Echoes of Grace: 1969

Disquieting news was abroad. A convict had escaped from the penitentiary, and, although the machinery of the law had been set in motion, no trace of him could be found.

At the time, Dr. French Oliver, the noted preacher, was conducting a mission in the neighborhood of that prison. Night after night he pleaded passionately with men and women to come to Christ, and for several consecutive nights he noticed a man who invariably sat near the rear of the hall. There was an intense light in his eyes indicating his earnest interest, and the drawn, haggard expression on his face told of the soul-agony within.

At last one night Dr. Oliver felt constrained to speak to the listener. He left the platform, and, going straight to the man, said: "Why on earth don't you surrender to Christ?"

The words bursting from him, the man said: "I have been in hell the last four days, sir. I am under 'spiritual arrest!' I would have escaped from here, but I just couldn't."

Looking intently at Dr. Oliver, he said: "I judge you know who I am. I am the man they are hunting for! If I surrender to Christ, it means the penitentiary again for me."

As the ex-convict spoke he shuddered. Dr. Oliver said to him: "The question for you to settle tonight is God's penitentiary, not man's. It is impossible for you to escape the Private Detective of God Almighty—the Holy Spirit."

The man fell on his knees sobbing. The flood tide of God's love in Christ crashed through the rebellion of his sin-scarred heart and he surrendered to the Savior.

He went back to the penitentiary of his own accord and there he told the warden of his conversion to Christ. The warden, looking him in the face, said: "Man, I know you, and nothing but God Almighty could have made you come back here."

Once again the gates of the prison closed on him, and he finished his sentence, leaving an unblemished record from the time of his return. At the conclusion of his sentence a position was found for him, and he became a strong witness to the saving power of Christ, the Son of God.

Have you, unsaved reader, realized that you are under arrest? More than that—you are condemned and sentenced. By whom? By God Almighty!

He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." John 3:18.

The sentence has not yet been carried into effect; but the time is swiftly coming when, if you still go on in sin, the God of heaven will judge you.

Friend, One has already been brought to the bar of God's judgment on account of your sins and mine. That blessed One has bowed His head in death. God exacted the payment of the debt and Christ, His beloved Son, became our Surety. He has paid in full the debt we owed.

For all who own their sin and guilt, a pardon is proclaimed by the God we have so grievously sinned against. Listen to His message of grace: "Come NOW, and let us reason together... though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isa. 1:18.

Why not avail yourself of this gracious offer? Meet God you must, in grace or judgment. The choice is YOURS, dear reader. God give you to come, in all your need, today.

"Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Heb. 3:15.

A Pointed Text

Years ago a Christian woman lay upon her deathbed. Her husband had already passed away, and t h e sick woman was troubled about her soon-to-be-orphaned little girl. Reflecting that her little daughter would then have to be handed over to the charge of her grandfather, who was an infidel, the poor mother was filled with anxiety at the prospect. She called the child to her side, and begged her to promise that, for her sake, she would read at least one chapter of the Bible to herself every day.

The little girl was soon taken to the home of the infidel grandfather. Faithful to her promise, she read each day portions of God's Word, and, consequently, was found by him one day reading to herself in the garden. He asked what book it was, and she replied that it was the Bible.

He at once began to make light of it, declaring that it was useless to read such a book, for, said he, "What good is it?"

She answered that she read it that she might learn of God.

"God!" he exclaimed; "there is no God."

The effect of this upon the child can scarcely be described, so great was her fright and amazement. For the moment she appeared petrified; but recovering herself, exclaimed with passionate earnestness: "Oh, Grandfather, then you're a fool! You're a fool! You're a fool!"

The old man was amazed at this extraordinary audacity on the part of his granddaughter; but the frantic child continued to exclaim: "The Bible says so, Grandfather; it says you're a fool! The Bible says you are a fool! 'The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.' " Psa. 14:1.

The man listened no longer, though to forget his granddaughter's distressed exclamation was impossible. Wherever he went, by night and by day, every waking moment seemed to bring to his mind, "You are a fool! The Bible says so!"

Ere long the erstwhile scoffer became miserable, unhappy, and broken down before God. The divine arrow of God's Word had pierced his armor, and in humble repentance he owned his sinfulness and received as his Savior the Son of God who loved him and gave Himself for him.

The Question of Questions

"What Think Ye Of Christ?"

(Matthew 22:42)

"What think ye of Christ?" is the test,
To try both your state and your scheme;
You cannot be right in the rest,
Unless you think rightly of Him:
As Jesus appears in your view—
As He is beloved or not—
So God is disposed to you,
And mercy or wrath is your lot.

Some take Him a creature to be—
A man, or an angel at most;
But they have not feelings like me,
Nor know themselves wretched and lost:
So guilty, so helpless am I,
I durst not confide in His blood,
Nor on His protection rely,
Unless I were sure He is God.

Some style Him "the Pearl of great price,"
And say, He's the fountain of joys;
Yet feed upon folly and vice,
And cleave to the world and its toys:
Like Judas the Savior they kiss,
And while they salute Him, betray;
Oh, what will profession like this
wail in His terrible day?

Some call Him a Savior, in word,
But mix their own works with His plan;
And hope He His help will afford,
When they have done all that they can:
If doings prove rather too light
(A little they own they may fail),
They purpose to make up full weight,
By casting His Name in the scale.

If asked what of Jesus I think,
Though still my best thoughts are but poor,
I say, He's my Meat and my Drink,
My Life and my Strength and my Store;
My Shepherd, my Trust and my Friend,
My Savior from sin and from thrall;
My Hope from beginning to end,
My Portion, my Lord and my All.

The Curate's Sermon

A Christian worker was asked to visit an old man who was very ill, and to speak to him about his soul. He was well received by the sick man who listened patiently and attentively to what he had to say. In the end he acknowledged the love of God toward him and received Christ as his Savior.

While the newly-converted sick man and his visitor were rejoicing together, the wife, full of her own righteousness, broke into the conversation.

"You talk about 'after death the judgment.' I have no idea of going to that place of destruction. I have always lived a good life, and I have believed in Jesus ever since I was a child. What more could I do? I believe if people do the best they can, they will go to heaven. That's always been my creed; it's what I have been taught, and what I shall stick to. Indeed, my curate says, and I believe him:

`Man's ingress to this world is naked and bare;
His progress through this world is trouble and care;
His egress from the world is—nobody knows where;
If you do well here, you will do well there;
I can tell you no more if I preach for a year!"

Instead of arguing with the poor old formalist, the visitor read God's description of man in his natural state, as set forth in Romans 3. She would not, however, believe it. "Why," she exclaimed, "I have listened to bishops, and canons, and deans, and ministers of all sorts, and to some of the most celebrated preachers of this time, and I never heard any speak like you. Numbers of good and learned men have approved of my curate's verse, and you are the first I ever heard find fault with it."

And yet, after all, the theology of the curate's rhyme is widely believed by multitudes of professors of religion. One could not well find fault with the first lines, and we would not dispute the correctness of the last one, "I can tell you no more if I preach for a year." The curate was evidently a "stranger to grace and to God," and was utterly ignorant of the gospel of God's grace.

"Man's egress from the world is, nobody knows where." What a contradiction to the words of Scripture! "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." Psa. 9:17.

"The rich man also died, and was buried; and in, hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments." Luke 16:22, 23.

Of those who have accepted Christ as their Savior, we read: "To depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better." Phil. 1:23. Thus Scripture reveals the eternal destiny of the saved and the lost—the converted and unconverted.

The fourth line reveals man's way of salvation as opposed to God's: "If you do well here, you will do well there." Scripture shows that the "whole world" is "guilty" before God. "If you do well here!" Who has done this? "There is none righteous, no, not one." Rom. 3:10.

"There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:22, 23.

Men talk about doing their duty, and assert like the old woman, that "if people do the best they can, they will go to heaven"; but who has done his "best"? "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is GUILTY OF ALL." Jas. 2:10.

Friend, it is not a question of how many times you have broken the law of God, but have you broken it at all? All have done so, and you among the rest; and if salvation is only to be had by our doings, no one can be saved. God has declared that men are saved by grace through faith; "not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph. 2:8, 9.

"To him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that WORKETH NOT but BELIEVETH ON HIM that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Rom. 4:4, 5.

"Your fairest pretensions must wholly be waived,
Your best resolutions be crossed:
Nor can you expect to be perfectly saved,
Till you find yourself utterly lost."

Safety First

"Safety First" is a good motto, but many seem to prefer Safety LAST. If you saw a man sleeping on the railway track, would you not do your utmost to save him? But one need not lie on the railroad line in the way of a train to be near death, for "what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." And, "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."

Perhaps the reader's motto is. "Safety First," and acting upon this, he takes every precaution for the preservation of health and natural life; but strange to say, not one thought does he give to his soul's eternal welfare. Safety Last is Satan's motto and his artful device to lure men and women into hell. He has no objection to your believing in heaven so long as you take no steps to get there.

God's way is Safety First TO Last. "In the beginning God" reveals His "Way" of safety; but it was at Calvary where "Safety First" was obtained for hell-deserving sinners. Now if you will trust in Christ's redeeming blood, you will have a place of safety from the wrath of God that abides on all Christ-rejecters. "Safety is of the LORD," as we find in Proverbs 21:31. Would you be safe from the power and penalty of sin? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31.

If Safety First is a good principle to act on where the welfare of your body is concerned, how much more so should it be concerning the soul? The soul MUST exist forever, either in heaven or in hell; and you, not God, must choose where you will spend that vast forever: ETERNITY.

Dear fellow traveler to eternity, which will you choose: eternal bliss in heaven, or eternal torment in hell? Hell is out of date with most people, but it is not out of the Bible. What did the Lord Jesus mean when He said, "Flee from the wrath to come"?

Hear and heed God's answer: "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." Psa. 9:17.

"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 20:15.

We have set before you the "Way" of Life, and the way of death; therefore choose life NOW.

A Peculiar Poster

The walls of the "community hall" were nearly covered with posters—large posters, small posters, crazy posters, insane posters, psychedelic posters. Most of the people walking around, standing in couples or groups, or sitting in out-of-the-way places, reflected in their faces and attitudes something of the unreality of the garish colors and messages.

Strange to say, one poster alone drew the attention and ire of the custodian—a large cardboard on whose white surface the simple, black printed message "stood out like a sore thumb," as he described it. And what did those startlingly black words on white say? "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."

Glancing around, he saw among a group of young people a pleasant-faced lad who, he decided, was the culprit who had placed it there. "Here, Sam," he called out; "you are one of the religious sort that would do this. Why do your kind of people put up these posters on the walls? Why don't they keep these things to themselves?"

"Why? They have as much right, if it comes to a question of that sort, to do so as the others have to display their crude wit or advertise their wares."

"Yes, yes, of course; but what does this thing mean?"

"Just what it says, sir. Read it the same as you would read anything else. Use the same thought in reading it as you would in reading another poster and it will be clear enough."

"But will you just explain it a bit to me?"

"It needs very little explanation," replied Sam. "It is from the Bible, and, thanks be to God, the Bible is plain enough to them who want to understand. It is difficult only to those who won't.

"These words tell us that everlasting life belongs to those who believe in the Son of God—that is, to those who take Him to be their Savior, their Redeemer, their Lord-to those who accept Him as the divine Substitute for them, bearing their sins and taking their punishment on Calvary's cross."

"But what if a man does not believe that?"

"Then there is the other thing: HE SHALL NOT SEE LIFE. If you will have Christ as your Savior from sin, you will have everlasting life. That is God's way. It is 'Yes' or 'No.' It matters not what you are; unless you are 'born again,' become a new creature in Christ, you cannot see the kingdom of God. 'Ye must be born again.' John 3:7. Now be clear on this point—no new birth now means no new heaven by-and-bye. Take Jesus Christ into your heart now, and be ready for a blest eternity with Him in glory."

It was a subdued and thoughtful custodian that Sam left standing gazing on those solemn words.

Reader, will you take Sam's advice and receive his Savior?

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

Whosoever Means Anyone

An old woman was nearing eternity and had but a brief time to live. By her bedside sat a young girl reading the Scriptures to her. The portion she was reading was John's Gospel, chapter 3. While she was. reading verse sixteen, the poor old woman's attention was caught by the word, "whosoever."

"Stop," she commanded. "What can that word 'whosoever' mean?"

The girl answered that she did not know. "Then," said the dying woman, "run as fast as you can, and ask the first person you meet."

The girl put down the Bible, and ran quickly to inquire the meaning of the word "whosoever." A gentleman was walking toward her and she inquired, breathlessly, "If you please, sir, can you tell me the meaning of the word, 'whosoever'?"

"Oh, yes, little girl," replied the gentleman. "It just means anybody that likes."

She thanked him, and ran back to the old woman. As soon as she reached the bedside the poor dying creature raised her fast closing eyes, and said, "Oh, have you found out yet?"

"Yes," replied the girl. "I met a gentleman, who said it just means anybody that likes."

"Thank God!" was the old lady's response, as she put her thin hands together and looked up to heaven. "Thank God then; I like, I like!"

Soon afterward, smiling happily, she breathed her last. Without doubt, she passed away to be with Him whose love for "anybody that likes" had so fully met her need.

"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.

Why Longer Delay?

Oh why, sinner, languish in darkness and sin?
Why perish with hunger when Christ calls you in
To feast at the banquet His grace has prepared?
Why should ceaseless blessings be longer deferred?

From gracious beseechings, oh, turn not away,
But come now to Jesus, no longer delay—
To HIM who from heavenly glory came forth
To die for the guilty, to save them from wrath.

The Savior will welcome, so none need despair,
For all in His bountiful pardon may share;
The heart-broken sinner He'll never cast out;
He lovingly welcomes—oh why longer doubt?

How rich is the mercy which calls you to comet
How great the provision! Oh why longer roam?
For God can be just, and can now justify;
So sue now for mercy! Through Jesus draw nigh.

IT IS APPOINTED UNTO MEN

ONCE TO DIE, BUT AFTER

THIS THE JUDGMENT.
HEB. 9:27.

BEHOLD, NOW IS THE ACCEPTED

TIME; BEHOLD, NOW IS THE DAY

OF SALVATION.
2 COR. 6:2.

Resist Not the Holy Spirit

(A story used of God in the conversion of Hudson Taylor)

A man named Gardener had been conscious as never before of the pleadings of the Holy Spirit and of the nearness of God. One day, walking up a lonely mountain trail, he had even been startled by a voice apparently behind him, earnestly saying, "Gardener, give Me thy heart."

He turned to face the speaker, but no one was in sight. He was alone under the open sky, alone with an awakened conscience and the all-seeing God.

"My son, give Me thy heart."

His Maker must have spoken. No other voice could stir the soul like that. What should he do? Yes, that was the question.

Long and troubled were his ponderings, for the call was unwelcome. He did not want just then to be a Christian. It would upset his plans, interfere with his prospects of success. No, he must make money first, come what may. That was his prime object in life. Later on, at another time, a "more convenient season," he would reconsider the matter. God was merciful. There would be another chance, he reasoned. And so, deliberately resisting the Holy Spirit, he went on up the hill—went on to meet the tempter in his own strength.

That night, alone in their shack, he saw his partner begin to count a little store of savings as he sat by the fire. Seven one-pound notes lay in his hand. Gardener became interested. Then all at once an overwhelming desire to obtain that money took possession of him. Never before had he felt such a passion for money. All restraints of conscience were swept away. His one, his only thought became, "I must and I will have it. But how?"

Then followed the awful suggestion: "Dead men tell no tales."

Though it meant murder, this aroused neither fear nor compunction. A few hours before, he had been powerfully drawn toward God and happiness and heaven. Now he seemed given up to evil. Three days. and nights went by, while he waited his opportunity. It came at last: and Gardener's hands were stained with the blood of one who had trusted him as his friend.

Did Gardener live to enjoy the one-pound notes he had taken at such a terrible cost? No! He was accused of the crime, convicted, and executed. He left behind all that he valued so highly. "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his o w n soul?" Mark 8:36.

No doubt you, too, dear reader, have had convictions as to your sins, as to God in His holiness, and as to judgment. Perhaps to you, too, God by His Spirit has said, "My son, give Me thy heart." Oh, "Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart." Hebrews 4:7. You have no promise of tomorrow, for God's time is NOW.

"Behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2. "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" Heb. 2:3.

Then take with rejoicing from Jesus at once, The life everlasting He gives; And know with assurance thou never canst die, Since Jesus thy righteousness lives.

Charles Darwin's Deathbed

In 1871 was published Charles Darwin's famous book, The Descent of Man. This controversial volume created a furor in the religious world, for it presented a man's speculations on the probable origin of man. Darwin traced the descent of the human race back to an ape-like creature. Then he went still further back until he reached the speck of protoplasm containing in itself, as he supposed, all those evolutionary potentialities, which after centuries of slow advancement resulted in man. However, with strict honesty he pointed out that with all his research there was a missing link. Till every link should be indisputably proved and the missing link discovered, Darwin's theory remained a speculation.

The human heart is prone to believe anything put forward against the Word of God, and Darwinism became the popular thing. Tens of thousands were swept into skepticism. Hundreds of preachers proclaimed this doctrine from their pulpits, doing incredible harm.

While this theory did not deny God as Creator—for who created the speck of protoplasm?—yet it brushed aside the truth of man's creation as set forth in Genesis 1 and 2. And if that account is mythical, what sure foundation have we for any statement in God's Word? Darwinism also denied the fall of man. And if that is denied, where is the necessity of the atoning work of Christ?

Years have rolled by since "The Descent of Man" appeared, and today Darwinism is an exploded or an unproved theory in the estimation of many who are competent to judge.

In 1882 Darwin, the apostle of evolution, died, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. We quote from the account given by The Gleaner, U. S. A. It gives us the account of a great and sorrowful tragedy. This is the scene: Darwin is propped up in bed. Out of his window stretches a beautiful view. The sun is setting, lighting up with its soft radiance the face of nature. The dying wildfire. People made a religion of them!"

True, his book appeared only eleven years before his death, but it contained the "unformed ideas" of his early manhood, as he himself confessed.

Was there a more tragic scene? Darwin, with Bible in hand, speaking with glowing enthusiasm about "the grandeur of this Book," deploring the modern evolutionary movement in theology which has resulted in covering Protestant lands with the blight of skepticism! Earnestly he implored Lady Hope (he knew that she read the Bible in the villages) to "gather her servants, tenants, and neighbors, and present to them Christ Jesus." Sadly he confessed that his "unformed man is reading—The Bible. His visitor is. Lady Hope, a well-known Christian worker. She says: "In my conversation with Mr. Darwin I made some allusion to the strong opinions expressed by many persons on the history of the creation, its grandeur, and then their treatment of the earlier chapters of the Book of Genesis.

"He seemed greatly distressed. His fingers twitched nervously, and a look of agony came over his face as he said: 'I was a young man with unformed ideas. I threw out queries, suggestions, wondering all the time over everything. To my amazement, the ideas took like ideas" as a young man were the basis of the evil evolutionary theology.

What a challenge to every modernist! What a rebuke to all who scoff at or neglect the Bible!

Further, Darwin revealed his sense of the absolute necessity of belief in the Lord Jesus Christ to every man, woman, and child, when he begged Lady Hope to show forth Christ to those around her. Gladly would he have undone the mischief wrought by his earlier "unformed ideas," but it is left to later generations to refute his "unformed theories" and to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Jude 3.

A. J. Pollock

The Great High Priest

In a restaurant a group of men at one of the tables were conversing upon the subject of religion. The argument grew so lively that it became impossible for those at the nearest tables not to hear it. As it proceeded, the interest of the listeners became intense.

The argument was chiefly as to whether salvation was by works or of grace, and whether a person could be assured of his salvation in this life. One of the disputants firmly insisted that salvation is "by grace, through faith; not of ourselves, but the gift of God." Another contended that no man can know he is saved until he dies. As a final argument, he exclaimed, "Well, all I can say is this: I have placed myself in the hands of my priest, and he is responsible for my salvation."

At this point an elderly man rose from his table nearby and said: "Gentlemen, I believe I am known to you as a lawyer and a Christian. I could not help hearing the argument at your table, and I feel bound to say that our friend is perfectly logical in what he has said. I also have placed myself in the hands of my Priest, and He is responsible for my salvation. My Priest is the Lord Jesus Christ. By faith I have committed myself into His hands, and 'I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him.' "

This settled the dispute. Such a statement from a man known to all for his high legal and Christian rating had an instant effect. Undoubtedly some men there heard the gospel for the first time as it was preached in a restaurant by an exponent of the law.

My dear reader, let me ask you a question: Is your soul and its vast eternal concerns committed by precious faith to the One Great High Priest who never deceives or fails one who trusts Him? He is indeed responsible for the complete and perfect salvation "to the uttermost of all who come unto God by Him."

Beware of placing any trust in any works of your own. Salvation is entirely by grace, through faith; and faith is the hand that receives salvation as the gift of God. God does not require or expect any fitness in any sinner. All the fitness He desires is that you feel your need of Him.

No matter how great or how miserable a sinner you are, you are welcome to Jesus Christ. He is the one and only Priest that has power to save you; and He is both able and willing to save forever all who come to God by Him. It is His joy to save sinners. He seeks for sinners on purpose to save them. He died to save sinners; and now He lives to save them.

