Echoes of Grace: 1977

"May I help you?" The question, asked by a saleslady, was addressed to a sailor who had just entered a Bible House in Singapore one hot sultry afternoon.

"No," he replied, "I only want to make a selection of books and am pleased to help myself."

When he had chosen several volumes and brought them to the sales desk, he said, "These books are for our ship's library. Up until a few months ago I would have had no interest in such reading. But now, through God's mercy, my chief enjoyment and delight is in good Christian literature.

"I am an American seaman. Our ship is in port for several days. When I came ashore I saw your book display in the window.

"Some months ago," he continued, "we were on a round trip from New York via the South Pacific ports, north again through the Mediterranean and across the Atlantic ocean. The trip takes about three months.

"On the way out on our last trip, however, I, of all the ship's company, contracted the measles. I was so ill the captain put into a port in India and left me ashore in a hospital, while the ship continued its voyage.

"It was a sad day for me when I saw my buddies embark for home while I had to stay— a complete stranger in a foreign port.

"Time passed very slowly. As I was in isolation, I had no contact with anyone but the hospital staff. It was then I discovered an English Bible in my room. It had been placed there by some godly men who have made it their business to circulate the Word of God in this way.

"It was the only Book of any description available, so I began to read it. There was nothing else to do.

"But as I continued to read I felt the Spirit of God speaking to my soul. I read: " 'All have sinned and come short of the glory of God' (Rom. 3:23); and I felt myself a poor lost sinner in the presence of a holy God. Thank God, the message did not stop there. I also read: " 'Christ died for our sins,' and 'the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.' (1 John 1:7).

"This living Word of God brought life, light and liberty to my poor dark heart, and I am now through grace a new man in Christ Jesus.

"In due course our ship came around again and picked me up. We are now on our way home."

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform! Who would have guessed that a case of measles would result in eternal blessing to a soul?

END

None but Christ Can Satisfy

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.
I sighed for rest and happiness,
I yearned for them, not Thee:
But while I passed my Savior by,
His love laid hold on me.

Saved Through His Shaving Paper

In Ontario, one day in late autumn, a stranger passed down a rural road with a bag of books. At every farm on the route he left a copy of "Grace and Truth," a gospel booklet written by W. P. Mackay.

Winter came and was almost half gone when one of the farmers happened to be at a neighbor's home. The neighbor was full of a wonderful new joy. He could not keep it to himself, and as soon as his friend arrived he began to tell him of the salvation that had come to his house. The neighbor listened in amazement and then asked: "Where did you learn all this?"

"Some man left a copy of a book at our house last fall. I never looked at it till lately, but a few weeks ago I read it. And now I am saved!"

"What was the name of the book?"

"Grace and Truth."

"Seems to me I've heard those words before, but I can't think where. Oh, yes, I remember, a man left a book by that name at our house. I've been tearing a page out of it every morning to wipe my razor while I shave. That's where I've seen those words."

"Is any of the book left?"

"Yes, it's about half left."

"You go right home and read it."

He went home and read it— and was saved through reading the half of the book that had escaped his shaving.

"The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." John 1:17.

He That Heareth and Believeth?

John 5:24

The unwillingness of people to believe the gospel is well illustrated in the story of an eccentric Irish landlord on whose vast estate dwelt a number of very needy tenants.

There came a day when this very wealthy man was converted to Christ. Anxious to make clear to his people too the marvelous provision God had made for their salvation, he evolved the following plan.

He posted in prominent places on his wide domain notices which declared that on a certain day he would be in his office down by the lodge gates from ten o'clock in the morning until 12 noon. During that time, he would be prepared to pay the debts of all tenants who brought him their unpaid bills.

The notices caused much excitement. People discussed the strange offer. Some declared it to be a hoax. Others were certain "there must be a catch somewhere." A few even thought that the landlord was going out of his mind, for "who had ever heard of any sane man making such an offer?"

When the stated day came, many could be seen making their way to the office, and as the hour of ten approached a considerable crowd had gathered about the door.

Promptly at ten the landlord and his secretary arrived at the gate, and without a word to anyone entered the office and closed the door. A great discussion began outside. Was there anything to it? Did he really mean it? Would he only make a fool of one who brought him his bills to pay?

Some insisted that it was the landlord's signature at the bottom of the notice, and that he would surely honor his name.

But an hour passed and no one had gone in to present his claim. When one man suggested to another to venture in, he was met with the angry reply: "I don't owe so very much. I have no need to go in. Let someone else try it first— someone who owes more than I do!" And so the precious moments slipped away.

Finally, when it was nearing twelve o'clock, an aged couple from the farthest bound of the estate came hobbling up arm in arm. Tightly clutched in one hand the old man carried a bundle of bills.

"Is it true that the landlord be paying all the debts of all who come today?" he inquired.

"He ain't paid none yet," said one of the crowd. "We think it is just a cruel joke," said another. The eyes of the old couple filled with tears.

"Is it all a mistake?" they said. "We hoped it was true and thought how good it would be to die free of debt." They were turning disconsolately away, when someone said: "No one has tried the landlord yet. Why not go in? If he pays your bills, come out quickly and tell us and we'll go in too."

To this the old folks agreed and timidly opened the door and went in. They were warmly received, and in answer to their question as to whether the notice was true, the secretary said: "Do you think that the landlord would deceive you? Let me see your bills."

When they were presented and carefully tabulated, a check was made out in the landlord's name to cover them all. Overwhelmed with gratitude the old man and his wife were about to leave when the secretary said, "Just be seated. You must remain till the office closes at noon."

The old couple explained that the crowd outside was waiting for confirmation of the strange offer. But the landlord said: "No, you took me at my word. They must do the same."

And so the minutes passed. Outside the people moved restlessly about watching the closed door; but none lifted the latch. As the clock struck noon the door opened and the old couple emerged first. The crowd surrounded them and asked, "Did he keep his word?"

"Yes, neighbors, here is his check and it's as good as gold."

"Why didn't you come out and tell us?"

"The landlord said we must wait inside, and that you must come as we did and take him at his word."

A moment later the landlord and his secretary came out and hurried to the waiting vehicle while the crowd pressed about them, holding out hands full of bills and crying, "Won't you do for us as you did for those folks?" The landlord said: "It's too late now. I gave you every opportunity. I would have paid your bills for you all, but you would not believe me.

He then likened the events of the morning to the way men treat God's offer to cancel the sinner's debt of sin— through simply believing His word in the gospel.

Solemnly the landlord warned them of the folly of doubting God's word and neglecting so great salvation until the day of grace ends and it is forever too late to be saved.

END

Will He Do It Today?

In a city in China a missionary was speaking to a group of Chinese about Jesus and His power to save.

It was such strange good news to them that no wonder they did not grasp at once the full meaning of the gospel.

One woman who seemed particularly dull, interrupted many times saying: "Is it true?"

She was told that it was true, that Jesus Christ could save the most sinful: that He never turned away any, but gladly welcomed all, and pardoned all that truly trusted in Him.

"But," persisted the woman, "does Jesus do these things now?"

"Yes."

"Will He today?"

"Yes."

"Then I will ask Him to receive me."

And He did, greatly to the woman's joy of heart.

A few days later she came to the missionaries and said, "I know now that what you told me the other day was true."

"How do you know?"

"He has done it for me. Are you going to another city where they have never heard of Jesus?"

"Yes."

"Are you going soon?"

"Yes, very soon."

"Have you a servant to go with you?"

"No."

"I am going with you. I love you and I love your Jesus."

And this poor Chinese woman, just converted from heathenism, accompanied the missionaries. In a short space of time she was able to tell hundreds of Chinese women and children that Jesus saves now. Her zeal for her Savior was marvelous to see. She never tired of telling forth the old, old story whenever she could obtain hearers.

"We do not want to go home: we never heard anything like this before," was the testimony of those who listened to her.

Have you ever asked, "Does Jesus do those things today?"

The best answer would be for you to take Him as your Savior yourself. Then you will be able to reply, as did the Chinese woman, "He has done it for me."

END

Grace

'Twas the same grace that spread the feast
That sweetly pressed me in;
Else I had still refused to taste,
And perished in my sin.

Can We Be Sure?

Recently two small booklets with somewhat similar titles came to our attention. The title of one was, "To Be Sure," the other, "Can We Be Sure?" Of course these titles suggested similar themes, but on examination, how different the booklets proved to be! Both spoke intimately of death; but one took the reader only so far as the grave, while the other assured him of life forevermore.

The booklet titled, "To Be Sure," was written to cause the reader to think positively about his death and funeral. It reasoned that since life was uncertain and death was sure, he should confide in a funeral director now. This prudent move would result in his funeral arrangements being preplanned unemotionally and logically, according to his own personal wishes; and when the inevitable happened, carried out with due dignity and respect, with the least possible strain upon his family. It also showed what steps should be considered to ensure that his grave would always look attractive after the sod had covered the scene. And there it all ended.

The other booklet titled "Can We Be Sure?" asked and answered these three vital questions: Can we be sure that we shall spend eternity with Christ and not in "the second death" in eternal separation from Him? Must this greatest of all questions go unanswered until this present life is over? Must the question of heaven or hell remain a torturing uncertainty until it is too late to make any changes?

In presenting and answering these questions the writer cited the following beautiful incident in the life of Queen Victoria.

She had attended a service in St. Paul's Cathedral and listened to a sermon that interested her greatly. Afterward the Queen asked her chaplain: "Can one be absolutely sure in this life of eternal safety?"

"I know of no way that one could be absolutely sure," was his reply.

This, having been published in the Court News, was read by a humble minister of the gospel named John Townsend.

After reading the Queen's question and the answer she received, Townsend sent the following note to the Queen:

"To Her Gracious Majesty,

Our Beloved Queen Victoria,

from one of her most humble subjects: "With trembling hands, but heartfelt love, and because I know that we can be absolutely sure, even now, of our eternal life in the Home that Jesus went to prepare, may I ask your Most Gracious Majesty to read the following Scriptures: John 3:16; Romans 10:9,10.

"These passages prove there is full assurance of salvation by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ for those who believe and accept His finished work. "I sign myself, your servant for Jesus' sake, John Townsend" In about two weeks he received by mail the following reply from the Queen: "To John Townsend: "Your letter of recent date received and in reply would state that I have carefully and prayerfully read the portions of Scripture referred to. I believe in the finished work of Christ for me, and trust by God's grace to meet you in that Home of which He said, 'I go to prepare a place for you.'

(Signed) Victoria Guelph."

The Scripture passages John Townsend commended to the reading of the Queen were these: "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." John 3:16.

"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.

From Death into Life

In Germany lived a poor Christian shoemaker. Times were exceedingly hard and only with great difficulty was he able to bring up his family.

But harder times still lay ahead. His health failed, until finally, seized with a terminal illness, his little shop had to be closed. From then on he slowly sank into the direst poverty.

Word of his plight reached the ears of a benevolent Christian worker, who with the object of helping him searched out the now destitute man. He found him in a small attic room, a stark picture of misery and want. He had seen many cases of poverty before, but on entering the little garret occupied by the sick shoemaker, the visitor was stunned.

Never had he witnessed such appalling conditions. The low dark room was utterly unfit for human habitation. There was no furniture, not even a chair or a bed.

In the corner, upon a heap of rags sat the shoemaker, now little more than a skeleton.

Recovering from shock and amazement, the visitor sat down beside him and taking his hand in his he said: "My poor friend, you seem to be very ill. Can you not lie down? It must be tiresome to sit up all the time."

"No, I cannot lie down," said the shoemaker with difficulty. This is the only way I can breathe. Yes, I am very ill. But in a few days, maybe hours, it will be all over.

"I know just how it will go. They will carry me down the narrow stairs and over to the cemetery. Then they will lower me into a grave. And there will they leave my body alone..."

The visitor wept. All was so true, all would come to pass. He attempted to reply, but words for the moment failed him.

Suddenly the dying man opened his eyes and a heavenly smile lit up his thin, pinched face as he struggled to exclaim:

"I can see myself with Christ— with my Redeemer— there where He is! I have finished my course. Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness!"

The last words were scarcely audible. In a few moments his spirit had left his body to be with Christ: there to await the resurrection morning when the dead in Christ shall come forth with glorified bodies to meet the Lord in the air. (1 Thess. 4:13-17.)

Deeply moved, the visitor departed. At first his heart was greatly disturbed: but now he was filled with praise and thanksgiving, knowing that the poor (but now rich!) shoemaker had entered the presence of the One who died for all that believe "That, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him."

1 Thess. 5:10.

END

Today If Ye Will Hear His Voice, Harden Not Your Heart.?

What will you do without Jesus
When death is drawing near?
Without His love— the only love
That casts out every fear;
When the shadow-valley opens,
Unlighted and unknown,
And the terrors of its darkness
Must all be passed alone!

Out and Into

"He brought us OUT... that He might bring us IN." Deuteronomy 6:23

Out of the distance and darkness so deep,
Out of the settled and perilous sleep;
Out of the region and shadow of death,
Out of its foul and pestilent breath:
Out of the bondage and wearying chains,
Out of companionship ever with stains:

Into the light and the glory of God,
Into the holiest, made clean by blood:
Into His arms— His embrace and His kiss—
Into the scene of ineffable bliss;
Into the quiet and infinite calm,
Into the place of the song and the psalm.

Wonderful love, that has wrought all for me!
Wonderful work, that has thus set me free!
Wonderful ground upon which I have come!
Wonderful tenderness welcoming home!

Out of disaster and ruin complete,
Out of the struggle and dreary defeat.
Out of my sorrow and burden and shame,
Out of the evils too fearful to name;
Out of my guilt, and the criminal's doom,
Out of the dreading, the terror, the gloom;

Into the sense of forgiveness and rest,
Into inheritance with all the blest,
Into a righteous and permanent peace,
Into the grandest and fullest release,
Into the comfort without an alloy,
Into a perfect and confident joy.

Wonderful holiness, bringing to light!
Wonderful grace, putting all out of sight!
Wonderful wisdom, devising the way!
Wonderful power, that nothing can stay!

"The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him."

Nahum 1:7

This Is My Story

Some years ago a cowboy from Arizona walked into the American Bible Society Depot in San Francisco. He was not the kind of man usually found in a Bible House, but a real old-time cowboy, with one eye shot out, one hand in his hip pocket, as though feeling his gun, his Stetson stuck on the back of his head. He looked as if he were ready to stage a hold-up.

"I want the Book of Mark," he said in a sharp, demanding voice to the one in charge. Then bringing his great fist down on the counter, he continued: "This is the Book that brought me to God four years ago. It was in one of the lowest lodging places in the city. This is my story: "For thirty years I was a cowboy in Arizona. One day I came to 'Frisco' for a 'blow out.' After a night of revelry, I awoke in one of the lowest lodging houses in this town and saw on the table in my room a little book. 'The Gospel of Mark' was the title. I was troubled and worried, wondering how it ever got into such a place, but I left it alone.

"The next day, following another night of carousing, I looked at the Book again and was seized with great conviction. I picked it up and went over to the Union Park Square, in front of St. Francis Hotel, and there on one of the benches in the park I began to read.

"I had never read the Bible before, and turned at random to the eleventh chapter and read of Jesus driving the thieves out of the Temple.

"That very day I had planned to commit a crime which, if discovered, would have sent me to San Quentin Penitentiary. 'There', said I, 'that is what I am, a gambler and a thief. Christ could drive out those thieves. He is a great Man all right. He is MY man!' And there on the park bench four years ago I gave my heart to Christ.

"After my conversion, God said to me, 'Get up and go to work.'

"I said, 'Yes, Lord, but where can I go?' I seemed to hear, 'Go to the Post Office.' I went and there found a letter offering me a government position. I took the job and am there today. This Book and this Book alone brought me to God.

"But the devil has not left me alone. Forty times a day he tempts me; but I tell him: 'Get thee behind me, Satan,' and he leaves me."

What a testimony to God's life-giving Word!

Reader, you may not have traveled the same dark road of sin as the cowboy; but you need the same Savior. The Bible says: "There is no difference: for all have sinned." Rom. 3:22, 23. Degrees of guilt there are, but all are sinners alike before God all— on their way to everlasting perdition.

Thank God, if there is no difference in our sinnership, grace makes no distinctions either. Jew and Gentile alike are bidden to call upon Him with the assurance that there is "no difference," The same Lord is rich unto all.

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:12.

Have you called upon Him yet? Have you put in your claim for salvation?

END

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

Eternity, Where Shall I Find It?

What is troubling you? You have something on your mind." The words were spoken by an eminent "psychiatrist" to a young man sitting in his office. The patient was a young French nobleman. He had with him letters of introduction from the Emperor. He was a man of wealth as well as rank. He was beloved in his family and esteemed by his friends.

But was he happy? No, a deep gloom hung over his spirits, which neither the charms of a happy family nor the duties of public life could dispel. To the doctor's question, he replied: "Oh, there is nothing particular."

"I know better," said the doctor. "I must know what is troubling you. Perhaps an inordinate ambition may have to do with it?"

"No, I have no desire for great things. I am in the position just suited to my tastes and wishes."

"Some family trouble or bereavement?"

"No, doctor; peace and love reign in my family, and my circle is unbroken."

"Have you any enemies?"

"Not that I am aware of."

"Have you lost any reputation in your country?"

"No."

The doctor studied for a few minutes, and then asked:

"What subject most frequently occupies your mind?"

"You are approaching a matter which I hardly like to speak of, doctor. My father was an infidel; my grandfather was an infidel, and I was brought up an infidel. To me, the ceremonies of religion are as repugnant to common sense as its mysteries are to reason. I do not believe in revelation, and yet, I must confess, one of its dogmas haunts me like a specter. I try to persuade myself that it is the result of a disordered state of the brain, "yet my mind is continually occupied with it."

"Will you tell me what it is."

"Eternity, where shall it find me? For the last three years these words have haunted me. A vision of the last judgment is constantly present to my mind. The end of all things seems to have come, and the great white throne is set up. There is One seated on the throne, whose look of stern justice terrifies me. I try to escape, but heaven and earth have disappeared, and I am left alone. Every moment I expect to hear the awful words.

" 'Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels!' "

"What makes you fear such a sentence?"

"Well, in the eyes of men my life is deemed irreproachable, and not without reason. I have less to accuse myself of than most of my acquaintances. But in the presence of such dazzling glory—such spotless purity—my very best actions appear black and hideous. I feel guilty and condemned, and long to find some spot where I can hide from His presence."

"Is that what causes the melancholy?"

"I suppose so. I cannot get rid of this terrible vision."

"Ah!" said the doctor, "I am afraid you have come to the wrong physician."

"Is there no hope for me?" exclaimed the young man. "I walk about in the daytime: I lie down at night, and it comes upon me continually.

"Eternity, and where shall I spend it? This depression of spirits is endangering my reason. Doctor, do help me if you can."

"Now, just sit down and be quiet. A few years ago I was an infidel. I did not believe in God, and was in the same condition as you are now. I have by me an old Book which contains a remedy for your disease," said the doctor as he took down a Bible. He turned to the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, and read: " 'Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.' "

"Of whom do these verses speak?"

"Of the Lord Jesus Christ whom God sent into the world, that by His death He might make atonement for sin." The doctor read on: " 'He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.' "

"That is indeed true," asserted the young man.

" 'But 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. 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."

"What does that mean, doctor?"

"That the Son of God took the sinner's place and bore the punishment due to the sinner."

"Is it possible, doctor? What divine beauty and simplicity! The guiltless dies for the guilty!"

The doctor read through the chapter. When he had finished, the young man said, "Do you believe this, that He voluntarily left heaven, came down to this earth, and suffered and died that we might be saved?"

"Yes, I believe it. That brought me out of infidelity, out of darkness into light." And he preached Christ unto him, with the result that the young man was able to do what the doctor had done— put in "my" for "our" and say: "He was wounded for my transgressions, He was bruised for my iniquities: the chastisement of my peace was upon Him; and with His stripes I am healed."

Some time after his return to France the young man wrote to the doctor in London, telling him that the question of "Eternity and where he should spend it," was settled and troubling him no more. He had found "joy and peace in believing."

END

I'm Easy

When asked how he was getting on, an old man, recently converted, replied:

"Oh, I'm easy."

"Easy! What do you mean?"

"Oh, I've no trouble now. I'm easy."

"Well, I don't know but that you ought to be troubled. What about your sins?"

"Oh, the blessed One up there has put them all away," he replied, pointing heavenward. "And when did that take place?"

"When the blessed One hung on the cross." "And how can you be sure of it, dear old friend?"

"Because I've heard you read from the Bible, `The blood of Jesus Christ...cleanseth us from all sin,' and I believe it."

Two Funerals

Considerable publicity is given today to a so-called "modern philosophy" on death. According to this concept, when death is imminent the terminally ill decline all artificial devices designed to prolong life and let death take its course.

Such an approach to the end of life permits what is now called "death with dignity."

When it is remembered that "By one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. 4:12), the question arises: What dignity can be attached to the death of a sinner, since death is the wages of sin?

"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!" For though "the wages of sin is death,... the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. 6:23.)

No stoic philosophy, natural bravery nor human fortitude can match the "dignity," calm submission and confidence of the Christian in the hour of death. He is sustained of God. He knows the "Everlasting Arms" are underneath. He knows and trusts the One who has promised: "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee." Isaiah 43:2.

The dignity with which a true child of God may die, and the mournful end of the unsaved is portrayed in the following true story, translated from the German.

