Echoes of Grace: 1967

During our Gospel work one summer we decided to pitch our tent in a small town. It was as notorious for the godlessness and infidelity of the men living there as for the smoke and grime of its foundries and mills.

We chose a fine summer's evening for the work of setting up the tent, and an interested group of onlookers soon gathered. One of these who seemed somewhat interested kindly helped us with work; but he asked: "Why are you putting your tent here?”

This was the opportunity for an opening wedge, so I replied: "In the hope that you may be converted! When you are, we will thank God, and take it somewhere else.”

He laughed at this, and assured us he was too strong to give in to us―he would not yield. He had the idea―a notion very common among such men―that these things are all right for the wife at home, and not bad for the children; but for strong men―why, to gamble a bit, drink with a friend, and live a careless, godless life, are things that suit them better.

We soon got to know well the man who helped us to drive the stakes and pull the ropes that evening. He was the husband of a forthright village woman who had put her trust in the Savior some years before. A very decent sort of man he was in his way―kind to his wife, and a good father; always ready to help a neighbor when he could; but entirely indifferent to his soul's welfare, and quite regardless of God.

Most earnestly his wife prayed for him, for she was a true Christian; but her prayers and entreaties did not seem to move him from his determination not to attend our Gospel services. In fact, as the meetings continued he began to stop in the tavern more frequently, and to return home quite drunk, sometimes more than once a week. This was unusual for him, and was a great trial of faith to the wife. But to us who were also longing for his salvation, it was evidence that the Spirit of God was working in his soul, and he was kicking against the pricks of an aroused conscience.

The summer drew to a close, and the cold, damp autumn evenings made it necessary to draw the meetings to an end. We decided on one last week of services, the Labor Day week when the whole town took a general holiday. The people who could leave usually went away that week, and among these was the Christian wife. Her husband stayed at home and spent the time in carousing.

We saw him on Saturday, much the worse for drink; and he continued his "celebration" of the annual holiday until the following Tuesday. On that evening we met him as we walked towards the tent, and taking him by the arm, said: "You would not come to the tent sober, Jim; so you must come to it drunk.”

He protested, and did his best to get away from us, but at last we prevailed upon him to come with us into the tent.

When the service commenced, Jim was sitting in a back seat; and when the opening hymn was announced he rose and stood up with the rest of the audience. He did his best to look sober, but he had to hold on tight to the seat in front of him in order to keep his feet.

Our first hymn was:

"Christ is the Savior of sinners,

Christ is the Savior for me;

Long I was chained in sin's darkness,

Now by His grace I am free.”

Then came the preaching about the Savior who came into the world to save sinners, and who was able to take a dying thief from a cross of shame to the very paradise of God. And that poor malefactor was fit to be there, too, for the precious blood of Christ―the Lamb of God-had washed all his sins away.

Then we sang again our opening hymn, and we noticed that when we sang the chorus―

"Savior of sinners,

Savior of sinners like me―

Shedding His blood for my ransom,

This is the Savior for me"―

Jim was visibly affected. As he sat there, tears were in his eyes; so we sang it over and over for his sake. While we did this he buried his head in his hands, sobbing like a child. He had come to the end of his resistance to God's mercy; and when we spoke to him, he said: "No one but Christ could do this to me.”

He passed through the deep waters of repentance, and when the Christian wife returned home, she found a sober, God-fearing husband awaiting her. He was most anxious now to hear the Word of God, and to know, without a question, that all his sins were pardoned by the God whom he had refused. And he got that knowledge before the week was out, and could sing with joyful heart―

"Long I was chained in sin's darkness,

Now by His grace I am free!”

And this was no delusion! How wretched would those who have trusted in Christ be, if it were! How happy and secure they are because it is not a delusion, but a reality, as faithful and true as the very throne of God.

Unyielding, sinful soul, listen to the loving Savior. Let Him into that hard heart now and say, as Jim did: "This is the Savior for me!”

"But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8.

"Second Timothy-Two-Fifteen"

The two young men had just met in the piano salesroom French Oliver, who sold musical instruments, and Charles Alexander, who sang to win souls for Christ. Both men were native Tennesseans and both possessed wonderful voices. French Oliver, now 24 years old, had used his singing ability on the musical comedy stage for a while. However, he had been converted as a boy of ten; and though now drifting away from Christ, he could not be happy in the atmosphere of the theater. He was instantly attracted to the happy personality of the Christian, who was only three years his senior, and soon expressed to him his longing for "a better life.”

As soon as Mr. Alexander learned that the big "six foot four" Tennessean was a believer, but backslidden from his early faith, he could not rest until he had drawn him back to his Lord. This was soon accomplished and Mr. Oliver, renewed in his soul, experienced a deep desire to win others to Christ. But how? His knowledge of Scripture was superficial, and he was keenly aware of his own past failure. He confided his thoughts to his friend, and Mr. Alexander was only too glad to help him. In fact, he literally took him to train for the Lord.

Learning that the young salesman had been addicted to reading novels, Alexander got him a story called "Titus, the Comrade of the Cross." This was for bait. Then he got him a Bible, "Pilgrim's Progress," and a book of Moody's sermons. Taking these as they came, and reading prayerfully and diligently, French Oliver found the Word of God opening up to him in a marvelous way. Under the able tutelage of Charles Alexander, the young man began a systematic study of the Bible. Many were the hours spent on his knees with his precious Bible open before him, and the natural result was remarkable growth in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord.

Later that same year the two young men agreed to spend their Christmas holidays together. They went to a little boarding-house for what proved to be two of the most profitable weeks of their lives. Together they studied and discussed the Word, sang and composed sacred music, prayed and talked over Christian work. By New Year's Eve young French Oliver had surrendered himself wholly to the Lord and to soul-winning. And on that night they chose a text as a guide for the incoming year. That year-text was Second Timothy-two-fifteen.

These two dedicated soul-winners and Bible students were most zealous in pursuing the course advocated by this verse of Scripture, and in propagating the inspired admonition. For instance, instead of bidding "Good night" to each other, one would say, "Second Timothy-two-fifteen," and the other would answer, "Second Timothy-two-fifteen." The first man awake in the morning would call out, "Second Timothy-two-fifteen"; and the other would return a cheery "Second Timothy-two-fifteen." So eager were they to enlist the interest of others in the study of Holy Writ that every letter they sent out that year bore the reference, "Second Timothy-two-fifteen.”

Finally the year-end vacation was over and the time came to part. Mr. Alexander went with Mr. Oliver to the depot to see him off. A crowd was there to watch the train leave, and French Oliver took his stand on the rear platform. As the train began to move, Charles Alexander called out between his cupped hands: "Second Timothy-two-fifteen!" Loud came the return shout: "Second Timothy-two-fifteen." The train was clearing the depot. "Second Timothy-two-fifteen," shouted Alexander, for all he was worth; and "Second Timothy-two-fifteen" came faintly over the widening space. Once more "Second Timothy-two-fifteen" soared over the heads of the interested crowd, and the waving handkerchief of the man on the speeding train bore mute witness to his unheard response.

A year later Charles Alexander was back in that town again, conducting some young people's services. He spoke to his audience of the great incentive in having a "year-text" and urged them to adopt the one he had used for the past year. As he paused, a young man in a front seat arose. Facing the earnest listeners he said: "I am glad Mr. Alexander took Second Timothy-two-fifteen for his year-text. Twelve months ago I was at the depot seeing some friends off, when I heard a fellow shouting for all he was worth, 'Second Timothy-two-fifteen' to a man on the end of the outgoing train, and he was shouting back, 'Second Timothy-two-fifteen.'

" 'Well,' I thought, 'what is this "Second Timothy-two-fifteen" anyway?'

“I made a bee-line for home and looked it up in my Bible. I wasn't a Christian then, and the first words of that text just hit me square between the eyes: 'Study to show thyself approved unto God.' And me a miserable sinner!

“Then I went on and read the rest: 'A workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.'

"Down on my knees I asked God to forgive my sins and help me to show myself 'approved'; and thank God, He has done it!”

As. he sat down, another man arose and said: "I never saw Mr. Alexander until tonight; but the first Sunday I spent in this town, the man who has just spoken came to me and led me to Christ. He was saved through hearing those two call out 'Second Timothy-two-fifteen,' and I was saved through his having heard it.”

And who can say how many lives have been changed for the better and souls redeemed to God by the faithfulness of those who boldly proclaim the Good News of Salvation? "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good." Eccl. 11:6.

Teach Me to Live

Teach me to live! 'Tis easier far to die―

Gently and silently to pass away―

On earth's long night to close the heavy eye,

And awaken in the realms of glorious day.

Teach me the harder lesson―how to live,

To serve Thee in the darkest paths of life;

Arm me for conflict now-fresh vigor give,

And make me more than conqueror in the strife.

Teach me to live!―Thy purpose to fulfill:

Bright for Thy glory let my taper shine!

Each day renew, remold this stubborn will:

Closer round Thee my heart's affections twine.

Teach me to live for Thee and sin no more;

But use the time remaining to me yet,

Not mine own pleasure seeking, as before―

Wasting no precious hours in vain regret.

Teach me to live! No idler let me be,

But in Thy service hand and heart employ;

Prepared to do Thy bidding cheerfully―

Be this my highest and my holiest joy.

Teach me to live!-my daily cross to bear;

Nor murmur though I bend beneath its load.

Only be with me. Let me feel Thee near:

Thy smile sheds gladness on the darkest road.

Teach me to live!―and find my life in Thee―

Looking from earth and earthly things away;

Let me not falter, but untiringly

Press on; and gain new strength and power each day.

Teach me to live!―with kindly words for all―

Wearing no cold, repulsive brow of gloom;

Waiting, with cheerful patience, till Thy call

Summons my spirit to her heavenly home.

The Gospel

Christ's words to a ruler of the Jews come ringing down the ages: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3.

When Nicodemus, with brow knit in deep perplexity, asked thoughtfully, "How can these things be?" Christ gave him the gospel message of good news in twenty-five words:

For

God so loved the world, that He gave His

Only begotten

Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not

Perish, but have

Everlasting

Life.

May I ask, have YOU entered into this experience? Do you know Christ as your personal Savior? If not, will you accept Him now?

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

To every doubting Christian comes God's own assurance: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God" (not that ye may think, not that ye may hope, but) "that ye may KNOW that ye have Eternal Life." 1 John 5:13.

"Thou God Seest Me"

When I was a lad in my teens the thing that troubled me more than anything else was a text of Scripture that hung in our home. Four words only was the length of it; but those four words emblazoned themselves upon my mind, and made me afraid on most unexpected occasions. The four words were "THOU GOD SEEST ME.”

I had been taught that "God is love"; that He sought my greatest blessing, and desired that I should be happy forever. I knew that He "so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life"; and yet I was afraid. Many times I wished that there were no God and that the text were a delusion.

Is it strange that I felt like that? The reason is not hard to find. I was a sinner, and I knew that all my sins were on record in God's Book-that there were no mistakes in His book-keeping, and that I could not erase a single entry in it. It was true in my case, as in all others, that―

"The moving finger writes―

And having writ, moves on;

Nor all my piety nor wit

Can lure it back to cancel half a line,

Nor all my tears blot out one word of it.”

About that time I read a story by a famous writer in which he suggested that the recording angel often dropped a tear of pity upon the page whereon he had recorded some sin, as though he could wash it out.

I wished the suggestion were true, but I knew it was not. I read also, in the one Book that always tells the truth, of the time when the dead, small and great, shall stand before God; when the books shall be opened and the dead judged out of the things written in the books, every man according to his works (Rev. 20:11-15). It was this that made the text a trouble to me, so much so that often at night I would bury my face in my pillow in the vain endeavor to blot it out from my thoughts.

Then one night I attended a Gospel service. Again I heard old truths clearly and powerfully preached. At the close of it I was impelled to stay to a second meeting, at which the preacher announced that we would sing the hymn:

"Oh, do not let the Word depart,

And close thine eyes against the light,

Poor sinner, harden not thy heart,

Be saved, now, tonight.”

I tried to sing that verse with the rest of the congregation, but I couldn't. A lump rose to my throat, and tears came to my eyes. I had been hardening my heart for a long time against the love of a Savior God, and I hoped now that nobody would see my anxiety and grief. But the preacher had a keen eye for anxious sinners, and presently he sat down by my side.

Putting his arm around me, he gave me a warm hug and said, "You'll trust Him tonight, won't you, Sonny?”

I had no need to ask him who he meant by "Him." I knew that he was speaking of JESUS, the only begotten Son of God, who had died that I might live, who had shed His precious blood that my sins might all be washed away. Swallowing hard, I replied to the preacher's question, "Yes, I will trust Him tonight.”

The preacher said no more. He took my answer to be my decision, which it was. Then he announced, "We'll sing,

“‘Tis done, the great transaction's done,

I am my Lord's, and He is mine.

He drew me, and I followed on,

Glad to confess His voice divine.

Happy day! Happy day!

When Jesus washed my sins away.”

I could not sing the words then, my heart was too full; but I sang them before I slept that night. And I can still sing them today as I look back to that solemn but blessed hour.

I am not now afraid of the text that once troubled me so. On the contrary, I rejoice that every deed of mine, ever the most sinful, is seen by God. Not one act escapes His notice. It is my joy to realize that, knowing all, He has forgiven all.

Such a forgiveness as this God offers to all. It is a complete clearance, and it is offered freely through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through THIS MAN is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.”

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the

wilderness, even so must the Son of

man be lifted up: that whosoever

believeth in Him should not perish,

but have eternal life.”

John 3:14, 15

FEBRUARY

O Lord, I Bring to Thee

O Lord, I bring to Thee

This sinful life of mine;

There is no rest for me,

Save in Thy love divine.

WEARY I come to Thee;

For, Lord, Thou tallest me.

I own to Thee my guilt,

No merit can I plead;

But, Lord, Thou canst, Thou wilt

Meet e'en my deepest need.

SINFUL I come to Thee;

Have mercy, Lord, on me.

Take Thou this ruined life,

I yield it up to Thee,

And change sin's bitter strife

For peace and liberty.

HELPLESS I come to Thee,

For Thou hast died for me.

Sinful and weak, I fear

To take my way alone;

Savior, I look to Thee,

Exalted on the throne.

I'd draw my strength from Thee,

For, Lord, Thou lovest me.

An Unquenchable Thirst

"Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.”

The theater-going crowd in my native town was in a state of great excitement. A renowned actress was to perform, and the old scenery and rubbish of the stage was being replaced by new. Everything possible was to be done to make the new "star's" appearance a success.

The big night came. Handbills and placards had done their work, and the house was crowded. I was just a lad, but was doing my part by carrying beer to the orchestra. Then I was called upon to carry wine to one of the boxes. I did so, and there found the famous actress chatting familiarly with some of the patrons about the crowded condition of the house. Suddenly she remarked, "Oh, how terrible if the gallery should give way!”

"There would be a good many souls in hell, I am sure, if it should," someone answered.

Though said in jest, these words seemed to strike fear to the heart of the actress. Turning impulsively to me, she said: "Oh, young man, leave this place―leave it! You are too young to be here. There is something better for you than this. Leave now before it enters your blood and it is too late.”

Oh, the look that was in her eyes! I can't forget it, for it told of a burning thirst in her soul that could never be quenched. She had been to the well of fame, oh so often, and had drank, and drank, and drank; but that thirst had never been slaked. She would never get her fill of the pleasures of the world, and she knew it.

"Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again," are Christ's own words, and they were so true of those who live for the plaudits of the world.

Her words were like a whiplash to me and cut me to the heart, for I too, young as I was, aspired to great renown as an actor. I left; and it was the last night I ever drank of those waters.

O unsaved one, if you are drinking of the waters of this poor world, its pleasures or anything else, stop! There is a spring where you may drink and be satisfied―be filled―yes, to overflowing. He is able that promised, and He has said, "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." Rev. 21:6. And again― "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst." John 4:14.

The water given by the Savior's blessed hand alone can satisfy― none other ever can; drink, then, while yet there is time. Hear, once more, the gracious invitation of His love extended to us― once, when down here in this world, and now again from the glory, where He is. It is for you, dear thirsty soul. "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink." John 7:37.

"Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. 22:17.

Thirsting

Part 1

"Shall thirst again"―and oh, how soon!

She comes to draw ere yet 'tis noon.

The weary Master sat to rest

And watched the empty vessel brought,

Well knowing He alone possessed

The "living water" which she sought.

Thou, too, art thirsting, and in vain

Thou drinkest here, to thirst again.

"Shall thirst again."―For what? For bliss?

It grows not in a soil like this.

For fame―the mirage of the brain?

It mocks the traveler's aching eye.

For riches? They are care and pain,

Nor one short hour of peace can buy.

Are these thy quest? They cannot fill,

But needs must leave thee thirsting still.

"Shall thirst again"―forever thirst.

Come, lift the wail and know the worst!

See Dives with his parched tongue,

And not a moment's solace given;

Hear cries of burning anguish wrung

From souls designed for God and heaven.

Their doom is fixed; thou still art free;

Why wilt thou thirst eternally?

Part 2

"Shall never thirst!"―Oh, wondrous thought?

What! In this barren land of drought

Is there a river of delight

Whose streams of healing ceaseless flow?

Wells there a fountain pure and bright

Unstained by human guilt and woe?

Oh, weary sinner! Taste and try,

When all thine earthly springs run dry.

"Shall never thirst!"―Above the skies,

'Tis there the well-spring takes its rise;

Its waters feed that blessed tree,

To mortal longings lost through sin,

Unguarded growing now and free,

Where no fell fiend can enter in.

"Take now," thy Savior says to thee,

"Yea, drink, O friend, abundantly.”

"Shall never thirst."―How cant thou thirst,

When He is there who loved thee first!

E'en here His presence to thy heart

Is nearer than the dearest friend,

Though now we only know in part

What there is perfect, without end.

To live is Christ, to die is gain―

Then drink, and never thirst again!

We May Know

While traveling by train once I began to distribute some gospel books among my fellow-passengers. A tall, stout man sitting opposite me was reading the one I had given him. Suddenly he shouted aloud: "And he was quite right.”

I asked the man what he meant. Holding up the book in his hand he replied: "The man spoken of here was asked if his sins were forgiven. He replied that no one could be sure of that; I believe he was right.”

"Sir," I answered, "that was only his opinion. He might be wrong.”

"Oh, but," said he, "no man living knows that he is saved! I don't care how good he is, he cannot be certain of it on this side of the grave.”

"Surely you don't believe God's Word," was my answer, to which he replied: "Oh, yes, I believe every verse of it, from Genesis to Revelation.”

Opening my Bible I read aloud: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that YE MAY KNOW that ye have eternal life." 1 John 5:13.

"You say, 'No one can know,' and God plainly says in His Word, 'Ye may know.' Whom should I believe-you or God?”

Immediately my fellow-traveler burst out saying: "I don't care what you say. We can never be certain about it till we die; we must do all the good we can, and hope for the best.”

"Friend," I replied, "you don't believe what God has said. Does K-N-O-W read H-O-P-E in your version?”

To this he made no remark except to say that no one could know, and that it was "great presumption” in any one to go the length of saying he was saved. My answer was that if what he said was correct, he should with a pair of scissors cut out these scriptures:

(1) "I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake." 1 John 2:12.

(2) "We know that we have passed from death unto life." 1 John 3:14.

(3) "We are always confident." 2 Cor 5:6.

My fellow-traveler listened to the scriptures, but firmly declared that he would still hold to his opinion that "No one could be certain.”

Friend, have you hitherto imagined that no one could be sure of his sins being forgiven while on earth? If so, lay aside your "thoughts" and "opinions." Believe God's Word.

The Bad One

During a series of Gospel meetings, I invited any to whom a visit in their homes would be acceptable to leave their names and addresses and I would endeavor to call upon them. That night a slip of paper was found on one of the seats, upon which was a lady's name and address.

The following afternoon as the clock struck three, I stood at the door of the house indicated. It was opened by the maid, who informed me that her mistress was not at home; but that if I wished particularly to see her, I would find her at her sister's house a few doors away.

Going there, the lady herself whose address I had, opened the door. She seemed very surprised to see me. I explained to her that her name and address had been left at the Gospel service on the previous evening, and I naturally had concluded that she was one who wished for a visit. In this I found that I was mistaken, for she was anything but pleased. She declared that she would like to know who had done that. I handed her the slip of paper upon which her name and address was clearly written, and said, "Perhaps you know the handwriting.”

She examined it carefully and replied, "That's my own handwriting, but I do not know how it got to your meeting. I must have dropped it somehow.”

"I believe that God's hand is in this," I said, "and so I am coming in to have a talk with you.”

Somewhat reluctantly she admitted me. After telling me that her sister was out shopping, she said, "She isn't a good woman, and she never goes anywhere to meeting. I wish you could induce her to come to your services.”

"Well, we must try; but what about yourself?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm all right! It's my sister that I'm troubled about," she quickly answered.

"Quite right, too; but had you not better first think about yourself? If you have not accepted Christ as your Savior, you are not all right. Indeed, you are in exactly the same danger of eternal loss as your sister who never goes anywhere.”

The young lady did not want to talk about herself, and while she was doing her best to avoid a personal reference, her sister walked in. She seemed very surprised to find a stranger in her house.

