Echoes of Grace: 1949

We had just come out of the Municipal Hospital, where we were permitted to give gospel tracts and portions of Scripture to the patients. The sight of suffering humanity, listless in the summer heat, so engrossed with their own physical discomforts, aches, and pains that eternal values held little interest for them, had depressed and saddened us.

Some of those we had just left were evidently near the end. Little response could be expected. With them we were content to quote a verse or two of Scripture pointing them to the Savior, and with a brief prayer commend them to Him. As we had passed quietly from bed to bed, only a few had shown anything but indifference to the words of Eternal Life. Even among the convalescents interest centered in ills recently borne and complaints of present trials. No time could be spared to “consider Him” Who said: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” As we busied ourselves stowing away the remaining tracts and Gospels in the car compartment, a great hulk of a man came swinging down the street. He came nearer, and we saw that he was colored. His skin, like weathered bronze, glistened in the hot sunshine, and his great hands on the cross bars of his crutches looked strong and capable.

His shirt, open at the throat, was wet with perspiration; and the right trouser leg, folded above the knee and tucked into his belt, mutely proclaimed a cripple. Here, we thought, is one who has reason to complain. But to our surprise, as he swung near us on his one leg and crutches, his dark face greeted us with a beaming smile! Encouraged, we offered him a booklet, saying as we did so, “This will tell you how you may know you are saved for eternity.”

The smile broadened as, resting on his crutches, he received the little book. “Maybe I know already. Yes, suh; maybe I know already. The Lord had to clip my wing to get me, but now I praise Him for it.”

We listened as he told us the story: early childhood in a large family with never enough of anything; pious parents who accepted their meager lot with meekness and patience; his rebellion as a lad against poverty and religion, synonymous to him; his determination when a man to have and enjoy all he had lacked as a child. This determination and his naturally fine physique stood him in good stead during years of striving for the things of earth.

But “what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

Mark 8:36.

During the years when he was putting forth every effort to get the things he longed for, he steadfastly stifled every thought of God and of eternity. All his time, his thought, his energy had one object—to gain that which would insure his having necessities, comforts, and luxuries. But “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” Rom. 11:33.

One day an annoying little spot appeared on his leg. Perhaps it was an insect’s bite, or maybe the rash of -heat, that started it.

In spite of simple home treatments the spot spread and deepened rapidly. In a few days’ time a serious infection had set in. By the time he was willing to submit to medical advice, surgery was the only recourse.

He lay on the hospital bed, bitterly rebellious at the loss of his leg, the loss of time, the loss of money, the loss of all he had striven for. When one approached his bed with words of sympathy and comfort, he turned his face to the wall and pretended not to hear. After his visitor was gone, he found the little tract on his bed-table and angrily seized it. But before he could destroy it, the bold type of the title caught his eye: “The Lamb With the Broken Leg.” Sneeringly at first, and then with interest, he read of the shepherd who had deliberately broken the leg of the willful, disobedient, little creature. Then the tender care, the loving ministry, the constant presence and watchfulness shown to the helpless lamb. How could it help responding with all its love and loyalty?

As he read, our friend saw himself in that lamb—willful, going his own way. And the shepherd? Yes, he remembered that the Lord, the Good Shepherd, had spoken of seeking a poor, lost sheep. And more—a verse from early days came to mind: “The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” John 10:11.

Tears filled the eyes of our friend as he recounted the story of his conversion. In simplicity he had accepted the Lord Jesus as his Savior and Shepherd; he had committed himself into His care and keeping, and with certainty and joy could say with the Psalmist: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want!”

As he turned to go, he called back over his shoulder a word of encouragement: “Maybe in this hospital today you have given a tract to another ‘lamb with a broken leg”!

Such Wonderful Love

He gave unto us the “unspeakable gift,”

Of Jesus, the Son of His love;

To ransom our souls from the bondage of sin,

And bring us to glory above.

Such wonderful love! ’tis the least we can do,

And a very small thing on our part,

To render the worship and praise due to Him,

And give Him first place in our heart.

Christ or Self?

One evening some time ago I met an old man resting by the roadside. Though he was about eighty years of age he was still able to work daily breaking stones for the highway. I stopped to speak with him and, to Open the conversation, asked him his age.

“Nigh on to eighty year,” he said.

“You cannot expect to be long in this life now,” I said.

“No, sir, I cannot,” he agreed.

“Then tell me what your hopes are for eternity?”

Then came the story—the old, old story—of trusting self, poor self, hardworking self, suffering self, religious self—always self.

There was no Christ in all his hopes.

We were close to the side of a canal and, after telling the old man that Christ and His work is the one way of salvation, I said to him: “Do you see that lock?”

“Yes, sir, I do.”

“Well, suppose that you wanted to cross that lock. To do so you took two wooden boards—one sound and firm; the other rotten—and you placed them side by side. You tried to cross on the weak, rotten plank. What would happen? It would break under your weight and you would be plunged into the deep lock to perish.

"That rotten, board is self; if you attempt to get to heaven on or by self, you must perish forever.

"But suppose that you had put one foot on the good plank and one on the bad and tried to get across that way. The result would be the same. The good plank might and would bear you, but the bad would break.

You would be plunged into the water as surely as in the first case.

"That would be like partly trusting Christ and partly trusting yourself. The end would be the same—death, eternal death.”

The old man was listening with close attention, and I continued:

“Now, suppose that you trusted to the good plank alone. You would get across in perfect safety. That good plank is like the Lord Jesus Christ; if you trust solely to Him—to His blood for pardon—to His work alone—you are safe, yes, and saved forever.”

“I see, I see!” exclaimed the poor old man.

His woe-begone face lit up with intelligence.

“I see it all.”

There are thousands like that old man—thousands who are trusting self for salvation rather than the Lord Jesus Christ. They are sure that they, they alone and unaided, can gain salvation at last by their own efforts. Alas! They will be lost forever lost as surely as if they trusted for salvation to an idol of wood or stone—if they continue to exclude Christ.

Let this question have an answer from you, dear reader: Are you trusting Christ, or yourself? Are you trusting Christ for peace, forgiveness, life, righteousness, and eternal security? Can you say—

“On Christ the solid Rock I stand,

All other ground is sinking sand”?

Extract: The Reason for Mercy

Sin is the sinner’s claim on Christ. He has no other. It is not the bar in the way of mercy, but the reason for mercy.

A Mohammedan's Dream

Ali Khan, a Mohammedan, was highly respected. He performed his religious duties faithfully, he gave alms, he never omitted the prescribed prayers, and he kept the fasts his religion required of him.

Ali Khan was proud of his conduct! his whole bearing showed it. With superior sanctity he seemed to look down upon his neighbors and despise them. People were so accustomed to his haughty manner that it was with a sort of stupefaction that they noticed one day that he was dejected.

“Why, Ali Khan,” said a friend to him, “what is the matter? You look sad. Is anyone in your family ill?”

“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, Suleiman the Wise, to beg him to interpret it for me.”

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

“Suleiman 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 related his dream as follows: “I dreamed that I was dead. 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 my 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, and 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 neighbor’s. 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 Suleiman 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 from which red flames and smoke ascended. 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 fasting, my alms, my pilgrimages, 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.”

Ali stopped; his face betrayed his perplexity.

“I can explain the matter,” said Suleiman 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 nigh and stretch out their hands to seize me, and in that terrible moment, O Suleiman, I awoke.”

“I, too,” said Suleiman, after a pause, “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 art 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 of the balance.”

“Then,” exclaimed Ali, “will all men have to be plunged into that terrible abyss with the left-hand scale? Is there nothing that can be put in the right-hand scale to out-weigh their sins?”

“Indeed there is.” Suleiman hastened to reply. “We are not destined to eternal misery. I saw 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 the joy of my soul 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, Suleiman,” 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.”

Perhaps Ali Khan became a Christian, like his uncle, as a result of his strange dream. We are told that God speaks to men “in dreams and in visions of the night” upon their bed, “to keep back their soul from the pit” (Job 33:14-18). So let us listen to what He says further: “There is none righteous, no, not one”; “for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Therefore we are “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Rom. 3:10, 22, 23, 24.

Mohammedans are not the only people who think that their good deeds balance their sins, but God’s Word tells us that all our righteousnesses are as “filthy rags.” Let us then acknowledge the truth of what God says about us: that we are sinners, and that we have earned the wages of sin, which is death—not merely the death of our bodies but the second death, banishment from the, presence of God into hell for all eternity—and, owning to Him our utterly lost and hopeless condition, accept His free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Settled Peace

The moment we begin to rest our peace on anything in ourselves we lose the enjoyment of it. And this is why so many Christians have not settled peace. Nothing can be lasting that is not built on God alone.

How can you have settled peace? Only by having it in God’s own way. By not resting on anything, even the Holy Spirit’s work within yourselves, but on what Christ has done for you and without you. Then you will know peace—conscious unworthiness, but yet peace.

In Christ alone God finds that in which He can rest and so it is with His people. The more you see the extent and nature of the evil that is within, as well as that without and around, the more you will find that what Jesus is and has done constitutes the only ground on which you can rest.

Extract: One Ray of the Glory

One ray of the glory of Christ will at once wither up all the defiled glory of this world like an autumn leaf.

“TO HIM THAT

WORKETH NOT,

BUT BELIEVETH

ON HIM THAT

JUSTIFIETH THE

UNGODLY, HIS FAITH

IS COUNTED FOR

RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

Rom. 4:5.

“THIS IS THE
WORK OF GOD,
THAT YE BELIEVE,
ON HIM WHOM HE
HATH SENT.”

John 6:29

February

"If Thou Knewest the Gift of God"

A weary One sat at Jacob’s well: it was Jesus. He had come in love to His own to save them from their sins, but they received Him not. Weary and grieved was His tender heart as He sat at Jacob’s well.

There is a woman coming with her water pot to the well. She is one to whom the proud Pharisee would scorn to speak. She is a despised Samaritan, and that is not all: she is a poor, wretched being who is living in open sin. She little knows that she is about to meet the eye of Him who knows all that ever she did.

She arrives at the well, and is astonished that Jesus, being a Jew, should ask her to give Him a drink. “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”

He did not say, “If thou were not so great a sinner.” He did not say, “If thou wilt reform and become a holy woman, then I will give thee living water.” No! No! No! He let her know that He knew all that ever she had done. But there was such a depth of pity, grace, and compassion in His wonderful countenance, such tender love to the sinner in those words, that it won her heart it converted her soul. Christ was revealed to her; and, leaving her water pot, she went to the city with her heart so full of Christ that, forgetting her own shame, she said, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”

My reader, can you meet the eye of Him who knows every thought of your heart from childhood? And can you say that you are not a sinner? How was it, think you, that Jesus was so attractive to this poor woman? And what can those words mean—“If thou knewest the gift of God...”? Can it be that this is the one great thing needed by a poor wretched sinner? It is; there can be no mistake about it, for Jesus says it.

The thing you need is to know the gift of God.

Do you ask who or what is the gift of God? The same that met that poor Samaritan—Jesus, the Son of God; as also it is written, “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.” “The gift of God is eternal life.” “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”

My reader, it is a gift, a gift, A GIFT! Oh, if you knew this! You cannot buy it; you cannot merit it. He that knows all that ever you did—all that you are—sets before you Jesus, His Son. Do you know Him, the gift of all gifts?

Do you say, “But my sins are heavy; they press me down. What must I do?” If you knew the gift of God! Yes, though you had committed every sin that has been done in this dark world, yet God’s gift, “redemption through His blood,” abounds above it all.

“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” His very business was saving just such burdened, weary, heavy-hearted sinners as you are. Blessed be His Holy name, the work is finished.

May God reveal to your soul, my reader, Christ Jesus. Change of life and holiness of life will follow, but the first thing is to know the gift of God.

Waiting at the Well

Little thought Samaria’s daughter

On that ne’er forgotten day,

That the tender Shepherd sought her

As a sheep astray;

That from sin He longed to win her—

Knowing more than she could tell

Of the wretchedness within her—

Waiting at the well.

‘Neath the stately palm tree’s swaying

Listened she to words of truth;

While her thoughts went backward straying

O’er her wasted youth.

Hast’ning homeward in desire

All His wondrous speech to tell,

Cried she, “Is not this Messiah

Waiting at the well?”