The scene is a little old town, and as in every other town, Death is no stranger. He has visited there often. But this time he strikes twice in a single night, claiming the lives of two girls, both of whom are well-known and much loved.

Grief, like a heavy cloud hangs over the whole community, as on the same day, at the same hour, two black hearses bearing two caskets, travel to the cemetery where two open graves are waiting. Many are the mourners that follow in sad procession.

A short time before, both girls had felt well and happy. Neither dreamed that she would soon be in the place from which there is no return.

But it is of their dying hours that I wish to tell my readers, for there all similarity ends, and all is contrast.

We enter the home of one. She is a Christian. She and her only brother are orphans. She has just called him to her bedside and asked him to sing once more her favorite hymn. He sings:

"The Lord of life in death has lain,
To clear me from all charge of sin;
And, Lord, from guilt of crimson stain
Thy precious blood has made me clean."

Having concluded the first and second verses, his voice fails, but seeing the pleading look on his sister's face, he manages to sing on:

"Clad in this robe, how bright I shine!
Angels possess not such a dress;
Angels have not a robe like mine—
Jesus, the Lord's my righteousness."

A heavenly smile steals over the dying girl's face. All is peace. She whispers, "Thank you." Only a few more minutes and she is free from all sorrow and pain— with Christ.

We now enter the home of the other girl. Not long before she had: attended a dance— the merriest of the crowd. Returning home she did not feel well; but thinking it was due only to the excitement and giddy whirl of the dance, she went to bed.

But during the night she became violently ill. Subsequently, two physicians were called. Now her condition has become so serious that the doctors remain with her all night. In agony of despair she keeps crying: "I won't die! Oh, do not let me die!" So she languished until just before daybreak; then she entered eternity, it is feared, without Christ, without hope. In her pursuit of pleasure she had neglected the "great salvation" until it was forever too late.

Not for All the Wealth of Europe

"No, sir," said a nurse who attended the deathbed of Voltaire, to a gentleman with whom she was in consultation, "no, sir, not for all the wealth of Europe would I see another infidel die." What a testimony to the horrors of infidelity! Tom Paine, that low-lived debauchee, died crying.

"Christ, have mercy on me!"

Infidelity will not do for a death-bed. Men may live without Christ, they do not like to die without Him. Even with the most profligate and hardened, conscience will make itself heard. It speaks in thunder to their terror-stricken hearts. "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." There may be a species of pleasure in the pursuits of the ungodly, but it is short-lived, and frequently its light expires amid the blackness of darkness.

Come, then, poor sinner, no longer delay;
Come to the Savior, come now while you may:
So shall your peace be eternally sure,
So shall your happiness ever endure.

Take the lost sinner's place, then you can claim the lost sinner's great salvation.

Good Ground

Hard stubborn ground must yield to the heavy tillage tools and harrows before it becomes "good ground" for seeding— as every farmer knows.

Hard, stubborn hearts too must experience the deep-working action of God's Spirit before they become "good ground" that receives God's word (Matt. 13:23).

A divinely prepared heart is seen in the publican of Luke 18. We are not told what exercises of conscience he went through before going into the temple: "And standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful to me a sinner."

In recent times the convicting power of the Holy Spirit was seen in the case of a Scotch boy named Robert. Although one of a religious family, much to the surprise of his parents he became deeply troubled about his sins. Realizing that he was lost, the boy looked for someone to show him the way of salvation; but in vain. His father was of no help; he could not comprehend why one brought up as his son had been should think himself a lost sinner.

Finally the boy went to the pastor and told him his fears. But the pastor told him he should banish his gloomy thoughts and set his mind on bright and happy things.

Since Robert was of a musical bent, the pastor suggested to his father that he buy his boy a violin and have him take lessons. This the father did.

But although Robert tried to forget his "gloomy surmisings" and resolutely set himself to learn the violin, he at last gave up in despair saying, "I cannot fiddle when I am lost in my sins and may die any moment and go to hell, because I cannot find how to be saved!"

Eventually the family doctor was consulted. After a careful examination he concluded that Robert's mind was endangered by chronic depression and prescribed a series of treatments in a sanitarium for psychiatric cases.

To such an institution poor Robert was sent. There for weeks he paced the floor of his little room while he exclaimed: "Oh that I knew how to get rid of my sins!"

Eventually a Christian lady came to the hospital to visit a friend who had suffered a nervous breakdown. Passing by Robert's room she heard his lament, and wondered if his case might not be that of conviction of sins rather than of a mental disorder.

Having secured permission to speak to the boy, she listened to his story; then pointed him to Christ. She left him with a New Testament, marking several verses which she asked him to read with care.

While Robert pondered these passages, all of which told of Christ's finished work upon the cross, and His precious blood that cleanseth from all sin, light from God shone into his dark soul. He believed and was soon rejoicing in God's great salvation.

A complete change in his behavior followed immediately. The attending physicians decided that their patient had responded to treatment and was cured. Accordingly, they notified the father that his son might safely be taken home.

His brother called for him and was delighted to find him so calm and happy. At home, in reply to his father's questions, Robert replied, "Yes, father, I am all right now, for my sins are all gone and my soul is saved."

His father, supposing that his boy had been delivered from all such thoughts was shocked. He called for the pastor and told him that Robert must have suffered a relapse.

When the pastor arrived at the home, Robert greeted him gravely with these words: "Pastor, why did you set me trying to fiddle away my sins? Why did you not tell me of the blood of Jesus that cleanses from all sins? What the fiddling could not do, the Lord has done."

The embarrassed pastor realized that God had wrought in the young man's soul, and that Robert was indeed "born again." So he assured his father that he need have no more fears over his son's mentality.

As time went on, all around knew that Robert had indeed "passed from death unto life," and many were won to Christ by his testimony.

Not all the gold of all the world,
And all its wealth combined,
Could give relief, or comfort yield,
To one distracted mind;
'Tis only to the precious blood
Of Christ the soul can fly,
There only can a sinner find
A flowing full supply.

O what can equal joy divine,
And what can sweeter be
Than knowing that this Christ is mine
To all eternity?
Safe in the Lord, without a doubt,
By virtue of the blood;
For nothing can destroy the life
That's hid with Christ in God.

Behold the Lamb of God!

In evil long I took delight,
Un-awed by sin or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career.

I saw One hanging on a tree,
In agonies and blood;
He fixed His languid eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.

Oh never till my latest breath
Shall I forget that look;
It seemed to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.

My conscience felt and owned the guilt;
It plunged me in despair;
I saw my sins His blood had spilled,
And helped to nail Him there.

A second look He gave which said,
"I freely all forgive;
My blood has for thy ransom paid;
I died that thou mayest live."

John Newton

The Sinner's Dream

The following story was told in China years ago. It may or may not be true, but like a parable, it forcibly illustrates some lessons of paramount importance to everyone.

A man once had a dream in which he saw himself pursued by a fearsome tiger. With that peculiar sense that one often has in dreams, he realized that this tiger represented his wicked past life. How he longed to escape! He ran as hard as he could and sometimes he seemed to have escaped. Then he would pause to catch his breath, but only to find the tiger reappear from behind some bushes or trees.

There is within every unsaved person a haunting fear of the wrong he has done in the past. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23. With some it may be the memory of some outstanding sin; with others it may be an awareness that the whole past has been displeasing to God. God has given us all both conscience and memory and the deeds of the past cannot be entirely dismissed or forgotten.

Attempts are made to escape from the memory of the past. Some plunge into a life of gaiety and amusement; others concentrate on learning and philanthropy. But just when one feels that the past has been safely eluded, "the tiger" reappears. How truly God has said, "Be sure your sin will find you out." Num. 32:23.

So the man ran on, more or less confident that someday, somehow he would manage to elude the tiger. But suddenly he came to a chasm and could run no further. As he stood wondering what to do next, he noticed two vines hanging over the side of the chasm. These suggested a way of escape; perhaps he might yet climb down to safety. But when he looked down he saw an even more terrible creature waiting at the bottom. A crocodile! Immediately he recognized this to be his future— judgment and punishment for his sins.

Consider his terrible dilemma. Behind him pursued by his past; before him God's judgment. For "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Heb. 9:27. So he decided to cling to his vines, for there he was safe from both tiger and crocodile— from the sins of the past and from the judgment to come.

The dreamer soon realized that these two vines represented "Time." Many feel secure when they think of all the years of life that lie ahead. Future judgment seems remote when one looks forward to some tens of years of life remaining.

But suddenly he was alarmed by an ominous noise and a strange vibration in the vines. Looking up he saw to his horror that two rats were busily gnawing at his lifeline. One was white and the other was black. What could these be? He soon realized that the white rat represented "Day" and the black rat "Night." So time is being inexorably consumed.

"It is appointed unto men once to die." Heb. 9:27. This is God's decree. While busily engaged in our work during the day, Time is passing; while sleeping at night, Time is steadily passing; the end perhaps comes slowly. The fact that Time passes slowly may make us forget that it is nevertheless passing and that one day Time will end... and then comes death and judgment.

How helpless and hopeless is our situation! Is there no escape?

Yes, thank God, there is. There is One, and only One, who can save us from even this extremity of peril. In his dream the man saw near at hand a cross. Ah, he knew the significance of that! The cross stood for Jesus, the Savior; it was on the cross that He died for our sins. The man knew that if he clung to the cross complete salvation would be his. And this he did.

If Jesus saves us there will be no fear of the past, for He has borne all the believer's sins, small and great. (Isa. 53:8.)

And He has promised to remember them no more. (Jer. 31:34.) If He does not remember them then may I be free from the terror of my past.

If He saves me there will be no fear of the future, for He has paid all the penalty for my sins so I will not be called into judgment. (1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Pet. 3:18.)

If He saves me, there will be no fear of Time. Whenever our time down here ends, eternity with Christ in glory will begin.

How wonderful to live completely free from the remorse of the past. Free from the fear of death. Free from the fear of judgment. Free to enjoy fellowship with this wonderful living Savior both now and forever!

But note: the man had to put his complete trust in the Savior before he could be lifted to safety. It is not enough to recognize Christ, or be told that He can deliver us from the past and from judgment. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31. How foolish to neglect so great salvation! (Heb. 2:3.)

Reader, time is passing, judgment is waiting. Accept Christ as your personal Savior now.

O Happy Day!

It was at the close of a revival meeting. The final appeal had been made and the preacher advised the congregation to go home— it was ten o'clock and the meeting had commenced at seven.

Suddenly a man dropped on his knees in the center of the hall and cried:

"O God, save me; be merciful to me a sinner!"

This man, well known in the community, had a skin disease which rendered his appearance repulsive. As he prayed for mercy, every eye in the place was dim and many cheeks were wet with tears.

The preacher knelt beside him, repeated what he considered appropriate texts, and then waited.

Slowly the man raised his head and what a change! His disfigured face had become radiant with heavenly peace and joy. Still on his knees he cried: "I am saved; I am saved! Oh, happy day! Oh, happy day! The Lord has washed my sins away." Then rising to his feet, he repeated, "I'm saved, friends, I'm saved." He then addressed them: "Last night I went to the pierhead fully determined to jump in and drown. Because of my disease I knew that my appearance was offensive to you all— even to those who love me. And because of my sins, I felt I was offensive to God. Satan seemed to whisper:

“‘Neither God nor man wants you; put an end to it all.'

"These have been my thoughts for the last two days. Last night I stood on the pier in great anguish of spirit— afraid to jump in, and too miserable to stay out. I know now it was the voice of God saying:

“’Don’t jump in; go to the meeting tomorrow night.’ And here I am—saved.”

He paused for a little. No one dared to break the silence. Then He prayed again:

"Now that I am saved, would God please take me Home and relieve me Home and relieve me of my suffering? I am ready to go, and have no wish to stay."

It was not long before God answered his prayer, for in the course of three months, during which he witnessed in a wonderful way to the saving grace of God, his wish was granted.

End

The Way, the Truth, the Life

Following is part of a sermon once preached before the English House of Commons: "Christ is the Way; men without Him are Cains— wanderers, vagabonds. He is the Truth; men without Him are liars, like the devil of old. He is the Life; men without Him are dead in trespasses and sin. He is the Light; men without Him are in darkness, and they go they know not where. He is the Vine; men that are not in Him are withered branches, prepared for the fire. He is the Rock; men not built on Him are carried away with the flood. He is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the Author and Finder, the Founder and Finisher of our salvation. He that does not have Him has neither beginning of good, nor shall have end of misery. O, blessed Jesus, how much better were it not to be, than to be without Thee! never to be born, than not to die in Thee! A thousand hells come short of this eternally to want Jesus Christ."

Thirty Pieces of Silver
Zechariah 11:12
Thirty pieces of silver,
For the Lord of Life they gave;
Only the prices of a slave:
But it was priestly value
Of the Holy One of God;
They weighed it out in the temple,
The price of the Savior's blood.
Matthew 26:15

Thirty pieces of silver,
Laid in Iscariot's hand:
Thirty pieces of silver,
And the aid of an armed band,
Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter
Brought the humbled Son of God
At midnight from the garden,
Where His sweat had been as blood.
Matthew 27:3-5

Thirty pieces of silver,
Burn on the traitor's brain;
Thirty pieces of silver,
O, it is hellish gain!
"I have sinned and betrayed the guiltless,"
He cried with a fevered breath,
And he cast them down in the temple,
And rushed to a madman's death.

It may not be for silver,
It may not be for gold,
But still by tens of thousands
Is the precious Savior sold:
Sold for a godless friendship,
Sold for a selfish aim;
Sold for a fleeting trifle,
Sold for an empty name;

Sold in the mart of science,
Sold in the seat of power;
Sold at the shrine of fortune,
Sold in pleasure's bower,
Sold where the awful bargain
None but God's eye can see;
Ponder my soul, the question,
Shall He be sold by thee?

No Bargain

A Public Utilities Company, seeking a franchise in a large city, sent an unscrupulous representative to interview a city official whose vote was sorely needed. When the official advised him that his vote was not for sale, the representative exclaimed: "Think of the money, man! It's the bargain of a lifetime. You'll never have another chance to make as much so easily."

"So easily!" replied the official. "Listen friend! No one ever yet got a bargain in sin. It's the highest-priced thing on the market. You tell me that all I have to do is to vote 'right.' Well, it isn't. That's only the beginning of what I'll have to do. I'll have to carry the consciousness of my dishonesty to the grave. I'll have to live with a remorseful conscience. I'll have to pose before my wife and children as someone I know I am not. Don't tell me it's a bargain."

"The love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." 1 Tim. 6:10.

A Fatal Decision!

"Why don't they let Him in?" cried a small voice in the art gallery. It was the voice of a boy as he gazed at Holman Hunt's great painting of Christ standing at the door, knocking. Even angels might ask that question as they behold their Lord refused entrance into the human heart.

Why don't they let Him? Because all within is dark, and men love it that way. "Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." John 3:19.

The power of darkness that shuts out Christ is Satanic. Its deadly influence over men's minds builds up with the years. Often, when opportunity to be saved knocks for the last time, many give a final, "No," to the Savior and perish in their sins.

Such is the last page in the history of an old, penniless woman who was supported by the town— and died alone in her chosen darkness.

She was an ugly-tempered town celebrity, known to everyone as Peggie. She was the terror of the children and the jest of the grown-ups. One day, a Christian lady who knew her well called. To her knock on the door, Peggie responded with a hoarse, "Come in!"

The mud floor of the home was wet and dirty; its furniture consisted of a bed, a small table, a chair, a low stool and a wooden plate. A rack on the wall contained two or three more plates, a basin, a mug and a broken teapot. On the fire was a small iron pot with three legs.

The old woman sat on the low stool by the fire smoking a filthy clay pipe. Her cotton gown and cap were dirty and ragged, and her boots worn through. Her face was wrinkled and ill-tempered. Her wandering eyes told their own story— no rest, no peace within.

"Peggie," said her visitor kindly as she seated herself in the chair, "I came to speak to you about a Friend and Comforter for lonely ones like you."

"Where does he live?"

"At the right hand of God, Peggie; but once He was down here and suffered and died for you and me that He might have us with Him in heaven forever." The effect was electric!

"Go away, go away!" screamed the old woman waving her arms. "If it's Christ you mean, I'd rather be without Him. I've lived without Him more than seventy years, and I'll live on without Him."

"But you are very old, Peggie, and death will come in at your door someday soon. How can you meet God, a sinner laden with sins? You've served Satan long enough. Won't you turn to Christ now?"

Obviously frightened at the mention of death, Peggie removed her pipe and laid it beside the fire. Then gazing intently at her visitor she said: "Will He save me now, just as I am?"

"Yes, just as you are."

For a few moments she rested her head in her hands as if weighing in a balance eternal life in Christ... and eternal death without Him. Then slowly and deliberately she answered: "No! I've lived without Him seventy years and I can live on without Him the rest of my days."

"But, Peggie," persisted the lady, "if you are determined to live without Christ, you must spend eternity without Him!"

But Peggie had made her decision. All further pleading was in vain, so the lady left.

She called again one week later. Having knocked on the door and received no answer, she went in. Peggie's low stool was empty, the fire was out, her pipe lay broken on the floor.

Peggie was dead.

Doubtless, as she smoked her pipe for the last time she did not dream that in a few minutes she would be in eternity.

Oh, reader, be warned, Life is uncertain and death is sure. Open your heart to the Savior now.

Have you any room for Jesus,
He who bore your load of sin?
As He knocks and asks admission,
Sinner, will you let Him in?

Time's Faces

Lines lettered on an ancient clock in Chester Cathedral, England.

When as a child I laughed and wept,
Time crept.
When as a youth I waxed more bold,
Time strolled.
When I became a full-grown man,
Time ran.
When older still I daily grew,
Time flew.
Soon I shall find in passing on,
Time gone.
O Christ! wilt Thou have saved me then?
Amen.

Dead to the Law

During the Napoleonic wars a man received his call for military service in the French army. He did not want to go, but there were no exemptions. It happened, however, that he had a very dear friend who graciously offered to go in his place. This friend became his substitute— joined a regiment in his name; even was eventually killed in action; and was buried on the battlefield.

Some months later the call went out for more men and by some strange twist the same man was drafted for the second time.

"But you cannot take me," he protested.

"Why not?" demanded the authorities.

"I am dead," he replied.

"You are not dead, you are alive and well."

"But I am dead," he insisted.

"You are mad. When did you die?"

He named the battle and the field.

"You talk like a madman," they cried.

But the man stuck to his point that he had been dead and buried some months.

"Consult the record and see if it is not so," he said.

The record was checked and it was found that the man was right; his name was recorded as inducted, moved to the war zone and there killed in action.

"Look here," said the officers, "you did not die; someone must have enlisted for you. It must have been your substitute that died."

"I know that, "replied the man, "my substitute did die in my stead. Now you cannot touch me. I died in that man. I go free. The law has no claim upon me."

They refused, however, to admit such evidence, and the case was carried to Napoleon. But the Emperor ruled that the man was right that he was dead and buried in the eyes of the law and that France had no further claim upon him.

This story may or may not be true, but one thing we know is true that Jesus Christ has suffered death for the sinner, and everyone that accepts Him is free from the law.

"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us " Gal 3:13

Law and Grace Contrasted

"The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." John 1:17.

"Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Rom. 10:4.

"By Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." Acts 13:39.

The two principles are distinct and in sharpest contrast; they cannot possibly be mixed, nor added one to the other.

The law makes all depend upon what I am for God. Grace makes all depend upon what God is for me.

The law demands; grace bestows.

The law condemns; grace justifies.

The law curses; grace blesses.

The law keeps one in bondage; grace sets the believer free.

The law says: "Thou shalt do." Grace says: "It is done."

The law requires righteousness from man.

Grace places righteousness upon man.

O Teach Me!

Oh, teach me what it meaneth
That cross uplifted high,
With One, the Man of Sorrows,
Condemned to bleed and die.
Oh, teach me what it cost Thee
To make a sinner whole;
And teach me, Savior, teach me
The value of a soul.

Oh, teach me what it meaneth
That sacred crimson tide
The blood and water flowing
From Thine own wounded side.
Teach me that if none other
Had sinned, but I alone,
Yet still Thy blood, Lord Jesus,
Thine only; must atone.

Oh, teach me what it meaneth,
For I was full of sin;
And grace alone could reach me,
And love alone could win.
Oh, teach me, for I need Thee—
I have no hope beside,—
The chief of all the sinners
For whom the Savior died!

Oh, Infinite Redeemer,
I bring no other plea;
Because Thou dost invite me,
I cast myself on Thee!
Because Thou dost accept me,
I love and I adore!
Because Thy love constraineth,
I'll praise Thee evermore!

Lucy A. Bennett

?Ready to Go Down. . . Ready to Go Up?

It was during the Kaffir war. The ship, "Birkenhead," transporting military personnel was cruising about three miles off shore, bound for Algo Bay. It was two o'clock in the morning and the five hundred soldiers with a number of wives and little children aboard were asleep. All was calm.

Suddenly, without a moment's warning, the ship struck a submerged reef. The impact tore a great hole in her hull and let in a flood of water which drowned one hundred men at once.

Realizing that his ship was doomed, the captain gave his orders.

"Lower the boats. Women and children first. No men leave but those absolutely necessary to man the boats." His commands were carried out with clockwork precision. There was no confusion.

On orders from their commanding officer the soldiers assembled on the deck as if on parade.

Among them was a Christian, and as the last boat was leaving he handed his Bible to one of the sailors in charge, saying: "Find out my mother if ever you reach the old country. She gave me this Bible when I left home. Tell her that I know how a fellow feels when there is joy in heaven over his repentance."