I hastened to explain to her the object of my visit, and invited her to come and hear the Gospel. As she did not look at all like a woman who would care to sacrifice worldly pleasure for the Gospel service on a week night, I suggested that she should come on the following Sunday. She gave me the most emphatic "No" that ever it has been my lot to receive, and she was really a most unpromising subject.

"Well," I said in response, "I think that you are wise in not promising to come to the service on Sunday evening. Long before then you may be dead, and-lost forever! Had we not better say Friday night instead?”

She did not answer so readily or emphatically this time, and it was evident that the shot had gone home. Still, she declined to make any promise for Friday.

I said, "The Book says, 'Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.' You had better not put off even until tomorrow, but come and hear the Word of God tonight.”

When she did not reply, I said to her sister, "You will bring her tonight, and may God bless you both.”

That night there they sat, side by side, in the Gospel meeting. Each of them listened with great interest as I told the lovely story of the Savior's death and resurrection; of the precious blood of Jesus that can make the worst of sinners fit for the presence of God, and of the hearty welcome that awaits every man, woman, and child that will come to Him. Then we sang Charlotte Elliot's hymn, than which none more suitable for anxious sinners was ever written in our English language:

"Just as I am, without one plea,

But that Thy blood was shed for me;

And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee,

O Lamb of God, I come.”

I said, "I will repeat this first verse to you, my friends, leaving out certain words in it; if you are anxious to come to the Savior put in the missing words.”

So I read:

"Just as I am, without one plea,

But that Thy blood was shed for―”

There was a brief pause, and then from the corner where the sisters were sitting came clearly and distinctly the word "ME." It was the bad sister who "never went anywhere" who had said it―said it with all her heart.

"Thank God!" said more than one in that audience; and I turned back and repeated the lines again:

"Just as I am, without one plea,

But that Thy blood was shed for―”

Then we heard a duet, and in the ears of us who loved the Lord and sinners for His sake, it sounded most sweet, as both sisters put in the missing word, "ME!”

The bad sister and the one who thought she was good enough, together they took the sinner's place for whom the blood of Jesus was shed. And as I read to the ending of the last line―

"And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee,

O Lamb of God―”

"COME," they said. Others too were emboldened to join in the same blessed decision, making music in the ears of heaven and in ours, for "joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." Luke 15:7.

It was a definite and never-to-be-regretted decision; and they found that He to whom they came was delighted to receive them, to keep them, to never let them slip from His all-powerful hand, but to be their Lord and never-changing Friend in time, and their joy forever.

Both Sides

I was visiting among some cottages one afternoon previous to holding a gospel service nearby. In one cottage I found an aged Christian woman who must have been nearing the end of life's pilgrimage. Her poor body was swollen and suffering, but the joy of the Lord filled her heart. After reading a little of God's Word to her, I sang her one of the believer's Hallelujah songs:

Savior, come, we long to see Thee,

Long to dwell with Thee above,

And to know in full communion

All the sweetness of Thy love.

Glory, glory, Jesus saved me,

Glory, glory, to the Lamb;

Jesus' blood has reached and cleansed me,

Glory, glory, to the Lamb.

The dear old face was shining with joy, as she kept repeating, "Glory, glory, Jesus saved me!" Then she added, "Oh! what would old Ebbie do now if she had not Jesus?”

But dear old Ebbie had Jesus, and through Him her happy prospect was of soon entering into His presence.

Then, most impressively, she gave me a solemn message to deliver. Turning towards a large coal fire burning in the grate, she said, "You are going to preach to the unsaved. Oh, BE SURE AND TELL THEM BOTH SIDES. Tell them Christ is willing and waiting to save them; but tell them also that if they will not have Christ and His salvation, they will have to make their bed in hell.”

As if to give force to her words, she pointed with her finger to the fire: "What an awful thing it would be to be forced to lie down for even a short time in that fire! And to think that Christless souls must make their bed in the lake of fire forever! Oh, tell them both sides.”

When I got to the meeting that night the words of old Ebbie were burning in my soul. I found the place crowded and many were unable to get in, so I stood in the doorway and delivered the Lord's message and old Ebbie's message to the people within and the people without. It was a night of decision for some souls, and led to several such meetings.

Unsaved soul, do you realize in the faintest measure the awful reality of "the wrath to come?" What will it be if you must dwell with the devouring flame in "the everlasting burnings"? Fall on your knees before God now, asking the question, "What must I do to be saved?”

His answer to you is the same one given to the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:31: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

"One Sin" - "One Look"

In British measure a stone weighs fourteen pounds. One four-stone weight tied around a man's neck will drag him helplessly down beneath the waves.

Every child of Adam is born into this world with a sinful nature. He is constituted by nature an enemy of God. How much more desperate becomes his condition when by practice as well as nature he shows forth his lost, sinful state!

Child of Adam, your heavy weight, your load of sins, will surely sink you beneath the waves of endless woe into a lost eternity.

One sin is enough to sink your soul in hell forever! No long course of open wickedness is required to fit you for that awful place. No lengthy list of crimes must needs be laid to your account before your title to be reckoned among the hell-deserving can be established. God's holiness is so great that one blemish unfits you eternally for His presence; and sin is so awful in His sight, that one wrong deed will assure your condemnation and ruin.

BUT

In His Son, Jesus Christ, God has provided full salvation. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on Him." John 3:36.

One look in faith to Christ will save your soul forever! No long course of mere moral living can fit you for heaven. No lengthy list of good deeds laid to your account can give you title to be reckoned among the justified ones.

In God's sight the value of the blood of Christ is so great that this one plea, uttered in faith, will ensure your forgiveness and salvation eternally: "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

Men drowning, with only one four-stone weight to them, need saving as much as those with many such weights. Men of good character, such as Nicodemus in John 3, need a Savior. How much more we with our many sins! But one heart-look to Christ saved the dying thief in spite of all his crimes. (Luke 23:39,43). Saul of Tarsus, chief of sinners, has been saved. (1 Tim. 1:15). The woman of whom the Lord said, "Her sins... are many," has been saved (Luke 7:3650). And the One who has saved such can save you, however heavy your load of sins may be. One look in faith will secure your eternal salvation.

"In whom (Jesus) we have

redemption through His blood,

the forgiveness of sins.”

Eph. 1:7.

MARCH

Pray Without Ceasing

As a young convert asks: "How can I keep from stumbling?”

Dear young soul, I answer: "You cannot keep from stumbling at all; but He 'is able to keep you from falling.' The least confidence in yourself leads to an inevitable fall.”

Again we are met with the very promise we need to escape this snare: "For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.”

You question again, "How shall I be kept?”

Jesus Himself has answered: "If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world." "Walk in the light," "looking unto Jesus," and so shall you be "kept by the power of God through faith.”

We tell a little child to look where it steps and pick its way; but the children of God are to do just the opposite: they are to look away to Jesus. "Let thine eyes look"― not down, but "right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee." Why? Because it is on Him, the Light of the world, that the gaze is to be fixed.

George Washington and Peter Miller

Two young boys attended the same school: George Washington and Peter Miller. Washington became the first President of the United States, and Peter Miller grew up to become a preacher of the gospel. Washington, as President, lived at Philadelphia, and the humble Miller dwelt at Ephrata, a village seventy miles from the capital.

For many years the preacher endured much persecution from a man named Michael Wittman, who did all in his power to distress the servant of God. He even inflicted personal violence, damaged the building, and publicly denounced the preacher's testimony.

At length Wittman was involved in treason. He was arrested, and sentenced to death. Upon hearing this, the old preacher walked the seventy miles to Philadelphia to plead for the life of his persecutor. He presented himself before President Washington, who greeted him with, "Well, Peter, what can I do for you?”

"For our old acquaintance sake, George, I have come to beg the life of the traitor Wittman.”

"No, Peter; this case is too black: I cannot give you the life of your friend.”

"My friend! He is the bitterest enemy any man ever had." And then Peter Miller told the President what he had suffered from this man for over twenty years.

"Ah, then, Peter; this puts another aspect upon the matter. I could not give you the life of your friend; but I will freely pardon your enemy.”

On the third day the preacher and his old-time persecutor walked back the seventy miles to Ephrata. The man's heart was melted by the pardon and by Miller's forgiving spirit. He was soundly converted to God. Peter baptized him; and the criminal was brought into the joy of God's salvation.

Friend, do you not see that this is the meaning of Calvary? You cannot be saved as a friend of God; but you can be saved as an enemy! If you are the blackest sinner outside heaven, in the heart of Jesus there is a free pardon awaiting you and all who come unto God by Him. This is the meaning of the cross of Christ!

Two possible methods of dealing with crime are practiced in a court of justice. The judge could say: "You are clearly proved guilty, but I dismiss you. You may leave the court.”

This is executive clemency, and may be thought merciful, but it would not be justice. It would be false mercy.

Or the judge might say: "You are guilty; and I pronounce upon you the full penalty of the law." This would be justice, but justice without mercy.

God deals in both! Justice and mercy are His prerogatives. Rom. 3:26 declares "His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." He pronounces the severity of His justice on the sinner's Substitute [Christ), and sends the offender free, rejoicing in the mercy that blots out all his sins, and even justifies him in the eye of the law. This is the meaning of the cross of Christ!

"God could not pass the sinner by,

His sin demands that he must die;

But in the cross of Christ we see

How God can save, yet righteous be.”

Among the Ungodly

An Irishman who sought to be saved by his own goodness was constantly harassed by Satan. At last he discovered his totally lost condition and owned it before God. Then he took his Bible and went into a quiet corner of a field. As he searched God's holy Word, longing to know how he could obtain forgiveness, he read the Scripture: "For when we were yet without strength, in due time CHRIST DIED FOR THE UNGODLY." Rom. 5:6.

Accepting it for himself, he leaped in the air, and clapping his hands exclaimed, "Christ died for the ungodly! Christ died for the ungodly!”

His face beaming with the light of God's grace, he cried, "That's me! That's me! DO YOU HEAR THAT, DEVIL?”

There and then he rejoiced in Christ as his Savior.

"Christ died for the ungodly!" Therefore He died for me and for you, oh fellow-traveler to eternity. But His death will avail you nothing unless you take your rightful place and believe the good news. What the Lord Jesus did and suffered has satisfied all God's holy claims. No good works to do―no debt to pay―nothing meritorious is necessary on your part.

"Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things." Acts 13:38,39.

Forgiveness cannot be obtained on the ground of your doings. The work that saves was accomplished at Calvary, and no efforts of your own can procure the pardoning mercy of God.

Unsaved reader, take your place among the "ungodly." Believe on that blessed One who died for all your crimson sins, and be saved for eternity.

"I seek no other argument,

I want no other plea;

It is enough that Jesus died,

And that He died for me.”

Falling Away

It is a common delusion shared by many that the believer in Jesus can fall away, or "fall from grace," and be lost. In the New Testament the possibility of falling away from mere profession of Christianity is indeed presented; but this teaching should never be confounded with the thought that a saved soul can fall away from Christ.

In John 10:28, the blessed Savior who gave His own life for His sheep said: "They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." And in the end of the next verse He declared: "No man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand!" Double security there, is it not? Truly, the believer in Christ is "hid with Christ in God." Col. 3:3.

To some, the passage in 1 Cor. 9:26, 27 seems to bear out the possibility of being saved then lost: "I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

In this portion of God's Word, the Apostle Paul presents himself as one really the Lord's, as well as a preacher of that Word; and the proof that he gave was, that he kept under his body, else, although a preacher, he might be a castaway, that is, one might even be a preacher and yet be lost. But a child of God cannot be lost.

Then in 2 Peter 2:20-22, it speaks of those who have known the way of righteousness, and have turned from the holy commandment delivered unto them. They are compared to the dog that returns to his vomit, and to the sow that, having been washed, goes back to wallow in the mire. This teaching is that the sow, in spite of her washing, is a sow still, and the dog is still unchanged. So it is with those who have knowledge of the way of righteousness, but turn from it to their own way. Their nature is unchanged; and although for a time they were kept out of the mire, escaped the pollutions of the world, as in verse 20, they prove by returning to it, that they never were at heart Christ's sheep. They never were born again.

A sheep, it is true, may get into the mud; but instead of wallowing in it, that sheep will be miserable, and will want to get out. Thank God, the sheep of Christ are securely kept! They are carried home on the Good Shepherd's shoulders, and they are as safe now as they will be in heaven.

John 10:27-29 gives prominence to four words: "they shall never perish." This brings to mind an incident of some years ago.

An earnest evangelist was in conversation with an old man who had been preaching for many years. This aged minister firmly believed one could be saved and then lost, and staunchly stood his ground. The evangelist finally asked him: "Would you be safer than you are now if you were in heaven?”

"Yes," was the reply; "we are never quite safe till we get to heaven.”

"How do you know you would be safe if you were there? For you must know some have lost their place in heaven―Satan and his angels, for instance?”

"Oh, but Christ did not die for them.”

"Did He die for you?”

"Yes.”

"What will make you safe when you get to heaven?”

"Why, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ." "Will it be more efficacious then than now?" After a moment's hesitation his reply was, grasping his friend's hand, "No! It can make me no safer then than it does now.”

He had been preaching for fifty years, and had for the first time learned the fullness of God's present salvation.

A year or two later, the evangelist friend was summoned in haste to what proved to be the death-bed of the old preacher.

"James," said the sick man, "I sent for you to hear my dying testimony. It is a happy thing to look back on a life spent for Christ.”

"Yes," was the reply; "yours has been a very good life.”

"James," said he, "my life is as nothing. I am a poor sinner saved by grace, going straight to glory solely through His life poured out-the precious blood of Jesus.”

Reader, have you this confidence? You can put your full trust in Him who died for you. He is worthy. Adapted from W.T.P.W.

Personal Pronouns

Christianity is a religion of personal pronouns. How true this is!

It is not―All are sinners, but―I am a sinner.

It is not―Jesus is a Savior, but―Jesus is my Savior.

A young man in the West Indies once said to me, "I believe all that you say, and I like your meetings; but still I am not saved! How is it?”

I replied: "Have you ever got alone in the presence of God and said: 'O God, if there were not another sinner on earth, I am one, and as a sinner I claim Christ as my Savior, even though every other sinner refuse Him'?”

"Well," he said, "it is that very personal way you have of putting it that I do not like.”

Ah; that was the secret. He had missed the blessing, because he refused to make it a personal matter. How like the 11th verse of John 1: "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." Dear unsaved one, will you not accept this blessed Savior now and be numbered among the children of God?

"But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." John 1:12.

Joyless Infidelity

"Who ever saw a really happy infidel?" Dr. R. A. Torrey asked the question; after a slight pause he continued. "Jolly infidels―jolly on occasions in public―you have seen; but who ever saw an infidel that had joy in the deepest depths of his heart, the deep overflowing joy that the Christian knows?”

Again he paused, and then proceeded. "I was once preaching in Chicago, and I asked everyone in the building who had found deep heart satisfaction, rest and joy in Jesus Christ, who had found every deepest longing of their souls satisfied in Christ, to stand. Hundreds of men and women immediately rose to their feet.

"Then I said, 'I want to be fair. There are a good many infidels here tonight. Will every infidel in the building who can honestly say in the presence of this congregation that he has found in infidelity satisfaction for the deepest longings of his soul and real heart-rest, and is satisfied with infidelity tonight, please stand up?'

"Just one man arose. I said, 'I am glad there is one man here who has the courage of his convictions, and I would like to ask him to meet me downstairs after the meeting is over.'

"He accepted my invitation. We sat down and talked. `Mr. Small,' I said, calling him by name: 'You publicly proclaimed at the meeting that you had found satisfaction for the deepest longings of your soul, and that your soul was at rest, and that you were fully satisfied with infidelity. Is that really true?'

" 'Well,' he said, 'Mr. Torrey, that will have to be qualified.'

"I answered: 'I think it will. You cannot find an infidel on earth, the deepest longings of whose soul are at rest and satisfied in infidelity. Who ever saw a happy old infidel? Jolly old infidels, yes―that is, jolly on occasions―you have seen, but who ever saw an aged infidel with that deep-abiding, overflowing joy that is so characteristic of the aged Christian?

"This set the unbelieving infidel to thinking, and before many days had passed he came seeking and longing to know the God whom he had denied and ridiculed.”

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

Think It Over

I had sought faithfully to present Christ to my young soldier-friend, and for my effort got the indifferent answer, "I'll think it over.”

Discouraged, but still anxious about his soul, I pressed the matter. "Harry," said I, "let me illustrate. Suppose you are out with the boys some night on operations, and on the way back you get hard hit. Bill Smith stops long enough to pick you up and carry you back to camp, and for his trouble gets wounded twice. You are both taken to the hospital, and by tender care are won back from the very verge of death.

"Two months later the doctor comes along, helping a poor fellow who limps badly and moves with evident difficulty. They stop at your bedside, and the doctor says: 'Harry, I want to introduce you to Bill Smith, the man who risked his life to save you.'

"Would you fold your arms and say, 'I don't know whether I want to make his acquaintance today or not; I'll think it over'?

"You wouldn't say that, Harry, would you? You would grip him by the hand and try to tell him something of the gratitude you felt. You would want to do all you could to please him.

"Well, now, when I introduced you tonight to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Man from the glory, who not only risked His life but sacrificed it to save you, you proposed to turn your back on Him and say you would think it over. Do you think that is right?”

"No," he said. "I'll accept Him now." And together we knelt while he told the Lord that he there and then accepted Him as his personal Savior, and gave Him thanks.

Friend, your eternal destiny hangs upon your relation to Jesus Christ. It is of vital importance that you should know Him, whom to know is life eternal.

He who suffered and died on the cross for you is now risen and exalted; He is glorified at God's right hand. This is a great fact that vitally affects you, whether you pay heed to it or not. Are you turning your back on Christ?

"Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish." Acts 13:40, 41.

You cannot escape the positive application of this fact to yourself. We have, each one of us, individually, to do with it-or rather it has to do with us. What are you doing with the risen Christ of God?

"Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." Acts 13:38, 39.

Grass on the Prayer Path

From the converts of Uganda

Comes to us a story grander

In the lesson that it teaches

Than a sermon often preaches.

For they tell what sore temptations

Come to them; what need of patience,

And a need, all else outweighing,

Of a place for private praying.

So each convert chose a corner,

Far away from eye of scorner,

In the jungle, where he could

Pray to God in solitude.

And so often went he thither

That the grass would fade and wither

Where he trod; and you could trace,

By the paths, each prayer-place.

If they hear the evil tiding

That a brother is backsliding,

And that some are even saying,

"He no longer cares for praying":

Then they say to one another,

Very soft and gently, "Brother,

You'll forgive us now for showing

On your path the grass is growing.”

And the erring one, relenting,

Soon is bitterly repenting:

"Ah, how sad I am at knowing

On my path the grass is growing.”

"But it shall be so no longer;

Prayer I need to make me stronger.

On my path so oft' I'm going

Soon no grass will there be growing.”

"Wait a Bit"

While traveling in Jamaica with a friend, a native of the island, we saw growing near the roadside a curious little bush. He pointed to it, and suggested that I let my clothes touch it. I did so, and at once found myself caught by a barbed thorn not unlike a fish-hook.

While freeing myself from it I was snagged by another, and then again by still another. It was only with much care and patience that I got clear of it at last. "Wait a bit" is the name given to the bush by the natives of the island, and an exceptionally good name it is.

Has not Satan many such bushes growing alongside the road which leads to salvation? Indeed he has. Maybe you wake up to the fact that it is time you thought of eternity. Immediately you are snared by some pleasure, or pursuit, or sin, which holds and detains you, saying, "Wait a bit!" Many poor souls are thus held until it is forever too late.

Do you intend to be saved, to have Jesus for your Savior some day? Don't "wait a bit;" do it now. Do not tread the road of By-and-By, for it leads eventually to the town of "Never-never.”

"Christ also hath once suffered

for sins, the just for the unjust,

that He might bring us to God.”

1 Peter 3:18.

APRIL

"Prodigal Jim"

"Jim, Jim― oh, Jim! Where have you been? Father and I have been up all night waiting for you.”

Jim, pale and trembling with emotion, had just stepped inside the door of the small home in a suburb of Detroit. It was 5 a.m.

"Mother, I've got to leave home! I got drunk again last night; and I― I― did― something― terrible. If it is found out, it will go hard with me. And, Mother, I've got to leave and not even let you and Father know where I am.”

Mrs. Ackers, the mother, was weeping and in great agitation. When she could control herself, she said, "Why, oh, why, did you ever start in with that terrible drinking? We tried to bring you up right, but, Jim―" and she could say no more for a few moments. "Oh, how I wish you had never started in with that drinking crowd.”

"There, Mother, now don't worry about me; I'm no good anyhow. It's not your fault. But I must go at once.”

"But, Jim, can't you wait till Father gets back? He went down to the police station to inquire if they had seen you or heard about you.”

Jim's face got even paler. "How long has Father been gone?”

"About forty-five minutes, I guess.”

"I'll have to go, at once. Good-bye, Mother dear. Perhaps I'll see you again." And he was off.

"Do leave that drink alone, and start reading―" but Jim was already out of sight, and so she didn't finish the sentence.