Living waters still are flowing,

Full and free for all mankind,

Blessings sweet on all bestowing—

All may welcome find.

All the world may come and prove Him,

Every doubt will Christ dispel;

And each heart shall truly love Him,

Waiting at the well.

The Bandit's Bible

There was a strange auction held long ago. It was in the dead of night in one of the deep, almost’ inaccessible dells of the Black Forest. Flickering, flaring torches shed a glaring light around-light that soon faded into the impenetrable darkness of the forest.

Savage looking men, armed to the teeth, were gathered there. They were a gang of highwaymen who had held up a stagecoach that evening. Now they were following their usual custom of auctioning the stolen articles among themselves. Their prize had been an unusually rich one, and the sale proceeded with much drinking and revelry.

After jewelry, clothing, and luggage had been disposed of, the last article was held up for sale. It was a New Testament. The man who acted as auctioneer introduced this with some blasphemous remarks that made the woods ring with wild laughter. One of the company jokingly suggested that he should read a chapter for their edification.

This was unanimously applauded, and the auctioneer, opening the book at random, began reading in a voice of mock-devotion.

While most of the company were greatly amused at the sacrilegious scoffing, it was not noticed that one man had become suddenly quiet. He was a middle aged man, one of the oldest members of the gang, and had been foremost in their crimes and debaucheries. Now he sat in silence, his hands clasped round his knees, absorbed in thought.

The passage which the auctioneer read was the same one that had been read on the morning when, to escape from the hands of the police, this man had fled from his home.

Thirty years ago that had been, and he had not seen home or family since. Now, at the sound of the familiar words, old memories came back in overwhelming power.

In imagination he seemed to be sitting again at the breakfast table. His dear old father, sitting with the open Bible, was reading their morning chapter. Beside him sat his tender-hearted little mother, attentively listening to the Word of God. He saw himself, with his brothers and sisters, joining in a hymn of thanksgiving for the many mercies of their life. He saw them kneeling to pray for guidance and the blessing of God through the coming day. It was all as clear as if it had happened that morning.

Since leaving home, he had never opened a Bible, never offered up a prayer, never heard a single word that reminded him of God and eternity. But now, at this moment, it was as if his soul was awaking out of the long sleep of thirty years—as if the snow of a long, long winter was melting away at the sound of that well-known Bible passage. All the words which his father had spoken to him in his childhood—all the lessons, admonitions, and prayers of his mother (which were then scornfully given to the winds) came flying back to his memory.

Deeply absorbed in his memories, he forgot all that was around him he heard nothing of all the scoffing, laughing, and blaspheming that was going on in his presence. Suddenly, he was roused from his reverie by a slap on the shoulder and the question: “Now, old dreamer, what will you give for that book? You need it more than any one of us, for you are undoubtedly the biggest sinner in this world.”

“So I am,” he answered, struck to the heart by the truth which he recognized in that rough joke. “Give me the book I will pay its full price.”

The next day the bandits scattered through the neighborhood to turn their goods into money. The man who had bought the Bible went on his way too, but his steps were directed to no receiving-house. He went instead to a lonely spot deeper in the forest, and there he spent the day and night alone and in agony of soul. With him went the Testament, but he would not open its holy pages, fearing lest he should read more of God’s just condemnation of him.

Again and again he heard his comrade’s joking words: “The biggest sinner in this world.” He felt that it was only too true—certainly he had hesitated at no crime in the past thirty evil years of his life. Now what hope could there be for him? In his despair he would have committed suicide, but another long-forgotten word came to his mind: “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” and his courage failed. He dared not face that judgment in his sins. And after the judgment, what then?

Another morning was dawning when at last h e turned to his Testament. Of judgment he might read, but even that would be better than this terror of the unknown future that had seized him.

The Book lay open before him—and what did his eyes first see? A solemn pronouncement of the judgment to come? Words of God’s wrath against sinners? Ah, no! These were the words he read: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.”

“Chief... of sinners.” Who had written that? None other than the Apostle Paul.

He had called himself the chief of sinners how would it fare with him in the judgment?

No need to ask that! The chief of sinners had been saved—saved because Christ Jesus came to save sinners. There was hope—yes, more than hope.

As the rising sun shone into the shadows of the Black Forest, bringing the light and warmth of a new day, so the light of God’s

Word shone into that dark heart and brought not only a new day, but a new life as well.

With the joyful certainty of God’s forgiveness came the sobering knowledge that man’s justice was still unsatisfied. He went to the nearest police station to surrender. There he found that in the night, while he was alone in the forest, the police had raided their hidden dell and captured all his former comrades. All were sentenced to death—all save one. God’s mercy followed our friend, and he received a full pardon from the Grand Duke.

So, forgiven by God and man, he lived out his days in praise and thanksgiving.

And ‘while he lived all who came near him heard him repeating the well-loved words: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”

1 Tim. 1:15.

There Is a Friend

During the Crimean War a young Irish soldier was doing duty in one of the advance trenches. A shell fired from the Russian battery opposite burst close to where he stood, and carried away both his arms and legs. Wonderful to say, his life was saved, and through careful nursing he recovered so as to be able to return to England.

After his arrival there, he was taken to the royal palace to be presented before Queen Victoria. He was wheeled, in a small carriage made for him, into the presence of the Queen and the Prince Consort, with the officers of the household.

When the Queen saw the maimed soldier seated in his little carriage, she went to him and kindly laid her hand upon his shoulder.

Then she asked him if he had a home or any friends. Looking up with a smile, the helpless soldier said, “Sure, your Majesty, I don’t need any other friend when you are my friend.” This expression of confidence so pleased Her Majesty that she gave orders to have the lad cared for at her personal expense.

This is an illustration of, and yet a contrast to, the grace of God. This man had served his sovereign and his country faithfully; but the sinner is a rebel and an enemy to God. Yet God has set His heart upon the sinner; and, in spite of all that he has been and is, God has been moved with compassion for him and has provided a Savior, a Friend, and a home for him.

What would have been thought of that Irish soldier, wounded, helpless, and friendless, had he refused the royal bounty, and rejected the royal grace bestowed upon him?

Yet this is exactly what you are doing, dear lost soul, with the grace of God. Are you one of His saved ones? Have you received Him?

Instant in Season

One cold November evening a gay party of worldly young men was going to dine at a popular restaurant. As they were going up the steps one of the party caught sight of a cripple who stood in the cold with his basket of shoelaces and pencils for sale. “Let us give that old chap a feed,” he cried to his friends. They all quickly agreed, and he was taken into the restaurant.

After they had eaten, the young men began singing songs. Each contributed a college song or some current tune, and then they turned to their guest with “You must give us your song, too, so tune up.”

At once he asked help of God, that he might be able to testify of Him in the midst of that careless company. Then sweetly he sang that beautiful hymn, “I am Thine, O Lord I have heard Thy voice, And it told Thy love to me.”

The next morning he was sitting in his usual place with his wares. A car drove up, and a lady got out and came to him. She asked him to go to her house with her, as her son was in great distress of soul because of the message that he had sung the night before.

Gladly he went with her, and with God’s grace another sinner was shown the way to the Savior.

You Are Saved or Lost

There is no middle ground. You are certainly either the one or the other. To be lost means to be a condemned sinner, one who has broken God’s law and must suffer the penalty. You know you have broken His law. Your heart tells you that you have been breaking it all your life. You have never loved the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself.

But that is just what the law says you ought to do. If you have not done it you have sinned, you have broken the law. You are “condemned already.”

That means that you have done the evil deed, you have been found guilty, you are under sentence and only waiting for the judgment to be executed. But the execution of that just judgment will be your eternal ruin. If it is executed, you will be lost forever. And you are either in that condition

LOST or you are SAVED.

What does saved mean? It means that Another has been executed in your place, that the judgment your sins deserve has been borne by One who was able to bear it, and that the moment you own your lost condition and turn to Him as your only hope, YOUR Savior, in that moment your sins are forgiven and you are saved.

Now, where are you? Do not say, “I do not know.” You do know. You know whether you have received pardon for your years of sin. You know whether you have been set free, whether you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ or not.

If you have not, how sad a state you are in! A sinner, salvation freely offered to you, and yet you are not accepting it! How can you go on thus? Any moment may end this day of salvation and cast you into the prison house from which there can be no escape. Lost—and salvation freely offered’ to you. Lost— and any day may be your last on earth. And yet you delay!

There is no middle ground, no place between being lost and being saved. You must be either the one or the other. If you are not saved, you are lost. Which is it? Let it not be true of you that, when the Lord calls His own to be with Him in glory, you must say, “The door is shut.”

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Jer. 8:20.

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

"Whosoever Believeth"

“Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

“Do you believe in Jesus the Son of God?” we asked an anxious soul.

“Yes, I can truthfully answer, I do. In my very heart I believe on Jesus Christ, God’s beloved One.”

“Do you believe on God, who delivered Jesus for our offenses, and raised Him from the dead for our justification?”

“Yes, indeed I do, fully and heartily.”

“Then, of course, you are saved, and in the enjoyment of God’s gift to all who believe—Eternal Life?”

“What? Me saved! Me a happy possessor of Eternal Life! That would be too good to be true.”

“Why, you say you believe on Jesus. Then, He says you ‘have everlasting life,’ and God declares you ‘are saved,’ and ‘are justified from all things.’ Eph. 2:8; Acts 13:38, 39. Yet you say ‘that is too good to be true.’

Now, who am I to believe in this matter—God or you? Why, man, you are simply giving the flat denial to the living God.”

“I don’t want to do that. What am I to do?”

“My friend, receive all that God gives you. Believe all that He tells you. You will be as happy as the day is long. All believers on Jesus have everlasting life; not because they feel it, or enjoy it, or are happy, but only because He affirms it.”

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

“IT SHALL BE

WELL WITH THEM

THAT FEAR GOD,

WHICH FEAR

BEFORE HIM...

IT MALL NOT

BE WELL WITH

THE WICKED...

BECAUSE HE

FEARETH NOT

BEFORE GOD.”

Eccl. 8:12, 13.

March

I Don't Believe It

Anthony Hall had seen long service in the Marines. He had been all over the world and had fought in many engagements, out of which he had come unscathed. Then he was pensioned and took a job as a night watchman. During the day he had several hours to himself, and much of this time was spent in gambling and drinking.

Anthony was so given over to the service of sin and Satan that his wife, though herself unconverted, became worried about what would become of him. If he would only go to church, she thought, he might be reformed.

Through her pleadings he was induced to attend some Gospel services. There the Spirit of God convicted him of his state as a lost sinner, and so wrought upon him that both gambling and drink lost their charms. His sin-burdened conscience almost drove him to despair. He saw no hope for himself one of the worst of sinners and felt that everlasting doom must be his end.

Living near Anthony there was a former sergeant, John Lawson. He had learned that there was no peace to be found out of Christ.

Having passed through the dangers and temptations of a soldier’s life, Lawson loved to labor amongst soldiers and was the means in God’s hands of leading many of them to the Lord.

Hearing of Anthony’s condition, John called on him and sought to point him to the Savior. Anthony could not read, so John read to him. The old marine listened intently as his friend read out these wonderful words, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Again Lawson read, “God so loved the world”—and, looking at Anthony, said, “This includes you ‘that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever’—and that means you amongst the rest—you, Anthony Hall— `believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’”

Anthony was fairly astonished; he raised his brawny hand above his head, and brought it down on the table before him, saying at the same time, “I don’t believe it.”

Without argument, Lawson read again, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever [and that means you] believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Again Anthony shouted, “I don’t believe it,” as his strong fist came down once more with a crash upon the table.

A third time the words were repeated, but they seemed incredible to the old marine. He had never heard the story of God’s love, and he exclaimed with more warmth than ever, “I don’t believe it.”

Lawson, wise in winning souls, seemingly changed the ‘subject. “How long were you in the service, Anthony?”

“Twenty-one years and fourteen days,” was Anthony’s prompt reply.

At this John Lawson lifted his fist, brought it down on the table, and cried, “I don’t believe it!”

“Do you think I would tell you a lie?” returned Anthony angrily. “It was twenty-one years and fourteen days.”

“I don’t believe it,” answered Lawson drily.

“Wife” cried Anthony, “bring me my discharge.”

Lawson took the paper from her hand, quietly asking the old marine if he had ever read it, and if he believed it. Anthony answered that others had read it to him, and that he believed what he had heard.

