Echoes of Grace: 1955

Would I desire for thee this year,
Health, wealth, prosperity, good cheer,
All sunshine, not a cloud nor tear?
Nay, only this:

That God may lead thee His own way,
That He may choose thy path each day,
That thou mayest feel Him near alway,
For this is bliss.

To know He rules, come loss or gain,
Sorrow or gladness, sun or rain;
To know He loves in ease or pain
Is perfect rest.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee." Isa. 26:3.

Afraid?

"What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." Psa. 56:3.

Very few really brave men would not be willing to admit that they have known what it is to be desperately afraid. Many incidents occurring during the American Civil War and related afterward have manifested the fact that even the stoutest heart must often rely on a power outside himself in times of danger. It is indeed blessed when that heart is in God's keeping and its refuge is under His wings.

A few years after this bloody conflict ended, a former Federal officer was on board an ocean liner. On a Sunday afternoon he was feeling especially alone and burdened, and he longed with all his soul for a sense of peace and rest. Although he had realized his ambitions and had gained high position in the world, he was still a stranger to Him who "satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.”

As he restlessly paced the deck, he heard voices singing. He went below and found a man seated at a piano with a few of the passengers gathered around him. This man's voice, hauntingly sweet, soared heavenward as they sang:

"Jesus, Lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high!
Hide me, O my Savior, hide,
Till the storm of life is past,
Safe into the haven guide;
O receive my soul at last.”

Ah, those lovely words! But the voice—that man's grand voice—where had he heard it before?

"Other refuge have I none,
Hangs my helpless soul on Thee!
Leave, ah! leave me not alone,
Still support and comfort me!
All my trust on Thee is stayed,
All my help from Thee I bring;
Cover my defenseless head
With the shadow of Thy wing.”

The last two lines brought back the memory. Waiting till the hymn was finished, the listener approached the singer. "Pardon me, sir; but were you on sentry duty during the war?" He mentioned a time and place.

"Yes," was the answer.

Then the questioner stated that he too had been there, but on the other side. On the night mentioned he had led a detail of men on a scouting expedition. In the darkness he and his men had come suddenly near a sentry, and had even seen his figure outlined against the sky.

"We watched you," he said, "and just as we were about to fire, we heard singing. You sang the first verse of 'Jesus, Lover of my soul.' The order to 'fire' was withheld while we listened. Then came clear and sweet on the air the second verse; but when you came to 'Cover my defenseless head,' I could stand it no longer. 'Guns down, boys,' I ordered. 'Back to camp!' Do you remember that night?”

"Yes." And now it was the turn of the astonished singer to relate his side of the story: "On that evening I experienced a sudden dread of the darkness, and horror overwhelmed me at the thought of what might overtake me. I felt utterly helpless. But I remembered the One who had died for me. He had borne all my sins on Calvary's tree, and His own lips had promised to go with me 'all the way.' Why should I be afraid? I cried in spirit to God, and I prayed in the words of the hymn you heard. I had no thought that anyone heard me but God. But after I had sung that hymn I shall never forget the blessed assurance I had that I was safe under the shadow of His wings.”

What a testimony to the keeping power of the Almighty! During the rest of the voyage the two men were much together. The Christian singer soon sensed the unhappy state of his companion and seized every opportunity to bring Christ before him. Ere they disembarked God graciously rewarded his efforts, and the weary heart found peace and rest in the Savior's love.

"Plenteous grace with Thee is found,
Grace to cover all my sin;
Let the healing streams abound,
Make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art:
Freely let me take of Thee;
Spring Thou up within my heart,
Rise to all eternity.”

"Me"

One summer a Christian nurse was spending her vacation in a country town. She used to purchase fruit and vegetables at a store whose owner, a friendly village woman, was always happy to have an opportunity for conversation, if her customers were so inclined.

One day, this woman told the nurse of a Christian who had recently left the town. "I shall never forget him,” said she, "for he was the means of leading my husband to the Savior.

"John had been sick for seventeen weeks. During that time, Mr. Ward came very often to see him. Once when he was explaining to my poor husband about sin, he says to him, 'We are all sinners, you and me.' And," added the woman, "the 'me' did it! If he had said 'you' are a sinner, my husband would never have listened to him. He would not even have let him stay in his room!”

The poor invalid evidently had had a proud, unbroken spirit. But when the Christian visitor wisely but humbly took his place with him as by nature a sinner, John's resistance was broken down and he accepted the Savior. Indeed, "The 'Me' did it.”

"For ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23.

"The Unexpected Happens!"

"Oh, you mean death?”

No. I cannot say that I do, because you expect to die some time; perhaps not this year, but some time. And doubtless you intend to make timely preparation for that certain event.

"Then what do you mean?”

Well, "the unexpected happens" is a common phrase. It simply means that in spite of every possible attention being given to an undertaking, or every contingency being met so far as the clever mind of man can anticipate, something entirely unforeseen may occur that utterly upsets all his plans.

"The unexpected happened" when the Spanish Armada, instead of landing its troops on English soil, was swept by a hurricane into the inky waves of the North Sea and was broken to pieces on unknown shores. The proud Spaniard was foiled of his prey. That tempest was unexpected by him.

"What else do you think will happen unexpectedly?”

Ah, there was a time when the busy world bought and sold, planted and builded, married and gave in marriage, rising morning by morning to carry on its labors. The world was young; and though life was long, its hours flew apace. Bargains were struck; articles were bought and sold; seller and purchaser were in keen competition then as now. Hillsides and wastelands were planted; houses and cities were built. And all flourished. They feared nothing, saying: "Today shall be as yesterday, and tomorrow as today.”

True, one man was busy building, not a house nor a city, but an ark. What of that? He, but he only, said something about a flood of waters which, having come, would put an end to all the busy enterprises of the day. This prophecy seemed so ridiculous that business went on—"Until the flood came and destroyed them all." The unexpected happened! Unexpected, but not unforetold. Why unexpected? Because disbelieved and discredited.

"Yes, but we are told that the flood shall never cover the earth again, so we need not live in dread of a watery overthrow.”

Quite true; but what of another catastrophe—that of fire?

"Oh, that is at the end of the world. It's a long time off. We can go on with our planting and building, buying and selling; nor need we fear in our day any such terrible event as that. For 'where is the promise of His coming?'”

Now, granted that the destruction by fire is necessarily at the end of all things, we are most profoundly anxious that you should hear and lay hold of the fact that, long before the end comes, a period called "the day of the Lord," a long period that is introduced by and continued in the unsparing judgment of evil, shall first run its course. It is ushered in by the coming of the Son of man; and notice particularly that "as it was in the days of Noah [we have considered these], so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man." Mark the word so, and compare the days. The unexpected happened in Noah's time. It may happen in ours.

"The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." The world will be taken unawares. They will be saying "peace and safety" and lulling each other to slumber in the cradles of business, of trade, and of pleasure. Then the Son of man shall come, and the unexpected shall have happened.

Oh, that the thoughtless world might take warning! When once the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, all hope will be gone for the unbeliever.

The Lord Jesus Christ is coming as Son of man to judge the world. But first He will come as Savior for His own. The dead who sleep in Jesus shall be raised, the living believers changed and caught up to meet Him in the air. Together they shall be forever "with the Lord.”

But reader, will He come to you as a thief or as a Savior? Either now in grace, or then in judgment, "every knee should bow... and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. 2:10, 11.

"By Grace"

"The river of His grace,
Through righteousness supplied,
Is flowing o'er the barren place,
Where Jesus died.”

Jim Blanton was a powerful young machinist, able and willing to work, but often the victim of his own sinful nature.

Before his conversion, intoxicating drink was his overpowering besetment. When he was under its baneful influence, his wild violence became a terror to all who came near him. During his last bout before God's deliverance came in, it took six strong men to hold him. There was generally such a tendency to self-destruction that every knife or dangerous weapon had to be removed out of his way. How like the cruel murderer that he served, and in whose hand he was for so long a willing slave!

But the blessed One at God's right hand had His eye upon him, and that for blessing.

One day at work he was accidentally struck in the eye by a chip of iron which very seriously injured it. This necessitated his being taken to the hospital a few miles from where he lived.

There was one great boon in connection with this occurrence: it gave Jim time to think. But, sad to say, he was not brought to genuine repentance. In his own strength only he resolved to be different if God would only spare his life and let him get better.

He did recover and returned home; but he only did worse than he had ever done before. Was grace then to be thus defeated? Not at all. Remarkable to say, shortly afterward the accident was repeated. For a second time the very same eye was struck by a splinter of iron, and he had to return to the hospital. Fresh vows and resolutions followed, which, like the first, were doomed to be as completely shattered. Coming back to his old associations, he met the same temptations; and these soon proved he was no match for them. Like "the sow that was washed," he turned to his "wallowing in the mire," and speedily forgot all his good intentions.

But "God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not." Job 33:14. There came another pull-up in the shape of a very severe attack of influenza. Again Jim vowed to reform his life, but his recovery was only followed by fresh outbreaks of wickedness. Yet, with all this, God's grace was still as persistent as ever. To an onlooker, Jim's case might have been considered utterly hopeless. But not so with God, for "the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." James 5:11. What a God He is!

One night Jim was in his bedroom undressing, when something transpired which proved to be the turning point of his history. He had, as he said, just thrown his coat off when he distinctly heard, or thought he did, a voice saying: "PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD." He turned sharply around to his wife and asked if she had said that. "No," she replied, "nor did I hear anything.”

"Then it must be God," he exclaimed. Instantly he dropped upon his knees, his wife kneeling with him.

There and then as a sinner, not as a self-reformer, he sought and found the Savior.

Notice this, my reader. True conviction has regard to the sinful history of the past, and the person so convicted honestly pleads guilty and humbly seeks for mercy. With repentance for the past comes God's PRESENT forgiveness for all. The precious blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, both clears and cleanses the vilest sinner that thus comes to Him.

All of this man's former experiences had only brought out a desire to find in himself some future merit on which to stand without charge before God. He knew it was no use to look in the past for it. That was bad and black enough. But if he could, by turning over a new leaf and by sticking to his resolution, establish a good character, and thereby induce God to overlook the past, he might eventually be able to pass into heaven on that ground. So thought Jim.

But this sudden call to meet God—for he could regard it in no other light—to meet Him just as he was, knocked all such vain thoughts into hopeless confusion. Men seem slow to understand that when God judges He will judge the whole of their history, not a part. "Every idle word, every secret thing," will have to be accounted for then.

In Psa. 10:11, 13, 14, the human heart is laid bare thus: "He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: He hideth His face; He will never see it." "He hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.”

But what is the inspired reply?

"Thou hast seen it." And, moreover (as we learn from another scripture), will require it also. "God requireth that which is past." Eccl. 3:15.

Suppose that it were possible that at a certain point in a man's history he thought he had become good; yea, as good as he ought to be, and that therefore he could safely stand before God on the ground of that goodness. God would surely have a double charge against him: First, that he had ignored God's right to judge him for all he had done as a sinner in the early part of his history, as well as the rest of it.

Second, that standing self-righteously on the reformed portion of his history, he had denied the necessity for the sacrifice of Christ and willfully refused the provision God has freely held out to him in that blessed Savior.

In the first part he had ruined himself; in the second he had shut Christ out as God's only remedy for his ruin.

But what a blessed contrast to this is a case of genuine repentance toward God and simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!

"Could the creature help or ease us,
Seldom should we think of prayer.
Few if any, come to Jesus,
Till reduced to self-despair.

"Long we either slight or doubt Him,
But when all the means we try
Prove we cannot do without Him,
Then at last to Him we cry.”

Reader, have you thus been brought to Christ? Or are you still blindly satisfied with hopeless, fancied self-improvement?

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph. 2:8, 9.

GEO. C.

"I Want to Go Too"

To the believer, the blessed hope of the Lord's coming is most heart-gladdening and cheering. To the sad, it is full of comfort. They look forward to that moment of supreme delight when the eye at last shall see Him whom the heart has loved so long.

But to the unconverted, the coming of the Lord is a fearful prospect. Oh, how dreadful to be one of those who are not "Christ's at His coming"!

SEPARATION! Fathers, mothers, caught up to meet Him; but where are the children? Brother saved! Sister lost! Workmen at the same bench: one changed in a moment, the other left in his sins. Too late then to cry, "Lord, Lord; open to us!”

An old gentleman, a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, was waiting and watching for His coming. He often invited a large company of Christian friends to stay at his house. They spent the evening reading the Word together; and at these times the servants were usually present.

One evening the subject had been, "The coining of the Lord." The company were all converted persons except a stable boy called John. When the reading was over, before retiring for the night, the old gentleman said: "John, the Lord is coming; and we who belong to Him shall be caught up to meet Him when He comes. You, John, will be the only one left here. Then you will have the horses, the carriages, the house,—all will be yours. In the presence of all here tonight, I give it to you if the Lord comes! With the exception of yourself, we shall all go to be with Him. Goodnight, John.”

John went to his room, but not to sleep. This legacy so troubled him that he did not even take off his clothes for the night. The long hours seemed to move so slowly! John's mind was deeply disturbed; and as morning at length came on and the clock struck five, he could stand it no longer. He crept to his master's door. Rap. Rap.

"Who's there?”

"It's John, sir.”

"What is it, John?”

"Please, sir, I don't want the horses! I don't want the carriages or the other things!”

"Then what do you want?”

"Please, sir, I want to go too!”

Horses and carriages, a mansion with all it contains, and all the wealth belonging to its owner, would be poor compensation for the loss of a share in this blessed hope.

Reader, ponder! Are you Christ's now? May the Lord make you truly anxious until you are. With this paper in your hands, look to Jesus. Seek Him. Hear His word: "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.”

Time is short. The coming of the Lord draws nigh. The world is waxing old. Men are throwing off all restraint, steeling their consciences, and hardening their hearts. Judgment comes on apace, darkness is settling down on this scene. Mercy cries, Haste, flee for thy life. Jesus shows His wounded hands and side, and says, "Come." Safety is found in Him alone. Don't you "want to go too?”

The Simplicity of the Gospel

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31.

"Without shedding of blood is
no remission.”

Heb. 9:22.

"Wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow.”

Psa. 51:7.

February

Profit or Loss?

What will it profit, when life here is o'er,
Though great worldly wisdom I gain,
If, seeking knowledge, I utterly fail
The wisdom of God to obtain?

What will it profit, when life here is o'er,
Though gathering riches and fame,
If, gaining the world, I lose my own soul,
And in heaven unknown is my name?

What will it profit, when life here is o'er,
Though earth's farthest corners I see,
If, going my way, and doing my will,
I miss what His love planned for me?

What will it profit, when life here is o'er,
Though earth's fleeting love has been mine,
If, seeking its gifts, I fail to secure
The riches of God's love divine?

What will it profit? My soul, stop and think
What balance that day will declare!
Life's record laid bare, will gain turn to loss,
And leave me at last to despair?

"What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Mark 8:36.

From the Pit

Among the officers of a regiment in India was one young lieutenant whose genial manners had made him a general favorite. Time was heavy on their hands and this young officer with a few others decided to join in a hunt. For some miles they cantered on, the lieutenant being some little distance ahead.

Suddenly his horse reared up, and with a stifled scream from the rider, both disappeared from sight. Spurring their horses, the men galloped forward to learn what had happened. The mystery was soon explained: their companion had fallen into an old covered pit where in time past food had been secreted.

As quickly as possible ropes were secured and lowered. Horse and rider were drawn to safety, and very thankful were the soldiers to have him once more among them. But what a change had taken place! In that short space of time his hair had turned white, and the flush of youth had vanished.

Revived by the fresh air, he told them that without warning the earth had seemed to give way beneath him.

Plunging down into the darkness, he had fallen clear of his horse. But amid the hiss of serpents, he lay half stunned at the bottom of that pit. Afraid to move, he thought each moment would be his last.

Feeling himself on the very threshold of eternity, his eyes were opened. The past with its neglected opportunities came crowding back to his memory. The agony of soul he passed through, face to face with death and in God's presence, was loudly witnessed by his altered appearance.

This young officer was suddenly awakened to the fact that the path on which he was seeking his pleasure was beset with deadly danger. One plunge placed him beyond his own power of recovery, and he knew it to his utter dismay. Realizing his own helplessness, he "cried unto the Lord and He delivered him.”

Now mark this, my reader: with the first sin you ever committed in defiance of God's holy will, you took that plunge! From that moment, as far as you are concerned, your case has been absolutely hopeless. You can never undo that sin, and its consequences are inevitable. God holds the record.

But there is this difference between you and the young lieutenant. He was instantly made alive to his terrible predicament; you probably were not. But that does not make your case less serious. It is not difficult to see that even twelve hours of unconsciousness at the bottom of that serpent-infested pit could not possibly have made his case any better. And so with you.

But have you at last been made aware of your danger? Perhaps your ruined, helpless condition before God has come alarmingly before you.

Listen then while I tell you of One who can save you. Moved with divine compassion, the Son of God has come down to where you are. His arm is mighty to save. Will you not trust your precious soul to Him ere it is too late?

"He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." Psa. 40:2.

"The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.

"Often Reproved"

Charlie, as he was called by all who knew him, was a young fireman employed on the Pennsylvania Railroad. Bright and merry, he was a favorite with everyone.

One thing, however, Charlie lacked; and that one thing was most important of all. In spite of the prayers and pleadings of his dear Christian mother, he was not saved.

Again and again his mother reasoned with him about his soul, and warned him of his danger. Often when he took his dinner bucket to go on his runs she would fondly kiss him and say: "Charlie, dear, I shall be so uneasy while you are gone. You might get killed, and your soul be lost; and then your poor mother would truly grieve.”

On the same railroad there was a Christian engineer, Billy Martin by name, who was much attached to Charlie. Billy often spoke to him about his need of salvation, and read the Scriptures to him. Sometimes the tears would start to Charlie's eyes and trickle down his cheeks. He would say that he wanted to be a Christian and was going to be some day, but that there was plenty of time. Besides, he was engaged to a young lady who was fond of parties, dancing, and card playing. She had told him that if he became a Christian she would have no more to do with him. She did not want an old "goody-goody" for her husband.

"But," said Charlie to his friend Billy," "If you can get her to consent, I will promise to be a better lad, if only to please mother.”

Charlie seemed not to realize that "being a better lad" would in no wise meet his need before God. What he needed was conversion to Him. He was a poor unconverted sinner going down to hell as quickly as time could carry him. Turning over a new leaf and trying to do better would not put him on the road to heaven. He needed to have his sins washed away through the blood of Christ. In a word, it was not reformation, not morality, but a Savior he needed. And this he did not seem to understand.

But Billy Martin persisted in trying to help his friend. He got him and his fiancée together, and prayed with them. They talked the matter over, but she would not yield. She wept, but refused to give up the pleasures of the world just yet. They would be married in a few weeks, she said, and then they would both become Christians and live happily.

In due time the wedding day arrived. Billy was one of the invited guests. He reminded the young couple of their promise, and begged them to commence their married life by coming to the Savior and trusting in Him for salvation. But with one excuse and another they put it off; and as time passed on, they seemed to grow more careless and hardened than ever.

One day a terrible thing happened. As Billy was getting off, his engine a boy came running up to him and said: "Charlie was hurt in a smash down the line this morning, and his wife wants you to go up to his house as soon as possible.”

Billy did not wait to wash or eat, but hurried off to see his young friend.

Charlie lay upon his bed unconscious. He was seriously hurt and had passed through fearful suffering. His wife was weeping heartbrokenly. As Billy came in she said, "Oh, if Charlie dies and is lost, it is my fault." In her remorse she prayed to God to spare her husband.

For long hours the faithful engineer watched by the dying man. Awful hours they were, for the poor sufferer, during his brief moments of consciousness, realized his doom. His last whispered words were, "I put it off too long! My last chance is gone. I am lost! I am lost! Lost!”

After the funeral, Billy pleaded again with the heartbroken young widow.

"Will you not now take Jesus to be your Savior?" "I must get things settled first," she replied, "and then I will think about it.”

"Oh," said Billy, "don't say that. Settle this great matter with God first, and let business come afterward.”

But she would not be persuaded. She promised not to put it off as Charlie had done, but insisted there was time enough yet.

At length a dear little baby boy came as a cheer and a solace to Charlie's wife. When it was about three weeks old, an urgent message was sent to Billy. The young mother was dangerously ill; would he go and see her?

We will let Billy tell the story of that visit in his own words.

"I went up; but when I was taken into that room, what did I see? I saw the woman who had promised God, time after time, and promised her husband and me, that she would give her heart to Jesus. She was dying without Christ. Oh, the agony of that woman! In her delirium, she said over and over again that she had caused Charlie to lose his soul. Now through her own neglect her own soul was damned forever.

"I prayed for her; I read God's Word to her. I tried to get her to accept Jesus as her Savior. I told her that though she had rejected Him so long and so often, yet Christ was waiting and willing to receive her, even at her last moment.

"She only moaned that she had caused her dear husband to be lost. As she grew weaker, her stiffening lips repeated over and over: 'Lost! Lost! Lost forever.' So she died.”

As I write the sad words, tears unbidden fill my eyes. Can you, my reader, hear the inexpressibly sad story of the way these two young lives ended without being moved to your very soul? If you can, your heart is indeed hard. But the blessed God bends over you with deep compassion. He calls you, beseeches you, commands you to turn to Christ in repentance and faith, that you may be saved.