He was ready to go down with the ship and ready to go up to glory!

Twenty minutes after striking the reef, the "Birkenhead" went to the bottom, with the soldiers standing like statues on the deck.

Four hundred and thirty-eight souls were lost.

One hundred and ninety-two including all the women and children were saved.

Of all that great company only one gave a clear testimony. Probably many more could have done the same, but only one did it. Have you a clear conversion testimony to give? Has your repentance toward God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21) caused joy in Heaven? Then remember the word of God: "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." Rom. 10:9.

White Rain

Somewhere in France, one mow dreary Winter day during the World War, two Allied soldiers stood looking out of the barracks at the unhappy landscape. One was named Sam—, a big native of Africa, who felt the bitter cold more than his British friend. Suddenly Sam's dull expression changed and his black face was animated with excitement. It had started to snow!

"What's the matter, Sam?" asked his friend. "Oh, white rain!" Sam replied in an awed whisper.

"That's snow, man. Have you not seen snow before?"

"Never. We have no snow in our country."

As the snow continued to fall thick and fast, Sam ventured outside. His delight knew no bounds as the fleecy flakes fell upon him and transformed the bleak countryside into a wonderland of white.

His British friend, who was a Christian, watched him for several minutes, and then asked: "Sam, is there anything whiter than snow?"

"Yes, sir," answered the black soldier reverently, "the soul that is washed in my Savior's blood is whiter than this beautiful snow."

"Where did you hear about that?"

"Away in my country. The missionary teach me about Jesus— how He shed His blood for me. And we sing together:

"Whiter than the snow!"

"See my hands— big black hands? Just like my big black sins. Now look!" Sam bent down and when he stood up his hands were completely covered with snow.

"Oh, the grandness of it!" he exclaimed. "Black sins all gone, never to be remembered any more —washed all white in the blood of the Lamb."

And the two soldiers, one black, the other white, shook hands as brothers in Christ Jesus. They had learned the great lesson, that no matter what color the skin, the precious blood of Jesus alone can cleanse the sinful heart.

"The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7.

Until I saw the blood,
'Twas hell my soul was fearing:
And dark and dreadful in my eyes
The future was appearing;
While conscience told its tale of sin,
And caused a weight of woe within.
But when I saw the blood,
And looked to Him who shed it,
My right to peace was seen at once,
And I with transport read it;
I found myself to God brought nigh,
And "Victory!" became my cry.

"When I see the blood, I will pass over you."

Ex. 12:13

Only Three Weeks to Live

"The doctor says I have but three weeks to live, and that is far too little time to do what some good people tell me is needful!" So said a young lady of twenty from her bed in the hospital.

Her visitor had asked about her health and she had told him frankly the doctor's verdict.

"Then I suppose you will be thinking a great deal of where you are going when you die?"

"Oh no, on the contrary, I try to banish this from my mind. I have lived a gay life. I have gone in for all the pleasures of the world, and it is no use me thinking of anything else now.

"Besides, those who visit me tell me I must make myself good in order to be fit for heaven. I can't do that. Indeed, I have no inclination to try. In any case I have only three weeks to live. That is far too short a time to do what those good people tell me is needful. So what is the use of making myself unhappy with the thought of it?"

"My dear young lady," answered her visitor, "I have only fifteen minutes to be with you; I have to catch a train. But I can tell you that in fifteen minutes you can be made fit for the presence of God. Why do you smile?"

"Pardon me, I did not mean to be disrespectful, but I could not help smiling at the idea of me being fit for God's presence here and now in fifteen minutes."

"Well, here in this grand old Book, the Bible, I will show you what God says.

" 'But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved).' Eph. 2:4 and 5." "Now look at this; is this not your state, 'dead in sins'?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Well, you see these words, Tor His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins.' Don't you see that God loves you just as you are? It is true you cannot make yourself good— not in thirty years, much less in three weeks: but God meets you with His great love just where you are."

Under a mask of indifference there lies many an aching heart; and this young lady, apparently careless as to eternal things, burst into tears.

"Oh, why did not the others tell me this?" she exclaimed. "Only to think of God loving me!"

After saying a few more words about God's free, sovereign love, her visitor left. On returning to the town a few days later, he called on the lady again. This time her face was lit with a happy smile as she welcomed him.

"Oh, since you were here," she said, "I have not been able to think of anything except God's great love. But I cannot find that verse you read to me; will you please find it, so that I may read it again?"

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
Were every blade of grass a quill,
Were the world of parchment made,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love
Of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor would the scroll Contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky.

Meir Ben Isaac Neherai— A.D. 1500

Sins Blotted Out

"I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." Isa. 43:25

The late George Soltau gave the following personal experience as an illustration of the above grand scripture: A young man, named Ferdinand, lay dying of galloping consumption. His end was approaching, but no one had been allowed to go near him, to converse with him upon the matters of his soul. His mother was a Christian, but he stoutly refused to admit to his room any Christian who might speak to him. I was asked to go and try and see him. I said it was useless to go without his permission, but suggested that a large bouquet of roses should be sent down with the message, that the gentleman from whom the roses came would visit him if he wished. The lovely roses brought a little of the outside world into his poor, plainly furnished room, with its bare whitewashed walls. The moment he saw the flowers his eyes sparkled with delight, and he just hugged and enjoyed them for some time. Then he gave permission for me to visit him, and accordingly I went down in the afternoon. The following conversation ensued:

"I'm very ill, and cannot expect to last long."

"Is there no hope at all?"

"None whatever, I am going fast."

"Might I ask you a very personal question? Is it unpleasant to be dying? Do you dislike it very much?"

"Oh, no, I don't mind. It is not unpleasant to be dying. I feel I am going to heaven."

"If that feeling is based on some substantial facts, that is all right, and I can quite imagine it is pleasant. But tell me now, on what is the feeling you are going to heaven based?"

"Well, I have a sort of feeling like it today for the first time, and I think it will be all right."

"May I ask you what kind of a fellow you have been? Have you been what men call religious? Going to church, reading the Bible, and praying to God regularly?"

"Oh, no, I'm not one of that sort at all."

"Then are you one of the sort that has chucked up religion, but been a thoroughly moral, steady fellow, whose word could always be relied upon, and who was always upright in business and strictly moral?"

"No, I'm not one of that sort, either; I'm one of the bad sort. I lie here and I curse all day long; I curse God, I curse my mother, I curse my bed, I curse everything and everybody; I can't stop cursing anyhow."

"Then, my dear fellow, from your own showing, you have not a chance of going to heaven. Ferdinand, YOU ARE DONE FOR, CLEAN DONE FOR."

"Oh, please don't say that, don't say that, don't say that."

"Yes, I must say it again to you. YOU ARE DONE FOR. Life is gone and it will soon flicker out. You can do nothing now. You have not a chance of going to heaven. You wouldn't thank your doctor if he came in now and said, " 'Hello, old fellow, you are doing first-rate, you will recover all right,' knowing there was no hope, would you? You would say,

“‘Don’t give me any false hope.' So I am not going to give you any false hope on which to die. You have not a chance in the world."

In great agony he raised himself on his elbows, and said, "What shall I do?"

"Nothing, Ferdinand, you are done for. You can do nothing."

"What will God do?"

"That's a very sensible question, for when a man is done for, God can do something for him." "Tell me, what will God do?"

Taking my Bible in my hand I held it open, and said, "Suppose you could look into Heaven, and see `the Book of Remembrance' open. I believe you might see column after column of your life recorded; all the words, all the actions, all the thoughts. Everything would be down exactly as it has happened, and you would have very soon to go and face that record before a holy God."

"I cannot, I cannot."

"My dear fellow, you simply must. There is no alternative."

"I tell you I dare not, I dare not."

"There is no help out of it. You have to face the pages with the record of your life, whether you will or not."

"But it's awful. I simply cannot."

"Now listen, and I'll tell you what a great Friend of sinners will do for you if you wish it. There is only One Person Who has any access to that Book, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Your tears cannot blot out one line. Your prayers cannot touch it; only His hand can, and He is able to pass His Hand over that record, and in one instant blot out, every line, every word, so that not a single trace remains. And what is more, He says that if He does that, He will never write down a word from memory."

Then I read him the words from Isaiah 43:25.

“‘I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.'

"I know Him, you do not. If I ask Him, I am sure He will do this, provided He sees you are expecting Him to do it. He will look right into your heart to see whether you expect Him to, and if He see you do, He will not delay. Shall I ask Him?"

"Ask Him quick, ask Him quick."

"And you will expect Him to do it while I am asking?"

"Yes, I'll expect Him to."

Taking his hot, wasted hand in mine, I asked the Lord to fulfill His promise and to look upon the page where that sin-stained life was recorded, and blot it all out; to efface it, so that only a clean white page might remain.

Then I left him, for he was completely exhausted. The next day, when I went up to his room, he held out his hand, saying, "He's done it, He's done it!"

"What has He done, Ferdinand?"

"What you said yesterday afternoon. I've forgotten the words, but He's done it."

"When did He do it?"

"About three o'clock in the morning, when I got a quiet spell from coughing. Mother was asleep, and the lamp was out. I said, “‘Lord, please do what I need, that the visitor said. I have forgotten the words, but you know what I mean. Please do it!' And He did.

"All of a sudden I felt a great light come into my heart, and I knew He had done it. He won't be angry because I had forgotten the words, will He? He would know what I meant all right?"

I explained it all again to him, and then said, "Ferdinand, you told me yesterday you could not stop swearing and cursing all day. How often have you cursed since three-thirty this morning?"

"Why, I have not cursed once. How curious! I have not had time or wish to do it."

"What have you been doing instead?"

"I have been blessing God, and thanking Him all the time."

So this poor dying man knew the meaning of sins blotted out by the Lord Jesus, who has the right to efface the whole record of sin, because He has made Himself personally responsible to account for it to God's holy law. In three days Ferdinand passed away, having had by his own request his first and last communion.

End

We Must Be Saved

How startling must have been the words of Peter spoken to the Jewish Council. Probably there were more priests in that Council having direct authority from God Himself than in any other meeting ever convened. And yet Peter, after preaching "Christ crucified," whom God raised up from the dead, closed his address with these memorable words: "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."

What! Do priests need to be saved? Peter, "full of the Holy Ghost," says, "We must be saved." Mark the urgency, the importunity of the Holy Ghost. "We must be saved."

Reader, you must be saved, you must not perish. There is salvation in the crucified One. In this Man raised up from the dead by God, there is deliverance from the wrath to come.

O, sinner, eternal judgment is before you! The lake of fire must be your eternal abode— the devil and his angels your company in eternal misery— if you live and die without Christ— without salvation!

God gave His Son— such is His love. Now the Holy Ghost is beseeching, entreating, and pleading with the poor sinner. He cannot, will not be put off.

"We must be saved"; it is the importunity of divine affection which must have its object saved. It is not "we ought," or "we may," or "we should be saved." No, it is more emphatically expressed. If unsaved, will you trifle with this matter when God is thus in earnest?

All is earnestness around. Satan is earnest in luring you to destruction, sure and eternal. God, and His Son and the Holy Ghost are in earnest about you. Will you be careless about your never-dying soul— about your eternal destiny? Heaven, hell, and salvation are terribly real.

You have been told of the necessity of being born again; of the necessity of the Son of Man being lifted up on the cross. Now you are entreated to ponder over the necessity of being saved, now.

Anathema Maranatha

1 Corinthians 16:22

"If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha." The literal translation of the two untranslated words make this verse a terrible warning: "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be accursed. The Lord cometh." Happy the one who can sing,

"I love Him because He has first loved me."

Ingratitude

Incredible as it seems, a man who had just saved a family from a burning house was punched in the face by the father for his efforts to save him.

The incident occurred in January, 1975 in a northern Ontario town, when a man named Roger, having rescued the children, ran back to look for the father. He found him asleep, and without waiting to wake him, dragged him into the yard.

When the drowsy sleeper awoke to the situation, he ran back into the burning house to save his money. Again Roger rushed in to rescue the father; but this time received a punch in the face for his pains.

Thanks to Roger, all were saved— he himself by jumping through a plate glass window. The ordeal resulted in his being hospitalized for twenty-two days and disabled for four and one-half months.

May this rescue episode and the father's base ingratitude remind us of the manner in which the world still treats the Lord Jesus.

Sent of the Father, He came into the world to save sinners; laid down His life to snatch them as brands from the burning in hell fire. On the righteous basis of His atoning work on the cross, God declares that, "Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

Yet how few today truly believe to the saving of their souls! How many neglect so great salvation! Indeed, how many openly reject Christ; some even declaring that they would crucify Him again if He were here today!

Reader, "What think ye of Christ?" Matt. 22:42.

They Looked for a City

It was midnight in a Canadian Army camp during World War I. In the guardhouse several prisoners lay asleep on the floor. Suddenly the silence was broken by a heavenly song, as the strong, clear voice of a lone sentry sang, "The City Foursquare."

One of the prisoners awoke and listened. His soul thrilled to the words! Both he and the sentry were Christians and amid the darkness of war, both rejoiced in the hope laid up for them in heaven. Reader, can you read your title clear to those mansions in the sky? The blood of Jesus is the only passport there. Come to Him now.

In the land of fadeless day
Lies "the city four-square";
It shall never pass away,
And there is "no night there."

Chorus:
God shall "wipe away all tears";
There's no death, no pain, nor fears;
And they count not time by years,
For there is "no night there."

All the gates of pearls are made
In "the city four-square";
And its street with gold is laid,
And there is "no night there."

And the gates shall never close
To "the city four-square";
There life's crystal river flows,
And there is "no night there."

There they need no sunshine bright
In "the city four-square";
For the Lamb is all the light,
And there is "no night there."

A Sermon in a Ballroom

Years ago in a large city in Holland a Jewish doctor was converted to Christianity. Immediately his heart's desire was that other Jews in the city should be saved too.

With this object he went day after day to the suburb inhabited by Jews of the poorest class, and moving from house to house, preached the gospel to them.

To reach this suburb he had to pass the magnificent house of a rich Jewish merchant. One day he asked himself why it was that he was ready to go day after day and speak to the poor Jews, and never thought of making Christ known to the rich Jew in the big house?

The doctor being a prompt, decisive man wasted no time in acting upon his conviction. He knew that the merchant was often engaged in the city till late in the evening, so he decided to call upon him around ten o'clock at night, thinking by that time he would be sure to find him at home.

He was surprised at being at once admitted and shown upstairs, just as if he had been expected.

But this was explained when he was ushered suddenly into a large ballroom already filled with company. The music was playing and the dancing had begun.

The appearance of the little doctor, so unlike the rest of the guests, attracted considerable attention. He at once made out the master of the house and apologized for his untimely visit.

"I was unaware," he explained, "that you were engaged this evening, but as I have called upon a matter of great importance, I would ask if you would kindly appoint a time when I may call again without inconveniencing you."

"Certainly! Is the business pressing?

"It is a matter of life and death, but I will call again at your convenience."

"Allow me to ask one more question," said the merchant. "Whom does the business concern?"

"It concerns the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth," replied the doctor. "It is concerning Him, and Him only that I came to speak to you. I am glad that you will kindly allow me the opportunity of doing so another day."

"Stay!" said the merchant with a strange expression of joy and astonishment. "This is wonderful.

"I have been miserable for months past. How or why I know not; but one thought has continually haunted me day and night. Whether at business or at home, it has never been absent from my mind. I have tried to put it from me, but I could not. It is a thought that has left me no peace and it is this: "Who and what was Jesus of Nazareth? I have asked God in His mercy to help me and to send someone who could speak to me and tell me the truth about this great question. Now He has heard my prayer. I cannot let you go. There is no time like the present."

Then calling for the music to stop, the merchant addressed the astonished guests.

"This gentleman," he said, "has come to speak to us on a matter of great importance a matter in which each one of us is concerned. May I ask you to take your seats and give him your attention?

"And you, dear sir," he said to the doctor, "will you now speak fully and plainly? Tell us all you have to say, and keep back nothing."

At once, standing in the middle of the ballroom the doctor preached that wonderful gospel of God concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, which is indeed the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.

It was not long after that memorable evening that the merchant made a public confession of Christ and remained a constant believer, helping forward the gospel he had once blasphemed.

It is not known whether others in the ballroom that night received the truth into their hearts. The great question of this moment is, have you received the truth of the gospel unto yours?

End

In Earnest

"Because I am in earnest," said Rowland Hill, "men call me an enthusiast. When I first came into this part of the country, I was walking on yonder hill, and I saw a gravel-pit fall in and bury three human beings alive. I lifted up my voice and called for help so loud that I was heard in the town at a distance of nearly a mile away.

"Help came and two of the buried men were rescued. No one called me an enthusiast then. Today when I see eternal destruction ready to fall on poor sinners. and to sink their souls into an eternal hell, and call on them to escape, shall I be called an enthusiast now? No! I am not an enthusiast in doing so.

"I call on you aloud to fly for refuge to Jesus Christ, the One set before you in the Gospel."

A Hiding Place

Should sevenfold storms of thunder roll
And shake this globe from pole to pole,
No thunderbolt shall daunt my face,
For Jesus is my Hiding Place.

The Important Question

She was only a poor old woman who had lived till she was seventy without a care about her soul. Then one day, having been persuaded to attend a mothers' meeting, the Holy Spirit showed her her lost condition and led her to accept the Savior.

This made her supremely happy and she lost no opportunity to testify to what the Lord Jesus had done for her soul.

One morning, having gone to a drug store for some medicine, the young druggist remarked carelessly: "You are an old lady now. You must expect to be ill. Do you think you are going to live forever?"

"Yes, bless the Lord, I do," she answered triumphantly, "for I have eternal life."

Taken aback by this unexpected reply, the druggist stared, and seeing nothing but a very poorly clad, feeble old woman, he said: "Well, tell me, how did you get it?"

"How did I get it? Jesus gave it to me as His gift. He made me hear His voice. I was lost and He saved me.

"Young man," she continued, "have you gat eternal life? True, I am old, feeble, and tottering; but you may go first for all we know. Then if you don't know Jesus as Savior, what of your soul?"

He evaded her question and turned away.

A few weeks later this same young druggist met with a fatal accident. Whether he was able to make the woman's good confession before he died, only the Lord knows.

"I give unto them eternal life." John 10:28.

A False Hope

An aged minister was imploring a young man, whom he had known for years, to decide for Christ.

"You have often told me I have only to say, `Lord, save me,' and I shall be all right," answered the young man. But I can do this any day, at any time. I shall not turn my thoughts to such things now."

The minister was shocked by the daring infidelity of the young man. He was taken aback by the very words he himself had put into the young man's mouth. He had not preached the gospel in its saving strength, nor had he warned his many hearers of their danger. He knew not what to answer.

In order to be saved one must believe on the Lord Himself. It is not enough to merely say, "Lord, save me." We are not saved by the use of words, as the superstitious suppose they can escape danger by wearing a charm. Faith is heart work, as it is written: "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.

The young man went his way with the lie in his heart, determined to enjoy the world up to the last. He stifled his thoughts of eternity by the false hope: "I can when I choose cry, 'Lord, save me.'"

Not long after the above interview, the young man was the victim of a terrible traffic accident.

Those who witnessed it heard him utter but three short words— words he had often used when thwarted or annoyed— black, horrible words: "Devil, take me!"

He was gone. What a horrible mockery of his creed, that "Lord, Save me," uttered at any time would suffice to save his soul!

No sin is so evil as that of trifling with the Son of God, who shed His blood to wash away our sins— who bore the wrath of God due to guilty man, in order that believing on Him, man might be saved.

Decide for Christ today,
And God's salvation see;
Yield soul and body, heart and will
To Him who died for thee.

I Don't Want It There!

A business man in New Orleans had been very successful and was very well off. He was born in New England and had a Christian mother who had faithfully taught him the truths of God's Holy Word.

But when he grew up and moved away from home he associated with a number of men who did not believe the Bible. They were infidels. Eventually he adopted their philosophies and became an infidel too. He gave up going to any religious service, and did not have a Bible in his home.

But he had a bright little son named Theodore. This was his only child and he loved him dearly.

One evening when he came home, Theodore was lying in bed partly dressed. He had been naughty and his mother had punished him. She was explaining this to his father as they sat together by the fire in an adjoining room, when suddenly Theodore broke into a loud sobbing and crying.

His father went in and asked him what was the matter.

"I don't want it there, Daddy!" exclaimed the little boy sobbing. "I don't want it there!"

"What, my child— what is it?"

"Why, Daddy, I don't want God to write down in His book all the naughty things I have done today. I don't want them there; I wish they could be blotted out." Then, in great distress, he broke out crying again.

What could his father do? To turn away from his beloved child in his heart-breaking sorrow was impossible. Yet there was nothing in the teachings of infidelity that would meet the case and comfort the distressed boy.

In spite of himself, the father was obliged to fall back on what his dear mother had taught him from the Bible.

"Well, you need not cry, my dear child," said his father. "You can have it all blotted out." "How, Daddy, how?" asked the boy.

"Why, get down on your knees and ask God for Christ's sake to blot it all out, and He will do it."

He did not have to speak twice. The boy jumped out of bed and was on his knees in a moment. He was silent for a while, and then looking up to his father, he said: "I don't know what to say. Daddy, won't you help me?"