A Right Verse for the Right Time

I was a young man, lately arrived in Australia from England, and had not yet learned my way around. One evening (having lost my way) I was wandering in the bush. Suddenly I saw a light, and making for it I found myself at a large farm. The farmer answered my knock, and I asked permission to pass the night under cover. Somewhat grudgingly he said: "You can go into the barn if you like; but there is someone there already."

So, being in want of shelter and rest for the night, I thanked him and went into the barn. By the light of a lantern I saw another man lying in a corner coughing violently. Putting down my gun and shooting-bag, which was my only luggage, I went over to him. Sitting down by his side, I asked him if I could do anything for him.

Speaking with difficulty, he told me he was an Englishman, and I found he had attended the same university as I. In early life, having disgraced his family by his wild ways, he had been sent out to the colonies. There he had continued to lead a dissolute life for five and twenty years; but now he felt sure he was about to end his earthly journey. Did I know anything about the hereafter? This was his query as he was anxious to find out what was going to become of him after death. I was then totally a stranger to God and His grace, unconverted, a man of the world. Utterly careless of the eternal future myself, I said I thought the Bible was what he needed.

"Oh!" said he, "the Bible! Why, my mother put one in my box when I left home. I have never opened it.

Will you go and get it out and bring it here?"

I went to his little trunk and got the Book and brought it to him. "Now," he said, "where are we to turn?" and we both confessed we did not know.

"Well, clap it together," he said, "and see where it opens."

I did so, and the Book opened at Isaiah 53. I began to read: "He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," and the dying man asked me, "Who is He?"

I hazarded the guess, "It must be Jesus Christ."

"Ah," he said, "go on"; and I read slowly until I came to the words, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way..."

"Stop," he said; "that's me, that's me! That's just what I have done all my life."

After a little while he said, "Go on."

"And the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

"Ah," he said, "Jesus Christ"; and then a minute or so later, "Read it again."

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

He lay back on the straw and I quietly read on, turning over the pages. Then I found some passages about Jesus Christ in the Gospels. After some time he asked me to leave him and go to bed. This I did, and was soon fast asleep.

In the morning the beams of the sun were making their way through the boards of the barn when I awoke. Going over to the place where the sick man lay, I saw there was a change in him. His face seemed to have caught some of the sunbeams, he looked so happy and peaceful; no cough, and he appeared to be quite at ease.

I did not understand what had happened but he said to me: " 'The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquities of us all'—on Jesus Christ, my Savior."

He told me that in the night it was as if the Lord had come to him and showed him His hands and side. The sick man said, "He died for me. I know it, and now all is joy and peace."

Thus the Spirit of God, active in grace, encircles the globe, overcomes all obstacles, brings to bear the particular verse of Scripture at the particular time, and illumines the soul as to Christ. Reader, may you be led by the same Spirit to know and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:6-8.

After Death

What lies beyond death has always stimulated man's curiosity; hence there has been continuous research, as well as conjecture, in an effort to pierce the veil dividing the visible from the invisible.

The Emperor Cyrus, well versed in Persian lore, when he was dying confessed that he believed the soul to be immortal.

Socrates, the greatest of Greek philosophers, stated that the nature of the soul indicated its immortality, but what lay beyond was known to God alone.

Cicero, the brilliant Roman orator and author, believed that the soul was imprisoned in the body on earth and lived after the body died; but his conjecture was not to be taken as certain, like a divine oracle!

Shakespeare, the prince of English poets, wrote: "the dread of something after death, the undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns, puzzles the will and makes us bear those ills we have, rather than fly to others we know not of."

Modern physical research has had to confess the inadequacy of the external to satisfy the soul. The spiritualistic séance would seek to induce us to make contact with the spirits of the departed; but how very unsatisfactory has this proved to be!

In contrast to the barren uncertainty of philosophy as to a future state, and the lack of foothold on the shifting sands of speculation, we have the certainty of God's revelation in the Bible. The Christian can exclaim in the presence of that last dread foe of humanity, "Oh death, where is thy sting?" Also "we know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 2 Cor. 5:1.

Men and demons strove in vain to find deceit in the Lord's words which called the dead to life. Hence His message is reassuring: "I go to prepare a place for you... I will come again and receive you unto Myself." The Apostle Paul, concluding his narrative of the snatching up of the dead and living Christians. at the coming of the Lord, said: "Wherefore comfort one another with these words." Hence the Christian does not sorrow as others without hope!

But to those who refuse God's message in the gospel, death must appear as a formidable foe, because "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment!"

The wisest man of ancient times put on record that God shall bring every work into judgment. The conclusion of the matter at the dread assize of the great White Throne shows that death and Hades delivered up the dead... and they were judged every man according to his works. That leads to the second death-the complete reverence of the soul from God. Thus the "reason of being" is missed, that is: to glorify and enjoy God.

But none need miss his or her way, because God has made ample provision: "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.

God's Answer

"I am such a helpless, hopeless, miserable sinner! There is no hope for me. I have prayed, and resolved, and tried, and vowed until I am sick of my useless efforts." This was the discouraged plaint of one who attended the gospel meeting.

"Do you believe that 'Christ died for our sins, and rose again'?" was the reply.

"Of course I do."

"If He were on earth in bodily and visible form, what would you do?"

"I would go to Him at once."

"What would you say to Him?"

"I would tell Him that I am a lost sinner."

"What would you ask Him?"

"I would ask Him to forgive my sins and save my soul."

"What would He answer?"

The man was silent.

"What would He answer?" The question was urgently repeated.

At last the light dawned for him, and a smile of peace stole over his face as he whispered, "He would answer, 'I will.' "

And the man went away believing. He knew he was forgiven of God, saved through the work of Christ, and could rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

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

The Will of the People

When the enemies of our Lord saw Him nailed to the cross, they evidently thought that His crucifixion was a triumph for the will of the people, and that they had seen the end of Him who said He would build a temple in three days.

Firmly convinced of this belief, they mocked our Lord. However, on the third day the apparently vanquished One arose, a mighty Victor over death, hell, and the grave. Today He lives in the glory of God.

From this let us learn a lesson. Men may connive to put an end to a faithful witness for God. They may gain an apparent triumph; but in the end, God's will shall prevail. He always wins who sides with God, and can say with the Apostle Paul: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Phil. 1:21.

My Son, Give Me Thine Heart

(Proverbs 23:26)

A bright boy heard and was deeply impressed by the text, "My son, give Me thine heart." Satan whispered: "Time enough yet."

Ten years later, a brilliant university man heard the same text, in circumstances which seemed to make that time the time of his salvation. Again the tempter whispered successfully: "Time enough yet."

Twenty years later a statesman listened to the same text from the lips of an aged servant of God and felt it was God's message to him. This time the tempter said: "Visit foreign countries before you decide."

A traveler to foreign lands was stricken with cholera. His greatest suffering was agony of soul, for he was not prepared to die. His last words were the awful cry of despair: TOO LATE!

The boy, the university man, the statesman, the traveler, were all one. Procrastination has damned millions. "Time enough yet," says the deceiver while Scripture says, "NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2.

"WHAT SHALL I
DO THEN WITH JESUS
WHICH IS CALLED
CHRIST?"

MATT. 27:22

"AS MANY
AS RECEIVED HIM,
TO THEM GAVE HE
POWER TO BECOME
THE SONS OF GOD."
JOHN 1:12.

The Old Colonel

Nearly all the policemen in New York know about the Water Street Mission and its work; so also does every tough bunco-steerer, professional sneak-thief, and all the other specimens of the class who, after persistently violating the law and placing themselves in bad repute, find themselves shut out from every opportunity to earn an honest living, and who dwell in the shadow of the penitentiary or the electric chair throughout their miserable lives.

When the convict who has served his time in Sing Sing prepares to face the world again— that world that can be counted upon to do its utmost towards driving him back to prison— he is usually advised of the thorny path before him, and the last sentence of the advice used to be this: "You had better go down to the Water Street Mission."

Likely the convict has heard of "Water Street" before. If he purposes to reform he makes his way to the Mission. There he is sheltered, fed, and clothed, if need be, and put to work at something. He is asked no questions. No promises are exacted. He has no rules to observe except the one rule of order. He is not lectured on his past.

One night an old man came in. He was known to many as the "Old Colonel." He was one of the most typical tramps that ever came into the Mission, where the lost congregate in such numbers. No pen can adequately describe his condition, but this may give a faint idea of how he looked: he was over six feet tall, and about sixty years old— but he looked a hundred. His dirty gray beard was about a foot long, and his hair, of the same color, hung a foot down his back. His eyes were disgustingly bleared, and the hue of his face showed that he and water had long been strangers. He had an old, ragged overcoat, probably pulled out of some ash barrel, and fastened with a nail. An old coat and vest completed his scare-crow wardrobe.

The Old Colonel had been known for years as a common beggar. He had come to the mission one Sunday night; and in the middle of the service he had stood and peered forward, calling out: "Mr. Hadley, are you there?"

Mr. Hadley was the founder of the mission, and he answered, "Yes, I am here."

"Will you pray for me? I am of a contrite spirit."

At the close of the meeting he came up, with probably twenty others, and prayed away like a man in dead earnest. When we rose from our knees he also stood up and said: "Well, I am saved. There is no doubt about it."

Then he put his arms around Mr. Hadley's neck and said, "Brother Hadley, what are you going to give me?" He was told, "You will get a night's lodging."

"Yes," said the old derelict, "that's right, but what else?"

"We will give you a quarter for your breakfast."

"That's right," said he. "I always knowed you were a Christian." With his quarter and ticket for a bed he staggered off, promising: "I'll come every night. Yes, brother Hadley. I'll come every night."

Who was this specimen of the devil's cruel power and handiwork? He was from one of Ohio's oldest and best-known families, from a wealthy, prosperous Christian home.

After going through college, he had studied law. He had married and begun to practice, but while in college he had begun to drink, and in every way and everywhere he now proved to be a failure. However, he had served through the Civil War with credit, and was mustered out a colonel in an Illinois cavalry regiment.

A colonel, but a confirmed drunkard. He really struggled against that deadly habit which had so securely fastened itself upon him; but it seemed useless.

At last, when home, wife, and children were lost to him, he became utterly discouraged. He gave up in despair and coming to New York, took an assumed name. In that great and wicked city he became a street beggar and a confirmed drunkard known only as "the Old Colonel." This was the man who came up for prayers that night.

He was on hand early the following evening, as he had promised. Again he came forward for prayers when the invitation was given, and prayed away most earnestly. After we arose from our knees he stood up, and with much unction said he was saved sure enough this time. He tried to put his arms around Mr. Hadley again, but was repulsed this time with much more vigor than grace. Then he was taken to the door and told to leave.

"Do you mean it?" he said, incredulously.

"If you linger much longer, you will see that we mean it."

The old Colonel went away slowly, cursing Mr. Hadley, the Mission, and everybody else. He swore he would die in the streets before he would ever come to Water Street again.

And Mr. Hadley? His heart smote him as he saw the miserable, hopeless figure go out into the night. He went to bed, but not to sleep. He could think of nothing else, pray for nothing else but the old derelict. He felt he must be saved, or Mr. Hadley would never again have peace.

Two weeks later, during a special prayer service for the soul of the Old Colonel, one of the workers came across the old man in Battery Park, and told him they were praying for him. When Mr. Hadley reached the Mission that night, there on the back bench sat the Colonel. It was Mr. Hadley's turn now, and as he put his arms around the old man's neck, he burst into tears. He got some food, and fed him. He bathed and clothed him and had his hair and beard trimmed.

What a change! But the greatest change was in the heart of the Old Colonel. Mr. Hadley's human love had opened the way for the divine love of the Savior to enter and fill the Old Colonel's heart, and he was now a new creation in Christ Jesus.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17.

A Contrast

In 1874, in the city of London, David Livingstone was buried in Westminster Abbey. The streets were lined with people, thousands of them, seeking to pay respect to the memory of that great pioneer missionary.

As the funeral cortege moved along, a poor old man was noticed weeping bitterly. He was poorly clad and unkempt. Someone asked him the cause of his grief.

"I'll tell you," the old man replied. "Davie and I were born in the same village. We attended the same day school and Sunday school. We worked at the same loom. But Davie went that way and I went this. Now he is honored by the nation, and I am in the gutter, neglected, unknown and dishonored."

Yes, everyone must choose whether or not he will walk with Christ.

"Choose you this day whom ye will serve." Joshua 24: 15.

"CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS." 1 Cor. 15:3.

Right about Face!

"What is this conversion that you talk so much about, and say people must have?" asked an officer one day of a private who was an earnest, active Christian.

"Sir," was the reply, "it is when the Captain of our salvation cries 'Halt!' and then when we halt, He orders `Right about face! ' "

Conversion is more than "theory," or "head knowledge," or "talk." It strikes deeper than the skin: it influences the heart. Conversion is not reformation. Conversion is not a beginning to amend or trying to be better, but it is a great cure done at once, and done forever.

An earthly doctor cures his patients by making them a little bit better each day, but conversion is God's work on a man that transforms him from being a child of wrath to being a child of God. We are "born again by the word of God," and "this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."

The Man Who Died for Me

My pilgrim days are waning;
The voice of Him I love
Has called me to His presence
In my Father's house above.
Long, long, by faith I've known Him,
But now I'm going to see
The Man who sits in heaven,
The Man who died for me.

To be alone with Jesus,
Himself to gaze upon,
To see the Man I've read about
Oft in the eighth of John;
To leave this scene of sadness;
Oh, wondrous! Lord, to see
The glory of Thy presence-
The Man who died for me.

I'm going to be with Jesus
Who in this world of pain
Gave back the widow's only son,
Outside the gate of Nain.
His heart was moved with pity,
His word caused death to flee.
I'm going to see Him as He is,
The Man who died for me.

To leave the world that cast Him out,
And to be with Him there,
Before the kingdom glories
Or the "many crowns" appear;
O blessed Man of Sychar!
It is Himself to see,
He calls me to His presence,—
The Man who died for me.

It is the Man Christ Jesus
With whom I'm going to dwell;
The weary Man of Sychar,
Who sat upon the well;
Whose love filled that poor woman's heart
And gave her eyes to see
That He was God's anointed One,—
The Man who died for me.

But ere I left the desert,
I longed that I might know
What joy His blessed presence
Could give me here below;
These few short, fleeting moments,
Oh! I would nearer be
To Thee, my precious Savior,—
The Man who died for me.

He gave me all I asked for,
Yea, more than I can tell;
He filled my soul with rapture,
With joy unspeakable.
The hand of Jesus on my soul
Seemed laid so tenderly;
I had for my companion
The Man who died for me.

To fall asleep in Jesus
'Tis that I think of now;
To be "forever with the Lord,"
Before Himself to bow;
Ah, yes! with Him who kindly
Called Zacchaeus from the tree,
With Him who hung upon the cross,—
The Man who died for me.

J.G.B.

White-Washed or Washed White

A well-known and gifted evangelist was holding gospel meetings in a large western city. A young man, Victor Braun, had heard of his eloquence and thought he would like to hear him. Accordingly, he attended several of the meetings and one evening, through curiosity more than anything else, he went into the inquiry room. There he was spoken to by a Christian worker, who asked him if he were a Christian.

"I don't think so," Victor replied.

"Would you like to be one?"

"I would not mind," was the answer given.

The Christian then read a portion of Scripture, prayed, and asked Victor to pray. He followed the Christian's lead, and left under the impression that he was a child of God. How sad that, like many others, Satan had deceived him with a spurious conversion!

Victor had "prayed" for salvation and imagined that he had obtained it through his praying. He still knew nothing of "repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ," but he "felt happy" now— much happier than he had formerly been. However, his "happiness" was obtained by believing a lie through believing that his prayer was all that was needed. How sad 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 thereof are the ways of death." Proverbs 14:12.

Victor, believing that he was now a Christian, joined a religious organization, 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 help others in order to obtain peace with God for himself. But the "earnest Christian worker," as he was now considered, had yet to learn that he was on the wrong track.

Some time later, Victor saw a crowd of people near a street corner. They were listening to an evangelist telling out the "old, old story" of Calvary's cross. The preacher stressed the necessity of repentance toward God and emphasized the fact that there are only two classes in God's sight— saved and unsaved, justified and condemned. Where did he stand? He imagined that the preacher had singled him out, and he went home in a miserable condition.

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

On the Monday night, with Bible in hand, he was back at the hall. He was even more wretched than on the previous evening. 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 that was necessary for his soul's deliverance.

When it dawned on him what Christ's death had accomplished, he fell on his knees and thanked God for giving Christ to die for all his sins.

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 some of Satan's arrows. However, that old deceiver was defeated. Victor found that he could rest 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 will come unto God by Him.

Able to save—unto the uttermost!
Oh, why art thou fearing to trust in the Lord?
Think not that the arm of His might can grow weary;
His power is almighty; oh, rest on His word.
Able to break every chain that may bind thee,
Although for long years thou a captive hast lain;
A crimson-dyed sinner the Savior may find thee,
But the blood of His cross, it shall cleanse every stain.
Able at last, in the hour of His triumph,
To take His redeemed ones, resplendent and fair,
And thus to the Father in glory present them:
Then farewell forever to sorrow and care.
Able to do "exceeding abundantly,"
Far above all that the heart can conceive;
Then why dost thou tarry? the mighty One waiteth;
His message of mercy, say, wilt thou receive?

A Padre Found Peace

A Christian woman, Mrs. Bell, was seriously ill and had to be placed in a hospital to undergo an operation. There the doctor, speaking to his staff, made no secret about the seriousness of her case. He also told the padre, who was a sort of chaplain for the institution, that the woman in Room 12 might not live long. So, shortly after her arrival at the hospital, Mrs. Bell awoke from sleep to find the padre sitting at her bedside, repeating prayers out of a little book.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"I am praying for you, dear madam," the padre replied.

"It is kind of you to pray for me; but what are you praying for me to get?" inquired Mrs. Bell.

"That the good God may be gracious to you when your last hour comes," was the reply.

Mrs. Bell rejoined, "You need not pray for that for me. I am already pardoned; I am sure of my soul's salvation; I know for certain that I shall go to be with Christ when I leave this world. I am a Christian and belong to the people of God."

"But we all belong to God's people!" said the padre.

"No," replied Mrs. Bell. "Only those who are washed in the blood of the Lamb. By nature, all are lost and must be born again, whether priests or laymen."

The padre's reply was, "Be calm, my dear lady! You are very ill and must not excite yourself. I will see you again."

Meanwhile a marked improvement in Mrs. Bell's condition took place, and when the padre called on her some days later she was able to speak to him very earnestly. She spoke also with no uncertain sound, while he listened most attentively. Suddenly he reached out his hand, saying: "Oh, pray for me! I am still without peace in my heart!"

After this interview the padre did not appear again for a number of days, and Mrs. Bell gradually gained strength. One day the bright sunshine tempted her to go out on the veranda. As she sat there, she heard a voice from a room nearby, praying: "Oh, God, have mercy on me, that I may not be like the man who entered without the wedding garment. Oh God, have mercy on me!"

These words reminded her of the conversation with the padre and she now also recognized the voice as being his. She returned to her room, and after an hour or two the padre knocked and was admitted. His face was beaming with joy as he said: "Now I have found the same peace that you have."

From that day, as long as Mrs. Bell was in the hospital, he came to talk with her often of the things that filled his heart; and each time he heard and received the Word as it is indeed—the truth of God.

He That Receiveth Me

(John 12:48)
"He that rejecteth Me!" Herein is condemnation.
He who hath heard the call,
Yet hath mocked God's gracious offer of salvation—
On him the final curse must fall.

(Matthew 10:40)
"He that receiveth Me!" There is no condemnation!
Christ is the living Way;
And all who will may take the gift of free salvation,
And pass from death, through Him, today.

"He that receiveth Me!" Oh, not by vain endeavor
Eternal life is won;
One only sacrifice atoned for sin forever,
And life for us is in God's Son.

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

1 John 4:10

The Happy Skipper

"Skipper" is the title sailors generally give the captain of their vessel. A Christian fisherman, Andrew Davidson, was so named by the crew of a fishing boat, "The Rose in June," of which he was the owner and captain.

When the herring season came, Andrew Davidson and his crew prepared to go to sea. He had but lately been married, and before leaving home he knelt down with his young wife and asked God to keep her safe while he was away. But she noticed— and her heart sank within her at the thought— that he said not a word about his own safety.

The night after "The Rose in June" sailed with a fleet of other vessels, a terrible storm raged all along the coast. Early the next morning a crowd of women and children, members of the families of the absent fishermen, gathered on the beach. Every eye was strained across the waters, to catch the first glimpse of the returning boats. One by one they straggled in, and shouts of joy and thankfulness arose from waiting loved ones as husband, brother, father, or son, sprang ashore.

"The Rose in June" did not come. Driven by the storm and dashed upon the rocks, she had become a total wreck. She had turned bottom upward, while her crew of six men clung to her sides desperately. No other boat could come near to help or save them; and all around the wild waves were rolling and roaring, threatening every moment to tear each man from his hold and dash him to pieces on the sharp rocks.

Andrew Davidson thought of his Savior in that hour of peril; and in the face of certain death, that thought did for him what nothing else in the world could have done— it made him happy. It may have been that he remembered how Paul and Silas glorified God in the prison of Philippi; for he shouted, "Now, boys, let's sing a hymn of praise to God!" and at once he began and sang this verse:

"My God, I am Thine:
What a comfort divine,
What a blessing to know
That Jesus is mine!"