Jesus, by His dying upon the cross, has made it possible for a sinner like you to be saved. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

"He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." Prov. 29:1.

M-A-N-Y”

Lady Huntington was a Christian well known to others during the time of the revival that swept England in the nineteenth century. She was once asked how she, one of the country's noblewomen, had been converted. She replied: "By one letter.”

"How is that? By one letter?”

"Yes," she answered. "In God's Word, 1 Cor. 1:26, it says: 'Not many noble are called.' That letter m saved my soul; for if He had said, 'Not any noble,' I must have been damned. So God blessed the little letter m before a-n-y to the salvation of my soul.”

"The Cry of the Four Winds"

"How long is it," asked an old Mohammedan woman in Bengal, "since Jesus died for sinful people? Look at me! I am old; I have prayed, I have given alms, I have gone to the holy shrines, I am become as dust with fasting; and all this is useless. Where have you been all this time?”

That cry was echoed from the icy shores of the farthest Northwest Territory.

"You have been many moons in this land," said an old Eskimo to the Bishop of Selkirk. "Did you know this good news then? Since you were a boy? And your fathers knew? Then why did you not come sooner?”

It was heard in the snowy heights of the Andes.

"How is it," asked a Peruvian, "that during all the years of my life I have never before heard that Jesus Christ spoke those precious words?”

It was repeated in the white streets of Casablanca.

"Why," cried a Moor to a Bible seller, "have you not run everywhere with this Book? Why do so many of my people not know the Jesus whom it proclaims? Shame on you!”

It is the cry from the four winds. How shall we answer it?

"How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" Rom. 10:14, 15.

Justified

"Being justified freely by His grace... through faith in His blood." Rom. 3:24, 25.

The source of justification is the free and sovereign grace of God, who sent His only begotten Son to be our Savior.

The basis of justification is the precious blood of Christ shed for our sins on the cross.

The means of justification is the believer's faith which believes God and receives Christ as Savior and Lord.

The result of justification is that our faith is reckoned to us as righteousness. God becomes our Defender. "It is God that justifieth." Rom. 8:33.

Everlasting Love

"O Love that will not let me go" is one of our most beautiful present-day hymns. The words have stirred the hearts and uplifted and encouraged the souls of Christian men and women in sorrow and in trial throughout the world. It was written by George Matheson, the blind preacher of Scotland, who was mightily used of God in the salvation of souls.

After his graduation from the University his sight began to fail, and in a very short time he became totally blind.

When his physician had decided that blindness was inevitable, he placed his hands on 'Matheson's shoulders and said: "If there is any face that you would like to see again, go and look at it quickly. Your sight is nearly gone and you will never get it again.”

There was one whose face he wanted to see more than any face in the world. He wrote her, telling of the affliction that was coming upon him and asking her to come and see him. She would not come. Her love for him was not sufficient to induce her to be his wife with this handicap of his.

In the bitterness of his sorrow and disappointment, his thoughts turned to another Love, and to Him who had said, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." Jer. 31:3. As his mind contemplated this Love from which nothing could separate him (Rom. 8:38, 39), he wrote:

"O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul on Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.”

His sight continued to fail; but with his faith unfailing he thought of Him who had said: "I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12. So he wrote:

"O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to Thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in Thy sunshine's glow its day
May brighter, fairer be.”

As a sense of haunting loneliness crept over him, and an emotion of heart pain which no human voice nor touch could heal, he sang on:

"O Joy that seeketh me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And know Thy promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.”

Feeling the weight of the cross which the Lord had laid on him, and desiring neither to evade nor avoid it, he finished "in the strength of the Lord" that song which has brought courage to many a fainting heart:

"O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee.
I lay in dust life's glory dead;
And from the ground there blossoms red,
Life that shall endless be.”

O this wonderful love of Christ! Reader, do you know anything of this matchless love, the love for poor lost man, which brought Him from the glory which He had with the Father before the world was? (John 17:5.) It is in the death of His dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." It was for you, dear soul! Believe it, receive it; and be everlastingly saved.

"My Times Are in Thy Hand"

What a treasure store for a "rainy day" is locked up in those six monosyllables, "My times are in Thy hand"! Psa. 31:15. What a downy pillow for a weary head to rest on in the night season! What a firm support for a tender creeper to cling to in the sunshine!

Looking on the darkest hour with such a resource, David could say, "Thou hast considered my trouble, Thou hast known my soul in adversities," and then adds, "How great is Thy goodness which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee!" Psa. 31:7, 19. And if all this is on the road, what will the end be but "one loud eternal burst of praise"? —Geo. C.

A Story from Korea

Mr. Sohn has been the Christian in charge of a leper asylum in Southern Korea for many years. When Shinto shrine worship was made compulsory by the Japanese authorities, he refused. Every school was also forced to worship, so he took his two sons away from school and sent them into a factory where shrine worship was not practiced. Japanese police summoned Mr. Sohn and ordered him to worship the shrine but he would not obey, so he was put in prison. While he was in prison the family suffered great hardship, for they had only the meager wage earned by the two boys.

After the U. S. Army came to Korea, Mr. Sohn was released. He resumed his old work at the leper asylum, and sent his two sons to a high school in Soonchun. The elder one was twenty-three years old, the younger nineteen, and they had to study with twelve or thirteen year olds. These two sons were as faithful to the Lord as their father, and they proclaimed the salvation of Christ both in school and out. They became the leaders of a small band of Christians in the school.

Then the Communists raised a riot in the districts of Yusoo and Soonchun, in the extreme south of Korea. One day the elder son of Mr. Sohn was in his lodgings when the landlord came in and urged him to escape. He said he would die for the cause of Christ rather than run away, so he stayed in his room praying. Rioters came to the house, guided by a boy who was in the same class at school. He opened the door of the room and pointed at him, crying, "Here is the most obnoxious Christian boy! Take him." The rioters rushed at him, beat him and stabbed him with bamboo spears. He was taken to the people's court and sentenced to be shot.

When the Christian boy was taken to the place of execution his younger brother ran to him and screened him, saying, "Don't kill him. Kill me instead." The rioters shot both boys to death.

The day after this murder the national army occupied Soonchun and drove out the Communists. Everything was suddenly changed. Many students were arrested and among them the one who caused the death of the two Sohn boys. He was sentenced to be shot.

When Mr. Sohn heard that, he hurried to the army headquarters and asked the commanding officer to pardon the boy. His reason was that, although his two boys were killed, they were now with the Lord; but if this boy were shot he would not have any opportunity to be saved. The commanding officer would not listen at first, but the man's plea was so earnest, that the officer at last gave way. Mr. Sohn took the boy to his home and cared for him as his own son. The boy was moved at such love and grace and became a Christian.

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." 1 John 4:10, 11.

“He that covereth his sins
shall not prosper: but
whoso confesseth and
forsaketh them shall
have mercy.”

Prov. 28:13

March

The Unspeakable Gift

I gave My life for thee,
My precious blood I shed,
That thou might'st ransomed be,
And quickened from the dead.
I gave My life for thee;
What hast thou given for Me?

I spent long years for thee,
In weariness and woe,
That an eternity
Of joy thou mightest know;
I spent long years for thee;
Hast thou spent one for Me?

And I have brought to thee,
Down from my home above,
Salvation full and free,
My pardon and My love
Great gifts I brought to thee;
What hast thou brought to Me?

Oh, let thy life be given,
Thy years for Me be spent,
World-fetters all be riven,
And joy with suffering blent;
Give thou thyself to Me,
And I will welcome thee.

It Works

The late Dr. Pentecost once met an infidel who scoffed at the idea of anyone putting faith in the Bible. He said, "A good many books of the Bible have no name of the writers attached to them. How can you have any confidence in a book whose authorship is so uncertain and the subject of so much debate?”

"Who wrote the multiplication table?" asked Dr. Pentecost.

"I don't know," replied the infidel.

"What a man you are! You believe it and use it, and yet don't know who was the author of it.”

The infidel saw his difficulty, but thought he had a way out. He said, "But the multiplication table works.”

"Doubtless," replied Dr. Pentecost; "and so does the Bible. It works.”

How true this is! Millions of true Christians all over the world and down the centuries have found out: "The gospel... is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Rom. 1:16. Everyone who has really trusted the Savior can testify to the truth of this. It works.

A young soldier, Walter Harris, was known as a "bad egg." His army record had been particularly unsavory. As a wild youngster, he had committed every kind of military offense. Every form of punishment short of flogging had been his. He was threatened, if apprehended again, that it would mean a court-martial with the possibility of two years imprisonment and dishonorable discharge from the army.

About this time there came the news of the death of the great preacher, C. H. Spurgeon, of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London. He had spoken to Walter as a boy about his soul, and his death brought this to his remembrance. Threatened now with expulsion from the army, he realized the need of a change in his way of life. He knew an outward change would not do. It must be deeper, a work of God in his soul—conversion, conversion to God, without which there could be no real change nor blessing. Thank God, this took place. He trusted Christ as his Savior, and the change followed.

A few years later found Walter on foreign service in Jamaica. The barracks there are high up at Newcastle on the Blue Mountain Range where it is exceedingly hot during the day and bitterly cold at night. Here Walter and a few Christian comrades often spent an evening together in prayer and Bible readings. These meetings were held on the bleak mountainside, where it was bitterly cold and wind-swept. A hurricane lamp gave them light.

These circumstances being difficult, they decided to ask the commanding officer for the use of a schoolroom once a week for their meetings.

This man, a most efficient soldier, was opposed to anything of a religious nature. Not one of the young Christians felt competent to approach him on such a matter. Feeling the importance of the situation, they decided to make it a matter of prayer for a week that their petition might be granted. Then Walter was chosen to be the mouthpiece for the rest. The interview was sought and granted through the usual channel of sergeant and adjutant. Both of them pitied the young man in the venture he was making, for the colonel of the regiment was known to have no soft side for religion.

Walter made his request and it was point blank refused. "What has your religion ever done for you?" snapped out the colonel.

Walter replied: "Sir, will you look at my defaulter sheet? That will speak better than my words.”

An orderly was summoned and told to produce Walter's defaulter sheet. It was brought, and the orderly withdrew.

"Sir," said Walter, "will you please look at my defaulter sheet?" He mentioned a certain date, explaining that it marked his conversion. He added: "See what entries there are before that date, and what there are afterward.”

The colonel looked with amazement at the sheet. Before the date there was a long list of military offenses, showing how wild and insubordinate Walter had been. After that date there was not a single entry. Christianity, real Christianity, works!

Impressed, the colonel asked Walter to repeat his request, and again he asked for the use of the schoolroom.

"You may have it for two nights a week," snapped out the colonel.

"Thank you, sir; we will provide the oil for the lamps.”

"No, you won't! It will be a charge on the canteen funds. You may go." So he was peremptorily dismissed.

Later on when some of the soldiers desired to have a Sunday evening service, the request was again granted. This led to a time of rich blessing. Quite a number were converted, among them some very unruly ones. In each the power of God was manifested. Christianity, real Christianity, works.

Dear one, will you not accept this wonderful gospel, the good news of Christ, and let it have its power in your life?

"For 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.

Satan and Martin Luther

Martin Luther once had the remarkable dream that Satan approached him with a scroll, broad and long, and closely written upon. He proceeded to unroll it before the Reformer's eyes, and bade him read.

Luther did so, and perceived that it contained the record of his sins. In vain he sought to find one sin recorded there of which he had not been guilty. Instead it brought back the recollection of many a long-forgotten one.

When he had thoroughly scanned the scroll, Martin Luther asked Satan, "Is that all my sins?”

"Nay," replied Satan.

"Then let me see them all," said Luther.

Satan departed and shortly returned with another scroll equally broad and long. Again Luther scanned the certain evidence of his guilt. Owning the correctness of the record, he again asked Satan, "Now is that all?”

"Yea," replied Satan, "it is all.”

"Then," said Luther, "take thy pen, and write in red across the scrolls: The blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth me from all sin.”

Reader, can you thank God for the blood of Christ? Has it cleansed you from all sin?

The Doctor's Pills

One year the council appointed to look after the local affairs in a certain town was composed of four Universalists (men who contended for the final happiness of all mankind, whether they were Christians or not), and a Christian physician. They acted through the year in great harmony as to the business of the town, but at their last meeting the four Universalists determined to attack the religion of the doctor.

After they had finished their transactions one of them said: "Doctor, we have been very happy in being associated with you the year past, and we have been in harmony in conducting the business of the town to the satisfaction of our townsmen. We have found you to be a man of good sense, extensive information, unbending integrity, and of the purest benevolence. It is astonishing to us that a man of your amiable character should believe in the doctrine of future punishment.”

The doctor replied: "Gentlemen, I should regret very much the forfeiture of the good opinion which your kindness has led you to entertain of me. Will you have the goodness to answer candidly a few questions? Do you believe in a future state?”

They replied, "We do.”

"You believe that death will introduce all men to a state of perfect happiness?”

"Of that we have no doubt.”

"Are you now happy?”

"We are not; we are far from it.”

"How do men act when they are unhappy, and know that happiness is within their reach? Do you believe that I understand the nature and operation of medicines?”

"We have no doubt, Doctor, of your skill in your profession; but what has that to do with this subject?”

"In this box," said the doctor, taking a tin box in his hands, "are pills, which, if each of you swallow one, will without pain carry you within one hour out of this world, and if your doctrine be true, place you in a world of perfect felicity. Will you accept one of them?”

"No, sir.”

"Will you?”

"No, sir.”

When they had all refused, the doctor said, "You must excuse me, gentlemen, from embracing your doctrine until. I have better evidence that you believe it yourselves.”

"God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?" Num. 23:19.

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Gal. 6:7.

"And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." Matt. 25:46.

Men are trying to get rid of the thought of eternal punishment; they want to live as they like and escape all the consequences of their sins. "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Who is Lord over us? So all restraint is cast off. Yet God's Word stands true: "But know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." Eccl. 11:9.

''Suppose It's True After All"

Two friends were talking on religious topics. They discussed the question of punishment for sin in a future life.

They settled to their own satisfaction that there was none.

They decided that hell was a myth.

They argued that God was a God of love, and could not consign His creatures to hell and punishment.

The conversation dropped. A Christian who had been a silent listener to the discussion said, "Suppose it's true after all.”

The words seemed to cut the air and fall on the ears of the other two with crushing force. The power of God seemed behind them, as it ever is behind the truth. Solemn silence reigned for many minutes. God had spoken.

Suppose it's true after all that God must punish sin? How would you stand before Him? What could you say to Him? How would you fare before the Judge?

Suppose it's true after all that hell is a reality. A skeptic sneeringly asked, "Where is Hell?" The ready and true answer came: "At the end of a Christ-rejecting life." Let me ask you, what lies at the end of the path you are now treading?

Suppose it's true after all that the Lord Jesus is the only Savior, and His death the only means by which you can be fitted for God's presence. What if you neglect Him?

"What think ye of Christ? is the test
To try both your state and your scheme;
You cannot be right in the rest,
Unless you think rightly of Him.”

Suppose it's true after all that the much-despised blood of Jesus is the only thing that can cleanse you from your sins. Has it cleansed you, or are you still in your sins going on at a frightful pace to a lost eternity?

Suppose it's true after all, as Scripture states, that salvation is not of works. What is all your churchgoing, Sunday-school teaching, teetotalism, and the like, if you rely upon any or all of these as good works to save you or help to save you? Worse than useless. A fatal mistake, if persisted in.

Suppose it's true after all. Ah, if it were all untrue, the believer has the best of it in this world, and is no worse off in the next. But if it is true after all, how terrible will be your doom if you die in your sins!

SUPPOSE IT IS TRUE AFTER ALL.

"Oh, for Some Foundation!"

"I have nothing to expect, sir, but condemnation! Nothing to expect but condemnation!”

The speaker voiced his thoughts with difficulty. He was a big man of massive features, just stricken down in an illness which was soon to prove fatal. His nurse sought, as quietly as possible, to alleviate his sufferings which were very great.

"Oh, don't talk of pain!" he cried bitterly; "it is the mind, woman, the mind!”

Then slowly and deliberately he said: "I knew it all the time—every time. I knew it. I knew that a penalty must follow sin. Yet I have gone on. I did wrong, knowing that it was wrong; first with a few qualms, then brushing aside conscience, and at last with determined desire for the wickedness itself. Sir, not in one minute of my life have I lived for heaven, for God, for Christ; no, not one minute. My whole life has been spent for Satan.”

"But Christ died for the ungodly and for sinners," was whispered in his ear.

"Oh, yes, Christ died for sinners; I know that. My intellect is clear, sir; clearer than ever before, I tell you." His voice became shrill and concentrated. "I can see almost into eternity! I know that unless Christ Himself is accepted, His death can be of no avail. But devils believe and tremble!”

Soon after he said, "I have been following up the natural laws, and see an affinity between them and the great law of God's moral universe. Heaven is for the holy and believing; without, all are dogs and whoremongers. There is the distinction! It is all right, all right. God is just and holy.”

At eleven o'clock, roused by the striking of the clock, he looked around. He caught the eye of his nurse, and his Christian friend.

"It is awfully dark here," he whispered; "my feet are on the slippery edge of a great gulf! Oh, for solid foundation!”

He stretched out his hand, as if feeling for a way.

"Christ," gently whispered his friend.

"Not for me!" he moaned, and pen cannot describe the immeasurable woe in that awful answer.

Can any one read this stirring incident and not be moved to the depths of his mortal being? Can a true believer in the Lord Jesus read it, and not with adoration, heartfelt and solemn, bless God that his feet stand firm upon the "Rock of Ages"? Can any skeptic read it and not find his heart quail before the stupendous and awful realities of an eternity for which he is unprepared, utterly without foundation of any kind-a wild, unreasoning "leap in the dark"?

Vain is the strength of man or the help of man in that hour. One foundation alone stands firm then: "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 3:11.

He who gives this solid ground for the foot of faith to rest upon, declares solemnly as to all other foundations: "Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place." Isa. 28:17.

Oh Christless soul, be warned ere it is too late! Turn from your selfish wickedness to Christ, the only true and sure foundation for time and eternity.

"My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus Christ, God's righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
All other ground is sinking sand.”

"The Refuge"

"Lord Jesus Christ!" This blessed and living name was wrung from Mary Garner's infidel lips, as she stood on the seashore watching her sister's helpless form battling with the pitiless waves of the receding tide.

Mary and her sister were spending their vacation at the beach. One day they went in bathing and evidently had not heeded the hour, for the tide, unnoticed by them, had begun to recede. Mary's sister had gone back into the water for one more swim, after all the other bathers had left. Now to her dismay she was being borne out to sea by the power of the waves.

Mary stood on the shore helplessly watching her sister when she became aware of her plight. She could not swim herself, so dared not venture into the rolling surf. No one else was near to call on for help. As Mary stood there alone, helpless, and terror-stricken, a verse she had often heard her Christian parents quote flashed into her hard, unbelieving heart: "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Acts 2:21. Like lightning came the thought, "now I will see if there is a God." In helpless agony of mind, with no one to turn to, she cried aloud, "Lord Jesus Christ! Lord Jesus Christ! If there is a living God, save my sister.”

Almost immediately a great wave came rolling in to the shore, bearing on its crest her beloved sister, washing her up onto the sands almost at her feet. Great indeed was her joy and thankfulness at receiving her sister back safely again, out of the jaws of death; but her spirit bowed and her heart broke as she saw herself as a lost sinner in the presence of a living God. To Him she confessed her folly and the sinfulness of her infidel thoughts. She sought and found pardon and peace through believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who had died for her on the cross.

Oh, unbelieving heart, if you only knew the love and grace in the heart of God for you, you would never turn from Him in indifference or fear. Oh, come to Him now in the day of His grace and you will find Him the loving, seeking Savior, ready to pardon. Beware of putting Him off until you meet Him as your Judge at the Great White Throne. There you will find no mercy, no hope, no time for repentance. Now you are as helplessly tossed on the waves of sin as Mary's sister was on the waves of the sea, and none but God can save you. Remember that "Whosoever (that means you) shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

"The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." Prov. 18:10.

"Whom Having Not Seen Ye Love"

"Would you like to get better, Rachel?" This question was asked of a poor peasant woman in the southern part of England. She had been very ill for a long time, and now seemed to be nearing the end. Her answer brought joy to the heart of her Christian visitor: "No. I'm over much taken up wi' Him to want to get better! Soon I shall be like Him. I'm happy—happy—HAPPY!”

Oh, what power there is in His love to win the heart! Has He won your heart yet?

"I (JESUS) came not to call
the righteous, but
shiners to repentance.”

LUKE 5:32.

April

"Where Is the Lamb?"

(Gen. 22:7.)

"Where is the lamb, the sacrifice,
Spotless and pure and meek,
Upon whose unresisting head,
Earth's surging guilt may meet?”

The olden days of sacrifice
Cry from the Druid stones,
Though maidens' warm young lifeblood flows:
"Nothing of this atones!”

The Ganges bears the soft babe-limbs
Out on her watery breast;
But India's million voices wail,
"Not yet, not yet our rest!”

"Where is the lamb?" all earth has cried;
But aye, from heaven alone
Comes answer sweet. It falls, alas,
Too oft on hearts of stone.

Ah, soul, dost recognize "the Lamb"—
Jesus, the Son of God,
The victor-victim, crowned above,
Crushed by the earth He trod?