Then Anthony said, “How is it that you expect me to believe the word of man, while you yourself refuse to believe the Word of God?” Again opening his Bible, he once more read John 3:16.

Anthony’s eyes and heart were now opened, and he joyfully exclaimed, “I see it! I believe it! I believe it! Thank God.”

From that hour these words filled his soul with joy during his long night watches. He became anxious to read them for himself and, instead of sleeping in the day, he would lie on his back and learn to spell out John 3:16.

His wife bought him a spelling book, but he cast it aside, saying that he would learn to read out of no book but the Bible, and John 3:16 should be his first lesson. He at once began to tell the good news to his wife, who through God’s mercy received the blessed truth. Now their great joy is to read together and to tell others of God’s love, as told in their precious verse.

Friend, you may have read it many times.

Do you believe it?

W. T.

Extract: Have I Christ for Myself?

Some take up the cause of religion very zealously, and yet have no heart for Christ.

Let us inquire of our hearts how we stand in this matter. We live in a day when many are very religious; but being religious does not save us, nor make us fit for God’s presence. We must have Christ for ourselves, or we are without God and without hope in the world. Let us ask our own hearts, Have I Christ for myself?

Jesus Saves

Oh, I’ve joyful news to tell,

Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

He hath vanquished death and hell,

Ransomed souls these tidings swell:

Jesus saves! Jesus saves.

Once upon the painful tree

Jesus bled! Jesus bled.

Gave Himself for thee and me,

Yes, to set the prisoner free,

Jesus bled! Jesus bled.

Bearing sin’s full weight and load

Jesus died! Jesus died;

Meeting all the claims of God,

Us to ransom by His blood,

Jesus died! Jesus died.

All His wondrous work complete,

Jesus rose! Jesus rose;

Satan bruised beneath His feet,

Death and hell confess defeat;

Jesus rose! Jesus rose.

Now of this be fully sure,

Jesus lives! Jesus lives;

For the Spirit, o’er and o’er

Whispers in convincing power,

Jesus lives! Jesus lives.

Some of the tenants owed several years’ rent, and were in consequence apprehensive of the action their landlord might justly take against them in the Land Court. To their astonishment a notice was posted up over the estate, promising a remission of all rent to any tenant who would meet Lord Congleton on a certain day at the estate office between the hours of ten and twelve o’clock.

The tenants immediately suspected a trap, and spent the intervening days trying to find out what plan was designed for their injury.

On the promised day Lord Congleton sat in his office and the tenants crowded the street of the little country town, whispering and talking and gesticulating with much excitement; but not one entered the door of the house. Ten o’clock—half past ten—eleven half past eleven came; but no tenant appeared. Still their landlord sat waiting to befriend them.

At last, a little before twelve, a tenant entered the office and asked for the promised receipt.

“Do you really expect to be forgiven your debt?” asked Lord Congleton.

“Yes, my Lord.”

“And why?”

“Your Lordship has promised it.”

“And do you believe the promise?”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Why?”

“Your Lordship would not deceive a poor man.”

“But are you a good and industrious man?”

“The notice said nothing about that, my Lord.”

“So you believe the notice, and have come for your receipt?”

Lord Congleton wrote the receipt and handed it to the man, who sprang to his feet, waved the paper over his head, and shouted, “I knew you wouldn’t deceive us!

God bless your Lordship! Now I’ll show it to the boys,” and he made towards the door of the room.

“Stop!” cried Lord Congleton, “it is not yet twelve o’clock. Sit down there. The forgiveness of rent is promised to faith, and only to faith, and up to noon.” As soon as the hour struck he added, “Now you may go.”

The man ran out of the house into the street, waving his receipt over his head and shouting, “I’ve got it! Didn’t I tell you it was all true? I’m a free man!”

The tenants in a body rushed to the house, but the door was shut. They had missed their opportunity through unbelief. One man and only one believed what was promised and was rewarded.

This is a very simple illustration of the gospel. God offers a free pardon and full salvation to all on the ground of what the Lord Jesus has accomplished on the cross of Calvary, but only those are saved who believe it and put their trust in Him.

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

“Without faith it is impossible to please Him (God): for he that cometh to God must believe that He is.” Heb. 11:6.

The Blood That Cleanseth

A Christian, visiting among the poor, one day engaged a man in conversation about his soul. While referring to the Bible he held in his hands, he was startled by a feeble voice nearby saying, “Does your book tell of the blood that cleanseth from all sin?

Tell me, Oh, tell me, does your book tell of the blood that cleanseth from all sin?”

The visitor entered the room from which the plea came, and upon a bundle of straw in a corner he found the wasted form of a suffering woman. Raising herself up on one arm as he entered, she fixed her large eyes on him and repeated her question.

“My poor friend,” he said, “what do you want to know of ‘the blood that cleanseth from all sin?’”

She cried out, “What do I want to know of it? Man! I’m dying; I’m going to stand before God! I have been a wicked woman, a very wicked woman, all my life. I shall have to answer for everything I have ever done”; and she groaned as she thought of her past sinful life.

“Once,” she continued, “as I was passing a door, I heard something about the blood which cleanseth from all sin. Oh, if I could hear of it now! Tell me if there is anything about that blood in your book.”

The first chapter of the first epistle of John was read to her, and the poor woman seemed fairly to devour the word, exclaiming, “Read more, read more!” The second, third, fourth, and fifth were read before she would consent to a pause. Almost from the very first she seemed to find peace and joy in believing in Jesus, who gave His life for the remission of sins. In a few days she passed away a ransomed soul.

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

Where Is Hell?

That is a frequent question nowadays; and because the answer cannot be given, the questioner concludes that there is no hell at all.

But that conclusion is false. You might as well say to the police officer, who is about to arrest you on account of some breach of the law, “Where is the jail?”

The jail exists. Its location is known to the policeman, and there the offender has to suffer. The fact that you do not know the locality of the prison does not do away with the prison itself.

So, if God has not revealed to us the whereabouts of hell, it does not follow that such a place does not exist.

Nay, but God knows where it is. Even if He has not seen fit to tell us, He has declared in many ways its dreadful nature. Without here detailing these ways, suffice it to say that, as heaven is pointed out as the place of bliss—the fruit of sovereign grace to guilty men who believe,—so hell, as the lake of fire, is foretold as the place of punishment for the lost. Its locality is concealed, but its character is made known.

“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still,” is the solemn and certain seal of the abiding condition of those who are found there. Hell does not change the disposition of the damned. A man goes there a God-hater: its punishment may make him fear, but it cannot make him love.

Love is not the creature of wrath; and yet without it heaven is impossible. “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema, Maranatha.”

Hence the gulf between heaven and hell is fixed.

It is of eternal importance to get the knowledge of the love of God today—yes, of eternal importance! Today God saves the vilest,, if he will, by faith believe in the shed blood of His Son. There can be no hope, no salvation, no escape from an unalterable doom for him who believes not.

Because you don’t know where hell is, don’t disbelieve the fact that Hell is!

“Where” and “how” are the two great questions of infidelity. Guard against infidelity.

“Do you know where the rocks are, captain?” said a passenger on board a steamer.

“No,” said the captain.

“You don’t know where the rocks are?”

“No, I don’t,” he replied.

“Then how can you guide the ship aright?”

“Because I know where they are not,” said he.

Wise man! He believed there were rocks, though he could not see them. By the aid of his chart he kept clear of them.

Reader, the Bible bids you keep clear and warns you of shipwreck. No matter where hell is, its existence is declared. Let that be enough. Act in the faith that leads a sinner to the Savior, that you may have peace with God through Jesus Christ. Otherwise, what is unknown today will be discovered with endless regret when it is too late.

A Young Soldier's Testimony

At one time I feared to meet God, but now all is changed. I long to see Him. What made the change? I certainly did not, by much effort and self-denial, make myself more fit to meet Him. No as a poor sinner I came to Him and owned that I was lost without Him and wanted to know such a Savior, who so loved me and gave Himself for me, that I might be with Him. He saved me, and now I shall never cease to praise Him!

A Bad Bargain

A teacher, making some remarks on the Scripture, “Buy the truth and sell it not,” observed that he who buys the truth, at whatever cost, makes a good bargain. He then asked his pupils if any of them remembered an instance in Scripture of a bad bargain.

“I do,” said one “Esau made a bad bargain when he sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.”

“I do,” said a second, “Judas made a bad bargain when he sold Jesus Christ for thirty pieces of silver.”

“I do,” said a third, “our Savior says that he makes a bad bargain who, to gain the whole world, loses his own soul.”

The testimony is true. Of all bad speculations there never was one so ruinous as that of bartering our souls for the profits and pleasures of the world. Are you guilty of this folly?

Extract

Christ has been down, and met the sinner’s desperate need. He has gone up, for His blessed work is done.

“BOAST

NOT THYSELF

OF TOMORROW;

FOR THOU

KNOWEST NOT WHAT

A DAY MAY

BRING FORTH.”

Prov. 27:1.

“TODAY IF YE

WILL HEAR HIS VOICE,

HARDEN NOT

YOUR HEARTS.”

Hebrews 4:7

April

The Gospel of the Grace of God

The word gospel means glad tidings.

It is not glad tidings that we must either save or help to save ourselves by our works. God saves sinners by grace, not by works, lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:8, 9; Titus 3:5).

It is not glad tidings that we must be saved partly by the good works or intercession of others. They have all been sinners, as we are, and if saved at all we are saved through Christ alone. “All have sinned.” Rom. 3:23. And “the wages of sin (yes, of a single sin) is death”; while “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 6:23.

It is not glad tidings that we may be the children of God today, and the children of wrath tomorrow, for then we could not have peace, but should live in fear; but the Gospel gives settled peace and joy to the believer’s soul. And thus the Apostle Paul says, “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rom. 5:1. And again, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Phil. 4.4.

The true Gospel of Christ is indeed glad tidings cheering to the heart. For what does the sinner want? Does he want forgiveness? The Gospel proclaims “redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Eph. 1:7. Does he want to be counted righteous before God? The Gospel says, “To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Rom. 4:5.

Even so Abraham “believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” Rom. 4:3.

Does he want salvation? The Gospel says, “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. Does he want everlasting life? The Lord Jesus Christ says, “He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” John 6:47. Does he want to be kept until the’ end? Christ says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

John 10:27, 28.

This Gospel is indeed glad tidings. This is the only Gospel which can remove fear from our hearts, and give us peace with God. This only can take away the natural enmity of our hearts towards God, and give either desire or strength to serve Him; and when we believe it, it produces love in our hearts toward Him. “We love Him, because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19. He so loved us as to give His Son to die for us, “the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” Again, “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Gal. 3:26.

Search the Scriptures, whether these things be so. (Acts 17:11.)

Extract: It is Finished

It is finished, yes, indeed,

Finished every jot,

Sinner, this is all you need,

Tell me, is it not?

The Unsaved Dead

Unspeakably awful is Christ’s description, in Luke 16, of the future of the lost. In language not to be misunderstood the Son of God declares the truth concerning the condition of the unsaved dead.

A rich man who lived but for himself, with no thought of eternity or care for his soul, engrossed in the pleasures of this life, was overtaken with death (perhaps when he least expected it) and was buried. His earthly life was ended, his fine apparel and sumptuous feasting were gone forever. But was that the end of him? Ah! no; though the body, the earthen vessel, was dead and buried, the man still lived. But where? In hell. Jesus says, “In hell he lifted up his eyes.”

There can be no mistake about this. All the reasoning in the world will not make this scripture mean that when the rich man died he ceased to exist, or that he awoke in heaven. He closed his eyes on earth and opened them in hell. What is hell? A place of torment. “In hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments.”

The first minute after death! Ah, this is a perfect and instantaneous cure for infidelity. The rich man closed his eyes upon the pleasures of this world, and opened them to behold the fire of hell. What an awakening!

What a change! What unutterable despair seized upon his soul! He is in possession of full consciousness—never to lose it. What does he learn? That the joys of earth are forever fled, and torment for eternity is begun.

He lifts up his eyes, and what does he see?

Another in bliss. Lazarus in Abraham’s besom. Yes, there are two places in eternity, heaven and hell— a place of happiness and a place of torment. The man in hell sees Lazarus in a place of bliss. The sight of his joy augments the lost man’s agony. Where is heaven to him? “Afar off.”

