a clean heart?

Answer: If by that they mean a new nature or source of action, it is. But if they mean they have no sin, they deceive themselves.

Question: What is the meaning of Philippians 3:11, “If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead”?

Answer: The joy before him was so great that the way he reached it mattered not—by martyrdom, by crucifixion, or by any other way. The passage does not express a doubt of attaining it, but his indifference as to the path, so long as he attained the goal.

The Blank Check

Two business men met by previous appointment at a small commercial hotel in the city to settle an account. One was the representative of a large wholesale firm, and the other a small tradesman. A little misunderstanding occurred about some charges which were made for goods supplied by the firm; the tradesman thinking too much had been charged, wanted something deducted, which the other did not feel at perfect liberty to do without first receiving permission from the firm. But such was the confidence the tradesman had in his friend that he took out his check book and, putting his signature at the bottom of the leaf, said:

“There, Mr. P—, is a blank check with my signature. I will leave you to fill it up; I know you will do the thing that’s right; just make such deduction as you think proper, and fill in the amount.”

Now, did not this show that the tradesman had unbounded confidence in his friend, for it lay in the power of the one who held the blank check to have ruined the other, for he might have filled in an amount entirely beyond the tradesman’s capability of discharging. But, no! he knew the representative of the firm to be an honest man, and so he could trust him to any extent.

How often is this the case, that man can trust his fellow man, even to an extreme, and yet have so little faith in God—his Creator. If you, my dear reader, are anxious about your soul, I would earnestly beseech you to have that simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that this tradesman had in his friend, and life everlasting is yours.

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31.

You have only, as it were, to write your name on a blank check, and trust it in simple confidence in the hands of God, and He will fill it from top to bottom with blessings. Salvation cannot be earned by good works; it would not be in harmony with the grace of God if that were possible.

“God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8).

If there were any possibility of man’s getting to heaven by his so-called good works, what need had God to have given up His Son to a death of shame? No, my dear reader, life can only come through faith in the finished work of Christ. “Believe” and “Live” are the words which explain the principle on which God is giving eternal life to His fallen creatures. One look of faith at the serpent of brass was sufficient to cure the serpent-bitten Israelite of old, and one glance of faith, directed to the cross of Christ is enough to save the most sin-diseased soul on earth.

If you are one who has been trying for years to obtain life by your good works (so called), religious duties, and morality, let me tell you in all love and kindness, that this way is opposed to faith; for salvation was wrought out over 1,900 years ago on Calvary’s cross, and simple, childlike faith is all you need to make it your own. May God, in His grace, open your eyes to see and appreciate the value of simple saving faith.

An Appeal in These Last Moments

“Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 15:58).

If there ever was a day when this word of exhortation and encouragement was needed, it is today, and especially for the young Christian.

Every evil doctrine is on the increase, and the advocates of such are showing increased energy in spreading them, and often with considerable self-sacrifice. On the other hand, those who are the Lord’s are to a great extent folding their hands, taking their leisure, and giving Christ up to His enemies.

May this not be the case with any of our readers, but may each of us “be... steadfast, unmovable.” Let us allow nothing to turn us out of the way, but be unmovable from the path of faithfulness and response of heart to the Lord for all He has done for us. He has saved our souls at the great expense of giving Himself for us, and what more could He give than His life? He is not satisfied with doing this, but He is coming again for us, as the previous verses show, at any moment, to take us to be forever with Himself, and this is the reason for this word of exhortation.

Is that blessed hope so before our hearts, do we have it so as a present reality, that we are abounding in the work of the Lord? Let each of us ask ourselves the question, What am I doing for my Lord? What am I doing for the good of His people? What am I doing for the lost and perishing all around me? What about that unsaved classmate? that unsaved fellow-workman? or that saved friend who needs instruction and encouragement in the things of God?

Often just a word to a young Christian friend, or a decided stand for the Lord, in all lowliness and meekness, gives encouragement to the other for faithfulness of walk. If we feel unable to speak, we have the printed matter, that can be procured at a very low price, and sent to them each month. The little we do, if watered by prayer, with the Lord’s blessing upon it, who can tell the extent of the blessing and the reward in that day so near? May we be assured and encouraged by the last sentence,

“Your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

Self-Control

The word “temperance,” in 2 Peter 1:6, means a great deal more than what is usually understood by that term. It is customary to apply the expression “temperance” to a habit of moderation in reference to eating and drinking. No doubt it fully involves this, but it involves very much more. Indeed, the Greek word used by the inspired Apostle, may, with strict propriety, be rendered “self-control.” It gives the idea of one who has self habitually well reined in.

This is a rare and admirable grace, diffusing its hallowed influence over the entire course, character, and conduct. It not only bears directly upon one, or two, or twenty selfish habits, but upon self, in all the length and breadth of that comprehensive and most odious term. Many a one who would look, with proud disdain, upon a glutton or a drunkard, may himself fail, every hour, in exhibiting the grace of self-control. True it is, that gluttony and drunkenness should be ranged with the very vilest and most demoralizing forms of selfishness. They must be regarded as among the most bitter clusters that grow on that wide-spreading tree. But, then, self is a tree, and not a mere branch of a tree, or a cluster on a branch; and we should not only judge self when it works, but control it that it may not work.

Some, however, may ask, How can we control self? The answer is blessedly simple:

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Phil. 4:13).

Have we not obtained salvation in Christ? Yes, blessed be God, we have. And what does this wondrous word include? Is it mere deliverance from the wrath to come? Is it merely the pardon of our sins, and the assurance of exemption from the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone? It is far more than these, precious and priceless though they be. In a word, then, “salvation” implies a full and hearty acceptance of Christ as my “wisdom,” to guide me out of folly’s dark and devious paths, into paths of heavenly light and peace; as my “righteousness,” to justify me in the sight of a holy God; as my “sanctification,” to make me practically holy in all my ways; and as my “redemption,” to give me final deliverance from all the power of death, and entrance upon the eternal fields of glory (1 Cor. 1:30).