"He framed the world"; yet in this world
As silent Lamb was led
To death and torture; all our guilt
Laid on His drooping head.

"Behold the Lamb!" Oh, tired heart,
Weary of guilt and sin,
Rest on His loving, longing heart,
Broken to take thee in.

Lay thy poor head upon His feet,
Where were the nail-wounds; thine!
And whisper in faith-ecstasy:
"The Lamb of God is mine.”

No Night There

It was night. The chief surgeon for a large city hospital had paid an unusually late visit to the ward. He had just left it and was accompanied by the house doctor and the head nurse. Pausing near the open door he said to her: "It is a pity, Nurse, about that splendid young fellow at the end of the ward. We have all done our very best for him; but he will be dead before morning.”

Startled out of her usual calm the nurse answered: "Oh, is that possible, Doctor? But you told him he was `doing fine.' And he is quite expecting to live.”

"Well, he has put up a grand fight for life and there is no use in depressing him. He will probably be unconscious in a few hours and never know he's dying." With these words the great surgeon moved on down the corridor.

The nurse stood for a moment hesitating; then she said to the house doctor: "Will you not tell him, Doctor?

His friends and family are all far away in the North and there has been no time for anyone to come down. He may have something to settle, or some last message to send. It is hard for them that he should not know. Do tell him.”

"No, no, I shall not tell him. It is easier for him not to know," said the doctor. Then as he also passed on, he looked back and added: "You can tell him if you like, Nurse.”

"Then I must, I must," she said aloud; but within herself she thought: "How can I? Will he ever believe me in the face of the doctor's cheering words? Is it any use, after all, to upset him?”

Once more her first thought returned to her. "He may have something to settle, some message to send.”

Deeply preoccupied, she finished her evening duties. Then with slow steps she made her way back through the ward, pondering how she was to impart her dread tidings. The night nurse was at her post and the lights had been turned down when she took her seat by the side of the one who, she now knew, was dying.

"This is kind of you to come and pay me another visit, Nurse," he said. "You heard what the doctor said. I am 'doing fine.' Does he think it will be long before I can be moved? You will write to my mother, won't you, and make the best of it to her?”

The nurse was silent a moment or two. Then she said gently: "I'm afraid the doctor made you think what is not true, Andrew. You are in very grave condition. There is more danger than any of us thought at first.”

It was Andrew's time to be silent for a full minute. Then as a look of fear and dismay came into his eyes, he said: "You do not mean I am dying, Nurse?”

There was no need for words. Her grave look and the tears in her eyes answered him.

Again there was a pause. He had been a strong, brave man and had faced death before without flinching. But that had been on the battlefield surrounded by others in like danger. This was different. It was night and in a hospital ward. All was quiet; there was nothing to distract him nor to counteract the awful solemnity of knowing he had God and eternity to face. Presently his quivering lips spoke only three words: "How long, Nurse?”

She dared not hide from him the stern truth.

And then came a low despairing cry: "But I can't die, Nurse. I can't die. I am not ready to die." And then the momentous question was eagerly asked: "What must I do to be saved?”

She had said to the doctor: "He might have something to settle"; but she had thought of earthly things, the things of time. Now she found that he had indeed something to settle, and it meant everything to him for all eternity. All she could say was: "I don't know, Andrew! I am not a Christian.”

Then the pleading voice, now very low, said: "Won't you pray for me? Do pray." The sad answer came: "I can't. I don't know how to pray.”

What a moment for both of those souls! Both lost, and both just having found it out. But in the case of one the last grains of sand in life's hourglass were fast running out; and still this question was unanswered: "What must I do to be saved?”

The nurse was scarcely less agitated than the dying man. At last surely a Spirit-given thought came to her, and she said; "I'll tell you what I can do, Andrew, if it will be any comfort to you. I will sit here with you tonight and read the Bible to you.”

Andrew caught at the suggestion as a drowning man might catch at a rope thrown to him, and begged, "Oh, do! Please do.”

She turned up the light just above his bed, enough to enable her to see to read, and took up a Bible lying on the window sill nearby. She hardly knew where to begin, but the Bible fell open at the Gospel of John. In a low clear voice she read of one who came to the Lord Jesus by night and got his questions answered. She read of the need of man and of God's love and His promise to meet that need. She read slowly, distinctly; and he listened eagerly, intently, seeking to grasp something to answer the now all-absorbing anxiety of his soul.

As the soft voice read on, a glance at the suffering man showed a gray look stealing over his face, a look she knew so well. Yet his pleading eyes besought her to keep on, to tell him more of the One who went about doing good. Finally she came to John 5:24: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

She looked up as she finished reading that wonderful verse and saw that it had entered into his very soul. The haggard look of agony, the struggle to grasp something unattainable, the despair of a lost man; these were fast giving place to a heavenly hope as he said: "Stop there, Nurse. Dawn is breaking. Light is coming in. I—see I see!" Then very weak his voice was as he said: "Leave me alone, Nurse, but not long. Thank you, oh, thank you She left him for a few minutes-alone with God. When she returned his face was radiant. "Oh, Nurse, it is all settled. That last verse did it. I have heard His Word; I do believe that Jesus, the Son of God, bore my sins and was 'lifted up' for me. Now I know that He has received me, guilty and unprepared as I was, and there is no death for me—no darkness—no night there—EVERLASTING LIFE!”

The words came with difficulty, but quite clearly and distinctly. It was like a "HALLELUJAH," though so faint that the nurse had to listen intently to hear it all.

The gray look deepened on his face and soon he sank into profound unconsciousness only to waken "with Christ," with the Good Shepherd who had sought and found His lost sheep and carried it home on His shoulders.

And what of the nurse, do you ask?

For four long years she was buffeted by Satan, a victim of doubts and fears. She marveled that Andrew had received such assurance of salvation so quickly. She did not see that he had looked to the Lord alone, while she was looking within and finding nothing but sin and misery.

At last a friend who knew her distress introduced her to a dear man of God. He sought by the Spirit to speak peace to this troubled soul. He turned to John 5:24: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

Suddenly the light broke through and, like Andrew, she too said: "I see. I see." The same words that had met the dying man's need four year: ago now calmed every doubt and fear in her heart, and she could say with praise in her heart: "It is all settled.”

Reader, is your destiny all settled? John 5:24 is a message for you, too. Will you not receive it?

All Sufficient

May the Lord teach us this lesson:—Christ is the only thing that is indispensable to us.

We say we must weigh and understand. No! We have to bow and believe. All is the reverse of our human thoughts. We must receive, not wait to understand.

"It's Only a Little While, Sir"

"Well, Molly," said the judge, going up to the old apple woman’s stand, "don't you get tired sitting here these cold, dismal days?”

"It's only a little while, sir.”

"And the hot, dusty days?" said he.

"It's only a little while, sir," answered Molly.

"And the rainy, drizzly days?" asked the judge.

"It's only a little while," answered Molly.

"And your sick, rheumatic days, Molly?" asked the judge.

"It's only a little while, sir," said she.

"And your sick, rheumatic, Molly?" asked the judge.

"I shall enter into the rest which remains for the people of God," answered the old woman, devoutly; "and the troublesomeness of the way there won't pester me. It's only a little while, sir.”

"All is well that ends well, I dare say," said the judge; "but what makes you so, sure, Molly?”

"How can I help being sire, sir," said she, "since Christ is the way, and I am in Him? He is mine and I am His. Now I only feel along the way. I shall see Him as He is, in a little while, sir.”

"Ali, Molly, you've got more than the law ever taught me," said the judge.

"Yes, sir, because I went to the gospel and received God's salvation.”

"Well, Molly, I must look into these things," said the judge, taking an apple and walking off.

"There's only a little while, sir," said she.

Do

"What must I do to be lost forever?" What a startling question! Reader, did you ever seriously consider it? How surprising that there should be any difference of judgment about it! Yet there is. And why? Because people do not listen to what God has to say. They take their own thoughts and venture to have an opinion of their own, forgetting that God says: "My thoughts are not your thoughts." Isa. 55:8. Our only safety, then, is in accepting what God says in His Word.

We shall see from Scripture that there is only one thing to do to insure being lost forever. It is a very simple, but a very solemn and dreadful thing.

It is not giving way to habits of intemperance or immorality. It is not becoming untruthful, dishonest, or profane; though "for all these things God will bring thee into judgment"; and at the Great White Throne, judgment will be "according to your works" (Rev. 20:12).

On the other hand, you may be temperate and moral, truthful, honest and religious; you may be a regular attendant at your place of worship; pay your pew rent; subscribe liberally to charitable institutions; even take the sacrament, and yet be doing that one thing, which, if persisted in, will land you (and God knows how soon!) on the hopeless side of hell's fixed gulf—an eternally lost soul!

Do you ask, What can it be? It is wrapped up in one single word: NEGLECT. "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" Heb. 2:3.

Some people think you must commit very glaring sins to be lost forever. Others think it is not the kind of sins but the number, and that you must commit a great number of sins to be lost forever. Scripture says, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" You need only to continue living a life of carelessness and indifference, neglecting (not your duties, but) this great salvation. And how can you escape? Can heaven, earth, or hell answer that question? No, my reader, no! There is an eternal silence as to it. And why? Because there is no escape.

God heralds forth in this sad, sin-blighted world salvation by Jesus Christ. He speaks of a salvation which His grace brings for all men (Titus 2:11): a salvation which brings no conditions, and makes no demands as a ground for receiving it, and based on the death and blood-shedding of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is suitable for man in all his deep and desperate need. Then, to be lost forever, simply close your ear to this glorious gospel, and thus neglect this great salvation. You may do anything, be anything, say anything; only continue to neglect this great salvation and your doom is certain.

Now let us look at the other side: "What must I do to be saved?" Mark the simplicity of the answer: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31.

Nothing is said about uprightness of character and attendance on the means of grace, or any such things. No! The object of faith is a Person, not yourself, nor your works. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. God pledges salvation to the person who believes on His Son: so that the moment you believe on Him, you may know that you are saved. So simple for faith, but so marvelously efficacious for eternity.

Giving Thanks

James Barton, or "Jem," as his wife and workmates always called him, might well be proud of his little daughter, Minnie. She was a strikingly pretty child; and with her fair skin, blue eyes, and long golden curls, she would have made a charming picture. She stood, with a pleased, surprised expression, now glancing at a new sixpence that lay in the palm of her hand, now looking up into the genial face of the old gentleman who had just given it to her.

"What do you say for it, Minnie, dear?" asked her father.

"Oh, she did say, 'Thank you!'" said the gentleman, as he patted the golden-haired child. "Good-bye! God bless you, little one!" he added, looking kindly into her sweet face. With a brisk step he moved on toward the railway station, Jem Barton going with him to see him off on his homeward journey.

"Your little Minnie has learned her lesson well, friend Barton!" remarked the old man.

"What lesson, Mr. Stacey?" asked Jem.

"Why, to say, 'Thank you,' for gifts received! Have you learned to say, 'Thank you,' for all that has been given to you, James?”

"I hope I have, Mr. Stacey," replied Jem, wondering what his friend could mean.

"God gave His Son for you, that, believing in Him, you should not perish, but have everlasting life. Have you ever said, 'Thank you, Lord,' for that gift, James?” Jem Barton was silent.

"Have you ever taken, accepted Christ?" added Mr. Stacey, by way of explaining his former question.

"No! I am afraid I have not." The confession came slowly, shyly from Jem.

"Then, of course, you think no thanks are due from you. Yet is this not just a little rude, and ungrateful? If you do not want something a friend offers you, you ought at least to thank him for offering it. Will you do this today? Just tell God that you are much obliged to Him for His offer of His Son, Jesus Christ, but that you can do without Him!”

"Do without Him, Mr. Stacey? Why—why—how—what can I do without Him? O my God, I never saw it like this before!" The tones of Jem's voice were full of anguish as he spoke. "Can I be saved," he continued, "simply by accepting Christ as God's gift?”

"Yes, James; for God says, 'He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.' It is not what we think, or feel, but what God says; and believing with the heart that Jesus is God's gift to us, a living receipt that our debt of sin has been paid, this is accepting Christ.”

Mr. Stacey lifted up his heart in prayer for Jem Barton as they silently walked on. Then the latter, turning to his old friend with tears in his eyes, grasped his hand, and said, "I do accept God's gift, and thank Him for it; and, God helping me, I will show my thanks in my life.”

Dear reader, let me ask you: "Have you accepted the Gift of God?" If not, what will you do without it, without Him?

God gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to be your Savior, to die on the cross for your sins. All He asks is that you will accept Him. Can you, dare you, refuse Him?

"How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" Heb. 2:3.

I've Been Thinking

Dr. Rader was putting on his overcoat in the vestry of the chapel at the close of the usual week-night service. In response to a tap at the door he said, "Come in!" The door opened and an elderly man, a gardener in the neighborhood, entered, looking a little nervous and undecided. "Well, my friend," said the doctor, in his brisk tones, "can I do anything for you? Did you want to speak to me?”

"Yes, sir, if you please.”

"Sit down then," continued the doctor, offering the man a chair. The latter, however, remained standing.

"You said you wanted to speak to me; is it upon spiritual things?" asked the doctor.

The man's lips moved and he essayed to speak, but words did not come readily. He held an old, soft felt hat in his hand, which he kept turning round and round in a nervous, helpless manner. The silence was becoming awkward, when at last he said, "If you please, sir—I—I've been thinking—I've been thinking—that—" This was repeated with slight variations several times, when Dr. Rader, wishing to help the man, said, "What have you been thinking, my friend?”

The previous scene was repeated, but at last he blurted out the words, "I've been thinking, sir, it's time I got saved, and—”

The good doctor looked at him, at his gray hair and wrinkled face; and as he listened to his confession and thought of his age, which was nearing sixty, he felt something startling was needed to bring this slow, stolid man to his senses. Springing to his feet, he cried, "`Thinking'— `thinking,' my good fellow; 'thinking' for sixty years about getting saved, and still under condemnation, without hope of heaven, with a fearful looking for of judgment at the last! 'Thinking' it is time to get saved! Oh man, get down on your knees at once, confess your sins to God, ask Him to pardon you for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ. Why, you may never see another sun rise, and you would go down to hell 'thinking!' `thinking!' thinking!’—but yet lost!”

The man was truly startled. Thus suddenly aroused from his dangerous ease to see his awful danger, he sought earnestly, and obtained freely, God's mercy, and lived thenceforward a Christian life. But he was full of regret that he had put off salvation so long, and he often felt also what a terrible risk he had run.

You who read these words, whosoever you may be, are you ready to meet God? Thinking will not save you. The danger of delay in this matter of your soul's salvation is becoming more and more imminent. God loves you! Christ died for you! Will you believe it? Will you receive Him now?

"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2.

"Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." 2 Cor. 5:11.

"Redeemed ... .with the
precious blood
of Christ.”

1 Peter 1:18, 19

May

In a Moment

QUITE SUDDENLY—it may be at the turning of a lane, Where I stand to watch a skylark from out the swelling grain, That the trump of God shall thrill me with its call so loud and clear, And I'm called away to meet Him whom of all I hold most dear.

QUITE SUDDENLY—it may be in His house I bend the knee, When the kingly voice, long hoped for, comes at last to summon me; And the fellowship of earth-life that has seemed so passing sweet Proves nothing but the foretaste of our meeting round His feet.

QUITE SUDDENLY—it may be as I tread the busy street, Strong to endure life's stress and strain, its every call to meet, That through the roar of traffic a trumpet, silvery clear, Shall stir my startled senses and proclaim His coining near.

QUITE SUDDENLY—it may be as I lie in dreamless sleep, God's gift to many a grieving heart with no more tears to weep, That a call shall break my slumber and a voice sound in my ear: "Rise up, My love, and come away! Behold, the Bridegroom's here!”

How an Army Officer Was Saved

Sir Henry Norton began his military career as an officer. He became, in due time, military secretary to the government of India, and subsequently a colonial governor in the West Indies and Australia.

The story of his conversion is interesting. His sister had been converted to God, and, after much entreaty, persuaded her brother to accompany her to a mission service held in a little village in Somersetshire by the late Lord Radstock.

The preaching room was packed. It was a time of real spiritual awakening. The power of God was felt.

At the close of the service Lord Radstock announced the well-known hymn:

"Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee;
O Lamb of God, I come.”

He requested that only those who could sing the hymn truthfully should take part in the singing.

This thoroughly upset the young officer. With anger and resentment in his heart he kept silent.

Once outside the building he exclaimed hotly to his sister: "This comes of attending an unauthorized place of worship, and hearing an un-ordained preacher, even if he be a lord. Never will I consent to come here again. Tonight I shall go to a respectable church and hear an ordained clergyman.”

Evening found the young officer at church. The preacher was a man of culture and commanding presence, and (what is becoming very rare) an ardent gospel evangelist.

The service was gone through with proper decorum, and the closing hymn was announced: "Just as I am, without one plea.”

"What," said Sir Henry to himself, "that hymn again! 1 escaped from it this afternoon, and here I am faced by it tonight. God must be speaking to me. God must be speaking to me.”

The Spirit of God pressed this powerfully upon the young officer's soul. The reading of the hymn ceased; the organ struck up the well-known tune; the audience rose. What should he do?

A momentous decision one way or the other must be made! Thank God, it was the right decision. Surrender to Christ was made. The young man with his brilliant prospects before him, with the siren voice of the world calling him to the paths of forgetfulness of God, rose and with a full heart sang the hymn. It was his confession to the Lord of the trust and confidence of his soul in Him as Savior, and his faith in the precious blood shed on Calvary.

Dear reader, you have heard God's invitation. Will you not say in truth, "I come"?

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

Scripture

"WHOSOEVER WILL, let him take the water of life FREELY." Rev. 22:17.

Go Thou Thy Way Till the End

Some years ago John and his wife went to live in a little village where he opened a grocery store. John soon became prosperous and was much liked by all his neighbors. He was genial and kind, as well as honest and straightforward in all his business transactions. But for all this, John was a man who scoffed at all religion, and openly avowed his disbelief in the existence of God.

After some years John's old Christian father died. In his will he bequeathed him, amongst other things, a large and much-read family Bible. "What a fool was my father," said John to his wife, "to leave me a book which is absolutely worthless to me! It must have cost quite ten dollars, too. Yet if I sell it, it will only bring a few cents. How can I make any profit out of it? Let me see—yes, I shall use the pages as wrapping paper in my store." In spite of his wife's remonstrance, he placed the book on his counter and tore out the pages one by one to wrap his customers' purchases.

For some time this godless man continued thus recklessly to tear to pieces his father's Bible. If some of his customers felt a little shocked, they did not trouble to give expression to their feelings.

One day a farmer living at some distance came into the shop to buy some nutmegs. John proceeded as usual to tear a leaf from the Bible and place it on the scales; but, just as he was about to weigh the nutmegs, his customer called out: "Wait a bit, John! That page you have taken to wrap my nutmegs in is sacred to me. You have torn it out of God's blessed Book. You shall never make use of it for any purchase of mine! Give me the nutmegs as they are." Putting them loosely into the pocket of his coat, the farmer walked out of the shop, leaving John feeling very uncomfortable.

"Is this book really so different from other books?" he asked himself. "I must see if this page contains anything extraordinary." He folded it up and put it into his pocket.

That evening when business was over he seated himself by the fire. Drawing the page from his pocket, he unfolded it and began to read. It was the last chapter of the book of Daniel. Slowly and carefully he read the solemn words, and a feeling of awe crept over him as he thought of resurrection and judgment, of the portion of the wicked and of the just.

When he came to the last verse, the voice of God whom he had hitherto despised and ignored, spoke. loudly: "But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.”

He was filled with alarm. "That is just what I am doing," said he. "I am going my way 'until the end'; and there is no doubt I shall then rest in my grave. But must I too 'stand in my lot at the end of the days'? Then in which lot shall I stand? Mine will assuredly be the lot of the wicked!”

The arrow of conviction had entered the conscience of the careless scoffer. He saw himself a guilty sinner in the presence of a holy God. Filled with misery and unable to rest by day or night, he at length spoke of his trouble to his wife.

"Oh, John!" she exclaimed, "I always knew it was very wrong to tear up that Bible. Let us get what is left of it and see if it will help you.”

The dilapidated Book was brought from its place on the counter, and together they began to read. This time it was in the book of Revelation. Every word his wife read seemed only to increase John's fear; and when she came to the words, "their works do follow them," he groaned. "Oh, wife, I wonder if my works will also follow me? I don't want them to, for they have been so wicked.”

The blessed Spirit of God had thus aroused this sleeping sinner. Having first shown him his great need, He guided him to other portions of the blessed Book. With delight he read of the great salvation which had been accomplished for him by Another. He saw that the Christ of God whom he had once despised and ignored was his only Deliverer from the judgment which he so feared. With joy he learned that the precious blood of God's holy Son could cleanse all his sins; and in simple faith he rested his soul upon the value of that blood to God, so that his misery and fear soon gave place to peace and joy.

He now longed to read the whole of God's precious book. The remains of his father's Bible he placed on a table, and by its side a new Bible of a similar edition which he had bought. Reading it was now his greatest joy.

If any wondered why the two large Bibles were thus placed side by side, John delighted to tell them how the torn one recalled to him the time when, in his lost and sinful condition, he had scorned a God of love and abused His message of grace. The new one spoke to him of that wonderful day when Christ became his joy and treasure. He now "goes his way" with a glad heart, no longer fearing to "stand in his lot at the end of the days.”