Months passed. Not a word came from Jim. Every morning and every evening both mother and father knelt in prayer, pleading earnestly for their Jim. Months grew into years, and still no word from Jim.

"I heard this morning that Sam Hadley, of New York, is to speak at a noon meeting downtown today, Mary; I'd kinda like to hear him," said Jim's father one day to his wife.

"I would too; I've heard so much about him. Let's go.”

Sam Hadley, converted drunkard and mission worker, told what Christ had done for him. And Sam Hadley had a truly wonderful testimony. "You've often heard testimonies of folks telling how they found the Lord. I can't tell anything like that," said Sam. "I never found Him. I was not looking for Him. He just `sought me when I was a stranger, wandering from the fold of God; rescued me from danger, interposed His precious blood.'" Hearts were touched and souls were saved.

After the meeting Mr. and Mrs. Ackers, Jim's parents, walked up to speak with Mr. Hadley.

"May we talk with you for about five minutes?" asked Jim's father.

"Awful sorry, but I'm not well; can we make it later?”

The mother saw a ray of hope, a possibility of interesting someone in her son, and she said, "Yes, we will see you a little later, after you rest." This meeting with Mr. Hadley was then arranged.

When they met, Mr. and Mrs. Ackers told Sam the story of their wayward boy. "God saved you from drink, and He can save our boy. Mr. Hadley, won't you pray for him?" asked Mrs. Ackers.

"Indeed I will," was the emphatic answer.

"You may run across him when you go to the coast; he's out there somewhere. I got a letter from an old friend of mine not long ago, and he told me he was sure he saw Jim in San Francisco. Mother and I have prayed for years for him. Let's be definite, Mr. Hadley, and pray unitedly for him every morning at 9:00 o'clock, Detroit time.”

Mr. Hadley was deeply moved by the love and earnestness of the parents. "Yes, I will, God willing, pray with you every morning at that hour.”

When Mr. Hadley reached the coast, Dr. Wilbur Chapman was holding a great evangelistic meeting in Oakland. One night he saw Sam Hadley sitting in the audience. The idea occurred to Dr. Chapman to hold a midnight meeting that night with Sam Hadley as speaker. The meeting was to be held in one of the largest public buildings in the city, with the hope of reaching with the gospel the class of people who had gone down deep in sin.

When the hour arrived, every seat in the great hall was taken. Dr. Chapman got up to make the announcement. Just then a man came onto the platform from the rear; he stood to one side, behind one of the wings. Evidently he had difficulty hearing, for he tried to make his way up closer to the speaker, without being noticed.

When Mr. Hadley began to speak, Dr. Chapman, now seated, saw the man trying to hear. So he stepped over to him, and asked him to take the seat― the only one vacant in the house― that Sam Hadley, the speaker, had just got up from. The young man sat down.

Sam spoke in the power of the Spirit that night, and the saving grace of God was magnified. When the sermon was over, Dr. Chapman rose to address the crowd for a few minutes. Sam Hadley took the seat left by Dr. Chapman. He edged his chair over to where the young man was, stuck out his hand, "My name is Sam Hadley.”

"I'm Jim Ackers," was the simple response.

"Jim Ackers!" thought Sam to himself. "Why that's the man we've been praying for! And here he is right by me.

"Glad to know you," he said to Jim. He thought it would be better not to tell him of his acquaintance with his parents. "How did you happen to come in the back way?”

"I heard about this service, and just thought I would come to hear how a drunkard could get saved. I came, and couldn't get in. 'Just my luck,' I thought. `When I do want to hear the gospel, I can't.' But I went around the back and got in. And you know the rest." With that introduction it was easy to lead the young man to Christ.

Dr. Chapman was about to pronounce the benediction, when Hadley stepped up and asked permission to say a few words more. Then he told the remarkable story of the redemption of the wayward son. He began with his conversation with the parents in Detroit some time before. The vast crowd was deeply moved. Turning around, Hadley said: "Jim, haven't you got a word for us?”

Hesitantly, the young man came forward to face the interested audience. In a voice at first weak and unsteady, but growing steadily stronger as he proceeded, he told the story of God's mercy to a poor lost sinner. In conclusion he said: "Friends, tonight I'm saved, through the grace of God. For years I've lived a drunkard's miserable existence. I've been a fugitive from the law. My past is dark and sinful. But tonight, through the prayers of Mother and Father, through the prayers of this man, as I have just learned, I have been led in a most unusual way, and I have accepted Christ! My desire now is to live wholly for Him, and to right the wrongs of the past, as far as I can. Will you pray for me?”

"There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." Luke 15:10.

Imagine the joy in the Ackers' home that night, when they got Sam Hadley's telegram that Jim was saved!

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

The Engineer's Surprise

"Bob, give me a paper," said Bill Lawson, a big burly engineer, to the "newsboy" at a railway station.

Bob, the newsboy, had recently been converted to God, and in the joy of his first love eagerly and earnestly sought to win others to the Savior. "I'll give you a paper," was Bob's answer, "if you promise to read this tract.”

"Tract!" was the indignant and scornful reply. "I don't want any such rubbish," and Bill Lawson walked away.

Shortly afterward the engineer again made the same request, and he got the very same reply. For the third time Bill asked for a paper; and on hearing the same answer, he said to Bob, "Do you really want me to read it?”

"I do, Bill," was the earnest answer.

Taking the paper Bill said, "Then I will read it, and you can keep your paper.”

When he had leisure, Lawson took the tract out of his pocket and carefully perused it. It was a simple statement of God's amazing love in giving His only begotten Son to bleed and suffer and die in our stead. The "glad and glorious gospel" was unfolded in the life-giving words of John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

At their next meeting the newsboy asked, "Did you read the tract that I gave you?”

Throwing his arms around Bob's neck, Bill's eyes overflowed and the tears rolled down his cheeks. Brokenly he exclaimed, "I never read such a tract. I thought God was like a policeman with a club in His hand trying to arrest me. Now I see that He loves me. If He is such a loving God, I want to know and love Him. Why, Bob, He just says, 'Comer Many, like Bill Lawson, imagine that God is like a policeman, pursuing them to shut them up, in the prison of hell. What a perversion of the loving character of God! How true the divine declaration that "He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love." 1 John 4:8. Though God hates sin, He loves the sinner with a great and tender love.

Whoever you are, my lost friend, God loves you. He longs to give you a free, full, and present salvation. Hear His solemn statement: "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?" Ezek. 33:11.

"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9.

God is not willing that you should perish. He longs to bless and save you as you read these lines. He loves you with a wondrous wealth of love, and longs to save you now. Hear His voice as He pleads with you: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isa. 1:18.

"It Passeth Knowledge"

We were talking together, a young friend and I. He was in deep soul-trouble; for he had discovered that he was a sinful man, a neglecter of God's great salvation, and he wanted to be saved.

I read to him those wonderful words in Isa. 53:5: "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.”

Then I said to him: "You take my book and read the verse, and put yourself into it, as you read. Change the plural pronoun into the singular.”

He took the Bible, and read slowly and with a good deal of feeling. "He was wounded for MY transgressions, He was bruised for MY iniquities: the chastisement of MY peace was upon Him; and with His stripes I―.”

He stopped there suddenly, and burst into a big sob. I waited until he managed to control himself. Then I said to him, "What's the matter?”

"I cannot understand why He should have loved me so much as to die for me; I haven't cared about Him at all.”

"Neither can I understand it," I replied; "and God knew that neither of us would be able to understand it, for He calls it in His Word, 'THE LOVE OF CHRIST, WHICH PASSETH KNOWLEDGE.”

That remark helped him, and he believed what he could not understand.

Dear unsaved soul, are you waiting for full comprehension of the mighty work of Calvary? It will take Eternity to reveal the length and breadth and height and depth of a love so vast toward sinners like you and me. I say to you, don't try to understand it! Just believe it, receive it, and be saved.

"As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." John 1:12.

The Wrong Estimate

A gospel preacher went down into a coal mine during the noon hour to tell the miners of that wondrous grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ. He told them the sweet story of God's love to lost sinners, of man's ruined state and God's remedy for sin, and of a full and free salvation offered to all who will receive it. When the time came for the men to resume work, the preacher returned to the shaft to ascend to the outer world again. Walking along with the foreman, he asked him what he thought of God's way of salvation. The man replied: "Oh, it is too easy, too cheap! I cannot believe in such a religion as that.”

Without immediately answering this remark, the preacher asked:

"How do you get out of this place?"

"Simply by getting into the cage," was the reply.

"And does it take long to get to the top?”

"Oh, no; only a few seconds.”

"Well, that certainly is very easy and simple. But do you need to help to raise yourself?" said the preacher.

"Of course not!" replied the miner. "As I have said, you have nothing to do but get into the cage, and it will take you to the top.”

"But what about the people who sunk the shaft and perfected all this arrangement? Was there much labor, care, thought and expense about it?”

"Indeed, yes; that was a laborious and expensive work. The shaft is eighteen hundred feet deep, and it was sunk at great cost to the owner. It is our only way out of the mine, and without it we should never be able to reach the surface.”

"Just so. And when God's Word tells you that whosoever believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life, you at once say, 'Too easy! Too cheap! You forget that God's work to bring you and others out of the pit of destruction and death was accomplished at an infinite cost, the price being the death of His Son whose precious blood was shed on Calvary.”

Men talk about the "help of Christ" in their salvation―that if they do their part, Christ will do His.

They forget that the Lord Jesus Christ by Himself purged our sins, and that their part is but to accept what He has done.

"When He {Christ} had by Himself purged our sins," He "sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." Heb. 1:3.

Nothing either great or small―

Nothing, sinner, no;

Jesus did it, did it all,

Long, long ago.

When He, from His lofty throne

Stooped to do and die,

Everything was fully done;

Hearken to His cry!

Till to Jesus' work you cling

By a simple faith,

"Doing" is a deadly thing―

"Doing" ends in death.

Cast your deadly "doing" down,

Down at Jesus' feet;

Stand in Him, in Him alone,

Gloriously complete.

"It is finished!" yes, indeed,

Finished every jot;

Sinner, this is all you need;

Tell me, is it not?

You and I deserved to die eternally on account of our sins, but Christ died for us. The punishment that we merited He took. "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities"; and now the Lord declares, "By Him all that believe are justified." Acts 13:39.

"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." John 3:36.

Satan's Lies

To one who has felt his need of help― who has groaned beneath the weight of sin― the tidings of a great salvation is a pleasant sound. To his troubled and anxious heart it comes like balm of Gilead to soothe and heal. For it is worthy to be called a great salvation, because there is no sinner whose need it is not able to meet.

Satan has two great lies which he uses― oftentimes with conspicuous success― to destroy the souls of men. First, he persuades them that they do not need God's salvation! He tells them that they are so good, their characters so upright, their morality of such a high tone, and their religious profession of such a degree that they have no need to come to Him as lost and guilty rebels before God. They do not require His mercy like common sinners. But thanks be to the God of all grace, in spite of this satanic lie, sinners do become anxious and alarmed. God then speaks to their consciences by His Word and Spirit, and they become exercised about their state before Him.

When penitent souls, under conviction of sin, seem ready to bow before God, then Satan has another lie ready for them, exactly opposite to the former one. He reverses his judgment of them and says, "Consider what sins you have committed. Remember how you have treated God; how you have scoffed at His mercy and refused His love, and gone on taking pleasure in your sins, in spite of all His warnings and entreaties. How can you expect to be saved? There may be mercy for others, but not for you.”

Thus Satan seeks to plunge the trembling sinner into despair. But how the "So Great Salvation" confronts and confounds him! There is no sinner with crimes of so deep a dye, with guilt so aggravated, with need so great, that he is beyond the reach of this great salvation. The greater the sinner, the more is God's grace magnified in saving him.

Let not your heart be troubled, then. If you have felt your guiltiness before a holy God, and have even, perhaps, had cause to doubt whether His salvation could extend to one so vile as you, come to Him in faith. He has said: "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37. A Magdalene, a dying thief, a brutal Philippian jailer, and the arch-persecutor of saints, Saul of Tarsus chief of sinners bear eloquent witness to the greatness of God's salvation.

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

'Tis Good to Thee

When things on which my heart is set

Thy sovereign will denies,

And I am tempted to forget

That Thou art just and wise;

Let this my joy and comfort be,

That so it seemeth good to Thee.

When sinners prosper while the just

Are chastened every day,

And hope lies hopeless in the dust

Through unexplained delay,

Then let my joy and comfort be,

That so it seemeth good to Thee.

When those I love from me depart

To mansions in the skies,

And sorrow overwhelms my heart

And blinds my weeping eyes;

O Lord! Let this my comfort be,

That so it seemeth good to Thee.

"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.

MAY

The Foulest and the Purest

What is the foulest thing on earth?

Bethink thee now and tell!

It is a soul by sin defiled,

And only fit for hell;

It is the loathsome earthly den

Where evil spirits dwell.

And what the purest thing on earth?

Come, tell me if you know!

'Tis that same soul by Jesus cleansed,

Washed whiter far than snow;

There's naught more pure above the sky,

And naught more pure below.

God's eye of flame that searches all

Discerns both foul and clean,

Rests on that soul with pure delight

In whom no spot is seen:

Cleansed every whit in Jesus' blood,

Whate'er its guilt has been.

He sees the blood, but sees no stain;

That covers all the sin;

'Tis Christ upon the soul without,

'Tis Christ He sees within:

To judge it foul were just to judge

God's Christ Himself unclean.

Thou Lamb of God, Thy precious blood

This great redemption wrought;

Not only snatched from yawning hell,

But to God's bosom brought:

And raised the ruined wrecks of sin

Above created thought.

A Society Leader's Story

I was known as a socialite, a lover of social gaieties. My husband and I filled our lives with a round of dinners, receptions, dances, and various forms of worldly entertainment. Although as a girl I had known a sincere desire to live a Christian life, I had fully yielded later to the lure and appetite for an unceasing whirl of excitement.

One day a friend, who had formerly been a companion in our social functions until she had been converted, invited my husband and me to attend Jerry McAuley's Mission on Water Street. Rather reluctantly my husband consented to take me.

We found the Mission room crowded with miserably poor, bedraggled people and vile smells. At first we felt a sort of pity toward the "poor creatures" around us. But as the meeting progressed we lost our sense of superiority and actually hung our heads in shame.

Following the singing and a prayer, Jerry read a short passage from the Bible and followed it by simple but heart-searching comments. Then, after a moving account of his own conversion to God from the depths of sin, he called for testimonies. Three, four, five were on their feet at the same time. All were earnest and overflowing with gratitude to God for saving them and for keeping them amidst temptations.

As the testimonies ended my husband rose and, to my astonishment, requested prayers for his own coldness of heart. He was such a stiff Presbyterian and had been so very conventional and correct in his religion, that I could scarcely believe my ears. As he put his hand over his face to cover his emotion, I saw a tear trickling through his fingers. In spite of my still worldly spirit, he had never appeared nobler or braver in my eyes. I arose and quietly stood by his side. Jerry turned his piercing eyes on us and said in a loud and almost fierce voice that made me jump: "Did y' mean it, both of y'?"

We gave a nod of assent, although my pride rebelled at the thought of being questioned by a thief, even though he was converted. "Then if y' did, come and kneel at this bench," he commanded.

As he spoke he pointed to an old, worm-eaten and none-too-clean bench. We knelt, and in a few moments there were kneeling about us "river-rats," drunkards, gamblers and abandoned women of the streets. We had gone there to see Jerry, "the Curiosity of the Fourth Ward." Now we surely were successful competitors for that title that night, attired as we were for an evening of pleasure.

There was a long line kneeling, and Jerry started at one end. "Pray, brother," he said. "Yes, y' must. I can pray till the breath leaves my body, but that won't save ye; ye must pray yirsilves."

Many of the petitions were suggested by Jerry. The majority were, "God be merciful to me, a sinner."

At last Jerry came to us. He placed a hand on each of our shoulders. I looked up. A tear was zig-zagging down the cheek of this man we thought so rough. It fell between us. It was a holy tear of compassion, shed by a man who yearned to have others accept his Savior. It spoke more loudly to me than any words could have done.

He asked my husband to pray. I had always been proud of my husband's eloquence at social functions when he was called on to speak. I was sure that his prayer would be strikingly different from the others. But when the words finally came to his lips, they were not the words I had anticipated. They were the words the poor bleary-eyed drunkard at his side had just stammered out: "God be merciful to me, a sinner."

In a more tender tone Jerry said, "Put in 'for Jesus' sake. '“My worldly heart melted at the reverence in Jerry McAuley's voice when he spoke that blessed name. I have always said since that those three words are God's cover of love hiding away all our sins. "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. 2:10, 11.

Suddenly the Spirit bore witness with our spirits that we were acceptable to God through the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus. Wanderers we had been, but the seeking Shepherd had found us! We arose from our knees with a holy determination, born of God Himself, henceforth to live for His glory and praise. From that night we have known the joy of being simply followers of the lowly Nazarene.

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Gal. 2:20.

He Had No Song

Several years ago, as I was leaving a meeting one evening, a lady asked me to go with her to see her sick husband. She said he was quite anxious about his soul, knowing he would soon have to die.

When I entered his room I found him sitting in an easy chair, for he could not lie down without coughing. After a few words about his bodily sufferings, I asked him about his soul: did he think his sufferings would end when his body yielded and death came?

"Well," he said, "I think my chances for getting to heaven are pretty good."

I felt he was not being honest with me, so I said, "Do you believe heaven is a reality?"

He said, "Yes."

"Is it true there is a hell?"

He replied, "Yes, I believe so."

"And you have an immortal soul that will soon be in one or the other of these places forever?"

"Yes," he said earnestly.

"You just now said you thought your chances for heaven were pretty good. You believe heaven is a reality, and hell is a reality, and your precious immortal soul will soon be happy in heaven forever. You must have some reason for it. Will you please tell me what it is?"

His voice was weak and I waited for his answer as it came slowly. It was this: "Well, I've always been kind to my wife and children, and I have not intentionally wronged my fellow men."

"That's all very good," I said. "It is nice to be able to say that; but now tell me, what kind of a place do you think heaven is, and what do they do there?"

"Well," he said, "I think there is no sin or sorrow there. It must be a happy place, and I think they sing there a good deal."

Turning to Revelation 1:5; I said: "They do sing there, and I'll read you a song they sing. It is this: `Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.'

"You see, they are praising their Savior, the One who loved them and died for them. I'll read it again. `Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.'

"Just take notice: they have not a word to say about what they have done. It is all about what HE has done. He loved them and died for them. If you were up there and had got there in the way you say, because you had been good to your family, and so on, there would be one sinner in heaven that had never been washed from his sins in the blood of Jesus. You could not join in the song they sing, could you?"

I waited for an answer. His head had dropped and his eyes were turned to the floor. I shall never, never forget his look as he raised his head and turned to answer me. It was one waking out of a life dream. He was now coming face to face with eternal realities, and his only reply was: "Well, I never thought of that before."

But I said: "God has; and He has written a verse for persons just like you, who are willing to take their chances, as you said, on their good works, and are deceiving themselves by the false hope of getting to heaven in that way.

"I'll read the verse. It is the 4th verse of the 4th chapter of Romans: 'Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.'

"Let me explain: When you were well and could work, you received wages because you earned them.

You were under no special obligations to the man that paid you. You would come home to your wife and say, 'Here is what I made today.' You could talk about what you had done, and what you had got, and you would not have a word to say about the man that paid you.

"That is just what God means by that verse: 'Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.'

"If you could get to heaven by what you have done, there would be no grace about it. You would know nothing of God's love as shown in Jesus. You could not sing 'Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood'; for you would be there without a Savior You would have no song. Do you think you could be happy?"

He was now ready to give up his ground and for the first time frankly owned what his wife had said: he was anxious about his soul and wanted to have the question settled. He fully confessed that in spite of all the good he claimed, he was a sinner and needed a Savior.

It was with joy I read to him 1 Timothy 1:15: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."

He repeated after me: "To―save― sinners!― to― save― sinners!"

"Yes," I said, "To SAVE sinners― not to HELP sinners to be saved, but to SAVE sinners. He is not a helper, but a Savior. God's Word is, 'to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.' Rom. 4:5. And again, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' Acts 16:31."

He did believe. I left him that night, after reading other scriptures to him, with a new hope― not based on what he had done, but believing what God says about what Christ has dome.

I called the next morning to see him. As I entered he looked up with joy in his face and said: "Oh, I'll have a song now. It will be 'Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.' "

Reader, will you be able to sing that song? Or will you have to say, "I am tormented in this flame?" It will be one or the other.

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

The Cross and the Resurrection

Nearly two thousand years ago the most marvelous event of all time took place. So wonderful was this sequence of scenes that God has recorded them in His Word―the death and resurrection of the Son of God as written in Matthew 27:24-61, and the grand culmination of that earthly journey that we find in chapter 28. Read this account, friend, and marvel at the mighty love of God, especially in the fact that He gave His Son to die for the blessing of guilty man for your blessing and for mine!