These were his last words. He had just finished the verse when a huge wave dashed over him, and in an instant he was swept far away into the haven of eternal rest.

A stunned silence fell upon the men who had been trying to join in that song of praise. For a while no one spoke. At last, John Allan, the mate of the little vessel who was also a believer in the Lord Jesus, exclaimed, "Come, lads! Let us go on with the hymn that our skipper is now finishing in heaven."

Then those brave men, rocking on their wrecked boat, with the waves dashing against them and the wild winds wailing around them, sang on till they had finished the hymn. The last verse reads thus:

"And this I shall prove
Till with joy I remove
To the heaven of heavens,
In Jesus' own love."

Just as they were finishing these last words, another huge wave burst over the boat, and the young mate, John Allan, was carried away to join his friend and shipmate in that blessed world above:

"Where, anchored safe, his weary soul
Shall find eternal rest,
And not a wave of trouble roll
Across his peaceful breast."

The rest of the crew of that wrecked boat escaped with their lives. But they never forgot the scene they had shared during that terrible storm. No sermon ever preached about the preciousness of Jesus could make such an impression on their minds as was made by that memorable scene. They felt, deep down in their very souls, that the truth in Jesus is the best of all truth, because it satisfies our hearts and makes us happily ready for eternity.

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:1.

The Coming One

"Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool." Psalm 110: 1. Thus spoke the Father, as His Son, Christ Jesus, entered heaven with the marks of the world's hatred upon His blessed Person.

Nearly two thousand years have come and gone since then, and time with lightning wing is speeding us toward that awful moment when the Son will rise up in resistless might to fulfill the Father's decree. Christ is coming to make His enemies His footstool. Are you washed in His blood? If so, you are His friend. If not, you are Christ's enemy, and when He comes in power and great glory it will be to crush you, as His enemy, beneath His feet (Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 19: 11-21). Oh, the terrors of the Christless at that coming!

Christ is coming! And one of two things will happen to you when He comes: you will either be caught up to be forever with Him, or else left behind for judgment. Think of it— left behind for judgment!

Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man." How was it in the days of Noe? A world of sinners, heedless of God's warnings, and unprepared for His judgment, was in a moment swept away to eternal destruction by the terrible waters of wrath. So shall it be when Christ comes. Multitudes will be unprepared, because unwashed in His blood, and therefore will be damned throughout eternity. Shall you be one of them?

Yes, the Judge is coming! And still there comes to us His voice, borne along the centuries of the distant past, still pleading with the sinner in the tones of the tenderest love, "Come unto Me... and I will give you rest." "He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life." (Matthew 11:28; John 6:47). But even as we listen the voice changes to a voice of sorrow, and we hear Him grieving, "And ye will not come to Me that ye might have life."

Reader, are those words of grief prophetic of the doom of your Christless soul? Or will you this instant hasten through the shadows of impending judgment that even now gather round your path, to the feet of Him who died that you might live, and who, in patient grace, still lingers to receive you and forgive you through the virtue of His blood?

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

"It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." Leviticus 17:11.

The Other Shore

Many years ago, during a night of storm and tempest, the Tay Bridge in Scotland fell. A railway watchman who lived near the spot had a strange presentiment of coming disaster. The Sunday evening train was soon due to cross, and then to start on what proved to be its last run.

Fearful as to how things would go, the watchman clambered up into the signal-room, where he could hear the clicking of the telegraph instruments, and keep the signalman company.

Each moment the storm raged with increasing fury, but the train came on time into the station. The passengers took their seats as they had often done before. The whistle sounded, and almost instantly the train was out of sight in the darkness. She must cross the great Tay Bridge, during the worst tempest of many days.

At the height of its fury, the signalman touched the handle of his instrument and signaled, "Train on line," to the cabin on the other side of the raging flood. Then both men waited for the telegraphic signal that the train had covered the intervening "block" and had crossed the river in safety. The silence in that cabin was unbroken save for the howling of the storm without. The minutes dragged themselves slowly on, but the telegraph instrument uttered no sound.

"Is the train not yet due on the other side?" said the watchman.

"Yes," said his companion, "but we will give her a minute or two longer."

Silence again, until the stillness became oppressive. "Send a message," said the impatient watcher. "Ask if she has reached the cabin at the other end of the bridge."

The operator at once caught the handle of the telegraph instrument to send his message across. The needle did not move. Under ordinary circumstances the needle would have clicked in response to the operator's touch, thus intimating that the electric current had flashed to the other shore and back again in the twinkling of an eye; but the needle was motionless.

"Try another instrument," said his companion.

He tried another, and another, but all were silent. There was no message from the other shore. The silent needle told to these two men in language more eloquent than words that an awful tragedy had taken place.

They looked at each other in dismay and consternation. In that awful moment they knew that the whole train with its living freight must be engulfed by the raging waters spanned by the Tay Bridge.

"No message from the other shore!" Often have these words reminded us that a day is coming when those who have rejected the Christ of God shall seek to send a message to the other shore. Scripture says something about this. It tells of those who shall "stand without" and knock, saying, "Lord, Lord, open unto us." But He from within shall answer, saying, "I know you not whence ye are." Luke 13:25.

Unsaved reader, whether you are concerned about your soul just now I know not; but of this I am certain you will be concerned some day. You may not be in earnest now; but the day is coming when you will be deeply concerned. Then it will be too late.

You have had your opportunities. You have heard of Jesus and His love, of His cleansing blood, and His power to save. Is it to be recorded of you that you rejected the entreaties of His heart of love? You would not have Him as your almighty Savior. Therefore the day draws on when you must meet God, and meet Him in your sins. Then shall come to pass what is written in the scriptures, "Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer: they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me." Proverbs 1:28.

Then shall you long for a message from the other shore a message that shall never come, even unto the ages of eternity!

The two men, feeling certain that the train had gone to its doom, descended from the signal station and crept on hands and knees along the bridge to see if haply they might discover any trace of the train. After proceeding some distance the metal rails seemed to have disappeared. As they crept cautiously forward they saw nothing before them but yawning darkness. Far down beneath them poured the raging waters.

They understood it all now. The center part of the bridge had fallen into the river, carrying the whole train into the waters. Not a single soul survived to tell the tale of that awful night. As the bridge went down, every telegraph wire was snapped. No current could travel over these broken wires and so no message came back from the other shore.

Friend, it may be that you have friends on "the other shore." How terrible, then, will be your portion when you shall cry for mercy when mercy's day is forever past! Then your answer must be eternal silence.

Think upon it! Separated forever from the blood-washed throng that surround the throne, and your eternal portion found to be "where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Are you prepared for this? Have you counted the cost? Have you weighed what it means to be a lost soul for all eternity?

Arouse thee, O unsaved one! Believe the proclamation of God's redeeming love in the gift of His Son. Take your place before Him as a lost and hell-deserving sinner, and receive the gift of God, which is eternal life in Jesus Christ the Lord. The moment you accept the Lord as your own Savior, you will be in direct communication with "the other shore."

Christ Jesus is the great telegraph wire between heaven and earth— a wire that cannot be broken by any accident of time— that winds above nor waves below can never move.

Are you willing to be saved now on God's terms? Delay not. Procrastinate no longer. This very hour believe, and receive, and confess Him, for it is written, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Romans 10:9, 10.

The Eleventh Hour

Ed was an exemplary husband, a good father, and all that one could wish for as a first rate citizen. Satisfied with himself, he rarely gave God a thought, and certainly looked upon his prospects as just all right.

Some years after he married, his wife was converted— truly born again. The change in her rather upset Ed for a while, but he soon learned to take it in his stride. However, when any Christian spoke to him of his need of being saved, he always received such a word with a smile and a shrug of the shoulders. He was still "just all right."

A number of years passed by. Ed began to go downhill physically, and the doctors were unable to diagnose his condition. Finally Ed became so ill that he was rushed to the hospital where his friends were forbidden to see him. Thus cut off from the world, Ed was cast upon the Lord and forced to "look up." In a few weeks he passed away into eternity.

Now at the funeral came the comforting word that Ed's illness had been used of God to bring him to Himself. The minister who spoke at the service was a true child of God; and as he read the 23rd Psalm, he mentioned that, being a minister, he had been able to visit Ed in the hospital when others were denied the privilege. He had read this precious psalm to sick, helpless Ed in his extremity, and had asked him if he could say for himself that "the Lord is MY Shepherd."

"Yes," he said; "I can really say now that the Lord is my Shepherd. I am trusting in Him as my Savior."

What joy this brought to the sorrowing heart of the dear wife! What a fulfillment of her hopes and prayers!—yet not as she had hoped, but as God Himself had brought about.

Of course, the minister then appealed to each one present to receive Christ so that they too could say: "The Lord is MY Shepherd;" and we too would say, do not put off this question. You may not have the same opportunity that Ed had.

Friend, say not, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow ye may die"—but cry from your heart: "Lord, I believe! Help thou mine unbelief!" Mark 9:24.

"All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37.

Dollars and Sins

We were traveling by train to leave a large city. The seats were all occupied, and the passengers were to be thus together for about four hours ere we reached our destination. Gradually the reserve among us began to break down, until most of those in the coach were talking freely to one another. After a while the conversation centered between an elderly gentleman and a youth of about nineteen years of age.

As I sat listening my heart was drawn to the youth. He was that sort of lad that makes his mark in the world, as men say. With all the bombast of youth, he was smoking his cigar for all present to see, and blowing great volumes of smoke as though he alone were endued with power.

The words of King David came to my mind: "God is not in all his thoughts." How true! If God had been dead, that youth could hardly have cared less. But God is not dead. Jesus is not dead. That lowly Man who trod this earth for none other object than the will of God and the eternal blessing of man is now seated at the right hand of God, "crowned with glory and honor." More than that, God has decreed that "every knee shall bow" to that same blessed Jesus—bowed either by divine love or divine justice. Bow you must!

Infidel, skeptic, atheist, materialist, or loud-voiced professor of religion, your blatant proclamations may swell the bubble of your name in this world, but— that bubble must burst. Meet God you must. Bow to Jesus and confess Him Lord of all you shall. Deny Him if you will, but what God says is unalterably true; and woe be to you who continue to forget God.

Speeding on our journey, the Spirit of God aroused a desire in my heart to speak to that young man. What to say and when to say it I wondered. Looking to the Lord for guidance, the only words I could think of were— "your sins." I knew I must speak soon, for only about ten minutes remained until our journey would end.

Near the end of the conversation between the two, I heard this young man say that soon he would be working in this mighty city, and that "dollars" were his only object. How he obtained them he cared not. At the sacrifice of everything, he was after his "dollars."

Now came my long-awaited moment. Quickly I interposed. "Dollars are not everything! You have a life to live beyond the grave. You must give an account to God of how you have spent your life, with dollars or without. Meet God you must; and with your sins still on you, you must account to Him for them and for the life you have lived without His Son.

"Ah," said he, "I'm going to make a success of life. That means an accumulation of dollars, and that, above all, is my object."

Said I: "But do not forget that you have to die! Beware of the crash on the other side of the grave."

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

We said no more, and soon we parted. Eternity will reveal the effect of those few words upon him.

What about yourself, reader: Are you not sinning against God, in seeking FIRST that (almighty?) dollar? His Word says: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33.

God is not mocked. You must meet Him against whom you have sinned. Accept His offers of mercy. He loves you too much to let you go unwarned. Turn to Jesus. His mighty heart of divine love yearns to make Himself dear to your heart, to give you heaven as your home, and to bring you into relationship with God as your Father.

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

Time

"Remember how short my time is." Psa. 89:47. "O seize the instant time; you never will With waters that have passed impel the mill." "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2.

Who Loved Me?

One has loved me. Would you know
Who He was that loved me so?
Would you learn His precious name,
Who He is, and whence He came?
I can tell you. Will you hear
Of the One to me so dear?
Jesus! this His blessed name—
Son of God! from heav'n He came.

Ah, He saw me ruined—lost;
Stooped to save me spite the cost;
Wrath my due, He bore in grace;
Took for me my rightful place.

For my gain He suffered loss,
Died upon the shameful cross;
Conqu'ror o'er the grave He rose,
Triumphed over all my foes.

Now at God's right hand he lives,
Peace and comfort thence He gives;
Listens to my faintest call,
Holds and keeps me lest I fall.

He is mine and I am His;
What a blessed portion this!
Soon I shall His glory see,
Dwell with Him who died for me.

W. S. H.

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

Titus 3:5

The Doctor's Discovery

Alfred was the son of Christian parents. During his early childhood he had been taught the Word of God and brought up in the fear of the Lord. In his college days he became acquainted with a student who professed himself to be an agnostic, and much to the grief of his friends, Alfred soon became an avowed unbeliever.

After his graduation from college our young friend applied himself to the study of medicine, and in due time he became a skilled and popular physician. But his heart was cold toward things eternal.

Twenty years Alfred spent in this condition. However, he experienced many a misgiving. This was especially true when he remembered the godly lives of his parents, or heard the dying testimony of some of his patients as they entered the world beyond in peace, confessing their faith in Christ and their certainty of being in heaven.

Late one afternoon the skilled physician was called to see a patient, a humble workingman, who had been saved by grace and was bound for glory.

"Tell me my true condition, doctor; do not hide it from me. I have no fear of death, no dread of the future—all is bright ahead. Forty years ago I came as a sinner to Jesus; He saved me and has kept me happy in His love ever since. It will be the grandest day of my life when He sends for me to dwell with Him."

The doctor was touched by his patient's statement. It was not the wanderings of an unsound mind. It was not the daydream of a visionary. It was the calm, sober statement of a man of faith waiting on the borderland for the appointed hour that would usher him into the presence of his God.

The doctor examined his patient, and, contrary to his usual habit, he told the whole truth: "You may live a day, or you may go within an hour."

"Bless the Lord," was the calm reply. "Open up the blinds; bring in the boys; tell the men in the factory to come in; I want to spend my last breath in telling them of Jesus."

The doctor hastened away. He could stand it no longer. He hurried along, and in fifteen minutes was in his office alone with God.

"There is a reality in being saved after all," he said to himself. "My mother used to tell me so. That dying man knows it, and has the power of it in him. Of that there need be no doubt."

A terrible struggle followed. Pride asserted its rule. The devil put forth his claim. For weeks the doctor was not "at home." Another filled his appointments. And when he returned to his practice he was a different man—a man saved by God's almighty grace: calm in spirit, gentle as a child. In the days of his absence he had met God, met Him at the Cross where as a sinner he cast himself on His sovereign mercy, claiming forgiveness and salvation through the merits of Jesus alone. He now could fearlessly confess his Lord; and for many years he took his place before men as a follower of the rejected Christ, owning Him as his Savior and Lord.

His townsmen, who had so well known his agnostic principles, stood in wonder. His conversion became the talk of the town. All this was trying to bear, but it served the divine purpose for which it had been allowed in weaning him from the world, and showing him his place as a stranger here, rejected by the world as was his Lord. Grace triumphed, and for many years the doctor witnessed a good confession, and guided many a sick and dying sinner to the Lamb of God.

There is reality in being saved! Do you know it? "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.

An Arrow from the Almighty

One bright summer day a Christian gentleman was walking along a country road when he came to a man who was hard at work breaking rocks. He began to talk with him, and soon learned he was one of those who dare to doubt the truth of the Scriptures.

The Christian sought to enlighten the man and said to him, "Well, my man, just look up at the sun yonder."

"I can't sir," replied the man.

"But why can't you?"

"Because it is too bright for my eyes."

"Now, my man, if you can't look at the sun, how will you be able to look at its Maker?" rejoined the gentleman earnestly, as he went on his way.

The last sentence arrested the man's attention. How could he ever behold such glory? This question was used to arouse the man's conscience, for, like an arrow shot at a venture and winged by the Spirit of God, those words stayed in his mind, tearing to pieces all his former self-confidence. Before long he found real, abiding, and eternal peace by bowing to God and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Effectual and Fervent

Years ago, in Denver, Colorado, a "preacher of the old school" who faithfully proclaimed Christ Jesus, His work, and His Word, was greatly concerned about his four unsaved sons. "Boys," he would say, "your father can preach to the neighbors' boys, and they will believe and be saved, while you, who have Christ set before you every day of your lives, refuse Him and are on your way to hell."

All four sons of the old preacher knew the value of having godly parents. They well knew, too, the blessing of constantly being borne up before the Lord by those same dear parents whose earnest theme always was: "Oh, Lord, save my boys!"

Years passed. The four sons, now grown to manhood, still showed no interest in, nor desire for, the things of God. Indeed, as often happens in the case of "preachers' children," the "old Adam" in each of the four seemed to resent and even to revolt against the pleadings of the Spirit. In turning deaf ears to His voice they willfully a remained unsaved.

"Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Heb. 4:7.

As the old preacher neared the end of life's journey, his pleas for his sons became more importunate. Many times he prayed aloud to the Lord on their behalf; and shortly before his death he turned his face to the wall, crying, "Oh, God, if You are not going to save my boys, why did You let me be born?"

With this sad cry the old preacher's life on earth was ended.

Do you, my doubting reader, say that those prayers were of no avail? God says that "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Jas. 5:16. Do you not believe God? Perhaps the final result of the prayers of that righteous old father for his wandering boys may strengthen your faith: within six months after the Lord called him home, each of his four sons, heartbroken and repentant toward God, had confessed his sin and found refuge in the loving arms of Him who says, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37.

"A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." Psa. 51:17.

In the ensuing years all four young men have been outstanding in seeking the lost and in "preaching Christ, and Him crucified." A hymn, "Only Believe," written by one of the brothers, has afforded encouragement and comfort to many tried souls.

Only Believe

Fear not, little flock; from the cross to the throne,
From death into life He went for His own;
All power in earth, all power above,
Is given to Him for the flock of His love.
Fear not, little flock; He goeth ahead,
Your Shepherd selecteth the path you must tread;
The waters of Marah He'll sweeten for thee,
He drank all the bitter in Gethsemane.
Fear not, little flock, whatever your lot,
He enters all rooms, "the doors being shut";
He never forsakes; He never is gone;
So count on His presence in darkness and dawn.
Only believe, only believe;
All things are possible, only believe.

The Successful Farmer

A well-known farmer who had held the record as a raiser of prize flocks of lambs and sheep for half a century, was visited one day by a deputation of farmers. They desired to learn, if possible, the secret of his success in gaining so many honors and prizes at the local fairs for his much admired flocks and herds.

The farmer, who was naturally proud of his reputation and the coveted honors awarded him for his fine flocks of sheep and lambs browsing on the fields by the riverside, took his visitors around to view them. One of the company remarked that he "surely ought to be a happy and a satisfied man, having had such great success as he had enjoyed for almost fifty years, as a farmer and a flock-raiser in that beautiful place."

To these remarks the farmer's answer greatly astonished his visitors. They had formed the opinion that wealth and popularity are the chief sources of happiness and satisfaction to those who obtain them; but hear him speak: "My friends," said the farmer, as he looked with pride on his fine flock grazing by the river side, "you are mistaken if you reckon that success, as most people count it, brings true happiness and contentment with it. I can assure you that I have known neither the one nor the other throughout my long life as a successful farmer here. I have had more anxiety and care in my life for the past thirty years of it, than I had when I was a poor man on a small farm, working hard and living frugally. Then I had a wife and a large family to provide for and bring up; but my soul was at peace with God, and my life was lived in the daily enjoyment of His 'great salvation.' Heb. 2:3.

"As a young man I had come to know the Lord Jesus through the gospel preaching of an evangelist. I knew real happiness then, and amid my hard-working years, I had the conscious presence of God with me. His service was my joy by day; and His 'perfect peace' (Isa. 26:3) the solace and enjoyment of my nights throughout the twelve years in which I possessed them in my soul. But when 'success' flowed in upon me, and I became engrossed in the things of the world, I had no time for God. My mind became obsessed with gaining the things of this present world. My life was centered in my flocks, and the reputation I was making for myself as a successful farmer. As my heart became more occupied with my farm, I became less careful to please God and to live as a Christian should. By and by I lost assurance of my personal salvation, and this was the greatest of all losses to me. I would give all I now possess, to have the 'joy of God's salvation' (Psalm 51:12) restored to my soul, as I knew it when a young man. But the world and its wealth and successes have crept in and robbed me of my best treasure which money cannot buy. I know that I must soon leave all that I have lived for in my later years, all that men of the world call my successful years, but which I now reckon to have been my years of deepest loss. These successful years have lost to me the peace of God in my soul, and the sunshine of His smile on my path."

The old farmer heaved a deep sigh as he ended his story. Wiping a tear from his cheek, he said slowly and sadly: "You younger men who have your lives yet to live, take warning from me. Do not allow the love of this world to rob you of the peace of God in your lives, or the quest for this world's wealth or its honors to shut out God and eternity from your view, as I have done. I can never get back the years I have spent selfishly neglecting my Savior, and in forgetfulness of God and His Word. I am leaving all I have gained. It will benefit no one. I see too late my folly, but would spend my last strength to warn others who may yet escape the path I have followed. I now see it to have been all wrong, alike for time and eternity."

He died, leaving a large fortune and the reputation of being a successful farmer; but he passed into the world beyond accounting the years of such attainments as dead leaves. He had missed "the one thing worth living for—Christ, and the joy of God's salvation in his soul."

