I heard of a dream that someone had about a young man she knew. She dreamed she was going to his house one beautiful moonlight evening; and, as she came near the door, she saw a coffin carried out with the young man’s body inside. Dancing in front of the coffin and around it were several little demons, and they were crying out as they clapped their hands in glee, “We have got him at last; we have got him at last,” “You shall not have him,” she cried; but the answer was, “We have got him at last.” Oh, shall the devil rejoice over your lost soul and body? for body as well as soul will be his if you are lost. Or, shall there be joy in heaven, because you are saved?
c. —You must come believing. “For he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Your coming is no use unless you believe in Christ. That woman with the issue of blood would never have been healed if she had not believed in Jesus. But when she heard of Him her poor heart beat for joy. “If I may touch but His clothes I shall be whole.” Her heart went out after Christ; for she had implicit confidence in His power and willingness to bless her. She presses through the crowd, she comes close to Jesus, stretches out her feeble trembling hand, and touches the border of His garment, and immediately she is healed.
She believed; and she was healed. If you believe you shall be healed at once.
Do you believe sin is in the world? Yes. Do you believe you are a sinner? Yes. Do you believe Christ died for sinners? Yes. Do you believe Christ died for you? Why do you hesitate; can you say, He died for me? Yes. Thank God, that is salvation. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.”
I called to see a woman last week who was very ill indeed. I found she knew all about Christ and salvation; but she could not believe. I said to her, “When you sent for me to come and see you, you believed I would come, did you not?” “Oh yes,” she replied, “I knew you would.” “Well,” I said, if “you want the Lord to come and bless you, don’t you think He will? He always comes at the call of faith. If you can trust in my coming, and believe in me, who am nothing but a creature, why can you not in simple faith believe in Christ, who says, ‘Come unto Me ... and I will give you rest’?” “Thank you,” she said, “for putting it so simply to me.”
And so I say to you, unsaved reader, come to Christ believing; for He will receive you, and you will be saved. Come, and see the salvation of the Lord. Come by the way of the empty tomb. Come by the way of the promises. Come just as you are; come just now; and come believing.
“IN WHOSE HAND ARE YOU?”
A dear friend has suggested that I should write a word about the potter, owing to a beautiful record in the “South African Pioneer” by P. J. Hervey, who came across an earnest Christian widow at Ntabamlope making a few pots out of some clay brought from a distance. Each pot took weeks of patient work, and yet many would crack and have to be thrown aside. “We went into her hut for prayer one day and found her holding another pot. I asked her to put it down, and then she said, ‘If it leaves my hand it is marred.’” Oh, reader, can you grasp the truth hidden in this saying? In whose hand are you? Are you willing to remain in His hand and to do whatever He wills you to do. He is willing to save each and every one who will believe and come to Him. Oh! that we may do all we can to send forth the knowledge of the truth in our blessed Saviour, that many amongst the heathen may become, as it were, pots to be held and remain in His hand, kept safe from being marred. Emily P. Leakey.
AN INDIAN PASTOR
An Indian pastor writes:— “This is a temple in our village: Kararnalayan Temple. Big idols were kept under the great banyan tree. I am also sitting on the left side between two men. Spears are kept in the temple, as seen in the picture, to guard their gods, and also they tell us the gods take these spears when they go hunting wild beasts in the night time.”
We constantly get requests for Testaments in Tamil to send to these workers. We have not one left. We have sent all we have, and should be glad of thousands more. Above all, dear friends, pray for India.
FOREIGN WORK
From Pontavedra, Spain, we hear of God’s work.
Dear Sir,—I have received the packet of booklets and tracts which you so kindly sent me.... We have at this dine of the year an influx of visitors into this seaside town—mostly poor peasants, very ignorant of the Gospel, and indeed in many cases so ignorant as never to have heard it. —H.S.T.
We have sent all our Spanish Testaments and tracts away. Will you please send us more, or help us to get them? (See last page.)
From Baluchistan a worker writes (I give an extract from his letter)
.. I have always an opportunity offered to distribute tracts and booklets ... .Here there is a large field among about six thousand European troops. If you can therefore oblige me by sending a parcel of Testaments, tracts, and leaflets, etc., I shall be very thankful. —B.S.
From Casablanca, North Africa, a worker writes:—
Dear Dr. Wreford,—Exceedingly grateful am I to you for sending me this most acceptable parcel of French Testament and tracts.... I have already begun to distribute them, and I know you and your co-workers will join me at the throne of grace in praying that the gospel light from these tracts may enter the hearts of all who read them. With God nothing is impossible ... .Surely the evil signs of increasing wickedness all around point to the nearing end of this age, and the approach of that gladdest day when Jesus will return for His own.-Yours sincerely, C. S. I.
From Cairo, a sergeant writes to us:—
Dear Sir,——Would you kindly send me on some of your Testaments, as I have got none myself, and some more of the boys would like them very much? —J. H. (sergeant).
From Hong Kong a lance-corporal writes to us:—
My dear Brother in Christ,—I should esteem it a favor if you could send me on another of your monthly parcels, as there is a great opportunity for work among our troops in this colony. There seems to be no thought of God here, only the pleasures of this world. It grieves my heart to see it ail going on, and I would say, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, and call Thy people home,”—Lance-corporal C. S.
Note by Editor. —These are only two or three letters brought before my readers. We are sending parcels to all parts of the world.