What was the father to do. He had not prayed for years. But the boy's distress was so great, and his pleading so earnest that, big man though he was, he got down on his knees alongside of his sorrowing child, and asked God to blot out his sins. Then they got up and the child laid himself down on the bed again. After a few moments he said: "Daddy, are you sure it's all blotted out?" In spite of his infidelity the father was compelled to say: "Why, yes, my dear boy, the Bible says so; if you are truly sorry for what you have done, and if from your heart you have asked God, for Christ's sake, to blot it out, you may be sure He has done it."

A happy smile passed over the child's face, as he quietly asked:

"But, Daddy— what did God blot it out with?" Again putting his infidelity aside he answered:

"With the precious blood of Christ."

The child then lay down and went quietly to sleep.

When the father went back into the adjoining room and told his wife what had taken place, both their hearts were melted. They wept like children. Then kneeling side by side they asked God, for Christ's sake, to blot out their sins and make them His dear children. And God did just that.

"I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions." Isa. 44:22.

God has blotted them out!
I'm happy and glad and free;
God has blotted them out!
I'll turn to Isaiah and see:
Chapter forty-four, twenty-two and three:
He's blotted them out,
And now I can shout,
For that means me!

A Blind Man’s Testimony

Following an open-air gospel address, a man in the crowd asked permission to say a few words. This being granted, he said: "Friends, I don't believe what this man has been talking about. I don't believe in a hell. I don't believe in a judgment. I don't believe in a God, for I have never seen one."

At the conclusion of this rebuttal, another man asked to speak. This is what he said: "Friends, you say that there is a river running not far away from this place. That is not true; there is no such thing.

"You tell me that there are trees and grass growing around me where I now stand. That is not true; there are no such things.

"You tell me that there are a great many people standing here. That is not true; there is no person standing here except myself.

"You wonder what I am talking about? The truth is I am blind; I was born blind. I have never seen one of you. And while I talk this way, it only shows that I am blind. If I could see I wouldn't say such things.

"And you," he said, addressing the infidel, "the more you talk, the more you expose your ignorance, because you are spiritually blind and cannot see."

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

Just as I am— poor, wretched, blind,
Sight, riches, healing of the mind,
Yea, all I need in Thee to find:
O Lamb of God, I come!

God Speaks. . . in a Dream

Lessing, the well-known German composer, when a student, was acquainted with a certain young man who through the pleasures of sin ruined himself in body and soul. His mother was a faithful Christian.

One morning the young profligate appeared in Lessing's room deeply agitated and said: "After returning from a drinking party last night I had this dream. My dog, Bello, stood beside my bed and began to preach. He gave me about the same warnings as you so often do, but with more power. His words seemed to be borrowed from the prophets and strike deep. I am convinced that as a result, I wept in my sleep. The dog concluded the admonition with an awful threat. He said that if I continued in this course, I would be a corpse in six months. And further he said, 'to prove that this is not my own notion, but that some superior has sent me, open your Bible to Jeremiah one and read verse nine. This will confirm my message.'

"I awoke terrified! I thought my dog was still standing by my bed, but he lay at the foot fast asleep.

"My first thought was to find my Bible. It was a gift from my dear mother when I came to the University, but I never had used it. I found the said verse and read: “‘And the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold I have put my words in thy mouth.'

"Oh, my agony as I read those lines! I hastily threw my coat over me and came running to you. Now I ask, what do you think?"

"Your guilty conscience was awakened though your body was asleep," Lessing answered. "The dumb animal told you what you know to be the truth. A long forgotten verse has been recalled to your mind, and such often speaks more powerfully in sleep than when awake. Thus a voice from God. Take heed to this solemn warning that you may escape the terrible judgment."

The young man resolved to do better, and with the best of intentions continued for a time.

But how helpless against the power of Satan is the soul without Christ! He did not forsake his evil companions and turn to the Savior.

His old buddies would not leave him alone. Observing his new serious bent, they forced him to tell what was troubling him. When he told them his dream they too were sobered; the message of the dumb animal pierced their consciences as well.

Before long, however, his friends decided that the dog was a false prophet and persuaded him to destroy it. So, laden with a heavy rock, the faithful animal was thrown into a pond and drowned.

Exactly six months after the dream the young man himself was stricken with an acute fever and died.

How many there are to whom God has spoken in dreams! In the Bible we read: "In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumbering upon the bed; then He openeth the ears of men... that He may withdraw man from his purpose. He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword." Job 33:15-18.

The best way to distress Satan is to confess Christ.

I Cannot Get Away From God

"O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me.
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising;
Thou understandest my thought afar off.
Thou compassest my path and my lying down,
And art acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word in my tongue,
But, lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether.
Thou hast beset me behind and before,
And laid Thine hand upon me.

"Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?
Or, whither shall I flee from Thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there shall Thy hand lead me,
And thy right hand shall hold me.
If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me;
Even the night shall be light about me.
Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee;
But the night shineth as the day:
The darkness and the light are both alike to
Thee." Psalm 139:12.

You Cannot Get Away From God

"The Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Heb. 4:12, 13.

The Blood of Jesus

From every stain of evil,
From every spot of sin,
From every vile pollution,
His blood can make you clean.

There is no place of darkness,
No crime that stains your soul,
But can be washed to whiteness
By blood that makes thee whole.

There is no thought forgotten,
No idle word or deed,
Which does not vanish ever
Before His precious blood.

The drunkards and revilers
Are by it washed and clean.
The blood can meet the lowest,
The deepest sunk in sin.

Lord Jesus, Thou hast shed it,
It streamed on Calvary s tree;
'Twas shed for guilty sinners,
So shed, my Lord, for me.

Then by its power for cleansing,
My soul is justified
From every spot that stained it,
And now 'tis satisfied.

My sins were borne by. Jesus,
The holy Lamb of God;
He took them all and freed me
From that condemning load.

My guilt was borne by Jesus,
Who washed the crimson stains
White in His blood most precious,
Till not a spot remains.

W. C. Cullum, verses 7 and 8, Horatius Bonar.

A Mohammedan's Dream

"Why, All Khan, what is the matter? You look sad. Is anyone in your family ill?"

Ali Khan was a highly respected Mohammedan. The above words were addressed to him by one of his many admiring friends.

"No," he replied, "no one is ill, nor has any misfortune befallen me, praise be to God! But I have had a strange dream which worries me. I am going to my uncle, the Wise, to beg him to interpret it for me."

"You had better not go to him," said his friend. "He has read many Christian books and has accepted foreign teachings. What advice could he give you, anyway?"

"My uncle has often given me good advice; that is why I want to ask him today," Ali replied, and went his way.

He soon reached his uncle's house and told him his dream.

"I dreamed that I was dead," he said. "They had buried my body with the most solemn rites, and my soul was awaiting the arrival of the two angels of death, as we have been taught.

"I do not know where I was, but I saw an immense pair of golden scales, the needle of which reached the sky. I knew that my good and bad deeds were going to be weighed in them. Angels in robes of dazzling whiteness stood ready to carry me to Paradise, if my good deeds made the right side of the balance descend. On the left side Satan was watching for me, ready to take me away, if the bad deeds should outweigh the good. However, I was not afraid of him, for I was sure that Paradise was to be my portion.

Next I saw the servants of Satan carrying big parcels done up in black tissue paper. I understood at once that these were my bad deeds. Their number and size surprised and frightened me. Acts which I had regarded as the folly of youth, acts long forgotten, made the scale dip more and more. I began to tremble, and Satan looked at me triumphantly, as if I were already his prey.

“‘Now bring his bad words,' he shouted. My terror grew, for I had always thought words did not count. I had never considered that words uttered in anger or irritation were sins, and I certainly thought mine less bad than my neighbors. The words were in the form of black balls of various sizes, but all appeared as heavy as lead by the way the mocking, grinning imps threw them into the scale on the left, which descended more and more, so low that it seemed to reach hell itself.

"But worse was yet to come. 'Now bring his bad thoughts,' Satan ordered. I thought I should sink into the earth and could not help exclaiming: `Are we responsible for our thoughts, too?' "

"Indeed we are," interrupted his uncle at this point, "for the Word of God says that the imaginations of the hearts of men are evil from their youth up. So thoughts can also be sins. Evil thoughts defile a man."

But Ali continued his story:

"Although these thoughts only looked like a black cloud, their weight seemed to make the scale dip dreadfully into a horrible abyss. I should have lost consciousness had I not been sustained by the thought that my good deeds and words and thoughts would weigh heavy too, for I believed I had a great number to my credit. 'Hurry! Hurry!' I shouted to the angels, 'Throw my good deeds, my good words, my prayers, my alms into the scale!'

"They obeyed and brought slowly and with solemn faces a certain number of parcels wrapped in white. But the chief of the angels said to me; `Only what was done for the love of God possesses weight; whatever was inspired by self-interest is lighter than a feather.'

"The parcels were thrown into the scale and what did I see? The whole of my good deeds weighed as if it were nothing at all. They did not raise the scale a little bit. My fastings, my ablutions were without any value!

"But my prayers! I cried in despair. For fifty years I have prayed five times a day. If my bad words have weighed so heavy, surely the good ones will weigh more. But I was mistaken. The angels who brought my prayers in white parcels handed them to the bad angels, whose mere touch turned them black. Then to my horror they cast them into the scale containing the bad deeds."

"I can explain the matter," said his uncle quietly. " 'Till now you have used the name of God only with pride, vanity, and a defiled heart, and that is sin. But what else did you see, Ali Khan?"

"I saw the evil spirits draw near and stretch out their hands to seize me, and in that terrible moment I awoke."

"I, too," said his uncle after a pause, "I too have experienced something similar, only I was awake; it was no dream. All my deeds, words, and thoughts came up before me in the light of truth, and my soul shuddered as I heard the words, " 'Thou are weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.'

"Then I realized that I possessed nothing which could be cast into the scale on the right side of the balance."

"Then will all men be plunged into that terrible abyss with the left-hand scale?" exclaimed Ali. "Is there nothing that can be put in the right hand scale to outweigh their sins?"

"Indeed there is," his uncle hastened to reply. "We are not destined to eternal misery. I say the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It was shed for me in payment for my load of sins. As soon as I believed on Him, my faith in Him went into the right side of the balance. Instantly the pan on the left, which my sins had weighed down, rose up empty. In truth, 'we have redemption through His blood' shed on Calvary for sinners. In my joy I cried out with the man of God: " 'Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.' "

"But, uncle," exclaimed Ali Khan, astonished, "is it possible that you are a Christian?"

"Yes," he replied, "by the grace of God I know that the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, can take away all the sins of which our consciences and the Word of God accuse us."

It is to be hoped that Ali Khan became a Christian like his uncle. We do not know. But we do know that God speaks to men "in dreams and in visions of the night... to keep back their soul from the pit." Job 33:14, 18.

Till to Jesus' work you cling
By a simple faith,
"Doing" is a deadly thing;
"Doing" ends in death.

Though Your Sins Be As Scarlet

One Sunday evening a young man was walking to some place of amusement, when he was accosted by a stranger who pressed a note into his hand. Unfolding it at the next street light he read: "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."

A sneer passed over his handsome face as he threw the paper away and hurried on. But God had spoken, and would speak again, and again, and again, for truth bears repetition.

“‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow,' doesn't apply to me," he muttered. "I am an infidel, and do not believe in anything of the kind.

“‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.' Hang the thing; I can't get rid of it!

“‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.' Sins? Conscience? Yes, I acknowledge both, but I acknowledge neither a future nor a God, and therefore am not responsible. What do I care about having my sins made white, to use the figure, seeing that I owe no duties beyond those necessary to natural human existence?

“‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.' I am an infidel!" With an oath he stamped his foot and continued the war of words with himself. "I don't believe in the Bible, the God of the Bible, the future, nor anything beyond the grave. So here's for a short life and a merry one.

“‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.' Confound it; I wish I could get that out of my head.

“‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.' It is very forcible, very poetical. Certainly that Bible is a wonderful Book. Given, for the sake of argument, that it is true, and that a God exists, I can easily understand religious people who believe in a future, either of joy or suffering, clinging to such sentences with a tenacity proportioned to their belief. 'Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.'

"Admirable writing. Terse, forcible language. I wonder who wrote it? God, I suppose. God?— why there is no God! I forget myself. If I could only remember my principles, and how logical and well founded the arguments are which support them I should be all right.

“‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.' Confound the thing! Will nothing put a stop to this? There is a meeting hall, I may as well turn in."

He entered and was ushered into a seat near the door. A solemn silence reigned. The preacher had just read the text, then pausing for a moment he repeated it: " '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.' " Isaiah 1:18.

A room was always open for a short time after the service, for the reception of those whom the message of the Lord had touched. That evening, among the penitents, there was a young man who prayed, with tears: "Jesus, though my sins be dyed deeper than the deepest scarlet, do Thou now make them whiter than the purest snow."

Would You Be Ready?

Not long ago a Christian who had served the Lord for many years lay dying in a hospital in Ontario. It was late in the evening, and when a dedicated young nurse on duty that night came to give the patient a sleeping capsule, he was reading a greeting card received that day. The message on the card was woven around the truth of the coming of the Lord— "that blessed Hope."

"Listen to this, nurse," he said, and read her the greeting. "He is coming again! Wouldn't it be wonderful if He should come tonight? Then he added gently: "Nurse, if He should come tonight, would you be ready?" With a catch in her voice, she replied: "No, I'm afraid I would not."

Her patient then told her, simply and faithfully from the Word of God how she could be ready— by coming to Christ as a needy sinner, and trusting His finished work for her upon the cross. He then drifted, involuntarily, into a deep sleep.

But God who never slumbers nor sleeps continued the word begun that evening. And when morning came the patient was aroused by the same nurse, just before she went off duty. Softly she whispered in his ear: "I'm ready now!"

While others slept, she had met Jesus at the crossroads of her life; and before day dawned she had made her choice and taken Jesus by faith into her heart.

"HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS?"

1 Kings 18:21

(Don't let Death decide for you!)

The Atheists Confounded

At the time when Charles Bradlaugh, the champion of atheism was at his zenith, a special meeting for atheists was held by Moody and Sankey in East London. Following is an account of it by the late George Soltau.

It was among the most remarkable scenes I have ever witnessed. The hall was pitched in the center of the dense working population of that quarter, where men by the hundreds of thousands work and live. A Monday evening had been reserved for an address to Atheists, Skeptics, and Free Thinkers of all shades.

Charles Bradlaugh, the champion of atheism, heard of the meeting and ordered all the clubs he had formed to go and take possession of the hall. At the appointed hour five thousand men marched in from all directions and occupied every seat.

After the preliminary singing, Mr. Moody asked the men to choose their favorite hymns. This suggestion raised many a laugh, for atheists have no songs or hymns. Mr. Moody spoke from Deuteronomy 32:31:

"Their rock is not our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges."

He poured in a broadside of telling, touching incidents from his own experience of the deathbeds of Christians and atheists, and let the men be the judges as to who had the best foundation on which to rest faith and hope.

Reluctant tears were rung from many eyes. The great mass of men, with the darkest, most determined defiance of God stamped upon their faces, bore this running fire attacking them in their most vulnerable points, namely, their hearts and their homes.

But when the sermon was ended one felt inclined to think nothing had been accomplished. It had not appealed to their intellects or reasoning faculties, and had convinced them of nothing.

At the close, Mr. Moody said: "We will rise and sing, 'Only Trust Him,' and while we do so, will the ushers open all the doors, so that any man who wants to leave can do so. After that we will have the usual inquiry meeting for those who desire to be led to the Savior."

I thought, All will stampede and we shall have an empty hall.

But instead, the great mass of five thousand men rose, sang, and sat down again, not one man vacating his seat.

What next? Mr. Moody then said:

"I will explain four words— receive, believe, trust, take HIM. A broad grin pervaded all that sea of faces. After a few words upon "Receive," he made the appeal: "Who will receive Him? Just say, 'I will.' "

From the men standing around the edge of the hall came some fifty responses, but not one from the mass seated before him. One man growled: "I can't," to which Mr. Moody replied: "You have spoken the truth, my man; glad you spoke. Listen, and you will be able to say 'I can' before we are through. Then he explained the word, "Believe," and made his second appeal: "Who will say, 'I will believe Him'?" Again some responded from the edge of the crowd, till one big fellow, a leading club member, shouted: "I won't!"

Dear Mr. Moody, overcome with tenderness and compassion, burst into broken, tearful words, half sobs: "It is 'I will,' or 'I won't' for every man here tonight."

Then he suddenly turned the whole attention of the meeting to the story of the Prodigal Son, saying: "The battle is on the will, and only there." When the young man said, 'I will arise,' the battle was won, for he had yielded his will; and on that point all hangs tonight.

"Men, you have your champion there in the middle of the hall, the man who said, 'I won't.' I want every man here who believes that man is right to follow him, and rise and say, 'I won't.' "

There was perfect silence and stillness; all held their breath, till as no man rose, Moody burst out: "Thank God, no man says, 'I won't!" Now who will say, 'I will'?"

In an instant the Holy Spirit seemed to have broken loose upon that great crowd of enemies of Jesus Christ, and five hundred men sprang to their feet, their faces raining down with tears, shouting: "I will!" The whole atmosphere was changed and the battle was won.

Quickly the meeting was closed that personal work might begin. And from that night till the end of the week nearly two thousand men were swung out of the ranks of the foe into the army of the Lord by the surrender of their will.

They heard His, "Rise and walk," and they followed Him. The permanency of that work was well attested to for years afterward, and the atheists clubs never recovered their footing. God swept them away in His mercy and might by the gospel.

End

How Far to Hell?

"How far is it to hell?"

The question was asked of a police officer by one of three vacationers, who in a half-drunk condition were sauntering along the board walk at a favorite seaside beach.

Shocked by the ungodliness of the youth, and looking him full in the face, the policeman replied: "Hell is at the end of a Christless life, and you may be nearer to it than you think. Prepare to meet thy God."

This was more than the profane trio expected, so without a word they turned and hurried away.

That night the dead body of a man was picked up on the shore; it was that of the scoffing excursionist.

Years later, the Christian policeman still on the force, was accosted by a commercial traveler on the street of that same resort.

"You will not remember me, but I remember you," said the gentleman as he grasped the officer's hand. "Do you remember years ago three young fellows on yonder esplanade, one of whom asked you the impious question, 'How far is it to hell?"— and you replied:

"'Hell is at the end of a Christless life'?"

"You will remember, no doubt, the sad fate of that young man. I am one of the two who accompanied him, and the words you spoke that day never left me, until I came as a sinner to Jesus and received Him as my Savior. I praise His name that He took me as I was, a godless, guilty sinner and saved me by His grace. And I daily prove His sustaining and keeping power."

Duncan Matheson's Conversion

"Oh, God, stamp eternity on my eyeballs!" was the often uttered prayer of Duncan Matheson, a soul winner much used and honored of God. Following is the story of his spiritual awakening, which was followed by his conversion to Christ and a life of service to Him.

Dr. A. A. Bonar preached a sermon on Exodus 34:6, 7. When he came to the words, "Will by no means clear the guilty," Matheson wrote: "I felt the burning, piercing eye of Gad upon me. A mountain of wrath seemed to crush me down, and hell was opened beneath me. Louder than the loudest thunder came the words, 'By no means clear the guilty,' and 'cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.'

"The congregation was dismissed, the people departed, but I remained fixed to the spot. Some as they passed gave me a look of pity. At last I rose and reeled home to my lodgings, realizing with awful vividness God, heaven, hell, judgment and eternity.... I saw the mass around me hurrying unsaved to eternity. I wondered they could laugh. It seemed to me like the condemned dancing on the scaffold. The heaven seemed as if clothed in sackcloth. Wherever I went I felt the burning eye of God upon me, and the threatenings of the Word came like peals of artillery in quick succession. I feared I should drop into hell at every step."

Thank God, his awakened soul found peace through the glorious message in John 3:16.

"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."

Why Camest Thou Down Hither?

1 Samuel 17:28

“Why camest Thou down hither?”
Men ask with anger sneer;
“Why camest Thou down hither?”
We’d nail Thee to a Cross,
We will not hear Thy preaching,
Why camest Thou unto us?

“Why camest Thou down hither?”
The sinner ask in fear.
“Why camest Thou down hither?”
I’d flee,—but, oh , flee whither?
Were find camest Thou down hither?”
I cannot meet Thy face.

“Why camest Thou down hither?”
Was it to seek for me?
“Why camest Thou down hither?”
When I had hated Thee.
Why leave Thy throne in glory
For such a worm as I”
It was For me to die.

Water!

Saudi Prince Mohammed Faisal Saud and the French consulting firm of Cicero are pressing the idea to bring fresh water to the Persian Gulf kingdom, by towing icebergs from the Antarctic to Jidda, Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Port.

On arrival, the icebergs would be cut up and allowed to melt in floating aqueducts. The water would then be pumped into on-shore lines.

It is believed by the proponents of the scheme, that "trains" of icebergs could bring fresh water to California "at economical prices."

Such far-fetched ideas help point up the fears occasioned by dwindling fresh water supplies in many areas of the world.

After the same manner in which water is vital to physical life in man, the Word of God is vital to the life and well-being of the soul. It is the Word of God, brought home in the power of God's Spirit, that alone satisfies the cravings of the human heart.

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God; for the living God." Psalm 42:1, 2.

The journey required to bring icebergs from Antarctica to the Persian Gulf would be about five thousand, seven hundred miles a long way for a tug.

But who could estimate the distance from whence Jesus, the Son of God, came to save— and make the gospel available to us?

"As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." Prov. 25:25.