While on earth it was near within his reach, the mercy of God offering him a place there. Now it is beyond his reach—it is “afar off.”

In the previous chapter the prodigal is seen “a great way off”, but that scene is enacted on earth in time, while grace is reigning, and the distance is quickly covered. The Father runs to meet the returning sinner. The arms of love are soon around his neck, the kiss of peace upon his brow, and he is brought with joy into the Father’s house.

The scene in Luke 16 takes place in eternity, where everything is fixed and unalterable. To the man in hell, heaven is “afar off,” separated by a distance that will never be compassed. No arms of love can ever deliver him from the torment. No kiss of forgiving mercy can be imprinted on his brow. Neglecting it in time, he has lost it for eternity.

What is the first thing the rich man does when he finds himself in hell? He cries for mercy. The man who, when on earth, slighted God’s offered mercy, calls lustily for it when in hell.

But what is the extent of the mercy for which he prays? Does he ask to be let out?

Ah, no; he knows better than to do that.

The rich man of Luke 16 is wiser than the wise men of today, who teach that those who go to hell will some day have their sufferings terminated. He knew that once in hell meant always in hell.

For what then did he pray? Just this, that Lazarus might bring to him just as much water as would cleave to the tip of his finger.

It was not a great request, was it? Not a great mercy? It would not have assuaged his sufferings for long. But oh, reader, notice that, small as it was, it was denied him! There will be no mercy in hell.

A young lady was dying. Her life had been devoted to the pleasures of this world, but the time had come when she must leave them. Her friends were gathered round her bed. Raising herself up, she stretched her hand towards a glass of water that was by her side and with her finger touched the water, then let the drop that trembled on it fall upon her tongue. “That,” said the dying one, “is the last drop of water I shall ever have here or in eternity; I shall want it, but I shall not have it.”

Since creation the devil has been man’s enemy. He crept into Eden, and ruined Adam and Eve by telling them a daring lie. He promised them life, and equality with God; whereas they got death, and became lost sinners instead. Having got man in his fatal grasp, he has devised a thousand and one ways to keep him there, and to frustrate God’s gracious design for his deliverance.

Latterly, in the very teeth of the revelation given by God to man, he has adopted a new scheme. He has taken up the question of judgment, and is persuading man that it is not eternal, that although God may send him to hell for his sins, He is too merciful to keep him there forever, and that sooner or later He will release him; the fire shall only purge away the dross.

The lie has succeeded; the soul-damning delusion spreads rapidly, and thousands grasp it readily. If there is salvation in hell, why seek it on earth? Enjoy life with its many pleasures; a few ages of suffering are endurable if at the end there is release.

Reader, have you listened to the “father of lies”? Be warned that you do so at your peril. His name is “deceiver.” Jesus came from heaven to tell man the truth about his prospects; with a firm hand He grasped the veil of the future and drew it aside. Look!

What do you see? A man in hell, in torment, praying for the smallest conceivable mercy, a drop of water to cool his tongue, and it refused him.

Christ is teaching that if man wishes for mercy he must find it in this world, or he will never find it.

Where would you go—if you died this moment, to heaven or hell?

Do you know what will insure your going to hell? You have only to die without Christ.

It matters not what you may have been in this world, if you die without Christ no power on earth or in heaven can save you from going to the place to which the rich man went.

Do you ask, What is meant by dying without Christ? Simply this: to leave the world without possessing Him as a Savior; dying, it may be, clad in the vesture of human righteousness, but not clothed with Christ, who “of God is made unto us ... righteousness”; dying perchance clinging to the rotten reed of a moral life, but with no grip on Christ the Savior of the lost; dying in the very atmosphere of seeming sanctity, it may be, but unwashed in Jesus’ blood; dying perhaps at peace with self and all men, but un-possessed of peace with God, the peace that Christ made by the blood of His cross.

Ponder it well—what is Christ to you? In the changeless Word of God He stands forth in all His majesty as the sinner’s only Savior, the sinner’s only refuge. Search the universe, if you will; you will not find another. Ordinances, religiousness, human merit, works of righteousness, all fade before the light of the glory of His peerless person and work. Jesus stands revealed as the only way of escape from eternal torment.

“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.”

Reader, what is Christ to you?

From deepest hell to highest heaven rang the lost man’s wail, “Have mercy on me... I am tormented in this flame.”

From the highest heaven to the lowest hell came the answer, “Son, remember.”

Fearful words. There will be memory in hell; not only the ever-burning, never-consuming flame, but memory that reaches back into time and brings into the eternal present all the neglected opportunities of the past—a mother’s pleadings—a friend’s counsel—the beseeching of the Gospel preacher—the Spirit’s strivings the serious thoughts concerning the future, thoughts that were hastily put away. Poor heart, tortured with wild regrets, rent with a hopeless and an everlasting despair, where, oh, where shall it turn for relief? Relief!

Vain thought! The place is hell, and relief never enters there.

And then, as if to close every door of hope, and to make plain the eternity of his sufferings, the voice continues, “Beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.”

Between us and you, between the saved and the damned, between the glory and the fire, between the bliss and the pain, between the singing and the weeping, between Christ and the Christ-less, is the great gulf fixed.

If any in heaven were disposed to help the unsaved dead, they could not. An impassable gulf divides them; none can cross it, either from heaven to hell, or from hell to heaven.

None in heaven can succor those in hell. None in hell can join the blest in heaven. Mark it well. “Neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.” All would if they could, but none can.

All hope of receiving mercy dies within the lost man’s breast; he ceases to plead for himself. What does he do? Upbraid God for injustice? No, he pleads for others. “I have five brethren; send Lazarus to them.” Wherefore? To ask them to pray for his release from hell? Nay; “that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.”

You say, It is only a figure. A figure!

Well, of what is it a figure? If the figure is so appalling, what must the reality be?

Listen, ye careless ones. From a soul past redemption, from a damned soul in hell, is borne to us this cry of awful warning—“I am tormented in this flame!”

Un-hushed by the open derision of the confessed infidel, or the plausible objections of the teachers of the “larger hope,” this cry is heard still, not a note changed. Through the hoary centuries it comes up to us laden with the same agony as when it first burst from the heart of the suffering sinner: “I am tormented in this flame!”

Peace

P is for Person, the Son of God’s love,

Who came down from heaven to die,

The lost ones to save, and to bring them to God,

And prepare them a place in the sky.

E for eternal, for such is the love

Of this One who for us stooped so low,

To Calvary’s cross with its grief and its shame,

With its darkness, its terror and woe.

A is for any who want to be saved;

He never turns any away;

He offers salvation to all who will come,

To any who trust Him today.

C stands for Christ, the anointed of God,

Who stands with His arms open wide

To receive all who come in His loving embrace

’Twas for them that He suffered and died.

E for eternity—solemn the thought—

And the question for you to decide

Is, where will you spend it, in heaven or hell?

Turn not from this question aside.

But trust in this Person eternal His love

For any: that surely means you!

Then Christ will be precious, your comfort and joy,

In time and eternity too.

Fragment: Not Too Proud

Salvation has been procured for all who are not too proud to take it for nothing.

Weighed in the Balances

While I was living in the village at Sanford, one morning an aged milkman met me as he was going up to the depot for his milk to sell in the neighboring town. As we met he stopped, looked at me, and said, “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.”

“Thank God,” I answered, “I found it out in time!”

“Yes,” said he, “and so did I. Besides that, I have Christ now, so that my side of the scale goes down heavy.”

“Yes,” I said, “I have Christ too, thank God,” and we passed on.

Do you know, my reader, that God has put you into the balances? Not only you, but everybody, has been weighed in God’s scales and all have been found wanting, for “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:23.

Do you know that this is true of you? If you do, have you accepted Christ—the only perfect One—the only One in whom God could find full weight in every respect—who satisfied God as to the question of your sins and mine? He offered Himself without spot to God. He finished the work God gave Him to do, for He said when on the cross, “It is finished.” John 19:30. Thus He glorified God, and God has glorified Him in that He has raised Him from among the dead, and exalted Him to His own right hand as a Prince and a Savior (Acts 5:31).

Do you know that blessed One as your Savior? You have heard of Him. His fame has gone out throughout the world, but have you accepted Him as your Savior? Do you know Him as the One who took your place on the cross—as the One who has exhausted all God’s righteous judgment in your stead?

His precious blood was shed to cleanse you from all your sins and guilt. Simply believe on Him, and own Him as your Savior, for “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7.

How precious to know Him thus! Then should God call you to account today you would not be found wanting.

“Every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”

Rom. 14:12.

“Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”

Prov. 27:1.

If you are still unsaved still heedless and careless of your never-dying soul and God should call you to render your account today, how sad it would be for you! What account would you render to God then? You would find you had come sadly short, and that too without one single excuse. Ponder, I pray you, these solemn realities. Cease your own efforts to make up the account. Accept Christ, the blessed Substitute. Cast yourself entirely upon Him, and rest in His finished work. Then “all will be well.”

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

Fragment

He subdued the powers of hell;

In the fight He stood alone;

All His foes before Him fell,

By His single arm o’er thrown.

They have fallen to rise no more

Final is the foe’s defeat;

Jesus triumphed by His power,

And His triumph is complete.

“SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES; FOR IN THEM YE THINK YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE: AND THEY ARE THEY WHICH TESTIFY OF ME. AND YE WILL NOT COME TO ME, THAT YE MIGHT HAVE LIFE.”

John 5:39, 40.

The Balances

“Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity,” said one of old (Job 31:6). What that one of old said, many more say today. It is the language of self-righteous people—of those who compare themselves with their neighbors. They use their own balances which they think are even, and so form a good opinion of themselves as compared with others.

How different it is when God weighs us in His balances! God’s scales are exact; His weights are just. He Himself is the standard measure. It is easy to say in one’s ignorance, “Let me be weighed in an even balance,” but how startling when the soul finds itself in God’s scales— “lighter than vanity.”

“Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting,” was God’s word to Belshazzar, one of earth’s greatest ones (Dan. 5:27). That very night the man found himself in eternity. What an awful awakening! In the midst of revelry at night, impiously profaning God’s holy vessels; in outer darkness ere morning, found wanting lost forever.

God has poised His balances and put all mankind into His scales. “Found wanting,” is the verdict. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” There is no escape from this conclusion for any, be he high or low, rich or poor, educated or ignorant, king or peasant, religious or profane. “All have sinned”; all have been weighed; all are found wanting. Can you gainsay it? Men may refuse to believe, may murmur and rebel against the verdict; there it stands. The even balance has been used, the just weights have been put in the scale, and man has been found wanting. What a terrible truth! What is to be done?

God laid help on One that is “mighty to save”; One able to take all our guilt, and endure its penalty—Jesus, the Son of His love. Blessed be His name! He has done all— borne our sins—endured the judgment—met the claims of God fully—and now every believing soul goes free. Yes, God saves the believer. Every believer is “complete in Him” —in Christ. Through Him alone can any be saved.

Reader, have you acknowledged your guilt, and trusted the Saviour? Thus it is God saves the soul.

Three Golden Links

“Shalt Confess.”

Who confesses Christ the Lord?

They who know His precious Word,

They who life in Him possess,

These alone His name confess.

“Shalt Believe.”

Oh, the joy of knowing this

Christ the only source of bliss!

Not what I can “do” or “give,”

Life is in the word “believe.”

“Shalt be Saved.”

Precious link! The last of three,

Forged for all eternity:

Every link with mercy laved—

“Shalt confess,” “believe,” “be saved!”

A Leap in the Dark

“Then, to you, death will be a leap in the dark?”

“Well—yes, just so; I suppose it will be.”

The one who made this terrible confession was a shoemaker, of middle age, slowly nearing the grave under the dread power of consumption. Worse than this, he was an infidel—a determined, avowed skeptic. I had been asked to visit him in his attic quarters by an old friend, also a shoemaker, who was through grace a Christian and anxious about his unbelieving acquaintance. This friend got his permission for me to call by saying that, as a doctor, perhaps I could give him some prescription that would relieve his sufferings. He begged me to go, told me of the sadly darkened state of the poor man’s mind, and urged me to put Christ before him if I could.

After I had carefully examined him, he asked me if I thought he could be cured. To this I had to answer that I was sorry to tell him that I did not think he would recover.