Though nearly two millenniums have passed since these scenes were enacted, to the eye and heart of God and to the adoring heart of the believer they are as fresh as though they happened yesterday. And listen, my reader: whether your eternal destiny shall be in the depths of hell or in the heights of everlasting joy, depends on how you receive these scenes and appropriate to yourself the blessed Savior whose death is here recorded. Most solemn question: what is your relation to Him who died and rose again?

God in creation is marvelous and His Son Jesus as seen by faith in His incarnation is wonderful indeed. His perfect, sinless life fills the soul with reverent awe; but more, far more is the wonder that He, the Son of God, died―He died for us! Reader, can you say, He died for me?

Behold the Man who is our blessed, adorable Lord―He, who went about doing good, meeting every need, manifesting by the power of His actions that He Himself was God! Was not every heart attracted to Him? No! One of the little company that surrounded Him sold Him for thirty pieces of silver, the price of the meanest slave. He sold Him and betrayed Him to His enemies. Another, though he loved Him, denied Him, and ALL forsook Him and fled.

The Man, Christ Jesus: behold Him bound, blindfolded, treated with every indignity by His creature, man. Led from one high priest to another, and then to Herod who sent Him back to Pilate. And we read: "the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together." They shook hands, as it were, on a pact to further the suffering and rejection of the Son of God! What a basis for friendship was the refusal and casting out of God's beloved One! And that, my friend, is still the world's basis of friendship.

"Behold the Man," said Pilate―the Man mocked with a crown of thorns, with a reed in His hand, and wearing a royal robe in derision. Further indignity, some wretch harder and more degraded than His fellows, smote Him on the head, driving those thorns deeper into His blessed brow, increasing His pain and agony. Pilate could find no fault in Him; yet he gave Him up to His tormentors, to His executioners, to be crucified. He who had ever "gone about doing good" was now going to die, to finish His work of love and grace.

As though to mock Him more, the very place where He was crucified was a graveyard! They "led Him away to crucify Him"; they took Him to Golgotha, to Calvary, to the "place of a skull"―as though they would say: "We have heard of His being the Prince of Life. We will put Him to death in a graveyard!"

And there they crucified Him. No more solemn word in all Scripture! There―in a graveyard―they ―the polished Greek, the warlike Roman, the religious Jew―all combined to put Him to death. They crucified Him between two thieves, outcasts of society. But one, a trophy of His grace even in that shameful hour, confessed, "This Man hath done nothing amiss." Sweet confession, balm to His loving heart! What recompense was bestowed immediately upon that dying thief! "This day shalt thou be with Me in paradise."

Friend, can you say you have done nothing amiss? No, you cannot and neither can I; but "this Man hath done nothing amiss." Then why did He die for the one who had done something amiss―for you and for me―the Just for the unjust, that He might "bring us to God"?

The poor thief looked at Jesus and trusted Him, but the rulers and the people derided Him. "Sitting down they watched Him there." Terrible words! As it were, they sat and gloated over His sorrow and suffering. What hearts theirs must have been! Friend, your heart and mine are exactly the same! We are identified with those soldiers who gambled for His garments beneath His dying eyes, and with the passing throng who reviled, derided, and taunted Him in His agony.

And what did they say? "Himself He cannot save." That is not true. Himself He would not save, for, had He come down from the cross, He never could have saved you and me, never could have saved the countless myriads He has saved since that day. Christ would not save Himself, that He might save you. Will you not then, my reader, turn to Him today, if you have never turned to Him before? Will you trust Him who "trusted in God"? He trusted; but did God deliver Him? No, there was a compact between God and His Son that the work should be accomplished by which the guilty sinner might be rescued righteously from eternal judgment. When man proved his total depravity in the blackness of his heart at the crucifixion scene, then was the work of atonement done whereby the vilest may be saved.

Then from the sixth hour (mid-day) there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour." Darkness covered the land; with Christ the Creator suspended between heaven and earth upon the cross of shame, creation veiled its face from a scene so awful, so terrible! Darkness covered the land; and in that darkness man was shut out and God with Jesus was shut in. There for three hours God dealt with Jesus about man's sin, man's guilt, man's iniquity. For three long hours silence reigned and darkness prevailed until from that darkness came a desolate voice: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"

In the hours when all were against Him, when everyone had gone, God forsook this blessed One, too. He was left alone in the darkness, in His deep sorrow and agony. There was none to take pity, none to share His grief. Denied the sweet sympathy of loved ones, with no hearts to grieve nor eyes to weep with Him, He was left alone.

But the darkness passed. Then there came a mighty cry resounding to the heights of heaven, and, I believe, down to the depths of hell―a cry that rent the rocks and shook the earth: "IT IS FINISHED!" And then another: "Father, into Thine hands I commend My spirit."

There upon that cross of shame the lowly Jesus bowed His sacred head and dismissed His spirit. On that cursed tree there was a dead Savior, and that Savior is the Son of God. Oh, soul, do you love Him?

"If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema, Maranatha." 1 Cor. 16:22. What does that mean? "Accursed at His coming."

The veil in the temple was rent. God's own hand rent it from the top to the bottom. The moment the Savior died, the work of redemption was accomplished and the power of death was annulled. Though Jesus died, He must be "the first-fruits of them that slept." His lifeless body was laid in the grave, in Joseph's new tomb, and the entrance sealed with a stone.

Could death hold Him? On the third day morning, being the first day of the week, Christ arose! An angel came and rolled the stone from the door of the sepulcher―not to let the Lord out, most surely, but the stone was rolled away so that you and I might look in. "Come, see the place where the Lord lay," said the angel messenger; "I know you seek Jesus. He is not here. He is risen as He said."

Dear soul, are you seeking Jesus? No dead Christ is now on the cross nor in the tomb. "He is risen as He said." On that third day morning, Christ AROSE, the mighty conqueror over sin, death, and the grave. He arose, the first fruits from the dead, and has ascended to God's right hand. Look up in faith today and see Him there crowned with glory and honor. Let your eyes feast upon Him, your heart cling to Him, and your soul worship Him, for He is worthy.

Up from the grave, He arose

With a mighty triumph o'er His foes;

He arose, a Victor o'er the dark domain,

And He lives forever with His saints to reign:

He arose, He arose! Hallelujah, Christ arose!"

"For when we were yet without

strength, in due time Christ died

for the ungodly."

Romans 5:6.

JUNE

"He Died for Me"

When time seems short and death is near,

And I am pressed by doubt and fear,

And sins, an overflowing tide,

Assail my peace on every side:

This thought my refuge still shall be―

I know my Savior died for me.

If grace were bought, I could not buy;

If grace were coined, no wealth have I!

By grace alone I draw my breath,

Held up from everlasting death;

Yet since I know His grace is free,

I know the Savior died for me.

I read God's holy Word and find

Great truths which far transcend my mind;

And little do I know beside

Of thoughts so high, so deep, and wide;

This is my best theology―

I know the Savior died for me.

My faith is weak, but 'tis Thy gift;

Thou canst my helpless soul uplift,

And say, "Thy bonds of death are riven,

Thy sins by Me are all forgiven;

And thou shalt live from guilt set free,

For I, thy Savior, died for thee.”

The Football Captain's Conversion

The triumphant roar of the thousands who followed the fortunes of the football club of which he was captain was like music to George, for he lived for the game. He was a very popular fellow too; "a good sport," his friends called him, as well as a skillful player. He was a good singer, was always ready with a witty story, and could be relied upon to help a man who was down upon his luck. That sort always have a flock of friends.

But somehow George began to lose his interest in sports, and his jollity settled down into that forced kind that lacks sparkle. The cause was this: his wife had been converted, and George gradually got upset about it. She was so different from him now. He knew that she was right, and he was wrong. She prayed to God; he didn't. She read the Bible; he didn't. She loved the Lord Jesus Christ and owned Him as her Savior. It made him angry to hear the name of Jesus. Yes, there was a great difference between them, and he felt it. In fact, he began to realize that he was a sinful man, though he confessed this to nobody, least of all to his wife.

She often asked him to go to hear the gospel. He as often refused. But one Sunday when she was more persistent than usual, as wives can be sometimes, he said, "All right. I'll go with you today, if you'll let me alone in the future. However, this is the condition: that you go with me to the tavern first, and wait until I go in and get some beer." He did not believe that she would accept the condition; but she did, to his surprise.

He left her outside, for he had too much respect for his wife to allow her to go inside his favorite drinking place. In fact, he felt like a cad for having brought her so near it. He ordered his drink, and raised the foaming glass to his lips, but put it down again without even tasting it. That was a queer thing for him to do― a most unusual thing― and at that moment he could not have given a reason for doing it. Again he took it up, and a second time put it down untasted. A third time he raised it, determined this time to finish it; but a third time down came that glass of beer on the counter; and though he had paid for it, he left it there untasted, and turned on his heel and joined his wife outside. He said afterward that the thought that his wife was praying for him outside made him feel that if he had drunk that beer it would have choked him.

They said nothing to each other, and reached the place of the preaching some time before the time for the service to begin. He took up a Bible and began to turn its pages. Suddenly his attention was arrested by some words that seemed to stand out upon the page as though they were embossed, words that seemed entirely for him. Eagerly he read them, over and over again. Everything began to seem different as their meaning dawned upon him. His misery passed away, that misery that had been eating out his life for weeks, and he turned to his wife and said, "I'M A SAVED MAN." Yes, even before the service began that night, sitting by the wife who loved him and prayed for him, through the application of one solitary verse of Scripture to his soul, he was able to say, "I'm a saved man.”

The verse that did the work was this, "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.

Wonderful words! Just how they appealed to the captain of the town's football club I cannot say, but I know that they revolutionized his life. They made him a happy man who could rejoice in Jesus the Savior who spoke them. They made him boldly preach that same Savior at the street corners of his native town.

Friend, believe those wonderful words of life. They were spoken by the Savior who died. Christ died for the ungodly, for sinners like George, for you, and for me. Yes, for you, that you might be able to say, "I'm a saved man." As surely as you accept the One of whom those words speak, you too will have "passed from death unto life.”

Keep Looking up

Many years ago there lay, in a large pleasant room of a fine old residence, a young woman suffering from serious spinal trouble. It had resulted from a fall upon the ice while she was skating. The invalid was the only daughter of a proud, ambitious, haughty man, many of whose ways she had inherited. She had been envied for her beauty, her wealth, and her position, and now here she lay, helpless and hopeless.

The surgeons had said after their examination, when she insisted upon knowing the truth as to their findings: "You may live for years, but you will be an invalid and a great sufferer as long as you live.”

Now the burden of her cry was: "I am doomed to lie here, doomed to lie here!”

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

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

The thought remained with her. She could not see the floor nor the ground anywhere, but her windows Looked out into a large tree. Because her eyes must rest on something, they learned to focus on the view beyond the window. She soon became familiar with the birds who made the tree their home. She noted the shadows cast by the sunlight, and the drip, drip of the rain. She gazed up at the clouds and marveled at the surpassing beauty of dawn, the glory of the sunsets, and watched the first star that smiled at her with its friendly beams.

Those who took care of her also noticed a change, and they were surprised and pleased that, though she did not suffer less, she ceased complaining so much. Her mind seemed to have a new and enjoyable occupation.

When the cleaning woman came next, with her gentle step and her dust cloths, the girl said: "Tell me something more about looking up.”

Promptly the woman replied: "It is a wonderful thing to look up― to see a glorified Savior on the throne of God. But better yet it is to know Him and trust Him.”

"How did you learn all this?" asked the invalid. `You seem to be so busy.”

"Work is a blessing," replied the woman, "for when my hands are occupied with cleaning, my mind is free to be occupied with Him whose blood has cleansed me from all sin.”

Then this humble housemaid told her mistress the precious gospel of God's grace to man in giving His Son to die for our sins. She explained the mighty work He did for us on Calvary, a work none other could do, and she lovingly urged upon her the peace and joy of simple belief in the Savior. Gratefully the invalid received Him into her heart and was saved.

"And now," said the maid, "I want to tell you a wonderful thing that once happened to me. I was doing housework for a lady. One day I was dusting the outside shutters, and she called to me to take care of the baby who was sleeping in a cradle under the trees. Then in the kind and gracious way she always had toward everybody, she suggested: 'Lie in the hammock a while and look up! That is what I like to do when I am tired; I look up to God―I look up and love and trust Him.'

"And that is just what I did for nearly half an hour. Just as she told me, I looked up; and I keep looking up.

"When the lady came back she said, 'Thank you! I hope you have seen that although each of us are trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior many have different duties here, the life above is for us all in equal measure.'

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

Then she said a surprising thing to the invalid: "You were that baby, ma'am, and the gentle lady was your mother. She lived less than a year after that morning.

From that time on the young lady lay and looked up. Her whole life and conduct showed forth the love of Christ, and through her faith in Him she was able to rise above her afflictions and became a true witness for Christ.

"They looked unto Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed." Psa. 34:5.

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

Life Insurance

In this age of many and varied kinds of insurance societies it is well to remember that they can in no wise insure the life of the body or the eternal welfare of the soul. All that they can do is pay indemnities or damages incurred against the mortal and his temporal possessions.

There are many different kinds of insurance: some for our homes and real estate; some for our goods; some for our families; but there is only one insurance that may be said to be indispensable: that for our souls. This insurance is at every one's door. It is free; and the most abject and degraded person may receive it as a gift.

Some time ago two doctors who were earnestly desirous to advance the science of healing stood by the bedside of a man in the last stages of a dread disease. They discussed in Latin a terrible operation they proposed to try on him. It was of the deepest importance to their experiments, from a surgical point of view. Indeed there was no thought of the suffering patient, whom they spoke of as this "anima vilis." They saw him only as a suitable subject to experiment on.

It so happened that this "anima vilis," impoverished as he was in worldly goods, was rich in faith toward God, and in his better days had been a Latin scholar also. Now slowly turning his head, he said, in that language: "That soul is not vile for whom Jesus Christ has died.”

The poor man was quite well aware that he was of no value in the sight of men―that he was a burden in the world―a charge on society; but he also knew that God loved him! He was able to say, "Christ... gave Himself for me." Gal. 2:20.

That was his insurance. He knew that the precious blood of Christ was the price by which his soul had been redeemed. Lying there in that charity ward, he possessed in fact immense wealth, the only lasting riches. He knew no fear of the future, whether in life or in death. In the midst of all his sufferings, he had the only real life insurance―that which the Apostle Paul knew when he said: "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Rom. 8:38, 39.

The Hen or the Egg

He was a brilliant young man and had but recently returned from abroad where he had been sent to complete his education. While attending a famous university there he had listened to and been sadly influenced by infidel lectures. Through these he had been led at the beginning to wish, and in the end to affirm, "There is no God. 'God' is only an empty word.”

Shortly after this young student's return to his home, he was a guest among other local intellectuals at the residence of one of his former teachers. After the formalities of introductions were accomplished, each visitor was free to join any group whose topic of conversation appealed to him, whether it was world news, current local events, science, or literature.

Feeling somewhat awkward as a newcomer, the young man glanced around the large room in search of a kindred spirit. Finally his eyes rested on a couple of young men seated in the partial seclusion of a bay window. They were apparently earnestly discussing a book one of them held and comparing its contents with another on the window-seat between them.

Joining them, the young man smilingly asked: "Is the book under discussion fact or fiction?”

"Indeed it is fact, sir," came the answer; "and as such, we find it much stranger than fiction. It is the history of the Jews, God's chosen people; and it is a joy to corroborate each statement by the facts as revealed in God's Word.”

"You believe then that there is a God?" So questioned the returned student.

Surprised, the young men answered: "Sure! don't you?”

Airily their questioner replied: "Oh, I once did. But after my years abroad, studying advanced science, modern philosophy, and so forth, I am convinced that `God' is an empty word.”

Very solemnly the elder of the two young men undertook to answer: "I, sir, have never been abroad. Science, philosophy, and so forth I study as the thoughts of man, and as man's thoughts, I find them constantly changing.

"My Bible I know as the Word of God, and as such I find it has withstood all the infidel attacks launched against it since Satan questioned it in the garden with `Hath God said?' In Psa. 138:2, the Psalmist David asserts his belief in and upholds its authenticity by saying: 'Thou past magnified Thy Word above all Thy name.'

"Of course you will admit, sir, that one cannot believe the Bible without accepting the God of the Bible. I have set to my seal that God is true, and am happy to confess Him as the author and finisher of faith. I repudiate what you might call 'the higher criticism' and cling with all my heart to God and His truth as revealed in His holy Word.

"But, sir," continued the young man, "I have a question for you. Since you are so learned, and say there is no God, you can easily tell me whence the egg comes?”

"An odd question, truly," the student answered; "but of course we know the egg comes from the hen.”

"Which existed first then: the egg or the hen?”

"I really can't see where your question leads―nor your hen," was the jocular answer; "but I say that which existed first is the hen.”

"There is a hen, then, which did not come from the egg?”

"Beg your pardon! I did not take notice that the egg existed first.”

"There is, then, an egg that did not come from a hen?”

"Oh, if you―beg pardon―that is―you see―you see―”

"I see, sir, that you do not know whether the egg existed before the hen, or the hen before the egg." "Well, then, I say the hen.”

"Very well; there is a hen which did not come from an egg. Tell me now who made this first hen, from which all other hens and eggs come?”

"With your hens and your eggs, it seems to me you take me for a poultry-man!”

"By no means, sir; I only ask you to tell me whence the mother of all hens and eggs came?" "But what is your object?”

"Well, since you do not know, you will permit me to tell you. He who created the first hen, or, as you would rather have it, the first egg, is the same who created the world; and this Being is God. Do you, who cannot explain the existence of a hen or an egg without God still maintain that this world exists without God?”

The young philosopher was silent, all his arguments squelched and his mind a whirlpool of doubts. At last he spoke seriously to those two defenders of the truth of God, saying, "You do have a point there, and I promise you I shall ponder it well. If your Bible is true, there is a God, and may He have mercy on my unbelieving soul.”

Without further words the returned student took his hat and, full of shame, departed―if not convinced of his folly, at least confounded by the simple questioning of a believer in God.

How many there are who, like him, professing to be wise, prove themselves to be very foolish, speaking evil of things they know not, and denying things they never have investigated.

Dear young friend, in this day when Satan's chief attack is on the truth of God's Word, I beg you always to accord it the reverence due the faithful utterances of a holy God. By it over the past ages, and through His grace, souls have been converted, enlightened, quickened, saved. Many of these have received the acclaim of the world because of their brilliant minds, high position, great possessions; yet, in spite of worldly renown and attainment their dearest object in life has been to exalt and glorify God, the Source. In His blest ways and in His sight they, every one alike, whether rich or poor, high or low, have come to Him on one basis alone―by simple faith in His dear Son Jesus. Will you not also take the low place, and in true humility submit yourself to God, the all-wise, and receive eternal life through His Son?

"Woulds't thou go up? Go down!

Content to do thy Master's will;

But go as low as e'er thou canst,

The Highest hath gone lower still.”

Christ and Sinners

The moment you learn that you are a sinner you may look up into the face of the Son of God, and claim Him as your own Savior.

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 1 Tim. 1:15.

And what a moment that will be among the heavenly hosts! "There is joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that repenteth.”

Christ Jesus came into the world to seek and to save sinners. He walked as a solitary man on earth, save when He met a poor sinner. They alone had title, or even power, to interrupt the solitudes of this heavenly Stranger. The world knew Him not. His paths were lonely among us, save when He and the sinner found their way together.

So it was with the woman at Sychar's well, and the one leper who, cleansed by His word, returned to give Him thanks. Even so it will be when you, poor wanderer in the paths of iniquity, turn to Him who yearns over you as a Father over His wayward child. How can you ignore such great salvation?

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

"These things have I written unto

you that believe on the name of the

Son of God; that ye may know that

ye have eternal life.”

1 John 5:13

JULY

"Get Right With God!"

Oh, wilt thou bend to Him thine ear,

And now His loving message hear?

He speaks in accents plain and clear―

"Get right with God!”

The world may charm thee for a while,

And fortune for a season smile;

But let not Satan thee beguile―"

Get right with God!”

The world is full of sin and wrong,

Its power will carry thee along;

Thou need'st the "Arm" that's true and strong―

"Get right with God!”

Beware! Temptation clogs thy steps,

And sin of every comfort strips;

Thy soul will sink in dark eclipse―

"Get right with God!”

The best of earth can never meet

Thy heart's deep need, or joy complete:

Its pleasures only kill and cheat―

"Get right with God!”

The heart of man was made for One,

The Holy and Eternal Son;

He satisfies and He, alone―

"Get right with God!”

"I Will"

Four of us sat, one on each side of a square table in a small parlor―three young men in soldiers' uniforms and myself. We were not there to shuffle cards or crack jokes, or even to discuss the topics of the day. We had much more serious business in hand.

These three young men had attended a gospel service the previous night, and there had been aroused within them a desire to hear more of the way of salvation, for they knew they were not right with God. Close friends as they were, each had been similarly affected; and when they discovered this at the close of the service, it made them all the more eager for an interview. And so we arranged to meet at a friend's house and talk things over.

As normal, worldly young men, they had many difficulties; these they freely confessed. They were all three fond of sports, and they wanted to know whether, if they yielded to Christ, they would get something that would please them more. I assured them that the Lord Jesus was brighter and better than the brightest and best that the world could give.