Let the reader beware lest the love of the world and its approval cheat him in the same way. There are numberless such cases, even among those who, at one time, bade fair to become faithful followers of Christ, but were sidetracked by the affairs of this life. The love of this world and its successes lured them on to their eternal loss.

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." 1 John 2:15-17.

"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." Phil. 3:8.

The Reality of Christ Jesus - a Person

You ask: Did Christ really live? That is one thing that all agree upon—that this Person who claimed to be the Son of God really lived here on earth, among men.

We know when He lived: from about 5 or 6 B. C. until about 30-32 A. D.

We know where He was born: in Bethlehem of Judea, a real town, not a mythological one. We know where He lived for most of the years of His life—in Nazareth, in northern Galilee. There He worked as a carpenter.

We know many of the characters of His day—their names appear in other historical writings outside of the Bible: Herod the Great, his son Herod Agrippa, Salome, Pontius Pilate, Tiberius Caesar, Gamaliel, Felix, Festus.

Every history of the ancient world, every encyclopedia, records the fact that Jesus lived during the first century of our era. H. G. Wells has a contempt, indeed a hatred, for almost every article of the Christian faith; but he is compelled to give pages to Jesus of Nazareth in his Outline of History.

All dates of history are now designated by the letters B. C. and A. D., both of which refer to the time of the birth of CHRIST—not Plato, not Julius Caesar, not Mohammed.

Millions in each generation have had their lives gripped and changed by the firm belief that Christ has given the world the most perfect revelation of God, the only gospel that does deliver men from the power of sin, the only assurance of forgiveness of sins, the only positive hope of life to come.

Christ has done more to lift and empower the ethical standards of men than all the philosophers of Greece combined. Among all the great men of history, He "is above all."

Jesus Christ lived!

And now "He ever liveth to make intercession for them" who believe on Him. (Heb. 7:25).

Peace: False and True

A mind at "perfect peace" with God—
Oh, what a word is this!
A sinner reconciled through blood:
This, this indeed is peace.

Peace with God is a priceless boon; peace apart from God a Satanic delusion. That the latter exists is clear from the Lord's own words, "When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace." Luke 11:21.

Satan is the "strong man"; the world is his "palace"; among his "goods" you are numbered, my unconverted reader; and "in peace" describes your state, if you have never yet been awakened by the Spirit of God to see your lost condition as a guilty sinner. Forgetful of the sins of the past, heedless of the calls of the gospel to repent and turn to God in the present, and oblivious to certainty of eternal judgment in the future, you carelessly pass along! No fear of God is before your eyes by day, as you do your own will, and take your own pleasure. No conscience-pangs disturb you at night; unawakened, unblessed, unsaved, unconverted, the slave of sin, you move along "in peace,"-and Satan will do his best to prevent that peace from being disturbed.

But, dear soul, forget not, this peace is false. It is founded in sin, fostered by the devil, finds its sphere in the world and has no link with God, I would not have your peace for ten thousand worlds!

Peace with God, on the contrary, is true peace because it is Divine in its nature and source. It is the blessed portion of every believer in Jesus. The reason is simple: on the cross, Jesus, our blessed Substitute, sustained all the judgment of God against our sins. He "who knew no sin" was "made sin for us." God's claims were all met in righteousness. The result is thus stated: "Having made peace through the blood of His cross" (Colossians 1:20), "the God of peace brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant." Hebrews 13:20.

The first moment the risen Savior came among His own, He said: "Peace be unto you." John 20:19. He is ascended now to the right hand of God, and Scripture positively declares, "He is our peace." Ephesians 2:14. The Holy Spirit, sent from heaven, is now "preaching peace by Jesus Christ," and the believing sinner can say in truth, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5: 1.

Reader, which peace is yours? If you are yet in uncertainty, and long to have God's peace, your desire, and mine for you, as well as the way such a desire is to be realized, is given in the following sweet words of the apostle Paul: "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Romans 15:13.

Oh! the peace forever flowing
From God's thoughts of His own Son,
Oh, the peace of simply knowing
On the cross that all was done.

Peace with God; the blood in heaven
Speaks of pardon now to me:
Peace with God! the Lord is risen!
Righteousness now counts me free.

Peace with God-is Christ in glory,
God is just and God is love;
Jesus died to tell the story,
Foes to bring to God above.

My Hiding Place

HAIL, sovereign love, which first began
That scheme to rescue fallen man!
Hail, matchless, free, eternal grace,
Which gave my soul a hiding place.

A few more rolling suns at most,
Shall land me on fair Canaan's coast,
Where I shall sing the song of grace,
And see my glorious Hiding Place.

The Precious Blood

What was it washed my sins away,
And turned my darkness into day,
Despoiling Satan of his prey?
The blood of Christ.

What is it makes my conscience clean,
Through all this sin-defiling scene,
And keeps me tranquil and serene?
The cleansing blood.

What makes my conscience bold,
Communion with my God to hold,
To taste of joys can ne'er be told?
The precious blood.

When, in the solemn judgment day,
The wicked shall be cast away,
With God my Savior I shall stay,
Secured by blood.

Oh, what shall keep me in that height,
And soften, to my soul's delight,
The unclouded blaze of holy light?
The Savior's blood.

And thus, through all from first to last,
The future, present, and the past,
My soul must be completely cast
On Jesus' precious blood.

"Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God."

1 Peter 3:18

An Arrow from the Quiver of God

A lady was once distributing tracts on board a steamer and, among others, she handed one to an unsaved man. She passed on along the deck, and as she returned she was deeply pained to see the man tear the tract she had given him in fragments and fling it overboard. She simply said, as she walked past him, "You will have to account for that."

The gentleman thought no more of the matter. The tract was scattered upon the waters and destroyed, as he imagined, and he forgot all about it. But not so the living God. He had forgotten neither the tract nor the man who had torn it up. He caused a little scrap of that torn tract to be blown by the breeze into the man's bosom; and that very night, as he was undressing to go to bed, the fragment of the tract fell to the floor. He took it up. It was but a very small scrap, but it was just large enough to contain two words of immense weight and deep solemnity: "God" and "eternity." Along with these two words, the lady's pointed utterance came back to his memory: "You will have to account for that."

Thus this man had before his mind those three great and solemn realities: God—eternity—judgment. Tremendous words! He lay down, but not to sleep. There was no sleep for his eyes, nor slumber for his eyelids that night. He tossed restlessly to and fro till the morning. The words, God, eternity, and "you will have to account for that," rang in his ears and echoed deep down in his heart.

He arose from his couch and sought to drown his anxiety in drink, but it did no good. He awoke from his stupor only to feel with augmented force those solemn words: "God!—Eternity!—Judgment to come!" In short, an arrow from the quiver of God had entered his soul. He had thought to get rid of that little tract— to drown that silent messenger. But no; God had His eye upon him. God sent the breeze and caused it to waft to his bosom that identical scrap torn from the tract. No other would do but that one, because it contained the very words which the eternal Spirit meant to use as an arrow to pierce his soul.

How marvelous are God's ways! Who but an atheist could doubt that the hand of God was in that breeze which blew that little fragment into the man's bosom? Blessed be His name, He knows how to reach the soul; and when He begins to work, naught can hinder. He had His eye upon that precious soul, in spite of all his enmity and all his efforts to turn aside the arrow which sovereign grace had aimed at his heart.

The man thought to get rid of the tract; but God was determined that just so much of it should lodge in his bosom as contained the arrow that was to be lodged in his heart. In vain did the man seek to get rid of his impressions, to stifle his convictions. His misery increased, his anxiety became more intense. There was but one thing which could heal his wound, and that was the precious balm of the gospel, the soothing virtues of the blood of Christ. Before many days a friend drew him in to hear a gospel message, and his troubled soul found rest in believing in the finished work of Christ.

"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Phil. 1: 6.

The Two Puzzled Doctors

Several years ago a doctor and his assistant were in attendance on a retired merchant. It was a case that sorely puzzled them both. For young men they had had a fair amount of experience; but neither of them had seen, either in hospital or private practice, a case similar to this. It was not that the diagnosis was particularly difficult, or, in point of fact, the prognosis either, for it was quite plain to them that the patient could not live very long.

It was not, however, the disease, but the man himself who puzzled them so very much. He seemed to be past their comprehension, yet there was no thought that his intellect was weak. On the contrary, he appeared to be a man of real intelligence.

Again, there was nothing to complain of in the way their daily visits were received, for their patient always greeted them with a gentle, benignant smile; yet they could not feel at ease with him, for they could not understand him.

This case was a very serious one; and the two doctors judged it to be right to tell their hopelessly ill patients, as guardedly as possible, that they had done all they could for them. Consequently the senior physician now said gently: "Friend, I fear that your time here will not be very long."

The sick man's expression changed immediately. The doctor was, however, quite prepared for that, as he had seen it occur under similar circumstances many times before. Was the sick man about to burst into a flood of tears? No!

Was he going to plead that he might be spared here a little longer? No.

Was he about to deplore having to leave his loved ones here? Not at all.

To the doctor's surprise—and there could be no mistake about it—instead of anguish, a bright, radiant smile spread over the patient's face as he eagerly inquired: "And do you think, doctor, this great event will take place today?"

It was now the poor doctor's turn for astonishment, and his professional decorum was tried to the utmost to enable him, without showing his surprise, to reply, "Well, no; I trust not today; but I fear it will be very soon."

Again that bright, confident smile illumined the face of the man as he said, "Ah, well, it is a good thing to be prepared!"

Later that day the doctors, not being able to understand their strange patient, pronounced him to be a "regular caution," end made many jokes at his expense.

But queer as he appeared in their eyes, he was unquestionably in possession of some secret they could not fathom. Indeed, both doctors knew they would have been terribly distressed had they been in their patient's position. What, then, was the wonderful secret which could give this man such perfect calmness when face to face with death?

Puzzled, the two doctors gazed at the sick man. His tired eyes slowly closed as a happy smile flitted across his face. Then, very faintly they heard him repeating words they had long since forgotten.

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

Friend out of Christ, that was the great secret of this sick man's comfort. He knew Christ as his loving Savior, so how could he fear death? That dread enemy could not touch him but to usher him into the presence of Him who so loved him as to give His life to save him.

Is this your comfort, my friend? If not, it can be, for Christ, the Savior of sinners, still calls: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28.

Naaman the Leper

This man, "captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria; he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper." 2 Kings 5:1.

What does earthly greatness afford, after all? A man may be ever so popular. He may prosper in business to his utmost cravings; or he may climb the highest pinnacle of political honor or military greatness; but no matter how exalted his position in this world, he is a sinner. Ah, this spoils all. This makes every cup of worldly prosperity bitter. Naaman was all this, "but he was a leper."

Leprosy was incurable. Still it spread, until the whole person was filthy: bloated, pimpled, and scabbed. Wretched picture of man's ruined, utterly ruined and lost condition through sin. And, what is still worse, like the leper he finds every effort to cure himself in vain. The fearful poison spreads.

Oh, how loathsome is sin! My reader may have long hoped to get better, but have you not rather got worse? Not a physician in Syria could cure the leper. Not a remedy on earth is found for sin. Search all nations! Man has found no cure for sin. The whole world is one great leper-house.

"God hath chosen the weak things of the world." 1 Cor. 1:27. A little captive maid is God's messenger to this mighty Syrian. She says, "Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! For he would recover him of his leprosy." And I can say to my reader, "Would God thou wert at the feet of Jesus; He would cleanse thee from thy sins."

The king of Israel had no such faith as this little maid; he only thought the Syrians sought a quarrel. He, thinking of himself, said, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive?"

"And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard," he sent for the leper to come to him.

"So Naaman came." So like man was his way of coming! Such gifts, such horses and chariots! And he stood at the door. But Elisha received none of his gifts. "The salvation of God" is not to be sold. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." He does not even come out to him; he sends a messenger. It must be by faith, not by sight, or by sign. God gives His bare word. He that "believeth" is saved (Rom. 4:16; Acts 16:31).

Now Jordan River was a type, or figure, of death. The ark had stood there, while all Israel passed over dry-shod into the land of Canaan—most striking illustration of Jesus taking our place in the waters of death. There was no cure for this great leper but to be seven times dipped in the river of death. There is no means in the universe by which a sinner can be cleansed, but by the death of Jesus. His blood alone cleanseth from all sin (1 John 1:7).

This made the leper uncommonly, or rather commonly, angry; for it is the natural anger of the human heart against God's mode of cleansing from sin. Surely, the leper thought, there would have been some great thing done TO him. And so with the sinner: Surely, he thinks, God must do some great thing TO me or IN me, by which I shall be saved. Burial in Jordan! Why, this is contemptible!

Besides, are not the rivers of my own country, "Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage."

So now, one poor leprous sinner will say, Are not the doctrines of my own church better than this salvation through the death of Christ alone? My church tells me to fast; to keep the vows of my order; in fact, to keep all the orders of my church. Is it not far better to wash in these rivers of my own religion, than to simply believe God about the death of Christ?

Well, try hard. Wash! Wash! Wash! But find me one, out of all the millions who wash in man's own religious rivers, that is clean from sin. Find me one who knows even his sins forgiven by all his fasting, praying, and order-keeping. No, there is not one who washes in the "rivers" of earthly rituals who either does, or even can, know with certainty that he is saved.

Naaman's servants say to him, "My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?"

"Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, AND HE WAS CLEAN."

How beautifully, to be sure, does this set forth death and resurrection, the two great lessons of God: the death of Christ the end of sin; the resurrection of Christ the beginning of an entire new existence. The old leper goes down into death, into burial with Christ: the new man comes out in all the freshness of the newborn child. Oh, how spotlessly clean is that new creation! "AND HE WAS CLEAN."

This is God's only way of cleansing. "In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight." Col. 1:22. Jesus went down into death. Every believer is dead with Him, buried with Him, risen with Him, perfect in Him; without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing (Rom. 6; Eph. 5).

Oh, to know the power of His resurrection; being made conformable to His death; to leave the old leprous self in Jordan! Ah, the old leper takes some dipping. Often, when we think we have learned the death of self on the cross, self still needs some dipping.

Are you occupied with the old leper still, remembering his filthy scabs and running sores? Oh, down with the leper, down, down to Jordan! Down in death is the only fit place for self. For its self-righteousness and its wickedness the grave of Christ is the only place. Look away from the old leper to the risen Christ. If Adam were full of the poison of sin, God has made the risen Christ to be, to the believer in Him, "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." 1 Cor. 1:30.

There is no leprosy in the risen Christ. And "as He is, so are we in this world." "Perfected forever." "Clean every whit."

Oh, my reader, have you learned this wondrous lesson? Have you gone down into death? Are you risen with Christ? Then set your affection on things above. Every old spot of leprous sin is gone.

"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new, AND ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD." Col. 3:1-2; 2 Cor. 5:17, 18.

Charles Stanley

Faith's Window, Hope's Door, Love's Feast

Faith looks out of her window and sees the work of redemption accomplished. She needs no door backward, for she has not to go back to settle anything, even if she could. All the past has been settled in sin's judgment. All was done by Jesus on the tree.

"My soul looks back to see
The burden Thou didst bear
When hanging on th' accursed tree,
For all my guilt was there."

Hope keeps the door open forward; for she has bright expectations, and any moment she may be asked to step forward and lose herself in glorified realizations.

"To find each hope of glory gained,
Fulfilled each precious word;
And fully all to have attained
The image of our Lord."

Love spreads her table even now, spreads it here on the spot. She knows how to value both Faith's window and Hope's door. She could not do without either. But she has a present portion. We cannot go backward to the cross except by faith; we can only, in hope, anticipate the glory; but we can enjoy His love now, and so get a present foretaste of the very feast of heaven.

"And now my famished soul is fed,
A feast of love for me is spread;
I feast upon the children's bread,
O Lamb of God, through Thee."

Now notice how the blessed Spirit of God is bound up with all these—faith, hope, love.

Is it the sacrifice that through faith perfects the conscience forever? It is written: "Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us." Heb. 10:15.

Is it hope that is set before us? We "abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Rom. 15:13.

Is it our present portion? "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Rom. 5:5.

Three Inscriptions

Over the triple doorway of the Cathedral of Milan there are three inscriptions spanning the splendid arches. Over the outer arch is carved a beautiful wreath of roses, under which is the legend: "All that pleases is but for a moment."

Over another is sculptured a cross, and there are the words beneath: "All that troubles is but for a moment."

But over the great central entrance to the main aisle is the inscription: "That only is important which is eternal."

Although unknown among the many artists who spent their time and talents upon this vast edifice during the five centuries it was in building, there yet was one who has left behind the shortest, but most powerful sermon ever echoed from its walls.

"All that pleases is but for a moment." Can the reader not say, "How true!" The pleasures of childhood and the keener pursuits of riper years, whether physical or intellectual, how quickly they passed away, and what little satisfaction they afforded! And how often there remained a prick in the conscience, or sorrow in the heart, because of "something"— that ceaseless something that led astray, or caused pain!

But—happier than that artist of ancient days—living as we do now in the full sunshine of the gospel of the grace of God, we can tell abroad the good news that He gives "pleasures for evermore" through the Lord Jesus Christ, who is at God's right hand.

While all that pleases here upon the earth is "but for a moment," the pleasures of having our sins forgiven because of Christ's all-atoning work upon the cross, and of having our hearts made glad with the sense of His deep love, are eternal. These are the joys that will abide with us forever. And then, in the words of the central inscription, we shall realize, "That only is important which is eternal."

Very truly can Christians say, "All that troubles us is but for a moment." The Apostle Paul stood boldly forth, took up his cross, and followed in the footsteps of Jesus. And his cheering words come down through the years: "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 2 Cor. 4:17.

If I Gained the World

If I gained the world but lost the Savior, Were my life worth living for a day? Could my yearning heart find rest and comfort In the things that soon must pass away? If I gained the world, but lost the Savior, Would my gain be worth the toil and strife? Are all earthly treasures worth comparing With the gift of God, eternal life?

O the joy of having all in Jesus!
What a balm the broken heart to heal!
Ne'er a sin so great, but He can cleanse it,
Not a sorrow that He does not feel!
If I have but Jesus, only Jesus,
Nothing else in all the world beside-
O then everything is mine in Jesus;
For my needs and more He will provide.

The Sinner's Burial

Wrapt in a Christless shroud,
He sleeps the Christless sleep;
Above him the eternal cloud,
Beneath—the fiery deep.

Laid in a Christless grave,
There, bound with felon's chain,
He waits the terror of his doom,
The judgment and the pain.

A Christless shroud, how cold!
How dark a Christless tomb!
Oh, grief that never can grow old!
Oh, endless, hopeless doom!

A Christless sleep, how sad!
What waking shalt thou know?
For thee no star, no dawning glad;
Only the lasting woe.

To rocks and hills in vain
Shall be the sinner's call;
Oh, day of wrath, and death, and pain:
'Tis the lost soul's funeral.

Oh, Christless soul, awake
Ere thy last sleep begin!
O Christ, the sleeper's slumbers break;
Burst Thou the bond of sin.

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

Gal. 6:7

A Hebrew's Search for the Blood of Atonement

Some years ago, during a "Mission to Israel," the meeting was thrown open for discussion with any Hebrews who desired to ask questions or state difficulties. Also any who had been brought to Christ were requested to tell of their conversions.

The experience of one old Jew interested me greatly, and as nearly as I can give his remarks in his own words, though not attempting to preserve the inimitable Hebrew-English dialect, this is what he said: "This is Passover week among you, my Jewish brethren, and as I sat here, I was thinking how you will be observing it. You will have put away all leaven from your houses; you will eat the matzoth (unleavened wafers) and the roasted lamb. You will attend the synagogue services and carry out the ritual and directions of the Talmud; but you forget, my brethren, that you have everything but that which Jehovah required first of all. He did not say, 'When I see the leaven put away, or when I see you eat the matzoth, or the lamb, or go to the synagogue'; but His word was, `When I see the blood, I will pass over you.' Ah, my brethren, you can substitute nothing for this. You must have blood, blood, BLOOD!"

As he reiterated this word with ever-increasing emphasis his black eyes flashed warningly, and his Jewish hearers quailed before him.

"Blood! It is an awful word for one who reveres the ancient oracle, and yet has no sacrifice. Turn where he will in the Book, the blood meets him, but let him seek as he may, he cannot find it in the Judaism of the present."

After a moment's pause, the patriarchal man went on somewhat as follows: "I was born in Palestine, nearly seventy years ago. As a child I was taught to read the Law, the Psalms, and the prophets. I early attended the synagogue and learned Hebrew from the rabbis. At first I believed what I was told, that ours was the true and only religion; but, as I grew older and studied the Law more intently, I was struck by the place the blood had in all the ceremonies outlined there, and equally struck by its utter absence in the ritual to which I was brought up.

"Again and again I read Exodus 12, and Leviticus 16, 17; and the latter chapter especially made me tremble as I thought of the great Day of Atonement and the place the blood had there. Day and night one verse would ring in my ears, 'It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul!' I knew I had broken the Law. I needed atonement. Year after year, on that day, I beat my breast as I confessed my need of it; but it was to be made by blood, and there was no blood.

"In my distress, at last, I opened my heart to a learned and venerable rabbi. He told me that God was angry with His people. Jerusalem was in the hands of the Gentiles, the temple was destroyed, and a Mohammedan mosque was erected in its place. The only spot on earth where we dare shed the blood of sacrifice, in accordance with Deuteronomy 12 and Leviticus 17, was desecrated, and our nation scattered. God had Himself closed the way to carry out the solemn service of the great Day of Atonement. Now we must turn to the Talmud, rest on its instruction, and trust in the mercy of God and the merits of the fathers.