But where will YOU stand at the end? Ask yourself: "Where, and how do I stand now?" Where will the end find you? In eternity, where will your lot be? Is the inquiry worth an answer? Then never rest again until a satisfactory one can be given.

"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." Titus 2:11.

Where Art Thou?

The S. S. "Ionian," torpedoed during the First World War, was on one of its many voyages across the Atlantic Ocean with a large company of passengers for Canada. Within two or three days' journey out of Quebec a small sailing ship was sighted by the officer on the bridge. He saw through the binoculars two flags flying on one of the masts as signals. This indicated that the men on the sailing ship had sighted the liner and desired to communicate with her.

According to the "rule of the road" on the high seas, a signal expressed by two flags indicates a matter of urgency. It requires any vessel observing the signal to attend to the matter at once.

At first the "Ionian" was too far away for the signal to be clearly understood, so the great liner was turned out of its course by quite a few miles to enable the officer in charge to decipher the message. Had there been only one flag he would have passed on with an easy mind; but international law, as well as the call of courtesy and humanity, demands definite action when two flags are seen.

The little vessel was frequently hid from view amid the giant waves. Several sails were set and it was clear from the message that the sailors were not face to face with any immediate danger—but they had lost their bearings. This is a nautical phrase, but it is well understood by all landsmen. The two flags called across the few miles of turbulent water: "Where am I? What is my present position?”

Soon, at the officer's instructions, a number of flags of various designs and colors were quickly procured and strung up to the top of the mast, conveying to the sailors in the small vessel the needed information. As seen through strong glasses the men seemed to be grateful for the message. They waved their arms in acknowledgment of the courtesy shown them and soon the liner returned to her course and continued her voyage.

But why their dilemma? Had some accident disabled their own compass? Many questions we should have liked to ask them. They needed no assistance and asked for none. "Only," their message ran, "tell us where we are. We must be many miles from land—are we making for port?" The waves were very high indeed and the sun was shining through a haze. A fresh breeze was driving their vessel merrily along, but they did not know where they were. Now the information was conveyed to them, and they were delivered from their uncertainty.

Reader, you are on a voyage. Each day is taking you nearer the end of life's journey. Have you ever asked of your conscience that question in Gen. 3:9, "WHERE ART THOU?" In view of eternity near, let me ask you: "What is your present position?" It is God who asked the question in Gen. 3, and it is God who has given the answer. The Son of God came into this world to seek and to save that which was lost. It is only when we see Him, the spotless, holy Savior, bearing God's judgment against sin on the cross that we catch the answer from infinite Light and infinite Love to the solemn question: "WHERE ART THOU?”

"God could not pass the sinner by:
His sin demands that he must die!
But in the cross of Christ we see
How God can save, yet righteous be.”

"Thou God Seest Me"

A Christ-less professor of religion in America once wrote a celebrated actor saying he would like to see him perform in a certain play, if there was a side door in the theater where he could watch without being seen.

The actor's reply was a remarkable one. "Sir," he wrote, "there is no door into my theater through which God cannot see.”

So, sinner, you will find that there is no place where you can hide your sins. In God's book they are recorded. His eye has been upon you throughout guilty years gone by. No secret has escaped His notice. "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." Prov. 15:3.

But God, who knows all about you, desires your eternal blessing. His well-beloved Son He sent into this world to be your Savior.

"Christ... gave Himself a ransom for all." 1 Tim. 2:6. He gave Himself a ransom for you. Will you receive Him as your Savior?

"He's No Deid"

I was holding a series of meetings in Aberdeen, Scotland. After dismissing the large audience one night I noticed that I was being followed by a little girl who kept at my heels like a little dog. Finally I turned to her and asked a little sharply: "Lassie, what do you want? Why are you not away home with the rest of the folk?”

Then for the first time I scanned her a little more carefully, and I was attracted by her face. There were evidences that tears had been running down her cheeks. Her eyes were large and hungry looking, and still filled with tears. She was barefooted and barelegged halfway up to the knees, and her clothes were of the poorest. When I asked her what she wanted, I had fully expected that she was wanting money.

"Lassie, what do you want?" I repeated gently.

Then the little girl reached up on her tiptoes and whispered in my ear: "I want to be saved.”

Surprised and startled at the intensity of her words, I drew back. "You want to get saved?”

"Aye, sir, I do!"—oh, so pathetically, still in a whisper. "And why do you want to get saved?”

Again on her tiptoes she reached up and whispered in my ear: "Because I am a sinner.”

This was so satisfactory a reason, and by this time the child had so interested me, that I drew her to one side. "How do you know you are a sinner? Who told you so?”

"Because God says so in the Book, and I feel it right here," laying her hand on her breast as the publican did.

"Well," I said, "do you think I can save you?”

Hitherto she had spoken in a whisper, but now, drawing away from me, her words rang out short and clear: "Na, na, man, you canna save me. No man can save a sinner! Only Jesus can save me.”

"Yes, my dear, you are quite right. Only Jesus can save. What has He done to save you?”

"Oh, sir, He died for me.”

I do not know why I made answer as I did. "Then He is dead, is He? How can He save you if He is dead?”

The little thing sprang from me. No whisper now—no timid putting of her lips to my ear—but her voice rang out as before: "Man, Jesus is no deid. He died for me, but He is no a deid man—He is God's Son. Man, did you no tell us this vera nicht that God raised Him from the deid? He was deid, but He's no deid noo. Oh, man, I want to get saved!" Her voice dropped into the old pathetic tones. "Do not fash me. Tell me a' aboot it, and how I can get saved.”

I had preached that night from the text: "He was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification." Here was a little theologian who had grasped the whole blessed gospel with a clearness that I have often seen among Scotch children. All of them, however poor, have been taught the Scriptures all their lives. She knew that she was a sinner! She knew that only Jesus could save her. He had died, but God had raised Him from the dead, and now He was able to save. I need not say that the little one soon went away saved and happy.

"He is no deid. He died for me; but He is no deid." How often these words have come back to me, presenting as they do a living, loving Savior for every sin-sick soul. Will you not believe on Him, dear reader, as simply and trust Him as fully as did the little Scotch lassie?

"I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." Rev. 1:18.

Try Your Weight

Not long ago a young man was put to the test as to where the faith he thought he had was really resting. It was during a serious illness that it came about. Until then, with a careful religious upbringing and having been received as a "church member," he considered himself "all right" for the next world.

As the illness increased in severity, however, and his natural strength declined, he began to take his bearings in the light of meeting God and facing eternity. He wanted something that he could really depend upon before God. To use his own words, he began to "try his weight" on this and that meritorious thing in his past life.

His supposed moral life came in review before him, but there was nothing of satisfaction. Then he thought of the hymns he had sung and the verses of Scripture he had learned both at home and in the Sunday school. His "weight" as a sinner placed him far beyond the possibility of safely trusting these things.

Everything seemed to slide from under him, until in distress he felt compelled to call aloud to his wife, "l am lost, and shall be eternally lost!”

All this time his physical strength was steadily ebbing out. He thought he was dying. In the midst of this awful predicament he cried out, "Lord, save me!" His heart was burdened with an intensity of alarm and desire that was inexpressible.

He felt as though he were inevitably slipping down some bottomless abyss. Still crying, "Lord, save me!" he suddenly felt himself upborne by some One. At that moment the words which the Lord uttered to His troubled disciples came to his mind, "It is I, be not afraid!”

This was enough. He felt, with everything else gone, his heart could safely trust Christ. His soul instantly found rest and peace.

Just put yourself mentally, my reader, into that young man's circumstances, and you will certainly find that Christ, and Christ only, will do for your heart's sure trust. Nothing but the merits of His precious blood can afford true peace on a dying pillow.

Living or dying, the true believer may say—

"On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.”

A Plea

We would ask in earnest love that cares for your immortal soul, "Are your sins forgiven? Are you saved,, now, and for eternity?" Say not, "I am doing my best; my hope of heaven is in the mercy of God and in my religious life." No, the Book says, "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. Such love says nothing of doing; it is all grace and asks nothing but faith. Then the doing will take care of itself.

“Be ye therefore ready also:
for the Son of man cometh at
an hour when ye think not.”

Luke 12:40

June

Romans Seven

Under the LAW with its tenfold lash

I learned—alas, how true!—
That the more I tried
The sooner I died,
While the LAW cried:
"You," "You," "You.”

Hopelessly still did the battle rage.
"Oh, wretched man," was my cry;
And deliverance sought
By some penance bought
While my soul cried:
“I,” “I,” “I.”

Then came a day when my struggles ceased;
And trembling in every limb,
At the foot of a Tree
Where One died for me,
I sobbed out:
"Him," "Him," "Him.”

A Tinker's Conversion

John Bunyan was not the only swearing tinker in the world! The one of whom I write was a match for the John of Bedford fame; and, like Bunyan, he became a changed man. The public house had been his refuge, his home, his church, his workshop, his all. He had a wife—more the pity for her! It was certain she had no true husband. She was tied up to an animated piece of selfishness who spent his first penny and his last upon his own evil appetite.

One Lord's day a band of Christian people passed along singing, and the drunken tinker listened. It was a hymn about a cross and a crown; and he thought to himself, "No cross and no crown for me!”

He hardly knew whether he said it with contempt or regret, for evil spirits had possession of at least a part of his manhood; but at all events he followed the crowd. Some of the Christians, seeing his condition, took him in hand after real "Good Samaritan" fashion, and made him a cup of strong tea. Thus cared for and sobered, he stayed to the meeting; and there he made the discovery that he was a sinner, a lost sinner, bound by sin for hell. Others had seen this fact long before, though the tinker had not been aware of it. He had been blind to his own ruined state. Now he saw his heart was black as the pots he mended, and no scraping, or soldering, or tinkering of any sort would answer for his poor soul.

While he thought of this he heard the music of heaven's great gospel bell: "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.

"Whosoever" included him; and he was certainly in "the world," though he might soon be out of it. God "loved the world"; therefore God loved him, drunken tinker though he was. There was another word in that verse which struck home—"believeth"—"whosoever believeth." What was "whosoever" to believe? That God loved him and gave His only begotten Son that "whosoever" (he, the tinker) "should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Was that true? If so, and he did believe on God's Son, he wouldn't perish.

That night he went home sober, the first time for many months. The singing had drawn him, the tea had sobered him, the gospel message had enlightened him, God's love had conquered him, and believing had saved him. And God's Spirit had done it all.

He had two sisters, the terror of the neighborhood. Of course they laughed at him. They would have beaten the new life out of him, only the Lord had put it in a little too firmly. Neither jeers nor tears, kissing nor kicking, man, woman, nor devil, could get that eternal life out of him to whom God had given it.

The public house was now forsaken. His work was looked after. His home life improved. His poor wife was cared for. His children were clothed and fed. Months passed, yea, years; and today the drunken tinker is, in the truest sense, a gentleman. His wife has learned that "whosoever" means her too. She has believed on Jesus; and the once brawling, battling, brazen-faced sisters have seen their portrait in the same glorious old word, "whosoever.”

Let me hold up this golden mirror and ask you, my reader, whoever you may be, to look into it steadily. Trace your own features: Are you an unbeliever? Then you are in danger of perishing! If you are a believer, then you are one of those about whom God says they shall "not perish, but have everlasting life.”

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Three Things worth Knowing

An old sailor once got up in a meeting, and said: "I've been forty-two years learning three things.”

I pricked up my ears at that. I thought that if I could find out in about three minutes what a man had taken forty-two years to learn, I would like to do so.

The first thing that he said he had learned was that he could do nothing toward his own salvation.

The second thing that he found out was that God did not require him to do any-thing.

And the third thing was that the Lord Jesus Christ had done ALL. HE had finished the work and offered a full redemption to all who would have it.

Have you, dear reader, learned these three things? Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." John 14:6.

The Brazen Serpent

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:14,15.

The Lord Jesus in this scripture refers to a striking incident which occurred during the journey of the children of Israel from Egypt to Canaan. This incident is recorded in Num. 21. The people were discouraged because of the way, and were complaining about the lack of water. They were tired of the manna, the daily bread sent from heaven. They seemed to forget that they were on the way to the "promised land," the land "flowing with milk and honey.”

Their complaining displeased the Lord and led to the awful punishment of being bitten by the fiery serpents. Here in the midst of this scene we have a most beautiful foreshadowing of "the Lamb of God" lifted up on Calvary—the brazen serpent.

Let us picture to ourselves a scene in the wilderness camp of Israel. Fiery serpents are seen everywhere in the camp. Their bite is fatal; death is inevitable to every bitten one. The camp is all confusion. Many are already dead. Some are dying, perhaps in an agony of pain. Others not yet bitten are trembling with fear. Death stares everyone in the face. What a woeful sight it is!

Now the people begin to realize their guilt. They cry: "We have sinned!" Moses cries to God on their behalf. Does the Lord hear? Ah, yes. Did ever a needy one cry to Him in vain? The Lord hears; but instead of taking away the fiery serpents, He, in His love and mercy, provides a way for bitten ones to be healed. Moses is commanded to make a serpent of brass and raise it upon a pole, and every one that looks upon it shall live.

What blessed tidings to the people! From many a fearful heart a shout of joy goes forth as by a simple look at the serpent lifted up they are healed.

Perhaps one says, as his healed neighbor comes with the good news, "That's too good to be true. How can a man be healed by looking on a serpent of brass?”

Another might say, "My case is too far advanced to be healed in a manner so simple as that.”

“Ah, my friend," says his neighbor, "you are the very one that needs healing, and the very one for whom the serpent was lifted up. I heard Moses say that it was for every one that was bitten. My friend, you are dying! Look and live.”

Another one says to a friend, "Have you not been bitten?”

"Oh, yes; but it is so slight I hardly need take any notice of it.”

"But if you are bitten, you must look or you will die." "Oh, look at that poor man over there. If anyone needs to look, I am sure it is he.”

"Very possibly he does; but that does not alter your need. You are on the same ground as he is. You are bitten, and you must die if you do not look at the serpent on the pole.”

"Oh, very possibly; but there is plenty of time," he replies.

"My friend, what are you doing? You may not have another opportunity. What then?”

Now, my dear reader, God in His Word puts you on the same ground as a serpent-bitten Israelite. Rom. 3:23 says: "All have sinned." Ezek. 18:20 says: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

But God is not willing that any should perish. (2 Peter 3:9.) He allowed sinful men to lift up His only begotten Son, even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, and whosoever looks in faith on Him shall live. God's call to you is: "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." Isa. 45:22.

"Henry, Do Not Lose Your Soul!"

An able young lawyer sat at his desk scanning the pages of an important "brief." He was soon to appear before the court and defend the case of a wealthy client. While thus engaged he received a message that an aged aunt of his was thought to be dying, and she greatly desired to see him. Hastening to the station, he caught the train for the town where his aunt was. He arrived late, but in time to see his aged relative alive. The dying woman grasped his hand tightly and her lips moved, but no sound came. Bending close, he heard her whisper: "Henry, I beseech you, do not lose your soul!”

These were the last words she uttered. In a little while her soul was in eternity and Henry was left to pass a restless night. He could not forget the faint whisper of his aged aunt whose voice he would never hear again on earth. In the still hours of the night the words sounded again and again in his ears: "Henry, I beseech you, do not lose your soul!”

He reviewed his past life. There was nothing outwardly wrong: no glaring sin; no debauchery; no ungodly living. But he had lived for self. His business, his pleasures, his enjoyment of the world filled his days. There was no time for God, for his soul, nor for eternity. He was making money. His name was prominent in his profession and his future was bright. He was gaining the world; but without a doubt he was losing his soul.

There are thousands doing the same thing: they live for self; they die at ease; they wake up in hell. As God speaks the truth, they are damned forever. Why? Simply because, to them, eternity means nothing, the world means everything, and God is not in all their thoughts. They care not for Christ; they have no time, no desire for heavenly things. So they pass into eternity as they live in time—without God, and without a title to heaven.

The next day the young lawyer stood in court, his "brief" in his hand, and presented his client's case. But his thoughts were on another scene. He was thinking of that coming day when he would stand before the Judge of all the earth, with no one to plead his cause.

During an intermission he sought a quiet room. There, alone with God in these strange surroundings, he cast himself as a guilty sinner upon His mercy, pleading only the precious blood of Jesus. And there the ever faithful Savior of sinners received him and saved him for eternity. When he appeared again in the court a new luster sparkled in his eyes. The burden had rolled from his heart, and he stood before God accepted in Christ. He had peace.

"My friend, I beseech you, do not lose your soul!" "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Mark 8:36.

The Silent Cylinder

"And you work on Sunday?" asked the preacher.

"I have no Sunday," the man replied. "That's the day I have most to do. There is almost always a picnic party to drive to the country. Besides, I have no time for religion. It means nothing to me.”

The car continued to run smoothly. Without effort they overtook and passed one vehicle after another. The preacher said to himself: "I must get at this man; but how?" And indeed the chauffeur was a fine looking man. He and his car seemed made for each other; but neither God nor his soul had any place in his thoughts.

"You have a splendid engine," the preacher remarked after a while, hoping to draw his man out a little. "You won't find a better one, sir.”

"How many cylinders?"

“Six.”

"And your speed?”

The man turned to the speaker and winked.

At that moment was heard an almost imperceptible change in the sound of the engine. The practiced ear of the driver caught it at once. He hurriedly moved some levers, and the car slowed down and stopped.

"What's the matter?" asked the passenger.

The chauffeur did not reply, but got out and lifted the hood. He made some adjustments and closed the hood. On resuming his seat he said: "Nothing much wrong; just one of the cylinders wasn't working.”

They resumed their course and soon attained a greater speed than before, but with an ease of motion which suggested almost unlimited power.

"Why didn't you run on with the five remaining cylinders?" the traveler asked. "They would have been enough for the trip, wouldn't they?”

"Well, sir, I am not satisfied unless all parts are working well.”

"All six cylinders have to be working?”

"Yes, sir.”

"I know a machine that runs on three cylinders," remarked the preacher.

"May I ask who the maker is?" said the man, evidently interested.

"Never mind that for the present," was the answer. "It has three cylinders, but the driver makes it run only on two.”

"What! All the time, sir?”

"Yes.”

"Then, sir, the man must be a fool. No machine could stand it. Does his boss know about it?”

"Yes.”

"And he keeps him on without saying anything?”

"He speaks about it now and then; but the man will not listen to anything he says," replied the traveler sadly. "He is a good master, and very patient. He says he will punish the man some day, and I know he will keep his word.”

"Excuse me, sir, but that master must be yourself," said the driver, greatly puzzled.

The preacher smiled. "No; it is someone who has much more love and patience than I. Let me tell you what I mean. God is our master. He has made us, and we are the machines with three cylinders. They are called spirit, soul, and body. Now you, my friend, are running on only two: the spirit (or feelings) and the body. You let the third, your soul, stay silent and dead. You prevent it from doing its proper work.”

"Ah," said the man; "you've got me there!”

"But God is full of love and patience," the preacher went on. "He has not dismissed you yet, for He has led me to speak to you. But don't trifle with so kind a Master. Accept the pardon He offers you through the Lord Jesus Christ, and get your three cylinders running together.”

They had reached their destination. The preacher shook hands heartily with his man as they parted. The driver was deeply moved by the conversation and said: "Sir, I have been a fool, and I see it now. God has spoken to me many times about my poor soul, and I know that my heedlessness dishonors Him. With His help, sir, He shall hereafter have first place in my life, so that all three cylinders can work together. Thank you for making me see it.”

Is the reader also running on two cylinders and forgetting the third, the spiritual part of him? God has said: "Them that honor Me I will honor, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed." 1 Sam. 2:30.

"Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Job 28:28.

The Whole Bible

"O fools, and slow of heart to believe," what? "ALL that the prophets have spoken." Oh, how that should bind round your heart and mine every jot and syllable of God's Word!

We Are Left - We Must Die”

These were the words uttered by one of five women on the wrecked "S. S. Berlin," when they saw a lifeboat returning to land. It was leaving these poor, helpless creatures to face what they thought was certain death.

Perhaps the reader is not aware that an event is fast drawing near that will cause multitudes of people to use similar language. We refer to THE COMING OF THE LORD for all His people redeemed through the precious blood of Christ (Eph. 1:7).

The poor women were afterward rescued; they did not die; but when the Lord comes for His own the day of grace will end and the door will be shut. (Matt. 25:10.)

The effect of His coming on the world will be indescribable. Human language will fail to express in its terrible reality the fact that the last call has been given and neglected or rejected. Those who are left behind will include all classes—religious persons, and fools who say in their heart that "there is no God"; the moral and the immoral; the drunkard and the temperate. Money, position in life, science, education, nothing under the sun will avail, for the universal cry will surely be:

WE ARE LEFT! WE MUST DIE!

And you who read these lines, where will you be? Among the raptured hosts in glory singing praises to the Lamb of God who bore your sins away? Or will you be with those who cry: "We are left! We are left! We must die!" Left in your sins. Left for the grave. Left for judgment at the great white throne, where there will be no mercy. Left for an eternity with the devil and his angels, and in the very company you now try to avoid—in hell (not the annihilation of soul and body, as some would have it), but to live on forever and ever without the world and all its pleasures.