Hence, therefore, it is evident that “self-control” is included in the salvation which we have in Christ. It is a result of that practical sanctification with which divine grace has endowed us. We should carefully guard against the habit of taking a narrow view of salvation. We should seek to enter into all its fullness. It is a word which stretches from everlasting to everlasting, and takes in, in its mighty sweep, all the practical details of daily life. I have no right to talk of salvation, as regards my soul, in the future, while I refuse to know and exhibit its practical bearing upon my conduct, in the present. We are saved, not only from the guilt and condemnation of sin, but also, and as fully, from the power, the practice, and the love of it. These things should never be separated, nor will they by anyone who has been divinely taught the meaning, the extent, and the power of that precious word “salvation.”

Now, in presenting to my reader a few practical sentences on the subject of self-control, I shall contemplate it under the three following divisions, namely, the thoughts, the tongue, and the temper. I take it for granted that I am addressing a saved person. If my reader be not that, I can only direct him to the one true and living way,

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” (Acts 16:31).

Put your whole trust in Him, and you shall be as safe as He is Himself. This grand theme is largely dwelt upon, and variously illustrated, throughout the pages of this magazine, and to them I would refer the unconverted sinner, or the anxious inquirer, while I proceed to deal with the practical and much-needed subject of self-control.

1. And, first, as to our thoughts, and the habitual government thereof. I suppose there are few Christians who have not suffered from evil thoughts—those troublesome intruders upon our most profound retirement—those constant disturbers of our mental repose, that so frequently darken the atmosphere around us, and prevent us from getting a full, clear view upward into the bright heaven above. The Psalmist could say,

“I hate vain thoughts.”

No wonder. They are truly hateful, and should be judged, condemned, and expelled. Someone, in speaking of the subject of evil thoughts, has said,

“I cannot prevent birds from flying over me, but I can prevent their alighting upon me. In like manner, I cannot prevent evil thoughts being suggested to my mind, but I can refuse them a lodgment therein.”

But how can we control our thoughts? No more than we could blot out our sins, or create a world. What are we to do? Look to Christ. This is the true secret of self-control. He can keep us, not only from the lodgment, but also from the suggestion of evil thoughts. We could no more prevent the one than the other. He can prevent both. He can keep the vile intruders, not only from getting in, but even from knocking at the door. When the divine life is in energy when the current of spiritual thought and feeling is deep and rapid when the heart’s affections are intensely occupied with the Person of Christ, vain thoughts do not trouble us. It is only when spiritual indolence creeps over us, that evil thoughts vile and horrible progeny! come in upon us, like a flood; and then our only resource is to look straight to Jesus. We might as well attempt to cope with the marshaled hosts of hell, as with a horde of evil thoughts. Our refuge is in Christ. He is made unto us sanctification. We can do all things through Him. We have just to bring the name of Jesus to bear upon the flood of evil thoughts, and He will, most assuredly, give full and immediate deliverance.

However, the more excellent way is, to be preserved from the suggestions of evil, by the power of preoccupation with good. When the channel of thought is decidedly upward, when it is deep and well formed, free from all curves and indentations, then the current to imagination and feeling, as it gushes up from the fountains of the soul, will naturally flow onward in the bed of the channel. This, I repeat, is, unquestionably, the more excellent way. May we prove it in our own experience.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things which ye have both learned and received, and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of peace shall be with you.” (Phil. 4:8, 9).

When the heart is fully engrossed with Christ, the living embodiment of all those things enumerated in verse 8, we enjoy profound peace, unruffled by evil thoughts. This is true self-control.

2. And, now, as to the tongue, that influential member, so fruitful in good, so fruitful in evil—the instrument whereby we can either give forth accents of soft and soothing sympathy, or words of bitter sarcasm and burning indignation. How deeply important is the grace of self-control in its application to such a member! Mischief, which years cannot repair, may be done by the tongue in a moment. Words, which we would give the world, if we had it, to recall, may be uttered by the tongue in an unguarded hour. Hear what the inspired Apostle says on this subject:

“If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits, in the horse’s mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind. But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” (James 3:2-8).

Who, then, can control the tongue? “No man” can do it; but Christ can; and we have only to look to Him, in simple faith which implies, at once, the sense of our own utter helplessness and His all-sufficiency. It is utterly impossible that we could control the tongue. As well might we attempt to stem the ocean’s tide, the mountain torrent, or the Alpine avalanche. How often, when suffering under the effects of some egregious blunder of the tongue, have we resolved to command that unruly member somewhat better next time; but, alas! our resolution proved to be like the morning cloud that passeth away, and we had only to retire and weep over our lamentable failure in the matter of self-control. Now, why was this? Simply because we undertook the matter in our own strength, or at least, without a sufficiently deep consciousness of our own weakness. This is the cause of constant failure. We must cling to Christ as the babe clings to its mother. Not that our clinging is of any value; still we must cling. Thus, and thus alone, can we successfully bridle the tongue. And O let us remember, at all times, the solemn searching words of the same Apostle, James,

“If any one (man, woman, or child) among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.” (James 1:26).

3. The last point to be considered is, the temper, which is intimately connected with both the tongue and the thoughts. Indeed, all three are very closely linked. When the spring of thought is spiritual, and the current heavenly, the tongue is only the active agent for good, and the temper is calm and unruffled. Christ dwelling in the heart by faith, regulates everything. Without Him, all is worse than worthless.

I may possess and exhibit the self-command of a Franklin or a Socrates, and, all the while, be wholly ignorant of the “self-control” of 2 Peter 1:6. The latter is founded on “faith;” the former on philosophy, two totally different things. We must remember that the word is “Add to your faith.” This puts faith first, as the only link to connect the heart with Christ, the living source of all power. Having Christ, and abiding in Him, we are enabled to add “courage, knowledge, self-control, patience godliness, brotherly kindness, charity.” Such are the precious fruits that flow from abiding in Christ. But I can no more control my temper than my tongue or my thoughts; and if I set about it, I shall be sure to break down every hour.

A mere philosopher, without Christ, may exhibit more self-control as to tongue and temper, than a Christian, if he abides not in Christ. This ought not to be, and would not be, if the Christian simply looked to Jesus. It is when he fails in this that the enemy gains the advantage. The philosopher, without Christ, seems to succeed in the great business of self-control, only that he may be the more effectually blinded as to the truth of his condition, and carried headlong to eternal ruin. But Satan delights to make a Christian stumble and fall, only that he may thereby blaspheme the precious name of Christ.