"I tried to be satisfied, but could not. Something seemed to say the Law was unaltered even though our temple was destroyed. Nothing else but blood could atone for the soul. We dared not shed blood for atonement elsewhere than in the place the Lord had chosen. Then we were left without an atonement at all!

"This thought filled me with horror. In my distress I consulted many other rabbis. I had but one great question 'Where can I find the blood of atonement?'

"I was over thirty years of age when I left Palestine and came to Constantinople, with my still unanswered question ever before my mind, and my soul exceedingly troubled about my sins.

"One night I was walking down one of the narrow streets of that city when I saw a sign telling of a meeting for the Jews. Curiosity led me to open the door and go in. Just as I took a seat I heard a man say, 'The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.' It was my first introduction to Christianity, but I listened breathlessly as the speaker told how God had declared that 'without shedding of blood is no remission'; but He had given His only begotten Son, the Lamb of God, to die, and all who trusted in His blood were forgiven all their iniquities. This was the Messiah of Isaiah 53: this was the sufferer of Psalm 22. Ah, my brethren, I had found the Blood of Atonement at last! I trusted it, and now I love to read the New Testament and see how all the shadows of the Law are fulfilled in Jesus. His blood has been shed for sinners. It has satisfied God, and it is the only means of salvation for either Jew or Gentile."

Reader, have you yet found the Blood of Atonement? "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!" John 1:29. Are you trusting in God's smitten Lamb— the sacrifice of God? Accept that mighty Sacrifice as given for you. Appropriate to yourself 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."

Rest for the Weary

During the Civil War in the United States of America, a cavalry officer was wounded and dying in the field hospital. He fancied that he was still on the field of battle, leading his men, and that one of the enemy's cannon was in front and about to be fired at them. In his delirium he imagined that the gun was at last discharged, and his soldiers were badly wounded and retreating. This was causing him great distress of mind, when a Christian at his bedside interposed, saying, "There is no gun; you are safe among friends in Fredericksburg."

"Away! Let me alone!" the officer cried. "I must recover my command and renew the attack."

"Let us talk no more of battle scenes," said the gentleman soothingly. "Let us talk of Jesus. He longs to receive and comfort you."

The mention of that blessed Name changed everything. Soon he became calm and the agitation ceased.

His delirium passed away, and a smile lighted up his pallid features. After a short silence he whispered, "Jesus! Jesus! Wasn't it He who said, 'Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest?' I want rest. I am so weary. Jesus gives rest to the weary."

As the dying soldier lay quietly awaiting release from the earthly house of this tabernacle, the Christian visitor softly sang:

"In the Christian's home in glory
There remains a land of rest,
Where the Savior's gone before me
To fulfill my soul's request.
On the other side of Jordan,
In the sweet fields of Eden,
Where the tree of life is blooming,
There is rest for you."

As the old hymn was being sung, the smile that had lighted the face of the dying officer faded and his whole body relaxed. All signs of pain and weariness disappeared as his spirit passed into the presence of Him whose invitation he had answered: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28.

The Greatest Attraction

We were sitting around the fire, half a dozen of us, during the interval between an afternoon meeting and one in the evening when the gospel would be preached. The moment was precious to each of us, because in a spirit of true and happy Christian intercourse we spoke to one another of the things of the Lord things made clear to our hearts by His grace.

Reference was made to meetings of a similar kind held in the same city many years before, the memory of which filled some of us with joy and thankfulness.

"I have a verse of yours," said one of the company, "which I think you will remember."

Going to her desk, she brought a slip of paper for my perusal. I wondered what saying of mine could have been of such importance as to warrant preservation for such a number of years as had elapsed since it had been uttered. My curiosity was certainly aroused.

On taking the paper I quickly glanced at the words, and in a moment admitted that they were worthy to have been kept. This may seem that I was proud of my preserved words. Well, I felt thankful, anyhow, that such a thought had been cherished. The words were:

"Shall I tell you what induced me
For the better land to start?
`Twas the Savior's loving-kindness
Overcame and won my heart."

Ah, but these words, though quoted during my preaching, were no words of mine. The writer was a poet of high Christian character. His verse is well known, and is ofttimes sung, and deservedly. Right glad I was to have the fine old sentiment brought back to my recollection. What sentiment? That my heart had been won by the loving-kindness of the Savior.

The verse is brimful of moral beauty. First, it speaks of a Savior. What is more charming to a soul that has felt and owned its utterly lost, guilty, and helpless condition? Most charming when terror hardens and law condemns and conscience smites and judgment hastens. A lovely word, then, is "Savior." Second, we have a big compound word "loving-kindness" but none too big. It falls sweetly on the ear. David, the psalmist, says in Psalm 103: "Who forgiveth all thine iniquities"; and then he adds, "Who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies." Never did diadem shine more bright!

Next, the couplet mentions the heart. Now the heart of man is really an awful thing; it is a sin-creating and sin-loving and sin-committing machine, a factory of fearful abominations, a spring of infinite moral pollution— "desperately wicked." Then how can it be broken, how can such a heart be won to God? That is just the fourth statement in our verse. It speaks of a "heart won."

Thank God, myriads of wicked hearts have been won. And how? One passage of Holy Scripture should give the key: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." John 12:32.

A lifted up, crucified Christ is the mighty magnet of attraction for lost men; and if the gracious magnetism of Calvary fail to draw, then all the terrors of wrath would fail to drive. What attracted the dying malefactor? What turned him from hell and drew him to paradise? The suffering, crucified Christ. Friend, take your place in spirit beside the cross of Jesus; drink in the river of His loving-kindness toward a poor sinner like yourself, and you too will become a worshiper of the Son of God.

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

Opportunity: When? Now!

Friends, do you know the deep importance of one word, the word "OPPORTUNITY"? Look at Galatians 6:10: "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith."

This scripture is addressed to Christians, to those who are left in this world to represent Him of whom it is written, "He went about doing good, for God was with Him."

Remember, dear friends, that there is no time for doing this like the present. We shall not always have the chance of comforting the distressed or succoring the needy. Let us do it then, with heart and energy, and do it at once if we would do it at all and all, that God may be glorified.

But tonight I wish to speak also to another class, and to draw their special attention to this same word, "opportunity." I refer to you who are, sad to say, still unconverted. With all earnestness let me remind you that there is a time coming when the only thing you can do with that word will be to bitterly mourn its loss. Oh, how soon will every gracious opportunity be behind your back forever! You cannot count upon the past; the future is absolutely veiled from you; the present only is yours.

Dear ones, the children of saved parents, look backward for a moment. You will see that there have been certain very distinct features in your own past. For example, some of you are yet living in your school day history; perhaps, you have already had a business history, and interwoven with all the rest, you have had a gospel-hearing history.

For you who have for years been under the sound of gospel preaching, when the word of salvation came to you for the first time, why did you not at once accept it? In that lies the first wonder. Perhaps you yourself may thus regard it if you consider that when God gave you that opportunity He never promised you another.

Friend, mark this well: there is no such thing in Scripture as the promise of a gospel opportunity to any man. Of promises there are many promises to Israel, promises to the Church, promises to individuals, promises "exceeding great and precious"; but as to promised opportunities, there are none. No promise is needed for today's opportunity; for tomorrow's, no promise is given. In a deceived heart the devil may succeed in depositing a few counterfeits, but in the pages of God's holy Word not one is to be found. Wise it would be, therefore, to take this to heart at once.

Remember the parable of "a certain man" who "made a great supper." Luke 14:16. Remember that when the guests refused to come, he bade his servant to go "into the highways and hedges and invite others," that his house might be filled, adding, "None of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper."

Oh, the solemn import of those words! God gives no guarantee of another chance to anyone. Whenever you hear the gospel, therefore, as far as any assurance on God's part is concerned, it is your last invitation! Therefore, as far as you knew, your first opportunity was your last. And the miracle is that, when you heard of this wondrous love of God in giving His Son for you, when you heard of the death of Jesus for sinners at Calvary you did not instantly seize the proclamation of a blood-sealed pardon; you did not fall immediately and with a broken and a contrite heart praise Him for it.

A poor ignorant criminal, who had never before heard of God's love to sinners, was condemned to die. According to his country's laws he had no hope of receiving mercy for his crimes. However, one who had himself received forgiveness for all his sins told God's message of His love to the condemned man. At this, his first hearing of the marvelous gospel, the wondrous good news, the helpless, hopeless sinner said afterward: "When I heard there was pardon for me from God, I just grabbed at it!"

Oh, my friends, what you have so long and so coldly slighted, this poor man eagerly and instantly grasped.

The second great wonder is this: that, after all the neglected opportunities of the past, God should be giving you another! Oh, that your eyes were opened to see all that hangs upon an opportunity that comes late if not last, and that, on your face before God tonight, this vital soul-matter may be definitely settled! What is the worth of the whole world in comparison with your precious soul? When you stand before His judgment throne, ready to be bound hand and foot and cast into hell fire, you will have found out your folly too late. But the God who will judge men then gives you advice now. Take it; for depend upon it, as surely as it is God's advice, it is good advice.

In Isaiah 1:18, God says: "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."

What gracious pleading is here! But mark the warning that follows: "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."

A young man went to a gospel meeting where a dear old Christian was preaching. This young man had that night reached the point which you will one day reach his last chance. Did he know it? We may take it for granted that he did not. Yet from that hour he must bid adieu to gospel opportunities. If you had known that young man, if you had been in this secret concerning him, would you not, after that gospel message, have been anxious to learn how he made use of such an august moment?

The young man's father was a Christian, and expected his son to go with the rest of the family to hear the gospel though he had no heart for such things. Unsaved friend, perhaps you may be in a similar state of mind even now. Had not some anxious friend warmly urged you, would you have been here tonight?

Well, this young man had been brought to listen to God's farewell offer of mercy. How did he treat it? He picked up a Bible, and between its open pages he placed a novel. He appeared to be reading the Bible. But God could see through that—even his companion could.

The preacher had said during his address: "Perhaps there is some one here that will never hear my voice again, who will never have another offer of salvation."

Did this draw the young man's attention? No! On he went with his novel, and even the prayer that followed did not deter him. He read on to THE END. He "refused and rebelled."

Now hear the solemn sequel. That week he went to the beach. He was a vigorous swimmer, an intrepid diver, and from the usual spring-board he took a "header." A few hours before, he had had his last gospel opportunity. Now he was having his last plunge, for this plunge was a plunge into eternity.

Now what would that young man give to occupy your place here tonight— to sit here and share with you one more gracious opportunity? But he had had his last, and, for all we know, when he had it, he fatally trifled with it. How will you treat your present opportunity?

As far as you have any authority from God, you are now having your last opportunity to accept Christ. Once more I ask, How will you treat it? "Seek ye the LORD While He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near." Isaiah 55:6.

God delights in mercy, but sin's judgment is no less a necessity. Jesus the Savior has died; He, the blessed Savior, is risen; the Holy Ghost has come from heaven come with the gospel of free pardon from the very throne of God. "God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent." The day of judgment is fixed. It is future, but it is near at hand. The day of salvation is present, but it is fast wearing away. Only one opportunity can be counted on, and it is the present one. "Behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation." Geo. C.

Living Epistles

Is my life an epistle of Christ
In my speech, my walk, and my ways?
As with others I meet and converse,
Does my life testify to His praise?

As the moon and the stars in the sky
Reflect rays of light from the sun,
Does my life in some measure reflect
The love of the crucified One?

That One who created the worlds—
Who sustaineth all things by His might—
The Eternal in glory above
Was ever His Father's delight.

But He left it: so great was His love
That He laid all this glory aside
And stooped to come down to this earth
To redeem for Himself His bride.

For He saw us afar off from God
With hearts and minds ruined by sin,
And He longed to reveal divine love
That our poor rebel hearts He might win.

He told out the love of God's heart
To a world that was ruined and lost
By willingly bearing our guilt
And atoning for sin at such cost.

Believers who trust in His love
A reflection of Jesus should be
That others whom daily they meet
A glimpse of His image may see.

Forbid that my letter of life
Should to any a stumbling block be;
But grant that Thine own blessed Son
May be seen—"Christ living in me."

"For ye know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that, though
He was rich, yet for your sakes
He became poor, that ye through
His poverty might be rich."

2 Corinthians 8:9

?Pull Back on the Stick?

Many of you who read this little paper know or have heard of our dear friends, Mae and Ernest. They owned and operated a small grocery store in Southern California where they sought and found many opportunities to "speak well of Christ." Indeed, selling food for the body took second place in their hearts to the far more important occupation of presenting to all corners the free Gift of God, the Bread of Life, Jesus the Lord.

Among those who thus heard the Word, the good news of salvation, brought faithfully and frequently before them, was a young salesman for a large meatpacking concern. Known to Mae and Ernest as "Red Gus"— for his hair was of that fiery hue— he had solicited their account at a time when other such concerns ignored, apparently, the small businesses in favor of the more profitable large chain stores. To our young friends, Red Gus was God's answer to their need and prayers, for their meats, bought from other packers, had for some time proved to be inferior and unsatisfactory in many ways. The new salesman seemed to take special interest in filling their orders with his highest grade products.

As the years passed, Red Gus listened often to the sweet story of God's love to sinners, and just as often was warned of the eternal sorrow and loss awaiting those who refused God's grace in giving His dear Son to die for unregenerate, lost men.

"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.

Was it stubbornness or was it pride that kept this otherwise amiable young man from bowing the knee in truth to Him who, he acknowledged, was indeed Creator of all things? We suspect it was both, for although he repeatedly enjoyed the hospitality and friendship of these his customers, his answer to their pleas that he accept the Savior and His mighty work of love on Calvary was always a firm shake of the head accompanied by a cynical smile. How God must hate such stubbornness! "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." 1 Sam. 15:23.

Pride too was an integral part of Red's very being. During the war he had been in the Naval Air Force and, as a reserve pilot, he spent much flying time on holidays and week-ends with the new jet planes. Aviation was his, favorite topic, and exultingly he would say: "I just pull back on the stick, and up I go into the wild blue yonder." Time after time Mae reminded him of the dangers he faced, and of the eternity ahead. His answer was: "When my time's up, I've got to go." No sweet anticipation was there of seeing our altogether lovely Savior nor of the joys awaiting the redeemed in the Father's house.

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

On a Friday, Red Gus was late coming into the store for his order and several customers were requiring attention. There was no time for conversation with the young man; but, as he received his weekly order from his friend Ernest, he announced exuberantly his plan to be "in the air" most of the week-end. With unusual solemnity Mae said: "Remember, Red, 'it's appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment."

"Yes, I know," he cried, waving his hand gaily in good-bye. "I've got to go!"

A busy Saturday followed, and then a precious Lord's Day. After the evening meeting where dear Mae and Ernest had been refreshed and encouraged in hearing a powerful gospel message, they had just returned home when the phone rang. It was one of their best customers who bore bad tidings. "I don't want to be an alarmist," she said, "but, Mr. Wilson, have you heard that the salesman from the packing house has crashed? And they haven't found him yet."

During the afternoon, "high fog," so common to the California coast, had rolled in from the Pacific with unusual density, obscuring land, sea, and sky. Woe to any traveler who in this all-enveloping gray mist had lost his bearings!

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

And poor Red Gus was lost. What panic must have seized him at the realization! He called in to the base for his bearings: "I'm lost out over the ocean," was his cry.

At the base they had him on their radar screen, and had thought he had his bearings. Quick came the reply, "Red, you're heading into the side of the mountain up and over!"

Too late. No time now for Red to "pull back on the stick." Next day they found the wreckage man and plane broken to bits and nearly buried by the impact.

Red had met his appointment with death; and when his time came, he had to go.

Was he prepared to meet his Creator? Jesus says: "No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." John 14:6.

Dear one wandering away from God, the only road back is by way of the cross. Jesus Himself is "the way, the truth and the life," as that same sixth verse of John fourteen states. Will you not accept Him as your Savior and Lord now? Time is nearly gone and eternity is just ahead.

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

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

The Wastepaper Basket

When preaching in a city once, a message came to me from a young woman staying at a nearby village. She said that she would be glad to have me come to see her. I walked across to that town and called at the address given me. There I was greeted by the young woman and invited to come in. When I had sat down, she began to explain why she had sent for me, saying: "You do not know me, but I have heard of you through your sister for whom I worked as maid for several years. Every now and then you sent gospel books through the mail addressed to her and her husband, the doctor. These books were generally thrown into the wastepaper basket. Part of my duties each morning was to empty this basket of its contents; and those books which they threw away as worthless, I valued, kept, and read. I am happy to tell you that through God's mercy, they were the means of my conversion. Hearing you were preaching so near, I sent for you, as I felt sure you would be encouraged in hearing how God had blessed His Word to me. I am housekeeper to a doctor here, and cannot easily get out to attend any meetings, or you may be sure I would have come to hear you."

Hearing this testimony of God's grace from her lips caused my heart to rejoice. You may be sure I thanked God, and took fresh courage to go on with that service, which undoubtedly had His approval, although my relatives failed to appreciate or profit by my efforts.

God says, "My Word... 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.

How true it is that if some refuse God's. invitation, He will call others, so that His house may be filled.

Unsaved man, woman, or child, the fact that God's servants are still on the earth proclaiming the glad tidings, proves that there is still room for you. God offers you salvation now. Will you accept it? Take His offer, take it now and be happy.

Another relative of mine, whom I called on at his office, after some conversation pointed to the wastepaper basket, saying: "Look there, Bob, that is where all your tracts go."

A good depot, thought I, there to lie under the eye of God, to be used by Him for some office cleaner, or scavenger or rubbish searcher to their salvation through reading them, while the wealthy merchant who despises God's Word seeks in vain for happiness in the things of this perishing world.

Let us go on sowing the good seed with fresh courage. God must have His harvest.

"Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." Gal. 6:9.

One Sweetly Solemn Thought

"One sweetly solemn thought comes to me o'er and o'er:
I'm nearer home today than I've ever been before."

Years ago a Christian tourist was traveling in China. At Macao he was shown a company of gamblers in a back room on the upper floor of a hotel. At the table nearest him was a young American, not more than twenty years old, whose partner was an old man. While the gray-haired man was shuffling the cards and preparing to deal, the young man, in a careless way, sang a verse of "One sweetly solemn thought," to a very touching tune.

Several of the gamblers looked up in surprise on hearing the singing. The old man, as he dealt the cards, gazed steadfastly at his partner in the game. Suddenly he threw the pack of cards under the table. "Where did you learn that song?" he asked.

The young man pretended that he did not know that he had been singing. "Well, no matter," said the old man, "I have played my last game. That's the end of gambling for me. The cards may lie there till doomsday, and I'll never pick them up."

Having won a hundred dollars from his partners, he took the money from his pocket and handed it over to the young man. "Here, Harry," he said. "Here is your money; take it and do some good with it. I hope to do so with mine."

The tourist followed the two men downstairs, and in the lobby he still heard the old man talking about the song which the young man had sung. It had revived memories, he said, of early days when a life devoted to Christ had been his joy. But he had later yielded to worldly allurements and been ensnared with the pleasures of gambling. All thoughts of God, of Christ, and of heaven had been blanked from his mind and heart.

This very day the old man had suffered a sudden illness which had driven him in panic to a doctor. There he had learned that another such seizure might be his last. Seeking forgetfulness of this bad news, he had gone to the company he knew best and tried to drown his gloomy thoughts in concentrating on the game.

"Now," he said, "that song has broken me down. I remember the words and must face the truth. Eternity is just ahead and I have little time to prepare to go HOME. I begin to long for the Father's house, but will He receive me? In those many mansions, is there a place for me?"

The traveler had been listening quietly as the old man laid bare his thoughts to the young man. Now was his opportunity as a Christian to be used by the Spirit to speak peace to this troubled soul. Prayerfully and tenderly he brought before the two men the unfailing, unchanging love of the Father.

From his pocket Testament he read to the two men the story in Luke 15 of the prodigal son and his anxiously waiting father. To the Christian traveler it was a joy to see the face of the older man brighten up as he read the twenty-fifth verse. At the son's confession in the next verse, tears rolled unheeded down the penitent's cheeks, and with broken accents he owned his own guilt and remorse.

Touched by the Scripture story and by the demonstration before him, the young man also expressed his need of the Savior. Before the three parted, they were all rejoicing: the old man, in restoration to the Father's favor; the young man, in the mercy of God that had reached out and saved him; and the traveler, as a participant in the joy of heaven that he that was dead is alive again.

The Whole Question

While in Williamsburg, Virginia some years ago, we spied a very old gentleman seated on the stone steps of a monument. He could not but attract attention, since with his tall hat and flowing white beard he was the perfect picture of the traditional "Uncle Sam."

I made my way towards him, and after a few words of greeting I was soon seated beside him. He was indeed a very old man, nearly a hundred years of age, as he told me. In spite of his great age, he was clean and neat in appearance and alert. He maintained a quiet demeanor, and was most polite in conversation.

We spoke of the considerable work that had been done in transforming the city into a replica of early American life. "But," I said, "there is one thing which gives an air of unreality to the whole undertaking. The great actors in the drama of life here have disappeared from the stage, and where are they today? Their graves are scattered over the countryside. Some have had monuments erected to them; but, for most of them, only pictures and history books keep their names alive. Many are 'forgotten as a dead man out of mind.' " (Psa. 31:12).