“Then, how long do you think I have yet to live, Doctor?” he said.

“A few months, perhaps a year,” I replied.

He made no reply, and the stolid look of indifference on his gloomy face was in no way changed by my remark. As he said no more, I continued: “And are you ready to die, Mr. Foster?”

“Of course I am—as ready as you or any one else.”

“And what has made you ready? Are your sins forgiven, and all washed away in the precious blood of Christ?”

“Oh, that’s all stuff. I don’t believe in any of that nonsense. I’m a free-thinker.”

“So I regret to see. But your being a free-thinker will not fit you for God’s presence.”

“I tell you I don’t believe in a God at all; so I shan’t have to meet Him.”

“Your not believing in Him will not help you to evade the solemn certainty of having to meet Him. The Scripture says, ‘So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.’”

“But I don’t believe in the Bible. It’s only fit for old women who can’t reason. No reasonable man believes in it these days.”

“Well, I am not an old woman but, I trust, a reasonable man. Yet I confess that I believe the Bible to be the Word of God. I believe it heartily from cover to cover.”

“And what good has it done you?”

“Untold good, thank God. It has given me the knowledge of Himself in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I know from its blessed pages that my sins are all forgiven and that I have eternal life. Though I am sure of nothing for a moment in this life, I am quite clear and happy as to the future were I to die or the Lord to come.”

“Oh, that’s all a delusion. Nobody knows anything about the future. How can they? No one has come back from the dead to tell us what comes after death.”

“That is a great mistake. Why, the One who died for me is the very One who has come back from the dead to assure me of my future blessedness as the fruit and consequence of His death for me.”

“I don’t believe a word of it. No one can know what will be after death.”

“Then, to you, death will be a leap in the dark?”

“Well—yes, just so; I suppose it will be,” was his rather hesitating reply.

“Ah, my friend!” I exclaimed, “I am far better off than you, through God’s infinite grace. If I should die, death will be to me a leap in the light.”

“How do you make that out?”

“Because I am in the light now. Christ is my Light. He said, ‘I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’ And He said, also, ‘Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light... I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness.’

“Both you and I are alike sinners before God, but the difference between us is this you do not believe in the Lord Jesus, so you are walking in darkness, and know not whither you are going—that is, to judgment and the lake of fire. I do believe in Him, am out of darkness, walking in the light, and knowing clearly where I am going— ‘to be with Christ; which is far better.’ Don’t you think now that my portion is better than yours? All I can say is, that a man who takes a leap in the dark when he might take a leap in the light must be a fool. What say you to that?”

He paused a moment or two and then replied, “Well sir, I never looked at it quite in that way before. I won’t say that there’s not some reason in your argument.”

With this our interview closed. I left him with my heart lifted to God that His Word might do its work in his heart and conscience. I never saw him again.

Nearly twelve years have passed since then. Last June his friend who had asked me to visit him called to see me and said, “Do you remember, many years ago, visiting an infidel shoemaker?”

“Perfectly, and also what took place between us two. What became of him?”

“He died in the City Hospital a year after you saw him.”

“Died an infidel?”

“Oh, no! Thank God, he died a happy Christian, confessing his faith in the Lord and giving a bright testimony. He dated the beginning of the change in his heart from that morning you saw him. Something you said to him about a leap in the dark struck him, and he was never happy till he found the Lord.”

“The Lord be praised!” was my fervent response, as I heard with deep joy of the Lord’s grace to one who seemed so fortified in unbelief. It is, however, but another illustration of His goodness and of the truth of His Word. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Isa. 55:8-11.

And you, my dear reader, are you still in darkness, or is Christ your light? When you pass into eternity, will it be for you a leap in the dark, or a leap in the light?

I beseech you most affectionately not to put these queries from you. Answer them honestly before God. If you cannot reply, “To me death would be a leap in the light,” turn to Jesus now. Trust Him as you read these Fines, and all will be light. “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness,” He says. He tasted death, that we might live; endured the darkness, that we might enjoy the light; and sustained the judgment of God, that we might be freely justified. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.”

Again, “But now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 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; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

Trust Him simply. Then, when called hence, whether by falling asleep in Jesus or by His coming in the air for His own (1 Thess. 4:13-18), to you and to me—through infinite grace—it will be a leap in the light.

W. T. P. W.

Eternity!

A man about to be executed, as he laid his head upon the block exclaimed in anguish of soul, “Eternity! Oh, how long!”

Theories may do very well in life, but in death the most hardened souls are conscious that eternity— the unmeasured ages of eternity—is before them. Well might the poor man, as he placed his head upon the fatal block, cry out, “Eternity! Oh, how long!”

Beloved reader, are you saved? Are you reconciled to God? Are you sure of spending eternity with God, in perfect happiness? If not, make haste to be saved! Jesus stands ready to receive and save all who come to Him. God is ready to justify from all things the one who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Delay not, I beseech you.

The Traveling Salesman's Distress

“Will you take a Gospel tract, please?”

“Yes, thank you,” said the man addressed. “I am always glad to get anything that speaks well of my Lord, and what He has done.”

Such was my introduction to a fine young fellow, a traveling salesman for a big wholesale house in Hill City. We met on a train.

Pleased with such a hearty response to our offer of a tract, we ventured to ask further how he came to know and love the Lord Jesus and the things concerning Him.

“I am glad to be able to tell you about it,” said he. “It was about five years ago. I had been promoted from the shipping-room to a place as salesman on one of the most important of our firm’s routes, and naturally I felt elated over my success. I was to leave on my first trip the next week, and when the time came my mother had everything ready and, as she told me good-by, she slipped a little booklet into my hand. I put it into my pocket, and for a time forgot about it.

“By-and-by, however, I began to think of home—it was my first journey away from it—and a feeling of loneliness came over me. I thought of my mother’s dear face and loving counsels.

“Then I remembered the booklet that she had given me. Taking it out, I began to read. The subject was, ‘The Coming of the Lord,’ and the possible near approach of the time when He would come for His people. The doctrine was stated simply and clearly, the time of His coming being left, as it is in Scripture, an open question; but the point was firmly pressed as to what the probable result would be to the reader if He were coming at that moment.

“WOULD HE RISE TO MEET HIM, OR BE LEFT FOR JUDGMENT?

“The thought made me wretched, and I tried to think of something else, but I couldn’t, and my distress increased as the day wore on. I met customers, sold them goods, and was what might be called fairly successful, but all the time I was miserable. Christ was coming! Should He come, my dear mother would go up to meet Him, but I would be left, and there would be an eternal separation. The thought was intolerable. I was glad when the day was over, and I could go to my room at the hotel to think over this new and startling question that had come into my life.

“I had heard Mother speak of the coming of the Lord as a ‘blessed hope.’ I had heard her say that it was not a certainty that she should die, for the apostle had said, ‘We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.’ 1 Cor. 15:51, 52. It had never dawned on me that this was anything more than a peculiar notion of Mother’s. But now God was bringing me face to face with the subject, as a matter of eternal importance in which I personally was interested. If Christ came then I would be left-for what? To hear the solemn sentence passed on me, ‘I never knew you: depart from me.’ Matt. 7:23.

“‘Oh, if I only had a Bible!’ I thought, ‘I would see if I could not find comfort there, or at least something to help me.’ Suddenly it flashed upon me, ‘Mother may have put one in my suitcase!’ Hastily I looked for it, and there it was.

“Eagerly I opened it to find comfort, but hardly knew where to look. Passage after of God—the righteous judgment of God on sin, and all this only made me tremble. It increased my trouble. I was a sinner; God was holy, and sin must be abhorrent to Him. I was lost, and I could see no pope.

“At last my eye fell on a scripture that fitted my case. It was Rom. 5:8: ‘God commendeth His love toward us, in that, passage I read, but they told of the holiness while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’ Turning to the references in the margin, I found 1st Timothy 1:15: ‘This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’; and again, Luke 19:10: ‘The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.’

“It was just what I needed. I was lost, and guilty, and in danger of God’s wrath forever! But God had loved me, Christ had died for me, and had proved Himself both able and willing to save me. Would I have Him as my Saviour? Gladly and thankfully I said, ‘Yes, Lord, I will.’

“My soul was filled with joy and peace in believing, and my first letter home carried the joyful news to my mother that I was saved, and waiting for the Lord.”

Such, dear friend, was the story of my fellow-traveler’s conversion to God. And here we would pass on the question, “If the Lord Jesus were coming today, as He says He will one day, what would your destiny be?” The door of mercy stands wide open now, but it will not always be so. “When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and He shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are!” Such words are used by the Lord in Luke 13:25. Then, why will you trifle? Why will you procrastinate? Time is short, time is precious, and the moments past are gone forever. The future is not yours. The only moment you can claim is now! Therefore while He waits “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31.

Fragment

“Higher than the highest heaven,

Deeper than the deepest sea, Lord,

Thy love at last hast conquered:

‘None of self, and all of Thee.’”

June

Can You Undo?

A man, still young, but upon whom disease, the result of a wicked life, had marked its imprint of shame, was taken to a hospital. The chaplain on his rounds came where he was and noticed his pinched face, a picture of despair.

“What can I do for you, my friend?” said he, taking his hand.

“Ah, sir!” said the sick man, “it is not a question of doing, but of undoing. Oh, if I could but undo what I have done!”

A similar conversation had occurred years before this, during the Civil War. It was on the field of battle, the evening following a bitter fight. A nurse entered a tent where many wounded lay. Bending over one of these she said: “Can I do anything for you?”

The wounded man maintained a gloomy silence, his eyes disclosing the agony he was suffering. At length he said in a hoarse voice: “Do anything for me? Say, can you undo the past, the terrible past? Tell me, can you undo it?”

His face assumed an expression of grief and remorse impossible to describe. “Can you undo, undo, UNDO, the past?”

“How to undo” is the cry of multitudes of souls rent and tormented with remorse.

“My past, my past; oh, deliver me from my past!”

How many people deliberately destroy their own strength—their own health—their own souls! Systematically they seem to pursue a course the end of which is destruction. How many begin life under favorable and promising circumstances but, willfully wayward, in a little time they are miserable wrecks.

How many poor souls have a dark blot on their lives some irreparable act they have committed in a moment of folly or madness some evil deed they would give the world to undo! Without God, man’s heart is continually wicked. He can only work the works of destruction. He is a destroyer of others and of himself.

But man cannot sin with impunity; sooner or later, the law of God asserts its demands. “For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” “The wages of sin is death.”

No, dear unsaved soul, you cannot undo, nor can anyone else, the wicked deeds of the flesh. But listen to God’s “good news.” He sent His own dear Son into this world in the likeness of sinful ‘flesh and for sin, in order to condemn sin in the flesh. Upon Him, the sinless One, has been laid the iniquity of us all. He came to die for the ungodly.

How do you get the benefit of the death of God’s own Son? Just own to Him your utterly ruined state. Accept God’s estimate of you. Believe His Word. Receive His salvation in Christ Jesus who came to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

Then hear His gentle voice say: “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.”

“I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins.”

“Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”

Extract: The Cravings of the Soul

Man is made for God; and none but God can satisfy and still the cravings of his soul.

A Visit by Night

About 33 A.D. there lived in the City of Jerusalem a gentleman of the name of Nicodemus. He was a ruler of the Jewish nation, and a member of their Sanhedrin. He was religiously connected with a respectable denomination called the Pharisees, a people zealous of the Law and most attentive in keeping all the fasts and feasts.

During the Passover week, when a great many strangers from all quarters were in the city, there was a considerable stir concerning one, Jesus of Nazareth, who was at that time in Jerusalem. He had been working miracles, and had turned out of the Temple a number of men who had been making a market of it.

This caused a great sensation among the more religious of the people, and the denomination to which Nicodemus belonged was against Him almost to a man. Notwithstanding all this, Nicodemus was unsatisfied he would not be led by public opinion, but was determined to go and hear for himself. So after it was dark one night he set off alone to have an interview with Jesus. What passed between them is most interesting to us all, and the interview resulted in this religious gentleman’s eventual conversion. Previous to that night he had been a follower of the religious customs of that day, but afterward he became a possessor of salvation, and a confessor and disciple of Christ. Let us see how all this came about.

Before Nicodemus had been long in the company of Jesus, He told him that “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3.