Today the gospel, like Eden's river with four heads (gospels) carries the good news of salvation to the four corners of the earth, and thousands are drinking at the stream.

But will the river of God's grace, the water of salvation, flow on forever? The solemn answer is, No. God has said: "My spirit shall not always strive with man." Gen. 6:3.

O sinner, come to the One who cries to you even now: "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink." John 7:37.

Do not delay, lest when the day of salvation suddenly ends with the coming of the Lord, you be left behind— and find yourself in hell, crying for a drop of water to cool your tongue. Read Luke 16:24.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
"Behold, I freely give,
The living water— thirsty one,
Stoop down, and drink, and live."
I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him.

Horatius Bonar

"Remember, brother, everything outside of the Lake of Fire is mercy; every drop of water is pure grace. If we had our deserts, we should be in the deepest hell; but because of unspeakable mercy, we are the children of God, members of Christ, and saved eternally." James McKendrick

Tom's Quest

Like Jabez, long ago (1 Chron. 4:9,10) Tom had learned by bitter experience that Sin and Sorrow are inseparable twins. Furthermore, they dogged his path wherever he went. He tried to escape by abandoning the city for the prairie; then in a banking career; then in married bliss. He tried going to churches of every denomination, as well as to a little unnamed meeting hall; but in vain. He finally found deliverance one cold winter night, when a fellow bank employee opened his little Bible as they walked home, and read to him: "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Isa. 1:18.

Our story begins when Tom, as a world-weary young Englishman, resolved: "I'll find peace on the prairies. So far from the big cities, there can be no sin. There I will turn over a new leaf and start life all over again."

A few months later found him in his newly chosen field, toiling in the broad wheatlands of Manitoba, an employee of a prosperous Canadian farmer, who desired to be called William.

William was a powerful man with a kind face and luxuriant beard. He had a good wife and together they owned and operated the farm. Besides being religiously inclined, William was a member in high standing in the Orange Lodge. Outwardly, everything appeared serene, and Tom thought that at last he had found a secure and peaceful nest.

After the first day's work and the hearty meal that followed, to Tom's surprise, William proposed that they sit down "and have a little chat about the Bible." Strangely enough, the suggestion created a ripple of resentment in Tom. The Bible was never read in his old home in England. Besides, he had come to Canada to turn over a new leaf, not to turn over pages in the Bible.

William lost no time in informing Tom that although he had read the Bible through three times, he still could not understand it. It had convinced him, however, that being a chief officer in the Orange Lodge could never get him to heaven.

"Look at Moses," he reasoned, "He sinned only once and was barred from entering the promised land. So what chance have we?"

How blind is the natural man to the things of God! Truly, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3.

The following evening William again suggested that they "have a little chat about the Bible." This time he introduced the "meditation," with a declaration that—

"Now, after all, I do have a chance to get to heaven, because I have never turned away anyone who came to me for help."

At this point, his comely little wife, who had been a silent listener as she washed the dishes, spoke: "William," she said, "remember how you lied to the man when you sold him that cow."

"That's enough from you," snapped William angrily.

"But, William, you did," she insisted. Poor William! If only he had known and believed that the one ground of peace with God and the only title to heaven is the shed blood of Christ! Tom was unable to tell him, but we hope someone else did.

The nagging pangs of conscience which prompted Tom to leave England, were not in the least allayed by William's groping for peace and his doubts about reaching heaven. This, coupled with the sudden rift in William's domestic happiness shattered Tom's dream of finding peace on the prairies, and eventually he forsook the farm to find work in the city.

He was not long in finding employment in a bank, and in this sense of financial security, he married and settled in Winnipeg.

It was then mutually decided between him and his bride that they should "go to church." It seemed the normal thing to do. But which church? It was agreed that they would try them all and then choose. Eventually, having attended practically every church in the city, large and small, and finding satisfaction in none, they "gave up on religion" to seek happiness in a social whirl.

By this time Tom had become a bank messenger, a promotion which proved to be the turning point in his life. His work brought him together with another messenger named Wilson, who was a Christian, although Tom did not know it Tom was drawn to him. Wilson never spoke about religion, but Tom could not help noticing how different he was to the rest of the staff— how kind he was to everyone: and all the things he did to help him and others.

"There is something about that man," Tom soliloquized; "I like him."

A whole year had elapsed without any mention of Christian things, when one afternoon Wilson said: "Tom, you have listened to a lot of things during your life; now, how would you like to listen to the truth?"

"I'll listen to anything," replied Tom carelessly, "I've heard everything else, I've been everywhere and am ready to go anywhere."

"I'll meet you at the corner at seven tonight, and take you to hear the truth," said Wilson.

Tom was there when Wilson arrived, and together they walked to the "hall". It was the most unpretentious place— a single, tiny, three-cornered room, with bare walls and no furniture except a plain small table and rows of hard chairs. A small group of very ordinary people were already seated. Everyone held a well-worn Bible, even the little children. A godly atmosphere pervaded the whole scene. But Tom was like a caged bird. When someone put a Bible in his hands, he felt stupid; he could not turn to a single verse.

"What am I doing here?" he muttered. "I must be crazy. Once I'm out, I will never come back!"

But Gird had put His hand upon him, and three weeks later he was back at that same little room, drawn as if by some invisible Power.

"What is happening to me?" he asked himself. "Am I becoming weak-minded?"

Three months rolled by before Wilson said another word to him about the Bible. Then one night after work he said he would walk part way home with Tom. As they strolled along, this time Wilson directed their conversation away from business to eternal things, and quoted from the Bible: "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."

Late the following afternoon, Wilson walked homeward with him again. This time he took a small Bible from his pocket and read: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." 1 Cor. 2:14.

"Tom," said Wilson, "do you want to continue being a natural man?" Tom did not answer, but his inward thought was: "It is a cold night; why doesn't he go home to supper? Why does he bother with me?"

But Wilson persevered. He told of Christ dying upon the cross as the mighty sacrifice for sin, and then declared to Tom the gospel.

"Think of it, Tom," he said; "Jesus did it all. There is nothing left for you to do. And now God is ready to forgive every sin you have ever committed, and He says He will remember them no more. It's all on account of what Jesus has done for you. 'As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us' (Psalm 103:12)— and that's a long, long way, Tom."

Wilson then left Tom to board a street car, and Tom went home— but not to supper.

"I went up to my room and knelt beside my bed, and there and then accepted Christ as my Savior. After all my wanderings I had at last found the key to peace with God. The burden of guilt rolled away from my heart and conscience. That was aver sixty years ago, and God has kept me ever since." So said Tom who recently told us this story about himself.

I sighed for rest and happiness;
I yearned for them, not Thee!
But while I passed my Savior by
His love laid hold of me.

Whether one is an earthly monarch or an inconspicuous unknown person, the way of salvation and eternal life is the same.

The Queen and the Young Soldier

One day as the late Queen Victoria was walking in the grounds of Windsor Castle, she met a young soldier who was on duty near a door.

Her majesty stopped to speak to him and after a brief conversation, she put to him these questions: "Young man, do you know if your sins are forgiven? Can you say that you have passed from death unto life?"

The soldier confessed to his royal questioner that he could not say that he had passed from death unto life.

The Queen then told the young soldier the story of the wonderful grace of God that has provided, in the death of Jesus Christ, a way of salvation for poor sinners who are in danger of perishing forever.

"Do you know," she continued, that your precious soul is worth more than my imperial crown, and all the possessions over which I reign? When you are free from duty will you read the words of Jesus: '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 [judgment], but is passed from death unto life.' " John 5:24.

Deeply touched by the care thus shown for his well-being by the Queen, the young soldier gave the required promise and took the first opportunity to fulfill it. He read and re-read the verse. God made it a blessing to his soul, for after some time he could rejoice in the knowledge of the forgiveness of his sins.

Some days after this the Queen met him again and said: "Well, young man, what do you think now of the subject of which we were speaking a little while ago, Is it a settled thing? Can you say now, `I have passed from death unto life'?

"Yes, your Majesty, I can say, I have passed from death unto life."

Reader, can you say the same? Whoever you may be, noble or peasant, rich or poor, educated or illiterate, young or old, Jesus waits to save you. His blood avails to wash away all your sins. Come to Him now, just as you are; for He says:

"Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37.

Another Story about Queen Victoria

She was accustomed every summer to go to Balmoral, a lovely place in Scotland, and used to visit the Highland women living in the little cottages in the hill around.

She became acquainted with all of them and went from one to the other to chat with them. Of course they were delighted that the Queen would take such notice of them. Finally, as she was returning to London, she came to bid one old cottager goodbye. The old lady said: "Well, your Majesty, I may never see you on earth again. May I ask your Majesty a question?"

"Yes," she replied; "as many as you like."

"Well," said the old saint, "will your Majesty meet me in heaven?"

The gracious Queen replied:

"Yes; through the all-availing blood of Jesus."

Awake to Life through the Dead March

Some years ago a soldier named Johnson lay ill in a large military hospital. The matter of his soul's salvation became of special concern to a devoted Christian lady named Miss Sandes who visited the hospital regularly, bringing comforts and rays of heavenly sunshine to the sick and the dying.

But Johnson, although grateful for the many kindnesses she showed to him and the others, turned a deaf ear to any mention of his soul needing a Savior. Finally he asked her to promise not to speak on the subject again. On the impulse of the moment she promised.

But one day while Miss Sandes visited in Johnson's ward, they saw through the open window near Johnson's bed a military funeral procession. It was the funeral of his friend who had died in the next ward. As the solemn strains of the Dead March, played by the regiment's band, entered the ward, Johnson's eyes were seen to fill with tears. Turning to Miss Sandes he asked in a low voice:

"Do you remember that promise?"

"Yes, only too well."

"Well, forget it. You may talk to me about my soul as much as you wish."

"Shall I tell you about that poor fellow they are taking away to bury?"

"Yes, do. I heard you were with him and that he died happy."

"Yes, I was with him," said Miss Sandes, "and he did die happy. But there was a time when he, like you, did not care for anyone to talk to him about his soul.

"While serving abroad he had saved a good deal of money, but on his return home he began drinking it away until it was all gone. I tried again and again to reach him, but he avoided me.

"One night, dead drunk, he lay outside in the pouring rain until morning and caught a terrible cold which settled in his lungs. I found him later in the hospital, very ill and very miserable. When I asked him what the trouble was, he told me his Company had gone out on detachment that day. Among them were his chums, the very men with whom he had squandered all his money. And not one of them had come to wish him good-by!

"The tears rolled down his cheeks. It was the same old story of The Prodigal Son—

“‘He began to be in want... and no man gave unto him.'

"Thank God, I was able to tell him of the `Friend that sticketh closer than a brother'— the Lord Jesus, who wanted to be his real Friend and Savior.

"He listened to me eagerly and from then on he loved to hear more about Jesus.

"One day I found him with such a look of rest and peace on his face, that I could not help remarking: " 'You are very happy today!

"Yes,' he answered brightly, 'I will tell you all about it.'

"'I could not sleep last night. I was restless and miserable, while all my past kept coming before me. Ah! I never could tell you what a black, dark life it has been. And my sins!— they rose mountain high. I knew I must stand before God, and was not fit to die. Then I thought of the verse you have so often quoted:'

“‘The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.' And the lines of a hymn I had heard at one of the meetings:

“‘The Father will not punish me
'Twas laid upon His Son.'

“‘That lifted the load off my heart. I saw that God had laid my sins on Jesus, and now, `The Father will not punish me. Oh, it is wonderful.'

“‘Doubts and fears often assailed him afterward, but he clung to those words, 'The Father will not punish me— 'Twas laid upon His Son.'

"I was with him the other day, holding his hand to the end. His last words to me were: “‘I am a guilty sinner; but Jesus died for me.' “Johnson’s heart was melted by Miss Sandes' account of his friend's conversion, and he said: "I wish I could say that Jesus died for me. I know that I am a guilty sinner. Oh, you don't know how bad I have been!"

Shortly afterward, he too believed that "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin," and was filled with joy and peace in believing. Reader, can the same be said of you?

END

"But how do you know that there is any Christ? You never saw Him!" said poor Augustine St. Clare, the slave-owner, to Uncle Tom, the slave.

"I feels it in my soul, mas'r; oh, mas'r, the love of Christ that passeth knowledge."

"But, Tom, you know that I have a great deal more knowledge than you; what if I should tell you that I don't believe your Bible? Wouldn't that shake your faith some, Tom?"

"Not a grain, mas'r."

"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Rom. 8:16.

Such an Offer!

Such an offer! Full and free!
Is it really meant for me?
That all my sins on Christ were laid,
That all my debt by Him was paid?
Yes: Jesus says it, who has died:
"Believe," and thou art justified.

Such an offer! Pardon now
For hidden, sin, and broken vow!
For years of cold neglect and scorn;
Can mercy's ray upon me dawn?
Yes: Jesus died instead of thee;
His death for thine, must be thy plea.

Such an offer! Peace and joy
Untainted by the world's alloy;
The sweet assurance of a Friend
Who, loving, loves unto the end;
The knowledge now of sins forgiven,
And a home prepared in heaven.

Oh, what goodness! Lord, take
This offer Thou dolt freely make!
My one desire shall henceforth be
To live for Him who died for me.
Spread glad news through every nation
Instant, free, and lull salvation!

?There Will Be Hanging for This?

There are many secret enemies of the gospel, but some express their hatred of God's good news with violence. This true story begins with a violent attack upon a lone preacher in the open air by a gang of heartless men.

They had thought to frighten the evangelist away by hurling threats and profanities; but when these failed they hurled stones, one of which struck the preacher.

As he continued, regardless, to present God's invitation to lost sinners, their wrath finally overflowed in a general onslaught on the defenseless man. In the attack one powerful fellow struck him to the ground, where he lay still and silent and to every appearance dead.

The sight of the pale, motionless form suddenly subdued and over-awed the mob. Addressing the man who had struck the blow, one of them said: "I say, there will be hanging for this!"

With one terrified glance around, the guilty fellow fled. Through alleys and byways, and fields beyond the town he flew, till finally, hiding behind a hedge, he waited for the night.

With the darkness he stole back to the town and into a wretched court he called home. Creeping up the rickety stairs he silently reached the door and entered his room.

"What's the matter, Daddy?" called a frightened child out of the gloom. It was the voice of his only child, Jimmy, the only other occupant.

"You don't need to know," answered his father roughly; then added, "I must hide, Jimmy; where can I go?"

Jimmy peered into the darkness, then pointed towards the bed in the corner. Threatening the child with dire consequences if he made known his whereabouts, the fugitive dragged himself under the bed.

"There'll be hanging for this." The words rang like an alarm bell in the ears of the almost distracted man. Hanging meant death in its most dreadful and hideous form. But would even death by hanging be the end? Something whispered that it would not.. Then echoed back four long-forgotten words: "After this the judgment."

The preacher whom he had struck down had just been telling them of the way to escape that judgment. If only he had listened instead of striking him dead!

Morning dawned and found him still under the bed. He dared not venture out; but to help pass the, dreadful hours, he sent Jimmy to buy him some "snuff", a powdered preparation of tobacco to which he was addicted.

Now a singularly strange thing happened. On the counter in the shop where the snuff was sold lay a large old Bible, the pages of which the shop keeper used for wrapping-paper. It followed that a page was torn out of the Bible to wrap the snuff which Jimmy bought and carried home to his father. That page contained the ninth chapter of Hebrews.

Something to read was a welcome break to the man beneath the bed. Anything to break the monotony and the ever-growing suspense! With difficulty in the dim light he read until he reached verse twenty-two, where he abruptly stopped.

"Without the shedding of blood is no remission."

What did that mean? Did not God also say that he must die? Was there no forgiveness for him even from God? He had forfeited his life to man, he knew; but had his sins forfeited his life to God?

Those were the most dreadful hours. At last he could bear the suspense no longer, and sent Jimmy once more to the shop for snuff. He hoped that it would be wrapped in another page from the Book and tell him more.

But the meanwhile other shoppers had come and gone. When Jimmy arrived, the shopkeeper was still tearing pages from the Bible. This time the snuff was folded in 1 John, chapter one. The guilty man carefully unfolded it and read until his eyes rested upon verse seven: "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."

What a message from God to his sin-burdened soul! Blood had been shed for his sin— not his blood, but the blood of God's own Son. God must be satisfied or He would not have sent such a message.

But why did God give His only Son to die? the man asked himself in wonder. Then he remembered hearing, "God is love" —that God loves the sinner, though He hates his sin.

"But how much of his sin did the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse away? The words said, "All sin." Not, surely not, the sin of yesterday— murder?

Yes, the words were, "All sin”— past, present, future, all alike. It was "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth from all sin."

And in those words the man who was hiding from human justice, found refuge from divine judgment, and rejoiced in the blood that was shed for him.

Time passed on, till one day the glad news reached him that the preacher whom they had left for dead, had not been killed, as they supposed. He had recovered and was preaching again. With courage which only grace can give, his assailant went to hear him, and afterward confessed all. He was joyfully welcomed and freely forgiven.

While the preacher continued to tell out the glad tidings, the man who had been a leading enemy of Christ, became one of His faithful witnesses too. Amid bitter persecution from those who were formerly his associates in sin, he declared the gospel of God.

When we were enemies,

We were reconciled to God

By the death of His Son.

—Romans 5:10

26,000 Miles!

The following incident recounted by a pastor points up what may be accomplished by one tract: "I was asked to go to a small hotel where the landlord's wife lay dying. I found her rejoicing in Christ as her Savior. I asked her how she found the Lord."

"Reading that," she replied, handing me a torn piece of paper.

It was part of an American newspaper containing an extract from one of a well-known evangelist's sermons.

"Where did you find this newspaper?" I asked.

"It was wrapped around a parcel sent to me from Australia," she replied. God had allowed the paper bearing His message to travel twenty-six thousand miles before it reached His object—one precious soul.

"Canst thou by searching find out God?" Job 11:7. "His ways are past finding out." Rom. 11:33.

Mephibosheth

"And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet. And the king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold he is in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. Then the king sent and fetched him.... Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant! And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?" 2 Samuel 9:3-8

Charles Stanley, author of the widely distributed Railway Tracts with the well known initials "CS," recalled the following account of the conversion of a lame sailor: "I well remember an incident that may encourage many a parent in prayer. More than seventy years before this event, a godly mother committed her babe to the Lord, in faith that the child would be converted, and join her above; such was her faith as she departed, to be absent from the body, present with the Lord.

"For seventy years there was no sign of answered prayer. The child grew up a careless, ungodly man, a captain of a warship. He had both his heels blown off by a splinter of a shell. He was now an aged and lame man.

"He had been brought to hear the gospel, being carried into the crowded room. That night the Spirit led me to preach on `Mephibosheth.' (See above.) I was describing the sinner's utterly lost, lame condition, and the kindness of God shown in Christ, not only in giving Christ to die for our sins, but in fetching the poor sinner, just as he is, to His own presence, as David sent and fetched Mephibosheth, lame on both his feet.

"I said, 'Now, you poor lame old sinner, you who have been fetched into the presence of God tonight, where are you?'

"The poor old captain felt it was God who knew all about him, speaking to him; and trying to get up, he cried out, "I am here!'

"God saved his soul that night, and thus answered a mother's prayers, but in His own time.

"It was a happy sight to see the dear old captain rejoicing in Christ Jesus, and sitting at the King's table as a King's son, 'and he was lame on both his feet.' "

We have read of a wealthy hardware merchant named J. Henry, who was struck by a train. As he lay bleeding on the station platform he cried: "I will give one hundred thousand dollars to anyone who will save my life."

Yet one of the commonest tragedies of our day is to witness the colossal folly of men trifling with this greatest of all questions: "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Mark 8:36.

Left Behind

After the silent British retreat from Lucknow during one of the wars in India, a captain named Waterman was left behind.

He had gone to his bed in a retired corner of the brigade mess house, and having overslept, was forgotten.

At two o'clock in the morning he awoke and to his horror, found all was deserted and silent. He was alone in an open entrenchment with fifteen thousand furious natives just outside.

Frightened beyond measure, he took to his heels and ran himself nearly out of breath, till he overtook the retiring rear-guard, mad with excitement and breathless with fatigue.

Reader, have you ever considered the danger of being left behind when the Lord Himself descends from heaven with an assembling shout, and in the twinkling of an eye snatches away His Church to "be forever with the Lord?"

No breathless pursuit will avail to overtake the raptured throng. No cry of "Lord, Lord, open unto us!" will be answered with a reopening of the door. Once closed upon the Christ-neglecter, that door will be closed forever.

O Sinner, ere it be too late,
Flee thou to mercy's open gate
And join Christ's waiting band.

"Wa! Wa!" groaned out the wild Clothaire when life was ebbing. "What great God is this that pulls down the strength of the strongest kings?"

Reader, you will meet this God some day. Be warned and seek the Savior now.

Rock of Ages

A most beautiful incident in connection with Augustus Top lady’s beautiful hymn, "Rock of Ages," was told by the late Mrs. Lucy Bainbridge, who with her husband made the tour of the world to study Christian missions. She wrote: "The Chinese women, it seems, are so anxious to 'make merit' for themselves that they will perform any labor to escape the painful transmigrations of the next life. They dread to be born again as dogs or cats, and the highest hope possessed by them is to be reborn as men.

"In order to secure this they do any and every meritorious act. One whom we saw had with incredible labor dug a well twenty-five feet deep, and some ten or fifteen feet across. With her poor, weak hands she had excavated every foot of it, and it was only after this achievement that she learned of Christ and the gospel of free salvation.