We beseech you to settle this all-important question: the destiny of your immortal soul. A decision is necessary, for the Lord will soon come in the "twinkling of an eye.”

The sands of grace in the glass of time have nearly run out, for the "coming of the Lord draweth nigh!" There is not a single line of Scripture that would defer His coming, but many declare He is very near—

"Behold, I come quickly.”

Sinner, your only hope is Christ. Come to Jesus now, for "now is the day of salvation." Soon "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power." 2 Thess. 1:7-9.

God grant that you may not be one of these!

Forgiveness

1. It is secured for us by the blood of Christ.

2. It is received by us through faith.

3. It is assured to us by the Word of God.

"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us." Psa. 103:12.

"And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." Heb. 10:17.

"Behold, the Lord coined'
with ten thousands of His
saints, to execute judgment
upon all.”

Jude 14,15.

"Turn ye, turn ye from
your evil ways; for why
will ye die?”

Ezek. 33:11.

July

Life Is Short

1 Peter 1:24, 25

Life is short, and man is frail;
To the blast he soon must yield,
Like the flower that decks the field;
Life is short, and man is frail.

Man, alas, to woe is born;
He a weight of sorrow bears;
He a wreath of cypress wears;
Man, alas, to woe is born.

Look, O man, to Christ the Son;
There is pleasure, peace, and rest;
Thou in Him mayst now be blest; Look,
O man, to Christ the Son.

Bliss and endless life are thine,
Soon as Him thou dost receive;
Dost thou on the Son believe?
Life and blessing, then, are thine.

A Rat Catcher Caught

He was a desperate character, deeply sunk in sin, altogether too bad to be made any better. He eked out a miserable existence catching rats near the wharf, for which he received a small sum according to the number caught.

Vile though he was, one Eye pitied him and one Heart yearned over him. "BUT GOD who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins," was about to display those riches in a vessel of mercy "which He had afore prepared for glory." If ever a "vessel of wrath filled for destruction" was made anew even as it seemed good to the Potter to make it, this man was he!

A sudden stroke of paralysis laid the old rat catcher helpless on his filthy bed. To the wretched hovel he called "home," came a messenger of mercy, a Christian who had often tried in vain to reach his ear and rouse his conscience.

As his visitor entered, the afflicted man fiercely demanded: "Who told you to come?”

"No one told me to come. I heard you were ill, and I came to see if I could be of help," was the kind reply.

"Then you can go again," the sick man answered harshly. Except that he was helpless, it seemed that he would have forced his visitor to leave.

"I am not going until I've told you what I came for," the Christian responded. He feared that this might be his last chance to tell the poor man the good news of God's grace, and in spite of oaths and curses he determinedly stayed.

"Have you thought why you are now paralyzed? Think of your wicked life! It is God's mercy that He did not take you away with this stroke. He is giving you opportunity to hear His Word and be saved." Rapidly he told the helpless man of another paralyzed one who was brought to Jesus when He was on earth. He ended with, "and you need what he got—his sins forgiven.”

No response but oaths did he hear; and he left, thankful for this one more opportunity to tell this slave of sin of a Deliverer. Sad to say, the warning fell on heedless ears.

But God is "long-suffering..., not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9.

Time passed. One day the same messenger of God's grace was called to see a dying saloon-keeper. The only entrance to the sick man's room was through the saloon, and at the bar he spied the rat catcher drinking with a companion as disreputable in appearance as he.

The building was old and the walls thin; and as the missionary read the Scriptures and pointed the dying man to the Savior, voices in the saloon easily penetrated to the sickroom. The missionary soon realized that the two men drinking together were plotting against his life. What a picture! Death rapidly approaching to claim its victim here, and murder plotted and planned against him there!

His visit over, the man of God confidently commended himself to his Father and went out to face his would-be murderers. He eventually got safely away, although for nearly an hour they barred his way—the two who refusing his Master also hated His servant.

Again time slipped by. Walking down the street one night the missionary was suddenly accosted by the rat catcher. "Preacher, speaking straight as one man to another, will you do me a favor? Lend me two bits.”

"And speaking straight to you as one man to another, what do you want it for? Liquor? If so, you have come to the wrong man.”

"No, Preacher, I don't. I'm hungry; I want to buy some bread.”

Ah, the prodigal had spent all now. Like rats deserting a sinking ship, his old companions had turned their backs on him. With advancing years and infirmity, his meager wages as rat catcher had dwindled to nothing. He had come to an end of all his resources and was indeed in want.

Assuring himself by a few well chosen questions that the man was telling the truth, his friend entered a nearby baker's shop, bought a loaf of bread and handed it to him. Taking it, the man poised it on the palm of his hand. He looked earnestly, first at it, then at the missionary.

"Do I understand, sir," he said at length, "that you lend me this loaf?”

"No, I give it to you.”

"Do you remember coming to see me when I was laid up?”

"Perfectly.”

"Do you remember what happened in the saloon when you went to see the man who was dying?”

"Yes. I don't muddle my brains with liquor, and I have a very good memory.”

"And remembering all that, you will lend me this loaf?”

"No, I give it to you," repeated the missionary.

"Then don't be surprised if you see me at the Mission Hall on Sunday!”

"I'm not surprised at anything that happens there!"—and they parted.

Sunday night came. The rat catcher was true to his word. Attentively he listened to the news of salvation waiting for and offered to him. His hard heart had been touched by the kindly act of a few days before. That loaf freely given in his dire need by the man whom he had abused and desired to murder, made him willing to hear about God's free gift—the "Bread of God, come down from Heaven." Now the Holy Spirit could give him understanding of "the unspeakable Gift" from above; and as simply as he had taken the loaf as a gift from his friend, he received the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior.

The rat catcher was caught—caught by the chains of divine Love. As a brand plucked from the fire his new life shone out in the old surroundings. Throughout his remaining days he witnessed to all of the free gift of God's love, and by his living testimony he won many poor souls to Christ.

Jesus said: "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37. His invitation to lost sinners still goes out: "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. 22:17. Will you come? Will you take Him at His word?

Crooked Sticks

What crooked sticks are found bound up in the bundle of life! But "the crooked shall be made straight.”

Hidden Treasure

It was a hot summer day. A Christian worker, weary from a day of visiting among the "poor of the flock," boarded an open-air bus. Here he hoped to find a few hours of coolness and comfort before taking part in an evening meeting. Although needing a time of quiet, he spoke courteously to his neighbor and remarked thankfully on the present blessing of rest.

This kindly statement brought an outburst from the stranger. "Sir, I didn't bargain for a sermon when I got on this bus.”

With these words he lapsed into offended silence. At the next stop he turned to the Christian gentleman, saying: "I leave you here, thank God.”

As he got down, the pocket of his coat gaped open. Unperceived, his fellow traveler quickly and quietly dropped into it a little book, "Eternal Life.”

About two years passed. Our Christian friend looked about him often in hope of meeting his bus acquaintance again, but had almost given up the thought. One day, passing along a main business street, he was suddenly confronted by a man who stopped in front of him exclaiming, "Yes, yes! You are the man!”

Taken by surprise, and believing there must be some mistake, our friend drew back.

"Yes, you are the man; you are the man," was repeated.

And then from one of his pockets the stranger drew forth a dirty little book stuck together with postage paper, and asked: "Now, do you remember me?”

Our friend saw the words "Eternal Life" upon the cover, and the incident of the bus flashed back into his mind. The man then poured out his story to him.

"When I got home that night it was late. I was emptying my pockets before retiring and I found" (again holding it up) "this little book. I was furious. I was certain in my own mind that you had put it there. Tearing it into four pieces I threw it on the carpet to be swept away by the servant. The next day, finding that the pieces were still on the floor, I called her and asked why she had not thrown them away. 'She saw the word eternal, and could not.' Then taking the scraps of paper in her hand, she got almost to the bottom of the stairs before I called out, saying, 'Well, perhaps you had better let me see those bits of paper after all.'

"I shut the door, and putting the pieces together as well as I could, I read the book. I did so a second time, but page 10 was too much for me. It struck terror to my heart as I read: 'Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of My reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: they would none of My counsel: they despised all My reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.' Prov. 1:24-31. I fell on my knees and prayed for mercy.

"At last I summoned courage to read on, and verse 33 calmed my soul. 'But whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.' The light began to dawn, and I knew that God had taken pity on me for His Son's sake.”

Pointing to the dirty little book which was still held in the man's hand, our friend offered to replace it with a new one from his pocket.

"Oh, no," said the stranger. "I would not exchange this one for a thousand dollars.”

The Christian worker turned to search among his tracts for another "help" for his new friend. Selecting one he turned to offer it, only to find the stranger was gone.

"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." Eccl. 11:6.

A Great Decision

Mr. Kimball, through whom D. L. Moody was converted at the age of seventeen, tells it thus: "I found Moody in the back part of the building wrapping up shoes. I went up to him at once and, putting my hand on his shoulder, I made what I have always thought was a very weak plea for Christ.

"I simply told him of Christ's love for him—the love that passeth knowledge—and the love Christ wanted in return. It seemed that the young man was just ready for the light that then broke upon him, and there in the back of that store he gave himself and his life to Christ." What a trophy of grace!

"I (Paul) have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase." 1 Cor. 3:6.

"In the Twinkling of an Eye"

What a night that was, never to be forgotten, when these solemn words took firm hold of my soul! "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." 1 Cor. 15:52.

That Sunday night preaching was not the first occasion on which I had heard of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; but that night for the first time the Spirit of God applied the truth to my soul in awakening power. Who the preacher was I know not; whether he is still alive, I cannot say. My thoughts were engaged, not with the preacher, but with the solemn truth he announced. Often since then have I desired to grasp his hand, and thank him for having been the means, in God's mercy, of disturbing the state of complacency in which I rested. But we shall stand by-and-by on the plains of glory and sing together the redemption song, "Worthy is the Lamb.”

Long ago the circumstances of that service have passed out of my mind, if indeed they were ever remembered beyond the night itself. One great truth took possession of my soul: The Lord Jesus Christ is coming back, and He will come in the twinkling of an eye.

Reader, these words are true! I felt them then to be so. The Holy Ghost applied the Word of God in power to my soul, and I began to realize the awfulness of my unconverted, unprepared condition.

As I left that room my alarm was intensified. A strange and startling sight met my gaze as I looked up into the heavens. Never before had I seen such a display of the "Northern Lights." Streaks of brilliant light were flashing across the sky, and the awful feeling pervaded my whole being that the Lord was just about to descend into the air. I clung closely to a Christian by whose side I was walking, as though for greater safety, and said tremblingly, "I don't want to go to hell.”

"No," she replied, "it would be terrible to go there.”

By all this the Lord was opening my eyes to see my lost and needy condition. In my distress I cried to Him, and before long I was able to rejoice in Christ as my Savior and Deliverer from "the wrath to come.”

Reader, how is it with you? Are you ready for His coining? Perhaps you have Christian parents and friends as I had. What a terrible thing if the Lord were to come this day and take them to glory, but leave you behind! Remember, it will be "in the twinkling of an eye.”

I, in my ignorance, thought that those flashes of light in the sky were premonitory signs that the Lord was coming. No such signs will take place before He comes into the air for His people. It will be "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.”

NO TIME TO PREPARE! If you are not ready, you will be left behind to undergo the awful judgments that shall fall upon the earth, and to "be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power," when He shall return with His saints to execute those judgments (2 Thess. 1 & 2).

Oh friend, turn not a deaf ear! Treat not this appeal with careless indifference! Laugh not to scorn this warning voice! It may be the last that shall ever be addressed to you. The Lord is at hand! He will come "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." 1 Cor. 15:52.

"Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it." 1 Thess. 5:24.

The Precious Blood of Christ

"The blood is the life." Deut. 12:23.

"Without shedding of blood is no remission." Heb. 9:22.

"It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”

Lev. 17:11.

"God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." Rom. 5:8, 9.

What preserved Israel on the night of the slaying of the first-born in Egypt? Blood.

"When I see the blood, I will pass over you." Ex. 12:13.

What maintained Israel in relationship with Jehovah on the great day of atonement? Blood.

But—

"Not all the blood of beasts
On Jewish altars slain,
Could give the guilty conscience peace,
Or wash away its stain.”
But believers can add—
`But Christ, the heavenly Lamb,
Took all our guilt away;
A sacrifice of nobler name,
And richer blood than they.”

"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." 1 Peter 1:18, 19.

"The blood of Jesus Christ His [God's] Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7.

A Christian visiting a dying youth, having quoted this blessed verse, added, "So that not a spot nor stain remains.”

"Not a speck," he gasped out in reply, and in a few hours fell peacefully asleep in Jesus.

Are you cleansed by the blood?

The sin alights on Jesus' head,
'Tis in His blood sin's debt is paid;
Stern justice can demand no more,
And mercy can dispense her store.

Now I See”

Among the many tombstones that stand at the head of the graves in a wind-swept churchyard by the sea, there is a white marble cross which bears this short inscription:

"NOW I SEE.”

That is very true. The eyes that close with the weighty sleep of death upon them lose sight of earthly things and awake to realities. Withdrawn from a whirl of occupations, the departing spirit enters a solitude where knowledge is definite.

For a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, eternal ecstasy begins at once. The Lord takes His own to Himself, and in His company is perfect joy. Whatever was dim and indefinite before is such no longer; he is with Christ. "Now I see.”

For an unbeliever, there can be nothing but misery. God as Savior, the source of all mercy, is unknown, unloved. There is nothing now to help an unbeliever to forget or to blind his eyes.

"Now I see"—the awful reality of the unavoidable judgment of God.

Reader, while life and health are yet yours, we beseech you to put your trust in Him whom Stephen beheld in Acts 7:55, the One to whom even now many an eye is raised, believing Him to be there, and seeing Him by faith.

Everyone who knows Him can speak of the preciousness of His love that opens the eyes both of the body and soul, so that the enlightened one can say, "Whereas I was blind, now I see." "Behold, I see... the Son of man"—Jesus.

Believeth - Hath

"He that BELIEVETH on the Son HATH everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:36.

A poor old woman of some seventy years said when shown these living words: "What a stupid I've been! There have I been a-coming and a-going, and a-trying and a-striving, and a-arguing and a-arguing. And to think it's as plain as all that and in my own Bible too! I've been groping in the dark these fifty years. What a stupid I've been!”

Reader, believest thou?

But some will say, "How can you know that you have everlasting life?" What saith the Scripture? "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life." 1 John 5:13.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5:24.

It is the blood

that maketh an atonement

for the soul.”

Lev. 17:11.

August

John 5 and 24

When I was lost and dead in sin
And judgment lay before,
God breathed a precious word to me:
John 5 and 24.

I trusted in His finished work;
What could I ask for more
Than His unchanging Word of truth?
John 5 and 24!

No condemnation NOW, my soul!
My fear of God is o'er;
That precious verse speaks peace to me
John 5 and 24.

I KNOW eternal life IS mine
Since Christ my judgment bore;
My hope is founded on that verse:
John 5 and 24.

I soon shall see Him face to face,
And then I'll praise Him more
For pardon through His faithful Word:
John 5 and 24!

Heaven Instead of Purgatory

A gentleman and his wife were traveling in a strongly Catholic country. They had to stop for a few hours at an inn in a small wayside village. Not far from the inn the lady observed an old woman sitting at her cottage door weeping bitterly. She went to her and asked what was the matter. The poor creature replied that she had been unable that morning, from feebleness of body, to join in a procession to a town a few miles away, a pilgrimage having for its object prayers and offerings to the Virgin Mary for the salvation of souls. Therefore she would have to undergo a still longer period of torment in purgatory before her sins could be forgiven.

The lady sat down at the old woman's side. She endeavored to show her, as best she could, that no works or prayers of her own nor the intercession of the Virgin could deliver her from judgment. She told her plainly that only one thing could save her—the work which the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished when He died upon the cross. His precious blood alone was sufficient to wash away the sins of all who believe on Him. "Through this man [Jesus] is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins." Acts 13:38.

The lady found it very sweet to tell a poor soul who thought she was slipping down into purgatory about Jesus the Savior. She had scarcely ever heard of Him, much less of a salvation to be had without laboring and working. Her astonishment was still greater when the lady called her husband and asked him to pray direct to that Savior that this distressed soul might understand what His free grace could do for her. After more talk, they had to drive on; but the lady's first care on arriving home was to send a Bible to this thirsty soul.

Two years passed away, and she again drove through the village. She got out of the conveyance and went straight to the little cottage. It was locked up, and seemed to be no longer inhabited. As she turned away, wondering if death had carried off her old acquaintance, she met two young men. Seeing her look inquiringly, they asked her if she were seeking any one, adding that the cottage was now empty. Their mother, who had occupied it, had only recently died.

"Are you the lady who sent her the Bible?" asked one of the sons. "Yes," she replied.

"Oh," said they, "how often we have longed to see you, that we might tell you of the good that Book did our mother. Before you sent it she was one of the most miserable women in the place; but when once she had it, she used to spend her whole day reading it. She was as happy as possible, and she died just like that.”

More than this the lady could not learn, but she felt it was enough. Only the knowledge that our sins are put away and that we are made fit by Christ's work to dwell in the presence of God forever in heaven, can give peace and happiness in the hour of death.

You may say you are not ignorant like this poor Roman Catholic. You would not think of trusting to any religious processions or ritualistic ceremonies for the salvation of your soul. But are you sure that you are not relying instead on some work of goodness of your own as a ground for "boldness in the day of judgment?" Remember that God says in His Word that "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Isa. 64:6. "There is none that doeth good, no, not one." Rom. 3:12.

"Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." Rom. 5:8, 9.

If thus convicted before God, may you turn to Him, and own yourself as quite incapable of doing good. Cast yourself, just as you are—a poor, lost sinner—on the grace of God. He gave His only begotten Son to die on the cross for our sins, and there to bear the full penalty which we deserved because of them.

"For sooner all the hills shall flee,
And hide themselves beneath the sea—
The ocean, starting from its bed,
Rise o'er the snow-capped mountain's head—
The sun, bedimmed of all its light,
Become the source of endless night:
And ruin spread from pole to pole,
Than JESUS fail a TRUSTING soul.”

"Freely"

How simple, how encouraging, how graciously lovely are these final invitations to the thirsty on the closing pages of Holy Writ!

"I Will Give... Freely”

"I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." Rev. 21:6.

"Let Him Take... Freely”

"And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. 22:17.

Freely, for nothing, through no effort of yours, God will give. Freely, whosoever you may be, you may receive. Accept this wonderful invitation.

"It's All in the Blood"

A man in the prime of life was sick. Suddenly laid aside by illness from an active business life and from a prominent place in the church of which he was an esteemed member and officer, he now had time to think. Never before in the days of health and religious effort had he considered his own personal condition in the sight of God. Nor had he thought where he would go when earthly life was ended.

On a Lord's Day afternoon a friend called to see him. In the course of conversation he said to the sick man: "I have more than once been at the very gate of death. I cannot describe the peace I enjoyed at the prospect of meeting God, simply trusting in the precious blood of Jesus Christ as my only plea, my only title.”

The sick man raised himself on his elbow and said: "I have been thinking about the same matter a good deal of late. I fear I have not been sufficiently zealous in religion to enable me to say I can look into the future as you do. I would give all that I possessed if I could.”

"Religion is not a title to heaven, dear sir," replied the Christian visitor. "Religion never gave anybody peace with God, or a title to His presence. The blood of Jesus Christ alone can do that.”

The sick man seemed bewildered. He had always thought that religion was the very best thing in the world. He presumed that when people spoke of "conversion," "salvation," and "cleansing in the blood of Christ," they simply expressed in that way and according to their own peculiar creed the same thing that he called "religion." His friend realized his perplexity and taking advantage of it sought to bring before him the gospel of God's salvation. He said: "May I read you a short portion of the Scriptures?”

The portion chosen was the twelfth chapter of Exodus, in which an account of the Passover, the sprinkling of the blood, and the safety of the firstborn are given. Commenting briefly on the verses, the visitor remarked: "It was the blood shed and sprinkled, the blood trusted in, and it alone that gave safety to all within the houses that night. All under the shelter of the blood were safe; all outside it, no matter what their character, were doomed to judgment.”

There was a solemn silence in the room as he stopped speaking—a silence which the visitor felt unwilling to break, as it seemed to him that God was working deep conviction by His Spirit through the Word in the soul of him who lay there.

At last the sick man stretched out his hand and grasped the hand of the visitor. He said slowly, with great emotion: "It's all in the blood. I see it now, as I never did before. I have been trusting to my religion and my own righteousness. Now I see clearly that my only title to salvation is believing in the blood of Christ.”

The Christian bowed his head in silent thanksgiving to God, and at the request of the sick merchant, now filled with peace and joy, he bowed his knees and gave thanks to God for his deliverance and conversion.

How many think that religion is a savior! How many are trusting to their own righteousness and good works to take them or to help them into heaven! God declares that the precious blood of Christ, trusted in by the sinner, is his only shelter from coining wrath.

Mustered Out

'Twas starry night upon the lonely field
Where battle had that day been waged.
Two men of God, on holy mission bent,
Sought out the living from among the dead.

And now they stand
Beside a manly form, outstretched, alone.
His helmet from his head had fallen. His hand
Still firmly grasped his keen but broken sword.
His face was white and cold; and, thinking he was gone,
They were just passing on (for time was precious),
When a faint sigh caught their attentive ears.
Life was still there! So bending down
They whispered in his ear most earnestly,
Yet with that hush and gentleness with which
We ever speak to a departing soul:
"Comrade! The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from every sin.”