Christian reader, let us remember these things. Let us look to Christ to control our thoughts, our tongue, and our temper. Let us “give all diligence.” Let us think how much is involved.

“If these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” This is deeply solemn. How easy it is to drop into a state of spiritual blindness and forgetfulness! No amount of knowledge, either of doctrine or the letter of Scripture, will preserve the soul from this awful condition. Nothing but “the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” will avail; and this knowledge is to be increased in the soul by “giving all diligence to add to our faith” the various graces to which the apostles refers in the above eminently practical and soul-stirring passage.

“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:10, 11).

From Above

“Every good gift... is from above.” (James 1:17).

The rich man, who is called in Scripture the rich fool, made great mistakes. His first mistake was in saying,

“My fruits, and my goods.”

They were not his. He was a farmer, and all His possessions came straight from the hand of God. He might easily look up, and say,

“From Thee cometh every good and perfect gift; Thine they are, and lent to me.” But no; he made a terrible mistake; he called them his.

Have you learned to give thanks for all things unto God? Have you learned that even you are “not your own?”

"Give Attendance To Reading" 1 Timothy 4:13

1 Timothy 4:13

Some years ago it was proposed to have preaching in the open air one evening, and we set out during the day in different directions to invite the people. In one of the cottages was Margaret W—, and it is a little saying of this aged one that calls forth these few lines. The writer’s heart has often been encouraged by the remembrance of her words. Margaret’s days of toil on earth were drawing to a close; a busy life had been hers, working year after year, as seamstress till age at length demanded that the well plied needle should be laid aside.

“I can’t do much now,” she said, “but I read a little, and I work a little, and I look up!” Her words sank into our hearts with sweetness and instruction.

Dear reader, who may read these lines, do thy oft revolving duties weary thee, fulfilled, it may be, unseen by any save one who notes everything?

“Look up!” yea “read a little” too. The Lord can make a little go a long way.

“He that gathered little had no lack.” Thus shall you be helped with secret strength.

“Secret blessings, richly flowing

Lead to everlasting day.”

The following year we were again at H—. We soon visited the cottage of our dear old friend, where we still found her, but now quite bent and feeble. On reminding her of the previous year, and the lesson she had unconsciously imparted, and from which we had so profited,

“Ah!” she said, “my sight is nearly gone now; I can’t read, and I can’t work, I can only look up!”

While we can read, let us read, if only “a little” daily, prayerfully with faith. Nothing can make up for this. Leanness of soul and a train of sorrows result from its neglect.

“As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby.” (1 Peter 2:2). One knows that the daily things will swallow up more than the “twelve hours in a day,” if we allow them, but “seek ye first” is the blessed Lord’s own injunction. As sure as we do so, we shall find our duties will get quite as well attended to, and with a happier heart, for we shall also have given the Lord Jesus His portion—our ear. Mary sat at His feet and heard His Word. May we do this, dear reader, more than we have ever yet done. Then, shall we be better fitted to work, even “a little,” for Him.

“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor. 10:31).

“Looking (off) unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith,” till the happy moment when we all shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

The Living One

“I am He that liveth, and was dead: and, behold, I am alive for evermore.” (Rev. 1:18).

My friends, do not be cast down. Though there is much that is sad and dark, both in the church and the world, all will be well, for Jesus Christ lives. I like the story of Dr. Dale, who rose from his desk with that word, “Jesus Christ is alive today,” and preached thenceforth with a force which even he had never known before.

He has given eternal life to His people, undying promises, unfailing strength, unfading glory. Let us keep close to Him, and we shall have no cause to be afraid of what is coming.

Divine Authority

We open the Bible. Its first words are necessarily either a revelation or an imposture, either God’s Word or man’s guess claiming His authority. A middle ground here is impossible. The first, and in extent the greatest of all miracles is revealed,

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

There is no specific date given. It is expressly indefinite. Many have confounded verse 3 with verse 1, with feelings some hostile, others friendly, to revelation. Both were inexcusably wrong, because both carelessly overlooked the Scripture before their eyes. For these words of God, even were there no others confirmatory, affirm in verse 1 the original creation of the universe, then in verse 2 its chaotic condition. The earth was not created empty and waste when first called into being (Isa. 45:18). It may have become so often, if able geologists are to be heeded. It certainly was so immediately before the days of man’s world began, which commenced, not with creating light, but with its activity renewed after ruin and darkness.

“And God said, Light be, and light was.”

Thus verse 2 does not describe God’s creation like verse 1, but a state of utter contrast with it, when total disorder ensued for the earth. Neither the one fact nor the other called for more than passing notice, as being physical, and in no direct way the sphere of God’s moral dealings with man. Yet was it of moment to have facts to deep interest briefly disclosed, which were entirely beyond the ken of man, lost in contending dreams of eternal matter in the West, and of emanations in the East, illusion and falsehood both of them into which evolution, the fashion of our day, no less surely entices unwary souls.

Whatever of detail Genesis 1 may furnish is solely about the formation of the world as it was prepared for the human race; eventually for Christ the Man of God’s counsels. It was no speculation of some “Hebrew Descartes” or Newton, but God’s account of His own work by His servant and prophet Moses. It is worthy of God, deigning in love to communicate what man could not discover and yet ought to know.

Science is powerless to speak of the beginning of things. So the inductive philosophers own, ashamed as they may well be of all the cosmogonists, Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek, Oriental, or any others. There stands God’s revelation, simple, majestic, and complete for His purpose, without even a rival throughout all ages, against which the pride of man can allege nothing but his own errors of haste and misapprehension. How could such a chapter have been written but by divine revelation? Search, ye men of science, ransack all your stores; scrutinize the reports and transactions of the most renowned societies. Did not your wisest own himself but as a child picking up a pebble here and there on the ocean shore? Did not he own reverently this inspired record of creation?

Hence we may observe there is no formal claim in the opening of the Bible. The great of this world may enter with a flourish of trumpets, naturally if not necessarily.