They were afraid too that if they became Christians they would have a hard time with their chums. They would be ridiculed and scorned, and would probably lose many a merry mate. I assured them that the best friend to have is JESUS, and that they would be worse than fools if they allowed the jeers of godless men to keep them away from Him whom they knew they needed the most.

There were a good many other objections; but all these, one by one, were answered. They owned candidly that they were sinful men, and at some time knew that they would have to meet God about their sins, but they were not ready. They went further and acknowledged that they wanted to be ready! They had talked the matter over, and had decided to ask me to help them.

Then I gladly told them of the Savior who died for sinners, and so for them; who shed His precious blood to cleanse away the sins of guilty men, and so to cleanse theirs' away. I reminded them that the Savior who died for them was now a living Savior, raised from the dead, and that He deserved and desired their trust in Him; and all that remained for them to do was to yield themselves to Him in simple faith.

The leader of the three was sitting opposite to me. He broke in upon my talk by saying, "What's the use of talking to us about believing in Christ? How can we believe in Him unless God's Holy Spirit makes us? I tell you, I can't believe.”

I replied: "I am afraid it is not a question of can't but won't. But suppose you could believe in Jesus. Will you suppose that you could for three minutes?”

"All right, I will," he said.

"Well, now, suppose you could believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I ask you, WILL YOU HAVE THIS Savior TO BE YOUR Savior NOW?”

I looked directly into his eyes, and his friends eagerly watched his face: We waited for his answer. After a pause I repeated the question: "Will you have this Savior to be your Savior, tonight?”

The dear fellow's eyes filled with tears. He stretched his hand across the table, and took mine in a warm grip, saying, "I WILL.”

And with that decision every difficulty disappeared. His indecision departed. He was saved, and saw it so clearly that his friends were astonished. One of them also decided for Christ, but I could not be sure about the other. But this was plain to them all: that it was the "I will" on their part that was needed.

The Lord Jesus has said His "I will." "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28; and "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37.

God has said, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. IF YE BE WILLING." Isa. 1:18, 19.

What could be simpler? When a sinner really feels his need of the Savior, and is ready to say "I will" to Him to the Lord Jesus Christ the great transaction is forever done. He can say, "I am my Lord's and He is mine.”

Be Ye Thankful

At the close of a gospel meeting in a small town, I observed a young woman leaving the room with a look of great distress on her face. As she was passing me, I asked her if she were saved and if so, why so sad. She answered that she was anxious to be saved but could not see her way clear.

I asked her if she had been anxious any length of time―if she believed she was a poor, lost, helpless, and hell-deserving sinner. With tears in her eyes she answered: "Yes, and for a long time.”

I then asked her what she was doing to get relief. She informed me that she was doing the best she could; and asking the Lord to forgive her.

"But," I replied, "Christ has done a complete and sufficient work upon the cross. Then He said: 'IT IS FINISHED!' He has also borne the sins of all who believe in Him and has put them away forever.”

She assured me that she believed all this, but that it brought no relief to her conscience.

I then turned to 1 Peter 2:24, where it says, "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.”

I endeavored to show her from this scripture that Christ had all our sins upon Him on the cross, and that if He had not then, He never would, for He would never be there again; that He then put them all away in His death, and if He did not then, He never would, as He could not again shed His blood, having shed it while He was in this sin-stained, guilty world.

I then asked her: "Do you believe that Christ had all our sins upon Him when He was on the tree?" "Yes, I believe He had.”

"Do you believe that He put them all away with His precious blood before He left the tree?”

"Yes, I believe He did.”

"Do you believe that He was buried, and rose again without them, according to the Scriptures?”

"Scripture says so, and I believe it is true.”

"Do you believe that He is in heaven, and that He has been there nearly 2000 years without them?”

She answered, with all her heart, "Yes.”

"Well, now, does not that make you happy?" I asked.

"No," she answered.

I saw she was an honest soul, and for a moment I could not understand her difficulty. At last I asked her the question, "Have you ever thanked Him?”

She owned that she had not, and at once saw the secret of her unhappiness.

I advised her to do so without delay, assuring her that the Lord alone would make her happy.

The next evening she was at the meeting again. At the close she came to me with a bright and happy face and said, "I have thanked Him for what He did for me on the cross, and He has made me so happy.”

Months have rolled away since this dear young woman believed in the Lord and His work,―since she confessed it to Him, and thanked Him for it. She is still rejoicing in the knowledge of her full, complete, and everlasting salvation.

How is it with you, the reader of these pages? Are your sins all gone? If not, you cannot go to heaven with them; for heaven is the home of holiness, while hell is the abode of sin. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

Trust it, dead soul, and rejoice in the prospect of eternity with and like your Savior.

"Every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure." 1 John 3:3.

"I Want to Live! I Want to Live!"

This was the cry of a very sick man in what was called the poor house. I had been asked by those in the same ward to seek to rouse him up to the fact that he was near death. "He will not believe it," they added. Yet, the moment one looked at him it was very evident that death had already claimed his victim, as the fast failing breath and glassy eye clearly indicated.

I bent over the sick man, and told him of his danger. At the same moment I implored him even now to look to the Savior of the lost, repeating: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Gasping for breath, the dying man made a violent effort to speak. I listened eagerly for the words, but to my horror these were the only ones: "I want to live!”

No thought had he for the future, no desire for salvation, only the clinging to this poor life which was rapidly vanishing. Again I bent over him, assuring him that he was a dying man, and that in a short time he would have to face a holy God, who even now offered him pardon and eternal life. While I was yet pleading, he became wildly excited, and making a desperate effort to speak, he again gasped out: "I want to live!”

I cannot describe my feeling. The men around us urged me still to entreat. It seemed too awful to see how Satan was deluding his poor victim with the hope of this life. Sick at heart, for the last time I implored him to accept the Savior, that gift of God, which was eternal life and glory with Christ. With a last effort he pushed me from him, and for the third time he gasped out: "I want to live!”

Soon all was over, and he had to appear before his Judge, refusing the last offer of mercy which a loving Savior held out.

Reader, how is it with you? Are you leaving what concerns your immortal soul to your last hour? Then it may be too late, when Satan may tempt you to reject the wondrous gift which it cost the blessed Savior His life's blood to procure for you.

Jesus still says, "He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.”

Accept this loving offer now. Tomorrow may not be yours. Come unto Him; look unto Him; accept from Him, and you will have "all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus.”

"What Do You Know?"

He was a gentle aged saint, grown gray in his Master's service, a true minister of Jesus Christ. In conversation with a young man who was well-pleased with himself, and with what he had been acquiring at college, the younger man took the lead in questioning the elder.

"Of course, Mr. Ware, you are acquainted with such an author, and familiar with his works.”

"No," replied the aged man, "I do not know them.”

Some other subject was started by his companion, and question after question put to the old minister. To each of these the answer was, "I do not know.”

At length, frustrated and forgetting the honor due to gray hairs, the young man asked, "And what, sir, do you know?”

"Young man," was the reply, "I know HIM whom to know, is LIFE ETERNAL.”

Reader, "What do you know?”

The Devil's Auction

The day is coming when the devil will put up his last soul to auction! Sin, and pleasure, and money, and religion, and worldliness, will bid their last bids! Satan's hammer will fall for the last time― and then he himself will be consigned to "everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Matt. 25:41.

Have you ever seen flies and moths fluttering round the flame of a candle on a summer's evening? In like manner do men and women seem to be dancing on the brink of the lake of fire.

"The devil's auction!" Such was the title of a play about to be performed in a theater at Philadelphia, Pa., on the 27th of April, 1892, when a yet more awful scene was enacted instead. In the days of Noah, before the flood, "they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage... until the flood came, and took them all away." Matt. 24:38, 39. At the theater they were amusing themselves likewise, until a little accident set fire to the place, and in one short hour it, and many adjacent buildings, became a mass of smoking ruins. Horrible scenes followed as men fought for their lives, careless of aught but personal safety; and broken limbs and fearful injuries were the result, to say nothing of the dead and dying.

The horrors of that hour, who shall describe, though we are getting more and more hardened to reading of or witnessing such scenes? The devil takes care to render people callous to the "accidents" that occur on the downward road; and he tries to blind them to the fact that he is hurrying through his "auction," because there is but a short time left.

Think of it, only a short time left! The devil's auction will soon come to an end, and God, whose eyes are as a flame of fire, will appear on the scene. He will take His "strange work" of judgment in hand, and there will be mercy no longer. "The vials of the wrath of God" are shortly to be poured out on this earth, this guilty earth (Rev. 16). Judgment will succeed judgment, until one will receive power "to scorch men with fire." How is it possible to write what follows? "And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory." Of others we read that they "blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.”

If the Lord Jesus wept over Jerusalem, saying to her, "How often would I have gathered thy children... and ye would not," what can be His attitude now? It was down here that He died. It was down here that His precious blood was shed to wash away sin. Yet it is here that He is being rejected as a Savior, and that the devil is being accepted as a master. No wonder then, that God's wrath is to be poured out here: do not those deserve it who refuse His mercy? But He offers it still―will you accept it?

In that same book of judgment, His last word to you is: "Come... whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. 22:17. That blessed water of life will quench your thirst, will free you from the devil, and sin, and judgment. That water of life is Jesus― Jesus who "came... to give His life a ransom for many." Mark 10:45. Only Jesus can deliver you from "the wrath to come." 1 Thess. 1:10. Will you not trust Him and thank Him?

"Insurance Policies"

One afternoon while visiting a sick man in the little village hospital, I noticed a new occupant in one of the beds. Seeking to show my interest in the stranger, I expressed to him my sympathy and was told he had a badly fractured thigh. I said: "I am sorry you have met with this accident. It is a sad business when the husband and father is laid aside.”

He turned his face towards me with a bright smile, and replied: "Ah, but I am well provided for; I have long ago made provision.”

His smile was so happy that I thought there must be a deeper meaning in the words― that his must be a divine certainty. To confirm the thought I said, "Well provided for? I am glad; but is it for time or for eternity?”

"Well, come to think of it, it's for time; I have two insurance policies.”

"And what provision have you made for eternity?" I asked.

"For eternity?" He repeated my question. "Why, I hadn't thought of that! Nothing, I guess.”

I sat down by the little bed, and looking him earnestly in the face, said: "What! Two sources of insurance for time, and nothing for eternity? Yet time is so short, and eternity forever. My friend, does not this seem folly?”

"Well, so it might be, now you put it in that way." "Indeed, it is madness. Only think, you had two policies to fall back on when you broke your leg; but if that accident had brought death to you, you had no provision― nothing for eternity! I have not the gray hairs that you have, but, thank God, many years ago, through His grace, I made my provision for eternity. Let me beg of you to do the same.”

Thoughtfully the answer came. "Yes, you are young and I am growing old. I guess it is high time I began to think of another world. But then, you see, I have always been a very temperate man and lived honestly and I think I have as good a chance of going to heaven as anyone. I'm what one would say thoroughly respectable.”

"How strange," I remarked gravely, "that God does not say one word in His Book about thoroughly respectable people getting to heaven!”

The injured man looked uneasy and fidgeted in his bed. Then he said, "I'm no Bible student, but I guess God would find more good than bad in me. As I get older, I'll just turn over a new leaf and tell the Lord I am sorry for the old. After all that, one might be sure of getting to heaven.”

"You told me a few moments ago that being a thoroughly respectable, honest, temperate man gave you a good chance of heaven. Now you talk of some day turning over a new leaf and being sorry for your old ways. That means that you acknowledge that you are a sinner, after all.

"Now what do you think your turning over a new leaf, as you call it, will do as before God? Will your being sorry blot out any one of your sins? If you had run up a bill at the baker's, which you were quite unable to pay, would your telling him you were sorry you had got into his debt take that debt out of his books and set you free?”

"No, to be sure it would not.”

"And do you think God is going to be less just as to His accounts than a tradesman of this world? Depend upon it, you have 'come short' in all His claims upon you. He has offered you a policy― the only policy that can make you safe for time and for eternity. This policy was written, signed and sealed in the precious blood of Christ Jesus, His Son, at the cross of Calvary. It insures your present peace, for 'He has made peace by the blood of His cross'; it takes care of every burden in your daily life, as He states: 'Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you'; and it assures you of a glorious entry into His presence at the end of life's journey, according to His promise: 'He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him.'

"Now will you not accept God's insurance policy offered to you in His Word? It is all paid for, and only awaits your acceptance. How can you refuse it.”

The poor man was now squirming and groaning, whether with pain in his injured leg or with a sorely pricked conscience I know not. But as I rose to go he reached out his hand, and with tear-dimmed eyes he stammered: "Oh, I need that policy! I never felt that need before. And I do want Him as my insurance of salvation now and forever.”

When I left his bedside that afternoon, it was with full confidence that by God's grace another soul had fully subscribed to God's wondrous plan and received His assurance of salvation.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that believeth on Me
(Jesus) hath everlasting life.”

John 6:47

AUGUST

Be in Time

1. Life at best is very brief,

Like the falling of a leaf,

Like the binding of a sheaf,

Be in time!

Fleeting days are telling fast

That the die will soon be cast,

And the fatal line be past,

Be in time!

Refrain:

Be in time... be in time...

While the voice of Jesus calls you,

Be in time!

If in sin you longer wait,

You may find no open gate,

And your cry be "Just too late!"

Be in time!

2. Fairest flowers soon decay;

Youth and beauty pass away.

Oh! you have not long to stay.

Be in time!

While God's Spirit bids you come,

Sinner, do not longer roam,

Lest you seal your hopeless doom,

Be in time!

3. Time is gliding swiftly by;

Death and judgment both draw nigh,

To the arms of Jesus fly.

Be in time!

Oh! I pray you count the cost,

Ere the fatal line be crossed,

And your Christless soul be lost.

Be in time!

4. Sinner, heed the warning voice;

Make the Lord your happy choice,

Then all heaven will rejoice.

Be in time!

Come from darkness into light,

From the way that seemeth right;

Come and start for heaven tonight.

Be in time!

Professor or Possessor

Harold Vogt was born in Germany but left there as a young man to make his home in California. He obtained employment and settled in the city of San Francisco.

Possessed of a considerable sum of money he was courted by those whose company he ought to have shunned; and through gambling and speculating he soon lost his means. Though taught to respect and reverence God's Word, his Bible was laid aside, and for years was left unread.

During this time Harold Vogt was most unhappy. His life was one long attempt to escape thinking of God, judgment, and eternity. In this he partially succeeded, but only so long as he was in the company of others. Right well did he know he was sinning against light and love; and deep down in his soul he knew that "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

To prevent the recurrence of such unwelcome thoughts, "I often," to use his own words, "stayed up late at night and on to the hours of morning with other fellows gambling just to get out of my room; for no sooner was I alone in my room than my conscience would accuse me.”

Is this so with the reader? Are you attempting to get away from God? Do you shrink from being alone? Have you been heedless of your soul's interests, allowing your mind and heart to be absorbed with the pleasures, amusements, business, or cares of this life? If so, remember that a day of reckoning is at hand.

God "hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained." Acts 17:31.

A famous evangelist came to San Francisco and was conducting services in a large building. Vogt thought he would like to hear him and, accordingly, attended several of the meetings. One evening, through curiosity more than anything else, he went into the inquiry room and was asked by one of the workers if he were a Christian.

"I don't think so," was the reply.

"Would you like to be one?”

"I would not mind," he answered.

The worker then read a portion of Scripture, prayed, and asked him to do the same.

Vogt left under the impression that he was a child of God. But, like many others, Satan had deceived him with a spurious conversion.

He had "prayed" for salvation and imagined that he had obtained it through his praying. He "felt happy" now― much happier than he had formerly been. But his "happiness" was obtained through believing a lie― through believing that his sins were forgiven when they were not. Thus it is that,

"A man may think that all is well,

And every fear be calmed;

He lives, he dies, he wakes in hell,

Not only doomed but damned!”

"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; but the end there of are the ways of death." Prov. 14:12.

Vogt, believing that he was now a Christian, joined a religious association; but, as he says, he was only happy when at the meetings. "Perhaps," said he "I ought to do more for God and I shall feel better." He "worked" and "worked," trying to do good to others in order to obtain peace with God. But the "earnest Christian worker," as he was now considered, had yet to learn that he was on the wrong track.

Late that year, walking along one of the leading streets of the city, he saw a crowd of people listening to a street preacher who was telling out the "old, old story" of Calvary's cross. He listened for a while and then, with others, went to a hail in an adjoining street.

Vogt thought that the preaching was pointed and rather personal. He imagined that the preacher had singled him out and he went home in a miserable condition. Could it be possible that after all he was not a Christian? The evangelist had dwelt on the necessity of regeneration and had emphasized the fact that there are but two classes in God's sight―saved and unsaved, justified and condemned. Where did he stand? What was he? To which class did he belong?

Reference had been made in the course of the preaching to the fact that on the broad road to hell there was both a clean and a dirty footpath and that many were traveling religiously and respectably to eternal ruin on its clean side. Was he? He was afraid so, but was too proud to own it.

On the following night, with Bible in hand, he was back at the hall. He was even more wretched than on the previous evening. On the next night he saw himself to be a lost, guilty sinner, under the wrath of a holy God. He hurried to his home and, sitting reading, for the first time in his life's history he perceived that the Lord Jesus, by bearing the punishment due to him, had done everything necessary for his soul's deliverance. When he learned what Christ's death had accomplished he fell on his knees and thanked God for giving Christ to die for him.

Next morning Satan was on his track with his fiery darts. "Are you really born again?" Are you sure you have got the right kind of faith?" were the arrows shot.

Satan, however, was defeated. Vogt rested his weary, sin-burdened soul not on what he had done or felt but on the finished work of Christ; his assurance of salvation depended not on the testimony of a fallible creature but upon the Word of the living God.

"He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." 1 John 5:10, 11.

Is the reader of these lines merely a "professor of religion?" Or is he also a possessor of Christ? Where do you stand? Are you white-washed or washed white? Be honest. Get down to the foundation and ascertain whether you are building for eternity on the sandy foundation of your prayers, good works, happy feelings, resolutions, sacramental observances, or on the "Rock of Ages." Flee at once to Him who is able and willing to save all who come.

"He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." Heb. 7:25.

An Officer's Message

The young officer, well-known to all his men as reckless and careless, fearing nothing, was near death. When one of the men of his regiment, Sgt. Taylor, visited him in the hospital, he gave him many last messages for loved ones at home.

"Promise me, Taylor, that you will go to Easton and see my mother. Tell her all about me.”

"Your mother, sir?" The look of sorrow and regret on the dying man's face made the trooper say gently: "May I tell your mother that you died trusting in Christ, sir?”

"No, no," was the bitter answer. "She is a wonderful mother and a real Christian. It will break her heart, I know; but no, it is not true of me!" He turned his face away.

"But Christ will receive you now just as you are, sir. Why not come to Him?”

"Taylor," was the bitter answer, "I have lived only for myself, and given God no thought all my life. How could I be so low as to turn to Him at the end? No! It's too late. I set my course and left God out.”

"Wait a minute, sir. Look at it this way. Look at it from Christ's side. After all He has done for you― and He died for you, didn't He?― give Him the chance of reaping your soul. He has suffered enough for you. Don't cause Him still more disappointment! Give Him at least the chance of saving you now, late though it is.”

The man's eyes opened in astonishment. This was a new way of looking at it― that Christ would be disappointed if he were lost, and that he would be grieving Him still further― that was a new thought.

"Leave me, Taylor; but come back tonight. I must think this through.”

That evening, when the sergeant again stood by the bed of the dying officer there was no need to ask a question. The light in the man's eyes told the tale.

He had not disappointed Christ! The lost sheep had let the Shepherd find him "to the uttermost.”

"Tell mother that my trust is in Christ, and that He is not disappointed," he whispered.

Listen! lost soul! Jesus says: "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37.

"He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him." Heb. 7:25.

Life is found alone in Jesus,

Only there 'tis offered thee,

Offered without price or money,

'Tis the gift of God sent free.

Take salvation,

Take it now and happy be.

"A Time for Everything"

Walking down the village street one day, I met a very aged-looking man, well dressed and elegant in appearance. However, his frame was shrunken from age; his face was small, withered, and wrinkled; his eyes dull, and his steps feeble and tottering. He was a living picture of Eccl. 12, God's picture of man in his last days before he goes to his long home. Indeed one would say with the preacher: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

As we approached each other, we both seemed naturally to stop as we met, and after a few remarks had passed, I said: "I don't think I have seen you before, sir. You seem to be getting along in years, are you not?" He told me his name and where he lived, and then said, "I am ninety-five.”

I had never before seen one so old, and was awed and almost hushed at the thought of so great an age, for "the multitude of years should teach wisdom." The thoughts of what so long a life must have included, and of what may have taken place during it, passed rapidly through my mind. Above all, What had it been for God?

"Do you know God?" I inquired.

Tears came into the weary-looking eyes, and he answered that he had been for most of his life in a far-off land, where, I inferred, God had no thought nor place, and that he had at last returned to his native town to die.

"And you have lived nearly a century without God? Oh, what a loss!”