The pale lips moved
And gently whispered, "HUSH!" And then they closed,
And life again seemed gone.

But yet once more
They whispered those thrice blessed words, in hope
To point the parting soul to Christ and heaven:
"Comrade! The precious blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse from every sin.”

Again the pale lips moved.
All else was still and motionless, for Death
Already had his fatal work half done.
But gathering up his quickly failing strength,
The dying soldier—dying victor!—said:
"Hush! Hear the angels call the muster roll!
I wait to hear my name!”

They spoke no more.
What need to speak again? For now full well
They knew on whom his dying hopes were fixed,
And what his prospects were.
So, hushed and still,
They, kneeling, watched.

And presently a smile,
As of most thrilling and intense delight,
Played for a moment on the soldier's face;
And with his one last breath he whispered: "HERE!”

Not a Dream

At an open-air gospel meeting the preacher asked for testimonies. While this was going on a skeptic was passing by just when the testimony of a saved drunkard was being given. He stopped and listened. The former drunkard was telling how Jesus had wrought a miracle and saved his poor soul.

The skeptic scoffingly made a few remarks to those standing near him. He said "it was nothing more than a dream, religion saving a man in this manner—just a mere dream, and nothing more." No one answered him—but God had His way of dealing with him.

Among the listeners was a little girl about ten years old. She had known the misery of a drunkard's home. She heard the remark of the skeptic and, going up to him, she said: "Please, sir, if it is only a dream, please don't wake him—that is my daddy!”

The simplicity and earnestness of the child arrested the skeptic. It made him think, and ultimately led to his conversion. Then the marvelous grace of God became a grand reality and no dream to him.

A Sailor's Conversion

Over fifty years ago in a little chapel in the islands a religious service was being held. At its close a young lad stood up and in a few words told how the Lord had saved him and made him happy. I heard that testimony, a message from God to my own soul.

Brought up in a godly home, I, the eldest of eleven children, had a careful upbringing. Although this was a great blessing, it cannot of itself produce conversion to God.

The testimony given by that Christian lad made me think on eternal things, and although its effect was for a time stifled, the truth of it was never forgotten.

Some time after this, one of my comrades lay dying. I went to see him, and with my hand in his he asked, "Willie, will you meet me in heaven?" That was another message from God to me.

I had gone to sea in the merchant marines. At home I had been more or less under restraint; but now in the company of profligate men I went freely into sin. This continued for about two years. I had warnings of God's judgment, and loving and earnest entreaties in letters from my parents. They never ceased to pray for my conversion; but I continued my evil course, going deeper into sin.

By and by I left the sea and went to live in a large city. There I sank deeper still. My father now gave up hope that I would ever be saved, but my mother continued to pray.

About six weeks after I came to this city, I had occasion to go to my chest for a pair of hose. As I unfolded them a slip of paper fell out. I picked it up and found written on it in my mother's handwriting: "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth." Eccl. 12:1. My mother had put it there when she packed my box before I left home.

I looked at the words, and conviction of my sinfulness laid hold on me. How ungrateful I had been to my Christian parents! How heartless toward my mother's prayers and tears! How hardened I was in the sight of God!

Now the devil whispered: "You have gone too far. You have sinned too long. There is no use of hoping for mercy.”

For a week I was in deep distress of soul. My sins were before me, and I knew what I deserved at the hand of God. I had slighted His warnings and turned from His love.

In an agony of despair one July afternoon, I cast myself on the mercy of God. I knew I had no plea and no claim at all before Him except in Christ Jesus who "came to save sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15).

"Lord, save me! I perish," was the cry of my heart. And as God ever does to a soul conscious of its guilt and trusting only in the Savior, He met me as I was and saved me. I knew it, and had the joy of it in my soul that moment. The next mail carried the good news to my dear ones at home. Although I returned to the life of a seaman, it was as a sinner saved by grace. There amid many temptations the Lord has preserved me, and I have had happy times witnessing for Him wherever I've gone.

My Righteousness

From the time I can first remember I was taught to "say my prayers" and to reverence God's Word. I personally knew nothing of Jesus as the Savior of my soul. At times I longed to be "good," and like many others, I tried to make myself fit for heaven. Sometimes, doing good deeds, I felt quite proud of my efforts. Other times, my own miserable failures cast me into the "slough of despond.”

Thus I continued until I was twenty-one. Then God saw fit to send me a great sorrow. A brother, the idol of my heart, was taken from me by death. Since the Lord Jesus was a stranger to my soul, I had no source of consolation. To comfort myself in my loss I filled all my spare time with a series of "good works" and felt that I must be earning God's approval.

About a year after my brother's death I had to leave my old home and go to work in a town some distance away. I was among strangers there, but the blessed God led me into a Christian home. Their Christianity shone out, and I soon saw the great difference between us. More and more I longed to be pleasing to God. Day after day I asked Him to make me good, to make me feel that I was better. How I missed the mark! Oh, 'tis ruinous to try and cover filthy sores of sin with rags of righteousness more foul in His sight. True wisdom is to strip them all off before Him, that His grace may make us whole.

"He delights in showing mercy
To a soul that owns its sin;
But the soul that thinks of earning,
Not a smile shall ever win.”

One night I could not sleep. Hoping to induce drowsiness I took up a little book to read. It was called "God's Glad Tidings" and I thought it would be "dry" enough to put me to sleep quickly! It was a simple little book, but it soon had my close attention.

As I read I came to a quotation from Scripture: "No flesh should glory in His presence." 1 Cor. 1:29. This stopped me and I pondered over it. Then how could I attain the degree of "goodness" that would be acceptable to God?

I read on: "But of Him (God) are ye in Christ Jesus." What? Didn't I have to do anything? Light began to dawn; and for the first time I saw the full efficacy of His work on Calvary.

With solemn wonder I now read: "Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and RIGHTEOUSNESS, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

Now I saw that the whole work was Christ's, and if I believed it was for me and received Him as my Savior, God viewed me as in Christ Jesus. Only in Him would I glory, and through Him as my righteousness I would find acceptance with God.

What simple truth, yet how deep! My soul reveled in it, and throughout the passing years it has grown more and more precious to me. "In Christ" I have found complete satisfaction and perfect rest for time and eternity.

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Rom. 8:1.

"Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8.

Which?

Two classes of people are in the world—the righteous and the wicked (Psa. 1:6). YOU belong to one of these two classes. Which?

Two great rulers are in the universe—God and Satan. YOU are serving under one of these two rulers (Matt. 6:24). Which?

Two roads lead through time to eternity—the broad road and the narrow road (Matt. 7:13,14). YOU are walking in one of these two roads. Which?

One of two deaths every soul must die—some "die in the Lord" (Rev. 14:13), others "die in their sins" (John 8:24). YOU will die one of these two deaths. Which?

To one of two places every soul must go—to heaven or to hell. YOU are destined to go to one or the other (Matt. 25:46). Which?

My reader, NOW, in the day of grace, you have a choice. I plead with you, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve." Josh. 24:15. And my heart's desire for you is that you will choose Him who is God's righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. With Him as your Companion and Guide along the narrow road that leads to life everlasting, you need fear no evil. Indeed, you can sing with the Psalmist: "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life [this is TIME]: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever [that is ETERNITY]." Psa. 23:6.

A Sure Foundation

Never rely on anything else for salvation but Jesus Christ and His finished work.

As I live,
saith the Lord,
every knee shall
bow to Me, and
every tongue shall
confess to God.”

Rom. 14:11.

September

The Cross

Oh, the wondrous cross of Jesus!
There Jehovah's will was done,
There instead of thee He bruised
In thy stead His blessed Son.
God accounting, if believing,
All He did as done for thee;
Giving thus thy soul to triumph,
"Jesus died, and I am free!”

Seeing this, the "tomb of Jesus”
Will assume a different hue;
Thou as having died with Jesus,
God accounts thee buried, too.
And as Jesus rose triumphant
From death's gloomy, dark abode,
Thou in blessed resurrection
Shall arise alone in God.

All thy sins left far behind thee,
Buried in the Savior's grave,
Never more to be remembered,
Covered neath oblivion's wave.
Oh, the depth of God's forgiveness!
Hearken, lost one, to its call,
From the grave of Jesus crying,
"Mercy, mercy's free for all!”

Sacrament or Savior

I was with my old soldier-Mend a good deal during the last few weeks of his life. We were neighbors but had not been in the habit of meeting often. A short time before his death his legal adviser had called to see him; and when I asked after the sick man, he told me that he seemed very composed. He had just taken the sacrament. He seemed to regard this as a passport for heaven, for, added he: "I shall not go to see him again; better not disturb him after this.”

"Composed!" thought I as we parted. "I wish he were anything but that." I feared that he might be soothing his soul into a fatal and false peace, so I resolved to lose no time in seeing him. On reaching the house, I was assured by his family that all was well. He had been given the sacrament, and was very comfortable.

He received me quietly. Though breathing with difficulty, he said: "You will be glad to know I've settled all my affairs; now I have taken the sacrament and I have nothing more on my mind. I am comfortable." But his looks belied his words. There was anxiety in the eye that awaited my response. I saw his ease was superficial. I hesitated as to what to say. He repeated, with ill-assumed calmness, "Yes, I have done justice to everyone. I have arranged for my children's care and where they shall go after my death. I am quite comfortable.”

Deeply moved, I took his thin, transparent hand in mine, and asked earnestly, "And you, dear friend, what of yourself? Where are you going?”

A shadow crossed his face. I saw he was disturbed and disappointed; but he repeated with an effort, "My rector has given me the sacrament, and seems quite satisfied.”

What anguish I felt at that moment, that my poor friend should have fallen into the hands of a blind leader of the blind! It is an awful thing for a professed minister of Christ to say, "Peace, peace"—to direct the natural eye to a visible sacrament, instead of pointing the eye of the soul to the unseen but ever-present and only Savior.

I felt I dared not trifle thus with an immortal soul on the verge of eternity. "Dear friend," I said, "you know the life you have led. You know what the law of God requires. You know your sins have been more than the hairs of your head. You will pardon me for speaking plainly—I do so in love. You know, my dear friend, you have not been pure in heart, nor meek, nor a peacemaker, nor merciful, nor a God-fearing man. How can you feel comfortable? Remember the true and awful words of Scripture. You will soon have to appear before God, and have to give an account of the deeds done in the body.”

He listened eagerly and, to my surprise, quietly. I felt I must go on. I could not let him die in a dream of false peace. "You know you have never been born again, or changed in heart or life. Christ says that without that change you cannot see the kingdom of God.”

An expression of intense and painful dismay was on his countenance when I paused. But he repeated, with an anxious sigh, "Well, but I have taken the sacrament.”

"And what good can that do you, dear friend? You want pardon. You want salvation. Salvation comes only through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins. He was sacrificed for us; but a sacrament is not a sacrifice. The sacrament is a sign of something which God has given us—a memorial of Christ's gift of Himself to purge our sins. A sacrifice is something rendered to God as an atonement for our sins. We take the bread and the wine in remembrance of Him who has saved us. But to trust in the sacrament instead of in the Savior whom it commemorates is a fearful mistake.

"My dear friend, what good has the sacrament done you? Has it atoned for the guilt of your past life? Has it changed your heart? You know it has not. It has neither merit to blot out your sin, nor power to renew your heart.”

A sorrowful shake of his head implied assent; so I continued: "Suppose that as a soldier in India you had risked your life to save a Sepoy from a tiger's grip, and that you had afterward shown him great kindness. Suppose that when you were leaving you gave him your own photograph and said: 'Look at it from time to time, and remember me!'

"That man joins the mutineers, and in every way proves himself a treacherous rebel. At last he is taken prisoner, brought before you, tried, and condemned. Hark! he is going to plead! What has he to say? 'Sir, it's all true; but you ought to pardon me! I looked last night at the token of your kindness. I did remember you.'

"Dear friend, will you urge a similar plea at the bar of God? Will you say, It is true. I have lived as a rebel against Him who died for me. True, I have despised, neglected, or injured many dear to Him. True, I have broken His laws, rejected His authority, and despised His love all my days. But, O God, on my deathbed I took the sacrament?”

The poor man felt the force of this and cried out, "Oh, no, no! But what more can I do?”

"Do? Do what the Sepoy might do. He might say, 'I own it all, sir. I've been a wicked, ungrateful wretch; I've no claim on your kindness; but you are good, you saved me once when I did not deserve it, you can save me now when I deserve it still less.' You can say this to God. You can plead that Christ died for the ungodly, and seek mercy for His sake.”

With a sorrowful look he answered me: "But I could not pardon the Sepoy even if he made such an appeal." And I gladly answered, "No, but God can pardon you! He pardoned the dying thief; He pardoned Saul of Tarsus; and it is written, 'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.'" As I tried to lead him to think of Jesus, the all-sufficient Sacrifice, he was deeply attentive; but no light seemed to break in upon his mind before I left him.

A day or two later I received a telegram, begging me to go to him immediately. He had been groaning aloud, impatient for my arrival. As I entered he greeted me with, "Oh, how long you have been! You have made me miserable. I was so comfortable! Kneel down. Pray. You can; I can't. Get the Bible. Read—read something. Oh, I am so miserable, so wretched. You know what a sinner I've been—what a wicked life I've led! I never realized it till now. 'What shall I do? What shall I do?”

Taking the Word of God I slowly read some of its simplest statements. I tried to show the trembling soul that the Lord had laid upon Christ the iniquity of us all. I told him that to be safe for eternity he must find shelter at the cross of Calvary, where the blood of the sinless Sacrifice was shed to save sinful man. I read to him passage after passage; I lingered with him, prayed with him, but left him that night for a few hours' rest, still in darkness, and lost.

Early next morning I was summoned again to his bedside. His cry was still, "Read, please read." God gave me the Word, the story of the brazen serpent and of the life-receiving look of the bitten Israelites. Then slowly and emphatically I read our Lord's comment on it in John 3. Suddenly, as I read, my poor friend raised his emaciated hands, and clasped them convulsively together. With a cry of joy he exclaimed, "O God! I understand it now! Jesus. Savior, I look to Thee. Is that all? Wonderful! Everlasting life is mine! Lord, I believe! Lord, I praise Thee!”

At that instant the light had shone into his soul. Under the Spirit's teaching he had grasped the truth that he had nothing to do but to look in faith; that Jesus had done all the work of propitiation; that salvation was not of works, and not by sacraments, but by grace through faith in Christ.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph. 2:8, 9.

The Answer

Not the nails, but His wondrous love
for me
Bound my Lord to the Cross of Calvary.
Oh, what power could hold Him there,
All my sin and shame to bear?
Not the nails! 'Twas His wondrous love
for me.

Doors Opened and Closed

There are two doors—one open, the other closed. The open door is one thrown wide open for everyone to enter in—it cannot be open wider. It is for "whosoever will" to approach and enter. Christ says, "I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." John 10:9. At present it has no bolt, no bar, no lock, no hindrance. The road to it is clear, the way is plain. Everyone may come. Welcome awaits him. Mercy is now free to all.

But there is another door—a closed one. That is the sinner's heart—barred, bolted, locked. At this door Christ is knocking! knocking! "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock." Rev. 3:20. What a picture! The Savior of sinners is waiting outside, entreating to be let in! Now, while Christ is knocking outside your heart, you are the one that must open the door and let Him in! Christ is willing to come in and save you; but on you rests the responsibility of receiving salvation for yourself. Christ does not force His way in. If you refuse to admit Him, the blame of eternal destruction rests upon you. You have to open your door, or you must bear the future consequences.

Some day the open door will finally be closed, the Master of the house having risen up and shut it. Then "Too late!" "Too late!" The days of free grace to you will then have expired.

You are either SAVED or LOST. You should face the question at once. Delays are dangerous. Are you treading the broad or the narrow path?

"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:36.

An Aged Saint

One evening at a cottage meeting I was led to speak of present knowledge and present enjoyment of forgiveness of sins, and of reconciliation to God through simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

At the close of the address, a man gray and bent with age asked me, "Will you come to see my mother, sir? I am sure she will enjoy your doctrine.”

"Your mother!" I was astonished that he should have a mother still living, but the old man led the way to an attic over his own bedroom. With an effort he drew himself up the vertical stairs, and as I followed he pointed me to the next ascent, half staircase, half ladder, leaving me to mount alone. Thus I found myself close under the ridge of the roof, standing in a kind of triangular attic. Through a small window the setting sun was shining in, its rays lighting up a spare, gaunt figure sitting upright on a low bed.

The woman's age was more than one hundred years. She was very feeble, but her faculties seemed unimpaired. The firm clasp of her glazed brown hand and the shining smile of her face gave me a strange sensation, almost of awe. This was heightened by the lonely quietness of the place.

To my greeting the dear woman feebly replied that she was quite well; but when after a short pause I asked her, "And do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your own Savior?" her whole manner changed. Her brown eyes brightened instantly at the sound of that blessed name. Her voice rose with an energy that has not died away in my memory as she retorted: "To be sure I do. And He knows me.”

Then pointing her finger at me she cried, "Do you know Him yourself? Do you?" Without waiting for a reply she continued, betraying almost scorn for my question as if my asking it implied a doubt: "Know Him! And many a long year before you were born, too! Know Him! I should think I do. I was but a girl going to market along the dirty road, all bedraggled up to my knees in mud. I was a sorry sight. But the Lord Jesus Christ took pity on me. He washed me clean in His own precious blood. He picked me up and set me beside Him, a member of His own royal family. Know Him! To be sure I do. Do you, I ask? I should like to know that.”

The stream of vigor startled me a little, though the inquiry was welcome. I answered quickly: "Yes, through grace, I can tell you He died for me. I do know Him as my Savior.”

Then she pressed her question in different forms to discover whether I was real. When she was satisfied, her anxiety for me gave way to expressions of regret that of the many people who at times visited her few could say that they were truly saved.

We chatted happily concerning the free and unchanging grace of God, and on its present enjoyment by simple faith before we reach heaven. It was a privilege to taste with her a little of the fellowship which presently we shall enjoy to the full when the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready.

Does my reader KNOW whether he himself will be at that wedding in its great and heavenly glory? God says that "all things are ready"; and His invitation to "whosoever will" is "come." Dear one, accept His call now while it is the day of grace. Believe His Word and enter into the present, blessed assurance of eternal salvation.

The Lord Jesus says: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." John 5:24.

Christ Has Got Me”

A poor old man, crippled in both legs, came hobbling one day into a shop that was kept by a Christian. He began telling him about his sufferings, and the shop owner listened. Then the Christian interrupted, "You have been telling me about your sufferings in the present. Now let me ask you about the future. What have you done about that? Have you got Christ?”

"Have I got Christ?" repeated the old man earnestly. Tears trickled down his cheeks. "Why, Christ has got me!”

Blessed answer; can you, dear reader, say the same? "Christ has got me." He came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). Has He found and saved you? Once you are His, He will never let you go. He holds His own in His hand, and none shall pluck them out (John 10:28):

Perhaps the question is troubling you: how can you know you are His? How can you know that "Christ has got you"? The Word of God supplies the answer: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life." 1 John 5:13. Do you believe? Yes; then eternal life is yours and you shall never perish (John 10:28).

The Heart of Man

Did you ever in the light of Scripture consider what the heart of man is? You will tell me it is a wicked thing. Aye, that it is; but it is not only capable of wickedness, it is incurable, desperate.

Think of a man taking stones in his hand to batter and beat a face shining like an angel's! Could you conceive it? Look at the priests in the temple, in the very presence of the miraculously rent veil:—they plotted a lie! Remember the soldiers who saw the empty tomb. They consented to the lie.

The riven waters of the Red Sea did not cure Pharaoh's heart. The shining countenance of the martyr Stephen did not cure the multitude. A rent veil did not cure the priestly heart, nor did the empty tomb cure the soldiers' hearts.

Is that a picture of the heart you carry?

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jer. 17:9.

The Very Words

Some weeks ago I was asked to visit a patient in the General Hospital. A change had been made in the visiting hours, so I found myself in the ward before the house doctor had time to finish his afternoon round. I was about to withdraw, but a patient who occupied the bed nearest the door invited me to sit down by her for a little while. "Now," she said, "maybe you can tell me the words I am trying to remember.”

Mrs. Baldwin's story was soon told. She had entered the hospital recently, very ignorant of the things of God, and careless about her soul. She continued, "A few days ago a lady came into the ward. She brought each of us some flowers. I was so ill and tired, and I did not want to talk; so when she came near me I turned my face to the wall as if asleep. She laid the flowers on my pillow and passed on.

"When I heard her going downstairs I picked the flowers up. It seemed to do me good just to look at them. Then I saw that the flowers were not all: there was a card with some writing on it. I read the words over and over again, and wondered what they could mean. Pretty soon I began to care more for the card than I did for the flowers! As I read I could not help weeping. It seemed as if all my life came to mind, and I felt I was a great sinner. When night came I put my card away. In the morning I could not find it, and the words had gone out of my mind. I should like to know what they were.”

"Try to remember one word, and I will ask the Lord, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to bring the right verse to my mind," I said.

"There was the word 'sin' in it, and that seems about all I can think of," Mrs. Baldwin answered.

"Were these the words? Tor the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.'" Rom. 6:23.