This startled Nicodemus; it was entirely new to him. He believed in men being religious, and keeping the feasts; of being “born again” he knew nothing. Before he had time to be puzzled over the new doctrine, Jesus told him something else more startling still. It was this: “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” Not only wicked men like drunkards and thieves need to be born again, but you your own self.

This cuts at the root of all human religion. It matters not how “good” people are, or “what church” they belong to, or how often they “take the sacrament.” Jesus says they must be born again, or never enter God’s kingdom. It doesn’t matter even if they “say their prayers and read their Bibles,” and “do the best they can”; if they are not born again they cannot see the kingdom of God they must be in hell for all eternity. It’s a “must be,” you see.

Perhaps you don’t believe this. A gentleman told us some time ago that he did not think he needed to be born again because he had been brought up religiously, and had always been a Christian. Now, if any man could have gone to heaven without it, that man was Nicodemus, and yet to him the Savior said, “Ye must be born again.”

You must be born again.

Not because you are worse than your

neighbors,

Not because you sometimes lose your

temper,

Not because you are a very wicked

person,

But because you are a sinner a sinner—root and branch. You were born a sinner; you grew up a sinner; and you are a sinner still, with a sinner’s nature. “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.” “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” No. Why? Because they were so born. So with man. He cannot be reformed so as to please God; he cannot be improved so as to gain heaven. He needs to be made a new creature. He cannot bear the fruit of the Spirit so long as he is in the flesh, any more than a bramble bush could bear apples, or a thorn bear cherries. It is not a little help he needs to make him all right—it is not a good religious education—it is a new life. And this new life must come from somewhere outside himself; he cannot find it within him—he cannot earn it by his works.

A blacksmith once said: “I have often tried to be good; I have often made resolutions to live better; but this being born again is beyond me: I have never tried that.” It was something he could have no hand in; it is God’s workmanship.

Reader, have you found this out for yourself?

What does being born again mean?

It is not being baptized with water.

It is not being made a temperance man.

It is not becoming religious, or making

a new start.

It is not turning over a new leaf, or

joining a society.

None of these things, or all of them put together, is being born again.

Some people think that when they reform it is the same thing as being born again, but that’s a great mistake. A young man once told us he was “quite sure he would be in heaven, because he didn’t drink now.” “Very good, sir; glad to hear it; but are you born again?” He knew nothing about that. He was reformed, but not a child of God; he was as unfit for heaven as he had ever been.

A minister of the Gospel once told us that he had preached to others for seven years before he knew God’s salvation for himself.

Terrible work! It’s time that some other religious men and women were asking themselves this question: Amos 1 born again? or, do I just go to church and keep up a profession because it is a fashionable and respectable thing?

Have you been born again? Consider. Remember that nothing else will do instead, and that nothing but this will fit you for being in heaven.

What must I do to be born again?

Nicodemus asked almost the same question: “How can a man be born when he is old?... How can these things be?”

Listen to God’s answers to his questions: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,” and “as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”

Notice, He did not say “as many as are sorry for their sins,” or “as many as weep and repent, or go to the penitent bench to be prayed for” but “as many as received Him... even... them that believe on His name.” When a man enlists he becomes a soldier. When a man receives Jesus Christ he becomes a Christian or, in other words, he has become God’s child—he has been born of God.

Reader, have you received Jesus as your Savior? Can you say, “Jesus is mine—my Savior; He has saved me”? If you have received Jesus, then God has received you—you have become a child of God, and a joint-heir with Christ.

But must I not feel a change?

Certainly you shall. But what kind of change do you expect and when do you expect to feel it? When the doctor puts the medicine at your side, do you expect to feel better before you take it or after? When your friend brought you that gift, did you feel it was yours before or after you received it? Surely not before, but after. And just so with salvation; you cannot expect to feel saved when you are not. You cannot expect to know that Jesus has saved you until you have received Him.

Many people are “waiting for a change.”

They want to feel a burden roll off; then they think that they will feel “nice” and “happy.” God’s way is: Receive Christ first, and the change will come all right afterwards; but on no account wait till you feel a change before you accept God’s remedy, or you may die in your guilt and perish eternally.

Dear anxious soul, try no longer to do anything; wait no longer to feel anything; but rest where God rests in Christ, who has so glorified Him that He can send a message of love to you and say, “God is satisfied.” Now, are you?

"None in Hell"

“Tracts everywhere,” said a young man, with a sneer, as a Christian lad handed him a leaflet one Lord’s Day afternoon.

“No,” responded the lad quietly, “there are none in hell,” and passed on.

God fastened that single sentence as a nail in a sure place and he could not get rid of it. “None in hell!” seemed to echo in his ears every time he saw a tract, and ultimately it led to his conversion.

Reader, there will be “none in hell”—neither Gospel invitations, nor Gospel entreaties.

How eagerly the lost multitudes in the hopeless region of despair would welcome the first invitation of mercy! But their day is past, their time of grace is o’er. Of these there is “none in hell.”

How are you treating them on earth—these golden opportunities and solemn warnings, these loving invitations of God? “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.”

Accept them speedily, for oh, remember, there will be “none in hell.”

“Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me. Prov. 1:24-28.

Why Delay?

We speak of the mercy of God;

So boundless, so rich, and so free;

But what will it profit my soul,

Unless ‘tis relied on by me?

We speak of salvation and love,

By the Father, in Jesus, made known;

But if I would live unto God,

By faith I must make it my own.

We speak of the Savior’s dear name,

By which God can poor sinners receive;

Yet still I am lost and undone

Unless in that name I believe.

We speak of the blood of the Lamb,

Which frees from pollution and sin;

But its virtues by me must be proved,

Or I shall be ever unclean.

We speak of the glory to come,

Of the heavens so bright and so fair;

But unless I in Jesus believe,

I shall not, I cannot, be there!

Extract: God's Glory and Grace

God’s highest glory is revealed in sovereign grace. Hence the gospel of His glory is the gospel of His grace.

One Thing I Know

John 9

“One thing I know,” replied the poor beggar to the scribes and the doctors who sought to make him deny his faith “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”

Not all the learning of his judges could drive this knowledge out of him! Arguments, threats, persuasions, could not shake him out of the belief in the sight which he possessed and, therefore, in the One who had given him his sight. No one could gainsay the fact that the man had his sight. He stood before the council with his eyes open, and all the efforts made to disprove his having been blind were in vain. His testimony was his victory: “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”

It is ever refreshing to read of this man’s simplicity, to note his wonder at the folly of the wise men who examined him, and his amazement at their ill-speaking of Him who had opened his eyes! Holiness, power, and grace, he was assured, dwelt in Christ Jesus, for to none but one who did God’s will would God give such power. Since the world was, who before had had the power to give sight to one born blind? Who but One of perfect grace would have condescended to give sight to a blind beggar?

“I received sight,” “I... do see,” “I see,” “He hath opened mine eyes,” were the glad words of the man, which character of argument all advance who have had their eyes opened by the Lord. Each truly converted person can and does say: “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see”; and saying this, he utters his faith in the mighty power and grace of Christ as wrought in himself.

Jesus is the light of life. He opens our eyes to see the reality of our sinful state by nature—of God’s hatred against sin, and of the preciousness of the blood which cleanses us from all sin. How comforting to get back from the dust of conflict, from the clamor of controversy, to this exultant point, “One thing I know”! I know—I, myself, for myself—for Jesus has done a great work in me, as well as for me. He bade me obey His word; I obeyed, and I see!

Such faith as this is not easily disturbed. Modern infidelity has no more influence upon this simplicity than has an army of locusts upon a stone wall. Weak and feeble reasonings may go down and perish before its advance, but no infidelity can disprove to a man who sees that he has his sight.

Simple faith in Jesus is a stronghold for the soul. How often has the testimony of what Jesus has done broken up the ranks of skeptics! The poor blind man, of whom we speak, had received his sight and he rejoiced in it. True, the doctors of the law cast him out of the synagogue. They were the blind the spiritually blind and this the man felt and saw; he had light.

After he had been cast out, Jesus found him and He said unto him, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?”

Jesus ever finds and comforts such as suffer for His Name. He would not have it that the man should be the loser. Having lost his parents and the advantages of the synagogue for Christ’s sake, the Lord revealed Himself to the man, and he worshipped Him. To belong to the synagogue, with Christ outside it, was indeed but poor honor.

To belong to Christ, and to worship Him and the Father, is honor indeed.

“THERE IS A WAY

WHICH SEEMETH RIGHT

UNTO A MAN; BUT THE

END THEREOF ARE

THE WAYS OF DEATH.”

Prov. 14:12.

“JESUS SAITH.

I AM THE WAY, THE

TRUTH, AND THE LIFE:

NO MAN COMETH

UNTO THE FAIRER,

BUT BY ME.”

John 14:6.

July

Know the Lord!

Do you know the Lord? It should be an easy matter for you to give a decided answer if you fully comprehend the import of this question. Oh, how much hangs on the reply! Heaven or hell, and that for eternity.

If, like Paul, you can say, “I know whom I have believed,” happy is your case. Forgiven, cleansed, washed, justified, a child of God, a joint-heir with Christ, you stand now at peace with God in all the favor of His love. You wait in peace for translation to that scene of brightest glory into which Jesus will usher you when He comes to gather up His own, to be forever with Him. But if like Pharaoh, you have to reply, “I know not the Lord,” terrible is your case! Un-cleansed, un-forgiven, unwashed, guilty, Christ-less, lost, you stand in a position of imminent danger for the Word of God hath declared, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

Lose no time, I beseech you, in coming to the Lord. Oh, listen to the word that says, “Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.”

You can never have peace till you acquaint yourself with God. Fear not to cast yourself upon Him, “the God of peace.”

Doubtless, you know much about Him, and in this you have rested until now. This is not eternal life. To know Him alone is that. It is eternal life that you need; this He gives to all who will take it from His hands by faith in Jesus, His beloved Son. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Cast away all thought of self, good or bad; come straight to God through faith in Jesus. Believe His love, taste His grace, receive His gift—eternal life. Know the Lord! Henceforth let your whole life be a witness for that blessed God who “so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

All Forgiven

“Her sins, which are many, are forgiven.”

Luke 7:47.

All forgiven—Jesus tells me,

Shall I dare to doubt His word?

He has borne the heavy burden,

Christ, my Savior, and my Lord.

All forgiven—Jesus bids me

“Go in peace” since He has died,

Bids me look at each deep wound print

In His hands, and feet, and side.

All forgiven—oh, the sweetness,

And the music of His voice!

Telling me of fullest pardon,

Sure my heart may well rejoice.

All forgiven—secret, open

Sins, which none but Jesus knew,

He has canceled, freely pardoned

And forever hid from view.

All forgiven—‘tis my Savior

Speaks the words with living power.

His most precious blood hath cleansed me;

He will keep me, every hour.

All forgiven—soon the glories,

Which no eye as yet has seen,

Will be mine, in His own presence,

Gladness then where tears have been.

"When I See the Blood"

Note here the expression, “When I see the blood, I will pass over.” It is not said “when you see it,” but “when I see it.”

The soul of an awakened person often rests, not on its own righteousness, but on the way in which it sees the blood. Now, precious as it is to have the heart deeply impressed with it, this is not the ground of peace.

Peace is founded on God’s seeing it. He cannot fail to estimate it at its full and perfect value as putting away sin. It is He who abhors, and has been offended by sin; He sees the value of the blood as putting it away.

It may be said, “But must I not have faith in its value?” This is faith in its value, seeing that God looks at it as putting away sin; your value of it looks at it as a question of the measure of your feelings. Faith looks at God’s thoughts. J. N. D.

"That Which Was Lost"

The burning rays of an August sun were falling in midday power on the road and the fully ripe corn-fields. I was walking from one village, where I had preached the gospel the night before, to another where a meeting had been announced for that evening. Pushing along at a good pace before me I saw and eventually overtook a little donkey-cart containing two women, evidently of a humble station of life. I offered them each a gospel tract. The elder, who held the reins, stopped her conveyance and thanked me courteously for the gift. A moment or two of conversation soon revealed that she was a simple and happy believer in the Lord Jesus, and knew that her sins were forgiven through faith in Him.

“And do you know this blessed Savior also?” I inquired of the younger, who was her daughter. A sad shake of her head, accompanied by a deepening of the settled melancholy of her face, was the only response she made. Her mother put in, “No, she does not yet know the Savior. She is in great sorrow, and cannot rise above it.”