I felt deeply for the old man, and said further, "And will you live forever without Him who loved poor sinners so much that He sent His Son to die for them? He wants them to know Him, to trust Him, and He longs for their eternal joy. He has been very patient with you. He has spared you till now through these long years, that you may still turn to Him. It is not too late.”

I talked to him thus, and the old man wept, partly from feebleness and partly emotion, because the mention of such things affected him. He knew that he was without God, and that he had spent a life of nearly a hundred years without Him.

I invited him to come to the schoolhouse and hear God's message to him of mercy and salvation through the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God; and I was glad indeed to see him there at the next meeting, sitting near the front, where I knew he would hear well.

Earnestly we had been praying for him, and we looked for blessing on the old man. Yes, and God vouchsafed it! In the last days of his long life, God, whom he had neglected and left unsought, met him in grace and in blessing.

As before he had wept at the thought of having left God out, "and gone his own way," amongst reckless men in a godless land, now he wept at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. He was penitent and subdued, filled with the sense of the love and goodness of God, who had been for him, giving and forgiving, though he had turned his back upon Him. Now his delight was to listen to His precious Word that he might learn more of Him, and to attend the meetings, to which before long he had to be led, as his eyesight was rapidly failing.

One could look at the hoary head now, its way of unrighteousness past forever, and see it as God now saw it, and think His own blessed thoughts about it. "The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.”

Dear aged ones, we well know that "The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off and we fly away.”

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Who will be in that vast throng? Every blood-bought, blood-washed sinner from Abel down to the last soul saved before Christ comes; every one of whom it is said, "they that are Christ's at His coming.”

The moment Christ descends, all believers in Jesus will be caught up. Cemeteries, graves, and sea shall yield up their bodies. Those who are alive also "shall be changed," and "caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Reader, will you be among that happy assembly that shall rise to meet their Lord? Will you have part in that grand open-air meeting? Or will you be left behind to endure the terrible time of judgment that is coming upon this Christ-rejecting scene?

"They received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thess. 2:10-12.

Do you reply, "I don't believe that. And if it be true, I suppose I shall not be there.”

Then, friend, there is a meeting where you will be, like it or not. It is the prayer-meeting―and there you will pray. When the door is shut, and the saved souls are inside with the Master of the house, and you are outside knocking for admittance, then you will pray, and pray earnestly too: "Lord, Lord, open to us!”

Friend, the saddest answer of all eternity then will be yours: "I know you not." Matt. 25:10-12. Perhaps your prayer-meeting will be the one spoken of in Rev. 6:15-17. Who will be there? "The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man.”

Would you feel honored to be among them? Just see what they will do. They "hid themselves in dens and in the rocks of the mountains." This fearful and unbelieving crowd hidden in mountain-caves and dens, they pray, too. Just listen to their prayer: they say to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

A rich man in hell―one who possibly never prayed much on earth―"in hell he lifted up his eyes,... and said, Father Abraham,... send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”

What a prayer! But, friend, his prayer was too late. It was not answered. Beware, lest you put off the salvation of your soul till some convenient season. It may never come, and you may find yourself at last at that awful prayer-meeting where prayers will be in vain.

Thank God, there is another meeting, and the heart of the believer in Jesus longs for it. At this meeting all the redeemed shall cluster around God's Lamb, His blessed Son Jesus, and ascribe "blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever," and they shall "fall down and worship Him.”

In all honesty we must admit, to our shame, that many of the Lord's dear people give Him very little praise and worship here. How worldly they are! How occupied with themselves and their own blessings, giving little or nothing to the Blesser. In heaven all will be changed. There the blessed Lord shall have full praise. With all evil banished and the saints changed into the likeness of His body of glory, nothing can hinder the out flowings of full hearts throughout eternity.

Now, my reader, at which meeting will you be found? The open-air meeting and the glorious worship meeting? Oh, I beseech you, before it be too late, accept Christ now as your personal Savior, then live for Him here in the power of an ungrieved Holy Spirit, as you will live with Him in glory there, and worship Him forever and ever.

"As Good as My Neighbors"

Whenever I hear anyone say, "I am as good as my neighbors," I at once conclude that something is materially wrong. Those who think themselves to be "as good as their neighbors" have never really seen themselves as God does, else they would have discovered their own hearts to be "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked". Jer. 17:9. Never would a truly converted person say, "I am as good as my neighbors.”

Job said, "Behold, I am vile." Job 40:4. Isaiah cried, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips." Isa. 6:5. Peter confessed, "I am a sinful man." Luke 5:8. The Apostle Paul, far from thinking himself as good as his neighbors, called himself the "chief" of sinners. (1 Tim. 1:15). Where do you stand?

"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."
"WHOSOEVER
BELIEVETH ON HIM
SHALL NOT
BE ASHAMED.”

Rom. 10:9, 11

SEPTEMBER

"Wonderful"

Wonderful Savior! We worship before Thee,

Jehovah Almighty―Eternal "I am!”

This we confess, while our hearts still adore

Thee, As, washed in Thy blood, we cry, "Worthy the Lamb!”

Wonderful Jesus! The Babe in the manger,

Though born of the virgin, Thy nature all clean;

Thine was the kingdom, yet counted a stranger,

Thy welcome how cold! And Thy lodging how mean!

Wonderful Person! The Son of the Father;

Known only to Him can this mystery be;

We may not fathom its meaning, the rather

Our face we veil, as we think upon Thee.

Wonderful, too, in Thy manifestation,

Revealing the Father, declaring His name;

Who but Thyself, to procure our salvation,

God's justice could meet, and His love could proclaim?

Wonderful price of eternal redemption;

Oh! marvelous work, with which none can compare!

Precious the blood that has bought our exemption

From judgment, which else we forever must bear.

Wonderful Object of worship in heaven!

Unspeakable gift from the heart of our God!

Countless the blessings with Thee which are given

To sinners, made nigh to Himself by Thy blood.

Wonderful Savior! We love to adore Thee,

And blessed the hope that ere long Thou wilt come;

Then we shall see all Thy beauty and glory,

And praise Thee up there in Thy wonderful home.

Wages

Wages! How important it is to each of us that our earnings―our wages―at least meet our needs! From the simplest acts of the laborer, paid by the day; the factory-worker whose pay is received weekly; the office and clerical employee remunerated bi-monthly or monthly; the farmer who collects for crops, herds, or flocks whenever they mature or are marketable; to the officer or financier whose greatest effort may be in calculating interest or investing the surplus―every one of these―and others―ask: "What do I get out of this? What will be the wages?”

Let's see what the Word of God has to say about "wages." Rom. 6:23 tells us: "The wages of sin is death." But God doesn't leave us there; that is not His final conclusion. What grace and mercy follow! "But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

John and Mack were "on vacation," as they said, for the summer. They were friendly young men and very diligent in picking up "odd jobs" to help the store-keepers in the little town in which they had chosen to spend their free time.

One merchant in particular favored these "vacationers" with many such "odd jobs"; and as the summer wore on, they spent much time in his store. The two young men exerted themselves to be pleasant and helpful and they soon won the confidence of their benefactor. Indeed, so much did the merchant trust them that before the end of summer he became quite confidential with them.

One night as the store-keeper was preparing to close up, he explained to his young helpers that he never left money in the safe as it could be blown open.

Instead, as he showed them, he removed some boxes from an upper shelf, and placed his day's receipts carefully in a smaller box among the merchandise.

Just as carefully he replaced the merchandise and boxes, commenting smugly that "no one would think to look there." However, one important thing he failed to mention: just two blocks away was the police station, and connected by direct line with it was every door and window of this store. Any tampering with these openings would immediately set off an alarm at the police station.

When Saturday night approached, the young men watched the store-keeper as he, more carefully than usual, hid the bag containing his day's receipts among the merchandise. Surely Satan, the enemy of souls, was at hand to tempt the two with the prospect of "easy money," and, having no scruples nor conscience in the matter they were taken captive of him at his will.

In the dark of that midnight these trusted friends, as the deceived merchant had called them, quietly forced open the door and as quickly as possible seized the heavy bag of money. But to their amazement the midnight air was suddenly full of screeching sirens; and as they frantically sought to escape, they found police cars and officers blocking every exit.

Grabbing the money bag, one of the thieves raced out the back door. There a policeman spied him and gave chase. Calling to the running man, the officer ordered, "Halt!" Four times he uttered the usual command, but to no avail. The thief ran faster, trying to dodge the officer's bullets as they whined at hand. Four times the officer called, and four times the shots rang out. One hit the target, and the dead thief was found lying face down, still gripping the money bag from which the stolen money was spilling. His partner was found, too, crouching among the merchandise that had proved to be such a poor hiding place.

In both cases, sin had claimed its wages: for one young man, a blighted life and years of imprisonment; for the slain thief, the awful doom of death. How terrible for a lost sinner to fall into the hands of the living God!

"It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment." Heb. 9:27.

Sinner, God's love follows you as you race to your doom. Tenderly He calls and would bring you to Himself. Heed Him now ere it is too late, for He says: "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37.

The Cynic

He was a cynic, without faith in anything or anyone but himself. Like many other men of his age (which was near forty), he had found life in the army anything but congenial. His character was strong enough to bear its hardships and dangers with stoical indifference; but about anything else in the service, especially the religious element as expressed in "church parade," he was severely scornful.

Coming behind the lines for a brief rest, he dropped into the big "Y Hut," as we in the army called it, and for once at least he heard the gospel preached by as manly and as moving a preacher as ever faced a congregation of men, and one whose character was as fine as his preaching. For other reasons besides his easy influence on the large company of men, we had invested him with the honorary title of "General.”

At the close of the meeting, the cynic greeted the preacher and congratulated him on what he called "an interesting performance." He said, "But all this talk, clever as it may be, is nothing more than an appeal to the weak side of human nature. It is not sensational―but it is emotional, a subtle playing on the feelings with the trip hammers of sin and the need of repentance. So far as I am concerned, I deny the stain of the one and necessity of the other. There is no sin in my life I need repent of. I have always paid an honest part and done my duty as a man. Why then should I go down on my knees and pretend to be what you call a sinner?”

Much more was said and replied to, but all was apparently fruitless. The next day this continued―the skeptical soldier maintained he had no need of a Savior, and thought he was better off without any kind of religion. Nevertheless, he stayed in the "Hut" for the evening meeting and heard the same preacher. Probably it was the hope of hearing him again for the mere intellectual treat.

Later the "General" confessed that somehow that night he wandered from his subject and told an incident in his own experience which was altogether off the line of his subject and he could not understand why he told it. It was simply that in his early Christian life he determined to model his character as faithfully as he could after the pattern set by the one who had been used to his conversion. One of his sons hearing this, said: "Father, I shall try to model my life so that it shall be like yours.”

As the preacher left the platform, the cynic was waiting and said, "May I see you alone for a minute or two?”

"Gladly, my friend, if I can be of any help to you," he said. "Come into my room.”

In the quiet of that little room the cynic at once opened his heart.

"That story about your boy," he began falteringly, "has hit me hard. It struck home. I asked myself if I would like my boy to model his life on mine―to grow up to be the type of man I am. Everything in me cried, `NOV I wouldn't have him follow my example for the world! Follow my example? No! No! I have talked to you in a mask. I have disguised myself. If you could see the man I am―God help me!”

He dropped upon his knees and wept like a child. Kneeling beside him, my friend prayed and pointed him to the Savior and all the promises of a Savior's grace. The broken man's penitent cry was heard at the throne of grace and his acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord was registered in heaven. The preacher left him on his knees, and half an hour later found him still there praying for God's help and peace from the Savior of sinners, that his life might now be so lived that his boy might safely follow in his steps.

"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death." Prov. 14:12.

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

Rahab

Conversion, such as Scripture speaks of, is not a mere change of religion, nor is it simply orthodoxy, even though of the severest description. Conversion is a work divinely wrought in the soul, whereby a man is led to face the fact of his sins in humble repentance, and then to cast himself upon a Savior-God. Inasmuch as we have all sprung from a corrupt stock, and have gone astray from birth, conversion is vital for all who would escape the wrath to come.

Most persons experience this mighty change as the result of quiet attention to the gospel of Christ. In some cases, however, conversion takes place under such extraordinary circumstances that public attention is necessarily attracted. Rahab, the harlot of Jericho, may well be said to have had a most remarkable conversion (Josh. 2:6). She was of Canaanite birth, thus a member of that race which had become such a grievous moral ulcer in the earth by reason of its frightful abominations that God, after centuries of long-suffering, had been constrained to pass sentence of utter extermination upon it. To the stain of her nationality must be added the infamy of her own vicious means of livelihood. Yet such as she obtained mercy! With Rahab's story on record, no contrite sinner need despair.

Dread was the beginning of the good work in her soul. The sentence of extermination had reached her ears. While those around her hardened their hearts, and prepared themselves to fight out the matter to the last, she humbled herself at the feet of the Almighty Judge, owning that He was righteous. To His servants the Israelite spies, she said: "I know that Jehovah hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us... Jehovah your God, He is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.”

Such a confession as this involved the complete renunciation of all the false deities of her people, while she sheltered herself, like Ruth in a later day, under the wings of Jehovah. Had she volunteered this confession after Israel's victories, it might have been mere dissimulation; but spoken as it was before Israel met any of Canaan's disciplined hosts, it was simple genuine faith. Indeed, the Spirit of God Himself assures us of this in Heb. 11:31. She believed God's word concerning the approaching doom, she sought refuge in God Himself before the stroke fell. Happy woman! Divinely wise! Many in this day of skeptical foolhardiness would do well to follow in her steps.

Rahab desired a token of security, and was told to bind in her window the scarlet cord by which she had let down the spies over the city wall. This, in the day of Jericho's overthrow, would preserve both herself and all her house. The executors of God's judgment would respect the token when they saw it. Not a drop of blood should be shed where the scarlet cord was. Thus when the awful crash of the city walls burst upon her ears, Rahab could sit at home calmly and in peace, in the consciousness that she and all with her were saved of the Lord.

What a lesson is here! What a picture of "the gospel of God concerning His Son"! The scarlet cord speaks to us of the precious blood of Christ. This, shed on earth as an atonement for human guilt, suffices to screen from judgment all who place themselves in faith beneath its shelter. Amid the crashing of worlds by and by, no alarm will be experienced by those whose trust is in the Savior and in the precious blood He shed.

The name of the woman who was thus saved from the destruction of Jericho is found later in the royal genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:5). What a beautiful picture this is of the grace which will give every saved one part with Christ in all the glory of the age to come!

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

John Wanamaker's Greatest Investment

The late John Wanamaker of Philadelphia was a merchant prince whose Christian integrity and kindliness endeared him to the hearts of many. To his perseverance and business ability, coupled with kindly consideration for his employees, can be attributed the colossal enterprises of Wanamaker Company of New York and Philadelphia.

Once, when asked what he considered the greatest purchase he ever made, this man who yearly bought millions of dollars worth of merchandise, and purchased in Europe rare and immensely valuable pictures which now adorn the walls of the main floor of the Philadelphia store, replied: "I consider the greatest investment I ever made was when I was a lad. I purchased a little red leather BIBLE from a Sunday school teacher for $1.75. And I paid for it on the installment plan!”

Does this seem strange to you, dear reader? Not if you know the life-giving power of that Book of all books and recognize it as the Word of the Living God! Its treasures are inexhaustible; its precepts and promises have been the guide and comfort of millions. It is like the mariner's chart whose faithful direction, if followed, will lead safely to the desired haven. The Word of God ever points the way to life, joy and eternal happiness.

Can you say with the Psalmist: "How sweet are Thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth?" Psa. 119:103.

John Wanamaker learned from that precious Book his need of a Savior, and early confessed Jesus Christ as his Lord. Constantly he bore testimony to the love and grace of God, and was often found, immediately before the Philadelphia store opened its doors in the morning, with a few believers in a little prayer room which he had set apart and furnished for those employees who cared to gather there. Who can say what has been the result of those early morning seasons of prayer?

John Wanamaker lived to a ripe old age, and of him it can surely be said: "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them." Rev. 14:13.

For Jesus' Sake

Deeply interesting and instructive it is to note the different ways by which souls in whom God's Spirit is working are led into peace and blessing. After being first awakened and groping about in the darkness, or, at best, the twilight of human thoughts and ways, they all sooner or later reach the one and only door into blessing, drawn by God's Spirit to Him who says, "I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." John 10:9.

Martin Luther, after being awakened to a sense of sin by a terrific thunderstorm, and after long groping about in the darkness of the Roman system, under whose instruction he was painfully and wearily creeping up Pilate's stairs in Rome to obtain absolution, and thus pardon and peace with God, heard suddenly a voice like thunder in his soul that said, "The just shall live by faith." His painful journey was ended; and, unexpectedly, he found himself at the door of faith which God has opened to all poor sinners who know and feel their need.

Another well-known servant of God, who was early brought to feel his need of something for his soul more than the world could supply, had a feeling akin to despair. Then it occurred to him that perhaps, if he could but have the precepts of the Savior continually before his eye, it would be a help to his obedience and a means of salvation. With this intention he got two New Testaments, and cut out from them all the commands and counsels he found. Pasting them on a board, he placed it where he could see it frequently. But he found, alas! that to be reminded of precepts was not to keep them; to know the will of God was not to do it; and to be acquainted with the right way was not to walk in it. Indeed he had set himself a far harder and more hopeless task than even poor Luther, long before him, had done, when he set himself to work at ascending Pilate's stairs in the hope of finding peace and salvation at the top.

Things seemed to grow darker, and all efforts but helped to make matters more hopeless. One day a friend said to him, "If you want to find the knowledge of God, study the Epistle to the Romans; it is there the plan of salvation is made known.”

Acting at once on this suggestion, he thought he would copy out the whole epistle, that he might better master the subject, and become more fully acquainted with the apostle's reasoning. He commenced his task of copying the epistle into a book, and got as far as the eighth chapter. Coming to the eighth verse, he wrote, "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

These words stopped him. He said to himself: "What is the use, then, of all my efforts? If a sinner cannot please God, how can I do anything to gain acceptance with Him?”

Suddenly, as with a sunbeam, the thought flashed across his mind: "No I cannot please God, but Jesus Christ has. He is the way! He is the Perfect One; and this is what is meant by those words at the end of every prayer, 'Through Jesus Christ our Lord.' "Yes," said he to himself, "God receives sinners for His sake, and He will receive me.”

Like Luther's "The just shall live by faith," which came as a divine revelation to his soul, delivering him from the burden of his sins, so to this man came, as a divine revelation, the blessed truth, "Through Jesus Christ, God receives sinners." On this his soul rested in undisturbed peace, and this he proclaimed to others until the Lord took him to Himself.

Dear reader have you yet come to the one only door of access to God? Have you yet come to Jesus and laid your burden down at His feet, "who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree"? If you have not yet done this, come to Jesus just now, and just as you are, with all your burden of sin and unrest, and He will receive you, for He says, "He that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out.”

How Will You Die?

Wilmot, an infidel, died in 1680. He laid his emaciated hand on the Bible, and exclaimed solemnly and with energy, "The only objection against this Book is—a bad life.”

Voltaire, the famous infidel, the tool and plaything of Frederick the Great, died in 1778, alternating praying and blaspheming God, and crying "O Christ! O Jesus Christ!”

How different was Charles Wesley's end, who died ten years later. His last words were: "I shall be satisfied with Thy likeness; satisfied—satisfied—SATISFIED.”

"The wages of sin is death;

but the gift of God is eternal

life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Rom. 6:23.

OCTOBER

The Despised Book

A young Jewish Rabbi was calling on a friend who was a rank unbeliever. Sad to say, many of this once favored race have turned from the teachings and God of their fathers, and are following the world's modern trend of thought. This young skeptic prided himself on being "broad-minded," and filled his library with a miscellany of writings to prove it. On the shelves he even had a small copy of the Bible, which attracted his friend's attention.

"What is this?" the Rabbi inquired, picking up the volume.

“Oh, that is the Christian's Book," came the answer in disparaging tones. "Don't trouble yourself with it.”

But the young man had already glanced at the Book, and had read the opening words of the Gospel by Matthew: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.”

These few words had made the despised Book interesting. What! Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, a son of David, and a son of Abraham? As his friend noticed him still regarding it thoughtfully, he repeated: "It is the Christian's Book, and of no account.”

"But I should like very much to read it," replied the young Rabbi.

"Very well, then," said the unbeliever, smiling mockingly; "take it. I give it to you as a present.”

Not to be discouraged by the scornful remarks of his friend, the young Rabbi put the abused New Testament in his pocket and went home.

As he feared he would be hindered in reading this forbidden Book at home, he took it with him to the synagogue. There, in that quiet sanctuary where he would not be disturbed by anyone, he devoted himself to the study of the remarkable Book.

He read the whole of the New Testament to the end. Then he resolved to compare it with the Old Testament, and with that object he once more read through the Old Testament, but this time without the explanations and additions which the rabbis have added to it. This he did with increasing excitement. When he came to Dan. 9:26, he read: "Shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself.”

"Here," he said, "is absolute certainty. The despised, crucified Jesus of Nazareth is none other than our promised Messiah.”