The look of disappointment that clouded the face of poor Mrs. Baldwin was sad to witness. "No," she answered, "those are not the ones I am trying to remember.”

I repeated another verse with the word sin in it: "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7.

"The very words—the very words! Oh, how thankful I am!" cried Mrs. Baldwin. "And you are quite sure they are in the Bible?”

I read the words to her from the Book. For some time we talked of the wonderful love of God to perishing, lost mankind. I do not know—perhaps I never shall know on earth—the result of that afternoon's conversation, for when the next visiting day came around I found that Mrs. Baldwin had returned to her own home. But I do know who has said: "So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Isa. 55:11. So in simple, happy confidence I leave it with Him.

Reader, has the question of sin ever made you anxious or unhappy? Have you ever thought of it as a dread reality involving the most tremendous consequences?

If so, peace of conscience and rest of heart are to be found—where? In prayers, or tears, or works? No, in simple faith in what the Word of God declares concerning the all-cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Believe it: and then, but not till then, your heart will be attracted in grateful love to Him.

Clean Every Whit

Do not be afraid to bring all your sins into the light. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7. The wrath of God has come down upon and been exhausted by Jesus. If you are a poor sinner resting only on the finished work of Christ, there is no more wrath for you to suffer.

"His was the bitter price, ours is the free gift given; His was the blood of sacrifice, ours is the joy of heaven.”

THE LORD JESUS SAYS:

"He that rejecteth Me, and
receiveth not My words,
hath one that judgeth
him: the word that I have
spoken, the same shall
judge him in the last day.”

John 12:48.

October

The Perfect Work

The Father sent the Son
A ruined world to save;
Man meted to the sinless One
The cross, the grave.
Blest substitute from God,
Wrath's awful cup He drained;
Laid down His life and e'en the tomb's
Reproach sustained.

Earth trembled as He died:
God's well-beloved Son.
The darkness sought His woes to hide:
His work is done.
He lives to die no more,
Joy dwells upon His brow;
His agonies untold are o'er,
He triumphs now!

The new and living way
Stands open now to heaven;
Thence, where the blood is seen alway,
God's gift is given.
The river of His grace,
Through righteousness supplied,
Is flowing o'er the barren place
Where Jesus died.

The Lord shall come again!
The conqueror must reign!
No tongue but shall confess Him then
The Lamb once slain.
Jesus is worthy now
All homage to receive;
O sinner! to the Savior bow,
The truth believe.

An Evangelist's Confession

Brownlow North was at one time—indeed all through his early life—a very marked specimen of the thoughtless and dissipated aristocratic worldling. He was for many years supposed to be the heir to a noble title, but a late and unexpected marriage came between him and his hopes.

When he was no longer a young man he and a friend were on a hunting trip in Scotland. Their day's sport was usually followed by a night's debauch; and in one of these his friend dropped dead. The terrible event was God's message to the heart of this hardened profligate. The awful thought laid hold of him: "If I had been called away, instead of my poor friend, I would have been damned.”

This led him to think seriously about his soul. He came at this critical time under the influence of an earnest Christian who led him into the full light of the gospel. No sooner was he himself assured of salvation than he began to set about trying to win others to the Lord Jesus. In time he became known as one of the most earnest preachers of that day.

On one occasion he was to preach in Inverness. Just as he entered the building a note was put into his hands, the contents of which were somewhat to this effect:

"Brownlow North, you miserable hypocrite! Do you remember what took place at—on such a date, and the part you bore in it? Also at—on such a date, and again at—on such a date, and the part you took on each of these occasions?" Pretty full details of what did happen were given, and then the letter concluded: "Now, you wretched hypocrite! You know every word in this letter is true. Can you, after reading it, dare to go into that pulpit and rant and rave and preach what you call the gospel?”

Poor Mr. North felt the force of the letter keenly. What would he do? He put the letter into his pocket, and when the time for his address came he read the familiar words: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." He paused. Then with deepest feeling he added, "of whom I am chief.”

"My friends," said he, "when I entered this building tonight, a letter was put into my hands. I do not know who the writer may be, but he is evidently one who knows a great deal about my career in the past. This letter refers to three distinct occasions on which it charges me with participating in scenes of riot, and excess, and wantonness. I will not pollute your ears by quoting more of the contents of that letter other than to say this much. And the writer concludes his painful indictment by saying: `Now, you wretched hypocrite! You know that all this is true. Can you, after reading this letter, dare to go into that pulpit and rant and rave and preach what you call the gospel?'

"Dear friends, there are three things that I have to say about this letter. First, it is all true. Would to God that I could deny the charges it makes. Would to God I could undo the past; but that is beyond the power of even God Himself. God knows it is true, and I confess with sorrow and shame that it is true. And the second thing I have to say is, it's all forgiven! God knows it is forgiven, and I know that it is forgiven. And the third thing I have to say is, that if God, for Jesus Christ's sake, can forgive the sin of such a sinner as Brownlow North, there is not a sinner in Scotland, there is not a sinner in this wide world, too great for God to forgive all his sins.”

There were few dry eyes among those present as he uttered these words with the most intense feeling.

Reader, your sins may or may not be as glaring as Brownlow North's, but they can be forgiven freely by the same pardoning God if you but come in true repentance. Should you die un-forgiven, there remaineth nothing for you but the blackness of darkness forever. Now His mercy would fain woo you for Himself. Be wise in time.

God Is Not Mocked

A notorious infidel had a considerable following in his home town. He was one of the braggart stamp, and seemed to revel in his outpourings of blasphemy against God. One day, in the height of his folly, he challenged God, if such a Being existed, to fight him in a certain wood.

The day came, and he went defiantly to the wood. He stayed a long time, and returned home again apparently all right, and no doubt jubilant of his seeming success.

But while he was in the wood there had alighted on his eyelid a tiny gnat. He had brushed it away, paying no attention to it. At night the eyelid swelled up, and blood poisoning setting in, he died. God had sent one of His tiniest insects, and the boasting braggart fell before it.

"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Psa. 14:1.

Present Salvation

I have traveled widely over this country and have yet to meet a man who wishes to go to the lake of fire, there to endure the "eternal judgment" of God. All have hoped to be saved some day, and to escape that awful doom.

A young man came to a Christian, an old professor in a college. He asked the teacher: "How long before death should one prepare for eternity?" The professor's answer was: "A few minutes." The youth, glad of this reply, determined to have his fling, sow his wild oats, and "see life" in all its aspects. Then, a few moments before death should close his selfish eyes, he would ask God to have mercy upon him!

"But," asked the professor, "when are you going to die?”

The youth replied: "I cannot tell.”

"Then," said the dear old man, "GET READY NOW, for you may have only a few moments to live.”

Many persons would like to be saved, but they say they are waiting God's time. Surely God knows the best and proper time for a man to be saved. He says it is NOW.

There is no promise in God's Word that a man shall be saved next week, or next month, or next year, or when he comes to his deathbed, or at the eleventh hour, as some people foolishly and un-scripturally say.

God's pledge is that He will save a man when he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ; not when he says he believes, but when he does believe. His word in Acts 16:31 is: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

"THE TIME IS SHORT." Eternity is near. The dark clouds of judgment are gathering and are about to burst in all their crushing, grinding power upon a Christ-less, guilty world. But ere this takes place the voice of God rings out: "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

Isa. 1:18 is unequaled in Scripture for tender graciousness. "Come NOW, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." God's word is "COME," and He tells you when to come: "NOW." He concludes this magnificent verse with the promise of cleansing you from all your sins.

Another strikingly earnest verse is Job 22:21. "Acquaint NOW thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee." Again the word NOW confronts us. It tells us that THIS IS THE MOMENT to make the acquaintance of God by Christ Jesus—to be at peace with God through Christ. He has made peace for us with His precious blood; and only by its cleansing power can good be our portion in Christ Jesus.

The invitation of Jesus is: "Come; for all things are NOW ready." Luke 14:17. There is nothing left for the poor, helpless sinner to do in the matter of the soul's salvation but to believe. Christ did on the cross all that the glory of God required to be done; and then He said: "It is finished." He is in that glory today as proof that it is finished, and that God is satisfied. NOW He can make known to you by the Holy Ghost through the Scriptures His present salvation for all lost sinners.

The devil tempts you to put off the salvation of your soul until tomorrow. Tomorrow is too late! Tomorrow is death, the grave, the lake of fire, the eternal wail of a damned soul. God would not say "NOW" so frequently in His Word if He did not mean it, or if there were not awful danger in delaying, or if tomorrow would do. It may be now or never for you. God grant that it may be NOW.

"Salvation now, this moment;
Then why, oh, why delay?
You may not see tomorrow!
NOW is salvation's day.”

Seek Diligently

We met a man who told us he had been seeking God for more than four years. He had been to churches and chapels, had wandered from place to place, seeking the knowledge of the forgiveness of his sins.

Isn't this man an example of many professedly zealous souls? The truth is, he was not in downright earnestness. His seeking was a listless sort.

He did not seek mercy and expect to find it. He had not even the determination of a poor man who has lost a coin. Such a poor man would seek earnestly desiring to find; but this was a self-styled seeker for eternal good. He made a religion out of seeking God, never meaning to find and to rejoice in the knowledge of salvation.

Oh, poor lost soul, "Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." Isa. 55:6, 7.

"Hold on"

A poor infidel, dejected and miserable, was found lying in the grasp of "the last enemy," death. His feverish eyes searched eagerly for a resting place that seemed always to elude him. His bony fingers nervously plucked the covers on the bed. In his emaciated countenance there was an unutterable agony of anxiety and woe.

His visitor, desiring to revive the courage of his sinking friend, whispered in his ear the exhortation, "Hold on!” The dying man turned his ashy face to fix his eyes with a piercing look upon the speaker. Bitterly he cried: "What have I to hold on to?”

Poor fellow! To "hold on" was just the thing he most wished to do. It was the hour of dissolution, and he was exceedingly conscious of the need of something to hold on to.

The philosophy in which he had vainly trusted had vanished "as a dream when one awaketh." Now in the presence of the realities of eternity he was left without a shred of comfort or hope.

"Hold on! Hold on!" The words were as mocking irony on his miserable fate. There was the extremity of blank despair in his dying groan, "What have I to hold on to?”

The believer in Jesus, in His death and resurrection, has something to which he may hold on. But better far it is that he has assurance that he is eternally held in the Savior's everlasting arms.

"The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." Deut. 33:27.

This Man

"And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with THIS MAN? And she said, I WILL GO." Gen. 24:58. What a searching question, and what a willing answer!

Do you know that there is "one mediator between God and men, THE MAN Christ Jesus"? 1 Tim. 2:5. "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through THIS MAN is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." Acts 13:38, 39. "THIS MAN receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." Luke 15:2.

"Wilt thou go with THIS MAN?" Hear God's pleading query! May He give you to see beauty in His Son Jesus and to realize your own responsibility to say, "I will go.”

"And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel. And he said unto him, I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred." Num. 10:29, 30.

What a contrast between the ways that Rebekah and Hobab treated the gracious invitation that was given them! One said, "I will go"; the other, "I will not go.”

How is it with you, dear soul? Are you willing or unwilling to go to Christ? If you accept His invitation and go with Him, He will shower you with the heavenly gifts of His love: forgiveness of sins, redemption, salvation, adoption, the Holy Ghost, oneness with Himself. And you will share the brightness of the eternal glory with Him forever. But if you are unwilling to go with Him, and refuse His tender pleadings now, your everlasting portion will be the torments of hell and the blackness of darkness forever.

"Oh, could I hear some sinner say,
`I will go';
And all his old companions tell,
`I will not go with you to hell;
I mean with Jesus Christ to dwell—
I WILL GO.”

A-L-L”

At the close of one of the late D. L. Moody's meetings in Agricultural Hall, London, a man deeply convicted of sin inquired of him the way of salvation. The preacher was exhausted with the efforts of the day's work; but seeing the reality of the man's concern and knowing full well the power of the Word of God, he replied: "My friend, if I talked with you all night I couldn't tell you any more than what I am about to say. Go home, open your Bible, turn to Isa. 53:6. Go in at the first all, and come out at the last.”

The man was amazed. He stood watching the retiring preacher. Filled with curiosity he opened his Bible at the words: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

He went in at the first, and he came out at the last. The burden was gone.

Like a Child

One Lord's Day evening a preacher had been speaking of Christ to a small company. He was asked to talk to a middle-aged man who had remained after the service had closed. He had listened attentively throughout the evening, and now his face wore a troubled expression.

"Do you know the Lord?" the preacher asked him. The man shook his head.

"Are you a sinner?" was the next question. The answer was "Yes," spoken with deep feeling. It was evidently not the "yes" of carelessness, but of true conviction of sin.

"Well, if so," said the servant of God, "what are you going to do about it?”

After a short pause, the man replied, "I shall say my prayers.”

"That is of no use," answered the preacher. "If you could live as long as Methuselah, and pray all the time, that could never save you.”

The man started at these words, and said: "What must I do then?”

God's answer in Acts 16:31 was at once given: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." In a few simple words Christ was shown forth as the Savior of sinners. It was pointed out that He had already done all that had to be done in order to clear the guilty.

The man's face brightened as he listened. He believed the Word of God. Though he was entirely uneducated and unable to read or write, that was no hindrance to his receiving the gospel like a little child, and owning the Lord as his Savior.

The Lord abhors the pretensions to goodness which man is so ready to entertain, but delights to unveil the beauty and simplicity of His grace to the humble soul.

"Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 18:3.

"Oh, My Sins! Oh, My Savior!"

She was an elderly woman well past the threescore and ten years of Scripture. Her hair was white and her face wore a look of deep distress. I observed her sitting regularly in the same place in the meeting room every night, and I longed to speak to her. She gave me no chance, as she left the hall as soon as my message was ended. Her sad and anxious face haunted me. I could not rest until I found out where she lived; then I visited her.

Her cottage was in a back lane and spotlessly clean. She was busy working when I entered, but willingly stopped to talk about her soul. When I asked if she knew the Lord Jesus as her Savior, her one cry was: "Oh, my sins!”

My next question was: "How long have you been so burdened about your sins?" To this she answered that she had wept and prayed for forgiveness of sins for about thirty long, weary years. All that time she had been going to the meeting room, hoping to find pardon and peace there; but she could not yet claim salvation.

I asked her: "Do you believe that Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures; that He was buried and raised again the third day, according to the Scriptures?" (1 Cor. 15:3, 4.)

She assented to all this, but it brought her no comfort. She still cried mournfully: "Oh, my sins!”

Desiring to help her if I could through the comfort of the Scriptures, I continued: "You do believe that Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24), and that He had put them all away by shedding His precious blood before He left the cross, and that He is now in heaven without them?”

Seeing that the blessed Spirit of God was dealing with this divinely awakened soul, I longed that she might have the knowledge of the forgiveness of her sins. I endeavored to show her simply by the Scriptures that Christ had all her sins laid on Him on the cross; that He put them all away before He left the cross; and that He is now upon His Father's throne in the glory without one sin upon Him. For how could God have sins in His holy presence?

I asked her: "If Christ had your sins upon Him on the cross, and is now in heaven without them, where are they?”

For a moment she gazed at me with wide, startled eyes. Then a radiant smile spread over her face as she exclaimed: "Why, they are all gone, and I never realized that before." As the immensity of this so great salvation which she now knew was hers began to flood her being, with reverent adoration she murmured: "Oh, my Savior!”

She now knew the joy of sins forgiven and was sure of having a Savior in heaven. She could look confidently up into His face there and say: "For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." 2 Tim. 1:12.

"There is no peace, saith
my God, to the wicked.”

Isa. 57:21.

For He (the Lord) is

our peace.”

Eph. 2:14.

November

The Victory

My chains are snapped, the bonds of sin are broken,
And I am free!
Oh! let the triumphs of His grace be spoken,
Who died for me.

"O death, O grave," I do not dread thy power,
The ransom's paid.
On Jesus, in that dark and dreadful hour,
My guilt was laid.

Yes, Jesus bore it bore, in love unbounded,
What none can know.
He passed through death, and gloriously confounded
Our every foe.

And now He's risen. Proclaim the joyful story;
The Lord's on high!
And we in Him are raised in endless glory,
And ne'er can die.

We wait to see the Morning Star appearing
In glory bright;
This blessed hope illumes with beams most cheering
The hours of night.

A New Song

It was a fine spring morning when Annie Lee, the truck gardener's daughter, tripped along the road toward the little town where she looked after her father's produce every market day. Nature had put on her beautiful garments of spring, and lay basking in the sunshine.

Annie sang in the joy of her heart that morning until the hills echoed with her voice. Do you know why? I will tell you. Just a week ago God had saved her soul.

It generally happens that on such occasions Satan is busily seeking to trip up the happy child of God and, if possible, spoil his testimony for Christ.

When Annie reached the market place she found an old companion of her unconverted days awaiting her at the stall. In this girl's company she had spent many an hour enjoying the foolish and sinful pleasures of the world. This friend, like Annie herself, was a good singer, and they had frequently sung duets together. When Annie saw her former companion awaiting her, the color came to her cheeks and Satan suggested, "do not tell her you have been converted; she will just laugh at you before them all.”

"Come on, Annie," said the girl, "I have been anxious to see you. I've found such a grand new song, and I want you to learn it. Just listen." And before Annie had time to reply she sang the first verse of the new song. At one time it would have been a charm to Annie Lee, but now she realized she had something so much better.

"And I have a new song too," said Annie cheerily. "Suppose I give you a bit of it.”

"O Christ, in Thee my soul hath found,
And found in Thee alone,
The peace, the joy I sought so long,
The bliss till now unknown.

"Now none but Christ can satisfy,
None other, name for me;
There's love and life and lasting joy,
Lord Jesus, found in Thee.”

The girl looked at her as if she had lost her mind. Then without saying a single word she picked up her basket and walked away.

But Annie's song and happy testimony did their work. In a short time the careless girl was saved, and she too found her delight in singing of Jesus.

"He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God." Psa. 40:2, 3.

Almost

Many are convinced of the sinfulness of their course and resolve to lead a different life. They profess conversion and join a church. Life is entirely different from what it was before; but there has been no new birth, no new nature. These deluded souls are well pleased with themselves. The position they have taken quiets their consciences, and the world still suits their hearts. Contented with the change in association and profession, they sink decently into the world, only to be awakened when they lift up their eyes in hell.

A Farmer's Wife

"I cannot believe your doctrine, sir, that all who are once truly saved can never be lost. I once felt happy myself, but it is all gone now." These statements were made to me by a farmer's wife when speaking of God's salvation.

"What made you feel happy?" I asked.

"Well, sir, for some years I was in deep distress of soul, seeking rest here and there. I was troubled about my sins and my lost condition. One night, as plain as though someone were speaking to me, I heard the scripture: `Daughter, thy sins be forgiven.' How happy I was! But I have lost everything now; it is all gone. My peace has fled.”

I immediately turned to two little girls who were listening to their mother, and asked, "Are these your daughters?”

"Oh, yes, they are mine.”

"Were they always your daughters?”

"Of course they were.”

"Will they always be your daughters?”

"Certainly they will," she replied, looking at me as though I were stupid to ask such questions.

"What did you hear yourself called that night?" "Daughter.”

"Did it say 'daughter'? If you were a daughter then, you are a daughter now. The relationship of a parent and child can never be broken.”

Reader, are you in the difficulty in which I found the farmer's wife? If so, permit me to direct you to a few plain scriptures that prove beyond question that a person once truly believing can never be lost. He becomes a child of God forever. If my reader be inclined to argue that there are some difficult scriptures which seem to prove the contrary, all I ask is, believe what is plain, and what you can understand. Then quietly wait upon God until the other scriptures are made plain; for, rely upon it, God cannot contradict Himself.

The first scripture I ask you to look at is John 1:12: "As many as received Him [Jesus], to them gave He power [or the right, title, or privilege] to become the sons [rather, children] of God.”

Again, John 8:35: "The servant abideth not in the house forever." Our servants leave us, or we send them away at our pleasure, and the link is broken. Not so our children; "the Son abideth ever." The new or spiritual birth is as real as the natural; and being "born of God" brings us into His family. If your child were to go to the other side of the globe, he would still be your child; and wherever your house was, he would still be able to point to it and say: "This is my father's house.”

Perhaps you reply: "I must feel I am a child before I can enjoy the relationship; and if the Spirit does not witness within, I cannot be one.”

The Word of God says, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Rom. 8:16. Notice, being children, the Spirit of God takes possession of our hearts, giving us the conscious relationship of children.

Dear suffering soul, do you look upon affliction as a sign that you are not a child of God?

We read in Heb. 12 that God as Father deals with His erring children. The 6th verse tells us that "whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." The 7th verse says, "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?”

Moreover, if a believer sins, he is dealt with as a child of God, by the Father, to maintain the holiness of His house; but he never ceases to be a child.

Doubting Christian, will you not give full credit to the love of God? "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons [children] of God." 1 John 3:1. "Beloved, now are we the sons [children] of God, and it doth not yet appear [is not yet fully manifested] what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." 1 John 3:2.

Nothing can be more distinct, clear, and emphatic than that "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23. To doubt or question this is to deny the recorded words of God. "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." 1 John 5:11. The special purpose of the Spirit of God in writing thus is: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life." 1 John 5:13. Mark, it is ours, not to fear or to hope for, but to know with certainty on no less authority than the Word of the living God who cannot lie, that we are "children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." Gal. 3:26.