I had noticed that each wore mourning, and now learned that the younger had recently lost her only child, a babe of tender years. “She has never looked up since,” now added the mother, “and refuses to be comforted.”

Expressing my sympathy with the bereaved mother, I said, “But it surely ought to be a comfort to you to know that your dear child is with Christ.”

“Oh!” she cried, “if I were only sure of that, I would not care what became of me.”

“Sure of that,” said I, “why, how can you doubt it?”

“That is the cause of her sorrow,” put in her mother again. “She thinks her child is lost forever, and she is indifferent as to what happens to herself.”

How deep and real is a mother’s love, I thought. Turning again to the stricken woman I simply said, “Have you never read what the Lord Jesus says about the ‘little ones,’ in Matt. 18?”

“What does He say?” was the sad response.

Taking out a little Testament I read, “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto Him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. ... Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven. For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost.,... It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.”

The sorrow-stricken one was arrested by the blessed Lord’s statements as to His interest in the “little ones,” and she listened with the deepest attention as I read on. At verse 11 I pointed out that the expression “that which was lost” applied simply and directly to the “little ones.” They are not, because young in years, “innocent,” as men foolishly say. Being children of Adam, they are “lost” as such. Therefore the Son of Man has come “to save” them. His work on the cross avails for them and as they do not refuse it, He applies its efficacy for them and His heart is gratified in saving them.

“Observe,” I added, “that in Luke 18:10, where the Lord is dealing with and addressing Himself to a man who was old enough to have become a chief and rich, He says, `The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.’ He has to seek us big grown-up folk, for like silly foolish sheep we have all run away from Him when we had strength and age to do so. Not so the `little ones.’ Nevertheless they are ‘lost,’ too. Them He saves outright. Us He has first to seek. The ‘little ones’—your dear babe, for instance— never ran away from Him, so He had not to seek it; but being the child of a sinful parent, it was ‘lost,’ and He died to save it. I believe He has it safe now in His blessed arms. Don’t you believe that too?”

The grieving heart found relief in a sudden shower of tears as the truth of the eternal safety of her child burst upon her. Then “Thank God, thank God for that,” fell from her lips.

“Yes I believe that,” she added, “and oh, what a comfort to know that my baby is safe with Jesus. I don’t care what happens to me now that I know he is safe.”

“But wouldn’t you like to be saved too? Will you not let the blessed Savior that has already saved your dear child, save you?”

“If He will have me,” she softly answered.

“Oh, He will have you, without doubt. Just trust Him simply. You see He has been seeking you for a long time, and perhaps He saw the only way to get at your heart—so full of earth and its ties—was to take away your darling child, thus giving you a link with heaven. Now He is calling upon you to surrender yourself fully to Him. Will you not do it?”

“He has saved my child I will let Him save me too. Yes, I will trust Him, for He came to save ‘that which was lost,’ and I know I am lost, and He died to save me too. I see it all now clearly. Thank God, thank God.”

I needed to say no more. The cloud had departed from her face, the load from her heart, the weight of sin from her conscience and in the conscious sense of the favor of the Lord she rejoiced in His goodness to herself and to her child.

It is said that an Eastern shepherd, if he wants to take his flock over a brook, can easily do it. He does not drive his sheep, he leads them. When he would have them cross the water which they like not he simply takes a lamb under each arm, goes over and deposits them on the other side. The anxious dam follows its offspring without hesitation, and the flock, following suit, is soon over.

Thus is it with us oftentimes. God takes from our side here some tenderly loved one to scenes of rest and glory on high. The hearts of others left behind them are awakened, and their souls are converted to God.

Reader, how is it with you? Are you still among “them that are lost”? Why is this? Perhaps you say you cannot tell. Let me then point out the reason to you in the words of the Holy Ghost: “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world (Satan) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

Yes, the devil brings in the things of time and sense to block out of your vision that which is eternal and divine. If you are wise you will decline to be any longer duped. Birds are wiser than men. Of them Scripture says, “Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.” But Satan sets his net for careless sinners, and in they walk to their eternal ruin. Friend, be wise in time!

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Prov. 9:10.

W. T. P. W.

The Old Sailor

One bitterly cold January evening I observed a man standing in a corner of the street, sheltering himself from the biting wind and sleet. I knew him by sight to be a respectable seller of small wares. I had passed on, but seemed impelled to turn back and speak to him, begging him to come that night to our little mission room. I cannot say that the invitation was graciously accepted! However, at last he consented to come, with the observation that it would be better than standing out in the wet.

In the little hall that night a young man addressed the audience. He said that he had come into this very same room about two months before, a scoffer and quite regardless of eternity. God had spoken to his soul on that occasion, and had showed him his need of a Savior. He added, “I am now rejoicing in Him.” Then with the love of Christ flooding his soul and filling him with peace and joy unspeakable, he told the audience of God’s wondrous love to perishing men.

The power of the Spirit of God was manifested as he spoke. Prayers were answered as many were convicted of sin. Men were weighed down under the sense of their need, and of their lost state before God. Amongst the latter was the man who had chosen to enter the room merely in preference to standing out in the cold.

He had spent the greater part of his life in the navy and had seen much active service.

He had faced many dangers and death itself in some of its most terrible forms. Lately he had been discharged, disabled by the loss of an arm; yet, through all his marvelous deliverances and hairbreadth escapes, he had never once thought of the goodness or the love of God.

On hearing the young man speak of his own salvation, the old sailor’s heart was touched, melted by the sense of the mercy and long-suffering of the Lord to him. He had come to the meeting full of rebellious thoughts, angry with his lot, and feeling that God had dealt badly with him. Now the amazing love of God to him filled his heart. He blessed God for preserving him through so many dangers, and for leading him at length to think of His only begotten Son whom He had sent to die to save sinners.

He saw at once his great need. He took his place as a sinner, guilty before God, and he was received by the sinner’s Savior, who says, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.”

God's Grace

When you own your sin and guilt,

Vain the hopes which you have built;

When you see your depth of shame,

Naught to offer, naught to claim,—

Then, and not till then, you’ll know

What the grace God can bestow.

Extract: The Works of His Hands and Heart

The works of His hands are mighty and wonderful. Will the works of His heart be less?

"I Know I'm All Wrong"

Returning from preaching the gospel in a neighboring city a few nights ago, I found two young men the only other occupants of the coach I was in. To each of them I gave a different little book. “The Two Alexanders,” and “The Young Doctor,” each narrating God’s grace to a young man. They read their books carefully. At the first stop one young man got out, first asking that he might keep the little book as he would like to read it again, a request I was only too glad to comply with.

Left alone with my other fellow-traveler, who had been reading “The Young Doctor,”

I said, “Well, could you die like that young doctor?”

“No indeed, I couldn’t; I wish I could though.”

“God’s grace it was that saved him: can it not save you also?”

“I’m sure I don’t know. I wish it could.

I know I’m not saved, and though I think about it sometimes I can never see through it; I can’t get to the point somehow.”

“Then evidently you have sometimes thought seriously about your soul and eternity, and that you have to meet God some day?”

“Yes, and I have had some warnings that made me think.”

“What were they?”

“I work a big crane, and twice I’ve fallen off a great height and been badly hurt. During the summer, the rocks where we were working were struck by lightning. It was awful, but I wasn’t hurt.”

“And didn’t you feel that God was speaking to you in all this?”

“Yes; and for a while—about three months—I did my best to be a Christian. Then the impression wore off and I gave way to temptation. Now I’m as bad as ever.”

“That is sad! but I fear you were trying to be religious as many do, and that’s a grand mistake.”

“Perhaps I did; but, anyway, I know I’m all wrong.”

“That is the first step to getting right,” I replied; and then putting the gospel simply before him, I think he came to see that Christ saves the lost out-and-out without any doings on their part, and was led simply to trust in Him.

Friend, it will be a great day in your history when you wake up to say, “I know I’m all wrong!” It was the moment of blessing for the prodigal when, in the far country, he said, “I perish with hunger.” Have you ever yet “come to yourself” with this appalling discovery, “I’m all wrong”—not partly wrong, but “all wrong”? When you discover this, you are at one with God’s thoughts about you, for He has said, “There is none righteous, no, not one... there is none that doeth good, no, not one... for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

May you be enabled, dear reader, to trust Him and then, truly tasting “that the Lord is gracious,” pass on your way no longer “all wrong,” but all right, happy in His love, and waiting for His coming.

Scripture Quotation

“What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

... What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

“HOW SHALL WE

ESCAPE, IF WE

NEGLECT SO GREAT

SALVATION?”

Heb. 2:3

“IF THEY ESCAPED NOT

WHO REFUSED HIM

THAT SPAKE ON EARTH,

MUCH MORE SHALL NOT

WE ESCAPE, IF WE TURN

AWAY FROM HIM THAT

SPEAKETH FROM

HEAVEN.”

Heb. 12:25

August

How Far to Hell?

“How far is it to hell?” The profane question was asked of a policeman by one of three excursionists who, in a half-drunken condition, were sauntering along the board walk at a popular bathing beach.

The officer was shocked by the ungodliness of the youth, (whose companions evidently were ashamed of his conduct, for they apologized on his behalf). Looking the careless man full in the face, he said, “Hell is at the end of a Christ-less life, and you may be nearer it than you think. ‘Prepare to meet thy God.’”

This was more than they had expected, so, without a word, they turned and went away.

That night a lifeless form was picked up on the sea-shore; it was that of the scoffing excursionist. Hell was nearer than he had counted on, and he had reached it sooner than he had thought. Reader, do not forget that “Hell is at the end of a Christ-less life, and you may be nearer it than you think.”

If you die unconverted in your sins, you will be in that hell as surely as God has said it.

“Prepare to meet thy God.”

Years had come and gone since that sad incident, and like others of its kind it had ceased to be a warning to the godless multitude, who, for a time, seemed to be awed by the remembrance of it. The Christian policeman, still in the force, was accosted by a middle-aged traveler one afternoon on the street of that same beach.

“I don’t suppose you remember me,” he said, holding out his hand to the officer and grasping his warmly, “but I remember you, and specially some words you said many years ago in circumstances which you may still remember. Do you remember saying to three young men on yonder board walk, when confronted by one of them with the impious question—`How far is it to hell’?—

`Hell is at the end of a Christ-less life.’

You will remember, no doubt, the sad fate of that young man. I am one of the two who was with him that day, and I have often wished that I could see you again. The words you spoke that day never left me until I came as a sinner to Jesus Christ 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.”

The Christian policeman was made glad through this testimony to God’s saving grace, and the friendship between these two fellow-believers in the Lord Jesus, begun that day, continued through many years of Christian service.

I would repeat the policeman’s testimony.

It is as true now as then, and it may be as needful to you, dear reader, although you are no drunken scoffer, as it was to those young men long ago. “Hell is at the end of a Christ-less life, and you may be nearer it than you think.”

Fragment: Life and Glory

On the ground of Christ’s death, salvation is offered to all. Conversion, a soul turning to God, gets us through the strait gate into the narrow way. Then what a future is before us,—LIFE AND GLORY!

"No Mercy for Me"

To say that you are “too bad” to be saved is to diminish the glory of the all-abounding grace of God and to limit the power of the all-cleansing blood of Jesus. It is as easy for the ocean to bear the five thousand ton merchantman upon her bosom as the downy feather from a sea gull’s wing. And since it is our hearts He seeks for, and since those to whom much is forgiven love much, be assured that He is as willing to welcome the worst as He is able to save the most sinful.

The writer once called at the house of a well-to-do business man, to see, if possible, his only daughter. She was dying—dying without hope, and she knew it. The poor mother had tried in vain to soothe her daughter’s fears by telling her there was no real cause for alarm as to the future that though she had spent her last summer on earth amid all the gaiety of the “social season,” yet she had been “such a pure minded girl in it all.”

After considerable reluctance on the part of the parents, the writer was at last permitted to go upstairs to the sick room.

The nurse was asked to leave the room and the visitor knelt down by the bedside. He cried from his soul for the eternal blessing of this dying girl. Rising from his knees, he read a few verses from Rom. 5, dwelling on verse 8: “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

At this point the troubled girl exclaimed, “Ah! you don’t know what I’ve been, or you would not talk to me about God’s love. There can be no mercy for me!”