Not so the divine record. Who could speak of creation but God? or tell it adequately in its relational light but Himself, taking His relative name to His people? Who but He in both ways could fully let us know the cause, history, and consequences of the deluge? Who else, what led to the rise of nations and languages? or to the call of Abram and the fathers who followed of His chosen and separate people? Yet even here throughout we have “Elohim said” and wrought; and so with His name as “Jehovah,” wherever suited and requisite. He is an enemy who denies its absolute truth and divine authority.

The Watchman's Cry

“Watchman, what of the night?... The morning cometh, and also the night.” (Isa. 21:11,12).

“Watchman, what of the night?”

“It is gloomy, and thick, and dark;

Alas! wherever I turn my sight,

And seek for a faithful watcher’s light,

I can scarcely discern a spark.

I hear the drunken reveler’s cry,

The mocker’s taunt, and the skeptic’s lie;

But few believe that the Lord is nigh:

All is gloomy, and sad, and dark.”

“Watchman, what of the night?”

“It is murky, and chill, and drear:

The lamps erst burning so clear and bright!

The hearts once glowing with warm delight,

At the hope that the Lord was near;

Many are quenched to burn no more;

Few are trimmed, and their luster pour;

Alas! in so many, first-love is o’er;

All is murky, and chill, and drear.”

“Watchman, what of the night?”

“O list! ‘tis the midnight cry!

It fills the sleepers with joy or fright;

These cheeks grow pale, and those grow bright!

The Bridegroom, He draweth nigh!

The slumbering virgins from sleep awake;

The wise their lamps fresh-trimmed all take;

The knees of the foolish with terror quake,

At the sound of the midnight cry.”

“Watchman, what of the night?”

“The night is fast passing away;

The Morning Star, with effulgence bright,

Shall shortly burst on our raptured sight,

And usher the longed-for day.

He cometh! He cometh! awake! arise!

Behold! the Day Star illumines the skies;

Ye slumbering virgins unveil your eyes,

The night is just passing away.”

“Watchman, what of the night?”

The work of the watchman is o’er:

“The morning’s come and also the night,”

Eternity’s darkness—eternity’s light.

‘Inquire ye,.... inquire ye no more.’

His word is ended, and work is done;

The marriage supper is e’en begun;

The conflict over, the victory won;

The work of the watchman is o’er.

God's Training Ground

Every one of us is necessary to everyone else. You say, That brother is so bad; but I say, He is necessary to you. You say, O! but he troubles me so much, there is this thing and that thing about him. Well, that is the very thing you need. Do you think there is a single thing that happens that is not necessary to us? This world is God’s training ground, and God sees to it that there is everything to exercise us, and even to rub us up the wrong way, in order that He might have the opportunity to strengthen us and make us faithful.

That I May Know Him

Philippians 3:10

The knowledge of Christ is more excellent than any other, than all other knowledge. Our knowledge of Christ should be powerful and influential, regulating our thoughts, desires, hopes, fears, confidence, and our conduct toward God and man, especially toward the saints. If we do really and sincerely desire to know Christ, we shall search His Word, meditate on His truth, be often at His throne, and speak of Him to His people.

Correspondence

Question: Please explain 1 Timothy 5:19.

Answer: We must notice that Timothy was not only gifted (chap. 4:14), he also had authority from the apostle to appoint elders and deacons and to put things right in the assembly. No one has this authority now from God. The only authority given in the Word of God is vested in two or three gathered to the name of the Lord (Matt. 18:18-20; 1 Cor. 5:4, 13).

What you call gossip and evil speaking is condemned in Scripture, therefore we need to watch our hearts to keep from it. (See Eph. 4:29, 31; Titus 3:2; James 3:2 to 14; 4:11; 1 Peter 2:1).

On the other hand when we know that we have been the subject of evil speaking, true or false, it matters not, our pride and anger is stirred, and a feeling of resentment comes in. If we give place to it, we too are allowing the flesh, and the danger is that we will go farther wrong in standing up for ourselves. This would not be like the Lord “who when He was reviled, reviled not again, when He suffered He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.” (1 Peter 2:23).

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (Matt. 5:44). (Luke 17:3, 4; Matt. 18:21 to 35; Rom. 12:14, 18-21; Eph. 4:2).

It is hard to be evil spoken about, but we must think how the Lord was evil spoken about, and how He forgave His enemies, and told us to do the same. We sinned against Him ten thousand talents, and we will hardly forgive one hundred pence. “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” We might make them happy, and our souls would be blessed in doing so. This is the way the blessed Lord would have us do. We heartily sympathize with you, and pray that you will show your forgiving love to any who have hurt you, and if there is anything to confess, do it freely, then the Lord is with you at once.

Question: Who are the sheep and goats in Matthew 25:32?

Answer: These are the nations or Gentiles, the living people who help or persecute the Jews, the King’s brethren, during the tribulation period.

Those who believe the gospel of the kingdom, that is that the King (the Son of Man), is coming to set up His Kingdom, and help His brethren, the Jews. These are the sheep, and they enjoy the kingdom—everlasting life on earth; while the goats, those who persecute the King’s brethren, go away into the lake of fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

Question: Is Melchizedek the Lord?

Answer: No, I do not at all think he was the Lord, but a beautiful type of the Lord. He was for a purpose made like unto the Son of God; and that he might be like Him, no record of his birth or death is given, and it is to this Hebrews 7:3 refers. We know nothing of his pedigree, though verse 6 lets us know he had one: at least, so I have taken it.

In the passage in Genesis he is brought before us as “King of Salem,” and “Priest of the most high God,” but of his beginning and end, of his father and mother, we know nothing, though in Genesis we naturally look for this. This is in order, as just said, that he might be the type of the Lord. I have never thought he was actually without father and mother, and beginning of days nor end of life. If he was the Lord, then it would be His typifying Himself in a future day.

I'm Praying for You

For some time I had been crying to God to save an ungodly brother of mine. He had been a great trial to my dear Christian father, who often gave him a word of warning. At last my brother was determined he would have his own way, and left his father’s house for Australia.

Several years passed away, and then I wrote to my brother, entreating him to come to Jesus. I enclosed a hymn leaflet, every verse ending with these words:

“For you I am praying,

I’m praying for you.”

After three months I received an answer from my brother, desiring me never to write to him again, unless I could do so without alluding to religion, or that sort of thing; he was very angry with me.