Unsaved soul, you have no claim on God as a Father. To you He is Judge. But by this same holy Word you can become a child of God, a member of His family, by faith in His dear Son Jesus.

This blessed Savior of sinners said, "No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." John 14:6. And His precious promise is: "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37. Will you not believe Him, receive Him, and enter into the eternal joys of family relationship with the Lord of glory?

Judgment or Mercy

Without judgment on evildoers it would be utterly impossible to maintain righteous government. Hell is an absolute necessity. So far from the dread thought of eternal punishment turning men against the gospel, it has been a terror to evildoers, and a help in restraining men. Besides, it has driven very many to seek a Savior-God, so as to escape His just and holy judgment.

Blessed be God, He gave His own Son to die for us. He drank the bitter cup of wrath. He was made a curse for us.

Let Calvary's rich display of divine love melt your heart—that God in love to you put His own Son on the cross that you might never endure the tortures of hell fire.

Oh, unsaved one, while you have the opportunity, see to it that the matter of greatest moment—your soul's eternal welfare—is settled. Time will soon be gone!

Only one way is offered whereby each and all can escape the wrath of God. How simple, yet how grand is God's mercy, peace and eternal life! "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31.

A Brand from the Burning

A young Christian man was discouraged. He was dissatisfied with his own lukewarmness and felt that his life was unfruitful for God. In the midst of his dejection a letter came telling him that his friend Frank was in a nearby hospital dying of tuberculosis.

Taking this as a message from God to go with the "wonderful words of life" to the dying man, the young Christian visited him. Sad to say, he found only indifference and scorn. "What a shame," said one and another, "to upset the poor fellow's mind by such matters!" Frank's wife was angry too, for she sought to deceive her husband into the false idea that he would soon be well.

Assured, however, by the head nurse that the case was a hopeless one, our friend continued his almost daily visits. He faithfully and lovingly urged in his simplest language the need of at once receiving, as a lost and ruined sinner, God's great and eternal gift of Christ.

"They think at home that I am dying," said Frank on one occasion to his visitor. A smile passed over his haggard features at the bare idea of such a thought.

"But if you knew, dear Frank, that you were going to die today, tell me, would you not then hasten to receive Christ as your Savior?”

"No," was his emphatic reply.

This was on Friday. Circumstances prevented further visits until the following Tuesday. During this interval prayer went up to God for wisdom and help.

On Tuesday our friend called and found him much worse. "Well, Frank, how long halt ye between two opinions?" he asked.

"I'm not halting now," was the reply. Poor Frank, now rapidly nearing eternity, was aware of his danger. He confessed his sense of his lost condition, and cast himself upon the mercy of an ever-loving Savior. He definitely closed in with God's offer and received the Lord Jesus Christ as his only hope for eternal salvation.

In the early hours of the following day, Frank took his departure from "the earthly house of this tabernacle," and was "present with the Lord." Thus in his last moments this poor sinner was saved. Like the dying thief upon the cross, he was as "a brand plucked from the burning.”

Unsaved one, consider! The hour may soon come that will end your earthly journey. Prepare now for eternity, while it is yet today. I pray you to take thought! "Flee from the wrath to come!”

"It Was for Me"

One stormy Sunday afternoon, at the hour when a class of young women usually gathered in a little mountain cottage for Bible study, only one girl waited for the teacher. She had been learning during the week the sweet words of Isa. 53; and as she had plodded up the hillside she had been repeating the verses to herself. However, they were to her then only as the "very lovely song of one who had a pleasant voice." She had not apprehended the meaning of "being healed by His stripes.”

After prayer, with which the hour of teaching always began, Mary stood to repeat her chapter. She said the first four verses, but when she reached the fifth verse: "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," the tears filled her eyes. Before reaching the end of the verse her head sank down, and the fast-falling tears dropped on the open Bible before her, as she sobbed out: "It was for me; it was for me!”

The intense solemnity of the moment held the teacher silent. As Mary's tears continued to flow freely, the older woman said: "Let us thank Him, dear child, that it was for you." They knelt down, and after the teacher had thanked the Lord for opening the eyes of the dear girl to see Jesus as her substitute, the tears were dried, and in broken tones Mary said: "Lord Jesus, I thank Thee that Thou didst die for me, and that Thou didst take my punishment." Then the sweet calm of conscious "acceptance in the Beloved" stole into the broken heart, and peace with God was sweetly realized.

Have you, reader, ever known the joy of realization that He was wounded for your transgressions, that He was bruised for your iniquities, that the chastisement of your peace was upon Him? If not, you are far from God, outside in the darkness of unbelief and death. Until you accept the love of a living, loving Savior, and see Him as your sin bearer, there is no peace, no life, no joy for you.

Oh, believe this love that is yearning over you. It is stronger than death, and is as infinite as God Himself.

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons [children] of God." 1 John 3:1.

Time No Longer

God has told us in His Word that there is a time for every purpose and for every work (Ecc. 3:1). He further says that "now is the accepted time: behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2. He lingers in patience, beseeching men to repent. He sends warning after warning by the solemn catastrophes which, for the moment, shock the mind; but too often they pass unheeded. "The Lord is... not willing that any should perish." 2 Peter 3:9.

The day of grace—God's NOW—is still lengthened out. Again He sends a message of invitation, saying: "Yet there is room." Luke 14:22. The house is not yet filled; the door is not yet closed. God is still saying, "Come.”

But even as God has appointed a time for every work He has also "appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained." Acts 17:31. Solemn thought! When that day has come, when that hour has struck, there will be "time no longer." Rev. 10:6. No more delay, no more lingering in grace. No more an open door, no more room. NOW God offers eternal life and forgiveness to "whosoever will" on the ground of the work accomplished on the cross by His own beloved Son whose blood "cleanseth from all sin." THEN it will be too late. Now is the "accepted time." Then there will be "time no longer.”

"Soon that voice will cease its calling;
Now it speaks, and speaks to thee;
Sinner, heed the gracious message,
To the blood for refuge flee!
Take salvation—
Take it now and happy be.”

Jesus Saves

God, in condescending grace through the Scriptures, tells you what He is as the holy One, what He is in justice, what He is in love. And He tells you what you are—a sinner; and what His justice demands. All man's opinions cannot alter God's character or man's state.

Christ Jesus came into the world "to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10.

Turn then from your miserable self-righteousness to the agonies of the cross. Behold there the blessed work which enables God to save you the moment you fling every human crutch away and "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

"All Sin"

After a very precious gospel meeting in New Brunswick one morning, several remained in the hall to have a private word with the Lord's servant. Among the number was an old man whose hair was gray with the snow of many winters. He appeared very anxious, as if he wanted to be spoken to; so I said to him: "Well, Thomas, and how is it with you now?”

"I fear I'm no further on than when I saw you last," he replied.

"And why not, dear Thomas? 'What's the cause of it?”

"I don't know, I can't tell. Two years ago I was more anxious about salvation than now. I put it off, and it seems as if my day of grace is gone. Now there is no hope for me," he replied. His very face was the picture of misery and despair.

"Look here, dear friend, it was very, very solemn to resist the Holy Ghost as you did then. But I believe that though you did seek to drive Him away and drown conviction, you may be saved even now, this very morning.”

Opening my Bible I found the verse, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7. I said, "Now mark the word 'all.' It will take in your sin of neglecting and rejecting Christ, for which you are now in such despair.”

As his eyes rested on the words "all sin," light seemed to break and the darkness flee; and I really felt the old man got "peace and joy in believing." His very countenance changed its expression of bondage and sorrow to that of liberty and gladness, as he

"Rejoiced to read, with sparkling eyes,
His title clear to mansions in the skies.”

Arid now, dear reader, are your sins many and vile in the sight of God and man? If you really feel them such and are mourning over them, as was this old man, I assure you from God's own Word that the moment you implicitly trust in the blood of Jesus Christ, that "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." The blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin. When you believe that and receive Him, then will you be able to sing truthfully,

"Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.”

"How can ye escape the damnation of hell?”

Matt. 23:33.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”

Rom. 8:1.

December

The Sword of the Spirit

One summer an evangelist was invited to a small town in Iowa to deliver an address to young men. When the hour for the service arrived, very few young men were in the room. The evangelist said, "You have invited me to speak to young men. This was kind on your part; but you see there are not many young men present. However, we will go on with the meeting. After we are through here, we will go where the young men are.”

He then spoke to the little group gathered in the hall; and at the "close of the service invited all who would to join him on the public square.

The company proceeded to the square, reaching it about the time for the churches nearby to be dismissed. Soon there were many on the walks and on the streets, homeward bound in the beautiful quietness of the summer evening.

The evangelist and his little company sang a few gospel hymns which drew a large crowd of young men and others about them. The preacher stepped up on an elevated place, announcing the whole gospel of Christ in the verse: "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.

The evangelist had a very strong voice which carried well, so that all in the square, now filled with listeners, could hear him. For some reason, not known to himself at the time, he was led to repeat his text often; and out over the stillness of the summer evening rang the words,

"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.

The place where the evangelist stood was directly opposite and facing a street that led away from the square and up an incline to a residential section of the city. His voice sounded up that street and in that direction with the clearness of a trumpet.

Sitting on the porch of his house at this time, half a mile from the meeting, was a banker of the city. As he sat quietly enjoying the cool night air he heard a voice as though out of the sky, saying:

"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.

It startled him; but after a moment of quiet he concluded that he had imagined the sound. But again, after a few minutes, the same voice repeated the same words. Although this banker was a most exemplary man in all outward things and was respected by the community, he was not a Christian. When these words by this strange voice were borne to him repeatedly on the evening air, he was deeply impressed. As God has said, "The word of God is the sword of the Spirit." (Eph. 6:17.) The Holy Spirit used these words to pierce the man's heart. He went into the house and to his room, but not to sleep.

In the morning at the breakfast table he told his family the experience of the evening before. He stated that he had heard a voice out of the sky speaking to him about God and eternal life, and that he had passed a troubled, uneasy night, and that he was still disturbed and concerned.

His son tried to reassure him by saying: "Father, it was not a voice out of the sky that you heard. It was a man's voice. He was speaking down at the square, using for his text the words that you mentioned.”

But God had fastened the words in the banker's mind and heart. At the bank a few hours later, in deep distress of mind, he called his son to him and asked if he knew if the evangelist were still in the city. The son replied that he did not know, but would try to find him and bring him to see his father. The evangelist was located; and taking his Bible with him he was escorted to the bank and ushered into the banker's private office. He soon discovered that here was a soul ready for the good news of salvation. With joyful thanksgiving he pointed him to the blessed Lamb of God, and was given the added joy of hearing from the banker's own lips his confession of faith in God's dear Son.

"If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Rom. 10:9, 10.

Decision

Special evangelistic services were being held in a busy, city in New York State. At the close of a gospel address an, invitation was given for inquirers to remain for personal conversation. A number stayed and repaired to a room set apart for the purpose. Before the congregation had completely dispersed the preacher returned to the hall from the inquiry room. Deeply impressed with the thought that there were others present desirous of becoming Christians, he made a stirring appeal to such to accept God's salvation that night. For a moment there was silence. It was broken by a young lady who rose from a pew near the back of the building. In firm, clear tones she said: "I wish to be saved tonight!”

She then walked up the center of the hall, every eye being turned toward her and entered the inquiry room. The Holy Spirit convicted her of sin and she longed for forgiveness. Soon she was, rejoicing in Christ as her Savior. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth On Me hath everlasting life." John 6:47.

Peace and joy filled her heart. That night she retired to, rest conscious that if she were called into eternity ere the morning dawned she would be in glory with the Lord Jesus.

On, the following Wednesday, as the gospel service was closing, a Christian who had just entered the hall asked to be allowed to speak for a few minutes. He began by reminding those present of what had taken place on the preceding Lord's Day evening. He told of the young lady standing up, expressing her desire to be saved, and going into the inquiry room. He told of her happy conversion there. Then with deep emotion he added: "I have just come from her death bed. She was taken ill on Monday, and tonight she passed into eternity. Her heart was full of peace and joy; and before her departure to be with Christ, she exultingly said: `I thank God I accepted Christ last Sunday night.'”

The audience heard the narration of this incident in stunned silence. God had spoken. The importance of immediate acceptance of Christ was brought home to some as it never had been before.

And to you, dear reader, may it speak as loudly. May this moment be to you the "valley of decision.”

"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2.

What Had to Be Done

The magnitude of what had to be done proved the Sinner's total inability to do it. Sin had to be put away. Could man do that? Nay; it was by man that sin came in.

The serpent's head had to be bruised. Could man do that? Nay;, he had become the old serpent Satan's slave. God's claims had to be met. Could man do that? Nay; he had already trampled them under foot.

Death had to be abolished. Could man do that? Nay; he had by sin introduced it, and imparted to it its terrible sting.

Blessed be God! He had One who could stand for Him, and come down to man's deepest need— "The Son of man whom He made strong to stand for Himself," our "Daysman who could lay His hand upon us both." Yes, Jesus did it ALL long, long ago, thanks to His peerless name.

God's Arrow

"God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded." Psa. 64:7.

A Christian woman was distributing tracts on board ship. She handed one to an elderly man as she passed him on the deck, and as she returned she was deeply grieved to see him tear the tract in fragments and fling it overboard. She simply said as she walked past him, "You will have to account for that.”

The man thought no more of the matter. The tract was flung upon, the waters, as he thought, and he would forget all about it. But not so the living God; He had not forgotten either the tract or the man who had torn it up. He caused a little scrap of that torn tract to be blown by the breeze into the man's bosom! That very night as he was undressing to go to bed the fragment of the tract fell out of his shirt.

He picked it up. It was but a very small scrap; just large enough to contain two words of immense weight and deep solemnity: "God" and "Eternity." With these two words before him, the lady's pointed utterance came back to his memory, "You will have to account for that.”

Thus, this man had before him three grand and solemn realities: God—Eternity—Judgment. Tremendous words! He lay down, but not to sleep. There was no sleep for his eyes, nor slumber for his eyelids that night. He tossed to and fro till morning. The words, "God," "Eternity," and "You will have to account for that," rang in his ears and sounded deep down in his heart.

He arose from bed and sought to drown his thoughts by drink. But it was no use! He awoke from his wine only to feel with augmented force those solemn words: "God!—Eternity!—Judgment to come!" In short, an arrow from the quiver of God had entered his soul. He had thought to get rid of that little tract, to drown that silent messenger. But, no, God had His eye upon him. God sent the breeze and caused it to blow that identical scrap of the torn tract into his bosom. Of the scores of scraps into which the tract had been torn not one would do but that tiny one containing the very words which the Eternal Spirit meant to use as an arrow to pierce his soul.

How marvelous are God's ways! Who but an atheist could doubt that the hand of God was in the breeze which blew that fragment into the man's bosom? Blessed be His name, He knows how to reach a soul! When He begins to work, nothing can hinder. His eye was upon that precious soul, in spite of all his enmity and all his efforts to turn aside the arrow which sovereign grace had aimed at his heart. The man tried to destroy the tract. God ordered that just so much of the tract should lodge in his bosom as contained the arrow that was to lodge in his heart.

In vain did the man seek to get rid of his thoughts, to stifle his convictions. His misery increased, his anxiety became more intense. Only one thing could heal his wound; the precious balm of the gospel, the soothing virtues of the blood of Christ. In desperation he sought and heard a gospel message, and his troubled soul found rest in that finished work of Christ.

And now, reader, how do you respond to these things? What is your heart's answer to these solemn words: "GOD—ETERNITY—JUDGMENT TO COME"?

The coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Eternity is just ahead. Will you stand before God as Judge, or will you meet Him as your loving Father? Ask your heart: "What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?" Matt. 27:22.

Granny's Home

It was my happy privilege for many years to visit regularly a dear saint of God. She has lately fallen asleep in Jesus and awaits that long looked-for morn when the trumpet shall sound and the dead in Christ shall arise.

Many happy hours I have spent with her, and often I have come away refreshed in spirit from my visit with one poor in this world's goods, but rich in faith.

Nearly a century her years had run, and for most of that time she had known the Lord as her Savior, her Refuge, and her Comforter. One always felt that to her heaven was not simply heaven, but home. She constantly spoke of "home" with evident reality, and yet with perfect simplicity. The deep, blessed teaching of the Spirit of God had made this home a very real place to her—a place she longed for day by day. Sometimes, after she had been ill, we would say to her: "Well, Granny, not gone home yet?" She would reply: "No, not yet; I must have patience.”

One afternoon I asked her: "Granny, wouldn't you like to live to be a hundred?" She lacked only three or four years of that great age. Her quick reply, as she raised herself on her arm, was: "No, I wouldn't— not at all! I want to go and be with Jesus. If I am His and He is mine, what more could I want? His rod and staff will comfort me.”

Unsaved one, nothing but fear and dread can fill your heart when you think of God and the brightness of the eternal glory, with Him. While you shrink from hell, do you not wish there were some other place where you could go by-and-by rather than to the presence of Him whom the redeemed call "Father"? May the Lord in His tender mercy use the words of that dear old saint to tell you of the blessed realities of faith! "I often think," she used to say, "I am a great sinner; but He is a bigger Savior.”

You know yourself to be a great sinner, don't you? I know you do, but "He is a greater Savior." May you, my, reader, also know for yourself how great a Savior the Lord Jesus is!

One Savior Only

Well do I remember when it was first made known to me that Jesus was the only Savior. Before then, it was the Savior and I. Alas, the blindness of the creature that would seek to add something of its wretched doings of make-believe sacrifice and devotion, not seeing that Jesus is all! That is worshiping and serving the creature (self) more than the Creator (Christ).

The Lord Jesus Christ must be the whole Savior or none at all. Thus He was manifested. "Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins." Matt. 1:21. And no other name can be added to His in this great work of redemption. No other name is worthy, and God is indeed jealous of that name. It is written, "There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12.

The Great Trip

It is called "great" because it is made but once. It is not a "round trip," for there is no return. It occupies a lifetime, and is in fact the trip from the cradle to the grave. You and I are on this trip.

Though there is but one trip, there are two roads. One of them is narrow and the other is broad. Every person is traveling on one of these two roads (Matt. 7:13, 14). On which are you traveling at the present moment?

And there are two conductors on the lookout for travelers. The first is "the Son of Man" who "is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10. He says: "I am the way... no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." John 14:6. Has He found you yet?

The second seeker is "the devil" who "walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter 5:8. He bitterly opposes all who are inclined to journey on the narrow road, annoying and persecuting those who are already traveling on it. God's armor alone will enable travelers to resist him (Eph. 6:11).

The broad road promises pleasure, but its agents hide the fact that it robs and murders its patrons (Rom. 6:23; Prov. 7:26). Shun it as you would a poisonous snake.

The narrow road is not always pleasant, but it is perfectly safe (Isa. 26:3). And think of the grand terminus of this road! We read about it in the last two chapters of the Revelation. May the God of all grace grant that you and I may travel on this road to its blissful end.

Read Deut. 30, which ends with these words: "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.”

Eternity

A gulf whose large extent no bounds engage;
A still beginning, never ending, age.
Which, when ten thousand, thousand years are run,
Is still the same, and still to be begun.

No Pretense

"Yes, I know I am not a Christian! I don't profess to be one," was the light and careless answer given by a young woman not long ago. A few earnest words had just been spoken to her for her soul's good.

She seemed to think, poor girl, that really some small credit was due her for not pretending to be what in reality she was not; as if, when brought face to face with her Maker and her Judge, she could by her bold answer, "I have never professed to be a Christian," escape the reward of her indifference.

Yet this very girl could calmly look back and remember the death-bed of a dearly loved sister. Of her she would say: "Oh, she was a Christian if ever there were one. Often did she plead with me to accept Christ and meet her in heaven.”

Love of admiration, of dress and of worldly companions were weeds which choked any serious thoughts or desires to know her sister's Savior. An occasional attendance at Bible class or preaching of the Word was thought by this young girl to be interest enough for her to take in "all that sort of thing," as she called religion.

Dear reader, I hope these words so lightly spoken, "I know I am not a Christian," will strike you as solemnly as they do me. What an awful thing this is to "know"! How strange that anyone can go on eating, drinking, sleeping, playing, taking pleasure in all the trifling things of this poor, perishing world, and not troubling about what is to follow when this earthly life is over! Then, perhaps suddenly, death comes, and the giddy thoughtless one is snatched away to hear the Lord utter His terrible "I know"— "Verily I say, unto you, I know you not.”

Matt. 25:12.

I beg you to think seriously for a few Moments. You know some whom you love are waiting for the Lord Jesus to come from heaven and take them to Himself. They are true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and each of them can say, "I know I am a Christian.”

Will you write down the truth about yourself? Will you have to record "I know I am" or "I know I am not a Christian"? That little word "not" —that word makes all the solemn difference.

Should the Lord Jesus come today, do you think that by saying, "I know I am not a Christian; but I have never pretended to be one," you would be allowed to go up into the glory with His people? No, indeed! And you know that too.

Dear reader, if still unsaved, now is the time to accept God's wonderful salvation in Christ. Now is the time God gives you to be saved!,

"What shall I do then
with Jesus which
is called Christ?”

Matt. 27:22.

"As many as received Him,
to them gave He power
to become the sons of
God, even to them
that believe on
His name.”

John 1:12.