When he again read the New Testament from beginning to end, it became clear to him that not only did he in his heart believe in this Christ, but that he must confess Him with his mouth. How well he knew what was in store for him if he followed this course! But he did not hesitate to obey the voice within. Unterrified, he went to his friends and announced to them that the rejected Nazarene was indeed the Savior whom Jehovah had promised to His people in the Holy Scriptures.

The way of this young witness for Jesus was henceforth a very thorny one. Rejected by family and friends, there remained nothing else for him but to forsake, like Abraham, his home and kindred. The hatred of the Jew against the name of Jesus is as great in this day as it was when the Lord Himself walked this earth. The former friends of the young Rabbi, in their enmity, left nothing unsought in their endeavors to get him out of the way. To escape their snares he finally went to other large cities, and there preached the crucified Christ to his Jewish brethren.

Streams of blessing have resulted from that little Testament, deemed "of no account" by the skeptic. Hundreds of Jews have thereby heard the glad tidings of Jesus, the Savior for Jews and Gentiles; and many of them, as a result of the faithful preaching of the young Rabbi, have departed from this life with the precious name of Jesus on their lips. God has said in His holy Word: "So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Isa. 55:11.

Cause for Rejoicing

"But all through the mountains, thunder riven, And up from the rocky steep, There arose a glad cry to the gates of Heaven, `Rejoice, I have found My sheep!'

And the angels echoed around the throne, Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own!”

From a rich baritone voice came the song ringing out on the frosty air of the late October morning. The hills and valley, catching the words and melody, sent back in triumphant echo―"Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own.”

Around a bend of one of the hillside roads appeared the singer, tall and strong, carrying in his arms the sheep he had spent the hours of night seeking. The animal was trembling with cold. The man looked at it with a smile, saying, "You poor sheep, why did you wander away? Did you think the rocks and the stones on the bleak hills were more nourishing than the green grass in the valley? Did you think you were safer among the wolves than with your comrades in the sheepfold? Why did you turn your back on your shepherd who never turned his back on you?”

Here he paused as he discovered a man standing near one of the buildings, a young man, showing plainly the marks of dissipation and riotous living. He looked him over and then asked:

"Who are you?”

"Who? Me? I am nobody.”

"Where are you from?”

"Everywhere.”

"Where are you bound for?”

"Anywhere.”

"Where do you belong?”

"Nowhere.”

"Do you want employment?”

"I would be glad of a job if I could only get away from my present boss, for whom I have worked faithfully for years.”

"And, pray, who is your boss?”

"Satan.”

"Does he pay good wages?”

"Good wages? No, but big wages, yes.”

"What kind of wages?”

"Hunger enough for a dozen men. Rags, desolation, shattered nerves, ruined character and a burning appetite for the thing that brought about my ruin.”

The shepherd dropped his head in deep thought and said to himself: "I've spent half the night in trying to rescue a four-legged sheep. Dare I drive this two-legged one from my door, and make no effort to save him?”

Looking up he said to the tramp: "You look to me as if you could eat some breakfast. How is it?”

The young man was evidently moved by the kindness of the tone of voice in which the invitation was given. He straightened up and said: "Thank you, sir. I am very hungry, but I am not deserving of such kindness.”

"Young man," was the reply, "I never turned a hungry man from my door, and I never will, by God's grace.”

After putting the sheep in the fold with the others, the shepherd led the young man up to the house where Mrs. West stood in the doorway to greet her husband. His coming she had known when she heard, a half hour before, the welcome news, "Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own," ringing out throughout the valley. After both men had washed, they sat down to the table to eat the bountiful breakfast, Robert West having very reverently asked the Lord's blessing.

While Mr. West gave his wife an account of his search for the lost sheep, their guest ate as only a hungry man can. Plainly, he was thinking as well as eating, and thinking too, with a purpose, as tears trickled down his cheeks.

When the meal was over the host read from the fifteenth chapter of Luke the parable of the Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son, and offered up an earnest supplication for all wandering ones. During this prayer the young man, kneeling with the others, was deeply moved. At the close when Robert West and his wife sang, "Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own!" the wanderer sobbed aloud.

"Friend," he said, "for nearly two years I have tramped hither and thither with the shadow of my wretched self falling on the path ahead of me. This morning, bowing at your altar, I acknowledged my sin and put my trust in Him who has promised to save `unto the uttermost." Sir, the shadow of myself is behind me since I have turned my face and heart to the light, and I ask your prayers and help that God will strengthen and keep me till journey's end. It was His will that you should bring back to the fold this wandering sheep, as well as the one you brought back earlier this morning.”

"There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." Luke 15:10.

With tears streaming down their cheeks, the three could now sing together: "Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own!”

He Paid

Four Christian friends were riding in a bus. As they neared the end of the line, a young man stepped inside and asked for the fares. One of the four friends paid for all, which led one of the party to say to the fare collector: "You won't ask me for my fare, will you?”

"No, sir," was the reply.

“Then you are satisfied?”

"Quite.”

"But I did not pay you!”

"He paid," said he, pointing to the one who had done so.

This circumstance, simple in itself, brought to my mind the great transaction which took place nearly two thousand years ago, when God delivered Christ for our offenses, and raised Him again for our justification. "Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification." Rom. 4:25.

"Behold the Lamb! 'Tis He who bore

My burden on the tree;

And paid in blood the dreadful score,

The ransom due for me.”

Reader, do you believe that Jesus Christ was delivered for your offenses― every offensive thought, look, word and deed― and that He was bound about with your sins on the cross, and suffered for them there?

"He gave Himself for our sins." This was the only way sins could be disposed of. God "made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

Three blessed results flow to the believer from Christ giving Himself for our sins, and being made sin for us: sins are gone, sin is judged, and righteousness is conferred.

"He paid." Who? The One who was personally and perfectly free from the debt. Jesus, the Son of God, "He PAID!" How? With His precious blood.

"Jesus paid it all,

All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.”

And just as the fare collector in the bus did not require payment twice, neither will God.

"Payment God will not twice demand;

Once at my bleeding Surety's hand,

And then again at mine.”

Dear reader, are you satisfied with what Christ did once for all on the cross? God grant that you by faith may be able to look up to where Jesus is in heaven, and say, with an adoring heart, "HE PAID.”

Ruth's Conversion

Remarkable, four women's names are introduced into the royal lineage of our Lord as given by Matthew. None of them being necessary to establish His true descent from David and Abraham, the Spirit of God must have had a moral reason for inserting them in this way. The reason soon appears when we take into account the fact that the women were all Gentiles, and that three of them were notorious sinners. Thus on the very first page of the New Testament, in the opening verses of that Gospel which is so intensely Jewish in its character, God has stamped the lesson that there is a place in His heart for Gentiles, even the most wicked and undone. What comfort for us all is here!

Ruth was one of the women so strikingly introduced in Matt. 1:3, 6. She was a Moabitess, and as such she was absolutely banned from the congregation of Israel by the law received at Sinai. For the reasons given in Deut. 23:2-5, it was decreed that the Moabites "shall net enter into the congregation of Jehovah forever." But grace is able to bring in those whom the law would shut out, else where would we stand, reader and writer alike? In the presence of the law's stern demands, what hope is there for any of us? 'By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight." Rom. 3:20. But to those who believe in the once-crucified Savior, it is written: "By grace ye are saved through faith." Eph. 2:8. Like Ruth of old, of nothing can we boast in the way of merit or descent. Our hope is in the grace of God alone.

It was in this way that Ruth came into touch with the people of God. A famine arising in Canaan in the days of the judges, a Bethlehemite named Elimelech emigrated to Moab with his wife, Naomi, and their two sons. This step showed lack of faith in Jehovah, and it yielded the most unhappy results. Elimelech died in exile; and his sons, Mahlon, and Chilion, who soon afterward married Ruth and Orpah, Moabite women, in disobedience to God's Word, in a short time died also. No blessing need ever be expected by those who forsake the right ways of the Lord.

Naomi, thus bereaved of both husband and sons, now decided to return to the land of Israel. Her departure from Moab was a test for her daughters-in-law. In answer to her proposal that they should both go their own way, Orpha went back "unto her people, and unto her gods." However, Ruth slave unto Naomi, saying, "Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." Ruth 1:16.

In this fine confession we have ample evidence of Ruth's true conversion to God. Had Israel been at that time at the height of prosperity, her choice would not have been so significant, for people in all ages have only been too ready to "join" the people of God for the sake of temporal advantage. But Israel had been for some time in adversity. It is conclusive therefore that not worldly gain, but God Himself, attracted Ruth's heart. It mattered not how hoary might be the religion of her nation― the worship of Chemosh and other ancient false gods. She, like the Thessalonians, turned to God from idols. She abandoned all, and took as her deliberate choice the living and true God. Under the wings of the Lord God of Israel was henceforth her refuge. (Ruth 2:12.)

When the question arose of redeeming her husband's inheritance, his nearest kinsman declared himself unable to help in the matter. Then it was that Boaz stepped into the breach, and took the whole responsibility upon himself. (Ruth 4.)

There is typical instruction in this. He who was powerless to help typifies to us Moses, whose fiery law never yet brought any into blessing, flesh being too incorrigibly evil to be subdued by it. He who did help speaks to us of Christ, upon whom all our salvation depends. In wondrous grace He stooped from Godhead glory to become our kinsman here. He halted not in His downward course until He had put away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself, and broken the power of the enemy forever. In Him, the true Boaz, now risen from the dead, all blessing for our souls is secured for evermore.

Thus it was that Ruth, the Moabitess, came into a place of blessing among the ancient people of God. And, reader, through faith in that same God and the work of His dear Son on Calvary, you too may receive blessing and eternal salvation.

A Slip of Paper

A young Frenchman had been wounded at the siege of San Quentin and was miserable and restless on his hospital bed, when a slip of paper which lay on the coverlet caught his eye. He read it, and it was used of God to open his blind eyes, and he was soundly converted.

The monument to that man may be seen today before the Church of the Consistory in Paris. There is his likeness, standing with a Bible in its hand. He was Admiral Coligny.

But the Scripture portion had not as yet finished its work. Admiral Coligny gave it to his hospital nurse, a "sister of mercy." She read it and penitently placed it in the hands of the Lady Abbess. She, too, was converted by it.

She went from France to the Palatinate. There she met a young Hollander and became his wife. The influence she had upon that man reached out to the entire continent of Europe, for he was WILLIAM OF ORANGE.

How often have such silent messages been torn up in anger, trampled under foot, or cast into the fire! yet it was that little tract WHICH TURNED THE TIDE IN THE HISTORY OF EUROPE.

True Ground for Peace

Sitting on a low step in what looked like a passage-room, were two factory girls engaged in earnest conversation that September afternoon. They rose as I entered, conducted thither by one of their young companions, and eagerly took the books which I offered with the remark, "Here is something good for you to read.”

So happy was the face of the youngest of these two girls, and so genuine the "Thank you," that I stopped and asked: "Do you know the Savior?”

Very warmly and frankly came the answer: "Yes, I do.”

"And how long have you known Him?" I asked. With equal candor she replied, "Four years.”

"It is good to hear so sure a ring," I said; and turning to her friend, asked, "Can you say the same?”

"Sometimes I think I can, and sometimes I am not sure.”

"Because you are looking within for peace? You will never find it there," I said, adding, "My peace never varies.”

An astonished and earnest look came into her face as she listened in silence, and I went on to tell her that the ground of a sinner's peace lies outside of himself altogether. I explained: "The blood of Jesus is the sinner's only title to heaven, and our sins are our only title or claim to that blood.”

Dear soul, whoever you are, who are seeking for peace, seek it where alone it can be found, in the cross of Christ. Praise Him, and go free!

I hear the words of love,

I gaze upon the blood,

I see the mighty Sacrifice,

And I have peace with God.

'Tis everlasting peace!

Sure as Jehovah's name;

'Tis stable as His steadfast throne,

For evermore the same.

My Savior Could and Would

If I could find the oldest heart,

That longest has withstood

The wooings of Almighty love,

My Savior could and would

Forgive the awful life of sin,

And take the aged offender in―

My Savior could and would.

If I could find the hardest heart,

Receiving only good,

And yet returning only ill,

My Savior could and would,

With one sweet glance of patient love,

The hardened rebel's spirit move―

My Savior could and would.

If I could find the coldest heart

And in its coldest mood,

A stone beneath the brooding wings,

My Savior could and would

Put warmth into the icy thing,

And give it life and give it wing―

My Savior could and would.

If dark despair had sealed the heart,

And like a sentry stood,

And cried, "Life is impossible!”

My Savior could and would.

He could give life, for He has died;

He would give life, though all denied―

My Savior could and would.

My heart is charmed to sing this song;

And if perchance it should

Prove music to a hopeless one,

My Savior could and would

That hopeless one this hour forgive,

If but God's message he believe―

My Savior could and would.

F. R. H.

"These things have I written unto

you that believe on the name of

the Son of God; that ye may know

that ye have eternal life.”

1 John 5:13.

NOVEMBER

A Preacher of the Old School

Many preachers are giving up the old ideas about the fall and total depravity of man. People are not often plainly told that they are guilty sinners before a holy God. The sermons of our forefathers―who used to press this so constantly upon their hearers―are looked upon as relics of the dark ages.

There is, however, one preacher left of the old school, and he speaks today as boldly as ever. He is not popular, though the world is his parish, and he travels over every part of the globe, and speaks in every language under the sun. He visits the poor; he calls upon the rich, and preaches to people of every religion and many of no religion; but the subject of his sermon is always the same.

He is an eloquent preacher―often stirs feelings which no other preacher could reach, and brings tears into eyes that seldom weep. He addresses himself to the conscience and the heart. His arguments none are able to refute; nor is there any heart that has remained wholly unmoved by the force of his weighty appeals. Most people hate him, for many quail in his presence; but in one way or another he makes everybody hear him.

He is neither refined nor polite. Indeed, he often interrupts the public arrangements, and breaks in rudely upon the private enjoyments of life. He frequents the shop, the office, and the mill; he appears in the midst of legislators, and intrudes upon fashionable and religious gatherings at most inopportune times. His name is DEATH.

You cannot take up a newspaper without finding that he has a corner in it. Every tombstone serves him for a pulpit. You often see his congregations passing to and fro from the graveyard. The sudden departure of that neighbor―the solemn parting with that dear parent―the awful gap that was left in your heart when that beloved wife, that idolized child, was taken ―have all been loud and solemn appeals from this old preacher. Soon he may take you for his text; and in your bereaved family circle, and by your graveside he may be preaching to others. Let your heart thank God this moment that you are still in the land of the living―that you have not, ere now, died in your sins!

You may get rid of the Bible. You may ridicule its teachings. You may despise its warnings. You may reject the Savior of whom it speaks. You can get away from the preachers of the gospel. You are not compelled to go to either church or mission; and you can cross over to the other side of the street if there be an open-air meeting. It is in your power to burn this, paper, and every other tract that comes into your' possession.

But what will you do with the old preacher of whom I have spoken?

Dying men and women, consider the prospect that is before you! Your little day will soon be passed―your pleasures end. After all, you "must needs die," "as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Heb. 9:27.

Pause and consider this matter. Is there not a cause for death? Is it by mere accident that creature with such powers and capacities should come to so ignominious an end? There is but one answer to these questions, and as long as the old preacher goes on his rounds he will continue to proclaim it. Listen! "By one man SIN entered into the world, and death by sin." Rom. 5:12.

The fall of man is no mere theological dogma, but a fearful reality evidenced by the world's history and our own experiences. Sin is not simply an ugly word in the Bible or on the preacher's lips; it is a dark universal power which blights the world by its presence. "Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. 5:12.

You, my reader, are implicated in this matter. You have sinned; upon you the sentence of death has passed. One second after your death, it will be a matter of no consequence to you whether you died in a palace or in a cellar. But your whole eternity will hang upon the state in which you die. If you "die in your sins," having spurned the cleansing blood of the Son of God, your doom is sealed. All unbelievers "shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." Rev. 21:8.

Which of the two following epitaphs will be yours?

"DIED WITHOUT MERCY." Heb. 10:28.

"DIED IN FAITH." Heb. 11:13.

"O that they were wise... that they would consider their latter end!" Deut. 32:29.

"The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.

"God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8.

The old preacher never spoke so loudly, or in such solemn tones, as when Jesus went to Calvary. Divine holiness could not make light of sin. The full penalty of guilt―the wages of sin in all its dark and dread reality―passed upon the sinless Substitute. He took our place in death and judgment, that we might have His place of acceptance and favor before God.

You may die unsaved; you will not die unloved.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

"Call His Name Jesus"

Many years ago a converted American Indian met another Indian of the same tribe. He too had previously professed Christianity, but now he was taking part in a snake-dance festival. Asked how it came about that he had returned to his old heathen practices again, his answer was brazenly frank, but sad beyond expression: "Because I love my sins.”

The truth is that men are lost because "they love their sins." They cling to them, and their sins drag them down to eternal woe.

But "God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." That is why He sent His only begotten Son. He came to save His people from their sins.

Friend, are you one of His people? If not, why not? If you are honest you will have to say, like the Indian: "I love my sins." Yes, and more than that, you do not love God at all, nor His Son whose name was called JESUS, because He came to save us from our sins.

A famous physician from Europe came to the United States some years ago. His visit was for the purpose of instructing other physicians in the treatment of a certain baffling disease. He had scarcely any leisure time, but succeeded one day in walking away alone, unnoticed, in the city of Chicago. During his walk a thunderstorm came up with a heavy downpour of rain. To escape being drenched he rang a doorbell and asked for permission to come in until the storm was over.

The woman who opened the door, however, was in distress and in no mood to receive strangers. She answered quite sharply that she could not be bothered. The doctor left, and the woman went back to her household duties. How different it might have been had she known that the man she had turned so unkindly away could have helped her out of her deep trouble! Her daughter, desperately ill from this terrible disease which he could have cured, lost the benefit of the doctor's knowledge and skill. It was discovered too late, and the daughter died.

Reader, don't close the door to the Lord Jesus Christ. Receive Him now and be saved from your sins.

Bow the knee and confess the precious name of Jesus as Savior of your soul.

"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. 2:9-11.

"I Don't Believe It"

Anthony Harrold, an old soldier, was a slave to drink. His wife, although unconverted herself, became greatly troubled about his wicked ways, and eventually persuaded him to attend some gospel services. There the Holy Spirit convicted him of sin; and through the Word of God he was led to see that, without Christ, he was lost and condemned.

John Lawson, an earnest Christian worker, and himself an ex-soldier, heard of Anthony's condition. He visited him in his home and sought to lead him to Christ. Taking his Bible from his pocket, Lawson slowly read: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him,"―

He stopped, and looking Anthony in the face said, "and that means you―'should not perish, but have everlasting life,'―and that means you.”

Anthony was amazed at what he heard. How could God love him―a drinking, swearing sinner? In fact, he believed it to be impossible that a holy God could love a wretch like him! And for God to give His only begotten Son to suffer and to bleed and die to save him from hell and wrath and woe, was beyond the range of his comprehension. Bringing his fist down on the table, he said, "I don't believe it!”

Taking no note of the interruption, Lawson again read the scripture: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever"―

Stopping, Lawson gazed at Anthony, and said, "and that means you"―"believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Again Anthony struck the table and shouted, "I don't believe it!”

Three times over the glorious declaration of God's love to sinners was read, and three times over Anthony struck the table with his fist, declaring, "I don't believe it!”

Lawson was a man of sound sense and good judgment. Instead of blaming Anthony for not believing the words of Holy Scripture, he inquired how long he was in the army.

"Twenty-one years and fourteen days," said Anthony proudly.

When he said so, Lawson struck the chair with his fist and said, "I don't believe it!”

"Do you think I would tell you a lie?" said the old man. "It was twenty-one years and fourteen days." "I don't believe it," said Lawson quietly.

"Bring me the parchment," said Anthony to his wife. The parchment being produced, Lawson took it in his hand. Having looked at it, he asked Anthony if he had read it, and if he believed it.

Anthony replied that, though he was unable to read, others had done so for him, and he believed what they had told him.

"How can you expect me to believe you when you refuse to believe the Word of God?" Lawson asked, and for the fourth time he read the life-saving words of John 3:16, adding "and that means you.”

The old soldier's eyes were opened, and the light of the gospel of Christ streamed into his soul, as he cried, "I see it all! I believe it! I believe it! Thank God.”

Anthony believed the precious Word and received God's dear Son as his Savior. In Christ he became a new man. The drink and the swearing were given up, and his home was changed completely. His first desire was to learn to read. His first book was the Bible. His first lesson was John 3:16.

At the River

In the Military Hospital of Cairo, Egypt, a Christian woman was given a permit to visit the soldiers. Among the wounded men brought in after a skirmish was a young Scotch Highlander. He had just lost a limb, and infection had set in. The doctor said he could not live through the night.

The lady tells the story of her visit as follows: "I stopped at his bedside to see if I could do anything for him. He lay with closed eyes; and as he moved his lips I caught the words, 'Mother, Mother!' I dipped my handkerchief in iced water and bathed his burning forehead, full of fever.

" 'Oh, that is good!' he said, opening his eyes. Seeing me bending over him he caught my hand and kissed it. 'Thank you, lady,' he said, 'it 'minds me o' Mother.'