"Our thoughts and feelings on this subject are aptly set out in the Bible, in the book of Job, chapter 14, where we read: 'But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and WHERE IS HE?' Job also asked the question, 'If a man die shall he live again?' The answers to Job's questions are given by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in John 5:

“‘The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of

God: and they that hear shall live... and shall

come forth; they that have done good, unto the

resurrection of life; and they that have done

evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.'

"The Apostle Paul also testified before the Roman governor Festus 'that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust' " Acts 24:15.

It soon became apparent that my aged friend was a stranger to the God of grace, and the salvation which it brings. I therefore sought to put before him the "Ruin and Remedy" gospel of God's grace, briefly given to us in Hebrews 9:27, 28, which we quote: "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so CHRIST was once offered to bear the sins of many."

Concluding, I said, "But the sad thing is that while many know this gospel, the words of Jesus are true of them, 'Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.' " John 5:40.

On hearing these words my friend became suddenly animated and with great deliberation said, "Ah! That's the whole question!"

It is indeed the solemn and "whole question" for men and women today. On the answer hangs an eternity of bliss or misery. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31.

Those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ "shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord." 2 Thess. 1:9.

In taking leave of the old man I earnestly pleaded that he would no longer put off coming to the Savior. I pointed out to him God's great goodness in lengthening his days so he might have ample opportunity to receive Him. As we shook hands I added that I would not likely see him again in this world; but if he would come to Jesus, it would indeed be a great joy for me to meet him in heaven.

Friend who may read these lines, is your case akin to that described in this narrative? Is it true of you that "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved"? Jer. 8:20.

"Despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" Rom. 2:4. If so, we entreat you to "acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee." Job 22:21.

Delusions about Death-Beds

There is a superstition in some rural areas that a person cannot die comfortably if there is a pigeon's feather in his pillow! Many a dying man, before now, has had his pillow changed by those keeping the death watch, in hope that they could thereby remove the disturbing thing.

Perhaps you are inclined to smile at the folly of such people, or at least to pity their ignorance and stupidity. But wait a moment. This is not the only popular delusion in connection with the bed of the dying. Here is another, and one far worse in its effects upon others. Many people consider that if a man dies "peacefully," as it is called—that is, without restless tossings or any outward sign of excruciating pain, such as distortion of countenance and the like he has certainly gone to heaven. Yet if we take our stand on the truth of Scripture, there is no more ground for one thought than for the other. Both are delusions. Indeed, it is not of the righteous, but of the wicked, not of those who die in the Lord, but of those who die in their sins, that it is said, "There are no bands in their death." Psa. 73:4.

It is well to remember that there may be two causes of outward uneasiness: one through physical pain, the other through smarting of conscience; one because of the dying body, the other because of the state of the undying soul, and this in view of its entering into the immediate presence of God. "The spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Eccles. 12:7.

It is related of Sir Walter Raleigh, that when his executioner gave him the choice of position on the block on which he was to be beheaded, he said: "It matters little in which direction my head falls, if my heart is right."

When Richard Baxter, the author of those two God-used little books, "Calls to the Unconverted" and "The Saints' Everlasting Rest," was dying, he said to one who visited him, "I have pain, for there is no arguing against one's senses; but I have peace, I HAVE PEACE." With intense bodily suffering he had the calmest, sweetest rest of heart and conscience, for he had Christ.

Should the writer or reader of these lines be called from this scene before the year is out, it will matter very little what his body may be passing through, and still less what kind of pillow his head may be placed upon. If Christ is his, through faith in His precious blood, there will be no stain on his conscience; and, through the knowledge of the God who provided such a Savior and gave such a gift, there will be no fear in his heart. All, all will be well.

But what must it be to be without Him at such a moment? If still a stranger to this blessed and (to those who know Him) never-absent Friend, take timely advice, and seek to make His acquaintance at once.

"Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near." Isa. 55:6.

No other friend can say what He can say, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

"Jesus can make a dying bed
As soft as downy pillows are,
While on His breast I lay my head
And breathe my life out sweetly there."

The Rest of the Way

Oh, fathomless mercy! Oh, infinite grace!
With humble thanksgiving the road we retrace:
THOU never hast failed us, our strength and our stay;
To whom should we turn for the rest of the way?

Through dangers, through darkness, by day and by night,
THOU ever hast guided, and guided us right.
In THEE we have trusted, and peacefully lay
Our hand into THINE for the rest of the way.

Thy cross is our refuge; Thy blood all our plea;
None other we want, Lord Jesus, but THEE.
We fear not the shadows at close of the day,
For THOU wilt go with us the rest of the way.

Jesus said to the unbelievers: "If ye believe not that I am He (the Christ), ye shall die in your sins."

John 8:24

To the believers He says: "These all died in faith."

Hebrew 11:13

Abundant Grace

One Lord's Day evening several Christians were gathered together and were telling of the marvelous ways of God in saving their souls. Among them, silent but attentive, was a young man in uniform. At last he was asked to tell of his conversion. He hesitated a while, and then told his story.

"My dear father and mother faithfully sought to rear me in the fear of God. I well remember their prayers for my salvation and especially how they wept over me in my early youth. But their loving concern for me only hardened my heart. Finally I threw all their exhortations to the wind and plunged into a life of sin.

"As I fell lower and lower in degradation, I completely forgot God and His claims. To get away from my parents' nagging,' as I called it, I left home and joined the army. For several weeks I kept my whereabouts secret; but when I learned I was to go overseas, I went home for a brief visit. In his love for me my father sought to buy my release from military service, but I would not hear of it. My dear mother implored me on her knees not to continue in the army. With tears she cried, 'My son, my only child, don't break your mother's heart. Do not invite God's wrath upon you.'

"Such love deeply touched me and I almost gave in. I loved my parents, but hated their religion; so in spite of their pleadings, I went. Shortly after my departure my dear mother was taken sick, and, heartbroken over her prodigal boy, she died, praying for me.

"While we were on the high seas, one day I discovered that my mother had put a small Bible in my bag—another token of her love and care for me. What did I do? In anger I threw the hated Book as far as I could out into the open sea.

"On foreign soil, I went from bad to worse, throwing off all restraint. When I think back on my awful course, I hang my head in shame. But what did I care then for the awful consequences of such a life? Only the grace of God could arrest one on such a downward path.

"One day, as usual, I was on the way to a tavern with several of my buddies. Suddenly in the distance I heard singing—a hymn I had known years ago. I stood still and listened. Strange thoughts filled my mind and tears came to my eyes. I thought of home, of my parents, and the sorrows I had caused them. I trembled at the thought of my sins against God and of the wrath of the Almighty. My buddies, observing the sudden change that had come over me, made fun of it and tried to cheer me up; but finding it was no use, they soon left me alone.

"In spite of myself I was drawn toward the place where I had heard the singing. There a missionary was preaching to a group of natives. Hiding behind the hedge, I drank in every word. When the speaker finished he announced a time when he would preach again in the same place.

"How miserable I was! How could I find peace? I had no Bible and no one in all the regiment had one. On the appointed day, I again hid in the same spot and devoured all the preacher said; but it only increased my misery.

"Up to this time I had been the leader in all the wickedness of my group. My companions knew nothing of my deep exercise and sought to draw me back to them, but to no avail. While some of them pleaded, others mocked; but all ridiculed and scorned me. At last in desperation I told them of my deep conviction of sinfulness. I warned them too of the awful doom that awaits all who continue in such a state, and that our only hope was to repent and turn to the Lord. This created an uproar! Some cried, 'You're mad!' Others said, 'Take another drink and forget this foolishness!'

"I hunted in vain for a Bible. One day a carefully wrapped package was handed to me. On it was written, 'The Holy Bible.' Expressing my hearty thanks I ran to the barracks to open my treasure. To my horror I discovered, not a Bible, but a deck of cards! My comrades, who in the meantime had gathered around, laughed and shouted, 'Splendid! Serves him right!'

"To escape the taunts and mockings of my buddies, I spent my free hours in the woods and fields, sometimes returning to the place where I had first heard the preacher. I often prayed for a Bible; and one day, to my joy and surprise, I found one in that very spot. Overcome with gratitude to God, I dropped on my knees and thanked Him for this precious gift. I had scarcely finished my prayer of thanksgiving, when the missionary appeared. He said that a few days before, while waiting for the hour of the meeting, he had heard me praying for a Bible and had decided to leave one for me.

"Thereafter, this man of God sought to show me the way of salvation. I had been in much confusion and in fear and trembling because of my sins. Now I learned that the precious blood of Christ had blotted them all out, and that there was no wrath or judgment for those who believe. My past life was abhorrent to me when I saw the cause for and the completeness of Christ's work of redemption. The words of the Apostle were precious to me: 'Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.'

"From then on I had only one question, 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?' What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?'

"I decided that very evening I would read a chapter from the Bible to the men in my barracks; but how Satan tried to thwart me! Striving, to drown my voice, my mates began to shout and curse. Ignoring them as best I could, I continued to read, and followed this program each day. Before long some of the more serious minded gathered around me, and listened attentively to the Word of God. May God bless it to their souls.

"As soon as our regiment was shipped back to our native land, I obtained a furlough to visit my father and hurried home, anxious to confess my guilt and shame and to beg his forgiveness. When at last I saw the little house, oh, what painful regrets I had! Turning the corner in the street so familiar to me, I was stopped by an approaching funeral procession.

"Among the mourners I recognized a relative, and questioned him as to who was being buried. Told that it was my own dear father, I stood motionless, stricken with grief. At last, when I could again move, I followed the procession to the cemetery. Overcome with grief and oblivious to all around me, I threw myself across the coffin. What terrible accusations I was hearing all around me! 'This is the prodigal son that caused his father's gray hairs, and brought him down in sorrow to the grave.'

"This awful charge was only too true! What would I not have given to have changed all this! It was too late, forever too late! My sorrow was almost more than I could bear, but in this awful moment the Lord sustained me. The thoughts of His love and forgiveness comforted me. Daily I experience new proofs of His mercy and goodness. Now He keeps me in the path, and I will trust Him for the future. Praise His name!"

With these words the soldier finished his story. All present were deeply moved, and humbly knelt in praise and thanksgiving for the abundant grace so fully manifested to this prodigal.

Translated from "Samenkorner" by J. B.

The Right Kind of Faith

Mrs. Nisbet was a fine, moral woman, beloved by many for her kindness. Some time ago at the house of a friend, she met an earnest servant of the Lord and had a talk with him on spiritual matters. In the course of the conversation, Mrs. Nisbet discovered that, though she had for years "professed religion," she had never experienced the GREAT CHANGE, the conversion without which, the Lord Jesus declares, no one can see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). When she learned her true condition she turned to a "religious" acquaintance in the room and exclaimed: "With all our religion we have never been born again! We are lost, and going to hell!"

Because of her distress at this "discovery" she became seriously ill, and the Christian who had brought it before her went to visit her. The nurse, however, would only allow him to see her patient on one condition: he must promise not to speak on religious subjects. He declined to agree to such a proposal, but was eventually allowed admission into the sick room.

Mrs. Nisbet was delighted to see the evangelist, and eagerly entered into conversation with him about the "one thing needful." The nurse, fearing that conversation on eternal matters might upset her patient, and being utterly ignorant of the gospel, began to extol Mrs. Nisbet's "good works." She ended with the extraordinary statement: "You have no reason to be afraid, Mrs. Nisbet. Think what a good woman you have been!"

"No! No!" exclaimed the widow. "That's all wrong. I'm lost!" Turning to her visitor, she said, "Tell me what I have to do to be saved."

"You have nothing to do but believe what Christ has already done for you."

"Yes," said she, "that's it. Oh, if I had the least grain of faith!"

"I believe you have faith, Mrs. Nisbet," said the soul-winner.

"Oh, don't mock me!" she exclaimed.

"Who made the world, Mrs. Nesbit?" he asked. "God."

"How do you know?"

"From His own Word."

Opening his Bible the Christian read Hebrews 11:3: "Through faith we understand the worlds were framed by the word of God." And he explained the verse.

"And am I to believe the same way for salvation?"

"Most certainly; there are not two ways of believing. You believe that God made the world because He says so in His Word?"

"Yes."

"In the same way I believe that Christ died for me, and that I cannot come into condemnation, because He says so in His Word. '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 [or judgment], but is passed from death unto life.' John 5:24."

As the grand old gospel was presented and explained to the anxious inquirer, she ceased looking within for peace and comfort, and became occupied and absorbed with God's mighty and matchless love to her, as manifested in His "unspeakable gift." As the light from on high streamed into her anxious mind, she cried, "Oh, how simple! Thank God, I see it! I'm saved!" Then, her face beaming with joy, she exclaimed, "Blessed Jesus! He bore it all for me. How blind I have been."

Mrs. Nisbet's faith did produce good works, for she afterward became a very active Christian. She often tells the unsaved whom she meets how she tried to obtain salvation on the ground of her works, then on the ground of her faith, and how at last she received it on the ground of the finished work of Jesus Christ.

"What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:30, 31.

There is life in a look at the crucified One,
There is life at this moment for thee;
Then look, sinner, look unto Him and be saved,
Unto Him who was nailed to the tree."

Grace and Judgment

Reader, have you ever thought that the time is coming when you must fall out of the ranks, and that your place in the world will be filled by another? It may be long years hence—it may be today; but be the interval long or short, the time is coming when you must leave the world, for "It is appointed unto men once to die."

Now, if this were all—if there were nothing after death—unquestionably those would be the wisest who make the most of this world. They are journeying along life's beaten track, taking the rough with the smooth, philosophically bearing the one, and gladly enjoying the other. As far as their circumstances permit, they make life like a cloudless summer day. If there be nothing after death, true wisdom would consist in seizing the pleasures of the passing moment, and in acting on the maxim quoted by the Apostle Paul. He follows their reasoning when he says, "If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die." 1 Cor. 15:32.

"If the dead rise not," the best thing we can do is to eat and drink—if they rise not. But if they do rise, what then? Momentous question! Question, did we say? There is not the smallest particle of doubt about it, for God tells us that death is not the end of man, nor the grave his goal.

"After this the judgment." Heb. 9:27. "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." Rev. 20:12.

Pause, reader, and consider these two passages from the Word of the living God, and remember, "God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?"

Not more certain is it that the sun rose this morning than that after death there is the judgment. God has said so—God never lies. What, then, can you do, dear reader, to escape this judgment? How can you "flee from the wrath to come?" We read "the LORD is a God of judgment," (Isa. 30:18), and "shall bring every work into judgment" (Eccles. 12:14).

Blessed be God, the way of escape is outside ourselves. God sent His Son into this world, that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:16 says that those who believe in Him have everlasting life, and shall never perish. Christ died on the cross, and bore the judgment of God against sin, and we are now saved by the grace of God through faith. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:7), and He has delivered us from the wrath to come.

The believer can say:

"Death and judgment are behind me,
Life and glory are before.

"Christ's death on the cross has saved me; He bore the judgment that was due to me; He has given me eternal life; glory awaits me."

Reader, your life is hastening on to its close with accelerating rapidity. Soon it will be over—soon the trifles that float upon the river of time will be lost in the ocean of eternity. Are you so mad that, for the sake of these trifles—for the pleasures of this passing moment—you are prepared to brave the coming judgment? Be sure of this, if you reject mercy in the day of mercy, you will have to meet judgment in the Day of Judgment. Which shall it be? I beseech you not to trifle with this great question. Come to Christ now, and then for you there will be no judgment.

"It is appointed unto men once to die"; it does not say to all men. No, if you are a Christian you may be caught up to meet the Lord at His coming without ever seeing death. And should you be laid to rest for a little while in the grave, your spirit will be with the Lord beyond the grave, awaiting that bright moment when Christ our Life shall appear, and we shall appear with Him in glory.

The Savior's Appeal

"Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" How direct, how pointed, how personal is the Lord's appeal to the heart in these words! Not, do we, or they, but "dolt thou?" The answer too must be direct and personal. A Yes, or a No. Hesitation, indecision, silence, means no, so far, at least, as man is concerned. "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Rom. 10:10. The righteousness which is by faith of Jesus Christ is for God; the confession of the mouth is for man.

Christ is preached for the simplest to believe on Him with the heart, and to confess Him with the mouth. "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."

In Romans 10:9, 10 confession is put first. This is not because it is the more important, for, without the heart, mere words of confession would be good for nothing; but because it leads both angels and men to celebrate the praise of Jesus. How often the evangelist turns away with a heavy heart from closed lips—from sullen silence! These too often bespeak an inward fighting against the truth. But how bright His praise, when with a beaming countenance Jesus is confessed as Savior and Lord!

Again, dear reader, we would press as a parting word this deeply solemn question, "Do you, for yourself, of yourself, believe on the Son of God?" Your eternal interest—the joys of heaven, or the miseries of hell, hang on your yes or no. You must answer for yourself, and answer to the Savior. Ah, what wondrous love is in this appeal! The blessed Savior, as it were, looks straight in your face, stands before you, reveals Himself to you, and says, "Do you believe on Me?" Will you believe in your heart on Me? Will you speak well of Me before men? Will you take up your cross and follow Me?"

The Lord in mercy grant that this may be your happy place, your blessed portion, your eternal joy. How simple it all is! Only believe and praise the Lord; and still praise Him. But you know the dire consequences of unbelief—no Savior, no salvation, no heaven, no happiness; but banishment from the presence of God and the Lamb, from the holy and the good, and doomed to dwell in the depths of despair, within the barred gates of hell forever and forever. May the Holy Spirit now lead you from the heart to say, "Lord, I believe"; and to worship Jesus as Savior and Lord (John 9:38).

An Endless Stream

A man in Ireland, convicted by the Holy Spirit of sin, was on the point of "believing" when the devil raised his oft-repeated objection: "If you believe the word, you could not keep it. What about tomorrow?"

The worker dealing with him pointed to a water-mill nearby. "What turns the wheel today?"

"The stream."

"What will turn the wheel tomorrow?"

"The stream."

"And the days after?"

"The stream."

The anxious one was then led to see that there is in Christ abundant grace to save, keep, and meet all need.

"Wherefore He is able... to save... to the uttermost." Heb. 7:25. "The same yesterday, and today, and forever." Heb. 13:8. "I will trust and not be afraid."

'Tis Finished

Were Jesus on the cross,
The work were not completed;
But He to glory's gone,
Above the heavens now seated.

Were Jesus in the grave,
Death had not been defeated;
But God has raised Him up,
And now the work's completed!

Were Jesus not on high,
We had been doubting, fearing;
But every doubt is stilled
By Christ in heaven appearing.

Oh, 'tis a finished work,
And God delights to view it:
Oh, 'tis a wondrous work,
And none but Christ could do it!

On it I rest my all,
Without one doubt or quiver;
For by the precious blood
I'm perfected forever.

And God is glorified,
Oh, wondrous, blessed story!
And rebel man is saved
And rendered meet for glory!

JESUS CHRIST”... in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace."

Ephesians 1:7

Neglected Pleas

Jack and I were comrades-in-arms and enjoyed the same "pleasures of sin." However, the time came when the Lord Jesus came into my heart, and the world and its allurements no longer appealed to me.

After my conversion I sought to lead my friend Jack to the Savior, but while he often attended the gospel meetings with me, he refused to accept Christ.

One evening some of us were standing outside the meeting-room and inviting passersby to come in and hear the good news. Before long Jack came by. In response to my plea, he said he could not stop, as he had an appointment to keep. I pressed him to come in, feeling as I did that the matter was urgent; but Jack insisted that he must meet his friend. Discouraged, I gave him two tracts, which he promised me to read, and he went on his way.

Shortly afterward, I saw that my old pal looked very poorly. At my urging he promised he would go to the hospital for a check-up. Not thinking it serious, I let the matter slip from my mind. What was my astonishment a few days later, when the hospital orderly told me that if I wanted to see Jack alive I must come at once!

In great distress I hurried to my poor comrade. His labored breathing, bloodless lips, eyes staring at nothing, are before me even now, and fill my own eyes with tears. Going quietly to him, I said: "Jack, how is it with your soul?"

"Bad," he whispered.

"Will you not believe in the Savior now, Jack?" "Maybe I could; but it's such hard work when you're dying," was his reply.

"Oh, Jack," I said, "after all you have heard about Jesus, for it to be bad now! Can't you believe, NOW?"

No answer came. I turned the pages of my Bible, seeking a message of salvation, but how little I knew! I could find none. I knelt to pray for him, but the words died on my lips. All I could say was, "Oh God! O God!" Filled with sorrow and confusion because of my inability to bring Christ before a dying comrade, I left his bedside for a little while. On my return Jack was still alive, but deaf to all earthly sounds. Shortly afterward the spirit of my old friend and comrade was in the presence of Him who judges righteously, for He knows the thoughts and intents of the heart. May you who read this incident

"Accept now God's offer of mercy,
To Jesus, oh hasten today."

"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.

The Awakening of a Dying Infidel

When John Dean first came under my notice he was evidently far gone with tuberculosis. Becoming interested in him and learning that he was unsaved and of pronounced infidel views, prayer was made for him, and for opportunity to speak to him of Jesus, the Savior of sinners.