I took him at his word, and decided that I would not write again, but would pray more for him. I also asked some Christians to carry him to God in prayer. About three months after this sad letter, came the post; man and handed me another foreign letter, to my great surprise. And more surprised still was I, as I commenced reading the letter, which ran thus:

“My dear sister, you shall be the first to whom I will tell the good news that I am rejoicing in the joyousness of Jesus. O! dear sister, your letter made me wretched, but mine will make you glad; for I have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. After your letter came, I went more into sin than ever I had done, till one night I felt very ill, and then made up my mind if I got better I would go to chapel some Sunday. After I recovered I went, but it only made me feel more wretched. I was glad when the service was over. I felt there was no mercy for me. Then I was very ill again, and could not work.

“O! what a wretched time this was! I again thought if I got better I would go to chapel. God, in His love, raised me up again, and I carried out my good resolution. I thought the preacher knew all about me, for every word he said was just for me; I could not rise from my seat; there I sat while the people all went out. I could not go; I sat and cried.

“A man came to me, and asked if I was saved; I told him, no, neither could I ever be. Several of God’s people knelt down, and prayed for me, but this did me no good.

“Here at last I left. But I felt I could not go home, I walked about to a very late hour, praying to God to pardon my many sins, and to let me know it. And as I was walking and praying, these words came to me as if someone spoke to me:

“‘This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’” (1 Tim. 1:15). I saw it, and went home rejoicing, dear sister. I at once went out and told others what the Lord had done for my soul; yes! the very people on the street knew I was a saved man; to God be all the praise.”

I would add a word to any of my Christian readers: O! be faithful with your unconverted relations! Never mind making them angry. The Word will be a savor of life unto life, or of death unto death to them. We can sometimes reach our friends better by letter, than by speaking to them; but let us write God’s words and not our own. His words may have a lodging place in their consciences long before it is made manifest to us, as was the case with my brother. Often those who seem to reject the name of Jesus, want Him in their hearts.

“The Word of God is living and operative, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and generating to the division of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12). (New Trans.)

Extract

Do you see by faith that Christ up there? Do you know a person in heaven with all the feelings and thoughts of a man, with all the glory and beauty of God? And in that beaming forth on you of that face of glory and beauty, is there nothing that addresses itself to your heart? Who can look on the face of that Lord Jesus and not see in Him the fount of eternal life? Will the beauty of that Person not win your adoring love? Will you ever find that you can look on Him as He is, and not trust Him?

Lord, We Perish

Luke 8:22-25

Here is a parabolic display of what we may expect if we follow the Lord, and the opening out of what the Lord would be to those tried by such circumstances. The consequence of being the disciples and companions of Jesus is that they get into jeopardy every hour, they are not on terra firma, but are tossed about on a troubled sea and Christ Himself absent (“asleep”).

“There came down a storm of wind on the lake,” the ship was filled with water, and they filled with fear, and were in jeopardy. But the fact was, Christ was in the same boat with them. He who made the worlds, the Son of God, was with them and yet they were afraid, and cry out, “We perish,” as though He could be drowned, thus showing they had no sense of who He was that was with them in the boat.

To us now calmly reading the circumstances, what absurdity there seems to be in such unbelief, when, alas, is it not just the same with ourselves spiritually? Have we no sense of jeopardy when tossed about, and in trouble? In truth we have, for there is many a heart saying, “Who will show us any good?” forgetting what God is acting and doing, though man is battling to all appearances against God’s purposes.

When they say, “Lord we perish,” it is not so much of Him they were thinking, as of themselves. “We perish,” said they, and it is just the same now, for the fact of being in danger with Christ in the boat, is the same at one time as another, just as impossible now as them.

And in truth Christ is much more with us now, being more perfectly revealed to us, and we are united to Him, so that He is with us every moment in the power of the Spirit. However high the waves may rise, there is no drowning His love and thoughts towards us.

The test is to our faith. The question is: Have we that faith which so realizes Christ’s presence as to keep us calm and composed in the rough sea, as the smooth.

The eye should be off events, although they be ever so solemn, and surely they are solemn at this present time. But I know that all is settled and secure as if the whole world were favorable. I quite dread the way many dear saints are looking at events, and not looking at Christ and for Christ.

The Lord Himself is the security of His people, and let the world go on as it may, no events can touch Christ. We are safe on the sea, if only we have the eye off the waves, with the heart concentrated on Christ and on the interests of Christ. Then the devil himself cannot touch us.

The Will of God

“Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God.” (Psa. 143:10).

Surely the words of Theodore Monod apply with force in our day;

“Ask yonder sun, What art thou doing? and he will answer, The will of God; those waves of ocean, and they will answer, The will of God; tiny flower, drinking in the dew, What art thou doing? and it will answer, The will of God.”

But man, highest of God’s creation, What art thou doing? Is not the answer this?

“What I choose; I please myself; I do as I will, and assert my independence of God as though He were not.”

“Show my Thy ways, O Lord; teach my Thy paths. Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me: for Thou art the God of my salvation.” (Psa. 25:4, 5).

Professors Not Possessors

It is not by any means uncommon for young believers to be upset by people telling them not to be “too sure of being saved,” because there were some “professing just as they do, who fell back into their old ways.”

Now, this is perfectly true, and it is best to look the matter straight in the face, and not evade it. The truth never contradicts itself. Some, even in apostolic days, who at one time professed to “believe,” went back to the world and the devil, after all. Simon Magus was one of this sort; Judas Iscariot was another. But I want you especially to notice, that in neither of these cases is it said, that the persons were born again, or possessors of eternal life.

As I said before, God never contradicts Himself, and seeing He has so plainly and fully written in His Word that the believer is everlastingly secure in Christ, it is simply impossible that any part of Scripture could teach the opposite.

To profess to be converted is one thing; to be born of the Spirit, united to Christ, and a possessor of eternal life, is quite another. There is great danger of the children of believing parents, and others who have been taught God’s way of salvation from their earliest days, professing to believe in Jesus, without actually possessing eternal life. They can quote texts, and tell all about it, but there is no manifestation of the new life in them. Their hearts are not won for Christ. They are in the world and of it; their lives and ways are just the same as other worldlings, the only difference is, they profess to be the Lord’s.