"When we met her she was an old woman of eighty, and stretching out her crippled and aged fingers we sang together:

"Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling."

Said Charles Spurgeon:

"A glimpse at the thorn-crowned head and pierced hands and feet is a sure cure for 'modern doubt,' and all its vagaries. Get into the 'Rock of Ages, cleft for you,' and you will abhor the quicksand."

"He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities."

Isa. 53:5

”I’m in for a Good Time”

"I don't intend to live like this right along," said a worldly young woman to an earnest Christian friend. "I'll get religion when I grow old. I don't have time for it now."

"But when your good time is over, when death, judgment and eternity have to be faced, and when God has to be met, what then?"

"I'll think about those things when I'm old; I'm in for a good time now," she repeated.

"Yes, so the devil has deceived thousands, but you may never live to grow old. You may not have time to prepare for eternity, though you will have time to die."

She only laughed and went away to pursue her path of pleasure.

Several weeks later, she died suddenly and passed into eternity without Christ. Instead of even a death-bed repentance, or a cry to God for mercy and forgiveness of sins, there were but oaths and groans of anguish as her last utterances. Thus she passed into an eternity of everlasting punishment.

Infidelity Rebuked

It was back in pioneer times, in pioneer country. Late one evening a Christian minister, who lived near the forest was out for a walk. He walked further than he intended and night overtook him. In the darkness he missed the path and wandered into the woods. Here he soon became hopelessly lost. But just as he decided he must spend the night in a tree, he saw lights glimmering in the distance.

Hoping to find shelter or direction in a friendly cabin, he pressed on and reached a clearing. Here a meeting was in progress, with blazing pine torches providing the light.

"Well, here are Christians met to worship God," he thought. "What I considered to be an awkward mistake in losing my way, has brought me where I may perhaps get good and do good!"

But as he observed the proceedings, to his horror he found that it was a gathering of atheists. The speakers were venting their blasphemous thoughts against God with great daring and determination. The minister sat down in dismay.

One of the chief speakers was an eloquent young fellow who not only declared that he did not believe in the existence of God; but dared the Almighty to destroy him then and there if He existed.

The minister meditated on how he ought to reply, but his tongue seemed to cleave to the roof of his mouth. In the meantime the infidel completed his oration and challenge, and then sat down—to a chorus of acclaim and approval.

Not wishing to be a craven or hold back in the day of battle, the minister was about to rise up in defense of the truth, when another man stood up. He was a burly, though aging woodsman—a typical clearer of the backwoods.

“I should like to speak," he said, "if you will give me a hearing. I am not going to say anything about the topic which has been discussed by the orator who has just sat down. I am only going to tell you a fact. Will you hear me?"

"Yes, yes!" they shouted. It was a free discussion, so they would hear him, especially since he was not going to be controversial.

"A week ago," he began, "I was working up on the nearby river bank, felling trees. You know the rapids down' below. Well, while I was busy at my job, at some distance from the rapids, I heard cries and shrieks, mingled with prayers to God for help.

"I ran down to the water's edge, for I guessed what was the matter. There I saw a young man who could not manage his boat. The current was getting the mastery of him, and although caught for a moment on a tree branch which dipped into the water, he would before long most certainly have been swept over the falls and carried to a terrible death.

"I saw that young man kneel down in the boat and pray to God. By the love of Christ and by His precious blood, he pleaded with God to save him. He owned that he had been an infidel, but promised that if he might be delivered this once, he would declare his belief in God.

"I at once jumped into the river and waded out to him. My arms are not very weak, I think, though not so strong as they used to be. I managed to get into the boat, turn her around and bring her to shore. And so I saved that young man's life.

"And that young man is the one who has just sat down, and who has been denying the existence of God, and daring Him to destroy him!

"It is easy to brag and boast about holding infidel sentiments when in a place of safety; but when men are in danger of their lives, they talk in a different fashion."

The fool hath said in his heart,

"There is no God." Psalm 14:1

The Crucifying

"And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:33, 34.

Described by Alfred Edersheim in his "Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah:"

"First the upright wood was planted in the ground. It was not high, and probably the Feet of the Sufferer were not above one or two feet from the ground.

"Thus could the communication described in the Gospels take place between Him and others; thus also might His sacred lips be moistened with the sponge attached to a short stalk of hyssop.

"Next the transverse wood (antenna) was placed on the ground and the Sufferer laid on it; then His arms were extended, drawn up and bound to it. Then (this not in Egypt, but in Carthage and in Rome) a strong, sharp nail was driven first into the right, then into the left hand (the clavi Trabales).

"Next the Sufferer was drawn up by means of ropes, perhaps ladders; the transverse either bound or nailed to the upright and a rest or support for the body (the cornu or sedile) fastened on it. Lastly the feet were extended and either one nail hammered into each or a larger piece of iron through the two. And so might the crucified hang for hours, even days, in the unutterable anguish of suffering till consciousness at last failed."

What Will You Do With Jesus?

O Christ, what burdens bowed Thy head!
Our load was laid on Thee;
Thou stoodest in the sinner's stead—
Didst bear all ill for me.
A Victim led, Thy blood was shed;
Now there's no load for me.

Death and the curse were in our cup—
O Christ, 'twas full for Thee;
But Thou hast drained the last dark drop,
'Tis empty now for me.
That bitter cup—love drank it up;
Left but the love for me.
Jehovah lifted up His rod—
O Christ, it fell on Thee;
Thou wast forsaken of Thy God;
No distance now for me.
Thy blood beneath that rod has flowed:
Thy bruising healeth me.

The tempest's awful voice was heard,
O Christ, it broke on Thee;
Thy open bosom was my ward;
It bore the storm for me.
Thy form was scarred, Thy visage marred:
Now cloudless peace for me.

For me, Lord Jesus, Thou hast died,
And I have died in Thee;
Thou'rt risen: my bands are all untied,
And now Thou liv'st in me.
The Father's face of radiant grace
Shines now in light on me.

Will Your Anchor Hold?

There are few sights that shrink a man's estimate of his physical strength more than a close-up view of Niagara Falls. And the very thought of being swept over its awful brink is one of the most dreaded deaths the viewer can imagine.

Recently a company of twelve vacationers huddled in the shadow of such doom for two and one-half hours, as their forty-foot cruiser wavered helplessly on a reef, one mile above the American falls.

It was just before midnight. Both propellers were sheared off when the boat struck the reef. A single anchor was tossed out, but it was feared it would come loose and cruiser and passengers be swept over the Falls.

In the mercy of God, an off-duty park patrolman who was driving home along the Robert Moses Parkway, spotted a distress flare sent out by the boat and alerted State Parkway police on a citizen's band radio. The police used two emergency craft to complete the rescue in the early hours of the morning. One of the rescued passengers told the police: "I haven't gone to church in eighteen years; but now you can be sure I'll go every Sunday."

May this incident arouse the reader to the imminent danger of his position, if unsaved. Many are on the downward way that leads to destruction, but do not know it. Are you one of these?

Time, like a silent, swiftly flowing river is carrying you to the brink of eternity. Death, in whatever form you meet it, will determine your destiny.

The patrolman saw the distress signal sent by the stricken craft. The Lord Jesus will surely hear if you as a helpless, hopeless, guilty sinner call upon Him. He alone can save you in your need and says to you now: "Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." Psalm 50:15.

"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Acts 2:21.

Will your anchor hold in the straits of fear,
When the breakers roar and the reef is near?
While the surges rave, and the wild winds blow,
Shall the angry waves then your bark o'erflow?

Will your anchor hold in the floods of death,
When the waters cold chill your latest breath?
On the rising tide you can never fail,
While your anchor holds within the veil.

We have an anchor that keeps the soul,
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll;
Fastened to the Rock that cannot move,
Grounded firm and deer) in the Savior's love.

The Way of the Transgressor Is Hard

Frederick (misnamed "the Great"), after flattering and amusing himself with the wretched infidel Voltaire, turned him out and said: "I shall want him at the utmost another year; we squeeze the orange and throw away the peel." This is how the Devil treats his dupes. Having enticed them into evil, he abandons them in their need.

No Substitute for Blood

During a meeting of Jewish brethren in San Francisco, a venerable old Jew said; "This is Passover week. You will have put away all leaven from your houses; you will eat the `motsah' (unleavened wafers) and the roasted lamb. You will attend the synagogue services, and carry out the ritual and directions of the Talmud. But you forget, my brethren, that you have everything but that which Jehovah required first of all. He did not say:

"When I see the leaven put away, or when I see you eat the motsah, or the lamb, or go to the synagogue.' His word was:

" 'When I see the blood I will pass over you.' Ah, my brethren, you can substitute nothing for this. You must have blood, blood, BLOOD!

"I was born in Palestine, nearly seventy years ago. I was taught to read the Law, the Psalms and the Prophets. I early attended the synagogue and learned Hebrew from the rabbis.

"Again and again I read Exodus 12 and Leviticus 16 and 17. Day and night one verse would ring in my ears:

“‘It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.' I knew I needed atonement. I beat my breast as I confessed my need of it. But atonement was to be made by blood, and there was no blood.

"In my distress at last I opened my heart to a learned and venerable rabbi. I tried to be satisfied when he told me we must turn to the Talmud, rest on its instruction and trust in the mercy of God and the merits of the fathers. I tried to be satisfied but could not.

"I was over thirty years of age when I left Palestine and came to Constantinople. I had one great question: Where can I find the blood of atonement?

"One night I was walking down one of the narrow streets when I saw a sign telling of a meeting for Jews. Curiosity led me to open the door and go in. Just as I took a seat I heard a man say: "`The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.'

"It was my first introduction to Christianity. I listened breathlessly as the speaker told how God had declared that 'Without the shedding of blood is no remission' but that He had given His only begotten Son, the Lamb of God, to die, and all who trusted in His blood were forgiven all their iniquities.

"I had found the blood of atonement at last. I trusted it, and now I love to read the New Testament and see how all the shadows of the law are fulfilled in. Jesus."

Reader, if you have not yet found the blood of atonement, "Behold the Lamb of God." John 1:29.

Precious, precious blood of Jesus,
Shed on Calvary;
Shed for rebels, and for sinners,
Shed for me.
Precious blood that has redeemed us,
All the price is paid;
Perfect pardon now is offered,
Peace is made.

"Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of Man (Christ Jesus) cometh at an hour when ye think not." Luke 12:40.

Singing for Jesus

A Christian traveling by ship had as fellow-passengers a company of Seaforth Highlanders. A number of them had spent the day on shore drinking, and most of the regiment were impaired. As the evening wore on it was decided to have a concert. As there was no piano, they prevailed upon the Christian to provide the music with his violin. To this he finally consented, but with reluctance in his heart.

Since the day of his conversion he had not accompanied a secular song; but after asking God for guidance he felt powerless to refuse. He prayed earnestly that in some way God would enable him to glorify Christ in the midst of that crowd that night.

When the concert hour arrived, the chairman called for order by tapping vigorously on the table with his swagger stick. He introduced the program by stating that they would all part tomorrow— some for Fort George, some for India— and that in all probability they would never meet together again. All that could sing were requested to render solos and thereby contribute to the pleasure of the evening. He concluded his remarks by announcing that a gentleman present had kindly consented to supply the music with his violin.

Several were called upon to sing, but all declined. Whereupon the chairman asked the Christian if he could sing. He answered:

"Yes."

"Will you sing?"

"Yes."

Absolute silence was requested for his song and all complied. Raising his heart to God, the singer then raised his fiddle and sang:

"In tenderness He sought me,
Weary and sick with sin,
And on His shoulders brought me
Back to His fold again,
While angels in His presence sang
Until the courts of heaven rang.

"Oh, the love that sought me!
Oh, the blood that bought me!
Oh, the grace that brought me to the fold;
Wondrous grace that brought me to the fold.

The solemn hush produced by the Savior's Name was marvelous. As he sang the second verse and chorus, tears stood in many eyes, while some of the baser sort slipped out of the hall. Some sobbed aloud as he sang the third verse:

"He pointed to His nail-prints,
For me His blood was shed;
A mocking crown so thorny
Was placed upon His head.
I wonder what He saw in me
To suffer such deep agony?"

When the song was over it was two or three minutes before the chairman proposed another; but none would volunteer. Eventually one of the company asked for "Annie Laurie" and sang the first verse. But he had forgotten the rest, and no one else seemed to remember.

Five or ten minutes elapsed while the chairman endeavored to coax someone else to perform, but without success. Then, not wishing an abrupt end to the concert, he asked the Christian if he would oblige once more. He agreed and sang:

"Since Christ my soul from sin set free,
This world has been a heaven to me;
Amid earth's sorrow and life's woe,
'Tis heaven my Savior here to know.
"Oh, hallelujah! Yes, 'tis heaven,
'Tis heaven to know my sins forgiven;
On land or sea, what matter where—
Where Jesus is, 'tis heaven there."

With the conclusion of this song, the concert came to a close, for no other singers could be found. Then the Christian stood up and preached. For two hours he held the whole audience captive while he declared the Gospel. The pre-arranged concert consisted of one verse of "Annie Laurie," two gospel hymns and one gospel address which lasted till midnight. Eternity alone will disclose the full results.

?A Poor Drunken Mither?

"What is it?" asked a sad-faced Glasgow mother when offered a gospel tract.

"A little tract that tells you how Jesus died to save poor lost sinners," replied the Christian worker.

"I am a poor lost sinner," she replied, "and when I am drunk I am wicked and bad tempered.

"One day when the children came home from school for dinner, I was drunk and had no dinner prepared. They asked for something to eat and I beat them and sent them back to school without dinner." As she told that part of her story she wept bitterly and said in broad Scotch: "Oh, man, de ye think that God wid save a puir drunken mither that leathered her weans and sent them back te school without their dinner?"

He assured her that God would save her, proving from the Bible all that he said. Her reply was: `Oh, man, ye widna deceive a puir sinner like me, wid ye?" He then read her Isaiah 7:18:

"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. If ye be willing..." Then he added: "God is willing. Are you willing?"

"My God, I am willing," she cried as she dropped on her knees. She was born again and her joy knew no bounds.

About four months later the Christian that presented her with the tract received a letter from her husband whom he had never met. He wrote to say he felt he should thank him for the great change that had taken place in his home, and then added: "I don't understand about being saved and being 'born again' that my wife is always talking about; but this I do understand, that my home that was through my wife's conduct made a misery for years, has through her changed conduct, been made a perfect Heaven for four months. I hope I may have my wife's joy soon."

"Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matt. 5:15, 16.

?More Beyond?

In the city of Valladolid, the ancient capital of Spain, there stands a monument commemorating the discoveries made by Christopher Columbus.

The most noticeable feature of this monument is a lion with his paw raised as if to erase part of the words which had formed Spain's national motto for centuries past.

For many hundreds of years the sailors who had plowed the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea as far westward as the narrow strait through which they sailed into the great Atlantic, believed that they had reached the boundaries of the earth. Europe, Asia and Africa lay behind them, and nothing before them (as far as they knew,) but the limitless expanse of the ocean.

To them, the coast of Spain was "land's end." In the course of time, Spain adopted as her national motto, the three Latin words: "Ne plus ultra," which means, "Nothing beyond."

When Columbus returned from his eventful voyage in 1492 and reported that a vast continent and many islands lay far beyond the horizon, the motto "nothing Beyond" was seen to be untrue. There was something beyond. In the monument in Valladolid the sculptor has represented the lion of Castile as tearing from the scroll the word "Ne," and leaving the motto as it stands today— "Plus Ultra," which means, "More Beyond."

This makes us think of many today, both young and old, who think of "nothing beyond" the world in which they live. The range of their hopes and prospects is bounded by the horizons of their earthly life. They have no thought of anything that lies beyond what they see and the scenes in which they move from day to day. Eternity, with all its tremendous realities, is to them an unknown country.

How is it with you, dear reader. Are you living for this world? If so, you will have to leave it someday, for we read: "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." Heb. 9:27, 28.

Everything in this life passes away too.

"The world passeth away and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." 1 John 2:17.

If you have put your trust in the Lord Jesus as your own precious Savior, then you are SAVED for all eternity with the Lord Jesus in that happy home above.

"In Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Psalm 16:11.

Infidelity versus the Bible

Walking to his room in a hotel one night a traveling servant of God noticed a crowd gathered in the dining room. Entering, he saw that two men were engaged in a controversy over Christianity.

One was an avowed infidel of about forty, the other a Christian of about seventy. The older man was evidently no match for the glib infidel, who was holding up both the Christian and Christianity to ridicule, amidst the laughter of the crowd.

The newcomer into the room was anxiously watching for an opportunity to join the discussion, when to his disappointment the argument closed— the old man retreating in defeat.

After a moment's pause his brother-Christian said to him:

"I am sorry you have stopped." He replied:

"I have nothing more to say."

His infidel opponent took up the words so as to make it appear that the older man had no case, and delivered a further five-minutes tirade, in which he did not spare the aged Christian.

The sudden appearance and manner of this new soldier of Christ evidently took the infidel off his guard, especially when he said: "It is evident you know something of the Bible anyway."

"I should think I do," he replied. "I have read it through again and again."

"Well, that is what people would think who hear you talking, and I suppose it is because you know the Bible so thoroughly that you condemn it so severely."

"Yes," he replied, "that is so. It is because I know it so thoroughly that I condemn it as I do."

At this point his Christian opponent drew out his wallet, and placing his silver watch on top of it, said: "Here are $50.00 for you if you will quote ten verses of the Bible correctly."

This gave a new turn to the controversy. The audience waited expectantly to hear the infidel make a start; but instead he fought shy of the offer by saying: "It is a long time since I read the Book. I haven't read the Bible since I went to sea, and that was fifteen years ago, and my memory is failing."

"But," urged the Christian, "one who knows the Bible so thoroughly as he professes to do, out of the thirty-one thousand, one hundred and seventy-three verses it contains can surely repeat ten, especially when he is going to get $50.00 for doing so."

"Again the infidel pleaded the lapse of time since he had read it and his failing memory. The crowd began to laugh at his predicament after all his boasting.

The offer was then brought down to repeating seven verses, then down to five; and as he still declined to make a start, the offer was brought down to saying three verses.

He then attempted to repeat one verse, but misquoted the words. The believer opened his Bible and let him see his mistake and then said: "Ladies and gentlemen, here is a sample of the men who condemn the Bible and oppose Christianity, and tell you that they know the Bible from beginning to end, and yet for $50.00 cannot quote one verse correctly." He then continued to speak for a half an hour on the truth of Scripture, and finally closed in prayer.

Later on he had a kindly talk with the infidel and a godless soldier companion. They told him that they had not slept for thinking of their lost condition and thanked him for his faithful words.

All vocal infidels boast of how they know the Bible. The only people who oppose it are those who know neither the Book nor its Author.

Why Not Let the Bible Alone?

"Why don't you tackle Homer, Shakespeare, Kipling, or some of these men? Have a shot at them, and let the Bible alone for awhile." The question was asked by a man at an infidel lecture in London.

"Because the Bible won't leave us alone," promptly replied the lecturer.

How true! We can know the Bible is the Word of God because it speaks to our hearts and consciences as no other book. "Quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword." Hebrews 4:12.

The Bible

The Bible is we plainly see,
Then it must have a pedigree.
It either is a Book divine,
Or men to make it must combine;
Suppose the latter, then they must
Either be wicked men or just,
Take either side and you will see
A proof of its divinity.

If wicked men composed this book
Surely their senses they forsook,
For they the righteous man defend
And curse the bad from end to end.
If righteous, then they change their name
For they the authorship disclaim,
And often say "Thus saith the Lord"
And testify it is His Word.
If it be not they tell a lie,
And all their righteousness destroy.

Could Moses and could Malachi,
Unite together in a lie?
Could Job and Daniel with the rest,
Spread o'er the world from East to West,
Unite together and confer,
When Oceans rolled between them,
Sir? Not only Seas, but Ages too,
Numbers of years and not a few.

?Drunken Isac?

James M'Kendrick, the Scottish evangelist, related the following experience during a visit to the United States.

Few people knew his name was Isac; he was known to all as "Drunken Isac" and the name suited him well. His home was a mere shack beside a stream, about fifteen miles out of Philadelphia. I was to preach the gospel in a hall in the vicinity on the weekend.

A dear high school girl, about sixteen years old was thinking of Drunken Isac at the time. She prayed for his salvation, and wished with all her heart that he would come to the gospel meetings.

Being a sweet singer, she went to the stream and standing outside his door sang gospel songs. While she was singing old Isac opened the door and stood listening. At his request she continued to sing.

Tears ran down the old drunkard's face as he listened to the sweetest story ever told or sung. Then she asked him if he would come to hear a Scotch preacher that Sunday night.

He came— the most disreputable looking old wretch I have ever seen, a picture of dirt, rags and sheer neglect.

He continued to come to every meeting, till on the fifth night, as he left the hall he said to me: "God saved me tonight."

To my shame, I confess I was skeptical; indeed. I resented the presence of such a repulsive looking character among a decent congregation. But a few days sufficed to satisfy me and everyone else.

Isac was born again. His very features were changed. Old habits fell off like autumn leaves. He at once became a shining light for Christ.

Dressed in respectable clothes which were found for him, he visited his old haunts with gospel tracts. He told of his new-found Savior to everyone who would listen.

Everywhere I preached in and around Philadelphia, Isac was there, ready to tell how the Lord had sought and found him. He would always give the date of his conversion and tell how many months since God had saved him— and later on, how many years since he was "plucked as a brand from the burning."