To this the writer replied, “Miss—, I believe that if you saw yourself as God sees you, you would think yourself ten thousand times worse than you do. But you have made a great mistake today, I think.”

The father looked inquiringly through his tears from the other side of the bed, as much as to say, “What mistake could my daughter make?”

“Well,” continued the writer, “I have not come these eleven miles to inquire whether you think you are sufficiently worthy for God to trust you, but to bring you the blessed news that God thinks His Son sufficiently worthy for you to trust Him. And upon this your blessing for eternity depends.”

In a moment her countenance changed, as though a ray of heavenly light had just entered. Nor can there be a doubt that it was so; for her father wrote shortly afterward to tell of his daughter’s trust in the Savior. He said that she had gone “Where no cloud could arise to darken her skies, Or hide for one moment her Lord from her eyes.”

The Lord give the rays of the glory of His grace to enter your troubled heart, too.

May He give you to see that God is not looking for worthiness in you as to the past, nor for any resolve that you will be worthy for the future; but He has much to say to you about the worthiness of Jesus, His beloved Son. Look to Him. Trust Him.

Go In - Go Out

After the evening services at the mission, the preacher was hurrying to catch a late train. He had just three minutes before it was due, but the station was close at hand.

As he left the mission a man came running after him. Said he, breathlessly, as he came up, “Can you speak to me? I am very anxious about my soul.”

“Well,” replied the preacher, “my train is about due, and it is the last one. Look up Isa. 53:6! Go in at the first ‘all’ and go out at the last ‘all.’ Good night.”

The man stood staring after him until he disappeared into the station. Then he muttered, “Go in at the first ‘all’ and go out at the last ‘all.’ What does it mean?”

When he arrived at home he got down a Bible. He turned to the text and read these words: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

“Go in at the first ‘all,’” he repeated. “‘All we like sheep have gone astray.’ I am to go in with that ‘all.’ Well, that one is easy: it just means I am one of those who have gone astray. And go out with the last ‘all.’

`The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’ I see that too. Yes, I am to go out free with those whose iniquity has been laid on Christ.”

That one short comment brought by the Holy Spirit light and peace to that man’s conscience and heart, and he rejoiced in Christ as his Savior.

Saved Through His Shaving Paper

From the town of Perth, in Ontario, Canada, runs a long straight road known as “the Scotch Line.” Many fine old Scotch families have farms along this road.

They are good farms, in a good country. One of these farmers said not long ago that he would not change that part of the country for any place in the world! We fear that many of them would be quite satisfied never to move on to the heavenly country either.

One day late in autumn, a number of years ago, a stranger went down the Scotch Line with a bag of books, and at every farm on the Line he left a copy of one of these books.

The books were “Grace and Truth,” written by a Scotchman, W. P. Mackay.

The winters about Perth are long and severe, and during the long dark months, when nothing could be done in the fields, there was ample time for reading. The winter was more than half gone when one of the farmers happened to be at a neighbor’s house. The neighbor was full of a wonderful new joy that had filled his whole heart and soul. 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 home. The neighbor listened in amazement and at last asked: “Where did you learn all this?”

“Last autumn some man left a copy of a book at our house. I never looked at it till lately, but a few weeks ago I read it, and now I know that I am saved.”

“What was the name of the book?”

“‘Grace and Truth.’”

“‘Grace and Truth’! Seems to me I’ve heard those words before, but I can’t think where. Oh, yes, I do remember now. A man left a book by that name at our house and I’ve been tearing the pages out for shaving paper all winter. 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 did go right home and he did read it, and he was saved through reading the half of the book that had escaped his shaving.

Friend, are you saved? You may be, just as quickly as those two Canadian farmers were.

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

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.” Titus 3:5.

“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.

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.

Fragment: Affections and Feet

The affections go before the feet.

An Old Convict

Old Annie was one whom many dreaded, and from whom all shrank. She had put in her twice seven years at hard labor and it was pretty well known that she had deserved each sentence. “The old jail bird,” some called her; no one would trust her—but yet she trusted her neighbors.

She kept a little basement shop in a poor street in a northern city; and when a woman was badly off she could get bread there, and the half-starved children of the neighborhood often got an apple or a cookie, and always a kind word, when they dared to go to her shop.

Girls who had been in prison found her friendship worth seeking when their time was out, but some of the neighbors wondered if it were real kindness that the woman showed to them or if she were still connected with thieves.

“Surely, wretched and outcast as she is, this woman is not to be dreaded, and feared, and shrunk from.” So thought a Christian woman one night as she passed Annie’s door on her way to a gospel meeting. The Lord put it in her heart to knock, and ask Annie if she would not go with her to the meeting.

The request was wholly unexpected but not unwelcome for the old convict said: “Yes, I’ll go!” And she went, holding the arm and guiding the almost blind old Christian who had invited her.

When they reached the room where the service was held they were late and a hymn was being sung: “We know there’s a bright and a glorious home

Away in the heavens high,

Where all the redeemed shall with Jesus dwell—

But will you be there and I?”

Years and years had passed since the old convict had heard the gospel. She had given up all thought of ever being in this glorious home. It was no place for such as she! Jail birds, she fancied, could expect nothing but another long imprisonment—how long she knew not. When she had heard her first sentence, she had fainted away. Her second sentence had made her shriek with horror.

Sometimes now the fear of hearing a sentence to everlasting punishment made her blood run cold. But what could she do now?

Her life had been lived. And such a life!

She would not wish her greatest enemy to live through what she had experienced!

The chorus of the hymn, with its oft-repeated question, “Will you be there?” got a firm hold of her unmusical old ear. The question reached a heart long dead to such thoughts.

A gospel address followed, and the old convict went home with one thought filling her heart—the great possibility of even such an one as she being among Christ’s redeemed and sharing that home in glory.

She knew all avoided and hated her. Could it be possible that God loved her—that Jesus had died for her?

Days and nights of mingled hope and fear followed. She could not tell anyone what was passing in her mind. She hesitated to tell to anyone all that her life had been. To whom could she—go she who had never found a friend on earth to sympathize with her? She felt increasingly that she was shut up to God, but she dared not approach Him. The sense of her guilt increased as she thought of His holiness and righteousness.

Glimpses of His love came now and then as she remembered the meeting and as she thought of the cross of Christ.

At last her burden became too heavy. With a broken heart she threw herself with all her sin at the feet of the Lord Jesus. There she found, to her surprise, that He was both able and willing to save and bless her.

Full of joy and thankfulness, she could not keep silent: she had found life and peace in Jesus, and tell it to someone she must.

She again sought the room where she had heard of the love of Christ and, taking the hands of the preacher, she first told what the Lord had done for her. Referring to herself and her past life she said, “He took me from a fearful pit.”

Years have passed. In the dear, gentle old Christian woman, ready for any act of kindness and love, one has ceased to see, even for a moment, the old convict. In God’s view she is His child, washed in the blood of the Lamb “accepted in the beloved.”

“From every station of life they come, To raise the anthem high Of ‘Worthy the Lamb that once was slain!’

But will you be there and I?”

"I Am Too Great a Sinner"

Some who say this really suppose they are too wicked to be forgiven. In many cases, however, it is only mock humility serving as an excuse for continuance in sin. There can be no doubt but that you are a great sinner, and far worse than you imagine.

“But you have no idea how wicked I am.”

I don’t know and what is more, I don’t want to know. But one thing I am certain of, God knows all about you. Since you were an unconscious baby in your mother’s arms, He has watched over you and loved you with more than a parent’s love. In spite of your sin and folly, He stands with outstretched arms ready to receive you, saying, “Come now, and let us reason together... though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isa. 1:18. “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37.

Though a “great sinner,” you are not beyond the reach of His pardoning mercy, and you may now receive the full and free forgiveness of all your sins by believing on the Lord Jesus, who died for you. “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10.

You Must Decide!

Do you refuse a Savior’s love, slight His precious blood, despise His coming glory, and neglect so great salvation?

His love is ready to receive you; His blood is ready to cleanse you; His salvation is ready to bless you. “All things are ready” on God’s part. Are you ready-ready now Does it require time to consider whether Jesus and His love and glory, or the world and sin and hell are to be your choice?

You must take one or the other. You must choose between the road to hell and the road to heaven.

Do you hesitate? Oh, believe in the Lord Jesus, trust in Him who died for sinners, and take the new and living way which ends in heaven.

Jesus says, “I am the way.”

“I, EVEN I, AM HE

THAT BLOTTETH OUT

THY TRANSGRESSIONS

FOR: MINE OWN SAKE,

AND WILL NOT

REMEMBER THY SINS.”

Isaiah 43:25

“HEREIN IS LOVE, NOT

THAT WE LOVED GOD,

BUT THAT HE LOVED

US, AND SENT HIS SON

TO BE THE

PROPITIATION

FOR OUR SINS.”

1 John 4:10

"Yet There Is Room"

Luke 14:22, 23

“Yet there is room!” To an anxious seeker of salvation, what comfort is in these words! They tell that the door is yet open, that the voice of grace yet sounds, and that whoever comes will be made welcome.

But where is it that “yet there is room”? In the Father’s house, the Saviour’s home, at the “great supper” which God has spread and to which He has invited you, my reader.

God wants you to be His guest. He has spread His table with every bounty love could furnish, much more than our poor needy hearts could desire, and sent out His servants with the word, “Come; for all things are now ready.”

And what is the result of this loving call? All invited have “made excuse.” Man does not want to be God’s guest. God wants man’s company; man does not want God’s company in such close proximity as a feast suggests, so he politely says, “I pray thee have me excused.”

Alas! “a piece of ground,” “five yoke of oxen,” or, strangest of all, “a wife,” sufficed to prevent the acceptance of God’s call. There was no heart for God. Had there been, the one just married would have said, “Where I am wanted, my wife will be welcome too; I will take her with me.”

It is a sad picture, dear unsaved reader, of your heart, is it not? But listen to me. God is in earnest. He will certainly have His house filled. If you will not fill a seat in His house, someone else will. Do not miss your opportunity, I beseech you.

To you I now say again, “YET THERE IS ROOM.” Oh, heed the call of God. Where will you spend eternity? It must be with him whose “guests are in the depths of hell”; or with God, who now again invites you to be His guest in heavenly glory. Again He calls; will you again refuse? Your life is wearing to a close. You began it a stranger to Jesus and His blessed salvation. Will you end it in the same dreadful state? God forbid! “Yet there is room.” Come now to Jesus. All you have to do is cast yourself simply on Him. He has died, and risen again. The work of atonement is accomplished. God’s claims are all met. The question of sin has been forever settled on the cross. There He who knew no sin was made sin for us; and the sins of all who trust in Jesus have been borne away forever. Will you not trust Him?

Had you anything to do, you might delay; but when all is “finished,” and “all ready,” the only thing left for you to do is to come and appropriate in faith what love provides for your present and eternal blessing.

I assure you God is waiting to bless you. Nay, more, He is most anxious about you being His guest. He says, “Compel to come in.” Are not these strange words? They show the reluctance on your side to come, and the earnestness on God’s side to get you to come.

Oh, let me “compel” you to come ere you drop this paper. God loves you; why do you refuse Him? Christ has died for sinners; why do you not believe Him? You are going straight to hell; why do you not turn to the Lord?

God’s house is filling fast,

“Yet there is room!”

Some guest will be the last,

“Yet there is room!”

Yes! soon salvation’s day

To you will pass away,

Then grace no more will say—

“Yet there is room!”

But you must no longer delay. God’s house is nearly full, I am sure. “Some guests will be the last,” has been well said; and then the shut door will solemnly thunder to lazy half-awakened sinners— No room, no room, NO ROOM!

What crushing conviction will then possess the soul that finds itself too late! It will be willing, but too late; wishing, but too late; praying, but too late; pleading, but too late. Oh, how dreadful!

Reader, fancy yourself going down to hell with “yet there is room” resting on your memory, and “too late” ringing in your ears and stamped in living characters of fire before your guilty, godless soul forever. This must be the fate of a gospel-neglecting, Christ-rejecting soul. Shall it be your fate?

With you now lies the opportunity and the responsibility of accepting God’s call.

Once more, “Yet there is room.” Oh, my friend, be persuaded. Yield yourself just now to the Saviour. His words are sweet and true. “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” Again, “He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life.”

May this appeal be used of the Lord to bring you to Him while “yet there is room.”