But a profession of this kind is of no value whatever, and we need not wonder, if sooner or later it is given up, and an open departure into ungodliness immediately follows.

But this need in no way shake the real possessor of Christ, or make him question his security. He is “in Christ Jesus,” past condemnation (Rom. 8:1). His “life is hid with Christ in God,” (Col. 3:3); where neither man nor demon can reach it. He is safely held in the hands of the Father and the Son, and none can pluck him from thence (John 10:28,29); so that while the blasts of temptation may blow around him, and the enemy roar loud against him, the youngest saint can truthfully sing—

“No condemnation,” blessed is the Lord;

“No separation,” forever with the Lord.

Eternally secure in the everlasting arms are all the saints of God.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” John 10:27, 28.

Rest

“This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest.” (Isa. 28:12).

Are you content to be “toiling in rowing,” distressed by the waves? Is that your conception of God’s best for His own? Is this the “perfect peace” which He gives to His blood bought people?

Ah! let us not wrong Him with our heavy thoughts. Whatever the Saviour does, He does magnificently; and what He wants He is ready to empower for. Why then should your life be dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon when you might continue to enjoy and reflect the very presence of the Prince of Love?

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee.” (Isa. 26:3).

As Thou Art

“Lord, we shall see Thee as Thou art,

In yonder mansions fair;

We shall behold Thee face to face,

Thy glorious image bear.

“With what delight, what wondering love,

Each thrilling heart shall swell,

When we, as sharers of Thy joy,

Are called in heaven to dwell!

“O hasten, hasten on that hour,

And call us to Thy seat;

Lord, Thou without us ne’er wilt count

Thy joy and work complete.”

Confidence

“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.” (Heb. 10:35).

There is no way in which we can so effectually glorify God, as by putting our undivided confidence in Him.

“Without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Heb. 11:6).

This gives faith a most important place. Indeed, it lies at the very foundation of our connection with God, and forms the great moving principle in the divine life.

“Abraham was strong in faith, giving glory to God;” “He believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” (Rom. 4:3, 20).

If we look through the entire gospel narrative, we shall find that nothing ever refreshed the heart of the Lord Jesus like the faith of some poor convicted sinner. And though now He is no longer within the range of mortal vision, He can be refreshed in the same way by the faith of a soul that can trust Him for everything. We might suppose that the true way in which to glorify God would be to work for Him: but His Word in every section of it, teaches us that the true way is to put confidence in Him. The confidence of the heart glorifies and gratifies God infinitely more than the labor of the hands; yea, without the former, the latter can only be an abomination in His sight.

Further, if we look at doubt and confidence in reference to ourselves, we find that doubt makes us miserable; confidence makes us happy; doubt sends us forth upon the wild, watery waste of skepticism; confidence anchors us securely in the peaceful haven of God’s eternal and immutable truth; doubt renders us the slaves of Satan and the world; confidence gives us the victory over both the one and the other. Thus we see how impossible it is that doubt and confidence can both dwell in the same heart together; as well might the sun’s meridian splendor dwell with the profound darkness of midnight.

Also it is well to remember that confidence never reasons. A reasoning mind is not a confiding mind. The moment reason stirs, it interrupts the repose of confidence.

How could human reason penetrate the profound mystery of the cross? How could it enter into the glorious truth of a full and eternal salvation for the guiltiest sinner, by the death of the Son of God? How could it ever enter into the amazing thought, that the Creator of heaven and earth appeared in the likeness of man—the likeness of sinful flesh, and in that likeness bore the full penalty of man’s sin—endured the curse of His own law—satisfied the claims of His own inflexible justice—drained to the dregs, yea, exhausted, on our behalf, the cup of His own righteous wrath? How could it comprehend and appreciate the wondrous counsel of redeeming love, which takes up a poor degraded sinner, and puts him in possession of divine life and divine righteousness, in union with a risen and glorified Christ, so that the sinner is not merely pardoned, but actually counted as righteous as Christ Himself? In a word, how can reason enter into any one of these divine mysteries? Impossible.

Faith alone can gaze on their brightness and feed on their preciousness. They can only be taken in and enjoyed by that faith which takes God at His Word, and endures as seeing Him who is invisible.

There is nothing so unreasonable as reason, when it comes in collision with God’s Word; nor is there aught so reasonable as that man should peacefully repose “in every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.”

All that I need in order to enjoy settled assurance, is to know that I am leaning on the Word of the Lord. True, the Holy Spirit gives this knowledge; and He, too, gives the blessed enjoyment; but all the while it is the knowledge and enjoyment of the Word of God which He gives. It is that Word He uses—by it He works—to it He points—on it He causes the heart to lean. It is by the Word He comforts, sustains, strengthens, refreshes, cheers, nourishes, confirms, guides, warns, animates, and governs the believer in his course down here.

Would He dispel doubt from the poor trembling heart, or quell its rising fears? He uses the Word to that end:

“O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Matt. 14:21).

“Be not afraid, only believe.” Mark 5:36.

Would He cleanse and purify the believer’s practical ways? It is by the Word He acts:

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy Word.” (Psa. 119:9). And again,

“That He might cleanse her by the washing of water, by the Word.” (Eph. 5:26).

Would He cheer the heart by the virtues of an imperishable hope? It is the Word He uses; as we read,

“Thy Word... upon which Thou hast caused me to hope.” (Psa. 119:49). In short, the Word is everything. It imparts life. (1 Peter 1:23; James 1:18). It nourishes life. (1 Peter 2:2). It preserves from error; as we read,

“By the word of Thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.” (Psa. 17:4).

Well therefore may it be said—

“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid up for faith in His excellent Word.”

Yes, truly it is a firm foundation, and all who build upon it with simple, childlike confidence, will assuredly enjoy a simple, childlike peace.

May my reader know the truth of this experimentally, and thus in his case,

“The work of righteousness, shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.” (Isa. 32:17).

Submission

“For He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.” (Lam. 3:33).

I remember a man who utterly denied Christ. One night that man’s child was taken ill, and in an agony of human affection he knelt and said,

“O Lord, do not take this little child away from our home!” The Lord said to me as plain as I hear you speak,

“It is not the child I want; it is you.” There and then I gave myself to the Lord.