His wife and daughter, being Christians, had suffered much because of his hatred of religion in any shape or form, and dreaded anyone introducing the subject of death and judgment to him.

But a dying man on the brink of eternity provokes an earnestness in the heart of a lover of souls that is not to be denied. Failing permission to visit him, someone suggested that I write a letter to him.

I accordingly wrote; but before sending the letter I spread it out before the Lord and prayed that it might prove to be a message from God to arouse this unbelieving soul to a sense of his awful danger.

The letter was placed on the breakfast table for him; and when he came down, he opened and read it. His bitter hatred of the name of Jesus aroused his passions, and tossing the letter into the fireplace, he cursed the writer and Christians generally. His wife left him alone until his anger had somewhat subsided, and the incident dropped out of her notice. She surmised that the letter had been burned.

But God's word, penned in simple faith, was destined to accomplish that for which it was sent.

A few weeks passed away, and the sick man had become so weak that he could barely get downstairs and lie on the couch. One day he asked his daughter if she remembered a letter coming to him which annoyed and upset him. On her replying in the affirmative, he asked her whether she knew the writer, and whether she thought he would come to see him. She replied that he would be very glad of an opportunity to have an interview; and the father further added, "Perhaps you had a hand in sending that letter as well."

That same evening I went to see the invalid. His daughter took me into the room where her father was lying, and after introducing us, she retired and left us alone together. The following dialog took place: "Are you the Henry Scott who wrote a letter to me a few weeks ago?"

"Yes."

"Is this the letter you wrote to me?" at the same time unfolding a well-soiled, tattered letter and holding it toward me. The letter was worn through where it was folded, and gave evidence of having been constantly handled.

"Yes, this is the letter I wrote you."

"Tell me, please, why you wrote it?"

"I wrote to you, Mr. Dean, because I knew you were dying, and if you died as you were you would be eternally lost. I was anxious to warn you to 'flee from the wrath to come.' "

"Do you know anything of my past life?"

"Yes; I know that you have been everything that a man should not be. You have caused sorrow in your home and persecuted your wife and daughter because they are Christians."

"Knowing all this, do you think that God will save such a sinner as me at the eleventh hour? I have never done anything to merit any favor from Him."

"It is not what I think, Mr. Dean, that matters. Let us see what God says in His word."

I read him several passages of Scripture bearing upon the Savior and the sinner and his sins. He drank in the words of life as only a dying sinner aroused to a sense of his lost condition can. Then he said, "That will do. I cannot bear any more; pray for me."

I prayed, and left, leaving my Bible with some verses marked, and promising, on his invitation, to go again.

The following evening I was called to see him. On my inquiring how he was, he replied, somewhat to my astonishment, "I am saved."

Looking earnestly and intently at me, and taking my Bible in his hands, he opened at a marked passage and said, "Does it not say here, 'He that believeth hath everlasting life'? I do believe, and God says I have eternal life."

No words of mine could shake his faith in God's promise, and for the few days he lingered he literally hungered and thirsted for the living words of life, and told all who came to see him what God had done for him.

"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.

Tracts and Their Traces

It was late in the evening of a quiet Sunday, and the man who was addressing the crowd in the open air had been often moved to speak of Jesus to the multitudes who frequented that breezy spot. He was a simple, earnest man of God with few gifts but much grace; and in hearing the story of the cross told thus, many a head was bent, and many an eye filled with tears. As the last hymn was being sung, the speaker moved quietly about among the people, offering them well selected gospel tracts.

Months passed, and the preacher often wondered whether the seed sown in this and similar services which he had conducted had borne any fruit. One evening in the autumn, he was crossing on the ferry, not far from the spot where he had just spoken, when a rough-looking man in the boat accosted him: "Good evening, sir! I suppose you don't remember me?"

"No, I can't say I do," was the answer, after a close look at him.

"Ah, but I know you," exclaimed the first speaker. "Indeed! How, or where, may I ask, did you ever see me?"

"If I may tell you all about it, I'd like to."

"Do tell me, my friend."

"Do you remember preaching on the hill yonder, one Sunday evening last summer?"

"Yes, I do."

"Well, I was one of your hearers, and I thank God I was! You talked of judgment to come. I thought you must have known what a sinner stood close to you, for you often looked at me. Before you were finished I was completely beaten down. And then you gave me a tract, which I took and carried home. I am not ashamed to tell you that I wept all the way home. Mine was a solitary room, and when I reached it, I sat down to read my tract. That, too, spoke of coming judgment, and my conscience was on fire. But it told of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away sin. Ah! That was what I wanted! I cried to God. I could not sleep, and so for many weary weeks I went on, miserable enough. At last I saw that God's way to me was through Jesus Christ; and that my way to God was just through Jesus Christ, too. One Mediator between God and men. And so, resting on and trusting alone in Him, I found that death had no sting in prospect, and judgment no terror, for by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and through Him alone, even my crimson sins could be made "white as snow."

"How is it now, my friend? Do you ever sin now?" "Oh, sir, I wish I could say no! But I cannot. Yes, I do sin."

"And what do you do when you sin?"

"What can I do, but just go to God, and confess my sin to Him."

"Do you hope to go to heaven when you die?" "Yes, through His grace—not my merit. I am all unworthy, but He is 'faithful and just,' and 'the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin.' "What will make it heaven to you?"

"There I shall see His face,
And never, never sin;
There from the rivers of His grace
Drink endless pleasures in,"

was the quiet answer.

The questioning ceased; it was enough. The preacher saw the work was of God; and in thus meeting with one saved through his instrumentality, he realized one of the deepest wishes of his inmost soul. His heart was cheered and his courage revived to keep on keeping on.

Seed-sower! Go on sowing "beside all waters," for God both can and will "give the increase."

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Cor. 15:58.

What About Your Soul?

Some few years ago a young farmer walked into my consulting room. He looked worn and nervous, and had all the appearance of having undergone great mental anxiety. He complained of loss of sleep, no appetite for food, and frequent attacks of palpitation of the heart.

After listening to this description of his bodily discomforts, I wrote him a prescription; and as he rose to take his leave, I said: "You have been telling me the story of your bodily sufferings; but what about your soul? Do you know anything of the Lord and His salvation?"

I can never forget the smile of joy and peace that immediately lighted up his face as he again seated himself. He said: "Ah, sir, I thank God I can now say that my soul is resting on Jesus; but as you have spoken to me on that subject, I must tell you that the agonies of conviction I have gone through have helped to cause my physical distress and brought me to ask advice from you this day."

"How were you awakened to a sense of your lost condition; and what means did God use to bring you to a knowledge of the Savior?"

"Sir," he replied, "I was a godless, thoughtless young man, living for pleasure and in sin, running after the world's vanities; spending my leisure moments with companions like-minded, heedless of God or eternity, and never feeling my need of salvation.

"I worked on my uncle's farm. He cared nothing for me as long as I did my duty. One day while at work in the field, I heard, as if it were the voice of God speaking to me. His words were clear and plain: `You are going to hell and eternal ruin.'

"I shook and trembled. My soul was in agony. Night and day those words haunted me: 'You are going to hell.'

"The horrors of the pit of woe were then before my mind. I tried to get away from them, but in vain. I couldn't sleep. I tossed all night in mental agony upon my bed. I tried hard to drown my thoughts by dissipation. It was like oil poured upon the fire of my soul. I then thought I would turn over a new leaf, and gain peace and relief to my soul by being religious. I began to attend church, to read my prayer-book, and to attend regularly all the church services. But all I did only seemed to make my condition worse, and I became almost frantic.

"Then I thought I'd call on the minister. When I did, he asked me what was my trouble. 'Oh, sir,' I said, 'can you tell me how I am to be saved from hell?'

“‘My good fellow,' he replied, `do your duty! Attend church, say your prayers, and be regular at holy communion, and you may hope to get saved.'

"Sir,' I said, 'I have done all that, but I can get no peace. Sleep is out of the question and I am in agony. Can you not help me to be saved?'

"My good fellow, you are needlessly alarmed. I can only tell you to continue your religious duties.'

"I realized it was of no use talking to him, so I left. I was in despair when I heard of another minister in the neighborhood, a godly man, so I went to him and poured out the anguish of my soul before him.

"He listened to my story, and, assured that God had begun a good work in me, he said, 'My young friend, the Spirit of God has convicted you of sin, and shown you your lost condition, so that He may lead you to the Savior. You have not gone to the only source of pardon! The precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was shed upon Calvary to cleanse believers from sin and make them fit for glory. You have been trying to save yourself, striving to make yourself better. That way you never can get peace. God settled all with the death of His own eternal Son on the cross for your sins. There He laid them on Jesus more than 2000 years ago. He who died for your sins, and was your Substitute in that awful death, is now risen and in glory, where He waits to save you. Will you simply rest in what He has done?'

"Blessed be God, in a moment I saw it all. I had been trying to get rid of my sins, which God had forever put away on the cross by His own Son! My soul found rest and joy at once in believing."

Dear reader, God says in His Word, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." 2 Cor. 4:3, 4. If you are unsaved and still careless about your eternal welfare, it is you who are deluded by Satan.

"Faith is the way of life;
Believe in Christ and live;
Fly to the shelter of His blood,
And peace with God receive."

God's Sovereign Purposes Accomplished

We were walking along a country road, a gospel preacher and I, when a man confronted us. He was a small farmer in the neighborhood. In his usual earnest way, the preacher spoke to him, telling him of Jesus and His finished work on the cross, when He gave Himself for us, on the ground of which God's salvation is freely offered to all.

"This eternal salvation," he said, "is not because of any good in us, nor for anything we can reach to or attain, but to be believed in and received."

The man listened with close attention. As he did so, he seemed almost unconsciously to thrust his hand into an inside vest pocket and slowly drew out a little book. It was tattered and torn and worn by much reading.

"I cannot tell how often I have read this," he said. "It was given to me when I was a soldier, and I have carried it with me ever since. I hope I never lose it, for through reading it I have found peace."

He put it into the preacher's hand, and as I looked at the title of the booklet I said, "Oh, the one into whose hand you have put it is the one who wrote it."

A look of astonishment and pleasure lighted up the farmer's face as he stretched out his hand, saying, "I'm so glad to meet you, sir. May God bless you."

It was a moment of deep feeling, stirring the heart with the thought of God's wondrous ways. And now the gospel was more fully and clearly put before the ex-soldier, and this anxious and seeking soul now received further blessing from God by the mouth of His servant, the preacher. Like Abraham of old, this farmer believed God, and his faith was counted to him as righteousness. There was Abraham at one end of the line and God at the other, and faith between.

Who gave that booklet, so carefully kept, to the soldier on foreign soil? Who? None can tell; but the record of it is on high—another of those links in the chain of God's working which will be known hereafter. Through it the precious Word accomplished God's purpose, and a trophy of God's grace was led into full blessing.

Friend, an assured salvation for you too can be had on the authority of the living God, if you will now bow to and receive it. He says in Isaiah 55:11: "My Word... 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."

Saved!

Oh, what a charm there is in that word "saved"! Saved from eternal death; saved from the dread consequences of sin; saved from the fiery wrath of God; saved from the darkness of hell; saved from the present power of sin and the service of Satan. But saved for eternal life and blessedness; saved to enjoy the everlasting fruit of the death of Christ; saved for the glory of God; saved for the infinite delight of Christ; saved for a trophy of divine mercy; saved as a triumph of divine love; saved for the service of God in this dark world; saved to stand before God and the wide universe, to the glory of His grace. Ye are saved by grace; ye are preserved by grace. Oh, the matchless grace of God as revealed in Jesus Christ!

The Banner of Love

"He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love." Song of Sol. 2:4.

O Christ, the King! and dost Thou ask
This sinful heart from me?
Thy love hath won it—dear the task
To yield that heart to Thee,
Its life, its love, its ALL to bring
In homage sweet to Thee, the King.

The chamber of the King of Kings,
No earth-reared palace this!
What tongue can tell, or heart conceive,
The deep eternal bliss
Of those whose lot it is to share
That glorious home—with Christ made heir?

My soul once lay in nature's night,
In still and lifeless gloom;
No ray shone through the bars that held
My spirit in its tomb,
When lo! a voice broke on its night—
"Arise! and Christ shall give thee light."

It was the mandate of a King,
And with His word was power,
From death to life with one glad spring
My soul passed from that hour;
I lived—and now His love must bring
My trembling soul to know the King.

"These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name."

John 20:31

Christ, Not Krischna

Into a distant region of India, where little if any preaching of the gospel had ever been heard, several Hindu evangelists came to sow the good seed. Their surprise was great when a young Hindu came to them with the request that they give him the tract, "The Ocean of Salvation."

He then related the following: "Two years ago my father went to market, three days journey from our village. There he met an old acquaintance of his who said to him: 'I have here three little books which teach a new religion.' He showed them to my father and gave him one of them.

"Upon coming home, my father soon sat down to read the book. It interested him immensely, so very much, in fact, that he became engrossed with it. After a few days he lost his appetite; and whenever he read the little book, we saw tears running down his cheeks. He seemed completely changed, and his face looked so sad. We thought the book must be bewitched and planned to burn it and give him the ashes, mixed with water, to drink. This should drive away the evil spirits. But he guarded it as a great treasure and we were not able to secure it.

"As my father now read on and on, another great change took place with him. The tears ceased, his face looked happy and he ate again as usual; but into a temple he would not go any more. He would have nothing to do with the Hindu religion. A few years after this, my father died.

"As he was nearing the end, we cried to him: `Father, you are dying, you are dying! Call upon Krischna! You are dying!'

"To our distress, his answer was: 'I have a better name—the name of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. On Him I have called and to Him I now go. Seek ye Him, my sons, for the eternal salvation of your souls. His promise is: "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out" ' (John 6:37)."

Now!

How frequently these days we hear of the "NOW" people, those who demand everything NOW! All the joys, all the thrills, all the comforts and pleasures of this life must be theirs NOW, they say, with no effort on their part to obtain them. Indeed, they neither seek nor desire any fitness in themselves, but rather would they seize, unworthily and violently, these mercies hard-earned by others.

Such a one was Hal Camp. Though born of a Christian father, a wealthy and well-known tradesman, his mother was all for the world and, secretly, an alcoholic. Sad to say, her dissolute life and not his father's godliness appealed to their boy, and at eighteen years of age this good-looking, good-natured, but exceedingly dissipated lad had drunk deep of earth's broken cisterns. Yet, with the irresponsibility and eagerness of his associates in the NOW generation, Hal still grasped greedily at every new sensation that catered to the flesh.

One evening I was with a cousin of mine-a cousin, alas, as dissolute as poor Hal Camp himself. In vain I had begged my cousin to abandon his evil ways and to turn to the Savior of sinners, but all my pleading led him only to further excesses, as though he would dare that blessed One to interfere in his life.

Discouraged and deeply distressed at my failure, I was preparing to leave my cousin's home when his buddy, Hal Camp, arrived. "Now," I thought, "I will make one last effort to reach both of them with God's good news."

With a prayer in my heart for wisdom and courage, I grasped a hand of each of the lads and with tears in my eyes I said: "Oh, my friends, what wreckage you are making of your precious lives! You say you want fun, but what you get is but folly. Why will you not turn to the Savior and receive from Him `joy unspeakable and full of glory'? The psalmist tells us that 'in His presence is fullness of joy and at His right hand are pleasures forever more.' These will be your portion too if you will forsake 'the pleasures of sin' which are 'but for a season,' and believe in Him whose gifts are everlasting."

With a derisive hoot, Hal pulled his hand from mine, saying: "What a dope you are! You'll never know what fun is. We are taking ours as it comes—right here and NOW—and taking no thought for tomorrow. THIS IS LIFE!"

Poor Hal! In less than a month his lifeless body was found, a victim of an excess of the "dope" that does things NOW to the profligate soul. His soul had suddenly been required of him. It had passed into eternity leaving no testimony of belief in God.

True, his life was a brief one. And so is even the longest life-a vapor that passeth away. But it was long enough for him to have repented and turned to God! It was long enough to have exclaimed: "Lord, save me, I perish!"

Perhaps Hal did in that instant realize his folly and danger and turn the eye of faith to the Savior in the glory on the throne of God. Maybe in faith he cried for help to the One who is seated there in proof of the fact that He has finished the work needed to rend the veil separating man from God, and thus to open a way for every poor, believing prodigal straight into the very presence, and to the very heart, of God!

But Scripture says: "Behold, NOW is the day of salvation." NOW! As another long ago said of it, "a short word! A shorter thing; soon uttered; sooner gone. Now! A grain of sand on a boundless plain. A tiny ripple on a measureless ocean!... The past, for action, is ours no longer. The future may never become present, and is not ours till it does. The only part of time we can use is this very moment—NOW!"

Oh, dear reader, this may be your last opportunity; what will you do with it? Already the word for you may well be, "Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Heb. 3:7, 8.

"Haste! haste! haste!
Tomorrow may be too late!"

Eight Old Men

"This is the book of the generations of Adam." Thus read the minister, and proceeded with the genealogy down to Noah as recorded in Genesis 5. It is chiefly filled with names and ages; and one who is not convinced of the value of the whole Word of God might account it dry and unattractive, while even an evangelist might find it difficult to preach the gospel from such a scripture. Yet from all eternity had it been ordained, in the counsels of the God of grace, that this apparently mere historical record should be the means of bringing everlasting blessing to the soul of a poor profligate.

It was one little expression occurring eight times over in the chapter that wrought this blessed result. It consisted of only three words, and three shorter words you would scarcely find together anywhere in your Bible. They were these: "And he died."

There are eight old men spoken of in the chapter. One of them lived to be 777 years old, more than ten times as old as men of full age now; but the end came, "and he died." That was Lamech, the son of the oldest man that ever lived, and the grandson of a man who never died at all. But Lamech died.

Another of these old men, Mahalaleel, lived to be 895 years of age; yet we read, "and he died."

Enos, his grandfather, lived ten years longer; but "he died."

His son surpassed him by five years. This was Cain-an; but he also "died." Cainan was a most remarkable man, for about 250 years before his death he could have said what no man but he could ever say: that he was the great-grandson of a man who had never been born (Adam, whom God created) and that his own great-grandson had gone to heaven, but had never died (Enoch, whom God translated). But as I have said, "he died."

Seth, the brother of Cain and Abel, lived no less than 912 years, "and he died."

Adam lived 930 years, but he had no childhood and no youth. Created full-grown, it would appear that the years of his manhood were therefore more in number than those of any man who ever lived; yet of him also it is recorded, "and he died." Physical death had been pronounced of God to be the direct effect, both to him and to his seed, of the sin he had committed. This chapter is full of the testimony which each death afforded of the truth of the divine verdict and the reality of the divine penalty upon man's transgression.

Jared, the father of Enoch, lived to be 962, "and he died." But Methuselah, Enoch's son, lived to the unprecedented age of 969—lived to be nearly a thousand years old. If one were to live to such an age now, men would say he would live forever; but God never forgets. It is appointed unto men to die, and even Methuselah was no exception; for we read, "and he died."

These eight old men lived on an average over 900 years each. But they died, every one of them; and he who listened to the brief narrative of their lives and their death, felt so deeply impressed with the fact that he also must die, indeed, the Spirit of God so drove these three words eight times over in upon his soul, that he could never forget nor escape them. His conscience was stirred to its depths. The plowshare had penetrated his soul, and He who made those deep furrows did not forget to pour the oil and the wine of His richest, sweetest grace into the gaping wounds He had made.

The Savior's precious love and the value of His most precious blood were apprehended by faith. The sinner's heart melted under the discovery that God in grace had given His Son to die on behalf of dying men who were on the highway to an eternal hell. This gave peace to his conscience, and rest to his never dying soul. He who did that work became thenceforth an object, a worthy, blessed object, for the present and eternal rest of his heart.

The All-Cleansing Blood

If one could fully write out the history of the text, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin," what a book it would make!

This verse caught the eye of Captain Hedley Vicars when he was a daring leader in sin. It sent him to toss all night on a sleepless bed; and it enabled him to rise calmly in the morning believing that it was "true for him." Afterward, while ministering to his men, who were dying by scores of black fever and cholera in a wretched Greek hospital, he wrote to a friend: "Should I die now, you know my only confidence is in the cross of Christ, and in the knowledge that the precious 'blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin'; words as full of sweetness and power to me now as on the day when they first became to my soul 'the power of God unto salvation.' "

It was proclaimed by John Wesley to a highwayman who had robbed him of his purse. Many years later, that same man met Wesley as he was leaving a gospel preaching, and told him that verse of Scripture had been the means of a total change in his heart and life.

Martin Luther disposed of a long catalog of his sins presented by Satan by demanding that the enemy of his soul should write those magic words at the bottom: "It is the blood that cleanseth the soul from all sin."

How many aching hearts and dying heads have been comforted by that verse! How many thousands living today can testify to the present and peace-speaking power of that precious blood! The best on earth need it; the worst cannot do without it.

Let me urge you to receive by faith the Son of God as your own Savior, and you, too, will be able to testify that it is the blood "that cleanseth from all sin."

Accept Christ now.