"I asked him if I could write to his mother. No, he said, the surgeon had promised to do that; but would I, could I sing to him? I hesitated and looked around. The gleam on the yellow waters of the Nile as the rays of the sun caught the water reminded me of that river whose streams make glad the City of our God. I began to sing in a very low voice:

"'Shall we gather at the river?'”

"Eager heads were raised around the ward to listen more intently; and soon bass and tenor voices, weak and trembling through sickness, came in on the chorus:

"'YES, we'll gather at the river,

The beautiful, the beautiful river;

Gather with the saints at the river

That flows by the throne of God.'”

"When the song was ended, I looked into the face of the boy, for he was not over twenty, and asked the question, Will YOU be there?'

“‘Yes, I'll be there, through what the Lord Jesus has done for me,' he answered. His blue eyes were shining brightly, and a light that was never seen on sea or land irradiated his face. The tears gathered in my eyes as I thought of the mother in her far off Scottish home, waiting and watching for tidings of her soldier boy who was breathing away his life in an Egyptian hospital.

"'Come again, lady, come again,' I heard on all sides as we left the barracks. I shall go again, Lord willing; but I shall not find my Scottish laddie there, for by tomorrow's reveille he will have crossed the river.”

Dear reader, can you join with the Scottish lad and say: "Yes, I'll be there through what the Lord Jesus has done for ME"? If not, remember, life is likened to a "vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." James 4:14. YOU may be called at any moment to face the inevitable, for Scripture says: "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Heb. 9:27. But, if the Lord Jesus is YOUR trust, death and judgment have been borne by HIM for all who believe.

Oh, if you cannot sing or say, "Yes, we'll gather at the river... Gather with the saints at the river," let me plead with you to come to the Savior of sinners NOW! He has said, "Him that cometh unto ME I will in no wise cast out." Will you come TODAY?

"I Must Have My Fling"

In some instances I have known a soldier's life of discipline and hardship to be used of the Lord for blessing to hardened souls and for God's glory. Such was the case with young Dan who here tells his own story: "When I was 12 years old my father died, and I was left with my mother. Seeking relief from the gloom of sorrow, I got into wild company and fell prey to bad habits. In fact, very early in life I began to drink. This last habit grew so strong upon me that by age 18 I was a confirmed drunkard and a slave to Satan. My life of debauchery distressed and grieved my mother, and I could see the lines of age increasing on her face. I knew I was the cause of all her anxiety, so I made resolution after resolution to turn over a new leaf. But to no avail.

"Shortly after my 18th birthday, I bade my mother good-by, saying: 'I must have my fling, Mother. I'll be all right. Don't worry.' Then it was that I enlisted.

"How those words of farewell, 'I must have my fling,' always seemed to follow me! They became my slogan and during the first five years of my Army life I yielded to all sorts of temptations which beset the path of the soldier.

"Then my company was on detachment at an island, where we had to cross to the mainland by steam launch. I soon found life rather dull, and drank more heavily than before. Returning to camp one night, I fell between the launch and the pier. My chum rescued me. Sudden immersion in the cold water sobered me, and I realized that had I been drowned then I would have been eternally lost. I could not get rid of this frightening thought, so I sought to drown it in drink. This I found to be impossible, as 'the morning after' always brought remorse.

"In desperation I went to the Soldier's home and to a gospel meeting there. The preacher gave out the text, 'My Spirit shall not always strive with man.' Gen. 6:3. I felt he was talking to me all the time, and conviction of sin took hold of me. I saw my awful past, and thanked God I had a praying mother.

"For weeks I was like this. One night as I walked into my barrack room, four of my comrades were singing, 'Thou would'st be saved, why not tonight?' I felt that I had reached my last chance. Walking straight to my cot I knelt down and prayed: 'Oh God, save me. I am helpless and hopeless. Please save me, for I am lost.'

"There, on my knees before God, a quiet joy and peace which I had never known before came into my heart. I had asked God to save me, and I believed He had done it for Jesus' sake.

"From that hour I have sought to please Him in all my ways, and can honestly say that He has held me fast.”

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature..." 2 Cor. 5:17.

Hindered by a Hymn

A young woman still in her teens was very ill, and was visited by a home missionary. The sick girl was holding in her hand a well-known hymn. It commences with, "I lay my sins on Jesus," and she constantly quoted it in reply to her visitor's remarks. Yet she had not settled peace!

At last the missionary said: "I see what is hindering you from the enjoyment of peace with God. It is that hymn.”

She said, in astonishment: "That hymn preventing me being at peace with God!”

"Yes," said the missionary. "You say you lay your sins on Jesus. You cannot lay your sins on Jesus, because God laid your sins on Jesus at the cross. What you have to do now, is to believe it.”

A happy smile at once passed over her countenance. "Mother," she cried, "Mother, what a mistake I have been making, in trying to lay my sins on Jesus. God laid my sins on Jesus at Calvary, and what I have to do now is to believe it.”

From that moment she had peace.

Dear reader, is it so with you? Are you striving to make your peace with God, or are you resting by faith on the Word of God? It tells us, "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.”

In the name of Christ is declared unto you the remission of sins, and "by Him all that believe are justified from all things.”

What Then?

To the Unbeliever

After the joys of earth,

After its songs of mirth,

After its hours of light,

After its dreams so bright―

What then?

Only an empty name,

Only a weary frame,

Only a conscious smart,

Only an aching heart.

After this empty name,

After this weary frame,

After this conscious smart,

After this aching heart―

What then?

Only a sad farewell

To a world loved too well;

Only a silent bed

With the forgotten dead.

After this sad farewell

To a world loved too well,

After this silent bed

With the forgotten dead―

What then?

Oh, then―the judgment throne!

Oh, then―the last hope―gone!

Then, all the woes that dwell

In an eternal HELL!

He that believeth... shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Mark 16:16.

"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." Heb. 9:27, 28.

"He that cometh to God must

believe that He is, and that He

is a rewarder of them that

diligently seek Him.”

Heb. 1:1:6.

DECEMBER

Power in the Day of Death

What of your soul in those ages long,

More solemn than heart can conceive,

When the "pleasures of sin for a season," are gone,

Their attractions no more to deceive.

Will only your sins go with you then

To "weeping and gnashing of teeth"?

Will the dread chill of death (no respecter of men)

Find you lacking the Strong Arms beneath?

"What think ye of Christ?" Shall He relieve

Your terror of darkness unknown?

For appointment to death holds no hope of reprieve;

You must face it―"with Christ," or alone!

"O taste and see that the Lord is good"!

He died for the guilty and lost;

"Hath once suffered for sins," and hath shed His life-blood;

"It is finished," but what was the cost?

The Lord of glory was crucified―

Unspeakable wonder of love!

But the tomb, it is empty! the stone rolled aside;

He is risen, and dwelleth above.

Greater than death is Jesus the Lord,

And such is His power for thee:

Linger not to believe His unbreakable word,

He beseeches thee, "Come unto Me.”

The Beautiful Snow

In the first quarter of this century, on a gloomy Saturday morning in the dead of winter, there died at the Commercial Hospital in Cincinnati a young woman only twenty-two years old. She had once been possessed of an enviable share of beauty; and, as she herself said, had been "flattered and sought for the charm of her face." But alas, upon her fair brow had long been written that ugly word―fallen! Yes, fallen from womanly standards of virtue, purity, and innocence, and from all sense of responsibility to God and loved ones.

She had once been the pride of respectable parents, and her first wrong step was the sad beginning of the "same old story over again," the painful history of thousands. Well educated and accomplished, she might have fitted into any prominent circle. But the evil hour in which she yielded to sin and Satan proved to be the beginning of her downward course. It was like the door leading out of the innocency of childhood and modesty of youth into vice and ruin. Having spent her young life in disgrace and shame, the poor friendless girl died the melancholy death of a broken-hearted outcast.

Among her scanty personal belongings was found, in manuscript, the poem, "Beautiful Snow," which was immediately carried to a man of high literary attainments, who was at that time editor of "The National Union." In the columns of that paper, on the morning following the girl's death, the poem appeared in print for the first time. When the paper containing the poem came out on Sunday morning, the body of this victim of Satan's delusion had not yet received burial. The attention of one of America's most noted poets was soon directed to the newly-published lines. He was so affected by their stirring pathos, that he immediately sought for and followed the corpse to its final resting place.

These are the plain facts concerning her whose "Beautiful Snow" will long be regarded as one of the gems of literature. What a warning to all young people who are so eagerly seeking freedom from authority, the right to "do as I please," and personal liberty to test all the lures of Satan! Dear young soul, "enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matt. 7:13, 14.

Oh, the snow! the beautiful snow,

Filling the sky and earth below!

Over the housetops, over the street,

Over the heads of the people you meet,

Dancing―

Flirting―

Skimming along.

Beautiful snow; it can do no wrong;

Flying to kiss a fair lady's cheek;

Clinging to lips in frolicsome freak.

Beautiful snow from the heavens above,

Pure as an angel, gentle as love.

Oh the snow! the beautiful snow!

How the flakes gather and laugh as they go

Whirling about in its maddening fun;

It plays in its glee with everyone.

Chasing―

Laughing―

Hurrying by,

It lights on the face, and it sparkles the eye;

And e'en the dogs with a bark and a bound

Snap at the crystals that eddy around.

The town is alive, and its heart is aglow,

To welcome the coming of beautiful snow!

How the wild crowd goes swaying along,

Hailing each other with humor and song!

How the gay sleighs like meteors flash by,

Bright for a moment, then lost to the eye.

Ringing―

Swinging―

Dashing they go,

Over the crest of the beautiful snow:

Snow so pure when it falls from the sky,

To be trampled in mud by the crowd rushing by;

To be trampled and tracked by thousands of feet,

Till it blends with the horrible filth in the street.

Once I was pure as the snow, but I fell;

Fell, like the snowflakes from heaven―to hell;

Fell, to be trampled as filth on the street;

Fell, to be scoffed, to be spit on and beat.

Pleading―

Cursing―

Dreading to die,

Selling my soul to whoever would buy;

Dealing in shame for a morsel of bread,

Hating the living and fearing the dead.

Merciful God! have I fallen so low?

And yet I was once like this beautiful snow!

Once I was fair as the beautiful snow,

With an eye like its crystals, a heart like its glow;

Once I was loved for my innocent grace―

Flattered and sought for the charm of my face.

Father―

Mother―

Sisters―all;

God and myself I have lost by my fall!

The veriest wretch that goes shivering by

Will make a wide sweep lest I wander too nigh;

For of all that is on or about me, I know,

There is nothing that's pure―but the beautiful snow.

How strange it should be that this beautiful snow

Should fall on a sinner with nowhere to go!

How strange it would be, when the night comes again,

If the snow and the ice struck my desperate brain:

Fainting―

Freezing―

Dying alone―

Too wicked for prayer, too weak for my moan

To be heard in the crash of the crazy town

Gone mad in the joy at the snow coming down;―

To lie and to die in my terrible woe,

With a bed and shroud of the beautiful snow!

(Added by a Christian)

Helpless and foul as the trampled snow,

Sinner, despair not! Christ stoopeth low

To rescue the soul that is lost in sin,

And raise it to life and enjoyment again.

Groaning―

Bleeding―

Dying for thee,

The Crucified hung on th' accursed tree!

His accents of mercy fall soft on the ear:

"There is mercy for thee"―He will hear the weak prayer...

"O God, in the stream that for sinners did flow,

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

"Cme now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isa. 1:18.

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

Fair Weather Friends

Have you ever noticed how God sometimes uses for His glory the very trials He allows His dear children to go through? These instances are living witness to the precious truth that "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." Rom. 8:28.

This scripture was borne out in the lives of our your g friends, Mae and Ernest, although the sorrows they encountered in their Christian pathway would, perhaps, have been insurmountable stumbling blocks for many less sturdy believers in God's wondrous love.

When Ernest's health broke and he could no longer endure the strain of high-pressure salesmanship, this dear couple moved to the far west. In a small town there they used all their resources to buy a neighborhood grocery and meat market. The Lord blessed their combined labors in this little store so that they were enabled to care for and educate their young family, and faithfully "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

In their sincere desire to be used of God in their daily lives, both Mae and Ernest rarely missed an opportunity to speak to customers and employees about their souls' eternal welfare. Some received the Word gladly, but others turned a deaf ear―and their backs―on God's good news.

One who professed salvation under the ministry of his Christian employer was the butcher in the meat department of the little store. Happy to have such an out-spoken believer working for him, Ernest gladly gave all responsibility for purchase and sales of meat into his hands. And how the number of customers did increase! They would line up and wait for the jovial butcher to fill their orders.

A day came when the usually busy proprietor was at leisure to observe the meat-cutter's department. From a place near the door he watched as, one after another, the customers were waited on and left the market with their heavy cuts of beef, pork, or lamb in their arms or baskets. All seemed so pleased with the friendliness and service they received, and Ernest basked in the pleasant greetings of his very satisfied customers.

But came another day, a day of reckoning. The apparently flourishing little store was beginning to sink into the red. Sales were good, but where were the profits? Observing each transaction more closely, Ernest was amazed to see the cash-register figures. Meat customers who seemed best known to the butcher carried away large, choice cuts, as usual; but purchases were rung up at only a small part of their value.

How true is the Word in Num. 32:23: "Be sure your sin will find you out!”

The next pay-day, certain now that he had traced his losses to the meat department, Ernest approached his butcher with a heavy heart. Handing him his pay envelope, the sadly disillusioned proprietor merely commented: "As a professing Christian, my friend, you should know that 'God loves truth in the inward parts!' His Word tells us 'there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.' Matt. 10:26.

"And now," Ernest continued, "I shall hire a butcher who will teach me to break down the sides of beef and pork." And this he did, accepting the lesson as from God.

With scrupulous honesty, the new meat cutter and his employer worked together to give all customers the same fair weight and value, and in due time their efforts were owned of God in the increase of sales. But the friends of the first butcher never came back! He himself went his way, probably still using the profession of Christianity for his personal gain while at the same time his unscrupulous methods cast reproach on the precious name of Christ.

Ernest realized that the spiritual Christian must ever be alert to separate the good from the evil, and learn to discern and take the precious from the vile; for "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Mark 8:36,37.

A Young Officer Converted

The name of George Vigessimus Wigram will not be familiar to all our readers. He was an Englishman, one of those who in the early years of the nineteenth century was used of God to recover truths which had for centuries been almost lost sight of in the professing church. The following is his account of the way God met him in grace and saved him.

"Good instruction as to the contents of the Bible was mine at school, under a John the Baptist ministry ―that is, `the thunders of judgment.' However, I never knew the gospel until at the age of nineteen I went abroad, already surfeited with the animal pleasures of military life.

"With a Christian companion I spent a long day of sight-seeing on the field of Waterloo in June, 1824. Arriving at an inn that night quite late, I went to my room. A thought suddenly came to me: 'I will say my prayers!' It was a habit of my childhood, but had been neglected in youth. I knelt down by my bedside, and found that I had forgotten what to say. I looked up, as if trying to remember.

"Suddenly there came on my soul something I had never known before. It seemed as though Someone, infinite and almighty, knowing everything, full of deepest, tenderest interest in myself―though utterly and entirely abhorring everything in and connected with me―made known to me that HE PITIED AND LOVED ME.

"My eye saw no one; but I knew assuredly that the ONE I knew not, and had never met before, had met me for the first time and made me feel we were together.

"There was a Light no sense or faculty of my nature ever knew before. There was the Presence of what seemed infinite greatness, something of a class that seemed measureless and supreme, yet at the same time, making itself known to me in a way that I―as a man―could thoroughly feel, taste and enjoy. The Light made all light―Himself withal; but it did not destroy, for it was love itself; and I knew I WAS LOVED INDIVIDUALLY BY HIM.

"The exquisite tenderness and fullness of that love, the way it appropriated me―myself for HIM, in whom it all was, while the light from which it was inseparable in Him discovered to me the contrast I had been to all that was light and love.

"I wept upon my knees, said nothing and got into bed. Next morning my first thought was, 'Get a Bible.' I did so, and HENCEFORTH IT HAS BEEN MY HANDBOOK.

"My clergyman companion noticed this, and also my entire change of life and thought. We journeyed to Geneva where there was active persecution of the faithful going on. He went to Italy, and I 'found my own company' and stayed with those suffering for Christ. After fifty years of trial I can adopt to myself the following lines as descriptive of that night experience:

"Christ, the Father's great eternal,

Jesus once looked down on me,

Called me by my name external,

And revealed Himself to me;

With His whisper, life, light giving,

Glowed in me, the dark, the dead;

Made me live, Himself receiving,

Who once died for me and bled.”

G. V. Wigram

Lift Neither Hand nor Foot

Friend, are you seeking to win Christ and His eternal salvation by your own righteousness and good works? Is your hope for eternal life built on what you can do for Christ, or have you learned that the only security God Himself can give you is to put your trust in His Son and what He has done for you? Then in love and thanksgiving for so great salvation you will desire with all your heart to please Him in all your manner of life.

"And if thou wilt make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto Mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon." Ex. 20:25, 26.

Works must flow from salvation. There must be first the fountain, and then the stream; first the tree, and then the fruit; first the fire in the grate, then the smoke from the chimney; first the seed in the ground, and then the crop above ground.

There must be in shining on God's part before there can be the outshining on our part. There must be in-pouring on His part before there can possibly be outpouring on our part.

Sad to say, such is the ignorance and perversity of poor fallen man that he strives to "lift hand or foot" to obtain his soul's salvation. He does not or will not see that God was before him at the cross of His own Son, and that everything that God required for His glory and that man needed for his salvation, has been done once for all there.

We read in the Old Testament that Jonah was in the great fish's belly three days and three nights. The waters compassed him about, the depths closed him round, the weeds wrapped themselves round his head; the bottoms of the mountains, the earth and her bars were about him apparently forever! What could he do there? He could lift neither hand nor foot to free himself, but in conscious guilt and helplessness he cried: "SALVATION IS OF THE LORD!" Immediately the fish vomited out Jonah upon the dry land of God's everlasting salvation, where not a drop of God's judgment could ever reach him.

Jonah lifted neither hand nor foot to effect his salvation. God did it all, and wrote as it were upon the very forehead of Jonah's salvation, "ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD." 2 Cor. 5:17, 18.

In the New Testament hear the penitent thief on the cross, and listen to his confession: "We receive the due reward of our deeds": his vindication of Christ was, "This Man hath done nothing amiss"; his request of the Lord, "Remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom"; and Christ's answer came: "Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise." What a blessed case of conversion in the face of death, and on the verge of eternity!

What did that poor thief do towards obtaining it? Nothing! His hands and feet were nailed to the cross, and he was therefore totally unable to lift either hand or foot. JESUS DID IT ALL, and the thief got the benefit of it, all through casting himself just as he was upon Jesus and His finished work. What a crown to it all―the Savior and the sinner that very same day together in the paradise of God!

"To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Rom. 4:5.

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

Does this message meet the eyes of one whose cry is, "What must I do to be saved?”

Then listen to God's answer: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Be assured that in the momentous matter of your precious soul's everlasting salvation, God will not suffer you to LIFT EITHER HAND OR FOOT.

I would not work my soul to save,

For that my Lord hath done;

But I would work like any slave,

From love to God's dear Son.

"As many as received Him,

to them gave He power to

become the sons of God,

even to them that believe

on His name.”

John 1:12.

Echoes of Grace: 1967

Table of Contents

The Gate Beautiful

Too Strong

"Second Timothy-Two-Fifteen"

Teach Me to Live

The Gospel

"Thou God Seest Me"

O Lord, I Bring to Thee

An Unquenchable Thirst

Thirsting

We May Know

The Bad One

Both Sides

"One Sin" - "One Look"

Pray Without Ceasing

George Washington and Peter Miller

Among the Ungodly

Falling Away

Personal Pronouns

Joyless Infidelity

Think It Over

Grass on the Prayer Path

"Wait a Bit"

"Prodigal Jim"

The Engineer's Surprise

"It Passeth Knowledge"

The Wrong Estimate

Satan's Lies

'Tis Good to Thee

The Foulest and the Purest

A Society Leader's Story

He Had No Song

The Cross and the Resurrection

"He Died for Me"

The Football Captain's Conversion

Keep Looking up

Life Insurance

The Hen or the Egg

Christ and Sinners

"Get Right With God!"

"I Will"

Be Ye Thankful

"I Want to Live! I Want to Live!"

"What Do You Know?"

The Devil's Auction

"Insurance Policies"

Be in Time

Professor or Possessor

An Officer's Message

"A Time for Everything"

"As Good as My Neighbors"

"Wonderful"

Wages

The Cynic

Rahab

John Wanamaker's Greatest Investment

For Jesus' Sake

How Will You Die?

The Despised Book

Cause for Rejoicing

He Paid

Ruth's Conversion

A Slip of Paper

True Ground for Peace

My Savior Could and Would

A Preacher of the Old School

"Call His Name Jesus"

"I Don't Believe It"

At the River

"I Must Have My Fling"

Hindered by a Hymn

What Then?

Power in the Day of Death

The Beautiful Snow

Fair Weather Friends

A Young Officer Converted

Lift Neither Hand nor Foot