It pleased the Lord to take that child, but “the grief of it seemed almost as nothing compared with the glory that the Lord had put into my heart and soul.”

“Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy Word... It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes.” (Psa. 119:67, 71).

A Work for the Lord

A young girl lay lonely and depressed on her couch. She was a sufferer from serious and complicated diseases, and, although very upright, very thoughtful, and intelligent, had continued until lately, a stranger to the power of divine grace. A near and dear friend had been the means of pointing her to Christ, and she had found peace.

Henceforth her life was filled with a new light, brightened by new pleasures; and with the eager yearning of a newly converted soul, she longed to lead others to Christ. Fain would she have gone to engage in active service on behalf of her Saviour, but alas! she was a helpless invalid, and as such, doomed to perpetual inaction. She could sit and work with her fingers, or write, but she could not move from place to place without the aid of others.

Here, then, was a cross to bear—heavy, indeed. Longing to do good to others, and yet to be doomed to remain inactive—cut off from all opportunities of active work—seemed too great a trial of faith and patience. And as she noticed how some other people—strong, active, and gifted passed by all opportunities of doing good, seeking only their own pleasure, it seemed harder than she could bear.

At times she sought to question God’s wisdom in thus afflicting her, and would tearfully ask why He had thus dealt with her. It was in such a mood as this that she now lay, tearful and desponding; yearning, O, so vainly, for something to do for the Master.

Just at this juncture, a knock was heard at the door, followed by the entrance of a visitor.

“Ah, Mrs. Williams! I am so glad to see you! I am so lonely!” was Maggie’s first exclamation.

“What! Tears? What is the meaning of those tears? Are you crying as you count up your mercies, Maggie?”

“No, Mrs. Williams. Mercies! It seems to me sometimes as if I had far more trials than mercies. I would fain do something for Jesus, but I cannot. See, here I am chained to my couch, while many others, in the full flush of strength and health, care nothing at all about working for the Lord.”

“‘Thou didst well that it was in thine heart.’ (1 Kings 8:18).

“Was not this commendation given to David in response to his desire to build the house of God, a sacred privilege which, however, he was not permitted to enjoy? So, Maggie, God says to you.”

Mrs. Williams’ soothing words fell like oil upon the troubled waters of Maggie’s mind. Yes, truly, God knew that it was in her heart to do good; and knowing this, would He not accept the desire? Still—still—it was hard to sit still, in enforced seclusion and pain, at twenty, the age of exuberant youthfulness, and do nothing!

“Stay,” said Mrs. Williams, “the mail bears many missives of love and affection to thousands of homes and hearts. Could you not use this agency for doing good?”

“How?” questioned the invalid, looking up, surprised.

“In this way: You know some to whom a letter, or a leaflet, or a tract, would be a blessing. Send an affectionate, faithful, letter to an unsaved friend, giving warning of judgment which lies ahead, and of the way of escape through Christ. Send a tract to a poor, tired child of God. Send a rousing, earnest appeal to one who may be indifferent or careless. And a tract, with directions as to the way of salvation, to any who may be awakened or anxious about their soul. Thus you will work for the Lord as truly, and possibly more successfully, than if you were working in a more prominent way. I earnestly counsel you to adopt this plan.”

“Do you really think that I shall succeed in doing anyone good in this way?”

“I do indeed. You are told to ‘sow beside all waters,’ and the ministry of tracts and letters is so unobtrusive, so secret, and yet so comprehensive and far-reaching that Christians might do a vast amount of good in this way, if they would only lend their energies to the work.

“As a special department in Christian work, it is too much neglected. I am sure more souls might be won for Christ, and more wavering, anxious ones led to decide aright, if this way were only made use of to the extent which it might be, and no one can be the instrument of blessing to others, without receiving blessing himself.”

Maggie said no more. To the young girl’s soul the advice of her friend came as a direct answer to her yearning for some path of usefulness, and, with “much prayer” for wisdom and guidance, she began her work.

We shall not quote her letters, nor the blessed results which she was allowed to know about, but the coming “day” will reveal how much honor and glory was brought to the Lord through her quiet, faithful labor for Him.

“In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” (Ecc. 11:6).

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 15:58).

Silent Believers

We often wonder why it is that so many of our young brothers who profess to be the Lord’s, sit dumb on their chairs from one year’s end to the other. They are there at the prayer meeting, and all the other meetings regularly, but they never contribute a word to the edification and help of others. They take in all that they can get, but give out nothing.

Now, this seems very strange, and we have tried again and again to account for it, and to find out what can be the cause of their continued silence.

Of course, no one would expect a backslider, or one in a bad state of soul, to take any part; and this may keep many more in silence than we think.

Then there are some whose life and walk are so crooked and worldly, that it is a mercy for all concerned that they keep quiet. But there are a large number of young saints whose lives are as becometh the gospel of Christ, and yet they never open their mouths in public at all. This is a grievous calamity, and a serious loss to the church and to themselves.

There ought to be no “dummies” among the people of God. The lips as well as the lives of all the redeemed belong unto the Lord and ought to “show forth His praise,” and speak of things concerning Him. All are not fitted for platform-preaching or to speak to the assembled crowd. This is, not what we contend for at all; it would be disorder and confusion to attempt such a thing. Gift, grace, and the call of God, are all required for such a sphere of service, and those who feel they lack these requirements do wisely not to attempt to preach in public.

But what about the prayer meeting? There is no gift required to “pray to the Father.” Yet there they sit with sealed lips, from year to year. This we unhesitatingly say, is not of God. It is “the fear of man,” some will say. Quite possible. But then “the fear of man bringeth a snare,” and it cannot be the will of God that His people should be in any snare whatever.

Why should any fear to speak to God in the presence of their fellow believers? We are certain every godly one would rejoice to hear their voices, even though it might be but the “five words,” the very lispings of a babe in Christ.

And there are many lonely ones to whom the word of life and peace might be carried by their lips, by whom the preacher’s voice is never heard, who would welcome a visit from a child of God, and gladly hear a portion of the Word read.

Thorns

The understanding may be convinced of the truth; but the cares, pleasures, and riches of this world come in and choke the Word.