Five Minutes After I Die

Loved ones will weep o'er my silent face,
Dear ones will clasp me in sad embrace,
Shadows and darkness will fill the place
FIVE MINUTES AFTER I DIE.
Faces that sorrow, I will not see;
Voices that murmur will not reach me!
But where, oh where, will my spirit be,
FIVE MINUTES AFTER I DIE.
Here I have feasted, worked and ranged;
Here I have flourished, and grown estranged;
There, and then, it will all be changed
FIVE MINUTES AFTER I DIE.
Naught to repair the good I lack;
Fixed to the goal of my chosen track;
No room to repent, no turning back,
FIVE MINUTES AFTER I DIE.
Now I can stifle convictions stirred;
Now I can silence the Voice oft heard;
Then, fulfillment of God's sure Word,
FIVE MINUTES AFTER I DIE.
Mated for aye with my chosen throng—
Long is ETERNITY—endlessly long!
Then, woe to me if my soul was wrong,
FIVE MINUTES AFTER I DIE.
Oh, what a fool! what a fool! but true,
Refusing the Savior, with Hell in view!
Doing a thing I can ne'er undo
FIVE MINUTES AFTER I DIE.
If I am flinging a fortune away;
If I am wasting SALVATION'S day,
"Just is my sentence," my soul shall say,
FIVE MINUTES AFTER I DIE.

Will It Pay?

Much is said in the world today about profit and loss. One constantly hears questions asked on that subject.

"Will it pay?"

"What is there in it?"

"What is it worth?"

"What will it yield?"

Nor do we find fault, for business has to be done.

A common school book will show you how to work a simple problem in "profit and loss," and business people know well enough how it works out in everyday life. But it is left for God's Word to point out how we can gain or lose for eternity, and there is a great eternity ahead of every one of us. Scripture states plainly that "we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out." 1 Tim. 6: 7. "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Matt. 16:26.

A wealthy English woman, several years ago, was an extensive land owner and lived in a mansion on one of her estates. Yet she was so fond of money that she would scarcely pay her just debts.

For weeks before her death this lady kept a water glass full of gold coins constantly night and day on a table close to her bedside. Until her sight was gone she seemed to delight to gaze at these coins. But the summons came at last: her soul was required of her, and she had to go.

What did her glittering gold profit her then? Simply nothing! Rather let us ask, What did she lose by having her heart set on money as her idol and object in life? Perhaps she lost the Savior of sinners, and if she did, she lost her own soul also!

How truly does God say, "The love of money is the root of all evil." 1 Tim. 6:10.

"The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." 2 Cor. 4:4.

While it is very certain there is only one way that God saves souls, it is equally obvious that Satan uses numerous ways besides money to keep souls from being saved.

For many years well-meaning Saul of Tarsus was kept from the Savior by religion. But it was religion without Christ—a mere empty profession, a sort of shell without a kernel; kept up, undoubtedly, religiously and with a good motive; but Saul's heart was in darkness all the time. Afterward, when divine light from heaven had reached him and the Savior had drawn him to Himself, he said, "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ."

Satan's great aim is to hinder, in every possible way, the light of God's good news concerning the crucified, ascended, and glorified Lord reaching fallen man. But how encouraging to know that this wonderful gospel light is always shining—just as the sun in the heavens is always shining, though its direct rays may sometimes be obstructed by clouds and mountains and other obstacles.

Generally it is true that one's heart and his treasure are very close together. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Luke 12:34.

Beloved, whether it is a right thing, in itself, or a wrong thing that is hindering you, if you have not the Lord Jesus Christ as your soul's satisfying object, you are being shut out from the enjoyment of the heavenly sunshine. It may be that riches or poverty, business or pleasure, ambition or pride, learning or luxury—anything but Christ—has overshadowed your soul.

All these things must be judged and Christ alone be magnified in you. He is "the same yesterday, and today, and forever." Through Him you may secure everlasting gain, escape everlasting loss. It is written, "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." 2 Cor. 8:9.

What Must I Do to Be Saved?

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Ah, but what is it to believe? One must have faith in Him. But what is faith?

Saving faith consists in your believing that Jesus Christ came to save the lost, acknowledging yourself as a lost creature, you appropriate, or take hold of Him, as your own personal Savior. In your helplessness, your dependence is entirely upon the faithfulness of God not to disappoint you. It is belief of the good news; acceptance of Jesus as your Savior, and of complete salvation in Him, and a firm trust in God that He will fulfill all His promises. It is not trusting to services, ceremonies, or sacraments, but it is coming to the Lord Jesus and saying, "Lord, Thou didst come to seek and to save the lost. I know that Thou art able and willing to save me. I therefore put myself, soul and body, into Thy hands to save me now, from the power of sin here, and the punishment of sin hereafter. Lord, I take Thee as my Savior; O my God, I trust Thee to the uttermost."

This is saving faith. In other words, saving faith believes the gospel history or record; appropriates, or makes its own, the gospel offer; and trusts God for its complete fulfillment.

He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Heb. 11:6.

"He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son." 1 John 5:10.

What Will You Do?

What will you do without Him?
When death has sealed your fate,
And the word of doom tolls through your soul,
That terrible "TOO LATE!"

What will you do without Him?
When the great white throne you face,
And speechless you stand before Him,
A rejecter of His grace?

Without Him—everlasting loss
Of love, and life, and light!
Without Him—everlasting woe,
And everlasting night!

You cannot do without Him;
There is no other Name,
By which you ever can be saved—
No way, no hope, no claim!

Why should you do without
Him? It is not yet too late;
He has not closed the day of grace,
He has not shut the gate.

The time is now, beloved;
Believe on Him today;
Fling wide your heart's door.
Open! He'll save your soul for aye.

"Whosoever
shall call
upon the name
of the LORD
shall be saved."

Romans 10:13

Three Conversions

Some little while ago, three Christian men were speaking together of the moment in their lives when dying in the camp, and he had called the heedless drummer boy to his bedside, and made him promise he they had truly decided for Christ. One had been a drummer boy. A Christian soldier of his regiment was would that night kneel down beside his cot and pray to God. The boy declared he would, and went slowly and thoughtfully back to the barracks. It was a testing moment for the boy. The men observed something strange about his behavior, and chaffed him, till at length the hour for sleep came. Four times did that drummer boy walk round his cot in fear of man, yet not daring to break his promise made to the dying soldier.

Presently he fell down upon his knees by the cot side, in the sense that God's eye was upon him. He could but kneel! Pray he could not, for he did not know how to pray—all he could say was, "God, teach me how to pray."

For a month he knelt thus by his bedside, each evening being pelted with boots and brushes, until at length God showed him from the Scriptures salvation through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

The turning point with that boy was his kneeling down by the side of his cot. There the battle was fought and the victory won. That one act of decision was of eternal importance.

The second man was the son of Christian parents, and had been brought up with every religious advantage. The day he left his home in the country, his godly parents had pleaded with him to give himself up to Christ, but the young man had come up to the large city unsaved. He entered the police force. He was a quiet, moral man, but morality will not save the soul or give us peace with God.

One night, when in the police station off duty, he could not sleep, but for hours cried to God to save his soul. At about two o'clock in the morning, God showed him that neither prayers, tears, nor good wishes can procure us salvation, but that in Christ, and Him crucified, salvation is to be found. There and then he closed with Christ, and received Him as his Savior, and was at peace. As he said, the moment of decision with him was that in which God was showing him by the Holy Ghost that not in his goodness, but in Christ and His blood, is salvation for sinners. He, by grace, decided in his soul as God spoke to him.

The third man had been led by a pious friend, an old comrade, to attend a chapel where God showed him His word, "Whosoever!" He laid hold on that one word, whosoever. The deciding point with this man was believing God's word, that it was true, and true for him; and the result was, he testified that God had given him life everlasting in His Son.

God may deal with men's souls variously; but let us learn from these three witnesses, who agreed that a moment came in their lives such as they had never had before, when they in spirit had decided for Christ, and from that moment all had been changed to them.

Now, God may lead up to this point by a long process, or bring the soul to it at once; but certain it is, that every sinner saved by grace does come into close quarters with God. He is no longer standing afar off considering the "needs be" for salvation, nor at a distance from God making resolutions, but he does believe God.

Again we would repeat our question, "Have you decided for Christ?"

"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.

"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Rom. 1:16.

All for Me

During the first visit of Henry Moorhouse to America, he was the guest of a cultured and wealthy gentleman who was greatly blessed by the simple testimony it was his privilege to hear. This gentleman had a daughter just advancing into womanhood, and looking forward with bright anticipation to a gay and worldly life.

One day she entered the library and found the evangelist poring over his Bible. Begging pardon for the intrusion, she was about to retire when he looked up and said in his quiet and tender way: "Are you saved?"

Equally direct, she could only reply, "No, Mr. Moor-house, I am not."

Then came another question: "Would you like to be saved?"

The young lady thought for a moment of all that is meant by salvation, as well as all that is meant by the lack of salvation. Again she frankly answered: "Yes, I wish I were a sincere Christian."

Then came the third question, asked very solemnly and earnestly: "Would you like to be saved now?"

Upon this searching thrust her head dropped and she began to look into her heart. On the one hand her wealth and position in society made the world peculiarly attractive; and on the other hand stood the Lord Jesus Christ, who must then and there be received or rejected. No wonder the struggle in her breast was severe! But as the realities of eternity swept before her vision, she raised her eyes, and calmly, resolutely said, "Yes, I want to be saved now."

The supreme moment in her history was reached, and the evangelist was led by the Holy Spirit to guide her wisely. He asked her to kneel beside him at the sofa and to read aloud the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. This she did in tones that became tremulous and broken by sobs.

"Read it again," said Mr. Moorhouse, "and whenever you find 'we, "our,' and `us,' put in `I, "my,' and `me.' Read it as if you were pouring out your own heart before God."

The weeping girl again read: "He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and I hid as it were my face from Him; He was despised, and I esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne my griefs, and carried my sorrows; yet I did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted."

Here she broke down completely, as the thought of her personal relations to the Lord Jesus in His sufferings for the first time flashed into her mind. But, wiping away her tears, she read on: "He was wounded for my transgressions, He was bruised for my iniquities; the chastisement of my peace was upon Him; and with His stripes I am healed; I like a sheep have gone astray; I have turned to my own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him all of my iniquities."

She was silent for a moment, then exclaimed with deep emotion: "Oh, Mr. Moorhouse, is this true?"

"Dear child," he answered, "does not God say it?"

Again she was silent for a time; but at length looking up, no longer through the tears of bitter grief, but in joy and adoring gratitude, she said: "Then I am saved, for all my iniquities have been laid on Him."

She arose from her knees with the peace of God that passeth all understanding.

Friend, do you know that Christ died for you? See Him by faith nailed to the cross for your sins, suffering in your stead, taking your place under the curse of God's broken law, making atonement with His precious blood for your soul. Accept His mighty sacrifice as for yourself alone. Then you can enter into the gladness of knowing that "there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Rom. 8:1.

Free Pardon

I was holding gospel meetings in a small mining town. A middle-aged miner came to me at the close of one of the services and said: "I would like to be a Christian, but I cannot receive what you have said tonight."

I answered, "My friend, why not?"

"I would give anything," he said, "to believe that God would forgive my sins; but I cannot believe He will just forgive them if I turn to Him. It is too cheap."

I looked at him and I said, "My dear friend, have you been at work today?"

"Yes."

"Where have you been working?"

He gazed at me, slightly astonished, and said: "I was down in the pit as usual."

"How did you get home?"

"Oh, I walked home along the road."

"But how did you get out of the pit?"

"The way I always do. I got into the cage and I was pulled to the top."

"How much do you pay to come out of the pit?"

He showed astonishment as he said, "Pay? Of course I don't pay anything."

Then I questioned him: "Were you not afraid to trust yourself to that cage? Was it not too cheap?"

"Oh, no," he said. "It was cheap for me, but it cost the company a lot of money to sink that shaft."

And without another word being said, the truth of that admission broke upon him. The fountains of the great deep were broken up, and he saw that he could have salvation without money and without price. It had cost the infinite God an infinite price to sink the shaft of salvation and draw lost men into the light of His love and grace.

"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.

A False Coin

The last one in line in a country railway office, I was waiting to buy my ticket. To help pass the time I glanced around the bare little room, and was amused to observe a coin nailed to the counter. The young man selling the tickets also attracted my attention. He seemed a bright youth, with a business-like air about him. With his hand raised to the ticket case, and fingers ready to pounce upon the right one, he said, "Which class, sir?"

Being the last one waiting, I thought I would like to have a few words with our young friend about the coin, so I said to him as I was picking up my change, "What is this you have nailed to the counter?"

"A half dollar, sir."

"But why have you nailed it to the counter?" "Because it is a bad one."

"So you were determined it should go no further. But now, tell me, does it remind you of anything very serious?"

"I don't know," he said, looking straight at me, and paying great attention.

"Well, I'll tell you what it has brought to my mind: that will be the end of all false professors of religion. They will at last be nailed down under the judgment of God, and they will never be able to get away from it. Look at that half dollar. A nail driven through it—fastened to one spot—exposed to public condemnation. Everyone sees that it is a detected hypocrite, and is exhibited there as a warning to others.

"Now, mark! Such will be the end of all who make a profession of religion, but who have not Christ in their hearts. Like this half dollar, they may deceive many for a time; but they cannot deceive God, can they? No; that half dollar may have passed through a good many hands before it was detected, but at last it fell into the hands of a judge who knew it was not real. He has to condemn it, and not let it go further.

"Now, remember this: God will try every professor of religion at His judgment seat; and every one that is counterfeit will then be detected, condemned, and cast away forever. Even so, every time you throw down a ticket and look at this bad half dollar, may you be reminded of the awful end of those who are not right in heart with God."

This last sentence was evidently more than our young friend could comfortably bear, for he immediately exclaimed, "I'll have it taken up." After a few words of warning as to the certainty of coming judgment, we parted.

Finding we had to wait a little longer for the train, a friend who was with me and who had listened to the conversation returned to the office. Without saying anything to the clerk, he merely gave him a look, pointing to the half dollar. The young man again said in a very determined tone: "I'll have it taken up."

How like, thought I, to the natural heart. "I'll have it taken up." It had been nailed there for the purpose of warning others against passing bad money. But as soon as it was made a witness and a warning to his own conscience before God, he immediately declared that he would have it removed! Rather than be reminded of the end of those who have not Christ as their righteousness, he would silence the testimony by removing the witness.

Perhaps all who read this know that no man can stand approved before God in his own righteousness. The best we can do, say, or think must be totally rejected as utterly unfit for God, and for the place of His holiness. Fair appearances there may be, but God looks on the heart. He has but one standard-Christ. If that dear name be found engraven there, it will pass as the current coin of the realm of heaven. But where Christ is not the stamp of the heart, all is worthless to God. If there be no Christ in the heart, there can be no pardon, no peace, no salvation, no eternal life.

Friend, whether you have made a profession of salvation, or not, at once, with your whole heart, turn to Jesus in the full assurance of His pardoning love. He is waiting, ready to receive you. Doubt Him not, believe Him, trust Him. He is able, He is willing, to save the chief of sinners. As a lost sinner, take refuge in Him, who was nailed to the cross for sinners.

"Hell is deep and everlasting,
Turn, poor sinner, turn and flee;
Deeper down than Tire and Sidon,
Shall the false professor be."

The Reality of It

An old preacher said to some who wanted to argue: "Let me tell you a story! Three men were in a boat fishing on Niagara River above the Falls. One of them was a believer in Christ; the other two were not. One of the unbelievers persistently argued that 'there is no God.'

"In the meanwhile, their boat had drifted into the rapids and they were in danger of going over the Falls. At once they seized their oars and pulled for their lives. It was a desperate struggle for a little. The man who had argued 'there is no God' now kept shouting, `Pull, for God's sake; pull!'

"When they had reached safety again the Christian asked, 'Why did you keep saying, "For God's sake, pull," when you do not believe there is a God?'

“‘Oh,' said he, 'arguments may do in stillwater fishing, but not to go over Niagara Falls with!' "

When the soul faces death, and knows it has to give an account to God, then it wants something solid to rest upon. What have you, dear reader, with eternity before you? Christ is the true Rock, the one safe resting place for your soul. Have you found Him? Have you said, "Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I?"

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

Tracts and Their Traces

It was late in the evening of a quiet Sunday, and the man who was addressing the crowd in the open air had been often moved to speak of Jesus to the multitudes who frequented that breezy spot. He was a simple, earnest man of God with few gifts but much grace, and in telling the story of the cross many a head was bent, and many an eye moistened with emotion. The last hymn was being sung. The speaker moved quietly about among the people, offering them well selected tracts.

A year passed, and the preacher often wondered whether the seed sown in this and similar services which he had conducted had borne fruit. One evening, in the autumn, he was crossing a ferry not far from the spot where he had spoken before, when a rough man in the boat accosted him: "Good evening, sir. I suppose you don't remember me?"

"No, I cannot say I do," was the answer, after a close look at him.

"Ah, but I know you," exclaimed the man. "Indeed! How, or where, may I ask?"

"If I may tell you all about it, I would like to do so."

"Do tell me, my friend."

"Do you remember preaching on the hill yonder, one Sunday evening last summer?"

"Yes, I do."

"Well, I was one of your hearers, and I thank God I was! You talked of judgment to come. I thought you must have known that a sinner stood close to you, for you often looked at me. Before you were finished I was fairly beaten down. And then you gave me a tract, which I took and walked quietly home. I am not ashamed to tell you that I wept all the way home. Mine was a solitary room, and when I reached it I sat down to read my tract. That too spoke of a coming judgment, and my conscience was on fire. But it told also of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away sin. Ah! that was what I wanted. I cried unto God. I could not sleep, and so for many weary weeks I went on, miserable enough. At last I saw that God's way to me was through Jesus Christ and that my way to God was just through Jesus Christ too. One Mediator between God and men! So, resting on and trusting alone in Him, I found that death had no sting in prospect, and judgment no terror, for faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and through Him alone, even my crimson sins were made 'white as snow.' "

"How is it now, my friend? Do you ever sin now?" "Oh, sir, I wish I could say no! But I cannot. Yes, I do sin."

"And what do you do when you sin?"

"What can I do, but just go to God, and confess my sin to Him."

"Do you hope to go to heaven when you die?" "Yes, for His sake; not for my own, for I am all unworthy, but He is all righteous."

"What will make it heaven to you?"

"There I shall see His face,

And never, never sin,

There from the rivers of His grace

Drink endless pleasures in," was the quiet answer.

The questioner ceased; it was enough. He saw the work was of God; and in thus meeting with the human instrument of his conversion from darkness to light, this new convert had realized one of the deepest wishes of his inmost heart.

Seed-sower! Go on sowing "beside all waters," for God both can and will "give the increase." 1 Cor. 15:58.

Ever on

Growing old but not retiring,
For the battle still is on;
Going on without relenting
Till the final victory's won.
Ever on, nor think of resting,
For the battle rages still;
And my Savior still is with me,
And I seek to do His will.

Years roll by! The body weakens,
But the spirit still is young;
Breath of God—it never ages—
Is eternal, ever strong.
Rather, year by year it strengthens,
Gaining o'er the things of sense;
By Thy Spirit lead my spirit,
Savior, till Thou call me hence.

Things of earth decrease in value,
Brighter shines the light above;
Less the power of human hatred,
Sweeter far the Savior's love.
Let me tell it to the needy,
Far and wide Thy worth proclaim;
That my closing years may praise Thee—
Glorify Thy blessed Name.

Let me labor in Thy harvest
More than ever in the past,
Reaping in what Thou hast planted,
Till I dwell with Thee at last;
That before Thy throne eternal
I may have some fruit to bring—
Not my work—the fruit of Calvary,
All Thine own, my Lord, the King.

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

Romans 6:23

Echoes of Grace: 1969

Table of Contents

Under Arrest

A Pointed Text

The Question of Questions

The Curate's Sermon

Safety First

A Peculiar Poster

Whosoever Means Anyone

Why Longer Delay?

Resist Not the Holy Spirit

Charles Darwin's Deathbed

The Great High Priest

A Right Verse for the Right Time

After Death

God's Answer

The Will of the People

My Son, Give Me Thine Heart

The Old Colonel

A Contrast

Right about Face!

The Man Who Died for Me

White-Washed or Washed White

A Padre Found Peace

He That Receiveth Me

The Happy Skipper

The Coming One

The Other Shore

The Eleventh Hour

Dollars and Sins

Time

Who Loved Me?

The Doctor's Discovery

An Arrow from the Almighty

Effectual and Fervent

Only Believe

The Successful Farmer

The Reality of Christ Jesus - a Person

Peace: False and True

My Hiding Place

The Precious Blood

An Arrow from the Quiver of God

The Two Puzzled Doctors

Naaman the Leper

Faith's Window, Hope's Door, Love's Feast

Three Inscriptions

If I Gained the World

The Sinner's Burial

A Hebrew's Search for the Blood of Atonement

Rest for the Weary

The Greatest Attraction

Opportunity: When? Now!

Living Epistles

?Pull Back on the Stick?

The Wastepaper Basket

One Sweetly Solemn Thought

The Whole Question

Delusions about Death-Beds

The Rest of the Way

Abundant Grace

The Right Kind of Faith

Grace and Judgment

The Savior's Appeal

An Endless Stream

'Tis Finished

Neglected Pleas

The Awakening of a Dying Infidel

Tracts and Their Traces

What About Your Soul?

God's Sovereign Purposes Accomplished

Saved!

The Banner of Love

Christ, Not Krischna

Now!

Eight Old Men

The All-Cleansing Blood

Five Minutes After I Die

Will It Pay?

What Must I Do to Be Saved?

What Will You Do?