I am sure a great reward awaits that dear high school girl who thought of and prayed for poor old Drunken Isac; and went and sang about Jesus at the door of his shack; and invited him to come and hear the gospel whereby he was saved.

END

Guilty - Pardoned

Guilty! 'Twas thus the verdict stood.
Guilty! Yes, guilty before my God:
Guilty! In thought and word and deed:
Guilty, already condemned.
Guilty! Without a word to say:
Guilty! Without a cent to pay;
Guilty! And hopelessly out of the way,
Yes, guilty, already condemned.
Pardoned! Oh joy. So the document reads:
Pardoned! 'Tis just what a guilty one needs;
Pardoned! My thoughts, my words, my deeds;
Pardoned by God Himself!
Pardoned! Although I had nothing to say;
Pardoned! Without a cent to pay;
Pardoned! Though hopelessly out of the way,
Yes, pardoned by God Himself!

A Strange Funeral

When Jamaica was formally ceded to Great Britain by the treaty of Madrid in 1670, the place of the native Indians was taken by slaves, brought from Africa by the Spaniards. During the eighteenth century over half a million slaves were brought to toil, suffer and die on the island.

The history of these slaves, their outrageous abduction, torture, wretchedness, poverty and degradation, is among the blackest annals of human crime. When the facts became known in Great Britain, the conscience of English freemen demanded their liberation, and by popular demand the abolition of slavery was decreed. Midnight, July 31, 1838 was set to usher in the complete liberation of every slave.

On that memorable night, led by their missionaries, fourteen thousand adults and five thousand children joined in prayer to God as they waited and watched for the moment which would terminate the reign of the slave master.

A great mahogany coffin had been built, polished and fitted by cabinet-makers among the slaves. A great grave had been dug to receive it.

In the coffin were packed tokens of all the various things that represented their bondage, suffering and sorrow. The whips, the torture irons and the branding irons; the coarse frocks and shirts and the great hat; fragments of the treadmill and the handcuffs. Whatever was the sign and badge of seventy-eight years of thralldom, they crammed into the coffin, then fastened down and sealed the cover.

As the bell began to toll twelve o'clock the voice of a missionary was heard saying: "The monster is dying... is dying... is dying... is dying." And as midnight struck...

"The monster is dead! Let us bury him out of sight forever!"

The coffin was immediately lowered into the grave, while the whole multitude celebrated their deliverance from thralldom by singing the doxology.

The sin of enforced servitude is very old; but the enslavement of the soul of man dates back to the beginning and became universal. Satan's first great victory over man was the day he tempted Adam to sin. With its head fell the whole human race. Today the whole world of mankind is the slave of sin and lies in wickedness ("in the wicked one") 1 John 5:19. Countless millions groan under his yoke— and dread his "payday," "for the wages of sin is death."

The Law (the Ten Commandments) but proves man's transgression individually— proves that "all have sinned." The Law curses everyone that breaks it.

God in unspeakable grace and mercy has provided a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. "Behold the Lamb of God!" He is the mighty Redeemer from sin and Satan. Those that trust Him He delivers from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for us upon the cross.

Millions today have proved His great salvation. Their sin and guilt, with all the tokens of sin's cruel slavery, they see buried in the grave of Christ. They rejoice in glorious new liberty and freedom, having proved in their own hearts and lives the words of the Lord Jesus: "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin... If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8:36.

Count Zinzendorf and Rabbi Abraham

Among the motley collection of folks who lived about old Castle Marienborn where Count Zinzendorf made his home, was an old Jew, called Rabbi Abraham. One bright June evening the Count met him, and holding out his hand said: "Gray hairs are a crown of glory. I can see from your head and the expression of your eyes that you have had much experience, both of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, let us be friends.

The old man had never heard before such a greeting from a Christian. "Begone, Jew!" had been the usual salutation. He was struck dumb with wonder, and big tears rolled down his wrinkled cheeks upon his flowing beard.

"Enough, friend," said the Count; "we understand each other."

From that moment they were fast friends. The Count visited him in his dirty home and ate black bread at his table. One morning before daybreak, as the two walked out, the Jew said: "My old heart is longing for the dawn. I am sick, yet I know not what is the matter with me. I am longing for something, but I know not what I seek. I am like one who is chased, yet I see no enemy, except the one within me— my own evil heart."

Then Count Zinzendorf opened his mouth and declared unto him the gospel of God. He pointed to God's great love shown in the cross of Christ. He described that love coming down from holiness and heaven. He told how God had made His only begotten Son Jesus "to be sin for us,... that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. 5:21.

As the old man wept and wrung his hands, the two ascended a hill just as the morning sun lit up a cross on an old church spire in the far distance.

"See, Abraham!" said Zinzendorf, "Believe on Him whose blood was shed upon the cross of Calvary, that God's purposes of mercy might be fulfilled— that you might be free from all sin, and find in Christ all your salvation."

"So be it," said the Jew as the grand truth flashed on his soul. "Blessed be the Lord who has had mercy upon me."

Can Infidelity Stand the Test?

A girl lay dying. Her father was an infidel, her mother a Christian. Her father had often ridiculed his wife's faith to his children.

Now a great sorrow is plowing through the father's heart. His child is dying.

Presently a weak voice is heard.

"Father, shall I believe what you tell me, or what mother teaches me out of the Bible?"

What a test! If infidelity can give comfort on a death-bed, here is the chance. What does the father say? Infidelity gives way before a father's love!

"You had better believe what your mother tells you," came the answer, earnestly and distinctly.

Yes, the Bible can stand the test of a death-bed. Infidelity cannot.

That Thou shouldst love me as Thou doest,
And be the God Thou art,
Is darkness to my intellect,
But sunshine to my heart.

Faber.

The Card on the Pavement

"May I walk a part of the way with you?" Jane asked her teacher as they left the Sunday School.

"Certainly," was the reply. On their way, Jane, who seemed overwhelmed with her subject, broke out: "Oh, I am terrified! I am miserable!"

"What is the matter?"

"You remember Mary, the girl I told you about, the one for whom you have been praying? Well, you know I used to tell her all the Bible stories you told us, but for the last three weeks she has not been allowed to speak to me. Her father and mother are devoted to their religion. She is their only child, she is dedicated, so they will not let her look at me. But now the worst of all has come.

"Last Friday as she was walking to town she noticed a bit of white paper lying on the sidewalk; but ignored it. But when she reached the store to which she was going, something inside urged her to go back and pick it up. She went and found it to be a little card. It was blank on one side, but on the other were these words: "'What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?'

"She read it several times, but never having read the Bible, she was at a loss to know the meaning of the text. At last she said to herself: " 'Jane can tell me,' and back she came to me, a distance of two miles.

"Entering my room in a very nervous state, and showing me the card she said: " 'What does this mean?' I read it and replied:

"'It means what it says: "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" And in a simple way I explained the passage.'

“‘Who said that?' she asked me hurriedly.

“‘The Lord Jesus Christ,' I answered.

"Instantly she snatched the card out of my hand, and frantically rushed out of the house. I was so alarmed by her looks and actions that after some time I followed her. I met her mother at their door and asked how Mary was, and if I could see her.

“‘Oh, indeed,' she replied, 'she is a strange creature; I think her mind is going. She is walking up and down her room like one bewitched. I do not think she could see anyone;' and turning round she went into the house.

"In fact," continued Jane to her teacher, "I am quite sure she is going mad. Do pray for her that the Lord may spare her reason."

This conversation took place on Sunday evening. On Tuesday morning the teacher received a letter from Jane, which read: "Praise the Lord! Mary is converted. Oh, teacher, such a conversion; I had it all from Jane herself.

"It seems that on Friday night, after she left me, she was like a lunatic all evening, pacing up and down. Her father and mother were in a terrible state, not knowing what to do with her. She went to her room very early, saying she would be better next day. She dared not tell them the truth.

"All that night she paced her room in wild agony. To use her own words, 'Everything I looked at had these awful words written on it in enormous letters: 'Lose his own soul! Lose his own soul!' Ceiling, walls, floor; yes, my very hands contained them. I was on the verge of madness. I felt it, and did not dare lie down or put out the light.'

"Next morning she came down looking pale and miserable. 'Father asked me,' she said, `if I were any better, and I answered, Not much.' He reminded me of a party we were to have, and said `You must be all right for that, you know; would you wish to see the doctor?"No, no; there is no need,' I replied. I shall be all right by that time.'

“‘Again I asked leave to retire early, but as I closed my door, again the huge letters appeared all around me. It was no fancy, for there they stood:

" 'LOSE HIS OWN SOUL.' That whole night I spent like the one before, pacing my room, now and again trying to pray; but I had no words except, 'Lord, help me.'

“‘Next day father was very angry because I looked so ill and miserable still, and said I must see a doctor. I said if I was not better tomorrow I would.

“‘About eleven o'clock that night I heard father and mother go by to their room, and just then I remembered that Nana, my old nurse had left an old torn Bible behind which was thrown into a lumber room downstairs. At once the thought struck me that I must get it. I crept down to the room and searched among the heaps of rubbish till I found it. Bringing it to my room, I closed the door. I laid the Bible on my bed, and asked God to show me my text. Then opening it, my eyes fell on these words: " '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.' John 3:16.

"'I was greatly disappointed; I expected to see my verse when I asked God to show it to me, I said, 'That will not do; it is my own verse I want,' and closing the Book I opened it again, but at the same place.

“‘Again impatiently shutting the Bible, I cried to God to show me my verse. Once more I opened it, and again at the same verse. And this time it was no fancy: it was not the light of the lamp that fell upon the page, but oh, I saw it all—

"'God loved, God gave, I had to believe, and I had everlasting life.'

“‘I felt bursting, and could only utter a shriek of joy, which brought father and mother running into my room. They saw what it all meant, and scolded and threatened. Father took my Bible to burn it, and Mother cried. But I was happy. I had no pale face the next day, but felt so calm. I cannot explain it to you unless you have known it yourself.' "

The Sunday School teacher's heart was filled with wonder and praise as she heard this story of God's dealing with this young soul, apparently shut out from all human aid, but whom He had met and taught Himself.

"Come," 'tis Jesus gently calling,
"Ye with sin and cares oppressed;
With your guilt, howe'er appalling,
"Come, and I will give you rest"

Too Late!

The solemn gospel meeting closed With these warning words: "You mean to be saved. Do you know that Hell is full of those who meant to be saved, meant to give themselves to Christ, meant to do it, yet are lost? Oh, see to it that you receive Christ while there is opportunity given! Oh, close with Him now! Why risk eternity?"

Have You the Answer?

"For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?" Luke 9:25.

Alexander the Great was not satisfied, even when he had completely subdued the nations. He wept because there were no more worlds to conquer; and died at the age of thirty-three in a state of debauchery.

Hannibal, who filled three bushels with the gold rings taken from the knights he had slaughtered, committed suicide by swallowing poison. Few noted his passing, and he left the world completely un-mourned.

Julius Caesar, "dyeing his garments in the blood of one million of his foes," conquered eight hundred cities, only to be stabbed by his best friends at the scene of his greatest triumph.

Napoleon, the feared conqueror, after being the scourge of Europe, spent his last years in banishment.

"Son, remember." Luke 16:25.

He Loves Me!”

One evening, while listening to the gospel preached in the open air, a man was struck with the verse: "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us." 1 John 4:10. Then the preacher added:

"I care not who you are or what you are— God loves you." He then pressed the great truth of the Bible home.

The man had despaired of ever being a Christian. He had often been told that he must love God and serve Him in order to be saved. Such a lie is an all too common device of Satan. This man found, as all must find who try it, that he could neither love God nor serve Him. The result was despair.

But as he drank in the truth that God loved him, and gave His Son to be his Savior, he received and believed the message.

Two days later he was visited by the preacher who found him overflowing with joy and kept repeating: "He loves me! Oh, He loves me! Now I can truly say, I love Him."

May others who read this profit by this man's experience. It is impossible to love God by any efforts of your own. Love begets love, and you can only love God by learning the great fact that God loves you.

"We love... because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19.

“Going Home”

He was brought up in a Christian home, but had spurned the grace of God; now he was dying. A visitor hoping to comfort him said: "It won't be long now, and after all, death is only going Home."

"Going Home?" he exclaimed; "What do you mean? This is the only home I have ever known. Death for me will be going away from home, to where I do not know."

What would it mean to you? Can you sing:
My heavenly home is bright and fair,
No pain nor death shall enter there;
Its glittering light the sun outshines,
Those heavenly mansions shall be mine.
I'm going home to die no more.

The Four Calls of the Spirit

Genesis 6:3

The Spirit came in childhood,
And pleaded, "Let Me in!"
But, no! the door was bolted
By heedlessness and sin.
"Oh! I'm too young," the child said,
"My heart is closed today!"
Sadly the Spirit listened,
Then turned and went away.

Again He came and pleaded
In youth's bright happy hour—
He called, but found no answer,
For, fettered by sin's power,
The youth lay idly dreaming;
"Go, Spirit; not today;
Wait till I've tried life's pleasures"—
Again He went away.
Once more He came in mercy,
In manhood's vigorous prime;
He knocked, but found no entrance;
"The merchant has no time."
"No time for true repentance,"
"No time to think or pray";
And so, repulsed and saddened,
Again He turned away.

Yet once again He pleaded—
The man was did and ill.
He hardly heard the whisper,
His heart was sear and chill.
"Go, leave me! When I want Thee
I'll send for Thee," he cried;
Then, turning on his pillow,
Without a hope he died.

Taken from a girl's album, in which it was written by a friend.

The Kerry Shepherd Boy

"My poor boy, you are very ill; I fear you must suffer a great deal."

"Yes, I have a bad cold, the cough takes away my breath and it hurts me greatly."

"Have you had this cough long?"

"Oh, yes, a long time, near a year now."

So commenced a conversation between a visiting pastor and a lad who lay dying. The scene was cast in a miserable hovel in a wild district in Ireland. The dialog continued: "And how did you catch this cold? A Kerry boy, I should have thought, would have been reared hardily and accustomed to this sharp air."

"So I was until that terrible night when one of the sheep went astray. My father keeps a few sheep; this is the way we live. When he counted them that night, there was one missing, and he sent me back to look for it."

"No doubt you felt the change from the warmth of the peat fire in this close little hut to the cold mountain blast."

"Oh! that I did; there was snow upon the ground, and the wind pierced me through. But I did not mind it much— I was so anxious to find Father's sheep."

"And did you find it?"

"Oh, yes; I had a long, weary way to go. But I never stopped until I found it."

"And how did you get it home? You had trouble enough with that too, I dare say. Was it willing to follow you back?"

"Well, I did not like to trust it, and besides, it was dead beat and tired, so I laid it on my shoulders and carried it home that way."

"And were they not all at home rejoiced to see you, when you returned with the sheep?"

"Sure enough! Father and Mother and the people round that heard of our loss, all came in the next morning to ask about that sheep. Sorry they were too to hear that I was kept out the whole dark night; it was morning before I got home. And the end of it was, I caught this cold. Mother says I will never be better now. God knows best. Anyway, I did my best to save the sheep."

"Wonderful!" thought the pastor. "Here is the whole gospel history. The sheep is lost. The father sends his son to seek for it. The son goes willingly, suffers all without complaining. And in the end sacrifices his life to find the sheep. And when he finds it, he carries it home on his shoulders, and rejoices with his friends and neighbors over the sheep which was lost, but is found again."

"The pastor then explained to the poor dying boy God's way of salvation, making use of his own simple and affecting story. He read to him the verses in the fifteenth chapter of Luke's gospel, where the shepherd's care for the lost sheep is so beautifully expressed. The lad at once perceived the likeness, and followed the story with deep interest, while the full meaning of the Parable was explained.

The Lord mercifully opened both his understanding and his heart. He saw that he himself was the lost sheep— that Jesus Christ was the Good Shepherd sent by the Father to look for him.

And as the poor boy had borne without murmuring the frost, the snowstorm and the piercing wind, so has the blessed Savior endured the fierce contradiction of sinners against Himself without a murmur. And at the last laid down His precious life, that we might be rescued from destruction and brought safe to our everlasting home.

Neither will He trust His beloved ones, when rescued, to tread the perilous path alone, but bears them home on His shoulders rejoicing.

The poor sick boy seemed to drink it all in. He received it all. He understood it all. He accepted Christ as His Savior and earnestly prayed to be carried home, like the lost sheep.

A few days later he died, humbly, peacefully, almost exulting, with the name of "Jesus my Savior and my Shepherd" the last words upon his lips.

All We Like Sheep?

"A sheep," said Charles Spurgeon, "is one of the most unwise of creatures. It will go anywhere except in the right direction; it will leave a fat pasture to wander into a barren one; it will find out many ways, but not the right way. It will wander through a wood, and find its way through ravines into the wolf's jaws, but never by its wariness turn away from the wolf. It could wander near its den, but it would not instinctively turn aside from the place of danger. It knows how to go astray, but it knows not how to come home again. The sheep is foolish. Left to itself it would not know in what pasture to feed in summer, or whither to return in winter."

"What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost, until he find it. And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing." Luke 15:4, 5.

The Life of Richard Weaver

In the days immediately preceding his conversion, Richard Weaver was a drunken and dissolute coal miner. His life, we are told, was a rough, almost repulsive story. He tells how, after his revels and fights, he would go home to his mother with bruised and bleeding face. She always received him tenderly, bathed his wounds, helped him to bed, and then whispered in his ear the words that seemed inseparable from the sound of her voice: "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

The words came back to him in the hour of his greatest need. His soul was passing through deep waters.

Filled with misery and shame, and terrified lest he should have sinned beyond possibility of Salvation, he crept into a disused sand pit. He was engaged to fight another man that day, but he was in death-grips with a more terrible adversary.

"In that old sand pit," he says, "I had a battle with the devil; and I came off more than conqueror through Him that loved me." And it was the text that did it. As he agonized there in the sand pit, tormented by a thousand doubts, his mother's text all at once spake out bravely. It left no room for uncertainty: "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." John 3:16.

"I thought," Richard Weaver tells us, "that `whosoever' meant me. What faith was I could not tell, but I had heard that it was taking God at His word, and I trusted in the finished work of my Savior. The happiness I enjoyed I cannot describe; my peace flowed like a river."

End

An Interview with Spurgeon

Once when I was in the vestry an Irishman came to see me. Pat began by making a bow and saying,

"Now, your Riverence, I have come to ax you a question."

"Oh!" said I, "Pat, I am not a Riverence, but what is your question?"

"Just this: God is just, and if He be just, must punish my sins. I deserve to be punished. If He is a just God, He ought to punish me; yet you say God is merciful and will forgive sins. I cannot see how that is right; He has no right to do that. He ought to be just, and punish those who deserve it. Tell me how you make out that God can be just and yet be merciful."

"That is through the blood of Christ."

"Yes, that is exactly what my priest said; you are both in agreement there. But he said a good deal besides that I did not understand, and that short answer does not satisfy me. I want to know how it is that the blood of Jesus Christ enables God to be righteous and just, and yet at the same time to be merciful."

Then I saw what he wanted to know, and explained the plan of salvation thus: "Now, Pat, suppose you had been killing a man, and the judge had said, 'That Irishman must be hanged?'

"But, Pat, suppose I was very fond of you, can you see any way by which I could save you from being hanged,"

"No, sir; I cannot."

"Then suppose I went to the very highest judicial authorities of the land, and said, " 'Please, sirs, I am very fond of this Irishman. I think the judge was quite right saying that he must be hanged, but let me be hanged instead, and you will then carry out the law.' Now they could not agree to my proposal; but suppose they could— and God can, for He has greater power than all kings and queens— and suppose they should have me hanged instead of you, do you think the policemen would take you up afterward?"

"No, I should think not," he at once said; "they would not meddle with me; but if they did I should say, " 'What are ye doing? Did not that gentleman condescend to be hanged for me! Let me alone; shure, you don't want to hang two people for the same thing, do ye?"

"Ah, Pat, my friend," said I, "you have hit it exactly; that is the way whereby we are saved! God must punish sin. Christ said, 'Punish Me instead of the sinner,' and God did. God laid on His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, the whole burden of our sins, and all their punishment and chastisement: and now that Christ is punished instead of us, God would not be just if He were to punish any sinner who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. If thou believest in Jesus Christ, the well-beloved and only begotten Son of God, thou art saved, and thou mayest go on thy rejoicing and full of hope."

"Faith," said the man clapping his hands, "that's the gospel! Pat is safe now; with all his sins about him, he'll trust in the Man who died for him, and so shall be saved by His sacrifice."

How About Your Soul?

A woman in Tel Aviv recently disposed of two old mattresses to a junk dealer who drove past her house.

Fifteen minutes later she remembered that her life's fortune was hidden in one of the mattresses.

She dashed to the police, who found the dealer, slit open the mattress, and pulled out 1,300 Israeli pounds in cash, besides gold rings and other jewelry.

While the actions of this thoughtless woman makes news abroad, and people everywhere may shake their heads at her carelessness, they fail to notice a far greater folly that is perpetrated every day.

We refer to the millions who sell their priceless souls for naught— like Esau who sold his birthright for a mess of potage, never to regain it.

The Israel woman succeeded in retrieving her earthly fortune from the old mattress she had sold for a song; but when death closes the door upon a lost soul, it is lost forever.

"What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" is the weighty question posed by the Lord Jesus.

"What shall it profit a man though he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Matt. 16:26.