Now these “cares” are most subtle things, because they enter as necessary duties, and there is no sin in doing one’s duty. Nay, it is right that a man should do his duty in his daily calling. But if these duties choke the Word, and a man loses his soul through it, what then?

The natural tendency of the heart often needs to be met with that Word, “Take heed and beware of covetousness” (Luke 12). It is the love of possession. One came to the Lord, saying,

“Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me.” The heart wanted to keep it.

If the love of the world or covetousness gets in among the saints it is an insidious thing, and most difficult to meet, because it is often not open to discipline, and yet if covetousness slips into the heart, it checks the power of Christ over the soul and conscience, and eats out the practical life of the Christian, and his soul is withered, withered, withered.

It may be checked by the power of God coming in, but this covetous care about earthly things is so subtle, that while there is nothing on which to lay the hand, the practical power of Christian life in the soul is gone, though, of course, I need hardly say, eternal life can never be lost in those who once had it.

Correspondence

Question: Please explain the parable of the talents, in Matthew 25.

Answer: This applies to the great principle of Christian service and responsibility during the time of our Lord’s absence. It is not a question of eternal life or salvation; but simply of service according to our several ability.

Question: What does Luke 13:7 refer to?

Answer: The primary application is to Israel; but we may all learn a solemn lesson from it. Let us seek to be fruitful and not be cumberers of the ground. We live in a day of easy profession. God looks for reality, for diligence, for earnestness, and integrity of heart. May we be watchful, and never rest satisfied with mere head knowledge or lip profession. The Lord will have “truth in the inward parts.”

Question: I cannot understand the “Trinity.”

Answer: We are not surprised at your inability to comprehend the profound mystery of the Trinity. But let us remind you, dear friend, that though you cannot understand it, you are reverently to believe it. The Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Ghost is God. Did you ever hear those last words of a dying idiot? “I see! I see! I see!” “What do you see?” said a bystander. “I see three in one, and one in three, and they are all for me, for me.” Think of these words.

Question: What was the length of the “day” in Genesis 1?

Answer: We understand the word “day” in the first chapter of Genesis, to mean simply our ordinary 24 hours; and we do not consider it scriptural to believe that each of those days may include a long period of time. But we must remember that, between the first verse of Genesis 1 and the commencement of the actual six days’ work, millions of years may have intervened, leaving ample room, most surely, for all the facts of geology.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Then we are told, “the earth” —not the heavens— “was without form and void.”

We are not told how the earth fell into this state; but most surely God had not so created it. And then begins the record of the six days of creation. It is not the object of the Bible to teach us geology or astrology; but we may rest assured that there is not a single sentence in that divine volume which collides with the facts of geology or any other science. We must, however, draw a very broad line of distinction between the facts of science, and the conclusions of scientific men. Facts are facts wherever you find them; but if you follow the conclusions of men, you may find yourself plunged in the dark and dreadful abyss’ of universal skepticism.

Question: Do the souls of those who have died “sleep”?

Answer: The idea of souls of believers being asleep when absent from the body, is at once unscriptural and absurd. “Today thou shalt be with Me in paradise.” Was this to be in an unconscious state? Has the soul of the thief been asleep for the last nineteen hundred years? “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Has that spirit been asleep ever since? “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” Is this to be asleep? “Having a desire to depart and be with Christ which is far better.” Why not say, “Having a desire to be asleep?” Is it far better to be asleep, to be unconscious, than to be enjoying Christ, and working for Him here?

Dear friend, we cannot but express our astonishment at any man in his senses—to say nothing of a Christian with the Bible in his hands—putting such a question. We consider the notion a monstrous absurdity. Pray excuse our plainness of speech. It is not easy to measure one’s words when dealing with many of the wild vagaries of the present day. “Sleep” always refers to the body.

Unbelievers who have died do not “sleep” either, as we see in Luke 16:19-23. They are very conscious, and carry with them conscience and memory.

Young Christian: Volume 27, 1937

Table of Contents

Looking Up

A New Year's Text

Extract: Wanting in Love

In All Thy Ways

Copy of a Letter

O! Hasten Thy Coming

The Alabaster Box

In Season and Out of Season

The Faithful Jewess

The Bosom of The Father

Lost Years

Correspondence: Object of Thought in Eph. 3:18; 1 Cor. 3:17

What Made the Change in Old Charlie

Extract: A Mountain Goes

Having Done All to Stand

My Rock and My Savior

Riches and Poverty

The Epistle to the Romans

The Unity of the Church of God - An Address: Part 1

Extract: The Object of Interest

Something Worth Living For

The Need of Prayer

Guidance

Pilgrims and Strangers

Purpose of Heart

The Bible

Correspondence: Heaven Immediately?; Iniquity/Transgressions/Sin; Genealogies

My Heart Is So Hard!

Fragment: No Time for Murmuring or Fretting

The One Who So Loved Me

His All-Seeing Eye

Influence

Bethany - Response: Part 1

Extract: The Gospel

Zeal

The Only Lever

A Searching Question

The Meekness and Gentleness of Christ

Be Careful for Nothing

Behold He Cometh

Correspondence: John 10:35; Baptizing in the Name of; Jude 21; Heb. 12:22-24

The Name of Jesus

Two Helps for the Way

The Idol

Bethany - Response: Part 2

The Power of the Air

Notes of an Address to Sunday School Workers

The Ten Virgins

Food for the Household

Fragment: Being Half and Half

Be Ye Kind

'Tis Sweet to Know

Correspondence: Eph. 3:19; Rom. 8:32; John 19:34 & 1 John 5:6-8; Proof of Guilt

A Form of Godliness

God's Rest

The Patience of Hope

Trust in Him at All Times

Bethany - Response: Part 3

Trust

God's Ways

Christian Joys

Extract: God for Us

Labor and Rest

Fragment: The Rule for Christian's Conduct

Counsels to Young Christians

Fragment: A Portion and a Sanctuary

The Will of the Lord Be Done

Correspondence: John 1:9; Phil. 3:2; Why Read Revelations?

Sow Beside All Waters

Prayer

Girded Loins and Lights Burning

The Double Intercession

Service on Earth, and in Heaven

Bethany - Response: Part 4

To Those Gathered to the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ

Stewardship

Go on Sowing!

Stilling the Waves