Reader, be warned! Perhaps "This night shall thy soul be required of thee." Luke 12:20. Come to the Savior now, while there is time.

To lose your wealth is much,
To lose your health is more;
To lose your soul is such a loss
As nothing can restore.

"Every soul not already won to Jesus is lost already."

The Quaint Old Picture

"And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." Numbers 21:9

William Haslam, the well known home missionary, told the following story about himself: "As I was sitting by the fire one wet afternoon, my eyes fell on a little colored picture on the mantelpiece. It was a quaint medieval illustration of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness. It had been copied from a valuable original in Bodleian Library, at Oxford.

I took the picture in my hand and studied it. The cross or pole on which the serpent was elevated stood in the center, dividing two sets of characters. There were serpents on one side and none on the other.

"Behind the figure of Moses was a man standing with arms crossed on his breast, looking at the brazen serpent. He had evidently obtained life and healing by a look.

"On the other side I observed there were four kinds of persons represented, who were not doing as this healed man did to obtain deliverance.

"First, there was one kneeling in front of the cross, but he was looking towards Moses, not at the serpent, and apparently confessing to Moses as if to a church official.

"Next behind him was one lying on his back as if he were perfectly safe, though evidently in the midst of danger; for a serpent could be seen at his ear, possibly whispering, 'Peace, peace, when there is no peace.'

"Still farther back from the cross was a man with a sad face doing a work of mercy, binding up the wounds of a fellow-sufferer, and little suspecting that he himself was involved in the same danger.

"Behind them all in the background was a valiant man, doing battle with the serpents, which were continually rising against him.

"I observed that none of these men were looking at the brazen serpent, as they were commanded to do. I cannot describe how excited and interested I became; for I saw in this illustration a picture of my own life.

"Here was the one way of salvation clearly set forth and four other ways which are not the right way of salvation I had tried them all and found them unavailing.

"This picture was the silent but speaking testimony of some unnamed artist who lived in a cloister in the beginning of the fifteenth century, in the days of ignorance and superstition. But notwithstanding this darkness he was brought into the marvelous light of the gospel, and has left this interesting record of his experiences.

"Like him, I also had fought with serpents; for I began in my own strength to combat with sin, and strove by my own resolutions to overcome.

"From this I went on to do good works, and works of mercy, in the vain hope of thus obtaining mercy for myself.

"Then I relied on the church for salvation, as God's appointed ark of safety; but this left me with a feeling of insecurity, I took another step beyond, and was, I found, as ineffectual as all my previous efforts.

"At last I was brought (by the Spirit of God) as a wounded and dying sinner to look at the crucified One. Then I found pardon and peace.

"Ever since it has been my joy and privilege (like Moses pointing to the serpent) to cry: " 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.' " John 1:29.

Oh, why was He there as the Bearer of sin,
If on Jesus thy sins were not laid?
Oh, why from His side flowed the
soul-cleansing blood;
If His dying thy debt has not paid?
There is life in a look at the crucified One,
There is life at this moment for thee;
Then look, sinner, look unto Him and
be saved—
Unto Him who was nailed to the tree.

?Take a Good Look at Your Master?

The existence, personality and power of Satan are awful facts and of immense significance today.

"Take a good long look at your master," a gospel preacher warned his hearers recently. Multitudes are blindly serving the devil without giving a thought to the payoff, which surely comes. The wages of sin have never been reduced! "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23.

The true character of the devil, and his sinister designs on the guilty slaves of sin, are portrayed in the following story. It is an old parable, but worth repeating: A certain tyrant sent for one of his subjects and said to him, "What is your employment?"

"I am a blacksmith."

"Go home," he said, "and make me a chain of such length."

He went home; it occupied him several months and he had no wages all the while he was making the chain, only the trouble and pain of making it. Then he brought it to the monarch, who said,

"Go and make it twice as long." He gave him nothing to do it with, but sent him away.

Again he worked on and made it twice as long.

He brought it again, and the monarch said, "Go and make it longer still."

Each time he brought it, there was nothing but the command to make it longer still.

And when he brought it up at last, the tyrant said to his officers: "Take it and bind him hand and foot forever." Charles Haddon Spurgeon when using this story in a gospel address added: "Here is your meditation for tonight, ye servants of the devil. He is using you to make that chain; and make it longer still."

How helpless, how hopeless is the condition of all who serve Satan, the god and prince of this world! Is there no deliverance? Yes, thank God, there is One and only One who is able to break the chains of sin and set the captive free. It is Jesus Christ the Lord. Have you confessed Him as your own?

His blood can make the vilest clean
And set the captive free.

End

Take

During a gospel address while the preacher was explaining the freeness of God's salvation, a man jumped to his feet, and oblivious to his surroundings, exclaimed: "Oh, it is beautiful! I always thought I had something to do; but now I see I have something TO TAKE!"

The Wedding Garment Despised

"Bind him hand and foot and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 22:13.

Let it be observed that when the Lord Jesus in the above dreadful words foretold the doom of the Christ rejector, He spoke of the moral and self-righteous as well as the outwardly wicked sinner.

Indeed, in the parable of The Marriage of the King's Son where the above fearful judgment is given, the convicted man represents all who pride themselves in their own righteousness, and so despise the righteousness of God.

When the king, having made a marriage for his son, announced that "all things are now ready," the "all things" included a wedding garment for each invited guest. It was a most costly garment, and alone suited to the majesty of the king and the honor of his son.

The presumptuous guest who preferred his own garment to that provided by the king is bound hand and foot to be cast into outer darkness.

"There shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth."

Such must be the righteous end of all who despise the righteousness of God—

"Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference; for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:22, 23.

Clad in this robe, how bright I shine!
Angels possess not such a dress;
Angels have not a robe like mine
Jesus, the Lord's my righteousness.

What Think Ye of Christ?

"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.

Some take Him a creature to be,
A man, or an angel at most;
But they have not feelings like me,
Nor know themselves helpless and lost.

So guilty, so helpless am I,
I durst not confide in His blood,
Nor on his protection rely
Unless I were sure He is God.

Some call Him a Savior in word
But mix their own works with His plan,
And hope He His help will afford
When they have done all that they can.

Some style Him "the Pearl of great price,"
And say, "He's the Fountain of joys."
Yet feed upon folly and vice
And cleave to the world and its toys.

Like Judas, the Savior they kiss
And while they salute Him, betray;
Oh what will profession like this
Avail in His terrible day?

If asked what of Jesus I think,
Though still my best thoughts are but poor,
I say, "He's my meat and my drink,
My life and my strength and my store,

My Shepherd, my trust and my Friend,
My Savior from sin and from thrall;
My hope from beginning to end,
My portion, my Lord and my all."

John Newton

Beans of the Devil

Two thousand years ago the Lord Jesus solemnly warned His hearers: "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, which leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat." Matthew 7:13.

Two hundred years ago, Rowland Hill, the great English preacher, while pressing home these words of the Savior, used the following homely but penetrating illustration: "My friends, the other day I was going down the street, and I saw a drove of pigs following a man. This excited my curiosity so much that I determined to follow.

"I did so; and to my great surprise, I saw them follow him to the slaughterhouse.

"I was anxious to know how this was brought about; and I said to the man: "My friend, how did you manage to induce those pigs to follow you here?"

"Oh, did you not see," said the man, "I had a basket of beans under my arm; and I dropped a few as I came along, and so they followed me."

"Yes," said the preacher, "and I thought, so it is; the devil has his basket of beans under his arm, and he drops them as he goes along, and what multitudes he induces to follow him to everlasting destruction.

"Yes, friends, all your broad and crowded thoroughfares are strewn with beans of the devil."

Is the same true today? does the broad and wide way leading to destruction still attract the multitudes? The solemn answer is, Yes, only more so. The world has grown weary of the gospel as faithfully proclaimed by Rowland Hill, George Whitfield and John Wesley and many before and since.

The devil has added wondrous variety and novelty to his "basket of beans," and the modern attractions offered on the broad way are truly marvelous. But the pleasures of sin are but for a season (Heb. 11:25). Reader, be warned, the broad way still leads to Hell.

If you are traveling the broad way, may this be your stop signal. God's urgent message to you is: "Turn ye, turn ye... for why will ye die?" Ezekiel 33:11.

Today is the day of salvation. Today the gospel is still preached to those on the downward way: "To open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins." Acts 26:18.

"Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matt. 7:14.

Will you be one of the "few" to hear the Savior's words and come to Him now?

The Jester's Answer

It is said that a king's jester was converted through his own question. Driving one day on a country road he stopped and asked a boy: "Lad, which is the way to Hell?" Possibly the boy mistook the question. At all events he replied.

"Go straight on, sir; you will soon be there."

Something to Settle

"It is a pity about that splendid young fellow at the top of the ward. We have done all we can for him, but he will be dead before morning."

"But doctor, you told him he was doing fine. He is quite expecting to get better."

"Well, he has put up such a good fight for life that it would be a pity to depress him. He will be unconscious before long and never know that he is dying."

"Will you not tell him, doctor? His friends are all far away in the north and there has been no time for anyone to come down. He may have something to settle, some last message to send. Do tell him."

"No! I shall not tell him; it is easier for him not to know. You may tell him if you wish."

This conversation between the house surgeon and a nurse took place in a large hospital after the doctor had paid a late evening visit to one of his patients.

Hesitating a few minutes after the doctor had left, the nurse thought, "It is a pity to upset him." But again thoughts of the poor mother and other relatives of the patient came into her mind. He might have something to settle, some message to send.

Having completed her duties she again entered the ward and sat beside the patient. He turned his face and said, "It is very kind of you, nurse, to pay me another visit. You have heard the doctor say that I am doing well. Does he think it will be long before I can be moved? You will write my mother and make the best of it to her." The nurse was silent for a moment and then she said: "I am afraid the doctor has led you to believe what is not true; you are more seriously injured than we at first thought."

"You don't mean that I am going to die!" A silent tear rolling down the nurse's cheek gave the answer.

The young man had faced death on the battlefield many times, but now there was no excitement to distract his thoughts. Eternal realities came before him— the awful fact of having to do with God.

"How long, nurse?" he inquired.

She told him the plain truth.

"I can't die! I can't die!" he cried. "I am not ready to die! What must I do to be saved?"

Truly, as the nurse had said, he had something to settle.

"How can I be saved," was the only question now. The nurse had thought only of earthly details. And in answer to this burning question she could only reply: "I don't know how— I'm not saved myself." Then in a soft, low, pleading voice the patient asked, "Won't you pray for me, nurse? Do pray." But her sad confession was:

"I can't, I don't know how."

The nurse was now as agitated as the dying man. Suddenly a bright thought entered her mind and she said:

"If it will be any comfort to you, I'll read the Bible."

He caught the suggestion like a drowning man grasping a lifeline, and said,

"Do, please do, nurse!"

She hardly knew where to begin, but the Bible fell open at John's Gospel, chapter three. She read about a man who came to Jesus by night; of the great love of God in giving His only begotten Son (Jesus) to die; then how a woman came to Jesus and received from Him living water that was not from the well.

At the end of chapter four she paused and looked at the patient. The gray pallor she knew so well was stealing over his sad face. But his eyes pleaded for her to read on, so she continued until chapter five, verse 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 judgment; but is passed from death unto life."

As she finished this verse the dying man's face changed— the haggard, hopeless look disappeared, and he said,

"Stop there, nurse— light is coming in. I see, I see! Leave me alone, nurse; but come back soon. Thank you."

For half an hour he was left alone with God. Returning to his bedside the nurse found his face beaming with a new and heavenly joy, and he exclaimed: "I have heard His word. I believe the Lord Jesus bore my sins when He was lifted up on the cross. He has received me. It is not death for me, nurse, it is everlasting life. He has given it to me. I have passed from death unto life." After a moment's rest he continued: "Nurse, promise me you will meet me in heaven; you cannot say you have not heard the way."

"I promise you not to rest until I know," she answered. "But I cannot grasp it as quickly as you have; it's not clear to me."

"He knew I had not much time left," said the dying man. "So He let the light in quickly. He will make it clear to you. Thank God it is settled— and you have been the means.

"Tell my mother, Christ saved me at the eleventh hour. Peace, peace."

These were his last coherent words. Soon afterward he lapsed into unconsciousness, only to awaken with Christ his Savior.

Four years later, as the late Lord A. P. Cecil quoted John five and twenty four, the nurse also received peace with God. As the light broke into her soul, she, too, exclaimed: "I see, I see!"

Reader, have you settled this all-important question? God would remind you that: "Ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." James 4:14.

You may not have an opportunity to be saved at the eleventh hour. Be wise come to Jesus now. He will receive you and give you everlasting life.

“I Own Jesus As My Lord”

After a gospel address a young man remained behind seeking what he felt he needed most of all. The preacher asked him: "Tell me just what you think about these matters?" For a moment he bowed his head, then rising to his feet and raising his right hand, he said:

"I own Jesus as my Lord."

It was well said— a glorious decision, entailing eternal salvation. Will you make the same decision now?

The Indian Chief and John 3:16

Egerton Young, the missionary to the Indians, gave the following example of the way in which he invaded the Nelson River District in British Columbia and opened work among people who had never before heard the gospel.

"Surrounded by two hundred and fifty to three hundred wild Indians," he wrote, "I read aloud those sublime words: "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."

"They listened with most rapt attention, while for four hours I talked to them of the truths of this glorious verse. When I had finished, every eye turned towards the principal chief. He rose, and coming near me, delivered one of the most thrilling addresses I have ever heard.

"Years have passed away since that hour, and yet the memory of that tall, straight, impassioned Indian is as vivid as ever. His actions were many, but all were graceful. His voice was particularly fine and full of pathos, for he spoke from the heart.

“‘Missionary,' exclaimed the stately old chief, `I have not for a long time believed in our religion. I hear God in the thunder, in the tempest and in the storm.'

" 'I see His power in the lightning that shivers the tree; I see His goodness in giving us the moose, the deer, the beaver, and the bear, see His loving kindness in sending us, when the South winds blow, the ducks and geese. And when the snow and ice melt away and old lakes and rivers are open again, I see how He fills them with fish.

“‘I have watched this for years, and I have felt that the Great Spirit, so watchful and loving and kind could not be pleased with the conjurer's drum or the rattling of the medicine man.

“‘And so I have had no religion. But what you have just said fills my heart and satisfies its longing. I am so glad you have come. Stay as long as you can.' "

?Verily, Verily?

A missionary in Africa told of a cannibal chief beside whose death-bed an African boy was reading selections from the gospel of John. He was impressed by the very frequent recurrence of the words, "Verily, verily."

"What do they mean?" he asked.

"They mean certainly, certainly."

"Then," exclaimed the dying man, with a sigh of infinite relief, "they shall be my pillow. I rest on them!"

"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.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you,"

"Verily, verily," message ever new!

"He that believeth on the Son," 'tis true!

"Hath everlasting life." Read John 3:36

Napoleon's Testimony

While talking to Count de Molonthon at St. Helena one day, the great Napoleon said: "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I myself have founded great empires, but upon what did our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very day millions would die for Him. I think I understand something of human nature, and I tell you all these were men, and I am a man. None else is like Him; Jesus Christ was more than a man.

"I have inspired multitudes with such an enthusiastic devotion that they would have died for me; but to do this it was necessary that I should be visibly present with the electric influence of my looks, of my words, of my voice. Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man towards the unseen that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space.

"Across a chasm of eighteen hundred years, Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy. He asks for the human heart; He will have it entirely to Himself. He asks it unconditionally, and forthwith this demand is granted.

"Wonderful! In defiance of time and space, the soul of man, with all its powers and faculties, becomes an annexation to the empire of Christ. All who believe in Him experience that remarkable supernatural love toward Him. This phenomenon is unaccountable; it is altogether beyond the reach of man's creative powers. Time, the great destroyer, is powerless to extinguish this sacred flame; time can neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range. This it is which proves to me quite convincingly the divinity of Christ."

Protection

Christian girl who had been ill for some time lay awake in her bed while the rest of the family slept.

About midnight, her door opened and a strange man entered. He was a robber. Her little lamp shone on both of them. The girl looked at the robber. The robber stared at the girl, evidently surprised to find her awake and yet perfectly calm in the face of imminent danger.

She did not cry or scream, but simply raised her hand and with her finger pointing upward said: "Man, do you know that God is looking at you?" Without a word, the robber turned and fled.

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

One or Two Birthdays?

Born once, die twice; born twice, die once.

There are two births, there are two deaths— the natural birth and the spiritual birth; the natural death and the spiritual death. If a man has only been born once, the natural birth, and dies in that state, he dies twice; the body dies and goes into corruption; the second death is the sentence of eternal separation from God.

If a man has been born twice— spiritually as well as naturally— he dies once, the natural death, the death of the body. If the Lord shall return before death, the twice-born person will never die at all.

By birth we become the children of God, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3.

Held by His Own Sins

The story is told of a noted blacksmith and armor-maker in medieval times, who for some political offense was taken prisoner and chained to the wall of a dungeon.

Being an expert in chain-making, he carefully examined, link by link, the chain with which he was fettered, hoping to find some flaw that might make it easier to break it and so escape.

To his dismay, he found from unquestionable marks, that the chain had been fashioned on his own anvil. It was the work of his own hands! And for years it had been his unchallenged claim that none could break a chain which he had forged. He was shackled with his own unbreakable chain.

How like the sinner led on by the tempter! He is forging, link by link, sin by sin, a chain which binds him fast— a chain which no human power can break.

If such be your predicament, dear reader, and you long to be freed, do not despair. Jesus is both able and willing to set you free. Hear now His words of love: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." Luke 4:18,19.

He breaks the power of canceled sin
And sets the captive free;
His blood can make the vilest clean;
His blood avails for thee.

Martin Luther's Best Prescription

During his last illness, Luther was troubled with severe headaches. Someone recommended to him an expensive medicine. Luther smiled.

"No," he said, "my best prescription for head and heart is that 'God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' "

Two weeks before he passed away he repeated the text with evident ecstasy, and added: "What Spartan saying can be compared with this wonderful brevity. It is the Bible itself!" And in his dying moments he again repeated the words three times in Latin.

"They are the best prescription for headaches and heartaches!" said Luther.

Impending

"The earth also, and the things that are therein, shall be burned up." 2 Peter 3:10.

All that about which the children of this world are so intensely anxious after which they are so eagerly grasping for which they are so fiercely contending all will be burned up. And who can tell how soon? His judgments now hang over this guilty world. The day is at hand; and while judgments impend, the sweet story of grace is being told out to many an ear.

Happy they who hear and believe that story! Happy they who flee to the strong mountain of God's salvation, who take refuge behind the cross of the Son of God, and there find peace and pardon.

Blinded Eyes

Rugged Roman, thou that wieldiest
Sword and saber, spike and spear,
Iron-clad and iron-hearted,
Soul unmoved by mortal fear.

Ruler of an empire, glorying
In the light of peace imposed;
All thy hated foes securely
In a Caesar's grasp enclosed.

Seven hills on tawny Tiber
Vied with distant Ararat;
Sabine forests overwhelmed the
Valley of Jehoshaphat.

Though thine armies trample Zion,
Israel's King thou didst not see,
For thine eyes could ne'er envisage
Him from whom thy heart would flee.

Vast the legions thou hast garnished,
Temples splendid, columns grand;
Lo! beneath a rod of iron
Broken, dashed, returned to sand.

Who shall stand when He appeareth?
Who may e'er abide His day?
Kiss the Son lest He be angry
And ye perish from the way.

John Cochrane

Echoes of Grace: 1977

Table of Contents

How God Used the Measles

None but Christ Can Satisfy

Saved Through His Shaving Paper

He That Heareth and Believeth?

Will He Do It Today?

Grace

Can We Be Sure?

From Death into Life

Today If Ye Will Hear His Voice, Harden Not Your Heart.?

Out and Into

This Is My Story

Eternity, Where Shall I Find It?

I'm Easy

Two Funerals

Not for All the Wealth of Europe

Good Ground

Behold the Lamb of God!

The Sinner's Dream

O Happy Day!

The Way, the Truth, the Life

No Bargain

A Fatal Decision!

Time's Faces

Dead to the Law

Law and Grace Contrasted

O Teach Me!

?Ready to Go Down. . . Ready to Go Up?

White Rain

Only Three Weeks to Live

Sins Blotted Out

We Must Be Saved

Anathema Maranatha

Ingratitude

They Looked for a City

A Sermon in a Ballroom

In Earnest

A Hiding Place

The Important Question

A False Hope

I Don't Want It There!

A Blind Man’s Testimony

God Speaks. . . in a Dream

I Cannot Get Away From God

You Cannot Get Away From God

The Blood of Jesus

A Mohammedan's Dream

Though Your Sins Be As Scarlet

Would You Be Ready?

The Atheists Confounded

How Far to Hell?

Duncan Matheson's Conversion

Why Camest Thou Down Hither?

Water!

Tom's Quest

The Queen and the Young Soldier

Another Story about Queen Victoria

Awake to Life through the Dead March

Such an Offer!

?There Will Be Hanging for This?

26,000 Miles!

Mephibosheth

Left Behind

Rock of Ages

”I’m in for a Good Time”

Infidelity Rebuked

The Crucifying

What Will You Do With Jesus?

Will Your Anchor Hold?

The Way of the Transgressor Is Hard

No Substitute for Blood

Singing for Jesus

?A Poor Drunken Mither?

?More Beyond?

Infidelity versus the Bible

Why Not Let the Bible Alone?

The Bible

?Drunken Isac?

Guilty - Pardoned